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A suspected suicide bomber killed 43 pro-government militiamen in an attack near Baghdad, police said Wednesday, as Islamic State militants shot down a Jordanian fighter jet in neighbouring Syria and captured the pilot.

The number of villagers killed by insurgents in north-east India has risen to more than 60, police said Wednesday.

Another round of talks aimed at reaching a stable cease-fire in Ukraine between its government forces and pro-Russian armed groups began Wednesday in the Belarusian capital, but Ukraine's recent decision to drop its non-aligned status adds a new element of tension to the attempts to resolve the violent crisis in the country.

(Nigeria) About 3000 members of the All Progressives Congress, APC,  under the aegis of Justice Group on Wednesday, defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Lagos.

(Nigeria) The Inspector-General of Police, IG, Mr Suleiman Abba, has reassured Nigerians of round-the-clock safety and security before, during and after the Yuletide.

(Nigeria) Justice Mohammed Yunusa of a Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday ordered the remand of a 32-year old man, Ijoganu Edache, charged with drug trafficking at Ikoyi Prison, Lagos. The accused was arraigned by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, on a one-count charge.

(Nigeria) A suicide bomber, rammed into a military check point in Bajoga, Gombe State on Wednesday,  but the explosives in his car failed to explode.  His attempt to escape also failed as he was brought down by soldiers, when he tried to flee after hitting a military Amoured Personnel Carrier with his IED laden Honda car.

Kiev has resumed power supplies to Crimea after blackout that lasted for several hours, Ukraine’s newly-appointed minister of energy and coal mining industry, Volodymyr Demchishin said on Wednesday.

(Nigeria) Governor Rotimi  Amaechi  of Rivers State, on Wednesday urged Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of oneness, love and peace as they celebrate Christmas.

Islamic State group militants captured a Jordanian pilot after shooting down his warplane while conducting airstrikes over Syria, Jordan said Wednesday, in the extremists' first successful downing of an aircraft from the international coalition waging an air campaign against the group.

The European Union may make a bureaucratic mistake by reporting on its decision to impose new sanctions against Crimea, Russian Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said in an exclusive interview on Wednesday, reports Tass. “It is surprising that in an unusual manner, the European Union placed a draft decision on the Official Journal website before it was taken — either it was used to influence the floating EU members or it was the bureaucratic mistake,” Chizhov said.

A leading Nigerian human rights group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has asked the United Nations rapporteurs to help try to stop the mass executions of soldiers sentenced to death by firing squad for refusing to fight Islamic militants.

(Nigeria) Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, has said that Nigerians must reject the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP at all levels in next year’s general elections, noting that as long as the PDP remains in power, Nigerians will remain in darkness.

Violent protests broke out again in suburban St. Louis, after another fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old by a white police officer.

(Nigeria) The All Progressives Congress, APC, has assured Nigerians that this will be their last Christmas celebration under the bondage of insecurity, corruption, unemployment, widespread hopelessness and poor leadership.

(Nigeria) Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State on Wednesday, said that the inability of the Federal Government to share excess crude account in the last 18 months has distorted the developmental plans of the state governments.

No fewer than 18 people have been killed and dozens injured in fresh attacks in the Central African Republic, where dozens have died in a new flare-up in inter-ethnic violence, officials said Tuesday.

Police in India's remote northeast say that a rebel group has killed at least 27 people in four separate attacks in Assam state. An official at the police control room in state capital Gauhati says the victims of Tuesday's attacks were Adivasi or tribal settlers in the region, reports AP.

Israel's outgoing government is pumping millions of dollars into Jewish settlements in the West Bank for public buildings and roads ahead of national elections, an official said Tuesday, in what opponents view as a political ploy aimed at gaining favor with hard-line voters.

(Nigeria) Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on Nigerians to celebrate Christmas with renewed hope for a better Nigeria. He also urged them to promote peace during this season of joy and good tidings.

  (Nigeria) The presidential flag-bearer of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, says he has received N54 million from Nigerians in support of his campaign for the 2015 elections. Buhari, who disclosed this during a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday, added that his support groups had risen to 82 with membership in all regions of the country.

(Nigeria) Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has reinstated Professor Julius Ihonvbere as the Secretary to the State Government. The reinstatement follows the review and resolution of the issues which led to the resignation of the SSG on December 9, 2014.

No fewer than 60 journalists around the world were killed in 2014 while on the job or because of their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday, making the past three years the deadliest for journalists since the organisation began keeping track more than two decades ago, reports AP.

The Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in favour of dropping the country's non-aligned status, taking a major step toward North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO membership.

(Nigeria) Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has asked a group of five United Nations human rights independent experts to individually and jointly use their “good offices and positions to urgently request the Nigerian government and its military authorities not to carry out the mass death sentences imposed on 54 Nigerian soldiers for what the government claimed was disobeying a direct order from their commanding officer.”

(Nigeria) The All Progressives Congress, APC, has described the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP as a Janus-faced bumbling party for engaging in a serial mudslinging against the party (APC) and its leaders, especially in the aftermath of its hugely successful national convention in which Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was elected as the APC's presidential candidate.

(Nigeria) Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has enjoined the people the state to remain vigilant and security conscious as Nigerians celebrate Christmas.

