Washington DC

WASHINGTON, May 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The IMF approved loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Mali and Ethiopia to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The Washington-based crisis lender has stepped up its global financing efforts in recent weeks to help countries weather the coronavirus crisis.

The IMF board granted $411 million to Ethiopia on the Horn of Africa to help relieve the pandemic’s effects on its fast-growing economy.

30 April 2020; MEMO: US President Donald Trump is considering all options available to him to make Saudi Arabia pay for the oil price war that it started, Oilprice.com revealed on Tuesday.

30 April 2020; MEMO: US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden will keep the US embassy in Israel in Jerusalem if elected, despite claiming to disagree with US President Donald Trump’s controversial decision to move it out of Tel Aviv.

WASHINGTON, April 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticised South Africa and Qatar for accepting doctors from Cuba to battle the coronavirus, accusing the communist island of profiting from the pandemic.

Cuba’s globe-trotting doctors have long been a source of diplomatic soft power and pride for Havana, but Washington says the medical workers only benefit the government and has encouraged them to defect.

Washington, Apr 29 (PTI) US President Donald Trump doubled down on China for failing to tame the coronavirus at its very origin, saying it has led to 184 countries "going through hell", as several American lawmakers demanded steps to reduce dependence on Beijing for manufacturing and minerals.

WASHINGTON, April 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide soared past three million on Monday as several European nations and a handful of US states began taking steps to reopen their shuttered economies.

But as schools and shops reopened in some parts of Europe, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson emerged after his own battle with the virus to call for patience in the UK, saying it was too early to follow suit.

Washington, Apr 27 (PTI) Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi on Monday endorsed former vice president Joe Biden's 2020 White House bid, calling the presumptive Democratic nominee a leader who is the "personification of hope, courage" and can help America out of the coronavirus crisis.

Pelosi, in a prerecorded video, said that Biden has been a voice of reason and resilience.

Washington, Apr 27 (AP/PTI) During times of war and strife, national leaders often aim to unite a broken country and, in the process, broaden their appeal beyond their most loyal supporters. Not President Donald Trump.

Confronting a pandemic that has upended his presidency and threatened his reelection prospects, Trump has focused almost exclusively on tending to his base.

WASHINGTON, April 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump dismissed reports he was considering sacking health secretary Alex Azar as criticism mounts over the US response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump, who risks losing public support ahead of the November election due to the climbing death toll, lashed out over stories on media outlets.

“Reports that H.H.S. Secretary Alex Azar is going to be ‘fired’ by me are Fake News,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

“They are desperate to create the perception of chaos & havoc in the minds of the public.”

WASHINGTON, April 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) —More US states are beginning to lift lockdown orders even as US leaders say social distancing guidelines will be necessary throughout the summer.

But governors warn that life will not quickly return to normal, and that restrictions will remain in some places to keep the virus from resurging.

On Friday, the US saw its largest single-day spike in cases.

But the infection rate has dropped significantly in several hotspots, including New York, the US epicentre.