Comment on Kidnappings on the rise in Nigeria, over 500 so far

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president confirmed Wednesday night that the collapse of a stage during a campaign rally in northern Mexico has killed four people and injured 15. The stage collapse, caused by a strong gust of wind, occurred during an event attended by presidential long-shot candidate Jorge Álvarez Máynez, who was sent flying by the wind. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he “sends a hug to family members, friends of the victims and political supporters.” Lamento el accidente en San Pedro Garza García, causado por un fuerte viento durante el acto al que asistieron Jorge Álvarez Máynez, candidato a la presidencia por Movimiento Ciudadano y otros militantes, dirigentes y candidatos de ese partido.

A new portrait of Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, was unveiled on Wednesday to a mixed reaction from the public. The portrait, painted by the British-Zambian artist Hannah Uzor and published on the cover of Tatler magazine’s July issue, depicts the princess wearing a floor-length Jenny Packham white dress with a blue ribbon wrapped around her that she wore to a state banquet in 2022.

(LONDON) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday set July 4 as the date for a national election that will determine who governs the U. K., choosing a day of good economic news to urge voters to give his governing Conservatives another chance. “Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future,” Sunak said. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Sunak’s center-right party has seen its support dwindle steadily after 14 years in power.

Since 1948, Palestinians living in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza have remained effectively stateless, caught in the limbo of a decades-long peace process that has yielded neither peace nor a state to call their own. But on Wednesday, three European countries—Ireland, Norway, and Spain—announced their decision to officially recognize a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

BANGKOK — Aviation investigators arrived in Bangkok Wednesday to learn how and why severe turbulence sent a Singapore Airlines plane into a sudden dive that tossed passengers and crew around the cabin, leaving a British man dead and dozens others injured. Twenty people remained in intensive care in hospital after Flight SQ321, which was flying from London’s Heathrow airport to Singapore, hit the turbulence Tuesday over the Andaman Sea.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s supreme leader prayed Wednesday over the coffins of the country’s late president, foreign minister and other officials who were killed in a helicopter crash earlier this week. Later, hundreds of thousands of people followed a procession honoring the dead down Tehran’s main boulevard. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Iran’s Shiite theocracy views mass demonstrations as crucial evidence of its legitimacy and the people’s support. Still, Wednesday’s funeral service for President Ebrahim Raisi and others saw a turnout that onlookers described as noticeably lower than the 2020 procession honoring Revolutionary Guard general Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.