World
About 200 dead in attacks in northwest Nigeria, residents say

An estimated 200 people or more have been killed in villages in the northwestern Nigerian state of Zamfara during deadly reprisal attacks by armed bandits following military air strikes on their hideouts this week, residents said on Saturday.
Residents gained access to the villages on Saturday after the military captured the communities to organise mass burials, they told Reuters. The state government said 58 people had been killed during the attacks, Reuters reported.
Ummaru Makeri, a resident who lost his wife and three children during the attack, said around 154 people had been buried including several vigilantes who were killed. Residents said the total death toll was at least 200.
Reuters reported on Friday that at least 30 people had been killed in the Anka local government area in Zamfara, when more than 300 armed bandits on motorbikes stormed eight villages and started shooting sporadically on Tuesday.
The military said it had conducted air strikes in the early hours of Monday on targets in the Gusami forest and west Tsamre village in Zamfara state, killing more than 100 bandits including two of their leaders, following intelligence reports.
One resident who declined to be identified told Reuters the attacks on the villages could be linked to the military strikes.
According to Reuters there have been a series of attacks in northwest Nigeria, which has seen a sharp rise in mass abductions and other violent crimes since late 2020 as the government struggles to maintain law and order.
In a separate incident, 30 students abducted from their college in the northwestern Nigerian state of Kebbi were freed on Saturday, a spokesman for the Kebbi governor said, without providing details.
President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement on Saturday the military had acquired more equipment to track down and eliminate criminal gangs that have been subjecting people to a reign of terror, including through the illegal imposition of taxes on communities under siege, read the report.
“The latest attacks on innocent people by the bandits is an act of desperation by mass murderers, now under relentless pressure from our military forces,” Buhari said.
Buhari added that the government would not relent in its military operations to get rid of the bandits.
World
Massive ship tips over, injuring 25 people

A large ship tipped over while dry-docked in Scotland, injuring 25 people on Wednesday, emergency workers said.
Police and emergency services were called to the Imperial Dock in Edinburgh after receiving reports that a ship had become dislodged from its holding, Associated Press reported.
The Scottish Ambulance Service said 15 people were taken to the hospital, while 10 others were treated and discharged at the scene. Local police urged the public to avoid the area to allow access for emergency services.
Photos from the scene showed the ship leaning to the side at a 45-degree angle. Adam McVey, a local official, tweeted that it became dislodged due to strong winds.
The 76-meter long vessel, named the Petrel, was a research vessel previously bought and outfitted by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The Petrel is equipped with deep-sea exploration technology and has led several high-profile missions to locate historic shipwrecks, including the discovery of the USS Indianapolis in 2017 in the Philippine Sea.
The BBC reported the ship had been moored since 2020 due to challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
World
Thailand dissolves parliament for crunch election in May

Thailand dissolved its parliament on Monday to clear the way for an election in May, a vote set to reignite a long-running power struggle between a military-backed establishment and a political movement that has dominated elections for two decades, Reuters reported.
King Maha Vajiralongkorn endorsed a decree to dissolve parliament, according to an announcement in the Royal Gazette on Monday, ahead of an election that must be held within 45 to 60 days.
No date has been announced, but two sources with knowledge of the matter earlier on Monday told Reuters the vote would be on May 14, read the report.
“This is a return of political decision-making power to the people swiftly to continue democratic government with the King as head of state,” said the decree published on Monday.
The election broadly pits the billionaire Shinawatra family and its business allies against parties and politicians close to their rivals among the royalist military and old money conservatives.
With populist policies aimed at Thailand’s working classes, parties controlled by the Shinawatras have won every election since 2001, including twice in landslides, but three of its governments were removed in military coups or by court rulings.
According to Reuters the May election will choose members of parliament, which together with an appointed Senate will choose a prime minister by the end of July, according to a timeline provided by the government.
The main opposition Pheu Thai party’s Paetongtarn Shinawatra is the frontrunner to be prime minister in opinion surveys, with her support jumping 10 points to 38.2% in a poll released at the weekend, more than twice the backing of her nearest contender.
Incumbent Prayuth Chan-ocha, who has been in power since his coup in 2014 against Paetongtarn’s aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra, has been trailing in polls and was third in the latest survey by the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA).
Prayuth, 68, will continue to lead as head of a caretaker government and is expected to run again.
“I’m glad I’ve built something good, generated revenue for the country, built industry. There has been a lot of investment,” Prayuth said.
“You have to ask the people if they are satisfied or not … I have done a lot in the many years that have passed.”
The NIDA poll of 2,000 people also showed that 50% of respondents would choose candidates from Pheu Thai, read the report.
Srettha Thavisin, a property tycoon and senior Pheu Thai adviser who has been campaigning alongside Paetongtarn, said parliament’s dissolution was a “turning point” for Thailand.
“I would like to invite everyone to study policies, positions and ideologies of all parties to find the one for you that will make the country of your dreams come true, to move the nation forward and improve lives,” he said on Twitter.
Paetongtarn on Friday said she was confident of winning by a landslide, with the aim of averting any political manoeuvring against her party, read the report.
World
North Korea’s Kim calls for nuclear attack readiness against U.S., South Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for the country to stand ready to conduct nuclear attacks at any time to deter war, accusing the U.S. and South Korea of expanding joint military drills involving American nuclear assets, state media KCNA said on Monday.
Kim’s remarks came as the isolated country conducted what KCNA called exercises aimed at bolstering its “war deterrence and nuclear counterattack capability” on Saturday and Sunday to send strong warnings against the allies, Reuters reported.
In the exercises, a ballistic missile equipped with a mock nuclear warhead flew 800 km (497 miles) before hitting a target at the altitude of 800 m (0.5 mile) under the scenario of a tactical nuclear attack, KCNA said.
Kim, who oversaw the test, said the exercises improved the military’s actual war capability and highlighted the need to ensure its readiness posture for any “immediate and overwhelming nuclear counterattack” through such drills.
“The present situation, in which the enemies are getting ever more pronounced in their moves for aggression against the DPRK, urgently requires the DPRK to bolster up its nuclear war deterrence exponentially,” KCNA quoted him as saying.
Kim was using the acronym of his country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, read the report.
“The nuclear force of the DPRK will strongly deter, control and manage the enemy’s reckless moves and provocations with its high war readiness, and carry out its important mission without hesitation in case of any unwanted situation,” he added.
KCNA photos showed Kim attended the test, again with his young daughter, as flames roar from the soaring missile before it hit the target.
South Korea and Japan reported a launch of a North Korean short-range ballistic missile off the east coast on Sunday, the latest in a series of missile tests in recent weeks.
North Korea has reacted furiously to South Korea-U.S. combined military drills, calling them a rehearsal for invasion against it, Reuters reported.
The allies have been carrying out a multitude of their annual exercises since earlier this month, including air and sea drills on Sunday involving U.S. B-1B strategic bombers.
The U.S. and South Korea navies and marine corps are set to kick off their first large-scale Ssangyong amphibious landing exercises in five years on Monday for a two-week run until April 3.
Last month, the two countries staged tabletop exercises simulating North Korea’s nuclear attack amid South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s push for more confidence in U.S. extended deterrence – its military capability, especially nuclear forces, to deter attacks on its allies, read the report.
In another dispatch, KCNA said more than 1.4 million North Koreans have volunteered to join or re-enlist in the military to fight against Seoul and Washington, up from some 800,000 reported by a state newspaper just two days before.
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