Venezuela: Pres Maduro chosen as ruling party election candidate

CARACAS, March 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has been selected to seek a third, successive term in July 28 elections, a senior ruling party official said.    A vote by the PSUV party concluded that Maduro would be its presidential candidate, Diosdado Cabello, considered the number 2 in the…

UN chief calls for action as women’s rights face backsliding, violence

Dennis Francis, president of UN General Assembly UNITED NATIONS, March 12 (NNN-XINHUA) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres underscored the critical urgency of protecting women’s rights, now endangered by regressing achievements, escalating violence, and a widening digital gender divide. Addressing the opening of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW),…

AU, UN to promote counterterrorism through sports, African culture

ACCRA, March 12 (NNN-XINHUA) — The African Union (AU) Sports Council and the United Nations Office of Counterterrorism (UNOCT) on Monday announced their collaboration to use the tools of sports and African culture to prevent violent extremism. The two institutions disclosed this at a press briefing on the sidelines of…

US: 3 children, 2 adults die after school bus collides with semitruck

SPRINGFIELD (Illinois, US), March 12 (NNN-XINHUA) — Three children and two adults died after a school bus collided with a semitruck on Monday on a highway in Rushville, about 91 km northwest of the U.S. Illinois state capital, Springfield. The crash happened around 11:30 a.m. when the school bus heading…

Haiti’s PM Ariel Henry resigns as gangs run rampant through country engulfed in crisis

KINGSTON (Jamaica), March 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The embattled leader of Haiti, Ariel Henry, has resigned according to regional leaders after weeks of mounting chaos in the Caribbean nation, where gangs have been attacking government structures and social order is on the brink of collapse. Henry submitted his resignation, officials of the regional bloc CARICOM announced Monday…

Venezuela incurs 700 bln USD GDP loss from US sanctions, says VP

CARACAS, March 12 (NNN-XINHUA) — US sanctions against Venezuela have caused losses of nearly 700 billion U.S. dollars in GDP, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said.   Venezuela’s oil industry sustained losses of almost 232 billion dollars due to the sanctions, which have in addition frozen more than 22 billion dollars…

Seven missing after floods snare cars in southern France: official

DIONS (France), March 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — French rescue workers were searching for seven people, including two children, missing after violent storms swept the south of the country with most believed to have been swept away in cars on flooded bridges. A family of four, including two children aged four and…

UK pledges additional funds to protect Muslim communities

Ramadan light displays in central London LONDON, March 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United Kingdom will pump an additional 117 million pounds ($150m) into protecting Muslim communities, the government said.The new funding, announced on Monday as the Muslim month of Ramadan began, will be used to install security cameras, alarms, and…

IMF releases $120m to Uganda to address post-Covid slump, inflation

WASHINGTON, March 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) board has approved a disbursement of $120 million to Uganda after the fifth review of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) programme that will see Kampala receive up to $1 billion from the multilateral lender.This is the fourth disbursement under the…

Nigeria warns schools in 14 states at risk of kidnappings

ABUJA, March 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Nigerian government has identified schools in at least 14 states and the capital, Abuja, as vulnerable to attacks following a renewed wave of mass abductions of students.Hajia Halima Iliya, the national coordinator of state-run Financing Safe Schools in Nigeria, said the agency had collected…