Tag: Children

13 children dead after train hits school bus in India

  NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — At least 13 children were killed and five critically injured Thursday after a train smashed into a small school bus in northern India, an official said. The students, all aged below 10, were being driven to class in Uttar Pradesh state when a passenger train collided with their vehicle at an unmanned railway crossing. The impact of the crash lifted the bus several meter into the air, killing 10 […]

Street side: Indonesia slum kids eye youth ‘World Cup’

  by Bagus Saragih © Agence France-Presse INDONESIA (AFP) — Somad rarely ventures beyond his impoverished Jakarta neighbourhood, but the 14-year-old is now gearing for a trip to Russia next month as a player in the 2018 Street Child World Cup. It’s the journey of a lifetime for the aspiring striker and eight other Indonesian kids set to compete against teams of other disadvantaged children from two dozen nations. The event’s third edition in Moscow […]

Vatican arrests ex-diplomat in child sex abuse probe

VATICAN CITY (AFP) — The Vatican said on Saturday a monsignor who was a former advisor at its US embassy in Washington has been arrested on suspicion of watching child sex abuse. A Vatican statement said that an arrest warrant had been issued for Carlo Alberto Capella, which was carried out by the Vatican Gendarmerie. “The accused is being detained in a cell in the barracks of the Gendarmerie Corps, available to the judicial authorities,” […]

37 dead, dozens of children missing in Siberia shopping mall fire

  At least 37 people were killed when a fire ripped through a busy shopping centre in an industrial city in western Siberia, with scores more reported missing, including children. Images on Russian television showed thick black smoke pouring out of the Winter Cherry shopping centre in the city of Kemerovo, which also houses a sauna, a bowling alley and a multiplex cinema and was packed with people on Sunday afternoon. “At this time, we […]

Hundreds of children among victims of ongoing Syrian enclave bombing

    Hundreds of children were among the injured and dead in the ongoing air strikes on the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta in Syria where the civilian death toll from seven days of bombing rose to more than 500. With support from Russia, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on the ceasefire to allow for humanitarian aid deliveries and medical evacuations, but the measure did not specify when the truce would go […]

Turkey considers chemical castration for child abusers

ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) — Turkey’s government said on Tuesday it would consider introducing chemical castration for child abusers after several cases of sexual assault on children sparked public outcry. “The courts will decide on the use and duration of chemical castration to limit or eliminate sexual desire,” said Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul. The government was putting the issue back on its agenda and would be revisited again “within a few days”, he added. Turkey introduced […]

‘Frost Boy’ stirs poverty debate in China

BEIJING, China (AFP) — A viral photo of a Chinese boy whose hair is encrusted with ice after his hour-long walk to school in freezing temperatures has stirred debate about the impact of poverty on children in rural regions. Wang Fuman, a primary school student in southwest Yunnan province, gained the moniker “Frost Boy” after his principal shared a photo online of his rosy cheeks and icy hair, Chinese media reported this week. According to […]

US woman delivers baby from embryo frozen for 24 years

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — An American woman has given birth to a healthy baby girl from an embryo that was frozen a quarter century ago, in what hospital officials say may be a world record. The baby, named Emma Wren Gibson, was born November 25, according to the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) in Knoxville, Tennessee, which revealed the birth announcement this week. The embryo was conceived by another couple and frozen on October 14, 1992. Tina Gibson, […]

220,000 children threatened by mines in Ukraine’s east: UN

KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Hundreds of thousands of children are at imminent risk of being hit by mines and other explosive weapons in war-torn eastern Ukraine, one of the most mine-contaminated places on earth, a UN report said Thursday. A bloody conflict between Ukraine’s army and Russian-backed rebels has endangered 220,000 children who live, play and go to and from school in areas littered with landmines and other deadly explosive devices, the UN International Children’s Emergency Fund […]

400,000 children in DR Congo could die from hunger, says Unicef

KINSHASA, DR Congo (AFP) — The United Nations on Tuesday warned that more than 400,000 children in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are severely malnourished and could die within months without emergency intervention. The crisis — the latest to hit the poverty-stricken, strife-torn central African country — is unfolding in the vast region of Kasai, the UN’s children fund Unicef said. An 18-month-long combination of violence, mass displacement and slumping agricultural output are having a […]

Indonesia vaccinates millions to halt deadly diphtheria outbreak

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Millions of Indonesian children are being vaccinated this week as the country responds to a widespread diphtheria outbreak that has killed dozens, officials said Monday. Some eight million children and teenagers across the Southeast Asian nation will receive the shot to prevent further spread of the disease which is caused by a bacterial infection. It can lead to breathing difficulties, heart failure, paralysis, and even death if left untreated. Widespread incidents of the […]

“Upholding traditional Filipino values,” focus of this year’s MTRCB Family and Child Summit

  By Jodi Bustos Eagle News Service   QUEZON CITY, Philippines (Eagle News) – Upholding traditional Filipino values in the children’s media was the focus of the 5th Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) Family and Child Summit (FCS) held on Saturday, Dec. 2. Secondary students from different schools, the senior citizens, partners from the public and private sectors, and members of the media gathered in this annual event spearheaded by the MTRCB, a Philippine government […]