₦airaland Forum

Femmysneh:
I can easily guess your age with you saying this 😅

Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr were dumped out of the Asian Champions League Elite as Japan's Kawasaki Frontale spectacularly ripped up the script with a 3-2 semifinal victory on Wednesday to reach the continental final for the first time.

The big-spending Saudi Pro League team succumbed when Yuto Ozeki and Akihiro Ienaga struck after Sadio Mané's deflected effort in the 28th minute had cancelled out Tatsuya Ito's 10th-minute opener for the J-League side.

Aiman Yahya scored from distance with three minutes left for Al Nassr to set up a tense finish, but Frontale held on.

Kawasaki will next face Al Ahli, another Saudi side boasting a squad packed with high-profile foreign internationals, in the final on Saturday with both clubs looking to win their maiden continental crown.

"It was a very difficult game but the players were able to show their best performance on the pitch," said Frontale coach Shigetoshi Hasebe. "We're showing what we've been building since pre-season and I'm happy with that."

Underdogs Kawasaki, who had needed extra time to defeat Qatar's Al-Sadd in the quarterfinals on Sunday, made an encouraging start, with Marcinho outmuscling Marcelo Brozovic to win possession 35 yards from goal before shooting wide.

Ronaldo, who has failed to win any major trophy since his move to Saudi Arabia, was seen in tears on the field following the loss.

Numerouno94:
Hold on🫷@last sentence, are u serious?

Angelfrost:
Yes, I am...! I work weekends sometimes.

Barcelona for the triple!

Peacecore:
Fine dear? ! Madrid will never be Barca friend. I was just laughing throughout the match on Madrid are turned to sec. school team

Numerouno94:
Fine boss. Congrats to City 2day again. To FA Cup final . Boss I will wanna dm u leta sha.

Numerouno94:
Yes!! Yes!! Yes!! Barca did it.

Peacecore where u dey na?

Almiron congrats.

Blesspro3:
..

Numerouno94:
I understand boss. Tank God u are fine. God will be with u over there.

My side here get as he b oo. Tinubu don strangle us Finnish.

Numerouno94:
My boss. Where have u bn?

The United States could end its efforts on ending the Ukrainian conflict within “days” if there are no signs of progress, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Friday.

“If it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, we need to move on,” he told reporters before departing Paris, where he had held high-level talks with European and Ukrainian officials. “We need to determine very quickly now, and I’m talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable,” he said.

Rubio’s comments point to mounting frustration within the Trump administration at the lack of progress at bringing the three-year full-scale war to a halt.

Moscow has stalled on negotiations and rejected a ceasefire proposal agreed by Kyiv. Having promised on the campaign trail to end the fighting in a day, US President Donald Trump more recently said “Russia has to get moving.”

Despite US officials holding talks with Ukrainian and European counterparts on Thursday in what the State Department touted as an “excellent exchange,” and progress being made toward a landmark minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv, peace still feels out of reach. Meanwhile, a partial ceasefire on energy infrastructure brokered by the US came to an end on Thursday, an agreement both sides frequently accused each other of violating.

A US-authored outline of a peace plan had received an “encouraging reception” at the talks in the French capital, according to a State Department readout, which did not give details on the outline. Rubio also spoke with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and conveyed the same outline, the readout said.

Speaking Friday, Rubio said he and Witkoff had come to Paris to “begin to talk about more specific outlines of what it might take to end the war” and whether or not this is a war that can be ended.

“If it’s not possible, if we’re so far apart that this is not going to happen then I think the president is probably at a point where he’s going to say we’re done,” he said.

“It’s not our war. We didn’t start it. The United States has been helping Ukraine for the past three years and we want it to end, but it’s not our war,” he added.

“President (Trump) has spent 87 days at the highest level of this government repeatedly taking efforts to bring this war to and end. We are now reaching a point when we need to decide and determine whether this is even possible or not. Which is why we’re engaging both sides.”

Meanwhile, Russia launched a missile attack on Ukraine overnight, hitting a residential neighborhood of the city of Kharkiv. The strike killed one person and wounded 67 others, authorities said Friday, adding they feared more people could be trapped beneath the rubble of a damaged apartment building.

