British-Ghanaian musician Fuse ODG has said Ghana has so much talent in the music industry to look for validation outside the country’s borders.
Speaking on Joy Prime’s Prime Morning, he advised the music industry to mind their business and continue investing in their craft.
“I always say that we shouldn’t be looking outside for validation, Ghana has too much talent to be getting distracted.”
“There are certain conversations that I feel it’s not necessary, we need to just continue working, just keep our heads down and just keep pushing and keep working, that’s what we need to do as an industry,” he said.
The UK-based singer also urged the industry to be united and build trust amongst themselves which could a long way in enhancing their networking skills.
“I’ve also said we need to spend more time together because that’s how we’re able to build trust amongst each other, so then we’re able to share networks”.
“And I’m trying my best for us to also spend time when I’m around as well,” he stated.
Fuse doubles up with talented Ghanaian musician, Leftizzle to drop an amazing song titled “Kiki”. The song is available on all digital platforms.
Musician M.anifest says he was surprised at the rapping skills of his female colleague Eno Barony when they first met on a radio station.
He explained that Eno Barony out-rapped him when they were given the floor to exhibit their rap talent.
“I remember the first time I was on the radio station with her when I saw her, she out-rapped me, I was like ‘oh my goodness, who is this one?’” he said in an interview with the BBC.
He described the presence of Eno Barony in the music space as the “breaking of the glass ceiling moment.”
Commenting on male dominants in the Ghana music industry, rapper M.anifest said the industry is still sexist, thus preventing a lot of women from joining the industry.
He explained that it is difficult for women to operate in the industry, adding they are unable to do some of the things their male counterparts have the privilege of doing.
“The truth about why there aren’t many women involved in hiplife and in the music space is that the space unfortunately is still quite sexist.
“It is difficult for a woman to operate in these spaces, whether it is as simple as night sessions in the studio,” M.anifest said.
M.anifest noted that every successful music scene in the world is flooded with women, adding “So, if we want to succeed, bring the gals dem[sic].”
However, Eno Barony who also spoke to BBC in an interview revealed that she was dealing with some insecurities because many people questioned her weight following her break into the music industry.
Eno Barony said it was deemed as if her weight had an influence on the music she makes.
“When I came into the music scene, I never saw girls my size. Most of the girls I was seeing were, let me say skinnier.
“People were talking about my image so much. Why are you like this? Why are you not going to look like this, and stuff? So it was bothering me.
The rapper said that she grew to be confident despite comments and criticisms about her weight.
“When I accepted myself for who I am, I did a song called ‘Heavy Load’, and I realized oh, I have fans who are just like me and are looking up to me, the way I dress, everything I do,” she said,
Eno Barony who was optimistic about women succeeding in the music scene added that “So if you see a woman doing anything male-dominated, you don’t doubt it.”
The world’s largest online streaming service, Netflix, has announced plans to expand operations in Africa, claiming that its $175 million (£140 million) investment there since 2016 has already produced several successful episodes.
A report on Netflix’s influence in South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya was launched at the same occasion when the news was made, which took place in Johannesburg.
According to the report, the company has created 12,000 jobs on the continent and intends to build on this success beyond just three countries.
“We have undertaken this report to reflect on Netflix’s social and economic impact in the key countries,” Netflix’s sub-Saharan Africa policy director, Shola Sanni, said in its introduction.
“We are still in many ways at the inception stages of our investment journey, so it’s doubly exciting to know that we are poised to deliver even greater impact if we maintain our current momentum – and if the right circumstances for investments in our sector continue to prevail.”
She pointed to African productions like Silverton Siege (South African), Aníkúlápó (Nigerian) and Disconnect: The Wedding Planner (Kenyan) as all having at one point made it into Netflix Global Top 10 lists.
However to keep telling African stories on a global stage, Netflix needed to have the support of “governments, civil society, private sector and industry” to allow the create industries to thrive, Ms Sanni said.
“Enabling policy frameworks, flexible regulatory mandates and ease of doing business are inextricably bound to the continued growth of the audio-visual sector and streaming services.”
The NPA had earlier directed all Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) to implement the new rates and apply them in their Price Build-Ups (PBUS) from April 16, 2023.
However, in a recent statement, the regulator has withdrawn the increment, stating that the FMM will remain at 4 pesewas per litre until further notice.
The NPA expressed regrets for any inconvenience caused by the earlier directive.
This reversal by the NPA comes as a relief to many Ghanaians, as an increase in the FMM would have led to an upward adjustment in fuel prices at the pumps.
Alicia Keys, a Grammy-winning American musician, has expressed a strong desire to collaborate with Wizkid.
She earlier mentioned that she wanted to work with him, and a few weeks ago, she said on a podcast that she and Big Wiz got along well when working on a few unreleased songs.
In response, Alicia Keys promised the crowd that she and Starboy would work together soon. It was unclear from the music icon whether a date had been established or if she merely hoped it would be followed.
Alicia Keys’s real name is Alicia Augello Cook. She is an American pianist, singer, and composer. Keys, a pianist with classical training, began writing songs when she was 12 years old and was signed by Columbia Records when she was 15 years old.
She signed with Arista Records following disagreements with the label and later released her debut album, Songs in A Minor, through J Records in 2001. Over 12 million copies of the album were sold globally as a result of its economic and critical success.
Keys won five Grammy Awards in 2002 for the song, which gave birth to the number-one hit “Fallin’” on the Billboard Hot 100.
With eight million copies sold worldwide including the songs “You Don’t Know My Name,” “If I Ain’t Got You,” and “Diary,” her second album, The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003), was similarly a critical and economic success.
Keche Joshua of Keche fame has threatened to take drastic punitive measures against any lookalike who tries to impersonate their brand and music.
Following the lookalike craze, where some individuals have gained social media clout for looking like and mimicking some artists, Joshau believes the ‘nonsense must stop.”
Ranting in a video he shared online, Keche Joshua said it hurts to see others use your MSUC for their personal benefits after you had toiled to make them.
Therefore, he added, any lookalike who would want to hide the cloak of sharing a resemblance with the Keche duo to use their brand or music will have a lot to answer.
He insisted that the individual must be ready to get himself beaten to a pulp, as that could only serve as a deterrent to many others who have sprung up.
The lookalikes have already gained prominence, with several top media houses granting them free interviews. Many believe they serve as a threat to the careers of the artists involved and thus must be stopped.
Medikal had reacted and was brazenly told by the lookalike that he must shut up and allow for a part of his fame to be shared by others.
Millions of people on the internet have publicly expressed their sentiments about the trending story about Achraf Hakimi and his wife (Hiba Abouk) who is 12 years older than the star footballer.
As opined by a section of angry social media users mostly feminists, Achraf Hakimi is an ‘evil’ person because, despite his wife’s loyalty to him, he cheated on her – Knowing well that he has all of his assets under his mother’s name hence eh wouldn’t be made to pay any divorce settlement.
Other internet users have applauded the PSG defender for thinking outside of the box because a part of his 70 million fortune which includes an estate and other businesses would have been transferred to Huba by now after she filed for divorce on the grounds of infidelity.
Nigerian music star Peter Okoye of P-Square fame for instance has fired men who are in support of PSG’s Achraf Hakimi’s reported act of entrusting his properties into the care of his mother.
According to him, he believes that that was an immature decision taken by the Moroccan fullback without considering that his wife and kids are his immediate family.
Amidst the back-and-forth banter on social media about Hakimi being a mummy’s boy – a Ghanaian lady who claims to have worked with United Nations and currently resides in Accra has alleged that Hakimi’s mother has spiritually married her son.
According to Opare Bea on Facebook, she finds it difficult to understand that a fully grown-rich man like Hakimi will act on the instructions of his mother (Sadia Mouth) if not for their spiritual marriage.
Opare Bea levelled these ‘spiritual marriage’ accusations against Hakimi’s mother under a post GH page shared on its Facebook about Achraf and his estranged wife.
Take a look a the screenshot below to know more…
Below are how some netizens who share opposing views reacted to Opare’s ‘spiritual marriage’ accusations.
Philip Kojo Xedzr – the Best and the wise decision ever he made.. kindly appreciate him and count him as your blood brother…
Ghanaian actress Rabby Bray has officially joined one of Tanzania’s biggest film production firms, Lamata Village Entertainment.
The multiple award-winning actress continues to make strides in her career, and her talent has been recognised by movie fans on the continent after she starred in Tanzania’s hit television series “Jua Kali” last year.
Renowned Tanzanian filmmaker and top executive at Lamata Village Entertainment, Madam Lamata Leah, was elated to add the Ghanaian actress to her production firm.
According to Madam Leah, actress Rabby Bray will be marketed across Eastern Africa to other production companies and corporate establishments as well by her new management.
“Rabby is a great actress, and she has great potential, and that’s why I decided to sign her under Lamata Village Entertainment,” she said.
She added that Rabby Bray’s popularity and admiration among the fans in Tanzania continue to rise, which demonstrates how talented she is.
Actress Rabby Bray in the popular “Jua Kali’ DSTV series played the role of a loyal best friend of Anna, played by Tanzanian actress Godliver Gordian.
Her character, ‘Linda’, would go to any lengths to ensure that her best friend, Anna, is happy and wouldn’t hesitate to take on anyone or anything standing in her way.
She joined the star-studded cast of ‘Jua Kali’ in the fifth season of the series, acting alongside top African actors such as Patience Ozokwor from Nigeria and Van Vicker from Ghana.
The award-winning dramatic series reflects on the diversity of life, its unpredictable nature from happiness to sadness, and the lustful desires of human ambition from greed to betrayal.
Popular Ghanaian actor, Adjetey Anang popularly known as Pusher has said for policymakers to introduce policies that will better help grow the movie industry, they must have personal experiences on how movies are produced and brought onto the market.
In his view, policymakers do not even patronise local productions, hence, making it difficult for them to appreciate the industry and formulate policies to promote the movie industry.
Speaking on the Class Morning Show on Class91.3FM on Friday, 14 April 2023, Pusher called on policymakers to show interest and watch local productions so they can understand their problems when industry players are lamenting.
Answering show host Koku Lumor on what he would tell the Minister of Tourism if he had an opportunity to talk to him one-on-one, Pusher remarked “We don’t patronise our own works because if we do patronise our works, if there are loopholes, we will be our own critics of our works then it gets better and better.”
