Tag Archives: Dec 31

Queen Elizabeth To ‘Step Down’ From Royal Duties Dec 31

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Queen Elizabeth II of England is to step down as patron of more than 20 national organisations at the end of this month, Buckingham Palace revealed yesterday.

The Queen, who celebrated her 90th birthday in April, will relinquish her association with the bodies – just as the Duke of Edinburgh broke formal ties with some of his patronages when he turned 90 in 2011.

The move is likely to be seen as a common-sense decision which acknowledges the Queen’s advancing years but Buckingham Palace stressed the monarch is still patron of more than 600 organisations.

The patronages will be taken on by members of the Royal Family and organisations involved include Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, Barnardo’s, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Association.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement: “At the end of the Queen’s 90th birthday year, Her Majesty will step down as patron from a number of national organisations. The patronages will be passed on to other members of the Royal Family in the coming months.”

MTN Gets Dec 31 Deadline To Pay N674bn Slashed Fine

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The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has reduced the N1.04 trillion fine it imposed on MTN Nigeria to N674 billion.

However, the commission has also mandated the telecom operator to pay the fine on or before December 31, 2015.

The fine imposed on the telecom operator was due to what NCC described as MTN’s inability to disconnect about 5.1 million Nigerian subscribers improperly registered on its network, after several warnings in August and September 2015.

In reaction, MTN has said it would carefully study the new development and would mandate its Executive Chairman, Phuthuma Nhleko, to immediately and urgently re-engage with the Nigerian authorities before responding formally.

The reduction, which represents a 25 per cent slash, provides MTN with a reprieve, after series of meetings which have seen several officials from South Africa thronging the country to negotiate the fine.

Credit: Vanguard