Mugabe hits out at greed, selfishness.Drive Hot News

 Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who is also chairman of the African Union, arrives at Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge in Arusha on Saturday to open the Third China-Africa conference of young and upcoming leaders.  Escorting him are the Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Mr Stephen Wassira (left), and CCM Secretary-General Abdulrahman Kinana (right).

Arusha. Some leaders of African independence parties are presiding over the looting of national resources at the expense of public service delivery, according to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Mr Mugabe, who is also the African Union chairman, said in Arusha on Saturday that some leaders were preoccupied with amassing wealth instead of striving to resolve development challenges to improve the lives of their people.  He was speaking at the official opening of the 3rd China-Africa conference of young and upcoming leaders at Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge.

Without naming names, President Mugabe said some leaders of parties that have ruled African nations since independence were living in obscene luxury while their people lived in abject poverty, adding that greed and self-centred attitudes cost African countries billions of dollars annually.

Mr Mugabe, who is not known to mince words, said most African countries were struggling with class issues that have led to social tensions and revolt as unemployment among young people rises.

“In some nations, corruption and lack of economic opportunities for the masses amid huge resource exploitation has turned the people against their pre-independence or post-independence leaders.”

The Zimbabwean president showered praise on Tanzania’s founding father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, saying Mwalimu did not die a rich man, but left a rich legacy for his people that continues to shine to this day. Tanzania would forever remain in Zimbabweans’ hearts as a result of Mwalimu’s selfless dedication to their liberation struggle, President Mugabe told 400 delegates from 43 African countries and China.

Mr Mugabe cautioned aspiring leaders on the continent to be wary of what he said were machinations by neo-colonialists to grab Africa’s resources at the expense of the well-being of future generations.

“Neo-colonialism is all about looting resources...our youth must guard the godsend, particularly land,” President Mugabe said amid deafening applause by delegates.

President Jakaya Kikwete, who showed up briefly at the conference, paid glowing tribute to Mr Mugabe, saying he was Africa’s exemplary statesman.

Mr Mugabe said  colonialists were returning to Africa through the back door in the name of investors, non-governmental organisations, and political parties, and urged the new breed of African leaders to be wary of indiscreet forms of slavery.

It was time African governments empowered their youth to exploit resources, he said and  challenged African nations to kick out wayward investors.

President Mugabe said  some Western countries were uncomfortable with the growing cooperation between Africa and China because they view the Asian powerhouse as a threat.  “China has greatly contributed to Africa’s political and socio-economic achievements, and the continent will never hate it,” vowed Mr Mugabe, citing the Tanzania-Zambia railway as one of the milestones resulting from the Africa-China cooperation.

Eating meat increases resistance to antibiotics dramatically.Drive Hot News

Meat

The quote is from a real doctor at UCLA-Harbor Medical Center, who was treating a real patient—a 20-something Spellberg calls “B.” B had leukemia, and she developed an infection that built up resistance to the hospital’s most powerful antibiotics even as she was being pumped full of them. She died the day after Spellberg told her husband the hospital had nothing left to try.

In the book, Spellberg describes the case as happening “several years ago.” The book was published in 2009.

Antibiotic resistance may make cases like B's much more common in the future. One of the biggest culprits is the widespread use of antibiotics in livestock. Industrial farms feed animals low doses of the drugs in order to promote growth and ward off infections within densely packed herds.

From there, natural selection does its job: The bacteria that can overpower the drugs survive and multiply, and they make their way out into the environment through water, urine, and feces. In the U.S., 80 percent of antibiotics are used in animals, though the industry is moving away from the practice.

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences forecasts the geography of antibiotic overuse in the future.

According to the study authors, the next big threat will come from middle-income countries like Brazil, Russia, India, and China, where a burgeoning consumer class is starting to prefer more meat in their diets, and where large-scale farms will try to meet this demand as cheaply as they can.

Antibiotic Consumption in Chicken and Pigs
The study authors estimate that between 2010 and 2030, the global consumption of antibiotics will increase by 67 percent, with about a third of that increase coming from changing livestock practices in fast-developing countries. China, for instance, already leads the world in antibiotic use in livestock.

The increase will largely be driven by chicken and pork, rather than cattle. Chicken and pigs are easier to raise quickly in tight spaces, whereas cattle herds take a while to build up, explained Timothy Robinson, principal scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute and an author of the study.

