Western countries are in talks with Nigerian security forces to help rescue hundreds of kidnapped schoolgirls still missing three weeks after they were seized.

Nigerian troops were reported to be massing for an assault to try to free hundreds of schoolgirls kidnapped by a militant Islamist group.

Parents of 230 girls abducted from their boarding school by Nigerian Islamists have had to call off the search for their daughters because of a lack of police back-up.

Boko Haram gunmen opened fire in a college dormitory in northeast Nigeria as the students slept, killing 40, in the latest massacre blamed on the Islamist insurgents.

A tug boat cook managed to find an underwater air pocket after his vessel sank off Nigeria's coast and miraculously survived nearly three days before being brought out alive, rescuers and his family say.

It is not known if the word "dysfunctional" was invented specifically to describe the Nigerian state.

There might be another silver lining for some members of the Football Ferns after yesterday's dramatic 2-2 draw with Mexico.

Rioters ran amok yesterday in the central Nigerian city of Jos.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is said to be in good spirits.

A Nigerian drug smuggler who duped authorities to get a job in NZ as a hospital psychiatrist came across as friendly but secretive, acquaintances say.

A Nigerian drug smuggler who fooled immigration officials to get a job as a hospital psychiatrist was yesterday jailed for 16 months.

Inspired by a love of Dr Dolittle and Tarzan to go to Tanzania and study chimpanzees, Jane Goodall has now clocked up 50 years of groundbreaking research into their behaviour. Robin McKie charts her extraordinary story.

The brown spots run like a trail of blood down the deserted coastline near this fishing village. Just underneath a handful of sand lies spilled oil.

Now that the FIFA World Cup is in the knockout phase, Michael Brown reviews 'The Best Of' after the end of the tournament group phase.

Photos of the Fifa World Cup fans from South Africa and around the world.

Photos from the game at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, long plagued by poor health, has died at age 58, his spokesman said.