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Follow link to read article with complete links to sourced material: NiceDeb: The reason Obama hasn't been helping Nigeria fight Boko Haram will make you sickAccording to Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan, more than 13,000 people have been killed in the Boko Haram insurgency since 2009. Some estimates put the carnage as high as 17,000 deaths. Between July 2013 and June 2014 alone, an estimated 7,000 people died in incidents related to the insurgency. Boko Haram – which means “Western education is forbidden” – recently pledged allegiance to ISIS. When these formidable jihadists rampaged through Nigeria, last year – kidnapping schoolgirls,...

The world’s three most infamous terrorist organizations are working together at Al-Qaeda-run training camps in the Sahara Desert in Mauritania, where dozens of recruits from the U.S., Canada and Europe are being indoctrinated into violent jihad and training for attacks that could expand the so-called caliphate across North and West Africa, according to analysts. ISIS, Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda all have links to two camps in the remote sands of the expansive North African country, according to Veryan Khan, editorial director for the Florida-based Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium, which tracks international terrorism and had a source on the ground...

Locals from Damasak reported that the militant Islamic group passed through town shortly after troops from Niger and Chad secured it. Group members killed 50 and kidnapped 400 to 500 women and children as they left. Damasak had recently been freed by troops from Chad and Niger. Souleymane Ali, a local trader, told Reuters that the militants took 506 women and children, and killed about 50 of them. “We don’t know if they killed others after leaving, but they took the rest with them,” he added.

Dozens of Nigerian women who were forced to marry Boko Haram fighters were reportedly slaughtered by their 'husbands' before a battle with troops in the northeast town of Bama. Witnesses said the Islamist militants feared they would be killed by advancing soldiers or separated from their wives when they fled the town. They killed the women to prevent them from subsequently marrying soldiers or other so-called non-believers, they said. Sharifatu Bakura, 39, said: 'The terrorists said they will not allow their wives to be married to infidels.'

DC political insiders believe that if President Barack Obama truly seeks compromise with Republicans, he should begin by ditching White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett. It goes without saying that Jarrett, the president's longtime trusted confidante, political ally, and family friend, is a divisive figure inside the beltway. Calls for her dismissal have been rampant since the president began his second term -- and even before then. It is a demand still ignored by the White House.

Nigeria has drafted “hundreds of mercenaries from South Africa” in its fight against Boko Haram. South Africans have a long-standing reputation as being among the best mercenaries in the world, and have been present in one form or another in most African conflicts for the past two decades.

One senator wants to know if former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton deleted her emails regarding the very delayed designation of Boko Haram as a terrorist organization — and if a very well-heeled donor influenced that policy.The query is not new for Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), but it’s now reflected in some additional disturbing lights: the admission by Clinton that she used personal email while the nation’s top diplomat and screened which ones to keep or discard, and the ascension of Boko Haram to an ISIS affiliate.In June of last year, Vitter questioned why the State Department, under former...

Smith Jadesimi, from Nigeria, donated a kidney to Israeli Omaima Halabi through the NGO Matnat Chaim Israeli media is awash with the touching tale of how the son of a Nigerian billionaire braved all odds against him to donate his kidney to a dying lady he had never met... The Jerusalem Post in an article titled, ‘The Human Spirit: Love, Give, Live’, reported that the story of Smith Jadesimi, son of oil magnate Ladi Jadesimi, resonated in hearts across the country as an untainted demonstration of compassion beyond religion and race. Born in 1987 into the large and prosperous Jadesimi...

Hundreds of South African mercenaries and hired fighters of other nationalities are playing a decisive role in Nigeria’s military campaign against Boko Haram, operating attack helicopters, armored personnel carriers and fighting to retake towns and villages captured by the Islamist militant group, according to senior officials in the region.The Nigerian government has not acknowledged the presence of the mercenaries, but a senior government official in northern Nigeria said the South Africans — camped out in a remote portion of the airport in Maiduguri, the city at the heart of Boko Haram’s uprising — conduct most of their operations at night...

