BREAKING NEWS: 16-Hour Sydney Siege Comes To Dramatic End As Police Storm Cafe

Revealed: Lone Gunman - Haron Monis

A swarm of heavily armed police stormed a cafe in the heart of downtown Sydney early Tuesday, ending a siege where a gunman had been holding an unknown number of people hostage for more than 16 hours.

Picture Of The Day: Miss South Africa Crowned Miss World - Sowetan

Picture Credit: Toby Melville/REUTERS

South Africans are celebrating after Rolene Strauss was crowned as Miss World 2014, becoming the third South African to win the title, BBC/SAPA/Sowetan report.

The 22-year-old medical student was named in London, with an estimated global audience of one billion. 

#SydneySiege: 'Islamist' Hostage Drama In Australia LIVE UPDATES - RT

Police officers position themselves at a corner near Lindt cafe in Martin Place, where hostages are being held, in central Sydney December 15, 2014.(Reuters / Jason Reed)

Uganda Maid Jolly Tumuhirwe Jailed For Assaulting Toddler

Jolly Tumuhirwe

A Ugandan maid has been sentenced to four years in jail for assaulting a toddler, in a case which sparked national outrage after a video was released.

2015 ELECTION – VIEWS: Nigeria's Economic Pain May Not Decide Election

Goodluck Jonathan vs Muhammadu Buhari (Photo credit: Nigeriacurrent.com)

Nigeria is suffering from a plummeting currency, steep budget cuts, corruption scandals and diving oil prices; yet all this is unlikely to decide a tight race for the presidency.

US NBA-Bryant Passes Jordan For Third In All-Time Scoring

Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers' shooting guard

Kobe Bryant eclipsed Michael Jordan on the National Basketball Association's all-time scoring list on Sunday, surpassing the legendary scorer during the second quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers' game at the Minnesota Timberwolves.

DOPING SCANDAL IN ATHLETICS Coe: Doping Claims Very Serious, May Be As Big As Johnson's

Lord Sebastian Coe wants allegations into doping to be investigated

IAAF vice-president Sebastian Coe says if the current doping allegations in athletics are true then it will be a scandal on a par with those which erupted around Ben Johnson and Marion Jones' positive drugs tests.

PDP Governors Begged Obasanjo Not To Launch ‘Acidic’ Book Before 2015 Polls – TheCable Exclusive

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo (Photo: TheCable)

The December 4 visit of five governors to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta was meant to stop the release of his book, My Watch, TheCable can report.

SYDNEY SIEGE UPDATE: FIVE HOSTAGES ESCAPE: Two Women And Three Men Break Free From A Sydney Cafe

Two young female employees escape

Two young female employees have now fled a central Sydney cafe more than seven hours after a terrorist armed with a gun took dozens of people hostage and forced crying women to hold a black Islamic flag up to the window.

I Killed My Master Because I Needed N150, 000 For Dubai Trip shooting guard Motor Boy

Suspect Saidu (Photo: Vanguard)

A look at 32 year-old Sani Saidu , will never pass him for a betrayer, let alone a killer , owing to his quiet disposition and soft way of speaking. But his disposition has only proved to be deceptive after all, as he is currently cooling his heels at the Lagos State Criminal Investigations Department ,SCID, Yaba , Lagos, over a case of alleged murder.

‘America Needs A Perestroika’ — Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev (Reuters / Hannibal Hanschke )

The United States needs reforms similar to those during Perestroika in the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev told RT's Sophie Shevardnadze. The former Soviet leader also spoke about Washington’s policy of pressure and intervention into conflicts.

Oil Price Fall: Prepare For Hard Times, FG Cautions NDIC, Others

Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Basir Yuguda

The Federal Government has urged the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, and other regulatory institutions in the nation’s financial sector to put in place pro-active mechanisms to ensure continued depositor protection and a safe and sound financial system that would minimize the impact of the falling oil prices on the economy.

ECOWAS Card To Replace Travel Certificate

The Economic Community of West African States Biometric Identity Card will go into force in 2016, representing another step in the march to regional integration through unfettered movement of citizens, the ECOWAS Commission has said.

FG Worried About Poor West African Examination Council Results, Says Shekarau

Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau

Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, has disclosed that the Federal Government is worried over the poor results recorded in the last Senior Secondary School certificate examination conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC).

Oil Workers Begin Strike Today Over Fuel Price, Others

Oil Workers Unions' Logos

Oil workers under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria will commence a nationwide strike today to protest the inability of the Federal Government to carry out turnaround maintenance of the nation’s four refineries and reduce pump prices of petrol in line with the slump in global prices of crude oil.

Lagos Doctors Plead For Payment Of Salaries

Protesting Lagos doctors

Doctors in the employ of Lagos State on Sunday staged a peaceful rally at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja to appeal for the payment of their salaries.

Collect Your Voter Card, Adeboye Urges Nigerians

Pastor Enoch Adeboye

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has called on Nigerians to ensure that they get their voters’ card to enable them exercise their civic responsibilities during next year’s general elections.

Jonathan Hosts ECOWAS Summit

Sall (of Senegal), Mahama (Ghana), Jonathan (Nigeria).. West African leaders all, led Burkina Faso Mission earlier

President Goodluck Jonathan will on Monday in Abuja host the 46th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, his office said in a statement on Sunday.

BREAKING NEWS & ON-GOING EVENT: Islamist Militants Take Hostages In Sydney Cafe, Display Black Jihadist Flag

A screenshot from live feed by Channel 7

A police operation is underway at a café in central Sydney, where up to 40 hostages are being held by unknown attackers and a black jihadist flag can be seen. It comes amid Australia’s backing of the US-led operation against the Islamic State.

Male Idiot Theory Proven? Men Make Up 90 Percent Of ‘Stupid Deaths’

AFP Photo

It has finally arrived: concrete evidence to support Male Idiot Theory (MIT), which states that men are especially prone to serious accidents and fatal mistakes because “they are idiots and do stupid things.”