A 24-year-old woman, Joy Ekhoutorwmen, was on Wednesday charged before an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, for allegedly robbing a bus passenger of N30, 000.

The accused, who is currently facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and fraud, however, pleaded not guilty.

The police prosecutor, Cpl. Raphael Donny, told the court that Joy, whose address was unknown, committed the offences on Feb. 17 at Osborne road, Ikoyi, Lagos with others still at large.

He said: “The accused, who was once a prostitute, said she was introduced to another ‘business’ – robbing of bus passengers popularly called ‘one chance’.

“Joy and others now at large robbed one Matthew Ajasa of N30, 000 in the bus he boarded from Oshodi to Obalende.

“Ajasa was later dumped at Mushin,’’ he said.

Donny said the offences contravened Sections 312 and 409 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State, 2011.

The Magistrate, Mulikat Ali-Balogun, granted the accused bail in the sum of N20, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

She adjourned the case till April 24 for trial

What does the Bible say about killing in self-defense?

The Bible does allow for killing in self-defense. In a sense, there are different kinds of self-defense. There is personal self-defense, self-defense of the society (“social self-defense”) and there is national self-defense, which we call “war.” In all of these cases, the taking of another human life is allowed for by God. This booklet has been dedicated to “social self-defense,” the execution of criminals who are dangerous to society. War is a national self-defense, when people are called upon to protect their nation from outside aggression, and any student of the Bible will attest to the large number of wars recorded therein. Of course, there are unjust wars of aggression for property, wealth, or slaves, and the heads of state who start those wars will be held responsible by God at the Judgment. Furthermore, not all killing in a war is justified, and almost every war has cases of what are now called “war crimes.”

As with war and the execution of criminals, personal self-defense is also allowed for in Scripture. For example, Exodus 22:2 says, “If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed.” This verse should be the law of our land today, and unfortunately in many places it is not. In many cities, a homeowner is not allowed to be readily able to defend himself against someone breaking in. Some areas do not allow homeowners to have loaded guns available, while in some other areas the homeowner must first “be sure” that the intruder has a weapon or is capable of being deadly. Biblical Law says that if someone is breaking into your home, he does so at the risk of his life, and the homeowner would never be considered a criminal for defending himself. Also, remember that on the very day of his arrest Christ said to his disciples, “If you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one” (Luke 22:36). Christ expected things to become very unsafe for his disciples after his death, and told them to prepare to defend themselves from unjust aggression.

It may help to think of killing in terms of “just or unjust” and “accidental or on purpose.”

Murder: unjust and on purpose.
Manslaughter: unjust but accidental.
Execution of criminals (social self defense): just and on purpose.
Killing in war (national self defense): just and on purpose.
Killing in personal self-defense: just and on purpose.
Self defense resulting in an accidental death: just but accidental.

In the above list, we see that murder and manslaughter are unjust causes of death. In personal self-defense, the execution of criminals and in war, the cause of death is just, whether there is initial intent to kill the person or not. We can rightly conclude from Scripture that personal self-defense is something that God sanctions, even if it means the death of an unjust aggressor. The Founding Fathers of the United States were correct in asserting that God gave every person the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” An aggressor who tries to take from others forfeits those rights, and it should be the law of the land that each and every person have the right to defend himself from unjust aggression of all types.

Even a casual look at God’s Creation reveals that self-defense plays an important role in the self-preservation of nearly all forms of life. Perhaps human society could be profitably likened to a biological organism, every one of which has some way of warding off internal and external enemies. The more complex animal bodies dispatch white blood cells to attack germs and other toxic intruders. These white blood cells are very simple forms of life, but they are “wise” enough to act as if the wholeness and health of the organism is at stake, and without sentiment or ceremony destroy the intruder. These enemies of the body are not kept alive and cordoned off in prisons to be preserved. They are destroyed and eliminated as any future threat.

Similarly, evil persons are intruders into the “body” of decent human society, which has a right to protect and defend itself against such intrusion. A body without an immune system cannot defend itself and soon dies. Any godly society that refuses to establish and enforce God’s laws will also eventually “die,” i.e., be overcome by wickedness. People in the medical field work very hard to control “evil” in a body so that a person will not die of disease, and it is understood that harmful bacteria must be killed so the body will be healthy. So too, if we are to have a healthy society, wicked and harmful people need to be executed. This clearly teaches the value of life, because it shows that the only thing as valuable as a life is a life. No wonder God commanded, “Life for life” in Scripture, and even repeated it twice (Ex. 21:23; Deut. 19:21).

