Covid-19: Latin America is reopening too soon, WHO says

 People exercise on the first day of beaches reopening in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil WASHINGTON, Sept 19 (NNN-TELESUR) — World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director Carissa Etienne said that several Latin American countries have started to resume activities while COVID-19 is still extremely dangerous. Etienne warned that the pandemic still requires major…

Covid-19: Guatemalan President Giammattei tests positive for covid

GUATEMALA CITY, Sept 19 (NNN-TELESUR) — Guatemala President Alejandro Giammattei said that he is COVID-19 positive and in stable health condition with only mild symptoms.  The 64-years-old mandatory tested negative on five occasions in the last months, but on Thursday, his medical team confirmed his condition. Giammattei might have contracted…

Germany to ban plastic straws by mid-2021

BERLIN, Sept 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — German lawmakers approved legislation banning disposable plastic products such as straws, cutlery and cotton buds that are polluting the world’s oceans.The new law passed by Germany’s lower house of parliament will halt the sale of certain single-use plastics by July 2021.The move brings Germany in…

Covid-19: Pres Trump expects enough vaccines for every American by April

WASHINGTON, Sept 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Donald Trump said he expects enough Covid-19 vaccines “for every American” will be produced by next April, and that the first doses will be distributed immediately after approval later this year.Claiming “historic progress” with three vaccines in the final stages of development and…

Bolivia interim president withdraws from presidential race

Interim president of Bolivia, Jeanine Anez, announcing her withdrawal from the presidential race a month before the elections in La Paz LA PAZ, Sept 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The interim president of Bolivia, Jeanine Anez, announced her withdrawal from the presidential race a month before the elections, fearing she would split…

US wildfires: Showers bring relief to fire-ravaged Oregon as death toll rises in California

GATES (Oregon, US), Sept 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Intermittently heavy showers brought some relief to flame-stricken western Oregon, helping firefighters to further subdue deadly blazes that have ravaged much of the state and choked its air with smoke for the better part of two weeks. Oregon was especially hard hit by…

Rare Mediterranean storm batters Greece’s Ionian islands

A boat leans towards a wall during storm Ianos in Agia Efimia, Kefalonia, Greece ATHENS, Sept 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A rare storm, known as a Medicane (Mediterranean hurricane), hit western Greece on Friday, flooding streets, uprooting trees and causing power cuts in the Ionian islands of Kefalonia, Zakynthos and Ithaca.…

UN steps up monitoring of reported abuses in Belarus, raising stakes

President of the Human Rights Council Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger GENEVA, Sept 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United Nations agreed to step up monitoring of reported right abuses during Belarus’s crackdown on protests, angering Minsk and its ally Moscow and raising the diplomatic stakes in the crisis. During a highly charged debate at…

US Sec of State Pompeo visits refugees in Brazil, pressuring Venezuela’s Pres Maduro

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo BRASILIA, Sept 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Venezuelan migrants at a refugee reception center in northern Brazil on Friday at the third stop of a regional tour to ramp up pressure to oust Venezuela’s leftist President Nicolás Maduro. “They…

Covid-19: Seven dead, more than 150 infected after ‘superspreader’ wedding in the US

Tri-Town Baptist church where a wedding, connected to seven deaths and over 170 COVID-19 infections, that took place on Aug 7 is seen in East Millinocket, Maine MILLINOCKET (Maine, US), Sept 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A wedding in rural Maine became a COVID-19 “superspreader” event that left seven people dead and 177…