ISRAEL’S REPORTS

IDF: Overnight, during IDF activity in the area of the northern border, an IDF soldier was severely injured, two IDF soldiers were moderately injured, and an additional IDF soldier was lightly injured, as a result of an explosion of an unknown source. The incident is under review.

The soldiers were evacuated to a hospital to receive medical treatment. Their families have been notified.

** IDF: Overnight, IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah terror targets, including a launch post, terrorist infrastructure, and military compounds in the areas of Seddiqine, Matmoura, Labbouneh, and Ayta ash Shab in southern Lebanon.

In addition, IDF soldiers struck in order to remove threats in the areas of Ayta ash Shab and Labbouneh in southern Lebanon.

Attached is a video of the IDF strikes in southern Lebanon: https://bit.ly/4d8dhjY

** IDF: Following the sirens that sounded in the area of Hanita in northern Israel, approximately five launches that were identified crossing from Lebanon fell in open areas. No injuries were reported, the IDF struck the sources of fire.

A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah military compounds in the areas of Markaba and Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon.

Earlier today, IDF artillery fired in order to remove a threat in the areas of Jabal Blat and Al-Hamra.

Attached is a video of IDF strikes in Lebanon: https://bit.ly/43XPgaU

HAMAS’ REPORTS

The leader of the Hamas movement, Abdel Hakim Hanini:

The crimes of the occupation and settlers in the West Bank will not pass without accountability, and our Palestinian people and their resistance are able to make the occupation and its settlers pay the price for their crimes.

The crimes of the settlers and what happened in the village of Aqraba are the result of the support and support of the racist occupation government, which provides support and cover for the settlers’ attacks.

The continuation of crimes will not discourage our Palestinian people from resisting the occupation and the settlers, and clinging to their land and defending it by all means.

We call on the revolutionary and resistant youth to rise up and escalate the resistance, and to confront settler attacks with all force, for this is the time for arms and resistance.

** Al-Quds Brigades - Nablus Battalion: As part of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle...our fighters opened fire at the occupation forces during their storming of Al-Marij Street in Nablus.

** Defeated Army Radio:

The explosion that targeted soldiers from the Golani unit occurred inside Lebanese territory after Israeli forces attempted to operate dozens of meters away from the separation fence.

** Hezbollah: We bombed with artillery and missiles a deployment of Israeli enemy soldiers in Horsh Hanita and achieved a direct hit.

** Occupation vehicles besiege schools in Beit Hanoun after advancing into the Girls Street area.

For three hours, the concentrated bombing of northern Gaza by occupation aircraft and artillery has not stopped.

Pray for our Mujahideen, the people of Gaza and all of Palestine.

Israel Defense Forces/Hamas Brigade al-Qassam

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Zelenskiy, Ukrainian commanders consider the front, weapons supplies

President Voldoymyr Zelenskiy and Ukrainian commanders on Monday considered action at the front of the 25-month-old war against Russia and the acquisition of weaponry from Kyiv's allies.

Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, issued a fresh plea for air defences to protect against Russian strikes on cities and infrastructure and called on Kyiv's allies to show the same unity they displayed in helping Israel fend off Iranian attacks.

Zelenskiy noted three sectors where Ukraine's forces face difficult situations in standing against Russian onslaughts: Chasiv Yar, west of the destroyed Russian-held town of Bakhmut in the east and Pokrovsk and Kupiansk, further west and north.

Zelenskiy said reports were presented on supplying arms and electronic warfare systems and ways to protect infrastructure hit for weeks by Russian missile and drone attacks.

Also heard were intelligence reports on new Russian offensives that he has predicted will soon be launched.

"This is about what we must prepare for -- all forms of enemy action," Zelenskiy said. "It is clear that the madness in the Kremlin is still strong and the occupiers will try to intensify their advances. We will respond."

Russian forces have made small advances in recent weeks, securing control of villages in eastern Donetsk region since recapturing the key town of Avdiivka in February.

The president again lauded what he described as "unity" in helping Israel defend against Iranian air attacks last weekend.

"Israel is not a member of NATO ... and no one was drawn into the war," he said.

"They simply helped save lives. Shaheds (drones) in the skies of Ukraine sound just like in the skies of the Middle East. Ballistics strike the same everywhere if not shot down."

He has called for "political will", especially from the United States, where an aid package remains blocked in Congress.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to decide this week on how to handle President Joe Biden's request for billions of dollars in security assistance for Ukraine and other U.S. allies.

