AUSTIN, Texas — A group of Dallas-area families and faith leaders have filed a lawsuit seeking to block a new Texas law that requires copies of the Ten Commandments be posted in every public school classroom.
The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday, claims the measure is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state.
Texas is the latest and largest state to attempt a mandate that has run into legal challenges elsewhere. A federal appeals court on Friday blocked a similar law in Louisiana. Some families have sued over Arkansas’ law.
The plaintiffs in the Texas lawsuit are a group of Christian and Nation of Islam faith leaders and families. It names the Texas Education Agency, state education Commissioner Mike Morath and three Dallas-area school districts as defendants.
“The government should govern; the Church should minister,” the lawsuit said. “Anything else is a threat to the soul of both our democracy and our faith.”
Ten Commandments laws are among efforts, mainly in conservative-led states, to insert religion into public schools. Supporters say the Ten Commandments are part of the foundation of the United States’ judicial and educational systems and should be displayed.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the Ten Commandments measure into law on June 21. He also has enacted a measure requiring school districts to provide students and staff a daily voluntary period of prayer or time to read a religious text during school hours.
Opponents say the Ten Commandments and prayer measures infringe on others’ religious freedom and more lawsuits are expected. The American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation have said they will file lawsuits opposing the Ten Commandments measure.
Under the new law, public schools must post in classrooms a 16-by-20-inch or larger poster or framed copy of a specific English version of the commandments, even though translations and interpretations vary across denominations, faiths and languages and may differ in homes and houses of worship.
The lawsuit notes that Texas has nearly 6 million students in about 9,100 public schools, including thousands of students of faiths that have little or no connection to the Ten Commandments, or may have no faith at all.
The Texas Education Agency did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. The law takes effect Sept. 1, but most public school districts start the upcoming school year in August.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have ramped up raids throughout Southern California in the last couple of weeks.
Some areas such as MacArthur Park, the Garment District, downtown’s produce market and areas of the Eastside have seen heavily reduced traffic and commercial activity due to fear from immigrant communities.
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Some cities have taken preventive actions. Pasadena, for example, canceled weekend swimming lessons and other recreational activities.
Throughout this time, pressure has slowly mounted on one of Los Angeles’ most cherished institutions to make a statement.
On Friday, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers announced they have committed $1 million toward assistance for families of immigrants affected by the recent raids, as well as plans for further initiatives that are to be unveiled in the coming days.
“What’s happening in Los Angeles has reverberated among thousands upon thousands of people, and we have heard the calls for us to take a leading role on behalf of those affected,” team president Stan Kasten said in a statement. “We believe that by committing resources and taking action, we will continue to support and uplift the communities of Greater Los Angeles.”
Who has spoken up while the Dodgers remained silent
On Friday morning, more than 50 community and religious leaders from around Los Angeles signed a petition that called on the Dodgers “to take a public stand against the indiscriminate ICE raids which are causing immense terror in our communities, hurting businesses, and separating families.”
By Friday afternoon, the team finally started to put some public plans into action.
“This is the moment for the Dodgers to stand with the families whom masked agents are tearing apart,” read the letter, which was signed by religious officials, labor leaders and immigrant-rights activists, and addressed to Dodgers owner Mark Walter.
“If these truly are OUR beloved Los Angeles Dodgers, we need you, more than ever, to stand with us, immigrants and non-immigrants alike. Stand with all of us.”
And then immigration officials tried to visit Dodger Stadium
The petition, which was organized by faith-based community organizing network PICO California, came a day after the Dodgers initially postponed their planned financial assistance announcement.
The club decided to delay its announcement for assistance after immigration agents showed up at Dodger Stadium on Thursday morning, attempting to access the ballpark’s parking lots in an apparent effort to use them as a processing site for people who had been arrested in a nearby immigration raid.
The Dodgers denied the agents entry to the grounds, according to the team, but pushed their announcement to Friday afternoon — when they detailed that their $1 million in financial resources will be made in partnership with the city of Los Angeles.
“The Dodgers and the City of Los Angeles have a proven ability to get financial resources to those in critical need, most recently seen in their efforts to aid victims of the January wildfires,” the Dodgers said. “Through our support of the city’s efforts, the Dodgers will encourage those organizations in a similar position to use their resources to directly support the families and workers who have suffered economic hardship.”
The team said more initiatives with local community and labor organizations will be announced in the coming days.
After the Dodgers’ announcement, the Rev. Zach Hoover from LA Voice, a member federation of PICO California, released another statement.
“The Dodgers have taken a meaningful step toward addressing the fear in our communities. By committing real resources to immigrant families, they’re showing that moral courage and civic leadership still matter in Los Angeles, and that we can heal the wounds of hate with the power of love. We pray this is just the beginning — because dignity demands more than silence, and faith calls us to act.”
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On Friday morning, more than 50 community and religious leaders from around Los Angeles signed a petition that called on the Dodgers “to take a public stand against the indiscriminate ICE raids which are causing immense terror in our communities, hurting businesses, and separating families.”
By Friday afternoon, the team finally started to put some public plans into action.
In their first public response to the immigration raids that have swept through Los Angeles over the last two weeks, the Dodgers announced they have committed $1 million toward assistance for families of immigrants affected by the recent events in the city, as well as plans for further initiatives that are to be unveiled in the coming days.
“What’s happening in Los Angeles has reverberated among thousands upon thousands of people, and we have heard the calls for us to take a leading role on behalf of those affected,” team president Stan Kasten said in a statement. “We believe that by committing resources and taking action, we will continue to support and uplift the communities of Greater Los Angeles.”
After days of increasing calls for the team to address the unrest that has swept through the city over the last two weeks, the pressure on the Dodgers had been ratcheted up again with Friday’s petition.
“This is the moment for the Dodgers to stand with the families whom masked agents are tearing apart,” read the letter, which was signed by religious officials, labor leaders and immigrant-rights activists, and addressed to Dodgers owner Mark Walter.
“If these truly are OUR beloved Los Angeles Dodgers, we need you, more than ever, to stand with us, immigrants and non-immigrants alike. Stand with all of us.”
The petition, which was organized by faith-based community organizing network PICO California, came a day after the Dodgers initially postponed their planned financial assistance announcement.
The club decided to delay its announcement after immigration agents showed up at Dodger Stadium on Thursday morning, attempting to access the ballpark’s parking lots in an apparent effort to use them as a processing site for people who had been arrested in a nearby immigration raid.
The Dodgers denied the agents entry to the grounds, according to the team, but pushed their announcement to Friday afternoon — when they detailed that their $1 million in financial resources will be made in partnership with the City of Los Angeles.
“The Dodgers and the City of Los Angeles have a proven ability to get financial resources to those in critical need, most recently seen in their efforts to aid victims of the January wildfires,” the Dodgers said. “Through our support of the city’s efforts, the Dodgers will encourage those organizations in a similar position to use their resources to directly support the families and workers who have suffered economic hardship.”
The team said more initiatives with local community and labor organizations will be announced in the coming days.
“I want to thank the Dodgers for leading with this action to support the immigrant community of Los Angeles,” Mayor Karen Bass said in a team statement.
