Two bettors won the P118.9-million jackpot in the 6/45 Mega Lotto draw on Monday night.

Three men, including a suspect in the kidnapping of American national Elliot Onil Eastman, were killed in an encounter in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay yesterday.

The global financial crisis may have eliminated job opportunities around the world, but it has opened the door for a cultural boom on new shores.

With Syria in crisis and Egypt in flux, Jordan is being forced to adopt energy policies that put the country on a path to sustainable development.

Could Putin be vulnerable to a coup or uprising? All of the grievances that traditionally motivate a coup against a dictator are in place.

They met at eight years old, married, and died together in a Ukrainian trench

The divestment movement aims to combat climate change by stripping investments from fossil fuels and redirecting them toward renewable energy.

Russia's economy is heavily dependent on its energy industry, and President Vladimir Putin is playing a long, complex game to combat low oil prices.

PORT AUX BASQUES, Newfoundland — It will take several months for Canada to restore critical infrastructure after the powerful storm Fiona left an "unprecedented" trail of destruction, officials said Sunday, as crews fanned out in five provinces to restore power and clean up fallen trees and debris.  "It's like a complete war zone," said Brian Button, mayor of Port aux Basques, one of the hardest hit towns on the southwest tip of Newfoundland with just over 4,000 residents. More than 20 homes were destroyed and the cost of damages "is in the millions (of dollars) here now," Button said in an interview.  No fatalities have been confirmed so far, but police in Newfoundland are searching for a 73-year-old woman they suspect was swept out to sea.  "The woman was last seen inside (her) residence just moments before a wave struck the home, tearing away a portion of the basement. She has not been seen since," police said in a statement.  Fiona slammed into eastern Canada Saturday, forcing evacuations as wind gusted up to 170 km per hour (106 miles per hour).  While the full scale of Fiona's devastation is not immediately clear, the storm could prove to be one of Canada's costliest natural disasters.  Scientists have not yet determined whether climate change influenced Fiona, but in general the warming of the planet is making hurricanes wetter, windier and altogether more intense.  Canada's federal government is sending in the armed forces Sunday to help clear fallen trees and debris, which will in turn open the way for crews to restore power, Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair told Reuters.  The province of Nova Scotia requested the troops and machinery to clear debris Saturday, "and we said yes, and so they're being deployed today," Blair said. Other provinces are also in discussions about federal aid, Blair said.  The Canadian Hurricane Center estimated that Fiona was the lowest-pressured storm to make landfall on record in Canada. In 2019, Dorian hit the region around Halifax, Nova Scotia, blowing down a construction crane and knocking out power. Fiona, on the other hand, appears to have caused major damage across at least five provinces.  "The scale of what we're dealing with, I think it's unprecedented," Blair said Sunday.  "There is going to be... several months' work in restoring some of the critical infrastructure - buildings and homes, rooftops that have been blown off community centers and schools," he said.  Hundreds of thousands of residents across Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island (PEI), Newfoundland, Quebec and New Brunswick remained without power Sunday. Blair said hundreds of utility crews had already been deployed to restore power.  "When it's all said and done... Fiona will turn out to have caused the most damage of any storm we've seen," Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston told the CBC.  Officials warned Saturday that in some cases it would take weeks before essential services are fully restored.  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had convened a meeting of his emergency response group for Sunday to coordinate the government's response, according to a statement.  "We do know that the damage is very extensive, quite likely the worst we have ever seen," Dennis King, PEI premier, told reporters Saturday.  "Islanders ... should know that our road to recovery will be weeks or longer. It will be an all-hands-on-deck approach," he added.  The storm also severely damaged fishing harbors in Atlantic Canada, which could hurt the country's C$3.2 billion lobster industry, unless it is fully restored before the season kicks off in a few weeks.  "Those fishers have a very immediate need to be able to access their livelihood once the storm passes," Dominic LeBlanc, minister of intergovernmental affairs of Canada, said Saturday. 

