WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian missile hits hotel used by UN in Zaporizhzhia -officials

A Russian missile struck a hotel in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday evening, leaving one dead and 16 injured, Ukrainian officials said.

National police said an Iskander missile hit the city at 7:20 p.m. (1620 GMT).

"Zaporizhzhia. The city suffers daily from Russian shelling. A fire broke out in a civilian building after the occupiers hit it with a missile," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

Zaporizhzhia Governor Yuriy Malashko said the 16 injured included four children.

Pictures and video shared by officials showed a big crater, wrecked cars and a badly damaged four-storey building with a hotel sign.

Local media reported the damaged building is Reikartz Hotel in the city centre on the bank of the Dnipro River.

The United Nations staff used the hotel when they worked in the town, said Denise Brown, the humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, in an emailed statement.

"I am appalled by the news that a hotel frequently used by United Nations personnel and our colleagues from NGOs supporting people affected by the war has been hit by a Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia shortly ago," she said. "I have stayed in this hotel every single time I visited Zaporizhzhia."

It was the second strike on Zaporizhzhia in as many days. Two young women and a man were killed and nine other people were wounded in a Russian missile attack on Wednesday.

** Ukraine announces 'humanitarian corridor' for ships stuck in Black Sea ports

Ukraine announced a "humanitarian corridor" in the Black Sea on Thursday to release cargo ships trapped in its ports since the outbreak of war, a new test of Russia's de facto blockade since Moscow abandoned a deal last month to let Kyiv export grain.

At least initially, the corridor would apply to vessels such as container ships that have been stuck in Ukrainian ports since the February 2022 invasion, and were not covered by the deal that opened the ports for grain shipments last year.

But it could be a major test of Ukraine's ability to reopen sea lanes at a time when Russia is trying to reimpose its de-facto blockade, having abandoned the grain deal last month. Shipping and insurance sources expressed concerns about safety.

In a statement, the Ukrainian navy said the routes had already been proposed by Ukraine directly to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The routes would "primarily be used for civilian ships which have been in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa, and Pivdenny since the beginning of the full-scale invasion by Russia on February 24, 2022."

"Vessels whose owners/captains officially confirm that they are ready to sail in the current conditions will be allowed to pass through the routes," the statement said, adding that risks remained from mines and the military threat from Russia.

Oleh Chalyk, a spokesperson for Ukraine's navy, told Reuters: "The corridor will be very transparent, we will put cameras on the ships and there will be a broadcast to show that this is purely a humanitarian mission and has no military purpose."

There was no immediate response to requests for comment from Moscow.

Deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq said: "Safe navigation for merchant shipping was one of the benefits of the Black Sea Initiative, which we hope can resume."

"The obligations of International Humanitarian Law on land and sea must be upheld."

Shipping and insurance sources familiar with Ukraine said they were not informed about the new corridor and there were questions over its viability. It was unlikely most ships would agree to sail at the moment, they said.

"Insurers and their backing banks will have to agree and they may say we do not like the risks," one insurance source said.

"The possibility of multiple seafarer deaths (in the event of a ship being hit) has not been addressed, so this is another major question," a shipping industry source said.

STUCK IN PORTS

Around 60 commercial ships have been stuck in the Ukrainian ports since Russia's invasion, their fates unresolved by the deal that allowed grain exports to resume in July last year.

Many of the ships' crews have been evacuated, leaving locally hired Ukrainian staff to help look after the vessels.

Since abandoning the grain deal, Russia has said it will treat any ships approaching Ukrainian ports as potential military vessels, and their flag countries as combatants on the Ukrainian side. Kyiv has responded with a similar threat to ships approaching Russian or Russian-held Ukrainian ports.

The United Nations has said Russia's decision to quit the deal risks worsening a global food crisis, hurting poor countries the worst, by keeping grain from one of the world's biggest exporters off the market.

Moscow says it will return to the grain deal only if it receives better terms for its own exports of food and fertiliser. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, co-sponsor of the grain deal alongside the U.N., says he hopes to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to rejoin it at talks this month.

"I think it will not be an exaggeration to say that President Erdogan is probably the only man in the world who can convince President Putin to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

A German grain trader told Reuters: "People want more details about the Ukrainian temporary shipping channel announced today as it cannot work unless Russia gives a concrete commitment not to attack the ships."

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Poland admits Ukraine’s counteroffensive won’t succeed

Polish President Andrzej Duda, one of Kiev’s most ardent foreign backers, has predicted that Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces will likely fail. Duda, like his counterpart in Kiev, claimed that even more Western weapons were the answer.

“Does Ukraine have enough weapons to change the balance of the war and get the upper hand?” Duda asked the newspaper in an interview published on Thursday, before answering, “Probably, no.” 

“We know this by the fact that they’re not currently able to carry out a very decisive counteroffensive against the Russian military,” he continued. “To make a long story short, they need more assistance.”

Ukraine launched its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russian forces in early June, assaulting multiple points along the frontline from Zaporozhye to Donetsk Regions. However, the Russian military had spent several months preparing a dense and multi-layered network of minefields, trenches, and fortifications, which the Ukrainian side has thus far failed to overcome

Advancing through minefields without air support, Ukraine’s Western-trained and NATO-equipped units have suffered horrendous casualties, losing 43,000 troops and 4,900 pieces of heavy weaponry in just over two months, according to the most recent figures from the Russian Defense Ministry.

Recent media reports suggest that Kiev’s Western backers knew that Ukraine wasn’t ready to go on the offensive, but encouraged the operation nonetheless. Duda was among those cheerleading the counteroffensive, declaring in early June that the operation would lead to “the ousting of Russian military forces from all occupied territories.”

