New York

NEW YORK (AP) — As America tentatively emerges from weeks of lockdowns, it is becoming clear that the pandemic has taken its toll on workers who have been on the front lines all along.

They have been packing and delivering supplies, caring for the sick and elderly, and keeping streets and buildings clean.

They have also watched their co-workers fall ill. Thousands have gotten sick themselves. Many have died.

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City nursing home on Friday reported the deaths of 98 residents believed to have had the coronavirus — a staggering death toll that shocked public officials.

“It’s absolutely horrifying,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “It’s inestimable loss, and it’s just impossible to imagine so many people lost in one place.”

New York, May 1 (AP) May is bringing cautious reopenings from coronavirus lockdowns, from Beijing's Forbidden city to shopping malls in Texas, as the grim economic toll from the pandemic ticks higher.

Many communities around the world are inching toward normalcy without certainty over whether they've vanquished outbreaks of the virus. But bleak new figures released Thursday underscored the pain inflicted by the disease and added to pressure on leaders to end shutdowns.

NEW YORK, May 1 (APP): Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has called for cancellation– not just suspension — of debt payments by developing countries to enable them redirect financial resources toward dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

In a New York Times’ opinion piece, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning African leader said the recent move by Group of 20 industrialized nations to suspend debt payment of world’s low-income countries until the end of the year was a step in the right direction, but this initiative needed to be even more ambitious.

(AP) --- Shares fell in Asia on Friday after a crush of dismal data about the economy helped send markets lower overnight in a meek ending to a historic, juggernaut month for stocks.

Most regional markets were closed for May Day holidays. But Japan’s Nikkei 225 index slipped 2.3% to 19,730.41 while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gave up 3.9% to 5,308.90. Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow industrials were more than 1% lower.

NEW YORK (AP) — Bleak new figures Thursday underscored the worldwide economic pain inflicted by the coronavirus: The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits has climbed past a staggering 30 million, while Europe’s economies have gone into an epic slide.

And as bad as the numbers are, some are already outdated because of the lag in gathering data. The true economic picture is almost certainly much worse.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 30 (APP): While the world is focused on the coronavirus pandemic, Myanmar’s military is committing fresh war crimes against ethnic minority populations in two states, a UN human rights expert has warned.

“The Myanmar military continues to escalate its assault in Rakhine State, targeting the civilian population,” Yanghee Lee, the UN’s special rapporteur on Myanmar’s human rights situation, said at the end of her term in a statement on Wednesday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Police were called to a Brooklyn neighborhood Wednesday after a funeral home overwhelmed by the coronavirus resorted to storing dozens of bodies on ice in rented trucks, and a passerby complained about the smell, officials said.

Investigators who responded to a 911 call found that the home had rented four trucks to hold about 50 corpses, according to a law enforcement official. No criminal charges were brought and the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation, spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

NEW YORK, Apr 28 (APP): A U.S. federal government commission on international religious freedom has lambasted India for the sharp decline in religious freedom condition in the country, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has allowed “campaigns of harassment and violence” against Muslims and other religious minorities.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 28 (APP): As the pressure mounts on countries to ease their lockdown restrictions, the International Labour Organization (ILO), a Geneva-based UN agency, has urged states to take action to prevent and control the coronavirus pandemic in the workplace.

“The safety and health of our entire workforce is paramount today”, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said in a statement to mark the World Day for Safety and Health at Work.