The Critical Environments for Bountiful Harvests

But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully ….. for God loveth a cheerful giver ~ 2 Corinthians 9:6-7.

Introduction

One of the amazing characteristics of normal human beings is their ever so insatiable desire for a better life. Excitingly, the Lord Jesus declared that all things are possible to whosoever believes (Mark 9:23). Thus, you can harvest whatsoever you desire in prayer, if you can believe God for it (Mark 11:24).

Now, one might like the idea of a bountiful harvest, but until a good environment for its viability is created, it may remain just a nice idea (Leviticus 26:10). Stop fighting the symptoms, tackle the root of the problem: improper environment!

If you refuse to create an environment conducive to the future you want, you must be ready to endure the future you’ll get. A truly wise man perceives the future and takes necessary actions to define it gloriously (Genesis 13:14-17).

New Year And New Beautiful Opportunities

Our God is a God of new beginnings! Hence, all those who choose Him can engage new opportunities for fresh starts this new year, and can actually become brighter than the best of the day for God (Isaiah 43:18-21).

With a new beginning under God, we can push behind us the failures of yesteryears, and induce constructive changes that should lead to better results in all areas of our lives: spiritual, family, financial, business or career concerns.

God is ever ready to move us from sad pasts to brilliant futures, and from emptiness into experiences of productivity and relevance. However, there must be a strong determination to cooperate with Him fully.

The Conditions Precedent To Bountiful Harvests

Life in Christ can be so thrilling and so wonderful, but there is always a price attached to living. If you desire to be blessed beyond measure, and become satisfied with bountiful harvests in all ramifications this season, you must practically rejuvenate the following requisite critical environments.

The foremost critical condition required in making your life amenable to bountiful harvests is to keep God first in all your ways (Matthew 6:33). Life has no meaning without God (Genesis 1:1). And, all the labour of man is futility without His input (Psalm 127:1).

You can never generate lasting impacts in your world until God has imparted you, neither can you become anything significant until He has “made you” (Mark 1:17). It is He that gives the increase you are aspiring to enjoy (1Corinthians 3:6-11).

God is not “a” factor for your harvests, He is “the” real factor (John 15:5). Involving the Holy Spirit in your harvest-plan through faith and prayers, and inclining yourself to pastoral instructions are basics to guaranteeing your bountiful harvests (Matthew 9:37-38; Luke 5:5; 2Chronicle 20:20).

Secondly, bountiful harvests are generally excited by great dreams (Isaiah 60:5). You don't enjoy the breakthrough you refuse to perceive by faith (John 4:35). Remember the ringed poplar tree of Jacob and his dizzying harvest (Genesis 30:37)!

Without God, we are nothing; without dreams, we reach nothing. Sparsity and stagnation don’t come from the absence of things, but the absence of direction (Proverbs 29:18).

Your vision is the seed-plot of your better version! Anytime vision is divided, attention is lost, energy is dissipated and divorce becomes inevitable. Staying focused is the secret of conserving strength for the essentials of life and destiny. Friends, guard against every form of distraction this year.

What kind of harvest are you envisioning right now? A bumper harvest in kingdom relevance and impacts, in your health, finances or family life? Your vision can never overwhelm God, no matter what it is (Joel 2:23). Just ensure it’s from heaven and inspired by the Word!

Thirdly, be ready to accept responsibility for the harvests you’re believing God for. Your vision for bountiful harvests places on you the responsibility of freeing yourself from the past, and taking the necessary steps towards a “better you”.

At a point, the prodigal son became less fortunate than the pigs (Luke 15:11-32). Nevertheless, he accepted the responsibility to change his estate of miseries and woes. He arose and went to his father with a penitent heart, and that was sufficient to excite his required change.

Don’t break the mirrors just because they show you your true picture. Don’t leave your future to chance; accept responsibility for your life, and act fast enough to deliver your destiny from the lions of past failings.

Take responsibility for your fields of harvest, now (1Corinthians 4:2). When your life-space produces, you mustn’t leave the fruits to rot away, you must engage the sickles, with serious devotion and commitment.

No farmer invests time and energy planting precious seeds, and then, at harvest time, simply sits idle and watches them rot in the field. That would be crazy! Unfortunately, that’s what many people who are too lazy to work on their harvest fields do (Proverbs 10:5).

