North America

NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of Americans have been ordered to stay home. Businesses and schools are shuttered. And National Guard units have been activated in more than half the states.

Yet despite what you may have read in a text message or on social media, there are currently no plans for a national quarantine, let alone martial law. Those National Guard units? They’re busy distributing food and medical supplies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has advised against all international travel because of the coronavirus, but that didn’t stop Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from flying to Afghanistan this week.

Gyms across the nation’s capital are shuttered, but Sen. Rand Paul, an eye doctor, still managed a workout at the Senate on Sunday morning as he awaited the results of a coronavirus test. It came back positive.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 24 (APP): The United Nations and its partners are taking steps to ensure people living in informal settlements have access to running water at this critical time when regular hand washing is critical to combating coronavirus, according to the UN-Habitat, the agency working to achieve more sustainable cities.

The agency said the impacts of the new coronavirus disease could be considerably higher on the urban poor living in slums, where overcrowding also makes it difficult to follow other recommended measures such as social distancing and self-isolation.

(Reuters) - Spirit Aerosystems (SPR.N), Boeing’s largest supplier, is temporarily suspending production of parts for the airline at many of its facilities across the United States, the company said on Tuesday, as the global coronavirus pandemic saps demand across the industry.

The company said it would suspend production beginning March 25 until April 8, including at its main Wichita, Kansas facility.

Spirit will, however, continue to support 787 work for Boeing’s Charleston, South Carolina, facility.

(Reuters) - The Trump administration is moving ahead with oil and gas lease sales in four Western states beginning on Tuesday, bucking criticism from taxpayer advocates who say the auctions should be postponed because of a meltdown in energy prices.

The Bureau of Land Management is offering more than 210,000 acres (85,000 hectares) for leasing via online auctions in Wyoming, Nevada and Montana on Tuesday, and Colorado on Thursday.

New York, Mar 24 (AFP/PTI) Anxiety ratcheted up Monday across an eerily deserted New York, America's coronavirus epicenter, but President Donald Trump said he'd soon call for lifting the lockdown in some parts of the country.

Trump -- who faces reelection in November and is keen to avoid extended economic damage -- told reporters he would be "opening up our country to business because our country was meant to be open."

WASHINGTON, Mar 24 (NNN-XINHUA) – U.S. Vice President, Mike Pence, said that, 313,000 COVID-19 tests have been completed in the United States, and more than 41,000 tests were positive.

During a White House press briefing, Pence said, all state and hospital labs are now required to report their virus test numbers to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

UNITED NATIONS, March 23 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for an immediate global cease-fire in face of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

"It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives (against the coronavirus)," he said in a virtual press encounter.

He asked warring parties to pull back from hostilities, put aside mistrust and animosity, and silence the guns.

MIAMI (AP) — From Caracas to Tehran, officials are calling on the Trump administration to ease crippling economic sanctions they contend are contributing to the growing death toll caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The idea has gained support from prominent leftists in the U.S., including Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who say throwing a financial lifeline to some of the United States’ fiercest critics is worth it if lives can be saved.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With at least two members of the House testing positive for coronavirus, Democrats are recommending that they pass a nearly $2 trillion economic rescue passage by unanimous consent, meaning no lawmakers would have to be present for the vote.