Johnson has declined to allow the Republican-controlled House to vote on the measure already passed by the Senate.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba earlier told a Black Sea security conference Ukraine needed additional Patriot and other air defence systems.

Western allies have been reluctant to send additional air defences to Kyiv, while Ukraine needs 26 Patriot systems to cover the country's territory in full. Germany has pledged to deliver another system following calls from Kyiv.

Kuleba met his Norwegian counterpart Espen Barth Eide in Kyiv to coordinate efforts to provide Patriots promptly.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia’s top brass reports destroying first Khmara jammer in Ukraine operation

Russian troops destroyed the first Khmara electronic warfare station of the Ukrainian army over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

Russian troops destroyed the Khmara jammer in the Avdeyevka area, it specified.

"In counter-battery fire, the following targets were destroyed: a US-made 155mm M109 Paladin self-propelled artillery gun, a 152mm Akatsiya self-propelled artillery gun, a 122mm Gvozdika motorized artillery system, three 122mm D-30 howitzers, a US-manufactured 105mm M102 howitzer and a Khmara electronic warfare station," the ministry said in a statement.

** Ukraine’s army loses 420 troops in Donetsk area over past day

The Ukrainian army lost roughly 420 troops in battles with Russian forces in the Donetsk area over the past day, the ministry reported.

"The Ukrainian army lost as many as 420 personnel, a tank, 10 motor vehicles, 2 Gvozdika motorized artillery systems and a British-made 105mm L119 howitzer," the ministry said.

** Russian troops wipe out Ukrainian command post over past day

Russian troops destroyed a command post of a Ukrainian National Guard brigade over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Operational/tactical aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Russian groups of forces destroyed a battalion command/observation post of the 13th Ukrainian National Guard brigade and struck enemy manpower and military hardware in 110 areas," the ministry said.

Reuters/Tass

When seeking empathy for their financial woes, most people know better than to talk to an economist. To understand how the field gained a reputation for not caring about social-justice issues requires tracing the origins of the intellectual paradigm that dominates academia economics and public policy today.

In 1921, Maffeo Pantaleoni, widely recognized as one of the architects of today’s mainstream economic framework and a close collaborator of Italian economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto, expressed his disdain for the working class. “It is disgusting,” he wrote, “to witness the masses of workers that are drunk in all our cities.” The “notable increase of wages,” he observed, “was not accompanied by greater civilization so that the worker and his spouse live like pigs (porci) in their homes in order to waste the greatest part of their income in wine at the tavern.”

Horrified at the thought of workers gaining economic rights, Pantaleoni felt an urgent need to help fix what he perceived as a world descending into chaos. World War I had led many European citizens to demand a complete overhaul of their capitalist economies. They sought to replace exploitative structures with emancipated work and prioritize public service and production for use over profit-driven output. During Italy’s so-called Red Years (1919-20), citizens challenged established social hierarchies in unprecedented ways. Peasants collectively managed agriculture through assemblies and cooperatives, while workers took over factories and managed production through councils. These gatherings were widely viewed as the institutional basis for economic democracy.

As workers stormed the stage of history with visions of an alternative society, the defense of capitalism took on more powerful forms. Pantaleoni and his colleagues played a vital role in shaping a new economic paradigm that continues to capture – and, at times, suppress – people’s political imagination, leading to a resigned acceptance of the current capitalist system as the only viable option.

This dominance was achieved through a multifaceted and powerful process of “depoliticization.” Although this tactic has become so ingrained in contemporary discourse that today it goes unnoticed, a close examination of early-twentieth-century economic thinking shows that the process of depoliticizing the economy was, in itself, profoundly political.

As part of this process, the term “pure economics” emerged as the new label for what until then had been known as “political economy.” This strategic rebranding positioned economic knowledge as “objective” and “neutral,” thus detaching it from class dynamics and endowing economic experts with an aura of omniscience that enabled them to oppose workers’ mobilization from a position of authority. Economics was treated as a “hard” science, and its practitioners were cast as the sole gatekeepers of infallible models that the benighted masses were too stupid to understand.

In 1922, just as experts began to assert their authority to run the economy without democratic oversight, Benito Mussolini rose to power in Italy. Viewing Mussolini’s fascist regime as an ideal vehicle for “pure economics,” many economists, including Pantaleoni, enthusiastically embraced it.

