Welcome to Olamama's blog!!!: December 2018

Monday, 31 December 2018

3 die during South African church stampede

The South African Police Service (SAPS) is investigating the death of three female congregants at Shepherd Bushiri’s Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) church in Pretoria on Friday night. A police delegation led by SAPS Tshwane West policing cluster commander Maj-Gen Daniel Mthombeni visited the Pretoria Showgrounds – where the church is situated – on Saturday afternoon, shortly after learning about the alleged stampede by congregants which is said to have caused the trio’s death.

Three people were killed and another 79 were unaccounted for after a gas explosion rocked a residential building in Russia today, leaving hundreds without a home in freezing temperatures on New Year's Eve.

A controversial pastor has stepped down from his position as the leader of Agape For All Nations Church following allegations that he had sex with his married daughter. Walter Masocha, a UK-based Zimbabwean pastor, was once in the news for allegations of sexually molesting his members. Now, he has allegedly taken his crimes closer to home.

Abdel Razaq Zorgi, a 32-year-old journalist has died after setting himself on fire over harsh living conditions in Tunisia. His death sparked protests in the city after dark and clashes overnight with police who fired tear gas at dozens of people who had set tyres ablaze and blocked the main street.

A man who was employed to play Santa at a Walmart in Georgia has been arrested and charged with the deaths of his two kids after their bodies were found buried in his backyard. Elwyn Crocker Sr., 50, was arrested after sheriff's deputies went to his house in Guyton, Georgia, to conduct a welfare check on his 14-year-old daughter, Mary Crocker, authorities said.

Barcelona superstar, Lionel Messi, has spoken for the first time on the transfer of his arch-rival and former Real Madrid striker, Cristiano Ronaldo, who left for Juventus in the summer.
The Argentine and Portuguese stars who have five Ballon d'Or awards each battled for supremacy in the La Liga for years. But Messi believes that his rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo in Spain was "healthy" and was good for fans.
"The rivalry with Cristiano was very healthy and good for the fans," the 31-year-old told Marca.
During Ronaldo's time with the Real Madrid, he won La Liga twice and lifted the Champions League fou.

Usher files for divorce from estranged wife, Grace Miguel

R&B singer, Usher Raymond has officially filed for a divorce from his estranged wife and former manager, Grace Miguel. This comes after Usher and Miguel confirmed their split in March following multiple lawsuits in which he was accused of infecting people with herpes. But the singer denied the allegations, insisting he had no intentions to cause harm. He also argued that the plaintiffs "assumed the risk" when they consented to have sex with him.

An earthquake triggered by Italy’s Mount Etna volcano has jolted eastern Sicily, injuring 10 people and prompting frightened Italian villagers to flee their homes.
Italy’s Civil Protection officials said the quake, at 3:19 a.m. Wednesday, was part of a swarm of some 1,000 tremors, most of them barely perceptible, that are linked to Etna’s ongoing eruption this week.

What to expect about your vagina as you grow older, gynaecologist explains

Ageing doesn’t just affect the skin on your face.
‘Pre-menopause, the vagina should be pink and moist,’ explains Tania Adib, a Consultant Gynaecologist.
‘But when oestrogen decreases during the menopause, the skin becomes paler and the vagina may become less plump. Ageing also causes the elastic quality of the vagina to become less efficient,’ adds Tania.

Pep Guardiola has taken some of the blame for Manchester City's recent poor form and said he has no doubt about the quality of his players. City have slipped to third in the Premier League, seven points behind leaders Liverpool, after three defeats in their last four games but Guardiola said he never thought his side were unbeatable.

A grandmother killed her “tyrant” son by hitting him over the head with a large frying pan, before using a power saw to cut his body into more than 70 pieces. The 63-year-old Russian woman - an accountant named only as Lyudmila R - was found guilty of murder but spared jail because she was provoked by him repeatedly beating and abusing her, and making her life “hell”.

The 14-year-long excavation of Little Foot, a skeleton from the Sterkfontein caves in South Africa, has been described as one of the most remarkable fossil discoveries made. It reveals that she was the oldest skeleton in South Africa, details what happened to her after death, and says how she was preserved.

An Egyptian court has sentenced a 25-year-old woman to three years in prison for “sexually harassing” a monkey in the country’s north, the state daily Al-Ahram reported Friday. A court in Mansoura city charged Basma Ahmed with “inciting debauchery” and “committing an obscene act in public”.

Rapper, Kanye West, has reignited his beef with Drake again and this time he is calling him out for following his wife, Kim Kardashian on Instagram. The father of three took to Twitter to attack him after he discovered thst Draks has since followed the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star, 38, on social media.

