Sudan capital rocked by air strikes, looting

Residents of Sudan's capital reported heavy air strikes in central Khartoum on Tuesday amid a surge in looting while Saudi Arabia said negotiators were working toward a short-term ceasefire.

Witnesses said the army unleashed intense air bombardment in the centre of Khartoum and around the presidential palace. The rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary said the palace, which it claims to control, was hit by an air strike and destroyed, but an army source denied the claim.

The fighting in Khartoum, which erupted April 15, has prompted hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes and triggered an aid crisis. The number of people internally displaced within Sudan more than doubled in a week to 700,000, the U.N.'s migration agency said.

The two forces, which have failed to abide by repeated truce deals, sent representatives to talks in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on Saturday.

In the first report on the talks thus far, the Saudi foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the negotiations aimed to reach "an effective short-term ceasefire", Saudi state TV Al-Ekhbariya said.

Amid warnings that Sudan is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths proposed the warring parties back a declaration guaranteeing safe passage of aid supplies and the proposal has been discussed in Jeddah, a U.N. spokesperson said.

Griffiths "hopes the declaration can be endorsed as soon as possible so that the relief operation can scale up swiftly and safely to meet the needs of millions of people in Sudan," Deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters.

The United Nations estimates that 5 million additional people will need emergency assistance inside Sudan while 860,000 are expected to flee to neighbouring states that were already in crisis at a time when rich countries have cut back on aid.

The World Health Organisation on Tuesday raised the confirmed death toll in the conflict to more than 600, with 5,000 injured, though the true figure is thought to be much higher.

Lawlessness has taken hold in Khartoum and the two adjoining cities of Omdurman and Bahri, witnesses said. "The biggest danger is the spread of robbery and looting and the total absence of the police and the law," said Ahmed Saleh, 45, from Bahri.

Homes, shops and warehouses have all been targeted, residents said. Sudan's Banks Union condemned burglary and vandalism at some branches, saying banks were seeking to restore services if conditions allowed.

The eruption of conflict between Sudan's army and RSF risks a prolonged war that could draw in outside powers and unleash a new humanitarian crisis across the region.

The army, under General Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF under General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, had joined forces in a military coup in 2021, reconfiguring a planned transition to civilian rule.

But the rival military factions fell out over the terms and timing of the transition, leading to the sudden explosion of fighting in Khartoum in April that quickly spread to the Darfur region where a conflict had already rumbled since 2003.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday the U.S. will not give up the goal of putting Sudan back on track to civilian democratic governance, adding that Washington is working in Jeddah for a ceasefire and agreement on humanitarian aid.

Burhan said in a phone interview with an Egyptian TV station on Monday that the talks in Jeddah were aimed at relieving pressure on civilians, not at any political settlement. He accused the RSF of cutting off power and telecoms in areas they controlled.

The RSF has said in statements that it is seeking to keep services running in Khartoum and has rejected reports of looting and other abuses. It said on Tuesday that the army had been hitting residential areas with air strikes.

Reuters

FOR KOLE OMOTOSO AT 80

 (With the world still learning how to borrow a wondering leaf)

               I

That number sounds so heavy
     I can hardly lift it with my tongue
Its span springs a distance un-measurable
     By the stretch of any ruler

The sun’s silent steps across
     The infinity of the sky
The concourse of the clouds
     Which drill and drop the rains

Night after night after night
     We sleep in the songs
Which sleep in us, dance with the dawn
     Whose drum provokes our day

We rise, unaware,
     As those songs sizzle into see-suns
Stir into seasons when the tree’s green promise
     Yellows into edible consumations

And the seeds which broke the sod
     Laugh soundlessly at harvestide
Time always tells its story
     Even when our ears are usurped by jubilant echoes

Unforgettable,
     Those dusky days in Akure Oloyemekun
When Dawn lifted its delicate dust
     And a new and complex day was born

           II

You frolicked through that dawn
     Distilled its dew
Rose above its grass
     And foresaw its noon

Those were days of stirring drums
     And soulful dances
Of songs which sewed the seasons*
     Into skeins of wisdom and timeless wardrobes

Baked brave by the native sun
     Your feathered heels embraced the world
From Ibadan-Ife to Edinburg, land of the Scotts
     Then to our Caribbean of rooted bondings and kindred voices

When our fledgling letters cried out for a way
     Out of History’s pit, yours was a clear
Refreshing voice  in the chorus which pledged
     Our commitment to the common good

The aching necessity of Positive Change,
     And the possibilities of Hope
Values which build the Whole Person
     Visions which enable the Future

