France: Pres Macron vows to speed up social media ban for under-15s

PARIS, Jan 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to speed up the legislative process for a social media ban on under-15s, with the goal of enacting it in September this year. “I have asked the government to activate the accelerated procedure so it can go as quickly as possible,” he…

Cocaine lab explosion kills nine in Colombia

BOGOTA, Jan 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A cocaine laboratory explosion killed nine people Friday on Colombia’s Pacific coast, police said. The blast happened in southwest Narino department in a cocaine-producing area inhabited by the Indigenous Awa people and rife with illegal armed groups. Eight people were wounded. These victims worked for…

Nigeria: Seven miners shot dead in restive Plateau

ABUJA, Jan 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Seven people were shot dead in an overnight attack at a mining site in Nigeria’s central Plateau state, a local youth group and a state official said.Plateau is one of several ethnically and religiously diverse hinterland states known as the Middle Belt, where communal conflict…

Algerian senate urges review of law declaring French colonisation a crime

Algerian Senate ALGIERS, Jan 24 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — Algeria’s Senate has demanded revisions to a historic law declaring France’s 1830-1962 colonization a crime, creating legislative discord just weeks after the lower house unanimously passed the bill demanding an apology and reparations from Paris.While the lower house’s December 24 vote classified colonization…

Guinea: African Union lifts sanctions

Former junta leader Mamady Doumbouya won the country’s December election ADDIS ABABA, Jan 24 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — After it imposed sanctions on Guinea following the 2021 coup, the African Union has announced it is lifting them.It comes after what the Union described as ‘the successful organisation of the presidential election’ in…

South Africa to step aside from G20 during United States presidency

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa PRETORIA, Jan 24 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — South Africa’s finance minister, Enoch Godongwana, has confirmed that the country will step back from its G20 engagements during the United States presidency of the grouping.Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Thursday, he described the decision…

UN rights chief slams ‘routine abuse’ of migrants in US

GENEVA, Jan 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United Nations rights chief voiced astonishment at the “now-routine abuse” of migrants by US authorities, urging Washington to end practices “tearing apart families”. Volker Turk called on the United States to ensure migration policies and enforcement practices respect human dignity and due process and…

Icy storm threatens Americans with power outages, extreme cold

NEW YORK, Jan 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Americans stripped supermarket shelves Friday ahead of potentially “catastrophic” winter weather that threatened at least 160 million people across the country with transportation chaos, blackouts and life-threatening cold. The massive storm system was set to drop a mix of freezing rain and heavy snow…

US strike on alleged drug-smuggling boat kills two in Pacific

WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US military said it killed two alleged drug traffickers in a strike on a boat in the eastern Pacific Friday, while the Coast Guard was searching for a third person who survived. “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the…

Russia-Ukraine conflict: Russia demands Ukraine’s Donbas region ahead of Abu Dhabi talks

ABU DHABI, Jan 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia said it was not dropping its key demand that Ukraine pull out of its eastern Donbas region, ahead of three-way talks between Ukrainian, Russian and American officials in the UAE. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said territory remained the key issue and would be…