Q: In your column about Microsoft Office 365 (see tinyurl.com/ydyhsap2), you said the user "must go online at least once every 30 days or your PC-based software will stop working." What do you mean by go online? Just connect to the internet? Use the Microsoft Edge browser? Update my Office 365 software?

-- Lauren Tiffany, Iowa City, Iowa

A: As...Read more

Air travel over the Memorial Day holiday weekend returned to levels not seen since plummeting in March when stay-home orders took effect across most of the U.S.

More than 318,000 people passed through U.S. airport security checkpoints on Thursday followed by 348,673 on Friday, topping 300,000 for the first time since March 23, according to ...Read more

When Tinara Lynch got a call from her employer, Land Shark Bar and Grill restaurant at Lake of the Ozarks, she felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Lynch, who is 21, could choose not to go back to work when the restaurant reopened, in which case she would be kicked off the unemployment benefits she'd been living off of since she and her ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Merck, a global leader in vaccine development, is joining the frenzied rush to vanquish the coronavirus, announcing Tuesday that it is working on two vaccine candidates and a potential drug therapy.

Merck, which is headquartered in New Jersey and has several facilities in Pennsylvania, is backing two vaccines that involve ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- The coronavirus began to spread through U.S. slaughterhouses this spring just when workers, already performing some of the most dangerous jobs anywhere, were being asked to take more risks by going faster.

Even as the outbreak began to force plants to temporarily close last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture continued ...Read more

U.S. consumer confidence stabilized in May, indicating Americans are optimistic that the economic drubbing from the coronavirus pandemic will be short-lived.

The Conference Board's index rose by 0.9 point to 86.6, according to a report issued Tuesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists had called for a reading of 87.

The ...Read more

Most travel insurance has so many exclusions -- including for epidemics -- that I generally don't advise people to bother with coverage unless they're spending big bucks on a trip, like for a cruise.

But what if you cancel your cruise, or the trip is canceled by the cruise line, because of the coronavirus? Should you be able to get the cost of ...Read more

China's decision to impose a national security law on Hong Kong has spurred speculation of capital flight and an erosion of the city's status as an international financial center. As a venue for share offerings, at least, the near-term future is looking bright. For that, the territory can thank worsening U.S.-China relations.

U.S.-listed ...Read more

TIJUANA, Mexico -- Dozens of cross-border workers are sleeping on the sidewalk or inside their cars to be among the first enter the United States once the Otay Mesa Port of Entry opens each morning.

The scene has played out ever since this busy border crossing, which previously operated 24 hours a day, temporarily suspended operations at night....Read more

LOS ANGELES -- California health officials said Monday that subject to approval by county public health departments, all retail stores can reopen for in-store shopping under previously issued guidelines.

The existing guidance for retailers, which previously applied just to those counties approved for wider reopening, now applies statewide. ...Read more

Billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit said a crucial test of its two-stage, orbital rocket system, designed to rival that of Elon Musk's SpaceX for satellite launches, ended the mission shortly after releasing the rocket from the plane.

A Boeing Co. 747, named Cosmic Girl, took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California on Monday...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The COVID-19 pandemic is not only changing the configuration of offices as employers seek to safeguard the health of their workers, but it also is raising questions about the long-term place of the office in commerce.

The virus outbreak has forced entire employee populations to work from home. And as workers settle into that ...Read more

Bayer AG has reached verbal agreements to resolve a substantial portion of an estimated 125,000 U.S. cancer lawsuits over use of its Roundup weedkiller, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

The deals, which have yet to be signed and cover an estimated 50,000 to 85,000 suits, are part of a $10 billion Bayer plan to end a costly ...Read more