The ongoing fight-to-finish for principal officers’ positions in the 10th National Assembly by the All Progressives Congress (APC) has only one fitting corollary: It is the famous mythic, destructive squabble between the Shrew, Squirrel and a seemingly impartial arbiter, the Tortoise. Unless carefully resolved, what appears to be a fancy of conquest by the APC, leading to the party magisterially pronouncing who would be its legislative Man Fridays, seems to have boomeranged full throttle at its teething stage. Only last week, the party’s National Working Committee, (NWC) in a peremptory, you-may-go-jump-inside-the-lagoon manner, announced its choice of former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio as Senate President and Tajudeen Abbas as Speaker of the House of Representatives. The NWC also diffidently announced the endorsement of Barau Jubrin (North West) as Deputy Senate President and Ben Kalu (South East) as Deputy Speaker of the House. Almost immediately, a bedlam ensued, with a rash of rebellious party aspirants for the same leadership positions springing up, spiraling almost out of control and openly disdaining the audacity of the party top echelon to make such choices.

On this particular day in the animal world, the sun singed the flesh without any discrimination. Yet, none complained of the fury of nature. Like warm-blooded animals which many of them were, whose bodies maintain temperature higher than that of their environment, the marketplace exuded mirth and village camaraderie. The cast in the battle were the Tortoise, the Shrewd and the Squirrel. As you know, Tortoise, who was always the protagonist in traditional African mythology, and especially in folktales, represented cunning, craftiness and deviousness; always receiving the short end of the stick in relationships with other animal species.

In this particular folktale, the Tortoise was an entrepreneur who sold ceramics, his handiworks. His craft couldn’t however mask his cunning. As he sat this day in the marketplace minding his ceramic wares carefully displayed for customers’ attention, frightening noise of a market brawl suddenly clattered aloud like the noise of an Olympian typewriter. Shouting and screaming seized the market. Perhaps looking for an outlet for their pent-up inactivity, acquired from the freeze in sales for the day, animals in the market skidded to the place where the noise clattered from, leaving their stalls in charge of nobody. They found the two protagonists at the middle of the rift wrestling each other with malicious ferociousness. It was Shrew and Squirrel, two animals whose stalls were adjacent to each other. The intensity of the fight continued unabated, even when the market community, comprising traders and their customers, attempted a separation of these animals who were hitherto friends. Realizing that the brawlers’ brawns grew turgid at every attempt to separate them, the peacemakers all reclined into an akimbo, watching what would be the end of this atrocious tiff.

Tortoise was the last to rush to the scene. He had been engrossed with a customer who had come to buy ceramics in huge quantity. Like all others, he was stupefied by the needless fight. Unlike others, he had a preference. Squirrel was his bosom friend and he found his pummeling by the Shrew, who he resented due to his atrocious smell, really uncalled for. At first, he tried to separate them mildly but finding out that every effort he put into the separation seemed to lionize the duo, he headed for a nearby woods seller’s shop and heaved out a huge plank which he began to unleash on the Shrew.

Miffed by this aimless descent into the arena by the Tortoise, the Shrew left the subject of his grouse and angrily bit the Tortoise on the nose with his infamous vengeful venom. As he did this, he held on to his nose with his carnivorous teeth. As the pain sank into the recess of the Tortoise’s skull, he began to sing, Asín t’oun t’okere, (Shrew and Squirrel) to which onlookers replied in a chorus, Jóó mi jó//Awon lo jo n ja (Were engaged in a fight)//Jóó mi jó//Ija ree mo wa la (I came purposely to separate the fight)//Jóó mi jó//l’Asin ba fi mí ní’mu je (But the Shrew bit off my nose)//Jóó mi jó//E gba mí lowo re (Please rescue me from him)//Jóó mi jó//Awo mí n be loja (my ceramic wares are still in my stall)//Jóó mi jó.

In spite of this dirge-like Save-Our-Soul cry from the Tortoise, the Shrew held on to his nose with his teeth until he finally yanked this patch of flesh from its entanglement to the skull, leaving only a pitiable stub. This encounter became Yoruba mythological explanation of why, till date, when you see the Tortoise, the point where the Shrew bit off his nose is still apparent as a stub-like patch, necessitating him speaking in a nasal voice. 

The APC’s announcement of its principal officers provoked an apparently bottled rage in the party; perhaps of the hue of these animals’ tiff. It revealed the eternal nugget in that aphorism which says that, peace in a family can only be that of the graveyard until the maturation of the bastard within. Inside the APC is an assemblage of strange bedfellows united by ambitious pursuits, gluttony for spoils of politics and dissimilar ideological standpoints. Resistance and opposition by both new and returning legislators to the anointment of legislative leadership thus became a manifestation of this internal disease. Many of them felt miffed by the magisterial manner of the selection and the seeming act of playing God that was demonstrated by the in-coming government, in concert with the party executive council. The altruistic ones within the party believed that this was a surreptitious ploy by the party to hijack the parliament; and that its first bayonet against the parliament was to impose leaders on it.

Last Friday, at a meeting held by some leaders of the north who claimed their membership was drawn from the 19 northern states, like the Tortoise, rather than seek a rapprochement, they escalated the tiff between the Shrewd and the Squirrel in the APC. In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, they demanded that the leadership of the National Assembly must go to the north. Their argument was that, since the South would, from May 29, be in control of both the executive and the judiciary, legislative leadership was the north’s entitlement, as well as key ministerial appointments.

Then, the group, in a communique read by Tukur Muhammad-Baba, chairman and Benjamin Izra Dikki, secretary, gave a qualitative account of the northern votes support for the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, which to it was justification for the north’s demands. According to the the group, the percentage of votes across the six geo-political zones indicated that the North-West cast a total number of 2,652,235 votes for the APC, while the North-Central gave the part 1,742,993 and the North-East, 1,185,458 votes.

Then, the group translated this into percentage: “The total contribution of the North was 63.5 per cent.” As a counterpoise to this massive percentage, Muhammad-Baba said the President-elect’s home zone, the South-West, gave him a paltry 25.7 per cent votes, while the South-South, where the APC chose its senate presidential candidate, gave the party a miserable 9.10 per cent and the South-East, 1.45 per cent votes. Then, in summation, the north, the group said, demanded, “fair share of ministerial and other appointments… otherwise, the region is left with no option but to de-invest its support for the government and the party in subsequent elections.”

Who then is the Shrew, the Tortoise or the Squirrel? Given the unfolding drama in the internal politics of the APC, who among the actors would you label the Shrew, the Tortoise and the Squirrel? What happens to the APC house with this standoff of a raging north that seems prepared for a Samson option if its “entitlement” in the National Assembly is not given it? Will the Shrew go for the nose of the wily Tortoise which thinks it could surreptitiously descend into the arena?

