Israeli strikes kill at least 67 Palestinians in Gaza as Ramadan begins

With no end to the war in sight, Palestinians in Gaza began fasting Monday for the holy month of Ramadan as hunger worsens across the strip and pressure is raised on Israel over the growing humanitarian crisis.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt had hoped to broker a cease-fire ahead of the normally joyous month of dawn-to-dusk fasting that would include the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of much more humanitarian aid. But the cease-fire talks stalled last week.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the bodies of 67 people killed by Israeli strikes were brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours, bringing the Palestinian death toll to more than 31,112 since the war began. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says that women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Hamas is still believed to still be holding around 100 captives and the remains of others.

Five months of war have forced around 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine.

Currently:

— Ramadan begins in Gaza with hunger worsening and no end to the war in sight

— Muslims welcome Ramadan with a mix of joy and deep concern

— Houthi attack causes a blast near a container ship in the Red Sea

— ‘The Zone of Interest’ director condemns war in Gaza as he accepts Oscar

Here’s the latest:

U.N. ENVOY SAYS ABUSE OF HOSTAGES DOESN’T LEGITIMIZE FURTHER HOSTILITIES

A U.N. envoy warned Israel that her finding of “clear and convincing information” that some hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack were subjected to sexual violence “does not in any way legitimize further hostilities.”

“In fact, it creates a moral imperative for a humanitarian cease-fire to end the unspeakable suffering imposed on Palestinian civilians in Gaza and bring about the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” Pramila Patten told the U.N. Security Council on Monday where Israel’s foreign minister sat listening.

“Continuation of hostilities can, in no way, protect them,” she said of the hostages. “It can only expose them to further risk of violence, including sexual violence.”

Patten, the U.N. envoy focusing on sexual violence in conflict, spoke at a council meeting sought by Israel and called by the United States, United Kingdom and France to focus on her recent report.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he came to the council “to protest as loud as I can against the crimes against humanity” committed by Hamas in order to deter and scare Israeli society.

He strongly criticized the Security Council’s failure in over 40 meetings since Oct. 7 to condemn Hamas’ actions, saying the U.N.’s most powerful body should declare the extremist group a terrorist organization and pressure it to immediately release the hostages.

ISRAEL AIRSTRIKES HIT DEEP INSIDE LEBANON, WOUNDING 6, HEZBOLLAH SAYS

Israeli airstrikes late Monday near Lebanon’s northeastern city of Baalbek wounded at least six people, a Hezbollah official said.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the locations of the airstrikes, the deepest in Lebanon since Feb. 26, have not yet been specified.

In late February, Israeli airstrikes near the historic city of Baalbek killed two Hezbollah members.

State-run National News Agency said one of the strikes hit a building in the village of Ansar just south of Baalbek. It gave no word on casualties.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported at least two airstrikes one striking a building on the outskirts of the village of Taraya and another near Baalbek on the outskirts of Ansar.

Israel’s military and Hezbollah fighters have been trading fire since the Israel-Hamas was began on Oct. 7. More than 220 Hezbollah fighters and nearly 40 civilians were killed on the Lebanese side, while in Israel, nine soldiers and 10 civilians were left dead in the attacks.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the border.

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia producing three times more artillery shells than US and Europe for Ukraine

Russia appears on track to produce nearly three times more artillery munitions than the US and Europe, a key advantage ahead of what is expected to be another Russian offensive in Ukraine later this year.

Russia is producing about 250,000 artillery munitions per month, or about 3 million a year, according to NATO intelligence estimates of Russian defense production shared with CNN, as well as sources familiar with Western efforts to arm Ukraine. Collectively, the US and Europe have the capacity to generate only about 1.2 million munitions annually to send to Kyiv, a senior European intelligence official told CNN.

The US military set a goal to produce 100,000 rounds of artillery a month by the end of 2025 — less than half of the Russian monthly output — and even that number is now out of reach with $60 billion in Ukraine funding stalledin Congress, a senior Army official told reporters last week.

“What we are in now is a production war,” a senior NATO official told CNN. “The outcome in Ukraine depends on how each side is equipped to conduct this war.”

Officials say Russia is currently firing around 10,000 shells a day, compared to just 2,000 a day from the Ukrainian side. The ratio is worse in some places along the 600-mile front, according to a European intelligence official.

The shortfall comes at perhaps the most perilous moment for Ukraine’s war effort since Russia first marched on Kyiv in February 2022. US money for arming Ukraine has run out and Republican opposition in Congress has effectively halted giving any more.

Meanwhile, Russia recently took the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka and is widely seen as having the initiative on the battlefield. Ukraine is struggling not just with ammunition but also growing manpower shortages on the front lines.

The US and its allies have given Ukraine a number of highly sophisticated systems, including the M-1 Abrams tank and, soon, F-16 fighter jets. But military analysts say the war will likely be won or lost based on who fires the most artillery shells.

“The number one issue that we’re watching right now is the munitions,” the NATO official said. “It’s those artillery shells, because that’s where Russia really [is] mounting a significant production advantage and mounting a significant advantage on the battlefield.”Russian war machine in ‘full gear’

Russia is running artillery factories “24/7” on rotating 12-hour shifts, the NATO official said. About 3.5 million Russians now work in the defense sector, up from somewhere between 2 and 2.5 million before the war. Russia is also importing ammunition: Iran sent at least 300,000 artillery shells last year — “probably more than that,” the official said — and North Korea provided at least 6,700 containers of ammunition carrying millions of shells.

Russia has “put everything they have in the game,” the intelligence official said. “Their war machine works in full gear.”

A rough equivalent in the US would be if President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act, a US official said, which gives the president power to order companies to produce equipment expeditiously to support the nation’s national defense.

Russia’s ramp-up is still not enough to meet its needs, US and Western officials say, and Western intelligence officials do not expect Russia to make major gains on the battlefield in the short term. There is also a limit to Russian production capacity, officials say: Russian factories will likely hit a peak sometime in the next year.

