LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerian comedian Maryam Apaokagi has a sure-fire way of getting people to listen to her coronavirus health advice – she delivers it with a hard slap in the face. The 21-year-old has joined a line-up of the nation’s top performers working hea... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – The runaway success of Nintendo Co Ltd’s (7974.T) island life simulator Animal Crossing: New Horizons has overshadowed an uncomfortable fact for fans of the Switch console – it lacks upcoming titles. Nintendo on Thursday said Animal Crossing,... More »
(Reuters) – Little Richard, the self-proclaimed “architect of rock ‘n’ roll” who built his ground-breaking sound with a boiling blend of boogie-woogie, rhythm and blues and gospel, died on Saturday at the age of 87. Richard, a Grammy Award winner and inductee ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – While President Donald Trump traveled to the battleground state of Arizona this week, his Democratic opponent for the White House, Joe Biden, campaigned from his basement as he has done throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Those optics h... More »
(Reuters) – The last “supermoon” of 2020 rose in the night sky on Thursday over a world beginning to re-emerge after weeks of coronavirus-related lockdowns. The supermoon phenomenon occurs when the moon is within 10% of its closest distance to the Earth at the... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – As Thailand’s capital cautiously reopens many restaurants shuttered over coronavirus fears, the feline “employees” of the Caturday Cafe are back at work. The few dozen friendly cats typically lounge around the cafe, breaking up naptime to s... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Astronomers have spotted the closest black hole to Earth ever discovered and are surprised about its living arrangements – residing harmoniously with two stars in a remarkable celestial marriage that may end in a nasty breakup. The black... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Antwerp is regaining its glitz as Belgium eases a two-month nationwide coronavirus lockdown that virtually halted business in the world’s largest diamond trade centre. The return of some of the brokers, cutters and couriers who normally th... More »
MONTREAL (Reuters) – The major Canadian province of Quebec, among the worst hit by the coronavirus, started gradually restarting its economy on Monday while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau maintained his cautious stance. Quebec is allowing stores with an outside... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Luxury sports car maker Ferrari (RACE.MI) still expects to make more than $1 billion in core profit this year, providing a relative beacon of stability in an auto industry ravaged by the coronavirus crisis. The company, known for its red Form... More »
BERLIN/MUNICH (Reuters) – The business climate in Germany’s auto sector suffered its biggest slump in April and hit its lowest level since 1991, when the Ifo economic institute began collecting data post-reunification, a survey showed on Monday. The news came ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The French government has rejected a request by Amazon (AMZN.O) to tap a state partial unemployment scheme for employees at its six warehouses in the country, a spokeswoman for the labor ministry said on Monday. The e-commerce giant has shut ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New orders for U.S.-made goods suffered a record decline in March and could sink further as disruptions from the novel coronavirus fracture supply chains and depress exports. The report from the Commerce Department on Monday was the late... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices were mixed on Monday as countries started to ease coronavirus lockdowns, though a fresh spat between the United States and China over the origin of the virus weighed on prices. Worldwide fuel demand fell by an estimated 30% in A... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Like the myriad approaches governments are taking to tackle the coronavirus crisis, the way the world’s top banks are calculating their potential losses also differs widely, with puzzling outcomes for investors. These discrepancies are roote... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Uber Technologies’ Careem subsidiary said on Monday it was cutting 536 jobs this week, representing 31% of the Dubai-headquartered company’s workforce. The announcement came hours after Uber said it was shuttering its Eats delivery business i... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Two of the world’s biggest gold refiners, Valcambi and Argor-Heraeus, said on Monday they were restoring close to full operations after Swiss authorities relaxed coronavirus lockdown measures. The decisions end six weeks of partial or full c... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp said on Monday it will launch an e-commerce service in India this week to enable customers stuck at home during a nationwide lockdown to buy its products from their local retailer. The new service, Mi ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday said bipartisan discussions are underway over whether more U.S. government relief funding is needed amid the nation’s novel coronavirus outbreak, but that President Donald Trump is focused on t... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian Air (NWC.OL) shareholders backed its financial survival plan on Monday, with more than 95% of votes cast supporting the conversion of nearly $1 billion of debt into equity and raising more cash from its owners. The approval follows w... