Free Republic

Not good if you did. Beware of foreign pen pals promising money. At least wait for their check to clear before you wire funds. The “Nigerian Letter” scam is known as a “419” because the scheme violates section 419 of the Nigerian criminal code. While it seems like a laughable hoax, Americans lose millions of dollars annually to this fraud, which can appear in the form of a letter, email, voicemail, or text. The scam tries to gain access to your personal finances and works like this: Step 1: You are sent a form of payment for a large amount,...

Obama did everything he could to undermine Nigeria's Christian president Jonathan Goodluck in his fight against the Islamic terrorists of Boko Haram. The administration kicked and screamed against even naming Boko Haram a terrorist organization. Every offer of aid was undermined with more claims that Nigeria was violating Muslim civil rights. Finally Obama got what he wanted. Nigeria's former Muslim dictator was "elected" and began promptly Islamizing key portions of the military. Then he came to Washington D.C. for a victory lap. Obama on Monday offered strong support for Nigeria's new president, Muhammadu Buhari, saying he had a "clear...

Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Three girls staged suicide bombings in the Nigerian city of Damaturu, killing at least 13 people as residents prepared for the Eid festival at the end of Ramadan, police said. The attacks, in a northeastern area hard hit by the Boko Haram insurgency, came just days before Nigeria's new President Muhammadu Buhari travels to Washington for talks with US counterpart Barack Obama.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed new defence chiefs after sacking the heads of the army, navy and air force. The sackings were expected as the president has repeatedly criticised the military's inability to defeat Islamist group Boko Haram. The Islamists have recently launched a series of deadly guerrilla attacks, killing more than 250 people. Boko Haram is thought to be responsible for more than 10,000 deaths since 2009. Both the new head of the army, Maj Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai, and the National Security Adviser, Maj Gen Babagana Monguno, are from Borno State which is at the heart of...

Iran's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, has written an op-ed in the Financial Times which sets forward a distinct sequence for ostensibly resolving the daunting security challenges of the Middle East. First, the P5+1 - the group of powerful nations negotiating with Iran - should come to a deal over its nuclear program. As a result, he argues, Tehran will "open new horizons" and join "the international battle" against "the increasingly brutal extremism that is engulfing the Middle East." The idea that Iran is a partner in the fight against terrorism is not only disingenuous but also absurd. What Zarif is...

Nearly 150 people are reported to have been killed by suspected Boko Haram Islamist militants in attacks in Nigeria's north-eastern Borno state. Eyewitnesses say the gunmen stormed the village of Kukawa near Lake Chad on Wednesday evening, killing 97 people, including women and children. On Tuesday, the militants shot dead 48 men after they had finished prayers in two villages near the town of Monguno, a resident told the BBC. The women are said to have been spared. Monguno was recently recaptured from Boko Haram. At least 23 people died in the town last month after a confiscated Boko Haram...

(CNN) —At least 145 people were killed after Boko Haram militants raided three villages in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno, witnesses said Thursday. The Islamist militant group's attack late Wednesday in the Kukawa fishing village killed 97 people, resident Kawu Aisaye told CNN. A senior Nigerian military official confirmed the attack, adding the military conducted airstrikes following the raid and is sending troops to assess the damage. The official was unable to provide details about casualties. A lawmaker in the region, Mohammed Tahir, told CNN that Boko Haram killed 48 people and injured 11 others Wednesday when the militants...

At least 97 dead in new 'Boko Haram' attack in NE Nigeria MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: Suspected Boko Haram militants killed close to 100 people in attacks on homes and mosques in a northeastern Nigerian village, witnesses said Thursday. "The attackers have killed at least 97 people," a local from Kukawa village, who gave his name as Kolo and who said he had counted the bodies, told AFP. A fisherman who witnessed Wednesday's attack corroborated the death toll. "They wiped out the immediate family of my uncle ...They killed his children, about five of them, and set his entire house ablaze," Kolo...

The United Nations rights chief Wednesday urged Nigeria to show compassion and make it easier for women and girls who became pregnant in Boko Haram captivity to access abortions. Boko Haram militants are estimated by Amnesty International to have kidnapped more than 2,000 women and girls in northeastern Nigeria since the beginning of 2014, including the 276 girls seized from their school in Chibok last year in a kidnapping that sparked global outrage. "During their captivity, lasting in many cases for months or even years, women and girls have been sexually enslaved, raped and forced into so-called 'marriages'," Zeid Ra'ad...

