UN top court orders Israel to open more land crossings for aid into Gaza

The top United Nations court on Thursday ordered Israel to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including opening more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel and other supplies into the war-ravaged enclave.

The International Court of Justice issued two new so-called provisional measures in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of acts of genocide in its military campaign launched after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas. Israel denies it is committing genocide and accused South Africa of trying to “undermine Israel’s inherent right and obligation to defend its citizens.”

Thursday’s order came after South Africa sought more provisional measures, including a cease-fire, citing starvation in Gaza. Israel, which had urged the court not to issue new orders, said it places no limits on aid entering Gaza and vowed to “promote new initiatives” to bring in even more assistance.

In its legally binding order, the court told Israel to take measures “without delay” to ensure “the unhindered provision” of basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies.

It also ordered Israel to immediately ensure that its military does not take action that could that could harm Palestinians’ rights under the Genocide Convention, including by preventing the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

The court told Israel to report back in a month on its implementation of the orders.

Israel declared war in response to a bloody cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 others were taken hostage. Israel responded with a campaign of airstrikes and a ground offensive that have left over 32,000 Palestinians dead, according to local health authorities.

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but say roughly two-thirds of the dead are women, children and teens. Israel says over one-third of the dead are militants, though it has not provided evidence to support the claim, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in residential areas.

The fighting has displaced over 80% of Gaza’s population, caused widespread damage and has sparked a humanitarian crisis. The U.N. and international aid agencies say virtually the entire Gaza population is struggling to get enough food, with hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of famine, especially in hard-hit northern Gaza.

South Africa welcomed Thursday’s decision, calling it “significant.”

“The fact that Palestinian deaths are not solely caused by bombardment and ground attacks, but also by disease and starvation, indicates a need to protect the group’s right to exist,” the South African president said in a statement.

Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel’s destruction, said the ruling must be enforced by the international community.

“It must be implemented immediately, so that this decision does not remain a dead letter,” it said.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry thanked South Africa, calling the case “a vital step in the global effort to hold Israel accountable for perpetrating genocide.”

After initially sealing Gaza’s borders in the early days of the war, Israel began to permit entry of humanitarian supplies. It says it places no restrictions on the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza and accuses the United Nations of failing to properly organize the deliveries. On Tuesday, the army said it inspected 258 aid trucks, but only 116 were distributed within Gaza by the U.N.

The U.N. and international aid groups say deliveries have been impeded by Israeli military restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of public order.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry accused South Africa of making “cynical attempts” to exploit the world court to undermine Israel’s right to self-defense and to win the release of remaining hostages. Israel says Hamas continues to hold some 100 hostages and the remains of 30 others either killed on Oct. 7 or who died in captivity.

“Israel will continue to promote new initiatives, and to expand existing ones, in order to enable and facilitate the flow of aid to the Gaza Strip ... despite the operational challenges on the ground and Hamas’ active and abhorrent efforts to commandeer, hoard and steal aid,” it added.

Israel has been working with international partners on a plan to soon begin deliveries of aid by sea.

Israel has repeatedly feuded with the United Nations, particularly UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees and main provider of aid in Gaza. Israel accuses the agency of tolerating and even cooperating with Hamas — a charge UNRWA denies.

The court said in its order that “Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine ... but that famine is setting in.” It cited a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that said at least 31 people, including 27 children, have already died of malnutrition and dehydration.

The world court said earlier orders imposed on Israel after landmark hearings in South Africa’s case “do not fully address the consequences arising from the changes in the situation” in Gaza.

COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs, has also run pilot programs to inspect the humanitarian aid at Israel’s main checkpoints in the south and then use land crossings in central Gaza to try to bring aid to the devastated northern part of the Strip. The agency had no immediate comment on the ICJ ruling.

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces destroy another US-made Abrams tank in Avdeyevka area over past day

Russian forces destroyed another US-made Abrams tank of the Ukrainian army in the Avdeyevka area over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.