In every brick of The Edifice is a story
     Which foretells the blind bullets of The Combat
To Borrow a Wandering Leaf longs for a key
     Which unlocks those Memories of Our Recent Boom

The Scales have not fallen from the eyes
     Of those who pronounce The Curse
Season of Migration to the South
     Surely needs a new compass

Having gone from The Theatrical Into Theatre
     Our painted faces crave a million mirrors
The traffic between street and stage
     Is loud with unquenchable visions

It is still Just Before Dawn
     Countless seasons after the primal moon
Woza Africa. Behold your faithful Griot    
     As he joins the Venerable Conclave of Elders

 *Riff on Sew the Old Days, Molara Ogundipe’s  memorable collection of poems.

Twitter Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk on Tuesday revealed details about new features including adding calls and encrypted messaging coming to the platform.

Last year, Musk flagged plans for "Twitter 2.0 The Everything App", which he said would have features such as encrypted direct messages (DMs), longform tweets and payments.

"Coming soon will be voice and video chat from your handle to anyone on this platform, so you can talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them your phone number," Musk said in a tweet on Tuesday.

The call feature on Twitter will bring the micro-blogging platform into line with the likes of Meta's social media applications, Facebook and Instagram, which have similar features.

Musk said a version of encrypted direct messages will be available on Twitter starting Wednesday, but did not say if calls will be encrypted.

Twitter this week said it will start a cleansing process by removing and archiving accounts that have been inactive for several years.

Reuters

The cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has discovered a new Android subscription malware on Google Play, the official Android app store. The new malware has been given the name Fleckpe and is the newest addition to the realm of malware that generates unauthorized charges by subscribing users to premium services.

How is the new malware being spread?

Fleckpe is a subscription trojan that is spreading via Google Play as part of photo editing apps and smartphone wallpaper packs. What's worse is that even though this malware was just discovered, it's now known to have been actively spreading for a year and has already infected more than 620,000 devices.

How does it sign people up for paid subscriptions?

Once you have downloaded an app on your Android that has been infected with Fleckpe, the app will have access to your notifications, where a confirmation code can be found.

A malicious code will begin to run on your device, and that will contact the hackers through a command and control server. The hackers will then send over your device’s Mobile Country Code and Mobile Network Code, which are used to figure out where you live along with your mobile carrier.

Once they have this information, the hacker will then send a paid subscription page that is opened in an invisible browser by the trojan. It then signs you up for a paid subscription using the code it got once it was granted access to your notifications. This confirms the subscription, all while being invisible to you, as the app itself works completely normally.

What apps should I delete?

If you have any of the apps listed below on your Android, you should delete them immediately. These have all been infected with the Fleckpe malware, and the Google Play Store has removed them from the platform.

Beauty Camera Plus

Beauty Photo Camera

Beauty Slimming Photo Editor

Fingertip Graffiti

GIF Camera Editor

HD 4K Wallpaper

Impressionism Pro Camera

Microclip Video Editor

Night Mode Camera Pro

Photo Camera Editor

Photo Effect Editor

How else can I keep myself safe from these malicious apps?

Although these apps have been discovered and removed from the Google Play store, you should still be cautious because you never know what apps out there could get infected with malware. Here are some of my tips for avoiding getting malware on your Android.

Double-check the reviews

To avoid malware infection and subsequent financial loss, we recommend you always make sure that the apps you're downloading are from a legit source. For Android users, you should always be downloading apps from the Google Play Store, and remember to check the reviews on the app before downloading. If it looks like the app has a ton of negative reviews or very few reviews at all, then it is best to avoid downloading that app.

Make sure your devices, operating systems, and apps are up-to-date

Always keep your devices, operating systems, and apps up to date. You should always make sure that you have the latest software version available. These updates have stronger security features, so the newer the software, the better protected your Android will be.

Here's how to check if you need to update your Android:

Open your Settings app

Near the bottom, tap Software update

Then tap Download and install 

You'll see your update status. Follow any steps on the screen

Here's how to check if you need to update your Android apps:

Open the Google Play Store app

At the top right, tap the profile icon

Tap Manage apps & device. Apps with an update available are labeled Update available

Tap Update

Note: settings may vary depending on your Android phone's manufacturer.

Have good antivirus software on all your devices

This story is also another reminder to always have good antivirus software running on your devices, as malicious apps can be found on any platform, even if it is a legit one like the Google Play Store. Having antivirus software on your devices will help detect this type of trojan on an app you may have downloaded that may not have been removed yet from the Google Play Store.

