Alex Song Signs for Swiss Side Sion

 

Former Arsenal, Barcelona and West Ham United midfielder Alex Song has joined Sion on a free transfer.

The 30-year-old has signed a two-year deal with the Swiss Super League side, who are currently fifth after four games in the country’s top division.

Song, who left Russian side Rubin Kazan in January, had been training with Sion for several weeks before sealing the move on Tuesday.

The Cameroon international made over 200 appearances for Arsenal between 2006 and 2012 before moving on to the La Liga giants.

Song then returned to the Premier League for two separate loan spells with West Ham, before making the switch to Russia in 2016

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)

Nigerian President Aspirant Blast other Politicians, Says They are Clowns

Kingsley Moghalu

Professor Kingsley Moghalu, a presidential aspirant on the platform of the Young Progressive Party, has described Nigerian politicians as clowns who do not have the interest of citizens at heart.

 He made the comment on Wednesday, August 15, during a book reading event organised by the management of the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, Vanguard reports.

It was gathered that Moghalu stated that politicians are busy crossing from one party to the other because of their own interests, instead of designing manifestos to impact positively on ordinary Nigerians.

He also condemned the recent invasion of the National Assembly by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS). He said: “Most politicians in Nigeria don’t have respect for the rule of law.

The impunity of the DSS to invade the National Assembly is unacceptable. If some of the agencies of the government can’t respect the rule of law, how do you expect the president to respect the rule of law? “It is time for all of us as citizens of this nation to get involved in politics. Politicians keep on entertaining us with carpet crossing.

“Every week, there is one defection or the other; people still spend time to defend politicians. We need to go to the polling booths in 2019 to vote them out.

“Nigeria’s politics is not based on policies or intellectual understanding of the system but on sentiments, ethnicity and religion. We are either APC or PDP.“How can people who didn’t go to school be ruling people who are educationally sound? The only reason this is happening is because we have continued to let it happen. It is time for something new, different and bold. “A leader must be ready to take calculated risks because humans like certainty. We like what we are used to. We know that our politicians are up to no good; but we still try to adapt with the situation.

“That way, we will continue to perpetuate a cycle of poverty because we don’t have leaders who can take the society forward.

“The reason for my coming into politics is because I am just one citizen and I am tired of this mess we are in. You cannot build if you are a divider. We must look beyond ethnic division.

“I am a Nigerian running to be a Nigerian president, and I have a vision for which we can fix this country. We lack leaders with vision who can rise to build a great nation.

“To fix the Nigerian economy, you must understand intellectually, what causes poverty and what builds the wealth of a nation.”

Meanwhile, the source previously reported that Kingsley Moghalu declared that he would create a new Nigeria if he wins the 2019 presidential election.

 The former deputy CBN governor said he would launch a new Nigeria, starting from May 29, adding that nothing is working presently in the country

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)

Aretha Franklin Goes Home At 76

 

Aretha Franklin, whose gospel-rooted singing and bluesy yet expansive delivery earned her the title "the Queen of Soul," has died, a family statement said Thursday. She was 76.

 Franklin died at 9:50 a.m. at her home in Detroit, surrounded by family and friends, according to a statement on behalf of Franklin's family from her longtime publicist Gwendolyn Quinn.

 The "official cause of death was due to advance pancreatic cancer of the neuroendocrine type, which was confirmed by Franklin's oncologist, Dr. Philip Phillips of Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit," the family statement said.

 Her death comes three days after a source close to Franklin told CNN's Don Lemon that the singer was in hospice care.

"In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart. We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family. The love she had for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins knew no bounds," Franklin's family said.

"We have been deeply touched by the incredible outpouring of love and support we have received from close friends, supporters and fans all around the world. Thank you for your compassion and prayers. We have felt your love for Aretha and it brings us comfort to know that her legacy will live on. As we grieve, we ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time."

 Funeral arrangements will be announced in the coming days, the statement said.

 The singer had been reported to be in failing health for years and appeared frail in recent photos, but she kept her struggles private.

 In February 2017, Franklin announced she would stop touring, but she continued to book concerts. Earlier this year, she canceled a pair of performances, including at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, on doctor's orders, according to Rolling Stone.

 The singer's final public performance was last November, when she sang at an Elton John AIDS Foundation gala in New York.

 Over the course of a professional career that spanned more than half a century, Franklin's songs not only topped the charts but became part of the vernacular.

 She made "Respect," written by Otis Redding, a call to arms. "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," a Carole King song, was an earthy expression of sexuality. "Think," which she wrote with her then-husband, Ted White, became a rallying cry for women fed up with loutish men.

The first woman admitted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she had 88 Billboard chart hits during the rock era, tops among female vocalists. At the peak of her career -- from 1967 to 1975 -- she had more than two dozen Top 40 hits.

"Aretha Franklin is not only the definitive female soul singer of the Sixties," according to her Rolling Stone biography, "she's also one of the most influential and important voices in pop history."

She won 18 Grammy awards, including the honor for best female R&B performance for eight straight years.

There was nothing run-of-the-mill about a Franklin performance. "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)" is slinky and gritty, Franklin's voice sometimes a whisper over Spooner Oldham's electric piano.

"The House That Jack Built" fairly crackles: "I got the house / I got the car / I got the rug / And I got the rack / But I ain't got Jack," Franklin belts.

In Franklin's delivery, "Eleanor Rigby" was a figure of defiance; with Franklin's voice, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" went places not even Art Garfunkel, whose angelic tenor dominated Simon & Garfunkel's original version, could take it.

