President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday conceded defeat to his Socialist rival Francois Hollande and said he had phoned him to wish him luck as the new leader of France.

Soldiers in the northern city of Kano killed four suspected members of Islamist sect in a raid on their hideout on Sunday, an army spokesman said.

Joint Task Force, JTF, raided the hideout of suspected religious extremists in Hotoro quarters of Kano municipal, killing four in the ensuing gunfight. JTF spokesman, Lt. Ikediche Iweha, told Vanguard on phone that several suspected militants were arrested during the operation.

The Commissioner for Education in Abia, Dr Monica Philips, has warned that school heads, who collect more than N500 as Parents Teachers Association (PTA) levy per term would be penalised.

Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay has said interim manager Roberto di Matteo will have to wait until after the Champions League final to discover if he will be given the job on a permanent basis.

Three people were shot dead while four others, including two soldiers, were wounded Saturday when suspected Islamists sect opened fire at a wedding in the city of Maiduguri, the army said.

Five men accused of plotting the deadly September 11, 2001 attacks have been formally charged with crimes including murder and terrorism in a chaotic marathon hearing.

South Africa’s National House of Traditional Leaders wants parliament to delete a clause in the constitution that guarantees equal rights to homosexuals, a media report said Sunday.

Torrential rains and strong winds killed at least eight people, injured dozens of others destroyed hundreds of homes in northwestern Zamfara state, officials said Saturday.

The re-run election into Ward H, Oduselu/Ola in Mushin local government area was, yesterday, halted for over two hours when members of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accused each other of attempt to manipulate the result of the poll.

FORMER presidential adviser and the senator representing Anambra South senatorial zone in the country’s upper chamber, Dr. Andy Uba, has hinted of his desire to occupy the Government House of Anambra State which will become vacant in March, 2014 after Governor Peter Obi’s second tenure.

Dialogue with the Islamists now if you want peace! That is the message coming from the highest echelon of the Nigerian Muslim community to the Federal Government. The secretary general of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Dr. Lateef Adegbite, disagrees with those with the position that dialogue is not a viable option to end the Boko Haram crisis.

AHEAD of the July 14 governorship election in Edo State, Governor Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday, kicked off his second term governorship campaign in Benin City, amidst tight security and down pour.

President Goodluck Jonathan warns those heating up the polity on the grounds that he wants to return to office in 2015 to hold their fire as re-election is not on his mind.

Margaret Johnson, a five-year-old who survived the terror attack in Bayero University Kano (BUK), was surrounded by her parents, Johnson and Halima, and three other sisters on her hospital bed at the emergency section of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano.