Authorities in Russia’s far-eastern Sakhalin region issued a state of emergency on Wednesday for the northern Kuril Islands, where flooding and building damage have resulted from tsunami waves.
An earthquake and tsunami struck the North Kuril District today, prompting the Sakhalin government to declare a state of emergency, according to a statement from the state’s government.
After spending weeks in protective custody, the Niger State Police Command managed to successfully reunite 35 kidnapping victims, including 16 women and 19 children, with their families.
The victims were rescued from various hideouts in the Agwara, Tegina, and Kagara regions.
The Deputy , the Commissioner of Police in charge of investigations, DCP Ibrahim Adamu, on behalf of the Commissioner of Police, CP Adamu Elleman, presided over the official handover ceremony. Ayuba Katako, the head of Rafi Local Government Area, was formally presented to the police command headquarters in Dutsen Kura, Minnesota.
During their time in custody, CP Elleman and his representative noted that the victims had been receiving care and support from both the Police and the Niger State Government. According to intelligence reports that bandits were moving from Birnin-Gwari with kidnapped victims to new hideouts, he disclosed that the rescue operation first started on July 3, 2025.
Police officers interrogated the first batch of people in Agwara while crossing a river into New-Bussa, intercepting them at the time. Along the Mekujeri–Tegina road, a second group, consisting of four women and seven children, was interrogated. One Yusuf Abdullahi of Birnin-Gwari, who is currently the subject of a possible complicity investigation at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), later saved from a vehicle.
The victims were subjected to a number of counseling, rehabilitation, and deradicalization procedures in order to be ready for reintegration into their communities, according to the Police Commissioner. He urged the public to continue providing law enforcement with reliable, actionable information for prompt response.
Ayuba Katako, the leader of the Local Government Area of Chairman Rafi, thanked the Nigerian Police Force, the Inspector General of Police, and other security organizations involved in the rescue operation. He also praised the Niger State Government for its assistance, particularly in providing the rescued people with food, medical care, and emotional support.
“This reunion has been eagerly awaited by the families.” We are pleased that the Police and relevant authorities have done the necessary scrutiny before reintegration, despite the need for proper investigation. These individuals are now prepared to make a community return, Katako said.
According to his assurances, the local government would support the victims, particularly the young people, in choosing whether to continue their education or pursue vocational training, depending on their needs and current health condition.
These are well-rounded people, he continued, adding that we will take care of them until they can regain their lives.
Read more about the alleged illegal mining: EFCC detained four Chinese and four Nigerians in Akwa Ibom.
Akilu Isyaku, the chairman of Shiroro Local Government Area, expressed his sincere gratitude to the police and all parties involved in the rescue.
“What God has done for us is impressive.” We have nothing to say to the Police other than thank them for the way our people were saved. He said, “We still have people in captivity and we need your prayers so that God may rescue those who are still held by these criminals.”
“We appreciate everyone who made this happen.” Special thanks to the media, particularly Channels TV, for timely dissemination of important information. Even though some of these victims have been missing for a while, we were concerned that they may have passed away. We continue to pray that those who are missing will survive.
Salma Usman, one of the victims, emotionally recapped her ordeal:
“These bandits abused us in the forest a lot.” We simply had to be patient until security personnel arrived and intervened. We prayed to God to save us, but that was it. We pray never to experience such a situation again in our lives today because we are secure. To keep us safe, we thank the police for providing us with food and medical care. One of my children and I were kidnapped, but I’m now happy to see them back home. My husband and I have two children, one of whom was in captivity with me.
Halima Shehu, a different victim who was also in House, described her agonizing ordeal:
Before being abducted with my husband, I had just married six months prior. I was only sixteen years old. Three women and two men were among the five people who were kidnapped. With my late husband, I had two kids. Before being taken back to the forest in Niger State, where we were eventually rescued by security personnel, we were taken to the Sambisa Forest and later the Cameroon Forest.
As of epidemiological week 28 of the year 2025, 152 people died from Lassa fever, according to the Nigerian Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).
The NCDC confirmed in its most recent situation report that the number of new cases identified for week 28 remained unchanged from the previous week.
According to the statement, Ondo, Edo, and Benue states reported the most recent new infections.
This is higher than the 17.3 percent that were recorded during the same time period in 2024, which is higher than the 18.7% rate for case fatalities.
At least 21 states have confirmed one or more Lassa fever cases in 105 local government areas as of 2025, demonstrating the continued spread of the illness across multiple regions.
