Headline
Anger As Ameachi Plans To Construct Modern Rail In North, Old Model In Other Parts Of Nigeria
Published
4 years agoon
By
Editor
Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, incurred the wrath of the Joint Committee on Land and Marine Transportation on Thursday at a budget defence in Abuja for what they called discrimination in rail construction.
The lawmakers accused the Minister of constructing a standard narrow gauge for the Kano-Maradi Rail line to the neighbouring Niger while constructing an old narrow gauge for other parts of Nigeria.
They protested seriously that the budget approvals which the Ministry has enjoyed so far were for equal and national development, asking why other parts of the country were not equally treated.
Amaechi and other heads of agencies and parastatals under the transport Ministry appeared before the Joint Committee for the 2022 budget defence.
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Reacting, the Minister said: “The construction of Kaduna -Kano railways to link up the Abuja-Kaduna rail line has commenced. Survey and Design for Ibadan -Minna – Abuja is ongoing.
“Construction of the 284 kilometres Nigeria. -Maradi (Niger Republic) standard gauge, rail line enabling interconnectivity with countries in the West Africa sub-region for the promotion of trade and commerce.
“This important contribution by Nigeria would be mutually beneficial by adding to the economic growth of the two countries.”
Chairman of Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Senator Danjuma Goje and House Committee Chairman, Pat Azadu kicked against the marginalization of other regions of the country in the construction rail line.
Goje, while querying the Minister expressed his discontentment over discrimination in railway construction, noting that giving Kano-Maradi modern rail lines and constructing old rail lines to other regions was unacceptable for any reason.
The Chairman Committee on Port, Pat Asadu who opened the floor after the Minister presented the budget to the Committee asked why the construction of modern rail lines for one place and constructing old rail lines to other parts of the country.
He queried, “Why won’t you construct narrow-gauge across the country so that we can develop equally. I can’t sit down and approve this. These are done with such impunity, my heart bleeds. This had been reoccurring.”
The Senate Committee Chairman on Marine Transport supported the observation of Hon. Asadu.
He asked, “why you will give us an old rail line and spending a lot of money to standard gauge to Maradi”.
According to him, I completely concur with the statement of Honorable member in the House of Representatives.
Ameachi while responding to the issue raised by the Committee said that the difference between the narrow gauge and standard gauge is speed adding that the country may not get the money to standard gauge across the country.
He said that the negotiation for a loan for the construction of the Kano-Maradi standard gauge line is about to be completed.
He also clarified that his ministry was yet to get money for Kano-Kaduna, Port Harcourt-Maiduguri railway projects. “The only money we have gotten is $1.4bn for the Lagos-Ibadan rail project,” he said.
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On the economic justification for constructing the $1. 3bn Kano-Maradi rail, Ameachi said the project was not based on sentiments but on economic benefits for the country.
He said on completion of the Kano-Maradi and Kano to Lagos railway, all national cargoes from the Niger Republic, like uranium and gold, would be moved through the Nigerian seaport from that corridor.
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Headline
Family Of Five Killed In Iranian Missile Strike After Fleeing Ukraine For Safety In Israel
Published
23 hours agoon
June 28, 2025By
Editor
A Ukrainian family of five who fled Russia’s war in search of safety were killed in Israel by an Iranian missile — the very conflict they thought they had escaped.
Mariia Pieshkurova had brought her 7-year-old daughter, Anastasiia, to Bat Yam, a suburb of Tel Aviv, hoping to get lifesaving cancer treatment and refuge from the violence at home.
Along with Anastasiia’s grandmother, Olena Sokolova, and two young cousins, Illia and Kostiantyn, they had started over — believing they were finally safe.
But on June 15, an Iranian missile tore through their apartment building during a retaliatory strike on Israel, killing them all.
“I really thought they’d be safe,” said Artem Buryk, Anastasiia’s father and Mariia’s former partner. “I never thought they’d go to Israel to escape war — and find it there.”
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The missile attack, part of Iran’s response to Israeli airstrikes on its territory, collapsed much of the building in Bat Yam.
It took four days to recover Mariia’s body from the rubble.
Their deaths marked a heartbreaking intersection of two wars — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Iran’s conflict with Israel — both of which had already tested the family’s will to survive.
Mariia had moved to Israel in late 2022 after Anastasiia was diagnosed with leukemia.
Ukraine’s hospitals were overwhelmed, and its largest children’s hospital was later destroyed in a missile strike.
In Israel, treatment began immediately. It was effective but costly. Mariia turned to Instagram, sharing photos of her daughter in treatment and videos of Artem pleading for help while serving on Ukraine’s front lines.
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“Masha did everything for her little girl,” said Anastasiia’s godmother, Khrytsyna Chanysheva. “She dedicated her life to her, moved to Israel to get her full treatment.”
