North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s becoming a kind of daily ritual: President Donald Trump and a phalanx of doctors file into the White House briefing room each evening to discuss the coronavirus, producing a display of rhetorical contortions as the medical officials try to stay true to the science without crossing the president.

The result can be a bewildering scene for Americans trying to understand how best to protect themselves from the virus.

TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s worst mass shooting erupted from an argument between the gunman and his girlfriend, who survived the attack, a police official said.

The official confirmed to The Associated Press late Thursday that the weekend shooting rampage in Nova Scotia stemmed from a domestic dispute involving the couple. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said more details would be provided at a news conference Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress delivered a nearly $500 billion infusion of coronavirus spending Thursday, rushing new relief to employers and hospitals buckling under the strain of a pandemic that has claimed almost 50,000 American lives and one in six U.S. jobs.

The measure passed almost unanimously, but the lopsided tally belies a potentially bumpier path ahead as battle lines are being formed for much more ambitious future legislation that may prove far more difficult to maneuver through Congress.

NEW YORK (AP) — Unemployment in the U.S. is swelling to levels last seen during the Great Depression of the 1930s, with 1 in 6 American workers thrown out of a job by the coronavirus, according to new data released Thursday. In response to the deepening economic crisis, the House passed a nearly $500 billion spending package to help buckled businesses and hospitals.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 23 (APP): In his message to Muslims around the world who will be observing the holy month of Ramazan amid the coronavirus pandemic, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the Islamic tradition of hospitality and generosity was a remarkable lesson at a time when people in conflict zones and vulnerable populations face dire consequences

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said a fundamental reform of the World Health Organization is needed following its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and that the United States, the WHO’s biggest donor, may never restore funding to the U.N. body.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican President Donald Trump trails Democrat Joe Biden among registered voters in three Midwestern battleground states that he narrowly carried in 2016 and are seen as crucial to winning November’s election, according to an Ipsos public opinion poll conducted exclusively for Reuters.

The poll, which ran from April 15-20 in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, showed 45% of registered voters said they would support Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, while 39% said they would support Trump.

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday made it easier for federal authorities to deport certain immigrants who have committed crimes in a victory for President Donald Trump’s administration.

The court ruled 5-4, with the conservative justices in the majority, to uphold a lower court decision that found a legal permanent resident from Jamaica named Andre Martello Barton ineligible to have his deportation canceled under a U.S. law that lets some longtime legal residents avoid expulsion.

23 April 2020; MEMO: Canada has extended indefinitely its ban on new arms exports to its NATO ally Turkey, CBC confirmed yesterday.

The Deputy Director of the export control division at Canada’s Department of Global Affairs, Charles-Marie Matte, was revealed to have announced in his emails that approvals to sell new arms to Turkey have been suspended “until further notice”.

23 April 2020; MEMO: US President Donald Trump yesterday instructed the US Navy to “shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats” that harass American ships.

“I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea,” Trump wrote on Twitter.