The talks took place after Russian forces bombarded residential areas in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv

The first round of Ukraine-Russia talks aimed at ending the fighting between Moscow and its neighbour have concluded with no immediate agreements.

The talks took place near the Belarus-Ukraine border on Monday as Russian troops continued their attack on Ukrainian cities – including the second-largest, Kharkiv – on the fifth day of Russia’s invasion.

An aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said talks with Ukrainian officials lasted nearly five hours.

Vladimir Medinsky, who headed the Russian delegation, said the two sides “found certain points on which common positions could be foreseen”. Another round of talks was agreed to, Medinsky said.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, gave few details except to say that the talks focused on a possible ceasefire and that a second round could take place “in the near future”.

“The next meeting will take place in the coming days on the Polish-Belarusian border, there is an agreement to that effect,” Medinsky said.

Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from Lviv in western Ukraine, said it was “no surprise” that a breakthrough hadn’t been reached, and there was “no sign that either side has moved their goalposts”.

“The two delegations came out of five hours of talks. The Russian and Ukrainian sides had identified some priority topics on which they have outlined certain decisions,” he added.

“It isn’t clear what those priority topics may be … but the Ukrainian side, they’re looking for an immediate ceasefire and the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops … and the Russian side, they’re looking for guarantees about Ukraine’s neutrality and that it would never join NATO.”

Beyonce and Young Thug are among the stars bringing awareness to the plight of African families and students who have been left stranded in Ukraine.

Since President Vladimir Putin began Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week, reports have mounted of Black people being left behind at the border and allegedly blocked from travelling to safer territory.

Video clips of African and Caribbean migrants stranded at train stations have become widespread on social media, while many have shared their accounts of being subjected to racial abuse.

Offering to help those desperately in need, US rapper Young Thug – real name Jeffrey Lamar Williams – wrote in his Instagram stories last night: ‘If some of my rap brothers are in I’m willing to help Africans get out of Ukraine however I can sense [sic] they not letting us pass.
Who ever [sic] holds the info for these movements please contact me ASAP I’m ready.’

The Lifestyle rapper received a response from private jet entrepreneur PJ Kev, who wrote: ‘I’m wit you my brother. Anything I can do. Reach out Asap.’

Young Thug also received support from rapper Strick, who wrote: ‘This needs to be Shared more! I’m with you slime ! Proud of you my brother. Always been a true leader.’

Beyonce’s charitable foundation BeyGood addressed the devastating reports of Black people being mistreated at the border, with a tweet shared on its Twitter account, stating: ‘We are saddened by the news of African and other international students being denied at the border as they attempt to leave Ukraine.

‘We are hopeful that the various embassies could swiftly rectify the situation to help those in need of support.’

One Nigerian student claimed on Twitter: ‘We are currently at the Ukraine -Poland border. Their Police and Army refused to let Africans cross they only allow Ukrainian.

Some have slept here for 2 days under this scorching cold weather, while many have gone back to Lviv.’

One man named Osarumen, a Nigerian father-of-three, claimed he was forced to disembark a bus after being told ‘no Blacks’.

Speaking to The Independent, he explained: ‘I cannot imagine a scenario where white Ukranians would ever be denied asylum so how they’re treating us is unwarranted. It’s baseless. We are all escaping so let’s push a common thread.’

Two women from the UK, with a third in Ukraine, have raised over £20,000 to support African and Caribbean students currently stranded in the country.

North Korea has fired an “unidentified projectile”, South Korea’s military said early Sunday, what would be Pyongyang’s eighth launch this year after a month of relative calm on the peninsula during the Beijing Olympics.

Pyongyang carried out a record-breaking blitz of weapons tests last month, including of its most powerful missile since 2017, when leader Kim Jong Un baited then-US president Donald Trump with a spate of provocative launches.

Japan also confirmed Sunday’s launch, with a defence ministry spokesman telling AFP that ballistic missile was fired from North Korea, without specifying how many.

High-profile negotiations between Trump and Kim followed, but collapsed in 2019.

Since then, talks with the US have stalled, and the country is reeling economically from international sanctions and a self-imposed coronavirus blockade.

Pyongyang has doubled down on military development, warning last month that it could abandon a self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile and nuclear weapons tests.

“North Korea fired an unidentified projectile eastward,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, without giving further details.

Korea”.

North Korea paused its weapons testing during the Winter Olympic Games, likely out of deference to its only major ally China, analysts have said.

