Forgiveness is a cardinal principle of the Christian faith. I dare say, one of the ways we can tell that we are children of God is if we readily forgive those who offend us.

Inevitably, people will often offend us in this world of sin, even as we often offend others. But Jesus makes our readiness to forgive offenders a veritable passport into the kingdom of God.

He says: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matthew 5:7). “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15).

As usual. Jesus practised what He preached. As He was dying on the cross at the instance of evil accusers, He prayed for the forgiveness of His persecutors: “Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’” (Luke 23:34).

Kingdom Dynamics

Forgiveness is so central to salvation that Jesus told an enigmatic story of an unrighteous servant who was served notice that his employment would be terminated for wasting his master’s goods. To prepare for his impending dismissal, he decided to ingratiate himself with his master’s debtors by surreptitiously forgiving them chunks of their indebtedness. So, he hoped they would repay his “kindness” when he became jobless and needed their help.

What is remarkable about this story is Jesus’ assessment: “The master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.” (Luke 16:8).

But why would Jesus Christ, the righteous, commend this unjust servant? The answer is not far-fetched. Unlike the sons of light, this unjust servant understood the value of forgiveness. He recognised that forgiveness is an investment that yields handsome future dividends.

Therefore, when Peter asked Jesus: “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:21-23).

Offensive God

But here is the rub. What if the offender is not man but God? What if it is God who offends us?

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. (Isaiah 55:8-9). Paul says: “How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His ways!” (Romans 11:33). Therefore, Solomon counsels that we should not lean on our own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5).

For this reason, we often find God to be very offensive. I call God “Doctor Strangelove.” He secures our welfare through schemes that are often unpalatable to us. He seems to take delight in disappointing our hopes and in foiling our expectations of grandeur. He is determined to thwart our own purposes in life. As Jeremiah warned Baruch: “Do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them.” (Jeremiah 45:5).

The Bible is replete with examples of people who were offended by God. God told Abraham to sacrifice his beloved Isaac, a child born when he was 100 years old, as a burnt offering on Mount Moriah.

He starved the Israelites of food and water in the wilderness to their extreme discomfiture. (Deuteronomy 8:3).

He invited the devil to decimate Job’s wealth and family, killing his 10 children in the process. His wife was so offended, that she berated Job: “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9).

God killed Uzzah for trying to prevent the ark from falling when it was being carried to Jerusalem. “David became angry because of the Lord’s outbreak against Uzzah; and he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah to this day.” (2 Samuel 6:8).

God killed Ezekiel’s beloved wife and told him not to mourn or weep about her death. (Ezekiel 24:16). He told Isaiah to walk around naked and barefoot for three years, without his trousers, with his buttocks exposed. (Isaiah 20:1-4).

He told Jonah to tell the Ninevites that He would destroy them within forty days. But to Jonah’s annoyance, He decided not to destroy Nineveh after constraining Jonah to deliver the message of their impending destruction.

Rock of Offence

Jesus closely followed this offensive pattern in His earthly ministry. Isaiah had prophesied that: “He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken.” (Isaiah 8:14-15).

Thereby, Jesus offended the people of His hometown of Nazareth by telling them they did not deserve God’s miracles:

“You will undoubtedly quote Me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal Yourself’ – meaning, ‘Do miracles here in Your hometown like those You did in Capernaum.’ But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown. Certainly, there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner - a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.” (Luke 4:23-27).

The people were so angry with him that they wanted to kill Him there and then. They dragged Him to a cliff, intending to push Him headlong to His death. But He miraculously escaped.

He pronounced woe on the Pharisees and the scribes, calling them whitewashed tombstones. (Matthew 23:27). He told some people that the devil was their father. (John 8:44). He provoked His Jewish audience, who knew that eating blood is proscribed by the Law of Moses, that they would have to eat His flesh and drink His blood if they wanted eternal life. (John 6:51-58).

Many of His disciples were so disgusted with Him at this saying that they departed from Him and decided not to follow Him any longer.

Even John the Baptist, who had earlier identified Him as the Messiah, became disillusioned with Jesus because He failed to rescue Him from Herod’s jail. He sent emissaries to Him asking: “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3).