Two issues lend themselves for examination in the intra-party quarrel which the APC is currently embroiled in. One is that, the leadership of the party must have been deliberately truculent in its pronouncement of who would head the leadership of the 10th National Assembly. Did it do this to dare whoever? Granted that it has become the norm for a leading political party to consolidate its win by zoning legislative leadership positions, the APC made an over-reach of its political muzzles by naming individuals, rather than zones, as potential beneficiaries of the leaderships. While details and identities of particular individuals were usually kept to the chest of party apparatchik, in this instance, the APC hit its bare knuckle on the sword by daringly naming individuals close to its chest who would occupy the offices. This provoked atrocious battles and unnecessary struggles to cancel one another out in the battle.

Immediately indicators pointed at Akpabio as favourite for the Senate Presidency, as usual, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) suddenly discovered that he had a sleaze charge hanging over him. Claiming to base its invitation on a 2015 petition by an Abuja-based lawyer and activist, Leo Ekpenyong, alleging theft of N108.1 billion of Akwa Ibom State funds by the shifty senator, the commission apparently went into an inexplicable somnambulism, only to wake up immediately feelers of Akpabio’s candidature sprouted.

If the concept of separation of powers indeed undergirds the presidential system of government that Nigeria practices, how does one explain that a proposed executive will choose its sidekicks in the parliament, even before its ascension into office? It is akin to a compromised derby before its commencement. It was what landed Nigeria inside the parliamentary cul-de-sac it currently got entrapped in. The outgoing leadership of Nigeria’s 9th legislature is worse than a rubber stamp, something in the periphery of a supine, babiala parliament, lacking colour, grits or acumen. It brings to mind the question, why does Nigeria’s executive always salivate for the most bendable lawmaking ensemble ever? Why is it averse to the rigour of scrutiny that parliaments, all over the world, offer democratic governance? Muhammadu Buhari, through the legislative accomplice role of the current National Assembly, has literally borrowed the skin off Nigeria’s hide in the last eight years. Yet, the zombies in Nigeria’s 9th National Assembly, like plasticine, willingly offer self for the barbecue of Nigeria’s patrimony by a debt-thirsty titular.

Again, the northern group was merely being clever by half in its haphazard statistics. It was this it used to explain why the next administration should cede the National Assembly to the region. By its open admittance, it is clear that some charlatans in the north see Nigeria as an inheritance and personal chattel that must be at their beck and call always. Not only are the rationale and logic of why the north must control the parliament very untenable and stomach-churning, they are very opaque and impervious to critical thinking. Take for instance, 2015. The north controlled the three arms of government. The executive had Buhari; the legislature had Bukola Saraki, from the north and the judiciary was manned by Mahmoud Mohammed. In 2019 too, the judiciary was headed by Tanko Mohammed, who was in office between 2019 and 2022, before Walter Onnoghen took over as the Chief Justice of Nigeria. During this period, the north again held tightly, jealously and inequitably to the three tiers of government. Yet, Nigeria did not quake. So what is different if the north does not control the three arms of government this time around?

Second is that the statistics of northern support for Tinubu being bandied by this group is very self-serving and misleading. Was the group referring to the margin of victory of the winner or the total number of votes cast for him? If the former is the issue, what should be at issue is the margin of votes given by the north to the two leading presidential candidates – Atiku Abubakar and Tinubu – that is, the differentials. Total number of votes is unrepresentative of the argument that is being proffered and gives an impression that the west did not vote massively for the APC candidate.

One good thing that this squabble in the APC is doing is that, it may be an indication that the north is already beginning to get the short end of the stick and stewing in its own broth, the patent of which only it holds. Could the honeymoon have ended even before the consummation of the marriage between Tinubu and his northern sponsors begins? I find a fitting corollary to this self-destruct quest and the fate of both parties in the mythical history of Ibadan. Legendary writer, Femi Osofisan, told the story in his offering entitled Ibadan and the two hundred snails in the book, Ibadan Mesiogo: A celebration of a city, its history and people (2001).

As Osofisan narrated, the warrior, Lagelu, who was one of the first groups of settlers in Ibadan, sought divinity’s say on the prospect of his newfound land. To do this, he summoned a Babalawo to consult the Creator. The nuts, goes the narrative, were cast and Ifa counseled the adoption of Oke Ibadan as “the tutelary deity.” Then, as he cast the sacred nuts the second time, the Babalawo pronounced the sacrifice of 200 snails which were to be scattered in various directions of the town, saying “Creep on as far as you can, and that is as far as the town will also grow!” Myth says this explains the phenomenal growth of Ibadan today.

However, Osofisan failed to include the other rendering of the myth. The Babalawo was a hunchback and included in the list of sacrifice he divined was a hunchback who would offer a seal on the rituals. The hunchback would then be killed for the prosperity of Ibadan. However, this selfsame Babalawo was the only hunchback in the town. So when Lagelu and his group came back to report to the Babalawo that all had been gathered in preparation for the rituals, he asked them if the completion of the ingredients included “everything,” to which they answered in the affirmative. However, the moment he told them how they were going to perform the sacrifice, the men held the hunchback Babalawo by the scruff of his wrapper, turned his head anti-clockwise and killed him, to be offered for the sacrifice. As he lay dying, he was said to have cursed Ibadan that amity would be a rarity in its fold. In memoriam to this Babalawo, Yoruba couched a pithy saying to capture his travails thus: Babalawo al’akiki tan ti ki’ra e mo’fa, meaning, the over-chanting Babalawo who chanted himself into a ritual sacrifice.

So the question is, in the mould of the fate of the Babalawo, could the north, which gave the ruling caste in the APC its feet and existential being, be the same key to the final denouement and resolution of the Nigerian dilemma with the north? Will it be the death or dissonance of the APC, like children of the proverbial python that is fated to kill it?  

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her … She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life ~ Proverbs 31:10-12.

Introduction:

The family unit is the basic building block of the human society. When it flounders, every other thing follows that pattern. No wonder, the state of happiness that a group of people, a nation or even a Church community enjoys is determined by the degree of harmony in the individual homes that make it up.

Many people today are experiencing heartaches arising from shattered dreams and broken promises in the place of real love. These aches are certainly preventable, but the foundation of the marital union is very crucial in this regard.

Indeed, the single most dangerous mistake anyone can make in life is in relation to the choice of marital partner. Marriage can be a happy and beautiful venture, but the choice of a spouse is a paramount factor in marital success. We must determine to always choose right in the Will of God.

Identifying With God’s Will In Marriage

In real life, oftentimes, the good is not always good enough, the better falls short occasionally; hence, the permissive should be totally out of our purviews. The best way to go is the perfect Will of God, and we must never stop striving for it until we get it (Romans 12:1-2).

The Will of God defines His agenda, thoughts, desires, intents and plans for our lives, which usually include a wife/husband, among other things, to accomplish it. Nothing can compare with the Will of God in marriage. You must locate it, to enjoy God’s favour maximally (Proverbs 18:22).

