USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s nominee for national intelligence director sought at his confirmation hearing Tuesday to shed his reputation as a loyalist to the president, insisting to skeptical Democrats that he would carry out the job free of political influence or partisan bias.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pressed ahead Tuesday with the next coronavirus aid, a sweeping package that is expected to be unveiled soon even as the House stays closed while the Senate reopens in the pandemic.

Key to any plan to reopen the economy, Democrats say, is robust testing. They are also expected to propose another round of direct cash aid for anxious Americans, funds for states to prevent layoffs and more money to shore up businesses in the stay-home economy. The amount of funding has yet to be determined.

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Democratic presidential primary must take place June 23 because canceling it would be unconstitutional and deprive withdrawn presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang of proper representation at the Democratic convention, a judge ruled Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan ruled after lawyers for Sanders and Yang argued Monday that they otherwise would be harmed irreparably.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration failed to prepare for the onslaught of the coronavirus, then sought a quick fix by trying to rush an unproven drug to patients, a senior government scientist alleged in a whistleblower complaint Tuesday.

(AP) --- Take the New York metropolitan area’s progress against the coronavirus out of the equation and the numbers show the rest of the U.S. is moving in the wrong direction, with the known infection rate rising even as states move to lift their lockdowns, an Associated Press analysis found Tuesday.

5 May 2020; MEMO: The US Democratic Party has been urged by top level American diplomats to include a number of pro-Palestinian positions within its platform for this year’s presidential election. The request was made in a letter to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) signed by 32 leading US foreign policy professionals.

5 May 2020; MEMO: The US Departments of State and Energy should commit to regular briefings to relevant committees in Congress during talks about nuclear power cooperation with Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported yesterday.

According to the Government Accountability Office (GOA), Congress should consider amending “the 1954 Atomic Energy Act” to require the briefings for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations about negotiations on nuclear power sharing.

Washington, May 5 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has nominated senior Indian-American diplomat Manisha Singh as his envoy to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Currently Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs at the State Department, Singh will be the US representative to OECD with the rank of an Ambassador, according to the nomination sent to the Senate by the White House.

WASHINGTON, May 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US Navy sent four ships this week to conduct Arctic security operations in the Barents Sea north of Russia for the first time in over three decades, the Pentagon said.

The move came as US officials said rivals like China and Russia were increasingly testing US defense resolve with their own air and sea challenges during the coronavirus pandemic.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) – U.S. ride-hailing company, Uber Technologies, said on Monday that, the company is closing its on-demand food operations in seven countries in a month.

The company announced that it would fully discontinue Uber Eats operations in the Czech Republic, Egypt, Honduras, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay and Ukraine by June 4, 2020, while Uber Rides operations would not be affected, according to Uber’s regulatory filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.