Harvests never smile on the sluggards (Proverbs 20:4)! They don’t just jump from the fields to the barn (Joel 3:13-14). Someone must launch out into the deep for a great draught (Luke 5:4).

In particular, accept responsibility to embrace the demands of God’s covenant for your harvests. Being obedient to the divine demands is the secure guarantee for munificent harvests.

Until you accept responsibility for your life, you keep making excuses and looking for scapegoats to blame for everything that happens to you. Nevertheless, those who constantly look for who to blame remain lame.

God’s love is unconditional, but His promises are not. If you want to experience better things in your life and reap bountiful harvests, you must fulfill the conditions pre-set for them.

Many people deliberately breach the benchmarks of the covenant and expose themselves to the diabolical dangers of unforced presumptions, yet they join others to cry when they don’t see their signs (Psalm 74:9).

Prophecies don’t fulfill themselves; they’re fulfilled when the conditions specified for them are fitted (2Corinthians 10:4-6). The basic conditions for bountiful harvests are faithfulness to God and obedience to His commands, walking in the positions of servanthood, discipline, diligence, holiness, respect, love and honour (Leviticus 26:3).

Meanwhile, the following will further tend you to bountiful harvests: kingdom mindedness (Matthew 6:33); violent offerings (Luke 6:38); intense praise (Psalms 67:5-7); and strong prophetic encounters (Hosea 12:13).

Friends, it’s your turn to surprise your world! Don’t be deceived any longer, embrace a higher order of prayer, with your mind renewed by God’s Word, to receive your portion (Galatians 6:7; 1Chronicle 4:9-10).

Very importantly, in these last days, as we make Jesus the center of His Church, there shall also be a great supernatural harvest of souls by the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:14-16).

The Church will begin to experience unprecedented revivals, unusual miracles, signs and wonders as it did in the days of old, and she shall continue to grow from strength to strength.

Great Christian souls, go out now under the banner of God’s grace and in the power of the Holy Ghost to reap your harvests, always remembering that every anticipated harvest is inside the seed (2Corinthians 9:10).

Your seeds include your words, money, time, talents, treasure, kindness, influence, etcetera, sown in kingdom principles (Genesis 1:11-12; 8:22). The more you sow, the more you harvest!

No matter how dry or barren the fields may be around you, God will still honour your faith, your obedience and your expectancy. Only stay focused as you launch out at His Word.

Dream, sow, conquer, harvest and possess bountifully! Above all remain spotless and focused on the Lord Jesus (Proverbs 22:4). This year, His favour will deliver you from every form of reproach, and the old barriers will give way.

Every demonic altar raised to waste your harvest is hereby summarily destroyed. You will celebrate and be celebrated, soon. You won’t miss it, 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

Recently, a post by since-removed Reddit user u/Fearless_Studio_7676 (or Fearless Studio, for short) got a lot of attention on the popular "Am I The Asshole?" subreddit. Fearless Studio shared his story and asked, "Am I the asshole for making my stepdaughter leave the restaurant for disrespecting the waiter?"

Here's what happened, in Fearless Studios' own words. "I was dining with my wife and kids yesterday," he begins. "[Our party] included Hailey, 16, who's my stepdaughter. We had picked a relatively expensive restaurant as we thought it'd be better to do things properly as we were going out together for the first time in a while."

"During dinner, while the waiter was serving one of the dishes, he accidentally tripped or something. I think he might have lost his grip, I am not sure. But some of [the dish] fell onto Hailey's clothes, ruining them. He apologized immediately, but she got livid at him."

"She proceeded to call him a 'bastard,' saying 'Why are you a goddamn waiter if you can't even watch where you are going? You are already paid low, so I'd have thought you'd be more careful.' She was shouting, and almost everyone was looking at us now. I was shocked and asked her to apologize."

"She refused, saying she does not have to [apologize] as he had ruined her dress. I asked her to apologize repeatedly, but she did not listen."

"In the end I told her that I might not be able to force her to apologize, but that I can definitely refuse to pay for her. I asked her to get out of the restaurant. She began screaming and protested. I did not relent, and the end result is that she had to leave."

