The death toll from the coronavirus in the U.S. has climbed to nine, with tensions rising over how to contain the outbreak. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are expressing doubts about the government's ability to ramp up testing fast enough to deal with the crisis. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has announced the biggest interest-rate cut in over a decade to try to fend off damage to the economy. And health officials are trying to ease shortages of face masks by giving the OK to medical workers to use industrial-grade ones.

The death toll from tornadoes that ripped across Tennessee has climbed to at least 22. The storms struck early Tuesday as families slept. The twisters shredded more than 140 buildings and buried people in piles of rubble and wrecked basements. Authorities say many of the victims were hit before they could even get out of bed. Daybreak revealed landscapes littered with blown-down walls and roofs, snapped power lines and huge broken trees. Schools, courts, transit lines and the state capitol were closed. More than a dozen polling stations were also damaged, forcing Super Tuesday voters to wait

Health officials in Washington state say a second person had died from the coronavirus.Researchers said earlier the illness may have been circulating for weeks undetected in the greater Seattle area.The victims are two men, one in his 70s and another in his 50s.Both had underlying health conditions, and both were being treated at a hospital in Kirkland, Washington, east of Seattle.Washington state now has 12 confirmed cases.

Former U-S vice-president Joe Biden has won South Carolina's Democratic primary. It was his first victory in three tries at the Democratic nomination, and it came during the fourth Democratic primary contest of the 2020 election season.Biden's win could work to blunt front-runner Bernie Sanders' momentum heading into Super Tuesday, when 14 states and American Samoa weigh in on the race.Bernie Sanders has won second place in South Carolina's Democratic presidential primary, a respectable showing in a state dominated by Joe Biden.

Four new cases of the virus were reported in Canada today. The infections- three in the Greater Toronto Area and one near Vancouver- bring the total number of confirmed or presumed cases to 20. The United States also reported the country's first death from COVID-19. Washington state authorities say the man who died was in his 50s and had underlying health conditions. The governor has declared a state of emergency. In Ontario, York Region health authorities say in one case the patient was not wearing a mask when she flew to Pearson Airport from Iran, with transfers in Qatar and Copenhagen. They

Harvey Weinstein was convicted Monday at his sexual assault trial, sealing his dizzying fall from powerful Hollywood studio boss to archvillain of the #MeToo movement. The verdict followed weeks of often harrowing and excruciatingly graphic testimony from a string of accusers who told of rapes, forced oral sex, groping, masturbation, lewd propositions and that's Hollywood excuses from Weinstein about how the casting couch works. The conviction was seen as a long-overdue reckoning for Weinstein after years of whispers about his behaviour turned into a torrent of accusations in 2017 that destro

COVID-19 is taking aim at a broadening swath of the globe, with officials in Europe and the Middle East now scrambling to limit it. Despite showing signs of stabilizing in China, where fewer new infections are being reported, worries are growing elsewhere. In Italy, authorities have set up roadblocks, called off soccer matches and shuttered sites including the famed La Scala opera house. In Iran, a report of dozens of deaths in a single city emerged as infections were reported to have spread for the first time to Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Afghanistan. The leader of the World Health Organizati

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump departed for their maiden two-day visit to India from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Sunday.The visiting dignitaries will have a stopover at Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany and will reach Ahmedabad on Monday.Ahead of his departure from Washington DC, the US President told reporters that he looks forward to being with "millions and millions" of the Indian people."I look forward to being with the people of India. We will be with millions and millions of people. I get along very well with the Prime Minister. He is a friend of mine. Pri

Bernie Sanders is celebrating his Nevada caucus victory hundreds of kilometres away in Texas.The 78-year-old Vermont senator took the stage before thousands of cheering supporters inside the Cowboys Dance Hall in San Antonio declaring, "We're going to win this election. We are going to win here in Texas."America's second largest state votes on "Super Tuesday" on March 3rd, after next week's South Carolina primary.Sanders says the American people are sick and tired of a president who "lies all of the time."