Where the main jihadist groups based?

Where the main jihadist groups based?
Jihadist groups are spread throughout Africa, the Middle East, and in parts of Asia. Some have have connections to al-Qaeda, others don't. But they all share the common goal of creating an Islamist state through violence.
The situation on the ground is dynamic and the location and strength of these groups is constantly changing, as the Isis example shows. These groups often carry out activities outside of the areas shaded on the map below and there are many smaller groups or factions we have not shown, with similar aims.

faces and names of the abducted Chibok Girls #bringbackourgirls

Finally! These are the faces and names of the abducted Chibok Girls

It's been 67 days since their kidnap,yet, no word of their release.Their pictures had also been kept away from the world,till now..These are the faces of the over 200 girls gotten from a leader of the community council in Chibok..According to Gordon Brown of Mailonline

"I was shown these pictures after visiting Nigeria this week. I met the leader of the community council in Chibok, the town from which the girls were abducted.Slowly and with tears in his eyes, he flicked through a file in which he had recorded the names and photographs of the girls.Not even the police and Army have managed to compile such detail he has amassed from talking to the parents of the kidnapped teenagers.The file has 185 pages — one for every girl. Each page has a photograph, and beside each passport-sized picture some stark facts — the girl’s name, her school grade and the date of abduction. For the other 19 abducted girls, he has yet to locate photographs. 

More below....

The community leader and the girls’ families have given permission for their names and photographs to be put into the public domain so the world is reminded of the missing girls.

WORDS FROM A FATHER TO A SON ABOUT MARRIAGE

WORDS FROM A FATHER TO A SON ABOUT MARRIAGE
1. My son, if you keep spending on a woman and she never asked you if you’re saving or investing, and she keeps enjoying the attention, don’t marry her.

2. My son, a woman could be a good wife to you, some could be a good mother to your children but if you’ve found a woman like a mother to you, your children and your family, please don’t let her go.
3. My son, don’t confine the position of your wife to the kitchen, where did you get that from? Even in our days, we had farm-lands where they worked every morning . . . that was our office.
4. My son, if I tell you that you’re the head of the house, don’t look at your pocket; look if you will see a smile on your wife’s face.
5. My son, if you want to have a long life, let your wife be in-charge of your salary, it will be difficult for her to spend it when she’s aware of the home needs and bills to pay but if it’s in your care, she will keep you asking even when all has been spent.
6. My son, don’t ever beat your woman, the pain in her body is nothing to be compared to the wound on her heart and that means you may be in trouble living with a wounded woman.
7. My son, now that you’re married, if you live a bachelor kind of life with your wife, you will soon be single again.
8. My son, in our days, we had many wives and many children because of our large farm-lands and many harvests, there are hardly any land for farming anymore, so embrace your woman closely.
9. My son, under the cocoa tree that I did meet your mother could be your eateries and restaurants of nowadays, but remember, the closet thing we did there was to embrace each other.
10. My son, don’t be carried away when you start making more money, instead of spending on those tiny legs that never knew how hard you worked to get it, spend it on that woman that stood by you all along.
11. My son, when I threw little stones or whistled at the window of your mother father’s house, to call her out, it was not for sex, it was because I missed her so much.
12. My son, remember, when you say your wife has changed, there could be something you’ve stopped doing too.
13. My son, your mother, Asake rode the bicycle with me before I bought that tortoise car outside there, any woman that won’t endure with you in your little beginning should not enjoy your riches.
14. My son, don’t compare your wife to any woman, there are ways she’s enduring you too and has she ever compared you to any man?
15. My son, there is this thing you people call feminism, well, if a woman claim to have equal right with you in the house, divide all the bills into two equal parts, take one part and ask her to start paying the other part.
16. My son, I met your mother a virgin and I took more yams to her father, if you don’t meet your wife a virgin, don’t blame her, what I didn’t tell you is that our women had prestige.
17. My son, I didn’t send your sisters to school because I was foolish like many to think a female child won’t extend my family name, please don’t make that mistake, the kind of female achievers I see nowadays has made the male-gender an ordinary tag.
18. My son, your mother have once locked up the cloth I was wearing and almost tore it because she was angry, I did not raise my hand to beat her because of a day like this, so that I can be proud to tell you that I never for once beat your mother.
19. My son, in our days, our women had more of natural beauty, though I wouldn’t lie to you, some had minor painting of their appellation mostly on their arms, the ones you people now call tattoo, but don’t forget that they didn’t expose any part of their body like your women of nowadays.
20. My son, your mother and I are not interested in what happens in your marriage, try to handle issues without always coming to us.
21. My son, remember I bought your mother’s first sewing machine for her, help your wife achieve her dreams just as you’re pursuing yours.
22. My son, don’t stop taking care of me and your mother, it’s a secret of growing old and having children to take care of you too.
23. My son, pray with your family, there is a tomorrow you don’t know, talk to God that knows everything, everyday.

