WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian drone struck Russian nuclear waste facility risking disaster, Moscow says

A Ukrainian drone crashed into a nuclear waste storage facility at the Kursk power plant in western Russia on Thursday, damaging its walls, Russia's foreign ministry said on Saturday, calling on other governments to condemn "an act of nuclear terrorism".

A ministry statement said Ukraine must have known that its actions could have caused a full-scale nuclear catastrophe that would have affected many countries.

"We call on all governments to issue a strong condemnation of Kyiv's barbaric actions, which are extremely dangerous and could lead to irreparable consequences," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

Russia and Ukraine, which both operate nuclear power plants, have regularly accused each other of risking a nuclear calamity with irresponsible attacks, and the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog - the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - has been monitoring the situation in Ukraine particularly closely.

Moscow said on Friday that it had thwarted Thursday's drone attack and two news outlets said an explosion had damaged the facade of a warehouse storing nuclear waste. Saturday's statement was the first official confirmation of the damage.

Zakharova said one explosive-packed drone had damaged the nuclear waste facility's walls while another two had hit an administrative building complex.

"According to preliminary data, the drones used in the attack on the nuclear power plant used components supplied by Western countries," she said, adding that such an attack must have had the permission of Ukraine's allies or possibly been ordered by them.

The Kursk plant, located in a region which borders Ukraine, said after the attack that there were no casualties and that radiation levels and operations were normal.

Ukrainian officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday. Kyiv generally declines to confirm or deny military operations on Russian territory.

Russia in July complained that a Ukrainian drone had struck an apartment building in Kurchatov, a town built on the banks of a cooling pond for the Kursk nuclear power station.

Russia's FSB security service said in August last year that security around nuclear facilities had been beefed up after Ukrainian saboteurs had destroyed electricity lines supplying the Kursk plant, temporarily disrupting its functioning.

Kursk is one of several Russian regions that have regularly come under drone attack in the course of the 20-month war. The governor of Kursk reported a previous drone attack on Kurchatov on Sept. 1.

Thursday night's incident came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said a Russian drone attack in Ukraine's western Khmelnitskyi region had probably targeted the area's nuclear power station.

The IAEA said that attack had destroyed "numerous windows" at the site but had not affected the Ukrainian plant's operations or its connection to the electricity grid.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm either incident.

** Belarus' Lukashenko says Ukraine-Russia war at stalemate, urges talks

Russia and Ukraine are locked in a stalemate on the frontlines of their war and the two sides need to sit down and negotiate an end to the conflict, Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian leader of Belarus and an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said over the weekend.

"There are enough problems on both sides and in general the situation is now seriously stalemate: no one can do anything and substantively strengthen or advance their position," Lukashenko said.

"They're there head-to-head, to the death, entrenched. People are dying."

Russian forces have kept pushing this week near the ruined Donetsk city of Avdiivka suffering heavy losses, the U.S. White House said, but the vast frontline in Ukraine has moved little in the past year despite Kyiv's gruelling months-long offensive.

Lukashenko, who has provided his country's territory as a launch pad for Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, said that Ukraine's demands for Russia to quit its territory needs to be resolved at the negotiating table "so nobody dies".

"We need to sit down at the negotiating table and come to an agreement," Lukashenko said in a question and answer video posted on the website of the Belarusian state news agency BelTA.

"As I once said: no preconditions are needed. The main thing is that the 'stop' command is given."

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reiterated on Saturday at a gathering of over 60 national security advisers that his 10-point peace plan, which includes calls for the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity, is the only way to end the war.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia displays Western shells used by Ukraine to attack civilians

A senior Russian diplomat at the UN has shown fragments of Western-supplied shells and missiles that he claimed Ukraine used to attack civilians in Donbass and other Russian regions.

Speaking at a regular Security Council briefing concerning Ukraine on Friday, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, described the ordnance pieces as “physical evidence of how Western-supplied weapons are being actively used by Ukrainians to attack civilian infrastructure.”

He showcased what he said was debris from a US-made HIMARS missile that hit a regional administration building in Russia’s Kherson region last September, killing three people and injuring several others.

Polyansky went on to present a much larger fragment which he claimed was part of a Storm Shadow long-range missile with “a discernible inscription ‘Made in France’.” He said it had been used by Kiev in June to strike a bridge linking the northern part of the Crimean peninsula with the mainland. This link, he added, was crucial for transporting food and other vital supplies. Storm Shadow missiles were supplied to Ukraine by the UK.

He also showed what was allegedly a piece of a HIMARS missile that killed one civilian and wounded 11 others in a Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk in July. Another fragment of the US-made munition the diplomat displayed was said to have come from the shelling of Makeyevka, a town near Donetsk.

“Look at these fragments and imagine them being scattered around at a huge speed,” he said, addressing his British colleagues in particular. “Look here. You want people to keep silent about this,” he added.

Polyansky also stated that while Ukraine has been targeting civilians in Donbass since 2014, when large-scale hostilities erupted in the region following a Western-backed coup in Kiev, “the ‘civilized Western world’ has [long] been hiding behind a handy paradigm” that civilians there “had shelled themselves.”

According to the data provided by the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) in the Donetsk People’s Republic, more than 4,700 civilians, including 139 children, have been killed in the region since February 2022. According to the now-defunct JCCC in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Ukrainian attacks claimed the lives of 192 people between February 2022 and February 2023.

** Russian air defense systems destroy 36 Ukrainian drones over Black Sea, Crimea

Kiev tried to attack targets on Russian territory with 36 drones, they were destroyed by air defense systems over the Black Sea and the northwestern part of Crimea, Russia’s Defense Ministry told reporters.

"On the night of October 29, [air defense systems] prevented an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by aircraft-type UAVs on facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation. On-duty air defense systems destroyed 36 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the Black Sea and the northwestern part of the Crimean peninsula," the ministry said.

Reuters/RT/Tass

Is there any connect between law and public opinion or judgments and public opinion? Before Musa Dattijo Muhammad’s valedictory speech at the Supreme Court last Friday, the connect or disconnect between those two had begun to assume a life of its own. The presidential election judgment delivered by the Supreme Court the day before heightened concerted quests for the nexus or disjuncture between them. In the Dattijo valedictory, it would appear that the Learned Justice had deliberately set out to take the sail off the wind of views which divorced law from judgments and public opinion.

