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UNITED NATIONS, Mar 12 (APP): Children from linguistic minorities should be taught in their own mother tongue, the UN expert on minority issues said, while presenting his latest report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.

According to Fernand de Varennes, the expert, this is not only necessary for inclusive, quality education but also to respect the human rights of all children.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 11 (APP): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the world was far off the path it needs to be on to reach climate goals agreed by the international community to keep global average temperatures well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

“We are currently way off track to meeting either the 1.5-degree or 2-degree targets that the Paris Agreement calls for,” the secretary general said.
His warning came in the foreword to a UN climate report, which confirms that 2019 was the second-warmest year on record, topped only by 2016.

UNITED NATIONS, March 10 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Tuesday adopted a resolution to welcome the recent progress in the peace process in Afghanistan.

Resolution 2513, which won the unanimous support of the 15-member council, welcomes the significant steps toward ending the war and opening the door to intra-Afghan negotiations enabled by two accords signed between the United States and the Taliban and between the United States and the Afghan government.

NEW YORK (AP) — The final act of Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial in New York begins Wednesday, when the once-powerful film producer will be sentenced following his landmark #MeToo conviction.

Weinstein is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in New York City. He faces up to 29 years behind bars for raping an aspiring actress in 2013 and forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006. A second criminal case is pending in California.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Last year was the second warmest on record, the past decade was the hottest in human history and January was the warmest January since 1850, the head of the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday.

Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization also said Europe had a record-warm winter, and “we have also broken records in (emitting) carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide,” three greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks on Tuesday recouped most of their historic losses from the prior day as hopes rose, faded and then bloomed again on Wall Street that the U.S. government will try to cushion the economic pain from the coronavirus.

The day’s moves were a microcosm of the severe swings that have dominated recent weeks, and market watchers say they are likely to continue until the number of infections stops accelerating. In the meantime, investors want to see a big, coordinated response from governments and central banks to shore up the virus-weakened economy.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 10 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s commitment to form an “inclusive government acceptable to all”, after dueling presidential swearing-in ceremonies took place in Kabul on Monday.

Incumbent President Ghani took the oath of office for a second term while Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, citing fraud in the 2019 election, proclaimed himself Afghanistan’s president at a rival inauguration event.

New York, Mar 10 (AFP/PTI) US aviation giant Boeing has said that one of its factory workers had tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus -- the company's first known case.

The employee in question works at the company's Everett factory near Seattle in the northwestern state of Washington, one of the areas most affected by the virus's outbreak in the US.

UNITED NATIONS, March 9 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday was encouraged by what he saw as movement-building in gender equality, and asked for more efforts to further carry forward the cause.

This year, the world marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and its Platform for Action, which together define the most comprehensive and transformative global agenda for gender equality and women's empowerment, he told the opening meeting of the 64th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

NEW YORK (AP) — With prosecutors seeking a severe punishment for Harvey Weinstein in his landmark #MeToo case, his lawyers argued on Monday that he deserves mercy for his already “historic fall from grace” and serious health issues.

In a letter filed in advance of Weinstein’s sentencing on Wednesday for his New York City rape conviction, his defense team asked Judge James Burke to give him to only five years behind bars — a far cry from the potential 29-year maximum term allowed by law.