The police said it seized the assets because they were being held in a New Zealand company owned by Alexander Vinnik, who is accused of masterminding a bitcoin laundering ring and is wanted by both France and the United States.

This is the largest restraint of funds in New Zealand Police history, the department said in a statement late on Monday.

U.S. authorities accuse Vinnik of running BTC-e - a digital currency exchange used to trade bitcoin - to facilitate crimes ranging from computer hacking to drug trafficking since 2011.

Vinnik has denied the charges, saying he was a technical consultant to BTC-e and not its operator.

He was arrested on money laundering allegations in Greece in 2017 and has since been extradited to France where he remains in custody. He is also wanted in Russia on lesser charges.

New Zealand Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the funds are likely to reflect profits gained from the victimisation

of thousands of people globally.

"However, this restraint demonstrates that New Zealand is not, and will not be, a safe haven for the illicit proceeds generated from crime in other parts of the world," he said.

New Zealand Police said it worked closely with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service on the case and has applied to the High Court seeking forfeiture of these funds.

($1 = 1.5439 New Zealand dollars)

(Reporting by Praveen Menon; editing by Grant McCool)

In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mike Esper, the Democrats said the administration had not given the legally required 120 days' advance notice to Congress before beginning the withdrawal process.

The United States announced on May 22 that it would withdraw from the 35-nation Open Skies treaty allowing unarmed surveillance flights over member countries. It was the Trump administration's latest move to pull the country out of a major global treaty.

The administration said Russia had repeatedly violated the pact's terms.

The letter from Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Senators Mark Warner and Jack Reed, the top Democrats on the Intelligence and Armed Services committees, called on the administration to immediately discontinue efforts to withdraw.

It also suggested that Trump's decision may have been politically motivated because it took place less than five months before he is up for re-election in November.

"Beginning the U.S. withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty, without complying with U.S. domestic law or constitutional practice, is an obvious political maneuver in an attempt to bind a future administration," the letter said.

Officials from the White House, Department of Defense and State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Britain has been incrementally reopening its shuttered economy as the number of COVID-19 deaths and cases declines, having been one of the worst-hit countries during the pandemic.

The latest stage is scheduled for July 4, and will see some higher-risk venues like those in the arts and cultural sector allowed to open their doors, albeit with rules to maintain social distancing.

"The more we open up, the more important it is that everyone follows the social distancing guidelines. We will not hesitate to reverse these steps if it is necessary to stop the virus running out of control," a source in Johnson's office said.

Johnson is due to speak before parliament on Tuesday afternoon.

He will also announce the findings of a review into whether to relax the current rule that people must maintain a distance of two metres at all times to prevent the spread of the virus.

Johnson has faced lobbying from businesses and political pressure in his own party to drop the two-metre rule.

Finance minister Rishi Sunak has acknowledged that relaxing the rule would make a huge difference to many businesses. Pubs restaurants and other hospitality businesses have called for the distance to be reduced to one metre - the minimum recommended by the World Health Organisation.

(Reporting by William James; editing by Stephen Addison)

The FCC said the broadcast studio is used by Phoenix Radio, a company wholly owned by Phoenix TV, but not listed as an applicant. The FCC rejected the request as "deficient" but said the applicants - and Phoenix Radio - could refile the request.

In July 2018, to ensure continuity of service for XEWW-AM listeners, the FCC granted a temporary authorization to permit broadcasts pending FCC review. The following month, a group running a community radio station in southern California asked the FCC to deny the application, saying it might allow the government of the People’s Republic of China to "provide its own propaganda programming."

Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, praised the FCC's decision to reject the bid.

"Phoenix TV is a puppet of the Chinese Communist Party that broadcasts propaganda across the United States," Cruz said in a statement. “Today’s decision sends an important message to the world that the U.S. will not allow China to exploit FCC loopholes and spread its propaganda over our airwaves."

A lawyer for applicants GLR Southern California and H&H Group USA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Chinese embassy in Washington also did not immediately comment.

