Global trade

The Latest: 3rd meat plant shut down in UK local outbreak

LONDON — A meat processing plant in West Yorkshire has been shut down amid a localized outbreak of COVID-19, the third such site to shut down in the U.K. in recent days.

MLB

Japan opens baseball season after 3-month pandemic delay

TOKYO — Japanese baseball managed to do what American baseball has not — play ball.

Virus Outbreak

Last batch of joint aid lands in Yemen amid UN funding cuts

The last of three large shipments of medical supplies landed in Yemen on Friday, organizers of the cargo flights said, following a joint initiative by the world organization and multinational...

International News

India’s prime minister to meet with opposition on China row

NEW DELHI — India's prime minister is meeting top opposition leaders Friday as the government tries to lower tensions with China after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash in a Himalayan...

Beijing

Singapore opens gyms, dining out as China outbreak steadies

SINGAPORE — Singaporeans can wine and dine at restaurants, work out at the gym and socialize with no more than five people at a time as of Friday, when the city-state removed most of its...

Beijing

China moves vast trade fair online, but few buyers follow

BEIJING — Standing in front of shelves laden with colorful backpacks, a saleswoman promoted bags on the Canton Trade Fair’s website without knowing whether anyone was watching as the world’s...

General News

Asia Today: South Korean cases rise, Singapore reopening

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has reported 49 cases of COVID-19 as the virus continues to spread in the densely populated capital area where half of the country’s 51 million people...

Race and ethnicity

Lives Lost: South African activist targeted apartheid, HIV

JOHANNESBURG — Clarence Mini's life was marked by battles against formidable foes. The South African doctor fought apartheid — receiving his medical training in exile — the government's...

Beijing

Asian stocks mixed amid concern over coronavirus hotspots

BEIJING — Asian stock markets were mixed Friday after Wall Street closed little-changed amid as optimism about a possible global economic recovery was tempered by concern over rising...

Michael Pence

The Latest: Coronavirus still spreading in 2nd S Korea wave

SEOUL, South Korea — The coronavirus continues to spread in South Korea, particularly in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan region, which is home to half the country’s 51 million people....

Shopping

JD.com racks up $38B in sales in annual online shopping fest

HONG KONG — JD.com's annual “618” online shopping extravaganza racked up a total of 269.2 billion yuan ($38 billion) worth of transactions, as consumers splurged during China's first major...

Global trade

US official says China not forthcoming in talks with Pompeo

WASHINGTON — A senior State Department official said Thursday that the United States was disappointed by China’s attitude at a meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a top Chinese...

Ballet

Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center cancel fall schedules

NEW YORK — Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts have canceled their fall schedules due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the New York City Ballet called off its annual...

MLB

Players at 70 games, MLB at 60, Manfred says deadline near

NEW YORK — Baseball players proposed a 70-game regular-season schedule Thursday, a plan immediately rejected by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred with the sides 10 games and about $275...

U.S. News

Heat, virus no deterrent for Trump fans camped outside arena

TULSA, Okla. — Rick Frazier drove more than 750 miles from Ohio to Tulsa to be one of the first campers in line for President Donald Trump's first rally in months, undeterred by a days-long...

Alejandro Villanueva

Steelers’ Heyward: team will be united if it opts to protest

PITTSBURGH — Cam Heyward is well-versed in the sometimes messy optics associated with taking a stand against social injustice.

Virus Outbreak

Trump team seeks 4th debate with Biden, cites voting by mail

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's campaign is requesting a fourth debate with his presumptive Democratic rival, citing an expected surge in mail and absentee voting this fall because of...

Galveston

AP Explains: Juneteenth marks day last enslaved people freed

Juneteenth commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free 155 years ago. Now, with support growing for the racial justice movement, 2020 may be remembered as the year...

Minnesota Vikings

Vikings, Cook present NFL’s latest RB contract standoff

MINNEAPOLIS — Dalvin Cook logged off last week from virtual team activities with the Minnesota Vikings, no longer willing to participate until he has secured a new...

U.S. News

Curtains for Camelot: Last Kennedy sibling’s death ends era

BOSTON — Camelot's inner circle is just about gone — though its spirit, some say, is very much alive.

George Floyd

For now, Virginia still can’t remove massive Lee statue

RICHMOND, Va. — A judge on Thursday extended a court order preventing Virginia’s governor from removing a historic statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee from a famed avenue in the former capital of...