Meanwhile, as with many other good things in life, the provision of goodly spouses rests with the Lord, but the onus for ‘finding’ them is on us (James 1:17; Proverbs 19:14; 31:10-31; Psalm 34:10). Nevertheless, those who hope for lifelong happy homes shouldn’t advance in marriage plans without God’s approval (John 8:12; 16:13).

An assurance of the express Will of God in any marital union emboldens the hearts of the married couple, gives them confidence and prevents intimidation by any challenging situation that may show up in the future (Matthew 7:24-25).

God’s Will may not be detected through beauty, facial appeals, dreams or any such common human considerations (Proverbs 31:30). The leading of God is by the Holy Spirit, and it’s hinged upon the Word (Romans 8:14).

Basic Practical Considerations In Marital Choices

The Lord desires His children to preserve their holy and peculiar traits (Deuteronomy 14:2). Some professing Christians however think, like Solomon, that they may unite with the ungodly. They follow their own desires, and marriages unapproved by God are therefore formed.

But, oftentimes they soon find themselves, entrapped and overcome, yielding their sacred faith, sacrificing their principles and drifting away from God. One false step leads to another, and by an avoidable chain of circumstances they are held in Satan's net.

Let’s beware of evil concupiscence and unwholesome passion! Those who are ruled by them have bitter harvests to reap in this life; their destinies may even derail, and their courses may lead to the loss of their souls. We must eliminate every idol in our hearts (Ezekiel 14:4).  

Furthermore, the people entering into marriage relationships should realize that a responsibility rests upon them that far exceeds just “feeling” loved and planning to have children together. Families mold the societies, and children generally inherit the peculiar character traits which their parents possess.

Intending partners should muster sufficient emotional courage to resist artificial mismatch, because the misery that may arise from such may be felt by their offsprings as well. Why should innocent children be brought into existence, just to share in the voluntary miseries of their parents?

Essential Factors In Meeting And Choosing The Right Partner

From the outset, you must know who you may not marry: an unbeliever, another person’s wife/husband, your blood relatives, someone of same sex with you, or someone with whom you cannot agree (Amos 3:3). For the purpose of abundant clarity, you may not marry any animal (Leviticus 18:22-30; 20:10-19).

As an ancient scriptural rule, Christians must marry Christians (2Corinthians 6:14). The duties of marriage relationships generally involve godly characters, and there will certainly be a continual heartache if one partner is saved and the other is lost, more so that marriage is for life (1Corinthians 7:39).

The Bible says the heart of an unbeliever is desperately wicked in the sight of God (Jeremiah 17:9). Even if he/she appears lovely, exposed, rich or educated, he/she is still a child of the devil. Remember: some apples may look good, but they’re rotten inside. Watch out!

Brethren in the same Church organization should be confident enough to marry each other (Numbers 36:8; Genesis 24:51-67; 28:1-2; 29:21). The scourge of Solomon was in his marriage to strange women (2Chronicles 8:11; 1Kings 11:1-4). And, Samson too (Judges 14:1-16). Strangers are potential dangers (Ecclesiastes 7:26).

Look out for godly virtues in the person you’re proposing to be your marital partner (Proverbs 31:11,23,28). Marry only based on heart agreement and love (Matthew 19:5; Ephesians 5:25; Titus 2:4). Successful marriages are those premised on “for better for worse” and “until death do us part”.

Sanctified Practical Sense In Identifying A Quality Potential Marital Partner

Every man must seek one to stand by his side who would make him happy in life (Proverbs 19:14; 31:11, 12, 26-29; 18:22). And, she’s most fitting if she is a woman indeed: wise in communication, innocent in character, friendly, forgiving, a practical home “economist”, easily corrected and exemplary as a helper-companion.

Similarly, before giving her hand in marriage, every woman should inquire whether he with whom she is about to unite her destiny is worthy. She should discreetly inquire if he’s pure, manly, diligent, aspiring and one who loves and fears God. He should be honest, homely, unyielding to evil, understanding, strong, sincere, supportive, bold, abiding, noble and dependable.

When these things are evident in the relationship, be calm, your life partner may have come your way. Albeit, never rush into marriage relationship; it is not a do or die affair (1Corinthians 7:1-2, 27-29). Be thoughtful, careful and spiritual while you make your plans towards marriage. An unhappy marriage can be worse than the unmarried state (Ecclesiastes 3:1,11).

Marriage is not for “children” but “adults”. We must be physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially mature before taking the leap. One must wait for all grey areas to be cleared amicably. Specifically, wait to know each other better, and never marry out of pity.

While waiting for God’s will, pray for divine enablement to live for God, and be zealous in His services. Avoid compromise and dangerous habits like pecking, petting, and over-familiarity with the opposite sex. Maintain purity. Relax, God is still in control and He knows what to do to put smile on your face, in His time.

Friends and brethren, keep in mind that the husband-wife relationship is meant to be very close in godly unions. Both are interdependent, and they belong happily together. But, choosing the right partner is very crucial to this ideal.

If you are already married, please remain happily so by holding onto the glowing standards of the Bible, and ensure you pass the same on to the younger generation of your children (Genesis 18:17-19). May you never miss it, in Jesus Name. Happy Sunday!

** Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

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Jesus went to a hospital, saw a man who had been sick for 38 years, and asked him if he would like to get well. The man might have answered sarcastically: “No, I love being sick” “If I don’t want to get well what would I be doing in a hospital?”

But is it really an offensive question?

Let me present this as a parable. A university professor asks one of his students in the Department of Architecture: “Do you want to be an Architect?”

Why would he ask him such a question? Why would he be studying Architecture if he does not want to be an architect? What are the possibilities and probabilities?

The student is not studying. He is just going from party to party. The student is doing very badly in his studies. He is not concentrating in class. He has not been doing his homework. The professor is convinced that if the student does not make amends, he will not pass his exams and will not get a degree.

Not for the Sick

Jesus asked the sick man: “Do you want to be made whole?” Let me translate this into spiritual English. “Do you want to be saved? Are you really interested in salvation?”

Let me put it even more bluntly: “Do you really want to end up in heaven?” Then you must work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Can I tell you a secret? Do you promise not to be offended? Sick men do not go to heaven.

The Lord sent me to pray for sick people who subsequently died. It took me some time to understand why. Later, I discovered that every sick person he asked me to pray for was appointed for salvation. All of them were going to heaven, but God did not want them there with sickness.

He said to me: “Whosoever you touch and pray for, I will heal.” So, although some of the sick I prayed for died, they were healed of their sicknesses.

Sickness and Salvation

James asks: “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” (James 5:14-15).

The prayer of faith opens the door of salvation to the sick. The Lord promises to raise them up into eternal life. If they have committed sins, He promises to forgive and cleanse them.

This is because there are no sick people in heaven. There are no sinners in there. To get there, you must be healed of sin and sickness. Jesus is the Lord who heals us.

Paul says: “Our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” (Philippians 3:20-21).

He will change our sick bodies into glorious bodies that can never be sick again and that cannot die.

