News

US Strikes In Yemen Kill 31 As Trump Vows To End Huthi Attacks

Published

7 months ago

March 16, 2025

The first US strikes against Yemen’s Huthis since Donald Trump took office killed 31 people, the rebels said Sunday, with the US president warning “hell will rain down upon” the Iran-backed group if it did not stop attacking shipping.

The Huthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, said children were among those killed.

An AFP photographer in the rebel-held capital Sanaa heard explosions and saw plumes of smoke rising.

Attacks on Sanaa, as well as on areas in Saada, Al-Bayda and Radaa, killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, “most of whom were children and women”, Huthi health ministry spokesperson Anis Al-Asbahi said.

Footage on Huthi media showed children and a woman among those being treated in a hospital emergency room, including a dazed girl with blackened legs wrapped in bandages.

Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force” to end the Huthi attacks, which the rebels say are in solidarity with Palestinians amid the Gaza war.

“To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.

Trump also issued a stern warning to the group’s main backer.

“To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!” he said.

“Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”

The Huthis vowed the strikes “will not pass without response”, while Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi condemned the deaths and said Washington had “no authority” to dictate Tehran’s foreign policy.

The Huthi Ansarullah website slammed what it called Washington’s “criminal brutality”.

US Central Command, which posted videos of fighter jets taking off and a bomb demolishing a compound, said “precision strikes” were launched to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation”.

‘Escalation with escalation’ –
“Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the Huthi political bureau said.

The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.

They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Huthis had “attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023”.

The campaign put a major strain on the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies to take a costly detour around southern Africa.

The Palestinian group Hamas, which has praised the Huthi support, lashed out at the US strikes, branding them “a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability”.

Iran “strongly condemned the brutal air strikes” in a statement, denouncing them as a “gross violation of the principles of the UN Charter”.

The head of the country’s Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, said: “Iran will not wage war, but if anyone threatens, it will give appropriate, decisive and conclusive responses.

‘Political dialogue’ –
The United States has launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets.

After halting their attacks when a ceasefire took effect in Gaza in January, the Huthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifted its blockade of aid to the devastated Palestinian territory.

Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on merchant shipping.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration reclassified the Huthis as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, banning any US interaction with it.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Moscow is close to Tehran.

“Continued Huthi attacks on US military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated,” Rubio told Lavrov, according to the State Department.

Russia’s foreign ministry said that “Lavrov stressed the need for an immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue… (to) prevent further bloodshed”.

The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened.

The war devastated the already impoverished nation.

Fighting has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of Huthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.

News

Back To School: Lions Club Distributes Educational Materials In Edo Schools

Published

9 hours ago

October 4, 2025

Editor

The Benin Etete Unique and Edo Heritage Lions of the International Association of Lions Club on Friday jointly distributed educational materials to two schools in Benin City as part of the association corporate services to humanity.

The two clubs in District 404-A4 Lions Nigeria, jointly carried out the distribution of notebooks, maths sets, school bags and sandals, pens and other writing materials to excited pupils in Ivbioba Primary School and Oghede-Ivioba Primary School, Ugbighoko, Egor Local Government Area, and Evbiyenava Primary School, in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State.

Themed, Back to School Project, pupils were also engaged in Reading Action Program (RAP) and Spelling Bee Competition, after which winners were presented with special prizes.

In their remarks, Lions Darlington Uyi and Franca Nikoro, presidents of Benin Etete Unique and Edo Heritage Lions Clubs stated that the vision of the Lions International is to serve humanity.

They, therefore, tasked pupils on commitment to their studies in order to attain their fullest potentials in life.

“Emulate Lions in your visions for tomorrow. We have various professionals as members, and if you are committed to your studies, obedient to your parents and teachers, you will attain great heights,” Lion Uyi Darlinton Stated.

“Our vision is to serve, and we are here like we do every period to ensure Literacy is inculcated in pupils to enable them to attain their full potential. It is our earnest desire that you grow into well rounded personalities. Literacy is important in order to actualize that aspiration,” Franca Nikoro stated.

Earlier, in his address, Lion Sir Dede Henry Idemudia, Zone 6A Chairperson, tasked the pupils on good conduct, honour to parents and guardians and obedience to instructions of school authority.

