Apple iPhone 6 finally cleared for launch in China

Apple has finally been granted regulatory approval by the Chinese government to sell the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

The company received a key license after addressing various security risks concerning personal data that had been raised by Chinese state-owned media outlets, according to a government statement.

Apple said its new smartphones will go on sale Oct. 17, nearly a month after the devices first hit stores in select countries around the world. Pre-orders will begin Oct. 10.

The debut will mark the first time that all three of China's biggest state-run wireless carriers will be able to offer the new iPhone at launch. China Mobile, the largest, became the final major carrier to ink an iPhone agreement with Apple in December.

7 Ukrainian soldiers killed in Donetsk fighting

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- Seven Ukrainian soldiers were killed by tank fire Monday at the airport in the flashpoint city of Donetsk, the country's counterterrorist operations press office said.

Nine other soldiers were injured in the clash, the office said.

In a separate incident, three civilians were killed and five injured in shelling overnight in Donetsk, the website of the city office said Monday.

Residential and administrative buildings were damaged as a result of artillery fire, according to the site, which described the situation as tense.

Ukrainian government forces have been fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine for months.

Despite the ongoing violence in places such as Donetsk, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko insisted last week that a ceasefire signed with rebel leaders more than three weeks ago was holding.

NFF to dump Keshi for Siasia

Samson Siasia could be in line to replace Stephen Keshi as Nigeria coach unless the National Sports Commission stops the Nigeria Football Federation.

Goal exclusively gathered from a top NFF official at the weekend that the Super Eagles’ poor results against Congo where they lost 3-2 in Calabar as well as the goalless draw away to South Africa has blotted the impressive record of the trainer.

A top official of the Nigeria Football Federation disclosed that “there are many factors standing in the way of Stephen Keshi to be re-appointed as the Eagles chief coach and I will give you a break-down but before that I must say that Keshi must be most grateful to the Honourable Sports Minister (Tammy Danagogo) for fighting for his retention as the chief coach.

“The minister has never hidden his love and preference for him and he based it on Keshi’s past achievement which he said was more than necessary for him to continue his job. The minister still believes that the Eagles under Keshi could still bounce back and qualify for the 2015 Afcon in Morocco.

“But we at the NFF here know that the problem with the team is more than what we are seeing from the surface. Firstly, there is no commitment on the part of the players Keshi is parading for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and if something drastic is not done, Nigeria may not be among those nations that would campaign in Morocco 2015,” the source who begged for his identity not to be revealed told Goal.

The NFF source also revealed that most of the members of the NFF Executive Board are no longer at ease with the alleged antics and disrespect of Keshi towards them and now want another coach who would listen to them and respect them as his employers. They have also not forgotten in a hurry the way Keshi allegedly humiliated the Aminu Maigari Board members during the Africa Cup of Nations which Nigeria won in South Africa in 2013 and felt highly disappointed with the way the Coach received all the accolades and praises from all and sundry without mere mention of the NFF Board and Secretariat.

“We all know how Keshi threatened to dump the team in South Africa shortly after the Eagles won the 2013 Afcon. The controversies generated by this singular action of his put the NFF then in a bad light and so many other crises including the Eagles threatening not to play one of the qualifying matches for the last World Cup as well as during the World Cup proper when the players demanded for their bonuses are all crises that have put negative mark on the NFF.

“So unless the National Sports Commission decides to use its veto powers, I don’t think Keshi would be retained as the Eagles coach. Even the N6 million that the minister said he is requesting for cannot be met by the NFF as a matter of fact. The NFF is broke for now and the crisis has not helped matters.

“It seems everybody is speaking favourably about Samson Siasia to come back to the post he left in 2011. Some of us believed that Siasia has learned his lessons and he would adjust where he has failed to bounce back with the Eagles. Another thing is that it will be very difficult for us to pick the 2015 Nations Cup ticket if we continue to parade the same players Keshi is using to prosecute the 2015 Afcon qualifiers so it is preferable Siasia comes to the rescue and bring new ideas and players that are fighters to salvage the situation.

“The reason for the choice of Siasia is that the NFF cannot afford the salary and emoluments of a foreign coach now, so employing a foreign coach to replace Keshi now is out of the issue. But we will know precisely how it goes after Tuesday when NFF elections will take place,” the source concluded.

China dramatically revises death toll in Xinjiang violence

Beijing (CNN) -- Chinese authorities late Thursday dramatically revised upward the death toll of a violent incident they say occurred earlier in the week in Xinjiang, an ethnically divided region in China's far west.

According to state-run regional media portal Tianshan, 50 people, including 40 "rioters," were shot dead by police or killed by a series of explosions.

