Four killed in Abidjan as heavy rain hits Ivory Coast

  ABIDJAN, Oct 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Flooding after heavy rains killed at least four people in Ivory Coast’s economic capital Abidjan and swept away two children, firefighters said.    “Eight victims, including four dead and four wounded, were registered in Mossikro,” a poor area of Abidjan, a spokesman said.   …

Covid-19: Latest global developments

 PARIS, Oct 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:   . The coronavirus has killed at least 4,926,579 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources.    The US has suffered the most Covid-related deaths with…

Cameroon army says kills 7 separatist fighters in restive Anglophone region

YAOUNDE, Oct 22 (NNN-Xinhua) — Cameroonian security forces repelled a separatist attack in the war-torn English-speaking region of Northwest on Thursday, killing seven militants and injuring dozens of others, the military has said. One soldier was injured in the encounter in Shuk, a village in the region, and significant quantities…

Update: Death toll from Russian plant fire rises to 15

MOSCOW, Oct 22 (NNN-TASS) — At least 15 people have been killed in a blast and a following blaze that hit a plant in Russia’s Ryazan region on Friday. At the time of the incident, there were 17 people in the one-story workshop of the “Razryad” company that produces industrial…

Seven dead in fire at Russian explosives plant: ministry

 MOSCOW, Oct 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Seven people have died and nine are missing after a fire on Friday at an industrial explosives factory southeast of the Russian capital, the emergencies ministry said.   “Seventeen people were injured, of them seven died, one has been hospitalised and the fate of nine…

Canada will look to make more temporary migrants permanent, minister says

Migrants, refugees, undocumented workers and their supporters rally outside the office Canada’s Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino in Toronto, Ontario TORONTO, Oct 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Canada may extend the deadline of a programme created this year to give temporary residents working in key sectors a route to permanent residency, and is…

Ecuador President Lasso to be investigated for tax fraud after Pandora Papers leak

Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso QUITO, Oct 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ecuador’s attorney general’s office said it has opened a preliminary investigation against President Guillermo Lasso for tax fraud, after an opposition leader presented allegations against him linked to the Pandora Papers leak. Former presidential candidate and indigenous leader Yaku Perez called…

Update: American actor Alec Baldwin fatally shoots woman with prop gun on movie set

Alec Balwin is a co-producer of the film Rust, which was being filmed in New Mexico  LOS ANGELES, Oct 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A woman has died and a man has been injured after actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on a New Mexico film set. Police in the US…

Nigeria: Biafra separatist Nnamdi Kanu pleads not guilty to terrorism

This was the first time Nnamdi Kanu (in white) had been seen in public since June  ABUJA, Oct 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Nigerian separatist Nnamdi Kanu has pleaded not guilty to charges levelled against him by the authorities, including terrorism and treason. His appearance in court was the first time…

Canada hospitals use drones to carry lungs for transplant – a global first

   TORONTO, Oct 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — In the dark of night, a drone takes off from a Toronto hospital rooftop, the hum of its rotors barely audible over the bustling sounds of the cars and pedestrians below in Canada’s largest metropolis.    On its maiden flight, with a bird’s-eye view of…