COVID’s spreading fast because billions don’t have water to wash

A severe household water shortage facing two out of five people in the world is undermining efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Frequent and thorough...

Trump signs executive orders for coronavirus relief

BEDMINSTER, NEW JERSEY — President Donald Trump signed executive orders on Saturday partly restoring enhanced unemployment payments to the tens of millions of Americans who lost jobs in the coronavirus pandemic, as the United States marked a grim milestone of 5 million cases.

NZ records 100 days without domestic virus case

WELLINGTON — New Zealand marked 100 days without a domestic transmission of the coronavirus on Sunday, but warned against complacency as countries like Vietnam and Australia, which once had the virus under control, now battle a resurgence in infections.

US lifts global health coronavirus travel advisory

WASHINGTON — The US State Department and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention on Thursday lifted global advisories recommending US citizens avoid all...

Indonesia bets on $100B state spend to revive growth

Indonesia’s government will spend aggressively in the coming months to support a nascent economic recovery after measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic sent Southeast...

Fauci expects tens of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses at start of 2021

WASHINGTON - Drugmakers will likely have tens of millions of doses of coronavirus vaccines in the early part of next year, Anthony Fauci, the...

Hiroshima marks 75 years since atomic bombing in scaled-back ceremony

TOKYO - Bells tolled in Hiroshima on Thursday for the 75th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing, with ceremonies downsized due to the...

Google pulls 2,500 China-linked YouTube channels over disinformation

Google says it has deleted more than 2,500 YouTube channels tied to China as part of its effort to weed out disinformation on the...

Facebook purges ads for illegal wildlife in SE Asia as online trade surges

YANGON — An ad showing a civet cat cowering in a cage being offered for sale on Facebook was just one of hundreds that...

India widens China app ban to cover more from Xiaomi, Baidu

NEW DELHI — India has banned some mobile apps of Chinese companies such as Xiaomi Corp. and Baidu Inc., three sources told Reuters on...

Facebook, Twitter pull Trump posts over coronavirus misinformation

Facebook Inc. on Wednesday took down a post by US President Donald J. Trump, which the company said violated its rules against sharing misinformation...

Huge explosion rocks Beirut

A MASSIVE explosion at Lebanon’s main port rocked Beirut, overwhelming hospitals dealing with the injured and dying. The blast was so large it blew out windows across the capital and was even heard from Cyprus.