WASHINGTON — U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Friday that wearing masks and social-distancing measures could lead to “enormous economic gains” for the U.S. economy.

“So certainly to get us back to full employment, we’re going to need to get the spread of the disease under control. And the best way to do that, short of arriving at a vaccine, is to take these social-distancing measures and employ them,” Powell said in an interview with National Public Radio.

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QUITO — The Ecuadorian government was able to save more than 56,000 jobs during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic thanks to a Humanitarian Aid Law that was put into force in June to combat the socio-economic crisis, President Lenin Moreno announced on Friday.

“The Humanitarian Aid Law that the government presented (in May) before the National Assembly is bearing fruit and today is showing positive results,” the president said in a message to the nation.

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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he will reverse Pentagon’s decision to cut funding to U.S. military’s independent newspaper, Stars and Stripes, and cease its publication.

“The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch,” Trump tweeted Friday.

“It will continue to be a wonderful source of information to our Great Military!” the president said of the tabloid, which has served American soldiers since the Civil War in 1860s.

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UNITED NATIONS — UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on Friday urged the international community to reaffirm the promises the world made to women 25 years ago.

“This is a re-set moment. On this important anniversary, let us reaffirm the promises the world made to women in 1995. Let us draw on the activist spirit of the Beijing Conference and commit to forging new alliances across generations and sectors to ensure we seize this opportunity for deep, systemic change for women and for the world,” Mlambo-Ngcuka said in a press release.