A 102-year-old woman has announced her intention to run for president of Nigeria in 2023.

Nonye Josephine Ezeanyaeche threw her hat in the ring during a visit to the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), the country's largest television network, according to local media on Thursday.

She declared her intention to provide good leadership to the country, according to Nigeria.Com, an online news outlet.

The centenarian and founder of Voice for Senior Citizens lives in Anambra State, in the country's southeast.

Since late January, about 10 prominent politicians, including serving and former governors, have announced they will seek the presidency.

Nigeria will hold general elections early next year to elect governors and members of the parliament, in addition to the president./aa

The UN on Thursday set up a conciliation commission for Palestine and “Israel” to pursue an amicable resolution to a dispute involving allegations of racial discrimination.

In a statement, the UN Human Rights Office noted that both “Israel” and Palestine are parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The convention defines racial discrimination and lists civil, political, economic, social, and cultural human rights that everyone must have without distinction regarding race.

It allows states to file complaints with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on alleged treaty violations by another state party.

The conciliation commission was set up following the convention and comprises of five human rights experts from the committee.

These experts, who serve in their individual capacities independent of any government or organization, are Verene Sheperd, Gun Kut, Pansy Tlakula, Chinsung Chung, and Michal Balcerzak.

The commission held two online preparatory meetings on Jan. 19 and Feb. 10, during which it adopted its rules of procedure and elected Kut as its chair.

It will review information and evidence, while also preparing a report highlighting its findings and recommendations for the amicable solution of the dispute.

The Convention on the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, adopted by the UN in 1965, has been ratified by 179 states./agencies

Everyone, including migrants and immigrants, has the right to equal and affordable health care, according to a top official at the UN’s health agency.

“Health and the best care possible should not be a matter of origin, nationality, or superstar status. Every single one of us should be entitled to affordable and quality care. This includes refugees and migrants,” said Hans Henri Kluge, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Europe regional director, in an op-ed ahead of a high-level meeting on health and migration set to take place on March 17-18 in Turkey's metropolis of Istanbul.

Pointing to the recent Africa Cup of Nations football tournament, Kluge said that every player, including English Premier League superstars Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah, got the same care and attention when they were injured, adding: “This is the way it should be, for everyone.”

He said that like the Premier League, European region health care also relies heavily on migrants, as an “impressive 13 percent of essential workers on the frontlines of COVID-19 response in the EU are migrants.”

“Without them, many of our health systems would be on the brink of collapse,” said Kluge, adding that a third of the doctors in the UK and 20% in Germany are migrants as well as 10% of nurses in Italy.

‘Team spirit and sense of fair play needed’

“To unleash the full public health potential of migration and to improve health for all, we need team spirit, a sense of fair play, political commitment and partnerships across countries and regions,” said Kluge.

“The (COVID-19) pandemic has clearly and cruelly shown us that pre-existing inequalities leave some people more exposed than others. Diseases and viruses travel and affect us regardless of borders or passports,” he added.

An honest and transparent conversation with everyone represented at the table is crucial to make better health a reality for refugees and migrants as for everyone else, said Kluge, adding that next month’s high-level summit aims to mobilize political commitment and find a common way forward.

“Good health and well-being under the umbrella of universal health coverage should be a reality for all of us, on and off the field, no matter who we are or where we come from,” he argued.

The meeting will be hosted by WHO/Europe and will be attended by health ministers and representatives of the 53 member states of the WHO European Region.

The meeting will discuss strategic priorities for health and migration beyond 2022, according to a WHO statement.

“Representatives of refugee and migrant groups, partner organizations and the WHO African and Eastern Mediterranean regions will be involved to encourage participatory dialogue and interregional collaboration as part of a whole-of-route approach,” it added./aa

Two years after a far-right terror attack struck the German town of Hanau, migrant communities are still living in fear and anxiety, eyewitnesses from the night of the deadly attack told Anadolu Agency.

Ozkan Rutbil, who saw racist extremist Tobias Rathjen shooting at people he targeted as foreign-looking on the night of Feb. 19, said they are still struggling to cope with the trauma of this attack.

“Nothing will be the same. We live in fear for our lives, we’re seen as foreigners in this country,” he said.

“The attack has opened a deep wound. Nothing can heal this,” he added.

On Feb. 19, 2020, the 43-year-old assailant attacked two cafes in Hanau, killing nine young people and injuring five others. All the victims had migrant backgrounds.

Before the attack, the far-right extremist posted videos on the internet detailing his xenophobic views, and afterwards, he killed both his mother and himself.

Kadir Kose, who owns a small shop in Hanau and witnessed the attack on that night, said more and more people in the local Turkish community are feeling insecure, due to the rise of racism and far-right movements in the country.

“Things are getting worse. Hatred of foreigners is fueled by politicians and the media. They’re trying to shift the blame for economic problems and unemployment onto foreigners,” he said.

