British PM Boris Johnson cabinet: Sajid Javid, Priti Patel and Dominic Raab given top jobs

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Photo courtesy of Anadolu LONDON, July 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s new-look cabinet includes Sajid Javid as chancellor and Priti Patel as home secretary among an array of prominent Brexiteers to receive top jobs. Dominic Raab is foreign secretary and first secretary…

Somalia: Six dead and Mogadishu mayor wounded in blast at his office

MOGADISHU, July 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Six people were killed and the mayor of Mogadishu was wounded in a bombing at the mayoral offices in the Somali capital on Wednesday, in an attack claimed by militant group Al-Shabaab. United Nations special envoy James Swan had met the mayor, Abdirahman Omar Osman,…

US Pres Trump vetoes measures blocking arms sales to Saudi Arabia, UAE

WASHINGTON, July 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump vetoed three congressional resolutions barring billions of dollars in weapons sales to countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which are engaged in a devastating war in Yemen. The resolutions “would weaken America’s global competitiveness and damage the important relationships…

US judge blocks Trump administration’s new asylum rule

LOS ANGELES, July 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A federal judge in California issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration’s new rule barring most immigrants from obtaining asylum in the US if they transit through Mexico. US District Judge Jon Tigar handed down his decision, which takes effect immediately, following a…

Update: Kenya’s finance minister pleads not guilty to corruption charges

NAIROBI, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Kenya’s Finance Minister Henry Rotich pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to corruption charges over the award of two dam tenders, a day after his detention in an unprecedented move against a sitting minister in a country notorious for graft. Rotich, together with other senior officials,…

Guatemalan Gov’t to deliver more homes to people affected by volcano

GUATEMALA CITY, July 23 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — As part of the second phase of the Guatemalan government project La Dignidad, 176 families affected by the eruption of the Volcan de Fuego volcano in 2018 will receive their homes, officila sources reported Monday. Mario Passarelli, director of the Unit for the…

Chilean President’s Popularity at Lowest Level

SANTIAGO, July 23 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — People’s support for Chilean President Sebastian Piñera’s performance has dropped to 29 percent over the past week, according to a survey published by Plaza Publica. The poll by the consulting firm Cadem, which is considered benevolent with the government, shows Piñera with 29 percent,…

South Africa pledges to cooperate with UN court in arrest of genocide suspect

PRETORIA, July 23 (NNN-GNA) — The South African government pledged to cooperate with the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) in the arrest of genocide suspects.This came after IRMCT chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz accused South Africa of failing to cooperate in the arrest of a fugitive sought over…

Brazilian government will not censor deforestation data: spokesperson

BRASILIA, July 23 (NNN-Xinhua) — The Brazilian government said that President Jair Bolsonaro does not intend to stop the publication of Brazil’s deforestation figures. Bolsonaro does not want to shut public access to the figures gathered by the National Institute of Space Research (Inpe), said government spokesperson Otavio Rego Barros.…

All of Chile’s mass transit buses to be electric by 2050

SANTIAGO, July 23 (NNN-Xinhua) — By 2050, Chile expects to convert 100 percent of its mass transit bus fleet into electric vehicles, the country’s Ministry of Energy said on Monday. The idea is to improve “people’s quality of life” and at the same time promote “technological innovation and development of…