Boko Haram leaders said today that children they had abducted would be released if imprisoned militants were released. 

The Nigerian Interior minister Abba Moro, told the BBC that the government would not agree to any kind of swap deal.

“As far as this government is concerned, the option of swap of innocent citizens with people who have taken arms against the country is not on the table,”  said Moro.

Thousands voted today in a referendum held in the eastern regions of Ukraine to determine the creation of a separate ‘people’s republic,’ reports The Guardian.

People were asked by the poll to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the ‘act of self-rule’ for the ‘People’s Republic’ reports The Telegraph.

Serbia's new Deputy Prime Minister, Ivica Dačić, reiterated that the country would never recognise the independence of Kosovo, thanking Slovakia for its "principled stance on Kosovo" and its support for Serbia's EU membership bid.

“Your presence and engagement is invaluable,” said Mr. Dačić also Serbia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, was speaking to reporters after a meeting with his Slovakian counterpart, Miroslav Lajčak, in Belgrade on Friday.

Slovakia is one of five EU member states that has not acknowledged Kosovo's independence.

The United Nations Security Council, yesterday, imposed sanction on individuals from both sides of conflicting parties in the Central African Republic, reports Reuters.

The decision to place sanctions on the original Seleka rebel leader, Nourredine Adam, and former president Francois Bozize came after China and Russia, in a last minute decision, withdrew their objections on placing international sanctions.

The African National Congress (ANC) has taken a decisive lead in South Africa’s elections, press reports said Thursday.

With 80% of the results in, the ANC has 63% of the vote, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) on 22%. Turnout was just over 72%. See the BBC’s report.

The BBC's correspondent, Andrew Harding, says inequality, unemployment and corruption are big problems but the electorate has shown it has not lost faith in the ANC.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence has launched an investigation into photos that emerged, showing at least one British soldier with a dead Taliban fighter.

Two members of the RAF have already been withdrawn from frontline duties.

The pictures, taken in the aftermath of a Taliban attack on Camp Bastion in 2012, which left two US marines dead and 6 RAF Harrier Jets destroyed.

 

Chinese engineers are allegedly in talks over a high speed rail link that links to the United States, reports The Guardian.

The project nicknamed the ‘China-Russia-Canada-America’ line, if constructed, would run 13,000km.

Separatists in the eastern regions of Ukraine, today, voted to hold a referendum on independence and denied the Russian President’s calls to wait until peace-talks finished, reports the Independent.

The co-chairman of the de-facto government in Donetsk, announced that the referendum would be held on May 11.

The European Union warned that the referendum would be viewed to have no democratic legitimacy.
The US labelled the decision for a referendum as ‘illegal.’