Netanyahu meets with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, offering measured optimism on a Gaza cease-fire

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked to mend ties with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday and offered measured optimism about progress toward a cease-fire deal for Gaza as he neared the end of a contentious U.S. visit that put on display the growing American divisions over support for the Israeli-Hamas war.

At Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago estate, where the two men met face-to-face for the first time in nearly four years, Netanyahu told journalists he wanted to see U.S.-mediated talks succeed for a cease-fire and release of hostages.

“I hope so,” Netanyahu said, when reporters asked if his U.S. trip had made progress. While Netanyahu at home is increasingly accused of resisting a deal to end the 9-month-old war to stave off the potential collapse of his far-right government when it ends, he said Friday he was “certainly eager to have one. And we’re working on it.”

As president, Trump went well beyond his predecessors in fulfilling Netanyahu’s top wishes from the United States. Yet relations soured after Netanyahu became one of the first world leaders to congratulate Joe Biden for his 2020 presidential victory, which Trump continues to deny.

The two men now have a strong interest in restoring their relationship, both for the political support their alliance brings and for the luster it gives each with their conservative supporters.

A beaming Trump was waiting for Netanyahu on the stone steps outside his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. He warmly clasped the hands of the Israeli leader.

“We’ve always had a great relationship,” Trump insisted before journalists. Asked as the two sat down in a muraled room for talks if Netanyahu’s trip to Mar-a-Lago was repairing their bond, Trump responded, “It was never bad.”

For both men, Friday’s meeting was aimed at highlighting for their home audiences their depiction of themselves as strong leaders who have gotten big things done on the world stage, and can again.

Netanyahu’s Florida trip followed a fiery address to a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday that defended his government’s conduct of the war and condemned American protesters galvanized by the killing of more than 39,000 Palestinians in the conflict.

On Thursday, Netanyahu had met in Washington with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who appears on track to becoming the new Democratic presidential nominee after Biden decided to step out of the race. Both pressed the Israeli leader to work quickly to wrap up a deal to bring a cease-fire and release hostages held by Hamas.

Trump’s campaign said he pledged in Friday’s meeting to “make every effort to bring peace to the Middle East” and combat antisemitism on college campuses if American voters elect him to the presidency in November.

Netanyahu handed Trump a framed photo that the Israeli leader said showed a child who has been held hostage by Hamas-led militants since the first hours of the war. “We’ll get it taken care of,” Trump assured him.

In a speech later Friday before a group of young Christian conservatives, Trump said he also asked Netanyahu during their meeting how “a Jewish person, or a person that loves Israel” can vote for Democrats.

He also laced into Harris for missing Netanyahu’s speech and claimed she “doesn’t like Jewish people” and “doesn’t like Israel.” Harris has been married to a Jewish man for a decade.

For Trump, the meeting was a chance to be cast as an ally and statesman, as well as to sharpen efforts by Republicans to portray themselves as the party most loyal to Israel.

Divisions among Americans over U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza have opened cracks in years of strong bipartisan backing for Israel, the biggest recipient of U.S. aid.

For Netanyahu, repairing relations with Trump is imperative given the prospect that Trump may once again become president of the United States, which is Israel’s vital arms supplier and protector.

One gamble for Netanyahu is whether he could get more of the terms he wants in any deal on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release, and in his much hoped-for closing of a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, if he waits out the Biden administration in hopes that Trump wins.

“Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of his career in the last two decades in tethering himself to the Republican Party,” said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. diplomat for Arab-Israeli negotiations, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

For the next six months, that means “mending ties with an irascible, angry president,” Miller said, meaning Trump.

Netanyahu and Trump last met at a September 2020 White House signing ceremony for the signature diplomatic achievement of both men’s political careers. It was an accord brokered by the Trump administration in which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel.

For Israel, it amounted to the two countries formally recognizing it for the first time. It was a major step in what Israel hoped would be an easing of tensions and a broadening of economic ties with its Arab neighbors.

In public postings and statements after his break with Netanyahu, Trump portrayed himself as having stuck his neck out for Israel as president, and Netanyahu paying him back with disloyalty.

He also has criticized Netanyahu on other points, faulting him as “not prepared” for the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that started the war in Gaza, for example.

In his high-profile speech to Congress on Wednesday and again Friday at Mar-a-Lago, Netanyahu poured praise on Trump, calling the regional accords Trump helped broker historic and thanking him “for all the things he did for Israel.”