That news checked off one of the requests laid out in Friday’s earlier petition, which implored the club to:
Issue a public statement affirming that families are sacred, and that the ICE raids must stop
Stand with and support community organizations that are welcoming, protecting, and integrating immigrants into the fabric of our great region
As when you asked ICE to leave the property yesterday, continue to ensure that no Dodgers’ property or assets will be used to aid or abet immigration enforcement operations
A news release announcing the letter also promoted a public petition campaign for fans to sign.
Many of the signatories of Friday’s petition were local church leaders, including the bishops of the Methodist California-Pacific Conference and Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.
The petition was also signed by representatives from more than 20 community advocacy groups, including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and National Day Laborer Organizing Network; as well as labor leaders from local teacher unions and the Service Employees International Union, among others.
“We love the Dodgers not only because they are champions, but even more because they are the team of Jackie Robinson, of Fernando Valenzuela, of Kiké Hernandez — baseball players who have helped bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice,” Joseph Tomás McKellar, executive director of the PICO California organization that organized the petition, said in a statement Friday morning. “This is a moment when the Dodgers, a beloved family and cultural institution for 67 years, can take a moral stand and make an impact on the lives of vulnerable families in our region. Families are sacred.”
After the Dodgers’ announcement, Reverend Zach Hoover from LA Voice, a member federation of PICO California, released another statement.
“The Dodgers have taken a meaningful step toward addressing the fear in our communities. By committing real resources to immigrant families, they’re showing that moral courage and civic leadership still matter in Los Angeles, and that we can heal the wounds of hate with the power of love. We pray this is just the beginning — because dignity demands more than silence, and faith calls us to act.”
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors is leaving transgender children and their parents uncertain and anxious about the future.
The court on Wednesday handed President Trump’s administration and Republican-led states a significant victory by effectively protecting them from at least some of the legal challenges against many efforts to repeal safeguards for transgender people.
The case stems from a Tennessee law banning puberty blockers and hormone treatments for transgender minors. Opponents of gender-affirming care say people who transition when they’re young could later regret it.
Families of transgender children argue the ban amounts to unlawful sex discrimination and violates the constitutional rights of vulnerable Americans.
Student says ruling creates an unwelcome world
Eli Givens, who is transgender and testified against Tennessee’s gender-affirming care bill in 2023, said it’s devastating that lawmakers “who have called us degenerates, have told us that we’re living in fiction” are celebrating the court’s ruling.
The nonbinary college student from Spring Hill received mastectomy surgery in 2022 at age 17. They said the legislation inspired their advocacy, and they attended the Supreme Court arguments in the case last December, on their 20th birthday.
“We’re not making a world that trans youth are welcomed or allowed to be a part of,” Givens said. “And so, it’s just a really scary kind of future we might have.”
Jennifer Solomon, who supports parents and families at the LGBTQ+ rights group Equality Florida, called the ruling a decision “that one day will embarrass the courts.”
“This is a decision that every parent should be concerned about,” she said. “When politicians are able to make a decision that overrides your ability to medically make decisions for your children, every family should worry.”
Conservative activists take credit
Chloe Cole, a conservative activist known for speaking about her gender-transition reversal, posted on social media after the court’s decision that “every child in America is now safer.”
Cole was cited as an example by Tennessee Republicans as one of the reasons the law was needed.
Matt Walsh, an activist who was one of the early backers of Tennessee’s law, applauded the high court. Three years ago, Walsh shared videos on social media of a doctor saying gender-affirming procedures are “huge moneymakers” for hospitals and a staffer saying anyone with a religious objection should quit.
“This is a truly historic victory and I’m grateful to be a part of it, along with so many others who have fought relentlessly for years,” Walsh posted on social media.
Fears of what’s next after Supreme Court decision
Rosie Emrich is worried the court decision will embolden legislators in New Hampshire, where legislation banning hormone treatments and puberty blockers for children is expected to reach the governor’s desk.
Lawmakers are weighing whether to block the treatments from minors already receiving them, like Emrich’s 9-year-old child.
“It’s definitely disappointing, and I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to talk to my kid about it,” Emrich said.
Emrich said she and her husband have considered moving from New Hampshire and are waiting to see what will happen.
“The hard part is, like, I’ve grown up here, my husband has grown up here, we very much want to raise our family here,” she said. “And we don’t want to leave if we don t have to.”
A move across the country and other hurdles
Erica Barker and her family moved from Jackson, Mississippi, to North Las Vegas, Nevada, a little over two years ago so one of her children could start receiving gender-affirming care.
Barker’s transgender daughter, then 12, had been in therapy for three years, and the family agreed it was time for medical treatments.
Mississippi passed a ban on gender-affirming care for minors the next year, which Barker said she saw coming.
Barker said the move was complicated, involving a new job for her husband and two mortgages when their Mississippi home was slow to sell, but it also brought access to care for her daughter, now 14.
“Our hearts are hurting for folks who are not having the same experience,” Barker said.
In another state with a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, Oklahoma resident Erika Dubose said finding care for her 17-year-old nonbinary child, Sydney Gebhardt, involves a four-hour drive to Kansas and getting prescriptions filled in Oregon and mailed to their home.
“I just wish the younger folks wouldn’t have to go through this,” Gebhardt said. “These folks deserve to be focusing on their academics and hanging out with their friends and making memories with their families and planning out a safe and happy future.”
Mother says gender-affirming care saves lives
Sarah Moskanos, who lives near Milwaukee, said her 14-year-old transgender daughter went through nearly a decade of counseling before she started medical gender-affirming care but has been sure since the age of 4 that she identified as a girl.
“I would say that there is decades of research on this very thing,” she said. “And we know what works and we know what will save trans kids’ lives is gender-affirming care.”
Wisconsin doesn’t have a gender-affirming care ban, but Moskanos said getting her daughter that care has not been easy. She now worries about what the future holds.
“We are but one election cycle away from disaster for my kid,” she said.
Vowing not to disappear
Mo Jenkins, a 26-year-old transgender Texas native and legislative staffer at the state Capitol, said she began taking hormone therapy at 16 years old and has been on and off treatment since then.
“My transition was out of survival,” Jenkins said.
Texas outlawed gender-affirming care for minors two years ago, and in May, the Legislature passed a bill tightly defining a man and a woman by their sex characteristics.
“I’m not surprised at the ruling. I am disheartened,” Jenkins said. “Trans people are not going to disappear.”
Mattise, Mulvihill and Seewer write for the Associated Press. Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, N.J., and Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. AP journalists Susan Haigh in Hartford, Conn.; Kenya Hunter in Atlanta; Laura Bargfeld in Chicago; Nadia Lathan in Austin, Texas; and Daniel Kozin in Pinecrest, Fla., contributed to this report.
Research by consumer group Which? found two sun creams that failed its safety checks – plus others that others, including budget brands that passed with flying colours
Tests by consumer group Which? discovered sunscreens that failed its safety checks
A popular sun cream aimed at families with a £28 price tag has failed safety tests.
Consumer group Which? urged shoppers to avoid the product – Ultrasun Family SPF30 – while also revealing supermarket alternatives at a fraction of the price had passed with flying colours.