But it’s still far beyond what the US and Europe are producing for Ukraine — especially without additional US funding. 

Competing with Putin’s managed economy

European nations are trying to make up the shortfall. A German defense company announced last month that it plans to open an ammunition factory in Ukraine that it said will produce hundreds of thousands of 155mm caliber bullets each year. In Germany, the same company broke ground on a new factory expected to eventually produce around 200,000 artillery shells per year.

US and Western officials insist that although Russia has been able to jump-start its factory lines, in part because it has the advantage of being a managed economy under the control of an autocrat, capitalist western nations will eventually catch up and produce better equipment.

“If you can actually control the economy, then you can probably move a little bit faster than other countries out there,” Lt. Gen. Steven Basham, the deputy commander of US European Command, told CNN in an interview last week. But, he said, “the West will have more sustaining power.”

“The West is just starting their ramp-up of building the infrastructure to add in the munitions capability that is needed.”

When the money was still flowing, the US Army expanded production of artillery shells in Pennsylvania, Iowa and Texas.

Intelligence officials believe that neither side is poised to make any large gains imminently, but the overall math favors Moscow in the long run — particularly if additional US aid does not materialize.

“It’s not going well, but it all depends,” said one source familiar with Western intelligence. “If aid restarts and comes quick, all is not lost.”Targeting Ukraine’s weapons production

Russia has also recently targeted Ukraine’s domestic defense production with its long-range weapons.

“If we were talking about this last fall, we would have talked about how they were targeting critical infrastructure,” the NATO official said. “Now what we see is some critical infrastructure targeting, but also a lot of targeting the Ukrainian defense industrial base.”

According to the senior NATO official, Russia is producing between 115 to 130 long-range missiles, and 300 to 350 one-way attack drones based on an Iranian model provided by Tehran, each month. Although before the war, Russia had a stockpile of thousands of long-range missiles in its arsenal, today it is hovering around 700, the official said.

The Russians have lately conserved those weapons to use in large volleys to try to overwhelm Ukrainian missile defenses. And they have compensated by increasing their use of drones, sending out on average four times as many drones per month as they did last winter.

Perhaps Russia’s biggest challenge has been in tank and other armored vehicle production. It is churning out about 125 tanks a month, but the vast majority are older models that have been refurbished. About 86% of the main battle tanks Russia produced in 2023 were refurbished, the NATO official said. And although Russia has about 5,000 tanks in storage, “probably a large percentage of those can’t be refurbished and are only good for cannibalizing parts,” the official said.

Moscow has lost at least 2,700 tanks, more than twice the total number that they deployed initially to Ukraine in February of 2022, when the invasion began.

Russia’s ‘transformed’ economy

Officials are also closely watching Russia’s economy for signs of how the interplay between a super-charged defense sector, Western sanctions, and Putin’s efforts to gird his economy for war impact Russia’s ability to sustain the conflict.

The war has absolutely “transformed” Russia’s economy, the NATO official said, from the post-Soviet period when oil was the leading sector. Now, defense is the largest sector of the Russian economy, and oil is paying for it.

That creates some long-term imbalances that will likely be problematic for Russia, but for now, it’s working, the NATO official and Basham, the US European Command official, both said.

“In the short term — say, the next 18 months or so — it may be unsophisticated, but it’s a durable economy,” the NATO official said.

The Pentagon is weighing whether to tap into the last remaining source of funding it has — but it has previously been reluctant to spend any of that remaining money without assurances it would be reimbursed by Congress, because taking from DoD stockpiles with no plan to replenish that equipment could impact US military readiness, CNN has previously reported.

“If no more US aid coming, do the Ukrainians change how they feel about negotiating?” the source familiar with Western intelligence said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian drone strikes Russian oil facility – governor

At least one Ukrainian drone has crashed into an oil facility in the western Russian city of Oryol, local Governor Andrey Klychkov confirmed early Tuesday morning.

The attack targeted a “fuel and energy complex facility” in the city around 350 kilometers south of Moscow, the official announced in a statement at 3:30am local time. There were no casualties or injuries on the ground, according to Klychkov.

At least one oil tank caught fire as a result of the strike, an emergency services source told RIA. Photos and videos circulating on social media showed fire and smoke rising from the facility, apparently visible from several kilometers away.

Klychkov said that firefighters are working to contain the blaze, adding that the situation is under control and urging residents to remain calm.

This is not the first time an oil facility in Oryol has come under attack. Back in January, a similar drone raid caused a fire and injured three people. Last week, another Ukrainian drone hit an oil depot in the neighboring Kursk Region.

Ukraine routinely launches artillery, missile, and drone strikes at Russian border regions, many of which have targeted residential buildings and civilian infrastructure. One of the deadliest attacks hit Belgorod in late December, killing 25 people and injuring more than 100.

CNN/RT

On 15 October, 1965, as political uncertainty and violence raged in Western Nigeria, Ladoke Akintola, the regional premier, was due to deliver a primetime radio broadcast to his people at 19:00. Some minutes before the appointed hour, an armed, unmasked and bearded young man appeared in the studio and required Akinwande Oshin, head of the newsroom at the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation (WNBC) to substitute the recorded broadcast of the premier with a tape provided by the gunman. At the appointed hour, the entire region – including the premier – listened as the voice from the gunman’s tape exhorted the premier to spare the region further turmoil and go.

His mission accomplished, the gunman promptly vanished into the night, leaving Oshin and his crew in the newsroom with some questions to answer. The incident would later result in criminal proceedings against a suspect, later identified as Wole Soyinka, at the time a lecturer at the University of Ibadan. In his defence, Soyinka set up an alibi, claiming that he was in Enugu in the then Eastern Region of Nigeria at the time of the incident. In his testimony, Soyinka’s Head of Department at the university, one Professor Axworthy, said that they had both attended a departmental meeting in Ibadan less than two hours before the incident but the Wole Soyinka with whom he attended the meeting, according to the professor, was clean shaven.

