welcome To News Line: November 2014

30 November 2014

Anti-balaka militia to become political party

Dakar - The 'anti-balaka' militia in Central African Republic, formed in response to abuses by mostly Muslim rebels who seized power last year, said it would lay down its weapons and become a political movement.

Representatives for the mostly Christian militia movement decided at a general assembly in the capital Bangui late on Saturday that their movement would be renamed the Centralafrican Party for Unity and Development (PCUD).

Lusaka - A faction in Zambia's ruling Patriotic Front (PF) elected Defence Minister Edgar Lungu as the party's president on Sunday, in a disputed vote highlighting a bitter power struggle ahead of a January presidential election.

The ruling party has been embroiled in a factional feud since the party's president and Zambia's leader, Michael Sata, died in October in a London hospital.

Jordin Sparks hits out at Jason Derulo in her new song!

Los Angeles - Jordin Sparks has taken a swipe at her ex-boyfriend Jason Derulo in a song.

The 24-year-old beauty appears to take aim at her former lover, with whom she had a three-year relationship that ended in September, in her latest remix of Drake's song, How About Now.

Los Angeles - Angelina Jolie thinks she'd be a "better wife" to Brad Pitt if she was a more skilled cook.

The 39-year-old actress accepts she has limited kitchen skills and she believes her 50-year-old husband would like it if her array of dishes was bigger, but Brad insists he loves her just the way she is.

Rihanna's grandpa crashed her record label meeting and fell asleep on the couch!

Los Angeles - Rihanna's granddad crashed a meeting with her record label.

The Diamonds hitmaker was joined by her grandfather, Lionel Braithwaite, as she attended a meeting in New York on Monday at the head office of Roc Nation.

New York - The author of a new Bill Cosby biography is apologising for not pursuing allegations that the comedian had drugged and sexually assaulted numerous women.

Mark Whitaker, whose Cosby: His Life and Times was published in September, tweeted on Monday that he was wrong not to "aggressively" look into the charges and promised to address them "at the appropriate time".

Paris – During a recent night out in Paris, France, something strange happened to Lady Gaga’s dress.

The queen of all things weird was seen out and about earlier this week.

At first it just looked like Gaga was wearing a shiny over-sized dress.

Kenya bus attack 'an attempt by Shabaab to start religious war'

Nairobi - One gunman shot from the right, one from the left, each killing the non-Muslims lying in a line on the ground, growing closer and closer to Douglas Ochwodho, who was in the middle.

And then the shooting stopped. Apparently each gunman thought the other shot Ochwodho. He lay perfectly still until the 20 Islamic extremists left, and he appears to be the only survivor of those who had been selected for death.

Kano - Boko Haram gunmen killed 48 fish vendors in Nigeria's restive Borno State, near the border with Chad, the head of the fish traders association told AFP on Sunday.

Ouagadougou - The delayed announcement of Burkina Faso's interim government ministers is expected on Sunday, with the country waiting to see the extent of military influence under civilian President Michel Kafando.

Kafando, the interim president, issued a statement on Saturday that planned first meetings of the cabinet and the National Transitional Council, or parliament, were "delayed and will take place at a date to be announced".

Sudan rebels claim raids on Blue Nile army bases

Khartoum - Sudanese rebels said Sunday they attacked two military bases in war-torn Blue Nile state, days after attending a round of peace talks with the government.

The Sudan Peoples Liberation Army-North raided the bases in Blue Nile last week "in retaliation for the aerial bombardment" of two towns, SPLA-N spokesperson Arnu Lodi said in a statement.

Johannesburg - The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality wants to regain control of run-down old age homes in the towns of Korsten and Bethelsdorp in the Eastern Cape, it said on Sunday.

"The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality’s mayoral committee resolved to decisively deal with run-down old age homes in the northern areas," mayoral spokesperson Kupido Baron said in a statement.

Miley Cyrus is splashing out £6k on the homeless this Christmas!

Los Angeles - Miley Cyrus is throwing a £6 000 Christmas party for homeless people.

The 21-year-old star - who is known for her controversial on-stage antics, including scantily-clad twerking - is determined to show her "caring and sensitive" side by employing a chef to cook a three-course dinner for her guests and enlisting waiters and waitresses to wine and dine them.

Los Angeles - For those who love their fairytales with happy endings, Disney has a treat for you in the new year.