Netanyahu listed actions by the Trump administration long-sought by Israeli governments — the U.S. officially saying Israel had sovereignty over the Golan Heights, captured from Syria during a 1967 war; a tougher U.S. policy toward Iran; and Trump declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, breaking with longstanding U.S. policy that Jerusalem’s status should be decided in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

“I appreciated that,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday, referring to Netanyahu’s praise.

Trump has repeatedly urged that Israel with U.S. support “finish the job” in Gaza and destroy Hamas, but he hasn’t elaborated on how.

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia deploys cheap drones to locate Ukraine's air defences

Russia has begun including new, cheaply-made drones in its long-range attacks on Ukraine, to try to identify air defences, film any damage and act as decoys, a Ukrainian military spy official said.

The two new types of drone, which Russia has used in five drone attacks in the last two to three weeks including an overnight strike on Thursday, are produced from materials like foam plastic and plywood, the official told Reuters.

One type carries a camera and a Ukrainian mobile phone SIM card to send images back to the Russian military.

"They identify where our mobile groups are positioned, where the machine guns are that can destroy them. They're trying ... to get a picture of where all our air defences are located," said Andriy Cherniak, a military spy agency spokesperson.

The previously unreported details from Cherniak are further evidence of Russia seeking to adapt its tactics and try new technology to gain an edge during its daily missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones, which fly to their target and detonate on impact, have become a staple of Russian aerial attacks since they began being used in the first year of Russia's full-scale invasion launched in February 2022.

Ukraine, which has been appealing to the West to provide more air defences to repel increased Russian airstrikes on its power facilities since March, tries hard to conceal the locations of its air defence systems.

The new Russian drones with cameras do not carry explosives but closely resemble regular Shahed drones and fly with groups of them, Cherniak said.

The second new type of drone contains no explosive charge or only a small one and is being used as a decoy, Cherniak added.

Because it is virtually indistinguishable from a regular attack drone from the ground, it still needs to be shot down, revealing where Ukraine's air defence systems are located.

He said the new drones probably cost as little as $10,000 each despite their long range, making them far cheaper to produce than air defence missiles.

The drones can also fly at an altitude of 1,000 m (3,000 ft), putting them out of range of machine guns and automatic rifles, he said.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has served as a testing ground for drone warfare technology, with both sides using attack and reconnaissance drones on the battlefield extensively. Kyiv has poured energy into domestic drone production to narrow the gap between its strike capabilities and Moscow's, staging long-range drone attacks on Russian targets including oil refineries.

Russia says its long-range aerial attacks are used to degrade Ukraine militarily. Ukraine says Russia's attacks have hit civilian buildings and caused serious damage to civilian energy facilities and loss of civilian life.

Russian troops occupy around 18% of Ukrainian territory and have been making incremental gains in the east in recent months, putting Kyiv on the back foot along a 1,000-km (600-mile) front line.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian missile destroys secret Ukrainian arms depot – MOD

The Russian military has destroyed a Ukrainian warehouse in Donbass, which allegedly stored several multiple launch rocket systems and more than a dozen armored vehicles, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has claimed. Officials also released a video of the alleged strike.

In a statement on Friday, the ministry said that Moscow’s forces used an Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile to strike the facility in the key regional hub of Kramatorsk, currently occupied by Ukraine, where artillery of Ukraine’s 56th separate motorized infantry brigade was stored.

The missile strike destroyed a US-supplied HIMARS system, five Soviet-era Grad multiple launch rocket systems, five tanks, and up to ten armored combat vehicles, officials added.

The ministry also released black-and-white aerial footage of the strike showing the industrial zone in the city of Kramatorsk, not far from a major railway junction. A large plume of smoke and fire can be seen rising from one of the large buildings in the area.

Iskander missiles – which can carry a payload of 700kg of explosives up to 500km and travel at hypersonic speeds – have been actively used by Russia in the Ukraine conflict to strike Kiev’s staging areas, command and control centers, airfields, defense industrial facilities, and other military targets.

Two recent strikes targeted a tank factory and a foreign mercenary base in Ukraine’s border region of Kharkov, according to the Defense Ministry.

Reuters/RT

I am not that old, but one time, I was telling my younger cousins about how Netflix used to be a mailing service, and they were absolutely gobsmacked. I myself was kinda shocked too, because I'd just assumed that was common knowledge. (Wait till I tell them about the mythical world of Blockbuster.) So when redditor u/MrDNLasked the people of r/AskOldPeople to share the common knowledge from their time that younger generations might have a hard time believing, I was all in. Here are some of the responses that will either make you feel totally nostalgic or completely puzzled:

1. "When the internet first came out, you couldn't talk on the phone and be online at the same time."