Here's the kicker: "My wife lashed out at me, saying that I overreacted and that although what Hailey said might have been wrong, it did not warrant asking her to leave. Am I the asshole?"

The overwhelming consensus is that Fearless Studio is not the asshole, and people had a lot to say about his family.

"If she can’t behave well in a nice restaurant, then she shouldn’t be there. It’s no different than keeping poorly-behaved or loud kids away. If she’s going to act like a child, then she’s going to be treated like a child."

"Have her work a part time job in a restaurant and I guarantee her behavior towards food service staff will change for the better. [You're] not the asshole."

—u/jasperjamboree

"You can always tell the quality of someone's character by how they treat waiters or other service industry personnel. Your wife is enabling your stepdaughter's horribly rude behavior."

"Screaming at the waiter and putting them down like that was totally out of line even if the waiter did make a mistake. If it were my child, I would make them write a hand written note apologizing to the waiter and force them to go back and deliver it in person!"

—u/feelingjustpeachy

"Your stepdaughter was incredibly rude and disrespectful. That girl needs to get a job in the service industry and see how hard they work and how much crap they put up with. She has no right to speak to someone that way."

—u/Handknitmittens

"You're not the asshole. The waiter made a mistake, and apologized. Your daughter has a right to be upset and we all say extreme things in the heat of the moment sometimes. She should, however, have calmed down and apologized herself. There is no need to make somebody feel small after a mistake. If you have a grievance there are ways to deal with it in a constructive way."

—u/MostAncient7552

"There’s no question in my mind that it would be messed up for her to stay and for that waiter or one of his colleagues to have to serve her during the rest of dinner."

"At most, your wife could have said that all of you should have left, but even that I only would tolerate because the stepdaughter is a minor rather than an adult and dinner would be pretty awkward after that incident anyway."

—u/SnooPets8873

"Thank you for standing up for a server. You made that waiter's day."

—u/AdOne8433

I am mortified. Please let me know your thoughts — I wish we knew more about the dynamic of this family. I guess the moral of the story is: teach your kids basic manners, and not to yell at people in public!

Buzzfeed

“Bayo” Ogunlesi had already racked up enough accolades to rival any of his elite friends.

There’s the undergraduate degree with first-class honors from Oxford University, the law degree and MBA from Harvard and a clerkship on the Supreme Court under Thurgood Marshall. He was head of Credit Suisse’s investment-banking division and lead independent director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

He even got a shout-out from Nigerian superstar Burna Boy, who sang he hustles “like Adebayo Ogunlesi” in his hit “Wonderful.”

Now a deal to buy the $100 billion asset-management firm he co-founded and heads, Global Infrastructure Partners, is set to make him something else: a billionaire.

Ogunlesi, 70, assumes that title after BlackRock Inc. announced Friday it was buying GIP for $12.5 billion. A GIP spokesperson didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Ogunlesi has managed to radiate an aw-shucks sense that he somehow fell into his job, even as the ambition and connections it took to get there were clear.

Major Player

The Nigerian-born son of a medical professor, he eventually did a short stint at white-shoe law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore before joining First Boston around his 30th birthday. His timing was perfect: The firm was a major player in the mergers business of Wall Street’s roaring ‘80s.

His rise continued once Credit Suisse took over the firm. He was put in charge of the entire investment banking division in 2002, helping boss John Mack slash thousands of jobs. But while Mack’s reputation for ruthlessness won him the nickname “Mack the Knife,” Ogunlesi’s was simply “Bayo.”

After reaching the heights of banking, he decided he needed a change when his wife remarked that he sounded miserable talking about work. A meal with colleague Matt Harris, who was co-head of the energy group, led them to the idea of a manager of infrastructure investments.

The two recruited Bill Woodburn, former head of General Electric Co.’s infrastructure business, over dinner at Harris’ favorite Midtown Manhattan restaurant, according to a 2017 profile of the firm. Other Credit Suisse alum joined as well, including Jonathan Bram, who was a co-head of the firm’s industrial and services group; Michael McGhee, who ran global transportation and logistics; and Raj Rao, from the global energy group.

The founding partners launched GIP in 2006, raising more than $5 billion. Within a few years they owned London’s Gatwick and City airports, as well as Edinburgh’s, and have since invested in gas pipelines, offshore wind farms, power plants and port operators.