Rubio’s words of warning on Friday come after the US and Ukraine moved closer toward clinching an agreement on a minerals deal on Thursday night.

Kyiv and Washington have now signed a memorandum as a move towards the proposed agreement, Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.

“We are happy to announce the signing, with our American partners, of a Memorandum of Intent, which paves the way for an Economic Partnership Agreement and the establishment of the Investment Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine,” Svyrydenko said in a post on X.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had said earlier Thursday that a memorandum related to the deal could be signed remotely that day.

“This document is the result of the professional work of the negotiating teams, which recently completed another round of technical discussions in Washington,” Svyrydenko continued. “Ahead is the finalization of the text of the agreement and its signing — and then, ratification by parliaments.”

“There is a lot to do, but the current pace and significant progress give reason to expect that the document will be very beneficial for both countries,” Svyrydenko concluded.

An earlier iteration of the minerals deal went unsigned following a public argument between Zelensky and Trump in February.

Details of the proposed deal have since been in flux, with Treasury officials meeting a Ukrainian delegation in Washington this week to hammer it out, sources told CNN.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer will announce Sunday that he understands the rationale behind President Donald Trump’s tariffs and that the West is entering a new economic era.

"The world has changed, globalization is over and we are now in a new era," the prime minister’s office said in a statement to the Sunday Times. "We’ve got to demonstrate that our approach, a more active Labour government, a more reformist government, can provide the answers for people in every part of this country."

The statement comes after Trump announced new tariffs on dozens of countries around the world on Wednesday, including a 10% levy on goods from the U.K.

While Starmer will still argue that tariffs are wrong, according to the Sunday Times report, the prime minister will also admit that he understands the rationale behind Trump’s move and why such policies have become increasingly popular with voters.

"Trump has done something that we don’t agree with, but there’s a reason why people are behind him on this," the prime minister’s office said in the statement.

Starmer is expected to emphasize the failures of free trade and mass migration specifically during the address on Sunday, the report said, arguing that it has failed millions of voters.

Meanwhile, the report noted that Trump ally Elon Musk seemingly publicly broke with the president during a video interview for an event in Italy Saturday, saying he hopes, eventually, for a "zero-tariff" solution between the U.S. and Europe one day.

"At the end of the day, I hope it’s agreed that both Europe and the United States should move, ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free-trade zone between Europe and North America," he said.

Musk also called for there to eventually be more "freedom" of movement between the two continents, an apparent break from Trump’s hard line on immigration.

"That’s what I hope occurs, and also more freedom of people to move between Europe and North America if they wish," Musk said. "If they wish to work in Europe or wish to work in America, they should be allowed to do so, in my view. So that has certainly been my advice to the president."

FreeStuffsNG:
Everything that will be reversed by next US administration
They are experts at policy inconsistencies. Promise to do the exact opposite of verything he did will be the campaign promises of the democrats and they will defeat his party.
Most American voter are funny. They voted him for what he is doing now yet they have started complaining and blocking him with courts

A toddler has been kicked out of nursery after being accused of transphobia, new figures reveal.

The child, aged either three or four, was suspended for 'abuse against sexual orientation and gender identity', data from the Department for Education shows.

The offences took place in the 2022-23 academic year at a state school, according to The Telegraph.

Statistics indicate 94 pupils at similar primary institutions were suspended or permanently excluded for transphobia or homophobia in the same year.

This included ten pupils from Year 1 and three from Year 2, where the maximum age was seven, and one child was of nursery age.

Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at Sex Matters, said: 'Every once in a while, the extremes of gender ideology throw up a story that seems too crazy to believe, and a toddler being suspended from nursery for so-called "transphobia" or homophobia is one such example.

Teachers and school leaders involved in this insanity should be ashamed of themselves for projecting adult concepts and beliefs on to such young children.'

Across all primary schools and state schools, the number of pupils suspended or expelled for homophobic or transphobic behaviour increased from 164 in 2021-22 to 178 in 2022-23.

The largest number of suspensions for this reason in 2022-23 was in Essex, with 16, followed by Birmingham, 15, Bradford, 11 and Norfolk, eight.

Figures began in the 2020-21 academic year.

