Time running out on election timeline for South Sudan, UN official warns

UNMISS/Gregório Cunha Nicholas Haysom, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative in South Sudan JUBA, Aug 3 (NNN-KBC) — Action is needed now to pave the way for timely and credible elections in South Sudan next December, the UN Special Representative for the country told journalists in the capital, Juba, on Wednesday.…

Arson attacks target buildings, cars in southern Chile amid indigenous conflict

SANTIAGO, Aug 3 (NNN-XINHUA) — Several buildings and vehicles were set on fire Wednesday in southern Chile’s La Araucania region, Minister of the Interior and Public Safety Carolina Toha said. The attacks in Traiguen commune occurred at around 2 a.m. local time, targeting a church and a school, and leaving…

Hunger, displacement spiralling out of control in Sudan: UN

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 3 (NNN-XINHUA) — Hunger and displacement due to the ongoing war are spiralling out of control in Sudan, UN humanitarians warned. More than 6 million people in Sudan, about 13 percent of the population, are now one step away from famine, said the UN Office for the…

Cuban corporation Cimex announces elimination of cash payment at gas stations

 HAVANA, Aug 3 (NNN-ACN) — The corporation Cimex S.A. announced that from Sept 1 to Oct 31 it will gradually begin to eliminate cash as a means of payment at gas stations throughout the country.In an official statement, Cimex explained that different means of electronic payment for the purchase of…

Cuban and Gabonese foreign ministries held political consultations

 HAVANA, Aug 3 (NNN-ACN) — Cuba and the Gabonese Republic confirmed their good bilateral relations during the inter-chancellery political consultations held in this city, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX).Chaired by Cuban Deputy Minister Josefina Vidal Ferreiro and Yolande Nyoma, Deputy Minister Delegate of the Ministry of Foreign…

Pres Lula says ‘world must help’ Brazil save the Amazon

BRASILIA, Aug 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the “world must help” Brazil protect the Amazon, ahead of a summit next week on the world’s biggest rainforest, a key buffer against climate change. “We know we have a responsibility to convince the world that investing is…

El Salvador sends 8,000 troops, police to rural province in gang crackdown

President Bukele said the blockade would last until ‘the operatives can extract all gang members’ SAN SALVADOR, Aug 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thousands of Salvadoran soldiers and police officers on Tuesday surrounded the central agricultural region of Cabanas – home to some 150,000 people – as part of President Nayib Bukele’s…

Drought-stricken Mexico is turning to a controversial technology to make it rain

Rainfall after a cloud seeding flight by Startup Renaissance. MEXICO CITY, Aug 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — As an extreme drought grips Mexico, leading to crop losses, a lack of water and higher food prices, the government is trying to bring desperately-needed rain by turning to a controversial technology: cloud seeding.In July,…

Niger coup d’etat: West Africa bloc ECOWAS says military intervention ‘last resort’

ABUJA, Aug 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — West Africa’s regional bloc on Wednesday said a military intervention in junta-ruled Niger was “the last resort” as Nigeria cut electricity supplies to intensify pressure on the country’s coup leaders. As ex-colonial power France sent in a fifth plane to evacuate its citizens, coup leader…

Niger coup d’etat: US orders pull-out of many embassy personnel in Niamey

French nationals gather as they wait to be airlifted back to France on a French military aircraft WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US government is ordering many of its embassy personnel to temporarily leave Niger amid the country’s military coup. The State Department announced Wednesday evening that it was…