EU leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday for a summit overshadowed by Hamas’s war with Israel and the EU’s failure to project a united front.

For weeks, the European Union’s stance on the war has been clouded with mixed messages, diplomatic gaffes and conflicting national views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But after days of disagreement, EU leaders aim to project a united front.They are expected to back a call for humanitarian pauses in the fighting.

European Council President Charles Michel says the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza is of grave concern and the leaders are keen to facilitate access to food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter.

They hope that will create safer conditions for the release of more than 200 hostages seized by Hamas gunmen during their 7 October attack. Many of those held captive are European dual nationals, including citizens from Germany, France, Portugal and the Netherlands.

EU member states hold sharply differing views and it all makes for a very confusing picture.

Some have reservations about calling for a pause in the fighting and argue it could be seen as limiting Israel’s right to self-defence.

Germany and other countries do not support the idea of one, singular humanitarian pause, because that would be too close to the concept of a ceasefire, when Israel has the right to defend itself from attack.

What was needed instead were shorter breaks in the fighting, an EU diplomat told the BBC. “A pause means both actors stop for good, whereas pauses is temporary. It’s short intervals for a few hours, to get aid,” they said.

Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic have taken strong stances of supporting Israel. Spain and Ireland are more attuned with the Palestinian cause.

Several European leaders have been on a diplomatic tour of the Middle East. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron have all had talks with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Czech prime minister Petr Fiala visited Israel on Wednesday.

Those differing views extend to the EU’s executive too.

The EU is the largest donor to the Palestinians, so when Oliver Varhelyi, Hungary’s European Commissioner responsible for policy towards neighbouring countries, announced after the Hamas attack that all payments were being suspended and all new budget proposals postponed, it immediately sent alarm bells ring at aid agencies.

The EC then rushed out a statement saying €691m (£600m) of aid would not be stopped but put under review, and later said it would treble aid for Palestinians.

And when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen flew to Israel with the president of the European Parliament, she drew criticism for backing Israel’s right to defend itself without stressing that it should stick to international humanitarian law. There seemed to be no effort to connect with the Palestinian Authority.

However, an EU diplomat told journalists that not everything Ms von der Leyen said in Israel was posted on social media. “If you want to be effective, you don’t do megaphone diplomacy,” the diplomat said.

“The Israeli government listens to us if we raise something behind closed doors.

“In a highly unusual move, more than 800 EU staff and diplomats signed an open letter criticising her “uncontrolled” support of Israel. They complained of the Commission’s “double standards”, pointing out that Russia’s blockade of Ukraine was seen as an act of terror, while Israel’s blockade of Gaza was “completely ignored”.

“The EU’s response has been rather unfortunate and very confusing,” James Moran from the Centre for European Policy Studies told the BBC.

“In the past, the EU approach to conflicts in the Middle East had generally managed to come out with an even-handed position. For example, in 2014 calls for a ceasefire were pretty quickly made.”

The EU doesn’t have an army, ships, or planes – but it has played an important diplomatic role in the Middle East.

When it was made up of just nine members in 1980, it issued the ground-breaking Venice Declaration recognising the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

Fast forward to 2023, the EU represents 27 countries with “fundamentally opposing views on the Middle East”, an EU diplomat told the BBC.

That became clear during an EU foreign ministers meeting earlier this week, where German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reportedly argued against a humanitarian ceasefire because Hamas was still firing rockets at Israel.

As a result the EU has so far failed to agree on what kind of pause there should be.

Another crucial element is that the EU doesn’t want to deviate from the US line. The German position on backing short humanitarian pauses to allow aid in is similar to that advocated by the Americans.

“There’s a great need to maintain transatlantic solidarity on Ukraine,” says James Moran. “EU-US cooperation has been very important in helping Ukrainians defend themselves from Russia’s invasion.

“But EU diplomats point out that the war in Ukraine is not remotely comparable to what is happening in the Middle East.

“It was a war on our doorstep, and there was a clear enemy,” a spokesperson for the European Parliament told the BBC. “Nobody ever questioned whether it was right for the EU to help Ukraine arm itself. It was an epochal change.

