The World Health Organization has declared the coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease a "pandemic." Lisa Schlein has more from Geneva. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says his agency has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and is deeply concerned about the severity and the alarming levels of inaction. "We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic." Tedros says there has been a 13-fold increase in the number of COVID-19 cases outside China and the number of affected countries has tripled. He wans the number of cases, deaths and countries will rise in the weeks ahead. He says this is no time to give in to fear or panic. On the contrary, he says this is the time to take urgent and aggressive action. Lisa Schlein, for VOA news, Geneva. The men's college basketball tournament known as March Madness will be very quiet this year in the United States as the NCAA closes tournament games to the public because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus. AP's Tim McGuire has more. NCAA President Mark Emmert says attendant sat games in the 68-team men's tournament and 64-team women's tournament which begin next week will be limited to only essential staff and limited family. Emmert says the NCAA is also looking at moving the Final Four from Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium to a smaller arena. First games in the men's tournament will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio. The decision comes after the NCAA's COVID-19 advisory panel of medical experts recommended against playing sporting events open to the general public. Various conferences are making their own decisions concerning their tournaments. That's Tim McGuire. This is VOA news. Despite some disappointing primary results on Tuesday, Bernie Sanders says he is moving ahead with his presidential campaign for the Democratic nomination. AP's Jennifer King reports. The Vermont senator says he's still in the race. At a news conference in Burlington, Vermont, Bernie Sanders acknowledged his deficit in the Democratic race. "Last night, obviously, was not a good night for our campaign ...." But he says he is pressing ahead and is looking forward to debating Joe Biden this weekend. He struck a defiant tone, claiming to be winning the ideological debate and noting that he is getting a higher percentage of younger voters. "The younger generations of this country continue in very strong numbers to support our campaign." Sanders has indeed been widely favored over Biden by voters under 30, but he hasn't delivered on his strategy of getting them to the polls in great numbers. I'm Jennifer King. Former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was sentenced Wednesday to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault. AP entertainment correspondent Margie Szaroleta has details. Weinstein Lawyer Donna Rotunno says the deck was stacked against her client from the beginning. "I'm not here to say that he's a victim, and I'm not here to say ‘poor Harvey.' But what I am here to say is we are looking for fairness and we didn't get it." Weinstein told the court he was totally confused because he believed all sexual contact was consensual. Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents one of the two women who accused Weinstein of assault, says she will spell it out for him. "If you are a sexual predator and you are confused, all you have to do is remember this - 20 plus 3 years." I'm Margie Szaroleta. The Taliban Wednesday rejected an Afghan government order that allows for the conditional release of thousands of insurgent prisoners. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had announced a phased release of Taliban prisoners, starting with 1,500, after receiving written guarantees from each of them that they would not return to the battlefield. But a Taliban spokesman rejected Ghani's plan, saying it violated an agreement signed with the United States but said all 5,000 prisoners would be released before the start of intra-Afghan talks. The Dow tumbled into a bear market on Wall Street as coronavirus fears intensified. AP's Mike Gracia reports. Another rocky day on Wall Street pulled the Dow Jones Industrial Average into a bear market, with a loss of more than 1,400 points Wednesday. The Dow is now 20 percent below its record high set last month. Wednesday was the index's second largest point drop, trailing only Monday's plunge of 2,013 points. The broader S&P 500 index is close behind with Wednesday's loss of 140 points, leaving the S&P just 1 point away from its own bear market. The fall was on coronavirus outbreak worries and the impact to the worldwide economy. I'm Mike Gracia. For more, be sure to log on our website. That's voanews.com. I'm David Byrd, VOA news.
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