Lifespan: 1883–1946 Archetype: The Architect of Modern Economic Authority
Why Keynes fits the Antichrist Archetype
1. Time Scope Modern period, 20th century. Fits your unrestricted historical range.
2. Non-Obviousness Most people view Keynes as a brilliant economist and savior of capitalism during crises. He is rarely framed as “dangerous” in a moral or archetypal sense, which makes him non-obvious.
3. Deceptive Facade To contemporaries, Keynes was:
A reformer who promised stability and prosperity
Someone who could “save nations” from economic collapse
A visionary thinker whose theories were rational, morally grounded, and beneficial to society
He appeared as a force for good, trusted by governments, economists, and elites worldwide.
4. The Conscience Destroyer Through his ideas, Keynes centralized control of entire economies:
Advocated for government intervention to manage employment, currency, and spending
Created systems where individual economic choices became subordinate to national or global economic planning
Established models and policies that shift moral and economic authority from individuals and markets to centralized bureaucracies
While designed to prevent collapse, these structures also replaced local and personal judgment with centralized economic authority, giving the state unprecedented power over individual lives.
5. The Spectacle of Fear Not through violence, but through the power of dependency and systemic influence:
Nations followed his prescriptions because failure was unthinkable
Economic collapse or mismanagement under centralized planning could lead to massive social consequences
The authority of his models created invisible fear, compelling obedience to centralized systems
Why Keynes is compelling as an Antichrist archetype He shows that the archetype can operate through systems and ideas rather than armies or religion.
Centralization of decision-making, moral authority, and outcomes
Seduction comes through reason, expertise, and apparent benevolence
Obedience is systemic, not forced by visible threat, yet profoundly impactful
Keynes demonstrates that structural domination can be subtle, rational, and “good-seeming”, making him a modern, non-obvious, intellectual version of the Antichrist archetype.
It would depend on the circumstances of the relationship and whether or not I am at risk from being exposed to infection
RetroviralS: Be honest… what would you do if the person you love tested HIV positive today?
Would you still hold their hand or would you walk away?
A> I’d walk away, I’m not ready
B> I'd Stay, love is stronger than fear
C> I’d need time, it’s not easy
Every day, we see people face this exact moment —a heartbeat between love and fear. Let's be real, its not easy to make a decision when it involves matters of the heart.
Vote honestly in the comment section. Let’s start the kind of conversation that speaks reality.
How the rise of DNA paternity tests is tearing communities apart
Among the most sensitive family disputes Moses Kutoi mediates are those involving upset men questioning why some of their children don’t resemble them.
For the Ugandan clan leader attuned to the wisdom of his ancestors, the matter is taboo, never to be discussed with others.
Yet Mr Kutoi feels compelled to intervene in the hope of saving marriages that sometimes turn violent and are on the verge of breaking.
“Even me, I don’t resemble my father,” the clan leader recently told one disbelieving man he was helping.
Paternity has become a key test of faith in this east African country as DNA testing becomes more widely available, fueled in part by published reports of well-known Ugandans who eventually discovered they were not the biological fathers of some of their children.
The matter has become so heated that clerics and traditional leaders now urge tolerance and a return to the kind of African teachings that village elders like Mr Kutoi say they stand for.
At last year’s Christmas Day service, the Anglican archbishop of Uganda, Stephen Kaziimba, cited the example of the virgin birth of Jesus — the bedrock of Christian belief — in a sermon that sought to discourage DNA testing among the faithful.
“You take DNA and you find out that out of the four children, only two are yours," he warned.
“So just take care of the children the way they are, like Joseph did.”
The Ministry of Internal Affairs runs a government-accredited lab that conducts court-ordered investigations. It says the number of men seeking voluntary DNA testing has soared recently, with often “heartbreaking” outcomes.
“About 95 per cent of those coming for DNA tests are men, but more than 98 per cent of the results show these men are not the biological fathers,” Simon Peter Mundeyi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, told reporters in July.
His advice for men was not to seek DNA proof of paternity “unless you have a strong heart", he said.
DNA testing centres have sprouted all over Uganda, with aggressive advertising by clinical labs on radio and in public spaces. Some passenger taxis in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, have had their back windows plastered with ads for facilities offering DNA testing.
In Nabumali, a small town where Mr Kutoi is the mayor, most families can’t afford DNA testing fees, which exceed $200 at the only private laboratory equipped to do such work in nearby Mbale city.
The couples who seek Mr Kutoi’s assistance can barely tolerate each other by the time they approach him. He tries to ease the tension with self-deprecating jokes and by sharing his own experience with the taboo topic. Mr Kutoi likes to point out that although he doesn't resemble his father, he was picked as the family heir anyway, allowing him to become a clan leader among the Bagisu people.
In the past, if a man spoke publicly about paternity concerns, community elders would pay him a visit. He could be punished, including being forced to pay a fine, Mr Kutoi said.
“You are not supposed to pronounce that I am suspecting that this child is not mine,” said Mr Kutoi, adding that being drunk was no excuse for such an utterance.
Disputes are tied to property and divorce proceedings
These days many paternity disputes in Uganda revolve around the distribution of property after the family patriarch has died, but also during divorce proceedings when spousal support is contested.
In the most prominent recent case, court-ordered DNA testing showed a wealthy academic in Kampala was not the father of one of this three children. That case has been widely covered by the local press, underscoring paternity as an issue affecting a wide range of families.
The Rev. Robert Wantsala, vicar of a small Anglican parish in the eastern district of Mbale, spoke about the array of paternity disagreements he has encountered.
He recalled a woman who had her late husband’s son DNA tested before he could be considered an estate beneficiary, two men who tussled over a child each believed to be his and a man who told his grown son he wanted a DNA test for not behaving like a family member.
“The man said to his son, ‘This character is not in my family,’” Rev. Wantsala said, recalling an incident from 2023.
