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TOPIC: nigeria

In The News

“No Safe Place” In Gaza, Zelensky’s Plea To U.S. Senate, Santa Cl’House

👋 Сайн уу*

Welcome to Tuesday, where the Israeli army intensifies its offensive on southern Gaza as the UN warns there is no “safe” place left for Palestinian refugees there, Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelensky is set to address U.S. senators to plead for more funding and gold has never been this expensive. Meanwhile, Frédéric Schaeffer, in French business daily Les Echos, reports from China on Starbucks’s hefty ambitions for the country’s burgeoning coffee market.

[*Sain uu - Mongolian]

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This Happened—November 28: Image Of A Boko Haram Massacre

Updated Nov. 28, 2023 at 12:00 p.m.

The heartwrenching photograph of innocent farmers' bodies wrapped after being slaughtered during the Koshebe Massacre by Boko Haram would be an image burned into peoples minds.

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Israel Raids Gaza Hospital, Xi In The U.S., Bird Of The Century

👋 Aluu!*

Welcome to Wednesday, where Israeli forces raid Gaza’s largest hospital, Chinese President Xi Jinping lands in the U.S. for his first visit in six years, and New Zealand’s Pūteketeke gets crowned “bird ot the century” — with a little help from John Oliver. Meanwhile, Turin-based daily La Stampa meets with Sara Barsotti, the Italian scientist leading the task force that monitors Iceland's major volcanic eruption threat.

[*Inuktitut - Canada, Alaska]

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Africa's Demographic Boom Is The Continent's Greatest Resource

The projections from the United Nations Population Division for African demographics reveal some striking figures. And it's up to leaders to turn it into economic growth and social vitality.

-Analysis-

DAKAR — The African population is set to double in the next 30 years, and by 2050, about 100 cities on the continent will have more than a million inhabitants. In 2100, the number of inhabitants on the African continent is estimated to reach 4.2 billion people.

Consider other measures of the growth: A child born today in Burundi (which currently has about 12 million inhabitants) will witness their grandchild being born in a country that will have quadrupled its population. Nigeria, with a current population of 206 million people, is projected to reach 400 million inhabitants by 2050, while Niger will nearly triple its population in just 30 years, going from 24 million inhabitants in 2020 to 66 million by 2050. The Democratic Republic of Congo, with a current population of 89 million, is expected to have around 362 million people by 2100.

These demographic projections have revived the theory of "Malthusianism," through various apocalyptic speeches and theories.

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In The News
Emma Albright, Anne-Sophie Goninet and Chloé Touchard

Russia Strikes Odessa, 32 Die As Migrant Boat Capsizes, RIP Cormac McCarthy

👋 Haaahe!*

Welcome to Wednesday, where Russia launches missiles on the southern port city of Odessa, at least 32 die after a boat carrying migrants capsizes off Greece and the U.S. mourns the death of The Road author Cormac McCarthy. Meanwhile, Ukrainian news outlet Livy Bereg lays out a day-to-day account of Ukraine’s counteroffensive to liberate Russian-occupied regions.

[*Cheyenne]

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In The News
Bertrand Hauger, Laure Gautherin and Sophie Jacquier

Erdogan Reelected, Kyiv Under Fresh Attacks, Bright Green Venice

👋 Guuten takh!*

Welcome to Monday, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gets reelected for an unprecedented third term, explosions rock Kyiv after two nights of sustained drone attacks, and Venice waters turn a mysterious fluorescent green. Meanwhile, for Worldcrunch, Ukrainian journalist Anna Akage wonders whether the recent incursion in Russia’s Belgorod border region could be a turning point in the conflict.

[*Cimbrian, northeastern Italy]

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Society
Matthias Buses

Returner's Remorse? Why Germany Is Worried About The Benin Bronzes

Germany is returning looted Benin bronzes back to Nigeria. But there are now concerns that they will now disappear into private ownership or that they will be threatened with damage or loss

-Analysis-

BERLIN — It was supposed to be the world's most extensive repatriation of looted colonial property: the transfer of ownership of some 1,130 Benin bronzes from 20 German ethnological collections to the Nigerian government.

