Israel's Netanyahu eyes Iran after triumphs over Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria

2025 will be a year of reckoning for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his country's arch foe Iran.

The veteran Israeli leader is set to cement his strategic goals: tightening his military control over Gaza, thwarting Iran's nuclear ambitions and capitalising on the dismantling of Tehran's allies -- Palestinian Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah and the removal of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Assad's collapse, the elimination of the top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah and the destruction of their military structure mark a succession of monumental wins for Netanyahu.

Without Syria, the alliances Tehran has nurtured for decades have unraveled. As Iran's influence weakens, Israel is emerging as the dominant power in the region.

Netanyahu is poised to zero in on Iran's nuclear ambitions and missile program, applying an unyielding focus to dismantling and neutralising these strategic threats to Israel.

Iran, Middle East observers say, faces a stark choice: Either continue its nuclear enrichment program or scale back its atomic activities and agree to negotiations.

"Iran is very vulnerable to an Israeli attack, particularly against its nuclear program," said Joost R. Hiltermann, Middle East and North Africa Program Director of the International Crisis Group. "I wouldn't be surprised if Israel did it, but that doesn't get rid of Iran."

"If they (Iranians) do not back down, Trump and Netanyahu might strike, as nothing now prevents them," said Palestinian analyst Ghassan al-Khatib, referring to President-elect Donald Trump. Khatib argued that the Iranian leadership, having demonstrated pragmatism in the past, may be willing to compromise to avert a military confrontation.

Trump, who withdrew from a 2015 agreement between Iran and six world powers aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear goals, is likely to step up sanctions on Iran's oil industry, despite calls to return to negotiations from critics who see diplomacy as a more effective long-term policy.

DEFINING LEGACY

Amid the turmoil of Iran and Gaza, Netanyahu's long-running corruption trial, which resumed in December, will also play a defining role in shaping his legacy. For the first time since the outbreak of the Gaza war in 2023, Netanyahu took the stand in proceedings that have bitterly divided Israelis.

With 2024 coming to an end, the Israeli prime minister will likely agree to sign a ceasefire accord with Hamas to halt the 14-month-old Gaza war and free Israeli hostages held in the enclave, according to sources close to the negotiations.

But Gaza would stay under Israeli military control in the absence of a post-war U.S. plan for Israel to cede power to the Palestinian Authority (PA), which Netanyahu rejects. Arab states have shown little inclination to press Israel to compromise or push the decaying PA to overhaul its leadership to take over.

"Israel will remain in Gaza militarily in the foreseeable future because any withdrawal carries the risk of Hamas reorganising. Israel believes that the only way to maintain the military gains is to stay in Gaza," Khatib told Reuters.

For Netanyahu, such a result would mark a strategic victory, consolidating a status quo that aligns with his vision: Preventing Palestinian statehood while ensuring Israel's long-term control over Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem -- territories internationally recognised as integral to a future Palestinian state.

The Gaza war erupted when Hamas militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel responded with an air and land offensive that has killed 45,000 people, health authorities there say, displaced 1.2 million and left much of the enclave in ruins.

While the ceasefire pact would bring an immediate end to the Gaza hostilities, it would not address the deeper, decades-old Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Arab and Western officials say.

On the ground, prospects for a Palestinian state, an option repeatedly ruled out by Netanyahu's government, have become increasingly unattainable, with Israeli settler leaders optimistic that Trump will align closely with their views.

A surge in settler violence and the increasing confidence of the settler movement - highway billboards in some West Bank areas bear the message in Arabic "No Future in Palestine" - reflect a growing squeeze on Palestinians.

Even if the Trump administration were to push for an end to the conflict, "any resolution would be on Israel’s terms," said Hiltermann of the Crisis Group.

"It's over when it comes to a Palestinian state, but the Palestinians are still there," he said.

In Trump's previous term, Netanyahu secured several diplomatic wins, including the “Deal of the Century,” a U.S.-backed peace plan which Trump floated in 2020 to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The plan, if implemented, marks a dramatic shift in U.S. policy and international agreements by overtly aligning with Israel and deviating sharply from a long-standing land-for-peace framework that has historically guided negotiations.

It would allow Israel to annex vast stretches of land in the occupied West Bank, including Israeli settlements and the Jordan Valley. It would also recognise Jerusalem as the "undivided capital of Israel" - effectively denying Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem as their capital, a central aspiration in their statehood goals and in accordance with U.N. resolutions.

SYRIA AT CRITICAL CROSSROADS

Across the border from Israel, Syria stands at a critical juncture following the overthrow of Assad by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel forces, led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani.

Golani now faces the monumental task of consolidating control over a fractured Syria, where the military and police force have collapsed. HTS has to rebuild from scratch, securing borders and maintaining internal stability against threats from jihadists, remnants of the Assad regime, and other adversaries.

The greatest fear among Syrians and observers alike is whether HTS, once linked to al-Qaeda but now presenting itself as a Syrian nationalist force to gain legitimacy, reverts to a rigid Islamist ideology.

The group’s ability - or failure - to navigate this balance will shape the future of Syria, home to diverse communities of Sunnis, Shi'ites, Alawites, Kurds, Druze and Christians.

"If they succeed in that (Syrian nationalism) there's hope for Syria, but if they revert to their comfort zone of quite strongly ideologically-tainted Islamism, then it's going to be divisive in Syria," said Hiltermann.

"You could have chaos and a weak Syria for a long time, just like we saw in Libya and Iraq."

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia captures two villages in Ukraine as Moscow's forces advance on two cities

Russian forces captured two villages in Ukraine, one in Kharkiv region in the northeast and one in eastern Donetsk region, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday.

Donetsk region is where Moscow is concentrating most of its efforts to seize two cities.

Russian forces, making steady progress across Donetsk region, are moving on the towns of Pokrovsk, a logistics centre and site of an important coking colliery, and appear to be closing in on Kurakhove, farther south.

The Defence Ministry statement said troops had taken control of Lozova, near the town of Kupiansk, in an area north of Donetsk region also under Russian pressure in recent weeks. The village of Sontsivka, north of Kurakhove, was also captured.

The ministry on Saturday announced the capture of another village near Kurakhove, Kostiantynopolske.

The Ukraine military's general staff made no mention of those villages falling into Russian hands, but said Sontsivka was in a sector subject to 26 Russian attacks in the past 24 hours. The general staff also reported heavy fighting near Pokrovsk, with 34 Russian attempts to pierce defences.

The popular Ukrainian military blog DeepState said Sontsivka was under Russian control.

Russian reports have described intensified pressure on Kurakhove.

The Moscow-appointed governor of areas of Donetsk region occupied by Russian forces, Denis Pushilin, said on Telegram that Russian troops now controlled the town centre. He also said troops were advancing on Pokrovsk from the south.

Russian troops have been moving through eastern Ukraine in the past two months at the fastest rate since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Ukrainian military said on Friday its forces had pulled back from the area around two villages -- one near Pokrovsk, the other near Kurakhove -- to avoid being encircled by advancing Russian troops.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Putin vows retaliation for Ukrainian drone strike

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the organizers of Saturday’s drone attack on the city of Kazan will face a harsh retaliatory response.

“Whoever and no matter how hard they try to destroy something [in Russia], they will face many times greater destruction in their own country for it and will also regret what they are trying to do in our country,” he said Sunday.

Addressing Tatarstan's leader, Rustam Minnikhanov, Putin expressed confidence that the republic will manage to recover from the attack on its capital, Kazan.

“I am certain that the regional authorities will restore everything that was damaged by our enemies and adversaries,” he said, speaking at a video conference on launching new transport infrastructure projects.

The December 21 attack on Kazan targeted residential buildings and a factory, causing damage but no casualties, according to local authorities. Officials reported eight drone strikes in total, including six on residential buildings, one on an industrial enterprise, and one which was intercepted over a river.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Kiev had deployed three waves of fixed-wing drones. Russian air defenses shot down three of the incoming UAVs, and three more were downed with the help of electronic warfare systems, the military reported on Saturday.

Since the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022, Kiev has repeatedly targeted Russian border regions such as Bryansk, Belgorod, and Kursk. Drone strikes have also reached Moscow on several occasions. Kazan, in comparison, lies much farther away, approximately 1,379 kilometers (857 miles) from Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested that the “terrorist attack”was Kiev’s “revenge” for the BRICS summit which Kazan hosted in October and “demonstrated the power and influence of this association in the world.”

It was also “an attempt to intimidate the population of one of the dynamically developing regions of our country,” she said in a statement on Saturday.

Reuters/RT

In 1991, Nigeria was in the full throes of the interminable transition to civil rule programme of General Ibrahim Babangida. The effort by the regime in 1991 to relocate their terminal date from 1992 to 1993 coincided with a planned meeting in Ibadan, South-West Nigeria, of the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

At the time, the security agencies had secreted on major campuses around the country assets masquerading as students. University of Ibadan was no exception. The unsuspecting NANS leadership was taken by surprise when the SSS swooped on its meeting, abducted the entire lot and dumped them in the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison in Lagos, with notice to no one. The abductees included then President of NANS, Mahmud Aminu; their Svengali, Bamidele Aturu; as well as other notables in the movement such as Naseer Kura and Funso Omogbehin.

To make the grab look lawful, the regime issued a back-dated order for their detention under the State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree No. 2 of 1984, effectively making them hostages in law. On a routine professional visit to the Kirikiri Prisons in 1991 to see some other detainees, the then Officer in Charge (O/C) of Records at the facility pulled me aside and whispered about the presence in the prison of the leadership of the NANS. Until then, nearly 10 days after they went missing, no one knew where they were. If Mungo Park had made the journey, the history books would probably have recorded that he “discovered” the then leadership of the NANS in Kirikiri Prisons.

The lead lawyer for such matters then was Kanmi Isola-Osobu, a brilliant Life Bencher, who was also lawyer to Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Kanmi’s office was opposite Adekunle Police Station in Yaba, Lagos; beside Tunji Otegbeye’s hospital. There were no cellular phones. I visited Kanmi’s office on a Monday afternoon to brief him about the students in the hope that he could lead the legal proceedings on their behalf. He was busy. With a familiar glint lighting up his face, Kanmi later informed me that he had been busy lubricating the struggle.

The case went before Nureini Abiodun Kessington, whose court at the time had a deserved reputation as the graveyard of bloated professional egos. With subversive invention, Kessington promptly ended the abduction of the student leaders and ensured that they were released with no substantial interruption to their academic careers or lives thereafter.

Those of us who became active against military rule then were inspired largely by two things. One was the hope that the end of military rule would see the end of such practice; the other was the dutiful resistance of some courageous judges like Kessington. In hindsight, we may have been naïve about the nature of power and the resilience of its methods. A quarter of a century after the end of military rule, the practice continues to prosper. To make matters worse, courageous judges appear to have become extinct.

First, the politicians discovered they could emulate the soldiers. In January 2017, Audu Maikori had been a lawyer for nearly sixteen years. He was a leader in entertainment law in Nigeria and president and chief executive officer of a thriving start-up in the sector known as Chocolate City Group, with interests in radio, television, events, movies, and music. A son of Southern Kaduna, Audu was also a powerful voice and amplifier of the sufferings of the people under the predatory rulership of then Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai.

On  or around 17 February 2017, police officers from the Kaduna State Command of the Nigeria Police Force abducted Audu from Lagos and embarked on a cross-country dash with him; first to Abuja, where he was detained in the police cell in Asokoro. The following day, they ferried him to Kaduna for further detention. After two days of detention, the police in Kaduna granted him bail.

It was in Kaduna that Audu discovered that his abduction was in connection with a post on his Twitter feed about the crisis in Southern Kaduna. A fortnight after Audu’s release on bail, Governor Nasir el-Rufai, while headlining the Social Media Week in Lagos on 4 March, promised that he was “trying to link the dates of [Audu’s tweets] to attacks that may have happened the next day on Fulanis and if we are able to establish that causation,…. we know what it means.” Under his orders, the police snatched Audu again and this time detained him in nasty conditions in the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). He had become a hostage in law.

Audu subsequently sued el-Rufai and the Police. On 27 October 2017, John Tsoho, then a judge of the Federal High Court, issued a judgment invalidating Audu’s abduction from Lagos. The judge held that “a warrant of arrest issued by a Magistrate in Kaduna was not valid for execution in Laos, except and until endorsed by a court in Lagos. Not even a warrant issued by a State High Court can be validly executed in another State without endorsement by a competent court within the State where it is to be executed.” He awarded N40 million in damages against Governor el-Rufai. After the Court of Appeal reaffirmed the essence of the judgment by the Federal High Court, el-Rufai appealed to the Supreme Court to assert his right to abduct Nigerian citizens at will and hold them as his own hostages in law.

Two years later, judges and magistrates invented jurisprudence to ground the practice of hostage taking through law. Unlike in Audu’s case, the police officers who abducted Steven Kefason from Port Harcourt on the orders of Nasir el-Rufai in May 2019,  could not even be bothered with a warrant. After snatching Steven, they secreted him in a cell in Mini Koro, Rivers State overnight, before ferrying him by road in a brutal ride to Kaduna. Over three days, they denied him food, access to communication or personal sanitation.

In Kaduna, Steven was interrogated in equally brutal conditions, under the personal supervision of the governor’s legal adviser. The reason for the abduction – it turned out – was a tweet by Steven around 20 April 2019, in which he said that, “while over 12k Kajuru IDPs are living in a terrible condition, their LG Chairman, Cafra Caino, was hosting his old school mates to a birthday party at Kajuru Castle….” The facts were not in dispute but el-Rufai nevertheless instructed the abduction of Steven on charges of incitement and injurious falsehood. One month after Steven’s initial abduction, the Magistrate in Kaduna denied him bail on 20 June 2019 because, “while on bail, [he] further made social media posts further insulting the person of the Governor and that of the Chairman of Kaduna and Kajuru LGAs respectively.”

On 27 February 2020, Peter Mallong, a judge of the Federal High Court in Kaduna, denied Steven’s request for judicial review of his abduction and the decision of the Magistrate, claiming, in an extraordinary travesty of jurisprudence, that he was bound by the decision of the Magistrate to deny bail because the issues were the same and the parties were largely the same. Following his abduction, Steven suffered as hostage in law for over six months with no redress and came close to losing his life. The injustice of the judgment cried out to the Heavens for redress.

In July 2023, Peter Mallong died at 60.

Those who wonder how the country ended up with the utterly shameful charade being orchestrated in a squalid courtroom in Ekiti in the case of Dele Farotimi have Peter Mallong to thank for having written the manual on judicial enablement of the practice of rendering citizens into hostages in law. This narrative has wider ramifications.

** Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a professor of law, teaches at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and can be reached through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Marcel Schwantes

Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, knows a thing or two about leadership. He has spearheaded a cultural shift since taking the helm that emphasizes empathy, collaboration, and innovation, guiding Microsoft through a significant turnaround.

In a conversation with Adam Grant during the 2022 Future of Work Conference, Nadella clued us in to a leadership skill that will positively affirm someone as a good leader: coaching.

“Model, Coach, Care”

At Microsoft, Nadella launched the “Model, Coach, Care” framework a few years back. The idea is that Microsoft managers actively role model a coaching mindset and coach their team members to do the same with their colleagues. It’s an approach grounded on genuinely caring for each employee’s personal growth and professional development.

This coaching framework meets the need for teams to create open and trusting spaces where people feel supported in their well-being and success. During the pandemic, Microsoft managers really put this model into action to keep teams connected and focused, even when everyone worked from different places.

Becoming a Good Coach

For starters, if you’re a CEO, you need to identify and train servant leaders to focus on people development. Because today’s leadership is really about helping and guiding people, not just checking off tasks. That’s why Nadella believes that leaders should be more like coaches, supporting employees in reaching their potential by giving them advice, feedback, and encouragement.

Coaching isn’t about micromanaging or barking orders. It’s about listening actively, asking the right questions, and creating an environment where people feel encouraged to figure things out on their own. It’s all about helping your team build their skills so they can tackle current issues and take on future challenges.

For example, when Microsoft shifted to a cloud-first strategy, Nadella didn’t tell each employee exactly how to adapt. Instead, he laid out a vision and coached teams on how to make their work fit with that vision. He helped them grow by spotting learning opportunities, pushing them to challenge themselves, and boosting their confidence to take those steps.

So what does it take to be a good coach? Our leadership development courses teach managers to focus on a few key qualities:

1. Empathy: Get where your team is coming from and what they need to succeed.
2. Feedback: Give them regular, constructive insights to help them improve.
3. Support: Help remove obstacles and provide them with the tools and environment necessary for their development.

Inc

As Christmas 2024 approaches, an unprecedented wave of economic hardship is forcing Nigerian families to make difficult choices between tradition and survival. With food inflation soaring above 40 percent in Abuja alone, many households are going to bed hungry, while others struggle to maintain even a shadow of their usual holiday celebrations.

The harsh reality is evident in markets across the nation's major cities. At Mile 12 International Market in Lagos, trucks laden with tomatoes, peppers, and vegetables create an illusion of abundance. But behind this facade, a complex web of challenges drives prices ever higher. Truck owner Shehu explains the brutal mathematics of food distribution: "We spend between N500,000 and N800,000 per truck on diesel, farm security, and checkpoint fees before reaching Lagos. It's suffocating us, but we have no choice."

The impact on everyday items is staggering. A chicken that cost N15,000 last year now sells for N35,000, with only older layers available at the previous year's price. "What will that do for my family?" asks Mummy Somto at Agric Market in Ikorodu, her voice heavy with frustration. "We have never seen it like this in Nigeria. I hope this hope is the hope."

The ripple effects touch every aspect of daily life. At Daleko Market, the prices tell their own story: a 25-liter container of vegetable oil sells for up to N95,000, while garri reaches N56,000. Even basic ingredients like curry and thyme now cost N550 per roll, and a single small onion bulb commands an astronomical N200. Mrs. Bukky Osagie, a rice vendor at Mile 12, watches as customers increasingly opt for half bags instead of full ones. "Last December, a bag of rice was between N65,000 and N70,000. Today, it starts from N95,000. How do people survive this trend?"

The traditional journey home for Christmas, a cornerstone of Nigerian cultural life, has become an impossible luxury for many. In Kaduna, Nonye Juliet calculates the painful math of her journey to Owerri: last year's round trip of N100,000 has risen even higher. The situation is even more dire for air travelers, with fares seeing a staggering 218 percent increase since June. A one-way ticket from Abuja to Lagos now costs between N220,000 and N285,000, forcing many to abandon air travel entirely.

Those who must travel by road face their own challenges. A journey from Abuja to Lagos that previously cost N28,000 now demands up to N60,000. At Jabi Motor Park, trader Emeka Uzo observes the impact: "People are no longer travelling as much. Even buses are going half-empty because of the cost of tickets."

Families are adapting in various ways. In Benin City, Mr. Uche Isaac, a commercial driver, breaks with tradition: "I have never spent Christmas outside my village, but this time, I will celebrate it in Benin City." With transportation costs of over N200,000 for his family of seven, he's chosen to use the money for rice and meat instead. Victor Okechukwu from Imo State plans to travel alone, breaking his journey through Onitsha to save costs. "Life will continue after the yuletide celebration," he reasons.

The Federal Government has attempted to ease the burden with initiatives including 50 percent rebates on transport fares, free Compressed Natural Gas bus services, and free train transportation in Abuja. However, these measures provide little comfort to families like Miriam Jagaba's. Shopping at Utako Market with her four children, she laments, "Last year, I bought a bag of rice for N75,000, but now it's almost double. It's heartbreaking."

Yet, amidst the hardship, the spirit of celebration persists. At Daleko Market, Mrs. Hannah captures this resilience: "Whether the devil likes it or not, we will celebrate with our families and share love during this season. We will just have to adjust our spending according to our means." In Ilorin, Mazi Joseph, a shoemaker, maintains that some community events cannot be missed, regardless of cost. "This is not new," he reflects. "Things have always been expensive, even though this year is different in dimension and progression."

As Christmas 2024 approaches, this season of joy has become a testament to Nigerian resilience, with families finding ways to preserve the spirit of celebration even as they adapt to unprecedented economic challenges. While traditional homecomings may be muted and feasts scaled back, the determination to maintain family bonds and cultural traditions remains unshaken, even if through more modest means or remote connections.

In a devastating weekend that underscores Nigeria's deepening economic crisis, at least 39 people lost their lives in two separate stampedes during food distribution events.

The tragic incidents occurred Saturday morning in the capital city of Abuja and the southern town of Okija, Anambra State, just days after another deadly stampede claimed 35 children's lives at a school funfair in Ibadan.

In Abuja's Maitama district, 10 people, including at least four children, died and eight others were injured during an annual charity event at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church. The tragedy unfolded around 6 am as desperate residents from distant areas like Mararaba, Nyanya, and Mpape gathered for food distribution.

"Initially, everyone was orderly, but as the day broke, the number of people doubled," recalled John, an eyewitness. "In their desperation to get the rice first, people began pushing and shoving. Before we knew it, we started hearing cries for help from those who had fallen or sustained injuries."

The situation in Okija proved even more catastrophic, with 29 people reported dead at the Obijackson Centre in Amanranta. The stampede occurred around 7:45 am as crowds gathered to receive palliatives including 25kg bags of rice, vegetable oil, and cash gifts from the Obijackson Foundation's annual Christmas distribution.

Eyewitnesses described heart-wrenching scenes, including a mother who died with her baby strapped to her back. While the child survived, the incident epitomized the desperate conditions driving people to risk their lives for basic necessities. "The cause of this is poverty and the high cost of rice," one witness observed. "If it were not so, this unfortunate incident would not have happened."

Reverend Father Mike Umoh, National Director of Social Communications at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, noted that while such charitable distributions have been routine for years, the unprecedented turnout reflects the nation's deteriorating economic situation. "This sad event should be a signal to other organizers to be more careful and implement better crowd control measures," he stated.

These tragic events, occurring just days before Christmas, cast a somber shadow over the holiday season while highlighting the desperate circumstances facing many Nigerians amid rising food prices and economic hardship. As communities mourn their losses, calls grow louder for more regulated and secure methods of distributing aid to those in need.

Israel and Hamas appear close to a ceasefire deal. These are the sticking points

Israel and Hamas appear closer than they have been in months to agreeing to a ceasefire that could wind down the 14-month war in Gaza and bring home dozens of people held hostage there.

But the sides have come close before, only to have talks collapse over various disagreements. This round of negotiations also faces hurdles.

The agreement would take place in phases and include a halt in fighting, an exchange of captive Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and a surge in aid to the besieged Gaza Strip, according to Egyptian, Hamas and American officials. The last phase would include the release of any remaining hostages, an end to the war and talks on reconstruction.

Although Israel and Hamas have expressed optimism that a deal is close, key sticking points remain over the exchange of hostages for prisoners and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, people involved in the talks say.

“They are working through the names of hostages who would come out in the first phase — the names of the prisoners that would be released as part of the exchange. And then some specific details about the disposition of Israeli forces during the ceasefire,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Hostage release

During its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, Hamas and other groups took about 250 people hostages and brought them to Gaza. A previous truce in November 2023 freed more than 100 hostages, while others have been rescued or their remains have been recovered over the past year.

Israel says about 100 hostages remain in Gaza — at least a third of whom it believes were killed during the Oct. 7 attack or died in captivity.

The warring sides are haggling over which hostages would be included in an initial release, according to the Egyptian and Hamas officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing ongoing negotiations. There have also been disputes about how many hostages will be included, Israeli media reported..

The first batch is expected to be made up mostly of women, older people and people with medical conditions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also is facing growing pressure from the families of hostages to secure a deal that would release all of them at once. They fear the deal could break down or that loved ones who aren’t immediately released could die in captivity.

Palestinian prisoners

As part of the deal, Israel is expected to free hundreds of imprisoned Palestinians, including dozens who were convicted in bloody attacks.

Israel has a history of lopsided prisoner releases, and hundreds were freed in the November 2023 deal. But the officials who spoke to the AP say the sides still disagree over the exact number and names of the prisoners to be freed. Hamas wants high-profile prisonersincluded.

Netanyahu’s governing coalition includes hardliners who oppose such releases, with some even pledging to quit the government if too many concessions are made. They point to a 2011 prisoner release that included the former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks who was killed by Israel in October.

Israeli media have also reported that there are differences over whether the more serious prisoners who are released will be exiled to third countries.

Palestinians returning home

The war has displaced an estimated 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, according to U.N. estimates, with the hard-hit northern sector of the territory largely emptied of its prewar population.

During the first phase of the developing deal, Israel is expected to withdraw troops from Palestinian population centers and allow some of the displaced to return home. But the extent of the pullback and the number of people allowed to return must still be worked out, the officials say.

According to the Egyptian and Hamas officials, Israel is prepared to allow people to return north to Gaza City, the territory’s largest city. But it does not want people to return farther north to areas close to the Israeli border.

Israeli troops remain active in these areas, battling what Israel says are pockets of insurgency. Israel appears concerned that militants could renew attacks from there if the displaced are allowed to return.

But critics say Israel has other intentions. Netanyahu has considered a controversial proposal by former generals to empty the north and cut it off from humanitarian aid as part of a plan to starve out any militants who remain there. Moshe Yaalon, a former Israeli defense minister, said Israel was carrying out ethnic cleansing in those areas of northern Gaza.

Netanyahu has also said Israel must maintain long-term control over a strategic strip of landalong Gaza’s border with Egypt, as well as the freedom for Israeli troops to operate against militants in the future. Hamas is demanding a full withdrawal as part of any ceasefire.

In an interview Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. remains hopeful that a deal can be finalized before President Joe Biden leaves office on Jan. 20.

“Everyone is pushing on this,” Blinken told MSNBC. “We want to get it over the finish line. We want to get the hostages home. We want to get a ceasefire so that people can finally have relief in Gaza.”

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Airports reopen following Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Kazan

The airport in the Russian city of Kazan reopened on Saturday after temporarily closing earlier in the day following a Ukrainian drone attack, Russia's aviation watchdog said.

Russian state news agencies reported the drone attack on a residential complex and other areas in Kazan, some 500 miles (800 km) east of Moscow.

The Defence Ministry said the city had been attacked by three waves of drones between 7:40 a.m. and 9:20 a.m. (0440 and 0620 GMT). It said three drones were destroyed by air defence systems and three others by electronic warfare systems.

There were no casualties reported, agencies said, citing local authorities. The mayor of Kazan said on Telegram that all planned mass events in the city would be canceled over the weekend and that authorities would offer temporary accommodation to evacuees.

The Baza Telegram channel, which is close to Russia's security services, published unverified video footage showing an aerial object crashing into a high-rise building, producing a large fireball.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the attack, saying Ukraine was "taking out its impotent anger for real military defeats on the peaceful population of Russia".

Airports in Izhevsk, a smaller city northeast of Kazan, and Saratov, some 400 miles (650 km) south of Kazan, had also temporarily halted flight arrivals and departures, Russia's aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said via Telegram.

Restrictions at the airports were later lifted, Rosaviatsia said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Almost 20 drones downed over four Russian regions, Black Sea last night

Overnight, air defenses downed 19 unmanned aerial vehicles in the skies over four Russian regions and the Black Sea, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported.

"Last night, attempts by the Kiev regime to conduct terrorist attacks against facilities on Russian soil using fixed-wing UAVs were thwarted. Air defense forces on duty destroyed 19 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, including nine over the Belgorod Region, five over the Voronezh Region, three over the Black Sea, one over the Kursk Region and one over the Krasnodar Region," the ministry specified in a statement.

Reuters/Tass

The unnamed woman had just given birth to a baby five days before. Her body was still wet as Yoruba say of mothers who newly underwent the pangs of labour and delivery. Pains must still be ricocheting round her navel. Ex-Queen of the Ooni of Ife, Prophetess Naomi Silekunola, and an Ibadan-based broadcaster, Oriyomi Hamzat, had promised her and her baby free food. This was done in a blast of publicity inviting her kid and 4999 other children to a funfair. The event was slated for Islamic High School, Bashorun, a suburb of Ibadan. The organizers said it would be an unprecedented funfair of freebies never given before. Hamzat’s Agidigbo Radio, based in the capital of Oyo State, is undoubtedly the darling of the common people. It is top of the radar, traffic-wise. Hamzat popularized the medium as one that tends to the needs of the common people and discusses issues agitating their minds.

Scholars have posited that everyday matters woven round the existence of the ordinary man are sex, cheap sex, poverty, food, crime, alcohol, divorce, gambling and sexual violence. Matters that are queer, uncommon and mind-boggling, which cannot be divorced from those everyday issues, are given pride of place on Agidigbo radio. Listeners gravitate towards the radio in their multiple of thousands. It is on Agidigbo you would hear stories of a less than 20-year old lady whose pregnancy is being contested by two artisan boys. Salacious details that evoke laughter and tears ooze out of the radio. Hamzat himself, renowned for the phrase, “E bá wa gbé’nu sí mic” – kindly draw closer to the microphone – popularized that phrase. It acquired a life of its own, becoming synonymous with someone being under public scrutiny. Or one enmeshed in petty misdemeanor. It is no wonder that in the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) rating, Agidigbo is No 1 in Oyo State. So, it should be common sense that if you advertize a funfair that would give N5000 – about $3 USD – to hewers of woods and drawers of water, in this T-Pain economy of Bola Tinubu, you would get more than you bargained for. Senegalese author, Ousmane Sembène, whose 1960-written book, entitled God’s Bits of Woods, discusses the fate of these underprivileged people in details.

The unnamed woman heard or was told about the alliance by Queen Naomi and Hamzat to provide succor for her new born baby. Not minding her “wet body”, she strapped her fragile new born baby to her back and headed for Basorun. By 5am, the venue was already bursting at its seams with persons. Did some wicked people land Naomi and Hamzat in trouble spiritually? This is a question being asked in some quarters.

If Hamzat and Silekunola emerge from their current travails unscathed, they may learn to seek our Mothers’s faces in subsequent ventures. It is said that such gathering of a large crowd involving women and children are sacred and must be looked at from the lens of teleology. In his “Òṣòròmọ̀nìgà: Representations of witchcraft in Yoruba films,” (Nordic Journal of African Studies – Vol 30 No 2, 2021) Olusegun Soetan of the African Studies Department, Pennsylvania State University, venerates the place and value of witchcraftcy which he called àjẹ́ism.Òṣòròmọ̀nìgà, said the scholar, is one of the many cognomens of witches in Ifá divination systems and praise poetry. According to him, “among the many supernatural phenomena in Africa is witchcraft. (It) is both cultural and sacred, and its practices suggest that specific individuals have supernatural powers that enable them to bend physical and cosmic laws.” Known as àjẹ́ in the Yoruba society, Igbo call it amoosu while, in the Maka tradition of Cameroon, it is known as gris-gris.

Dauda Epo-Akara, a notable traditional musician, chanting the cognomen of  witches, once said that if a cook who is preparing to pound yam fails to factor the Aje into its preparation, the pounded yam would lose its taste due to a myriad pf tiny un-pounded yam specks called “kókó” that will dot it. In the same vein, said Epo Akara, any cook preparing a meal of àmàlawho fails to factor the Mothers into its preparation will have the àmàlà’s otherwise solid morsel become as watery as pap. Ulli Beier however disclaimed this widely held notion of Àjé as inaccurate. In a 1958 piece, he said Àjé “represents rather the mystic powers of womanhood in their more dangerous destructive aspect.” Perhaps, in concert with Silekunola’s Ifè palace enemies and Hamzat’s traducers in and out of the microphone, the Mothers ganged-up to do the duo in last Wednesday. After all, Ebenezer Obey, the Juju music great, once sang that those who pound evil for their fellow beings advertize no physical pestle, nor mortar – “agún’bàjé ò l’ódó”.

Sorry, I digressed. By the time the unnamed mother newly-delivered of a baby arrived Basorun, it was brimming with a never-seen-before gathering of people. Her baby later became one of the 35 people trampled to death in the scramble for food. The baby returned to its maker without being given the traditional seven-day name. The BBC, in its report of the tragedy, said the 35 children “died in a crush after thousands turned up on the promise of free food.” According to it, some people slept overnight at the school gate so as not to miss the chance to be among the first 5000 to access the free food. Many attempted to force their way through, some parents attempted to scale the fence and some mothers threw their children inside the fence while they climbed the walls. 

So, this past week, Ibadan wept. Everyone, even anyone, who was as unfeeling as to be capable of eating the barbecued bony and fleshless heads of a vulture and tortoise, must have wept with Ibadan. The agony reverberated throughout the rusty-roof city. Mothers wept uncontrollably. Tears became an infection, afflicting, at supersonic speed, eyes of anyone who heard of the tragedy. But the deed had been done. Thirty five lifeless bodies of the glory of Nigeria’s tomorrow lay in a heap. Someone showed me their gory photo. It reminds me of Palestinians’ bodies killed in airstrikes by Israel laid in a heap, waiting for the Salat al-Janazah prayer for the dead. Or hairs-peeled, disemboweled goats laid in heaps on an abattoir table by butchers. It was as if the trampled-to-death children of Ibadan were asleep. You couldn’t see death on their faces, except that life had escaped their nostrils. Mothers rolled on the dusty floor of Islamic High School’s football field where death chose to conduct its dawn raid. A few minutes after the raid; after the bodies had been taken to freeze inside the mortuary, Death’s mementoes lay on the football field. They had been abandoned in panic in the melee and now served as reminder of the human loss. They ranged from children’s sandals, torn books and cracked school desks. And gallons of tears that the greedy and unfeeling earth swallowed. Death must have sat somewhere treating himself to huge gourds of palmwine.

The lamentable deaths of children in Ibadan have since been enveloped by politics and doublespeak. Yes, there was acute negligence on the part of the organizers of the children's funfair event. From tissues of information available, not only didn’t they seek government’s permission, safety measures were cavalierly or nil-observed. Their defence that they expected 5000 children but at conservative estimate, between 7500 and 10,000 children and parents attended, was wonky.

Among others, President Bola Tinubu, according to his media chief, “expressed sadness over the tragic incident” as usual, “extended his condolences” and cried that “this is a deeply painful moment for the entire nation.” He said he was “determined to prevent similar tragedies” and “uncover the truth behind this tragedy as “It is imperative to determine whether negligence or deliberate actions were involved” because “Our children’s safety and well-being remain paramount” and “No event should ever compromise their safety or take precedence over their lives.” Bla bla bla.

But, as my people say, until the lion kills the Chief Hunter, the war between hunters and the crew in the wild cannot end; nor can the dance come to a halt until the donkey farts. If Tinubu does not focus on bettering the lives of Nigerians but chooses, at the drop of a hat, to jump on a vacuous globetrotting and aimless junketing in the name of seeking non-existent investors, more Nigerians will come to grief. Shorn of politics and hypocritical talk, let us tell Tinubu to his face that he is vicariously liable for the death of the Ibadan 35 kids. His accomplices are those glib-talking aides and party buffs who deodorize the pains of Nigerians in the last 19 months, decorating sufferings in beautifully sounding reform epithets.

As I have said ceaselessly, while the Tinubu government claims the president is on a reform binge, he has succeeded in killing multiple of hundreds of our countrymen and sent hundreds others into the streets. Ravaged by depression, they whisper to space as they occupy a world of their own. Thousands die for inability to procure drugs for simple ailments. Many families and homes are embroiled in social crises as a result of a huge emasculation of their husbands, breadwinners’ manhood. Wives are lured into prostitution due to their husbands’ economic dis-masculinity. Children meet their waterloo in the process of augmenting their parents’ meager daily breads. Yes, reforms, all over the world, are painful exercises but Tinubu’s isn’t merely painful, it is cruel and bears the visor of Dracula. Yet, the reformists wallop in ostentation, mindless and Satanic corruption and flaunt their loots in our faces.

The dusts of trampled bodies in Ibadan had hardly settled than Nigeria witnessed similar stampedes this weekend. They happened during food distributions, leading to the deaths of at least 30 people on Saturday. While 20 people reportedly got killed in Okija, Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra state, ten others died at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Maitama area of Abuja. Handled by individual and private institutions at both venues, the food distributions suddenly went awry when hungry would-be beneficiaries began to trample on one another. In March of this year, a similar stampede happened in Bauchi State which claimed the lives of an eight-year old girl and six other people. Like the Ibadan tragedy, the victims, alongside others, had stormed the house of a businessman who invited residents to collect N5,000. In October of this year, 153 people got burnt to ashes while they were scooping fuel from an overturned fuel tanker which exploded. The tanker had been coming from Kano State and heading towards Nguru when it overturned. Granted that Nigerians are used to a life of freebies no matter the risks that ensconce those freebies, Nigeria’s grueling economic realities have quadrupled the number of Nigerians who would take risk without considering its downsides. No sermonization of fair play, decency or normalcy can penetrate the deaf ears of the hungry.

Thus, when Tinubu and his minders try to push the blame of last Wednesday’s tragedy in Ibadan and the ones in Abuja and Anambra State to “crowd control breakdown” and vowing to avert similar tragedies, they look at the ailment and not its root cause. There will be many of such tragedies to come unless Tinubu stands up from his fanny and administers Nigeria like a committed leader.

In the midst of this, all Tinubu’s APC is bothered about is winning elections. While the bodies of the 35 dead were in the morgue in Ibadan, on a visit to the party’s National Working Committee in Abuja, Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, called on the National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje, to replicate the party’s recent electoral banditry in Edo and Ondo States as blueprint to reclaim Oyo State. Ganduje himself, like a skunk-drunk sailor, had said his party would create chaos in Osun and Oyo states to snatch and run with the states. Trust politicians, they think not about lives but the next election.

If Tinubu needed to hear – and per chance is bothered – these calamities, in the words of Bob Marley, are becoming a natural mystic that is associated with excruciating hunger and suffering. Both were brought on hapless Nigerians by the Tinubu government. “Many more will have to suffer; many more will have to die,” Marley warned. You can shawl the abdication of responsibility by the government in beautifully-sounding reform language. The truth is, figuratively speaking, this government’s inhuman reform gambling, which my people call “èyí je, èyí ò je,” is the culprit. It was what served the 35 innocent Nigerian kids in Ibadan, as well as the countrymen who died in stampede in Abuja and Okija, as Christmas season meal to be devoured by the incisors of the rapacious Death.

I wish you a merry and prosperous Christmas, longsuffering people of Nigeria, in the midst of this parlous season.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth ~ John 1:14.

Preamble:

Glory to God in the highest! The spirit of the Yuletide is very much evident all around us. It behoves us, therefore, tocontemplate the glory of the Lord’s incarnation, its radiance in the face of Jesus Christ, and its all-time significance to all humanity worldwide.

Whenever we think of the Christmas story, we always remember that unusual event that occurred in Bethlehem Judaea over 2000 years ago (Matthew 2:1-23). That’s absolutely remarkable!

Indeed, it’s worthy of high note that angels heralded the event, and actually sang to rejoice with men on that occasion (Luke 2:1-20). Even stars trekked to announce the Saviour’s birth and to give direction to the holy location where it happened.