It’s particularly devastating that developing countries will use the most antibiotics in livestock because they also shoulder a disproportionate disease burden. For example, the authors write, “India has no regulatory provisions for the use of antimicrobials in cattle, chicken, and pigs raised for domestic consumption,” but approximately 95 percent “of adults in India carry bacteria resistant to β-lactam antimicrobials.”

These are also the nations where restrictions on antibiotic use might be hardest to implement.

“In Europe, we have fairly strict legislation on antimicrobial use,” Robinson said. “In the States, things are a bit looser. In India and China and Russia, it's one thing producing the legislation and it's another thing enforcing it.”

All of this made me wonder how much good it does to buy antibiotic-free meat in the U.S., which, unlike the EU, hasn’t outlawed the use of antibiotics in livestock as a growth promoter.

The answer is: It depends. Chicken raised without antibiotics might have a lower chance of harboring resistant pathogens like Campylobacter and Salmonella, says Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy.

Still, choosing antibiotic-free chicken is still a little bit like buying a Prius or recycling: It could help on a wide scale, but only if most people do it. Even if some people are chowing down on Whole Foods poultry, superbugs from chicken farms that do use antibiotics could still make their way to humans through the water supply and other means. According to Laxminarayan, this is how most resistance genes get to humans, rather than through the direct consumption of animals raised on antibiotics.

“Antimicrobial resistance is a tragedy of the commons, but with more direct individual effect than climate change,” said Thomas Van Boeckel, an ecologist at Princeton University and the study's lead author. “By playing your part you do reduce your risk of infection. Although not completely.”


In order to preserve antibiotic effectiveness entirely, he added, “we need to rethink how we raise livestock.

DRC artiste ‘finally home' in Kenya.Drive Hot News

 Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Victor Kasereka Basua alias Victor B arrived in Kenya for the first time in 2011.

He says he feels he is finally home in Kenya, only three years after he left for South Africa, where went to seek greener pastures.

Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Victor Kasereka Basua, alias Victor B, arrived in Kenya for the first time in 2011, with a mission to perform and sell R&B, a genre that wasn’t quite popular in his homeland.

He, however, gave in to his ambitions of recording quality music and videos and moved to South Africa for this.

But things didn’t go as he had hoped, as his efforts to sell his music in this part of the world hit a snag, forcing him to come back to the land that gave him a chance to record his first solo hit.

Victor B talks about his upcoming album, together with his latest hit “My Only Girl”, revealing his disappointments as a foreign artiste in South Africa.

Why exactly did you decide to come back, considering the fact that the music sector in South Africa is more advanced compared with here in Kenya?

There is no doubt that indeed the music sector in South Africa, especially when it comes to recording, is miles ahead not only compared with Kenya but the rest of Africa. But it is also a fact that it is difficult for a foreign artiste to market his work, especially if you are using a foreign language.

For me, things were even more complicated considering the fact that most of my songs are composed in Swahili, a language that is foreign to them. There is also the issue of foreign artistes being ignored to a level that you could have a nice song and even an excellent video, but that won’t guarantee you airplay in some of the local media.

Then does this mean that you are now settled here in Kenya or is this just a bridge to revive your career?

As I said earlier, I am finally home, especially (because) I sing using a language understood here. Also, I can say Kenya is strategically placed in the middle of the countries that I have interest in.

For instance, if I want to go home for a visit, I can easily do that. In case I maybe want to travel to Tanzania for a collaboration, then I won’t have to struggle, and it will take me a few hours if my mission is to record a video in South Africa.

How many songs do you have to your name as of now?

Believe it or not, I have composed over 120 songs, but I have managed to record and release only a handful, among them “Sunshine”, “Take You Away” and “My Only Girl”. For now, I am working on my first album, “My Music”, which consists of 14 songs, with six already recorded but not released yet. I plan to officially launch it between June and July this year through a concert.

Do you plan to work with Kenyan artistes?

Already I have plans to collaborate with a certain Ogopa artiste, whom I can’t reveal at the moment.

Human waste contains gold worth millions - study.Drive Hot News

WASHINGTON

Human faeces contains gold and other precious metals that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, experts say.
Now the trick is how to retrieve them — a potential windfall that could also help save the planet.

"The gold we found was at the level of a minimal mineral deposit," said Kathleen Smith, of the US Geological Survey, after her team discovered metals such as platinum, silver and gold in treated waste.

A recent study by another group of experts in the field found that waste from one million Americans could contain as much as $13 million worth of metals.

Finding a way to extract the metals could help the environment by cutting down on the need for mining and reducing unwanted release of metals into the environment.

