Foreign News
500,000 People to Benefit from UN Support in N/East Nigeria
No fewer than 500,000 conflict-affected people from North-east Nigeria will benefit from a new humanitarian and development package launched by two UN agencies on Thursday.
The Resilience and Social Cohesion project, launched by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Food Programme (WFP), is aimed at enhancing peace and increase livelihood opportunities in Borno and Yobe States.
It is also aimed at providing education, health, nutrition, child protection, and sanitation support to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable populations in the two states.
“This is a pathway to peace and sustainable development,’’ the UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, said.
Funded to the tune of 40 million euro from the German Government, the three-year humanitarian package targets children from birth up to two years of age, pregnant women, school-age children, adolescent girls, female-headed households and people with disabilities.
While leveraging ongoing humanitarian support in Bade Local Government Area of Yobe and Shani LGA of Borno, the UN lead agencies would also provide interventions to address drivers of conflict and fragility throughout various sectors.
The project would help to strengthen local governance, promote community-based social cohesion and build government partnerships.
“Children and other vulnerable groups will have a lifeline, and an opportunity to survive and thrive in communities where livelihood and peace building activities are present,” the UNICEF Representative said.
Now in its 13th year, armed conflict in the volatile North-east Nigeria – where the extremist militant group Boko Haram first surfaced – has levelled communities, destroyed livelihoods, and disrupted essential services for children and adults.
Also, protracted insecurity, high food prices and COVID-19 lockdowns have left more than four million people in need of food assistance.
The accompanying impact of violence and unrest has fuelled mental health, nutrition, education and child protection concerns.
According to the UN agencies, 1.14 million children across the region are acutely malnourished, on a scale not seen since 2018.
“Conflict in any region is potential instability in the rest of the world,’’ Hawkins said.
“UNICEF is grateful to the German Government for supporting pathways to child survival and peace in North-east Nigeria”.
With a focus on building peace, strengthening governance, restoring infrastructures and providing life-saving services, it is hoped that close to 157,000 people will benefit directly and over 362,000 indirectly, across both LGAs.
Giving thanks for the “timely and generous support” from Germany, the WFP Deputy Country Director in Nigeria, Ms Simone Parchment, hailed the value of the project for those “facing the peril of conflict and hunger in North-east Nigeria.
“In these affected states, persistent conflict, climate shocks, high food prices and reduced household purchasing power undermine people’s ability to feed themselves and sustain their livelihoods,” she said. (NAN)
US President Donald Trump announced he will be seeking $1bn (£730m) in damages from Harvard University in his administration’s ongoing feud with the institution.
The news comes after the New York Times reported that the Trump administration had to backtrack from its demand for a $200m payment in negotiations with the university.
Trump cited the story in a Truth Social post late on Monday, blaming Harvard for “feeding a lot of nonsense” to the New York Times.
Trump officials have accused Harvard of not doing enough to tackle antisemitism during pro-Palestinian protests. Harvard has rejected the accusation.
Harvard has been a central target in the White House’s campaign to stamp out what it calls “woke” and “radical left” ideologies on American campuses.
In April last year, Trump revoked around $2bn in research grants to Harvard and froze federal funding.
The university sued the Trump administration over the move, saying no government “should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue”.
A US federal court later overturned the billions in funding cuts, ruling the government had violated university’s free speech rights.
The White House vowed to immediately challenge the “egregious decision”, saying Harvard remains “ineligible for grants in the future”.
Before Monday’s announcement, the government had been in discussions with Harvard over a potential deal to unfreeze federal funding.
“We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,” Trump wrote on Monday.
He accused Harvard of “serious and heinous illegalities”, but did not clarify how he believed it had broken the law.
Trump has previously threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status and take control of the university’s patents stemming from federally funded research.
Three other Ivy League universities, Columbia, Penn and Brown, struck deals with Trump to preserve funding that was at risk due to similar claims by the administration, rather than go to court.
Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s Prime Minister, said on Tuesday at the World Government Summit in Dubai that access to social media for minors under 16 would be banned.
Sanchez added that all platforms will be required to implement age verification systems.
“Our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone.
“We will no longer accept that.
We will protect them from the digital Wild West. ”He added that his government would also introduce a new bill next week to hold social media executives accountable for illegal and hateful content.
Australia in December became the first country to ban social media for children under 16.
It’s a move being closely watched by other countries considering similar age-based measures, such as Britain and France.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to sue Grammys host, Trevor Noah after a joke he made about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein on stage.
Trump blasted the comedian as a “total loser,” adding: “It looks like I’ll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless, dope of an M.
C., and suing him for plenty of dollars. ”Trump criticised Noah’s joke, made after the song of the year gong was handed out at the ceremony on Sunday night.
Writing on Truth Social, in a post strewn with uppercase words, Trump said: “Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!!
“I can’t speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight’s false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media.
“Noah, a total loser, better get his facts straight, and get them straight fast.”
He added: “Get ready Noah, I’m going to have some fun with you!”
Trump also blasted the ceremony saying: “The Grammy Awards are the WORST, virtually unwatchable! CBS is lucky not to have this garbage litter their airwaves any longer.”
This was an apparent reference to Disney taking over the broadcast rights for the award ceremony starting in 2027.
He has also engaged in legal action with the New York Times, Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal.
Last July, U.S. media giant Paramount, which owns CBS, agreed to pay Trump 16 million dollars to settle a lawsuit over a 2024 CBS interview with Kamala Harris, the former vice-president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.
Noah, 41, is a South African-born comedian and TV personality who hosted “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central in the U.S. for seven years.
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