Israel reveals tunnel under Gaza hospital, says body of Sinwar's brother found there

The Israeli army said on Sunday it had retrieved the body of Hamas' military chief Mohammed Sinwar in an underground tunnel beneath a hospital in southern Gaza, following a targeted operation last month.

Another senior Hamas leader, Mohammad Shabana, commander of the Rafah Brigade, was also found dead at the scene along with a number of other militants, who are still being identified, said IDF spokesperson, Brigadier General Effie Defrin.

Israeli forces gave a small group of foreign reporters a tour of the tunnel that had been uncovered beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, which Defrin said was a major command and control compound for Hamas.

"This is another example of the cynical use by Hamas, using civilians as human shields, using civilian infrastructure, hospitals, again and again," said Defrin.

"We found underneath the hospital, right under the emergency room, a compound of a few rooms. In one of them we found, we killed Mohammed Sinwar," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sinwar's death last month, but Defrin said they now had his DNA which proved beyond doubt it was him.

Hamas has not commented on reports of the death of either Sinwar or Shabana.

Sinwar was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Palestinian militant group's deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people according to Israeli tallies, and which triggered the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

Shabana was one of Hamas's most senior and battle-hardened commanders in southern Gaza. He played a central role in constructing the network of tunnels under the southern city of Rafah, which were used for ambushes and cross-border raids.

DESTRUCTION

The drive to Khan Younis in Israeli military vehicles showed widespread devastation, with countless buildings lying in ruins, and piles of rubble collected at the roadside.

The Israeli military has raided or besieged numerous hospitals during the war, alleging that Hamas uses them to conceal fighters and orchestrate operations -- a charge Hamas has repeatedly denied. While Israel has presented evidence in certain cases, some of its assertions remain unverified.

Defrin said the army had carefully planned the strike near the European Hospital in order not to damage it.

A large trench dug infront of the Emergency Room entrance led down to a hole in the claustrophobic, concrete tunnel, that was used as a hideaway by Hamas fighters, the army said.

During the search of the site, Israeli forces recovered weapon stockpiles, ammunition, cash and documents that are now being reviewed for intelligence value.

"We will dismantle Hamas because we cannot live with this terror organisation right in our backyard, right across our border," Defrin said.

More than 54,000 Palestinians have died during the ongoing Israeli assault, according to Gaza health authorities. The U.N. has warned that most of Gaza's 2.3 million population is at risk of famine.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia advances to east-central Ukrainian region amid row over dead soldiers

Russia said on Sunday its forces had advanced to the edge of the east-central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk amid a public row between Moscow and Kyiv over peace negotiations and the return of thousands of bodies of soldiers who fell in the war.

Despite talk of peace, the war is stepping up with Russian forces grabbing more territory in Ukraine and Kyiv unfurling high-profile drone and sabotage attacks on Russia's nuclear-capable bomber fleet and, according to Moscow, on railways.

Russia, which controls a little under one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, has taken more than 190 square km (73 square miles) of the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine in less than a month, according to pro-Ukrainian open source maps.

Now, according to the Russian defence ministry, units of the 90th Tank Division of the Central Grouping of Russian forces have reached the western frontier of Ukraine's Donetsk region and are attacking the adjacent Dnipropetrovsk region.

"The enemy does not abandon its intentions to enter the Dnipropetrovsk region," Ukraine's Southern Defence Forces said on Telegram. "Our soldiers are courageously and professionally holding their section of the front, disrupting the occupier's plans. This work does not stop for a minute."

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said the Dnipropetrovsk offensive showed that if Ukraine did not want to accept the reality of Russia's territorial gains in peace talks then Moscow's forces would advance further.

The pro-Ukrainian Deep State map showed Russian forces very close to the Dnipropetrovsk region, which had a population of more than 3 million before the war, and advancing on the city of Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region from several directions.

A Ukrainian military spokesman, Dmytro Zaporozhets, said that Russian forces were trying to "build a bridgehead for an attack" on Kostyantynivka, an important logistical hub for the Ukrainian army.

Russia on Saturday accused Ukraine of delaying the swap of prisoners of war and return of the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers. Ukraine denied those claims.

On Sunday, Russia said it was moving bodies towards the border and television showed refrigerated trucks containing the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers on the road in the Bryansk region. Ukraine, officials said, was playing politics with the dead.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pledged to press on with prisoner exchanges.

"The Russian side is therefore, like always, even in these matters, is trying to play some kind of dirty political and information game," he said in his nightly video address.

"We believe that the exchanges will continue and will do everything for this. If the Russians do not stand by agreements even in humanitarian matters, it casts great doubt on all international efforts - including those by the United States in terms of talks and diplomacy."

Zelenskiy said he had reviewed commanders' reports about areas hit by heavy fighting, including near Pokrovsk, targeted by Moscow for months. He said the situation was "far from easy, but everything depends on the resilience of our units."

U.S. President Donald Trump, who says he wants an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two, on Thursday likened it to a fight between young children and indicated that he might have to simply let the conflict play out.

