The Guardian·Tuesday, December 23, 2025

The Guardian - Tuesday, December 23, 2025

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

Freed Nigerian schoolchildren to be reunited with families

Month-long ordeal ends but no details released on how they regained their freedom or who was behind abduction A final group of 130 kidnapped Nigerian schoolchildren freed by the government on Sunday are expected to be reunited with their families in the central Niger state on Monday, ending a month-long ordeal that drew global concern. Last month, unknown gunmen took hundreds of schoolchildren and 12 teachers from St Mary’s Catholic school, Papiri community in Niger state, which runs west from t

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Another 130 kidnapped schoolchildren released in Nigeria

Presidential spokesperson says all those abducted from a Catholic school in Niger state last month are now free Nigerian authorities say they have secured the release of a further 130 schoolchildren kidnapped from a Catholic school in November, after 100 were freed earlier this month. “Another 130 abducted Niger state pupils released, none left in captivity,” presidential spokesperson Sunday Dare said on X, in a post accompanied by a photo of smiling children. Continue reading...

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Manchester Museum seeks help to uncover hidden histories of African collection

New Africa Hub confronts colonial-era silences by asking visitors to share insights on 40,000 objects It’s a rare thing for a museum to talk about what it doesn’t know. But unanswered questions and archival silences are at the heart of the new Africa Hub at Manchester Museum, north-west England, which is inviting people around the world to help fill the gaps. The museum holds more than 40,000 items from across Africa, many of which were traded, collected, looted or preserved during the era of th

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Sweden and Germany slash aid budgets to focus on Ukraine and defence spending

Echoing the dismantling of USAID, other countries are changing funding priorities and health and hunger programmes in Africa will lose out The notion of humanitarian aid being used to combat poverty and hunger is being replaced in Europe with geopolitical “games” as states redirect aid to Ukraine and to defence spending, analysts warn after recent announcements by Sweden and Germany. Earlier this year, humanitarian groups called for European donors to fill the gap as President Donald Trump dism

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Gunmen kill nine in Johannesburg township in South Africa’s second mass shooting this month

Attackers wound 10 others in Bekkersdal after opening fire at people in a bar and ‘randomly’ shooting in the street, police say Nine people have been killed after gunmen opened fire at a bar near Johannesburg in the second mass shooting in South Africa this month. Ten more were wounded in the early morning attack at the tavern in the impoverished Bekkersdal township in a gold mining area about 25 miles (40km) south-west of Johannesburg. Continue reading...

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Bolsonaro supporters ‘cancel’ Havaianas flip-flop brand over television ad

Son of jailed former Brazilian president says spokesperson for ‘national symbol’ sandals is ‘openly left wing’ Leaderless since its figurehead was jailed for attempting a coup, Brazil’s far right has found a new nemesis: the flip-flop brand Havaianas, which has been “cancelled” by Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters over a television advert. The controversy stems from the actor Fernanda Torres – the star of I’m Still Here, the Brazilian film that won an Oscar for best international feature – saying in t

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Canada bill targeting refugees feared to signal new era of US-style border policy

Bill C-12 includes many changes around border security along with new ineligibility rules for refugee claimants Canada’s Liberal government is pushing through sweeping new legislation targeting refugees that observers fear will usher in a new era of US-style border policies, fueling xenophobia and the scapegoating of immigrants. Bill C-12, or Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act, includes many changes around border security along with new ineligibility rules for refugee clai

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‘Gunboat diplomacy on steroids’: US signs security deals across Latin America

Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro warns Trump administration may ‘destabilise the entire region’ amid rising tensions While all eyes are on the four-month-long US military campaign against Venezuela, the White House has been quietly striking security agreements with other countries to deploy US troops across Latin America and the Caribbean. As Donald Trump announced a blockade on oil tankers under sanctions and ordered the seizure of vessels amid airstrikes that have killed more than 100 people in the

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60 Minutes episode on brutal El Salvador prison, pulled from air by CBS, appears online

Segment that Bari Weiss had removed provides in-depth look at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo prison A 60 Minutes episode investigating a brutal prison in El Salvador, which CBS News’s editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, pulled from the air on Sunday, appeared online on Monday after appearing on a Canadian TV app. The segment, which runs for nearly 14 minutes and was viewed by the Guardian, provides an in-depth look at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (Cecot) prison in El Salvador.

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Russia and China pledge support for Venezuela as Trump ratchets up pressure on Maduro

Trump again called for Venezuela’s president to leave power and said the US would keep or sell the oil it had seized China and Russia have expressed support for Venezuela as it confronts a US blockade of sanctioned oil tankers, while Donald Trump continues to ramp up his pressure campaign on the South American country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. Amid reports of slowing activity at Venezuelan ports, the US president again called for Maduro to leave power, and reiterated that the US would keep or

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