We live in an age of wonder in which half the world now has access to a technology – the internet – that supports people’s health and education, can be a lifeline in a time of disaster or disease, and was designed to be open to everyone but owned by no one. And the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted both its importance and its potential by forcing the world to connect remotely, contact-free, and in real time.

Unfortunately, we also live in an age of fear and suspicion. You don’t even need to “doomscroll” to find claims that the internet is worse than any previous pestilence or war. The internet is the scapegoat for many of today’s problems, including terrorism, child abuse, and even the end of democracy.

But think about it. To believe, for example, that fake news is somehow the internet’s fault is to forget the state propaganda machines perfected in the twentieth century. Likewise, excessive wealth concentration and overly powerful monopolies are not products of the digital age; once upon a time, there were firms like US Steel, Standard Oil, and the British and Dutch East India companies. Some even hold the internet responsible for the decline of civic values and even civility, as though lying politicians and incendiary speech were not possible before Twitter.

Transformative technologies have far-reaching effects on societies and individuals. We are now in a period of social change that is unquestionably attributable in part to the rise of the internet, because the tool has created new opportunities.

Some of those opportunities are socially valuable: people can now communicate easily and cheaply with friends or family far away. Some of them are socially harmful: scammers are almost certain to make money. And some are socially ambiguous: traditional authorities and gatekeepers are losing influence because people have more channels and ways to access information.

But while many of the harms people ascribe to the internet are neither new nor caused by it, governments are seeking to regulate the internet as though they are. Before heading down that path, we had better be sure we are regulating the right thing.

Consider the problem of today’s giant tech corporations and their effects on commerce and public discourse. Some advocate applying special regulations to these companies when they reach a certain market capitalization or level of revenue. But this is hardly the first time the issue of corporate concentration has arisen. After Standard Oil came to dominate the petroleum industry in the United States and many other countries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, governments addressed the firm’s power using antitrust policy, not “oil policy.”

Many people also express concern about internet-enabled political interference, both within a given country and from foreign actors. But it is careless and historically inaccurate to attribute this phenomenon entirely to the internet. The US, France, Russia, and China each underwent violent revolutions in pre-internet times. And long before anyone had sent a datagram on the internet, countries were interfering in other countries’ political processes, as both the Soviet Union and the US frequently did during the Cold War.

Political systems, and democracies in particular, depend on the efficient functioning and legitimacy of their governments. It is not possible to solve the problem of popular disaffection with a political regime by controlling information flows from abroad. That was just as true of Russia before 1917, when information was printed on paper, as it is now when it comes in packets of data.

To be sure, some challenges are unique to the internet. For starters, the technology enables more communication at a greater speed than ever before. It is also exceptionally difficult to be confident of the identity of someone online (or even to be confident that it is a person). But these are the types of narrow issues where internet-specific regulation might make sense, if policymakers can be sure that introducing such measures will not negatively affect the internet itself.

The internet is an ecosystem that we need to protect. When considering possible regulations, the best way forward is to undertake an Internet Impact Assessment, much like how we conduct environmental or traffic assessments before deciding whether to build new infrastructure. The evaluation can determine whether a given action will benefit or harm the internet’s underlying health.

Above all, we need to ensure that the internet is not made a scapegoat for problems caused by the legal, economic, and political systems where it is used. The internet must remain a tool for all of us. That means protecting it as we would any precious resource.

 

Project Syndicate

Inside the stables of Paleis Noordeinde in The Hague is a golden coachembellished with images of colonial offerings to Dutch rulers that many, including the current Dutch king, regard as a symbol of exploitation that, according to a new study, netted three Dutch rulers the equivalent of more than €545m (£465m).

Historians calculated the staggering value of colonial profit for Willem III (also king of England, Ireland and Scotland), Willem IV and Willem V for a report published at the request of the Dutch parliament last week before a widely expected apology over slavery from the Dutch king.

The study, State and Slavery, is the first to quantify the financial value to the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau of colonial trade that included enslaving at least 600,000 African men, women and children and between 660,000 and 1 million people from Asia to be tortured, exploited and robbed of their freedom and their names. It is a legacy for which Willem-Alexander is expected to present a formal apology in Amsterdam’s Oosterpark on 1 July, the festival of Keti Koti (breaking the chains), 150 years after Dutch slavery in effect ended.