Phoenix TV bills itself as the largest Chinese language television provider in the United States and Canada, transmitting programming to more than 200,000 subscribers on cable and satellite systems.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Dan Grebler)

BOSTON (Reuters) - A U.S. prosecutor on Monday urged a judge to keep a former Green Beret and his son locked up as Japan prepares to formally seek their extradition on charges that they helped former Nissan Motor Co <7201.T> boss Carlos Ghosn flee the East Asian country.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Hassink argued during a virtual hearing that Michael Taylor and his son, Peter Taylor, have a "clear and present reason to flee" after being accused of helping Ghosn, who faces financial misconduct charges in Japan.

"They're actually some of the best defendants that I’m sure this court has seen positioned to actually succeed in that flight," Hassink said.

He argued the men, who have been held without bail since being arrested in Massachusetts last month, helped smuggle Ghosn out of Japan in a box on Dec. 29, 2019. Ghosn then allegedly fled to Lebanon, his childhood home, which has no extradition treaty with Japan.

Ghosn, Nissan's former chief executive, was charged with engaging in financial wrongdoing by understating his compensation in Nissan's financial statements. He denies wrongdoing.

The Taylors' lawyers countered that had they wished to avoid prosecution they could have remained in Lebanon, where they were when Japan in January said it would seek their arrest, rather than return to Massachusetts.

"If he's an expert of escape, he would not have returned to the United States," Robert Sheketoff, a lawyer for Michael Taylor, argued.

He and other defense lawyers argued the case against their clients was flawed and that Michael Taylor, a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran and private security specialist, is at heightened risk of complications from COVID-19, which could spread in the jail.

The hearing itself was held through a Zoom videoconference because of the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Cabell said he hoped to rule "as quickly as I can."

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

LIMA (Reuters) - Peru's indigenous leaders have been lobbying lawmakers to pass a bill to declare swathes of virgin Amazon rainforest off limits to outsiders, but they fear opposition by the oil industry may scupper a rare opportunity to secure a vote this week.

With concerns growing that the coronavirus pandemic could devastate remote communities, Congress is considering whether to fast track a bill to better protect a string of indigenous territories near the border with Ecuador and Brazil.

"Until now, high risk extractive activities have been allowed in these territories," Jorge Pérez, president of the Regional Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon, told Reuters in a statement.

"This reform will guarantee the lives and human rights of the Uncontacted Peoples," Perez said, referring to an estimated 7,000 people in some 20 groups in the Peruvian Amazon who have very little or no interaction with the outside world.

Preserving indigenous territories in Peru and Ecuador is seen as critical to the wider Amazon ecosystem, which scientists warn is approaching catastrophic tipping points due to climate change and accelerating deforestation in Brazil. [nL1N2D32PI]

While President Martin Vizcarra's centrist government opposes to the proposed law, political analysts and legislators say Peru's fragmented Congress has a populist hue after January elections and could pass the bill.

Indigenous leaders met with Vizcarra on Friday in anticipation that Congress could vote as early as this Thursday.

But Lesly Lazo, president of the Congressional justice commission, cast doubt on whether the bill would pass this week since her commission may decide to subject it to further review.

"I do not think there is a rush," said Lazo, who belongs to the centrist Popular Action party.

Indigenous leaders fear the momentum to pass the bill quickly may fade as the country emerges from the most acute phase of the pandemic.

Peru's oil industry - including state-owned firm Perupetro - has warned lawmakers against passing the amendment, which aims to close loopholes in a framework adopted in 2006 to protect indigenous peoples threatened by mining, logging and fossil fuel extraction.

Felipe Cantuarias, president of the Peruvian Hydrocarbon Society industry lobby group, said the bill would disrupt production and throw exploration contracts into doubt.

"We are asking Congress to please debate the issue and understand that this is not solved by withdrawing private investment, because then we all lose: the country loses, the regions lose," Cantuarias told Reuters.

(This story corrects spelling of Perupetro in paragraph 11)

(Writing by Matthew Green; editing by Daniel Flynn and David Gregorio)

It gave no details. Previously, rebels have struck at the nearby Russian air base of Hmeimim, and Israel has been active for years in striking at Iranian bases that are spread across the war-ravaged country.