But there has been a great deal of agitation since it was revealed that Ewuare II, the current Oba of Benin, or traditional ruler of Nigeria's Edo State, was appointed the owner and administrator of the first 22 Benin bronzes returned by Germany to the Nigerian state — and for all other old Benin treasures returning to the country.

This was the decision of Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, published as a decree in the official gazette number 57 of March 28, 2023.

For weeks now, people in Germany have been puzzling over the meaning and consequences of the presidential decree.

Their fear: will important cultural assets disappear into private chambers instead of being shown to the people of Africa?

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Geopolitics
Christian Putsch

Inside Boko Haram, How A Cosmetics Salesman Became A Mass Murderer

Boko Haram is one of the most brutal terrorist groups in the world. In Nigeria, Die Welt reporter Christian Putsch got unprecedented access to the group’s former leaders, who describe unlikely beginnings and a litany of atrocities – and now fear for their lives.

MAIDUGURI — The man who is jointly responsible for the deaths of thousands of people and who has terrorized millions more for years, now fears for his own life. He can't rest, he says: Knowing there is a bounty on his head keeps this former terrorist from sleeping.

Mallam Bana Musaid spends the nights in prayer. The former No. 4 man in the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram is deaf in his right ear, after surviving a grenade attack. With his left ear, he listens intently to the sounds outside his tent in the dark camp, where he has been undergoing deradicalization for the past six months.

Have the hundreds of others in this government-run camp on the outskirts of the city of Maiduguri really all renounced the terror group, like him? Or is someone planning to kill him?

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In The News
Ginevra Falciani & Laure Gautherin

Greece Train Collision, Nigerian Election Result, Mummy In A Bag

👋 Ia Orana!*

Welcome to Wednesday, where a collision between two trains in Greece kills dozens, official results are in of Nigeria’s disputed presidential election and a Peruvian mummy winds up in a delivery bag. Meanwhile, German daily Die Welt looks at why the common belief that “talking can’t hurt” is not true for everyone when it comes to psychotherapy.

[*yo-rah-nah - Tahitian]

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In The News
Anne-Sophie Goninet, Bertrand Hauger and Jane Herbelin

China Rolls Back Zero-COVID, Democrats Win In Georgia, Morocco Celebrates

👋 Kamusta!*

Welcome to Wednesday, where China abandons key parts of its Zero-COVID strategy, U.S. Democrats secure a 51-49 majority of the Senate with a runoff victory in Georgia and Morocco makes history at the World Cup in Qatar. Meanwhile, French daily Les Echos looks at the unlikely methods Paris’ authorities are applying to detect and neutralize drones that could potentially be used as weapons by terrorists.

[*Tagalog, Philippines]

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Society
Bai Rui

Business Tips, Free Speech, Racism: A Nigerian Writer's China Diaries

The deepening ties between China and Africa are a hot topic, but the voices we hear are usually the same — white and Western. So what does China look like to an African? Nigerian journalist Solomon Elusoji is the best person to ask.

BEIJING — China's increasing trade links with Africa have become the most discussed bilateral relationships of the twenty-first century.

But the opinions we hear are usually white and Western. Solomon Elusoji, a Nigerian journalist, is in a unique position having spent extended periods of time in China. His perspective adds one that is oddly missing from a widely discussed topic — the voices of Africans.

In 2018, at the age of 23, Elusoji was sent to China by his editor at Nigeria's daily newspaper, This Day.

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Rwanda
Tazreena Sajjad*

How Rich Western Countries Pay To Send Refugees Away

Western countries are shipping refugees to poorer nations in exchange for cash.

The UK government was due to begin its first deportation flight to remove asylum-seekers to the East African country of Rwanda on June 14, 2022, exactly two months after signing the UK-Rwanda agreement. The asylum-seekers were from several war-torn and politically unstable countries, including Syria, Sudan and Iran.

Each year, thousands of people – many fleeing repressive governments or poverty – attempt to cross the English Channel in fragile boats in the hope of starting a new life in the UK.

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