In the valedictory, Dattijo lamented how public perceptions of the judiciary had become “witheringly scornful and monstrously critical.” He was equally worried that “the public space” had been “inundated with the tale that court officials and judges are easily bribed by litigants to obviate delays and or obtain favourable judgments.” Quoting copiously from an earlier valedictory of a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Oludotun Adefope-Okojie, Dattijo read: "Pleas are expressed everyday by the generality of the public begging the judiciary to be just, to be truthful; and to save the country from collapse. My question is whether the judiciary needs to be begged or cajoled? What is it that qualifies any person to bear that exalted name 'Honourable Justice’? Is it not for him to administer justice without fear or favour?... Unfortunately, it has been severely vilified, with the Apex Court so denigrated and called by a social commentator as a voter gaggle of useless, purchasable judicial bandits. How did the judiciary get to this level? Why is the whole country on edge for fear of what the public regards as unpredictable judicial pronouncements? There must be a rethink and a hard reset. If the people we have sworn to defend have lost confidence, there is a problem that must be addressed.”

Chief Justice of the Federation, Kayode Ariwooola, a few weeks ago, attempted the thrashing of any nexus between judgment and public opinion. While administering oath on 23 newly appointed judges of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Ariwoola sternly warned judicial officers on the need for impartiality in the dispensation of their duties, stating implicitly that public opinion cannot supersede the constitution in any judgment. In the presidential election appeal at the Supreme Court last week, it was apparent that the court harkened to this warning of MiLord. The court sounded the death-knell of public opinion. Ariwoola didn’t believe that there was connect of any kind between the opinion of the people and redemption of society which law, broken into its brass-tacks, represents.

So, when judges deliver their judgments, do they bother about public opinion? Do public opinions sway them? Should it sway them?

Political science gives a prime place to public opinion due to the massive role it plays in government and politics. It gives major attention to the influence public opinion has on the development of government policy. Some political scientists even regard public opinion as equivalent to the national will. In its raw form, public opinion is primarily a communication from the citizens to their government. This is why, in autocratic regimes, such opinions are only expressed in a clandestine manner, if it is expressed at all, but is majorly suppressed. Jeremy Bentham so venerated public opinion that he called it "the tribunal of public opinion" which he believed could prevent misrule and suggest legislative reforms. Philosophers of the enlightenment period believed so much in the efficacy of public opinion that they demanded public communication of governmental acts.

Since Ariwooola made that distinction, public opinion will seem to have suffered mortal blows in the hands of those who eke out their daily meal through canvassing public opinions. 

Arise Tv duo, Reuben Abati and Rufai Oseni have literally been at professional loggerheads, sparring in a mini rumble on the place of public opinion society. While Oseni was averse to emergency morticians proclaiming the death of considered views of the people, Abati appears to have lent the rabble a hearse to wheel the mercilessly pummeled public opinion to its graveyard. On Friday, in the duo’s final autopsy session on the cadaver of the opinion of the people, Abati had said: “Public opinion is kilometers and kilometers away from law. Law is not about emotions and sentiments…and we have the authority par Niki Tobi JSC in Atiku Abubakar v Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who said that the only clientele of law is the law and not public opinion. People may express what they like at beer parlours. We saw that yesterday as their Lordships dealt only with the law and qua law… the judges, yes they are not going to follow your opinion, they follow technicality of the law. This matter is now rex judicata, settled in law.” Abati even chose to tread the unenviable gas-lighting path that traducers of public opinion walk severally. This he did by equating public opinion to alcohol-induced views at shebeens. The way he argued it, you would think that public opinion was a demon whose spirit needed to be exorcised.

To drive home the metaphysical powers inherent in opinions of the collective, otherwise called public opinion, popular Yoruba Sakara music exponent, S. Aka, alias Baba Wahidi, narrated an instructive fable in his Itan Agilinti album. He must have sung it in the 1960s. Aka was a traditional songster who dominated the musical stratosphere of the Western region of the 1950s, 60s and even up till the late 1980s. He was an Egba of Abeokuta in Ogun State and bitterly rivaled another notable musician who sang same genre of traditional music, Yusuff Olatunji. Aka’s songs were steeped in the tradition and culture of the people of Yorubaland, with occasional tinges of his ancestral Egba dialect jutting out of his rhythms. Proverbs, incantations, wise-sayings and ways of life of the people were dished out in a medley of praise-singing and excoriation of the evils of society.

In this particular album, Aka told the story of a king who, in appreciation of a favour he did to a renowned medicine man, was given a small talismanic gourd. Whenever he had the gourd as amulet around his waist, so said the medicine man, he would hear clearly the exchanges between animals, including domestic ones in the palace. One day, a sheep strolled into his hearing distance in the palace, ostensibly on a visit to another sheep within. Distinctly, the king heard the visiting sheep tell the one in the palace that in the next seven days, the king’s palace would be totally razed down. On the prompting of this revelation, that night, the king evacuated all his costly belongings from the palace. On the said seventh day, the palace was in total flames as the sheep predicted. When the whole town thronged the palace to commiserate with the king, they asked, pleasantly bewildered, how the palace was bereft of any belongings at the time of the inferno. Did the king have premonition that disaster was afoot?

A few weeks after, the same sheep strolled into the palace and in conversation with his pal, revealed to him that the king’s priceless horse would die in the next seven days. As he did earlier, the king pretended he hadn’t heard this foretelling and the second day, sold the horse. Exactly the seventh day of the foretelling, the horse suddenly died in the hands of its purchaser. A couple of weeks after, the sheep again came into the palace and told his peer that exactly seven days thence, the king himself would die. Exasperated and terribly worried, the king, unable to feign understanding of the two sheep’s conversation, moved closer to them and asked what he could do to avert his impending death. The sheep however told him that, no matter what he did, he would surely die. And on the seventh day, the town erupted in mourning as the king kissed the canvass. The morale of the fable was that, if the king had allowed the previous calamities he averted to befall him, they would have acted as propitiations for his life. The animals told him that in the commiserating words of a multitude of the people lay redemption from colossal tragedies.

