coronavirus

As Covid Brings New Repression, Democracies Must Push Back. That authoritarian regimes around the world are exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to tighten their grip on power is not surprising. Unfortunately, a number of democratic and semi-democratic governments are doing the same thing. Left unchecked, the combined actions could result in terrible damage to democracy and …

Walter Duranty, the New York Times’s Moscow correspondent from 1922 to 1936, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his Russian reporting in the early 1930s. Stalin showered him with amenities — cars, luxury apartments, and mistresses — as well as access. In return, Duranty treated Stalin’s Russia with velvet gloves. In the midst of the 1931-1932 famine that …

WeWork’s tenants are lawyering up. Attorneys for cash-strapped clients of the office-subleasing startup are demanding that the company stop billing them for office space they can’t use because of coronavirus lockdowns and that it return the cash it has already collected for April and May. “As long as this pandemic prohibits our clients from using …

A West Village restaurant has transformed itself into a delivery service for essential workers on the frontlines of COVID-19. The Village Den — a health-focused eatery at 225 W. 12th St. that serves up smoothies, frittatas and updated dishes like sweet potato and mushroom lasagna — is delivering meals to essential workers during the crisis, …

The US Postal Service said Friday it shed $4.5 billion in the quarter ending in March, more than double its loss over the same period last year, and warned COVID-19 could severely hurt its finances over the next 18 months. The Postal Service’s Board of Governors met at a critical juncture as it faces accusations …

British actor Idris Elba, who battled the coronavirus this year, has lent his voice to a new song about black men and mental health that will benefit pandemic relief efforts. Elba is featured on the song “Kings” by Kosine, a singer-songwriter-producer best known for crafting hits for Big Sean, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. Kosine, whose …

Workers with the least education have been hit particularly hard by the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the jobless rate for workers with a high school degree rose to more than twice the rate for those with a college degree in April. As the coronavirus caused states to issue lockdown orders and all …

Several Senate Democrats are proposing a new coronavirus relief bill to supplement the initial direct cash payments provided to Americans as part of the phase-three CARES Act. Under the bill, introduced by Senators Kamala Harris (D., Calif.), Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), and Ed Markey (D., Mass.), all Americans earning less than $120,000 per year would …

Raven-Symoné is among the celebrities featured in Fox’s new series “Celebrity Watch Party.” The reality show (8 p.m. Thursday) gives viewers a peek behind the scenes as celebrities watch TV and react to topical shows. It’s based on “Celebrity Gogglebox,” a UK series with the same premise. “This is during quarantine,”  Raven-Symoné, 34, tells The …

Amid the carnage of the US employment report for April was one bright spot: Superstores led by Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, added more than 90,000 jobs. Overall, roughly 20.5 million people lost their jobs in April, the Labor Department said on Friday, a wipeout of jobs at a rate not seen since the 1930s. …