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 Naira Notes •Interbank rates hit three-month high Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P), yesterday reinforced its call for the devaluation of the naira. I said this shouls happen at some stage in 2016 and in gradual adjustments, saying investors have seen a devaluation of the naira as long overdue after the economy was battered by the tumble in crude prices. Despite growing pressure, the government has kept the local currency at around N198 to the dollar on the official interbank market, while restricting access to dollars.

Payments of salaries and wages as well as payments and deposits for self-to-self transactions whether inter or intra bank are exempted from the N50 stamp duty policy, the Central Bank (CBN) has said. Malam Ibrahim Mu’azu, CBN Director, Corporate Communications, made the clarification on Thursday in Abuja in a statement issued to newsmen. NAN recalls that the CBN recently introduced the policy which was contained in the Stamp Duty Act, 2004 and the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Financial Regulation of 2009. The policy is part measures to boost tax revenue for the federal government.

AP Photo / Farah Abdi WarsamehSomalis walk past the wreckage of vehicles outside a beachfront restaurant following an overnight attack of the restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016. AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh Somalia's security forces ended a deadly siege of a beachfront restaurant in the capital, with more than 20 people killed in the attack, a police official said Friday. The security forces took control of the restaurant just before dawn, said Capt. Mohamed Hussein, speaking from the scene of the attack in Mogadishu.

Tompolo Ex-militant leaders yesterday distanced themselves from the bombings of oil and gas pipelines in the Niger Delta region especially in Delta State. The former warlords from the six Niger Delta states said none of them including Chief Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, was involved in the recent destruction of oil installations. The government said the destruction of pipelines has reduced electricity supply by over 600mw while not less than N470milion is lost daily. It has already led to the shutting down of Port Harcourt and Kaduna Refineries.

Celine personally greeted family, friends and fans at the Notre-Dame Basilica where they wed in 1994 Global News Celine fought back tears as she accepted condolences from mourners Hundreds turned out to pay their final respects to Celine Dion’s beloved late husband René Angélil during a public visitation in Montreal on Thursday afternoon. Fans lined up outside the Notre-Dame Basilica before Celine personally greeted them along with family, friends and politicians inside. Wearing a black gown and net veil, the grieving singer was joined by her mother Therese, 88, Rene’s brother Andre and also their 14-year-old son Rene-Charles.

The Shoreline Group, a Nigerian oil producer, has halted plans to issue $500m worth of Eurobonds and will sack 700 of its employees amid the sustained drop in global oil prices, the Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Mr. Kola Karim, has said. In the middle of last year, Shoreline executives went on a two-week roadshow to the United States and the Middle East to discuss a debut issue of five to seven-year debt to buy oil and gas assets across Africa.

The singer and Australian businessman are set to walk down the aisle after he popped the question on Thursday Mariah Carey and her billionaire boyfriend James Packer are engaged following a whirlwind romance. While the singer is yet to announce it publicly, her rep confirmed the news to Mirror Celebs on Thursday night. According to reports, the Australian businessman, 48, got down on one knee in New York after rounding up some of the star's closest friends to witness the special moment. The pair first met at a movie premiere in Aspen in 2014 where they struck up a friendship, but didn't start dating until June 2015.