Arabic Video News in English

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, is facing charges of trying to murder 290 people on board a US-bound pasesnger plane that he attempted to blow up on Christmas Day.

But in Nigeria, acquaintances say they cannot believe he is at the centre of such an incident.

For many who knew him, they say Abdulmutallab became radicalised when he left the country to study in Yemen and they strongly reject any links between his actions and his childhood upbringing in Nigeria.

Al Jazeera’s Nazanin Sadri reports.

US officials have charged a Nigerian mna with trying to blow up a transatlantic flight with close to 300 people aboard as it descended into Detroit on Christmas Day. The US Deparmtent of Justice alelges 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate explosives strapped to his body before other passengers overpowered him. In response to the incident on Flight 253, airports around the world have intensified security measures for U-S bound flights. Officials are nwo seeking more information on the suspect’s possible motives. Al Jazeera English’s John Terrett reports.

Human rights groups say Nigerian police officers carried out illegal killings during operations against Boko Haram fighters last month.

At least 1,000 people died in the violence in the north of the country.

Now hundreds of families have come forward accusing the police of murder.

Al Jazeera’s Yvonne Ndege reports from Maiduguri.

The oil-rich state of Nigeria is known for its endemic corruption, and millions of people living in abject poverty.However, Al Jazerea’s Haru Mutasa traveled to the notrhern edge of the country, and found a local leader on a mission to stamp out corruption.

Dozens of suspected gang members have been arrested in Italy accused of smuggling women from Nigeria to work as drug couriers and prostitutes. Thousands of women from Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe are lured by the prospect of well-paid work in shops and factories. But their dreams of a better life often end in a brothel. Isoke Aikpitanyi from Nigeria is one of those women, she tell us her story