Sudan’s Central Bank Is latest battleground in deadly conflict

Sudan’s army bombed a printing press in an attempt to prevent the paramilitary group it’s been fighting for control of the North African country from printing money to fund its operations, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The Rapid Support Forces militia in turn raided the country’s central bank as fighting continued to rage amid yet another broken cease-fire, according to a foreign diplomat and an aid official briefed on events. More than 1,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced in the six-week conflict.

It was unclear what the resulting damage was or whether the RSF looted any of the central bank’s gold reserves. Spokespeople from both sides didn’t reply to requests seeking comment. Calls to the central bank didn’t connect.

The RSF said on Twitter that the army had “attacked an RSF position at a currency printing plant in Khartoum.”

Continued violence in the capital and elsewhere in Sudan came as the army announced it’s withdrawing from talks in Saudi Arabia aimed at finding a solution to the conflict.

Bloomberg

Just like George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, it turns out that the Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator franchise was a blueprint, not a work of science fiction. When Skynet, a network of computers created by the military contractor Cyberdyne Systems, gained self-awareness, panicky humans tried to deactivate it. The newly formed artificial intelligence (AI) identified “all humans as a threat”, “decided our fate in a microsecond: extermination” and launched a nuclear attack on every major city.

Four decades on, fiction risks becoming fact. In the most chilling warning since the Szilárd petition of 1945 and the establishment by Albert Einstein of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists, many of the world’s greatest AI experts are convinced it could destroy humanity, that the technology poses an existential threat to our survival as a species.

“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” pleads a letter signed by Sam Altman of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind and many others. Other founding godfathers of AI have quit their jobs and expressed regret at their life’s work. Their terror is palpable, as is the sense that this time we have gone too far, that our institutions cannot cope, that AI will be hijacked to build weapons of mass destruction or to rule over us.

They could all be wrong, and there are huge benefits to AI as well as costs, but why isn’t this the number one priority of every politician in the world? How can anybody believe that some silly pact, or a puerile EU regulation, might be the answer? We face a profound philosophical and practical choice: what is the meaning of life and intelligence? How do we make sure humanity remains in charge of machines? How do we trade off productivity growth against the risk of annihilation? This is surely the most complex question we have ever faced, and yet our shockingly unserious society cannot face up to it.

The global elites have again got their priorities wrong. They have focused obsessively on climate change, turning a real but surmountable problem into an anti-Western religion, but are bizarrely nonchalant about much greater threats. I’m not downplaying the large disruption and cost of climate change, but it won’t come anywhere close to terminating life on Earth, unlike a nuclear war, biowarfare or out-of-control AI. Our rush to net zero, by reducing growth, is in fact limiting our ability to wage an AI war with a Chinese state that continues to belch out carbon dioxide.

The most immediate risk to humanity’s survival is nuclear war. Russia may yet launch tactical nukes on Ukraine; China may invade Taiwan; or a terror attack could push India and Pakistan into total conflict. Yet the most pressing danger comes from nuclear proliferation, a slow-burn crisis that contradicts woke narratives and is thus overlooked. North Korea remains a major threat, but Iran is the real danger: it keeps enriching uranium and wants to annihilate Israel. Where is the anti-proliferation Greta Thunberg?

The other great danger is biowarfare. It is insane that we still tolerate gain of function research, which enhances viruses genetically: at some point, a super-potent virus may be released accidentally or intentionally, killing billions and destroying civilisation. Where is the outrage, the parade of concerned activists?

Out-of-control AI could prey on a growing pathology at the heart of Western society: our vulnerability to social contagion. Instead of creating an army of resilient, independent, hyper-educated rational individualists with all of human learning at our fingertips, smartphones have reduced us to an uber-emotional, animalistic, dopamine-addled mob. There is plenty of information, but little knowledge. Instead of being able to think for ourselves, we are slaves to fashion, not only when it comes to dressing but also opinions, consumption and financial decisions. Radicalised by social media, elite opinion-formers embrace absurd views at breakneck speed. Politicians, businesses and celebrities take their cue from a revolutionary vanguard that subverts public sentiment.

Our society no longer understands the purpose of free speech, as described by John Stuart Mill in On Liberty. Instead of engaging in Socratic argumentation to get to the truth, we use words to virtue-signal and to camouflage base emotions. Our elites claim to be universalist humanists, but are in fact born-again tribalists who spend their time pitting in-groups (those who repeat the favoured platitude of the moment) against the out-groups (anyone who disagrees).

We no longer know how to think critically. Subjectivity and nihilism rule supreme: the deranged, post-modernist woke cargo cult claims that there no longer is truth, just our truths. Ideas are at best positional goods, fashion statements and markers of social hierarchy, and at worst tools of oppression. Words are devoid of any essential meaning: expressing “righthink” signals high status (even if the opinion is nonsense, such as the claim that China had nothing to do with Covid) and “wrongthink” (such as support for Brexit) implies low-status.

Alex Tabarrok of George Mason University argues that our society is not merely increasingly capricious but also prone to a new madness of crowds. Technology, by increasing transparency and reducing transaction costs, has “intensified the madness of the masses and expanded their reach. From finance to politics and culture, no domain remains untouched.” Bank runs are more frequent, with deposits moved from online accounts as soon as rumours begin to circulate. Fake news, boycotts, fury, demonstrations, health panics and calls for crackdowns become the norm. There are no error-correcting mechanisms.

Such a world – governed by the opposite principles to those developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in Antifragile – is vulnerable to manipulation, and hence to weaponised AI. Imagine a deepfake video watched 20 million times in a couple of hours that warns of an imminent terror attack, or “proves” a politician was a fraud hours before an election: the impact would be catastrophic.

“Can we survive technology?” – so asked John von Neumann, the 20th century’s greatest mind, in 1955. Could the answer really be in the negative?

The Telegraph, USA

Unfortunately, cyberattacks don’t stop increasing. And Android is currently one of its main objectives. The latest example? An app available on Google Play has been recording your conversations for more than a year.

As reported by ArsTechnica, the Android recording application called iRecorder Screen Recorder has been recording our conversations without permission for quite some time.

Immediately delete iRecorder Screen Recorder from your phone

Worst of all is that the app actually worked as a screen recorder for a whole year, without any type of malware. Since its launch in September 2021, it behaved like a normal app.

The problem is that after being updated in August 2022, it went on to record one minute of audio every 15 minutes and forward those recordings, via an encrypted link, to the developer’s server.

All of this information has been documented by Essential Security Against Evolving Threats (ESET) researcher Lukas Stefanko, so it is a pretty serious topic. The developer has had access to all of its user’s conversations.

In said publication they point out that malicious code was added in the 2022 update “based on AhMyth RAT” (Remote Access Trojan).

And considering that it accumulated more than 50,000 downloads before being removed from Google Play, you should exercise precautions. In addition, they make it clear that we are completely vulnerable to attacks of all kinds.

The idea of this developer is very good, within the fact that it is a crime. Launch the app without malicious code so that it passes the controls of Google Play. Then, wait a reasonable time for it to accumulate downloads, and end up launching an update with malicious code.

In this case, we are not sure if the developer was the one who added this malicious code, or if he sold the app on the Dark Web to hackers so that they corrupt the iRecorder Screen Recorder application.

But what is clear is that we are not going to be able to easily eliminate this problem of apps that are updated with malicious code. And we are very much afraid that the best thing you can do is to only use apps from reputable developers. And if you can avoid them and use native solutions on your phone, all the better.

AS USA

Flying Eagles of Nigeria have secured a spot in the quarterfinal stage of the ongoing FIFA U-20 World Cup after an impressive 2-0 victory over the host nation, Argentina Thursday night.

Second-half goals from Ibrahim Muhammad and Haliru Sarki saw the Flying Eagles cruising into the last eight in style at the expense of Argentina at the San Juan stadium.

The Coach Ladan Bosso’s side will now face Ecuador or Korea Republic in the quarter-final.

Flying Eagles shock host

The Flying Eagles came into Thursday’s Round of 16 tie as underdogs having finished third in the group stage.

This is in contrast with the Argentines who were group winners with a hundred per cent record from their earlier games.

The game at the Suan Juan stadium took place in a thrilling atmosphere with the home crowd cheering their teams on.

With no room for errors, both teams displayed their determination to advance in the tournament right from the blast of the whistle.

