Look at the photos of the two fatal air crashes of the last two weeks, and amid the horror and the anguish, one thought might come to mind for frequent flyers.

The old frequent-flyer adage is that sitting at the back of the plane is a safer place to be than at the front — and the wreckage of both Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8243 and Jeju Air flight 2216 seem to bear that out.

The 29 survivors of the Azeri crash were all sitting at the back of the plane, which split into two, leaving the rear half largely intact. The sole survivors of the South Korean crash, meanwhile, were the two flight attendants in their jumpseats in the very tail of the plane.

So is that old adage — and the dark humor jokes about first and business class seats being good until there’s a problem with the plane — right after all?

In 2015, TIME Magazine reporters wrote that they had combed through the records of all US plane crashes with both fatalities and survivors from 1985 to 2000, and found in a meta-analysis that seats in the back third of the aircraft had a 32% fatality rate overall, compared with 38% in the front third and 39% in the middle third.

Even better, they found, were middle seats in that back third of the cabin, with a 28% fatality rate. The “worst” seats were aisles in the middle third of the aircraft, with a 44% fatality rate.

But does that still hold true in 2024?

According to aviation safety experts, it’s an old wives’ tale.

“There isn’t any data that shows a correlation of seating to survivability,” says Hassan Shahidi, president of the Flight Safety Foundation. “Every accident is different.”

“If we’re talking about a fatal crash, then there is almost no difference where one sits,” says Cheng-Lung Wu, associate professor at the School of Aviation of the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

Ed Galea, professor of fire safety engineering at London’s University of Greenwich, who has conducted landmark studies on plane crash evacuations, warns, “There is no magic safest seat.”

“It depends on the nature of the accident you’re in. Sometimes it’s better at the front, sometimes at the back.”

However Galea, and others, say that there’s a difference between the seat that has the best chance of surviving an initial impact, and one that allows you to get off the plane quickly. It’s the latter that we should be looking for, they say.

Most plane crashes are ‘survivable’

First, the good news. “The vast majority of aircraft accidents are survivable, and the majority of people in accidents survive,” says Galea. Since 1988, aircraft — and the seats inside them — must be built to withstand an impact of up to 16G, or g-force up to 16 times the force of gravity. That means, he says, that in most incidents, “it’s possible to survive the trauma of the impact of the crash.”

For instance, he classes the initial Jeju Air incident as survivable — an assumed bird strike, engine loss and belly landing on the runway, without functioning landing gear. “Had it not smashed into the concrete reinforced obstacle at the end of the runway, it’s quite possible the majority, if not everyone, could have survived,” he says.

The Azerbaijan Airlines crash, on the other hand, he classes as a non-survivable accident, and calls it a “miracle” that anyone made it out alive.

Most aircraft involved in accidents, however, are not — as suspicion is growing over the Azerbaijan crash — shot out of the sky.

And with modern planes built to withstand impacts and slow the spread of fire, Galea puts the chances of surviving a “survivable” accident at at least 90%.

Instead, he says, what makes the difference between life and death in most modern accidents is how fast passengers can evacuate.

Aircraft today must show that they can be evacuated in 90 seconds in order to gain certification. But a theoretical evacuation — practiced with volunteers at the manufacturers’ premises — is very different from the reality of a panicked public onboard a jet that has just crash-landed.

‘Every second counts’

Galea, an evacuation expert, has conducted research for the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) looking at the most “survivable” seats on a plane. His landmark research, conducted over several years in the early 2000s, looked at how passengers and crew behaved during a post-crash evacuation, rather than looking at the crashes themselves. By compiling data from 1,917 passengers and 155 crew involved in 105 accidents from 1977 to 1999, his team created a database of human behavior around plane crashes.

His analysis of which exits passengers actually used “shattered many myths about aircraft evacuation,” he says. “Prior to my study, it was believed that passengers tend to use their boarding exit because it was the most familiar, and that passengers tend to go forward. My analysis of the data demonstrated that none of these myths were supported by the evidence.”

Instead, Galea’s research showed that passengers seated within five rows of any emergency exit, in any part of the plane, have the best chance of getting out alive.

What’s more, those in aisle seats have a greater chance of evacuating safely than those in middle, and then window seats — because they have fewer people to get past to get out.

“The key thing to understand is that in an aviation accident, every second counts — every second can make the difference between life and death,” he says, adding that proximity to an exit row is more important than the area of the plane.

