Shortly after Israel was savagely attacked by Hamas terrorists, a popular meme appeared showing former President Donald Trump in silhouette in a Batman-esque bat signal with the line: "The entire world right now." Under Trump, "peace through strength" wasn't just a suggestive mantra; it was a governing imperative. Trump understood that when the United States is weak or is perceived as weak, the good guys retreat, the bad guys advance, and the wheels come off the world.

Trump also knew that by putting America First, our allies and our adversaries would understand that he meant business: If the American people or interests were threatened, there would be an overwhelming U.S. retaliatory response. This kept the bad guys in check and allowed the world to enjoy relative peace, stability and prosperity.

Enter President Joe Biden, who, like most Leftists, put America Last. He rejected the moral and practical necessity of American strength and embraced feeble irresolution. He has projected constant weakness, equivocation, ineptitude and moral bankruptcy. The result has been an explosion of global instability, increased adventurism from existential threats like China and Iran, hot wars in Ukraine and Israel, and the advance of anti-American and anti-freedom forces around the world.

The globe is in absolute chaos because Biden has abdicated his role as Leader of the Free World.

The silver lining to this abject disaster is that it is becoming ever-clearer that Trump's robust, principled leadership is desperately needed back in the White House.

Biden's recent Oval Office address—delivered after Arab leaders canceled a scheduled summit while he was en route to the region and while U.S. forces in Iraq were being attacked by Iranian-backed forces—put that into bold relief.

Biden failed to punish Hamas's terrorist patron Iran, did not forcefully demand the release of American hostages, equated rampant antisemitism with invented Islamophobia, did not condemn the raging antisemitism in his own party, and announced a request for another unaffordable $100 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and other things.

This continuing weakness invites ever-more aggression from our adversaries. Taiwan could be the next casualty of Biden's impotence.

During the 2020 campaign, we were told by Biden's wingmen in the Left-wing press that because foreign policy was his supposed forte, the "adults would be back in charge" and "America would be respected again." Of course, those lies have now brought us violent mayhem, with America lunging from one crisis to another while going off the debt cliff.

Biden's catastrophic performance is a major reason why a competitive Republican primary hasn't materialized. Trump remains so dominant—his lead in the RealClearPolitics polling average has not dipped below 20 percent since April— that The Washington Post recently dubbed it the "make-believe primary."

No candidate has been able to successfully break through, despite two Trump-less debates. Voters aren't looking for worthless chatter or a rehash of tired, counterproductive policies. They want America First policies that improve their lives, keep them safe, and protect America's superpower status.

Only one candidate has a stellar record of delivering all of that as president. With tax cuts, regulatory relief, energy independence and fairer trade deals, Trump delivered a thriving economy with record-low unemployment, significant wage gains, little to no inflation, and a manufacturing boom. He essentially solved illegal immigration, enforced the border, delivered law and order, smashed ISIS, took on China, and ushered in a workable peace in the Middle East.

Despite constant pounding from the Left, Trump's historic policy successes made life significantly better for all Americans—a fresh memory that stands in stark contrast to Biden's many disasters. Most of the policies that the GOP candidates discuss as objectives, Trump has already done—and will do again. The other candidates are accomplished leaders, but America needs someone primed from presidential experience and ready on Day One.

Biden's radical policies have created staggering problems. Since he entered office, his inflationary spending has made the typical American family $7,300 poorer. Approximately 8 million illegal immigrants have crossed the wide-open southern border, bringing tsunamis of dangerous drugs and crime. Our once-great cities are in collapse. Three different American bases are under attack in the Middle East.

To be clear, President Trump's record doesn't just appeal to conservatives. A recent Bloomberg News poll found that the majority of all voters trust Trump over Biden to handle issues such as the economy, immigration, crime, the war in Ukraine, and U.S.-China relations.

It looks increasingly likely that we may be headed for a 2020 redux: two candidates, both of whom have been president but only one of whom has delivered a booming economy, enforced border and world peace.

A chaotic, barbarous world is calling out for strong American leadership. And for that, there's only one option: a restoration of the Trump presidency.

