The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has announced a ban on fuel tankers with a capacity exceeding 60,000 litres from operating on Nigerian roads. The decision, revealed during a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, is set to take effect on March 1, 2025, as part of efforts to reduce road accidents involving heavy-duty petroleum tankers.

Ogbugo Ukoha, NMDPRA’s Executive Director of Distribution Systems, Storage, and Retailing Infrastructure, explained that the ban aims to address the rising number of truck-related accidents, which have resulted in significant loss of life and injuries. He cited a tragic incident on January 18, when a petrol tanker explosion at Dikko Junction in Niger State’s Gurara Local Government Area claimed at least 80 lives and left many others injured.

Ukoha disclosed that the first technical stakeholders’ committee meeting, held on Wednesday, established a timeline for implementing 10 key resolutions to curb truck-related incidents and fatalities. The meeting included participation from critical agencies such as the Department of State Services (DSS), Federal Fire Service, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG). Other stakeholders, including the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), and NMDPRA, were also present.

During the discussions, stakeholders unanimously agreed that, starting March 1, 2025, no tanker exceeding an axle load of 60,000 litres of hydrocarbon would be permitted to load at any depot. Ukoha emphasized the significance of the consensus reached among all parties, stating, “For the first time, consensus was built amongst all stakeholders, and we’re continuing to encourage that we will work together cohesively to ensure the safe transportation of petroleum products across the country.”

The move is expected to enhance road safety and reduce the risks associated with the transportation of petroleum products in Nigeria.

Gaza Arab plan may involve up to $20 billion regional contribution, sources say

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is expected to travel to Riyadh on Thursday, two Egyptian security sources said, where he is due to discuss an Arab plan for Gaza that may include up to $20 billion from the region for reconstruction.

Arab states are expected to discuss a post-war plan for Gaza to counter U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal to redevelop the strip under U.S. control and displace Palestinians, a prospect that has angered regional leaders.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are set to review and discuss the Arab plan in Riyadh before it is presented at a scheduled Arab summit which takes place in Cairo on March 4, four sources with knowledge of the matter said.

On Friday, a gathering of Arab state leaders, including Jordan, Egypt, the UAE and Qatar, was expected in Saudi Arabia, which is spearheading Arab efforts on Trump's plan, although some sources said the date had not been confirmed yet.

Arab states were dismayed by Trump's plan to "clean out" Palestinians from Gaza and resettle most of them in Jordan and Egypt, to create a Middle East Riviera. The idea was immediately rejected by Cairo and Amman and seen in most of the region as deeply destabilising.

The Arab proposal, mostly based on an Egyptian plan, involves forming a national Palestinian committee to govern Gaza without Hamas involvement and international participation in reconstruction without displacing Palestinians abroad.

A $20 billion contribution from Arab and Gulf states towards the fund, cited by two sources as being a likely figure, may be a good incentive for Trump to accept the plan, Emirati academic Abdulkhaleq Abdullah said.

"Trump is transactional so $20 billion would resonate well with him," Abdullah said.

"This would benefit a lot of U.S. and Israeli companies," he added.

The Palestinian Authority's cabinet said in a statement on Tuesday that the first phase of the plan under discussion would cost approximately $20 billion over three years.

Egyptian sources told Reuters discussions are still under way as to the size of the financial contribution by the region.

The plan sees reconstruction taking place over a three-year timeframe, sources said.

"My conversations with Arab leaders, most recently King Abdullah, have convinced me they have a really realistic appraisal of what their role should be," Senator Richard Blumenthal told reporters in Tel Aviv during a visit to Israel on Monday.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said Israel was waiting to evaluate the plan as it comes together but warned that any plan in which Hamas continued to have presence in Gaza was not acceptable.

"When we hear it we will know how to address it," he said.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Trump and Zelenskyy war of words heats up even as US looks to wind down war in Ukraine

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy exchanged terse insults on Wednesday, following meetings between U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday without representatives from Ukraine. 

