Russia: Aid convoy reaches Ukraine's war-torn city of Luhansk

Lorries, part of a Russian humanitarian convoy, cross the Ukrainian border on September 13, 2014.

- A convoy of more than 200 trucks that Russia says is carrying humanitarian aid has crossed the border into Ukraine without permission, a senior Ukrainian Border Service official said Saturday.

Col. Serhiy Astahov, assistant to the Ukrainian Border Service chief, told CNN that 217 trucks have crossed the Ukrainian border.

Ukrainian border guards and customs officer did not have access to them to check what they were carrying, he said.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which has monitors in Ukraine, said that in total 220 vehicles -- 193 cargo trucks and 27 support vehicles -- had crossed the border overnight and into the morning.

"The first group of 40 trucks were quickly checked by the Russian border guard and customs services," an OSCE statement said.

"The 180 other vehicles were not inspected. All vehicles crossed into Ukraine without being inspected by Ukrainian border guard and customs officers or the International Committee of the Red Cross."

Russian state-run news agency Itar-Tass said the convoy had been cleared by Russian customs control staff, citing the press service of the Russian Southern Customs Department.

The news agency said 250 trucks in total are due to arrive in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk by the end of Saturday. It reported that the first trucks were greeted by residents waving and even crying.

The city has been severely impacted by months of fighting between pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian forces.

Russian Deputy Emergencies Minister Vladimir Stepanov said the convoy was carrying 2,000 tons of supplies, including food, water purifying equipment and power generators.

A previous convoy sent from Russia last month, also without permission from Ukraine, delivered aid to Luhansk too. Ukrainian authorities raised concerns that it might be used to resupply rebel fighters.

Donetsk airport 'under fire'

A fragile ceasefire agreed to just over a week ago is in place in eastern Ukraine.

But Donetsk International Airport came under artillery fire on Saturday morning, the Ukrainian counterterrorism press office told CNN.

This prompted the Ukrainian military to exchange fire with the rebel forces, it said.

National Defense and Security Council spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko said in a televised Kiev news briefing that a GRAD missile system was used in the attack on the airport, from three different points in the area.

Donetsk City Council reported that two homes in the area were hit.

Sanctions target Russia

A new round of EU sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine came into effect Friday, targeting six companies and a number of Russian officials and separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine.

This was a day after U.S. President Barack Obama announced that, in coordination with the European Union, "we will intensify our coordinated sanctions on Russia in response to its illegal actions in Ukraine."

Russia in return accused the United States of once again escalating the crisis -- undermining the chances for peace there as well as the greater quest for "global stability."

Kiev and the West accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of arming and supporting the pro-Russia rebels, and of sending Russian troops into Ukraine.

A NATO military officer said Thursday that Russia has about 1,000 troops inside eastern Ukraine, down from a significantly higher number in recent weeks.

NATO also sees 20,000 more Russian troops aligned along the border, according to the NATO officer, who was not named according to standard practice in the organization.

Yatsenyuk: Values outweigh tanks

Speaking at Ukraine's biggest annual political forum, the YES Forum, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that the latest round of sanctions are "the real threat" to the Russian economy.

"Putin's idea was to split the unity among EU member states and to split the unity between the U.S. and the EU. And at a certain period of time I was thinking even that he succeed. But no, he failed," he said.

"Values, EU values, and values of freedom and democracy are much stronger than Russian tanks and artillery and his autocratic regime."

Yatsenyuk claimed that Putin's ultimate goal was "not to just take Donetsk and Luhansk, his goal is to take the entire Ukraine.

"He cannot cope with an idea that Ukraine would be a part of the big EU family. He wants to restore the Soviet Union."

A day earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told the same forum that the latest sanctions against Russia demonstrate Europe's unity and solidarity with Ukraine.

"It shows how close Ukraine is for every leader, every European country," said Poroshenko.

Braless Nicki Minaj shows off some serious under-boob

The sexy rapper showed off some serious under-boob in a crop top and matching skin-tight leggings as she partied away at a night club in Paris on Friday night after performing on stage with Beyonce.

Armed robbers write letter to streets in Palmgroove; say they are coming to raid

Residents in some streets in the Palmgroove area of Lagos are currently living in fear after receiving a letter from armed robbers who said they are coming soon to raid them. (copy of the purported letter above). The letter which was sent to five different streets on Saturday September 6th, reads in part;

"Beware of the coming! Be on the look out in this area. Property owners are coming anytime from now. The gate men you have are not our problem. Our problem is how many resources do you have for us? August visitor must visit whether you like it or not. So expect August visitor when you did not expect. Surely August visitor shall visit just like the second coming of Jesus. It is turn by turn."

In the last line of the letter which is not clear, the armed robbers listed names of the street they plan to attack. They are Oseni street, Nkanna street, Odogbolu street, Ibiwoye Oba and Bode Thomas street.

Some residents in the area immediately contacted police and they sent some of their men to guard the streets for a few hours yesterday. The residents say they are so scared.

Toke Makinwa Covers Season 2 Of 'The celebrity shoot'

The Season 2 of The Celebrity shoot' by fashion designer and stylist Abbyke Domina is out. It's about celebrating successful African women and modern Africa clothes and Toke makinwa covers the new season where she shared in a brief interview what fashion is to her. She says her fashion icons are Eku Edewor,  Zed Eye and Lisa Folawiyo. Continue to see the fab pictures...

WHAT IS FASHION TO YOU?
Fashion is an expression of who we are, what we feel on the inside and how we love to be seen. It is very interesting how  without speaking, your fashion sense can send out all sorts of messages. I also think it is a reflection of how you feel inside. That been said, i believe that there are no set rules to fashion, everyone needs to find out what works for them.

