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The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, tentatively fixed November 7 for judgment in the trial of Kabiru Sokoto, the alleged mastermind of the 2011 Christmas day bombing in St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State. The trial judge, Justice Ademola Adeniyi, fixed the date after the defence counsel, S. Okoh, adopted his written address. Okoh had submitted that all the charges leveled against the accused were not based on evidence and as such should be discountenanced. He further argued that the accused is standing trial as alleged by the prosecution that he had knowledge of the Madalla  bombing but he (accused) had denied it, adding that before a person will be guilty under Section 7 (1) of  the Terrorism  Prevention Act, the actual knowledge must be proved. Okoh also argued that  Boko Haram was not an illegal body until around April this year when the Federal Government proscribed and labelled it so. He submitted that up till t...

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, said the state government had commenced the construction of the route for the cable car project to complement the transportation system in the state, saying, "the project is on the verge of completion." Fashola, who disclosed this at the event marking the 2013 World Habitat Day: 'Urban Mobility,' at the Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja, said the introduction of the cable car transportation was in line with the global practices. The governor, who was represented by Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, described the innovation as vital to achieving the mega city status. He assured that, "the present administration is committed to activating every means of transportation in Lagos in order to reduce numbers of vehicles on the road, which translates to unhealthy volumes of carbon emissions." Fashola noted that the state would soon commission the Blue and Red Rail lines to further increase res...

(Pierre Andrieu, File/AFP/Getty Images Halle Berry is a mom again after giving birth to a son. The Oscar winner and her actor husband Olivier Martinez are now the proud parents of a baby boy, who arrived on Saturday. A spokesperson for Berry would not confirm any other details about the baby, including his name or place of birth. Berry, 47, is already a mother to 5-year-old Nahla Ariela, her daughter from a previous relationship with Canadian model Gabriel Aubry. The star married Martinez in a private ceremony in his native France in July.

A Nigerian acid attack victim who was horrifically scarred in a random attack a while back in the UK wept with joy after having cosmetic surgery to restore her eyebrows.Naomi Oni, 21, had acid hurled over her face, head and body as she made her way home to Dagenham after her shift at Westfield's Victoria's Secret store last December. The acid burned off the skin on her face and scalp and left her temporarily blinded. before the attack She lost her eyelids, eyebrows and some of her hair in the assault.Since then, surgeons have painstakingly rebuilt her features including taking skin from the back of her ear to make new eyelids for her. But her eyebrows remained permanently damaged. Losing her eyebrows was yet another blow to her confidence, which had already suffered so much. Now, ten months after the attack, her skin has healed enough for her to have her eyebrows restored.Naomi, whose attacker is facing trial at the end of this year, had a sophisticated semi-perman...

What are the best mobile phones to buy in 2013 so far? 2013 is shaping up to be quite a year for smartphones. We’ve already seen plenty of new devices launched in and around CES 2013 and Mobile World Congress 2013. And there’s still a lot more to come – in September alone we'll see the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, HTC One Max, Sony Xperia Honami, Nokia Bandit and, of course, Apple's iPhone 5S. So far we’ve seen launches from some of the industry’s most significant players: Samsung, Sony, Nokia, BlackBerry, HTC, LG, Huawei, and ZTE. All of which represent a significant leap forwards in terms of processing power, display technology, and features. Most of 2013’s new high-rolling handsets feature full HD displays and high-end processors, CPUs that make last year’s Snapdragon S4 look practically remedial. And some handsets, notably the Xperia Z, Samsung Galaxy S4 Active and Huawei Ascen...

Reports indicate BBM for Android is back in closed beta testing BBM for Android and iOS is now back in closed beta testing, according to reports. IBNLive has an image showing a download page for BBM, though doesn't explain where it came from. It shows in the download description for v71 that beta testing has been re-enabled. The move comes nearly two weeks since BBM for Android and iOS failed to launch as expected, to the dissapointment of many who were eagerly anticipating the messaging service being enabled on non-BlackBerry handsets. The terminated launch came after a beta build of BBM for Android leaked online, although BlackBerry hasn't explained precisely why having an unofficial build doing the rounds is cause to slam the brakes on. While BlackBerry has re-iterated that BBM for And...

Popular Yoruba comedian, Afonja Olaniyi, also widely known as Sanyeri, is set to get married this December to his sweetheart, Omolara, whom he met at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, when he was not known in the industry. The comedian and Omolara were blessed with two boys as their relationship evolved. The wedding will be graced by  various Nigerian actors and actresses and the popular fuji musician, Alabi Pasuma, is expected to perform at the wedding which is to take place at Anchor Events Centre, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.

