
Gunmen in Nigeria release scores of young schoolchildren abducted three months ago
CNN
Scores of schoolchildren who were abducted at gunpoint at a school in Nigeria's north-central Niger State have been freed and handed over to their families, a government spokesperson told CNN Friday.
The students were released after their parents reportedly paid a ransom of nearly $200,000 thousands of dollars (70 million naira) and gave motorbikes in ransom to the kidnappers, according to the school headmaster Abubakar Alhassan told CNN. While addressing journalists after the children regained freedom, Alhassan said the money was raised after Nigerians from different sectors contributed funds to secure their freedom.
The Pentagon has ordered the military command that oversees new recruits’ enlistment to hold off on initial training for people who are HIV-positive and recently enlisted in the military, CNN has learned, saying that a decision on reinstating a Defense Department ban on their joining the military was “expected in the next few weeks.”

The European Union and the Mercosur bloc of South American countries formally signed a long-sought landmark free trade agreement on Saturday, capping more than a quarter-century of torturous negotiations to strengthen commercial ties in the face of rising protectionism and trade tensions around the world.

Judge restricts federal response to Minnesota protests amid outrage over immigration agents’ tactics
Immigration agents carrying out a sweeping operation in Minnesota can’t deploy certain crowd-control measures against peaceful protesters or arrest them, a federal judge ruled Friday. The order follows widespread outrage over a fatal shooting, reports of US citizens getting detained and Minnesotans getting asked for documents for no clear reason.

The smell of wet grass from the recent atmospheric river rains, mud and gasoline wafts through the warm Southern California air as Alec Derpetrossian works the chainsaw with a foreman, Randy Magaña, who helps him guide where to put the blade. Derpetrossian is still learning how to adequately use the large tool.









