USA

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 04 (APP): Despite gains in education, violence against women and girls is not only common, but widely accepted, a new United Nations (UN) report revealed on Wednesday.

Although more girls are going to school and staying in school than ever before, little headway has been made to help shape a more equal, less violent environment for them, warned the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), together with UN Women and the non-governmental organization, Plan International, in their report, ‘A New Era for Girls: Taking stock on 25 years of progress.’

4 March 2020; AFP: The US launched an airstrike against Taliban fighters to defend Afghan forces Wednesday, an American military spokesman said, as violence spirals after a string of deadly attacks by the insurgents, throwing the country's nascent peace process into grave doubt.

WASHINGTON/GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday warned of a global shortage and price gouging for protective equipment to fight the fast-spreading coronavirus and asked companies and governments to increase production by 40% as the death toll from the respiratory illness mounted.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jerome Powell is confronting his stiffest test yet as head of the Federal Reserve in an atmosphere vastly altered from what his predecessors faced. It makes an uncertain situation even more challenging.

On Tuesday, Powell announced a surprise half-point interest rate cut that shrank the Fed’s key rate to a range of just 1% to 1.25%. It marked the first time the central bank has cut rates between scheduled policy meetings since the 2008 financial crisis. And it’s the steepest rate cut the Fed has made since then.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that he spoke on the phone to a Taliban leader, making him the first U.S. president believed to have ever spoken directly with the militant group responsible for the deaths of thousands of U.S. troops in nearly 19 years of fighting in Afghanistan.

Trump said the United States has a shared interest with the Taliban, which harbored al-Qaida before the 9/11 attacks.

NEW YORK (AP) — For the first time, a U.S. survey found that black children appear to be more likely than white kids to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other learning disabilities.

Previous studies had found the diagnosis was far more likely in white kids.

It’s not known what might have driven the change described in Wednesday’s report, said lead author Benjamin Zablotsky of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Rescuers searched through shattered Tennessee neighborhoods for bodies Tuesday, less than a day after tornadoes ripped across Nashville and other parts of the state as families slept. At least 24 people were killed, some in their beds, authorities said.

The twisters that struck in the hours after midnight shredded more than 140 buildings and buried people in piles of rubble and wrecked basements. The storms moved so quickly that many people in their path could not flee to safer areas.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A resurgent Joe Biden scored sweeping victories across the country with the backing of a diverse coalition and progressive rival Bernie Sanders seized Super Tuesday’s biggest prize with a win in California as the Democratic Party’s once-crowded presidential field suddenly transformed into a two-man contest.

03 Mar 2020; MEMO: A UN report issued by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria has accused Russia, the Syrian regime and Kurdish militias of committing war crimes in Syria.

A member of the UN investigation panel, Hanny Megally, explained that areas controlled by Kurdish militias in Syria witnessed violations of civilians’ rights, including those of children.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 03 (APP): The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that containment of the novel coronavirus is “feasible” and is a “top priority,” as more than 3,000 people globally have died from the outbreak and nearly 90,000 have been infected.

“We are in uncharted territory,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday during a press conference in Geneva. “We have never before seen a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission, but which can also be contained with the right measures.”