Criminal investigators in the United States have stepped up their pursuit of Covid-19 fraudsters selling unproven treatments and equipment online.The Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has partnered with major health care and e-commerce companies to fight back against a deluge of fake goods being sold during the pandemic.There has been a rise in opportunists seeking to “capitalise and profit from the fear and anxiety” surrounding the Covid-19 disease, increasing sales of counterfeit…

A surprise jump in Chinese exports in April will be short-lived, analysts said, with the world’s second largest economy unable to stay sheltered from the demand shock to come from the global economic downturn.A 3.5 per cent rise in shipments last month caught economists by surprise and left them scrambling for explanations as the consensus forecast was for an 11 per cent contraction.The rise was, in part, due to factories coming back online in China in March and April to fulfil orders that had…

China says it supports World Health Organisation efforts to investigate the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, but rejects any “presumption of guilt”, after the global body said it was talking to Beijing about sending another delegation to the country.The remarks came as Beijing is under mounting international pressure – particularly from the United States – to allow an inquiry into how the pandemic started, and if it was linked to a laboratory in Wuhan, the city where the new virus strain was…

Taiwan will gradually ease restrictions on travel and sporting activities, with the island’s health minister saying efforts to control the coronavirus were paying off.The island – home to 23 million people – had reported just 440 cases and six deaths from Covid-19 as of Thursday, with no local transmission for close to a month.Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said that with very few new cases among people returning to the island from elsewhere, the authorities would allow Taiwanese stranded in…

China’s officials must stay “sober-minded” to handle the variety of coronavirus-related challenges that lie ahead, as mistakes could undermine relations with major developed nations and harm the country’s economic outlook, according to outspoken former Chongqing mayor Huang Qifan.Issues over the origin of the virus, compensation claims by the United States and decoupling worries have all appeared in the wake of the outbreak, but for Huang, the government should focus on domestic recovery after…

Blood thinners could improve the survival rate among the most severely ill Covid-19 patients, according to a hospital study in New York City.The finding comes as doctors have been observing blood clot disorders among coronavirus patients that can damage vital organs.The researchers found that intubated patients treated with anticoagulants – medicines that help prevent blood clots – had a mortality rate of 29 per cent.Of those who were not treated with blood thinners, 63 per cent died.And among…

Negotiations between China and its Southeast Asian neighbours for a South China Sea code of conduct have been postponed as the nations involved put their efforts into containing the Covid-19 pandemic, creating uncertainty about whether the two sides can work together amid rising tensions in the contested territory.Southeast Asian nations are increasingly caught in a dilemma whether to maintain relations with Beijing during the pandemic while also fearing that tensions over the disputed waters…

Car sales in China likely rose in April from a year earlier, its top industry body said on Thursday, ending almost two years of declines and signalling that the world’s biggest market is recovering from the coronavirus shock.April’s sales of 2 million units likely pushed sales up 0.9 per cent from a year earlier, and 39.8 per cent from March, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said in a post on its official WeChat account.It added its forecast was based on sales data it…

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing’s core business has been profitable, president Jean Liu Qing said for the first time, as ride orders in its domestic market recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.In a rare interview, Liu told the CNBC that Didi’s core business has been profitable, without providing specific figures or explaining how or when the company had measured its profitability. The company has no plans for job cuts or raising capital, Liu said in the interview that…

China’s exports returned to growth in April, beating forecasts and suggesting that an expected demand shock from coronavirus containment efforts around the world will come further down the line.April exports rose by 3.5 per cent from a year earlier, reversing the 6.6 per cent fall in March and much better than the combined minus 17.2 per cent collapse in January and February. April’s return was much better than the expectations of a Bloomberg poll of analysts, which had predicted an 11 per cent…

A weekly read to keep you in the loop on humanitarian issues.

Coronavirus concerns are grabbing the headlines. But other crises haven’t stopped. Here’s a look at what else is going on.

The botched raid comes amid concerns over the regime’s ability to cope with COVID-19, given its run-down economy and health systems.

Up to a third of the country’s medical staff and health workers could lose out in the planned WHO cuts.

Shattered ceasefires, a $6.7-billion price tag, and Italy’s migrant amnesty: updates on how COVID-19 is disrupting humanitarian efforts around the globe.

Coronavirus adds 20 percent to the world's humanitarian bill.

More than 250,000 people have died in this pandemic, but untold indirect losses lie ahead as other health services risk being neglected.

Women in camps worry they will find little aid if they become victims of physical or sexual violence.

On top of floods and the COVID-19 pandemic, locust swarms are threatening farms and food. Iran says sanctions are thwarting its response plans.

Redacted figures, including drone strikes, are the latest military data to be restricted in a conflict that killed or injured 10,000 civilians in 2019.