Ogunlesi, who is chief executive officer, is calculated to have a 17.5% stake by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and a total fortune of about $2.3 billion. An equal split of GIP’s $12.5 billion acquisition price would give the firm’s 27 other partners stakes worth more than $380 million each.

Hamptons Parties

Ogunlesi doesn’t need a windfall to gain entry into the top levels of New York society. In the Hamptons, where bankers have long competed over opulent real estate and exclusive golf course memberships, Ogunlesi and his wife, Amelia, are known for throwing one of the ritziest parties of the late summer.

The website New York Social Diary in 2019 sized up the lavish decor by noting even “green whale pants” would “look sexy.” Under geometric lighting fixtures hanging from a tented glass ceiling, a smiling Ogunlesi could be seen near Blackstone Inc. co-founder Steve Schwarzman, former Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and US Senator Chuck Schumer.

A look at his schedule shows how those connections get built. He sat in April for a fireside chat with billionaire Henry Kravis at a conference about inclusion in the alternative-investing space, and in June helped run a three-hour meeting with White House officials, agendas show.

Ogunlesi, who was appointed lead independent director at Goldman Sachs in 2014, plans to resign that position after GIP’s sale. A golfer who once sported an 8 handicap, he also sits on the board of Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.

When Donald Trump won in 2016, he named Ogunlesi to the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum alongside several billionaires. The investor got an even more plum position from Joe Biden, whose National Infrastructure Advisory Council he now chairs.

Ogunlesi was one of a small number of international students in his class at Harvard’s law school, which at the time didn’t typically enroll them, he told the New York Times in 2002.

“There only was a guy from Saudi Arabia, a guy from Iran and me,” he said. “I assume Harvard thought that all of us would go back to our countries, become rich, and endow chairs. I hope the Iranian and Saudi did, because I never endowed a chair.”

Bloomberg

President Bola Tinubu has suspended all administered programmes by the national social investment programme agency (NSIPA).

On January 2, Tinubu suspended Halima Shehu as the chief executive officer (CEO) of NSIPA, over alleged financial malfeasance.

Also on January 8, the president suspended Betta Edu as minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation.

Edu’s ministry supervises NSIPA and has come under scrutiny after a memo surfaced wherein she asked Oluwatoyin Madein, accountant-general of the federation, to transfer N585 million to a private account.

According to a statement on Friday by Segun Imohiosen, director of information at the office of the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), the suspension is part of the ongoing investigation of alleged malfeasance in the management of the agency and its programmes.

“All four (4) Programmes administered by NSIPA, viz; N- Power Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme and Home Grown School Feeding Programme have been suspended for a period of six (6) weeks in the first instance,” the statement reads.

“Tinubu has also raised significant concerns regarding operational lapses and improprieties surrounding payments to the Programs’ beneficiaries.

“He has therefore constituted a ministerial panel to conduct a thorough review of the Agency’s operations with a view to recommending necessary reforms of the NSIPA.

“During the period of this suspension, all NSIPA-related activities, including but not limited to all distributions, events, payments, collaborations and registrations are now frozen.

“The President wishes to assure the stakeholders and all Nigerians that his administration remains committed to a swift and unbiased process that will ensure that, going forward social intervention programmes will work exactly as intended, to the benefit of the most vulnerable Nigerians.”

The Cable

Federal government has transferred control of its 40 percent shareholding in electricity distribution companies (DisCos) from the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to the Ministry of Finance incorporated (MOFI).

Following the privatisation of DisCos in 2013, the federal government retained a 40 percent shareholding in the companies.

The development comes a month after the BPE announced its intention to sell the 40 percent shares on the capital market this year.

In a letter dated January 10, 2024, sent to MOFI’s board of directors by Wale Edun, minister of finance, MOFI was directed to assume ownership and control of interests in entities where the federal government has equity holdings.

“Pursuant to a Power of Attorney granted in 2012, the MOFI, the Donor “as the legal and beneficial holder of FGN interest” appointed the Attorney to be its lawful attorney to transfer its shares in the successor companies to undertake the various actions expressly stated in the said Power of Attorney and do all acts and things in that behalf in order to effectively implement the said decision of the NCP,” the letter reads.

