DUBAI/LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) – OPEC and its allies are working on a deal for an unprecedented oil production cut equivalent to around 10% of global supply, an OPEC source said, while also waiting to see what action the United States would take as U.S. President Donald Trump met with oil companies on Friday at the White…

CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) and JetBlue Airways Corp JBLU.O> said on Friday they had applied for U.S. payroll grants meant to keep workers employed while airlines ride out their toughest crisis in history due to the coronavirus, but warned the funds are “not enough.” FILE PHOTO: Delta Air Lines passenger planes are…

FILE PHOTO: The floor of the New York Stock Exchange. New York, U.S., March 20, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackso (Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes fell on Friday as the coronavirus abruptly ended a record U.S. job growth streak of 113 months and amped up fears of a deep economic slow down. The Dow Jones Industrial…

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bill Withers, a soulful singer best known for the 1970s hits “Lean on Me,” “Lovely Day” and “Ain’t No Sunshine,” has died at age 81 from heart complications, his family said on Friday. Withers produced nine albums, most of them written and recorded in the 1970s, starting with “Just As I…

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore will close schools and most workplaces for a month as part of stricter measures to curb a recent jump in coronavirus infections, it said on Friday, an announcement that sent locals racing to supermarkets to stock up on staples. A man stands in front of a screen showing a telecast of…

(Reuters) – She’d picked her dress, they’d booked their honeymoon and the wedding was set for the end of March. Then, the coronavirus pandemic hit. Doctors Kashif Chaudhry and Naila Shereen wear face masks after their wedding in New Windsor, New York, U.S., March 21, 2020 amid an outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Picture taken…

DUBAI/LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) – OPEC and allies are working on a deal for an unprecedented production cut equivalent to around 10% of global supply, an OPEC source said after U.S. President Donald Trump called on oil nations to stop the oil rout caused by the coronavirus pandemic. FILE PHOTO: An oil pump jack pumps oil in…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Family-owned restaurants fear they could be pitted against larger competitors, hotel chains and potentially investment funds in a race starting on Friday for a $349 billion pot of money the U.S. government will offer businesses hard-hit by coronavirus. FILE PHOTO: Empty restaurant tables sit on a plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue in during…

Florida officials on Thursday said they were prepared to allow two Holland America cruise ships with coronavirus patients aboard dock at a port near Fort Lauderdale, resolving a days-long impasse that drew the attention of President Donald Trump. The cruise ship MS Zaandam which has been afflicted with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is seen off the…

(Reuters) – Global coronavirus cases surpassed 1 million on Thursday with more than 51,000 deaths as the pandemic further exploded in the United States and the death toll climbed in Spain and Italy, according to a tally by a U.S. university. Men and women wearing protective gears and face masks prepare to sanitize at the…

DUBAI/MOSCOW/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had brokered a deal with top crude producers Russia and Saudi Arabia to cut output and arrest an oil price rout amid the global coronavirus pandemic, though details of how cuts would work were unclear. Trump said the two nations could cut output by…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Navy on Thursday relieved the commander of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote a scathing letter that leaked to the public asking the Navy for stronger measures to control a coronavirus outbreak onboard the ship. The removal of Captain Brett Crozier from the command of the 5,000-person vessel, which…

LONDON (Reuters) – World stocks were pinned down on Thursday by the rising death toll from the new coronavirus and deepening economic pain, with another record week of jobless claims expected in the United States. FILE PHOTO: Passersby wearing protective face masks following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are reflected on a screen…

KARACHI (Reuters) – A Pakistani court has commuted the death sentences of the main person accused in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and acquitted three co-accused in the matter, two lawyers told Reuters on Thursday. At least four people were convicted in connection with Pearl’s murder, including British-born…

MADRID (Reuters) – When Spain’s first case of coronavirus was recorded on Jan. 31 – a German tourist in La Gomera, one of the remote Canary Islands – there seemed little cause for concern. FILE PHOTO: A mantero, member of the Popular Union of Street Vendors and the Top Manta brand, poses in a sewing…

FILE PHOTO: The logo of SoftBank Group Corp is displayed at the SoftBank World 2017 conference in Tokyo, Japan, July 20, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato(Reuters) – SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) said it has terminated a $3 billion tender offer for additional WeWork shares agreed last year with shareholders, including ousted co-founder Adam Neumann, drawing threats of…

