Robotaxi expansion gets green light in San Francisco

Companies hailed the moment as a milestone for the driverless car industry, despite safety concerns. More »

New Jersey and California allow indoor dining to resume, with limits

(Reuters) – New Jersey and California on Monday took a big step toward letting businesses resume their pre-pandemic lives, by allowing restaurants to begin limited indoor dining, as coronavirus cases abated nationwide even as some new hotspots emerged. Most st... More »

Firefighters make headway against lightning-sparked California wildfires

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – California fire officials on Sunday reported significant headway battling the two largest of dozens of lightning-sparked blazes raging in and around the greater San Francisco Bay area since mid-August, though 60,000 people remained unde... More »

NASA launches new rover to search for signs of past Martian life

(This July 30 story refiles to add details on previous NASA rovers, landers) By Joey Roulette (Reuters) – NASA’s next-generation Mars rover Perseverance blasted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Thursday atop an Atlas 5 rocket on a $2.4 billion mission to s... More »

Adventurer’s ‘Into the Wild’ bus may be headed to Alaska museum

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – The infamous bus that served as the final campsite for doomed adventurer Christopher McCandless could be preserved as a museum piece under a plan announced on Thursday by Alaska officials. The University of Alaska Museum in Fairba... More »

Scientists use drones to study great white sharks along California coast

DEL MAR, Calif. (Reuters) – Scientists are using drones and other technology to study great white sharks along the coast of Southern California to better understand interactions between these marine predators and people and assess the risks to human beachgoers... More »

Paper made up quotes to defame Depp, actress tells UK libel trial

LONDON (Reuters) – Actress and #MeToo campaigner Katherine Kendall said on Friday Britain’s Sun newspaper had deliberately misused her quotes in an article which labelled Hollywood star Johnny Depp a “wife beater”. Depp, 57, is suing the publisher of that news... More »

Elvis Presley’s grandson dies aged 27

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A little-known member of one of rock ‘n’ roll music’s royal families, Benjamin Keough, grandson of the late Elvis Presley and only son of the “The King’s” daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, has died aged 27, her spokesman said on Sunday. The... More »

Subsurface ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa deemed potentially ‘habitable’

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have figured out how the subsurface ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa may have formed and determined that this vast expanse of water may have been able to support microbial life in the past. Europa, with an ocean hidden beneath a... More »

Frigid dwarf planet Pluto may have started out its life as a hothead

(This June 22 story corrects Fahrenheit conversion of surface temperature in parapagrah 6) By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pluto, a frigid little world inhabiting the solar system’s outer reaches, may have been born as a warmer place sheltering a subsurf... More »

Carlos Ruiz Zafon, author of ‘The Shadow of the Wind’, dies aged 55

MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafon, whose book “The Shadow of the Wind” sold more than 15 million copies, has died of cancer aged 55 in Los Angeles, his publishing house said on Friday. Zafon began his career in juvenile literature before pu... More »

U.S. Supreme Court snubs Trump on challenge to California ‘sanctuary’ laws

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed President Donald Trump a defeat in his legal showdown with the most-populous U.S. state, declining to hear his administration’s challenge to “sanctuary” laws in California that protect immigrants f... More »

California says film and TV production can resume as early as June 12

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Film and TV cameras can start rolling in California as soon as June 12, state officials said on Friday as they approved new guidelines to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus on sets. Producers will need approval from local healt... More »

Retirement services provider Human Interest extends funding round to $50 million

(Reuters) – Human Interest, which helps small and medium-sized businesses set up 401K plans for employees, said on Wednesday it had extended its Series C funding round to $50 million due to more demand during the coronavirus crisis. The San Francisco-based sta... More »

Fan-free sports and curbside retail as California loosens coronavirus rules

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – Businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area may open for curbside retail and manufacturing, while fan-free professional sports events might be allowed as soon as June, as California continued to loosen coronavirus health restriction... More »

