Nigerians displaced as rents double in inflation-hit LagosFri, 28 Feb 2025 06:37:51 GMT
Nigeria’s economic crisis is hitting renters in Lagos hard as landlords pass down the costs of spiralling inflation — pushing residents further out, upending children’s education and adding to workers’ already infamous commutes.With a population of more than 20 million, the country’s sprawling, ever-growing economic capital has for years struggled to keep up with housing …
Nigerians displaced as rents double in inflation-hit LagosFri, 28 Feb 2025 06:37:51 GMT Read More »
L1: Paris SG-Lille avant l’Europe, Marseille-Nantes après la crise de nerfs
Pour se mettre dans l’ambiance avant les 8e de finale de la Ligue des champions, le Paris SG et Lille s’affrontent samedi dans la plus belle affiche de la 24e journée de Ligue 1, alors que l’attitude de Marseille vis-à-vis de l’arbitre du match contre Nantes sera scrutée après la lourde sanction contre son président.. Le match: PSG-Lille, parfum européenChoc au sommet de la Ligue 1 et sur les pentes de l’Europe. Avant leur 8e de finale aller de Ligue des champions, le Losc, qui se rend à Dortmund mardi, et le PSG, opposé à Liverpool mercredi au Parc des Princes, vont s’offrir une dernière répétition.Si le suspense pour le titre est éventé, avec les 13 points d’avance du Paris Saint-Germain sur son dauphin Marseille, le Losc, 4e à deux points de Nice (3e), est engagé dans une féroce course au podium.Toujours invaincus cette saison contre des clubs français, les joueurs de Luis Enrique sont en pleine forme, sûrs de leur force, à l’image de leur buteur Ousmane Dembélé, 17 réalisations en 2025, avant de retrouver les “Reds”.Le Losc est un peu plus irrégulier. Après une série de 21 matches sans défaites toutes compétitions confondues de septembre à janvier, les Dogues ont plusieurs fois mordu la poussière et glissé du podium. Mais ils restent sur une belle victoire contre un concurrent direct, Monaco (2-1), avant de se rendre à Paris.. L’arbitre: Stéphanie Frappart pour OM-NantesAprès le tumulte des derniers jours, l’arbitre d’OM-Nantes Stéphanie Frappart devient à son corps défendant une des actrices majeures de la rencontre, dimanche.Les nerfs de l’Olympique de Marseille ont lâché lors de la défaite à Auxerre (3-0) la semaine dernière. Le président Pablo Longoria a été suspendu 15 matches pour avoir parlé de “corruption”. Même s’il a effectué son mea culpa, il a maintenu que son club avait été globalement défavorisé par l’arbitrage cette saison.Après cette algarade, le président nantais Waldemar Kita s’est dit “très inquiet” dans L’Équipe avant son match au Vélodrome. “Maintenant, chaque fois que Marseille va être arbitré, il va y avoir une interrogation”, a-t-il déploré.Au-delà de l’arbitrage, les joueurs de l’OM doivent surtout une revanche après leur mauvais match à Auxerre. “On n’a pas été au niveau”, ont admis en chœur Adrien Rabiot et Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.Pour éloigner la polémique autour de l’arbitrage mais aussi la concurrence, avec Nice (3e) revenu à trois longueurs, les Olympiens doivent retrouver leur jeu.. Le chiffre: 3 cartons lensoisLe Racing Club de Lens reste sur trois défaites et trois cartons rouges, une indiscipline qui coûte cher. Il faut éviter la passe de quatre dans les deux lignes statistiques lors de la réception de l’avant-dernier Le Havre.Les Artésiens ont perdu du terrain dans la course à l’Europe et leur entraîneur Will Still ne montre pas l’exemple. Le technicien est ainsi le coach le plus averti de L1 avec quatre avertissements et une exclusion. Il a même promis qu’il reverserait au groupe ses primes de match s’il recevait un nouveau carton d’ici la fin de saison.”Il faut arrêter de prendre des cartons”, dit-il à propos de l’ensemble de l’équipe comptant le plus de cartons rouges cette saison en Ligue 1 (sept), “on doit grandir et apprendre”.Le programme:Vendredi: (20h45) Monaco – ReimsSamedi: (17h00) Saint-Étienne – Nice(19h00) Lens – Le Havre(21h05) Paris SG – LilleDimanche: (15h00) Lyon – Brest(17h15) Auxerre – StrasbourgAngers – ToulouseMontpellier – Rennes(20h45) Marseille – NantesClassement: Pts J G N P bp bc dif1. Paris SG 59 23 18 5 0 62 22 402. Marseille 46 23 14 4 5 50 29 213. Nice 43 23 12 7 4 46 27 194. Lille 41 23 11 8 4 38 23 155. Monaco 40 23 12 4 7 45 31 146. Lyon 36 23 10 6 7 42 30 127. Strasbourg 34 23 9 7 7 37 32 58. Lens 33 23 9 6 8 26 25 19. Brest 33 23 10 3 10 35 38 -310. Toulouse 30 23 8 6 9 27 26 111. Auxerre 28 23 7 7 9 34 37 -312. Angers 27 23 7 6 10 26 34 -813. Rennes 26 23 8 2 13 30 32 -214. Nantes 24 23 5 9 9 28 40 -1215. Reims 22 23 5 7 11 26 35 -916. Saint-Etienne 19 23 5 4 14 23 53 -3017. Le Havre 17 23 5 2 16 19 47 -2818. Montpellier 15 23 4 3 16 21 54 -33NDLR: Les trois premiers sont directement qualifiés pour la phase de ligue de la Ligue des champions. Le quatrième est qualifié pour le 3e tour préliminaire de la Ligue des champions. Le 5e est qualifié pour la Ligue Europa. Le 6e est qualifié pour les barrages de la Ligue Conference. Les deux derniers sont relégués en Ligue 2 et le 16e dispute un barrage.