The results are especially timely, given Britain is in the grip of a heatwave and people will be rushing to buy sun block. Which? found the Ultrasun product – which comes in a 150ml bottle and is marketed as being “perfect for the whole family” and “especially suitable for children and those with sensitive skin” – failed to meet minimum UVA (ultraviolet A) protection levels. Ultrasun’s UVA score was 9.1 and 9.5 in a retest.
It needed to be 10 or more to pass. It did, however, pass for the alternative UVB protection. Another sun block that failed was Morrisons’ Moisturising Sun Spray SPF30 at £3.75 for a 200ml bottle.
Lidl’s Cien Sun Spray 30 SPF High was among given a ‘Great Value’ badge by Which?
It passed for UVA protection but came up short for SPF (sun protection factor) against UVB. Like the Ultrasun product, Which? labelled it a “don’t buy”.
As part of an annual exercise, the group carried out lab tests on 15 popular sun creams using what it says were industry-recognised methods. If a product failed on a first test, it was repeated. If it passed the second time, a third test will be done. But if a product failed the SPF or UVA twice overall, it became a ‘don’t buy’.
Ultrasun sun block failed UVA tests by Which?
Among those that passed was budget supermarket Aldi’s Lacura Sensitive Sun Lotion SPF50+, which costs just £2.99 for 200ml. Researchers found it protected skin from both UVA and UVB rays, as claimed.
At £1.50 per 100ml – six times less than Ultrasun – the product also earned a Which? Great Value badge. Another given the same rating was rival Lidl’s Cien Sun Spray 30 SPF High, at £3.79 for 200ml.
Morrisons’ Moisturising Sun Spray SPF30 failed the Which? test for SPF (sun protection factor) against UVB
Natalie Hitchins, Which? head of home products and services, said: “It’s really concerning that widely available sunscreens could be putting families at risk by failing to offer the level of sun protection claimed on the packaging.
While shoppers should avoid buying our Don’t Buys, our results prove that there’s no need to splash out to keep you and your loved ones safe in the sun as we’ve found cheap reliable options at Aldi and Lidl.”
A spokesperson from Ultrasun told Which? it was fully confident in its testing protocols and that its detailed testing processes continued to not only meet, but surpass industry standards.
It stated that its chosen testing protocol is one of the strictest available. Morrisons told Which? that it’s looking closely at the data and working with its supplier to carry out additional independent testing.
Aldi’s Lacura Sensitive Sun Lotion SPF50+ costs just £2.99 for 200ml
Full list
‘Don’t Buys’
Morrisons Moisturising Sun Spray SPF30, £3.75/200ml
Ultrasun Family SPF30, £28/150ml
Passes
SPF30 sunscreens
Boots Soltan Protect & Moisturise Suncare Lotion, £5.50/200ml
Boots Soltan Protect & Moisturise Suncare Spray SPF30, £5.50/200ml
Nivea Sun Protect & Moisture Lotion SPF30, £7.90/200ml
Lidl Cien Sun Protect Spray SPF30 High, £3.79/200ml
Sainsbury’s Sun Protect Moisturising Lotion SPF30, £5.50/200ml
Superdrug Solait Sun Spray SPF30, £5.50/200ml
SPF50/50+ sunscreens
Garnier Ambre Solaire Sensitive Advanced Sun Spray SPF 50+, £11/150ml
Sainsbury’s Sun ProtectMoisturising Spray Lotion SPF50+, £5.75/200ml
Aldi Lacura Sensitive Sun Lotion SPF50+, £2.99/200ml
Boots Soltan Protect & Moisturise Suncare Lotion SPF50+, £5.50/200ml
Nivea Sun Protect & Moisture Spray SPF50+, £7.90/200ml
SPF50/50+ kids sunscreens
Childs Farm Sun Cream Fragrance-Free SPF50+, £12/200ml
Soltan Kids Protect & Moisturise Lotion SPF50+, £5.50/200ml
There’s nothing more frustrating paying extra to sit with your friends and family – but this airline almost guarantees you seating next to your loved ones at no extra cost
Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday with families most likely to seat together (Image: Getty Images)
Booking a holiday is one of life’s simple pleasures, but it’s quickly short-lived when the airline asks you to pre-book your flight seats for an extra fee.
Gone are the days when your party would be grouped together when checking-in. Now, it is widely advised to book your seats to avoid being split up. This is a method airlines use to make extra money, and if you don’t want to spend the extra pounds to reserve the seats in advance, you’ll just have to hope for the best.
Surprisingly, no law in the UK obliges airlines to seat families together during flights. Therefore, passengers spend more money to sit with their friends and family, especially when travelling with young children.
Family friendly and budget airline Jet2 to offer families to seat together on their flights, but that’s not always guaranteed(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)
But, as reported by Which?, this won’t be a problem for families when travelling with Jet2. Comparing other airlines, the site said: “With Ryanair or Wizz, you need a calculator to work out whether you’re better off choosing to add cabin bags and seat selection separately, or whether to choose a more expensive ticket that includes them.
“With Jet2, cabin bags are included, and families are almost always seated together without having to pay for seat selection. That doesn’t just save money, it makes booking much less hassle.”
Alternatively, passengers can also ask other travellers to swap seats. While it’s generally accepted, it’s important to note and understand that not everyone may agree to do so.
Jet2’s website shared more information about family seating arrangements: “As a family-friendly airline we will always endeavour to seat children and infants under the age of 12 next to their accompanying adults. If this is not possible for any reason, we will ensure children are seated as close as possible, and no more than one row away.”
Throughout the past couple of years, Jet2 has been going up the rankings as the go-to airline for many, especially in the UK. Passengers expressed satisfaction with their customer service and overall assistance, with a total score of 80% for the best short-haul economy airlines.
Ahmedabad, India — For the Patel family, April was a month of answered prayers.
The news arrived in a simple email: their son, Sahil Patel, had won a visa lottery. He was one of 3,000 Indians chosen by a random ballot for a coveted two-year United Kingdom work visa, under the British government’s India Young Professionals Scheme.
For the 25-year-old from a middle-class family, it was a pathway from a modest home in Sarod village, 150km (93 miles) from Ahmedabad, the biggest city in the western Indian state of Gujarat, to a new life in London. For his family, the visa was the culmination of every prayer, a chance for the social mobility they had worked their whole lives for.
But less than two months later, that excitement has turned to grief: Sahil was one of the 241 people on Air India 171 who died when the plane crashed into a medical college’s hostel just outside Ahmedabad airport on Thursday, June 12, seconds after taking off.
Only one passenger survived India’s deadliest aviation disaster in more than three decades. Dozens of people on the ground were killed, including several students at BJ Medical College, when the plane erupted into a ball of fire after crashing into their mess. Several others were injured, many of them still in critical care.
Those killed on board include young students on their way to London on scholarships, a family returning home from a wedding in Gujarat, another that was visiting India for Eid, and those like Sahil whose families believed they had won the luck of a lifetime.
The father (in the blue shirt) of Irfan, one of the flight crew killed when the Air India plane crashed, at the hospital [ Marhaba Halili/Al Jazeera]
‘Why my child?’
