The pleasures of men are varied, “(King Ahasuerus) had ordered all the officers of his household, that they should do according to each man’s pleasure.” (Esther 1:8). But God prescribes only One pleasure for believers. That One pleasure is Himself.

God hates what pleases men. Jesus says, “What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15).  

God requires man to forsake his pleasures for His sake. He told me to forsake my favourite drinks, Coke and Fanta, and I have not had any of them in over 25 years.

Some pleasures He will require you to forsake permanently for His sake. Others He will require you to forsake for a season or some days. But if you are His son, one thing is certain: He will require you to forsake your pleasures at some time or the other. Jesus says: “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:33).

God’s Good Pleasure

God is passionately committed to His pleasure. He declares in Isaiah, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” (Isaiah 46:10). He says of Cyrus: “He shall perform all My pleasure.” (Isaiah 44:28).

God the Father declared from heaven that He was well pleased with Jesus on two occasions, at His baptism and transfiguration. He said: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17, 17:5).

God was pleased because Jesus knew the “good pleasure” of God, and He was determined to do it.

The Israelites thought it was their sacrifices and offerings that pleased God. But God kept sending His prophets to tell them He was not concerned about them. But they did not listen.

The Holy Spirit spoke a Messianic psalm by the mouth of David: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of Me. I delight to do Your will, O My God, and Your law is within My heart.’” (Psalm 40:6-8).

God was pleased with Jesus because the man Jesus did not come to the earth to do His own will, but the will of God. Jesus did not do what pleased Jesus but did what pleased God. This is all the more remarkable because what pleased God was not convenient for Jesus.

“It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” (Isaiah 53:10).

The pleasure of the Lord was to put Jesus through a terrible ordeal so that man would be saved. Paul says:

“Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him.” (Ephesians 1:9-10).

Jesus did not pursue His own pleasure but was devoted to what gave pleasure to God. He knew that what gives pleasure to God is the salvation of men. As He said to His disciples: “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32).

On the way to the cross, the man Jesus asked God the Father if there was any other way that His good pleasure in the salvation of men could be accomplished.

“He knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.’” (Luke 22:41-42).

The answer was that there was no other way. The good pleasure of the Lord in the salvation of souls could only be achieved with the cross. For man to be saved, Jesus would have to face a bruising and agonising death on the cross on behalf of all men. He would have to be a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Thereby, the good pleasure of God would be fulfilled through the redemption of men to eternal fellowship with God.

“For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation.” (Psalm 149:4).

What is the work that God is doing in believers for His good pleasure? He is “working salvation in the midst of the earth.” (Psalm 74:12).

The Father loves Jesus because Jesus agreed to embrace this plan of salvation, even though it was unpleasant. Jesus says:

“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” (John 10:17-18).

Jesus then tells us we are required to follow His example:

“He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour.” (John 12:25-26).

Who are those who love their lives in this world? They are those who are devoted to their own pleasures. They are those who do their own will. They are those who live in pleasure. Paul says: “She who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.” (1 Timothy 5:6).

Lovers of pleasure cannot be lovers of God. Lovers of pleasure cannot do the will of God. Jesus says: “Not My will but Yours be done.” But lovers of pleasure say, like Frank Sinatra: “I did it my way.”

Avoidance of Suffering

Those who opt for the bad pleasures of this life and try to avoid suffering cannot enter the kingdom of God. This is because God has decreed, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22).

Those devoted to bad pleasures who try to avoid tribulation easily fall into sin. Thus Elihu cautions: “Take heed, do not turn to iniquity, for you have chosen this rather than affliction.” (Job 36:21).

We cannot learn obedience without suffering.

Obedience requires us to do what we don’t want to do, or what we find inconvenient.

Sacrifices of Righteousness

Why do believers fast? The classical answer says we fast to draw near to God, subdue the flesh and be spiritually minded. But we don’t just fast, we fast to the Lord. “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.” (Romans 11:36).

We fast because Jesus returned to heaven, and we want to be near Him on earth. The scriptures tell us:

“The disciples of John came to Him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?’  And Jesus said to them, ‘Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.’” (Matthew 9:14-15).

Those days are already here.

But even more significantly, we fast because God hates the pleasures of men. When we fast, we fast our pleasures. God asks:

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ ‘In fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure.” (Isaiah 58:3).

Then He counsels:

“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honourable, and shall honour Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth” (Isaiah 58:13-14).

Therefore, James cautions:

“You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:3).

God is jealous that we find pleasure outside of Himself. He insists “(He) is the Desire of All Nations.” (Haggai 2:7).

The word of God must be our food and drink. Jesus says:

“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4).

Jeremiah says to God: “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.” (Jeremiah 15:16).

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The last memory Han Tae-soon has of her daughter as a child is in May 1975, at their home in Seoul.

"I was going to the market and asked Kyung-ha, 'Aren't you coming?' But she told me, 'No, I'm going to play with my friends'," recalled Ms Han.

"When I came back, she was gone."

Ms Han would not see her daughter again for more than four decades. When they reunited, Kyung-ha was almost unrecognisable as a middle-aged American woman named Laurie Bender.