“On 1st day of November, 2013 the powers thereby donated to the Attorney were duly executed and the privatisation by sale of shares in the said successor companies was duly completed by the Attorney.”

Therefore, Edun directed MOFI to revoke and terminate all instruments, agreements, and documents, including a 2012 power of attorney granted to BPE regarding the federal government’s shareholding in successor companies to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

He also directed MOFI to assume ownership, control, and management of all equity holdings of the federal government, and to issue necessary notices, instruments, and documents, which are required to give effect to the directive.

‘MOFI WITHDRAWS BPE NOMINEE DIRECTOR FROM DISCOS’ BOARD’

In a letter subsequently sent to DisCos, Armstrong Takang, chief executive officer (CEO)of MOFI, notified the companies that the BPE nominee director on their board of directors were withdrawn with immediate effect.

“Share certificates of the Company issued in the name of the BPE are to be immediately withdrawn and cancelled,” the letter reads.

“A new share certificate for all outstanding shares of the FGN in the Company is to be issued in the name of “MINISTRY OF FINANCE INCORPORATED.”

Arnstrong also instructed DisCos to promptly deliver all board meeting minutes, operational reports, strategic plans, management accounts, and audited financial statements from 2021 to 2023 to MOFI at a stipulated address.

The Cable

The series of assaults by bandits on some communities in the nation’s capital, Abuja, continued on Thursday as they stormed Kawu village in Bwari Area Council, abducting 23 persons.

Kawu, an FCT village which shares boundaries with Niger and Kaduna states had not been in the radar of the bandits in recent times since they began a regular assault on villages in Bwari and in Garam, a village in Niger State.

The gunmen numbering about 40 were said to have divided themselves into groups in order to launch the multi-prong assault.

Deputy Leader of the Bwari Area Council Legislative arm, Abdulmumini Zakari, who represents the area, said the gunmen arrived around the community the previous day from the Kuyeri Forest in Kaduna State.

“They divided themselves into groups and some went into the palace of the district head, Abdurrahman Danjuma Ali, where they abducted his son, Lukman, and his wife, who he married two weeks ago. Others attacked the compound of Alhassan Sidi Kawu, the Marafa of Kawu and a former PDP Chairman of Kawu Ward. They abducted him along with his four children”, he explained.

According to him, the bandits also went into the compound of Sarkin Pawan Kawu, Gambo Pawa, and abducted him alongside his two wives and some children.

Since December last year, while the activities of bandits had reduced in Kuje, Kwali, and Abaji, it has heightened in Bwari.

Vanguard

Israel defends itself at the UN's top court against allegations of genocide in Gaza

Accused of committing genocide against Palestinians, Israel insisted at the United Nations’ highest court Friday that its war in Gaza was a legitimate defense of its people and that it was Hamas militants who were guilty of genocide.

Israel described the allegations leveled by South Africa as hypocritical and said one of the biggest cases ever to come before an international court reflected a world turned upside down. Israeli leaders defend their air and ground offensive in Gaza as a legitimate response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, when militants stormed through Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage.

Israeli legal advisor Tal Becker told a packed auditorium at the ornate Palace of Peace in The Hague that the country is fighting a “war it did not start and did not want.”

“In these circumstances, there can hardly be a charge more false and more malevolent than the allegation against Israel of genocide,” he added, noting that the horrible suffering of civilians in war was not enough to level that charge.

On Friday afternoon, Germany said it wants to intervene in the proceedings on Israel’s behalf, saying there was “no basis whatsoever” for an accusation of genocide against Israel.

“Hamas terrorists brutally attacked, tortured, killed and kidnapped innocent people in Israel,” German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement. “Since then, Israel has been defending itself against the inhumane attack by Hamas.”

Under the court’s rules, if Germany files a declaration of intervention in the case, it will be able to make legal arguments on behalf of Israel.

Germany would be allowed to intervene at the merits phase of the case to address how the genocide convention, drawn up in 1948 following World War II, should be interpreted, according to international lawyer Balkees Jarrah, associate director of the international justice program at Human Rights Watch.

“That would come after the court issues its decision on South Africa’s request for urgent measures to protect the Palestinian people in Gaza,” Jarrah told The Associated Press from The Hague, where she attended the ICJ hearings.

