Boko Haram threat: Time running out for Nigeria

Abubakar Shekau claims to be the leader of Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram. (Boko Haram/ AFP)

Kano - Nigeria faces a race against time to tackle its worsening security situation, which has spread in scale and scope affecting all walks of life, an influential governor told AFP in an interview.

Kano state governor Rabiu Kwankwaso said the country was unprepared for the level of violence from Boko Haram Islamists and that a lack of political leadership had allowed the situation to worsen.

"Time is running out. Something has to be done, especially [in] the north-eastern part of this country," Kwankwaso, a former defence minister under president Olusegun Obasanjo, said late on Tuesday.

Kwankwaso, a leading figure in the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), was one of a number of governors from the mainly Muslim north to switch allegiance from the ruling People’s Democratic Party last year.

The defections, which also led to a number of lawmakers crossing the floor in parliament, threatening President Goodluck Jonathan's majority, were attributed in part to the head of state's perceived indifference to the north.

Kwankwaso said social and economic inequalities in the region compared to the richer, oil-producing south, had helped fuel the insurgency and needed to be tackled.

40 dead in latest Boko Haram attack

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau (Picture: AFP)

Kano - The Islamist militant group Boko Haram attacked a village Wednesday in the Nigerian state of Borno, killing at least 40 people and setting most of the houses ablaze, according to local media.

 A resident of the village said that the few villagers who escaped unscathed had fled into nearby Chad. 

The reported attack on a village followed Boko Haram's attacks on Tuesday on police stations and military outposts, in which dozens of people were killed in Yobe state.

Oscar's family dismisses tweet claims

Oscar Pistorius arrives at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital. (Picture: AFP)

Johannesburg - Murder accused Oscar Pistorius was at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital on Monday for a mental evaluation and was not at home, family spokesperson Anneliese Burgess said.

She denied a suggestion on Twitter that the athlete spent the day at home with a visiting pastor.

"This meeting took place over the weekend. Oscar spent the whole day at Weskoppies yesterday [Monday] as per the requirements of the court order," Burgess said on Tuesday.

Pistorius began a 30-day mental health evaluation at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital in Pretoria on Monday.

American pastor Robert Tillman Kendall posted a photograph of himself and Pistorius on Twitter on the same day just after 17:00.

Kendall tweeted: "Oscar Pistorius gave me lunch in his home today in Pretoria, S Africa. Please, please do pray for him."

Burgess said Pistorius was at the hospital the whole day on Monday.

Pistorius was admitted as a day patient by the hospital following an order by Judge Thokozile Masipa in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

Three psychiatrists and one clinical psychologist would evaluate Pistorius to determine whether his general anxiety disorder and his disability had an effect on him when he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year.

One psychiatrist was appointed by the defence, one by the court, and another by the hospital.

Pistorius is charged with the murder of Steenkamp.

He shot her dead through the locked door of his toilet in his Pretoria home. He has denied guilt, saying he thought she was an intruder about to open the door and attack him.

The State contends he shot her during an argument.

He is also charged with three contraventions of the Firearms Control Act - one of illegal possession of ammunition and two of discharging a firearm in public. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Boko Haram kills 24 at Nigeria market

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau (Picture: AFP)

Cape Town - At least 24 people were killed by suspected members of Islamist extremist sect Boko Haram in northern Nigeria, local newspaper Vanguard reported on Monday.

More than 20 insurgents armed with assault rifles and explosives attacked the village of Kamuyya in Borno State during a weekly Sunday market.

The gunmen fired into the crowd before setting shops and vehicles on fire. More than 100 houses were burnt down, witnesses said.

"The militants, armed with sophisticated weapons, raided the area and proceeded to the major market. They began to shoot sporadically into the crowd, killing 24 people on the spot and burnt most of the shops in the market," said resident Bukar Umar.

"The invaders snatched several vehicles and loaded them with bags of foodstuff before fleeing the area," Umar added. The attack comes a day after a suicide bomber killed eight people in the central Nigerian town of Jos.

More than 100 people were killed in suspected Boko Haram attacks in central and northern Nigeria in the past week.

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are officially married!

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West in Paris. (AFP)

Florence - Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are married.

The couple, who went public with their relationship in April 2012 and have 11-month-old daughter North, exchanged vows in front of approximately 200 guests during an outdoor sunset ceremony at the Forte di Belvedere in Florence, Italy on Saturday

A source told PEOPLE.com that Rich Wilkerson Jr., a pastor from North Miami, performed the ceremony, which was organised by long-time Kardashian family friend and celebrity event planner Sharon Sacks, who also planned Kim's second wedding to Kris Humphries in 2011.

Kanye appeared to be very nervous beforehand, swigging obsessively from a bottle of water.


