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Model Amber Rose is ending her yearlong marriage to rapper Wiz Khalifa, reports AP. Rose filed for divorce on Tuesday in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences. She is seeking custody of their 20-month old son and spousal support as laid out in the former couple's prenuptial agreement. Court filings state the couple separated on Monday, but provide no other details on the split or how the pair's finances will be divided.

( Nigeria ) The Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN , Mr Ima Niboro, has appealed for adequate funding of the agency to ensure efficient services ahead of the 2015 general elections. He made the appeal on Wednesday in Abuja when he received the Chairman and members of the House Committee on Information and National Orientation, who were on oversight visit to the agency’s headquarters.

Representatives of the Donetsk People’s Republic have found three mass graves near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission /SMM/ to Ukraine said in its daily report on September 23 published on the organisation’s website, reports Itar-Tass. “The ‘military police’ of ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ (‘DPR’) told the SMM that three unmarked graves allegedly containing multiple bodies had been found; two of them were located in a coal mine Komunar near the village Nyzhnia Krynka (35km north-east of Donetsk) and one inside the village,” the OSCE said in its report.

The Stockholm-based Right Livelihood Award Foundation on Wednesday praised Snowden, a former United States  intelligence agent, for "revealing the unprecedented extent of state surveillance," deports DW. It said Rusbridger, the editor in chief of Britain 's The Guardian newspaper, also won the award for "responsible journalism in the public interest. "None of them could have done what they did without the other, " said foundation director Ole von Uexkull. The announcement, originally set for Thursday, was brought forward, after a leak by Swedish broadcaster SVT.

Algerian extremists allied with the Islamic State group have decapitated a French hostage after France carried out airstrikes in Iraq, according to a video that appeared online Wednesday, reports AP. French President Francois Hollande condemned the killing of Herve Gourdel and said France would continue its fight against the Islamic State group, which are Sunni militants that have taken over large swaths of Iraq and Syria.

Military authorities say hundreds of Islamic extremists have surrendered in Nigeria and neighboring Cameroon following the military's recent victories with air and ground attacks, reports AP. The Nigerian Defense Ministry also said it has killed hundreds of insurgents in the northeast including a man identified as having posed in videos as Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

British Petroleum, BP wanted its money back,  hundreds of millions of dollars of it, but a federal judge in the United States, said Wednesday that the oil giant must stick by its agreement with the companies it compensated for business losses due to the 2010 Gulf oil spill, reports AP. BP argued that a flawed funding formula in their settlement with alleged victims of the spill enabled many businesses to collect on questionable claims, and that they should be forced to return the money.

Russia has earned a second ranking on the list of threats mentioned by United States President Barack Obama, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday in a comment on Obama’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly session, reports Itar-Tass. “As for the U.S. President’s speech, we earned the second place among the threats to international peace and stability,” Lavrov said. “Number one is the Ebola virus, number two is the so-called Russian aggression in Europe and Isil and other terrorists are ranked as number three.”

( Nigeria ) No fewer than six persons were killed in a ghastly motor accident involving a 14-seater bus and a  Mack truck along Owerri/Aba road on Wednesday, reports. NAN . Eye witnesses said that the bus had a head on collision with the truck, which was trying to overtake another truck along the Owerri-Aba Expressway at Agbala near Owerri in Imo State.

(Nigeria) Determined to streamline efforts to attract new foreign investors to Edo State, the state governor, Mr Adams Oshiomhole on Wednesday, sworn in Mr. Dennis Idahosa as Commissioner for Investment, Public and Private Partnership with a charge to use his wealth of experience to attract investors to the state. Speaking after swearing in the commissioner at the Government House, Benin City, Oshiomhole, said “Everyday we receive all kinds of inquiries about people who want to invest in our state. Quite a number have already decided to come but I believe we can attract even more if we have someone that understands the thinking, the feelings of International investors and what we need to do as a government to attract them to locate to our state so that they can create jobs, increase the economy and the Gross Domestic Product, GDP of Edo State.

The Chinese government has offered Benin materials worth $840,000 dollars for the prevention of Ebola virus, an official source in Cotonou has said, reports Xinhua. An agreement in this regard was signed on Monday in Cotonou between Benin's Foreign Minister Arifari Bako Nassirou and China's ambassador to Benin Tao Weiguang.

Palestinian leaders are making moves to escalate their diplomatic offensive against Israel's occupation of the West Bank, warning that if their demands are ignored, they will appeal directly to the United Nations, reports Xinhua. Earlier on Monday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, currently in the United States, told a group of students at Cooper Union university in New York that he plans to submit a timetable for resuming the Middle East peace talks to the UN General Assembly later this week.

A vaccine might be available in large enough quantities by the end of the year to help control West Africa 's Ebola outbreak, according to the World Health Organisation, WHO, reports News Africa. There is currently no licensed treatment or vaccine for Ebola, although scientists are testing two vaccines. More than 5,800 people are believed to have been made ill from Ebola in five West African countries.

