In new summit, Biden seeks ‘free and open’ Pacific with Australia, India, Japan

   WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Joe Biden and the leaders of Australia, India and Japan promised to work together for a stable, open and democratic Indo-Pacific in a veiled dig at China during their first in-person summit together.   In Biden’s latest effort to cement US leadership in…

Brazil sets 5G mobile auction for Nov 4, expects to raise US$1.9 billion

BRASILIA, Sept 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazil’s government has scheduled an auction of fifth generation (5G) mobile spectrum for Nov 4, with expectations that it will raise around 10 billion reais (US$1.87 billion) based on the minimum bids allowed, government officials said. The winning bidders will be required to invest about 40…

British police arrest 39 climate activists blocking Port of Dover

LONDON, Sept 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — British climate change protesters on Friday temporarily blocked the Port of Dover, Europe’s busiest trucking port, and police arrested 39 people. About 40 activists from the environmental group Insulate Britain brought traffic to and from the port, the main artery for trade over the English…

Migrant camp in south Texas dwindles to a few hundred people

CIUDAD ACUNA (Mexico), Sept 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Only a few hundred mostly Haitian migrants were left camping out under an international bridge in Del Rio, Texas, down from nearly 15,000 people who had converged there last week as US officials ramped up expulsions to Haiti and some releases into the United…

Update: Bolsonaro’s son and two cabinet members diagnosed with COVID-19

BRASILIA, Sept 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s son and two members of his cabinet said on Friday (Sep 24) that they had tested positive for COVID-19, bringing to four the number of close aides diagnosed since the far-right leader’s trip to the United Nations. Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina,…

Canadian PM Trudeau says 2 detained citizens have left China

OTTAWA, Sept 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two Canadian citizens who were detained by Beijing for more than 1,000 days have left Chinese airspace and will arrive back in Canada early on Saturday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters. Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were picked up in December 2018, shortly after…

Covid-19: 60 mn Americans now eligible for Pfizer booster shots, Biden says

   WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Some 60 million people in the United States are now eligible for a Pfizer booster shot against Covid-19, President Joe Biden said as a regulatory marathon laying bare divisions within the scientific community on the issue came to a close.   In the end,…

Oldest human footprints in North America found in New Mexico

WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Footprints dating back 23,000 years have been discovered in the United States, suggesting humans settled North America long before the end of the last Ice Age, according to researchers.The findings push back the date at which the continent was colonized by its first inhabitants by…

Oldest bone tools for clothmaking found in Morocco

RABAT, Sept 25 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — Archaeologists in Morocco have identified clothesmaking tools fashioned from bone dating back 120,000 years, the oldest ever found, one of the researchers said.“It’s a major discovery because while older bone tools have been found elsewhere, it’s the first time we have identified bone tools (this…

Nigeria arrests members of kidnapping gang involved in abducting schoolchildren

ABUJA, Sept 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Three people suspected of abducting more than 100 students from a Christian school in northwestern Nigeria two months ago have been arrested, police said.On July 5, gunmen invaded the Bethel Baptist Secondary School on the outskirts of Kaduna and abducted 121 students who were sleeping…