North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers struggled Thursday to break a stalemate over President Donald Trump’s $250 billion emergency request for a small-business program, stoking uncertainty about when additional support will be available in a key rescue program now exhausted of funds.

NEW YORK (AP) — The coronavirus is poised to reshape the political map, pummeling battleground states and alarming Republicans who see early signs of an election that could be a referendum on President Donald Trump’s management of the crisis.

The pandemic, which has killed more than 30,000 Americans and left millions out of work, has eviscerated Trump’s hope to run for reelection on a strong economy. A series of states he won in 2016 could tilt toward Democrats.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and longtime fixer Michael Cohen will be released from federal prison to serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement amid the coronavirus pandemic, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — In the 25 years since a truck bomb ripped through a federal building in downtown Oklahoma City and killed 168 people, the United States has suffered through foreign wars, a rise in mass shootings and a much deadlier act of terror, the Sept. 11 attacks.

But the April 19, 1995, assault on a sleepy city in the nation’s heartland shocked many Americans out of their sense of security and awakened them to their own vulnerability. Terror wasn’t just a foreign problem, it was here. Events since have only contributed to a shared anxiety.

NEW YORK (AP) — Hopeful talk about getting people out of their homes and back to work in some parts of the country seems a far cry from the harsh reality in New York and its suburbs: Thousands of people infected with the coronavirus are still streaming into hospitals every day. Hundreds are still dying.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo noted the lack of major improvement Thursday as he announced another 606 deaths in the state and said current social isolation rules will stay in place through at least May 15. The number dying was down from a day earlier, but remains alarmingly high.

(AP) --- While many Americans are filled with fear, Melissa Ackison says the coronavirus pandemic has filled her with anger. The stay-at home orders are government overreach, the conservative Ohio state Senate candidate says, and the labeling of some workers as “essential” arbitrary.

“It enrages something inside of you,” said Ackison, who was among those who protested Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s orders at the statehouse in Columbus with her 10-year-old son. She has “no fear whatsoever” of contracting the virus, she said Thursday, dismissing it as hype.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has given governors a road map for recovering from the economic pain of the coronavirus pandemic, laying out “a phased and deliberate approach” to restoring normal activity in places that have strong testing and are seeing a decrease in COVID-19 cases.

“We’re starting our life again,” Trump said during his daily press briefing. “We’re starting rejuvenation of our economy again.”

He added, “This is a gradual process.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The ranks of America’s unemployed swelled toward Great Depression-era levels Thursday, and President Donald Trump reacted to the pressure on the economy by outlining a phased approach to reopening parts of the country where the coronavirus is being brought under control.

Trump told the nation’s governors that restrictions could be eased to allow businesses to reopen over the next several weeks in places that have extensive testing and a marked decrease in COVID-19 cases.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 16 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that debt relief must be an important part of Africa’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, while cautioning that the African continent could end up suffering the greatest impacts.

“The crisis has wide-ranging implications”, said the UN Chief, delivering remarks at a meeting with leaders of the African Group of countries on Wednesday. “This is in no way of Africa’s making. But as with the climate crisis, the African continent could end up suffering the greatest impacts.”

WASHINGTON, April 16. /TASS/: About 1,500 Russian nationals are waiting to return home from the USA, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said on Thursday, quoted on the embassy’s Facebook.

"There are 1,500 Russians on our waiting list, they cannot wait to return home," Antonov said.

"I assure you that we will do everything in our power to support our compatriots stranded here in the conditions of tough restrictions introduced to combat the spread of the coronavirus infection," the ambassador said.