ACCUSATIONS OVER WILLINGNESS FOR PEACE

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he did not thinkUkraine's leaders wanted peace, after accusing them of ordering a bombing in Bryansk, western Russia, that killed seven people and injured 115 a day before talks in Turkey.

Ukraine, which has not commented on the attack on a Bryansk bridge, has similarly accused Moscow of not seriously seeking peace, citing Russian resistance to an immediate ceasefire.

Russia is demanding international recognition of Crimea, a peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and four other regions of Ukraine that Moscow has claimed as its own territory. Ukraine would have to withdraw its forces from all of them.

Russia controlled 113,273 square km, or 18.8%, of Ukrainian territory as of June 7, according to the Deep State map. That is an area bigger than the U.S. state of Virginia.

The areas under Russian control include Crimea, more than 99% of the Luhansk region, over 70% of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, all in the east or southeast, and fragments of the Kharkiv and Sumy regions in the northeast.

Putin told Trump on Wednesday that he would have to respond to Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia's bomber fleet and the bombings of the railways.

Zelenskiy warned Ukrainians in his video message to be particularly attentive to air raid warnings in the coming days.

The United States believes that Putin's threatened retaliation against Ukraine over its attacks has not happened yet in earnest and is likely to be a significant, multi-pronged strike, U.S. officials told Reuters.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine experiencing drone shortage – BBC

Ukrainian forces are facing a critical shortage of drones, the BBC has reported, citing officers from various units. They told the broadcaster that a third of the drones needed by the army are being purchased using unit-held funds or assembled from wreckage.

The news comes a week after Kiev launched a coordinated drone strike on multiple Russian air bases, targeting long-range, nuclear-capable bombers stationed in the country’s north and far east. Moscow has reported that most of the drones were intercepted, and that the aircraft targeted were damaged, but not destroyed as Ukrainian officials claimed. According to Kiev, more than 40 Russian bombers were hit in the attacks.

Earlier this week, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky told ABC News that only Ukrainian-made weapons were used in the attacks, which had reportedly been planned for more than a year.

A commander of the drone systems battalion of the 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Sergey Varakin, told BBC that a year ago his unit could afford to launch up to 100 first-person-view (FPV) aerial drones a day, adding that the current situation is “nothing like that anymore.”

“Now, our brigade can receive only 200–300 FPV drones a month through official supply requests,” Varakin emphasized.

According to the commander of the 429th Separate UAV Regiment, Yury Fedorenko, as cited by the news outlet, only a third of drones meeting the army’s needs are typically delivered via state-backed supply channels. He specified that another third are purchased with unit-held funds, while the remaining third come from voluntary donations by Ukrainians.

Fedorenko emphasized that state-supported drone supplies are often delivered with a two-month delay due to bureaucratic foot-dragging.

Drone operators from several brigades deployed near Pokrovsk, the largest city remaining under Ukrainian control in the southwest of the DPR, also reported a shortage, adding that they are trying to obtain drones by all possible means, sometimes assembling them from old parts.

The Russian military has repeatedly targeted drone manufacturing facilities and launch sites in Ukraine. The latest strikes came shortly after an attack on military airfields across the country.

FPV drones have played a pivotal role on the battlefield since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. The Times reported in May that Russia has taken the lead in the drone race, surpassing Ukraine in the production and use of medium-range FPV drones and their fiber-optic variants.

Reuters/RT

Robert E. Siegel

One provocative assertion I often make when teaching is that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who have hearts and those who don’t. Students and executives usually chuckle awkwardly at this statement, wondering where I am going. I then share that many leaders look at changing technology and changing markets and realize that a lot of jobs in their companies will inevitably be eliminated within the next few years, and it’s not hard to predict which jobs will go away. The question is how the executives react to this realization.

Leaders who “have hearts” experience empathy for those currently in jobs that will be disappearing, seeing individual faces and hearing individual names in their minds. Such leaders think of the men and women in their organizations as flesh- and-blood humans. They worry about employees losing jobs that feed their children, keep roofs over their heads, and provide health insurance, not to mention (hopefully) supplying a sense of satisfaction and meaning.

Other leaders see the job elimination through a cooler lens, less concerned for those affected. They embrace “creative destruction” as a fundamental aspect of how capitalistic systems work. Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter wrote about the inevitability that new technologies and advancements will destroy what came before.

For instance, there used to be great demand for skilled telegraph operators and folks who could add columns of numbers quickly with just a pencil—until more cost-effective technologies devalued those skills. Leaders with this perspective focus not on the hardships of the unemployed but on the numerous new jobs created by the same forces of change. They believe employees simply must adapt or be left behind, and there’s no point in getting upset about it—everyone owns their individual career. They see the latest disruptions as just the continuation of the human experience, going all the way back to our hunter- gatherer ancestors. Still others may only care about job cuts for the sake of cost reduction, never mind the “creative” part of the destruction.

For the purposes of Systems Leadership, it doesn’t matter which type of person you are in my (admittedly reductive) shorthand. You need to invest in your people whether you have a heart or not, for at least three major reasons.

