“We’re proud to celebrate inclusivity for all gender identities and expressions,” Oreo tweeted. “In partnership with NCTE, we’re giving away special edition Pronoun Packs and encouraging everybody to share their pronouns with #Pride today and every day.” Three different packs—“she/her,” “he/him,” and “they/them”—had pronouns written on the cookies themselves, with blue, pink and purple packaging reminiscent of the transgender flag. In addition Oreo-cookie pins that read “Ask Me My Pronouns” were given away on Sunday....

Zelensky was denounced by conservatives on social media for not wearing a suit while visiting with President Joe Biden on Wednesday. Although foreign heads of state typically wear somewhat more formal clothing while visiting the White House, Zelensky donned military fatigues for the visit, as he has done during nearly all of his public appearances since Ukraine’s war with Russia began in February. The Ukrainian president’s visit to Washington comes as U....

Retail sales are weakening. Even Wal-Mart, which has benefited as shoppers searched for savings, has had a slowdown. For much of 2002, its sales rose 5 percent to 6 percent at stores open at least a year. In September, the gain was 3.3 percent; many other chains did much worse. Confidence is falling. In October, the University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment dropped to 80.6, its lowest level since 1993....

How Apps Can Help While contact tracing has been used for years and helped eradicate diseases like smallpox, it has its drawbacks. First, it would take massive amounts of public health workers trained in contact tracing to meet the current need for COVID-19. Johns Hopkins estimates 100,000 additional contact tracers are needed to supplement public health systems. Second, successful contact tracing relies on truthful, voluntary statements from infected individuals about where they have gone and who they have been in contact with, and how well they are able to remember their interactions....

Pedro’s stunning early goal was soon forgotten as Abdoulaye Doucoure smashed in an equaliser and Roberto Pereyra netted either side of two astonishing Richarlison misses that ought to have put Marco Silva’s side in the clear. Barcelona 6/1 to beat Malaga 3-0 And the Blues made the most of the let-off as Michy Batshuayi bagged a brace and Cesar Azpilicueta scored to take Chelsea above their visitors and into the top four....

Conte’s side need only three more points to become champions for the sixth time in the club’s history as they approach the game against the Baggies. Conte expects Chelsea stay The Blues have had a resurgent season under their new boss after finishing tenth last year and Conte believes that matches against Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City were pivotal to his side’s challenge, especially the 3-0 defeat to the Gunners in September....

The Chelsea head coach has a contract until 2019 but has recently lost 3-0 at home to Bournemouth and 4-1 away to Watford which has dragged the club into a battle for a place in the top four. Chelsea need to beat West Bromwich Albion on Monday to reclaim a top-four spot and have tougher tests coming up against both Manchester clubs and Barcelona in the Champions League. Despite those setbacks and the difficult road ahead, Conte thinks that some of the criticism of him and his team has been overblown in the past fortnight....

Bakayoko’s red card — for two bookings in just five minutes — put the Premier League champions on the back foot, with Troy Deeney converting a penalty to put Watford ahead before the break. Chelsea eventually mustered a response thanks to Eden Hazard’s fine finish, but a late flurry of goals from Daryl Janmaat, Gerard Deulofeu and Roberto Pereyra wrapped up Javi Gracia’s first Hornets win. Conte’s men were dire in a 3-0 home loss to Bournemouth on Wednesday but this performance was as bad if not worse, leaving the Italian to accept he picked the wrong team....

Hazard can handle himself - Conte Mourinho this week criticised United’s decision to move on Angel Di Maria, Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck during Louis van Gaal’s reign as manager. Conte was asked on Friday whether Mourinho was mistaken in his judgement in offloading De Bruyne and Lukaku, both of whom have gone on to have significant success with Manchester City and Everton respectively. Mourinho and Conte have been at odds throughout this season, with the pair embroiled in a touchline spat during Chelsea’s FA Cup defeat of United on Monday....

Chelsea head into Saturday’s meeting with Watford on the back of two Premier League defeats in a row and a 3-3 Champions League draw with Roma on Wednesday. Chelsea 23/20 to beat Watford to nil The Blues have lost three times in their opening eight league games, having been beaten just five times en route to winning the title in Conte’s first term in charge. There have also been reports of unrest in the dressing room during their difficult run, with some senior players said to be unhappy with the head coach’s arduous training programme....