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Leslie Adler)

RIO DE JANEIRO/GENEVA (Reuters) - Brazil reached more than a million confirmed coronavirus cases and 50,000 deaths over the weekend as throngs of people swarmed Rio de Janeiro beaches, but the World Health Organization said on Monday that even more cases were likely going uncounted.

Brazil's health ministry said on Monday that an additional 21,432 confirmed cases of the virus and 654 new deaths had been registered in the previous 24 hours.

A day earlier, swimmers and sunbathers packed Rio's famous beaches, with many neither wearing masks nor respecting the WHO's guidance to maintain 1 meter, or 3 feet, of distance between people.

As the toll climbs in Rio, the state with the second highest number of novel coronavirus cases, the local health secretary said on Monday he would resign after about month in office.

"I have only one thing to say: I tried," state health secretary Fernando Ferry said in a video on Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo, announcing his departure.

Ferry took the job after police began investigating the state health agency for suspicious state-level contracts and equipment purchases meant to address the pandemic. That triggered the state legislature to open impeachment proceedings against Rio's governor.

The turmoil among health officials in Rio mirrors that of the federal government, where two health ministers resigned in the span of a month. An active-duty military general with no medical background is now interim health minister.

The WHO is looking into a surge of more than 54,000 new coronavirus cases in Brazil in 24 hours, that was reported by the health ministry on Friday and is by far the most reported in the country in a single day, according to top WHO emergencies expert Mike Ryan.

Ryan told an online briefing on Monday that testing levels were still low in Brazil with a high percentage of positive results.

"That generally means there are probably more cases out there than reported," Ryan said.

As the toll continues to rise, local governments across Brazil have been gradually lifting lockdown orders.

(Reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva and Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro; additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, John Revill in Zurich and Ricardo Moraes and Pedro Fonseca in Rio de Janeiro; Writing by Jake Spring; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday it will start treating four major Chinese media outlets as foreign embassies, alleging they are mouthpieces for Beijing, in a move that is likely to further sour already fraught ties between the world's top two economies.

David Stilwell, the senior U.S. diplomat for East Asia, told reporters the designation would affect China Central Television, the China News Service, the People's Daily and the Global Times, and reflected their real status as "propaganda outlets" under the control of the Chinese Communist Party.

"The Communist Party does not just exercise operational control over these propaganda entities, but it has full editorial control over their content," Stilwell said in a teleconference with reporters.

China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Plans for the new media outlet designations were first reported by Reuters earlier this month.

U.S.-China relations are at their lowest ebb in years as President Donald Trump takes a tough line on China ahead of his Nov. 3 re-election bid. The world's top two economies are also at loggerheads over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic and China's increasing encroachment into Hong Kong.

In February the State Department declared five other Chinese outlets as foreign embassies, a designation that requires the outlets to inform the U.S. State Department of their personnel rosters and real-estate holdings.

In March, Washington also said it was slashing the number of journalists allowed to work at U.S. offices of major Chinese media outlets to 100 from 160 due to Beijing's "long-standing intimidation and harassment of journalists."

In response, China will expel correspondents with the New York Times, News Corp's Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post when their press credentials expire by the end of 2020.

Stilwell said Monday's action was not intended to reduce journalistic activity by foreign media outlets and that the United States remained committed to press freedom.

During the briefing, Stilwell and State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus declined to take a question from Reuters on how U.S. allies in Asia had reacted to a memoir by Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton, saying it was not the intended subject of the briefing.

Ortagus asked that a Reuters reporter's line be muted when he again pursued the question on Bolton.

In response to a follow-up question, Stilwell said he was too busy to pay attention to the book.

The book, excerpts of which have already been widely circulated, says Trump solicited President Xi Jinping's help to win re-election and details meetings between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, including how their second summit in Vietnam fell apart.

Trump has said Bolton is disgruntled and a liar.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Humeyra Pamuk; additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Leslie Adler and Richard Chang)

Colonel Turki al-Malki said the drones were targeting civilians, without elaborating. He said several drones were intercepted and the rest are being dealt with.