The son responded forcefully, winning the approval of his community by telling his father that he would agree to a test “on condition that you invite my (dead) mother”.
Rev. Wantsala echoed the advice of Archbishop Kaziimba, saying he always tells doubting men to leave the matter to God.
“When they come, in whichever way they come, children are children,” he said. “A child that is born in the home, that is your child. Even in African tradition that is how it was.”
The men who seek DNA testing without thinking of the consequences are wasting their time, Mr Kutoi said.
“For us, they knew the child belonged to you regardless,” he said, speaking of African traditional society.
Disowning children was unheard of, although some men were known to discreetly take measures like offering the disputed son a land inheritance far removed from the ancestral compound in which the heir would be installed, Mr Kutoi said.
Faith leaders counsel families Other religious leaders have organised counselling sessions.
Andrew Mutengu, pastor of Word of Faith Ministries in Mbale, said paternity is a recurring subject in many disputes he mediates among his 800 congregation members.
In October, he helped the wife of a rich businessman whose young daughter was claimed by a former boyfriend, a local barber. After the woman confessed she had been unfaithful, Mr Mutengu summoned the barber, who agreed to stop publicising his claim in the child's interest.
“He goes around bragging that ‘I am the father,’” he said of the barber. “It was actually causing issues because this woman is in a home with another man who is actually the known husband."
Mr Mutengu said he believes more men in his community would seek DNA testing if it were cheaper, no matter faith leaders' appeals.
Even Mr Kutoi sounded doubtful when his 29-year-old son crossed the compound one recent afternoon at their home in Nabumali. The son is of light skin and taller than his father, who used the opportunity to tell a joke.
“You saw this tall boy. That is my son,” he said. “When you looked at him, did he look like me?”
Anyone with even an ounce of conscience should be more worried about the fact that people are being murdred brutally and senselessly than they are about shielding the reputation of their religion
Guinea-Bissau soldiers say they have taken power after reports that President Umaro Sissoco Embaló arrested
A group of military officers say they have seized control of Guinea-Bissau amid reports that the president, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, has been arrested.
Shortly after gunshots were heard in capital city Bissau, government sources told the BBC that Embaló had been detained.
The reports come three days after a presidential election in which the main opposition candidate was disqualified.
The results were expected on Thursday - both Embaló and his closest rival Fernando Dias have claimed victory.
Witnesses in Bissau heard gunfire at around 13:00 GMT on Wednesday but it was not immediately clear who was involved in the shooting or if there were any casualties.
Hundreds of people on foot and in vehicles fled, seeking shelter as the shots rang out, the AFP news agency reported.
Later on, army officers made an address on state TV, saying they had formed "the High Military Command for the Restoration of Order" and would be in charge of the West African nation until further notice.
The soldiers instructed the population to "remain calm".
Guinea-Bissau, with a population of just under two million people, is one of the poorest countries in the world. The former Portuguese colony has seen nine coups or attempted coups since 1980.
There have been two attempts to overthrow Embalo, the latest in December 2023.
Ethiopian volcano erupts after 12,000 years: What we know
A long-inactive volcano in northern Ethiopia unexpectedly erupted on Sunday, sending up plumes of volcanic ash and dust, which have since spread across continents and disrupted flights in India and the United Arab Emirates.
No casualties were reported in Ethiopia following the eruption, but local government officials told reporters they are concerned about the impact of the eruption on local communities and their livestock in the Afar region, where the volcano is located.
Ethiopia has 50 known volcanoes, according to the Smithsonian, several of which have been dormant for thousands of years.
The Ethiopian Rift Valley, where many of the volcanoes are located, extends from Afar southwards through neighbouring countries. It was formed by shifting tectonic plates, which pulled apart to form the land masses of Africa and Arabia, and is one of the most important geological sites in the world.
Here’s what we know about Sunday’s volcanic eruption and its local and international impact:
What happened?
Hayli Gubbi, which forms part of the Erta Ale volcano range in the northern Afar Region of Ethiopia, erupted at approximately 11:30am local time (08:30 GMT) according to an advisory issued by the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) in France.
Following the eruption, residents told reporters they had noticed faint smoke from the volcano about three days before. However, there were no reported scientific forecasts for the eruption.
The volcano has not previously erupted in the current Holocene Era, which began about 12,000 years ago at the end of the Ice Age, according to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program.
Satellite imagery shared on social media channels shows the eruption as viewed from space, with a mass of billowing ash shooting up and visibly spreading east towards the Red Sea. Footage captured from the ground also showed huge mountains of ash rising into the skies above the mountain range, blanketing the horizon.
VAAC reported that the massive waves of volcanic ash plumes emitted rose to about 45,000 metres (148,000 feet) in height at the time of the eruption, and that the ash moved primarily in a northwesterly direction.
How have local communities been affected?
Local media in Ethiopia have reported that plumes of ash blanketed the areas around the volcano, including hilly villages which are well-known tourist attraction sites. In the neighbouring village of Afdera, one resident told The Associated Press he had heard a loud sound as the eruption occurred.
“It felt like a sudden bomb had been thrown with smoke and ash,” Ahmed Abdela told The AP. He added that by Monday, the village was still covered in ash, and that tourists and guides heading to the nearby Danakil Desert were stranded.
Afar TV reported that vibrations and moderate tremors were felt in Ethiopia’s Wollo area, in the northern Tigray region, and as far away as in the neighbouring country of Djibouti.
In the immediate aftermath of the eruption, dark smoke, rather than white ash, enveloped the area, plunging it into near-darkness, residents said.
There are concerns about how the eruption has affected air quality in the nearby villages.
Local administrator Mohammed Seid also told The AP the eruption could have economic implications for the local community, where most are livestock herders and depend on forage – plants eaten by animals – for their livestock. Much of this is now covered with a thick layer of dust. “While no human lives and livestock have been lost so far, many villages have been covered in ash, and as a result, their animals have little to eat,” he said.