They have left behind royal life as they knew it, swapping Britain for the sunnier climes of Los Angeles. But former Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are not quite slumming it, as they join the Hollywood elite in a reported $18m (€16.4m) Beverly Hills mansion owned by a...

The American people have not had to sacrifice as one nation, one people since they did away with the military draft after the Vietnam War. (I'm a veteran of that war). It's real easy to be "patriotic," fly the flag...

NASHVILLE (AP) — Little Richard, the self-proclaimed “architect of rock ‘n’ roll” whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing black R&B to white America, has died Saturday. He was 87. Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of Little Richard’s, told The Associated Press that Little Richard died Saturday morning. Minson said he also spoke to Little Richard’s son and brother. Minson added that the family is not releasing the cause of death. Born Richard Penniman, Little Richard was one of rock ‘n’ roll’s founding fathers who helped shatter the color line on the music charts, joining Chuck Berry and Fats Domino in...

Little Richard, the self-proclaimed "architect of rock 'n'...

Little Richard, the flamboyant, piano-pounding showman who injected sheer abandon into rock ’n’ roll in its early days, only to abandon the music again and again because it conflicted with his religious yearnings, died Saturday. He was 87. Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of the singer, confirmed his death to the Associated Press. Minson said he also spoke to Little Richard’s son and brother. Minson added that the family is not releasing the cause of death. In hits such as “Tutti-Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly,” the singer pushed the limits of tempo and vocal intensity, creating frantic explosions of sonic confetti. His records entered a pure, primal realm that...

Little Richard, who helped shape the future of rock and roll in the 1950s and 1960s, died Saturday at age 87. Rolling Stone confirmed the news of his death and reported the cause of death was unknown. Born Richard Wayne Penniman in Macon, Georgia, Little Richard was known for a series of hits that included “Tutti Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Rip It Up,” “Lucille” and “Good Golly Miss Molly.” Little Richard’s contributions to the musical world were covered by a series of greats that...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Frustrated by scarce supplies and a chaotic marketplace amid the coronavirus outbreak, some U.S. governors are seeking to bolster their home-state production of vital medical and protective equipment to ensure a reliable long-term source for state stockpiles. The efforts come as states have been competing against each other, the federal government, hospitals, emergency responders and even other countries to get items such as N95 masks, gloves, medical gowns and hand sanitizer — often paying higher-than-usual prices because of the high demand. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. got much of its medical supplies from China. But China limited exports earlier...

FALMOUTH, Maine (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic has canceled dozens of spring traditions, from college basketball’s Final Four to Easter Sunday services, but there’s one rite that’s going on largely unfettered — turkey hunting. Every state except Alaska, which is the only state with no turkeys, hosts a spring turkey hunt each year. The birds, whose domesticated cousins grace Thanksgiving tables from Hawaii to Maine, are among America’s greatest conservation success stories. The hunt is taking on a new look in some parts of the country this year due to social distancing laws. Many states, including Maine, are requiring out-of-state residents to self quarantine for two...

The text version of this document in not available. You can...

To mark Mother's Day 2020, the hosts and reporters of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network expressed their appreciation to their mothers and all the moms across America who are helping their families through the coronavirus pandemic. ......

Photo from Fredy Builes/VIEWpress via Getty Images) Colombian delivery app Rappi is testing pilot robot deliveries in Colombia. Rappi operates in several Latin American countries, and last year SoftBank invested one billion dollars into the startup. Deliveries are made using Kiwibot, a delivery robot from a Colombian owned company in California. Visit Business...

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. TOP OF THE HOUR: — Belarus hosts large military parade despite sharply rising coronavirus infections. — Germany says Europe must acknowledge it wasn’t well prepared for virus. — Seoul shuts down nightclubs, bars after spread of virus linked there. ___ PATNA, India — About 70 people fled from a quarantine center in the Indian state of Bihar’s Nawada district, alleging poor facilities and lack of food. They are among the tens of thousands of migrant workers who...

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Many people saw more than the last moments of Ahmaud Arbery’s life when a video emerged this week of white men armed with guns confronting the black man, a struggle with punches thrown, three shots fired and Arbery collapsing dead. The Feb. 23 shooting in coastal Georgia is drawing comparisons to a much darker period of U.S. history — when extrajudicial killings of black people, almost exclusively at the hands of white male vigilantes, inflicted racial terror on African Americans. It frequently happened with law enforcement complicity or feigned ignorance. The footage of Arbery’s death was not the only thing that rattled the nation’s conscience. It took more than...

Learn about yet another Little Known Character in America with this week's column from Cal Campbell! ......

The US President appeared puzzled that the aide, Katie Miller, press secretary for Vice-President Mike Pence, had contracted the virus "out of the blue". ......

President Nicolas Maduro has accused the US of being the mastermind behind the planned incursion in Venezuela, but Washington denies any involvement in the botched raid. ......