Trump repeatedly has said that he is the only one who can bring an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was in contact with Zelenskyy and was working to ensure "that all parties are heard" during the peace talks. 

Yet Ukraine’s absence from the negotiations on Tuesday appears to have exacerbated a wedge between Washington and Kyiv. 

While Zelenskyy accused Trump of perpetuating Russian "disinformation" on Wednesday, Trump clapped back and labeled Zelenskyy a "dictator" who has failed his country. 

"A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left. In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do," Trump wrote in a social media post Wednesday. 

"I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died." 

Trump’s post included a series of inaccurate statements, including that Zelenskyy "talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn't be won, that never had to start." Meanwhile, Congress has appropriated $175 billion since 2022 for aid to Ukraine, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Trump’s comments build on statements he delivered Tuesday at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate, where he said that Russia wasn't the only one exerting pressure to force Ukraine to hold an election. One of Russia's conditions for signing a peace deal includes Ukraine holding an election, nearly a year after Zelenskyy's five-year term was slated to end. 

But Zelenskyy has remained in his position leading Kyiv because the Ukrainian constitution bars holding elections under martial law. Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022. 

Additionally, Trump chastised Ukraine on Tuesday for not ending the war sooner, and also appeared to suggest that Ukraine started the conflict, even though Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

"I think I have the power to end this war, and I think it's going very well. But today I heard, 'Oh, we weren't invited,'" Trump said Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. "Well, you've been there for three years. You should have ended it three years (ago). You should have never started it. You could have made a deal."

In response, Zelenskyy delivered his own jabs toward Trump, and said the U.S. president lived in a "disinformation space" peddling inaccurate information that originated from Russia. 

"We have seen this disinformation," Zelenskyy said Wednesday at a news conference before meeting with retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellog, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. "We understand that it is coming from Russia."

"I think Putin and the Russians are very happy, because questions are discussed with them," he added. 

Zelenskyy has stressed in recent days that Ukraine must be involved in negotiations for a peace deal with Russia, and said Sunday that Ukraine wouldn’t accept a peace deal if his country was absent from negotiations. 

He also announced on Tuesday that he would postpone a scheduled trip to Saudi Arabia until March, after revealing during a joint press conference with Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdoğan that Ukraine wasn’t invited to the U.S.-Russia discussions in Riyadh.  

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House national security advisor Mike Waltz and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met in Riyadh with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs advisor Yuri Ushakov to hash out ways to end the conflict. 

The first action the U.S. plans to take after the meetings with Russian officials is to "reestablish the functionality of our respective missions in Washington and in Moscow," Rubio told reporters from The Associated Press and CNN.

"For us to be able to continue to move down this road, we need to have diplomatic facilities that are operating and functioning normally," Rubio said, according to a State Department transcript. 

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Trump vowed on the campaign trail in 2024 that he would work to end the conflict if elected again.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces enter new Ukrainian region – Putin

Russian troops have entered Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy Region for the first time since 2022, President Vladimir Putin has said. He briefly spoke about the situation of the battlefield with reporters in St. Petersburg, a day after the US and Russia held first high-profile talks in three years. 

According to Putin, in the early hours of Wednesday, the soldiers from the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade “crossed the border between the Russian Federation and Ukraine and entered the enemy territory.” 

“Our troops are on the offensive in all sections of the front line,” he added, without providing more details. 

The Russian Defense Ministry posted videos of an Iskander ballistic missile hitting Ukrainian artillery positions in the Sumy Region and Russian naval infantrymen flying kamikaze drones into the enemy trenches. The ministry did not report any major advancements in the area in its daily update on Wednesday. 

Kiev provided a different account of the events. Andrey Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, claimed that Ukrainian troops have “destroyed” a reconnaissance unit that had tried to cross the border. He denied a “large-scale offensive” in the area. 

