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U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin (file photo)
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin (file photo)

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump said he spoke with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, about an arms agreement and fighting the coronavirus in their first call since explosive allegations emerged last month that Moscow had put bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Neither the White House nor Kremlin readouts of the July 23 call mentioned the Afghanistan bounties, which have not been confirmed.

The two leaders discussed the expiring New START nuclear agreement and combating the coronavirus pandemic, according to both readouts. Trump and Putin also discussed Iran's nuclear program, the Kremlin statement said.

The New START treaty, which expires in February, limits the number of U.S. and Russian deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550 each.

Trump wants China to be part of the treaty, a move that Beijing has rejected, raising concerns that the deal -- the last bilateral nuclear-arms agreement between Washington and Moscow -- could fall apart.

U.S. and Russian envoys held talks in Vienna last month to discuss a replacement for the pact and are scheduled to meet again to continue discussions.

Trump "reiterated his hope of avoiding an expensive three-way arms race between China, Russia, and the United States," adding that he "looked forward to progress on upcoming arms control negotiations in Vienna," the White House statement said.

Iran Nuclear Deal

The Kremlin readout did not give any details about their discussion regarding Iran's nuclear program.

The Trump administration in 2018 pulled out of an international nuclear agreement with Iran, claiming it paved the way for Tehran to develop weapons-grade uranium in a few years and that it did not stop Iran's missile program. Russia is among the parties to the pact.

Trump and Putin have held at least seven calls since March 30 amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has ravaged the global economy and sent the price of oil, Russia's main export commodity, tumbling. Trump and Putin spoke several times in April to negotiate a global oil production cut to shore up prices.

The White House readout of the call said Trump and Putin "discussed efforts to defeat the coronavirus pandemic while continuing to reopen global economies."

The July 23 call comes a week after the United States, Britain, and Canada accused a Russian military intelligence unit of trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine research and as Washington announced it would sanction any company helping build the Kremlin's natural gas pipeline to Germany.

The New York Times reported at the end of June that U.S. intelligence officials concluded months ago that Russian military intelligence offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill American soldiers. The paper went on to claim that Trump was briefed on the matter, but did nothing in response.

The White House has said neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence had been briefed on the alleged intelligence. The House of Representatives has held several hearings on the topic about how the U.S. should respond if the allegations are substantiated.

A woman wears a protective face shield and a protective face mask as she attends an event of mask distribution along a road, as the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Karachi, Pakistan on June 15.
A woman wears a protective face shield and a protective face mask as she attends an event of mask distribution along a road, as the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Karachi, Pakistan on June 15.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) says countries “must stay alert to the possibility of resurgence” as Europe continues to reopen and China faces a fresh coronavirus outbreak that has closed parts of the capital.

As the global number of confirmed coronavirus cases topped eight million and deaths reached 437,000, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that it took over two months to reach 100,000 reported cases -- which is now the daily rate – and the virus is accelerating in Asia and the Americas.

The warning to take action to curb transmission came as China increased testing and lockdowns in parts of the capital on June 16 to contain a new outbreak and New Zealand reported its first new cases in almost a month.

Across Beijing, 29 residential communities have been put under "closed management,” with all entry points guarded and strict controls on individuals leaving or entering amid fears of a second wave of infections after the Chinese capital went more than 50 days without a new case.

Since June 12, a cluster of 106 new infections has been traced to a wholesale market responsible for 80 percent of the capital’s food.

The new cluster highlights how difficult it will be to stamp out the virus, which emerged in China late last year but was largely brought under control with one of the world’s strictest lockdowns.

In New Zealand, which has recorded only 22 deaths among a population of five million and declared last week it had eliminated communitytransmission, two recent arrivals from Britain tested positive after being released early from quarantine to visit a dying relative.

Europe, meanwhile, continues to reopen despite warnings that the coronavirus could make a comeback.

Europe was once the hardest-hit continent, but new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have declined dramatically.

Many European countries reopened their borders to travelers from other European countries on June 15 after three-months of restrictions.

Germany, Belgium, France, Greece, and the Czech Republic reopened their borders, after Italy did so earlier in June.

The border reopening impacts mostly citizens of the European Union, Britain, and the rest of Europe’s usually passport-free Schengen travel area.

Still, each country is implementing different rules, including testing requirements, quarantines, and specific travel advice or restrictions for individual countries and regions.

For now, visitors from outside the continent will have to wait to enter Europe.

In the United States, about 20 states that began reopening their economies in recent weeks are recording record numbers of new confirmed infections. This is in part attributable to greater testing, but also what health experts say is states reopening.

About a half dozen states are also seeing steadily rising hospitalizations, including Texas, Arizona, and Florida.

The total case count for the United States is around 2.1 million infections and more than 116,000 deaths. According to an updated forecast used by the government, there may be over 200,000 deaths due to COVID-19 in the United States through the beginning of October.

Latin America remains at the center of the pandemic, with more than 80,000 COVID-19 deaths in the region. Brazil carries the unenviable title of second-worst hit in the world with more than 888,000 confirmed cases and some 44,000 deaths.

Despite the virus showing few signs of abating, reopening continues in Mexico and Brazil.

Densely populated India, Pakistan, and Egypt are registering record daily counts of new infections, while Turkey is again seeing rising numbers that the government says could result in new lockdown measures.

In India, the health-care system is starting to buckle as hospital beds fill up.

New infections are rising at over 10,000 a day to top 330,000. Real figures are likely higher.

With reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, and Reuters

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