Government officials in Nigeria say two million people in Jigawa state have been moved to higher ground after the authorities had to open floodgates on two rivers. Those displaced amount to about half the state's population. The Nigerian authorities said the floodgates had to be opened because water levels have become dangerously high.
Gunmen have shot dead the mayor of a town in northern Mexico, the fourth mayor to be killed over the past month. Prisciliano Rodriguez was the mayor of Doctor Gonzalez, a town 50km east of Monterrey, once considered one of the safest places in Mexico but which has seen an upsurge in violence over the past month. From Mexico City, Julian Miglierini reports.
The authorities say that Mr Rodriguez was killed along with an employee in the late evening as he was entering his house. Local justice officials say that they cannot yet establish a link between his death and the drug cartels operating in the area. However, the region is known to be at the core of a violent confrontation between criminals and government forces. Last month, the mayor of nearby Santiago, Edelmiro Cavazos, was kidnapped outside his home, and his body was found three days later not far from the town he governed.
The price of gold has hit $1,300 an ounce, a record figure. Analysts say it's partly in response to a weak performance by the US dollar after poor American economic figures. There is also concern about currency values if central banks would turn again to the policy of quantitative easing, in effect, printing more money.