NIGERIA

Fire broke out on Wednesday on the Okordia/Rumuekpe oil pipeline in Nigeria and some production has been shut down, but the blaze has since been put out, a spokesman for operator Royal Dutch Shell said.

Nigeria's police said on Tuesday they had arrested suspected members of an Islamist sect behind coordinated attacks in the north of the country that killed at least 65 people late last week.

Nigeria's national security adviser on Monday dismissed a warning from the United States of an Islamist bomb threat to luxury hotels in the capital as not news, and said it was spreading unnecessary panic.

Miss World 2011: Miss Venezuela Wins the Crown, Protestors Picket Pageant and Contestants Speak Out (HOLD)

Reportedly, the attacks lasted for 90 minutes and included running gun battles with security forces.

Gunmen attacked a church in Nigeria late Thursday, killing at least two people.

Pirates have hijacked an oil products tanker off the coast of Nigeria after contact was lost with the vessel and crew over the weekend, the vessel's manager said on Thursday.

Kenya's central bank bared its teeth against stubbornly high inflation on Tuesday with a record rate rise that is seen supporting the shilling, boosting appetite for long-term bonds and helping secure the approval of extra funds from the IMF.

Nigerian legislators started hearings this week on a bill that would criminalise same-sex marriage and could make it punishable by five years in jail.

A Nigerian court rejected a challenge to President Goodluck Jonathan's victory in an April election and rejected demands by the main opposition party for a recount in several areas of the country.

Nigeria's Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi said on Monday the bank would review its target band for the naira in the next few days, and depending on where the exchange rate settles may move its midpoint to 155/156 to the dollar, compared to its current 150.

According to reports, of the 54 nations of the Commonwealth, three-fourths (41) have laws which ban homosexuality.

Africa's new scramble for oil is heading east, where the potential could be huge but the risks are far higher than in the well-established sector on the continent's west coast.

Nigeria's military said on Monday they had detained a small oil tanker and arrested 46 people trying to ship illegally refined oil products, pursuing a fight against an underground industry worth hundred of millions of dollars a year.

The death of Moammar Gadhafi has definitely clarified one piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is the global oil market: There is now one fewer issue to hinder production security in a host of oil hot spots.

U.S. oilfield services company Halliburton Co conducted an internal investigation of its Angolan operations after an anonymous email alleged its employees breached corruption laws.

Nigeria's central bank said on Friday it will sell U.S. dollars both directly into the market and at auctions, while it lifted the amount of dollars banks' can hold in reserve, in a continued effort to stabilise the naira currency.

The Nigerian interbank lending rates climbed on Friday to an average of 14.50 percent from 13.50 percent last week as system liquidity thins out with outflows to bonds and foreign exchange purchases by lenders.

The U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately decide if victims and their families can sue corporations or political organizations in America for human rights abuses in other countries.

President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos cut Angola's growth forecast for 2011 to 3.7 percent on Tuesday due mainly to lower crude production but the economy should bounce back with a 12 percent expansion next year.

Nigeria's new car imports jumped 40 percent in the first nine months of 2011 compared to the same period last year, although sales were expected to slow given rising interest rates and local currency weaknesses, import dealers said on Monday.