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Showing posts from October, 2012

For Kids in Africa, A New Way To Learn

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In the remote village of Adeiso, Ghana, when a bright child such as 14-year-old Emefa asks for something new to read, the answer is usually, “Maybe, in a few years, if the shipment arrives, there will be something.” This is typical of sub-Saharan Africa, where lack of access to books is one of the biggest limiting factors for a child’s future. But because of new technology, this may be changing. That’s the hope of Worldreader, a non-profit organization devoted to using Kindles to bring books—and the life-changing, power-creating ideas within them—to all in the developing world. “We are working in a part of the world where there are no books,” says Susan Moody of Worldreader. “With Kindles, you go from empty libraries and children unable to get their hands on reading material, to suddenly being able to carry a library around with them in their hand.” Why Kindles? Susan explains: “The Kindle is a device that was made for you and me to use on the bus and at night in our beds, but i

African Leaders Urged To Invest in Jobs, Infrastructure and Protecting Development Gains

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Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank . 31 Oct 2012 08:00 Africa/Lagos African leaders urged to invest in jobs, infrastructure and protecting development gains The title for this year's African Economic Conference will be “Inclusive and Sustainable Development in an Age of Economic Uncertainty” KIGALI, October 31, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Opening an unprecedented gathering of experts here, present and former African Heads of State urged business, community and political leaders to help turn the continent's impressive growth into economic opportunities for ordinary citizens. Logo AEC: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/aec-logo.jpg Photo Donald Kaberuka: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/photos/donald-kaberuka---afdb-president.jpg Rwandan President Paul Kagame, inaugurating the country's first African Economic Conference (http://www.africaneconomicconference.org), said, “In Rw

Red Carpet Fashion Highlights at the Record Breaking Skyfall Premiere

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Bond girls Naomie Harris and Berenice Marlohe steal the show at Skyfall royal world premiere red carpet. Kathi Urban reports. James Bond epic Skyfall starring Daniel Craig as 007 for a third time is the TALK OF THE TOWN as it broke the previous records of any James Bond movie in the UK Box Office weekend with £20.1 million ($32.2 million) which is the biggest opening weekend for any of the 23 Bond films and second only to Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 in UK Box Office history, which took £23m in its first weekend in Britain. Skyfall has made over $78.6 million so far from 6,354 locations in 25 markets overseas. Daniel Craig and Berenice Marlohe arriving for the Royal World Premeire of Skyfall at the Royal Albert Hall, London. TALK OF THE TOWN is the first in West Africa to bring you the exclusive highlights on the red carpet with Daniel Craig and Berenice Marlohe arriving for the Royal World Premeire of Skyfall at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Enjoy! Tweet

Will Obama Administration Complete Their Attack On The Family Farm If Re-Elected?

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Will Obama Administration Complete Their Attack On The Family Farm If Re-Elected? (Remember "After my election I have more flexibility"?) Asks Rowdy House Music "You Reap What You Sow" Means Grocery Prices Will Be Going Up STATELINE, Nev., Oct. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Most Americans weren't looking when Obama's Labor Secretary Hilda Solis first began her attack on family farms. Unfortunately, the battle continues and the price of groceries may go up as a result. And groups like Rowdy House Music are writing about it in songs that are playing nationwide. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121029/LA01815) Sen. Jerry Moran pleaded, "If the federal government can regulate the kind of relationship between parents and their children on their own family's farm, there is almost nothing off-limit when it comes to government intrusion." Moran added, "The proposed regulations would change the way family farms work, preventing farm

Nigerian Youths Are Too Lazy To Read And Degenerating Intellectually

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Nigerian youths. When Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, a former Director General of The Bureau of Public Enterprises and also the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja said Nigerian youths are too lazy to read and reflect, many of them attacked him. But heaven knows that he is only saying the truth. Majority of Nigerian youths are indeed too lazy to read and prefer to waste hours of quality time on chatting and gossiping on their smart phones and on social network sites costing them millions of naira daily and making the ISPs and GSM telecom operators richer by billions. But they hardly spend money on buying books to read, except the compulsory text books and handouts they have to study to pass their compulsory examinations for the qualifications they need to secure their preferred occupations and professions just to earn subsistence income and pay some bills. Such basic lifestyle has not done much for their intellectual development and in fact contributes little to the GDP

On Racism in America

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Photo Credit: Jamaicans . Well, white folks still treat black folks better than Arabs . Arabs don't like blacks at all and they have massacred many black Sudanese in Darfur. America is still better than Europe, Asia, Middle East, Australia and North Africa. Will white Britons elect a Black Prime Minister or let any of the royal Princesses wed a black man? White Americans have accepted more Blacks than other races. All White Americans cannot love Blacks till the end of the world. As all Muslims cannot love all Christians till Judgement Day. We cannot please everybody. We all bleed red blood and our brains and hearts have the same color. Racism is caused by ignorance and insecurity. The most enlightened people are not racists and will never be racists. But intellectually immature and insecure people will remain narrow-minded. We blacks have done more collateral damages to ourselves than our White colonial rulers. The Nigerian civil war claimed over a million lives,

Only A Huge Scandal Can Stop Obama's Re-Election

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"In a match race between two horses over a course of one-and-a-quarter miles, a lot of things can go suddenly wrong. The election is more of a marathon, a four-year race. Short of a huge scandal, I can't see an outcome other than Obama's reelection." ~ Paulick . Tweet

Ugonna Obuzor's Twitter Updates Show Uncanny Premonition Of Aluu Mob Killings

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Ugonna Obuzor. In Perplexed ... Perplexed': On Mob Justice in Nigeria , there are uncanny updates on Ugonna Obuzor's Twitter account showing that he had a premonition of the horrible fate he and his three friends Tekena Erikena,Biringa Lordson and Mike Toku met with on October 5, 2012, in Omuokiri village of Aluu community in Rivers State according to the international award winning Nigerian writer Teju Cole, author of Open City , which won the 2012 PEN/Hemingway Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Ugonna Obuzor, Tekena Erikena,Biringa Lordson and Mike Toku stripped naked before their gruesome death in the hands of the inhuman mob. The arrested suspects accused of leading the mob that lynched Ugonna Obuzor and his friends. I took a look at eighteen-year-old Ugonna Obuzor's Twitter account (@tipsy_tipsy), which he last updated on October 3, two days before he was lynched alongside his three friends. His timeline isn't wordy, but

Nigerian Couple Sees UFO and Human ET in Niger Delta

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UFOs A Nigerian couple claims to have seen unidentified flying objects (UFO) and Extra-Terrestrial (E.T) last night in their neighborhood in the Niger Delta according the eye-witness account of the husband posted on Nairaland , the popular online forum. EasyG: Okay this probably sounds over the top and I was never one to give much credence to UFO sightings, how much more ever imagine I would ever lay eyes on one physically especially in Nigeria since most recorded sightings have been in the western world but last night I observed UFO activity for about 2 hours. I was awakened around 0100 hours by an extremely loud noise and at first i thought it was the outdoor unit of my air conditioner so I powered it off but the noise wouldn't go away. It was real loud and rather disconcerting because it was a humming sound. My wife sprang up and was scared stiff, thinking judgement day had arrived because the sound was coming from above outside. I decided to take a peep outside and lo a

Women Are Better At English than Men

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24 Oct 2012 09:00 Africa/Lagos World's Largest English Proficiency Index Reveals Scandinavians on Top and Libya the Worst of 54 Countries - It's official: women are better at English than men. HONG KONG, Oct. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- EF Education First's English Proficiency Index reveals wide gaps in English skills across the world. Women are better at English than men. This is one of many findings officially reported today in the EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI), the world's most in-depth ranking of English ability. The Swedes are the best English speakers of all based on a survey of 1.7 million adults in 54 countries and territories in five continents. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121024/HK90314-INFO ) "English is key to innovation and competitiveness," says Michael Lu, Senior Vice President of EF Education First. "The EF ranking should be a wake-up call to countries falling behind their neighbors - because today's

Top 10 World's Best Universities Rankings 2012

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( United States ) University of Cambridge ( United Kingdom ) Harvard University ( United States ) UCL (University College London) ( United Kingdom ) University of Oxford ( United Kingdom ) Imperial College London ( United Kingdom ) Yale University ( United States ) University of Chicago ( United States ) Princeton University ( United States ) California Institute of Technology ( United States ) * For the full list of rankings, visit www.usnews.com/worldsbest    Google's Nexus 10 could break the 300 PPI barrier   Tweet

