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☆ Nigerian Army Hunts for Kidnapped Students, Parents Seek Answers
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( March | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

The source said the army's Kaduna-based One Division was leading the operation and "will soon have the bandits in their sights". "The security agencies and the state government are working tirelessly to ensure the freedom of all the abducted students and pupils. We are making progress," said Muhammad Shehu Lawal, a spokesperson for Kaduna state governor, without giving details. Photos You Should See View All 60 ImagesThe mass kidnapping last Thursday, the first since July 2021, shattered the dusty town of Kuriga, 90 km from Kaduna state capital, with parents waiting for answers from authorities. According to Lagos-based consultancy SBM Intelligence 4,500 people have been kidnapped throughout Nigeria since Tinubu took office last May.

Persons: Garba Muhammad, Hamza Ibrahim, Muhammad Shehu Lawal, Bola Tinubu, Bala Ibrahim, Ibrahim, Tinubu, Ikemesit Effiong, MacDonald Dzirutwe, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Reuters, SBM Intelligence, Security Locations: Hamza Ibrahim KADUNA, Nigeria, Kaduna, Nigerian, Kuriga, Chibok, Borno, Niger, Birnin, Lagos

☆ Scientists use cosmic rays to date earliest evidence of humans in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Archaeologists have recovered 90,000 stone tools from the site, which lies close to Ukraine’s southwestern border with Hungary and Romania. Some 90,000 stone tools made by early humans have been found at the site but no human fossils. Garba‘s colleagues measured two nuclides, aluminum-26 and beryllium-10, found in quartz grains from seven pebbles discovered in the same layer as the stone tools. The earliest human fossils unearthed in Europe are from the Atapuerca site in Spain and date back 1.1 million years, according to the study. Korolevo would have been appealing to ancient humans because it’s near the Tisza River, which leads to the Danube, and there was a readily available source of hard rock to knap stone tools, Garba said.

Persons: Roman Garba, ”, “, ” Garba, Garba, It’s, Briana Pobiner, wasn’t, hominins Organizations: CNN, Czech Academy of Sciences, Archaeological Institute, NAS, Smithsonian National Museum of Locations: Ukraine, Europe, Prague, Hungary, Romania, Africa, Spain, Georgia, Dmanisi, Washington , DC, hominins

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ancient stone tools found in western Ukraine may be the oldest known evidence of early human presence in Europe, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Archaeologists used new methods to date the layers of sedimentary rock surrounding the tools to more than 1 million years old. The chipped stone tools were likely used for cutting meat and perhaps scraping animal hides, he said. The very earliest stone tools of this type were found in eastern Africa and date back to 2.8 million years ago, said Rick Potts, who directs the Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program. “The oldest humans with this old stone tool technology were able to colonize everywhere from warm Iberia (Spain) to Ukraine, where it's at least seasonally very cold – that’s an amazing level of adaptability,” said Potts.

Persons: ”, Mads Faurschou Knudsen, it's, Roman Garba, Rick Potts, “, Potts Organizations: WASHINGTON, Aarhus University, Czech Academy of Sciences, Smithsonian, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: Ukraine, Europe, Korolevo, Denmark, Spain, Africa, Iberia

☆ Lloyd's of London to invest $65 million following slavery report
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Carolyn Cohn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Signage is seen inside the Lloyd's of London building in the City of London financial district in London, Britain, April 16, 2019. The 335-year old insurance market apologised in 2020 for its role in the 18th and 19th century slave trade. The Lloyd's market is made up of nearly 50,000 people, and Lloyd's wants one in three new hires to come from ethnic minorities. Historians estimate between one and two-thirds of the British marine insurance market was based on the slave trade in the 18th century. The research also showed that Joseph Marryat, Lloyd's of London chairman from 1811 to 1824, had enslaved people, White added.

Persons: Hannah McKay, Lloyd's, We've, Bruce Carnegie, Brown, Alexandre White, Joseph Marryat, White, Garba, Carolyn Cohn, Sinead Cruise, Jan Harvey, Elaine Hardcastle Organizations: REUTERS, London, Black, Johns Hopkins University, Mellon Foundation, Reuters, Central Fund, African Development Bank, Inter, American Development Bank, UN, Equity, of, United Nations, European Union, U.S, Thomson Locations: London, City, Britain, Liverpool, Lloyd’s

☆ Nigeria's labour unions suspend strike after meeting president
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Felix Onuah | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ABUJA, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Nigeria's main labour federation has agreed to return to talks with the government following a meeting with President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, union leaders said, on a day when hundreds of Nigerians marched against the removal of a petrol subsidy. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said the marches across major Nigerian cities were successful enough to force Tinubu to meet union leaders and vow to expedite an agreement on a new minimum wage among other promises. [1/2]Members of the Nigerian Labour Union, holding flags and placards, march during a protest against fuel price hikes and rising costs, in Abuja, Nigeria August 2, 2023. REUTERS/Abraham AchirgaLed by union leaders, protesters carrying placards marched in Lagos, the oil-producing state of Bayelsa and in the northern cities of Kano and Kaduna. In the capital Abuja, marchers broke down a gate to the National Assembly, expecting to be addressed by the Senate president, witnesses said.