Yes, public opinion has mutated from its erstwhile kingly role to the place of scorn it currently occupies. Today, it is a dirty and filthy rag which is often held as the province of charlatans. In ancient times, this was not so. First, what is public opinion? Hans Speier, in his Historial development of public opinion, defined it as “free and public communication from citizens to their government on matters of concern to the nation.” In the words of some scholars, public opinion is a synthesis of the views of all or a certain segment of society. In his 1918 writing, American sociologist, Charles Horton Cooley said that public opinion comes from interaction and not as a broad public agreement, while the political scientist, V. O. Key defined public opinion as “opinions held by private persons which governments find it prudent to heed.” In the same vein, American editorialist, 

Walter Lippman, in a treatise published in 1922, said that the mystery enjoyed by public opinion was given it by democracies. In decades, public opinion has become a powerful force across human spheres of existence like culture, fashion, literature and the arts.

In his valedictory of Friday, Dattijo made a significant dissection of the public perception of the judiciary and his conclusion was that the public was right about some of its opinions on judicial interventions and judgments. Dattijo stood on the side of public opinion. So why would Abati and Ariwoola pour such scorn on public opinion as if it was a filthy rag?

There have always been struggles between law, morality and public opinion on whether there is a relationship between them. Between law and morality, while both regulate behaviours of human beings, there has not been any consensus on their relationship. While a school of thought believes in their mutual independence, another believes they are interdependent and yet another, they are mutually exclusive. The argument is, how does any law that claims to regulate human behavior not be in harmony with moral norms? The law must be such that safeguards the welfare and good of humanity and this can only happen if the law sits firmly on a strong moral template.

While Ariwoola may be right to some extent in his submission 

that judgment takes no cognizance of public opinion but the technicalities expressed by the books and the constitution, Abati was not right in his claim that “public opinion is kilometers and kilometers away from law.”

Indeed, in their literature, there is a close affinity between law and public opinion, with public opinion being seen as a major source of law. This is because it is almost an impossibility for the legislature to pass any law, for usage by the government, without basing such on public opinion and the demands of the people. In the same vein, public opinion has been held to be the guardian of rights and freedom and this is so because the rights and freedom enjoyed by the public require adequate protection and these guardians are opinion moulders. No law can operate without public opinion in a democracy and in fact, as underscore of their Siamese relationship, the legislature has been held to be a very important source of law. This legislature is a body of representatives of the people who are expected to be mirror of their opinions in the parliament. In practice, and according to P S. Mathur, “Law should be not firmly rooted in public opinion but should be a little ahead of it”. He was most probably giving heeds to German philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel who described public opinion as “containing both truth and falsehood” saying that it was the task of the great man to distinguish between the two.

Dattijo’s valedictory is a restoration of a pride of place to public opinion. First, in the earlier valedictory of Adefope-Okojie he cited, that public opinion scion was Saturday Tribune’s inimitable columnist, Farooq Kperogi. Kperogi’s submission that the Supreme Court had become “a voter gaggle of useless, purchasable judicial bandits” was the public opinion that went viral when the Supreme Court affirmed that former Senate President, Ahmed Lawan had won an election he didn’t participate in. For Adefope-Okojie to cite the opinion of Kperogi is an affirmation of agreement with his submission. For Dattijo to now cull it is an affirmation that that greatly vilified opinion of the public space also retains some weight of pride.

Dattijo had deliberated on further issue of “the unpredictable nature of recent decisions of the courts as well” and that “a number of respected senior members of the bar inter alia, citing the Lawan, the former President of the Senate and the Imo governorship appeals, claim that decisions of even the apex court have become unpredictable. It is difficult to understand how and where, by these decisions, the judicial pendulum swings. It was not so before, they contend”. The Learned Justice even went a step further: “In some quarters, the view is strongly held that filth and intrigues characterize the institution these days! Judges are said to be comfortable in companies they never would have kept in the past. It is being insinuated that some judicial officers even campaign for the politicians. It cannot be more damnifying!”

You will recall that the judicial affirmations of the elections of Lawan and the Imo State governor, Hope Uzodinma, in the court of public opinion, irretrievably dimmed the respect and reverence accorded by Nigerians to the apex court. That public opinion that is said not to matter has since removed the rug of legitimacy from Uzodinma as governor. He is mocked as “Supreme Court governor” and I hear that the widespread discontents against his government arose out of the belief that the governorship must have been arranged. If someone didn’t participate in a senatorial election but the apex court awarded him the election, all in the name of technicality, what kind of opinion should the society have about that person and the institution that awarded him that seat? If another one came fourth in a gubernatorial election but a court, which claims it is insulated from public opinion, ordered that the person should be sworn in as governor, what should public opinion say about such a court?

Then Dattijo raised issues about quadrupling finances of the apex court and asked repeatedly what happened to the billions that accrued to the court. You didn’t need any soothsayer to know that MiLord was lamenting the existence of a mysterious funnel at the Supreme Court that drains the monies into unseen pockets. For the judiciary to even have a modicum of moral right to try any case of fraud or corruption subsequently, it must answer all questions posed by Datijjo on what happened to those billions.

The retired justice’s recourse to the Holy Quran and its precepts about morality and the path to tread speaks volume about the nexus between the voice of opinion of the people and the voice of God. Public opinion stands for justice, just as the Holy writ enjoins the people. Technicalities of law do less of justice. In the words of Dattijo’s quotation from the Quran, “O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even though it be against yourselves or your parents or your kin, be he rich or poor, Allah is a Better Protector to both (than you). So follow not the lusts (of your hearts) lest you may avoid justice, and if you distort your evidence or refuse to give it, verily Allah is ever well a Acqunted with what you do.” Chapter 9 Verse 71, he said, requires that believers, both men and women, do what is just and forbid what is evil.

With the revelations by Datijjo, and the hubris of self-righteousness that surround the Nigerian judiciary’s dispensation of justice, it is becoming crystal clear that Nigeria’s Lady Justice is fascinated by the jungle. When law or judgments of the court become impervious to public opinion, they turn into purely mechanistic and absolutely mechanical rituals, lacking human blood flowing in their veins. To divorce public opinion from judgments equals the technicality that is today the provenance of the Nigerian judiciary. That provenance breeds the public perception that the Nigerian judiciary is home of miscarriage of justice.

The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it ~ Proverbs 10:22.

Introduction:

Undoubtedly, divine blessing is one of the deepest mysteries of godliness. Certainty, Jacob knew this when he insisted on being divinely blessed, refusing to let God go until he got the blessing (Genesis 32:26-29). Even though, he obtained it at a cost of great personal pain, his story changed forever after that experience. We all must practically understand the principles of divine blessing and seek to enjoy it in full.

Greatness is more than success. Whereas success is limited to a particular area of one’s life at a particular time, greatness is a wholesome phenomenon that combines several successes, bringing public recognition and personal fulfillment. Greatness is an immeasurable state of achievement in life.