“I can bet you there are productions at the National Theater, productions at movie places [but] how many of our government officials do you see there? You don’t see them, conversations we have with them, hardly do they even watch movies and if you’re in a position where you have so much influence to help our course, you have to be involved in and understand this is what it takes to make a movie,” he added.
The ‘Things we do for love’ star explaining further said policymakers must “come on set, it’s a practical experience for you to know what producing involves, come spend a day or two on set, have a feel of the challenges, have a feel of the things we’re not getting right and what we could do better to improve.”
“The challenges, our shortfalls,” he noted “these are the things that if you have knowledge of, you can sit behind and say ‘let me do this policy, let me do this AB and C to assist these people’, so you have a practical experience. I think it starts from there and so most at times when we speak and they don’t have that experience, they don’t get us and they also don’t understand the depth of what it is on the job…” Pusher lamented.
“All they see is the finished product and even that I can say eight out of 10 would not have seen our productions, so that will be my first plea,” he added.
After the successful reached of Atia which went on to become the new face and sound of contemporary Highlife, Epixode, has released another dubbed, ‘O’bra (Onyame Bra)’ on Friday, April 14 2023.
The song is a typical Ghanaian Sikyi Highlife song, with a modern blend and it features the well traveled Ghanaian band, ‘SANTROFI’.
O’bra is a melodious and relatable live-recorded highlife record that highlights the daily struggles of the poor; rejection, hardship, disregard and unfulfilled dreams.
It’s an inspirational lyrical representation of the poor man’s trust in God during trying times.
The release of this highlife masterpiece is not only strategic, it is also Epixode’s way of honoring and preserving our highlife legacy.
This is a significant milestone for Epixode, who has been steadily building his career over the past few years.
As part of his pre-promotional strategy, Epixode is set to release a mini documentary, featuring some faces of the Ghana music industry.
Highlife legend Daddy Lumba, who is a big fan of Kuami Eugene, has spoken positively into the future of the 26-year-old artiste who has won several awards for his records.
Lumba has been monitoring the progress of the young hitmaker and believes that he will one day become a global icon and make the nation proud.
The veteran musician, regarded as the greatest talent in Ghana prayed to God to order the steps of the musician and make him great.
“I have now handed over to Kuami Eugene (laughs). May God bless you Kuami. May he enlarge your territory and make possible all your dreams.
“I have hope in you and very soon you will be able to conquer the whole world with your music. Keep it up,” he encouraged Kuami Eugene when he visited DL106.9 FM in April 2023.
A total of 2,177 fire outbreaks have been recorded between January and March 2023 by the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS).
Some 2,403 fires were recorded in the same period in 2022.
The Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Julius A. Kuunuor disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra.
He said it was worrying that despite the decrease in fire outbreaks within the period, domestic fires were leading the chart with a total of 760, followed by bush fires, 492, commercial fires, 336, electrical fires, 208, vehicular fires, 178, refuse fires, 117, institutional fires, 76 and industrial fire outbreaks, ten.
Out of the total fire incidents recorded within the period, 596 were doused by the public and 1,581 were extinguished by the GNFS.
CFO Kuunuor attributed the decrease in fire outbreaks to the intensive national fire safety education the Service had embarked on over the period.
He, however, noted that there was an increase in electrical fires due to faulty meters and electrical gadgets, adding that vehicular fires in recent times had also gone up owing to the non-existence of fire extinguishers or fake fire extinguishers in cars.
He said to further reduce fire outbreaks to a single digit the Service would continue with its intensive public education and put up fire tents at marketplaces to ensure fire prevention and prompt action during fire outbreaks.
He urged building contractors to be mindful of their activities, which often impeded the GNFS from acting swiftly in case of fire outbreaks.
The Chief Fire Officer advised the citizenry to also ensure there were proper and active fire extinguishers at vantage points at homes, workplaces, vehicles, and other public places to aid them in the event of an outbreak.
“Fire safety is a shared responsibility so the public must adhere to the fire safety precautions put in place, they must ensure all electrical appliances are put off when not in use and upon leaving the house to prevent fires,” CFO Kuunuor advised.
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) office in the Eastern Region with support from the Koforidua Central Police Command have raided some parts of Koforidua central market to arrest people peddling unregistered medicinal products.
The products included Aphrodisiac (drugs that stimulates sexual desires) such as Henigra 200, Hiergra 200, AK 47, and Maxx man.
Madam Anita Owusu-Kuffour, Eastern Regional Acting Head of FDA told the Ghana News Agency that such products among others could not be guaranteed on the market and the swoop exercise (unannounced) was part of the Authority’s mandate to clear the market of non-conforming goods.
She said the exercise was conducted after the FDA’s regular awareness raising on unregulated products was done at market centres and lorry parks to draw people’s attention to health hazards in purchasing and using of such goods.
The exercise, which took place at Nkurakan, Effiduase, Korley Nkwanta and Koforidua township focused on drug peddlers, herbal retail shops, and operators of community information centres.
They arrested nine people including persons running information centres that had drug manufacturers depositing products for sale with a continuous pre-recorded advertisement, particularly on unregistered Aphrodisiac.
They are currently under investigation for possible prosecution while the seized unregistered drugs were in FDA’s confinement, she said.
The swoop will be extended to the rest of the districts in the region. “Some of such medicinal products do not have any label and others too provide labels as and when you buy.
The sellers could be seeking for wrong labels for such products and this situation is worrying,” she lamented.
Madam Owusu-Kuffour urged the public/ consumers to buy products from recognized facilities and traceable places, cautioning that if you buy from hawkers, you will not be able to trace them when facing health complications after using a drug. ” Consider buying FDA registered products. It is only when a product is registered that you will know it has gone through the necessary procedures and it is guaranteed, she said adding that ” safety and efficacy is important.”
She said raiding the market of unregistered medicinal products exercise drew public’s attention to the works of the Food and Drugs Authority in ensuring that wholesome products were offered for sale. FDA exists to ensure the safety, quality and efficacy of human and veterinary drugs, food, medicinal products, cosmetics, medical devices and household chemical substances.
Harry Brook scored a magnificent maiden Indian Premier League century to set up a 23-run win for Sunrisers Hyderabad over Kolkata Knight Riders.
The England batter failed in his first three IPL knocks, but he struck a sublime unbeaten 100 from 55 balls to get Sunrisers up to an imposing total of 228-4 at Eden Gardens on Friday.
Brook hit three sixes and 12 fours to register the first IPL hundred of the season, while captain Aiden Markram blasted 50 from 26 deliveries and Abhishek Sharma made a brisk 32 after KKR skipper Nitish Rana put Sunrisers in.
Rapid half-centuries from Rana (75 from 41) and Rinku Singh (58 off 31) gave the Knight Riders hope, but they fell short on 205-7 as Hyderabad secured a second successive win following back-to-back defeats.
Andre Russell (3-22) dismissed Mayank Agarwal and Rahul Tripathi in his first over before the all-rounder left the field with an injury, with Brook and Markram then putting on 72 to silence a huge crowd.
Brook was dropped by Suyash Sharma on 45 and that proved to be costly, while Markram cleared the rope five times before he was caught off the bowling of Varun Chakravarthy in the deep.
100 – @SunRisers batter Harry Brook (100*) has become the first batter of the ongoing @IPL season to smash a ton; he has also become just the third #SRH batter to register a century in the competition (David Warner x2 & Jonny Bairstow x1). Star.#KKRvSRH#TATAIPL#IPL2023pic.twitter.com/ulcYPlZaoN
The classy Brook stepped on the accelerator to reach three figures and Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Rahmanullah Gurbaz at the start of the run chase.
Marco Jansen (2-37) reduced KKR to 20-3 and they were 96-5 when Russell departed, but Rana and Rinku made a game of it with a stand of 69.
Their fireworks were in vain, though, Mayank Markande taking 2-27 and Kumar keeping it tight with 1-29 as KKR suffered a second loss.
Brook pays off part of his price tag
Sunrisers forked out 13.25 crore (£1.325million) to land the sought-after Brook in the auction and he demonstrated exactly why in his fourth IPL match.
Having made only 29 combined in his previous three innings, the 24-year-old carried his bat after reaching 50 off 32 balls and racing to a century from 55.
Brook took 23 off an over from Lockie Ferguson, the runs flowing on both sides of the wicket in a brilliant exhibition of batting.
Rana in the runs again
Rana registered his 16th IPL half-century in a run-fest, cashing in on a great pitch.
This was his fourth score of 50 or more against Sunrisers, but it was not enough to pull off what would have been a record IPL run chase.
Ferrari will begin their challenge to a costly time penalty imposed on Carlos Sainz at the Australian Grand Prix when they take part in a hearing on Tuesday.
Motorsport world governing body the FIA confirmed the Italian team would get their chance to petition for a review of the five-second penalty when they meet with stewards.
The punishment was imposed on Sainz after his collision with Fernando Alonso during the April 2 race.
Sainz was demoted from fourth to 12th after making contact with his Spanish compatriot’s Aston Martin following a chaotic penultimate-lap standing restart.
There were another two crashes prior to a red flag being waved for a third time at Albert Park.
Sometimes you just can’t catch a break…
A tough weekend with no points but that does not reflect our progress. Four weeks until the next race to keep pushing and working hard.
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) April 3, 2023
Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were involved in a collision, while Logan Sargeant ran into the AlphaTauri of Nyck de Vries but none of those four drivers were penalised.
Sainz was not impressed with the punishment imposed on him and Scuderia team principal Fred Vasseur confirmed Ferrari would appeal against the decision that cost the driver a points finish.
In a statement issued on Friday, the FIA said: “The stewards of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix have received a letter from Nikolas Tombazis, single-seater director of the FIA, attaching a petition by competitor Scuderia Ferrari dated 6th April 2023 under article 14 of the FIA international sporting code, seeking a review of the stewards’ decision number 46 made within the framework of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix and requesting that the stewards ‘consider such request and to make a determination whether or not a significant and relevant new element exists in relation to the decision/incident’.
“The driver(s) and team representative(s) are required to report to the stewards for a virtual hearing to be held on 18th April 2023 at 0800 CET in relation to the petition.”
Frank Lampard jumped to Mason Mount’s defence, insisting the Chelsea midfielder is “already a top player” despite a frustrating season.
The England international enjoyed a thoroughly productive 2021-22 campaign with the Blues, scoring 13 goals and providing 16 assists under Thomas Tuchel.