In the mess hall at Gujarat’s oldest medical school, Rakesh Deora was finishing his lunch along with more than 70 other medical students. From a small town in Bhavnagar in southeastern Gujarat, Deora was in the second year of his undergraduate studies – but, friends and family recalled, did not like wearing his white coat.
When the plane struck the building, he was killed by the falling debris. In the chaos that followed, many of the bodies – from the plane and on the ground – were charred beyond recognition. Deora’s face was still recognisable when his family saw his body.
At the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, five hours after the crash, another family rushed in. Irfan, 22, was an Air India cabin crew member, his uniform a symbol of pride for his family. They rushed to the morgue, unaware of what they were about to face. When an official showed Irfan’s father his son’s body – his face still recognisable – the man’s composure shattered.
He collapsed against a wall, his voice a raw lament to God. “I have been religious my whole life,” he cried, his words echoing in the sterile hallway. “I gave to charity, I taught my son character … Why this punishment upon him? Why my child?”
Beside him, Irfan’s mother refused to believe that her son was dead. “No!” she screamed at anyone who came near. “He promised he would see me when he got back. You’re lying. It’s not him.”
For another family, recognition came not from a face, but from a small, gold pendant. It was a gift from a husband to his wife, Syed Nafisa Bano, and it was the only way to identify her. Nafisa was one of four members of the Syed family on board, including her husband Syed Inayat Ali, and their two young children, Taskin Ali and Waqee Ali. They had been buzzing with excitement, talking about their return to London after spending a wonderful two months in India celebrating Eid al-Adha with their relatives. On Thursday, their family in Gujarat huddled together in the hospital corridor in mourning, the laughter they had shared consigned to memories.
Syed Inayat Ali and his wife Syed Nafisa Bano, in a photo taken with Gujarat-based family members at the airport before they took off in the Air India plane that crashed, killing them along with their two children [Marhaba Halili/Al Jazeera]
‘God saved us, but he took so many others’
Just 500 metres from the main crash site, rickshaw driver Rajesh Patel was waiting for his next customer. The 50-year-old was the sole earner for his family. He wasn’t struck by debris, but by the explosion’s brutal heat, which engulfed him in flames. He now lies in a critical care unit, fighting for his life. His wife sits outside the room, her hands clasped in prayer.
In the narrow lanes of the Meghaninagar neighbourhood near the crash site, Tara Ben had just finished her morning chores and was lying down for a rest.
The sudden, deafening roar that shook her home’s tin roof sounded like a gas cylinder explosion, a familiar danger in the densely packed neighbourhood. But the screams from outside that followed told her this was different. “Arey, aa to aeroplane chhe! Plan tooti gayo! [Oh, it’s an aeroplane! It’s a plane crash!]” a man shrieked in Gujarati; his voice laced with a terror she had never heard before. Tara Ben ran out into the chaos. The air was thick with smoke and a smell she couldn’t place – acrid and metallic.
As she joined the crowd rushing to view the crash site, a cold dread washed over her – a mix of gratitude and guilt. It wasn’t just for the victims, but for her own community. She looked back at the maze of makeshift homes in her neighbourhood, where hundreds of families lived stacked one upon another. “If it had fallen here,” she later said, her voice barely a whisper, “there would be no one left to count the bodies. God saved us, but he took so many others.”
Veteran rescue worker Tofiq Mansuri has seen tragedy many times before, but nothing had prepared him for this, he said. For four hours, from mid-afternoon until the sun began to set, he and his team worked in the shadow of the smouldering wreckage to recover the dead with dignity. “The morale was high at first,” Mansuri recalled, his gaze distant, his face etched with exhaustion. “You go into a mode. You are there to do a job. You focus on the task.”
He described lifting body bag after body bag into the ambulances. But then, they found her. A small child, no more than two or three years old, her tiny body charred by the inferno. In that moment, the professional wall Mansuri had built to allow himself to deal with the dead, crumbled.
“We are trained for this, but how can you train for that?” he asked, his voice breaking for the first time. “To see a little girl … a baby … it just broke us. The spirits were gone. We were just men, carrying a child who would never go home.”
Mansuri knows the sight will stay with him. “I won’t be able to sleep for many nights,” he said, shaking his head.
Relatives of people on the plane register for DNA tests to help identify bodies, many of which were charred beyond recognition [Marhaba Halili/Al Jazeera]
‘Air India killed him’
By 7pm, five hours after the crash, ambulances were arriving at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital in a grim procession, not with sirens blaring, but in a near-silent parade of the dead.
Inside the hospital, a wave of anguish rippled through the crowd each time the doors of the morgue swung open. In one corner, a woman’s voice rose above the din, a sharp, piercing cry of accusation. “Air India killed him!” she screamed. “Air India killed my only son!” Then she collapsed into a heap on the cold floor. No one rushed to help; they simply watched, everyone struggling with their own grief.
Dozens of families waited – for a name to be called, for a familiar face on a list, for a piece of information that might anchor them amid a disorienting nightmare. They huddled in small, broken circles, strangers united by a singular, unbearable fate. Some were called into small, sterile rooms to give DNA samples to help identify their dead relatives.
Then an official’s announcement cut through the air: identified remains would only be released after 72 hours, after post-mortem procedures.
As the night deepened, some relatives, exhausted and emotionally spent, began their journey home, leaving one or two family members behind to keep vigil. But many refused to leave. They sat on the floor, their backs against the wall, their eyes vacant.
While some families still cling to the fragile hope of survival, such as in the case of Rajesh Patel, the rickshaw driver, others are grappling with the grief differently.
Away from the hospital’s frantic chaos, Sahil Patel’s father Salim Ibrahim was away in his village, calm and composed. Over the telephone, his voice did not break but remained chillingly calm, his grief masked by a single practical question.
“Will they give him back to us in a closed box?” he asked. “I just … I cannot bear for anyone to see him like that. I want him to be brought home with dignity.”
The visa that promised a new world to Sahil is now a worthless piece of paper. The plane was a Dreamliner, an aircraft named for the very thing it was meant to carry. The dream of London has dissolved into a nightmare in a morgue. And in the end, all a father can ask for his son is the mercy of a closed lid.
June 11 (UPI) — Orlando’s Pulse nightclub briefly will open for private tours to remember the massacre that occurred there ahead of the building’s razing and replacement by a permanent national memorial.
Survivors and family of the 49 people killed and 53 others hurt during the June 12, 2016, attack are scheduled to attend a Wednesday afternoon commemoration and take private tours of the club over the next several days.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer is scheduled to speak during the event.
Nearly 250 attack survivors and family members of those killed will participate in 30-minute private tours of the nightclub, which Orlando officials hope will help deliver closure for many, WFTV reported.
The tours are not open to the general public and will include an FBI agent who will be available to answer questions.
Christine Leinonen is among those who plan to visit the site where her son, Christopher Leinonen, was killed.
“They’re letting us go through it, so, of course, I want to see it. I want to see the inside,” she told WKMG.
“It’s important to go inside because that’s where my son died,” she explained. “My son didn’t die running out of the building or at the hospital. My son literally died on that dance floor.”