But with the international community distracted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many analysts had expected North Korea to seize the opportunity to restart testing.

Japan’s foreign minister Masayoshi was on live TV speaking about Ukraine when news of North’s launch broke.

A first class graduate, Mr Sule Mathew, has been reportedly killed by unknown gunmen in Anambra.

Mathew who studied Information and Media Studies recently bagged first class from the Faculty of Communication, Bayero University Kano.

He was killed along with some passengers he was travelling with in Ekwulobia, a town in Anambra, news platform, PR Nigeria, where he once interned, made the announcement.

According to a fellow ex-intern at PR Nigeria, Silas Manager, Mathew had planned to go for the mandatory youth service corps before his death.

“Mathew was among the first set of students to intern with PRNigeria Centre in Kano in 2019. He lost his father in June, few months to his final examination, and graduated as the overall best student of our Department in August 2021 and was due to enrol for mandatory NYSC programme next week,” Salis said.

“He was on a 6-month non-residential fellowship program that trains, and mentors young citizen activists to push for democratic reforms – Gidan Yanci. He was on his way to Anambra from Abuja when the gunmen attacked their vehicle” a tear-filled Mr Gambo Ibrahim, a bosom

“After waylaying them, the gunmen opened fire on them killing all of them except the driver who escaped. So, when we couldn’t reach him and hear of the incidence, we sent Sule’s picture to the mortuary to confirm if he was among those killed and we got feedback that he was identified among those killed,” she narrated.

“Prior to this sad news, I kept calling him on phone but couldn’t reach him then suddenly we heard this sad news. I am so shocked,” Binta Musawa, Mr Sule’s coursemate stated.

PHOTO NEWS: Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, visits a former interim national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, in company of the party's National Youth Leader, Mohammed Kadede Sulaiman, in Kaduna, on Monday

Credit: FOLORUNSHO ABIOLA

The leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Salvation Force (NDPSF) Asari Dokubo has once again tackled the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its leader Nnamdi Kanu.

Dokubo faulted IPOB for saying he was behind the reported extradition of its leader from Kenya.

The Nation reports Kanu and Dokubo have been at loggerheads over the quest for Biafra — the very cause that unites them.
“I don’t know where Nnmadi Kanu was living, I don’t know where he took off for. They said I was the person who gave him up. I now said I was the person, the next thing they said was Asari Dokubo was the person. Look at these idiots, what are you going to do to me?”

He further carpeted the group for being responsible for the constant closure of business in the South East region as a result of the sit-at-home order. He said: “IPOB was presented as a platform for reconciliation, but today it is not fighting for Biafra. Today, schools, businesses have been closed down.

“If people sit at home, it is their choice that they are afraid of you people, it is not because you people are powerful. They don’t know you people are nothing.

“People are afraid of being killed that’s why they’ve continued to sit at home, not because they love Nnmadi Kanu. If there is adequate security by the government, why is there no sit-at-home in Port Harcourt? Calabar? Uyo? It is because the government of these places are saying don’t ever come here.

“Very soon Igbos will come out and say it is okay. Our old women are starving they can’t go to the farm, markets. At Onitsha market, people are afraid of doing businesses because they are scared of being killed.”

isaiah4life:
Where dey born Jesus!

A land of pilgrimage is now a land soiled with atrocities.

How banal.

JERUSALEM, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Israel on Tuesday lifted restrictions barring same-sex couples and single men from becoming parents through surrogacy within the country, upholding a Supreme Court ruling to end the ban.

"It is a historic day for the LGBTQ struggle in Israel," Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said at a news conference, announcing the ministry had issued a circular granting equal access for all to surrogate pregnancy.

Israel's LGBTQ+ community had demanded for years to be allowed to pursue surrogacy, which is already accessible to heterosexual couples and single women.

In July, the Supreme Court, petitioned by gay rights activists, ruled that the surrogacy ban for same-sex couples and single men violated their rights and must be lifted within six months.

The restrictions had applied only to surrogacy arrangements in Israel, and some of those barred from pursuing the process at home travelled abroad to do so.