1. IT’S CHEAPER AND EASIER TO RETRAIN THAN REPLACE

Studies show that it often costs less to reskill a current employee than to recruit, hire, and train a new one. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, finding and training a new employee can cost as much as six to nine months of their salary. For instance, if a worker earns $60,000, the company could end up spending an additional $30,000 to $45,000 to replace them. The Center for American Progress estimates the costs can be even higher, depending on the role. This means reskilling an existing employee is not just the right thing to do, but often the more cost-effective strategy.

2. INVESTING IN PEOPLE BOOSTS MORALE AND DISCRETIONARY EFFORT

When a company invests in retraining its employees, it sends a powerful message. Imagine the morale boost when employees learn that their company values them enough to send them for specialized training in AI. Now contrast that with hearing that the company is posting external job openings for AI specialists, and layoffs are on the horizon to fund the new hires. The impact on employee enthusiasm and engagement is profound. Continuing education and upskilling are crucial for fostering loyalty, enthusiasm, and a productive workplace culture.

3. INSTITUTIONAL KNOWLEDGE IS AN INVALUABLE ASSET

Many leaders prioritize fresh ideas, new talent, and innovation. But systems leaders understand the unique value of institutional knowledge—the insights and perspectives that only come from experience. While hard data often drives decisions, there’s immense value in recognizing the importance of those who have navigated the complex challenges of the past. Their insights can be the key to solving future problems.

Whether they “have hearts” or not, leaders must see employees as a resource to be invested in to advance the needs of the company. Systems Leaders take advantage of cost-saving opportunities without treating their people like replaceable cogs in a machine. At the same time, however, they believe fully in holding people accountable to high standards. They would say it’s a false choice to frame strong management and compassionate management— hard heads and soft hearts— as opposites. Great leaders aspire to both.

Fast Company

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) achieved a historic milestone this week, with its market capitalization breaking through the N72 trillion barrier while delivering substantial returns to equity investors who gained N1.16 trillion.

Record-Breaking Performance

The domestic stock market maintained its impressive momentum ahead of the Sallah holiday period, with key performance metrics surging by 1.63% in a single trading session. This upward trajectory was fueled by strong investor appetite for medium and large-capitalization stocks, particularly NGXGROUP, MTN, and 38 other companies spanning various market sectors.

The benchmark All-Share Index climbed by 1,835.02 basis points to reach an unprecedented high of 114,616.75 points, according to multiple stockbroker reports. Over the four-day trading period, the index gained 2.57% weekly, translating to approximately N1.81 trillion in additional investor wealth.

Trading Activity Surges

Market participation intensified significantly, with both trading volume and value experiencing remarkable growth. Total trading volume jumped by 139.05% while the total value of transactions increased by 100.68% on Thursday alone.

FIDELITYBK dominated trading activity, representing 64.66% of all share volumes traded on the exchange. The tier-2 banking institution was followed by ZENITHBANK (4.90%), JAPAULGOLD (2.72%), GTCO (2.41%), and ACCESSCORP (2.05%) in the top five most actively traded stocks by volume.

In terms of transaction values, FIDELITYBK again led the pack, accounting for 49.20% of the total monetary value of all completed trades.

Market Movers

The day’s biggest winners were CHAMPION and NGXGROUP, both posting impressive 10.00% price gains. MTNN followed closely with a 9.99% increase, while OANDO (+9.96%), MORISON (+9.90%), CORNERST (+9.80%), and RTBRISCOE (+9.17%) rounded out the top performers, alongside 33 other advancing stocks.

However, not all stocks participated in the rally. Twenty-two companies experienced price declines, led by NNFM which fell 9.97%. Other notable decliners included LEGENDINT (-9.49%), LIVESTOCK (-7.82%), HONYFLOUR (-6.82%), JAIZBANK (-4.11%), and VFDGROUP (-2.25%).

Sectoral Performance

Market breadth remained decidedly positive, with 40 stocks advancing compared to 22 declining issues. All five major market sectors posted gains, demonstrating broad-based strength across the Nigerian economy.

The banking sector led sectoral performance with a 2.46% gain, followed by oil & gas companies which rose 2.36%. The insurance sector advanced 1.31%, consumer goods climbed 0.84%, and industrial stocks registered a modest 0.25% increase.

Market Capitalization Milestone

The session concluded with the overall equities market capitalization expanding by N1,157.13 billion to reach N72.28 trillion, representing a 1.63% daily increase and marking a significant milestone for the Nigerian capital market.

This performance underscores the continued confidence of both domestic and international investors in Nigerian equities, particularly as the market headed into the Sallah break period.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has forecast widespread thunderstorms and rainfall across the country from Sunday to Tuesday.

In a weather outlook released Saturday in Abuja, NiMet said thunderstorms and moderate rains are expected Sunday morning in parts of Taraba and Adamawa states in the northern region. By afternoon and evening, thunderstorms with rain are likely in Taraba, Adamawa, Katsina, Kano, Zamfara, Kaduna, Jigawa, Borno, Gombe, and Bauchi.

