Headline

8-year-old Migrant Girl Dies In US Custody

Published

3 years ago

May 18, 2023

An eight-year-old migrant girl died in US custody in Texas on Wednesday, a tragedy that tempered news of a sharp drop in attempted illegal crossings of the southern US border.

The girl died in Harlingen, a Texas border city near the Gulf of Mexico.

“The child and her family were in custody at the Harlingen Station where she experienced a medical emergency,” US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a statement.

“Emergency Medical Services were called to the station and transported her to the local hospital where she was pronounced dead,” the statement said, adding that an investigation was opened into the death.

The agency did not give the migrant girl’s identity or nationality.

A 17-year-old Honduran boy who arrived in the US without a parent or guardian died last week in government custody in Safety Harbor, Florida.

Separately, new policies that came into effect last week to deal with undocumented migrants appear to have slashed US entries.

The Border Patrol counted less than 4,000 “encounters” — apprehensions and expulsions — with people crossing without permission each of the past two days, said Blas Nunez-Neto, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

That compared with 10,100 per day in the week before the lifting of Title 42, the Covid-19 health emergency rule used for three years to swiftly expel a wide array of migrants, he told reporters.

Replacing Title 42 was a policy package anchored on immigration law Title 8, which provides for strict penalties for those crossing who do not qualify, including five-year bans on US entry and possible criminal charges.

That was combined with an expansion of formal avenues to migrate to the United States, focused especially on refugees and asylum applicants.

The aim was to stem pressure at the border, where more than 200,000 migrant encounters occurred in most months over the last year, creating a political crisis for President Joe Biden.

–Crossing numbers drop-

Nunez-Neto said last week’s policy change appeared to be achieving the goal of reducing illegal immigration.

The number of Mexicans encountered fell from 1,900 daily to 1,000 and Colombians from 1,400 to 510 a day.

The number of Venezuelan migrants had also plunged to 50 per day, after hitting 2,400 before the policy change.

The 4,000 a day was also lower than the average of 7,000 encounters a day in April.

In addition, there were signs that the northward movement of migrants from South and Central America to the Mexico-US frontier has slowed, said Nunez-Neto.

“We are also seeing some early promising signs that entries into the Darien jungle between Colombia and Panama have been declining in recent days,” he said, referring to a particularly treacherous section of the main route for migrants heading north.

Instead, “tens of thousands” have been applying for immigration interviews with US Customs and Border Protection, and over 5,000 have been “processed” in their appointments since May 12, Nunez-Neto said.

And many Haitians, Venezuelans and Cubans are taking advantage of a special program to migrate as refugees that requires them to apply from abroad, he added.

“I want to stress once again that it is still too soon to draw any firm conclusions here about where these trends will go in the coming days and weeks,” said Nunez-Neto.

“We continue to monitor the situation on our border and in Mexico and along the transit routes in real-time,” he said.

Headline

UK Rejects Nigeria’s Request To Transfer Ekweremadu

Published

19 hours ago

November 24, 2025

Editor

The United Kingdom has rejected a request from the Nigerian government to transfer former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu to Nigeria to complete his prison sentence.

Ekweremadu is serving time in a UK facility after he was found guilty in 2023 of plotting to harvest the kidney of a young man.

He received a jail term of nine years and eight months following the conviction, which stemmed from a high-profile organ-trafficking case that drew international attention.

With the latest decision, Ekweremadu will remain in the UK to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

Headline

Trump Blasts Ukraine For ‘Zero Gratitude’ Amid Talks To Halt War

Published

2 days ago

November 23, 2025

Editor

US President Donald Trump on Sunday accused Ukraine again of lacking “gratitude” for Washington’s support against Russia’s invasion, as top US and Ukrainian representatives met in Geneva for talks on a proposal to halt the war.

“UKRAINE ‘LEADERSHIP’ HAS EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, also blasting European countries for not doing enough to stop the war, but offering no direct condemnation of Moscow.

His comments came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was meeting with top Ukrainian officials in a wintery Geneva Sunday to discuss the US president’s controversial 28-point plan for ending the nearly four-year conflict.

The Ukrainian delegation, headed by Andriy Yermak, also met with high-level officials from Britain, France and Germany in the Swiss city, as European countries scramble to have a seat at the table in the discussions.

