Israeli strike kills an elite Hezbollah commander in the latest escalation linked to the war in Gaza

An Israeli airstrike killed an elite Hezbollah commander Monday in southern Lebanon, the latest in an escalating exchange of strikes across the border that have raised fears of another Mideast war even as the fighting in Gaza exacts a mounting toll on civilians.

The strike on an SUV killed a commander in a secretive Hezbollah unit that operates along the border, according to a Lebanese security official who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with regulations. The commander, Wissam al-Tawil, was a veteran of the Iranian-backed Lebanese force who took part in the 2006 cross-border kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers that triggered the last war between Israel and Hezbollah, an official in the group said.

He is the most senior Hezbollah militant killed since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel triggered all-out war in Gaza and lower-intensity fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which has escalated since an Israeli strike killed a senior Hamas leader last week in Beirut.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is back in the region this week, appears to be trying to head off a wider conflict.

In other developments, Israel said it has largely wrapped up major operations in northern Gaza, though fighting and bombardment there continue. Israeli forces are now focusing on the central region and the southern city of Khan Younis, where thousands more Palestinians fled.

Israeli officials say the fighting will continue for many more months as the army seeks to dismantle Hamas and return scores of hostages taken during the militants’ Oct. 7 attack.

The offensive has already killed over 23,000 Palestinians, devastated vast swaths of the Gaza Strip, displaced nearly 85% of its population of 2.3 million and left a quarter of its residents facing starvation.

‘SICKENING SCENES’ IN GAZA’S OVERWHELMED HOSPITALS

Medics, patients and displaced people fled from central Gaza’s main hospital as fighting drew closer, witnesses said Monday. Losing the facility would be another major blow to a health system shattered by three months of war.

Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups withdrew from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, saying it was too dangerous amid Israeli bombardment, drone strikes and sniper fire. That spread panic among people sheltering there. Thousands left, joining the hundreds of thousands who have fled further south, said a hospital staffer, Omar al-Darawi.

Tens of thousands of people have sought shelter in Gaza’s hospitals, which are struggling to treat the continuous flow of wounded from Israeli strikes. Only 13 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are even partially functional, according to the U.N. humanitarian office.

The Al-Aqsa hospital was struck multiple times in recent days, al-Darawi said. After the pullout, large numbers of patients who cannot be moved were concentrated on one floor to be treated by remaining doctors. “They need special care, which is unavailable,” he said.

World Health Organization staff who visited Sunday saw “sickening scenes of people of all ages being treated on blood-streaked floors and in chaotic corridors,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “The bloodbath in Gaza must end.”

More dead and wounded arrive at the hospital each day as Israeli forces advance in central Gaza, backed by heavy airstrikes. The military said Monday it had uncovered a large Hamas site for building rockets in the nearby Bureij refugee camp.

Thousands have been fleeing the area, heading south. Fifteen members of the Ayash family crammed into a van with their belongings for the journey. “Along the way there was banging, missiles, bombing, and planes,” said Khawla Ayash.

Reaching Muwasi, a coastal area outside Rafah, they unloaded bags, blankets and thin mattresses and began setting up tents alongside other relatives.

The U.N. children’s agency UNICEF warned that 90% of Gaza’s children under 2 were consuming only bread and milk.

“As the threat of famine intensifies,” hundreds of thousands of children face severe malnourished, with some at risk of death, said Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s executive director. “We cannot allow that to happen.”

DIRE CONDITIONS IN THE NORTH

The situation is even more dire in northern Gaza, which Israeli forces cut off from the rest of the territory in late October.

Entire neighborhoods have been demolished, and most of the population has fled. Tens of thousands who remain face shortages of food and water. The WHO said Sunday it has been unable to deliver supplies to northern Gaza for 12 days because of bombardment and the inability to guarantee safe passage with the Israeli military.

Israel still battles what it describes as pockets of militants.

An airstrike early Sunday flattened a four-story home filled with displaced people in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp, killing at least 70, including women and children, according to Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza’s civil defense. There was no immediate confirmation from the Health Ministry, which has struggled to operate in the north.

Since the war began, more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed, about two-thirds of them women and children, and more than 58,000 have been wounded, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in populated residential areas, but the military almost never comments on the intended target in strikes that kill large numbers of civilians. The military says it has killed some 8,000 militants, without providing evidence, and says 176 of its own soldiers have been killed in the offensive.

SEEKING TO HEAD OFF A WIDER WAR

Blinken focused on preventing the war from spreading as he held talks in Gulf countries and Jordan over the past two days.

For the past three months, both Israel and Hezbollah have sought to limit their cross-border exchanges. Hezbollah appears wary of risking an all-out war that would bring massive destruction to Lebanon.

But last week’s killing of Hamas’ deputy political leader, Saleh Arouri, in Beirut threatens to throw the two sides into an escalating spiral.

A Hezbollah rocket barrage hit a sensitive air traffic base Saturday in northern Israel in one of the group’s biggest attacks of the war — an “initial response” to Arouri’s killing, Hezbollah said.

Israeli leaders say their patience with Hezbollah rocket fire is wearing thin and that if diplomacy doesn’t stop it, they are prepared to go to war. They have expressed particular concern about the Radwan Force, the elite Hezbollah unit in which al-Tawil was a commander, which operates along the border.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting troops near the border, vowed to return security to the north.

