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Alex Batty, now 17 years old, had been missing since 2017, when he disappeared during a trip to Spain with his mother and grandfather. A 17-year-old British boy who had gone missing six years ago during a trip to Spain has been found in France. The prosecutor’s office in the city of Toulouse, France, said that the boy, Alex Batty, is at a young person’s centre in the city and would be back in the UK within the day. Batty had been missing since 2017, when he was on holiday with his mother and his grandfather, who are believed to be involved in his disappearance. The two have no parental guardianship of the boy and have not yet been located. The 17-year-old boy was spotted by motorists in the early hours of Wednesday morning as he was walking through the rain near Toulouse. He told motorists and police officers that he had been in France for two years, travelling from place to place with an itinerant commune embracing an alternative lifestyle. He said he had left because he m...

Images from Gaza circulating on social media Thursday showed a mass detention by the Israeli military of men who were made to strip to their underwear, kneel on the street, wear blindfolds, and pack into the cargo bed of a military vehicle. The exact circumstances and dates of the detentions are unclear, but some of the detainees’ identities were confirmed by colleagues or family members. At least some of the men are civilians with no known affiliation to militant groups, according to a conversationhad had with one of their relatives and a statement by one of their employers, a news network. The   Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor posted an image of one detainment and  said in a statement on its website Thursday  that “the Israeli army detained and severely abused dozens of Palestinian civilians.” “Euro-Med Monitor received reports that Israeli forces launched random and arbitrary arrest campaigns against displaced people, i...

Nigeria already owes billions of dollars in debt and grapples with high inflation a cost-of-living crisis. Nigeria’s government is celebrating a “landmark victory” after a UK court ruled it was not liable for a multibillion-dollar payout earlier awarded to a private firm over a failed gas project. The West African nation was previously ordered by an arbitration tribunal in 2017 to pay $6.6 billion, plus interest in damages to a British Virgin Islands-based engineering firm, Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID). The company had sued for compensation over lost profits following the collapse of  a 20-year deal with Nigerian authorities in 2010  to build a gas processing facility. The awarded sum and accumulated interest had now exceeded $11 billion, nearly half of Nigeria’s federal budget for this year. If upheld by the London court, the tribunal’s $11 billion payout to P&ID would have taken a devastating toll ...

Nigeria ended the subsidy regime upon Tinubu’s assumption of office in May, a move that skyrocketed the cost of transport. Photo: The Governor of Borno. President Bola Tinubu has commissioned 107 electric/gas buses, and taxis in Borno State as Governor Babagana Zulum’s government seeks to cushion the impact of the fuel subsidy removal.  Tinubu commissioned the fleet on Monday around the Shehu of Borno’s Palace. At the event, the Nigerian leader hailed Zulum for the foresight, saying his development strides are innovative. “Your Excellency (Governor Zulum)… this is exactly ‘Hope Renewed’. Thank you for your good job always. Thank you once again for being innovative and creative; for your concern about your people and the good governance you provide, ” Tinubu, who was in Maiduguri for the 2023 Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference, said. “We are going to take advantage of your foresight and proactiveness to at the sub-nation...

Nigeria senators gives their December salaries to kaduna Airstrike victims  All the 109 senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have donated their December salaries to the victims of the bombing mishap that toke place in Kaduna last Sunday The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau I. Jibrin, announced this on Sunday at the Kaduna State Government House when he led a high-power delegation of Senate members to the state. The Senators were received at the Government House by Governor Uba Sani. Senator Barau, in a statement by his Special Adviser Media and Publicity, Ismail Mudashir, said the money would be sent to the state governor for onward delivery to the victims. there was a drone bombing in Tudun Biri, Igabi Local Government Area of the Kaduna State last week, leading to an outcry across the country. At least 120 innocent residents, who were celebrating an Islamic festival, were killed in the d...

General Musa emphasised that the incident was a mix up which was avoidable. Air Strike Not Deliberate, Says CDS Musa The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, has described the air strike on Tudun Biri village in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State as unfortunate and not a deliberate action targeted against the people which the Army is to protect. General Musa in his remarks at the graduation ceremony of participants at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru in Plateau State emphasised that the incident was a mix up which was avoidable. Eighty five persons were confirmed dead in the strike and scores were injured in the most recent military mishap. “The incident in Kaduna is very unfortunate, I have always wanted to mention it, it’s very sad, it shouldn’t have taken place. It was a mistake and it’s because those in charge had a report...