Germany’s support for Israel carries some symbolic significance given its Nazi history.

Hebestreit said Germany “sees itself as particularly committed to the Convention against Genocide.” He added: “We firmly oppose political instrumentalization.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the announcement, saying the gesture “touches all of Israel’s citizens.”

South African lawyers asked the court Thursday to order an immediate halt to Israeli military operations in the besieged coastal territory that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians. A decision on that request will probably take weeks, and the full case is likely to last years — and it’s unclear if Israel would follow any court orders.

On Friday, Israel focused on the brutality of the Oct. 7 attacks, presenting chilling video and audio to a hushed audience.

“They tortured children in front of parents and parents in front of children, burned people, including infants alive, and systematically raped and mutilated scores of women, men and children,” Becker said.

South Africa’s request for an immediate halt to the Gaza fighting, he said, amounts to an attempt to prevent Israel from defending itself against that assault.

Even when acting in self-defense, countries are required by international law to follow the rules of war, and judges must decide if Israel has.

As two days of hearings ended Friday, ICJ President Joan E. Donoghue said the court would rule on the request for urgent measures “as soon as possible.”

Israel often boycotts international tribunals and U.N. investigations, saying they are unfair and biased. But this time, Israeli leaders took the rare step of sending a high-level legal team — a sign of how seriously they regard the case and likely their fear that any court order to halt operations would be a major blow to the country’s international standing.

Still, Becker dismissed the accusations as crude and attention-seeking.

“We live at a time when words are cheap in an age of social media and identity politics. The temptation to reach for the most outrageous term to vilify and demonize has become, for many, irresistible,” he said.

In a statement from New York, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan called the case a “new moral low” and said that by taking it on, “the U.N. and its institutions have become weapons in service of terrorist organizations.”

Becker said the charges Israel is facing should be leveled at Hamas, which seeks Israel’s destruction and which the U.S. and Western allies consider a terrorist group.

“If there have been acts that may be characterized as genocidal, then they have been perpetrated against Israel,” Becker said.

More than 23,000 people in Gaza have been killed during Israel’s military campaign, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. That toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Nearly 85% of Gaza’s people have been driven their homes, a quarter of the enclave’s residents face starvation, and much of northern Gaza has been reduced to rubble.

South Africa says this amounts to genocide and is part of decades of Israeli oppression of Palestinians.

“The scale of destruction in Gaza, the targeting of family homes and civilians, the war being a war on children, all make clear that genocidal intent is both understood and has been put into practice. The articulated intent is the destruction of Palestinian life,” said lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, adding that several leading politicians had made dehumanizing comments about people in Gaza.

The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry welcomed the case, saying in a written statement that South Africa “delivered unequivocal evidence that Israel is deliberately and systematically violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention.”

Malcolm Shaw, an international law expert on Israel’s legal team, rejected the accusation of genocidal intent and called the remarks Ngcukaitobi referenced “random quotes not in conformity with government policy.”

Israel also says that it takes measures to protect civilians, such as issuing evacuation orders ahead of strikes. It blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll, saying the group uses residential areas to stage attacks and for other military purposes.

Israel’s critics say that such measures have done little to prevent the high toll and that its bombings are so powerful that they often amount to indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks.

If the court issues an order to halt the fighting and Israel doesn’t comply, it could face U.N. sanctions, although those may be blocked by a veto from the United States, Israel’s staunch ally. In Washington, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby called the allegations “unfounded.” The White House declined to comment on how it might respond if the ICJ determines Israel has committed genocide.

The extraordinary case goes to the core of one of the world’s most intractable conflicts — and for the second day protesters rallied outside the court.

Pro-Israeli demonstrators set up a table near the court grounds for a Sabbath meal with empty seats, commemorating the hostages still being held by Hamas. “We want to symbolize the empty chairs, because we are missing them,” said Nathan Bouscher from Center for Information and Documentation on Israel.

Nearby, over 100 pro-Palestinian protesters waved flags and shouted protests.

The case also strikes at the heart of both Israel’s and South Africa’s national identities.

Israel was founded as a Jewish state in the wake of the Nazis’ slaughter of 6 million Jews during World War II. South Africa’s governing party, meanwhile, has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Black people to “homelands.”

