[aggregation-styles] CNN Beijing (CNN Business) - A Chinese billionaire who criticized President Xi Jinping's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been jailed for 18 years on corruption charges, a court said Tuesday. Ren Zhiqiang, a retired real-estate tycoon with close ties to senior Chinese officials, disappeared in March after he...
Sweden Has Escaped a Second Coronavirus Wave So Far. The Question Is Why
[aggregation-styles] Los Angeles Times Subscription STOCKHOLM — A train pulls into the Odenplan subway station in central Stockholm, where morning commuters without masks get off or board before settling in to read their smartphones. Whether on trains or trams, in supermarkets or shopping malls — places where face masks are...
UK Experts Issue Stark Warning on Exponential Virus Cases
LONDON — Britain’s top medical advisers warned the public Monday they must make further sacrifices to control the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying new coronavirus infections could increase tenfold to almost 50,000 a day next month if nothing is done now to stem the tide. In a briefing...
The ‘Pandemmys’ Were Weird and Sometimes Wonderful
It was Regina King, winning her fourth career Emmy on Sunday, who perhaps summed up the proceedings the most succinctly — and accurately: “This is freaking weird." Why, yes, being handed your Emmy inside your home, by a person you didn't know was coming, with fellow nominees zooming in from...
Fresno Unified Will Seek OK To Reopen K-6 Schools to Students
Fresno Unified School District elementary school students could be among the first to be back in the classroom with their teachers. The district is planning to apply for a waiver that allow those students to return to school for in-person instruction. Older students would still have distance learning until coronavirus...
California Jobless Rate Falls With Help of Temporary Jobs
SACRAMENTO — A raft of temporary government jobs for the U.S. Census boosted California's economic picture in August as the state added 101,900 jobs and saw its unemployment rate — now at 11.4% — fall below the high-water mark of the Great Recession for the first time since March. But...
CDC Drops Controversial Testing Advice That Caused Backlash
NEW YORK — U.S. health officials on Friday dropped a controversial piece of coronavirus guidance and said anyone who has been in close contact with an infected person should get tested. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention essentially returned to its previous testing guidance, getting rid of language posted last...
Over 40 Arrested for Fraud of California COVID Unemployment Benefits
Investigators unraveling an identity fraud scheme targeting California’s unemployment system have arrested 44 people in Beverly Hills this month alone, officials said Thursday. More arrests are expected as the California Employment Development Department and federal authorities investigate reports of people receiving unsolicited letters, some with debit cards, from the state’s...
Israel Returns to Virus Lockdown as Cases Mount
JERUSALEM — Israel went back into a full lockdown on Friday to try to contain a coronavirus outbreak that has steadily worsened for months as its government has been plagued by indecision and infighting. The three-week lockdown, which began at 2 p.m., will require the closure of many businesses and...
Newsom Approves Workers Comp for Employees Infected with COVID-19
California companies must warn their workers of any potential exposure to the coronavirus and must pay their employees workers compensation benefits if they get sick with the disease under two laws that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Thursday. Newsom signed the laws over the objections of business groups, who have said...