** Monica Crowley is the Host of the Monica Crowley Podcast and served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 2019 to 2021.

Last week, I bought $400 in Amazon gift cards because I was fooled by an elaborate internet con called the "boss scam". Here's how the scam works, and why almost anyone – even an entrepreneur who doesn't have a boss, or a technology writer like me – can get sucked in.

The basic premise of the boss scam is to send a request to someone, ostensibly from their boss, asking them to purchase gift cards as a surprise for valued employees.

The scammer then obtains the gift card numbers and uses the cards and the person who bought them learns a humiliating and expensive lesson. In my case it didn't get quite that far – but it was still infuriating and deeply embarrassing.

Here's how it happened. I applied to join the board of a local nonprofit. Last Friday, I got an email from the group's president, or so I thought. [I'll call him Pete, which is not his real name, but is the name of my first boss.] I use Gmail, which shows the sender's image, if there is one and their name in bold letters.

The email address is there too, in smaller type. I saw Pete's image and his name. The subject line referenced his nonprofit. I assumed the message was really from him. 

That was the entire email and nothing about it made me think this might be a hoax. So I answered with an equally brief message to say that I was available. 

Hi Minda, I have been working on incentives and I aim to surprise some of our staff with gift cards and I will like you to handle this for me. You will keep it secret from others until I reveal the beneficiaries. I will get back to you with full details. Let me know if you can take care of this for me.

Regards, Pete

At the mention of gift cards, I should have suspected something was up. But it was the middle of a busy Friday afternoon.

I was hurrying to finish some work because my husband and I had plans that evening. Also, the real Pete had told me this was a working board and that he would ask board members to handle various tasks for the organization.

I decided he must be testing my willingness to do administrative work. I wrote back quickly to say that I didn't know the staff yet and wouldn't know what they'd like but was willing to help him as needed.

Okay Minda, Here is what I need you to do, Kindly make the purchase of 4 Amazon gift cards at a denomination of $100 each, amounting to $400 from any nearby store or gas station. Get back to me with the picture of the receipt once you have them. Let me know how soon you can get them and how you would prefer to be reimbursed.

Regards, Pete

I think it was clever of the scammer to end the message with the question about how to reimburse me. It immediately got me thinking about how he should send me back the money and kept me from focusing on how odd the whole thing was.

Still rushing to meet a deadline, I quickly looked on Amazon, found I could have the cards delivered the same day, and bought them.

When they arrived, I figured the simplest thing to do would be to forward Amazon's purchase confirmation to Pete and I did – but because I was forwarding the message rather than responding in the thread, I sent it to the real Pete's email address.

That's was when I finally started thinking about what I was doing. I noticed the image that came up with Pete's real address was a different photo from the one in the earlier emails I'd received.

The scammer, having never gotten an email from Pete, couldn't know what image he used on his email, I'm assuming. And Pete is a local entrepreneur whose image is widely available online, along with the name of the nonprofit.

Having noticed the inconsistent images, I at last took a look at the email address on the messages asking me to buy the gift cards. It turned out to be This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. My first--unbelievably stupid – thought was that this might be Pete's personal email, which he was using to keep the gifts secret and perhaps by using his proper email I had spoiled the surprise.

I even started writing an email to warn him that I'd forwarded Amazon's email to his official address. But I didn't finish that message because the truth had begun to penetrate my brain.

I abandoned my half-written email and did a quick search, first for that strange email address, which turned up no results, and then for "scam involving Amazon gift cards." And there it was, a warning from the Federal Trade Commission describing exactly the email conversation I was having with Fake Pete.

I quickly got on the phone with Amazon and was told that 1) even if I had forwarded my order confirmation to Fake Pete, that would not be enough for the scammer to get access to the gift cards; and 2) gift cards are non-returnable, so I was stuck with them.

Fortunately, we buy lots of things on Amazon, particularly around the holidays, so we can use those cards or give them as gifts.

"I need you to remove the cards from the pack."

I got further confirmation that the scammer couldn't use the cards when he started texting me, having gotten my number from my email signature. 

Hi Minda, did you receive my email? Can you send the receipts here? – Pete

I decided to string the scammer along a little. "I'm not sure how to forward to a text."

