President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he talked to 10,000 U.S. faith leaders about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has led to bans on in-person church services, closed nonessential businesses and killed more than 14,500 Americans.
Concerns remained Thursday over the whereabouts of a jailed Christian in China after authorities prevented his wife from sending him money and clothes, Christian activists say. Jiang Zhanchun was arrested in China’s capital Beijing last year when he and his wife discussed opportunities to be baptized with Christian leaders of a Beijing house church, according to the letter seen by Worthy News.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) rushed to defend his agency’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic after President Donald Trump threatened to cut U.S. funding to them. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appealed for unity and a halt to “politicization” of the global health crisis, saying China and the United States should show “honest leadership.”
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, the socialist democrat who pledged to lead a political revolution into the White House, has ended his presidential bid. He left the race after his once-strong lead in the Democratic primary evaporated as the party’s establishment lined swiftly up behind rival Joe Biden. The Vermont senator’s announcement came as a setback for many young people supporting Sanders. But it cleared a significant hurdle for Biden, who is now the expected Democratic nominee to challenge President Donald Trump in a general election overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic.
A federal Court of Appeals has allowed Texas to continue its ban on most abortions during the coronavirus pandemic. Tuesday’s ruling overturns a lower court’s decision to block the state’s ban on non-essential abortions. The ban remains in place while the case moves on to be heard by a federal court in Austin next week.
As Congress races to craft the next coronavirus rescue package, President Donald Trump’s sudden request Tuesday to pump $250 billion more into a just-launched payroll program for small businesses may hit roadblocks.
Acting U.S. Navy Secretary Thomas Modly has resigned after his controversial comments of the officer he fired as captain of a coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, officials confirmed. Modly had come under fire for dismissing Captain Brett E. Crozier, last week, saying Crozier had shown “extremely poor judgment.” He referred to Crozier distributing a letter calling for urgent help with the virus COVID-19 outbreak aboard his ship.
The Sanhedrin is anxiously awaiting a response from the Israeli government about whether it will be able to perform the Passover sacrifice on the Temple Mount for the first time since the second temple in the first century AD.
The water ice and other lunar resources that will help the United States establish a long-term human presence on the moon are there for the taking, the White House believes.
The United States and Britain braced Monday for what officials viewed as one of their darkest weeks in post-war memory as the social and financial toll of the coronavirus pandemic mounted and the British prime minister was in the hospital with the virus. Monday’s glooming scenario came as Italy, Spain, and France saw signs that they were flattening the pandemic curve, despite many people still dying there.
President Trump on Thursday railed against “partisan investigations” and “witch hunts” amid the coronavirus pandemic after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) established a special House committee to examine the federal response to the pandemic.
As countries struggle to contain the new coronavirus outbreak, a global fight has emerged over dwindling medical supplies. The tensions even led to growing competition for medical goods between the United States and its traditional European allies. Take Germany. The local government in the German state and capital, Berlin, claims that 200,000 U.S.-made protective masks bound for Germany never arrived. Authorities say the shipment was ‘confiscated’ in Bangkok, Thailand.
After the US recorded 1000 coronavirus deaths in one day on Wednesday, it is expected the federal government will shortly advise Americans to cover their mouths and noses when outdoors. Advice on wearing masks has been the subject of ongoing debate among the US coronavirus taskforce, as some worry face-coverings may give a false sense of security and cause the public to ignore social-distancing and hand-washing instructions.
Saudi Arabia and Russia signaled on Thursday they were ready to cooperate to help stabilize the oil market after calls with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the slump in prices triggered by the end of a deal to curb output and a collapse in demand.
On the same day the federal government announced more than 6.6 million Americans filed unemployment claims, President Donald Trump said a program to help businesses continue to pay workers launches Friday.
The US is well on track to build 400-450 miles of wall along its south-western border by the end of the calendar year, said Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf at a news conference with President Trump Wednesday.
The world’s largest investment bank and financial services company warns of a “deep global recession” due to the new coronavirus pandemic. New York-based Morgan Stanley says worldwide economic growth could slow by as much as 0.9 percent this year. “[The virus] COVID-19 is at once a human tragedy and unparalleled synchronous shock, affecting both the demand and supply sides of the global economy,” writes Morgan Stanley chief economist Chetan Ahya in a note.
President Trump warned that Iran and its allies are planning to attack American troops “and/or assets” in Iraq.
U.S. manufacturing activity contracted less than expected in March, but disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic pushed new orders received by factories to an 11-year low, reinforcing economists’ views that the economy was in recession.
With roughly half the world in lockdown and many politicians weak or ill, the largest Dutch daily concludes in a headline: “World searching for LEADER.” De Telegraaf (The Telegraph) also expresses that “Nobody takes the lead in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.” Its commentator, Frank van Vliet, complained: “While the world is on fire, international politicians are running in one direction to put out their fire. No leader has taken the lead, and solidarity is lacking. They did not read author Alexander Dumas’ Three Musketeers because “one for all and all for one” has been replaced by “own people first.”