World News

President-elect Joe Biden announced Thursday that he had chosen North Carolina regulator Michael S. Regan as his nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency and New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland as his pick for interior secretary.

WASHINGTON — A federal prisoner scheduled to be executed just days before President-elect Joe Biden takes office has tested positive for coronavirus, his lawyer said Thursday.

NEW YORK — Laurence Hyman, son of the late Shirley Jackson, has been on a quest for more than 20 years. Jackson was just 48 when she died, in 1965, and left behind an extensive backlog of unreleased material.

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — A wild turkey that had developed an online fan following but also drew complaints about aggressive behaviour was euthanized last week, Massachusetts wildlife officials said.

Two owners of the company that makes OxyContin acknowledged to Congress on Thursday that the powerful prescription painkiller played a role in the opioid epidemic but they stopped short of apologizing or admitting wrongdoing.

LOS ANGELES — Hospitals across California have all but run out of intensive care beds for COVID-19 patients, ambulances are backing up outside emergency rooms, and tents for triaging the sick are going up as the nation’s most populous state emerges a

PARIS — Wearing a white medical mask, French President Emmanuel Macron went ahead with a planned speech by videoconference Thursday, hours after testing positive for COVID-19 following a week in which he met with numerous European leaders.

NEW YORK — An online murder mystery. Law-themed opera arias. A snowman-building competition. With dancing, drinking and fancy dinners a no-go because of virus concerns, companies are getting creative about their holiday office parties this year.

KABUL — In his three combat tours in Afghanistan, Gen. Mark Milley saw the Taliban as a formidable foe, one unlikely to “fade away in the dust,” as he put it in 2013.

LONDON — The British government on Thursday extended its salary support program by another month through to the end of April as it tries to keep a lid on unemployment as coronavirus restrictions slam businesses.