Organizers of a national workers strike say tens of thousands are set to walk off the job Monday in more than two dozen US cities to protest systemic racism and economic inequality that has only worsened during the coronavirus pandemic.

The US President Donald Trump ousted his campaign manager Brad Parscale and replaced him with veteran GOP operative Bill Stepien, as polls show rival Joe Biden opening up a significant early lead in the race for the White House, news wires reported.

The US President Donald Trump on Tuesday ended trade preferences for Hong Kong and signed into law an act that authorizes sanctions on banks over China's clampdown in the international finance hub, news wires reported.

The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday announced a formal rejection of nearly all of China's maritime claims in the South China Sea and accused Beijing of "bullying" its neighbors to control the resources in that area. The shift in US policy is likely to further inflame US-China tensions and could provoke retaliatory measures from Beijing, news wires reported.

A US judge has ordered Iran to pay another $879.1m over a 1996 bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 US airmen, ruling again that Tehran bore responsibility. President Donald Trump's administration hailed the judgment, the latest over the attack against Iran, which denies involvement and refuses to pay.

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on three senior officials of the Chinese Communist Party, including a member of the ruling Politburo, for alleged human rights abuses targeting ethnic and religious minorities that China has detained in the western part of the country, news wires reported.

Visiting the White House on Wednesday Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador applauded US President Trump's leadership and thanked him for "being increasingly respectful with our Mexican fellowmen" in an apparent nod to Trump's penchant for verbal attacks, news wires reported. 

Harvard and MIT asked the Massachusetts district court on Wednesday to block an order by President Donald Trump's administration threatening the visas of foreign students whose entire courses have moved online because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The US has formally notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization. The withdrawal notice was sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday and will take effect in a year, on 6 July, 2021, the US State Department and the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro unveiled on Tuesday he has tested positive for COVID-19 as earlier he believed the virus was only a “little flu”. Bolsonaro, wearing a mask, told reporters in capital Brasilia that he is already taking hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial unproven to effectively treat COVID-19.