N’Golo Kante, Michy Batshuayi, Marcos Alonso and David Luiz all joined ahead of the 2016-17 campaign, but with Oscar seemingly on his way to China, Conte is ready to re-enter the market to boost Chelsea’s title hopes. “We must be very pleased for the achievement we have reached now, but it is logical that I look with my club for a solution to arrive in a good position at the end of the season,” Conte said....

In a move that could be interpreted as the veteran Arsenal manager firing the first shots in this term’s title race mind-games, Wenger claimed the top-flight crown is “[Chelsea’s] to lose” after they stormed to a six-point advantage at the summit thanks to a winning run of 12 successive matches. Stoke City will be the next team to try and halt Conte’s juggernaut when they visit Stamford Bridge on Saturday....

According to a recent update on the InciWeb national wildfire information system, the Bootleg Fire has burned 413,400 acres and it is currently 53 percent contained. The Bootleg Fire was first reported by officials on July 6 and is located in Oregon’s Fremont-Winema National Forest, located roughly 28 miles northeast of Klamath Falls. The Bootleg Fire was caused by lightning, according to officials. In the update on Wednesday, Bootleg Fire incident meteorologist and emergency response specialist at the National Weather Service’s Central Region Headquarters Chris Foltz, said, “The cooler temperatures and precipitation yesterday were a welcome change....

While the increases are mostly because of new COVID-19 outbreaks in states like Florida and Texas, VA officials have said the surge in cases haven’t put too much pressure on VA medical facilities. The current rate of hospitalization for veterans is around 24 percent, according to Military Times. However, the VA hasn’t released specific numbers about the number of COVID-19 patients recuperating at home as opposed to hospitals. Three VA medical facilities each in the states of California, Florida and Texas have reported case increases of anywhere from 35 to 87....

Among the 12 counties with the highest number of cases over the past week, five are in California and three are in Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The remainder are in Arizona, Illinois, Florida and Nevada. All 12 had more than 10,000 newly confirmed cases in the past seven days. According to the data, Los Angeles County had the highest number of newly confirmed cases in the past week, with at least 91,471....

So far, COVID-19 has killed over 191,000 people in more than 2.5 million diagnosed cases, with more than 745,000 survivors reported by health officials. As shown in the Statista graph below, the U.S. has the most known COVID-19 cases. That phrase, “known COVID-19 cases,” highlights part of the problem with uncovering a person’s risk of dying from the disease. There are a few ways that epidemiologists look at how deadly a condition is....

On Day 14 of the study, 62 percent of patients who received the drug within 10 days of symptoms onset were able to be discharged from the hospital. Only 49 percent of those who received treatment after more than 10 days of symptoms were able to be released, according to Gilead Sciences, which produces remdesivir. Officials worldwide have reported more than 3 million cases of SARS-CoV-2, the official name for the virus, and as of Wednesday, 218,456 people have died....

Officials in 73 countries, including the United States, have reported more than 90,000 cases to the World Health Organization (WHO) as of Tuesday. China’s seen the biggest impact, with more than 80,000 people becoming infected. About 80 percent of cases outside China were found in three countries—Iran, Italy and South Korea—but travel worldwide is taking a hit. “There is a lot of uncertainty around coronavirus, and it is pretty clear that it is having an effect on travel demand—not just from China, and not just internationally, but for domestic business and leisure travel as well,” Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U....

As the virus is thought to have only come to the attention of health officials late last year, when workers at a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province, fell ill, experts are still working to understand how it is transmitted. More than 75,000 cases of the deadly virus—whose symptoms include a fever, dry cough and short breath—have been confirmed, predominantly in mainland China. It has spread to over 25 countries and territories, including the United States, as shown below in the infographic by Statista....

The latest record figure comes as the Spanish government plans to ease restrictions in the country, which has been in lockdown mode for several weeks in a bid to help curb the spread of the virus. Some companies, including those within the construction and manufacturing industries, will be allowed to resume work beginning Monday, Reuters reported. Under the new guidelines issued Saturday by the office of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, any companies returning to work are required to provide employees with appropriate protective equipment and ensure they have space to remain at roughly six feet apart....