The €545m equivalent exceeded the money that the rulers, known as Stadhouders, took as heads of the state and military. Between 1675 and 1770, William III netted 1,094,998 guilders in his share of profits from the Dutch East India Company – the equivalent of €196m today.

Raymund Schütz, a researcher at the municipal archives in The Hague, discovered the figures about the Dutch Stadhouders, appointed regents, last year in a private archive of Gerard van Vredenburch. This important figure in the Dutch East India Company was apparently hoarding and documenting secrets “like poker cards”, he said.

“It was seen as something to be proud of,” said Schütz. “In some cases, they took enslaved people to the Netherlands to show off. It was a kind of conspicuous investment and consumption to show you were important, a kind of status symbol. These days, everybody is ashamed and it’s hard to imagine how it was seen at the time. But the main thing was making money.”

Schütz said it was not yet known how much the Netherlands’ rulers profited from slavery between 1621 and its abolition on 1 July 1863 (followed by 10 years of compulsory employment for the enslaved). The Dutch king has commissioned a three-year independent study.

Last year, the UK’s King Charles, then Prince of Wales, expressed “the depths of his personal sorrow” about suffering caused by the British slave trade, and in 2021 Germany offered €1bn in recognition of colonial-era genocide in Namibia. Last December, the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, apologised for the government’s role and the “appalling suffering” caused to generations, and announced a €200m fund for awareness initiatives but no reparations or damages.

A spokesperson for the Dutch royal household confirmed that Willem-Alexander would make a speech at the Keti Koti celebrations in Amsterdam – something widely expected to contain his own apology.

Don Ceder, an MP for the Christian Union and a lawyer, has played a major role in stimulating government recognition. “I think that an apology from the king in his institutional role would [be of] enormous significance in the reconciliation process,” he said. “The Dutch royal family received a significant portion of her wealth through the slave trade … A sincere reflection upon that past could contribute to a shared future.”

Descendants of the enslaved believe that recognition of the profit and wrongs of the past are long overdue, according to Linda Nooitmeer, president of the National Institute of the Dutch Slavery Past and Legacy (NiNsee), whose surname means “never again”. “The symbolic value of the king is so great that an apology is not just valued: it is self-evident,” she said. “In 2019, an investigation showed that 5% of Dutch GDP [in 1770] came from slavery. What the community thought, seems to be true.”

Roy Kaikusi Groenberg, of the Honour and Recovery Foundation, a Dutch Afro-Surinamese organisation, was one among many who took the government to courtlast year to demand a careful apology. “It would mean that the king, in the name of the monarchy and the Dutch head of state, underlines a kind of recognition,” he said.

“I’m not a psychologist, but I think this apology will be the start of another era, that it will bring a kind of peace. The relatives of the victims of slavery are right now confronted with the consequences of that behaviour: racism, discrimination, being undervalued, Black Pete [a festive tradition in the Netherlands in which people dress up in blackface]. If people in the Netherlands truly realise what happened and what still needs to happen, I do not think they will lack the will.”

The golden coach may be retired until the Netherlands is a land of real equality, according to the king. But one way of achieving this is, in classic Dutch style, by sitting at a table.

Across the country, organisations from the Rijksmuseum to police stations and town halls have organised hundreds of “Keti Koti Tafels” where, over a meal, different communities share personal stories about experiencing and tackling modern-day discrimination.

“The aim is to bring people closer together,” said a spokesperson. “We want to increase awareness of the internal consequences of a slavery past, that sits in a collective archive of us all … black, white and all colours in between, sharing personal experiences. We share a society, we are all people and we need to come together.”

 

The Guardian, UK

I have come to believe, sadly,  that it's impossible to convince the vast majority of digital consumers that they should take the few simple steps and invest the embarrassingly modest amount of dollars needed, to protect the security and confidentiality of their passwords.

You can explain things to people repeatedly, but the simple truth is that you can't understand things for them. If only we could learn what's important before it's too late, we'd be far ahead of the game.