The mystery of how a clean shaven man could grow a bushy beard in less than two hours was too much for the trial Magistrate, who felt obliged to acquit the suspect. Kayode Eso, the trial Magistrate, who would go on to a storied judicial career within and beyond Nigeria, immortalised this story in his book fittingly titled The Mystery Gunman.

The mystery gunman is a figure of considerable antiquity in the history of crime and impunity in Nigeria and of myths about both. A mere 11-and-a-half years after that incident in Ibadan, soldiers brutally attacked Wole Soyinka’s aunt, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, in the Kalakuta Republic base of her famous son and Afrobeat musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. A judicial commission of inquiry established to identify the perpetrators and recommend suitable measures of accountability, concluded that the attack was the handiwork of the “unknown soldier.” With the act attributed to so ghostly a figure, suggestions of accountability became evidently illusory.

In South-East Nigeria, where a metastasis of murderous violence is widely perceived to have held sway for the better part of the last five years, responsibility for this state of affairs is laid at the feet of the Unknown Gunman. Tired of having to repeat the name with the frequency with which murders, abductions, and violence occur in and around the region, many people have taken to abbreviating the nomenclature to “UGM.” With no memory of what transpired before, the UGM is mostly seen as a novelty in the contemporary ecosystem of violence in Nigeria generally and in the South-East, more particularly. In reality, he is neither new nor indeed unknown.

Nearly 10 years ago, when he disappeared on his way to his community in Nanka, Orumba North Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra State in May 2014, it was reported that former Anambra State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Chike Okoli, had been “abducted by unknown gunmen.” But one month later, the Anambra State directorate of the State Security Service (SSS) arrested a 10-man kidnap-for-ransom gang, whom they alleged was responsible for the kidnap and disappearance of Okoli. It was led by one Kingsley Chukwuemeka Eze, a local politician from Enugu State.

The abduction and disappearance of Igwe Oliver Nnaji, traditional ruler of Ogwu Aniocha in Ogbaru LGA in November 2021, was similarly reported at first as the handiwork of the “UGM.” However, at the beginning of January, 2023, a raid by a Special Forces assault team on the Ochan Forest in the community reportedly led to the killing of ten members of a crime gang led by one Victor Ibenegbu (alias “Network”), who claimed that “his group was behind the serial killings and arsons in the community,” including the abduction of the traditional ruler.

With the police decimated and devoid of confidence, the investigation of the violence does not receive the kind of assets or commitment it deserves. Most victims and witnesses are not unaware of the authors of the violence in their neighbourhoods. But they are equally mostly unwilling to go on record for the fear of suffering reprisals. The use of “unknown gunmen” to describe the perpetrators is a misnomer. In most cases, they are known but the expression, UGM, describes a tyranny of despondency in the face of widely held perceptions of state incapacity or impunity for these atrocities.

Over nearly 20 months of leading the Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission (TJPC) into the violence in the South-East of Nigeria, it has become evident to me that the UGM is one of the narrative myths and constraints in the crisis of violence and insecurity in the region. It is by no means the only one. You also have the reality of a population forced by the violence into a habit of fear of candour on the subject; an absence of a public or bureaucratic infrastructure of both memory and records of victimisation; a narrative space at both national and state levels unwilling to look beyond separatism as the explanation for the violence; and a policy space attuned only to expeditionary and kinetic responses.

These myths have sustained the misbegotten idea of a unified filed theory for the violence in South-East Nigeria. Anyone interested in addressing this situation must be prepared to look beyond the myths. For whoever is prepared to do so, the pursuit could prove both revealing and richly rewarding.

In Anambra State, for instance, the political economy of land is central to understanding the crisis of violence. It is both property and identity and the supply of land in the state is shrinking under the combined assault of fragilities from both nature and of intense land use. Revenues from land are the focus of an intensity of competing interests. In this competition, cults and organised crime gangs are recruited. These cults and gangs bring with them guns, drugs, and even transactional idolatory. Over time, they also develop a seasonal and entrepreneurial orientation to violence, selling it to whoever is interested, from artisanal rustlers of solid minerals or hydro-carbons to private persons using it to settle scores; from community factions disputing over the stool of the Igwe or positions in the Town Union, to politicians seeking offices in the state.

From the political economy of land, other shorter term factors radiate out, including the mismanagement of transhuman pastoralism; (mis-)appropriation of a narrative vacuum created by official government policy concerning memory from Nigeria’s past; intra-state and inter-community boundary crises; transactional idolatory; the franchising of agitation by criminal cults and gangs; as well as the deployment of violence for artisanal extractive and mining activities and for electoral politics.

For both politicians and security agencies, the focus on mobilising kinetic responses preoccupies itself overly with the symptoms at the expense of addressing the real causes. The implicit idea that the country or the region can shoot its way out of the violence and its causes and consequences is in one word, delusional. Tactical options must always be on the table but, for durable solutions, the country and the region must dispense with the myths and govern their way out of the disease. That is the only way to make the symptoms finally disappear.

Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a lawyer, 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..

At age 10, Jenny Woo got really good at reading nonverbal social cues.

It was out of necessity: She emigrated from China to Houston, and didn’t speak English. She connected with her peers largely through what she now defines as emotional intelligence, or EQ — watching their body language and listening to the tones of their voices to learn what excited, inspired and angered them.

In the decades that followed, Woo turned her EQ skills into a career at corporations like Deloitte and Cisco, training managers how to better communicate. She spent some time helping run her kids’ Montessori school in Southern California.

While working on her master’s degree at Harvard University in 2018, she spent $1,000 from her savings to launch Mind Brain Emotion, which sells EQ-focused card games on Amazon. Last year, the side hustle brought in $1.71 million on Amazon, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. Woo estimates 40% of that revenue is profit.

