₦airaland Forum

No treaty carries Nigeria’s signature, no battalion has crossed anywhere near the Donbas or Kharkiv, and still its sons and daughters keep surfacing on the casualty rolls of a war fought on foreign soil.

The number that should stop us in our tracks is twenty-five.

That is the number of Nigerians now confirmed dead or missing among the 215 known Nigerian recruits absorbed into Russia’s armed forces, according to the tally published on 29 June 2026 by stoprussianrecruiters.org, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ clearinghouse, for the names of foreign nationals swallowed by a war that was never supposed to be theirs.

Nigeria ranks fifth among African nations on that list of the dead, one entry among 485 confirmed African deaths compiled from the trenches of a conflict most Nigerians still discuss the way one discusses weather in a country far away, present tense, but distant, someone else’s forecast.

Ayebusiwa Olabode Victor was thirty-four. A former Nigerian Navy veteran, he signed his contract with the Russian military in February 2026, a week, just one week, after Nigeria’s own Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already gone public with its concern over the recruitment of Nigerian nationals into foreign armed conflict. He was confirmed dead by Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence in May. The warning came before the contract. The grave came after both.

He is not alone, and he is not even the worst of what this pipeline has produced.

Matthew Sunday Bankole, thirty-seven, has been held in a Ukrainian prisoner-of-war camp since November 2025.

Kehinde Oluwagbemileke Adisa, thirty, arrived in Russia in 2025 to study population and development, a discipline concerned, with an irony too heavy to sit comfortably in any sentence, with how human beings live and how human beings die in aggregate. He later signed a military contract and has been detained since June.

Adisa Ridwan Balogun, thirty-three, has been held since December. These are not soldiers who set out to fight anyone’s war. They are Nigerians who were sold one life and delivered into another, and now sit in captivity as living case studies in a script that has played out with numbing consistency across the continent.

The script is by now well documented, and it is depressingly simple, though its simplicity is precisely what makes it so effective. It rarely begins with a stranger. It begins with a cousin’s contact, a childhood friend now based abroad, an “agent” already known to somebody in the family, someone who has, in the language of the scheme, already made it.

The pitch travels through the channels young Nigerians already trust: WhatsApp groups built around job-seeking, Facebook pages promising visas and salaries and, eventually, a path to Russian citizenship, informal brokers who trade in the currency of desperation because there is always more supply of it than the legitimate economy can absorb.

The job on offer is always civilian, driving, security, logistics, technical work, the unglamorous scaffolding of an ordinary economy, precisely the sort of employment a job-scarce graduate has been trained to hope for and has, more often than not, already been denied at home. The recruit arrives in Russia and is handed a contract written in a language they cannot read, tied not to a logistics firm but to the Ministry of Defense, with little to no translation offered and even less legal explanation given. Passports vanish into drawers. Wages that were promised are delayed, then withheld, until leaving becomes financially as well as legally impossible.

What began as an escape from unemployment ends as conscription into a battlefield, and for some, into a factory floor assembling the machines that make that battlefield deadlier.

CNN has interviewed African fighters, Nigerians among them, who describe exactly this bait and switch. A joint investigative report has counted at least thirty-six Nigerians recruited to fight for Russia, five of them confirmed killed. Ukraine’s own military intelligence has logged further Nigerian cases, recruited, as always, through social media, and deployed with what can only be called deliberate speed into combat roles for which they had neither training nor, in any honest accounting, consent.

Former Senator Shehu Sani said in July what many had been reluctant to say plainly: that Nigerians enlisting in Russia’s armed forces are being turned, whether they understand it yet or not, into mercenaries. It is a hard word, and it is the correct one, because the alternative, that a nation’s unemployed graduates are simply signing away their lives to a foreign war through nothing more sinister than bad luck and bad information, is not actually less damning of the systems that produced it.

Russia’s ambassador to Nigeria has publicly denied the existence of any state-backed programme targeting Nigerians, insisting that any illegal recruitment would fall to law enforcement rather than official policy. Independent reporting and intelligence sources continue to identify Nigerian victims among those recruited and deployed to the front, a contradiction the ambassador’s denial has done little to resolve.

Beyond the battlefield sits a quieter, no less troubling economy of exploitation, one built specifically around vulnerability. Researchers and human-rights groups describe these recruitment practices as functionally indistinguishable from trafficking: they target economically desperate youth, unemployed graduates and job seekers among them, with offers the recruiters know to be misleading from the outset. Recruits are moved across borders under false pretences, then coerced or financially trapped into military service they never agreed to. Affected Nigerians, in this reading, are treated as expendable manpower in a war they did not choose and, in many cases, did not even understand they had joined until the choice was no longer theirs to make.

Every strand of this story, in the end, runs back to the same two failures, one economic and one bureaucratic. The economic failure is the more familiar of the two: a labour market that produces graduates faster than it produces jobs will always manufacture its own supply of young people willing to believe an unlikely offer, because the alternative on the table at home is indefinite waiting. The bureaucratic failure is quieter but no less consequential, and it lives in the gap between the warnings Nigeria’s own Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already issued and the enforcement that has yet to catch up to them.

