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In our series of letters from African, to mark eight years since the Chibok school abductions, Nigerian journalist and novelist Adaobi Tricia Nubani speaks to a rescued girl who has been treated very differently to her former classmates who were freed earlier.

Hassana Adamu is delighted to be back home with her family almost eight years after she was kidnapped by Boko Haram jihadists from her school in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Chibok, but she is distressed that she is not receiving the same special treatment as her classmates who were freed long before her.

“I want the government to assist me with good things,” she told me. “I want to go back to school and to have a better life.”

Ms Adamu, then 18, was among the more than 200 girls stolen from their school dormitory in the middle of the night on 14 April 2014. She and two of her former classmates were finally reunited with their families in January, bringing the total number of girls freed so far to more than 100.

Between 2016 and 2018, three Chibok girls were found or rescued in the Sambisa forest hideout of Boko Haram by the Nigerian military, while 103 were freed following negotiations between the Nigerian government and the militants.

Their return home was followed by global fanfare. International media scrambled to capture their stories and snapshots. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari invited them to meet him in the capital city, Abuja, with state governors and other top government officials in attendance.

For the next several months, the girls were kept in government accommodation at the ministry of women affairs facility in Abuja, where they were put through a government-sponsored rehabilitation program that included medical and psychological care.

They were fed three square meals a day and provided free clothes and gadgets such as laptops and phones. They received visits from international dignitaries, such as Nobel-Prize winning Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by Taliban militants for going to school in 2012.

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Thereafter, they were sent to begin a specially designed program at the American University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola, north-eastern Nigeria, on full government scholarships. More than four years later, the government is still sponsoring the Chibok girls who have decided to remain at the AUN.

‘Is it because I’m married?’

“The girls in the school are the ones who told me how the government is taking care of them,” said Ms Adamu, who has reconnected with her former classmates by phone since regaining her freedom. “They told me how they stayed in Abuja before they were sent to school.”

“Is it because we stayed so long or because we were already married? Maybe that is why the government does not want to take care of us,” she added.

Ms Adamu got “married” to a Boko Haram fighter about two years into her captivity – many of the girls felt they had little choice – and her so-called husband is among the many militants that have surrendered to the Nigerian government in the past year , following intensified anti-terror operations by the military. The Nigerian military stated that 7,000 jihadists surrendered during one week in March alone.

Ms Adamu and her “husband” spent about five months in Maidugiri, the Borno state capital, in separate sections of a camp for repentant Boko Haram fighters and their wives. Afterwards, she and her two children were sent home to her parents in Chibok while the man returned to his family in the north-eastern border town of Banki.

“It was not a real marriage,” she said. “I want a better life for myself and my children. I am never going back to him.”

Two other Chibok girls, Ruth Ngaladar and Halima Ali Maiyanga, also parted ways with their husbands.

“They were released with children and sent home with nothing,” said Yakubu Nkeki, the chairman of the missing girls’ parents association. “These three girls, they are suffering a lot.”

Mr Nkeki worries that the government’s apparent loss of interest in the Chibok girls could mean that the 109 still missing may never be reunited with their families, even if they are or can be rescued.

More about the Chibok girls:

The Minister for Women’s Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, told me that President Buhari had not yet had the chance to meet the three recently freed Chibok girls, but would happily do so when the opportunity arose.

Some of the stolen students have contacted their parents to say that they are in government camps in Maidugiri, he added, while some others have phoned their families from remote towns. In the past, such information would have led to frenzied activity by the government to find and display them to the world.

“About five of the girls are calling their parents from the Sambisa [forest]. They say that they are on top of the Gwoza mountain,” Mr Nkeki said.

“About five are with the state government. The girls are calling us. One of the girls called her parents during our meeting and he left it on speaker for us to hear what she is saying. We don’t know if the government knows that they are Chibok girls.”