LMS1:

Product Of Unprotected Sex, Thats What U Are,
Chow Chow Chow Without Clue What To Talk About

LMS1:
So Guys I Was Tired Of Lalasti.clala Showing Us The Snake People Killed,
Thats Why This Tortoise Catched My Attention And I Decided To Buy It
Actually I Traveled To Bayelsa Last Weekend To Visit A Friend When I Spotted A Lady Trying To Sell This Tortoise By The Roadside,
We Pulled Over And She Told Us Its N5,000 Last Price.
I Am Not Use To Tortoise So I Decided To Buy Out Of Curiusity Since We Had A Neighbor Who Knows How To Prepare It Anywere
Funniest Thing Is That The Poor Animal Has Been Digested Since.
Na Only Him Shell Remain Sef!
Omo Tortoise Bone Strong Die

#Food vendors lament

#Afenifere, PANDEF threaten retaliation

#No going back unless… – Dealers

#We are not part of strike — Southern MACBAN

The strike action embarked upon by the cattle and foodstuff dealers under the aegis of the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria (AUFCDN) has driven up prices of beef, food and vegetables in the South.

AUFCDN, an affiliate of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) commenced a nationwide strike Thursday following the expiration of a seven-day ultimatum given to the federal government to attend to their demands.

The Union is demanding protection of its members, payment of N475 billion compensation for lives of members and properties lost during the #EndSARS protest and the Shasa market crisis in Ibadan. It also demands the dismantling of all roadblocks on federal highways where their members are harassed and money extorted from them by the authorities.

The strike entails closing all routes between the North and South for vehicles conveying cattle and food items. Such vehicles are stopped from reaching the Southern region.

Butchers in the South who still have stock have capitalised on the strike to hike prices. So have sellers in perishable food items shipped from the North.

Lagos is one of the states worst hit. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had at the commissioning of a new semi-mechanized abattoir for cows and goats in Bariga recently said that the state consumes over 50 per cent of animal production in Nigeria.

A kilo of beef that sold for N1, 200 to N1, 500 before the strike now sells for N2, 000. A basket of tomato, which sold between N4, 000 to N6, 000 before now, ranges between N13, 000 to N15,000.

The chairman of United Butchers of Lagos State Abattoir Complex, Oko-Oba in Agege, Abdullahi Ahmed, said that before the strike, about 1,000 cows were slaughtered daily at the abattoir while close to 1,500 cows were slaughtered on Saturdays.

“Now, we cannot slaughter up to 200 because there are no cows. What we are slaughtering are the ones being reared here and they are small,” he said.

Ahmed told Daily Trust that the three cows he slaughtered on Saturday were bought at N630, 000. “I saw someone buy one cow at N900, 000 on Saturday. The situation is very terrible,” he said.

It was also learnt that less than five cows were slaughtered at Odo-Eran, in Ojo Cantonment on Saturday.

Daily Trust observed that many have turned to fish while those who had planned to buy fresh pepper and tomatoes for storage purposes could no longer do so.

Chineye Okoroafor, a trader at the Agbara market, a border community in Ogun State, said that dealers have resorted to hoarding goods.

babtoundey:


I hate the frame of "typical Yoruba boy" you're all putting up. It's absolutely wrong portraying the whole clan in negative light because of the attitude of the irresponsible few. Yoruba has nothing to do with irresponsibility.

Fix it, Davido is just an irresponsible, sex maniac Nigerian celebrity.

mmyfarmsltd:


Oga I too know. Yoo Myung-hee stepped down monkey.

mmyfarmsltd:
If trump blocked your appointment then biden blocked Yoo Myung-hee appointment too.
Politics every where.

stonecoldcafe:


Food stuff on campus meaning she is at the university! How can't she not know about such a simple bank scam? Shocked. She must have lived a sheltered life.
Well she willing gave her details so it's not the bank's fault

lekki1444:
this one is an easy scam not to fall for. the one they used for me ehn ? it was self initiated by me so i didnt think it was a scam. first off let me say i pride myself in being extra careful. secondly i just dont trust nigerians so i never keep more than 50,000 naira in my nigerian account if i can help it. i keep my money in british accounts. in fact most times i try to leave my nigerian account empty and only put money into it as deem fit. fortunately for me on this particular day i only had 1400 naira in it. so the story started like this, i made like 3 failed transactions of like 11000 naira which though the transaction failed but the money was debited from my account. So i went to zenith banks facebook page because i was told on their facebook page they have assistants there who render help, and they really do. Unknown to me this their facebook page has being commandeered by scammers whose user ID is the zenith bank logo, so you will actually think you are talking to a zenith bank representative. i mean how can you suspect scam ? you are the one who went to the zenith facebook page and someone with the zenith logo is speaking to you right ? anyway so this guy said he is very sorry for what happened to me and he will look into the case and he asked me for the account number and date of birth. which i gave him both. next he said he would send me a token number and i should read it back to him which i did. next thing you know i got an alert that 1000 had disappeared from my account. i asked the guy that did he just take 1000 from my account, he said yes and then stopped talking and disappeared.

