ABBA to release new song

-
0

ABBA are set to release their first new song in 18 years.

The legendary Swedish group – made up of Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad –  will unleash a previously unreleased track on the upcoming deluxe edition of their final 1981 album ‘The Visitors’.

‘From a Twinkling Star to a Passing Angel’ – a previously unheard demo – is described as a “demo medley” on the band’s website, and will mark the first previously unreleased ABBA music since 1994.

ABBA’s popularity has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, buoyed by stage and big screen versions of the musical ‘Mamma Mia!’, which is based on the group’s songs.

The band formed in Stockholm in 1972 and have sold over 200 million records worldwide, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

Though they never officially broke up, ABBA last performed together as a group in 1982, and members have stated that they don’t intend to officially reunite.

The album will be released in April.

Source  MusicRooms

Eazzy aka Mildred Ashong: I want a tall man

News Ghana
-
0

Eazzy

Despite being linked to Black Stars player, Dede Ayew and Richie of Lynx Entertainment among others since she hit the limelight in 2009, hiplife artiste, Eazzy says she has been single for the past two and a half years and is not in a rush to enter into any relationship.

She told Graphic Showbiz last Monday that although she is currently single, she is not searching and is too busy to date at the moment .

“My career is my biggest priority right now. The time to grab has not come yet but I hope to settle down when the right man comes my way. I am enjoying my single life for now”.

The sultry singer, however, says she has a number of men constantly knocking at her doors but she is taking her time to study them before making a selection.

“I am tall and love to wear high heels most of the time, I wouldn’t want to tower over my man. Since love is strange, I may fall for a short man but preferably I will want a tall man for a husband.

“Also, I love to laugh and be happy all the time, so I will not entertain a boring guy in my life. I will prefer a guy who has a good sense of humour, can make me happy and someone who will always be there for me”, she added.

According to Eazzy ,real name Mildred Ashong, she doesn’t have any particular profession in mind with regard to the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with.

“I don’t really mind the kind of work he does provided it is legitimate. Once he has the qualities I want in a man, I will settle down with him. That doesn’t mean he should be poor. At least, he should be financially sound so that together we can take care of our children.”

Eazzy’s latest single, Go Go Wind was released about a month ago and will be included on her second album due out later this year.

Apart from her hit songs Wengeze, Bo Wo Nsem Mame and One Gal, Eazzy has done collaborations with a variety of artistes including Gyedu Blay-Ambolley, EL, Richie and Sonni Balli.

Source Graphic Showbiz Ghana

Kwabena Kwabena: I will record a song for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

News Ghana
-
0

Kwabena Kwabena

We are once again in an election year and as the various political parties continue to plan strategies, popular singer, Kwabena Kwabena says he would not hesitate to record a song for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo if that would fit into the party’s overall campaign plan.

According to him, he remained convinced that Nana Addo was the best presidential candidate to move the country’s development agenda forward and he wholeheartedly supported him, just like he did four years ago.

Kwabena Kwabena was among the Ghanaian artistes that openly supported various parties during the 2008 general elections and recorded a song titled Number One for Nana Addo. Other artistes who also recorded material for politicians included Daddy Lumba, Lucky Mensah and A-Plus.

“There’s no doubt that I still support Nana Addo,” the well-liked singer said in an interview with Showbiz last Saturday. “As a patriotic citizen, I feel if there is an individual out there that has the ability to steer this nation in a direction I identify with and I can use my voice to propel that cause, it almost becomes a duty for me to come out and do that. I want the best for my nation.”

The Aso hit-maker indicated that as the political season heats up, he did not mind combining efforts with other Ghanaians who thought like him politically, to galvanize support for Nana Addo’s campaign this year.

“He is a good statesman, has done a lot for this nation and has a deep passion to tackle problems affecting the youth. Those are some of the reasons why I wish him to become the next president of Ghana,” he said.

Asked whether he did not think his open declaration would affect his music career in any way, Kwabena Kwabena said so long as he maintained his belief in God and continued to do good music, he had no problem recording a song again for Nana Addo.

Source Graphic Showbiz Ghana

Niall Quinn retains Asamoah Gyan hopes

News Ghana
-
0

Former Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn has not ruled out Asamoah Gyan’s playing for the club again, when his loan at Al Ain ends in the summer.