Prevention rather than cure. It's so much smarter and cheaper to avoid the pothole entirely than to get a great deal on a tow truck or a new tire.

But instead of preemptive actions, we're lazy, we're sloppy and far too many of us continue to use the same short, stupid and easily solvable passwords repeatedly across multiple applications on our phones and PCs.

This creates continuing and growing risks of losses, which can be many times the amount of the costs of avoidance through basic preventative actions. When you're dying of thirst, it's too late to start digging your well.

There are simple, cost-effective solutions for password and secrets management available from firms like Keeper Security which do a first-class job of password protection.

But it's far harder than you'd expect to convince people to invest the one-time effort needed to protect their identity and most valuable assets.

We're apparently all willing to invest far more in trying to secure something good or advantageous than we are in trying to keep something bad from happening.

And, amazingly, it doesn't get much better or easier to get consumers to make such a move even after they've been hacked – whether they know it or not.

You'd think, if there was any substantial group of easily targeted and prospective adopters for security solutions like these, that major tech companies, consulting and accounting firms, government agencies and their employees would be high on the list, but, here again, it's a matter of the shoemaker's kids and large-scale IT departments generally do a horrible job of patrolling and securing their own environments and enforcing consistent security measures on their own teams.

But what's struck me lately is an entirely separate set of exposures which relate – with apologies to Capitol One – to exactly "what's in your wallet" and what would happen if it was lost or stolen in a theft or carjacking.

Even the best password plans won't really help you much in this situation, but a couple of simple steps and about 15 minutes of your time can make a huge difference.

I know that we see hundreds of ads every week online or on the tube about how quickly and easily we can shut down or replace a lost card, but here's a flash: All the contact numbers and URLs that you need to reach and tell the many issuers that your cards have gone astray are on the cards, which are in your wallet which – in a case like this – you no longer have in your possession.

It's a lot like trying to use "Find My Phone" app when it's your phone that's missing and that's where the app resides.

Worse yet, if you asked yourself and answered honestly, you'd admit that you really have little or no idea of exactly what credit cards, debit cards, access badges, medical alert info, insurance stuff, licenses and other stuff are stuffed in your wallet or purse at the moment – and absolutely no idea of who or how or where you'd go to cut off, cancel or replace these items.

So, here's what I would suggest to save yourself a great deal of grief and a lot of running around trying to track down and contact all these various parties when the problem arises.

(1)  Inventory your wallet or purse.

Throw away the four-year-old business card from the guy at the Omaha airport you never called. Dump the hardware store receipt for the touch-up paint you bought and never used.

Recycle the expired proof of insurance cards for the cars you sold years ago. Do you really need to carry your voter's registration card anymore? You get the idea.

(2)  Copy the cards and store the information in a couple of places.

Put all the cards that are still current and in use neatly on the glass of your printer, copier or whatever (or use your camera) and make copies of the front and back. This shouldn't be more than a page or two.

Make a few copies of the pages. Put the date you created the pages on each page as a reminder of how current your back up plan is.

(3)  Take an extra 5 minutes to write the contact phone numbers on the images of the front of the cards.

A lot of the critical info – sometimes even the card numbers themselves – isn't on the front of the cards, which is why you need to copy both sides.

But to save time and confusion, I also find the number to call and write that number for each card on the face image of the cards on your compilation pages so it's handy when you need it.

(4)  Do the same thing for your significant other and make sure you each have copies of both lists stored in a safe place.

This may take a little discussion, but again, it's worth doing and it's a good way for both of you to review, rehearse and understand what the necessary notification steps are in the case of any lost cards.

Pat yourself on the back(s) and hope you never need these lists. But remember that the frequency of these problems is constantly increasing and the costs of not being prepared and equipped to quickly deal with them are also growing.

It's so much easier to anticipate these things than to try to fix them after the fact. And, while the past is past, it's never too late to change the future.

 

Inc

A pan-African payment system that would allow African nations to trade among themselves, using their own currencies, is gaining momentum.

