House of Reps condemn calls for interim govt, ask security agencies to be vigilant

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April 5, 2023

Afrobeats singer David Adeleke popularly known as Davido has achieved another milestone in his career as his just released album ‘Timeless’ has broken the record for all-time biggest first and second-day streams on Audiomack.

Audiomack Africa in a tweet on Monday revealed that the 17-track album which was released on March 31 completes a clean sweep of non-visual streams in the platforms history.

“RECORD-BREAKING: @davido’s #Timeless had over 12 MILLION streams in its first 24 hours, more than any other album on Audiomack, ever!”

The album according to TurnTable Charts sets a new record for the all-time biggest opening day streams for any African album in Apple Music history.

‘Timeless’ also leads the biggest first-day streams by albums on Spotify Nigeria since 2022. It tallied 4.91M to lead Burna Boy’s Love, Damini–1.36M, Wizkid’s More Love, Less Ego–1.21M, Asake’s Mr Money With The Vibe –992k, Fireboy’s Playboy– 524k, Rema’s Rave & –Roses 396k, and Omah Lay’s –Boy Alone 335k.

Biggest first day streams by albums on Spotify Nigeria since 2022;

— @davido Timeless 4.91M
— @burnaboy Love, Damini 1.36M
— @wizkidayo MLLE 1.21M
— @asakemusik MMWTV 992k
— @fireboydml Playboy 524k
— @heisrema Rave & Roses 396k
— @Omah_Lay Boy Alone 335k

Credit: channelstv.com

I bought my Benz from Snapchat ads, influencer deals -Hajia Bintu

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April 5, 2023

Hajia Bintu has finally cleared the air on the source of funds she used in purchasing her Mercedes Benz. Socialite and influencer, Haija Bintu, revealed that she purchased her Mercedes Benz with money from her hard work and sweat from TikTok and brand deals.

Hajia Bintu pointed to her work as a brand influencer in Ghana and Nigeria as the source of her wealth. She disclosed that she bought her car worth over $100,000 from being an influencer for brands.

Haija Bintu shot to fame in 2021 after videos of her curvaceous backside went viral and stunned netizens.

In an interview with Delores Frimpong-Manso on The Delay Show on TV3, the popular Tiktoker said she had saved enough to purchase the almost $150,000 vehicle.

She confirmed she she swapped her Jaguar to buy her Benz.

“I saved a lot from my influencer deals and instant ads on Snapchat,” she revealed.

The Tiktok star who currently lives in a $ 700-per-month apartment complex explained how she made money from instant ads.

“If I post Instant ads on snap and make 500 cedis, imagine posting 5 or 10 a day, multiplied by a week and a total it in the month and this just one category of ads,” she said

She also maintained that the car was hers and will not be captured by a second owner in the future.

Credit: pulse.com.gh

Funny Face opens up about battle with depression

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April 5, 2023

Ghanaian comedian, Funny Face, has opened up about his battle with depression which even ended him at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital for weeks.

The comedian has refuted rumours that his obsession with his ex-wife’s big buttocks contributed to his condition.

Funny Face who recently made headlines for threatening to harm his baby mama and others on social media, said that his love for his children and the fear of losing them is what took him down the path of depression.

In an interview on Hitz FM, Funny Face explained that he was deeply emotional and had a strong bond with his daughters.

He said that he would cry when they cried, and it was this emotional attachment that caused him to spiral into depression.

“The buttocks didn’t take me through depression. The love of my children took me into depression. Do you understand?” Funny Face clarified.

The comedian went on to describe how much he loved other people’s children, including his fans’ kids, and how this only added to the emotional toll he was experiencing.

“Naturally, I am emotional. You know I love other people’s kids deeply; how much more my own?” he added.

KOD attacks Ambolley over VGMA comments

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April 5, 2023

Gyedu-Blay Ambolley and Kofi Okyere Darko (KOD)

Kofi Okyere Darko popularly known as KOD is has expressed displeasure over comments made by music legend, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley who accused organisers of the Vodafone Music Awards scheme of causing a decline of the highlife genre.

Speaking on how highlife music is fading out, Ambolley blamed the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs) for the predicament.

According to Ambolley, awarding all the prestigious awards to artistes who dabbled in different genres had sidelined highlife and questioned the criteria for selecting highlife nominees.

“It is unfortunate that people think when you sing in Twi or Fante over a Dancehall or Reggae beats it automatically makes it Highlife music. That is not true but it has become the norm over the years because these are the kinds of music VGMA rewards,” he pointed out.

Reacting to Ambolley’s claims on Facebook, media personality, KOD described his statements as “nonsense.”

KOD disagreed with Ambulley’s assertion and rather applauded the scheme for projecting Ghana consistently.

“Which awards scheme has projected our music industry like VGMA since independence?” KOD quizzed, adding that; “How many have projected our musicians beyond GH. How many have consistently done more than 10 years?”

KOD said the issue was rather the fault of radio stations who had refused to play highlife music and admonished Ambolley to rather blame them.

“When was the last time he released an album? He should be blaming some of the radio stations who don’t even play our music.

When was the last time or how often do you hear highlife on radio? VGMA cause am?” he pointed out. He said Ambolley should rather lay the blame on radio stations.

New capital’s lavish mosque angers Egyptians facing poverty

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April 5, 2023

Egypt's new Grand Mosque covers more than 19,000 sq m and is capable of hosting 107,000 worshippers

Egypt has opened a record-breaking mosque in its new administrative capital city – but has been widely criticised for the costs involved.

The government has been building a new city in the desert, to try to move people away from heavily-congested Cairo.

But the unveiling of the new centre and mosque was criticised on social media.

It comes at a time when Egypt has been fighting soaring prices, with inflation running at just over 30% in March.

The New Administrative Capital of Egypt has been purpose-built 45km (28 miles) east of Cairo.

Its new Islamic Cultural Centre also includes the Grand Mosque, which covers more than 19,000 sq m and is capable of hosting 107,000 worshippers.

The mosque cost 800 million Egyptian pounds ($25.9m; £20.7m) to build and is the second-biggest mosque in the Africa.

State media celebrated the mosque for breaking three world records – including the highest pulpit in the world, standing at 16.6m (54.5ft) and handcrafted from the finest types of wood.

The second and third were for the main chandelier of the mosque, which is the heaviest in the world at 24,300kg (53,572lb), and the largest, with a diameter of 22m (72.2ft) and comprising four levels.

The opening event was attended by President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, with state media describing it as showing Egypt’s “grandiosity”.

But on social media there was severe criticism.

Source: bbc.com

Khalid al-Jabouri: US says IS Europe attack planner killed in Syria strike

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April 5, 2023

White Helmets first responders said a man was killed in a drone strike in opposition-held Idlib province on Monday

The US military says a senior leader of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) who was responsible for planning attacks in Europe has been killed in a strike in Syria.

Khalid Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri died in an undisclosed location on Monday, according to US Central Command.

No civilians were said to have been killed or injured in the attack.

First responders said a man was killed in a drone strike on Monday in opposition-held north-western Syria.

The White Helmets organisation tweeted that an unidentified drone fired a missile at the man on the outskirts of the town of Kili, in Idlib province.

“Our teams responded and took the injured person to Bab Al-Hawa Hospital, where he died,” it added.

Pro-opposition Step News cited local sources as identifying the man as Khalid Abdullah al-Khulaif and saying that he was likely to have been a senior jihadist from the eastern province of Deir al-Zour.

Enab Baladi, another pro-opposition outlet, reported that the man had arrived in the area 10 days earlier and that he had been speaking on a mobile phone when he was targeted with a Hellfire missile.

IS has not commented on the US announcement nor have its online supporters discussed it. Khalid al-Jabouri had not been publicly identified in the group’s propaganda.

Central Command said Jabouri’s death would temporarily disrupt the ability of IS to plot external attacks. It did not mention any attacks or thwarted attacks that he was alleged to have planned.

“[IS] continues to represent a threat to the region and beyond,” its commander, Gen Michael Kurilla, said. “Though degraded, the group remains able to conduct operations within the region with a desire to strike beyond the Middle East.”

Source: bbc.com

TikTok hit with nearly $16 million UK fine

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April 5, 2023

The UK data regulator has fined TikTok £12.7 million ($15.9 million) for a number of breaches of data protection law, including misusing children’s personal data.

The Information Commissioner’s Office estimates that, in 2020, TikTok allowed more than 1 million UK children under 13 to use its platform in violation of its own rules.

The ICO said Tuesday that TikTok had not done enough to check who was using its platform, failed to take action to remove underage children and hadn’t provided proper information to users about how their data was being collected and used. The fine applies to rule breaches between May 2018 and July 2020.

John Edwards, the UK Information Commissioner, said: “There are laws in place to make sure your children are as safe in the digital world as they are in the physical world. TikTok did not abide by those laws.”

He added: “TikTok should have known better. TikTok should have done better.”

A spokesperson for TikTok told CNN that the company “invest[s] heavily to help keep under 13s off the platform” and that it disagreed with the ICO’s decision.

“Our 40,000-strong safety team works around the clock to help keep the platform safe for our community,” the spokesperson said.

The fine comes as a string of Western countries turn their back on the Chinese-owned video streaming platform.

Australia will ban the use of TikTok on government devices “as soon as practicable,” the country’s attorney-general announced earlier on Tuesday, citing security concerns.

Source: cnn.com

India rejects China’s attempt to rename places in disputed areas

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April 5, 2023

Indian soldiers walk along the line of control at the India-China border in Bumla in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh

India has rejected Chinese attempts to rename places in what New Delhi regards as its eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.

China and India fought a war along parts of their poorly demarcated 3,800km (2,360-mile) frontier in 1962 and clashes in mountainous regions in recent years have seriously strained relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

The latest angry exchange of words was triggered on Sunday when China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a statement in which it said it had “standardised” the names of 11 places, including five mountains, in what China calls its southern Tibet region.

The statement included a map that showed the 11 places renamed by China as being within “Zangnan”, or southern Tibet in Chinese, with Arunachal Pradesh included in southern Tibet and China’s border with India demarcated as just north of the Brahmaputra river.

India’s foreign ministry rejected the move.

“We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has made such an attempt,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Twitter. “Arunachal Pradesh is, has been and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India.”

But a spokesperson at the Chinese foreign ministry said the name changes were “completely within the scope of China’s sovereignty”.

Source: aljazeera.com

Nato’s border with Russia doubles as Finland joins

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April 5, 2023