Fighting kills more in north Gaza as South Africa alleges Israel ignores court ruling

Gaza’s Health Ministry says people are still being killed in fighting in the northern part of the territory, the initial target of Israel’s ground offensive into the Gaza Strip that has seen entire neighborhoods flattened.

The Health Ministry said more than 150 people were killed and an additional 313 wounded as Israeli forces continued to battle militants Wednesday. Israel’s military said its forces killed more than 15 Hamas militants in northern Gaza in the past day and targeted militant infrastructure in a school.

South Africa’s foreign minister alleged Israel is already ignoring the ruling by the U.N.’s top court last week, which ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, by killing hundreds more civilians in a matter of days in Gaza.

The latest deaths bring the Palestinian death toll from Israel’s offensive to 26,900, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths but says most of those killed were women and children.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his call for a cease-fire in Gaza, while the United States and more than a dozen other countries have said they are planning to suspend contributions to UNRWA — the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees — after Israel alleged that 12 workers participated in the attacks that sparked the war. The heads of the World Health Organization, World Food Program, UNICEF and other agencies and partners said the “horrifying” allegations must not prevent the entire agency from helping people in need.

Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and about 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

Currently:

— Top US diplomat set to return to the Mideast for 5th time since Gaza conflict began

— Iran threatens to ‘decisively respond’ to any US strikes as Biden weighs response to Jordan attack.

— UN agencies rally around agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza as some top donors cut funding

— EU aims to launch a Red Sea naval mission within 3 weeks to protect ships from rebel attacks.

— South Africa says Israel is already ignoring UN court ruling ordering it to prevent deaths in Gaza

— Chicago becomes latest US city to approve cease-fire resolution in Israel-Hamas war

Here’s the latest:

US SAYS ISLAMIC RESISTANCE IN IRAQ IS RESPONSIBLE FOR DRONE ATTACK

The United States has attributed the drone attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias that includes the militant group Kataib Hezbollah.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday the U.S. believes the attack was planned, resourced and facilitated by the group.

The Sunday drone attack on a military base in Jordan killed the three troops and injured at least 40 others. Kirby says President Joe Biden will continue to weigh response options to the attack but “the first thing you see won’t be the last thing.”

NETANYAHU MEETS WITH A GROUP OF UN AMBASSADORS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told a group of ambassadors to the United Nations from primarily European countries that Hamas has “infiltrated” the main aid provider to Palestinians in Gaza and that it must be shut down.

Netanyahu’s remarks on Wednesday follow Israel’s allegations that 12 employees with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

Those allegations prompted several countries to freeze funding to the agency, which fired nine of the workers. UNRWA said the agency, which employs 13,000 workers in Gaza, should not be punished for the alleged actions of a dozen employees.

Netanyahu told the group of eight visiting ambassadors that an alternative and impartial aid provider should be found.

Israel has long railed against UNRWA, accusing it of tolerating or even collaborating with Hamas and of perpetuating the 76-year-old Palestinian refugee crisis. The Israeli government has accused Hamas and other militant groups of siphoning off aid and using U.N. facilities for military purposes.

RELATIVE OF HOSTAGE SAYS ISRAEL’S LEADERS SHOULDN’T PUT POLITICS ABOVE CAPTIVES’ FATE

A relative of a hostage being held in Gaza says he is concerned Israeli leaders are putting their political fortunes above the fate of the captives.

The families of hostages have been following with hope and anguish reports about a potential agreement emerging between Israel and Hamas that could set roughly 100 hostages free and bring about a halt in the war. They have also watched with trepidation as political considerations have seeped into the deliberations, with far-right members of Israel’s governing coalition vowing to topple the government if the deal makes too many concessions to Hamas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday confirmed that talks were underway.

Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was abducted on Oct. 7 from southern Israel, said he feels “insecure” about the chances for a deal. At the same time, he said the current talks appeared serious and were the first chance at progress since the one previous deal in late November.

He said he hoped Netanyahu wouldn’t prioritize his political survival over the hostages’ freedom.

“The life of the coalition should not come before the lives of the hostages,” Dickmann told The Associated Press.

ISRAELI PROTESTERS TRY TO BLOCK AID TRUCKS

JERUSALEM — Dozens of Israeli protesters have tried to block humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, despite an order barring them from approaching a border crossing the trucks are using.

According to video released by an activist group behind the demonstrations, police, including mounted officers, scuffled with the protesters Wednesday.

The protesters have been gathering near the Kerem Shalom crossing for several days, saying aid should not be allowed into Gaza while hostages are still being held there. They say the aid could act as leverage to force Hamas to release the hostages.

Activists said up to 40 people were detained, a figure that could not be independently confirmed. Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Israeli military this week sealed the area to prevent such protests from recurring. It was not immediately clear how close the crowd got to the crossing, and deliveries into Gaza did not appear to be disrupted.

Kerem Shalom is the main goods crossing between Israel and Gaza.

Israel imposed a siege on Gaza in the first days of the war barring the entry of aid. While it relented under U.S. pressure, the amount of aid has been a fraction of what went into the territory before the war.

UN HUMANITARIAN AID CHIEF SAYS RELIEF TO GAZA IS ‘GROSSLY INADEQUATE’

UNITED NATIONS — In a passionate address to the U.N. Security Council, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths called for Israel to allow more aid into Gaza.

Griffiths frequently broke from his prepared remarks as he made his address Wednesday.

