Headline

Plan International Donates Health Materials To Bauchi Schools

Published

1 year ago

June 9, 2024

Editor

Plan International, an humanitarian organisation has donated some health club materials to 85 schools in Bauchi state to enhance the health status of students.

Mr Mohammed Musa, Senior Project Coordinator, Plan International, Bauch, stated this in Bauchi on Friday during the donation of the items.

He said that the event demonstrated the commitment of this Ministry of Education in harnessing all available resources for the attainment of high education standards for the children in the state through strategic partnership and carefully articulated interventions.

According to him, the gesture was the product of evidenced-based partnership that culminated from the first day the commissioner of education assumed office.

He highlighted some of the items donated to the selected schools to include; 4,225 packs of Menstrual Pads, 169 pieces of first aid boxes, 85 pieces of first Aid kits with supplies in them and 423 pieces of hand sanitizers.

Others he said included; 85 pieces of branded hijabs,165 pieces of football, 344 pieces of skipping rope, 84 packs of whiteboard marker, 169 pieces of white board stand and 85 pieces of small medical scissors.

“On behalf of Plan International, I extend our profound gratitude to the Ministry of Education for allowing us to support in this area and to pledge our continued support to the Ministry in their journey towards providing quality education to our teeming children in a healthy environment,” he said.

In her acceptance speech, the state Commissioner for Education, Dr Jamila Dahiru, said that the items would go a long way in assisting the students.

“I would like to thank them for not only believing in us to revive the health clubs, but also coming up with a manual that can be used in the various clubs.

“This gesture would allow us to have healthy students in our schools learning and becoming our proud future leaders,” she said.

Also speaking, the Executive Chairman Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alh Adamu Duguri, urged the management of the selected schools to ensure that the items were judiciously used for the purposes they were meant for.

He also advised them not to take the items to the market and sell them off.

Headline

42 Killed In Israeli Attacks, Says Gaza’s Civil Defense

Published

12 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Gaza’s civil defence agency reported at least 42 people killed in Israeli attacks on Sunday, as the Israeli army prepared for a new assault on the Palestinian territory’s largest city.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there had been several air strikes around Gaza City — which the military is gearing up to capture — including one in the Al-Sabra neighbourhood that killed eight people.

Attacks were also reported elsewhere across the territory, he said, with the “total tally currently rising to 42 dead”.

The army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the figure.

“The situation is extremely dangerous… Each day, each minute, there are bombings, martyrs, death and blood — we can’t take it anymore,” Al-Sabra resident Ibrahim Al-Shurafa told AFP, explaining strikes and shelling were ongoing.

“We don’t know where to go. Death follows us everywhere,” he added.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.

The October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,686 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

AFP

Headline

Venezuela Frees Eight Opposition Leaders

Published

12 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Venezuelan authorities released eight opposition leaders from jail early Sunday, including a former congressman and two Italian citizens, and granted house arrest to five others, an opposition politician said.

Most of those released had been charged with corruption in opposition-run mayoral offices.

Also set free was Congressman, Amirico de Grazia, detained amid protests that erupted during President Nicolas Maduro’s reelection in 2024.

“Today, several families are once again embracing their loved ones. We know there are many left, and we have not forgotten them; we continue to fight for everyone,” two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said on X.

Opposition leaders Victor Jurado, Simon Vargas, Arelis Ojeda Escalante, Mayra Castro, Diana Berrio, Gorka Carnevalli, as well as Italian nationals Margarita Assenzo and de Grazia were released, Capriles said.

Nabil Maalouf, Valentin Gutierrez Pineda, Rafael Ramirez, Pedro Guanipa, and David Barroso were placed under house arrest.

The Italian government confirmed the release of de Grazia and Assenzo, who must appear in court to clarify the conditions of their release. It also vowed to continue working on securing the release of other detained Italians.

“We have always said, and we maintain it: we will talk to whomever we need to talk to so that there is not a single political prisoner in our Venezuela!” Capriles added.

AFP

Headline

Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians

Published

12 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Russia and Ukraine each sent back more prisoners of war on Sunday in the latest in a series of exchanges that have seen hundreds of POWs released this year, the two sides said.

Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul between May and July.

They remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since Russia’s offensive began in 2022.

“On August 24, 146 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled” by Kyiv, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.

“In exchange, 146 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred” to Ukraine, it added. Ukraine did not confirm any figures for the release.

Russia also said that “eight citizens of the Russian Federation—residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained” by Kyiv were also returned.

Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August last year, seizing hundreds of square kilometres (miles) of territory in a major setback for the Kremlin.

Russia deployed thousands of troops from its ally North Korea as part of a counterattack but did not fully reclaim the region until April.

Among the Ukrainians released on Sunday was journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Khyliuk was kidnapped in the Kyiv region in March 2022. He is finally home in Ukraine,” Zelensky said on social media.

Also freed was former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, “who spent more than three years in captivity,” Zelensky’s aide Andriy Yermak wrote on X.

“In 2022, he was on the list for return, but Volodymyr voluntarily refused to be exchanged in favour of a seriously ill prisoner with whom he was sharing a cell in a Russian prison,” Yermak said.

AFP