Netflix cuts prices in some countries to boost subscriptions

 

 Netflix (NFLX)has cut prices of its subscription plans in some countries as the streaming giant looks to maintain subscriber growth amid stiff competition and strained consumer spending.
The stock fell nearly 5% on Thursday, underperforming the broader market and putting it on course for its worst day in more than two months.
The past year has seen intense competition in the streaming industry as a pandemic-driven boom fades and consumers curtail spending over fears of a possible recession, forcing companies to rethink their strategies.

Adidas reportedly reaches agreement with Kanye West to sell his remaining shoes months after losing $1b for terminating his contract

 

 
Rapper and fashion designer, Kanye West & Adidas have reportedly reached an agreement to release the remaining scheduled pairs of Yeezys for 2023 after the clothing giants lost $1.3B since they terminated his contract .
Taking to Twitter, @kanyestreams1, an account dedicated to reporting news relating to Ye, reported that the American rapper reached an agreement with Adidas.
 Kanye's Yeezy brand will not be designing new shoes but will instead assist in the sale of the current ones

Turkey is rocked by another powerful 5.5 magnitude earthquake

 

  
A powerful earthquake has struck Turkey again amid the nation's struggle to recover from previous disasters this month. The 5.5 magnitude earthquake took a blow to central Turkey, just days after two further quakes hit the border near Syria.
 At 10.27 am, the alarm of a 10km-deep quake was raised by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.  
 It was said to have occurred 40km south of city Aksaray and 18km northeast of Emirgazi was hit by a 10km-deep quake.

Actor Idris Elba reveals that he no longer describes himself as a 'Black actor' as he speaks on racism in Hollywood

 

Idris Elba has opened up on racism in Hollywood, revealing that he no longer describes himself as a Black actor but focuses on just being an actor.
Ahead of his highly-anticipated film Luther: The Fallen Sun which is set to be released in the coming weeks, the movie star, 50, shared that basing his career on his skin colour 'put me in a box', as he attempts to take the power away from racism.
Speaking in a new interview with Esquire, Idris explained: 'Racism is very real. But from my perspective, it?s only as powerful as you allow it to be.

Burkina Faso gunmen kill 15 Nigerian pilgrims bound for Senegal

 

At least 15 Nigerian Muslim pilgrims on their way to Senegal were killed when gunmen in Burkina Faso attacked the buses transporting them, Nigeria’s presidency said on Monday.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has received the tragic news of the murder,” the State House said in a statement, without providing further details on the attack.
A Nigerian presidency spokesperson told Reuters via WhatsApp that the death toll stood at 15 “so far”.
According to a Senegalese religious order, unidentified assailants attacked the convoy of buses on Wednesday and killed 18 passengers.

Ancient stone tools found in Kenya made by early humans

 

 Archaeologists in Kenya have dug up some of the oldest stone tools ever used by ancient humans, dating back around 2.9 million years.
It is evidence that the tools were used by other branches of early humans, not just the ancestors of Homo Sapiens.
The tools were used to butcher hippos and pound plant materials like tubers and fruit, the researchers said.
Two big fossil teeth found at the site belong to an extinct human cousin, known as Paranthropus.
Scientists had previously thought that Oldowan tools, a kind of simple stone implement, were only used by ancestors of Homo Sapiens, a grouping that includes our species and our closest relatives.
However, no Homo Sapien fossils were found at the excavation site in Nyayanga on the Homa Peninsula in western Kenya.

Yahoo to slash 20% of its workforce

 

Yahoo plans to lay off more than 20% of its total 8,600 workforce as part of a major restructuring.
The veteran tech company is reorganising its advertising unit, which will lose more than half of the department by the end of the year.
Nearly 1,000 employees will be affected by the cuts by the end of the week.
Yahoo is the latest tech firm to announce job losses as firms struggle with a downturn in demand, high inflation and rising interest rates.

Singer Trey Songz sued for 25m over 2016 rape allegation

 

 American singer, Trey Songz has reportedly been hit with a new $25 million lawsuit stemming from a previous sexual assault accusation.
 The suit also names the R&B singer?s label Atlantic Records, manager Kevin Liles, and 300 Entertainment as defendants, claiming the parties should be held responsible for the singer?s actions.
 The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles on Thursday, is linked to a sexual battery lawsuit filed by a Jane Doe last February against the 38-year-old (real name Tremaine Neverson) over claims he sodomized the woman during a party in March 2016.

Somalia reopens UK embassy after 32 years

 

  Somalia has reopened its embassy in the UK after 32 years, in a ceremony attended by ambassador Abdulkadir Ahmed Kheyr, Olympic champion Mo Farah and Somali-Canadian model Sabrina Dhowre, among others.
The embassy in London is expected to provide consular services to the nearly 500,000-strong diaspora community in the UK who are eligible for Somali citizenship, and other services including travel documentation and marriage certificates.

Cyclone Gabrielle: New Zealand braces for storm after record floods

 

 Preparations are underway in New Zealand for a severe storm that threatens to hit parts of the country already damaged by deadly flooding.
Cyclone Gabrielle is expected to hit the country's North Island from Saturday night - potentially bringing strong winds and further heavy rain.
Residents have been told to ensure they have enough supplies to last three days in case they are trapped at home.
The storm comes weeks after torrential rain inundated the city of Auckland.