Umberto Ricci, another of Pantaleoni’s eminent colleagues and a member of Mussolini’s economic cabinet, encouraged his peers to disregard criticisms from the “profane public.” As the economist “progressively climbs the ivory tower, and abandons at each floor his prejudices and interests,” he wrote, “his vision gets ever more refined, his horizon is enlarged; eventually, when the high summit is reached, he discovers the unity in the truth, the order in the disorder.” At this altitude, he noted, “one is capable of distilling rigorous and elegant laws, worthy of competing with the laws of celestial mechanics. This vision of beauty is the economist’s sovereign reward.”

This intellectual ecstasy, steeped in positivism, was anything but innocuous. It reflected a deeply political desire to shape people’s behavior to fit economists’ “true” models. As Ricci explicitly put it, “theoretical constructions” were “essential to tame men.”

Economists and the Capital Order

To be sure, the justification for economic coercion was based on “apolitical” methodological assumptions that structurally eliminated workers’ economic agency. Indeed, proponents of pure economics waged an arduous campaign to supplant the paradigm established by classical political economy’s founding fathers – Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Karl Marx – who studied capitalism through the prism of class and class conflict. The new economic framework rejected the concept of class entirely, reducing social dynamics to the complex interactions among atomized individuals moving in harmony.

Under this framework, the entrepreneur, not the worker, was regarded as the engine of economic growth. While the classical paradigm recognized labor as the source of profit and interpreted exploitation as a structural trap inherent to capitalism, pure economists viewed labor relations as a series of equal exchanges among individuals. Consequently, they envisioned a free-market society where anyone sufficiently rational and virtuous could thrive.

But this seemingly emancipatory insight was actually deeply classist. By suggesting that social hierarchies are merely a reflection of individual merit, pure economics implied that those who are not at the top do not deserve to be. As Ricci put it, “The businessman is thrifty, a thinker and a calculator, it is this real man who most resembles the abstract man pictured by economists, who does not fuss like a sissy of a hardship to come.” Consequently, the profits of saver-entrepreneurs were regarded as just rewards for their virtuous behavior, legitimizing their role in signing workers’ paychecks and “driving” the economy forward.

This theoretical approach was remarkably successful in stripping workers of their agency and justifying the unlimited growth of private wealth. The notion that if we just try hard enough, we can become rich investors has permeated our thinking to such an extent that many have internalized its core tenet: those who do not “make it” have only themselves to blame.

Over the years, these obvious absurdities have been concealed under a veneer of scientific rigor. Individuals struggling against low wages and precarious contracts to make ends meet cannot possibly raise the necessary funds to become a “saver-investor.” But many continue to be misled by this narrative.

The impact of prevailing economic thinking is devastating. For too long, economists’ so-called “scientific rigor” has been used to wage a one-sided class war in which a wealthy minority profits while most of the world’s population bears the costs.

Given that there is nothing more political than the lens through which we see the world, we must resurrect and harness the buried tradition of classical political economy to promote radical social transformation. The first step is for economists to adopt an explicitly activist approach. This does not imply forgoing the rigor of scientific inquiry. On the contrary, it means acknowledging the social context of intellectual endeavors. As another renowned Italian thinker of this period, Antonio Gramsci, observed, scholars are active participants in the world they study and, as such, are inextricably involved in the dynamics of class conflict.

By moving beyond the false dichotomy of “pure abstraction” and “pure empiricism,” we can transform economics into a field that fosters people’s participation rather than one that perpetuates a system of exploitation. To this end, we must embrace a systematic analysis that focuses on the unique historical characteristics of capitalism and its social nature. As Marx noted in his critique of “bourgeois” economics, “capital” – often viewed by experts as a standalone material asset, a mere input in production – is underpinned by a specific social structure. Within this “capital order,” most people have no choice but to sell their labor for wages.

This realization can be conceptually and politically empowering. Today’s capital order relies on active state intervention, often in the form of austerity measures, to keep workers docile. In other words, there is nothing spontaneous about the “free” market. Given that this system is underpinned by the exploitation of the majority, it requires constant protection.

Contrary to the prevailing economic narrative, our socioeconomic system is not inevitable, nor do we need to grudgingly accept it as the only way forward. The depoliticization of economic discourse is a political project aimed at preserving the capitalist structure of class dominance and foreclosing any alternatives to capitalism. Fortunately, just as this status quo was established through collective action, it can also be subverted through collective resistance.

Project Syndicate

At their annual meetings, Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders have the opportunity to pick CEO Warren Buffett’s brain on any number of topics.

However, one investor who attended the conference in 1999 cut right to the chase. “Mr. Buffett, how do I make $30 billion?” he asked.

As always, the Oracle of Omaha conveyed complicated theories in simple terms. Here are the three crucial rules that helped the 93-year-old accumulate a massive fortune and could help ordinary investors too.