What do we know about the Hayli Gubbi volcano?
Hayli Gubbi, a shield volcano – named so because it has a low profile and resembles a shield when viewed from above – is located about 800km (500 miles) northeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city.
Hayli Gubbi, which rises to 500 metres (1,640 feet), is the southernmost volcano of the Erta Ale Range, a chain of low-lying shield volcanoes in the Afar region. It has had no known eruptions for 12,000 years.
Erta Ale volcano, one of Ethiopia’s most active, is also located within this range, which itself is set in the Rift Valley. Erta Ale, whose name means “smoking mountain” in Afar, last overflowed with lava in January 2023, according to The Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program.
Where has the ash travelled and how have flights been affected?
Clouds of ash have travelled across the Red Sea, first over Yemen and Oman, and then on to Pakistan and India, according to monitoring website Flightradar24.
Volcanic ash clouds contain abrasive particles which can enter and damage aircraft engines, contaminate airfields, and reduce visibility, making flying hazardous.
The eruption has, therefore, caused widespread travel disruption in neighbouring countries and continents, although there are so far no reports of flight delays in Ethiopia, which is one of Africa’s biggest flight hubs.
India
In India, the ash had reached the Western Rajasthan region by Monday evening and then moved northeast, according to local newspaper The Hindu.
The ash prompted several airlines, including national carrier Air India, IndiGo and Akasa, as well as Dutch carrier KLM, to cancel their flights as a precaution. Air India cancelled 11 flights on Monday and Tuesday while Akasa scrapped flights scheduled on the same day to Jeddah, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi, according to the Reuters news agency.
The country’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued advisories on Monday urging airlines to avoid affected altitudes and regions, and warning that volcanic ash could harm aircraft engines, according to The Hindu.
The agency also advised airlines to conduct precautionary checks on aircraft which had already flown over affected routes, and to report any suspected impact of ash on engine performance, or any smoke or odours in the cabin. Airports were also ordered to inspect runways for contamination.
The plumes have reportedly spread across the states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab. India is expected to have clear skies by 14:00 GMT on Tuesday as the ash cloud moves towards China, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Pakistan
In Pakistan, the country’s meteorological service reported that the ash cloud was seen 60 nautical miles (111km) south of the port city of Gwadar on Monday, according to local newspaper Dawn.
In Oman, the Environment Authority activated its emergency response to monitor the ash clouds but reported no immediate impact on air quality, according to Times of Oman.
When have volcanic eruptions caused travel chaos in the past?
Severe volcanic ash eruptions that lead to widespread disruptions like this one have been rare.
The last reported incident was in 2010, when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland erupted continuously between March and June, sending plumes of volcanic ash over swaths of Scandinavia, the UK and other European countries. The eruption ejected ash up to 11km (seven miles) into the atmosphere. That ash had small, sharp particles of glacial debris because the eruption had occurred beneath glacial ice.
In April that year, the UK was forced to close down its entire airspace for six days, during which time some 95,000 flights were cancelled. According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, the UK airline industry lost $1.45bn during the prolonged shutdown. Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria and Germany were also forced to close airspace in May.
Air traffic across Europe during that period was severely restricted as many countries continued to intermittently close their airspace. About 1.2 million passengers were stranded each day during what was the largest air traffic shutdown since World War II.
United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that growing instability across Northern Nigeria, including the surge in attacks, could push nearly 35 million people into severe food insecurity during the 2026 lean season, which is the highest figure ever recorded in the country.
The warning followed the release of the latest Cadre Harmonisé, a regional food security analysis that classifies the severity of hunger.
UN highlighted attacks by insurgent groups in Nigeria, including Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate; Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) and its expansion across the Sahel, which intensified throughout 2025.
WFP Country Director and Representative in Nigeria, David Stevenson, said Northern Nigeria is experiencing the most severe hunger crisis in a decade, with rural farming communities the hardest hit.
He[b] stated that nearly six million people in the north were projected to face crisis levels of hunger or worse during the 2026 lean season, from June to August, in the conflict zones of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
This, he said, includes some 15,000 people in Borno who are expected to confront catastrophic hunger, such as Phase 5, famine-like conditions. [/b] Stevenson also noted that children were at the greatest risk across Borno, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara, where malnutrition rates are highest.
“Communities are deteriorating under severe pressure from repeated attacks and economic stress. If we can’t keep families fed and food insecurity at bay, growing desperation could fuel increased instability with insurgent groups exploiting hunger to expand their influence, creating a security threat that extends across West Africa and beyond,” he said.
The dire situation, according to Stevenson, has been compounded by funding shortfalls that diminish the WFP’s ability to provide life-saving assistance.
He noted that in the North-East, where nearly one million people depend on WFP’s food and nutrition assistance, WFP was forced to scale down nutrition programmes in July, affecting more than 300,000 children.
He added that in areas where clinics closed, malnutrition from “serious” to “critical” in the third quarter of the year.
Despite soaring needs, Stevenson said WFP would run out of resources for emergency food and nutrition assistance in December.
He said without urgent funding, millions would be left without vital support in 2026, risking more instability and deepening a crisis that the world cannot afford to ignore.
A daughter of Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s disgraced former president, has been accused by her own sister of duping men into travelling to Russia, where they are forced to fight against Ukraine.
Nkosazana Zuma-Mncube, Mr Zuma’s oldest daughter, alleged that Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, her half-sister, was one of three people involved in the recruitment of 17 South Africans trapped in occupied Ukraine.
The men have told reporters they thought they were travelling to Russia for bodyguard training and would return to work in the protection unit of Mr Zuma’s Mkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party
They say they were instead made to sign contracts in Russian, given rudimentary military training and then taken to the Donbas front lines of Putin’s Ukraine war
Police said Ms Zuma-Mncube had opened a criminal case against Ms Zuma-Sambudla and two others for allegedly luring the men to Russia under false pretences.
