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…

US: 2 air force pilots killed in military jet crash

First responders at the scene of a military plane crash outside Montgomery, Alabama on Friday MONTGOMERY (Alabama, US), Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two people were killed when a military plane crashed on Friday near the Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama, according to the facility’s executive director Marshall Taggart, Jr. The…

Covid-19: US storms delay vaccines in all 50 states – White House

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States has a backlog of six million COVID-19 vaccine doses due to winter storms and power outages weather, White House officials said at a media briefing, adding that the federal government expects to catch up with vaccine distribution by next week. All 50…

WHO has 20 experts working to stop Ebola outbreak in DR Congo

KINSHASA, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization already has 20 experts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) working with the country’s health authorities to stop the current Ebola outbreak, WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said. The new outbreak of Ebola started in DR…

Update: Asylum seekers begin entering US under Pres Biden reforms

TIJUANA (Mexico), Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A first group of 25 asylumseekers crossed the US border Friday under President Joe Biden’s sweepingimmigration reforms, while thousands more waited in Mexico hoping that they, too, would be allowed in. Under former president Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” program, tens of thousands of…

Sudanese refugee kills French immigration official after asylum request rejected

Police officers stand at the entrance of the Isard COS Reception Center for Asylum Seekers (CADA) in Pau PARIS, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Sudanese refugee stabbed and killed an employee at a centre for asylum seekers in the southern French city of Pau on Friday after his request for…

Ethiopia unrest: Regional Tigray forces name conditions for peace with government

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ADDIS ABABA, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Forces fighting Ethiopia’s military in the Tigray region laid out eight conditions on Friday for beginning peace talks, including the appointment of an international mediator and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered air strikes and a…

Mali creates body to open talks with Islamist militants

The French first intervened in the Sahel region – a stretch of land just south of the Sahara Desert which includes Mali – in 2013 BAMAKO, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mali’s government has created a body to open talks with Islamist militants whose insurgency has made vast portions of the country ungovernable,…

Covid-19: Argentina health minister resign over vaccine line-jumping

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Argentina’s health ministerresigned late Friday after it emerged that friends of his had been able toskip the line for a Covid-19 vaccination. Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Garci stepped down after President AlbertoFernandez called on him to quit in the wake of the scandal. “Responding…