Zambia delays new sales tax until January 2020

LUSAKA, Aug 3 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — Zambia will delay implementing a new sales tax until January 2020 to allow for further refinement of the law, Finance Minister Bwalya Ng’andu said.Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, plans to replace an existing value-added tax with a non-refundable sales tax, but the move has met…

Mexico: 2,000 people displaced after gas pipeline leak

MEXICO CITY, Aug 3 (NNN-TELESUR) — Nearly 2,000 people were evacuated from a rural community north of Mexico City due to a gas leak. The leak was caused by an illegal tap drilled by fuel thieves. The state-run Pemex oil company said the flow of LP gas into the pipeline…

Flash flooding kills residents of Sierra Leone capital, Freetown

FREETOWN, Aug 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least five people are dead after flash flooding hit Sierra Leone’s capital on Friday amid torrential rains, mortuary sources said. More rain was expected as some residents feared possible mudslides like ones that devastated parts of Freetown two years ago. Serious damage was reported…

Uganda starts largest trial of experimental Ebola vaccine

KAMPALA, Aug 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Researchers in Uganda have launched the largest-ever trial of the experimental Ebola vaccine that is expected to be deployed in neighboring DR Congo, where a deadly outbreak has killed over 1,800 people. The trial of the Janssen Pharmaceuticals vaccine involves up to 800 people in…

Spanish NGO boat seeks safe port for 124 people rescued in Mediterranean

MADRID, Aug 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Spanish charity rescue boat sought safe port after Italy rejected its request to disembark 124 people saved from two migrant rafts in the Mediterranean, the organisation said. Non-governmental organisation (NGO) rescue boats have largely disappeared from the Mediterranean over the last year as governments…

Mexican journalist shot and killed in violent Guerrero state

MEXICO CITY, Aug 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Mexican reporter in Guerrero state who also served as a municipal official was shot and killed on Friday in a beachside resort, authorities said, the second journalist from the state murdered in less than a week. Edgar Alberto Nava, who published news stories…

Pres Maduro says he ‘repudiates’ US Pres Trump statement on possible Venezuela blockade

CARACAS, Aug 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement about a possible blockade of the South American country, adding that its seas would remain “free and independent.” Maduro said he had asked Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada, to denounce…

Gunmen kill five detainees held in Mexico police station

CELAYA (Mexico), Aug 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Gunmen burst into a police station killing five detainees in central Mexico, local authorities say. The group opened fire on the five unidentified men in their cells at Guanjuanto state police station on Friday after arriving in several vehicles, state security commission spokesman Juan…

EU nominates Bulgaria’s Georgieva as its candidate for next IMF chief

FRANKFURT, Aug 3 (NNN-Xinhua) — The European Union has nominated Kristalina Georgieva as its candidate for the next president of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following long hours of votes on Friday. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, congratulated Georgieva on her nomination in a tweet. “You have all…

African swine fever hits sixth pig farm in Bulgaria

SOFIA, Aug 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Bulgarian veterinary authorities said they would cull 8,253 pigs after detecting an outbreak of African swine fever at a breeding farm in the northeast of the country, the sixth industrial farm in the country to be hit by the virus. The outbreak was detected at…