"If you can get rid of some of the nuisance metals that currently limit how much of these biosolids we can use on fields and forests, and at the same time recover valuable metals and other elements, that's a win-win," said Smith.

'METALS EVERYWHERE'

"There are metals everywhere — in your hair care products, detergents, even nanoparticles that are put in socks to prevent bad odours."

More than seven million tons of biosolids come out of US wastewater facilities each year: about half is used as fertilizer on fields and in forests and the other half is incinerated or sent to landfills.

Smith and her team are on a mission to find out exactly what is in our waste.

"We have a two-pronged approach. In one part of the study, we are looking at removing some regulated metals from the biosolids that limit their use for land application.

"In the other part of the project, we're interested in collecting valuable metals that could be sold, including some of the more technologically important metals, such as vanadium and copper that are in cell phones, computers and alloys," said Smith.

The findings were presented at the 249th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, taking place in Denver through Thursday.

Singapore mourns founding father Lee Kuan Yew.Drive Hot News

 Flowers, messages and other tributes are piling up outside the hospital where Lee Kuan Yew died.

Singapore has begun seven days of national mourning following the death of its founding father, Lee Kuan Yew.

Mr Lee, who was 91, led Singapore's transformation from a small port city to one of the wealthiest nations in the world.
World leaders have paid tribute to Mr Lee, who served as the city-state's prime minister for 31 years.
US President Barack Obama described him as a "giant of history" whose advice had been sought by other world leaders.
The Chinese foreign ministry called him "a uniquely influential statesman in Asia" and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply saddened" by Mr Lee's death.
The period of national mourning will culminate in a state funeral next Sunday and Mr Lee's body is to lie in state at parliament from Wednesday to Saturday.
A private family wake is taking place on Monday and Tuesday.
News of Mr Lee's death came in a government statement that said he had "passed away peacefully" in the early hours of Monday at Singapore General Hospital. Mr Lee had been in hospital for several weeks with pneumonia and was on life support.
State television broke away from its normal schedules and broadcast rolling tributes.

Only 'loyal' African patrons are allowed in Chinese restaurant after sunset.Drive Hot News

 The Chinese Restaurant, located at the junction of Galana and Lenana roads in Kilimani, Nairobi. It does not allow Africans to enter after 5pm. The management says the “no-African after 5pm” policy was introduced because Africans pose a security threat to its Chinese patrons.


 Africans is over) a guard at a Chinese restaurant in Nairobi’s Kilimani neighbourhood tells Nation reporters when they get there at 7pm.

The restaurant, simply known as the Chinese Restaurant, and located at the junction of Galana and Lenana roads, does not admit Africans after 5pm.

Only taxi drivers or Africans accompanied by Chinese, European or Indian patrons are allowed into the compound.

But Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko and former Cabinet Minister Raphael Tuju, said to be a friend of the owners, are allowed in after sunset.

The management claimed certain “loyal” African patrons are allowed to dine in the evening.

For an African to be considered “loyal” and worthy of admission, they must spend Sh20,000 at the restaurant over a specified period, they said.

But staff, speaking privately, said the restaurant is not a members’ club and with the exception of Mr Sonko and Mr Tuju, the “no Africans” policy is strictly enforced.

LENKU, KIYIAPI BARRED FROM RESTAURANT

Among those who have been barred from the restaurant, according to the staff, are the former Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Co-ordination of National Government Joseph ole Lenku, and former Education Permanent Secretary and presidential candidate Joseph ole Kiyiapi.

Ms Esther Zhao, the relations manager, said the restaurant stands by its strict “no-African after 5pm” policy because Africans pose a security threat to its Chinese patrons.

She said the patrons feel safer and more comfortable if African patrons are locked out.

“We don’t admit Africans that we don’t know because you never know who is Al-Shabaab and who isn’t,” she said.

“It is not like it is written on somebody’s face that they are a thug armed with a gun.”

According to her, the decision to deny access to Africans was reached in 2014 after a gang posing as patrons robbed the establishment and its clients.

“Six armed men — Africans — broke into our restaurant and robbed us of Sh600,000.

“They also robbed our patrons of their possessions at gunpoint. A chef was also injured,” Ms Zhao said in an interview with the Nation.

Some workers who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs denied claims that a select group of Africans are allowed into the restaurant after 5pm.

“It is strictly a no-African policy and we have even had to turn away some prominent Kenyans who were obviously not a security threat,” said one worker.

