Sweden is set to rename a suburb of Mjällby, southern Sweden that has been popularly known by residents as ‘Negro Village’ for about forty years. This is a result of the negative attention the village has recently gained from people who were upset by the name.
‘Negro Village’ (Negerby) was originally named by inhabitants after a trend in the village’s infrastructure.
“It all started over 40 years ago,” said Lars-Göran Björklund, CEO of Sölvesborgshem, the housing company which manages the area.
“Some 14 or 15 houses were built with black chimneys, and the townspeople decided to call the town Negerby. There was no harm in that word at the time, and there were no problems with the town name,” he told The Local.
Despite the fact that ‘Negro Village’ never became the official name of the district, the expression stuck in local parlance, and it was 40 years before somebody took the initiative to do something about it.
“It wasn’t until a journalist came to town a while back and made a big deal about it that people got upset. Now we have discussed it and have decided not to use the name at all anymore.”
The establishment is now using the provisional name of Slottsstaden (‘Castle City’) while negotiations to find a befitting name are in progress.
“The chairman has suggested that we hold a competition to find a new name for the area, which hopefully will happen soon,” Björklund said.
In September 2009, a neighbourhood in Karlstad, southern Sweden, was mandated to change its name from Negern (‘The Negro’) after a public outcry.
Dutch police called to investigate as Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport was Displaced Amid Bomb Threat.
On February 13th 2012 at about 11:30, an anonymous caller reported a bomb at Schiphol airport. According to the Dutch police, they arrested a man who locked himself in a toilet and claimed to have a bomb at Amsterdam Schiphol airport.
The airport’s two main international terminals were evacuated at about 11:30 (10:30 GMT), as the bomb squad and several police officers arrived at the scene.
The terminals reopened about four hours later, after officers said the man posed no threat to the public.
However, delays continued to affect the airport – one of Europe’s busiest airports.
According to Anna Holigan in The Hague, the Dutch border police were still investigating whether the suspect also has explosives in his luggage or not. She added that live television streams had shown police with guns, dogs and balaclavas outside the building.
Passengers were warned to expect disruption for the rest of Monday.
By 16:00 local time, the airport’s website was showing 16 cancellations to inbound flights and 11 to departures. Dozens of flights were delayed.
According to a Schiphol “Things are not back to normal yet. The evacuation is over and we are busy getting operations back on track but there will be some delays and cancellations for the rest of the day.”
A similar incident occurred on the 25th of December 2009 where a Nigerian student smuggled explosives on to a flight from Schiphol to Detroit in the US after flying from Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos to Amsterdam Schiphol.
The Nigerian student has pleaded guilty for trying to blow up the Northwest jet he boarded and is due to be sentenced on Thursday for life imprisonment.
Multiplatinum Actress and Soul Singer, Whitney Houston dies at 48. The legendary singer was found at a Beverly Hills, California hotel. For decades, the pop/R&B Singer ruled the charts starting in the mid-1980’s.
According to a police spokesman, the artist, whose incredible talent was discovered at an early age, was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. (6:55 p.m. ET) at the Beverly Hilton hotel notwithstanding resuscitation efforts.
Beverly Hills Police Lt. Mark Rosen said there were “no obvious signs of criminal intent” and that the cause of her death is being investigated.
According to Courtney Barnes, publicist for hip-hop artist Ray J, who was dating the pop diva, Whitney Houston’s dead body was discovered by her bodyguards.
According to her official website, Houston sold more than 170 million albums, singles and videos. But she also struggled with addiction problems over the years.
Houston, whose hits included “The Greatest Love of All,” died on the eve of the 54th annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. She had performed as late as Thursday night at a pre-Grammy event in the area. A pre-Grammy party was scheduled Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton.
Policía declara muerte Whitney Houston Clive Davis on Whitney Houston Whitney Houston seemed ‘in good spirits’
Music producer Jimmy Jam, after conversations with those heading up to Sunday’s night show, told CNN that he believes the event will change significantly — including a tribute to the singer.
The entertainer recently returned to a movie set for “Sparkle,” a remake of the 1976 hit, which was loosely based on the story of The Supremes. It is scheduled be released nationwide in August, according to Sony Pictures. It was her first movie role since 1996’s “The Preacher’s Wife.”
News of her death elicited a flood of reaction from fans and fellow celebrities alike.
Singer Aretha Franklin said, “I just can’t talk about it now. It’s so stunning and unbelievable. I couldn’t believe what I was reading coming across the TV screen. My heart goes out to Cissy (Houston’s mother), her daughter Bobbi Kris, her family and Bobby (Brown).”
Dolly Parton, who wrote “I Will Always Love You,” said, “mine is only one of the millions of hearts broken over the death of Whitney Houston. I will always be grateful and in awe of the wonderful performance she did on my song and I can truly say from the bottom of my heart, ‘Whitney, I will always love you. You will be missed.'”