Asamoah Gyan, who is currently with the Black Stars of Ghana on Africa Cup of Nations duty, was a surprise departure from the Stadium of Light in September 2011, joining United Arab Emirates side Al Ain in an enormous one-year loan deal worth £6 million, where he was to receive up to four times his previous salary.

Sunderland’s woeful record in front of goal in the English Premiership this season hastened the departure of Steve Bruce, with incoming boss Martin O’Neill in December last year considering recalling the Ghana international.

Quinn, who emphasised the financial benefits of the deal for both Sunderland and the player when the loan move was agreed, insists that Gyan’s return could very well be on the cards in an interview with Citi FM.

“We also know how good Asamoah Gyan is. And we [Sunderland] haven’t given up [seeing Gyan playing for Sunderland again]. As as an individual and the role I have at the club, I haven’t given up hope at seeing him at the football club but maybe things are going on so well for him out there that he doesn’t not want to come back. We don’t know.

“We took the opinion that maybe Asa needs to get this in and out of his system that to go off and play where he’s played. We respect the club he’s gone to. We have very good dialogue with that club and we know that come April time there will be a decision to be made,” Quinn added.

Gyan, in an interview with Goal.com last month, said,”Will I come back to Sunderland at the end of this season? For now I don’t want to talk about my situation because I am currently on loan and I am doing well. So let’s see where my future lies after my loan deal.”

And Quinn understands that after all discussions, the final decision rests with Gyan, “Basically I think the ball’s in Asa’s court but you know, there was a little bit of friction when he first left but the reality is, he’s a top-class player.

“Personally I get on so, so well with him. He’s a very affable person as you know and we think there may be more to offer to Sunderland and we hope that he sees it that way but you know again we worried about him a few months.”

Source Kickoff Ghana

Police Hunt For Men Who Robbed And Allegedly Raped A Student At Hostel

News Ghana
-
0

Police have mounted a search for six armed robbers who attacked the female hostel of the Asante Mampong Midwifery and Health Assistants Training School in the early hours of Thursday and not only made away with cash and other valuables but also allegedly raped one of the students.

The robbers took away about 35 mobile phones, 20 laptop computers, and unspecified amount of money away.

Police could however not confirm the allegation that a student was raped insisting that would have to be determined by doctors

Four of the students who were brutally assaulted by the robbers were on admission at the Mampong hospital.

The Mampong Divisional Police Commander, Chief Supt. S.K. Ntim, told Graphic that his outfit was doing everything possible to arrest the suspects.

According to a source at the school, the robbers who were masked struck at about 1am Thursday.

On entering the hostel, they asked the students to bring out all their cash, mobile phones and laptop computers.

Some of the students who resisted were beaten.

The source said it was in the course of the attack that a female student was raped in the full glare of colleagues.

Conforming the attack, Chief Supt. Ntim said police had visited the crime scene and that there was evidence of carelessness on the part of the students.

According to him, even though the hostel had a burglarproof door, it was not shut at the time of the robbers’ attacked.

Chief Supt. Ntim further indicated that the students called in the police at the time the robbers had completed their action and left

He said the police patrol team was operating in town and that if they had been called earlier, the robbers could have been arrested.

He promised authorities and students of the school of adequate security, asking them to have no fears.

Source Graphic Ghana

Sekou Nkrumah: Mills is not father of all but the father of some

News Ghana
-
0

Sekou Nkrumah

Ghana President, John Mills’ decision to travel with two children of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to a ceremony in Ethiopia on the sidelines of the AU Summit to honour the first President of the Republic has not gone down well with the third son of Nkrumah, who was left out.

Loud-mouth Sekou Nkrumah would be left behind as the President heads to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the Heads of State and Governments of the African Union meeting with his two siblings.