The rise of school kidnappings

Whether or not the government is aware of their origin may not make much of a difference. Once upon a time, the Chibok girls were victims of a most shocking and unusual incident – children stolen from inside the four walls of their school. But in the past two years, Nigeria has experienced a spate of school kidnappings carried out by armed gangs known in local parlance as bandits.

At least 1,409 students were kidnapped from their schools in northern Nigeria in the 19 months between March 2020 and September 2021, according to Nigerian intelligence platform SBM, and at least 220 million naira ($530,000; £410,000) paid out as ransoms.

While the Nigerian government reportedly paid 3 million euro ($3.3m; £2.4m) to Boko Haram as ransom for the Chibok girls freed in negotiations, the recent school kidnappings have seen little government involvement, with the parents and relatives left to pay the amounts demanded by the bandits for their children’s release.

Development, Ms Adamu believes that she is entitled to the same opportunities as her classmates. If nothing else, she wants to be included in the scholarship scheme at the AUN.

“It worries me so much because we started the suffering together but the other girls have become like American people while I am at home taking care of babies,” she said.

More Letters from Africa:

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• Ukrainian forces driven out of key city of Mariupol, Russia says
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Mariupol’s fate key to peace talks
• Russia renews strikes on Ukraine capital, other cities
• Moscow claims to have shot down arms shipment
• Russia announces general’s death in battle

Here are the latest updates:

Russia says if forces in Mariupol lay down arms their lives will be spared

Russia’s defense ministry says if Ukrainian forces are still fighting in Mariupol lay down their arms starting at 6am Moscow time (03:00 GMT) their lives will be spared, Tass news agency reported.

Russia said the remaining fighters – which it claims are both Ukrainian and foreign – are blocked in the Azovstal steel works.

Tass quoted Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, the director of the Russian National Defense Management Center, as saying the situation in the plant was “catastrophic”.

29 mins ago (23:09 GMT)

Situation in Mariupol is ‘inhuman’: Ukraine leader

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the situation in Mariupol was “inhuman” and called on allies to provide heavy weapons in order to save the city from Russian forces.

“The situation in Mariupol remains as severe as possible – just inhuman. This is what the Russian Federation did, and deliberately continues to destroy cities. It is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there in Mariupol,” said the president.

“Although we have heard many intentions from those who wanted to help and who really have international prestige, nothing of that has been realised yet. However, we will not abandon these efforts.

29 mins ago (23:08 GMT)

Mariupol ‘entirely’ taken, Russia says urging remnants’ surrender

The strategic port city of Mariupol has been “completely cleared” with a small group of holdout fighters on the outskirts told to “lay down their arms”, the Russian defense ministry says.

Russia’s claim to have all but taken control of Mariupol – the scene of the war’s heaviest fighting and worst humanitarian catastrophe – could not be independently verified. It would be the first major city to have fallen to Russian forces since the February 24 invasion.

“The entire urban area of ​​Mariupol has been completely cleared and remnants of the Ukrainian [armed] group are currently completely blocked … Their only chance to save their lives is to voluntarily lay down their arms and surrender,” said Igor Konashenkov, the ministry’s chief spokesman.

Read more here

29 mins ago (23:08 GMT)

Russia announces general’s death in battle

A Russian general whose troops have been besieging Mariupol was buried in Saint Petersburg after dying in battle.

Major-General Vladimir Frolov was deputy commander of the 8th Army, which Russian media identified as being among the forces battering Mariupol for weeks.

Governor Alexander Beglov released a statement saying Frolov “died a heroic death in battle” without saying where or when he was killed. Ukraine has claimed that several Russian generals and dozens of other high-ranking officers have been killed during the war.

30 mins ago (23:08 GMT)

Austrian leader says Putin in ‘own war logic’

Austria’s chancellor said after meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow the Russian president is “in his own war logic” when it comes to Ukraine.

