Seven members of a French family abducted in Cameroon in February have been freed unharmed

French Cameroon hostages freed

The adult family members have arrived at the French embassy in Yaounde

Seven members of a French family abducted in Cameroon have been freed, officials in both countries have said.

Cameroon's Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary told the BBC said they were in good condition and unharmed.

The family, including four children, were abducted in February by gunmen on motorbikes after a visit to Waza National Park in northern Cameroon.

In a video published on YouTube, militants from the Nigerian group Boko Haram claimed to be holding them.

"I spoke to the father this morning... He told me how happy and relieved he was"-Francois Hollande French president

President Francois Hollande said no ransom had been paid by France to secure the family's freedom.

Though he said secret talks had been taking place for the past few weeks to help secure their release, Reuters news agency reports.

"France has not changed its position, which is not to pay ransoms," the agency quotes him as saying at a news conference in Paris.

"I spoke to the father this morning... He told me how happy and relieved he was."

The release of the hostages was announced on national radio in Cameroon on Friday morning.

The statement from the presidency said they had been handed over to Cameroon authorities late on Thursday.

According to the Associated Press news agency, both the Nigerian and French governments were thanked in the statement.

The family has now arrived at the French embassy in the capital, Yaounde, with a heavy security escort, AFP news agency reports.

The French president's office said that Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had immediately left for Cameroon to greet the family, the agency said.

Mr Fabius told AFP the French hostage were freed overnight "in an area between Nigeria and Cameroon".

Prisoner demand :

The family, who live in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, where the father worked for the French gas group Suez, had been returning from a holiday when they were kidnapped on 19 February.

The family, kidnapped on 19 February, is thought to have been held in Nigeria

In the YouTube video released about a week after their capture, the militants demanded the release of prisoners in Cameroon and Nigeria.

One of them also criticised President Hollande for sending troops to fight Islamist militants in northern Mali in January.

"Let the French president know that he has launched war against Islam," he said.

The French-led operation in Mali has ousted the Islamist groups, including al-Qaeda's North African branch, from cities and town in the vast desert region they had captured a year ago in the wake of a coup.

Nigeria has contributed troops to a regional African force which has begun deploying to Mali to take over from French troops.

One of the hostages in the video said his captors were "Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad" - the official name for Boko Haram, as the Islamist group is popularly known in Nigeria.

Boko Haram, which began its insurgency following a deadly crackdown on its members in 2009, had previously said it was not involved in hostage taking.

It has usually followed a Nigerian agenda, and says it wants to establish an Islamic state.

During its insurgency at least 2,000 people have been kill in northern and parts of central Nigeria.

Another Islamist group, Ansaru - which was formed in 2012 and is believed to have links to al-Qaeda - is also active in northern Nigeria and has been involved in abducting foreigners.

bbc.co.uk

”My Husband Calls Me Orobo”–MERCY JOHNSON TWEETS

Just a few hours ago, Nollywood actress Mercy Johnson Okojie tweeted about her post-baby weight battle.
She said her husband, Prince Odianosen Okojie now calls her 'Orobo'....lol!!

She is off to the gym to begin an intense weight loss exercise.

She had a baby girl in December 2012.



See her tweet below;

BREAKING NEWS!!! Boston Bomb Suspect Dead, Another On The Run...EXPLOSIONS... GUNFIRE... MIT COP SHOT DEAD... Boston Police Looking For 'Terrorist On The Run' As They Link Bombings To MIT Shooting

Boston Police Dept. ✔@Boston_Police

WANTED: Police Searching for Suspect (Picture Provided) pic.twitter.com/Y3SBbWZe6o

9:10 AM - 19 Apr 2013

The suspect was seen at a 7/11 in Cambridge last night

 

 

MIT tweeted that a suspicious package had been found and stressed that students should stay inside.

@MITnews
MIT

A suspicious package has been reported in the area of 500 Memorial Drive. Please stay away from this area until further notice.

April 19, 2013 8:37 am via web ReplyRetweetFavorite

An unidentified man suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday died after a frantic crime spree late Thursday night and early Friday morning. His accomplice is currently at large, and considered armed and dangerous.

At a press conference early Friday, Boston police officers confirmed that the pair are believed to be the same men wanted in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings.

On Thursday evening, around 10:20 p.m., an MIT police officer was responding to a disturbance on campus when he was shot multiple times by two suspects, Middlesex Acting District Attorney Michael Pelgro, Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas and MIT Police Chief John DiFava announced.

The officer later died at Massachusetts General Hospital. His name has not yet been made public.

Soon after the shooting at MIT, police received reports of an armed carjacking in Cambridge by two males.

The victim was reportedly jumped by the suspects, and kept in the car for about 30 minutes. After being released at a Cambridge gas station, unharmed, the suspects drove away.

The search for that vehicle led police to Watertown, Mass. When the car was sighted near the intersection of Dexter and Laurel, the suspects allegedly threw explosives into the street and engaged officers in a firefight.

