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White House on Track to Help 50 Million Women in Developing World

Harry Reid Says Early Voting States Iowa, New Hampshire ‘Not Representative of the Country Anymore’

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) said on Nov. 18 that early voting states Iowa and New Hampshire are “not representative” of the United States in the modern era. “I don’t think it matters what happens in Iowa or New Hampshire because those states are not representative of the country anymore,” the longtime Nevada senator told reporters in Las Vegas. Reid said his state of Nevada is the third to weigh in on the election but the first that looks like the rest of the country, with a sizeable Latino population and significant groups of Asian American and black voters. While Nevada’s population is about 48 percent white, Iowa has a white population of about 85 percent and New Hampshire has a white population of about 90 percent, according to…

Ivanka Trump (C), daughter and advisor of US President Donald Trump, chats with a student as she tours ISMALA, a Moroccan institute specializing in aeronautic industries and civil aviation logistics, in the port city of Casablanca on November 8, 2019. (FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON—A White House initiative led by President Donald Trump’s daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump on Nov. 18 announced its second round of grants worth more than $11 million to help increase women’s access to economic opportunities in the developing countries.

As part of the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) initiative, Ivanka Trump and Mark Green, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) administrator, announced that the money would go to eight organizations in more than 17 countries, including Rwanda, Senegal, and Bangladesh.

ivanka ethiopia White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump (L) tries her hand at a traditional weaving loom in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on April 14, 2019. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)

The W-GDP earlier set an ambitious goal of reaching 50 million women in the developing world by 2025 through “U.S. government activities, private-public partnerships, and a new, innovative fund housed and managed by USAID.”

Ivanka said that the latest grant would support the digital inclusion of women, which is one of the key objectives of the W-GDP program.

“Women in the digital economy is absolutely critical,” Ivanka said at a W-GDP event she co-hosted with USAID on Nov. 18.

“We know that today in developing countries, there’s a tremendous digital gender gap that exists,” she said, adding that 1.7 billion women in low- and middle-income countries still do not have a mobile connection. She also noted that the Internet gender gap was as high as 40 percent in some countries.

Green and Ivanka also announced that the W-GDP fund secured an additional $50 million in the fiscal year 2018, increasing the total size of the fund to $100 million for its first year.

In February, President Donald Trump launched the W-GDP initiative—”the first whole-of-government effort” to improve women’s economic empowerment globally. He has asked for $100 million for the fund in his most recent proposal for the budget for the fiscal year 2020.

The initiative has three key objectives: to help women prosper in the workforce, to support them as entrepreneurs, and to advance economic equality under the law.

Farmer Aicha Bourkib talks to Ivanka Trump Farmer Aicha Bourkib talks to Ivanka Trump, the daughter and senior adviser to President Donald Trump, in the province of Sidi Kacem, Morocco, on Nov. 7, 2019. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)

In July, the W-GDP announced its first round of grants worth $27 million for 14 projects that will benefit 100,000 women in 22 countries.

Ivanka said that the objective of the program is to help women reach their full economic potential and “unleash the most underdeveloped resource” in the world. She added that the program has encouraged the same type of U.S. policies in other countries to help improve women’s access to capital and business opportunities.

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Oklahoma Walmart Shooting Leaves 3 Dead, Police Say

At least three people were killed during a shooting at a Walmart in Oklahoma on Monday morning, it was reported. Fox affiliate KOKH reported on the deaths, saying the shooting occurred in Duncan, which is about 75 miles south of Oklahoma City. KFOR also reported that the three people were killed. It cited the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. Duncan Police Chief Danny Ford told KSWO that the people were shot and killed outside the store by a vehicle, and one of the people who was killed was identified as the shooter. District Attorney Jason Hicks is on the scene of the crime, telling KOKH that the scene is contained and it is not an active shooter situation anymore. Several people were wounded in the incident, according to The Associated Press, which…