World news in brief
Gunmen kidnap 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria
More than 300 girls were seized by gunmen in a raid on a school in northwest Nigeria yesterday, police said. It was the second such kidnapping in little over a week in a region increasingly targeted by militants and criminal gangs. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Police in Zamfara state said they had begun search-and-rescue operations with the army to find the “armed bandits” who took the 317 girls from the Government Girls Science Secondary School in the town of Jangebe. School kidnappings were first carried out by jihadist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province but the tactic has now been adopted by other militants in the northwest whose agenda is unclear. Reuters
Kremlin critic Navalny moved to penal colony
The opposition politician Alexei Navalny has been moved from Moscow to a penal colony where he will serve his two to two-and-a-half year sentence, the RIA news agency reported. Alexander Kalashnikov, head of the Federal Penitentiary Service, confirmed his transfer to a detention centre. He did not specify exactly where Mr Navalny was taken. Mr Navalny’s lawyer yesterday said he had been moved to an undisclosed location. Mr Navalny’s conviction for embezzlement is widely regarded as being politically motivated. Reuters
Iceberg almost as big as London breaks off the Antarctic
An iceberg nearly as big as London has broken off an ice shelf in Antartica. The 1,270 sq km berg split off from the Brunt Ice Shelf, where the UK’s Halley research station is based. Greater London measures around 1,500 sq km. The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) confirmed the calving yesterday, saying their research base – which sits inland on the floating ice shelf – is unlikely to be affected. The 12 people working at the station – which is closed for the Antarctic winter – left in mid-February.
The first signs a calving event – where chunks of ice break off from a glacier or ice shelf – was “imminent” appeared last November, when a new chasm called the North Rift on the Brunt Ice Shelf headed towards an existing large one, according to BAS. Simon Garrod, the director of operations at BAS, said: “Four years ago we moved Halley Research Station inland to ensure that it would not be carried away when an iceberg eventually formed. That was a wise decision,” he said.
Three brothers found dead on farm in Ireland
Police investigating the deaths of two brothers at a remote farm in County Cork have discovered the body of a third brother in a river. The two men aged in their 60s were found dead at a house in the rural area of Curragorm outside Mitchelstown shortly before midnight on Thursday. One was found in the farmyard, and the second was found in a shed. The discovery prompted a search operation for a third brother which led to the discovery of the body of a man in a river nearby. Police said the body had been removed from the water by the marine unit.
Drop the masculine and feminine, argues French politician
Politicians in France have proposed a law to ban gender-inclusive language in all official administrative documents. The bill, put forward by Francois Jolivet, a deputy in President Emmanuel Macron’s La Republique En Marche (LREM) party, targets a written-style known as “ecriture inclusive”, introduced to redress the dominance of masculine words in the language. Mr Jolivet is one of around 60 politicians in the French National Assembly who claim that it creates a gap between spoken and written French, thereby making French more “complex” to learn. In a tweet last week, the LREM politician suggested that this approach to French “endangers” its heritage and “does not help” in the fight for gender equality. The proposal will be debated in the national assembly in the coming weeks.