Final thoughts

With the unnerving discovery of this latest subscription malware on Google Play called Fleckpe, it is crucial to only download apps from legitimate sources and double-check reviews, keep your devices, operating systems, and apps up-to-date, and have reliable antivirus software on all your devices.

Fox News

Being passive aggressive refers to expressing negative emotions such as anger, resentment, or hostility—indirectly. If you’ve ever felt undermined by a colleague at work or subtly mocked by a friend, you may have been the recipient of passive aggressive behavior.

Instead of being overtly aggressive, passive aggressive people communicate their frustrations in ways that appear innocuous on the surface. Some people engage in passive aggressive behavior only once in a while or in certain contexts. Others develop an unhealthy pattern of masking their harmful motives.

Learn more about what it means to be passive aggressive, include common causes and examples as well as ways to deal with it.

Examples of Passive Aggressive Behavior

Passive aggression can be difficult to spot because it typically looks outwardly harmless. That’s partly why it’s so frustrating to deal with. You might have a sneaking suspicion that your co-worker, relative, or even partner is cutting you down, but they can maintain plausible deniability.

Still, there are some telltale signs that you’re dealing with a pattern of passive aggressive behavior. Examples include:

Ghosting: One classic type of passive aggressive behavior is ghosting. Cutting someone out with no explanation is one way that people use to express their resentment or anger while avoiding conflict entirely.

The silent treatment: Some people who are uncomfortable with confrontation may find ways to show you they’re upset rather than telling you. Examples include giving you the silent treatment, acting cold and distant, or slamming doors and cupboards.

Hostility masked as humor: Has anyone made a cutting, sarcastic remark or a cruel insult at your expense but written it off as a joke? Often, passive aggression is thinly veiled as humor.

Subtle sabotage: Passive aggression sometimes manifests as covert sabotage. Someone may ostensibly agree to do something–for example, to complete a task at work or do you a favor–only to perform poorly. They may undermine you by making excuses or procrastinating.

Two-faced gossip: Some passive aggressive people will put on a front, acting friendly to your face but talking negatively behind your back to others. This pattern is especially common in friend groups and the workplace.

Causes of Passive Aggression

Everyone displays passive aggressive behavior on occasion. This is especially common in situations where we don’t feel like we can speak up without picking a fight. For example, you may feel that you can’t communicate your frustrations to your supervisor at work directly. Instead, those negative emotions might come out in other ways.

There are a few possible reasons why someone may display a pattern of passive aggressive behavior. Potential causes include:

Conflict avoidance: Passive aggressive behavior is often used as a defense mechanism to avoid confrontation and conflict. This pattern of conflict avoidance can develop for many reasons, from a lack of healthy boundaries and effective problem-solving skills to a history of being invalidated or punished for assertiveness. For example, someone who was raised in a culture or family where direct communication was considered taboo might develop passive aggressive traits as an adult. Chronic stress and certain personality traits, such as neuroticism and introversion, can also play a role.

Trauma: Childhood trauma is a risk factor for displaying passive aggression later in life. People who were neglected or invalidated in their early years may feel afraid or incapable of expressing negative emotions directly.

Mental health conditions: Passive aggressive behavior isn’t necessarily a symptom of mental illness. However, studies indicate that certain mental health conditions–such as adjustment disorder, borderline personality disorder (BPD), eating disorders, and depression–are associated with higher levels of passive aggressive traits. Research indicates that many people with depression, for example, develop passive aggressive patterns as a form of self-sabotage.
How to Cope With Passive Aggression

It can be difficult to know how to deal with passive aggressive colleagues, friends, or family members. Here are a few ways to cope with passive aggressive behavior:

Stay calm: It may be tempting to get upset in the moment if you’re feeling attacked or defensive. But it’s more productive if you keep your cool. Try as hard as possible not to take the bait and become aggressive yourself.

Use humor to deflect: Making a joke can sometimes defuse a situation and disarm someone who’s made a rude, passive aggressive comment.

Consider their perspective: There is often an underlying reason for passive aggression. For example, is the other person feeling burned out and overworked? Unheard? Taken advantage of or taken for granted? Do they feel powerless or silenced? Take an empathetic stance and question whether you could do anything to help.

Work as a team: When you’re dealing with a pattern of passive aggressive behavior, it can be easy to question yourself. You may wonder if you’re reading too much into things or being overly sensitive. Get a “reality check” from someone you trust to find out whether they see the situation the same way you do.

Keep a paper trail: In professional settings, it’s important to document everything you do if you feel like you’re being undermined. To avoid being blamed for your colleague’s (or supervisor’s) performance, keep a paper trail by getting your communication in writing.

