Panama defends hiring Cuban doctors to fight pandemic

PANAMA CITY, Feb 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Panama’s health minister defended the deployment of more than 200 Cuban doctors to help the Central American country battle the coronavirus. “We are eternally grateful” to the Cuban doctors because “they came here to save the lives of Panamanians,” Luis Francisco Sucre said during…

Colombia offer temporary protected status to 1mn Venezuelan migrants

BOGOTA, Feb 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Colombia will temporarily normalize thestatus of almost one million undocumented Venezuelan migrants, President Ivan Duque said during a visit by the UN Refugee Agency. Some 56 percent — around 950,000 — of the 1.7 million Venezuelans to have arrived in Colombia fleeing economic and political…

Sanctions hurt Venezuela economy, US government study says

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US sanctions have likely contributed to Venezuela’s economic deterioration and have caused obstacles for humanitarian workers, a study by a US government watchdog said. The assessment by the Government Accountability Office, requested by Democratic lawmakers, comes as President Joe Biden looks set to fine-tune Venezuela…

Haiti opposition names interim leader as presidency fight rages

Supreme Court Judge Joseph Mécène Jean Louis PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The struggle over Haiti’s presidency intensified as opposition politicians named their own leader of the country in an effort to drive out President Jovenel Moise, whose term they say has expired. The smouldering political crisis flared up Sunday,…

Covid-19: WHO says don’t dismiss AstraZeneca shot after South Africa delays jabs

GENEVA, Feb 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization insistedthat the AstraZeneca vaccine was still a vital tool in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, after South Africa delayed the startof its inoculation program over concerns about the drug’s efficacy against avirus variant. As concerns rose over the AstraZeneca…

Mourners demand justice as shot street artist buried in Chile

SANTIAGO, Feb 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Around 100 mourners demanded justice at the funeral of a street artist killed by Chilean police during asearch. Juggler Francisco Martinez, 27, was fatally shot by an officer afterrefusing to cooperate with a police identity check in the south of thecountry. He was buried Monday…

French submarine patrols South China Sea, likely angering Beijing

PARIS, Feb 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A French nuclear attack submarine was among two navy ships that recently conducted a patrol through the South China Sea, its defence minister announced, in a move likely to anger Beijing, which claims most of the strategic waters as its territory. The SNA Emeraude was…

Germany, Poland and Sweden expel Russian diplomats in tit-for-tat action

Protesters in St. Petersburg, Russia, clash with police over the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny BERLIN, Feb 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Germany, Poland and Sweden each announced that a Russian diplomat in their country has been declared “persona non grata” in retaliation to Moscow expelling European diplomats last week. The…

Nearly 1,500 illegal migrants rescued off Libyan coast in past week: IOM

Migrants rest near a destroyed detention center in Tripoli TRIPOLI, Feb 9 (NNN-Xinhua) — The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that nearly 1,500 illegal migrants have been rescued off the Libyan coast during the past week. “In the period of Feb 2-8, 1,487 migrants were rescued/intercepted at sea and…

Covid-19: US reports over 2.93 mln child cases

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (NNN-Xinhua) — More than 2.93 million children in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to the latest data of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association. About 117,500 new child COVID-19 cases were reported…