The men had then allegedly been handed over to a mercenary group to fight in the Ukraine war without their knowledge or consent, the South African Police Service said in a statement. Any charges would be determined through an investigation, the police said.
Ms Zuma-Mncube said she had a “moral obligation” to file a police complaint against her younger sister because several of the trapped men were her relatives.
There was no immediate response from Ms Zuma-Sambudla, who is on trial on charges of treason for inciting violence on social media in 2021, when about 350 people were killed in riots after her father was sent to prison for contempt of court. She denies the charges.
The sibling rift in one of the country’s most prominent political families has electrified South Africa.
Mr Zuma was president from 2009 to 2018 when he was accused of presiding over a process known as state capture, where allies took control of ministries and state enterprises so they could loot budgets and assets.
He strongly denied wrongdoing, but was booted from power by his own African National Congress (ANC) party and then jailed for not testifying at a national inquiry. He served only three months due to ill health.
In an extraordinary comeback, he then founded the MK party and took nearly 15 per cent of the vote in last year’s election, badly weakening the ANC.
Ms Zuma-Sambudla is an MP with her father’s Mkhonto Wesizwe party.
The saga is the latest incident of Africans seemingly being tricked into joining Putin’s forces with false job offers, promises of lucrative wages, or passports.
Ukraine estimates around 1,400 Africans are fighting for Russia, with many having already been killed.
Relatives of the men trapped in Ukraine said they had at first tried to get the MK party leadership to help them, before later turning to the national unity government dominated by the ANC.
A letter purporting to be from Mr Zuma to Andrey Belousov, Russia’s defence minister, alleged the men had been “misled” and had signed contracts under “patently misleading circumstances”.
There is no suggestion that Mr Zuma was aware of, or involved in any attempt to mislead the men.
The letter, sent in September, asked for their contracts to be cancelled.
A church crusade in Agboda community, located in the Mararaba Udege area of Nasarawa Local Government Area, was disrupted on Monday evening following an attack by unidentified armed men, during which one participant sustained machete injuries.
Speaking by phone, the organiser of the crusade, Dr. Daniel Ukpo, said the incident occurred between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. when participants gathered for the programme. According to him, people began running for safety after receiving reports of an attack in a nearby community.
“One of the youths in the community was attacked while riding his motorcycle and suffered a machete cut. His motorcycle was also taken. When news of the attack reached us, confusion broke out and people began to flee,” Ukpo said.
He explained that the crusade had to be halted abruptly due to the tension that followed.
Ukpo expressed concern over what he described as recurring security incidents in the Mararaba Udege axis. He recounted that during a recent visit to Ochimi community, residents expressed fears over their safety and the destruction of crops.
He also noted that security presence in the area was inadequate. “People are being attacked on the roads and on their farms, and many cases are not reported,” he added, calling on the government to strengthen security in the affected communities.
Ukpo further claimed that in previous instances, religious gatherings in the area had been disrupted by individuals he described as armed herders.
“The worrying part is that residents here feel defenceless. Many have nowhere else to relocate and are living in fear,” he said.
At the time of this report, security agencies had yet to issue an official statement on the incident.
A former Phoenix news anchor has been sentenced to 10 years behind bars for taking part in a COVID-19-era loan fraud scheme alongside her husband.
On Friday, a federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, sentenced Stephanie Hockridge, an ex-KNXV employee, to 120 months in prison. She was also ordered to pay nearly $64 million in restitution and must serve supervised release for two years.
The court asked that Hockridge be held at Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, a minimum security facility that houses Ghislaine Maxwell, Elizabeth Holmes and reality TV star Jen Shah. She is due to surrender by 2 p.m. on Dec. 30.
Earlier this year, a jury found her guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud but acquitted her of four counts of wire fraud.
During the pandemic, Hockridge and her husband, Nathan Reis, started a tech company, BlueAcorn, to help small businesses secure federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.
However, the feds said the couple created fake payroll records, tax documents, and bank statements to allow some applicants to obtain larger loans.
Prosecutors said the couple showed others how to submit fake PPP loans, and even obtained a loan for a company with no employees.
A congressional report, as reported by Arizona’s Family Investigates, showed that the Scottsdale-based company raked in over a billion dollars in taxpayer money for processing loans.
BlueAcorn’s partner lenders facilitated almost three times as many PPP loans in 2021 as J.P. Morgan, Chase and Bank of America combined. The congressional report alleged that the couple also moved to Puerto Rico after getting most of their PPP loans forgiven.
“In total, Hockridge and her coconspirators processed over $63 million in fraudulent PPP loans,” the DOJ said.
Reis accepted a plea deal and is scheduled to be sentenced in December.
Police take custody of suspect wanted over killing of FRSC officer, daughter —after arrest in Ghana
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has taken custody of Victor Benjamin Fajemirokun, the fugitive wanted for the alleged abduction and murder of Lasisi Funmilayo, an officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and her daughter Sewa, in Ogun and Osun states.
On Sunday, the Ghanaian police arrested 36-year-old Fajemirokun after he fled Nigeria to evade arrest by security agents.
On Monday, Benjamin Hundeyin, the NPF spokesperson, said in a press statement that Fajemirokun has been handed over to the Nigeria police.
Iranian regime officials are turning on one another amid fears of widespread infiltration by Israeli spies.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and several key security agencies have become gripped by paranoia and in-fighting as members have battled to prove their loyalty.
The turmoil was described to The Telegraph by officials inside the regime following an extensive period of Israeli infiltration during the 12-day war in June.
The in-fighting has raised questions about Iran’s stability after its population briefly rallied around the flag in the wake of the conflict.