Global support for ISIS may be much bigger than previously known, according to a new report that found as many as 42 million Muslims around the world have positive feelings about the black-clad army of barbarians that established a so-called caliphate in Syria and Iraq last year. The report from the New York-based research institute Clarion Project crunched numbers from four recent polls surveying Arab public opinion toward ISIS. Clarion found the terror group's supporters are 8.5 million strong, but more than 42 million of the world's estimated 1.5 billion Muslims feel at least somewhat positively about the terror group....

An apparent terrorist attempted to attack a leprosy hospital with a suicide vest in the restive northern region of Nigeria, according to a report. Witnesses told Agence France Presse the bomber was stymied at the security checkpoint out front manned by vigilantes who have taken up arms in the fight against the ISIS-affiliated terrorist group Boko Haram. The bomber apparently detonated his vest in front of the hospital, killing 5 and wounding 10, AFP reports. Witnesses claimed he was one of three men dropped off near the hospital. The other two are believed to have fled in the confusion following...

Many Nigerians have condemned the United States for legalising same-sex marriage. The US Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal throughout the country on Friday in a much-awaited landmark decision. In a 5-4 ruling, the apex court stated that the Constitution required all 50 states to carry out and recognise marriages between people of the same sex. The ruling made the US the 21st country in the world that recognises same sex marriage as legal. President Barack Obama who welcomed the verdict described it “a victory for America.” While Obama considers the verdict as being a welcome development, many Nigerians on...

In early 1989, seven weeks after his father moved into the White House, Jeb Bush took a trip to Nigeria. Nearly 100,000 Nigerians turned out to see him over four days as he accompanied the executives of a Florida company called Moving Water Industries, which had just retained Bush to market the firm’s pumps. Escorted by the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, Bush met with the nation’s political and religious leaders as part of an MWI effort to land a deal that would be worth $80 million. Jeb Bush reminded Nigerians who his father was In 1989, Jeb Bush traveled to...

TEHRAN — Women have been "forbidden" from watching Iran play the U.S. volleyball team on Friday night despite the government signaling it would loosen restrictions on females attending sports events. Earlier this month, Iran's Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi announced that a limited number of women — mainly members of players' families — would be allowed at upcoming men's volleyball matches. In an interview with The Associated Press, Molaverdi said women could also now watch live basketball, handball and tennis. However, women would not be allowed to attend soccer, swimming and wrestling. Hardliners objected angrily to...

Boko Haram is winning. That's the assessment of both U.S. counterterrorism officials and many experts who cover West Africa.

SANLIURFA, Turkey — When Abu Hamza, a former Syrian rebel, agreed to join the Islamic State, he did so assuming he would become a part of the group’s promised Islamist utopia, which has lured foreign jihadists from around the globe. Instead, he found himself being supervised by an Iraqi emir and receiving orders from shadowy Iraqis... All of the men, however, were former Iraqi officers who had served under Saddam Hussein... His account, and those of others who have lived with or fought against the Islamic State over the past two years, underscore the pervasive role played by members of...

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus criticized Baltimore's efforts to disconnect water service for unpaid bills in a letter Monday that was focused primarily on utility privatization in Nigeria.. City officials announced in March they were sending shut-off notices to about 25,000 customers who owed a collective $40 million in overdue bills. The move prompted some activists to call for a moratorium on shut-offs in the city...

Here is a live map of different war zones. You can zoom in or out just like on Google Maps. Hover over different icons and more. Check out how close ISIS is to Baghdad. Yikes!

Unbelievable: SHADY Nigerian official gave MILLIONS to Clinton Foundation while Hillary COVERED for BOKO HARAM The Hillary scandals are getting so bad that it really does seem like we’re making them up, but we’re not. The latest is an attempt to solve the mystery behind why the government was so late to designating Boko Haram a “terrorist organization.” Unbelievably, it might have to do with a million dollar donor to the Clinton Foundation and his possible terrorist ties: A conservative group is suing the State Department in an effort to find out whether the agency’s refusal to place Boko Haram...

Islamic State (ISIS) has conquered large parts of Syria and Iraq and set up 'branches' as far away as Libya and the Sinai Desert - but now, it has set its sights on Algeria. Months after successfully conquering the Libyan coastal city of Sirte, Algerian authorities say that ISIS has attempted to expand westward to conquer the largely-desert border region between the two countries. On Thursday, the Algerian army raised its alert level to the highest level and has drafted some 50,000 troops to ward off ISIS ahead of an anticipated invasion...