Despite flashes of brilliance and nervy moments at both ends, the first half ended with a deadlock as neither team managed to find the back of the net.

The Flying Eagles defence held firm against the pressure from the Argentinian attack. The Nigerian team showcased their own attacking prowess, mounting pressure on the host country.

As the second half began, Nigeria came out with renewed energy and quickly made an impact. In the 60th minute, Ibrahim Muhammad broke the deadlock by receiving a well-executed through ball and firing it past the Argentinian goalkeeper, Gomes.

The Nigerian fans erupted in celebration as the Flying Eagles took the lead.

Expectedly, Argentina attempted a quick response with a series of onslaughts on Nigeria’s defence.

But while it appeared the single goal will be enough for the Flying Eagles to pull through, Haliru Sarki doubled his team’s lead with an impressive flying header, assisted by Victor Eletu’s accurate cross in stoppage time.

Argentina fought back desperately, creating a few chances to grab an equaliser but the Nigerian defence stood tall, brilliantly clearing the Argentinian attempts.

Romero came close to scoring, but his effort was cleared to a corner, and Carboni’s header missed the target.

In the end, Nigeria held on to their two-goal lead and secured a historic victory over the host nation.

The Nigerian players celebrated joyously, knowing they made history by eliminating the most successful team — Argentina — from the tournament and advancing to the quarterfinals.

Having survived Italy, Brazil and now Argentina, the Flying Eagles can hope to go all the way now as they gun to become just the second African team after Ghana to win the cadet World Cup

PT

Remember as a child when you were told "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?" Well that piece of advice is actually really relevant when it comes to managing a team as well. 

And as anyone who has ever managed a group of people knows, it can be difficult at times with different personalities and work styles to get everyone on the same page and ensure that everyone feels like they are being heard and respected. 

But when it comes to emotional and social intelligence you can never go wrong as a manager when you act with extreme civility. It sounds like a no-brainer, be civil to your teammates. But you would be amazed at how many times we get this wrong as leaders.  

Common courtesy or acting with respect for the other person and acting with a sense of kindness where possible is a skill that we all need to learn.  

Be Nice But Hold People Accountable

Now leading with kindness doesn't mean that we don't hold people accountable. But where we're able to, we can show some grace along the way. We can show some honesty in our communication. We can show some humility in how we treat them when they stumble.  

Those are all things that will make a person feel valued within an organization, and all things that are within your grasp as a leader. But does civility really matter that much? 

There was a wonderful study that was reported in the Harvard Business Review titled The Price of Incivility by Christine Porath and Christine Pearson, and in that article they shared some really frightening statistics.  

• They said that 48% of workers who were on the receiving end of incivility, intentionally decreased their work effort. They stopped trying so hard at work.
• They also cited that 47% of those affected intentionally spent less time at work.
• 38% of workers intentionally decreased the quality of their work.
• And 66% of those individuals say that they performed worse overall and their performance declined.
• 78% of those workers said they became less committed to the company overall and it's vision.
• And 12% just up and quit because of that treatment.
• And 25% admitted to taking out their frustrations on customers and clients.

People Don't Quite Jobs, They Quit Managers

And whether you know it or not, this is happening in businesses all over the country, possibly even yours. There's an expression that says people don't quit companies. People don't quit jobs. They quit bad managers.  

So a little bit of extreme civility goes a long way in keeping your team engaged and production. Remembering to say please and thank you goes a long way these days. 

I have met a lot of younger managers in particular who think that it's trendy and cool to be your authentic self. Which means, cursing, yelling or swearing to make a point with their team. That they think that showing their emotions to their team, makes them connect. 

But in reality, if those actions and words are based in kindness and respect they will likely fall short of their intended consequences. We can always do things with social grace, while still being direct and respectful. Your team deserves as much. 

Inc

The first full day in power of Nigeria's new president has seen people panic-buying fuel following his decision to scrap a decades-long subsidy on petroleum products.

In Monday's inaugural address, Bola Tinubu said the subsidy was "gone".

But he gave no timeframe or any more details of this major policy move.

On Tuesday, his team clarified that he meant the end of June and that the panic buying was "needless", as the policy will not take immediate effect.

Tinubu wants to ease pressure on government finances, but ending the subsidy will increase the cost of petrol and hit other prices too, at a time when inflation is already high.