What oversight actually exists for the online recruiters, the WhatsApp brokers, the Facebook pages, who are converting that desperation into a pipeline. What happens once a Nigerian mission abroad is alerted that a citizen has been deployed to a war zone rather than the warehouse job they were promised, and how quickly, if at all, consular help materialises for the families now waiting on both fronts, one waiting for a phone call from Ukraine, the other for a phone call from Abuja that clarifies anything at all.

What all of this leaves behind is a set of questions Nigerian institutions have been slow to answer with anything beyond statements. What concrete steps has government taken since its own ministry sounded the alarm on illegal recruitment. How many confirmed Nigerian cases, recruited, injured, killed, missing, currently sit on record, and who is keeping that record honestly. What legal penalties exist, if any, for the Nigerian agents who broker these arrangements from inside the country, profiting quietly while their countrymen are shipped toward a front line advertised to them as a warehouse job. These are not rhetorical questions. They are the difference between a government that manages a crisis and one that merely narrates it.

History has seen this pattern before, and history offers no comfort in the repetition. Empires once filled their navies the same way, not through open conscription but through press gangs and false promises, luring young men from taverns and docksides with talk of wages and adventure, only for them to wake up at sea, bound to a service they never chose and rarely survived. It took public outrage, legal reform, and sustained political will, not condolences, to end that practice. Nigeria stands at the same fork today. This is no longer a matter for statements of concern; it is a matter for enforcement.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must move from warning to prosecuting, naming and shutting down the brokers and pages still operating in plain sight on Nigerian soil. The National Assembly must close the legal gaps that let this trade continue unpunished. Nigerian missions abroad must be resourced and mandated to find every citizen still trapped in this pipeline, whether on a battlefield or a factory floor, and bring them home. None of this is optional, and none of it should wait for the next name to be added to the list. Nigeria owes its citizens more than condolences; it owes them a government that acts before the funeral, not after it.

The Secretariat of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has confirmed receiving a petition from two Ghanaians requesting a preliminary examination into recurring xenophobic attacks and alleged crimes against humanity in South Africa.

The communication, submitted to the Office of the Prosecutor on July 15, 2026, has been assigned Submission ID #85af1b23-2bb1-481c-ac64-5cb02c7c3524. It was filed by former Government Spokesperson on Governance and Security, Dr Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, and counter-terrorism and security analyst Emmanuel Kotin of the Africa Centre for Security and Counter Terrorism.

In the petition, the two Ghanaians urge the ICC Prosecutor to commence a preliminary examination into what they describe as a pattern of widespread and systematic xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals, particularly African migrants, in South Africa between 2015 and 2026.

According to the petition, the attacks have allegedly resulted in unlawful killings, widespread destruction of property, looting, forced displacement, physical assaults, torture, and other inhumane treatment. It also cites hate speech and incitement as contributing factors to the violence.

The petitioners argue that despite repeated outbreaks of xenophobic violence over the years, South African authorities have failed to adequately prevent the attacks, protect victims, investigate offenders, and prosecute those responsible, creating what they describe as a climate of impunity.

They contend that the alleged acts may constitute crimes against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute, including murder, deportation or forcible transfer of populations, and other inhumane acts intentionally causing great suffering.

The petition also invokes Article 28 of the Rome Statute, which deals with command responsibility, alleging that senior state officials, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, failed to exercise effective control over state security forces to prevent or punish the alleged crimes.

Among their requests, Dr Boakye-Danquah and Mr Kotin are asking the Office of the Prosecutor to commence a preliminary examination into the situation, summon and question President Ramaphosa and other relevant state officials to determine whether they bear any command responsibility, and open a formal investigation if there is a reasonable basis to believe crimes within the Court’s jurisdiction have been committed.

The petition argues that South Africa, having ratified the Rome Statute in November 2000, falls within the ICC’s jurisdiction. It further claims that domestic proceedings have been insufficient to address the recurring pattern of xenophobic violence, making the matter admissible before the Court.

In their conclusion, the petitioners state that South Africa remains a beacon of democracy in Africa but argue that continued attacks on fellow Africans undermine the principles of Ubuntu and Pan-Africanism. They maintain that their petition is intended to promote justice, accountability, and the protection of human dignity rather than hostility towards South Africa.

The ICC Secretariat’s confirmation of receipt does not mean the Court has opened an investigation or made any findings on the allegations. The Office of the Prosecutor will first assess the communication to determine whether it meets the legal threshold for a preliminary examination under the Rome Statute.

“They made you believe development takes time. No. Poor planning takes time."

The federal government is set to issue a second bond worth approximately N729 billion under the Presidential Power Sector Debt Reduction Programme (PPSDRP), as it intensifies efforts to clear verified legacy debts owed to electricity Generation Companies (Gencos) and improve liquidity in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

Ahead of the issuance, the government said on Sunday that it will host an investors’ forum tomorrow (Tuesday, July 21) to engage prospective investors on the upcoming transaction.

The planned issuance follows the successful flotation of a N501 billion bond in January 2026. Together, the two issuances will amount to about N1.23 trillion, completing the first phase of the N4 trillion debt reduction programme approved by President Bola Tinubu to address longstanding financial obligations in the power sector.