“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.’” (Matthew 11:4-6).

When told that Lazarus was gravely ill, Jesus waited until he died before responding. Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, could not hide their disappointment when he finally showed up, four days late. They said to Him one after the other: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:21/32).

Practical Christianity

As God is offensive in the scriptures, so is He offensive in life. He offends us when our loved one is bereaved. He offends us when He refuses to help us when we are in a bind. He offends us when we commit our business into His hands and it fails, nevertheless. He offends us when we are jilted in love, or when our marriages collapse.

In short, God offends believers when something bad happens to us even though He could easily have prevented it. He offends us when we ask Him for something and He refuses to give it to us. He offends us when we look to Him for deliverance but He ignores us.

In my case, armed robbers attacked me and shot me in the leg. God rescued me from them. Imagine my surprise, therefore, when He then told me He was the One who sent the robbers to waylay me:

“Who allowed Israel to be robbed and hurt? It was the Lord, against whom we sinned, for the people would not walk in His path, nor would they obey His law. Therefore, He poured out His fury on them and destroyed them in battle. They were enveloped in flames, but they still refused to understand. They were consumed by fire, but they did not learn their lesson.” (Isaiah 42:24-25). CONTINUED.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; www.femiaribisala.com 

Whether it’s asking a neighbor for a favor or re-directing a colleague on a team project, being persuasive in your professional or personal life is a helpful skill.

People with high emotional intelligence, or EQ, are generally better at convincing others to see things their way, says Matt Abrahams, a Stanford University lecturer in organizational behavior and author of ″Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot.″ 

Here are two things they do better than most people, according to Abrahams.

1. They remove ‘restraining forces’

When someone is deciding whether or not to make a change, they are probably evaluating two factors: the promoting forces and the restraining forces.

Promoting forces are all the reasons why you should do something. Restraining forces are what perceived barriers you face.

“I could give you all the reasons for why you should do something, but that might not be enough because of the restraining forces,” Abrahams says. “Someone with high EQ might focus on restraining forces.”

Let’s say you notice a friend struggling with anxiety and want to convince them to try meditating. Instead of telling them all the benefits of meditation, you could offer to do it with them the first few times.

2. They know what is important to the other person

“Folks high in EQ try to connect things you already do to what they are looking for you to do,” Abrahams says.

This comes more naturally to them because they are good at asking questions and remembering details about other peoples’ lives.

Let’s say you’re putting together a presentation and need someone to design visuals for you. A high EQ person would be able to recall that a colleague recently told them that they are looking for more graphic design opportunities and ask them for help.

“People with high EQ are better at understanding what’s important to other people,” he says. “They are sensitive and remember what people are doing.”

CNBC

Nigerians seeking a safe outlet for their anger can now get an unusual form of therapy, a "rage room" where they can break glass, smash wardrobes, and destroy electronic devices without any consequences.

Located in the crowded megacity of Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, the Shadow Rage Room offers 20-minute sessions for N7,500 ($8.93).

Banjoko Babajide James, a co-founder, said the idea for the rage room came from the rising mental health crisis in Nigeria which is "a taboo topic" to discuss openly.

"We want to create a community of like minds, to make people to understand that this thing is real and we are going to try to push it out," he said.

Patrons are outfitted in protective gear, a baseball bat and a selection of items to break, including glass cups and plates, electronics, and furniture.

The room has been a hit with Lagosians, who have been flocking to release the stress of the country's soaring cost of living, disputed presidential election, and widespread insecurity.

"I was really angry," said Nancy Igwe, a customer, after her session. "Living in Lagos, it is terrible, it is frustrating when you see that the prices of everything has increased."

Anita Christian, another customer, said she came to the rage room after losing a friend.

"I had to come and vent because when you don’t get clarity or closure it is really sad," she said.

While the room has been well-received, James acknowledges that not everyone understands the concept.

"The perception people get when they encounter the rage room is a place where we are promoting anger," he said. "We always try to explain that we are not doing that."

