LAST week, 14-year-old Jaylen Fryberg calmly walked to his school, Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Washington State, and took out his anger on his fellow students. He was armed with a .40 caliber handgun.

IT seems implausible that the president of the United States of America could have his credit card rejected or declined when he tried to make a payment. But, it happened to President Barack Obama. Before you conclude that it might have been the handwork of some of his Republican Party opponents who were out to embarrass, if not humiliate him, please read the story.

WOMEN in America have recorded phenomenal achievements and left indelible marks in U.S. history. Take a look at the U.S. Supreme Court. There, three women sit on the bench with six men. This is a statement that women have paid their dues so to speak alongside men in this country that consistently boasts of equal opportunity based on ability, and uses every chance it gets to preach the same message to the rest of the world.

TWO men are reportedly responsible for transporting Ebola to Nigeria and the US. Both men are of Liberian origin. That is where the similarities in the tale end. With its underdeveloped healthcare facilities, Nigeria robustly tackled the problem and now appears to have the situation under manageable control. Unlike Nigeria, the US with its sophisticated medical facilities and high level of preparedness to tackle any health epidemic, approached the issue with underserved levity.

With the U.S.-led war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, the war against Ebola, the racial tensions exemplified by the recent killing of Michael Brown by an apparently trigger-happy policeman in Ferguson, Missouri, and all other issues that crowd the official schedule of the White House, the issue of domestic violence in the U.S. has not been getting deserved headlines. But, the issue has refused to drop off the radar of important public issues in the country.

THIS time each year, heads of state and government from around the world congregate in New York for their annual ritual otherwise known as the United Nations General Assembly. This body is the main deliberative organ of the United Nations. Expectations are normally high that each of the General Assembly meetings will produce workable resolutions on how to move the world forward and make it a better place for mankind.

NEWS about the activities of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS, and the International coalition that was formed to deal with the menace of the jihadist group, almost drowned all other notable items on the stable of the U.S. media. Two of those prominent events in the news that occurred as ISIS took […]

THIS is how U.S. vice president Joe Biden last week articulated his country’s resolve to deal with the increasingly vicious fundamentalist, jihadist group of militants known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS: “We came back after 9/11. We dusted ourselves off and we made sure that Osama bin Laden would never, ever again threaten the American people.

WATCHING President Barack Obama as he addressed a number of press conferences last week, I recalled a book we read very long ago titled One Week, One Trouble by Anezi Okoro. It was about an urchin who got into trouble every week. But, the only similarity between Obama and the kid is their overwhelmed demeanor as both characters in their various ways and in different climes and era encountered a kettle of troubles.

NIGERIAN politician and wordsmith of blessed memory, K.O. Mbadiwe, used to coin phrases and make sentences that dressed up the English language in regal and enigmatic robes. He once described himself as “a man of timber and calibre” and always cajoled his opponents that he was capable of “cementing the cementables” as well as being a man of action “when the come comes to become.”

YOU would think that former U.S. vice president Dick Cheney might be the last person to ever make a public statement about going to war again in Iraq, given the fact that he was the prime architect of the U.S. debacle in that country over what turned out to be some phantom weapons of mass destruction being built by late dictator, Saddam Hussein.

THE frenzy and fury which heralded the mid-May U.S. Senate primary elections clearly underscore the importance of that institution in the governance of the country.

I WATCHED the Super Eagles take a 2-1 beating in the hands of Jurgen Klinsman’s U.S.A. team,in the company of some Kenyans and a young Nigerian friend on a visit from Columbus, Ohio. Watching the Super Eagles with Kenyans is almost as good as watching the match in Lagos or Abuja. Kenyans always amaze me with their knowledge of Nigerian star footballers, from the golden days of Rashid Yekini down to the modern era.

THE late Guyanese scholar and political activist, Walter Rodney, years ago wrote a masterpiece titled “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.” Today, he might have done some re-thinking and come up with another title that could read “How African leaders further underdeveloped Africa.”

ABUBAKAR Shekau must be relishing the fact that his rabid behaviour and manifested insanity are earning him the international notoriety he has been yearning for over the years.