Obama’s half brother in Kenya runs for governor

Friday, March 01, 2013 | 8:41 AM

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – A politician named Obama who is running for governor in Kenya can boast of one big claim to fame on the campaign trail: blood relations with the president of the United States.
Malik Obama – a half-brother of Barack Obama – is running for a governor’s position in the country’s nationwide elections on Monday, though he said he’s not sure what impact his relationship to the American president has on his campaign.

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“I’m going into it as Malik Obama,” he said in a phone interview with The Associated Press from western Kenya. “I can’t run away from my name and association with my brother, but I have the feeling that people somewhat want to see who the brother of Obama is.”
The president’s relative even invokes the message that Barack Obama leaned on during his groundbreaking 2008 political campaign: Change. Malik Obama says his platform is poverty eradication, infrastructure development and industrialisation.
“I hope that you all out there will support me and vote for me for this important position so that we can bring change to the county of Siaya,” Obama said at a recent campaign stop.
Kenyans on Monday will cast ballots for a wide range of regional offices, but the most crucial vote is for president. Monday is Kenya’s first nationwide election since the 2007 vote devolved into massive tribal violence that killed more than 1,000 people and displaced 600,000 from their homes.
The 54-year-old Malik Obama hopes to become the first governor of Kenya’s western county of Siaya. He is running as an independent candidate. Kenya’s new 2010 constitution created 47 new political divisions known as counties, to be headed by governors.
Obama is competing against candidates who are from well-funded parties, and the political newcomer may be in need of campaign cash. He asked an AP Television News freelance cameraman to contribute to his campaign. No contribution was given. Obama said he was asking for the individual to contribute, not for AP to contribute.
This is Malik Obama’s first run for office.
Barack Obama’s father was from Kenya and the US president has several relatives in the country. Malik and Barack Obama have the same father but different mothers.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Obama-s-half-brother-in-Kenya-runs-for-governor#ixzz2MKs8QJ9p

Message Body:
Sum body plz tel mi wat dis is dis ugly ET gal from Predator no sah n wit dat gold wig no my girl yuh need fi tek care a yuhself, yuh look malnutrious bad yuh life is so Rass sad no but fi real my girl yuh get mash up bad man wen man leff yuh dats da time yuh fi look tunn up but yuh nah tun up at all yuh not even a tunn Rass dwn yuh tunn all da way off Yuh look like Gismo 2 Rass

