North America

UNITED NATIONS, May 13 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on religious leaders to play a key role in limiting the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the recovery from it.

“We know from previous public health crises — from HIV/AIDS to Ebola — that the actions of faith leaders influence people’s values, attitudes, behaviours and actions,” he said at an online meeting with leaders from the Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths as well as diplomats on Tuesday.

THE UNITED NATIONS, May 13. /TASS/: The United States cannot demand the extension of arms embargo against Tehran since it is no more a party to the Iran nuclear deal, Russia’s UN envoy Vasily Nebenzya told a press conference with journalists via a video link-up.

WASHINGTON, May 13. /TASS/: Russia’s Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov has slammed as cynical the attempts of Ukraine’s diplomatic mission in Washington to draw a parallel between victory over Nazism in 1945 and the domestic Ukrainian conflict.

The ambassador commented on a message by Ukraine’s military attache Boris Kremenetsky sent to the veterans of the former Soviet Union living in the US, which criticized Russia.

(Reuters) - U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will co-chair a climate change panel for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, giving him a prominent liberal voice that could help garner his party’s full support.

Ocasio-Cortez, who had backed fellow liberal U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’ bid for the Democratic nomination, will co-head the climate policy group Biden had set up in collaboration with his one-time rival Sanders, his campaign confirmed on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, in a sober review of where the U.S. economy stands on the cusp of its reopening, said on Wednesday the country could face an “extended period” of weak growth and stagnant incomes, pledged to use more Fed power as needed, and issued a call for more fiscal spending.

WASHINGTON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Anthony Fauci, a top expert on infectious diseases in the United States, warned on Tuesday that states would face "really serious" consequences if they open up prematurely during the coronavirus pandemic.

"My concern is that if some areas, city, states or what have you, jump over those various checkpoints and prematurely open up without having the capability of being able to respond effectively and efficiently... we will start to see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks," Fauci told a Senate panel during a teleconference hearing.

WASHINGTON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Tuesday many experts believe more people in the United States have died from COVID-19 than those who have been reported.

"Most of us feel that the number of deaths is likely higher than that number," Fauci told a Senate hearing.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Tom Tiffany, a state senator endorsed by President Donald Trump, easily won a special congressional election Tuesday in a heavily conservative, rural Wisconsin district, cheering Republicans even as Democrats argued the victory revealed vulnerabilities for the president among his base.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a more than $3 trillion coronavirus aid package, a sweeping effort with $1 trillion for states and cities, “hazard pay” for essential workers and a new round of cash payments to individuals.

The House is expected to vote on the package as soon as Friday. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said there is no “urgency.” The Senate will wait until after Memorial Day to consider options.

“We must think big, for the people, now,” Pelosi said Tuesday from the speaker’s office at the Capitol.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Advice from the nation’s top disease control experts on how to safely reopen businesses and institutions in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic included detailed instructive guidance and some more restrictive measures than the plan released by the White House last month. The guidance, which was shelved by Trump administration officials, also offered recommendations to help communities decide when to shut facilities down again during future flareups of COVID-19.