Covid-19: Zimbabwe runs out of vaccines amid third wave

HARARE, June 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Zimbabweans are finding it increasingly difficult to access Covid-19 vaccines at a time the country is recording a huge jump in the number of new infections and fears of a third wave of the pandemic.The southern African country started a mass vaccination programme in February…

Ethiopia elections 2021: PM Abiy Ahmed faces first vote amid conflict

Some 37 million people registered to vote in the election ADDIS ABABA, June 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ethiopians have been voting in key elections on Monday amid rising tensions and a conflict in the northern Tigray region. This pandemic-delayed poll is Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s first electoral test since coming to…

EU slaps fresh sanctions on Myanmar junta

  BRUSSELS, June 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The EU added eight more officials from Myanmar’s junta and three firms linked to the military to its sanctions blacklist over the coup and bloody repression of protests.    Those targeted with asset freezes and visa bans included the interior, security, finance, natural resources and…

Conflict violence against children soared in 2020: UN

  UNITED NATIONS, June 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Violence against children in war-torn countries soared in 2020, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to an annual United Nations report.   Child abductions increased 90 percent while rape and sexual abuse of children rose 70 percent compared to the previous year, said the…

Nigerian police kill 14 gunmen in central Nigeria

ABUJA, June 20 (NNN-Xinhua) — Nigerian police killed 14 gunmen after repelling their attempted attack on a police station in central Nigeria’s Benue state on Sunday morning, police said. Catherine Anene, a spokesperson for Benue police, said in a statement a group of gunmen numbering about 50 launched an attack…

Russian ambassador returns ‘optimistic’ to Washington

MOSCOW, June 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Russian ambassador in Washington flew back Sunday to the United States saying he hoped to build “equal and pragmatic” ties after a US-Russia summit in Geneva aimed at reducing tensions. The plane transporting ambassador Anatoly Antonov, who was recalled in March for consultations, took off…

Covid-19: Argentina records first “black fungus” death

BUENOS AIRES, June 20 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — A 35-year-old man who had had coronavirus and medical history of diabetes has been recorded as Argentina’s first death caused by “black fungus”. The patient, who died in the last weeks of May, had been hospitalized in Lomas de Zamora, a suburb outside the…

South African surgeons to reconstruct face of boy, 9, after Zimbabwe hyena attack

JOHANNESBURG, June 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Plastic surgeons in South Africa are preparing to reconstruct the face of a nine-year-old Zimbabwean boy mauled by a hyena in an attack last month. Rodwell Khomazana lost his nose, left eye, most of his upper lip, bits of his forehead and other parts of…

Covid-19: Cuba encouraged by early trials of homegrown vaccine

HAVANA, June 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Cuba’s Soberana 2 vaccine candidate has shown 62 per cent efficacy with just two of its three doses, state-run biopharmaceutical corporation BioCubaFarma said, citing preliminary data from late-phase trials. Cuba, whose biotech sector has exported vaccines for decades, has five vaccine candidates in clinical trials,…

Mexico City shuts down classes again, enters higher COVID-19 risk tier

A child receives hand sanitizer while arriving at the Ignacio Zaragoza elementary school MEXICO CITY, June 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mexico City schools that had just gone back to in-person classes will be closed again starting Monday as the sprawling capital climbs into a higher tier of coronavirus risk, education authorities…