Update: Slain Haiti leader’s funeral set for July 23, ex-president Aristide back home

PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The funeral for Haiti’s slain president Jovenel Moise will take place on July 23, officials said Friday, as the troubled nation’s first democratically elected leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide arrived home after receiving medical care in Cuba. The state funeral services will take place in Cap-Haitien, a…

Update: German floods death toll rises to 133, 153 in Europe

BERLIN, July 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The death toll from devastating floods in Germany reached 133 on Saturday, police said, bringing the total number of those killed in Europe to 153. “According to current information, 90 people lost their lives during the disaster” in the Rhineland-Palatinate region, one of the worst…

Botswana to buy more small stock for breeding for farmers: Pres Masisi

GABORONE, July 17 (NNN-Xinhua) — Botswana, through its Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan, has set aside 700,000 U.S. dollars to purchase bucks and rams for farmers across the country for breeding, said President Mokgweetsi Masisi. There is need to intensify efforts to increase the small stock population, which has declined…

Covid-19: UK daily cases pass 50,000 for first time since January

People wearing face masks walk along the River Thames in London LONDON, July 17 (NNN-Xinhua) — Britain has recorded more than 50,000 new daily coronavirus cases, the highest number since mid-January, according to official data released Friday. The country reported another 51,870 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing…

Sudan gets $14 billion in debt relief from Paris Club

PARIS, July 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Paris Club of official creditors has agreed to cancel $14 billion owed by Sudan and restructure the rest of the more than $23 billion it owes, Paris Club chairman Emmanuel Moulin said. Speaking on Friday after the deal was reached on Thursday, Moulin urged…

Former Haitian official ordered president’s killing, says Colombia

Police officers search for suspects in the murder of Moise under an overpass in Port-au-Prince BOGOTA, July 17 (NNN-Xinhua) — A former official of the Haitian Ministry of Justice ordered the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise, Colombian authorities said. “Joseph Feliz Badio, who was an official of the Ministry…

Covid-19: US must steps up fight against misinformation – Surgeon General

Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington WASHINGTON, July 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for a national effort to fight misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines, urging tech companies, health care workers, journalists and everyday Americans to do more to…

Wildfire in Oregon forces 2,000 to evacuate as US West blazes

Flames and smoke rise from the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon SALEM (Oregon, US), July 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Firefighters backed by helicopters scrambled on Friday to suppress a wind-driven inferno that is blazing across southern Oregon as dozens of fires erupting across the drought-stricken western United States strained resources.The Bootleg…

Belarus police raid homes of journalists in continuing crackdown

A policeman leaves the Belarusian Association of Journalists office after a raid in Minsk MINSK, July 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Security officers in Belarus have raided the offices and homes of independent journalists and human rights activists for the third successive day, extending what rights activists say is a new crackdown…

UN rights chief calls on Cuba to release protesters

Police detain a person during protests in Havana GENEVA, July 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has called on Cuba to release protesters and several journalists arrested during days of rare demonstrations in the Caribbean nation, condemning the use of excessive use of force by security…