The world court, which rules on disputes between nations, has never judged a country to be responsible for genocide. The closest it came was in 2007, when it ruled that Serbia “violated the obligation to prevent genocide” in the July 1995 massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica.

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Britain's Sunak, in Ukraine, announces increase in military aid

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited wartime Kyiv on Friday to sign a new security agreement and announce an increase in military funding for Ukraine to buy drones, including surveillance, long-range strike and sea drones.

Britain, one of Ukraine's closest allies during President Vladimir Putin's Russian invasion, will increase its support in the next financial year to 2.5 billion pounds ($3.19 billion), an increase of 200 million pounds on the previous two years, Sunak said.

"Our opponents around the world believe that we have neither the patience nor resources for long wars. So waver now, and we embolden not just Putin, but his allies in North Korea, Iran and elsewhere," Sunak told a press conference.

His trip comes at an important juncture for Kyiv in the nearly two-year-old war. Political infighting in the United States and European Union has held up two major packages of assistance.

Kyiv has relied heavily on military and financial aid from the West since the Russian invasion in February 2022.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the press conference he felt vital U.S. financial assistance would also materialise and that he felt more positive now than last month.

The two leaders signed what Zelenskiy described as an "unprecedented security agreement" - an arrangement the Ukrainian leader said would remain in place until Kyiv joined the NATO military alliance.

"This is not simply a declaration," Zelenskiy wrote on social media platform X.

In his nightly video address, the president praised the agreement as a "very serious and modern accord" providing help with weapons, intelligence, and cyber know-how, as well as sanctions and other punitive actions against Russia.

It was, he suggested, similar to Israel's longstanding relations with the United States.

"Many have heard about exemplary security agreements of the 20th century between the United States and Israel, as well as some other similar agreements," Zelenskiy said.

"Now we have formed such an example for our time - it is what gives us confidence now as we defend ourselves against Russian aggression."

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Putin ally, warned on Friday that Moscow would regard any move by Britain to deploy a military contingent to Ukraine as a declaration of war against Russia.

SUPPORT FROM LONDON

Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said the agreement set out the support that London would continue to provide, including intelligence sharing, medical and military training, and defence industrial cooperation.

The UK-Ukraine Agreement on Security Cooperation follows an earlier agreement by the Group of Seven nations to provide Ukraine with bilateral security guarantees.

Ukrainian lawmakers posted short video clips of Sunak addressing members of parliament in Kyiv and receiving a standing ovation.

"We meet today at a difficult moment in the struggle for Ukraine's freedom. And as always during conflict there will be difficult moments. But we must prepare for this to be a long war," Sunak told the lawmakers.

Britain said it would provide the largest delivery of drones to Ukraine from any nation, with most of them expected to be manufactured in Britain.

Ukraine had been fighting for the principles of freedom and democracy for two years, Sunak said in a statement.

"We will stand with Ukraine, in their darkest hours and in the better times to come," he said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainians dying while attempting to escape the country – The Times

More than 20 Ukrainians have died while trying to escape the country since the start of the conflict with Russia, The Times newspaper reported on Thursday, citing a Ukrainian border guard.

The deaths were registered by a single guard unit, responsible for a 320km stretch of the border with Romania and Hungary. The unit is based in the western Ukrainian city of Mukachevo, which has become a popular destination for people trying to flee, given its proximity to four neighboring states – Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania.

Since the outbreak of the hostilities in February 2022, the Mukachevo border guard unit has found 19 bodies in the River Tisza – of people believed to have drowned during botched attempts to cross into Romania. A further five were found frozen to death in the woods.

More Ukrainians are expected to flee the country given the government’s plan to mobilize an additional 500,000 troops to bolster its military ranks, the newspaper noted.

A new mobilization bill was introduced in parliament late last year, seeking to lower the draft age from 27 to 25, and drop exemptions for some categories of disabled people, along with other measures. So far, parliament has failed to pass it into law, with the legislation presently shelved by MPs for amendments.

Over the past year alone, nearly 11,000 military-eligible men have been apprehended at the border while trying to leave the country, Ukrainian border guard spokesman Andrey Demchenko said in late December. The total number caught on the frontier since the start of the conflict has surpassed 17,000.

