USA

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government will use “every tool” available to secure the return of Americans if they are being held in Venezuela, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed on Wednesday, after Venezuelan officials said they had captured two U.S. “mercenaries” in a failed armed incursion.

“There was no U.S. government direct involvement in this operation,” Pompeo told reporters, echoing President Donald Trump’s remarks a day earlier. He added: “(If) we’d have been involved, it would have gone differently.”

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a phone conversation on Wednesday, discussing issues of arms control and COVID-19, the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

Pompeo and his Russian counterpart discussed next steps on arms control issues as well as several bilateral issues of mutual concern, including global efforts to respond to the spread of COVID-19, according to the statement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials believe they’re making progress in efforts to secure the release from Iran of a detained Navy veteran, but they are pushing back on Iranian suggestions that a swap is in the works for an imprisoned Iranian that American officials have been trying to deport since last year.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A 57-year-old man in immigration custody died Wednesday from complications related to the coronavirus, authorities said, marking the first reported death from the virus among about 30,000 people in immigration custody.

The detainee had been held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego and hospitalized since late April, said Craig Sturak, a spokesman for the San Diego County Health & Human Services Agency.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Mark Esper is traveling beyond Washington for the first time in nearly two months as he looks to highlight and defend a Pentagon approach to fighting the coronavirus pandemic that some Senate Democrats have criticized as slow and disjointed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The decision to wear a mask in public is becoming a political statement — a moment to pick sides in a brewing culture war over containing the coronavirus.

While not yet as loaded as a “Make America Great Again” hat, the mask is increasingly a visual shorthand for a debate pitting those willing to follow health officials’ guidance and cover their faces against those who feel it violates their freedom or buys into a threat they think is overblown.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A set of detailed documents created by the nation’s top disease investigators meant to give step-by-step advice to local leaders deciding when and how to reopen public places such as mass transit, day care centers and restaurants during the still-raging pandemic has been shelved by the Trump administration.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump reversed course on plans to wind down his COVID-19 task force, attempting to balance his enthusiasm for “reopening” the country with rising infection rates in parts of the nation.

(AP) --- Meet your new but shy galactic neighbor: A black hole left over from the death of a fleeting young star.

European astronomers have found the closest black hole to Earth yet, so near that the two stars dancing with it can be seen by the naked eye.

(AP) --- Frontier Airlines is dropping plans to charge passengers extra to sit next to an empty middle seat after congressional Democrats accused the airline of trying to profit from fear over the new coronavirus.

“We recognize the concerns raised that we are profiting from safety and this was never our intent,” Frontier CEO Barry Biffle said late Wednesday in a letter to three lawmakers. “We simply wanted to provide our customers with an option for more space.”