Assad says West shifting position on Syria

Syrian president says states that backed revolt are now more concerned about danger posed to them by returning fighters. Last updated: 12 Jun 2014 10:27

Assad was swept back to power by a June 3 election deemed a 'farce' by the opposition [AP]

President Bashar al-Assad has said that Western countries are starting to shift their position on the conflict in Syria because of the danger posed to them by the rebel groups they had previously backed. Leaders of the Group of Seven industrialised nations have said they will tighten their defences against the risk of attacks by fighters returning from Syria. "The United States and the West have started to send signs of change. Terrorism is now on their soil," said Assad, according to remarks published in Al-Akhbar, a Lebanese newspaper sympathetic to the regime in Damascus. Assad said "current and former US officials are trying to get in touch with us, but they do not dare to because of the powerful lobbies that are pressuring them". Syria's war began as a peaceful movement demanding political change more than three years ago, but later morphed into an armed rebellion attracting foreign fighters after the Assad regime unleashed a massive crackdown against dissent. The war has killed more than 162,000 people, according to activists, and forced nearly half the population to flee their homes. Talks rejected Al-Akhbar also quoted Assad as saying he rejects negotiations with the exiled, main opposition National Coalition. The regime and the coalition held talks in Switzerland earlier this year, but they yielded no concrete results. The Assad regime maintains that the war will only end with internal dialogue, while opponents say it is impossible to organise genuine political dissent in a country ruled in an authoritative manner for nearly half a century. "What will dialogue with the exiled opposition lead to? Nothing, because it has no impact," the paper quoted the president as saying. He insisted that conditions in Syria have "changed" since he was swept back to power by a June 3 election deemed a "farce" by the opposition. "People expressed their opinion [at the polls] and we have to respect that," the president said. The election, which Assad won with 88.7 percent of the votes, was held only in regime-controlled territory. Assad said the so-called Geneva peace process had "ended, because the circumstances have changed". "The state will be victorious, even if it takes time to crush all the terrorists," he added.

United Nations' Ugandan appointee Sam Kutesa under fire

The new law on homosexuality has a lot of support in Uganda

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The expected election of Uganda's foreign minister as UN General Assembly president in New York on Wednesday has provoked opposition in the US.

Politicians have joined thousands in signing a petition urging UN member states to block Sam Kutesa because of his country's treatment of gay people.
Kutesa, 65, is Africa's unanimous pick for the largely ceremonial role.
But critics are opposed because in February Uganda passed a law threatening gays with life in prison.
It would be "disturbing to see the foreign minister of a country that passed an unjust, harsh and discriminatory law'' preside over the UN body, US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand told the Associated Press news agency.
It is Africa's turn to make the ceremonial appointment, reports the BBC's UN correspondent Nick Bryant, and Mr Kutesa represented the continent's unanimous choice.
Mr Kutesa, a lawyer and MP, has been Ugandan minister of foreign affairs since January 2005.
On Wednesday, he is expected to be formally elected to the UNGA presidency.
In response, more than 9,000 people have signed an online petition urging UN member states and US Secretary of State John Kerry to block Mr Kutesa's appointment.

Uganda's Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa is said to have played a role in the nation's new strict anti-gay law

Human rights activists say the Ugandan foreign minister played a role in the enactment of Uganda's strict anti-gay law, passed in February, which allows for sentences of up to life in prison for those convicted of having gay sex.
Mr Kutesa, previously a junior investment minister, was also said to have been ousted from that position over charges he abused the office.
He has denied all allegations against him.
Uganda deputy foreign minister Okello Oryem told US media that opponents of Mr Kutesa's nomination ignore his "success stories" in the region.

What Hillary Clinton’s book says about 16 world leaders

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By Adam Taylor June 11 at 9:44 AM

Clinton's book, already in German. (Kay Nietfeld/European Pressphoto Agency)

Hillary Rodham Clinton's new book, "Hard Choices," is many things. At its most basic, it's an autobiography, but it's also, no doubt, some kind of campaign manifesto (Clinton's 2016 run is now looking like more and more inevitable).
For me, however, the most interesting thing is that the book is a first-person portrayal of global diplomacy at its highest level. Sure, it's almost certainly a sanitized, agenda-driven portrayal, but it's still fascinating glimpse into that world. Clinton was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, dealing with many of world's best (and worst) leaders, and the book details her experiences with many of them. So what is Vladimir Putin like behind closed doors? And what did Clinton really think of Silvio Berlusconi?
These are questions that don't just matter to Americans: They matter to readers all over the world. WorldViews has collected some of the best moments below.