Russian non-governmental organisations are demanding a comprehensive investigation of the mass graves containing bodies of civilians near Donetsk. Local militias found the graves on September 23, reports Itar-Tass.  It was gathered that many of the victims are said to have been shot in the head at point-blank range, while two days ago, that territory had been under the control of Ukrainian forces.  Now it will be explored most thoroughly. Militias say they have discovered other graves, too, which will remain unexcavated for the time being.

( Nigeria ) The All Progressives Congress, APC, has condemned the endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan as the sole candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for next year's presidential election, to the exclusion of all other candidates, calling the endorsement nothing but a mockery of democracy. APC in a statement in Lagos on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that the endorsement has come at a great price to Nigerians, considering the obvious deals that were struck to make President Jonathan the sole PDP candidate.

(Nigeria)  Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar will on Wednesday, formally declare his presidential ambition on the platform of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC.   The former Vice President's declaration is, however, coming against the backdrop of his bid being endorsed by a South-West caucus of the APC.   In a statement by his media office in Abuja, said the former Vice President will make his formal declaration at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.  

Following widespread report the purported release of the Chibok School Girls on Tuesday, the Nigerian Defence Headquarters has described the report as false. The Director Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, in a statement,  said “Tthe story circulating in respect of the release of the Chibok girls is not true please.

(Nigeria) The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, in Abuja on Tuesday pleaded with the Nigerian Army to commute the death sentences on soldiers found guilty of mutiny to lighter punishments. The acting President of NLC, Mr Promise Adewusi, made the appeal at a news conference to express the view of the union on the verdicts passed on the soldiers by a Court Martial on September 15.  The General Court Martial of the Nigerian Army, chaired by Brig.-Gen. N.C. Okonkwo, had tried 18 soldiers, sentenced 12 to death, jailed one and freed five.

Ten more Ukrainian soldiers captured in the recent military conflict by militia from Ukraine’s south-eastern regions were released on Tuesday, President Petro Poroshenko wrote on his Twitter account, reports Itar-Tass. “Ten Ukrainian military servicemen from territorial battalions were released from captivity today,” Poroshenko wrote on Twitter. “One of them is an officer.”

The Japanese government has made no decisions so far concerning Russian president’s upcoming visit to Tokyo, Minister-Counselor of the Japanese Embassy in Moscow Otsuki Kotaro said on Tuesday commenting on reports in Japan media that the visit had been cancelled, reports Itar-Tass. “There could be no decision, as it is a day off in Japan today,” he said. Earlier, the Russian and Japanese leaders agreed in principle on Putin’s visit in autumn.

(Nigeria) A Taraba State High Court in Jalingo on Tuesday refused to grant the prayers of ailing Governor Danbaba Suntai, asking for an interim injunction restraining the medical panel set up by the state assembly to investigate his health status. Justice Silas Haruna, who ruled on an application filed by Suntai, explained that the relief being sought for an order of interim injunction to restrain the parliament from determining his medical status, was refused because the panel was not joined in the proceeding.

(Nigeria) The All Progressives Congress, APC in Rivers State, has blamed Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesome Wike, for the delay in conducting local government elections in the state. The party in a statement in Port Harcourt on Tuesday by its  Chairman, Dr. Davies kanya, accused Wike of engineering a lingering political crisis in the state which has made it impossible for the Governor Rotimi Amaechi administration to conduct council polls even though it had always been willing and eager to do so.

The death toll from Ukrainian conflict has reached 3,543 people, including the MH17 flight victims, Ivan Simonovic, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, said in Geneva on Tuesday, reports Itar-Tass. The number of officially registered internally displaced persons has doubled in Ukraine in a period since early August till early September to reach 275,500 people, Simonovic said. He admitted that the real numbers could be much higher given that many people preferred not to get officially registered.

(Nigeria) Governor  Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State said on Tuesday that those involved in Monday’s attack on the Stats Judiciary Headquarters  would be made to face the wrath of the law. Fayemi, who was on an on-the-spot assessment visit to the scene of the incident, said the state government would ensure that perpetrators of the attack were brought to book. He charged the Inspector General of Police, the Chief Justice of Nigeria and other security agencies to ensure that justice is achieved for victims of the attack.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State on Tuesday, presented the state’s 2015 Budget estimate of N156.551 billion to the state House of Assembly for approval. Titled “Budget of Developmental Consolidation,"  it is aimed at taking the state to the next level.  Consisting of N87.5 billion as capital expenditure, representing 55.77 percent  and N68.99 billion, representing 44.23 percent recurrent expenditure, the budget is N4 billion lower than the 2014 budget which stood at N160.1 billion.