($1 = 839.5400 naira)

Reuters

Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.54 percent in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The growth rate is higher than the 2.25 percent recorded in the same quarter last year and higher than the second quarter 2023 growth of 2.51 percent by 0.03 percent.

NBS disclosed this in its GDP report for Q3, released on Friday.

The bureau said the growth rate was driven by the services sector.

“The performance of the GDP in the third quarter of 2023 was driven mainly by the Services sector, which recorded a growth of 3.99% and contributed 52.70% to the aggregate GDP,” NBS said.

“The agriculture sector grew by 1.30%, from the growth of 1.34% recorded in the third quarter of 2022. The growth of the industry sector was 0.46%, an improvement from -8.00% recorded in the third quarter of 2022.

“In terms of share of the GDP, agriculture, and the industry sectors contributed less to the aggregate GDP in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the third quarter of 2022.”

According to the NBS, the nominal GDP for Q3 2023 was N60.66 trillion while the real GDP was N19.44 trillion.

Nominal GDP and real GDP both quantify the total value of all goods produced in a country in a year. However, real GDP is adjusted for inflation, while nominal GDP is not.

NBS said: “In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP was N60,658,600.37 million in nominal terms.”

“This performance is higher when compared to the third quarter of 2022 which recorded aggregate GDP of N52,255,809.62 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 16.08%.”

‘NIGERIA’S OIL PRODUCTION ROSE IN Q3 2023’

The report also shows that the nation in the third quarter of 2023 recorded an average daily oil production of 1.45 million barrels per day (mbpd), higher than the daily average production of 1.20mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2022 by 0.25mbpd and higher than the second quarter of 2023 production volume of 1.22 mbpd by 0.23mbpd.

“The real growth of the oil sector was –0.85% (year-on-year) in Q3 2023, indicating an increase of 21.83% points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 (-22.67%),” the report said.

“Growth also increased by 12.58% points when compared to Q2 2023 which was –13.43%.

“On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of 12.47% in Q3 2023. The Oil sector contributed 5.48% to the total real GDP in Q3 2023, down from the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2022 and up from the preceding quarter, where it contributed 5.66% and 5.34% respectively.”

‘NON-OIL SECTOR ACCOUNTS FOR NEARLY 95% OF NIGERIA’S GDP IN Q3 2023’

The NBS report said non-oil sector grew by 2.75 percent in real terms during the reference quarter (Q3 2023).

This rate was lower by 1.52 percent points compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2022 and 0.84 percent points lower than the second quarter of 2023.

“This sector was driven in the third quarter of 2023 mainly by Information and Communication (Telecommunication); Financial and Insurance (Financial Institutions); Agriculture (Crop production); Trade; Construction; and Real Estate, accounting for positive GDP growth,” the bureau said.

“In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 94.52% to the nation’s GDP in the third quarter of 2023.”

NBS said this is higher than the share recorded in the third quarter of 2022 which was 94.34 percent and lower than the 94.66 percent recorded in the second quarter of 2023.

The Cable

On Day One of Gaza cease-fire, Hamas and Israel carry out first swap of hostages and prisoners

Hamas on Friday released 24 hostages it held captive in Gaza for weeks, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison in the first stage of a swap under a four-day cease-fire that offered a small glimmer of relief to both sides.

Israel — wrenched by the abduction of nearly 240 people in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war — cheered as 13 Israeli women and children emerged free from Gaza. Most were in their 70s or 80s, and the youngest was a 2-year-old. Also released were 10 people from Thailand and one from the Philippines.

In Gaza, the truce’s start Friday morning brought the first quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians reeling and desperate from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and leveled residential areas. Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel went silent as well.

Increased supplies of food, water, medicine and fuel promised under the deal began to roll into Gaza, where U.N. officials had warned that Israel’s seal on the territory threatened to push it to starvation.

But relief has been tempered — among Israelis by the fact that not all hostages will be freed and among Palestinians by the briefness of the pause. The short truce leaves Gaza mired in humanitarian crisis and under the threat that fighting could soon resume.

Israel says the cease-fire could be extended if more hostages are released, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it had received a new list of hostages to be released by Hamas on Saturday.

