Fox News Wrote:President Trump said Friday that he had directed Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to require General Motors to begin making ventilators under the Defense Production Act to combat the coronavirus pandemic after negotiations with the automaker had stalled.

US President Donald Trump Wrote:Our negotiations with GM regarding its ability to supply ventilators have been productive, but out fight against the virus is too great to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course. GM was wasting time.

BBC Wrote:Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he had also tested positive while England's Chief Medical Officer, Prof Chris Whitty, has shown symptoms.

Tico Times Wrote:As part of the U.S. Southern Command’s humanitarian assistance program, the Embassy provided Costa Rica with 9,700 isolation gowns and 57,000 pairs of surgical gloves, according to a press release.
Within the next two weeks, the U.S. Embassy says it will also buy and donate 20,700 surgical masks, 4,150 N95 masks, and 2,250 sets of protective glasses.
The equipment, purchased from local suppliers in Costa Rica, is valued at $75,000.

Voice of America Wrote:an Iranian health care worker in a hazmat suit and mask begged the public for just one thing: Stop drinking industrial alcohol over fears about the new coronavirus.
The boy, now blind after his parents gave him toxic methanol in the mistaken belief it protects against the virus, is just one of hundreds of victims of an epidemic inside the pandemic now gripping Iran. 
Iranian media report nearly 300 people have been killed and more than 1,000 sickened so far by ingesting methanol across the Islamic Republic, where drinking alcohol is banned and where those who do rely on bootleggers.

Washington Times Wrote:Late Thursday, the Trump administration granted Mr. Hogan’s request for a major disaster declaration for the state, which will lead to more resources for Maryland to fight the pandemic.

Voice of America Wrote:No longer content to simply pump out their own false narratives, the three countries have now formed a sort of axis of disinformation, officials say, by echoing and magnifying each other’s information operations.
“We're seeing Russian, Chinese and Iranian state information operations converging around the same disinformation narrative about COVID-19,” Lea Gabrielle, head of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC), told reporters in a telephone briefing Friday.

Voice of America Wrote:European officials say Russian-linked cyber actors have been especially active, trying to trick people into believing the pandemic is a hoax or persuade them to try bogus cures.

BBC Wrote:On Friday, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo deployed National Guard troops to stop cars with a New York licence plate, to remind them of their state's advice that they quarantine.

BBC Wrote:A cruise ship carrying more than 1,800 people off Panama is in a race to transfer healthy passengers to another ship after four people died and two others tested positive for coronavirus.

Suspicious... Don't you think?

The FDA has approved emergency use of a new coronavirus test
that delivers positive results in 5 minutes and negative results in 13

Business Insider Wrote:The company will ramp up its production to make 50,000 units per day beginning next week.

Associated Press Wrote:Experts have found a rise of untraceable cases mushrooming in Tokyo, Osaka and other urban areas — signs of an explosive increase in infections.

Voice of America Wrote:U.S. pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson says human testing of its experimental coronavirus vaccine will begin by September and says the vaccine could be available for emergency use by early next year.

Voice of America Wrote:In January, when the infections started surging exponentially, China's Health Commission decided that people without symptoms should not be included in the confirmed case count.
In the "Pneumonia Case Surveillance Program for New Coronavirus (Third Edition)" released by the commission on January 28, health officials outlined three categories of coronavirus cases: suspected cases, confirmed cases and positive diagnosis. Those classified with a positive diagnosis are not included in the country’s tally of infected people.
...
Tao Zhengtai, a local party secretary, later confirmed that the announcement was indeed posted by the community authority. But he told the official Xinhua news agency last Sunday that it was a mistake. He said a 63-year old man surnamed Zhang in Wuhan's Qiaokou district tested positive but had shown no symptoms. "Mr. Zhang is asymptomatic, not a confirmed case," Tao said.

US President Donald Trump Wrote:Great news! American families will now be able to buy safer, more affordable, and environmentally friendly cars with our new safe vehicle rules. Get rid of those old, unsafe clunkers. Build better and safer American cars and create American jobs. Buy American!

Voice of America Wrote:The United States says it is willing to lift sanctions against Venezuela in exchange for the formation of a transitional government comprised of allies of President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday.
The plan calls on Maduro and Guaido to hand over power to a five-member council until presidential and parliamentary elections can be held within the next year.
Pompeo called on Maduro and Guaido to form a transitional government which would be tasked with scheduling elections within six to 12 months.

BBC Wrote:A group of wealthy creditor countries known as the Paris Club has agreed to cancel $1.4bn (£1.1bn) of debt owed by Somalia.
...
The Paris Club, formed in 1956, is an informal group of creditor governments from major industrialised nations.

1,000,000+ hugged by Corona-chan so far!

BBC Wrote:It was legitimate to use “extraordinary measures”, they said, but some powers could threaten “democracy and fundamental rights”.
Earlier this week Hungary’s parliament granted Prime Minister Viktor Orban sweeping new powers.
Other states are considering similar measures.

BBC Wrote:East London's ExCeL exhibition centre, which normally plays host to lifestyle shows, expos and conferences, has been converted into the temporary NHS Nightingale hospital, with space for 4,000 beds.

BBC Wrote:The Statue of Liberty and Washington Monument were among his targets, according to the FBI.
He will be sentenced to 15 years in prison on 23 June, 2020.

BBC Wrote:Pakistan has overturned the death sentence of the man convicted of killing US journalist Daniel Pearl

Quote:Authorities are searching for Maeve Kennedy McKean, 41 - granddaughter of assassinated presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy - and her young son.
Mrs McKean and her son, eight-year-old Gideon, were last seen on Thursday evening in a canoe off Chesapeake Bay.

Associated Press Wrote:Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest and JetBlue said they applied Friday for their share of $25 billion in federal grants designed to cover airline payrolls for the next six months. None disclosed the amount they are seeking
...
Walmart still wants customers, just fewer of them at a time. The nation’s largest retailer said it will now allow no more than five customers for each 1,000 square feet at a given time, roughly about 20% of the average store’s capacity.