President Donald Trump said Monday the United States would take advantage of the historic drop in oil prices to replenish its national strategic stockpile, pending approval by Congress.
"We are filling up our national petroleum reserves... You know, the strategic reserves," Trump told reporters at his daily coronavirus press conference.
"And we are looking to put as much as 75 million barrels into the reserves themselves," he added.
Later in the briefing, he specified that he would only buy that amount if Congress authorized the funding -- or if the federal government could rent storage space to third parties for a fee.
When prices eventually rebound, these vendors could sell their excess oil.
US oil prices crashed to unprecedented lows Monday as futures in New York ended in negative territory for the first time amid a devastating supply glut that has forced traders to pay others to take the crude off their hands.
The president had announced his intention on March 13 to fill the ...

Trump wants to use oil crash to fill national stockpile

PTI Automatic

US oil prices rebounded back above zero on Tuesday, a day after futures ended in negative territory for the first time as a coronavirus-triggered collapse in demand leaves the world awash in crude.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May delivery was changing hands at USD 0.56 a barrel after closing at - USD 37.63 in New York.
Space is scarce to store oil amid the current glut, meaning there have been few buyers for the commodity.
The May WTI contract closes on Tuesday, and the contract for June delivery is now more actively traded. That enjoyed a modest increase on Tuesday after heavy falls a day earlier, rising to above USD 21 a barrel.

US oil rebounds, back in positive territory

The 193 members of the UN General Assembly have adopted by consensus a resolution that calls for "equitable, efficient and timely" access to any future vaccines developed to fight coronavirus.
The resolution on Monday also highlights the "crucial leading role" played by the World Health Organization, which has faced criticism from Washington and others about its handling of the pandemic.
The resolution, which was drafted by Mexico and received US support, calls for strengthening the "scientific international cooperation necessary to combat COVID-19 and to bolster coordination," including with the private sector.

UN member states demand 'equitable' access to future COVID-19 vaccines

Mexico has recorded its deadliest day this year, official data showed on Monday, with 105 murders the previous day amid the government-imposed quarantine to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Sunday's toll exceeded the latest high of 104 people on April 4, 2020, federal data showed.
"We are addressing the issue of the coronavirus, but unfortunately we continue to have problems with homicides," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO, acknowledged Monday in his morning briefing.
The data, collected by state prosecutors offices and federal agencies, showed the State of Mexico (center) had the highest number of intentional homicides, with 12; Chihuahua (northwest) with 10, while Mexico City, Guanajuato (center) and Oaxaca (south) reported nine each.
Since the health protection measures took effect in mid-March, violence certainly has not slowed in Mexico, which in 2019 recorded 34,608 murders, a record number since 1997.
The 2019 toll is the equivalent to an average of almost 95 

Mexico marks deadliest day amid coronavirus lockdown

The United States on Monday named its first ambassador to Belarus in more than a decade as it seeks to nudge the close Russian ally toward the Western orbit.
President Donald Trump tapped career diplomat Julie Fisher, a top State Department official for Europe who has served in Moscow, to be the US ambassador to Minsk.
Fisher requires confirmation by the Senate. While her nomination did not generate immediate opposition, it is uncertain when the Senate would act as lawmakers are staying out of Washington due to the coronavirus pandemic and will later head into election season.
Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian leader of Belarus, in 2008 threw out the US ambassador after the George W Bush administration imposed sanctions on the president, his allies and a state oil company following elections seen as unfair and a crackdown on protesters.
In a sign of warming ties, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in February met Lukashenko in Minsk in the first visit there by a top US diplomat ...

US names Belarus envoy after decade-long freeze

NBC News has sold its stake in pan-European broadcaster Euronews, a source at the France-based pay-TV channel said on Monday.
NBC, which acquired its 25-percent holding three years ago for 25 million euros (USD 27 million), has sold the shares to Euronews' majority owner, Egyptian telecom and media magnate Naguib Sawiris, the source told AFP.
The transaction, completed on April 15, has increased the stake held by Sawiris' Media Globe Networks in Euronews to 88 percent. The move comes after the parent company of NBC News, Comcast, acquired British group Sky for 33 billion euros.
According to the Financial Times, Comcast intends to transform the combined NBC Sky World News venture into a pan-European channel that will compete directly with Euronews, which is based in the eastern French city of Lyon.
The Euronews source insisted that Sawiris' purchase was a "vote of confidence" for the broadcaster by its existing majority shareholder.
Euronews, which was set up in 1993 and now runs 12 ...

NBC sells stake in Euronews: company source

Angola has received a herd of more than 1,000 cattle from Chad, a government official said on Monday, the latest shipment of an unusual debt repayment deal.
The landlocked central African country, impoverished despite its oil revenues, contracted a USD 100 million debt with Angola in 2017.
As repayment, Angola agreed to take 75,000 cattle, for delivery over five years from 2020, to help it develop its beef industry.
"This consignment comprises 1,176 head of cattle. They have been placed in quarantine in the town of Quiminha, from where they will be transported to their final destination after inspection," Ditutala Lucas Simao, veterinary services chief in the agriculture ministry, told AFP.
Since the first batch arrived a month ago, Angola has taken delivery of 4,500 cattle, said Simao.
After oil, livestock is Chad's second largest source of export earnings.
The deal works well for Angola, which is keen to revive its livestock farming sector as part of efforts to diversify the ...