Leinonen said she doesn’t know how she will react once she is inside the shuttered nightclub, but she said she is certain the tour won’t give her closure.
“I’m never going to get any closure,” she responded when asked. “There’s never going to be any closure.”
Photography and video recording are not allowed while inside the building to prevent accidental viewings on social media by those who don’t want to see its interior.
Among survivors who won’t attend Wednesday’s remembrance or take a private tour is Brandon Wolf, who said he hid in a bathroom stall when the shooting happened.
“The site of the tragedy is where I feel closest to the people who were stolen from me,” Wolf told PinkNews.
“For survivors, the last time they were in that space was the worst night possible,” he said. “It will be really hard to be in that space again.”
The city bought the property after the attack that began shortly after 2 a.m. EDT on June 12, 2016. The massacre ended when police shot and killed the shooter, Omar Mateen, 29, following a three-hour standoff.
An estimated 320 people were inside the club when the attack occurred, and victims ranged from ages 18 to 50.
A makeshift memorial featuring the photos of attack victims is in place at the nightclub, but it will be replaced with a permanent national memorial.
STRUGGLING households have just days left to apply for extra cost of living payments worth up to £1,000.
The cash is part of the Household Support Fund, which is a £742million fund distributed by councils in England.
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Families have just days left to apply for cost of living payments
Local authorities have until March 31, 2026, to allocate their share of the fund and can set their own eligibility criteria.
Some councils have already starting distributing their share through cash bank transfers and vouchers while some are yet to.
Residents in Portsmouth in financial hardship and who are struggling to afford essentials can apply for an exceptional hardship payment worth up to £1,000.
Those on Universal Credit and other benefits can apply but you don’t need to be.
Read more on Universal Credit
However, the city is closing applications at 12 noon on June 12 so you’ll need to move quickly.
Applications may also close early if the funds have been used up.
You’ll need to provide evidence of your income and bank accounts.
You also need to tell what you’ve done to improve your financial situation and why you need help.
The exact amount you receive depends on household size -the maximum amount is for six or more of £800.
Whereas one person gets £350, two people £420, three people £500, four people 600, and five people £700.
Households deemed to be in the highest level of need can be awarded a further £200 taking total payments up to £1,000.
To apply, visit the portsmouth.gov.uk website.
Can I get help if I live outside Portsmouth?
Most likely, yes. However, it will depend on your circumstances and where you live.
The Household Support Fund was set up to help households cover essentials such as energy or water bills and food costs.
But, each council can set its own eligibility criteria meaning whether you qualify for help is a postcode lottery.
That said, funding is aimed at anyone who’s vulnerable or struggling to pay for essentials.
So, if you are financially hard-up or on benefits, it is likely you will be able to get help.
It’s worth bearing in mind, any help you receive via the Household Support Fund won’t affect your benefit payments.
The type of help on offer varies from supermarket vouchers to direct cash payments into your bank account.
Some councils are allocating their share of the fund to community groups and charities who you have to get in touch with.
If you’re on benefits, have limited savings, or are struggling to cover food and energy bills, it’s worth seeing if you’re eligible for help.
Contact your local council and see if you have to apply or whether support is being distributed automatically.
You can find what council area you fall under by using the government’s council locator tool – www.gov.uk/find-local-council.
Household Support fund explained
SUN Savers Editor Lana Clements explains what you need to know about the Household Support Fund.
If you’re battling to afford energy and water bills, food or other essential items and services, the Household Support Fund can act as a vital lifeline.
The financial support is a little-known way for struggling families to get extra help with the cost of living.
Every council in England has been given a share of £742million cash by the government to distribute to local low income households.
Each local authority chooses how to pass on the support. Some offer vouchers whereas others give direct cash payments.
In many instances, the value of support is worth hundreds of pounds to individual families.
Just as the support varies between councils, so does the criteria for qualifying.
Many councils offer the help to households on selected benefits or they may base help on the level of household income.
The key is to get in touch with your local authority to see exactly what support is on offer.
The current round runs until the end of March 2026.
AS KING Canute found over a thousand years ago, it is quite difficult to stand on a beach and order the tide to recede.
Today, it is equally difficult to make the argument that giving families cash is not always the best way of lifting them out of poverty.
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David Blunkett grew up on just bread and dropping at home – but he is warning that lifting the 2 child benefit cap is not the best way to tackle povertyCredit: Alamy
This is especially true when one particular measure becomes the symbol of whether or not you’re on the right side of the debate about child poverty.
But as someone who now can afford the comforts of life, I constantly remind myself of my childhood.
The grinding poverty that I experienced when my father was killed in a work accident when I was 12 – leaving my mother, who had serious health problems, to fight a long battle for minimal compensation.
Having only bread and dripping in the house was, by anyone’s standards, a hallmark of absolute poverty.
Why on earth would I question, therefore, the morality of reversing a Tory policy introduced eight years ago?
This restricts the additional supplement to universal credit – worth over £3,000 a child per year – to just two children.
I should know, my friends tell me, that the easiest and quickest way of overcoming the growth in child poverty is to restore the £3.5 billion pounds it would cost to give this additional money for all the children in every family entitled to the credit.
It is true that the policy, introduced in 2017, failed its first test.
Women did not stop having more than two children even when they were strapped for cash. It is still unclear why.
After all, many people have to make a calculation as to how many children they can afford.
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Keir Starmer is under massive pressure form Labour backbench MPs to lift the 2 child benefit cap and go on a new welfare spending spreeCredit: AP
But one thing must be certain: namely, that if you give parents a relatively substantial additional amount of money for every child they have whilst entitled to benefits, they are likely to have more children.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, said as much last week. His argument for restoring the benefit to the third and subsequent children was precisely that we needed to persuade low- income families to have more children.
Surely having children that you cannot afford to feed is the legacy of a bygone era?
All those earning below £60,000 are entitled to the basic child benefit, so the argument is about just over £60 a week extra per child.
One difficulty in having a sensible debate about what really works in overcoming intergenerational poverty is the lack of reliable statistics.
Some people have claimed, over recent days, that over 50 per cent of children in Manchester and Birmingham live in poverty.
I fear that such claims should be treated with scepticism.
Those struggling to make ends meet – sometimes having not just one but two jobs – who pay their taxes and national insurance and plan their lives around what can be afforded, have the right to question where their hard-earned wages go.
The simple and obvious truth is that child poverty springs from the lack of income of the adults who care for them.
Transforming their lives impacts directly on the children in their family.
There is a limit to how much money taxpayers are willing to hand over to pay for another family’s children.
Helping them to help themselves is a different matter.
So, what would I do?
Firstly, I would ensure that families with a disabled youngster automatically have the entitlement restored.
This would self-evidently apply also to multiple births.
In both cases, life is not only more difficult, it is also harder to get and keep a job.
I would come down like a ton of bricks on absent parents.
My mum was a single parent because she was widowed; many others are single in the sense that the other partner has walked away.
The Child Maintenance Service should step up efforts to identify and pursue absent parents who do not pay their fair share towards their child.
We, the community, have a clear duty to support and assist those in need.
