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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

Google has acknowledged that it made an error in not disclosing that one of its home alarm products contained a microphone. Product specifications for the Nest Guard, available since 2017, had made no mention of the listening device. But earlier this month, the firm said a software update would make Nest Guard voice-controlled.

On Twitter, concerned Nest owners were told the microphone "has not been used up to this point”. The Nest Guard is one component in the Nest Secure range of home security products. The system includes various sensors that can be monitored remotely by the user Nest Guard is an all-in-one alarm, keypad, and motion sensor but, despite being announced well over a year ago, the word “microphone” was only added to the product’s specification this month. The change coincided with the announcement that it was now compatible with Google Assistant.

In response to criticism, Google said on Tuesday: "The on-device microphone was never intended to be a secret and should have been listed in the tech specs. That was an error on our part.”

It added: “The microphone has never been on and is only activated when users specifically enable the option. Security systems often use microphones to provide features that rely on sound sensing. We included the mic on the device so that we can potentially offer additional features to our users in the future, such as the ability to detect broken glass.”

The firm's mea culpa has been accepted as genuine by many company watchers, but some say it still raises significant privacy concerns.
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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

A report by a Commons committee has detailed Facebook's use of an application to "spy" on users.

The cross-party group said that Facebook used its Onavo virtual private network (VPN) app to gather information on competitors.

The MPs claim Facebook "intentionally and knowingly violated both data privacy and anti-competition laws".

The report, which is more than 100 pages long, also details the influence of fake news on the site in elections.

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee wrote that through the use of Onavo, which was billed as a way to give users an extra layer of security, Facebook could "collect app usage data from its customers to assess not only how many people had downloaded apps, but how often they used them".

The report added: "This knowledge helped them to decide which companies were performing well and therefore gave them invaluable data on possible competitors. They could then acquire those companies, or shut down those they judged to be a threat."

A graph the committee includes in the report shows an analysis of data collected with Onavo, detailing how commonly apps were used by Facebook owned and rival services.
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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.
EFCC Boss, Ibrahim Magu

Ibrahim Magu, the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has accused 10 unnamed commercial banks of money laundering.

Magu stated this on Friday, while speaking at a round table meeting with managing directors of financial institutions in Nigeria.

The EFCC boss spoke on the theme: “Roles and Obligations of Managing Directors of Banks in Nigeria in Curbing Vote Buying During an Election, Illicit Financial Flows and Other Related Matters in Nigeria”.

He said: “It is worrisome to note that in 2018, statistics available to the EFCC shows that out of about 28 commercial banks in Nigeria, 10 banks evacuated out of Nigeria through Travelex Nigeria Limited the sums of GBP- 50,832,560; USD-8,057,756; EURO-39,986,560 and RAND-7,500,000. The reasons for these evacuations are still sketchy. We must note that the impact of illicit financial flows from the country undermine the stability and integrity of the financial institutions.”
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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

For the first time in years, Coca-Cola is introducing a new Coke flavor: Orange Vanilla.

The new drink will hit shelves later this month. It's a way to encourage customers who are seeking more variety to stick with Coke rather than pick up a different soda, said Kate Carpenter, brand director for Coca-Cola Trademark, which includes Coke, Coke Zero and flavored Cokes.

The beverage company decided to add to and revamp its flavor offerings — Cherry Coke, Cherry Coke Zero, Vanilla Coke and Vanilla Coke Zero — after the successful launch of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar last year, Carpenter said. The new flavor will also come in a Zero Sugar version.

The beverage company is introducing new graphics on the Cherry and Vanilla packages for a "bit of a facelift," she said.

Once Coke decided to pursue a new flavor, Carpenter's team scanned Coke's international market for ideas. They considered a few options, including raspberry, lemon, and ginger, which performs well for the company in Asia.

Orange Vanilla Coke, which was available for a limited time in Canada last summer, caught their attention. They tested the flavor in the US market, where it was well received.