You are not truly great until some other people become blessed through you (Genesis 12:2). This is what I call significance. Notwithstanding, it is the blessing of God that attracts all the diverse and assorted gifts of grace to the blessed (James 1:17).

Perhaps certain things are not working for you the way you expect presently. Don’t be worried about that; what should concern you is whether or not you are connected to the blessings of the Lord. Mercy surrounds the blessed of the Lord; therefore, no matter what happens, they win and laugh at last (Romans 9:16).

A blessed man is by far greater than a rich man. A rich man is like a lake, but a blessed man is like an ocean. A rich man may become poor and may never fully recover again. But, if the possessions of a blessed man are taken away from him, as with a mysterious magnet, more possessions will be pulled to him again.

In the days of his tribulations, it looked like Job was finished. He lost everything: his family, friends, health, wealth, peace, etc. He became like a man forsaken and forgotten. He was troubled on every side, and the enemy thought, “yes, I got him”. But, God’s Mercy said No! In the end, he got double for all his troubles, because he was a blessed man (Job 1:10; 42:10-17).

Understanding the Nature of the Blessing

Blessing is a divine empowerment to succeed in life (Deuteronomy 8:18). It can rest upon a person or a group of people, an environment, a place, an organization, a thing or things.

Basically, to bless is to declare God’s goodness upon an entity, but real blessing is more than mere words. It is an invocation that comes with the power to accomplish it, especially when spoken under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The initiative and the final control over divine blessings resides with God. No man can live independent of Him; He is involved in every effectual bestowal of gifts upon sons of men, both temporal and spiritual. Hence, the whole creation depends upon God for its continual existence and function.

The blessing of God is an indispensable accompaniment of great destinies. God called Abraham and commanded him to leave his father's house for a strange land. Knowing that it would be virtually impossible for a seventy-five year old man to make it out there alone, He blessed him.

There is nothing like “too late” for a blessed man. When you are blessed of the Lord, everywhere you go, sooner or later, springs will flow in the desert, the barren land will become fruitful, the crooked ways will become straight, because you are divinely equipped to succeed (Isaiah 40:4)!

The blessing from God is full, rich, unstoppable and void of sorrow. It cannot be revoked even by the man who invoked it (Genesis 27:33). And, it is always a misadventure for anyone to curse the man whom God has blessed (Genesis 12:3; Deuteronomy 23:5). Please remember Balaam (Numbers 24:1).

At this stage, it is very important to note that all true believers in Christ Jesus are under a strong positional blessing, capable of attracting tremendous benefits (Ephesians 1:3). Yes, incredible provisions are made available to us, just awaiting our faith to pull through to partake of its gracious benefits (Galatians 3:9).

God had generously heaped His blessings upon His people so we can reflect His original intentions (Genesis 1:28). His blessing empowers us to the utmost bounds, equipping us to possess the gates of our enemies and to make us ever relevant to many generations (Genesis 22:17-18).

One incredible truth in this regard is that the blessing of God is captured and stored in the gene of the blessed, and it could even be retrieved by faith to empower his offspring after him (Psalms 112:2). In other words, all things being equal, the children of the blessed are blessed (Proverbs 20:7)! Alleluia!!

How To Be Rooted In the Blessing for a Distinctive You

God does not struggle to bless; the power is always there to accomplish His purposes in the lives of men. He said to Solomon in a dream, ‘I have also given thee’ (1Kings 3:13). And that was it. The man lived and died without any equal among men in his time. We must tap into this mercy pool by aligning with its required processes.

The first and the most important step to accessing the blessing of God is to become a child of God by repenting and believing in Jesus Christ (John 1:12). That puts the mark of Christ upon you, and most amazingly, it also recodes your spiritual gene for divinity to  pattern it after Christ’s (Galatians 6:17; Matthew 1:1).

Secondly, you need to recognize, receive and embrace the messenger that God has appointed for you (2 Chronicles 20:20; Hosea 12:13; 1 Samuel 22:23). The general rule is: “the less is blessed of the better” (Hebrews 7:17). In other words, “father-figures” have the positional authority to bless.

“Father-figures” are persons for whose sake God will act to bless other people. Isaac was blessed for the sake of Abraham (Genesis 26:24). And, priests are divinely authorized to bless (Deuteronomy 10:8).

They include your biological or spiritual parents and everyone who has rule over you to guide, instruct, direct, train or teach you in physical or spiritual matters that relate to your progress, growth and development in life.

Meanwhile, as humans, the souls that will courier God’s blessing may require some kind of “excitation”, as it was with Isaac when he blessed his son Jacob after eating the venison (Genesis 27:1-29). The words of a blessing may produce no positive effect unless the spirit-man is engaged (1Corinthians 14:16).

This is how it works: when a great or an anointed soul is made happy, it receives energy (or is provoked) to release the blessing. In that state of enthusiasm, particularly when the soul senses an atmosphere of abiding love, encouragement, care, loyalty and obedience, it releases the blessing (1 Samuel 22:23).

Finally, yield to God’s opinions and show deference to His kingdom matters as a child of God, and you will attract the unassailable blessing of the Most High. Everything you are striving to get is available in a seed form. Obey God, and pour out; serve, give, encourage others, evangelize, and the blessing will suddenly whelm up in your life (Job 36:11).

No one can truly stand out without sacrifice. If nothing burns, nothing moves. When you are mature enough to channel your sacrifice towards God and the demands of His kingdom, you will start to enjoy the power of His Invisible Hand (Matthew 6:33-34).

The blessing of God terminates miseries and woes in the lives of the blessed, and it expressly aborts every satanic operation against them. When a man is divinely blessed, he is blessed, irrespective of who dislikes him or what demerits him. Friends, may you receive the blessing today, and be empowered evermore for God’s glory, in Jesus’ Name. Happy Sunday!

____________________

Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Connect with Bishop Akinola via these channels:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bishopakinola

SMS/WhatsApp: +234 802 318 4987

Are you happy? What is the basis of your happiness? Is it based on something you have? Is it based on a situation or circumstance? Beware, because that is building a house on the sand. When the storm comes, and the wind blows, great will be the fall of your house.

The Bible says the basis of our joy should be Christ. Jesus makes all the difference between an abundant life and a life of intermittent misery, depression, and dejection.