Okay. Can you take pictures of the cards and send them to me?

"You don't believe me that I have them?"

I'm sorry. I just needed to be sure. And I will like to have details of the cards before sending them out. I need you to remove the cards from the pack, scratch the silver panel at the back of each card and send me the photos of each card.

Apparently the scammer had decided to stop babying me along and come right out and ask for what they needed. I responded: "As I said, you can trust that I have them. If we're giving them as gifts, I shouldn't open them, it seems to me."

I was curious to see how the scammer would try to convince me that opening the cards was the right thing to do, but I guess they realized the scam wasn't working, because I never received another message from Fake Pete.

I wish I could tell you that this was the end of the story, but it wasn't quite. Later that evening, the real Pete – who had seen my email forwarding the Amazon order – interrupted a date with his wife to call me and make sure I knew that the gift card request was a scam.

The same email had gone out to many of his contacts at the nonprofit, though most had recognized that it was fraud faster than I had.

I assured him that I'd figured it out before giving the scammer any money and apologized for interrupting his date. I hung up wondering if he now thought I was too big an idiot to serve on his board.

This is what makes the boss scam so powerful. The messages supposedly come from someone you really want to please and impress – a customer, an investor, a trusted colleague or even an actual boss. It plays on our human desire for success and happiness and for connection. That's a strong motivator – and one that can too easily be turned against us.

Inc

Nigeria expects to receive $10 billion of inflows in the coming weeks that will help ease a liquidity crunch weighing on the naira.

The government has a “line of sight” on the inflows into the country “in weeks rather than months,” Finance Minister Wale Edun said at the Nigerian Economic Summit in the capital, Abuja, on Monday. He didn’t disclose details.

President Bola Tinubu’s government has been struggling to stem the decline in the currency. The inflows will add to other steps being taken by the government to boost foreign-exchange liquidity, including improving market transparency and allowing domestic entities to issue foreign-exchange instruments, Edun said.

“The market is illiquid, it’s not functioning properly because there is not enough supply of foreign exchange,” Edun said at the conference.

“As part of a wider review, there’s a revamping of the foreign-exchange market such that the foreign-exchange market will be simplified, it will be digitalized and it will be reformed.”

The authorities also plan to broaden the official currency market to include other “legitimate” participants, including bureaux de change and financial-technology companies, Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the presidential committee on fiscal policy and tax reforms, said at the conference.

Nigeria is considering making it illegal to trade in the parallel market, Oyedele said.

“We currently have a market that is not working and it’s not going to work in its current format,” he said. “We don’t have sufficient liquidity even if you combine the parallel and the official markets.”

The naira slid about 4% to 1,215 a dollar on Monday amid insatiable demand for the greenback on the streets. The decline came days after the central bank ended curbs on using dollars to buy dozens of imported items, and at a time of the year that typically sees Nigerians making payments for tuition at foreign schools and universities.

Further details elaborating on the specifics of these “far-ranging initiatives to deepen foreign-exchange liquidity and improve confidence across” will be shared by the finance minister and the central bank governor, Tinubu said at the conference.

Bloomberg

Federal executive council (FEC) has approved $3.45 billion in loans for the execution of five projects.

The council meeting, presided over by President Bola Tinubu, was held on Monday.

Speaking at the end of the meeting, Wale Edun, minister of finance, and coordinating minister of the economy, said the approved projects were conditioned in the five memos he presented.

Edun said the memos approved include concessional loans with zero-interest financing by the World Bank and the International Development Association (IDA) the concessional financing arm of the bank.

He said the projects approved for funding were in the power and renewable energy sectors.

The minister added that the approved funding for states for resource mobilisation programmes to help them with the internally-generated revenue efforts.

“The council also approved a project for adolescent girls’ initiative for learning and empowerment,” Edun said.

“It’s a programme to support young girls from the age of 11, secondary school age, and to ensure that at the end of the schooling, they have one skill or the other that is marketable, as well as the academic laurels.”

He said the fifth financing that the council approved is for the women’s project.