Another entertainment legend, Quincy Jones, said he was “absolutely heartbroken” by the news. “She was a true original and a talent beyond compare,” he said.
Houston’s body of work included a string of Billboard No. 1 hits in the 1980s, including “Saving All My Love for You,” “How Will I Know,” “The Greatest Love of All,” “Where Do Broken Hearts Go,” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me).”
Billboard put her soundtrack to the 1992 movie “The Bodyguard” as one of the top 10 biggest-selling albums of all time. She also starred in the film with Kevin Costner. The soundtrack included the hit,”I Will Always Love You.”
Whitney Houston was born on August 9, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey.
Famed music producer Clive Davis reportedly spotted Houston 20 years later in a New York nightclub, signing her on the spot, according to her website. Davis steered Houston’s career for more than 25 years, also serving as a mentor.
Just Thursday, Davis told CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” that, with Houston, “I saw a depth and a range and soul … that rarely ranks at the top level. And that’s why we’ve been working together ever since.”
The singer’s rendition of the national anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl, days into the first Persian Gulf War, earned raves and cemented her place in the American musical landscape.
After “The Bodyguard,” Houston went on to appear in several more films in the 1990s, including “Waiting to Exhale.”
In 2000, Houston earned her sixth Grammy for best female R&B performance and, a month later, she was named female artist of the decade at the “Soul Train” Music Awards.
Her career stalled, however, in subsequent years as she entered rehab for addiction problems.
Houston took a hiatus for several years before releasing her first album in seven years, “I Look to You,” in 2009.
“I just took a break, which sometimes you have to,” said Houston. “You have to know when to slow that train down and kind of just sit back and relax for a minute.”
In May 2011, Houston got help for her much-publicized struggle with drugs and alcohol, her representative said at the time.
In a 2009 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Houston recalled how her mother arrived one day at her doorstep at her daughter’s house with sheriff’s officers and a court order in a drug intervention. She talked about doing cocaine and smoking marijuana.
“(My mother) says, ‘I have a court (injunction) here,'” Houston said. “Either you do it my way, or we’re just not going to do this at all. We are both going to go on TV, and you’re going to retire.'”
Houston had a high-profile and tumultuous marriage to Bobby Brown, a former “New Edition” star who has had multiple brushes with the law.
The couple appeared together in the mid-2000s on the reality show “Being Bobby Brown.” They had one child together, Bobbi Kristina.
Houston was the cousin of Dionne Warwick, another acclaimed performer.
Singer Lionel Richie told CNN that Houston was one of the best. “She had that voice that could just turn a story, a melody into magical notes,” Richie said.
Hello fam! If you have been paying attention to the fashion shifts that have been taking place in the last few years, you will agree with me that the ankara African fabric is gradually taking the centre stage. Gone are the days that African celebrities and socialites snubbed the colourful fabric like it’s something one should be staying hundred kilometres away from. Today, not having a few pieces styles made of ankara African fabric in your wardrobe, as an African celebrity or socialite means that you are not yet in tune with trendy fashion styles.
If you have been paying attention to top fashion shows and runways, you will also notice that top American celebrities have been spotted proudly wearing the ankara African fabric and looking gorgeous, which have helped to cement the fact that the ankara African fabric is no longer for local champions that is only reserved for married woman who are not fashion conscious.
Top fashion shows like African fashion Week London and similar ones taking place in America, other parts of Europe, and major cities around Africa has also immensely helped to put a spotlight on ankara African print to make it a go to fabric to wear for any kind of occasion that you can think of.
In addition, Nigerian and other African fashion designers have upped their game and now coming up with trendy and elegant styles made with ankara fabric. Gone are the days the styles were limited and not practice for everyday use. Today, the styles ae very diverse that they fit into different occasions. Whether it is something casual, glamorous or traditional, you will find styles to meet all your needs. The are also styles for men and women as well as for teenagers and little boys and girls.
If you have started catching up with ankara styles and looking for some inspiration or pieces to add to your wardrobe, do take a look at the website and you will see loads of amazing styles to choose from. We also update it will latest pieces and you will always find something that you like.
Take a peep at the Afrocosmopolitan Youtube channel and subscribe to it so you can get our video updates as soon as they are uploaded. You can also follow Afrocosmopolitan on Instagram and like our Facebook Page. We are also on Twitter, on Pinterest, as well as on YouTube. We cannot wait to connect with you and start interacting on another level. In the meantime, feed your eyes with various African celebrity styles and update your wardrobe with some of the looks they have rocked.
THOUSANDS of young girls in Spain could be at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation also known as circumcision without an anaesthetic when they reach puberty, disturbing figures show.
Around five million girls worldwide, aged between toddlerhood and around 18 years old suffer this potentially deadly mutilation every year.
