AID ACTIVIST IN SOUTH AFRICA DEMANDS TREATMENT FOR ALL

As the world observed Nelson Mandela International Day, thousands of civil rights activists from South Africa and across the world took to the streets of Durban, South Africa, calling for treatment for all while highlighting the disconnect between political promises to end AIDS and the realities on the ground.

ANTI-CHILD MARRIAGE ORDER PASSED INTO LAW BY GAMBIAN PARLIAMENT

 I must say I am supprise at this; specially the the fact that gambia is dominated by the muslem religion.

The Gambian Parliament has passed a law against child marriage two weeks after President Yahya Jammeh verbally prohibited the practice. Child marriage is now punishable by twenty years imprisonment.

“An adult who voluntarily enters into marriage on behalf of a child or who pushes a child into a marriage, helps, encourages or participates in the celebration of any wedding of a child, commits an offense and is liable to imprisonment not exceeding twenty years,” according to a text adopted by the National Assembly on Thursday.

The same document stated that, “an adult who learns about such a marriage proposal and willfully fails to report it commits an offense and is liable to imprisonment for ten years,” AFP reports.

SENEGAL CLEARS 270 CHILD BEGGERS OFF DAKAR STREET IN 15 DAYS

Social welfare officers in Senegal say about 270 children were extracted from the streets of the capital in approximately 15 days since the commencement of efforts to rid the streets of Dakar from the menace of child beggars.

The president, Macky Sall, announced the ‘clear up’ operation during the just ended Eid-ul-Fitr prayers. According to officials, half of the kids taken between June 30 to July 15 were ‘talibes...’. Talibes are children supposed to be under the guidance of Quran teachers but are often sent out (sometimes forcibly) to beg for alms on the streets.


“I have given very firm instructions to the government to stop this unbearable image of abandoned children in the street. It’s not because they are from poor or disadvantaged backgrounds that we should leave them to say thank you in the street,” he said.

Dakar has over 1000 “daara” (Koranic schools) with 54,837 “talibes” out of which it is estimated that over 30,000 were practicing begging, according to an official survey in 2014.

Aside chilkdren who were taken whiles begging on their own, others begging in the company of their parents or guardians, were also targeted by the raids.

After the kids have been taken, they are given temporary stay in a center – with durations lasting from a few hours to several days – the children are then returned to their parents or their Koranic teachers, says Maimouna Balde, leader of the raids.

According to her, in case of recurrence, their guardians or parents will be punished. The operation, still limited to Dakar, will be conducted “as long as there are children in the street,” she said

INTERVIEW: CAMEROONIAN GORETTI ETCHU-EGBE REINVENTS THE DOOR WAY FOR FEMALE IN A MALE DOMINATED INDUSTRY

Many years into a career that is seeing her emerge as the queen of the Cameroon box office, Goretti Etchu-Egbe still remembers the African woman she grew up knowing and how it has evolved over the years. Typically portrayed as weak and submissive, they now bore much resemblance to the western women — “women wielding guns,” as the helmer says, with a laugh...

ZIMBABWE POLICE ARREST PASTOR CALLING FOR STRIKE

Police in Zimbabwe have arrested a pastor after he posted several messages on social media, calling on people to protest police brutality and some of the government’s economic measures.

Evan Mawarire was arrested Tuesday ahead of a planned two-day protest, which the clergyman has been promoting with the hashtag ‪#‎SHUTDOWNZIMBABWE‬.


Mawarire is increasingly known in the country as “This Flag Pastor”; he constantly wears a Zimbabwean flag around his neck and uses the popular “‪#‎ThisFlag‬” Twitter hashtag.

His campaign is supported by a group calling itself "Tajamuka/Isijikile" – Shona for “we have revolted.” It also is calling on Zimbabweans to strike beginning Wednesday.

FIVE POLITICAL PARTIES BOYCOTT BURUNDI PEACE TALKS

Representatives of five parties that participated in Burundi's general election boycotted a second round of peace talks in the northern Tanzanian city of Arusha on Tuesday.

Burundi has been mired in crisis that has killed more than 450 people since President Pierre Nkurunziza pursued and won a third term last year. Opponents said his move violated the constitution and a peace deal that ended a civil war in 2005.


Dialogue in Bujumbura last year between the government and opponents failed to bridge differences, and talks mediated by Uganda earlier this year also swiftly stalled.