WHO IS AN AFRICAN WOMAN  AND YOUR FASHION ICON HOME AND ABROAD?
An African woman represents beauty, confidence, strength and so much more, I have quite a number of  Fashion Icons too. I think the Young generation of fashionistas keep pushing the envelope and I definitely love seeing  Victoria Beckham, Rihanna, The Kardashians, Blake Lively, Leighton Meeser etc. Back home, I love Eku Edewor's style, Zed Eye, Lisa Folawiyo etc

T.J. Lane Captured: Escaped High School Shooter in Custody

A convicted school shooter who sparked a massive manhunt when he escaped from an Ohio prison Thursday has been caught, officials said.

Thomas "T.J." Lane, 19, was apprehended and returned to the Allen Correctional Facility in Lima, Ohio, according to Joellen Smith, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Lane, who is serving three life sentences for killing three students at Chardon High School in 2012, escaped along with another inmate from Allen Correctional Institution in Lima, Ohio, at around 7:30 p.m. A dispatcher at the Ohio State Highway Patrol Lane said Lane was taken into custody at about 1:20 a.m. Friday in the area of the prison.

Lane’s escape prompted the school district which runs the high school where he shot dead the three students to cancel classes Friday and offer counselors to rattled students. Lane opened fire on a cafeteria table full of students at Chardon High School on Feb. 27, 2012, killing three students — Demetrius Hewlin, 16; Russell King Jr., 17; and Daniel Parmertor, 16 — and wounding three more, one of whom was reportedly paralyzed.

“Our thoughts and prayers today go out to the families of Demetrius, Russell and Danny and all others affected by the tragedy as well as by the troubling events from Thursday evening,” Chardon Local Schools Superintendent Michael P. Hanlon, Jr. said in a statement to parents.

Lane is serving three life sentences for the shootings. On the day he was sentenced, Lane wore a white T-shirt with the word “KILLER” scrawled on the front and shouted obscenities at the court.

The other inmate who escaped with Lane, Clifford Opperud, 45, is still on the loose, police said. Opperud was serving a 12-year sentence for aggravated robbery, burglary and kidnapping, according to prison records.

Three law enforcement agencies and a helicopter equipped with infrared detection equipment fanned out over the area around the prison looking for the escaped inmates, Ohio Department of Public Safety Director John Born said in a statement. A third inmate also escaped, but was caught shortly after breaking out of the prison, Lima police said.

DUNCAN SCOTT/ THE NEWS-HERALD / POOL VIA REUTERS FILE

T. J. Lane takes off his shirt to show a white t-shirt with the words "Killer" spelled out at his sentencing before Geauga County Judge David Fuhry in Cleveland, Ohio, March 19, 2013. Lane was sentenced to life without parole for killing three students in a shooting rampage at a high school in a small town east of Cleveland.

Los Angeles Fashion District Money Laundering Scheme Busted

Nearly 1,000 law enforcement agents raided dozens of Los Angeles businesses and warehouses Wednesday and seized almost $100 million dollars — some of it packed in cardboard boxes labeled “1 million” — in a bust that federal officials called one of the largest money laundering investigations ever.

“The huge amounts of cash seized shocked even our agents,” said Virginia Rice, a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which, along with the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration, executed search warrants and arrested nine people. Three other suspects are wanted by authorities.

“Los Angeles has become the epicenter of narco dollar money laundering, with couriers bringing duffle bags full of cash to many of those businesses," Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Dugdale said. In one of three criminal cases uncovered by federal agents during the 16-month investigation, some of the cash was allegedly laundered and sent to the notorious Sinaloa Cartel to pay for the ransom of a U.S. citizen who was being held hostage and was tortured in Mexico, officials said. In another case, agents handed a business owner bundles of cash that was splattered with what appeared to be blood — and which was accepted with no questions asked.

Officials said cash was dropped off at businesses in the garment district, which was then used to pay for products that would be exported to Mexico. Once those goods arrived they were sold to a distributor, who paid in pesos, which would then be turned over to drug traffickers like the Sinaloa Cartel.

Grandmother slaughters, drinks grandson’s blood in Minna

All these Nnkan 'nbe stories. Read this one below from News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.

A Minna Chief Magistrates’ Court on Thursday ordered the remand of a 55-year-old woman, Fatima Tsaraka for allegedly killing her grandson. The accused it was alleged abducted her grandson, took him to a nearby bush where she and two others slaughtered him, made a meal of his flesh and drank his blood. 

Tsaraka, arraigned alongside Amina Mohammed, 65, and Zhitsun Aliyu, 38, is facing a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide and cannibalism. Continue

The accused were arraigned on Sept. 1, but the prosecutor requested an adjournment to enable police conclude investigation. At the resumed hearing of the case, the Magistrate, Mr Hamidu Bima, ordered the continued detention of the accused pending legal advice from the State Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

Bima subsequently adjourned the case to Sept. 25. Earlier, the Prosecutor, Cpl. Moses Mbaga, had told the court that the victim’s father, Mr Mohammed Doko of Koso Village, Lavun Local Government Area, reported the matter at `A’ Division Police Station, Bida, on Aug. 15.

He said the complainant alleged that the accused abducted the boy, took him to a nearby bush where they slaughtered him, made a meal of his flesh and drank his blood. The prosecutor said the offences contravened Sections 97, 221 and 218 of the penal code.

The accused, who pleaded guilty to the charges, however appealed for leniency and blamed their act on a spell cast on them by witches. (NAN)