A Palestinian family has begun to demolish part of a building it owns in East Jerusalem to avoid paying fines after the Israeli municipality issued a demolition order, the owner said Tuesday, reports Ma'an. Walid al-Ubeidi told Ma'an that due to the size of his family, he expanded the building from three to four floors in 2002, and to five floors in 2004-2005.

(Nigeria) The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said it was temporarily halting investigation into the building collapse at the guest house of The Synagogue Church of All Nations in Ikotun, Lagos. Mr Aderemi Ibirogba, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, announced the step in Ikeja while giving newsmen an update on the government’s actions after the incident.

The number of Ebola infections in Liberia and Sierra Leone could skyrocket to 1.4 million by January 2015, according to a new projection by US health authorities out on Tuesday, reports NDTV. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that Ebola cases in these two West African nations could range from between 550,000 and 1.4 million cases by January 20, 2015.

Israeli special forces stormed a West Bank hideout early on Tuesday and killed two Palestinians suspected in the June abduction and slaying of three Israeli teenagers, a gruesome attack that had triggered a chain of events that led to the war in Gaza this summer, reports AP. The deaths of the two suspects, identified by the Israeli military as well-known Hamas militants, ended one of the largest manhunts conducted by the Israeli security forces.

Potential new treatments for Ebola are to be tested in West Africa for the first time as part of an international initiative to fast-track trials of the most promising drugs against the disease that has already led to over 2,600 deaths, reports Medical Xpres. The new initiative will allow candidate Ebola treatments to be assessed rapidly in patients, so that those proving safe and effective may be adopted for use as soon as possible.

 The separatists said Tuesday they had started the withdrawal process after government forces also began moving big weapons and armored vehicles from the conflict zone, reports DW. "We have withdrawn artillery but only in those areas where the Ukrainian regular units have done the same. Where Ukraine hasn't withdrawn artillery, we haven't done so," Donetsk-based rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko told the Interfax news agency.

The jihadist group "Islamic State" IS, has suffered heavy casualties in the first airstrikes carried out on its positions in Syria by the United States and five Arab allies, a group monitoring the conflict in Syria said on Tuesday, reports DW. "The US planes carried out at least 20 strikes targeting headquarters, checkpoints and bases for the Islamic State group in the city of al- Raqqa as well as on its eastern and western outskirts," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that there was "confirmed information" that the airstrikes had inflicted heavy casualties on the militants.

The Israeli military shot down a Syrian fighter jet that infiltrated its airspace over the Golan Heights on Tuesday morning — the first such downing in decades, heightening tensions in the volatile plateau, reports AP. The military said a "Syrian aircraft infiltrated into Israeli air space" in the morning hours and that the military "intercepted the aircraft in mid-flight, using the Patriot air defense system." The military would not say what type of aircraft was downed and said the circumstances of the incident were "unclear."

Moscow hopes that the European Union will refrain from including in its sanctions lists names of Russian journalists or mass media agencies for their alleged ‘propagandist coverage’ of events in Ukraine, a senior Russian diplomat said on Tuesday, reports Itar-Tass. “We have read through the German daily Junge Welt’s recently published extracts from the protocol of the EU permanent members committee session, which took place on September 10,” Russian Foreign Ministry's Special Representative for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Konstantin Dolgov said.

 "A French national was kidnapped on Sunday in Algeria, in the region of Tizi Ouzou, while he was on holiday there," deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexandre Georgini said in a statement on Monday, reports DW. "Nobody has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping." After the announcement, however, a video was posted on the Internet claiming to feature the hostage.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has held a telephone conversation with United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-moon to discuss the fight against the Islamic State extremist group, the Kremlin press service reported on Tuesday. “Mr. Putin and Mr. Ban exchanged views on pooling the international community’s efforts in the fight against the Islamic State group,” the press service said, reports Itar-Tass. “The Russian side stressed that air strikes on the Islamic State terrorist bases in the Syrian territory should not be launched without consent of the Syrian government,” the Kremlin said.

A Fort Bliss soldier was charged with capital murder after he fatally beat his 2-year-old daughter with a belt because she soiled her diaper, according to West Texas police, reports AP. El Paso police Det. Mike Baranyay said Dartarious Graham, 20, was arrested Sunday. He said the United States Army specialist beat his daughter, Peyton Graham, with the belt Saturday. Her body went limp after the beating and firefighters were called to Graham's apartment, where they found the child unresponsive, Baranyay said. She was taken to a hospital where she later died.

( Nigeria ) The Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday directed its Committee on Health to investigate the allegation of nonpayment of August salary to resident doctors. This followed a petition sent to the lawmakers by the state chapter of Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, which was signed by Dr Babafemi Thomas, its chairman.

(Nigeria) The Federal Government is to take over reconstruction and expansion of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, the Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolememen, said on Monday. The minister said this in Lagos during a slide presentation of work on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway by Julius Berger Plc. The presentation took place at the company’s office complex in Ijora.