A statement released and signed by the Communications Director at the Presidency, Koku Anyidoho, said “President Mills will also be the guest of honour at the unveiling of a statue of Ghana’s first president, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, at the forecourt of the newly constructed AU building. ”

The statement further stated that “President Atta Mills has invited Dr. Francis Nkrumah, and Madam Samia Nkrumah, Chairperson of the CPP, to join in the unveiling of the statue in honour of their father, for the leading role he played in the African liberation struggle as well as the Pan Africanist Movement. ”

It seems the rift between the presidency and the former Head of the National Youth Authority Dr. Sekou Nkrumah, who has over the period been an ardent critic of President Mills is getting wider.

He recently declared his support for the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party Nana Akufo-Addo.

In an interview with Citi News, Sekou said, “I’m not aware of it at all… If you as a president, even during your campaign, one of your campaign messages to Ghanaians is that you’d be the father of all and then all of a sudden when it is something to do with Nkrumah, you decide to sideline some of his children, then of course it rather exposes how hypocritical our President is. “

He added: “He is not after all the father of all but the father of some. ”

There has been no official pronouncement on why Sekou was left out.

Source Citifmonline Ghana

Vitus Azeem: EOCO must drop Alfred Woyome probe

News Ghana
-
0

The Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Vitus Azeem, is asking President John Evans Atta Mills to call off the Economic and Organised Crimes Office’s investigation into the Alfred Woyome judgment debt saga.

The Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice has also begun probing the same matter.

Speaking to Citi News, Mr. Azeem said the EOCO’s withdrawal will avoid a possible duplication of efforts.

“There is likely to be some complications if the two [EOCO and CHRAJ] do not coordinate with regards to the investigations,” he said.

He added that “the best approach to avoid possible clashes and duplication of efforts is for the President to say that now that CHRAJ has started investigations why you [EOCO] don’t drop it? ”

Source Citifmonline Ghana

Recommendations to conduct elections in a more democratic and fair manner

News Ghana
-
0

[?????] Some very clear suggestions were submitted yesterday to the Chief Election Commission of Uttar Pradesh state to conduct forthcoming Vidhan Sabha elections in February 2012 in a more democratic and fair manner. Dr Sandeep Pandey, Magsaysay Awardee and Vice President, Socialist Party and member, National Presidium, Lok Rajniti Manch, has submitted a list of five strategic recommendations to increase accountability and transparency in the electoral process.
We are reproducing the letter Dr Sandeep Pandey wrote to Mr Umesh Sinha, Chief Election Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh below:

Subject: Some suggestions for conducting elections in a more democratic and fair manner  

In continuance with our discussion earlier today in your office I would like to submit to you the following suggestions: 

(1) Kindly make the ‘shadow register’ as well as the expenses reported by the candidate public on a regular basis – so that people and voters can monitor if your 750 microobservers and other officials are documenting all expenses and report if any is missing, subject to due verification of course. This will increase transparency in the election process and also up the accountability of candidates and monitor how honestly they are reporting their own electoral expenses. 

(2) The common expenses incurred by a Party, for example in hiring helicopters and chartered airplanes, should be divided equally among all candidates or at least among candidates of that party for whom this serivce is used. Otherwise, it’ll not be a level playing field for candidates belonging to smaller parties and independent candidates. 

(3) The expenses incurred in covering the statues of Ms. Mayawati and those of elephants should be borne by BSP. Even though these were built at government expense but because of the very fact that they are required to be covered as they are associated with a particular party, this party should bear the expenses. More so, as they were built only during the term of last government. The public is being burdedned twice, first for the construction of these statues and then to cover them. 

(4) There should be ban on established parties to use their symbol for campaigning before the symbols are alloted to independent candidates. Essentially, all candidates should get the same period for campaigning with their symbols in order to ensure fairness of the contest. 

(5) An officer of the Election Commission must sit outside the Secretariat building, where a ‘pass’ is required for entry, so that she is accessible to any ordinary voter or representatives of smaller parties and independent candidates who may not always succeed in convincing the staff of Commission to issue them a ‘pass.’ 