AL-SHABAAB THREATS

Ms Zhao said that recently, the Chinese embassy in Nairobi issued a warning to all Chinese businesses to be vigilant due to the security threat posed by Al-Shabaab.

“The Chinese people who stay here or come to dine want to feel safe.

“They also have families back in China and they don’t want to be in harm’s way during their stay in Kenya.

“As management, it is our duty to ensure their safety,” said Ms Zhao.

The Ombudsman, Mr Otiende Amollo, said it was both illegal and unconstitutional to discriminate against an individual on the grounds of their race, gender or ethnicity.

“That amounts to racial and ethnic profiling, which is unconstitutional.

“It has in it the inherent assumption that Africans are inevitably pre-disposed to be robbers.

"Whatever measures they choose to take to maintain security must be measures that treat people equally irrespective of race, gender or colour,” Mr Amollo said.

He said there were several ways to reverse the problem.

SUE FOR DISCRIMINATION

A person who was turned away can sue for discrimination or approach the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights to take up the matter on behalf of citizens.

“The last alternative is to complain to us formally. We would not take it up with them directly because they are a private entity but we would take it up with the licensing authorities, which would include the county government,” said Mr Amollo.

He said his commission could put pressure on the county government to revoke the licences of a private company that has been accused of discrimination.

However, according to the restaurant’s management, it is unlikely that African patrons would feel comfortable dining at the restaurant anyway, because they host many Chinese parties after sunset.

At times, the party goers themselves ask the restaurant managers to lock out Africans.

“In the future, we are considering to roll out a membership scheme and give cards to some of our loyal African customers so that they can be admitted after 5pm,” Ms Zhao said.

Hundreds in Chile try to stop Bishop Barros ordination.Drive Hot News

 Protesters surrounded Bishop Barros in the cathedral

Protesters in southern Chile have tried to stop the ordination of a Catholic bishop, accusing him of covering up a priest's sexual abuse of young boys.

Police in the city of Osorno said at least 650 people turned up at the cathedral wearing black in protest against the ordination of Juan Barros.
The protesters say Bishop Barros used his position in the Church to try to deter an investigation into the actions of his mentor, Fernando Karadima.
Bishop Barros denies the allegations.
Last Monday he sent a letter to priests saying: "I never had knowledge of, or could have imagined, the serious abuses that this priest committed against the victims."
Before boarding a plane in Santiago, Bishop Barros, 58, said he had "confidence in the future".
 
More than 1,000 people wrote to Pope Francis to ask him to review the appointment.
"I believe the Catholic Church is not listening to its people," said Christian Democrat congressman Sergio Ojeda.
"That is why we are asking for Bishop Barros to show dignity and resign, putting an end to this tremendous problem," he told La Tercera newspaper.


The top leaders of Chile's Catholic Church and most of the local authorities stayed away, but the ceremony went ahead in the morning in Osorno, some 900km (560 miles) south of the capital, Santiago.
Protesters outside and inside the cathedral attempted to stop the ordination going ahead.
There was a heavy police presence there and three people were arrested.
Supporters of Bishop Barros also attended the ordination and said he was a good man, misunderstood by many.
'Penitence and prayer' Juan Barros was a protege of Father Karadima, who spent decades training young men to enter the priesthood, and regularly celebrated Mass at a well-known church in Santiago.
In February 2011, the Vatican found Father Karadima, then 81, guilty of sexually abusing children.
The Vatican ordered him to a life of "penitence and prayer" in a monastery in Santiago.
Months later, a judge dismissed a criminal case against him, saying the alleged crimes had been committed too many years before.
The BBC's Gideon Long, in Santiago, says that before the allegations surfaced, Father Karadima was one of the most respected and influential priests in Chile

India train derailment: 30 killed, 50 injured.Drive Hot News

A crowd watches as emergency workers help victims of a passenger train derailment in India's Uttar Pradesh state on Friday

New Delhi, India,A passenger train overshot a stop and jumped its tracks in northern India on Friday, killing at least 30 people and injuring more than 50 others, a railway spokesman said.

The train was headed from Dehradun to the Hindu holy city of Varanasi when it overshot an intended stop more than halfway along the route, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) east of Lucknow in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, railway spokesman Neeraj Sharma said.

Two coaches and the locomotive derailed. Emergency workers pulling passengers from the train as a crowd looked on.

The cause of the incident will be investigated, Sharma said.