In a statement in Abuja, the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) said the first coupon and principal repayment on the January bond, which fell due on July 14, had been settled promptly and in full.

According to the organisation, this demonstrates the federal government’s credit worthiness as well as commitment to meeting its contractual obligations and strengthening investor confidence in the programme.

NBET explained that the N1.23 trillion raised through the first and second issuances represents the Series 1 and Series 2 components of the Capital Market Multi Instrument Issuance Programme, which forms the first phase of the broader N4 trillion initiative.

The January issuance, it said, reflected the government’s fiscally responsible approach to settling verified obligations owed to Gencos while improving liquidity and supporting the long-term financial sustainability of the electricity market.

In his comments, the Chief Executive Officer of NBET, Mr. Johnson Akinnawo, described the proposed second issuance as another major milestone in efforts to restore confidence and financial stability in the sector.

“The second issuance demonstrates the federal government’s commitment to resolving verified legacy obligations through a transparent, structured and market-based mechanism,” he said.

According to him, improving liquidity across the electricity value chain would strengthen the financial position of market participants, encourage fresh investment and support sustainable electricity generation.

Akinnawo recalled that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the establishment of the N4 trillion Presidential Power Sector Debt Reduction Programme in 2025, with NBET designated as the sponsoring institution for settling verified legacy debts.

He explained that the programme would be implemented through multiple issuances of debt instruments by NBET Finance Company Plc, a special purpose vehicle established for the programme.

According to him, the instruments are backed by the full faith and credit of the federal government and supported by a comprehensive risk mitigation framework designed to ensure successful execution.

“The programme has the full backing of the federal government and incorporates a robust suite of instruments designed to mitigate transaction risks and support successful execution,” he said.
Akinnawo added that the planned N729 billion bond would mark another important step towards resolving longstanding liabilities in the electricity sector and creating a more stable, bankable and investment friendly market capable of attracting investment.

“By improving liquidity across the electricity value chain, the programme will help strengthen the financial position of market participants, support new investment and promote sustainable electricity generation for the benefit of Nigerians,” the NBET chief executive explained.

wman:
Messi incoming Red card.

He put his hand over his mouth.

But VAR no check am.

Burkina Faso's military leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, has launched a fierce attack on Arabism and religious extremism, accusing the Arabs and religious extremism of enslaving and attempting to genocide black Africans for over a millennium.

Describing the Ummah as a case of Stockholm syndrome, Traore ordered black Africans to disavow Arab influence and white European domination, framing his message as a fight for true African liberation.

Traore Declares War on Arabism and Religious Extremism: "Disavow It, Africa Must Be Free"

Burkina Faso's military leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, has launched a fierce attack on Arabism and religious extremism, accusing the Arabs and religious extremism of enslaving and… pic.twitter.com/GPrOiEiMca

— The Yoruba Times (@TheYorubaTimes) July 19, 2026

VAT generated by Nigeria’s states and the FCT in H1 2026 (Jan-Jun)

1. Lagos: N1.81trn
2. ⁠Rivers: N560.04bn
3. ⁠Oyo: N253.67bn
4. ⁠FCT: N182.93bn
5. ⁠Bayelsa: N103.14bn
6. ⁠Delta: N102.06bn
7. ⁠Kano: N65.21bn
8. ⁠Akwa Ibom: N52.89bn
9. ⁠Edo: N51.91bn
10. ⁠Borno: N38.38bn
11. ⁠Adamawa: N36.69bn
12. ⁠Ondo: N34.22bn
13. ⁠Kwara: N33.58bn
14. ⁠Jigawa: N33.23bn
15. ⁠Ogun: N26.43bn
16. ⁠Katsina: N25.82bn
17. ⁠Gombe: N25.78bn
18. ⁠Anambra: N24.55bn
19. ⁠Sokoto: N23.96bn
20. ⁠Plateau: N23.37bn
21. ⁠Taraba: N22.14bn
22. ⁠Kaduna: N21bn
23. ⁠Zamfara: N20.74bn
24. ⁠Ekiti: N20.44bn
25. ⁠Ebonyi: N18.96bn
26. ⁠Kogi: N18.15bn
27. ⁠Yobe: N16.43bn
28. ⁠Nasarawa: N16.35bn
29. ⁠Kebbi: N15.55bn
30. ⁠Imo: N14.64bn
31. ⁠Niger: N14.32bn
32. ⁠Benue: N14.10bn
33. ⁠Bauchi: N13.39bn
34. ⁠Osun: N13.25bn
35. ⁠Enugu: N12.35bn
36. ⁠Cross River: N10.55bn
37. ⁠Abia: N8.77bn

Total: N3.78trn

<FAAC, TheCableIndex>
#TheCableIndex

In one week in May, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) went from being the most active wing of the global Islamic State group, claiming more attacks than any other affiliate, to an organization in crisis.

After months of intelligence gathering, the joint forces of Nigeria and the United States conducted a nighttime raid on May 16 that killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, one of the group’s most senior leaders, in a hidden compound near the town of Metele in the Lake Chad Basin. The highly coordinated assault also eliminated some of the group’s other top leaders and destroyed critical logistical infrastructure.