Sin and Sickness

Sin is synonymous with sickness in the Bible. The foundation of all sickness is sin. If there was no sin, there would be no sickness. But because we live in a fallen world, man is exposed to the effects of sin, which include pain, sickness, and diseases.

But the sickness that man is preoccupied with is physical sickness, while the sickness that God is concerned with is sin sickness. Therefore, when a paralytic was brought to Jesus, He did not address his paralysis, which was merely a symptom of his sickness. Instead, He addressed the man’s sin, which was his real sickness.

In effect, Jesus healed the man by forgiving his sins. He said to him: “Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you.”

What would have happened if Jesus had stopped there? What if He healed the man by forgiving his sins, but the man remained in paralysis? Would he have believed that he was healed? Would he have appreciated that kind of healing? 

What if you went to see a doctor because of some ailment and he told you your sins are forgiven and wrote you a bill for the consultation? Would you pay him or conclude that you are being conned? 

If you were given a choice between having your sins forgiven or being healed of a deadly disease, which would you choose? Frankly, many would choose physical healing any day over salvation. It is easy to rationalise that after we have been healed, we can then address the issue of salvation.

Hear and understand. Man is only concerned about sickness when it affects the body. God is concerned about sickness when it affects the soul. Man is a bishop and shepherd of the body. God is the bishop and shepherd of the soul. Man is concerned when he is sick that he should be made well. God is concerned when we are sick that we should be made whole. Man would do anything to save the body from sickness. God would do anything to save the soul from sin. That is kingdom dynamics.

Salvation from Sin

What is the difference between what Jesus offered and what the Jews desired? Jesus offered salvation. But the Jews only wanted to be healed of sickness. Jesus was sent to make men whole, but the Jews wanted to be made well. Jesus went about healing the sick because except men see signs and wonders they would not believe He can heal the soul.

But when Jesus deliberately told a man who came to him for healing that his sins were forgiven, the Jews were up in arms. They accused Jesus of blasphemy, arguing that only God can forgive sins.

But hearkening back to Isaiah, Jesus said in effect: “Come, let us reason together:” “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” — He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” (Lk 5:23-24).

Immediately, and to the astonishment of all, the man got up from his sick bed, carried his bed, and went home.

Do You Believe?

Which report do you believe? Do you believe Jesus can heal the sick? Or do you believe He can forgive sins? 

Today, many Christians believe Jesus can heal the sick but do not believe he can heal our sins. They believe Jesus can make them financially rich but do not believe He can take away their sins. They believe Jesus can give them breakthroughs but do not believe He can make them stop telling lies, stop lusting, or stop fornicating.

For this reason, many Christians remain in sin. We come to church looking for money, life partners, jobs, and other things that are not of particular interest to the Messiah. 

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When we lose a connection to someone, the brain changes as we grieve.

Why it matters: Grief is an intense emotional experience. Some researchers say a better understanding of the biological effects of loss on the brain could be used to help ease the pain and yearning experienced in grieving.

"We don’t want to get rid of grieving experiences but maybe people don’t need to have profound detrimental effects on their health," says Zoe Donaldson, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Grief often extends beyond our emotions to our thoughts, behaviors and body. It may increase the risk of a heart attack just after a loved one dies and has been linked to an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, cancer and other chronic diseases. Parents who lose a child before reaching mid-life may have an increased risk of developing dementia later in life.

Most people adapt to their loss but for some — an estimated 5-10% of people who have lost someone — grief can be prolonged.

How it works: The bonds we form with one another take biological forms in the brain — changes in hormones, the expression of genes and more.

These neural maps inked from our experiences with someone frame the brain's predictions of our world that guide us through life: A partner who usually gets home first, a parent who calls on a birthday or a friend who joins you for coffee every week.

Studies have found the brain's reward systems are activated by these relationships, motivating us to maintain these bonds and reunite with loved ones regularly.

"The trouble is that with the death of the loved one, that solution doesn't work anymore," says Mary-Frances O'Connor, a professor of clinical psychology and psychiatry at the University of Arizona, and the author of "The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss".

Instead, there are conflicting streams of information: There is a memory of a funeral or a phone call with news that someone died, and a neurobiological attachment that says they are still here, she says.

As a result, people can experience what Donaldson calls "unrequited yearning" — a frustrating state in which we seek someone but the brain isn't rewarded with their presence.

"Grieving takes a long time to resolve these two streams of information and for the brain to be able to predict their absence instead of predicting their presence," says O'Connor, who conducted early studies on the neuroimaging of grieving 20 years ago. She describes it as a process akin to learning.

Details: Some researchers study the bonding behaviors of monogamous prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) as proxies for human attachment. The small rodents are a little larger than a mouse and form lifelong bonds with mates in the lab or in the wild.

Studies have found that as prairie voles first bond, a set of genes associated with learning and memory turns on. As they settle into their partnership, a different pattern of genes in the brain's reward systems is expressed.

When a prairie vole loses a partner, it appears stressed for some time but eventually is able to form new bonds. In the time in between, "many of the changes of the brain in forming a bond erode though it is not an entire reset,"Donaldson says.

A pair of recent studies by Donaldson and her colleagues provides details about how memories might be uncoupled from yearning during grieving.

In one new study, pairs of voles were housed together for two weeks. They were then separated from one another after 48 hours or four weeks, and the team looked at which genes were turned on and off in the nucleus accumbens, a site in the brain that plays a role in its reward system and social bonding.

The researchers found a set of genes was expressed in male voles while they were with their partners and for at least two days after the voles were separated.

Over four weeks of separation, that pattern of gene expression eroded. But, surprisingly, the males remembered — and preferred — their partner.

Those genes could be involved in recovering from the loss of a partner, Alison Bell, who studies animal behavior and wasn't involved in the study, wrote in an accompanying article. But the researchers acknowledge the pattern of expression for these genes could be different from those in other brain regions involved in bonding that could help to maintain attachments.

In a second study, not yet peer-reviewed, Donaldson and her colleagues looked at the brain basis for yearning in prairie voles.

Voles were trained to press levers that opened doors — one to their partner and another to a vole they didn't know.

The voles pressed both levers but, using a tool to measure the release of dopamine in the brain at the sub-second level, the scientists found more dopamine was being released in the nucleus accumbens when they interacted with their partner. It happened when they were hitting the lever and anticipating reuniting with them and when the door opened and they were actually together.

When they separated the voles for four weeks, less dopamine was released when they were reunited. They could remember their partner and would still go to them but the "reward is blunted to a point where there is no difference" and they could form a new bond.

The team suggests the erosion of dopamine release during separation is "a potential mechanism for overcoming loss."

Keep in mind: Bonding in prairie voles and humans has some similarities but human love is "enriched by our complex understanding of ourselves and our most significant others," Donaldson and her colleagues recently wrote.

What to watch: There is an ongoing debate about when "normal" grief becomes pathological. Understanding the neurobiology of changes in the brain after a loss would help to inform that question as well as those about grief and its relationship to depression and loneliness.

Grief and depression overlap and intersect but evidence suggests they are distinct.

