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Police operatives in Adamawa State have arrested a 33-year-old man, identified as Aliyu Musa aka Imam Mahdi, over alleged use of ab¥sive language against public office holders in the state.

The command’s spokesperson, Suleiman Nguroje, in a statement on Monday, May 13, said that it came across “a very dist¥rbing video” of the suspect, a resident of Kwacham Ward, Mubi South LGA, with a Tiktok handle @faty5076 circulating on social media.

According to the statement, “The content portrays the young man’s assertions of claiming some Adamawa stakeholders are unjust thereby ab¥sing them in an immoral manner which he doesn’t have any evidence to substantiate his assertions and that may not only tarnish their image but will also lead to breakdown of law and order, due to their sensitive responsibilities as public office holders in Adamawa in particular and Nigeria in General.

The Command unequivocally condemns such acts in the strongest terms and vowed to deal with anyone who is bent in violeting the laws of the land.

Preliminary investigations so far reveal that the ab¥sive language was done with the intention to d£mean the reputation of the prominent personalities and leaders in the state. This cr¥el and viol£nt manner will lead to breakdown of law and order.

It is imperative to employ proactive measures to guide and counsel social media handlers to be wary of their posts to avoid violating the laws that define and regulate social media uses.”

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A young man who was arrested for posting obscene pictures of his 4 year old daughter in Edo State has revealed that he did the act because he wanted to make her a celebrity model.

The man who has since been arrested by the police confessed to his crimes in a video while being interrogated by members of the police force.

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U.S. equities were mixed and little changed at midday as a report from the New York Federal Reserve showed consumers lifted their estimates for short-term and long-term inflation. More key inflation data is set to be released this week. The Dow and S&P 500 were flat, while the Nasdaq edged higher.

GameStop (GME) shares skyrocketed after Keith Gill, a key driver of the meme stock craze known by his online persona of “Roaring Kitty,” posted again for the first time in almost three years. That has raised speculation retail investors could again run up shares of GameStop and other meme stocks. Shares of another meme favorite, AMC Entertainment (AMC), also soared.

Shares of Intel (INTC) gained following a report it is in advanced talks with Apollo Global Management to have the private equity firm offer more than $11 billion in backing for the chipmaker’s plan to build a factory in Ireland.

Squarespace (SQSP) shares skyrocketed as another private equity company, Permira, said it was purchasing the provider of software for website building and hosting for $6.9 billion, and taking it private.

Uber Technologies (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT) shares dropped as a trial began in Massachusetts over charges the rideshare giants misrepresented their drivers as contract workers, not employees.

Shares of Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) lost ground and Apple (AAPL) shares rose with the iPhone maker reportedly close to an agreement with ChatGPT maker OpenAI to put its ChatGPT chatbot features on iPhones. That followed earlier reports that Apple was in talks with Google to use its AI features in iPhones. OpenAI could also reportedly announce an AI-powered search engine rivaling Google's offerings.

Oil futures advanced and gold prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was down. The U.S. dollar gained on the yen, but lost ground to the euro and pound. Most major cryptocurrencies traded in the green.

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Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN) are among a slew of companies investing billions in France as part of President Emmanuel Macron’s push to draw international investors.

Microsoft said Monday that it is investing 4 billion euros ($4.32 billion) to build an AI data center and cloud infrastructure in France.

"We are building state-of-the-art Cloud and AI infrastructure, training people with AI skills, and supporting French startups," Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith said.

The investment into France's AI sectors was announced during the annual "Choose France" summit that began Monday. Microsoft has been on a global spending spree to build AI infrastructure, and last week announced a $3.3 billion investment into building an AI data center in Wisconsin.

Amazon said separately it would invest more than 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) into its French operations to boost its AI presence and support the expansion of its logistics network to speed up deliveries.

Amazon's investment will increase Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure in the Paris area and logistics infrastructure in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, it said. Amazon added the plan will create 3,000 permanent new jobs in France, where it recently announced 2,000 additional permanent positions.

Microsoft and Amazon shares were both down less than 1% an hour after the opening bell Monday.

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Altria Group Inc. (MO) is a holding company whose main subsidiaries produce tobacco products. The company traces its roots back to 1822 when the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco company took its first steps. Another important piece of the company is Philip Morris, creator of the iconic Marlboro cigarette brand, which was established in London in 1847, and later came to America with New York incorporation in 1902. Next, an American owned branch of the company was incorporated in Virginia in 1919. This company expanded throughout the 1930s, '40s and '50s, and by the 1980s, had become the leading cigarette maker in the U.S. In 1985, Philip Morris Companies incorporated as a holding company and parent of Philip Morris Inc. It was this holding company that was later renamed Altria Group in 2003, a name that the company said would better reflect the diversity of its portfolio beyond tobacco. However, tobacco remains the primary business of Altria's subsidiaries, with tobacco products comprising about 99.75% of the company's $24.483 billion of net revenue in 2023. As of May 13, 2024, Altria has a market cap of $77.122 billion.