United Nations — The U.N. Secretary-General appealed Monday to developed nations to make good on their promise of $100 billion a year to support climate action in developing countries, ahead of a November climate review conference in Egypt.   “Funding for adaptation and resilience must represent at least half of all climate finance,” Antonio Guterres told reporters.    Ministers, climate experts and civil society representatives are meeting this week in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, to prepare the agenda for the November meeting, known as COP27, which will take place in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh from November 6 to 18.    The United Nations says G-20 countries account for 80% of global emissions, but they have been slow to deliver on their $100 billion annual pledge.   “Taken together, current pledges and policies are shutting the door on our chance to limit global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, let alone meet the 1.5-degree goal,” he said of the benchmarks set in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.    The U.N. warns that failure to reach those goals would spell climate catastrophe.   “The world can’t wait,” he added. “Emissions are at an all-time high and rising.”   Guterres said every government, business, investor and institution must step up with concrete climate action plans.    “I am urging leaders at the highest level to take full part in COP27 and tell the world what climate action they will take nationally and globally,” the U.N. chief said.    U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry is among the leaders in Kinshasa this week.   

LILLE, FRANCE — More than 360 migrants were rescued Sunday while attempting the perilous crossing between the north coast of France and the south coast of England, in small boats, French officials said.    Regional maritime boats and a French Navy patrol ship made multiple trips to rescue groups of people in difficulty in the Channel, the French coastal authority Premar said.   In all, they rescued 367 people, taking them to the French ports of Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk.  Increasing numbers of migrants seeking to reach England are trying to cross the Channel in makeshift boats now that officials have increased security at Calais and the cross-Channel tunnel.  The waterway is one of the busiest sea routes in the world, with more than 400 vessels crossing it every day and the weather conditions are often difficult.  Since the beginning of the year, a record 33,500 people have crossed the Channel in small boats.  According to figures from Britain's interior ministry, 94% of the migrants who reached the U.K. in the past four years went on to apply for asylum. Of those who had received a response, most had been successful.  As the law currently stands, a migrant must be physically in the U.K. to start the asylum process. 

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu called a vote in parliament on his new government for Thursday Dec. 29, the speaker of the Knesset said on Monday, after almost two months of coalition wrangling.  Netanyahu's bloc of right-wing and religious parties won a clear victory in parliamentary elections last month, but the veteran leader has had a harder time than expected in finalizing deals with his partners.  Despite campaigning together, Netanyahu has struggled to meet the demands of his allies, who have demanded a significant slice of power in exchange for their support.   Ahead of the vote in parliament and a formal swearing in of the new government, Netanyahu will have to officially present the members of his cabinet.  Israel's longest serving prime minister has vowed to govern for all Israelis but he will head one of the most right-wing governments in the country's history with key ministries in the hands of hardliners.  Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the Jewish Power party will have authority for police as security minister while Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party will have broad authority to allow the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.  Both oppose Palestinian statehood and support extending Israeli sovereignty into the West Bank, adding another obstacle to a two-state solution, the resolution backed by Palestinian leaders, the United States and European governments.  The finance ministry is expected to be shared by Smotrich and Aryeh Deri, from the religious Shas party, with each man serving for two years. Deri's appointment will depend on parliamentary support for a legal amendment allowing him to serve despite a conviction for tax fraud.  Liberal Israelis have also been alarmed by statements from a number of other members of coalition parties against gay rights and in favor of allowing some businesses to refuse services to people based on religious grounds.  President Isaac Herzog, the head of state who stands outside day-to-day politics, said on Sunday that any threat to the rights of Israeli citizens based on their identity or values would be counter to Israel's democratic and ethical traditions. 