Former Zimbabwean footballer Peter Ndlovu tells court he can't pay £568 child support for two of his children because he has 11 other kids

 

 
Former Premier League footballer, Peter Ndlovu has claimed that he cannot afford to pay 568pounds in child support for two of his children because he has 11 other kids.
Ndlovu, 49, who played in the Premier League for Coventry and also represented Birmingham, Huddersfield and Sheffield United, has become embroiled in a legal battle with the mother of the two children.She wants Ndlovu to pay her 1,420pounds a month, but the Johannesburg High Court ruled that he should pay her 568 pounds a month, according to The Sun.

Death toll tops 23,700 as Turkey, Syria rescue efforts continue

 

 
The confirmed death in Turkey and northwest Syria from the region’s deadliest earthquake in 20 years stands at more than 23,700, four days after it hit, according to officials.
Casualties from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which struck in the early hours on Monday, as well as several powerful aftershocks, have surpassed the more than 17,000 killed in 1999 when a similarly powerful earthquake hit northwest Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged during a visit to Adiyaman province on Friday that the government’s response could have been better.

Adidas says dropping Kanye West could cost it more than $1 billion in sales

 

 In wake of the termination of Adidas' contract with Rapper and fashion designer, Kanye West following some anti-Semitic comments made by him in October 2022, the sportswear giants have warned that the move will make a huge impact on its profit as the company has been struggling to sell the remaining stock of Yeezy shoes.
 On Thursday, 9 February, the German firm revealed that the ?significant adverse impact of not selling the existing stock? from the formerly lucrative Yeezy partnership will cause sales to decline at a high single-digit rate in currency-neutral terms, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Joe Biden orders US military to shoot down a ‘high-altitude object’ that entered US airspace for second time in one week

 

 
The White House announced Friday February 10, that President Joe Biden ordered the military to shoot down what it described as a ?high-altitude object? hovering over Alaska earlier in the day.
?The Department of Defense was tracking a high-altitude object over Alaska airspace in the last 24 hours,? National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby told reporters when asked about rumors of another suspected Chinese surveillance balloon.
The high-altitude object, Kirby said, was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and ?posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight.

Grammy awards 2023: list of winners

 

The 2023 Grammy Awards took place on Sunday, February 5, in Los Angeles. Beyoncé went into the ceremony with the most nominations this year with nine in total. Kendrick Lamar had eight nominations, and Adele and Brandi Carlile each got seven. A bunch of artists (including Future, Harry Styles, Mary J. Blige, DJ Khaled, Terius “The-Dream” Gesteelde-Diamant, and Randy Merrill) each picked up six nominations, and Jay-Z nabbed five nominations, tying him with his wife, Beyoncé, for the most nominations in Grammys history, as each Carter has now been nominated 88 times.

Landslide kills at least 14 attending funeral in Cameroon capital

 

 A landslide in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde on Sunday killed at least 14 people who were attending a funeral, the region’s governor said.
“We are carrying the corpses to the mortuary of the central hospital, while the search for other people, or corpses, is still ongoing,” Naseri Paul Bea, governor of Cameroon’s Centre region, told media at the scene.
Dozens of people were attending a funeral on a soccer pitch at the base of a 20-metre-high soil embankment, which collapsed on top of them, witnesses told Reuters.

South African Rapper AKA shot dead in front of a restaurant in Durban

 

 Award winning South African rapper AKA, real name is Kiernan Forbes, has been shot dead in Durban, South Africa on Friday, February 10.
 The rapper who was based in Johannesburg flew into Durban earlier today February 10th for his birthday party which was scheduled to hold at Yugo Nightclub which he had advertised on his social media pages and asked fans to show up.

Idols SA calls it quits after 19 seasons

 

Idols South Africa announced that it will be closing the curtain after 19 seasons. The 19th and final season of South Africa’s biggest talent search competition kicks off this month.
Idols South Africa was started 21 years ago on M-Net Channel.
Following efforts to revitalize the show last year with new judges – singer Thembi Seete and rapper-producer JR Bogopa – the decision was made to bring the local franchise to an end.

Manchester City charged with breaking financial rules by Premier League

 

 
The Premier League has charged Manchester City with more than 100 breaches of its financial rules following a four-year investigation.
It has referred the club to an independent commission over alleged rule breaches between 2009 and 2018.
It also accused City of not co-operating since the investigation started in December 2018.
City said they were "surprised" by the charges and are supported by a "body of irrefutable evidence".
The commission can impose punishments ranging from a fine and points deduction to expulsion from the Premier League.

Breaking News: Hundreds killed as huge quake rocks Turkey and Syria

 

 Hundreds of people are dead and several hundred more injured after a huge earthquake struck south-eastern Turkey, near the Syrian border
Statements from officials in Turkey and Syria put the death toll at more than 500, but that is likely to rise
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck in the early hours of Monday while people were asleep and dozens of aftershocks have been felt in the hours since
Rescuers are racing to save people trapped beneath the rubble after hundreds of buildings collapsed in both countries