"The enemy lost as many as 95 personnel, 3 tanks, including a US-made Abrams tank, 2 infantry fighting vehicles, 9 motor vehicles, 2 US-manufactured M777 howitzers and 2 D-30 artillery guns," the ministry said in a statement.

Russian forces destroy 30 Ukrainian troops in Kupyansk area over past day

Russian forces destroyed roughly 30 Ukrainian troops and 4 combat vehicles in the Kupyansk area over the past day, the ministry reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, units of the Western Battlegroup conducted active operations and inflicted damage by firepower on formations of the Ukrainian army’s 32nd mechanized brigade and 117th territorial defense brigade near the settlements of Sinkovka and Stroyevka in the Kharkov Region. The Ukrainian army’s losses amounted to 30 personnel, a tank, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 4 motor vehicles and a Gvozdika motorized artillery system," the ministry said.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces attacking infrastructure near Dnipro city, regional governor says

Russian forces attacked infrastructure sites early on Friday in Kamianske district near the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro and at least one person was injured, the regional governor said.

"The enemy has attacked critical infrastucture sites in the region," governor Serhiy Lysak wrote on Telegram. "The enemy's main aim is our people and vital sites of the population."

Lysak did not make clear what form the attack was taking, but commentators on Telegram indicated missiles had been used and explosions were reported in the area.

Reuters could not verify independently reports from the area.

One blogger from outside the city of Kamianske, a port city of more than 200,000 people with a hydropower station just upstream on the Dnipro River from the city of Dnipro, reported a crater 4m (13 feet) deep and 10m wide in the district.

Other reports said there were cuts to power and water supplies in some districts.

Russian forces have in recent weeks staged widespread strikes on energy infrastructure sites, including a mass attack on March 22 described by Kyiv as the largest such assault since Moscow's forces invaded in February 2022.

Tass/Reuters

When Lt. Colonel Abdullahi Hassan Ali, 49, assumed duties as Commanding Officer of the 181 Amphibious Battalion of the Nigerian Army, all his mother, Hassana, could do was pray.

Three years ago, Ali’s younger brother, Jamilu, a captain, had been killed in action by bandits in Katsina State. As an officer in the North-east, Ali himself had escaped death a number of times in battles against Boko Haram insurgents.

His father had died after retirement from the Army. After his death, Ali’s ageing mother has been nursing her loss, in addition to coping with the death of her son in Katsina, and later, the deaths of her daughter and son-in-law in a road accident.

But Ali, a soldier’s soldier promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in November 2020, knew better than to demur when he was moved from commander of the 63 Brigade Garrison in Asaba to head the amphibious battalion. The battalion was part of efforts by the military to restructure the Joint Task Force (JTF) in 2016, following widespread oil theft in the region which, according to the Financial Times, had reached $1billion monthly.

Task force dilemma              

In a statement at the time, the military said the restructuring of the JTF was to “tackle the emerging security challenges in the Niger Delta region such as piracy, bunkering, vandalism and other criminal activities prevalent in the area.”

The task force comprising other services, but led by the military, as expedient as it was, was also an official admission that the Police could no longer cope with the situation. Oil money, mixed with militancy and violent local politics in the area, has created and nurtured private armies with money, weapons and political clout comparable to rogue states.

The relationship between the state and some of these private armies is complicated, even incestuous. With revenues in billions of naira monthly, for example, a few are better equipped than the military.

But politicians don’t mind. In their desperate search for solutions to the problem of oil theft and also to consolidate their political hold, they have indulged the private armies. Officers deployed in the area are left to invent their own ways of serving two masters – the state and the communities on the one hand, and the powerful private armies on the other.

With a population of about 31 million and over 40 ethnic groups, the Niger Delta is a cauldron, radicalised by decades of poverty, agitation, militancy and violent politics. A quarrel between a husband and wife could spill into an intra-communal dispute; an intra-communal dispute could engulf the community.

