Informing, engaging & connecting the people of the world. MAY 8, 2020

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Eliot Byron, an out-of-work stagehand in New York City, is preparing for a long period of austerity. For how long, he does not know, and that is the hardest part. It’s an anxious feeling shared by many Americans.

ON THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY On May 8, 1945, the United States and Great Britain celebrate Victory in Europe Day, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany on the western front. On the eastern front, German and Soviet soldiers continued to skirmish as many Germans tried to flee to the west, so Russia celebrates the end of World War II on May 9. The war in the Pacific, however, raged on and would end on August 15, 1945. More than 80 million combatants and civilians lost their lives in the war that started in 1939.

VIDEO: While telework has become more common during the pandemic, only about 50 percent of jobs can be fully performed from home. For those who still have jobs and can’t telework, there’s no other choice but to go to work.

The Justice Department on Thursday dropped the charges in its long-running criminal case against President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, ending one of the most politically charged and controversial cases stemming from the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Marine life in the politically disputed South China Sea took another hit over the past year due to overfishing and lack of international efforts to protect species .

The U.S Labor Department said Friday the coronavirus-caused unemployment rate surged to 14.7% in April, a number the world’s biggest economy has not experienced since the Great Depression in the 1930s. The jobless rate in March was 4.4%.