Eternal Life

The natural man defines life by material possessions. When people are making money, they are said to be making a living. Therefore, some go so far as to commit suicide for lack of financial resources. Others define their life by their job, marital status, educational background, or social status.

But God defines life by Himself because He is the author of life. God has life in Himself: “As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.” (John 5:26).

God is eternal. He is the “ancient of days” who lives forever. (Daniel 7:9). Therefore, God says only he who has God has life: “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:12).

If you have God, you have a life that cannot be lost. Therefore, your joy must be exclusively in God and in things of God. The psalmist says God is our “exceeding joy.” (Psalm 43:4).  When barren Hannah finally had a child, she did not rejoice in Samuel; she rejoiced in the Lord. (1 Sam 2:1-10).  As a matter of fact, immediately Samuel was weaned, she gave him up and gave him back to the Lord.

Temporal works

What are those things that give you pleasure? What is the joy of your heart? What is it that you can look back on in your old age with satisfaction that you have achieved? Moses prayed: “Let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands.” (Psalm 90:17).

What happens if that husband you are so devoted to leaves you? What happens if those wonderful children of yours die in a car crash? What happens if those wonderful houses you built are destroyed in an earthquake? The truth, dear Moses, is that God only establishes the work of His own hands: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it.” (Psalm 127:1).

On one occasion when Jesus was leaving the temple, His disciples decided to show him the glories of the temple. But He who knows the excellent glories of heaven can hardly be impressed with the vainglories of this miserable world. Therefore, Jesus said to them: “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:1-2).

God cannot establish the work of a man’s hands unless his works are the works of God. The people of God are those who have rested from their own labours. (Revelation 14:13). Christ for them is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28), and they have entered into His rest.

Everlasting joy

Every testimony in the life of a believer is a revelation of Jehovah. It is in him and in him alone that we are to rejoice. Paul says: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).

It is significant that Paul wrote this to the Philippians while he was in jail. He was incarcerated and yet he asked that people should rejoice in the Lord always. Then he repeats it again for added emphasis.

This is because the man who rejoices only in Christ cannot be discouraged. He cannot go into depression. For him to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21).  It is heads he wins and tails he is victorious.

If you rejoice in the Lord, you can do so always. The Lord does not change. He is not good today and bad tomorrow. He is not kind today and mean tomorrow. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8).

But, if you rejoice in anything or in anyone outside of the Lord, you cannot do so always. The joy of the world is transient; it does not last. The same thing that brought you joy will bring you grief sooner than later. But the blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. (Proverbs 10:22).

Bed temperate

As a result, the believer should be positive at all times. If you have received the gospel, you have received the good news that can never become bad news. To the pure all things are pure. Titus 1:15). Love believes all things and hopes all things. (1 Corinthians 13:7).

Paul recognised that his afflictions were actually in furtherance of the gospel. Many of his jailers gave their lives to Christ.

So, what should we do? Thank God for earthly things, but please do not feed your soul on them. Rejoice that your name is written in heaven. (Luke 10:20). Enjoy the things of this world but do not let them get into your heart. Do not set your heart on them. Reserve your heart for the Lord. You cannot be a citizen of the kingdom of God and continue to thirst for the things of the world:

“For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” (Philippians 3:3).

Nothing else but Christ should matter to the believer. Only Christ is needful. Nothing else is of any significance whatsoever, save Christ and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2). That is why God, in His favour of life, has made Jesus our life, that we may have a life that cannot be lost.

Rejoice in the Lord always, confident that nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:39).

But if Christ is not everything to you, you can be sure that what you consider to be something will be taken away from you. Jesus says: “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42).

Christ cannot be taken away from the believer. If the Lord is truly your shepherd, then you shall not want. (Psalm 23:1).

Tonic for the soul

The gospel gives the believer a totally new perspective on life. While it might not change his outward condition, it should have a salutary effect on his state of mind. It is not so much about saving a man’s life as it is about saving his soul. Therefore, it refreshes the soul even if it might not refresh the body. Received in prison, on death row, in affliction, or even in bereavement, the gospel provides great comfort.

Thanks to the gospel, sorrow no longer has a basis in the believer. Since Jesus has borne our grief and carried our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4), we no longer have any grounds to be sorrowful. Sin is the only legitimate cause of sorrow in the world. Being hell-bound is the only legitimate cause for grief.

The principal problem of life is not, as many presume, lack of a job, money, or means. The principal problem is sin. Once Jesus dealt conclusively with the sin problem, he declared: “it is finished.”  Jesus did not come to provide jobs, put money in people’s pockets, or find husbands for wives. He came to reconcile man back to God through the forgiveness of sins.

Think of something that gave you a great deal of joy. It could be that you bought a new car or a new dress, or you built your own house or got an excellent job. How long did that joy last? Was it a sustaining joy? Has the joy of that acquisition or achievement not dimmed already? The truth is that happiness only happens occasionally. The joy of the world only lasts for so long. It soon diminishes and dies.

Therefore, Jesus warns: “Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” (John 6:27).

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; www.femiaribisala.com 

Scientists have witnessed brain patterns in dying patients that may correlate to commonly reported "near-death" experiences (NDEs) such as lucid visions, out-of-body sensations, a review of one's own life, and other "dimensions of reality," reports a new study. The results offer the first comprehensive evidence that patient recollections and brain waves point to universal elements of NDEs. During an expansive multi-year study led by Sam Parnia, an intensive care doctor and an associate professor in the department of medicine at NYU Langone Health, researchers observed 567 patients in 25 hospitals around the world as they underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after suffering cardiac arrest, most of which were fatal.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) brain signals captured from dozens of the patients revealed that episodes of heightened consciousness occurred up to an hour after cardiac arrest. Though most of the patients in the study were sadly not resuscitated by CPR, 53 patients were brought back to life. Of the survivors, 11 patients reported a sense of awareness during CPR and six reported a near-death experience. Parnia and his colleagues suggest that the transition from life to death can trigger a state of disinhibition in the brain that "appears to facilitate lucid understanding of new dimensions of reality -- including people's deeper consciousness -- all memories, thoughts, intentions and actions towards others from a moral and ethical perspective," a finding with profound implications for CPR research, end-of-life care, and consciousness, among other fields, according to a new study published in Resuscitation. [...]