But Israel has vowed to resume its massive offensive once the truce ends. That has clouded hopes that the deal could eventually help wind down the conflict, which has fueled a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and stirred fears of a wider conflagration across the Middle East.

FIRST HOSTAGES FREED

Under the deal, Hamas is to release at least 50 hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners over the four days. Both sides were starting with women and children. Israel said the four-day truce can be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed.

After nightfall Friday, a line of ambulances emerged from Gaza through the Rafah Crossing into Egypt carrying the freed hostages, as seen live on Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera TV. The freed Israelis included nine women and four children 9 and under.

The released hostages were taken to three Israeli hospitals for observation. The Schneider Children’s Medical Center said it was treating eight Israelis — four children and four women — and that all appeared to be in good physical condition. The center said they were also receiving psychological treatment, adding that “these are sensitive moments” for the families.

At a plaza dubbed “Hostages Square” in Tel Aviv, a crowd of Israelis celebrated at the news.

Yael Adar spotted her mother, 85-year-old Yaffa Adar, in a TV newscast of the release and was cheered to see her walking. “That was a huge concern, what would happen to her health during these almost two months,” she told Israel’s Channel 12.

But Yael’s 38-year-old son, Tamir Adar, remained in captivity. Both were kidnapped on Oct. 7 from Kibbutz Nir Oz. “Everyone needs to come back. It’s happiness locked up in grief.”

The hostages included multiple generations. Nine-year-old Ohad Munder-Zichri was freed along with his mother, Keren Munder, and grandmother Ruti Munder. The fourth-grader was abducted during a holiday visit to his grandparents at the kibbutz where about 80 people — nearly a quarter of all residents of the small community — are believed to have been taken hostage.

The plight of the hostages has raised anger among some families that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to bring them home.

Hours later, 24 Palestinian women and 15 teenagers held in Israeli prisons in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem were freed. In the West Bank town of Beituna, hundreds of Palestinians poured out of their homes to celebrate, honking horns and setting off fireworks that lite up the nights sky.

The teenagers had been jailed for minor offenses like throwing stones. The women included several convicted of trying to stab Israeli soldiers, and others who had been arrested at checkpoints in the West Bank.

“As a Palestinian, my heart is broken for my brothers in Gaza, so I can’t really celebrate,” said Abdulqader Khatib, a U.N. worker whose 17-year-old son, Iyas, was freed. “But I am a father. And deep inside, I am very happy.”

Iyas had been taken last year into “administrative detention,” without charges or trial and based on secret evidence. Israel often holds detainees for months without charges. Most of those who are tried are put before military courts that almost never acquit defendants and often don’t follow due process, human rights groups say.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an advocacy group, Israel is currently holding 7,200 Palestinians, including about 2,000 arrested since the start of the war.

CEASE-FIRE TAKES HOLD

Friday’s halt in fighting brought Gaza’s uprooted population a moment to catch their breath after weeks of fleeing for shelter, searching for food and fearing for family.

After the truce began Friday morning, four trucks of fuel and four trucks of cooking gas entered from Egypt, as well as 200 trucks of relief supplies, Israel said.

Israel has barred all imports into Gaza throughout the war, except for a trickle of supplies from Egypt.

Its ban on fuel, which it said could be diverted to Hamas, caused a territory-wide blackout. Hospitals, water systems, bakeries and shelters have struggled to keep generators running.

During the truce, Israel agreed to allow the delivery of 130,000 liters (34,340 gallons) of fuel per day — still only a small portion of Gaza’s estimated daily needs of more than 1 million liters.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are crowded into the southern portion of the territory, with more than 1 million living in U.N. schools-turned-shelters. The calm brought a chance for displaced residents of the south to visit homes and retrieve some belongings.

But the hundreds of thousands who evacuated from northern Gaza to the south were warned not to return in leaflets dropped by Israel. Israeli troops hold much of the north, including Gaza City.

Still, hundreds of Palestinians tried walking north Friday. Two were shot and killed by Israeli troops and another 11 were wounded.

