Madagascar cyclone toll rises to 30

 ANTANANARIVO, Feb 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The death toll from Cyclone Batsirai, which left Madagascar on Monday morning, has risen to 30, according to an updated count from authorities, and could rise further as bodies continue to be found in the rubble of collapsed houses. On Wednesday morning, Madagascar’s disaster management…

British PM Johnson visit Poland on Thursday after troop pledge

 WARSAW, Feb 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visit Poland on Thursday, a Polish foreign ministry spokesman said, after Britain promised to send 350 more troops to Poland’s border with Belarus. “The prime minister is coming,” spokesman Lukasz Jasina said when asked about Johnson’s plans. Jasina said Johnson…

Covid-19: Slovenian PM Jansa tests positive

LJUBLJANA, Feb 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Slovenia’s conservative Prime Minister Janez Jansa said he had tested positive for Covid-19, just as the EU country of two million sees a decline in new infections. “For two years we have been successfully avoiding the coronavirus. Yesterday, during a self-test both of my children…

Covid-19: WHO urges rich countries to pay up for Covid plan

  GENEVA, Feb 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization (WHO) urged rich countries to pay their fair share of the money needed for its plan to conquer Covid-19 by urgently contributing $16 billion. The WHO said the rapid cash injection into its Access to Covid Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) could…

UN announces strategy against drugs and crime for Latin America

BOGOTA, Feb 8 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — The executive director of UNODC, Ghada Waly, presented here the route that will support the organization’s commitment to strengthen prevention and confrontation of organized crime, drugs and corruption in Latin America. Likewise, the representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Unodc)…

Costa Rica presidential elections: A former president and a former finance minister to determine presidency in runoff

SAN JOSE, Feb 8 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Former Costa Rican President José María Figueres of the National Liberation Party won Sunday’s first round of this year’s elections but failed to secure a decisive majority, due to which he will need to take on former Finance Minister Rodrigo Chaves, of the Democratic…

South Africa jails twins for terrorism over US embassy plot

Brandon-Lee Thulsie and Tony-Lee Thulsie JOHANNESBURG, Feb 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A South African court convicted and jailed twin brothers for terrorism on Monday over plans to attack the US embassy in Pretoria and join the Daesh group, local media reported. Tony-Lee Thulsie and Brandon-Lee Thulsie, both 28, were arrested in…

US YouTuber, Belgian influencer dead in Iceland plane crash

(From left) Nicola Bellavia and Josh Neuman. REYKJAVIK, Feb 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An American YouTube star and a Belgian social media influencer were among the four victims of a plane crash in Iceland last week, reports said. Josh Neuman, a 22-year-old US adventurer with more than one million YouTube subscribers,…

US gun violence: Air Force ordered to pay 230 mln USD over 2017 Texas church shooting

A memorial to the victims of the 2017 shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas HOUSTON, Feb 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A federal judge ordered the US Air Force to pay more than $230 million to the survivors and the families of the victims of a 2017 shooting…

Update: Canadian PM Trudeau says trucker protest against vaccine mandates ‘has to stop’

OTTAWA, Feb 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau demanded an end to a protest by hundreds of truckers against Covid-19 restrictions that has paralyzed the capital, as Ottawa’s mayor called on federal authorities for support. “It has to stop,” Trudeau said during an emergency debate in the House…