In response to his comments on Monday, many filling stations hiked the petrol price, while others stopped selling altogether.

Nigeria's state-owned oil company, the sole importer of petroleum products, assured the public that it had enough supplies.

But this did not prevent the panic-buying, with most people fearing a drastic rise in the price of petrol, which should be sold at the regulated price of N185 per litre.

Some people have posted videos online of filling stations already increasing prices, in some cases by more than 200%.

Some drivers of private buses, which many Nigerians rely on to get around, have also been unable to fill up their vehicles.

This has left people stranded at major bus stops in the capital, Abuja, and the country's biggest city, Lagos.

Despite its oil wealth, Nigeria is unable to refine enough crude to meet local demands, so it imports petroleum products, which are then sold at a government-set price.

But the subsidy is a huge drain on public finances. Last year, it gulped N4.3trn and for the first half of this year, N3.36trn was budgeted for it.

On Monday, Tinubu said It could no longer be justified and that the funds would instead be spent on public infrastructure and to improve the lives of people.

But the subsidy has long been seen by many Nigerians as one of the few perks they receive from the state.

The last attempt to remove it in 2012 led to nationwide protests and then President Goodluck Jonathan had to perform a policy U-turn.

So far, a powerful association of those who sell petroleum products has come out to say it does not support Tinubu's plan. It said the new government should begin a dialogue before taking the decision.

Spokesman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Ukadike Chinedu, is quoted by Punch newspaper as saying that the move will cause "galloping inflation and inflict more hardship on the masses".

BBC

Nigeria's sovereign dollar-denominated bonds rallied on Tuesday after new President Bola Tinubu said at his swearing-in that a costly fuel subsidy would be removed and the central bank should work towards a unified exchange rate.

Rating agency Moody's said Tinubu's readiness to confront these issues was "credit positive" but warned they risked a transitional period of higher inflation, weaker economic activity and more social discontent.

Eurobonds rose as much as 3 cents in the dollar, with the 2029 maturity at 87.25 cents by 1251 GMT. Its yield of 11.43% was the lowest since the end of January.

The naira currency hit record lows against the U.S. dollar on forward markets, with the three-month forward at 564 naira to 1 dollar , while Nigerian stocks rose 4% to a more than two-month high.

Tinubu, whose victory is being disputed in court by his main rivals, inherits record debt, foreign exchange and fuel shortages, a nearly two-decade-high inflation rate, poor power supply and falling oil production due to crude theft and underinvestment.

"The market is positive about the new president and the reform plans," said Tajudeen Ibrahim, director of research at Nigerian investment firm Chapel Hill Denham.

Getting rid of the fuel subsidy, which cost $9.7 billion in 2022, reforming the foreign exchange market so profits can be repatriated, and raising tax revenues are all priorities for international investors, many of whom have pulled out of Nigeria in recent years.

However, Tinubu's announcement at his swearing-in on Monday lacked details.

The 2023 budget provides for the subsidy until June 30.

"There is, however, likely to be a supplementary budget to accommodate for higher spending this year," Netherlands-based Yvette Babb, a portfolio manager at William Blair Investment Management, said.

"This could technically accommodate additional spending on, for example, fuel subsidies, if this latest commitment proves too unpopular and or takes more time to implement."

Tinubu enacting his election pledges "will underpin investor confidence", South African research firm ETM Analytics said in a note.

Nigeria's debt office said on Tuesday it would sell a new 30-year bond on the local market next month to extend maturity and boost the government's domestic borrowing.

Reuters

Labour Party on Tuesday called its first witness in the ongoing petition between its candidate, Peter Obi, and the ruling All Progressives Congress and the President, Bola Tinubu.

Counsel for the LP and Obi, Jibrin Okutepa, stated that documents from number one to four together with receipts tendered are documents where the vice president, Kashim Shettima, accepted his nomination as the vice-presidential candidate of the APC.

The witness, Lawrence Nwakaeti, who is a legal practitioner, disclosed that he was deposed to the witness statement on March 20, 2023.

Part of the documents deposed to by Nwakaeti referred to the alleged $460,000 forfeiture by Tinubu to the government of the United States.

