Author: Chronicle Editor

Michael Flynn and other advisers to Donald Trump’s campaign were in contact with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties in at least 18 calls and emails, current and former U.S. officials familiar with the exchanges told Reuters. The sources said the 18 calls and emails, took place in the last seven months of the 2016 presidential race. The previously undisclosed interactions form part of the record now being reviewed by FBI and congressional investigators probing Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election and contacts between Trump’s campaign and Russia. The sources said six of the previously undisclosed contacts described…

The European Commission on Thursday fined US social media giant Facebook 110 million euros ($120 million) for providing incorrect and misleading information on its takeover of WhatsApp. “Today’s decision sends a clear signal to companies that they must comply with all aspects of EU merger rules, including the obligation to provide correct information,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. “The Commission must be able to take decisions about mergers’ effects on competition in full knowledge of accurate facts,” Vestager said. Facebook said in response that it cooperated with the Commission and that the errors made were not…

Nigeria is to launch Africa’s first nano-satellite (an artificial satellite with a wet mass between one and 10 kg 2.2–22 lb) into the orbit, the Director-General of National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Prof Seidu Mohammed, has said. Mohammed told the Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York that the Nigeria’s nano-satellite would be launched alongside four other countries between May 23 to May 27. The NASRDA chief disclosed that the nano-satellite would be launched “within the window of May 23 and 27” from the launch base at Miami, Florida, U.S. According to him, the…

Nollywood star actress Moji Olaiya has been reported dead. She was 42 years old. Multiple sources said she died of heart attack in Canada, where she gave birth to a baby girl in March. The baby was her second child. Her first daughter is 18 years old. The beautiful actress, who had featured in many Yoruba and English movies married her second husband last year after the first one crashed in 2008. She was the daughter of highlife music legend, Victor Olaiya. She was born in February 1975. Founder of the Best of Nollywood Awards, Seun Oloketuyi broke the news…

The Nigerian government has expressed commitment to the plan to reduce importation of petroleum products from the present 95 per cent to 60 per cent by 2018. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, restated the resolve at the Rainoil 20th Anniversary Lecture organised by the company in Lagos on Wednesday. The theme of the anniversary was: “The Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry: Opportunities, Challenges and Prospects of the Downstream Sector”. The minister of state said the proposed construction of modular refineries in the Niger Delta and more investments in the sector, the importation of refined products…

The Nigerian Army yesterday said it had arrested about 126 suspected Boko Haram terrorists at the Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Damboa, Borno State. It said one of the suspects was with identity (ID) card of a soldier killed by suspected insurgents in a recent attack at Sabon-Gari community of the state. The out-going Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj.-Gen. Lucky Irabor, told journalists in Maiduguri during a farewell visit by Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) that the military rounded up the suspects who infiltrated several IDP camps. He said the military got an intelligent…

• Approves construction of shopping mall, rehabilitation of inner roads at Abule-Egba Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, yesterday commissioned the two newly-built bridges in Ajah and Abule-Egba, stating that it would not only help reduce travel time but also boost economic activities within the corridors. Ambode noted that in the quest to build a globally competitive city-state, one strategic emphasis of his administration has been to improve connectivity in the state. He said his administration has embarked on deliberate actions to create innovative solutions to the challenge of ensuring a free-flow of traffic within the city. “This Jubilee Bridge will…

The U.S. Justice Department, in the face of rising pressure from Capitol Hill, named former FBI chief Robert Mueller on Wednesday as special counsel to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Moscow. The move followed a week in which the White House was thrown into uproar after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. Democrats and some of the president’s fellow Republicans had demanded an independent probe of whether Russia tried to sway the outcome of November’s election in favor of Trump and against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump, whose…

Rwanda’s telecom industry regulator has fined MTN Rwanda, a division of South Africa’s MTN Group, 7 billion francs (8.5 million dollars) for running its IT services outside the country in breach of its licence. The regulator said in a ruling posted on its website in Kigali that MTN Rwanda was hosting its IT services hub in Uganda, which it had prohibited. “They are punished for relocating their IT services outside Rwanda, and this was deliberate,’’ Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority Spokesman Anthony Kulamba said. MTN Group said it had also received a notification about the fine. “MTN has been engaging with…

Bettors on both sides of the Atlantic are ramping up wagers in niche online markets over whether Donald Trump will serve out a full term as U.S. president in the wake of controversies surrounding the dismissal of FBI Director James Comey. Some, such as the online political stock market PredictIt, have seen record volume during the last two days on contracts focused on whether Trump will be impeached. Others based in the United Kingdom are drawing bets on the less-specific question of whether Trump remains in office until his term expires in January 2021. The contract on PredictIt titled “Will…