Regards,

Lok Rajniti Manch and Socialist PartyA-893, Indira Nagar, Lucknow-226016: Phone: 0522 2347365, 9415022772 (Arundhati Dhuru)

View the original article here

SRI LANKA: Officers of the Thalathuoya Police Station beat and filed a fabricated charge against a soldier who rescued his friend from their assault

William Nicholas Gomes
-
0

Dear Mr. N K Illangakoon,

SRI LANKA: Officers of the Thalathuoya Police Station beat and filed a fabricated charge against a soldier who rescued his friend from their assault

Name of the victim: Mr. Mr. L. M. Jagath Kuamara
Alleged perpetrators:
Police officers attached to the Thalathuoya Police Station
Date of incident: 23 December 2010
Place of incident: in the Private Bus at Thalathuoya

I am writing to express my serious concern over the case of Mr. L.M Jagath Kuamara (22).
Kumara is a soldier attached to the Vavuniya Army Camp. On 23 December 2010, while on vacation he went to have his hair cut at Thalathuoya town. When he was returning home with a friend by the name of Ruwan Chamara (24) from Thalathuoya in a private bus suddenly the conductor approached Chamara and tried to forced them forward so that the bus could take on more passengers. However, Chamara refused as the bus was already full. There then followed an exchange of words between them. Without cause the conductor started to assault Chamara and Kumara intervened to protect Chamara. The conductor then started to assault Kumara as well.

A few police constables in civilian clothes were travelling in the bus and these officers also started to assault Kumara and kicked him on the chest. Later these men officers identified themselves as officers attached to the Thalathuoya Police Station. Kumara and Chamara alighted from the bus when it stopped close to their houses and returned home. Three days after this incident Jagath Kumara went back to the Vavuniya Army Camp and reported for duty.

After almost two months later on 6 February 2011, some police officers attached to the Thalathuoya Police Station came to Kumara’s house in search of him, and since there was nobody at his house, the police officers left a message with his mother, W Kalyani, asking for Kumara’s details. His mother was asked to report the details to Constable of Police (PC) Mettananda of the Thalathuoya Police Station on the 10 of February 2011.

His mother W Kalyani went to the police along with some friends on 7, 8 and 9 February and asked as to why they were searching for her son but received no information.

On the 10 February a team of police officers came to Kumara’s house and entered by force searching for Kumara, however, only Kumara’s father, mother and the wives of his brothers were at home. The police officers scolded them in filthy language and demanded details of their husbands, Kumara’s brothers who were also serving in the Army. They also demanded their marriage certificates. Then two police officers by the name of Gunatilake, a sergeant and Kalpage threatened Kumara’s parents that they would be killed if Kumara was not produced. Since then the police officers came at night on several occasions and knocked at the door repeatedly almost damaging it.

On the 12 February Kumara’s mother Kalyani went to the Thalatuoya Police Station along with a lawyer but the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) refused to meet them. When the lawyer questioned Sargent Gunatilaka, he said that if details of Kumara were not given he would “Break the bones of the whole family and would kill them,” and this was said in front of the Lawyer, Ananda Hearath. When the lawyer asked to make a complaint he was refused and the police officer, Kalpage, said they would provide the case number later.

Once again they went to the police on the 13 February to meet the OIC and Kalyani was asked to return at 1.00pm. She decided to stay at the police station until that time. Meanwhile Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mohottige arrived at the police station and Kalyani went to him and told him of the harassment that she and her family had faced. Then the ASP questioned another police officer, Ranasinghe and the OIC regarding the incidents. Ranasinghe without giving any reason for the search told the ASP that the whole family would be killed if they did not cooperate and provide Kumara’s details.

Incredibly, despite the fact that this officer told his superior that he would willfully commit a criminal act the ASP did not take any action to reprimand him or make any record of his threat.

When Kalyani went to meet the Lawyer on the 14, the lawyer asked Kalyani to make a complaint at the Human Rights Commission (HRC), which they did. Later in the day the police officers gave the lawyer details about the case no B/15303 in which they stated that they have filed a case against Kumara. Further they stated that the case is supposed to be called on 21 February 2011.

On the 21 Kalyani and her family members went to the Magistrate’s Court of Kandy and waited for the case to be called. However, there was no case with that number and the court officers asked them to return on the 1 March 2011. Once again they went again on the 1 March but no case was called of that number or any case against Kumara.

On 24 March, a police officer sent a note asking Kalyani to meet Sgt Rodrigo and when Kalyani met him on the 26 March 2011, he recorded a statement from her. Despite the fact that she was never allowed to read the statement of have it read to her she was forced to sign it which she did out of fear.

