North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — At greater risk from COVID-19, some seniors now face added anxiety due to delays obtaining Medicare coverage.

Advocates for older people say the main problem involves certain applications for Medicare’s “Part B” coverage for outpatient care. It stems from the closure of local Social Security offices in the coronavirus pandemic.

Part B is particularly important these days because it covers lab tests, like ones for the coronavirus.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 28 (APP): As the pressure mounts on countries to ease their lockdown restrictions, the International Labour Organization (ILO), a Geneva-based UN agency, has urged states to take action to prevent and control the coronavirus pandemic in the workplace.

“The safety and health of our entire workforce is paramount today”, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said in a statement to mark the World Day for Safety and Health at Work.

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Tuesday after a round of quarterly earnings reports brought upbeat signs from Pfizer and respiratory mask-maker 3M for investors increasingly hopeful of a relaunch of business across the economy.

3M Co (MMM.N), the world’s biggest maker of N95 respirator masks, rose 3.4% in premarket trading after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit, although it suspended its 2020 forecast due to the health crisis.

WASHINGTON, April 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide soared past three million on Monday as several European nations and a handful of US states began taking steps to reopen their shuttered economies.

But as schools and shops reopened in some parts of Europe, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson emerged after his own battle with the virus to call for patience in the UK, saying it was too early to follow suit.

NEW YORK, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices suffered heavy losses on Monday amid fears over a growing scarcity of oil storage space as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on crude demand.

The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery shed 4.16 U.S. dollars, or 24.56 percent, to settle at 12.78 dollars a barrel on Monday, after trading as low as 11.88 dollars earlier in the session.

The international benchmark Brent crude for June delivery dropped 6.76 percent to close below the 20-dollar mark.

WASHINGTON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs launched an inquiry into the Trump administration's decision to halt funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), committee chairman Eliot Engel said on Monday.

WASHINGTON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Global COVID-19 cases crossed the 3 million mark Monday, with nearly one-third of them in the United States as business economists' outlook about the country's economy got darkened.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., is giving the House another shot at forcing former White House counsel Don McGahn to appear before Congress.

Nine of the Democratic-dominated court’s 11 judges are hearing arguments by telephone Tuesday in a dispute between House Democrats and President Donald Trump’s administration over a subpoena for McGahn’s testimony that was issued a year ago by a House committee.

ATLANTA (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden renewed his party unification efforts Monday with bookend endorsements from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the leader of the House progressive caucus that sometimes battles the speaker from the left.

The twin announcements from Pelosi and Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal highlight Biden’s effort to avoid a repeat of the 2016 presidential election, when tensions between establishment Democrats and the party’s progressive flank hobbled Hillary Clinton in her loss to President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr on Monday ordered federal prosecutors across the U.S. to identify coronavirus-related restrictions from state and local governments “that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens.”

The memo to U.S. attorneys directs the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan to coordinate the department’s efforts to monitor state and local policies and take action if needed.