After decades of bitter fights, environmentalists seemed to be winning the war against single-use plastics in recent years, with cities around the world banning or taxing them. Then the coronavirus arrived, raising fears that reusable goods might lead to infections. The impact has been swift. From Maine to Hawaii, plastic-bag bans have been suspended or postponed. In San Francisco, reusable ...

So a deal was reached on the bill to supplement the money for small business and other new pandemic relief. Congressional Republicans had wanted $250 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program for small-business loans. The final bill added up to a $480 billion package, with Democrats winning aid for hospitals and increased coronavirus testing, plus provisions for smaller banks to ...

Aviation has always carried a whiff of the pirate ship about it. Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd, likes to describe himself as an “adventurer and troublemaker,” and once claimed to have found buried treasure on his private Caribbean island as a prank. Right now, the buccaneering executives who have driven the airline industry since the 1980s, when ...