CIA chief defends agency's record

Washington - CIA Director John Brennan defended his agency on Thursday from accusations in a Senate report that it used inhumane interrogation techniques against terrorist suspects with no security benefits to the US.

Brennan opened a rare news conference by recounting the horrors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, his agency's determination to prevent another such assault and the fact that CIA officers were the first to fight and early to die in the Afghanistan war.

Nigerian girl, 13, found wearing explosives vest

Kano - Nigerian police arrested a 13-year-old girl wearing an explosives-packed vest in the northern city of Kano hours after an attack by two female suicide bombers, a security source and a witness said on Thursday.

The girl turned up at a clinic on the outskirts of Kano hours after a double bombing at a market in the city.

Goodluck Jonathan to contest Nigeria election

Abuja - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan won party primaries on Thursday while the opposition coalition continued voting to choose a challenger for February presidential elections in Africa's most populous nation.

The 14 February vote is expected to be the most closely contested since decades of military rule ended in 1999 in the continent's biggest oil producer.

Jonathan was the sole candidate at the governing party primaries though his election early on Thursday flouted an unwritten party rule that the presidency should rotate between a Christian southerner, like himself, and a northern Muslim.

Faced with Boko Haram refugees, Niger calls for help

Niamey - Niger needs more international assistance to help it confront a looming food crisis compounded by an influx of refugees fleeing attacks by Boko Haram Islamist fighters in neighbouring Nigeria, the country's prime minister said.

The twin crisis highlights the strain being put on Niger, a uranium producer straddling the Sahara that is one of the world's poorest nations, by recurrent poor harvests and the spill over from its neighbour's conflict with militants.

All-night vote in Nigeria opposition presidential primary

Lagos - Members of Nigeria's main opposition party voted through the night to choose a candidate to challenge President Goodluck Jonathan at next year's elections, with a result expected later on Thursday.

Proceedings at the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary at a stadium in the financial capital Lagos had been due to get under way mid-afternoon on Wednesday.

But it did not start until 23:00 and the 7 214 delegates only began to cast their ballots - alphabetically by state - from 03:00.