USA

CHICAGO (AP) — The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus eclipsed Italy’s for the highest in the world Saturday, surpassing 20,000, as Chicago and other cities across the Midwest braced for a potential surge in victims and moved to snuff out smoldering hot spots of contagion before they erupt.

With the New York area still deep in crisis, fear mounted over the spread of the scourge into the nation’s heartland.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 11 (APP): The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that a premature lifting of restrictions imposed to control the coronavirus pandemic could spark a deadly resurgence, as global deaths from the virus topped the 100,000 mark.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Saturday that countries should be cautious about easing restrictions, even as some struggle with the adverse economic impact.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 11 (APP): The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on religious leaders of all faiths to join forces and work for peace around the world and focus on the common battle to defeat coronavirus, which has swept the globe.

The UN chief made the call in a special appeal issued on Saturday, and at a time when Christians are celebrating Easter, Jews are marking Passover, and Muslims will soon begin the holy month of Ramadan.

11 April 2020; MEMO: A Republican member of the US Senate has submitted a bill to withdraw US forces from Saudi Arabia if it does not adhere to the plan to reduce oil production, in order to change the direction of the oil price decline that has harmed US energy companies.

Washington, Apr 11 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has said that when to reopen the country's economy that has been crippled by the "invisible enemy" will be the "biggest decision" he will ever had to make, as his administration grappled with the raging coronavirus pandemic.

America's economy, the world's largest, has literally come to a standstill due the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 95 per cent of the 330 million population are under stay-at-home order amid a national emergency in place.

Washington, Apr 11 (PTI) The US has become the world's first country to have registered more than 2,000 COVID-19 deaths in a single day with 2,108 fatalities reported in the past 24 hours, while the number of infections in America has crossed 500,000, the highest in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

China, where the deadly coronavirus disease started in December last year before spreading across Europe and America killing more than 100,000, has so far recorded 81,000 cases of positive infections and 3,339 deaths.

WASHINGTON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday discussed efforts to combat COVID-19 and ensure global energy market stability during a phone conversation, the White House said.

"President Trump and President Putin discussed the latest efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic and maintain stability in global energy markets. The two leaders also covered critical bilateral and global issues," the White House said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. economy is already in a recession and will remain in contraction for the first half of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey released by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) on Friday.

"The consensus is real GDP (gross domestic product) declined at an annualized rate of 2.4% in the first quarter of 2020, and will shrink at an annualized rate of 26.5% in the second quarter," NABE President and KPMG Chief Economist Constance Hunter said in a statement.

CHICAGO (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic that has crippled big-box retailers and mom and pop shops worldwide may be making a dent in illicit business, too.

In Chicago, one of America’s most violent cities, drug arrests have plummeted 42% in the weeks since the city shut down, compared with the same period last year. Part of that decrease, some criminal lawyers say, is that drug dealers have no choice but to wait out the economic slump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke is denouncing President Donald Trump for a new campaign ad that seems to falsely imply Locke was a Chinese official.

Trump’s Republican reelection campaign released an ad Thursday that accused former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, of being too cozy with China. It featured an image of Biden and Locke on a stage with U.S. and Chinese flags in the background.