North America

WASHINGTON, March 25. /TASS/: The United States Federal Reserve System, which acts as the country’s central bank, postponed the implementation of amendments to its payment system risk policy regarding the provision of intraday credit to US branches and agencies of foreign banking organizations due to the situation with the coronavirus. This is according to a statement on the regulator’s website.

OTTAWA, March 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Billions in economic aid announced last week by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help Canadians deal with the coronavirus pandemic hit a snag when opposition parties rejected giving his minority government unprecedented spending powers.

Thirty-two members of Parliament, proportionally representing each party instead of the full 338, gathered in Ottawa for a vote on the emergency measures.

WASHINGTON, March 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US senators and Trump administration officials have reached an agreement on a massive economic stimulus bill to alleviate the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, the negotiators said on Wednesday.

The Senate will vote on the US$2-trillion package later in the day and the House of Representatives is expected to follow suit soon after.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sharpened on Thursday his criticism of China’s handling of a coronavirus pandemic, saying its ruling Communist Party was still denying the world information needed to prevent further cases.

The remarks, in an interview with the Washington Watch radio program, provoked a riposte from China that Pompeo should cease “politicizing” the epidemic and defaming the country.

LOS ANGELES, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti warned on Tuesday that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic was still to come and local residents should prepare for more loss of life.

Garcetti noted at the daily press conference that the city could see a situation similar to the outbreak in New York City in the coming six to 12 days, saying, "The peak is not here yet. The peak will be bad. People will lose their lives."

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas’ lieutenant governor said Monday night that the U.S. should get back to work in the face of the global pandemic and that people over the age of 70, who the Centers for Disease Control says are at higher risk for the coronavirus, will “take care of ourselves.”

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made the comments while appearing on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” Patrick, 69, went on the program after President Donald Trump said earlier Monday that he wanted the country getting back to business in weeks, not months.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is making a baseless claim of surging suicides if the U.S. economy remains mostly shut due to the spread of the coronavirus. There’s no evidence that suicides will rise dramatically, let alone surpass potential coronavirus deaths. Historically in a crisis, suicides tend to diminish as society pulls together in a common purpose.

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.