Kenya, Lebanon, DR Congo
Today's three stories you should know
Kenya
Police in Kenya have arrested eight students on suspicion of arson after a fire at a girls’ boarding school killed 16 students and injured 79 others. The eight girls were arrested for allegedly planning and carrying out an arson attack on Utumishi Girls School in central Kenya, national police said. Education Minister Julius Ogamba said the school’s board had been dismissed and the principal would face disciplinary action over a failure to adhere to safety standards. Though a motive is not yet known, there have previously been several fires at Kenyan schools set by students protesting harsh discipline and poor conditions.
More from AP here.
Proximities now has a podcast. Cut very much from the cloth of the newsletter, I will be talking to the journalists who relentlessly cover the non-Western stories that deserve more attention from the international media. The first episode features Hiba Morgan, the Al Jazeera English correspondent in Sudan.
You can listen on Apple Podcasts here, on Spotify here, or watch on YouTube here.
I hope you’ll give it your support and like, subscribe, comment etc.!
Lebanon
An average of 11 children have been killed or wounded every 24 hours by Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the last week, the U.N. children’s agency has said, despite an ostensible ceasefire. A total of 77 children have been killed or injured in the last seven days, UNICEF said. “Under international humanitarian law, children and civilian infrastructure must be protected,” UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires said. Israel has continued to attack southern Lebanon almost daily since agreeing to a ceasefire with the Hezbollah group on April 16.
More from Reuters here.
DR Congo
The head of the U.N.’s World Health Organization (WHO) has landed in Ebola-hit Democratic Republic of Congo and said the fast-spreading virus “can be stopped.” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, though, said fighting it will be “very complex.” Aid workers are battling to contain the outbreak of the rarer Bundibugyo strain against a background of conflict and distrust from local populations. The WHO said today that there have now been 906 suspected cases and 223 suspected deaths. Tedros called for more international funding, saying that just a third of the required amount has been raised. “I came here to show that the communities in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu are not alone, and that we are here to support and we understand their pain,” he said.
More from Africa News here.
NB: Proximities has published a deep dive on the outbreak here.