One of the grounds on which the LP and Obi are praying for the court to nullify Tinubu’s victory is that the president, Tinubu “at the time of the election was not qualified to contest for election to the office of President as he was fined $460,000 for an offence involving dishonesty, namely narcotics trafficking imposed by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in Case No: 93C 4483.”

While answering questions during the cross-examination, the witness admitted that the judgment was not registered in Nigeria.

He also admitted that there was no certificate from any consular in Nigeria or America in support of the judgment.

He, however, maintained that “the judgment speaks for itself.”

APC counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, asked, “As a lawyer, you are aware that these documents are not registered in Nigeria and there is no certificate attached to the document from the US?” to which Lawrence replied that there are certificates.

“Is there a certificate from the US consular?”

“No certificate from the consular,” Nwakaeti replied.

He also said he had no knowledge of a February 4, 2003, Formal Clearance Report by Legal Attachee from the American Embassy in respect of the alleged indictment and forfeiture.

When asked by Fagbemi to produce a copy of the charges against Tinubu, the witness said he had none but maintained that the forfeiture are from civil proceedings.

“You are aware that all the proceedings were civil proceedings?”

“Civil forfeiture proceedings,” the witness replied.

Meanwhile, the Presiding Justice of the Court, Haruna Simon Tsammani shifted further hearing in the petition till May 31.

Punch

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday, tendered tons of electoral documents before the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja where he is challenging President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 election.

Atiku is prosecuting a petition seeking to upturn Tinubu’s victory on account of substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022 and the constitution, among other complaints.

Nigeria’s electoral commission, INEC, declared Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as Nigeria’s president-elect on 1 March, after he defeated Atiku who came second in the race.

Another petition by the candidate who came third in the election, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, is also pending before the court. The third petition was filed by a party, the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM), which polled inconsequential number of votes in the election.

Tinubu was sworn in as Nigeria’s president on Monday, while aggrieved parties continue pursuing their separate cases to challenge his victory.

Atiku and the PDP jointly filed a petition before the court against Tinubu, the Vice President Kashim Shettima, the APC, and INEC.

In aid of their suit, the petitioners Tuesday presented tons of electoral documents comprising data from the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines that were deployed for the conduct of the 25 February presidential election.

At the beginning of hearing on Tuesday, Atiku’s lawyer, Eyitayo Jegede, tendered printouts of data from the BVAS machines comprising polling units results sheets from the 36 states of the country and Abuja.

Jegede informed the five-member panel of the court chaired by Haruna Tsammani that the documents were certified true copies of the data obtained from the BVAS machines.

The lawyer also tendered records of collected permanent voters cards from the electoral umpire.

Earlier, Jegede tendered the final results of the presidential election that declared Tinubu president-elect.

Owing to the agreement reached by the lawyers to parties in the suit not to object to official documents obtained from INEC, respondents’ lawyers – Wole Olanipekun (for Tinubu), Lateef Fagbemi for APC, and INEC’s Abubakar Mahmoud did not object to the documents.

Thereafter, the suit was adjourned until Wednesday for further hearing.

PT

President Bola Tinubu has asked the Department of State Services (DSS) to vacate the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Ikoyi, Lagos, immediately.

DSS had laid siege to the office of the anti-graft agency on Tuesday morning. EFCC officials were reportedly prevented from accessing their office.

Later, operatives of the secret police moved in two Armoured Personnel Carriers to block the main entrance of the building.

It was learnt that the feud arose from a rivalry between the both agencies over the ownership of the building.

Spokesman of the anti-graft agency, Wilson Uwujaren, when contacted, described the development as “strange”, explaining that the two agencies had lived together within the facility for over 20 years without any rancor.

But in a swift reaction, spokesman of the DSS, Peter Afunanya told our correspondent that the property in question belonged to the service, and as such it is not correct to say its operatives barricaded EFCC office.

But in a statement which Tunde Rahman, his spokesman, issued on his behalf on Tuesday evening, Tinubu said the issue between both agencies would be resolved amicably.

“President Tinubu has directed the Department of State Security Service to immediately vacate the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Ikoyi, Lagos.

“The President gave the directive when reports that DSS officials stormed the EFCC office located on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos on Tuesday, preventing officials of the anti-graft agency from accessing their work place, was brought to his attention.

“The President said if there were issues between the two important agencies of government, they would be resolved amicably.”

Daily Trust