US: After 21 years, Clinton no longer the last president to be impeached

WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Donald Trump made history as the third US president to be impeached just a day ahead of the 21st anniversary of Bill Clinton’s indictment by American lawmakers. The roles were reversed on Dec 19, 1998: the president was a Democrat impeached by a Republican-controlled House…

Large number of protesters detained; mobile, internet services suspended to curb protests in India

NEW DELHI, Dec 20 (NNN-PTI) — Senior opposition leaders, a largenumber of students and activists were detained on Thursday by police on their way to two mega demonstrations against the new citizenship law as prohibitory orders and restrictions on internet and mobile phone services in parts of Delhi-NCR region inconvenienced…

Latin America as deadly as Middle East for journalists, RSF annual report

PARIS, Dec 19 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Forty-nine journalists were killed across the world in 2019, Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday, the lowest death toll in 16 years. The “historically low” number mostly died covering conflicts in Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan, the Paris-based watchdog said, which warned that “journalism remains a…

Brazil probe into Petrobras widened to Maersk shipping contracts

BRASILIA, Dec 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazilian authorities targeted Maersk and other companies for allegedly paying bribes to get an edge in securing shipping contracts with state oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro, in the latest phase of a sprawling graft probe. Federal prosecutors said in a statement that Denmark’s Maersk, the world’s…

Italy faces complaint at UN over ‘abusive’ Libya asylum returns

GENEVA, Dec 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Campaigners filed a complaint with the UN against Italy over a teenage migrant who was sent back to Libya in 2018 along with other migrants, where he was shot, beaten and subjected to forced labour. The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) lodged the case with…

Mexico: 14 killed in fiery family mini-bus crash

GUADALAJARA (Mexico), Dec 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A mini-bus carrying a family to a holiday beach getaway in Mexico crashed into a lumber truck on Wednesday and caught fire, killing 14 people including five children, authorities said. Many of the victims were trapped inside the burning mini-bus, whose charred chassis could…

Romania: 11 injured in head-on train collision

BUCHAREST, Dec 19 (NNN-Xinhua) — Eleven people were injured after a passenger train and a freight train collided head on Wednesday near the capital city of Bucharest, southeastern Romania. According to the local Emergency Situations Inspectorate of Prahova County, where the accident occurred, 10 people were sent to the local…

Death toll in Panama prison shooting climbs to 15

PANAMA CITY, Dec 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Panama’s Pres Laurentino Cortizo wasted no time in following through on his promise that there would be “consequences” following the Tuesday afternoon massacre in La Joyita prison, where the death toll has now risen to 15, with 13 detainees still hospitalized with severe injuries.…

Russia: Moscow’s snowless December warmest in 133 years

MOSCOW, Dec 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian capital, Moscow registered the warmest December weather in over a century on Wednesday, as an unusually snowless month put winter activities on hold and confused plants into blooming. One weather station in northern Moscow registered a temperature of 5.4 degrees Celsius (41.7 degrees Fahrenheit),…

Cameroon MPs pass devolution bill for troubled anglophone regions

YAOUNDE, Dec 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A bill granting special status to Cameroon’s two crisis-hit anglophone regions was passed by lawmakers on Wednesday, national radio said, an attempt to ease two years of bloody violence. If the Senate approves the devolution law and it comes into force, the western areas where…