Cash cows: Chad repays USD 100-mln Angola debt with cattle

The melting of the Eurasian ice sheet around 14,000 years ago lifted global sea levels by about eight metres, according to new research published on Monday that highlights the risks of today's rapid ice cap melt.
Earth's last Glacial Maximum period began around 33,000 years ago, when vast ice sheets covered much of the Northern Hemisphere.
At the time, the Eurasian ice sheet -- which covered much of Scandinavia -- contained approximately three times the amount of frozen water held in the modern-day Greenland ice sheet.
But rapid regional warming saw the ice sheet collapse over a period of just 500 years, according to authors of the study published in Nature Geoscience.
Analysing sediment drill cores from the Norwegian Sea, the team found that the ice sheet's collapse contributed to an event known as Meltwater 1A -- a period that saw as much as 25 metres added to global sea levels between 13,500-14,700 years ago.
Lead author Jo Brendryen from Norway's University of Bergen said the ...

Eurasian ice sheet collapse raised seas eight metres: study

Gunmen shot dead two traditional leaders in volatile western Cameroon before being gunned down by soldiers, a local ruler said on Monday, adding that the assailants were believed to be anglophone separatists.
The casualties were the president and secretary general of a traditional council, according to Afungchwi III, the king of Bambili, where the clash took place last Thursday.
He said the two assailants were "probably" separatists angry over calls for disarmament by the traditional leadership and politicians.
Bambili lies in the Northwest Region, one of two regions in western Cameroon that have been rocked by violence since late 2017.
Anglophone militants have launched an armed campaign to break away from the rest of Cameroon, which is majority French-speaking.
The conflict has killed more than 3,000 people and displaced nearly 700,000, according to humanitarian organisations.
The Bambili king noted that the killings came after "peace had been gradually returning to the area with no 

Two traditional leaders reported killed in Cameroon

Mexico and the United States on Monday agreed to extend restrictions on non-essential travel across their border by another 30 days, Mexico's foreign ministry said.
The move covers "all non-essential land traffic" on the common border "after reviewing the development of the spread of COVID-19 " in both countries, the ministry said in a statement.
The measures first went into effect on March 21.
US President Donald Trump said at the time the move was necessary to prevent the spread of the infection "to our border agents, migrants and to the public at large." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later said trade between the two countries would continue.

Mexico, US extend curbs on non-essential border traffic

The key witness for the prosecution appeared in a Russian court on Monday to testify in the high-profile trial of a former US marine charged with espionage, news agencies reported.
The trial of Paul Whelan, 50, is continuing behind closed doors in a Moscow court despite the coronavirus pandemic and diplomatic protests.  Whelan's lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov told news agency Interfax that the witness had testified against Whelan.
The lawyer did not provide further details of the session but said the defence would dispute the account offered by the witness.
"We believe there are contradictions in his testimony," Zherebenkov said.  US ambassador John Sullivan was not allowed to attend Monday's hearing, the embassy said in a statement.
The ambassador criticised Russian authorities for not allowing Whelan to contact family and refusing to provide medical care.
"He needs medical treatment for a medical issue that could be treated very simply, but it is a serious issue and the Russian ...

Key witness testifies in Moscow espionage trial of US ex-marine

Hundreds of people including lawmakers gathered in the US state of Pennsylvania Monday to protest measures that are urging most of the nation to stay home due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The "Patriots Rally" demonstration in state capital Harrisburg follows similar protests -- cheered on by President Donald Trump -- elsewhere in the United States, including in Michigan, California and Ohio.
Protestors say government regulations intended to halt the spread of COVID-19 -- a highly contagious virus that's killed more than 40,000 people stateside, having ravaged several countries in the European Union -- limits individual freedoms and harms the economy.
Trucks painted with slogans including "work not welfare" and "shelter in place isn't freedom!" paraded throughout Harrisburg, as Republican representatives from Congress rallied protestors marching at the steps of the capitol building.
"Our new normal does not mean we will sacrifice our freedoms for the safety of our country," said state .

US protestors decry shelter in place orders

The British government on Monday said there were "encouraging signs" that the coronavirus outbreak was easing but warned it was too early to lift the lockdown despite new evidence of the economic toll.
Some 16,509 people hospitalised with COVID-19 in Britain have now died, new health ministry figures showed, up by 449 -- the lowest daily toll for a fortnight.
Health officials say the number of new cases is flat and figures for people in hospital in London, the epicentre of the outbreak in Britain, continue to fall.
"There are encouraging signs that we are making progress," Finance Minister Rishi Sunak told the government's daily media briefing.
But "we are not there yet and it is very clear that, for now, what we should focus on is following the guidance, staying home".
Britain went into lockdown at the end of March, with people told to stay indoors except for daily exercise and buying essentials.
Last week the measures were renewed for another three weeks, but there are concerns ...