On the complaint made by Kalyani, the HRC regional office in Kandy notified both parties on several occasions but the police officers never turned up. Further the police officers have found the details of the Army camp where Kumara is on duty and have informed the Army officers that Jagath Kumara molested a girl in the bus and they have witnesses to prove the assault. Kumara vehemently denies the charge. Kumara states that police officers have filed this case in vengeance for opposing the officers in the bus when they assaulting his friend Chamara.

The mother of Kumara, Kalyani fears that Jagath Kumara would be arrested at anytime and she and the family members would be killed as the Thalathuoya Police officers are repeatedly threatening them.

I request your urgent intervention to ensure that the authorities listed below instigate an immediate investigation into the allegations of torture and filing fabricated chargers by the police perpetrators, and the prosecution of those proven to be responsible under the criminal law of the country. The officers involved must also be subjected to internal investigations for the breach of the department orders as issued by the police department.

Yours sincerely,

William Nicholas Gomes
William’s Desk

www.williamgomes.org

Azonto goes Academic!

ameyawdebrah.com
-
0

A symposium to look at ways in which Azonto, the latest dance and music fad to hit Ghana, could be exploited for economic and social development is in the offing. Planned to take place at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, the conference will have among its panel of discussants Azonto proponent, Sarkodie and music producer, EL. They will hold the discourse with musicologists and the intellectual and corporate community to trace the development of Azonto, and find ways to give the craze longevity, and make it a symbol of modern Ghana.

Azonto is bitingly originally GH – a construct of the new Ghanaian! It lends a parlance for describing everything popular that happens in the country, like this year’s AFCON which has starting being regarding as the Azonto AFCON! Azonto is swagger, but more importantly, it is GH, and is gaining increasing much national and international popularity, growing to become one of those cult trends that tend to bind us as Ghanaians by default.

“If culture is constructed as ‘the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively’ or the ‘attitudes and behaviour characteristic of a particular social group, then surely, Azonto, whose display enthralls everyone, cutting across young and old, must become part of our culture now,” contends conference convener, PaJohn Dadson.

The impending symposium, titled ‘Harnessing Azonto for Ghana’s Socio-Cultural and Economic Development.’ is being organized by ACVB Events in collaboration with The World Bank and Graphic Communications with assistance from number organizations including Bentsifi.com, GH One, www.AmeyawDebrah.com and Dust Magazine.

There is a school of thought that believes it is about time that as a nation and a people we recognize that even fads can hold their own and grow organically so that in another generation, their foundation can be referred to in terms of tradition, and thus become part of our culture. Azonto is a part of our living culture today, a part of our reality.

Ashesi lecturer and one of the interlocutors at the upcoming symposium, writer Kobby Graham sums it up succinctly. “The concept of Ghana, after 55 years still has not much symbols that hold it together. Try a call to rally round our national flag and see if the euphoria that will generate will be anything like that which the ultimate Ghana symbol – the Black Stars – can cause! Then, try it against Azonto! Azonto, am afraid, I can see in my mind’s eye, can pull us together in euphoria more than the Ghana flag!”

Although it seems to be a derivative of the Kpanlogo dance but is wildly adaptive to Adowa, Kete, and any other kind of dance, or gesture, another of the pluses of Azonto is how it is not any tribe’s dance but a dance move done by Ghanaians. It is a dance form with a burgeoning music style and a mindset that can potentially spew an industry like Hip Hop has done in the US!

The school of thought that seeks to promote Azonto believes it is time to wake up to its promise. Growing rather organically, from among the ghettos and now onto You Tube, with images of people doing the dance all over the globe on the streets, and it is insightful that the dance gingers everyone, and gets people from all walks of life, pumping blows into the air whenever they hear its fast beat accompanying beat!

The highlight of the movement that is Azonto, would be when Obidimpong Sarkodie got onto Westwood’s program on BBC Radio 1 Extra, a mainstream radio in London to demonstrate the moves as his music was being played, scenes captured for You Tube! Now, that’s taking things beyond the Ghanaian Diaspora, prompting time to dance!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

View the original article here

1...49,48549,48649,487...49,544Page 49,486 of 49,544