However, inconsistent form and injury problems have prevented the 24-year-old from kicking on this term, netting just three times while registering six assists in 33 appearances.
But Lampard is fully behind Mount. He took the player on loan to Derby County during the 2018-19 season before handing him his Chelsea debut the following campaign.
And the Blues’ caretaker boss cannot understand the criticism aimed at the academy graduate.
“I’m not going to tell anyone about what opinion they should have on football,” Lampard said ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Brighton and Hove Albion at Stamford Bridge.
“But if anyone thinks Mason Mount is not already a top-level player then I’m not sure what they’re seeing in my opinion.
“Form is one thing people can debate. These players are getting debated more with social media than they did in my career.
“But from working with Mason – you can ask myself, Thomas Tuchel, Gareth Southgate and Graham Potter – he’s clearly a top player.”
Lampard added: “He’s had his comeback from a small injury problem. It may be a little process over the next game or two to get Mason where we really want him to be, but he’s a top player and has a big affiliation with the club.
“One thing I know about Mason is that a top player should have a real hunger to succeed and do well for Chelsea. He’s had that since the first day I took him to Derby.
“It’s simple for me. He’s still a young player. He’ll go even further, but he’s already a top player.”
Manchester United captain Katie Zelem has spearheaded her side’s title charge in the Women’s Super League this season.
The 27-year-old has featured in all 17 of the Red Devils’ top-flight matches in 2022-23 and has only been on the losing side twice.
Despite her fine form, the ex-Liverpool and Juventus midfielder was dropped from Sarina Wiegman’s latest England squad for the games with Brazil and Australia.
Ahead of today’s FA Cup semi-final clash with Brighton, we take a look at the United skipper in more detail.
Leading by example
Zelem’s work in the engine room has put Marc Skinner’s side in contention for both maiden league and cup triumphs.
Having grown up watching Alex Ferguson’s titans, the Manchester-born maestro has experienced first hand the highs and lows of football at the top level.
Now, she leads a women’s side who are fast becoming fierce domestic competitors themselves.
Only four players have provided more assists this season than Zelem and her quality in the final third will surely be giving England boss Wiegman a severe selection headache.
Seal of approval
Katie Zelem and Marc Skinner have forged a strong relationship at Manchester United
United have pulled out some huge results in the WSL this year and the 4-0 win over Brighton earlier this month will have been excellent preparation for today’s cup clash at Leigh Sports Village.
Zelem provided two assists in the thrashing and head coach Skinner could not hide his admiration of his No10’s qualities after full-time.
He said: “She has a big game brain. This girl sees the game two steps ahead and I’ve said it a lot.
“She sees stages and pictures and sometimes when people don’t move to things she’s seeing that maybe stumbles her — but that’s why she is the captain.
“She sees the game and produces the game plan with us. She helps gel our team.”
On the edge
Frustratingly, Zelem has found herself in and out of the England squad and will have been disappointed not to have been included for this month’s fixtures.
Despite her selection for the Arnold Clark Cup campaign in February, she did not play a single minute and was unable to add to her tally of seven international caps.
Of course, she faces tough competition in the form of Georgia Stanway and Keira Walsh, but the Lionesses’ 2-0 loss to the Matildas on Tuesday may provide Wiegman with some food for thought.
Capable of dictating the play and driving forward to great effect, Zelem would add another dynamic threat to a Lionesses team who are looking to return from Australia and New Zealand this summer as World Cup winners.
Weight of the world
Katie Zelem will be hoping to make the England squad for the World Cup this summer
Having also been snubbed for a place in the Euro 2022 squad, Zelem could be understandably frustrated that her club performances are not translating into international opportunities.
But the talented ball-winner is used to dealing with pressure and has previously opened up on what it is like to be such an influential figure at a club like United.
She said: “There’s a lot of pressure on my shoulders, but it’s something I relish, especially as a United fan.
“I feel so privileged that I can represent the club. I want to make the fans proud.”
Lifting the FA Cup in May would only add further weight to her England claims.
Defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev were both dumped out at the quarter-final stage of the Monte Carlo Masters, with Taylor Fritz and Holger Rune advancing.
Seeded second and third respectively, Tsitsipas and Medvedev began Friday as the tournament’s highest-ranked players following Novak Djokovic’s shock exit, but both found themselves on the receiving end of comprehensive defeats.
World number three Tsitsipas was the victim as Fritz claimed his first victory over a top-10 ranked player on clay, ending the Greek’s 12-match winning run at the competition with a 6-2 6-4 success.
Tsitsipas – who won the event in both 2021 and 2022 – was unable to contain Fritz as the American hit a series of huge winners en route to his third Masters 1000 semi-final.
Fritz will face Andrey Rublev in the final four after the fifth seed saw off the challenge of German qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff, posting a 6-1 7-6 (7-5) win.
Meanwhile, Medvedev came up short in his tussle with Rune, as the 19-year-old waltzed into his second Masters 1000 semi-final with a 6-3 6-4 triumph.
“It wasn’t easy for sure, it’s always tough to play Daniil,” Rune said after his win. “It was actually my first time playing against him in a real match, but we’ve practised tonnes of times.
“I have huge respect for everything he’s done. In the last week it was not easy to stop him, but I’m happy I managed to do it.”
Rune now has a 10-8 record in meetings with his fellow top-10 players, and he will have to win another such duel to make the final, with Jannik Sinner his semi-final opponent.
Sinner needed 76 minutes to beat fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-2 6-2, and the 21-year-old now has the chance to reach his third Masters 1000 final, having previously finished as runner-up at two editions of the Miami Open.
Christophe Galtier is in need of a lift from his Paris Saint-Germain players when they face Lens in a huge Ligue 1 clash on Saturday following such a turbulent week.
It emerged on Friday that Galtier has initiated legal proceedings after the PSG head coach was accused of making racist comments about players during his time as Nice boss.
Galtier, who denies the allegations, has been faced with calls for him to resign just over nine months after he took charge.
The 56-year-old has expressed his gratitude for the support he has received as leaders PSG prepare to face second-placed Lens on Saturday, when a victory at Parc des Princes would put them nine points clear.
Stats Perform pick out the standout Opta data for the big showdown in the French capital.
PSG must focus to gain revenge over Lens
Lens beat the champions 3-1 at home on New Year’s Day courtesy of goals from Przemyslaw Frankowski, Lois Openda and Alexis Claude Maurice.
Les Sang et Or are unbeaten in three matches against PSG, who responded to back-to-back home defeats at the hands of Rennes and Lyon by winning 2-0 at Nice last time out.
Lens are the only team the Parisian giants have not beaten in Ligue 1 since the start of last season.
PSG will be looking to avoid losing three consecutive home matches in the French top flight for the first time since April 2021.
Lens on a roll
With four consecutive Ligue 1 victories, Lens will arrive at Parc des Princes riding on the crest of a wave and knowing they must continue their excellent run to stay in the hunt for the title.
A tally of 63 points from 30 games this season is their best to date in the competition.
This is Franck Haise’s side’s longest winning run in Ligue 1 this season, and a double over PSG will have Galtier’s men looking over their shoulders.
Mbappe on the brink of making more history
Kylian Mbappe will become PSG’s leading all-time goalscorer in Ligue 1 if he finds the back of the net this weekend.
Level with Edinson Cavani on 138 goals, the France forward will also become the leading scorer for a Ligue 1 club in the 21st century with his next strike.
PSG’s record goalscorer has not netted against Lens in three games against them, so this would be a great time for him to set that record straight.
Messi to emulate Mbappe and Hazard?
With 14 goals and as many assists in Ligue 1 this season, Lionel Messi continues to deliver time and again.
The Argentina captain could become the third player to score at least 15 goals and provide 15 assists in a Ligue 1 season since Opta starting records began (2006-07) after Eden Hazard in 2011-12 (20 and 16) and Mbappe in 2021-22 (28 and 17).
Jamie Carragher has slammed Liverpool’s “timid” withdrawal from the race to sign Jude Bellingham, claiming the Reds have betrayed their fans’ trust by failing to pursue him.
With Bellingham expected to leave Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season and Liverpool’s midfield in desperate need of a rebuild, Anfield has long been suggested as a potential destination for the England man.
However, reports this week said Liverpool were no longer targeting Bellingham, with Real Madrid and Manchester City reportedly the frontrunners for the £130million-rated midfielder.
While Jurgen Klopp was unwilling to discuss Bellingham directly at a press conference on Friday, he accepted Liverpool may have to “step aside and do different stuff” in the next transfer window.
The decision to focus on alternative targets has attracted criticism from former Reds defender Carragher, who says the club’s hierarchy must win back the confidence of disgruntled supporters.
“Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp built a level of trust with regard to transfers which was the envy of Europe,” Carragher wrote in The Telegraph on Friday.
“That trust has gone with news they will not be pursuing Jude Bellingham this summer.
“It must be won back in the next transfer window because Klopp, his recruitment team and owners Fenway Sports Group have been granted a free pass for the dire performances of the last eight months, especially away from home.”
With Liverpool highly unlikely to qualify for next season’s edition of the Champions League, Carragher feels their failure to compete for Bellingham’s signature demonstrates “weakness”.
“Everything pointed to waiting for Bellingham. The supporters were sold the dream that the next Steven Gerrard was Anfield-bound,” Carragher added.
“After a year working on a deal, it feels like a timid surrender to step aside and allow Manchester City and Real Madrid to fight it out.
“There are times when a club of Liverpool’s stature has to flex some muscle and remind their rivals they can and will be there to compete off and on the pitch.
“To walk away because there is now too much work needed across the whole squad smacks of weakness, negligence and poor planning.”
Erik ten Hag has made his desire to sign a new striker for Manchester United ahead of next season clear.
The Red Devils are still fighting on three fronts this season as they battle to secure a top-four finish in the Premier League, as well as chasing glory in the FA Cup and Europa League.
United’s pursuit of glory to add to the EFL Cup crown secured earlier this year has come despite a lack of central options in attack.
Wout Weghorst was signed on loan in January following the termination of Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract before the World Cup in Qatar and, while performing admirably, is not the calibre of striker United are crying out for.
Ten Hag expects to change that when the window reopens for business, expressing the need for such a recruit.
“Everyone is different, obviously, but for a striker the main thing is to score goals by any method, that is so far ahead of anything else,” he told Sky Sports.
