U.S./World category, Page 974
Virus warnings back safety over tradition during RamadanVideo
ISLAMABAD — The coronavirus pandemic is cutting off the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims from their cherished Ramadan traditions as health officials battle to ward off new infections during Islam’s holiest month, haunted by multiple outbreaks traced to religious gatherings around the world. Ramadan, a month of daytime fasting, overnight festivity...
Coronavirus pushes U.S. unemployment toward highest since DepressionVideo
WASHINGTON — Unemployment in the U.S. is swelling to levels last seen during the Great Depression of the 1930s, with 1 in 6 American workers thrown out of a job by the coronavirus. More than 4.4 million laid-off Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, the government said Thursday. In...
Iran Guard commander threatens U.S. Navy after Trump tweetVideo
TEHRAN, Iran — The leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned Thursday he ordered his forces to potentially target the U.S. Navy after President Donald Trump’s tweet a day earlier threatening to sink Iranian vessels. Iran separately summoned the Swiss ambassador, who looks out for America’s interests in the country, to...
Greenland ready to take U.S. aid but won’t accept conditions
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Greenlanders said Thursday they welcome reports that the United States wants to invest in their island, but the money has to come without conditions. The U.S administration is expected to announce the opening of a U.S. Agency for International Development office at the new American consulate in...
At least 7 dead as storms hit Oklahoma, Texas and LouisianaVideo
MADILL, Okla. — Severe weather blew through the South on Thursday after killing at least seven people in Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana, including a worker at a factory hit by an apparent tornado, a man whose car was blown off the road and a man who went outside to grab...
China buys crude oil as prices collapse, adding to stockpiles
BEIJING — China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, is building up stockpiles of crude oil as global prices plunge because of the coronavirus outbreak. Imports rose 4.5% in March over a year earlier even as the world’s second-largest economy shut down to fight the virus and demand collapsed. For the...
Under pressure, Harvard says it will reject U.S. relief aid
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Harvard University announced Wednesday it will turn down $8.7 million in federal coronavirus relief, a day after President Donald Trump excoriated the wealthy Ivy League school over taxpayer money it stood to receive. It followed similar actions at Stanford and Princeton universities, which said they will too...
Bloomberg to fund $10M coronavirus tracking program for New York
NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that Michael Bloomberg will fund a pilot program to test and trace coronavirus infection rates as the state’s daily death rate dipped slightly to 474. The former New York City mayor will fund a $10 million initial plan to trace people who...
Trump signs immigration order as part of pandemic crackdown
WASHINGTON — President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that will temporarily halt the issuance of certain green cards as he uses the coronavirus pandemic to push long-stalled immigration measures during an election year. While Trump says the move is designed to preserve jobs for American workers in an economy...
U.S. to boost aid to Greenland in bid to counter Russia, China
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is poised to announce an expanded diplomatic presence in Greenland and a new assistance package for the vast island aimed at thwarting growing Chinese and Russian influence in the Arctic. The announcement, expected Thursday, will come less than a year after President Donald Trump drew...
U.S. adds cameras at Mexico border despite drop in crossings
SAN DIEGO — The Trump administration has been quietly adding military surveillance cameras at the U.S.-Mexico border in response to the coronavirus pandemic, though fewer people appear to be crossing illegally. It’s the latest move as operations at the U.S.-Mexico border have become increasingly militarized and secretive. Documents obtained by...
In Great Lakes region, EPA enforcement of clean water laws slackens
CHICAGO — Two months after President Trump took office, U.S. Steel dumped a plume of cancer-causing metal into a Lake Michigan tributary 20 miles away from a Chicago drinking water intake. The company reported another spill of hexavalent chromium six months later, around the same time public interest lawyers dug...
Trump Organization, written out of U.S. bailout, taps European aid
The Trump Organization is seeking U.K. and Irish bailout money to help cover wages for bartenders, bagpipers and other employees furloughed from its European golf properties because of the coronavirus lockdown. Overseas businesses owned by President Trump can tap government funds meant to help retain workers. In the U.S., by...
Man driving truck stolen in Pennsylvania wounded in Florida shootout, sheriff says
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — A man who was driving a stolen pickup truck was wounded Wednesday afternoon during a shootout with a deputy near a shopping center in Florida, authorities said. Deputies had been searching for a Toyota Tundra that was reported stolen in Pennsylvania this week when a...
Trump administration offers plan to cover coronavirus care for uninsured
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced a plan Wednesday to start paying hospitals and doctors who care for uninsured patients with coronavirus, but Democratic lawmakers and health industry groups are likely to press for more. Under the approach detailed by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, hospitals and doctors...
New York City’s July 4 fireworks show will go on in ‘a different way’
NEW YORK — The coronavirus has sunk major New York City events from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade to the 50th anniversary Pride march, but the famous July Fourth fireworks extravaganza will happen in some form, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday. “One way or another, the show will go...
Trump tweets he’s ordered Navy to destroy Iranian gunboats
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has ordered the Navy to “shoot down and destroy” any Iranian gunboats that harass U.S. ships, a directive that comes a week after the Navy reported a group of Iranian boats made “dangerous and harassing approaches” to American vessels in the...
Trump bars new immigration green cards, not temporary visas
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced what he described as a “temporary suspension of immigration into the United States.” But the executive order would bar only those seeking permanent residency, not temporary workers. Trump said Tuesday he would be placing a 60-day pause on the issuance of green cards in...
CDC confirms weeks-earlier California deaths from coronavirus
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Health officials say two people died with the coronavirus in California weeks before the first reported death from the disease. Santa Clara County officials said Tuesday the people died at home Feb. 6 and Feb. 17. Before this, the first U.S. death from the virus had been...
As people stay home, Earth turns wilder and cleaner
An unplanned grand experiment is changing Earth. As people across the globe stay home to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, the air has cleaned up, albeit temporarily. Smog stopped choking New Delhi, one of the most polluted cities in the world, and India’s getting views of sights not...
Canadian police: Death toll rises to 23 victims in Nova Scotia rampage
TORONTO — Canadian police said Tuesday they believe there to be 23 victims after a gunman went on a rampage in rural communities across Nova Scotia over the weekend. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they have recovered remains from some of the locations of the fires. Earlier, authorities said...
McDonald’s to give free meals to first responders, health care workers
McDonald’s will give out free breakfasts, lunches and dinners to first responders and health care workers to thank them for their efforts during the coronavirus pandemic. The restaurant chain said it will provide the Thank You Meals from Wednesday through May 5 at participating restaurants. The meals will be served...
Defiant Louisiana pastor arrested over coronavirus protestVideo
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana authorities arrested a pastor on an assault charge on Tuesday after he admitted that he drove his church bus toward a man who has been protesting his decision to hold mass gatherings in defiance of public health orders during the coronavirus pandemic. The police department...
Pandemic dealing European tourism ‘staggering’ blow
HALLE, Belgium — The European Union says its vaunted tourist industry is facing “staggering” figures of decline because of the coronavirus crisis, and the bloc’s internal market commissioner wants the sector to be first in line when it comes to recovery funds. Thierry Breton mentioned figures that the tourism economy...
Doctors: Execution drugs could help covid-19 patients
HOUSTON — Secrecy surrounding executions could hinder efforts by a group of medical professionals who are asking the nation’s death penalty states for medications used in lethal injections so that they can go to coronavirus patients who are on ventilators, according to a death penalty expert and a doctor who’s...
