Covid-19: Spain to drop obligatory use of masks outdoors

MADRID, Feb 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Spain will end the mandatory use of face masks outdoors on Feb 8, a minister said Friday, ending a measure re-imposed in late December to tackle a surge in Omicron cases. The measure will be approved at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, Health Minister Carolina Darias told…

Road accident kills 18 in northeast Nigeria

KANO (Nigeria), Feb 4 (NNN-AGENCIESZ0 — Eighteen people were killed when a car collided head-on with a passenger bus in northeast Nigeria, a road safety official said Friday. The crash happened late Thursday along a highway in Yobe State outside the commercial city of Potiskum, said Hussaini Haruna, a spokesman…

50,833 Costa Ricans residing abroad to vote in Feb 6 elections

SAN JOSE, Feb 4 (NNN-TELESUR) –The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) announced that 50,833 Costa Ricans residing abroad will cast their votes for Feb 6 general elections in 80 polling stations opened in 42 countries. “Besides revitalizing our democracy, the voting abroad contributes to strengthening our national identity,” Foreign Affairs Minister Solano…

Argentine navy rescues stranded Russian scientific vessel in Antarctica

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 4 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — An Argentine Navy vessel from the Antarctic Combined Patrol shared with Chile, and currently on duty, helped to rescue the Russian scientific vessel “Professor Logachev”, which was stranded and with no self-propulsion at Lasserre Bay, next to the Polish Antarctic Station Arctowski in King…

Ecuadorian authorities speak of “major disaster” following oil spill last week

QUITO, Feb 4 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — An oil spill in Ecuador in late January has been spreading over the past few days throughout the Yasuní area reaching unforeseen proportions, it was reported Wednesday. After a spill of 6,300 barrels of crude in the Amazon due to a break in an oil…

Argentina’s dependency on US needs to stop, President Fernández tells Putin

MOSCOW, Feb 4 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — President Alberto Fernández Thursday told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow that “Argentina has to stop having such a great dependency on the IMF and the United States.” Fernández made those remarks as rivalry between Putin and US President Joseph Biden is on the…

US: Pres Joe Biden appoints Ghanaian doctor Edjah Nduom to lead fight against cancer

Dr. Edjah Nduom shakes the hand of President Joe Biden WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Joe Biden has appointed the son of businessman and politician in Ghana, Paa Kwesi Nduom, to an enviable job.Dr. Edjah Nduom will lead the fight against cancer in a “Cancer Moonshot Program,” a…

Covid-19: Austria’s upper house backs vaccine mandate

Austria’s parliament has voted to make COVID-19 vaccinations compulsory for all people 18 and over VIENNA, Feb 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Austria’s upper house of parliament on Thursday passed a Bill to make coronavirus vaccines compulsory for adults, bringing the European Union’s first such sweeping vaccine mandate a step closer. Roughly…

Covid-19: Cumulative total of cases in France rises to over 20 million

PARIS, Feb 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The cumulative total for confirmed COVID-19 cases in France since the start of the pandemic has passed 20 million, health ministry data showed. The health ministry registered 274,352 new infections on Thursday, pushing the total to 20.15 million while the cumulative death toll is nearly…

Morocco: Rescue efforts to save a five-year-old boy who fell into a narrow 32m well grips nation

Provincial authorities brought in heavy machinery in an attempt to rescue the child  RABAT, Feb 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Efforts to save a child in Morocco who fell into a water well near the city of Chefchaouen is nearing its end. The child, who local media have identified as a five-year-old…