Tesla’s Musk says ready for arrest as he reopens California plant against local order

(Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk on Monday said production was resuming at the automaker’s sole U.S. vehicle factory, in California, defying an order to stay closed and saying if anyone had to be arrested it should be him. The move come... More »

Five-year-old stopped on U.S. highway wanted to buy Lamborghini, police say

(Reuters) – A trooper stopping a car with a suspected “impaired driver” on a U.S. highway on Monday was bemused to find a 5-year-old in the driver’s seat, the Utah Highway Patrol tweeted. After seeing a vehicle driving slowly and weaving in the left lane of th... More »

Bayer more stringent in glyphosate settlement talks due to downturn

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German drugs and pesticides company Bayer said the economic downturn has prompted it to take a tougher stance in talks to settle claims its glyphosate-based weedkillers cause cancer, even as its earnings rose. The pandemic has significant... More »

As U.S. coronavirus death toll tops 51,000, handful of states move toward reopening

ATLANTA (Reuters) – With the U.S. coronavirus death toll topping 51,000 and nearly one in six workers out of a job, Georgia, Oklahoma and several other states took tentative steps at reopening businesses on Friday, despite disapproval from President Donald Tru... More »

Facebook removes anti-quarantine protest events in some U.S. states

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc (FB.O) said on Monday that it has removed events in Nebraska, New Jersey and California promoting protests against stay-at-home measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the new coronavirus. But the social media company, which has ... More »

San Diego Comic-Con canceled for first time amid coronavirus outbreak

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – San Diego Comic-Con, an annual celebrity-studded showcase of superhero films and pop culture, has been canceled for the first time in its 50-year history due to the global coronavirus outbreak, organizers said on Friday. Comic-Con had b... More »

Cigar-shaped interstellar trespasser may be fragment of wrecked planet

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A reddish-colored cigar-shaped interstellar object called ‘Oumuamua that is tumbling through our solar system may be wreckage from a planet ripped apart when it roamed too close to the faraway star it once orbited, according to researche... More »

Tesla cuts contractors from California, Nevada factories: CNBC

(Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) is cutting contractors from its U.S. car and battery plants, CNBC reported on Friday, citing workers and a contract staffing agency. The electric carmaker is axing contractors at both its vehicle assembly plant in Fremont, Califo... More »

In coronavirus fight, oft-criticized Facebook data aids U.S. cities, states

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Infectious disease researchers are using Facebook Inc mobile location data to provide daily updates to U.S. cities and states evaluating the effectiveness of social distancing orders aimed at slowing the novel coronavirus. The COVID-1... More »

Trump administration awards $25 billion in emergency transit funding

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration said on Thursday it was allocating $25 billion in emergency funding grants to public transportation systems facing a massive falloff in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Federal Transit Administrat... More »

Factbox: Sports events around the world hit by coronavirus pandemic

(Reuters) – Major sports events around the world that have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic: OLYMPICS * The International Olympic Committee and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe concluded the Tokyo 2020 Olympics must be postponed and held no later than the... More »

Coronavirus aid deal is no panacea for coming U.S. state budget woes

(Reuters) – A massive federal spending bill aimed at deflecting the economic harm caused by the spreading coronavirus does not address the billions of tax dollars U.S. states stand to lose as major parts of the nation have shut down. While the $2.2 trillion bi... More »

Astronauts quarantined ahead of journey to International Space Station

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut were spending their final weeks on Earth in quarantine before they are scheduled to blast off on April 9 for the International Space Station for six months as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps Ea... More »

Primordial worm-like creature was forerunner to most animals – including us

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A worm-like creature smaller than a grain of rice that burrowed on the sea floor in search of meals like dead organic matter about 555 million years ago may be the evolutionary forerunner of most animals living today – including people. ... More »

Two Los Angeles Lakers players have tested positive for COVID-19, team says

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Two Los Angeles Lakers players have tested positive for coronavirus, the NBA franchise said on Thursday, and have been quarantined under the care of the basketball team’s doctor. The Lakers did not identify the two infected players but ... More »

