USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The income tax filing date has been pushed back from April 15, to July 15, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

Mnuchin announced the decision in a tweet Friday saying that at President Donald Trump’s direction “we are moving Tax Day from April 15 to July 15. All taxpayers and businesses will have this additional time to file and make payments without interest or penalties.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s become a fixture of life under quarantine. Almost daily, President Donald Trump appears on television, flanked by officials, to announce his latest maneuver in the fight against the new coronavirus. He typically unveils a dramatic-sounding emergency measure, a solution that appears imminent or a bold promise meant to reassure Americans that he’s got this.

Often, the reality falls short of the promise.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump speaks, financial markets gyrate and quiver in real time.

But that hasn’t stopped the president from holding forth almost daily about the coronavirus pandemic and its economic implications without waiting until markets have closed for the day.

While many of his predecessors worked consciously to not affect the markets, Trump has overtly made market movements and performance a measure of his effectiveness and central to his argument for a second term.

(AP) --- The critical shortage of medical supplies across the U.S., including testing swabs, protective masks, surgical gowns and hand sanitizer, can be tied to a sudden drop in imports, mostly from China, The Associated Press has found.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 20 (APP): The World Health Organization (WHO), a UN agency, has shipped personal protective equipment (PPE) to nearly 70 countries, while 120 nations have received 1.5 million diagnostic kits to support their efforts aimed at dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, its Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.

Speaking at a briefing in Geneva on developments related to COVID-19, he called for building a continuous pipeline to ensure continuity of supply, describing the disease as “an invisible enemy against humanity”.

WASHINGTON/DUBAI (Reuters) - The United States sent Iran a blunt message this week: the spread of the coronavirus will not save it from U.S. sanctions that are choking off its oil revenues and isolating its economy.

Iran is the Middle Eastern nation worst hit by coronavirus, with its death toll climbing to 1,284 and one person dying from it every 10 minutes and 50 becoming infected every hour, the health ministry said.

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Coronavirus has hit the world’s biggest debt funds, which have lost billions of dollars in value, Morningstar data shows, while one smaller fund shed half its value in a little over two weeks.

Markets have lost trillions of dollars in value over that time at a record-breaking pace, laying bare structural weaknesses after a decade of central bank easy money and fuelling fears of mass fund redemptions.

WASHINGTON, March 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Actor Daniel Dae Kim and Monaco’s Prince Albert II have become the latest public figures to disclose they were diagnosed with coronavirus, joining a list that also includes Tom Hanks and Idris Elba, reported American news agency United Press International (UPI).

Kim, 51, said in a 10-minute video posted to his Instagram account Thursday that he developed a scratchy throat after flying home to Hawaii when production on the TV series New Amsterdam was halted in New York due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNITED NATIONS, March 19 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday said that it is the time to dismantle trade barriers and re-establish supply chains while the humanity is fighting with its common enemy of COVID-19.

"We must refrain from the temptation of resorting to protectionism. This is the time to dismantle trade barriers and re-establish supply chains," the UN chief said at a press conference via video-link while all UN staff are required to telecommute so as to mitigate the spread of the virus at UN headquarters in New York.

UNITED NATIONS, March 19 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres assured diplomats and journalists on Thursday that they can work "in perfect safety" if it is necessary to hold meetings of the General Assembly and Security Council at headquarters despite the coronavirus threat.

"I'm working in headquarters," he told correspondents at a virtual press encounter. "Most of our staff is working at home, and I believe that when people absolutely need to come, they can come, because I think we have created the conditions to do it in perfect safety."