November 2019 was second hottest on record: US

WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Last month was the second hottest November in the 140-year global climate record, a US government agency said, adding that polar sea ice also shrank to near-record lows. The average global land and ocean surface temperature for November 2019 was 1.66 degrees Fahrenheit (0.92 degree…

Venezuelan Pres Maduro to relaunch Petrocaribe program in 2020

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (C), Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel (L), Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega (R), and First Secretary of the Communist Party Raul Castro (2-R) during the closure of the 17th Summit of ALBA (the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America), in Havana, Cuba HAVANA, Dec 16 (NNN-TELESUR)…

Zambia wants U.S. Envoy withdrawn over jailing of gay couple

FILE PICTURE: President Edgar Chagwa Lungu (right) talks to American Ambassador to Zambia Daniel Foote (centre) during a meeting at State House on Thursday, August 23, 2018. LUSAKA, Dec 16 (NNN-ALLAFRICA) — The Zambian government has written to Washington to withdraw its envoy Daniel Foote following his controversial remarks over…

Nigeria: Lecturer, 10 other victims kidnapped by Boko Haram beg for freedom

ABUJA, Dec 16 (NNN-ALLAFRICA) — A college lecturer and 10 other persons who were recently kidnapped by Boko Haram has appeared in a video, shared by their abductors, asking the Nigerian government to come to their rescue. The abductees said they are mostly Christians and from Yobe State. They want…

Zimbabwe vice president’s wife arrested for suspected fraud, money laundering

Marry Mubaiwa,wife of vice-president Constantine Guvheya Nyikadzino Chiwenga, was arrested by Zimbabwe’s anti-graft commission. HARARE, Dec 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Zimbabwean authorities arrested the wife of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga on charges of money laundering, fraud and violating exchange control regulations, the country’s anti Corruption Commission (ZACC) said. Marry Mubaiwa was…

Turkey ready to give any military support Libya needs – Pres Erdogan

Turkish President President Tayyip Erdogan ISTANBUL, Dec 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey is ready to provide Tripoli any military support it needs after Ankara and Libya’s internationally recognised government signed a security deal. “We will be protecting the rights of Libya and Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean,”…

Killings of former guerrillas in Colombia is a genocide: FARC Senator

BOGOTA, Dec 16 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — The assassination of former guerrilla fighters since the signing in 2016 of the Peace Agreement between the Government and the FARC-EP amounts to a genocide, expressed Pablo Catatumbo, senator of the Colombian FARC party. ‘#URGENT, 180 signatory of the peace agreement assassinated. The government…

Tensions between US and Cuba might worsen: Official

HAVANA, Dec 16 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — The general director of the US Office of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, has warned that tensions between the two countries might worsen due to aggressiveness of the officials in charge of Washington’s foreign policy. In a statement, the Cuban diplomat…

UK PM Johnson cannot keep Scotland in union against its will: Sturgeon

Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson row over new Scottish independence referendum LONDON, Dec 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, warned Prime Minister Boris Johnson that he could not keep Scotland in the United Kingdom against the country’s will. Johnson and his government have repeatedly said they will not…

French CGT union gives ultimatum to government to withdraw pension plan

Empty platforms at Gare Montparnasse train station PARIS, Dec 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France’s CGT union threatened to double its protests unless the government withdraws its pension reform proposal within the next week. In a major overhaul of its pension scheme, the French government has proposed that people work two years…