Karl Nehammer told NBC broadcaster in an interview he thinks Putin believes he is winning the war. Nehammer was the first European leader to meet in Moscow since Russia launched its invasion on February 24. Nehammer had visited Bucha, Ukraine, the town outside of Kyiv where graphic evidence of killings and torture has emerged following the withdrawal of Russian forces.

Nehammer said he confronted Putin with what he had seen in Bucha and “it was not a friendly conversation”. Putin said “he will cooperate with an international investigation, on one hand, and on the other hand, he told me that he doesn’t trust the Western world. So this will be the problem now in the future.”

30 mins ago (23:07 GMT)

More than 23,000 Ukraine forces killed, Russian military says

Ukraine’s military has suffered 23,367 “irreplaceable losses” since the start of Russia’s invasion of the country, its military says.

Russian defense ministry chief, spokesman Igor Konashenkov said “the Ukrainian contingent’s consequence in Mariupol alone amounted to over 4,000 people.”

On Mariupol, Konashenkov said 1,464 Ukrainian servicemen had surrendered. “The number of those surrendering is growing by the day,” he said.

Russia shot down a Ukrainian military cargo plane in the Odesa area that was “set to deliver a large shipment of weapons supplied to Ukraine by Western countries”, Konashenkov added.

31 mins ago (23:07 GMT)

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman talks with Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, their second call since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Saudi readout of the call said the crown prince affirmed support for efforts that will lead to a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine.

The kingdom recently announced $10m in humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees.

31 mins ago (23:07 GMT)

Russia holding 1,700 Ukraine captives including civilians: Official

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says 700 Ukrainian troops and more than 1,000 civilians – about half of them women – are currently being held captive by Russian forces.

Vereshchuk said Kyiv intends to swap the captive soldiers, since Ukraine holds about the same number of Russian troops, but demands to release the civilians “without any conditions”.

31 mins ago (23:07 GMT)

Zelenskyy says Ukraine could withdraw from peace talks over Mariupol

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has threatened to withdraw from the continuing peace negotiations with Russia if Ukrainian fighters trapped in the port city of Mariupol are by Russian forces besieging the city.

“What they are doing right now … could put a stop to any form of negotiation,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with a Ukrainian news website.

“There are troops there who absolutely hate them, and I don’t think they will let them live,” the Ukrainian leader said, referring to the fact that many of the fighters trapped in the city are part of the nationalist-dominated Azov Batallion .

32 min ago (23:06 GMT)

Russian navy commander meets crew of sunken Moskva

Russian Navy commander-in-chief Nikolay Yevmenov and other members of high command have met with the crew of the sunken Moskva missile cruiser.

The Moskva sank on Thursday after it was heavily damaged. Ukrainian officials said their forces hit the vessel with missiles. Moscow did not acknowledge any attack, saying only a fire detonated ammunition on board.

32 min ago (23:06 GMT)

Ukraine officials to visit US for key economic meetings

Ukraine is sending top officials to Washington for next week’s spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank where discussion will focus on the Russian invasion and its impact on the global economy.

Coming to the gathering are Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, finance minister Serhiy Marchenko and central bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko, according to a World Bank official.

Please see news updates from April 16 here

Russia says its troops cleared the urban area of ​​the key city of Mariupol and only a small contingent of Ukrainian fighters remained inside a steel factory in the besieged southern port.

Russia’s claim to have all but taken control of Mariupol – the scene of the war’s heaviest fighting and worst humanitarian catastrophe – could not be independently verified. It would be the first major city to have fallen to Russian forces since the February 24 invasion.

“The entire urban area of ​​Mariupol has been completely cleared … remnants of the Ukrainian group are currently completely blocked on the territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant,” said Igor Konashenkov, the Russian defense ministry’s chief spokesman.

“Their only chance to save their lives is to voluntarily lay down their arms and surrender.”

Konashenkov said 1,464 Ukrainian servicemen have already surrendered “in the course of liberation of Mariupol”.

