First lady addresses nation on kidnapped Nigerian girls

WASHINGTON -- Michelle Obama is criticizing the kidnapping of scores of Nigerian schoolgirls.

Taking over the president's weekly radio and Internet address, Mrs. Obama calls it an "unconscionable act" carried out by a terrorist group determined to keep the girls from getting an education. She describes the group Boko Haram as "grown men attempting to snuff out the aspirations of young girls."

On the eve of Mother's Day, the first lady says that she and President Barack Obama are "outraged and heartbroken" over the April 15 abduction of the girls from their dormitory. Mrs. Obama says she and her husband think of their own daughters and "can only imagine the anguish their parents are feeling."

The first lady adds that what happened in Nigeria is not an isolated incident, but a story seen "every day as girls around the world risk their lives to pursue their ambitions."