Sofian Abu Amer decided to risk checking his home in Gaza City.

“We don’t have enough clothes, food and drinks,” he said. “The situation is disastrous. It’s better for a person to die.”

Israel’s northern border with Lebanon was also quiet on Friday, a day after the militant Hezbollah group, an ally of Hamas, carried out the highest number of attacks in one day since fighting there began Oct. 8.

Hezbollah is not a party to the cease-fire agreement but was widely expected to halt its attacks.

A LONGER PEACE?

The war erupted when several thousand Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killing at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking scores of hostages, including babies, women and older adults, as well as soldiers.

The hope is that “momentum” from the deal will lead to an “end to this violence,” said Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Qatar, which served as a mediator along with the United States and Egypt.

But hours before it came into effect, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops that their respite would be short and that the war would resume with intensity for at least two more months.

Netanyahu has also vowed to continue the war to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities, end its 16-year rule in Gaza and return all the hostages.

The Israeli offensive has killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza government. Women and minors have consistently made up around two-thirds of the dead, though the latest number was not broken down. The figure does not include updated numbers from hospitals in the north, where communications have broken down.

The ministry says some 6,000 people have been reported missing, feared buried under rubble. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its death tolls.

Israel says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters, without presenting evidence for its count.

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine conflict could have ended in Spring 2022 – Kiev’s top MP

Russia was ready to stop the fighting had Ukraine agreed to remain neutral, but the West advised Kiev to keep going, the head of President Vladimir Zelensky’s parliamentary faction – and the chief negotiator at the peace talks in Istanbul – David Arakhamia admitted on Friday.

Arakhamia, who heads the ‘Servant of the People’ parliamentary group, told the TV channel 1+1 that Moscow had offered Kiev a peace deal in March 2022, but the Ukrainian side did not trust Russia.

“Russia’s goal was to put pressure on us so that we would take neutrality. This was the main thing for them: They were ready to end the war if we accepted neutrality, like Finland once did. And we would make a commitment that we will not join NATO. This was the main thing,” said Arakhamia.

However, agreeing to neutrality and giving up NATO membership would have required changing the constitution of Ukraine, Arakhamia explained. “Secondly, there was no trust in the Russians that they would do this. This could only be done with security guarantees,” he told 1+1.

During the talks, Arakhamia added, British then-PM Boris Johnson arrived in Kiev and told Ukrainian officials to keep fighting and not sign any agreements with Moscow.

Johnson’s role in scuttling the peace talks in Istanbul was revealed in May 2022 by the outlet Ukrayinska Pravda. However, neither the British politician – who was ousted as PM in June that year and eventually landed a job at an American think tank – nor the US government ever officially acknowledged pressuring Kiev into reneging on the draft agreement, which Arakhamia himself had signed with the Russians. Kiev had likewise never officially commented on the matter – until now.

Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed to African leaders that Moscow and Kiev had signed a draft agreement “on permanent neutrality and security guarantees for Ukraine” at the talks hosted by Türkiye.  

As soon as Russia pulled back its troops from the vicinity of Kiev, as a gesture of good will, Ukraine reneged on the deal, Putin said.

The Russian withdrawal was presented by Western governments and media as a Ukrainian military victory and they began sending heavy weapons and equipment to Zelensky’s government, fueling the conflict for the next 18 months.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine prepares army mobilisation reforms as war drags on - Zelenskiy

Ukraine is drawing up reforms to its programme for mobilising troops as the war with Russia rages on with no end in sight, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday.

Kyiv does not disclose its troop losses or the workings of its mobilisation programme which has been under way since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Zelenskiy said he had ordered senior officials to draft proposals.

"The plan will be worked out and all the answers will be there - next week I will see this plan," he told a news conference.

Zelenskiy did not reveal details of the reforms. He said issues at military medical commissions and recruitment centres would be addressed.

Ukraine is facing increasing pressure on its recruitment effort as it fights a larger Russian army.

Recruitment offices have been occasionally rocked by scandals involving graft or heavy-handed recruitment tactics.

Earlier this week, several Ukrainian lawmakers said they had been preparing a multifaceted legal bill to improve the mobilisation process.