Persons: Bola Tinubu, Tinubu, Tinubu's, Dele Alake, Abraham Achirga Led, Elisha Bala, MacDonald Dzirutwe, Tife, Hamza Ibrahim, Garba Muhammad, Tomasz Janowski, Giles Elgood, Sandra Maler Organizations: Nigeria Labour Congress, Nigerian Labour Union, REUTERS, NLC, National Assembly, Thomson Locations: ABUJA, Nigeria, Abuja, Lagos, Bayelsa, Kano, Kaduna, Gbogbo, Yenagoa

☆ Fact Check-2019 image of Nigeria's Buhari praying at Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mosque mistakenly linked to 2023 trip
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A photo from 2019 of Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari praying at Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mosque is being falsely attributed online to his 2023 trip to the kingdom. April posts on Facebook show Buhari wearing a white garment and praying next to his wife, Aisha (here and here). Captions suggest the image was captured at the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina. While he did pray at the Prophet’s Mosque in the city (here), the photo shared by social media users is from a different occasion. He said it showed Buhari at the Grand Mosque in Mecca while the president was undertaking the Umrah pilgrimage.

☆ Nigerians vote for new president, delays seen at some polling stations
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Anamasere Igboereteonwu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/8] People looks for their names on voters list put up on a wall at a polling unit, during Nigeria's Presidential election in Agulu, Anambra state, Nigeria February 25, 2023. Polling stations were scheduled to open at 8:30 a.m. (0730 GMT), though Reuters reporters at locations across the country saw a mixed picture, with delays of several hours in some places while voting got underway more swiftly at others. In the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the vice presidential candidate from the ruling party, Kashim Shettima, arrived to cast his ballot but was unable to do so as his designated polling station had not opened. In another northeastern city, Yola, opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar was able to vote, surrounded by a chaotic scrum of media and supporters. Vote-counting will begin as soon as polls close and results will be posted outside polling stations, according to the Independent National Election Commission (INEC).

☆ Gunmen kidnap 32 people from southern Nigeria train station
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Tife Owolabi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

YENAGOA, NIGERIA, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles have abducted more than 30 people from a train station in Nigeria's southern Edo state, the governor's office said on Sunday. Police said in a statement that armed herdsmen had attacked Tom Ikimi station at 4 p.m. (1500 GMT) as passengers awaited a train to Warri, an oil hub in nearby Delta state. The station is some 111 km northeast of state capital Benin City and close to the border with Anambra state. Edo state information commissioner Chris Osa Nehikhare said the kidnappers had taken 32 people, though one had already escaped. The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) had closed the station until further notice and the federal transportation ministry called the kidnappings "utterly barbaric".

☆ Nigerian first lady ‘directed student beating at presidential villa,’ lawyer alleges
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Abuja, Nigeria CNN —Nigeria’s first lady ordered security operatives to detain a student and also supervised his beating at the country’s presidential villa, his lawyer has alleged. Spokespeople for Nigeria’s national police and Department of State Services told CNN they were unaware of Adamu’s arrest. Mrs. Buhari should be prosecuted for taking the law into her hands,” Mohammed told CNN. His uncle Shehu Azare told CNN he is now focused on writing his final exams and would not speak out about his ordeal. So, there’s no point for that (apology),” his uncle Azare told CNN.

☆ Nigeria's Zamfara state orders media to close for covering political rally
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Garba Muhammad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KADUNA, Nigeria Oct 16 (Reuters) - Zamfara state in northwestern Nigeria ordered five media outlets to close on Sunday after they covered a political rally for the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP), which took place in violation of a state ban on political activities. "Zamfara State Commissioner of Police has been directed to enforce full compliance and arrest of any staff of these media organizations... performing any duties in violation of the shut down," said a statement from the state security council released on Sunday. The statement named five outlets, Pride FM Radio Gusau, NTA Gusau, Amji TV Gusau, Gamji TV Gusau and Alumma TV Gusau. Zamfara's political activity ban came alongside other measures, including restricting movement in some local areas and shutting down several roads. The statement directed security officials to "deal ruthlessly" with anyone found violating the orders.

☆ Sute de elevi răpiți de atacatori înarmați la o școală din Nigeria; Autoritățile caută 333 de copii
▼ + stars: | 2020-12-13 | by ( ) www.jurnal.md time to read: +2 min

Bărbați înarmați cu arme Kalașnikov au luat cu asalt vineri noapte școala de băieți din Kankara, împușcând paznicii, au spus autoritățile guvernamentale, potrivit The Guardian. Guvernatorul statului Katsina, Aminu Masari, a spus că autoritățile caută în pădurile din zonă 333 de elevi și au luat legătura cu părinții, „pentru a stabili numărul exact al copiilor care au fost răpiți”. Familii distruse de durere cer răspunsuri și imploră autoritățile să le salveze copiii. Președintele Nigeriei, Muhammadu Buhari, originar din statul Katsina, unde se afla în weekend într-o călătorie privată, a condamnat atacul. „Condamn cu fermitate atacul laș al acestor bandiți asupra unor copii nevinovați de la Școala de Științe”, a spus președintele, potrivit unui comunicat.

Persons: Președintele, Haram Organizations: Poliția Locations: Kankara, Katsina, Președintele Nigeriei, Nigeriei, Chibok, Borno

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