Governor Ademola Adeleke has warned of stern state action against traditional rulers of Ifon, Erin Osun and Ilobu communities if they fail to sustain current peace and de-escalation of the crisis in their communities.
The Governor issued the warning against the backdrop of online reports that some faceless groups across the conflict areas are planning another round of attacks.
“In the midst of Sallah celebrations, I got reports of some people planning another round of conflict around Ifon, Ilobu and Erin Osun towns. The security agencies have tightened surveillance to ensure no attacks take place”, Governor Adeleke was quoted to have said in a statement signed by his spokesperson Olawale Rasheed on Monday.
“The security agencies are also speeding up the interrogation of key chieftains and actors in the conflict. I will remind top leaders of the towns that the peace undertaking they are signing are not for joke. They will be held accountable. There will be accountability before the law.
” The curfew we relaxed was on humanitarian grounds. As a compassionate government, we know many innocent people are suffering because of the evil agenda of a few elements across the conflict areas. Any attempt to exploit the adjustment of the curfew for renewed violence will be met with full re-imposition of the 24-hour curfew.
Due to her embezzlement of EU funds, the party’s far-right leader in France, Marine Le Pen, will not be able to run for president until the next presidential election after serving four years in prison and prohibited from running for office for five years.
Last summer, Kateryna Zarembo gave up an academic career in political science to volunteer as a paramedic on Ukraine’s front lines.
She served in rotations lasting two or four weeks, allowing her time to raise her four children aged three to 12. Weeks after United States President Donald Trump’s inauguration, she decided to enlist.
“I think what Donald Trump is doing right now is not just retreating from Europe. It is actually, possibly harming Ukraine in the battle against Russia. It is actually creating an autocracy in real time,” she said.
Kateryna Zarembo is worried that US President Donald Trump’s policies on Ukraine will further imperil the country [Courtesy: Kateryna Zarembo]
It was, for Zarembo, a “reminder of our absolutely, existentially crucial self-reliance”.
“I was thinking, the future of Ukraine is in the hands of Ukraine’s army, and that’s why I have to be part of the professional community, not just a volunteer,” she told Al Jazeera.
Zarembo’s Hospitallers Medical Battalion, which gives the wounded their first pre-hospital treatment a few kilometres from the line of contact, and evacuates them, consists mostly of women and is an example of how they are playing a growing role in Ukraine’s defence.
Women in Ukraine’s 900,000-strong armed forces have climbed from 52,000 at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, more than three years ago, to more than 70,000 today.
More than 20,000 are in combat roles, and 5,500 are fighting in the trenches.
“We don’t have compulsory conscription for women. All joined voluntarily for different reasons,” parliamentarian Yevheniia Kravchuk told Al Jazeera. “Some come from military families. I know one who stepped in after her father was killed and others do it for a brother killed, for revenge.”
Zarembo’s family demonstrates how the war is gradually consuming all of Ukrainian society.
Her husband is now a military technology contractor to the government.
Yevheniia Kravchuk, a politician, said some women step in on the front lines ‘for revenge’ for their killed male relatives [Courtesy: Yevheniia Kravchuk]
Her children understand there is always the danger a Russian drone could slip past electronic jammers to where Zarembo treats wounded soldiers.
“Those who are smaller, the three- and five-year-olds, they just cling to my legs, and don’t want to hear about [my] going,” she said. “And the bigger ones who understand more, they worry and they say that they will miss me, and also kind of protest in their own way.”
The Orobets household’s perspective on the future is similarly transformed.
Lesya Orobets’ husband is fighting on the front lines, leaving her to run the family engineering business.
“His salary we donated to his regiment, to his cause,” she explained to Al Jazeera.
During a leave of absence a few months ago, the parents gathered their two teenage daughters around the kitchen table.
“We were discussing their future professions, and we came up with the suggestion that besides a civilian profession everyone should choose for themselves, they also need to have some military skills, depending on their talents and their interest,” Orobets said.