A curious ritual takes place each year in Japan. "Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii" - or "Kentucky for Christmas", is the habit of eating Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) on 24 December. It began as an inspired bit of marketing in the 1970s, when KFC noticed that expatriates who craved Christmas turkey turned to fried chicken as the closest available substitute. Now a popular Japanese tradition, customers queue around the block, and some pre-order their meal as early as October.

Mariah Carey's 24-year-old Christmas classic is so popular it set a new one-day streaming record on Spotify on Christmas Eve. Chart Data reported that All I Want for Christmas Is You, released in 1994, was played 10.8 million times on Spotify on Monday.

What used to be an "extraordinarily rare occurrence" has already happened twice this month -- the death of a child in the custody of US border officials. Now the head of Customs and Border Protection is reiterating calls for Congress to provide more funding to handle the influx of migrants crossing the border.

24 Ebola patients slipped out of a treatment center this week in the Democratic Republic of Congo raising fears the virus may spread as health officials raced to trace anyone they may have encountered.

Paris Hilton claims the $2m engagement ring Chris Zylka gave her 'was free' and there is no need returning it despite their split

Billionaire Heiress, Paris Hilton, has again confirmed she won't be returning the $2 million engagement ring Chris Zylka gave after calling off their engagement.
The 37-year-old singer told TMZ on Boxing Day 'It's mine,' Paris, 37, as she strolled into LAX with her friend Brandon Davis. 'It was free,' Paris claimed, contradicting the ring designer's comments that Chris indeed paid for the item.
This comes after she appeared on The Jenny McCarthy Show last week and said of the ring: 'Look, the person who we got it from got millions and millions of dollars of free publicity.'
She also confirmed she was keeping the 20-carat diamond ring because 'Diamonds are a girl's best friend.'
Paris and Chris got engaged in January 2018 during a romantic ski trip in Aspen, Colorado.

Jean-Jacques Savin: Frenchman sets off to cross Atlantic in a barrel

A Frenchman has set off to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a barrel-shaped orange capsule, using ocean currents alone to propel him. Jean-Jacques Savin, 71, left El Hierro in Spain's Canary Islands and hopes to reach the Caribbean in as little as three months. His reinforced capsule contains a sleeping bunk, kitchen and storage. He will drop markers along the way to help oceanographers study Atlantic currents.

MTN Group announced on Thursday that it had reached a settlement with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in terms of what the bank alleged was the improper repatriation by MTN Nigeria of US$8.1bn between 2007 and 2015. Fin24 reported in August that MTN Group's shares plunged to a nine-year low after the NCB ordered it to return $8.1bn the bank alleged Africa's largest mobile-phone company illegally moved out of the country. MTN said at the time it "strongly refutes" the claim.

Richard Overton, America's oldest World War II veteran and the oldest man in the United States, died Thursday afternoon Dec 27th at the age of 112. Overton would have been 113 on May 11, 2019 but the veteran had been hospitalized with pneumonia, his family said.
Overton volunteered for the Army starting in 1942 and served with the 188th Aviation Engineer Battalion, an all-black unit that served on various islands in the Pacific.
"He was there at Pearl Harbor when the battleships were still smoldering. He was there at Okinawa. He was there at Iwo Jima, where he said. 'I only got out of there by the grace of God,'" former President Barack Obama said while honoring Overton at a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in 2013.

Shocking moment Miss Congo's wig caught fire after being crowned Miss Africa 2018 in Calabar (video)

Miss Congo emerged winner at the Miss Africa 2018 beauty pageant and shortly after she won, her wig caught fire on stage. 24-year-old Dorcas Kasinde beat other contestants to win the crown. Miss Nigeria came second while Miss Zambia came third.
As Miss Congo celebrated her victory and hugged her predecessor, her wig caught fire. Thankfully, Ebuka came to her rescue before more damage could be done. Social media users have jokingly accused Calabar witches of being responsible. But it is believed the fire was caused by the stage flame positioned at various corners on the stage.
Watch the video after the cut

Forest Whitaker and his wife Keisha Nash are reportedly calling it quits after being married for over two decades. According to court documents obtained by The Blast, the “Black Panther” star filed documents on Thursday to end his marriage with Keisha, who is a model and entrepreneur.
Whitaker cites irreconcilable differences as his reason for wanting a divorce and does not want to pay spousal support. He also wants both sides to be responsible for their own legal fees.
The exact cause of the split is unclear.

Friday, 28 December 2018

The Spiderman of Paris: What happened next?

Mamadou Gassama was passing through a neighbourhood in northern Paris, on his way to watch the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid on television. As he walked along the Rue Marx-Dormoy, he spotted a crowd looking up at a residential building. They were all looking at a small boy dangling from the edge of a fourth-floor balcony, at times by only one hand, while a neighbour tried desperately to reach him over a partition.