Of course, not every exit is likely to be usable in an incident — when Japan Airlines flight 516 crashed into a coastguard plane at Tokyo Haneda last January, only three of eight evacuation slides were usable. And yet, because of the exemplary behavior of crew and passengers, who evacuated promptly, all 379 people on the Airbus A350 survived.

Galea — who is currently looking for UK volunteers for February evacuation trials — says it’s still better to pick one exit row to sit close to rather than spread your chances and sit in between two of them, however.

What happens if an exit row — or seats within five rows of it — are not available on your preferred flight? “I look for another flight,” he says. “I want to be as close to an exit as I can possibly be. If I’m nine, 10 seats away, I’m not happy.”

‘Chance favors the prepared mind’

So you’ve booked your flight and selected a seat within five rows of the exit. Now is the time to sit back, relax and rely on the pilots and crew, right?

Not according to Galea, who says there are things we can do onboard that give us the best chance of surviving an incident.

“Chance favors the prepared mind,” is his mantra. “If you’re aware of what you need to do to improve your chances, you’re going to increase your chances of surviving even more. Think about how you’d get out.”

He says it’s essential, even if you’re a frequent flyer, to listen to the preflight briefing from cabin crew, and understand — really understand — how your seatbelt works.

“Believe it or not, one thing people struggle with [in a crash] is releasing their seatbelt. You’re in a potentially life and death situation and your brain goes into autopilot,” he says. “Most people’s experiences of seatbelts are in cars, where you press a button instead of pulling a latch. A lot of the people we interviewed [who survived plane crashes] had difficulty initially releasing their seatbelts. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to the preflight briefing. All that advice is really valuable.”

He also recommends fully studying the evacuation cards in your seat pocket and, if you’re seated at an emergency exit, carefully look at how you’d open it.

“That [overwing] exit is quite heavy and will likely fall on top of you,” he says. “I interviewed one of the people onboard the ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ [2009 emergency water landing of US Airways flight 1549]. He was seated by an overwing exit and hadn’t paid attention. As the plane was going down, he got the placard out and studied it. He was an engineer so figured it out — but I think the average person if they hadn’t bothered to read it beforehand, wouldn’t.”

Keep your shoes on until you’ve reached cruising altitude — and put them back on as the plane starts final descent, he says. If you’re a family or traveling with other people, sit together, even if you have to pay — in an emergency, being apart will slow you down as people inevitably try to find each other.

And wherever you’re sitting, count the number of rows between you and the emergency exit — both in front and behind. That way if the cabin is full of smoke — “one of the main killers” in modern crashes, he says — you can still feel your way to the nearest exit, and have a backup if the closest one to you is blocked.

“People think you’re a nut,” he says of passengers who carefully watch the preflight briefing, and study the evacuation cards and exit doors before takeoff. “But chance favors the prepared mind. If you’re not prepared, it’s quite likely that things won’t go well.”

Leave everything — and that means everything — behind

Geoffrey Thomas knows a thing or two about aircraft safety, too. Now editor of aviation news website 42,000 Feet, he previously spent 12 years as the founder of AirlineRatings, the first website to rank airlines by safety.

Thomas says that the safest structural part of the plane is the wing box — where the wing structure meets the fuselage.

“Every crash is different but typically in structural failure [an aircraft] will break ahead and behind the wings,” he says, calling the wing box a “very, very strong piece of structure.” That’s the case for the Azerbaijan Airlines crash, which split just after the wings.

But although Thomas has long suggested sitting over the wing, he says that the passenger behavior of recent years has made him recalibrate. He now believes that “the best seats to have are as close to the exits as possible.” Ideally a wing — but not necessarily.

That’s because, as Galea says, most modern crashes are survivable.

“Most accidents or emergencies today are not about a total loss of the airplane — it’s something else, an engine fire, an undercarriage failure or a benign overrun,” says Thomas. The main danger after the initial impact is of a fire breaking out and smoke entering the cabin. And while modern composite materials that today’s fuselages are made of can slow the spread of a fire better than aluminum, they can’t slow it forever — meaning evacuation is key to survival.

And yet, passengers don’t seem to understand this — or don’t seem willing to understand.

“More and more we are seeing that passengers will not leave their bags behind, slowing the egress of the aircraft, and quite often we’ve seen where passengers have not got out because the egress of the plane is slowed up,” says Thomas.

In May 2019, Aeroflot flight 1492 crashed at Moscow Sheremetyevo, killing 41 out of 78 onboard in the resultant fire. Passengers were caught on camera evacuating with their hand luggage, even as the back half of the plane went up in flames.