Vladimir Putin

(Alexey Druzhinyn/RIA Novosti/Kremlin pool)

As you might imagine, the Russian president is an important part of Clinton's book, and while she stops shorting of comparing him to Adolf Hitler, she has some criticism. "He was disciplined and fit, a practitioner of judo, and he inspired hope and confidence among Russians still reeling from so much political change and economic adversity,"  Clinton says, before adding. "But he also proved over time to be thin-skinned and autocratic, resenting criticism and eventually cracking down on dissent and debate, including a free press and NGOs."
The few moments of detente between the two come when Clinton attempts to move outside of geopolitics, instead asking Putin about Siberian tigers and environmentalism ("He launched into an animated discourse in English on the fate of the tigers in the east, polar bears in the north, and other endangered species," she observes). At one point Putin tells a remarkable story about his father saving his mother from certain death during the brutal Siege of Leningrad, although Clinton's tone suggests that perhaps she doesn't buy it.
Clinton is more positive when talking about Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, and speaks at length about Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who she says was "perpetually tanned and well-tailored, spoke fluent English, had a taste for fine whiskey and the poetry of Pushkin." She also describes, in detail, the moment that she gave him a giant button that was supposed to say "reset" in Russian, but actually read "overcharge".

Moammar Gaddafi

(Ernesto Ruscio/AFP/Getty Images)

Clinton doesn't mince words with this dictator. According to her, the late Libyan leader was "of the most eccentric, cruel, and unpredictable autocrats in the world."
"In my eyes, Qaddafi was a criminal and a terrorist who could never be trusted," Clinton writes, detailing his long history.
Later, she briefly mentions Gaddafi's strange obsession with her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice.

Kim Jong Il

(Reuters/Korea News Service)

The late North Korean leader is described as "aging and eccentric," although Clinton notes that Kim apparently had a "soft spot" for Bill Clinton since 1994, when, as president, he sent a letter of condolence after the death of Kim Il Sung, Kim's father. The new leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, is only mentioned in passing.

Silvio Berlusconi

(Alberto Pizzoli/AFP)

Clinton's description of the former Italian prime minister is perhaps one of the most interesting in the book, although he is not a major character. Portrayed as somewhat vulnerable, he is shown to be incensed by France's lack of consultation before military action in Libya (a former Italian colony) and is clearly hurt when WikiLeak's publishes U.S. diplomatic cables that portray him as a "feckless, vain, and ineffective."
"Why are you saying those things about me?" Clinton recalls Berlusconi saying.
It seems possible that Clinton has some sympathy for Berlusconi, who was convicted of fraud after quitting Italian office. (The other possibility – that Clinton may want to avoid offending Berlusconi in case he enters office again – is more worrying.)

David Cameron

(Stefan Rousseau/AFP)

Despite the "special relationship," the British prime minister, like his predecessor, Gordon Brown, is described in pleasant though unexciting and brief terms. Instead, she heaps praise on Foreign Ministers William Hague and David Miliband, the latter of which is described as "young, energetic, smart, creative, and attractive, with a ready smile."
Clinton also occasionally mentions former British prime minister Tony Blair, who is described as an "old friend" and someone she confides in.

Hamid Karzai

AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini

Clinton writes that talking to the Afghan president was often “a frustrating exercise," adding that he could be charming but was often stubborn. “There was, however, no way to avoid him or to only take those parts of him with which we agreed," she explains.

Benjamin Netanyahu

(AP Photo/Gali Tibbon, Pool)

Clinton calls the Israeli prime minister a "complicated figure," who is "deeply skeptical" of the Oslo Accords and "understandably fixated" on the threat posed to Israel by Iran.
She writes that she and Netanyahu "argued frequently," but worked together as "partners and friends."

Mahmoud Abbas

(Mohamad Torokman/Reuters)

Clinton has the following, not entirely positive comments to make about the Palestinian president: "I sometimes thought that while Arafat had the circumstances required to make peace but not the will, Abbas may have had the will but not the circumstances, though at some of our more frustrating moments, I wondered about his will, too."

Mohamed Morsi

(Oliver Weiken/EPA)

Clinton points out that the ousted Egyptian president had a number of bad moments, such as his clashes with the judiciary, poor economic track record, and an apparent refusal to stop religious persecution. However, she adds that some things he did – like keeping the peace deal with Israel and negotiating for a ceasefire in Gaza – were clearly positive.
Speaking about military leader (and now president) Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Clinton writes that he "appears to be following the classic mold of Middle Eastern strongmen."