—u/LosBrad

2. "Going to get gas was more of an experience. When you went, the gas station attendants would put gas in your car, clean your windshield, and check your oil. After that, you just paid them through your car window; you never had to get out of the car."

—u/3D-ironowl

3. "I'm just old enough to remember smoking on planes. It still blows my mind that that was a thing!"

—u/Linzcro

4. "We used to make our Christmas or birthday wishlists from looking in store catalogs, like Sears. You could actually order and pay for things via snail mail, and it was safe to do so."

—u/LeeAnnLongSocks

5. "This wasn't that long ago, but there used to be no security screenings at airports. You could literally walk the person to the boarding area and watch them board the plane."

—u/LCCR_2028

6. "Whenever you wanted to download something online, you'd have to basically threaten everyone in the house with their lives if they picked up the phone during the amount of download time it took. It would take hours to download a game or an image, and if someone used the phone, the download would START OVER from the beginning. Plus, in the mid-'90s, you'd have to pay by the hour."

—u/Shaydie

7. "My 20-year-old son liked hearing this one: When driving in unfamiliar territory, you had to get directions by either stopping at the gas station and asking an attendant, or buying a map/atlas."

—u/littlemissnoname-

8. "Seatbelts weren't taken seriously by most people until the '90s."

—u/Top-Philosophy-5791

9. "There were ashtrays everywhere: homes, businesses, restaurants, hospitals, malls, designated areas in schools, and more. Even if you didn't smoke, it was normal to have ashtrays available for your guests in the house — like on the coffee table or in the kitchen."

—u/oldcatsarecute

10. "My boss blew my young coworker's mind the other day when she explained that there is a special kind of black paper that you can put between two regular pieces of paper, and when you write on the top page, it also shows up on the bottom page."

—u/mr_roborto

11. "Drunk driving wasn't a serious crime until a group of moms got together and advocated (MADD)."

—u/MizzGee

12. "There was a room called the 'coal room' in the basement of our house. We'd shovel coal from that room into a coal furnace whenever we needed to heat our house up. The coal was delivered by a truck that had a coal chute, which was inserted through a basement window in the coal room."

—u/Logybayer

13. "It was normal for an entire household to share a single phone number."

—u/AlexMango44
​

"And you only had to dial seven digits — four, if you were in a small town."
​

—u/notproudortired

14. "The drinking age was 18 back in my day, but you could walk into a bar at 16 and order a drink. Nobody really cared."

—u/jefuchs

15. "People used to actually write letters, put a stamp on them, and mail them to their friends and relatives! As a kid, I would write letters to my school friends over summer break just to tell them how my summer was going, and most would write back telling me how things were with them. I still remember when stamps went from 18 cents to 20 cents, and my grandma complained about how outrageous that was. Today, a first-class stamp is 68 cents, and I only mail Christmas cards and thank-you notes nowadays."

—u/SiroccoDream

16. "If you misbehaved in school, the teacher could — and would — dish out some corporal punishment. I had a couple of teachers who absolutely loved punishing kids with those big wooden paddles."

—u/Felon73

17. "When you watched TV, you had to watch what was on, and if you wanted to watch something in particular, you had to wait for it to come on."

—u/BreakfastBeerz
​

"No pause, fast-forward, or rewind, either. If you missed it, you missed it."
​

—u/Wonderland_4me

18. "Phone numbers were memorized, and there was no speed dial, caller ID, or voicemail. I still remember my home number and my best friend's number from over 50 years ago."

—u/ethottly

19. "Kids could leave home, and people didn't bat an eye about it. My grandfather was 8 when he left home and made his way in the world. He had no education and worked jobs for people, and no one even questioned why an 8-year-old was alone. He signed up for World War II when he was 17 because no one checked for identification."

—u/My_fair_ladies1872

20. "Houses in the same area had to share a telephone 'party line' where you could listen in on everyone else's conversations."

—u/mrxexon

21. "I remember that you couldn't know the sex of your kid until the baby was born. Apparently, there were ways to tell, though. I remember my mom's friends would hold a necklace with a weight over the woman's belly. They thought that you could tell the sex by whether the necklace swung up and down or back and forth."

—u/Shaydie

22. "In the '50s, the milkman would come in through our always unlocked back door and put the milk straight in our refrigerator. Unbelievable."

—u/Building_a_life

23. "On the evening news, every night they would show the 'Doomsday Clock.' It's an analog clock that, when it hits midnight, means we're in a nuclear war. It was usually very close to midnight — like five minutes before. Imagine having the very real threat of nuclear war looming over your head every single day."

