Nigeria

Several dozen people suspected of having links to Nigeria's Boko Haram have been arrested in southern Niger since the start of cross-border attacks by the Islamist group a week ago, a local governor said.

At least 21 people were killed in two separate Boko Haram attacks on villages near the key city of Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria, a community leader and a witness said on Feb. 13.
      
"They (Boko Haram) killed 12 people in Akida village and nine others in Mbuta village during a raid," said community leader Mustapha Abbagini.
      

ZURICH - The Serbian men's national football team has moved down one spot in the latest FIFA world rankings and now takes the 39th position.

Serbia now has 713 points, which places it above Poland (709), Nigeria (664) and Sweden (654), and bellow Cape Verde (756), Island (743) and Scotland (748).

Boko Haram on Feb. 11 launched a pre-dawn raid in Gamboru, northeastern Nigeria, looking to overwhelm Chadian troops who had pushed them out of the border town.
      
The military in N'Djamena said the militants were repelled but the counter-attack was an indication of the task facing regional forces aiming to crush the rebellion.
      

The USA is pointed out as the leader in world oil markets over the next decade in the annual Medium-Term Oil Market report published by the International Energy Agency on Tuesday.

In the light of economic sanctions against Russia on world markets, the country is prognosed to resort to contracting many of its capacities.

Niger's parliament has unanimously approved the deployment of troops to northern Nigeria as part of a regional offensive against Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has launched several cross-border attacks in recent days.
   

Nigeria's president, Goodluck Jonathan, has lived up to his name again. Three minutes after he left an election rally in the northern city of Gombe last week Monday, a suicide bomber blew herself up in the nearby parking lot. "The president had just passed the parking lot and we were trailing behind his convoy when the explosion happened," said a local witness, Mohammed Bolari.

Nigeria's Boko Haram fighters launched a new attack in neighbouring Niger on Feb. 9, as parliament in Niamey was set to vote on joining a regional force against the Islamists.        

Nigeria has postponed its presidential election on security grounds as the Boko Haram conflict intensifies, handing a potential lifeline to the ruling party as it battles a tough challenge from the opposition.
      

Niger is set to send troops to Nigeria for the multi-national battle against Boko Haram after scores of people were killed in a fresh onslaught by the Islamist fighters in a key border town.