Rap mogul Suge Knight collapses in court after judge sets $25 million bail.Drive Hot News

After his collapse, lawyer Matthew Fletcher told the court that his client, who is diabetic and has a blood clot, hadn't received any medication since Thursday.
Fletcher claimed Knight was being kept in solitary confinement without proper access to medication.
He also criticised the bail amount calling it "absurd" and "clearly excessive".
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen approved the amount because prosecutors noted that Knight was already on bail over a separate robbery case.
Since his arrest, Knight has suffered various health problems and this is the fourth time he's had to be taken from the courthouse by ambulance.
He'd previously been hospitalised after complaining of chest pains and also said he's now blind in one eye and has about 15 per cent vision in the other.
This latest court appearance was a bail review hearing.
Knight has previous convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and could face 25 years to life in prison if he's convicted at trial

Cuban officials jailed over egg black market scam.Drive Hot News

 Most Cubans buy their food from state-owned shops

A court in Cuba has jailed 18 government officials for between five and 15 years for stealing more than eight million eggs and selling them on the black market.

State newspaper Granma said the men included executives of the state-run egg distribution company.
Prosecutors said the gang had cost the communist-run island more than $350,000 (£230,000) in lost revenue.
The Cuban authorities said one man was acquitted for lack of evidence.
Six other people have been ordered to pay back the money stolen.
Prosecutors said the officials had used false accounting, fake receipts and unauthorised delivery routes to run a black market in eggs.
'Corrupt supervisors' President Raul Castro launched an anti-corruption campaign in 2009.
He declared at the time that corruption was a cancer in the communist-run country.
The "criminal network" succeeded "thanks to unobservant and/or corrupt supervisors, deficient or absent monitoring mechanisms and complicit or tolerant attitudes", said Granma last week, when news of the scam was first published.
The Cuban authorities said the scheme operated between January and October 2012.
Last month Cuba freed the president of a Canadian transport company after more than three years in jail.
Cy Tokmakjian was arrested in 2011 as part of an anti-corruption operation and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on bribery charges.
Cuba is in talks with the United States to restore relations severed more than five decades ago.
Analysts expect that the thaw in relations will transform Cuba's agricultural sector, which will benefit from modern machinery and the proximity with the US

We’re committed to free trade in EA, Kikwete reaffirms.Drive Hot News

 

Arusha. Non-tariff barriers (NTBs) -- which continue to hamper intra-regional trade and flow in East Africa -- may soon become history if political pronouncements are anything to go by.

President Jakaya Kikwete says as chairman of the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Summit, he would ensure “the removal of all barriers to trade” in the region. He reaffirmed this in his address to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) currently holding a session in Bujumbura, Burundi, on Thursday that Tanzania would spearhead implementation of the exercise.

Significant progress has been made to reduce road blocs on the Tanzanian side along the central corridor. Police checks have been reduced to six from 15, he said.

“Our aim is to reduce them to zero except when need arises,” he said.

He told the regional Parliament that the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) had also reduced the checks from three to zero along the central corridor.

He pleaded with Eala to join in the partnership to ensure the removal of all trade barriers “to make EAC the best region to do business.” Until very recently, Tanzania has been blamed for having more NTBs in the region.

The President noted that improved infrastructure would bring down the costs of doing business.

He said poor infrastructure had resulted in the upward and spiral effect of transportation costs resulting in skyrocketing of between 30-40 per cent of the price of goods especially in the landlocked countries.

He thus urged the region to invest better in efficient ports, railways, roads, aviation services, energy and telecommunications.

Eala Speaker Daniel Kidega argued for credible, free and fair elections in Burundi and Tanzania.

On Tuesday, in his address to Eala, President Pierre Nkurunziza said that the country would hold peaceful, free and fair elections.

“I wish to commend the joint initiative of the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) aimed at supporting the consolidation of democracy, reconciliation and tolerance among Burundians and political actors, with a view to achieving transparent and credible 2015 elections,” he said

 

South African Jazz Maestro To Thrill Kampala.Drive Hot News

The celebration is set for 8th May 2015 at Victoria Hall, Kampala Serena Hotel and Hugh Ramopolo Masekela, a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and singer will be the guest performer.
“It will be great for Isaiah Katumwa to celebrate 20 years of music with another international Jazz icon, Hugh Masekela,” a jazz fan said.


Hugh Ramopolo Masekela (born 4 April 1939) is a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, and singer. He is the father of American television host Sal Masekela.
Masekela was born in Kwa-Guqa Township, Witbank, South Africa. He began singing and playing piano as a child.
At age 14, after seeing the film Young Man with a Horn (in which Kirk Douglas plays a character modeled after American jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke), he took up playing the trumpet.
His first trumpet was given to him by Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, the anti-apartheid chaplain at St. Peter’s Secondary School.
Huddleston asked the leader of the then Johannesburg “Native” Municipal Brass Band, Uncle Sauda, to teach Masekela the rudiments of trumpet playing.
Masekela quickly mastered the instrument. Soon, some of his schoolmates also became interested in playing instruments, leading to the formation of the Huddleston Jazz Band, South Africa’s first youth orchestra.
By 1956, after leading other ensembles, Masekela joined Alfred Herbert’s African Jazz Revue.
Since 1954, Masekela has played music that closely reflects his life experience. The agony, conflict, and exploitation South Africa faced during the 1950s and 1960s:
This inspired, influenced him to make music and also spread political change. He was an artist who in his music vividly portrayed the struggles and sorrows, as well as the joys and passions of his country.
His music protested about apartheid, slavery, government; the hardships individuals were living. Masekela reached a large population that also felt oppressed due to the country’s situation.
Following a Manhattan Brothers tour of South Africa in 1958, Masekela wound up in the orchestra of the musical King Kong, written by Todd Matshikiza.
King Kong was South Africa’s first blockbuster theatrical success, touring the country for a sold-out year with Miriam Makeba and the Manhattan Brothers’ Nathan Mdledle in the lead.
The musical later went to London’s West End for two years.
At the end of 1959, Dollar Brand (later known as Abdullah Ibrahim), Kippie Moeketsi, Makhaya Ntshoko, Johnny Gertze and Hugh formed the Jazz Epistles, the first African jazz group to record an LP and perform to record-breaking audiences in Johannesburg and Cape Town through late 1959 to early 1960.
Following the 21 March 1960 Sharpeville Massacre—where 69 peacefully protesting Africans were shot dead in Sharpeville, and the South African government banned gatherings of ten or more people—and the increased brutality of the Apartheid state, Masekela left the country.
He was helped by Trevor Huddleston and international friends such as Yehudi Menuhin and John Dankworth, who got him admitted into London’s Guildhall School of Music.
During that period, Masekela visited the United States, where he was befriended by Harry Belafonte. He attended Manhattan School of Music in New York, where he studied classical trumpet from 1960 to 1964.
In 1964, Makeba and Masekela were married, divorcing two years later.
He had hits in the United States with the pop jazz tunes “Up, Up and Away” (1967) and the number-one smash “Grazing in the Grass” (1968), which sold four million copies.
He also appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and was subsequently featured in the film Monterey Pop by D. A. Pennebaker. In 1974, Masekela and friend Stewart Levine organised the Zaire 74 music festival in Kinshasa set around The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match.
He has played primarily in jazz ensembles, with guest appearances on recordings by The Byrds (“So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” and “Lady Friend”) and Paul Simon (“Further to Fly”).
In 1984, Masekela released the album Techno Bush; from that album, a single entitled “Don’t Go Lose It Baby” peaked at number two for two weeks on the dance charts
In 1987, he had a hit single with “Bring Him Back Home”, which became an anthem for the movement to free Nelson Mandela.
A renewed interest in his African roots led Masekela to collaborate with West and Central African musicians, and finally to reconnect with Southern African players when he set up with the help of Jive Records a mobile studio in Botswana, just over the South African border, from 1980 to 1984.
Here he re-absorbed and re-used mbaqanga strains, a style he has continued to use since his return to South Africa in the early 1990s.
In the 1980s, he toured with Paul Simon in support of Simon’s album Graceland, which featured other South African artists such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Miriam Makeba, Ray Phiri, and other elements of the band Kalahari, which Masekela recorded with in the 1980s
He also collaborated in the musical development for the Broadway play, Sarafina! He previously recorded with the band Kalahari.
In 2003, he was featured in the documentary film Amandla!. In 2004, he released his autobiography, Still Grazing:
The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela, co-authored with journalist D. Michael Cheers, which thoughtfully detailed Masekela’s struggles against apartheid in his homeland, as well as his personal struggles against alcoholism from the late 1970s through to the 1990s.
In this period, he migrated, in his personal recording career, to mbaqanga, jazz/funk, and the blending of South African sounds to an adult contemporary sound, through two albums he recorded with Herb Alpert, and solo recordings, Techno-Bush (recorded in his studio in Botswana), Tomorrow (featuring the anthem “Bring Him Back Home”), Uptownship (a lush-sounding ode to American R&B), Beatin’ Aroun de Bush, Sixty, Time, and Revival.
His song “Soweto Blues”, sung by his former wife, Miriam Makeba, is a blues/jazz piece that mourns the carnage of the Soweto riots in 1976.
He has also provided interpretations of songs composed by Jorge Ben, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Caiphus Semenya, Jonas Gwangwa, Dorothy Masuka and Fela Kuti.
In 2009, Masekela released the album Phola (meaning “to get well, to heal”), his second recording for 4 Quarters Entertainment/Times Square Records.
It includes some songs he wrote in the 1980s but never completed, as well as a reinterpretation of “The Joke of Life (Brinca de Vivre)”, which he recorded in the mid-1980s. Since October 2007, he has been a Board Member of the Woyome Foundation for Africa.
In 2010, Hugh Masekela was featured, with his son Salema, in a series of videos on ESPN. The series, called Umlando – Through My Father’s Eyes, was aired in 10 parts during ESPN’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
The series focused on Hugh and Sal’s travels through South Africa. Hugh brought his son to the places he grew up. It was Sal’s first trip to his father’s homeland.
On 3 December 2013, Masekela guested with the Dave Matthews Band in Johannesburg, South Africa. He joined Rashawn Ross on trumpet for “Proudest Monkey” and “Grazing in the Grass”.