“We prefer that this be done without a wider campaign, but that won’t stop us,” he said.

Hezbollah began firing rockets shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, saying it aimed to ease pressure on Gaza. Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel that day, mostly civilians, and took some 250 people hostage, over 130 of whom remain in captivity.

In the cross-border exchanges, nearly 200 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, mostly fighters but also 20 civilians. On the Israeli side, five civilians and 12 soldiers have been killed and more than 150 injured. Tens of thousands of people in both countries have been driven from homes near the border.

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia conducts major strikes on key Ukrainian military-industrial sites

Russia has announced that its forces have conducted a range of missile strikes targeting Ukraine’s military-industrial base. Kiev has confirmed the attacks, admitting that its air defenses failed to intercept most  of the projectiles.

In a statement on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had carried out “a group strike” using high-precision sea- and air-based weapons, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. The barrage, which took place in the morning, targeted military-industrial facilities, officials said, without providing details on the results of the attack.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the attack targeted various types of facilities in Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk and Khmelnitsky regions as well as in the parts of Zaporozhye region controlled by Kiev.

Authorities in the Khmelnitsky region reported six explosions, adding that one attack targeted an unspecified infrastructure facility. Local officials said that at least two people had been killed in the strikes.

Officials in Kharkov said that at least four rocket strikes had damaged an unnamed business and an educational institution, claiming there had been several casualties, including an elderly woman.

The Ukrainian Air Force said that it had managed to shoot down only 18 out of 51 missiles it claims Russia had launched. It admitted failure to intercept all four Kinzhal, six Iskander-M, and eight X-22 missiles. Yury Ignat, the spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, explained that Russia had launched a large number of ballistic rockets that he said could only be shot down by US-made Patriots or other similarly advanced air defense systems.

The latest strike wave comes after The New York Times reported on Saturday that White House and Pentagon officials had warned that they would be unable to provide Ukraine with Patriot missiles, as US Republicans continue to block president Joe Biden’s supplemental funding request, which includes a possible $60 billion for Kiev. The GOP has repeatedly demanded that the Biden administration do more to enhance US border security as a prerequisite for a potential deal.

Russia has ramped up its airstrikes on Ukraine’s military targets and critical infrastructure in the wake of what it called “terrorist attacks” on Belgorod and Donetsk. The strikes killed dozens of civilians, including several children, prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to vow retaliation, while insisting that Moscow’s own attacks would not target civilians.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Four killed in combined Russian air strike on Ukraine

Russia sent dozens of missiles across Ukraine early on Monday, killing at least four civilians and hitting residential areas and commercial sites in its latest combined air attack, Ukrainian authorities said.

Two people were killed in the western Khmelnytskyi region, local officials reported, where critical infrastructure had also been struck.

In Kryvyi Rih, a 62-year-old was killed and a shopping centre and scores of private homes and apartment buildings damaged after nine Russian missiles hit the south central city, said Oleksandr Vilkul, the mayor.

"The mad enemy once again struck civilians," regional governor Serhiy Lysak wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "Directed missiles at people."

Ukraine's National Police said a total of 38 people had been wounded across the country.

Russia said it hit military-industrial targets in Ukraine from sea and air on Monday.

"This morning, a multiple attack was carried out with high-precision, long-range, sea and air-based weapons, including the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system, on facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine," the defence ministry said in a daily dispatch.

Ukraine said its air defences had destroyed 18 out of 51 missiles, a much lower shoot-down rate than normal, which Kyiv attributed to the large number of ballistic missiles fired by Russia which are more difficult to intercept.

"On the one hand, you have lots of missiles not shot down," air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said on Ukrainian television.

"The explanation is simple: they were flying on a ballistic trajectory, and into the regions where we can't shoot them down."

All eight drones launched by Russia were also shot down.

The strikes came amid a cold snap sweeping Ukraine, with Vilkul, the Kryvyi Rih mayor, also reporting that 15,000 residents were without power and that local trams and trolleybuses were not running.

In the eastern city of Kharkiv, an industrial site and educational facility were damaged after at least four missile strikes, Governor Oleh Synehubov said.

A 63-year-old woman was killed in a strike on a town south of Kharkiv, he added.

Five people were also wounded in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, where governor Yuriy Malashko said residential areas had been struck.

"Not a single military target," he wrote on Telegram.

Russia in recent weeks has resumed a campaign of regular air strikes on Ukrainian population centres far behind the lines of its nearly two-year-old full-scale invasion.

RT/Reuters

Nobody wants to look incompetent or unskilled in the workplace. Unfortunately, the words we use every day can make us do just that.

There’s one common phrase experts say to avoid if you’re speaking with your boss: “I don’t know.”

“The simple acceptance of not knowing” can make it seem like you’re uninterested in going the extra mile to solve problems, Patrice Lindo, CEO of Career Nomad, a career consulting firm, tells CNBC Make It. Moreover, the phrase doesn’t show “initiative and willingness to learn.”

