WASHINGTON — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid rose slightly last week to 870,000, a historically high figure that shows that the viral pandemic is still squeezing restaurants, airlines, hotels and many other businesses six months after it first erupted. The figure coincides with evidence that some newly...
New Year’s Eve Ball Will Drop in Mostly Empty Times Square This Year
[aggregation-styles] New York Post For the first time in 114 years, there will be no crowd in Times Square to cheer the famed New Year’s Eve ball drop. In the latest COVID-19-induced blow to Big Apple traditions, officials announced major changes to the annual event Wednesday — saying that while...
Late-Stage Study of First Single-Shot Vaccine Begins in US
Johnson & Johnson is beginning a huge final study to try to prove if a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine can protect against the virus. The study starting Wednesday will be one of the world's largest coronavirus vaccine studies so far, testing the shot in 60,000 volunteers in the U.S., South Africa,...
Senate GOP Plans Vote on Trump’s Court Pick Before Election
WASHINGTON — Votes in hand, Senate Republicans are charging ahead with plans to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat before the Nov. 3 election, launching a divisive fight over Democratic objections before a nominee is even announced. Trump said Tuesday he will...
Powell and Mnuchin Voice Optimism but Back More Economic Aid
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expressed cautious optimism Tuesday that the U.S. economy is rebounding from the pandemic-induced recession with federal support but that more help from the government is likely needed. Powell told the House Financial Services Committee that he believed the...
‘Unfathomable’: US Death Toll From Coronavirus Hits 200,000
The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus topped 200,000 Tuesday, a figure unimaginable eight months ago when the scourge first reached the world’s richest nation with its state-of-the-art laboratories, top-flight scientists and stockpiles of medicines and emergency supplies. “It is completely unfathomable that we’ve reached this point,” said Jennifer Nuzzo,...
Biden Says 200 Million People Have Died From Coronavirus as Campaign Gaffes Continue
[aggregation-styles] Fox News 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden had another gaffe on Sunday when he said an estimated 200 million people have already died from the coronavirus, even though the number of American casualties is closer to 200,000. "If Donald Trump has his way, the complications from COVID-19, which...
UN Chief: ‘Epochal’ Crisis as World Powers Meet Remotely
UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the U.N.’s first-ever virtual meeting of global leaders Tuesday that the world is facing an “epochal” health crisis, the biggest economic calamity and job losses since the Great Depression, threats to human rights and worries of a new Cold War between the U.S....
Unmasked: NFL Fines Coaches, Teams for Not Covering Faces
NFL coaches thumbed their collective — and exposed — noses at the NFL’s mask mandate in Week 2. The league responded with hefty fines of $100,000 per coach and $250,000 per club. The first three to get fined were Denver’s Vic Fangio, San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan and Seattle’s Pete Carroll, according to...
UK Leader Orders New Virus Restrictions, Could Last 6 Months
LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Britons on Tuesday that they should not expect to return to a normal social or work life for at least six months, as he ordered new restrictions that his government hopes will suppress a dramatic surge in confirmed coronavirus cases. Saying Britain must...