Grieving involves processing someone's death — we go over what happened in our minds. But rumination is a feature of depression and can have negative consequences. The question is, "How much of it is good, and when does it become problematic?" O'Connor says.

The bottom line: "As difficult as an experience grief is, from the perspective of the brain’s mechanisms, grief is a normal protective process," says Lisa Shulman, a neurologist at the University of Maryland and author of "Before and After Loss: A Neurologist's Perspective on Loss, Grief and Our Brain."

"The more we can understand that, the more we can have some comfort with some of the strange periods we can have during periods of loss."

Axios

Failure of the Golden Eaglets to qualify for this year’s FIFA U17 World Cup has effectively terminated the contracts of coach Nduka Ugbade and his assistants, officials told SCORENigeria

“The appointment of Nduka (Ugbade) and his assistants was clearly tied to the progress of the team at major competitions,” explained a top NFF official.

“They held on to their positions after they qualified the team to the U17 AFCON last year.

“But now that the team failed to qualify for the World Cup, their appointments are terminated.”

Ugbade’s assistants include Ahmadu Dankoli and Yemi Olanrewaju ‘Yema’.

The sacked coaches will submit a technical report to the NFF technical department, which will subsequently forward this with recommendations to the NFF technical committee that has yet to be constituted.

On Thursday, the Eaglets failed to pick a ticket to the U17 World Cup when they fell 2-1 to Burkina Faso in the quarterfinal of the U17 AFCON in Algeria.

Incidentally, Nigeria stopped the Junior Etalons from Burkina Faso 2-1 to win the WAFU B qualifiers in June in Ghana.

For Ugbade, who made history when he lifted the inaugural FIFA U17 World Cup trophy in 1985 in China, his first attempt to lead the Golden Eaglets has ended prematurely.

The former Super Eagles fullback was second assistant when Nigeria won a fourth U17 World Cup in 2013.

He was thereafter first assistant coach to Manu Garba when the team failed to make progress at international level.

No NFF official could be reached last night to throw light on the sacked coaches.

Thisday

Five residents of the federal capital territory (FCT) have sued the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and the chief justice of Nigeria (CJN) over the inauguration of Bola Tinubu as the nation’s president.

Tinubu, standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared the February 25 presidential poll winner with 8,794,726 votes. 

However, the plaintiffs aver that Tinubu failed to secure at least 25 percent of votes cast in the FCT.

The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/578/2023 was filed before the federal high court in Abuja on April 28.

The plaintiffs — Anyaegbunam Okoye, David Adzer, Jeffrey Ucheh Osang Paul and Chibuike Nwanchukwu — sued for themselves and on behalf of other residents and registered voters in the FCT.

They are asking the court to determine “whether or not the person who is to be elected president of the federal republic of Nigeria, and consequently administrator of the FCT through the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and the Federal Capital Territory Development Authority, on the first ballot is required by section 134(2)(b) of the Constitution to obtain at least 25% of the votes cast in the FCT”.

“Whether the plaintiffs and other residents and registered voters in the FCT Abuja would not be discriminated against if any state within the federal republic of Nigeria were substituted for the FCT.”

Should the questions for determination be answered in the affirmative, the plaintiffs are praying for a declaration that “no candidate in the February 25th presidential election may validly be sworn in as president and commander in chief of the armed forces of the federal republic of Nigeria without such candidate having obtained 25% of the votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja”.

The plaintiffs also want a declaration extending President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure pending when a successor is determined in accordance with the constitution.

They want the court to set aside the certificate of return issued to Tinubu and restrain the CJN and any other judicial officer from swearing in any candidate in the presidential election as president or vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria until the issue is determined in court.

The Cable

NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino is taking the helm at Twitter, where she will confront an exodus of marketers who have left the social-media platform since Elon Musk took over.

“I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!” Musk posted in a tweet Friday after NBCUniversal announced her departure. “Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app.” The billionaire said he will become chief technology officer and executive chairman.

Yaccarino may be in a unique position to deal with the fallout from Musk’s takeover of Twitter last year. Despite a slight uptick in daily users since early 2022, Twitter’s revenue has fallen by 50% since October as a result of a “massive decline” in advertising, Musk said in March. At NBC, Yaccarino helped launch the ad-supported streaming service Peacock and has led partnerships with a variety of tech companies, including Snapchat, YouTube, and, of course, Twitter.

“She’s probably just what Elon needs to establish trust among advertisers,” said Martin Sorrell, chairman of S4Capital Plc and former CEO of WPP Plc. “She’s going to have to do something to make sure that everything is hunky-dory from an operations standpoint.”

Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last October and indicated that he’d only be in charge for a limited time to complete the organizational overhaul he thought the company needed to prosper. In December, Musk asked his Twitter followers if he should step down as CEO, and 57.5% said yes. 

As the CEO also of of Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Musk complained of having “too much work” and sleeping at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters while implementing radical changes. 

Musk has drawn criticism for his abrupt policy changes at Twitter and neglect of his other businesses. He’s also changed the corporate name of Twitter’s parent to X Holdings, an entity that could eventually be the umbrella for all his businesses — an idea he has publicly mused about. Musk has also said he wants to build Twitter beyond social media and into an “everything app,” including financial services.

During his tenure, Musk has slashed thousands of jobs, scaled back the company’s content moderation and allowed accounts previously banned for breaking rules to return. A controversial subscription service plan, Twitter Blue, has been flailing, drawing less than 1% of the user base. Twitter needs to boost sales in order to repay $12.5 billion in debt the company took on when Musk bought it. Annual interest is expected to exceed $1.2 billion.

“I can say that she would be my first choice, and my only choice, to save the platform from the hands of its owner,” said Lou Paskalis, who advises marketers as chief strategy officer at Ad Fontes Media, on Twitter. “I still cannot understand why she’d subject herself to @elonmusk, however!”

Yaccarino will have her hands full from day one on an operational side, but also in dealing with the mercurial Musk, who has almost single-handedly run the company since he took over and once joked that “no one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive.”

Musk already has a friendly relationship with Yaccarino, who interviewed him last month at a major advertising conference in Miami, and called him “friend” and “buddy” on stage. Recently, Twitter and NBCU expanded their Olympic Games partnership.

Yaccarino repeatedly emphasized in her interview with Musk that what advertisers are looking for from Twitter is protection. At one point, she candidly asked Musk whether he felt he had “de-risked” the platform enough to assure advertisers that their campaigns aren’t going to land in “awful hateful places.”

She wasn’t afraid to drag Musk’s own tweets into that conversation either. In her position at NBC, which has a large distribution partnership with Twitter, Yaccarino said, “Are there days where I see some of your tweets and wish I could say, ‘Stop helping the situation?’” She nodded her head.

