Cassper Nyovest is out with his new single Tito Mboweni, a single named after the first black governor of the South African Reserve Bank.
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2 Chainz surfaced online called “It’s A Vibe” featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Trey Songz, & Jhene Aiko, but it turns that it wasn’t supposed to. Following its release, 2 Chainz hopped on twitter to announce the song was a leak, and as a result he’s dropping 2 new tracks tonight as a treat to his fans. Well now with the clock striking midnight, 2 Chainz keeps his word & releases the new single “Smartphone” via Apple Music, along with the final/mastered version of “It’s A Vibe.” (So technically there’s only one new release, but at least it’s pretty dope so that’s okay)Look for the track to presumably see life on his upcoming albumPretty Girls Life Trap Music, dropping April 7th. Take a listen and let us know what you think
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Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe speaking at the party's annual conference in Masvingo. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, the world's oldest national ruler, turns 93 on February 21, 2017, defiantly vowing to remain in power despite growing signs of old age and failing health. He will celebrate with his staff in a private ceremony in Harare while supporters use state media to send their annual gushing messages of goodwill and congratulations.<br />/ AFP PHOTO / Jekesai NJIKIZANA
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, the world’s oldest national ruler, turns 93 on Tuesday, defiantly vowing to remain in power despite growing signs of frailty and failing health.
He will celebrate with his staff in a private ceremony in Harare while supporters use state media to send their annual gushing messages of goodwill and congratulations.
The main celebrations will be held Saturday at Matobo National Park outside Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, and are expected to attract thousands of officials and ZANU-PF party faithful.
Large game animals are often slaughtered for the occasion. In previous years Mugabe has reportedly been offered elephants, buffalo and impala for the feast.
Mugabe has ruled out any prospect of retiring soon, saying that ZANU-PF officials believe there is no “acceptable” alternative.
“The call to step down must come from my party… In such circumstances I will step down,” the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper quoted Mugabe as saying in an interview aired late Monday.
“They want me to stand for elections… If I feel that I can’t do it any more, I will say so to my party so that they relieve me. But for now, I think I can’t say so,” he said.
“The majority of the people feel that there is no replacement, a successor who to them is acceptable,” Mugabe added.
The veteran leader came to power when Zimbabwe won independence in 1980 and his rule has been criticised for ruthless repression of dissent, election rigging, and for causing the country’s economic collapse.
– Advanced age –
Several incidents in recent years have highlighted his advanced age — including a fall in February 2015 at Harare airport.
In September of the same year he read a speech to parliament apparently unaware that he had delivered exactly the same address a month earlier.
Despite growing calls to step aside, his party has endorsed him as its candidate for general elections next year, and he remains widely respected as a liberation hero by other African leaders.
On Friday, his wife, Grace, claimed that Mugabe would be the voters’ choice even after he dies.
She has also vowed to use a wheelchair to transport him to election rallies if needed.
Mugabe has avoided naming a successor, and his party is divided between factions hoping to succeed him.
Grace, 51, was appointed head of the ruling party’s women’s wing in a surprise move that could make her a possible successor to Mugabe.
Another leading candidate is Mugabe’s vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Last year, security forces brutally quelled a series of street protests in Harare, a rare public expression of opposition to Mugabe’s regime.
According to Bloomberg News, Zimbabwe’s economic output has halved since 2000 when many white-owned farms were seized by ZANU-PF supporters, leaving the key agricultural sector in ruins.
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Zambian Football Association in Lusaka.<br />A proposal by Zambian football authorities to ban discrimination against gays and lesbians has kicked off a dispute over homosexuality, which is illegal in the country and widely seen as immoral. / AFP PHOTO / Dawood Salim
A proposal by Zambian football authorities to ban discrimination against gays and lesbians has kicked off a dispute over homosexuality, which is illegal in the country and widely seen as immoral.
The new draft constitution of the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) contains a clause banning discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, in line with regulations from world governing body FIFA.