To help those where a helping hand will restore them to independence and self-reliance.
But there is an obligation on individuals as well as the State, and mutual help starts with individuals taking some responsibility for themselves.
Finally, if (and this is where I am in full agreement with colleagues campaigning to dramatically reduce child poverty) we make substantial sums of money available to overcome hardship, then a comprehensive approach to supporting the families must surely be the best way to achieve this.
As ever in politics there is a trade off. What you spend on handing over cash is not available to invest in public services: that is the reality.
Help from the moment a child is born, not just with childcare but with nurturing and child development.
Dedicated backing to gain skills and employment and to taper the withdrawal of help so that it genuinely becomes worthwhile having and keeping a job.
A contract between the taxpayer and the individual or household. Government is about difficult choices, that is why Keir Starmer and his colleagues are agonising over what to do next.
Angela Rayner says lifting 2-child benefit cap not ‘silver bullet’ for ending poverty after demanding cuts for millions
WASHINGTON — Dressed in a pink pullover, the 17-year-old girl rested her head in her hands, weighing her bleak options from the empty room of a shelter in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
During a video call into an immigration courtroom in Manhattan, she listened as a lawyer explained to a judge how new regulations imposed by President Trump’s administration — for DNA testing, income verification and more — have hobbled efforts to reunite with her parents in the U.S. for more than 70 days.
As the administration’s aggressive efforts to curtail migration have taken shape, including unparalleled removals of men to prisons in other countries, migrant children are being separated for long periods from the relatives they had hoped to live with after crossing into the U.S.
Under the Trump rules, migrant children have stayed in shelters an average of 217 days before being released to family members, according to new data from the Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement. During the Biden administration, migrant children spent an average of 35 days in shelters before being released to relatives.
“Collectively, these policy changes have resulted in children across the country being separated from their loving families, while the government denies their release, unnecessarily prolonging their detention,” lawyers for the National Center for Youth Law argued in court documents submitted May 8.
The Trump administration, however, has argued that the new rules will ensure the children are put in safe homes and prevent traffickers from illegally bringing children into the country.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Health secretary, told lawmakers in Congress this month: “Nobody gets a kid without showing that they are a family member.”
The family situation for the 17-year-old, and her 14-year-old brother who came with her from the Dominican Republic, is complicated. Their parents, who were living apart, were already in the U.S. Their children were trying to reunite with them to leave behind a problematic living situation with a stepmother in their home country.
After 70 days in detention, the teen girl seemed to wonder if she would ever get back to her mother or father in the U.S. If she agreed to leave America, she asked the judge, how quickly would she be sent back to her home country?
“Pretty soon,” the judge said, before adding: “It doesn’t feel nice to be in that shelter all the time.”
The siblings, whom the Associated Press agreed not to identify at the request of their mother and because they are minors, are not alone. Thousands of children have made the trek from Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico and other countries, often alone on the promise of settling with a family member already in the U.S.
They’ve faced longer waits in federal custody as officials perform DNA testing, verify family members’ incomes and inspect homes before releasing the children. The new rules also require adults who sponsor children to provide U.S.-issued identification.
The federal government released only 45 children to sponsors last month, even as more than 2,200 children remained in custody.
Child stays in shelter as Trump requires DNA testing
Under the Biden administration, officials tried to release children to eligible adult sponsors within 30 days, reuniting many families quickly. But the approach also yielded errors, with some children being released to adults who forced them to work illegally, or to people who provided clearly false identification and addresses.
Trump’s Republican administration has said its requirements will prevent children from being placed in homes where they may be at risk for abuse or exploited for child labor. Officials are conducting a review of 65,000 “notices of concerns” that were submitted to the federal government involving thousands of children who have been placed with adult sponsors since 2023.
Already, the Justice Department indicted a man on allegations he enticed a 14-year-old girl to travel from Guatemala to the U.S., then falsely claimed she was his sister to gain custody as her sponsor.
DNA testing and ID requirements for child protection are taking time
Immigration advocacy groups have sued the Trump administration seeking to block the more rigorous requirements on behalf of parents and adult siblings who are waiting to bring migrant children into their homes.
“We have a lot of children stuck … simply because they are awaiting DNA testing,” immigration lawyer Tatine Darker, of Church World Service, told the Manhattan judge as she sat next to the Dominican girl.
Five other children appeared in court that day from shelters in New York and New England, all saying they experienced delays in being released to their relatives.
The Trump administration’s latest guidance on DNA testing says the process generally takes at least two weeks, when accounting for case review and shipping results.
But some relatives have waited a month or longer just to get a test, said Molly Chew, a legal aide at Vecina. The organization is ending its work supporting guardians in reunification because of federal funding cuts and other legal and political challenges to juvenile immigration programs. DNA Diagnostics Centers, which is conducting the tests for the federal government, did not respond to a request for comment.
Plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit filed by the National Center for Youth Law have also cataloged long wait times and slow DNA results. One mother in Florida said she had been waiting at least a month just to get a DNA appointment, according to testimony submitted to the court.
Another mother waited three weeks for results. But by the time those came through in April, the Trump administration had introduced a new rule that required her to provide pay stubs she doesn’t have. She filed bank statements instead. Her children were released 10 weeks after her application was submitted, according to court documents filed Tuesday.
Many parents living in the U.S. without work authorization do not have income documents or U.S. identification documents, such as visas or driver’s licenses.
The siblings being held at the Poughkeepsie shelter are in that conundrum, said Darker, the New York immigration lawyer. They crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in March with their 25-year-old sister and her children, who were quickly deported.
Their mother said she moved to New Jersey a few years ago to earn money to support them. She couldn’t meet the new income reporting requirements. Their father, also from the Dominican Republic, lives in Boston and agreed to take them. But the DNA testing process has taken weeks. The AP could not reach him for comment.
She said her children are downcast and now simply want to return to the Dominican Republic.
“My children are going to return because they can’t take it anymore,” the mother said in Spanish. She noted that her children will have been in the shelter three months on Sunday.
Attanasio and Seitz write for the Associated Press.
Hostages and Missing Families Forum called for a ‘return to the negotiating table’.
Families of Israeli captives held in Gaza have intensified their criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid large protests across the country, as the expanded military ground offensive and deadly bombardment in the Palestinian territory put the release of their loved ones at risk.
On Saturday, protesters took to the streets in Tel Aviv, Shar HaNegev Junction, Kiryat Gat, and Jerusalem, with members of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum accusing the Israeli government of prioritising its war over securing the return of their relatives.
“We demand that the decision-makers return to the negotiating table and not leave it until an agreement is reached that will bring them all back,” the group said in a statement on Saturday.
Among those speaking at a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday was Einav Zangauker, the mother of captive Matan Zangauker, who directly addressed Netanyahu: “Tell me, Mr Prime Minister: How do you go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning. How do you look in the mirror knowing that you’re abandoning 58 hostages?”
The mounting anger among families has only deepened in recent days following Netanyahu’s nomination of Major General David Zini as the next head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency.
Zini has reportedly voiced opposition to any deal to bring an end to Israel’s war on Gaza, telling colleagues during Israeli military meetings: “I oppose hostage deals. This is a forever war,” according to Israel’s Channel 12.
