Hamas casts doubt on participation in new Gaza ceasefire talks

Palestinian militant group Hamas on Sunday asked mediators to present a plan based upon previous talks instead of engaging in new negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire deal, casting doubt on its participation in a Thursday meeting called by the mediators.

Last week, leaders of the United States, Egypt and Qatar urged Israel and Hamas to meet for negotiations on Aug. 15 in either Cairo or Doha to finalize a Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal.

Israel said it would send negotiators to take part in the meeting. Hamas initially said it was studying the offer but has now hinted it may stay out of the new round of talks.

"The movement calls on the mediators to present a plan to implement what was agreed upon by the movement on July 2, 2024, based on (President Joe) Biden's vision and the UN Security Council resolution," Hamas said in a statement.

"The mediators should enforce this on the occupation (Israel) instead of pursuing further rounds of negotiations or new proposals that would provide cover for the occupation's aggression and grant it more time to continue its genocide against our people," the statement said.

Hamas said it has shown flexibility throughout the negotiating process but that Israeli actions, including what Hamas has said was its assassination of the group's leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran late last month, indicate that it is not serious about pursuing a ceasefire agreement. Israel has not denied or claimed responsibility.

President Joe Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal in an address on May 31. Washington and regional mediators have since tried arranging the Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal but have run into repeated obstacles.

There has separately been an increased risk of a broader Middle East war after the recent killings of both Hamas leader Haniyeh in Iran and Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukrin Beirut drew threats of retaliation against Israel.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry.

** Palestinian gunmen kill Israeli in West Bank attack, Israeli military says

An Israeli was killed and another wounded on Sunday by Palestinian gunmen who opened fire on a main road in the occupied West Bank, Israel's ambulance service and military said, with the armed wing of militant faction Hamas claiming responsibility.

The Israeli military said it was pursuing the suspected assailants, blocking routes and conducting searches.

Later in the day, Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades said its West Bank-based fighters killed an Israeli soldier at point-blank range near the settlement of Mehola in the Jordan Valley and "returned to their bases safely."

It said the operation came in retaliation for Israel's strike on a school where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in Gaza City on Saturday, which the civil defence service said had killed at least 90 people.

The Israeli military said it had struck a Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant command post in this attack and killed 19 militants. The Hamas and Islamic groups rejected the Israeli military statement.

Violence in the West Bank, already on the rise before the war in Gaza, has escalated further, with stepped-up Israeli military raids, settler violence and Palestinian street attacks.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Kursk attack will pressure Russia and 'restore justice,' Zelenskiy says

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine had launched an incursion into Russian territory to "restore justice" and pressure Moscow's forces, in his first acknowledgement of Kyiv's surprise offensive into the western Kursk region.

Moscow's forces on Sunday were in their sixth day of intense battle against Kyiv's largest incursion into Russian territory since the start of the war, which left southwestern parts of Russia vulnerable before reinforcementstarted arriving.

Russian authorities rushed to evacuate residents and imposed a sweeping security regime in three border regions on Saturday, after the attack which military analysts say caught the Kremlin off-guard. Belarus, a staunch ally of Moscow, also sent more troops to its border with Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of violating its air space.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said he had discussed the operation with top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi, vowing to respond in kind after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.

"Today, I received several reports from Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi regarding the front lines and our actions to push the war onto the aggressor's territory," he said late on Saturday.

"Ukraine is proving that it can indeed restore justice and is ensuring the exact kind of pressure that is needed - pressure on the aggressor."

Russia's defence ministry said on Sunday it had destroyed 14 Ukrainian drones and four Tochka-U tactical ballistic missiles overnight over the Kursk region, and 18 drones over other Russian regions that Ukraine frequently attacks.

In a statement, it called the ground incursion "barbaric" and said it made no military sense.

Ukraine has at most occupied several tens of square kilometres of Russian territory without laying claim to it, while Russia controls more than 100,000 sq km of Ukraine's internationally recognised territory.

Russia's top general, Valery Gerasimov, said on Wednesday the attacks had been halted, but Russia has not pushed the Ukrainian forces back over the border.

Russian military bloggers said the situation had stabilised after Russia's reinforcements, though they said Ukraine was swiftly building up forces.

INJURIES AND EVACUATIONS

Zelenskiy said on Sunday Russia had launched nearly 2,000 cross-border strikes on Ukraine's Sumy region from the region of Kursk this summer and that such strikes deserved a Ukrainian response.

"Artillery, mortars, drones. We also record missile strikes, and each such strike deserves a fair response," the Ukrainian leader said.

Earlier, Kursk officials said 13 people were injured in the city after debris from a destroyed Ukrainian missile fell onto a nine-storey residential building.

An image posted by Kursk's mayor showed flames rising through a shattered apartment block surrounded by charred debris.

It was not clear whether there was further damage. Moscow and Kyiv rarely disclose the full extent of damage inflicted by attacks on them unless there are injuries or damage to residential buildings.