“We need a striker who scores goals because we have ability in the team to put balls in the box, so we need a striker to finish.
“We have to build a new future and we need a striker who not only scores goals but contributes by linking up play very well and pressing, which is very important.”
While recruitment of a new striker is clearly a priority for the upcoming transfer window, United will have to look within to provide the difference until the end of the season.
2011 – Man Utd have failed to win a match in major European competition in which they had a two-goal lead for the first time since a 3-3 draw with Basel in September 2011. Lax. pic.twitter.com/GG167VuDXQ
Having thrown away a two-goal lead on Thursday to draw 2-2 with Sevilla in the Europa League quarter-final first leg, Ten Hag is keen for his side to be more ruthless.
“First it has to come out of the development of the team, so we are aware that when we are dominant in a game, we have to kill the game,” he added.
“We didn’t do that and we let the opponent back in the tie. That was not good, it’s a bad habit we have to hammer out.
“We demand from the players and the players demand from each other.
“You do your job always to 100 per cent, there are no ifs, buts or maybes, you have to deliver the performance in every circumstance.”
United are away to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Sunday.
Manchester United have confirmed Lisandro Martinez will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a fractured metatarsal during Thursday’s Europa League draw against Sevilla.
Martinez was carried from the field by Sevilla’s Marcos Acuna and Gonzalo Montiel — his Argentina team-mates — after going down unchallenged in the closing stages at Old Trafford.
With Erik ten Hag having already used all of his substitutes, United were forced to finish the quarter-final first-leg clash with 10 men and Sevilla took advantage to salvage a 2-2 draw from two goals down.
The Red Devils on Friday confirmed centre-back Martinez will not feature again in the 2022-23 campaign.
“Lisandro Martinez has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after fracturing a metatarsal bone in his foot,” a club statement said.
“However, the Argentinian defender is expected to make a full recovery in time to be ready for the start of next season.”
Martinez was not the only casualty in United’s backline on Thursday as Raphael Varane was replaced at half-time after sustaining a knock, and the Frenchman is set to be out “for a few weeks”.
Martinez and Varane have built a solid defensive partnership this term, starting together in 16 of United’s 29 Premier League games during Ten Hag’s first season in charge.
The injuries represent a huge blow for United, who will look to boost their hopes of a top-four finish at Nottingham Forest on Sunday ahead of Thursday’s return fixture against Sevilla.
With Martinez and Varane absent, Ten Hag is likely to turn to Harry Maguire — who put through his own net late on against Sevilla — and Victor Lindelof for United’s forthcoming fixtures.
United are already without leading goalscorer Marcus Rashford after the 25-year-old suffered a muscle injury, while Bruno Fernandes will be suspended for next week’s trip to Seville.
Rick Ross has increased his real estate holdings by shelling out a cool $4.2 million for his Atlanta property, much to Meek Mill’s surprise.
According to a news release, the MMG tycoon recently concluded the sale of the massive Georgia property that had been on the market for around two years.
Rozay reportedly paid the seven-figure fee in cash, as is customary for Biggest Bawse contestants.
His realtor, Alisha Gillooly, said of the sale, “I’ve been working to make an impact in the luxury market and this did just that.” Ross already has a large house in Georgia that he lovingly refers to as “The Promise Land,” but Meek’s old house is nothing to belittled.
In addition to a swimming pool, jacuzzi, tennis court, movie theater, and playground, the suburban compound has eight bedrooms and nine bathrooms.
Meek announced just days ago that he had sold the house, tweeting: “I sold that house that quick …. It was forsale for like 2 years… i knew it would soon as I posted too!”
However, the identity of the buyer was apparently mystery to the Dream Chasers rapper, who took to his Instagram Stories on Wednesday (April 12) to share his surprise at his MMG boss being the one who snapped it up.
“Sold rozay the big fish estates … I aint even know he bought this lol,” he wrote.
Gospel musician and songwriter, Siisi Baidoo says there is nothing wrong with Christians eating pork.
His comments come in response to US-based gospel singer and preacher, Sonnie Badu’s argument concerning the consumption of pork.
Recently, the man of God, while preaching at his church, stated that pork is unclean and eating it makes one vulnerable to all forms of demonic attacks.
This sparked a lot of conversation across all social media platforms, including traditional media.
According to him, some people turn their personal revelations into doctrines, thereby imposing them on others.
In view of this, the minister believes Sonnie Badu dislikes pork as a result of some personal revelations he might have had about the meat.
He made these comments during an interview on Prime Morning on Easter Monday.
“There’s probably an experience that he had or some insights he’s gotten from God with regard to that. I was sharing something with somebody from one of our events, and I was telling the person that a lot of people turn their personal revelations into doctrines, and that’s one of the big problems in the church,” he said.
As a strong believer, the worshipper asserted that not everyone’s revelation is understandable and beneficial to others.
However, Siisi Baidoo thinks that such revelations should be kept private rather than imposed on individuals.
“It may not work for them because they don’t have that kind of understanding you have concerning that thing.”
The ‘Otim Ho Daa’ songwriter is of the notion that Christ has given new life to everyone. Therefore, what people, particularly believers, choose to do or consume should not be a concern.
Most churches nowadays, he said, are suffering with idolatry as a result of the imposition of specific revelations on members since they gradually become beliefs.
Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage has confirmed escaping from a security breach at her residence.
This comes after some reports went viral, on Friday, that some men has attempted to kidnap the singer.
Tiwa Savage’s management took to her Instagram handle to release a statement confirming that the musician’s home had been broken into, but, the suspects’ aim was not stated.
The statement reads: “Following recent reports online, we can confirm that on Thursday 13th April 2023 there was a major security breach at the residence of musician Tiwa Savage.
“A number of suspects were caught and are currently being held under investigation at Alagbon Police Station, Ikoyi. Ms Savage and her family are safe and well.”
Meanwhile, according to several media outlets who published the report earlier and Nigerian journalist, Kemi Olunloyo, the singer’s new driver was alleged to have provided information about her movement known to his co-conspirators.
The reports indicated that the suspects had attempted to kidnap Tiwa Savage but their plans had failed and they had been arrested and handed to the police.
Rapper Medikal has advised the young men parading themselves as lookalikes of some celebrities to desist from doing so.
In a video shared on social media, Medikal said that with the rise of celebrity lookalikes, attention has been shifted to those who impersonate and profit off artistes rather than the musicians who worked hard to create their music.
Medikal said that musicians would be flattered if anyone claims to look like them, however, these lookalikes talking advantage of artiste and their work has gone too far.
The rapper advised the young men to rather find their own source of income.
He explained that as an artiste he encourages others to work hard and earn more money and thus no true fan of his would not only claim to look like him but also sit on social media to beg others to send them money.
“If you claim to look like me and so want to live like me, fine then find money. Because Medikal is always looking for money, I am always preaching about money, telling people to grind, not to give up, to forget everybody and keep going hard, so why are you online asking for MOMO? Because Medikal doesn’t come on live to ask for MOMO.”
This comes after the country witnessed an increase in celebrity lookalikes for artistes, especially Kuami Eugene, KiDi, Medikal, King Promise and others.
Some of the have been seen performing songs by artistes at events.
Many members of the general public have expressed concerns about the phenomenon with some calling for a seizure while others calling for artistes to be cautious.
Chale, somebody should stop these look-alikes o, they sana want investors 😂 Dema joint song not bad mmom.
Meanwhile, Legal practitioner, Godwin Selasi Owusu says individuals impersonating celebrities could spend about 20 years in jail if they do not desist from the act.
Speaking on Joy Prime’s Prime Morning, he explained that impersonation of an individual is a criminal act, according to the law, and if the culprits are taken to court, they could be accused of defrauding by false pretence.
The lawyer also clarified that having a physical resemblance with someone is actually not criminal because individuals do not control their looks.
However, “it’s the activities of these persons and the intention behind these things that could lead to criminal liability or civil liability,” he said on Friday.
A woman behind the catchphrase “Father Bernard” has finally been found, months after her video went viral.
The Ghanaian national who became famous on the internet for shouting “Ei Father Bernard” in a viral video has been seen in her home country. In the video, the woman jumps into a grave and lands on the coffin of a reverend father who had not yet been buried.
Many people found the video amusing, and some Ghanaians described the woman as innocent because she didn’t understand how much attention she had received online.
Recently, a TikToker who knew her personally approached her to ask why she shouted “Ei Father Bernard.” The woman, whose name is not yet known, looked shyly at the camera and seemed to find the question amusing.
The video was originally posted on TikTok by @kalybos_de_debaterjunior and was later shared on popular blogger Sammy Kay Media’s Instagram page on April 13th, 2023.
Actress Millie Bobby Brown has announced she is engaged to Jake Bongiovi, her boyfriend of two-and-a-half years.
Posting a picture of herself with Bongiovi, the 19-year-old Stranger Things star said: “I’ve loved you three summers now, honey, I want ’em all.”
An engagement ring could be seen on her finger, and Brown added a white love heart emoji to the end of her post.
Bongiovi, 20, is an actor and the son of legendary singer Jon Bon Jovi.
Singer Pixie Lott was among the stars commenting on Brown’s post, writing: “Omg!!!! Congratulations you two so happy for you eeeee.”
Bongiovi also shared the news on his own page, simply writing “forever” alongside two photos of the couple.
Brown’s statement referenced the lyrics from Taylor Swift track Lover, taken from her seventh studio album of the same name.
The announcement follows weeks of social media speculation that the couple had become engaged.
The pair were seen together at the Bafta Film Awards in London in March 2022 (Getty Images)The couple posed for photos with stormtroopers at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, last year (Getty Images)Bongiovi attended the premiere of Brown’s film Enola Holmes 2 in September (Getty Images)
Brown introduced Bongiovi to her followers in June 2021 with a photo of him posted to Instagram. The pair later confirmed they were a couple.
In another Instagram post in January, Brown called Bongiovi her “partner for life” and posted a string of pictures of the couple together.
The English actress rose to fame as a child star on the smash hit Netflix series Stranger Things, the forthcoming fifth season of which is set to be the show’s last.
However, a Stranger Things prequel is set to be staged in London’s West End and an animated TV series has also been announced by Netflix.
Bongiovi recently landed his second major acting role in a new coming-of-age film Rockbottom.