On March 14, a lingering spark of dispute between Okuama and Okoloba (one Urhobo and the other Ijaw, two of the largest ethnic groups in Delta State) over a fish farm, erupted in violence.

More questions…

How did the officer from the amphibious battalion who led a team to Okuama on March 14 on what was supposed to be a peace mission understand and define his mandate? Was the mission to Okuama over the alleged kidnap of one Anthony Aboh from neighbouring Okoloba (in retaliation for an Okuama youth allegedly killed by persons suspected to be from Okoloba), his job as a soldier or that of a first responder, say, the police? Was the officer like many others, too embedded in the local politics to draw the line? Or did he anticipate that after thefailure of the peace accord facilitated by the Delta State government, military mediation was necessary to quench the fire?

Media reports suggested that leaders in Okuama brokekola nuts with the officer (some accounts say he was a major) and his team when they arrived. At what point did murderous violence erupt? If people in the community were opposed to the officer taking their leader away for statements at the army base in Bomadi, as was reported, was murdering him and his team and seizing their weapons the answer?  

Meanwhile, back at the base on the same day, Lt. Col. Alidid not know what was happening in Okuama. He was in Kano only two weeks earlier to visit his ailing mother, his wife, Hauwa, and six children, and may have visited again at Sallah, if he got a pass. Okuama was the last thing on his mind.

And then, it happened. Soldiers who had been waiting in a boat at the Okuama creek escaped after the peace team was attacked and reported to Ali what had befallen the major and the three other soldiers believed to have followed him into the town.

Hindsight

Hindsight is 20/20. There has been no shortage of opinions about what might have been. Given the enormity of what happened to the major and his men, couldn’t Ali have done a recce, and possibly mobilised other services before going in? Did the alleged use by the military of boats belonging to a private security company perceived to have a vested interest in the conflict further endanger this mission?

In a conflict zone where the private armies have gunboats, specially fitted crafts, and relatively modern arms, while the military depends largely on improvisations, how is a commanding officer supposed to respond to an emergency like the one in Okuama, where his men had been murdered and their weapons seized?

Perhaps, out of a sense of holy rage, Ali took the plunge. He gathered his men and went to Okuama. Sadly, that was his last journey. He and his men were ambushed and brutally killed by people they had sworn to protect.

The savagery has called to question the humanity of the perpetrators. Okuama has been compared with Odi in Bayelsa State in 1999, and Zaki Biam in Benue State, two years later where military operations killed hundreds of people extrajudicially.

“Those who make such comparisons are mistaken,” a retired top military officer told me over the weekend. “In Odi and Zaki-Biam the communities were harbouring persons believed to have committed crimes against the state. Okuama was savage militancy.”

Perhaps one thing common to the three, however, is the increasing mismanagement, if not weaponisation of conflicts by politicians, a posture that has further damaged and compromised an undertrained, undermanned, underfunded and under-equipped military. Command and control is fuzzy.

In a crime scene like Okuama, for example, a commanding officer has to worry about what his chief would say and where Abuja stands with the private armies and local strongmen. Being in good standing with the host states, and of course, the morale of his troops, are also not far from his mind. The art of serving many masters, itself an enemy of a single-minded mission, complicates the terrain.

Tail wags dog

It’s hard to say at what point the tail of a savage few started wagging the dog of what by several accounts had been a largely peaceful community. It’s improbable that the major and his men who went first would have done so if the community had a reputation for collective savagery. Now, the entire community has a bad name and a difficult future.

The memory of the dead deserves justice and it’s just as well that President Bola Tinubu has made this clear. Perhaps, also, it is time to review the role of the military in domestic conflicts.

Sadly, the harvest of heart-wrenching violence in many parts of the country today, and in this instance, the Niger Delta, was largely seeded during Nigeria’s civil war. During the war, swathes of the region were ruined and radicalised by the extrajudicial killings of thousands of innocent civilians. We can’t afford to let the mission to Okuama haunt us 57 years from now.