DON’T MISS: The ultimate guide to earning passive income online

Between the side hustle and her three other current revenue streams — lecturing at the University of California Irvine, running an online EQ course and freelance business consulting — she works anywhere from three to 30 hours per week, she says. Her workload depends on the season, and her multiple income streams allow her to go completely offline when her three children are home.

“The mission has always been to make knowledge, skills, competence, mindsets and attitudes accessible ... for really everybody to enjoy,” says Woo, 42. “But being able to support my kids ... is also a true metric of success to me.”

Here, Woo discusses how she set up her side hustle, why she chooses to run it alone and her advice for anyone who wants to replicate her path.

CNBC Make It: Many people who run successful side hustles eventually need to hire people as their ventures grow. Why do you largely run Mind Brain Emotion alone?

Woo: It’s a very intentional choice for me to be the [sole] founder. From my experience in the corporate world and at Harvard Innovation Labs, I’ve seen co-founders really go haywire [and ruin friendships]. I really wanted to avoid that.

It also helps with scheduling. I started this as a full-time student and parent. Now, I like being able to travel with my three kids. I can have control without feeling like I’m letting [a partner] down.

As my kids get older, I would eventually like to operationalize and grow the business globally. I am certainly looking to delegate and bring people onto my team, but only if they have the right talents.

Is your side hustle replicable?

Absolutely. It costs $39.99 per month to have a professional Amazon seller account. Anybody can really list their product there, or on platforms like Etsy.

But you have to pay to play, in the sense that you have to be really savvy with advertising campaigns, SEO and staying on top of the new features on each platform. Last time I checked, there are 12 million products under games and toys on Amazon U.S. Being able to surface can be really, really hard.

There are a couple juicy secrets. You can advertise using keywords, and on your competitors’ sites. I do both.

I also sell in other spaces like Walmart, Faire and on my website. They don’t produce as much revenue. Platforms are constantly changing their criteria and bids. You really have to get on top of it.

You have five degrees and a decade of experience working for corporations. What’s your advice for people who don’t have that pedigree, but want to follow in your footsteps?

I think you have to do two things to be successful. The first: Never stop learning. I tell my students I am a lifelong learner first and an entrepreneur second.

You also have to be your own cheerleader. When I was still learning English in middle school and high school, there were so many incidents where I felt so embarrassed, where I felt I wasn’t good enough, where I felt like I didn’t know anything.

[Navigating those] things can give you coping skills and make you more resilient. There will be haters and copycats. You just have to keep going.

CNBC

Nigeria, a country long used to hardship, is facing a crushing cost-of-living crisis.

Prices for some vital food staples have doubled in a matter of months. Trucks hauling items like rice and pasta are being hijacked along rural highways. Protests have bubbled up in major cities and soldiers now stand guard to prevent grain warehouses from being ransacked by desperate citizens.

At the heart of the upheaval in Africa’s most populous country are aggressive reforms by President Bola Tinubu, who scrapped a popular but costly fuel subsidy and eased foreign-exchange controls shortly after taking office in May.

The moves were welcomed by the outside world as long overdue, but the short-term results have been painful for Nigerians. Inflation touched a 28-year high in January and the naira has crashed by 70%, pushing tens of millions of poor people into extremities.

“This is the first solid meal that my family will be having in 18 days,” said Rahma Isma’il, a widow with six children in northern Kano state, who bought the food with 500 naira ($0.30) a passer-by gave her son. Her family had been surviving on kunu dawa — a corn-based drink that is neither tasty nor nutritious, but quells hunger pangs.

Food has always been costly in Nigeria, where an average household spends more than 50% of its budget to eat, but the recent price rises are making matters even worse. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates more than 26 million people face food insecurity this year, around 14% of the population.

A lack of security, highlighted by the abduction on Thursday by at least 287 school children in northern Nigeria, is also contributing to to food price rises.

The authorities are trying to respond. The central bank raised interest rates by 400 basis points to a record 22.75% on Feb. 27 to stem price pressures and bolster the currency.

The International Monetary Fund, a strong advocate for ending fuel subsidies and foreign-exchange controls, called on Monday for immediate steps to tackle food insecurity while welcoming the approval of an “effective and well-targeted” social protection system.

Tinubu, who declared a state of emergency in July to counter the rising cost of living, plans to start distributing grains in the next couple of weeks. The government will also begin temporary payments of 25,000 naira a month to about 12 million Nigerian households, resuming a program begun by the previous administration that was suspended amid claims of corruption.

Temitope Ajayi, a senior presidential aide, said the government was also taking a range of measures to boost food production.

“Within the next 6-9 months when we will be in harvest season there will be surplus food in Nigeria and commodities will become very cheap and affordable,” he said.

“The operation against merchants who are hoarding commodities for price gorging is also helping to bring down prices.”

Seven people were trampled to death in a Lagos neighborhood on Feb. 23 when a mob stormed an auction to cheaply sell off rice seized from smugglers. The price of rice — a beloved staple on Nigerian dinner tables — has soared 98.5% in the last year.

“I have removed rice from my food now. It’s only garri and groundnuts that we eat,” said Abel Wurot, a private security guard in the capital, Abuja, who earns 35,000 naira a month. “I went to the market to buy food and the prices sent me back. Can you imagine that the price of one mudu (1.13 kg) of rice is over 2,300 naira? Something we used to buy for 1,500 naira last month,” he said.

Desperation has led to the looting of emergency government stockpiles of staples and attacks on trucks transporting food.

A televised incident on March 1 in Kaduna state in the northwest showed dozens of people swarming over a vehicle, tearing off its tarpaulin with their bare hands and carting away packets of spaghetti that used to cost 90 naira a couple of years ago, but now go for more than 1,000.

The images recall the violence of 2020 during the pandemic, when crowds looted warehouses in protest against politicians they accused of hoarding amid a wider backlash against police brutality.

Trucking companies worry about losing business as customers hold back on transporting goods.