"Police forces reacted decisively," said the report. The report didn't specify how many were killed by police.

More than 50 civilians were injured during the blasts on Sunday evening, which police called a terrorist attack, according to Tianshan. The bombs hit two police stations, a shop and an open market frequented by ethnic minority Uyghurs.

The dead included six civilians, two police officers and two auxiliaries, Tianshan said. The primary suspect behind the bombings was shot dead, police said.

On Monday, state media claimed that just two people were killed in the explosions. It is unclear why more details were only released several days later.

Local police refused to comment to CNN, saying the information surrounding the incident is "confidential." The provincial government refused to provide more details.

The violence occurred just two days before prominent Uyghur professor Ilham Tohti was found guilty of '"separatism" by a Chinese court and sentenced to life in prison.

Chinese authorities have stepped up security measures in Xinjiang following several recent attacks in the region, which has been the scene of ethnic strife between the indigenous Uyghurs, a mainly Turkic-speaking Muslim population, and Han Chinese.

The Chinese government has blamed recent violent incidents in Xinjiang on Uyghur separatists seeking to establish an independent state.

Waves of Han Chinese have flocked to the resource-rich region, fueling tensions with the Uyghurs, who regard themselves as culturally and ethnically closer the people of nations bordering western China, such as Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Xinjiang is now home to more than eight million Han Chinese, up from 220,000 in 1949, and 10 million Uyghurs. Unemployment among Uyghurs is high, and they complain of discrimination and harsh treatment by security forces.

Chibok moves to identify girl abandoned by Boko Haram

The Chibok Community has commenced moves to identify the girl, Susan Ishaya, who was abandoned by Boko Haram and found wandering in Mubi on Wednesday.

The Chairman,Kibaku Development Association, Dr. Pogu Bitrus, said he had directed the Vice Principal, Government Secondary School, Chibok, to go to Yola, Adamawa State and ask the girl about her origin and other issues surrounding her identity.

Susan was discovered near a police station in Mubi, Adamawa State, after she was brought there by villagers who found her near Biu in Borno State.

She was said to have been thrown out of a moving vehicle by her captors and was left to wander for two days before she was discovered by the villagers.

Susan was said to be traumatized and sexually abused by the insurgents, and was also found to be four months pregnant.

The girl, who is being treated in a hospital in Yola, Adamawa State, was said to have been psychologically abused and could not properly identify herself and her origin.

Bitrus told our correspondent on Friday that there are doubts over the identity and origin of the girl, adding that the community was not convinced that she was from Chibok, as her name did not correspond with the names of the 219 school girls.

He said, “We are still making efforts to identify the girl and know where she is from because she is psychologically traumatized and is not in a good frame of mind. So, I have asked the Vice Principal of Government School, Chibok, to go to the hospital where she is being treated in Yola, to talk to her and ascertain her name and village.”

The Chairman, Chibok Community, Abuja, Tsambido Abana, also said that parents of the 219 abducted girls had been asked to make inquiries about Susan from other Chibok indigenes.

Asked if he entertained any fear that the schoolgirls in Boko Haram captivity could also be sexually harassed and impregnated like Susan, Abana said his people had always harboured such thoughts, but did not want to voice it out.

He said it was imperative that the government fast tracked efforts to secure the release of the girls, whom he said may have been sexually molested.

Abana said, “The initial test carried out on the girl indicated that she was pregnant and sick, but this has not been fully confirmed. We are not very sure she is from Chibok because her surname did not tally with the names of any of the missing girls.

“We are apprehensive over the fate of the schoolgirls, we are afraid that what happened to this girl may befall them, this is our fear all along, but we didn’t want to voice it.”

UK votes for action against ISIS: Will this time be different?

London (CNN) -- More than a decade after the Iraq war, when one million people took to the streets to protest against intervention, British lawmakers have again been grappling with their consciences.

In 2003, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair won a vote authorizing the use of force as part of a U.S.-led coalition to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but the war's chaotic aftermath left a bitter legacy.

Last year British Prime Minister David Cameron lost a vote to bomb the Assad regime in Syria amid public opposition to another war. Political commentators said the failed vote by Washington's long-standing ally put a brake on President Barack Obama's plans to punish the Syrian leader for allegedly using chemical weapons on his own people.

However, the task of Obama in building a coalition is likely to be made easier after Cameron easily won Friday's vote, by 524 votes to 43, authorizing the airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq. The opposition Labour Party supported the action against the Islamic militant group, despite doubts of some lawmakers on both sides of the House of Commons.

