German navy chief resigns over Putin comments

German Navy Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schoenbach BERLIN, Jan 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Germany’s navy chief stepped down on Saturday after drawing criticism for saying Russian President Vladimir Putin deserved respect and that Kyiv would never win back annexed Crimea from Moscow. “I have asked Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht to relieve me…

Gunshots heard in several Burkina Faso barracks

OUAGADOUGOU, Jan 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Gunfire rang out from several military camps in Burkina Faso early on Sunday, the government said, but it denied the military had seized power. Heavy arms fire at the capital Ouagadougou’s Sangoule Lamizana camp, which houses the army’s general staff and a prison whose inmates…

US navy stops ship carrying ‘explosive precursor’ from Iran

MANAMA, Jan 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US navy said it had stopped a ship carrying 40 tons of a fertiliser that can be used to make explosives as it travelled from Iran along a route previously used to smuggle weapons to Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The navy said it boarded and…

Record year for Argentine wine exports: foreign ministry

 BUENOS AIRES, Jan 23 (NNN-AGENCIE) — Argentina’s bottled wine exports hit a historic high in 2021 worth $817 million, the foreign ministry reported Saturday. The previous high was the $786 million in foreign wine sales marked in 2012. Leading export destinations were the United States, Britain, Brazil, Canada and the…

Covid-19: Ireland to fully lift restrictions

DUBLIN, Jan 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ireland lifted almost all COVID-19 restrictions placed for about two years from Saturday after the country has weathered a storm of the Omicron variant that led to a major surge in infections, Prime Minister Micheal Martin announced. Ireland is placed among the countries with the…

Covid-19: Covax opens new front in pandemic arms race

 GENEVA, Jan 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Covax aims to break the Covid-19 pandemic in 2022 by ensuring a steady supply of vaccines at last for the world’s poorest countries — and swiftly getting them into arms. The global scheme, aimed at procuring donor-funded jabs for the 91 weakest economies, delivered its…

Two Canadians shot dead at upscale Mexican resort in argument among guests; another injured

The local police chief tweeted a photo of the wanted gunman  CANCUN (Mexico), Jan 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two Canadians have been shot dead and another injured after a dispute among guests at a hotel resort near Cancún, Mexico, local security officials say. Gunfire erupted on Friday at the Hotel Xcaret…

Covid-19: Brazil reports 157,393 new daily cases

BRASILIA, Jan 23 (NNN-Xinhua) — Brazil registered 157,393 new COVID-19 infections and 238 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the total caseload to 23,909,175 and the national death toll to 622,801, the National Council of Health Secretariats reported.    It is the fourth day in a row that Brazil…

Peru declares environmental emergency on coastal area hit by oil spill

 LIMA, Jan 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Peru declared an environmental emergency Saturday to battle an oil spill caused by freak waves from a volcanic eruption in the South Pacific. The stunningly powerful eruption last Saturday of an undersea volcano near Tonga unleashed tsunami waves around the Pacific and as far away…

Covid-19: Latest global developments

 PARIS, Jan 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: . WORLD TALLY: The coronavirus has killed at least 5,583,378 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a compilation from official sources on Saturday. The United States has recorded the most…