“It is more or less like riot and insurance does not cover riot,” said Yusuf Lawal Othman, the president of the powerful association of road transport owners, whose members have been attacked. “It is becoming so rampant, even the owners of the goods that we carry are now afraid to move those goods.”

Worried about the potential for tensions to escalate further, the government is deploying soldiers nationwide to guard food warehouses and efforts to distribute staples door to door.

Government officials have privately shared concerns about an uptick in protests in cities including Port Harcourt and Lagos that could turn violent, threatening to overshadow the one-year anniversary of Tinubu’s narrow election victory last May.

The cost-of-living crisis is not just hitting the poor. Even in the upmarket shops used by affluent Nigerians, it’s becoming difficult to keep up with surging prices.

PZ Cussons Plc, which sells a number of household goods in Nigeria, toldinvestors that it has raised prices 12 times in recent months.

Monica James, who works in a store in the middle-class residential area of Lokogoma in Abuja, has given up putting new price labels on the many items in the shop.

“The prices seem to change every day, I have never seen anything like this,” the 54-year old said from behind the counter. “Now, we don’t even bother to change the prices anymore: We let the customer find out at check-out.”

Pricey products are prompting shoppers to forego items like imported apples and apricots, adding to a sense of sacrifice that is not helped by the skepticism of ordinary Nigerians that the government is making cutbacks of its own.

This year’s budget was lined with costly SUVs for officials, Tinubu has the largest cabinet since 1999 and his entourage on foreign visits hasn’t been trimmed to spare the public purse.

Meanwhile, the worst may be yet to come. Analysts see inflation peaking in the mid-30s in the second half of the year, up from 29.9% in January, with another round of price hikes expected when the effects of the naira’s most recent tumble against the dollar last month kick in.

“Simply put, this is the worst since I have been living,” said Fehintola Akintunde, 53, who supplements her income as a research analyst in Ibadan, a city north of Lagos, with a side hustle selling food. “I have been aware of cost of things for over 40 years, but it has never been truly this bad.”

Bloomberg

Residents of Abuja are currently witnessing another bout of darkness as the Shiroro-Katampe 330kV transmission line has been vandalized.

The development comes less than two weeks after the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) announced that vandals had hit a transmission line.

In a statement on Sunday, TCN said the new vandalism will affect electricity customers under the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company on 33kV feeders from Central Transmission Station (TS) (FDRS1-8), Katampe1 (LifeCamp Gwarimpa, Jabi, Wuse 2 and 9mobile feeders. Katampe2(Maitama,Jahi and Mpape feeders).

Also to be affected are Kubwa TS (Kubwa, Deidei, NIPP, Bwari Dawaki and Dam feeders). GIS(D1 and D2 feeders to Gwarimpa).

Suleja TS (Jiwa, Suleja, Industrial, Jere Field Base and others) and fdrs on TR3 feeding at Apo TS feeding from 2X150MVA, 330KV katampe TS (H1,H2,H3,H21 and H23 affecting the entire Garki, Garki 2, Aso Drive, International Airport, Lugbe.

The statement added that the incident was the fifth within February and March.

“At approximately 9am this morning, the Shiroro-Katampe transmission line experienced a trip. Following initial investigations, TCN engineers attempted to restore operation but were unsuccessful. Subsequently, efforts were made to identify the fault location. Hence, linesmen were dispatched to physically patrol the suspected area.”
The statement signed by its General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, sadi during the fault tracing process, vigilante team leaders in the vicinity notified TCN linesmen of vandalism along the Shiroro-Katampe transmission line.”

“TCN personnel confirmed the vandalisation of the 330kV Shiroro-Katampe transmission line 1, from Towers 244 to 245, and the conductors stolen.

“TCN is currently mobilizing for conductor replacement, pending completion of security operations at the site. Nevertheless, the second line remains fully operational, transmitting at full capacity to Abuja, in conjunction with the Gwagwalada 330kV line serving the Kukwaba-Apo axis.”

It added that the wheeling capacity of TCN towards Abuja and environs would be enhanced by the Lokoja – Gwagwalada 330kV transmission line.
“This incident adds to a series of vandalism incidents recorded by TCN in February 2024, including the destruction of Tower 70 along the Gwagwalade-Katampe transmission line on February 26, 2024. Other incidents include the vandalism of towers 377 and 378 along the Gombe-Damaturu 330kV transmission line on February 23, 2024, and the attack on towers 145 to 149 and 201 to 218 along the Owerri-Ahoda 132kV transmission line on February 15, 2024. Additionally, on February 1, 2024, Tower number 388 along the Jos-Bauchi 132kV single circuit transmission line collapsed due to vandalism.”

“These acts of sabotage are unacceptable, and TCN urges relevant security agencies and host communities to collaborate in apprehending the perpetrators. Protection of the nation’s transmission infrastructure is paramount, and collective efforts are required to curb these incidents.

“TCN calls upon all Nigerians to assist in reporting such acts of vandalism. Electricity infrastructure is a national asset, and safeguarding it is a collective responsibility.”

Daily Trust

Muhammad Abubakar, Sultan of Sokoto, has announced the sighting of the crescent moon for the commencement of Ramadan fasting.

In a broadcast on Sunday, the Sultan, who is also the president of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), said Monday marks the beginning of Ramadan fasting for Muslims in the country.

“Today, Sunday, the 29th day of Sha’aban 1445 after the hijra which is equivalent to 10th March 2024, marks the end of Sha’aban 1445 after hijrah, with the reports of moon sightings that we have received from Muslim leaders and organisations across the country which we duly accepted,” he said.

“Consequently, tomorrow, Monday, 11th of March, 2024, becomes the first day of Ramadan 1445 after hijra.

“We, therefore, call on Muslims in the country to commence fasting accordingly. We call on all Muslims to use the glorious month of Ramadan to pray for the country.”

On Friday, the Sultan asked Muslims to look out for the new moon in preparation for the beginning of Ramadan.