For the North-Central region, a cloudy morning is expected, followed by thunderstorms and rain in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Niger, Nasarawa, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, and Plateau later in the day.

In the southern states, morning skies will be mostly cloudy, while later in the day, rain showers are expected in Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Edo, Abia, Imo, Enugu, Anambra, Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers, Delta, and Bayelsa.

Monday’s Forecast:

NiMet predicts morning thunderstorms with rainfall in Sokoto, Zamfara, and Bauchi. By afternoon and evening, this will expand to include Taraba, Adamawa, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Borno, Bauchi, Kaduna, and Sokoto.

In the North-Central region, morning rains and thunderstorms are expected in FCT, Niger, Kogi, and Nasarawa. Later in the day, similar weather is forecast for Plateau, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Kogi, and Benue.

Southern Nigeria may experience morning showers in Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa, and Akwa Ibom, with more widespread rains expected across the region in the afternoon and evening.

Tuesday’s Outlook:

In the North, isolated morning thunderstorms with moderate rainfall are expected in Zamfara and Kaduna, with more widespread storms forecast for Taraba, Adamawa, Zamfara, Kano, Bauchi, Gombe, Borno, and Kaduna later in the day.

Morning thunderstorms are likely in parts of Niger, Plateau, and Benue in the North-Central region, with afternoon rain expected across FCT, Nasarawa, Kogi, Benue, Niger, Kwara, and Plateau.

Lagos and Bayelsa are forecast to see morning showers in the South, with rain expected across the entire southern region throughout the day.

Safety Advisory:

NiMet urged the public to take precautions, warning that strong winds may precede thunderstorms. Residents are advised to:

• Secure loose objects to prevent damage or injury

• Avoid driving during heavy rain

• Disconnect electrical appliances to prevent power surge damage

• Stay away from tall trees due to the risk of falling branches

The agency also advised airline operators to obtain airport-specific weather updates for flight planning and urged all residents to stay informed through NiMet’s daily weather reports.

US-backed Gaza group suspends aid for a day over threats, Hamas vows to protect UN aid

A controversial humanitarian organization backed by the United States and Israel did not distribute any food aid on Saturday, accusing Hamas of making threats that "made it impossible" to operate in the enclave, which the Palestinian militants denied.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which uses private U.S. security and logistics firms to operate, said it was adapting operations to overcome the unspecified threats. It later said in a Facebook post that two sites would reopen on Sunday.

A Hamas official told Reuters he had no knowledge of such "alleged threats."

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said later on Saturday that GHF operation has "utterly failed on all levels" and that Hamas was ready to help secure aid deliveries by a separate long-running U.N-led humanitarian operation. Hamas also called on all Palestinians to protect humanitarian convoys.

Israel and the United States have accused Hamas of stealing aid from the U.N.-led operations, which the militants deny.

A Hamas source said the group's armed wing would deploy some snipers from Sunday near routes used by the U.N.-led aid operation to prevent armed gangs looting food shipments. The U.N. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel allowed limited U.N.-led operations to resume on May 19 after an 11-week blockade in the enclave of 2.3 million people, where experts have warned a famine looms. The U.N. has described the aid allowed into Gaza as "drop in the ocean."

Israel and the U.S. are urging the U.N. to work through the GHF, but the U.N. has refused, questioning its neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarizing aid and forcing displacement. The GHF began operations in Gaza on May 26 and said on Friday so far it has distributed nearly 9 million meals.

While the GHF has said there have been no incidents at its so-called secure distribution sites, Palestinians seeking aid have described disorder and access routes to the sites have been beset by chaos and deadly violence.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed near GHF sites between Sunday and Tuesday, Gaza health authorities said. Israel has said it is investigating the Monday and Tuesday incidents, but said it was not to blame for Sunday's violence.

HOSPITAL FUEL LOW

The GHF did not give out aid on Wednesday as it pressed Israel to boost civilian safety beyond its sites, then on Friday it paused some aid distribution "due to excessive crowding."

The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to the U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.

Israel makes the U.N. offload aid on the Palestinian side of the crossing, where it then has to be picked by the U.N. and aid groups in Gaza. The U.N. has accused Israel of regularly denying access requests and complained that its aid convoys have been looted by unidentified armed men and hungry civilians.

Israel has in recent weeks expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as U.S., Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered. Medics in Gaza said 55 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the enclave on Saturday.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday that Gaza's hospitals only had fuel for three more days and that Israel was denying access for international relief agencies to areas where fuel storages designated for hospitals are located.

There was no immediate response from the Israeli military or COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it had uncovered "an underground tunnel route, including a command and control center from which senior Hamas commanders" operated beneath the European Hospital compound in southern Gaza.

The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, Israel's single deadliest day.

Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday the Israeli military had retrieved the body of a Thai agricultural worker held in Gaza since the October 2023 attack. Nattapong Pinta's body was held by the Mujahedeen Brigades militant group, and recovered from Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian military retaliated against Kiev’s ‘terrorism’ – MOD

The Russian military has said its forces carried out large-scale overnight strikes against Ukrainian defense industry sites, using drones and long-range precision-guided weapons.