If two wrongs don’t make a right, we’ll do well to avoid a third, not just for the sake of the dead and their grieving families, but also to break this cycle of violence and grief.

** Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

Some security exploits never die, and others seemingly cannot be killed. When a threat is named after a legendary vampire perhaps we should have expected it to come back from the dead. The real surprise, as security researchers raise the alarm over the Darcula phishing-as-a-service exploit resurfacing, and targeting 100 countries using more than 20,000 registered brand domains to help quench its thirst for iPhone user credential theft, is the way it evades Apple security measures. Here’s what you need to know.

Darcula Rises From The Dead To Suck Credentials From iPhone Users

First spotted in the wild last year by security researcher Oshri Kalfon in July 2023, Darcula has resurfaced and Netcraft’s Harry Everett has issued a new warning to all iPhone users to be onboard the lookout for the bloodthirsty iMessage threat.

Everett describes Darcula as a “new, sophisticated Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) platform used on more than 20,000 phishing domains that provide cyber criminals with easy access to branded phishing campaigns.” The phishing domains in question relate to brands across numerous market sectors and target more than 100 different countries. At least 200 templates exist for would-be attackers to use the Darcula exploit, with postal services, including the United States Postal Service, being among the most popular. Other templates concentrate on institutions and brands that are trusted by consumers worldwide, including utilities, banks, government bodies such as taxation as well as airlines. The Netcraft report reveals that an average of 120 new domains have been hosting Darcula phishing pages every day this year. It certainly looks like the criminal operators behind the campaign have been busy.

Leveraging Trust By Using The Secure iMessage Platform

All phishing schemes look to leverage trust from the victim, and Darcula is no different. This is one reason why it has opted not to focus on sending messages with malicious links to those spoofed brand domains by SMS. There has simply been too much publicity about SMS scams, and the public is generally wary about responding to the “you have a parcel for a delivery” type of bait used. Instead, Darcula is distributed using iMessage on the iPhone and RCS on Android. The reasoning behind this is that iMessage is regarded as a more secure messaging medium than SMS, and for good reason: it was designed to be precisely that.

The end-to-end encryption employed in iMessage is great for user privacy, but it also enables attackers such as the Darcula criminals to bypass security filtering as the content of the messages cannot be analyzed by the network operators. This leaves “Apple’s on-device spam detection and third-party spam filter apps as the primary line of defense preventing these messages from reaching victims,” Netcraft warns.

How Darcula Evades Apple Security Measures For iMessage Users

Darcula even gets around Apple security measures such as requiring that links in an iMessage can only be clicked if you’ve already replied to the account sending it. “To evade this,” Everett says, “one of the templates created by criminals using Darcula is sent to Apple users with a ‘Please reply to Y’ or ‘Please reply to 1’ message.” Once users have replied, the malicious links are then clickable, and the victim will be redirected to the credential-stealing website operated by the criminals.

How To Defend Yourself Against The Darcula Threat

Because the Darcula phishing pages are very well put together, without the usual spelling mistakes or grammatical errors associated with such campaigns of old, use the local language of the country in question and are convincing copies of the brand being spoofed, it sits with users to be extra vigilant from the get-go. This means you need to be on the lookout for messages that appear to be too good to be true. Even if you are expecting notification concerning a parcel delivery, as this is the most common ruse used by Darcula, be alert to where that message is coming from and take special care to look for unusual domains, such as .top for example, and misspellings or hyphens in the brand name. ”If you’re expecting a message from an organization, navigate to their official website and avoid following links,” Everett advises.

An Apple spokesperson suggested concerned users refer to the Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scamssupport posting.

Forbes

Elon Musk has announced new changes to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that will allow certain accounts to unlock free premium features.

Posting on the platform Thursday, the 52-year old tech billionaire, and TIME’s 2021 Person of the Year, said: “Going forward, all X accounts with over 2500 verified subscriber followers will get Premium features for free and accounts with over 5000 will get Premium+ for free.”