Alexei Smirnov, Kursk's acting governor, ordered local authorities to speed up the evacuation of civilians in areas at risk. On Saturday, Russia's TASS state news agency reported that more than 76,000 people had been evacuated.

Kyiv and Moscow deny targeting civilians in their attacks in the war, which has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of Ukrainians, and has no end in sight.

Russian military bloggers say fighting is taking place as deep as 20 km (12 miles) inside the Kursk region, prompting some of them to question why Ukraine was able to pierce the Kursk region so easily.

A few dozen Russian soldiers, including fighters from Chechnya, who were captured allegedly in Kursk were shown in a video posted by "I want to live," a project which is linked to Ukraine's military spy agency. Reuters could not immediately verify the video.

After a father and his 4-year-old son were killed near Kyiv in what Zelenskiy said was a Russian air attack using a North Korean missile, the Ukrainian leader asked Western partners for "strong decisions" allowing his troops to strike deep inside Russia with Western weapons.

"When Ukraine's long-range capabilities have no limits, this war will definitely have a limit," Zelenskiy wrote on X.

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said she had sent an appeal to the United Nations demanding it condemn Ukraine's actions in Kursk.

In a Telegram post, Moskalkova said she was asking the U.N. Human Rights commissioner to "take measures to prevent gross mass violations of human rights".

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Aftermath of night shelling: what is known about situation in Kursk region

Debris from a Ukrainian missile fell on a residential building in Kursk on Sunday night, injuring 13 people.

The Russian army is continuing its operation to destroy Ukrainian armed groups in the border areas of the Kursk region. The head of the Belovsky district of the Kursk region called on residents to remain calm after sabotage groups entered the territory.

TASS has assembled all of the main facts about the events in the region.

Situation in Kursk region

- The situation in the Belovsky district of the Kursk region after the entry of Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups is stable, but tense, the head of the district Nikolay Volobuyev reported.

- Volobuyev called on residents to remain calm. He asked citizens who left the territory of the Belovsky district to remain in the places where they arrived.

- He recommended that those who want to leave the district contact the heads of village councils, the administration of the Belovsky district, or call 112.

- The situation in the Lgovsky district of the Kursk region is stable as of Sunday morning, the head of the district, Sergey Korostelev assured.

Consequences of the shelling of Kursk

- Pieces of a downed Ukrainian missile fell on a residential building in Kursk at night.

- Later, the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for the Kursk region announced that the fire that broke out there as a result of the incident has been extinguished.

- There are no casualties after the fall of missile debris on a nine-storey residential building in the Zheleznodorozhny district of Kursk, said the acting governor of the region, Alexey Smirnov.

- 13 people were injured, two of them are in serious condition.

- They were taken to hospital.

- The city mayor Igor Kutsak announced that the residents of the house will be evacuated to a temporary accommodation point located in a camp outside the city.

- The Kursk authorities have begun compiling lists of residents of a nine-storey building in the Zheleznodorozhny district who were injured as a result of the fall of debris from a Ukrainian missile on Sunday night.

- A special commission will estimate the damage.

Border operation

- Russian air defense systems destroyed four Ukrainian Tochka-U missiles over the Kursk region overnight.

- Russian military personnel destroyed a T-80 tank of the Ukrainian armed forces by using a Lancet loitering munition.

- Crews of Su-25 fighter aircraft, Ka-52 helicopters, as well as crews of T-72B3M tanks of the Russian troops destroyed a concentration of manpower, mobile armored groups, and automobile military equipment of the enemy in the border area of the region, the Defense Ministry reported.

- Russian Armed Forces FPV drone operators neutralized the heavy Baba Yaga drone.

- Russian National Guard fighters destroyed a tank and two armored vehicles in the Kursk region.

Assistance to residents

- About 80 tons of humanitarian aid collected from different regions of the country have been delivered to residents of the Kursk region.

- Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova sent an appeal to the UN demanding that it condemn the actions of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Kursk region in connection with the violation of human rights.

Reuters/Tass

Two years after his inauguration in October 2021 as Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT High Court), Husseini Baba Yusuf, decided in November 2023 that it was time to indulge in a sport of institutional mating games with the newly installed Minister of the Federal Capital, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike. By a stroke of coincidence, both men are members of the Body of Benchers, which describes itself as “the legal body of practitioners of the highest distinction in the legal profession.”

To initiate the mating, the Chief Judge relocated to the office of the Minister with the judges of the court where they proudly put their assets on display for the edification of the Minister. At the meeting, he reminded the Minister that “as a judiciary we are part of the government and we expect that we should be able to do things that should make government work….” 

The Chief Judge was desperate to let the Minister know how ready he was to consummate this relationship. To ensure that he got fullest Ministerial attentions, the Chief Judge made it known that he had instructed the Administrative Judges in charge of the various judicial divisions of the FCT High Court that all cases involving the Federal Capital Territory “would only be assigned by the Chief Judge.”

