UN expert says Iran lied in downing of Ukraine airliner

Authorities work at the scene of a crashed Ukrainian plane in Shahedshahr last year UNITED NATIONS, Feb 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A UN official accused Iran of lying in its explanation of how it shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet near Tehran last year at a time of acute tension with…

US winter storms: Texas power board members resign over mass outages

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Four board members of Texas’ power grid operator announced their resignation after millions of stateresidents were left without power during days of unprecedentedly frigidtemperatures. The board chair of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT),Sally Talberg, vice chairman Peter Cramton, finance and audit committee chair…

Covid-19: Senegal donates 20,000 Chinese vaccines to The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau

Senegal president Macky Sall (l) meet Barrow in The Gambia DAKAR, Feb 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Senegal is the first African country to donate vaccines to its neighbours as Dakar announced that it will give 10,000 doses each of its Chinese coronavirus vaccines to The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau.Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf…

US orders deeper inspections of some plane engines

NEW YORK, Feb 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US regulators ordered inspections of certain Pratt & Whitney airplane motors after an engine failure over the weekend that led to dozens of Boeing 777 aircraft being grounded worldwide. “US operators of airplanes equipped with certain Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines (must) inspect these…

German ‘Daesh leader’ faces Wednesday verdict

BERLIN, Feb 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A German court will hand down Wednesday its ruling in a case against Abu Walaa, a notorious Iraqi preacher believed to be the Daesh group’s de facto leader in Germany. Ahmad Abdulaziz Abdullah Abdullah, better known as Abu Walaa, is accused of being “Daesh’ representative…

86 dolphins found dead off Mozambique

MAPUTO, Feb 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Another 86 dolphins were found dead on Tuesday on an island off the coast of the southern African nation of Mozambique, the cause still unknown, the country’s environment ministry said. Dolphins had already been discovered dead on Sunday at the same location, and total of…

Body of Italian ambassador killed in DR Congo returns home

ROME/KINSHASA, Feb 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The body of the Italian ambassador killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo arrived in Rome late Tuesday, as Rwandan Hutu rebels denied accusations they were behind the attack and instead blamed the armies of the DRC and Rwanda. Luca Attanasio, 43, died on Monday…

Winter storm: Pres Biden to travel to storm-devastated Texas on Friday as supermarkets back to normal operation

Food supplies have been restored in the U.S. state of Texas as most supermarkets operate normally on Tuesday WASHINGTON/HOUSTON, Feb 24 (NNN-Xinhua) — US President Joe Biden will travel to Houston, Texas on Friday to discuss with local officials relief efforts in the wake of extreme winter weather that caused…

Austria: Memorial stone for victims of terrorist attack unveiled in Vienna

Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig unveils the memorial stone for the victims of the terrorist attacks in Vienna VIENNA, Feb 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) – In the presence of the Vienna city government, Mayor Michael Ludwig unveiled a memorial stone for the victims of the night of terror on Nov 2, 2020 at Desider-Friedmann-Platz Tuesday.  …

UN, partners seek 563 mln USD to aid Mali suffering more insecurity

A peak in the number of serious violations in northern and central Mali has led to a dramatic increase in protection needs UNITED NATIONS, Feb 24 (NNN-Xinhua) — Violence spreading to central Mali leads to more displacement of people and the need to increase the aid program to 563 million…