But around 10,000 in Spain are also at risk, having been born into families from one of the 27 countries around the globe – most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa and particularly include Sénégal, Mali and Nigeria – where this barbaric practice is not against the law.
It consists of removing all outer parts of the girl’s genitals and stitching them up, and is rarely carried out using any form of sedation.
Often, it takes place in the desert with sharp instruments such as a broken shard of glass or a stone.
Since age commands respect in many African countries, parents often find themselves overriden by grandparents or elderly women inn their villages if they try to refuse to put their daughters through the process.
Although sometimes immigrants in Spain carry out the process – which is said to make a woman ‘cleaner’ and is a sign that she is a virgin when she is married – others go back to their countries of origin for the ‘operation’.
Rosa Negre, sub-inspector of the Mossos d’Esquadra, says Catalunya has been working hard to raise awareness among African families of the extreme mental and physical risks involved.
She makes families who intend to make a return trip to Africa sign an undertaking that they will not have their daughters circumcised.
This means they can allege illegality to justify their refusal to put their daughters through it, given that a father who had his eight-month-old daughter circumcised on a trip to the Gambia has been put in prison for six years.
Casilda Velasco, midwife, university lecturer and volunteer for Medicus Mundi Andalucía, a charity which provides medical care in third world countries, said the hardest part is convincing women to take a stand and not to be swayed by the orders of older members of their community.
And Bombo N’dir, Senegalese activist and vice-president of the female genital mutilation awareness team (EQUIS), who has lived in Spain for 13 years, says younger women are starting to come around to the idea that the practice is barbaric and can lead to infections, psychological hang-ups and a total loss of any form of sex life, but that it is far harder to convince men.
“They know nothing about women, and it means broaching subjects that are socially taboo in many African countries,” she states.
N’dir believes that with enough education, eventually the practise will be outlawed in every country in the world.
Let’s rewind to November 22, 2009—the night Rihanna stepped onto the American Music Awards red carpet and left us all gasping for air. Fresh off her Rated R era, she wasn’t just serving looks—she was delivering a fashion sermon. That white Marchesa laser-cut gown? Honey, it was futuristic, fearless, and downright ferocious. The asymmetrical cuts, the sculpted shoulders, the skin-baring details—it screamed power, drama, and a little bit of danger.
At the time, we all saw it as next-level couture, but fast-forward to 2012, and guess what? This aesthetic is everywhere, especially in the Ankara African fashion wave that’s taking over. Bold cutouts, sharp tailoring, and dramatic structures? Ankara designers have been doing this for years, and the mainstream world is finally catching up!
Rihanna’s 2009 look was a crystal ball moment. Now, we see African designers embracing architectural silhouettes and statement prints, taking Ankara beyond traditional wraps and into runways, red carpets, and street style domination. The structured bodices, the dramatic sleeves—her dress was practically an Ankara gown in disguise.
Rihanna didn’t just wear that dress; she wore the future. And if you’re rocking a snatched Ankara jumpsuit or a high-slit, bold-print gown today, you’re living proof that Rih’s 2009 energy is still shaking the fashion universe.
Moral of the story? Rihanna sets the trends. The world catches up. 💅🏾.
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Entertainment power couple Beyonce and Jay-Z’s little princess, Ivy Blue Carter came into the world about a month ago and the parents have finally released the first photos of their bundle of joy. Ivy Blue Carter’s first photos were made public on her father Jay-Z’s lifestyle blog ‘Life+Time’ with the accompanying message, “We welcome you to share in our joy. Thank you for respecting our privacy during this beautiful time in our lives. – The Carter Family”.
Recent cases of sham marriages in the UK have recorded a huge blow to the reputation of churches and clerics that carry out these activities. A Church of England vicar has been jailed for two and a half years after carrying out dozens of sham marriages allowing illegal immigrants to live in the UK.
The Rev Canon Dr John Magumba was presiding over so many weddings involving foreign nationals his diocese put him in charge of a working party on how to handle marriages for foreigners – and how to spot sham weddings.
Magumba, a father of six originally from Uganda, “asked no questions” when marrying a stream of Nigerian men and eastern European women who began flocking to his parish in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, from across the UK.
The 58-year-old told local churchgoers that African worshippers did not feel comfortable around so many white parishioners so he set up separate “African services”. The number of weddings rocketed after Magumba became the team vicar for St Mary’s in Rochdale, St Peter’s in Newbold and St Luke’s in Deeplish.
Magumba showed no emotion as the sentence was passed at Bolton crown court on Thursday after he admitted carrying out 28 sham weddings.
Passing sentence, Judge William Morris told the defendant: “What you did repeatedly amounted to very serious breaches of the immigration laws of this country properly designed to prevent those with no entitlement to reside in the UK from doing so.”
