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Pandemic Puts Up To 86 Million Children At Risk Of Poverty – UNICEF Study Reveals

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Additional 86 million children stand the risk of slipping into poverty by the end of 2020 due to the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic study by Save the Children and UNICEF showed Wednesday.

Grassroots.ng gathered from a statement that the figure would bring the total number of children affected by poverty worldwide to 672 million, an increase of 15 per cent over last year.

Nearly two-thirds of those children overall live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

But the pandemic-driven increase is expected to occur mainly in Europe and Central Asia, according to the study, which is based on World Bank and International Monetary Fund projections and population data from some 100 countries.

“The scale and depth of financial hardship among families threatens to roll back years of progress in reducing child poverty and to leave children deprived of essential services,” UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore is quoted as saying in the statement.

With immediate and decisive action, “we can prevent and contain the pandemic threat facing the poorest countries and some of the most vulnerable children,” added Save the Children head Inger Ashing.

They are “highly vulnerable to even short periods of hunger and malnutrition — potentially affecting them for their whole life,” she warns in the statement.

The two organizations call on governments to rapidly expand their social security systems and school feeding to limit the effects of the pandemic.

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Teacher Arrested For Beating 8-Year-Old Pupil To Coma In Anambra

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A 30-year-old teacher at Landmark School Mgbakwu in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State, Faith Nwonye has been arrested for allegedly beating an 8-year-old pupil into a coma.

The state commissioner for Education, Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, who disclosed this while briefing journalists in her office on Monday, May 20, 2024, said that the school has been permanently shut down.

Chuma-Udeh said she had summoned the school’s proprietor and Nwonye to explain the incident that led to the brutal beating of the primary pupil.

“We received this unfortunate incident from an illegal school in Mgbakwu that a child was beaten to a coma over the weekend. On behalf of the State Government, we invited the proprietress of the illegal school as well as the teacher who purportedly beat the child,” she said.

“We’ve handed the matter to the police for further investigations, as we await Mr Governor’s directives. Meanwhile, the school is closed down indefinitely because it’s not supposed to exist in the first instance. Any parent who is enrolling his/her child in an illegal school is doing so at his/her own peril.

“To the proprietors of private schools, anyone running an unapproved school in Anambra is a criminal. It’s a criminal offence to run an illegal school in the state.

“Whether the school is legal or not, it’s criminal to beat a child. According to the doctor, the chances of survival of the child is 20%.”

The commissioner added that the teacher would be brought to book.

“As soon as the police are done, the teacher will face other institutions against child rights. She’s going to have the full wrath of the law brought upon her over her actions,” she said.

“Anambra state abhors violence to children, women, and any other person. It’s not part of this administration and Mr. Governor is against such.”

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BREAKING: Iran President, Ebrahim Raisi And Others Confirmed Dead After Helicopter Crash

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The Iranian President, Raisi has been confirmed dead alongside others in a helicopter crash.

The body of the President however could not be identified due to burns beyond recognition.

President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi

According to information, A foreign minister was also involved in the crash and a list of others. They are; Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Governor of Eastern Azerbaijan province Malek Rahmati, Tabriz’s Imam Mohammad Ali Alehashem, The Pilot, The Copilot, Crew Chief, Head of Security and Bodyguard.

The rescue team were at the crash site of the helicopter carrying the president and the discovery came after a long night of searching in freezing conditions.

Shortly before the discovery, Iranian Red Crescent Society head Pir-Hossein Kolivand said the situation was “not good.”

According to Reuters, the helicopter was completely burned in the crash.

Additional and Unfortunately, there is a possibility of martyrdom of all the passengers of the helicopter.

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The Peruvian Government Has Officially Classified Transgender, Nonbinary And Intersex People As “Mentally ill”

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According to the country’s ministry of health, the controversial decision was made to ensure the country’s public health services could “guarantee full coverage of medical attention for mental health” for the trans community.

It also categorises “dual-role transvestitism,” “fetishistic transvestism,” and “other gender identity disorders” under the same bracket of mental illness.

The new law will change language in the Essential Health Insurance Plan (PEAS) to reflect the view of trans and intersex people as a mental health disorder.

Trans groups across Peru have loudly condemned the decision as a step backwards for the country’s already complex relationship with LGBTQ+ rights.

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