Last month marked 4 years since the Battle of Aleppo was concluded.

Since then, over 500 projects have been implemented in the city, and 2500 projects in the governorate.

An extensive thread of the progress that has been made over the past four years:

4.2 million m2 of rubble and debris has been removed, and the removal of circa 6070 destroyed or burnt vehicles.

117 water sanitation projects have been implemented, in addition to the implementation of asphaltation projects amounting to 1.2 million m2 of asphalt.

Circa 4650 lamp-posts have been rehabilitated or installed to relight the city. Many of these run on solar lightning.

47 green spaces and parks have been rehabilitated, including the Central Park of Aleppo. This year (January 2021), Aleppo City Council has already begun rehabilitating three more parks - Seif Al Dawla Park, Al-Ansari Park, and Al-Sukari Park.

#NigerianPolitics: The inter-tribal hostilities presently brewing in the south-west of Nigeria 🇳🇬 between Yoruba & Fulani people need not happen if all parties are ready to shun dishonesty & allegiance to primordial tribal sentiments. We must not allow an escalation.

That there is a problem of criminals hiding in SW forests is beyond a doubt.These criminals are known to disguise as Fulani people carrying out legitimate cattle herding business in the region. Some of the criminals have also been found to be fulani in times past & recently.

Previous engagements between governments of the region and leadership of the Fulani cattle herders association has not yielded the expected result of reduction in kidnapping along the highways of the region while survivors have always said the kidnappers look 'fulani.'

I have not been kidnapped before but I have had former co-workers who have been kidnapped along the Akure-Owo expressway. They gave similar reports about the ethnicity of their kidnappers.

We must not discount the harrowing experiences of these Nigerians in the name of politics.

Now the simple solution to this not too complex problem has been made surprisingly complicated by the peculiar nature of our politics in Nigeria:

1. We want all solutions to states' problem to come only from Abuja even though we run a federal system.

THREAD: tomorrow, Jan 25 is the global day of action for Yemen. Here’s a list of everything you can do to support it 🇾🇪👇🏼👇🏼

Show up in person if you can! there are protests happening all over the world. You can look at the action map here and RSVP to one!

Register for the online rally happening tomorrow featuring @mrdannyglover, @jeremycorbyn, @CornelWest , @shireen818 and more! We will be highlighting the importance of ending US/UK/Canadian etc support for the war and the weight of the crisis!

if you can’t get out to a protest, no worries, social media action is super important too! Use these super easy toolkits to take action online.
Here’s one the entire world can use!

Here’s one for the UK! thank you @STWuk ❤️

Vladimir Putin extended his greetings on Christmas and the New Year 2021 to heads of foreign states and governments, as well as executives of international organisations, except Ukraine and Georgia.

A reading for the winter solstice: a look at the relationships between women and news in Kenya. South Africa, Mexico, Brazil. Hong Kong, Japan, UK, Finland, Germany, US, and South Korea
My report with @simgandi for @risj_oxford
https://t.co/UnpeR4BBwg. Some thoughts below.

Men are more likely than women to say they are extremely interested or very interested in news. This is a tiny part of a bigger story.

Women talk about news with their friends, face to face.

Women are much more likely to get their news from TV

And just look at what is happening inside each of the countries. In Mexico, as @julianafregoso and Dr. María Elena Gutiérrez Rentería orgs like @Cimacnoticias are fighting to highlight the shocking levels of femicide other news orgs are

FLASH: LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT THROUGH THE LAGOS SAFETY COMMISSION (@safety_lasg) SEALS 12 FACILITIES, TO COMMENCE LEGAL ACTION FOR FLOUTING COVID19 REGULATIONS

#ForAGreaterLagos
#Covid19Lagos

@jidesanwoolu

The Lagos State Government through the Lagos State Safety Commission have been carrying out routine enforcement and monitoring activities throughout the holiday season to monitor compliance with the Governments directive on the COVID-19 pandemic ...

.. especially as it concerns social and recreational centers.
The operations led by the Director General, Lagos State Safety Commission, Mr. Lanre Mojola and his team have sealed over 12 facilities including; DNA Night Club, ...

... Buzz Bar, Silverfox, Cocoon, Westend Nightclub, Rumours, Lekki Waterside, Landmark Event Centre, The Wave Beach club amongst others.
He however mentioned that recalcitrant establishments who broke the goverment seal and continued partying will be charged to court ...

.... once documentation has been properly processed. He affirmed that the State Government is committed to curbing the spread of the virus and would leave no stone unturned to achieve this mandate.

Revelations of Former FO Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam regarding the role of INGOs endorse James Peck's claims about convergence of US Foreign Policy & Human Rights.

[1]
How INGOs suspiciously operate in Pakistan | A discussion with ex-civil ... https://t.co/zxQWuCEZVy via @YouTube

James Peck in his book, “Ideal Illusions: How the U.S. Government Co-opted Human Rights” argues that US Foreign Policy and human rights industry is interconnected and is being used as an ideological weapon.