In August, Zelenskiy dismissed all the heads of Ukraine's regional army recruitment centres as numerous cases of corruption and involvement in draft evasion were reported.

RT/Reuters

The people who used to shout most about the need for a revolution to happen in Nigeria are now the blokes making many arguments against revolution. 

The former activists and campaigners for radical change are now singing a new song on the need to give democracy a chance. 

As almost everybody knows all over the planet, things always change only to remain the same in good old Nigeria. 

These are arguably the hardest times for ordinary hardworking Nigerians throughout the history of the benighted country. 

People can hardly make ends meet, and stories are being bandied about how the former regime handed over a bankrupt government to the new regime.

Even so, the new blokes of government are heavy with a budget of presidential yacht, lavish furnishings for the palaces of imperial wives, and super-duper costly legislative SUVs. 

Not even the lunatic escapades of the fictions of magical realism can match the demented doings of the government of the day. 

Dissent has been driven underground while lickspittles and toadies of a bloated government are all over the place asking to be given more time for things to get right. 

Maybe all Nigerians would be dead before the promised Eldorado will manifest over a graveyard marked with green and white buntings. 

The ready recourse for the down-and-out is suicide, either by jumping into the lagoon or drinking the poison known as Sniper.

Something needs to be done fast before a Nigerian sets himself on fire and thus puts the entire nation on fire of eternal damnation.  

It did happen elsewhere because one man changed the history of the world by setting himself on fire. 

The Tunisian, Mohammed Bouazizi, was unable to find work and had to make ends meet by selling fruits at a roadside stand. 

On December 17, 2010 a municipal inspector confiscated his wares, and barely an hour later, Bouazizi doused himself with petrol and set himself on fire. 

His death on January 4, 2011 brought together various groups dissatisfied with the existing system in Tunisia: the unemployed, political and human rights activists, trade unionists, students, professors, lawyers, and many others. 

Thus began the Tunisian Revolution, the uprising that led to the sacking of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 14, 2011, thus ending his 23 years in power. 

Some 10 days after the sacking of President Ben Ali in Tunisia, protests began in Egypt on January 25, 2011 and ran for 18 days. 

Beginning around midnight on January 28, the Egyptian government attempted to eliminate the nation’s internet access, in order to inhibit the protesters’ ability to organize through social media.

It was all in vain for, on February 11, 2011, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt was forced to flee from power, after being in office for about 30 years.

Then the revolution spread to Libya, the land of the then strongman Muammar Gaddafi who, to give him his due, was putting his country in fine fettle.  

The Libya protests lasted till October 20, 2011 when Gaddafi met with the most gruesome of deaths.  

The uprisings that swept through the Arab world were given the name: The Arab Spring. 

The fear of the Arab Spring spreading to other parts of the world got on the front burner in the day and age of social media. 

Through the Internet, Facebook, Twitter etc., landmark protests could easily be organized in the twinkle of an eye. 

Nigeria had a spectre of the Arab Spring when the then President Goodluck Jonathan removed the fuel subsidy on January 1, 2012. 

The New Year “gift” sparked off anti-government demonstrations in many Nigerian cities the very next day, that is, on January 2. 

Many Nigerian towns were on fire as many protesters marched on the streets with placards, and made bonfires. 

The demonstrations brought together the unemployed, the under-employed, the employed, the poor, ill-assorted classes of people, the educated, the uneducated, the artisans, sundry workers, musicians, diverse artists, students, all kinds of activists and, yes, tribesmen. 

The name that was given to the crusade was “Occupy Nigeria”, and a melting pot of the struggle was the Gani Fawehinmi Square in Ojota, Lagos. 

For a week, from sunup to sundown, the many classes of Nigerians converged at the square, and the number of protesters increased steadily. 

The “Occupy Nigeria” protests petered out when Jonathan announced that the government had reached an agreement with the labour unions to put petrol price at 97 Naira from the high of 141 Naira. 

Leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress decided to call off the strike. 

And thus was averted what would have amounted to the Nigerian Spring, or a revolution, as some of the then activists would tag it. 

