VOA常速英语:德州出现天价电费

Nigeria's air force said one of its planes crashed just outside Abuja airport after reporting engine failure on Sunday, killing all seven people on board. The plane was on its way to the city of Minna, 110 kilometers northwest of the capital when it reported engine failure. The chief of the air force has ordered an investigation. President Muhammadu Buhari in a statement said he was "deeply saddened by the fatal crash" and sent his condolences to the air force and to the families of the victims. Officials are investigating the cause of the crash.

Millions of Texans are still without safe water on Sunday as officials field angry complaints over shockingly large power bills spawned by a cold weather crisis. The mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, said Sunday that the crisis was largely "preventable" as has long been clear that the state's electric grid was vulnerable to extreme weather conditions. The frigid air mass that paralyzed parts of the southern and central United States early in the week claimed more than 70 lives, left millions temporarily without power, rather, and froze water lines. Turner said Houston, the fourth-largest U.S. city, was making progress in restoring service despite a lack of repair supplies and enough people to do the work. Both Houston and nearby Galveston on Sunday lifted orders for residents to boil drinking water. But some 28,000 households remain without electricity and many Texans are suffering an added insult - residential electric bills sometimes running into the thousands of dollars.

President Joe Biden's nominee for attorney general says the Justice Department must ensure laws are "fairly and faithfully enforced" and that the rights of all Americans are protected. Judge Merrick Garland, who is set to appear Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, is expected to tell senators that the attorney general must act as a lawyer for the people of the United States, and not for the president. The Justice Department released a copy of Garland's opening statement late Saturday. In his prepared remarks, Garland, a federal appeals court judge who was a candidate for a seat on the Supreme Court in 2016, laid out his plan to prioritize the department's civil rights work after the nationwide protests last year over the deaths of Black Americans by police. He highlighted a key mission for the division - to protect the rights of all Americans and particularly the most vulnerable. If confirmed, Garland would inherit a Justice Department that endured a tumultuous time under President Donald Trump and criticism from Democrats over what they saw as the politicizing of the nation's top law enforcement agency. You can find more on this and all the stories we're covering at our website VOAnews.com. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton, VOA news.