Like Duda, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky now blames his forces’ lack of success on the West, claiming that Ukraine did not receive enough munitions, weaponry, or training to succeed. Zelensky and his senior officials have repeatedly asked the US and its allies for F-16 fighter jets, long-range missiles, and anti-aircraft weaponry, claiming that this equipment will reverse Ukraine’s losing streak on the battlefield.

Moscow has repeatedly urged the West to stop “pumping” weapons into Ukraine, warning that continued military aid will only prolong the conflict and inflict more destruction upon Ukraine, without changing the final outcome.

** Zelensky will never negotiate with Putin – Ukrainian FM

If and when Kiev decides to negotiate with Moscow, it will not do so with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said in an interview with the Italian outlet Corriere della Sera, published on Thursday.

Putin “has committed too many very serious crimes,” Kuleba, who is recovering from Covid-19, told the outlet over the telephone. “It is clear to us that we will never be able to see Putin and [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky sitting at the same table.”

“We can negotiate with Russia after the withdrawal of their troops from our territories, but not with Putin,” Kuleba insisted.

Asked if this would mean an escalation of the conflict, Kuleba argued that “the worst has already happened, nothing can surprise us anymore,” and that the war had been total from the beginning. 

“The counter-offensive will soon give us victories and we will continue to fight, we have no alternatives,” he added.

“It’s not easy for our soldiers to advance. But, eventually, we will,” Kuleba said of the offensive, which he described as “progressing slowly but steadily.” He maintained that time was on Ukraine’s side “for the simple fact that our military capabilities are growing, while Russia’s are decreasing,” and that Kiev is “counting on the fact that the war will end in our favor at some point.”

Kuleba made sure to thank Italy for the weapons and supplies it had delivered to Ukraine, noting that nothing would be enough “until we have won this war.” He also asked for even more artillery, ammunition, and anti-aircraft systems.

NATO-trained Ukrainian brigades, equipped with Western tanks and armored vehicles, have not been able to get past the Russian outposts on the southern front since early June, at a cost of an estimated 43,000 dead. Meanwhile, Russian troops have advanced in the north, threatening the Ukrainian hold on the key city of Kupiansk.

In October 2022, Zelensky banned any Ukrainian from negotiating with Putin. The following month, he proposed a “peace platform” that demanded unconditional Russian withdrawal from territories Kiev claims as its own, including Crimea. Kiev has insisted on that as the only acceptable framework for talks ever since. Russia has rejected it as a delusional ultimatum, adding that Ukraine recognizing reality is a prerequisite for any peace talks.

Reuters/RT

If President Bola Tinubu hit the ground running, it was because problems chased him into office. Yet, it wasn’t long before he tripped on a matter in which his genius has been acknowledged: forming his cabinet. 

One of his credentials for eight years as governor of Lagos, and even outside public office for 16 years, has been his gift for spotting talents and putting them to work. 

He campaigned on this record in the last election. You can therefore imagine the disappointment in some circles when he not only waited 60 days, nearly exhausting the time allowed by law, but then went on to release in two instalments, lists that have been widely criticised as an appeasement to the “old brigade.”

There are, of course, bright spots with a few professionals and proven hands. But a cabinet which features nine former governors, a number of who had lost elections or had been ministers before, gives the impression that Tinubu’s genius for talent hunting may have been captured by vested interests on the national stage. Has Abuja, the graveyard of good intentions, done its worst? Is Tinubu undone by pressure? Or are there forces in his inner circle taking advantage of the chaos to grab power?

Reality is more nuanced. We’ve been here before, over 20 years ago. Tinubu was not in charge at the centre then. He was governor in Lagos, a complex place to govern no doubt, but far less so than the “beast” called the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was also faced with choices similar to those that Tinubu wrestled for 60 days. It’s easy to forget now, but Obasanjo’s choice of ministers in his first term, much like those of Shehu Shagari in 1979, gives an idea of what potentially confronts a new president, especially one that is a product of a fragile and fraught political transition. 

In hindsight, Obasanjo is applauded for assembling perhaps what has, so far, been the best collection of ministers in the last nearly four decades.

But it was not so when he first got into office. For those who despise politicians intensely, sometimes with reasons, it might be useful to remember that Obasanjo’s first collection of ministers was a shambles of strange bedfellows. It was spiced with Second Republic politicians retrieved from the museums, and former military governors and army generals who ran the country before the #EndSARS generation was born.

I’m not kidding. Obasanjo’s first list of ministers contained such names as General David Jemibewon; General TY Danjuma; Tony Anenih; Col. Mohamed Bello Kaliel (rtd); Adamu Ciroma; Iyorchia Ayu, Dapo Sarumi; Alabo Graham-Douglas; Bola Ige; Sunday Afolabi; Hassan Adamu; and Haliru Bello.

Even Ojo Maduekwe, one of the masterminds of Daniel Kanu’s two-million-man march who threatened to go on exile if General Sani Abacha did not run for office, also made Obasanjo’s ministerial list. It was that unwieldy.

If the team were a flight crew, not many would have been comfortable to fly. Obasanjo knew that but had his reasons for choosing them. The country was just transiting from decades of military rule. He needed politicians who understood the country, and also military-politicians who could help him stabilise things and keep soldiers at bay, while he launched a shuttle diplomacy to rebuild the country’s battered image.

But trust Obasanjo, the old fox. Once he got his footing and at least part-paid his political IOUs, he shuffled his cabinet within months, followed by another shuffle in his second year, in which he weeded out a number of the worst performers. 

By his second term in 2003, the cub in him had become a tiger drawing in some of the best talents, but also making mince-meat of a good number, including his deputy, Atiku Abubakar. It’s a story triumphantly told in three volumes of Obasanjo’s book, My Watch.

It’s fair to feel disappointed by a few nominees in Tinubu’s lists who make the legend of Robin Hood look like a child’s play. Some have also expressed concern about the role of Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, who has obviously set a new record as the country’s most expensive bespoke delivery service for political nominees’ list. 