The African Export-Import Bank expects 15 to 20 countries to have joined the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System by the end of the year, Afreximbank President Benedict Oramah said in an interview ahead of the lender’s annual meetings in Accra, Ghana’s capital, that runs Sunday through June 21. The platform has started commercial operations with nine countries signed up so far, he said.

The system, known as PAPSS, is using dollar exchange rates for now, said Oramah, whose bank funds the system. “But we are working with central banks to develop an exchange-rate mechanism” that would allow Africa’s 42 currencies to be convertible among themselves. “What we are doing is to domesticate intra-African payments,” he said. 

The vast majority of Africa’s intra-regional trade is done through conversions to the dollar. Initiatives like PAPSS and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which would create the world’s largest free trade zone by area, seek to boost internal trade by reducing barriers, including the need for intermediaries such as the US dollar. 

The free trade zone and the payment system are ambitious projects in a fragmented region of 54 countries, with different languages, currencies and regulations. Africans trade more outside the continent than among themselves, with just 17% of exports going somewhere else within the region, according to a McKinsey Global Institute report published this month. That excludes informal trade, which is difficult to quantify.

Africa isn’t alone in looking for ways to break its dependency on the US currency; there’s been a de-dollarization push across emerging markets, including India’s efforts to clear trade through the rupee, Sweden’s SEB AB said in a May 2 note. China and Malaysia have played with the idea of an Asian Monetary Fund, while Brazil and Argentina announced a project for a common currency called the “sur.”

These alternatives are unlikely to unilaterally dethrone the dollar as the global reserve currency, SEB Chief EM strategist Erik Meyersson wrote, without referring to PAPSS. But if emerging markets “are instead more interested in simply reducing their relative dependence on the USD as well as finding alternatives as a potential hedge against the West’s weaponization of sanctions and other economic measures,” there are signs they may be achieving some results.

Oramah bucked against the idea that PAPSS might seek to bypass the dollar. “We’re not bypassing anybody,” he said. “Not the dollar, not the yuan, not the euro. That’s not the objective of the project.” It does, though, aim to cut dollar reliance over time, he said.

Afreximbank is budgeting $3 billion to clear trades so that anybody requiring dollars will get their dollars, Oramah said. As intraregional trade picks up, the hope is that “the net settlement position after clearing should turn to zero, so that there will be no need to pay any dollar to anybody.”

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the performance of a basket of 10 leading global currencies versus the dollar, has declined 2% so far this year. Half of the ten worst-performing currencies in the world have been African, including the Nigerian naira, the Angolan kwanza, the Burundi franc, and the Egyptian pound. 

The depreciation of many African currencies has added to the region’s inflationary pressures, which in turn spurred tighter monetary policy, with higher interest rates at home, in addition to the increased cost of external debt.

The creation of a concessional loan window, which will allow the bank “to blend” its own resources, is among the tools being deployed to cut borrowing costs, Oramah said. Afreximbank shareholders will vote on aspects of this window during this week’s annual meetings. 

But the ultimate relief would be a new injection of reserve assets from the International Monetary Fund, he said, adding to the voices of African leadersclamoring for fresh support.

“What will work best is for access to funding to improve in the system overall,” he said. “That’s why it’s very important for the IMF to issue new Special Drawing Rights.”

 

Bloomberg

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said cash deposits into domiciliary accounts will no longer be restricted.

The apex bank said this in guidance to Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) after a meeting with the bankers’ committee on Sunday.

The guidance includes allowing all visible and invisible transactions to be eligible for the Investors’ and Exporters’ window, granting unrestricted access to funds in ordinary domiciliary accounts, and permitting cash deposits not exceeding $10,000 per day or its equivalent via telegraphic transfer.

According to the CBN, the policy changes aim to promote transparency, liquidity, and price discovery in the FX market in order to improve FX supply, discourage speculation, enhance customer confidence and ensure overall stability in the FX market.

“All visible and invisible transactions (medicals, school fees, BTA/PTA, airline, and other remittances) are eligible for the investors’ and exporters’ (I&E) window.”

