World Tour - Mourning in Nigeria

REICHARD: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour. Here’s our reporter in Africa, Onize Ohikere.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Nigeria Church attack— We start off here in Nigeria, where authorities and community members are still dealing with the aftermath of a Sunday attack on Christian worshippers.

AUDIO: [People inside the church]

The gunmen opened fire in St. Francis Catholic Church in the town of Owo in southwest Ondo state, just before Mass ended. The majority of parishioners were still inside.

Witnesses said the attackers closed the main entrance of the church and shot at anyone who tried to leave.

Rev. Andrew Abayomi is the priest who led the Sunday Mass.

ABAYOMI: When you saw people that you started with, then you even gave them the Eucharist. You prayed for them, and then you are the one trying to rush some of them into the hospital, some lifeless, then, like, so I'd summarize and say, 'Okay, anyway, that's our lives as Christians, to witness to the point of death.'

The final death toll is still unclear. Some officials have said more than 20 people died, while others counted at least 50. The victims include children.

Several people also remain hospitalized. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack in one of the country’s more peaceful states.

Nigeria is witnessing a surge in violence, from Islamist insurgents to criminal gangs. The country’s upcoming national elections next year are also stoking tensions.

AUDIO: [Press conference]

Meanwhile, advocacy groups like Open Doors are calling on the United States to put Nigeria back on the list of countries flagged for human rights abuses and religious persecution.

Tiananmen Square Anniversary—Next, we head over to Hong Kong, where authorities cracked down on public events marking the Tiananmen Square anniversary.

AUDIO: [Police searching people at Victoria Park]

Police said they detained five women and one man on Saturday near Victoria Park. That’s where tens of thousands of people previously attended candlelight vigils to remember the crackdown on democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen square.

Authorities shut down parts of the park and warned people not to gather ahead of Saturday.

Here’s a member of the now disbanded alliance that organized the vigils.

Chiu Yan-loy: [Speaking in Cantonese]

He says the fight for democracy is no longer about collective social activism, but now about keeping the memory alive.

Hong Kong used pandemic restrictions to block any anniversary events over the past two years. Hundreds of people joined a vigil in Taiwan, while Japan, Australia, and India had similar gatherings.

North Korea launches more missiles—Next, to North Korea.

AUDIO: [Missiles taking off]

South Korea and the United States fired eight ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan in a retaliatory move on Monday.

That’s after North Korea fired eight short-range missiles over 35 minutes from at least four different locations on Sunday—a single-day record.

North Korea has conducted 18 missile tests since the start of the year.

South Korea’s military said the retaliation shows the military's ability to respond swiftly to North Korean attacks. U.S. and South Korean forces also held joint exercises with 20 fighter jets on Tuesday.

D-Day Anniversary— Finally, we wrap up this week in France.

AUDIO: [Planes flying overhead]

Thousands of veterans returned to the beaches of Normandy on Monday to remember the day troops from Canada, Britain, and the United States landed there during World War II.

Several bystanders cheered at a military re-enactment parade in the first French village liberated from Nazi occupation. At the U.S. cemetery in Normandy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley made comparisons to Ukraine’s fight against Russia's invasion.

MILLEY: Well, Kyiv maybe 2000 kilometers from here, they, too, right now today are experiencing the same horrors that the French citizens experienced in World War Two at the hands of the Nazi invaders.

D-Day events were reduced to the minimum over the past two years due to pandemic restrictions.

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

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