News

NAFDAC Gives Nigerian Food Companies 18 Months To Cut Trans Fats

Published

11 hours ago

October 3, 2025

Editor

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has set an 18-month grace period, effectively giving food companies until early 2026 before facing full enforcement of regulations to eliminate industrially produced Trans-Fatty Acids (TFA).

The initiative, launched as a comprehensive strategy and roadmap for TFA regulation, moves Nigeria from simply having the policy to enforcing its world-class standard: a regulatory limit of no more than two grams of industrially produced trans fat per 100 grams of total fat or oil.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, emphasised that the roadmap moves the country beyond policy creation to aggressive enforcement and implementation.

This was contained in the NAFDAC DG’s keynote speech posted on the agency’s official X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.

Adeyeye stressed the moral imperative of the Agency’s mission.

“The removal of industrially produced trans fats from the food chain is not only a technical achievement, but a moral imperative.

“Eliminating industrially produced trans fats is possible, achievable, necessary, and urgent,” Adeyeye stated, calling for national collaboration.

The moratorium period is designed to allow manufacturers to exhaust existing stock with outdated labels and reformulate their products to comply with the legal limit.

NAFDAC’s action targets a dangerous dietary risk factor strongly linked to cardiovascular disease, stroke, and premature death globally.

Adeyeye emphasised the significance of the move beyond technical compliance, noting, “The removal of industrially produced trans fats from the food chain is not only a technical achievement, but a moral imperative.”

This aggressive step builds upon Nigeria’s existing reputation; the country was recognised by the World Health Organisation in 2023 for adopting best-practice TFA elimination policies.

The new roadmap is key to securing WHO validation of Nigeria’s full TFA elimination programme, establishing the nation as a regional leader in public health interventions.

News

Mohbad’s Father Urges Lagos AG To Prosecute Wife, Nurse, Others

Published

11 hours ago

October 3, 2025

Editor

Joseph Aloba, the father of late singer Mohbad, has urged the Lagos State government to initiate criminal proceedings against individuals named in the coroner’s inquest into his son’s death.

Mohbad passed away on September 12, 2023, following an injection administered by auxiliary nurse Feyisayo Ogedengbe.

Despite being buried the next day, public outcry and ongoing investigations led to the exhumation of his body on September 21, 2023, for an autopsy.

In a letter dated October 3 and addressed to the attorney general of Lagos State through his lawyers, Aloba demanded that criminal charges be filed against those indicted within 14 days.

“Specifically, we refer to persons indicted by the coroner’s verdict hereunder: Miss Ogedengbe Fisayo, indicted for unlawful medical practice and gross medical negligence; and Mrs. Omowunmi Aloba, indicted for negligence,” the letter reads.

“This includes Ibrahim Owodunni, a.k.a. Prime Boy, and others who either facilitated the invitation of the auxiliary nurse or refused to take him promptly to a recognised medical facility for treatment.”

Mohbad’s father said he was concerned that despite the coroner’s clear verdict, no prosecutorial steps had been taken against those indicted nearly three months after the judgment.

He asked the attorney general to exercise prosecutorial powers within the 14 days, or, in the alternative, grant him and his legal team a fiat to prosecute the matter on behalf of the state.

“Our Client, as a bereaved father desirous of ensuring that justice is done and seen to be done, is deeply concerned that notwithstanding the clear indictments contained in the Coroner’s Verdict, no prosecutorial steps have been taken against the aforementioned persons since the delivery of the Verdict on 11th July, 2025,” the letter reads.

“The judicial observations amount to clear indictments warranting the prosecution of the said individuals in order to give full effect to the Coroner’s findings and recommendations, and to ensure that justice is manifestly and adequately served in this matter.

“We request that you exercise your prosecutorial power on the above subject matter within 14 Days Next, in view of the high sensitivity of this matter and the public attention and outrage it has generated.”

In October 2023, Naira Marley and Sam Larry were arrested over allegations linking them to Mohbad’s death, but were released on bail after five weeks in detention.

By February 2025, a magistrate court cleared them of any involvement in the singer’s demise.