Cameroon

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

World's Oldest President Reelected at 92

But opposition says Cameroon's Paul Biya, who has held power since 1982, rigged the vote

(Newser) - The world's oldest president, Cameroon 's 92-year-old Paul Biya, has won election again, the country's top court said Monday, after days of protesters' clashes with security forces left at least four people dead as opposition supporters demanded credible results. Biya has led the central African nation since...

Country Bans Talk About 91-Year-Old Leader's Health

Officials in Cameroon say rumors Paul Biya is ill are 'pure fantasy'

(Newser) - Cameroon's 91-year-old president is rumored to be in ill health, and we're allowed to tell you that because we're not in Cameroon. The country has banned any discussion of Paul Biya's health, with Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji declaring that it is a matter of national...

Leader's Daughter Suggests She's in an Illegal Relationship

Brenda Biya posts a photo of her kissing another woman, which is a crime in Cameroon

(Newser) - A 26-year-old woman posted a photo on social media suggesting she's in a same-sex relationship. In many other nations, that wouldn't cause much of a stir. But Brenda Biya is the daughter of the president of Cameroon, a country where such a relationship is illegal and punishable by...

Rare Outbreak of Deadly Marburg Disease Is Detected

WHO: It's Equatorial Guinea's first outbreak

(Newser) - On Monday, the Central African nation of Equatorial Guinea announced a deadly outbreak of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious disease similar to Ebola. The World Health Organization says at least nine people have died there of the illness, with 16 others suspected of having it. Then, on Tuesday, authorities...

Violence, Arrests Mar Women's Marches
Explosives Go Off
on Women's Day
Mar 8, 2020 3:30 PM CDT

Explosives Go Off on Women's Day

'They kill us, they rape us and nobody does anything,' chant women in Chile

(Newser) - From the streets of Manila to a school in East London, people around the world marked International Women’s Day on Sunday with calls to end exploitation and increase equality. But tensions marred some celebrations, with police arresting demonstrators at a rally in Kyrgyzstan and separatists detonating a bomb during...

A Kidnapping of 78 on Sunday, a Release by Tuesday

Good news after mass child abduction in Cameroon

(Newser) - All 78 students kidnapped by anti-government separatists in Cameroon Sunday have been freed, officials now say, but the ordeal isn't over for everyone. The BBC reports that the children taken from Presbyterian Secondary School in Bamenda are now being questioned by authorities before they get to go home to...

78 Students Kidnapped From School in Cameroon

'You will be going to school now here,' one of the militants tells the children

(Newser) - Anti-government militants in Cameroon just stole a page from Boko Haram . Authorities say armed men kidnapped 78 children and their principal from a Presbyterian school in the western city of Bamenda. In a video that has begun to circulate, the kidnappers refer to themselves as the "Amba boys,"...

Young Coding Whiz in Dark as Cameroon Turns Off Internet

Parts of the country have been off-line for nearly a month

(Newser) - Large swaths of the African nation of Cameroon have been cut off from the internet for a nearly a month now—and it's a punishment, not a tech glitch. The government ordered telecom companies to block access to regions in the southwest and northwest on Jan. 17 following protests,...

US Ambassador's Motorcade Kills Boy

Samantha Power returned to the scene in Cameroon

(Newser) - US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power's trip to Cameroon's front lines in the war against Boko Haram started horrifically Monday as an armored jeep in her motorcade struck and killed a young boy who darted into the road. The incident occurred near the small city of Mokolo,...

Kids Taken by Boko Haram Have Forgotten Own Names

Aid official who visited Cameroon orphanage says children were indoctrinated

(Newser) - It was decidedly good news when a group of about 80 children was rescued from a Boko Haram camp in northern Cameroon in November—but the repercussions of their abduction remain painfully evident. An aid official who recently visited an orphanage that's helping the kids get reacclimated to a...