Kyung-ha had been kidnapped near her home, brought to an orphanage, then sent illegally to the US to be raised by another family, alleges Ms Han, who is now suing the South Korean government for failing to prevent her daughter's adoption.

She is among the hundreds of people who have come forward in recent years with damning allegations of fraud, illegal adoptions, kidnapping and human trafficking in South Korea's controversial overseas adoption programme.

No other country has sent as many children abroad for adoption, and for so long, as South Korea. Since the programme began in the 1950s, about 170,000 to 200,000 children have been adopted overseas - most of them in the West.

In March, a landmark inquiry found that successive governments had committed human rights violations with their lack of oversight, allowing private agencies to "mass export" children for profit on an industrial scale.

Experts say the findings could open the door to more lawsuits against the government. Ms Han's is set to go to court next month.

It is one of two landmark cases. Ms Han is the first biological parent of an overseas adoptee seeking damages from the government, while in 2019, a man who was adopted in the US was the first adoptee to sue.

A government spokesman told the BBC that it "deeply sympathises with the emotional pain of individuals and families who could not find each other for a long time".

It added that it considered Ms Han's case with "deep regret" and that it would take "necessary actions" based on the outcome of the trial.

Ms Han, 71, told the BBC she is determined the government takes responsibility.

"I spent 44 years ruining my body and mind searching for [my daughter]. But in all that time, has anyone ever apologised to me? No one. Not once."

For decades, she and her husband visited police stations and orphanages, put up flyers, and went on television appealing for information. Ms Han said she spent all day pounding the streets looking for her daughter "till all 10 of my toenails fell out".

Over the years she thought she came close. In 1990, after one of her TV appeals, Ms Han met a woman who she believed could be Kyung-ha, and even took her in to live with her family for a while. But the woman eventually confessed she was not her daughter.

A breakthrough finally happened in 2019 when Ms Han signed up with 325 Kamra, a group that connects overseas Korean adoptees with their birth parents by matching their DNA.

They soon reported a match - Laurie Bender, a nurse in California. After several phone calls, she flew over to Seoul to meet Ms Han, where the two had a tearful reunion at the airport.

As they embraced, Ms Han ran her fingers through Kyung-ha's hair. "I've been a hairdresser for 30 years. I can quickly tell if it's my daughter just by feeling her hair. I had mistakenly thought I found her before, so I had to touch and feel the hair to confirm it," she said.

The first thing she told her daughter was "I'm so sorry".

"I felt guilty because she couldn't find her way home when she was a child. I kept thinking about how much she must have searched for her mother… Meeting her after all those years made me realise how much she must have longed for her mother, and it broke my heart."

"It's like a hole in your heart has been healed, you finally feel like a complete person," Kyung-ha said about their reunion in an earlier interview with the Associated Press. She did not respond to the BBC's requests for an interview.

The pair eventually pieced together what happened on that day in May 1975.

Kyung-ha, who was six years old at the time, was playing near her home when she was approached by a strange woman claiming to know her mother. Kyung-ha was told her mother "didn't need" her any more and was taken to a train station.

After taking a train ride with the woman, Kyung-ha was abandoned at the final stop, where she was eventually picked up by police officers and placed in an orphanage. Soon, she was flown to the US to be adopted by a couple in Virginia.

Years later, checks revealed she was given false papers stating she was an abandoned orphan whose parents were unknown.

"It's like you've been living a fake life and everything you know is not true," Kyung-ha said previously.

Her case was far from an isolated one.

A 'trade in children' from Asia to the West

South Korea's overseas adoption programme began in the ashes of the 1950-53 Korean War, when it was a deeply impoverished country with an estimated 100,000 orphaned and displaced children.

At that time, few families were willing to adopt non-biological children, and the government began an overseas adoption programme, billed as a humanitarian effort.

The programme was handled entirely by private adoption agencies. While they were under government oversight, over time these agencies gained significant autonomy through laws.

As their power grew, so did the number of children being sent abroad, rising in the 1970s and peaking in the 1980s. In 1985 alone, more than 8,800 children were sent overseas.

There was a massive demand from the West - with declining birth rates and fewer babies to adopt at home, families began seeking children elsewhere.

Photos from that era show planes heading to Western countries filled with Korean children, with swaddled babies strapped to seats – what the truth and reconciliation commission's inquiry called the "mass transportation of children like cargo".

The report alleges little care was taken of these children during these long flights. In one case it cited from 1974, a lactose-intolerant child was fed milk in transit and subsequently died upon arrival in Denmark.

Critics of the programme have long questioned why so many children needed to be sent overseas at a time when South Korea was already experiencing rapid economic growth.

A 1976 BBC Panorama documentary, which featured South Korea as one of several Asian countries sending children to the West, quoted an observer describing the situation as "out of control" and "almost like a trade in children… flowing from Asia into Europe and North America".

According to the truth and reconciliation report, foreign adoption agencies set quotas for children, which Korean agencies willingly fulfilled.

It was a profitable business - the lack of government regulation allowed the Korean agencies to charge large amounts and demand hidden fees termed as "donations".

Some of these children may have been obtained by unscrupulous means, with parents like Ms Han alleging their children were kidnapped. In the 1970s and 1980s, thousands of homeless or unattended children were rounded up and put in orphanages or welfare centres as part of a national campaign to "clean up the streets" of South Korea.

