*Banks set up fund to fight e-fraud*

The Deposit Money Banks in the country have set up a multimillion-naira fund to fight scammers as the banking sector continues to record rising cases of electronic fraud. Part of the funds will be deployed in massive anti-fraud campaigns to expose the tricks of e-fraudsters beginning January 2018.

The Chairman, Committee of Electronic Banking Industry Heads, the umbrella body for the heads of e-banking in all the commercial banks in the country, Mr. Dele Adeyinka, made the disclosure in an exclusive interview with our correspondent on Tuesday.

Adeyinka said, “Six months ago, in mid-2017 we realised that we needed to set aside some amount of money (running into hundreds of millions of naira) to create awareness about electronic fraud. We decided that an ‘X’ amount of all the transactions going through the NIBSS platform for the purpose of fighting fraud.

*Law School’s position on hijab unlawful –Muslim lawyers*

The Muslim Lawyers’ Association of Nigeria has described as unlawful the recent refusal by the Nigerian Law School to allow Firdaus Amasa entrance into the venue of the ‘Call to Bar’ ceremony recently in Abuja because she put on hijab.

MULAN made the declaration in a communique on Monday in Katsina shortly after its three-day extra-ordinary National Executive Committee meeting. It read: " the refusal to allow the appellants wear it (the hijab) on their uniform is a clear infraction of their rights."

The National President of MULAN, in his presentation, encouraged lawyers to rise up to the challenge of ensuring the peaceful co-existence of Nigerians with respect and obedience to the rule of law. Justice Musa Abubakar, who represented the Chief Judge of Katsina State, Justice A. Yusuf, on the occasion, urged Muslims not to be discouraged by what he described as recurring global persecution but to hold on tenaciously to the tenets of Islam.

*India 🇮🇳 police 👮 kill Kashmir 'Merchant of Death' 😱*

Police in Indian-administered Kashmir say they have killed a militant separatist leader in a shoot-out outside the city of Srinagar.

Noor Mohammad Tantray was a commander in the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group.

Police said they engaged in a fierce gun battle with Tantray.

As the news of his death spread, hundreds of residents came on to the streets shouting anti-India slogans and clashing with police. Police said a tip-off led them to the house in Pulwama district where Tantray was hiding and two other suspected militants were hiding.

A police officer who arrested Tantray in Delhi in 2003 said he had originally been recruited because at 4ft 2inches (1.27m) he did not look like a militant. "No-one would suspect him to be a terrorist and that is why JeM recruited him as an over-ground worker," the officer said.

But his short stature and a limp also made it easy to identify him.

Tunisia 🇹🇳 suspends Emirates flights ✈ following female passenger 👩 travel ban*

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Tunisian authorities say their decision to suspend all Emirates airline flights into the country "cannot be described as a diplomatic crisis" between the North African country and the United Arab Emirates.

A tit-for-tat dispute began on Friday when Emirates prohibited female Tunisian passengers from being able to board flights to the UAE -- without giving a reason.  
Speaking Tuesday, Tunisian presidential spokeswoman Saida Garrach said the UAE had "voiced fear that an attack will probably be committed by Tunisian women or women with Tunisian passports."  
The travel ban triggered confusion and anger at the Tunis airport and on media. In response, the Tunisian transport ministry on Monday suspended all Emirates flights into Tunis. Emirates employees were first informed of the news the night before in an internal company email that read: "Any passengers holding TUN as final destination are not to be accepted for travel at point of origin."  
Emirates announced on Twitter that the Dubai-Tunis service had been stopped "based on instructions by the Tunisian authorities."

Medical evacuations have begun in a rebel-held suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus, the Red Cross has said. In a tweet, it said that "critical" patients were being moved from the Eastern Ghouta area to the capital. Last week, a UK charity said President Bashar al-Assad had been considering a request to evacuate seven children with cancer from the area, which has been under government siege for four years.

They are among more than 130 children needing urgent medical treatment there. Nearly 12% of children in Eastern Ghouta - which has a total population of 400,000 - are suffering from acute malnutrition, the UN has said.

Earlier this month the Red Cross said life in Eastern Ghouta was becoming "impossible" and the situation there had reached a "critical point". The UN has been trying for weeks to arrange medical evacuations.