“The relief remains grossly inadequate. And to say it’s grossly inadequate, as it says here, is grossly inadequate. It’s much, much more difficult,” Griffiths said. “It’s the congestion, it’s the rain, it’s the lack of certainty about what tomorrow will bring.”

NETANYAHU SAYS EFFORTS UNDERWAY TO TRY TO SECURE RELEASE OF HOSTAGES

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip that efforts were underway to bring about the captives’ release.

Netanyahu told the representatives of 18 families that efforts were being made “at these moments” to return the hostages. In a statement about the meeting from his office Wednesday, he did not disclose details on talks on a new hostage release agreement.

Netanyahu met the families as Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. were mediating talks meant to strike a deal between Israel and Hamas that could free the roughly 100 remaining hostages and usher in a temporary cease-fire in Gaza.

Hamas-led militants captured about 250 people, including children, women and older people, in their Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, an assault that triggered the war.

More than 100 captives, mostly women and children, were released during the first and only deal between the sides in late November.

WHO SAYS GAZA HEALTH SYSTEM IS USING DONKEY CARTS TO TRANSPORT PATIENTS

The head of the World Health Organization said the destroyed health system in Gaza has resorted to using donkey carts to transport injured patients, and that one major hospital has only one functional ambulance.

At a press briefing Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said more than 100,000 Gaza residents are either dead, injured, missing or presumed dead in the war with Israel.

Tedros added that the risk of famine is high, with many medical staff and patients receiving only one meal per day.

He warned that decisions by donor countries to pause funds for UNWRA, the biggest supplier of humanitarian aid in the crisis, will have “catastrophic consequences” for the people of Gaza.

The United States and more than a dozen other countries have announced plans to suspend contributions to UNRWA after Israel alleged that 12 of its workers participated in the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel. U.N. officials fired most of the workers and vowed an investigation.

US SANCTIONS COMPANIES AND PERSON IN LEBANON AND TURKEY

The U.S. slapped sanctions Wednesday on three companies and one person in Lebanon and Turkey, accusing them of funneling funds to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The U.S. Treasury announced sanctions on Turkish company Mira Ihracat Ithalat Petrol (Mira), which it said “purchases, transports, and sells Iranian commodities on the global market;” on its chief executive, Ibrahim Talal al-Uwayr; and on Lebanon-based Yara Offshore SAL and Hydro Company for Drilling Equipment Rental, both of which it said have sold large quantities of Iranian goods to Syria.

The sanctioned companies “generated hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of revenue from selling Iranian commodities, including to the Syrian government,” the U.S. Treasury said in a statement.

The move comes as the region is waiting for Washington’s response to a strike, likely launched by one of the region’s Iranian-back militias, that killed three U.S. troops Sunday at a base in Jordan near the Syrian border.

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL AGAIN CALLS FOR A CEASE-FIRE

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called again for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Speaking to the U.N.’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Guterres said he condemned “the horrifying attacks by Hamas and other groups” but “at the same time, nothing can justify the collective punishment of the people in Gaza.”

“The ongoing conflict and relentless bombardment by Israeli forces across Gaza have resulted in killings of civilians and destruction at a pace and scale unlike anything we have witnessed in recent years,” Guterres said. “I am horrified by incessant military strikes that have killed and maimed civilians and protected personnel, and that have damaged or destroyed civilian infrastructure.”

EU AIMS TO LAUNCH A RED SEA NAVAL MISSION WITHIN 3 WEEKS

The European Union plans to launch a naval mission in the Red Sea within three weeks to help defend cargo ships against attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen that are hampering trade and driving up prices, the bloc’s top diplomat said Wednesday.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he wants the mission to be up and running by Feb. 17. Officials say that seven EU countries are ready to provide ships or planes. Belgium has already committed to send a frigate. Germany is expected to do the same.

Last week, U.S. and British forces bombed multiple targets in eight locations used by the Iranian-backed Houthis. It was the second time the two allies have conducted coordinated retaliatory strikes on the rebels’ missile-launching capabilities.

The Houthis have waged a persistent campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, but Borrell insisted that the EU mission will not take part in any military strikes.

 

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia to expand Ukraine’s ‘demilitarized zone’ – Putin

Russia needs to create a large “demilitarized zone” in Ukraine, one that is big enough to ensure no longe-range weapons can strike Russian cities, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday

Russian border regions have been subjected to frequent drone and missile attacks, as well as shelling by the Ukrainian military, since the start of the conflict between Kiev and Moscow. One of the deadliest attacks took place on December 30, when Kiev’s forces struck the Russian border city of Belgorod with multiple rocket launchers, including the RM-70 Vampire – an upgraded heavier version of the Soviet BM-21 Grad system.

A December strike claimed the lives of 25 people, including children, and left more than 100 injured. In January, another massive strike hit the city of Donetsk, killing 27 civilians. Both attacks were condemned by the UN.

“This [demilitarized] line should … lie at such a distance from our territory that it would ensure the security [of Russian cities],” the president said on Wednesday, adding that he was specifically referring to protection from “foreign-made longer-range weapons that the Ukrainian authorities use to strike peaceful cities.”

According to Putin, Russian forces fighting on the frontlines were pushing Kiev’s troops away from Russian borders to safeguard national security. “This is the main mission for our guys: to protect their homeland, to protect our people,” he said.

