Barack Obama’s 2012 State of Union Address

President Obama delivers the 2012 State of the Union Address to Congress and the nation

Saving Sarah

An interesting dream girl, Sarah, foresees the future and her parents sees her as an absolute horror.

Starring: Ufoma Ojenabor, Jim Iyke, Desmond Elliot

Full name. Age. Nationality. Residence

Edem Kwame. 19. Ghanaian. Baltimore, Maryland

D’banj makes U.S. debut at Live Nation hosted concert – February 19, 2012

Recently signed to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music label, Nigerian artist D’banj will perform for the first time in New York City on February 19, 2012. Presented by LiveNation at Irving Plaza, the “D’banj LIVE in NYC” concert will also feature several of Nigeria’s top music artists as well as special guests.

With a 2011 BET Music Award for Best International Artist and over 150,000 twitter followers D’banj is one of Africa’s biggest music acts and has played a major role in re-defining Nigeria’s local music scene. LiveNation’s “D’banj LIVE in NYC” concert will introduce New York to the new sounds of Nigeria and Africa. Other performers include D’banj’s Nigerian label mates Dr. Sid, D’Prince, K-Switch and Wande Coal, all signed to Mo’Hits Records.

The concert will take place on Sunday, February 19 at 8pm at Irving Plaza located at 17 Irving Plaza on the corner of 15th Street. Tickets are $39.50 and are on sale online here

As part of her quest to move from an agricultural-based economy to a knowledge-based economy, Rwanda has welcome Carnegie Mellon University to establish an annex in the country to boost the development of Information Communication Technology (ICT).

The university which will operate in Kigali will offer a Master of Science programme. It will focus on research incubators, training for executives and a mobile research center plans to expand to electrical and computer engineering in the next few years.
Carnegie Mellon is the first U.S research-based institution in Africa to offer an in-country presence. It established the annex with the belief that Africa can become an information based economy.

The university will be fully funded by the Rwanda government while the Dean of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon, Pradeep Khosla, stated that ‘the university name, reputation, pedagogy and faculty- is their contribution.

[Read Full Article Here]

Flavour – Nigeria Ebezina (Subsidy)

Here is the video for “Ebezina”; Flavour’s plea for the heartless removal of fuel subsidy by the Nigerian government to be reversed.

World’s Languages Traced Back to Single African Mother Tongue

New Zealand researchers have traced every human language — from English to Mandarin — back to an ancestral language spoken in Africa 50,000 to 70,000 years ago.

Scientists say they have traced the world’s 6,000 modern languages — from English to Mandarin — back to a single “mother tongue,” an ancestral language spoken in Africa 50,000 to 70,000 years ago.

New research, published in the journal Science, suggests this single ancient language resulted in human civilization — a Diaspora — as well as advances in art and hunting tool technology, and laid the groundwork for all the world’s cultures.

The research, by Quentin Atkinson from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, also found that speech evolved far earlier than previously thought. And the findings implied, though did not prove, that modern language originated only once, an issue of controversy among linguists, according to the New York Times.

NYC: ‘Come Back, Africa’ (1959) Screening At Film Forum

Come Back, Africa (1959) is the eye-opening film shot secretly in the streets of Sophiatown, South Africa. The film is not only legendary for its brave portrait of black township life under the racist apartheid regime, but it also put Miriam Makeba, AKA Mama Africa on the map. To honor the African National Congress‘ centennial year, Come Back will screen from Jan 27 – Feb 2 at Film Forum in New York City. Watch the trailer above and purchase tickets here.

Reanimating Sierra Leone's cultural heritage

Dr Paul Basu (UCL Anthropology) has been working with institutions across Britain and Sierra Leone to gather objects and stories of Sierra Leone's cultural heritage in both a website (http://www.sierraleoneheritage.org) and a new exhibition at UCL.

The West African country, still recovering from a Civil War that ended in 2002, has a rich cultural heritage of textiles, masks and more but with little resources to preserve them. Providing an opportunity to re-evaluate Sierra Leone's cultural heritage, this project brings together rarely seen objects from widespread collections to the digital space.

Q-Tip Gets Swabbed & Discovers His African Roots

A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip tests his DNA to trace back his African ancestral roots.