Russia first invaded the Sumy Region in the early days of the conflict in February 2022 and withdrew two months later. In August 2024, Ukraine used the area to invade Russia’s Kursk Region and capture several border villages, as well as the town of Sudzha. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has since said that he had planned to use an incursion across Russia’s internationally recognized borders as leverage during potential peace talks. 

The Russian troops have since been fighting to gradually push the Ukrainians from Kursk, with the MOD reporting the liberation of the village of Sverdlikovo on Wednesday. “We took many prisoners,” a soldier from Russia’s battlegroup North told RIA Novosti. 

The teams led by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed paths to end the Ukraine conflict in Riyadh on Tuesday. While no breakthroughs have been archieved, both sides agreed to work towards the normalization of bilateral ties that were suspended by the Biden administration in 2022.

Fox News/RT

One of the earliest University graduates to join the Nigerian Military and the first University Graduate to govern the old Western State, Brigadier-General Oluwole Rotimi turns 90 today.

A gentleman Officer and noiseless achiever Rotimi made remarkable achievements while he was at the helm of affairs in the Western State.

In addition to creating peaceful atmosphere in the state he devoted most of his energy on Agriculture and industrialization.

Born 20 February 1935, in Abeokuta, Rotimi attended Agooko Methodist School, Lisabi school, Olowogbowo Methodist School as well as Kings College Lagos, after which he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University College Ibadan.

Rotimi joined the Nigerian Army in 1960 and served as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He rose to become the first African Deputy Quartermaster General and the third non-white Quartermaster General of the Nigerian Army in 1966.

During the Nigerian Civil War Rotimi provided logistics support for the Federal Government's war efforts. He became the commander of the Ibadan Garrison between 1969 and 1970.

After the war Rotimi became the Military Governor of Western State  in 1971, under  General Yakubu Gowon in succession to Major General Adeyinka Adebayo.

The Cement Factory at Sagamu,

the Wire and Cable Factory in Ibadan, the Ceramic Factory in Abeokuta, the Wood Processing Factory in Ondo and the Palm oil Mill at Okitipupa were some of the landmark projects established by his administration.

In 1975, Rotimi was removed from office as governor of Western Nigeria after the 1975 coup d'état. The following administration led by General Murtala Mohammed, commissioned a panel to investigate corruption amongst the immediate past governors of the previous administration. Rotimi, together with Mobolaji Johnson-Brigadier (Lagos State Governor) were  the only two governors exonerated.

in retirement, Rotimi was appointed Nigerian Ambassador to the United States by the Obasanjo administration in succession to George Obiozor.

Happy Birthday and many happy returns in robust health.

The recent arrest of an Ilorin-based cleric, Abdulrahman Bello, who allegedly murdered and dismembered Ms Yetunde Lawal, a final-year student at Kwara State College of Education, in the same town has seen us doing the same things we do virtually every time the situation arises. We point accusing fingers at religion and certain sectarian beliefs, culture, society, and one another while wheeling out the squeaky machines of ethical reforms in the bid to charge ourselves to good behaviour. Religious and traditional rulers have been making routine calls for moral reforms.

According to reports, Ilorin Emir Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari not only condemned the killing but specifically directed Islamic leaders to ensure their sermons are more pointedly focused on moral values, ethics of hard work, and respect for humanity. Indeed, such moral charges are urgent in a society where the life of a whole human—if one goes by the amount of money Bello allegedly sold the young woman’s dismembered body parts—is far cheaper than that of goats and cows.

The fantastical imagination that money can be procured out of the air rules our society with a force that propels men to do some really terrible things. That is why one cannot entirely rule out the possibility that Bello was into the so-called money rituals even though he—like most who have been arrested for the same crime—looks seriously impoverished. Every single person who has been arrested due to their claims of possessing power to make money through supernatural means always looks like they would faint if they ever saw a million naira (just naira o!) in cash laid out at their feet.