But Zambian church leaders and senior football figures have attacked the proposal as undermining the country’s devout Christian beliefs, which are protected by the national constitution.
Zambia does not implicitly ban homosexual sex, but it outlaws “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature”.
“Zambia is a Christian nation and any instructions from FIFA which will conflict with Christianity are not welcome,” former FAZ executive committee member Masha Chilemena told AFP.
“The FAZ cannot go against what is stipulated in the law of the land.
“If FIFA is to impose sanctions on Zambia, we will play in the local league.”
International Federation of Christian Churches (IFCC) president Simon Chihana told AFP that if FAZ agreed to a clause banning discrimination against gays it would be “inviting the wrath of God”.
“We are a blessed nation and we cannot allow an individual or institution to bring the happenings of Sodom and Gomorrah here,” he said.
– Illegal in much of Africa –
Zambian President Edgar Lungu, who was re-elected last year, has spoken out strongly against gay rights, despite pressure from donor countries that provide essential aid to the country.
“Those advocating gay rights should go to hell… That issue is foreign to this country,” he said after the arrest of two Zambian gay men in 2013.
The two men, who faced 14 years in prison if convicted, were acquitted the following year after more than a year in jail.
Amnesty International said the accused were subjected to forcible anal examinations by government doctors seeking evidence of sexual activity.
Homosexuality is punishable by the death penalty in Mauritania, Sudan and some parts of Nigeria and Somalia, and is also illegal in 30 other African countries.
FAZ general secretary Ponga Liwewe said that the association would ensure its new constitution was not against Zambian law, stressing that the document was still at its draft stage.
“When it is finalised, it will reflect the laws of the country and the law of football so that there will be no conflict between the two,” Liwewe told AFP.
Human rights campaigners called on FAZ to take a stand against discrimination, with the Engender Rights Centre for Justice group accusing evangelical churches of waging an anti-gay crusade.
“It is overzealous people, mostly Pentecostal movements, that are misleading the government and the masses,” said ERCJ project coordinator Paul Kasonkomona, who was arrested and acquitted four years ago after he appeared on television calling for homosexual relationships to be decriminalised.
“The constitution says the rights of all should be respected, so let the rights of the minority be respected,” he said.
“I don’t think FAZ should feel that they are doing something wrong, they are not asking people to have sex. It’s not a sin to be gay.”
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Well done @ReallySwara for constantly breaking ground!! 24th march is the date guys ! For this new world and engaging film!!! http://pic.twitter.com/3zmuUvOIrO
— Karan Johar (@karanjohar) February 20, 2017
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Of course, Kamaal R Khan has a problem of butting into every conversation, and knowing the man, he can never say anything nice about anyone.
Sir @karanjohar it will not be a flop or washout, but it will be super duper disaster of the year coz KRK says so. https://t.co/Ugu3GPfFxT
— KRK (@kamaalrkhan) February 20, 2017
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Swara Bhaskar was at her sassiest best when she shut him down with this one tweet!
Kuch logon ki gaali, compliment hoti hai!
Thanks @kamaalrkhan the unasked filth u spew is a character certificate for us!
Appreciated. https://t.co/4rDCWQShio
— Swara Bhaskar (@ReallySwara) February 20, 2017
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Can I just say that I love Swara for showing KRK his place? He definitely deserved this for all the times he’s spoken crap about everyone. Remember when Lisa Haydon and Sonakshi Sinha lashed out at him too? You go, girls!
The post OUCH! Swara Bhaskar Just Slammed Kamaal R Khan On Twitter! is copyright of MissMalini.
Source: Miss Malini
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Pensioners
Retired civil servants in Abia have described the process of verification of state pensioners as “cumbersome, unfriendly, rigorous, stressful and harmful” to their health.
The pensioners, some of whom are between the ages of 70 and 90, expressed the concern on Friday when they spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia.
NAN reports that the verification began on Monday. They said that going through the process on daily basis had subjected them to exhaustion and other inconveniences with telling effect on their health.