—u/pingwing

24. "There were telephones EVERYWHERE: streets, shops, sidewalk corners, etc. And you paid for calls with COINS."

—u/PawzzClawzz

25. "Cigarette machines were pretty much everywhere. As long as you put the money in, you could get a pack of smokes no matter what age you were."

—u/No_Worldliness_6803

26. Lastly: "My adult children and all of their friends didn't believe me when I first told them that married women weren't allowed to have a credit card in their own name until 1974. Before that, women could only have a card through their husband."

—u/jmac94wp

I don't know about you guys, but I'm still stuck on the fact that people were allowed to smoke on planes?! Alright, if you have some fascinating facts or experiences about life back then that younger people would be surprised to hear, drop them in the comments below, or you can submit anonymously using this Google form!

Buzzfeed

The Pirangi Cashew Tree in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Norte is considered the world’s largest cashew tree. It has a circumference of around 500 meters and covers an area of 8,400 square meters.

Legend has it that the Pirangi Cashew Tree was planted in 1888 by a local fisherman who later died at the age of 93 under the shade of the humongous tree. However, experts believe that, based on its growth characteristics, “the tree is estimated to be more than a thousand years old”. One thing is for sure, though, this is no ordinary cashew tree. It is the size of 70 normally sized cashew trees and actually has to be seen from a special lookout point high above to be truly appreciated. It produces over 60,000 cashew fruits per year and also attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over Brazil.

But just how did the world’s largest cashew tree get so big? Well, apparently, it has to do with a genetic anomaly that causes its branches to grow sideways rather than upwards. Weight and gravity cause the branches to bend toward the ground, and as they make contact with the soil, new roots begin to form and the tree continues to expand. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to distinguish the initial trunk from the rest of the tree.

Located on Pirangi do Norte beach, in Rio Grande do Norte, the Pirangi Cashew Tree became one of the main local tourist attractions after the tree was recognized by Guinness Records as the world’s largest cashew tree, covering an area of almost 8,500 square meters.

According to the Institute of Sustainable Development and Environment, which manages the famous Pirangi Cashew Tree, around 300,000 tourists visit the tree every year.

Interestingly, the Pirangi Cashew Tree has some home soil competition for the title of the world’s largest cashew tree. According to the state secretary of Tourism of Piauí, a cashew tree on the coast of Piauí is actually the world’s largest, covering an area of around 8,800 meters. However, that claim has yet to be officially verified by Guinness.

Oddity Central

Nigeria’s petroleum products import from Malta increased by 342 percent in 2023 to $2.08 billion amid an allegation by the Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote that officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited own blending plants in Malta.

Statisense disclosed this in data released through its X account outlining Nigeria’s petroleum imports in the last 10 years from 2013- 2023.

The data synchronized with that of Trade Map, a global database on International trade.

Further analysis of the data showed that from 2013-2016, Nigeria’s imports from the South European island of Malta were $237.81 million.

However, from 2017-2022, Nigeria did not import any petrol products from Malta.

Meanwhile, most recently, in 2023 Nigeria’s import from Malta swelled to $2.08 billion, according to Statisense data.

Nigeria’s imports from Malta were $2.25 billion in the same period, according to the United Nations Comtrade database on international trade.

Further insights from the National Bureau of Statistics data in the third Quarter of 2023 showed Malta was among the top five import destinations for Nigeria.

In Q3 alone, Nigeria’s import worth from Malta alone was N561.37 billion.

However, in Q1 and 2, Malta was not among the top five import destinations for Nigeria.

The data comes amid Chairman Dangote’s allegation on Monday that some officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and oil traders owned blending plants in Malta from where they import substandard products into Nigeria.

“Some of the terminals, some of the NNPC people and some traders have opened blending plants somewhere off Malta. We all know these areas. We know what they are doing,” Dangote said.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, dismissed Dangote’s claim.

He denied knowing of any blending plant in Malta, adding that he does not know of any employee of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited who owns a plant in Malta.

“To clarify the allegations regarding the blending plant, I do not own or operate any business directly or by proxy anywhere in the world except a local mini Agric venture.

“Neither am I aware of any employee of the NNPC, that owns or operates a blending plant in Malta or anywhere else in the world”, Kyari said through his official X account on Tuesday.

In the past few days, Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority have been embroiled in a dispute over the latter’s comment.

The Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed claimed that diesel from Dangote Refinery was of inferior quality compared to imported ones.

