Globe-trotting: Stampedes in Nigeria leave 32 dead

The death toll from stampedes during two Christmas charity events in Nigeria has increased from 13 to 32, the police said on Sunday. The victims, including at least four children, collapsed during crowd surges as people grew desperate for food items while the country grapples with the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. The dead included 22 people in southeastern Anambra state’s Okija town, where a philanthropist on Saturday organised a food distribution, local police spokesman Tochukwu Ikenga said. Ten others died in the capital, Abuja, during a church-organised similar charity event. The police said they were investigating the two incidents, only days after another stampede in which 35 children were killed.

Cyclone Chido toll mounts to 94 in Mozambique

Mozambique: Mozambique’s death toll from Cyclone Chido has risen to 94, news agency AFP said on Sunday, citing the country’s disaster management agency. The cyclone had made landfall in northern Mozambique a week ago and Mozambique’s institute for natural disasters on Thursday had given the death toll at 73. The Indian Ocean archipelago Mayotte bore the brunt of the storm. Officials in Mayotte, which is one of France’s poorest overseas territories, have only been able to confirm 35 fatalities from Chido, but some have said they fear thousands could have been killed.