European powers reject Turkey’s decision to send troops to Libya

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian BRUSSELS, Jan 8 (NNN-Xinhua) — Top European diplomats emerged from a Tuesday meeting saying continuing outside interference is fuelling the crisis in Libya and that there is no military solution to it. Top diplomats from Britain, Italy, Germany, France as well as the European…

Togo: Pres Gnassingbé to seek another term, hoping to extend family’s decades-long rule

LOME, Jan 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Togo’s president Faure Gnassingbe confirmed his candidacy for elections next month that look set to see him claim a fourth term and extend his family’s decades-long rule. The incumbent has been in power for nearly 15 years since taking over after the death of his…

Liberia: Thousands protest against Pres George Weah’s poor handling of economy

The opposition is demanding greater financial accountability MONROVIA, Jan 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thousands of people have marched through the streets of the Liberian capital, Monrovia, to protest against President George Weah’s handling of the economy – which has seen spiralling inflation. The demonstrators want Weah to say what happened to…

Joy as Nigeria doctors separate conjoined twins

Goodness and Mercy are now well enough to go home ABUJA, Jan 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A team of doctors in Nigeria have successfully separated one-year-old conjoined twins.Lead surgeon Emmanuel Ameh said the operation to separate Goodness and Mercy Martins at the chest and abdomen took place in November and the…

Nigeria-Cameroon border grenade blast kills nine

The injured were rushed to hospitals GAMBOROU (Nigeria), Jan 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A grenade that a child picked up from a bin on the Nigeria-Cameroon border has exploded, killing him and eight others.Twenty-six people were also wounded in the blast on the Nigerian side of the border, a Cameroonian official…

NATO taking ‘some personnel’ out of Iraq

BRUSSELS, Jan 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — NATO said it would take “some personnel” out of Iraq because of the increased danger there after the US killing of an Iranian general triggered revenge threats. The withdrawal is temporary but “the safety of our personnel is paramount”, a NATO official said in a…

Spain: Sanchez wins parliament vote to return as PM

MADRID, Jan 7, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Spain’s parliament on Tuesday confirmedSocialist leader Pedro Sanchez’s reappointment as prime minister by a razor-thin margin, ending almost a year of political limbo for the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy. Sanchez, who plans to form an unprecedented minority coalition government with far-left party Podemos, got 167…

Update: Hundreds arrested for deliberately starting catastrophic Australian bushfires

Bushfires rage between the towns of Orbost and Lakes Entrance in east Gippsland. CANBERRA, Jan 7 (NNN-Xinhua) — Hundreds of Australians have been arrested for allegedly deliberately lighting Australian bushfires in only a matter of months. Australia is currently enduring one of the worst bushfire crises in the nation’s history,…

Update: Iranians mass for burial in hometown of general killed by US

KERMAN (Iran), Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Iranians gathered in Kerman for the burial Tuesday of top general Qasem Soleimani in the final stage of funeral processions after he was killed in a US strike in Iraq. The massive number of mourners in the hometown of the slain commander of the…

US eyes sanctions over growing Russian support for Venezuela

WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States will take action in response to growing Russian support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a senior US official said. US President Donald Trump’s administration has sanctioned Maduro’s regime and called it a dictatorship after he was re-elected in 2018 in elections widely…