France to cull 600,000 ducks to contain an avian influenza virus

PARIS, Jan 7 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — France is to cull around 600,000 poultry birds as it tries to contain an avian influenza virus that is spreading among duck flocks in the southwest of the country, the farm ministry said. France is among European countries to have reported highly contagious strains of…

Update: US Senate rejects first challenge to certifying Biden win

WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US Senate late Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected the objection by some Republican lawmakers to certifying Arizona’s electoral vote for Joe Biden, after a riot by Donald Trump supporters forced a delay in the process. The lawmakers voted 93 to 6 against the effort to reject…

Update: D.C. police say 4 people died at the Capitol on Wednesday

U.S. Capitol Police with guns drawn watch as protesters try to break into the House Chamber WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Four people died during the violent protest at the Capitol, according to Metro D.C. police. One woman was shot by police, and three others died as a result of…

Update: Twitter suspends Pres Trump after Capitol violence

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Twitter blocked Donald Trump on Wednesday and threatened a permanent ban for breaking platform rules as social media scrambled to respond to violence in the US capital blamed on the outgoing president’s repeated claims of election fraud. In a rapidly evolving sequence of events,…

Bomb kills four soldiers, one civilian in Cameroon

YAOUNDÉ, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Four soldiers and a civilian were killed Wednesday when an official convoy was hit by makeshift explosives in a restive English-speaking region of Cameroon, the government said. A government spokesman blamed “separatist terrorists” for the killings in the Northwest province, where Anglophone separatists are fighting…

Update: World leaders condemn ‘assault on democracy’ at US Capitol

PARIS, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — World leaders and governments expressed shock and outrage at the storming of the US Capitol in Washington by supporters of President Donald Trump. BRITAIN: Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Twitter condemned the “disgraceful scenes in U.S. Congress. The United States stands for democracy around the…

Covid-19: Quebec premier orders Canada’s first pandemic curfew

MONTREAL, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Quebec premier Francois Legault ordered the first pandemic curfew in Canada as part of new lockdown measures to slow the spread of a second wave of Covid-19. The lockdown and 8:00 pm to 5:00 am (0100 to 1000 GMT) curfew will take effect starting Saturday…

Update US election demo: Woman shot in Capitol Hill unrest dies – police

WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A woman who was shot as President Donald Trump’s supporters invaded the US Capitol on Wednesday has died, a Washington police spokeswoman said. Alaina Gertz offered no details on who the woman was or the circumstances of the shooting, which is now under investigation by…

Covid-19: Bolivia extends ban on flights from Europe as Brazil sees 1,242 deaths in 24 hours

LA PAZ/BRASILIA, Jan 7 (NNN-Xinhua) — BOLIVIA will extend a ban on flights from Europe until mid-February as a preventive measure against the spread of a new variant of the coronavirus disease, President Luis Arce announced. “To protect the health of the Bolivian population … we are extending the suspension…

Update: US Congress reconvenes hours after protesters breach Capitol with one fatality

Members of the D.C. National Guard are deployed outside of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday evening WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The U.S. Congress reconvened on Wednesday night for proceedings certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, hours after protesters supporting outgoing President Donald Trump breached the Capitol.…