Cameroon Paid Boko Haram $400K Ransom, Plus Arms And Ammunition, To Secure Release Of Deputy Prime Minister’s Wife, Other Hostages

SaharaReporters has learned that the Cameroonian authorities paid Boko Haram insurgents at least $400,000 in ransom in order to secure the release of Francoise Agnes Moukouri, wife of Vice Prime Minister Amadou Ali. 

SaharaReporters has learned that the Cameroonian authorities paid Boko Haram insurgents at least $400,000 in ransom in order to secure the release of Francoise Agnes Moukouri, wife of Vice Prime  

Boko Haram insurgents had abducted Mrs. Ali in July from the town of Kolofata. The insurgents also seized the town’s district head. The deal to secure their release was struck three days ago, as SaharaReporters exclusively reported. 
Our source, who was part of the negotiation that led to the release of Mrs. Ali and several other hostages, disclosed that the terms of the settlement included the payment of an undisclosed sum of money from the Chinese government. Boko Haram subsequently released 10 Chinese construction workers who had been held hostage since their abduction in May.

Child who fell into jaguar exhibit at Arkansas Zoo is in stable condition

A child who fell into a jaguar exhibit at the Little Rock Zoo in Arkansas on Friday is now listed in stable condition, according to a hospital spokesman.

The 3-year-old boy's condition has been updated from critical to stable, according to a press release from Arkansas Children's Hospital obtained by CNN affiliate KARK.

The child, who is not being named, is expected to improve.

"We respect the wishes of the child's guardian, who asked that the child's name and any additional information not be shared at this time," said Dan McFadden, director of communications for the hospital.

Witnesses say screams for help rang out loudly after the 3-year-old boy slipped through the exhibit rail feet first, plummeting into the cat pit, according to a Little Rock police report.

The child was with his father and grandfather at the time of the incident. The father told Little Rock police he was leaning over the rail in an attempt to take a photograph of the animals and observed his son's feet go over the rail out of his peripheral vision. The child's grandfather says the little boy fell approximately 15-16 feet, police said.

Two jaguars in the enclosure attac

Shia opposition to boycott Bahrain polls

Parties announce decision to boycott next month's parliamentary vote, saying it would cement absolute authoritarianism.

Bahrain's Shia opposition have been staging regular protests since 2011 [Reuters]

Bahrain's Shia-led opposition has said it will boycott parliamentary elections planned for next month, saying the vote would cement "absolute authoritarianism" in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.
Four opposition groups, including the main Shia movement Al-Wefaq, said on Saturday that they would pursue "peaceful protests" instead, until their demand for a constitutional monarchy was achieved.
The Gulf kingdom had scheduled elections for a new 40-seat lower house of parliament on November 22, the first since protests rocked the country in 2011.

Deadly suicide blasts rock Iraq capital

Dozens killed in a string of attacks in Baghdad amid growing fears that Anbar province could fall to ISIL fighters.

Government officials say Anbar province could fall to ISIL if they didn't receive help [Reuters]

At least 35 people have been killed and scores wounded in a series of attacks in Iraq, medical and police officials say.
At least 13 people were killed in two car bombings in Shia-dominated parts of western Baghdad on Saturday night. A third blast killed another 15 people, Reuters news agency reported.
Al Jazeera's Imran Khan in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, said the explosions happened within minutes of each other and could be linked to events in western Iraq.

Iraq army pressured by ISIL in west:

US defense officials say Iraqi military in a precarious position as it battles ISIL forces west of Baghdad. 

Iraqi forces are attempting to counter ISIL who seized Anbar's Fallujah in January [AFP]

The Iraqi army is under serious pressure in the west of the country, officials said, with the world's attention fixed instead on the Syrian town of Kobane as it battles a similar Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant offensive.
"It's tenuous there. They are being resupplied and they're holding their own, but it's tough and challenging," a senior US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the AFP news agency.

Dozens of US-led air strikes in recent weeks on the western Anbar province, including near the city of Ramadi, have helped counter the group's fighters while the capital Baghdad remained secure, the official added.

Egypt adjourns trials of prominent activists

Sana Seif and 22 others are accused of breaching the country's anti-protest law, a crime that has imprisoned thousands.

Seif's brother, prominent Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, was arrested but subsequently released [AP]

An Egyptian court has adjourned the trial of 23 activists accused of breaching a bar on protests unauthorised by the government, a crime that has put thousands in prison.
The trial will resume on October 16. Among those activists is Sana Seif, a 20-year old who was arrested on July 21 while demonstrating against the arrest of her brother, renowned blogger and human rights defender Alaa Abdel Fattah.

Ebola death toll crosses 4,000 mark

Latest figure put at 4,033 as UN special envoy calls for greater resources and effort to battle epidemic in West Africa.

More than 4,000 people have died in the Ebola epidemic that broke out in West Africa at the start of the year, according to the latest figures released by the World Health Organisation.
The WHO said on Friday that as of October 8, 4,033 people have died of Ebola out of a total of 8,399 registered cases in seven countries. The last toll put the figures at 3,865 dead from 8,033 cases.
The seven affected countries are split into two groups by WHO.