North America

15 March 2022; MEMO: Forty-nine of the 50 Republican US senators said on Monday they will not back an emerging new nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, underscoring their party's opposition to attempts to revive a 2015 accord amid fears talks might collapse, Reuters reports.

ROME/WASHINGTON, March 14 (Reuters) - U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday raised concerns about China's alignment with Russia in a seven-hour meeting with Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi as Washington warned of the isolation and penalties Beijing will face if it helps Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine.

The meeting took place in Rome as Washington told allies in NATO and several Asian countries that China had signaled its willingness to provide military and economic aid to Russia to support its war, two U.S. officials said.

NEW YORK, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The fatal overdose rate among Black people surpassed that for white people in the United States in 2020, the first time since 1999, a recent study showed.

Over 15,200 overdoses were reported among Black people in the year, more than double the number from four years earlier, according to data published in March by researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles in the medical journal JAMA Psychiatry.

UNITED NATIONS, March 14 (Xinhua) -- UN General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid said Monday that the next UN secretary-general should be female.

Just four women have been elected president of the General Assembly in its 76 sessions. However, no woman has ever been chosen as the secretary-general. This needs to be corrected, Shahid told the opening of the 66th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

WASHINGTON, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to start raising interest rates from near zero this week as the Ukraine conflict could further push up U.S. inflation, which has been rising to the highest level in four decades, economists said.

CHICAGO, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the third largest school district in the United States, lifted mask mandate and introduced a mask-optional policy beginning Monday.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Women and girls pay the highest price in all crises and conflicts from Myanmar and Afghanistan to the Sahel and Haiti, and “the horrifying war in Ukraine now joins that list,” the head of the U.N. women’s agency said Monday.

Undersecretary-General Sima Bahous told the opening session of the Commission on the Status of Women’s annual meeting that with every passing day the war is damaging the lives, hopes and futures of Ukrainian women and girls.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine and his push to upend the broader security order in Europe may lead to a historic shift in American thinking about defense of the continent. Depending on how far Putin goes, this could mean a buildup of U.S. military power in Europe not seen since the Cold War.

The prospect of a bigger U.S. military footprint in Europe is a remarkable turnaround from just two years ago.

CARSON CITY (Nevada, US), March 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A woman stabbed her date whom she had met online in retaliation for the 2020 death of an Iranian military leader killed in an American drone strike, police said.

Nika Nikoubin, 21, has been charged with attempted murder, battery with a deadly weapon and burglary, KLAS-TV reported.

Nikoubin and the man met online on a dating website, Henderson police wrote in an arrest report. The pair then agreed to meet at Sunset Station hotel on March 5, renting a room together.

March 14 (Reuters) - Facebook owner Meta Platforms (FB.O) said on Sunday that it is further narrowing its content moderation policy for Ukraine to prohibit calls for the death of a head of state, according to an internal company post seen by Reuters.

The move came after Reuters reported last week that Meta was temporarily allowing some posts on Facebook and Instagram calling for the death of Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.