Consumers said the flavor was "unique and different in the flavored cola category," which is dominated by cherry, Carpenter said. Importantly, they also said they'd buy it in addition to a regular Coke, rather than replacing it. And the flavor, though "unexpected," was still "familiar," she said.
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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

Germany's competition regulator has told Facebook to substantially restrict how it collects and combines data about its users unless they give it explicit consent. The watchdog has carried out a probe into the social network following concerns that members were unaware of the extent of the firm's activities. It covered data gathered from third-party sources as well as via Facebook's other apps, including Instagram. The US firm has said it will appeal.

Specifically, the FCO has ruled that:

  * Facebook's various services - including WhatsApp and Instagram - can continue to collect data, but they cannot combine the information with a user's main Facebook account unless the member gives their voluntary consent

  * Collecting data from third-party websites and assigning it to a Facebook user's account is likewise only allowed if that member has given the firm permission
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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has said Polaris Bank will be put up for sale after the 2019 elections. The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has said Polaris Bank will be put up for sale after the 2019 elections.

This is coming barely four months after the bank was taken over from Skye Bank.

According to a report by Reuters, this was disclosed by Jude Nwauzor, the AMCON spokesman, on Tuesday.
Speaking on plans for the sale of the bank, Nwauzor said: “The election season has slowed down things. We would advertise for expressions of interest from investors after elections and commence the sale process of Polaris bank.”.

Recall that sometime in September 2018, Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, had announced the establishment of a bridge bank, Polaris Bank, to assume the assets and liabilities of Skye Bank.
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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

Facebook Inc will invest $300 million over three years in local news globally as it faces blistering criticism over its role in the erosion of the news business worldwide. 
The investment in time and money is a significant expansion of a plan to help newsrooms in the U.S. and abroad create and sustain viable business models to survive, the company said on Tuesday.

Unlike earlier investments in the news business, this latest round is distinguished by how it is not tied to Facebook-related products, recipients of the investments say.

Earlier rounds of investments in the news business were designed to encourage publishers to rely on delivering its products over Facebook, which eventually hurt many news organizations when Facebook's strategies shifted.

"We're going to continue fighting fake news, misinformation, and low quality news on Facebook," Campbell Brown, Facebook's vice president of Global News Partnerships said in a statement. "But we also have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to help local news organizations grow and thrive."

Critics have slammed Facebook for its role in providing a platform for hate speech, misinformation and political meddling.
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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

Zimbabwe will introduce a new currency in the next 12 months, the country’s Finance Minister said, as a shortage of U.S. dollars plunges the financial system into disarray, forcing businesses to close and threatening unrest.
The southern African nation abandoned its own hyperinflation-wrecked currency in 2009 at the height of an economic recession, adopting the greenback and other currencies including sterling and the South African rand.
But without enough hard currency to back up the $10 billion of electronic funds trapped in local bank accounts, businesses and civil servants are demanding payment in cash which can be deposited and used to make payments both inside and outside the country.
Mthuli Ncube told a townhall meeting late on Friday that a new local currency would be introduced in less than twelve months.
“On the issue of raising enough foreign currency to introduce the new currency, we are on our way already, give us months, not years,” he said.
Zimbabwe currently has less than two weeks import cover, according to central bank data, and the government has previously said it would only consider launching a new currency if it had at least six months of reserves.
Locals are haunted by memories of the Zimbabwean dollar, which became worthless as hyperinflation spiralled to reach 500 billion percent in 2008, the highest rate in the world for a country not at war, wiping out pensions and savings.
A surrogate bond note currency introduced in 2016 to stem dollar shortages has also collapsed in value.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is under pressure to revive the economy but, in something of a vicious circle, the dollar shortages are undermining efforts to win back foreign investors sidelined under his predecessor Robert Mugabe.
With less than $400 million in actual cash in Zimbabwe according to central bank figures, there are fuel shortages and companies are struggling to import raw materials and equipment, forcing them to buy greenback notes on the black market at a premium of up to 370 percent.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries has warned some of its members could stop operating at the end of the month due to the dollar crunch.
Zimbabwe’s iconic manufacturer of cooking oil and soap, Olivine Industries said on Saturday it had suspended production and put workers on indefinite leave because it owed foreign suppliers $11 million.
A local associate of global brewing giant Anheuser-Busch Inbev (ABI.BR) said this week it would invest more than $120 million of dividends and fees trapped in Zimbabwe into the central bank’s savings bonds.
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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