The “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine were cited as the major goals of Russia’s ongoing military campaign from the very beginning. Putin specifically mentioned a demilitarized or “sanitary” zone that was to be created in Ukraine in June 2023. At the time, the Russian president said that this zone could be created if Kiev’s forces continue to launch attacks at Russian cities. The goal of this move would be to make it impossible for the Ukrainian military “to reach us,” he said.

The US and its allies have been actively supplying Ukraine with heavy weapons throughout the conflict that ranged from howitzers and various artillery pieces to multiple rocket launchers and missile systems.

The list of the longer-range Western-made weapons in Kiev’s possession include the British-made Storm Shadow missiles that have a range of 250km (155 miles) and the US-made Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), which have a range of up to 160 kilometers (100 miles).

Earlier this week, Politico reported that Washington could provide Kiev with Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB), which also have a range of around 160 kilometers (100 miles).

 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian bomb damages hospital, prompts evacuation in northeastern Ukraine -officials

A Russian bomb struck a hospital in northeastern Ukraine on Wednesday, smashing windows and equipment and prompting the evacuation of dozens of patients, regional officials said.

Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the Kharkiv regional branch of the national police, said one bomb scored a direct hit on the hospital at about 9:45 p.m. in the town of Velykyi Burluk, northeast of Kharkiv. A second bomb landed nearby.

Writing on Facebook, he said 38 people were evacuated from the facility, all but five of them patients and two confined to hospital beds.

Regional Governor Oleh Synehubov, writing on Telegram, said emergency teams conducted cleanup operations well into the night and four people were treated for slight injuries at the site.

Synehubov said quick action by hospital staff in response to air raid alerts ensured a smooth evacuation. Patients were sent to other facilities or switched to outpatient treatment.

Photos posted by Ukrainian Emergency Services on Telegram showed virtually all the hospital's windows shattered. Smashed building materials littered the street outside.

Rooms were shown with damaged equipment and rubble strewn about.

There was no independent verification of the incident, but there have been frequent Russian attacks on targets in the Kharkiv region in recent weeks.

Russia's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia denies targeting civilian facilities, though medical and educational facilities have been hit in the war, now more than 23 months old.

The mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, said on Telegram that Russian drones had hit an infrastructure target in the city. There was no immediate word on casualties.

 

RT/Reuters

As the war in Gaza enters its fourth month, many in the Middle East and across the Global South have been struck both by the ferocity of Israel’s military campaign and by Western governments’ unwavering support for it. To them, this is as much US President Joe Biden’s war as it is Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s, and the continuing indifference to the scale of the devastation has reaffirmed how cheap Arab lives appear to be to Western leaders.

For those who lived through the Cold War and witnessed how Western powers dealt with post-colonial states and their peoples, recent events are all too familiar. As I argue in my new book, What Really Went Wrong: The West and the Failure of Democracy in the Middle East, the United States and other Western countries, mainly the United Kingdom, have for nearly a century pursued an interventionist, militaristic, and anti-democratic foreign policy that largely ignores Middle Eastern peoples’ interests. If anything, Western decisions have been driven historically by the desire to roll back communism and secure the dominance of liberal capitalism.

In pursuit of these twin aims, the US offered Middle Eastern leaders a zero-sum choice: either join in Western-led regional defense alliances and open your economy to global capital, or be considered a foe. In the name of maintaining stability and securing an uninterrupted flow of cheap oil, Western powers struck devil’s pacts with Middle Eastern autocrats and actively contributed to the demise of incipient democratic movements.

Notably, in the early 1950s, when the liberal democrat Mohammed Mossadegh became prime minister of Iran and nationalized the country’s oil, the CIA and MI6 orchestrated a coup and replaced him with the Shah. That self-interested intervention arrested Iran’s democratic development and set the stage for the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which ushered in the theocratic regime that rules to this day.

Similarly, in the 1950s, Gamal Abdel Nasser, a charismatic leader who was positively disposed toward the US, became president of Egypt and decided that it was not in his country’s interest to join a Western-led defense pact. Seeking to humiliate him and force his ouster, America and Britain rescinded support for the massive Aswan High Dam project on the Nile River. What resulted was the Suez Crisis of 1956, which almost caused a world war. In the end, the most popular leader of the most populous Arab state became a bitter enemy of the West.

While the US-led West has certainly taken a heavy-handed approach in other regions as well, Western officials have long rationalized their neo-imperial mission in the Middle East by claiming that the combination of Islam and Arab culture is incompatible with democracy. The implication is that brutal strongmen are essential to the stability that the West so values.

The lesson for those strongmen has been unambiguous: repression and human-rights abuses will be ignored as long as America’s orders are followed. For the people of the region, the lesson has been no less plain: their lives and rights mean little in the West’s calculus – notwithstanding all its lofty rhetoric about democracy and the rule of law. The invasion and decades-long occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq made that abundantly clear.

Barack Obama was the first US president to hint at a different approach. Speaking at the US Military Academy at West Point in 2014, he decriedAmerica’s perpetual wartime footing and tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. America’s costliest mistakes in the region had come not from restraint, he argued, but from the “willingness to rush into military adventures without thinking through the consequences – without building international support and legitimacy for … action; without leveling with the American people about the sacrifices required.”

Sadly, Obama’s sober perspective appears to be lost on Biden, who belongs to the Cold War generation of American leadership. Until last October, Biden had devoted little time or attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He readily accepted the untenable status quo of perpetual Palestinian suffering, and focused instead on trying to expand the Abraham Accords. Those agreements, brokered by the Trump administration, sought to normalize Israel’s relations with Arab autocrats in exchange for security assistance and protection, thereby ending the region’s commitment to Palestinian statehood.