“Since the beginning of Russia’s aggression, EU support has reached €82.6bn.

That level of unity is missing in the Hamas-Israel war: “A lack of a single voice is the EU’s achilles heel,” the EU diplomat says.

Those differences are likely to resurface when the 27 EU leaders meet behind closed doors in Brussels on Thursday afternoon.

The EU was created as a peace project after the devastation caused by World War Two and does have the potential to be a peace broker.

But in reality no European country is powerful enough to stand alone as a major player; and together they are too divided.

“After a long period of lack of engagement with the Middle East, we can’t somehow magically wake up and turn around the conflict there,” a diplomat told the BBC.

Australia’s most serious bushfire season since its so-called “Black Summer” has turned fatal.

As more than 100 fires burned across the country on Thursday, Queensland officials said two people have died in major blazes near the town of Tara.

Two people also died fighting fires in New South Wales (NSW) last week.

Authorities have for months warned a cocktail of conditions means this bushfire season will be extremely dangerous.

In a briefing, the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services said about 350 people had been evacuated from the Tara region, where an out-of-control fire has so far burned through more than 11,000 hectares of land and destroyed 16 homes.

They said a man died on Tuesday night while trying to protect his property, and a woman died on Wednesday after suffering a cardiac arrest while preparing to evacuate.

Overnight dry lightning storms sparked several new blazes in the same region. Many are under control but one has triggered an emergency warning.

But conditions are likely to worsen again on Thursday, with both temperatures and wind speeds expected to increase.

“[It] will again be another challenging day for us today, as we head into areas of extreme fire danger,” Rural Fire Service acting assistant commissioner Peter Hollier said.

Elsewhere, firefighters are also battling to put out blazes in New South Wales (NSW), Victoria and the Northern Territory.

In NSW last week a veteran volunteer firefighter died of a medical episode while on duty in the state’s north, and another man died while trying to protect his property on the mid-north coast.

Authorities earlier this week said they believe three large fires in that area had been deliberately lit.

Australia has been on high alert for bushfire danger. This is because of years of rain-driven plant growth, which is drying out after the warmest winter on record, and an El Nino-affected summer that promises more hot and dry months.

The country has reeled from disaster to disaster in recent years, as it feels the effects of climate change.

Earlier this month towns in Victoria were threatened by bushfires only to be forced to prepare for floods just hours later.

The current bushfire season also comes after several years of record-breaking floods, which followed the Black Summer bushfires in 2019-20, which themselves followed years of drought.

The world’s top climate scientists have warned that a future full of worsening disasters is likely unless urgent action is taken to tackle climate change.

Popular skit maker and content creator, Mark Angel has made a shocking revelation about his private life.

In a recent podcast interview with Teju Babyface, the Port-Harcourt-born thespian revealed that he got married secretly and divorced secretly.

However, he did not disclose when the marriage and divorce took place.

The 32-year-old emphasised that given the current state of his romantic life, he wouldn’t entertain his daughter dating someone like himself.

According to him, he was in an uncommitted relationship with about five different women.

Mark said, “I was once married. I have never said this on any podcast, anywhere. I got married in secret and was divorced in secret.

“I don’t know if I’m dating now or not. But I’ve like five different babes. If I were my daughter, I wouldn’t date someone like myself.”

South African rapper Nasty C has boasted that he is on the same level as American hip-hop legends, Eminem, Drake, J. Cole, Jay Z and Kendrick Lamar.

Speaking in an interview with Dream Media SA, the ‘Zulu Man With Some Power’ crooner said he can go “toe to toe with any rapper in the world.”

He said he has no competition in South Africa, boasting that his only competitors are American hip-hop superstars.

Nasty said, “I’m not saying I’m the best rapper in South Africa. But I don’t see anyone who can really defeat me in a rap battle.

“I can go toe to toe with any rapper in the world. I’m in competition with Eminem, Drake, J. Cole, Jay Z and Kendrick. I’m not saying I’m the best rapper in the world. But no rapper can outshine me.”

Maverick singer, Ọlawale Ọlọfọrọ, popularly known as Brymo, has accused Grammy-winning musician, Burna Boy of stealing his intellectual property.