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – Dressed as “Star Wars” characters, local officials in the Philippines are out and about to enforce strict quarantine measures while also handing out relief packages. With Darth Vader and Stormtrooper outfits made from rubber mats and old pla... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Grandparents hugged their grandchildren, toddlers rushed excitedly through parks and factories revived their long-stalled production lines as Italy started the slow process of unwinding Europe’s longest coronavirus lockdown. Nearly two months ... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia criticised the World Health Organisation on Monday for advising adults to avoid palm oil in their diet during the COVID-19 outbreak and use alternatives such as olive oil. The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office said in ... More »
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Coronavirus test kits used in Tanzania were dismissed as faulty by President John Magufuli on Sunday, because he said they had returned positive results on samples taken from a goat and a pawpaw. Magufuli, whose government has already... More »
LAGOS (Reuters) – Two dozen Lagos healthcare workers in scrubs and face masks rushed outside the isolation tents and, making sure to keep six feet apart on the bright green grass, danced and swayed as a saxophone and trumpet struck up the band. Inside the tent... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court are typically a formal affair, dictated by adherence to tradition by an institution historically resistant to altering its ways. Come Monday, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, all that chang... More »
TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) – Before the coronavirus pandemic, Desi Marinov considered herself “apolitical.” The Fort Lauderdale, Florida, flight attendant didn’t even bother to vote in the 2016 presidential election. Losing her job due to lockdowns to curb the spre... More »
(Reuters) – Icelandic actor and strongman Hafthor Bjornsson set a world record for the deadlift on Saturday when he lifted 1,104 pounds (501 kg) at Thor’s Power Gym in Iceland. Bjornsson, best known for his portrayal of Ser Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane on the... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As Democratic presidential hopefuls descended on New Hampshire prior to the state’s Feb. 11 primary, John Tackeff was busy. The 27-year-old attended candidate events across the state to raise concerns about a proposed tax on Wall Street ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Friday asked the Senate to find any documents tied to an allegation he sexually assaulted a former aide in 1993, after personally denying the accusation publicly for the first time... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Even Tim Gunn, the immaculately dressed fashion mentor from “Project Runway” and Amazon’s new competition show “Making the Cut,” is finding it hard to get out of his pajamas these days. As much of the world shelters at home to prevent t... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The sun appears to be far less active than similar stars in terms of brightness variations caused by sunspots and other phenomena – a “boring” personality, according to scientists, that may not be a bad thing for us Earthlings. Researche... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. deaths from the novel coronavirus topped 60,000 on Wednesday and the outbreak will soon be deadlier than any flu season since 1967, according to a Reuters tally. America’s worst flu season in recent years was in 2017-2018 when more than 61,000... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The huge African predator Spinosaurus spent much of its life in the water, propelled by a paddle-like tail while hunting large fish – a “river monster,” according to scientists, that showed that some dinosaurs invaded the aquatic realm.... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – If you were laid off in April, the health insurance from your job may stop at the end of the month. Then what? Rest assured there are options, even if they are all expensive. If you are losing a workplace plan, you will get paperwork expla... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian Air (NWC.OL) could run out of cash by mid-May unless its proposed financial rescue plan is approved by creditors and shareholders, the budget carrier warned on Monday. If approved by bondholders, leasing companies and shareholders, t... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s airlines want the government’s coronavirus wage support scheme to be extended beyond June, maintaining the assistance for longer with a only slow recovery in air travel expected. Airlines UK, the industry’s representative body, wro... More »