The following quarter, when the FCT High Court went into the market for judicial appointments, they allocated one out of the twelve new vacancies on offer to the FCT Minister, to which he promptly deputed his sister-in-law. As the new judges got inaugurated in July 2024, the Minister quickly announced that the judges in the FCT were proud beneficiaries of new housing development. The relationship between the Chief Judge and the Minister had moved from intent to intercourse. 

Things were going so well between the two institutional lovers that it was clear neither of them would knowingly allow any interloper to get in the way of their romance. When the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria organisers threatened to intrude into this by making Abuja and the FCT a major theatre of their protest, it was time for the lovers to prove their commitment to one another. 

On 31 July, the day before the scheduled commencement of the protest, most people turned in early in anticipation of the disruptions from what promised to be the mother of all protests. Even judicial business was not left out of the sense of apprehension. 

It was in this uncertainty that the Minister of the FCT decided to prove to the world the depth of the intimacy between him and the Chief Judge of the FCT. On 31 July, he initiated proceedings without notice to the defendants (ex parte) asking the court of the Chief Judge to kettle within the confines of the Moshood Abiola Stadium any wannabe protesters who showed up in the FCT.

This was a poorly rationalised decision, suggesting an executive loss of nerve for many reasons. 

First, the Moshood Abiola Stadium is at the neck of a funnel into the city from both southern Nigeria and from the international airport. It was not difficult to see that any significant demonstration would constitute an obstruction to in-coming traffic, if not a risk to travelers. One conclusion from the proposal contained in the filing by the FCT Minister was that the FCT administration had decided to pass the most substantial burden of any risks from the protest to travelers into and out of the FCT, effectively making them expendable. 

Second, in addition to making certain segments expendable, the FCT Administration simultaneously also chose to indicate in this proposal that they were not amenable to according any bandwidth to the protesters’ discontent. Banishing them to the vicinity of the Moshood Abiola Stadium was designed precisely to signal this.

Third, the kind of order that the Minister sought from the FCT High Court was a profound safety risk to both potential protesters and law enforcement officers, whom it required to enforce the cordon. This kind of policing arrangement had been considered and found unlawful in places with more capable policing, including in England.

Fourth, this was shameless evidence of an irresponsible FCT Administration. A more responsible administration could easily have designated the stadium as a viewing centre for the Olympic Games and invited the excluded youth of the FCT to a different experience of what’s possible when government cares.

Even more curious than the nature of the orders that the Minister sought was the identity of the parties against whom he sought them. Omoyele Sowore, the lead defendant, was in New Jersey in the USA. Another leading defendant was called “Persons Unknown.” 

Now, a basic rule of civil proceedings is that cases can only be instituted against natural or legal persons. “Persons Unknown”, like spirits or ghosts, does not have capacity to sue or be sued. This does not ordinarily require any particular depth of legal skill or insight to figure out except, of course, before an FCT High Court caught in the throes of deep judicial passion with the FCT Minister. 

In this particular case of the suit against “Persons Unknown”, the FCT Minister retained the services of two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SANs. Fittingly for a regime whose agents had expended their bigoted propaganda to demonise the Igbo nation over the protest, it seemed appropriate that the judge whom the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court found to assign the case to was known as Chinedu Oriji. From its Igbo language origins, the name roughly translates into “God guides the eating of the yam.”

With little ado, this yam-eating court quickly granted all the orders sought, including “an order restraining the 1st-5th defendants from gathering or parading themselves along any roadway, street, offices and or public premises/property within the FCT between 1st-10th August 2024 or any other day thereafter pending the hearing and determination of” this case. Instead, the Court required all intending protesters from anywhere within the 7,315 km² of the FCT to converge at the Stadium at the entrance into the city where they would be confined by an armed security cordon thrown at the instigation of the FCT Minister and backed by the order from the  judge called Oriji. 

Even before the Court rose for the day, the order was already in the public domain blaring from all government media. It read uncannily as if the order had been granted even before the case was filed. When the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court promised to “do things that should make government work”, he meant just that.

In this case, however, it was doubtful whether the court was in fact making the government work or exposing it instead to irredeemable odium. A proposition more suited to the mass slaughter of protesters would have been hard to invent. If the protesters had not defied the order in the full majesty of its impracticality, it would have been easy for the government to claim that any number of them trampled to death thereby were unknown. The perpetrators would have been unknown too. That would have been fitting for a protest whose leaders the government had judicially designated as “Persons Unknown.” 

All that would have been both foreseeable and yet judicially authored. A court alive to its duties would have spotted this and saved itself and its executive suitors the embarrassment of issuing such an order. The only thing that mattered in this case, however, was how the FCT High Court could prove to the FCT Minister its rampant capacity for heedless intercourse with the executive. In this case, it was spared by the resilience of citizens. Providence, surely, will not always this gladly suffer the excesses of judicial prostitution. The morale of this tale is simple –  there must be more dignified ways to eat the judicial yam.

