USA

Washington, May 26 (AP/PTI) A ban on foreign travellers arriving in the US from Brazil due to the surge in coronavirus cases there will now take effect late Tuesday, two days earlier than previously announced.

The ban had been set to go into effect late Thursday. The White House announced the change Monday without explanation.

Brazil is second to the US in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University, and has seen cases surge in recent days.

26 May 2020; AFP: Latin America's largest airline LATAM filed for bankruptcy in the US on Tuesday, the company said in a statement, following a drastic slump in business caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The world's travel and tourism sectors have been hammered by the contagion, as they are directly affected by border closures and population lockdowns.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is at a crossroads in the coronavirus crisis, wrestling over whether to “go big,” as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants for the next relief bill, or hit “pause,” as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insists.

HICAGO, May 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Nine people have been shot and killed in Chicago, over the Memorial Day weekend, the deadliest one since 2015, Chicago Tribune reported, Monday.

The dead are among at least 36 people shot from Friday afternoon to Monday morning, according to the newspaper.

With a day still to go in the long weekend, the number of shootings is approaching 2019’s total, despite a COVID-19 stay-at-home order, Saturday’s severe storms, and added police patrols, the paper said.

WASHINGTON, May 26 (NNN-XINHUA) – A U.S. military contractor’s report that the novel coronavirus was released from the Wuhan Institute of Virology is “filled with information that’s just plain wrong,” said The Daily Beast, in a recent report.

“There’s a critical flaw in the report,” an article published by the U.S. news and opinion website wrote on May 17, adding that, “Some of its most seemingly persuasive evidence is false — provably false.”

NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP) — Joe Biden made his first in-person appearance in more than two months on Monday as he marked Memorial Day by laying a wreath at a veterans park near his Delaware home.

Since abruptly canceling a March 10 rally in Cleveland at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has waged much of his campaign from his home in Wilmington. When Biden emerged on Monday, he wore a face mask, in contrast to President Donald Trump, who has refused to cover his face in public as health officials suggest.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — It’s back to the future as NASA astronauts launch again from the U.S. — aboard a retro-style “Right Stuff” capsule.

Make no mistake: This is not your father’s — or grandfather’s — capsule.

SpaceX’s Dragon crew capsule outshines NASA’s old Apollo spacecraft in virtually every way. The Dragon’s clean lines and minimalist interior, with touchscreens instead of a mess of switches and knobs, make even the space shuttles seem yesteryear.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s new strategy for coronavirus testing puts much of the burden on states while promising to provide supplies such as swabs and material to transport specimens.

The plan, which was delivered Sunday to members of Congress, drew harsh criticism Monday from Democrats. In a joint letter, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. and Washington Sen. Patty Murray said the administration “still does not have a serious plan for increasing testing to stop the spread of the virus.”

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit failed Monday in its first test launch of a new rocket carried aloft by a Boeing 747 and released over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California.

The inaugural launch had appeared to be going well until moments after the rocket was dropped from beneath the left wing of the jumbo jet dubbed Cosmic Girl.

ATLANTA (AP) — A lawyer for the family of Ahmaud Arbery said Monday that a federal prosecutor told the slain man’s mother federal officials are investigating potential misconduct by local officials who handled the case.

Lawyer Lee Merritt said U.S. Attorney Bobby Christine, whose jurisdiction includes southern Georgia, met with him and Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, on Thursday.

“They wanted us to know they had already been involved in the investigation,” Merritt said.