In the aftermath of such a blow to the terror group’s leadership, Nigerian armed forces have maintained intense pressure on ISWAP, which has led to infighting, mass surrenders and the defections of other senior leaders.

Intelligence-driven success

Nigerian security analyst Zagazola Makama called the operation one of the most consequential counterterrorism successes in the conflict’s history, and a prime example of how intelligence-led warfare increasingly is the decisive factor.

“It reflects the growing maturity of intelligence-led warfare and demonstrates how sustained cooperation among intelligence agencies, military forces and international partners can significantly alter the trajectory of an insurgency,” he told ADF.

Operation Hadin Kai, the Nigerian military’s counterinsurgency campaign against ISWAP and Boko Haram in the northeast, has continued to apply pressure in the weeks since al-Minuki’s death. Troops have dismantled terrorist strongholds and command and logistics hubs, freed dozens of hostages, and debriefed dozens more ISWAP fighters who have surrendered.

“Persistent military operations have continued to degrade the terrorists’ combat capabilities while eroding confidence within their ranks and leadership,” Hadin Kai’s acting information officer Capt. Mohammed Goni said in a June 29 statement. “Within the last week alone, a total of 76 terrorist foot soldiers with some families surrendered to troops.”

Makama said the elimination of ISWAP’s senior leadership impacts every element of the insurgency: logistics and coordination, financing, recruitment, communications and security architecture.

“The removal of individuals occupying these functions can create organizational disruption that takes months or years to repair,” he said. “Intelligence reporting following the operation suggested growing distrust within surviving ISWAP ranks, increased concern regarding intelligence penetration and uncertainty over future leadership arrangements.”

Aliyu Dahiru, assistant editor of Nigerian website HumAngle, agreed that the death of al-Minuki will have a ripple effect on the Islamic State’s global leadership, operations and movements.

“The joint U.S.-Nigeria strike that killed al-Minuki demonstrated a targeting capability that ISWAP had not previously faced at this intensity in the Lake Chad theatre,” he wrote in a June 10 article. “The use of American intelligence assets alongside Nigerian special forces created a surveillance environment that makes the movement of senior figures, especially those arriving from abroad, significantly more dangerous than before.”

ISWAP’s internal strife

The killing of al-Minuki exposed a rift between Nigerian and foreign fighters and reportedly has led to a major change of tactics away from pursuing the help of experienced Islamic State fighters and operatives from the Middle East.

Some of the most important intelligence gathered by Nigerian and U.S. forces came from within ISWAP, according to Malik Samuel, an analyst with Pan-African research organization Good Governance Africa.

“Despite his elaborate efforts to conceal his presence, al-Minuki was ultimately betrayed by his own, both foreign and local fighters,” he wrote in a June 16 article. “This betrayal has sown panic within ISWAP’s leadership, particularly given the widening chasm between commanders and rank-and-file fighters over issues of welfare and resource distribution.”

Reports that some ISWAP fighters may have leaked information leading to al-Minuki’s death point to internal discontent over the unequal treatment of foreign and local fighters. The May 18 edition of the Islamic State’s Al-Naba newsletter noted that concerns over priority given to foreign fighters has led to a major strategic shift.

"ISWAP has announced that the flow of fighters migrating from Iraq and Syria to Nigeria has been effectively paused,” HumAngle reported in a June 10 article. “For years, the Islamic State’s call for migration to Africa was one of ISWAP’s most reliable sources of experienced foreign fighters. Foreign fighters who had trained and fought in the central theatre arrived in Lake Chad with tactical knowledge, ideological authority and direct personal connections to IS central command.”

The four-year stalemate in Ukraine has suddenly broken. For the first time in modern memory, Russia is having to import fuel to keep its economy and society afloat.

The speed of events is extraordinarily rapid and portends a tectonic shift in the global balance of power, dramatically improving the strategic fortunes of Europe.

Ukraine’s drone force of “Magyar’s Birds” has struck 30 oil and gas tankers in the Black Sea region since Wednesday. It claims to have hit 147 vessels linked to Russia in 10 days, effectively closing the Sea of Azov and tightening the blockade of the Crimean peninsula.

It is attacking refineries at will, continuously, from St Petersburg to Siberia, crippling Russia’s biggest plant some 2,250km into the interior at Omsk. The range has jumped fivefold since early last year. “Russia no longer has a safe rear, and distance is no longer protection,” said Sergiy Makogon, from the Centre for European Policy Analysis.

Ukraine’s hi-tech counter-punch has echoes of the final months of the First World War when Allied armour smashed through the trenches, exploiting the breakdown on the German home front already well underway.

“The Ukrainians have figured out how to target the refraction facilities of the plants,” said Prof Alan Riley, an energy expert at the Atlantic Council and an adviser to the Ukrainian military.

“Once you take out the most complex parts of the refinery, replacements have to come mostly from China. That can take a year or 18 months.

“Russia’s air defences are around Moscow and St Petersburg, and they are designed to intercept missiles, not mass drone attacks. Refineries around the country are basically undefended,” he said. Private companies are desperately putting up wire mesh to defend their plants, sauve qui peut.

