Covid-19: Pres Bolsonaro says Brazil at ‘tail end’ of pandemic

BRASILIA, Dec 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Jair Bolsonaro said Brazil was at the “tail end” of the coronavirus pandemic, despite a surge ininfections and deaths that many experts are calling a second wave. “We’re at the tail end of the pandemic. Compared to other countries in theworld, our government was…

Cuba will unify its two currencies as of Jan 1: president

HAVANA, Dec 11 (NNN AGENCIES) — Cuba will unify its two currencies, theCuban peso and convertible peso, as of Jan 1, ending a unique system thathas existed for nearly three decades, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said. “We consider the conditions met to announce the start of this reformbeginning January 1, 2021,…

Covid-18: US experts vote to approve Pfizer vaccine

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US experts voted Thursday to recommend granting emergency approval for Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine, paving the way for America to become the next country to move ahead with mass immunization. It comes as the worst-hit country in the world logged more than 3,000 virusdeaths in one…

US Pres-elect Joe Biden and Vice-Pres-elect Kamala Harris named Time ‘Person of the Year’

NEW YORK, Dec 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have been chosen as Time magazine’s 2020“Person of the Year,” the publication announced. The pair were chosen ahead of three other finalists: frontline health careworkers and Anthony Fauci, the racial justice movement, and President Donald…

Guinea-Bissau: Death Of 2,000 rare vultures linked to rituals

Guinea-Bissau is home to around 22% of the critically endangered hooded vultures  BISSAU, Dec 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The deaths of more than 2,000 hooded vultures in Guinea-Bissau this year has been linked to superstitious rituals. A researcher Mohammed Henriques told the French public radio, RFI, that heads, legs and claws of the vultures…

Australia: Parliament ordered mining company Rio Tinto to rebuild ancient Aboriginal caves it destroyed

The Juukan Gorge cave site before and after the mining works SYDNEY, Dec 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) —Mining giant Rio Tinto must rebuild a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal cave system it blew up in May, an Australian parliamentary inquiry has said. The Juukan Gorge caves in Western Australia were destroyed as part of an iron ore…

International court to sentence killer of Lebanon’s Hariri

LEIDSCHENDAM (Netherlands), Dec 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A UN-backed tribunal will on Friday sentence a Hezbollah member convicted of the 2005assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafic Hariri, with prosecutorsdemanding a life term. Salim Ayyash, 57, was found guilty in absentia of murder on Aug 18 bythe Netherlands-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon…

EU plans more sanctions against Turkey

BRUSSELS, Dec 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — EU leaders decided on Friday to draw up a list of Turkish targets for sanctions in response to Ankara’s prospectingfor gas in Greek and Cypriot waters. “The council adopted sanctions in the face of Turkey’s ‘unilateral actionsand provocations’,” French minister for European affairs Clement Beaunetweeted,…

Covid-19: African countries to get vaccines in early 2021

A platform called the COVAX facility has been developed with 186 countries on board ABUJA (Nigeria), Dec 11 (NNN-GNA) — African countries will have access to the COVID-19 vaccines from the end of January through the first quarter of 2021, said a special envoy of the African Union (AU).Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the AU…

UN Chief condemns violence in DRC amid political crisis

UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres UNITED NATIONS, Dec 11 (NNN-GNA) — UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres condemned the violent incidents in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), amid an evolving political crisis, said his spokesman.The violence took place over the past two days as the ruling coalition in the DRC…