These are the stories you should be monitoring today:

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday held a meeting with senators elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

At the meeting held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, and believed to be at the instance of the defection of 14 senators and 37 members of the House of Representatives to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Tuesday, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki was absent.

Sources say it was a meeting with the Parliamentary Support Group of the Upper Chamber who used the opportunity of the solidarity visit to show their loyalty to the president.

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says 75 out of 230 stranded Nigerian Football fans absconded in Russia after the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Spokesperson for the ministry, Dr. Tope Elias-Fatile, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja, said 230 stranded Nigerian football fans were profiled to board chartered Ethiopian Airline to Abuja but only 155 boarded the flight at the last minute.

Fatile noted that the ministry was ever willing to assist them if they repented and decided to come back, adding that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, had also made contacts with relevant agencies to commence investigation into suspected human trafficking in the case.

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The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has given an assurance that the on-going face-off between the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige will be resolved amicably.

Mohammed disclosed this while fielding questions from State House correspondents after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

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Former Minister of Solid Minerals and Ekiti Governor-Elect, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has inaugurated a 32-man Governorship Transition Committee to know the state of affairs of governance in the state and liaise with the outgoing administration for a smooth handover in October.

The committee chaired by a former member of the National Assembly, Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, has former Chairman of the Ijero Local Government Council, Abiodun Omoleye as deputy alongside a former Permanent Secretary in the state’s civil service, Mr Ayodeji Ajayi, as its secretary.

It is expected to submit its final report by Friday, September 7, 2018.

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Senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye was on Wednesday arraigned by the police before an Abuja High Court and was granted bail in the sum of N5 million.

Melaye who is facing a six count charge including attempted suicide, escape from custody and damage of police property on April 24, 2018, through his lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) pleaded not guilty and assured he would not jump bail as he was interested in clearing his name.

The trial judge, Justice Silvanus Oriji consequently granted him fresh bail and ordered him to produce two sureties in like sum who must be directors in the civil service, who resident in the FCT and depose to affidavits of means, as part of the bail condition.

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And stories from around the world:

China’s President Xi Jinping on Wednesday opened a summit of emerging economies in South Africa’s main city, Johannesburg, with a warning that the world is facing a choice between cooperation or confrontation.

In a speech aimed largely at the Trump administration in the US, Mr Xi said there could be no winner in any trade war. (BBC)

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Islamic State militants killed more than 200 people in a coordinated assault on a government-held area of southwestern Syria on Wednesday, local officials and a war monitor said, in the group’s deadliest attack in the country for years. (Reuters)

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Pakistan woke to electoral chaos on Thursday with the outgoing ruling party denouncing “blatant rigging” in the pivotal general election and rejecting unofficial, partial results suggesting victory for former cricket champion Imran Khan. (AFP)

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North Korea will transfer the remains of an unspecified number of soldiers killed in the Korean War on Friday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, after accepting about 100 wooden caskets sent by the United States. (Reuters)

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Japan on Thursday executed six more members of the cult behind the deadly 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway, weeks after the group’s leader was hanged. (AFP)