London, United Kingdom | AFP | Pope Francis has stepped in to the case of a seriously ill British toddler who is being kept alive on a ventilator. Alfie Evans, who is 22 months old, has a rare degenerative neurological condition which has not been definitively diagnosed. His parents, Tom Evans …
Read More »Senegalese president promises action on child murders
Dakar, Senegal | AFP | Senegalese President Macky Sall on Friday promised to “track down” the perpetrators of a spate of child kidnappings and killings in Senegal that have sown fear among parents in the West African nation. Police said Tuesday that two children had been murdered in recent days and …
Read More »S.Africa police accused of abuse during child assault probe
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African police were on Wednesday probing one of their own officers who was accused of molesting young girls while investigating sexual assault of scores of primary school pupils. The forensic investigator allegedly molested two girls aged seven and eight on Monday when he …
Read More »Children increasingly exposed in Syria conflict: UN
Beirut, Lebanon | AFP | Children are at more risk than ever in Syria’s devastating conflict, the United Nations said Monday as the war approached its eighth year. Twice as many children were killed in the war in 2017 than in the previous year, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said in …
Read More »UNICEF number two Forsyth resigns after complaints of inappropriate behavior
United Nations, United States | AFP | UNICEF deputy director Justin Forsyth on Thursday resigned from the UN children’s agency following complaints of inappropriate behavior towards female staff in his previous post as head of British charity Save The Children. He apologized again for his past “mistakes”, but said his …
Read More »Babies born in poorest countries still face ‘alarming’ risks: UNICEF
Washington, United States | AFP | Babies born in the world’s poorest countries, most of them in Africa, still face “alarming” risks of death that can be 50 times as high as those in the richest countries, according to a UNICEF report released Tuesday. While the last quarter-century has seen …
Read More »UN in $17-mln appeal for children’s health in post-IS Iraq
Baghdad, Iraq | AFP | The United Nations launched an appeal Wednesday for $17 million to rebuild essential health facilities for children in Iraq after a devastating three-year battle to expel the Islamic State group. The UN children’s fund, UNICEF, said next week’s reconstruction conference for Iraq to be staged …
Read More »Chinese county bans schoolchildren from mosques
Beijing, China | AFP | Authorities in a Muslim-majority county in northwest China have banned schoolchildren from going to mosques during their winter holidays, a state-run daily reported Friday, the latest tightening of regulations on religious freedoms. The decision was outlined in a notice sent to all high schools, primary …
Read More »Siberian teen wounds six in school axe attack
Moscow, Russia | AFP | A teenage boy injured six people, five of them minors, in an axe attack in a Siberian classroom on Friday, local authorities said, days after 15 were injured in a knife fight at another Russian school. Investigators said the boy, thought to be 15 or …
Read More »Torture probe launched after 13 siblings held captive in US home
Perris, United States | AFP | Investigators sought to shed light Tuesday on how a California couple arrested on suspicion of torture were able to keep their 13 malnourished children — ages 2 to 29 – confined in their suburban home in grim conditions with no one noticing. Sheriff’s deputies …
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