Since Hamas’s brutal attack on October 7 – which exposed the folly of Biden and Netanyahu’s approach – there has been neither restraint nor an effort to think through the consequences of the current war. Instead, Biden and his European allies have wholeheartedly endorsed Israel’s all-out assault on Gaza. Even as the civilian death toll has risen at an unprecedented pace, the humanitarian crisis grows more acute by the day, and governments around the world have called for a ceasefire, Biden has shown no willingness to intervene to stop the bloodshed.

Meanwhile, skirmishes on the Israel-Lebanon border and US-led airstrikeson Houthi positions in Yemen and on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq suggest that the conflict may yet escalate further. America and Britain are gradually being sucked into the region yet again, though with eyes wide open this time. Biden claimed to represent a clean break from Trump, but there is no daylight between them when it comes to the Middle East. There and in much of the Global South, Biden will be remembered as just another American president who devalued Arab lives, preaching democracy while supporting repression and violence.

Biden may soon regret his wholehearted embrace of Netanyahu in recent months. Netanyahu, an expert at manipulating the American political process, recently rebuffed Biden’s support for establishing a Palestinian state, insisting that Israel must have security control “over all the territory west of the Jordan [River.]” That pronouncement was timed to the start of the US presidential campaign, in which Trump is his preferred candidate.

Even if Biden ultimately secures a second term, the tragic irony is that the Middle East is less stable today than at any point in its modern history. The West’s strategy has been a colossal failure, and this legacy will burden our world for a very long time.

 

Project Syndicate

Having a strong executive presence is the difference between making an impact and feeling like you're just going through the motions. Good work and good intentions alone won't propel your career forward.

To make things happen, you need to master your own emotions, have a clear and compelling point of view, and be able to bring others along. 

"She was born with it" is a common misbelief. In fact, the opposite is true. Executive presence is a collection of skills that can be learned and improved.

Executive presence is all about your ability to project confidence, establish credibility, and inspire trust in professional interactions.There are things you can do today to try and you'll notice a difference tomorrow.

I've broken down these skills into the three pillars I believe are essential for a strong executive presence:

Emotional Management

1. Set a timer on your phone to do a 1-minute check-in with yourself every two hours. Just ask, "What am I feeling right now?" No action is required, we're just building awareness.

2. Before your next meeting, take a deep breath, pause in the doorway, plant your feet if you're dialing in, and smile as you enter.

3. Challenge yourself to sit still and fully focus on the speaker for 5 minutes before giving in to that urge to check your phone or email. You'll be amazed at what you'll hear, I promise.

4. Send a brief email to your manager, highlighting a recent team accomplishment.

Thought Leadership

5. Share one alternative suggestion or idea during a team discussion that opens up a different way of thinking.

6. Dedicate 10 minutes to browse an industry news site.

7. Set a timer and brainstorm as many possible solutions to a cross-company problem. Lack of collaboration? Challenge yourself to come up with as many ideas as possible to break down silos. The trick? Don't censor yourself before you get them out.

Leading Others

8. Jot down three tasks for the day and prioritize them based on importance. Then, call a 15-minute stand-up meeting with your team. Share your priorities and ask for others' input, then get to it. As a leader, focus is one of the greatest gifts you can give your team.

9. Do a brief impromptu check-in for one staff member you sense needs or wants to hear from you "just to see how they're doing." Keep it casual at a ten-minute maximum.

10. Roll up your sleeves and help a team member get unstuck on a specific task or project.

11. Spend ten minutes brainstorming an achievable short-term career goal that you might engage your team in and work on together.

Your next steps

Improving your executive presence is a skill and building it is easier than you think. Unlike other professional development activities, the payoff can be immediate.

These small, actionable steps in emotional management, thought leadership, and leading others can make a big difference in your impact.

Remember you don't have to tackle them all at once. Start with one or two that resonate with you today and notice how you feel and how others are reacting to you tomorrow. 

 

Inc

International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reduced its forecast for Nigeria’s economic growth to 3 percent in 2024 — down from a 3.1 percent projected in October 2023.

This is contained in the Washington-based institution’s World Economic Outlook (WEO) update for January 2024.

The outlook, released on Tuesday, is titled, ‘Moderating Inflation and Steady Growth Open Path to Soft Landing’.

IMF also projected a 3.1 percent economic growth for Nigeria in 2025.

In the outlook, IMF also downgraded its forecast for sub-Saharan Africa from 4 percent to 3.8 percent for 2024.

“In sub-Saharan Africa, growth is projected to rise from an estimated 3.3 percent in 2023 to 3.8 percent in 2024 and 4.1 percent in 2025, as the negative effects of earlier weather shocks subside and supply issues gradually improve,” IMF said.

“The downward revision for 2024 of 0.2 percentage point from October 2023 mainly reflects a weaker projection for South Africa on account of increasing logistical constraints, including those in the transportation sector, on economic activity.”

Revealing further, the organisation increased global growth by 0.2 percent to 3.1 percent this year, before rising modestly to 3.2 percent in 2025.

IMF said: “Compared with that in the October 2023 WEO, the forecast for 2024 is about 0.2 percentage points higher, reflecting upgrades for China, the United States, and large emerging markets and developing economies.”

“Nevertheless, the projection for global growth in 2024 and 2025 is below the historical (2000–19) annual average of 3.8 percent, reflecting restrictive monetary policies and withdrawal of fiscal support, as well as low underlying productivity growth.