Start young

Buffett’s best advice for investors is to get started as early as possible. He has a simple metaphor to explain his wealth-building strategy. “We started with a little snowball on top of a very tall hill,” he said. “We started at a very early age in rolling the snowball down, and of course, the nature of compound interest is that it behaves like a snowball.”

Indeed, the length of Buffett’s career is a key piece of his enormous wealth. He bought his first stock at the age of 11. He’s now 93 years old and still actively investing. In fact, the majority of Buffett’s wealth was accumulated after he turned 65. In 1999, his net worth was just $30 billion. Today, it’s nearly four times greater at $116 billion, as per Bloomberg.

Staying invested over a long period of time is crucial. Ordinary investors can best harness the power of compounding by starting as early as possible.

Circle of competency

Tom Watson Sr., the founder of IBM (NYSE:IBM), once said, “I’m no genius. I’m smart in spots — but I stay around those spots.” That’s the mantra Buffett has applied to his investing too.

Investing is risky, and Buffett has mitigated that risk by sticking to industries he understands. Much of his portfolio is focused on either simple consumer businesses or financial companies.

Ordinary investors can similarly reduce risk by avoiding stocks in businesses that are too complex to analyze and evaluate. Stick to your circle of competency and don’t speculate.

If you want to expand your circle of competency, you may want to seek advice from a trusted professional.

Search for small companies

Buffett said that if he were starting again today with $10,000, he would focus first on small businesses. “I probably would be focusing on smaller companies because I would be working with smaller sums, and there’s more chance that something is overlooked in that arena,” he said at the shareholder meeting.

In his early days, the billionaire investor focused on extremely small companies that would be considered small-caps. He bought a tiny furniture company in Nebraska in 1983 when it was still expanding across state lines. He acquired See’s Candies when it made just $4 million in annual profits in 1972.

These small businesses were overlooked and had more room to grow. That means Buffett had a chance to buy them cheap and watch them expand. This is also true now. Small-cap stocks were roughly 30% cheaper than large-cap ones in the final quarter of 2023, according to analysis by BNP Paribas. They have also historically outperformed large caps, especially after recessions and over longer periods of time, says MSCI. It’s advisable to diversify your portfolio and add some small caps to your watch list.

MoneyWise

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has discovered other fraudulent dealings involving Covid-19 funds, World Bank loan, Abacha recovered loot at the ministry of humanitarian affairs.

In a statement on Sunday, Dele Oyewale, EFCC spokesperson, said the funds were released to the ministry by the federal government to execute poverty alleviation programmes.

The anti-graft agency said its recent investigation into the affairs of the ministry has led to the recovery of N32.7 billion and $445,000 so far.

The EFCC added that “suspended officials” of the ministry were linked to the fraudulent practice, saying those found wanting will be prosecuted accordingly.

“At the outset of investigations, past and suspended officials of the Humanitarian Ministry were invited by the Commission and investigations into the alleged fraud involving them have yielded the recovery of N32.7billion and $445,000 so far,” the statement reads.

“Discreet investigations by the EFCC have opened other fraudulent dealings involving Covid-19 funds, the World Bank loan, Abacha recovered loot released to the Ministry by the Federal Government to execute its poverty alleviation mandate. Investigations have also linked several interdicted and suspended officials of the Ministry to the alleged financial malfeasance.

“It is instructive to stress that the Commission’s investigations are not about individuals. The EFCC is investigating a system and intricate web of fraudulent practices. Banks involved in the alleged fraud are being investigated. Managing Directors of the indicted banks have made useful statements to investigators digging into the infractions.

“Those found wanting will be prosecuted accordingly. Additionally, the EFCC has not cleared anyone allegedly involved in the fraud. Investigations are ongoing and advancing steadily. The public is enjoined to ignore any claim to the contrary.”

On Wednesday, Betta Edu, suspended minister of humanitarian affairs, said she had no link with the N30 billion purportedly recovered by the EFCC.

On January 8, President Bola Tinubu suspended Edu and directed the EFCC “to conduct a thorough investigation into all aspects of the financial transaction” involving her ministry.

The Cable

Investors have continued to backpedal on the stock market, especially in the banking sector, on the back of the proposed recapitalization of the banks announced late last month by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

The risk-off sentiment resulted in the loss of N633 billion as investors took profits from the banks.

Consequently, the market capitalization of all the listed equities fell to N57.87 trillion at the close of the holiday-shortened week from N58.498 trillion in the previous week, representing a 1.1 per cent decrease.