If a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms, that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant.President Obama That line sums up President Obama’s tendency to downplay foreign-policy crises with derisory humor. And today his arrogance bears its toll. This weekend, Abubakar Shekau — the half-Salafi/half-psychotic leader of Boko Haram — pledged fealty to the Islamic State (IS). Defined by extreme violence — burning students alive, slitting throats, destroying villages, etc. — Boko Haram is well matched to IS. As I recently explained, it threatens both regional and U.S. interests. Yet Shekau’s pledge to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi catalyzes the threat....

At least 19 civilians were killed in a weekend attack by Boko Haram Islamists on three remote islands in Niger with many victims burnt alive, a local lawmaker said. Sunday’s onslaught took place on three islands located on Lake Chad, said ElHadj Aboubacar, a deputy from the town of Bosso in southeastern Niger. “We have been informed that at least 19 people have died, most of whom were either burnt alive or drowned in the lake,” he told AFP. There has been no official confirmation of the death toll but a private radio station in Niger has reported that two...

Nigerian militant group Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS), according to an audio statement. The message, which could not immediately be verified, was posted on Boko Haram's Twitter account and appeared to be by the group's leader. Boko Haram began a military campaign to impose Islamic rule in northern Nigeria in 2009. The conflict has since spread to neighbouring states.

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Egypt Roars for Its Christians: ‘They Have a Shield’ Egyptian society and its government have rallied in defense of the Copts, but the White House has declined to support Egypt’s military actions in defense of its citizens. http://m.ncregister.com/daily-news/egypt-roars-for-its-christians-they-have-a-shield/#.VOgHo4Y8Kc0

White House officials have been holding private meetings this week aimed at soothing lawmakers’ concerns over the U.S. posture in Syria, the future of the American military presence in Afghanistan and defense spending. The meetings come as a frustrated White House seeks to push back at criticism of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. But the White House outreach appeared to be having little effect on some lawmakers’ concerns. Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, described Tuesday night’s White House meeting with chief of staff Denis McDonough and national security adviser Susan Rice as...

President Idriss Deby of Chad said on Wednesday he knew the whereabouts of Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram, and called on him to surrender or risk being killed. Chad's army has waged a series of battles against Boko Haram as part of a cross-border military campaign and has re-taken territory the militant group held in northeastern Nigeria. ... The Chadian army is considered one of the best in the region, backed by a strong air force. It first deployed to help Cameroon fend off Boko Haram and is now pressing southwest into Nigerian territory...

(CNN) - For sheer cruelty, they are well matched. They also share an apocalyptic "end-of-days" vision. Now there are signs that Boko Haram -- the most feared group in West Africa -- may be edging toward a formal pledge of allegiance to the self-declared Caliph of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. Observers of Boko Haram, which has inflicted years of terror on northern Nigeria, note that its actions in the last six months have frequently mimicked those of ISIS -- from punishments such as stoning and beheading of its victims to taking territory and an increasingly sophisticated use...

A U.S. intelligence officer told NBC News the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) will not likely team up with Nigerian radical Islamic group Boko Haram in any official capacity due to the group’s racism against black Africans. “The Arab world is incredibly racist,” the officer explained. “They don’t see black Africans as equivalent to them.” Boko Haram has repeatedly praised the Islamic State and showcases its flag in many videos, but the Islamic State has not shown any brotherly love towards their comrades in Africa, other than reports indicating that the groups are in communication. The officer also said there is no...

A significant majority of Americans — some 77% of those polled — see the “development of nuclear weapons by Iran” as a “critical threat”; another 16% see it as “important but not critical”, according to new numbers from Gallup. With US-Iran talks reportedly set to resume Friday, the poll, which asks Americans to assess a variety of threats to U.S. interests as “critical”, “important but not critical”, or “not important” — will likely take on a new and ominous significance. The poll placed the question of Iranian nukes near the top of the list of threats Gallup asked about, behind...

VATICAN CITY — “African values are not on sale,” the new Chairman of Communications for the African bishops has said. But Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of Oyo, Nigeria, is convinced they are under threat from what Pope Francis has called an “ideological colonization” that is seeking to destroy the family. It's so bad, he says, that the United States has made clear it will not help Nigeria fight the Boko Haram terror group unless the country modify its laws regarding homosexuality, family planning and birth-control.