The ‘Ara’ crooner alleged that Burna Boy’s ‘City Boys’ and ‘I Told Them’ sampled the album title track of his upcoming album, ‘Macabre.’

He said what Burna Boy did was a “crime” and should serve a jail term.

On his Instagram handle, Brymo wrote; “By end of this year y’all will recollect that ‘Macabre’ wasn’t released when in the public, and as privately as it gets .: ‘city boy’.. and ‘I Told You’ were fed to Burna Boy..

“Former of the track titles I mentioned above is there to point me to the fact that the latter, and his album title is the hook I sing on my album title track ‘Macabre’.. burna na really boy.. and that’s a crime.!!

An actual crime…To do time for… and if una like make una resurrect legends to come complain about stolen songs… una go regret this shit to numerous degrees… shey una no dey hear word !!.”

Former Chelsea striker, Chris Sutton, has hit out at Mykhailo Mudryk after the winger celebrated his Premier League goal against Arsenal last weekend.

Sutton insisted that Mudryk should not have been allowed to celebrate his goal against Arsenal, adding that the Ukrainian should have walked back to the halfway line in ’embarrassment’.

Mudryk scored his second goal of the season for Chelsea when he loft the ball over David Raya in a Premier League 2-2 draw against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.

While it appeared as though Mudryk meant to cross into the box, the former Shakhtar Donetsk star took the plaudits by standing with his arms aloft in front of supporters.

However, Sutton believes Mudryk was wrong to celebrate the goal as he ‘didn’t mean it’.

“I don’t think you should be allowed to celebrate a goal if you don’t mean it,” Sutton was quoted by Metro UK as saying.

“I know he was happy but he also celebrated like he meant it. That was, come on!

“Not like the big arms out! You should walk back with embarrassment if you are meaning to cross it.”

A cleric, Prophet Adegoke Jeremiah, aka Billion Dollars Prophet, has slammed a N22 million defamatory suit against popular chef, Damilola Adeparusi, better known as Chef Dammy.

Chef Dammy recently called out Billion Dollars Prophet on social media, saying he should be held responsible if anything happens to her.

According to her, Billion Dollars Prophet had been threatening, cursing, and bullying her for months after her cook-a-thon.

The clergyman has now sued the chef for defamation.In a letter signed by his lawyers, Bisayo Sule & Co Legal Practitioners, and dated 23rd October 2023, the Prophet demanded a retraction of the libelous statement on social media and two widely read national dailies and payment of a sum of N22 million for damages.

The letter partly read, “In view of the incalculable damage you have done to the good reputation of our client, we demand a retraction of the libelous statement on all the social media particularly your Instagram page, and two (2) widely read national dailies.

“Additionally, we are demanding a sum of (Twenty Million Naira Only).

“N20,000,000:00 being Damages for the act of Defamation against our client.

“Take notice that you have seven (7) days from the date of service of this letter on you, the date of service inclusive to comply with our demand.

“Failure of which we shall not hesitate to seek a redress in the court of law.”

Pastor Isaac Oyedepo, one of the sons of Bishop David Oyedepo, founder of Living Faith Church, aka Winners Chapel, has resigned.

Isaac, who was recently appointed as the Global Youth Pastor of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, resigned to start up his own ministry.

He said, “My God-given mandate is to reclaim a generation and to ensure that this generation sees the fire of God-revival in our generation.”

He is the second son of Bishop Oyedepo.

He and his elder brother, David Jr., were ordained as pastors in May 2007 by Kenneth Copeland.

He is a graduate of Oral Roberts University and has served as the resident pastor of the Living Faith Church International, Maryland, USA, since October 2018.

Isaac is married to Ayomitide Oyedepo and their union is blessed with four children.

Singer and former YBNL Nation artiste Temmie Ovwasa has explained she doesn’t feel pregnancy scare despite being a woman.

Ovwasa, known for her unapologetic stance regarding her s3xual orientation, emphasised her commitment to not engaging in s3xual relations with men.

In a video shared on her Instagram page, the young artiste who disclosed that she would be turning 27 by November, stated that she has never encountered a pregnancy scare.

