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Nigeria Protests, Coronavirus, Pope Francis: Your Thursday Briefing

EntertainmentNigeria Protests, Coronavirus, Pope Francis: Your Thursday Briefing

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Good morning.

We’re covering the killing of protesters in Nigeria by security forces, Pope Francis’ support for same-sex civil unions and Azerbaijan’s enthusiasm for war.

Survivors recalled sitting peacefully, then suddenly fleeing in panic. Some said military and police units had surrounded demonstrators in the affluent suburb of Lekki, preventing them from leaving.

“These shootings clearly amount to extrajudicial executions,” said Osai Ojigho, Amnesty International’s director for Nigeria. “There must be an immediate investigation and suspected perpetrators must be held accountable through fair trials.”

Analysis: Protests that started with anger over police brutality have now broadened, fueled by longstanding grievances over corruption and lack of accountability. Here’s what you need to know.

Opinion: “The Nigerian state has turned on its people,” the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie writes. “It is a colossal and unforgivable crime.”

One of the goofiest examples was offered in 1919, by Dr. Lambert Ott, who saw wine as a remedy for children:

“I have used red wine as a tonic for weak children with amazing results. However, I instructed the parents not to let the children know that I was giving them wine, but call it red tonic,” Dr. Ott said.

In 1952, a voice of reason appeared in an article about Clark E. Vincent, a graduate student at the University of California who railed against trends in medicine and pointed out that the bottle vs. breast “controversy” had existed since Hippocrates:

Writers in the field of infant care and child-rearing, he holds, instead of constructing a body of scientific data that will stand through scrutiny, have often reflected changing patterns of thought in middle-class society and changing theories of education and personal formation.

His ultimate takeaway? Less dogmatism and more flexibility, “so long as the baby’s needs are satisfied.”


Thanks for joining me. See you next time.

— Natasha


Thank you
To Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the break from the news. You can reach the team at
[email protected].

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is about misinformation on social media.
• Here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: “Brownstone hangout spot” (five letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• The word “punkify” first appeared in The Times on Wednesday, according to the Twitter bot @NYT_first_said.
• The Times won five Online Journalism Awards and had six finalists for digital work from throughout the Newsroom and Opinion.

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