Sources inside the regime said there were growing fears among Iranian officials and security circles that individuals who may have been working with Israeli intelligence could be falsely reporting loyal Iranians as being traitors.
Analysts say this may be part of a broader effort to remove trusted insiders from key roles, weakening Iran’s security system from within.
The result is growing paranoia within Iran’s intelligence services, where it is hard to tell true loyalty from infiltration, and false accusations are used to settle scores or serve foreign interests.
In interviews with The Telegraph, officials said there was also “confusion” about the fate of Iran’s proxy forces across the Middle East and increasing uncertainty about the regime’s future.
One senior Iranian official told The Telegraph from Tehran: “Many officials, including within the Sepah [IRGC], are doing everything they can to convince the system that they haven’t done anything wrong, since it’s obvious to everyone now that the Israelis have massively infiltrated several agencies.”
He added that many within the powerful IRGC are taking steps to prove their loyalty.
The paranoia within the IRGC risks weakening Iran’s most powerful military force and the regime’s ability to respond coherently to future crises, experts said.
A second Iranian official said: “Trust is one issue, but what’s becoming an even greater concern is the growing number of people who are, in one way or another, betraying the system.”
Iran has arrested hundreds of people on espionage charges since the war began in June and has executed several Iranians.
Officials who spoke with The Telegraph said these actions were meant to “show that the system is still functioning”, even though “many within it are dirty”.
One official said: “People within the system who have long-standing disputes are now building cases against one another and taking revenge.
“There is growing concern that some with contacts in Israel may report loyal insiders of being dirty or blackmail them.”
Meanwhile, the regime has continued its crackdown on dissent as executions reach record levels.
Earlier in November, mourners chanted “Death to the dictator” and “Death to Khamenei” at the burial of a young man whose body was found hours after he posted a video of himself burning an image of supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
In protest against Omid Sarlak’s death, Iranians are burning images of Mr Khamenei and sharing videos of it on social media.
Environmental problems have further compounded the regime’s challenges, with officials warning that a major dam supplying drinking water to Tehran and a neighbouring province could run dry within days.
Severe air pollution has forced school closures across several Iranian cities this week, with the southwestern city of Ahvaz reporting hazardous air quality levels.
“There is always a fear of committing suicide out of fear of death in the Islamic Republic,” said a political science professor at a university near Tehran. “And that is exactly what going nuclear means to them.”
The regime believes nuclear weapons offer survival, but pursuing them accelerates the very isolation and conflict that threaten its existence.
Internationally, Iran is now even more isolated. The reimposition of UN sanctions following the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal is draining its remaining economic resources, which leaves the regime with fewer tools to manage both foreign threats and domestic dissent.
However, the regime remains stable and experts believe there is no immediate danger of collapse, thanks largely to a broad rallying around the flag during and after the war with Israel.
After four decades of revolutionary Islamic messaging, Iran’s leadership is increasingly using glories of the Persian Empire to rally a population that has grown distant from the regime’s founding ideology.
The shift became visible this week when authorities installed a replica of a 1,700-year-old relief sculpture in central Tehran.
The monument shows Valerian, emperor of Rome, who fell to his knees before Shapur I in 260 AD. The replica is accompanied with a message: “You will kneel before Iran again.”
Public dissatisfaction with conditions in the country has also reached 92 per cent, according to the latest poll conducted by the Iranian Student Polling Agency on behalf of the president’s office.
The past 10 days in Nigeria have witnessed unprecedented negative news, a level of chaos, insecurity, and institutional decay that should trouble the conscience of all the leaders.
Our country is now going through troubling times, not by fate, but by our collective leadership failures that allow insecurity, lawlessness, and institutional decay to thrive.
Each day confronts us with a new tragedy and a new reminder that our beloved country is drifting amid a clear absence of competent, compassionate, responsive and responsible leadership.
We have all watched a nation blessed with people of strength and resilience drift into avoidable disorder. We should be asking ourselves: Are we cursed, or are we the curse?
The past 10 Days in Nigeria
1.11/11/25 – 6 senior directors from the Ministry of Defence were kidnapped along the Kogi axis, reminding us that even those tasked with securing our nation are no longer safe.
2.15/11/25 – A senior military officer, a Brigadier General, was brutally executed, a grave signal of the danger engulfing both civilians and security personnel.
3.16/11/25 – 64 civilians, including women and children, were abducted in Zamfara, with innocent lives also lost in the attack.
4.17/11/25 – 25 schoolgirls, young children with dreams and innocence, were abducted in Kebbi and their Vice Principal was killed, adding to the heartbreaking list of attacks on our nation's future.
5. 18/11/25 – Worshippers praying peacefully in a church in Kwara State were violently disrupted, with some killed and about 38 abducted. A place of worship, meant to be a sanctuary, became a scene of fear.
6. 18/11/25 – A disturbing crisis unfolded at the PDP Wadata Plaza headquarters. Instead of de-escalation, elements within the security agencies worsened the situation and further instigated it. Rather than focusing on protecting citizens, the government watched with amusement, encouraging the destruction of political parties and the weakening of our democracy.
7. 18/11/25 – During the All Nigeria Judges’ Conference, judges who should embody neutrality and integrity were seen standing as the APC partisan song “On Your Mandate We Shall Stand” played ahead of the President’s address. This troubling moment further eroded public trust in institutions expected to protect the rule of law.
8. 19/11/25 – Soldiers heading to rescue the Kebbi State abducted schoolgirls were ambushed, showing once again how undersupported our security forces have become.
9. 21/11/25 – Nigerians awoke to the devastating news that over 300 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were abducted from a Catholic school in Niger State.
10.22/11/25 – Bandits opened fire on farmers in Kaduna killing one of them.