Not a few curious eyebrows were raised when LEADERSHIP 

reported exclusively, for example, that against the ethics of international courier service, and in the midst of the screening, the integrity of the nominee lists was nearly undermined by allegations of “package tampering!”

I was genuinely concerned that the controversial news reports from the office of the Chief of Staff could make Mike Oghiadomhe, former Chief of Staff to President Goodluck Jonathan, look like an amateur. I’m not sure any Chief of Staff since 1999 has assumed and executed with a comparable degree of passion the task of dispatching nominees' lists the way Gbajabiamila has done so far.  

Those who know him well, famously called Gbaja-philes in Villa-pedia, however insist that his performance is out of the goodness of his heart; and so, I won’t let anyone put words into my mouth or ideas in my head about his sterling qualities. 

Since the Chief of Staff has taken over the function of the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) Liaison to the National Assembly as his own contribution to a leaner government, it is my humble submission that the positions of the two SSAs should be scrapped forthwith, at least to appease Labour. 

It is concerning, however, that at a time when Tinubu needs a strong inner circle to get things done, reports of a civil war, with his Chief of Staff at the heart of it, continue to engulf his government. From the election of presiding and principal officers in the 10th National Assembly to the nomination of ministers and God-knows-what-else, the story has been one of near complete Gbaja-nisation!

Yet, Tinubu’s job is cut out for him. He cannot blame anyone for what becomes of his presidency. If choosing the right team helped him get a lot done when he was much younger and stronger, then he needs that gift even more desperately in the midst of the present chaos. 

The tough, but necessary decisions he has taken already mean that if he has his eye on legacy, never mind a second term, then there’s very little time to settle IOUs or indulge internal strife. 

That’s not all. It also means that while Tinubu would hardly get any credit if the suspects in his cabinet perform, he would be blamed squarely if they fail and he alone would bear the brunt of the difference between expediency and necessity.

All said, when our obsession with Abuja has faded, perhaps in a week or two after the ministers have been assigned portfolios, we must quickly turn our attention to the states, a number of which offer the premium version of the atrocities we saw on the national stage in the last one week. 

** Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

On Monday, August 7, the Senate confirmed 45 of the 48 ministerial nominees sent to it by President Bola Tinubu. Surprisingly, it deferred the confirmation of three nominees – former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai; a former senator from Taraba, Sani Danladi; and a nominee from Delta State, Stella Okotete – because of undisclosed security concerns.

Tinubu transmitted the names of the 48 nominees in three separate correspondences to the Senate on July 28, August 3 and August 4, the last list containing the names of Festus Keyamo, former Minister of State for Labour and Employment from Delta State and Mariya Mahmoud, a replacement for Maryam Shetty, whose nomination was withdrawn. Many Nigerians are perplexed at the development because nominees ought to have scaled the security hurdle before coming to the Senate. Does it mean that the Department of State Services, DSS, and other security agencies did not do due diligence?

I doubt! So, there must be something the powers-that-be are not telling Nigerians. But whatever that is, I will be pleasantly surprised if the three, particularly El-Rufai, is not cleared. If Tinubu wants him in his cabinet, then in his cabinet El-Rufai will be. After all, the senators have been rewarded handsomely for letting the nominees, including Bello Muhammad from Sokoto State, who got admission into the university with only two credits, off the hook lightly as disclosed by the “Uncommon Senate President” on Monday.

“In order to enable all of us enjoy our holidays, a token has been sent to our various accounts by the Clerk of the National Assembly,” Akpabio, grandmaster in the art of procuring loyalty, enthused before the adjournment motion was moved to the embarrassment of his colleagues, who knew that he was on hot mic. Apparently, the excitable and high-strung Senate president was carried away.

When the video started trending on Wednesday, a colleague of mine and fellow Chevening scholar from Kaduna State sent me a text message: “This guy (Akpabio) is not fit to lead the Senate. I was shocked when I heard him live.” My response was straightforward: “I am shocked that you were shocked that Akpabio said that.” To be fair, what is happening on Akpabio’s watch has been the norm since 1999. Perhaps, the only difference is that given his pedigree, he will take the art a notch higher than his predecessors. The money paid into their accounts to enjoy their holidays was a back rub from an appreciative presidency for a job well done. As Shehu Sani noted on Wednesday, “crediting the legislators accounts are done under mute button, the Uncommon Senate President mistakenly pressed the alarm”.

Nevertheless, I am knocked for six that some Nigerians are yet to come to the realisation that whatever we thought were the shortcomings of the Ahmad Lawan-led ninth Senate, the tenth Senate will be far worse. Akpabio will not only jump whenever Tinubu wishes, he will ask how high. But that is a matter for another day. Back to Tinubu’s 48-member cabinet. First, it is too bloated for a country on the edge of bankruptcy and in dire need of cutting down the cost of governance. But the second and most important issue which Tinubu’s cabinet has raised is his contempt for the Southeast.

With the highly skewed nominations, the president simply intensified his war of attrition against a region whose only crime is that one of their own, Peter Obi, had the guts to run for the presidency of his country. In assembling his 48-member cabinet, Tinubu willfully shortchanged the region and violated the Federal Character principle by refusing to accede them a zonal representation as he did to others. This shabby, in-your-face treatment for a zone with equal stake like others in the Nigeria project is condemnable.

The 1999 Constitution stipulates that there must be one minister from each of the 36 states of the federation. Presidents have also used their discretion to add six more ministers, one from each of the six geo-political zones in what is now known as zonal representation to bring the number to 42. Tinubu added 12 more ministers to the list, thus bringing the number to 48. But an analysis of the ministerial spread shows that the Southeast is the only region without a zonal representation under Tinubu’s cynical watch. Ordinarily, the Southeast as the only zone with five states is grossly shortchanged in terms of political representation. In the Senate, they have only 15 senators while four other zones with six states each – Southwest, Southsouth, Northeast, Northcentral – have 18 senators and Northwest with seven states has 21 senators.