Musk tweeted Thursday that he had found a new CEO, but didn’t name the individual. That set off immediate speculation about Yaccarino — at an awkward time for NBCUniversal. The company is scheduled to give its annual presentation to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Monday. The so-called upfront events, which span the week, are when major media companies begin selling advertising for the fall TV season. Yaccarino would normally have played a major role in NBCU’s presentations but isn’t expected to appear now, a person familiar with the discussions said.  

This year’s presentations were already challenged by a screenwriters strike that could result in major delays in TV production and schedules. NBCUniversal’s event is expected to focus heavily on online advertising, as the company further promotes its lineup of movies and TV shows on Peacock. NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast Corp., was rocked just last month by the firing of its CEO, Jeff Shell, over a sexual harassment complaint leveled by an employee.

Mark Marshall will become interim chairman of NBCUniversal’s global advertising and partnerships group, the company said.

“We are grateful for Linda Yaccarino’s leadership of NBCUniversal’s Advertising Sales business, and for the innovative team and platform she has built,” said Comcast President Mike Cavanagh. “Linda has made countless contributions to the company during her 12-year tenure, and we wish her the best.”

Bloomberg

Voice cloning is only going to get more common

Key Features

AI scams, using cloned voices of people you know, are a thing.

Spotting AI voice cloning scams is getting harder.

Protecting yourself is just the same as with regular scam calls.

Imagine getting a call from a family member or close friend. They're in trouble, and they need money. The number checks out. It's their voice. But it's not them. It's an AI impersonator scamming you.

According to a report from McAfee, these AI voice scams are on the rise thanks to AI impersonators. And while they have been around in some form or other forever, technology is making the con particularly convincing. Caller ID spoofing combined with AI voice cloning would probably convince most people. So how does it work? And how can you protect yourself?

"It is true that AI voice generation is improving extremely quickly. ElevenLabs voice cloning technology is scarily good, especially when you consider the small amount of data needed to make it work. I can see situations where people may be fooled, especially if they are placed in a state of heightened emotions," AI consultant Richard Batt told Lifewire via email.

Voice Cloning Leads to AI Voice Scams

Armed with a cloned voice, a scammer can call up and pretend to be somebody you already know. For instance, in April, there was a story about a mother scammed with a fake kidnapping of her daughter using an AI-cloned voice.

It seems utterly incredible that such a thing is even possible, but our incredulity may make these scams even more effective.

So, how does it work? To clone a voice, you need a recording of the original voice. Thanks to TikTok and Instagram videos, plenty of training data is out there. And your social network posts leak lots of other data about your relationships with people to be used to make a more convincing scam.

Right now, the level of effort is still high. You have to pick a target, find a voice example, clone it, and make the call, spoofing caller ID along the way. But if we know anything, it's that scammers are likely to become ever more sophisticated.

"AI voice scams can be tailored to build highly personalized profiles of targets by ingesting data from public internet sources. Social Engineering Toolkits have been around for years and are readily used by modern-day cyber criminals to aggregate information about target victims. Unlike modern-day cyber cons, AI does not get tired or discouraged in the least, not to mention it can synthesize just about any voice and language," James Leone, cybersecurity consultant at IBM, told Lifewire via email.

And a scam doesn't have to be a fake kidnapping attempt. It could equally be an AI chatbot phoning you up and pretending to be from your bank. That's more at the level of automation of 419 scams, those classic email scams where a Nigerian prince wanted to get his money out of the country. If you don't need people to do the calling, you can flood the world with voice call spam.

"The biggest danger is just how easy and cheap it is to commit this type of scam. In the past, these types of fakes would require 10 hours of audio (or video) of a subject, but now, because the technology is advancing so quickly, all anyone needs is just 10 seconds of audio," Rijul Gupta, CEO and co-founder of DeepMedia, a deepfake creation and detection company, told Lifewire via email.

Can You Protect Against AI Voice Cloning Scams?

Despite the high-tech nature of these scams, the way to protect yourself from phone scams hasn't changed much.

First, you should not trust caller ID. Then, you should always hang up and call back on a number you already have or look up yourself.

That takes care of pretty much all the 'regular' scams but should also be effective against cloned voice scams. The problem there is the social engineering element. If caller ID primes you to expect to hear your spouse, and the voice clone is good and sounds like your husband, then you may be convinced. Right now, the models are good, but not that good.

"[I]t's important to understand that these models are not yet capable of realistic shifts in tone. A small clip of the voice which only requires a tone may fool people, a longer clip probably won't," says Batt.

But given the speed of AI development right now, voice cloning scams will only get better, so we'd better watch out and maybe stop taking any calls from numbers you don't recognize.

Lifewire

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine says it has retaken territory near embattled eastern city of Bakhmut

Ukrainian military commanders said Friday that their troops had recaptured more territory from Russian forces at the scene of the war’s longest and bloodiest battle, for the eastern city of Bakhmut, but it wasn’t clear if this marked the start of Kyiv’s long-expected counteroffensive.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said Ukrainian forces had stepped up attacks north of the region while denying speculation by Russian military bloggers that the Kyiv forces had achieved “defense breakthroughs.”

The 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of territory that Ukrainian forces south of Bakhmut retook this week represented a significant gain and will protect an important supply chain, according to commanders of Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, a special forces unit that led the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he met with the top military commanders Friday, noting that Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi reported his forces “stopped the enemy and even pushed him back in some directions.”

In his nightly address to the Ukrainian people, Zelenskyy praised his troops and noted the low morale of the Russian forces.

“The occupiers are already mentally prepared for defeat. They have already lost this war in their minds,” he said. “We must push them every day so that their sense of defeat turns into their retreat, their mistakes, their losses.”

In a statement on Telegram on Friday, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar confirmed that Ukrainian forces gained ground around Bakhmut, reiterating statements from military commanders earlier this week.

In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. has assessed that Bakhmut remains contested territory.

“Ukrainians have not given up their defense of Bakhmut and the Russians haven’t given up their attempts to take Bakhmut,” Kirby said. “Every single day, the lines change back and forth. I mean, sometimes block by block.”

The U.S. maintains that Bakhmut has limited strategic value but that Russia has absorbed an enormous loss of troops and weaponry in the battle for the former salt-mining town that has been grinding on for eight months.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the millionaire owner of Russia’s private military contractor Wagner who is a frequent critic of the Russian military, slammed it again for losing ground around Bakhmut and exposing his forces battling for the city.

In a video statement Friday, Prigozhin mocked the Russian Defense Ministry’s report claiming that its forces regrouped to take more favorable positions, saying they effectively fled and “our flanks are crumbling.”

He warned that the Ukrainian forces have reclaimed key heights around the city and effectively unblocked the key supply link to Bakhmut. Prigozhin again accused the military leadership of refusing to provide sufficient ammunition to Wagner.

“You must immediately stop lying,” Prigozhin said, addressing Russia’s military leaders. “If you fled, you must prepare new defensive lines.”

Prigozhin — who seems to use harsh criticism to pressure the Kremlin for more support and improve his stature — alleged the Defense Ministry’s failure to protect Wagner’s flanks amounted to high treason and could result in a “great tragedy” for Russia.