Freshly-caught rat is at the top of the holiday menu for crowds flocking to a market in northeastern India that specialises in rodents from local fields.
Destined to be boiled, skinned and then cooked in a spicy gravy, rat is more popular than chicken and pork with customers at the Sunday market in the village of Kumarikata in Assam state.
Shoppers buy hundreds of freshly caught and skinned rats that local farmers say are hunted to avoid damage to their fields in the state which borders Bhutan. The ready-roasted kind also goes down well.
Rat has become a valuable source of income for the poor “Adivasi” tribal people who struggle to make ends meet working in Assam’s famed tea gardens.
In the winter months when tea picking slumbers, the Adivasis go to rice paddies to trap rats for the market.
A kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of rat meat, which is considered a delicacy, sells for about 200 rupees ($2.8) — as much as for chicken and pork.
Farmers say the region has seen growing numbers of rats in recent years.
“We put traps in the fields as the rats eat people’s paddy,” Samba Soren, a rat vendor at Kumarikata, told AFP.
The rodents are hunted at night during the harvesting season with traps made from bamboo.
The traps are placed at the entrance of the rat-holes in the evening and the rodents are caught as they come out to scavenge.
The vendors have to work at night to make sure other predators do not get to the dead rats first. Some of the rats weigh more than a kilogramme and the market traders say they get between 10 and 20 kilogrammes a night.
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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

The Kano State Hisbah Board has seized and destroyed more than 30 trailer loads of beer.
The board’s Public Relations Officer, Malam Adamu Yahaya, disclosed this in a statement in Kano on Tuesday.
According to Mr Joseph Peter, a distributor in Abuja, a trailer load of beer costs between N5.2 million and N5.5 million. This bring the total worth of the beer destroyed to over N150 million.
Yahaya said that the cartons of beer were destroyed on Monday evening after interception at Kalebawa on Danbata Road in Dawakin Tofa area.
“The Kano State Law No. 4 of 2004 has banned the manufacture and use of intoxicants in the state.
“
Furthermore, an order was given by a magistrates’ court for us to go ahead with the exercise,” the public relations officer said.
Yahaya warned those selling beer to stay within their limits.
He appealed to members of the public to be of good conduct and be one another’s keeper.
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A Federal High Court Lagos, on Wednesday, further adjourned until Jan. 22, 2019 for report of settlement in a suit between MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd, and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over repatriation of 8.1 billion dollars.
Justice Saliu Saidu adjourned the case for report after parties had informed the court that they were still engaged in settlement talks.
At the last adjourned date on Dec. 4, counsel had told the court that parties were discussing settlement, and had sought an adjournment for report of settlement.
When the case was called on Wednesday, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) announced his appearance alongside two other senior lawyers for MTN.
Mr Seyi Sowemimo (SAN) announced his appearance for CBN, while Mrs Oluwakemi Kanbu, appeared for the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
Olanipekun then said: “we were before this court on Dec. 4, and had told the court that parties were talking settlement, my Lord, the discussion is still ongoing and progressing.
“As a result of this, we seek further indulgence for a date in January, so we can inform your lordship on further developments. We are very much obliged,’’ he said
In the same vein, counsel to CBN, (Sowemimo) said: “I confirm that we are still making moves for out of court settlement, and we will be available on Jan. 22, 2019, subject to the court’s convenience.’’
Counsel to the AGF (Kanbu) also aligned with the submission of Sowemimo.
Following the development and based on agreement of parties, the court consequently adjourned the case until Jan. 22, 2019, for a report of settlement.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that MTN had filed the suit, seeking an injunction to restrain the CBN and AGF from taking further actions to reclaim the alleged debts.
The firm wants the court to hold that CBN lacks power to determine its civil obligations or penal liabilities.
It is urging the court to declare that the CBN acted outside its statutory powers when it wrote a letter to it on Aug.18, demanding a refund of 8.1 billion dollars.
It wants the court to hold that the demand was illegal, oppressive, abusive, unauthorised and unconstitutional.
On its part, CBN alleged that the telecoms firm improperly repatriated dividends, and requested that MTN should return 8.1 billion dollars to its coffers.
Meanwhile, MTN had filed a sister case before another judge of same court, Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke, against the AGF, challenging a withholding tax assessment of 1.3 billion dollars and an import duty tax of N242 billion.
MTN queries these assessments.
Justice Aneke has fixed Feb. 7, 2019 for hearing of all pending applications in this suit. 
NAN
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Nigeria’s House of Representatives at plenary

The Chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Joseph Akinlaja, has urged the federal government to pay oil marketers arrears of subsidy to avoid disruption in the sector.
Akinlaja made the appeal when the committee visited the NNPC Towers on an Oversight function .
Akinlaja in a statement signed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s spokesman, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, on Wednesday in Abuja commended the corporation for ensuring adequate supply of petroleum in the country.
“The Federal Government should do everything within its powers to pay up the arrears to forestall any crisis,” he said.
The lawmakers expressed confidence with the elaborate measures put in place by the corporation to avert fuel supply shortage and execution of the zero-fuel scarcity strategy.
“We are impressed by the presentation and we are sure there will be no war room here again because of products scarcity, you have done very well and I’m happy that Nigerians are going to travel effortlessly at this period of the year,” Akinlaja said.
He also expressed satisfaction with the improvement on the integrity of the pipelines and urged NNPC to expedite action on the remaining ones, especially those linking the Ore Depot from Benin City and to the Ibadan Depot.
In his presentation Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, reassured Nigerians of the corporation’s preparedness to ensure zero-scarcity of petroleum products during the upcoming festive season and beyond.
Baru represented by NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, Mr. Henry Ikem Obih, lauded the Committee for its support during the last fuel supply hiccups that occurred in the country from November 2017 to the early part of this year.
He disclosed that adequate measures have been deployed to avert any form of supply challenge, stressing that even if NNPC were to stop importing fuel as from today, there was enough stock of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the country to last for 45 days.
Also, Managing Director of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company Limited, Mr Umar Ajiya, disclosed that the company had returned to profitability with a trading surplus of N32 billion between January and November 2018.
The PPMC boss also stated that as part of the zero-scarcity strategy, the company had over 170 million litres of PMS in stock at some NNPC Depots across the country following their successful rehabilitation along with connecting pipelines to forestall dependence on private sector depots.
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Thomson Reuters Corp said on Tuesday that it will cut its workforce by 12 percent by 2020, axing 3,200 jobs, as part of a plan to streamline the business and reduce costs.
The news and information provider, which completed the sale of a 55-percent stake in its Financial & Risk (F&R) unit to private equity firm Blackstone Group LP, announced the cuts during an investor day in Toronto, in which it outlined its future strategy and growth plans.
As part of the streamlining, the company also said it planned to reduce the number of offices around the world by 30 percent to 133 locations by 2020.
The company declined to say where the job cuts were being made.
Shares in Thomson Reuters were up 1.8 percent in early trading in both Toronto and New York.
Following the Blackstone deal, about 43 percent of Thomson Reuters’ revenues come from its legal business, with 23 percent of sales coming from corporate clients and 15 percent of sales coming from its tax business.
Reuters News accounts for only 6 percent of sales but Smith said it remained a key part of the business under the new leadership of Michael Friedenberg, who joined the company on Monday as president of its news and media operations.
‘We believe he can make Reuters News an even greater part of our growth story going forward,’ Smith said.
Thomson Reuters set a target to reduce its capital expenditure to between 7 percent and 8 percent of revenue in 2020 from 10 percent currently.
The company also aims to grow annual sales by 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent by 2020, excluding the impact of any acquisitions.
Thomson Reuters has set aside $2 billion of the $17 billion proceeds from the Blackstone deal to make purchases to help grow its legal and tax businesses.
Shares in Thomson Reuters have risen by nearly 40 percent since May, benefiting from the company buying back $10 billion worth of shares.
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Microsoft Corp’s stock market value closed above Apple Inc’s for the first time in eight years on Friday as the Windows maker benefited from growth in cloud computing while Apple was hit by investor concern about iPhone demand.
Shares of Microsoft rose 0.6 percent to end the week at $110.89, putting its market capitalisation at $851.2 billion. Apple shares fell 0.5 percent to $178.58 on the day, adding up to a market value of $847.4 billion.
The two stocks jostled for the top spot over the course of the week, with Microsoft’s stock market value exceeding Apple’s at several points in intra-day trading but not at the close.
Both companies’ market capitalisations were calculated using outstanding shares reported in their most recent 10-Q filings.
Apple’s market capitalisation overtook Microsoft’s in 2010 as Microsoft struggled with slow demand for personal computers, due in part to the explosion of smartphones like the iPhone.
After Satya Nadella took over as chief executive in 2014, Microsoft reduced its reliance on Windows software for PCs and became a major player in cloud computing, second only to Amazon.comInc.
In recent months, technology shares have been punished by investors worried about rising interest rates and the potential consequences of the U.S.-China trade war.
Apple shares are now 19.6 percent lower than on Nov. 1, when the company warned after the regular session that holiday-quarter sales would likely miss Wall Street expectations.
Global demand for smartphones has slowed in recent years.
Thirty-three analysts recommend buying Microsoft’s stock, with just one sell rating and one neutral, according to Refinitiv data.
Twenty-five analysts have positive ratings on Apple, 16 are neutral and none recommend selling, the data show.
Analysts on average expect Microsoft’s revenue to increase 12.7 percent for its fiscal year 2019 ending in June, compared with an estimated 5 percent rise for Apple’s fiscal 2019, which ends in Sept, according to the Refinitiv data.
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Nigeria has started trial testing of the rollout plan of 5G networks with the 26GHz, 38GHz and 42GHz spectrum bands beginning with the Eko Atlantic Project