The treat is the all time favourite classic, Cinderella, the story that never gets old even though it has been retold in many different ways. The original story still makes all of us fall in love and believe that dire circumstances have a way of working themselves out for the better.

Lusaka - The battle for Zambia's presidency became even more of a family affair on Wednesday with late leader Michael Sata's widow joining the race to become the ruling party's candidate.

Christine Kaseba joins Sata's stepson Mulenga and his nephew Miles Sampa, who have also declared themselves in the running to be the governing Patriotic Front's candidate. The country is set to go to the polls on 20 January.

Harare - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's party on Thursday denied claims it is in talks to form a coalition with beleaguered Vice President Joice Mujuru and her supporters in the ruling party.

Spokesperson Obert Gutu dismissed a report claiming the Movement for Democratic Change had agreed to become a junior partner in a future government led by Mujuru.

"We are a popular political party that is ready to govern on its own and we take this opportunity to reiterate that we have absolutely nothing to do with the ongoing factional fighting taking place in Zanu-PF," he said in a statement.

Girl who rejected Kim Kardashian West's adoption offer has no regrets

Los Angeles - A 13-year-old girl who turned down an offer from Kim Kardashian West to adopt her has no regrets.

The teenager, who is known as Pink, admitted she was "so excited" when she found out the multi-millionaire reality TV star wanted to adopt her following her visit to the youngster's children's home in Thailand's Phang Nga province in April, but she couldn't leave her friends and family behind.

The youngster makes a 100-mile round journey by bus every day to get to school, waking up at 5am and getting home at 6pm, and has now set her sights on working hard in education and becoming a teacher.

Los Angeles - Melissa McCarthy will play Tinker Bell. The Bridesmaids star will take on the role of the fairy heroine in a currently untitled comedy-adventure by Fox, reports Deadline.

Sex Tape writer Nicholas Stoller will pen the script based upon J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan from 1904, while 'Night at the Museum: The Secret Tomb' director Shawn Levy will helm the film.

Los Angeles - Lady Gaga has never been one for dressing down, but the G.U.Y. singer took her strange fashion sense to a new level as she stepped out wearing a crash helmet in Manchester on Wednesday.

Senate President, David Mark has ordered the shut down of the National Assembly till Tuesday next week, November 25th, due to he chaos in which the Speaker of the House of Reps, Aminu Tambuwal, and other lawmakers were allegedly teargassed and prevented from entering the Assembly complex. Mark announced this moments ago at the Senate plenary session.

Ouagadougou - The army officer who took power after the fall of Burkina Faso's president was Wednesday named prime minister, ensuring the military keeps a grip on government despite pressure for a civilian transition.

Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Zida was appointed premier by the country's interim president three weeks after long-time leader Blaise Compaore fled the country under pressure from mass protests.

Freetown - The World Health Organisation says the transmission of Ebola remains "intense" and widespread in Sierra Leone, even as some improvements are being seen in the two other countries worst hit by the crisis.

Nearly 200 new cases were confirmed in Sierra Leone's capital in a recent one-week period.

The WHO report released late on Wednesday indicated that Sierra Leone had the lowest percentage of Ebola patients who had been isolated — only 13%.

Lagos - A coroner on Thursday said he would order the arrest of a Nigerian preacher after he again failed to appear to give evidence about a deadly building collapse at his Lagos megachurch.

Oyetade Komolafe was furious that TB Joshua was not in court for the start of the hearing, which is examining the circumstances of the 12 September tragedy in which 116 people were killed.

"So, TB Joshua is not in court, the [building] contractor is not in court. Any of the witnesses who is not in court today will be arrested," the coroner said.

Lagos - Lawyers for Nigerian preacher TB Joshua said on Thursday they had mounted a legal challenge against a coroner who has ordered him to testify about a fatal building collapse at his Lagos megachurch.

Joshua has been summonsed twice to give evidence at an inquest examining the circumstances of the 12 September tragedy in which 116 people were killed, but failed to appear on both occasions.

The latest no show by the popular televangelist on Thursday angered coroner Oyetade Komolafe, who said he would order his arrest.

Johannesburg - Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on Thursday to attend the second Africa-Turkey summit of heads of state and government, the presidency said.

Ramaphosa was representing President Jacob Zuma at the summit which was taking place on Thursday and Friday, his spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said in a statement.

Rabat - Burkina Faso's deposed president Blaise Compaore arrived in Morocco from Ivory Coast, where he has been in exile since his ouster in a popular revolt last month, the Moroccan foreign ministry announced early on Friday.