Not only that, by virtue of the inequity in the number of states, all the other five zones are already ahead of the Southeast in the constitutionally mandatory allocation of ministers – Northwest (7), Northeast, Northcentral, Southwest, Southsouth with six ministers each while Southeast has only five. If fairness and equity were to be the lightening rod of governance in Nigeria, the Southeast is the zone where the president should use his discretionary power to give extra slot(s). But anyone who expects Tinubu to do that neither knows the man nor his politics.

In his distribution of the extra ministerial slots, he gave additional three ministers each to Northwest and Southwest, making it a total of 10 and nine ministers respectively for the zones; Northeast, Northcentral and Southsouth got two extra ministers, a total of eight for each of the zones. Thus, in the 48-member cabinet, Southeast has an insignificant 10.4 per cent representation. This exclusionary absurdity is unconscionable. The implication is that rather than rejecting, Tinubu is doubling down on Buhari’s politics of exclusion playbook as enunciated at the U.S. Institute of Peace in July 2015.

For those who may have forgotten, here is Buhari’s doctrine. Tasked by Pauline Baker, President Emeritus of The Fund for Peace, on inclusive government, Buhari retorted: “I hope you have a copy of the election results. The constituents, for example, gave me 97 percent (of the vote) cannot in all honesty be treated on some issues with constituencies that gave me five per cent.”

Tinubu is on the same trajectory. But isn’t that view harebrained, grossly mistaken and mischievous? Right now, Tinubu’s party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, holds sway in two of the five Southeast states – Imo and Ebonyi. The three other dominant political parties – Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is in power in Enugu, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, dominates Anambra politics and Labour Party calls the shot in Abia. So, APC controls 40 per cent of the states in the Southeast.

Granted, Tinubu did not win any of the Southeast states in the presidential election, but even in the Southsouth, without the electoral antics of former Rivers governor, Nyesom Wike, which gave him the State, he did not win anywhere else in the region. Labour Party carried the day in Edo, Cross River and Delta states while PDP took Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa. Even in the Southwest, PDP won in Osun State while Labour took Lagos. So, why is Tinubu singling out the Southeast for reprisals? 

As if that was not bad enough, the president ensured that the Southeast got what is unarguably the worst quality of representation since the return of democracy in 1999. He clearly sidelined the region’s first eleven and went for people who will be beholden to interests that are adversarial to the region. The only reason why anyone would appoint Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, Nkeruika Onyejeocha, Uche Nnaji and Doris Uzoka as ministers from Southeast is to rub insult into the injury of under-representation. Tinubu’s war against Southeast cannot be more brazen but he will fail just like his predecessor failed.

In October 2022, New York City officials unveiled a new bike lane on Schermerhorn street, one of the most dangerous and heavily trafficked streets in downtown Brooklyn and somewhere I had always avoided on my bike. Unless I was a religious reader of transportation department press releases (I’m not), I would have no way of knowing the lane existed – except that very same morning, my Apple Maps app sent me on the new Schermerhorn bike lane, instead of hurtling down Dean Street. By the time I was taking my return route, it was busy with cyclists.

For Apple to know the lane was open, it had to have updates from the Adams’s administration, as well as, presumably, hundreds of other city governments around the world. How was the company pulling it off? And it’s not just cycling: it also knows the placement of the trees in Central Park, when the bus is coming, and whether a dive bar takes contactless payments or is cash only.

“It’s a huge effort,” says Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice-president of services and the man with the responsibility for Maps alongside services such as iCloud, Apple TV+ and Apple Music. “You say something like we’re going to introduce cycling – how big of a deal is it? Well, if you want to do it really well, it turns out, it’s a big deal. Because you got bike lanes, you don’t want to put people in a more difficult position, so we let them choose if you stay away from heavy traffic roads. So there’s a lot of a lot of effort and detail that goes into creating a great cycling map.”

Apple Maps’ offering might surprise people who remember its disastrous launch in 2012, which the Guardian described as the company’s “first significant failure in years”. Users were more than furious – they were lost, sometimes dangerously so. In Australia, police had to rescue tourists from the huge Murray-Sunset national park, after Maps placed the city of Mildura in the wrong place by more than 40 miles. Some of the motorists located by police had been stranded for 24 hours without food or water. In Ireland, ministers had to complain directly to Apple after a cafe and gardens called “Airfield” was designated by the service as an actual airport.

But mostly the map was just glitchy and unhelpful, its directions always a little off kilter. Users revolted and Apple made a rare retreat, allowing Google Maps to be used as the default on many iPhone apps and apologizing for the product.

But since then it has spent an inordinate amount of money and time improving maps. It has sent out teams worldwide, not just in vans with cameras but on bikes and on foot, walking in places where aerial mapping technology can’t provide enough information.

Over the past month, I’ve spoken with engineers at Apple about how Maps started to get good. They told me that as well as data from city officials, including digital dashboards that update maps automatically, they also monitor changes from riders themselves. They can see if there is an unusually large number of people riding bikes in a particular location and then send someone with a backpack or a car to see if there’s a new bike path in that area. Sometimes they get this information before it’s been officially recorded by the government.

These kinds of techniques mean that while Apple has become more competitive with Waze and Google Maps on driving instructions, it’s on cycling and public transit that Apple Maps has built perhaps the most impressive resource yet available – with incredibly detailed instructions than can open up a city even for a nervous cyclist (Eddy Cue, unsurprisingly, describes it as the best cycling map in the world).

