COLU @ CONCEPTS

Aaron Hernandez trial: Heartbreaking scene as 4-year-old daughter shows up to court BOSTON — The 4-year-old girl cried that she missed her father, cried that she wanted to see him. And so her mother scooped her up and brought her here on Wednesday afternoon, to Room 906 of the Suffolk County Courthouse for a brief and emotional and likely confusing visit. Just before 4 o’clock, just before the end of another day of jury deliberation without a verdict, in walked Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, carrying in her arms the daughter she shares with Aaron Hernandez. Shayanna and Aaron aren’t married, but  she recently took his name anyway . It was the first time their daughter has come to court to see her dad. Hernandez, the former New England Patriots star, is already a convicted killer, serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd in North Attleborough, Massachusetts. He is currently awaiting a jury verdict on charges that he...

The first 100 days don’t matter. For Trump, they matter even less. We still don’t know what kind of president Donald Trump really wants to be, but we may be about to find out. (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) Brace yourself now for the deluge of predictable stories about Mr. Trump’s Wild Ride during these first 100 days in office: the erratic tweets and tirades, the confusing shifts in policy on health care and Russia and, underlying all of it, the  intensifying rivalries  between aides, family members and department chiefs. Even in normal cases, the whole 100-day construct is pretty silly. Anyone who’s ever started a new job — even one that doesn’t involve overseeing the world’s most formidable bureaucracy and its most powerful arsenal — knows that three months is barely enough time to figure out where the good vending machines are. Trump’s case, though, isn’t close to normal, seeing as he was the least prepared president to assume office in any of our li...

How DSS foiled attacks on US, UK embassies The Department of State Services, DSS, yesterday, unveiled the identities of five suspected Boko Haram terrorists affiliated with the dreaded ISIS, who had planned to bomb the United States and the United Kingdom embassies in Nigeria before their plot was aborted. The suspects, whose names were given as Isa Jibril, Jibril Jibril, Abu Omale Jibril, Halidu Sule and Amhodu Salifu, reportedly connived to wreak havoc on the US and UK embassies as well as other unnamed western interests in Abuja.  Director-General of Department of State Service, DSS, Mr Lawal Daura  The DSS said in a statement signed by Tony Opuiyo that the masterminds of the deadly attacks, who were based in undisclosed locations in Benue State and the Federal Capital Territory, were arrested between March 25 and 26, 2017. The service revealed that before busting the ISIS attack, its operatives in conjunction with the military and the police on March 23, 20...

FG negotiating with Boko Haram on Chibok girls—Osinbajo The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has said negotiations are ongoing for the release of more Chibok schoolgirls still in the custody of Boko Haram terrorists, expressing optimism that the dialogue would yield the desired result. Vice President Osinbajo made this known, Tuesday evening, at an interaction with journalists and activists at the state house in Abuja “There is a lot of negotiation going on,” adding that government had “gone quite far” with negotiations to free more girls, but did not provide details of the negotiations for apparent security reasons. UNICEF report This came as the United Nations Childrens’ Fund, UNICEF, reported that Boko Haram insurgents have used a total of 117 children, mainly girls, to carry out suicide bomb attacks in public places across Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon since 2014. It called for stoppage of recruitment and use of children in armed conflict as ‘suicide bomber...

Villagers flee as herdsmen attack Delta communities OBIARUKU— HERDSMEN, armed with AK 47 rifles, caused panic at Ebedei community in Ukwuani Local Government Area, Delta State, when they shot at random, Tuesday night, forcing villagers, largely women and children, to flee the rural community. The shooting came on the heels of the tension generated at Mosogar and Jesse communities in Ethiope East Local Government Area of the state, weekend, over the death of an indigene, allegedly lynched by herdsmen, following a heated argument. Unlike the Ebedei shooting in which villagers took to their heels, it was the herdsmen that ran away from Mosogar and Jesse, as youths launched a manhunt for them. State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Andrew Aniamaka, who confirmed the shooting in Ebedei, said: “There is perfect calm in Ebeide as I speak to you, even though there was shooting on Tuesday night allegedly by herdsmen.”                 ...

FIRS to introduce electronic tax clearance certificate,TCC The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says it will soon introduce electronic Tax Clearance Certificate (e-TCC) system to  help reduce  fraudulent certificates. Mr Kola Okunola, Director ICT, FIRS, said this in a presentation at the ongoing training by Journalism.com Ltd., in collaboration with FIRS on Thursday in Abuja. He said that the implementation of the e-TCC  verification system had reached an advanced stage, adding that it was undergoing user’s acceptance test before deployment to production. “TCC will be out in the next four weeks. It will provide an e-repository of all TCCs issued by FIRS. “It will enable FIRS Staff and authorised third parties to verify tax clearance certificates, thereby reducing the incidence of fraudulent certificates. “It automatically sends Tax Clearance Certificates to the emails of taxpayers and also enables them to request for and print their TCCs online...

UPDATE: I’ll bend backwards to get your girls back, Buhari reassures Chibok parents As the nation marks three years of the abduction of over 200 Chibok schoolgirls from their dormitory in Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, President Muhammadu Buhari has re-assured the girls that he was  willing to bend over backwards to secure the release of the remaining girls. Buhari, in his message to mark the third year of the girls abduction, pleaded with the parents not to lose hope, disclosing that his administration has reached out to their captors, through local and international intermediaries, adding that he was ready to do everything within his means to ensure the safe release of all the girls but not at the cost of bringing harm to them. The President, ‎who said the Chibok girls were his children because he feels the pains of their parents, also added that his administration was doing all within its powers to reintegrate the freed girls to normal life‎. ...