“Aircraft are certified so that every passenger can get off with half the exits shut within 90 seconds, but at the moment the egress of some of these aircraft are five or six minutes, so it’s a very big issue,” he says.

“The other issue you have is that you get lots of videos on social media of the inside of cabins with flames outside and people yelling. People are taking videos instead of getting off the plane.”

He believes that filming an evacuation, or evacuating with carry-on bags, should be made a criminal offense. “You are endangering people’s lives,” he says in no uncertain terms.

He cites last year’s Japan Airlines crash as a “perfect example” of what is possible. The crew kept calm and evacuated passengers efficiently — and the passengers obeyed the crew. Not one person was seen taking their carry-on luggage with them — and everyone survived.

But he says it was an outlier in terms of incidents.

“That’s a cultural thing — if you’ve got a flight attendant screaming at you to leave your bags, that’s what [Japanese passengers] will do. In most other countries people think, ‘Who gives a stuff, I want my bags,’” he says.

Now, whenever Thomas flies, he’s in an exit row, and wearing a sportscoat for takeoff and landing, in which he has his passport and credit cards. “So if I have to get out, I can, and I will have everything I need with me,” he says.

“You never, ever know. So many people get on and say, ‘It’ll never happen to me,’ and the next thing they know they’re a statistic. I don’t chance Lady Luck. I’m conscious of the issues and of people’s behavior, and I take steps to ensure that in a situation I hope never happens, I’m in a position to get off and not get blocked by an idiot.”

Once the plane is on the ground, it’s in your hands

There are other steps you can take to fly safer.

Shahidi flags turbulence as “one thing passengers can do something about.” He says we should be keeping buckled up at all times. “I wear my belt all the time unless I go to the restroom, and I go there and back very quickly, regardless of what the captain may be saying,” he says. “Statistically, more than 80% of injuries [on aircraft] happen to passengers not wearing seatbelts.”

Wu says he never flies without travel insurance — so that if something happens, and he loses his belongings in an evacuation, he won’t be out of pocket.

And both Thomas and Galea stress that choosing your airline wisely is also key.

“One rule of thumb is that the really good airlines pay the really good salaries and people want to work for them — the worst pilots have to work for somebody else,” says Thomas, who only flies with the highest rated airlines. Do your research before booking your flight — not all countries have the same high safety standards, he advises, so you need an airline that goes above and beyond on safety, wherever it’s flying, not just one that meets minimum standards.

But crucially, remember that in a survivable crash, it’s down to the passengers to act in ways that allow as many as possible to survive.

“People are fatalistic, they think if they’re going to be in a crash that’s it — so they may as well not bother because everyone’s going to die,” says Galea. “But that’s exactly the opposite of what happens.

“Just remember, every second counts.”

CNN

Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, has advocated for a 100% increase in tariffs to counter soaring operational costs driven by inflation and naira devaluation. Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Toriola explained that telecom operators have not adjusted prices in over a decade despite significant economic pressures.

“We at MTN believe we need a tariff adjustment of about 100%. The industry is aligned because we all face the same headwinds,” Toriola said. He noted that sectors such as aviation and power have already adjusted their prices, leaving telecommunications behind.

Toriola emphasized that the proposed hike would help ensure the sustainability of the telecoms industry and allow operators to maintain and improve service quality. He also highlighted Nigeria’s low data and voice tariffs, which he said are among the cheapest globally.

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) warned on December 30, 2024, that operators might be forced to reduce services if tariffs are not reviewed urgently.

Subscribers Reject Proposed Tariff Increase

However, the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) has strongly opposed the proposed hike, calling it “insensitive” and a burden on consumers already grappling with rising living costs.

Sources indicate that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) may have approved a 40% tariff increase starting January 2025, although the commission has yet to confirm this. Under the proposed adjustments:

• Voice calls would rise from ₦11.00 to ₦15.40 per minute.

• SMS charges would increase from ₦4.00 to ₦5.60.

• A 1GB data bundle would jump from ₦1,000 to ₦1,400.

NATCOMS, in a communique signed by its President Deolu Ogunbanjo and National Secretary Bayo Omotubora, described the proposed hike as exploitative. They argued that telecom services, already burdened by multiple taxes and levies, should not become inaccessible to ordinary Nigerians.

Balancing Industry Sustainability and Consumer Burden

Toriola acknowledged the government’s concern over adding pressure to consumers but suggested a phased approach to tariff adjustments. “I’m optimistic they will grant something substantial and progressively over the year,” he said, emphasizing the need for sustainable operations to avoid potential service disruptions.

