World fails to stop war on children: UNICEF
United Nations: The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has said violence had a devastating toll on children, who were being killed in ongoing conflicts or suicide attacks, or freezing to death as they fled active war zones.
Describing January as "a dark month" in crisis-torn Middle East and North Africa, Geert Cappelaere, Unicef Director for the region on Monday said that "it is simply unacceptable that children continue being killed and injured every single day", Xinhua reported.
In the month of January alone, escalating violence in Iraq, Libya, the Palestine, Syria and Yemen has claimed the lives of at least 83 children.
"These children have paid the highest price for wars that they have absolutely no responsibility for. Their lives have been cut short, their families forever broken in grief," he added.
Cappelaere said that as the Syrian conflict enters its eighth year, intensifying fighting has reportedly killed 59 children in the past four weeks. Moreover, across Yemen the UN has verified the killing of 16 children in attacks and continues to receive daily reports of more killed and injured children amidst escalating fighting.
Additionally, a suicide attack took the lives of three children in Libya's Benghazi while three others died playing near unexploded ordnance, a fourth child remains in critical condition after the blast.
Turning to the old city of Mosul in Iraq, a child was killed in a booby-trapped house, and in Palestine, a boy was shot dead in a village near Ramallah.
Furthermore, 16 refugees, including four children, froze to death in a harsh winter storm in Lebanon, fleeing the war in Syria, where many more children were hospitalized with frost bite.
"We collectively continue failing to stop the war on children," Cappelaere noted.
He added that that "not hundreds, not thousands but millions more children in the Middle East and North Africa region have their childhoods stolen, maimed for life, traumatized, arrested and detained, exploited, prevented from going to school and from getting the most essential health services; denied even the basic righ
t to play."
Cappelaere maintained that "we have no justification, no reason to accept this as a new normal."
"Children may have been silenced. But their voices will continue to be heard. Their message is our message: The protection of children is paramount under all circumstances, in line with the law of war," he argued.
"Breaching that law is a most heinous crime and jeopardizes the future, and not just for children," concluded the Unicef regional director.
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Udupi: Woman, bank employee arrested in property tax fraud case
Udupi: Udupi City Police have arrested two persons, including a woman, in connection with the alleged misappropriation of property tax funds belonging to the Udupi Municipal Council.
The accused have been identified as Shalini, who was working as a tax consultant outside the municipal office, and Ganesh, a bank employee.
According to police, Anand Suvarna had paid Rs 34,730 towards 12 years of property tax for his building in Kalmadi to Shalini on October 16, 2025. She reportedly issued him a receipt acknowledging the payment.
However, when Suvarna recently checked the status of the payment on the property tax portal, he found that the amount had not been credited and was still shown as pending. He then brought the matter to the notice of the Municipal Commissioner, who verified that the payment had not been recorded.
During questioning, Shalini allegedly admitted to the lapse. On February 16, 2026, she generated a new challan in Suvarna’s name and paid Rs 35,213 towards the dues.
Police said a case has been registered at the Udupi City Police Station against the accused for allegedly misappropriating tax money and defrauding the government by affixing the seal of Union Bank on the challan without remitting the amount initially received from the taxpayer.
Further investigation is under way.