Skull of smallest-known bird embedded in 99-million-year-old amber

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists are marveling over the exquisitely preserved skull of what appears to be the smallest-known bird – tinier than any hummingbird – encased in 99-million-year-old amber and boasting many odd traits including jaws studded with num... More »

Shake it, baby! NASA robotic lander confirms quakes on Mars

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – NASA’s robotic InSight lander has for the first time established that Mars is seismically active, but do not call the shaking, rattling and rolling taking place on the Red Planet earthquakes. The proper term, fittingly, is marsquakes. Sc... More »

Daredevil ‘Mad Mike’ Hughes dies in crash of his homemade rocket in California

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Mad Mike” Hughes, a self-styled explorer and daredevil bent on proving that the earth is flat was killed over the weekend when his homemade rocket crashed in the California desert over the weekend. “Michael ‘Mad Mike’ Hughes tragically... More »

‘Kobe, Kobe, Kobe-‘ All-Star Game crowd pays tribute to fallen star

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Team LeBron beat Team Giannis by two points at the 69th NBA All-Star game on Sunday at a packed United Center that fell silent for eight seconds before tip-off as about 21,000 fans joined hands to pay their respects to global sports icon Ko... More »

‘Ghost’ ancestors: African DNA study detects mysterious human species

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists examining the genomes of West Africans have detected signs that a mysterious extinct human species interbred with our own species tens of thousands of years ago in Africa, the latest evidence of humankind’s complicated genetic... More »

Factbox: Some carmakers likely to restart China factories after shutting for coronavirus

(Reuters) – Automakers including Daimler, Tesla and Ford are likely to restart production in China on Monday after being forced to shut factories for more than a week following a widespread outbreak of the coronavirus. However, some have further delayed reopen... More »

Chiefs QB Mahomes named Super Bowl MVP after win over 49ers

MIAMI (Reuters) – If Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes still had any doubters going into the Super Bowl, he silenced them on Sunday. Mahomes was named the Most Valuable Player of the Super Bowl after leading Kansas City to a 31-20 win over the San Franci... More »

Rapper Nipsey Hussle wins two posthumous Grammys, honored in tribute performance

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was slain in March of last year, won two posthumous Grammy Awards on Sunday and was remembered at the Awards with a tribute medley that had audience members on their feet, dancing and in tears. Hussle, whose re... More »

Kobe Bryant remembered at Grammy Awards hours after his death

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Musicians and performers at the Grammy Awards paid tribute to Kobe Bryant on Sunday at his former home arena, the Staples Center in Los Angeles, hours after the NBA great was killed some 40 miles (65 km) away in a helicopter crash. Brya... More »

‘Parasite’ wins top prize at Screen Actors Guild Awards

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Korean-language film “Parasite” won the top prize, for best ensemble cast in a motion picture, at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday. “Parasite,” a comedic thriller that turns on social class divisions, scored its upset victor... More »

Resigning California congressman’s seat to be left vacant for year

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – California Governor Gavin Newsom has decided against calling a special election to fill the seat U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter will leave vacant in Congress next week when he resigns following his conviction in a federal corruption sc... More »

Uber stops upfront ride pricing in response to California worker law

(Reuters) – Uber Technologies Inc on Wednesday informed its California customers that it would switch to providing estimates as opposed to fixed prices for its rides in response to a new law that makes it harder to qualify its drivers as contractors. In an ema... More »

Colorado bank robber throws cash in air, shouting ‘Merry Christmas’

DENVER (Reuters) – A man with a white beard was being held on $10,000 bond for allegedly robbing a Colorado bank and throwing the stolen cash into the air while shouting, “Merry Christmas” to passersby, police and local media reported on Tuesday. David Wayne O... More »