“The attacks on coastal terminals are aimed at cutting off Russia’s export revenues: the strikes on inland refineries are to bring the economy to a standstill and undermine Russia’s ability to wage war. Vladimir Putin is in very serious trouble,” said Prof Riley.

S&P Global Energy estimates that 60pc of Russia’s refining capacity may now be offline, cutting supply by four million barrels a day in the week ending June 10. The volumes are staggering, with immediate knock-on effects through the global economy.

Russia was the world’s second-biggest exporter of refined fuel earlier this year. It has now imposed an export ban and is to import fuel from Kazakhstan and India in an extremely tight global market.

Crude prices are not the relevant marker for stress in the international energy system today. The trouble has switched to the key distillates – gasoline, diesel and jet fuel – that people actually consume. The diesel “crack spread” in Rotterdam is hovering near record highs at $70 a barrel. It is normally $10 to $20.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s outgoing defence minister, led this creative drone warfare before being sacked this week in another episode of wearisome cronyism by Volodymyr Zelensky’s venal circle. His exit will not derail the winning strategy.

Russia’s energy crisis is bringing to a head a long-simmering economic crisis. Data from the finance ministry show that adjusted budget revenues from oil and gas were down 23pc during the January-to-June period from a year earlier despite the Iran war. They are now in free-fall.

The Kremlin has raised refining subsidies sixfold to hold down costs at the pump and head off popular anger – already smouldering as fuel queues reach 12 hours and the ration is cut to 20 litres in some cities. The Duma has torn up the legal budget code. Fiscal discipline is collapsing.

The liquid reserves of the Kremlin’s rainy-day fund are exhausted. The country cannot easily borrow on the capital markets. China has refused to allow the sale of sovereign rouble bonds on Chinese platforms. Russian banks are being pressured into funding the military-industrial apparatus and plugging the budget deficit via short-term loans.

Reuters reports that a leaked intelligence document entitled “on the probability of a banking crisis in Russia in 2026” warns that the banking system is buckling behind a veneer of illusory stability.

Russia’s internet controls have failed to scotch rumours of a coming confiscation of bank savings, which is what happened to deposits at the Soviet Sberbank in 1990. It is perilous for a regime when such feverish suspicions take hold.

On the military front, Putin is running out of human drone fodder. He has deployed more troops than the entire British Army in a nine-month battle to capture the small town of Kostiantynivka in the Donbas, so far without clear success.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies estimates that Russia has suffered 1.4 million casualties. It is losing 30,000 to 35,000 a month in the kill zone. This, too, drains the budget. The family payout per death is £90,000. A lost leg costs £28,000.

A rush of recruits signed up last year to lock in the enlistment bonus – betting on easy barracks duty – when Donald Trump seemed eager to betray Ukraine.

The online investigative journal Verstka, run by diaspora journalists with clandestine sources inside Russia, says recruitment since then has plummeted. “It’s as if we’ve run out of people. There are no more fools for money,” said one soldier, claiming units in his regiment were below 40pc strength.

Another told Verstka that the 2026 intake is “unfit to fight” and often press-ganged. “Some are taken from prison, others from the streets, literally homeless, already so old and ill that they can barely stand.” They are put through three days of “training” and sent straight into the kill zone.

The mood is mutinous. “It’s already hatred, but not yet rage, and that’s where it’s all heading. Honestly, I’m scared for the country,” he said.

Putin faces the choice of military failure or rolling the dice on a general mobilisation, which would be politically explosive. Verstka reports that the army is already preparing camps to train tens of thousands at a time.

“Everybody knows it’s a meatgrinder. If Putin goes for mobilisation, there could be half a million people protesting on the streets,” said Prof Riley. “You could see a situation like 1917, when Russian troops refused to go to the front.”

The status quo is equally dangerous. Putin’s hopes of splitting European Nato or seducing Trump have come to nothing. The US Senate wants to impose ferocious secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian hydrocarbons.

Trump is bored and no longer sniffs a winner in Putin. The “spirit of Anchorage” is today a sick joke in Moscow.

These fast-moving events are pregnant with risk. Putin’s reflex is to escalate when his back is against the wall. Although if he tried to launch a hybrid attack on Lithuania’s 60-mile Suwalki Corridor – as some fear – he would run today into the teeth of Germany’s 45th Panzer Brigade.

Events are also pregnant with opportunity. If the Russian invasion of Ukraine ends in a miserable whimper, it would be an undisguisable defeat for the Sino-Russian authoritarian axis, forcing opportunistic fence-sitters across the Global South to rethink their assumptions.

It would be a potent shot in the arm for a resurgent Europe, further devalue the coin of Trump’s bluster and restore the trans-Atlantic relationship to dignified balance. The West might live on yet.

Kaliningrad:

---

U.S population 350 million, Venezuela population = 28 million, Cuba population = 9 million, Afghanistan population 37 million.

Has the US ever picked OK someone their own size or they're just cowards & paper tigers that like to fight extremely poor n weak countries?

William Bellingham, Jude Bellingham grandfather. https://t.co/GQmoauDcbJ pic.twitter.com/lWJ6FSyVT3

— TheRemmySaheed 😏 (@Remmzor__) July 15, 2026

Kemical23:
This guy is very confused at this moment, from my observation....