Ukrainian officials also reported waves of missile and drone attacks across multiple cities, including the capital Kiev, as well as Lviv and Lutsk on Friday morning.
The barrage, which included air-, sea-, and land-based missiles as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), was a response to recent “terrorist acts” carried out by Kiev, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Friday.
Ukraine blew up railway bridges in Russia last week, derailing civilian and freight trains and killing at least seven and injuring over 120. Kiev also launched a coordinated drone strike on multiple Russian airbases, targeting long-range, nuclear-capable bombers stationed in Russia’s north and far east. Moscow has claimed that most drones were intercepted and the aircraft targeted was damaged by not destroyed.

The targets of Russia’s overnight strikes included “design bureaus, enterprises involved in production and repair of Ukraine’s weapons and military equipment, workshops for the assembly of attack drones, flight training centers as well as warehouses of weapons and military equipment,” the statement read. “The goal of the strike was achieved. All designated facilities were hit,” the ministry said.

According to Moscow, it was the sixth combined strike against Ukraine’s military-related targets carried out by the Russian forces since May 31.
Over the past week, attacks have hit Kiev’s defense industry enterprises; military airfields; production, storage and launch sites of drones; arms depots as well as deployment points of Ukrainian military units and foreign mercenaries, according to the ministry.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the railway sabotage incidents as “undoubtedly a terrorist act” committed by the “illegitimate regime in Kiev,” which, he said, is “gradually turning into a terrorist organization.” Putin told his US counterpart Donald Trump in a phone call on Wednesday that Moscow “will have to respond”to the attacks on the country’s nuclear deterrent.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian attacks on Ukraine's Kharkiv kills four, wounds at least 60, officials say

KYIV, June 7 (Reuters) - Russia attacked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv at night and in the evening with drones, missiles and guided bombs, killing at least four people and injuring more than 60, including a baby, local officials said on Saturday.

One of Ukraine's largest cities, Kharkiv is located just a few dozen kilometres from the Russian border and has been under constant Russian shelling during more than three years of war.

"Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack since the start of the full-scale war," city mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said on the Telegram messenger early on Saturday.

Dozens of explosions were heard in the city through the night and Russian troops were striking simultaneously with missiles, drones and guided aerial bombs, he said.

Multi-storey and private residential buildings, educational and infrastructure facilities were attacked, Terekhov noted.

Photos by local authorities and Reuters showed burnt and partially destroyed houses and vehicles, and of rescuers carrying those injured to safety and removing debris.

Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov said that one of the city's civilian industrial facilities was attacked by 40 drones, one missile and four bombs, causing a fire, adding there may still be people under the rubble.

In the evening, Russian aircraft once again attacked Kharkiv with guided bombs, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called "another brutal murder".

"It was a brutal blow to the city in broad daylight, and in fact, they have been attacking our city of Kharkiv for the entire day," Zelenskiy said in his evening statement.

"Last night, there was a massive drone strike on Kharkiv, and now there are aerial bombs. Dozens of people have been injured in the past 24 hours." he said.

The Ukrainian military said Russia launched 206 drones, two ballistic and seven other missiles against Ukraine overnight.

It said its air defence units shot down 87 drones while another 80 drones were lost - in reference to the Ukrainian military using electronic warfare to redirect them - or they were drone simulators that did not carry warheads.

Ten locations were hit, the military said.

RT/Reuters

There are about 30 places around the world named London after, well, London, England’s capital. About 18 of them, including three key cities, are in the United States.

In Nigeria, there is a “small London,” as the village of Abiriba in Abia State is informally called. And then there is a “London” in Delta State, located about 117km from Asaba.

Nigerians swear by London.  We dream of it.  We own chunks of it, sometimes out of the blue, and sometimes leaving our piece behind when we die.  It is awash with Nigerian wealth.

London is where we once tried to repatriate former minister Umaru Dikko by seizing him off the open street and putting him in a crate heading to Lagos.

London is where fleeing Bayelsa State governor Diepreye Alamieyeseighahumiliated himself into permanent lore by disguising himself as a woman, wearing a dress and a wig.

London is where the Nigerian government in 2013 ordered 53 gold-plated Iphones for the 53rd independence anniversary celebrations; it also headquarters The Economist, which in 2016, dismissed President Goodluck Jonathan as “an ineffectual buffoon who let politicians and their cronies fill their pockets with impunity.”

London is where the United States unmaskedformer Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, who had sworn that she owned no billions anywhere: the beginning of her international disrobing that includedN47.2bn and $487.5m in cash and properties (one of them being a $37.5m Lagos mansion).

London is the place where presidential candidate Bola Ahmed took the coveted Chatham House microphone to market himself, only to embarrassingly farm out the questions addressed to him.

And London is the place where one President Muhammadu Buhari, having inexplicably made himself a local fixture, stumbled to laughable effect when King Charles asked of him a simple question.

