Author: Chronicle Editor

Zimbabwe has officially declared 21 February to be Robert Gabriel Mugabe National Youth Day, thereby making the former president’s birthday a public holiday, the Herald newspaper reports. New President Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected to form a cabinet this week. Mr Mugabe resigned last week after a military intervention and days of mass protests. The police and army are to stage joint patrols as the country returns to normal, the authorities have said. They have already received reports of looting and illegal occupation of properties, particularly farms and houses. Police had not been seen in public until 21 November when Mr…

Twitter has acknowledged that a day-long block of one of the New York Times’s accounts was imposed in error. The @nytimesworld team, which covers international events, has about 1.9 million followers and is recognised by the social network as being a “verified account”. But on Saturday it was locked after posting a report about the Canadian prime minister. The newspaper was told it had violated Twitter’s rules about hateful conduct. The NYT said it had taken Twitter nearly 24 hours to unlock the account and allow it to start posting again. Twitter said it stumbled in freezing @nytimesworld after a…

The Taraba Police Command, on Monday, warned citizens in the state against circulating sex video on social network platforms like Facebook and Twitter. A sex video involving a man and a woman, both of whom were residents of Jalingo, had gone viral on the social network, sparking off public outrage. The command’s spokesman, Mr David Misal, gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jalingo. According to him, circulating sex video can constitute a public nuisance, which can spark off public unrest. “The perpetrators of this act must desist from it immediately because it…

At least 31 migrants died and 200 were rescued after they were set on by sharks during a perilous crossing from Africa to Italy, Libya’s navy has said. Some 18 women and three children were among the dead, while 40 people were still missing. When Libyan coastguard boats arrived at the scene, they spotted large blue sharks swimming around the boat, according to Italian media. “When we arrived in the area, off the town of Garabulli, [one] dinghy was semi-submerged and still had 44 people clinging on to it, whom we saved,” Libyan patrol boat commander Nasser al-Ghammoudi told Italian…

AC Milan have sacked Vincenzo Montella as manager and placed Gennaro Gattuso in charge of the first team. The club are seventh in Serie A on 20 points, 18 behind leaders Napoli, after a run of only two league victories in their past nine games. They drew 0-0 with Torino at home on Sunday and have lost six of their 14 top-flight matches this season. Gattuso, a former AC Milan midfielder, steps up from managing the club’s youth side. READ: Huddersfield 1-2 Manchester City: Sterling preserves winning streak The 39-year-old Italian played for Milan between 1999 and 2013, winning the…

…Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle have announced their engagement. …The couple are set to marry in spring 2018. …Meghan, 36, and Harry, 33, have been dating for over a year. …The royal proposed earlier this month. …They will live in Nottingham Cottage in Kensington Palace. …Official engagement photos will be released this afternoon followed by a broadcast interview this evening. Prince Harry, 33, has officially announced his engagement to 36-year old American actress Meghan Markle after one year of dating. The couple shared the news of their impending royal wedding on Monday morning with Kensington Palace saying that…

President Muhammadu Buhari will attend the 5th European Union-African Union (EU-AU) Summit in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on November 28-29, 2017. The President will participate in working sessions on the Summit theme: “Investing in the Youth for a Sustainable Development,” and on the margins of the Summit, meet with a number of African Heads of State and their European Union counterparts. President Buhari will use the occasion of the Summit to reiterate Nigeria’s readiness to work with African and European countries to address the challenges affecting both continents, such as peace and security. READ: Macron shuns Nigeria visits Ghana, Ivory Coast…

Those with penchant for luxury products may need to have a rethink as they may soon be paying more for their high taste. The federal government plans to impose special taxes on such products, including luxury cars and alcohol. The special taxes are designed to raise more revenue from non-oil sector to generate additional N1 trillion to cushion the deficit in the 2018 budget. The government, therefore, hoped to make N2.5 billion from the special taxes on insurance of luxury cars and surcharge on other luxury goods. Also is N350 billion expected as additional Company Income Taxes from the Voluntary…

From the nation’s deposit insurer- the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) came another strong warning at the weekend, for those allured by the high gains promised by promoters of digital currencies, saying that it is meddling with “uncertainty.” Besides, the corporation said that while deposit value of the Naira and other major currencies can be ascertained, the value of the digital currency, including Bitcoin, which now are in about 500 versions cannot be ascertained, as well as what influences its value. The Deputy Director, Research, Policy and International Relations Department, NDIC, Dr. K. S. Katata, admitted that over the last…

French President Emmanuel Macron will tour Africa this week to try to boost France’s flagging influence on the continent and convince young people eyeing Europe’s shores they have a future at home. Macron’s first African tour, which begins Tuesday, does not include Nigeria but it takes him to Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, two former French colonies that deposed strongmen leaders in recent years, as well as to Ghana. It comes as Europe tries to find ways to stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean without leaving them to the mercy of traffickers in transit countries like Libya, where…