Also, the benchmark All Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) declined by 1.1 per cent to 102,314.56 basis points from 103,437.67 basis points in the previous week, driven by losses in the shares of Guaranty Trust Company (GTCo) Plc (-13.75%), FBN Holdings Plc (-11.15%) and Zenith Bank Plc (-5.88%).

Month-to-Date (MtD) and Year-to-Date (YtD) returns slipped to -2.1 per cent and +36.8 per cent, respectively.

Further analysis shows that activity level was also impacted by the shortened trading week, as the total trading volume and value weakened by 69.2 per cent Week-on-Week (w/w) and 50.5 per cent w/w, to 734 04 million units and N31.58 billion respectively.

Sectoral performance was negative, reflecting the sour mood in the market.

Precisely, all the major sectoral indices declined with the banking sector, leading with 7.2 per cent depreciation, followed by the insurance sector 2.4 per cent; consumer goods sector (-1.3%); oil and gas sector (-0.3%) and the industrial goods sector which fell by 0.2 per cent.

Analysts at Cordros Capital, in their projection for the week, said: “Looking forward, we anticipate that market sentiments will remain negative, with investors continuing to react unfavourably to the potential dilution stemming from the CBN’s recapitalization initiative.”

“In the medium term, we expect investors’ sentiments to be influenced by developments in the macroeconomic landscape and corporate actions,” they added.

Analysts at Parthian Securities, however, projected that the market performance will be mixed this week, saying: “We expect investors sentiment to be mixed at this week’s trading session.”

Vanguard

ISRAEL’S REPORTS

IDF: A short while ago, in response to the launches that were fired toward northern Israel overnight, IDF fighter jets struck a significant Hezbollah weapons manufacturing site in the area of Nabi Chit, deep inside Lebanon.

Attached is a video of the strike: https://bit.ly/4aFcEwI

** IDF: Over the past hours, IAF fighter jets and additional aircraft struck Hezbollah military compounds and terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Kfarkela, Maroun El Ras, and Markaba in southern Lebanon. In addition, a Hezbollah observation post was struck in the area of Matmoura.

Throughout the day, IDF soldiers struck targets to remove threats in the areas of Ayta ash Shab and Souaneh in southern Lebanon.

Attached is a video of IDF strikes in southern Lebanon over the past few hours: https://bit.ly/3UeQ34b

** IDF: Following a situational assessment, it was determined that as of 00:00 Israel time tonight (Monday), changes will be made to the Home Front Command’s defensive guidelines.

As part of the changes, it was decided to restore educational activities across Israel. In the areas of the northern border and communities near the Gaza Strip, educational activities will resume in subject with restrictions. In addition, the restriction on gatherings is removed in green areas.

Attached is the Home Front Command's defensive guidelines: https://idfanc.activetrail.biz/ANC15042422

The instructions published on the official Home Front Command channels must be followed. The full instructions are updated on the National Emergency Portal and the Home Front Command app.

HAMAS’ REPORTS

Hamas: We consider the Iranian military attack on the occupying entity a natural and deserved response to the aggression against the embassy in Damascus, and the peoples of the region have the right to defend themselves against the Israeli aggression. We call on all the forces of the nation to continue to support the resistance and the Al-Aqsa flood.

** Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - Ramallah:

With God's help and strength, our fighters engaged in fierce clashes today at dawn with the Zionist occupation forces north of the city of Ramallah with machine guns, confirming direct casualties among their ranks.

** Clashes intensified between the Al-Qassam Brigades and the occupation forces penetrating north of Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip.

** - Hamas offered, in exchange for the release of any civilian prisoner, the release of 30 Palestinian prisoners

Hamas demanded the release of 50 Palestinian prisoners for every female soldier, including 30 life sentencers.

- Hamas demanded the lifting of the sanctions imposed on all Palestinian prisoners after October 7

Hamas demanded that the third phase include a commitment to end the siege and begin the process of rebuilding the Gaza Strip

** In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Press Statement

The scenes that documented the occupation soldiers protecting the terrorist settler militias as they vandalized and burned citizens’ property in the village of Beitin, northeast of the city of Ramallah; Clear evidence that these barbaric attacks are an organized and systematic process, supervised by the fascist occupation government, and in which the roles of the fascist occupation army complement the herds of extremist settlers, in implementation of the Zionist agendas aimed at seizing Palestinian land, Judaizing it, and expelling its people from it.