Cycling is one of the only silver bullets in the fight against climate change. It’s cheaper, healthier and often faster than driving – and crucially, a person who choses a bike over a car just once a day reduces their carbon emissions from transportation by about 67%. But many people are rightly terrified of getting on a bike. Accidents remain high, and although cities including London, Paris and New York have done a lot to improve cycle lanes in the past decade, it’s very difficult to make sure you’re always cycling the safest route without an incredibly detailed knowledge of a city’s streets. Often governments close streets to cars, or build protected cycle lanes, but then it takes months before cyclists actually discover them.

But with one earbud in and Siri activated, you can have a friendly voice guide you through a foreign city, drifting you towards cycle lanes and safer routes and navigating often complex one-way systems.

It’s not perfect; in New York, the cycling instructions don’t seem to know what times bus lanes are active, so on weekends the app will send you down congested streets instead of nearby cycle paths. In my hometown of London, where a lot of cycling routes are pathways in woods or through reservoirs, it has a habit of sending you down these dark and sometimes dangerous paths at night when the streets are much quicker and mostly empty. Engineers at Apple told me that routes were designated through a points-based algorithm in which points are tied to factors such as speed, traffic, distances and hills and then the routes with the highest points are offered to the user – so in theory, the points system can be refined over time to take in more factors.

Those kinds of algorithms are something mapmakers of even 30 years ago could not have imagined, and they are starting to have an effect on our real world.

In the post-apocalyptic, post-internet world in HBO’s The Last Of Us, there’s a scene in which the main character Joel, having spent weeks traversing an icy wasteland, happens upon a small cottage inhabited by an old couple. He holds them hostage at gunpoint to make a single demand: not food or shelter, but to know where he is on his map.

Joel’s desperation is familiar to the lost and weary of the last millennium, when the vast majority of maps were drawn the same way: an aerial view of streets, the reader left to work out their location using street names or landmarks. That’s normally OK in the throng of a city, but once you move to woods, parks or beaches (or an apocalyptic zombie world), such a map could quickly become useless.

That all changed with the arrival of the little blue dot – the constantly updated “you are here!” on our smartphones, one of the most fundamental shifts in our view of the world and our space within it. The ability to see not just our surroundings but our position in relation to them has made the world infinitely more navigable. Maps now transform in relation to us; north can be on the bottom or to the side; the world spins around us. Hiking maps like AllTrails have taken things further, drawing a line wherever the walker goes, so they can see how far they have veered from the path and in difficult situations, retrace their steps back home – a map being made in real time.

It feels like these tools have been around for ever, but Google Maps only launched a mobile app in 2007, and it only began offering turn-by-turn navigation for cars in 2009. Although satnavs had been available for longer, the ability of every person with a smartphone to know exactly where they were revolutionised how we saw our world and came close to ending one of the most common states of being for the previous millennia – being lost.

Now, of course, we have the opposite problem: we’ve become so reliant on our maps that our sense of direction has been shot to pieces. Some research says the brain’s hippocampus is actually smaller for people who rely on GPS. But there are many things the blue dot can’t tell you. Is your short walk to work actually a strenuous hill climb? Is it OK go jogging through the woods on your summer vacation, or are you encroaching on private property? Is a bike lane protected from traffic or a bumpy track? That’s the next frontier of digital maps and the implications could be even bigger than the dot.

“Most people think of maps as driving, but they play a much bigger role than that,” Cue says. “Maps play a big role in dining, in cycling, in air travel … where we now have detailed maps of restaurants and bathrooms inside terminals. It’s a huge part of what an iPhone is.”

In some cities, Apple Maps now has detailed drawings of landmarks and multi-city transit instructions that work across systems and even across countries.

These changes in maps also change our behavior and our environment. There are hundreds of stories of Waze destroying quiet neighborhoods by revealing once secret shortcuts to every driver. They can also transform the fortunes of businesses that show prominently on the maps, and push millions to take public transit options they might not know were available.

But for some in the cartography community, lack of transparency in such systems creates serious issues. Google has a secret algorithm selecting the businesses and landmarks that appear prominently, leaving many small businesses wondering why they’re not showing up.

As Cue himself recognises, “there are really only two mapmakers left in the world, in ourselves and Google” – and that monopoly of information, says Clancy Wilmott, a professor specialising in digital cartographies at Berkley, has consequences.

Wilmott worries that these maps, now dominant, lack information that more traditional maps like Britain’s Ordnance Survey (OS) still have: “An OS map shows you where a stile is for horses; I’m not sure Google Maps even knows what a stile is. When you’re surveying a space, you find that information but geo AI doesn’t have that information. I’m from Australia – you can look at a space where Google Maps might tell you to walk a route through tall long grass, but if you’re from a place you know: there will be snakes in there. Most of this kind of mapping, because it was developed out of urban maps, privileges urban information, not rural information.”

Willmott is a strong advocate for publicly owned mapping services but recognises that no government body has the kind of infrastructure that Apple does. For their part, the Apple Maps engineers I spoke with acknowledged that they were more reliant on AI, aerial photography and existing data in rural settings and were focusing on expanding to more cities. But they are also experimenting with new ways of reaching non-urban areas that don’t have such obvious landmarks and street names. Right now, the app will tell you to “turn right at the stop sign”, or “at the lights, go straight over”, but they want to expand the kinds of objects included. Maps engineers hope that in countries where street names are often unclear, the app might be able to route you based on landmarks alone.

“If I was giving you instructions to my house, besides giving you the address, I wouldn’t just tell you to turn left, turn right. I’d say: ‘Once you’re on my street and you see the brick column, that driveway right after is mine.’ We’ve been working hard on that as well,” Cue says, adding that the future might be Siri telling you to “make a left at the yellow house”.

Even so, he acknowledges that unlike many of their other products, Apple Maps will never really be finished.

“Things are changing constantly over the world,” says Cue. “The cool thing is, there’s always more to do. It’s truly a lifetime’s work.”

