UN urges Russia to end ‘temporary occupation’ of Crimea

Russian President Vladimir Putin during a ceremony to launch a traffic of the Tavrida federal highway, in Crimea UNITED NATIONS, Dec 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution urging Russia to end its “temporary occupation” of Crimea, which Moscow took over in 2014, “without delay”. The resolution…

Ghanaians vote to elect president, parliamentarians

ACCRA, Dec 7 (NNN-ALLAFRICA) — Over 17 million Ghanaians will go to the polls on Monday to elect their president and 275 members of parliament. There are 12 presidential candidates and 914 parliamentary hopefuls on the ballot and voting will be done in 38,622 polling stations across the 16 regions.…

DR Congo: At least 8 killed in Goma violence

GOMA (DR Congo), Dec 7 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — Eight people were killed by unidentified gunmen in a shootout in a working-class neighbourhood of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the governor of North Kivu said. “Two individuals arrived on a motorbike at a barber shop and killed two people, firing…

Global COVID-19 cases top 67 mln: Johns Hopkins University

NEW YORK, Dec 7 (NNN-XINHUA) — Global COVID-19 cases surpassed 67 million on Sunday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. As of 10:45 p.m. Sunday (0345 GMT Monday), the global case count reached 67,027,780, with a total of 1,535,492 deaths worldwide, the…

Europe battles surge in COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes

MADRID, Dec 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — As the two mortuary workers pushed a stretcher with a bagged corpse out of the room, the elderly man in the adjacent bed briefly awakened from his dementia. “Is he dead?” he muttered, extending his arm, trying to touch his roommate for the last time.…

Search ends for people trapped in Nicaragua mine collapse

MANAHUA (Nicaragua), Dec 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Authorities in Nicaragua called off the search for people trapped in the collapse of an unlicensed gold mine in the country’s south. Two bodies had already been pulled from the debris, and up to 16 others had reportedly been trapped after the accident in the La…

Algerian airline resumes domestic flights after shutdown for over 8 months

ALGIERS, Dec 7 (NNN-Xinhua) — Algeria’s flag carrier airline Air Algeria Sunday resumed domestic flights after more than eight months of shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the official APS news agency reported. A total of 23 planes of the national airline took off from Algiers airport to various destinations…

US Pres-elect Biden picks California official Becerra, a Latino, for health secretary: report

WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) –Pres-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate California attorney general Xavier Becerra for secretary of health and human services, which would add another Latino member to the president-elect’s increasingly diverse cabinet, US media reported. During Becerra’s 12 terms in Congress representing Los Angeles, he was an outspoken…

EU, UK face ‘narrow path’ to Brexit breakthrough in final push

BRUSSELS, Dec 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — EU and UK post-Brexit trade talks reached crisis point on Monday with the outcome highly uncertain and the risk of a damaging “no-deal” still alive. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and his UK counterpart David Frost worked late into Sunday in Brussels, scrambling to close…

Mali’s interim legislature elect Malick Diaw as president

Diaw was second-in-command of the military government that took power after a coup in August BAMAKO, Dec 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mali’s interim legislature has elected Colonel Malick Diaw, a member of the military government that toppled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August, as its president. The 121-seat body, known as…