Beijing, China (AP) — Chinese envoys have set off diplomatic firestorms overseas with a combative defense whenever their country is accused of not acting quickly enough to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. They belong to a new generation of “Wolf Warrior” diplomats, named after patriotic blockbuster films starring a muscle-bound Chinese commando killing…
NEW YORK (AP) — Unemployment in the U.S. has swelled to levels last seen during the Great Depression, with 1 in 6 American workers thrown out of work by the coronavirus. The government says more than 4.4 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. In all, about 26 million people have now filed…
San Francisco, CA (AP) — Health officials say two people infected with the coronavirus in California died as many as three weeks before the U.S. reported its first death from the disease in late February — a gap that underscored shortcomings in the nation’s surveillance system for detecting outbreaks. The deaths in early and mid-February…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has come out with a plan to start paying hospitals and doctors who care for uninsured COVID-19 patients. Expect Democratic lawmakers and health industry groups to press for more help. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says hospitals and doctors would submit their bills directly to the government…
Baton Rouge, LA (AP) — Governors in 17 states have committed to regional coordination to reopen their economies during the coronavirus outbreak. But none are in the South, where leaders are going it alone, just as they did in imposing restrictions. As questions about when and how to ease virus-control measures becomes increasingly politically charged,…
An Associated Press investigation has found that a relief fund Congress created to protect small businesses amid the coronavirus crisis has helped companies with thousands of employees, past regulatory run-ins and risks of financial failure even before the economy got walloped. The Paycheck Protection Program was supposed to help small businesses, which typically have less…
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health regulators have OK’d the first coronavirus test that allows people to take their own sample at home. The test from LabCorp will initially only be available to health care workers and first responders under a doctor’s orders. The sample will still have to be sent back to LabCorp for processing.…
Bangkok, Thailand (AP) — Asian shares are lower after oil prices plunged below zero as storage for crude runs close to full amid a worldwide glut. Shares fell in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai early Tuesday, while New York stock futures edged higher. The cost to have a barrel of U.S. crude delivered in May…
HEADLAND, Ala. (AP) — Two people are dead after a night of severe weather across the Deep South. Mississippi emergency managers say a possible tornado killed one person there Sunday night. And a south Alabama coroner says 61-year-old Jerry Oliver Williams of Henry County was killed when a suspected tornado hit a mobile home Sunday…
(AP) A flood of new research suggests that far more people have had the new coronavirus without any symptoms. That means the virus may turn out to be much less lethal than originally feared. But it also makes it tough to know who’s contagious because people who don’t feel sick can still spread the bug.…