When Jamie Bressler began attending Comic-Con, she took extreme measures to see her favorite movie and TV stars, such as sleeping outside the San Diego Convention Center to catch the cast of the sci-fi series, “Firefly.” “I got some advice that I should pick one thing each day that I really want to see and…

Chris Mittelstaedt successfully navigated his San Francisco Bay Area fruit and snack delivery business through the dot-com bust, the 2008 financial crisis and the first few months of the economic ravages of the coronavirus pandemic. But, along with many of America’s small-business owners, his hopes for a quick economic recovery have been dashed. Surging Covid-19…

The housing market came roaring back in June, as low mortgage rates and increased economic activity helped push sales of previously owned homes up 20.7% from the prior month. Demand was strong from apartment renters seeking more space, young families moving to the suburbs and wealthy city dwellers looking for second homes, brokers and economists…

BERLIN—German Chancellor Angela Merkel promoted Wirecard AG to Chinese officials last fall, even though her top aides were aware of probes into possible irregularities at the now insolvent German company, government officials said Wednesday, in the latest sign of the scandal spilling over into German politics. Ms. Merkel brought up Wirecard’s plans to acquire Beijing-based…

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE said Wednesday they have signed a $1.95 billion agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Defense Department to secure hundreds of millions of doses of a coronavirus vaccine which Americans would receive for free. Under the agreement, the U.S. government would receive 100 million doses…

One website advertised dog products. Another advertised flowers; another, home decorations. All of them were really fronts to process payments for marijuana or designer drugs, prosecutors said. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have recently brought a string of criminal and civil cases accusing individuals and companies of using legitimate-looking websites to deceive…

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped 142,000, as hospitals in some parts of the country where the virus is spreading rapidly face increasing numbers of patients. Total coronavirus cases in the U.S. climbed past 3.9 million, while daily cases rose by more than 64,000 Tuesday, slightly higher than the previous day’s tally,…

HONG KONG—The U.S. ordered the abrupt closure of China’s consulate in Houston, a dramatic escalation in bilateral tensions that Beijing condemned as outrageous and unprecedented. Washington’s demand, issued Tuesday, marked “a political provocation unilaterally launched by the U.S.,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Wednesday at a routine briefing in Beijing. “China urges the…

Twitter Inc. said it would step up enforcement against followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory, becoming the first major platform to take aggressive action to limit the spread of a discredited movement that has festered online for years. A Twitter spokesperson said the company has banned more than 7,000 QAnon-related accounts in recent weeks, limited…

The Covid-19 pandemic has deepened the bonds of many families and friends in unexpected ways. Sisters who haven’t seen each other for years now connect every other week in Zoom calls. Parents notice a tenderness in concerned adult children and wonder whether they should move closer to them. An uncle gets to know the grown…

Comet NEOWISE, on its way to the deep freeze beyond the planets, makes its closest approach to Earth this week, appearing as a large shooting star in the early evening sky near the constellation of the Big Dipper. Officially known as Comet C/2020 F3, it is the brightest to be seen in the Northern Hemisphere…

Comet NEOWISE, on its way to the deep freeze beyond the planets, makes its closest approach to Earth this week, appearing as a large shooting star in the early evening sky near the constellation of the Big Dipper. Officially known as Comet C/2020 F3, it is the brightest to be seen in the Northern Hemisphere…

French President Emmanuel Macron, with French flag on mask, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Brussels on Monday. john thys/PRESS POOL The German chancellor pushed through the European Union’s agreement to offer €750 billion to help members counter coronavirus’s economic devastation French President Emmanuel Macron, with French flag on mask, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel…

The Trump administration plans to send federal law enforcement to Chicago as part of an effort to crack down on gun crime, as leaders in several Democratic-controlled cities worried about the presence of federal agents on their streets following confrontations with demonstrators in Portland, Ore. Law-enforcement officials familiar with the plan said more than 100…

WASHINGTON—A controversial Trump administration nominee for the Federal Reserve’s policy making board cleared a major hurdle in her path to confirmation Tuesday after a Senate panel voted to support the choice. The candidacy of Judy Shelton, an economic adviser to Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, for the Fed’s Board of Governors was approved by the…

WASHINGTON—President Trump signed a memo Tuesday meant to exclude immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally from being taken into account when the government divides up congressional seats, a move that civil-rights groups swiftly vowed to challenge in court. The census, which the Constitution requires to be conducted nationwide every 10 years, counts every person…

The U.S. government has accused two individuals of conspiring with Chinese intelligence to steal secrets from more than a dozen companies in the defense, health care, and other industries, according to a federal indictment released on Tuesday. The two accused hackers also probed the cyber defenses of at least four American companies working on coronavirus…

Parents are starting to get emails about the fall school agenda, and for many, there’s going to be at least some remote instruction. So are we in for a repeat of last spring, when school districts had little time to prepare for the shift to online education, and parents were largely left to teach the…

MARIPOSA, Calif.—When Yosemite National Park finally reopened in June after a nearly three-month closure because of the coronavirus pandemic, Bryan Imrie was both relieved and nervous. The 49-year-old, who co-owns an attraction that features a zip line and horseback rides, wanted to start making money again from his family’s business that draws tourists visiting the…

SHANGHAI—The rivalry between the U.S. and China assumes cosmic proportions this month, as both countries prepare to send spacecraft to Mars within days of each other. The head-to-head Mars missions are the latest sign that China is ready to challenge the U.S. in space exploration, in recent decades an American preserve. China’s first mission...