“This is an additional project. The first one was very successful. It was all about empowering women, upscaling their skill levels, and of course, giving them some financial inclusion, including in the banking system,” he added.

“So those were five loans totalling N3.45billion. And as you know, the tenure is all around 40 years, moratorium period of around 10 years and interest very low, or in the cases of either loans, zero interest, although some fees would be incurred.”

Last week, FEC approved a $1.58 billion loan request.

The loan request was split into two; $1.5 billion from the World Bank and $80 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Debt Management Office announced a foreign debt portfolio of $108.3 billion as March ending 2023.

The Cable/NewsScroll

Lagos, Rivers, and the FCT led as the total Internally Generated Revenue of states in the country marginally rose to N1.93tn in 2022.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday, revealed that the states could only raise their IGR by 1.57 per cent from the N1.89tn they recorded in 2021.

The IGRs by the states showed Lagos (N651.15bn), Rivers (N172.82bn), FCT (N124.37bn), Ogun (N120.58bn), and Delta (N85.90bn) were the top five states in terms of revenue generated.

Kebbi (N9.15bn), Taraba (N10.24bn), Yobe (N10.46bn), Ebonyi (N12.43bn), and Katsina (N13.06bn), were the bottom states.

The NBS disclosed that 2022 IGR figures for the states had two major revenue sources namely, taxes and Ministries, Departments and Agencies’ revenue.

It noted that the taxes sub-category recorded in the period included Pay As Your Earn, direct assessment, road taxes, stamp duties, capital gain tax, withholding taxes, other taxes and LGAs revenue.

It said, “PAYE was the most contributing revenue source during the year, recorded 67.62 per cent share to the total tax generated revenues nationwide. While capital gains tax was the least in the year under review with 0.24 per cent share to total tax revenue.

“Oyo, Lagos, and Jigawa states were the three leading states with the highest LGA revenue reported during the year. The states recorded N11.83bn, N11.51bn, and N8.70bn respectively.”

Total PAYE collected in 2022 was N994.41bn, direct assessment tax amounted to N52.35bn, road taxes was N24.57bn, stamp duties was N27.13bn, capital gain tax was N3.52bn, withholding tax was N139.91bn, other taxes amounted to N179.95bn, LGA revenue amounted to N48.71bn, and the states made N455.07bn from their MDAs.

Despite the growth in IGR, states relied heavily, as in other years, on allocations from the Federal Government in 2022. Total FAAC allocation to states, excluding the FCT, was N3.16tn, 63.73 per cent more than the total states’ IGR for the year. In 2022, states domestically borrowed N870bn to augment their expenses.

In 2022, only 11 states including the FCT attracted foreign investors with the others losing out on investment opportunities.

Punch

Seventy-six people were arrested for attending a birthday party for gay people in northern Nigeria, the country's paramilitary agency said on Monday, adding that the organiser had also planned to hold a same sex wedding, which is illegal.

There are the latest arrests targeting LGBTQ Nigerians after police in August raided a gay wedding in the southern city of Warri in Delta state, and arrested dozens of people. The accused are out on bail.

In Nigeria, like in most parts of Africa, homosexuality is generally viewed as unacceptable, and a 2014 anti-gay law took effect.

Buhari Saad, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) spokesperson for the largely Muslim Gombe state, said after receiving a tip off, the agency raided a party on Saturday night that was being attended by "homosexuals and pimps".

He said 59 men had been arrested, including 21 who confessed to being homosexual, and 17 women.

The Gombe NSCDC said in a statement that the organiser of the birthday party had also planned to wed another man, who was still at large, before police raided the event.

The anti-gay law in Africa's most populous nation includes a prison term of up to 14 years for those convicted, and bans gay marriage, same-sex relationships, and membership of gay rights groups.

The case is expected to be heard in the Gombe state High Court on Tuesday (today), Saad said.

Reuters

Hamas frees two Israeli women as US advises delaying ground war to allow talks on captives

Hamas on Monday released two elderly Israeli women held hostage in Gaza as the United States expressed increasing concern that the escalating Israel-Hamas war will spark a wider conflict in the region, including attacks on American troops.