Bayern Munich will not “tolerate” the “heavy incident” in which Sadio Mane allegedly punched team-mate Leroy Sane, manager Thomas Tuchel has said.
Reports in Germany claimed Mane hit Sane in the face after Tuesday’s 3-0 Champions League defeat by Manchester City at Etihad Stadium.
Senegal forward Mane has been suspended from Bayern’s squad before Saturday’s Bundesliga match against Hoffenheim.
Tuchel said the league leaders had “cleared the situation”.
“It was a heavy incident – it was very important that it was cleared before the next training session,” he said.
“I’ve known Sadio for many years – he is a top professional. He’s never had a situation like that. He is focused on football, he has my full confidence. Everybody has the right to make a mistake.
“This was too much – he apologised and I believe him. It was important that he stays in training, but he is suspended and he will be fined. I don’t know where the money will go, the club and the player will decide. It is not my highest priority.
“It would be nice if things that happened in the locker room stayed in there. We don’t need situations like that to prove our squad is alive. We don’t tolerate things like that.”
Bild said former Liverpool player Mane, a two-time African footballer of the year, had complained about the way Germany winger Sane spoke to him after the defeat.
Neither player has commented on the alleged altercation.
Bayern host Manchester City in the quarter-final second leg on Wednesday.
BBC Culture film critics Nicholas Barber and Caryn James pick their highlights of the year so far, including John Wick: Chapter 4, Close, EO and Infinity Pool.
Saint Omer
(Credit: Alamy)
This tough-minded, heart-breaking drama about race, class and motherhood was France’s entry to last year’s Oscar race, and I’m still mystified as to why it wasn’t nominated. Alice Diop puts her experience making documentaries to good use, as she bases her story on the real-life case of a young Senegalese woman in France charged with abandoning her baby on a beach to die. Diop invents Rama, a pregnant novelist who goes to the town of Saint Omer to witness the trial, which plays into her own doubts and fears. As Laurence, the mother on trial, Guslagie Malanda is unnaturally calm, almost frozen in resignation. Kayije Kagame as Rama lets you see her mind racing and her heart pounding as she watches, even though her face is impassive. Diop based her dialogue on court transcripts, but the results go far beyond dry facts on the page to create an enthralling film with two profound and vivid women on screen.
Close
(Credit: Kris Dewitte Menuet/Cannes)
Lucas Dhont follows his award-winning debut, Girl, with another delicate yet emotionally shattering coming-of-age drama that is so naturalistic you could mistake it for a fly-on-the-wall documentary. Its heroes are Léo (Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav de Waele), two 13-year-old boys who enjoy an intimate friendship in bucolic Belgium. But when they enrol in a new school, peer pressure stretches their relationship to breaking point. Superhumanly sensitive to the pains of being a teenager, Dhont understands that it doesn’t take overt bullying to make young people feel as if they are under unbearable attack. The boys’ classmates’ casual questions are enough to change them forever.
John Wick: Chapter 4
The latest instalment of the artful action-filled franchise with Keanu Reeves as the assassin we root for has no competition for the year’s best mainstream, commercial film so far. With a multi-million-dollar price on his head, Wick channels his inner James Bond, globe-trotting through Paris, Berlin and Osaka, trying to avoid being killed. This entry is bigger and splashier than the previous Wick entries, and director Chad Stahelski makes it every bit as visually stunning and entertaining, with action full of martial arts, guns and swords. Reeves’ likeable persona helps attach us to a character who long ago lost count of the bodies he has sent on their way. Ian McShane is ever a delight as Wick’s urbane colleague, Winston, and the film gives us one more chance to see Lance Reddick, who died recently, as the concierge, Charon.
Holy Spider
Ali Abbasi’s grisly Holy Spider is based on the true story of a married builder (Mehdi Bajestani) who murdered 16 sex workers in Iran’s holy city of Mashhad in 2000 and 2001. Starring Zar Amir Ebrahimi (winner of the best actress award at Cannes) as the determined journalist investigating the crimes, it seems at first to be an atmospheric companion piece to Silence of the Lambs and other big-screen serial-killer dramas. The provocative twist is that some citizens and politicians see the murderer as a local hero on a moral crusade. Behind the generic thrills, Holy Spider is an examination of society-wide misogyny that seems all the more astute in the wake of the Mahsa Amini protests.
The Worst Ones
Sometimes non-professional actors can seem extremely unnatural on screen, but the opposite is true in this sharp, serious yet light-handed fiction about children and adolescents in a run-down neighbourhood in northern France. The conceit of the meta-drama is that real students are being recruited to play fictional variations of their own stories on screen. That is exactly the process the directors Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, former casting directors, employed in making The Worst Ones, whose ironic title refers to the bad reputation of the kids who are cast. The two children and two adolescents who star here are captivating, with built-in screen presence, as they deal with and laugh at the callous, middle-aged man directing them. Winner of the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes last year, The Worst Ones has an unpretentious ease yet becomes a thoughtful look at the exploitation and voyeurism of filming real lives.
EO
When a Polish circus is shut down, one of its performers, a donkey, is sent to live in an equestrian centre. But he doesn’t stay there for long. Instead, our long-eared hero trots across Europe, through a series of different episodes in different genres, as if he is guest-starring in a variety of other films. What unites his picaresque adventures, which were inspired by Robert Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar, is their anguish at man’s inhumanity to man (and man’s inhumanity to donkey), and their startlingly psychedelic camerawork, editing and music. Jerzy Skolimowski, the director of EO, might be 84, but he has never been more engaged or energetic. We won’t see another film this year that is so extravagantly bizarre, yet so sweet, loving, and mischievous.
Return to Seoul
Davy Chou’s small-scale film is deceptively ordinary in its premise. Freddie, a Korean woman in her mid-20s who was adopted as an infant and raised in France, travels to Seoul and reluctantly looks for her birth parents. But as it goes on, the story leaps ahead two years, then five, and depicts Freddie’s morphing sense of identity in unexpected, thoroughly convincing turns. Is she French or Korean; is her look that of a grunge student or a glam businesswoman; does she want to find her mother or not? Park Ji-Min is vibrant and keeps us off-guard as Freddie, and Chou offers a fresh and bracing style. He sets the story in ordinary spaces – narrow streets, offices, restaurants – with a polished look and intimate feel. The original English title better captures the film’s exciting swirl of identity: All the People I’ll Never Be.
Infinity Pool
The latest entry in the burgeoning “rich people have a bad time on an island” sub-genre, Infinity Pool shimmers with reflections of Triangle of Sadness, Menu and Glass Onion, although it’s murkier and more toxic than any of them. Alexander Skarsgård stars as a struggling author who visits an exclusive beach resort with his wealthy wife. He discovers too late that the country has a policy of immediate execution for certain crimes, and his holiday from hell gets bloodier, and more jaw-droppingly strange, from then on. It’s true that both the character and the film lose their way, but this whirlpool of extreme cinema proves that its co-star, Mia Goth (who is just as impressive in Pearl), is one of the most extraordinary actresses of her generation, and that its writer-director, Brandon Cronenberg, is talented enough in his own right that we should probably stop comparing him to his dad, David Cronenberg.
The Academy Award winner’s daughter, Corinne Foxx, issued a statement on Instagram Wednesday revealing that the actor is recovering after facing a “medical complication” on Tuesday.
‘We wanted to share that my father, Jamie Foxx, experienced a medical complication yesterday,” shared Corinne in a statement written on behalf of the Foxx family.
“Luckily, due to quick action and great care, he is already on his way to recovery. We know how beloved he is and appreciate your prayers,” the statement reads. “The family asks for privacy during this time.”
A representative for Foxx did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The 55-year-old actor was most recently seen on the set of the upcoming Netflix movie Back In Action, which also stars Cameron Diaz.
The highly anticipated film will be the first big-screen project Diaz has starred in since 2014’s Annie remake, which also featured Foxx.
While Netflix has been tight-lipped with details on the plot of Back in Action, an insider told PEOPLE that the Charlie’s Angels actress and Foxx “have great chemistry” on set.
A film source previously revealed to PEOPLE that Foxx was instrumental in getting the actress to make another movie.
“When this project came along and she was pursued by Jamie Foxx, who she has known and worked with for years, she decided to go for it,” said the source.
Prior to the start of filming, the actor celebrated his birthday in December by posting a throwback black-and-white photo of himself as a child and reflecting on his childhood.
“Dis big head boy bday and thanks for all the bday shouts #sagseason if it’s my birthday it’s your birthday,” he captioned the post.
Ghanaian rapper, E.L, has revealed a point in his life things got so bad he had to start working as a food delivery guy in the States just to keep going.
According to him, things have not always been rosy, despite being one of the biggest rappers the country has produced.
The 2016 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) Artiste of the Year, in a recent interview on 3Music TV, that there was a point he had to work as a food delivery guy in the US just to keep himself going.
He added that his experience in the United States taught him the importance of humility.
“Time teaches you so many valuable lessons and it changes you, especially when you go through a few things. I’ve passed through before. There was a point in time in the States I had to start doing food delivery. Yeah, it was that deep. I delivered food door to door just to keep myself going,” he disclosed in the interview.
E.L added: “I’ve actually passed through things and that stuff teaches you things like humility. So anytime I see an artist and they come to me for advice the first thing I tell them is cool down, you know see anything yet,”
E.L also added a word of advice to artists currently reigning to keep themselves grounded and humble.
Convener for the #FixTheCountry Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has expressed worry about the way Ghanaian youth use social media.
Barker-Vormawor, who was reacting to Ghanaian Tweeps, berating TikToker and social media personality, Hajia Bintu, over the kayamata video she shared, said that he is shocked that this will be the focus of the youth in these hard times.
“The things that trend on GH Twitter scare me sometimes. I can’t imagine that in the face of economic ruin; of such public debt which mortgages away our collective future, the (elite) youth of Ghana are so fixated on Hajia Bintu and who is peddling for girl’s charms. Hmmm!
“Our internet footprints do not reveal the full scope of my generation’s industry. It’s not our best foot forward!” the post he shared read.
Why Hajia Bintu is being berated on Twitter:
Hajia Bintu on April 12, 2023 was captured in the viral video promoting ‘Kayamata’ products, a substance mainly used by women to charm men and extort money from their sexual partners.
Testifying the goodness of the so-called powerful product, she explained that any woman who purchases them will automatically be gifted large sums of money by any man she comes in contact with whether through sexual intercourse or just a handshake.