The country to regulatory agency, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), would be ready to roll out 5G by 2020.
NCC said in Abuja on Thursday during a collaborative meeting with GSMA for 5G rollout in Nigeria.
The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said 5G broadband data will drive connectivity and allow humans to interact with connected devices to check their health status and remotely control home appliances without physical contact.
Danbatta acknowledged the deficit in infrastructure rollout and spectrum availability in the country but added that the NCC was already working to address the challenges.
He said NCC would begin with the available 26GHz, 38GHz and 42GHz to drive 5G rollout in the country.
Danbatta said, “NCC is already working on the three key factors that will drive 5G deployments, which include infrastructure, spectrum and regulation ahead of the 2020 rollout date.
“We will rely on existing policies and regulation and still come up with additional policies and regulation that will address any hiccups.”
Also speaking, the Head, sub-Saharan Africa for GSMA, Mr. Akinwale Goodluck, said although Nigeria still operates 2G and 4G networks, they will gradually give way for 5G as the demand for 5G increases among the millennial, who are the digital natives.
GSMA used the occasion of the collaborative meeting to launch its latest report, which focused on ‘Spotlight on Nigeria: Delivering a Digital Future.’
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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks Saturday at the APEC CEO Summit at the Pacific Explorer cruise ship docked in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Vice President Mike Pence and Chinese leader Xi Jinping exchanged barbs and tough talk in competing speeches to world leaders Saturday, with Pence warning the United States could double its tariffs on Beijing unless it bowed to U.S. demands.
Pence, speaking at the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, showed no hint of compromise. He said the U.S. would not change its course until China changes its ways.
“We have taken decisive action to address our imbalance with China,” Pence said. “We put tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods, and we could more than double that number.”
Washington is demanding that China stop intellectual property theft against U.S. companies, slash a $375 million trade gap, cut industrial subsidies and improve access to Chinese markets.
President Trump was not at the summit, but will meet with Jinping in at the G-20 summit in Argentina that begins later this month, Reuters reported.
Pence also took aim at China’s construction of manmade islands in the Pacific and its “Belt and Road Initiative,” which involves billions of dollars of infrastructure development in Asia, Europe and Africa.
He called many of the projects low-quality ventures that saddle developing nations with loans they can’t afford, while saying the U.S. is a better partner.
“Know that the United States offers a better option. We don’t drown our partners in a sea of debt, we don’t coerce, compromise your independence,” Pence said.
“We do not offer a constricting belt or a one-way road. When you partner with us, we partner with you and we all prosper.”
Pence has spent nearly a week attending Asian summits assailing China’s military and economic influence, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Xi spoke before Pence, calling protectionism “shortsighted” and “doomed to fail.”
He expressed support for a global free trading system and said nations face a choice of cooperation as unilateralism spreads.
“History has shown that confrontation, whether in the form of a Cold War, hot war, or trade war will produce no winners,” Xi said.
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Technology giant, Apple, has won an international award for making details of its supply chains public in a bid to boost transparency and help end modern slavery.
Since 2012 Apple says it has reduced the number of underage workers in its extended supply chain, which includes locations where rare earth minerals are mined for use in smartphones.
Labour rights groups had previously criticised Apple and its biggest manufacturing partner Foxconn for excessive overtime, hiring underage workers and failing to provide health insurance.
“One of the deepest commitments that Apple has a company is to leave the world better than we found it,” Angela Ahrendts, head of retail at Apple, said during Trust Conference in London, which is hosted by the Media.
“As a company whose work touches the lives of so many people, we feel we have an enormous responsibility, and an enormous opportunity, to turn our values into action,” she said.
She made the statement while receiving the prize designed by British sculptor Anish Kapoor.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation Stop Slavery Award recognises efforts by companies to identify, investigate and eradicate forced labour from their supply chains.
Consumer goods giant Unilever was the other winner of the annual award.
Meanwhile, financial services firm Standard Chartered and Thailand-based seafood producer Thai Union were highly commended for their work.
More than 40 million people are estimated to be trapped as slaves in forced labour and forced marriages.
Most of them are women and girls, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) and rights group Walk Free Foundation.
Nearly 25 million work in factories, on construction sites, farms, fishing boats and as domestic or sex workers, says ILO.
With slavery now considered a major global issue, there is growing scrutiny on initiatives to meet a U.N. goal to end by 2030 a trade estimated to raise annual illicit gains of 150 billion dollars for traffickers.
Businesses are under increased pressure from both governments and consumers to disclose what actions they are taking to ensure their supply chains are free from slavery.
The world’s largest canned tuna company, Thai Union Group PCL, has also pledged to tackle potential labour abuse and overfishing, seeking to clean up the Thai seafood industry.
Thailand’s multibillion-dollar seafood sector has come under fire in recent years after investigations showed widespread slavery, trafficking and violence on fishing boats and in onshore food processing factories.
The company said in 2016 it would eliminate recruitment fees for its workers to prevent labourers from racking up debts to job brokers and from being exploited and abused.
The Stop Slavery Award was won last year by sports giant German sportswear giant Adidas, global fashion retailer C&A, U.S. technology company Intel, and British retail and services group The Co-operative Group.
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Teleology takes over 9Mobile, appoints new board