The accusation had spurred a wide range of outrage from Nigerians leading to a call for the suspension of the NMDPRA boss by the House of Representatives pending investigation into the matter.

The development comes on Dangote’s announcement that his refinery would commence petrol supply in the Nigerian domestic market from August 2024.

Daily Post

Nigerian corporates and SMEs have decried the non-settlement of Foreign Exchange (FX) forwards by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The transactions which occurred between 2022 and 2023 are yet to be settled on maturity.

Analysts and stakeholders have expressed fears that the delay could have grave implications for the economy.

Reports indicate that affected companies could lose about N2.4 trillion which will impact Company Income Tax (CIT) for the next two to three years and also threaten federal government’s income.

The development could also exact a huge toll on the fragile FX market which is being rebuilt by the apex bank as it would come under severe pressure, and potentially drive exchange rates to about N3,000/$.

In addition, these losses could also trigger bank losses as confirmation lines used may not be serviced by the SMEs and corporates as well as put over one million jobs at risk.

Analysts further expressed concerns that the unsettled forwards could potentially erode investor confidence in a struggling economy with all the attendant implications. They were unanimous that the apex bank needed to act quickly to resolve the issues.

Earlier in March, the CBN announced that all valid FX backlogs owed to various sectors of the economy had been settled, fulfilling a key pledge of the CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, to process an inherited backlog of $7 billion in outstanding liabilities.

In a recent interview with Arise Television, Cardoso revealed that about $2.4 billion out of the acclaimed $7 billion outstanding foreign exchange liabilities of the federal government were not valid for settlement.

He said while the bank had settled verified FX requests which amounted to $2.3 billion at the time, the total outstanding FX obligations remained at $2.2 billion.

The central bank governor further indicated that part of the headline $7 billion outstanding FX claims were not valid, citing the outcome of a forensic audit by Deloitte Management Consultant which the apex bank commissioned.

He maintained that the CBN would not pay for FX requests that are not validly constituted, adding that the bank had written to authorised dealers to explain the disparities identified.

Furthermore, Cardoso said the bank had contracted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate suspicious transactions to prosecute individuals and entities with fraudulent entries.

However, the affected companies had expressed worry that the outcome of the investigation was taking forever as most of them have used bank confirmed lines to open Letters of Credit (LCs), paid import duties, and received the goods, while suppliers were mostly settled by their banks’ correspondent banks.

“While CBN says EFCC is investigating, the corporates are bleeding and under intense pressure from their banks and their suppliers,” the stakeholders said.

They called on the central bank to settle the forwards and get EFCC to prosecute companies involved in any act of round-tripping or abuse in the utilisation of the liquidity.

They also warned that the continued delay in settling the outstanding liabilities of companies has far-reaching implications for the companies and the economy in general.

Director General, Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, explained that forward transaction is an agreement whereby a company credits the CBN through its bank for future supply of FX usually within 90 days.

He expressed dismay that data provided by JP Morgan & Co., had estimated unsettled liabilities at $6.8 billion in 2022, which certainly would be higher afterwards.

Oyerinde, said the development had already truncated the smooth running of production plans and capacity utilisation in industries, particularly that of SMEs that do not have the financial clout to explore other liquidity sources.

He further lamented that supply of raw-materials and production cycle had been broken due to the unsettled indebtedness by the central bank, which had ultimately led to low level of business activities, loss of revenues and low profit margins for corporate firms, including the SMEs.

He therefore urged the CBN to prioritise the settlement of outstanding forwards so that the companies involved could move forward and get on with their businesses.

He maintained that the involvement of EFCC in the matter was unnecessary.

Oyerinde said: “The CBN had informed the public that some of the FX Forward claims are not genuine and that the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) is investigating the issues.

“But the FX Forward is a transaction that involves the companies, their banks and the CBN with definite documentations and approvals as such. Therefore, due diligence by the CBN should be sufficient in determining the genuine cases.”

He said the CBN should engage “relevant banks on the claimed outstanding forwards to resolve unsettled cases rather than involving EFCC that is not part of the initial agreement”.

The Cable

The number of vehicles imported into the country fell sharply by 60.4 per cent, year-on-year, YoY, to 10,991 in the first half of this year, H1 2024, reflecting the impact of the naira depreciation and general economic downturn.

This was contained in the report of the just concluded quarterly meeting of the Nigerian Port Consultative Council, NPCC.

The report stated: “Vehicle Traffic shows a total 10,991 units of vehicles was handled during the period under review, indicating a drop of 60.8 per cent from 28,024 units in 2023.”

