A seventh Haitian Special Olympics team member has gone missing in the US, authorities say

Haitian Special Olympics team member Louis Jacques Wilguens MIAMI, June 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Haitian national part of his country’s delegation at the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games in Florida has been reported missing. 25-year-old Louis Jacques Wilguens’ disappearance comes four days after Florida officials said six other Haitian Special…

US rebuffs China by calling Taiwan Strait an international waterway

WASHINGTON, June 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States backed Taiwan’s assertion that the strait dividing the island from the Chinese mainland is an international waterway, a further rebuff to Beijing’s claim to exercise sovereignty over the strategic passage. The Taiwan Strait has been a frequent source of military tension since…

US floods: Rare Yellowstone closure from historic floods spells hardship for ‘gateway’ towns

CODY (Wyoming, US), June 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Emergency crews scrambled to reopen roads and restore utilities in rural communities of Montana and Wyoming cut off by historic floods in the first natural disaster to force a summertime closure of Yellowstone National Park in 30 years. Major sections of the park’s northern half…

Ecuadorean police detain indigenous leader after road blockades

QUITO, June 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ecuador’s police said it detained the leader of the country’s largest indigenous organization, Leonidas Iza, after he led blockades on several highways and other allegedly violent acts in protest against the government’s economic policies. Iza’s lawyer called the detention illegal and said it was unclear…

Covid-19: Omicron sub-variants BA.4, BA.5 account for 21% of covid variants in US – CDC

WASHINGTON, June 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of Omicron are estimated to make up about 8.3 per cent and 13.3 per cent of the coronavirus variants in the United States as of June 11, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. The two fast-spreading sublineages were…

Covid-19: Canada to suspend vaccine mandates for domestic travel, civil service

Travellers at Toronto Pearson International Airport’s OTTAWA, June 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Canada will suspend its requirement to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for domestic travel and to work in the civil service, a government source said, after provinces lifted most health restrictions in recent months. The mandates may be reinstated later,…

WTO members hopeful on major fish deal despite exemption push

GENEVA, June 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A global deal to cut fishing subsidies could be struck at a major ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization this week even though India in particular pushed for a major exemption, officials said. The 27-year-old trade body has not reached a major deal among…

South Sudan: World Food Programme suspends some food aid as funds dry up

GENEVA, June 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said it had suspended some food aid in South Sudan due to a funding shortage – heightening the risk of starvation for 1.7 million people. The move to suspend aid to almost a third of the 6.2 million…

Ethiopia forms body to negotiate with rebellious Tigray forces

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ADDIS ABABA, June 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the federal government had formed a committee to negotiate with forces from the rebellious northern region of Tigray, in the first public confirmation of a key step towards peace negotations. The nearly two-year…

UK Rwanda asylum-seeker flight cancelled after European court ruling

Protesters gather at the perimeter of Boscombe Down air force base in Amesbury, England LONDON, June 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A first flight carrying asylum seekers to Rwanda as part of a controversial UK policy was cancelled on Tuesday in an embarrassing blow to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government. The number…