As someone who meets and speaks about entrepreneurs regularly, there is one sentence I hate hearing and that sentence is: "I want to be an entrepreneur."

A person who says that sentence is most likely to fail at entrepreneurship. You cannot want to be an entrepreneur. You either are or you aren't. And if you are an entrepreneur, you can't work a regular job because you need to be creating and building, not working behind a computer.

So, how do you know if you're an entrepreneur or not? Here are 5 signs that you might be an entrepreneur.

You're willing to work hard without getting paid

This point is so important, hence it being first on the list. Too many people read tech news and assume that starting a company means raising monster rounds of financing and ultimately buying yourself your dream Lamborghini.

Unless you've already been down the entrepreneurial path, you probably don't know what it entails and just how hard it is.

I know of many entrepreneurs who have been building their company for years, have failed to raise capital and are still dedicated to success without any income to support their family.

I have to be honest, I don't know how they do it. But if you're so dedicated to your mission that you're willing to take loans to make sure you have food on the table, there's a good chance you are resilient enough to be an entrepreneur.

When you fail, you celebrate

No one likes to fail, right? Wrong. A good entrepreneur celebrates failure because they can learn from that experience and leverage those lessons to do better next time.

The journey to building a successful company is full of failures, whether it is on the execution side, raising capital, going to market or many other parts of the process.

Anyone who thinks that they'll just build the company and achieve success without failures along the way has never been an entrepreneur and probably will never be one.

The more competition you have, the happier you are

This is yet another very counter intuitive part of being a successful entrepreneur. If you're opening a pizza shop and someone opens another one next door, chances are, you will be upset or at least, worried.

However, when building a company, especially a technology company, competition should be celebrated. If another company is trying to solve the same problem as you, that means that the problem is a real one and there is demand for a solution.

If you are alone in your landscape and there is no other company addressing your market, that is a real red flag for anyone who is going to engage with the company whether it is an investor, a potential partner or anyone else.

The word 'impossible' gets you excited

When you tell a regular person that something is impossible to do, they move on to the next thing. When you tell an entrepreneur that something is impossible, they will respond: "Hold my beer."

Every service you use today was once deemed impossible. Do you think that when the founder of Uber pitched investors that they thought it was possible to change laws and build a successful company by turning all drivers into taxi drivers? They didn't.

A good entrepreneur is actually motivated by the words: "That is impossible." A good entrepreneur makes the impossible, possible.

When you hear of a problem, instead of complaining, you aim to solve it

We all experience challenges in our lives, some bigger than others. Most people, when faced with adversity might complain and enter victim mode.

A good entrepreneur, when facing a challenge, focuses on how to build a product that will help overcome that challenge.

A newbie entrepreneur focuses on their solution. A seasoned entrepreneur obsesses over the problem they are trying to solve. Before pitching your solution to an investor, focus on the problem, the pain point and how many people around the world have that same problem.

Once you've established that the problem is significant and widespread, then, and only then should you focus on your solution.

It has been said that entrepreneurs are wired differently than most people and I believe that to be the case because if you examine the behavior of an entrepreneur without context, good chance you'd be confused and even dismissive.

Inc

On August 10, 2024, Nigeria witnessed the culmination of a 10-day nationwide protest movement against economic hardship and government policies. The protests, which began on August 1, reached their peak with a planned "one-million-man march" across the country, particularly in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.

Key Developments:

1. One-Million-Man Hunger Protest:

   - Protesters in Abuja commenced their march early Saturday morning.

   - Demonstrators carried placards and chanted slogans such as "we are hungry" and "End hunger."

   - The protest aimed to highlight the high cost of living and demand changes in government policies.

2. Protest Locations and Strategies:

   - In Abuja, protesters strategically avoided heavily policed areas like the MKO Abiola National Stadium and Eagle Square.

   - Demonstrations were reported in Apo and Lokogoma districts, starting as early as 7 AM.

   - Protesters called for an end to hunger and the reversal of fuel subsidy removal.

3. Police Response and Confrontations:

   - In the Galadimawa area of Abuja, police used teargas and live ammunition to disperse protesters.

   - The confrontation occurred around 9:30am, about three hours after the protest began.

   - No casualties were reported, but protesters were forced to flee for safety.

4. Arrests and Tensions:

   - In Ondo State, several protesters, including Kunle Ajayi Wizeman, the gubernatorial candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), were arrested.

   - Human rights activist and lawyer Tope Temokun condemned the arrests, describing them as unnecessary and deceitful.

   - Temokun called on the Ondo State Governor to order the unconditional release of those arrested.

5. National Context:

   - The protests are a response to President Bola Tinubu's economic policies, particularly the removal of fuel subsidies.

