Nigeria

Each year, a disturbing number of women fall prey to fraudsters posing as U.S. servicemen, who woo them long-distance, then ask for cash. "A couple of years ago we were getting hundreds of calls a year about this scam," says Christopher Grey of the Army Criminal Investigation Command. "Now we get thousands."

According to the latest leaked U.S. diplomatic cables from WikiLeaks, Pfizer hired investigators to try to uncover evidence of corruption in order to pressure the Nigerian attorney general to drop the case against it.

Note to people who have been murdered, raped, beaten, or robbed by your country's army, with the assistance of a corporation such as transporting the attacking troops, feeding them, paying them, and giving them access to corporate property as a staging ground: You cannot sue the corporation in U.S. courts.

Con artists scamming people out of their money certainly isn't new -- but crooks are constantly coming up with new ways to separate customers from their cash, especially in the banking arena. Lately, we've noticed some new scams -- and a few tried-and-true methods -- cropping up in cities across...

Forget Austin Powers. The real "international man of mystery" is President Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria, who hasn't been seen in public for weeks. The absence comes at a tricky time for U.S.-Nigerian relations, as a Nigerian has been charged with trying to blow up a U.S. airliner and Obama needs Nigeria's help to counter Al-Qaeda's growing influence in the region.

OPEC is expected to keep oil supplies flat in 2010, but could gamble that international events will drive up prices.

Beloved One, I have the Courage to Crave Indulgence for this most opportune business venture... Look familiar? A day doesn't go by day that I don't receive an e-mail from people with names like Dr. Fortunate Goodpence or Mrs. Pius Motubo soliciting my aid in recovering millions from banks in...

Oil has moved up the past two trading days, to a large extent because of a rebel attack on part of the Shell pipeline system in Nigeria. Bloomberg reports "the strike targeted two well clusters in the western Niger River delta." Such incidents are fairly frequent now. The CIA World Factbook lists...

On Monday, amid reports of attacks on Nigerian oil installations and increasing market activity, the cost of oil started inching its way upward to $79.41 per barrel. For students of the past 30 years, this process should seem eerily familiar. In the early 1970s, the United States received...

Almost all of the focus on crude prices has been based on falling production and rising demand from large nations like China. These forces and, perhaps, aggressive speculation, have caused oil prices to rise nearly 100 percent since the first quarter, putting the price per barrel at about $70. The...