Amazon fires a ‘tipping point’: forestry group chief

YOKOHAMA (Japan), Aug 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The fires tearing through the Amazon represent a “tipping point” for the health of the rainforest, the head of a top global forestry management body said, urging the world to do more to save the trees. The situation in the Amazon is “very urgent,”…

25 killed as attackers ignite fire in Mexico bar

MEXICO CITY, Aug 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 25 people werekilled and 11 badly wounded when gunmen burst into a strip club in eastern Mexico, doused it with gasoline and ignited a raging fire, officials said. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador condemned Tuesday night’s “shameful” attack in the city of…

Nigeria FG to build 4m houses by 2023 – Minister

FG to build 4m houses by 2023 – MinisterHouses project ABUJA, Aug 25 (NNN-NAN) — The Nigerian Federal Government promised to address housing deficit by delivering one million houses per year to close the 17 million shortfall by the year 2033. The Minister of State, Works and Housing, Abubakar Aliyu,…

FROM THE FIELD: Argentina preserving pristine forests

An Argentinian yacare caiman, in Misiones, in north-east Argentina. BUENOS AIRES, Aug 25 (NNN-UNNS) — Thousands of species of animals and plants which are indigenous to a vast forest in Argentina could be saved thanks to a partnership between the United Nations and the South American country.  The Paranaense Forest…

With security improving in DR Congo’s Kasai, thousands of refugees head home from Angola

Humanitarian workers provide food rations to refugee at the Lóvua settlement in Angola. GENEVA, Aug 25 (NNN-UNNS) — As security has improved in the restive Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), some 8,500 refugees have left the Lóvua settlement in Angola’s north-east Lunda Norte province in the…

Nearly 900 Mexican performers set world record for folk dance

GUADALAJARA (Mexico), Aug 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Nearly 900 people twirled and stamped their feet to mariachi music in the Mexican city of Guadalajara to set a Guinness record for the world’s biggest folk dance. Searing heat failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the 882 men and women, who turned up…

Panama: Finding solutions to curb fishing of pregnant sharks

PANAMA CITY, Aug 25 (NNN-TELESUR) — Female scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) migrate to Panama’s Bay of Punta Chame to give birth, but are being fished by industrial trawlers in the area, putting the already endangered species a closer risk of extinction, according to a study by the nation’s Secretary of…

Venezuela: Major natural gas explosion act of sabotage

CARACAS, Aug 25 (NNN-TELESUR) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says an investigation will immediately begin regarding the explosion of a natural gas-filling plant located in Miranda State on Saturday evening that forced some 6,500 residents of Ocumare del Tuy to temporarily leave their homes.  Venezuela’s Minister of Popular Power of Oil…

French police fire tear gas at anti-G7 protesters

BIARRITZ, Aug 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — French police used tear gas and water cannon to break up anti-G7 protesters in the southern city of Bayonne on Saturday, as leaders from the world’s leading industrialised nations arrived for their summit just a few kilometres away in Biarritz. Since Monday, anti-capitalist activists, environmentalists…

Mexico dismantles suspected women trafficking network in resort city

MEXICO CITY, Aug 25 (NNN-Xinhua) — Mexican authorities dismantled a suspected network of cross-border women trafficking in a resort city, the Attorney General’s office said on Saturday. The possible international human trafficking network supplies prostitution via the Internet in Los Cabos, a municipality at the southern tip of Baja California…