"One of the things that was unique about this project is that this was the first time ever where scientists had put together a method to examine for signs of lucidity and consciousness in people as they're being revived by looking for brain markers, or brain signatures of consciousness, using an EEG device as well as a brain oxygen monitor," Parnia explained. "Most doctors are taught and believe that the brain dies after about five or 10 minutes of oxygen deprivation," Parnia said. "One of the key points that comes out of this study is that that is actually not true. Although the brain flatlines after the heart stops, and that happens within seconds, it doesn't mean that it's permanently damaged and [has] died. It's just hibernating. What we were able to show is that actually, the brain can respond and restore function again, even after an hour later, which opens up a whole window of opportunity for doctors to start new treatments." Indeed, the study reports that "near-normal/physiological EEG activity (delta, theta, alpha, beta rhythms) consistent with consciousness and a possible resumption of a network-level of cognitive and neuronal activity emerged up to 35-60 minutes into CPR. This is the first report of biomarkers of consciousness during CA/CPR."

Slashdot

A retiring justice of the court, Musa Dattijo Muhammad, who reportedly pulled out from the seven-man panel that dismissed all the appeals that sought to remove President Tinubu from office, has accused the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Olukayode Ariwoola, of abusing the powers of his office.

Muhammad, who spent 47 years in active judicial service, bowed out of the apex court bench on Friday, having clocked the 70 years mandatory retirement age.

He used the opportunity of a valedictory session that was organised in his honour by the Supreme Court, to address what he observed as rots in the judiciary that have continued to affect the justice delivery system in the country.

“Through the years, I rose to become the second most senior justice of the country’s apex court and Deputy Chairperson of the National Judicial Council.

“Considering the number of years I have spent in judicial service and the position I have attained by the grace of the Almighty, I feel obligated to continue the struggle for reforms for a better Judiciary and would be leaning on the earlier submissions of those who had exited before me,” Justice Muhammad stated before he descended on the CJN.

He maintained that the judiciary, as presently structured, gave so much power to the CJN who he said usually take decisions without consulting other justices.

“As presently structured, the CJN is Chairman of the NJC which oversees both the appointment and discipline of judges, he is equally Chair of the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), the National Judicial Institute (NJI), the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) that appoints Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

“In my considered opinion, the oversight functions of these bodies should not rest on an individual alone. A person with absolute powers, it is said, corrupts easily and absolutely.

“As Chair of NJC, FJSC, NJI and LPPC, appointments as council, board and commitment members are at his pleasure. He neither confers with fellow justices nor seek their counsel or input on any matter related to these bodies. He has both the final and the only say.

“The CJN has power to appoint 80 percent of members of the council and 60 percent of members of FJSC. The same applies to NJI and LPPC.

“Such enormous powers are effortlessly abused. This needs to change. Continued denial of the existence of this threatening anomaly weakens effective judicial oversight in the country,” he added.

On the current composition of the bench of the apex court, Justice Muhammad alleged that the refusal to fill the vacant slot of South East on the apex court bench, was deliberate, blaming it on “absolute powers vested in the office of the CJN.”

He further stressed that with his retirement, the North Central zone which he represented, would no longer have a Justice on the Supreme Court bench.

“My lord Hon. Justice Ejembi Eko JSC who also represented the zone retired on 23rd of May, 2022. It has been a year and five months now. There has not been any replacement.

“With the passing of my lord, Chima Centus Nweze, JSC on 29th July 2023, the Southeast no longer has any presence at the Supreme Court. My lord, Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta JSV died on 7th March 2021. There has not been any appointment in his stead for the Southeast.

“As it stands, only four geo-political regions- the Southwest, Southsouth, Northwest and Northeast are represented in the Supreme Court.

“While the Southsouth and Northeast have two serving justices, the Northwest and Southwest are fully represented with three each.

“Appropriate steps could have been taken since to fill outstanding vacancies in the apex court. Why have these steps not been timeously taken?

“It is evident that the decision not to fill the vacancies in the court is deliberate. It is all about the absolute powers vested in the office of the CJN and the responsible exercise of same,” the retiring jurist added.

On the issue of membership of the panel that heard the presidential election appeals by candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party, Peter Obi, Muhammad, said:

“To ensure justice and transparency in presidential appeals from the lower court, all geo-political zones are required to participate in the hearing.

“It is therefore dangerous for democracy and equity for two entire regions to be left out in the decisions that will affect the generality of Nigerians.

“This is not what our laws envisage. Although it can be posited that no one expected the sudden passing of Nweze JSC, yet, it has been two years and seven months since previous justice from Southeast died and no appointment was made.”

On funding and independence of the Judiciary, the retiring justice bemoaned that though the budgetary allocation for the Judiciary increased from 70 billion that it was in 2015 to 165 billion presently, “Justices and officers welfare and the quality of service the judiciary render have continued to decline.”

“It may interest one to know that the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court earns more than the Justices. While she earns N1.2m per month, justices take home N751,000 in a month.

“The CJN on his part takes home N400,000 plus. The salary of a Justice, curiously, drops rather than increases when he gets the added responsibility of being a CJN.

“That the unjust and embarrassing salary difference between the justices and the Chief Registrar still abides remains intriguing to say the least.”

He noted that it was owing to allegations of corruption and perversion of justice, that informed President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to order the invasion of homes and arrest of some judges in 2016.

“Not done, in 2019 the government accosted, arrested and arraigned the incumbent Chief Justice before the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged underhand conduct.

“With his retirement apparently negotiated, he was eventually left off the hook.

“In 2022, a letter signed by all other justices of the Supreme Court, including the current Chief Justice, the aggrieved protested against the shabby treatment meted to them by the head of court and the Chief Registrar.

“In the event, his lordship Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad disengaged ostensibly on grounds of ill-health.

My lords, distinguished invitees, ladies and gentlemen, it is obvious that the judiciary I am exiting from is far from the one I voluntarily joined and desired to serve and be identified with. The institution has become something else,” Muhammad lamented.

Meanwhile, earlier in the ceremony, the CJN, in his speech, paid glowing tribute to the retiring jurist who he described as a “quintessential Judicial icon with dazzling qualities and alluring stature.”

“His Lordship is one judicial officer that could be blunt, even to a fault; and is never known to be afraid to say things the way they are; and also never shies away from calling a spade by its name, irrespective of whose ox is gored,” the CJN stated.

He decried that with Justice Muhammad’s exit, the apex court bench has further depleted to 10.

Vanguard

Nigeria's naira is on the brink of breaching 1,000 per dollar after falling to an official record low of 999 last week, Refinitiv data showed, tracing its weakness on the unofficial market where it trades freely.