Lord Young, director of the Free Speech Union, said: 'I would have thought that if your ideology is so rigid it justifies you punishing toddlers for not complying with it, that's a powerful argument for discarding it in favour of something less dogmatic.'

The Department for Education said: 'All pupils and staff should feel safe and protected at school and should never face violence or abuse.

'The Education Secretary has been clear that she expects school leaders to enforce good behaviour and we are committed to a comprehensive programme of behaviour support for schools.

Our Plan for Change sets out our relentless focus on making sure every child gets the best life chances.'

In 2022, a Church of England school in the Isle of Wight warned a six-year-old boy's parents that he might be deemed 'transphobic' if he were to question another pupil wearing a dress.

A white West Virginia couple was sentenced to decades in prison this week for abusing some of their adopted children, who are Black, including by forcing them to perform heavy labor like "slaves."

Donald Lantz, 62, was sentenced to 160 years in prison after being found guilty of forced labor, human trafficking, child abuse and neglect, the New York Times reported.

His wife Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 63, who was convicted of the same charges plus violating her children's civil rights, was sentenced to 215 years behind bars.

The couple was convicted in January.

“You brought these children to West Virginia, a place that I know is ‘almost heaven,’ and you put them in hell,” Eighth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Maryclaire Akers said during sentencing, per WCHS. “This court will now put you in yours. And may God have mercy on your souls, because this court will not.”

The couple adopted the five children in 2018 and eventually moved to Kanawha County in May 2023, prosecutors said, per the Times.

They were arrested in October 2023 after a neighbor called Child Protective Services, alleging that two teenagers, 14 and 16, were locked in a shed at the couple’s home in Sissonville, according to court documents obtained by WCHS-TV. Other neighbors also claimed the children were “forced to perform farm labor and were not permitted inside the residence,” per the documents.

Deputies responded to the home and alleged two children were locked in the shed with a portable toilet and no running water, according to an indictment cited by West Virginia MetroNews. The children told authorities they were forced to sleep on the floor and had been locked in the shed for about 12 hours, per the indictment.

The children were wearing dirty clothes and the oldest boy had what appeared to be sores on his feet, per the Associated Press.

A 16-count indictment was filed against the couple.

“It alleges human trafficking, human rights violations, the use of forced labor,” Akers said during a 2024 hearing about the indictment, according to West Virginia Metro News. “Human rights violations specific to the fact that these children were targeted because of their race and they were used basically as slaves from what the indictment alleges."

The oldest daughter testified during the trial that the children were regularly cursed at and some of them had to stand in their rooms for hours with their hands on their heads, per the AP.

Lantz’s attorney John J. Balenovich tells PEOPLE his client, who was not found guilty of a civil rights violation, “maintains his innocence of all charges"

A French researcher was denied entry to the United States after US authorities found messages about President Donald Trump on his phone, a French government official said on Thursday.

France’s minister of higher education and research Philippe Baptiste said that the researcher was traveling to a conference near Houston earlier this month when US authorities found that his phone “contained exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed a personal opinion on the Trump administration’s research policies.”

The researcher was then denied entry to the US and expelled from the country, Baptiste said.

The French ministry of higher education and research said that he worked in the field of space research, and that the incident took place on March 9.

“Freedom of opinion, free research, and academic freedom are values that we will continue to proudly uphold,” Baptiste said in a statement.

“I will defend the right of all French researchers to adhere to these values, while respecting the law, regardless of the country in which they find themselves,” he added

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told CNN that they could not speak about specific cases but that all people entering the US “are subject to inspection on a case-by-case basis.”

“If an individual has material discovered on their electronic media that raises flags during an inspection, it can result in further analysis. Claims that such decisions are politically motivated are completely unfounded,” Hilton Beckham, CBP Assistant Commissioner of Public Affairs, said in a statement.

President Donald Trump said he is revoking Hunter Biden’s Secret Service detail “effective immediately,” just hours after telling reporters he would “take a look at it.”

“There are as many as 18 people on this Detail, which is ridiculous! He is currently vacationing in, of all places, South Africa, where the Human Rights of people has been strenuously questioned. Because of this, South Africa has been taken off our list of Countries receiving Economic and Financial Assistance,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday.

Trump also said he’s revoking the detail of Ashley Biden, who is former president Joe Biden’s daughter.

“Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection. Likewise, Ashley Biden who has 13 agents will be taken off the list,” Trump wrote.

CNN has reached out to former President Joe Biden’s office, the US Secret Service and Hunter Biden’s legal team.

A crew of astronauts who will take over duties on the International Space Station from NASA’s Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore — allowing the duo to return home after a days-long journey turned into a nine-month, politically charged trip — have arrived at the orbiting laboratory.

The Crew-10 mission, part of a routine staff rotation jointly operated by NASA and SpaceX, took off at 7:03 p.m. ET Friday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

A SpaceX Dragon capsule, riding atop one of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets, carried the four Crew-10 astronauts — NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov — to orbit.

The four crew members docked with the space station around 12:04 a.m. ET on Sunday. They will spend a few days in a “handover” period with Williams, Wilmore, and their fellow Crew-9 astronauts, NASA’s Nick Hague and Roscosmos’ Aleksandr Gorbunov.

The Crew-9 Dragon capsule has been docked at the space station since September. If all goes according to plan, Williams, Wilmore, Hague and Gorbunov will climb aboard the Crew-9 spacecraft and head back to Earth as soon as March 19.

NASA had slated Williams, Wilmore and the other Crew-9 astronauts to return as soon as Sunday. However, their departure hinges on the safe arrival of the relief crew — and SpaceX called off an attempt to launch the Crew-10 mission on Wednesday due to issues with the company’s launchpad ground systems.

The new date is closer in line to a late March departure time that NASA gave the astronauts in December before SpaceX opted to swap the Dragon capsule it used to fly Crew-10 in an attempt to accelerate Williams and Wilmore’s return.

Launch attempts are routinely called off because of technical issues, but the slight delay in getting Crew-10 off the ground has reignited conversations of Williams and Wilmore being “stuck” or “stranded” in space — descriptors the two astronauts have rejected.

Launch attempts are routinely called off because of technical issues, but the slight delay in getting Crew-10 off the ground has reignited conversations of Williams and Wilmore being “stuck” or “stranded” in space — descriptors the two astronauts have rejected.

“That’s been the narrative from day one: stranded, abandoned, stuck — and I get it, we both get it,” Wilmore told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in February. “Help us change the narrative, let’s change it to: prepared and committed despite what you’ve been hearing. That’s what we prefer.”

After the hand-off of duties to Crew-10 astronauts is complete, the Crew-9 astronauts can board their capsule and undock — and that milestone will kick off the final stretch of Williams and Wilmore’s fraught journey.

While their stay in space has become increasingly politicized, with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump asserting the Biden administration abandoned the duo in space, Williams and Wilmore have known since at least last summer they would return home with Crew-9 as part of a routine staffing rotation.

Acting NASA administrator Janet Petro said during Friday’s launch webcast that she spoke to Williams and Wilmore and their crewmates last week.

She said they suspect the four astronauts will have “mixed emotions.”

“Every time you get to go to space — which is what all astronauts want to do — you never know it might be your last time, because you might not be selected for another mission,” Petro said. “So I bet they have mixed emotions leaving their colleagues up there at the space station. I’m sure they’re anxious to get home and put their feet on Earth and spend time with their family — but I think that they have enjoyed their time in space.”

CNN — A Peruvian fisherman has been found alive in the Pacific Ocean after spending 95 days lost at sea, Peru’s state news agency Andina reported Saturday.

Máximo Napa Castro, 61, set off on his fishing boat on December 7 from Marcona, a coastal town in the south of the country, but bad weather caused him to stray from his course and lose direction, according to Andina.

He was found on March 11 by an Ecuadorian fishing boat in waters off the coast of northern Peru, heavily dehydrated and in critical condition, the agency said.

After his rescue, Napa Castro told local media in a tearful interview that he managed to survive by drinking rainwater he collected on the boat and eating insects, birds and a turtle.

He spent the last 15 days without eating, Reuters reported.

Napa Castro told local media he kept thinking about his family to “hold on” to life"

“I said I didn’t want to die for my mother. I had a granddaughter who is a few months old, I held on to her. Every day I thought of my mother,” he said.