Following the same trend, the number of ships that called at the nation’s seaports fell by 4.3 per cent, YoY to 251 in H1 2024 from 275 in H1 2023.

But despite the drop in vessel calls, the Gross Tonnage of ships rose 6.9 per cent to 32.614 million metric tons in H1’24 from 30,504, 276 in H1’23

The report added: “The cargo throughput, excluding crude oil, was 21.186 million metric tons against 18.234 million metric tons in 2023 indicating an increase of 16.1 per cent.

“Inward cargo traffic reached 13.563 million metric tons representing a 10.5 of cargo throughput in 2023. Outward cargo traffic was 7.6234 million metric tons, representing 27.7 percent.

Container traffic for the period under review was 398,447 between January and June showing an increase of 2.3 percent from 389,303 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units, TEUs handled in 2023.

“A further analysis of container traffic revealed that import containers accounted for 3.4 per cent with 198,415 TEUs while export container traffic was 195,106 TEUs representing a decrease of 1.2 percent of total container traffic.

“A breakdown of export container traffic revealed that empty containers accounted for about 36.3 per cent of total export container traffic. The average turn-around time of vessels was 4.6 days, compared with 5.1 days in 2023. The significant improvement in average turn-around time for vessels was brought about by the impact of the Lekki Deep Sea Port which achieved an average turn-around of only one day.

“The increase in Gross Registered Tonnage, GRT, despite the drop in the number of vessel calls revealed the berthing of bigger vessels, especially at Lekki Port where the average GRT of vessels is 3,801,191. This further gives credibility to the importance of a deep seaport to the Nigerian maritime or port development.

“Therefore, the collective efforts of all stakeholders are required to ensure that Lekki Deep Seaport does not suffer the same fate as Apapa for ease of cargo evacuation.”

Vanguard

The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, is dead.

This was confirmed in a statement on Thursday by Jide Iwuanyanwu, the son of the late Emmanuel.

According to the statement, the 82-year-old Iwuanyanwu died on Thursday after a brief illness.

“The Iwuanyanwu family of Umuohii Atta, in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State announces the demise of our patriarch, Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Iwuanyanwu-Ahaejiagamba Ndigbo,” the statement read.

“Iwuanyanwu died on Thursday July 25, 2024 after a brief illness. He was aged 82. Iwuanyanwu before his death was President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide and President of Owerri Peoples Assembly.”

Iwuanyanwu is survived by his wife, Frances, many children and grandchildren.

The statement stated that the burial details will be announced later by the family after due consultations.

CTV

Battered Hamas confounds Israel's bid to declare victory

Senior figures in Israel's government have said it is closing in on its war aims of defeating Hamas militarily and the return of hostages seized on Oct. 7. But Hamas' survival as a guerrilla force and its sway in Gaza may overshadow any deal.

After nine months of pummelling by one of the most powerful militaries in the Middle East, Hamas is much weakened from the force that carried out the cross-border attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

Early in the war, Hamas propaganda videos showed well-drilled fighters in body armour and battle fatigues, their torsos wrapped with ammunition belts. Now, small groups of insurgents in T-shirts and trainers stage hit-and-run attacks in Gaza's bombed-out streets, the videos show.

Reuters spoke with three sources with knowledge of Hamas tactics, two former Hamas militants, three Palestinian officials, two Israeli military sources and an Israeli defence official to shed light on the group's losses and its strategy.

Two Israeli and two Palestinian sources told Reuters that a communications network built by Hamas before the war has been heavily damaged. That has left its command fragmented and reliant on messages delivered in person to avoid Israeli surveillance, the Palestinian sources said.

One Palestinian source with knowledge of Hamas military tactics said personnel losses and the destruction of the communications network meant centralised decision-making had collapsed. Much of the vast tunnel network beneath Gaza has also been destroyed or compromised, the Israeli military has said.

But the guerrilla tactics adopted by Hamas cells in recent weeks are simply aimed at ensuring the group survives, ties down Israeli forces and inflicts losses, according to another Palestinian source with knowledge of Hamas military tactics.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, speaking to soldiers in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, said on Tuesday that Israel was close to defeating Hamas militarily, according to a statement from his office.

"We're eliminating Hamas as a military organisation," Gallant told the troops. "We're creating a situation that will allow us to make a deal to free our hostages."