Police are not sure Magumba even conducted any actual services – but instead simply filled in the marriage certificates, described as the “golden ticket” to illegal immigrants.Non-EU citizens who marry EU citizens are rarely deported, as the legal grounds for this are narrow. Nigerian men who marry Polish, Slovak or Czech women – citizens of the EU – then have the right to live, work and claim benefits in the UK.
Investigators uncovered at least 28 bogus weddings carried out by Magumba; 20 at St Peter’s and eight at St Luke’s, between April 2007 and February last year, before the scam was uncovered by the Border Agency.
He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to one count of conspiracy to facilitate a breach of UK immigration law by a non-EU person.He also admitted two counts of theft from his church councils by not declaring income from weddings and funerals.
Magumba stole £5,437 from St Peter’s Church and a further £2,908 from St Luke’s. He is believed to be only the second clergyman in the UK to be jailed for such offences.
Magumba arrived in the UK in 2004 on an ecclesiastical visa, bringing his family with him from Uganda.
But from the start money was “always an issue” with him, investigators said. He asked the church for loans and took money from parishioners, cash he claimed he needed to clothe his children.
The normal £250 fee for a wedding in a CofE church was never passed on by him to the church funds, Joanna Rodikis, prosecuting, told the court. The one genuine wedding Magumba did perform he overcharged the couple by taking £600. Apart from the £250 fee he kept from the church for the sham weddings, it is not clear if, or how much, Magumba “charged” for agreeing to issue a marriage certificate for bogus weddings.
UK Border Agency sources say foreign nationals who want to get a marriage certificate have paid around £7,000 to a fixer who organises the scam. The EU national taking part would normally be paid between £1,000 and £4,000.
Police working with the Border Agency first came across Magumba while working on a separate sham wedding investigation in Lancashire. They initially thought Magumba was an honest vicar until they began to check church marriage records and discovered he was supplementing his £18,000-a-year income by doing scam weddings.
Magumba was marrying so many foreign nationals the Diocese of Manchester set up a special working party, with him heading a committee on how to handle them and how to spot sham marriages. Parish records showed that from 1996 to 2007 there were no marriages recorded at St Peter’s. But from April 2008 to February 2011 there were 20.When investigators checked the addresses given of couples in the wedding registers they did not exist.
After the church warden spotted that the same name for one bride appeared twice in the register, Magumba claimed the women were twins and it was common practice in Africa for twins to be given the same name. He married one “groom” and another “bride” twice in the space of weeks and another “groom” was issued with three separate marriage certificates.
There were also blank “stubs” in the marriage register book, with missing certificates that cannot be traced. Police checked the church diary and it showed that on 3 October 2009, Magumba allegedly carried out two weddings, one at 10.30am and one at 12.30pm. The same day in the church diary there was a coffee morning being held in aid of cancer research from 11am to 1pm. Police spoke to those who attended and were told they did not see any wedding. Magumba insisted he did conduct the ceremonies.
Mermaids have been claimed to be the reason why two water reservoir projects in Zimbabwe are yet to be completed.
According to claims made by the Zimbabwe’s Water Resources Minister, mermaids have been chasing workers away from the two planned new reservoirs projects.
The water resources minister alleged that mermaids have been scaring workers away from working on the two planned reservoirs in Zimbabwe. He said the situation has made frightened workers refused going back to the sites. The project site is situated near the towns of Gokwe and Mutare.
According to minister Nkomo, the only way to resolve the problem is to brew traditional beer and carry out all the necessary rites . This he said to appease the spirits and allow the workers to continue with the job.
Mermaids are mythological water creatures with a female body twinned with the tail of a fish. According to the Zimbabweans, there is still the existence of mermaids. Even though some people are sceptical, some still strongly believe in its existence and think they are roaming around. Back in the centuries, there have been several stories of mermaids going round in the Country.
Minister Nkomo reported that all the officers he had sent to work in that area had vowed never to go back there.
The belief in mermaids and other mythical creatures is widespread in the country. Over there, it is a common practice for people combine Christian faith with traditional beliefs.
According to the Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo, Zimbabwe’s population still live on less than one US dollar a day. These people are seriously in need of water but cannot have it until the rituals are performed. In addition, essential repairs will be carried out on them before they start operation.
The African artist’s impression of mermaids is that the Zimbabwean government has used mermaids as an excuse to delay these projects.
Beyonce was spotted again in another post baby appearance last night at Jay-Z’s concert. This is her second public appearance since giving birth to baby Ivy Blue Carter in January.
Below is last night outing together with her first outing. One cannot help but wonder how Beyonce managed to have this post baby look just few weeks after giving birth to baby Ivy Blu Carter. The red dress to the left is the one of her first appearance while the one on the right is the one to her second appearance. The artist is getting bolder with the showing off of her well toned body.
Beyonce in a red dress on her first post baby outing and a blue dress on her second outing.