I don't think I will ever forgive anybody who can kill my son/daughters life...

Chelsea had to quickly backtrack after sharing a celebratory post of Enzo Fernandez on social media.
Fernandez was the man who kickstarted Argentina's thrilling come-from-behind victory in the World Cup semi-final over England on Wednesday.

The midfielder scored a sensational curled effort from outside the box in the 85th minute to cancel out Anthony Gordon's opener for England.

It sparked joyous scenes among Argentina's players and fans while England looked crestfallen.

'The absolute cheek'

Given Fernandez is a Chelsea player, the Blues wanted to celebrate his moment in the spotlight.

A picture of Fernandez with his ears cupped to the crowd was shared across Chelsea's social media accounts.

But given Chelsea are based in west London, the post unsurprisingly went down like a lead balloon.

One fan wrote: "Seriously. We're an English football club. Poor from my club. Poor."

Another said: "The absolute cheek of an English football club to tweet this. Grim."

A third posted: "Why the f*** are you posting this as an English club when he scored against England."

Given the reaction from furious Chelsea fans, the club quickly deleted the post.

Enz of the road?

Adding fuel to the fire is the fact Fernandez hasn't exactly pledged his future to Chelsea.

The midfielder, who became the Blues' record signing in January 2023, has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid.

Fernandez hasn't done much to quash such talk, hinting he would be open to a switch to the Spanish capital.

Real have since come out and issued a statement claiming they have 'not made any effort, either direct or indirect,' to sign Fernandez.

Despite their denials, talkSPORT understands Fernandez is Real boss Jose Mourinho's top target.

However, he won't come cheap as Chelsea are understood to be demanding £120million for Fernandez.

If Fernandez's goal and Chelsea's post wasn't enough heartbreak for English Blues supporters, there was more to come just minutes later when Lautaro Martinez headed home Lionel Messi's cross to make it 2-1.

Despite England throwing on Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney with minutes to spare, the late roll of the dice failed to work for the Three Lions as their hopes of ending a 60-year wait for silverware ended.

As for Fernandez, he now has a World Cup final to look forward to on Sunday when Argentina takes on Spain.

How did other clubs respond?

Other Premier League clubs were far more muted in their posts about Argentina players making the World Cup final.

Man United wrote on X: "Licha and Argentina have reached the FIFA World Cup final

"Commiserations to Kobbie, Marcus and England."

Tottenham said: "A late victory for Argentina sees Cuti and Marcos progress to the World Cup final."

Argentina face Spain in Sunday's World Cup final.

There MUST be a coroner's inquest into the death of Mary Habila at the residence of Tinubu's Minister of Works, David Umahi

Given the mysterious manner of her death and unanswered questions about the circumstances of her presence at the Minister's home, it is in the interest of justice that all appropriate investigative and forensic procedures, including, where required by law, an autopsy and any other relevant inquiries, be completed before Mary Habila is buried.

Any attempt at hurried burial by her family must be resisted. Ms. Mary Habila died with blood flowing from her mouth, which suggests that her death is unnatural.

There have been several allegations of mysterious deaths surrounding Umahi, including those of 5 NELAN Engineers that remain unsolved to date.

A United Nations official has said Palestinian militant group Hamas was disrupting aid distribution in the Gaza Strip, placing further hardship on its civilians ​already grappling with the humanitarian crisis in the war-shattered enclave.

In a ‌statement late on Sunday, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories said humanitarian workers had to halt activity on Saturday after armed men entered a food distribution point in northern ​Gaza and assaulted two truck drivers in a World Food Program warehouse.

"These ​incidents are not isolated. They are completely unacceptable and reflect an ⁠increasingly dangerous pattern of intimidation, violence and obstruction, including smuggling attempts, targeting and ​abusing humanitarian operations," said U.N. Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process ​Ramiz Alakbarov.

"They are placing humanitarian workers at risk, disrupting the delivery of life-saving assistance, and further constraining the ability of humanitarian organizations to operate at a time when civilians across Gaza continue ​to face immense and pressing humanitarian conditions," Alakbarov said.

Hamas on Monday denied the ​allegations. Its media office said the police forces involved were on a law enforcement operation after ‌receiving ⁠reports of smuggled cigarettes and mobile phone components concealed inside aid parcels.

"The incident at the World Food Programme (WFP) food distribution center in the Abu Rashid area of Jabalia Refugee Camp was neither a 'raid,' an 'attack,' nor an 'obstruction' of humanitarian work, as falsely ​claimed," Hamas said.

More ​than two-and-a-half years ⁠after the Gaza war was triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, much of the enclave remains in ruins.

Israel's ​devastating aerial and ground bombardment displaced nearly the entire population ​of two ⁠million people, most of whom now live in tents or damaged buildings in a narrow coastal strip of territory still governed by Hamas.

Israeli troops remain in control of ⁠more than ​60% of the territory, including all its access ​points. Ceasefire talks meant to see Hamas disarmed and Israel withdraw from Gaza have been faltering for ​months.

omooba969:
Mbappé go don dey prep him mind for the next World Cup in 2030.

