Fidel Castro, Cuban Revolutionary Who Defied U.S., Dies at 90

Fidel Castro, the fiery apostle of revolution who brought the Cold War to the Western Hemisphere in 1959 and then defied the United States for nearly half a century as Cuba’s maximum leader, bedeviling 11 American presidents and briefly pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war, died Friday. He was 90.

His death was announced by Cuban state television.

In declining health for several years, Mr. Castro had orchestrated what he hoped would be the continuation of his Communist revolution, stepping aside in 2006 when he was felled by a serious illness. He provisionally ceded much of his power to his younger brother Raúl, now 85, and two years later formally resigned as president. Raúl Castro, who had fought alongside Fidel Castro from the earliest days of the insurrection and remained minister of defense and his brother’s closest confidant, has ruled Cuba since then, although he has told that the Cuban people he intends to resign in 2018.

Nigeria women football league makes me sad, says Oshoala

Reigning African Footballer of the Year, Super Falcons and Arsenal Ladies striker, Asisat Lemina Oshoala, is not happy with the current state of women football league in Nigeria.
Oshoala has been the cynosure of all eyes at the on-going 2016 African Women Nations Cup in Cameroun. She has scored five goals so far in two matches for the Super Falcons to occupy the top scorers’ chart. The goals include the four she netted against Mali in their first group match and one against Ghana Black Queens in the second game on Wednesday.

Speaking with The Guardian at the team’s Parliamentarian Flat Hotel camp in Buea yesterday, Oshoala said the current state of women football league in Nigeria is not encouraging. “The league in Nigeria is actually getting worse,” she said.

She said: “It is obvious that the Nigerian women league is still where it was, no improvement, nothing. To me, it is even getting worse.

Ehime Eigbe Akindele: From Citigroup to Sweet Kiwi

In 2009 whenEhime Eigbe Akindele visited Nigeria on holiday from the US, she kept asking for where to buy Frozen Yoghurt and nobody could give her an answer. That motivated her to quit he job at Citi Group, in Texas, USA and come back to Nigeria to establish Sweet Kiwi. Five years after, Sweet Kiwi Frozen Yoghurt is strategically branded as the got-to place for frozen yoghurt in Lagos, Nigeria. 

A Goldman Sachs 10, 000 Women scholar and a public speaker, Ehime holds a degree in Business Information Technology and International Studies from London Metropolitan University, and completed Entrepreneur Management programme at the Enterprise Development Centre of Pan African University, Lagos. She has also received certifications in restaurant management and dessert manufacturing. In this interview with Guardian woman she discusses plans for her business among other things.

Bimbo Akintola earns best actress award

AFRIFF Takes Young Filmmakers To Montana State University
For her outstanding role in the movie 93 Days, Nollywood diva Bimbo Akintola has emerged Best Actress of the Year at the just concluded Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) 2016, at the Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Seizure of Tompolo’s 20 patrol vessels affecting Cabotage law negatively —NIMASA

Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, has said the seizure of about 20 security patrol vessels belonging to Global West Specialist Vessels Limited (a company purportedly owned by Government Epkemupolo aka Tompolo) by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has negatively affected the enforcement of the nation’s Coastal and Inland Shipping and Coastal Act otherwise known as the Cabotage law.

The Director General, DG, of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who disclosed this, however said the seizure was due to the ongoing investigation of the immediate past management of the agency.

How Justice Ngwuta hid N27m in his bathroom –FG

The Federal Government yesterday told a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja of how N27million was found in the bathroom of embattled Supreme Court Justice Sylvester Ngwuta.
Also recovered from his private residence in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, according to prosecution counsel, Charles Adeogun-Philips include four exotic vehicles – Hummer jeep, Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), one Wrangler jeep, SUV, one BMW 5 Series Sedan, which were initially concealed by one Mr. Nwamba Linus Chukwuebuka, on the alleged instructions of Justice Ngwuta.
The prosecution counsel said Justice Ngwuta had four international passports, two diplomatic  D5000087 D00004598 and two standard passports with Nos. A4389985 and D5000087, which he was using concurrently.
Meanwhile, the court yesterday granted him bail for N100 million after pleading not guilty to a 16-count criminal charge.
Justice Ngwuta, who was docked before Justice John Tsoho denied allegations that he was involved in money laundering.

South Africa's 'Prophet of Doom' condemned

A South Africa pastor who sprays his congregation with insecticide has been widely condemned.

In a Facebook post, self-proclaimed prophet Lethebo Rabalago claims a pesticide called Doom can heal people.

The company that produces Doom warned of the risks of spraying the substance, while a government commission urged anyone effected to lodge complaints.

Africa Day celebrated in Taipei

President Tsai Ing-wen expressed hope that Taiwan can further expand mutually beneficial cooperation with African nations at a reception celebrating Africa Day Nov. 18 in Taipei City.

Held annually to commemorate the May 25, 1963, establishment of the Organization of African Unity, Africa Day marks the journey and struggles of African people in their pursuit of democracy, freedom and independence. Arranged by African embassies and representative offices in Taiwan, the Taipei event is typically staged in May but was delayed this year in view of Tsai’s inauguration the same month.

Gambia goalkeeper drowned in Mediterranean trying to reach Europe

The Gambian women's national team goalkeeper has drowned while trying to cross from Libya to Europe on a boat.

Fatim Jawara, who was 19-years-old according to Fifa records, is thought to have died in Libyan waters last month, Gambia’s soccer federation spokesman Bakary B Baldeh said.

Her family has confirmed the news of her death.

Jawara was a member of the Gambia team that played at the under-17 World Cup in Azerbaijan in 2012.

She played for Gambia’s senior national team this year.

The UN refugee agency estimated at the end of last month that at least 3,740 migrants and refugees have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

Silenced for Decades, ‘Victims of Despotism’ Air Torture Claims in Tunisia

TUNIS — Mothers trembled with anger demanding justice for sons shot dead during protests that ushered in democracy. Former prisoners described being tortured, humiliated and forced to engage in homosexual acts. The abuses, they recalled, were deliberate, sadistic and aimed to break them.
“Torture in the prison was not systematic, it was chaotic,” said Sami Brahim, who was arrested as a student in the 1990s. “Everything that happened in Abu Ghraib has already happened in Tunisia,” he said, referring to the abuses by American troops in the notorious prison in Iraq.

Final Push: Nigerian Army moves to take over Sambisa Forest

The Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin, said on Sunday in Maiduguri that an operation tagged “Operation Crackdown’’ to take over the Sambisa forest from the Boko Haram terrorists by troops had commenced.

Olonisakin spoke while fielding questions from newsmen after he inspected some military fighting equipment at the headquarters of the Theatre Command, Operation Lafiya Dole.

He also said that alongside the operation crackdown, “Operation Safe Corridor Initiative’’ had also been put in place for the terrorists to surrender.