Covid-19: IMF board approves big lending increase for poorest nations

  WASHINGTON, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The IMF board announced it had approved a massive increase in its ability to provide interest-free loans to low income countries to help them recover from the pandemic’s economic destruction.   The Covid-19 crisis has drained resources set aside for these countries — most are…

US launches several airstrikes to support Afghan forces: Pentagon

 WASHINGTON, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US military in the past few days conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan to support Afghan security forces, the Pentagon said.    According to media reports, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said that “in the last several days, we have acted, through airstrikes, to support the ANDSF (Afghan…

US sanctions Cuba for repressing protests, Pres Biden warns more to come

  WASHINGTON, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States imposed sanctions on Cuba’s defense minister and a special forces unit Thursday for repressing peaceful protests, a step President Joe Biden warned is “just the beginning” of punitive measures against Havana.    The US Treasury Department said its Office of Foreign Assets…

Central African Republic: 13 civilians killed north of capital Bangui, says UN

Rwandan peacekeepers from the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), deployed north of Bangui BANGUI, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thirteen civilians were killed in clashes north of Bangui, the capital of the perennially restive Central African Republic, the UN mission in the country said.   …

South Africa unrest: Death toll jumps to 337, says govt

  JOHANNESBURG, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Rioting in South Africa this month has claimed 337 lives, the government said on Thursday, marking yet another jump in the death toll from the 276 announced the previous day.    “The South African police has revised the total number of deaths in Gauteng (province)…

Mali opens probe into attempted assassination of interim president Assimi Goita

Goita, dressed in blue, at the prayers in Bamako’s Grand Mosque shortly before the attack BAMAKO, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Authorities in Mali said they had opened a probe into an attempt to assassinate strongman interim president Assimi Goita.Goita was the figure behind two coups in less than a year…

Covid-19: 4,000 Nigerian children orphaned by coronavirus in 16 months – World Bank

LONDON, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An estimated 4,000 Nigerian children were orphaned by the COVID-19 pandemic between March 2020 and July 2021, the World Bank has revealed in a new report.The statistical report by the bank’s experts at the Imperial College of London revealed that over 4,100 Nigerian children lost…

First group of Zimbabweans deported from UK arrive home

UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel HARARE, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The first group among dozens of Zimbabweans slated for deportation from Britain landed in the southern African country Thursday on a charter flight. According to Harare, as many as 150 of its citizens are held in detention centres awaiting removal…

Covid-19: US judge rules in favor of university’s vaccine mandate

 WASHINGTON, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A US federal judge upheld a university’s decision to require its students and employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19, the first ruling on an increasingly divisive issue ahead of the new school year.   The decision on Monday by Judge Damon Leichty of the South…

Monkeypox: More than 200 contacts tracked in US for rare disease

Human monkeypox cases are extremely rare  WASHINGTON, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 200 people in 27 US states are being tracked for possible rare monkeypox infections, health officials say. They fear people may have come into contact with a Texas man who brought the disease in from Nigeria earlier…