Apparently denying Prigozhin’s claim of abandonment, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian airborne units are still supporting ground forces to “stop the attempts of the Ukrainian armed forces to counterattack on the flanks.”

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, explained the spat as being “reflective of increased panic in the Russian information space over speculations about planned Ukrainian counteroffensives.” This indicates increased concern among leaders of Wagner and the Russian Defense Ministry as well as “reflecting Kremlin guidance to avoid downplaying Ukrainian successes,” it said.

Ukrainian military officials have dismissed speculation that the fighting and forward movement in Bakhmut signaled that its anticipated counteroffensive was underway. Zelenskyy said in remarks broadcast Thursday that Kyiv was delaying the campaign because it lacks enough Western weapons. Some saw the comments as designed to keep Russia guessing about Ukraine’s next move.

Addressing the nation Friday evening, Zelenskyy said more arms were coming “to defeat the aggressor and restore peace.”

The territorial gains occurred near the Siversky-Donets canal, between the villages of Ivanivske and Kurdiumivka, according to a commander of the 1st Assault Battalion of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. He spoke on condition he be referred to only by his call sign of “Rollo,” in line with Ukrainian military protocol.

“This was the enemy’s bridgehead, which they intended to use in their future attacks along the canal, in the direction of Kostiantynivka,” he said. “We had to neutralize the enemy and push them to the other side of the canal.”

Another commander and a military spokesman corroborated his account.

Kostiantynivka is part of an important logistics chain that leads to the city of Kramatorsk.

Rollo said the gains followed other successes, including one that secured an access road near Khromove, north of Bakhmut, and another that allowed Ukrainian forces to reclaim lost positions in the Industrial College inside Bakhmut city.

The assault south of Bakhmut was followed by a reported increase in Ukrainian offensive actions near the city of Soledar on Thursday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. Russia repelled 26 Ukrainian attacks carried out by over 1,000 soldiers, the ministry said, adding that up to 40 tanks were involved.

The slow and grinding fight for Bakhmut has been costly for both sides, with Ukraine seeking to deny Russia any territorial gains despite its marginal strategic significance. Ukrainian forces are stationed in the city, while Russian troops are attacking from the north, east and south.

In other fighting, at least two people were killed and 22 injured elsewhere in the country since Thursday, according to figures from the Ukrainian President’s Office.

Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said a Russian strike hit Kramatorsk, where some Ukrainian military units are based, destroying a school and residential building. Russian shelling hit 11 cities and villages in the region, killing 12 civilians, he said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Zelensky ‘will end up like Hitler’ – ex-Russian president

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky could suffer the same fate as Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has claimed. The comments came in response to Zelensky’s suggestion that Kremlin officials would meet a “sad end.” 

“We do not know who will meet which end,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram, before comparing the Ukrainian president to Hitler, who committed suicide during the final stages of World War II as Soviet troops stormed Berlin.

The former Russian leader also accused Zelensky of “wishing death to everyone in the Kremlin.” 

His remarks came in response to an interview published by the BBC on Friday, in which Zelensky stated: “Believe me, those in the Kremlin… it will end badly for them.” 

The Ukrainian president expressed his desire for the rapid demise of the current Russian leadership, claiming that they “will certainly not die a natural death.” 

The interview with Zelensky comes less than two weeks after a drone attack on the Kremlin, which Moscow described as an assassination attempt against President Vladimir Putin and an act of terrorism. The Russian leader was not at the Kremlin at the time of the incident.

Russia accused Kiev of orchestrating the attack and said it reserves the right to respond as it sees fit. Ukraine denied any involvement in the incident, although the attack prompted Medvedev to call for the “physical removal” of Zelensky.

Kiev’s intelligence chief, Kirill Budanov, later vowed to “keep killing Russians anywhere” until Ukraine’s “complete victory.” The Kremlin branded the statement “truly heinous,” and said it was confirmation that Kiev was involved in orchestrating terrorist attacks.

** Kiev attempts 26 attacks in Soledar area, all of them repelled, Russian top brass reports

The Ukrainian military attempted over 20 attacks along the 95 km engagement line in the Soledar tactical area, with all the offensives repelled by Russian forces, Russia’s Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Friday.

"The Ukrainian army units attempted 26 attacks that involved over 1,000 personnel, up to 40 tanks and also other military and special equipment. All the attacks by the Ukrainian army were repelled. There were no breakthroughs of Russian defensive lines," the spokesman said.

Russian forces neutralize Ukrainian subversive group in Kupyansk area

Russian forces destroyed over 60 Ukrainian troops and neutralized an enemy subversive group in the Kupyansk area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, aircraft and artillery from the western battlegroup struck the enemy units in areas near the settlements of Dvurechnoye in the Kharkov Region and Novosyolovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic. In addition, the activity of a subversive/reconnaissance group was thwarted near the settlement of Kotlyarovka in the Kharkov Region at night," the spokesman said.

The enemy’s losses in that area in the past 24 hours totaled "over 60 Ukrainian personnel, an armored combat vehicle, two motor vehicles, two Grad multiple rocket launchers, a US-made M109 Paladin artillery system and an Akatsiya motorized artillery gun," the general specified.

Russian forces destroy over 75 Ukrainian troops in Krasny Liman area

Russian forces destroyed over 75 Ukrainian troops and a motorized artillery gun in the Krasny Liman area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Krasny Liman direction, operational/tactical and army aviation and artillery from the battlegroup Center struck Ukrainian manpower and equipment near the settlement of Torskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

The strikes eliminated over 75 Ukrainian troops, three armored combat vehicles, three pickup trucks, an Akatsiya motorized artillery gun and a D-20 howitzer in that area in the past 24 hours, the general specified.

Ukraine’s military suffers 900 casualties in Donetsk area in past day

Russian forces killed and wounded about 900 Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In all, the enemy’s losses in the Donetsk area amounted to about 900 Ukrainian troops killed and wounded, over 30 pieces of armor, and also seven motor vehicles, two D-30 howitzers and a UK-made L118 howitzer," the spokesman said.

Russian forces gain new positions in Donetsk area

Russian forces gained a new frontier in the Maloilyinovka area to take advantage of the Berkhovskoye reservoir as they continued their combat operations in the Donetsk People’s Republic over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Maloilyinovka direction, units of the southern battlegroup gained a frontier, considering the advantageous conditions of the Berkhovskoye reservoir to increase defense stability. The personnel of the 4th and 200th motorized infantry brigades, the crews of army aviation and other units of the Russian Armed Forces showed courage repelling enemy attacks," the spokesman said.

Over 540 Ukrainian troops, eight tanks and more than 20 pieces of other enemy armor were destroyed in the Maloilyinovka direction in the past 24 hours, the general reported.

Russian air defenses down Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet in DPR

Russian air defense forces shot down a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet near the settlement of Chasov Yar in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"Air defense capabilities shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 fighter in the area of the settlement of Chasov Yar in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

In addition, Russian forces destroyed an artillery ammunition depot of the Ukrainian army’s 110th mechanized brigade, the general said.

