Mexico tightens travel requirements on South American visitors

MEXICO CITY, Dec 20 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Mexican migration authorities have decided over the past few days to reinstate a visa requirement for travelers from Venezuela, Ecuador, and Brazil after it was detected large numbers of those alleged tourists were seeking to go on by land and try to cross into…

Somali forces kill 6 al-Shabaab militants in southern region

MOGADISHU, Dec 20 (NNN-Xinhua) — Somali National Army (SNA)’s special forces (Danab) on Sunday killed six fighters of al-Shabaab militant group during the operation in the southern region, military officials confirmed on Monday. SNA commanders who led the operation told the State-owned Radio Mogadishu that the security forces which have…

Japanese space tourists return to Earth after 12 days on ISS

ALMATY (Kazakhstan), Dec 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Japanese billionaire returned to Earth on Monday, after 12 days spent on the International Space Station where he made videos about performing mundane tasks in space including brushing teeth and going to the bathroom. Online fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa and his assistant Yozo Hirano…

South Africa: ‘Manhood’ initiation ceremony kills 23 South African teenagers

PRETORIA, Dec 20 (NNN-ALLAFRICA) — An initiation rite in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province has left 23 Xhosa teenagers dead with Provincial premier Oscar Mabuyane calling for those responsible to be charged with murder. The dead succumbed to dehydration or sepsis from circumcision at the start of the ceremony, which…

President wants Buenos Aires to no longer be capital of Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 20 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Argentine President Alberto Fernández said he was entertaining the idea that the country’s capital should not be Buenos Aires, thus resurfacing a controversy from 1853-1860 which then-President Raúl Alfonsín also sought in the 1980s to reshape. “Every day I think if the capital should…

Dutch prosecutors to demand sentences for MH17 suspects

A verdict at the high-security court, near Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport where MH17 took off on its doomed flight to Kuala Lumpur, is not expected until late 2022 at the earliest THE HAGUE, Dec 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Dutch prosecutors will this week set out their sentencing demands for four men on…

5 bodies retrieved as three still trapped in collapsed under-construction Murang’a hotel

NAIROBI, Dec 20 (NNN-KBC) — Three more people are yet to be accounted for after five bodies were retrieved from the rubble of the collapsed four-storey Sunstar Hotel in Gatanga, Murang’a County. The death toll now rises to six when one of the victims died while undergoing treatment in hospital.…

Covid-19: EU set to back Novavax vaccine

    THE HAGUE, Dec 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The EU’s drug regulator will decide Monday whether to approve a Covid jab by Novavax, which uses a more conventional technology that the US biotech firm hopes will reduce vaccinehesitancy.    Novavax’s jab, a protein-based vaccine of the kind used around the world…

Update: Cattle thieves kill 38 civilians in northern Nigeria

   KANO (Nigeria), Dec 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Armed cattle thieves killed 38 people Sunday in three separate attacks in northern Nigeria’s Kaduna state, a local official said, the latest bloodshed to hit the region.    The assailants, who usually ride on motorcycles, stormed the villages of Kauran Fawa, Marke and…

Covid-19: New US push for vaccines, boosters to stem ‘raging’ Omicron

New US push for COVID-19 vaccines, boosters to stem ‘raging’ Omicron WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US health officials urged Americans to get booster shots, wear masks and be careful if they travel over the winter holidays, as the Omicron variant raged across the world and was set to take over as the…