Video by Native Resonance

Festival of Slaps

Fatoumata Diawara

Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara was born in the Ivory Coast in 1982 then raised in Mali. As a child she became a member of her father’s dance troupe. She was an energetic and headstrong girl and at the age of twelve her refusal to go to school finally prompted her parents to send her to live and be disciplined by an aunt in Bamako.

Manucho’s strike earned Angola victory over Burkina Faso in their Group B opener at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Maletsunyane Falls

Maletsunyane Falls, Lesotho

The highest single-drop waterfall in Southern Africa (196m).

Substitute

Tigray Mountainside

Orthodox priest at Debre Tsion church.

Gherelta Mountain, Tigray, Ethiopia

South African Woman Accused of Cutting Baby from Womb

A South African woman appeared in court yesterday accused of leaving a pregnant woman for dead after slicing her open and stealing the unborn child from her womb.

Police are investigating the horrific events surrounding the discovery of Valencia Behrens' blood-soaked body Randfontein, near Johannesburg

Loretta Cooke (29) from Randfontein in west Johannesburg was remanded in custody at Randfontein Magistrate Court after state prosecutors were granted an adjournment to allow them investigate the case further.

The grisly murder was perpetrated last week, but the police initially thought 34-year-old Valencia Behrens had bled to death after giving birth. In addition, they could not locate the deceased’s newborn baby at the crime scene.

However, police spokeswoman Appel Ernest said a postmortem carried out on Ms. Behrens revealed the horrific nature of the crime, and local medical clinic staff led them to the baby and Ms. Cooke, who had brought the child in for a check-up.

“The stomach of a 34-year-old woman was cut open with a sharp object and her baby taken out. The suspect was later arrested when she showed up at a clinic with a newborn baby with a cut on its head,” police spokeswoman Appel Ernst told reporters.

Ms. Ernest went on to say that the baby had been retrieved and was doing well in hospital, but the mother had not survived the attack.

It has been reported that neighbours of Ms. Cooke said she pretended to be pregnant for months before attacking the expectant mother, and she even threw herself a baby shower a week before she cut the child from the deceased’s womb.

Ms. Cooke is expected to make a bail application on February 7th.

_________

Source: IrishTimes

Country of the Day

Togo

(Togolese Republic)

Togo is located in West Africa.

Cooking With DMV Africans :::: Fried Rice and Fried Chicken

Fried Rice and Fried Chicken

Serving Size: About 10-12 servings

Love My Way

A young man, Tekena falls in love with Keyla who refuses to love him back. All of a sudden, after an accident, Keyla starts to love him back...is something going on? Find out.

Starring: Jim Iyke, Genevieve Nnaji, Tonto Dikeh, Nneka Atako, Kalu Ikeagwu

First South African Class Graduates from Oprah Academy

The school launched by American television star and business leader Oprah Winfrey in South Africa has graduated its first class.

Television icon and business leader Oprah Winfrey celebrated the first graduating class of The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa Saturday
(January 14th 2011)

Jump On The Train

Grenade Attack Suspects in Rwanda Sentenced to Life

Ten of 30 Grenade attack suspects have been sentence to life yesterday for their role in connection to series of Grenade attacks in Rwanda.

Kigali based High Court presided over by Judge Pie Mugabo ruled that seven of the suspects also be imprisoned for 20 years, while one of them ordered to be detained for 15 years.

Others sentences included two of them getting ten years of prison while 8 of the suspects acquitted.

They were all accused of destabilizing country’s security. Security is one of the Rwanda’s sensitive areas that government don’t want comprised.

The Court established that they were guilty of different grenade attacks that claimed lives and injured several others and conniving with DR Congo based terrorist group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) terrorist group.

However the presiding Judge announced that whoever was not satisfied, had legal rights to appeal the court decision within the time frame of 30 days provided by law.

Story by Magnifique Migisha, a Journalist from Rwanda, East Africa.

Angolan Puppeteer

Pink. Prim. Proper.

Naija Boyz::: Put A Ring On It

Oleku. Tell Me Something I Can Do For You

The Africa They Never Show You

He Had A Dream

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualists concerns to the broader concerns of ALL humanity." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Togo

Officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located.

The Afar People

The Afar people live primarily in Ethiopia and the areas of Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia-can in the Horn of Africa. Their land is mainly rocky and desert terrain. The Afar people also live in the Awash Valley and the forests located in northern Djibouti. There are approximately 3 million people that make up the Afar culture.