USA

WASHINGTON, July 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Aug. 30, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday.

"The visit will affirm the United States' unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia's ongoing aggression in the Donbas and Crimea," Psaki said in a statement.

The two leaders would also discuss energy security cooperation and anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine, according to the statement.

WASHINGTON, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Afghan Taliban militants now control about half of the war-torn country's 419 district centers, a top U.S. general said on Wednesday.

"Strategic momentum appears to be sort of with the Taliban," General Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a press conference.

"There's a possibility of a complete Taliban takeover, or the possibility of any number of other scenarios," Milley said. "I don't think the end game is yet written."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is launching an effort in five cities in the U.S. to reduce spiking gun violence by addressing illegal trafficking and prosecuting offenses that help put guns in the hands of criminals.

Attorney General Merrick Garland will launch the gun trafficking strike forces in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The effort will include stepped-up enforcement in so-called supply areas — cities and states where it’s easier to obtain firearms that are later trafficked into other cities with more restrictive gun laws.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two Republicans tapped by House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy to sit on a committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, a decision the Republican denounced as “an egregious abuse of power.”

McCarthy said the GOP won’t participate in the investigation if Democrats won’t accept the members he appointed.

GARDNERVILLE, Nev. (AP) — A Northern California wildfire crossed into Nevada, prompting new evacuations, but better weather has been helping crews battling the nation’s largest blaze in southern Oregon.

The Tamarack Fire south of Lake Tahoe had burned more than 68 square miles (176 square kilometers) of timber and head-high chaparral in national forest land. It erupted on July 4 and was one of nearly two dozen blazes sparked by lightning strikes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration is beginning to make $3 billion in economic development grants available to communities — a tenfold increase in the program paid for by this year’s COVID-19 relief bill.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said her agency on Thursday will begin accepting applications for the competitive grants, which officials hope will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and help struggling cities and towns make long-term investments to drive development for years to come.

CINCINNATI (AP) — President Joe Biden expressed pointed frustration over the slowing COVID-19 vaccination rate in the U.S. and pleaded that it’s “gigantically important” for Americans to step up and get inoculated against the virus as it surges once again.

Biden, speaking Wednesday night at a televised town hall in Cincinnati, said the public health crisis has turned largely into a plight of the unvaccinated as the spread of the delta variant has led to a surge in infections around the country.

WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) - U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will visit China on July 25-26, the State Department said on Wednesday, as the world's two largest economies seek to navigate a deeply troubled bilateral relationship.

Sherman, the State Department's second-ranked official, will meet with State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other officials in the city of Tianjin, southeast of Beijing.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and members of his national security team plan to meet next month with business executives about cybersecurity, an official said Wednesday.

The Aug. 25 meeting comes as the White House is scrambling to help companies protect against ransomware attacks from Russia-based criminal syndicates and as the administration also confronts an aggressive cybersecurity threat from the Chinese government.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell implored unvaccinated Americans Tuesday to take the COVID-19 shot, issuing a stark and grave warning of a repeat of last year’s rising caseloads and shutdowns if people refuse to protect themselves from the coronavirus.

McConnell urged Americans to ignore the “demonstrably bad advice” coming from pundits and others against the vaccines. As cases skyrocket, he noted that nearly all the new virus hospitalizations in the U.S. are among people who have not been vaccinated.