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Nigeria reels after 215 children taken in second mass school abduction in a week

Twelve teachers also kidnapped from Catholic school amid threats from Trump to intervene over ‘Christian genocide’Unknown gunmen have abducted 215 schoolchildren and 12 teachers from a Catholic school in central Nigeria, the second mass abduction in the country in a week.The latest kidnapping, in Papiri community in Niger state, came against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s threat to intervene militarily to end a “Christian genocide”, which the Nigerian government has denied is happening. Continue reading...

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Frustrations grow in Russia over cellphone internet outages that disrupt daily life

When Russians look back at 2025, they might remember it as the year when the government took even tighter control of the internet

'Disquieting horror': NYT analyst exposes how ICE has 'shattered' lives of legal residents

People who are here legally have had their lives "shattered" by ICE, too, according to interviews conducted by an analyst with the New York Times.Sarah Wildman, a staff writer and editor in Opinion for the NYT, spoke "to a half-dozen people and their families who have been taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention." According to Wildman, "Each was re-entering, or was already in the country legally. No one was smuggled across the border.""None of the people we spoke to had a recent criminal record. (Three had minor nonviolent brushes with the law, all in the distant past; one received a pardon.) All were treated like suspected violent criminals, forced into tiny cells, dressed in prison uniforms, manacled for transfer. Those we spoke to were held for anywhere from 10 days to over 70 days. The experience shattered their equilibrium," the analyst wrote. "Immigration and Border Patrol officers have long held extremely broad discretionary powers to welcome or reject noncitizens arriving in the United States. And this is far from the first wave of xenophobia to hit America. But something different is happening now in the breadth and ferocity of efforts to change the makeup of this country."Wildman went further in calling attention to viral videos of brutal ICE operations."The videos circulating on social media are brutal and terrifying — the often violent arrests, people pulled screaming from their cars, out of day care centers, away from their children and their spouses. What should give Americans equal pause is the inhumanity happening beyond the cameras, away from the view of judges and lawyers and the media. Due process is not a constitutional right afforded only to citizens; legal restrictions on unlawful detention apply to all people on U.S. soil," she wrote. "The stories we were told call into question both the constitutionality and the morality of how the Trump administration is directing immigration policy. That immorality, once unleashed, may ultimately be aimed at others in this country, regardless of immigration status. If a woman returning from vacation with her young children can be suddenly removed from her family and her life, how can we believe that any of us will remain safe?"According to Wildman, "There was a disquieting sameness to the horror that was described to us.""Those we interviewed despaired at how the detention centers were kept purposefully, horrendously cold, forcing some of them to huddle up against strangers. They spoke of lights left on 24 hours a day and of interstate transfers that came without notice. They described food that was inadequately distributed and made them unwell," she wrote. "Of being forced to urinate and defecate in front of fellow detainees and guards. Of being humiliated and mocked by officers. All referred to a destabilizing lack of information, the dreadful understanding that they could be held for weeks or months without anyone informing them why they were being held at all."Read the piece here.

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A translation of the Nauruan president’s remarks will stay suppressed for a decade – but secrecy in Australia’s offshore policy is nothing new

From Scott Morrison’s ‘on-water matters’ to the Albanese government’s MOU with Nauru, successive governments’ attitude to legitimate scrutiny has been one of hostilityGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOffshore, secrecy dominates. But it doesn’t stop at the water’s edge.In February, Australia brokered a new offshore arrangement with Nauru, striking a deal to send members of the so-called NZYQ cohort – non-citizens with criminal histories – to the Pacific island. Australia would give Nauru more than $400m in exchange. Continue reading...

South Africa’s dispute with US escalates amid row over G20 handover event

Trump press secretary accuses Cyril Ramaphosa of ‘running his mouth’ after US boycott of summit in JohannesburgThe dispute between South Africa and the US over the Trump administration’s decision to boycott the G20 in Johannesburg has continued, with South Africa objecting to a US plan for a junior embassy official to take part in the closing ceremony meant to mark the handover to the next summit, which will take place in Florida.The two-day summit, which opens on Saturday, comes at a febrile moment in global politics. The US has proposed a deal to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which it agreed with Moscow without the involvement of Ukraine or the EU. Continue reading...