KANO, Nigeria: Daesh-aligned militants held 76 farmers for two days in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state near the border with Cameroon, militia sources said Tuesday.
The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters kidnapped the farmers from a displaced people’s camp in Ngala on Friday while they were burning thick vegetation to make a clearing for their harvest, the sources said.
The men, women and children were taken to a camp in the nearby town of Chikongudo under ISWAP control where they were kept until Sunday, the militia sources said.
“ISWAP had warned farmers from burning shrubs and thicket in the area which give them cover from Nigerian troops,” militia leader Umar Kachalla said.
They were released after the men were flogged “as punishment and warning,” he said.
His account was corroborated by Umar Ari, another militia leader.
“They were lucky to have been taken by ISWAP and not Boko Haram who would have killed the men and enslaved the women and the children,” Ari said.
ISWAP a rival of Boko Haram, from which it split in 2016 because of disagreements over the indiscriminate targeting of Muslim civilians and use of children and women as suicide bombers.
Both have increasingly targeted loggers, farmers and herders, accusing them of spying and passing information to the military and the local militia fighting them.
They also raid herding communities, seizing cattle to raise money for their operations.
The militant violence has killed some 40,000 and displaced around two million from their homes in the northeast since 2009.
Most of the displaced rely on food handouts from aid agencies while others have turned to felling trees in the arid region for firewood which they sell to buy food.
In December last year, Boko Haram militants killed more than 70 rice farmers in their fields outside the regional capital Maiduguri, accusing them of cooperating with Nigerian troops.
Days later, they seized around 40 loggers and killed three others in a forest outside Gamboru.
In November 2018, Boko Haram militants abducted around 50 loggers at Bulakesa village near Gamboru.
The violence has spread to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the insurgents.
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Militants hold 76 farmers for two days in Nigeria’s Borno state
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Militants hold 76 farmers for two days in Nigeria’s Borno state
- Militants had earlier warned farmers from burning shrubs and thicket in the area which give them cover from Nigerian troops
Tourists hit record in Japan, despite plunge from China
TOKYO: A record number of tourists flocked to Japan in 2025, officials said Tuesday, despite a steep fall in Chinese visitors in December as a diplomatic row between Beijing and Tokyo rumbled on.
Japan logged 42.7 million arrivals last year, according to the transport ministry, topping 2024’s record of nearly 37 million as the weak yen boosted the appeal of the “bucket list” destination.
However, the number of tourists from China last month dropped about 45 percent from a year earlier to around 330,000.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan triggered a sharp diplomatic backlash from China, which urged its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan.
Tuesday’s announcement showed the warning has had an impact on visitor numbers.
China has been the biggest source of tourists to the Japanese archipelago, with almost 7.5 million visitors in the first nine months of 2025 — a quarter of all foreign tourists, according to official figures.
Attracted by a weak yen, Chinese tourists splashed out the equivalent of $3.7 billion in the third quarter.
However, Transport Minister Yasushi Kaneko said it was a “significant achievement” that overall visitors numbers had topped 40 million people for the first time.
“While the number of Chinese tourists in December decreased, we attracted a sufficient number of people from many other countries and regions to offset that,” he said, adding that there had been a “steep” increase in tourists from Europe, the United States and Australia.
“We also hope and want to make sure that Chinese visitors will return to us as soon as possible.”
The overall increase is partly due to government policies to promote attractions from Mount Fuji’s majestic slopes to shrines and sushi bars in more far-flung parts of the archipelago.
The government has set an ambitious target of reaching 60 million tourists annually by 2030.
- Overtourism -
However Japan’s biggest travel agency JTB forecasted that overall tourist numbers this year would be “slightly lower” compared to 2025 due to a decrease in demand from China and Hong Kong.
Nevertheless tourism income was expected to increase due to rising prices of items such as lodging and strong spending among visitors.
It added that due to an uptick in repeat visitors to Japan, the places people want to visit are shifting from large cities to rural areas.
Authorities say they want to spread sightseers more evenly around the country, as complaints of overcrowding in hotspots like Kyoto grow.
As in other global tourist magnets like Venice in Italy, there has been growing pushback from residents in the ancient capital.
The tradition-steeped city, just a couple of hours from Tokyo on the bullet train, is famed for its kimono-clad geisha performers and increasingly crowded Buddhist temples.
Locals have complained of disrespectful tourists harassing the geisha in a frenzy for photos, as well as causing traffic congestion and littering.
Elsewhere, exasperated officials have taken steps to improve visitors, including introducing an entry fee and a daily cap on the number of hikers climbing Mount Fuji.
A barrier was briefly erected outside a convenience store in 2024 to stop people standing in the road to photograph a view of the snow-capped volcano that had gone viral.
Japan logged 42.7 million arrivals last year, according to the transport ministry, topping 2024’s record of nearly 37 million as the weak yen boosted the appeal of the “bucket list” destination.
However, the number of tourists from China last month dropped about 45 percent from a year earlier to around 330,000.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan triggered a sharp diplomatic backlash from China, which urged its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan.
Tuesday’s announcement showed the warning has had an impact on visitor numbers.
China has been the biggest source of tourists to the Japanese archipelago, with almost 7.5 million visitors in the first nine months of 2025 — a quarter of all foreign tourists, according to official figures.
Attracted by a weak yen, Chinese tourists splashed out the equivalent of $3.7 billion in the third quarter.
However, Transport Minister Yasushi Kaneko said it was a “significant achievement” that overall visitors numbers had topped 40 million people for the first time.
“While the number of Chinese tourists in December decreased, we attracted a sufficient number of people from many other countries and regions to offset that,” he said, adding that there had been a “steep” increase in tourists from Europe, the United States and Australia.
“We also hope and want to make sure that Chinese visitors will return to us as soon as possible.”
The overall increase is partly due to government policies to promote attractions from Mount Fuji’s majestic slopes to shrines and sushi bars in more far-flung parts of the archipelago.
The government has set an ambitious target of reaching 60 million tourists annually by 2030.
- Overtourism -
However Japan’s biggest travel agency JTB forecasted that overall tourist numbers this year would be “slightly lower” compared to 2025 due to a decrease in demand from China and Hong Kong.
Nevertheless tourism income was expected to increase due to rising prices of items such as lodging and strong spending among visitors.
It added that due to an uptick in repeat visitors to Japan, the places people want to visit are shifting from large cities to rural areas.
Authorities say they want to spread sightseers more evenly around the country, as complaints of overcrowding in hotspots like Kyoto grow.
As in other global tourist magnets like Venice in Italy, there has been growing pushback from residents in the ancient capital.
The tradition-steeped city, just a couple of hours from Tokyo on the bullet train, is famed for its kimono-clad geisha performers and increasingly crowded Buddhist temples.
Locals have complained of disrespectful tourists harassing the geisha in a frenzy for photos, as well as causing traffic congestion and littering.
Elsewhere, exasperated officials have taken steps to improve visitors, including introducing an entry fee and a daily cap on the number of hikers climbing Mount Fuji.
A barrier was briefly erected outside a convenience store in 2024 to stop people standing in the road to photograph a view of the snow-capped volcano that had gone viral.
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