U.S. government says verdict in Bayer’s Roundup case should be reversed

(Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department said a federal appeals court should reverse a lower court verdict finding Bayer AG liable in the case of a California man who blamed its Roundup weed killer for his cancer. The gov... More »

Texas a linchpin in Biden’s Super Tuesday strategy

(Reuters) – With the first Democratic nominating contests less than two months away, former Vice President Joe Biden is already looking beyond to Super Tuesday in March, when some of the biggest electoral prizes will be up for grabs. Biden traveled to Texas on... More »

Santa Anita introduces new technology to aid horses

(Reuters) – Santa Anita Park, where 35 horses have died as the result of injuries in the past year, said on Friday it was introducing new technology for diagnosing pre-existing conditions in racehorses. A MILE-PET Scan machine – the first of its kind – will pr... More »

Grumpy Cat, lovelorn whale are stars of 2019’s top animal stories

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A lovelorn singing whale, a world-famous feline sourpuss and ravenous goats credited with thwarting a dangerous California wildfire were among animals whose escapades across the United States made news in 2019. Animal antics drawing attent... More »

Tesla boss Elon Musk wins defamation trial over his ‘pedo guy’ tweet

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk emerged victorious on Friday from a closely watched defamation trial as a federal court jury swiftly rejected the $190 million claim brought against him by a British cave explorer who Musk had branded a “pedo gu... More »

Musk’s defamation win may reset legal landscape for social media

((This December 6 story is refiled to fix typo in quote in paragraph nine)) By Tom Hals (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s daring has left its mark on electric cars and rockets, and now experts say the entrepreneur may have reshaped U.S. defamation law with his willingne... More »

Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk wins defamation trial over ‘pedo guy’ tweet

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A U.S. District Court jury in Los Angeles on Friday found in favor of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) boss Elon Musk in the defamation lawsuit brought against him by a British cave explorer who Musk had branded a “pedo guy” on Twitter. The verdict w... More »

‘Possibility of life’: scientists map Saturn’s exotic moon Titan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists on Monday unveiled the first global geological map of Saturn’s moon Titan including vast plains and dunes of frozen organic material and lakes of liquid methane, illuminating an exotic world considered a strong candidate in th... More »

Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson dies unexpectedly at 60

(Reuters) – Bernard J. Tyson, chairman and chief executive officer of not-for-profit health insurer Kaiser Permanente, died unexpectedly in his sleep on Sunday, aged 60, the company said in a statement. Tyson, who held the top job since 2013, was Oakland, Cali... More »

NASA unveils its first electric airplane – a work in progress

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (Reuters) – NASA, most prominent for its many Florida-launched exploits into space, showcased an early version of its first all-electric experimental aircraft, the X-57 “Maxwell,” on Friday at its lesser-known aeronautics lab in ... More »

Activists call for halt to U.S. horse racing

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Animal rights groups on Sunday called for an immediate halt to horse racing following the high-profile death of a gelding in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic at Southern California’s Santa Anita Park. Four-year-old Mongolian Groom injur... More »

Multistate salmonella outbreak causes one death: CDC

(Reuters) – A multistate outbreak of salmonella linked to ground beef has caused one death in California and eight hospitalizations, U.S. health officials said on Friday. A total of 10 people in six U.S. states were infected with a strain of the bacteria calle... More »

As wildfire rages, LA’s ‘fire proof’ Getty Museum sees no risk to art

(Reuters) – When a fast-moving wildfire licked up to the fringes of the sprawling Getty Center complex on Tuesday, the staff of the Los Angeles museum betrayed no sign of panic, confident that its priceless art was safe and secure within its walls. Mindful of ... More »

Getty fire in LA likely caused by tree branch falling on power lines: fire officials

(Reuters) – A major wildfire burning in Los Angeles near the famed Getty Center art museum was likely sparked by a tree branch falling on power lines in high winds, fire officials said on Tuesday. The Los Angeles Fire Department said the preliminary determinat... More »