Lesia Orobets has told her teenage daughters they ‘need’ to have military skills, amid fears of increased conflicts in the future [Courtesy: Lesia Orobets]
“It looks like the future decade would probably be the decade of wars. And in order to be able to protect your country and yourself, you have to be useful no matter the gender.”
Both girls have been learning how to shoot from an early age. The eldest is thinking of becoming an aerospace engineer.
A decade ago, she would not have been able to do that.
Official records show that when Russia annexed Crimea and sent troops into eastern Ukraine in 2014, women played only supporting roles.
“In 2014 … women who wanted to take combat positions as snipers and [operating] grenade launchers could not officially hold these positions, so they were put down as cooks and medics but were actually doing the combat role,” said Kravchuk, the parliamentarian. “They called themselves ‘the invisible battalion’. It took years to change that.”
In 2017, women were made eligible for combat roles and all ranks of the military, elevating them above menial tasks that carried the lowest pay, rank and status.
“That was not just opening new opportunities for women, but naming them by … posts they were actually fulfilling,” said Orobets.
Olena Tregub is the head of Ukraine’s Anticorruption Commission [Courtesy: Olena Tregub]
Days before Russia’s full-scale invasion began, the parliament, Verkhovna Rada, expanded the list of professions whose female employees had to register with the armed forces for possible conscription. A thousand women enlisted immediately.
Today, women serve as snipers, drone operators, fighter pilots, and artillery operators, in special operations and in air defence. Some 1,500 have received medals. Five have received the highest honour, the Hero of Ukraine medal.
The recognition has led to changing perceptions of women’s roles.
On November 17, Nataliya Grabarchuk became an overnight hero when, on her first day as an anti-aircraft gunner, she destroyed a Russian cruise missile using a Man-Portable Air Defence System (MANPADS).
Orobets founded The Price of Freedom, an NGO that designed Sky Shield, a proposed air defence umbrella for Ukraine enlisting Ukrainian and European air forces.
Women’s growing role in intelligence, national security and defence has also been accompanied by their growing role in governance, said Olena Tregub, the head of Ukraine’s Anticorruption Commission.
She rattled off a list of transparency bodies headed by women – including the Military Ombudsman, the anticorruption task force within the Ministry of Defence, and the Ministry of Strategic Industries responsible for defence production.
“All these women came during war,” Tregub said, and were helping direct resources where they needed to go.
Women also became the visible international advocates for weapons and financial aid at the request of former commander in chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, because conscription for them was voluntary and they were allowed to leave the country, said Tregub.
Women have also shouldered a growing burden in keeping the economy afloat.
The government pays to re-qualify women in a list of professions like truck drivers, tractor drivers, trolley drivers, and anything connected to construction such as electrical and plumbing work, said Kravchuk.
Last year, women qualified for 61 percent of loans to open small and medium-sized enterprises in Ukraine, and established 59 percent of them.
Women’s advance in all these roles is connected to the perception that all of society is at stake.
“We fight against our children being deported to Russia and being raised as Russians, and we fight against our women being raped and killed. And of course, against everyone being killed,” said Zarembo, referring respectively to Ukrainian allegations of the forcible transfer of children to Russia without familial consent and of Moscow’s forces committing sexual assault and other war crimes.
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Manager Mikel Arteta confirms that Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka is back in shape after missing three months with a broken foot.
The England international had surgery on a hamstring issue suffered in Arsenal’s Premier League victory over Crystal Palace on December 21.
Saka could be in the Emirates Stadium’s league match against Fulham on Tuesday, where he has nine goals and 10 assists in all of his previous 24 games for Arsenal this season.
“Everything has already been done,” he declares. He’s pushing because he really wants to, so it’s about to put him on the grass at the right moment.
We have followed the deadline and completed everything.
“Bukayo is a massive weapon,” said Bukayo. We are aware of his significance and role in our success and how significant he is to the team.