The fisherman’s daughter Inés Napa Torres thanked the Ecuadorian fishermen for saving her dad’s life.

“Thank you, Ecuadorian brothers, for rescuing my dad Gatón, God bless you,” she said in a Facebook post.

Napa Castro’s family and groups of fishermen had been searching for him for three months. “Every day is anguish for the whole family and I understand my grandmother’s pain because as a mother I understand her (…) We never thought we would go through this situation, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, we will not lose hope, Dad, of finding you,” his daughter wrote on March 3 on Facebook.

Napa Castro received medical checks at the Hospital Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes in Paita, near Peru’s border with Ecuador, and was discharged on Saturday, Ecuavisa, a CNN affiliate, reported.

Nearly 100 people were arrested after protesters gathered at Trump Tower in Manhattan Thursday to denounce the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist detained by ICE over his involvement with pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University.

The protest, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, began shortly after noon when demonstrators dressed in red shirts that read “Not in our Name” and “Jews Say Stop Arming Israel,” crammed into the Tower’s iconic golden atrium.

They chanted “Free Mahmoud Khalil” and unfurled banners that read “Never Again for Anyone” and “Jews Say Do Not Comply.”

Ninety-eight people were later arrested and 50 were led from the lobby in zip ties and placed into awaiting police vehicles, according to the New York Police Department. No injuries or property damage was reported, the NYPD said.

An organizer livestreamed the protest from the balcony overlooking the atrium of Trump Tower.

“As Jews, we’re here today, mere hours before the holiday of Purim begins – a holiday where we honor Esther who used her voice to speak out and demand that the king not commit genocide,” the woman said in the video. “Today we are using her same courage to speak out.

As the NYPD moved in to arrest the demonstrators, they sat in unison and began chanting, “Free Palestine,” and “the whole world is watching.”

The protest comes days after Khalil was detained by federal agents at his home in New York after the Trump administration revoked his green card. In a post on Truth Social Monday, Trump wrote, “If you support terrorism …. your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here.”

Khalil’s attorney has said the US government “retaliated” against her client “for speaking up in defense of Palestinians” and that he has been detained for exercising his right to free speech.

The case, seemingly the first of its kind, sets the stage for what could come as the Trump administration ramps up its targeting of foreign students and pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses.

Khalil is currently being detained at an ICE facility in Louisiana. On Wednesday, a judge ruled he would remain in custody while his case continues. His wife, Noor Abdalla, is eight months pregnant and a United States citizen.

A Palestinian refugee who grew up in Syria, Khalil was attending graduate school at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. After students began protesting at the university, Khalil was tapped to represent a coalition of student groups in discussions with the school’s administrators.

He told CNN last spring that he felt called to speak out on behalf of his people.

“I always say that we are the lucky ones that made it here to speak for our people who are under oppression in Palestine and across the refugee camps and the Palestinian cities,” Khalil said.

Al Nassr’s forward, Cristiano Ronaldo, has called his lookalike, Gokmen Akdogan, urgly, insisting that the Turkish social media personality does not look like him.

The Portuguese was seen poking fun with the social media personality ahead of Al-Nassr’s Saudi Pro League clash with Al-Shabab on Friday at the Al-Awwal Park.

While warming up for the game, the former Manchester United man spotted a fan who looked like him in the stands.

Before now, Akdogan has gained a lot of fame due to his resemblance to the Portuguese superstar.

He has shifted to Saudi Arabia and creates content from comedy to football.

Akdogan has a significant following on social media and is often seen roaming the streets of Riyadh, catching unsuspecting fans off guard.

He was in the stands for Al-Nassr’s game this week and caught Cristiano Ronaldo’s attention.

A funny exchange followed, where the five-time Ballon d’Or winner was seen teasing Akdogan and calling him ‘ugly.’

“Bro, you don’t look like me. You don’t look like me. You’re very ugly,” Ronaldo said (via journalist Khalid Alolyan’s X handle).

Akdogan took the matter sportingly, smiling all through the exchange, and persistently called the Portuguese ‘the best.’

He said: “You are the best. You are the best bro. You are the best.”

Despite Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the second goal for his team, the game turned out to be a frustrating affair for Al-Nassr as it ended in a 2-2 draw.