When these things happen, we never get to know anything about the apprehended killer beyond labelling them as misguided youths looking for money. There is a serious shortage of knowledge about these individuals and their circumstances that leads us to assume that this is always what they say it is. But what if these guys are bipolar and have a history of delinquent behaviour or anti-social character? For instance, if it is true that Bello has a collection of women’s property stored in his bedroom as a trophy, that might be a pointer to the nature of his psychopathy. We might be dealing with an extreme case of misogyny, a man killing a woman (or women) just to feel like a man.

In Nigeria, once we diagnose “money ritual” as the standard explanatory paradigm for a type of homicide, all judgment on what else might be at play gets suspended. We turn to ourselves and begin to preach about our materialism and how we ought to shun the path of quick wealth, sermons that will find no feet to stand on the complex grounds of Nigerian reality. How do you sincerely preach the virtues of hard work to people who have seen industry systematically diminished by the socio-political and socio-economic processes? Even our religious and traditional leaders who make the call embody the same phenomenon of wealth without work. They are also the ones who legitimise the crooked people who have managed it to build wealth.

The truth is, you do not need to “work” in the traditional sense of being productive before you can be wealthy and celebrated in present-day Nigeria. You only need to be connected to a grid of individuals whose social network allows them to access the political power that allocates resources. Nigeria is that one place where you can sleep poor and wake up stupendously rich, and that is only because you managed to get into bed with the right person. Since such magical transformation is not seen to be produced by anything tangible other than mere social connections, it acquires a spiritual character.

The yawning gap in the reality of the route it takes to become wealthy is what the likes of Bello exploit by claiming they too have the power to connect others to the source of such wealth. Since you have a moneyed class who do not produce, pretenders of various hues also claim the expertise of the charms of creating something out of nothing. That is why our society is currently swarming with snake oil merchants, charlatans, crass illiterate and self-commissioned prophets, and simonist preachers, all of them promising to help us access magical prosperity.

In all the various calls for moral reforms, nobody seems to be asking professionally trained experts in the academy and elsewhere to divine the nature of the problem we are dealing with so we can accurately direct our moral reform efforts. What if the individuals amid the various instances of the killings for so-called money rituals are just people with varying levels of mental health issues? What if much of what we call “money rituals” are just psychopathic manifestations that very much interact with our larger cultural psychology?

From the reports, it seemed self-evident that this is another case of money ritual. But certainty can also be the enemy of truth. Is there a method to the killing that suggests that there are other psychological factors at play? This is not me asking to be perversely entertained with the lurid details of a homicide, but accounting for the underlying psychology of the alleged killer.

There have been different instances of women killings that were chalked down to ritual murder. At a time, women’s corpses would be found in hotel rooms where they had been killed by a supposed paramour who lured them into those places. Knowing how our morally pretentious society reacts to the news of a woman visiting places like a hotel, some of those murders merely became avenues for sermonising to women about their virtues and the companies they ought to keep. But what if some of those killers are merely hiding behind the popular narrative of ritual murder to perpetrate other sick fantasies? We should not foreclose the possibility that some of these people are sick men who found an outlet for their proclivities through spiritual work.

In Western societies, where serial killings also take place, and where they do not have terms like “money ritual” in their vocabulary to explain seemingly senseless killings, they are more prone to exploring such delinquency more objectively. Fans of crime documentaries will readily testify to the methodical ways they approach those killings to find the killer and understand their underlying motivations. For us, it is always just “money rituals”, as if society and its people cannot also be more complicated. Part of the problem is that the police do not report a forensic investigation into these crimes. Virtually everything we get to know comes from gossipy uninformed media networks more interested in catering to sensationalism than offering clarity. But what if, in our bid to provide a moral explanation for the murders and advocate for ethical reforms, we are lumping different things into the big basket called “money ritual”?

Let me make it clear that asking for some clarity into the nature of the malady that disturbs these killers is not a call for their exoneration. The point is not to give them an alibi that allows them to walk free but to arm the observing society to speak of these things beyond the standard (and superstitious) explanations.