Felipe Calderon

(Bernardo Montoya/Reuters)

In the book, Clinton recalls meeting Calderon in March 2009, and that the then Mexican president expressed anger about what he felt were mixed messages from the United States. "How am I supposed to stop the well-armed drug traffickers, he would ask, when you won't stop the weapons the buy across the border and you have states starting to legalize the use of marijuana? Why should my citizens, law enforcement, or military put their lives on the line under such circumstances?" Clinton recalls him saying, admitting: "Those were uncomfortable but fair questions."

Hugo Chavez

(Miraflores Palace via Reuters)

Clinton manages to both insult and dismiss the late Venezuelan leader with just a half-sentence: "A self-aggrandizing dictator who was more of an aggravation than a real threat, except to his own citizens"
She also recalls that Chavez once went on Venezuelan television and sang a song with the lyrics "I'm not loved by Hillary Clinton … and I don't love her either."
"It was hard to argue with that," she writes.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

(Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)

Erdogan is a "ambitious, forceful, devout and effective politician," Clinton says, before going on to be more critical of the Turkish prime minister. "Despite positive developments under Erdogan, there was growing cause for concern, even alarm, about his government's treatment of political opponents and journalists," Clinton writes.
She later criticizes Erdogan's attempt to broker a new Iran deal. describing him as man who thought he was "action able to bend history" to his will, but only producing only "lackluster" or even "counterproductive" results.

Nicholas Sarkozy

(Susana Vera/Reuters)

Thanks to French involvement in Libya, the former French president is one of the most important world leaders in Clinton's book, and he comes across well. "Most leaders are quieter than they appear to be on the stage," Clinton writes. "Not Sarkozy. He was even more dramatic – and fun – in person."
Intriguingly, she notes that Sarkozy loved to gossip about other world leader, and told her one was a "drug-addled maniac" (sadly, Clinton doesn't reveal who). Later, Clinton describes how he was influenced in his thoughts on intervention in Libya by "the French public intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy who had hitched a ride in a vegetable truck from the Egyptian border to see for himself what was happening."
Sarkozy's successor, Francois Hollande, is only mentioned once in passing.

Hu Jintao

(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

"Hu [Jintao] seemed to me more like an aloof chairman of the board than a hands-on CEO," Clinton observes, largely ignoring the Chinese president and instead preferring to talk at length about State Councillor Dai Bingbao (he's "small and compact" but "vigorous and healthy") and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, to whom she "gently pointed out that America, in fact, had won the most medals of any country" after the London Olympics.
Hu's successor, Xi Jinping, is only mentioned in passing.

Angela Merkel

(Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Clinton's kindest words are saved for the German chancellor, a rare female world leader who Clinton has known since 1994. "For all of its vaunted progressivism on matters like health care and climate change," Clinton writes. "Europe can still feel like the world's most venerable old boys' club, and it was heartening to see Angela shaking things up." Clinton says that Merkel was "decisive, astute, and straightforward, and she always told me exactly what was on her mind," and she mentions their shared fondness for pantsuits.
She appears to be the only world leader that Clinton refers to by first name only.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

(Atta Kenare/AFP)

While much of the book deals with negotiations with Iran and protests within the country, Clinton has little to say about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, dismissing him as "a holocaust denier and provocateur who threatened to wipe Israel off the map and insulted the West at every point." She later points out that while Ahmadinejad was a "bellicose peacock strutting on the world stage," the "real authority rested with the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ... [who] made no secret of his hatred for America."

8 June 2014 Last updated at 15:18 GMT

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Cameroon players ready to take off for Brazil after bonus dispute

Cameroon's players are finally on their way to the World Cup after initially refusing to board a flight to Brazil because of a dispute over bonuses.

The squad, including former Chelsea striker Samuel Eto'o, refused to fly to South America on Sunday morning.
But they eventually agreed a financial package with the nation's football federation after an emergency meeting.
The squad will take off from Yaounde at 21:30 BST, 12 hours late, and should arrive in Brazil on Sunday evening.
Team coach Volker Finke had said players were complaining that the £61,000 they were due to be paid for figuring in the World Cup was not enough.
After agreeing an end to the row, Cameroon Football Federation president Joseph Owona said: "Everything has been resolved.
"We have opted for transparency. There is no problem and I think the team needs to be mobilised for all to look in one direction."
Cameroon are in Group A with the hosts, Croatia and Mexico.