Exuding a strong sense of self-assuredness, Temmie spoke about how being a lesbian has provided her with a sense of freedom from concerns about menstrual cycles.

She, however, has remained firm in her orientation despite receiving numerous advances from men, she has remained resolute in her orientation.

“I’m going to be 27 by November and I have never had a pregnancy scare because of lesbianism. Men will come to me to tell me I need to try d!ck,” she said.

A court in Nigeria has sentenced a medical director to life in prison for raping his wife’s teenage niece.

Dr Olufemi Olaleye sexually assaulted the girl for more than a year until his wife found out and informed the police, the prosecutor said.

The doctor had pleaded not guilty during the trial.

But a judge in a Lagos court said he found the evidence against the doctor compelling and rejected his plea for leniency.

Olaleye was arraigned in November last year on two counts of rape between December 2019 and July 2022, when the girl went to live with their family.

During the trial, the doctor’s wife, Aderemi Olaleye, said she discovered the abuse after the girl told her aunt and the family’s driver. The girl, now aged 18, said the doctor had been sleeping with her and had threatened to kill her if she told anyone, the doctor’s wife said.

He was also accused of forcing her to watch pornography.

Six witnesses – the girl, the defendant’s wife, a medical doctor, a child-care expert and two police officers involved in the investigations – testified in the trial.

The doctor also testified in his own defence alongside his forensic physician who faulted the medical evidence presented by the prosecution.

But while delivering the judgement on Tuesday, Justice Rahman Oshodi said the evidence presented before the court “greatly implicates” the defendant.

Justice Oshodi described the medical director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation as a “dangerous” offender who did not show any sign of remorse.

According to the judge, Olaleye’s earlier confession to the police proved that he committed the offences.

The judge rejected the arguments by the doctor’s legal team that the girl was tutored by the defendant’s wife to lie against him as part of a scheme to take over his property.

“I, therefore, find the defendant guilty as charged,” the judge ruled.”This charge has a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment,” he said.

In his plea for leniency, the doctor’s lawyer, Adebisi Oridate, asked the state to recognise Olaleye’s services as a cancer doctor and that he was a first-time offender.

But the judge dismissed the plea and said that Olaleye must be confined to the prison for a long period of time as proof that Nigeria’s justice system frowned at sexual violence.

He also ordered the name of the doctor to be added to the Lagos State sex offenders register.

It is not clear if the doctor will appeal against the sentencing.

At least three Palestinians were killed and more than 20 others injured when an Israeli reconnaissance plane bombed the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

Palestinian security and medical sources disclosed this on Wednesday.

“The bodies of three young men, together with 20 injuries, some in critical conditions, were transferred to the Jenin hospital as a result of an attack by an Israeli reconnaissance plane,’’ Wissam Bakr, the director of Jenin Governmental Hospital, said.

Palestinian witnesses said a large number of Israeli forces stormed the city of Jenin, the surroundings of the camp, and the town of Burqin amid armed clashes with Palestinian militants.

According to locals, a huge explosion was heard from a missile launch from an Israeli reconnaissance plane near the camp cemetery.

This led to a number of young men being killed or wounded.

Armed Palestinian factions said that their members clashed with Israeli forces and targeted them with gunfire and homemade explosive devices.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the drone strike was carried out after armed terrorists fired and threw explosives at Israeli forces operating in the Jenin refugee camp.

No Israeli personnel were injured in the clashes.

Scientists from the University of New South Wales and the University of Technology Sydney have revealed how cancer cells circumvent a common cancer therapy.

The study, recently published in the Current Biology journal, showed that cancer cells can activate a force-generating rescue mechanism to stabilise an essential cell structure.

An essential cell structure responsible for cell division and resisting the effects of chemotherapy.

Cancer cells use the mechanical force supplied by the cell cortex to overcome the impact of commonly used chemotherapy.

Peter Gunning, senior author of the study and professor at the University of New South Wales, disclosed this.

“Now that we understand this exact pathway cancer cells use to avoid the toxic effects of chemotherapy, it opens the door to improving cancer treatments,” said Mr Gunning.