She added that male sponsors or as she puts it ‘Papa No’ who prove stubborn when asked for money will succumb to a woman who uses the said product.
Bintu listed them as: “Fuck & Stay, Attraction To Rich Men, Love & Pay, Love Me Alone, and Do As I Say.”
Social media users including influencers and women have condemned the move by Hajia Bintu who they claim is leading many astray.
She has since apologized, saying that she and her management team were negligent in promoting the particular brand.
Kayamata are potions and herbs believed to have the tendency of nailing a man or woman down after a sexual encounter. Patronizers claim it has saved their relationships and helped them deal with partners who are stingy.
After the use of these products, one’s victim is quick to ‘do as their partner says’.
A throwback photo of Ghana’s favorite media personality, Berla Mundi is causing a stir on social media.
TV3 on Thursday, 13th April, 2023 shares a throwback picture of their employee, Berla Mundi on Instagram.
The adorable Berla Mundi then an employee at EiB Network was dressed in a casual browse with a skirt and beads to match.
In the picture, young Berla looks like someone who just got to the city from the village and blending in just fine.
The picture has since got many people talking. Some even said that’s not the Berla they know rather her lookalike.
A critical look at the throwback Berla Mundi and the now Berla Mundi reinforces the fact that, there’s hope for better days ahead of anyone who keeps pushing.
Berla Mundi became popular after she contested and won the second runner-up during 2010 Miss Malaika Beauty Pageant.
She later joined the EiB Network as a Presenter at GHoneTV and Star FM. She was one of the best entertainment presenters at the network.
With hard work, descipline, dedication, focus and consistently, she built an enviable brand that many can’t help but to admire.
Miss Mundi was poached by TV3 from GHoneTV in 2019. She has since become one of the most celebrated media personalities in Ghana.
The sitting arrangement caused Prince Harry to take his time responding to his coronation invitation.
According to sources who spoke to the Daily Mail, there was ‘transatlantic ping pong’ going on between Buckingham Palace and the Duke of Sussex on the matter.
According to a source who spoke to the publication, Harry’s side was eager to learn what the seating arrangement at the Abbey is, probably because they wanted to rubber-stamp it.
There has been much back and forth on who Harry and Meghan would seat behind if they attended. And who would be behind them.
Another source added: ‘This is true. There has been a lot of questions on detail for the Abbey.’
Harry reportedly had a list of questions for the palace and ‘assurances’ about what would happen if he did attend.
Front row seats at the coronation will be reserved for working members of the royal family, with Harry expected to play no part in the official procession.
But one insider suggested he could be given a more prominent position now wife Meghan Markle has confirmed she is not attending.
Tensions between Prince William and Prince Harry remain heightened (Picture: Getty Images)
Meghan opted to stay at the couple’s California mansion with their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Archie turns four on the day of the King’s coronation – which is likely why Harry is attending alone.
At the Queen’s platinum jubilee, Harry and Meghan were sat on the other side of the nave from Charles, Camilla, William and Kate.
The couple were shown to their seats without fanfare even before reports of the rift between family members grew stronger.
At the Queen’s funeral Harry and Meghan were then seated in a corner at the end of the second row.
There had been hopes the coronation would be a time of reconciliation but members of the royal family are reportedly not prepared to forgive Harry and Meghan yet.
Many are still said to be enraged about Prince Harry’s detailed book Spare which focused on the inside lives of the Firm.
William and Charles have had little dialogue if any with Harry since the Queen’s funeral.
Ahead of the coronation, it has been revealed Meghan received an invitation but Prince Andrew’s ex Sarah Ferguson has reportedly been left off the guest list.
Fergie, while invited to the Queen’s funeral, will only join the royals at a private gathering after its conclusion, despite disgraced Andrew being allowed to attend.
Buckingham Palace and Harry’s representatives have been contacted for comment.
What would you do if your personal space was abused by your partner? Well, this unidentified man found himself in such a predicament when his girlfriend deleted his video gaming characters.
Reports suggest that the man is a video game streamer who does this as one of his key income sources.
However, his girlfriend who was tired of not receiving the same level of attention deleted the NBA2K Overall players he has been building for years, thus, erasing the achievements he had chalked thus far.
In a video, the visibly angered man exerts his frustration on his video game console.
While destroying the equipment, he shouts at his girlfriend; “I’m done with you.”
He subsequently breaks down, weeping.
The video which was shared on Twitter has garnered over 1 million views with lots of reactions.
While some believe the man is overreacting, others side with him for ending the relationship with a lady they described as “crazy”.
A trio of criminals from the Philadelphia Mint stole roughly $200,000 in dimes, and police in Pennsylvania are looking for them.
Around 6 a.m. on Thursday, the Philadelphia Police Department reported a brazen theft of an estimated 2,000,000 ten-cent coins.
Police were summoned to a Walmart parking lot in Northeast Philadelphia when a gang of “10 or more males” were allegedly seen on camera stealing goods from a semi-trailer that was parked there.
‘The 8th district officers arrived on scene and observed a tractor trailer with rear doors unlocked and numerous dimes scattered all over the Walmart parking lot,’ a police spokesperson told Metro.co.uk.
Workers try to clean up thousands of dimes spilled from the truck during the robbery (Picture: CBS Philadelphia)
The truck was reportedly carrying about $750,000 worth of dimes and was bound for Florida. The driver had picked the shipment up from the Philadelphia Mint on Wednesday, but stopped to get some sleep at his home in Northeast Philadelphia before making the shipment.
Police originally estimated the thieves got away with about $100,000 in coins, but updated that sum total to $200,000 on Friday.
Dimes are required to weigh 2.268 grams, according to the US Mint. If police estimates are correct, the thieves had to haul 4.4 metric tons of coinage from the parking lot.
Thousands more dimes were scattered across the parking lot of the Philadelphia Mills shopping center. Footage from the scene showed police officers and other workers cleaning up the mess by hand and depositing the coins into plastic buckets.
Police identified two cars they said were related to the robbery – a white Chrysler 300 with tinted windows and a dark colored pickup truck.
It is unclear if the robbery is connected to any other thefts in the area. ‘There’s been a lot of cargo thefts here and there in Northeast Philly and South Philadelphia over the ensuing months where we’ve had lamb, chicken, TVs, refrigerators, et cetera,’ Captain John Ryan told CBS Philadelphia.
This implies that RCN nurses will organize a 48-hour walkout that will for the first time involve workers in emergency rooms, intensive care units, and cancer care.
From April 30 at 8 p.m. until May 2, at 8 p.m., there will be a 24-hour shutdown.
The government’s 5% wage deal and a one-off cash payment amid the cost-of-living crisis were torn in two by members, with 54% opposing and 46% voting in favour at the ballot today.
Unison said healthcare workers ‘clearly wanted more’ but pay talks could only go so far (Picture: PA)
The turnout among RCN members with NHS Agenda for Change contracts, the service’s grading and pay system, was 61%.
The union will hold another vote six months down the line to decide whether another wave of job action is needed.
In the meantime, RCN leader Pat Cullen has written to health secretary Steve Barclay urging him to return to the negotiating table.
‘What has been offered to date is simply not enough,’ she wrote.
‘The government needs to increase what has already been offered and we will be highly critical of any move to reduce it.’
With the NHS creaking at the seams, Cullen said only ‘significant action’ will address the ‘crisis’ gripping the health service.
‘After a historic vote to strike,’ she added, ‘our members expect a historic pay award.’
Unison, however, confirmed that members voted to accept the deal that includes a 5% pay rise for this year worth at least £1,065.
Unison members, including 999 call handlers, midwives, cleaners and security, will also pocket a bonus one-off cash payment of 2% for last year.
This lump sum could be between £1,655 and £3,789 depending on the pay band.
This is all on top of the £1,400 NHS staff received for 2022/23 last September.
The turnout was 52% among Unison’s 288,000 members up and down England, with 74% backing the deal that settles the months-long dispute.
Unison health head Sara Gorton said: ‘Clearly health workers would have wanted more, but this was the best that could be achieved through negotiation.
‘Over the past few weeks, health workers have weighed up what’s on offer. They’ve opted for the certainty of getting the extra cash in their pockets soon.’
Nurses, ambulance staffers and other NHS workers have braved bitter winter weather to picket for a pay increase and better working conditions.
They say that both will make working at the NHS more attractive and help ease chronic staff shortages exacerbated by a decade of Tory government cuts.
The cost-of-living crisis – which has seen inflation swell to double-digits for months – has only added to NHS workers’ already long list of woes.
Unison members backing the deal will likely bring an end to ambulance strikes taking place in London, as all the capital city’s paramedics belong to the union.
‘Lessons must also be learned. The mistakes of the past few months cannot be repeated,’ added Gorton.
‘It’s time for a whole new approach to setting pay across the NHS.’
A British man has admitted to going to Syria nine years ago to join the so-called Islamic State.
In 2014, Shabazz Suleman, a 19-year-old resident of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, vanished while traveling with his family to Turkey.
The former grammar school student was detained on September 29, 2021, at Heathrow Airport and charged with a number of terrorism-related offenses.
He was due to face trial at the Old Bailey on May 15, but on Friday he pleaded guilty to preparing acts of terrorism by travelling from the UK to Turkey in order to join IS in Syria in August 2014.
Suleman feld across the Syrian border while on a family holiday in Turkey
The defendant, now 27, was also charged with being a member of IS, a proscribed organisation, between 2014 and 2017, and receiving training in the use of firearms.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC said his guilty plea addressed the two other charges which he asked to be left on the court file.
Referring to the defendant’s basis of plea, Judge Mark Lucraft KC agreed and noted Suleman had gone to join IS ‘even if not becoming a member of it’.
He ordered a pre-sentence report on the defendant’s dangerousness and adjourned sentencing to May 26.
Remanding the defendant into custody, Judge Lucraft said: ‘This morning you have pleaded guilty to the preparation of terrorist acts. You will know a custodial sentence is inevitable.’
Suleman, who wore a blue suit, with a white shirt and yellow tie, had entered his guilty plea in the dock of the Old Bailey.
The prosecution had alleged that while attempting to travel to Syria, he had been held by Turkish forces before opting to be part of a prisoner swap with IS.
On joining the terrorist group in Syria, he became active on social media and posted about his experiences in IS territory while engaged with members of the media.