Previously, X Premium features would cost a user $8 per month and include the ability to share longer posts and video uploads, have larger reply prioritization, and see fewer adverts on their timeline. Meanwhile X Premium+ users have all the features of Premium with no adverts in the For You and Following timelines, as well as access to generative artificial intelligence chatbot Grok. 

These models are the only way users can now display a blue checkmark that once denoted a verified account before the Tesla and SpaceX CEO acquired Twitter Inc for $44bn in April 2022.

The changes come two days after a U.S. judge threw out a lawsuit brought by X against a group that claimed hate speech has risen on the app since Musk’s takeover. 

X accused the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) of taking "unlawful" steps to access and misrepresent its company data in CCDH research. But Judge Charles Breyer said it was "evident" that Musk’s X could not handle criticism and that his firm was "punishing the defendants for their speech." X is set to appeal Judge Breyer’s decision. 

The number of people using X each day is also reportedly falling, lagging behind its market rivals Instagram and TikTok. 

As of February, the platform’s daily usership in America has decreased by 23% since November 2022, the month after Musk’s takeover was finalized, according to Sensor Tower figures reported by NBC News. Meanwhile, figures show that TikTok recorded drops of 10%, while Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat all had user slumps of less than 5%.

Outside the U.S., global figures have also taken a hit. Daily active users on X fell to 174 million, a decline of 15% on the previous year. Meanwhile Snapchat grew by 8.8%, Instagram recorded 5.3%, Facebook 1.5%, and TikTok 0.5%, per Sensor Tower data.  

“This decline in X mobile app active users may have been driven by user frustration over flagrant content, general platform technical issues, and the growing threat of short-form video platforms,” Abe Yousef, a senior insights analyst at Sensor Tower, wrote in a research report. 

In a post shared by X Data on March 18, the platform said it currently welcomes 250 million global daily users. Outlets such as NBC News have been quick to point out that this is still a decrease from the 258 million users Musk reported in 2022, upon completing his acquisition of the platform.

TIME

In a move to bolster the nation’s economic governance frameworks and ensure robust and coordinated economic planning and implementation, President Bola Tinubu has approved the establishment of the Presidential Economic Coordination Council (PECC) and the creation of the Economic Management Team Emergency Taskforce (EET).

The Presidential Economic Coordination Council (PECC) comprises distinguished leaders and key government officials, including:

(1) President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – Chairman of the PECC

(2) Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – Vice-Chairman of the PECC / NEC Chairman

(3) President of the Nigerian Senate

(4) Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum

(5) Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance

(6) Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria

(7) Minister of Agriculture and Food Security

(8) Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development

(9) Minister of Budget and Economic Planning

(10) Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy

(11) Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment

(12) Minister of Labour and Employment

(13) Minister of Marine and Blue Economy

(14) Minister of Power

(15) Minister of State, Petroleum Resources

(16) Minister of State, Gas

(17) Minister of Transportation

(18) Minister of Works

The PECC will also comprise key members of the organized private sector, with the following members joining for a period not exceeding one (1) year, subject to the President’s directive:

(1) Aliko Dangote

(2) Tony Elumelu

(3) Abdulsamad Rabiu

(4) Amina Maina

(5) Begun Ajayi-Kadir

(6) Funke Okpeke

(7) Doyin Salami

(8) Patrick Okigbo

(9) Kola Adesina

(10) Segun Agbaje

(11) Chidi Ajaere

(12) Abdulkadir Aliu

(13) Rasheed Sarumi

Furthermore, in his determination to address immediate economic challenges and ensure the streamlined execution of economic strategies, President Bola Tinubu has established the Economic Management Team Emergency Taskforce (EET) with a mandate to formulate and implement a consolidated emergency economic plan. The task force comprises key government officials and industry leaders in furtherance of the President’s collaborative approach toward achieving economic resilience and growth. The EET is now mandated to submit a comprehensive plan of economic interventions for 2024 to the PECC, covering the next six (6) months, for immediate implementation within two weeks of its inauguration. The EET will meet twice weekly and is composed of the following members:

(1) Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance (Chairman of the EET)

(2) Minister of Budget and Economic Planning

(3) Minister of Power

(4) Minister of Agriculture and Food Security

(5) Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare

(6) Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment

(7) Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria

(8) National Security Adviser

(9) Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum

(10) Governor of Anambra State

(11) Governor of Ogun State

(12) Governor of Niger State

(13) Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service

(14) Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation

(15) GCEO, NNPC Limited

(16) Director-General, Nigeria Economic Summit Group

(17) Special Adviser to the President on Energy

(18) Bismarck Rewane, Economist

(19) Suleyman Ndanusa, Economist

The Economic Management Team, established in October 2023, and chaired by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, serves as the working group under the Presidential Economic Coordination Council (PECC), playing a crucial role in the economic governance structure established by the President. The EMT traditionally meets monthly or as required, but will now suspend its meetings for the duration of the EET’s mandate (six months). The EMT is composed of the following officials:

(1) Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance (EMT Chairman)

(2) Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria

(3) Minister of Budget and Economic Planning

(4) Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment

(5) Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy

(6) Minister of Works

(7) Minister of Labour and Employment

(8) Minister of Agriculture and Food Security

(9) Minister of State, Petroleum Resources

(10) Minister of State, Gas

(11) Minister of Power

(12) Minister of Transportation

(13) Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development

(14) Minister of Marine and Blue Economy

The Chairman of the EMT may, as needed, call on any Federal Minister or Head of Agency to brief the EMT on key programmes and developments affecting the economy.

The President’s formation of the PECC, under his Chairmanship, alongside the creation of the EET, led by the Chairman of the EMT, and the EMT itself, is the manifestation of a unified strategy aimed at enhancing Nigeria’s economic management architecture for verifiably improved performance. The formation of these teams will complement existing economic governance structures, including the National Economic Council (NEC), which is chaired by the Vice-President.

Over the next six months, the EET will focus on the rapid implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of critical initiatives, strengthening the Tinubu-led administration’s collective approach to advancing Nigeria’s economic objectives.

Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

Labour Party (LP) has announced that it has reserved its 2027 presidential ticket for the party’s leader, Peter Obi.

This decision was made at the party’s National Convention held in Nnewi, Anambra State, on Wednesday, where the embattled party chairman, Julius Abure, was re-elected alongside seven other party executives, including the National Secretary, Umar Faruk Ibrahim.

The communiqué signed by Abure and Ibrahim also stated that Abia State Governor Alex Otti has the right of first refusal for the Abia State Governorship ticket should he decide to seek re-election on the party’s platform.

The LP convention, which was held in Anambra after being moved from Edo and later from Abia states, was attended by notable party members, including Governor Otti’s deputy, Ikechukwu Emetu, who chaired the convention. However, party leader Peter Obi and Senators Victor Umeh and Tony Nwoye were notably absent.

Other serving officers of the party were also returned, apart from the suspended National Treasurer, Ms. Oluchi Opara, who was replaced with Mrs. Ngozi Doga.

The convention also empowered the National Working Committee (NWC) to fill existing vacancies in the NWC and NEC. This decision followed the dropping of 14 NWC members for non-performance or having served out the allowable number of years as stipulated in the party’s constitution. One such member is Innocent Sunday Okeke (Agumba), the immediate past Assistant National Chairman (South East), who stepped down after serving out the allowable two terms.

Clement Ojukwu, the former national organizing secretary, is now the Deputy National Chairman of the party, according to the new appointments made at the convention.

Recall that in the build-up to the convention, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had called for Abure’s resignation as party chairman and the immediate constitution of a caretaker transition committee to organize a legitimate and all-inclusive national convention for the party.

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it did not monitor the party’s convention.

Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, confirmed the development when contacted.

“INEC did not monitor the Labour Party (LP) convention in Anambra State,” Oyekanmi said, but declined further comments.