We call on our people, our revolutionary youth, and our heroic resistors in the West Bank, to escalate their clash with the occupation army and the settler militias, and to make them pay the price for their crimes against our people and our land. We also call on the international community and the United Nations to condemn this barbaric behavior and work to hold accountable the fascist settler government, which is practicing the most heinous acts. Crimes and violations against our safe people in their towns, homes and farms.

Islamic Resistance Movement - Hamas

Sunday: Shawwal 5, 1445 AH

Corresponding to: April 14, 2024 AD

** Urgent || ABC, about an American official:

- At least 9 Iranian missiles penetrated Israel's defenses and hit two air bases

- 5 ballistic missiles hit the Nevatim air base, damaging a transport plane and an unused runway

- 4 ballistic missiles hit the Negev Air Base, but there were no reports of major damage

Israel Defense Forces/Hamas Brigade al-Qassam

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine's top commander says Russia aims to capture Chasiv Yar by May 9

Ukraine's top commander said on Sunday Russian forces aimed to capture the town of Chasiv Yar by May 9, setting the stage for an important battlefor control of high ground in the east where Russia is focusing its assaults.

The fall of the town west of the shattered city of Bakhmut by the date Moscow marks the Soviet victory in World War Two would indicate growing Russian battlefield momentum as Kyiv faces a slowdown in Western military aid.

Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who warned this weekend that the situation in the east had deteriorated, said Russia was focusing its efforts west of occupied Bakhmut to try to capture Chasiv Yar before moving towards the city of Kramatorsk.

Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region lies 5-10 kilometres (3-6 miles) from Bakhmut, the devastated city captured by Russian forces in May last year after months of bloody fighting.

Kyiv's brigades were holding back the assaults near Chasiv Yar for now and had been reinforced with ammunition, drones and electronic warfare devices, he said in a statement on the Telegram messenger.

"The threat remains relevant, taking into account the fact that the higher Russian military leadership has set its troops the task of capturing Chasiv Yar by May 9," he said, without elaborating.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, writing on Facebook, said he visited Ukrainian units on the eastern front on Sunday and described the situation as "tense", with Russia trying to make headway in areas west of Bakhmut.

"Despite the numerical superiority of the enemy, we effectively disrupt these plans thanks to the courage, training and professionalism of the defenders," he wrote.

Russia marks May 9 with a big military parade on Red Square overseen by President Vladimir Putin who won a new six-year term in the Kremlin in March.

ATTACKS ON THE ENERGY SYSTEM

The war has escalated in recent weeks with Russia staging three massive air strikes on Ukrainian power plants and substations, raising fears over the resilience of an energy system that was hobbled in the war's first winter.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Ukrainians in his nightly address on Sunday: "The situation at the front during such a hot war is always difficult. But these days - and especially on the Donetsk front - it's getting harder."

The Ukrainian leader has warned the Kremlin may be preparing to launch a big offensive in late spring or summer.

It is unclear where that attack would come, but Russia has focused its attacking efforts in the Donetsk region.

Ukraine has this year tried to find a pressure point to strike back against the Kremlin, using domestically-produced long-range drones to bomb oil facilities deep inside Russia.

Ukraine now faces manpower challenges and artillery shell shortages.

Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a think-tank in Philadelphia, said on X that Chasiv Yar would likely prove an important battle.

"Chasiv Yar is located on defensible high ground. If Russia takes the (town), they could potentially increase the rate of advance deeper into Donetsk (region) as part of an expected summer offensive," he said.

"Russian forces will still have to cross the canal to take the (town), but they have now reached the canal southeast of the (town). Immediate increased deliveries of ammunition could prove critical."

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian Armed Forces hit IRIS-T air defense system launcher, Ukrainian ammunition depot

Over the past 24 hours, the Russian Armed Forces hit a launcher of the IRIS-T anti-aircraft missile system, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

"The launcher of the German-made IRIS-T anti-aircraft missile system and an ammunition depot were destroyed," the ministry said. The personnel and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were also defeated in 129 districts.

The Russian Armed Forces also shot down 41 unmanned aerial vehicles, three Hammer and JDAM guided bombs, as well as one HIMARS MLRS shell of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the ministry said. "Over the past 24 hours, air defense systems shot down 41 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, 3 Hammer guided aerial bombs made in France and a JDAM made in the US, as well as a missile of the US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system," the ministry said.

At the same time, units of the Russian North group of forces hit the personnel and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the regions of Kharkov and Sumy in the Belgorod direction. "In the Belgorod direction, units of the North group of troops, with the support of aviation and artillery, hit the personnel and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of the settlements of Ternovaya, Gatishche in the Kharkov region and Radyanskoye in the Sumy region," the ministry said.

