Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Star Congolese rumba singer Koffi Olomide, who was expelled from Kenya at the weekend after allegedly kicking one of his dancers, was charged with assault and battery Tuesday, a judicial source told AFP. The source, who asked not to be identified, said the 60-year-old …
Read More »Zambia show cancelled, Koffi Olomide apologizes
Lusaka, Zambia | AFP | Zambian authorities said on Sunday they had called off a planned show by Congolese singer Koffi Olomide following his deportation from Kenya for kicking one of his female dancers. Olomide was scheduled to perform at the annual agricultural trade show in Lusaka this week. “Following …
Read More »‘Ghostbusters’ backlash reflects Hollywood’s sexism problem
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | An all-female reboot of “Ghostbusters” hits theaters next month amid a savage backlash by Internet trolls that has thrown the spotlight back onto Hollywood’s gender discrimination problem. The film’s first trailer has become the most reviled in YouTube history, having amassed almost 900,000 …
Read More »Western film star Bud Spencer dies: family
Rome, Italy | AFP | Italian actor Bud Spencer, who starred in a string of spaghetti westerns, died on Monday in Rome aged 86, his family confirmed. “With our deepest regrets, we have to tell you that Bud is flying to his next journey,” his family said on Spencer’s Twitter …
Read More »Art of Propaganda
By Nathan Kiwere Following the social and political mayhem that was engendered by the botched 2007 general elections in neighbouring Kenya, politicians and the public went into an unprecedented frenzy, outshouting each other to prove culpability in what turned out to be a national festival of hooliganism. As they say, …
Read More »Snoop Dogg returns to rap roots on new album
New York, United States | AFP | Snoop Dogg has returned to his rap roots — as well as his familiar love of marijuana — as he released a new song Tuesday and detailed his upcoming album. “Coolaid,” which will come out on July 1, will be Snoop Dogg’s first …
Read More »Anne-Marie Nzie, ‘golden voice of Cameroon’, dies at 84
Yaoundé, Cameroon | AFP | Popular Cameroonian singer Anne-Marie Nzie has died at the age of 84 following a career spanning six decades, state media reported Wednesday. Nicknamed the “golden voice of Cameroon”, the singer died Tuesday evening in a hospital in the capital Yaounde where she had been admitted …
Read More »Oil riches help keep alive bedouin poetry
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | AFP | The Middle East’s poetry equivalent of “Pop Idol” is helping to keep alive an age-old tradition using bedouin dialect, which is barely understood outside the Arabian Gulf. Apart from the glory, a Kuwaiti student took home five million dirhams ($1.36 million), the …
Read More »‘Oh no, not again’: Why do stars keep dying in 2016?
Washington, United States | AFP | “Prince, surely not? Can we turn this year off and turn it back on when it stops being a giant exit for all the most talented people?” The actress Minnie Driver echoed the thoughts of many in tweeting her reaction to the sudden loss …
Read More »Prince cremated in private ceremony
Minneapolis, UNITED STATES | AFP | Loved ones cremated pop icon Prince on Saturday with his final resting place to remain a secret, two days after his sudden death stunned the music world. The 57-year-old “Purple Rain” creator, one of the most acclaimed and unique artists of his generation, will …
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