Connect with us

World

University of North Carolina faculty member killed in campus shooting

Published

on

(Last Updated On: August 29, 2023)

A faculty member at the University of North Carolina was shot dead in a shooting on campus on Monday, officials said, adding a suspect was arrested and the threat was cleared by late afternoon, Reuters reported.

“I’m devastated the UNC (University of North Carolina) community lost a faculty member in an act of violence on campus,” the institution’s chancellor, Kevin Guskiewicz, said in a statement.

Police were notified of shots being fired at the Chapel Hill, North Carolina, campus early Monday afternoon, the chancellor said. He added the suspect was apprehended and taken into custody.

Police issued an “all clear” for the campus around two hours later and said there was no further immediate threat. During the stand-off, there was heavy police presence around the campus, media footage from the scene showed.

According to Reuters police had earlier released the male suspect’s image on X, formerly called Twitter, when he was not yet in custody and described him as a “person of interest in today’s armed and dangerous person situation.”

The authorities did not reveal the identities of the deceased faculty member and the suspect.

“In response, we have canceled classes and all campus events for the rest of the day on Monday, Aug. 28 and Tuesday, Aug. 29,” the chancellor added.

The university has a student population of about 32,000, along with about 4,100 faculty and 9,000 staff members, read the report.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said earlier on Monday he had “pledged all state resources needed” to protect the university campus.

The university had asked those on campus to stay sheltered in place for much of the afternoon while the suspect was still at large. The shooting took place in the campus’ Caudill Laboratories.

World

Gunmen kill 14, kidnap 60 in attacks in northern Nigeria

Published

on

(Last Updated On: September 25, 2023)

Gunmen in Nigeria killed eight people on Sunday and abducted at least 60 others in two communities of northwest Zamfara state, residents and a local traditional leader said, two days after armed men kidnapped dozens from a university in the state.

Elsewhere, in the northeast of the country suspected Islamist insurgents ambushed a convoy of vehicles under military escort, killing two soldiers and four civilians, said a police source and a motorist who witnessed the attack, Reuters reported.

The attackers set fire to five vehicles and drove off with one truck, the witness said.

President Bola Tinubu is yet to spell out how he will tackle widespread insecurity. His economic reforms, including the removal of a costly fuel subsidy and freeing the naira currency, have increased the cost of leaving, angering citizens.

Residents said gunmen early on Sunday tried to attack a forward army base in a rural Magami community of Zamfara, but were repelled. Zamfara is one of the states worst affected by kidnappings for ransom by armed gangs known locally as bandits.

The gunmen in three groups attacked the army base and the communities of Magami and Kabasa, said a traditional leader who declined to be named for security reasons, read the report.

He said 60 people, mostly women and children, were kidnapped.

“The bandits rode many motorcycles with guns and other weapons (and) were shooting sporadically,” Shuaibu Haruna, a resident of Magami, told Reuters by telephone.

Four people were killed during the attack, said Haruna, who attended their burial.

Isa Mohd from Kabasa community said four people were also killed and dozens of others kidnapped.

Police and army did not respond to requests for comment, Reuters reported.

Attacks in the northwest are part of widespread insecurity in Nigeria. Islamist fighters still carry out deadly attacks in the northeast, gangs and separatists attack security forces and government buildings in the southeast, and clashes involving farmers and herders continue to claim lives.

Continue Reading

World

Fire in shop kills 35 people in southeastern Benin

Published

on

(Last Updated On: September 24, 2023)

At least 35 people were killed in southeastern Benin on Saturday after a fire broke out at a shop where witnesses said gasoline was being unloaded, a justice ministry representative said.

The fire broke out at 0930 local time in Seme-Podji municipality, near the border with Nigeria, Reuters reported.

“The fire burned down the store and according to an initial assessment resulted in 35 deaths including one child,” said Prosecutor Abdoubaki Adam-Bongle in a ministry statement, adding that an investigation had been opened to determine the cause.

“According to the witnesses interviewed, the fire was probably started during the unloading of bags of gasoline.”

More than a dozen others were seriously injured and are being treated in hospital, he said.

A video shared widely on social media, purportedly of the fire, shows a tower of black smoke and flames spewing into the air above what appears to be a market place as shocked people watch from a safe distance.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the video.

Continue Reading

World

Polish PM tells Ukraine’s Zelenskiy ‘never to insult Poles again’

Published

on

(Last Updated On: September 23, 2023)

Poland’s prime minister told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday not to “insult” Poles, maintaining harsh rhetoric towards Kyiv after the Polish president had sought to defuse a simmering row over grain imports.

Poland decided last week to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports, shaking Kyiv’s relationship with a neighbour that has been seen as one of its staunchest allies since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, Reuters reported.

Zelenskiy angered his neighbours when he told the United Nations General Assembly in New York that Kyiv was working to preserve land routes for grain exports, but that the “political theatre” around grain imports was only helping Moscow.

“I… want to tell President Zelenskiy never to insult Poles again, as he did recently during his speech at the U.N.,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told an election rally.

Poland holds a parliamentary election on Oct. 15, and Morawiecki’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party has come in for criticism from the far right for what it says is the government’s subservient attitude to Ukraine.

Analysts say this has forced PiS, which looks set to remain the biggest party but may not secure a majority, to adopt a more confrontational approach to Kyiv in the closely fought campaign.

Earlier on Friday, President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, had said the dispute between Poland and Ukraine over grain imports would not significantly affect good bilateral relations, in an apparent move to ease tensions.

“I have no doubt that the dispute over the supply of grain from Ukraine to the Polish market is an absolute fragment of the entire Polish-Ukrainian relations,” Duda told a business conference.

“I don’t believe that it can have a significant impact on them, so we need to solve this matter between us.”

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending

Copyright © 2022 Ariana News. All rights reserved!