A correct understanding of the substance of psychopathy will go a long way in addressing how, in diagnosing money rituals, we use official means to propagate what might be objectively untrue. The trouble with making money rituals the standard explanatory paradigm is that it becomes a self-reproducing truth. There are people out there who will think there might be some truth to the whole affair and indulge in it too. They will, of course, never make any money but will take lives testing the bunkum!

Punch

Nigeria's inflation rate has significantly decreased from 34.8 percent in December 2024 to 24.48 percent in January 2025 following the rebasing of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The NBS, in a statement released Tuesday, explained that the rebased CPI reflects an updated price reference period with 2024 as the base year and a weight reference period of 2023. The statistician-general, Adeyemi Adeniran, said the "all-items index which is used to measure headline inflation for January 2025 was 110.7," resulting in the new headline inflation figure.

The rebasing exercise, announced in October 2024, also revealed substantial drops in other inflation measures: food inflation decreased from 39.84 percent to 26.08 percent, core inflation fell from 29.28 percent to 22.59 percent, urban inflation declined to 26.09 percent from 37.29 percent, and rural inflation dropped to 22.15 percent from 32.47 percent.

However, economic experts caution that the dramatic decline in inflation figures does not reflect an actual improvement in economic conditions for everyday Nigerians. The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) emphasized that the sharp deceleration was primarily a statistical effect resulting from the rebased calculations and seasonal spending patterns.

"The drastic deceleration in inflation should therefore be cautiously celebrated. The reality of high prices has not changed and remains a major factor in the cost of doing business, cost of living and poverty equation in the country," said Muda Yusuf, director of CPPE, in a statement.

Yusuf clarified a critical point that many Nigerians may misunderstand: "It is important to clarify that a drastic reduction in inflation figures is not tantamount to a reduction in price level. Inflation reduction simply means a reduction in the rate of increase in the general price level, not a reduction in price."

The fundamentals of the Nigerian economy remain essentially unchanged despite the new inflation figures. Households and businesses continue to struggle with the same economic challenges they faced before the rebasing, including high energy costs, currency weakness, elevated interest rates, import expenses, transportation costs, and security concerns.

The CPPE noted that December's higher inflation rate was partly due to increased festive spending, while January typically sees slower economic activity as disposable incomes decrease following holiday expenditures. These seasonal factors, combined with the technical recalculation, explain much of the statistical decrease rather than any fundamental economic improvement.

While the government may point to the lower inflation numbers as a positive development, the lived economic experience of Nigerians remains characterized by high prices and financial strain. What citizens truly need, according to the CPPE, is actual disinflation – a genuine reduction in the general price level from the extraordinarily high levels experienced throughout 2024.

The NBS has announced it will begin publishing additional special indices to better inform policymakers, including Farm Produce Index, Energy Index, Services Index, Goods Index, and Imported Food Index, with year-on-year rates for these new measures commencing in January 2026.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued two major directives aimed at strengthening governance and transparency in the banking sector, ordering directors with non-performing loans to step down immediately while also requiring financial institutions to publish details of dormant accounts and unclaimed balances.

In a circular dated February 17 and signed by Acting Director of Banking Supervision Adetona Adedeji, the CBN mandated that bank directors with non-performing insider-related loans must immediately vacate their positions. Banks are also required to recover outstanding debts by enforcing collateral recovery and taking possession of affected directors' shareholdings.

"Directors with non-performing insider-related facilities are required to step down immediately from the board, while the bank should commence immediate remediation of the loans through the recovery of the collaterals including the shareholdings of the affected directors," the circular stated.

Under Section 19(5) of the Banking and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020, individual directors cannot hold insider loans exceeding 5 percent of a bank's paid-up capital, while aggregate insider-related facilities must remain below 10 percent. The CBN has given banks 180 days to regularize loans exceeding these statutory limits.

In a separate directive issued Monday, the apex bank ordered all financial institutions to publish details of dormant accounts and unclaimed balances on their official websites. A dormant account is defined as one that has remained inactive for at least one year.