So in anger i got in my car and drove to zenith bank and explained what happened and they simply said i was lucky that all i had in the account was 1400, that if i had 1 million or whatever amount they would have wiped my account out. that the reason only 1000 was wiped out was because thats all that was there. so i said so is there anything that can be done to trace this guy ? they casually said no. In my mind i am thinking these people are not worried that a scammer is on their facebook page with a zenith logo scamming their customers ? she simply just laughed and said the moneys gone and we cant get the person. thats when i knew that my conviction never to keep any money in my nigerian account was correct. imagine a usa or a british bank knowing a sammer is on their facebookk page with their logo scamming their custtomers ? they will be so angry and will throw the FBI and CIA and interpol on the case and they will fish that person out that is destroying thheir business and tarnishing their name. but zenith bank simply just laughed and told me we cant get him and next time dont give out your details online. not like i was giving out my details to any random person. i was on zenith official facebook page speaking to someone with a zenith logo. ANYWAY THIS MY STORY AND IT HAPPENED 6 DAYS AGO

iokpebholo:
U may likely not get the help u seek on this platform sir cos a sizeable number of ppl on this forum are either Yahoo boys, fraudsters and criminals.Dont be surprised that even d thief who scammed ur sister is among d ppl commenting right now.Send her another cash and move on sir

Stephenmoka4:
From the picture, it is an online web payment, I'm not sure of the payment merchant since the picture didn't display that (click on the transaction to expand details). If you do know the payment merchant then you've gotten a lead.

tot:


Silly comment. Go and ask George Floyd and the many innocent blacks in jail what their choice would have been.

People keep writing rubbish all in a bid for cheap likes.

slyfoxxjoe:
removing it from an OS does not mean it’s banned genius. The site can still be accessed directly.

slyfoxxjoe:
They have crossed a line and they don’t realize it yet. A new platform called Parler is fast gaining popularity due to Twitters tyrannical censorship and it has been attracting many conservatives, libertarian and even free speech liberals because they promise to let people speak their mind without any regulation. Nothing except direct threats of violence or criminal activity is banned there.

As we speak Parler has been growing at a rate of over 500k new subscribers a week. With the suspension of Trump and other top conservatives, I expect that rate to at least triple in the coming weeks as their supporters move there.

Twitter and FB believe what they are doing will please the incoming democrat government into leaving them alone and not regulating them. Big mistake! The democrats I know will instead use this as justification to crack down harder on them and even break them up. Just watch. Twitter just shot them selves in the foot. They are likely to go the way of MySpace soon. Don’t forget that twitter was already dying a natural death before Trump came on the political scene and made it popular again.

“Reddit’s site-wide policies prohibit content that promotes hate, or encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence against groups of people or individuals. In accordance with this, we have been proactively reaching out to moderators to remind them of our policies and to offer support or resources as needed,” a Reddit spokesperson tells The Verge. “We have also taken action to ban the community r/donaldtrump given repeated policy violations in recent days regarding the violence at the US Capitol.”

In a statement Thursday, a Twitch rep said, “In light of yesterday’s shocking attack on the Capitol, we have disabled President Trump’s Twitch channel. Given the current extraordinary circumstances and the President’s incendiary rhetoric, we believe this is a necessary step to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence.” Trump’s Twitch account will be disabled at least through the end of his presidential term this month.

“Shopify does not tolerate actions that incite violence,” the company said in a statement. Actions by the president “violate our Acceptable Use Policy, which prohibits promotion or support of organizations, platforms or people that threaten or condone violence. As a result, we have terminated stores affiliated with President Trump.”

Apple Threatens to Ban Parler From App Store as Twitter Bans Donald Trump: Apple has given conservative social network Parler 24 hours to implement a full moderation plan and remove objectionable content or face a permanent ban from the App Store, reports BuzzFeed News.

"We can confirm that earlier today we locked President Trump’s Snapchat account,” Snap spokeswoman Rachel Racusen said in a statement. Mr Trump would not be able to share new content until the company lifts the restriction, which was implemented before he sent out the infamous video addressing the rioters.
In the video, Mr Trump said that the “landslide” election was fraudulent and “stolen from us”, before telling rioters that there has to be “law and order” and to “go home in peace”.