11.23/11/25- Terrorists Ambush, Gun Down 5 Police Officers, Injure 2 in Sabon Sara, Darazo LGA, Bauchi State
November 23, 2025
And just as I was speaking about this, I received yet another devastating report about the abduction of 13 female farmers in Askira-Uba LGA of Borno State today by suspected Boko Haram/ISWAP Terrorists.
No serious nation survives on excuses, indifference, or absentee leadership.
What we are witnessing is not inevitable, it is the direct consequence of we the leaders not valuing human life.
Nigeria is bleeding because those elected to protect the nation have chosen comfort over courage, politics over people, and power over purpose.
We the leaders must remember that governance is not a title, it is a duty to protect every child, every community, and every citizen.
We need competence, compassion, and a government that shows up when it matters the most.
To every Nigerian shaken in these past 10 days, my heart is with you.
You deserve safety, you deserve peace.
We deserve a government that values our lives above politics. Nigeria must rise again.
Meanwhile bandits are doing far worse and posing for pictures with our army dressed in fatigues and camo and brandishing sophisticated weapons.
If you wear anything even remotely resembling camouflage on the streets of any Nigerian city, soldiers will not leave you alone. But if you wear camo as a bandit, those same soldiers will take selfies with you.
Thank god for Baba Buhari and President Tinubu.
madridguy: This is exactly what the mazi of sokoto prison wanted to turn SE Nigeria into, thank God for Baba Buhari and President Tinubu.
North Korean authorities have reportedly introduced one of the harshest policies in the country’s recent history: a new directive that treats suicide not as a personal tragedy, but as a political crime against the state.
According to sources cited by multiple South Korean intelligence briefings, the government has ordered that any citizen who attempts suicide and survives will face execution — with entire families sometimes punished under the regime’s “guilt-by-association” system.
Bandits 'demand N100m ransom' per victim from families of abducted Kwara worshippers
Bandits who abducted about 35 worshippers from the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) in the Eruku community, Ekiti LGA of Kwara, have reportedly demanded N100 million ransom for each victim.
On Tuesday evening, bandits attacked the church, killing some of the worshippers and abducting others.
A video of the attack, captured during a live stream, showed the worshippers conducting a service when sporadic gunshots were heard from around the church premises.
According to Punch, multiple family sources and community leaders confirmed on Thursday that the kidnappers have established contact with relatives using the phones of the victims abducted during Tuesday evening’s attack.
Josiah Agbabiaka, secretary of the CAC assembly, said some families had already been contacted by the abductors.
“It is true that the bandits have started contacting family members using the victims’ phones to demand ransom. From what we were told, they grouped the victims. The first group of 11 people has been asked to pay N100 million each,” Punch quoted Agbabiaka as saying.
Also, Olusegun Olukotun, the Olori Eta of Eruku, whose four family members were among those abducted, said the kidnappers were reaching out systematically
“Some people in the community have received calls from the kidnappers demanding N100 million for each person. They said the victims were grouped and they are calling each group’s relatives,” Olukotun said.
Olukotun, who was inside the church with five family members during the attack, said he escaped through a window while others were taken away.
Meanwhile, the traditional ruler of Eruku, Oba Busari Olarewaju, has appealed for urgent government intervention to secure the safe release of the victims.
The monarch commended the swift deployment of military personnel to the community following the visit of AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, governor of Kwara, on Wednesday but added that more efforts are needed.
“Last night, soldiers entered our community minutes after the governor visited. Their presence gave us some assurance that the government is responding. But we are still appealing that efforts should be intensified to rescue our people as quickly as possible,” the monarch said.
A 68-year-old New York woman is in a custody battle for her 14th and 15th children, who were born in 2023.
MaryBeth Lewis gave birth to her 13th child at the age of 62. Her husband Bob did not want to have any more children, but she is accused of forging his signature to have two more kids who are now in foster care because of a legal battle, People reported.
MaryBeth had her eighth child in 2010 and made headlines. She told The East Aurora Advertiser at the time, “That first child was the biggest change. After that, they kind of fell into place,” People Magazine reported.
The couple had no plans to have any more children, but the family continued to grow, and she gave birth to twin sons in 2012, then another pair of twins in 2016, her 11th and 12th children, at the age of 59.
She also had another child. According to The New York Times, while the first five pregnancies were natural, all of the later ones were through in vitro fertilisation, where they used a mix of their own embryos as well as donor eggs and sperm. She carried all the babies herself, and used a surrogate for the 14th and 15th kids. However, only this time, she kept her husband in the dark.
In 2023, she tricked the IVF clinic into believing that her husband was on board with the procedure, and later even pretended to be her husband during an online hearing of their case in Steuben County.
MaryBeth forged Bob’s signature on their surrogacy agreement, a likely violation of state law, since such a procedure requires the consent of both parents. Bob did not want any more children, but MaryBeth claims he was initially fine with it. However, she decided to have the babies through surrogacy. The pregnancy took, and she hid it from her husband.
During a Zoom hearing in 2023 to obtain the parentage order, she impersonated her husband by keeping the camera off. NYT reported, "She logged on with a separate account for Bob and kept the camera turned off. When the judge addressed him, MaryBeth says she grunted in assent." But he came across the parentage order in the mail days later and was furious. He then spoke to the attorney his wife had hired, who approached a judge. MaryBeth is now entangled in legal proceedings.
In 2023, she was indicted for forgery in the second degree, criminal impersonation in the first degree, perjury in the second degree and attempted kidnapping in the second degree.
She is also involved in a custody battle for the boy and the girl. The paper reported that MaryBeth declined two plea offers in order to continue her fight for custody, and her husband is now on her side. The matter is still pending, and according to the publication, "a new judge has ruled that they are the legal parents of the two young children, but now their foster parents are appealing."
There's rainfall in Iran now. Despite American weather tampering over Iran, God sent down rain to Iran. Zionists jubilation was short-lived. Everything about Zionists is short-lived.