 The death toll from the current Ebola outbreak has reached 7,518. As many as 19,340 people are infected, the World Health Organisation, WHO, said on Monday, reports Tass. The countries affected by Ebola include Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, the United States and Spain.

(Nigeria) A packed Kano State High Court heard testimony on Monday that a 14-year-old girl admitted to killing her 35-year-old husband with rat poison, and signed a police confession with a thumbprint because she cannot write, reports AFP.

(Nigeria) Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, has convicted and sentenced the trio of James Ettete; Ekene Jude and Abidemi Adesanya to two and half years imprisonment each,  for stealing the sum of N480,000 belonging to Skye Bank Plc.

(Nigeria) Justice Mohammed Yunusa of a Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday ordered the remand, in the Ikoyi Prisons, of four men charged with vandalism and unlawful deal on petroleum products. The accused are: Andrew Ishola, 35; Sunkanmi Aro, 27; Utuedor Michael, 27, and Oladele Agbo, 35. According to the charge, the four are standing trial on a three-count charge.However, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned the trio of Haladu Ibrahim (Mai Anguwa), Sa’idu Balarabe Sulaiman and Baba Sale Sarkin Magina before Justice Tukur Mu’azu of Kaduna State High Court on  a four- count charge of conspiracy, forgery and obtaining money by false pretence.

(Nigeria) The regular surveillance of the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base (FOB), Ibaka, has yielded results with the arrest of 12 suspected oil thieves. The suspects were arrested in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

(Nigeria) Rivers State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate, Chief Nyesom  Wike, has said that the outgoing governor of the state, Mr Rotimi Amaechi has no legacy of performance at the end of his term in office, hence the people of the state have collectively resolved to vote against his All Progressives Congress, APC anointed candidate in 2015.

(Nigeria) A bomb explosion at  Dukku motor park area of Gombe State, has killed no fewer than 20 people on Monday, while Boko Haram insurgents attacked another part of the town. The blast hit the Dukku motor park on the outskirts of Gombe city, capital of Gombe State, at 10:50 a.m., officials said.

Pakistan on Monday announced a plan to hang around 500 convicted terrorists as police arrested suspects believed to have abetted Taliban gunmen who killed 135 children at a school last week, reports dpa. The executions were expected to take place in three weeks' time, said Musadik Malik, spokesman for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Big-city police departments and union leaders around the country are warning the rank and file to wear bulletproof vests and avoid making inflammatory posts on social media in the days after a man ambushed two officers and shot them to death inside their patrol car, reports AP.

(Nigeria) More than 4,000 members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Isa Local Government Area of Sokoto State on Sunday defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC. The new members were received into the APC fold in Isa by Governor Aliyu Wamakko.

(Nigeria) Rivers State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP governorship candidate, Mr Nyesom Wike, has said that President Goodluck Jonathan will win Rivers State by an overwhelming margin on his way to get a second term in 2015.

Around 200 Palestinians left Gaza and entered the Egyptian Sinai through the Rafah crossing on Sunday after Cairo authorised a temporary reopening of the border, a Palestinian official said. According to AFP it was only the second time in two months that Egypt had opened the Rafah terminal.

(Nigeria) Justice Kudirat Jose of a Lagos High Court, has convicted and sentenced Promise Ekemini to one year imprisonment, for hijacking the e-mail of a lawful owner of a property, located in Western Australia valued at $800,000 and attempting to sell the property.

(Nigeria) The United Nigerians Forum, UNFO, has appealed to Nigerians not to reduce serious security issues to mere politicking. North West Coordinator of UNFO, Mallam Musa Abdullahi made the appeal following recent verbal attacks by GovernorAliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State on National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), whom he accused of unleashing the police against members of the House of Representatives and Speaker, Mr Aminu Tambuwal.

(Nigeria) A very large number of insurgents of the Boko Haram have been killed, when they fell into an ambush laid for them by Nigerians troops between Maiduguri and Damboa, Borno State on Friday. Security sources close to the ongoing mopping operation will determine the number of the terrorists who died in the encounter.

(Nigeria) Former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has commissioned a new 60-bed Specialist Hospital, built by the Governor Adams Oshiomhole government, in Ewohinmi, Esan South East Local Government Area of the state, complete with state-of-the-art equipment, 3-bedroom doctors’ quarters and 2-bedroom Nurses’ quarters.

President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine, has asked the International Monetary Fund, IMF, to increase its financial assistance to his country, which faces a $15-billion budget shortfall and needs to hike defence spending to fund the fight against Russia-backed separatists.

No fewer than seven police officers were killed and five others were injured in a Taliban attack on their outpost in northern Afghanistan, officials said Sunday.

(Nigeria) Chief Victor Umeh, National Chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, was among the candidates for the 2015 polls in Anambra State, who was presented with the party’s flag on Saturday in Awka.

(Nigeria) A civil society group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has dragged the All Progressives Congress, APC and People’s Democratic Party, PDP, to court over their “failure to disclose their sources of spending on their respective electoral campaigns and other operations linked to the February 2015 general elections.”

Russian convoy has delivered humanitarian relief to Luhansk, the emergency situations reported on Sunday, reports Tass.

The Crimean naval base, a part of the Black Sea Fleet until 1996, is reconstituted fully, a representative of the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters told reporters on Sunday, reports Tass.