Russia’s defense ministry said if Ukrainian forces are still fighting in Mariupol lay down their arms starting at 6am Moscow time (03:00 GMT) their lives will be spared, Tass news agency reported.

In the key port city, in Russian-held districts reached the steel factory, one of two metals plants where defenders have held out in underground tunnels and bunkers.

The factory was reduced to a ruin of twisted steel and blasted concrete, with no sign of defenders present. Several bodies of civilians lay scattered on nearby streets, including a woman in a pink parka and white shoes.

Someone had spray-painted “mined” on a fence by an obliterated filling station. In a rare sign of life, one red car drove slowly down an otherwise empty street, the word “children” scrawled on a card taped to the windshield.

‘Absolutely hate them’

No immediate reaction came from Kyiv to the Russian assertions.

“The situation is very difficult” in Mariupol, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Ukrayinska Pravda news portal. “Our soldiers are blocked, the wounded are blocked. There is a humanitarian crisis …, the guys are defending themselves.”

Speaking in an online address, he accused Russia of trying to wipe out the city’s inhabitants but did not address Moscow’s claim of seizing Mariupol.

Zelenskyy threatened to withdraw from the continuing peace negotiations with Russia if Ukrainian fighters trapped in the port city are killed.

“What they are doing right now … could put a stop to any form of negotiation,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with a Ukrainian news website.

“There are troops there who absolutely hate them, and I don’t think they will let them live,” the Ukrainian leader said, referring to the fact many of the fighters in Mariupol are part of the far-right Azov Batallion.

‘23,367 irreplaceable losses’

Zelenskyy has said about 2,500-3,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed so far and as many as 20,000 Russian troops.

But Konashenkov gave a significantly higher death toll on Saturday.

“As of 16 April, the Ukrainian contingent’s consequence in Mariupol alone amounted to over 4,000 people … The Russian defense ministry possesses credible data on real losses suffered by the Ukrainian army, national guard, and foreign mercenaries, which Zelenskyy is afraid of voicing to the people of Ukraine.

“As of today, the irreplaceable losses amount to 23,367 people.”

A month and a half into President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia is trying to capture territory in the south and east after withdrawing from the north following an assault on Kyiv that was repelled at the capital’s outskirts.

Russian troops that pulled out of the north left behind towns littered with bodies of civilians.

Putin appears determined to capture more Donbas to claim victory in a that has left Russia subject to approach punitive Western sanctions and territory with few allies.

Zelenskyy told Ukrainian reporters the world should prepare “in a number of ways” for the possibility Russia might use nuclear weapons. He did not give evidence for the assertion.

Last month, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would resort to nuclear weapons only in the case of a “threat to the existence” of the country – and not as a result of the Ukraine conflict.

North Korea has tested-fired a new weapons system, under the supervision of leader Kim Jong Un, that it claims will boost the efficiency of its tactical nuclear weapons, the official Korean Central News Agency said early Sunday.

The “new-type tactical guided weapon… is of great significance in drastically improving the firepower of the frontline long-range artillery units and enhancing the efficiency in the operation of tactical nukes,” the KCNA report said, without specifying when the test took place.

It added the test was successful.

Kim gave the military research team “important instructions on further building up the defense capabilities and nuclear combat forces,” the report added.

On Friday, North Korea marked the birthday of North Korea’s founding leader, Kim’s grandfather Kim Il Sung, with a huge public procession, fireworks and synchronized dancing — but no military parade as many observers had predicted.

Analysts and South Korean and US officials also had thought a nuclear test was possible on the important anniversary.

The anniversary celebrations came three weeks after North Korea staged its largest intercontinental ballistic missile test ever — the first time Kim’s most powerful weapon had been fired at full range since 2017.

That test was the culmination of a record-breaking blitz of sanctions-busting launches this year and signaled an end to a self-imposed moratorium on long-range and nuclear tests.

