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Once Upon A Time – April 22 – 1994 – World’s Largest Lollipop, Weighing 3,011 Pounds; Record Later Broken

By
Angel Gimalo
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1500 Pedro Álvares Cabral is the first european to discover Brazil, landing near Monte Pascoal, claims it for Portugal

1915 1st military use of poison gas (chlorine, by Germany) in WW I

1993 Holocaust Memorial Museum dedicated in Washington, D.C.

1994 7,000 Tutsi slaughtered by Hutus in the stadium at Kibuye, Rwanda

2006 243 people are injured in pro-democracy protest in Nepal after Nepali security forces open fire on protesters against King Gyanendra.

2016 Paris Agreement on climate change signed in New York binding 195 nations to an increase in the global average temperature to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C

Historical Events Today Events in 2023

Today in Film & TV

1954 US Senate Army-McCarthy televised hearings begin

1976 Barbara Walters becomes 1st female US nightly network news anchor (ABC News)

Today in Music

1876 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky completes his ballet “Swan Lake”

Today in Sport

1903 NY Highlanders (Yankees) first MLB game; lose 3-1 before 11,950 vs Washington Senators at American League Park

1981 More than $3.3 million is stolen from the First National Bank of Arizona in Tucson in the then largest US bank robbery in history

1994 World’s largest lollipop, weighing 3,011 pounds, made by BonBon, a candy factory in Home-Olstrup, Denmark; record later broken

1994 Richard Nixon became the only US President ever to resign from office, brought down by scandal over the Watergate office break-in and its attempted cover-up.

Famous Weddings

1887 Business magnate Andrew Carnegie (51) weds Louise Whitfield (30) in NYC, New York

1939 Actor and naval officer of World War II Douglas Fairbanks Jr (29) weds supermarket magnate Huntington Hartford’s former wife Mary Lee Hartford

1995 “Extra” TV co-host Arthel Neville (32) weds Carolina Panther running back Derrick Lassic (25) at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church

Tunde Kelani’s ‘Cordelia’ To Screen At 30th New York Film Festival

By
Koko Lawrence
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Veteran Filmmaker Tunde Kelani is one of the few African producers whose latest work, ‘Cordelia’ will feature at the 30th New York African Film Festival on 15th May.

The Director of the Festival, Mahen Bonneti, in a statement on Saturday, said Mr Kelani’s film will screen at 7.30 p.m. alongside the short film “Employee of the Month” by Goga Clay.“

“Cordelia”, set in Nigeria during the early 90s under military rule, is an adaptation of a work of fiction by renowned dramatist and poet Femi Osofisan.

The 75-year-old founder and director of Mainframe Productions stated that it is a product of collaboration with people from different cultures and backgrounds, united by a creative force without boundaries.

The movie features talented Nigerian casts, including Omowunmi Dada, Keppy Ekpeyong, Yvonne Jegede, William Benson, Kelechi Udegbe, Femi Adebayo, Taiwo Ibikunle and Ropo Ewenla.

The New York African Film Festival is an annual festival running for over 30 years that showcases a selection of top African movies every year, intending to celebrate the African movie culture.

Synopsis

Cordelia is a period drama adapted from Femi Osofisan’s novella, set in Nigeria during the early 90s under military rule.

The story follows a university professor who unwittingly becomes embroiled in a military coup. One morning, he arrives at his office worried about his wife’s strange behaviour and is soon visited by two curious students, one of whom is Cordelia Nwaeze Peters, daughter of a popular Colonel Nwaeze Peters of the Nigerian Army was recently implicated in a military coup.

As a result of the coup, there is general unrest, with students on a rampage and Cordelia’s life in danger. The professor decides to save Cordelia’s life and becomes further enmeshed in the national crisis.

General Peters, encouraged by the professor’s altruistic action towards his daughter, can foil the coup. After settling into a new position as head of government, General Peters offers the professor a cabinet position as compensation for saving his daughter’s life.

Sudanese Cartoonist Draws To Bring Hope, Truth

By
Koko Lawrence
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In his living room in Norway, while the TV broadcasts pictures of the violence back home in Khartoum, Khalid Albaih does what he has become known for in the Middle East and beyond: draw cartoons.

His latest, entitled The Dog Fight, depicts the two main Sudanese foes, army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, as dogs fighting over a piece of meat in the shape of Sudan.

“Art is needed in times like this because it is important to show people art is about hope, art is about showing there is a different way to talk about things,” said Khalid.

“Art is continuous resistance. Art is our way to continue fighting.”

Khalid, 42, known in the Middle East for cartoons on the Arab Spring, government misrule and wars in Syria and Yemen, drew attention beyond the region in 2016 with a drawing of African American football player Colin Kaepernick kneeling, his afro in the shape of a clenched fist

The image went viral and was worn on T-shirts by prominent Black artists. The rapper Snoop Dogg posted himself wearing it on social media.

In Oslo, Khalid is co-head of the arts programme at the Kawaakibi Foundation, a group founded in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring protest movement to explore ways media can promote democracy and human rights in the Middle East.