Communicate directly: Some people are passive aggressive without realizing how their behavior is affecting others. Direct, assertive, and respectful communication can sometimes stop passive aggression in its tracks. If someone makes a hurtful comment, try letting them know how you feel in the moment.

Disengage if possible: In some cases, passive aggression develops into a persistent, toxic pattern. If you’ve tried the above tactics and things aren’t changing, consider limiting your contact with the person in question. Speak to them only when necessary or not at all, and try not to take their actions to heart. At the end of the day, you can only change and control your own behavior.

A Quick Review

Passive aggressive behavior refers to expressing frustration and other negative feelings in an outwardly innocuous or “innocent” way. For example, someone may take out their anger on you by giving you the silent treatment or making an underhanded remark rather than talking to you directly.

Almost everyone is passive aggressive at times, but sometimes it can become a harmful pattern of behavior. This may be related to a history of trauma, a desire to avoid conflict, or the effects of certain mental health disorders. You can deal with passive aggressive behavior more effectively by staying calm in the moment, giving the other person space to voice their feelings, and setting healthy boundaries.

Health

We all want to put our best foot forward in a job interview. Sometimes, that involves exaggerations and white lies. In fact, most of the time it does.

A survey of employees and hiring managers from the Interview Guys, a career website, found that the majority of employees exaggerate and pad their résumés by overstating their qualifications. Some of the most common lies are about their skills and accomplishments, strengths and weaknesses, and previous job responsibilities.

Candidates also admit to lying when they tell potential employers that they see themselves still working at the company five years down the road. And they often inflate their likes and dislikes to match the organization’s values.

“Seeing how competitive the job market can be, many resort to lying or exaggerating to separate themselves from the rest of the pack,” says Mike Simpson, CEO and cofounder of The Interview Guys. “We found that over 77% of prospective employees feel pressure to exaggerate their competencies to try and gain favor with a potential employer, and almost 65% have also overstated their qualifications on their résumé when applying to a job that was in high demand.”

The greatest motivation for lying was to secure a job offer, says Simpson. “If it means landing a job, almost 83% of prospective employees would have no problem throwing in a white lie here and there in the application process,” he says. “From our study, other common motivations for lying include receiving a higher salary, receiving a better job title, and fostering better relationships with prospective coworkers.”

Telltale clues a hiring manager should look for

That’s a lot of lying. But hiring managers are onto them, saying they know a lie when they hear it.

“It’s their job to vet and weed out applicants, so the odds of an applicant lying and not getting caught are pretty low,” says Simpson. “Almost three-quarters of hiring managers can tell if someone wasn’t telling the truth during an interview.”

The biggest tell that an applicant is lying is when they clearly lack the knowledge or skill when answering specific questions. “Over 7 in 10 hiring managers that we surveyed said this was the biggest sign that a potential employee is lying during their interview,” says Simpson.

Other indicators include nervous behaviors, such as voice changes and fidgeting, and when an applicant’s response has an excess of detailed information. In addition to lying, there are a number of red-flag behaviors that could leave a bad taste in an employer’s mouth.

“These include talking poorly about past and current employers, being negative or overconfident, and answering questions with an unnecessary amount of detail,” says Simpson.

What to do if you suspect the candidate is lying

When hiring managers catch candidates in a lie, the most common response is to dismiss them as a candidate. The Interview Guys survey found that more than half of hiring managers wouldn’t think twice about rejecting a potential employee if they were caught in a lie. But if everybody embellishes, is that the right response?

It depends on the lie. Complimenting the company simply to gain the employer’s favor, or overstating how much your values align with the organization, might be overlooked, says Simpson. Overstating your experience, however, will likely get you shown to the door.

“Generally speaking, throwing in a white lie here and there during the application or interview process is a risky play,” says Simpson. “That being said, lies don’t necessarily correlate to performance.”

Fast Company

The federal government, through the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), has approved Transcorp Group as the Preferred bidder for acquisition of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).

The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, revealed this Tuesday at the inauguration of the 240 megawatts (MW) Afam 3-Fast Power Plant, owned by Transcorp, in Oyinbo, Rivers State.

Thisday

The Supreme Court has affirmed election of Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, sealing his victory over then incumbent governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, in the keenly contested 16 July 2022 election in the state.

The judgement of a five-member panel, on Tuesday, upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which had earlier on 24 March affirmed Adeleke’s victory.

It lays to rest the dispute over the outcome of the governorship election, and extinguishes Oyetola’s hopes of coming back to office after his momentary victory at the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in January.