“DMBs shall ensure expeditious processing of all eligible invisible transactions on behalf of their customers using the applicable rate at the I&E window. Ordinary domiciliary account holders shall have unfettered and unrestricted access to funds in their accounts. Domiciliary account holders are permitted to utilise cash deposits not exceeding $10,000 per day or its equivalent via telegraphic transfer.

“DMBs shall provide returns to the CBN including the purpose for such transactions. Cash deposits into domiciliary accounts will not be restricted, subject to DMBs conducting proper KYC (know your customer), due diligence, and adhering to the spirit and letter of extant anti-money laundering/ combating the financing of terrorism laws and other relevant rules and regulations.

“The CBN will prioritise orderly settlement of any committed FX forward transactions as they fall due in order to further boost market confidence.”

The CBN said it remains committed to ensuring a stable and efficient FX market that meets the needs of all legitimate users.

 

Daily Trust

Binance has issued a cease and desist order to "Binance Nigeria Limited", Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a tweet on Sunday, calling the Nigerian company a "scammer entity".

Earlier this month, Nigeria's markets regulator ordered Binance to halt its operations in the country, saying local unit "Binance Nigeria Limited" that courted Nigerian investors through a website was not registered or regulated, making it illegal.

Binance, the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, has faced a string of setbacks recently, announcing plans to leave the Netherlands, Cyprus, Canada and Australia, and being charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The SEC sued Binance and Zhao earlier this month alleging that the company artificially inflated its trading volumes, diverted customer funds, and misled investors about its market surveillance controls. Binance disputes the SEC charges.

 

Reuters

Sultan of Sokoto and President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, has declared June 19, 2023 as the first day of Dhul-Hijjah 1444 AH.

This is contained in a statement Sunday night from the council.

“The Sultanate Council Sokoto has declared Monday 19 June, 2023 as the first day of Zul-Hijjah 1444 AH.”

“The Sultanate Council Sokoto has declared Monday 19 June, 2023 as the first day of Zul-Hijjah 1444 AH.”

“Accordingly Wednesday 28 June, 2023 will be the day of Eidul Adha 1444 AH. His Eminence The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa‘ad Abubakar, wishes the entire Muslim Ummah happy Eidul Adha Mubarak in advance,” the statement said.

The Sultan had on Saturday directed Muslims to look out for the new moon of Dhul-Hijjah 1444 AH from Sunday.

The Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia had on Sunday announced that Monday, June 19, as the first day of Dhul-Hijjah, after sighting the new crescent in the Kingdom on Sunday night.

”Arafat Day falls on Tuesday, June 27, while Wednesday, June 28, will be the first day of Eid Al Adha,” the Saudi Arabia apex court said in the statement.

 

Daily Trust

Many people were feared killed and properties worth millions of Naira destroyed Sunday night in yet another cycle of attack in Mangu town Plateau State.

The cause of the crisis was not immediately clear but it was gathered that some young men were attacked on motorcycle leading to the death of one, a situation that later snowballed into wanton killings and burning of properties in Mangu town.

“They brought the corpse of somebody into the Mosque and before we knew it, they started macheting people. Our house is just close to the Mosque, it took the grace of God for us to escape from being macheted too.

“We are currently at the Palace of Mishkaham Mangu at the moment facing the Mangu Police station waiting to see what God will do,”  Reyit Lengtu told our correspondent via telephone.

Another resident, Lawrence Kyarshik, also confirmed the attack saying, “Mangu town is in a state of confusion at the moment.”

Interim Management Committee Chairman of Mangu Local Government Council, Markus Artu has imposed a 24-hour curfew to arrest the unfortunate situation.

“As such there will be no vehicular movement of any sort. Only Security personnel and workers on essential duty will be allowed to move,” he declared

Governor Caleb Mutfwtang has charged security agencies to perform their duties diligently by adequately protecting lives and properties in the state.

He spoke against the backdrop of attacks by bandits on some communities in Barkin-Ladi local government area.

In a statement issued by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Gyang Bere, the governor expressed concern over the recent attacks on Kak, Ranyam, Nging, Lohala and Buka communities in Barkin-Ladi LGA and directed security agencies to put a stop to the menace.

