BEIJING (Xinhua) – China launched a Long March-8 rocket to place 22 satellites in space on Sunday, setting a domestic record for the most spacecraft launched by a single rocket.  The rocket blasted off at 11:06 a.m. (Beijing Time) at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern Hainan Province before sending the satellites into preset orbit. These satellites will then be released in 12 groups. They will be mainly used for commercial remote sensing services, marine environment monitoring, forest fire prevention and disaster mitigation.

The mission marked the 409th flight of the Long March carrier rockets. The Long March-8 used for Sunday’s launch is a modified version of the medium-lift carrier rocket and is 48 meters long with a takeoff weight of 198 tunes. It uses non-toxic and pollution-free propellants with a 3-tonne capacity for sun-synchronous orbit. Compared with the original model, the modified model does not have side boosters but can launch multiple satellites with different orbital requirements.

 

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MOSCOW (TASS) – The Chinese Embassy in Moscow has urged the world to keep in mind that the United States is ‘a real threat for the world’. “Never forget, who’s the real threat to the world,” the diplomatic mission announced in a Twitter, attaching a list of countries bombed by the United States after World War II. The list includes over 20 countries, which represent roughly one third of the global population. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people “who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years”. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Its objectives are demilitarization and ‘denazification’ of the country. After the announcement, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and some other countries announced they were imposing sanctions on Russian officials and individuals.

 

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ABUJA (Xinhua) – At least three persons were killed early Sunday following an attack by gunmen who invaded two villages in Niger, a state in Nigeria’s central region, the police said. Bala Kuryas, the police chief in Niger, told reporters in the state capital of Minna that the police have launched an investigation and manhunt for the gunmen who rode on motorcycles into the Ebbo and Ndagbegi villages in the Lavun local government area of the state. The motive of the attack remains unknown, Kuryas said, explaining that the gunmen stormed the villages at about 5 a.m. local time to “commit the dastardly act”. According to him, a detachment of police tactical squad and the military have been deployed to the area and have launched a manhunt with a view to tracking down the criminals. “We appeal to residents to assist security personnel deployed with reliable information that could aid in apprehending the miscreants in their midst,” he added. Armed attacks have been a primary security threat in Nigeria’s northern and central regions, leading to deaths and kidnappings in recent months. 

 

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CAIRO (Arab News) – Mohamed Abdel-Aty, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, has said that the Renaissance Dam negotiations are currently frozen “due to Ethiopian intransigence.” Ethiopia announced a few days ago that Prime Minister Abi Ahmed had inaugurated the first phase of electricity generation from the dam. Egypt said that Ethiopia’s decision to unilaterally start operating the Renaissance Dam is a violation of the 2015 Declaration of Principles. Abdel-Aty said his country is keen to reach a “fair and binding legal agreement on the rules for filling and operating the dam” stressing the state’s readiness to deal with all scenarios related to the Ethiopian dam crisis. “The Ethiopian dam is large, and there must be a binding agreement, exchange of data, and cooperation with the Ethiopian side to achieve a win-win situation for all, not unilateral action,” he said. The minister said that all state agencies are working in this file, each in its own right, and the Ministry of Irrigation is only concerned with the technical part with regard to the Ethiopian dam, noting that the ministry provides for water needs by making use of every drop of water. The Egyptian state has taken the necessary measures to rationalize water consumption, he said, and to diversify production sources to avoid any crises.

 

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DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – At least seven farmers were killed and 14 others were injured on Saturday by lightning strike in Tanzania’s southern highlands region of Rukwa, police said on Sunday. William Mwampaghale, the Rukwa regional police commander, said the lightning strike that was accompanied by a heavy downpour killed five farmers in Luwa village in Nkasi district on Saturday at 3 p.m. local time. “The five farmers were struck by the lightning when they were planting beans in their farm,” Mwampaghale told a news conference, adding that 14 others were injured after the lightning struck a hut in which they had taken shelter after the rains started to fall. In another separate incident, said the police official, a man and his son died after they were struck by lightning while farming in the same village, adding that the incident occurred on Saturday evening.

 

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VIENNA (AP) – A tourist bus headed for the Austrian Alps crashed on a local highway in Upper Bavaria on Saturday, injuring 43 of the 61 people on board. Around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, the double-decker bus veered off the road and crashed near the town of Inzell, in the Traunstein district of Bavaria, according to Bavarian police. No other vehicles were involved in the crash. Police said seven people sustained serious injuries, while 36 others, including the driver, were more lightly injured. The bus was traveling from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia to the Austrian ski resort of Kaprun, police said. Police said the road remained closed as of Saturday afternoon.