National & International

The U.S. unemployment rate fell unexpectedly in May to 13.3% — still on par with what the nation witnessed during the Great Depression — as states loosened their coronavirus lockdowns and businesses began recalling workers faster than economists had predicted.

For the first time in weeks, kids played in the church cemetery. Nearby, a group of men in their 20s reflected on what it meant to gather again during the pandemic.

In the days since President Donald Trump blamed antifa activists for an eruption of violence at protests over police killings of black people, social media has lit up with false rumors that the far-left-leaning group is transporting people to wreak havoc on small U.S. cities.

The first astronauts launched by SpaceX declared victory Monday in NASA’s cosmic capture-the-flag game.

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday night that he is seeking a new state to host this summer’s Republican National Convention after North Carolina refused to guarantee the event could be held in Charlotte without restrictions because of ongoing concerns over the coronavirus.

The nation’s streets were calmer than they have been in days since the killing of George Floyd set off mostly peaceful but sometimes violent demonstrations over police brutality and injustice against African Americans.

Most Republicans continued Tuesday to avoid any criticism of President Donald Trump, though a handful of GOP senators spoke out against police use of tear gas to clear peaceful demonstrators from a park near the White House so Trump could walk to a nearby church and pose with a Bible.

The global race for a COVID-19 vaccine boils down to some critical questions: How much must the shots rev up someone’s immune system to really work? And could revving it the wrong way cause harm?

It began with Attorney General Bill Barr standing with his hands casually in his pockets, not wearing a tie, surveying the scene at Lafayette Park across from the White House, where several thousand protesters had gathered for more demonstrations after the police killing of George Floyd.

SpaceX delivered two astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA on Sunday, following up a historic liftoff with an equally smooth docking in yet another first for Elon Musk’s company.

A country convulsed by violent protests picked up the pieces Monday morning and braced for the possibility of more trouble amid a coast-to-coast outpouring of rage over police killings of black people.

A rocket ship built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company thundered away from Earth with two Americans on Saturday, ushering in a new era of commercial space travel and putting NASA back in the business of launching astronauts from U.S. soil for the first time in nearly a decade.

Protesters set police cars ablaze, smashed businesses' windows and skirmished with baton-wielding officers in streets from Atlanta to Los Angeles, as anger over George Floyd’s death spread across the country.

Doctors are reporting success with newer drugs that control certain types of cancer better, reduce the risk it will come back and make treatment easier to bear.

Wading into a politically charged issue, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday preached the importance of wearing masks in public as the nation's economy reopens from the “cataclysmic" damage inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic.

President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to take action to bring the city of Minneapolis “under control,” calling violent protesters outraged by the death of a black man in police custody “thugs” and saying that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Thick smoke hovered over Minneapolis on Friday, hours after cheering protesters torched a police station that officers abandoned as a third night of violent protests flared over the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white police officer knelt on his neck.

The coronavirus crisis threw at least 2.1 million Americans out of work last week despite the gradual reopening of businesses around the country, stoking fears Thursday that the scourge is doing deep and potentially long-lasting damage to the U.S. economy.

For many religious families across the United States, the coronavirus has disrupted their most anticipated traditions – the rites of passage that mark their adolescent children’s full entry into their congregations.

The founder of the Knights of Columbus, the influential U.S.-based lay Catholic organization, is moving a step closer to possible sainthood.

Only about half of Americans say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine if the scientists working furiously to create one succeed, a number that’s surprisingly low considering the effort going into the global race for a vaccine.

The launch of a SpaceX rocket ship with two NASA astronauts on a history-making flight into orbit was called off with less than 17 minutes to go in the countdown Wednesday because of thunderclouds and the risk of lightning.

The fraught, freighted number of this particular American moment is a round one brimming with zeroes: 100,000.

Tropical Storm Bertha made landfall on South Carolina's coast Wednesday morning shortly after it formed, becoming the second named storm before the official start of this year's Atlantic hurricane season.

President Donald Trump honored America’s war dead in back-to-back Memorial Day appearances colored by an epic struggle off the battlefield, against the coronavirus.