USA

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) – UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, called for reflection on ways to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to negotiations, as the U.S. Middle East peace plan has been rejected by the Arab world.

In a briefing to the Security Council, Mladenov noted that, the U.S. proposal, unveiled Jan 28, has been rejected by the Palestinian government, the League of Arab States and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN Security Council was asked to vote on a resolution supporting a ceasefire in Libya, in what would be the first binding text adopted since fighting flared in April last year.

The United Kingdom, which has been drafting a text for three weeks, called for the vote to take place on Wednesday, diplomatic sources said.

The position of Russia, which blocked a draft resolution last week, is unknown.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the current stance of monetary policy will "likely remain appropriate," according to his testimony prepared for a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee later in the day.

"Of course, policy is not on a preset course. If developments emerge that cause a material reassessment of our outlook, we would respond accordingly," Powell said, adding the risks to the U.S. economic outlook remain.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday reiterated the rejection of a newly released U.S. Middle East peace plan, calling it an "Israeli-American proposal."

"I have come to you on behalf of 13 million Palestinians to call for a just peace. That is all. I have come to you today to reaffirm the Palestinian position that rejects the Israeli-American proposal," Abbas told the UN Security Council, which met to discuss the U.S. plan.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic voters in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary were angry at President Donald Trump’s administration and eager to pick the candidate most likely to oust him from office.

Roughly three-quarters of voters said they were not just dissatisfied but also angry with the Trump administration, according to a wide-ranging AP VoteCast survey of Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire. A wide majority said it was very important that Democrats nominate a candidate who can beat Trump in November.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michael Bloomberg is under fire for resurfaced comments in which the Democratic presidential candidate says the way to bring down murder rates is to “put a lot of cops” in minority neighborhoods because that’s where “all the crime is.”

The billionaire and former New York City mayor made the comments at a 2015 appearance at the Aspen Institute, as part of an overall defense of his support for the controversial “stop and frisk” policing tactic that has been found to disproportionately affect minorities.

Manchester, NH (AP) --- Democrat Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur who created buzz for his presidential campaign by talking about his love of math and championing a universal basic income that would give every American adult $1,000 per month, suspended his 2020 bid on Tuesday.

“I am the math guy, and it is clear to me from the numbers that we are not going to win this race,” Yang said in front of a crowd of supporters as votes in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary were being counted.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — The Latest on the 2020 Democratic presidential contest and the New Hampshire primary (all times local):

12:15 a.m. Wednesday

Nevada’s most influential union is sending a warning over the heath care stances of the two most progressive Democratic contenders, including the current front-runner in the primary race.

NEW YORK (AP) — Incidents of white supremacist propaganda distributed across the nation jumped by more than 120% between 2018 and last year, according to the Anti-Defamation League, making 2019 the second straight year that the circulation of propaganda material has more than doubled.

The Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism reported 2,713 cases of circulated propaganda by white supremacist groups, including fliers, posters and banners, compared with 1,214 cases in 2018.

NEW YORK (AP) — It has become standard practice for U.S. corporations to assure employees of support regardless of their race, gender or sexual orientation. There’s now an intensifying push to ensure that companies are similarly supportive and inclusive when it comes to employees’ religious beliefs.

One barometer: More than 20% of the Fortune 100 have established faith-based employee resource groups, according to an AP examination and there’s a high-powered conference taking place this week in Washington aimed at expanding those ranks.