Ukraine crisis: Donetsk rebel leaders still talking tough

By Steve Rosenberg BBC News, Donetsk

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The Chairman of the Donetsk People's Republic spoke to Steve Rosenberg

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Ukraine crisis

• Boots on the ground?
• Poroshenko profile
• Crisis mapped
• Wild east

In the "City of a Thousand Roses", five female gardeners are tending a flower bed in the centre of town.

Across the street, a man is sweeping dust and leaves from the pavement. A trolleybus trundles by, stopping briefly to collect more passengers. On the surface, this is a picture of normality.

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We don't understand what's happening here, it's terrible ”

Yuri Donetsk resident

But, as I walk around Donetsk, the picture changes. I see some shops boarded up; an unusually long queue for a bank machine. Compared with my last visit here a month ago, there are fewer people on the streets and less traffic.

"Where have all the children gone?" pensioner Nadezhda Petrovna asks me. We're sitting on a bench across from the gardeners. "There are usually so many children out in the sunshine."
"We don't understand what's happening here, it's terrible," says Nadezhda's husband Yuri Petrovich. "All we want is stability."

Pro-Russian militants have set up dozens of checkpoints around Donetsk

Donetsk, a city of more than a million people, is in limbo: caught in the middle of a bitter and bloody conflict. This is the heart of eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Region. But it is also now the capital of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic: a breakaway state which has asked to join Russia. Moscow has yet to respond.
Since last week's battle at Donetsk Airport between pro-Russia militants and Ukrainian forces, the city has been relatively quiet.
Following that violence, the fiercest fighting has taken place away from Donetsk. To the north, Ukrainian troops have stepped up military operations around the rebel stronghold of Sloviansk.
There have been clashes, too, in Luhansk region. On Wednesday insurgents there seized two bases: one belonging to the Ukrainian National Guard, the other to the Border Guards.

Separatist leaders say the government in Kiev is no longer in control of large parts of eastern Ukraine

On Tuesday several people died in explosions at the regional administration, the building which had become the headquarters of the self-declared Luhansk People's Republic. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe concluded the blasts were probably caused by "non-guided rockets shot from an aircraft". Other reports suggested there had been heavy cannon fire from a fighter jet. The Ukrainian authorities denied its planes had been involved.
Ukrainian military officials maintain they are conducting an "anti-terrorist operation" in eastern Ukraine which has now entered an "active phase". They claim it is going according to plan.

Some Donetsk residents take a dim view of the Ukrainian "anti-terror" military operation

"That suggests that Ukrainian military commanders have a big sense of humour and a complete lack of self-criticism," maintains Alexander Borodai, the self-styled prime minister of the Donetsk People's Republic. We meet in his office at the administration building in Donetsk.
"May I remind you that the Ukrainian military's initial plan was to finish their operation by May 1st. Then by May 9th. Then it shifted to even later. They made so many promises about completing their so-called "anti-terrorist operation" with grandiose success and without casualties. All these declarations are rubbish. They mean nothing."

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Petro Poroshenko will claim that he is the president of all Ukraine... but declarations are one thing and reality is another”

Alexander Borodai Self-appointed Donetsk PM

Mr Borodai, who describes himself as a "crisis manager", says he is one of many volunteers who have come to Ukraine from Russia to protect Russian-speakers.

"The volunteers have come from all over Russia," he explains. "Some of them have taken up arms. Others, like me, have got involved in civilian activities."
Kiev accuses Moscow of funding and fuelling the separatist movement in eastern Ukraine. It has labelled the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics "terrorist organisations" and has vowed to defeat the militants. Mr Borodai is confident that Kiev's military operation will fail.
"Of course, Petro Poroshenko will claim and shout that he is the president of all Ukraine, including Crimea, the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics. But declarations are one thing. Reality is another."

Denis Pushilin (L) and Alexander Borodai are key figures in the Donetsk separatist movement

In another part of the administration building I meet another key figure from the "People's Republic". Denis Pushilin goes by the title "chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council".
"Do you know you're taking a risk by being here right now?" he informs me. "We have received warnings about an air strike on the building." Mr Pushilin has asked Russia to send peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine.
"This would be a last resort," he explains. "We understand that if they do send troops, this would become something much bigger than civil war. That's why we're trying to resolve everything on our own first."
Back on the streets of Donetsk, the prospect of air strikes and fighting close to home terrifies Nazdezhda Petrovna. But she's determined to remain positive.
"My neighbour told me that the Almighty had turned against us," she says. "That's not true. He's never abandoned us. He loves Ukraine. I believe there will be peace in our land. We don't deserve to die."