The Cable

An effort to get aid to Gaza by sea is moving ahead. But the first ship is still waiting in Cyprus

A U.S. Army vessel carrying equipment to build a temporary pier in Gaza was heading to the Mediterranean on Sunday, after U.S. President Joe Biden announced plans to increase aid deliveries by sea to the besieged enclave where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are going hungry.

The new push for aid came as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was set to begin Monday in much of the world after officials in Saudi Arabia saw the crescent moon. Hopes for a new cease-fire by Ramadan faded days ago with negotiations apparently stalled.

The opening of the sea corridor, along with airdrops by the U.S., Jordan and others, reflected growing alarm over Gaza’s deadly humanitarian crisis and a new willingness to bypass Israeli control over land shipments. But aid officials say that air and sea deliveries can’t make up for a shortage of land routes. Aid trucks entering Gaza daily are far below the 500 entering before the war.

A ship belonging to Spanish aid group Open Arms and carrying 200 tons of food aid was expected to make a pilot voyage to Gaza from nearby Cyprus “as soon as possible,” but not Sunday, said Linda Roth, a spokesperson for partner organization World Central Kitchen. There was no explanation after Cyprus’ president had said it would leave then.

Israel says it welcomes the sea deliveries and would inspect Gaza-bound cargo before it leaves Cyprus. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reviewed preparatory work off Gaza’s coast on Sunday.

Biden has stepped up public criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he believes that Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” in his approach to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, now in its sixth month.

Speaking on Saturday to MSNBC, the U.S. president expressed support for Israel’s right to pursue Hamas after the militants’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. But Biden said that Netanyahu “must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost.” He added that “you cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead.”

The Health Ministry in Gaza said that at least 31,045 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says that women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and its figures from previous wars have largely matched those of U.N. and independent experts.

Palestinian casualties continued to rise. The Civil Defense Department said 10 people were killed Sunday in an Israeli airstrike on a house of the Ashour family in the Tal al-Hawa area of Gaza City. Dust-covered bodies were placed onto blankets.

Elsewhere, the bodies of 15 people, including women and children, were taken to the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah, according to an Associated Press journalist. Relatives said they were killed by Israeli artillery fire toward a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in the coastal area near the southern city of Khan Younis.

Israel rarely comments on specific incidents during the war. It maintains that Hamas is responsible for civilian casualties, because the militant group operates from within civilian areas.

Meanwhile, U.S. efforts began to set up the temporary pier in Gaza for sea deliveries. U.S. Central Command said that a first U.S. Army vessel, the General Frank S. Besson, left a base in Virginia on Saturday and was on its way to the Eastern Mediterranean with equipment for construction.

U.S. officials said that it would likely be weeks before the pier is operational.

The sea corridor is backed by the European Union together with the United States, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. The European Commission has said that U.N. agencies and the Red Cross will play a role.

The ship in Cyprus is expected to take two to three days to arrive at an undisclosed location in Gaza. The World Central Kitchen spokesperson said that construction work began Sunday on the jetty for it.

A member of the charity said on X, formerly Twitter, that once the ship’s barge reaches Gaza, aid would be offloaded by a crane, placed on trucks and driven to northern Gaza, which has been largely cut off from aid shipments and was the first focus of Israel’s military offensive.

Israel declared war on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostages. Israel’s air and ground offensive has devastated large parts of Gaza and displaced about 80% of the population of 2.3 million.

The U.S. and regional mediators Egypt and Qatar had hoped to have a six-week cease-fire in place by Ramadan. A deal would have seen Hamas release some Israeli hostages, Israel release some Palestinian prisoners and aid groups be given access for a major influx of aid.

In a speech broadcast Sunday, Hamas’ top leader Ismail Haniyeh blamed Israel for the failure to reach a deal before Ramadan and said that the militant group is keen to resume negotiations in any framework as long as it guarantees a permanent cease-fire.

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia’s new guided bomb inflicts devastation and heavy casualties on the Ukrainian front lines

Russia has begun using a powerful aerial bomb that has decimated Ukrainian defenses and tilted the balance on the front lines. It has done so by converting a basic Soviet-era weapon into a gliding bomb that can cause a crater fifteen meters wide.

The bomb is the FAB-1500, essentially a 1.5-tonne weapon of which nearly half comprises high explosives. It is delivered from above by fighter jets from a distance of some 60-70 kilometers, out of range of many Ukrainian air defenses. The FAB-1500 is another example of how Russia is fighting its war in Ukraine, inflicting massive destruction before trying to take territory.

Recent videos from the battlelines in Donetsk region have illustrated the immense power of these bombs as they have hit thermal power plants, factories and tower blocks - places from which the Ukrainians coordinate their defenses.

The FAB-1500 is directed towards its target by a guidance system and pop-out wings that allow it to glide towards its target. Joseph Trevithick, who has written about the development of the bomb for TheWarZone, says they “offer a new and far more destructive stand-off strike option for many of Russia’s tactical jets that also help pilots stay further away from enemy defenses.”

One soldier from Ukraine’s 46th Separate Airmobile Brigade told CNN from the frontline town of Krasnohorivka in Donetsk last week: “Previously, we were only shelled with artillery. Now the orcs [Russians] have taken on the town more aggressively [and] started using air force assets, particularly the FAB-1500.”

“Why they are using the FAB-1500? Because the damage done by it is very serious. If you survive, you are guaranteed to have a contusion.”

“It puts a lot of pressure on soldiers’ morale. Not all of our guys can withstand it. While they are more or less used to the FAB-500 by now, but the FAB-1500 is hell.”

The use of FAB bombs has become a critical element in the Russian offensive in Donetsk region, especially in razing to the ground Ukrainian defenses in and around Avdiivka, which fell in February.

Yuri Ihnat, Ukrainian air force spokesman, told CNN: “On the eve of and during the battle of Avdiivka hundreds of air bombs were launched within days. There were 250 of them used in Avdiivka direction in 48 hours only.”

