Author: Prima News

Russia is currently in negotiations with the new Syrian leadership to maintain its key military presence, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday. Speaking in an interview with the Al-Arabia TV channel in Moscow, Lavrov argued that Syrians are “keen” for Russia’s presence to endure. “As for our military facilities, discussions are ongoing. Let me reiterate — the Syrians are keen for our presence to endure. These sites, while no longer purely military in function as they were prior to December 2025, remain well-suited for repurposing as humanitarian hubs,” he said. Lavrov said that mutual respect and benefit are the principles…

Four South African men lured to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine returned to their country Wednesday, national broadcaster SABC reported. Nineteen South African men were reportedly lured to travel to Russia for jobs last July but ended up fighting alongside Russian troops in the ongoing Ukraine conflict. The four men landed past 4 pm local time (1400GMT) at OR Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg. SABC aired footage of their arrival and said they would be processed by the South African police. Last November, the South African police launched an investigation into allegations that Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, former President Jacob Zuma’s…

Fifty-six-year-old indigene of Rivers State, Mr Chijoku Ihunwo, shares his pain and frustration with CHUKWUDI AKASIKE over the disappearance of his wife’s corpse from a mortuary a few weeks after depositing it there When did your wife die? She died on the 6th of May 2025. When did you take her remains to the mortuary? I took her body to the mortuary on that same day.It was deposited in Pamax Hospital Mortuary. It is located in Omagwa in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State. How much did you pay as a deposit to those managing the place? When we…

Public debate is healthy for democracy. However, when discussions about economic policy drift away from verifiable facts, it becomes necessary to restore clarity. Recent remarks by former Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, who was a former governor of Rivers State, suggesting that Nigeria’s new tax laws increase the burden on low-income earners, do not align with the actual provisions of the reform. Let us examine the facts. Beginning January 1, 2026, Nigeria’s revised tax framework introduces a more progressive system designed to protect low-income earners. Individuals earning at or around the national minimum wage are exempt from personal income tax.…

Anyone following my write-up on this page would have known by now that I am a man of culture and enjoy writing about my travelogue. I have visited many of Nigeria’s tourist sites and a few others across the globe. Some of them bear recounting here. Remember that on this page last week, I wrote about my experience visiting, for the first time, the Osun Grove in Osogbo. I also visited the palace of the Ataoja of Osogbo. In Osun State, I have also been to Ife Museum, the site of the Oranmiyan staff, as well as the Ooni of…

About 1,000 indigent senior secondary school students from communities in Ede North, Ede South, Egbedore, and Ejigbo Federal Constituency have been presented with free Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and West African Examination Council forms. The beneficiaries received the forms from the sponsor of the initiative, Mr Ayodele Asalu, during the 10th anniversary of the programme held in Ejigbo, Osun State, on Wednesday. The event was attended by the students, their parents, teachers, and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the constituency. Asalu, an APC chieftain, recalled that the initiative was launched in 2016 to empower less-privileged students in…

A delegation of U.S. senators was returning Wednesday from a trip to Ukraine, hoping to spur action in Congress for a series of sanctions meant to economically cripple Moscow and pressure President Vladimir Putin to make key concessions in peace talks. It was the first time U.S. senators have visited Odesa, Ukraine’s third-most populous city and an economically crucial Black Sea port that has been particularly targeted by Russia, since the war began nearly four years ago. Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Chris Coons, Richard Blumenthal and Sheldon Whitehouse made the trip. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis had planned to join but was unable to for personal…

Two days of peace talks in Geneva between Ukraine and Russia ended on Wednesday without a breakthrough as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was dissatisfied with the outcome while Washington reported “meaningful progress”. Officials from Moscow and Kyiv said the discussions in Geneva were difficult. At the conclusion, the delegations said they would meet again, without providing a date, while Zelenskiy and the White House suggested discussions could occur soon. Ukraine has faced sustained pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to agree to a deal that could mean painful concessions, as Russian forces pound its power grid and slowly advance…

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Moscow does not accept sanctions against Cuba. During a meeting with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla in Moscow, Putin said Russia voiced this position “openly, clearly, and unambiguously” through the Foreign Ministry. “And now there’s a special period with new sanctions. You know how we feel about this; we will not accept anything of the sort. And the position of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs is voiced openly, clearly, and unambiguously,” he said. Regarding bilateral relations, the president said they are “developing on a generally positive track.” Putin emphasized the “special”…

Chancellor Friedrich Merz backed growing calls in Germany for controls on access to social media platforms by children, saying he had become increasingly persuaded of the need for compulsory limits by evidence of the harm done by the deliberate spreading of fake news and other forms of online manipulation. “Do we want to allow artificially generated false news, fake news, artificially generated films and misrepresentations to be spread via social media?” he said in a speech ahead of his conservative Christian Union’s annual party conference. “Do we want to allow our society to be undermined in this way, both internally…