Meanwhile, NATCOMS called on the NCC to reverse the approval, urging telecom operators to explore alternative revenue streams rather than burdening consumers.

As the debate continues, the sector faces a critical test of balancing operational viability with affordability for millions of Nigerians dependent on telecom services.

Israeli airstrikes push up Gaza death toll amid new truce push

Israel has carried out airstrikes on dozens of Hamas targets in Gaza over the past 24 hours, it said on Friday, in attacks that Palestinian health authorities said had killed more than 110 people in two days.

The surge in operations and casualties comes amid a renewed push to reach a ceasefire in the 15-month-old war and return Israeli hostages before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Israeli mediators were dispatched to resume talks in Doha brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators and on Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, which is helping to broker the talks, urged Hamas to agree to a deal. Hamas said it was committed to reaching an agreement but it was unclear how close the two sides were.

The Gaza health ministry said more than 40 people were killed on Friday after 71 were killed a day earlier including in Al-Mawasi, an area in central Gaza previously declared a humanitarian safe zone by Israeli authorities.

The Israeli military said it had hit around 40 Hamas gathering points as well as command and control centres. It said it had taken numerous measures to reduce the risk of harming civilians, including using precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.

It accused Hamas, the Islamist movement that formerly controlled Gaza, of placing fighters in civilian areas including buildings formerly used as schools, where it said troops had found a number of weapons. Hamas rejects accusations it deliberately uses the civilian population to shield fighters.

On Friday, the military told civilians in the area of al-Bureij in central Gaza to evacuate ahead of an operation it ordered following rocket attacks from the area. It said residents should move to the humanitarian zone for their own safety.

Elsewhere, Israeli troops have been battling Hamas fighters holding out in towns around the northern end of the enclave for the past month and continued to find weapons stores and underground infrastructure, the military said.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in which militants stormed border communities from Gaza, killing around 1,200 people and seizing around 250 hostages according to Israeli tallies.

Its military campaign, with the stated goal of eradicating Hamas, has levelled swathes of the enclave, driving most people from their homes, and has killed 45,658 Palestinians according to the Gaza health ministry.

Severe winter weather has caused bitter hardship to hundreds of thousands who are sheltering in makeshift tent encampments.

STALLED DIPLOMACY

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have been trying to mediate a deal for a ceasefire and hostage release for a year with no success and are making another push this month before Trump's inauguration.

Ceasefire efforts have continually stumbled on a fundamental disagreement over how to end the conflict. Hamas says it will accept an agreement and release the hostages only if Israel commits to ending the war. Israel says it will agree to stop fighting only once Hamas is destroyed.

On Friday, Hamas said it wanted "a complete ceasefire, the withdrawal of occupation forces from the Gaza Strip" and the return of displaced people to their homes in all areas of the enclave.

U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly called for a ceasefire agreement. Trump has said that if there is not a deal to release the hostages before his inauguration, "all hell is going to break out".

Israel's military has entered nearly every part of Gaza but is still fighting Hamas militants who are waging guerrilla warfare across the ruins of the tiny enclave.

Over the autumn, Israel's military resumed intense combat in northern Gaza, which it has repeatedly told all civilians to leave, while still continuing heavy strikes in the south.

In late December single-day death tolls announced by the Gaza health ministry included 48 on Dec. 28, 58 on Dec. 22 and 77 on Dec. 20. The toll rose by 1,124 in December, compared to 1,170 in November and 1,621 in October according to ministry figures.

Israel's military said strikes on Thursday targeted Hamas militants in the southern city of Khan Younis and the Mawasi camp for displaced people, which it designates as a humanitarian zone.

Asked about Thursday's reported death toll, a spokesperson for the Israeli military said it followed international law in waging the war in Gaza and that it took "feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm".

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia launches new barrage of drones at Ukraine, kills one, Kyiv says

Russia launched a barrage of drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine on Friday, killing one civilian and injuring four others in the Kyiv region, the military and regional officials said.

Ukrainian air defences shot down 60 out of 93 Russian drones, the air force said. It also said that 26 drones were "lost", in reference to Ukraine's use of electronic warfare to redirect Russian drones.

One Russian drone was still in the air, the air force added.

Mykola Kalashnyk, acting governor for the Kyiv region, said that a truck driver was killed by drone debris. The debris also damaged several private houses, injuring four people, including a 16-year-old boy, he said.

The air force said that the Russian drones targeted nine Ukrainian regions across the country. Residential houses and commercial buildings were damaged in the Donetsk region in the east and the Chernihiv region in the north, the military said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kiev set to comply with US demand to draft teenagers – Moscow

Kiev will make a decision soon on how to respond to US demands that it lower the conscription age in the country to 18, in order to bolster troop numbers on the front lines of the conflict with Moscow, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed on Friday.