Reuters/Tass

I never thought I could attend the Eid prayer held on 10th April, a day after I clocked the definitive age of 60: I have now joined the senior citizens' rank. Not being confident I could attend the Eid prayer seems an understatement; for actually, in February, the way I was feeling within me, it was looking to me that I would not witness Ramadan, not to talk of participating in the Eid marking its end.

I easily get exhausted from the littlest of tasks, making me always gasping for air to fill my lungs. It reached a stage where I could not walk ten metres without bending down, holding my knees and inhaling from both my mouth and nose.

It all came to a head when the news of the death of my mother reached me in the early hours of January, 8. I could not walk at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja which made the flight authorities move me in a wheelchair to the base of the plane, where I climbed the stairs with great effort, stopping at the plane’s entrance to gather myself.

The same routine was enacted when our plane landed at the Malam (don’t know why they spelt it MALLAM with a double l) Aminu Kano International Airport, where I had to be wheeled to the vehicle that conveyed me to Potiskum. To ease my difficulty, I had to be injected intravenously with bronchodilators on the three-hour journey.

Throughout the week I was at Potiskum for her seven-day prayers, I was ensconced in my room and couldn’t be at the family house where the main gathering took place. And I became dependent on my wives for many things a healthy person would do for himself.

And it is not as if I had not sought medical attention. God knows I had always advocated for our leaders to attend hospitals at home. I did the same. Some seven years ago I went to the Asokoro General Hospital where an x-ray was done for me. They said there was nothing wrong, but I knew something was wrong with me. Even then, I started feeling exhausted because I could not do what I normally did easily. And it had nothing to do with ageing.

I did some tests in some private laboratories, and the results were normal. Then I went to NISA Hospital in Abuja where I was looked after by a pulmonologist, James Agada. It is not a run-of-the-mill hospital and not cheap, moreover, I paid for VIP treatment. Yet, my case kept deteriorating till I became almost an invalid.

Then I had an opportunity to visit my governor, Mai Mala Buni, over an issue that needed some clarifications and he saw my condition. He became alarmed and sought to know what happened. I explained what I could to him, including my voyage to hospitals here that were quick to give me a clean bill of health that I knew was not true.

He undertook the process to reverse the ailment and give me back some lost health. He got in touch with an agent, Shettima Alkali, a kind-hearted professional, who got me a visa to Saudi Arabia. Buni, a man of faith, said: “To be there, drinking the holy Zamzam water and praying at the Ka’aba itself would do you wonders.”

And so began my journey in search of health.

I left Nigeria on 12th February from the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport via Air Peace. I will talk about Air Peace and its wonderful, friendly crew another day.

As had become the norm, I was wheeled into the plane from Abuja to Kano to board the Saudi flight and at the Kano airport too I was wheeled into the plane. It was the same procedure at Jeddah Airport until I reached the apartment where I was to stay. Once there I found it easier and more convenient since I had my son, Abubakar Sadik, a big, strong fella to do the wheeling.

In Saudi Arabia, one goes through the healthcare system from the Primary Health Care Centres except if one wants to go straight to a private hospital. To conserve funds and also see how their system works, I started from the former despite my almost desperate condition.

However, if you are an Umrite (my coinage for one undergoing the Umrah), you have an inalienable right to be accepted and diagnosed in government hospitals free of charge, even though there are fee-paying options.

Relying on that right, I started by going to the Jeddah East General Hospital where various tests were carried out on me: blood tests, electrocardiogram (ECG), x-rays, computerised tomography (CT) scans, etc., and the results were good. With all health issues eliminated, everything pointed to problems to do with pulmonology.

Still, I went to a Primary Health Centre this time around. Their primary health centres are as equipped as our general hospitals, if not better. Being the entry point to the health system, every General Hospital has a PHC that refers patients to it. And so this one referred me to King Abdul Aziz General Hospital, Jeddah, where the same tests conducted at Jeddah East were repeated with the same conclusion.

With the certainty of what my ailment was, I left Jeddah for Madinah, arriving at Makkah the next day. I searched online for a good pulmonologist and each search result had one Egyptian, Hebatullah Kamal Taha of Saudi-German Hospital, Makkah, coming up tops. She also comes a bit more expensive than the others. I then booked and paid for an appointment with her for the next day.

