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Attackers kill at least 50, abduct women and children in Nigeria’s Zamfara state

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By Ahmed Kingimi Reuters – At least 50 people were killed and several women and ‌children abducted after armed men attacked a village ‌in Nigeria’s northwestern Zamfara state, a state lawmaker told Reuters on Friday. Hamisu A. ​Faru, lawmaker representing Bukkuyum south, said the attackers raided Tungan Dutse village from around 5 p.m. on Thursday until about 3:30 a.m. on Friday, burning down buildings and shooting residents ‌who tried to ⁠flee. “They have been moving from one village to another … leaving at least 50 people dead,” Faru ⁠told Reuters by phone. He said the number of abducted victims was yet to be determined. Traditional leaders and local government ​officials were ​still accounting for the ​missing. A Zamfara state police spokesperson ‌did not respond to calls seeking comment. Abdullahi Sani, 41, a resident of Tungan Dutse, said three family members were killed in the attack. “No one slept yesterday, we are all in pain,” he said. A day earlier, residents contacte...
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Sudan atrocities are ‘hallmarks of genocide’, UN says

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By Robin MILLARD AFP The United Nations’ independent fact-finding mission on Sudan said on Thursday the siege and capture of El-Fasher by a paramilitary group bore “the hallmarks of genocide”. Its investigation concluded that the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) seizure of the city in Darfur state in October had inflicted “three days of absolute horror” and called for those responsible to be brought to justice. The mission warned that “urgent protection of civilians is needed, now more than ever” in neighbouring Kordofan state, the flashpoint of fighting since the RSF’s capture of El-Fasher, which was marked by ethnic massacres, sexual violence and detention. “The scale, coordination and public endorsement of the operation by senior RSF leadership demonstrate that the crimes committed in and around El-Fasher were not random excesses of war,” said mission chairman Mohamad Chande Othman. “They formed part of a planned and organised operation that bears the defining characteristics of gen...
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At least 37 die from gas inhalation at Nigeria mining site

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By Ahmed Kingimi Reuters At least 37 miners died of carbon monoxide poisoning at a mining site in Nigeria’s Plateau state, a police source and a security report seen by Reuters said on Wednesday. The incident occurred at about 5:45 a.m. in a mining pit in Kampani, a community in the Wase area, according to the report. Another 25 miners were taken to hospital. Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, said the area was an abandoned lead site with stored minerals prone to releasing toxic gases. Villagers, unaware of the toxic nature of the emissions, reportedly entered the tunnel to extract minerals and inhaled the gas, he said. Alake ordered the closure of mining areas covered by licence 11810, operated by Solid Unit Nigeria Limited and owned by Abdullahi Dan‑China in Zuraq, following the deaths of villagers allegedly mining in a pit containing dangerous gas emissions. Preliminary findings showed the victims, aged 20 to 35, died after inhaling the gas while work...
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Ukraine, Russia hold peace talks in Geneva as Trump puts pressure on Kyiv

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By John Revill Reuters Negotiators from Ukraine and Russia concluded the first of two days of U.S.-mediated peace talks in Geneva on Tuesday, with U.S. President Donald Trump pressing Kyiv to act fast to reach a deal to end the four-year conflict. Ahead of the negotiations in ‌Switzerland, Russia carried out airstrikes overnight across swathes of Ukraine, severely damaging the power network in the southern port city of Odesa. Ukrainian President Volodymyr ‌Zelenskiy said the attacks left tens of thousands without heat and water. “We are ready to move quickly toward a worthy agreement to end the war,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly address, saying he was waiting for ​a report from the negotiating team in Geneva. “The question for the Russians is: Just what do they want?” Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov, the head of the National Security and Defence Council, said in a statement that the day’s talks had focused on “practical issues and the mechanics of possible decisions,” with...
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Cyclone Gezani leaves 59 dead in Madagascar, displaces more than 16,000

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Flooding and fierce winds have pushed Madagascar’s death toll from Cyclone Gezani to 59, with more than a dozen people still unaccounted for, the country’s disaster agency said on Monday. It is the latest in a string of tropical storms to batter the southern African island in recent months, underscoring its vulnerability to increasingly extreme weather fuelled by climate change. At least 59 people had been killed countrywide by the cyclone, which slammed into Madagascar on February 10, the National Office for Risk and Disaster Management (BNRGC) said, while more than 16,000 people have been displaced by storm waters. A previous report had put the death toll at 43. Most of the fatalities were reported in the port city of Toamasina on the east coast, formerly known as Tamatave, Madagascar’s second‑largest urban centre with around 400,000 inhabitants. Another 15 people remain missing nearly a week after the cyclone struck, according to BNRGC. The damage to housing was extensive, wit...
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North Korea opens new housing district for families of Ukraine war dead

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un touted a newly built street of flats for families of soldiers killed supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine, state media reported Monday, with photos showing him accompanied by his daughter. North Korea has deployed thousands of troops to fight for Russia, according to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies, and Seoul has estimated that around 2,000 have been killed. Analysts say North Korea is receiving financial aid, military technology and food and energy supplies from Russia in return. “The new street has been built thanks to the ardent desire of our motherland that wishes that… its excellent sons, who defended the most sacred things by sacrificing their most valuable things, will live forever,” Kim said in a speech released by the official Korean Central News Agency. The report on Monday did not mention Russia, but Kim last week pledged to “unconditionally support” all of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policies and decisions. “Befo...
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Zelensky labels Putin a ‘slave to war’

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Russia’s Vladimir Putin as a “slave to war” in a speech to the Munich Security Conference Saturday, adding that Russia’s attacks had damaged every power plant in the country. Zelensky also drew parallels between the current Russia-Ukraine talks over territorial concessions and the 1938 Munich Agreement, when Hitler forced territorial concessions from the European powers — a year before World War II. Zelensky was speaking days before the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s invasion, which has killed hundreds of thousands, decimated eastern Ukraine and forced millions to flee. Kyiv and its Western allies have accused Moscow of deliberately freezing Ukraine’s population with its attacks on the energy grid. “There is not a single power plant left in Ukraine that has not been damaged by Russian attacks,” Zelensky said. “Not one.” “But we still generate electricity,” he added, praising the thousands of workers repairing the plants. Once again...
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