President Bola Tinubu removed Nigeria's foreign currency controls in June in a bid to get transactions flowing through the official market again to help unify the naira's exchange rates.

But that has only fuelled the currency's weakness and added to inflationary pressures.

Here is what you need to know about the naira.

WHY IS THE NAIRA FALLING?

The central bank has a backlog of accumulated forex demand on the official market, which effectively forces individuals and businesses to head to the black market if they need dollars.

But dollar flows to Nigeria have been falling in the last few years due to declining investment and lower exports of crude oil, which account for more than 90% of the country's export income.

Investors cheered when Tinubu lifted the currency controls, hoping a unified exchange rate would make it easier to access foreign currency, but that is yet to happen.

HOW BIG IS THE FOREIGN CURRENCY BACKLOG?

Nigeria has nearly $7 billion in forex forwards that are past due, which corporates bought from local banks. Banks then repaid foreign credit lines with their own funds when the central bank did not pay out.

That means corporates are unable to get new letters of credit, while the banks are owed dollars. New central bank governor Yemi Cardoso said clearing the backlog was a priority but he gave no timeline for how long it would take.

Some analysts say the forward agreements could be rolled over by 24 to 36 months, giving the central bank more time to find the dollars to pay off the corporates.

HOW BIG ARE NIGERIA'S FOREX RESERVES?

The country's forex reserves fell to $33.5 billion in September from $37 billion in January, central bank data shows.

In August, the central bank published audited accounts for the first time since 2018, and revealed that its reserves included a $19 billion commitment in derivatives - slashing the liquid amount of the reserves.

JPMorgan calculated that the country's net FX reserves stood at $3.7 billion as of the end of 2022, "significantly lower" than prior estimates.

Nigeria's crude excess account only has $473,755, the National Economic Council said in August, down from a peak of $20 billion in 2008, after successive governments withdrew dollars to support the naira and budget spending.

WILL THE CENTRAL BANK RESTORE FOREX OPEN POSITIONS?

Nigerian banks are not allowed to have open positions on the dollar, meaning that they cannot buy forex for their own account from the market or speculate on the value of the currency.

Banks use their open net positions on foreign currency to finance short-term trade lines without resorting to the central bank for bidding. That means banks "make the market" for dollars and provide two-way quotes for buying and selling the currency, effectively creating a fully functioning forex market.

A trader said if banks were allowed to make the market on the dollar, the local currency could weaken further because they would sell to customers at rates determined by demand and supply.

Nigeria's 2024 budget assumes a benchmark exchange rate of 700 naira to the dollar. The finance minister says the parallel market rate of 1,300 naira does not reflect the true value of the local currency.

"Given that the naira remains much weaker on the parallel market, further devaluations – and rises in inflation – are likely," Capital Economics said in a research note.

Reuters

The investors who are backing the recent $250 million lithium project have been found to be copycats and not affiliated with the China-based companies bearing the same name as these copycat companies as revealed by Bloomberg in an October 27 report.  

According to Bloomberg, Ganfeng Lithium Industry Ltd., Tianqi Lithium Industrial Ltd. and Ningde Era Industrial Ltd. have nothing to do with three nearly identically named behemoths listed on the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges. Instead, they were founded recently and registered in Nigeria as independent companies.  

Difference between the original and copycat companies 

According to Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) records as of Friday, October 27, the companies identified as copycats by Bloomberg were registered almost around the same time in 2022 bearing the same name as mining giants in China: 

Ganfeng Lithium Industry: The Nigerian entity, registered on September 13, 2022, with an address listed as High Court Road, Ipegba, Sagamu, Ogun state. It should be noted that the original Ganfeng Lithium Industry was founded in China in the year 2000 and is located in Jiangxi Province. The latter is a prominent player in the global lithium industry. 

Tianqi Lithium Industrial Limited: This company, also registered on September 8, 2022, shares the same address as Ganfeng Lithium Industry in Sagamu, Ogun state.

However, the original Tianqi Lithium Industrial Limited, established in 2000, operates in Southwest China, specifically in Sichuan. The latter is a major player in the global lithium production sector, controlling more than 46% of lithium production worldwide. 

Ningde Era Industrial Limited: Registered on August 24, 2022, with an address in High Court Road, Ipegba, Sagamu, Ogun state, this company is not associated with the original Contemporary Amperex Technology Company Limited (tagged Ningde Era), which was founded in 2011.

The original company is located in Ningde, Fujian province, China, and is a significant player in the global battery and energy storage industry. 

Backstory  

On October 13, Nairametrics reported that President Bola Tinubu marked the beginning of construction for a remarkable “$250 million lithium factory in Nasarawa State.”

The ambitious facility, known as the Ganfeng Lithium Industry Limited factory, will be situated in the Endo community of Udege Development Area within the Nasarawa Local Government Area.  

Once completed, this mega factory is expected to process a substantial 18,000 metric tons of lithium each day, contributing to an impressive annual output of 4.5 million metric tons.

At the inauguration of the factory, Tinubu, represented by Dele Alake, the Minister of Solid Mineral Development, emphasized the project’s alignment with his administration’s industrialization policy.  

Nairametrics

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has detained the former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.

Emefiele was picked up on Thursday night, less than an hour after he regained his freedom from the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS.

The former CBN governor, it was learned, is currently being interrogated at the EFCC headquarters in Jabi, Abuja.

The EFCC is reportedly probing Godwin Emefiele over alleged impropriety during his term as the head of the apex bank.

Recall that the DSS arrested Emefiele in June, on the same day President Bola Tinubu suspended him from office with immediate effect.

According to the Presidency, Emefiele was suspended at the time due to “ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.”

Vanguard

Israel steps up air and ground attacks in Gaza and cuts off territory's communications

Israel knocked out internet and communications in the Gaza Strip in stepped-up bombardment Friday night, largely cutting off its 2.3 million people from contact with each other and the outside world and creating a near-blackout of information, as the military said it was “expanding” ground operations in the territory.

The military’s announcement signaled it was moving closer to an all-out invasion of Gaza, where it has vowed to crush the ruling Hamas militant group after its bloody incursion in southern Israel three weeks ago.

Explosions from continuous airstrikes lit up the sky over Gaza City for hours after nightfall. The Palestinian telecom provider, Paltel, said the bombardment caused “complete disruption” of internet, cellular and landline services. The cutoff meant that casualties from strikes and details of ground incursions could not immediately be known. Some satellite phones continued to function.