With nine games left, Arsenal is now 12 points clear of Liverpool in the Premier League.
Riccardo Calafiori, a defender for Italy against Germany on March 20, has a knee injury that will keep him sidelines.
Arteta remarked, “It could have been much worse.”
“We have to wait and see how the injury develops,” said one doctor, “hopefully it’s going to be a matter of weeks.”
At Monday’s press conference on Monday, Andrea Berta, Arsenal’s new sporting director, was present. He had been chosen this week to succeed Edu.
Rebecca Loos has insisted in a brand-new interview that she “never lied” about her claims that David Beckham and his wife Victoria Beckham were having an affair.
Rebecca Loos describes herself as “brave.”
In what was one of the most talked-about celebrity scandals of the 2000s, Rebecca Loos claimed she and David Beckham carried on a “steamy affair” behind his wife’s back. And in a bombshell new interview, she has continued to insist that she wasn’t lying.
According to Rebecca, she and David embarked on a four-month fling back in 2004, while she was working as his PA and translator. At this point in time, David had just made the move to Madrid, while his Spice Girl wife, Victoria Beckham, remained in the UK with their children
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Footballing legend David has long dismissed the allegations as “ludicrous”, while the Beckhams jointly addressed this painful period in their 2023 Netflix documentary.
Rebecca has since made one more claim to Victoria, and she has now made a second one.
READ MORE: Rebecca Loos insists ‘I did not lie’ about David Beckham affair in bombshell interview
The showbiz power couple were rocked by Rebecca’s accusations back in 2004(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
In a recent interview with on 60 Minutes Australia, Rebecca described herself as “very brave” for coming forward with her allegations, stating: “In my opinion, it was a very brave thing to do to go up against them. I have stuck to the truth. I’ve never exaggerated.
I’ve never lied in any way. Why? Because I’m facing the media’s most powerful, strongest couple with the most money in the world for the best PR and best lawyers. And the truth was everything I had.
Rebecca conducted a number of follow-up interviews after her first-round of explosive allegations surfaced in 2004. She claimed in a sit-down interview that David and she shared the same sense of humor and that their chemistry was top-notch. She addressed his marriage, claiming that David reportedly missed his wife and was “lonely” in Spain, and that Loos insisted that she had no intention of ending their union.
When questioned about her thoughts on Victoria, she responded with the following: “No sympathy, please. She said, “I don’t expect any sympathy from her.” Without expecting any kind words of sympathy, I believe that doing what I have done is bad enough for me to do it. I’m confident that they will pass it. Before I even started dating them, I believe the issues with their marriage were. I have no intention of breaking up their marriage, especially if they have young children. I wish they would continue to be friends.
Back in December 2024, Rebecca, 47, extended an olive branch to the mum-of-four after addressing the double standards applied to men and women when it came to cheating. “The funny thing is, I got the s***, Victoria [Beckham] got the s***, David f****** never got any s***,” she told James English on his Anything Goes With podcast. “That’s the world we live in. That made me want to keep [saying] ‘hello, this is unfair’.”
Earlier that same year, yet more explosive claims about the alleged affair came to light in Tom Bower’s book The House of Beckham. The author revealed for the first time that Rebecca decided to speak out about their alleged affair after being appalled by David’s treatment of a waitress in Madrid. Bower suggested that David supposedly refusing to give a tip – then later handing over a wad of cash – was the “turning point for Loos realising Beckham’s double standards.”
In David’s Netflix documentary, Beckham, the couple touched upon how difficult life became for them after “horrible stories” broke about their personal life. David, 49, said: “There were some horrible stories that were difficult to deal with. It was the first time that me and Victoria had been put under that kind of pressure in our marriage.” Victoria, 50, agreed: “One hundred percent. It was the hardest period for us. Because it felt like the world was against us.”
