Russian Church consecrates North Pole

A RUSSIAN Orthodox bishop has dropped a memorial capsule into the Arctic Ocean at the North Pole. Inscribed with a blessing from the Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill I, it consecrates the North Pole, and marks the 1150th anniversary of the Russian state. Bishop Iakov of the Naryan-Mar and Mezen diocese said that the event "symbolises the efforts of the state to recover the position of Russia, and [is] confirmation of its achievements in the Arctic", a report from the Orthodox Church states.

Foreign aid under attack

TO CUT off poor countries from aid without an exit strategy would "condemn millions to hunger and entrenched poverty", the director of Christian Aid, Loretta Minghella, has warned. In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, after the newspaper's investigation into foreign aid, Ms Minghella said that the Government should "make more effort to help poor countries become economically self-reliant", including tackling tax evasion by multinationals. An investigation into overseas aid by the newspaper suggested that £1.4 billion - one sixth of the Department for International Development's budget - is diverted to the EU for its own schemes, "many of them in relatively wealthy countries that the UK no longer believes should receive aid".

Students killed in Nigeria

AT LEAST 32 people were killed in an attack on a college hostel in Nubi, a town in the north-east of Nigeria, on Monday. The police said that most of the victims were students. No group has yet claimed responsibility, but the BBC reports that it may be linked to a student-union election, "which was contested on sectarian lines". Last week, the military carried out a raid against the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram in the town.