Other parents were told their babies had fallen sick and died, when they were actually alive and taken to adoption agencies. Agencies also did not obtain proper consent from birth mothers to take their children for adoption, according to the truth and reconciliation report.

The report also stated that adoption agencies deliberately falsified information in adoption records to cut corners and quickly meet the demand for children.

Lost children who were found without any identity documents would be made to appear, in paperwork, as if they had been abandoned and put up for adoption.

If a child intended for adoption had died or was reclaimed by their birth parents, another child would be swapped in and assigned the original child's identity. This allowed agencies to avoid refunding adoption fees and expedite the adoption process.

Decades on, this has created immense difficulties for many overseas adoptees trying to track down their biological parents.

Some have wrong or missing information in their adoption records, while others have discovered they were given entirely false identities.

"We are victims of state violence but there is no trace of this - literally. This lack of documents must not make us victims for the second time," said Han Boon-young, co-founder of an overseas adoptee rights group campaigning for greater access to birth information.

"This is a human rights issue. There were kidnappings, falsified documents - all of which were examples of violations committed during the inter-country adoption process.

"It is really necessary to move towards reconciliation, that we recognise these experiences, and that the people who committed these violations be held responsible."

But some of the key players continue to stay silent or deny wrongdoing.

The BBC contacted Bu Chung-ha, who in the 1970s served as chairman of Holt International, South Korea's largest adoption agency.

Holt is at the centre of numerous allegations of fraud and illegal adoptions, and the subject of two lawsuits so far, including Ms Han's.

In a brief reply, Mr Bu denied that the agency had sent abroad any children wrongly identified as orphans during his tenure. Any parents alleging their children were kidnapped "did not lose their children, they abandoned them", he said.

The current management of Holt International has yet to respond to the BBC's request for comment.

'The government was the captain, the agencies rowed the boat'

Experts say the responsibility lay not only with the private agencies but also with the state.

"Adoption agencies exploited the system, and the government turned a blind eye - allowing illegal practices to take root," said Dr Lee Kyung-eun, an international law scholar at Seoul National University.

"The government was the captain, and the agencies rowed the boat," said Shin Pil-sik, a researcher on transnational adoption at Seokyeong University, who added that this structure enabled both sides to deflect accountability.

Dr Shin said the state was not a passive observer- it actively shaped adoption policy, setting annual quotas for overseas placements and even on occasion halted some adoptions.

An Associated Press news investigation last year found successive Korean governments had rewritten laws to remove minimal safeguards and judicial oversight, fit their laws to match American ones to make children adoptable, and allowed foreign families to adopt Korean children quickly without ever visiting the country.

While the government billed the programme as a humanitarian effort, observers say it also served to strengthen ties with Western countries.

A 1984 government document obtained by the BBC stated that the official goals of the adoption policy included not only the welfare of children but also "the promotion of future national strength and people-to-people diplomacy".

When asked about the state's role in past adoption practices, South Korea's health and welfare ministry said they were "continuing efforts to strengthen state responsibility" in the system and that it plans to promote adoptions that comply with international standards.

In 2012, the government revised adoption laws to tighten screening of potential adoptive parents, and to track birthparent data and birth information better.

It has also enacted reforms to the adoption system ensuring that overseas adoptions are minimised and that all adoptions would be handled by the government instead of private agencies. The changes will take effect in July.

Meanwhile, overseas adoptions have declined. In the late 1980s, overseas adoptions dropped sharply, before stabilising in the 1990s and dropping again in the 2010s. Only 79 children were adopted abroad in 2023, according to the latest available data.

But as South Korea begins to address this dark chapter in its past, adoptees and birth parents like Ms Han continue to struggle with their trauma.

After their initial reunion, Ms Han and Kyung-ha have struggled to maintain a close connection.

Not only do they live on opposite sides of the world, her daughter has forgotten most of her Korean while Ms Han knows little English.

They keep in touch over texts occasionally, and Ms Han spends two hours every day practising her English by writing phrases in an exercise book.

But it isn't enough for Ms Han.

"Even though I have found my daughter, it doesn't feel like I've truly found her. All I know is where she is, but what good is that, if we can't even communicate?

"My entire life has been ruined… no amount of money will ever make up for what I've lost."

BBC

Credit ratings agency Moody's upgraded Nigeria's rating by a notch to "B3" from "Caa1" on Friday, citing significant improvements in the country's external and fiscal positions.

Earlier this month, the World Bank said that Nigeria's economy achieved its fastest growth in about a decade in 2024, driven by a strong fourth quarter and an improved fiscal position. However, it warned that persistently high inflation remains a challenge.

"The recent overhaul of Nigeria's foreign exchange management framework ... has markedly improved the balance of payments and bolstered the CBN's (Central Bank of Nigeria) foreign exchange reserves," Moody's said in a statement.

According to Moody's, inflationary risks in Nigeria, driven by policy shifts, have diminished. Inflation and domestic borrowing costs are showing nascent signs of easing, bolstering confidence in the stability of these policy changes.