Four Ondo officials died in the plane crash. The Ondo State Government welcomed several dignitaries on Saturday as sympathizers thronged in to condole with Governor Olusegun Mimiko and the people of the state over the death of four of the state’s officials in Thursday’s Associated Airline plane crash in Lagos. The state’s Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Deji Falae; Senior Protocol Officer, Daji Bernard; and two Ondo State liaison officers in Lagos, Esther Alabi and Deji Afolabi, died in the air mishap which had the body of late former governor of the state, Olusegun Agagu, and 20 people on board. Among the early callers at the Government House on Saturday were representatives of Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, led by Tunji Onileaja; wife of the Ekiti State Governor, Bisi Fayemi; traditional rulers from Akoko area of Ondo state, led by Akadiri Momoh, the Olukare of Ikare; and the Chairman of the Ondo State League of Imams...

A 44-year-old lawyer, Kofi Yawson-Adjei, yesterday committed suicide by hanging himself. According to Ghanaweb.com, Yawson-Adjei, who is the Secretary of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GIS) and valuers, hanged himself in his private office on the first floor of a rented premises at Adabraka. The father of three is said to have left his Kokomlemle residence about 3 a.m. for his office (in a taxi), where the incident took place. He left a written note directing a lady named Narh to give a signed cheque for GH¢3,000 to his wife. Yawson-Adjei was with the Valuation Estate and Surveying Division of the GIS and was Chief Executive Officer of Property Lane Limited. When the Daily Graphic team got to the scene about 11 a.m., pockets of residents had gathered discussing the issue. Personnel from the Homicide Unit of the Ghana Police Service were also at the scene to convey the body to the Police Hospital mortuary. The elder sister of the deceased would not allow members of the media...

BlackBerry Ltd.  appears to have finally found a savior , and if all the details are worked out, the company will go private in a deal led by its largest sharehlder, Fairfax Financial, valued at $4.7 billion, or $9 a share, sometime in November. Though a nice upside for a stock that got pummeled by  last week’s whopper of an earnings warning , it’s a huge comedown from BlackBerry’s  BBRY   +0.23%   former status as the pioneering smartphone maker that was revered for its secure network and high-quality handsets. The deal price is also less than one-quarter of the market value that the company commanded just three years ago. Click to Play BlackBerry agrees to $4.7B deal Beleaguered smartphone maker BlackBerry struck a deal to sell itself to a group led by Fairfax Financial for about $4.7 billion in cash. Ryan Knutson joins digits. BlackBerry may not be dead yet, but its drastic reversal of fortune is probably going to make for some good busines...

The thousands of Chelsea fans travelling to Swindon for Tuesday's Capital One Cup tie might be pleased to hear Gianfranco Zola is waiting for them.   Well, a mural of the iconic Italian at least.   His diminutive frame adorns the doors to a supporters club set up in this part of Wiltshire seven years ago for a group of west London expats and will, on the day of the match, host a knees up the scale of which has not been seen before.   Blues brothers: Pub landlord John Honeyman and 'Zola' prepare to welcome Chelsea fans to Swindon It is the first time since the Swindon branch was formed nearly two decades ago that Chelsea have been in town and landlord John Honeyman, 51, is expecting a bumper crowd.   'I think around 3,000 tickets have been sold for the Chelsea end and I would hope most of them come here first,' he told MailOnline Sport. 'It will be a good drink and sing song.'  In an annex of the Swiss Chalet pub is Zola's Bar, which houses a couple of s...

If  the long lines on Friday  weren't a good enough indication, Apple wants doubters to know the new iPhone is a roaring success. Early Monday morning,  the company announced  that it had sold 9 million models of the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C during the first three days of sales -- calling it a new record high for an iPhone debut. But that's not the whole story. Apple has turned boasting about record-breaking sales into a tradition: Three days after it debuts a new iPhone, Apple puts out a happy press release. In 2012, the company said iPhone 5 sales  topped 5 million . The year before, Apple sold  more than 4 million  iPhone 4S handsets during its first weekend, and the year before that, it sold only  1.7 million models  of the iPhone 4. So with more than 9 million new iPhones sold this year, the iPhone 5S and 5C certainly are record breakers for Apple again -- a nice fact that they can trumpet to weary...