The Guardian UK

Naira extended its slump in black-market trading as the nation’s dollar shortage deepened two months after the central bank moved to a more flexible exchange rate to encourage inflows.

The currency of Africa’s biggest crude oil producer weakened to 917 naira per dollar, compared with 900 naira the day before, according to Umar Salisu, a bureau de change operator who tracks currency data in the nation’s commercial capital. Banks are unable to come up with the dollars to meet demand, and buyers are increasingly turning to the black market, widening the gap between the official exchange rate and the price on the street.

Central Bank of Nigeria eased foreign exchange controls in mid-June as it sought to simplify its exchange-rate regime and kick-start dollar flows. That saw the official rate plunge 40%, briefly aligning with the black market.

But with dollar supply still limited relative to demand, the spread has continued to widen. It cost 757.51 naira to buy a dollar on Tuesday at the official rate, according to FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, the Lagos-based platform that oversees foreign-exchange trading.

“Companies are pricing dollars on the streets to import goods ahead of Christmas season sales and there are individuals buying dollars for vacation abroad,” Salisu said in a telephone interview. “Buyers said they’re not getting the dollar at the banks, so the pressure is seen on the street market.”

Part of the reason for the dollar shortage is the legacy of the government’s currency controls aimed at checking dollar demand. Now that the restrictions have been lifted, markets need to digest a heavy backlog of unmet requests.

Bloomberg

Azman Air has sent all of its staff on a compulsory leave without pay, indefinitely.

Nurudden Aliyu, the airline’s spokesperson, said the decision was made due to a number of factors, including the ongoing C-checks on its aircraft and the high cost of operations.

In aviation, C-check is a deep inspection of the majority of an aircraft’s components usually done by a maintenance technician. The goal is to check the functionality of the plane.

“We have temporarily suspended operations due to all our 737 used for domestic operation being due for C-checks,” Aliyu said.

“We have already sent two of them to a maintenance facility in Turkey, but unfortunately, since we sent the aircraft there, there is a queue in the maintenance hanger and they were not able to finish in time.

“The other two we are using here are also due for maintenance and we are trying to send them for C-checks also.

“Also, one of the aircraft has achieved 90 percent completion so we are expecting two of the aircraft back in October.”

‘AZMAN AIR FACING FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS’

Aliyu further said the airline is facing financial difficulties due to a lack of revenue, explaining that sending workers on leave without pay was a way to cut costs.

“We have been doing on-and-off operations since March, sometimes with one aircraft. So we decided, due to this harsh situation, to temporarily suspend domestic operation until we put our house in order,” the spokesperson said.

“We are not going to employ another set of people, we are going to engage them; that’s why in the mail sent to them we gave them assurance that once the situation normalises, they will be called upon.

“The only problem is that we didn’t state the date of resumption. Like I said, since March that we have been doing on-and-off operation, we have not denied anybody salaries, we have been consistent in that regard but the burden became too much on the company since there is no revenue, that’s why we decided to suspend operations.”

‘WORKING TO REFUND CUSTOMERS FOR CANCELLED FLIGHTS’

In the past months, a lot of Nigerians have shared their ordeal with Azman Air, accusing the airline of cancelling their flights and refusing to make refunds.

Aliyu, speaking on the matter, said the airline has made it a priority to process the payment for those that have applied for a refund and that they hope to complete the process upon resumption.

“We are working on that and we are going to pay everybody. In fact, that’s what we are working on now, to pay those that have refund cases with us,” he said.

“The payment will be made to those that apply to get a refund. Once your flight is cancelled we have a refund form that customers are meant to fill. It’s only the customers that fill this form that can be refunded.

“We are determined to make payment to everyone we are owing and we hope to clear that upon our resumption.”

The Cable

Angela Liu, counsel to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, says the “vigorous opposition” by President Bola Tinubu in the bid to unravel controversy around his academic records is suspicious.

In a statement on Wednesday, Liu said Tinubu should be keen on clearing the controversy surrounding his academic records at the US institution.

“Tinubu should have been keen to clear up any inconsistencies in his academic achievements and set the records straight by allowing the expedition of the legal process,” she said.

“If there is an explanation for the discrepancies we have identified, we would think that Tinubu would be eager to provide it.

“If you would like to provide an explanation to us, we are happy to consider it. That might preclude the need for, or at least expedite the deposition.

“In candour, the vehemence of Tinubu’s opposition to this discovery is increasing rather than mitigating our suspicions.”

The lawyer said Tinubu had been counseled to join the case earlier but he chose to remain silent.

She added that the president waited until Abubakar’s team submitted an “order directing discovery” of his academic records in court before indicating interest in joining the suit.

“Tinubu turned around a week later and headed straight to the states district court for the northern district of Illinois to apply to join as previously advised without consulting with Abubakar, perceived as a devious delay gimmick,” she added.

“At the outset, the applicant emphasises that he does not oppose the motion, but questions why Tinubu filed it, instead of contacting and coordinating with the applicant’s counsel to submit a joint submission.”

The Cable

Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has stated its opposition to the sanctions imposed on Niger by ECOWAS following the coup in the country.

“…it is well known that such kinds of economic sanctions are counter-productive and eventually end in futility,” the NSCIA stated in a statement by its Deputy Secretary-General, Salisu Shehu.

NSCIA, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Abubakar, also stated its opposition to using force to dislodge the putschists who ousted President Mohamed Bazoum from office last month.

In its statement, NSCIA acknowledged that the coup leaders were defiant in their stance but called for dialogue in dealing with them.

NSCIA is the most influential Islamic organisation in Nigeria where millions of Muslims consider the Sultan as their leader.

It would be recalled that the Sultan was appointed as a member of a three-person team to negotiate with the coup leaders. The team however could not meet leader of the military junta.

