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A trial against two journalists, a priest and two Vatican officials was getting under way Tuesday as a court prepared to delve into the VatiLeaks 2 affair, which concerns the leak of information about the Catholic Church's financial shenanigans.

(Nigeria) A 30-year man who allegedly raped a minor was on Tuesday charged before an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State.

(Nigeria)  The appeal filed by Sen. Buruji Kashamu of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, challenging the judgment of election tribunal that sat in Abeokuta, Ogun State could not continue on Tuesday due to the dissolution of panel of judges.

A Syrian rebel group operating in the Jabal al-Turkoman area near the Turkish border said its fighters had killed one of the two crew members who ejected from a Russian plane after it was hit.

A Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft of Russia’s air group in Syria has crashed in Syrian territory, presumably, as a result of an attack from the ground, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.

Turkey’s General Staff on Tuesday said the country’s Air Force attacked a plane that had reportedly violated the country’s airspace.

(Nigeria) The trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT,  has been put on hold following an order of the Supreme Court to suspend trial pending the determination of Saraki’s appeal.

(Nigeria) The Nigerian Army has claimed of plot to use of the social media  to ridicule the Nigerian Army and the person of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt General  Tukur Buratai for no justifiable reason.

Philipino Police said on Monday that a Philippine judge was shot dead in a cock-fighting arena, six months after he survived assassination attempt on his life.

(Nigeria) The new Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, was on Monday presented with the traditional “Ade-Are” crown as the 51st traditional ruler of the ancient town.

(Nigeria) The Naira on Monday fell freely at the parallel market, as scarcity of dollars paralysed activities.

(Nigeria) The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, on Monday said it would sanction MTN, Airtel and Globacom for defying the directive on automatic migration to Pay-As-You-Go data bundle.

(Nigeria) President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday in Tehran expressed shock over the news of the death of Abubakar Audu, the All Progressive Congress candidate in the inconclusive Kogi State governorship election.

(Nigeria) Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has described the death of Prince Abubakar Audu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC,  in the November 21 gubernatorial election in Kogi State as a rude shock.

(Nigeria) An Ikeja Magistrates' Court in Lagos on Monday remanded a 27-year-old musician, Friday Freedom, for allegedly raping a 15- year-old girl.

(Nigeria) The Attorney General of the Federation, AGF and Minister of Justice,  Mr. Abubakar Matami, SAN, on Monday, failed to appear before a Federal High Court in Abuja, to explain the siege laid on the Asokoro residence of the former National Security Adviser, NSA Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) by operatives of Department of State Services, DSS, despite  the bail granted him by the court.

Six hundred local residents of Syria’s Latakia province have become full-fledged members of Syria’s popular self-defense force after completing training, Latakia governor Ibrahim Khodr al-Salem told reporters.

Syrian government forces backed by Russian airstrikes regained control Monday of two strategic towns from Islamic State, a monitoring group and state media said. 

(Nigeria) The Department of State Services, DSS, on Monday requested a Wuse Zone 2 Senior Magistrates’ Court in Abuja to discontinue trial of Nnamdi Kanu, Director of Radio Biafra, charged with criminal conspiracy.

(Nigeria) Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State on Monday confirmed the death of the first civilian governor of the state, Alhaji Abubakar Audu.

A United States Apache helicopter crashed in central South Korea on Monday, killing its pilot and another crew member, police and military officials said.

(Nigeria) An Edo State High Court sitting in Benin, has ordered the Edo Commissioner of Police to prevent one Chief Luke Abbas from being installed as Eze Ndigbo in Benin, Edo State.

(Nigeria) Two trade unions in the aviation sector have faulted the recent laying off of Nigerian cabin crew by Virgin Atlantic Airline management.

(Nigeria) The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has arrested a suspected drug baron, Tochukwu Ubah, alleged to be coordinating a large volume of methamphetamine and ephedrine distribution in the country.

(Nigeria) The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Sunday said it would react to Saturday’s Kogi State gubernatorial election, declared inconclusive by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, after getting facts about the election.

Eight people were killed Sunday when a female suicide bomber detonated her explosives among a group of women and children arriving in Maiduguri, Borno State, from the countryside ravaged by Boko Haram.

(Nigeria) The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has declared the governorship election held in Kogi on Saturday inconclusive following the cancellation of the results of the poll in 91 polling units.

(Nigeria) The Kogi State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC,  Abubakar Audu, is dead.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday arrived in Tehran, Iran, to participate in the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, GECF, summit on Monday.

Syria’s warplanes have flown 114 sorties and hit 447 terrorist targets since November 15, Syrian army spokesman Brigade General Ali Maihoub said.

Syria's president says his forces are advancing on "almost" all fronts thanks to Russian airstrikes that began nearly two months ago and have tipped the balance in his favor in some parts of the country.

The Russian authorities have declared an emergency regime on the peninsula and connected all social facilities in Crimea to backup power generators.

Eleven militants were killed in a special operation in the capital of the North Caucasus Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, the information center of the National Anti-Terror Committee said on Sunday.

