JERUSALEM (JNS) — El Al CEO Gonen Usishkin has asked the company’s human resources department to prepare to let go 1,000 of the company’s 6,300 employees, citing financial losses due to the global coronavirus outbreak, according to Israeli media reports. El Al had reported to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange that the epidemic could result […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence sought Sunday to reassure the American public that the federal government is working to make sure state and local authorities are able to test for coronavirus, as the number of U.S. cases grew following reports of the first infections in Illinois and Rhode Island. Fanning out across the […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — As global markets plunged amid growing fears about the coronavirus outbreak, President Donald Trump and his allies pulled from a familiar playbook Friday and blamed others for the slide. It’s a challenging sell for a president who has lashed his fate to Wall Street like no other. The president’s team responded to […]

TOKYO (AP) — Concerns about the coronavirus outbreak’s threat to the world economy grew Saturday as authorities in the U.S. reported its first domestic death from the virus and President Donald Trump denounced criticism of his response to the threat as a “hoax” cooked up by his enemies. China’s manufacturing plunged in February by an […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to reassure the American public, President Donald Trump said Saturday there was “no reason to panic” as the new coronavirus claimed its first victim inside the U.S. The White House also announced new restrictions on international travel to prevent its spread. Trump, speaking only moments after the death in Washington state […]

UNITED NATIONS (AP) – A viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 85,000 people globally. The World Health Organization has named the illness COVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the coronavirus that causes it. The latest figures, based on WHO and national counts: — Mainland China: 2,835 deaths among […]

TACOMA (AP) – The governor of Washington declared a state of emergency Saturday after a man died there of COVID-19, the first such reported death in the United States. More than 50 people in a nursing facility are sick and being tested for the virus. Gov. Jay Inslee directed state agencies to use “all resources […]

New York (JTA) – A Jewish firefighter from New York has sued his ex-boss allegedly for using anti-Semitic language against him in the work environment. Jonathan Cummings alleges that in 2017, Assistant Chief Fire Marshal Michael Durkin of the Bureau of Fire Investigation sent a text message to someone in the department referring to Cummings […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal jail in New York City where wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein took his own life is on lockdown as authorities try to determine whether someone smuggled a gun inside one of the most secure federal jails in the country, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Officials have […]

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump’s choice of Vice President Mike Pence to oversee the nation’s response to the new coronavirus threat is bringing renewed scrutiny to the former governor’s handling of an HIV outbreak in southern Indiana when he was governor. Pence reluctantly agreed to authorize a needle exchange program in Scott County in […]