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Russian billionaires are heading for Turkey to flee Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A yacht linked to a Russian aluminum tycoon arrived in a bay near the southwestern Turkish resort of Gocek on Saturday, as more Russian billionaires head for Turkey to flee Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Oleg Deripaska, founder of Russian aluminum giant Rusal, has been sanctioned by the United States, United Kingdom and European Union.

A witness saw the 73-meter (239.5 feet) yacht Clio arrive off the coast of Gocek in the Aegean coastal province of Mugla. The Cayman Islands-flagged vessel remains in the bay off Gocek.

The arrival of the Clio in Turkish waters came after two super-yachts linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who made a surprise appearance at Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Istanbul this month, docked in Turkish ports.

Turkey, a member of NATO, shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, and has good ties with both and has mediated in the continuing conflict.

Istanbul has supported Kyiv, but also opposed sanctions on Moscow, including measures against Russian billionaires.

Ankara has relied heavily on Russian energy imports and tourists and has emerged as a safe haven for Russians fleeing sanctions, and many have invested in Turkish property.

On April 4, the US government seized a mega-yacht in Spain, the first in Washington’s enforcement initiative to “seize and freeze” giant boats and other pricey assets of Russian elites.

Spain’s Civil Guard and US federal agents descended on the yacht, Tango, at the Marina Real in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

Documents tied to the US investigation alleged that oligarch Viktor Vekselberg bought the Tango in 2011 and used shell companies to hide his interest in the vessel, the US Department of Justice said.

In early March, customs officers in France seized a yacht belonging to Rosneft oil company boss Igor Sechin as it tried to leave the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat in a breach of EU sanctions on Russian oligarchs.

A crush before the 1989 FA Cup semifinal between Liverpool and Nottingham at Hillsborough Stadium led to the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans.

Manchester City apologised to Liverpool and condemned supporters who chanted during a minute’s silence to mark the 33rd anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster on Saturday.

Referee Michael Oliver cut short the commemoration to the victims from the 1989 crush before the FA Cup semifinal, which City lost 3-2 at Wembley Stadium.

“I would never have thought that this is Manchester City. Some people didn’t understand the situation and that’s not nice. That’s really wrong in that moment but you can’t change that and it’s nothing to do with City and we accept the apology,” Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp said.

The chanting came from the end with City fans at the national football stadium and it was followed by boos from Liverpool supporters.

❤ https://t.co/w6jOM809EG

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 16, 2022

Amid the noise, Oliver blew his whistle to signal a premature end to the intended period of silence that had seen both sets of players gather around the center circle.

“Manchester City are extremely disappointed with the actions of some City supporters during the minute’s silence before today’s game,” City said in a statement.

“The club sincerely apologises to all those connected with Liverpool Football Club.”

A crush before the 1989 FA Cup semifinal between Liverpool and Nottingham at Hillsborough Stadium led to the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans.

The 97th victim of the United Kingdom’s worst sports disaster was announced last year when Andrew Devine died at the age of 55 from long-term injuries sustained at Hillsborough. Liverpool coroner’s court concluded he was “unlawfully killed.”

In 2019, the police commander at Hillsborough David Duckenfield was found not guilty of gross negligence.

The families of the victims fought a decades-long campaign to see Duckenfield prosecuted over the 1989 disaster.

In 2016, after hearing two years of evidence, an inquest ruled they had been “unlawfully killed”, with jurors concluding policing decisions “caused or contributed” to the deaths, and amounted to “gross negligence”.

But the former officer was cleared by a jury following a six-week trial.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday invoked “gestures of peace in these days marked by the horror of war” in an Easter vigil homily in St. Peter’s Basilica attended by the mayor of the occupied Ukrainian city of Melitopol and three Ukrainian lawmakers.

The pontiff noted that while “many writers have evoked the beautify of starlit nights, the nights of war, however, are riven by streams of light that portend death.”