With the Internet still up in Khartoum, Khalid is in constant communication with friends and family or reposting practical advice to his social media followers, like how to behave at checkpoints, in the hope of helping those trying to leave.

Meghan Markle Planning Low-Key Birthday Party For Archie While Prince Harry Attends Coronation

By
Koko Lawrence
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While Prince Harry and the rest of the world watch the pomp and circumstance of King Charles III at his coronation at Westminster Abbey, Meghan Markle will be at home with their two young children giving Prince Archie a “low-key” birthday party on May 6, according to a report.

“It’s going to be a low-key party at home,” according to a source.

Harry and Meghan settled in Montecito, California, after they stepped down as senior royals in 2020.

The source continued, “They’ll have friends around them and Meghan’s mom, Doria [Ragland]. Meghan will definitely have support that weekend.”

Princess Lilibet will also attend her older brother’s birthday, the source confirmed.

“They are so sweet together,” they added. “Archie loves Lili. He’s such a sweet boy. When she’s not around, he asks, ‘Where’s Lili?'”

Harry and Meghan had caused endless speculation for royal watchers over the last few months on whether the couple would attend his father’s coronation on May 6 amid strained relations not helped by Harry’s tell-all memoir “Spare” and their Netflix documentary that heavily criticizes the palace.

Some fans of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex even speculated without basis that the king had scheduled his coronation on May 6 to upstage Archie on his birthday.

Last week, the palace finally confirmed Harry’s attendance weeks after it had been reported the Sussexes were invited but had not yet made a final decision.

Academic Guilty Of Paris Synagogue Bombing In 1980

By
Zoe Maven
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A court in Paris has convicted a Lebanese-Canadian university professor of carrying out the deadly bombing of a Paris synagogue, more than 42 years ago.

According to the judges who gave the verdict, Hassan Diab, 69, was the young man who planted the motorcycle bomb in the Rue Copernic on 3 October 1980 in which four people were killed and 38 others wounded.

Although Diab refused to attend the trial, the judges gave him a life sentence with Prosecutors arguing that undoubtedly, Diab was behind the bombing.

The Rue Copernic attack was the first to target Jews in France since World War Two, and became a template for many other similar attacks linked to militants in the Middle East in the years that followed.

The decades-long investigation became a byword both for protracted judicial confusion, as well as for the dogged determination of a handful of magistrates not to let the case be forgotten.

Diab, 69, a Lebanese of Palestinian origin who obtained Canadian nationality in 1993 and teaches sociology in Ottawa, was first named as a suspect on the basis of new evidence in 1999, already nearly 20 years after the killings.

Eight years later the French issued an international arrest warrant, and it was not until 2014 that Canada agreed to extradite. But in 2018 French magistrates declared the case closed for lack of proof, allowing Diab to return to Canada.

Finally in 2021 an appeal against the closure of the case was upheld in the Supreme Court, the first time this had ever happened in a French terrorism case. It meant a trial could finally go ahead, and it began earlier this month.

Sudan Top General Commits To Civilian Rule Transition

By
Zoe Maven
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Sudan’s top Army Chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan said Friday says the military remains committed to a transition to civilian rule, amidst brutal fighting between his forces and the country’s powerful paramilitary.

In a video message released early Friday to mark the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan expressed confidence that they would overcome this ordeal with training, wisdom and strength, preserving the security and unity of the state.

The video message was the first time Burhan has been seen since the capital and other areas descended into chaos in the fighting and it was unclear when or where the video was made.

Since he took over the country in an October 2021 coup, Burhan and his rival, commander of the Rapid Support Forces Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have repeatedly promised to shepherd the country until a civilian government has been elected.

However, both have failed to sign political agreements that would see their institutions lose power.

On Thursday, Sudan’s military ruled out negotiations with the rival Rapid Support Forces, saying it would only accept its surrender.

The two sides continued to battle in central Khartoum and other parts of the country, threatening to wreck international attempts to broker a longer cease-fire.

The military’s statement raised the likelihood of a renewed surge in the nearly weeklong violence that has killed hundreds and pushed Sudan’s population to the breaking point.

There are real concerns that the country’s medical system was on the verge of collapse, with many hospitals forced to shut down and others running out of supplies

Police Evict Asylum-Seekers Outside UN Refugee Office In S.Africa

By
Zoe Maven
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Police in South Africa has dismantled an encampment of about 100 asylum seekers that had been set up for more than three years outside the offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pretoria.

The migrants reportedly set up makeshift tents in front of the UNHCR to ask to be relocated to other countries following an outbreak of xenophobic violence in 2019.

Dozens of police officers, supported by immigration officials, dismantled the camp, while warning the migrants that they would be arrested and detained if they resisted the operation.

The Pretoria City Council had last week been given the green light by a court to relocate them which means the refugees should be taken to the Lindela Repatriation Centre, a temporary detention centre for undocumented migrants who are to be deported to their home countries.

