Covid-19: Canadian lawmaker resigns for vacationing in sunny Caribbean during lockdown

OTTAWA, Jan 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Canadian lawmaker resigned afterbeing caught taking a family vacation in the sunny Caribbean while hiscompatriots were urged to avoid non-essential travel during a strict pandemic lockdown. Ontario’s finance minister, Rod Phillips, apologized for his “dumb, dumbmistake,” telling reporters upon arrival at the Toronto airport:…

Algeria: 20 killed when bus overturn in road accident

ALGIERS, Jan 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Twenty people were killed Thursday inAlgeria when a vehicle carrying mainly African nationals overturned in thesouth of the country, the civil protection unit said. The crash took place near the town of Tamanrasset and 11 people were alsoinjured, the rescue unit said on its Facebook…

Sudan: Peace mission in Darfur ends, stoking fears of new clashes

KHARTOUM, Jan 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United Nations and African Union on Thursday ended a 13-year mission to keep the peace in the vast Sudanese region of Darfur, even as recent violent clashes leave residents fearful of renewed fighting. Fighting erupted in Darfur in 2003, when ethnic minority rebels rose…

US Pres Trump in winter: eight days of golf, tweets and rage

WEST PALM BEACH (Florida, US), Jan 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump wound up his vacation at his Florida resort, isolated,angry and with his power slipping away. Two months after losing the US presidential election to Joe Biden, the 74-year-old Trump is still refusing to admit his defeat. He spent…

Covid-19: UK approaches one million vaccinated as cases surge

LONDON, Jan 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Britain said that it hadvaccinated almost 950,000 people, as a surge in coronavirus cases promptedthe reopening of field hospitals and warnings not to party on New Year’s Eve. According to the latest government figures, 944,539 people in the UK hadreceived a first dose of the…

Update: Daesh claims Syria bus ambush that killed 37 soldiers

DAMASCUS, Jan 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Daesh group claimedresponsibility Thursday for an attack that killed nearly 40 soldiers in Syriathe day before when jihadists ambushed a bus in eastern Syria. War monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Daeshhad attacked government soldiers as they travelled home for holidays in…

US gun violence: Demonstrators march on Chicago after bloody 2020

CHICAGO, Jan 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Demonstrators marched through the frigid streets of Chicago Thursday in memory of victims of gun violence, which rose dramatically in the third-largest US city in 2020. Police in the Windy City recorded 762 homicides in 2020, up 55 percent from 2019, according to a Dec…

Covid-19: Brazil rings in 2021 with nearly empty Copacabana beach

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazil rang in the New Year withRio de Janeiro’s famed Copacabana beach nearly empty — the usual swarms of revelers kept away by police because of the pandemic — and pot-banging protests against President Jair Bolsonaro. Rio usually hosts one of the world’s…

Large landslide hits southern Norway; 11 missing, 10 injured, over 900 people evacuated

At least five were injured after a large mud- and landslide early on Wednesday OSLO, Jan 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ten people were injured, one of them critically, and 11 were classified as missing after a landslide in southern Norway swept away more than a dozen buildings in the early hours…

Number of German companies in Russia falls by 7 per cent this year

Vladmir Putin, President of Russia BERLIN, Jan 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of German companies operating in Russia has fallen by 7 per cent year-on-year amid heightened political tensions and the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.There were 3,971 German companies or representatives of companies using German capital registered with…