World News

WASHINGTON — Stuck in the grip of a viral pandemic, the U.S. economy grew at a 4% annual rate in the final three months of 2020 and shrank last year by the largest amount in 74 years.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — American whiskey absorbed some setbacks but showed resilience in the face of pandemic-related clampdowns on bars and restaurants as liquor sales benefited from enduring demand for a good stiff drink.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Sales of new homes rose 1.6% in December after a big decline in November that was even worse than previously thought.

NEW YORK — Peter Nicks had for months been documenting the students of Oakland High School, in California, when the pandemic hit.

NEW YORK — Within hours of Amanda Gorman's reading of the inaugural poem last week, bookstores were hearing from their customers.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A Chinese-Canadian singer says a Chinese corruption charge against her mother, who has been held in custody for six years, has been withdrawn but she remains in detention.

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell but remained at a historically high 847,000 last week, a sign that layoffs keep coming as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage.

BERLIN — A far-right extremist in Germany was convicted Thursday and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a regional politician who had advocated helping refugees — a brazen killing that shocked the country.

NEW YORK — A British socialite criminally charged with aiding Jeffrey Epstein in his sexual abuse of teenage girls testified in 2016 that she had no memory of anything amiss on his properties in the 2000s despite the accusations from dozens of women

LOS ANGELES — Cloris Leachman, an Oscar-winner for her portrayal of a lonely housewife in “The Last Picture Show” and a comedic delight as the fearsome Frau Blücher in “Young Frankenstein” and self-absorbed neighbour Phyllis on “The Mary Tyler Moore