The FAB-1500 is the most powerful in a family of Soviet-era ‘dumb bombs’ now being converted at a plant near Moscow into a cheap but potent version of a missile.

Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, says that “while manufacturing the glide kits is a bottleneck, the basic explosive package is something they have in huge numbers.”

So the Russians have very heavy firepower to bring to bear on fixed defenses, increasing Ukrainian casualties, though not as yet enough to fundamentally change the frontlines.

Ihnat told CNN: “This isn’t a cheap or fast transformation, but still it’s much less than the millions of dollars a missile costs. It’s pennies in comparison with a missile.”

Russian military bloggers began referring to the weapon last September when its accuracy was being tested. The Fighterbomber telegram channel noted that “after many months of trials and errors,” a FAB-1500 had “accurately” hit its “combat target” for the first time.

Fighterbomber, which is close to the Russian military and has nearly half-a-million subscribers, claimed that the newly developed glide kit had increased the range of the bombs. It also said the  FAB-1500 was accurate to within five meters.

Within a few weeks, both Ukrainian and Russian sources spoke of the use of the massive bomb in Kherson in the south and Kharkiv in the north.

Then in January, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu was seen touring the plant of the JSC Tactical Missiles Corporation - a major arms manufacturer - in the Moscow region, being shown the wrap-around wings developed for the bomb. According to the Ministry video, the company said it had developed “a high-precision” munition converting old free-fall bombs into weapons that would glide to their target.

The director of the plant proudly reported to Shoigu that productivity had increased by 40% as it had shifted to 24/7 production.

Bronk notes that the converted FAB bombs can only be used against fixed targets, but in the grinding attritional war in the east, the main Ukrainian positions are generally known to the Russians.

The Russian planes dispatching these bombs are not invulnerable. The Ukrainian air force has claimed that it has brought down several Su-34 fighters in recent weeks. But most Ukrainian air defenses do not have the range to hit planes some 70 kilometers away.

Ihnat told CNN: “Our air defense is getting stronger, but still we don’t have enough…Their goal is not only to hit our frontline positions, but guided glide bombs are also flying further behind our defenders to hit rear command posts, rear supplies, ammunition, and so on.”

“The attack aviation Su-35 and Su-34 bombers don’t approach as close as they would like to. Still, if we had more long-range air-defense we would be able to take down these jets further [from our frontlines],” Ihnat added.

Bronk says the development of the glide bombs has given the Russians a way to use their tactical air force (as opposed to long-range bombers) more effectively after its limited role in the first phase of the war.  He says the US Patriot complex is just about the only defense that has the range to counter the threat, but the Ukrainians have a limited number. And the missiles used by Patriots are in short supply given the delay in the US Congress passing a further package of military aid for Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials from President Volodymyr Zelensky downwards have almost daily pleaded for longer range air defense weapons to fend off the Russian aerial threat. The F-16 combat aircraft on which Ukrainian pilots are now training are unlikely to take to the skies over Ukraine until the second half of the year but may force Russian combat aircraft to stay further away.

In the meantime, Ukrainian forces on the frontlines, especially in Donetsk, are exposed to a blitz of Russian air strikes - sometimes more than 100 in a day, according to the Ukrainian General Staff.

Just as the Russians previously wiped out Ukrainian positions with intensive artillery, they are now using a seemingly inexhaustible supply of these devastating bombs to leave Ukrainian forces with nothing to defend and nowhere to shelter.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

House Republicans float loan program for Ukraine – NBC

US Republican lawmakers are drafting a bill that would dole out some non-military aid to Ukraine as a loan, rather than a gift, NBC News reported on Friday. While the GOP views the plan as a compromise between the party’s pro- and anti-Kiev factions, Democrats insist that their no-strings-attached $60 billion aid bill is “the only way forward.”

The US Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill last month, which would see Ukraine receive $60 billion in mostly military aid. With Kiev’s stocks of Western arms and ammunition dwindling, US President Joe Biden has claimed that Ukraine will lose more territory to Russia if the bill is not approved by the House of Representatives.

The Republican-controlled House has thus far refused to hold a vote on the bill, with GOP lawmakers demanding that it be bundled with a dramatic tightening of US immigration law and increased funding for border security. 

Amid the deadlock, House Speaker Mike Johnson and the chairmen of multiple committees dealing with national security are working on their own bill that would treat some aid to Kiev as a long-term loan, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul told NBC.

“The plans are in their preliminary stages and far from fully formed,” NBC noted. However, the network’s sources said that the GOP aims to have a bill ready for a vote before the end of March.

McCaul and Senator Lindsey Graham both stressed that only the non-military portion of the aid would be treated as a loan, and neither revealed how much military versus non-military aid would be doled out under the draft legislation. Out of the $60 billion set out in the bill passed by the Senate last month, less than $10 billion would be spent on non-military support for Kiev.

Both Graham and former President Donald Trump have endorsed the idea of loaning money to Kiev, although some conservative pundits have trashed the proposal. “Ukraine will never repay the debt, and we’ll never make them,” journalist Tucker Carlson stated last month. “This is just a more dishonest way to send more unaccounted for weapons to the region, delay the inevitable peace deal and kill more forcibly conscripted Ukrainians.”

McCaul told NBC that the US could use seized Russian assets as collateral for any potential loan. However, the US is currently only able to use certain assets to aid Ukraine indirectly, and McCaul’s plan would require passing additional legislation, something that Republicans are not all willing to do, according to NBC.

Democrats have greeted the plan with skepticism. “Aid is better than no aid, but this is not an ideal way of doing it,” an anonymous US official told NBC. “Asking a country to take on tens of millions of dollars of debt that they can’t afford to pay off is a recipe for a significant burden.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told the network that the Senate’s $95 billion bill remains “the only way forward.”

Russia has repeatedly warned the US and its allies that no amount of money or weapons will prevent it from achieving its goals in Ukraine. The influx of Western military hardware will only prolong the fighting and increase the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO, the Kremlin has cautioned. 

