Chile, Yemen, Nigeria.

Today's three stories you should know.

Jan 22, 2022

Chile

Chile’s leftist president-elect, Gabriel Boric, today announced his cabinet and gave the majority of posts to women. Fourteen out of 24 new ministers are women in a cabinet that also skews heavily younger, with an average age of 49 and at least six ministers under 40. Boric, a 36-year-old former student leader, ran on a progressive platform, promising to build a more inclusive and equitable country.

Yemen

A dramatic escalation in Yemen’s war as a Saudi-led coalition launched an air raid on a prison, reportedly killing more than 100 people and wounding hundreds more. The coalition has pounded Yemen since the country’s Houthi rebels carried out a drone attack on the United Arab Emirates and fired missiles at Saudi cities earlier this week. The UN condemned the air raid and called for a deescalation. Grisly footage showed bodies being pulled from the flattened building, and the death toll is expected to rise. More than 100,000 people have been killed since the war started in 2015.

Nigeria

The murder of a five-year-old girl, Hanifa Abubakar, has sparked shock and fury across Nigeria, with people pouring out their sadness and rage on social media using the hashtag #JusticeForHanifa. The owner of the school Abubakar attended has been arrested. Police say he kidnapped the schoolgirl, demanded a ransom of $14,600, and then killed her after she recognized him. As mentioned in several previous newsletters, Nigeria has for the last two years been plagued by a wave of kidnappings for ransom. Schoolchildren and students are most often the targets.