(Nigeria) The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, ALTON, has called on the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to find a lasting solution to the menace of unsolicited Short Messaging Service, SMS, by telecoms service providers.

(Nigeria) The Archbishop of Enugu, Anglican Communion, Most. Rev Emmanuel Chukwuma, has attributed agitation for Biafra to leadership failure and lack of guidance from elders.

Troops of the Ukrainian nationalist battalions shelled northern outskirts of the city of Donetsk from mortars on Saturday night, the Donetsk news agency said citing a source with the defence ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, DPR.

An Iranian court has sentenced Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian to a prison term, the state news agency said on Sunday quoting the judiciary spokesman, a case that is a sensitive issue in contentious United States-Iranian relations.

(Nigeria) Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has asked the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami, SAN to “urgently take steps to take over and prosecute all 31 former governors suspected of official corruption while in office.”

More than 600 militants were killed by Russian cruise missiles in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has said. "The terrorist gangs suffer major losses. Over 600 militants were killed as a result of a cruise missile strikes on one of the targets near Deir ez-Zor," Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin, reports Tass. He said that the Russian aircraft had bombed 23 militant training camps, 19 factories making weapons and explosives, 47 arms caches and other terrorist facilities. "This contributes to the success of the Syrian government troops in Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia and Palmira," the minister said adding that the flow of militants arriving in Syria had been on decline and many terrorists were leaving the fighting area northwards and southwestwards. According to Shoigu, the Russian military have used more than 100 airborne and sea-based cruise missiles and released 1,400 tonnes of bombs against terrorists in Syria in the four

FIFA ethics investigators on Saturday called for sanctions against president Sepp Blatter and European soccer boss Michel Platini, dealing a fresh blow to Platini's bid to succeed Blatter as head of world soccer's governing body. Both men were suspended from their posts for 90 days on October 8 pending a full investigation, engulfed by a deepening corruption scandal as the sport faces criminal probes in Switzerland and the United States, reports Reuters. The investigatory chamber of FIFA's ethics committee - acting independently of the organization's leadership - said on Saturday it had completed its inquiry, but did not say why it was recommending sanctions nor what those sanctions should be. Its report will now be passed to the committee's adjudicatory chamber, which will decide whether investigations should be pursued and on any potential sanctions. "The investigatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee has submitted its final reports containing

(Nigeria) The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, on Saturday said that MTN Nigeria, Globacom and Etisalat violated the Mobile Number Portability, MNP , process time obligations in the third quarter of 2015. The commission made this known in its `2015 3Q Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Report’, obtained in Lagos, said to address the increasing cases of port request rejections, it had resolved to monitor operators and take appropriate actions. ``Consequent upon the above, series of compliance checks were carried out regarding timer violations by donor operators with respect to `validation and deactivation responses’, which have timelines of two hours and an hour respectively,’’ the commission said. It said that during the compliance check in the quarter, it was observed that there was a timer deactivation violation by Etisalat, regarding a Corporate Port request of over 63 lines belonging to Neoconde Energy Limited. NCC said that the company had initiated a corporate por

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday that opposition rebels had regained two northern villages close to the Turkish border from the Islamic State insurgents. The monitoring group said that the recapture of the villages of Dalhah and Harjala on the northern outskirts of Aleppo province followed heavy fighting between rebels and the insurgents, reports dpa . "This is an important development because it showed that Islamic State is losing ground in areas near the Syrian-Turkish border," the group's head, Rami Abdel-Rahman said. Islamic State has advanced in areas held by moderate rebels in the countryside of Aleppo, including the villages of Dalhah and Harjala since August. In recent months, the al-Qaeda splinter group has made territorial gains in several parts of Syria. A United States-led coalition and Russia have separately stepped up airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria in the past weeks, after the radical group claimed responsibility for a

A 10-day state of emergency has been declared in Mali after at least 21 people were killed by terrorists in a Bamako hotel, UN peacekeepers in the West African country said. The government announced there were no more hostages in terrorist hands after Malian troops ended the siege, reports dpa. Two of the attackers were overpowered, UN spokesman Olivier Salgado said. Salgado said security forces were still searching hotel rooms to see if there were more attackers, adding there might be more victims. "We cannot exclude bad surprises," he said. Mali national television said the death toll included two of the undetermined number of terrorists. A three-day mourning period will commence on Monday. The Rezidor Hotel Group, which operates the Radisson Blu hotel, initially said the attackers had taken 140 guests and 30 employees hostage. The attackers shot and killed three security guards upon entering the hotel, the government said. Traore told Radio France Internationale th

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO is set to increase its support for Afghanistan's security forces, after alliance members approved a classified report prepared for upcoming ministers' talks, diplomatic sources told dpa on condition of anonymity. In the document, NATO has agreed, among other things, to look into the possibility of sharing intelligence with Afghan security forces, reports dpa. This could help prevent incidents such as recent Taliban attacks for which local authorities were unprepared. NATO trainers are also due to be deployed more in the country's conflict areas. Protection in an emergency would be provided by alliance airstrikes, according to the report. NATO would not confirm the content of the report, but a spokesman said that the situation in Afghanistan would be discussed at a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels on December 1-2. In the run-up to those talks, alliance members are due to pledge troop contributions for all ongoing NATO mis

