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  • Gunmen abduct Muslim travellers in Plateau state

    Gunmen abduct Muslim travellers in Plateau state


    A journalist based in Plateau state said the families of the latest victims had begun receiving ransom demands.

    The police have not said anything about the identity of the possible perpetrators.

    Kidnapping for ransom by criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, has become common across parts of northern and central Nigeria.

    Although the handing over of cash in order to release those being held is illegal, it is thought that this is how many cases are resolved and seen as a way for these gangs to raise money.

    The incident in Plateau state is unrelated to the long-running Islamist insurgency in the country’s north-east, where jihadist groups have been battling the state for more than a decade.

    The insecurity in Nigeria received renewed international attention in November after US President Donald Trump threatened to send troops to “that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing’”. He alleged that Christians were being targeted.

    Nigeria’s federal government has acknowledged the security problems but has denied that Christians are being singled out.

    On Monday, Information Minister Mohammed Idris said that recent tensions with the US over insecurity and alleged persecution of Christians had been “largely resolved”, resulting in stronger relations with Washington.

    He added that trained and equipped forest guards will be deployed to secure forests and other remote areas used as hideouts by criminal groups to supplement army operations.

    Additional reporting by Abayomi Adisa and BBC Monitoring



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  • US economy grows at fastest pace in two years

    US economy grows at fastest pace in two years


    Natalie ShermanBusiness reporter

    Bloomberg via Getty Images Cropped shot of the bottom half of a shopper wearing jeans and carrying two brown paper Terrain bags at Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek, California, US, on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. Bloomberg via Getty Images

    The US economy picked up speed over the three months to September, as consumer spending jumped and exports increased.

    The world’s largest economy expanded at an annual rate of 4.3%, up from 3.8% in the previous quarter. That was better than expected, and marked the strongest growth in two years.

    The report, which had been delayed by the US government shutdown, sheds light on an economy that has been buffeted by dramatic changes to trade and immigration policies, as well as persistent inflation and cuts to government spending.

    But while that has led to sharp swings in some areas, such as imports and exports, the underlying economy has maintained solid momentum, outperforming many forecasts.

    “This is an economy that has defied doom and gloom expectations basically since the beginning of 2022”, said Aditya Bhave, senior economist at Bank of America.

    Speaking to the BBC’s Business Today programme, Mr Bhave described the economy as “very very resilient”.

    “I don’t see why that wouldn’t continue going forward,” he added.

    The overall growth figure for the third quarter of the year was much stronger than expected, with most analysts expecting an annual pace of about 3.2%.

    It was lifted by consumer spending that rose at an annual rate of 3.5%, compared with 2.5% in the previous quarter, despite a slowing job market, as households spent more on health care services.

    Imports – which count against growth – continued to decline, reflecting the wave of taxes on shipments entering the US that President Donald Trump announced this spring.

    Meanwhile exports, which had dropped sharply, bounced back, surging by 7.4%. Government spending also rebounded, driven by defence outlays.

    Those gains helped to overcome a slowdown in business investment, including in intellectual property, and a housing market struggling under the weight of still-high interest rates, which have heightened affordability issues and supply constraints.

    Michael Pearce, chief US economist at Oxford Economics, said the economy was well positioned as it headed into 2026, as it starts to feel the boost from tax cuts and the US central bank’s recent moves to drop interest rates.

    “Underlying measures are consistent with a solid expansion,” he said.

    However, some analysts warned that rising prices faced by some households could make it difficult to sustain the unusually strong pace of growth seen in the most recent quarter.

    Over the three months to September, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index, ticked up 2.8%, compared with 2.1% in the previous quarter, according to the report.

    Analysts have warned that those price increases are weighing on lower and middle income households, even as higher income households continue to spend freely.

    Oliver Allen, senior US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, noted that some more recent surveys and credit card data suggest that households are reining in their spending.

    “The weak labour market, stagnant real incomes, and exhaustion of pandemic-era excess savings all seem finally to be catching up with households,” he said.



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  • Colombia declares an economic emergency in a criticized effort to raise more taxes

    Colombia declares an economic emergency in a criticized effort to raise more taxes


    BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia ’s government has declared an economic state of emergency that enables President Gustavo Petro’s administration to issue taxes by decree, as the nation struggles to finance hospitals and the military while paying off record debts.

    Petro issued the decree late Monday. His leftist government recently failed to get congressional approval for a tax bill that would have boosted the government’s budget by $4 billion in 2026, a year featuring presidential and congressional elections.

    Public spending under Petro, elected in 2022, has ballooned to levels that exceed spending during the pandemic. Colombia’s national government has a budget of approximately $134 billion in 2025.

    The decree says the government needs more funds to pay fuel subsidies, cover health insurance payments and invest around $700 million in infrastructure that will enable the military to counter drone attacks from rebel groups.

    The government has yet to publish a law that spells out the taxes it wants to impose under the emergency. Leaked documents reported by local media last week show that the government plans to impose new wealth taxes on businesses and individuals and place a steep sales tax on alcohol, including rum and wine.

    Business associations have been highly critical of the decree, which they have described as authoritarian and designed to circumvent congressional oversight.

    Bruce Mac Master, president of Colombia’s National Association of Industrialists, asserted on social media that the decree was a “flagrant abuse of the rule of law.”

    Many analysts expect the Constitutional Court to overturn the decree. Under Colombian law, a state of economic emergency can be declared only when there is a grave, imminent and unexpected threat to the nation’s economic order.

    Jorge Restrepo, an economics professor at Bogota’s Javeriana University, said it will be difficult for the government to convince Colombia’s highest court that its decree meets legal requirements.

    “This was not an unexpected situation … like a war or natural disaster,” he said of the current budget deficit. “We knew there was a fiscal crisis brewing since the middle of last year.”



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