CAPEL, England (Reuters) – The daily lockdown walk has been brightened by the addition of scarecrows dressed as key workers in a village in southern England, as the community pays tribute to doctors, nurses, shop assistants and waste collectors in its own quir... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Adidas (ADSGn.DE) reported a 93% plunge in first-quarter profit and sales off 19%, missing forecasts, and warned of a deeper hit to second-quarter revenue as lockdowns forced the German sportswear maker and other retailers to close stores. F... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices fell on Monday on signs that worldwide oil storage is filling rapidly, raising concerns that production cuts will not come fast enough to fully offset the collapse in demand from the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. oil futures led l... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German drugs and pesticides company Bayer said the economic downturn has prompted it to take a tougher stance in talks to settle claims its glyphosate-based weedkillers cause cancer, even as its earnings rose. The pandemic has significant... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration is considering replacing its secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, because of early missteps in the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the Wall Street Journal and Politico reported ... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) has declined a request by prominent U.S. senators to provide information about the German lender’s recent business dealings with U.S. President Donald Trump and his family, according to a letter this week seen by ... More »
ATLANTA (Reuters) – With the U.S. coronavirus death toll topping 51,000 and nearly one in six workers out of a job, Georgia, Oklahoma and several other states took tentative steps at reopening businesses on Friday, despite disapproval from President Donald Tru... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – When paleontologist Thomas Mörs was peering into a microscope while sorting through tiny 40 million-year-old fossils unearthed on Seymour Island near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, he came across quite a surprise – hip and skull bon... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Six dancers from the Dutch National Ballet headed out into the empty streets of Amsterdam this week to perform their parts in a piece of choreography inspired by the coronavirus lockdown. Each put on a solo performance out in the open, so... More »
NAIROBI (Reuters) – A six-foot image of a sad-eyed man, baseball cap askew and mask covering his nose and mouth is spray painted on a building in a Nairobi slum. Next to it are the words “Corona is real”. There are six other pieces of graffiti like it around M... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Taylor Swift on Thursday revived her feud with her former record company, complaining that the release of a 2008 collection of recordings for a radio show was “tasteless.” “I want to thank my fans for making me aware that my former reco... More »
(Editor’s note: paragraph 7 contains language that some readers may find offensive) LONDON (Reuters) – The Rolling Stones gave their fans some satisfaction on Thursday by releasing a new track “Living in a Ghost Town”, part-recorded during the coronavirus lock... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The world’s ants, bees, butterflies, grasshoppers, fireflies and other land-dwelling insects have been suffering population drops of about 9% per decade but freshwater bugs such as dragonflies and mosquitoes have been rallying, researche... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – In a little over a year, when Americans file their 2020 tax returns, much of what is going on with coronavirus-linked stimulus payments will finally add up. Until then, prepare for confusion. Think you got shorted on the Economic Impact Pa... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Whitney Houston is headed back to the big screen in a feature film about the singer’s life that took her to the heights of fame but ended in drug addiction and tragedy. Taking its title from one of Houston’s biggest hits – “I Wanna Danc... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actress Goldie Hawn, her daughter Kate Hudson and baby granddaughter Rani Rose Fujikawa graced the cover of “People” magazine’s annual Beautiful issue on Tuesday. It was the first time that three generations had appeared on the Beautifu... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Kelly Rowland, Halle Berry and Anthony Anderson are among a host of black celebrities taking on the coronavirus epidemic as the disease continues to disproportionately affect minorities in the United States. The actors and singers will tak... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have observed what appears to be the aftermath of a violent collision between two planetary building blocks orbiting a large and luminous star, a glimpse of the type of carnage that may have been commonplace early in our solar... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The number of people in jobs in Britain grew more slowly in March than in February, official figures showed on Tuesday in an early sign of the impact of the coronavirus shutdown which is expected to hammer the jobs market. Growth in the numb... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Daimler and Volvo Trucks have agreed to join forces to develop, produce and sell fuel cell systems for heavy-duty vehicles, in a sign that the coronavirus crisis is accelerating consolidation. Global car and truck makers are exploring way... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Workers at Ferrari (RACE.MI) are signing up en masse for voluntary coronavirus screening so they can return to work as soon as possible in an ambitious scheme that could serve as a blueprint for manufacturers desperate to resume production. U... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the constitutional guarantee of trial by jury requires a unanimous verdict for serious crimes, siding with a Louisiana man convicted of murder and paving the way for potentially hundreds of def... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress on Monday inched toward a $450 billion deal to help small businesses and hospitals hurt by the coronavirus pandemic, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying negotiators had come to terms on the ‘principles’ of the packag... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A wondrous lineage of crocodile relatives that developed into fast-swimming seagoing predators at a time when dinosaurs dominated the land adapted to life in the open ocean with a pivotal evolutionary modification also present in whales.... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have discovered that a comet called 2I/Borisov – only the second interstellar object ever detected passing through the solar system – is surprisingly different in its composition from comets hailing from our celestial neighbor... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Democrats and Republicans are near agreement on extra money to help small businesses hurt by the coronavirus pandemic and could seal a deal as early as Monday, President Donald Trump said on Sunday. Trump told his daily White House ... More »
(Reuters) – When stay-at-home orders sparked by the coronavirus forced him to find new ways to reach young voters ahead of the November U.S. election, Felix Clarke turned to an online computer game. The New Hampshire college student logged in to Minecraft, dre... More »
(Reuters) – AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (AMC.N), the world’s largest movie theater operator, said on Friday it has enough cash to withstand a global suspension of operations until a possible partial reopening of its locations in July. The company said it wa... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – San Diego Comic-Con, an annual celebrity-studded showcase of superhero films and pop culture, has been canceled for the first time in its 50-year history due to the global coronavirus outbreak, organizers said on Friday. Comic-Con had b... More »
ALMATY (Reuters) – NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir will take an unusual – and more exhausting – route home after safely landing in the Kazakh steppe on Friday, a Russian healthcare official said, because of lockdowns caused by the novel coronavi... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Wearing white face paint, stripy top and bright red spectacle frames, Ahmed Naser stands in a street in Cairo distributing face masks and health advice to passing children. The 22-year-old engineering student has been entertaining youngsters ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – For human beings, “stink flirting” may not sound like a prudent dating strategy. For ring-tailed lemurs, it is the way to go. Scientists on Thursday described the results of a comprehensive study of this behavior – unique in the animal k... More »
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian brothers Nikita and Egor Zigura work on their sculpture of a giant fingerprint as art enthusiasts look on via a live-streaming internet link and make bids for the developing work. The online auction is part of a new “Stay Art Home” s... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have observed the biggest supernova – stellar explosion – ever detected, the violent death of a huge star up to 100 times more massive than our sun in a faraway galaxy. The supernova, releasing twice as much energy as any othe... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A reddish-colored cigar-shaped interstellar object called ‘Oumuamua that is tumbling through our solar system may be wreckage from a planet ripped apart when it roamed too close to the faraway star it once orbited, according to researche... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spaniards at the country’s main transport hubs were handed face masks on a rainy Monday morning as the government relaxed some of the tough lockdown measures designed to rein in the coronavirus health crisis which has claimed nearly 17,000 l... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor, said on Sunday it will shut a U.S. plant indefinitely due to a rash of coronavirus cases among employees and warned the country was moving “perilously close to the edge” in supplies for ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Some of Japan’s ubiquitous convenience stores have taken a novel approach to social distancing by hanging plastic sheets from the ceiling to provide a barrier between customers and staff at the cash register during the coronavirus pandemic. P... More »
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan Cardinal Baltazar Porras led Easter Mass on Sunday from an empty church, offering a sermon that was broadcast over Instagram to hundreds of people quarantined in their homes because of the coronavirus pandemic. Standing before 51... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Cooped up in the White House, President Donald Trump sees the coronavirus briefings as his main outlet of the day, a reminder for Americans that he is in charge of managing the greatest crisis of a lifetime. Plus, the ratings are good. S... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and congressional leaders will hold bipartisan negotiations on a new coronavirus-response bill with the goal of reaching a deal by early next week, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Fri... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Harvey Weinstein was charged in Los Angeles on Friday with a third sexual assault case, and prosecutors there said they have started the process of seeking his extradition from New York, where the former film producer is serving prison ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will soon be announcing a second coronavirus task force, creating a council to focus on re-opening the country after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic passes. “We will be announcing tha... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – A Nintendo Switch video game has been pulled off China’s grey market e-commerce platforms, Reuters’ checks show, after Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong used the game to protest against Beijing’s rule of the Chinese territory. The game, “Ani... More »
(Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Thursday proposed expanding access to Medicare and forgiving some student debt in new overtures to supporters of onetime rival Bernie Sanders. Biden, who became Democrats’ presumptive nominee when Sand... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A partisan skirmish in the U.S. Senate cut short a Republican effort to speed $250 billion in new assistance to small businesses on Friday, forcing Republicans and Democrats to negotiate over how best to help independent firms reeling fr... More »
(Reuters) – Harvey Weinstein, who is serving a prison sentence for rape, has no symptoms of the coronavirus, his spokesman said on Thursday, more than two weeks after a union official for corrections officers said the former movie producer had tested positive.... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Many Americans have found themselves quickly adjusting to new routines, offices and “co-workers” as mass lockdowns keep millions of employees confined to their homes and apartments. As part of our #AskReuters Twitter chat series, Reuters i... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Neanderthals used plant fibers to create string more than 40,000 years ago at a site in France where they hunted reindeer, further evidence according to scientists of the ingenuity and cognitive capabilities of our closest extinct human ... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Sketch show “Saturday Night Live” is returning to U.S. television with a new, remotely produced show this weekend, broadcaster NBC said on Thursday. The network said the satirical show, which shut down production in mid-March because of... More »
(Reuters) – Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) on Thursday said it plans to ship millions of face masks to its active drivers and food delivery people around the world to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. The ride-hailing company’s vice president o... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have figured out how to calculate the age of whale sharks – Earth’s largest fish – with some guidance from the radioactive fallout spawned by Cold War-era atomic bomb testing. By measuring levels of carbon-14, a naturally occu... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist whose progressive agenda pushed the Democratic Party sharply to the left, ended his White House campaign on Wednesday, clearing the way for a Nov. 3 election battle between former Vice President Joe... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Elmo and Cookie Monster are reaching out to young children confused at being stuck at home during the coronavirus epidemic with a special “Sesame Street” episode airing next week. “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and actors Anne Ha... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Ellen DeGeneres, one of America’s most popular TV personalities, faced a barrage of criticism on Wednesday after comparing her self-isolation in a multimillion-dollar mansion to being in prison. DeGeneres, whose daily television talk sh... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Grammy-winning singer John Prine, who wrote his early songs in his head while delivering mail and later emerged from Chicago’s folk revival scene in the 1970s to become one of the most influential songwriters of his generation, died on ... More »
(Reuters) – Broadway theaters, among New York’s most-visited tourist attractions, will remain closed through June 7 due to the global coronavirus outbreak, an industry group said on Wednesday. The theaters closed on March 12 for what was supposed to be one mon... More »
HELSINKI (Reuters) – A quick-thinking Helsinki bakery has saved itself from financial ruin due to the new coronavirus pandemic by creating a cake that looks like a toilet roll. The dismayed staff at the Ronttosrouva bakery found all their orders cancelled last... More »
(Reuters) – Geico Corp, part of billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said on Tuesday it will offer about $2.5 billion of credits to its 19 million auto and motorcycle policyholders, reflecting the decline in driving stemming from the coronaviru... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Some top-performing U.S. fund managers see opportunities in one of the sectors hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, cautiously increasing stakes in niches of the real estate market like cell phone towers and warehouses, which they see ... More »
SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Bosnia’s most popular band, Dubioza Kolektiv, invites its audience to “stay connected and disinfected” during a weekly “Quarantine Show” online to cheer up fans locked in their homes due to the coronavirus. Bosnia, like most states in Euro... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – When Rachel Baron wanted to give back to her community affected by COVID-19, her first thought was to help local emergency room doctors. So the 46-year-old advertising copywriter worked with some friends to set up food deliveries from loca... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have extracted from dental enamel the oldest human genetic material ever obtained, helping clarify the pivotal place in the human evolutionary lineage of a mysterious extinct species called Homo antecessor known from Spanish c... More »