Mr Christopher Onyemachi, 77, who said that the exercise was not properly organised, said that it should have been organised in batches to avoid the large crowd and the attendant stress.
According to him, the bank handling the exercise should have drawn up a schedule so that people who retired during a specific length of time cand be verified in batches.
“They are using the verification to make us suffer.
“Why do they treat old men so unkindly? Is there no better way of doing the verification to save us the trouble we are passing through,” he asked .
An octogenarian pensioner, Mr Thomas Nwosu, also described hsi Friday experience during the exercise as the worst since the exercise began.
Nwosu, who said that the process was slow, further said that he though he submitted his form on Monday; he could not get his the serial number for his verification until Friday.
He expressed concern over the long queue that characterised the exercise adding he was not sure when it would get to his turn.
Also speaking, another pensioner, who identified himself simply as David, said that some of the retirees came from Port Harcourt, Owerri and Enugu for the exercise with the last money they had.
He said that many of them hoped that they would be paid at the venue of the exercise.
“Some of them had to beg for money to even buy sachet water and groundnut to keep life going at the venue of the exrcise,” David said.
David said that some retirees who had no transport fare to go back to their various destinations resorted to begging for assistance to accomplish the journey.
He further said that some retirees, earning as law as N1,000 pension monthly and could not cope with the rigours of the exercise stopped coming.
Mrs Ngozi Ukandu, 54, and another pensioner, who identified herself simply as Mrs Kalu, 57, said that pensioners were being ill-treated.
Ukandu said that it was sheer wickedness to treat men and women, who spent their productive ages in the service of the state a ‘’callous manner.’’
She wondered why pensioners in their 70s and above should be made to suffer.
The Chairman of the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners(NUP), Chief Chukwuma Udensi, earlier in an interview with NAN, estimated the gratuities of retired state and local government civil servants in the state at over N22 billion.
Speaking on the verification in a telephone interview, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Bonny said that the procedure was for the pensioners to physically present for verification.
Iwuoha said that the essence was to eliminate the names of dead and ghost pensioners in the roster of pensioners.
He said that government had observed some fictitious names after the biometric capturing was conducted for pensioners and teachers last year, a development he said necessitated the exercise.
Iwuoha, who is also a retiree, appealed to his fellow pensioners to exercise patience and show greater understanding with the state government to ensure the success of the exercise.
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US Vice-President Mike Pence (R) gestures as he arrives at the Franz-Josef-Strauss airport airport to attend the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany, on February 17, 2017.<br />Christof STACHE / AFP
US Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday said President Donald Trump would stand by the NATO transatlantic alliance and no one should doubt his commitment after sacrifices made to defend it.
“The president (Donald Trump) asked me to be here today to convey a message, a reassurance — the United States of America strongly supports NATO and we will be unwavering in our commitment to this transatlantic alliance,” Pence told the Munich Security Conference.
“Let no one doubt our commitment,” he said.
The Munich conference, attended by top leaders, officials and analysts from around the world, was watching Pence closely to see if he would reaffirm the central US role in world affairs after Trump’s “America First” stance suggested Washington would strike out on its own.
Speaking just before Pence, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had warned countries against precisely that, saying the only way to solve global problems was to stick together.
“In a year in which we see unimaginable challenges we can either work together or retreat to our individual roles. I hope that we will find a common position,” Merkel said.
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Robert Harward
A former navy admiral reportedly tapped by President Donald Trump to be his national security advisor has declined the post, US media said on Thursday.
Robert Harward’s rejection leaves President Donald Trump without a replacement for retired general Michael Flynn, who resigned over a scandal involving his links with the Russian ambassador in Washington.
Officially Harward said he had turned down the job because of family and financial commitments.
However several US media outlets, including CNN and Politico, reported late Thursday that Harward was unhappy because he had no guarantees that the National Security Council — and not Trump’s political advisors — would be in charge of policy,
In a statement read on CNN, Harward said he had turned down the job because he “could not make that commitment.”
