At least 18 people were killed by a car bomb that ripped through the United Nations’ building in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Friday — a rare attack on an international institution in a country wracked by local conflicts. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the final casualty toll was likely to be high [...]

  The US and Europe have dramatically increased the pressure on the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, with Barack Obama leading a demand by world leaders for him to surrender power. Obama declared the “sustained onslaught” of Assad’s regime against pro-democracy protesters had cost it all legitimacy. The US president was joined by David Cameron, French [...]

  The UN has made its first aid delivery to drought victims in areas of Somalia controlled by al-Qaeda-linked militants since they lifted an aid ban. UN children organisation’s Rozanne Chorlton said al-Shabab had given UN workers unhindered access and hoped this would encourage other agencies. It comes as the UK pledged £52.25m ($84m) in [...]

  Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi will not be part of the African Union’s next attempt to map out a peace deal in the war-torn nation, the organization said in a statement Sunday. “The AU high-level ad hoc committee welcomes Colonel Gadhafi’s acceptance of not being part of the negotiation process,” the statement said. It was [...]

  Men riding motorcycles threw bombs into outdoor beer gardens Sunday night in northeastern Nigeria, killing at least 25 people in attacks bearing striking similarities to others carried out by a radical Islamic sect in the region, police said. The bombs exploded in the restive city of Maiduguri, home to the sect known locally as [...]