Let’s get to the present tense of the here and now, because fuel subsidy has again been arbitrarily removed. 

The cost of fuel is beyond the ken of Nigerians, and the exchange rate of the Naira has become well-nigh unbearable. 

Inflation is king, and poor Nigeria has bagged the unwanted title of the poverty capital of the world.

The pathetic aspect of the Nigerian matter is that the activists and revolutionaries who mobilized the protests in the past are now the ones making excuses on behalf of government.     

The hunger that made Tunisia’s Mohammed Bouazizi to set himself on fire, thus sparking off the Arab Spring, is an everyday Nigerian nightmare now. 

Anything can happen because one small misstep can lead to cataclysmic tragedy in this bad time of election rigging, judicial abracadabra and democratic dictatorship.    

Given the mess the countries of the Arab Spring are in today, Nigeria should learn the lesson of being saved from anarchy.

A Nigerian must not be driven to set himself on fire because the consequences are dire, not minding the living in denial of Nigeria’s erstwhile activists and expired revolutionaries. 

The fear of revolution by the people is real here.     

• Drone swarms shown to talk, collaborate and split up duties using human language, making it easier for operators to understand the machines' behaviour
• The technology has potential for use in security patrols, rescue operations and aerial logistics and transport, research team says

A team of Chinese scientists has developed drones that can engage in "group chats" to discuss and assign tasks among themselves, much like human teams.

The technology could be used to improve security patrols, disaster rescueand aerial logistics, the researchers said.

While communication strategies for drone swarms are typically designed to simulate bee and ant colonies, the Chinese team designed swarms with the ability to talk and collaborate like humans.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

Drone group chats also help make the machines' thinking transparent to humans, allowing researchers to better understand their behaviour.

The technology comes from Li Xuelong and his team at the School of Artificial Intelligence, Optics and Electronics at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Shaanxi province.

The research brings large language models like ChatGPT "to life", integrating them into practical applications, according to a WeChat post from the university's official account.

The post included a demonstration video from the researchers, showing how a team of five drones successfully located a set of keys in an outdoor park.

"The drones showcased key abilities, including humanlike dialogue interaction, proactive environmental awareness and autonomous entity control," the WeChat report said. Autonomous entity control refers to the drone cluster's ability to adjust flight status in real time based on environmental feedback.

The technology equips each drone with a "human brain", allowing them to chat with each other using natural language. This ability was developed based on a Chinese open-source large language model called InternLM, according to the report.

The capacity for dialogue enables both operators and drones to communicate in human language, breaking down barriers between humans and machines.

In the key-finding experiment, after a user tasked the drones with the search, three of them promptly "volunteered" their search abilities while two others, equipped with grippers, told the group they could retrieve the keys. The division of tasks was independently decided by the drone cluster.

Once the keys were found, the drones also shared images with the user via the group chat for confirmation. "This level of dialogue at crucial points significantly improves the stability and safety in executing complex tasks," the report said.

Equipped with multiple sensors and algorithms for low-altitude search, dynamic obstacle avoidance and visual positioning, the drones are designed to perceive their surroundings from different angles and positions, enabling them to collect data and execute tasks efficiently.

These abilities are referred to as proactive environmental awareness, which allows them to understand and adapt to their surroundings.

Each of the four drones was assigned a specific area to search. As they looked for the keys, the drones coordinated their movements to cover these areas efficiently. They generated a simplified map of the terrain to guide their efforts, and were also able to identify and avoid human operators in their path, ensuring safer flights.

The report noted that the technology has potential for use in security inspections, disaster relief and drone-based transport and logistics.

Previously, Li's team explored optics-driven drones that use high-energy lasers for remote power supply, providing them with potentially limitless endurance.

In October, Li spearheaded the development of an underwater droneguidance system named Navigator.

South China Morning Post

A Colombian mother is being accused of staging her own toddler son’s kidnapping along with several accomplices in order to get ransom money from the boy’s father.

