USA

WASHINGTON, April 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide soared past three million on Monday as several European nations and a handful of US states began taking steps to reopen their shuttered economies.

But as schools and shops reopened in some parts of Europe, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson emerged after his own battle with the virus to call for patience in the UK, saying it was too early to follow suit.

NEW YORK, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices suffered heavy losses on Monday amid fears over a growing scarcity of oil storage space as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on crude demand.

The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery shed 4.16 U.S. dollars, or 24.56 percent, to settle at 12.78 dollars a barrel on Monday, after trading as low as 11.88 dollars earlier in the session.

The international benchmark Brent crude for June delivery dropped 6.76 percent to close below the 20-dollar mark.

WASHINGTON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs launched an inquiry into the Trump administration's decision to halt funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), committee chairman Eliot Engel said on Monday.

WASHINGTON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Global COVID-19 cases crossed the 3 million mark Monday, with nearly one-third of them in the United States as business economists' outlook about the country's economy got darkened.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., is giving the House another shot at forcing former White House counsel Don McGahn to appear before Congress.

Nine of the Democratic-dominated court’s 11 judges are hearing arguments by telephone Tuesday in a dispute between House Democrats and President Donald Trump’s administration over a subpoena for McGahn’s testimony that was issued a year ago by a House committee.

ATLANTA (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden renewed his party unification efforts Monday with bookend endorsements from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the leader of the House progressive caucus that sometimes battles the speaker from the left.

The twin announcements from Pelosi and Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal highlight Biden’s effort to avoid a repeat of the 2016 presidential election, when tensions between establishment Democrats and the party’s progressive flank hobbled Hillary Clinton in her loss to President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr on Monday ordered federal prosecutors across the U.S. to identify coronavirus-related restrictions from state and local governments “that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens.”

The memo to U.S. attorneys directs the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan to coordinate the department’s efforts to monitor state and local policies and take action if needed.

(AP) --- Police found five people shot to death Monday inside a Milwaukee home and arrested the man who dialed 911 to report the slayings, the city’s police chief said.

The police department received a call around 10:30 a.m. from a man who said his family was dead, Chief Alfonso Morales said during a brief news conference. When officers arrived at the house on the city’s north side they found five victims ranging in age from 14 to 41, the chief said.

LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — Nearly two years after 17 people died when a tourist boat sank on a Missouri lake, federal transportation safety investigators on Tuesday will release the results of an investigation into the tragedy.

The National Transportation Safety Board has been investigating what caused the Ride the Ducks vehicle to sink at Table Rock Lake near Branson, killing 17 of the 31 people on board. The boat, known as Stretch Duck 7, was unable to make it back to shore when a severe storm hit in July 2018.

(AP) --- Nicole Hingle wasn’t surprised when the call came. Frustrations had been building inside juvenile detention centers nationwide as the number of coronavirus cases continued to climb. Now, her 17-year-old son Jace, was on the phone telling her around 40 kids had rioted at his facility in Louisiana — the same state where more than a dozen youths escaped during two breakouts at another site this month.