But senior sources in INEC told one of our reporters that the monitoring of a party’s national convention is one of the mandatory requirements to validate the legality or otherwise of such a programme.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh, did not respond to the inquiry when confronted with INEC’s position.

Daily Trust

Federal government has declared Friday, March 29 and Monday, April 1, as public holidays to mark Good Friday and Easter Monday, respectively.

Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of interior, announced the public holidays in a statement issued on Wednesday by Aishetu Ndayako, permanent secretary of the ministry.

The minister urged Nigerians to emulate the sacrifice and love displayed by Jesus Christ in dying for the redemption of man.

“Easter, beyond religious significance, promotes values of love, forgiveness, and compassion, which are essential for social cohesion and harmony,” the statement reads.

“While wishing Christians at home and abroad a happy and blissful Easter celebration, the Minister also called on Nigerians to join hands with President Tinubu-led Administration in its determination to bring sustainable development and usher in prosperity for all.”

The minister further urged Nigerians to show acts of charity and generosity to help alleviate the material conditions of the less privileged among them.

Tunji-Ojo added that this was in tandem with Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda.

The Cable

Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill 16, militant rockets kill 1 Israeli as cross-border violence soars

A series of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed 16 people and a barrage of rockets fired by the militant group Hezbollah killed one Israeli man, making Wednesday the deadliest day in more than five months of fighting along the border.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, concerns have grown about further escalation along the Israel-Lebanon frontier. Tens of thousands of people on both sides have been displaced by the violence.

Wednesday’s Israeli strikes targeted a Lebanese Sunni political and militant organization, the Islamic Group, which has joined the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in its fight against Israel. Two Hezbollah fighters were also killed, as was a local commander with the Amal Movement, another Shiite group.

The first Israeli airstrike hit a paramedic center affiliated with the Islamic Group, killing seven of its members in the village of Hebbariye after midnight.

Muheddine Qarhani, head of the Emergency and Relief Corps, told reporters at the scene that the paramedic center had been set up late last year. He said he was surprised a medical group had been targeted.

Israel said it killed an Islamic Group member involved in attacks against Israel, as well as several other militants.

Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, the head of the Israeli army’s Northern Command, said Israel was operating against the Islamic Group and had struck a “large number of operatives” and was also conducting “very significant strikes” against Hezbollah.

“We are at war. We have been at war for almost half a year now, and it doesn’t end with Hezbollah,” he told a gathering of commanders.

Hours after the airstrike, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing rockets into the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona and a military base. Hezbollah said it was retaliating for the deadly attack on the paramedic center.

Rescue services in Israel said a 25-year-old man was killed when a direct hit sparked a fire in an industrial park in Kiryat Shmona. Footage from the scene showed thick black smoke pouring out of a building.

Another person was lightly injured. Around 30 rockets were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel, according to the Israeli military.

Nada Khleif was in her small bakery in Hebbariyeh when the strike heavily damaged her business and a nearby apartment, where two of her relatives were unharmed.

“The bakery was my only means of living. It is gone now,” she said.

The Lebanese news agency said Israel bombed the village of Teir Harfa after sunset, killing five, and a second strike killed four people as paramedics gathered near a cafe in the coastal town of Naqoura.

Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Society said two of its paramedics were killed in Teir Harfa.

The Islamic Risala Scout Association, also a paramedic group, said one of its members was killed in the strike on Naqoura.

The Amal movement of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the strike on Naquora killed one of its local commanders, identified as Ali Mahdi. Hezbollah said two of its fighters were killed without saying where they were struck.

The near-daily violence has mostly been confined to the area along the border, and international mediators are scrambling to prevent an all-out war. The fighting has killed nine civilians and 11 soldiers in Israel. Nearly 240 Hezbollah fighters and about 40 civilians have died in Lebanon.

Hezbollah began launching rockets toward Israel on Oct. 8, the day after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in a surprise attack that sparked the crushing war in Gaza.

