Covid-19: US CDC says all adults 18 and over should get booster shots

WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said everyone aged 18 years and older should get a booster shot either six months after their initial Pfizer or Moderna vaccine doses or two months after their Johnson & Johnson shot. The update on Monday comes after…

Covid-19: White House says US agencies can delay punishing unvaccinated federal workers

WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The White House told federal agencies they can delay punishing thousands of federal workers who failed to comply with a Nov 22 COVID-19 vaccination deadline. On Wednesday, the Biden administration said a total of 92 per cent of US federal workers have received at least one dose…

Replacing the queen – Barbados’s first president, Sandra Mason

Dame Sandra Mason, governor general of Barbados BRIDGETOWN, Nov 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Sandra Mason was the first woman admitted to the bar in Barbados – and her place in the nation’s history was cemented when she was elected as the country’s first president. Her rise to become head of state of the…

Burkina Faso: Tear gas fired at protesters decrying Islamist attacks

Protesters have been demanding the president’s resignation  OUAGADOUGOU, Nov 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Police in Burkina Faso have fired tear gas at people protesting against the state’s failure to stop a rise in Islamist violence. Some erected barricades and burned tyres as scuffles spread around the streets of the capital, Ouagadougou.…

Xiomara Castro leading by wide margin in Honduras elections

TEGUCIGALPA, Nov 29 (NNN-TELESUR) — After a historic voter turnout of 62%, and despite attempts by the right-wing National Party (PAN) to claim an early victory, democratic socialist candidate Xiomara Castro de Zelaya is leading by a nearly 20% margin in the country’s presidential elections. Leading over Nasry Asfura, current mayor of the…

Nigeria: Three killed as pirates abduct seven oil workers in Bayelsa

A civil defence officer is among those killed, the security agency has confirmed ABUJA, Nov 29 (NNN-NAN) — Gunmen, suspected to be pirates, in the early hours of Sunday, attacked two oil installations, killing three and abducting seven oil workers in Bayelsa State, Nigeria’s South-south. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)…

Covid-19: Pandemic to cost global tourism $2.0 trillion in 2021 – UNWTO

  MADRID, Nov 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The coronavirus pandemic will cost the global tourism sector $2.0 trillion in lost revenue in 2021, the UN’s tourism body said Monday, calling the sector’s recovery “fragile” and “slow”.   The forecast from the Madrid-based World Tourism Organization comes as Europe is grappling with…

22 die in attack on DR Congo displaced people’s camp

  BUNIA (DR Congo), Nov 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A new attack on the Ivo displaced people’s camp in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday claimed the lives of 22 civilians, an aid worker said.    The same camp was attacked less than a week ago when…

Brazil burns boats in crackdown on wildcat Amazon gold miners

Accommodations and mining structures on the Madeira River, near the Rosarinho community, in Autazes, Amazonas state, Brazil BRASÍLIA, Nov 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazilian authorities burned more than 60 river-dredging boats in a crackdown on wildcat miners drawn to a major Amazon tributary by rumuors of a gold find, the government…

Covid-19: Morocco suspends all regular int’l passenger flights over Omicron variant

Morocco, whose economy relies heavily on tourism, had announced a ban on entry to travellers from South Africa and six other African nations ABAT, Nov 29 (NNN-Xinhua) — Morocco will suspend all regular international passenger flights for two weeks over concern about the new COVID-19 variant Omicron. The suspension will…