The publication must include "the name of the account, the type of account, the name of the bank, and the branch where the account is domiciled ONLY," according to the circular signed by Michael Akuka for the director of financial policy and regulation. Financial institutions without websites must publish this information on their association's website.

The CBN clarified that this directive is in compliance with Section 25(b) of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, which permits justifiable deviations from general principles, and Section 72(ii) of BOFIA, which authorizes the CBN to issue guidelines on administering unclaimed funds.

Financial institutions are also required to publish these details annually in at least two national daily newspapers. For State and Unit microfinance banks, the information can be displayed on their premises.

These directives follow the CBN's July 19, 2024 order for banks to deposit unclaimed balances and funds in dormant accounts to the apex bank, and the June 2024 revocation of Heritage Bank's license, signaling the regulator's continued push for stricter financial discipline in Nigeria's banking sector.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Edwin Clark, a former Federal Commissioner for Information and prominent South-South leader, passed away on Monday night at the age of 97. His death was announced by his family, who confirmed that the chairman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) died peacefully.

President Bola Tinubu shared his grief on Tuesday, describing Clark as a "passionate advocate for resource control, economic, and environmental justice in the Niger Delta." Tinubu highlighted Clark's extensive service to Nigeria, noting his roles as a councillor, state, and federal cabinet member, and his significant influence on the national political scene for nearly six decades.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo described the loss as a significant depletion of Nigeria's pool of patriotic leaders, lauding Clark's contributions as a lawyer, economist, administrator, politician, and community leader. He emphasized Clark's vocal advocacy for better conditions in the oil-rich Niger Delta states.

Muhammadu Buhari, another former president, expressed deep sorrow, calling Clark an "iconic statesman" whose dedication to reform and development would be long remembered. He urged the Clark family and the Delta region to cherish his legacy.

Emeka Anyaoku, the third Commonwealth Secretary-General, remembered Clark for his service across various governmental roles and his advocacy for Nigerian unity. Anyaoku noted Clark's efforts in fostering solidarity among different ethnic groups through his leadership at PANDEF.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar mourned Clark as a true federalist and patriot, especially poignant as the nation was still grappling with the recent death of another elder statesman, Pa Ayo Adebanjo.

Peter Obi, the Labour Party's presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, also shared his condolences via social media, reflecting on the back-to-back losses of Clark and Adebanjo.

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum, through its chairman Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, mourned the loss, describing both Clark and Adebanjo as voices of national importance whose legacies would endure.

Other tributes came from the Southern Governors Forum, Northern States Governors’ Forum, and various state governors like Douye Diri of Bayelsa, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi, Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers, Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta, and Monday Okpebholo of Edo, all recognizing Clark's significant contributions to Nigerian society, governance, and advocacy for the Niger Delta.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, also paid homage to Clark's wisdom and commitment to national progress, while PANDEF described his death as the fall of a "mighty Iroko tree."

Government officials, from local to national levels, along with various community leaders and organizations, expressed a collective sense of loss but also celebrated Clark's enduring legacy in Nigerian politics and society.

Israel will begin negotiations on next phase of Gaza ceasefire this week, minister says

Israel and Hamas will begin indirect negotiations on a second stage of the Gaza ceasefire deal, officials said on Tuesday, as the Palestinian militant group said it would hand over more hostages, including the bodies of two children, this week.

Khalil al-Hayya, leader of Hamas in Gaza, said the bodies of four hostages, including those of the Bibas family, would be returned on Thursday. Six living hostages would follow on Saturday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed a deal was reached in Cairo to secure the release of six living hostages on Saturday, four deceased hostages on Thursday and four more next week, but stopped short at naming any of them.

An Israeli official said deceased hostages will undergo identification in Israel before they are named.

Negotiations for the second phase of the dealwere supposed to start on February 4 but Qatar, which together with Egypt and the United States is mediating between the sides, said the talks have not officially started yet.

"It will happen this week," Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told a press conference in Jerusalem.