People usually say “I don’t know” in a variety of scenarios, from expressing disagreement to showing you don’t have the information your boss may be asking for. But even though you genuinely may not know, that shouldn’t be the definitive answer. 

Here are some alternatives you should exercise instead, says Lindo.

1. Ask for some time to research: Offering to find answers or examples from reputable online resources like studies, reports and articles can show that you’re solution-based.
2. Seek clarification:  If your boss’s request is out of your wheelhouse, ask them or a knowledgeable colleague to explain further. This can demonstrate the desire to gain knowledge and improve your performance at work.
3. Suggest a collaborative approach to find the answer: Getting a team of professionals with unique skills together can help you solve problems quicker and more efficiently than doing it alone.

Business leaders agree with Lindo’s advice. Sixty percent of companies say that the top qualities they look for in employees are current professional knowledge and eagerness to continually search for improvements in productivity, efficiency and profitability, according to a 2012 survey of more than 170 employers.

Even billionaire investor Mark Cuban says employees who make the effortto get things done, even if they aren’t sure exactly how, have a competitive edge. 

“The one thing in life you can control is your effort,” Cuban, 64, said in a LinkedIn video post published by entrepreneur and VC investor Randall Kaplan in May. “And being willing to do so is a huge competitive advantage, because most people don’t.”

Putting in effort means going beyond what’s required to solve problems, even when you aren’t asked to — on top of your job’s normal responsibilities, Cuban said. You take the initiative, and exhaust all possible options until you find an answer.

“There’s some people, or employees, that if you tell them to do A, B, and C, they’ll do A, B, and C and not know that D, E, and F exists,” Cuban said. “There [are] others who aren’t very good at details: If you tell them to do A, B, and C, all they want to do is talk about D, E and F.”

His advice for anyone with an “I don’t know” attitude: “Don’t apply for a job with me.”

CNBC

Lawmakers have budgeted an additional N30 billion for the renovation of the National Assembly Complex in the 2024 Appropriation Bill.

The N30bn earmarked for the renovation of the building was part of the N344.85bn budgeted for the National Assembly after they raised their allocations from N197.93bn.

The N344.85bn, signed by President Bola Tinubu on January 1, is the highest ever allocated to the legislature.

The additional N30bn brings to N60bn the amount being spent on the renovation of the National Assembly complex.

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, who is also the President of the National Assembly, had on June 30, 2023, declared that Tinubu would in December, last year inaugurate the N30bn different ongoing projects at the National Assembly.

Akpabio said, “The entire complex of the National Assembly is like a construction site due to ongoing general renovation work and fresh projects which would, on completion, be inaugurated by President Bola Tinubu in December this year (2023).”

The renovation was initially billed to be completed and delivered in August 2022 but the delivery date was later moved to January 2023 and then December 2023.

As of January 2024, the renovation of the National Assembly Complex is yet to be completed with skeletal work ongoing on the premises.

Our correspondent, who was at the site on Saturday, observed that the contractor, Visible Construction Company, was still at work.

An official of the construction firm, who spoke to our correspondent anonymously, said, “People keep blaming us for not finishing the project but those with the money have refused to release money to us.

“How are we expected to finish the work without money? If money is released to our company, the project will be done in no time.”

Earlier during an oversight visit by the Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory, the site engineer, Tajudeen Olanipekun,  blamed “fluctuations in the value of naira to the United States dollar for the delay.”

“This has hampered the importation of required materials and equipment, in addition to the need for more funds from the FCDA,” he said.

However, the Head, Public Relations, Federal Capital Development Agency, Richard Nduul, in June disclosed that N19bn had been paid to the construction company.

He said, “I would like to refer you to a recent press briefing by the Executive Secretary, Shehu Hadi Ahmad, just about three weeks ago, it was disclosed that so far about N19bn had been expended out of the sum of N30bn being the cost of the contract awarded in 2021 to Messrs Visible Construction Nigeria Limited with a completion date of August 2023.

“This project when completed, will bring the Complex to the status of a world-class parliamentary building that will ensure both the comfort, convenience and functionality of the complex,” Nduul added.

However, when our correspondent called Nduul to get an update on how much had been expended on the project, he said he was on sick leave.

He said, “Please call back on Monday so that I can get the records from the concerned department.”

In the same vein, our reporter reached out to the site engineer, Olanipekun for comment on the amount paid, but he refused to pick up his calls and even blocked our correspondent from reaching him.

He had also refused to reply to the text messages sent to him.

Punch

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has disbursed approximately $61.64 million to foreign airlines through various banks. 

The payment is part of CBN’s efforts to decrease its remaining liability to the airlines and clear the forex backlog to commercial banks in order to ease pressure on foreign exchange.

Recall that in November 2023, foreign airlines operators disclosed that about 90 per cent of their $783m trapped funds had not been paid. The latest payment represents less than 10 percent of trapped funds.

According to data from the International Air Transport Association, as of August 2023, Nigeria accounted for $783m of airlines’ blocked funds.

However, Acting Director of Corporate Communications Department at the CBN, Hakama Sidi Ali, who confirmed this latest payment, further disclosed that, in the past three months, the apex bank also redeemed outstanding forward liabilities amounting to almost $2 billion.