Teleology has formally taken over control of Nigeria’s troubled telecommunication company, 9mobile, by appointing a new board of directors, headed by 54 year-old Nasiru Ado Bayero.
Stephane Beuvelet will serve as the acting managing director, according to a statement by Mohammed Edewor, a new non-executive director of the new 9Mobile.
The appointment of the board followed the exit of the CBN appointed board and the transfer of ownership of the firm to the new investors, Teleology Nigeria Limited.
Nasiru Ado Bayero, new chairman of 9Mobile
Other members of the board are: Asega Aliga (Non Executive Director), Adrian Wood (Non Executive Director), Mohammed Edewor (Non Executive Director), Winston Ndubueze Udeh (Non Executive Director) and Abdulrahman Ado (Executive Director)
The new Chairman of the Board, Alhaji Nasiru Ado Bayero welcomes the appointments.
“As we begin this new epochal phase, we wish to thank all the employees who built this viable business. Our debt of gratitude also goes to our subscribers even as we assure them to get ready for real best-in-class additional value for their relationship with the 9mobile brand. Without you, there could not have been a 9mobile business for us to invest in today. We will justify your confidence in our brand by making significant investments that will improve the value you get for using 9mobile.”
Mohammed Edewor also thanked the outgoing members of the Board, headed by Dr. Joseph Nnanna for helping to shepherd 9mobile through the critical transition phase it has passed through since July 2017.
 