The agency revised Nigeria's outlook to "stable" from "positive", as it expects recent progress on external and fiscal fronts to continue, though at a slower pace, if oil prices fall.

"The stable outlook reflects our expectations that external and fiscal improvements will decelerate but will not reverse entirely," Moody's said.

Reuters

The death toll from devastating floods in Niger state has risen sharply to 117 people, with several others still missing after torrential rains destroyed thousands of homes, emergency officials announced Friday.

The floods struck on Wednesday night and continued into Thursday morning, submerging more than 3,000 houses in the Tiffin Maza and Anguwan Hausawa communities in Mokwa Local Government Area. Ibrahim Hussaini, head of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, reported the dramatic increase from Thursday's count of 21 deaths as search and rescue operations intensified.

"A number of people are still in the water," Hussaini said, highlighting the ongoing danger facing residents in the affected areas.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed the updated death toll of 117 after conducting assessments and search operations. Approximately 5,000 residents have been displaced by the disaster, according to NEMA officials.

Abdullahi Arah, director-general of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, attributed the flooding to several hours of heavy rainfall that overwhelmed the communities. Despite the devastation, rescue teams managed to save three people—a woman and her two children—through coordinated efforts involving state agency operatives, local government authorities, local divers, and volunteers.

Nigeria regularly experiences severe flooding during its rainy season, which typically begins in April. The country has faced increasingly frequent flood disasters in recent years, with climate patterns contributing to more intense rainfall events.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) had projected that the 2025 rainy season would span between 250 and 290 days in some states, with total annual rainfall expected to range from 405mm in the far north to 3,010mm in coastal regions.

Recent flooding incidents across Nigeria underscore the country's vulnerability to such disasters. In 2024, over 4,000 people were displaced and 30 killed due to flooding in Maiduguri, Borno state capital, caused by the collapse of the Alau Dam. The previous year, 2022 marked Nigeria's worst flooding in over a decade, killing more than 600 people, displacing around 1.4 million, and destroying 440,000 hectares of farmland. That same year also saw flooding in 16 states that killed 201 people and displaced 172,000 residents.

Nigerian troops have killed over 60 terrorists in Borno State during a series of operations, including the elimination of Abu Fatima, a top commander of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). These military victories come as the nation grapples with a separate tragic attack that left 11 villagers dead in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Major Victory Against Insurgents in Borno

In the early hours of Friday, troops of Operation Hadin Kai repelled a coordinated attack on their base in Bita, Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State. According to a statement by the Nigerian Army, ground forces, supported by air raids, neutralized at least 60 insurgents in a fierce firefight that lasted until around 3:23 a.m.

The attackers, believed to be Boko Haram militants, had targeted troops attached to the 26 Task Force Brigade. This was the second attempted assault on a military base in Borno in one week, both of which were thwarted. However, recent weeks have seen more than three such attacks, prompting the military to adapt and reinforce its strategies.

National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, speaking at an All Progressives Congress (APC) summit, revealed that counterinsurgency efforts have resulted in the death of over 13,000 terrorists in the past two years. Additionally, more than 120,000 insurgents and their families have surrendered to Nigerian forces.

ISWAP Commander Abu Fatima Eliminated

In a separate operation, Nigerian troops killed Abu Fatima, a senior ISWAP commander with a ₦100 million bounty on his head. He was reportedly captured alive in Aleru village, Kukawa LGA of Borno State, but later died from excessive bleeding. Two of his lieutenants were also killed in the mission.

Abu Fatima was known for orchestrating brutal attacks around the Baga axis in northern Borno. The operation also led to the recovery of motorcycles, rifles, and bomb-making materials. His death is seen as a significant blow to ISWAP and has been compared in impact to the killing of former Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

In the last 48 hours alone, over 60 insurgents from both Boko Haram and ISWAP were killed during a failed attempt to overrun the border town of Damasak, further weakening the terrorists’ operational capacity.

FCT Village Attack Leaves 11 Dead

While military successes are being recorded in the North-East, tragedy struck the Kuseki community in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) of the FCT, where 11 villagers were killed in a brutal midnight attack.

Eyewitness Danladi Usman recounted that the attackers, armed with guns and machetes, invaded homes around 10:47 p.m. last Friday, catching residents off guard. Usman said he survived by hiding in an outdoor toilet for 45 minutes, only to discover that two of his sons had been shot. Several residents fled into the surrounding bush for safety.

The attackers killed nine people on the spot and injured at least 10 others. Two more victims later died at a nearby clinic in Nasarawa State, bringing the death toll to 11. Among the dead was a local trader whose shop was looted.

Village chief Gomo Dankwali expressed shock over the attack, stating that the community had lived peacefully without conflict. He suspects the attackers may have been hired, especially as the assault occurred while the local vigilante group was away for a meeting in a nearby village. He called on security agencies to investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The police have reportedly visited the community and taken statements, while families have buried the victims.

Deadly break-in at UN warehouse as aid trickles into Gaza

A United Nations warehouse in war-torn Gaza was broken into by "hordes of hungry people" on Wednesday as aid trickles into the Palestinian enclave on the brink of famine and the United States readies new terms for a possible truce between Israel and Hamas.