Russian forces destroy 110 Ukrainian troops in southern Donetsk, Zaporozhye areas

Russian forces destroyed roughly 110 Ukrainian troops in the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye areas over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

In the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, aircraft and artillery of Russia’s battlegroup East struck the enemy units in areas near the settlements of Vodyanoye and Ugledar in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the spokesman specified.

"The enemy’s losses totaled 110 Ukrainian personnel, a tank, two motor vehicles and a Gvozdika motorized artillery gun," the general specified.

Russian forces destroy 40 Ukrainian troops, artillery gun in Kherson area

Russian forces destroyed roughly 40 Ukrainian troops and a motorized artillery system in the Kherson area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Kherson direction, as many as 40 Ukrainian personnel, an armored combat vehicle, three motor vehicles and an Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system were destroyed in the past 24 hours as a result of damage inflicted by firepower," the spokesman said.

Russian forces eliminate two Ukrainian subversive groups in LPR

Russian forces eliminated two Ukrainian subversive groups in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"At night, two subversive/reconnaissance groups were eliminated in areas near the settlements of Chervonaya Dibrova and Kremennaya in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

Russian forces wipe out Ukrainian army’s fuel depot near Zaporozhye city

Russian forces destroyed a fuel depot of the Ukrainian army near the city of Zaporozhye over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the area of the city of Zaporozhye, a depot storing fuel for Ukrainian military hardware was destroyed. Near the settlement of Borovaya in the Kharkov Region, a US-made AN/TPQ-36 counter-battery radar was obliterated. Also, a Ukrainian Zoopark-1 reconnaissance and fire control radar was destroyed near the settlement of Nikopol in the Dnepropetrovsk Region," the spokesman said.

In the past 24 hours, operational/tactical and army aviation and artillery of the Russian group of forces struck 72 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military equipment in 102 areas, the general reported.

Russian air defenses destroy 25 Ukrainian combat drones in past day

Russian air defense forces intercepted three rockets of the HIMARS and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems and destroyed 25 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"During the last 24-hour period, air defense capabilities intercepted three rockets of the HIMARS and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems. In addition, they destroyed 25 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Krivosheyevka and Kremennaya in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Belogorovka, Avdeyevka and Chasov Yar in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Kamenskoye, Tokmak and Pologi in the Zaporozhye Region, Golaya Pristan and Zburyevka in the Kherson Region," the spokesman said.

In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 422 Ukrainian combat aircraft, 230 helicopters, 4,099 unmanned aerial vehicles, 421 surface-to-air missile systems, 9,108 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,100 multiple rocket launchers, 4,796 field artillery guns and mortars and 10,141 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.

AP/RT/Tass

Warring Sudanese factions fight on after failing to agree truce

Air strikes and artillery pounded Khartoum on Friday after Sudan's warring army and Rapid Support Forces paramilitary failed to agree to a ceasefire despite committing to protect civilians and allow humanitarian access.

A so-called declaration of principles was signed in Saudi Arabia late on Thursday after nearly a week of talks between the two factions, which had shared power before falling out over a transition to civilian rule.

RSF adviser Moussa Khadam told Sky News Arabia the group would abide by the principles agreed to and aimed to reach a complete ceasefire. But there was no let-up in violence and the army has not commented on the agreement.

Since clashing suddenly on April 15, the rival military factions have shown little sign they are ready to end deadly fighting that has uprooted hundreds of thousands of people and could pitch Sudan into a full-blown civil war.

The two forces issued competing statements on Friday that accused each other of harming civilians and ignoring the population's humanitarian needs.

The conflict has paralysed Sudan's economy and strangled its trade, aggravating a ballooning humanitarian crisis with the U.N. saying on Friday that 200,000people have now fled into neighbouring states.

However, U.N. Sudan envoy Volker Perthes said he expected ceasefire talks to start again on Friday or Saturday and, while previous truces broke down because both sides thought they could win, neither now believes that victory would be quick.

His upbeat assessment contrasted with disappointment among many in the capital.

"We were expecting that the agreement would calm down the war, but we woke up to artillery fire and airstrikes," said Mohamed Abdallah, 39, living in Khartoum. City residents said there was heavy fighting in parts of Khartoum and its adjoining sister city of Bahri.

In Darfur in the west, fighting between local militias that killed 450 people last month flared again in the city of Geneina as one group attacked another, rattling neighbourhoods with gunfire and artillery after two weeks of comparative calm.

In other parts of Darfur, where a war has simmered since 2003 killing 300,000 people and displacing 2.5 million, locally arranged ceasefires between the army and RSF appeared to hold.

In Port Sudan on the Red Sea, Al-Taj al-Tayyib said he hoped Thursday's agreement represented a start towards peace. "Our country doesn't need all these crises," he said.

HUMANITARIAN DEAL

Thursday's deal, the product of Saudi and U.S.-brokered talks in Jeddah, includes commitments to allow safe passage for civilians, medics and humanitarian relief, and to minimize harm to civilians and public facilities.

U.S. officials said negotiations for a ceasefire would follow and Saudi Arabia called the agreement "a first step". Mediators had pushed for the warring factions to reach a limited initial agreement as tension between them put a wider ceasefire out of reach for now, one told Reuters.

However, a senior U.S. State Department official said the two sides "are quite far apart" and the official did not expect them to fully comply with the agreement.

The rival forces agreed to quit private homes and other property, but a family in Bahri said RSF fighters had tried to take over their house on Friday morning.

Khartoum residents have frequently accused the paramilitary of taking over houses and hospitals as part of a tactic to embed in districts throughout the city as it fights an army that can call on air power.

The RSF has denied the claim, accusing the army and other armed groups of invading property.

"The parties must convey clear and unequivocal instructions to lower ranks" to enforce Thursday's agreement, said the United Nations, African Union and regional organisation IGAD.

However, Cameron Hudson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said he doubted the RSF had enough control over its fighters to do so.

Previous ceasefire agreements have been repeatedly violated, leaving civilians to navigate a terrifying landscape of chaos and bombardment with failing power and water, little food and a collapsing health system.

KILLED AND DISPLACED

Many UN and other agencies have suspended aid to Sudan and in particular Khartoum, awaiting guarantees that their supplies and staff will be safe.

The World Health Organization has said at least 600 people have been killed and more than 5,000 injured in the fighting, but that real numbers are likely much higher.

In Darfur, local activist Gouja said Thursday's deal could help solidify locally arranged ceasefires. "But if there's no mechanism to monitor, then it won't be an improvement," he added.

Little humanitarian aid has reached Darfur's main cities of Nyala and al-Fasher, Gouja said, with salaries unpaid for two months. In Geneina, infrastructure has been destroyed and the health system totally disabled, as tens of thousands of inhabitants have fled into nearby Chad.

More than 700,000 Sudanese have been internally displaced, according to the UN.

Reuters