Associated Press stories, Page 2179
Local officials criticize Liberty University as students return
RICHMOND, Va. — Officials in Lynchburg, Va., said Tuesday they were fielding complaints about the hundreds of students who have returned from their spring break to Liberty University, where President Jerry Falwell Jr. has welcomed them back amid the coronavirus pandemic. “We could not be more disappointed in the action...
Dow has best day since 1933 as Congress nears deal on coronavirus aid
NEW YORK — The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to its best day since 1933 as Congress and the White House neared a deal on Tuesday to inject nearly $2 trillion of aid into an economy ravaged by the coronavirus. The Dow burst 11.4% higher, while the more closely followed...
U.N. chief urges G20 to adopt ‘wartime’ plan with trillions
UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged leaders of the world’s 20 major industrialized nations on Tuesday to adopt a “wartime” plan including a stimulus package “in the trillions of dollars” for businesses, workers and households in developing countries trying to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. He said in a...
‘A bullet train’: New York coronavirus peak may come soon, swamp hospitals
NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo sounded his most dire warning yet about the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday, saying the infection rate in New York is accelerating and the state could be as close as two weeks away from a crisis that sees 40,000 people in intensive care. Such a surge...
Trump hoping to see economy reopened by Easter amid pandemic
WASHINGTON — With lives and the economy hanging in the balance, President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is hoping the United States will be reopened by Easter as he weighs how to relax nationwide social-distancing guidelines to put some workers back on the job during the coronavirus outbreak. Trump’s optimism...
Many airline flights nearly empty as virus undercuts travel
Airline service in the United States is teetering on the brink of collapse, with near-empty planes and coronavirus outbreaks that have left some air traffic control towers empty. Even with sharply reduced schedules, airlines are consolidating some of the remaining flights because passengers aren’t showing up. An official of one...
TCM is bringing its classic film festival to your homeVideo
LOS ANGELES — The folks at Turner Classic Movies had just decided they’d have to cancel their annual classic film festival when their general manager had an idea: What if they could do something else in recognition of the lost weekend? “It felt greedy to say, ‘Well why don’t we...
Once booming concert industry goes quiet after coronavirus
Inside a warehouse for MooTV, a live video production company in Nashville, Tenn., the floor-to-ceiling shelves are lined with row after row of video screens, cables and rolling cases that normally would be out on the road with Brad Paisley, Chris Stapleton or Dierks Bentley. At one end of the...
Europe eyes smartphone location data to stem virus spreadVideo
Several European nations are evaluating powerful but potentially intrusive tools for fighting the coronavirus pandemic, a move that could put public health at odds with individual privacy. The tools in question are apps that would use real-time phone-location data to track the movements of virus carriers and the people they...
Too close for comfort: Belgium agrees to shut hair salonsVideo
BRUSSELS — When the Belgian government announced last week that hairdressers would still be able to operate during the coronavirus epidemics, many in the profession were dumbfounded and furious. Fearing for their health and bereft of the same financial benefits as other businesses which had been forced to close, angry...
Can blood from coronavirus survivors treat the newly ill?
Hospitals are gearing up to test if a century-old treatment used to fight off flu and measles outbreaks in the days before vaccines, and tried more recently against SARS and Ebola, just might work for COVID-19, too: using blood donated from patients who’ve recovered. Doctors in China attempted the first...
Corrections officers push Pennsylvania to stop inmate transfers
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s state corrections officers’ union wants the state prison system to stop all transfers of inmates as a preventative measure against potential spread of the new coronavirus from one institution to another. Meanwhile, more businesses are challenging Gov. Tom Wolf’s order closing the physical locations of businesses determined...
W.Va. stay-home order starts Tuesday amid virus concernsVideo
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Stay home, West Virginia. That’s the message from Gov. Jim Justice as his order for residents to stay inside and close all nonessential businesses takes effect Tuesday night to stem the spread of the coronavirus. The Republican’s executive order goes into effect at 8 p.m. It says...
India’s prime minister decrees 21-day lockdown to curb virusVideo
NEW DELHI — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a “total lockdown” in the country of 1.3 billion people during a televised address Tuesday night, the most extensive stay-at-home order yet in the world’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The 21-day lockdown was set to begin at midnight. “To save...
Olympics to be postponed until 2021Video
TOKYO — The IOC announced a first-of-its-kind postponement of the Summer Olympics on Tuesday, bowing to the realities of a coronavirus pandemic that is shutting down daily life around the globe and making planning for a massive worldwide gathering in July a virtual impossibility. The International Olympic Committee said the...
$2 trillion U.S. package may be at hand to ease economic pain of coronavirusVideo
WASHINGTON — Congressional and White House officials said Tuesday a deal appears to be at hand to provide sweeping aid to businesses and workers facing ruin from the coronavirus pandemic. Both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the top Democrat, Sen. Chuck Schumer, said agreement appeared close on the nearly...
Texas’ lieutenant governor says U.S. should get ‘back to work’
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas’ lieutenant governor said Monday night that the U.S. should get back to work in the face of the global pandemic and that people over the age of 70, who the Centers for Disease Control says are at higher risk for the coronavirus, will “take care of...
Egypt announces 2-week, night-time curfew to slow virusVideo
CAIRO — Egypt will impose a two-week, nightly curfew in the Arab world’s most-populous country in an effort to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, its prime minister announced Tuesday as the International Monetary Fund warned that a shortage of medical supplies could affect the Mideast’s poorest nations. There...
World covid-19 update: Vatican pressured, Czech Republic has experimental drugVideo
Here’s the latest on the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 383,000 people and killed over 16,500. The covid-19 illness causes mild or moderate symptoms in most people, but severe symptoms are more likely in the elderly or those with existing health problems. More than 101,000 people have recovered...
Africa’s jazz great Manu Dibango dies in France of virusVideo
PARIS — Renowned jazz man Manu Dibango, to many the beloved “Papy Groove” who served as an inspiration and pioneer in his art, died on Tuesday with the coronavirus, his official Facebook page announced. He was 86. The saxophonist who inspired what is known as “world music” was recently hospitalized...
Stocks jump 5% as hopes build for virus stimulus packageVideo
NEW YORK — Stocks around the world rallied Tuesday amid expectations that Congress is nearing a deal to pump nearly $2 trillion of aid into the coronavirus-ravaged economy. Top congressional and White House officials said they expect to reach an agreement Tuesday, though some issues remain. Investors have been frustrated...
In the Pits: Virtual race a real success for bored NASCARVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Seated inside a simulator in his living room, Denny Hamlin grew thirsty as he virtually raced some of his top rivals. He asked his one allowed crew member — his 7-year-old daughter — to get him a soda, and she handed him a bottle of slightly shaken...
Officials warn against self-medicating for coronavirus after man’s death
PHOENIX — A Phoenix-area man has died and his wife was in critical condition after the couple took chloroquine phosphate, an additive used to clean fish tanks that is also found in an anti-malaria medication that’s been touted by President Donald Trump as a treatment for covid-19. Banner Health said...
Tom Brady to Tampa only tip of NFL’s changing landscapeVideo
Upheaval is everywhere in the NFL. It won’t likely end soon. A free agency frenzy that has seen steady player movement — yes, players beyond Tom Brady have changed addresses — has been the focal point. With little to nothing else going on in sports, the NFL has grabbed headlines...
Trump says he intends to reopen country in weeks, not monthsVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that he wants to reopen the country for business in weeks, not months, and he claimed, without evidence, that continued closures could result in more deaths than the coronavirus pandemic. “We can’t have the cure be worse than the problem,” Trump told reporters...