London always seems to beckon to ruthless foreign officials.  It is now where officials of the Tinubu government are trooping, allegedly for a press conference to celebrate his “achievements”, preserving its age-old image as Nigeria’s best-loved location for squandering public resources.

Project Internal Coordinator of the President Bola Tinubu Midterm Legacy Projects Review Committee, Bode Adeyemi, said the officials will showcase the achievements and legacy projects of the Tinubu administration in infrastructure, the economy, security, job availability, healthcare development, aviation and digital economy.

Apparently, the British people are eager to learn about farmers being shot on their farms, hospitals that do not exist, and road constructions that have barely begun.

According to Adeyemi, “The singular fact that Nigerian and private refineries started production under this administration is an unforgettable achievement. The local government autonomy push by the President is another giant stride, and the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, Sokoto-Badagry superhighway, IMF debt repayment, removal of subsidies that have doubled allocation to states, enforcement of the rule of law and security are giant strides the Tinubu administration will always be remembered for.”

To begin with, Nigeria is so secure that, last week, Minister of Defence Mohammed Badaru was lamenting a “resurgence” of Boko Haram, saying: “We are doing a lot to curtail them, and we will fight it, and normalcy will return by the special grace of God and your prayers.”

His words were in line with what Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla declaredthe previous week, that Nigeria’s burgeoning insecurity needs a “spiritual” response.

He was nowhere near a gun or a bullet: he was in Abuja commissioning some churches!

The agonies of Nigerians were at weeping pitch last week, with Afenifere describing Tinubu’s promise of renewed hope as having turned into a “nightmare of regressing hopelessness and despair.”

 “Rather than take full responsibility for the unmitigated sufferings inflicted on Nigerians in the past two years on account of its wrong policy choices and wasteful spending, the Tinubu administration has engaged in massive propaganda claiming false successes and shifting blame to global and historical factors, and showing scant empathy for ordinary Nigerians,” it stated.

The Nigeria Labour Congress decried the hardship, broken promises, and worsening poverty in Tinubu’s two years.

“Nigerian workers have seen their real wages obliterated. Pensioners, SMEs (facing over 150 per cent inflation in inputs), and 150 million Nigerians are now multi-dimensionally poor.”

The International Christian Concern observedthat Tinubu has done little to stem the violence, noting that if the Nigerian leader were serious about it, he must address religion.

“Though not the only factor at play, lack of economic opportunity is another; it is a major one, and one that he crucially cannot afford to ignore.”

It described the Middle Belt as the site of significant religiously motivated bloodshed in recent years, driven in large part by Islamist insurgents that brutally target Christian communities.

In an editorial, The PUNCH described the Nigerian political elite as remaining stubbornly selfish and short-sighted, excluding the majority from meaningful participation.

“They have failed to build a nation or establish the pillars of democracy: strong institutions, free and credible elections, the rule of law, an independent electoral body, a robust party system, separation of powers, and an independent judiciary,” describing Tinubu as, “once a vocal advocate of restructuring and federalism,” and as showing little inclination for necessary reforms.

Remember: just nine months ago, at Nigeria’s anniversary, The Punch had also sighed deeply, affirming, “At 64, Nigeria has lost its way.”

Federal officials of the so-called poverty capital of the world, their citizens starving, dying from insecurity and mismanagement, will be partying in London, essentially celebrating a nation on the edge. Some will likely buy Rolls-Royces and the most expensive champagnes and whiskies, polishing insecurity and multi-dimensional poverty in the colours of economic buoyancy.

Keep in mind: one of the projects they will be celebrating is the 700km Lagos-Calabar road, commissioned though less than 2 per cent completed. It was initially advertised as a 10-lane highway, only to be quietly shrunk to six. Works Minister David Umahi, who has completed no road, will be there. Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, will speak of new bus terminals in Abuja, but not buses.

They are going to be talking about the rule of law when their party has barely obeyed any court orders since 2015, including three different ordersto account for returned loot.

But it is even worse: Here is Ajao Adewale, the Commissioner of Police in the FCT, who took office in March speaking to policemen about such issues as procedure and the rights of citizens.

He makes a wonderful presentation, but achieves no more than to confirm that Nigeria has a police force only in name, but not a police culture or trained officers.

But there is one hopeful spot in the Minister of the Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, a man I have previously acknowledged, who has since made even more notable strides.

Speaking at a public event, he called for innovation-driven governance and ethical leadership.

“Leadership is not about reacting to problems,” he said, “it is about foreseeing and solving them before they occur.”

Hopefully, Tunji-Ojo says these things at cabinet meetings.  And I hope he avoids the lure of false advocacy, such as: “Before President Bola Tinubu’s leadership, Nigeria’s challenges were rooted not in a lack of resources, but in the absence of focused and effective governance.”

Focused leadership and partying in London is a shameful contradiction.

Punch

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ ~ Ephesians 1:11-12.

Preamble: 

One gets really sad to observe the evils that the devil does in many homes across the world today. It’s even more shocking but equally instructive to read that some menand women in the Bible also missed their glorious destinies because of diverse satanic ploys.

