USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration and Congress expect an agreement Monday on an aid package of up to $450 billion to boost a small-business loan program that has run out of money and add funds for hospitals and COVID-19 testing.

As talks continued, President Donald Trump said there’s a “good chance” of reaching a bipartisan agreement with Democrats.

“We are very close to a deal,” Trump said Sunday at the White House.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The global health crisis is taking a nasty political turn with tensions worsening between governments locked down to keep the coronavirus at bay and people yearning to restart stalled economies and forestall fears of a depression.

Protesters worrying about their livelihoods and bucking infringements on their freedom have taken to the streets in some places. A few countries are acting to ease restrictions, but most of the world remains unified in insisting it’s much too early to take more aggressive steps.

NEW YORK (AP) — As residents at a nursing home in Kirkland, Washington, began dying in late February from a coronavirus outbreak that would eventually take 43 lives, there was little sign of trouble at the Cobble Hill Health Center, a 360-bed facility in an upscale section of Brooklyn.

Its Facebook page posted a cheerful story encouraging relatives to quiz their aging loved ones about their lives, and photos of smiling third graders at a nearby school making flower arrangements for residents.

NEW YORK, Apr 19 (APP): The United States is considering the withdrawal of frontline CIA personnel from bases in Afghanistan, as part of an effort to further reduce violence in the war-ravaged country in line with the historic peace deal with the Taliban, according to The New York Times.

The newspaper said the deliberations over the C.I.A. presence in Afghanistan are part of larger discussions about pulling back international forces to push forward the peace plan that shows signs of floundering amid continuing violence.

WASHINGTON, April 19. /TASS/: US President Donald Trump does not see an increase in military tension with Russia amid the pandemic and is convinced that the two countries have "a very good relationship." He stated this at a briefing for journalists in the White House on Saturday.

When asked if "US opponents," such as the North Korea, Russia, China and Iran, are trying to take advantage of the coronavirus situation to the detriment of the United States, hampering Washington’s policies and creating military tension, Trump said:

19 April 2020; AFP: American families slammed by the coronavirus pandemic are turning more and more to food banks to get by, waiting hours for donations in lines of cars stretching as far as the eye can see.

And with 22 million people out of work seemingly overnight as business after business closes under the Great Lockdown, these charities feeding hungry and scared people fear the day will come when they cannot cope with the tsunami of demand.

Washington, Apr 19 (AFP/PTI) President Donald Trump has said he hopes US Muslims will be held to the same social distancing standards during Ramzan as Christians at Easter, when a number of faithful chafed against coronavirus-related restrictions on large gatherings.

The US president made the comments after being asked to defend a retweet of a conservative commentator who seemed to question whether Muslims would be treated with the same severity as Christians who broke social distancing rules.

WASHINGTON, Apr 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) – U.S. Department of Defence extended its freeze order on the movement of U.S. troops through June 30, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, a Pentagon official announced on Saturday.

Undersecretary of Defence for Personnel and Readiness, Matthew Donovan, said, the new order, which comes into force on Monday, would include eased restrictions and more exemptions allowed, compared to the previous order.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump warned China on Saturday that it should face consequences if it was “knowingly responsible” for the coronavirus pandemic, as he ratcheted up criticism of Beijing over its handling of the outbreak.

“It could have been stopped in China before it started and it wasn’t, and the whole world is suffering because of it,” Trump told a daily White House briefing.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. banks are pushing the Federal Reserve to change the terms of a $600 billion lending program for small and medium-sized businesses, including reducing minimum loan sizes and allowing more flexibility on underlying reference rates, industry groups said.

Over the past few days, Washington-based bank groups have given the Fed feedback on the terms of the Main Street Lending Program designed to help mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. The program was unveiled on April 9 and is due to launch in coming weeks.