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NEW YORK (AP) — White supremacist propaganda reached alarming levels across the U.S. in 2020, according to a new report that the Anti-Defamation League provided to The Associated Press.

There were 5,125 cases of racist, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ and other hateful messages spread through physical flyers, stickers, banners and posters, according to Wednesday’s report. That’s nearly double the 2,724 instances reported in 2019. Online propaganda is much harder to quantify, and it’s likely those cases reached into the millions, the anti-hate organization said.

NEW YORK (AP) — The pressure against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over sexual harassment allegations reached the White House on Tuesday, with President Joe Biden saying Cuomo should resign if the state attorney general’s investigation confirms the claims against him.

Biden made the remarks in an interview with ABC News that is scheduled to air Wednesday. When asked by anchor George Stephanopoulos whether Cuomo should resign if the investigation confirms the women’s claims, Biden said “yes” and added, “I think he’d probably end up being prosecuted, too.”

UNITED NATIONS, March 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called to combat violence against women, at the start of the annual Commission on the Status of Women, which is expected to call for greater action against sexual harassment.

During the pandemic, women have been more exposed than men to harmful consequences, Guterres said, citing loss of jobs, sexual abuse or child marriage.

“Women’s equal participation is the game-changer we need,” he said, calling for gender equality and gender parity in leadership.

15 Mar 2021; MEMO: The brutal conflict that has enveloped Syria has endured longer than both world wars combined, the UN's special envoy for the country noted on Monday on the civil war's 10-year anniversary, Anadolu Agency reported.

Geir Pedersen said there is a "silver lining" of what he called a "relative calm" that now exists in Syria where frontlines have remained largely stable for the past year, stressing the situation should be used to make progress on a political settlement.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council urged Somalia’s government on Friday to organize elections “without delay” in a resolution that stressed the pressing threat to the country’s security from al-Shabab and armed opposition groups.

The resolution, which was adopted unanimously, authorized the African Union to maintain its nearly 20,000-strong force in Somalia until the end of the year with a mandate to reduce the threat from the extremist groups to enable “a stable, federal, sovereign and united Somalia.”

UNITED NATIONS, March 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United Nations Security Council called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya “without further delay” in a unanimously approved declaration.

It also welcomed the Libyan parliament’s approval of a new unified government on Wednesday, which is set to lead the oil-rich country to December elections after a decade of conflict following the removal of dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

13 Mar 2021; MEMO: The United Nations World Food Programme is hoping to get a share of hundreds of millions of dollars from a private foundation set up to help Yemen by US private equity investor Tim Collins, UN food chief David Beasley said on Friday, reports Reuters.

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.

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.

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.