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Coy Mathis and her parents, Jeremy and Kathryn, will be guests on “Starting Point” live Thursday in the 7 a.m. ET hour.
(CNN) — A transgender rights group announced Wednesday that it has filed a discrimination complaint in Colorado on behalf of a first-grader who was born a boy but identifies as a girl.
The filing stems from a decision announced last December by officials at Fountain-Fort Carson School District that Coy Mathis could no longer use the girls’ bathroom at Eagleside Elementary.
Mother Kathryn Mathis said she and her husband were shocked.
“We were very confused because everything was going so well, and they had been so accepting, and all of a sudden it changed and it was very confusing and very upsetting because we knew that, by doing that, she was going to go back to being unhappy,” she told CNN. “It was going to set her up for a lot of bad things.”
Coy was born with male sex organs but has identified as female since she could express herself, her mother said. The child had attended classes during her kindergarten year with no problems and no complaints from anyone at the school, Mathis told reporters at the Colorado Capitol in Denver, where she was flanked by her husband, Jeremy, and four other children.
Mathis family: We need to protect Coy Transgender hoops player takes to court Chaz Bono’s emotional transition 2011: Tammy and Mario: Gender journeys
Wearing a girl’s winter coat, Coy stood behind her mother.
Afraid bullies would make fun of her daughter, Kathryn Mathis said she pulled Coy out of school during winter break.
“In the end, we just want what is the best for Coy,” Mathis said about the complaint. “We want her to be able to go back to school and be treated equally without discrimination and harassment.”
Attorney Michael Silverman of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is representing Coy, said the complaint — which was filed with the Colorado Civil Rights Division — is intended to have an impact beyond a single family or school.
“For many transgender people, discrimination is a daily part of life. Unfortunately for Coy, it has started very early,” he said, adding that the complaint is a “test of Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act.”
“The world is going to be looking at the school,” he said, which can “send a message to the world and teach tolerance, fair play and equal rights.”
A girl’s life
For most of the past year, Coy has dressed as a girl.
Coy’s passport and state-issued identification recognize her as female.
Transgender kids: Painful quest to be who they are
Kathryn Mathis said she got a call “out of the blue” from the school in December saying that Coy could use the boys’ bathroom, gender-neutral faculty bathrooms or the nurse’s bathroom, but not the girls’ facilities.
The district “took into account not only Coy, but other students in the building, their parents and the future impact a boy with male genitals using a girls’ bathroom would have as Coy grew older,” a letter the family’s attorney received in December said.
“However, I’m certain you can appreciate that, as Coy grows older and his male genitals develop along with the rest of his body, at least some parents and students are likely to become uncomfortable with his continued use of the girls’ restroom.”
In a statement Tuesday, the district’s attorney, W. Kelly Dude, said: “The district firmly believes it has acted reasonably and fairly with respect to this issue. However, the district believes the appropriate and proper forum for discussing the issues identified in the charge is through the Division of Civil Rights process. The district is preparing a response to the charge which it will submit to the division. Therefore, the district will not comment further on this matter out of respect for the process which the parents have initiated.”
“It’s sad that the Mathis family had to file a civil rights complaint in order for their daughter to be treated equally,” said Herndon Graddick, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, in a statement. “The students clearly aren’t the only people at this school who need more education.”
A little-studied group
Transgender children experience a disconnect between their sex, which is based on their anatomy, and their gender, which includes behaviors, roles and activities, experts say.
For the general public, transgender identity may be a new concept, though many might recall Chaz Bono, the child of entertainers Sonny and Cher. Born female, Bono underwent a transition in his 40s to become a man. He wrote in his book “Transition” that, even as a child, he had been “aware of a part of me that did not fit.”
He appeared last year as a man on “Dancing with the Stars,” in part, he said, to destigmatize being transgender.
Being transgender no longer a mental ‘disorder’ in diagnostic manual
Comprehensive data and studies about transgender children are rare. International studies have estimated that anywhere from 1 in 30,000 to 1 in 1,000 people are transgender.
Some children as young as age 3 show early signs of gender dysphoria or gender identity disorder, mental health experts who work with transgender children say.
These children are not intersex — they do not have a physical disorder or malformation of their sexual organs. The gender issue exists in the brain, though experts do not agree on whether it’s psychologically or physiologically based.
Many transgender people report feeling discomfort with their gender as early as they can remember.
Transgender job seekers face uphill battle
Gender identity is often confused with sexual orientation. The difference is that “gender identity is who you are, and sexual orientation is who you want to have sex with,” said Dr. Johanna Olson, a professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Southern California, who treats transgender children.
Children around age 3 are probably not interested in sexual orientation, she said. But experts say some children who look like they will be transgender in early childhood turn out to be gay, lesbian or bisexual.
Differences in schools
School policies toward transgender students vary across the United States.
In New York, for example, the law says students can’t be discriminated against on the basis of their gender identity.
But in Maine, a court ruled in November that a school district did not violate a transgender student’s rights when she was told she couldn’t use the girls’ bathroom.
Gender nonconformity is not a disorder, group says
Dude, the Colorado school district’s attorney, has said there is nothing in that state requiring public schools to permit transgender students to use restrooms intended for the gender with which they identify.
He added that the Fountain-Fort Carson School District adheres to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act in all respects: “Coy attends class as all other students, is permitted to wear girls’ clothes and is referred to as the parents have requested.”
She also has easy access to bathrooms other than the girls’, Dude said.
Coy’s case will be the first to challenge a restroom restriction under the state’s anti-discrimination act, the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund said.
For now, the first-grader is being home-schooled.
Girl Scouts accept transgender kid, provoking cookie boycott
Reaction to Coy’s story
CNN’s online audience has responded to this story with a range of questions and comments, with many saying the child is too young to comprehend gender differences. Mostly, posters said they felt sorrow for Coy as a child who is struggling.
“Just let the kid use the gender-neutral bathrooms. When he/she is a teen, if he is still convinced he is a girl, maybe then you can get into it with the school,” said commenter EDM.
“This kid is going to have a hard enough life if he really is transsexual, why start fighting battles now, when he should just be blissfully ignorant”?
Transgender teacher sues school for alleged discrimination
Commenter AlawJ said the story left a “negative impression of the parents.”
“My rash view may be unfair, but I remember being that age and have helped raise 9 nieces and nephews. One wanted to be a firetruck and ran around making truck noises. Another one of the boys liked to play dress up with the girls,” AlawJ wrote. “My fiance’s little brother always wore dresses as well. But, at the end of the day, the parents are there to be the adults and make decisions for them.
“I also am a little weary when you read a story where the parents are filing lawsuits for their 6 year old child’s rights.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story quoted certain reader comments that were harshly critical of Coy’s parents. We removed these comments because we decided they did not increase understanding of this complex and personal issue.
CNN’s Cristy Lenz and Madison Park contributed to this report.