(The wedding venue. AFP)

An eyewitness said: “It was funny how nervous he was. He clearly knew the gravity of what he was about to do. This morning he was all smiles, but as it got closer, you could see that the nerves were kicking in. It's common for most grooms. I've seen it all before.”

Another source told E! News that Kim arrived at their wedding venue with her grandmother, Mary Jo Shannon, shortly after catching a private jet with her bridal party, including sisters, Kourtney and Khloé Kardashian, and mother, Kris Jenner, from Paris, where the couple enjoyed a pre-wedding celebration at the Palace of Versailles on Friday night.

An eyewitness said: “A convoy of cars arrived at around 15:00 local time. Kim was in the first car, which was a Mercedes-Benz. They drove the car right up and her assistant opened the door and Kim dashed in. She looked to be wearing white.

“Kourtney was carrying her daughter Penelope and her son Mason--in a red-striped outfit - followed behind.

“Kris Jenner got out of second car wearing black suit. And she put a big professional camera on a strap on her shoulders. She has obviously been taking professional pictures to remember the occasion.”


(Fans outside the wedding venue. AFP)

The New Slaves hitmaker surprised the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star by proposing to her on her 33rd birthday on October 21 at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

The couple started dating just months after the reality TV star split from ex-husband Kris in October 2011 after 72 days of marriage.

UN imposes sanctions on Nigeria’s Boko Haram

Boko Haram Islamists leader Abubakar Shekau. (File AFP

New York - The United Nations blacklisted and imposed sanctions on Boko Haram as an al-Qaeda-linked terror group on Thursday, a month after it claimed the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls.

The designation, which was immediately welcomed by Britain and the United States, came into effect after no objections were raised by the Security Council's 15 members.

The move subjects Boko Haram to UN sanctions, including an arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban.

The group, which was created 10 years ago, demands the creation of an Islamic state in mainly Muslim northern Nigeria. Their attacks have left thousands dead since 2009.

US ambassador Samantha Power hailed the move as "an important step" in support of Nigeria's efforts "to defeat Boko Haram and hold its murderous leadership accountable for atrocities".

Nigeria, criticised by the United States for failing to react quickly enough to the rise of Boko Haram, had asked the al-Qaeda sanctions committee to blacklist the group and impose sanctions.

"It is [a] significant step," Nigerian ambassador Joy Ogwu told reporters in anticipation on Wednesday. "The important thing is to attack the problem and that is terrorism," she added.

Sanctions scepticism 

Experts question whether sanctions will have any real impact on a group based in a part of Nigeria that operates on a cash economy.

Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the kidnapping in mid-April of more than 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, in northeastern Nigeria which sparked international outrage.

The imposition of UN sanctions was recommended last Saturday at a conference in Paris that brought together Benin, Britain, Chad, Cameroon, France Niger, Nigeria and the United States.

The United States and a number of other countries have already designated Boko Haram as a terrorist organisation in an attempt to cut off any overseas funding for the group.

Power said the United States would continue doing everything possible to help bring back the kidnapped schoolgirls and to work with the government of Nigeria to eliminate Boko Haram.

"The Security Council has helped to close off important avenues of funding, travel and weapons to Boko Haram, and shown global unity against their savage actions," she said in a statement.

Escalation of violence 

In the last five weeks, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks outside the northeast, worst affected by the insurgency, leading to fears of an escalation of violence across the country.

Hours before the girls' kidnapping, the group bombed a crowded bus station in the Abuja suburb of Nyanya, killing 75. A copy-cat bombing at the same location on 1 May left 19 dead.

On Tuesday, two car bombs ripped through a busy market within 20 minutes of each other in the central city of Jos, killing at least 118, in Nigeria's deadliest such attack.

Nigeria has concentrated on a mainly military response to Boko Haram.

More than 2 000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed this year alone as a result of the violence and the military's response, according to human rights and monitoring groups.

Critics have called into question the military's reliance on conventional tactics to fight an enemy waging a guerrilla war and urged "soft power" strategies to be used at the same time.

South African Police Services smash international cybercrime network. One SA woman , 11 Nigerian men and 9 Canadian & USA criminals arrested

Pretoria - Police said on Wednesday they have smashed an international cybercrime network operating out of Pretoria and made several arrests in a joint operation with the United States.

US homeland security officers worked with South African police to bring down "a West African criminal enterprise operating from South Africa with strong links to the United States", the South African Police Service said.

A briefing later on Wednesday "will announce arrests and charges" in the case.

Arrests have been made in several countries including Canada, South Africa and the United States, police spokesperson Paul Ramaloko told AFP, without giving numbers.

He said suspects were due to appear in court in Pretoria later on Wednesday before being extradited to the United States.

Local media have said there were Nigerian nationals among those arrested.