The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell below 1 million for the first time since the pandemic began in March, suggesting the economic recovery is gaining some traction amid a deceleration in coronavirus infections.

Initial jobless claims in regular state programs fell by 228,000 to 963,000 in the week ended Aug. 8, Labor...Read more

Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai said his arrest on Monday took him by surprise and that he has been overwhelmed by residents' subsequent support despite the threat from China's new national security law.

"I didn't expect an arrest as quick as this because I thought that China, with such a strong response from the ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- On Wednesday morning, Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union and a loyal ally to President Donald Trump, joined the pile-on of Republican attacks against Kamala Harris on Twitter, saying she "was a lock 'em up and throw away the key prosecutor."

Hours later, Vice President Mike Pence offered a contradictory ...Read more

President Donald Trump is pushing U.S. schools to open classroom doors wide. In some districts that have followed his instructions, they're slamming shut again.

Schools that reopened fully and early are seeing hundreds of students, staff and teachers put into quarantine as COVID-19 spreads. Some are closing buildings opened just days ago. ...Read more

Percy L. Lewis III was especially looking forward to this year's Neshoba County Fair, an annual Mississippi event where he races his horses and carries forward a family tradition.

At 42, Lewis has been riding horses since he was 5 or 6 years old. Growing up, Lewis, his brother and a childhood friend would race on a local dirt road. As adults, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- If you had posed the scenario to him as a hypothetical a few months ago -- "Your company will be hemorrhaging cash, and you'll turn to Uncle Sam for emergency funds" -- Jim Brady would've confidently dismissed it.

"Never," he said, "did I think I would need government help."

Brady, 69, started AToN Center, a luxury rehab ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration's move to curtail a program sparing young immigrants from deportation is an effort to "dismantle" an initiative the U.S. Supreme Court just spared, a group of immigrants said in court.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said last month that the administration would consider ending the Deferred ...Read more

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- New Zealand on Thursday reported 13 new cases of COVID-19, with health officials linking them to one Auckland family.

Health officials expected further cases to be detected over the coming days, director general of health Ashley Bloomfield told media.

On Tuesday the country reported four cases of COVID-19 all from ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Meghan and Harry have quietly moved up the coast, buying a home in the Santa Barbara area, sources told the Los Angeles Times.

Prince Harry and the former Meghan Markle have purchased a home in the heart of Montecito, according to people familiar with the matter who weren't authorized to speak publicly.

Tabloids first reported ...Read more

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Puerto Rico's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the votes cast in Sunday's botched primary election are valid and will be counted. The island's highest court ordered the election to be continued this coming Sunday for precincts unable to cast their ballots or precincts that were not open for eight hours.

The results of...Read more

A federal judge late Wednesday denied an attempt by Jeffrey Epstein's alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell to delay the unsealing of potentially embarrassing documents in a now-settled 2017 defamation lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska earlier this month had ordered unsealed a large batch of documents associated with Maxwell's defamation ...Read more

WILMINGTON, Del. -- The vetting Kamala Harris endured to earn her spot on Joe Biden's presidential ticket was like none other in recent history.

It was at once a public audition and highly secretive. It took sharp turns as the nation struggled with a pandemic and erupted in protest following the killing of George Floyd. In the era of Trump, the...Read more

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Pine Gulch fire, a lightning-sparked wildfire burning north of Grand Junction, exploded overnight, nearly doubling in size to become the seventh-largest fire in the state's history, fire officials said.

The fire, which started July 31, grew from 36,449 acres Tuesday to 51,455 acres Wednesday morning, according to ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- Prosecutors are seeking to try the four former officers charged in George Floyd's killing in one trial.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank filed a motion Wednesday requesting to join the trials of Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao. A trial date has been set for March 8.

Frank argued that the ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Early Wednesday, the morning after Joe Biden asked Kamala Harris to run as his vice president, Republicans blasted her as "A California Progressive Radical."

Hours later, the Trump campaign slammed the first-term U.S. senator from the nation's most populous state as "a California Radical who Completes the Left-Wing Takeover of Joe...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The fundraising email from California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris hit inboxes Tuesday evening with the subject line "Proud to announce." But it wasn't about Harris making history as her party's vice presidential nominee.

"I'm excited to let you know ... that I'm proudly endorsing Cindy Axne for Congress!" read the email, touting...Read more