National News

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Public health officials are warning that the coronavirus poses new risks to parts of the Midwest and South. That word comes as enhanced federal aid that helped avert financial ruin for millions of unemployed Americans is set to expire. If it runs out, many of the jobless will have to rely…

Beijing, China (AP) — China has ordered the United States to close its consulate in the western city of Chengdu in an increasingly rancorous diplomatic conflict. The order followed the U.S. closure of the Chinese Consulate in Houston after Washington accused Chinese agents of trying to steal medical and other research in Texas. The Chinese…

Beijing, China (AP) — China has launched its most ambitious Mars mission yet in an attempt to join the United States in successfully landing a spacecraft on the red planet. The rocket carrying the orbiter and rover took off under clear skies from an island south of China’s mainland. Hundreds of space enthusiasts cried out…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Laboratories across the U.S. are buckling under a surge of coronavirus tests, creating long processing delays that experts say are actually undercutting the pandemic response. The bottlenecks are creating problems for workers kept off the job while awaiting results, nursing homes struggling to keep the virus out and for the labs themselves,…

Melbourne, Australia — Australia’s hard-hit Victoria state reported a record 484 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and health authorities warned that numbers could continue to rise. With Australia’s second-largest city Melbourne now in lockdown for two weeks, authorities had hoped the infection rate would begin to plateau. Instead, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says "we’re…