On Sunday evening, November 12th, the news of a young boy kidnapped in Caribe Verde, south of Barranquilla, Colombia, started spreading like wildfire. The 2-year-old had apparently been snatched right out of the arms of his helpless mother as she was walking on the street. Two helmet-wearing assailants approached the woman on motorcycles, intimidated her, and then rode away with her child. When police arrived on the scene, they started questioning the woman about what had gone down, and locating the minor became the biggest priority. It didn’t take long before someone reported the presence of a child fitting the kidnapping victim’s description in a Caribe Verde apartment. A police team burst into the apartment, only instead of masked assailants, they found the boy in the care of a friend of his mother.

Around midnight, a woman called the police to report that her 17-year-old son had come home with a boy that fit the victim’s description. Upon questioning the youth, officers learned that he was a friend of the boy’s mother and that she had asked him to take care of the boy for a few days, as she attempted to extort 60 million pesos ($14,700) out of the boy’s father.

It’s unclear whether the boy’s parents were still together at the time of the staged kidnapping, or whether the woman got to ask the father for a ransom. Colombian media reports that the 2-year-old is currently in his father’s care, while the mother awaits her charges in jail.

Oddity Central

Nigeria has finished 144th position in the 2023 safest countries in the world ranking.The yearly Global Peace Index ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness.

In the latest report, Nigeria sank one step from 143rd position recorded in 2022, though two steps higher than 146th recorded in 2021. Several African countries are adjudged more peaceful than Nigeria. They are: Mauritius, finishing in 23rd position globally; Sierra Leone 47th; Ghana 51st; Senegal 52nd; Madagascar 55th; Namibia 56th; The Gambia 59th; Zambia 63rd; Liberia 70th; Malawi 74th; Tunisia 81st and Equatorial Guinea 82nd.

Others are: Angola and Morocco 84th; Guinea Bissau 87th; Rwanda 88th; Cote d’Ivoire 90th; Tanzania 91st; Gabon 93rd; Algeria 96th; Togo 103rd; Eswatini 109th; Benin 110th; Lesotho 111th; Djibouti 112th; Republic of Congo 113th; Mauritania 114th; Kenya 117th; Mozambique 118th; Egypt 121st; Zimbabwe and Uganda 124th; Guinea 127th; Burundi 128th; South Africa 130th; Eritrea 133rd; Libya 137th; Niger 138th; Cameroon 139th, and Chad in 142nd position.

The study – called the Global Peace Index and produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace – covers 99.7 per cent of the population and measures ‘societal safety and security, domestic and international conflict and the degree of militarisation’.

Overall, the report concludes that Iceland is the safest country overall – though its publication preceded the current volcanic activity – followed by Denmark (second), Ireland (third) and New Zealand (fourth).

America ranks 131st yet again, just behind South Africa (130th) and Haiti (129th).
Afghanistan (163rd) is deemed the least peaceful country in the world for the eighth consecutive year, followed by Yemen (162nd), Syria (161st), South Sudan (160th) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (159th).

The report authors say: “The war in Ukraine had a significant impact on global peacefulness, with Ukraine and Russia having the largest and fifth largest deteriorations in peacefulness respectively. Haiti, Mali, and Israel were the other countries with the largest deteriorations (note that the study also preceded the current conflict in Israel).”

Europe is the most peaceful region in the world, according to the study, and is home to seven of 10 ten most peaceful countries. The other three most peaceful countries are in the Asia Pacific region. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remained the world’s least peaceful region, the report concludes. It is home to four of the 10 least peaceful countries.

“There are only two countries in the North American region, with Canada (11th) recording a 2.9 per cent increase in peacefulness, and the U.S experiencing a slight fall in peacefulness, with its overall score deteriorating by 0.38 per cent. There is a considerable disparity in peacefulness between the two countries.”

The report revealed that one reason is a feeling of safety in Canada, stating: “Less than 20 per cent of Canadians report that they do not feel safe walking alone at night in their city or neighbourhood.”

One reason for America’s lowly ranking is the murder rate, with the report stating: “The United States recorded the fourth largest overall increase in its homicide rate, which is now above six per 100,000 people and more than six times higher than most Western European countries.”

The Guardian