Over 2,400 killed in Haiti gang violence since January: UN

GENEVA, Aug 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 2,400 people have been killed in Haiti since the start of 2023 amid rampant gang violence, including hundreds killed in lynchings by vigilante mobs, the UN said. The toll comes as clashes in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince this week left 30 residents dead and more than…

Lula and Pepe to help Cuba open up

BRASILIA/MONTEVIDEO, Aug 19 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Former Uruguayan President José “Pepe” Mujica is planning a trip to Havana together with Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to persuade the Cuban government of Miguel Díaz-Canel to pursue the path of greater openness regarding foreign relations and economy, it was reported in…

Sunday presidential elections in two countries where entrenched violence and corruption prevail, Ecuador and Guatemala

QUITO/GUATEMALA CITY, Aug 19 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Sunday Aug 20 two Latin American countries suffering from extreme political turmoil will head to the polls in presidential elections, which hopefully can help both countries overcome situations of death, ongoing violence, and blatant corruption.  On Aug. 9, ECUADOR was rocked by the public assassination…

Self-starvation cults: Kenya bans churches linked to cult deaths

Flamboyant televangalist Ezekiel Odero is under investigations on a raft of charges including murder NAIROBI, Aug 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Kenyan authorities have banned five churches including that of a suspected cult leader accused of inciting more than 400 of his followers to starve themselves to death, a government document said.…

Major hurricane heads toward northwest Mexico, California

CABO SAN LUCAS (Mexico), Aug 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mexico prepared for a powerful Pacific hurricane that triggered a warning of “potentially catastrophic” flooding in a northwestern tourist region and the neighboring US state of California. Hurricane Hilary threatened to bring strong winds, flash floods and “life-threatening” surf and rip current…

SADC, Commonwealth observers deployed in Zimbabwe ahead of polls

 News Press release Share Chairperson of Commonwealth Observer Group Amina Mohamed HARARE, Aug 19 (NNN-XINHUA) — Election observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) were on Friday deployed across Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces ahead of elections scheduled to be held next Wednesday. Head of the 68-member SADC Election Observer Mission (SEOM), former…

Over 2,500 Ukrainians freed in prisoner exchanges with Russia

KIEV, Aug 19 (NNN-XINHUA) — A total of 2,598 Ukrainians taken captive in the Russia-Ukraine conflict have been released as a result of prisoner exchanges, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported. So far, Ukraine has carried out 48 prisoner exchanges with Russia since the beginning of the conflict, Andriy Yusov, a…

ECOWAS threat: Mali, Burkina Faso dispatch fighter jets to Niger – State TV

Some of the jets on the tarmac at the Niamey Airport NIAMEY, Aug 19 (NNN-GNA) — Niger’s state broadcaster (ORTN) has reported that fellow West African states, Mali and Burkina Faso have sent material support to Niamey amid a threat by regional bloc, ECOWAS, to enter the country to remove…

UNICEF sounds alarm on child cholera cases in DR Congo

GOMA (DR Congo), Aug 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — UNICEF on Friday sounded the alarm on child cholera in DR Congo’s troubled North-Kivu province, estimating more than 8,000 under-fives had been infected this year. The eastern province has been ravaged by conflict for almost three decades, resulting in widespread population displacement. UNICEF…

Niger PM says ‘nothing will happen’ to captive president: NY Times

NEW YORK, Aug 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Niger’s new prime minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, on Friday told The New York Times that the generals who overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum during a July 26 coup will do him no harm. “Nothing will happen to him, because we don’t have a tradition…