U.S. Representative Hill, facing ethics probe, resigns from Congress

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Katie Hill, who is under investigation by the House ethics committee over an alleged relationship with a congressional staffer, said on Sunday that she was resigning from Congress. Hill, a 32-year-old California Democ... More »

After Ken Fisher no-show, LA pension system terminates his firm

BOSTON (Reuters) – The Los Angeles fire and police pension system voted to terminate Fisher Investments on Thursday over allegedly sexist comments made by founder Ken Fisher earlier this month. Five of the system’s nine commissioners voted during a webcast mee... More »

Manure, trash and wastewater: U.S. utilities get dirty in climate fight

PIXLEY, Calif. (Reuters) – Joey Airoso has always been proud of his cows, whose milk goes into the butter sold by national dairy company Land O’Lakes. Now he has something new to brag about: the vast amounts of gas produced by his 2,900-head herd is powering t... More »

Planetary ‘autopsies’ indicate worlds like Earth common in the cosmos

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A new way of studying planets in other solar systems – by doing sort of an autopsy on planetary wreckage devoured by a type of star called a white dwarf – is showing that rocky worlds with geochemistry similar to Earth may be quite commo... More »

Members of Los Angeles pension board ready to drop money manager Ken Fisher

BOSTON (Reuters) – Commissioners of a $23 billion Los Angeles fire and police pension fund are ready to drop the firm of money manager Kenneth Fisher, who is under fire for allegedly making insensitive remarks about women. Several members of the Los Angeles Fi... More »

Deadly Los Angeles wildfire burns with subdued fury after change in weather

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Firefighters have tightened their grip on a deadly Los Angeles wildfire burning with subdued fury on Sunday after extremely dry desert winds that had stoked the flames gave way to moister, gentler breezes blowing in from the Pacific. Th... More »

NASA aims for first manned SpaceX mission in first-quarter 2020

HAWTHORNE, Calif. (Reuters) – SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon astronaut capsule will be ready for its first manned flight into orbit in the first quarter of next year provided “everything goes according to plan” in upcoming tests, NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said on T... More »

Clippers’ George to miss start of season due to shoulder surgeries

(Reuters) – Los Angeles Clippers forward Paul George will miss the start of the NBA season while recovering from off-season surgery on both shoulders, he told ESPN on Sunday. George said he will be out until “November-ish”, which would see him miss the trainin... More »

U.S. CDC recommends against using vapes with marijuana ingredient

(Reuters) – People should stop using e-cigarettes, especially those with marijuana ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), U.S. public health officials recommended on Friday, as an investigation into illnesses and deaths related to vaping deepens. E-cigarettes ... More »

Gay performers shine with several wins at the Emmy Awards

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Gay performers shined at the Emmy Awards on Sunday with wins in several categories including best actor in a drama series, which went to “Pose” star Billy Porter as the first openly gay black man to take home the honor. “Once again, we ... More »

Senator Harris takes aim at Trump antitrust probe of automakers…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Friday asked a government watchdog to look into the Trump administration’s decision to launch an antitrust probe into four automakers cooperating with California on tigh... More »

California Senate passes bill to tighten ‘gig’ worker rule

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The California State Senate voted on Tuesday to pass a bill that would make it much more difficult for gig economy companies like Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) and Lyft Inc (LYFT.O) to classify workers as independent contractors rath... More »

Actor Kevin Hart injured in Los Angeles car accident

(Reuters) – Actor Kevin Hart suffered major injuries in a car accident in Los Angeles early on Sunday morning, the California Highway Patrol said. Hart, 40, was being driven in a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda shortly after midnight on Mulholland Highway when the dri... More »

World of Warcraft nostalgia to boost Activision Blizzard: Barron’s

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The initial reception for a re-launched version of a classic video game points to potential stock price growth of Activision Blizzard Inc, with new titles from key franchises also bolstering the company’s outlook, according to Barron’s. Th... More »

