World Tour: Anniversary of the kidnapping in Nigeria

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Nigeria, Onize Ohikere.

AUDIO: Bring back Rose! Bring back Rose!

Nigeria abduction anniversary — We start today in Nigeria with campaigners calling out the names of kidnapped schoolgirls still in captivity.

Sunday marked 10 years since Boko Haram insurgents abducted 276 schoolgirls from a boarding school in the town of Chibok in northeastern Borno state.

A decade later, nearly 100 of the girls are still unaccounted for.

Grace, now 27, is one of the freed Chibok girls. She worked as a slave in captivity after refusing to marry an insurgent.

GRACE: [Speaking Hausa]

She says the terrorists destroyed her life by taking her captive.

The girls’ abduction drew global attention to Nigeria’s early insurgency. It sparked the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign calling for their release.

Florence Ozor is a rights activist with the Bring Back Our Girls campaign.

FLORENCE OZOR: We call on the government to focus on the need to bring back our girls and ensure the circumstances that enable their abduction were identified, addressed and documented, so that a future occurrence will not occur.

Insurgent groups and criminal groups in the northwest have continued to stage kidnappings in Nigeria with nearly 1,900 people kidnapped in mass abductions in the first quarter of the year.

AUDIO: [Sounds of rescue workers]

Indonesia landslides — Over in Indonesia, deadly landslides have killed at least 20 people on Sulawesi island. Responders used dogs and shovels to look for survivors.

Heavy rainfall triggered landslides in two villages. The downpours also brought down communication lines, while the ongoing bad weather and unstable soil hindered rescue efforts.

Seasonal rainfall brings landslides and floods to Indonesia’s islands. Flash floods last month killed at least 26 people on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

AUDIO: Vote is closed.

EU asylum laws — Over in the European Union, lawmakers have reached an agreement on the bloc’s migration laws.

The Pact on Migration and Asylum will require EU countries to share responsibility for asylum-seekers. The pact also proposes fast-track deportation and using facial imaging and fingerprints for minors in a bid to speed up the asylum process.

Here’s European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen:

URSULA VON DER LEYEN: The pact strikes the right balance between stricter rules against the abuse of the system and care for the most vulnerable.

The pact has faced some opposition.

AUDIO: [Protesters chanting]

Protesters disrupted the vote chanting, “This pact kills. Vote No.”

Several rights groups have also said it will lead to increased suffering among asylum seekers.

EU member countries will still hold a plenary vote on whether or not they endorse the pact.

AUDIO: [Countdown]

China skating contest — We wrap up today with racing roller skaters taking off from the starting line in Shanghai, China.

The roller skating and running marathon attracted thousands of contestants nationwide and from other countries. The contest in Shanghai is the first of six global stops.

Participants signed up for different categories—including full, half, and quarter marathons. Some children also participated in the contest.

CHILD: [Speaking Mandarin]

This young contestant says he woke up at 5 a.m. to make it to the race.

Belgian gold medalist Bart Swings won the men’s professional race title while Ecuador’s Gabriela Vargas clinched the women’s championship.

That’s it for today’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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