Francis did not refer directly to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but he has called for an Easter truce in order to reach a negotiated peace. That call in vain Saturday, as Russia resumed missile and missile attacks on Kyiv, western Ukraine and beyond in a stark reminder that the whole country remains under threat.

At the end of his homily, the pontiff directly addressed Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov and Ukrainian lawmakers Maria Mezentseva, Olena Khomenko and Rusem Umerov, who sat all together in the front row.

“In this darkness of war, in the cruelty, we are all praying for you and with you this night. We are praying for all the suffering. We can only give you our company, our prayer,” Francis said, adding that “the biggest thing you can receive: Christ is risen,” speaking the last three words in Ukrainian.

Fedorov was abducted and held for five days by Russian troops after they occupied Melitopol, a strategic southern city. Fedorov and the lawmakers have been visiting European capitals asking for more aid for their war-torn country and met earlier Saturday with the Vatican’s No. 2, Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.

For Christians, Easter is a day of joy and hope, as they mark their belief that Jesus triumphed over death by resurrection following his crucifixion.

“For with Jesus, the Risen Lord, no night will last forever; And even in the darkest night, the morning star continues to shine,” the pope said in his homily.

Francis, who has been suffering from an inflamed ligament, did not participate in a candle-lit procession up the aisle of the darkened basilica at the start of the Mass. He instead sat in front of the altar on a wooden upholstered chair in white robes. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said the Mass instead.

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Arrayed before the steps of the altar was a row of cardinals, wearing ivory robes and face masks for the first Easter vigil Mass with the faithful present since the pandemic.

Among those in the basilica were seven adults who were baptized by the pope during the Mass. The Vatican said these new faithful are from Italy, the United States, Albania and Cuba. From a shell-shaped silver dish, Francis poured holy water over the bowed heads of the seven, after they walked up to him one by one and listened to him calling their first names.

On Sunday, Francis celebrates Easter Mass in the late morning in St. Peter’s Square and gives a speech from the basilica balcony, known by its Latin name “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and to the world), in which he recounts the trials and conflicts facing the world.

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This story corrects the last name of the mayor to Fedorov.

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Follow all AP stories on the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.

Clashes broke out during a Hindu religious procession in the Indian capital, New Delhi, on Saturday that left several people and police officers injured.

The violence erupted between Muslims and Hindus during the procession in Jahangirpuri, a suburb of New Delhi, eye witnesses said.

Police said they were still investigating the source of the disturbances.

“We are still assessing how many people are injured … some policemen have also been hurt,” said Deependra Pathak, a police official in Jahangirpuri.

The violence broke out during a procession to mark the Hindu festival of Hanuman Jayanti, police said without giving further details.

Earlier on Saturday, protesters in New Delhi shouted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government saying Muslims had been violently targeted by authorities last week in the aftermath of Hindu-Muslim in parts of three states ruled by Modi’s Hindu nationalist party.

The last clash Sunday during a religious festival prompted police to impose a curfew in one town and ban gatherings of more than four people in parts of the states.

Local authorities tore down the homes and shops of suspected Muslim rioters in central Madhya Pradesh state in the aftermath of the last weekend’s violence that broke out during the Hindu festival of Ram Navami, said a police official who did not want to be named.

In Modi’s home state, Gujarat, authorities demolished makeshift shops belonging to those they said were involved in the riots in which one man was killed.

Opposition politicians have accused Modi’s right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party of stoking tensions between majority Hindus and Muslims in states that it rules.

Leaders of 13 opposition parties issued a joint statement calling for peace and harmony after the religious conflict.

“We are extremely anguished at the manner in which issues related to food, dress, faith, festivals and language are being deliberately used by sections of the ruling establishment to polarise our society,” the leaders said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The “cake” was made from frozen fruit juice, sweet potatoes, carrots and sugar cane and it lasted about 15 minutes once giant panda mama Mei Xiang and her cub Xiao Qi Ji got hold of it.

