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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo A political scientist and speaker at the 39th public lecture on “Bullet versus Ballot: Interrogating Nigeria’s 4th Republic Electoral’s Consultations,” Prof. Adekunle Amuwo, said former President Olusegun Obasanjo failed Nigeria during his tenure. The lecture was organized by the Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State. Amuwo, who claimed he had full knowledge of how Obasanjo emerged the President of the country in 1999, said that the former President’s rule was the genesis of the level of corruption currently being experienced in the country.

Serena Williams overcame illness to capture a sixth Australian Open crown with a straight-sets win over Maria Sharapova in the women's final on Saturday evening. Williams, who was struggling with the flu in the build-up to the final on Rod Laver Arena, triumphed 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) to lift the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup for the first time since 2010.

The man   aged in his 30s and his family - a woman, a baby aged 12 weeks and a boy aged 18 months - were sheltering from an electrical storm in a park near   Worongary State School on Delta Cove Drive just before 4pm when they were hit. The school was being used as a polling booth for the state election, situated in the seat of Gaven. Paramedics attended to the man at the scene before he was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital in a critical condition.

  The captain of the AirAsia jet that crashed into the sea in December was out of his seat conducting an unorthodox procedure when his co-pilot apparently lost control, and by the time he returned it was too late to save the plane, two people familiar with the investigation said.

       He was hardly a household name, and he owed his authority to the votes of a few thousand people on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. But for more than two decades, Sheldon Silver was one of the most powerful people in New York politics. He held up budgets, cut deals, blocked projects he didn’t like and doled out public dollars with little accountability. Governors came and went, but Silver seemingly was speaker of the New York State Assembly for life — beyond the reach of good-government critics, investigative journalists and ethics watchdogs. Until last week.       On Jan. 22, Silver was arrested, handcuffed, fingerprinted and brought before a judge, accused of an   array of corruption charges . (Silver did not have to enter a plea, but he has denied the accusations.)

Three American contractors were killed in an apparent insider attack in the Afghan capital Kabul, an Afghan air force official told Reuters news agency. "It is unclear yet why he shot these advisers and no one else was there to tell us the reason," the official said, asking not to be named because he was not  authorized  to give statements to the media.   "An investigation has been opened."

An outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in Nigerian poultry farms has spread to four more states, raising the total of affected areas to 11, the agricultural and rural development minister said on Thursday. Africa's most populous country and biggest   economy   was the first country on the continent to detect bird flu, in 2006 when chicken farms were found to have the H5N1 strain. In 2007, Nigeria recorded its first human death from the disease.

"How many African-Americans do you know actually consider Africa as a vacation spot? Not one... Even just for knowledge, just to know where they came from, just to get an idea of what that is; there is so much fear instilled in them that they wouldn't even want to go there to visit. You mention Africa, they start shaking." Senegalese-American artist Akon is a five-time Grammy nominee who has sold over 35 million records worldwide, and has collaborated with some of the biggest names in popular music, such as Michael Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Lady Gaga and David Guetta. The musician, songwriter and producer, who was born in the US but spent much of his childhood in Senegal, is also an activist and a philanthropist - and he has turned his sights on helping Africa.

A gas explosion leveled part of a maternity hospital in Mexico City on Thursday, killing at least two people and injuring dozens more. Images showed rescuers rushing from the rubble with babies in their arms and paramedics carrying bloodied victims on stretchers. More than 100 people were in the hospital at the time of the blast, which officials said occurred after a hose burst on a truck supplying gas to the building.

A court in Zimbabwe on Tuesday sentenced four villagers who were displaced by floods last year to five years in jail each for taking part in demonstrations that rocked the camp they and thousands of others were sheltering in. Collen Maboke, a member of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, said he was surprised by the judgment handed down in a magistrate's court in the south-eastern town of Chiredzi.

South Africa crashed out of the 2015 African Cup of Nations after a superb second half performance from Ghana saw them come from behind to win 2-1 in their Group C match at the Estadio De Mongomo on Tuesday night.

The campaign billboards of two Nigerian presidential candidates erected in Ghana’s capital, Accra have been pulled down following an order by the country’s (Ghana) national security agency. The billboards of the ruling People’s Democratic Party featuring President Goodluck Jonathan, as well as those of the main opposition All Progressives Congress of Muhammadu Buhari, located on Accra roads, were pulled down over the weekend by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly.

The US has launched a fresh drone strike targeting al-Qaeda fighters in Yemen, signaling Washington's determination to keep fighting the armed group despite the Gulf Arab country's political turmoil caused by a power grab by Shia rebels known as the Houthis. Yemeni tribal and security officials in the central province of Marib said the missile hit a vehicle carrying three men near the boundary with Shabwa province, an al-Qaeda stronghold, on Monday.

   Tens of millions of people in the north-east of the United States have been warned to stay indoors as a life-threatening winter storm approaches. Winter Storm Juno is expected to dump around a metre of snow in parts of the north-east, with the worst affected areas likely to be New England, particularly Connecticut and Massachusetts.       More than 6,560 flights have been cancelled and road travel bans have been ordered for 13 counties of New York state. Residents across the region rushed to supermarkets to stockpile food and essential items, as commuters rushed home to hunker down. "It could be a matter of life and death, and that's not being overly dramatic, so caution is required," New York governor Andrew Cuomo said.

Manchester City and Chelsea, two of the richest clubs in world soccer, were knocked out of the English FA Cup by lower league opposition on a day of shocks and awe.

Arsenal Ladies have completed the signing of Vicky Losada from Barcelona. The 23-year-old midfielder has spent much of the past 10 years with the Catalan club, captaining them to three Superliga titles and three Spanish Cups. She also enjoyed a spell with Western New York flash in the United States during 2014, where she worked alongside Arsenal Ladies' manager Pedro Martinez Losa.