Africa Missing in Last American Presidential Debate on Foreign Policy

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Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames. Watch More News Videos at ABC | 2012 Presidential Election | Entertainment & Celebrity News From the last presidential debate of Monday night October 22, 2012, at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, I can see that both Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the incumbent President Barack Obama of the ruling Democratic Party don't have any defined foreign policy on Africa where as insiders know is now the new headquarters of the al-Qaeda with strongholds in Somalia, Nigeria, Libya, Mali and Eritrea under the leadership of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian surgeon who replaced Osama bin Laden as al-Qaeda’s leader in May 2011. As I noted in another topic on the HuffPost that killing Osama bin Laden has not weakened the al-Qaeda as shown by the gory murder of the American Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens who before his unfortunate death warned the State Department to extend counter-terror unit&#

Steven Spielberg Speaks on His "Lincoln" Opening on Nov. 16

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Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, which had a high-profile sneak screening Monday evening at the 50th New York Film Festival, was greeted by sustained applause and an immediate burst of enthusiastic tweets. Based on my own evaluation of the film and its prospects, I expect it will be a sure shot for Academy Award nominations for best picture, best director and best actor for two-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis, playing America’s 16th president during the final months of his presidency as he fights for the passage of the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery . ~ Scott Feinberg in the Hollywood Reporter . Lincoln is a 2012 biographical war drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as United States President Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln.[3] The film is based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography of Lincoln, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln , and covers the final four months of Lincoln's life. Filming began Monda

Sixth Africities Summit: Dakar, December 4 - 8, 2012

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22 Oct 2012 12:19 Africa/Lagos CORRECTION: Sixth Africities Summit: Dakar, the Rallying Venue of the Africa of the People The sixth Africities Summit will be held in Dakar, Senegal from 4th to 8th December, 2012 DAKAR, October 22, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa), the city of Dakar and the Association of Mayors of Senegal (AMS) are organising the sixth Africities Summit (http://www.africites.org) in Dakar, Senegal from 4th to 8th December, 2012. Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/africites-1.jpg Regarded as the most important platform for dialogue and exchange on decentralisation and local governance in Africa, over the course of its successive summits, the Africities Summit has become the meeting point for stakeholders and decision-makers of local life in Africa. Nearly 5000 participants from Africa, China, Turkey, Brazil and other regions of the world are expected to att

Drogba, Eto'o and Pienaar Join ALMA Heads of State United Against Malaria in New 2013 Orange Africa Cup of Nations Health Campaign

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Drogba. Eto'o. Pienaar. 22 Oct 2012 08:01 Africa/Lagos Drogba, Eto'o and Pienaar Join ALMA Heads of State, CAF and Players Across Africa to Unite Against Malaria in New 2013 Orange Africa Cup of Nations Health Campaign Campaign Will Deliver Prevention and Treatment Messages Across the Continent DURBAN, October 22, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Ahead of the official draw for the 2013 Orange Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), African football stars and heads of state have joined United Against Malaria (UAM) (http://www.unitedagainstmalaria.org), pledging to distribute life-saving malaria prevention and treatment messages throughout the tournament. Football icons including Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o and Steven Pienaar, along with African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) heads of state including President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso, President Alassane Ouattara of Cote d

Call for Entries for the Africa Movie Academy Awards 2013

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The Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) 2013 Call for entries for the Africa movie academy awards to be held 14th April 2013 in Africa, the Nominations will be announced the first week of March 2013. The Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) is calling for feature length films (not more than 2hrs long), short and documentary entries for its 2013 edition, to be held on 14th April in Africa, home to Africa where the world¹s third largest film industry. The deadline for submissions is 30 December 2012 and the theme for the 2013 edition is ŒAfrica-One-Africa without borders the integration cinematically¹. ŒThere is this great awareness of the possibilities in Africa. This has been an exciting year for African cinema as many big budget productions have been on going on the continent and distribution becoming more accessible to African films¹ says founder and Academy CEO Peace Anyiam-Osigwe. However only films produced, premiered and or released between December 2011 and November 2012 are