Two complete strangers got married at first sight in Las Vegas on Christmas Day just hours after meeting for the first time at a UK airport in their wedding outfits. Sarah Edwards, 34, matched with Paul Edwards, 36, on a dating app, and just days later they had the "crazy" idea to have a shotgun wedding.

Much-loved BBC presenter Sister Wendy Beckett has died at the age of 88. The nun presented a string of programmes for the broadcaster.She was also a writer and an art critic. She sadly passed away on Boxing Day. The news was shared by a BBC journalist, who wrote: "Sad news. Sister Wendy Beckett, writer, art critic and presenter of a much loved and popular series of BBC programmes about painting has died."

Sister Wendy was a religious sister who became well known during the 1990s when she presented a series of documentaries for the BBC on the history of art.

She was known for her programmes, including Sister Wendy's Odyssey and Sister Wendy's Grand Tour.

Thursday, 27 December 2018

UAE to reopen Damascus embassy after seven years

The United Arab Emirates is set to reopen its embassy in Damascus - which has been closed for seven years - on Thursday, according to officials. The UAE recalled its ambassador from Syria in 2011 after the start of a popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, which escalated into a brutal civil war that has now killed more than 360,000 people.

A 33-year-old man from the United States has become the first person to complete a solo trek across Antarctica without any assistance. Colin O'Brady finished the 1,500km journey across the frozen continent in 54 days, lugging his supplies on a sledge as he skied in bone-chilling temperatures from north to south.
"I accomplished my goal: to become the first person in history to traverse the continent of Antarctica coast to coast solo, unsupported and unaided," O'Brady wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday, after covering the final 124km in one big push that lasted 32 hours.

A migrant boy, 8, has died in US government custody, making him the second child to die in detention this month. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the unnamed boy died shortly after midnight on Christmas day.

Terrence Howard is engaged to the woman he divorced in 2015. On Sunday night, reports TMZ, the “Empire” star popped the question to ex-wife Mira Pak in front of friends and family at posh Beverly Hills eatery Crustacean.
Howard did not skimp on the bling, proposing with a “a beautiful 7-carat VVS diamond and rose gold engagement ring commissioned by celeb jeweler Ben Baller,” notes TMZ, reportedly valued at approximately $1 million (Pak, by the way, said yes).

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth have sparked speculation they've secretly tied the knot, after footage emerged of the couple celebrating with their relatives. Days after it was reported that the pair were set to wed in a 'secret ceremony', their friend Conrad Carr took to Instagram to share a snapshot of the lovebirds preparing to cut a cake together on Sunday.
In the telling image, 26-year-old Miley is resplendent in an ivory off-the-shoulder gown as she stands before hunky Australian Liam, 28, whose hand rests under hers.
According to RadarOnline, the couple exchanged nuptials in their home in Franklin, Tennessee - contrary to initial speculation that they were planning to wed in Liam's native Australia.

Ugandan president urges Miss World Africa to stop wearing human hair

Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni has met with Miss World Africa Quiin Abenakyo at State House Entebbe shortly after her arrival from China. Ms Abenakyo, who was crowned Miss World Africa at the 2018 Miss World finale in China on December 8, just returned to her country.

A pair of six-year-old twins have been married in a lavish ceremony because their parents believe they were lovers in a past life. The young boy, nicknamed Guitar, and his sister, Kiwi, were born in September 2012 and their parents immediately knew they would have to get married.

American rapper Nicki Minaj is all set to lend her voice for a character in the upcoming animated film titled 'The Angry Birds Movie 2'. Other celebrities, including Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Bill Hader, Danny McBride, and Peter Dinklage, will reprise their roles from the first film, reported Variety. They are being joined by Leslie Jones, Rachel Bloom, Awkwafina, Sterling K. Brown, Eugenio Derbez, Lil Rel Howery, Dove Cameron, and Zach Woods.
The adventure film is directed by Thurop Van Orman and co-directed by John Rice. It is produced by John Cohen along with Mary Ellen Bauder Andrews. David Maisel and Catherine Winder are the executive producers for the film.

China to construct 216 new airports by 2035

The Civil Aviation Administration of China aims to construct 216 new airports by 2035 to meet the growing demands for air travel, reports say. China had a total of 234 civil airports at the end of October, and this number is likely to hit 450 by 2035. This is part of China’s ambition to become an aviation power, reported People’s Daily, China, quoting Reuters.

