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Microsoft Corp said it will drop a lawsuit against the U.S. government after the Department of Justice (DOJ) changed data request rules on alerting internet users about agencies accessing their information. The new policy limits the use of secrecy orders and calls for such orders to be issued for defined periods, Microsoft Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said in a blog post on Monday. “As a result of the issuance of this policy, we are taking steps to dismiss our lawsuit,” Smith said. The company expects the changes to end the practice of indefinite secrecy orders. Microsoft filed the lawsuit in April 2016 arguing that the U.S. government was violating the constitution by preventing the company from informing its customers about government requests for their emails and other documents. The suit argued that the government’s actions were in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which establishes the right for people and businesses to know if the government searches or seizes t...

Ghana is set to ratify the Convention on Cybercrime, also known as the Budapest Convention, by the end of 2017, to enhance the country’s resolve to combat cybercrime. Albert Antwi-Boasiko, the National Cyber Security Advisor, told journalists at a media encounter in Accra on Thursday, that the document for ratification was at the Cabinet awaiting approval. He expressed optimism that it would be ratified by Parliament by the end of this year. As at December 2016, 52 countries had ratified the Convention, while a further four states had signed the Convention, but are yet to ratify it. The Convention on Cybercrime of the Council of Europe, is the only binding international instrument on the issue and increased cooperation among nations. It is the first international treaty seeking to address internet and computer crime by harmonizing national laws and improving investigative techniques. It serves as a guideline for any country developing comprehensive national legislati...

Baby bumps are great things. You can grow actual humans in them. You can rest sandwiches on them. You can turn them into pieces of art. Just look at Monsieur Plant’s latest collection. The Paris-born artist who’s real name is Christophe Guinet has been covering his pregnant partner in flowers for a collection of magical images. He’s named the series ‘LÃON’ after his recently born son. ‘In this personal project, I wish to sublimate these weeks of patience and put the beauty of the woman in these magical moments where Nature and Love make perfect allies,’ the 39-year-old says. ‘The selection of landscapes found in the series such as the forest, the mountains or the sea are elements that form part of my surroundings. ‘The vegetable and body compositions merge together revealing gentleness and patience in a poetic universe.’ Ah, bien sur, Monsieur Plant. Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/ Culled from Metro.com

What, to you, is the perfect simple salad? I'm not talking lunch salads or grain salads, but the simplest of dinner accompaniments, the salad that gets tossed at the last moment to lay beside a piece of grilled chicken or a plate of pasta. This kind of salad often feels like an afterthought. It's the obligatory vegetable to be munched down before enjoying the rest of your dinner. But this doesn't need to be so! Here are some thoughts, tips, and directions to help you turn your side salad into the most delicious part of the meal. This is of course not a hard and fast instructional. Everyone has different tastes in salad and I bow to that. Maybe you like yours with a creamy dressing; maybe you like yours super assertive like  Amanda Hesser and her anchovy-spiked vinaigrette . Maybe you like to always have extra vegetables in your salad or, like me, you just want to keep it ultra-simple. The point, no matter how you decide to dress your salad — up or down — is that it ta...

The scramble to acquire 9mobile, Nigeria’s fourth largest network operator, promises to be very competitive, as 16 firms have submitted expressions of interest (EoIs) to Barclays to bid for 9mobile, THISDAY has learnt. Companies that have expressed interest in 9mobile, which until recently was Etisalat Nigeria Limited, until a debt default forced its former owner to relinquish its stake in the firm and exit Nigeria, include Africa’s biggest telecoms operator, MTN; India’s Bharti Airtel, operating as Airtel in Nigeria; and ntel, which in 2015 acquired the assets of the defunct NITEL and MTel through the federal government’s privatisation programme. Other firms that submitted EoIs are Obot Etiebet & Co, belonging to a former petroleum minister, Mr.  Don  Etiebet; Blackstone Private Equity; Tel-ology Holdings Limited, a special purpose vehicle led by a former chief executive of MTN Nigeria, Mr. Adian Wood, and Ericsson; De-elim Services Limited; Veittel, a firm owned ...