Covid-19: France’s Eiffel Tower to reopen after record nine-month closure

PARIS, July 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France’s Eiffel Tower reopen to visitors on Friday for the first time in nine months following its longest closure since World War II.    The lifts of the “Iron Lady” are set to whir back into life, transporting tourists to its 300-metre summit, ending a long…

208-year jail sentence over school collapse in Mexico quake

 MEXICO CITY, July 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Mexican court has sentenced a man who approved flawed construction work at a school where 26 people died in a 2017 earthquake to 208 years in prison, prosecutors said.   Nineteen children were among those crushed to death when the private Rebsamen elementary school…

Pres Biden says sending US troops to Haiti ‘not on agenda’ for now

 WASHINGTON, July 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Joe Biden said that sending US troops to Haiti in the wake of the assassination of that country’s leader Jovenel Moise was not “on the agenda” for now, after officials in Port-au-Prince requested military assistance.   “We’re only sending American Marines to our embassy to…

US shooting: One police officer dead, three wounded in Texas

 HOUSTON (Texas, US), July 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Four police officers were shot and one died Thursday after confronting someone barricaded in a house in a small town in west Texas, news reports said.    The shooting erupted in Levelland, which is about 50 kilometers west of the city of Lubbock, a…

Cuba lifts customs restrictions on food and medicine after biggest protests in decades

Anti-government protesters march in Havana HAVANA, July 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Cuba announced it was temporarily lifting restrictions on travellers bringing food, medicines and hygiene products into the country in an apparent acknowledgment of demands from anti-governmental demonstrators.Thousands took to the streets across the island nation last weekend to protest chronic…

Dozens killed in flooding in Europe and about 1,300 assumed missing in one German district

People ride on a trailer as the Dutch fire brigade evacuate people from their homes in South Limburg. BERLIN, July 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 55 people have died due to severe flooding in Western Europe, caused by what experts described as the heaviest rainfall in a century. In Germany, about…

Venezuelan opposition figure Freddy Guevara arrested for “links to extremist groups”: Attorney General

Freddy Guevara CARACAS, July 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Prominent Venezuelan opposition figure Freddy Guevara was arrested on Monday, Attorney General Tarek William Saab said.Guevara was detained by SEBIN, the intelligence service, after Venezuela’s Public Ministry issued an arrest warrant due to his “links to extremist and paramilitary groups associated with the…

US puts visa restrictions on 100 Nicaraguans after opposition arrests

President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega WASHINGTON, July 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — After Nicaragua’s crackdown on several opposition figures, the United States has imposed new sanctions.Visa restrictions on 100 members of Nicaragua’s National Assembly and judicial system will come into force, the State Department said.The department said it has revoked any US…

Amnesty slams Libya, Europe over ‘horrific’ abuse of migrants

Rights group says new evidence has emerged of abuse, including sexual violence, against men, women and children intercepted at sea and forcibly returned to detention centres in Libya TRIPOLI, July 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Amnesty International has condemned the “horrific violations” being committed against migrants returned to Libya with the cooperation…

The Kenyan lawmaker with all-female armed bodyguards wearing hijabs

Gure says she prefers female bodyguards because she believe they can do better than men NAIROBI, July 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Kenyan lawmaker, who recently made the headlines after she was spotted in the company of an all-female, armed security detail, says she decided to choose them over male bodyguards…