Argentine woman abducted in 1980s freed in Bolivia

An Argentine woman seized in the 1980s by people traffickers has been reunited with her family in a joint operation by Argentine and Bolivian police. The whereabouts of the woman, who is now 45, had been unknown until earlier this year when police received a tip-off she was in Bermejo, south Bolivia.

Jose Mourinho believes Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes conspired against him to get him the sack at Manchester United. The Portuguese’s two-and-a-half years at Old Trafford came to an end on Monday after he was sacked by the club’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward. Mourinho was ‘surprised’ by the club’s decision and felt the board should have given him more time given his view that they failed to back him in the transfer market.

A camel driver has been arrested for helping a Danish couple take a photograph of themselves having sex on the top of the Great Pyramid. A woman was also arrested for putting the man in contact with photographer Andreas Hvid, 23, who posted a video of himself scaling the 4,500-year-old tomb on November 29. A photograph also released by Hvid appeared to show the pair in the missionary position overlooking the city.

Britain has banned third-party sales of puppies and kittens to protect the animals from exploitation. The government says the new law will help crack down on “puppy farms” and make it harder for unscrupulous dealers who have little regard for animal welfare.
Animal Welfare Minister David Rutley said the ban “is part of our commitment to make sure the nation’s much-loved pets get the right start in life.”
The decision follows a public consultation that found overwhelming support for banning third-party sales. Under the new measure, people wishing to adopt a puppy or kitten would have to deal directly with a breeder or a re-homing center, rather than pet shops or other commercial dealers.

Don't feature overweight people on TV, Egyptian president warns

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is being criticised for calling on his compatriots to lose weight.
In televised comments earlier this month, the general-turned-president railed about the number of overweight people he sees and told Egyptians that they must take better care of themselves.
Sisi said physical education should become part of the core curriculum at schools and universities and suggested TV shows should not let presenters or guests on the air if they are overweight.

Britain's Liberal Democrat party has announced the death of former leader Paddy Ashdown after a short illness. He was 77. The popular, articulate Ashdown was for decades a prominent figure in Britain and continental Europe. He was known for his intellect, outspoken nature and wit. Ashdown received a knighthood and was made a member of the House of Lords, but was the sort of person almost everyone called Paddy.

A US judge on Monday ordered North Korea to pay a fine of $501 million over the death of American Otto Warmbier, ruling that the University student likely suffered torture. The parents of Warmbier sued North Korea in a US court after the 22-year-old was flown back to the United States last year in a coma, unrecognizable to his family and dying within days of his return.

Thirty eight people, mostly Congolese soldiers, were hurt on Monday when an Antonov transport plane missed its landing at Beni in eastern Democratic Republic Congo, military officials said. The plane was carrying 68 passengers and four crew, they said. There were no fatalities.

On Tuesday, Manchester United announced they have sacked Jose Mourinho after the club lost 3 - 1 to Liverpool on Sunday. According to reports, Mourinho arrived at the training ground at 9am on Tuesday - before being called to a face-to-face meeting with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward where he was told he was fired.

South Korea's government is fining BMW $10 million over its handling of a spate of engine fires in the country — and the automaker's problems don't end there. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Monday that as well as imposing the 11.2 billion won ($9.9 million) fine, it will refer the case to prosecutors to decide whether criminal charges are necessary.

US actor Kevin Spacey has been charged with sexually assaulting a teenager at a bar in Massachusetts. He will appear in court on 7 January over the incident, which allegedly occurred in Nantucket in July 2016.
On Monday, Mr Spacey posted a video in which he appears to deny any wrongdoing while in character as Frank Underwood from House of Cards.

Plans to send David Beckham into space seem to be a work of science fiction, according to his reps. There have been reports that the legendary footballer was going to be the first from his sport to go stratospheric but any hopes of this plan coming to fruition have been dashed before he the project got to the launchpad.

Thailand's parliament has voted to approve cannabis for medical use, with a key lawmaker calling it a "New Year's gift" to the Thai people. Recreational use will remain illegal.
Marijuana was used in Thailand as a traditional medicine, until it was banned in the 1930s. South East Asia has some of the world's toughest penalties for drug usage or possession, and Thailand is the first in the region to allow medicinal marijuana.

Zimbabwe has said it would not extradite Grace Mugabe, wife of former president Robert Mugabe, after an arrest warrant was issued in South Africa for her alleged assault of a model in 2017. The 53-year-old reportedly attacked Gabrielle Engels using an electrical extension cord at an upmarket hotel in Johannesburg’s business district of Sandton where the Mugabes’ two sons were staying.

Monday, 31 December 2018

Sunday, 30 December 2018

Saturday, 29 December 2018

Friday, 28 December 2018

Thursday, 27 December 2018

Wednesday, 26 December 2018