During this pursuit, an MBTA police officer was seriously injured, The Boston Globe reported. According to WCVB, he is currently in critical condition.

One of the suspects was also critically injured. He was taken to an area hospital, and was later pronounced dead.

Police are still searching Watertown for the second suspect, who is considered armed and dangerous.

A Massachusetts State Police public information officer told HuffPost reporter Michael McLaughlin, "We believe this to be a terrorist, we believe he came here to kill people."

Residents have been ordered to remain in their homes as the manhunt continues.




huffingtonpost

TIME Magazine Lists Omotola Amongst 100 Most Influential People In The World

Nollywood actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, has been named amongst the 100 most influential people in the world, describing the 34 year old as “Africa’s most renowned leading lady.”

The Nigerian actress was named in the 2013 icons segment of the list alongside young Pakistani activist; Malala Yousafzai, US first lady Michelle Obama, Burmese democracy leadey; Aung San Sun Kyi, RnB diva; Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and Italian footballer; Mario Balloteli.

Others in the category are Duchess of Cambridge; Kate Middleton, Chinese tennis champion; Li Na, three times Oscar award winner; Daniel Day-Lewis.

Writing a profile on the actress who recently launched a reality show about her life on M-NET; Richard Corliss, a movie critic, descried Omotola as the “Queen of Nollywood.”

“Called OmoSexy by her fans, she has made 300 or so features, from the 1996 Mortal Inheritance to the 2010 super production Ijé, shot partly on location in Los Angeles. Married to an airline pilot she wed on a flight from Lagos to Benin, Jalade-Ekeinde brings a juggler’s grace to her roles as actress, singer, reality-show star, mother of four and philanthropist (the Omotola Youth Empowerment Programme)” the profile reads.

The movie critic was full admiration of Omotola’s recent claim in an interview that she will never go to Hollywood, writing that “success hasn’t spoiled Africa’s most renowned leading lady. Rather than going Hollywood, Omotola wants to stay Nollywood.”

According to Collins, Nollywood is the world’s most productive English-language film industry is not Hollywood but Nollywood.

“The world’s most productive English-language film industry is not Hollywood but Nollywood. The teeming Nigerian cinema grinds out some 2,500 movies a year, mostly direct-to-DVD quickies mixing melodrama, music and an evangelical Christian spin. (Think Bollywood via Tyler Perry.)”

“Employing a million Nigerians, Nollywood enthralls millions more who come for the thrills, the uplift and the artful agitations of Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde — the Queen of Nollywood.”

#channelstv

‘Medical doctor’ nabbed for working with stolen certificates for one year

Michael Akorful Onyeagolo who claimed to be a medical practitioner with a popular hospital in Festac Lagos, was yesterday arrested by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria and Lagoa State Health Facility Monitoring Agency (HEFAMA) for impersonation. Onyeagolo 28, aka Dr. Hilary Abiwu, confessed that he was not a medical doctor. He said he stole the certificates from a doctor in Ghana.

Michael who hails from Imo State had been practising until nemesis caught up with him when he mismanaged a patient who was brought to the hospital. He said, “I was in school in Ukraine but could not graduate. I ran away from the school because I was to be arrested for being a witness to a crime. I went out to a joint with my friends one day and there was a fight. In the course of the fight, somebody died. The police arrested the guy and were looking for me. So I ran away.” On how he began to practice, he said a friend of his name Obinna Uche, a businessman gave him the certificates with which he had been working.

“When I ran away from the school, I went to meet my friend Obinna who gave me the documents. So, I came down to Nigeria and obtained a licence to practice.” Michael after much interrogation, by Dr. Okwuokenye Henry and Dr. Theophilus Ajayi, admitted that he stole the certificates by himself from Dr. Abiwu Hilarious. Dr. Henry Okwuokenye, HOD, Inspectorate Department of MDCN who led the team, said the certificate was not given to Michael by anybody, adding that he lived with Dr. Abiwu for two months and stole the doctor’s certificates. “From our investigation, it was revealed that he stole the documents from Dr. Abiwu who resides in Ghana.

When Michael came to us, he presented himself as the owner of the documents and registered for our assessment examination that is done by all trained foreign medical doctors. He did the examination twice and failed and on the third sitting, he passed and we gave him a provisional licence. In the process of verifying his documents, we discovered that his certificates were stolen from another doctor in Ghana.

We contacted the Medical and Dental Council Ghana who gave us the relevant documents and the real photograph of the doctor, who also wrote to us.” “Since then, we have been looking for him until report came to us that he mismanaged a patient. That was how we got his address.” Okwuokenye advised all quack doctors in Nigeria to desist from their evil practices adding, that the Registrar (MDCN), Dr. Ibrahim Abdumumin had vowed to rid the society of quacks in the medical field.

#sunnewsonline