During cell division or mitosis, microtubules inside cells help separate genetic material.

Cancer cells divide more rapidly than normal ones, making them targets for chemotherapy drugs, which disrupt these microtubules.

Mr Gunning said that high doses of this chemotherapy effectively induce cell death by causing chaos in chromosome separation, but at lower doses, cancer cells can start a rescue mechanism.

This mechanism involves the cancer cells recognising disrupted microtubules and activating a process to reconnect these fragments, ensuring cancer cell multiplication.

For their next step, researchers will focus on developing drugs that work in combination with current chemotherapy to overcome the cancer cell resistance mechanism.

Before testing on patients, these drugs would undergo refinement in animal models and preclinical studies.

“By attacking the force-generating machinery built by the cancer cells, we expect that we will be able to allow the cancer therapy to do its job much more effectively,” Mr Gunning said.

Terhember Wuam, a professor of economic history at the Kaduna State University, has advised the Nigerian government to learn from China’s experience in the quest for national development.

On Wednesday, Mr Wuam made the call in a keynote address at an International Conference with the theme, ‘Understanding China’s Transformation: Reform, Opening Up and Capitalism in China 1978 – Lessons for Nigeria’ in Abuja.

The conference was organised by the Association for United Asian Scholars, Nigeria (AUASN), in partnership with the Department of History and International Relations, Veritas University Abuja.

Mr Wuam, the president of AUASN, said the vital lesson for Nigeria to learn from China’s experience was the leaders and people to dedicate themselves to seeking modernisation.

He explained that China had a tumultuous 20th century, followed by a challenging 19th century when the industrialised West and Japan left it behind as dynastic China held onto tradition and its feudal era.

He added that by the close of the 19th century, agents of change in China were already pushing for reforms and seeking new ideas that would modernise the kingdom.

He recommended the study of China’s history and its quest to industrialise and become a modern, prosperous nation.

“For China, the economic awakening of the past five decades beginning from 1978 has been astonishing, and Deng Xiaoping, who became the paramount leader of China in 1976, was the man behind it.

He was highly effective in guiding China’s economic rise and equally reformed the political system enough to allow for the changes he envisaged to become a reality within his lifetime and beyond,” said the professor.

He added that “Xiaoping promoted a vision of an economically prosperous China with statements like “To get rich is 26 glorious,” and that “For China to get rich, a few people will have to become rich first.”

Mr Wuam said, “He did this alongside working for harmony and security in the country and avoiding the turbulence that was characteristic of the Mao Tsetung era, noting that “Prosperity is only possible with stability.

“He was a firm believer in promoting talented people and believed that a system of capitalism with Chinese characteristics would enable talented people to come to the fore and for the nation to fully utilise their talents.”

At least seven people have died after a dense “super fog” caused a huge, 158-car pile-up near New Orleans.

Thick fog and smoke from multiple marsh fires mingled to reduce visibility for drivers commuting on Monday.

Twenty-five people were injured in the crash on Interstate 55 in St John the Baptist Parish, said police, who warned the death toll could rise.

Some vehicles caught fire and were abandoned, leaving a trail of burnt-out wreckage and mangled metal.

The blaze broke out as one of the vehicles involved in the crash was a tanker truck carrying what police called a “hazardous liquid”.

One car was driven off the road and into the water, but the driver was safely rescued, police told WWL-TV.

Officers said the motorway will remain closed until at least midday on Tuesday.

“A portion of the crash scene caught on fire shortly after the initial incident. One tanker truck carrying a hazardous liquid is being off-loaded due to a compromised tank/trailer,” Lt Melissa Matey said in a statement.

Mike Tregre, sheriff of St John the Baptist, said an estimated 100 people were stranded and school buses were being used to transport them to their destinations.

Clarencia Patterson Reed, 46, who was driving to Hammond, told local media she was able to avoid hitting the car in front of her, but the vehicles behind her began slamming into her car.”It was ‘Boom. Boom.’ All you kept hearing was crashing for at least 30 minutes,” she said.

She was able to get out of her car, but her wife was trapped inside and was injured.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in New Orleans described the weather phenomenon as a “super fog”, cautioning that similarly dangerous weather conditions could appear later this week.