[2]

From the moment when Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been signed in 1948 in response to Nazi atrocities, human rights are being used to extend American global reach.

By condemning Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups

[3]

with legal outfits for downplaying economic and social discriminations, Peck reveals that humanitarian interventions in US military adventures in Vietnam, Iraq and other places serve as pretexts for invasions to ‘legalize’ US prerogative of intervention while ignoring

[4]

the illegitimacy of intervention and the violence it causes.

In words of Peck, “The widely heralded rise of human rights is not free of such complications. For the history of human rights in the United States—as a movement, as an impassioned language of good intentions,

[5]

Among the 4 far right parties in Israel, looks like "New Right" (mildly religious, very hawkish) will run alone and be anti-Bibi

Jewish Home (very religious, mildly hawkish), Religious Zionist Party (very religious, very hawkish), and Otzma Yehudit/Jewish Power (theocratic, genocidal) will run together and be pro-Bibi

The "Religious Zionist Party" used to be called "Tkuma", it was the religious faction of a hawkish, mostly secular coalition called the "National Union". It's legally taken over the National Union's spot in the election registry but jettisoned most of it's secular voters

"Jewish Home" used to be called the "National Religious Party" for most of it's history. It renamed itself in order to gain secular votes but most of those new people left to form "New Right" so now "Jewish Home" is smaller than the old "National Religious Party"

In the last election, New Right, Religious Zionist Party (then called Tkuma-The National Union), and the Jewish Home all ran together as pro-Bibi with Otzma Yehudit running on its own and failing to enter parliament

Broad, philosophical thread about how a hybrid authoritarian regime like Russia uses repression when citizens protest.

On this day of protests for #Navalny across Russia.

#RussiaProtests (1/21)

First of all, the defining ethical feature of the modern world is that each human life has equal moral worth.

Only the most extreme regimes can disregard - without consequences - that their citizens are cognisant of this.

#RussiaProtests

(2/21)

In Belarus, escalating violence against protestors caused the regime more damage than it had hoped.

Unlike Belarus, where the special police numbers a couple of thousand, the Russian special police can handle vast numbers of protestors.

#RussiaProtests

(3/21)

So could the Putin regime order the special police, the broader national guard, and regular police to round up 10,000 protestors, and adopt Gestapo-like tactics on them?

At this stage, no- the regime would consider that an act of existential self harm.

#RussiaProtests

(4/21)

The regime can take extreme steps with individuals, e.g. Navalny. But it's not ready to universalise this to all citizens.

Moreover, it can't. The bodies of state responsible for organised violence in Russia compete with one another, & aren't part of a vertical system.

(5/21)

I guess with the selection of Service Chiefs, our troublemakers have moved on from evicting each other over the farmer-herdsmen clash to another topic. I run a ranch @owonikokofarms & it has both a farm & livestock section. So have some interesting insights #NigeriaCattleProblem

1-/ First, let us agree that avoiding Beef or its byproducts is like avoiding air. It is everywhere from your food to household items. It is called CASH COW for a reason. Even the film for food wrapping use Fatty Acids. Hence you should care about #NigeriaCattleProblem

Smart countries build smart livestock value chain. It is a critical ingredient for building smart voter base as well. The milk, meat and byproducts are necessary products in connecting the brain neurons of a child (future voter)

3-/ As usual, with the #NigeriaCattleProblem we’ve been problem finders not solution makers. The crisis of next week will be different from last week’s. After skirmishes, we will move on for future replay. Funny is that even smart people don’t understand the problem.

4-/ The focus often is on the Farmer-Herdsman clash and the avoidable deaths, blood and tears that underline that conflict. The farmer-herdsmen clash is just a symptom of #NigeriaCattleProblem

Today, an emotional Sunday thread on signs & wonders in Lagos, and why my trip to Ajah is on hold.

TL:DR - God safe Lagos drivers

It all started after I decided I needed to hear God's voice directly this Sunday, and so I would go to physical mass, no more online.

I decided I would go to Divine Mercy in Lekki, as opposed to St. Charles Borromeo in VI.

My first decision.

As I parked my car, I noticed the car on my left side was not parked properly - one of those criminal offences people commit when they take up space for two cars, instead of parking properly inside the designated lines.

As a law abiding citizen, I hinted at this to the attendant

Fast forward to the end of Mass, filled with the spirit, I stepped out of church and walked towards my car.

As I did, a man said to me - 'this your corolla is fine o, very smooth and clean, you should borrow me'

Now, people who know me know that I like my car to be clean - inside and outside. I don't like scratches or bashes. I'm too good a driver to have such.

So after hearing this, I was very proud. I entered my car and drove to pick up something from the office (still Lekki)