Tunisian President Saied fires trade minister and Sfax governor

TUNIS, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Tunisia’s President Kais Saied has dismissed the country’s minister of trade and export development, Fadila Al Rabhi, it was announced on Friday. The move comes amid an economic crisis and record inflation in the North African country. The annual inflation rate in December reached 10.1 per cent and…

Republican McCarthy elected speaker of US House

WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Kevin McCarthy was named as the new speaker of the US House of Representatives on Saturday, ending days of bitter Republican infighting that ground the lower chamber of Congress to a standstill. The 57-year-old Californian needed a simple majority to be elected as Washington’s top…

Spain tobacco firms to pay to clean up cigarette butts off streets and beaches

MADRID, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Tobacco companies will now be charged to clean up cigarette butts off the streets and beaches of Spain, according to new environmental regulations. Millions of butts are thrown away each year – releasing toxic plastic waste which can take decades to break down. Figures from 2020…

Brazilian Amazon deforestation up 150% in Bolsonaro’s last month

 BRASILIA, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rose 150 percent in December from the previous year, according to government figures released Friday, a final bleak report for ex-president Jair Bolsonaro in his last month in office. Satellite monitoring detected 218.4 square kilometers of forest cover destroyed in Brazil’s…

Two Serbs, one a child, shot, wounded in Kosovo; a soldier arrested: police

PRISTINA, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A man was arrested after a gunman shot and wounded two Serbs, one an 11-year-old child, in Kosovo on Friday, Orthodox Christmas Eve, police there said, sparking protests. Kosovo police said in a statement that they had arrested “a 33-year-old man” in southern Kosovo, who Defence…

Gambia charges eight soldiers with treason over coup bid

BANJUL, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Gambian government charged eight soldiers with treason in connection with an alleged coup attempt last month, a government spokesperson said in a statement. The government on Dec 21 said it had thwarted a coup attempt the previous day, and detained some military personnel. The eight…

Venezuela opposition closes its embassy in US

 WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Venezuela’s embassy in Washington, the scene of standoffs four years ago that mirrored tensions at home, announced Friday it had shut down after the opposition dissolved a self-styled interim government. The United States, eventually joined by some 50 other countries, since January 2019 has considered opposition…

Mexico: 29 killed, including 10 soldiers, in unrest after arrest of drug kingpin’s son

CULIACÁN (Mexico), Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ten soldiers and 19 suspected criminals were killed in an operation to arrest a son of jailed drug trafficker Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Mexico’s government said, with a dramatic shootout sowing terror at an airport. Thousands of soldiers retook control of the Sinaloa cartel stronghold…

US violence: Six-year-old boy held after intentionally shooting teacher in Virginia school

NEWPORT NEWS (Virginia, US), Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A six-year-old boy opened fire in an elementary school classroom in the eastern US state of Virginia on Friday, seriously injuring a teacher, police said. No students were hurt in the incident at Richneck Elementary School in the coastal city of Newport News.…

2.5 million international tourists expected to visit Peru in 2023

LIMA, Jan 7 (NNN-ANDINA) — Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Luis Fernando Helguero affirmed that 2.5 million international tourists are expected to visit Peru this year, despite the fact that the country’s image has been severely damaged by the protests in December and January. This figure would represent a rise of…