At exactly 10 am the next day, accompanied by my wife, Aminat Zakari, and son wheeling me, I was ushered into Heba’s office. A petite, friendly, middle-aged woman. After analysing the results from the two General Hospitals we went to in Jeddah, she made us do a test to ascertain the level of oxygen in my blood and then prescribed some drugs, telling us to return after five days.

** Hassan Gimba is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Neptune Prime.

Generative AI is getting better every day. We now have ChatGPT4, Claude 3, Gemini, Perplexity, and whole gamut of specialized GenAI tools that await your discovery. And people are using these tools in creative ways.

For example, UNICEF now explicitly states that they will not accept job applications that use Generative AI. I wonder how they would know when 70% of job applicants use GenAI today. Maybe if  the application was an obvious copy/paste or careless applicants included “as of my last knowledge update” in their documentation. In that case, the application should be trashed because it’s a bad application, not because the applicant used GenAI.

Which brings me to today’s question: “Should it matter if a proposal is written using Generative AI?”

How Is Generative AI Different?

We are already using different types of AI to write everyday correspondence. I know you used AI in your proposal process, even if you didn’t think of it as artificial intelligence. For example:

• Autocomplete is a simple AI automation program.
• Spellcheck and Grammar Check are pattern recognition AI.
• Google Translate is AI interpretation.

Generative AI is using probabilistic algorithms – a fancy way of saying it guesses at the next most common associated word or phrase, versus “knowing” anything – to create plausible text that may or may not be based on a known reality. It still takes human cognition to understand if the text is factually correct and edit it to make sense in the context of the full document.

3 Ways GenAI Can Improve Proposal Writing

I liken Generative AI in proposal writing as using a good assistant. It can help, but it’s not going to generate a perfect proposal for you on the first try. At least, not yet. I see three ways that we can use GenAI in the proposal process today. I’m sure you can think of more – add them in the comments!

1. Understanding Requests for Proposals

I already use the Ask Your PDF Research Assistant custom ChatGPT tool to summarize long documents and highlight key themes. This is especially useful when reports don’t have a strong executive summary.

Most donor RFPs have many pages of rules and regulations that crowd around a few select pages of technical explanations of what the donor really wants. I remember a USAID RFP that was 175 pages long, with only 12 pages detailing what was to be done. GenAI tools can cut through the clutter and pull out specific action items.

2. Developing Strong Win Themes

Once you know what you want to do, GenAI can build on proven responses – both from within an organization’s past experiences and from the greater corpus of development knowledge.

For example, DevelopMetrics has created DELLM, a GenAi tools that makes the Development Clearinghouse Exchange useful. It uses DEC entries, tagged and coded by development experts, to find which interventions were the most effective in different sectors and countries. That’s beyond the ability of any single human, but GenAI can do it easy-peasy.

3. Writing Compliant Submissions

I do feel sorry for local organizations trying to compete with traditional implementing partners. The 15 pages of certifications and representations required in many RFPs can be overwhelming even for me – and I’m a US citizen, Native American English speaker, and have 20+ years experience reading bureaucratic forms.

There is no way a 20-person NGO with 10 years of deep local connections that USAID wants, can ever hope to submit a compliant proposal when English is the 2nd or 3rd language learned – unless they use GenAI. That’s one reason I created the ADAIR and ADS Bots, tested GenAI on the FAR, and I am building a FAM/FAH Bot. We need more and better tools for local firms if we’re ever going to increase localization.

If you think GenAI isn’t ready to write proposals yet, then check out Grant Assistant – an LLM designed specifically to co-create proposals with human editors that include strong objectives, complaint activities, and buzzword usage that will be indistinguishable from (or better than) proposals solely written by humans.

What Are Generative AI Downsides?

Fake Quality: A good proposal put through Generative AI tools can become a great proposal, even a winning proposal. Hence, there is a risk that a subpar proposer could use GenAI tools to win a contract and then be unable to implement a successful project in compliance with the donors regulations.

How would that be any different from a subpar organization hiring a great proposal writer to create a winning proposal? Or donors not doing enough due diligence before awarding funding?

Overwhelming Volume: GenAI tools also make it easier to create proposals, allowing more organizations to submit more proposals using the same resources. Hence there is a risk that donors could be overwhelmed by too many quality proposals to judge properly under existing grading schema.

Might that really say that donors should have better RFPs? Or have different submission and grading criteria? Or just use GenAI themsevles to make proposal assessment easier?

Of course this all portends a day when machines will write proposals for other machines to review and reward – kinda like product review sites and Google Search today.

This is a 100% handcrafted post. Though how would you know if I used GenAI in its production – or not?

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