USA

(AP) --- A fast-rising tide of new coronavirus cases is flooding emergency rooms in parts of the United States, with some patients moved into hallways and nurses working extra shifts to keep up with the surge.

Patients struggling to breathe are being placed on ventilators in emergency wards since intensive care units are full, officials say, and the near-constant care they require is overtaxing workers who also are treating more typical ER cases like chest pains, infections, and fractures.

NEW YORK, Jul 18 (APP): The universal values of freedom and peace are under assault in Indian occupied Kashmir, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Asad Majeed Khan has said, and he called for ending New Delhi’s “egregious human rights violations” in the disputed region.

“India has occupied the region and brutally oppressed its people since 1947,” he said in an opinion piece published in Newsweek, a leading American weekly magazine, pointing out that random and senseless killing remains a fact of life in Kashmir.

WASHINGTON, July 18. /TASS/: The undocking of SpaceX's Crew Dragon from the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled for August 1, splashdown of the ship's crew should take place on August 2, according to NASA AdministratorJames Bridenstine.

"NEWS: We're targeting an Aug. 1 departure of SpaceX's Dragon Endeavour spacecraft from the Space Station to bring [Bob] Behnken and Doug [Hurley] home after their historic … mission. Splashdown is targeted for Aug. 2. Weather will drive the actual date. Stay tuned," Bridenstine wrote on Twitter.

WASHINGTON, July 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he won't issue an order at the national level mandating the use of masks, even as the United States continued to break its single-day coronavirus case record amid a pandemic far from being contained, and whether to wear masks has become a source of heated debate.

WASHINGTON, July 17 (Xinhua) -- China is "leading the way" as it is the first major economy to show any sign of recovery, said a veteran China watcher, noting that China's contribution to global growth is "infinite" amid a COVID-19-induced global recession.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are criticizing the White House for blocking the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from testifying at a public hearing on safely reopening the nation’s schools.

Democrats said they invited CDC officials, including director Robert Redfield, to testify at a hearing next Thursday but were rebuffed by the White House. A committee spokesperson said the panel asked for any CDC official to testify but was rejected.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund predicted Friday that the U.S. economy will shrink 6.6% this year, pounded by the coronavirus and the lockdowns meant to contain it.

The grim forecast is actually an upgrade from one the IMF made last month when it foresaw the American economy contracting 8% in 2020.

But the 189-country lending organization warned that the U.S. economy faces downside risks from a resurgence in COVID-19 cases.

Washington (AP) — President Donald Trump’s pledge to roll back an Obama-era regulation designed to eliminate racial disparities in the suburbs is drawing harsh criticism from fair housing advocates, who label it a blatant attempt to play racial politics and appeal to white voters in the final weeks before the election.

They also consider it a empty political stunt, since the regulation he’s talking about eliminating never truly got started on the ground in the first place.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s come to this for Republicans straining to defend their Senate majority in November’s elections: They’re air-dropping millions of dollars into races in Alabama, Kentucky and other red states where Donald Trump coasted during his 2016 presidential election triumph.

NEW YORK (AP) — A personal assistant arrested Friday in the death and dismemberment of a 33-year-old tech entrepreneur was believed to have owed his boss a “significant amount of money,” New York City police said.

Tyrese Haspil faces a murder charge in the death of Fahim Saleh, whose beheaded, armless body was found Tuesday by a cousin who had gone to his luxury Manhattan condo to check on him.

Haspil, 21, handled finances and personal matters for Saleh, whose ventures included a ride-hailing service in Africa.