Trump had given Ukraine until November 27 to approve the plan, but Kyiv wants changes to a draft that accepts a range of Russia’s hardline demands, including requiring the invaded country to cede territory, cut its army and pledge never to join NATO.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday said he was “sceptical” a deal could be reached by that deadline.

The US president told reporters Saturday the proposal was not his final offer and he hoped to stop the fighting “one way or the other”, raising hopes that it would be possible to strengthen Kyiv’s position.

– ‘Ukrainian perspectives’ included –

A US official, who asked not to be named, told AFP that a number of meetings were held throughout the day Sunday, with the US and Ukrainian delegation holding “detailed discussions about the peace agreement”.

“It was productive and even conclusive in some areas,” the official said, adding that a second round of talks underway at the US mission in Geneva aimed at “ironing out the details of the agreement”.

By late Sunday afternoon, Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov said the latest version of the US draft plan, which AFP has not seen, “already reflects most of Ukraine’s key priorities”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said on social media that the “American proposals may include a number of elements based on Ukrainian perspectives and critical for Ukrainian national interests”, hailing that “diplomacy has been reinvigorated”.

– Recognise European ‘centrality’ –

The US plan was drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies, who were striving Sunday to make their voices heard and boost Kyiv’s position.

“Ukraine must have the freedom and sovereign right to choose its own destiny. They have chosen a European destiny,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement, stressing that the “centrality” of the European Union’s role must be “fully reflected” in any peace plan.
Ukraine’s European allies gathered at the G20 summit in South Africa stressed that the US plan requires “additional work”.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb told AFP that he and Italian leader Giorgia Meloni had called Trump early Sunday to discuss his Ukraine proposal.

“Of course, we discussed the situation, the 28-point plan, and some of the developments here in Johannesburg related to the peace plan,” he said, declining to reveal the content of the discussions.

French President Emmanuel Macron told a news conference at the G20 that the plan contained points that had to be more broadly discussed as they concerned European allies, such as Ukraine’s NATO ties and Russian frozen assets held in the EU.

He said the 30 countries in the “coalition of the willing” supporting Kyiv will hold a video call on Tuesday following the Geneva talks.
European Union countries were also planning to meet to discuss the Ukraine situation on the sidelines of a meeting with African leaders in Angola on Monday.

– ‘Wish list’ –

Questions were meanwhile being raised over how much input Moscow may have had in drafting the original proposal, which was welcomed by the Kremlin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the blueprint could “lay the foundation” for a final peace settlement, but threatened more land seizures if Ukraine walked away from negotiations.
Ahead of Sunday’s talks, Washington insisted the Trump proposal was official US policy, denying claims by a group of US senators that Rubio told them the document was a Russian “wish list”.

Rubio himself insisted on social media late Saturday that “the peace proposal was authored by the US”.

“It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations. It is based on input from the Russian side. But it is also based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”
That did not calm all concerns.

“Together with the leaders of Europe, Canada and Japan, we have declared our readiness to work on the 28-point plan despite some reservations,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X Sunday.

“However, before we start our work, it would be good to know for sure who is the author of the plan and where was it created.”

Headline

Pope Leo XIV Demands Immediate Release Of 315 Abducted Niger Students, Teachers

Published

2 days ago

November 23, 2025

Editor

Pope Leo XIV has appealed for the immediate release of 315 people abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri, Agwarra Local Government Area of Niger State.

Speaking on Sunday, the Pontiff expressed deep distress over the mass kidnapping, which included students, teachers, priests, and other members of the Catholic community.

“I received with profound sorrow the news of the abduction of priests, faithful, and schoolchildren. I make a heartfelt plea for the swift and unconditional release of all those being held,” Pope Leo XIV said.

The attack occurred in the early hours of Friday when armed men reportedly invaded the private Catholic school in a well-coordinated operation.

According to local sources, the assailants arrived in large numbers, riding on more than 60 motorcycles and supported by a van, before forcing their way into the premises.

During the assault, the school’s gatekeeper was shot and left critically injured.

A resident of Agwarra confirmed the incident, noting that the exact number of abducted students has yet to be verified.

IPOB kicks against Nnamdi Kanu’s transfer to Sokoto prison
“It happened between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.. The number of students taken is still unclear,” the source said.

Another community source added that several teachers were also seized during the raid, raising further concerns about the scale of the attack and the safety of the victims.