Michigan Wolverines men's basketball

The Latest: 1 Michigan St, 2 Michigan athletes test positive

The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:

General News

A model for 2020? Candidates once let voters come to them

MENTOR, Ohio — Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden are wrestling with how to campaign safely during the coronavirus pandemic. Historians offer up precedent that might come with some lessons:...

General News

Facebook removes Trump ads with symbols once used by Nazis

WASHINGTON — Facebook has removed campaign ads by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that featured an upside-down red triangle, a symbol once used by Nazis to designate...

General News

Decline in new US virus deaths may be temporary reprieve

The number of deaths per day from the coronavirus in the U.S. has fallen in recent weeks to the lowest level since late March, even as states increasingly reopen for business. But scientists are...

Virus Outbreak

California orders people to wear masks in most indoor spaces

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California will require people to wear masks in most indoor settings and outdoors when distancing isn't possible under a statewide order issued Thursday....

General News

India seeks eased tensions with China after Himalayas clash

NEW DELHI — India said Thursday it was using diplomatic channels with China to de-escalate a military standoff in a remote Himalayan border region where 20 Indian soldiers were killed this...

Juneteenth

Juneteenth: A day of joy and pain - and now national action

In just about any other year, Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the day in 1865 that all enslaved black people learned they had been freed from bondage, would be marked by African American...

General News

AP-NORC poll: Trump adds to divisions in an unhappy country

WASHINGTON — Americans are deeply unhappy about the state of their country — and a majority think President Donald Trump is exacerbating tensions in a moment of national crisis, according to...

International News

UK’s recession ‘less bad’ than feared, Bank of England

LONDON — The Bank of England unveiled another big stimulus package for the U.K. economy as it tries to limit the scale of the coronavirus recession, which it now believes will be “less...

General News

Persistently high layoffs suggest a slow US economic rebound

WASHINGTON — Three months after the viral outbreak shut down businesses across the country, U.S. employers are still shedding jobs at a heavy rate, a trend that points to a slow and prolonged...

U.S. News

US mortgage rates fall; 30-year at all-time low of 3.13%

WASHINGTON — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week as the benchmark 30-year home loan reached a new all-time low.

General News

Pandemic gives businesses lessons in survival, innovation

NEW YORK — When the coronavirus outbreak forced Sean Giovanni to shut down his recording studio in for two months, he dropped off mobile equipment at staffers’ and artists’ homes. He hoped...

International News

European Central Bank hands out 1.3 trillion euros in loans

FRANKFURT, Germany — The European Central Bank has handed out 1.31 trillion euros ($1.46 trillion) in long-term, ultra-cheap credit to hundreds of banks as part of its emergency support aimed...

Business

‘Adapt or die’ -- Restaurants find ways to evolve amid virus

NEW YORK — When the coronavirus roared into New York, chef Anna Klinger wouldn't let it put a fork in her restaurant.

Prince Charles

Macron marks appeal that gave birth to French Resistance

LONDON — French President Emmanuel Macron marked Gen. Charles De Gaulle’s famed World War II appeal to resist the Nazis on Thursday in a special ceremony intended to invoke the deep...

Lifestyle

VIRUS DIARY: Jumbled scenes from an isolated life, captured

PHOENIX — Working from home is a blissful reprieve from the many sounds of the office. The gum-smacking, the open-mouth chewing, the drink-slurping, the hand-sneezers that haunt my...

Health

Official: German slaughterhouse virus outbreak untenable

BERLIN — Germany's agriculture minister said Thursday that conditions at a slaughterhouse where hundreds of workers tested positive for COVID-19 were untenable and backed an official...

Hong Kong

Hong Kong Disneyland reopens, consumers using less cash

The outbreak of the coronavirus has dealt a shock to the global economy with unprecedented speed. Following are developments Thursday related to the national and global response, the work place...

Health

Test maker targeted by FDA says it responded to US concerns

WASHINGTON — A company targeted by the Food and Drug Administration for selling unauthorized coronavirus antibody tests says it has responded to regulators' concerns, though it has no...

Religion

Vatican: Climate change efforts go forward even without US

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican stressed Thursday that the movement to combat climate change is unstoppable and worldwide, although it said it would welcome a U.S. return to the Paris...

U.S. News

Lives Lost: For man with Down syndrome, a college dream

NEW YORK — Right up to the end, the status message on Saadya Ehrenpreis’ WhatsApp profile read: “Having the time of my life.”

Virus Outbreak

This Father’s Day, dads have new respect for duties at home

NEW YORK — Rahul Gandhi's twin girls were born dangerously premature, with a slim chance they would have normal lives after barely surviving birth eight years ago.