Author: Chronicle Editor

At least 76 people have died and scores more were injured in fierce dust storms that hit the northern Indian states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The storms on Wednesday disrupted electricity, uprooted trees, destroyed houses and killed livestock. Many of the dead were sleeping when their houses collapsed after being struck by intense bursts of lightning. Dust storms are common in this part of India during summer but loss of life on this scale is unusual. The storms largely affected three districts in Rajasthan – Alwar, Bharatpur and Dholpur – where at least 31 people were killed. Officials say…

Cambridge Analytica, the firm accused of improperly obtaining personal information on behalf of political clients is shutting down its operations in London. The political consultancy at the centre of the Facebook data-sharing scandal says siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the company’s customers and suppliers. According to Facebook, data about up to 87 million of its members was harvested by a quiz app and then passed on to the political consultancy. The social network said its own probe into the matter would continue. “This doesn’t change our commitment and determination to understand exactly what happened and…

President Donald Trump personally repaid his lawyer the $130,000 that was used to buy an adult film actor’s silence about an alleged affair, his legal aide Rudy Giuliani has said. It appears to contradict Mr Trump, who said he did not know about the payment made by lawyer Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Mr Trump has denied Ms Daniels’ claims of an affair in 2006. Mr Giuliani said no campaign finance was used, a key issue in the matter. The former New York City mayor, who recently joined Mr Trump’s legal team, told Sean Hannity…

A former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode has suggested that President Muhammadu Buhari got an invite to visit the White from President Donald Trump because he he paid $490 million up front for fighter jets. Fani-Kayode who is one of the big voices in the main opposition party, PDP believes that Nigeria got nothing from the visit of President Buhari to the US. “The only reason @MBuhari got into the @WhiteHouse was because of the $490 million he paid up front for the jets,” he tweeted. “He also agreed to open up Nigeria to American agric products. @realDonaldTrump got all…

Nigerian energy firm Forte Oil said it plans to sell its upstream services and power businesses in Nigeria and divest from Ghana to focus on its core fuel distribution operation at home. The move comes as a surprise about-turn for a company whose Chief Executive Akin Akinfemiwa told investors in Lagos in August that he wanted to aggressively pursue M&A opportunities along the energy value chain and acquire marginal oilfields to boost its upstream business. The company, majority owned by billionaire Femi Otedola, had also been in talks with a major refinery to form a strategic partnership for local refining…

Pay-Television giant, MultiChoice, has announced plans to use new digital technology to deliver African content to global audiences. The announcement was by Ms. Yholisa Phahle, MultiChoice’s CEO of Entertainment, on Wednesday, the first day of the 5th Digital Dialogue Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Digital Dialogue is a thought-leadership platform established in 2012 and facilitated by MultiChoice to address various issues facing the video entertainment industry on the continent and share industry best practices. Addressing a delegation comprising of several international industry thought-leaders and key media stakeholders from across the African continent, Phahle said rapid advancement in digital…

Liverpool reached the Champions League final for the first time since 2007, advancing 7-6 on aggregate despite losing a dramatic second leg to Roma. A journey that started on 15 August in Germany against Hoffenheim in the play-off round will end on 26 May when Jurgen Klopp’s men face 12-time winners Real Madrid in Kiev. Leading 5-2 after a devastating semi-final first leg at Anfield, Liverpool increased their lead in when Sadio Mane finished from Roberto Firmino’s clever pass. An own goal by James Milner, after Dejan Lovren’s attempted clearance cannoned off his team-mate, levelled the scores on the night…

…As state moves to increase judges from 59 to 120 Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Wednesday swore-in three new judges of the State High Court, with a charge on them to be fearless in the discharge of their duties and to always allow professional ethics to govern their acts and utterances within and outside the court. The new judges are Justice Sururat Soladoye, Justice Olukayode Ogunjobi and Justice Yetunde Pinheiro. Speaking at the Banquet Hall, Lagos House in Ikeja while performing the ceremony, Governor Ambode said their appointment was a testament of the consistently high standards and professionalism…

Shareholders of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp) strongly commended the Board and management for Transcorp’s impressive contribution to transforming the Nigerian power sector, through its power subsidiary, Transcorp Power. The commendations were received at the 12th Annual General Meeting of Transcorp, held on April 30th 2018, at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. The shareholders were responding to Transcorp’s exceptional feat of increasing the available capacity of its power generation plant from 160MW, when acquired in 2013, to 701MW by November 2017, surpassing the demanding performance target of 670MW by August 2018, set for Transcorp by the Bureau for Public…

Troops are beginning to give hope to the people especially farmers in Benue, following the capture of another killer herdsman in the Guma Local Government Area of Benue, the scene of recurring deadly attacks by herdsmen. The name of the captured herdsman was given as Idi Gemu. The capture of Gemu, whose AK 47 has also been seized by troops, brings to four the number of killer herdsmen captured in the area in the past five days. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that many communities in the Tiv speaking areas, including Guma Local Government Area, have seen repeated…