The five parties were unhappy over the decision of the mediator, former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, to invite Burundians accused of human rights violations and involvement in an attempted coup against Nkurunzinza in May 2015.

The five parties, FNL, FROLINA, PIEBU ABANYESHAKA, RADEBU and FRODEBU are concerned by the inclusion of Pacifique Nininahazwe of FOCODE party, Armel Ningoyere from ACT party in Burundi and Minani Jean in the dialogue.

"We are very surprised by their inclusion in the dialogue after all the humanitarian crisis they caused in Burundi," Jean Didier Mutabazi, RADEBU's president, told reporters at the venue of the talks. "We don't see the point of continuing with the dialogue."

MALNUTRITION AND FAMINE-LIKE CONDITIONS EXIST IN NIGERIA'S BORNO STATE

U.N. humanitarian workers report finding severe acute malnutrition and famine-like conditions in Nigeria's Borno state, where Boko Haram terrorists are making it even harder to grow crops.
A report this week from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Borno refugee camps are in hard-to-reach areas where fighting makes it difficult to provide aid.
OCHA said 275,000 people are living in 15 camps.
Nigeria declared a food-and-nutrition emergency in Borno last month, prompting the U.N. to send $13 million in emergency aid.
Unpredictable rainfall and poor environmental conditions along with the Boko Haram insurgency have created a state of what the U.N. calls food insecurity in the Lake Chad Basin, which includes parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
The fight against Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria has gone on since 2009. More than 20,000 people have been killed, and 2.7 million have been forced to flee from the militant group

BREAKING NEWS: FORMER BURUNDIAN MINISTER HAFSA MOSSI MURDERED IN BUJUMBURA

The former Burundian minister and close ally of President Pierre Nkurunziza, Hafsa Mossi was killed on Wednesday in the capital Bujumbura.

The Public Information Officer of the Burundi National Police, Pierre Nkurikiye disclosed this information via his Twitter account saying that she was killed at 10:30 am local time (8:30 am GMT).


He added that she was killed by two criminals in a vehicle at Gihosha, which is in the east of Bujumbura.

Burundi’s president Pierre Nkurunziza has reacted to the news of her killing calling it a despicable and cowardly act.

“This is a huge loss for Burundi, her family and the EAC,” Nkurunziza added in his post on Twitter.

Honourable Hafsa Mossi was the Minister of Regional Integration and East African Community Affairs in Nkurunziza’s 2010 government.

She is the current elected member of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) representing Burundi. The EALA is the legislative organ of the East African Community.

WOMAN the movie will be premiering very soon at Houston Texas

Hey Guys good evening, it is no news the movie WOMAN will be premiering very soon at Houston Texas. The count down has begin and producer Goretti Etchu-Egbe is keeping busy with numerous interviews from lead bloggers, radio and TV stations in the USA. In just 20mins she will be on African Fiesta 53 and the
Line-up is as folloows: Ivan Namme (Journalist/actor/Entrepreneur), Goretti Etchu-Egbe (Film producer/actress), Clementine Mofor (Public speaker/filmmaker), Tafor Ateh (Drama specialist/actor/varsity lecturer), Sweetie Pie (Super Model/entertainment promoter), etc…Join them in 20 mins at t www.apex1radio.com

LATE NEWS: YOUNG GHANAIAN LANDS ROLES IN SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

Young Ghanaian actor, Abraham Attah, who starred in the ‘Beast of No Nation’ film has earned a new role in upcoming American superhero film ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming,’

‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ is billed as the second reboot of the Spider-Man film franchise. The film expected to be released in July 2017 would be the sixteenth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

With his new role, Attah joins Hollywood stars like Robert Downey Jr, Laura Harrier, Tom Holland, Marisa Tomei, Zendaya and Tony Revolori.

In Beast of No Nation, Attah worked with the likes of Idris Elba and director Cary Joji Fukunaga, as a child soldier.

Directed by Jon Watts and from the stables of Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios, Spider-man: Homecoming will be Attah’s first major role since the Netflix film (Beast of No Nation)

Abraham won Best Lead Actor Award in the Independent Spirits as well as the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor at Venice.

Reports indicate that Attah is separately attached to play one of the leads in Christian Loubek’s upcoming feature film, Buffalo, which Anonymous Content is producing.