This, she said, underscored the Bank’s commitment to the resolution of pending obligations and a functional foreign exchange market.

“These payments signify the CBN’s ongoing efforts to settle all remaining valid forward transactions, with the aim of alleviating the current pressure on the country’s exchange rate,” she said.

It is anticipated that this initiative by the CBN should provide a considerable boost to the Naira against other major world currencies and further increase investor confidence in the Nigeria economy.

Daily Trust/NewsScroll

Israel says Hezbollah struck sensitive air traffic base in the north and warns of 'another war'

Hezbollah has struck an air traffic control base in northern Israel, the Israeli military said Sunday, and warned of “another war” with the Iran-backed militant group

The increase in fighting across the border with Lebanon as Israel battles Hamas militants in Gaza gave new urgency to U.S. diplomatic efforts as Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to visit Israel on his latest Mideast tour.

“This is a conflict that could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering,” Blinken told reporters after talks in Qatar, a key mediator. The escalation of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has complicated a U.S. push to prevent a regional conflict.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah fire hit the sensitive air traffic control base on Mount Meron on Saturday but air defenses were not affected because backup systems were in place. It said that no soldiers were hurt and all damage will be repaired.

Nonetheless, it was one of the most serious attacks by Hezbollah in the months of fighting that has accompanied Israel’s war in Gaza and forced tens of thousands of Israelis to evacuate communities near the Lebanese border.

Hezbollah described its rocket barrage as an “initial response” to the targeted killing of a top Hamas leader in a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut last week, which is presumed to have been carried out by Israel.

The Israeli military chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, said military pressure on Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, was rising and it would either be effective “or we will get to another war.” Military spokesman Daniel Hagari asserted that Israel’s focus on Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force was pushing it away from the border.

Israel has mostly sought to limit the fighting in its north. Hezbollah’s military capabilities are far superior to those of Hamas. But Israeli leaders have said their patience is wearing thin, and that if the tensions cannot be resolved through diplomacy, they are prepared to use force.

“I suggest that Hezbollah learn what Hamas has already learned in recent months: No terrorist is immune,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet. We are determined to defend our citizens and to return the residents of the north safely to their homes.”

Lower-intensity fighting along Israel’s northern border broke out when Hezbollah began firing rockets shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking some 250 people hostage. Hezbollah has said its attacks aim to ease pressure on Gaza.

In a joint news briefing with Blinken, Qatar’s government acknowledged that the killing of the senior Hamas leader in Lebanon can affect the complicated negotiations for the potential release of more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza but “we are continuing our discussions with the parties and trying to achieve as soon as possible an agreement.”

Inside Gaza, the war against the militant group entered its fourth month Sunday.

The Israeli military has signaled that it has wrapped up major combat in northern Gaza, saying it has completed dismantling Hamas’ military infrastructure there. Now it presses its offensive in the south, where most of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians are squeezed into smaller areas in a humanitarian disaster while being pounded by Israeli airstrikes.

Netanyahu insists the war will not end until the objectives of eliminating Hamas, getting Israel’s hostages returned and ensuring that Gaza won’t host a threat to Israel are met.

Biden administration officials have urged Israel to wind down its blistering air and ground offensive and shift to more targeted attacks against Hamas leaders.

More than 22,800 Palestinians have been killed and more than 58,000 wounded since the war began, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Health officials say about two-thirds of those killed have been women and minors.

Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in heavily populated residential areas.

An airstrike near the southern city of Rafah killed two journalists on Sunday, including Hamza Dahdouh, the oldest son of Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s chief correspondent in Gaza, according to the Qatari-owned Arabic-language channel and local medical officials. Al Jazeera broadcast footage of Dahdouh weeping and holding his son’s hand. Israel’s military had no immediate comment.

Al Jazeera strongly condemned the killings and other “brutal attacks against journalists and their families” by Israeli forces. Dahdouh also lost his wife, two children and a grandchild in an Oct. 26 airstrike, and was wounded in an Israeli strike last month that killed a co-worker.

“The world is blind to what’s happening in the Gaza Strip,” he said, blinking back tears.

Another airstrike hit a house between Khan Younis and the southern city of Rafah, killing at least seven people whose bodies were taken to the nearby European Gaza Hospital, according to an Associated Press journalist at the facility. One man hurried in carrying a baby, and later walked the blanket-wrapped child to the morgue.

“Everything happening here is outside the realms of law, outside the realms of reason. Our brains can’t fully comprehend all this that is happening to us,” said a grieving relative, Inas Abu al-Najja, her quavering voice rising. Men worked the rubble with picks and bare hands.

On Sunday, officials at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis received the bodies of 18 people, including 12 children, killed in an Israeli strike late Saturday on a home in the Khan Younis camp set up decades ago to house refugees from the 1948 war over Israel’s creation.

Israeli forces pushed deeper into the central city of Deir al-Balah, where residents in several neighborhoods were warned that they must evacuate.

The international medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by the French acronym MSF, said it was evacuating its medical staff from Deir al-Balah’s Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital.

A bullet penetrated a wall of the hospital’s intensive care unit on Friday, and “drone attacks and sniper fire were just a few hundred meters from the hospital” over the past couple of days, said Carolina Lopez, the group’s emergency coordinator there. She said the hospital received between 150 and 200 wounded people daily in recent weeks.

