COLU @ CONCEPTS

Facebook disrupts suspected spam operation Facebook on Friday said it disrupted an international fake account operation that was firing off inauthentic “likes” and bogus comments to win friends it would then pound with spam. Facebook’s security team spent six months fighting to neutralize what they saw as a coordinated campaign, according to Shabnam Shaik, a company security manager. “Our systems were able to identify a large portion of this illegitimate activity — and to remove a substantial number of inauthentic likes,” Shaik said in a blog post. “By disrupting the campaign now, we expect that we will prevent this network of spammers from reaching its end goal of sending inauthentic material to large numbers of people.” The ring used accounts in a number of countries including Bangladesh, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. The group tried to mask its activities with tactics like connecting with the social network through “proxy” servers to disguise where “likes,” posts or other com...

Time for Nigeria to stand up for Africa A  CALAMITY hit Africa late March. A conference, crucial to its immediate needs, was slated from March 23-28, 2017. It was primarily for African development, and involved all African Ministers for Finance, Planning and Economic Development as well as development partners and Civil society groups. Organised by the African Union,  AU, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, it was to discuss the issues of ‘Growth, Inequality and Unemployment’ in the continent and what actions can be carried out. Nigeria’s  Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo was slated to deliver the major Adedeji Lecture as part of the Conference. His paper was to discuss the repositioning of Nigeria. The Pre-Ministerial meetings were on at the King Fahd Palace (former Le Meridien Hotel) in Dakar, Senegal, when Morocco threw spanner in the works. It held the meetings up over the participation of fellow AU member, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (We...

Africa is at a tipping point Mo Ibrahim Africa is at a tipping point. Whether it continues rising or falls back depends, above all else, on whether the continent creates the conditions in which its greatest resource — its young people — can shine. Already six out of 10 of Africa’s people are under 25. Between 2015 and 2050, Africa’s youth population will almost double, growing from almost 230m to 452m. Their potential to drive Africa’s progress goes far beyond numbers. As a group, they are more adventurous, more entrepreneurial and spend longer in school than past generations. They also have set their sights higher, wanting to emulate their counterparts in other continents rather than achieve goals set by their parents. But this demographic dividend is in danger of turning sour. Nothing better highlights the problem than the fact that the more time young people in Africa spend in education, the more likely they are to be unemployed. It is a failure, which draws a...

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...