New York

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Tuesday after a round of quarterly earnings reports brought upbeat signs from Pfizer and respiratory mask-maker 3M for investors increasingly hopeful of a relaunch of business across the economy.

3M Co (MMM.N), the world’s biggest maker of N95 respirator masks, rose 3.4% in premarket trading after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit, although it suspended its 2020 forecast due to the health crisis.

NEW YORK, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices suffered heavy losses on Monday amid fears over a growing scarcity of oil storage space as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on crude demand.

The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery shed 4.16 U.S. dollars, or 24.56 percent, to settle at 12.78 dollars a barrel on Monday, after trading as low as 11.88 dollars earlier in the session.

The international benchmark Brent crude for June delivery dropped 6.76 percent to close below the 20-dollar mark.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 26 (APP): Over 13 million children did not receive any vaccinations in 2018, and millions more are in danger of missing life-saving vaccines this year due to disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a UNICEF report.

Even before the coronavirus outbreak shut down vital immunization programmes, more than 20 million children living in countries with weak healthcare systems went without measles, polio and other vaccines every year, the report from UN’s children agency said.

NEW YORK, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. state of New York will restart its economy after the peak of the coronavirus outbreak in a multi-phase manner, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday.

The strategy is to first reopen the construction and manufacturing sectors, and the second phase will be evaluating businesses on a case-by-case basis, depending on how essential they are, said Cuomo at his daily briefing.

There will be two weeks in between each phase to monitor the effects of the reopening and ensure hospitalization and infection rates are not increasing.

UNITED NATIONS, April 27 (NNN-Xinhua) — The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is stepping up delivery of health and hygiene items for families and health workers in 12 Latin American and Caribbean countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Items locally procured and distributed included hand sanitizers, soap, water supplies and personal protective equipment as well as face masks, gowns, gloves, disposable face shields, goggles and coveralls, the UNICEF said in a press release.

NEW YORK, April 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo pointed to research showing that strains of the novel coronavirus entered his state from Europe, not China, and said that travel bans enacted by US President Donald Trump were too late to halt its spread.

Cuomo cited research from Northeastern University estimating that more than 10,000 New Yorkers may have contracted the disease by the time the state had its first confirmed case on March 1. He said he believed Italy was the likely source.

26 April 2020; AFP: Nearly two decades after Manhattan's Twin Towers fell in history's deadliest attack on US soil, the coronavirus pandemic is once again testing the storied mettle of New Yorkers.

The September 11, 2001 terror attack on the World Trade Center left nearly 3,000 people dead and shocked the city with its devastation. In comparison, New Yorkers say the deadly coronavirus pandemic, which has likely killed some 16,000 in the city, is more of a "slow cancer."

NEW YORK, Apr 25 (APP): President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, former vice president Joe Biden, have issued Ramazan messages, wishing Muslims a blessed month as life in the United States remains paralyzed amid coronavirus pandemic.

“I wish all Muslims, both in the United States and across the world, a blessed and peaceful Ramazan,” President Trump, said in his message issued by the White House.

NEW YORK, April 25. /TASS/: FCI Danbury prison administration (Connecticut, US) notified former Russian cargo pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko that his early release plea over the coronavirus pandemic was denied, Yaroshenko’s lawyer Alexey Tarasov told TASS Friday.

According to the lawyer, the prison administration handed the denial, signed by the prison director, to Yaroshenko.

25 April 2020; AFP: The global coronavirus death toll approached 200,000 on Saturday as the United Nations launched an international push for a vaccine to defeat the pandemic.

Governments around the world are struggling to limit the economic devastation unleashed by the virus, which has infected nearly 2.8 million people and left half of humanity under some form of lockdown.