Geneva — Former White House adviser Amy Pope won a vote in Geneva on Monday to head the U.N. migration agency, prevailing in a tense contest against a Portuguese incumbent who had the support of European countries. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Pope would become the first woman to lead the organization when she begins her five-year term on Oct. 1. Pope, who served as Deputy Director General for Management and Reform at IOM, took leave to campaign against her boss Antonio Vitorino, who has been in the position since 2018. Pope wrote on Twitter she was "humbled and honored" to be chosen by IOM's 175 member states as new director general. "I am ready to work with ALL our member states and global partners to unleash the opportunities provided by effective, orderly and humane migration," she wrote. In 2021, Pope served as Senior Advisor on Migration to U.S. President Joe Biden, who publicly backed her candidacy. "As IOM's largest bilateral donor, the United States strongly supports Ms. Pope's vision and looks forward to working with her to implement the critical reforms necessary to create a more effective, inclusive IOM," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. More than 100 million people are forcibly displaced around the world and IOM seeks to ensure humane and orderly migration and intervenes where needed. Vitorino, a former European Commissioner who is close to his compatriot United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, had touted an increase in the body's annual budget among his successes. Asked about the contest earlier this year, Vitorino described it as unprecedented. "We have never happened to have an incumbent director general that faces a competition with one of his deputy generals. Let's call it an innovation," Vitorino told journalists in March. He said at the time he had Portugal's backing as well as the "strong encouragement" of the European Union.

GENEVA — Conflicts and violence have pushed the number of internally displaced people around the world to a record-breaking high of 75.9 million, with nearly half living in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center. The report finds conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Palestinian territories accounted for nearly two-thirds of new displacements due to violence, which in total spanned 66 countries in 2023. “Over the past two years, we have seen alarming new levels of people having to flee their homes due to conflict and violence, even in regions where the trend had been improving,” Alexandra Bilak, IDMC director said. In a statement to coincide with the publication of the report Tuesday, she said that the millions of people forced to flee in 2023 were just “the tip of the iceberg.” “Conflict, and the devastation it leaves behind, is keeping millions from rebuilding their lives, often for years on end,” she said. WATCH: Wars in Sudan, Gaza, DRC drive internally displaced to record 76 million The report notes the number of internal displacements, that is the number of times people have been forced to move throughout the year to escape conflict within their country, has increased in the last couple of years. “While we hear a lot about refugees or asylum-seekers who cross the border, the majority of the displaced people actually stay within their country and they are internally displaced,” Christelle Cazabat, head of programs at IDMC, told journalists in Geneva Monday, in advance of the launch of the report. In its 2023 report on forcibly displaced populations, the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, reported that 62.5 million people had been internally displaced people at the end of 2022 compared to 36.4 million refugees who had fled conflict, violence and persecution that same year. According to the IDMC, new internal displacements last year were mostly due to the conflict in Ukraine, which started in 2022, as well as to the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the eruption of war in mid-April 2023 in Sudan. The war in Sudan resulted in 6 million internal displacements last year, which was “more than its previous 14 years combined” and the second most ever recorded in one country during a single year after Ukraine’s 16.9 million in 2022, according to the report. “As you know, it is more than a year that this new wave of conflict erupted (in Sudan) and as of the end of last year, the figure was 9.1 million” displaced in total by the conflict, said Vicente Anzellini, IDMCs global and regional analysis manager and lead author of the report. “This figure is the highest that we have ever reported for any country, this 9.1 million internally displaced people.” In the Gaza Strip, IDMC calculated 3.4 million displacements in the last three months of 2023, many of whom had been displaced multiple times during this period. It says this number represented 17% of total conflict displacements worldwide during the year, noting that a total of 1.7 million Palestinians were internally displaced in Gaza by the end of the year. The last quarter of 2023 is the period following the Hamas terrorists’ brutal attack on Israel on Oct. 7, eliciting a military response from Israel on the Palestinian enclave. “There are many other crises that are actually displacing even more people, but we hear a little bit less of them,” said Cazabat, noting that little is heard about the “acute humanitarian crisis in Sudan” though it has the highest number of people “living in internal displacement because of the conflict at the end of last year.” In the past five years, the report finds the number of people living in internal displacement because of conflict and violence has increased by 22.6 million. Sudan topped last year’s list of 66 countries with 9.1 million people displaced internally because of conflict, followed by Syria with more than 7 million, the DRC, Colombia and Yemen. Besides the total of 68.3 million people who were displaced globally by conflict and violence in 2023, the report says 7.7 million were displaced by natural disasters, including floods, storms, earthquakes and wildfires. As in previous years, the report notes that floods and storms caused the most disaster displacement, including in southeastern Africa, where cyclone Freddy triggered 1.4 million movements across six countries and territories. The earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria triggered 4.7 million displacements, one of the largest disaster displacement events since records began in 2008. Anzellini observed many countries that have experienced conflict displacement also have experienced disaster displacement. “In many situations, they are overlapping. This is the case in Sudan, in South Sudan, but also in Somalia, in the DRC, and other places,” he said. “So, you can imagine fleeing from violence to save your life and then having to escape to higher ground with whatever you can carry as the storm or a flood threatens to wash away your temporary shelter.” He said that no country is immune to disaster displacement. “Last year, we recorded disaster displacements in 148 countries and territories, and these include high-income countries such as Canada and New Zealand, which recorded their highest figures ever. “Climate change is making extreme weather events more frequent and more intense and that can lead to more displacement, but it does not have to,” he said, noting that climate change is one of many factors that contribute to displacement. “There are other economic, social and political factors that governments can address to actually minimize the impacts of displacement even in the face of climate change,” he said, including early warning systems and the evacuation of populations before a natural disaster is forecast to strike.