After the collapse of IS, he was taken captive by a faction of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) before being transferred to Turkey and then Pakistan.
In an interview with The Times newspaper, he said he had become disillusioned with jihadism and chose to desert the terrorist group.
Via encrypted messages he told the newspaper he went through ‘intense’ indoctrination by the group, adding: ‘I never thought I was being brainwashed until I saw the way they treat other Sunnis.’
In October 2017, he was also interviewed by Sky News while in the hands of FSA, the court heard.
Suleman arrived back in the UK on September 29 2021 and was arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000.
In a police interview, Suleman denied choosing to join IS while held in Turkey and said he had changed his mind about going but was handed over anyway as part of a deal with IS.
He also denied membership of the terrorist group, saying he never swore allegiance and was just a civilian.
He claimed he had tried to leave IS territory from mid-2015 and did not handle guns.
It can now be reported that Suleman’s defence team had tried unsuccessfully to get his earlier account in his Sky News interview ruled inadmissible.
The defendant claimed he had been forced into doing it by the FSA and told to say he had fought with IS in battles.
There was no accusation that the broadcaster was in any way complicit.
The defendant also claimed FSA had beat him and caused him to fear for his life after witnessing others being waterboarded.
However, Mr Atkinson, for the prosecution, had asserted that there was no evidence of duress or that Suleman had suffered ill treatment while being held by the FSA.
He argued that the defendant had even told the interviewer that he had access to a phone and could speak to his family on a regular basis.
In his ruling that the interview could be considered by a jury at trial, Judge Lucraft stated: ‘In my assessment, the defendant appears at ease throughout the whole of the interview process.
‘When this interview video recording is considered, the whole way it was conducted does not show any oppression or coercion on the part of the interviewer to what takes place.’
The charges against him alleged that in August 2014, he engaged in preparation for acts of terrorism by travelling from the UK to Turkey in order to join the Islamic State in Syria, contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
The second charge of membership of IS related to his time in Syria between August 1 2014 and June 1 2017 with weapons training in the nine months after his arrival in the country.
In the course of the investigation, evidence was uncovered of messaging between the defendant and his friends and family, statements he gave to the media and his social media posts.
The prosecution had asserted that the material revealed his activities and his extreme mindset.
A 47-year-old trader who is accused of collecting GHS 147,000 under the pretext of recruiting 27 persons into the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) but failed, has been remanded by an Adentan Circuit Court.
Naomi Larweh Teiko, charged with defrauding by false pretences, has pleaded not guilty.
Naomi is expected to appear before the court presided over by Mrs Sedinam Awo Balokah on April 21.
The prosecution, led by Inspector Eric Ransford Abban, narrated that the complainant Hajia Habiba Abdulai was a businesswoman residing at Adenta, Accra.
It said Naomi was also a resident of Adenta.
In May 2022, Naomi allegedly approached the complainant claiming she had an Immigration Officer, who wanted to assist in recruiting some people into the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
The prosecution said the complainant developed an interest and collected various sums of money totalling GH¢121,000 from 25 family members.
It said the complainant also paid an additional GH¢26,000 for her two daughters.
The prosecution said the complainant handed over all the monies collected totaling GHS 147,000 to the accused.
It said the accused person, after collecting the money, assured the complainant that the 27 persons would be going for training after they had been medically screened.
The prosecution said the accused person, however, went into hiding thereafter and the matter was reported to the Police.
It said Naomi was picked up and in her investigation caution statement admitted the offence and indicated that she had handed over the money to one Owusu, an Immigration Officer.
The prosecution said Naomi, however, refused to lead the Police to Owusu.
The Methodist Church, Ghana has commissioned a 50-bed capacity hospital at Twifo Ntafrewaso in the Twifo-Atti-Morkwa District of the Central Region to ensure quality healthcare delivery.
The move formed part of the Church’s strategic health agenda to promote access to health within targeted communities and assist the Government in its quest to realise the Universal Health goal.
The facility, operating in phases, begins with the Out-Patients Department (OPD), and after full completion, will become a surgical specialist centre of excellence for the training of all cadres of health professionals across Ghana.
The surgical specialist centre would bridge the gap in the training of health professionals in the country’s healthcare delivery system.
Most Reverend Dr Paul Kwabena Boafo, the Presiding Bishop, said the Church prioritised not only the spiritual needs of the people but their educational, health and general wellbeing for growth and development.
It had, therefore engaged in the establishment of schools, hospitals and provision of water and sanitation facilities, especially in difficult-to-reach communities.
He underscored the Church’s determination to forge stronger partnerships with the Government to bring development to the people.
The Presiding Bishop called stakeholders, particularly those to benefit directly from the hospital, to adapt best management methods to achieve its full purpose.
He charged the health professionals to be decorous and professional in dealing with patients as stipulated in international best practices.
The hospital becomes the fifth to be inaugurated among 26 health facilities commissioned by the Church across the country to support healthcare delivery.
Dr Peter Yeboah, Executive Director of Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG), supervisors of religious health facilities in the country noted that the holistic development of humans included education, health and socio-economic development and was important to support in that regard.
Churches contribution towards development could not be downplayed he indicated and called for equitable distribution of resources to harness efforts to meet the sustainable development goal six .
CHAG was committed to assisting underserved, neglected communities to bridge the health inequities, which existed between rural and urban areas to ensure easy access to health by everyone in the country.
The support was an integral mission of Churches to ensure that the evangelization vision was manifested in health and healing of the people, Dr Yeboah added.
Nana Gyamrah Akoto II, Chief of Twifo Ntafrewaso, expressed gratitude to the Church and management for the support to improving quality healthcare delivery in the area.
He appealed to the health professionals to do its best to provide the quality service to gain trust and boost patronage at facility.
Speaking at the event, Dr. (Mrs.) Charlotte Osafo, the Medical Director of Bank of Ghana, who represented the Governor of Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, commended the leadership of the Methodist church Ghana for their commitment and dedication in ensuring that the healthcare project which was started back in 1997 was finally completed. She indicated that Bank of Ghana decided to partner with the Methodist Hospital in November 2021 when the Bank of Ghana received an appeal from the Methodist Church Ghana to donate its decommissioned hospital and medical equipment to the Methodist Hospital at Twifo Ntaferewaso in the Central Region.
The Bank of Ghana partnered the Church to furbish the Hospital with medical equipment to support effective delivery of service to the people.
Dr. (Mrs.) Charlotte Osafo appealed to the Hospital Managers to establish a good maintenance culture and instil strong work ethics in the staff to ensure the efficient running of the Hospital.
The Methodist Church, Ghana has commissioned a 50-bed capacity hospital at Twifo Ntafrewaso in the Twifo-Atti-Morkwa District of the Central Region to ensure quality healthcare delivery.
The move formed part of the Church’s strategic health agenda to promote access to health within targeted communities and assist the Government in its quest to realise the Universal Health goal.
The facility, operating in phases, begins with the Out-Patients Department (OPD), and after full completion, will become a surgical specialist centre of excellence for the training of all cadres of health professionals across Ghana.
The surgical specialist centre would bridge the gap in the training of health professionals in the country’s healthcare delivery system.
Most Reverend Dr Paul Kwabena Boafo, the Presiding Bishop, said the Church prioritised not only the spiritual needs of the people but their educational, health and general wellbeing for growth and development.
It had, therefore engaged in the establishment of schools, hospitals and provision of water and sanitation facilities, especially in difficult-to-reach communities.
He underscored the Church’s determination to forge stronger partnerships with the Government to bring development to the people.
The Presiding Bishop called stakeholders, particularly those to benefit directly from the hospital, to adapt best management methods to achieve its full purpose.
He charged the health professionals to be decorous and professional in dealing with patients as stipulated in international best practices.
The hospital becomes the fifth to be inaugurated among 26 health facilities commissioned by the Church across the country to support healthcare delivery.
Dr Peter Yeboah, Executive Director of Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG), supervisors of religious health facilities in the country noted that the holistic development of humans included education, health and socio-economic development and was important to support in that regard.
Churches contribution towards development could not be downplayed he indicated and called for equitable distribution of resources to harness efforts to meet the sustainable development goal six .
CHAG was committed to assisting underserved, neglected communities to bridge the health inequities, which existed between rural and urban areas to ensure easy access to health by everyone in the country.
The support was an integral mission of Churches to ensure that the evangelization vision was manifested in health and healing of the people, Dr Yeboah added.
Nana Gyamrah Akoto II, Chief of Twifo Ntafrewaso, expressed gratitude to the Church and management for the support to improving quality healthcare delivery in the area.
He appealed to the health professionals to do its best to provide the quality service to gain trust and boost patronage at facility.
Speaking at the event, Dr. (Mrs.) Charlotte Osafo, the Medical Director of Bank of Ghana, who represented the Governor of Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, commended the leadership of the Methodist church Ghana for their commitment and dedication in ensuring that the healthcare project which was started back in 1997 was finally completed. She indicated that Bank of Ghana decided to partner with the Methodist Hospital in November 2021 when the Bank of Ghana received an appeal from the Methodist Church Ghana to donate its decommissioned hospital and medical equipment to the Methodist Hospital at Twifo Ntaferewaso in the Central Region.
The Bank of Ghana partnered the Church to furbish the Hospital with medical equipment to support effective delivery of service to the people.
Dr. (Mrs.) Charlotte Osafo appealed to the Hospital Managers to establish a good maintenance culture and instil strong work ethics in the staff to ensure the efficient running of the Hospital.
The president of Ukraine and the prime minister of the UK have spoken about boosting the supply of military supplies in light of the ongoing conflict with Russia.
The leaders discussed ways to expedite military assistance to Ukraine, according to a Downing Street official.
The Prime Minister stated that in order for Ukraine to build on its most recent victories on the battlefield, the UK and its allies must continue to put Ukraine in the best possible position.
‘That included increasing interoperability with Nato both in the short and long term, the Prime Minister added.’
The spokesperson added: ‘The leaders agreed to stay in close touch.’
It follows after a leak of classified documents from inside the US intelligence services suggested Ukraine could run out of air-defence missiles within a matter of weeks.
US authorities have since arrested Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, who’s been charged with the unauthorised removal of classified national defence information.
Widely condemned as endangering Ukraine’s position in the conflict, which has lasted for more than a year, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder described the leak as a ‘deliberate criminal act.’
