COLU @ CONCEPTS

253 Nigerians deported from Libya arrive Lagos Airport By Lawani Mikairu 253 Nigerians, who have been stranded in Libya were Tuesday deported back to Nigeria aboard an Airbus A333-200 with registration number 5A LAT. A deportee from Libya on arrival at the Murtala Muhammed Airport on Tuesday Photo Lamidi Bamidele  The 253 returnees who were conveyed on the Libyan Airline plane comprised of 140 adult females and 8 children. Also aboard were 103 adult male and 3 male children.  This is the largest single batch of deportees to arrive Lagos Airport in recent times. The returnees journey back to Nigeria, as usual , was facilitated by International Organisation for Migration, IOM, after the Federal Government asked for its assistance after confirming that some Nigerians were willing to return home. The aircraft conveying them landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, around 8:10pm yesterday and were received at the Hajj Terminal by the National Emergency Mana...

    Massive Trump tax cuts face big hurdles as debt mounts WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is proposing tax cuts for individuals and businesses even as Washington struggles with mounting debt and the populist president tries to make good on promises to bring jobs and prosperity to the middle class. Trump is scheduled Wednesday to unveil the broad outlines of a tax overhaul that would provide massive tax cuts to businesses big and small. The top tax rate for individuals would be cut by a few percentage points, from 39.6 percent to the "mid-30s," said an official with knowledge of the plan. Small business owners would see their top tax rate go from 39.6 percent to 15 percent, said the official. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was not authorized to speak publicly about the plan before Trump's announcement, White House officials already said the top corporate tax rate would be reduced from 35 percent to 15 percent. The plan will als...

Ancient people left a frightening message for us, and scientists just found it 10,000 years from now (assuming humans haven’t been wiped out by a plague, space rock, or our own destructive tendencies), it’ll  probably  be fairly easy for the average person to research what life was like in 2017. For us here today, finding out what life was like in 11,000BC is much more challenging, but by studying ancient stone carvings and pairing the somewhat confusing messages with archeological data, researchers believe they’ve discovered concrete evidence of an apocalyptic event that may have altered the future of mankind: a comet strike. Don't Miss:   Hobbits were real, and they lived in Indonesia The study, performed by a team of researchers from the University of Edinburgh (PDF), suggests that a potentially cataclysmic comet strike rapidly and dramatically altered the Earth’s climate for hundreds of years, sending humanity into a mini ice age with near...

    Internet firms winding up for a fight on 'net neutrality' NEW YORK (AP) — Internet companies are readying for a showdown with telecoms and a Republican-controlled government over a policy near and dear to their hearts: net neutrality. Net neutrality basically prevents broadband providers from playing favorites or steering users toward (or away from) particular internet sites. Under rules enacted during the Obama administration, the likes of Comcast and Verizon — which offer their own video services they'd very much like subscribers to use — can't slow down Netflix, can't block YouTube, and can't charge Spotify extra to stream faster than Pandora. Broadband companies hate the net neutrality rules, and they have an ally in new Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai, who has repeatedly called the regulations a mistake. Pai could launch the process of unwinding the rules as early as Wednesday, according to reports. EARLY TECH RESISTANC...

   In Kashmir, brutality of videos deepen anger against India SRINAGAR, India (AP) — One video showed a young Kashmiri man strapped to a patrolling Indian army jeep as a human shield against stone-throwing protesters. Others showed soldiers beating local men with sticks as other troops stood by with guns drawn. As Shabir Ahmed watched the crude clips, captured on cellphone cameras and uploaded to Facebook, he felt terrified. They reminded him of his own 2001 detention by Indian army soldiers who suspected him of being a rebel sympathizer; he said they subjected him to beatings, waterboarding and drinking water mixed with chili powder. "For two nights I couldn't sleep. I was not shocked but exhausted" after watching the recent videos, said 38-year-old Ahmed. "I have suffered a great deal in torture by soldiers. Suddenly, I felt as if demons reopened my old wounds and started haunting me." Rights groups have long accused Indian forces of using system...

  Trump's speaking style still flummoxes linguists NEW YORK (AP) — Campaign promises may have been reshaped and some self-imposed deadlines reset. But among the things kept intact in the opening months of the new administration is the unmistakably distinct style of President Donald Trump's speech. Trump's trademark talk is full of rambling, aside-filled bursts of simple but definitive words, laden with self-congratulatory bravado and claims that have fact-checkers working overtime, all dispatched from mind to lips in such record time it seemingly bypasses any internal filter. It has been a source of curiosity for language scholars and laymen alike, sparked anew by a recent Associated Press  interview  with Trump that has brought newfound opportunity for parsing a brand of presidential oratory not previously recorded. "This kind of pushes the limits of linguistic analysis," said historian Kristen Kobes Du Mez. A look at some features of Trump-spe...

  Cuba weathers storm in Venezuela but future looks uncertain HAVANA (AP) — Refineries have gone dark. Gas rations have been slashed for hundreds of thousands of state workers. Construction materials are nearly impossible to find. But Cuba's hotels and restaurants are packed, major U.S. airlines are adding flights and government stores are full of frozen American chicken and U.S.-made candy. So far, Cuba is weathering the storm as Venezuela's economy craters and protesters fill its streets to denounce Cuba's greatest socialist ally. A much-feared return to Cuba's post-Soviet "Special Period" of food shortages and blackouts has yet to materialize as energy conservation and a boom in tourism and overseas remittances cushion the blow of a roughly 50 percent cut in Venezuelan oil aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Interminable bus lines and long hunts for products like milk, paint and cement seem manageable by comparison with the hunger ...

  Who speaks for Islam and reform? Debate heats up in Egypt CAIRO (AP) — It was a startling collision of religion and politics. Egypt's president proposed a new law that would prevent Muslim men from ending their marriages simply by saying "divorce" three times. The country's top institution of Islamic clerics, Al-Azhar, bluntly rejected the idea, saying Islam gives men that right and nothing can change that. In the months since, that confrontation escalated into a blistering feud over who speaks for Islam and how to bring reforms. Pro-government media accuse Al-Azhar of failing to modernize its teaching to counter militant thought that breeds jihadi movements and violence like the Islamic State group's recent attacks on Egypt's Christians. This weekend, Pope Francis meets in Cairo with Al-Azhar's grand imam, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, their second meeting in a historic initiative to improve Muslim-Christian dialogue. Al-Azhar is revered in Egypt...

Leading GOP moderate opposes plan to move House health bill WASHINGTON (AP) — Leading House conservatives are saying good things about a plan to revive the GOP health care bill. But an influential GOP House moderate is opposing the proposal, leaving party leaders to assess whether the idea could help one of President Donald Trump's premier but most problematic priorities spring back to life. Republican lawmakers were meeting Wednesday to consider how to rescue the GOP drive to repeal much of President Barack Obama's health care law. That salvage effort comes as bipartisan bargainers edge toward agreement on a separate $1 trillion budget bill that would prevent a partial federal shutdown this Saturday. While erasing Obama's statute is solidly opposed by Democrats, the budget measure will need support from both parties because GOP conservatives often oppose spending legislation. Leaders of both parties cited budget progress Tuesday after Trump signaled he w...