The International Rescue Committee and Medical Aid for Palestinians said they also were forced to withdraw from the hospital. “The amount of injuries being brought in over the last few days has been horrific,” surgeon Nick Maynard with the IRC medical team said.

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia shoots down two Ukrainian jets – MOD

Russian forces have downed two Ukrainian warplanes in the past 24 hours, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Sunday.

The ministry identified one as a Su-25 close air support plane, which it said was shot down by Russian air defense not far from Dnepropetrovsk (known as Dnepr in Ukraine), some 150km north of the frontline. The other jet was a Su-27 fighter, downed not far from Krivoy Rog, about 140km west of Dnepropetrovsk, officials added.

The Russian military also said it had intercepted 14 missiles fired from US-supplied HIMARS and Soviet-era Uragan missile systems, as well as six Ukrainian anti-ship Neptune rockets. According to the statement, Russian forces have also destroyed 38 Ukrainian drones across the frontline over the past 24 hours. 

In total, Russia has taken out 567 Ukrainian warplanes, 265 helicopters, and 10,526 drones since the start of the conflict in February 2022, the Defense Ministry claimed.  

In October, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said Moscow’s forces had received new military systems, which at the time allowed them to shoot down 24 Ukrainian planes in just five days. He did not provide further details. 

However, TASS news agency later reported, citing sources, that Russia had used an S-400 Triumph air defense system, which has a range of up to 400 km. It was also said to have been equipped with active homing heads, and to have been operating in tandem with an A-50 long-range radar detection aircraft.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Japan minister, in Kyiv bomb shelter, pledges funds to fight drones

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, forced into a bomb shelter by an air alert in Kyiv on Sunday, pledged millions of dollars to NATO to help Ukraine avert Russian drone strikes and announced donations of generators and transformers.

"Russia has continued threats and attacks with missiles and drones in various locations, even on New Year's Day," Kamikawa said through an interpreter, after her news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was moved underground.

"Japan is determined to continue to support Ukraine so that peace can return," said Kamikawa, whose stop in Kyiv, announced the same day, was not part of an announcement last month of her Jan. 5 trip to Poland, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United States, Canada and Germany.

Kamikawa said Japan would allocate $37 million to a NATO Trust Fund that supports equipment such as a drone detection system.

She also announced donations of five mobile gas turbine generators and seven transformers. Russian air strikes caused frequent power cuts across Ukraine last winter, and its two main cities experienced cuts due to a major attack on Jan. 2.

Air alerts have become a fact of life since Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, including in Kyiv, and many pass without casualties or damage.

However, Moscow deployed hundreds of missiles and drones over the New Year, pounding Kyiv and Kharkiv and killing at least 5 civilians and injuring more than 135, Ukrainian officials said.

Kamikawa also met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who offered condolences for Japan's New Year's Day earthquake, and thanked Prime Minister Fumio Kishida "for elevating the level of relations" with Ukraine during Japan's G7 presidency in 2023.

Sitting alongside his visitor, the Ukrainian foreign minister also noted Kyiv's key ask of its allies, saying, "I informed my colleague ... of Ukraine's needs not only in aircraft, but above all in air defence systems."

Japan said last month that it would prepare to ship Patriot air defence missiles to the United States after revising its arms export guidelines, in the pacifist nation's first major overhaul of such export curbs in nine years.

It still cannot ship weapons to countries at war, but the move could indirectly benefit Ukraine by boosting Washington's capacity to provide military aid to its ally.

Tokyo also intends to show its commitment to the recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine under a public-private partnership by hosting a Japan-Ukraine conference on Feb. 19, the Japanese foreign ministry said.

Reuters

Last week, we got a dose of what investigative journalism ought to be. Umar Audu, a promising young journalist, proved to be an outstanding student of his mentor, Ja’afar Ja’afar, an investigative journalist of the first order. Reporting for Daily Nigerian, Ja’afar’s online newspaper, Umar Audu went underground to bag a degree in Mass Communication from a university in the Benin Republic. It is a report worthy of the highest award in the land for investigative journalism.

“This certificate will be delivered to you just like you ordered a pizza or something, and you give them your location, and it is delivered to you. That was what motivated me to conduct this investigation.

“We did a similar investigation in 2018, which led to the government taking certain decisions. These things keep going on despite pronouncements by the federal government,” he said.

In his investigative report entitled, “How Daily Nigerian reporter bagged Cotonou varsity degree in 6 weeks,” released by Daily Nigerian on 30 December 2023, Umar Audu exposed a booming certificate racketeering syndicate in neighbouring African countries like Benin Republic and Togo which specialises in selling university degrees to willing buyers from Nigeria.

The certificate and transcript which came at the affordable sum of ₦600,000 bore the authentic scan code of Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies, ESGT, Benin Republic. He was able to get the certificate without having to apply, register, study, or take any tests.

According to the certificate issued, Umar Audu commenced his programme in 2018 and graduated on September 5, 2022. And with the fake certificate, he participated in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme without being detected.

To participate in the NYSC scheme, despite him never crossing any Nigerian borders, an immigration officer managed to get his passport stamped by both Nigerian and Beninois immigration officials.