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's four main political parties began the final weekend of campaigning Saturday before a possibly pivotal election that could bring the country's most important change in three decades. Supporters of the long-governing African National Congress, which has been in the government ever since the end of white minority rule in 1994, gathered at a soccer stadium in Johannesburg to hear party leader and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa speak. The ANC is under unprecedented pressure to keep hold of its parliamentary majority in Africa's most advanced country. Having seen its popularity steadily decline over the last two decades, Wednesday's vote could be a landmark moment when the party once led by Nelson Mandela drops below 50% of the vote for the first time. Several polls have the ANC's support at less than 50%, raising the possibility that it will have to form a national coalition. That would also be a first for South Africa's young democracy, which was only established 30 years ago with the first all-race vote that officially ended the apartheid system of racial segregation. As thousands of supporters in the ANC's black, green and gold colors attended its last major rally before the election, Ramaphosa recognized some of the grievances that have contributed to his party losing support, which include high levels of poverty and unemployment that mainly affect the country's Black majority. “We have a plan to get more South Africans to work," Ramaphosa said. “Throughout this campaign, in the homes of our people, in the workplaces, in the streets of our townships and villages, so many of our people told us of their struggles to find work and provide for their families.” The main opposition Democratic Alliance party had a rally in Cape Town, South Africa's second-biggest city and its stronghold. Party leader John Steenhuisen made a speech while supporters in the DA's blue colors held up blue umbrellas. “Democrats, friends, are you ready for change?” Steenhuisen said. The crowd shouted back “Yes!” "Are you ready to rescue South Africa?" Steenhuisen added. While the ANC's support has shrunk in three successive national elections and appears set to continue dropping, no party has emerged to overtake it — or even challenge it — and it is still widely expected to be the largest party by some way in this election. But losing its majority would be the clearest rejection yet of the famous party that led the anti-apartheid movement and is credited with leading South Africans to freedom. Some ANC supporters at the rally in Johannesburg also expressed their frustration with progress, as South Africa battles poverty, desperately high unemployment, some of the worst levels of inequality in the world, and other problems with corruption, violent crime and the failure of basic government services in some places. “We want to see job opportunities coming and basically general change in every aspect,” ANC supporter Ntombizonke Biyela said. “Since 1994 we have been waiting for ANC, it has been long. We have been voting and voting but we see very little progress as the people, only a special few seem to benefit.” While conceding to some failures, the ANC has maintained that South Africa is a better place than it was during apartheid, when a set of race-based laws oppressed the country's Black majority in favor of a small white minority. The ANC was also widely credited with success in expanding social support and housing and other services for millions of poor South Africans in the decade after apartheid, even if critics say it has lost its way recently. "There are many problems in South Africa, but nobody can deny the changes that have happened since 1994, and that was because of the ANC,” said 42-year-old Eric Phoolo, another supporter of the ruling party. “These other parties don’t have a track record of bringing change to the country." As some voters have turned away from the ANC, it has led to a slow fracturing of South African politics. They have changed allegiances to an array of different opposition parties, some of them new. South Africa has dozens of parties registered to contest next week's election. South Africans vote for parties and not directly for their president in national elections. Parties then get seats in Parliament according to their share of the vote and the lawmakers elect the president — which is why the ANC losing its majority would be so critical to the 71-year-old Ramaphosa's hope of being reelected for a second and final five-year term. If the ANC goes below 50, it would likely need a coalition or agreement with other parties to have the votes in Parliament to keep Ramaphosa, once a protege of Mandela, as president. The far-left Economic Freedom Fighters had their last big pre-election gathering in the northern city of Polokwane, the hometown of fiery leader Julius Malema. The new MK Party of former South African President and former ANC leader Jacob Zuma was also campaigning in a township just outside the east coast city of Durban, although Zuma didn't attend the event. The 82-year-old Zuma rocked South African politics when he announced late last year he was turning his back on the ANC and joining MK, while fiercely criticizing the ANC under Ramaphosa. Zuma has been disqualified from standing as a candidate for Parliament in the election because of a previous criminal conviction.