   - Earlier in the week, President Tinubu addressed the nation, calling for an end to the protests, but many remained unsatisfied with his speech.

   - Amnesty International reported that over 20 people were killed across the country during the first days of demonstrations.

6. Regional Variations:

   - In Kano, instead of protests, special prayer sessions and Qur'anic recitations against hardship and hunger were held at various locations across the state.

7. Ongoing Concerns:

   - Protesters continue to demand drastic solutions to the prevailing economic hardship.

   - There are fears of potential violence and further clashes with security forces.

   - The right to peaceful protest remains a contentious issue, with activists asserting it as a constitutional right.

Conclusion:

As the planned 10-day protest period comes to an end, tensions remain high across Nigeria. The government faces increasing pressure to address economic concerns, particularly regarding the cost of living and fuel prices. The use of force by police and the arrests of protesters have raised concerns about the state's response to civil dissent.

Billionaire businessman Tony Elumelu has called on Nigerian security agencies to identify and expose those responsible for stealing the country’s crude oil, particularly through the use of large vessels operating in Nigerian waters. Elumelu’s comments, made during an interview with the Financial Times, underscore the ongoing issue of oil theft, which he claims has significantly contributed to the withdrawal of foreign oil companies from Nigeria.

Elumelu, who leads Heirs Holdings, has personally experienced the impact of crude oil theft. He recounted how, in 2022, his company had to halt production due to rampant theft, which saw over 95% of their oil output stolen. “How can we be losing over 95 percent of oil production to thieves?” he questioned. He cited the example of the Bonny Terminal, which should receive over 200,000 barrels of crude oil daily but instead got less than 3,000 barrels, leading Shell to declare force majeure.

Despite these challenges, oil theft continues to plague his operations. Elumelu revealed that even now, 18 percent of the crude pumped from his fields is stolen. “42,000 barrels of crude are pumped out daily. Theft still takes away about 18 percent of production,” he stated.

Elumelu criticized the lack of accountability and transparency in addressing this issue. He expressed frustration that the security agencies have not yet identified those behind the thefts, noting that such large-scale operations require significant resources and planning. “This is oil theft, we’re not talking about stealing a bottle of Coke you can put in your pocket. The government should know, they should tell us,” he demanded.

In addition to oil theft, Elumelu also discussed the challenges he faced under the previous administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. He revealed that a deal to acquire an oilfield was blocked by Buhari and his late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, despite his company’s $2.5 billion bid. Elumelu described the decision as illogical, especially since the purchase would have been from a foreign company.

Reflecting on his investment in Nigeria’s oil sector, Elumelu explained that his decision to buy a 45 percent stake in an oilfield three years ago was driven by a desire to ensure energy security for the country. “Energy security is crucial for a country that doesn’t produce enough electricity for its roughly 200 million citizens,” he said.

Elumelu also touched on the phenomenon known as the “japa syndrome,” where young Nigerians leave the country in search of better opportunities abroad. He expressed support for those who choose to seek opportunities elsewhere due to the lack of job prospects at home, while also encouraging those who remain to strive to make a lasting impact.

As Nigeria continues to grapple with the twin challenges of oil theft and economic instability, Elumelu’s remarks highlight the urgent need for effective governance and accountability to secure the nation’s resources and future.

The Dangote Oil Refinery has called on Nigeria's upstream oil regulator to force producers to abide by a law that stipulates they supply local refineries, saying that lax enforcement was raising its operational costs.

The 650,000-barrel-per-day capacity refinery, built by Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote on the outskirts of Lagos for $20 billion, has struggled to get sufficient supplies from Nigeria, where vandalism and low investment impede oil production.

In a statement issued on Friday, Dangote Refinery accused the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) of failing to enforce the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation (DCSO), a provision that requires crude oil producers to supply domestic refiners with a portion of their production.

"Our concern has always been that the NUPRC is pushing, but the international oil companies are not following the instructions," said Anthony Chiejina, a Dangote Refinery spokesperson in the statement.

"Consequently, we often purchase the same Nigerian crude from international traders at an additional $3-$4 premium per barrel which translates to $3-$4 million per cargo," he said.

The refinery said it was expecting to receive 15 cargoes for September out of which NNPC had allocated them six.

In a statement, the NUPRC said some producers were experiencing operational challenges while others had pledged most of their output to oil traders who financed drilling. It also said forcing them to raise their supply would violate their contracts.

Dangote Refinery requires 325,000 bpd of supply, but since it started operating in January, it has received nearly half of that amount, data from the regulator shows.

The DCSO was created by Nigeria's 2021 Petroleum Industry Act, but it has proven difficult to enforce due to dwindling oil production and the cash-strapped state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation using much of its production for crude-backed loans.

The Dangote Oil Refinery has also had a row with the downstream regulator over fuel imports, as it scrambles to compete in a challenging environment.

