Nigeria, Boko Haram agree to immediate cease-fire as schoolgirls’ fate negotiated ADVERTISING Nigeria, Boko Haram agree to immediate cease-fire as schoolgirls’ fate negotiated ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria’s government said Islamic extremists from Boko Haram have agreed to an immediate cease-fire,
Nigeria, Boko Haram agree to immediate cease-fire as schoolgirls’ fate negotiated
ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria’s government said Islamic extremists from Boko Haram have agreed to an immediate cease-fire, but many people expressed doubts Friday about a development that could end an insurgency that has killed thousands and left hundreds of thousands homeless in Africa’s most populous nation.
The fate of more than 200 missing schoolgirls abducted by the insurgents six months ago still is being negotiated, Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade told The Associated Press.
But French President Francois Hollande welcomed the “good news” and told a news conference in Paris that the girls’ release “could happen in the coming hours and days.” France has been involved in negotiations that led to the release of several of its citizens kidnapped by Boko Haram in Cameroon.
Neither Hollande nor Nigerian government officials gave any details.
Boko Haram negotiators “assured that the schoolgirls and all other people in their captivity are all alive and well,” Mike Omeri, the government spokesman on the insurgency, told a news conference.
The chief of defense staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, announced the truce Friday and ordered his troops to immediately comply with the agreement.
Activists say ISIS may have fighter jets; offensives continue in Iraq, Syria
BAGHDAD — Syrian activists say the Islamic State militant group has captured some MiG fighter jets and is test-flying the warplanes in Syria with the help of former Iraqi air force pilots.
Friday’s account by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights could not be independently confirmed, and U.S. officials said they had no reports of the militants flying jets in support of their fighters in Iraq and Syria.
The Observatory said the planes, seen flying over the Jarrah air base in the eastern countryside of Syria’s Aleppo province this week, are believed to be of the MiG-21 and MiG-23 variety. Rami Abdurrahman, director of the Observatory, said the planes have been flying at a low altitude, “apparently to avoid being detected by Syrian military radar in the area.”
The group is known to have seized fighter jets from at least one air base it captured from the Syrian army in Raqqa province earlier this year. Militant websites had posted photos of IS fighters with the warplanes, but it was unclear if they were operational.
Hurricane Gonzalo moves ashore on Bermuda, with pounding wind and waves
HAMILTON, Bermuda — The leading edge of Hurricane Gonzalo moved onto this British territory Friday night, pounding Bermudans with fierce wind and heavy surf as a powerful Category 2 storm that could raise coastal seas as much as 10 feet.
The storm’s top sustained winds weakened a bit to 110 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Gonzalo was moving north-northeast at 16 mph and was expected to batter Bermuda for hours.
The Bermuda Weather Service said the eye of Gonzalo would move over parts of the island, bringing a lull, but warned people not to go outside because the most dangerous winds were expected after nightfall. Hurricane-force winds were predicted to resume and batter Bermuda for a total of seven hours, and forecasters said a storm surge would cause significant flooding on an island about one-third the size of Washington, D.C.
Anxiety back: Wall Street’s fear gauge, the VIX, soars during wild week
NEW YORK — Europe’s economy sputters, oil prices plunge and stocks start swinging wildly. Wall Street’s long dormant “fear index” now predicts more turbulence ahead.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange’s volatility index, known as the VIX, doubled over the past month: from 12 to 26. Although that’s nowhere near the 80 reached in the financial crisis, the recent spike means traders are bracing for more big jumps and steep drops.
Slowing growth in Europe and the developing world has stirred up lingering doubts among investors just as the Federal Reserve plans to wind down a bond-buying program that many considered a driving force behind the stock market’s five-year run.
Traders have knocked the Standard &Poor’s 500 index down 4 percent this month and retreated into their old hiding spots, U.S. and German government bonds.
By wire sources