Hamas seized around 250 hostages during the Oct. 7 attack and killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Hamas and other militants are still holding 115 hostages, around a third of whom have been declared dead in absentia by Israeli authorities.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the U.S. Congress on Wednesday during a trip to Washington, pledged the hostages would be released soon and laid out a post-war vision of a "demilitarized and deradicalised Gaza" led by Palestinians who do not seek to destroy Israel.

Hamas dismissed Netanyahu's comments as "pure lies" and accused the Israeli leader of thwarting negotiations to end the war and reach a ceasefire deal to release the hostages - outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden in May and mediated by Egypt and Qatar.

Netanyahu, who met with Biden on Thursday, has said that victory will only be achieved when the military and governing capabilities of Hamas are eliminated and Gaza poses no further threat to Israel.

Hamas' founding charter in 1987 called for the destruction of Israel and it subsequently directed suicide bombings in Israeli cities and, with Iran's help, built an arsenal of rockets that it has launched into Israel in frequent conflicts.

'VERY FAR' FROM DESTROYING HAMAS

Hamas has insisted that, despite losses, its command structure remains in place, even if weakened.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that Israel's accounts exaggerate the extent of its losses: "Facts on the ground are completely different," he said.

In a statement on July 16 to mark nine months of that war, Israel's military said that it has killed or apprehended at least 14,000 Hamas fighters out of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 fighters that the group had at the start of the conflict.

By comparison, Israel says just 326 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ground offensive - just above the roughly 300 killed in a single day during Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.

Crucially, the IDF has also said it had eliminated half of the leadership of Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam brigades, and it was pursuing Hamas' top leaders as part of its aim of dismantling the group's capabilities.

An Israeli airstrike on July 13 in a humanitarian area in southern Gaza targetted Hamas' military chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel says masterminded the Oct. 7 attack. The Gaza health ministry said at least 90 Palestinians were killed in the strike.

The Israeli military's chief spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said on July 19 there were increasing signs Deif was killed alongside another senior Hamas commander Rafa Salame, who Israeli officials believe was sitting next to him at the time and was also killed.

Palestinian sources have confirmed the deaths of several leading Hamas military commanders. They include Ayman Nofal, and Ahmed Al-Ghandour, both members of the Higher Military Council, the top decision-making body of Hamas' armed wing. Saleh Al-Arouri, the deputy chief of Hamas, was also killed in Lebanon.

Yet Hamas fighters have drawn Israeli forces back into battle in the same areas of Gaza again and again, such as this week's fighting in Khan Younis, preventing the declaration of victory Netanyahu says he is determined to secure.

Michael Milshtein, a former Israeli military intelligence officer who leads Palestinian studies at Tel Aviv-based Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, said Israel would need more boots on the ground across more areas of Gaza to achieve its aim of eliminating Hamas.

"We are very far from the goal of destroying Hamas' government and military capacities. We are really not close to that," Milshtein said. He noted, however, that a purely military victory would in any case ignore the group's social, political and economic influence.

"We're continuing to treat an enemy who is multi-dimensional in its behaviour as a military threat only."

The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel called up around 300,000 reservists to mount its assault on Gaza, its largest mobilisation in decades. It began releasing them around four months later.

MOP-UP OPERATIONS

Israel's military response to Oct. 7 has turned Gaza into a chaotic wasteland. More than 39,000 people have been killed, according to Palestinian figures.

Hamas' armed wing began the war with 24 battalions. An Israeli military source told Reuters on July 11 that four remaining battalions in Gaza's southern Rafah area, where Israel has focused its most recent offensive, are "close to being dismantled."

To achieve the government's war aims, the Israel Defence Forces planned a three-tier offensive encompassing an initial aerial campaign, followed by a ground offensive and a final phase of mopping up operations.

Most of Gaza has been in phase 3 for around six months. Once the Israeli forces have stamped out Hamas' remaining battalions in Rafah, then all of Gaza will essentially be in phase 3, according to Israeli officials.

Hamas' missile and rocket arsenal, once put at 15,000 to 30,000 has also been heavily depleted. Israel's military estimates 13,000 at least have been fired. It has also seized caches of projectiles as it has swept almost every city in Gaza.

Kobi Michael, of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), said Hamas was no longer an institutionalised army divided into conventional military units, with weapons manufacturing, training, intelligence and air, naval and cyber forces.

"We need to carry on until Hamas has no ability to rebuild," Michael said, suggesting the Israeli military would need to have access to Gaza even after the war to carry out operations against any remaining militant cells.

"The groundwork is being laid now for the IDF to operate in a similar way to the way it does in the West Bank. We are not there yet," he said.

