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Use Your Phones To Share Environmental Challenges, Not Jokes, Environmental Activist Tells Nigerians

Published

3 years ago

March 3, 2022

The Executive Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, has urged Nigerians particularly young ones who use their phones to share all sorts of short video jokes on social to divert such skills and time to sharing short videos on our environmental challenges with a view to enlightening the public.

Bassey made the appeal in Benin Wednesday at a day training on ‘use of video documentary as tools for advocacy,’ organised by HOMEF with resource persons drawn from Nigeria and abroad.

The environmental activist said there are a lot of environmental challenges people are not aware of or overlook, hence making short videos about them and sharing them on social media would go a long way in increasing awareness about our environment and having a better protected environment.

The Executive Director added: “So, if we have young people who share what they see and who understand the consequence of what goes around us such as pollution, deforestation and other challenges, then we are going to have environment that is better protected.

Anita and Maria, resource persons at the training.

“We spend a lot of time just making videos for jokes, we can actually make such videos about our environment and pass a serious and strong message that will help protect our environment.”

One of the resource persons at the training, Babayanju Babawale, said the human brain is built for visuals hence short video documentry produced from our phones about the environment can be used to persuade and push for awareness.

Another resource person at the training, Maria Dyrvik from Norway, said “it has been proved that video documentry can actually make a difference especially when it comes to environmental issues.”

She added: “It has been proved that video documentry can actually make a difference especially when it comes to environmental issues. When you put the people at the centre of your message; You look at the person story and how we all have been affected by climate change.” (Sic)

She urged participants at the training to put into use the basic knowledge gotten with a view to making an impact on the environment.

In her part, Anita Veda also from Norway, said short video documentry made from our phones can make great changes.

INFO DAILY reports that the training was organised by HOMEF for selected people to have basic knowledge on how to make short videos with Android phone for advocacy.

Headline

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

Published

8 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

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Venezuela Frees Eight Opposition Leaders

Published

9 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

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Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians

Published

9 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