The number of men prosecuted for evading the draft, however, remains relatively low. Ukraine has more than 9,000 active criminal proceedings against such individuals, with some 2,600 having made it to court, Interior Minister Igor Klimenko revealed last week.

Deputy Defense Minister Natalya Kalmykova stated in October 2023 that“tens, hundreds of thousands of people” may have evaded military enlistment.

Reuters/RT

Chinese officials claim a Beijing company has cracked Apple's AirDrop encryption, a development that could enable police to trace dissidents who've used the app to spread anti-government messages.

• A Chinese tech company claims to have cracked Apple's AirDrop encryption. 
• Chinese authorities say the information helped catch people sending "inappropriate information." 
• Government critics have used the app to send information wirelessly. 

The company Wangshendongjian Technology was able to identify users by hacking encrypted device logs, according to China's Justice Bureau.

The information was used by police to trace people using AirDrop to send what the filing described as "inappropriate speech."

It was also used to investigate the use of the app for "malicious purposes" like sending "illegal pictures, videos, audio andillegally delivering and spreading bad information to nearby people in crowded places such as subways, buses and shopping malls."

According to the release, police were able to correlate data on the phones the information was sent to with phone numbers and other data from the sender's device.

Business Insider has contacted Apple for comment on whether its encryption systems have been compromised.

AirDrop is a tool that allows Apple devices to share information and images wirelessly with other Apple devices nearby.

The Justice Bureau did not specify the nature of the messages that sparked the investigation. CNN reported that AirDrop is sometimes used to send spam messages on Beijing subway to strangers — but it's also been used by dissidents and protesters.

According to reports, Hong Kong protesters have used AirDrop to send information critical of the government to strangers anonymously.

Vice News reported that the tool was used to share information in 2022 during a rare wave of protests in mainland China against Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the government's Covid-19 policies.

The Chinese government has control over the internet, and closely surveils online spaces for government critics.

Under pressure from Chinese authorities, Apple in 2022 introduced a new feature limiting the number of times users in China could receive information through AirDrop from people who were not on their contacts list, reports at the time said.

Business Insider

A Brazilian man tragically lost his life by plunging down a deep shaft he had dug in his kitchen after dreaming that there was gold buried deep under his house.

71-year-old João Pimenta da Silva’s dream of enrichment ended as a nightmare that claimed his life. His lifeless body was found at the bottom of an exceptionally deep well he and his neighbors had dug under his kitchen in Ipatinga, a municipality in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. The man had reportedly dreamt that there was gold deep under his home, and that all he had to do was dig to get to it. He even told his neighbor about his dream and though he was laughed at in the beginning, da Silva was actually able to convince the man to assist him with the digging. Unfortunately, the treasure hunt ended in disaster when the 71-year-old plunged to his death while trying to exit the 40-meter-deep hole.

According to Antônio Costa, the neighbor who helped João Pimenta da Silva dig, the old man was trying to get rid of the water and mud at the bottom of the shaft when he fell to his death. They had lowered a pump into the hole and managed to remove several buckets of water, but da Silva wanted to go down into the hole to check something for himself. As Costa was lowering him into the well, the would-be treasure hunter asked him to pull him back up, but as he started to ascend, João somehow slipped from the swing-like device, and his arm became entangled in the swing’s rope.

“I tried to hold him, alone, there was no way to ask for help,” Costa told the police. “But if I kept holding on, he would have dragged me down as well. I only heard the noise as he hit the bottom.”

Firefighters called to the scene found João Pimenta da Silva dead at the bottom of the deep well. He exhibited polytrauma, open fractures on both legs, a hip fracture, lacerations of the abdomen, widespread abrasions, and no signs of life.

After examining the deep shaft in João Pimenta da Silva’s kitchen, investigators were shocked by how the old man had managed to dig a well “so deep with a stable structure that borders on perfection”. Neighbors claimed that the pensioner had experience digging wells, but considering the extreme depth – the equivalent of a 13-story building – he would have needed advanced equipment to carry out such a dig. Meanwhile, all they found in his home were rudimentary digging tools.

There are still many unanswered questions about João Pimenta da Silva death and the hole that caused it, but since the man’s family didn’t even know about his treasure hunt, they will probably remain unanswered.

Oddity Central