Concerns are growing in Western countries regarding the Ukrainian army’s capacity to withstand pressure from Russian forces, an SVR statement has claimed. US President Joe Biden could intervene to prevent this, according to the agency. 

Merely supplying advanced weaponry, including long-range missile systems, will not be enough to stabilize the front lines, the SVR added.

“Countries in Eastern Europe bordering Ukraine are quietly preparing to receive new waves of Ukrainian refugees, who this time will be fleeing not from an imaginary threat posed by Russia, but from the real danger of getting a one-way ticket to the front lines,” the press release claimed.

According to the SVR, Western leaders are acutely aware that the conflict represents an “existential” challenge for Russia, and retreat is not an option.

In a televised interview on Ukraine’s Telemarathon on Thursday, Zelensky acknowledged that desertions within the army surged in 2024 amid escalating war fatigue and a shortage of reserve forces.

Reuters/RT

A 32-year-old Indian man admitted to cutting off four fingers on his left hand to avoid having to continue working as a computer operator at a relative’s company.

Learning to say ‘no’ sounds easy, but for some people, it can be harder than crippling themselves for life. Case in point, a Gujarat man who staged an “accident” that left him missing four fingers on his left hand to avoid having to tell his boss that he wanted to quit his job. Earlier last month, Mayur Tarapara showed up at a police station in his native city of Surat to report that four fingers were missing from his left hand. He claimed to have been riding his motorcycle to a friend’s house when he suddenly felt dizzy and passed out on the side of the road. When he woke up 10 minutes later, four fingers on his left hand had been chopped off. Police initially believed that the man’s fingers had been stolen for black magic rituals, but their investigation found huge holes in Mayur’s story.

The bizarre case was registered at Amroli police station in Surat before being transferred to the city’s Crime Branch. Investigators started checking CCTV footage in the area where the victim claimed to have passed out as well as investigating eye-witnesses, but virtually nothing checked out. Mayur appeared to park his bike near a ring road before casually walking away and returning with an injured left hand. Plus, no one had seen him passed out by the side of the road. Pressed by police, the man admitted to cutting the fingers off himself.

“Tarapara confessed that he bought a sharp knife from a shop near Char Rasta in Singanpore, a police official told The Hindu. “Four days later, on Sunday night, he went to Amroli Ring Road and parked his motorcycle there. At around 10pm, he cut off four fingers with a knife and tied a rope near the elbow to prevent blood flow. He then put the knife and fingers in a bag and threw it away.”

Mayur Tarapara reluctantly told investigators that he resorted to maiming himself because he didn’t want to work at his relative’s diamond company anymore. He didn’t want to tell them, though, but missing four fingers made him unfit for the job.

Police managed to find a bag with three of the man’s fingers, but they are still trying to get more information from him to piece this bizarre story together.

“He admitted that he didn’t want to work in the diamond factory and had planned to chop off his four fingers so that he did not have to work in the diamond factory,” a crime inspector said. “We are trying to dig out more information from him.”

Oddity Central

Alan England

Have you ever wanted to know what someone’s thinking, or what their motives are? Maybe it's a colleague, someone you have a crush on, or simply an old friend you haven't seen in a while.

We might not have telepathic powers nor can we read minds, but we can read people to gain insight, taking into account things like body language, nonverbal cues, and how they say things – not just what they say. 

It’s not an exact science, and everybody is different, but if you’d like to know how to read people like a book, this is a great starting point. 

The Psychology of Reading People

First, what does it mean to read people? Essentially, it’s the ability to better understand someone through nonverbal cues, communication, and behavior – you aren’t just hearing what they say, but looking at who they are through their body language, tone of voice, and facial expressions. Albert Mehrabian found in 1981 that facial expression accounts for 55% when it comes to how much someone is liked, while tone of voice accounts for 38%, and the words they use account for 7% – showing just how impactful it can be to go beyond what people are saying.1

Carole Railton, FRSA, global body language expert, says, "As society is becoming more visual, with large lit up adverts, instant video, and conference calls, body language becomes more important. This new technology speeds up our decisions about others. We make up our mind about someone in the first few seconds, changing our opinion about someone takes a lot longer. First impressions count.