However, the quintessential note is that Jesus Christ, who is the heart of the story, actually preceded Bethlehem. He’s the eternal King of the most sacred honour, who denied Himself the glories of heaven to seek and to save us (Luke 19:10).

We will certainly meet Him closer in this discourse, but at this point we would like to define some terms, viz, “behold” and “glory”.

To behold means “to see”, “to gaze or give a closer attention to”, “to contemplate”, “to look at intensely, thoroughly and thoughtfully”. That is pretty straightforward, but the other word, glory, is not exactly so.

The word, glory, does not lend itself to any easy definition because it manifests itself in different dimensions to different people. Particularly so, defining the glory of God is like an impossible task. God is in a class by Himself. He has infinite perfections, infinite greatness and infinite worth.

Notwithstanding, the original connotations of the word, “glory”includes: “brightness”, “clearness”, and “effulgence of splendour”. Glory conveys the idea of a physical manifestation of the state of high dignity, preeminence or majesty. It also signifies honor, renown, reverence, adoration, and worship, and it describes that which is worthy of confidence and trust.

Meanwhile, the Apostle Paul hints that glory comes in “weights” (2Corinthians 4:17). Everything carries varying “weights” of glory: sun, moon, stars, and houses, certificates, words, etcetera(1Corinthians 15:41). Succinctly, glory speaks to the true significance, nature or attribute of a thing.

Flowing from these above, we can safely summarize that God’s glory reflects His weight, His indescribable power and His unfathomable majesty. It describes the form in which He manifests His presence to His people. Jonathan Edwards said, “the glory of God is the weight of all that He is to us".

Happily, as children of God, we’re enabled to behold His glory. When John the beloved said, “we beheld His glory,”he was actually giving an eyewitness account of his personal encounter with Jesus (1John 1:1). Remember the majestic incident of Christ’s transfiguration (Matthew 17:2).

John Piper rightly noted that the Lord’s glory is “the going public of His holiness”. Nevertheless, the dimensions of the Lord’s glory in our individual experiences depend largely on how much time, attention, devotion and earnestness we are ready to spend in His presence to “behold” His glory.

To be sure, whenever we rightly behold His glory, there will be something to see, learn and have!

What Do We See When We Behold The Lord’s Glory?

The mystery that John unraveled in John 1:14 was that we can now see the glory of God in Jesus Christ! Paul also corroborated this in his second letter to the Corinthians when he said we can behold the glory of God “in the face of Jesus Christ”  (2Corinthians 4:6).

Undoubtedly, Jesus Christ is the absolute revelation of God in human form (John 1:14)! In the divine glory, we see the beauty of Christ for Whom He is! The totality of God's glory is found in Him (Colossians 2:9).

What Do We Learn When We Behold the Lord’s Glory?

The first thing that strikes us most vividly when we contemplate the Lord’s glory is the depth of God's love for us (John 3:16).

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). That takes us back to the creation story: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

We can see here the eternal nature of Jesus Christ! He has always been and will always be. Jesus Himself is God: “…the Word was God”. Through Him all things were made.

Jesus, the Word, is the very message of God to humanity. He is the Light that spoke light into being (Genesis 1:3; Matthew 5:14). His glory is the authority and power that dispel darkness. Albeit, with all His majesty and excellency, He condescended, became man, and moved to our neighborhood to dwell with us!

Jesus' humility is nonpareil, and His incarnation a grand miracle of love (Philippians 2:5-11)! C.S. Lewis wrote: “He who is beyond all space and time, the uncreated, eternal God came into nature, into human nature, descended into his own universe, and rose again, bringing nature up with him”. What a matchless love indeed!

The most incredible dimension of this love is the fact that this King of glory now dwells in God’s children (Colossians 1:27). Thus, we must be “God-inside conscious”, and our manifest joy of Christmas must inclose the reality that the headquarters of the universe is inside us.

Furthermore, beholding the Lord’s gloryreveals the true character of God: "We beheld his glory ….. full of grace and truth". The nature and the character of God are fully displayed in the person of Jesus Christ (John 14:6-7, 30; 2Corinthians 5:21).

Again, carefully beholding the Lord’s glory reveals His marvelous grace! Moses earnestly desired to see God’s glory. Thereafter, the Lord passed by him and proclaimed His grace, faithfulness and mercy (Exodus 34:1-6).

In this same manner, the abounding love of God, His grace and goodness are revealed to humanity in the face of Jesus Christ today.

What Do We Have When We Behold the Lord’s Glory?

Transformation is the first present we receive in the Lord’s presence. Beholding God's glory transforms people into His image, and it grows them to be more like Jesus (2Corinthians 3:18; 5:17). In addition, those who crave to behold God's glory enjoy His goodness (Exodus 33:18-21).

Moses prayed, "Show me your glory."And the Lord answered, "I will make all of my goodness to pass before thee…"God’s glory is most articulated in His goodness that human beings enjoy today (James 1:17).

Most significantly, those who behold the Lord’s glory, and receive Him by faith, enjoy His gift of salvation (John 1:12).Whereas sin separated man from God, grace has now appeared to qualify us for a sweet fellowship with Him (Titus 2:11-14).

Where grace and truth meet, there you meet Jesus. There’s nothing more grace-filled, and nothing more truth-filled than the good news that the Saviour was born, and He’s even here with us!

Meanwhile, the Lord’s glory can only be spiritually discerned (1Corinthians 2:14). Whenever we do, we enjoy the beauties of His matchless love, tenderness, wisdom, purity, holiness, spirituality, meekness, power, riches and majesty.

Beloved, the Christmas story isn't about what we can do to get to God, but about what God has done to get to us, tabernacle with us, make His glory known to us and draw us closer to Himself. His love is lofty, rich, andwonderful. You won’t miss it this season, in Jesus name. Happy Sunday!

____________________

Archbishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

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