Trump asks Supreme Court to allow full enforcement of asylum crackdown

(Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a court order preventing the government from fully enforcing a new rule that would curtail asylum applications by immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Californi... More »

No dirty jokes please: Comics find a new stage inside LA car wash

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Los Angeles comedian Kurt Braunohler has performed stand-up sets in cargo trucks, schoolbuses and even gondolas, but his latest venture scales things down even further: a four-minute comedy show inside your car as it goes through a car ... More »

Space telescope offers rare glimpse of Earth-sized rocky exoplanet

(Reuters) – Direct observations from a NASA space telescope have for the first time revealed the atmospheric void of a rocky, Earth-sized world beyond our own solar system orbiting the most common type of star in the galaxy, according to a study released on Mo... More »

‘Hollywood Ripper’ found guilty of murdering two women, including…

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A jury found a man nicknamed the “Hollywood Ripper” guilty on Thursday of knifing to death two women, including actor Ashton Kutcher’s date, and attempting to murder a third victim during a seven-year span. Michael Gargiulo, a 43-year-o... More »

Bayer mediator dismisses report of $8 billion Roundup settlement

NEW YORK/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Bayer AG has not offered to pay billions of dollars to settle claims in the United States related to the Roundup herbicide, mediator Ken Feinberg said, dismissing a report to that effect which drove its shares as much as 11% high... More »

Actor Danny Trejo of ‘Machete’ fame pulls young boy from overturned…

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hollywood actor Danny Trejo, known for his tough-guy roles in such films as ‘Machete,’ helped rescue a young boy who was trapped in a car that overturned in a Los Angeles traffic collision on Wednesday. Trejo, 75, told television statio... More »

U.S. Supreme Court lets Trump use disputed funds for border wall

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday handed President Donald Trump a victory by letting his administration redirect $2.5 billion in money approved by Congress for the Pentagon to help build his promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border even... More »

Star orbiting massive black hole lends support to Einstein’s theory

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Observations of light coming from a star zipping in orbit around the humongous black hole at the center of our galaxy have provided fresh evidence backing Albert Einstein’s 1915 theory of general relativity, astronomers said on Thursday.... More »

Semenya vows no world championships if she can’t run 800m

STANFORD, California (Reuters) – Olympic champion Caster Semenya said on Sunday she would not defend her world title in Doha next September if she could not run in the 800 meters because of new testosterone regulations imposed by the sport’s governing body. “I... More »

Trump appeals U.S. judge’s border wall funding ruling

(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday appealed a U.S. judge’s ruling that blocked his administration from using $2.5 billion in funds intended for anti-drug activities to construct a wall along the southern border with Mexico. U.S. Department of ... More »

U.S. federal judge blocks use of some funds for border wall

(Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from using $2.5 billion in funds intended for anti-drug activities to construct a wall along the southern border with Mexico. U.S. President Donald Trump has sought to build a wall alo... More »

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, top deputy ordered to stand…

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her former second-in-command at the Silicon Valley blood-testing startup were ordered on Friday to stand trial next year on fraud charges stemming from their claims about the company’s technology, c... More »

Jury chosen for Navy SEAL’s war crimes trial, opening arguments on…

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – Opening arguments are set to begin on Tuesday in the trial of a U.S. Navy SEAL court-martialed on charges of murdering a wounded Iraqi prisoner and shooting unarmed civilians, a war crimes case that has drawn the attention of U.S. Preside... More »

Warriors congratulate NBA champion Raptors in Toronto newspaper ad

TORONTO (Reuters) – The Golden State Warriors took out a full-page advert in the Toronto Star on Monday to congratulate a Toronto Raptors team that stopped them claiming a third consecutive NBA championship. The ad appeared on the day of the Raptors victory pa... More »

Aurora partners with Fiat Chrysler over self-driving tech

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Self-driving car software startup Aurora said on Sunday it would partner with Fiat Chrysler to build autonomous platforms for commercial vehicles, the latest collaboration with an automaker for the fast-growing Silicon Valley company.... More »