CNN/RT

I do not want to believe that in a country of close to 250 million people, I am the only one who thinks there is a gathering of ominous dark clouds over our dear country beginning from the North. I cannot afford that foolish and lazy thought even if I wanted to dream so, because it is that type of thinking that brought us to this sorry pass. Yes. Not long ago, we had a leader who believed he knew more than everybody and was better than everybody. And surprisingly, many northerners believed he was the only upright person in this populous country, better than even their fathers.

The shout all over the nation about hunger is something that can confuse any government or leader, because it is a fact that hungry people will become angry, and an angry nation is a step away from anarchy.

But one may be forgiven to conclude that the citizens, especially in the North, are being remotely pushed to behave that way. A respectable journalist from Bauchi sent me a report he wanted us to publish. The report was that “labourers in Bauchi were digging up anthills to collect stashed grains there.”

I asked him for pictures and he sent me about four pictures of a well-dressed, healthy-looking man wearing a fez cap and jackboots, shovelling an anthill. According to the report, despite the ongoing construction of roads and houses in Bauchi and surrounding states, this labourer had to go steal food from ants!

When you critically look at Nigeria, or the North, and its situation, what is happening is not excusable. Take instances where warehouses or trailer loads of food were attacked and stripped of everything: Is it hunger where you see a purportedly hungry man hurrying away with two or three bags of rice on his shoulders and returning for more? Or able-bodied youths, both male and female, fighting their way through the madness to grab as much of the loot as they can, taking them somewhere for safekeeping and returning for more?

If the looting of foodstuff from government warehouses and trailers in the name of hunger continues unabated, unchecked, we should brace up for the next phase. The next phase would be breaking into houses of “big people” to loot foodstuffs. And because the looting is not motivated by hunger, we will see some looters carrying televisions, furniture, cookers, refrigerators, gas cylinders, etc. Do not forget that during one of such “hunger” protests and looting, even a signboard was uprooted and stolen. Some people just love to steal - hungry or not - and opportunities are now being offered to them.

Aminu Dantata told a story of how his father’s wealth, then transported on the backs of donkeys, got missing when the donkeys ran off while his aides accompanying the wealth were asleep. A public announcement was made, and six weeks later they were found without a single coin lost. And the lack then was greater than what it is now.

And when you look at the looters, hardly do you see signs of responsibility in them; they most likely will take the loot to the markets to sell. They are the types you see springing up from nowhere selling fuel by the roadsides whenever there is a scarcity.

The problem with instigating such people either to cause discomfort to the government or even to derail it is that they are Frankenstein Monsters that would end up as no good to anyone.

But these monsters may not attack the houses of the “big men” first because of many factors, among which are the elitist and urban nature of their environments, and thus enhanced security. But most importantly, because the middle class, which has largely thinned out, is a buffer between them and the monsters.

For decades now, some people have been denying Nigeria a middle class. It is as if they are saying from zero to 100, nothing in-between. Is that possible? Even at the speed of light, one has to go through those steps. In between the have-nots and the bourgeoisie, there are those hanging there either through hauling themselves by their bootstraps or because of some connections. They are not quite down there and yet not up there.

If you can afford a house, rent a flat for your family, pay your children’s school fees, and take care of your basic needs and those of your dependents, then you are not at the bottom of the rung, though you are not with them at the top. You are, therefore, somewhere in the middle. In that category, you could be lower-middle-class, middle-middle-class or upper-middle-class. They have to pass you before they can reach the “big man.” The rampagers will easily and quickly get the middle-class man because the distance between them is very small.

Therefore, people like us will be the first casualties. While we are just a little above them by the grace of God, they see us as their enemies, not knowing our daily struggles for survival. To them, we are part of the enemy because we do not live in a “face-me-I-face-you” type of compound; we own cars, but they do not know we are auto mechanics’ best friends, and our children perhaps go to private schools where we practically bleed from every vein to pay their extortionate fees.

But after us, surely, they will come for the “big men”. And they will get a lot of them because not all can escape abroad with their families. And even if they flee with their immediate families, they must leave behind more family members than those taken.

We must not continue to let the ominous dark clouds gather. Something urgent has to be done.

I have lost hope in the Nigeria Labour Congress to come to the rescue. I do not know what has happened, but since their top man was beaten blue and black sometime back in Owerri, their thinking has been somehow. I do not know if he had seen the right doctor, but imagine them asking for a basic salary of ₦794,000 a month!

The issue is the money for that is simply not there, but even if it is, paying such an amount to less than two per cent of the population is untenable because inflation would spiral out of control, afflicting the entire population. In Nigeria, unlike other countries, when there is a ten per cent salary increase, the prices of goods and services rise by at least twenty per cent, rubbishing the increase.

Moreover, in a country where the private sector that employs the bulk of the people is gasping for breath, where do they get the extra cash to pay such an amount as salary? The private sector will simply go under, and the people roaming the streets without jobs to even “manage” their lives will exponentially increase. Have we ever thought of the security implications even as we are currently being overwhelmed by security challenges?

Anyone genuinely interested in the welfare of workers, and indeed Nigerians, should do well to proffer solutions that would boost our economy and strengthen our currency and not suggestions that would bastardise our economy and drive the naira’s value further down. And that is what salary increase portends now.

Methinks Labour would join the federal and state governments in making our youths self-dependent and employable by teaching them trade skills. As a trade union with many affiliates, when last did Labour speak about the moribund textile industries, for instance? Resuscitating them would provide hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs. And cotton production would be revamped where another huge number of nationals would be gainfully employed.

The government must reduce the cost of governance and the unimaginable take-home pay of political leaders and redirect the excess towards production. We must become a productive nation that eats, drives and wears what it produces. This is the only way to think if we want the dark clouds to clear.

But, is it a problem of the North only? No, if left unchecked, the looming dark clouds will cover the entire nation, as we shall eventually see in the next edition.

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