The World Food Programme said initial reports were that two people had died and several more were injured at the central Gaza warehouse. The U.N. agency appealed for an immediate scale-up of food aid "to reassure people that they will not starve."

Eyewitness video independently verified by Reuters shows large crowds of people pushing into the warehouse and removing bags and boxes as gunfire can be heard. It was not immediately clear how the people may have been killed or injured in the incident.

Under growing international pressure, Israel ended an 11-week long aid blockade on Gaza 10 days ago. It has allowed a limited amount of relief to be delivered via two avenues - the United Nations or the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

U.N. Middle East envoy Sigrid Kaag told the Security Council that the amount of aid Israel had so far allowed the U.N. to deliver was "comparable to a lifeboat after the ship has sunk" when everyone in Gaza was facing the risk of famine.

The United States has been trying to broker a ceasefire. Israel - which resumed its military operation in Gaza in March after a brief truce - continued strikes on Wednesday, killing at least 30 people, Palestinian health officials said.

"We are on the precipice of sending out a new term sheet that hopefully will be delivered later on today," U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Wednesday. "The president is going to review it."

The war in Gaza was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian militants Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's military campaign has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

UN VS GHF

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saidon Wednesday that Israel's killing of Hamas Gaza chief Mohammad Sinwar marked a turn towards the "complete defeat of Hamas", adding that Israel was "taking control of food distribution" in Gaza.

Israel has accused Hamas of diverting and seizing aid supplies. Hamas has denied stealing aid.

At the United Nations, more than half the Security Council called on Wednesday for the 15-member body to act on Gaza. Slovenia's U.N. Ambassador Samuel Zbogar said some members are working on a draft resolution to demand unimpeded aid access.

"Remaining silent is not an option," he told the council.

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told the Security Council that Israel would allow aid deliveries "for the immediate future" via both the U.N. and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which began aid deliveries on Monday.

However, Israel ultimately wants the U.N. to work through the GHF, which is using private U.S. security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution by civilian teams at so-called secure distribution sites.

"The U.N. should put their ego aside and cooperate with the new mechanism," Danon told reporters before the council meeting.

The U.N. and other international aid groups have refused to work with the GHF because they say the plan is not neutral.

"This new scheme is surveillance-based rationing that legitimizes a policy of deprivation by design," senior U.N. aid official for the occupied Palestinian territories, Jonathan Whittall, told reporters in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

"The U.N. has refused to participate in this scheme, warning that it is logistically unworkable and violates humanitarian principles by using aid as a tool in Israel's broader efforts to depopulate areas of Gaza," he said.

WARNING SHOTS

The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, told Reuters it was "sad and disgusting" that the U.N. and other groups would not work with the GHF, describing the foundation's aid distribution as "effective so far."

The Israeli military on Tuesday said it fired warning shots in the area outside a GHF distribution site, which was briefly rushed by people waiting for aid. Footage shared on social media showed fences broken down by crowds as private security contractors fell back before restoring order.

"I am a big man, but I couldn't hold back my tears when I saw the images of women, men and children racing for some food," said Rabah Rezik, 65, a father of seven from Gaza City.

The United Nations human rights office said on Wednesday that 47 people had been injured on Tuesday while seeking aid from the GHF, citing information from partners on the ground. It could not give a specific location of where people were injured. The GHF said no one was injured at the distribution site.

The foundation said aid distribution continued on Wednesday without incident as it opened a second distribution hub. Across the two sites it has so far given out the equivalent of 840,262 meals. The GHF said it is working to open four sites and expand further in Gaza in the weeks ahead.

The United Nations said that since aid deliveries resumed last week Israel had approved about 800 truckloads of relief.

But U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that fewer than 500 truckloads had made it to the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, "where we and our partners could collect just over 200 of them – limited by insecurity and restricted access."

Israel is under pressure over Gaza's dire humanitarian situation. France, Britain, Canadaand Germany have said they may take action if the military campaign is not halted. Italy on Wednesday said the offensive had become unacceptable.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Trump envoy says Russian concern over NATO enlargement is fair

U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said Russia's concern over the eastward enlargement of NATO was fair and the United States did not want to see Ukraine in the U.S.-led military alliance.

Asked by U.S. network ABC News about a Reuters report that Russia wanted a written pledge over NATO not enlarging eastwards to include Ukraine and other former Soviet republics, Kellogg said: "It's a fair concern."

"We've said that to us, Ukraine coming into NATO is not on the table, and we're not the only country that says that - you know I could probably give you four other countries in NATO and it takes 32 of the 32 to allow you to come in to NATO," he told ABC late on Thursday. "That's one of the issues that Russia will bring up."

"They're not just talking Ukraine, they're talking the country of Georgia, they're talking Moldova," Kellogg said, adding that a decision on U.S. views of NATO enlargement was for Trump to make.

Kellogg said the sequencing of the peace talks would include an attempt to merge the two memorandums drafted by Ukraine and Russia into one single document with talks in Turkey on Monday.

"When we get into Istanbul next week we'll sit down and talk," Kellogg said, adding that the national security advisers from Germany, France and Britain would join discussions on the memorandum with the United States.

