The United Nations says a blockade on aid routes to Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray is bringing millions to the brink of famine.
A senior UN official says food supplies ran out two weeks ago.
He says 170 aid trucks were stranded outside Tigray and that none of the vehicles had been allowed to enter the region for the past 12 days.
The Ethiopian government denies it is blocking aid and says the vehicles are on their way to the region.
The US government's humanitarian agency says Tigrayan fighters have looted its warehouses in neighbouring Amhara region.

The European Union will return millions of Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses made in South Africa to the continent.
African Union’s special envoy Strive Masiyiwa told reporters that all the vaccines being produced in Africa will stay in Africa and be distributed to Africa.
It follows criticism that vaccines were being shipped away from a continent that has the lowest vaccination rates in the world.
Less than 3% of the continent’s population has been vaccinated.

The federal government will from September 9, 2021, commence the nationwide verification of all civil servants recruited by the Federal Civil Service Commission from 2013 to 2020.
The Director of Recruitment and Appointment, Federal Civil Service Commission, Ibrahim Anjugu, stated this in a circular dated August 27, 2021.
The circular added that the mandatory verification exercise would hold across the six geopolitical political zones of the country, including the Federal Capital Territory.
The commission threatened that any officer who fails to turn up for the verification exercise would have his or her salary automatically stopped.

Former Inspector-General of Police, Sir Mike Okiro has advised the federal government to be two steps ahead of criminals in its resolve to address the rising security challenges facing the country.
He also advised the government at the centre to adequately equip and train the nation’s security agencies in line with international standards.
Okiro says the security problem is nationwide and not limited to any particular sector or organisation.
He says the federal government really has to look into the security agencies and put them at par with what is happening in the outside world.

The federal government says that it will partner with journalists and the mass media in the campaign to eliminate and prevent child labour in the country.
The government says there was a need to create more awareness of the dangers of child labour, and the efforts to prevent and eliminate this hydra-headed monster are now more imperative than ever.
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mr Yerima Tarfa, says that Nigeria is working on achieving a significant milestone in the elimination of Child Labour practices.
He added that child labour and other forms of modern slavery are issues of grave concern in the global arena on account of their dire consequences, and the persistence of those consequences through generations of families.

The Enugu State House of Assembly has passed the anti-open grazing bill into law.
The law was passed after the acceptance of the report of the public hearing by the joint committee of the House.
Speaker of the assembly, Hon Edward Ubosi, thanked its sponsors, noting that the people of the state have been clamouring for the law for a long time.
He expressed optimism that the state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi would not waste time in accenting to the law, especially giving its relevance to the people.
Ubosi insisted that the law was not intended to witch-hunt anybody or group but for the good of the people of the state and others that live in the state.

The Federal Government says it allocated N6trn to the Niger Delta Development Commission between 2001 and 2019.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami says It is on record that between 2001 and 2019, the Federal Government allocated the total sum of approximately N6 trillion to the Niger Delta Development Commission.
He says the figure is an indication that the Federal Government has allocated a good amount of funds to the development of Nigeria’s oil-bearing region.
He, however, expressed concern over uncompleted and some unverified projects in the Niger Delta despite the allocations.

Qatar’s foreign minister has warned that isolating the Taliban could lead to further instability and urged countries to engage with the movement to address security and socioeconomic concerns in Afghanistan.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani says they believe that without engagement they cannot reach real progress on the security front or on the socioeconomic front adding that recognising the Taliban as the government was not a priority.
The Qatari foreign minister also warned against any rise of terrorism after the US withdrawal and called for an inclusive government.

The United Kingdom has opened talks with the Taliban to secure safe passage out of Afghanistan for its citizens and Afghans who have worked for the British government.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s special representative for Afghan transition, Simon Gass, flew to Doha, Qatar, to meet Taliban representatives.
Gass is meeting with senior Taliban representatives to underline the importance of safe passage out of Afghanistan for British nationals, and those Afghans who have worked with us over the past twenty years.

President Joe Biden says exit from Afghanistan was the best decision for America.
He spoke after the United Nations warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan, underscoring the daunting challenges that the victorious Taliban face as they transform from insurgent group to governing power.
Biden argued that the only choice in Afghanistan was leaving or escalating.
He says no nation has ever done anything like it in all of history; only the United States had the capacity and the will and the ability to do it.