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Putin issues F-16 warning to Ukraine sponsors

Should the US-made fighter jets make it to Ukraine, Russia will destroy them just as it has other Western equipment so far, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

Several NATO members have promised to donate their F-16s to Kiev and have trained Ukrainian pilots to fly them, but no deliveries have been made as of yet. Russia has repeatedly warned the West that fielding the nuclear-capable jets will be an unacceptable escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

“If they deliver the F-16s, I think you know better than others that this will not change the situation on the battlefield,” the president said. “And we will destroy these planes just as we have destroyed tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment, including multiple launch rocket systems.”

The comments came during Putin’s visit to the Torzhok Air Base in Tver Region, home of the 344th Training Center for Russian combat pilots, including personnel being trained to take part in the Ukraine conflict.

In case the F-16s flown by Ukrainian pilots end up getting based in third countries, they will be legitimate targets for Russian aviation, Putin added.

“Of course, if they are used from airfields of third countries, they become a legitimate target for us, wherever they are located,” the Russian president stated.

Russia is well aware that the 1970s jet can potentially carry nuclear weapons, and this will be taken into account in combat operations, he noted.

Kiev has lost much of its air force over the past two years, including the Soviet-era jets donated by several NATO members as replacements. The Ukrainian government eventually asked the US-led bloc for the F-16s.

The single-engine fighter is a late 1970s design, originally manufactured by General Dynamics before it was acquired by Lockheed Martin. It requires pristine runways, which are in short supply in Ukraine, prompting speculation that Ukrainian-operated jets might be stationed in nearby NATO countries instead. 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia may have used new guided bomb to attack Ukraine's Kharkiv, local officials say

Russia may have used a new type of guided bomb in airstrikes on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv that killed at least one person on Wednesday, local officials said.

The officials said four children including a three-month-old baby were among 19 people wounded in Kharkiv in the latest strikes since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, some of which have caused blackouts, including in Kharkiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the attack as "Russian terror" and Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the Kharkiv regional police, said Moscow may have used a new type of guided bomb which he described as the UMPB D-30.

"This is something between a guided aerial bomb which they (the Russians) have used recently, and a missile. It's a flying bomb so to say," Tymoshko said at the site of the strike.

Regional governor Oleh Synehubov also suggested Moscow may have used a new type of bomb, saying: "It seems that the Russians decided to test their modified bombs on the residents of the houses."

Russia did not immediately comment on their remarks. It denies targeting civilians although the war has killed thousands of people, uprooted millions and destroyed towns and cities.

Two residential buildings and a medical institution were partially destroyed, and a total of 14 buildings, including an educational facility, were damaged, Synehubov said on the Telegram messenger.

NEW ATTACK AFTER MIDNIGHT

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, also writing on Telegram, reported another strike after midnight on a city district that destroyed a restaurant and smashed windows in an adjacent building. There were no injuries.

Prosecutors in Kharkiv region reported that a 12-year-old boy was killed when Russian forces shelled the town of Borova, southeast of Kharkiv.

Police cordoned off a five-storey residential building that had been hit, its windows blown out and balconies badly damaged.

"Some people were unlucky. One person was killed, others have shrapnel wounds," said Kateryna Velnychuk, who was with her boyfriend in the building when it was hit.

At the scene, a man with a bandaged head sifted through the rubble of a damaged apartment in search of two cats, which he eventually found alive.

A dead body covered with a jacket lay near the entrance to the building. There was blood on the pavement.

Kharkiv and the surrounding region have frequently been attacked with missiles and drones during more than two years of war, but the use of large-calibre guided bombs is unusual for the city.

"Russian terror against the city is becoming increasingly heinous," Zelenskiy said on X, and urged Ukraine's allies to supply more air defences and fighter jets.

"There is no rational explanation for why Patriots (missiles), which are plentiful around the world, are still not covering the skies of Kharkiv and other cities and communities under attack by Russian terrorists," he said.

RT/Reuters