Nigeria

Nigerian police have banned protests in the capital Abuja by supporters of the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants as the activists vowed to challenge the "illegal" move.
      

Greece defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos will miss his country's next World Cup warm-up friendly with African champions Nigeria in the United States on Tuesday after suffering a biceps injury, the team's medical team announced on Sunday.

A bombing at a football pitch in Nigeria's restive northeast killed at least 40 people on Sunday in an area previously attacked by Boko Haram Islamists, a police officer and a nurse said.
      

SHANGHAI - Serbia's best female athlete Ivana Spanovic has set a new national outdoor record at the second meet of the Diamond League in Shanghai with her long jump of 6.85 m.

That is three centimeters more than her previous record that she established at the European championships in Mocow last year.

Maternal deaths have fallen by 45% worldwide since 1990, statistics of the UN and the World Health Organization (WHO) show.

Over half a million women died during childbirth in 1990, while in 2013 the figure was 289,000.

An irrigation system running renewable energy developed by a Bulgarian company sparked interest from Qatar, Nigeria and Ethiopia.

A prototype of the system has already been installed and is functioning in the southeastern village of Polyana, Yambol district, where the technology services a farm of 50 decares, according to reports of Capital daily.

Nigeria outpaced South Africa as the largest economy on the continent, fresh data by the country's statistics institute show.

Its GDP was NGN (naira) 80.22 trillion or USD 509 B in 2013 and registered a strong, 7.41-percent growth, according to the head of the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, Yemi Kale.

Milwaukee Bucks rookie forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has managed to enthrall National Basketball Association fans and coaches this season despite playing on the league's worst team.

BELGRADE - Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic has appointed Jovan Maric as ambassador to Nigeria.

The order to appoint Maric was published in the latest issue of the Official Gazette.

Jovan Maric, 73, is a psychiatrist, professor of the Faculty of Medicine and head of the day clinic of the Institute of Psychiatry in Belgrade.