Following the expose, the chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Musa Adamu Aliyu, met with the reporter “to verify details and move beyond speculation,” according to a statement by ICPC spokesperson, Azuka Ogugua.

The report forced the government to ban the validation of certificates from the country and Togo, followed by others from Niger Republic, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, the UK and the USA.

Even though this is not the first time the Nigerian government has promised to descend on those who procure “Cotonou Certificates” or the institutions that offer them, the will to act has always been lacking.

To beat a system that emphasizes paper qualifications, Nigerians, therefore, try the shortcut method by paying, some through the nose, for these certificates bypassing standard academic procedures like application, registration, coursework, and examinations. And as long as the emphasis would always be on certificates, corrupt government employees would enable the fraudulent business of certificate racketeering.

The deification of certificates, without which one's political and economic growth may be dwarfed, our impatience and penchant for cutting corners coupled with compromised officialdom – aggravated by harsh economic conditions - ready to short-change the system for pecuniary gains - all combine to fuel the network.

Not only that; most of those who graduate from our tertiary institutions at home do so through dubious and dishonest means. This is why it is not surprising these days to see a university graduate who cannot string three good sentences together.

The past governments’ nonchalance to education also contributed in no small measure to driving our citizens into the hands of such unscrupulous elements. The last regime did not give a hoot when, for almost a year, the Academic Staff Union of Universities was on strike. Such strikes always push some students who can afford to go to such institutions that give degrees within two months. Here, it takes about four years under normal conditions but can take more because of strikes.

It is a good idea that this time around, the government has taken up the issue squarely and hopefully the measures are not going to just stop at banning the schools but that their products would be sieved out of our system as they are currently ensconced in all sectors of our society.

Beyond that, the government must also look into a situation where an academically deficient student here goes on to become a medical doctor or an engineer abroad, leaving his more brilliant and promising student here with no future because of the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board’s policies.

Let me explain further. Two mates complete secondary school, one with eight credits and the other with three. Neither of them could get admission to study medicine or engineering because they could not reach the required JAMB cut-off marks. However, the one with three credits could go abroad, where nothing is asked of him, to study medicine or engineering and return to Nigeria to practise.

A nation is just as developed as the education it imparts to its citizens. And a civilisation’s life is dependent on the education driving it. The foundation for a nation’s greatness is quality education. For Nigeria to join the top 20 world economies, it must reappraise the value it places on education.

For instance, what is the annual budget we allocate to the education sector? What is the focus of our education? What do we want to achieve and what values do we want to inculcate in students?

It is time that we make products of our education imbibe the culture of honesty and self-reliance. A person who goes to school from primary to tertiary level should be able to be proficient in some skills so that there would be no need for them to be pounding the streets in search of government jobs. A situation where quality (skills and merit) is relegated to quantity (certificates) does not make for a meritorious society.

Lest I Forget

What is so special about the Humanitarian ministry that women, assumed to be humane, who are placed in charge of, including its agencies, show to the world that they are stone-hearted? Or is it that the sector is meant for them to push their husbands into political relevance?

This is a theory we should look at.

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

At age 12, Bella Lin had a problem. Her guinea pigs were disappearing.

In those days, Lin let her three guinea pigs roam her parents’ grassy, fenced-in backyard just outside of San Francisco. It was better than the alternative, she thought: The two-pound creatures “looked miserable” in their cramped, “prison-barred” cage, Lin, now 17, tells CNBC Make It.

She assumed the first, Snoopy, had escaped and she continued letting her guinea pigs outside — until her dad watched an eagle fly away with another, she recalls. Determined to keep the pets out of traditional cages, she started drawing prototypes.

Lin, a senior at Khan Lab School in Mountain View, California, went through several models and invested roughly $2,000 from her savings to launch her side hustle GuineaLoft on Amazon in November 2022.

It sold nearly 11,000 cages and brought in more than $410,000 last year — roughly $34,000 per month, on average — according to documents reviewed by Make It.

In addition to a full academic course load, extracurriculars and college applications, Lin works about 20 hours per week on GuineaLoft, she says. Here’s how she built a side hustle so successful that she’s considering delaying college to concentrate on her business.

An unprofitable side hustle led to an ‘epiphany’

Lin told her dad, a computer programmer, that she wanted to create a better cage. He had a connection to a family-owned factory in China through a former client, and he made an introduction, Lin says.

After a year of mocking up prototypes, Lin got distracted by a different idea: She wanted to sell athleisure for girls at a lower price point than large, trendy brands. She researched, found another factory in China, connected with it, and made a business plan to sell leggings starting at $23.

That side hustle, called TLeggings, launched in July 2019. It brought in roughly $300,000 in revenue in 2020, she says. It also earned Lin a spot at BizWorld, a project-based entrepreneurship program for 16- to 22-year-olds.

She completed a 12-week curriculum and worked with a business mentor, but failed to win the pitching contest — and any prize money — at the end of the program. It was one of a few signs that TLeggings was fizzling out: Despite the lofty revenue numbers, the company was never profitable, and Lin struggled to keep up with her competitors.

She shuttered it in early 2022, and refocused on GuineaLoft.