Key Elements of Reading People

“When reading people, we're looking for basics first: facial expressions, physical stance, movement,” says Inbaal Honigman, body language expert. “Facial expressions can be happy, sad, or tense. Physical stance can be confident or nervous. Movement can be calm and deliberate or stressed and jumpy. A combination of all three can give us some initial clues about the person - but of course, there's a lot more to it.”

Alexandra Stratyner, PhD, licensed psychologist, explains, “Body language can be a telling aspect of how a person is feeling or what they might be thinking, often revealing more than words alone.”

Create a Baseline

When reading people, remember that you’re dealing with human beings. Everyone’s different, and we all have our own patterns of behavior. Create a baseline of people’s normal behavior—if they often fold their arms, look at the floor, scratch their head—and then look out for any deviations from their norm. If you’ve noticed that they often do one thing when they’re nervous, and they’re doing it more regularly in this conversation, what might that tell you? 

Look for Body Language Consistency

"Consistent body language will display cohesion between facial expression, body posture, and movement. Excited face, excited pose, excited movements can tell you a lot when displayed all together,” says Honigman. “Inconsistent body language, such as a smile changing to a frown, or wringing hands suddenly dropping to the sides, show that the person is trying to hide how they truly feel.”

Look at Their Posture

Stratyner describes this as a good starting point, explaining, “Someone who stands tall with their chest open and shoulders back typically appears confident and comfortable. In contrast, hunched shoulders or slouched posture can indicate insecurity, defensiveness, or exhaustion.”

Watch for Mirroring

Often, people will mirror others. We have neurons in our brain that fire when someone mirrors us or when we mirror someone else. When the person we’re talking to smiles, the smile muscles in our own faces activate, for example. So, if someone doesn’t reciprocate and mirror us, it could indicate that they don’t like us or aren’t happy with us for some reason. 

Keep an Ear Out for Their Choice of Words

“The specific words a person uses can reveal how they feel or what they value. For instance, frequent use of ‘I’ might indicate self-focus or ownership of their perspective, while a lot of ‘we’ language suggests a more collective or team-oriented mindset,” says Stratyner.

Look at Their Breathing

“Breath speeds up when we are excited and slows down when we are relaxed. People who are always excited tend to have raised shoulders too, which can be an indicator of stress or that they are an extreme extrovert,” says Railton.

Common Mistakes When Reading People

Honigman says, “The most common mistake when trying to read people or ascertain their true intentions, is focusing on a single part of their body language or facial expression, rather than reading the person as a whole.”

When figuring out whether someone is happy for example, a smile with raised cheekbones and eyes narrowed in a full happy face is a good start, but those clues are not nearly enough. We want to have matching body language throughout the entire scenario.

“Many people will latch on to one clue and deduce what they believe the person to be feeling, but a cohesive body language extravaganza is needed, in order to figure someone out correctly,” adds Honigman. 

When reading people, it’s important to remember that body language is not a language in the real sense – most nonverbal cues don’t have clear-cut definitions in the way words do. A gesture or expression may not always mean the same thing, so don’t forget to consider the person and the wider context. Match the gesture with the words and the facial expression to best read someone. If someone yawns, for example, they might just be tired. If someone’s tapping their foot, they could be nervous. But if it isn’t paired with other typically nervous gestures, it could mean something else.(2)

Stratyner adds, “While facial expressions are important emotional cues, they can be subtle, ambiguous, and influenced by factors like tiredness, discomfort, concentration, and individual and/or cultural differences,” and the same goes for gestures when it comes to cultural differences. A gesture might mean one thing in one culture, and something entirely different in another.(3)

Remember, too, that someone might be nervous if they feel like they’re being interrogated or about to get into trouble, so don’t misinterpret this nervousness as something else. If someone’s displaying behaviors that could be suspicious, it might just be that they’re nervous. If they’re avoiding eye contact, it might be down to cultural norms, or they might just be shy. 

Not everyone will act the same way, either. As Stratyner says, “People have unique personality traits, cultural backgrounds, and coping mechanisms. For example, quiet or reserved people might not be anxious – they could just be introverted. Making assumptions based on your behavioral norms can lead to errors in judgment.”

Practical Tips for Improving Your Ability to Read People

If you’d like to get better at reading people, there are things you can easily put into practice. 

