President Joe Biden said the U.S. military would intervene to defend Taiwan in any attack from China, comments that appeared to break from the long-standing U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity” before they were walked back by White House officials.

Asked during a press briefing on Monday in Tokyo whether the U.S. would be willing to get ...Read more

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE said their COVID-19 vaccine was highly effective and prompted a strong immune response in children under age 5, based on early results from a trial that is likely to pave the way for infants and toddlers to finally get immunized.

A three-dose regimen was 80.3% effective in a preliminary finding based on 10 infections...Read more

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s economy should be shut off from the world and invited global investors to shift resources into Ukraine to help rebuild the country from the devastation wrought by Vladimir Putin’s war.

“This is really the moment when it is decided whether brute force will rule the world,” the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A brewing boycott over the invitation list to this year’s Summit of the Americas, a hemispheric gathering held every three to four years and planned for Los Angeles next month, has the Biden administration scrambling to avoid an embarrassment that could erode U.S. influence in the region.

The trouble began when the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The number of coronavirus cases in California has significantly worsened this past week, hitting a level not seen since the winter’s omicron surge and raising concerns about the possibility of a big jump in infections this summer.

Weekly coronavirus cases roughly doubled across wide swaths of California, including Riverside ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For years, a contentious dispute between Los Angeles County's health care leaders and the University of Southern California has seethed behind closed doors, injecting tension and acrimony in the operations at one of the nation's busiest public hospitals that climaxed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As early as 2019, officials at L...Read more

MEIGS COUNTY, Tenn. — At a glance, it seemed like a Southern pandemic success story in a most unlikely place.

A small county northeast of Chattanooga, along the twisting banks of Chickamauga Lake, for much of the past year has reported the highest COVID-19 vaccination rate in Tennessee and one of the highest in the South.

Meigs County, which...Read more

The number of Americans who identified as more than one race nearly doubled to 13.5 million people between 2010 and 2020, and did double or more in 34 states and the District of Columbia, a Stateline analysis of census figures shows.

To some observers, the increase in the number of Americans identifying as more than one race shows that barriers...Read more

BALTIMORE — You no longer need a medical card to legally get high on cannabis in Maryland.

The state spent years setting up a medical cannabis industry that is tightly regulated at every step from seed to sale. Dispensaries, processors and cultivators spent millions of dollars creating an entirely new industry under the impression that ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Prolonged classroom shutdowns. Pandemic policies that at times frustrated parents and teachers alike. Allegations of a toxic workplace. Questionable hiring practices.

Despite it all, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond could end up coasting into reelection.

"People are still angry, and they need to be heard...Read more

It could have been any Sunday morning at the Taiwanese church.

Elderly couples held hands and shuffled into the chapel.

Pastor Albany Lee led the Lord's Prayer, illuminated by blue light from the stained-glass window behind him.

But a week earlier, the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church had been shaken by an unimaginable act.

A man opened ...Read more

Minnesota's legislative session approached its end marked by uncertainty over the fate of proposals for education, public safety and other spending priorities as state leaders appeared to be running out of time to strike agreements.

The lack of progress revived the specter of yet another special session to wrap up any bills subject to deals ...Read more

Two years ago, the Drug Enforcement Administration, with the help of two Canyon County law enforcement agencies, searched a home west of Caldwell for drugs. The officers didn’t find any, according to court documents obtained by the Idaho Statesman.

Now, residents of the Greenleaf home are suing the agencies, alleging they used excessive force...Read more

Calling last week’s mass shooting in the city’s Near North Side “a massacre in the middle of Chicago and State,” a Cook County judge on Sunday denied bail for the 21-year-old alleged gunman and a buddy who allegedly took the murder weapon moments after it was used to kill two men and wound seven others.

Jaylun Sanders, 21, of South ...Read more

The National Hurricane Center on Sunday issued its first national tropical weather outlook area for the 2022 season.

NHC is monitoring an area of low pressure over the north-central Gulf of Mexico about 150 miles south of Pensacola that has a 10% chance of development within the next 48 hours, according to an 8 p.m. report.

“This system is ...Read more

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the U.S.’s Indo-Pacific strategy is “doomed to fail,” making his remarks while President Joe Biden is in the region to increase engagement with allies and counter China’s rise and influence.

“Facts will prove that the so-called ‘Indo-Pacific strategy’ is essentially a strategy for creating ...Read more