PT

Niger's military junta met with two Nigerian envoys on Wednesday, offering hope for dialogue before a summit with regional leaders that could result in military action to restore democracy.

The talks took place as Niger accused France of violating its airspace, attacking a military camp and freeing "terrorists" to undermine the country. Paris denied the charges.

Army officer Amadou Abdramane, speaking for the coup leaders, made the allegations in a video statement, stoking tension ahead of Thursday's meeting of West African heads of state, who are expected to discuss options including military action against the junta.

"What we are seeing is a plan to destabilise our country," Abdramane said.

France's foreign ministry rejected the accusations, saying its aircraft was operating under an existing agreement with Niger forces and its troops were in the west African nation at the request of legitimate authorities.

During its standoff, the junta has rebuffed diplomatic overtures from African, U.S. and U.N. envoys. The junta leaders made an exception by meeting on Wednesday with two envoys of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who also chairs the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in the capital Niamey, a Nigerian government source said.

The envoys - prominent traditional leaders Lamido Muhammad Sanusi and Abdulsalami Abubarkar - were allowed into the country despite closed borders.

Only Sanusi met junta leader General Abdourahamane Tiani, while his counterpart met with other representatives at the airport.

"We’ll continue to do our best to bring the two parties together to improve understanding. This is the time for public diplomacy," Sanusi told reporters upon his return to Abuja.

"CRUEL" DETENTION

The party of Niger's deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, accused the junta, which seized power on July 26, of keeping him and his family in "cruel" and "inhumane" detention at the presidential residence.

In a statement calling for a nationwide mobilisation to save them, the PNDS-Tarayya party on Wednesday said the Bazoums had no running water, no electricity and no access to fresh goods or doctors.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the U.S. was greatly worried about Bazoum's safety and was still looking for a reversal of the military takeover.

"We continue to engage with our partners in the region. We continue to engage with other governments," he told a briefing.

U.S. troops are in Niger along with French, Italian and German forces as part of international efforts to combat Islamist insurgents devastating the Sahel region under agreements with the now-deposed civilian government.

Rhetoric against former colonial power France has been a feature of coups in the region over the past two years, including in Mali and Burkina Faso, whose army rulers are strongly backing the generals now in charge in Niamey.

The junta has revoked military pacts with France, but Paris has rejected that decision, saying it was not taken by Niger's legitimate authorities.

INTERNAL CHALLENGE

The coup was triggered by internal politics but spun into an international drama. ECOWAS, the United Nations and Western countries have pressured the junta to stand down, while Mali and Burkina Faso have vowed to defend it.

The political scene became more complex on Wednesday as former rebel Rhissa Ag Boula announced a new Council of Resistance for the Republic (CRR) aimed at reinstating Bazoum.

"Niger is the victim of a tragedy orchestrated by people charged with protecting it," Ag Boula's statement said. The CRR would use "any means necessary" to stop the military takeover and supports international diplomacy, he said.

The challenge from Ag Boula raises the spectre of internal conflict in Niger, which until the coup was an important ally for the West in a region where other countries have turned towards Russia.

Western powers fear Russian influence could grow stronger if the junta in Niger follows Mali's example by ejecting Western troops and inviting in mercenaries from Russia's Wagner Group.

Ag Boula played a leading role in uprisings by Tuaregs, a nomadic ethnic group in Niger's desert north, in the 1990s and 2000s. Like many former rebels, he was integrated into government under Bazoum and his predecessor, Mahamadou Issoufou.

The coup's border and airspace closures have cut off supplies and hampered aid. The takeover has also prompted foreign financial sanctions against one of the world's poorest countries.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia downs drones headed towards Moscow

Two explosive-laden drones that were heading towards Moscow were successfully intercepted and shot down on Thursday morning. This was confirmed by the Mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, through his official Telegram channel, as well as Russia's Ministry of Defense.

According to Mayor Sobyanin, the air defense systems were activated at around 4 a.m. local time. One drone was intercepted over the Kaluga region, while the other was shot down in the vicinity of the Central Ring Road. 

The military added that 9 more UAVs were suppressed by means of electronic warfare and, having not reached the target, crashed in the Black Sea. "As a result of the thwarted terrorist attacks, there were no casualties and no damage," the ministry stressed.

At the same time, an auto repair shop in the suburban area of Domodedovo, just outside Moscow, became engulfed in flames, consuming an area of approximately 1,000 square meters. The regional branch of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MChS) confirmed the incident. Eyewitnesses reported hearing explosive sounds. Potential connection to the recently intercepted drones remains unclear.

Mayor Sobyanin previously reported two downed drones just a day prior. The surge in drone attacks from Kiev has been ongoing since late July.

On July 24th, two drones targeted buildings on Komsomolsky Avenue and a business center on Likhachev Avenue. Mayor Sobyanin and the Ministry of Defense had reported another thwarted attack on July 28th.

Further attempts took place on July 30th and August 1st when drones reached the "Moscow-City" business district. On July 30th, a drone crash resulted in minor damage to the facades of two office towers within the "IQ Quarter," housing key ministries including the Ministry of Digital Development, Ministry of Economic Development, and Ministry of Industry and Trade. On August 1st, a drone damaged a facade at the 21st floor level of one of the towers.

Sobyanin announced on August 6th that authorities had successfully thwarted another drone intrusion into the capital. The drone was eliminated using air defense measures. The Ministry of Defense confirmed the drone attack attempt, revealing that Ukraine had planned to target objects within the Moscow region. The drone was neutralized in the Podolsk district without causing casualties or significant damage, according to military sources. Later, the Mayor of Podolsk, Dmitry Zharikov, stated that several homes had experienced broken windows due to the incident.

In response to these attacks, Dmitry Peskov, the Press Secretary of the Russian President, commented that Ukraine's actions underscored the "nature of the Kiev regime." He emphasized that necessary measures were being taken to ensure security, and assured that there were no plans to increase the level of terrorist threat in Moscow.