“This job requires 24 hours a day, seven days a week focus and commitment to do it right. I currently could not make that commitment,” the statement read.
He added that since retiring he’s had a chance “to address financial and family issues that would have been challenging in this position.”
An unnamed Harward friend told CNN he refused the job because of the chaos at the White House, while the Washington Post said it was in part because he would not be able to choose his own staff.
– Man of action –
Harward, 60, spent much of his career in the Navy SEALs, the tough special warfare units, and commanded SEAL Team 3, which specializes in operations in the Middle East.
During his career Harward also worked closely with retired Marine Corps General James Mattis, the current defense secretary.
He led Special Warfare task groups in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq beginning in 2002. A year later, he was in the White House of President George W. Bush as part of the National Security Council, and in 2005 moved to the new National Counterterrorism Center.
After a tour in Afghanistan, from 2011 to his retirement in 2013 he was deputy commander of US Central Command – in charge of US military operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
After retiring Harward became a representative of defense contractor Lockheed Martin in the United Arab Emirates and made appearances as a military expert for the ABC television network.
The shaven-head tough guy, who spent his teenage years in Iran in the 1970s and speaks Farsi, was widely seen as a steadying presence after the volatile Flynn.
Flynn resigned after being implicated in several telephone conversations with the Russian ambassador in Washington before Trump took office.
Harward’s rejection caps a riotous day for the 70-year-old US president, who earlier Thursday lambasted his critics in the media and in politics in a wide-ranging one hour, 16-minute-long press conference.
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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
Australia’s prime minister, who was at the receiving end of US President Donald Trump’s ire during a fiery phone call last month, on Friday offered media advice to the billionaire politician after he attacked the press.
Trump stunned the political world Thursday with an impromptu White House news conference at which he railed against his perceived enemies in the media, calling them “dishonest” and “out of control”.
The US leader has repeatedly ignored presidential decorum, including in his relations with loyal allies like Australia, reportedly lambasting Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during a phone call last month and later attacking an agreement with Canberra on refugees as a “dumb deal”.
At a press conference in New Zealand, Turnbull, who has repeatedly insisted relations with key ally the United States remain strong, was asked about Trump’s views of the media.
“Winston Churchill once said that politicans complaining about the newspapers is like a sailor complaining about the sea,” Turnbull told reporters in Queenstown.
“There’s not much point. It’s the media we live with.
“We have to get our message across and we thank you all in the media for your kind attention,” Turnbull added with a smile.
The spat flared over an agreement struck in November to resettle in the United States an unspecified number of the 1,600 people detained by Australia on Pacific islands. Many are Iranians.
In Queenstown, Turnbull met his New Zealand counterpart Bill English and agreed to pursue the Trans-Pacific Partnership, despite Trump’s decision to dump the massive trade deal that encompasses a dozen nations.
“In light of the intention of the United States not to ratify the TPP, the two Prime Ministers agreed that Australia and New Zealand would work together to engage with other TPP partners on the way forward, over the coming months,” a joint statement said.
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Gabriel Afolayan also known by his musical stage name G-Fresh, is a Nigerian actor and singer.
Gabriel Afolayan studied Theater Arts at University of Ibadan. He is part of the renowned Afolayan entertainment family that comprises Ade Love, Kunle Afolayan and Aremu Afolayan. As an actor, he won the Best Supporting Actor award for playing “Tavier Jambari” in Hoodrush (2012). As a musician, he is known mostly for “Awelewa” and “Kokoro Ife”. In an interview with The Punch, he described his musical genre as “Love ballad”.
Afolayan’s acting debut was in F Opawon by Baba Sala. In an interview with Nigerian Tribune, he stated that his music career started in 1997, while he was part of a group in Ibadan. He also stated that he has always been part of the choir.
He has cited 2face, Banky W., Aṣa and Bez as influences.
Afolayan is the son of the Nigerian entertainment icon Adeyemi Afolayan.
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