(Nigeria) Some independent petroleum marketers in Umuahia are selling petrol for between N170 and N200 per litre even as the seeming scarcity of the commodity lingers on. However, at the black market located at strategic points in the Abia state capital, the commodity sells for N300 per litre. Few independent marketers selling the commodity at the approved pump price of N87 per litre are attracting long queues of vehicles as prospective buyers wait patiently for their turns to buy the commodity. Meanwhile, transport fare in the area has jumped by between 80 per cent and 100 per cent, depending on the distance, thereby forcing many commuters to resort to walking long distances. At the NNPC mega station located on the Umuahia end of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, scores of motorists and motorcyclists could be seen waiting to buy the commodity at the government-controlled price. A cross-section of the customers, described the seeming scarcity as disturbing and a situation not ex

Liberian Health Minister, Bernice Dahn said on Friday, a new case of Ebola has emerged, a setback for the country declared free of the disease on September 3. Dahn said that it was also a set back for the region, which was struggling to end an epidemic that had killed around 11,300 people, reports Reuters . The patient is a 10 year old boy who lived with his parents and three siblings in Paynesville, a suburb east of the capital Monrovia, she said. All six family members, as well as other high risk contacts, were in care at an Ebola Treatment Unit in Paynesville, Dahn added. She also said that the hospital was currently decontaminating the unit, all of the healthcare workers who came in contact with the patient had also been notified. "We know how Ebola spreads and we know how to stop Ebola but we must remain vigilant and work together," she said. Liberia has seen more than 10,600 cases of the disease and 4,808 Ebola deaths since it was first announced in March, 2014, a

(Nigeria) The acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, felicitated with former President Goodluck Jonathan, as he turned 58 on Friday. In a statement by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metun in Abuja on Friday, Secondus said the entire members of PDP, including National Executive Committee, NEC, of the party celebrated Jonathan. The statement described Jonathan as quintessential democrat, icon of humility, a remarkable man of peace and an extraordinary global citizen. The statement said PDP and lovers of democracy worldwide joined the family of Jonathan in giving thanks to the Almighty God for the numerous blessings in his life as he celebrated this milestone ``We are indeed proud that in various ways you have demonstrated that the true essence of statesmanship lies in applying its uncommon values to the general good rather than self and that one gets to the very top and yet remain honest and humble. ``As you mark your birthday, we

(Nigeria) Governor, Nyesom Wike has approved the compulsory retirement of 14 Permanent Secretaries from the Rivers State Civil Service.  Mr Simeon Nwakaudu, Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor, Electronic Media in a statement gave the name of the retired permanent secretaries as  Ms. Kadilo-Brown; Sir. Somieari  Isaac - Harry; Michael M. West; Nuka Nadum Nwikpasi; Mrs. Iragunima Comfort  and Collins Davidson. Others are Mrs Otonyetarie Okorie, Asoelu Gayamos Ogo, Dr. Mrs. Jumbo Justina, Kingsley F. Hart,  Austin Orlu-Orlu, Sir. Samuel J. Egbe,  Sam Woka and Ngozi Yagba Abu. According to the statement, their retirement takes immediate effect. 

Suspected Islamists attacked the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's capital Bamako on Friday and took 170 people hostage, but released some who could prove they were Muslims. The Rezidor Hotel Group, which operates the Radisson Blu, said two people had taken 140 guests and 30 employees hostage, reports dpa. A police source said the attackers were believed to be Islamists. They released about 10 hostages who were able to proclaim the greatness of Allah in Arabic, the source said. Those released were taken to a police station. Witnesses said some of the hostages also escaped. Radio France Internationale said the attackers shouted "Allahu akbar," or "God is great" in Arabic. A group of men drove to the hotel in a car with diplomatic plates, entered the building and went up to a higher floor, hotel security sources said. They forced a door open and shots were heard. Security forces stormed the area, using heavy vehicles. "Our safety and security teams and ou

(Nigeria) The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, has elected Mr Usman Dutse of the Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, as its new president. He succeeds Mr Chibuzo Asomugba. Dutse was declared winner by the ASUP Electoral Committee Chairman, Mr Precious Nwakodo, at the 13th National Delegate Conference in Bida, Niger on Thursday. He polled 113 votes to defeat two other candidates, Mr Nda-Umar Idris and Alhaji Abdukaram Ibrahim, who scored 47 and 25 votes, respectively. The others were Mr Timothy Ogunsheye, Deputy President; Mr Akowe Joel, Assistant Secretary General; Suleiman Usman, Treasurer; and Mr Chris Nkoro, Publicity Secretary. The Secretary General, Financial Secretary, Internal Auditor and the four zonal coordinators were returned unopposed. The coordinators were Kabiru Yunusa, zone A; Abdullahi Yelwa, zone B; Olawale Adetunji, zone C; and Nelson Chika, zone D. No fewer than 198 delegates were accredited to vote and 197 voted. Delegates to the conference were drawn from