USA

Washington, May 16 (PTI) President Donald Trump has announced that the US will donate a lot of ventilators to India to help it fight the "invisible enemy", moments after he underlined the close partnership between the two countries and called Prime Minister Narendra Modi his "good friend".

Trump also said the US and India were cooperating to develop a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus that has claimed 307,666 lives and infected more than 4.5 million people globally since it emerged in China in December last year.

WASHINGTON, May 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A government watchdog fired suddenly by Pres Donald Trump was investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said a Democratic lawmaker who accused the president of committing a potentially illegal act of retribution.

Trump sacked State Department Inspector General Steve Linick late on Friday in his latest abrupt dismissal of an official tasked with monitoring wrongdoing inside a government agency.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve warned Friday that the financial sector faces “significant” vulnerabilities due to the coronavirus pandemic, as businesses and households grapple with fragile finances for the foreseeable future.

In its latest report on financial stability, the Fed said the global pandemic imposed sweeping risks. While policy actions from the Fed and others have helped bolster the economy, and the banking system has withstood the initial downturn, the report warned of major risks if the pandemic proves lengthy or more severe than anticipated.

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Five sailors who had returned to the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt after a coronavirus quarantine have tested positive for the virus again, the U.S. Navy announced on Friday.

"This week, five USS Theodore Roosevelt sailors who previously tested COVID positive and met rigorous recovery criteria, exceeding CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines, have retested positive," the U.S. Navy said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday two men will lead his administration's new effort for COVID-19 vaccine development.

Former pharmaceutical executive Moncef Slaoui and Army General Gustave Perna, the commander of United States Army Materiel Command, will lead "Operation Warp Speed," the new project to accelerate the vaccine development process for COVID-19.

The new project is a "historic partnership" of federal agencies, Trump told a noon briefing in the White House Rose Garden.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Federal and state regulators in the U.S. are preparing to file antitrust lawsuits alleging Google has abused its dominance of online search and advertising to stifle competition and boost its profits, according to a report published Friday.

The Wall Street Journal cited unidentified people familiar with the probes in a story about the upcoming offensive by the U.S. Justice Department and the attorneys general from several states.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The pilot flying Kobe Bryant and seven others to a youth basketball tournament did not have alcohol or drugs in his system, and all nine sustained immediately fatal injuries when their helicopter slammed into a hillside outside Los Angeles in January, according to autopsies released Friday.

The reports by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office provide a clinical but unvarnished look at the brutality of the crash.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The day he declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency, President Donald Trump made a cryptic offhand remark.

“I have the right to do a lot of things that people don’t even know about,” he said at the White House.

Trump wasn’t just crowing. Dozens of statutory authorities become available to any president when national emergencies are declared. They are rarely used, but Trump last month stunned legal experts and others when he claimed — mistakenly — that he has “total” authority over governors in easing COVID-19 guidelines.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first three years of his presidency, Donald Trump did not publicly utter the words “pandemic” or “preparedness.” Not in speeches, rallies or his many news conferences, planned and impromptu.

But on Friday, the White House pointed to extensive planning exercises the administration conducted and reports it wrote warning of the threat in 2018.

Still, Trump has repeatedly said that the blame for the federal government having inadequate stockpiles of crucial supplies and machines needed to cope with an outbreak lay with his predecessor, Barack Obama.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The cracked main highway between Las Vegas and Reno reopened Friday, 10 hours after a predawn magnitude 6.5 earthquake that a researcher called the largest to strike the remote area of western Nevada in 65 years.

No injuries were reported, but officials said goods tumbled from market shelves, sidewalks heaved and storefront windows cracked shortly after 4 a.m. People from Salt Lake City to California’s Central Valley tweeted that they felt shaking.