North America

14 April 2020; AFP: The International Monetary Fund on Monday announced immediate debt relief for 25 poor countries to help them free up funds to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

"This provides grants to our poorest and most vulnerable members to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months and will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement.

14 April 2020; AFP: Top global oil producers are considering slashing output by 20 million barrels a day under the terms of a deal to boost prices, US President Donald Trump said on Monday.

Trump's remarks came after OPEC producers and their allies agreed on Sunday to cut production by 9.7 million bpd, which some analysts feared would be too little to stem the damage from the combination of plunging demand amid the coronavirus pandemic and a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.

(Reuters) - British American Tobacco (BAT) (BATS.L) is the subject of a U.S. criminal investigation over suspected sanctions-busting, The Times reported bit.ly/2ydR5Wm on Tuesday, sending the company's shares down more than 5%.

The world’s second-biggest tobacco group on Tuesday said it was cooperating with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) without elaborating and declined to say whether the case was a criminal investigation.

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The White House said Monday that President Donald Trump is not firing the nation's top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci.

"This media chatter is ridiculous," White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement. "Dr. Fauci has been and remains a trusted advisor to President Trump."

The statement came after Trump retweeted a post on Sunday night containing the hashtag "#FireFauci."

CHICAGO, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Despite the negative impacts of COVID-19 in the first quarter, the Chinese economy will soon recover and the country is well on track toward the goal of building a moderately well-off society, said a U.S. scholar.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A member of the crew of the coronavirus-infected USS Theodore Roosevelt died Monday of complications related to the disease, 11 days after the aircraft carrier’s captain was fired for pressing his concern that the Navy had done too little to safeguard his crew. The sailor was the first active-duty military member to die of COVID-19.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s unrelenting opposition to “Obamacare” could become an obstacle for millions of uninsured people in the coronavirus outbreak, as well as many who are losing coverage in the economic shutdown.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A liberal challenger on Monday ousted a conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice endorsed by President Donald Trump, overcoming a successful push by Republicans to forge ahead with last week’s election even as numerous other states postponed theirs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Joe Biden also emerged victorious, as expected, in the state’s Democratic presidential primary. Biden’s easy victory became academic when Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out, one day after Wisconsin held in-person voting.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bernie Sanders endorsed Joe Biden’s presidential campaign on Monday, encouraging his progressive supporters to rally behind the presumptive Democratic nominee in an urgent bid to defeat President Donald Trump.

“I am asking all Americans, I’m asking every Democrat, I’m asking every independent, I’m asking a lot of Republicans, to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy, which I endorse,” the Vermont senator said in a virtual event with Biden.

CHATSWORTH, Ga. (AP) — Storms that killed more than 30 people in the Southeast, piling fresh misery atop a pandemic, spread across the eastern United States on Monday, leaving more than 1 million homes and businesses without power amid floods and mudslides.

In Alabama, people seeking shelter from tornadoes huddled in community shelters, protective masks covering their faces to guard against the new coronavirus. A twister demolished a Mississippi home save for a concrete room where a married couple and their children survived unharmed, but 11 others died in the state.