“Advanced economies are expected to see growth decline slightly in 2024 before rising in 2025, with a recovery in the euro area from low growth in 2023 and a moderation of growth in the  United States. 

“In emerging market and developing economies, growth is expected to remain at 4.1 percent in 2024 and to rise to 4.2 percent in 2025. 

“An upward revision of 0.1 percentage point for 2024 since October 2023 reflects upgrades for several regions.”

IMF also said emerging markets and developing economies are expected to experience stable growth through 2024 and 2025, with regional differences.

On inflation, the outlook said global headline inflation is expected to fall from an estimated 6.8 percent in 2023 (annual average) to 5.8 percent in 2024 and 4.4 percent in 2025.

The organisation said advanced economies are “expected to see faster disinflation, with inflation falling by 2.0 percentage points in 2024 to 2.6 percent, than are emerging market and developing economies, where inflation is projected to decline by just 0.3 percentage point to 8.1 percent”. 

IMF, however, said inflation declines toward target levels across regions, adding that the near-term priority for central banks is to deliver a smooth landing, neither lowering rates prematurely nor delaying such lowering too much.

“With inflation drivers and dynamics differing across economies, policy needs for ensuring price stability are increasingly differentiated,” IMF said.

“At the same time, in many cases, amid rising debt and limited budgetary room to manoeuvre, and with inflation declining and economies better able to absorb effects of fiscal tightening, a renewed focus on fiscal consolidation is needed.”

IMF said intensifying supply-enhancing reforms would facilitate both inflation and debt reduction and enable a durable rise in living standards.

 

The Cable

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has concluded payment of all verified claims by airlines with an additional 64.44 million dollars. Hakama Sidi-Ali, CBN’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications, said this in a statement on Tuesday.

Sidi-Ali said that the apex bank  had to fulfil its pledge to clear the backlog of foreign exchange owed foreign airlines in the country.

She said that the latest payment brought the total verified amount paid to the airlines to 136.73 million dollars.

“All the verified airline claims have now been cleared,” she said. She assured that the CBN management was committed and would stop at nothing to ensure that the verified backlog of payments across all other sectors was cleared.

“We will ensure that confidence is restored in the Nigerian foreign exchange market.

“The CBN is working with stakeholders to ensure that liquidity improves within the forex market, thereby reducing pressure on the Naira,” she said.

Sidi-Ali expressed optimism that the market would respond positively with the latest injection of over 64.44 million dollars. She admonished actors in the foreign exchange market to guard against speculation as such actions could hurt the Naira. She also called on the Nigerian public to support the reforms in the foreign exchange market. According to her, the CBN will continue to promote orderliness and professional conduct by all participants to ensure market forces determine exchange rates.

 

NAN

Kidnappers of five pupils of Apostolic Faith Group of Schools, Emure Ekiti, and four staff members have demanded N100m ransom for the release of the nine victims who were taken away on Monday.

Principal of the secondary section of the school, Boje Olanireti, confirmed the ransom demand, in an interview with our correspondent on Tuesday.

The abduction epidemic has continued to defy efforts of the security agencies as cases of kidnappings were being recorded in various parts of the country daily.

On Monday, gunmen killed two Ekiti monarchs-the Onimojo of Imojo, Olatunde Olusola, and the Elesun of Esun Ekiti, Babatunde Ogunsakin, while the Alara of Ara Ekiti, Oba Adebayo Fatoba, narrowly escaped.

The traditional rulers were returning from a function in Kogi State when their vehicles ran into the suspected kidnappers who were operating on the highway between Ipao and Oke Ako in the Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State.

The abduction of the schoolchildren and four staff members occurred when the school bus conveying 25 pupils home after school hours was waylaid by the gunmen in the Emure community in Ekiti State.

Shedding light on how the incident occurred, Olanireti explained that the abduction occurred about a five-minute drive from the school.

She said, “Immediately the school closed at 3pm, and by the time we gathered all the children, it was already 3:30pm. It was that time that they moved. So, the incident happened between 3:30pm and 4pm. The school is in a suburb of Emure village, so they were going back home in Eporo. The incident occurred just about a five-minute drive from the school to Eporo.

“When the gunmen attacked, the people around heard the gunshots and they came to Emure with motorcycles to inform the people in the school about what happened. We immediately reported to the police station at Emure.

“The students were over 25 on the bus when the incident happened. When the gunmen attacked them, they shot the tyre of the vehicle and asked the children to come out of the bus. They asked all of them to lie down. They picked five students and four staff members. They, after that, asked others to go.”

Olanireti added, “The five students comprise two from the secondary (school) and three from primary school while the four staff comprise two teachers, one driver and one bus assistant.

“When the parents heard about the incident, they came from Eporo and they have been making frantic efforts by reaching out to some security outfits, including the police and Amotekun.”

“The security operatives have also been talking to the proprietor of the primary school and he has been giving them information. By the time they opened communication, they first called the husband of one of the teachers and demanded N10m for each kidnapped victim. But when they later called the headmaster, they demanded N100m for all of them.” the principal said.

A family source at Eporo Ekiti, who preferred anonymity, confirmed on Tuesday that the kidnappers had contacted the family of one of the children demanding N100m on the victims.

The source said, “They called the family of one of the school children and they are requesting N10m per victim. What we gathered is that there are nine persons kidnapped – five schoolchildren, two teachers, one bus assistant, and a driver.

