Many Republican lawmakers have criticized governors’ emergency restrictions since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. Now that most legislatures are back in session, a new type of pushback is taking root: misinformation. In their own comments or by inviting skeptics to testify at legislative hearings, some GOP state lawmakers are using their platform to promote false information about the virus, the steps needed to limit its spread and the vaccines that will pull the nation out of the pandemic.
The NEXT: 21 to watch in 2021: Pro skateboarder Nyjah Huston talks about going to the Olympics and his career beyond skateboarding.
After last week's volatile bout of stock trading, investors this week are set to focus on new labor market data, as well as a dwindling batch of quarterly earnings results.
Germany announced Sunday that travelers from France’s northeastern Moselle region will face additional restrictions because of the high rate of variant coronavirus cases there. Germany's disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute, said it would add Moselle to the list of “variant of concern” areas that already includes countries such as the Czech Republic, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Travelers from those areas must produce a recent negative coronavirus test before entering Germany.
Looking beyond the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, President Joe Biden and lawmakers are laying the groundwork for another top legislative priority — a long-sought boost to the nation's roads, bridges and other infrastructure that could run into Republican resistance to a hefty price tag. Biden and his team have begun discussions on the possible outlines of an infrastructure package with members of Congress, particularly mindful that Texas' recent struggles with power outages and water shortages after a brutal winter storm present an opportunity for agreement on sustained spending on infrastructure. Gina McCarthy, Biden’s national climate adviser, told The Associated Press that the deadly winter storm in Texas should be a “wake-up call” for the need for energy systems and other infrastructure that are more reliable and resilient.
Nearly 900 cattle that have been on a ship traveling the Mediterranean Sea for two months will be sacrificed after veterinarians deemed them no longer fit for export, Spanish authorities said. A total of 895 cattle set sail from the Spanish port of Cartagena on Dec. 18 in the cargo ship named Karim Allah destined for export to Turkey. Turkish port authorities, however, refused to let them disembark, reportedly due to suspicions about their health.
Authorities in France have opened an investigation for attempted murder after a news photographer was attacked and seriously injured while reporting on a suspected outbreak of youth violence, his newspaper said. The newspaper L'Union said Sunday that Christian Lantenois, 65, was in a serious but stable condition at a hospital in Reims in northeast France. The photographer was attacked Saturday while covering reports that youths, some apparently armed with metal bars and golf clubs, had massed in a sector of high-rise housing in the city, the newspaper said.
There are many critics of corporate stock buybacks, but Warren Buffett is certainly not one of them.
Brazil’s capital has entered a two-week lockdown, joining several states in adopting measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 as intensive care beds begin to fill in some important cities. Iran’s vaccine drive recently has gotten underway, with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine administered to health workers this month.
It’s nearly dawn and Zainab Amjad has been up all night working on an oil rig in southern Iraq. Elsewhere in the oil-rich province of Basra, Ayat Rawthan is supervising the assembly of large drill pipes. The women, both 24, are among just a handful who have eschewed the dreary office jobs typically handed to female petroleum engineers in Iraq.
Grab Holdings is setting up drive-thru vaccination services in Indonesia in collaboration with the government to help the nation inoculate more than 180 million people against Covid-19.
Here's how you can try an Arby's fish sandwich for free.
SoftBank says deal reached with WeWork founder, directors
SoftBank Group Corp. has reached a settlement in a U.S. legal dispute with directors of office space-sharing venture WeWork Inc. and its founder Adam Neumann
Fred Segal, a notable Los Angeles-based celebrity fashion retailer, died Thursday. Segal died from the complications of a stroke at a Santa Monica hospital, his publicist said Friday. Segal “was an innovator, a forward thinker, a rule-breaker, a mentor to so many, such a lover of life and a humanitarian,” his family said in a statement obtained by the Hollywood Reporter.
The U.S. is getting a third vaccine to prevent COVID-19, as the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday cleared a Johnson & Johnson shot that works with just one dose instead of two. Health experts are anxiously awaiting a one-and-done option to help speed vaccinations, as they race against a virus that already has killed more than 510,000 people in the U.S. and is mutating in increasingly worrisome ways. The FDA said J&J’s vaccine offers strong protection against what matters most: serious illness, hospitalizations and death.
The fedora Humphrey Bogart wore in “Casablanca” may have secured Borsalino’s place in fashion and cinematic history, but it will be something like the cow-print bucket hat that will help ensure its future. The storied Italian hatmaker still makes its felt hats by hand in a Piedmont region factory, using the same artisanal techniques from when the company was founded in 1857 and some of founder Giuseppe Borsalino’s original machinery. The new collection displayed during Milan Fashion Week takes inspiration from the Arts & Crafts design movement in mid-19th century Britain.
A new analysis by Yahoo Finance and Economic Innovation Group (EIG) highlights a subset of America for which the coronavirus pandemic has been particularly devastating.
The Golden Globes will air this Sunday, but the award show has been tainted by recent scandal — as well as the coronavirus pandemic which will force this year's production to go virtual.
Rachel Lynne Cushman is used to getting calls from Chinook Nation members worried about losing housing or having their power shut off. Cushman is secretary-treasurer for the group of tribes whose rural, ancestral lands are based in one of Washington state's poorest counties. “We’re doing the best we can,” Cushman said.
While Warren Buffett isn’t known to prognosticate on where interest rates are heading, he warns that fixed-income investors “face a bleak future."
Seattle says: Game on. For a limited time, foodies can score a socially distanced, outdoor meal at the home of the city's NFL team, the Seahawks. The “Field to Table” dining series kicked off this month at Lumen Field, offering upscale eats, plus a view of the stadium normally reserved for players and coaches.
Buffett, 90, isn’t slowing down much and seems poised to lead Berkshire Hathaway into the post-pandemic world.
Viewed as an outsider to partisan politics, she now has a place in President Joe Biden’s inner sanctum, a Ph.D. economist who does the reading, knows the numbers and treats her staff as peers rather than underlings. Yellen had been at the White House to strategize about how to push through President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan — a package that could determine how quickly the U.S. economy heals, how the Democrats fare in the midterm elections and just how much Americans can trust the government to solve the nation's toughest problems. As a former chair of the Federal Reserve, Yellen carries the authority of a public servant who has already helped steer the economy back to health once and now has been called back at age 74 for an encore after former President Donald Trump declined to offer her another term as Fed chair.
Billionaire Warren Buffett encouraged investors to maintain their faith in America's economy and the businesses his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate owns in a reassuring letter to his shareholders Saturday. Buffett hardly even addressed the coronavirus that ravaged many businesses last year, instead focusing on the long-term prospects for the railroad, utility and insurance businesses and stocks that belong to Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett's annual letter is always well read in the business world because of his remarkably successful track record and his knack for explaining complicated subjects in simple terms.