Opinion polls also suggest backing for action has grown following the release of videos showing the beheadings of western hostages. In August opinion was evenly split (37-36%), according to one YouGov poll, but is now markedly more in favor (53-26%). Polling by Comres conducted before the death of British hostage David Haines also found similar backing for airstrikes: more than half of those who took part in the survey backed action -- a rise of 5% in a month.

Cameron recalled Parliament after Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi requested British military support in its battle against ISIS. Fighter planes from France and the United States have already started bombing in Iraq, but unlike in those countries the convention in Britain is for lawmakers to vote in Parliament before action is taken.

Veteran political commentator Robin Oakley said MPs were more in tune with the public than a year ago. "The degree of ISIS' brutality has changed a considerable number of minds.

"People who previously had doubts are now convinced that there is no alternative but force. Voices will be raised: some MPs believe that bombing ISIS may radicalize the population in areas that it controls. Local people who never liked the al-Maliki government and who may have been suffering ISIS may now offer it their support."

Oakley said it was the brutal videos that had likely won over lawmakers -- in contrast to the Syria vote. "Last year Labour couldn't support the action because MPs felt there was no conclusive evidence that al-Assad had used chemical weapons against his own people.

"MPs will worry about 'mission creep' when there is no obvious aim apart from to eradicate ISIS. Military action may destroy the leaders but it cannot eradicate ideas -- so the fear among lawmakers is that this intervention could be counter-productive."

Outside Parliament, there were also doubts about the military action. Protests took place in central London on Thursday, organized by Stop the War. The group's spokesman Ian Chamberlain said that while it was important to listen to public opinion, "once people start to see the results and start to reflect, I believe support will fall."

"Public support for military interventions in Afghanistan collapsed after the results of the bombing became clear. Bombing increases sectarian hatred of the west, and it's obvious that military intervention doesn't work. You can't destroy terrorism by bombing infrastructure. It just brings more terrorism."

Ebola crisis calls for 'strong' action, Obama tells United Nations

(CNN) -- The West Africa Ebola outbreak is "a growing threat to regional and global security," U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday, telling a high-level meeting on the deadly epidemic at the U.N. General Assembly that only an international response can prevent "a humanitarian catastrophe across the region."

"If ever there were a public health emergency deserving of an urgent, strong and coordinated international response, this is it," the President said.

Obama has declared the epidemic -- which is centered in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -- a national security priority amid fears it could spread farther afield and claim many more lives.

"This is more than a health crisis," he said. "This is a growing threat to regional and global security. In Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, public health systems are near collapse. Economic growth is slowing dramatically. If this epidemic is not stopped, this disease could cause a humanitarian catastrophe across the region."

The President singled out Sierra Leone, where on Wednesday the government declared a success a three-day nationwide lockdown put in place to help stop the spread of Ebola, saying it had revealed more cases hidden in the community. Under the plan, no one was allowed to leave their homes for three days, from September 19 to 21, allowing volunteers to go door-to-door to educate people about the deadly virus.

"The courageous men and women fighting on the front lines of this disease have told us what they need: more beds, more supplies and more health workers, as fast as possible," Obama said. "Right now, patients are being left to die in the streets. ... One health worker in Sierra Leone compared fighting this outbreak to 'fighting a forest fire with spray bottles.' "

Obama called the outbreak an "urgent threat to the people of West Africa but also a potential threat to the world." A rapid global response to the crisis "could be the difference between tens of thousands of people dying and perhaps a million people dying," he said.

The President also highlighted United States' efforts to help, including establishing a military command in Liberia to support civilian efforts. But he urged international organizations and businesses to move faster to mobilize partners on the ground, and nations to contribute everything from air transport to health care workers to equipment.

"We are not moving fast enough; we are not doing enough," Obama said. "Right now, everybody has the best of intentions, but people are not putting in the kinds of resources that are necessary to put a stop to this epidemic."

The head of a medical organization at the forefront of fighting the Ebola crisis also appealed to world leaders at the meeting to take immediate action or risk losing the fight to contain the epidemic.

"Generous pledges of aid and unprecedented U.N. resolutions are very welcome. But they will mean little, unless they are translated into immediate action," Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, said, according to an advance transcript of her speech.

"The reality on the ground today is this: The promised surge has not yet delivered.

"The sick are desperate, their families and caregivers are angry, and aid workers are exhausted. Maintaining quality of care is an extreme challenge."

Liu said fear and panic have set in as infection rates double every three weeks in the worst-affected nations, while growing numbers are dying of other diseases like malaria because health care systems have collapsed.

"Without you, we fall further behind the epidemic's deadly trajectory. Today, Ebola is winning," she said.