New explosion in northeast Somalia leaves two people killed, five more injured

MOGADISHU, Feb 20 (NNN-Xinhua) — Two people were killed and five others injured in an explosion in Bosaso town in northeast Somalia Saturday, the police said. Puntland police told State-owned Radio Mogadishu that an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded at a busy tea shop in the town around 6:30 p.m.…

24 abductees rescued in northwest Nigeria

LAGOS, Feb 20 (NNN-Xinhua) — Nigerian police in the northwest state of Zamfara have rescued 24 people abducted by bandits, a spokesperson said. The victims, including a seven-month-old baby, were rescued after a fierce gun battle between security operatives and the bandits on Friday, the spokesman for Zamfara police Mohammed…

Nigeria: Ogun parents, students sign undertaking to curb hooliganism

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun ABUJA, Feb 20 (NNN-NAN) — Parents of students in Nigeria’s public secondary schools in Ogun State have signed an undertaking that their children and wards would not engage in hooliganism.The undertaking is one of the strategies adopted by the state government to arrest hooliganism and…

16 die as Storm Eunice leaves many in Europe without power

  LONDON, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Emergency crews battled to restore power to hundreds of thousands of homes in Britain after Storm Eunice carved a deadly trail across Western Europe and left transport networks in disarray.    At least 16 people were killed by falling trees, flying debris and high…

Russia-Ukraine crisis: Evacuees from rebel-held Ukraine hope for quick return

 AVILA USPENKA CHECKPOINT (Russia), Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The loud explosions and wailing sirens in rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine were getting more frequent, so when the evacuation order came, Elena Sokela decided it was time to get her son to safety.    “We didn’t want to wait until it…

Chile: Interior Minister wants northern borders fully closed

SANTIAGO, Feb 19 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Chile’s Interior Minister Rodrigo Delgado wants to close the country’s northern border as a new stage of the “state of exception” already in force in four provinces where the migration crisis is escalating. “The time has come to close the border even more and be…

IMF says draft of deal with Argentina almost ready

WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) –A high-ranking International Monetary Fund (IMF) official announced a full deal with Argentina “is very close,” as the Government of President Alberto Fernández hopes it will be next week, so that it can be put up for Congressional approval at the start of the new Legislature,…

Chile is to become a “regional, multinational and intercultural State”, according to the new constitution

SANTIAGO, Feb 19 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Chile is to be defined in the future as a “Regional State, multinational and intercultural” according to the draft approved on Friday afternoon by the constitutional convention that is discussing the new constitution for the country. The article, the first to be discussed was supported…

Update: Ukraine soldier killed in clashes with separatists near Russia border

    KYIV, Feb 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ukraine’s army on Saturday reported the first death of a soldier in weeks and accused Moscow-backed rebels of sharply escalating attacks that have redoubled fears of an imminent Russian invasion.    The joint military command for east Ukraine said a soldier received a fatal…

US Homeland Department to deploy robot dogs along the border with Mexico

WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — A robot dog designed and manufactured in the United States by Ghost Robotics and which had been in the earlier stages of development last year has been given its marching orders for a major assignment. The Ghost Robotics V60, is an autonomous ground drone that goes…