Kellogg said Trump was "frustrated" with Russia because he had seen "a level of unreasonableness" from Russian President Vladimir Putin. He scolded Russia for striking Ukrainian cities and said he had told Ukraine to turn up to talks.

A conservative estimate of dead and injured in the Ukraine war - from both sides combined - totals 1.2 million, Kellogg said.

"That is a stunning number - this is war on an industrial scale," Kellogg told ABC.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian troops liberate 13 communities in Ukraine operation over week — top brass

Russian troops liberated 13 communities in the Sumy and Kharkov Regions and the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) over the week of May 24-30 in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Friday.

"During the week, Battlegroup North units liberated the settlements of Loknya, Vladimirovka, Belovody and Konstantinovka in the Sumy Region in active offensive operations… Battlegroup West units liberated the settlements of Stroyevka and Kondrashovka in the Kharkov Region through decisive operations <…> Battlegroup South units kept advancing deep into the enemy’s defenses and liberated the settlements of Stupochki, Romanovka, Staraya Nikolayevka and Gnatovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the ministry said in a statement.

"Battlegroup Center units liberated the settlement of Shevchenko Pervoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic through decisive operations <…> Battlegroup East units liberated the settlements of Otradnoye and Zelyonoye Pole in the Donetsk People’s Republic through active operations over the past week," it said.

Russia hammers Ukrainian military sites in retaliation to Kiev’s attacks over week

Russian forces delivered five combined and two massive strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial sites, military airfields and a special operations and aviation center in retaliation to Kiev’s large-scale UAV attacks over the week, the ministry reported.

"On May 24-30 of this year, in retaliation to the Kiev regime’s large-scale attacks with fixed-wing assault UAVs and rockets of Western manufacture on civilian facilities on Russian territory, the Russian Armed Forces delivered five combined and two massive strikes by precision weapons and attack unmanned aerial vehicles on enterprises of Ukraine’s military-industrial sector, the infrastructure of military airfields, electronic intelligence and satellite communications centers, a firing position of a US-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system, a special operations and aviation center of the SBU [Ukraine’s Security Service], anchorages of combat and uncrewed boats, a shelter of an American-made HIMARS multiple rocket launcher, armament and ammunition depots, production and storage sites of attack unmanned aerial vehicles, and also temporary deployment areas of Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries," the ministry said.

"The goals of the strikes were achieved. All the designated military targets of the Kiev regime were struck," the ministry stressed.

Russia’s Battlegroup North inflicts over 1,490 casualties on Ukrainian army in week

Russia’s Battlegroup North inflicted more than 1,490 casualties on Ukrainian troops and destroyed four enemy tanks and 22 armored combat vehicles in its area of responsibility over the week, the ministry reported.

During the week, combat aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and artillery of the Battlegroup North "struck manpower and equipment of four mechanized brigades, two air assault brigades, a motorized infantry brigade, two assault centers of special operations forces, an assault regiment of the Ukrainian army, three territorial defense brigades and a border guard detachment of Ukraine’s Border Guard Service," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army lost more than 1,490 personnel, four tanks, 22 armored combat vehicles, 46 motor vehicles, 37 field artillery guns and six electronic warfare stations in that frontline area over the week, it specified.

In addition, Russian forces destroyed nine ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army, it said.

Russia’s Battlegroup West inflicts over 1,495 casualties on Ukrainian army in week

Russia’s Battlegroup West inflicted more than 1,495 casualties on Ukrainian troops and destroyed two enemy tanks and 13 armored combat vehicles in its area of responsibility over the week, the ministry reported.

During the week, Battlegroup West units "inflicted losses on manpower and equipment of three mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian army, five territorial defense brigades, two National Guard brigades and a border guard detachment of Ukraine’s Border Guard Service," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army lost more than 1,495 personnel, two tanks, 13 armored combat vehicles, including three American-made M113 armored personnel carriers, 83 motor vehicles, 11 field artillery guns and eight electronic warfare and counterbattery radar stations in that frontline area over the week, it specified.

In addition, Russian forces destroyed 19 ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army, it said.

Russia’s Battlegroup South inflicts over 1,615 casualties on Ukrainian army in week

Russia’s Battlegroup South inflicted more than 1,615 casualties on Ukrainian troops and destroyed an enemy tank and 27 armored combat vehicles in its area of responsibility over the week, the ministry reported.

During the week, Battlegroup South units "inflicted losses on formations of seven mechanized brigades, an assault brigade, a mountain assault brigade, an airmobile brigade of the Ukrainian army and a National Guard brigade," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army lost more than 1,615 personnel, a tank, 27 armored combat vehicles, including two Canadian-made Senator armored personnel carriers, six field artillery guns, 48 motor vehicles and 11 electronic warfare stations in that frontline area over the week, it specified.

In addition, Russian forces destroyed 21 ammunition and materiel depots of the Ukrainian army, it said.

Russia’s Battlegroup Center inflicts over 3,060 casualties on Ukrainian army in week

Russia’s Battlegroup Center inflicted more than 3,060 casualties on Ukrainian troops and destroyed an enemy tank and 39 armored combat vehicles in its area of responsibility over the week, the ministry reported.