Nigerian Troops Retake Key Town in Bloody Clashes With Boko Haram

Soldiers dismantle 1,500 land mines: official

(Newser) - Nigerian troops retook a major border town and killed scores of Boko Haram fighters today, Nigeria's military says, although witnesses also reported the Islamic extremists killed scores in attacks on other villages. Troops seized back the garrison town of Baga, on Lake Chad and the border with Cameroon, after...

Angry Soccer Fans Kill Star Player

Albert Ebosse dies after Algerian fans start throwing things

(Newser) - Algerian soccer fans angry over their team's 2-1 loss started throwing objects—reportedly rocks—at their players, and the defeat quickly turned tragic when 24-year-old JS Kabylie player Albert Ebosse got hit in the head. The star striker later "succumbed to a head injury," according to a...

Researchers: Yes, You Do Eat Too Much Salt

As two other studies counter: Salt? No big deal

(Newser) - Whether due to a love of processed food or soy sauce, almost every adult on the planet likes salt way too much—on average, we consume almost double the amount of sodium recommended by the World Health Organization, a new study finds. Think that's no big deal? Well, researchers...

Kidnapped Family Freed in Cameroon

French government denies paying ransom to Islamic extremist group

(Newser) - A French family of seven, kidnapped in February by Islamic extremists in northern Cameroon, was freed last night, reports the AP . Officials from neither France nor Cameroon have yet offered any details about their release, but Cameroonian TV captured the family exiting an airplane, all thin but walking steadily; a...

French Hostages Falsely Reported Rescued

Family of 7 still in hands of kidnappers, say France, Cameroon

(Newser) - A French family abducted in Cameroon this week was reported to be "safe and sound and ... in the hands of Nigerian authorities," according to a Cameroon military officer, but now multiple sources including the BBC , Reuters , and France24 are reporting that's not true. France's foreign ministry...

French Family Kidnapped in Cameroon

7 victims abducted by gunmen near Nigeria

(Newser) - A French family has been kidnapped by gunmen in Cameroon, near the Nigerian border, French president François Hollande says. The attackers were a "known terrorist group based in Nigeria," he adds, and probably took the family there. The seven victims included children. The attack comes just days...

7 Cameroon Olympians Go AWOL

Suspected of seeking economic refuge in Europe

(Newser) - Seven Olympians from Cameroon, having been eliminated in their respective sports, have gone missing from the Olympic Village, and they're said to have " absconded " to take economic refuge in Europe. The first to go MIA was reserve soccer goalie Drusille Ngako, who wasn't selected for the...

Girls in Cameroon Have Breasts 'Ironed'
 Girls in Cameroon 
 Have Breasts 
 'Ironed' 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jul 25, 2010 11:39 AM CDT

Girls in Cameroon Have Breasts 'Ironed'

Moms believe burns will keep men away

(Newser) - Breast ironing. Yes, it's as painful as it sounds. But, according to a new Current documentary , as many one in four girls in Cameroon have had their breast buds burned with hot stones. Ironically, the painful wounds are meant to protect them; mothers believe the scars will keep men at...

Brit Gorilla Expert Murdered
 Brit Gorilla Expert Murdered 
Jul 1, 2010 5:40 AM CDT

Brit Gorilla Expert Murdered

Ymke Warren's throat slit with machete

(Newser) - A British gorilla expert died after her throat was slit while she was bound and gagged in her Cameroon home. Ymke Warren, 40, was apparently attacked by a man armed with a machete hiding in her attic. It's not certain if the killing occurred during a robbery or if she...

Other Natural Disasters as Weird as the Sinkhole
 Other Natural Disasters as 
 Weird as the Sinkhole 
in case you missed it
Jun 5, 2010 7:00 PM CDT

Other Natural Disasters as Weird as the Sinkhole

Fire tornadoes, asteroid strikes and more

(Newser) - As the sinkhole that swallowed a three-story building in Guatemala Monday demonstrated, natural disasters can be really weird. The Daily Beast runs through some of the strangest natural catastrophes on record:
  • The poisonous cloud: In 1986 in Cameroon, 1,700 people and 3,500 animals mysteriously dropped dead simultaneously. Scientists
...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>
Most Read on Newser