His handlers had sparked controversy back in Ghana after they intimated that the youngster was not going to star in any local movies as was widely expected after his breakthrough in ‘Beast of No Nations.’

ETHOPIA HAS BLOCKED SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

Ethiopia has blocked social networking sites in the country since Saturday to prevent leakage of university entrance examination to be held next week.

“This is a temporary measure until Wednesday as the social networks serve as a distraction to the students,” the government spokesman, Getachew Reda told AFP.

Last month, questions for the top examination were posted on social networks causing a national scandal leading to the cancellation of the entire exam.

The most popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Viber are inaccessible throughout Ethiopia since Saturday morning. Aside these sites, the internet is functioning normally.

The blockade has been criticized by Ethiopian internet users who have found a way around the ban by using the VPN (virtual private networks).

“This is a dangerous precedent. There is no transparency about who took the decision and for how long. This time it is for a few days, but next time it might be for a month,” Daniel Berhane, a blogger and the creator of the influential website “Horn Affairs” told AFP.

He added that they believe the Ethiopian authorities are seeking to test new internet filtering tools and also the reaction of the public.

Ethiopia filters internet regularly using firewalls which often slows network access.

POP ICON MADONA SEEKS PARTNERSHIP WITH FIRST LADY's "BEYOND ZERO" INITIATIVE

She may be the Queen of Pop, one of the greatest solo artistes in music history and her entry into Kenya (a country that loves music) should have been a big deal, but it wasn’t.

She virtually sneaked into Kenya, announced her presence via photo-sharing platform instagram to her over 7.8 million followers and went on to partner the first lady of Kenya in her ‘Beyond Zero’ campaign.

According to a release from the presidency, Madonna will work with first lady Margaret Kenyatta’s ‘Beyond Zero’ initiative ‘‘in scaling-up maternal and child health programs as well as initiatives against gender violence.’‘

‘‘Madonna, one of the most influential women in contemporary music said her foundations, managed by the Global Philanthropy Group, will work with Beyond Zero in scaling-up maternal and child health programs as well as initiatives against gender violence, the release further stated.

Speaking at the State House in Nairobi, Madonna intimated that her team had similar dreams as that of Mrs Kenyatta, and that they are bounded by protection of women and children.

The release added that, ‘‘Madonna is in the country to explore practical programs that have a transformative impact on vulnerable groups, especially women and children.’‘

Madonna described the Beyond Zero initiative as an amazing movement and a natural partner for advocacy, to break the code of silence around gender-based violence through education and awareness building.

Her pledge to work with the Beyond Zero initiative comes days after Melinda Gates, the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation expressed similar interest to partner with the Beyond Zero initiative, to ensure access of quality health for Kenyan women and children.

 

American based Cameroonian motivational and inspirational afro-pop singer; Eddy Bee, has released the visuals for his new single.

This one is titled ‘Thank You.’ It is meant to uplift your spirit with a message that would initiate an attitude of humility and gratitude in your heart.

The video was directed by American based video director: MT Muna.
In the words of Eddy Bee: “At every level of your journey in life’s wilderness,
genuine worship will give you a gracious heart and a gracious heart will take you
further.”

Eddy Bee- Biography

Eddy Besong AKA Eddy Bee AKA Mr R&B is a talented Cameroonian R&B/Afrobeat artist with a diverse blend and style of music. Music has basically been a part of Eddy since he was as young as he can remember. As a young student in Sasse College, he was known for his singing prowess as part of a boy group/choir. Moving to the United States further brought out the passion for singing and making great music and melodies. He has been in the music scene since 2009, releasing a mixtape in 2010 as part of a trio group called Avinu C including Naomi ‘The Queen of Bamenda’ Achu and H ‘The Hot Spitter’ Bolo. The Mixtape "The Camerican Dream" had great reviews among local critics and Eddy Bee soon continued a solo career. 