The death toll in Gaza rose rapidly as Israel ramped up airstrikes that flattened buildings in what it said was preparation for an eventual ground assault. The United States advised Israel to delay the expected invasion to allow time to negotiate the release of more hostages taken by Hamas during its brutal incursion two weeks ago.

A third small aid convoy from Egypt entered Gaza, where the population of 2.3 million has been running out of food, water and medicine under Israel’s sealed border. With Israel still barring entry of fuel, the U.N. said its distribution of aid would grind to a halt within days when it can no longer fuel its trucks. Gaza hospitals flooded by a constant stream of wounded are struggling to keep generators running to power lifesaving medical equipment and incubators for premature babies.

The two freed hostages, 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz and 79-year-old Nurit Cooper, were taken out of Gaza at the Rafah crossing into Egypt, where they were put into ambulances, according to footage shown on Egyptian TV. The two women, along with their husbands, were snatched from their homes in the kibbutz of Nir Oz near the Gaza border during Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israeli communities. Their husbands, ages 83 and 84, were not released.

“While I cannot put into words the relief that she is now safe, I will remain focused on securing the release of my father and all those — some 200 innocent people — who remain hostages in Gaza,” Lifshitz’ daughter, Sharone Lifschitz, said in a statement.

Lifschitz, an artist and academic in London who uses a different spelling for her name, told reporters last week that her parents were peace activists, and her father would drive to the Gaza border to take Palestinians to east Jerusalem for medical treatment.

Kindness, she said last week, could somehow save them.

“I grew up, you know, with all these Holocaust stories about how all my uncles’ lives were saved because” of acts of kindness, she said.

“Do I want that to be the story here?” she asked. “Yeah.”

Hamas apparently received nothing in exchange for the release of the two hostages, who were freed days after an American woman and her teenage daughter. Hamas and other militants in Gaza are believed to have taken roughly 220 people, including an unconfirmed number of foreigners and dual citizens.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas. Iranian-backed fighters around the region are warning of possible escalation, including the targeting of U.S. forces deployed in the Mideast, if a ground offensive is launched in Gaza.

The U.S. has told Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and other groups not to join the fight. Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire almost daily across the Israel-Lebanon border, and Israeli warplanes have struck targets in the occupied West Bank, Syria and Lebanon in recent days.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said there has been an uptick in rocket and drone attacks by Iranian-backed militias on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, and the U.S. was “deeply concerned about the possibility for any significant escalation” in the coming days.

He said U.S. officials were having “active conversations” with Israeli counterparts about the potential ramifications of escalated military action.

The U.S. advised Israeli officials that delaying a ground offensive would give Washington more time to work with regional mediators on the release of more hostages, according to a U.S. official.

Israeli tanks and ground forces have been massed at the Gaza border, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops there Monday to keep preparing for an offensive “because it will come.” He said it will be a combined offensive from air, land and sea, but he did not give a time frame.

A ground offensive is likely to dramatically increase casualties in what is already the deadliest by far of five wars fought between Israel and Hamas since the militant group took power in Gaza in 2007.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed — mostly civilians slain during the initial Hamas attack. At least 222 people were captured and dragged back to Gaza, including foreigners, the military said Monday, updating a previous figure.

More than 5,000 Palestinians, including some 2,000 minors and around 1,100 women, have been killed, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said Monday. That includes the disputed toll from an explosion at a hospital last week. The toll has climbed rapidly in recent days, with the ministry reporting 436 additional deaths in just the last 24 hours.

Israel said it struck 320 militant targets throughout Gaza over the last 24 hours. The military says it does not target civilians, and that Palestinian militants have fired over 7,000 rockets at Israel since the start of the war.

Inside Gaza, the civilian death toll continued to mount.

Fifteen members of the same family were among at least 33 Palestinians buried Monday in a shallow, sandy mass grave at a Gaza hospital after being killed in Israeli airstrikes.

The bodies were laid to rest side by side in the courtyard of al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah. Men discussed where to fit the shrouded corpse of a small child. “Bring them all,” a gravedigger called out.