Henri Samkiran, the coach of an amateur football club in Hanau, said he knew almost all the victims in person, and will never forget the night of the attack, how people ran for their lives, and how many others tried to help those wounded.

“One of our friends tried to stop the assailant, and called the police so many times while driving behind his car, but no one picked up. The assailant later killed six more people, including our friend who tried to stop him,” he recounted.

“Two years have passed since the attack, but nothing has improved,” he said, and expressed his worry about growing racism and far-right violence.

“Feb. 19, 2020, was one of the worst days of our life, we will never forget our friends, their memory will live with us forever,” he said./aa

Nigeria has recorded 59 deaths since Jan. 3 from an outbreak of Lassa fever, authorities said Wednesday. 

In a statement, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the Nigerian agency responsible for the management of disease outbreaks, said 19 people died in the past week due to the outbreak while a total of 358 cases have been detected since Jan. 3.

Last year, 674 cases of Lassa fever were detected in the country, while 102 people died due to the epidemic.

Lassa fever, which has been observed in many African countries including Mali, Togo, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, was first reported in Nigeria in 1969 in northeastern Borno state.

The Nigerian government declared a state of emergency over Lassa fever on Jan. 23, 2019.

The viral hemorrhagic fever is primarily transmitted to humans through contact with food or household items contaminated with urine or feces from Mastomys rats, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Authorities in Nigeria are warning the public to be careful about hygiene and not to come into contact with mice and other rodents./agencies

A sloth that was trapped between power lines in Colombia's Antioquia province was rescued earlier this week by a worker from public services holding company Empresas Publicas de Medellin (EPM). 

A video circulating online shows how 38-year-old Victor Hugo Lopez climbed a utility pole and offered a helping hand to the endangered animal, which appeared to be afraid and kept moving further away at first.

Lopez then reached for a broomstick to catch it and the sloth finally grabbed hold of it. After moving the sloth away from the cable, Lopez hugged it and descended the power pole.

​​"It is exciting to see this video in which Víctor Lopez rescues a sloth in Taraza, a species that is on the verge of extinction in Colombia. The sloth is the slowest animal in the world," wrote Mabel Lopez, EPM's communications vice president, on her Twitter account.

The rescue was carried out Monday afternoon following various calls from worried residents in the rural town of Taraza, who warned that the sloth had been hanging there since the morning.

Hours after the rescue, the animal was returned to its natural habitat.

"Welcome to freedom, little sloth. Climb the tree. Don't go falling, let’s go up," Lopez is heard saying in the video, which showed the moment when the animal climbed back up the tree, where he was left./agencies

The death toll from heavy rains and mudslides in the city of Petropolis in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state has risen to 104, authorities said late Wednesday.

At least 54 homes have been destroyed and 370 people are being housed in shelters, according to a report by the Brazilian news portal G1.

Speaking to reporters from the flood-hit area, Rio de Janeiro State Governor Claudio Castro said the region was exposed to its heaviest rainfall since 1932.

Castro said he expects social assistance to be provided to those hit by the floods until next week for buying furniture and household goods.

He earlier said that the situation resembled a "war zone” with cars hanging from poles and streets filled with mud and water.

More than 400 firefighters have carried out search and rescue efforts in the region and rescued 21 people, while 35 people have been reported missing so far, but authorities have not yet determined the total number of missing.

Authorities have declared a “state of disaster” in the region and called on people living in risky areas to head to places used as shelters.

Due to the disaster, many schools and universities in the region were turned into support points where the homeless were sheltered and aid was given to the needy.

Authorities said Tuesday that Petropolis saw enough precipitation in six hours for the entire month of February.

More than 900 people died in a flooding tragedy in the city in 2011 and more than 100 others went missing./aa

Germany adopted a new plan Wednesday for a gradual relaxation of coronavirus restrictions during the next four weeks.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz made the announcement after a videoconference with the premiers of the country’s 16 federal states.

“We can look ahead with more confidence,” Scholz said at a news conference, noting that the measures have been effective in bringing the pandemic under control and the country apparently has passed the peak of the omicron wave.

“We have agreed on the gradual relaxation of most of the coronavirus measures in Germany, in three stages until the start of the spring,” he said.

According to the plan, in the first stage, the current limit of 10 people for social gatherings will be abolished. Those who are vaccinated or recovered from the virus will be allowed to meet without limitation.

In the second stage, beginning March 4, restaurants will serve customers who are vaccinated, recovered or can present a negative test result.

Bars and clubs will reopen but only fully vaccinated or recovered persons will be admitted, with an additional test. Those with a booster vaccination will not need to present a test result.

In the third stage from March 20, "all more far-reaching protective measures are to be dropped if the situation in the hospitals permits this,” it said./aa