During the week, Battlegroup Center units "inflicted losses on manpower and equipment of six mechanized brigades, an air assault brigade, an assault brigade, a jaeger brigade of the Ukrainian army, two marine infantry brigades, the Azov special operations brigade [outlawed in Russia as a terrorist group], a territorial defense brigade and two National Guard brigades," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army lost more than 3,060 personnel, a tank, 39 armored combat vehicles, including an M113 armored personnel carrier and a MaxxPro armored vehicle of US manufacture, 57 motor vehicles and nine field artillery guns in that frontline area over the week, it specified.

Russia’s Battlegroup East inflicts over 1,265 casualties on Ukrainian army in week

Russia’s Battlegroup East inflicted more than 1,265 casualties on Ukrainian troops and destroyed an enemy tank and 22 armored combat vehicles in its area of responsibility over the week, the ministry reported.

During the week, Battlegroup East units "inflicted losses on formations of four mechanized brigades, a jaeger brigade, an air assault brigade, an airmobile brigade of the Ukrainian army, a marine infantry brigade and two territorial defense brigades," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army lost more than 1,265 personnel, a tank, 22 armored combat vehicles, 66 motor vehicles, 17 field artillery guns and 12 electronic warfare stations in that frontline area over the week, it specified.

Russia’s Battlegroup Dnepr inflicts over 495 casualties on Ukrainian army in week

Russia’s Battlegroup Dnepr inflicted more than 495 casualties on Ukrainian troops and destroyed 23 enemy ammunition depots in its area of responsibility over the week, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup Dnepr units inflicted losses on manpower and equipment of a mechanized brigade, a mountain assault brigade, three coastal defense brigades of the Ukrainian army, four territorial defense brigades and a National Guard brigade," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army lost more than 495 personnel, an armored combat vehicle, 54 motor vehicles, four field artillery guns and 18 electronic warfare stations in that frontline area over the week, it specified.

In addition, Russian forces destroyed 23 ammunition and materiel depots of the Ukrainian army, it said.

Russian air defenses down Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet, 1,439 UAVs over week

Russian air defense forces shot down a Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 fighter jet, 30 American-made JDAM smart bombs and 1,439 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the week, the ministry reported.

"Over the week, air defense capabilities shot down a Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 aircraft, 30 JDAM guided aerial bombs and 16 rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system of US manufacture, and also 1,439 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles, including 907 outside the special military operation zone," the ministry said.

Overall, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 663 Ukrainian warplanes, 283 helicopters, 60,423 unmanned aerial vehicles, 607 surface-to-air missile systems, 23,651 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,565 multiple rocket launchers, 25,396 field artillery guns and mortars and 36,191 special military motor vehicles since the start of the special military operation, the ministry reported.

Reuters/Tass

On Thursday, 29 May, Abdul Samad Rabiu, chairman of the BUA Group, wrote an article riddled with falsehood by accusing an unnamed former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) of acting against the interest of his business organisation.

In the said article entitled, “Two years of President Tinubu: A business perspective,” he wrote: “We no longer worry about arbitrary shutdowns or politically motivated disruptions. Let me give a real example. We started a new business in Port Harcourt four or five years ago under BUA Foods, operating at the Rivers Ports under a concession with the Nigerian Ports Authority. It was going very well. One day, we woke up to a letter stating that the concession had been revoked, the terminal shut down, and the lease agreement terminated. There was no warning, no issue, no conflict.

“Later, we discovered that the Managing Director of NPA at the time decided to close the business simply because our operations were competing with those of her friend. She wanted to impress her friend. That was the only reason…”

Although the article otherwise stated factual and commendable efforts of the President Bola Tinubu’s administration to stabilise the business climate in Nigeria, his narration of the dispute between the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the BUA Group are, to say the least, shameful.

He claimed in his article that “we woke up to a letter stating that the concession had been revoked. There was no prior warning, no issue, no conflict….” This is a blatant lie. It is not just that the BUA Group received numerous notifications and warnings about its negligence of contractual responsibilities; some of these warnings preceded my tenure as managing director.

The facts of the matter are as follows:

• BUA Ports and Terminal Limited became concessionaires of Rivers Port Terminal B for a 20-year tenure through a concession agreement contract dated 11 May, 2006. The Terminal was handed over to them for use with effect from 10 August, 2006.
• As part of the terms of agreement for the concession, BUA Ports and Terminal Limited was required to commence full reconstruction of Berths 5-8 within 90 days of the handover of the facility.
• Ten years after taking possession of the terminal and operating it, BUA had not commenced the rehabilitation of the quays that it was required to commence in 90 days.
• A notice of default was issued to the company on 11 February 2016, which was before my appointment as MD of the Nigerian Ports Authority.
• The letter with the subject: ‘Non-compliance with the reconstruction of Berths 5-8 in line with your terminal development plan as contained in your lease agreement’, read in part: “We refer to the above subject matter and our earlier letters dated 19th May 2014 and 3rd February 2016. We observed that you had deliberately/and or refused to commence improvement on the reconstruction of Berths 5-8 in line with the laid down procedure in the approved development plan as contained in Appendix D of the executed agreement…”
• Despite receiving the letter, dated 11 February 2016, from NPA, the company refused to honour this fundamental and material term of the lease agreement, which compromised the integrity of the other adjoining berths in the ports.
• On 17 August 2016, the NPA, under my leadership, issued another notice of default drawing the attention of BUA to the failure to fulfil its obligations. Still, BUA did not commence the rehabilitation in line with the contractual obligation.
• Then, three months later, on 11 November 2016, the NPA issued them a three-month termination notice referring to the several default notices served on BUA in relation to the non-fulfilment of the obligations under the lease agreement.
• On receipt of the notice of termination, BUA Ports and Terminal sought and obtained a restraining order from the Federal High Court, Lagos, on 18 January 2018, barring the Authority from giving effect to the termination.
• In compliance with the restraining order of the Federal High Court, the NPA thereafter allowed BUA Ports and Terminal Limited full access to the premises for peaceful operation, without any interference whatsoever
• It is pertinent to note that the process for the default notices issued to BUA commenced in February 2016, before my appointment as managing director.
• However, I proceeded to implement the recommendations to safeguard the sanctity of the agreement and protect the Federal Government of Nigeria from a defaulting concessionaire seeking to take advantage of the government by using its facilities without making the due investment enshrined in the development plan of the concession agreement.
• While flaunting his access to former President Muhammadu Buhari, Rabiu refused to disclose that he abused this access to misinform the former president into reversing NPA’s decision, thereby issuing a directive that contradicted the existing contract and negating the country’s interests.
• It is, therefore, curious that the chairman of BUA Group has continued to push this false narrative aimed at distracting Nigerians from seeing his company’s flagrant disregard of the binding contractual agreement.
• The company and its chairman should refrain from cheap blackmail and commit to making the company a responsible corporate body that will make the country proud.

** Hadiza Bala Usman is the Special Adviser on Policy Coordination to President of Nigeria.

Artifacts found at archeological sites in France and Spain along the Bay of Biscay shoreline show that humans have been crafting tools from whale bones since more than 20,000 years ago, illustrating anew the resourcefulness of prehistoric people.

The tools, primarily hunting implements such as projectile points, were fashioned from the bones of at least five species of large whales, the researchers said. Bones from sperm whales were the most abundant, followed by fin whales, gray whales, right or bowhead whales - two species indistinguishable with the analytical method used in the study - and blue whales.

With seafaring capabilities by humans not developing until thousands of years later, the Ice Age hunter-gatherers who made these implements would have been unable to actually hunt whales for their resources in the Bay of Biscay, a gulf of the Atlantic Ocean.

"These whales were likely opportunistically acquired from stranded animals or drifted carcasses, rather than actively hunted," said biomolecular archaeologist Krista McGrath of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, co-lead author of the study published in the journal Nature Communications.

"The majority of the bones were identified from offshore, deep-water species - such as sperm whale and fin whale - which would have been very difficult to hunt for these prehistoric groups. And there is no evidence from this time period that they had the level of technology that active hunting would have required, like seafaring boats," McGrath said.

The 71 whale bone artifacts analyzed by the researchers were found at 27 cave or rock shelter sites. The two oldest ones, both from the bones of fin whales, came from the Spanish Cantabrian sites of Rascaño, dating to about 20,500 years ago, and El Juyo, dating to about 19,800 years ago.

The rough age range of the artifacts was from 14,000 years old to more than 20,000 years old, but most were 16,000 to 17,500 years old.

The main raw material used to manufacture spear points at the time was antler from reindeer or red deer because it is less brittle and more pliable than land mammal bone. But whale bone offered some advantages, including its large dimensions, with some of the projectile points measuring more than 16 inches (40 cm) long, a size difficult to achieve using antler.

"They can be very long and thick, and were probably hafted on spear-style projectiles rather than arrows. They are usually found as fragments, many of which bear fractures related to use, and they were most likely used to hunt the main game animals of the time - reindeer and red deer, horse, bison and ibex," said archaeologist and study co-senior author Jean-Marc Pétillon of the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

Bone tools were used by members of the human evolutionary lineage dating back far before our species Homo sapiens emerged more than 300,000 years ago in Africa. The artifacts examined in this study pushed back the oldest-known use of whale bones for toolmaking by 1,000 to 2,000 years.

The objects were previously discovered at the various sites and kept in museum collections. The researchers used modern analytical techniques to determine the species from which the bones came and the age of the artifacts.

Humans living in this period of prehistory generally were inland hunters, obtaining most of their subsistence needs from the hunting of large hoofed mammals, Pétillon said. The new findings enhance the understanding of their exploitation of seashore resources, Pétillon added.

Previous research had shown that Ice Age people gathered seashells, hunted seabirds and fished for marine fishes as a complement to meat from terrestrial animals.

"The new findings tell us that these prehistoric groups were likely very well adapted to these coastal environments, and very likely had deep local ecological knowledge and understanding of their coastal habitats," McGrath said.

"Whale bones would have been for more than just making tools. There is evidence for their use as fuel as well - the bones contain large amounts of oil - among other things. And the rest of the whale would also certainly have been used – teeth or baleen depending on the species, meat, skin. A single whale provides a lot of resources," McGrath said.

Reuters