A Hollywood film producer allegedly tried to use $1.7 million from the federal coronavirus business relief fund to pay personal credit card bills. Two New England men allegedly applied for more than half a million in refundable loans through the program by claiming to have dozens of employees at four businesses. They had none.

Many fraudsters ...Read more

The relief programs supporting Americans through the pandemic are also demonstrating the viability of a bold proposal for reducing poverty: basic income.

The idea of basic income -- paying a monthly fixed amount to each person in the country -- has been around for a long time. Recently it has gained more attention and support. It has the ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. has imposed travel restrictions on Chinese officials determined to be "substantially involved" in restricting access to Tibet, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said.

"Beijing has continued systematically to obstruct travel to the Tibetan Autonomous Region and other Tibetan areas by U.S. diplomats and other officials, ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- After decades of secrecy, Jeffrey Epstein's finances are coming into clearer view with the arrest of his onetime girlfriend and longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Tuesday's announcement that Deutsche Bank will pay $150 million in penalties in part because of its relationship with the disgraced financier.

The New York ...Read more

After a June lull in storms, be ready for hurricane season to heat up again

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- From the earliest outlooks of 2020, experts have warned of a busy hurricane season. But after starting with a bang, the Atlantic went quiet.

Things are changing with the disappearance of a hurricane-suppressing layer of Saharan dust and hot, ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration sent a letter giving the United Nations a one-year notice for the U.S. to quit the World Health Organization, formalizing President Donald Trump's decision to leave the agency even as the coronavirus rages out of control in the U.S. and in many other countries.

The administration sent the letter to U.N. ...Read more

NEW YORK -- When Deutsche Bank AG sought out Jeffrey Epstein as a client, he was a convicted Florida sex offender with a publicized taste for young women from Eastern Europe.

The bank helped him send millions of dollars to his alleged co-conspirators. It handled transfers to women with Russian bank accounts. And it didn't fuss when the ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan federal package to rescue the pandemic-rocked U.S. economy this spring has morphed into a cudgel on the campaign trail in pivotal Senate races where outside groups and candidates have launched ads with sometimes veiled attacks on pieces of the law or its earlier iterations.

Montana, Maine, North Carolina and Iowa are ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Even as the deadly virus spread, the federal response stalled. Tests were short. So were treatments. A vaccine was imminent, experts promised. The hardest hit? The sick, the poor and people of color.

That pathogen was HIV, not COVID-19. The year was 1990, not 2020. The event: The International AIDS Conference, held in San ...Read more

CHICAGO -- At least four people were shot to death across Chicago from Monday night into Tuesday morning, part of a series of attacks that also left 13 people injured, including six wounded in a single attack, according to police.

Three of the overnight shootings left three or more people wounded.

The shootings come after a string of violent ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Coronavirus cases in the Branson area have more than doubled in less than two weeks amid pleas from officials for people to wear masks.

Taney County, home of Branson, has recorded 107 coronavirus cases, according to numbers updated Tuesday by the county health department. On June 26, the county had just 43.

And on Friday, ...Read more