La Reunion residents ordered indoors as ‘purple alert’ cyclone nearsFri, 28 Feb 2025 06:07:15 GMT
Residents of the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion were ordered Friday to stay indoors as a cyclone bore down that authorities said could bring gusts of 200 kilometres per hour (125 mph) and sea swells more than eight metres (26 feet) high.Authorities said a maximum “purple alert” was in effect from 9:00 am …
Parents rush to vaccinate children after measles outbreak hits Texas
Five-year-old Shado is one of dozens of children being rushed to a health center in the US state of Texas to get the measles vaccine, after the recent death in the area of a child who was not immunized against the highly contagious virus.”Look at you, you’re so brave,” the nurse administering the shot tells the young girl, who is sitting on her father’s lap. The death came as immunization rates have declined nationwide, with the latest cases in the west Texas town of Lubbock concentrated in a Mennonite religious community that has historically shown vaccine hesitancy.Mark Medina brought his children, Shado and her brother Azazel, after they heard about that death.”It kind of sparked fear and we’re like, ‘Alright, it’s time to go get vaccinated. Let’s go,'” the 31-year-old father told AFP. Rachel Dolan, a Lubbock health official, said the initial outbreak spread rapidly through the community south of the town, potentially fueled by a lack of vaccination.”It’s the most contagious virus that we know of, and so just that one little spark, you know, really caused a lot of cases and rapid spread among that population,” she said.This year more than 130 measles cases already have been reported in west Texas and neighboring New Mexico, the vast majority in unvaccinated children.Around 20 have been hospitalized in Texas, and officials warn the outbreak is likely to grow.The disease’s spread comes as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long spread falsehoods about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, begins his tenure as President Donald Trump’s health secretary.Kennedy has downplayed the outbreak, saying: “It’s not unusual. You have measles outbreaks every year.”- ‘The safe side’ -Nationwide immunization rates have been dropping in the United States, fuelled by misinformation about vaccines. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a 95 percent vaccination rate in order to maintain herd immunity.However, measles vaccine coverage among kindergartners has dropped from 95.2 percent in the 2019–2020 school year to 92.7 percent in 2023–2024, leaving around 280,000 children vulnerable.News of the death in Lubbock, however, has spurred some into action.”Well, I heard about this little kid… That’s one of the reasons, just to be on the safe side,” said Jose Luis Aguilar, a 57-year-old driver who was encouraged by his boss to get vaccinated.Dolan, the health official, said there was an increase in people seeking the vaccine since the death.”There are pockets of our population that are hesitant toward vaccination,” she said.”We have seen some of those people realize that this threat is more imminent and have made that decision to vaccinate.”The CDC says the MMR vaccine is “very effective” at protecting people against those illnesses.Two doses of the vaccine are 97 percent effective at preventing measles, the agency says.The last US measles-related death was in 2015, when a woman in Washington state died from pneumonia caused by the virus. She had been vaccinated but was taking immunosuppressive medication. Before that, the previous recorded measles death was in 2003.Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or simply breathes.Known for its characteristic rash, it poses a serious risk to unvaccinated individuals, including infants under 12 months who are not ordinarily eligible for vaccination, and those with weakened immune systems.While measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, outbreaks persist each year.
Militia fighters surrender looted weapons in restive Indian state
Militia fighters from rival ethnic groups in India’s conflict-torn Manipur have surrendered scores of guns and other gear looted from security forces, police said Friday, days after the state was placed under New Delhi’s direct rule.Manipur has been split along ethnic lines since the outbreak of deadly violence between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community in May 2023.At least 260 people have been killed and tens of thousands have fled their homes in the northeastern state along India’s border with war-torn Myanmar. The state’s chief minister, N Biren Singh, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, resigned this month after criticism that his government had not done enough to quell the violence.Community groups welcomed his resignation and the subsequent imposition of direct rule by New Delhi, hoping it would end mutual suspicions and allegations by the rival ethnic groups of favouritism by the state authorities.The Manipur police, in a series of posts on X on Friday, shared photos of hand grenades, pistols, rifles, helmets, bulletproof jackets and ammunition surrendered by ethnic militias from across the state.At least 307 weapons were handed over in the last week, police said in a statement.The “request for the surrender of looted and illegally held weapons and ammunition has yielded a positive response”, it added.”Such voluntary surrender of weapons will significantly help in restoring peace, communal harmony and lawfulness in the state of Manipur.”Those who gave up weapons would not be criminally charged, police said.Long-standing tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities revolve around competition for land and public jobs. Rights activists have accused local leaders of exacerbating ethnic divisions for political gain.Internet services were shut down for months in Manipur during the outbreak of violence, which displaced around 60,000 people from their homes, according to government figures.Thousands of the state’s residents have still not returned home due to ongoing tensions.