Looking closely at the lives and times ofSamson, Solomon, Lot’s Wife and Vashti, just to mention a few, one will clearly see examples of victims of unwholesome marital adventures, and people, who were otherwise destined for greatness, whose stories rather ended up as paradoxes of conquered conquerors.

The important question to raise at this point is, what really went awry and why was it easily so? Simple! Many of these people failed to regularly consult God's Opinion —the Word — in the decision-making processes of their marital unions. The Bible says, “Every purpose is established by counsel …” (Proverbs 20:18).

The grand purpose of God is that we all should live “to the praise of his glory” in all areas of our lives, including our family lives. But, our holy unions can be glorious and fulfilling only when God's primary purposes are fully tracked, clearly understood, truly internalized and lovingly embraced. God’s counsel cannot be ignored, sidelined or treated with levity if we hope to enjoy a glorious family life.

Quite unfortunately, many people, including some respected believers today, are quite ignorant of the activities of unseen forces organized by Satan to hinder their glorious accomplishments, testimonies, progress and eventual enthronement on earth. And this crass ignorance makes it possible for Satan to operate with an advantage over them (2 Corinthians 2:11).

The devil operates a tight network of organized demonic spirits with specialized areas of evil activities — family crises, bondages to sin, frustrations, lack, delays, delusion, disorientation, emasculation, confusion, gaslighting, etcetera.

These diabolical activities are skewed to result in unpalatable human experiences and work against our aspirations. They must be warded off by the right knowledge of God’s Word.

Basically, marriage is articulated in the Bible as a solemn, lifelong covenant relationship between a man (husband) and a woman (wife) under the watchful eye of the Almighty God (Genesis 2:21-25). Even though marriage is not an end in itself; notwithstanding, there are goals in marriage that go beyond the nuptial flights, the social status and the comfort of marital togetherness.

Christian couples are never to settle for an ordinary relationship; rather, they are to develop a glorious, fulfilling and kingdom-focused marriage plan. In togetherness, every couple is expected to glorify God, and pursue His purposes in the holy union to fulfill their destiny on earth.

Starting right, going great and finishing strong is God’s plan for every Christian home. Albeit, there should be a willing, working and winning together among couples that hope to fulfill destiny and experience glorious accomplishments in their marital relationships!

Steps That Secure God’s Glory In a Christian Family Life

The first right step that can secure God’s glory in your family life is to start working on it today, and you must start where you are. If you’re yet unmarried, please accept responsibility to clear your heart of self-opinions, greed and every idol to be able to access God’s perfect Will for your life.And if you’re already married, starting from where you are, begin to sincerely align your family with the will and purpose of God.

How will you describe your marriage relationship right now? Robust? Growing?Glorious? Wonderful? Exemplary? Energized? Fun-filled? Or, hopeful? Silent? Disconnected? Confused? Drifting? Stressful? Frustrating?

See, falling in love may have seemed effortless, but building your Christian marriage and keeping it strong requires work (Philippians 2:12-14). Work out the glory!

The next step that empowers a glorious Christian family life is to be determined to worship God and pray together. Worshipping God and praying together keep a family staying closer and soaring in glory together.

Set aside time each day to pray with your spouse in order to develop true intimacy with each other and with God. Attend Church and get involved together. Enjoy making Christian friends together and be involved together in areas of mutual interest, such as serving God in areas of your respective gifting in the Church.

Some of the best ways we can stir up love in one another and encourage good deeds is by remaining faithful to the Body of Christand meeting together regularly with otherbelievers (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Furthermore, couples that hope to enjoy glorious, fulfilling and stress-free Christian family relationships together must commit themselves to making important decisions together. Nonetheless, while doing this, you must also choose to side with God in all your decisions. This was the lethal mistake that Ananias and Sapphira made, for which they harvested a severe, irreversible and deadly end (Acts 5:1-10).

One of the greatest areas of strain in marital relationships is the sphere of finances. Openness is very essential here. Keeping secrets about your finances will naturally drive a wedge between you and your spouse eventually. To strengthen trust in the holy union, God-fearing couples must come to mutual decisions on how their finances are to be managed.

Meanwhile, the importance of laughing together in Christian families that hope to enjoy God’s glory together cannot be overstated. Happy people have somethings that keep them cheerful and happy: they have happy friends and spouses with whom they laugh together.

People say, laugh and the world laughs with you. Your happiness will affect your spouse, and their emotional state will equally influence your own.

The Bible says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones” (Proverbs 17:22). To ensure a rewarding socio-spiritual bonding in the home, make time for laughter and deep intimacy together, even when it seems like you don't have any moment to spare.

Medical science describes laughter as an endorphin-trigger, which helps to reduce certain stress hormones. Laughter also strengthens the immune system. Thus, laughter is a health-booster, and I have no doubt in my mind that a glorious destiny cannot be attained without good health.

Give no day for bad mood in your home. Laugh: even God does (Psalms 2:1-4). Count your blessings and thank God together for them, everyday (1Thessalonians 5:18).