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso — Burkina Faso's military regime, in power since a 2022 coup, will extend its rule for five years under an accord adopted during national consultations on Saturday, the talks' chairman said.  "The duration of the transition is fixed at 60 months from July 2, 2024," Colonel Moussa Diallo, chairman of the organizing committee of the national dialogue process, said after the talks.  He added that coup leader and acting president Ibrahim Traore could run in any elections at the end of the transition period.  What was supposed to be a two-day national dialogue began earlier Saturday, ostensibly to chart a way back to civilian rule for the West African nation beset by jihadi violence.  The army has governed Burkina Faso since 2022, carrying out two coups that it said were justified in large part by the persistent insecurity.  Jihadi rebels affiliated with al Qaida and the Islamic State group have waged a grinding insurgency since 2015 that has killed thousands and displaced millions.  An initial national dialogue had resulted in a charter that installed Traore as president and put in place a government and a legislative assembly.  Under the new charter, quotas will no longer be used to assign seats in the assembly to members of traditional parties. Instead, "patriotism" will be the only criteria for selecting deputies.  "You have just rewritten a new page in the history of our country," said Minister of Territorial Affairs Emile Zerbo, who opened the meeting on Saturday morning.  The initial charter set the transition to civilian rule at 21 months, with the deadline set to expire July 1.  But Traore had repeatedly warned that holding elections would be difficult given the perilous security situation.  The new charter also calls for a new body called the "Korag" to "monitor and control the implementation of the country's strategic vision in all areas and through all means." Its composition and operations are at the discretion of the president.  Civil society representatives, the security and defense forces and lawmakers in the transitional assembly took part in the weekend talks, which most political parties boycotted.  Human rights groups have accused Burkina Faso's junta leaders of abuses against civilians during their military campaigns against jihadis, and of silencing media and opposition leaders.   After taking power, the coup leaders expelled French troops and diplomats, and have instead turned to Russia for military assistance.   

