World News

WASHINGTON — U.S. orders for big-ticket factory goods plunged for the second straight month in April as the coronavirus pandemic hammered the economy. The Commerce Department said Thursday that orders for durable goods dropped 17.

TOKYO — Japanese automaker Nissan plans to close auto plants in Spain and Indonesia after sinking into the red for the first time in 11 years as the pandemic squashed global demand and disrupted production.

MINNEAPOLIS — The mayor of Minneapolis called Wednesday for criminal charges against the white police officer seen on video kneeling against the neck of a handcuffed black man who complained that he could not breathe and died in police custody.

Former Texas Rep. Sam Johnson, a military pilot who spent years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam before serving more than two decades in Congress, died Wednesday at age 89.

NEW YORK — A decade after the “Hunger Games” series had apparently ended, readers were clearly ready for more.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — SeaWorld and Walt Disney World will reopen in Orlando, Florida, in June and July after months of inactivity because of the coronavirus pandemic, under plans approved Wednesday by a city task force.

MIAMI — Two men are suing organizers of Ultra Music Festival, claiming they were denied refunds after the the three-day electronic dance music festival in Miami was cancelled in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

LOS ANGELES — An investigation of Gabrielle Union’s complaints of racism on the set of “America’s Got Talent” concluded that her allegations were unfounded, according to NBC and the show’s producers.

Before he died after being pinned for minutes beneath a Minneapolis police officer's knee, George Floyd was suffering the same fate as millions of Americans during the coronavirus pandemic: out of work and looking for a new job.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The launch of a SpaceX rocket ship with two NASA astronauts on a history-making flight into orbit was called off with less than 17 minutes to go in the countdown Wednesday because of thunderclouds and the risk of lightning.