• Look at their eyes: The eyes can give a lot away – raised eyebrows can mean that someone’s interested, while narrow eyes can indicate suspicion. If someone’s eyes are darting around, they might be nervous or looking for potential exits, while a lot of eye contact could indicate interest or confidence.4 “It's how we make initial contact,” says Railton of the eyes. “Raising eyebrows is a sign people are interested, or even that they fancy someone, and it’s a movement that is difficult to control. Blinking is a little harder to read. It’s the change in the blinking pattern that will give clues.”
• Improve your listening skills: “To better understand what someone is communicating, it's essential to listen closely to both the content of their words and how they say them,” says Dr. Stratyner. “Important clues to someone's true feelings, intentions, or mood may not be found within the words themselves, but in their pitch, speed, and subtle emotional expressions.”
• Look for inconsistencies: When talking to someone, keep an eye out for any inconsistencies in their body language. “Ask yourself what it is that you’re noticing, and learn from that,” says Honigman. 
• Keep practicing: “Practice on your nearest and dearest, people who you already know well and can sense when they're being truthful and when they're not,” recommends Honigman. “The more you try, the better you become.”

Even if you aren’t necessarily practicing on people you know, it can be worth looking around you in public. If you see a group of friends, take a look at their body language. Honigman suggests keeping a journal of observations, so you can learn as you go. 

Keep in Mind

While it’s possible to get better at reading people, don’t expect to be perfect. We’re dealing with humans here, and there are so many variables that come into play. Someone could be having an off-day, be more nervous than you realize, or there might be subtle things that you don’t pick up on even with plenty of practice.

VeryWellMind

Despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) efforts to curb liquidity through tightening measures, the country’s Broad Money Supply (M2) surged by 51% year-on-year (YoY) to ₦108.96 trillion in November 2024, according to the apex bank’s latest report.

The increase was primarily driven by rising domestic borrowings by the Federal Government, the CBN stated. Broad Money Supply (M2) encompasses the total money in circulation, including cash and various non-cash components such as savings deposits and time deposits.

The CBN’s Money and Credit Statistics revealed that M2 grew sharply from ₦72.03 trillion in November 2023. This growth was consistent for six months from April 2024, except for a 1.5% decline in October 2024, when the figure dropped to ₦107.7 trillion from ₦109.4 trillion in September. By November, however, the supply rebounded by 1.2% to ₦108.96 trillion.

The report attributed the YoY increase to growth across key components of M2. Quasi-money, which includes savings and time deposits, rose modestly by 1.96% YoY to ₦72.7 trillion from ₦71.3 trillion. Demand deposits grew significantly by 34.4% YoY, reaching ₦31.6 trillion compared to ₦23.2 trillion in November 2023. Currency outside banks also surged by 50.9%, climbing to ₦4.65 trillion from ₦3.08 trillion in the same period.

Credit allocation also increased substantially, with credit to the government rising 54% YoY to ₦39.6 trillion in November 2024, up from ₦25.7 trillion in 2023. Meanwhile, private sector credit rose by 27% YoY to ₦75.96 trillion, compared to ₦59.7 trillion in the prior year. These trends contributed to a 91% YoY increase in net domestic credit, which soared to ₦115.6 trillion from ₦60.5 trillion in November 2023.

Experts note that while higher liquidity can drive economic activity, balancing fiscal and monetary policies is crucial to preventing inflationary pressures. The CBN consistently raised its interest rate throughout 2024, reaching 27.50% in an effort to control money supply and combat inflation, which climbed to 34.60% in November 2024.

Peter Obi, the 2023 Labor Party presidential candidate, stated Thursday that President Bola Tinubu has spent approximately 180 days abroad since taking office in May 2023, representing over 30% of his time as president. Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja, Obi said these travels comprised more than 30 overseas trips to at least 16 different countries.

According to records, Tinubu's international visits included multiple trips to the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and various African nations. Notable travels included an August 2023 visit to China for bilateral talks with President Xi Jinping, followed by a week-long stay in the UK. Government data shows N2.3 billion was spent on foreign trips and related expenses in the first half of 2024.

Obi urged Tinubu to redirect his travel focus domestically in 2025, suggesting he spend at least 72 days visiting Nigeria's 36 states. He recommended the President inspect national hospitals, road infrastructure, military formations, and IDP camps to better understand the country's challenges. The former Anambra governor also called for quarterly presidential updates to the nation and increased attention to anti-corruption efforts.

"As President, such visits would give you the opportunity to better understand the dire economic and security situations across the country," Obi stated, emphasizing the importance of first-hand observation of Nigeria's infrastructure and public facilities.

Tinubu, who took office on May 29, 2023, is currently on holiday in Lagos State and has not traveled internationally in 2025.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Israeli airstrikes kill Gaza head of police, 67 others, Gaza authorities say

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 68 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including at a tent camp where the head of the enclave's Hamas-controlled police force, his deputy and nine displaced people died, Gaza authorities said.