Despite the pain, Anastasiia always smiled at visitors.
“She was in pain, and she would close her eyes for a second,” said charity worker Lada Fichkovsi. “But every time I walked into her room, she would smile.”
Her cousins joined the family in May 2024 as the situation in Odesa deteriorated.
“The shelling made my children cry,” said Hanna Pieshkurova, Mariia’s sister. “I decided to let them go.”
Though Israel was at war with Hamas, Mariia had assured her sister that Bat Yam was calm. Air raid sirens were rare, and the Iron Dome defense system offered hope.
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“Ukrainians often say, ‘This is not Ukraine, it’s not as scary,’” said Inna Bakhareva of Chance4Life, a charity helping sick children in Israel. “They felt secure due to the Iron Dome.”
That sense of security evaporated after Israel struck Iranian targets on June 12. Iran retaliated with missile attacks across Israeli cities.
“Dad, at night I saw how the missiles were falling,” Anastasiia told her father in a voice message the night before she died.
She and her mother had been scheduled to visit the hospital the next morning. The missile struck before dawn.
Mr. Buryk, who had just returned from the front lines near Sumy, received the news that same day.
“I still don’t understand what’s happening,” he said. “I still can’t believe it.”
He used to promise Anastasiia they’d go fishing together when peace returned.
“Every time I talked to her, I’d say, ‘Sweetheart, we’ll go fishing. Just us,’” he said. “And now I just don’t understand. I still don’t even grasp that she’s gone.”
“Last night,” he added quietly, “I sent her voice messages.”
(New York Times)
Headline
Militia Attack On DRC IDP Camp, Kills 10, Mostly Women, Children
Published
1 day agoon
June 27, 2025By
Editor
An armed group at the centre of a long-running ethnic conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeast attacked a camp for displaced people on Friday, killing 10, local sources told AFP.
Bordering Uganda, Ituri province has for years been the scene of pitched battles between the Lendu, a group mainly made up of settled farmers, and the Hema people, typically nomadic herders.
The fighting has led to the deaths of thousands of civilians and the mass displacement of many more.
Friday’s assault on the Djangi displaced persons camp was carried out by the self-proclaimed Cooperative for the Development of Congo (Codeco), a Lendu-aligned militia responsible for previous civilian massacres, the camp’s head told AFP.
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“They were many and armed with firearms and machetes. They surprised us, they killed 10 displaced people, most of them women and children,” said Richard Likana.
An employee of the Red Cross, who asked to remain anonymous, confirmed the attack, which took place around 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Bunia.
“They were cut up with machetes while others were shot,” the humanitarian worker added.
Congolese army Colonel Ruffin Mapela, the local administrator for Djugu territory where the camp is located, gave the same toll of 10 dead and put the number of injured at 15.
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According to local and humanitarian sources, Codeco was responsible for an attack on February 10 which killed 51 people in Ituri province. Most of the victims were also displaced persons.
That raid was said to be a response to a strike by the rival Hema-led Zaire militia in the same area.
Violence between the Hema and Lendu killed thousands in gold-rich Ituri from 1999-2003, which only ended after European forces intervened.
The conflict erupted again in 2017, killing thousands more.
The violence has led to more than 1.5 million people leaving their homes, according to the UN.
AFP
Headline
Israel Wants Global Action Against Iran’s Nuclear Plans
Published
1 day agoon
June 27, 2025By
Editor
Israel’s foreign minister said on Friday that the world was obliged to stop Iran from developing an atomic bomb, days after Israel claimed it had “thwarted Iran’s nuclear project” in a 12-day war.
“Israel acted at the last possible moment against an imminent threat to itself, the region, and the international community,” Gideon Saar wrote on X.
“The international community must now prevent, by any effective means, the world’s most extreme regime from obtaining the most dangerous weapon.”
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Israel and Iran each claimed victory in the war that ended with a ceasefire on June 24.
The conflict erupted on June 13 when Israel launched a bombing campaign, stating it aimed to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon—an ambition Iran has consistently denied.
Following waves of Israeli attacks on nuclear and military sites, the United States bombed three key facilities, with President Donald Trump insisting it had set Iran’s nuclear programme back by “decades”.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an address to the nation after the ceasefire, announced that “we have thwarted Iran’s nuclear project”.
However, there is no consensus as to how effective the strikes were.
On Friday, Iran rejected a request by UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi to visit the bombed facilities, saying it suggested “malign intent”.
The comments from Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi came after parliament approved a bill suspending cooperation with the UN watchdog.
In a post on X following the move, Saar said Iran “continues to mislead the international community and actively works to prevent effective oversight of its nuclear programme”.
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