Reuters

A conservative coalition in Iraq has pushed proposals to lower the legal age of marriage for girls to just nine-years-old, sparking fierce backlash from activists and rights groups.

Protesters demonstrated in Baghdad this week to express their outrage at changes that would allow aspects of personal status matters to be legislated by religious sects, rather than the courts.

With many Iraqi marriages conducted informally and left unregistered, the revisions would allow figures from Sunni and Shia religious sects to finalise unions between people in law.

But critics fear the Shia code would be based on 'Jaafari jurisprudence', allowing girls as young as nine and boys as young as 15 to marry. Under current Iraqi law, both can marry from 18.

'The Iraqi community categorically rejects these proposals, it is a degrading step for both Iraqi men and women alike. This is what we have been fighting against for years,' women's rights activist Suhalia Al Assam told The National this week.

The amendments to Law No. 188, the Personal Status Law of 1959 have been pushed by a coalition of conservative Shia Islamist parties, which form the largest bloc in parliament.

The Coordination Framework attempted to carry out a first reading on July 24, but shelved the plans until last Sunday after meeting political resistance.

Many protesters gathered in Tahrir Square in the capital on Thursday to voice their opposition to the bill, which some said would foment further division in society.

Iraq's current law states that marriage requires 'a sound mind and completing eighteen years of age', with provisions for women fleeing abuse in annulling a contract.

Fifteen-year-olds can submit a marriage request, which judges can choose to approve if they deem the individual well and obtain their legal guardian's consent.

A judge may permit the marriage of a fifteen-year-old 'if he finds this absolutely necessary', the law states, without providing further details. 

Under the new laws, marrying Muslim couples would choose either a Sunni or Shia sect, who would be able to represent them in 'all matters of personal status' - rather than the civil judiciary.

"When a dispute occurs between the spouses regarding the doctrine according to whose provisions the marriage contract was concluded, the contract is deemed to have been concluded in accordance with the husband’s doctrine unless evidence exists to the contrary,' the draft says.

And figures from the offices of each 'endowment' would be able to finalise marriages, rather than the courts.

This may also see unregistered marriages - more than a fifth of which involve girls under 14 - legitimised by the state.

The current amendments circulating do not directly refer to the issue of child marriages - but previous drafts have, inspiring sharp and ongoing criticism from rights activists.

Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), told Middle East Eye the Coordination Framework was using the changes to distract from their own 'corruption' and political failures.

She said the proposals served to 'terrorise Iraqi women and civil society with a legislation that strips away all the rights that Iraqi women gained in modern times'.

Ms Mohammed added that the bill would 'force archaic Islamic sharia on them that regards women as bodies for pleasure and breeding, and not as human being[s] with human rights.'

On July 28, activists wielded signs reading 'the era of female slaves is over' and 'no to the marriage of minors' as they walked through Tahrir Square in Baghdad, the outlet reports.

The 1959 law was introduced nearly 30 years after the British left by a progressive, left-wing nationalist government under Abdul-Karim Qasim. 

Since the invasion of Iraq and fall of Saddam Hussein, right-wing groups have tried to repeal many of these laws and rights.

Proposals have included banning the marriage of Muslim men and non-Muslim women, and legalising marital rape.

Many Iraqis, especially in built-up hubs like Baghdad, have liberal attitudes towards women's rights.

Daily Mail 

Families flee new Israeli assault in Gaza's Khan Younis

Israeli tanks returned to the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Friday, forcing families to evacuate along congested roadways, as Palestinian fighters continued to attack Israeli troops from the ruins, residents and the military said.

Israeli planes carried out strikes across the enclave on Friday, killing at least 35 Palestinians, the Gaza health ministry said.

Thousands of people fled eastern Khan Younis in vehicles and on foot, belongings heaped on donkey carts and motorcycle rickshaws as they made their slow escape along congested roads.

With Israel and Lebanon braced for a possible escalation in fighting, leaders from the United States, Egypt and Qatar tried to revive efforts to halt the fighting in Gaza, scheduling a new round of talks for Aug. 15.

In recent weeks Israeli forces which swept into nearly the entire Gaza Strip over more than ten months of war have been returning to the ruins of areas where they said they had defeated Hamas fighters, while warning that they might regroup.

In the latest assault, the military dropped leaflets ordering residents and displaced people sheltering in eastern Khan Younis, Gaza's main southern city, to evacuate from an area that has already seen repeated waves of fighting.

Families packed into buses and cars, many seeking shelter in Al-Mawasi, a sandy stretch of ground along the coast, though some expressed fear over attacks there even though it is designated as a safe zone by Israeli forces.

Um Raed Abu Elyan said she and her family were "running from the fire, we are running with our children from fear".

Asked where would she go she replied: "God knows, we are walking now. They said to go to humanitarian areas, but there is no safe place here in Gaza. It is all destroyed and damaged."

