Author: admin@primenews

More than 280 Nigerian school pupils have been abducted in the north-western town of Kuriga, officials say. The pupils were in the assembly ground around 08:30 (07:30 GMT) when dozens of gunmen on motorcycles rode through the school, one witness said. The students, between the ages of eight and 15, were taken away, along with a teacher, they added. Kidnap gangs, known as bandits, have seized hundreds of people in recent years, especially the north-west. However, there had been a reduction in the mass abduction of children over the past year until this week. The incident was confirmed by Uba…

For more than a century, people around the world have marked International Women’s Day on 8 March. But what is the day for, and why does it matter? How did International Women’s Day start? International Women’s Day (IWD) grew out of the labour movement. The seeds were planted in 1908, when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote. A year later, the Socialist Party of America declared the first National Woman’s Day. The idea to make it an international event came from Clara Zetkin, a communist activist and advocate…

A US Army analyst has been arrested and charged with selling sensitive military secrets to a contact in China. Sgt Korbein Schultz was arrested on Thursday at Fort Campbell in Kentucky following an inquiry by the FBI and US Army counterintelligence. According to the charges, he was paid $42,000 (£33,000) in exchange for dozens of sensitive security records. Officials say the criminal conspiracy began in June 2022 and continued up until his arrest. Sgt Schultz is charged with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information, exporting technical data related to defence articles without a licence, conspiracy to export defence…

India is set to pull its first batch of military personnel from the Maldives on Sunday as the island nation moves closer to China. The phased withdrawal of about 80 Indian troops must meet a May deadline set by President Mohamed Muizzu, who is widely seen to be pro-China. India has said its military personnel were stationed in the Maldives to maintain and operate two rescue and reconnaissance helicopters and a small aircraft it had donated years ago. Removing Indian troops was an election promise made by Mr Muizzu, who came to power in November. India has long wielded influence over the…

It’s nearly midnight in Singapore. A senior officer of the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, is in his hotel room. He’s in the region to rub shoulders with defence industry players at Asia’s largest air show. He’s has had a long day – but he can’t go to bed just yet. Brigadier General Frank Gräfe has a work call to dial into with his boss – the commander of the German air force. It’s not a big deal for the head of Air Force Operations. He sounds relaxed on the line as he chats with two colleagues about the “mega”…

Media tycoon Robert Murdoch has become engaged to his girlfriend, his team has confirmed. The 92-year-old has reportedly been dating retired Russian molecular biologist Elena Zhukova, 67 for several months. The marriage, which is expected to take place at his Moraga vineyard and estate in California this year, will be Mr Murdoch’s fifth, but sixth engagement. He stepped down as chairman of Fox and News Corp last year. According to the New York Times, which broke the story, the nuptials are set for June and invitations have already been sent out. Australian-born Mr Murdoch was rumoured to be dating Ms Zhukova…

Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef is suffering another mass bleaching event, officials have confirmed. Often fatal, bleaching occurs when heat-stressed corals expel the algae that gives them life and colour. It is the fifth time in eight years widespread damage has been detected at the Unesco World Heritage site. Only two mass bleaching events had ever been recorded until 2016, and scientists say urgent climate action is needed if the reef is to survive. Stretching over 2,300km (1,400 miles) off Australia’s north-east coast, the Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral system and one of its most biodiverse ecosystems.…

The United Kingdom has announced that it will scrap a 225-year-old rule that has allowed many of its richest residents to pay hardly any tax on their vast foreign earnings — a benefit enjoyed at one point by the prime minister’s wife. The axing of the non-domiciled tax regime represents an about-face for Britain’s Conservative government, which had previously rejected calls to abolish the so-called “non-dom” status, citing the risk it posed to the country’s ability to attract globally mobile investors and wealthy foreigners with big spending power. “Those with the broadest shoulders should pay their fair share,” UK finance minister Jeremy Hunt…

It would take a remarkable child acting performance to rival Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett on screen. But that’s exactly what untried prodigy Aswan Reid has done in her latest movie, critics say. Barely 11 years old when The New Boy was shot in the dusty South Australian outback in 2022, Reid’s audition was the very first tape the film’s creators looked at. “He’s absolutely magnetic. We were so lucky to find him,” Blanchett tells the BBC’s Today programme. “[He’s] a Kiwirrkurra boy from the border of the Northern Territory and Western Australia – who had not only never been off…

An Afghan judge who has been forced to go into hiding from the Taliban was wrongly refused relocation to the UK, the High Court has ruled. The anonymous claimant prosecuted Taliban and Islamic State group members, and has since avoided an assassination attempt, the court heard. The UK government argued he had not worked closely enough with the UK in Afghanistan to qualify for relocation. A UK government spokesperson says officials are “considering” the ruling. The Afghan judge is currently in hiding in an unspecified third country with his wife and children, two of whom are in poor health, it…