National News

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is devoting more than $3 billion to advance development of antiviral pills for COVID-19 and other dangerous viruses that could turn into pandemics. The pills would be used to minimize symptoms after infection. They are in development and could begin arriving by year’s end, pending the completion of clinical…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will soon have a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery. The House voted 415-14 on Wednesday to make Juneteenth, or June 19th, the 12th federal holiday. The bill goes to President Joe Biden’s desk, and he's expected to sign it into law. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865,…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the tone of the talks with U.S. President Joe Biden as “constructive” and said there was no hostility during the talks. His remarks came at a news conference Wednesday after he and Biden met in Geneva for a high-stakes summit amid tensions between the West and the Kremlin. Putin…

GENEVA (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia's Vladimir Putin are set to meet for their highly anticipated summit in the Swiss city of Geneva. It's a moment of high-stakes diplomacy that comes as both leaders agree that U.S.-Russian relations are at an all-time low. For four months, the two leaders have traded sharp…

The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 has topped 600,000, even as the vaccination drive has slashed daily cases and deaths and allowed the country to emerge from the gloom. That's according to the toll recorded by Johns Hopkins University. The number of lives lost is greater than the population of Baltimore or Milwaukee. It is…