“The parents are at Eporo. The bus was taking them home after closing. It was in the process that the kidnappers struck. None of the families of the abductees can afford the ransom.”

 

Punch

Israeli forces dressed as civilian women and medics kill 3 militants in West Bank hospital

Israeli forces disguised as civilian women and medics stormed a hospital Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, killing three Palestinian militants in a dramatic raid that underscored how deadly violence has spilled into the territory from the war in Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile ruled out a military withdrawal from Gaza or the release of thousands of jailed militants — Hamas’ main two demands for any cease-fire — casting doubt on the latest efforts to end a war that has destabilized the broader Middle East.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces opened fire inside the Ibn Sina Hospital in the West Bank town of Jenin. A hospital spokesperson said there was no exchange of fire, indicating it was a targeted killing.

Israel’s military said the militants were using the hospital as a hideout, without providing evidence. It alleged that one of those targeted had transferred weapons and ammunition to others for a planned attack, purportedly inspired by Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.

Security camera footage from the hospital shows about a dozen undercover forces, most of them armed, wearing Muslim headscarves, hospital scrubs or white doctor’s coats. One carried a rifle in one arm and a folded wheelchair in the other.

NETANYAHU REJECTS HAMAS’ KEY DEMANDS

Netanyahu, speaking at an event elsewhere in the West Bank, denied reports of a possible cease-fire deal to end the war in Gaza and repeated his vow to keep fighting until “absolute victory” over Hamas.

“We will not end this war without achieving all of our goals,” said Netanyahu, who is under mounting pressure from families of the hostages and the wider public to reach a deal. “We will not withdraw the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists,” he said.

On Tuesday, Hamas’ top political leader Ismail Haniyeh said the group was studying the latest terms for a deal, but that the priority was the “full withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza and that any agreement should lead to a long-term cease-fire.

He said Hamas’ leadership had been invited to Cairo to continue talks. The militant group, which has reached lopsided exchange deals with Israel in the past, is expected to demand the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners — including high-profile militants — in exchange for the remaining hostages.

Qatar and Egypt, which mediate with Hamas, have held talks with Israel and the United States in recent days. U.S. officials said negotiators had made progress toward a deal, including the phased release of the remaining hostages over a two-month period and the entry of more humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The war in Gaza began when hundreds of Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. Over 100 were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November in exchange for 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 26,700 people in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The ministry count does not distinguish between fighters and civilians, but it says about two-thirds of the dead are women and minors.

A strike on a residential building in the central town of Deir al-Balah on Tuesday killed 11 people, including four children, according to Associated Press reporters who saw the bodies at a hospital.

The war has leveled vast swaths of the tiny coastal enclave, displaced 85% of its population, and pushed a quarter of residents to starvation.

HOSPITALS HAVE BECOME BATTLEGROUNDS

Israel has come under heavy criticism for its raids on hospitals in Gaza, which have treated tens of thousands of Palestinians wounded in the war and provided critical shelter for displaced people.

Gaza’s health care system, which was already feeble before the war, is on the verge of collapse, buckling under the scores of patients as well as a lack of fuel and medical necessities because of Israeli restrictions and fighting in and near the facilities.

Israel says militants use hospitals as cover. The military says it has found underground tunnels in the vicinity of hospitals and located weapons and vehicles used in the Oct. 7 attack on hospital grounds.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces raided the Al-Amal Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Tuesday, where about 7,000 displaced people were sheltering.

The rescue service said Israeli tanks lined up outside the hospital were firing live ammunition and smoke grenades at the people inside. Raed al-Nims, a spokesperson for the aid group, said everyone was ordered to evacuate.

The Israeli military said without elaborating that its forces were operating in the area of the hospital but not inside it.

WEST BANK CRACKDOWN

Violence in the West Bank has also surged since Oct. 7, as Israel has cracked down on suspected militants, killing more than 380 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Most were killed in confrontations with Israeli forces during arrest raids or violent protests.

The military said that in Tuesday’s hospital raid, forces killed Mohammed Jalamneh, 27, who it said was planning an imminent attack. The two other men killed, brothers Basel and Mohammed Ghazawi, were hiding inside the hospital and were involved in attacks, the military said.

The army statement said Jalamneh was armed with a pistol but made no mention of an exchange of fire.

Hamas claimed the three men as members, calling the operation “a cowardly assassination.”

Hospital spokesperson Tawfiq al-Shobaki said there was no exchange of fire, and that Basel Ghazawi had been a patient since October, with partial paralysis.

“What happened is a precedent,” he said. “There was never an assassination inside a hospital. There were arrests and assaults, but not an assassination.”

Tuesday’s raid took place in the West Bank town of Jenin, long a bastion of armed struggle against Israel and the frequent target of Israeli raids, even before the war began.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, but imposed a stifling blockade on the territory, along with Egypt, when Hamas came to power in a violent takeover in 2007. It maintains an open-ended occupation of the West Bank, where more than half a million Israelis now live in settlements.

The Palestinians claim these territories as part of their future independent state, hopes for which have increasingly dimmed since the war began.

 

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia has destroyed large share of Ukraine’s German tanks – media

Ukraine’s military has lost a substantial proportion of its Leopard 2 battle tanks donated by foreign states, with more than a quarter destroyed by Russian troops and the rest damaged beyond Kiev’s capacity to repair them, according to Foreign Affairs magazine.