KQ cuts flights to Dar over Kenya-Tanzania diplomatic row.Drive Hot News

Kenya Airways has reduced the number of flights to Dar es Salaam after Tanzania imposed frequency restrictions over a diplomatic row between the two countries.

The national carrier, which on Tuesday retired 10 of its senior pilots in an attempt to cut down losses, said in a statement that it was reducing its weekly flights to Tanzania from 42 to 14 effective immediately.

“Kenya Airways wishes to notify its customers that it has reduced its frequencies to Dar es Salaam from 42 to 14 per week and will now only fly twice daily from March 19th March 2015.

“This is as a result of a communication from the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) reducing flight frequencies of Kenyan carriers into Tanzania,” it said.

The airline’s announcement comes as officials from the Kenyan government reached out to their Tanzanian counterparts with a view to resolving the impasse.

The airline is facing increased pressure from gulf airlines on its African routes. Last year, it was also forced to stop flying to a number of West African routes following the outbreak of Ebola in that region.

Lady Jay Dee denies pregnancy claims.Drive Hot News

 Lady Jay Dee's photo that sparked off pregnancy rumours.

 

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Lady Jay Dee denies pregnancy claims

0
0
0
0
0

Lady Jay Dee's photo that sparked off pregnancy rumours. PHOTO| COURTESY 

 

 

Lady Jay Dee has taken to Facebook to slam rumours that she is expecting a baby.

The gossip had been sparked off by a photograph she posted on Instagram showing a small bump on her tummy. She explained that her stomach looked that way because she had eaten a hearty meal.

She later pulled the picture from Instagram and took to Facebook to categorically tell her fans to get a life.

“I had to take down that post so I could explain afresh. Don’t you people understand Kiswahili? I said my stomach was bulging because it was full, not (because) of anything else but food that I had earlier eaten. Where are all these rumours coming from? Or would you like me to write in Chinese? Were you told I would give birth to a president that would save you from all your problems?”

(“Imebidi nifute post Ili nielezee upya. Hivi watu hamuelewi kiswahili au ni nini??? Nimesema tumbo limevimba sababu ya sahani,nikimaanisha mlo na nili post nakula hapo awali Sasa hayo maneno mengine yanatokea wapi? Au niwe naandika kichina? Kwani mliambiwa nitazaa Rais atakayewatoa katika shida zote mpaka mnishikilie mimba mimba..Hebu niacheni basi khaaa Nisiishi Kisa mimba? Aisee mnaboa sana. Basi niueni Kisa sijazaa Ili niwaondolee kero”.)

The rebuttal comes a few weeks after she was forced to deny that she is unable to bear children because she sold her womb to dark forces in exchange for success and fame in her musical career, which spans over a decade.

India bans broadcasting of film showing gang-rapist.Drive Hot News

 Leslee Udwin, director of the documentary 'India's Daughter', gestures during a press conference in New Delhi on March 3, 2015. One of the men convicted of the gang-rape and murder of an Indian student that shocked the world has said he blames the victim for "roaming around at night". The comments are made in a documentary that was banned from screening on International Women's Day.