Later on Friday, an Israeli air strike killed six Palestinians in Al-Mawasi, medics said. Another strike on a house nearby killed four people, including a girl, and wounded several others, they added.

Among the dead were two local journalists, Tamim Abu Muaamar and Abdallah Al-Susi, along with several of their relatives, medics and fellow journalists said. Their deaths brought the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli fire to 168 since Oct 7, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.

The Israeli military said troops hit dozens of Hamas targets in Khan Younis and Rafah close to the Egyptian border, seizing arms depots, destroying infrastructure and killing dozens of fighters armed with weapons including rocket propelled grenades.

CEASEFIRE TALKS

The meeting called for Aug. 15 to discuss a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal follows previous talks that have failed to yield a ceasefire since a single week-long truce last November.

Israel's prime minister's office said a delegation would be sent to the talks but declined to give further details. A Hamas official told Reuters the group was "studying" the new offer for talks, refusing to elaborate. The newly appointed overall leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, is believed to run the battle, possibly from the tunnels of Gaza.

In a statement, the Hamas armed wing vowed loyalty to Sinwar in a show of challenge to Israel, which puts Sinwar on the top of its marked-for-death officials.

Fears are growing of a possible broader conflict. Iran has vowed to retaliateafter Hamas's leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran and Israel killed a top commander of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in a strike on a Beirut suburb.

A Hamas response to the latest proposal for talks "needs to be studied carefully with its allies. If Israel was serious about reaching a ceasefire, they could have simply accepted the proposal Hamas agreed to," said one Palestinian official familiar with the mediation effort.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza aiming to wipe out Hamas after the group's fighters attacked Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to figures from health officials in the enclave, who say thousands of others are feared dead under the rubble.

Israel says it has killed or incapacitated more than 14,000 Hamas fighters, roughly half the number it estimated it faced at the start of the war.

Palestinians say that despite the near total devastation of Gaza, Hamas fighters remain able to mount guerrilla attacks and ambushes even as Israel prepares for war on a possible second front on the Lebanese border.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia fighting intense battles against major Ukrainian incursion

Russia was fighting intense battles on Saturday against thousands of Ukrainian troops as deep as 20 km (12 miles) inside the Kursk region after Ukraine's biggest attack on Russian sovereign territory since the start of the war in 2022.

Ukrainian forces rammed through the Russian border early on Tuesday and swept across some Western parts of Russia's Kursk region, a surprise attack that may be aimed at gaining leverage in possible ceasefire talks after the U.S. election.

Supported by swarms of drones and heavy artillery fire, Ukrainian units moved quickly to carve out a sliver of the Western Russian territory beside the border while sabotage units pierced deeper inside Russia, according to Russian war bloggers.

"The armed forces continue to repel the attempted invasion by the Ukrainian armed forces," Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday, adding that intense battles were focused around Malaya Loknya, Olgovka and Ivashkovskoye, settlements around 10-20 km inside Russia.

In a sign of the gravity of the situation, Russia imposed a sweeping security regime in three border regions on Saturday while Belarus said it had repelled what it thinks was a major drone attack from Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin cast the Ukrainian attack as a major provocation and though Russia's top general, Valery Gerasimov, said on Wednesday that Ukraine's incursion had been halted, Russia has thus far failed to push the Ukrainian forces back over the border.

Russian military bloggers said on Saturday the situation had stabilised after Russia rushed in forces to halt the surprise advance, though they said Ukraine was swiftly building up forces.

The Ukrainian attack has prompted some in Moscow to question why Ukraine was able to pierce the Kursk region so easily after more than two years of the most intense land war in Europe since World War Two.

"A full scale military operation is underway against a very serious enemy who are certainly not idiots," said Yuri Podolyaka, a popular Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger. He said that Russian aviation had saved the day by pummeling scores of invading Ukrainian units, but also said the truth should be told about the gravity of the situation.

U.S. SUPPORT

The battles around Sudzha come at a crucial juncture in the war: Kyiv is concerned that U.S. support could weaken if Republican Donald Trump wins the November presidential election.

Trump has said he would end the war, and both Russia and Ukraine are keen to gain the strongest possible bargaining position on the battlefield.

Ukraine wants to pin down Russian forces, which control 18% of its territory, while showing the West that it can still muster major military operations that hurt Russia even if the Kursk front is unlikely to change the outcome of the war.

Ukraine has not commented directly on the attack but video posted on Ukrainian media purported to show Ukrainian soldiers in control of a gas measuring facility in the border town of Sudzha, where Russian natural gas flowsinto Ukraine for transit to Europe.

Reuters could not verify the video. Reports from Russian sources said Ukraine was in control of some areas of Sudzha. Gas was still flowing through the pipeline on Saturday.

Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), ordered an anti-terrorist regime be imposed on Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions - which have a combined area of nearly 92,000 square km.