“I had a weird epiphany [where] I kind of realized there are a lot of other companies trying to [make leggings],” Lin says. “There was no innovation there, whereas with GuineaLoft, I could fill a really big gap in the market.”

Tinkering between classes and late at night

Lin realized her early prototypes were promising, but imperfect.

Traditional guinea pig cages are made with bars, roofs and either tarp or plastic bottoms. They are difficult to clean, Lin says, and often reek of excrement.

Her early glass, open-floor enclosures allowed for more visibility and mobility, and featured a two-tiered bottom. Dirty bedding could be pushed into a removable plastic tray. But the glass was too expensive to ship, and her smaller guinea pigs’ feet got stuck in the floor.

Lin rearranged her schedule so she could do her homework in between periods at school. She stayed up late to research and virtually test products with her six-person team in China — a manufacturing lead who works for the factory, and five full-time GuineaLoft employees who’d previously worked with Lin’s dad or the factory’s leadership.

Those six people source, manufacture, package and photograph the products, says Lin. She manages GuineaLoft’s product design, pricing, marketing — TLeggings taught her a lot about social media in particular, she says — and overall business strategy.

Ultimately the company went with acrylic instead of glass and constructed replaceable bottoms from biodegradable, wax-coated paper — similar, Lin says, to “airplane barf bags.”

The bottoms are easy to throw out, which is good for business: Once satisfied GuineaLoft customers run out, they have to come back to Lin’s Amazon store to restock.

Winning a $10,000 competition

The factory produced 100 cages in its first batch. Lin was elated when three sold in the first couple of hours.

Within two weeks, GuineaLoft all 100 were gone “with no marketing,” she says. She re-applied to BizWorld last year, and won $10,000 in investment funds from the pitching competition. That money will go toward adding accessories and new cages for different types of small pets, like rabbits and hamsters, she says.

The company’s 25% profit margin on individual cages is immediately reinvested into marketing, audience research and the development of new products, Lin says.

That means she’s not pocketing any cash for herself yet — but while she’s applying to colleges, she’s also considering taking a gap year after graduating high school to visit the factory in China, learn more about production and grow her business.

“Witnessing the tangible effects of [GuineaLoft cages] through customer reviews and emails is empowering,” Lin says. “As someone who once placed great emphasis on academic validation, the success ... of [my side hustle] has boosted my confidence in navigating life beyond high school.”

CNBC

A mother, Mrs Deborah Olaki (also known on X as Mummy Zee) after a post on X stating how she wakes up as early as 4.30am to prepare her husband’s lunch, has become a social media sensation, with gifts of cash and kind pouring in for her from Nigerians.

Mrs Deborah Olaki’s life is changing right before her eyes. The Lagos State-based mother has become a millionaire in less than 48 hours.

As of December 29, 2023, Olaki, a graduate of Geophysics, begged Santa Claus for a Christmas gift of a small bedside fridge.

Posting a picture of the sample of the fridge, she added that some of her meals were getting bad too quickly because of the night heat that accompanies the dry season.

The tweet got 230 likes, 70 retweets, and 16 comments, but none made her dream come true.

She wrote, “Dear Santa, I don’t want so much for Christmas, there is just one thing I need. This very small bedside fridge. This is because of the night heat. Some of my meals are getting bad quickly.”

Her husband, Mr Abiola Adebisi, a classroom science teacher, who studied Mathematics, she noted in a tweet, was worried that she was not getting the life she truly deserved because of his financial standing.

She also disclosed that she met the man over eight years ago, adding that she married into a good family.

On December 7, 2023, she made a tweet asking God to fulfil her husband’s heart desires.

She wrote, “Dear God, please bless my husband with all his heart desires this December and enrich his pockets beyond his imagination because he deserves every good thing life has to offer.”

But, all that is going to change now, as Nigerians from all walks of lives are raining cash gifts on the couple following a viral tweet made by Olaki on Friday.

Life-changing tweet

In the life-changing tweet, she disclosed on the popular microblogging site, X, that she wakes up at 4.50am every day to cook for her husband, responding to a user who wondered why a wife would wake up very early to cook for her husband.

Tweeting via her handle, @#_Debbie_OA, she stated that she began to wake up that early when her husband told her that a female colleague in his office brought an extra spoon so that he could share in her lunch.

She tweeted, “I’ve always been too lazy to wake up and get his lunch ready. But the day he told me a colleague brought two spoons so he’ll eat with her was the day I set my alarm for 4.50am.”

The tweet generated controversy, with some criticising Olaki and calling her ‘insecure’ for feeling that waking up that early to cook for a man would keep him.

Popular United States based-Nigerian professor, Uju Anya, who seemed displeased with the lady’s comment, condemned her actions.

Anya wrote, “So, you’re saying you rise before dawn to cook for an able-bodied adult so that he doesn’t beg co-workers for food and f*ck somebody for day-old rice and chicken?”

Another user, @emelleionaire, wrote, “Just married, and someone can steal him with small okro and pounded yam? So, my sister in Christ, what is your war plan for when your beggar husband comes across stew that is sweeter than yours?”

@ruttiexx, another user, said, “The lord is your strength because I cannot.”

