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NEW YORK, Apr 19 (APP): The United States is considering the withdrawal of frontline CIA personnel from bases in Afghanistan, as part of an effort to further reduce violence in the war-ravaged country in line with the historic peace deal with the Taliban, according to The New York Times.

The newspaper said the deliberations over the C.I.A. presence in Afghanistan are part of larger discussions about pulling back international forces to push forward the peace plan that shows signs of floundering amid continuing violence.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 17 (APP): The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has called for compassion for people desperately seeking shelter, after 30 Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar died on a boat in the Bay of Bengal that had spent nearly two months at sea.

Nearly 400 others onboard were found dehydrated, malnourished and in need of immediate medical care. They disembarked in Bangladesh on Thursday morning and are receiving assistance from UNHCR and its partners.

UNITED NATIONS, April 18. /TASS/: Once created, a vaccine against the novel coronavirus should be treated as "a global public good" and be accessible to everyone, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

"We need a global coalition to develop a COVID19 vaccine, which must become available and affordable for everyone, everywhere," the UN chief wrote in a Twitter post. "It must be considered a global public good."

New Delhi, Apr 17 (PTI) S&P Global Ratings on Friday slashed India growth forecast for the current fiscal to 1.8 per cent, from 3.5 per cent estimated earlier, on account of the lockdown to contain Covid-19 pandemic.

The US-based rating agency expects growth to significantly recover to 7.5 per cent in 2021-22 fiscal.

18 April 2020; AFP: Coronavirus deaths have surged past 150,000 worldwide with nearly a quarter of them in the United States, where President Donald Trump lent his support to protesters rallying against lockdown orders.

Evidence is mounting that social distancing successfully slowed the pandemic after more than half of humanity -- 4.5 billion people -- were confined to their homes.

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump held a call with faith leaders on Friday that included discussion about a phased-in return to broader in-person worship after weeks of religious services largely shifting online in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump’s call with faith leaders came one day after the White House included houses of worship among “large venues” that could be able to reopen while observing “strict physical distancing protocols” in the first stage of a three-part plan to reopen a U.S. economy that’s been frozen by the toll of the highly contagious virus.

NEW YORK (AP) — In Wall Street’s tug of war between hope and pessimism about the coronavirus pandemic, hope is fighting back.

U.S. stocks joined a worldwide rally Friday and closed out their first back-to-back weekly gain since the market began selling off two months ago. The S&P 500 jumped 2.7% for the day, following up on even bigger gains in Europe and Asia.

NEW YORK, Apr 17 (APP): A decision about the return transportation of some 750 Pakistanis, who are stranded in the United States because of the coronavirus-related suspension of flights, is expected “very soon”, Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan said Friday.

“The issue of stranded Pakistanis is one of the key priorities for the (Pakistan) government, for the embassy and our consulates across the United states,” the Pakistani envoy said in an interview with Pakistan Television, released by the embassy in Washington, DC.

UNITED NATIONS, April 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths on Thursday asked the warring parties to seize the opportunity for peace.

An opportunity has emerged to bring peace to Yemen, said Griffiths, referring to the willingness of the Yemeni government and Houthi forces to forge a cease-fire.

NEW YORK, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 650,000 by 4 p.m. local time on Thursday (2000 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The fresh figure reached 653,825 with 30,998 deaths, according to the CSSE.