Taps run dry as water crisis forces Iran to consider evacuating its capital
A drastic new message adorns the walls of the Iranian capital, usually reserved for war heroes and weapons.
“There is a water shortage!” reads the government poster's slogan, inside a water container that is nearly empty. “It’s fall and there is still no rain.”
That’s not news to Erfan Ensani, 39, who returned home from a long day working in the textile section of the city’s central bazaar last week to find his taps running dry.
Iran is facing its worst water crisis in decades. With no end in sight and authorities warning they may even have to evacuate the capital of 10 million people, residents like Ensani are scrambling to respond.
“We didn’t have water for three days. The pressure was so low that nothing came out,” Ensani, who, like many residents, works two jobs to make ends meet, told NBC News in a recent interview in Tehran.
“The water company says we should buy pumps to solve the problem and also get a storage tank to keep some water. But that’s expensive, especially now when the economy is bad,” Ensani said.
Everyone in his building is fed up, Ensani said, with some neighbors even traveling across the city to their relatives’ houses just to take a shower. Families with kids have an even more difficult time. “These are extra costs that people just can’t handle right now,” Ensani said.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said two weeks ago that extreme measures may need to be taken if there is no rain by late November.
“Even if we ration, if it doesn’t rain again, then we won’t have water at all,” he said, according to a video posted on the website of the semiofficial Tabnak news agency.
“They’ll have to evacuate Tehran.” 'A state of failure'
Tehran is now in its sixth year of drought, while temperatures that exceeded 122 degrees Fahrenheit over the summer led to power outages and an enforced public holiday.
The reservoirs that the capital depends on for water are now at only 5% of their reserve capacity, Mohsen Ardakani, the head of the Tehran Province Water and Wastewater Company, said two weeks ago, according to the semiofficial Mehr News Agency.
Iran’s 12-day war with Israel last summer also damaged water infrastructure, which has exacerbated the problem, according to Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi, who warned two weeks ago that the government may have to resort to cutting water off completely on some nights to deal with the crisis.
The semiofficial Tasnim News Agency reported two weeks ago that water restrictions in Tehran had already begun.
Aliabadi said this week that Iran was using cloud-seeding technology in the hope of boosting rainfall, though it requires existing clouds to work.
A cloud-seeding flight was conducted in the Lake Urmia basin on Saturday, Mohammadmahdi Javadianzadeh, Head of the Organization for Development of Atmospheric Water Technologies, said. A combination picture shows satellite views of variations in the water level of the Latian Dam, in Lavasan.
Part of the reason the Iranian government is so concerned is that a water crisis can build into a political grievance and fuel unrest.
Videos posted on social media and verified by NBC News showed students protesting water shortages at Tehran’s Al-Zahra University last weekend.
The issue has sometimes led to violence and arrests in the southwestern Khuzestan province, home to a large Arab minority that has long complained of neglect by the central government.
This time, many Iranians blame the state.
“The authorities have known about this problem for years, but nothing has been done,” Sadegh Razavi, a Tehran restaurant owner, said. “In a country as rich in resources as ours, it’s sad that we have no electricity in the summer and now a water crisis, too.”
The prolonged drought along with years of overconsumption, an inefficient agricultural sector and mismanagement — including decades building mega-dams of questionable utility — have led to the problem, analysts say.
“I don’t call it a crisis anymore. This is a state of failure. That’s why for years I’ve referred to it as water bankruptcy,” said Kaveh Madani, the director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health.
“A crisis is a state that you can mitigate, you can go back to normal at some point if you put forces together. But the damages we are seeing to the ecosystem, to the nature and even to many parts of the economy and infrastructure are irreversible.”
A 'no-brainer' crisis
The current situation was not a surprise to researchers based in North America who studied Iran’s water supply and the strains on it.
“It was a no-brainer,” said Ali Nazemi, an associate professor at Concordia University in Montreal.
In a 2021 study in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports, Nazemi and other researchers warned that the Islamic Republic was overdrafting groundwater in nearly four-fifths of the landscape, which was causing Iran’s land to sink, its soil to grow more salty and its salt lakes to disappear.
The researchers, who dedicated the paper “to the people of Iran,” warned that a crisis was brewing that had the potential for “irreversible impacts on land and environment, threatening country’s water, food, socio-economic security.”
The researchers used publicly available data from Iran’s Ministry of Energy to assess the groundwater depletion. “After this paper was published, they took the data sets out of public access,” Nazemi said.
Amir AghaKouchak, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Irvine, said climate change has exacerbated the problem, but the biggest issue is how water use is governed.
“This narrative of climate change is responsible, to be honest, is not really accurate,” AghaKouchak said, adding that Iran has weathered drought throughout its history. “The problem is mismanagement and systemic corruption in the system that basically allows powerful organizations to even build dams or diversion tunnels without even getting permits.”
Nazemi said that dynamic is worsened by inefficient irrigation methods and aging urban water infrastructure that leaks.
There have been early warning signs.
Lake Urmia, which was once the sixth largest salt lake in the world, is desiccated and causing dust storms. Zayandeh Rud, the largest river in Iran’s central plateau, is no longer a permanent river.
But there is no quick fix to the problem, and government officials have begun proposing more drastic solutions.
Aliabadi, the energy minister, warned Wednesday that overconsumption of water will be punished, noting that he had a plan to cut electricity to households still filling their swimming pools.
“All the options are related to emergency management only,” Madani, of the United Nations University, said.
He added: “The most effective one is reduce consumption by the citizens. To get there, you need to earn their trust. You need to increase transparency in your system. Have a proper communication channel. This is very hard for a country that has gone through a war recently.”
Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan has appointed her own daughter to the Cabinet, as well as the daughter’s husband.