Compaore, 63, arrived with five other people for a "fixed-term visit", it said in a statement released on the official MAP news agency, without mentioning any time-frame.

The Nigeria Police have released a statement explaining why they sent police officers to the National Assembly this yesterday morning, preventing Tambuwal and other lawmakers from gaining access into the Assembly ground.

Following an intelligence report of a likely invasion of the House of Representatives by hoodlums and thugs, the Nigeria Police Force promptly deployed its personnel to the premises to prevent a breakdown of law and order.

Stockholm - A Swedish court rejected on Thursday an appeal by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to revoke a detention order issued over allegations of sexual assault, but called on prosecutors to make more effort to question him.

Assange's Swedish lawyer said the decision would be appealed to the Supreme Court.

The 43-year-old Australian has been stuck inside Ecuador's London embassy since June 2012 to avoid a British extradition to Sweden, which wants to question him on allegations of sexual assault and rape but have insisted he must come to Sweden first.

Washington - US President Barack Obama imposed the most sweeping immigration reform in a generation on Thursday, easing the threat of deportation for some 4.7 million undocumented immigrants and setting up a clash with Republicans who vow to fight his moves.

In a White House speech, Obama rejected Republican arguments that his decision to bypass Congress and take executive action was tantamount to amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Nicki Minaj looks smoking hot on her latest mag cover

Los Angeles - Another week, and another magazine with Nicki Minaj on the cover.
Seems like nothing can stop this high flying mega star who seems to be very much in demand of late.

Los Angeles - Rosamund Pike is in talks to star in The Mountain Between Us.

The Gone Girl actress is said to have entered into early negotiations to appear in the Fox 2000 and Chernin

Entertainment adaptation of Charlie Martin's novel, which follows two plane crash victims as they attempt to survive in the mountains.

The 35-year-old actress is thought to be joining

Los Angeles - Tracy Morgan is still "fighting to get better" following his car crash in New Jersey in June.

The former 30 Rock star, who suffered brain injuries, a broken femur, broken nose and broken ribs when a Walmart truck smashed into the limo bus in which he was travelling in with friends in New Jersey, is trying to get back to the person he once was.

Los Angeles - Angelina Jolie plans to star in "a few more" movies.

The 39-year-old star, who previously revealed she wants to focus on directing and her humanitarian work in the future, says she isn't ready to retire from the big screen just yet.

Discussing her future acting plans, she said: "I'll do a few more."

Bill Cosby hunkers down as scandal rages

New York — After Bill Cosby settled a civil lawsuit in 2006 alleging that he'd repeatedly sexually assaulted a woman, his image as America's dad may have been temporarily tarnished, but was far from destroyed.
But in recent weeks as allegations of other sexual assaults have taken hold in published reports and on social media, his rock-solid persona seems in danger of permanent erosion.
"It's not like, if you have goodwill, you can borrow against that," says Eric B Dezenhall, a Washington-based crisis management consultant. "And if your goal is to get everybody to un-remember what they just heard — well, that's just not doable."

Los Angeles - Zayn Malik is "angry and upset" after being accused of having a drug problem.

The 21-year-old singer is "gutted" to have missed a promotional trip to America to plug One Direction's new album Four after falling ill over the weekend and was horrified when his bandmates were quizzed on live TV about the unsubstantiated allegations.

Sydney - Hollywood star Angelina Jolie said Tuesday she wanted her World War II epic Unbroken, which was filmed in Australia, to act as an antidote to the violence and hate in the world.

Jolie thrilled fans when she walked the red carpet with husband Brad Pitt for the Sydney premiere of the movie, which is based on the true story of a US Olympic athlete turned Japanese prisoner of war.

Los Angeles - The Band Aid 30 single raised £1m in just five minutes.
Organiser and co-writer Bob Geldof admits the pre-release demand for the reworked version of Do They Know It's Christmas Time? - which was debuted during The X Factor results show on Sunday has been "bonkers" and he is overwhelmed by the response so far.

Ouagadougou - Michel Kafando was sworn in as transitional president of Burkina Faso on Tuesday, faced with the task of leading the West African country to elections in a year following a brief military takeover.

The former foreign minister, who will be barred from standing at the elections, is set to name a prime minister on Wednesday and together they will appoint a 25-member government, according a transition timetable.