Most importantly, keep God first in your family relationship. Yes, feel free to not let other people come between you and your spouse, no matter their positions! However, there is One Person you cannot do without in your home — God. Like Joshua, let Jesus Christ be Lord indeed over your family (Joshua 24:14-15).

Friends and brethren, please keep in mind that fulfilling glorious marital purposes requires committed efforts on your part.Happily, the rewards of the efforts are priceless and immeasurable.

Love is a choice, not just a feeling to learn! You must choose to love your spouse, everyday. Submission is also a Christian virtue that you can’t do without if you ever dreamt of a glorious family life. Choose these again and again (Ephesians 5:17-28).

Pay close attention to your home and to the spiritual development of your spouse. In particular, if you want your life’s assignment to outlive you, or you’re praying for durable legacies, you must pay prayerful attention to your children. May the glory of Godcontinue to illuminate you and your home. You won’t miss this, in Jesus’ Name. Amen. Happy Sunday!

 ____________________

Archbishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Connect with Bishop Akinola via these channels:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bishopakinola

SMS/WhatsApp: +234 802 318 4987

Jesus says: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you.” (John 15:16).

When did He choose us? “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4).

Since He chose us, that means we were predestined:

“(He) predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” (Ephesians 1:5). 

What is the good pleasure of God’s will?

The good pleasure of God’s will is the salvation of souls. So, Jesus says:

“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”(Luke 12:32).

Why did He choose us?

He chose us:

“To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6).

We are saved by grace. We do not deserve to be saved, but we are saved. Jesus said to me, “Femi, I don’t give people what they deserve. Don’t give people what they deserve. Give them what they do not deserve.”

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

If we are saved by grace, it means we are elected. Paul says:  

“At this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” (Romans 11:5).

If we are elected by grace, then we are predestined. We are new creations.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10).

God prepared the works we are to do beforehand. That means we are predestined to do them. We do not even do them ourselves; Jesus does them through us:

“God (who) performs all things for (us).” (Psalm 57:2).

In Christ and Adam

God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. But when we were born, we left Christ. When we are born, we are no longer in Christ, but in Adam. In Adam, we died.

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22).

In Adam, we were dead in transgressions and sins. 

“That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12).

In Adam, the Prodigal Son left his father and went to a far country. When he left the Father, he died. He only came back alive when he returned home.

Dead men have no free will. Dead men have no independent action. Satan propels their actions through the bondage of corruption.

What does God say to Adamic man? He tells us to return to Him.

“You turn man to destruction, and say, “Return, O children of men.” (Psalm 90:3).

Who turns man to destruction?

God does.

Why?

Because we are all sinners.

How and when can we come back to Christ?

We can return when we are born again.

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1).

When we are born again, we go back from being in Adam to being in Christ.

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

What happens when we are back in Christ? We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. We are holy and without blame. We obtain an inheritance. We receive the spirit of adoption by which we cry “Abba Father.” (Romans 8:15). We obtain an inheritance. We become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. (Romans 8:17).

God brought us back to life from the dead for His own good pleasure and not ours. Therefore, it is not our will but His that must be done.

God’s Foreknowledge and Election

Jesus berated the Sadducees, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29). 

Even today, many people are unfamiliar with the scriptures. Some know the scriptures but not the power of God. But both must be seen in tandem. Moreover, the power of God never contradicts the scriptures.

God knows everything beforehand. He declares:

“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” (Isaiah 46:0-10). 

God’s foreknowledge should not be mistaken for foresight. God does not know future events and the actions of men because He foresees them. He knows them because He wills them to happen.

God’s foreknowledge is by election. His foreknowledge is from His determination to bring certain people into a special relationship with Him. Accordingly, He says to Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5).

If He looks down into history to choose only those who will love Him, He will end up choosing nobody. This is because:

“There is none righteous no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10-12).

God would have all men to be saved. Paul says, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4).

But none will merit salvation. All are dead in transgressions and sins. Therefore, rather than leave all men in condemnation, He decides to have mercy on a select few. He then decided that He would call the select few (or the elect) by the preaching of the gospel.

Election By Predestination

God predestines those He foreknew. He selects and elects them.

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29). 

The people God foreknew are those He set His affections on. God is not a man. So His knowledge does not conform to that of men.

Jesus says to some, “I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.” (Luke 13:27).

Surely, He knows them as men know others. He does not know them means He is not intimate with them.

The Bible says, “Cain knew his wife” (Genesis 4:17). “Adam knew his wife” (Genesis 4:25). This knowledge refers to intimacy. God will only spend eternity with those He wants to be intimate with. And the power of God ensures that those He wants to be intimate with are precisely those who want to be intimate with Him. 

For this reason, Paul says:

“What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” (Romans 9:22-24).

That is exactly what He does.

How many people will then end up in heaven?

Only the exact number that God has appointed. Not one more, not one less.

“Since (man’s) days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.” (Job 14:5).

Everything is carefully calibrated:

“You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” (Psalm 139:16). CONTINUED.

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