Samia named 27 ministers and 29 deputy ministers in a televised address on Monday from Chamwino State House, Dodoma, appointing the daughter Wanu Hafidh Ameir, as Deputy Minister of Education.
Wanu’s husband Mohamed Mchengerwa, was named as the new Minister for Health in the changes that saw seven senior officials, who served in the previous cabinet, lose their jobs.
Wanu, 43, is the Member of Parliament for Makunduchi Constituency in the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar, while her husband, 46, is also the Member of Parliament for Rufiji Constituency in the country's Pwani Region.
Tanzania's former President Jakaya Kikwete's son, Ridhwani Kikwete, has also been appointed minister in charge of Public Service Management and Good Governance in the President’s office.
Ridhwani Kikwete, 46, is also a lawmaker of the CCM party, representing the coastal constituency of Chalinze located in Pwani Region. His father, Jakaya, the fourth president of Tanzania, is credited with pushing Samia to the helm of CCM and eventually the presidency.
Khamis Mussa Omar was appointed as the new minister for finance, succeeding Mwigulu Nchemba, who assumed the position of Prime Minister last week, while Hassan confirmed that Mahmoud Thabit Kombo will continue serving as Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation.
The new Cabinet will be sworn in on Tuesday morning.
Samia’s latest appointments reflect a similar trend in the continent where presidents chose to fill close family members and relatives of key backers in their cabinet.
In neighbouring Uganda, Yoweri Museveni has had several family members and relatives in Cabinet, including the First Lady Janet Museveni as minister for education, and their daughter Natasha works in State House as Private Secretary.
The president’s son, General Muhoozi Kainerugab,a is the country’s head of defence forces, while Museveni’s son-in-law Odrek Rwabogo serves as a presidential advisor. Rabwogo is married to Patience Museveni.
The head of state’s younger brother, General Caleb Akandwanaho, popularly known as Salim Saleh, serves as a presidential advisor, having previously served as minister, while their stepbrother Shedreck Nzaire, is also an advisor on defence matters.
General Muhoozi’s father-in-law Sam Kutesa once served in Museveni’s Cabinet as Foreign Affairs Minister for two decades until his retirement four years ago.
In neighbouring Rwanda, President Paul Kagame was forced to clarify that he is not grooming his daughter, Ange Ingabire Kagame, to succeed him.
Speaking at the 18th Unity Club meeting in Kigali last week, Kagame said neither he nor his children is entitled to special treatment, emphasising that all Rwandans should be free to chart their own paths.
He noted that his daughter’s appointment as Deputy Executive Director of the Strategy and Policy Council in the President’s Office should not be misconstrued as political grooming, adding, “The girl you said I want to make president might not even want to be one.”
Kagame’s two sons, Brian and Ian, serve in the Rwanda Defence Forces, with one of them serving as his dad’s bodyguard.
On the other side of town, South Sudan President Salva Kiir appointed his eldest daughter, Adut Salva Kiir, as the Senior Presidential Envoy for Special Programmes in August 2025.
Analysts say the move is part of Kiir’s broader efforts to consolidate power and create a political dynasty since Adut Kiir has never before held a government job but has been engaged in humanitarian work through her non-profit Adut Salva Kiir Foundation.
In Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, also known as "Teodorin", serves as Vice President. Deputising his father, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, since June 2016.
In the West, the US has joined the club of leaders who name family members to key positions.
During his first term (2017-2021), President Donald Trump appointed his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as a senior advisor and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, as an unpaid advisor who worked within the West Wing.
Jared Kushner’s father, Charles, now serves as America’s ambassador to France, while Massad Boulos (Tiffany Trump's father-in-law) is a senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.
Kimberly Guilfoyle (Donald Trump Jr.'s fiancée) was named as U.S. Ambassador to Greece.
Kebbi Government Confirms Teachers’ Recruitment Scandal As Fraudsters Reportedly Raked In N320million
Crisis is brewing in Kebbi State over a teachers’ recruitment scandal that allegedly fleeced nearly 1000 job seekers, with insiders claiming the mega fraud gulped more than N300million.
Meanwhile the Kebbi State Head of Service, Malami Shekare, claims the figure is far lower.
Some of the affected applicants told SaharaReporters that agents collected between N200,000 and N500,000 from desperate job seekers, funnelling the money through ministry-linked accounts to officials in the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education and SUBEB.
In total, the alleged inflow is estimated at N320 million, covering about 950 applicants.
But Shekare, speaking in Hausa, told SaharaReporters that government investigations so far uncovered only N15million, not the hundreds of millions being alleged.
According to him, the matter was first reported to him during a meeting with labour leaders, after which he contacted the Ministry of Education.
“From what we gathered, the figure is nowhere near N300million. The NLC found about N15million, and the Ministry even reported less,” he said.
Shekare added that Governor Nasir Idris had ordered those responsible to be prosecuted.
“As we speak, suspects are in police custody and will be charged to court after investigations,” he said.
But this sharply contradicts testimonies from agents who claim they alone handled tens of millions.
"One female agent reportedly collected N35million for 155 candidates.
Another delivered N62million for 179 applicants. A Zuru agent allegedly handled N17million before fleeing town," a source said.
Multiple victims have reported higher amounts given to ministry-linked officials, including Ahmed Abdullahi and Ibrahim Shehu.
Despite the “recruitment,” many schools remain without teachers, as beneficiaries allegedly include absentees, non-residents and federal workers with full-time jobs elsewhere.
The scandal burst open when many who paid never received appointment letters, triggering refund battles, police reports and court cases.
While the government maintains the fraud is minor and already under control, whistleblowers insist the true scale is being suppressed.
Kebbi waits for answers as sources said the education of hundreds of thousands of children hangs in the balance.
Politics › Re: A Northern Christian Who Scored 83 Was Dumped In Favour Of Muslim Who Scored 54 by BlackViper: 7:25pm On Nov 29, 2025
