Category World News

Bus plunges off bridge in northern Nigeria, killing 22 athletes

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22 athletes who were returning from a national sports event have been killed in a bus crash in Kano, Nigeria, according to the state governor.

Kano Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf reported to The Associated Press that the bus, which was said to have more than 30 passengers, had reportedly slammed into the Chiromawa Bridge on the Kano-Zaria expressway on Saturday.

Although it was unknown what caused the accident, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) claimed it “could have happened as a result of fatigue and excessive speed” following a lengthy overnight trip.

The crash’s survivors were treated at a nearby hospital.

The athletes were competing in Kano State at the Nigerian National Sports Festival, which is located about 1, 000 kilometers (620 miles) south of Ogun State, according to Yusuf, who was accompanied by their coaches and sporting officials.

He proclaimed Monday a state’s day of mourning. According to his deputy, Aminu Gwarzo, the victims’ families would receive a million naira (roughly $630) and food as support.

According to the report from the Nigerian daily The Guardian, the National Association of Nigerian Students claimed that the “heartbreaking” incident had “cast a shadow of grief over the entire country, especially the youth and sports communities.”

In Africa’s most populous nation, road accidents are frequent, in part due to poor road conditions and lax traffic enforcement.

At least six people died in March near Abuja, the capital, after a trailer slammed into parked cars and caught fire.

According to FRSC data, Nigeria recorded 9, 570 road accidents last year that resulted in 5, 421 fatalities.

Every two years, athletes from the nation’s 35 states compete in the Nigerian National Sports Festival.

This is what it is like to be held in solitary confinement in a US prison

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It almost always froze in solitude. In order to stay warm, prisoners would wrap themselves in sheets and extra clothing and travel back and forth. I could actually smell my own breath on some days.

Some inmates would rip up their blankets, stuff them into their toilets, and begin flushing, causing the unit to flood. I endured silence.

The unit’s top prisoners started to “flood” together one night. The cells there were flooded by the contaminated water that poured down from the upper floor to the lower level. Water poured into my cell until I was on my knees. The toilets started flooding later, including mine, adding to the mess as the pipes became clogged, adding to the mess. I jumped onto my bed because I was terrified, but the grimy water rose until it reached the edge of my mattress.

No one arrived while I yelled for the police to assist. My cell was hygienic, but the water started to recede after a while and eventually stopped rising. An officer approached about an hour later, and I pleaded with him to unlock the door.

He gave a grin. I’m not opening any doors because it’s my third shift, which meant the unit had to remain locked up.

“Bro, this is bad in here. I begged, “Please let me at least get the water out.”

He said, “You’ll be fine,” and then left.

The floor was covered in faeces all over. In a cage, I felt like an animal.

“Please no, not again,” the message.

My trial began in December 2004 and lasted until I was found guilty in April 2005. Up until August 2005, I was kept in isolation. It had been solitary confinement for two years.

I was immediately assigned to a general population unit at NJSP. I could now visit the mess hall to eat three meals per day, attend religious services, and work in the kitchen, laundry, or other areas of the prison. Regular visitors could be made to the yard and the gym.

I discovered that getting in trouble is the only way to end up isolated. I therefore made it my priority to avoid any.

But 17 years later, I was locked up because I had an unrestricted USB wire. For infractions involving prison, I was transferred to a “temporary” holding cell. In addition to the above, the tiers placed prisoners in AdSeg. This location was loud-ear-shatteringly loud, unlike the county jail lockup.

Some of the prisoners were yelling at one another. The police were being cursing and yelling at the inmates as well. Then there were the door bangers, like donkeys, kicking the metal doors into their cells. A zoo was nearby.

Evidently, the previous owner had been disturbed. The mattress was torn apart. Decomposing food was present. In the stainless-steel toilet sat a dried pile of faeces.

I wasn’t a brand-newcomer at the time, though. I spent nearly 20 years in one of the country’s most notorious prisons as a middle-aged man.

I summoned my strength and pleaded with the unit officer for some cleaning supplies, including a “night bag” of soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, clothing, toilet paper, a spoon, a cup, bed linens, and a blanket.

What do you desire? I was asked by a young officer who was overworked and disheveled.

I referred to the toilet’s faeces. He merely waved and instructed me to clean the sink with the sink’s water.

What should I use to clean that? I pressed on, agitated.

He said, “Use your hands,” and he left.

For me to hold onto my growing anger took decades of patience and self-control.

I paced for the following two days.

Is Trump’s foreign policy weakening the US? Ken Roth and Stephen Walt

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The US’s democracy is slipping, according to former Human Rights Watch director Ken Roth in an interview with Harvard professor Stephen Walt.

Stephen Walt, a long-time foreign policy columnist and professor of international relations at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, fiercely criticizes how liberal democracy has been practiced around the world, describing liberal hegemony as liberal hegemony. His books include The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, as well as The Hell of Good Intentions, which were recently published in the New York Times.

UK plans $2bn weapons upgrade as Starmer calls for ‘war readiness’

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As his government unveils a 1.5 billion pound (approximately $2 billion) plan to build at least six new weapons and explosives factories, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has warned the UK must be prepared to confront and defeat hostile states with modern military capabilities.

We must be prepared to fight and win, Starmer wrote in Sunday’s The Sun newspaper. “We are being directly threatened by states with advanced military forces. Our armed forces’ “we will restore Britain’s commitment to war-fighting readiness as its main goal.”

A Strategic Defense Review (SDR), which Starmer is scheduled to release on Monday, was the subject of the announcement. The review will examine the risks that the UK faces as a result of Donald Trump’s call for NATO allies to strengthen their defenses in the wake of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Following Trump’s assertion that Europe should bear more responsibility for its security, European countries have recently stepped up their armed forces.

The planned investment, according to Defence Secretary John Healey, serves as a clear warning to Moscow and will help revive the UK’s sluggish economy.

Healey told the BBC on Sunday that “we are in a world that is changing right now” and that there are growing threats. Russian aggression is growing, it says. It’s those every day cyberattacks, new nuclear threats, and rising global tensions.

Up to 7, 000 long-range missiles would be produced domestically, according to the UK Ministry of Defense. In the current legislative term, the government will spend approximately 6 billion pounds (approximately $8 billion) on munitions.

The UK’s Defence Ministry has not responded to reports from The Sunday Times that the government is considering purchasing US-built jets that can launch tactical nuclear weapons.

Following the Labour Party’s victory in the July 2024 election, the upcoming SDR will outline the emerging threats and the military might needed to combat them. By 2027, Starmer has pledged to increase defense spending to 2.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), with a goal to eventually reach 3 percent.