World News

ATLANTA — Two teachers were recently looking for ways to motivate their students for a new school year amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit their south Georgia community especially hard.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.

LOS ANGELES — Robin Thede’s face lights up when she hears that the deliciously clever humour of her “A Black Lady Sketch Show” provokes a laugh-out-loud response. “That means the most.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve announced a significant change Thursday in how it manages interest rates by saying it plans to keep rates near zero even after inflation has exceeded its 2% target level.

WASHINGTON — Vice-President Mike Pence's chief of staff said Thursday that NBA protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, are “absurd and silly.

LOS ANGELES — Sean Penn has expanded his fight against the coronavirus beyond his own expectations. The Oscar winner’s disaster relief organization CORE has gone from providing 6,500 tests in a couple weeks to administering more than 1.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — More Americans signed contracts to buy homes in July, suggesting the current hot housing market could continue in the fall. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that its index of pending sales rose 5.9%, to 122.

EDINBURGH, Scotland — Francesca Moody is spending August the way she always does: in darkened rooms in Edinburgh, watching some of the best new theatre and comedy the world has to offer.

WASHINGTON — Just over 1 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that the coronavirus outbreak continues to threaten jobs even as the housing market, auto sales and other segments of the economy rebound from a springtime

BALTIMORE — The U.S. economy shrank at an alarming annual rate of 31.7% during the April-June quarter as it struggled under the weight of the viral pandemic, the government estimated Thursday. It was the sharpest quarterly drop on record.