North America

16 May 2020; MEMO: Turkish defense officials on Friday distributed protective health supplies to soldiers stationed at a NATO Allied Land Command based in Izmir, Anadolu Agency reports.

In a statement, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense said it distributed the supplies to 320 allied staff of 23 NATO member countries as part of the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Washington, May 16 (AP) The day he declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency, President Donald Trump made a cryptic offhand remark.

I have the right to do a lot of things that people don't even know about," he said at the White House.

Trump wasn't just crowing. Dozens of statutory authorities become available to any president when national emergencies are declared.

Washington, May 16 (PTI) President Donald Trump has announced that the US will donate a lot of ventilators to India to help it fight the "invisible enemy", moments after he underlined the close partnership between the two countries and called Prime Minister Narendra Modi his "good friend".

Trump also said the US and India were cooperating to develop a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus that has claimed 307,666 lives and infected more than 4.5 million people globally since it emerged in China in December last year.

16 May 2020; AFP: The investigation into the murder of a Mexican journalist who worked for AFP as a freelancer was blighted by "negligence... and delays," Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Friday.

Javier Valdez, who was also the founder of the Riodoce weekly newspaper and worked for the La Jornada daily, was shot dead three years ago in Culiacan.

WASHINGTON, May 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A government watchdog fired suddenly by Pres Donald Trump was investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said a Democratic lawmaker who accused the president of committing a potentially illegal act of retribution.

Trump sacked State Department Inspector General Steve Linick late on Friday in his latest abrupt dismissal of an official tasked with monitoring wrongdoing inside a government agency.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve warned Friday that the financial sector faces “significant” vulnerabilities due to the coronavirus pandemic, as businesses and households grapple with fragile finances for the foreseeable future.

In its latest report on financial stability, the Fed said the global pandemic imposed sweeping risks. While policy actions from the Fed and others have helped bolster the economy, and the banking system has withstood the initial downturn, the report warned of major risks if the pandemic proves lengthy or more severe than anticipated.

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Five sailors who had returned to the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt after a coronavirus quarantine have tested positive for the virus again, the U.S. Navy announced on Friday.

"This week, five USS Theodore Roosevelt sailors who previously tested COVID positive and met rigorous recovery criteria, exceeding CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines, have retested positive," the U.S. Navy said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday two men will lead his administration's new effort for COVID-19 vaccine development.

Former pharmaceutical executive Moncef Slaoui and Army General Gustave Perna, the commander of United States Army Materiel Command, will lead "Operation Warp Speed," the new project to accelerate the vaccine development process for COVID-19.

The new project is a "historic partnership" of federal agencies, Trump told a noon briefing in the White House Rose Garden.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Federal and state regulators in the U.S. are preparing to file antitrust lawsuits alleging Google has abused its dominance of online search and advertising to stifle competition and boost its profits, according to a report published Friday.

The Wall Street Journal cited unidentified people familiar with the probes in a story about the upcoming offensive by the U.S. Justice Department and the attorneys general from several states.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The pilot flying Kobe Bryant and seven others to a youth basketball tournament did not have alcohol or drugs in his system, and all nine sustained immediately fatal injuries when their helicopter slammed into a hillside outside Los Angeles in January, according to autopsies released Friday.

The reports by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office provide a clinical but unvarnished look at the brutality of the crash.