NEW YORK — The rush for gold just keeps coming. Gold hit another all-time high this week. Recent gains for the precious metal are largely credited to ongoing economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and strong demand from central banks around the world. If trends continue, analysts have bullish outlooks on the price of gold for the months ahead. But the future is never promised. Here's what you need to know. Where does the price of gold stand today? The New York spot price of gold closed Tuesday at just over $2,657 per Troy ounce — the standard for measuring precious metals, which is equivalent to 31 grams — the highest recorded to date, per FactSet. That would make a gold bar or brick weighing 400 Troy ounces worth more than $1.06 million today. This week's record high means that the price of gold has climbed hundreds of dollars per Troy ounce over the last year. Tuesday's price is up nearly $145 from a month ago and more than $740 from this time in 2023. The price of gold is up nearly 30% year to date, analysts note — outpacing the benchmark S&P 500's roughly 20% gain since the start of 2024. Why is the price of gold going up? There are a few factors behind the recent gains. Interest in buying gold often comes at times of uncertainty — with potential concerns around inflation and the strength of the U.S. dollar, for example, causing some to look for alternative places to park their money. Gold also surged in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among sources of uncertainty today are geopolitical tensions — which escalated over recent days with Israel's deadly strikes in Lebanon. And the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine have continued to fuel fears about the future worldwide. In markets like the U.S., there's also particular concern about the health of the job market. Last week's larger-than-usual half-point cut by the Federal Reserve signals a new focus on slowing employment numbers, and more rate cuts are expected before the end of the year. And such action arrives in the midst of a tumultuous election year — which could prove crucial to economic policy in the road ahead, too. In the near future, people are considering "any case of turbulence in the economy," FxPro senior market analyst Michel Saliby explained. "This is why they're keeping a decent portion of gold in their portfolio as a 'safe haven.'" Analysts also point to strong demand from central banks around the world. Joe Cavatoni, senior market strategist at the World Gold Council, noted last month that central bank demand was well-above the five year average — reflecting "heightened concern with inflation and economic stability." Recent stimulus measures in China aimed at boosting consumer spending are also expected to up retail investments, Saliby added, further boosting gold's performance. Is gold worth the investment? Advocates of investing in gold call it a "safe haven," arguing the commodity can serve to diversify and balance your investment portfolio, as well as mitigate possible risks down the road. Some also take comfort in buying something tangible that has the potential to increase in value over time. Experts caution against putting all your eggs in one basket. Both retail and institutional investors shouldn't be influenced by the "FOMO effect," or fear of missing out, Saliby notes — explaining that people should not risk all their money just because they are seeing others rake in gains. He advises investors to watch the market and always have a clear risk management strategy for their position. If geopolitical tensions cool, Saliby expects the price of gold to correct slightly, perhaps falling around $50 to $80. But he remains bullish overall for the near future — expecting gold's spot price to soon surpass the $2,700 mark previously predicted for 2025, and perhaps reach as high as $2,800 or $2,900 if trends continue. Still, future gains are never promised and not everyone agrees gold is a good investment. Critics say gold isn't always the inflation hedge many say it is — and that there are more efficient ways to protect against potential loss of capital, such as through derivative-based investments. The Commodity Futures Trade Commission has also previously warned people to be wary of investing in gold. Precious metals can be highly volatile, the commission said, and prices rise as demand goes up — meaning "when economic anxiety or instability is high, the people who typically profit from precious metals are the sellers." If you do choose to invest in gold, the commission adds, it's important to educate yourself on safe trading practices and be cautious of potential scams and counterfeits on the market.