Leepeak:
Players and Their Roots
​Kylian Mbappé – Im papa from Cameroon, im mama from Algeria.
​Ousmane Dembélé – Im family get roots from Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal.
​Dayot Upamecano – Im family come from Guinea-Bissau and Senegal.
​Ibrahima Konaté – Im family roots reach Mali.
​Aurélien Tchouaméni – Im family background come from Cameroon.
​Bradley Barcola – Im papa come from Togo.
​Michael Olise – Born for London, but im papa na Nigerian and im mama na French-Algerian. Na even my brods urhobo boy
​Marcus Thuram – Im family roots dey for Guadeloupe (Caribbean) and Cameroon.
​Kingsley Coman – Im family get roots from Guadeloupe.
​Mike Maignan – Im roots mix from Haiti and Guadeloupe.
​Brice Samba – Na from Republic of the Congo im family take come.
​Theo & Lucas Hernández – Their family get Spanish roots.
​Olivier Giroud – Im family get roots from France and Italy.

France has rejected former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s claim that its national football team had “no French players.”

The French Embassy in Spain said on Sunday that “all the players in the French national team are French,” noting that this also applied to the three members of the 26-man squad who were born abroad.

The response came after Rajoy, Spain’s prime minister from 2011 to 2018 and former leader of the centre-right Partido Popular (PP), wrote in an opinion piece for Spanish news website El Debate that France’s national team had no French players.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told French channel BFMTV that Rajoy’s comment was “absolutely unacceptable”.

The two countries are to play on Tuesday in a blockbuster World Cup semi-final.

Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, condemned the remark as “xenophobic”.

“There are those who still measure belonging by surname, place of birth, or skin colour. Others measure it by our roots in a country and our will to contribute to it,” the Socialist leader wrote on X.

“Spain belongs to those who love it and work for it. Not to those who shame it with xenophobic statements.”

French politicians have also condemned Rajoy’s comment.

France “has no skin colour or religion”, said French Socialist party leader Olivier Faure on X.

Île-de-France regional president Valérie Pécresse, a centre-right politician who belongs to the same European political family as Rajoy, described the comments as “despicable racism”.

“Mariano Rajoy demonstrates his complete misunderstanding of what constitutes the soul of the French people.”

Naima Moutchou, France’s minister for overseas territories, called the comments evidence of “systematic and widespread hatred of France and what the nation is”.“Every time Les Bleus win, the same racist obsessions and insults re-emerge,” she said.

The comments sparked further controversy after Kylian Mbappé, the captain of the French team, was targeted with hate speech by a Paraguayan lawmaker following Paraguay’s defeat to France last week.

Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla described the star player as “a colonised Cameroonian who has really pretended to be French”.

SirCloudControl:
Instead of going through so much self deception why not just be honest with the man and adopt a child?

Former Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, Julie Okah-Donli, has alleged that some women fake pregnancies using steroids and later obtain babies to deceive their husbands into believing they gave birth.

Okah-Donli made the claim in a resurfaced interview on Tuesday during an appearance on the Kaa Truths Podcast, where she spoke about alleged fake pregnancy syndicates and baby trafficking in Nigeria.

According to her, women involved in the practice are allegedly injected with steroids that make them appear heavily pregnant.

“They are injected with steroids. So when they inject them with these steroids, it gives them the semblance of a pregnant woman. Their faces are bloated up, and their tummies are actually very big. They look pregnant, but they are not pregnant,” she said.

She claimed the women also imitate pregnancy symptoms, including morning sickness, vomiting and spitting, especially in the presence of their husbands.

“When their husbands are around, they pretend to be suffering from morning sickness. They spit, they pretend to throw up and all sorts of funny things,” she said.

Okah-Donli further alleged that the women often arrange for the supposed childbirth to take place while their husbands are away or send them on errands before presenting them with a baby upon their return.

“When it’s time to have the baby, they usually have the baby when the man has travelled. Then he comes back to see a baby in the house. But sometimes if it’s the kind of man that doesn’t travel, they ask him to go and buy something… By the time the man comes back, it’s ‘Congratulations, you have a baby,’” she alleged.

She also claimed that some women undergo fake surgical procedures to make it appear they delivered through caesarean section.

“They actually do open them up to make it look like they had a CS. That’s how desperate these guys are. They stitch them back up,” she alleged.

The former NAPTIP boss linked the alleged practice to cases where paternity tests reveal that children are not biologically related to their presumed fathers.

She argued that maternity tests should also be conducted in such situations.

“We started finding out that during a paternity test, a lot of children were not the children of the man. But one thing they failed to do was maternity test, which would have confirmed that the women did not have the children,” she said.

According to Okah-Donli, maternity testing would reveal whether the woman actually gave birth to the child and could help investigators uncover cases of alleged baby trafficking.

“The man is thinking this woman cheated on me, whereas the woman bought the baby. So it’s not even the mother. You can have the maternity test to be sure that this woman is not the mother of the baby, and then you begin to investigate where the baby came from,” she said.

She further alleged that some women claim to have twins, triplets or quadruplets because it makes the deception easier.

