New York

(AP) --- Stocks on Wall Street fell sharply Friday as confirmed new coronavirus infections in the U.S. hit an all-time high, prompting Texas and Florida to reverse course on the reopening of businesses.

The combination injected new jitters into a market that’s been mostly riding high since April on hopes that the economy will recover from a deep recession as businesses open doors and Americans begin to feel more confident that they can leave their homes again.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 26 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for “effective and inclusive” multilateralism that serves as an instrument of global governance, especially “at a time of colossal global upheaval and risk.”

“We need to give multilateralism the capacities to confront our challenges, not only to meet immediate needs but to enable future generations to meet theirs,” he told a virtual press conference at which he launched the UN’s Comprehensive Response to COVID-19 on Thursday.

NEW YORK, June 25 (Xinhua) -- New York City is on track to enter phase three of reopening as early as July 6, two weeks after it entered phase two, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday.

"This is exciting. We keep making progress," said the mayor at his daily briefing. "We're gonna be working closely with the state of New York to make the final decision as we get closer."

The city's viral transmission rate is currently at around 1 percent, one of the lowest levels in the country.

NEW YORK (AP) — The coronavirus crisis deepened in Arizona on Thursday, and the governor of Texas began to backtrack after making one of the most aggressive pushes in the nation to reopen, as the daily number of confirmed cases across the U.S. closed in on the peak reached during the dark days of late April.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 25 (APP): The World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has said he expected the number of coronavirus cases around the world, now at about 9.1 million, to reach 10 million next week.

Tedros also told a virtual news briefing in Geneva he backed Saudi Arabia’s decision to ban pilgrims from abroad from attending the annual Hajj pilgrimage to help limit the spread of the deadly disease.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened to seek to reimpose U.N. sanctions on Iran if the U.N. Security Council does not approve a resolution that would indefinitely extend the arms embargo on Tehran, which is set to expire in October.

Pompeo told a news conference at the State Department in Washington on Wednesday that without extending the arms embargo, “Iran will be able to purchase advanced weapons systems and become an arms dealer of choice for terrorists and rogue regimes all throughout the world. This is unacceptable.”

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 24 (APP): The 2020 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) indicates that the coronavirus crisis is adversely impacting the global rate of education, particularly of disadvantaged learners.

According to the report, fewer than 10 percent of countries have laws that ensure full inclusion in education. Besides, 40 percent of the poorest countries did not provide specific support to disadvantaged learners
during the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations chief criticized the total lack of international coordination in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday and warned that the go-it-alone policy of many countries will not defeat the coronavirus.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an interview with The Associated Press that what needs to be done is to make countries understand that by acting in isolation “they are creating the situation that is getting out of control” — and that global coordination is key.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed hope Tuesday that Israel will hear global calls and will not go ahead with annexation of parts of the West Bank, which would undermine a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The U.N. chief said in an interview with The Associated Press that the United Nations has been consistently conveying the message “that annexation would be not only against international law but it would be a major factor to destabilize the region.”

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 23 (APP): The World Health Organization (WHO), a UN specialized agency, has called on governments around the globe to tighten anti-coronavirus measures again, warning that the diseases is still deadly and has not yet shown significant signs of losing potency.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva on Monday that more than 183,000 new cases –the largest single-day increase ever — were reported to his organization on Sunday.