DAMASAK, Nigeria — When Boko Haram launched an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria in 2010, Abdulhameed Salisu packed his bag and fled from his hometown of Damasak in the country's battered Borno state.  The 45-year-old father of seven came back with his family early last year. They are among thousands of Nigerians taken back from displacement camps to their villages, hometowns or newly built settlements known as “host communities” under a resettlement program that analysts say is being rushed to suggest the conflict with the Islamic militants is nearly over.  Across Borno, dozens of displacement camps have been shut down, with authorities claiming they are no longer needed and that most places from where the displaced fled are now safe.  But many of the displaced say it’s not safe to go back.  Boko Haram — Nigeria’s homegrown jihadis — took up arms in 2009 to fight against Western education and impose their radical version of Islamic law, or Sharia. The conflict, now Africa's longest struggle with militancy, has spilled into Nigeria's northern neighbors.  Some 35,000 civilians have been killed and more than 2 million have been displaced in the northeastern region, according to U.N. numbers. The 2014 kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in the village of Chibok in Borno state — the epicenter of the conflict — shocked the world.  Borno state alone has nearly 900,000 internally displaced people in displacement camps, with many others absorbed in local communities. So far this year, at least 1,600 civilians have been killed in militant attacks in Borno state, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit.  And in a state where at least 70% of the population depends on agriculture, dozens of farmers have also been killed by the extremists or abducted from their farmland in the last year.  In May, hundreds of hostages, mostly women and children who were held captive for months or years by Boko Haram were rescued from a forest enclave and handed over to authorities, the army said.  In September, at least 100 villagers were killed by suspected Boko Haram militants who opened fire on a market, on worshippers and in people’s homes in the Tarmuwa council area of the neighboring Yobe state, west of Borno.  Analysts say that a forced resettlement could endanger the local population as there is still inadequate security across the hard-hit region.  Salisu says he wastes away his days in a resettlement camp in Damasak, a garrison town in Borno state of about 200,000 residents, close to the border with Niger.  Food is getting increasingly difficult to come by and Salisu depends on handouts from the World Food Program and other aid organizations. He longs to find work.  “We are begging the government to at least find us a means of livelihood instead of staying idle and waiting for whenever food comes,” he said.  On a visit last week to Damasak, Cindy McCain, the WFP chief, pledged the world would not abandon the Nigerian people as she called for more funding to support her agency's aid operations.  “We are going to stay here and do the very best we can to end hunger,” McCain told The Associated Press as she acknowledged the funding shortages. “How do I take food from the hungry and give it to the starving,” she said.  Resettlement usually involves the displaced being taken in military trucks back to their villages or “host communities." The Borno state government has promised to provide returnees with essentials to help them integrate into these areas, supported by aid groups.  The government says the displacement camps are no longer sustainable.  “What we need now is ... durable solutions,” Borno governor Babagana Zulum told McCain during her visit.  As the resettlement got underway, one in five displaced persons stayed back in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, and nearby towns but were left without any support for local integration, the Global Protection Cluster, a network of non-government organizations and U.N. agencies, said last December.  Many others have crossed the border to the north, to settle as refugees in neighboring Niger, Chad or Cameroon. The three countries have registered at least 52,000 Nigerian refugees since January 2023, according to the U.N. refugee agency — nearly twice the number registered in the 22 months before that.  A rushed closure of displacement camps and forced resettlement puts the displaced people at risk again from militants still active in their home areas — or forces them to “cut deals” with jihadis to be able to farm or fish, the International Crisis Group warned in a report earlier this year.  That could make the extremists consolidate their presence in those areas, the group warned. Boko Haram, which in 2016 split into two main factions, continues to ambush security convoys and raid villages.  Abubakar Kawu Monguno, head of the Center for Disaster Risk Management at the University of Maiduguri, said the best option is for government forces to intensify their campaign to eliminate the militants or “push them to surrender.”  After not being able to access their farms because of rampant attacks by militants, some farmers in Damasak and other parts of Mobbar district returned to work their land last year, armed with seedlings provided by the government.  Salisu was one of them.  Then a major flood struck in September, collapsing a key dam and submerging about 40% of Maiduguri's territory. Thirty people were killed and more than a million others were affected, authorities said.  Farms that feed the state were ruined, including Salisu's. His hopes for a good rice harvest were washed away. Now he lines up to get food at a Damasak food hub.  “Since Boko Haram started, everything else stopped here," he said. “There is nothing on the ground and there are no jobs.”  Maryam Abdullahi also lined up at a WFP hub in Damasak with other women, waiting for bags of rice and other food items she desperately needs for her family of eight. Her youngest is 6 years old.  The donations barely last halfway through the month, she said, but she still waited in the scorching heat.  What little money she has she uses to buy yams to fry and sell to sustain her family, but it’s nowhere enough. Her only wish is to be able to get a “proper job” so she and her children would feel safe, she said.  “We either eat in the morning for strength for the rest of the day or ... we eat only at night,” Abdullahi said. 

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