*Two children disappear during Jumat service in Lagos*

*Two children disappear during Jumat service in Lagos*

The parents of three-year-old Muhaisin Awaz and Abdallah Abdulazeez, 6, are distressed after the two children allegedly disappeared during a Jumat service at Oniyanrin, in the Mile 12, Ketu area of Lagos State. PUNCH Metro learnt that the families of the two children are friends and Abdulazeez’s mother had visited Muhaisin’s parents on that Friday to inform them of her plans to travel to her hometown in Kano State.

She was said to be heavily pregnant and wanted to give birth in Kano. During the visit, the two children were said to be playing together when they heard the call to Islamic prayers. Our correspondent learnt that the two children hurried downstairs to join other Islamic faithfuls for the prayers.

They were said to have gone missing during the payers as they could not be found afterwards. Muhaisin’s sister, Sekiyat, told PUNCH Metro that the incident happened around 1.30pm on December 16.

*One-month-old baby escapes death as fire razes building in Lagos*

*One-month-old baby escapes death as fire razes building in Lagos*

A tragedy was averted in the Akowonjo area of Lagos State on Tuesday as residents rescued a one-month-old baby while fire razed a building on Adesina Street. Our correspondents gathered that the mother of the baby was sewing in a shop in front of the bungalow when the fire started around 10 am.

The mother was reported to have said she smelt something burning, but she could not tell what it was until her neighbours raised the alarm. It was gathered that the mother rushed out of the shop, as occupants of buildings on the street also came out. She discovered that it was her house that was on fire.

_PUNCH Metro_ gathered that she rushed inside the house and she discovered that many apartments in the building were already on fire with thick smoke billowing from the building.

*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.