A powerful snowstorm is sweeping through the north-eastern US, with warnings in place for 14 states affecting more than 60 million people.

Some parts of Pennsylvania and New York are predicted to see as much as two feet (60cm) of snow.

Read more at BBC News.

In any other year, we'd be happily flying over the rivers and past the woods to get to Grandma's house more quickly for the holidays. But it's 2020, and globally there are more than 1.2 million deaths from the novel coronavirus so far -- with no end in sight.
"I'm particularly worried about air travel," said pediatrician Dr. David Rubin, who directs PolicyLab, a research and public policy center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The center is tracking Covid-19 cases in communities across the country.

Read more at CNN.

Bright sunlight filters down through the clear Mediterranean waters off the coast of Spain, illuminating a lush meadow just below the surface. Blades of strikingly green grass undulate in the currents. Painted comber fish dart among clumps of leaves, and technicolor nudibranchs crawl over mounds. Porcelain crabs scuttle by tiny starfish clinging to the blades. A four-foot-tall fan mussel has planted itself on a rock outcropping. A sea turtle glides by.

Read more at Smithsonian Mag.

Germany has been one of the examples to follow from the start of the pandemic. The country ran ample COVID-19 testing and contact tracing campaigns, seeking to find infected people as quickly as possible. Its caseload soared during the first wave, but the number of deaths remained much lower than in neighboring countries or the US. Detecting cases as early as possible can help reduce the spread of the illness and potentially save lives. After the relatively quiet summer, the country faced its own second wave that was much bigger than the first one. Germany averaged over 7,000 new cases per day during the peak of the first wave. But that figure has nearly quadrupled in the second wave, and there’s no telling if the peak will continue to hover around 25,000 cases or spike even higher.

Read more at BGR.

Niantic today announced the biggest-ever update to its flagship Pokemon Go location-based mobile game, called Go Beyond. Changes include an increase in the level cap from 40 to 50 and new seasons with special content.

The San Francisco company said it is rebalancing leveling up with a bunch of new features designed to make the game more fun, starting on November 30.

Read more at Venture Beat.

Some experts say the thank-you email is as important as your cover letter, so don’t waste this important opportunity to finalize your pitch—especially now that you know so much about the company, the role and your interviewer. “A properly prepared thank-you email, it just sets you apart,” says Paul McDonald, senior executive director at recruitment agency Robert Half. “It shows that you care and it restates your interest in the position.” Most HR managers say they consider thank-you messages when deciding who to hire, but they only receive notes from nearly a quarter of applicants, according to a survey by Robert Half. So don’t miss out on this chance to stand out, in a good way.
Send your email as soon as possible.

Aim to send your thank-you note as soon as you can after the interview. This gives you an opportunity to seal the interviewer’s good impression of you immediately after your initial meeting, while their memory of you is still fresh, recruiters say. If you interviewed with more than one person, you should email each one separately.

Read more at Wall Street Journal.

This is about the time of year when businesses across the country start figuring out their taxes: How much money they made this year and how much they spent on business expenses. But this year, there’s a new and thorny wrinkle in that process for businesses that received Paycheck Protection Program loans.

A few weeks ago, Randy George got an email about his bakery — the Red Hen Baking Co. in Middlesex, Vermont — from a business advocacy group. The email was a warning for businesses that received Paycheck Protection Program loans or other pandemic relief.

Read more at Marketplace.

Business was booming for Adam St. George when he decided to shop around his four-year-old brand Angry Orange Odor Eliminator. Sold primarily on Amazon, his citrus-scented pet odor remover was racking up more than $2 million in annual revenue.

Within hours of listing the operation on an online brokerage, St. George was inundated with phone calls. Planned time off to visit family in Ohio morphed into a marathon of negotiations with brokers, family offices and individual investors. The winner: consumer-products startup Thrasio, which sent a term sheet within a week of the listing and insisted on a response the next day.

Read more at Forbes.

Last week, struggling with phone and internet banking services, I ventured out to my bank’s branch in the heart of Hong Kong’s financial district. Spread out over several floors of prime real estate, the big institution with its name sprinkled across the city was teeming with people – from two taking temperatures on entry to multiple assistants enquiring what they could help me with even before I reached the customer service counter. I got in the queue.

My turn came. The counter agent couldn’t solve my problem. His colleague had no better luck. They then brought out their “digital ambassador.” She took me to a computer and got me to call the customer hotline. When that failed, they tried to get me to fill out a paper form and wait a few days. I lost it. I demanded to see the branch manager.

Read more at Bloomberg.

More than 22 million Americans have already voted, including 2.5 million in Texas. Harris County, home to Houston, is seeing increased volume in early voting, with some residents making use of a new drive-through option during the pandemic. But some are also concerned about voter suppression due to the restricted number of ballot drop-off locations. Daniel Bush joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

Read more at PBS News.