** Profits of Western arms makers top $200 billion – report

The revenues of the top Western defense contractors have been soaring, with American weapons makers dominating the global arms industry, Defense News reported on Monday.

According to the magazine’s new ranking of the top 100 defense firms, in 2022, America’s top five weapons contractors made $196 billion in military-related revenue.

The ranking shows that four US-based companies were among the world’s top five military contractors. The US has emerged as the main source of weapons for Ukraine amid its conflict with Russia, having committed around $37 billion in security assistance to Kiev.

In the first half of the year, the revenue of the top 25 Western defense contractors increased by 11% to $212 billion, corporate information cited by the Ravenstvo Media Telegram channel shows.

According to the calculations, the total arms sales for these companies for 2023 are expected to amount to $448 billion – a $47 billion increase on last year. By 2026, the amount could rise by more than 20% to $554 billion on the back of arms deliveries to Ukraine and rearmament in Europe, the report noted.

It is estimated that Western defense contractors will increase revenues by $150 billion, or 37%, from 2021 to 2026. In contrast, economic growth in advanced countries will be half of that pace in the same period, Ravenstvo Media reported. It cited IMF projections that by 2026, the collective GDP for advanced nations will be $67.8 trillion, compared with $56.6 trillion in 2021.

US manufacturer Boeing is dominant among defense-focused companies, data shows, with supplies to Ukraine ranging from ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicles and Avenger air defense systems, to Harpoon and Hellfire missiles, and Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs.

Fellow US defense contractor RTX, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, has also supplied an array of arms and systems, including Patriot long-range missiles, Javelin and TOW anti-tank systems, and Stinger MANPADS.

France has sent SCALP long-range missiles, which are manufactured by MBDA, a joint venture between BAE Systems, Airbus, and Leonardo.

A recent report by the Pentagon inspector general revealed that some of the military equipment supplied to Ukraine by the US and its allies has fallen into the hands of criminal groups. Moscow, which strongly opposes the supply of Western weapons to Kiev, has frequently pointed to the danger of arms being smuggled out of Ukraine and sold on the black market.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine claims to uncover sleeper cell of female spies working for Russia

Ukraine claimed to have dismantled an all-female spy network operating in the Donetsk region, which allegedly had been leaking information to Russia’s intelligence services and Wagner Group mercenaries. 

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“The group consisted exclusively of local women who supported Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine,” the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, said in a statement Tuesday.

The SBU said that its Counterintelligence unit has arrested three women, all living in the city of Pokrovsk, as they were “conducting reconnaissance.”

Ukrainian investigators also allegedly identified a senior member of the spy ring, who at the beginning of the war relocated to Russia to coordinate her “team” remotely.

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According to the SBU, all four intelligence assets had been recruited by the Russians before the war “and until recently were on standby.”

The female agents allegedly worked simultaneously for Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, and Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary group.

“On the occupiers’ instructions, their accomplices collected intelligence on numbers and deployment of Ukrainian military equipment in the region,” Ukrainian security officials said.

The accused traitors’ chief mission was to identify Ukrainian fighter jets’ and attack helicopters’ flight paths — and pass that information on to their handlers in Moscow.

They were also reportedly interested in the movements of Ukrainian heavy armored vehicles to the frontline.

“To gather intelligence, the spies walked in the area and covertly took photographs of Ukrainian facilities and targets,” the SBU said.

The sensitive information was then transmitted to the enemy via secured private chats in a popular messaging app, which the SBU did not name.

When security service operatives searched the accused spies’ homes following the network’s bust, they seized cellphones “used for reconnaissance and sabotage activities against Ukraine,” according to the SBU.

All four women, including the alleged spymaster currently hiding out in Russia, are now facing charges of high treason, conspiracy and dissemination of information on transfer, movement or location of Ukraine’s forces, which are punishable by life in prison.  

The trio of suspected Russian moles who were collared in Pokrovsk have been ordered held in jail.

Separately, the SBU announced Tuesday that it has foiled an attempt by a sophisticated Russian hacking team, dubbed Sandworm, to breach the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ combat information system.

“As a result of complex measures, SBU exposed and blocked the illegal actions of Russian hackers who tried to penetrate Ukrainian military networks and organize intelligence gathering,” SBU wrote on Telegram.

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The service said the hackers tried to gain access to “sensitive information on the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the location and movement of the Defense Forces, their technical support.”

Cyber specialists learned that the hackers planned to use Ukrainian military tablets to spread viruses in the battle system, SBU said.

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These latest developments come a day after Ukrainian special services claimed to have uncovered a failed plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky with an airstrike during his recent visit to Mykolaiv.

The local SBU office has arrested a woman — dubbed a “traitor” — who was allegedly gathering and leaking information related to the military to the Russians.

** Two dead after Russian attack on Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia - minister

Two people were killed and seven injured in an apparent missile attack by Russia on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said.

A Reuters reporter at the scene saw emergency workers lifting a body, putting it on a stretcher and wrapping it into a black body bag.

Rescuers went through debris and an ambulance was parked near damaged buildings.

"We are waiting if they find anyone under the rubble," a doctor, Vyacheslav, said. He did not give his last name.

Ukrainian officials had earlier reported three deaths.

"Fortunately, one person was resuscitated. Doctors were assisted by police paramedics at the scene," Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on the Telegram messaging app.

Zaporizhzhia city council secretary Anatoliy Kurtev earlier said that Russia had hit a residential area of the city. According to him, windows were blown out in several buildings.

A video posted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy showed smoke billowing from burning and badly damaged buildings next to a church.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential administration, later posted a photo showing that the church is located close to residential buildings. Ukraine suspects that an Iskander missile was used in the attack, Yermak said.

RT/New York Post/Reuters