In December 2014, Mr R&B released his first official single and Video after completing his graduate degree. The result was a smooth R&B/AfroR&B/Afrobeat blend titled "I Want To Marry You" which was an instant favorite among local DJs and wedding playlists. The video for the single was shot in Atlanta, Georgia in a beautiful state park complete with waterfalls amid lush autumn colors, beautiful dancers and models. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5getERw9Vc 

On May 30th 2016 he released his second single titled "Thank You" which is currently in rotation. It is meant to uplift your spirit with a message that would initiate an attitude of humility and gratitude in your heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quXJMcGjHg8 

He is currently working on his debut album slated to be released later this year titled "The Eddy Bee Show". The album will draw on the diversity of the artist's music style consisting of a blend of African, World, Gospel and American R&B music. The album will also feature some surprise collaboration with certain artistes. It will be a pure representation of GOOD MUSIC!! 

Keep up with Eddy Bee on social media:

Click below to watch and be inspired:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?XJMcGjHg8

School drop-out; Stanis, ready to become Cameroon's rap king as he signs record deal with Calabash Music Group.

Cameroon's new international music label, Calabash Music, has announced the signing of its first hip hop artist, StanisBorn Chi Tata Stanislas in Bamenda, in 1988, Stanis 'Le Dragon' is a Buea-based guitarist, rapper and singer from a family of five.

Stanis' music can be described as Afro-trap.He attended primary and secondary school in Yaounde and Douala , which has enabled him to express himself and sing perfectly in English and French. But he was forced to drop out of University of Yaoundé 2 (Soa) because of financial difficulties.

Having nothing to turn to, he poured his emotions into music, and started recording demos in Buea. One of his songs fell in the hands of Cornel, a South African based Cameroonian music
producer signed to Calabash Music.

The A&R committee at Calabash auditioned his music and were impressed by his versatility, singing and rapping ability, inimitable rhythms and hard punch lines. After a couple of meetings at Calabash Music offices in Akwa Douala, a deal was reached
with Calabash Music’s A&R, Wax Dey.
Stanis joins Calabash Music raring to take over the Cameroonian hip hop scene.

“Calabash Music is really excited to have such a talented rapper on board - we shall move swiftly to release material we are working on because Cameroon is hungry for new talent that can be sold to the world.", says Clarisse Ndinge, Calabash Music publicist.
"I write my music with the help of a guitar, but my rap music is very commercial-oriented. I make music for the masses and I'm ready to take over. My team is fire. Cameroonian hip hop
will not be the same after Stanis - so watch this space", says Stanis.

RENOWNED NIGERIAN NOVELIST AND POET ELECHI AMADI HAS PASSED AWAY

Nigerian novelist and poet Elechi Amadi has passed away after an undisclosed illness. He was 82.

According to local media, he died after a protracted illness on Wednesday in Port Harcourt. His most famous book is The Concubine which also happens to be his first published novel in 1966.

The Concubine is widely used as a literature study book in African schools. Amadi who came from a science background, also authored other books including The Great Ponds (1969), Sunset In Biafra (1973) and Isiburu.

He studied physics and mathematics at the University of Ibadan.

Amadi belonged to the circle of renowned Africa writers, such as the late Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka among others.

President Buhari in paying homage to the novelist said his passing ‘is as much a loss to Nigeria and Africa as it is to the world’. He eulogized Amadi as a man who ‘dedicated his life to values of peace, equality, dignity and the reading culture in Nigeria.’

LIVERPOOL SIGNS CAMERONIAN INTERNATIONAL JOËL MATIP

Following Eric Bailley’s Manchester United move, another African has joined a high flying English Premier League side. Cameroonian Joel Matip is the latest signing for Liverpool.

The Mersyside outfit signed the Indomitable Lions player officially on July 1 after a February 2016 pre contract announcement. He joins on a free transfer from German side Schalke.

The club have confirmed that Matip has been allocated the No.32 jersey for the 2016-17 season. Matip wore the No.32 jersey during his time at the Bundesliga club.
Previous players to have donned the shirt at Anfield include Bolo Zenden and, most recently, Cameron Brannagan.

He has featured 27 times for Cameroon since he made his debut in 2010 and has a single goal to his credit. He was part of the Cameroon team that played in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. He played two games at the tournament and scored against Brazil.

In an interview with the club website, he said; “I was happy [at the thought] that I could maybe be a part of this next season. I am very excited to play at Anfield. It will be a very special feeling. I can’t wait to go down Anfield Road and into the stadium – I can’t wait for it!”

He is expected to play a major role in the upcoming season for Liverpool, who were losing finalists in last seasons Europa League and also failed to secure a top four spot for the coming season.