According to the spokesperson for Downing Street: ‘The leaders discussed the latest situation on the battlefield and the Prime Minister paid tribute to the efforts of the Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut.’
The city, located in Eastern Ukraine, has seen some of the fiercest fighting in recent weeks, and represents a key transport and logistics hub for Ukrainian forces.
No 10 as also added that during the call, the Prime Minister had condemned a video circulating online, as yet unverified, of a Ukrainian soldier being beheaded.
The spokesperson said: ‘Discussing the abhorrent beheading of a Ukrainian soldier shown on social media in recent days, the Prime Minister said the video was appalling and those responsible had to be held to account.’
Andy Osei Sarfo, better known as Kweku Flick, a Hiplife performer, has refuted the notion that moving to stay in Accra helps musicians to breakthrough.
“To me, I don’t see it that way because where I was located in Kumasi it was in the hinterlands before I dropped my song money but I was able to blow,” he said sighted by MyNewsGh.com
Kweku Flick claimed in an interview with Amansan Krakye on Property FM in Cape Coast that a lot of artistes in Accra are struggling to enter the music scene.
“Moving to reside in Accra won’t guarantee your breakthrough but it’s business and so when you come here to stay in Accra it’s your choice,” he added on Property Showbiz.
He continued “But it shouldn’t be by force that as a musician you have to reside in Accra because there are musicians in Accra who are also struggling to enter the scene but are unable.
“Not everyone in Accra has been able to make it because there are those struggling to get a breakthrough the same way others in some regions are also pushing,” he ended.
Popular crossdresser, Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, has shared one of his deepest regrets.
He says he regrets falling out with actress Tonto Dikeh.
Bobrisky, in an interview with media personality Toke Makinwa, explained that Tonto stood by him during his pre-fame days.
This comes after in 2021, the friendship between the duo suddenly went sour which led to both unfollowing each other on social media.
It all started after Tonto shared a post on her Instagram account about jealous friends who present themselves as supportive.
Responding, Bobrisky accused Tonto of living a fake life and owing him N5 million.
However, in a recent interview, Bobrisky was asked if he has fallen out with anyone he regrets. He said ‘’I think Tonto.”
When asked if he misses their friendship, the crossdresser said, ‘’I miss her so much. Tonto Dikeh is like my sister. Three months after we fell out, I started missing her because she was always there for me.
”One of the reasons I miss the friendship is because before I became so famous, she was the only person that was there. She does not judge. She does not care. She goes all out.”
He further revealed that their five-year friendship packed up because they were just impatient and hot-tempered people.
Former Central Region Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Bernard Allotey Jacobs, has mounted a strong defence for Abetifi MP, Bryan Acheampong over some comments he recently made.
He says he finds nothing wrong with Mr. Byran Acheampong’s controversial statements that have aroused political sentiments.
The Minister for Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, speechifying before a mammoth NPP supporters, stated emphatically that there is no way the NPP will hand over power to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
“If the NDC dares to use threats, violence and foolishness in the 2024 election, we will let them know we have the men. We will show them that we have the men,” he stated.
He also stressed the “NDC party will collapse…We will show them that we have the men. We have the men!…We will make sure NPP remains in government at all cost”.
After making these statements, Mr. Bryan Acheampong has been bombarded with a barrage of criticisms with particularly the NDC petitioning the IGP to arrest him.
Reacting to the issue during Peace FM’s “Kokrokoo” morning show, Allotey Jacobs exclaimed that he doesn’t “see anything wrong with what Bryan Acheampong said”.
To him, Mr. Bryan Acheampong was possessed by what he called “gbeshie” to pep his party supporters up.
“It could be that he was possessed by ‘gbeshie’ and in one way or other was motivating their footsoldiers because of their large crowd which the other party never expected the NPP, their Unity walk, would have such a crowd,” he stated.
He also described Bryan Acheampong’s comments as a political strategy to debilitate the National Democratic Congress.
Narrating how he used to mobilize NDC footsoldiers to politically attack their opponents, Allotey Jacobs said; “We can group our footsoldiers and brief them as to what to say on a particular station. We tell our serial callers to tow a certain line. I mean it is organizational strategy; communicational strategy. So, Bryan Acheampong also felt that let me motivate my people because sometimes when you see the crowd, something we call in Ga ‘gbeshie’ could arrest you.”
You’ve probably heard that our personalities are greatly influenced by our Zodiac signs.
Your conviction that a person’s birth year tells you a lot about who they are as a person is entirely accurate.
Here we are going to tell you about what your birth month reveals regarding your personality. There might be many people out there who do not believe in these things but at the same time, there’s no harm in reading what we have to say about this. These things are always interesting and can sometimes be true.
Here is what your birth month says about you
1.January
The first month of the year, January, have their people have strong ethics regarding work, they will never hesitate to raise their voices regarding their opinions. They will not hesitate to tell you if they disagree with your opinion. Such people usually turn out to be really good leaders because of their drive to succeed as well as persistence but at the same time, they’re not very good at listening to other people’s opinions.
2. February
Relationships are incredibly important to people born in February and one of your main characteristics is your empathy for others. Finding that special person is a lifelong goal for you and if you do not succeed, you can become depressed and negative. You have a caring heart and will make a great parent.
3. March
March born are often very lucky people. Often in the right place at the right time, you have the potential to make a lot of money but can also lose it quickly. You are prone to addiction and vices. Relationships do not always suit you as you are prone to being unfaithful but when you fall in love it is of the very deep kind.
4.April
Active and dynamic. Decisive and hasty but tends to regret. Attractive and affectionate to oneself. Strong mentality. Loves attention. Diplomatic. Consoling, friendly and solves people’s problems. Brave and fearless. Adventurous. Loving and caring. Suave and generous. Emotional. Aggressive. Hasty. Good memory. Moving Motivates oneself and others. Sickness usually of the head and chest.
5. May
Ruled by your need for self-expression. People born in May are often talented musicians, actors, writers or creatives. You have a great amount of respect for your friends, the authorities, and institutions such as the sanctity of marriage.
6. June
June borns are polite and soft-spoken. They are very talkative yet hesitate to initiate conversations. They are very fussy and temperamental, but still famous with people because of their talent for being funny and humorous. They are very creative and have a lot of ideas. Being very sensitive, they can get easily hurt, and take their own sweet time to conceal their wounds. They are brand conscious and love to dress up.
7. July
You care deeply about your family and will go to great lengths to maintain and protect your relationships with them. You can be cynical and sarcastic and a bit of a loner, which can confuse those who care for you. You are quite eccentric, especially when it comes to the way you dress and your lifestyle habits.
8. August
You are susceptible to developing health-related problems from working too hard. You are too generous and egoistic. You take high pride in oneself and are thirsty for praises. You are easily angered when provoked. You are also jealous. You think on your feet and you have independent thoughts.
9. September
You are destined to play many roles in your lifetime. You are intelligent and spiritual but tend to take adversity very personally. You are susceptible to depression. Avoid listening to your inner critic. A tendency to overanalyze situations can also get you into trouble. You are very confident and comfortable in talking to a group.
10. October
You are naturally very lucky. When you decide on a goal, you almost always meet it. You can be very argumentative when crossed and you are an expert in revenge and deceit. You are always making new friends. You are very opinionated and you do not care what others think.
11. November
November folks are psychic, empathic and a positive human being. Your own sensitivity can lead you to develop stress-related health and psychological problems sometimes. However, when you overcome your weaknesses, you can be a great teacher and an inspiration for others.
12. December
People born in December believe in a stable lifestyle and you are a practical philosopher. Your strong luck makes wealth and love follow you. Sometimes, you may have an ignorant approach towards your responsibilities. Your strong luck can make you overconfident about yourself which can make you take risks sometimes.
Kumawood Actress and Brand Influencer Xandy Kamel said she has cursed Fashion Critic, Charlie Dior for body shaming her.
Charlie Dior is a US based Ghanaian Fashion Enthusiast. Aside styling celebrities, she does periodic fashion assessment of Ghanaian Celebrities.
Charlie during one of these fashion assessments said Xandy Kamel’s outfit made her look like a flower pot. Xandy who was already depressed as a result of issues surrounding her marriage took the criticism seriously.
She replied Charlie Dior on her Instagram page expressing how hurt she was by the comment. Charlie who meant no harm with his comment also made it clear that, the comment was not to body shame her but rather a criticism of her outfit.
One would have thought their social media encounter had settled their feud but as it turns out, Xandy is still peeved.
In a recent interview with Zionfelix, Xandy disclosed that she has cursed Fashion Critic Charlie Dior for body shaming her.
According to Xandy, this year, she has resolved to cursing people who wronged her secretly. I have already cursed 5 people this year she said.
The mother of the six-year-old who shot his teacher was taken into custody on Thursday after reporting herself to the authorities.
Deja Taylor, 25, was charged with criminal child neglect in addition to being accused of endangering a child by leaving a loaded gun unattended.
She was released after paying a $5,000 bond. She will return to court on Friday for a status hearing, according to her counsel.
On January 6, Taylor’s 6-year-old son took her loaded 9mm handgun and placed it in his backpack. He then used the gun to fire a single round at his first grade teacher, Abby Zwerner.
Abby Zwerner (right) speaks in her first interview after the shooting in January (Picture: TODAY)
Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew called the shooting was ‘intentional.’ He also confirmed that the firearm used was purchased by Taylor, who bought it legally in York County, Virginia.
Prosecutors later announced they would not press charges against the child, as he was too young to understand the legal system.
After the shooting, the child’s parents made few statements to the press. They said their son suffered from an ‘acute disability’ which required one parent or an aide to accompany him to classes each day, but nobody was present on the Friday of the shooting.
They also claimed the gun he accessed was ‘secured,’ but gave no indication how he got ahold of it.
‘Our family has always been committed to responsible gun ownership and keeping firearms out of the reach of children. The firearm our son accessed was secured,’ their statement read.
Zwerner later filed a $40million lawsuit against Newport News Public Schools administrators, which revealed additional details about the incident.
The suit claims that the boy, referred to as John Doe, had a ‘history of random violence’ against both students and other teachers, but his parents refused let the school place him in a special education class for students with behavioral issues.
The suit also revealed he was removed from Richneck Elementary School for the second half of his kindergarten year after he ‘strangled and choked’ his teacher.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn said he petitioned a judge to empanel a special grand jury to investigate if any of the school administrators at Richneck should face any criminal charges as well.
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