USA

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council approved an increase of nearly 3,700 military and police to the U.N. peacekeeping force in Central African Republic on Friday to help reverse the deteriorating security situation in the conflict-torn nation where violence has increased since last December’s presidential election.

A council resolution, adopted by a vote of 14-0 with Russia abstaining, will bring the ceiling for military personnel to 14,400 and for police to 3,020.

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 1,000 National Guard members will be leaving Washington, D.C. over the next few days, but several thousand others will stay on for days or weeks, in the ongoing mission to provide security for the U.S. Capitol that has drawn criticism from lawmakers and reluctance from the military.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this week approved the Capitol Police request to extend the deployment of nearly 2,300 Guard members for about two more months because possible threats of violence remain.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg pleaded not guilty in an initial court hearing Friday for three misdemeanor charges he is facing for striking and killing a man with his car last summer.

The Republican attorney general did not appear at the courthouse in Pierre, South Dakota, but his lawyer Tim Rensch made the plea on his behalf. The prosecutor noted that it is typical for defendants to plead not guilty at this point in the case before defense lawyers have a chance to look at the evidence.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Along with daylight saving time, this weekend could bring some Americans fatter bank balances.

Officials at the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service said Friday that processing of the new round of stimulus payments has already begun, with the aim of having the first payments start showing up in bank accounts this weekend.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. deaths from COVID-19 are falling again as the nation continues to recover from the devastating winter surge, a trend that experts are cautiously hopeful will accelerate as more vulnerable people are vaccinated.

While new coronavirus infections and hospitalizations have plummeted, the decline in deaths from a January peak of about 4,500 hasn’t been quite as steep. But, now, after weeks of hovering around 2,000 daily deaths, that figure has dropped to about 1,400 U.S. lives lost each day to coronavirus.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration is stockpiling tens of millions of doses of a COVID-19 vaccine whose authorization in the U.S. remains uncertain, frustrating U.S. allies who say those doses should be used now to save lives overseas.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The city of Minneapolis on Friday agreed to pay $27 million to settle a civil lawsuit from George Floyd’s family over the Black man’s death in police custody, as jury selection continued in a former officer’s murder trial.

Council members met privately to discuss the settlement, then returned to public session for a unanimous vote in support of the massive payout. It easily surpassed the $20 million the city approved two years ago to the family of a white woman killed by a police officer.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 12 (APP): Pakistan told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that India’s “inhuman” military siege of occupied Jammu and Kashmir has caused $3.5 billion in economic loss to the civilian population, saying the coercive actions of Indian troops in the disputed territory violated UN resolutions.

In a statement submitted to 15-member Council that debated the link between conflict and food security, Ambassador Munir Akram said that situations of conflict as well as foreign occupation remained one of the principal sources of global hunger and starvation.

WASHINGTON, March 12 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — The United States has designated rebel groups in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo as foreign terrorist organisations.

The State Department said the DRC’s Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and Madina at Tauheed Wau Mujahedeen were affiliated to the Daesh jihadist group.

It also said Al Ansar al-Sunna, locally known as al-Shabaab in Mozambique, was also affiliated to the Daesh group.

The leaders of the organisations have been named as “specially designated global terrorists”.

11 Mar 2021; MEMO: Roger Waters has urged fellow music legend Stevie Wonder not to accept Israel's Wolf Prize, which is normally given to those who have made outstanding contributions to the arts and sciences. The American singer-songwriter was awarded the prize in February by the Wolf Foundation, a state-owned entity, and will be required to travel to the occupation state for the award ceremony.