The National Zoo’s most famous tenants had an enthusiastic breakfast Saturday in front of adoring crowds as the zoo celebrated 50 years of its iconic panda exchange agreement with the Chinese government.

Xiao Qi Ji’s father Tian Tian bamboo largely sat out festivities, munching in a morning enclosure with the sounds of his chomping clearly audible during a statement by Chinese ambassador Qin Gang. The ambassador praised the bears as “a symbol of the friendship” between the nations.

Pandas are almost entirely solitary by nature, and in the wild Tian Tian would probably never even meet his child. He received a similar cake for lunch.

In addition to hailing the 1972 agreement sparked by President Richard Nixon’s landmark visit to China, Saturday’s celebration also highlighted the success of the global giant panda breeding program, which has helped bring the bears back from the brink of extinction.

Xiao Qi Ji’s birth in August 2020 was hailed as a near miracle, due to Mei Xiang’s advanced age and the fact that zoo staff performed the artificial insemination procedure under tight restrictions shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic shut the entire zoo. At age 22, Mei Xiang was the oldest giant panda to successfully give birth in the United States.

Normally they would have used a combination of frozen sperm and fresh semen extracted from Tian Tian. But in order to minimize the number of close-quarters medical procedures, zoo officials used only frozen semen.

“It was definitely a long-shot pregnancy,” said Bryan Amaral, the zoo’s senior curator for mammals.

In honor of that long shot, the now 20-month-old cub was given a name that translates as “little miracle.” His birth in mid-pandemic sparked a fresh wave of panda-mania, with viewership on the zoo’s panda-cam livestream spiking by 1,200 percent.

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“I know how passionate people are about pandas,” Amaral said.

Sure enough, crowds started streaming straight for the panda section at 8 am when the zoo opened. Sisters Lorelai and Everley Greenwell, age 6 and 5, ran toward the enclosure chanting “Pandas! Pandas!”

They watched the cub tumble around, try to wrestle his mom and tear the zero off the giant 50 emblazoned on the ice cake.

“They knew this was coming,” said their mother Kayleigh Greenwell of Mount Runier, Maryland, said of her girls. “We’ve been talking about it all week.”

The zoo’s original 1972 panda pair, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, were star attractions at the zoo for decades, but panda pregnans are notoriously tricky and none of their cubs survived.

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived in 2000, and the pair has successfully born three other cubs: Tai Shan, Bao Bao and Bei Bei — also by artificial insemination. All were transported to China at age 4, under terms of the zoo’s agreement with the Chinese government.

Similar agreements with zoos around the world have helped revitalize the giant panda population. Down to just over 1000 bears in the 1980s, the species has since been removed from the lists of animals in danger of extinction.

At least six others injured and authorities unable to confirm if there was an oil spill because of poor visibility after nightfall.

One person was killed and six injured after an oil tanker exploded east of Hong Kong on Saturday.

According to the Hong Kong Government Flying Services, it was notified of an explosion at 4:05pm (08:05 GMT) on an oil tanker in waters 300km (186 miles) to the east of Hong Kong.

The cause of the blast was unclear as of Saturday night, a government spokesperson said.

A fire on the oil tanker was put out by the time rescuers arrived, AFP news agency citing the spokesperson as saying, adding the ship had lost its mobility. Authorities were unable to confirm if there were oil spills because of poor visibility after nightfall.

Authorities dispatched a fixed-wing aircraft and two helicopters to rescue seven crew members reported to be injured.

One man had died by the time rescuers arrived at the Panama-registered ship, the 5,547-tonne Chuang Yi.

Three Indonesian men in their 30s were seriously injured, including one with second-degree burns covering 30 percent of his body and others with burns on their faces.

Two other Indonesian men and a man from Myanmar, all aged between 30 and 40, had less serious injuries such as lacerations and burns.

According to ship tracking apps, the oil and chemical tanker was on its way to Taiwan. The 120-meter (390-foot) long vessel is 22 years old.