International
The death toll in the collapse of a school in central Nigeria rise to 17
The death toll in the collapse of a two-story school in the center of Nigeria this Friday rose from 12 to at least 17, the Plateau State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA, in English), where the events took place, confirmed to EFE.
“So far, we have removed 17 bodies while another 70 (people) are currently receiving treatment for the wounds suffered in different hospitals,” Samuel Abdu, executive secretary of SEMA, told EFE by phone.
However, a worker of the agency’s rescue teams who wanted to maintain anonymity numbered 21 fatalities after the death of four other people in the hospital.
The school was located in the Busa Buji community, in the town of Jos North and, according to local media, the collapse occurred around 8:30 local time (7:30 GMT), when many of the teachers and students were already in the classrooms.
About 120 of the more than 200 that were in the building at the time of the collapse are still trapped in the rubble, Pleteau’s Information Commissioner, Musa Ashoms, explained in a statement.
“To ensure immediate medical care, the Government has ordered hospitals to prioritize treatment without documentation or payment,” Ashoms said.
“We heard a loud noise and we ran out just to see that the school building had collapsed (…) Many students and teachers are still trapped under the rubble,” Peter Auta, a neighbor of the area who witnessed the events and said that there were about 40 students inside the school when it collapsed, told EFE on the phone.
The teams of the SEMA and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), among others, traveled to the area and are looking for survivors.
Building landslides are common in Nigeria – the most populous country in Africa with more than 213 million inhabitants – a problem that is attributed to the use of poor quality construction materials and the negligent review of buildings by the authorities.
In November 2021, at least 45 people died in the collapse of a 21-story building under construction on the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city and the country’s economic capital.
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
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Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction