US: After mission failure, Boeing spacecraft lands in New Mexico

WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Boeing’s new Starliner unmanned spacecraft returned to Earth on Sunday, landing in the New Mexico desert in the United States six days early after a clock problem prevented a rendezvous with the International Space Station. Images broadcast by NASA showed the spacecraft touching down safely…

Portugal/Spain: Five dead as storm strikes Iberian Peninsula

LISBON, Dec 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A storm sweeping across Spain and Portugal has killed at least five people, damaged buildings, cut power lines and forced authorities to shut roads hit by flooding and fallen trees, officials said. Storm Elsa hit the Iberian Peninsula on Wednesday and increased in intensity on…

Gang fight in Honduran prison leaves at least 18 inmates dead

TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 18 inmates were killed and 16 wounded during a fight between rival gangs in a Honduran penitentiary on Friday, authorities said, in one of the worst recent outbreaks of prison violence in the country. Two days earlier, the government declared a state of…

Six injured as giant cruise ships collide off Mexico

Carnival Glory cruise ship crashes into Carnival Legend at Cozumel cruise port, Mexico MEXICO CITY, Dec 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Six people were injured Friday when two enormous cruise ships operated by US-based Carnival collided off Mexico’s Caribbean coast, the company said. “Oh my God!” a man can be heard saying…

Sex work is not a crime – Nigerian judge declares

Sex workers arrested ABUJA, Dec 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Nigerian court has declared that sex work is not a crime since there is no law that forbids it. Justice Binta Nyako of the high court in the capital, Abuja, awarded damages to 16 women who were arrested for prostitution in…

China slams EU parliament over Uighur sanctions resolution

BEIJING/BRUSSELS, Dec 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Beijing on Friday accused the European Parliament of hypocrisy, after a resolution called for targeted sanctions against Chinese officials over the treatment of the Uighur minority. China has faced international condemnation for rounding up an estimated one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities…

France braces for holiday travel chaos amid pensions strike

Trying to catch one of the few trains running PARIS, Dec 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Cancelled trains, packed roads, frazzled nerves: Travellers scrambled across France on Friday to begin Christmas vacations upended by a weeks-long transport strike over a pensions overhaul that unions have vowed to defeat. Hopes of a holiday…

Over 1,000 women take feminist anthem to Chile’s streets

Created by a Chilean Feminist collective and first performed last month, the song slams violence against women SANTIAGO, Dec 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than a thousand women have taken the feminist anthem “A Rapist In Your Way” into the streets of Chile’s capital Santiago, performing the rallying cry sung in cities…

Update: Boeing’s Starliner astronaut capsule fails key test to reach space station

Boeing’s new Starliner spacecraft is in the wrong orbit during first trip to space CAPE CANAVERAL (Florida, US), Dec 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Boeing Co’s new astronaut capsule failed after liftoff on Friday to climb high enough in orbit to reach the International Space Station, cutting short a critical unmanned test…

US accuses Venezuela of bribes to rig opposition vote

US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams (right) and Charge d’Affaires for Venezuela James Story WASHINGTON, Dec 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States on Friday promised further sanctions to pressure Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of bribing lawmakers to block the re-election of his opponent Juan Guaido. The National…