USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Victor Stemberger wasn’t about to ignore the emails inviting him into a multimillion-dollar business opportunity, so he pitched himself as perfect for the job. In a way he was — but for all the wrong reasons.

The 76-year-old Virginia man, whose family says he has cognitive issues, accepted the offer and boasted of his credentials as “an experienced businessman who does what he says he will do, and executes flawlessly, according to plan.”

He apparently did follow the plan, but the execution wasn’t flawless.

WASHINGTON (AP) — There was no presidential appearance and no White House backdrop when the government’s coronavirus task force briefed the public for the first time since April — in keeping with an administration effort to show it is paying attention to the latest spike in cases but is not on a wartime footing that should keep the country from reopening the economy.

(AP) --- Stocks on Wall Street fell sharply Friday as confirmed new coronavirus infections in the U.S. hit an all-time high, prompting Texas and Florida to reverse course on the reopening of businesses.

The combination injected new jitters into a market that’s been mostly riding high since April on hopes that the economy will recover from a deep recession as businesses open doors and Americans begin to feel more confident that they can leave their homes again.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Facebook said Friday that it will flag all “newsworthy” posts from politicians that break its rules, including those from President Donald Trump.

Separately, Facebook’s stock dropped more than 8%, erasing roughly $50 billion from its market valuation, after the European company behind brands such as Ben & Jerry’s and Dove announced it would boycott Facebook ads through the end of the year over the amount of hate speech and divisive rhetoric on its platform. Later in the day, Coca-Cola also announced it joined the boycott for at least 30 days.

WASHINGTON, June 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US Senate unanimously approved a Bill that would lay out sanctions on Chinese officials who undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy as Beijing pushes forward with a controversial security law.

The House of Representatives still needs to pass the Bill, which would allow sanctions in the United States against Chinese officials and the Hong Kong police as well as banks that do business with them.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 26 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for “effective and inclusive” multilateralism that serves as an instrument of global governance, especially “at a time of colossal global upheaval and risk.”

“We need to give multilateralism the capacities to confront our challenges, not only to meet immediate needs but to enable future generations to meet theirs,” he told a virtual press conference at which he launched the UN’s Comprehensive Response to COVID-19 on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate passed legislation on Thursday that would impose mandatory sanctions on people or companies that back efforts by China to restrict Hong Kong’s autonomy, pushing back against Beijing’s new security law for the city.

The measure also includes secondary sanctions on banks that do business with anyone found to be backing any crackdown on the territory’s autonomy, potentially cutting them off from American counterparts and limiting access to U.S. dollar transactions.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is seeking the final documents to complete an antitrust investigation of Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O), said three sources familiar with the probe, which is expected to end with a lawsuit this summer.

State attorneys general have separate probes into Google, and the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee has ongoing investigations into Google, Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O).

NEW YORK, June 25 (Xinhua) -- New York City is on track to enter phase three of reopening as early as July 6, two weeks after it entered phase two, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday.

"This is exciting. We keep making progress," said the mayor at his daily briefing. "We're gonna be working closely with the state of New York to make the final decision as we get closer."

The city's viral transmission rate is currently at around 1 percent, one of the lowest levels in the country.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 1.1 million coronavirus relief payments totaling some $1.4 billion went to dead people, a government watchdog reported Thursday. Legal and political issues hang over the misdirected taxpayer funds, the latest example of errors in massive aid being dispensed at crisis speed.