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winner of the election in an upset that deprived Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) a second term in office.

Displeased with INEC’s result, Oyetola had approached the election petition tribunal in Osogbo, the state capital, to challenge the outcome of the poll.

The tribunal in its decision  in January ruled in favour of Oyetola by declaring him winner of the election, and sacking Adeleke who was just months in office.

Adeleke, who remained in office to exhaust his right of appeal, had appealed against the decision of the tribunal.

His appeal was successful.

Upholding Adeleke’s victory, the Court of Appeal in Abuja held that the tribunal was wrong in its conclusion that that the election in some parts of the state was marred by over-voting, the pivotal legal issue on which Oyetola built his case.

The court held that “the burden of proving the allegations of over-voting lies squarely with the respondents Oyetola and the APC).”

“It is inconceivable to assume that the testimonies of the respondents’ witnesses had any probative value,” the appellate court held.

The Court of Appeal noted that Oyetola and the APC “did not tender the voter registers and Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS machines,” which captured data of eligible voters at the Osun governorship election.

“Though the 1st and 2nd respondents (Oyetola and APC) relied on BVAS reports obtained from INEC to prove over-voting, they did not, nonetheless, call petitioner’s witness 1 to speak to the reports, that is, Exhibits BVR reports from INEC’s back-end server.

“In their pleadings,” Oyetola and APC “alleged that the results recorded and transmitted directly from the polling units were not taken into account and therefore accredited voters recorded in Form EC8A from the disputed polling units do not tally with the number of BVAS for the same polling units.

“Strangely, the tribunal, in its judgment, only relied on the table set out in an address of counsel to hold that over voting occured in an election,” the Court of Appeal said.

PT

The presidential election petition tribunal has adjourned for further pre-hearing, the case filed by the Labour Party and its candidate, Peter Obi.

Obi and the LP filed a petition challenging the victory of Bola Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the  election.

In the petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023, Livy Ozoukwu, lead counsel to LP and Obi, said Tinubu “was not duly elected by the majority of the lawful votes cast at the time of the election”.

Amongst other allegations, they claimed that Kashim Shettima, vice-president-elect, had a double nomination in contravention of the electoral act.

The petitioners are asking the tribunal to declare Obi winner of the presidential poll or alternatively, order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election.

At the pre-hearing session on Monday, Livy Uzoukwu, announced an appearance for the petitioners.

Lawyers to the APC, Tinubu, and INEC informed the tribunal that they had filed separate responses to the questions raised by the petitioners in their processes.

Afterwards, the five-member panel led by Haruna Tsammani, adjourned till Wednesday for further pre-hearing.

The court directed parties in the petition to identify all the witness statements and documents they would rely on or object to during the hearing of the petitions.

While Lateef Fagbemi is the lawyer for the APC,  Wole Olanipekun is representing Tinubu. Abubakar Mahmoud is the counsel to INEC.

The tribunal also adjourned the petition of the Action Peoples Party (APP) to Wednesday for further pre-hearing.

However, pre-hearing session for Atiku Abubakar’s petition and Allied People’s Movement (APM) is expected to hold on Tuesday (today).

Meanwhile, earlier at the court session, Action Alliance (AA) withdrew its petition against the victory of Tinubu.

Since there was no opposition from respondents in the petition, the panel dismissed the petition.

The Cable

The All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State have expressed hope for victory as the Supreme Court today determines the authentic winner of the July 16, 2022 governorship election in the state.

PDP candidate, Ademola Adeleke, was returned elected by the Independent National Electoral Commission, but the APC candidate at the poll, Adegboyega Oyetola, rejected the result and approached the Election Petition Tribunal to challenge it.

Independent National Electoral Commission had declared that Adeleke polled 403,371 votes, to defeat then incumbent governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC, who got 375,027 votes.

But Oyetola and the APC rejected the result of the poll and headed for the tribunal.

In its January 27, 2023 majority verdict, the Tertse Kume-led tribunal annulled Adeleke’s victory and declared Oyetola the winner of the poll.

However, a minority judgment by B. Ogbuli affirmed Adeleke as the winner of the poll.

Displeased, Adeleke and the PDP headed for the Court of Appeal, which on March 24 nullified the tribunal judgment and returned Adeleke as winner.

Oyetola and the PDP, who were disastified with the judgment, then headed for the Supreme Court, which held the matter on Monday and fixed judgment for today (Tuesday).

At the sitting of the apex court panel that heard the matter on Monday, the parties adopted their briefs and addressed the court after which the panel announced Tuesday for judgment.

Punch