 

Sun

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine sustains massive single-day losses – Russian MOD

Ukrainian military forces have sustained heavy casualties across the frontlines during the last 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry has said. Russia’s Zaporozhye and Donetsk regions have seen the most intense fighting, with Kiev losing more than 800 soldiers in those regions.

“Over the past day, enemy losses in the Southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions amounted to more than 800 Ukrainian servicemen, 20 tanks, four infantry fighting vehicles, [and] 15 armored fighting vehicles,” the military stated on Sunday during a daily media briefing. The ministry did not elaborate on whether its figures for casualties includes those killed and injured or fatalities exclusively.

As well as these setbacks in personnel and equipment, Ukrainian troops also lost two US-made M777 howitzers and several Soviet-made artillery systems, the military added.

The immediate vicinity of Donetsk city has also seen intense fighting, with Ukrainian forces losing over 200 soldiers on this axis, according to the ministry. The Russian military has destroyed multiple soft and armored vehicles on the outskirts of Donetsk, it also said, as well as two major ammunition stockpiles to the northwest of the city.

The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has intensified after Kiev launched its long-heralded counteroffensive in early June. Thus far, the Ukrainian military has failed to make any major gains, sustaining heavy losses in the process and losing large amounts of Western-supplied hardware. According to the estimates of Moscow’s military, some 7,500 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded amid the counteroffensive effort.

** Russia’s military operation virtually turns into Russia-West war - Kremlin

Russia’s special military operation started to defend the Donbass region and now it has virtually turned into a war with the collective West, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with RT commenting on the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine.

"In fact, the special military operation against Ukraine, against the Kiev regime, was launched to ensure the safety of the people of Donbass. This is correct. Now it is practically a war between Moscow and the collective West," the Kremlin spokesman said.

Recalling Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement about establishing a "cordon sanitaire" on the territory of Ukraine if the shelling of Russian regions continues, Peskov said that as the range of weapons delivered to Ukraine expands, so will the buffer zone, "that is, the distance that we will have to move Ukrainians away from our territories."

 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia reports fierce fighting, Zelenskiy praises troops, counter-offensive

Russia reported fierce fighting on Sunday on three sections of the front line in Ukraine while Ukraine's president praised his troops for repelling enemy advances and said their counter-offensive was progressing well.

The assesments of action along the 1,000-km (600-mile) long front were made a day after an African peace mission wrapped up talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The mission failed to spark enthusiasm from either Moscow or Kyiv.

The United Nations, meanwhile, accused Moscow of failing to allow it to provide assistance to Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine affected by the breach of a big power dam that flooded vast areas of land and left thousands homeless.

A Russian-installed official said Ukraine had recaptured Piatykhatky, a village in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, and were entrenching themselves there while coming under fire from Russian artillery.

"The enemy's 'wave-like' offensives yielded results, despite enormous losses," the official, Vladimir Rogov, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia's defence ministry made no mention of Piatykhatky in its daily update, in which it said its forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks in three sections of the front line. Russia's Vostok group of forces said Ukraine had failed to take the settlement.

The evening report by the general staff of Ukraine's armed forces also made no mention of Piatykhatky. Last week, Ukraine said it had recaptured a nearby settlement, Lobkove, and villages further east, in the Donetsk region, at the start of its counteroffensive.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised his troops for being "very effective in repelling assaults" near Avdiivka, one of the hot spots in the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

The long-anticipated Ukrainian counter-offensive was proceeding well, he said in his nightly video address.

"Our troops are on the move: position by position, step by step, we are going forward," he said.

Reuters could not independently verify battlefield reports.

Ukrainian officials have imposed an information blackout to help operational security, but say that Russia has suffered much greater losses than Ukraine has during its new assault.

A regional official said Ukrainian forces had destroyed a Russian ammunition dump in occupied Kherson region, part of a weeks-long effort by Kyiv to disrupt Russian supply lines.

British defence intelligence said fighting had focused on Zaporizhzhia, western Donetsk and near Bakhmut, captured last month by Russian mercenaries after the war's longest battle.

"In all these areas, Ukraine continues to pursue offensive operations and has made small advances," it said on Twitter.