However, in a dramatic turn of events, some X users, mostly men, rallied around her, requesting a contribution from like minds to encourage the wife.

Olaki, who posted her account number at 1.39pm on Friday, shared that she had received over N2m from Nigerians on Saturday afternoon.

The woman, whose profile shows that she is a geoscientist, sharing a screenshot of her account balance on Saturday afternoon, wrote, “She’fe pami ni? (Do you want to kill me?).

“I’ve never seen this amount before. I’ve been busy at the hospital and turned off DND to see this, ahhh Jesus. Thank you all so much.

 “Oh, I forgot to mention that an Angel recommended me for a remote Virtual Assistant role for 50k monthly. What else do I want? Amazing Mercy!

“Where’s the tweet with my account number again gan sef? Please, it’s okay. I’m scared.”

As of the time of this report, the lady had got more than N2m from well-wishers.

The lady, trending number 1 on X as Mummy Zee and number 3 as Debbie, disclosed on Saturday night that she had got over N5m in her own account, adding that her husband, whose Opay account number she also posted, had also got some cash donations from Nigerians.

Her initial tweet had generated over 21 million impressions, including 21,000 retweets, 3,200 comments and 57,000 likes.

Her followers have also ballooned from around 2,300 on Thursday to over 78,000 as of the time of filing this report.

NNPCL, Infinix, NITDA, other donations

Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has offered free Premium Motor Spirit vouchers worth N200,000 to Olaki.

NNPCL disclosed this in a tweet shared on its official X handle on Saturday.

The tweet read, “Hello, #_Debbie_OA, we love your amazing love story, and we would like to gift you a free N200,000 PMS voucher redeemable at any of our 900+ retail stations nationwide.

“This will ensure that Mummy Zee has #EnergyforToday and #EnergyforTomorrow. We have just followed you. Please check your DM. Best wishes.”

Also, a smartphone company, Infinix Nigeria, on Saturday, offered its latest device, Infinix Hot 40, to the lady and her husband.

Popular medical expert and X influencer,  Chinonso Egbema, also known as Aproko doctor, offered to pay one-year health insurance for the family of the lady, who was once criticised for waking up at 4.50am to cook for her husband.

He tweeted on his official X handle, “You and your family need health insurance. I’ll be paying your family’s health insurance for a complete calendar year. Stay healthy @_Debbie_OA”

He further offered to provide the family with insecticide since the lady was also said to be pregnant.

Another X user, @rellest_gee, offered her a brand-new iPhone.

He wrote, “Good day Ma for being a good wife I have this iPhone available to you. The delivery is on me and airtime you want to do data you free to text me.”

Also, another X user, @davidchibui, offered to give her a smart TV and cabinet for her use.

Another Twitter user, @nordmotion, promised to pay rent for a two-bedroom flat.

“I am elated to hear @_Debbie_OA is expecting a baby. I sent some money to her Kuda account earlier today. I don’t think we would be able to offer her a car as a present now. However, please contact the couple and let me know if we can pay for the rent of a two-bedroom flat for them in anticipation of the arrival of their baby. They can also visit our showroom and take a test drive in any of our @nordmotion models,” @nordmotion wrote.

Another X user, @OTUNBA_TIZ, wrote, “Hi, good afternoon. My name is Tunde and I make furniture. If you don’t mind, I would love to gift you a bed frame. Kindly pick any of these and if they are not your taste I will gladly make your preferred kind of bed frame for you.”

Kuda doubles N2m donation

A fintech company operating in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, where Olaki’s account number is lodged, Kuda Bank, has promised to double the N2m donation made to her.

This was disclosed on the official X handle of the company on Saturday night.

Reacting to a screenshot of over the N2m shared on X by Debbie on Saturday, Kuda wrote, “As your bank, we’re happy to match the ₦2,044,133.94 balance in your screenshot. Keep doing you, Debbie!”

Replying to this Debbie commented, “I’m just seeing this. I got a call from Kuda today and they said I’ll hear from them, but I didn’t know it would be this huge. Thank you #joinkuda.”

Similarly, the National Information Development Agency also offered to gift her and her husband two laptops and a one-year Internet subscription.

In a post on X, NITDA wrote, “Hello, #Debbie_OA your amazing love story and perseverance are touching, and we would like to gift you two laptops and a one-year Internet subscription for you and your husband.

“This is to ensure that Mummy Zee joins our quest for a #DigitalNigeria and #Tech4Women. We have just followed you. Please check your DM. Good luck!”

Rewards so far

1. N2m donations from Nigerians as of Saturday afternoon
2. N2m donation from Kuda Bank
3. N250,000 worth of generator set
4. N200,000 worth of fuel from NNPCL
5. Laptop from NITDA
6. Infinix 40 from Infinix
7. iPhone from X user, @@rellest_gee
8. Smart TV, cabinet from X user, @davidchibui
9. Job as virtual assistant with N50,000 monthly pay
10. Mattress
11. Freezer
12. Blender
13. Microwave oven
14. One-year health insurance from Aproko Doctor
15. One year’s worth of insecticide from Aproko Doctor
16. N200,000 worth of deliveries from Kiakia Delivery App
17. Furniture from @OTUNBA_TIZ

Punch