REVISION YOUR STEP AND LOCAL PROCESS TO DISCUSS MEDICAL QUESTIONS
The health agency reports that five states were the states where the majority of Lassa fever cases were found this year.
Bauchi came in second with 23% of all confirmed cases, while Ondo had the highest share with 32%. Edo came in second with 17%, Taraba with 14%, and Ebonyi with 3 percent.
The five states combined account for 89 percent of all infections reported so far, while the rest 11% were spread across 16 other states.
The most affected age group, with a median age of 30, is still the age of 21.
One to one point eight is the male-to-male ratio among cases that have been confirmed. The death toll rate is still high despite a decrease in suspected and confirmed cases compared to the same period in 2024.
Professor Muhammad Sani-Bello, the state’s commissioner of information, has been immediately fired by Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State.
Ibraheem Musa, his chief press secretary, made the disclosure in a statement on Tuesday.
Ahmed Maiyaki, the managing director of Kaduna State Media Corporation, was appointed as the new commissioner of information by the governor.
He praised the former Commissioner’s contributions to the field of education’s pioneering role and wished Professor Sani Bello the best of luck in his future endeavors.
Governor Sani claims that during the 2023 election, President Bola Ahmed has faithfully kept the campaign promises he made to the north.
READ MORE: Gov Sani’s campaign promises are persistently kept in mind by Tinubu.
Governor Sani stated that Tinubu has supported his administration in addressing the security issues that have plagued the state for a number of years during the opening of a two-day interactive session on government-citizen engagement held by the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation in Kaduna.
He noted that the administration’s pledges, which included those in the areas of security, education, health, infrastructure, agriculture, and inclusion, are being honored by bold, tangible outcomes, adding that despite the additional work that must be done and the distances that must be crossed, the end is in sight.
I was confronted by a defended Kaduna State when I took office as governor in 2023. Our communities are cast a long, shadowy shadow by insecurity. Banditry, kidnapping, violent crime, and terrorism had become daily occurrences from Chikun to Igabi, from the Kaduna-Abuja expressway to Birnin Gwari, and from the troubled southern regions of our beloved state. Fear persisted all over. He claimed that chaos was slowly destroying Kaduna, a country that has long been praised for its resilience and cultural vitality.
The Kaduna-Abuja highway, which was once a bustling center for commerce and movement, had turned into a painful omen of disobedience and a painful representation of governmental failure. As a depressing illustration of the scale of the security crisis, the 2022 Abuja-Kaduna train attack has persisted in our collective consciousness. Kaduna’s very spirit trembled as a result of the weight of fear that was evicted from entire communities, markets shut down, and fear-trunk communities. The hall would have been empty or worse, rendered inaccessible by persistent insecurity, had we attempted to organize this conference in those circumstances in May 2023.
Seven Chinese nationals and four Nigerians have been detained by the offices of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Yugo, Nigeria, for allegedly engaging in illegal mining in Akwa Ibom State.
Dele Oyewale, the head of EFCC’s media and publicity division, made this known in a statement on Tuesday.
The suspects were apprehended on July 24, 2025, according to Oyewale, at the Emem-Asuk community in the Eastern Obolo Local Government Area, where they were operating two illegal mining operations without the necessary permits.
The Chinese nationals arrested include Yang Chaobao (32), Zhong Dun Yi (33), Cheng Jiang (35), Zhong Dun Long (37), Pan Peiming (33), Lai Yiping (37), and Zhu Lekun (35). David Israel (18), Jonah Bartholomew Jim (24), Samuel Samuel Timothy (20), and Comfort Gabriel Ajaga (23), who also served as a translator, were identified as their Nigerian accomplices.
READ MORE: Dangote Refinery Rejects a $100 billion lawsuit against NNPCL, NMDPRA, and others.
After already having worked at their first location to extract ilmenite, known as “black sand,” they were discovered setting up equipment at a second mining site, according to the statement.
Comfort Gabriel Ajaga, the only woman interrogeeeeeer, claimed that because of her fluency in Mandarin, a widely used Chinese language, she only had to use translation services for translation purposes.
“I’m a student at a learning facility in Anambra State, studying Chinese.” I am the only translator I have ever worked with.
The Yobe State University Branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called off its industrial strike action, which was scheduled for July 11, 2025.
The Yobe State Government and the association have reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the organization, according to Ahmed Karage, the branch’s chairman.
The statement reads in part as: “The President of ASUU has approved calling off the strike action following the Memoranda of Understanding.”