(Reporting by Samar Hassan and Ahmed Tolba; Editing by Leslie Adler)

The military said the Katyush rocket was launched from a village west of Baghdad but there was no significant damage.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

(Reporting by Ahmed Tolba; writing by Amina Ismail; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Government employees have been mostly working from home since mid-March when public health authorities shut down many businesses and offices to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Now the 13 provinces and territories are slowly restarting as the contagion slows.

"We can have a public service that can be working remotely while serving Canadians very efficiently," Treasury Board President Jean-Yves Duclos said in a news conference.

"We're not necessarily going back to where we were," he said, adding that there would be more teleworking by public servants in the future "than there was before the crisis".

Duclos, who oversees a large swath of the public administration, said productivity had increased for some of those working remotely as the government managed to quickly ramp up its work-from-home capabilities.

The public service doubled the number of secure network connections it could access to 280,000 in just three months, Duclos said, and 100,000 employees can now participate in different virtual meetings simultaneously.

The capacity for teleconferencing tripled to some 5 million minutes per day from 1.6 million minutes previously, Duclos said.

"We've started really reflecting on the number of offices and the number of office spaces that we want over the next few years," he said.

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by David Gregorio)

Fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), who claim a loose affiliation with the Islamic State militant group, attacked the village of Vukaka in Ituri province on Sunday, according to the Congolese army (FARDC).

"Fleeing an FARDC strike force, they appeared in this isolated village and killed our people. Unfortunately 10 people were found dead," said the army's spokesman in Ituri, Jules Ngongo.

Ten people were also killed in an earlier attack on the village of Biangolo in neighbouring North Kivu on Saturday, said the army's spokesman in that province, Antony Mwalushayi. He did not give further details.

Late last year the army launched a large-scale operation to uproot a host of militias operating in the east of the country, sparking a violent backlash. The insecurity has complicated Congo's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and an Ebola epidemic that has killed more than 2,200 people since 2018.

(Reporting by Erikas Mwisi Kambale; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Pravin Char)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials will gather this week to discuss whether to give Israel a green light for its plan to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's target date of July 1 approaches.

A senior administration official said on Monday that the U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, will be in Washington to meet officials including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz. President Donald Trump could also join in.

Under Trump’s Middle East peace proposal, unveiled in January, it is envisaged that the United States would recognize the Jewish settlements - built on land that the Palestinians seek for a state - as part of Israel.

The proposal would create a Palestinian state as part of a broader peace plan, but impose strict conditions on it. Palestinian leaders have dismissed the initiative entirely.

Encouraged by Trump's push, Netanyahu has set July 1 as the date to launch his project of extending sovereignty over the settlements and the Jordan Valley, hoping for a green light from Washington. Most countries view Israel's settlements on occupied land as illegal, and Palestinian leaders have voiced outrage at the prospect of annexation.

"Ultimately, as the team approaches this thought of annexation, the main thing going through our heads is, 'Does this in fact help advance the cause of peace?' And therefore that is what will help drive a lot of the discussion," the official said.

LIMITED ANNEXATION FIRST?

Among the main options expected to be considered is a step-by-step process in which Israel would initially declare sovereignty over several settlements close to Jerusalem instead of the 30% of the West Bank envisaged in Netanyahu’s original plan, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The source said the Trump administration has not closed the door to a larger annexation, but fears that allowing Israel to move too fast could kill any hopes of eventually drawing the Palestinians to sit down to discuss Trump's peace plan.

There are also concerns about opposition to annexation from Jordan, one of only two countries that have a peace treaty with Israel, as well from Gulf states that have quietly expanded engagement with Israel in recent years.

Washington has also made clear it wants Israel’s unity government, which has been divided on the issue, to reach a consensus before going ahead with any actions, the source said. Defense Minister Benny Gantz, head of the Blue and White Party, has so far been reluctant to back Likud-leader Netanyahu’s plan.

Berkowitz has been fielding calls about the Trump plan from European and Arab nations, but the U.S. side has privately expressed frustration that they are not offering constructive ideas on how to amend it, a source familiar with the issue said.