 Her soul was as deep as her voice was strong.

"I think of Aretha as 'Our Lady of Mysterious Sorrows,'" wrote the late Jerry Wexler, Franklin's producer at Atlantic Records. "Her eyes are incredible, luminous eyes covering inexplicable pain. Her depressions could be as deep as the dark sea. I don't pretend to know the sources of her anguish, but anguish surrounds Aretha as surely as the glory of her musical aura."

***

Source: CNN

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)

Mozambican Government Imposes Crippling Fees on Independent Media

 

New York, August 15, 2018--Authorities in Mozambique should immediately reverse plans to impose prohibitively high financial charges that unduly target independent media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A July 23, 2018, government decree outlined massive hikes in registration fees to be paid to the government-run Gabinete de Informação, a bureaucratic body that facilitates media registration.

The decree states that new fees will take effect on August 23, 2018. It comes as the Mozambican government looks to sign natural gas contracts with multinational corporations, and hold municipal elections in October 2018 and general elections in 2019, according to the Mozambican state news agency (AIM) and Agence France-Presse.

"Not only do these fee increases by the Mozambican government make it practically impossible for independent press to continue working, they also lay bare a flagrant attempt to undermine transparency ahead of elections and as the country brokers natural resource deals," Angela Quintal, CPJ's Africa program coordinator, said from Johannesburg, South Africa. "The Mozambican government should reverse the decree mandating such outrageous fee increases for media."

The decree includes a chart of fees for various types of media outlets and journalists, including for registration, licensing, and license renewal. Accreditation for foreign correspondents living in Mozambique will cost 500,000 metical (US$8,630), according to the decree. Tom Bowker, editor with the privately owned Zitamar News, told CPJ that the previous administrative fee for foreign correspondents' accreditation was "insignificant" and came out to around US$5.

Community radio stations will need to pay a 50,000 metical (US$855) licensing tax as well as a 3,000 metical (US$50) annual licensing tax, according to the decree. Erik Charas, publisher of the privately owned Verdade newspaper, told CPJ that the previous annual licensing tax for community radio stations was 2,000 metical (US$34).

Charas emphasized that the fees imposed by the July 23 decree were "crippling" and that Mozambicans would not be able to pay them.

Tomás Vieira Mário, president of Mozambique's press regulator, the Conselho Superior da Comunicação Social, told CPJ that he believes the fees imposed are "illegal" because they violate the right to freedom of expression enshrined in Mozambique's constitution. The government should move to nullify and renegotiate the decree, he said.

Mário also said the regulator, which is made of 11 members--six appointed by the presidency and parliament, and five appointed by the journalists' union and media companies--first learned about the decree when it was published as law in the government bulletin, and should have been consulted beforehand. An initial conversation between journalists and the head of Gabinete de Informação took place on August 10, and a second meeting is scheduled for August 21, Fernando Lima, chairman of the privately owned, independent media cooperative MediaCoop, told CPJ.

Cecilia Napido, a public employee with Gabinete de Informação, told CPJ over WhatsApp messages in Portuguese that the government did consider press freedom when forming the decree and the new fees were introduced to "make the industry sustainable."

Yesterday, influential members of the Mozambican media community--including CEPL (Emergency Committee for the Protection of Liberties), MISA-Mozambique (Mozambican chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa), AEJ (Association of Journalistic Companies), FORCOM (National Forum of Community Radios), CIP (Center for Public Integrity), and OAM (Mozambican Bar Association)--sent a petition to the national ombudsman, Isaac Chande. The petition requested support to have Mozambique's constitutional council review the decree's constitutionality and legality, according to a press release from the groups.

Repeated calls to Jaime Basílio Monteiro, Mozambican minister of the interior, went unanswered. Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário hung up when a CPJ representative called and identified himself. WhatsApp messages to Rosário asking to speak about Mozambican journalists' concerns about the fees were marked as read but went unanswered.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The text has been modified in the eighth paragraph to correct the fact that Fernando Lima was not physically at the August 10 meeting.

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)

Zinedine Zidane could Replace Jose Mourinho at Man United

Zinedine Zidane is considering his next move in football after stepping down as manager of Real Madrid.

 Zidane left the Spanish club after winning three consecutive Champions League titles and is looking towards the Premier League. Of the English clubs, he is looking particularly at Manchester United, with Jose Mourinho’s job looking the least secure.

 One reason for Manchester United to bring in Zidane might be that he could keep Paul Pogba at the club. Barcelona vice president has said that he does not think Barcelona will make a move for the 25-year-old French international this season, but said he is a, ‘great player.’ They are continuing to keep tabs on the player who has endured a fractious relationship with Jose Mourinho.

It seems that Barcelona cannot afford Pogba right now, as evidenced by their recent part-exchange offer that was swiftly rejected.

 It is a bit more likely that they are instead working on unsettling Pogba and United in order to make him the big signing next summer. On the other hand, Pogba’s mysterious hints could simply be a way of ensuring a new contract to earn as much as Alexis Sanchez.

 Unai Emery is facing restrictions on his plans to continue his overhaul of Arsenal’s squad during the January transfer window.

 After bringing in a number of new players, contract renewals and Mesut Ozil’s own new deal, there is a need to tie down Aaron Ramsey to a longer contract. All this increases the wage bill and until a new sponsorship deal kicks in, they will have to trim the squad before adding to it.

 



When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)