USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he is hoping the United States will be reopened by Easter as he weighs how to relax nationwide social-distancing guidelines to put some workers back on the job during the coronavirus outbreak.

Trump’s optimism contradicted the warnings of some public health officials who called for stricter — not looser — restrictions on public interactions. But federal officials suggested that advisories could be loosened in areas not experiencing widespread infection.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden is working to reassert himself in national politics three weeks after taking command of the Democratic presidential primary.

Like most Americans, Biden has stayed close to home recently to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. That — and a slow shift to the new online-only reality of the campaign — has left him with a lower profile as much of the nation has focused on the pandemic and President Donald Trump’s response to it.

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld Jodi Arias’ first-degree murder conviction and life prison sentence in the 2008 killing of her former boyfriend.

Arias’ lawyers had argued that a prosecutor’s misconduct and a judge’s failure to control news coverage during the case deprived her of the right to a fair trial.

But the three-member appeals court, in a 29-page opinion, unanimously concluded that prosecutor Juan Martinez’s conduct in the case didn’t outweigh Arias’ guilt.

NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of Americans have been ordered to stay home. Businesses and schools are shuttered. And National Guard units have been activated in more than half the states.

Yet despite what you may have read in a text message or on social media, there are currently no plans for a national quarantine, let alone martial law. Those National Guard units? They’re busy distributing food and medical supplies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has advised against all international travel because of the coronavirus, but that didn’t stop Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from flying to Afghanistan this week.

Gyms across the nation’s capital are shuttered, but Sen. Rand Paul, an eye doctor, still managed a workout at the Senate on Sunday morning as he awaited the results of a coronavirus test. It came back positive.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 24 (APP): The United Nations and its partners are taking steps to ensure people living in informal settlements have access to running water at this critical time when regular hand washing is critical to combating coronavirus, according to the UN-Habitat, the agency working to achieve more sustainable cities.

The agency said the impacts of the new coronavirus disease could be considerably higher on the urban poor living in slums, where overcrowding also makes it difficult to follow other recommended measures such as social distancing and self-isolation.

(Reuters) - Spirit Aerosystems (SPR.N), Boeing’s largest supplier, is temporarily suspending production of parts for the airline at many of its facilities across the United States, the company said on Tuesday, as the global coronavirus pandemic saps demand across the industry.

The company said it would suspend production beginning March 25 until April 8, including at its main Wichita, Kansas facility.

Spirit will, however, continue to support 787 work for Boeing’s Charleston, South Carolina, facility.

(Reuters) - The Trump administration is moving ahead with oil and gas lease sales in four Western states beginning on Tuesday, bucking criticism from taxpayer advocates who say the auctions should be postponed because of a meltdown in energy prices.

The Bureau of Land Management is offering more than 210,000 acres (85,000 hectares) for leasing via online auctions in Wyoming, Nevada and Montana on Tuesday, and Colorado on Thursday.

New York, Mar 24 (AFP/PTI) Anxiety ratcheted up Monday across an eerily deserted New York, America's coronavirus epicenter, but President Donald Trump said he'd soon call for lifting the lockdown in some parts of the country.

Trump -- who faces reelection in November and is keen to avoid extended economic damage -- told reporters he would be "opening up our country to business because our country was meant to be open."

New York, Mar 24 (PTI) Two Indian nationals have been arrested and charged by the US border authorities for entering the country illegally and apprehended them during a failed smuggling attempt in upstate New York, officials said.

The US Border Patrol Agents from the Burke and Massena Border Patrol Stations arrested four individuals in connection with the failed smuggling attempt last week.