Russia's defence, it said, was "relatively effective in the south", with both sides suffering heavy casualties.

PUTIN TRIES TO REASSURE RUSSIANS

Putin, who rarely comments on the course of the war, made two unusually detailed remarks last week in which he derided the Ukrainian push and said Kyiv's forces had "no chance" despite being newly equipped with Western tanks.

His comments appeared intended to reassure Russians, nearly 16 months into the conflict, as Ukraine seeks to take back the 18% of its territory that remains under Russian control.

At talks in St Petersburg on Saturday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa presented Putin with a 10-point peace initiative from seven African countries and told him it was time for Russia and Ukraine to start negotiations to end the war.

Putin responded with accusations long denied by Ukraine and the West and saying it was Kyiv, not Moscow, that was refusing to talk. He thanked Ramaphosa for his "noble mission".

In his video message, Zelenskiy said the talks in St. Petersburg had demonstrated that only Ukraine's peace plan calling for a withdrawal of all Russian troops was realistic.

"Everything discussed in Russia was about the war, about how to destroy lives further," he said.

In Kyiv, Zelenskiy had told the African delegation - the first since the start of the war to hold face-to-face talks with both leaders - that talks would just "freeze the war".

The gulf between the two sides was further underlined when Putin used an economic forum on Friday to slur Zelenskiy and to restate the aims of "demilitarising" and "denazifying" Ukraine, rejected by Kyiv and the West as a pretext for invasion.

AFRICANS TO KEEP TRYING

Ramaphosa tweeted on Sunday that the mission had been "impactful and its ultimate success will be measured on the objective, which is stopping the war". He said the Africans would keep talking to both Putin and Zelenskiy.

The war has destroyed Ukrainian towns and cities, forced millions of people to flee their homes and taken heavy but undisclosed casualties among both armies.

Each side accuses the other of blowing up the Kakhovka power dam on June 6 in Kherson region and flooding vast areas of the war zone. Russia seized Kherson region in the early days of the invasion and still controls parts of it.

The U.N. statement, issued by its humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, said the world body "will continue to engage to seek the necessary access" to Russian-controlled areas

"We urge the Russian authorities to act in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law. Aid cannot be denied to people who need it."

 

RT/Reuters

Start of truce period brings lull in fighting to Sudan's capital

The start of a 72-hour ceasefire aimed at calming more than two months of conflict between rival Sudanese military factions brought a lull in clashes in Khartoum early on Sunday following battles and air strikes overnight, residents said.

Sudan's army and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have agreed to refrain from attacks and from seeking military advantage during the ceasefire period, which started at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT), as well as allowing for delivery of aid, Saudi and U.S. mediators said. Several previous truces have failed to stop the fighting.

The power struggle between the two sides has turned the capital into a war zone plagued by looting, led to outbursts of fighting in other regions, and triggered a sharp escalation of violence in Darfur in western Sudan.

In the hours before the truce period began witnesses reported clashes and air strikes in several areas of Khartoum and Omdurman, one of two adjoining cities that make up the wider capital at the confluence of the River Nile.

"The situation in Khartoum is calm, especially because last night there were air strikes and it was terrifying," 49-year-old resident Salaheldin Ahmed told Reuters by phone on Sunday morning, expressing hope that the truce could be the "beginning of the end" of the war.

"We are tired," he said. "Enough of war, death and looting."

Previous ceasefires brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States at talks in Jeddah have allowed for the delivery of some humanitarian aid as fighting has subsided, but both sides have repeatedly violated the agreements.

The conflict, which erupted over disputes about a plan for a transition to elections under a civilian government four years after long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir was overthrown during a popular uprising, has intensified since early June.

On Monday, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Nations are hosting a donors conference in Geneva that aims to attract pledges of funding for humanitarian relief in Sudan.

The U.N. says more than half the population of 49 million now needs humanitarian assistance within Sudan, requiring some $3 billion in funding until the end of the year.

It has also appealed for nearly $500 million for the refugee crisis caused by the conflict. More than 500,000 people have fled into countries neighbouring Sudan, in addition to nearly 1.7 million who have been internally displaced.

 

Reuters