Presidential election: Niger ready for Sunday run off vote

Niger outgoing President Mahamadou Issoufou NIAMEY, Feb 21 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — Niger will choose between two heavyweights in a presidential run-off vote on Sunday Feb 21 set to bring about the first democratic transition of power in the coup-prone country’s history.Niger struggles with a poor economy and with insurgencies that have…

Ivorian Prime Minister in Paris for medical treatment – Office

Hamed Bakayoko is PM and also Defense Minister ABIDJAN, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ivorian Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko is currently in France receiving medical treatment, his office disclosed in a social media post.The statement did not state the nature of the illness and when exactly he is expected to return…

US snow storms: Gas stations still dark as Texas emerges from freeze

 HOUSTON (Texas, US), Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 1,700 gas stations are without electricity because of the Texas power disaster, threatening to push pump prices even higher with key refineries in the state still shut. The total represents more than 13% of the stations in Texas, Patrick DeHaan, head of…

Over 200 million vaccine doses administered globally, 45% in G7 countries

PARIS, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 200 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered in at least 107 countries and territories. Some 45 percent of the injections took places in countries belonging to the wealthy G7 club, whose members promised to share doses more fairly with worse-off countries. The…

US: Pres Biden to declare major disaster for Texas hit by snow storms

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Joe Biden is set to declare a major disaster for Texas, clearing the way for more federal funds to be spent on relief efforts. Power is returning in the state and temperatures are set to rise but some 13 million people are still…

Update: Students abducted in Nigeria’s Niger State released – Local media reported

ABUJA, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The 27 Nigerian students of Government Science College, in Kagara, Niger State that were kidnapped within the school premises by gunmen suspected to be armed bandits in the early hours of Wednesday, have been released.Local media outlets report claimed that the release took place late…

Covid-19: eSwatini king says Taiwanese medication cured him

eSwatini is Taiwan’s only remaining diplomatic ally on the continent MBABANE, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — eSwatini’s King Mswati III said he had recovered from COVID-19 after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen sent antiviral medication to help him.The small southern African country, an absolute monarchy formerly known as Swaziland, is Taiwan’s only remaining diplomatic…

Covid-19: Two killed as Gabon citizens protest coronavirus restrictions

Prime Minster Ossouka Raponda LIBREVILLE, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two people have died after demonstrations in Gabon’s two major cities as anger over restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 spilled over into street stand-offs.On Thursday night security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades in some neighbourhoods in the capital…

Sahara dust chokes Senegal’s capital, disrupts fishing

DAKAR, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A cloud of dust brought by dry winds from the Sahara has settled over much of West and Central Africa, reducing visibility, choking residents, and disrupting fishing in the Senegal’s capital Dakar. Each year, dry, dusty winds sweep in from the Sahara and cover much…

Covid-19: Russia approves its third vaccine, CoviVac

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin MOSCOW, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia on Saturday approved a third coronavirus vaccine for domestic use, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on state TV, though large-scale clinical trials of the shot, labelled CoviVac and produced by the Chumakov Centre, have yet to begin. Russia has…