Germany: Hundreds of flights axed as airport staff strike

FRANKFURT, Feb 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Tens of thousands of travellers faced flight delays and cancellations Friday as workers at eight airports in Germany went on strike to demand better pay. The full-day walkout, called by the Verdi trade union, prompted Germany’s biggest carrier Lufthansa to cancel more than 1,300 flights at its…

UK: Date set to elect new Scotland leader

EDINMBURGH, Feb 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Scottish National Party (SNP) will hold a ballot to elect a leader to replace First Minister Nicola Sturgeon between March 13 and 27, the party said on Thursday. SNP National Secretary Lorna Finn said the results of the contest would be made public “as…

Kenya: President Ruto calls for urgent scale up of response as drought worsens

President William Ruto has called for a scale up of interventions to tackle the current drought NAIROBI, Feb 17 (NNN-KBC) — President William Ruto has called for a scale up of interventions to tackle the current drought to avert “widespread distress and suffering” as the crisis is worsening. He identified…

King Mohammed VI of Morocco holds bilateral talks with Gabon President Ali Bongo

King Mohammed VI of Morocco with Gabon President Ali Bongo pose for a photo after donating 2,000 tones of fertilizer to Gabon      LIBREVILLE, Feb 17 (NNN-KBC) — King Mohammed VI of Morocco, held bilateral talks with Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba  at the  Presidential Palace in Libreville, Gabon.  The meeting highlighted…

Covid-19: France drops testing for travellers from China

 BEIJING, Feb 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France has dropped Covid testing restrictions imposed on travellers from China, the French embassy in Beijing said. Since January, visitors aged 11 and over travelling from China to France have had to present a negative test taken 48 hours before the flight to board the…

US gun violence: California farm mass shooting suspect pleads not guilty to killing 7 co-workers

 LOS ANGELES, Feb 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The man accused of killing seven people and injuring another by opening fire on mushroom farms in northern California pleaded not guilty on Thursday, reports said. Zhao Chunli, 66, is charged with murdering fellow farmworkers at two sites in Half Moon Bay last month,…

Canada warships to take up positions off Haiti coast

 OTTAWA, Feb 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Canada is deploying two warships off the coast of Haiti over the coming weeks to conduct surveillance of the crisis-hit country and support local police, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday. Speaking to a meeting of Caribbean leaders in the Bahamian capital Nassau, he said…

Colombia, Venezuela revive trade deal after 4-year suspension

 CARACAS, Feb 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The leaders of Colombia and Venezuela renewed a trade deal that had been suspended for four years, in the latest rapprochement between the neighbors. Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, in a signing ceremony with Colombian President Gustavo Petro at a bridge border crossing, said he was…

US 2024 presidential elections: Pres Biden healthy, vigorous and fit for job, says doctor after physical examination

 WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Joe Biden remains healthy, vigorous and fit to successfully execute his duties, according to the White House physician. Doctors gave the 80-year-old a three-hour physical examination on Thursday at a hospital in the Washington area. It marked Biden’s second extensive physical exam since…

US government seeks to reassure public after toxic train derailment

 WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US officials sought to reassure an increasingly nervous public of the government’s commitment following a train derailment that resulted in the release of toxic chemicals in the soil, air and water in Ohio. No traces of vinyl chloride, a colorless carcinogenic gas, nor hydrogen chloride…