The Central Bank of Nigeria in collaboration with the Nigerian Telecommunication Commission(NCC), in July 2017 appointed a Board of Directors chaired by Nnanna, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, to oversee the affairs of the company pending the completion of regulatory due diligence of the bid documents submitted by Teleology and sixteen others for its acquisition.
The bid process was midwifed by Barclays Africa.
9Mobile new chairman Bayero, was a graduate of Mass Communication, from University of Maiduguri.
He is a prince of the Bayero royal family in Kano. He is the Chiroman of Kano and is the district head of Nassarawa in the state.
He is familiar with boardroom politics, being a director of Platform Petroleum Limited, Sahelian Energy & Integrated Services Limited, Seplat and Intels.
He also worked at Continental Merchant Bank from 1988 to 1989, Coastal Corporation (Oil & Gas Company), Houston, Texas, from 1990 to 1991 and Hamlet Investment, Inc. from 1991 to 1992.
He is the Chairman of Enclo Limited, a Nigerian company providing currency operations support services to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
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China has postponed the lifting of a ban on the trade of rhino horn and tiger parts for medicine and other uses.
The government said on Monday after a storm of protest from conservation groups over a plan to water down the decades-old prohibition.
In October, the State Council issued a circular replacing a 1993 ban on the trade of tiger bones and rhinoceros horn, opening up exceptions under “special circumstances”, including medical “research”.
Environmental groups said lifting of the ban would be disastrous for endangered rhinoceros and tiger populations, even if the animal parts were only sourced from those bred in captivity.
Rhinos and tigers are already under critical pressure from a black market supplying the traditional medicine trade.
The “detailed regulations for implementation” of the October change had been “postponed after study”, the official Media reported, citing State Council Executive Deputy Secretary-General Ding Xuedong.
Under the October plan, exceptions to the ban could be made for parts from those animals, bred in captivity, being used for medical and scientific research, education and “cultural exchanges”.
Ding did not give a reason for postponing the change, or indicate if it would be permanent, but said the old ban remained in force.
“The ‘three strict bans’ will continue to be enforced: strictly ban the import and export of rhinos, tigers and their byproducts.
”Strictly banned are the sale, purchase, transport, carrying and mailing of rhinos, tigers and their byproducts.
“The use of rhino horns and tiger bones in medicine are strictly banned,” Ding said.
China would continue to “organise special crackdown campaigns” with a focus on “addressing the illegal trade of rhinos, tigers and their byproducts”.
“Illegal acts will be dealt with severely,” Ding said.
Conservation groups argue that easing the ban would be devastating for efforts to protect tigers and rhinos.
Such lifting would confuse consumers and authorities as to which products were legal and which not, and expand markets for them.
China banned trade in tiger bones and rhino horns 25 years ago as part of global efforts to save the animals.
Commercial tiger farms are legal in China, and although using tiger bones in medicine was banned, tiger parts from farms often end up in tonics or other medicines, animal rights groups say.
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Former Vice President and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has directed the implementation of N33,000 minimum wage to all employees in his companies.
The directive was issued to heads of business units of companies owned by the former vice president and was to take immediate effect.
Muhammad El-Yakub, the Managing Director Gotel Communications, a company promoted by the former vice president in his home state in Adamawa, said the implementation of the payment would commence after a meeting with union officials.
He said the directive affected Gotel Communications and other companies owned by the former vice president.
He said, “Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the Wazirin Adamawa, has ordered the implementation of N33,000 new minimum wage to workers in all of the businesses owned by him.
“The directive is with immediate effect and will be implemented across all the businesses owned by the former vice president.”
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