Already plunged into darkness after most electricity was cut off weeks ago, Palestinians were thrown into isolation, huddling in homes and shelters with food and water supplies running out.

Relatives outside Gaza panicked after their messaging chats with families inside suddenly went dead and calls stopped going through.

“I was so scared this was going to happen,” said Wafaa Abdul Rahman, director of a feminist organization based in the West Bank city of Ramallah. She said she hadn’t heard for hours from family in central Gaza.

“We’ve been seeing these horrible things and massacres when it’s live on TV, so now what will happen when there’s a total blackout?” she said, referring to scenes of families that have been crushed in homes by airstrikes over the past weeks.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said ground forces were “expanding their activity” Friday evening in Gaza and “acting with great force ... to achieve the objectives of the war.”

Israel says its strikes target Hamas fighters and infrastructure and that the militants operate from among civilians, putting them in danger.

The Hamas media center reported heavy nighttime clashes with Israeli forces at several places, including what it said was an Israeli incursion east of the refugee camp of Bureij in the central Gaza Strip. Asked about the report, the Israeli military reiterated early Saturday that it had been carrying out targeted raids and expanding strikes with the aim of “preparing the ground for future stages of the operation.”

Israel has amassed hundreds of thousands of troops along the border ahead of an expected ground offensive. Earlier Friday the military said ground forces conducted their second hourslong incursion inside Gaza in as many days, striking dozens of militant targets over the past 24 hours.

The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has soared past 7,300, more than 60% of them minors and women, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. A blockade on Gaza has meant dwindling supplies, and the U.N. warned that its aid operation helping hundreds of thousands of people was “crumbling” amid near-depleted fuel.

More than 1,400 people were slain in Israel during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, according to the Israeli government, and at least 229 hostages were taken into Gaza. Palestinian militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel, including one that hit a residential building in Tel Aviv on Friday, wounding four people.

Early Saturday, the Israeli military released the names of 310 soldiers killed during the initial Hamas attack and its aftermath. The vast majority were killed Oct. 7, according to the announcement. The slain soldiers are part of the overall death toll in Israel.

The overall number of deaths far exceeds the combined toll of all four previous Israel-Hamas wars, estimated at around 4,000.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel expects a long and difficult ground offensive into Gaza soon. It “will take a long time” to dismantle Hamas’ vast network of tunnels, he said, adding that he expects a lengthy phase of lower-intensity fighting as Israel destroys “pockets of resistance.”

His comments pointed to a potentially grueling and open-ended new phase of the war after three weeks of relentless bombardment. Israel has said it aims to crush Hamas’ rule in Gaza and its ability to threaten Israel. But how Hamas’ defeat will be measured and an invasion’s endgame remain unclear. Israel says it does not intend to rule the tiny territory but not who it expects to govern — even as Gallant suggested a long-term insurgency could ensue.

In Washington, the Pentagon said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Gallant on Friday and “underscored the importance of protecting civilians during the Israel Defense Forces’ operations and focusing on the urgency of humanitarian aid delivery for civilians in Gaza.” The Pentagon said Austin also brought up “the need for Hamas to release all of the hostages.”

The conflict has threatened to ignite a wider war across the region. Arab nations — including U.S. allies and ones that have reached peace deals or normalized ties with Israel — have raised increasing alarm over a potential ground invasion, likely to bring even higher casualties amid urban fighting.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned on X that the “outcome will be a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions for years to come.”

With no electricity, no communications and no water, many of those trapped in Gaza had little choice but to wait in their homes or seek the relative safety of schools and hospitals as Israel expanded its bombing early Saturday.

Throughout the night, orange fireballs exploded on the horizon above the apartment buildings and refugee camps of Gaza City, briefly illuminating clouds of white smoke hanging in the air from previous strikes. Some bombs hit in tight groups, apparently slamming into the same location.

Lynn Hastings, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the occupied territories, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that without phone lines and internet, hospitals and aid operations would be unable to operate. The Red Crescent said it could not contact medical teams and residents could no longer call ambulances, meaning rescuers would have to chase the sound of explosions to find the wounded. International aid groups said they were only able to reach a few staffers using satellite phones.

The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed alarm, saying the world “is losing a window into the reality” of the conflict. It warned that the information vacuum “can be filled with deadly propaganda, dis- and misinformation.”

The loss of internet and phones deals a further blow to a medical and aid system that relief workers say was already on the verge of collapse under Israel’s weekslong seal. More than 1.4 million people have fled their homes, nearly half crowding into U.N. schools and shelters. Aid workers say a trickle of aid Israel has allowed to enter from Egypt the past week is a tiny fraction of what is needed.

Gaza hospitals have been scrounging for fuel to run emergency generators that power incubators and other life-saving equipment.

Gallant said Israel believes that Hamas would confiscate any fuel that enters. He said Hamas uses generators to pump air into its hundreds of kilometers (miles) of tunnels, which originate in civilian areas. He showed reporters aerial footage of what he said was a tunnel shaft built right next to a hospital.

“For air, they need oil. For oil, they need us,” he said.

Late Friday the army released photos showing what it said were Hamas installations in and around Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest. Israel has made such claims before, but declined to say how the photos were obtained.

Little is known about Hamas’ tunnels and other infrastructure. Claims by the military and Gallant couldn’t be verified.

Speaking at Shifa Hospital, Hamas media chief Salama Maroof called Israel’s claims “lies” and said they were “a precursor for striking this facility.”

“I ring the alarm bell. There is imminent danger hovering above the medical facility,” Maroof said. The hospital has been overwhelmed and around 40,000 displaced residents have crowded its grounds for shelter, the U.N. says.

Asked if Israel plans to target Shifa, Hagari said, “We will not be able to allow terror activity against Israel from hospitals.”

Hundreds of thousands of people remain in northern Gaza.

In related developments:

— The U.N. General Assembly approved a nonbinding resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza leading to a cessation of hostilities. It was the first U.N. response to Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attacks and Israel’s ongoing military response and vow to obliterate the militant group.

— In New York City, hundreds of protesters calling for a cease-fire filled the famed Grand Central Terminal during rush hour Friday, wearing T-shirts saying “Jews say cease-fire now” and “Not in our name.” Many were detained and removed, their hands zip-tied behind their backs. Police couldn’t immediately provide a number of arrests.

AP