New York - Benedict Cumberbatch fans might be weeping on the inside over the Sherlock star's engagement — but he's seeing nothing but their love, he says.

"It's a crazy old love bomb to drop and the amount of love that comes back to you, that was the thing that (fiancee Sophie Hunter and I) are both just sort of bowled over by. It's wonderful."

Kano - One of Nigeria's most powerful Muslim leaders, the emir of Kano, has voiced support for vigilantes fighting Boko Haram, urging others to form civilian militias and questioning the competence of the military.

The comments were made by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who became emir earlier this year after being sacked from his post as the central bank governor, where he was one of the government's most high-profile critics.

Buenos Aires - Pop music star Justin Bieber has been ordered to appear before a court in Argentina for the alleged assault last year of a photographer outside a Buenos Aires nightclub.

A justice ministry official told AFP that Argentine Judge Facundo Cubas gave the singer and one of his bodyguards 60 days appear in court or face arrest.

New York - Though the Lifetime movie Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B drew criticism from fans upset with casting and the way it depicts Aaliyah's life, executive producer Wendy Williams says she wouldn't do anything differently if she had it to do again.

Zambia sets date for presidential by-election

Lusaka - Zambia's interim leader announced a presidential by-election on 20 January and called for calm and tolerance amid concerns about a tense contest to succeed President Michael Sata, who died in office last month.

Interim president Guy Scott, who became the continent's first white leader since the 1994 end of apartheid in South Africa, said he hoped all contestants, both from the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) and opposition parties, would desist from violence.

Abuja - A suspected would-be suicide bomber was on Tuesday set on fire by an irate mob at a bus station in north-eastern Nigeria, where a bomb blast killed at least 30 people nearly three weeks ago, the newspaper Daily Trust reported.

The alleged bomber arrived at the bus station in Gombe carrying a sack which he did not allow security officials to screen.

Speaker of the House of Reps, Aminu Tambuwal has released a statement explaining why he's stepping down from the 2015 presidential race and instead going for the governorship race of Sokoto state. His statement below...

1. A few days ago, precisely on Friday the 14th of November,2014 a group of friends, associates, colleagues and admirers cutting across all ages, ethnic, social, religious, political and geographical divides presented to me the Expression of Interest and Nomination forms for me to participate in the presidential primaries of the All Progressive Congress (APC) for the 2015 Presidential Election.

Zim's VP linked to Mugabe assassination plot

Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's vice president, once seen as a possible successor to President Robert Mugabe, has been linked to an alleged plot to assassinate the 90-year-old leader, a state-run newspaper reported on Sunday.

An ally of Vice President Joice Mujuru who was recently ousted from his post as ruling party spokesperson, said the allegations that he conspired against Mugabe are false. Rugare Gumbo, the ousted spokesperson, was identified in The Sunday Mail as a plotter against Mugabe, who has been in power since independence in 1980.

Abuja - The Nigerian army said on Sunday it had recaptured and "secured" the northeastern town of Chibok, where Islamic militants abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in April.

The army recaptured the town on Saturday evening from Boko Haram militants, spokesperson General Olajide Olaleye told AFP in a text message. "Mopping up ops ongoing. [The] town is now secured," he said.

Leading elder Pogu Bitrus told AFP the town was re-taken in a joint operation with local vigilantes known as the Civilian Joint Task Force, who back up the military in several parts of the northeast where Boko Haram is active.

Los Angeles - Christopher Nolan will never make a comedy film.

The acclaimed director has revealed that he doesn't think he is cut out for the genre because it is so difficult to make people laugh.

The filmmaker explained: "I would try anything, I think, except comedy or romantic comedy, those are very tough genres to work in."

ISIS claims it beheaded US aid worker

Cairo - Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria claimed in a video posted online on Sunday that they had beheaded American hostage Peter Kassig.

The video did not show the beheading but showed a masked man standing with a decapitated head covered in blood lying at his feet.

Bangkok - The body parts of several babies have been found in a parcel destined for the United States, Thai police said on Sunday.

A baby's head, several feet and "sheets of skin" - including one taken from an adult and bearing a large tattoo - were discovered on Saturday after staff at a Bangkok parcel company scanned the package.

"They were not from one body but were in small pieces," Police Major General Chawalit Prasopsin told AFP on Sunday.

"They have been sent for forensic examination to confirm if they were from babies who died after delivery or in the womb," Chawalit said.

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