Israel said the deputy was the head of Palestinian militant group Hamas' security forces in southern Gaza.

The attack occurred in the Al-Mawasi district, which was designated as a humanitarian zone for civilians earlier in the 14-month-old warbetween Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza.

The director general of Gaza's police department, Mahmoud Salah, and his aide, Hussam Shahwan, who were checking on residents of the camp, were killed in the strike, according to the Hamas-run Gaza interior ministry.

"By committing the crime of assassinating the director general of police in the Gaza Strip, the occupation is insisting on spreading chaos in the (enclave) and deepening the human suffering of citizens," it added in a statement.

The Israeli military said it had conducted an intelligence-based strike in Al-Mawasi, just west of the city of Khan Younis, and eliminated Shahwan, saying he led Hamas forces in south Gaza. It made no mention of Salah's death.

"As the year begins, we got ... another reminder that there is no humanitarian zone let alone a safe zone" in Gaza, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, said in a post on X.

"Everyday without a ceasefire will bring more tragedy."

Thursday’s death toll was among the highest of recent weeks.

Other Israeli airstrikes killed at least 57 Palestinians, including six in the interior ministry headquarters in Khan Younis and others in north Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, the Shati (Beach) camp, central Gaza's Maghazi camp and Gaza City.

Israel's military said it had targeted Hamas militants who intelligence indicated were operating in a command and control centre "embedded inside the Khan Younis municipality building in the Humanitarian Area".

Asked about Thursday's reported death toll, a spokesperson for the Israeli military said it followed international law in waging the war in Gaza and that it took "feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm".

The Israeli military has accused Gaza militants of using built-up residential areas for cover. Hamas denies this.

Hamas' smaller ally Islamic Jihad said it fired rockets into the southern Israeli kibbutz of Holit near Gaza on Thursday. The Israeli military said it intercepted one projectile in the area that had crossed from southern Gaza.

Israel has killed more than 45,500 Palestinians in the war, according to Gaza's health ministry. Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced and much of the tiny, heavily built-up coastal territory is in ruins.

The war was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine's Zelenskiy: Trump can be decisive in helping stop Russia's Putin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could be decisive in the outcome of the 34-month-old war with Russia and help stop Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskiy, facing advances by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, said in an interview with Ukrainian television that Trump had told him he would be one of the first to visit Washington after the presidential inauguration this month.

Zelenskiy also said a priority was to stabilise the front line early in the new year. Putin, he said, feared negotiations as they would be tantamount to a defeat for Russia.

"Trump can be decisive. For us, this is the most important thing," Zelenskiy said in a televised interview.

"His qualities are indeed there," Zelenskiy said of Trump. "He can be decisive in this war. He is capable of stopping Putin or, to put it more fairly, help us stop Putin. He is able to do this."

Zelenskiy has said that achieving a just peace for Ukraine meant receiving solid security guarantees from its allies, joining the European Union and receiving an invitation to join the NATO alliance, a notion rejected by Moscow.

"Naturally, any security guarantees without the United States are weak security guarantees for Ukraine," he said.

Zelenskiy said he wanted to ensure that any U.S. plan on a settlement took account of Ukraine's views.

"It cannot be otherwise. We are Ukraine and it's our independence, our land and our future."

He also hoped that Trump's administration could establish quick contact with Russia. Putin has said Moscow is open to talks but they must take account of Russia's gains in the war and its annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

With Russian forces capturing village after village on the eastern front in their fastest advance since the February 2022 invasion, Zelenskiy said stabilising the front was critical.

"They are putting pressure on our boys, who are exhausted and that is a fact. We will do everything to at least stabilise the front in January," he said.

Zelenskiy, elected in 2019, repeated that new elections could not be held as long as a wartime state of emergency remained in place, but said he would consider running again once conditions permitted.

"I don't know how this war will end," he said. "If I can do more than I am able, then I will probably view such a decision (seeking a new term) more positively. For now this is not an objective for me."

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian Armed Forces made more than 1,500 strikes by precision weapons in 2024

Russian troops made more than 1,500 group strikes by high-precision weapons and attack drones against military targets in Ukraine in 2024, according to TASS estimates.

According to data released in weekly reports of the Russian Defense Ministry, more than 1,500 group strikes by high-precision weapons and attack drones were made from the start of 2024. The targets were stationing areas of the Ukrainian army and mercenaries, defense industry facilities and power installations supplying them with power, trains with materiel, and so on.

At least five mass strikes were also delivered from the beginning of the last year.

Reuters/Tass