Nigeria, Bangladesh, Palestine

Today's three stories you should know

Nigeria

Twenty-five schoolgirls have been kidnapped from a boarding school in Nigeria after gunmen stormed the building and shot the vice principal dead. A police spokesperson said the attack was well organized and that the assailants engaged police in a gun battle before scaling a perimeter fence. It’s the latest in a series of mass kidnappings in the northwest, which has been plagued by gangs who snatch people—often students—for ransom. Police said additional tactical units, soldiers and local vigilantes had been deployed to search for the girls.

More from Reuters here.

NB: Proximities recently published a deep dive on insecurity in Nigeria for paid subscribers. Consider going paid for weekly Q&As that put our world in context.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s toppled prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has been sentenced to death in absentia after being found guilty of ordering a violent crackdown on protests that pushed her out of power last year. Hasina, who fled to neighboring India as demonstrators stormed her residence, said in a statement that the trial was a “rigged tribunal.” Security was visibly tightened in the capital Dhaka over fears supporters of Hasina’s Awami League party, which has been banned from running in elections due for February, may take to the streets.

More from the Dhaka Tribune here.

NB: Proximities recently published a deep dive on the Bangladesh elections for paid subscribers. Consider going paid for weekly Q&As that put our world in context.

Palestine

Almost 100 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli detention since the Oct. 7 attacks, an Israeli rights group said, in figures that were consistent with findings by the Associated Press. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI) said systematic violence and denial of medical care contributed to many of the deaths it examined, and a doctor said he had treated malnourished prisoners at his hospital. One former prison guard interviewed by AP said prisoners were shackled with chains, routinely kicked and beaten with batons, and that the facility he worked at was referred to as a “graveyard” because so many detainees died there. PHRI added that the actual death toll was “likely significantly higher” because Israel refuses to release any information on many of the thousands of Palestinians it has detained without charge over the last two years.

More from AP here.