Over 120,000 U.S. children lose a parent or caregiver amid COVID-19: study

WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (NNN-XINHUA) — More than 120,000 children in the United States lost a primary caregiver – a parent or grandparent responsible for providing housing, basic needs and care – due to COVID-19-associated death, showed a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics on Thursday. In addition to the…

WHO set to vaccinate 40 pct population of every country against COVID-19 by end 2021

GENEVA, Oct 8 (NNN-XINHUA) — The World Health Organization (WHO) announced an initiative to vaccinate 40 percent of the population of every country against COVID-19 by the end of 2021 and 70 percent by mid-2022, by prioritizing vaccine delivery to low-income countries, particularly those in Africa. “Today, WHO is launching…

Google to invest S$1 billion to lift Africa Internet access

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Google announced that it would invest US$1 billion in boosting Africa’s internet access and startup scene, as the tech giant eyes a youthful market increasingly armed with smartphones. Spread over five years, the investment includes funding for Google’s Equiano subsea cable – a major private…

UN ends Yemen war crimes probe in defeat for Western states

GENEVA, Oct 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Bahrain, Russia and other members of the UN Human Rights Council pushed through a vote to shut down the body’s war crimes investigations in Yemen, in a stinging defeat for Western states who sought to keep the mission going. Members on Thursday narrowly voted to reject…

US charges former Taliban commander with killing US troops in 2008

NEW YORK, Oct 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A former Taliban commander already in US custody has been charged with murder and terrorism-related offenses in the deaths of three US troops and an Afghan interpreter and the downing of a US helicopter in Afghanistan in 2008, federal prosecutors in New York said. The US Attorney’s Office…

US Senate approves temporary lift to debt ceiling, averting default

WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US Senate on Thursday approved legislation to temporarily raise the federal government’s US$28.4 trillion debt limit and avoid the risk of a historic default this month, but it put off until early December a decision on a longer-lasting remedy. The Senate voted 50-48 to pass…

US nuclear sub damaged in underwater collision in South East Asia

A US Navy image shows the USS Connecticut departing a Washington naval base for deployment in May 2021 WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A US nuclear submarine was damaged after hitting an unidentified object while operating underwater in Asia, the US Navy said.  The USS Connecticut, a nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine,…

Germany and Denmark repatriate 37 children and 11 ‘ Daesh women’ from Syria

BERLIN, Oct 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Germany says it has repatriated eight women, who had joined the so-called Daesh, and 23 children from a camp in northern Syria. They were brought back in a joint operation with Denmark, who repatriated three women and 14 children, Germany’s foreign ministry said. Germany’s Foreign…

UN, humanitarian partners scale up life-saving response in Afghanistan

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 8 (NNN-XINHUA) — United Nations agencies and their humanitarian partners are racing against time to deliver life-saving aid and supplies to crisis-hit Afghans ahead of winter, a UN agency said.   “In September, more than 3.8 million people received food assistance, 21,000 children aged 6-59 months and…

Tanzanian-born novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah wins Nobel Literature Prize

   STOCKHOLM, Oct 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Tanzanian-born novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah, whose work touches on colonialism and refugee life, on Thursday won the Nobel Literature Prize, the Swedish Academy said.   Gurnah, who grew up on the island of Zanzibar but came to England as a refugee at the end of…