“Most of them say they have twins. They have triplets. They have quadruplets. Now everybody seems to be having twins and triplets and quadruplets because it’s easier for them to just buy them once and for all and deceive themselves and the world,” she alleged.

Okah-Donli served as Director-General of NAPTIP after her appointment by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2017, leading the agency’s efforts against human trafficking and related offences.

Her comments on the podcast were not accompanied by specific evidence, and the allegations remain her claims.

Women inject steroids to have semblance of pregnant women to deceive their husbands till the point of handing them babies that are not theirs. pic.twitter.com/1Gtc2pmj7O

— Ọ̀YỌ́ M'ÈSÌ Ọ̀RỌ̀ (@oyomesioro) July 15, 2026

Queseda:
It is really surprising how attacks on churches stopped the moment US stopped promoting and talking about Christian genocide

Mynd44:
You don't get it. Infantino is consolidating power. The top countries in Europe and South America want him out and will likely vote against him so he is trying to please the "smaller" ones so they can vote for him and he will be re-elected.

FIFA officials will look at ‌‌the possibility of expanding the World Cup by adding another 16 teams for the 2030 tournament, ⁠⁠said Gianni Infantino.

The FIFA president told the Swiss media outlet Bluewin that growing from 48 to 64 teams could make ⁠⁠sense.

“That’s definitely an issue that will be examined and discussed in the relevant committees after this World Cup,” he said.

“When organising a World Cup, ⁠⁠it’s important to organise it for the whole world – not just Europe and South America – but effectively the entire world. Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup. You can see that the quality of the ‌‌teams is extremely high – and it’s getting higher and higher all over the world. If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.”

The World Cup finals had 32 teams from 1998 through 2022. The current 2026 edition is the first with 48 teams.

Four teams – Argentina, England, France and Spain – remain ⁠⁠in the tournament. Two semifinal matches and the final are all that remain from the initial 104-match schedule in Canada, Mexico and across the United States.

Infantino said he considers the 48-team field to be a “huge success”.

“Every team played ⁠⁠at a high level. Teams from every continent scored goals and earned at least one point,” he said. “Nine out ⁠⁠of 10 African teams reached the knockout stage. ⁠⁠At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa. That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams – to give them this opportunity to participate.”

The 2030 ‌‌tournament will be a multi-continent effort.

The first three matches are scheduled to be played in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay – one per country – with the remaining ‌‌games ‌‌in Morocco, Portugal and Spain. Expansion to 64 teams could mean that the South American nations each could host one four-team group, rather than one match.

UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will be designated a threat to national security.

Mahmood will use new government powers to ban support for the group, which has been linked to death threats, attacks and intimidation in the UK.

In a written statement to Parliament, she set out how support for the IRGC, from expressing a positive opinion to assisting them, will now be an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Two other groups are also being proscribed, the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR), and the volunteer corps of Russia's GRU (foreign military intelligence agency).

New powers will be given to police and intelligence agencies to tackle espionage, foreign interference, sabotage and physical attacks from these groups.

Iran's IRGC is believed to have directed seven attacks at UK locations linked to Jewish and Israeli communities, including the antisemitic arson attack on four Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green on March 23, which the IMCR publicly claimed responsibility for.

The prime minister promised to fast-track the National Security (State Threats) Act in April this year, and draft regulations for proscription can now be laid before parliament.

Announcing the new powers, Sir Keir Starmer said: "We will never let Britain be a playground for states who want to spread fear, division and violence on our streets.

"We have already taken tough action against the Iranian regime and those linked to it, and against Russian operatives and networks targeting our country.

"These new powers will make it easier to prosecute and lock up anyone carrying out their dirty work here in Britain."

If approved by Parliament later this week, those conducting acts of sabotage including arson on behalf of these groups could face life imprisonment.

The change means prosecutors will no longer need to establish a foreign power connection in every case, making it easier and more straightforward to build cases.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores.

"I have rapidly designated three groups so those working for them will be tracked down and put behind bars."

MI5 identified at least 20 potentially lethal Iranian-backed plots against people in the UK in the last year, and the IRGC is central to the Iranian state's operations, which particularly targets the Jewish community and Iranian dissidents.

The IRGC was set up after the 1979 revolution to defend the country's new Islamic system, but has since become a powerful arm of the state with a reach beyond Iran's borders and an estimated 190,000 active personnel.

The militia has consistently been accused by Western nations of sponsoring terrorism abroad, and has been listed as a terror group by Australia, Canada and the US.

In January this year, the European Union also added the IRGC to its terror list, following its reported role in brutal crackdowns on Iranian protesters in Iran the same month.

The UK has lagged behind but now argues new powers are required in the face of a rise in state-backed aggression – increasing in scope and complexity with more threats to life and increased use of proxy groups.

In a written statement, Home Office minister Angela Eagle said: "The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a central component of the Iranian state's security apparatus, answerable directly to Iran's Supreme Leader.

"Its role extends far beyond that of a conventional military force. It encompasses intelligence activity, the use of proxy actors, and the projection of influence designed to advance Iranian state objectives."

Daddyyin:
Those wicked souls said the rescue mission was staged. May the souls of the departed soldiers rest in peace.