But one source close to Hamas said the group has been preparing for years for a scenario where it would need to shift to guerrilla-style tactics to survive a conflict with Israel.

Key operations - including a foundry to make bombs and other weapons - were still operational, the source said. New recruits were also constantly joining Hamas' military wing, while the switch to guerrilla tactics had allowed the group to contain its losses, according to another source familiar with Hamas' tactics.

The network of tunnels, even after sections have been destroyed or compromised by Israeli forces, continue to hamper Israel's goal of eliminating Hamas, experts and two sources close to Hamas says.

"They show up from one shaft, destroy a tank, or prepare an ambush for another before they disappear until they reappear at another shaft," said a former Hamas militant familiar with the group's operations.

Some new tunnels, sources close to the group say, are being dug by hand. Reuters was unable to verify this independently.

An Israeli military official on Monday told Reuters that while a lot of Hamas military infrastructure, including tunnels, has been destroyed there was still much more to be done.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kremlin names barriers to Ukraine peace talks

Russia is open to peace talks with Kiev but there are numerous issues that must first be resolved, including Vladimir Zelensky’s status and Ukrainian law, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a press briefing on Thursday.

According to the spokesman, a number of points need to be clarified before negotiations can become possible.

“First, we need to understand how ready the Ukrainian side is and whether the Ukrainian side has permission for [peace talks] from its backers. So far, we are seeing very different statements,” Peskov stated, referring to Kiev’s Western sponsors and their outspoken reluctance to engage in talks with Russia.

The spokesman also reiterated that Moscow considers Zelensky’s legitimacy as head of state to be void, considering his term ended in May and elections were not held due to martial law. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously said that Zelensky’s legitimacy matters with regard to a potential peace treaty, since crucial documents must be signed with legitimate authorities.

Peskov added that another obstacle is the decree banning negotiations between Kiev and the current leadership in Moscow, signed by Zelensky in 2022. The Kremlin spokesman noted that as “these prohibitions still apply,” it makes the possibility of talks difficult from a legal point of view.

“But from a practical point of view, we are open to achieving our goals through negotiations,” Peskov emphasized. There are various options for launching the peace process and Russia is actively considering them, he added.

Ukraine’s rhetoric on peace talks has shifted in recent weeks. While Zelensky was previously adamant that he would not negotiate with Putin, earlier this week he signaled he wanted the diplomatic process to begin sooner rather than later. In order to do this, Zelensky said there is “no difference” regarding who he engages with, “Putin or not.”

Following a meeting this week between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Kiev’s representative had made it clear that “Ukraine is ready and willing to engage in dialogue and negotiations with Russia.”

It is unclear, however, if Ukraine would be willing to change the conditions it previously set in Zelensky’s ‘peace formula’, which demands that Moscow withdraw its troops from all territory claimed by Kiev. Russia has dismissed the plan as detached from reality. Putin voiced his own peace proposal last month, saying he was ready to start talks once Kiev commits to neutral status and cedes its claims to all five former Ukrainian regions that have chosen to join Russia. His overture was rejected by Zelensky as an “ultimatum.”

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Pentagon finds another $2 billion of accounting errors for Ukraine aid

The Pentagon has found $2 billion worth of additional errors in its calculations for ammunition, missiles and other equipment sent to Ukraine, increasing the improperly valued material to a total of $8.2 billion, a U.S. government report revealed on Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Defense has faced challenges in accurately valuing defense articles sent to Ukraine due to unclear accounting definitions, a new Government Accountability Office report showed.

In 2023, the Pentagon said staff used "replacement value" instead of "depreciated value" to tabulate the billions in materials sent to Ukraine. The $6.2 billion error created a path for billions more to be sent to Kyiv.

The Pentagon told the GAO that since then, $2 billion more in overstatements have been found. As a result, an additional $2 billion worth of arms can be sent to Ukraine to cover the amount of aid approved by the Biden administration.

The GAO said a vague definition of value in the Foreign Assistance Act and the absence of specific valuation guidance for Presidential Drawdown Authority have led to inconsistencies in the reported value of military aid.

In one example cited in the GAO report, 10 vehicles were valued at $7,050,000 when the supporting documentation showed they should have been valued at zero, their net book value.

The GAO has recommended that Congress clarify the definition of value in the context of defense articles under Presidential Drawdown Authority.

Additionally, the GAO has issued seven recommendations to the Defense Department, urging it to update its guidance to include a PDA-specific valuation section and develop component-specific valuation procedures. The department said it has concurred with all recommendations and outlined actions to address these issues.

RT/Reuters