In the meantime, UNHCR spokeswoman Laura Padoan told Newsmen that the refugees were asking to be taken to a refugee camp in another country but that is outside our mandate.

She said the organization had asked the South African authorities to conduct the dismantling operation “peacefully and in a way that the families are treated humanely, with dignity and respect.

South Africa has some of the most progressive asylum policies in the world, allowing foreigners to apply for refugee status and work.

But human rights groups say the application system is not working properly and is piling up delays, keeping many asylum seekers waiting for years.

The country attracts economic migrants which has led to resentment among unemployed South Africans and sporadic outbreaks of xenophobic violence.

Uganda’s Museveni calls for changes to anti-LGBTQ bill

By
Zoe Maven
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Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has refused to sign a new anti-homosexuality bill, which carries the death penalty in some cases, and has called for it to be amended.

Museveni’s decision was announced late Thursday after a meeting of Lawmakers which decided to send the bill back to the National Assembly with recommendations for improvement.

Museveni condemned homosexuality at the meeting in the capital, Kampala, accusing Europe of trying to drag the country into hopelessness as they themselves were lost.

Museveni also praised lawmakers for approving the bill, commending them for their strong stance and for rejecting the pressure put on them by those he calls imperialists.

A presidential spokesman said Museveni was not opposed to the sanctions proposed in the bill, but wanted lawmakers to consider “the issue of pardons.

Museveni told Lawmakers he had no objections to sentencing, but had doubts about rehabilitating people who have been gay in the past and would like to find a new life. normal life,” spokesperson Sandor Walusimbi tweeted.

It was agreed that the bill would return to Parliament for pardons to be considered before he could sign it into law.

Homosexuality is already illegal in the East African country under a colonial-era law that criminalizes sexual acts “against the order of nature”. This offense is punishable by life imprisonment.

The bill has broad support in Uganda, including from religious leaders and others who have called for a tough new law against gays.

10 Family Members Killed In South Africa Shooting

By
Zoe Maven
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Police in South Africa say ten members of the same family have been shot dead when their home near the city of Pietermaritzburg was ambushed early on Friday morning.

Police Minister Bheki Cele said the motive for the shooting was unclear but that two suspects had been arrested, one shot dead, the other still at large.

Addressing reporters at the scene of the shooting in the township of Imbali in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, Cele said the Police was first alerted to the shooting after neighbours heard gunshots.

According to local media, the gunmen managed to gain entry to the property after posing as police officers.

Cele confirmed they had located the suspects at the house of a traditional healer – where they had sought refuge. Police said one of the suspects – the man who was shot dead – had been on their wanted list for a long time.

It’s the second mass shooting in KwaZulu-Natal province this week after four people were shot and killed on Thursday at another home north of the port city of Durban.

In January, eight people were shot dead at a birthday party in Gqeberha city in Eastern Cape Province. It followed a string of gun attacks in bars last year, with at least 15 killed in one shooting alone.

Tunisians Ration Water Due To State-Ordered Ban During Severe Drought

By
Angel Gimalo
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A man takes some drinkable water from a source in Sidi Bou Said, north of Tunis, Wednesday, April 12, 2023. Tunisians are on the frontlines of a battle against an increasingly severe drought, now in its fifth year in the North African country, with the government issuing a sudden order to its population to ration their water usage for six months — or risk fines or jail. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)

It’s a feeble drip, drip, drip from the taps every night in Tunisia for six months. Spigots are cut off for seven hours from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. in a state-ordered water rationing in most regions across the country, including Tunis, the capital city.

Tunisians are on the front lines of a battle against an increasingly severe drought, now in its fifth year in the north African country, with the government issuing a sudden order to its population to ration their water usage from April to September — or risk fines or jail.

Households now need a supply of bottled water to wash, use toilets and prepare meals during late night hours. Authorities have also forbidden the use of potable water for irrigation of farmlands, watering green areas in cities and for cleaning streets and cars.

Water levels at almost all of Tunisia’s 30-plus dams have fallen drastically, some as low as 17 percent of their storage capacity.

The Sidi Salem dam in northwest Tunisia provides tap water to Tunis and along the Tunisian Sahel, including cities like Sfax, as well as water for irrigation around Tunis.

But water stored there is at its lowest level since its construction in 1981, the newspaper La Presse reported, quoting Faycel Khemiri, the No. 2 official for dams and hydraulic works at the Agricultural Ministry.

There’s also concern over a potentially scorching summer in Tunisia — where temperatures can top 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) — ramping up water demand and causing eventual protests over the cuts.

The country is already in the midst of an economic crisis. Talks with the International Monetary Fund for a $1.9 billion loan agreement to help finance the state stalled late last year amid Tunisia’s political tensions.

Tunisia is experiencing its worst crisis in a generation as inflation hovers around 11 percent and food supplies are increasingly scarce, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Ramadan is nearly over, but summer and the start of tourist season will turn up the heat.

Tourism is a major source of income for Tunisia, with the country of about 12 million people boasting around 850 hotels.

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