Miami: Carolina Vásquez lost track of days and nights, unable to see the sunlight while stuck for two weeks in a windowless cruise ship cabin as a fever took hold of her body. On the worst night of her encounter with COVID-19, the Chilean woman, a line cook on the Greg Mortimer ship, summoned the strength to take a cold shower fearing the worst: losing consciousness while isolated from others. Vásquez, 36, and tens of thousands of other crew members have been trapped for weeks aboard dozens of cruise ships around the world — long after governments and cruise lines negotiated their passengers’ disembarkation. Some have gotten ill and died; others have survived but...

Washington: The United States on Friday stunned other members of the UN Security Council by preventing a vote on a resolution for a ceasefire in various conflicts around the world to help troubled nations better fight the coronavirus pandemic, diplomats said. Washington's reversal came a day after it agreed to the text, negotiators said under cover of anonymity. "The United States cannot support the current draft," the country's delegation declared, without further detail, to the 14 other Security Council members, after nearly two months of difficult negotiation over the text. The latest stalemate continues to leave the global peace and security...

The settlement report said that in strange and reprehensible statements that reflect the Zionist colonial and racist ideology, the American ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, urged the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz to accelerate the announcement of the annexation of areas in the occupied West Bank to Israel. He told an Israeli newspaper that “if the government of Israel announces this, the United States will be prepared to recognize, in the coming weeks, Israel’s sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and Israeli settlement in Judea and Samaria, and that it will recognize 30% of the occupied West Bank as areas of Israel within the deal of the century in the...

Donald Trump has been bullish about a coronavirus vaccine – so much so that experts have had to talk him off a more aggressive...

A NATO squadron of three US destroyers Porter, Donald Cook and Roosevelt, the British frigate Kent and the American supply ship Sapplay left the Barents Sea. This was reported on the website of the Sixth Fleet of the United States. Ships entered...

Washington: Several American lawmakers have introduced a legislation in Congress to offer the 40,000 unused green cards to thousands of foreign nurses and doctors to meet the urgent needs of the overstretched healthcare sector in the US, the worst hit nation by the coronavirus pandemic. The US has nearly 1,284,000 cases of confirmed COVID-19 cases and over 77,000 people have died due to the highly contagious disease. The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act would allow for recapturing green cards that were approved by...

Ivanka Trump's personal assistant has tested positive for the deadly coronavirus, making her the third White House staff member to be infected from COVID-19, a media report said on Saturday. The assistant, who works in a personal capacity for US President Donald Trump's daughter, has not been around her in several weeks, the CNN reported. COVID-19 Pandemic Tracker: 15 countries with the highest number of...

With states opening even as Covid-19 rages on, the president is rolling the dice on his career – and tens of thousands of lives Coronavirus – latest US updates C oronavirus – latest global updates On Monday the Republican governor of Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, a close ally of Donald Trump and frequent...

The text version of this document in not available. You can...

Washington: Vice president Mike Pence’s press secretary has the coronavirus, the White House said Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week. President Donald Trump, who publicly identified the affected Pence aide, said he was “not worried” about the virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex. Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller, who tested positive Friday, had been in recent contact with Pence but not with the president. She is...

Gainesville: The decision to shelve detailed advice from the nation’s top disease control experts for reopening communities during the coronavirus pandemic came from the highest levels of the White House, according to internal government emails obtained by The Associated Press. The files also show that after the AP reported Thursday that the guidance document had been buried, the Trump administration ordered key parts of it to be fast-tracked for approval. The trove of emails shows the nation’s top public health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spending weeks working on guidance to help the country deal with a public health emergency, only to see their...

An American newspaper stressed in a report: Although the US government has intensified its rhetoric and economic pressure on Iran, it seems that in fact, the main focus on Iran in its national security strategy is shifting to Russia and China. According to Fars News Agency, the administration of US President Donald Trump has intensified its rhetoric about Iran’s alleged threat this year. On the other hand, military officials and experts believe that the US military has reduced its presence in the Persian Gulf region and has withdrawn its ships, military aircraft and missiles. No US aircraft carrier has been replaced in the region since Theodore Roosevelt sailed from the Persian Gulf to...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Saturday reported 18 new coronavirus cases after a spate of infections prompted authorities to urge bars and nightclubs to close, while U.S. job losses surged and China prepared to reopen more schools. The United States, Brazil and Italy wrestled with how to ease curbs on business and public activity. Others imposed new restrictions: Kuwait in the Middle East announced a nationwide lockdown from Sunday through May 30. Worldwide, the virus has infected at least 3.9 million people and killed more than 270,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University based on data reported by governments. A decline in new infections in South Korea and some other...

TAOS, N.M. (AP) — The top administrator of a national forest in northern New Mexico says there’s an elevated risk of human-caused wildfires due to drying conditions and negligence by some forest visitors....