Here are the stories you should be monitoring today:

The two chambers of the National Assembly, passed the 2018 budget totaling N9.120, 334,988,225 at Wednesday’s plenary following the adoption of the report presented by its committee on Tuesday.

The budget is over N500 billion higher than the N8.612 trillion proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari to a joint session of the assembly in November 2017.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje, said “The increase was done after close consultation with the executive.”

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The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed has said efforts are on, to ensure the release of the abducted Dapchi schoolgirl yet to be released, Leah Sharibu, noting that she will not be abandoned by the Federal Government.

Mohammed told journalists in Abuja after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday that negotiations are on for the release of the abducted schoolgirl.

“Negotiations with insurgents are quite tortuous and complicated at times but I can assure you we are not leaving her to her fate and those who should do are busy daily working on her release,” the Minister said.

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The Chairman, Senate Appropriation Committee, Sen. Danjuma Goje, has said that no provision was made in the 2018 Budget for an increase in minimum wage this year.

Goje disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja while briefing newsmen in shortly after the passage of the 2018 Appropriation Bill.

He said the failure to capture the wage in the budget may have been because deliberation on the issue had not been concluded by the Executive.

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The Lagos State police command has warned hospitals and doctors to desist from rejecting gunshot victims, saying such act constitutes a flagrant violation of an existing law.

In a statement on Wednesday by the command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Chike Oti, the police said it must be noted that doctors who do so are criminally liable on account of the provision of the Compulsory Treatment and Care of Victims Of Gunshot Act, 2017 and that it would henceforth, arrest and prosecute any medical practitioner who rejects gunshot victims on the ground of police report.

The statement was in reaction to a media report on the refusal of an hospital to treat a victim who was shot and wounded by armed robbers.

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The Plateau State High Court in Jos has ordered that a former Governor of Plateau State and Senator representing Plateau North senatorial district, Jonah Jang, be remanded in the prison custody till Thursday, May 24, when the court will rule on his bail application.

Justice Daniel Longji also ordered that a former cashier in the office of the Secretary to the Plateau State Government, Yusuf Pam be kept in prison with Jang.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned them before the court on Wednesday over a 12-count charge filed against them bordering on alleged misuse of some special funds released to Plateau State by the Central Bank of Nigeria, few months to the end of Jang’s tenure as governor in 2015.

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And stories from around the world:

Thousands of doses of Ebola vaccine arrived Wednesday in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is facing an outbreak of the deadly virus, the health ministry said.

“Five thousand four hundred doses of vaccine arrived from Geneva this morning” said health ministry spokeswoman Jessica Ilunga.

The number of reported cases is 42, including two confirmed, according to a World Health Organization tally.

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South Korea said on Thursday it would seek to mediate between the United States and North Korea after Pyongyang threatened to pull out of an unprecedented summit between its leader Kim Jong Un and United States President, Donald Trump on June 12 in Singapore, according to reuters.

Doubts over the U.S.-North Korea summit arose on Wednesday when Pyongyang denounced U.S.-South Korean military exercises as a provocation and called off high-level talks with Seoul.

Trump has said it is unclear whether the summit will go ahead but he would continue to insist on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

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Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday lashed out at the international “silence” over killings by Israeli fire of dozens of Palestinians on the Gaza border.

“If the silence on Israel’s tyranny continues, the world will rapidly be dragged into a chaos where banditry prevails,” Erdogan said at a dinner in Ankara.

Erdogan also said the Gaza bloodshed showed “the United Nations has collapsed”.

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An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 hit eastern Japan on Thursday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The epicenter of the quake was off the coast of Chiba prefecture, the agency said, adding that a tsunami warning had not been issued.

According to reuters, there were no immediate reports of damage.

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Spanish side, Atletico Madrid have emerged winners of the 2017/2018 UEFA Europa League season after defeating French side Olympique Marseille on Wednesday in the Europa League final played in Lyon.

Antoine Griezmann was the hero for Atletico Madrid as the French striker scored twice in their 3-0 win over Marseille , allowing his club to win the trophy for the third time in nine seasons.