Israel had given mixed signals in the past few weeks about its engagement in the talks over the next stage of the three-phased ceasefire, which came into effect on January 19 with the stated goal of permanently ending the Gaza war.

The Bibas family, including Kfir Bibas, who was less than a year old when he was abducted and his brother Ariel, 4 years old at the time, have been among the highest-profile Israeli hostages seized in the Oct 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

Their father Yarden Bibas was released this month but their mother Shiri was not. Hamas said in late 2023 that Shiri and the children had been killed by Israeli bombardments.

Israel has not confirmed their deaths and has only said it has grave concern for their lives. After Hamas' announcement, it appealed to respect the hostage families' privacy.

The family said it was "in turmoil" since the announcement by Hamas. "Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over," it said in a statement.

The identity of the fourth deceased hostage has not yet been announced but the families of the six living hostages to be released on Saturday have been informed.

Eliyah Cohen, 27, Tal Shoham, 40, Omer Shem Tov, 22, Omer Wenkert, 23 were all taken hostage on Oct 7. Two others, Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, and Avera Mengistu, 39, crossed over into Gaza independently of each other around a decade ago and have been held since then.

NEGOTIATIONS OVER SECOND PHASE

The initial phase of the ceasefire deal, which includes a 42-day truce and the return of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, has remained on track despite a series of setbacks and accusations of violations that had threatened to derail it.

But negotiations over the second stage, aimed at securing the release of the remaining 64 hostages, are expected to be tough, because they include issues like the administration of post-war Gaza, where there are large gaps between the sides.

"We will not accept the continued presence of Hamas or any other terrorist organisation in Gaza," Saar said.

But he added that if the negotiations are constructive, Israel will remain engaged and may prolong the ceasefire.

"If we will see there is a constructive dialogue with a possible horizon of getting to an agreement (then) we will make this time-frame work longer," Saar said.

So far, 19 Israeli hostages have been returned in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. If the six living hostages and four bodies are returned this week, as announced, four more would remain. Based on information from Hamas, all four are thought to be dead.

The hostages were taken in the Hamas-led cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, laid waste to much of the enclave, and displaced hundreds of thousands.

An Israeli official said Israel will also start allowing the entry of mobile homes for those Gazans forced to shelter from the winter weather among the ruins left by the 15 months of Israeli bombardments.

Hamas has accused Israel of delaying the delivery and had threatened to postpone the release of hostages until the issue was resolved.

The fragile ceasefire deal has also been overshadowed by U.S. President Donald Trump's call for Palestinians to be moved out and for Gaza to be taken over as a waterfront development under U.S. control.

The plan has been rejected by Palestinian groups, Arab states and Washington's Western allies who say it is tantamount to ethnic cleansing. Israeli leaders have argued that Gazans who want to leave the devastated enclave should be allowed to do so.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Monday he will set up a new unit in his ministry dedicated to facilitating the exit of Gaza residents who want to move to a third country, after reviewing an initial plan for it.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

US, Russian officials propose peace plan, lay 'groundwork for cooperation' in Riyadh

U.S. and Russian officials held diplomatic talks in Saudi Arabia without any Ukrainian officials present on Tuesday.

The groups, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, are seeking terms for a peace agreement in Ukraine as well as negotiating a potential meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. They have proposed a framework that could involve a ceasefire, elections in Ukraine followed by the signing of a peace agreement.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce also confirmed that Rubio's team agreed to "lay the groundwork for cooperation" with Russia on various issues in addition to Ukraine. They also agreed to appoint "high-level teams" to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine.

Reports from multiple foreign diplomatic sources say forcing Ukraine to hold new elections could be a key part of a peace deal. Both the U.S. and Russia believe Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has a low chance of winning re-election, the sources say.

"Putin assesses the probability of electing a puppet president as quite high and is also convinced that any candidate other than the current President of Ukraine will be more flexible and ready for negotiations and concessions," the diplomatic sources said in a readout of the meeting.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., who chairs the House Ukraine caucus, rejected the idea of forced elections in Ukraine on social media.

