Economy and Politics

Police hacked into a WhatsApp-style chat for gangsters and spied on drug dealers, weapons traffickers, and crime lords plotting to execute rivals.

Ed Sheehan, Sir Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton are among 1,500 U.K. musicians urging the government to support the live music industry.

Emmanuel Macron on Friday appointed as France’s new prime minister an unknown technocrat whose only political experience has been as mayor of a small southern French city, in a bid to centralize power more closely two years before his shot at being re-elected France’s President in 2022.

The economic pain facing state and local governments resulting from the coronavirus pandemic is disconnected from the improving outlook on the national front. A new analysis from a Cleveland Federal Reserve researcher quantifies that hit.

France is to name a new prime minister “in the coming hours,” the country’s presidency said on Friday, shortly after announcing Édouard Philippe’s resignation amid an expected reshuffle.

The U.K. government’s job support package has paid the wages of 9.3 million workers since April, but in August it will be relaxed and there are fears this could cause a wave of unemployment.

Jason Furman, a Harvard economics professor and former economic adviser to President Barack Obama, has a very simple plan to both stimulate the economy and slow the spread of coronavirus.

The PPP and other federal programs for business owners fall short and leave too many behind.

Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, died in 1845. Tennessee gave a statue of him to the Capitol in 1928. But the conflict over his legacy continues today for Native Americans.

President Donald Trump hails a stronger-than-forecast jobs report on Thursday, saying the U.S. economy is “roaring back” even as the recovery comes under threat from a renewed surge in coronavirus cases.

The Congressional Budget Office on Thursday cut is forecast for U.S. economic growth over the next six months.

Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday rejected the need for a national mandate to wear face masks to slow the spread of the coronavirus, telling CNBC that there isn’t a “one-size all” approach to combating the pandemic in the U.S.

The U.S. recorded the highest number of new cases of the coronavirus illness COVID-19 in a single day at more than 50,000 on Wednesday, according to data provided by Johns Hopkins University, amid a surge in several states that were first to reopen and lift restrictions on movement.

The Democratic strategist predicts Republican Senators like Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham will turn on Trump after Labor Day

Trump’s personal attorney also slammed Joe Biden and the New York Times while speaking with reporters outside the White House

The U.S. added 4.8 million jobs in June and the unemployment rate fell for the second straight month to 11.1%, but the economy’s recuperation from the coronavirus might already be suffering a setback from a renewed surge in COVID-19 cases.

Biden’s unapologetic liberalism would nearly double the average tax rate paid by nonworking millionaires and make the working rich pay more into Social Security, all to help the most vulnerable.

Initial jobless claims fell 55,000 to 1.43 million in the week ended June 27, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

Factory orders rose 0.8% in May, the first gain in three months, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were expecting a 9.7% gain. Orders fell a revised 13.5% in the prior month and 11% in March as the economy was locked down from the pandemic. In May, durable goods orders rose 15.7%, only slightly down from last week's initial reading of a 15.8% increase. Orders for nondurable goods were up 2% in the month. Orders for nondefense capital goods, excluding aircraft rose 1.6% in May, down from the prior estimate of a 2.3% rise.

The June jobs report on Thursday shows the U.S. economy added 4.8 million jobs last month, with the unemployment rate falling to 11.1% from 13.3%. Here are some initial reactions from analysts and economists.