“The families of the kidnapped are outraged by the words of Major General Zini. If the publication is true, these are shocking and condemnable words coming from someone who will be the one to decide the fate of the kidnapped men and women,” the forum said in a statement on Friday.
“Appointing a Shin Bet chief who puts Netanyahu’s war before the abduction of the kidnapped is tantamount to committing a crime and doing injustice to the entire people of Israel,” the group said.
Netanyahu’s decision to appoint Zini came just one day after Israel’s Supreme Court found his attempt to fire outgoing Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to be “unlawful”, citing a conflict of interest tied to Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial.
Despite the court ruling that Netanyahu could not appoint a replacement, he proceeded with the appointment of Zini anyway.
The attorney general later warned that the prime minister had defied legal guidance and tainted the appointment process.
The criticism comes as Netanyahu still faces an international arrest warrant request from the International Criminal Court over war crimes committed during the Gaza war.
Southwold’s pristine beach makes it a hit for both families and those looking to dip their toes in the sea. Pier beach is flanked by a promenade that stretches all the way to the harbour
Southwold beach’s town and promenade on a sunny summer day(Image: Getty Images)
Like many coastal regions of the UK, the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk offer a plethora of seaside delights perfect for day trips and longer holidays. Southwold presents the picture-perfect British seaside outing for people of all ages and the Camping and Caravanning Club has even rated it as one of Britain’s top seaside towns.
Southwold’s safe, pristine beach makes it a hit for both families and those looking to dip their toes in the sea, earning it Blue Flag status and a Seaside Award in 2024. The town boasts two lovely beaches; Pier beach brims with striking beach huts while Denes beach – more secluded and favoured by windsurfers and canoeists – backs onto dunes and marshland.
For added fun, Southwold Pier hosts quintessential seaside amusements, including an arcade bursting with vintage games and Tim Hunkin’s “eccentric” Under the Pier Show.
Hungry visitors can savour fare at various spots on the pier, be it the fish and chip shop, indulging in lunch or dinner at the Boardwalk restaurant with ocean views, or the Clockhouse for breakfast and homemade cakes, reports Cambridgeshire Live.
Pier beach is flanked by a promenade that stretches all the way to the harbour area, with the town centre just a short stroll away for those keen on a spot of shopping.
The colourful wooden beach huts with Southwold Pier on the horizon(Image: Getty Images)
Southwold’s high street is brimming with independent shops and boutiques waiting to be discovered, including Pearls by the Sea, a family-run clothing shop that also offers gifts and accessories, and Squires of Southwold, a sweet shop and tea room boasting over 150 different types of sweets.
Little Gems, a popular greengrocers, is worth popping into if you’re after some fresh fruit for your trip or local products to take back home.
The shop was nominated in the regional Muddy Stilettos Awards for best farm shop in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.
If you fancy a break from the beach, why not visit Southwold Museum? Housed in a quaint cottage, the museum offers interactive exhibitions and displays featuring fossil remains and information about Southwold’s transformation from a fishing community to a seaside resort.
Southwold is less than two hours’ drive from Cambridge via the A14. There’s a car park near the pier that charges £4 for a 10-hour stay, but there are other free parking spaces dotted around the town.
A large farm stretches across the uneven terrain of Bauchi State in northeastern Nigeria, where even motorcycles struggle to navigate the rugged countryside. The land is parched, and the air carries a sense of endurance—of people surviving, not living. This place, Gonar Abacha, is no longer just a farmland; it is a refuge and a wound.
Now known as Garin Shuwa, it serves as a displacement camp, named after the Shuwa Arab community, which makes up most of its residents. Sitting at the foot of Bauchi’s rocky hills, the camp sprawls in fragile huts made of sticks and thatch, where displaced families live with little support, waiting for help that feels farther away each day.
This is where Imam Abdulkarim, a middle-aged man, and his family found shelter after Boko Haram terrorists forced them to flee their home in Kachan Shuwa, a village in Marte Local Government Area of Borno State, about eight years ago.
Before arriving here, they had tasted the ups and downs of life in an internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. The overcrowding and hardships eventually compelled Abdulkarim and his family to seek an alternative. With the support of the country’s former First Lady, Maryam Abacha, they were offered this land as a temporary, unofficial residence. That was how they came to settle in Garin Shuwa and began farming on borrowed land.
“We are between 600 and 700 people, and you can find many different stories, but we were all affected by Boko Haram violence,” he told HumAngle. “Among us there are widows, orphans, and those who have lost their relatives. It’s a large community of victims, but we are now surviving as a big family here.”
But there is a problem.
There is no school for the children at Garin Shuwa. No clinic, market, or even a small centre for basic relief. A mosque built recently through community donations is the only structure with a semblance of permanence.
Abdulkarim has learned not to expect too much.
“School is not our biggest problem,” he said. “We have a small madrasa (school) where children recite the Qur’an. What we need, what we truly need, is clean water and a clinic. Just a place to take our sick ones without watching them die slowly.”
“If a woman wants to give birth, she must travel to the town. But the road… even motorcycle riders fear it,” he added. According to Abdulkarim, several women have died due to this. Their babies did not survive. And for years, nothing has changed.
The road from Gonar Abacha to Bauchi town stretches barely 15 kilometres, yet the journey can take over an hour. During the rainy season, it dissolves into mud, swallowing bikes and bodies alike. Women in labour sometimes begin the journey with prayer, knowing the odds stacked against them.
And yet, they stay. Not out of love for this place, but because they have nowhere else to go.
Imam Abdulkarim is one of the leaders at the IDP camp. Photo: Aliyu Dahiru/HumAngle
A few metres from where we stood with Abdulkarim, a group of women gathered around a well, lowering water into its shadowy mouth. The well is deep, painfully so, but they are exhausting their energy to fetch the water because they have nowhere else to go.
Fatima Ibrahim, a young widow whose husband was killed by Boko Haram terrorists, wiped the sweat from her brow and spoke without lifting her gaze. “This is all we have,” she said. “This single well serves the whole camp: for drinking, cooking, washing, even bathing.”
She said it gets worse when the dry season comes. The well runs empty, and then they need to start walking again, like before, searching for water like refugees in their refuge.
Women are fetching water from the only water source at the IDP camp. Photo: Aliyu Dahiru/HumAngle
Two boreholes were once dug in the camp by a local politician and a government agency, “but all of them have stopped working,” Abdulkarim said, showing the location of abandoned taps that had long not been used.
Different location, same problem
Bauchi is not alone in this quiet devastation. Hundreds of kilometres away, the story is the same as that of Katsina State in northwestern Nigeria.
Many women gathered around the house of Dahiru Mangal, a Nigerian businessman and founder of Max Air, a local airline. They are not city beggars by origin. They are displaced women, survivors of attacks too terrifying to forget, from villages devastated by terrorist attacks: Batsari, Faskari, Dandume, Jibia, and many more. Violence chased them away from their homes, but hunger kept them on the streets.
