North America

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 03 (APP): The United Nations stands against death penalty, the world body’s spokesman said when asked about the overturning by a Pakistani court of the murder convictions of four men accused in the 2002 killing of US journalist Daniel Pearl.

03 April 2020; MEMO: Twitter yesterday removed 7,800 fake accounts linked to the governments of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE for violating its policies and being a “targeted attempt to undermine the public conversation”.

The company explained that 5,350 accounts received directions from governments “amplifying content praising Saudi leadership, and critical of Qatar and Turkish activity in Yemen”.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 03 (APP): The UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution Thursday calling for increased global solidarity and international cooperation to “contain, mitigate and defeat” the deadly coronavirus infection.

The resolution, drafted by Singapore and co-sponsored by Pakistan and over 180 other countries, passed using a new mechanism called “silence procedure,” which does not require a resolution to be voted upon, but rather will pass automatically after a set time if no member state objects.

03 April 2020; MEMO: US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has called on the President Donald Trump to ease sanctions on Iran to help it confront the coronavirus pandemic.

“In times of global crisis, America should lead. We should be the first to offer help to people who are hurting or in danger. That’s who we are. That’s who we’ve always been,” Biden said in a statement issued yesterday.

WASHINGTON, April 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of confirmed coronavirus cases around the world soared past one million and deaths topped 50,000 as Europe reeled from the pandemic and the United States reported the highest daily death toll so far of any country.

Despite more than half the planet imposing some form of lockdown, the virus claimed thousands more lives, with the US, Spain and Britain seeing the highest number of daily fatalities yet.

WASHINGTON, April 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The global tally of people who made recoveries from deadly Coronavirus topped 200,000 on Thursday, four times the worldwide death toll.

According to the running data of U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University, a total of 202,541 recoveries have been recorded across the globe, while more than 48,300 people have died from the epidemic and cases surged to nearly 952,000.

3 April 2020; AFP: The coronavirus pandemic has plunged the world into uncharted territory, leaving people feeling helpless in the face of an invisible threat of unknown duration that could infect any of us.

With uncertainty surrounding the outbreak deepening the economic, social and health care crisis, an army of therapists is helping people cope with the brutal psychological fallout.

"People are experiencing very high levels of anxiety," Sonya Lott, a Philadelphia-based psychologist who specializes in grief counseling, told AFP.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was pressing ahead with the Friday launch of a $349 billion coronavirus rescue loan program for small businesses, after conceding to bank demands to fix aspects of the program that they said could cause participating lenders legal and financial risks.

Mnuchin told a White House briefing on Thursday that the Treasury and the Small Business Administration had decided to double the interest rate on the loans to 1% from 0.5% previously so that small banks with higher deposit costs don’t lose money.

UNITED NATIONS, April 2 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has sent a letter to UN member states, expressing concerns over "enormous challenges" posed by COVID-19 and financial pressure of UN operations, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said here on Thursday.

The world organization ended 2019 with arrears of 711 million U.S. dollars, the highest level for a decade and a 34 percent increase compared to 2018, Guterres said, adding that the pressure comes from continued financial constraints.

SAN FRANCISCO, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Boeing is initiating a voluntary layoff (VLO) plan to try to stem the financial strain from the COVID-19 pandemic, Dave Calhoun, the company's president and CEO, said in a letter to employees on Thursday.