Latin America’s Lima Group does not recognize Venezuela’s Pres Maduro National Assembly

LIMA, Jan 7 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — The Lima Group, a regional bloc comprised mostly of Latin American nations, said that it does not “recognize the legitimacy or legality of the National Assembly installed on January 5” in Venezuela. “This illegitimate National Assembly is the product of the fraudulent elections of December…

Brazil’s deadly police kills a Black man; daughter accuses government of “killing poor people”

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 7 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Crowds gathered in a Rio de Janeiro cemetery to bury Marcelo Guimarães, the latest victim to be killed by police in Brazil, home to some of the world’s deadliest security forces. Guimarães was killed on Monday at the entrance to the City of…

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…