Zelenskyy has said his country would never accept peace terms negotiated by the U.S. and Russia without Ukrainian involvement. Trump has vowed that Ukraine will be involved in the larger process. Zelenskyy cut short his trip in the Middle East following news of Tuesday's meeting. He was scheduled to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, but he will instead return to Kyiv.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff emphasized on Sunday that the ongoing meeting in Riyadh is more about "trust building" than getting into the details of an actual peace agreement.

Zelenskyy urged Trump not to trust Putin in a phone call last week.

"I said that [Putin] is a liar," Zelenskyy said of the call. "And he said, 'I think my feeling is that he's ready for these negotiations.' And I said to him, 'No, he's a liar. He doesn't want any peace.'" 

The Ukrainian leader nevertheless said he believes Putin is a "little bit scared" of Trump.

Also excluded from Tuesday's talks are any European representatives, a notable absence given the stern rebuke of European allies delivered by Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference last week.

Some European allies are taking the cue, with U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer announcing that he is willing to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to ensure its security as part of a peace deal.

"I do not say that lightly," he wrote in the Daily Telegraph. "I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm's way."

"But any role in helping to guarantee Ukraine's security is helping to guarantee the security of our continent, and the security of this country," he added.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia and US agree on Ukraine peace talks – Lavrov

Russia and the US have agreed to establish a framework for ending the Ukraine conflict in the near future, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has announced.

Top Russian and US diplomats met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to explore ways to restore diplomatic ties, lay the groundwork for a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, and advance efforts toward resolving the Ukraine conflict.

Lavrov led the Russian delegation, which also included Yury Ushakov, Putin’s top foreign policy aide. Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), also took part in the negotiation process. The American side was represented by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and Steve Witkoff, Washington’s special envoy for the Middle East.

Neither Ukraine nor the EU participated in the meeting, with Kiev stating it would not recognize the outcome of the talks unless it was involved.

Speaking to reporters shortly after the meeting in Riyadh, Lavrov stated that as part of the agreement to initiate the Ukraine conflict settlement process, Russia will appoint its representative once it receives confirmation of Washington’s designated negotiator.

“I believe the discussions were highly productive,” Lavrov said, adding, “Not only did we listen, but we genuinely heard each other.”

He further stated that he had reason to believe the American side “now has a clearer understanding of Russia’s position,” as it had been “thoroughly detailed” using specific examples drawn from President Putin’s numerous statements.

Lavrov pointed out that the meeting in Riyadh was initiated by the Russian and US presidents, who had agreed that preparations for the next summit should be started. To achieve this, foreign ministers and national security advisers were tasked with meeting and determining what needed to be worked out before the two presidents “can negotiate specific dates and timelines for the summit.”

Moscow and Washington have agreed that “when national interests coincide, efforts must be united and implemented” in relevant areas through “mutually beneficial projects” in both geopolitical and economic spheres, according to Lavrov. However, when interests do not align, the sides should not provoke a conflict but rather work to resolve issues, he added.

Lavrov also touched on the issue of the US engagement with the EU concerning security guarantees and the potential deployment of a contingent force in Ukraine.

“We explained to our counterparts that President Putin has repeatedly emphasized that NATO expansion and the absorption of Ukraine into the military bloc pose a direct threat to Russia’s interests and sovereignty,” he stressed.

Moscow made it clear that it considers any NATO-linked military presence – whether under the EU flag or as part of national contingents – completely unacceptable, according to Lavrov.

The Russian foreign minister added that the sides “practically agreed that the issue of diplomatic missions must be resolved once and for all.” He noted that this includes addressing the sanctions imposed in recent years, the expulsion of diplomats, the seizure of diplomatic properties, and other obstacles that have complicated work.

“Our deputies will soon meet to discuss the removal of these artificial barriers and ensure the smooth functioning of embassies and consulates in both countries,” Lavrov stated.

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