(Reporting By Steve Holland and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

After meeting Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic, whose ruling Serbian Progressive Party won a landslide victory in general elections on Sunday, Lajcak said that the future agreement should "solve all issues and be mutually acceptable".

Serbia is a candidate to join the EU, but the bloc says Belgrade must first resolve its relationship with Kosovo, a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008, which Belgrade does not recognise.

Talks between them stalled in November 2018 when Kosovo imposed 100% import tarrifs on Serbian goods.

"We are proposing a comprehensive deal that would solve all issues once and for all," Lajcak told a news conference, speaking through an interpreter.

Other conditions for Serbia's EU membership include reforming the judiciary, improving rule of law and rooting out corruption and organised crime.

"Serbia is a part of Europe, your problems are our problems, your solutions are our solutions," Lajcak said.

On June 6, Kosovo removed all trade barriers, paving the way for the resumption of talks. But Kosovo remains adamant it wants full recognition of its independence by Belgrade.

"We are entering these talks in good faith," Vucic said.

Authorities in Pristina have opposed Lajcak's involvement in the talks as his native Slovakia does not recognise Kosovo's independence. They prefer to see the United States as the main mediator.

Ethnic Albanians account for 90% of the population of Kosovo, where NATO air bombardment helped drive out Serbian forces during a 1999 war.

Kosovo is recognised by more than 110 countries including the United States, but not by Serbia and its allies Russia and China, which have been blocking Kovoso from joining international organisations, including the United Nations.

Last week, Vucic said he would reject EU membership if Belgrade does not receive concessions in return for recognising Kosovo, and that no solution would be possible without Russia's consent.

Under the auspices of U.S. negotiator Richard Grenell, delegations from Belgrade and Pristina will meet in Washington on June 27 to discuss economic relations.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Peter Graff)

The announcement means this will be the first year in modern times that Muslims from around the world have not been allowed to make the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, which all Muslims aim to perform at least once in a lifetime.

"This decision is taken to ensure Hajj is performed in a safe manner from a public health perspective while observing all preventative measures and the necessary social distancing protocols to protect human beings from the risks associated with this pandemic and in accordance with the teachings of Islam in preserving the lives of human beings," the ministry that oversees pilgrimages said in a statement.

The number of coronavirus cases in Saudi Arabia has exceeded 160,000, with 1,307 deaths, following a rise in new infections over the past two weeks.

Some 2.5 million pilgrims typically visit the holiest sites of Islam in Mecca and Medina for the week-long haj. Official data show Saudi Arabia earns around $12 billion a year from the haj and the lesser, year-round pilgrimage known as umrah.

The kingdom halted international passenger flights in March and asked Muslims in March to put haj plans on hold until further notice. International arrivals for umrah pilgrimages have also been suspended until further notice.

Earlier this month, Malaysia and Indonesia both barred their citizens from travelling to Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage, citing fears of the coronavirus.

(Reporting By Samar Ahmed and Marwa Rashad; writing by Raya Jalabi; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Peter Graff)

PARIS (Reuters) - France will not tolerate Turkey's military intervention in Libya, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday, accusing Ankara of playing "a dangerous game".

Turkey has intervened decisively in recent weeks in Libya, providing air support, weapons and allied fighters from Syria to help the government based in Tripoli repel a year-long assault by eastern military leader Khalifa Haftar.

"I have already had the opportunity to say very clearly to President (Tayyip) Erdogan, I consider that Turkey is playing a dangerous game in Libya today and going against all of its commitments made at the Berlin conference," Macron said alongside his Tunisian counterpart Kais Saied, referring to a peace meeting earlier this year.

"We won't tolerate the role that Turkey is playing in Libya," he said.

Turkey's help appears to have secured Libya's capital and the west of the country for the Tripoli government against Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA), which is backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia.

Paris has been accused of supporting Haftar politically, having previously given him military assistance to fight Islamist militants. France denies backing Haftar but has stopped short of rebuking his allies, while repeatedly criticising Turkey.