Israel carried out limited ground forays into Gaza. On Sunday, Hamas said it destroyed an Israeli tank and two armored bulldozers inside Gaza. The Israeli military said a soldier was killed and three others were wounded by an anti-tank missile during a raid inside Gaza.

On Monday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said 20 trucks entered Gaza carrying food, water, medicine and medical supplies through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the only way into Gaza not controlled by Israel. It was the third delivery in as many days, each around the same size.

The aid coming in so far is “a drop in the ocean” compared with the needs of the population, said Thomas White, the Gaza director of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. The U.N. has said 20 trucks amounts to 4% of an average day’s imports before the war and that hundreds of trucks a day are needed.

White said the agency had only three days of fuel left for its trucks. The supplies coming through Rafah are reloaded onto UNRWA vehicles and the Red Crescent trucks to take to hospitals and U.N. schools in the south of Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people are taking shelter, running low on food and largely drinking contaminated water.

At least 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza have fled their homes, and nearly 580,000 of them are sheltering in U.N.-run schools and shelters, the U.N. said Monday.

No aid will be distributed in Gaza City and other parts of the north, where hundreds of thousands of people remain. Gaza City’s main al-Shifa Hospital, with a normal capacity of 700 patients, is currently overwhelmed with 5,000 patients, and around 45,000 displaced people are gathered in and around its grounds for shelter, the U.N. said.

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces apply pressure on Ukraine's Avdiivka, Kupiansk

Russian forces on Monday pressed their attacks on two frontline areas of eastern Ukraine, seeking to sever the sole supply route into the devastated city of Avdiivka and advance on the key town of Kupiansk farther north.

The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said its troops had repelled about 10 Russian attacks on Avdiivka. Vitaly Barabash, head of Avdiivka's military administration, said there were round-the-clocks strikes on Avdiivka's town centre and on the sole road used to bring in supplies.

"A very difficult situation with supplies, with 22 km (15 miles) of road constantly under fire, day and night," Barabash told U.S-funded Radio Liberty.

"This complicates evacuation and delivery of aid. The enemy is trying to cut it off. Any movement is a signal to open fire."

Barabash said roughly 1,600 residents remained in the town, down from a pre-war population of about 30,000. Most of those remaining had no wish to leave, he said.

Avdiivka has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance after months of attacks. It was briefly captured in 2014 by Russian-backed separatists who overran large stretches of territory in the east, and Ukrainian forces have erected solid fortifications in the intervening nine years.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy paid tribute to those defending the town in his nightly video message, saying: "Their resilience is the strength for all Ukraine now."

General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukrainian ground forces, described conditions along the entire 1,000-km (600-mile) front as "challenging". He singled out Bakhmut, seized by Russia in May after months of battles, and Kupiansk, both northeast of Avdiivka, for facing the greatest difficulties.

"The enemy is sustaining significant losses, primarily in terms of personnel, but is constantly replenishing its forces by bringing in reserves, including from Russia," Syrskyi told the UNIAN news agency.

Local officials also said Russian forces had again shelled areas in the southern Kherson region that are under Kyiv's control. Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for more than 800 children, they said.

Russia has focused on gaining control of the eastern Donbas region, made up of Donetsk and Luhansk cities and surrounding areas, since failing to move on Kyiv in the early days of its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Moscow calls the war in Ukraine a "special military operation".

Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in June this year in both the east and south, making much slower progress however than a lightning advance through the northeast a year ago.

Russian accounts of the fighting on Monday made no mention of Avdiivka for the third straight day. It said Russian forces had repelled three attacks outside Kupiansk and a further 10 near Bakhmut.

Reuters could not independently confirm the battle reports from either side.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Zelensky orders Ukrainian army to advance ‘500 meters a day’

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has given his military a tall order, demanding that they take at least 500 meters of territory every day after suffering tens of thousands of casualties in their floundering counteroffensive against Russian forces.

“Ukraine needs results every day,” Zelensky said in his evening video address on Sunday. “We need to resist the Russian assaults, kill the occupiers and move forward. We must advance by at least a kilometer, at least 500 meters, every day. We must keep moving forward in order to improve the Ukrainian positions and put pressure on the occupiers.”