NEW YORK (Reuters) – World equity markets began the new quarter with steep losses on Wednesday as evidence mounted that the coronavirus pandemic was sending the global economy into a deep recession. Traders headed for the safety of government bonds, the dollar [USD/] and gold [GOL/] following sharp slowdowns in manufacturing activity in Japan and…

FILE PHOTO: A sign for a T-Mobile store is seen in Manhattan, New York, U.S., April 30, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton(Reuters) – T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.O) said on Wednesday it officially completed the merger with Sprint Corp (S.N), solidifying its postion as the No.3 wireless providers in the U.S. T-Mobile’s long-time Chief Executive John Legere is…

FILE PHOTO: People wait in line to be tested for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while wearing protective gear, outside Elmhurst Hospital Center in the Queens borough of New York City, U.S., March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon (Reuters) – The March 31 story on BodySphere receiving FDA authorization for a rapid antibody test for coronavirus has been…

(Reuters) – The U.S. benchmark S&P 500 stock index fell more than 4% on Wednesday after a dire warning on the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus sent investors running from even the most defensive equities. Economic data showed U.S. manufacturing activity contracted less than expected in March, but disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic…

BEIJING (Reuters) – Mainland China, where the global coronavirus pandemic began in December, reported dwindling new infections on Wednesday, but it also published the daily change in asymptomatic cases for the first time, creating a murkier picture of the trends. Taxis line up outside Beijing Railway Station as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues…

FILE PHOTO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a meeting of the Iranian government task force on the coronavirus, in Tehran, Iran, March 21, 2020. Official Presidential website/Handout via REUTERS DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s president said on Wednesday the United States had missed a historic opportunity to lift sanctions on his country during the coronavirus…

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Anger at being confused with China amid the coronavirus outbreak and Beijing’s stepped-up efforts to assert sovereignty is stirring heated debate in Taiwan about how to further distance itself from its giant and often threatening neighbor. FILE PHOTO: Tourists wear protective face masks to protect themselves from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while passing…

OAKLAND, California (Reuters) – As the coronavirus outbreak forced classes online, Boston Public Schools ordered 20,000 laptops and had them in hand in four days – an unusually fast turnaround made possible by a build-up of inventory prompted by the U.S.-China trade war. FILE PHOTO: A 4th grader at Cottage Lake Elementary tries to figure…

RIDGEFIELD, Conn. (Reuters) – Faced with more than 70 cases of the novel coronavirus and a deadly outbreak in an assisted living community in his town, Ed Briggs is overwhelmed. The health director for Ridgefield, Connecticut, says there is no way that he and his staff of two can identify and isolate all the people…

(Reuters) – Wall Street’s slide deepened on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 was set for its worst first quarter since 1938 on growing evidence of a largescale corporate damage from the coronavirus pandemic as well as a near collapse in oil prices. FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange…

(Reuters) – Brian Kolfage, a Florida military veteran, recently convinced Americans to donate millions of dollars for a privately built wall on the U.S. southern border. Now he has jumped into a new venture: hawking millions of protective face masks that are in critically short supply during the coronavirus pandemic. FILE PHOTO: Dr. Nicole McCullough,…

PARIS (Reuters) – President Emmanuel Macron pledged on Tuesday to make France self-sufficient in protective masks by year-end and learn lessons from the coronavirus emergency, firing back at growing criticism of his government over painful equipment shortages. French President Emmanuel Macron talks to employees as he visits the Kolmi-Hopen protective face masks factory, following an…

NEW YORK (Reuters) – People cheered the U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort as it sailed into New York on Monday, a beacon of the national effort to stanch the coronavirus outbreak at its U.S. epicenter as the number of cases soared. Painted a gleaming white and adorned with giant red crosses, the 1,000-bed converted oil…

FILE PHOTO: A sailor treats a patient aboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy, which was deployed to serve as a referral hospital for non-coronavirus disease (COVID-19 patients) currently admitted to shore-based hospitals, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. March 29, 2020. U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Erwin Jacob Miciano/Handout via REUTERS. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) -…