Macron, who spoke earlier on Monday by phone to U.S. President Donald Trump on the crisis in Libya, briefly condemned the role of Russian mercenaries in Libya, but focused mostly on Ankara's role.

When asked about Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi suggesting he had a right to intervene in Libya, Macron said the Egyptian leader had reason to be worried.

"You noted the legitimate concern of President Sisi when he sees troops arriving at his border," Macron said. Turkish-backed forces are not known to be operating near Egypt's border.

"This is a Mediterranean subject that affects us because today from Libya each day men and women are fleeing misery to come to Europe. Do you think we can let Turkey for a long time import Syrian fighters to Libya given everything we know?"

(Reporting by John Irish and Marine Pennetier; Editing by Leslie Adler and Peter Graff)

Sergey Ryabkov and Marshall Billingslea, at talks in Vienna, also discussed the issues of sustaining stability and predictability in the conditions after the end of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), the Russian ministry said on its website.

(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh)

The death toll is likely to register a spike on Tuesday, when health authorities add weekly data from nursing homes to figures from hospitals. Excluding nursing home cases, France has averaged 22 deaths per day over the last seven days and 33 since the start of the month.

The number of new confirmed cases on Monday was 89 more than Sunday, but still lower than the daily average of 483 seen over the last seven days and below the 409 daily average since the beginning of June.

The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 infections fell by 130 to 9,693, and those in intensive care fell by 14 to 701. Both numbers have been on a downtrend for at least 10 weeks.

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by)

GENEVA/ZURICH (Reuters) - Coronavirus cases are soaring in several major countries at the same time, with "worrying increases" in Latin America, especially Brazil, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

The world recorded more than 183,000 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the most in a single day since the outbreak started in December, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

"Certainly the numbers are increasing because the epidemic is developing in a number of populous countries at the same time and across the whole world," WHO's top emergencies expert, Mike Ryan, told an online briefing.

"Some of that increase may be attributed to increased testing ... And certainly countries like India are testing more. But we do not believe that this is a testing phenomenon."

Global cases surpassed 9 million on Monday, with the United States, China and other hard-hit countries also reporting new outbreaks, according to a Reuters tally.

Ryan said there had been a jump in cases in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Panama, Bolivia and Guatemala, as well as Brazil, which had passed the 1 million mark - second only to the United States - and reported a record 54,000 cases in the previous 24 hours.

He said some of the jump in Brazil might reflect changes in the reporting system, but added:

"There still are relatively low tests per population, and the positivity rates for testing are still quite high overall. From that perspective, we would say that this trend is not reflective of exhaustive testing, but probably under-estimating the actual number of cases."

1,000 DEATHS A DAY

Latin America's largest country has frequently recorded more than 1,000 deaths a day over the last month.

President Jair Bolsonaro, sometimes called the "Tropical Trump", has been widely criticised for his handling of the crisis. The country still has no permanent health minister after losing two since April, following clashes with the president.

Bolsonaro has shunned social distancing, calling it a job-killing measure more dangerous than the virus itself. He has also promoted two anti-malarial drugs - chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine - as remedies, despite a lack of evidence that they work.

Ryan said he thought there had been "great upticks" in cases in a number of U.S. states.

"I'm not 100 percent sure about the age profile, but I've seen the reports that some of this is amongst younger people. That may reflect the fact that younger people are more mobile and they are getting out and taking advantage of the reductions in restrictions of movement ...

"What is clear is that the increase is not entirely explained through just increased testing."

The WHO also said it was worried about Germany, where the reproduction rate of the virus hit 2.88 on Sunday, well above the maximum level of one transmission per person needed to contain the disease over the longer term.

Tedros said a lack of global leadership and unity in fighting the virus was a bigger threat than the outbreak itself, and that politicisation had made the pandemic worse.

The WHO has been criticised by some member states, especially the United States, which says it was too weak, too slow and too "China-centric" in tackling the disease at the outset.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, Emma Farge in Geneva, John Revill in Zurich and Alexander Cornell in Dubai; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Kevin Liffey)