Such progress is needed to strengthen Ukraine and motivate foreign allies to provide more military support, Zelensky said, adding that next week “will bring more opportunities for Ukraine.”

Zelensky made his comments at a time when Russian forces are advancing around the town of Avdeevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Kupyansk, in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region.

Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin estimated that Ukrainian forces had suffered more than 90,000 casualties in their counteroffensive, which began in early June, describing it as “failed.” Meanwhile, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kirill Budanov, admitted in an interview that the operation isn’t so much “behind schedule”as off the schedule entirely.

Kiev also faces a potential competition for Western support and attention after surprise attacks by Hamas ignited a new war in Israel earlier this month. Even before the latest Israel-Hamas conflict began, President Joe Biden’s administration was struggling to win approval from US lawmakers for additional military and economic aid to Ukraine.

Reuters/RT

Members of Gen Z — or those born between 1997 and 2012 — are eager to climb the corporate ladder. A majority, 70% say they’re looking to reach the C-suite, according to a September 2023 Adobe survey of 1,011 members of the generation.

Whether you’re part of Gen Z or not, there are all sorts of ways to reach the heights of leadership. If you ask Ryan Simonetti, CEO of hospitality company Convene, which has raised more than $280 million in funding, it’s about taking on projects beyond the scope of your role — especially when your company is in a bind.

When an opportunity to take on new and pressing work arises, “put your hand up,” he says.

‘There’s never enough people to do the jobs’

When it comes to organizations that are constantly growing, like startups, “there’s never enough people to do the jobs,” says Simonetti, who spoke to CNBC Make It at the Fast Company Innovation Festival. But “if you put your hand up and take an initiative, take a stretch project,” he says, you’re helping the organization solve problems in real time. That’s exactly what it needs from its workforce.

Not only does volunteering in such a way offer critical help, it gives you an opportunity to learn and accrue more skills. The people who’ve raised their hands at Convene have consistently continued learning, says Simonetti, “and that’s created opportunities for them professionally.”

It’s that “I want to learn, I’m curious, and I’m willing to do the work attitude” that “has paid real dividends” for people at his company, says Simonetti. Especially for young people.

‘There’s two parts of being a leader’

There’s another component to taking on more responsibility that helps you climb that corporate ladder: It proves you’re a dedicated teammate.

“There’s two parts of being a leader,” says Djenaba Parker, general counsel and chief people officer at Goop. “It’s being a good leader and being a good teammate.” Good teammates look at their organization’s needs and just “do more,” she says. They see where critical gaps need to be filled and help fill them. This takes work off of their colleagues’ plates and helps everyone move forward together.

When you raise your hand “with collaboration and with intention, you really garner the respect of people around you,” she says. Including by the higher ups making hiring and promotion decisions.

CNBC

Nigeria on Monday won its bid to overturn an $11 billion damages bill for a collapsed gas processing project it said was procured by a concerted campaign of bribery.

The West African country was on the hook for the sum – representing around a third of its foreign exchange reserves – after a little-known British Virgin Islands-based company took Nigeria to arbitration over the deal.

Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) was awarded a 20-year contract in 2010, to construct and operate a gas processing plant in southern Nigeria, as part of a wider plan to exploit Nigeria's abundant reserves of gas.

After the deal collapsed, P&ID took Nigeria to arbitration in London and in 2017 was awarded $6.6 billion for lost profits – a sum which has swelled with interest to over $11 billion, representing ten times the country's 2019 health budget.

However, Nigeria's lawyers say the country was the victim of "a campaign of bribery and deception" by P&ID, which they say paid bribes to senior officials to obtain the contract and then corrupted the country's lawyers to obtain confidential documents during the arbitration.

P&ID denied that it procured the contract through bribery or that it corrupted Nigeria's legal team during the arbitration, blaming the failure of the gas deal and the country's arbitration defeat on institutional incompetence.

Judge Robin Knowles allowed Nigeria's challenge in a written ruling on Monday.

"I have not accepted all of Nigeria's allegations," the judge said in his ruling.

But he added that the arbitration awards "were obtained by fraud and the awards were, and the way in which they were procured was, contrary to public policy".

Reuters