LinkedIn will cut about 960 jobs, or around 6% of its workforce, as the Microsoft-owned professional networking site grapples with falling demand for its recruitment services due to the Covid-19 pandemic. LinkedIn Chief Executive Ryan Roslansky said the job cuts will be made across the company’s global sales and talent acquisition teams. The coronavirus has…

LinkedIn will lay off about 960 workers, or around 6% of its workforce, as the Microsoft Corp.-owned professional networking site grapples with falling demand for recruitment due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The job cuts will be made across the company’s global sales and talent acquisition organizations, LinkedIn Chief Executive Ryan Roslansky said in a note…

Six months into the pandemic, researchers are homing in on an answer to one of the basic questions about the virus: How deadly is it? Researchers, initially analyzing data from outbreaks on cruise ships and more recently from surveys of thousands of people in virus hot spots, have now conducted dozens of studies to calculate…

Voters in growing numbers believe that Black and Hispanic Americans are discriminated against, and a majority of 56% holds the view that American society is racist, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds. The poll finds that Americans of all races and age groups share significant concerns about discrimination nearly two months after George…

A white St. Louis couple who pointed a semiautomatic pistol and a semiautomatic rifle at a group of Black Lives Matter protesters as they passed in front of their mansion last month are facing felony charges, despite a vow from Missouri’s governor that he would pardon them if they were convicted of any crime. Mark…

International Business Machines Corp.’s earnings declined in the second quarter against the backdrop of a pandemic that has roiled many of its corporate customers. Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM had been searching for growth under new Chief Executive Arvind Krishna after several years of mostly declining revenue under his predecessor, Ginni Rometty. Cloud computing and artificial intelligence…

July was supposed to be the month when the Walt Disney Co. would stop sheltering in place and start operating in a post-Covid-19 world. But for the company that just months ago was the envy of Hollywood, few things are going according to plan. Theaters that were supposed to reopen this past weekend are staying…

LONDON—The British government suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in response to Beijing’s decision to impose a new security law on the former British colony, the latest sign of deteriorating diplomatic relations between Western nations and China. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Parliament on Monday that the extradition treaty would be suspended indefinitely…

Is there a hidden Trump vote? The good news for President Trump is this: There just might be. The bad news for the president: The universe of potential hidden supporters is heavily populated with the kinds of people who happen to be more comfortable with Joe Biden than they were with Hillary Clinton four years ago.…

LONDON—A leading coronavirus-vaccine candidate being developed by University of Oxford researchers and AstraZeneca PLC showed positive results in early trials, according to results published Monday, raising the prospect that a shot could be available by the end of this year. A study of 1,077 healthy adults who received the vaccine showed it produced two kinds…

Now Playing 7/20/2020 8:00AM      It’s far from business as usual at the Indianapolis headquarters of Eli Lilly, with only a sixth of the pharma company’s employees working on-site to develop potential Covid-19 treatments. WSJ’s Peter Loftus takes us inside. Photo: Eli Lilly Up Next Editor Picks Shelf 3:02 Scientists Work to Produce Covid-19 Treatments Under…

Now Playing 7/20/2020 8:00AM      It’s far from business as usual at the Indianapolis headquarters of Eli Lilly, with only a sixth of the pharma company’s employees working on-site to develop potential Covid-19 treatments. WSJ’s Peter Loftus takes us inside. Photo: Eli Lilly Up Next Editor Picks Shelf 3:02 Scientists Work to Produce Covid-19 Treatments Under…

HONG KONG—China says it has ended a coronavirus outbreak in Beijing that it has been battling since mid-June, even as it deployed its so-called “wartime mode” measures to a new cluster in the country’s remote northwest. The Chinese capital marked 14 days with no new locally transmitted cases on Monday, signaling the end of an…

Chevron Corp. is close to a deal to buy Noble Energy Inc. for about $5 billion, in what would be the largest oil-patch tie-up since the coronavirus pandemic delivered a shock to the industry. The all-stock takeover values Noble at $10.38 a share or 0.1191 Chevron share, according to a person familiar with the matter.…

Europe’s plan to kick-start its economy while shrinking its carbon footprint is throwing up new opportunities for investors. Shares in renewable-energy companies and insulation providers have advanced this year, in contrast to the plunge in oil-and-gas companies’ stocks and a retreat in the broader market. Investors are betting these firms will benefit from the European…

EBay Inc. is in advanced talks to sell its classified-ads business to Norway’s Adevinta ASA, according to people familiar with the matter, as the online auction pioneer seeks to refocus on its core marketplace business. A cash-and-stock deal could be announced as soon as Monday assuming the talks don’t fall apart, the people said. The…