'Encouraging signs' as UK daily toll hits two-week low

The World Health Organization insisted Monday that it sounded the alarm on the novel coronavirus right from the very start and had hidden nothing from Washington about the deadly pandemic.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there were no secrets at the UN agency after being blasted by the United States for allegedly downplaying the initial COVID-19 outbreak in China.
"We have been warning from day one that this is a devil that everyone should fight," Tedros told a virtual briefing in Geneva.
The virus, which emerged late last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has so far infected more than 2.4 million people globally and killed more than 165,000, according to an AFP tally.
The United States has by far the highest death toll of any country, at more than 40,000 fatalities, and President Donald Trump has faced criticsm over his handling of the pandemic.
Washington is the biggest contributor to the WHO but Trump is freezing funding, alleging that the organisation mismanaged and ...

WHO insists it hid nothing, sounded virus alarm from start

Oil prices ended New York trading in the negative on Monday for the first time ever, as a supply glut forced traders to pay others to take the commodity.
With space to store oil scarce, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May delivery ended trading at -$37.63 a barrel ahead of Tuesday's close for futures contracts -- when traders who buy and sell the commodity for profit would have had to take physical posession of it.

US benchmark WTI oil price closes at -$37.63/barrel

Italy reported its first drop on Monday in the number of people currently suffering from the novel coronavirus since it recorded its first infection in February.
Those receiving intensive care treatment also fell to the lowest level in a month as Europe's hardest-hit country began to see the first direct health benefits of its economically devastating lockdown.
The civil protection service said 108,237 people were either being treated in hospital or were recovering at home after testing positive -- 20 fewer than the total reported on Sunday.
"For the first time, we have seen a new positive development: the number of currently positive has declined," civil protection service chief Angelo Borrelli told reporters.
"The number in intensive care is the lowest it has been in a month," he added.
The Mediterranean country's death toll still rose by 454 to 24,114 -- second only to the United States.
However, the figures are widely regarded as benchmarks rather than actual tallies -- most ...

Italy's current virus cases fall for first time

Germany and other parts of Europe took tentative steps to ease lockdown measures on Monday as more countries saw death rates from the coronavirus fall, but officials warned the battle against the pandemic was far from over.
The World Health Organization defended its handling of the crisis against scathing criticism from Washington and others, with its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisting the UN body had been warning against the virus "from day one".
Spain recorded its lowest death toll in weeks on Monday, Britain its lowest in a fortnight and Italy saw its first drop in the number of cases since its first infection was recorded in February.
The encouraging news came as tight restrictions in place for weeks were lifted in parts of the continent, with some shops reopening in Germany and Denmark and parents dropping their children off at nurseries in Norway.
The hope is tempered by fears of new waves of infections, warnings that life will not be back to normal for many months and ..

Europe takes cautious steps to ease virus lockdowns

France on Monday announced that more than 20,000 people had now died from the coronavirus in the country after 547 new deaths, even as tentative signs grew that the epidemic was steadying.
"Tonight, our country has passed a barrier that is symbolic and particularly painful," top health official Jerome Salomon told reporters, announcing a total death toll of 20,265 people while welcoming new falls in the numbers in hospital and intensive care.

France virus toll tops 20,000 after 547 new deaths: official

The World Health Organization insisted Monday that it had been warning from the very start about the dangers of the novel coronavirus, which has killed more than 164,000 people globally.
"We have been warning from day one that this is a devil that everyone should fight," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing in
Geneva, after facing scathing criticism from Washington which has accused the agency of initially downplaying the pandemic.

WHO says has been 'warning from day one' about virus

World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted on Monday that the UN agency had not hidden from the United States any information it had about the coronavirus pandemic.
He said the presence of embedded US government secondees working at the WHO headquarters in Geneva "means there is nothing hidden from the US, from day one", adding: "There is no secret in WHO".

WHO chief insists 'nothing hidden from US' on coronavirus

US oil prices dived to 34-year lows at USD 10 on Monday after crashing more than 45 per cent in a market flooded with crude as demand evaporates in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for May delivery sank to USD 10.01 per barrel, its lowest level since 1986.
The steep decline was driven by investors closing out their positions ahead of the May contract expiry on Tuesday. Investors left holding the contracts will have to take physical delivery of the contracts as storage is quickly becoming an issue.
The drop on the WTI June contract was less severe -- 8.8 per cent to USD 22.82.
"The real problem of the global supply-demand imbalance has started to really manifest itself in prices," said Rystad Energy analyst Bjornar Tonhaugen.
The European benchmark contract, London Brent North Sea oil for June delivery, was down 6.3 per cent at USD 26.30 per barrel.
"As production continues relatively unscathed, storage is filling up by the day. 

AFP

AFP

Page 25 - Afp