On its website, it states super fog can form when a mixture of smoke and moisture from damp, smouldering vegetation mixes with cooler air. The smoky conditions reduced visibility to less that 10ft (3m).

The NWS said on Tuesday morning that heavy overnight winds had helped to disperse fog in some areas, but warned that dangerous driving conditions persisted in many areas.

Governor John Bel Edwards offered his thoughts and prayers for those killed in the crash, and urged residents to donate blood at a local medical centre to “help replenish supplies that are being drained today to care for the wounded”.

Louisiana has battled blazing wildfires, heatwaves and relentless droughts over the course of the summer. Exceptional drought – the highest category tracked by the US Drought Monitor – is currently in place across 62% of the southern state.

One of K-Pop’s biggest stars, Blackpink singer Jisoo, and Korean actor Ahn Bo-hyun have ended their relationship.

Jisoo’s representatives told South Korean media she and Ahn had separated, only two months after they said they were dating.

K-pop stars rarely reveal much about their private lives, and their announcement shocked fans.

The pair broke up due to their busy schedules, broadcaster JBTC reported.In August, Ahn, a Korean model and actor who has appeared in popular drama series Itaewon Class, and Jisoo acknowledged the relationship.

Jisoo, 28, is one of four in Blackpink – one of the world’s most popular acts.

The group have enjoyed international success, becoming the first K-Pop girl group to win an MTV Video Music Award, and the first Asian band to headline California music festival Coachella.

Archaeologists have unearthed a Roman grave and a 2,000-year-old coin on the route of a planned water pipeline.

The discoveries were made at the proposed Southern Water site in Hampshire.

Members of Wessex Archaeology have been carrying out the excavations before pipelines are installed between Andover, Otterbourne and Portsmouth.

The scheme is linked to plans for a new reservoir at Havant Thicket, the first to be built in England for 25 years.

Dr Nicola Meakins of Southern Water said: “Roman graves are not uncommon – when the Romans built roads, legionnaires who died were simply buried by the side of the road.

“Wessex Archology learns something new every time one is found, however.”In this case the discovery of a 2,000-year-old coin helps us to understand what was happening in the area back then.

“Southern Water declined to give the exact location of the discoveries but said they were made as ecologists and surveyors carried out assessments ahead of the pipeline work.

Dr Meakins added: “Whether it’s the discovery of rare hazel dormouse habitat, badger setts or, as in this case, archaeological remains, a plan must be put in place to prevent or mitigate damage.”

A French museum is working urgently to fix a waxwork of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson after he complained about it.

The Grevin Museum in Paris proudly revealed the life-sized figure of the wrestler-turned-actor earlier this month and got a wave of criticism back.

One of the biggest was over the model’s skin tone, with fans accusing the creator of “whitewashing” the star, who has dual heritage.

After The Rock joined the pile-on, museum bosses vowed to “rework” it.

He called on them to “update my wax figure with some important details, starting with my skin colour”.

Museum director Yves Delhommeau told the AFP news agency his staff planned to work “all night” to bring the waxwork in line with “fans’ expectations”.

He also blamed the model’s skin tone on a “lighting issue” and said it would be addressed.

Mr Delhommeau said The Rock would visit the museum “later on to see if there are other modifications that need to be made”.

The museum unveiled the wax figure in Paris on 16 October and said artist Stéphane Barret had to rely on photos and videos to create the sculpture.

In a press release, it said the “painstaking” work included redoing the model’s eyes three times.

The Rock was born in California to a black Nova Scotian father and Samoan mother.

His dad, Wayde Douglas Bowles, was also a wrestler – known as Rocky Johnson – and was part of the first black tag team to win a WWE championship.

BBC Newsbeat has contacted the Grevin Museum for further comment but not heard back.

The Rock’s representatives have also been contacted for comment.

The UN says the annual observance marking the official creation of the organisation is overshadowed by the rising toll of suffering and sacrifice in Gaza, where 35 staff members with the Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA) have now lost their lives.

UN Day on October 24 marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter – the day the organisation officially came into being.