“I never imagined my children would sleep like this,” says Rabi Ado, a mother of four from Faskari who fled home with her family. Despite her younger age, Rabi’s face shows every sign of hardship: hollow cheeks, sunken eyes, and cracked skin.
In the night, Rabi and many other displaced families sleep under the open sky, spreading their mats on bare ground, with only thin wrappers to shield them from the cold night.
“We ran from the terrorists,” she said. “They came in the night, shot our neighbours, and burnt our house. We walked for days and then got into a car. When we got here, we had nothing.”
Behind Mangal’s compound, a local philanthropy serves food to the displaced. It is a slight relief, given in dignity, but never enough. “It’s first come, first served,” said Hauwa, a young woman who arrived with her grandmother. “Sometimes we get food, sometimes we don’t. And we have to look for something.”.
Large numbers of displaced women were collecting food from a local philanthropy. Photo: Aliyu Dahiru/HumAngle
Aside from begging, some women turn to petty trading, selling second-hand items to make ends meet. It is a small market of old goods, clothes, utensils, mats, shoes, and everyday items that they could never afford to buy new.
Children, especially young girls, join their mothers on the streets, and others go alone. They beg from shop owners and passing motorists, often returning with just enough for a sachet of water. The boys beg, too; others run errands, or sift through rubbish bins in search of scraps of food.
Young boys sharing the little food they found. Photo: Aliyu Dahiru/HumAngle
The biggest problem is that these families have never witnessed government support, especially with the continued humanitarian aid cuts.
They have become invisible in the very state that promised them refuge. There is no shelter, no IDP camp registration, and no aid agency monitoring their condition. The streets are both their home and their shame.
“Even if someone wants to help,” said Talatu Habibu, an elderly woman, “they don’t know we are here. We are not on any list. No government official has come. We are not counted among the displaced.”
Katsina State authorities occasionally promise interventions, such as cash support, resettlement plans, and empowerment programs, but they rarely reach those sleeping under the open skies. And when aid comes, it is often through personal charities, not accountability systems.
“There are many like us,” Talatu told HumAngle. “We are multiplying. When more villages are attacked, they come here too. This place is turning into another camp, but no one calls it one.”
Several women interviewed said several people have come promising support, but they don’t see it. “They come and tell us that they are from the government or Abuja, ask us about how we live, promise support, go, and never come back,” Talatu explained.
The IDPs have learned not to trust the government, local NGOs, or people who appear as philanthropists, even journalists.
“They were told that when journalists interview them, they get money when the story gets published,” said Aminu, a local fixer for HumAngle. This climate of abandonment and broken promises has silenced many women who refused to speak to the press. “They are tired,” Aminu explained. “And I don’t blame them.”
‘We are all back to square one’
Lack of support defines the two IDP camps in Bauchi, Katsina, and several other communities in the country. In Gonar Abacha, Abdulkarim recalls when USAID, working through a local NGO, used to conduct medical outreach to their camp. “Nurses used to come, check women, and give them medicine,” he said. “The last time was, I think, some months ago. They said they would come back again, but they never did.”
There are over 60,000 documented IDPs in Bauchi. Many have received some support from the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and the North-East Development Commission (NEDC), but others remain completely unaided. Abdulhamid Sulaiman, the deputy chairman of the Bauchi IDP communities, explained the situation.
“For those within the IDP communities, they have gotten some support that includes foodstuffs, but the main support we receive from NGOs has been stopped,” he said.
Abdulhamid Sulaiman, a leader in the Bauchi IDP communities. Photo: Aliyu Dahiru/HumAngle
The suspension of USAID-supported programmes has deepened the humanitarian crisis across the Northeast. Several local NGOs, previously dependent on USAID funding, have ceased operations. “We used to get small grants to train women on hygiene, to teach children how to read,” said Aliya Muhammad, formerly with a Bauchi-based NGO. “Now we are all back to square one.”
Humanitarian bodies working in northeastern Nigeria confirm that USAID’s pullback has negatively affected the delivery of essential services. According to surveys in the region, most local organisations relied heavily on USAID, and its withdrawal has crippled their ability to function.
A staff member of SEMA in Bauchi, who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak, told HumAngle that there is a huge crisis in the activities of SEMA, making it difficult to achieve its plans, especially in the areas of WASH.
“The issue is, SEMA doesn’t rely on any local or foreign NGO for funding. The real problem is that some of the activities that SEMA covers are supported by local NGOs, which rely on donors. As they stop working, the problem increases for us, and it’s difficult or even impossible to solve all of them,” he said.
In Katsina, the situation is even more dire.
Over 250,000 IDPs are spread throughout the state. While those in Bauchi get some support, they don’t even think of getting any in Katsina. “If you are not in an official camp,” said Jamilu Muhammad, a volunteer aid worker in Katsina, “you don’t get counted. And if you’re not counted, you don’t get help.”
In this informal camp, children are the worst hit. The thought of taking them to school sounds like a privilege. “Some of our children used to go to school back in the village,” said Aisha, a mother holding an underweight baby. “But now, they need food first. Survival comes before anything.”
While street begging in northern Nigeria has long been associated with Almajiri boys in Qur’anic schools, a troubling trend is emerging in Katsina: the rising number of girl beggars. Unlike their male counterparts, these girls are not in any structured learning environment. They have no mentors, no protection, and no sense of direction.
There’s a rise in young girls begging on the streets of Katsina State. Photo: Aliyu Dahiru/HumAngle
HumAngle met girls between the ages of six and ten, wandering markets, mosques, and public spaces with begging bowls in hand. They are visibly malnourished, uneducated, and unguarded. Their parents, displaced by terrorist violence in places like Kankara and Jibia, are too overwhelmed to offer more than basic survival.
The girls said they are the daughters of the IDPs who fled their homes in places like Kankara and Jibia in Katsina State due to terrorist violence. With no schools to attend and no safe spaces to grow, they are forced to contribute to their families’ survival through street begging.
This growing population of girl beggars presents alarming risks. Beyond the obvious deprivation, they face threats of abuse, harassment, and trafficking. Their visibility in public spaces without guardianship or protection leaves them particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence.
As the international community scales back aid and state capacity remains stretched, girls in IDP families are becoming invisible casualties of a system that overlooks their specific needs. “Without urgent intervention, a generation of girls is at risk of growing up in trauma and perpetual poverty,” an aid worker who simply identified as Aliya said.
![The father (in the blue shirt) of Irfan, one of the flight crew killed when the Air India plane crashed, at the hospital [ Marhaba Halili/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/WhatsApp-Image-2025-06-13-at-12.35.03-AM-1749795965.jpeg?w=770&resize=770%2C578&quality=80)
![The Syed family, in a photo clicked at the airport before they took off in the Air India plane that crashed, killing them [Marhaba Halili/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/WhatsApp-Image-2025-06-13-at-12.34.24-AM-2-1749796196.jpeg?w=770&resize=770%2C599&quality=80)
![Relatives of people on the plane register or DNA tests to help identify bodies, many of which were charred beyond recognition [Marhaba Halili/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/WhatsApp-Image-2025-06-13-at-12.33.31-AM-1749796299.jpeg?w=770&resize=770%2C578&quality=80)