While Western media reports touted the German-made tank as a game-changer after Berlin authorized the transfers last year, Kiev has since discovered they are “hardly invulnerable superweapons,” the outlet reported on Monday.

“Of the fewer than 100 Leopard 2s in Ukrainian service, at least 26 have been knocked out; others cannot be used due to repair and maintenance issues,” Foreign Affairs wrote, adding that Ukraine lacks the “extensive support infrastructure” needed to maintain its fleet.

The magazine also pointed to “rushed training” for Ukrainian tank crews by Western advisers, saying they had failed to employ “tight combined-arms coordination” to preserve armored vehicles under fire on the battlefield. The tank brigades were provided just five weeks of instruction, and were largely made up of “inexperienced formations” with little to no combat experience.

Leopard 2s were employed in the earlier phases of Kiev’s summer counteroffensive, but were “weakly supported” and “made little headway”against deep defensive lines established by Moscow. While Foreign Affairs argued that additional military aid “would have helped,” it added that Kiev’s performance has offered “little evidence that better tanks would have been decisive.”

Germany announced transfers of the Leopard to Ukraine in early 2023, after the United States pledged 31 of its own M1 Abrams battle tanks. Kiev received the first US tanks only in October, and they also failed to give it the edge on the battlefield, with Forbes recently reporting it was “not clear”what Ukraine was doing with the costly weapon system.

The outlet suggested the Abrams tanks haven’t been seen in combat as Kiev is busy “up-armoring them to resist attacks by Russia’s explosive-laden first-person-view drones,” even after a lengthy refurbishment process overseen by Washington prior to the first shipment. 

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, for his part, has argued that his country simply did not receive enough tanks to make a difference, noting that he could “hardly say that [the Abrams] play a particularly important role on the battlefield,” as “there are too few of them.”

Moscow has repeatedly warned that deliveries of weapons to Kiev by the US and its allies will not prevent it from achieving the goals of its military operation in Ukraine but only increase the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have stressed that any Western-supplied hardware will be destroyed, no matter the type.

 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine says Russia not handing over alleged POWs bodies from crashed plane

A Ukrainian military spy official said on Tuesday that Russia was showing no willingness to return the bodies of dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war Moscow says died in a military plane crash in Belgorod region last week.

Kyiv has said Moscow has provided no evidence to support its assertion that 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers were aboard the Russian military transport plane, which crashed last Wednesday in Belgorod in Russia near the border.

Moscow says the plane was shot down by Ukraine on its way to a prisoner swap; Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that its forces shot it down.

"It's a statement from Russia that our prisoners were there, and so far we can analyse only their words. Now there is no readiness to transfer the bodies from the other side," Andriy Yusov, the spokesperson, was quoted as saying by Suspilne broadcaster.

Russia's state Investigative Committee said last week that body parts were being collected and removed for genetic testing. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday he had no information on what would happen to the remains or whether they would be handed to Ukraine.

The Russian Investigative Committee has released footage from the site showing a single body in a snowy field as well as items of clothing. Reuters verified the location of the crash site seen in one of the videos but was unable to independently verify the date or other details.

Ukraine's human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets told Reuters last week that an unofficial list of Ukrainian POW casualties circulated in Russian media after the crash included soldiers who had already returned in a previous swap.

 

RT/Reuters

I doubt you can find many Nigerian youths and their parents participating in any social event and not checking their cell phones within five minutes. Forget it. They even answer phone calls during the Sunday service. When I say that I have seen a woman terminating the asr, the late afternoon prayer, to attend to a customer who wants to buy a sachet of water, don’t treat it as a joke. Muslim men routinely abandon the maghrib mid-way to answer a phone call. Someone on WhatsApp can be laughing hysterically in front of you, and you will think he has won the lotto until you know he is just enjoying “shedibalabala”.

“No dulling moment” in Nigeria is not just an assertion made from exaggerative and wild imputations but a realistic description of the temporal evolvements of the nation. It is often from one “cruise” to the other. So, the Nigerian social media space lives on trends, cruises, and challenges that get people going. This year started with “no gree for anybody,” and quite a few slang have followed. These days, the youth seem to be tuned to whatever the media dictates and reflect on the social behaviours in the past few years. The trends in Nigeria transmit to international phenomena. Out of the trends come different social media challenges of different levels. They are sometimes literally challenging and also challenging to the physical, mental, and intellectual health of the viewers as well as the cultural values of the country, and they are effortlessly portrayed on a social media platform- social media challenges.

One cannot but ponder on the saying that an idle hand is the devil’s workshop when social media challenges come to bear. So, we must also wonder if the proliferation of participation in these social media challenges is a manifestation of devil-infested minds or an attempt to not be idle. The confoundment would be more understandable when you try to classify or conceive explanations or justifications for these challenges. It would be quite easy to think of them as frivolities; what other explanation should be given to a challenge where people lick toilets or a challenge where empty crates are stacked really high, and people attempt to walk on them without falling – mostly, the opposite happens, or where people bath themselves in drinks, oil, food and even go as far as consuming harmful products to showcase a social media challenge. It is disturbing to watch Nigerians waste food that many homeless and middle-class Nigerians value in this harsh economy. The rationale behind using food and drinks to bathe yourself just to trend is infuriating. The worst is even the consumption of harmful products in the name of challenges, trends, and cruises. These are the same youths that would say Sapa is choking, or should I send my aza for urgent 2k? The cry for help becomes lucid when the corresponding action depicts otherwise. In what world does wasting food or performing dangerous health risky challenges show your need for money, or would the urgent 2k help pay your hospital bill when you are badly injured?

