Nigeria: More than 300 schoolboys released after mass kidnapping

Boarding school children return home after the abduction of students by gunmen at the Government Science Secondary school, in Kankara KANKARA (Nigeria), Dec 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 300 Nigerian schoolboys were released on Thursday after being abducted in an attack claimed by Boko Haram, officials said, although it was unclear…

Overdose drug deaths in US rise during Covid-19

WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Covid-19 pandemic has fuelled a rise in fatal drug overdoses in the United States, officials said,stressing that essential medical services have to remain accessible despitecoronavirus disruptions. More than 81,000 drug overdose deaths were recorded in the US in the yearto May, the highest number…

Covid-19: Africa confronts a second wave as new cases emerges in east, north and south regions

PRETORIA, Dec 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — After being relatively spared bycoronavirus, Africa is bracing for the pandemic’s second wave, noting how the microbe has once more cut a swathe through rich countries in Europe and North Africa. The continent’s most-hit nations are again having to contemplate stringentpublic health measures as they…

126 illegal immigrants rescued off Libyan coast: UNHCR

TRIPOLI, Dec 18 (NNN-XINHUA) – The United Nations High Commissionerfor Refugees (UNHCR) said that 126 illegal immigrants were rescuedand returned to Libya. Up to “126 persons among them 8 women and 28 children were returned toLibya this Thursday morning after their boat was intercepted/rescued at sea,” the UNHCR tweeted. “UNHCR…

Update: Super cyclone levels Fiji villages

SUVA, Dec 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Super cyclone Yasa flattened entirevillages as it tore through Fiji, aid agencies said Friday, with one personreported dead as rescue workers raced to the worst-hit communities inisolated areas of Pacific island nation. Yasa made landfall late Thursday as a top-of-the-scale Category Fivecyclone, lashing Fiji’s second-largest…

Sec of State Pompeo seeks to soothe Turkey after US sanctions

WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo has assured his Turkish counterpart that American sanctions imposed on Ankara for its acquisition of a Russian missile defense system were not intended to weaken the country’s military capabilities. Pompeo spoke this week with Mevlut Cavusoglu and “stressed that the…

Covid-19: European leaders in self-quarantine after contact with French Pres Macron who tests positive for covid

 European Council president Charles Michel, French president Emmanuel Macron, OECD secretary general Angel Gurria, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez and Unesco director-general Audrey Azoulay met in Paris this week BRUSSELS, Dec 18 (NNN-Xinhua) — A host of European leaders are self-isolating after contact with French President Emmanuel Macron, who tested…

Covid-19: International tourist arrivals fall by 72 pct in first 10 months, says UNWTO

Tourists at Nairobi National Park in Nairobi, capital of Kenya MADRID, Dec 18 (NNN-Xinhua) — The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported on Thursday that international tourist arrivals fell by 72 percent during the first ten months of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to the UNWTO, travel…

Covid-19: Aussie cluster grows to 28, border restrictions reintroduced

SYDNEY, Dec 18 (NNN-Xinhua) — An outbreak of COVID-19 in the Australian city of Sydney grew to 28 on Friday, with domestic border restrictions reintroduced for hotspot areas. The cluster of cases appeared this week on Sydney’s Northern Beaches in the State of New South Wales (NSW), and local residents…

Middle-east roundup: Saudi Arabia starts Covid-19 vaccination; Turkey sees highest daily death toll of 243

Labourers, wearing protective face masks, disinfect the front of a restaurant in Dubai’s marina CAIRO, Dec 18 (NNN-Xinhua) — Saudi Arabia began on Thursday to provide free COVID-19 vaccines to the public after the kingdom received the first shipment of vaccines a day earlier. Meanwhile, Turkey reported a record high…