In the past, the company has made major attempts to diversify into other lines of business, especially during the latter decades of the 20th century when consumer demand for tobacco began to decline in key markets. Philip Morris acquired a controlling interest in the Miller Brewing Co. in 1970 and purchased soft-drink maker Seven-Up Co. in 1978. Between 1985 and 2000, the company acquired General Foods Corp., Kraft Inc., and Nabisco, all of which were merged into what eventually became Kraft Foods Inc. However, these acquisitions were later divested. Kraft Foods was spun off in 2007. And the company also later sold Seven-Up and Miller Brewing.

Since these actions, the company's focus has been primarily domestic after spinning off Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) in 2008. Altria, including the domestic Philip Morris company which it retained, has boosted sales in the tobacco market both through partnerships, new products, and through a series of acquisitions into new areas with the potential for rapid growth. After scrapping talks to reunite, for example, the company and Philip Morris International launched IQOS, a heated tobacco product designed to provide users with the rush from nicotine, but with fewer toxins. IQOS launched in October 2019 in the United States and signals Altria's willingness to innovate in creating new products.

The company's series of acquisitions illustrate, again, its focus on shifting away from the shrinking cigarette market and, instead, moving into related markets. These include buying companies that sell smokeless tobacco, marijuana, electronic cigarettes, cigars, and nicotine pouches. We look in more detail at some of these acquisitions below. Breakdowns for revenue and profit are available for some, but not all, of these companies.

UST is a holding company that was first incorporated in 1986. However, one of its main subsidiaries, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company LLC, traces its roots back to a tobacco shop opened by George Weyman in Pittsburgh in 1822. UST was bought by Altria in 2009. The U.S. Smokeless Tobacco purchase added two leading smokeless tobacco brands to the Altria product family: Copenhagen and Skoal. Smokeless tobacco use, unlike that of cigarettes, has been increasing since 2000.

The UST acquisition also added wine manufacturer Ste. Michelle Wine Estates to Altria's portfolio. However, on July 9, 2021, Altria announced that it had reached an agreement to sell its wine business to private equity firm Sycamore Partners Management for approximately $1.2 billion. Altria planed to use the proceeds from the sale for additional share repurchases. The deal was completed later that year.

Canadian cannabis producer and distributor Cronos Group Inc. (CRON) was founded in 2012. In December 2018, Altria announced that it would acquire newly issued shares of Cronos worth $1.8 billion for a 45% ownership interest in the company. The agreement also included a warrant allowing Altria to increase its ownership to 55% over the next four years. Marijuana stock prices have fallen tremendously since the deal. The acquisition is a further demonstration of Altria's intent to diversify. Altria's ownership interest in Cronos Group at the end of 2023 stood at 41.1%, down from its initial 45% stake due to additional shares being issued by Cronos and for which Altria did not exercise its fixed-price preemptive rights to purchase additional shares at a pre-agreed price. Altria never exercised the warrant to increase its ownership stake to 55% either.

Silicon Valley startup and e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. was founded in 2015. Altria acquired a 35% stake in Juul in 2018, valuing the company at $38 billion. The acquisition demonstrates Altria's shift toward more innovative segments of the tobacco market. However, the acquisition hasn't been smooth. Vaping, the term used to describe the inhaling and exhaling of vapor produced by e-cigarettes, has come under stiffer regulatory scrutiny from health officials as a vaping-related illness has led to a number of deaths and hospitalizations. Amid these health concerns, Juul has faced mounting lawsuits over its marketing practices as vaping among teens has surged.

In April 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Altria claiming that the company's 35% investment in Juul violated antitrust laws. The FTC alleges that Altria and Juul made an illegal side deal that resulted in Altria pulling its own e-cigarettes from the market just prior to its investment in Juul, thus eliminating a source of competition from the market. The trial began on June 2, 2021. If Altria is found guilty of violating antitrust laws, the company could be forced to divest its stake in Juul and result in termination of the noncompete deal between the two companies.

John Middleton Inc. was first established by John Middleton in 1856 as a small tobacco shop selling cigars and pipe tobacco in downtown Philadelphia. A century and a half later, Altria acquired the company from privately held Bradford Holdings. Today, John Middleton Co. manufactures large machine-made cigars and pipe tobacco as a wholly owned subsidiary of Philip Morris USA. The acquisition illustrates another way that the company is diversifying away from cigarettes and into sectors of the tobacco market that are growing. At the time of the acquisition, Altria said that the market for machine-made cigars had grown at an annual compound rate of 4% between 2003 and 2007.

Burger Söhne Holding AG, which is headquartered in Switzerland, was founded in 1864. Last year, Altria acquired an 80% stake in the Burger Group and formed a subsidiary called Helix Innovations LLC to act as the parent company of the Burger Group subsidiaries engaged in the production of a flavored nicotine pouch with the brand name . The productis a pouch that users put in their mouth in order to experience a nicotine rush without the chewing, spitting, and odor of tobacco that comes from chewing tobacco.

As part of our effort to improve the awareness of the importance of diversity in companies, we have highlighted the transparency of Altria Group’s commitment to diversity, inclusiveness, and social responsibility. The below chart illustrates how Altria Group reports the diversity of its management and workforce. This shows whether Altria Group discloses data about the diversity of its board of directors, C-suite, general management, and employees overall, across a variety of markers. We have indicated that transparency with a ✔.

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