The world commemorates women today under the hashtag #BreakTheBias.
Five people have died in Nigeria’s northern Kano state after being buried alive in a trench while helping their friend build a house ahead of his wedding, local media report.
They were digging sand in Yanlami village when part of the trench collapsed.
The deceased are between the ages of 22 and 35, Kano state fire service spokesman saminu Yussif told Nigeria vanguard paper.
“All victims were rescued unconscious and confirmed dead,” Mr Yussif continued.
“The victims were handed over to the police officer, Aminu Idris of Becchi police division, and village head of Yanlami,” he said.
Former South Africa President Jacob Zuma has backed President Vladimir Putin in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, describing him as a man of peace.
Western nations have imposed punitive sanctions on Russia, including the freezing of Mr Putin’s foreign assets over his invasion of Ukraine.
But Mr Zuma said Mr Putin’s decision was “justifiable”, according to a statement released by his foundation.
“We all need peace in this world. Therefore we would like to urge those involved to bring peace as swiftly as possible so that lives can be saved,” the statement said.
Mr Zuma was forced out of office by his own party in 2018, the African National Congress (ANC), over corruption allegations. He denies any wrongdoing.
Safe corridors intended to let Ukrainian civilians escape the Russian onslaught could open Tuesday, Kremlin officials said, though Ukrainian leaders were skeptical since prior efforts to establish evacuation routes crumbled amid renewed attacks.
“We can’t even gather up the bodies because the shelling from heavy weapons doesn’t stop day or night,” Mayor Anatol Fedoruk said. “Dogs are pulling apart the bodies on the city streets. It’s a nightmare.”
In one of the most desperate cities, the encircled southern port of Mariupol, an estimated 200,000 people — nearly half the population of 430,000 — were hoping to flee, and Red Cross officials waited to hear when a corridor would be established.
Russia’s coordination center for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine said Russia will begin a cease-fire at 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT) to allow civilians to flee through special corridors agreed upon with Ukrainian authorities, according to Russian media. Most of those corridors would lead to Russia, either directly or through Belarus, though people in Kharkiv would be allowed to travel to western Ukraine, the center said.
But doubts abounded, fueled by the failure of previous attempts to lead civilians to safety amid the biggest ground war in Europe since World War II. The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would not comment on the latest Russian proposal, saying only that Moscow’s plans can be believed only if a safe evacuation begins.
Demands for effective passageways have surged amid intensifying shelling by Russian forces. The steady bombardments, including in some of Ukraine’s most populated regions, have yielded a humanitarian crisis of diminishing food, water and medical supplies.
Through it all, Zelenskky said Ukrainian forces were showing unprecedented courage.
“The problem is that for one soldier of Ukraine, we have 10 Russian soldiers, and for one Ukrainian tank, we have 50 Russian tanks,” Zelenskyy told ABC News in an interview that aired Monday night. But he noted that the gap in strength was closing and that even if Russian forces “come into all our cities,” they will be met with an insurgency.
A top U.S. official said multiple countries were discussing whether to provide the warplanes that Zelenskyy has been pleading for.
A doctor is urging the government to make it easier for more members of Ukrainian families to get visas to join relatives in the UK.
Tania Hebert, a doctor in Coventry, was born in Ukraine but relocated in 1993.
Several of her family are in Kyiv and have not been able to get a visa to leave since Russia invaded, Ms Hebert said.
“All these kind of restrictions and rules on visas are ridiculous,” she added.
Among her relatives in Ukraine is her cousin who has a baby and Ms Hebert said she has been told she cannot get a visa.
“I would have her in my spare room, her and her husband easily, we have space for them, they speak English,” she said.
The scheme has been extended to parents, grandparents and siblings as well as “immediate family”.
Ms Hebert said her grandmother had been successful in getting a visa before the war started and joined them in the UK the day before the invasion began.
But she said the process needed speeding up and expanding to help as many people in Ukraine as possible.
“If they have contact, any contact, a friend, a relative [in England] who is willing to help, they should be able to come,” she said.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was “doing everything possible” to speed up efforts to issue the travel permits.
The Catholic Church in Malawi has criticised the country’s leadership describing it as “weak and indecisive” and not doing enough in the fight against corruption.
In a pastoral letter, which was signed by bishops, and read out across parishes on Sunday, the Church expressed sadness that decision-making at the highest level of government was slow when it comes to corruption, despite politicians having the necessary legal powers, authority and information to fight it.
“We believe that a President who campaigned on a platform of anti-corruption, and promised to deal with the vice, will not keep any of his ministers and aides when there is sufficient information about their involvement in corruption,” the bishops said.
Malawi’s government has said it “will look at the letter” and engage with the bishops on the issues raised.
The opposition and civil society groups have praised the clergy for raising issues they have said are a reflection of concerns members of the general public have.
In the past few months several groups have staged demonstrations across the country protesting against what they perceive as the government’s failure to deal with rising levels of corruption and lack of support for the popular head of the graft-busting body, Martha Chizuma, who has emerged as a stalwart in the anti-corruption fight.
Every dollar of investment in renewables creates three times more jobs than in the fossil fuel industry. Greetings friends. I am Sofonie D...
