SACRAMENTO — California has regained more than a third of the 2.6 million nonfarm jobs the most populous state lost to the coronavirus pandemic in March and April, state officials said Friday. The leisure and hospitality sector accounted for half the overall gain of 96,000 jobs, after experiencing the largest...
COVID Vaccine Available in Mid-November at Earliest, Company Says.
NEW YORK — Pfizer Inc. cannot request emergency authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine before the third week of November -- and that’s if everything goes well, the company’s CEO announced Friday. Despite President Donald Trump’s repeated promises of a vaccine before Election Day, scientists have been cautioning that it’s unlikely...
WHO Study Finds Remdesivir Didn’t Help COVID-19 Patients
GENEVA — A large study led by the World Health Organization suggests that the antiviral drug remdesivir did not help hospitalized COVID-19 patients, in contrast to an earlier study that made the medicine a standard of care in the United States and many other countries. The results announced Friday do...
US Long-Term Mortgage Rates Fall to Low; 30-Year at 2.81%
WASHINGTON — U.S. long-term mortgage rates fell this week as the key 30-year loan reached a new all-time low for the tenth time this year. Home loan rates have marked a year-long decline amid economic anxiety in the recession set off by the coronavirus pandemic. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported...
Tourists Return to Hawaii Amid Ever-Changing Pandemic Rules
HONOLULU — Coronavirus weary residents and struggling business owners in Hawaii will be watching closely as tourists begin to return to the islands on Thursday without being required to self-quarantine upon arrival. A new pre-travel testing program will allow visitors who test negative for COVID-19 to come to Hawaii and...
C-SPAN Anchor Suspended After Lying About Twitter Hack
NEW YORK — C-SPAN suspended its political editor Steve Scully indefinitely Thursday after he admitted to lying about his Twitter feed being hacked when he was confronted about a questionable exchange with former Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci. The news came on the day of what was supposed to be a career highlight...
AP-NORC Poll: Americans Critical of Trump Handling of Virus
WASHINGTON — Less than three weeks from Election Day, majorities of Americans are highly critical of President Donald Trump’s handling of both the coronavirus pandemic and his own illness, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The survey also shows that few Americans have high levels...
Europe Reels as It Sets Virus Records, Slaps on New Rules
BERLIN — Fears rose Thursday that Europe is running out of time to control a resurgence of the coronavirus, as infections hit record daily highs in Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy and Poland. France slapped a 9 p.m. curfew on many of its biggest cities and Londoners faced new travel...
Months Into Pandemic, Iran Sees Worst Wave of Virus Deaths
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's capital has run out of intensive care beds as the country confronts a new surge of infections that is filling hospitals and cemeteries alike. The single-day death toll hit a record high three times this week. Eight months after the pandemic first stormed Iran, pummeling its...
US Jobless Claims Rise to 898,000 With Layoffs Still High
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose last week by the most in two months, to 898,000, a historically high number and evidence that layoffs remain a hindrance to the economy’s recovery from the pandemic recession. Thursday’s report from the Labor Department coincides with other recent data that...