The dead in Gaza include many teachers, the agency noted in a tweet on Monday.

“We grieve and we remember. These are not just numbers,” the UN. “These are our friends and colleagues…UNRWA mourns this huge loss.”

The 13,000-strong agency, which operates across the Palestine Occupied Territory, has been working tirelessly with other UN humanitarians inside Gaza and across the region to aid stricken civilians, often at great personal risk.

Through the UN Charter, countries are united in their resolve to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres recalled that the charter “is rooted in a determination” to build peace.

“On this United Nations Day, let us commit with hope and determination to build the better world of our aspirations,” he said.

The UN chief called on all nations to commit to a future that lives up to the name of the indispensable organisation.

“We are a divided world. We can and must be united nations,” Mr Guterres stated.

Human rights activists, on the platform of the Centre for Human and Socio-Economic Rights, have urged Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and security agents to end the reign of land grabbers across Lagos.

The CHSR and Lawyers for Reform Group, at a news conference on Monday in Lagos, called on Mr Sanwo-Olu, the acting inspector general of police, Kayode Egbetokun, and concerned Nigerians to save innocent people from the terror of land-grabbers.

In the news conference text jointly read by the CHSR president, Alex Omotehinse and Oladotun Hassan, the executive project director of Lawyers for Reform Group, the activists highlighted an alleged conspiracy to forcefully dispossess a resident, Olufemi Fasehun, of his property.

The official emphasised that the solution to Nigeria’s product refining lies in the willingness of the private sector to make a difference, to collaborate, learn, and inspire one another.

They said the property was located at 10 Kudirat Abiola Way, Oregun, Ikeja.

The land-grabbers, allegedly supported by some state actors and security agents investigating the property, must be stopped to prevent breach of peace and threat to life, said the activists.

“We urgently demand the intervention of Governor Sanwo-Olu alongside Mr Kayode Egbetokun, the acting inspector general of police in carrying out accelerated due diligence, investigation and prosecution of anyone found culpable, no matter how highly placed at a court of competent jurisdiction accordingly.

“We shall appreciate all Nigerians concerted support and efforts to stop land grabbing menace in Lagos state under any guise of demolition of innocent Nigerian citizens’ properties. We call on the governor and the IGP to swiftly come to the aid of the victim, who is the rightful owner of the aforementioned property with valid land title documents,” stated the activists.

They added, “There is the need to achieve respite for the victim and peaceful habitation of his property respectfully. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

The activists alleged that some officers in the General Investigation Department, Police FCID, Alagbon, connived with the land-grabbers to demolish and dispossess the victim of his property.

“The vampire marauding land-grabbers are now all out to wreak monumental havoc capable of breaching the peace and the fundamental rights of the affected victim,” the activists added.

The duo said the land-grabbers attacked and damaged the victim’s property several times. They said the victim wrote a petition dated May 2 to the assistant inspector general of police, FCID, Alagbon, Lagos, against the land-grabbers attacking his premises to invade and seize the landed property forcibly.

According to them, Mr Sanwo-Olu and security apparatuses must prioritise the welfare and security of ordinary citizens robbed of their properties under various guises in Lagos.

They called for the government’s intervention in stopping incessant harassment, criminal trespass, wilful and malicious destruction and violent conduct of land-grabbers in various parts of Lagos.

The European Commission will present new measures on Tuesday to boost the European wind power industry and reach the European Union’s targets for renewable energy generation by 2030.

Long approval procedures, rising raw material costs, cheaper turbines from abroad, and high inflation hamper the expansion of wind power capacity in the EU.

While wind energy generation grew by 10 per cent globally in the first six months of the year compared to last year, the increase in the EU was only five per cent, a report by think tank Ember found.

With the new, non-binding measures to be presented on Tuesday, the commission aimed to reverse this trend and reach its climate goal of generating 42.5 per cent.

The climate goal of the EU’s total energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030 is expected to be a certain percentage.

To speed up the approval process, the commission plans an online tool, including answers to frequently asked questions, to support member states in authorising new wind farms.

The criteria for bidding procedures are to be updated to consider additional factors other than costs, like sustainability and cybersecurity.