The United States reached a grim milestone on Tuesday in the number of coronavirus deaths, as the nation continues to lead the world in fatalities. The U.S. total of more than 200,000 accounts for almost 20 percent of global deaths. The United States has led the world in the number of infections for months, recording nearly 6.9 million cases by early Wednesday. “The idea of 200,000 deaths is really very sobering, in some respects stunning,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, told CNN.

TV personality Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 72nd Emmy Awards on Sunday in the largely empty Staples Center in Los Angeles while nominees waited at home to discover whether they had won. Winners gave their acceptance speeches via livestream and, in most cases, received their trophies through prearranged delivery.

After holding indoor services since late August, members of North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, Calif., gathered in the parking lot to worship from their cars the past two Sundays. Pastor Jack Trieber told congregants that after prayer, fasting, and counsel, he decided not to resist the county’s lawsuit over the Bay Area church’s violations of COVID-19 restrictions. The church had racked up fines of more than $100,000 by the time it and Santa Clara County agreed to drop their lawsuits late Friday.

Of the five NCAA athletic conferences that make the most money, four have committed to putting players on the gridiron this fall. The last holdout, the Pac-12, looks like it is headed for a fall football return, as well.

“We feel we’ve got a responsibility to our student-athletes and our programs to explore that possibility,” Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said. “So that’s what we’re doing.”

Just weeks ago, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed hope the country could return to normal by Christmas. But on Tuesday, he imposed tighter restrictions to contain a surge of COVID-19 cases and warned that normal social or work life might not be possible for at least six months: “For the time being, this virus is a fact of our lives.”

EUROPE: Six months after Italy’s coronavirus crisis became an ominous signpost to the West, the World Health Organization is warning of “a very serious situation” unfolding again across Europe.

Ed Greene has a healthy respect for nature and its fury. Two weeks after Hurricane Laura swept through Louisiana, the retired National Park Service ranger wore a yellow shirt typical of Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers and thumbed through a roster listing 100 homeowners who still needed help. Greene, the deputy state director of New Mexico Baptist Relief, had brought a crew of volunteers and chainsaws to clear downed trees from roads and houses in Vinton and Sulphur, La.