Well, while many of the challenges are frivolous and often devoid of any importance, they sometimes serve as tools for social satires. For instance, the “door opening challenge” was to satirize the cost of governance in the country and the overbearing number of unnecessary employees in the government. It connotes the exuberant lifestyles of the politicians. This challenge was inspired by the entourage of Nasir El Rufai, where someone opened the door for someone who would open the door for the person who would open the door for him. The challenge went viral, and many subscribed to it. Another was Babatunde Fashola’s discovery of a camcorder at the site of the Lekki Tollgate “massacre” the day after the incident, despite the alleged sweeping of the site by security personnel, and it was only the minister who saw it. This created a spur where #FasholaChallenge started.

Another of these series was the #Balabluebulaba challenge, which was to mock Tinubu’s alleged sickness and incoherence in speech. It was more like a political response to the candidacy of the President and became largely subscribed to on the internet. The different political challenges never stopped; they either tried to reenact the ridiculous attitudes of the Nigerian government officials or mimicked their idiosyncrasies.

Where challenges are not created, trends are built around some of the acts to be criticized. It could be a reenactment of a police officer trying to extort from people or any government official at all. There was a period when an NSCDC official could not give the address of the Corp’s website, and he also continuously kept talking about some Oga at the Top. The incidence became a phenomenon, and the phrase “Oga at the Top” further became a slang term that was even printed on clothes at that time.

Some other challenges really pushed some talents out. We have seen people show their trades and talents through some of these challenges and trends and show the world that they are not “lazy Nigerians” anyway. This is followed by hashtags across all social media platforms that would allow everyone to show what they are good at or be specific about their trade. The throwback challenges of different types and measures are also not bad ideas. It could sometimes show that, with time and effort, people’s experience could be better.

The “ice bucket challenge”, also known as the “ASL challenge”, is a trend where a cold bucket of ice water is poured on someone. It was started to create awareness and donations for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis disease and the “Be like Ngozi challenge,” which started to appreciate Ngozi Okonjo-Nweala following her appointment as the first female and African to be the director general of the World Trade Organization.

Sometimes, the challenges and trends get even worse, and people lose their lives because of it. Well, one could pretend to justify the challenges on the belief that “you only live once, YOLO.” But jokes on those who would rather choose to endanger their lives or people in the name of joining the trends. The “crate challenge” choked global Twitter, with many compromising their health and lives just to attract some impressions. The list of some of these ridiculous challenges that entered the country through social media is endless. Someone posted something about slapping a soldier in Nigeria as a challenge; those who tried it undoubtedly “collected.” In 2021, after Joeboy released his single “Alcohol,” it followed with “Alcohol Challenge,” where people used it to promote ilicit substances and injected unhealthy substances in their bodies on TikTok.

Aside from laziness, some of the challenges are trends that only invite funny displays and, sometimes, at the extreme, unintelligence. Although one must state that it is good to relieve one’s stress with some fun-filled challenges, some individuals must know their limits. The “don’t leave me challenge” is a trend where a person says a joke and walks away while another shouts don’t leave me – the lamer the joke, the better. Well, skit-making and comedy are now becoming the new “catch-outs” in Nigeria. Famous is also the “Charlie Charlie challenge,” where people try to conjure Charlie Charlie, a supposed spirit, to answer their questions using paper and a pencil. As creepy as this is, one would think that spiritual people like Nigerians would refrain from conjuring spirits, expecting it to respond.

A number of the challenges are outrightly disturbing as they question moral principles prevalent in society and attract sensitive and sexually rated content. The “drop challenge,” “silhouette challenge,” “wife material challenge,” “buss it challenge,” “shedibalabala”, and a lot more are in the same category of the “hype man trend” where women sexually shake “what their mama gave them.” These videos are extremely provocative because they feature women mostly shaking their backsides in all forms and styles. These challenges have encouraged women to be innovative in inventing new styles of “twerking.” The “silhouette” caps it because women are seen sexually dancing naked behind a red light or with a filter that makes them look naked.

This class of challenges and trends questions the social fight against the objectification of women folks in Nigeria. The Nigerian culture and social norms dictate integrity and modesty for all sexes and do not support the instrumentalization of women to make them objects of flirtation. In fact, with the apparent disorientation about the sexual rights of people, one should be careful in how one feeds the plagues of sexual stereotyping.

The challenges sometimes come from the misconception of the value of women. Many have qualified and quantified the excess of women from their physical appearance with big backsides, busty fronts, waists, and cleavages. Many more of these challenges have been on the rise in social media platforms, with varying degrees and types.

One would sometimes wonder if there is a prize for participation or if a body is watching the challenges to pick the best to reward. No! All is just in the name of not missing out, attracting more views and traffic to one’s page, or just following the trend without missing out on the cruises. This is despite the health hazards or reputation hazards that are related to them.

Well, I am not a killjoy, but more limitations must be built around these idiosyncrasies. Where trends and challenges are likely to cause serious health hazards and pick on people, social media regulation in that respect would not be out of discussion. However, while the fun may continue, it should also be made important that there are good causes, many enough to challenge others with. We could start a challenge to feed five people today or say something nice. Do not get me wrong; challenges do not need to be meaningful, logical, or intelligent; at least, Nigerian society most of the time needs comic relief from the stiffening conditions of the nation, but some ground rules must be set when those challenges or trends tend to hurt others.