The measures essentially give the security services sweeping powers to lockdown an area, including controls on communications and limits on a host of usual freedoms. Thousands of civilians have been evacuated from Kursk region.

Some reports said Ukrainian forces were pushing towards the Kursk nuclear power station, which supplies a major chunk of southern Russia's electricity. It has a total six reactors, two shutdown, two under construction and two operational.

The acting governor of Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, said drone debris had fallen on a power substation near Kurchatov, the town which serves the Kursk nuclear station, which said it was operating as normal on Saturday.

The head of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency noted the "significant military activity" in the area and called for restraint.

Russian diplomats in Vienna told the IAEA that fragments, possibly from downed missiles, had been found, though there was no evidence of an attack on the station.

** Russia launches air attack on Ukraine's Kyiv, mayor says

Russia launched an air attack on Kyiv, with air defence systems engaged on the outskirts of the city in repelling the strikes, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital and military administration officials said early on Sunday.

"Air defence units operating, air raid alert continues," Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Reuters witnesses said they heard at least two explosions in what sounded like air defence units at work.

It was not immediately clear if the attack caused any damage or injuries.

Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said on Telegram that the capital remained under the threat of Russia's ballistic missiles.

Kyiv, its surrounding region and all of eastern Ukraine were under air raid alerts, Ukraine's air force said on Telegram.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian missile destroys Ukrainian command post in Kursk

A missile strike has destroyed a Ukrainian command-and-control center in Russia’s Kursk Region, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has claimed, releasing video of the strike. Ukrainian forces launched a large-scale incursion into the border region earlier this week.   

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry said that an Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile system had carried out a strike on a previously reconnoitered command post of Ukraine’s 22nd Separate Mechanized Brigade not far from the border between the two nations.  

“As a result, the command staff of the… brigade, 15 people in total, was eliminated”, the statement said, adding that “there will be no mercy.”  

Drone footage released by the ministry shows what appears to be a cluster of several buildings in the middle of a heavily wooded area, with at least one Ukrainian armored vehicle also present in the area. One of the buildings is then hit by a powerful explosion, sending a plume of smoke into the air.  

Iskander missiles can carry a payload of up to 700kg of explosives up to 500km and travel at hypersonic speeds. Russia has been using this weapon in recent weeks to strike staging areas used by Ukrainian forces, command and control centers, airfields, defense industrial facilities, and other military targets.  

The incursion into Kursk Region is Kiev’s largest assault on Russian territory since the outbreak of the conflict. While the Russian Defense Ministry initially said that the Ukrainian spearhead consisted of around 1,000 servicemen and dozens of armored vehicles, including some provided by the West, subsequent media reports suggested that the total force was at least several times larger and that some elite Ukrainian units had been thrown into the thick of the fighting.  

Moscow has denounced the raid as a provocation and has accused Kiev of targeting civilians. Ukrainian officials, meanwhile, have said that the purpose of the incursion is to instill fear in the Russian population and achieve a more advantageous position for eventual talks with Moscow.  

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian advance has been halted and that reserves had been redeployed to the region. It claims that Kiev has so far lost up to 1,100 troops and 140 armored vehicles in the area.

** Ukrainian special forces decimated in botched landing operation – Moscow

The Russian military has wiped out a Ukrainian special forces unit that attempted to conduct an amphibious operation in Nikolayev Region, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said, releasing a video showing the aftermath of a fierce battle.

In a statement on Friday, the ministry said Russian forces foiled an attempt by a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group to land on the Kinburn Spit, a narrow stretch of land that connects to Russia’s Kherson Region and extends into the Black Sea.

Officials said the group, which included up to 16 service members on two high-speed motorboats, attempted to disembark on the spit under the cover of two other vessels. They added that the force suffered its first casualties on the beach when it hit a minefield. Those who managed to reach dry land were cut down by small arms fire, the statement said.

After suffering heavy losses, the Ukrainian military tried to evacuate from the coastline. However, as they attempted to do so, two boats were destroyed by artillery and missile fire, the ministry said, adding that the total number of Ukrainian casualties was 12.

Officials also shared drone footage of the landing site, which shows at least one heavily damaged boat stuck on the shore, with several bodies lying around.

Several Russian Telegram channels covering the conflict said the Ukrainian troops had come under fire from mortars and multiple rocket launchers, and that up to 80% of the force had been eliminated. They also posted a highly graphic video from the battlefield, apparently further from the coast, showing what appears to be at least four Ukrainian soldiers killed in action.

Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) has confirmed the raid, claiming its forces incurred losses on the Russians. The agency said Ukrainian special forces attacked Russian fortifications in the area and that the troops raised a Ukrainian flag near a monument to famed Russian commander Aleksandr Suvorov – located not far from the beach.

Ukrainian forces occasionally attempt to stage amphibious operations in Kherson Region, including across the Dnieper River, and sometimes in Crimea, although they almost never manage to hold on their gains for long.

Reuters/RT