Brian Wilson postpones summer tour, says he feels ‘mentally insecure’

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson has indefinitely postponed a U.S. summer tour that was due to open on Friday, saying he felt “mentally insecure” in the aftermath of recent back surgery but hoped to return to performing later in the y... More »

California ladybug swarm dozens of miles wide shows up on radar

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A swarm of many millions of ladybugs taking to the sky in Southern California this week to hunt for aphids has been captured on a radar screen as a massive blob, officials said on Thursday. The insect swarm spanned 80 miles by 80 miles ... More »

Scientists solve the mystery of the dragon with transparent teeth

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Dwelling in the dark ocean depths, the dragonfish is a frightful marvel that would fit nicely into any horror movie, boasting exotic adaptations such as virtually transparent fangs that help it thrive in this extreme environment. The nat... More »

‘Oh my God, is that Bernie Sanders?’ Democrats swarm San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – (This June 1 story has been corrected to remove reference in paragraphs 12, 14-15 to a pamphlet purporting to be from the campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden, criticizing Bernie Sanders. It was not from Biden. Corrects spellin... More »

U.S. biologists probe deaths of 70 emaciated gray whales

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – U.S. government biologists have launched a special investigation into the deaths of at least 70 gray whales washed ashore in recent months along the U.S. West Coast, from California to Alaska, many of them emaciated, officials sai... More »

Democratic 2020 hopefuls to swarm San Francisco, while Biden stays…

(Reuters) – Fourteen Democratic presidential hopefuls seeking money and support in California, the most liberal and populous U.S. state, will descend on San Francisco this weekend for a state party convention – with front-runner Joe Biden notably absent. Appea... More »

Hydrogen-powered flying vehicle touted as Southern California…

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Developers of a multi-rotor hover craft billed as the first flying vehicle to be powered by hydrogen fuel cells unveiled a full-scale model on Wednesday in Southern California, in a show-and-tell that raised some eyebrows but never left... More »

Support for abortion rights grows as some U.S. states curb access:…

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Americans have become more supportive of abortion rights over the past year, even as a wave of Republican-controlled state governments have imposed new restrictions, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday. The poll found that... More »

Basketball: Blazers’ Lillard left in limbo by Warriors’ wall of…

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) – Portland leading scorer Damian Lillard has had a difficult time with a hovering Golden State defense and, with his team facing elimination from the NBA Western Conference finals, the Trail Blazer All-Star has a decision to make. Sh... More »

North Carolina man charged with 1985 murder of top Hollywood director

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A North Carolina man has been charged in the long-unsolved murder of a top Hollywood television director and world-class bridge player who was found slain at his Los Angeles home in 1985, prosecutors said on Friday. The arrest came afte... More »

Trial date set for Elon Musk’s ‘pedo guy’ tweet

(Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Friday said Elon Musk must face a defamation lawsuit by a British diver who said he was falsely branded a pedophile and child rapist by the chief executive of electric car company Tesla Inc. U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson in Los... More »

Berkshire takes $377 million charge tied to solar company that U.S….

(Reuters) – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc on Wednesday said a $377 million charge it incurred recently was tied to a solar generation company that U.S. authorities have linked to fraud. Berkshire said in its first-quarter report on Saturday it had in... More »

U.S. court rules in favor of Dutch ASML in IP theft case against Xtal

(Reuters) – Dutch chip equipment maker ASML Holding NV said on Saturday a U.S. court had issued its final judgment in favor of ASML in an intellectual property theft case against U.S. software maker Xtal. The Santa Clara County Superior Court in California awa... More »

U.S. judge rules Spanish museum can keep Pissarro confiscated by Nazis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A Madrid museum cannot be forced to return a Camille Pissarro painting that was seized by the Nazis from its Jewish owners during World War Two, despite the institution’s failure to honor its “moral commitments,” a federal judge in Cali... More »

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