UK and EU hold latest talks as window for trade deal narrows

LONDON, July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Britain and the European Union resume talks, with the clock running down to a year-end deadline for a new post-Brexit deal to replace half a century of integration. The latest round of negotiations takes place over three days in the British capital, with stalemate in…

Israeli missile strike kills 5 fighters in Syria: monitor

DAMASCUS, July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Five Iran-backed fighters were killed in an Israeli missile strike south of the Syrian capital, a Britain-based war monitor said. The missile attack on Monday night hit weapons depots and military positions belonging to Syrian government forces and Iran-backed militia fighters south of Damascus, according…

US offers $5 mn reward for arrest of Venezuela chief justice

WASHINGTON, July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the chief justice of Venezuela’s supreme court, who faces US money laundering charges. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Maikal Jose Moreno Perez had “personally received money or property…

Afghanistan: Taliban truck bomb kills eight soldiers

KABUL, July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed truck near an Afghan military convoy, killing eight soldiers, the defence ministry said, in the latest attack claimed by the Taliban. The Monday attack, which took place in Sayed Abad district of Wardak province near the capital Kabul, also…

US unrest: Pres Trump threatens to send more federal officers into ‘Democrat’ cities

WASHINGTON, July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump threatened to send more military-garbed law enforcement into US cities to quell anti-racism protests, a move he called necessary security action and critics labelled an election year political stunt. After the Department of Homeland Security deployed scores of Border Patrol police and…

Mali opposition declares truce ahead of regional talks

BAMAKO, July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mali’s political opposition said it would halt protests in a “truce” ahead of the upcoming Eid festival, as four West African presidents prepare to travel to the country this week for mediation talks to try and resolve a deepening crisis. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has…

Update: EU leaders agree landmark 750 bn euro recovery deal

BRUSSELS, July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — EU leaders approved a landmark stimulus package to fight the withering aftershocks of the coronavirus outbreak that has sunk Europe into its deepest recession in history. The 750-billion-euro deal was sealed after four days and nights of intense negotiation that saw threats of walkouts and…

Covid-19: Chinese vaccine starts final tests in Brazil

BRASILIA, July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Chinese-made vaccine against the new coronavirus entered the final stage of testing Tuesday in Brazil, where volunteers received the first doses of what officials hope will be a game-changer in the global pandemic. The vaccine, developed by private Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech, became…

Covid-19: Hundreds of infected bodies recovered from Bolivian streets, homes

LA PAZ, July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Bolivian police said they recovered more than 400 bodies from streets and homes over a five-day period, with 85 percent of the dead believed to have had coronavirus. A total of 191 bodies were recovered in the Cochabamba metropolitan area alone from July 15-20,…

Update: Ethiopia says first year of Nile mega-dam filling ‘achieved’

ADDIS ABABA, July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ethiopia said that its first-year target has been reached for filling a mega-dam on the Blue Nile River that has stoked tensions with downstream neighbours Egypt and Sudan. “It has become evident over the past two weeks in the rainy season that the GERD…