India has banned the broadcasting of a controversial documentary in which one of the men who gang-raped and murdered a student is shown blaming the victim -- a move the film's maker called "arbitrary censorship".

Home Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament on Wednesday the comments of Mukesh Singh, one of five men convicted over the 2012 attack in New Delhi, were "highly derogatory and an affront to the dignity of women".

"The government condemns it," he said of the documentary made by award-winning British film-maker Leslee Udwin, who won rare access to New Delhi's Tihar jail to interview the prisoner on death row.

"It will not allow any organisation to leverage such an incident and use it for commercial purpose," he said.

Singh's comments in the Rajya Sabha, India's upper house, came after a New Delhi court late Tuesday issued an order banning media from showing the film, "India's Daughter".
Spokesman Rajan Bhagat said the New Delhi police had petitioned the court for a ban on the grounds that the film's "objectionable content" could cause public disorder.

The December 2012 gang-rape of a young physiotherapy student as she travelled home from a visit to the cinema triggered violent protests in India.

The woman died from her injuries 13 days after the savage attack, which highlighted the frightening level of violence against women in the world's second most populous country.

It led to a major reform of India's rape laws, speeding up trials and increasing penalties, although many campaigners say little has changed for most ordinary victims.

India's NDTV network was due to have shown the documentary to mark International Women's Day on Sunday, when it will also be broadcast in six other countries including Britain.
'Arbitrary censorship'

Udwin said she was heart-broken by the ban on the documentary, in which Mukesh Singh said the 23-year-old victim should not have been "roam(ing) around at 9 o'clock at night" and that "a girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy".

"I am sure, positive, that NDTV will fight this arbitrary censorship all the way, because it is an organisation that stands up for values, for public welfare and for the greater good," she told AFP.

"India is a country that values its rights and one of the most important of them is the freedom of speech, expression and that needs to be upheld."

Udwin said earlier she had permission from both prison authorities and the home ministry to film inside the vast Tihar jail in Delhi for her documentary.
But Home Minister Singh said she had violated the terms of the agreement, and summoned the head of the jail to explain why permission had been granted.

The ban sparked a lively debate on social media and in parliament, where independent MP Anu Agha said India was failing to confront the problem of violence against women.

"Banning this movie is not the answer," she said.

Nairobi to host regional base of Dubai engineers.Drive Hot News

 Kenya Power engineers fix a transformer following power outage. FILE PHOTO

Engineering Consortium Consulting Engineers (ECCE), a Dubai-based engineering Consultancy group, has established a project management and consultancy office in Nairobi to offer design and supervision services for the growing real estate and other construction sectors in Kenya and its neighbouring countries.

ECCE specialises in providing complete in-house design and supervision of architectural, structural, infrastructure and other related works for all types of buildings, including highrise residential and commercial towers, hotel apartment complexes, hospitals and clinics, malls and shopping centres, universities, schools and other educational institutions.

The firm has a wealth of experience in the real estate and construction industry, the bulk of which has been in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and also in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Resident project managers, architects and engineers will be supported by ECCE’s senior architects and engineers, who will be visiting Kenya regularly to ensure all design works are carried out in strict compliance with all relevant international standards.

The group will, however, require that the local engineers visit ECCE’s head office in Dubai for training and experience.

Floods leave 38 dead in Tanzania.Drive Hot News

 Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete at a past event. President Kikwete, in a statement from his office, expressed "shock and extreme grief" over the floods. FILE PHOTO.

DAR ES SALAAM

At least 38 people have died while 82 others were injured in heavy rains and floods in Tanzania's northwest, officials said Wednesday.

Torrential rains, hail and high winds hit Kahama district in the Shinyanga region late on Tuesday, a statement from the office of President Jakaya Kikwete said, expressing his "shock and extreme grief".

Officials said an estimated 3,500 people in the region, a poor farming area south of Lake Victoria and near the Serengeti game reserve, had been affected by the flooding.

Mo Ibrahim prize: Namibia President Pohamba gets $5m award-Drive Hot News

 Hifikepunye Pohamba was a founding member of Namibia's Swapo liberation movement

The outgoing Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba has won the world's most valuable individual award, the Mo Ibrahim prize for African leadership.

The $5m (£3.2m) award is given each year to an elected leader who governed well, raised living standards and then left office.
But the previous award was the fourth in five years to have gone unclaimed.
Mr Pohamba, a former rebel who fought for his country's independence, has served two terms as Namibian president.
He was first elected in 2004, and again in 2009. He is due to be succeeded by President-elect, Hage Geingob.