USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — With rare bipartisanship and speed, Washington is about to deliver massive, unprecedented legislation to speed help to individuals and businesses as the coronavirus pandemic takes a devastating toll on the U.S. economy and health care system.

The House is set to pass the sprawling, $2.2 trillion measure Friday morning after an extraordinary 96-0 Senate vote late Wednesday. President Donald Trump marveled at the unanimity Thursday and is eager to sign the package into law.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 26 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the attack on a Sikh temple in Kabul on Wednesday in which dozens of civilians were killed and injured, and called for bringing the perpetrators to justice.

“The Secretary-General reiterates that attacks against civilians are unacceptable and those who carry out such crimes must be held accountable,” a statement issued by his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

26 March 2020; AFP: There is a strong chance the new coronavirus could return in seasonal cycles, a senior US scientist said Wednesday, underscoring the urgent need to find a vaccine and effective treatments.

Anthony Fauci, who leads research into infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told a briefing the virus was beginning to take root in the southern hemisphere, where winter is on its way.

UNITED NATIONS, March 25 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday launched a 2-billion-U.S.-dollar global humanitarian response plan to fight COVID-19 in some of the world's most vulnerable countries.

"COVID-19 is menacing the whole of humanity, and so the whole of humanity must fight back. Individual country responses are not going to be enough," said Guterres at the launch, a virtual event.

WASHINGTON, March 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US Senate unanimously passed the nation’s largest-ever rescue package, a US$2 trillion lifeline to suffering Americans, critically depleted hospitals and an economy all ravaged by a rapidly spreading coronavirus crisis.

The measure cleared the Senate 96-0 after days of tumultuous, sometimes bitter negotiations and debate, as the US death toll for the pandemic soared past 1,000, with 68,000 confirmed infections.

WASHINGTON, March 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Defence Secretary Mark Esper has issued a stop movement order to the US military halting all travel and movement abroad for up to 60 days in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus through the ranks.

Esper said in an interview that the order applied to all US forces, civilian personnel and families, but noted that there would be some exceptions.

“The purpose is to make sure that we’re not bringing the virus back home, infecting others, that we’re not spreading it around the military,” Esper said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreign ministers from the Group of 7 leading industrialized democracies sparred Wednesday over whether to call out China as the source of the coronavirus pandemic.

Meeting by video conference because of the outbreak, the ministers agreed on the need for joint efforts to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus, which causes a disease being called COVID-19. But U.S. and European diplomats said the ministers were unable to agree on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s call for the virus to be identified by name as the “Wuhan virus.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pressure was mounting on the Trump administration Wednesday to release people from immigration detention facilities where at least one detainee has tested positive for COVID-19 and advocates fear tight quarters and overall conditions could cause rapid spread of the virus.

The U.S. holds around 37,000 people in immigration detention. Detainees and advocates say many are vulnerable because of age and pre-existing medical conditions, and because they are often held in open rooms, beds 3-feet apart, and without adequate supplies of masks or other protections.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s “beautiful” idea to reopen the U.S. economy by Easter Sunday and pack church pews that day was dreamed up during a conference call among business leaders desperate to get the country back up and running.

But his target date for easing coronavirus restrictions is another outstretched hand to a group he has long courted: evangelical Christians.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government has concluded that retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished more than a decade ago, died while in the custody of Iran, his family and administration officials said Wednesday.