David described the couple’s marriage woes at the time of the alleged affair as feeling like he was ‘drowning’(Image: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
If I’m being completely honest, the former Spice Girl continued, “And here’s the thing, we were against each other.” You’re aware that up until Madrid, things used to feel like we played against everyone else. But we shared a room. We had a connection. We were together. However, it didn’t really feel like we had any relationships while we were in Spain. That is depressing. I can’t even begin to explain how difficult it was for me.
From the age of 15 to 27 years old, David continued, “When I first moved to Spain, it was difficult because I’ve been a member of a family and a club my entire career. I quickly become a millionaire. I’m in a city the moment before it gets dark. I am not fluent in the native tongue. I didn’t have my family, which is even more important. The couple made a “make or break” trip to Courchevel, France, in April 2004. The candid documentary also includes footage of the trip.
Additionally, David compared their marriage issues to the experience of “drowning,” saying, “Each time we woke up, we felt, you know, there was something else, and I think we both felt at the time that we were, not losing each other, but drowning.
“Some days I would wake up and wonder, “How am I going to work?” What will I do when I enter that training pitch? How will I appear as though nothing is wrong? Every day, I felt physically ill. when I squinted. What will I do to accomplish this?
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Beckham continued, “I don’t know how we managed to get through it in all honesty,” when the director inquired about their future. I value Victoria above all else. It was incredibly challenging to witness her suffering. However, we fight. And we also had to fight for our families at the time. And it was worthwhile to fight for what we had. It’s our private life, after all.
Do you have a tale to tell? Contact me at julia@gmail.com. banim@reachplc.com Follow Mirror Celebs on Threads, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat.
READ MORE: Men rave over ‘intoxicating’ Horace aftershave with hundreds of 5-star reviews
Rebecca Loos asserted that she and Victoria Beckham are “not to blame” for the alleged fling and that she will “always” defend herself from “smears.”
Rebecca Loos describes herself as “brave.”
Rebecca Loos has sent a message to Victoria Beckham suggesting they need to stick together and detailed why she will ‘continue to speak out’ over her claims she had an affair with her husband.
The pair reportedly had a fling in the 2000s, shortly after he married his wife. David has always denied anything happened but Rebecca has insisted she “never lied” about her alleged affair and stressed it was “very brave” for her to speak out about the alleged four-month dalliance.
Now the former PA says she will not let the matter drop because she wants David “to feel pain too” over the scandal that rocked the couple more than 20 years ago. Rebecca, speaking on 60 Minutes Australia, says has been left annoyed that any blame has been directed at herself, and former Spice Girl Victoria.
She continued, “There were terrible stories about this wife Victoria, and there were terrible stories about me.” Never did he have vile stories about him. Golden Balls was him. The man was him. Good for you to pat him on the back. Nothing about him has changed, but it was Victoria’s fault and my fault. We bear the sole responsibility.
David and Victoria were rocked by the claims made by their former PA(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
She explained to the station that she had always believed that it was better for her to make the claims in 2004 and that she had always had control over her. She continued, “It was a way for me to not get back at him but the way he treated me was very unfair, what he was getting away with, and that two-faced life.” I am aware of how important his reputation is to him. I suppose I should also want him to experience pain.
The claims were first made back in 2004 and David addressed the allegations in his recent Netflix documentary. He said at the time: “I don’t know how we got through it in all honesty. Victoria is everything to me. To see her hurt was incredibly difficult, but we’re fighters. We needed to fight for each other and for our family. What we had was worth fighting for.”
Rebecca has been speaking on 60 Minutes Australia(Image: 60 Minutes/Nine)
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Victoria then added in her own interview as part of the documentary: “It felt like the world was against us. And here’s the thing – we were against each other if I’m being completely honest.” In response, Rebecca said that David was “indirectly suggesting” she had “made Victoria suffer”.
“Yes, the accounts were terrible, but they are true. In the documentary, he discusses how he ultimately views his private life, shutting it down. It’s one thing to confine your private life to yourself, in my opinion. She had said, “It’s yet another way to mislead the public.”
