NIGERIA

At least 30 people were killed in Nigeria on Monday when suspected Boko Haram militants attacked the Baga Road fish market in the northern city of Maiduguri.

Transocean crews over the weekend began drilling a relief well off the coast of Nigeria to allow for the proper abandonment of a Chevron Corp. natural gas well that exploded, killed two contractors, sank, and has remained on fire for more than one month.

African Union Chairman Thomas Boni Yayi will visit some of the continent's conflict areas -- including Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, and Libya -- for direct talks, an aide said on Saturday.

The Underwear Bomber, Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was sentenced to life in prison without parole by a federal court in Detroit on Thursday afternoon.

Around 20 gunmen believed to be members of Boko Haram raided a federal prison in Nigeria on Wednesday night, freeing as many as 200 inmates before escaping in getaway vehicles.

Amid soaring food prices, a quarter of a billion parents are forced to cut back on food and stop sending their children to school, aid agency Save the Children said in a report.

Despite overall growth in the country's economy, poverty in Nigeria is on the rise.

Three years after China launched its most ambitious experiment yet to give its currency more global clout, some market watchers are writing its epitaph, saying Beijing is not loosening its grip on the yuan fast enough to attract sustained interest.

The crisis means nearly 12 million more people require assistance.

An increasingly violent insurgency by Islamist sect Boko Haram in Nigeria's economically stagnant north has begun pressuring the country's finances by forcing extra spending on security. It could be costing as much as 2 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

Thanks to expansive oil fields and a reservoir of millions of barrels of crude, Nigeria is the third-richest country in Africa. But due to corruption, poor wealth distribution, and lack of infrastructure, the nation's people suffer from staggering rates of poverty.

Oil fell from the highest level in three weeks ending a whole week of upward trend even as fears over a worsening eurozone debt crisis and its potentially disastrous impact on global commodity demand were contradicted by signs and figures of a quicker recovery from the U.S.

Canadian researchers from the University of Western Ontario claim they have developed a promising HIV vaccine, which has received the green light by U.S. FDA officials to begin testing the vaccine on humans.

Brent crude's premium to U.S. oil could be poised for another record run after jumping 50 percent over the past week, as an expected build in Midwest inventories again exerts pressure on the U.S. benchmark.

Nigerian officials in the country's Delta say pollution caused by the two-week fire at a Chevron natural gas rig is making local people sick, as scores of dead fish wash up on shore, and a local health facility is overrun by those seeking medical treatment.

President Goodluck Jonathan is under extreme pressure to end the insurgency

Boko Haram spokesperson Abu Qaqa was arrested by Nigeria's secret service during an early morning raid on Wednesday.

Mustapha had served as Abacha’s chief of security and has always maintained his innocence

Gunmen bombed a police station Sunday outside Nigeria's second city Kano, the police and witnesses said, leading to an hour of gunbattles in a region plagued by attacks from Islamist sect Boko Haram.

Islamist sect Boko Haram, whose attacks have killed hundreds in oil-rich Nigeria, will continue its campaign until the country is ruled by sharia law, a senior member was quoted as saying on Saturday: We have our sights set on [bringing sharia to] the whole world, not just Nigeria.

Boko Haram threatened Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan this week. Speaking in an audio message that was posted online, rebel leader Imam Abubakar Shekau said that he was willing to martyr himself to make Jonathan see.