The Oscars ceremony aired early Monday morning in Seoul, but that didn’t stop tens of millions in the country from following local hero Bong Joon Ho as he made Oscars history. ‘Parasite’ moved the minds of the world,” tweeted South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in.
South Korean social media was flooded with statements of elation and celebration Monday after local hero Bong Joon Ho and his strikingly original film Parasite swept the 92 Academy Awards.
Bong and Parasite struck gold early Sunday night, first winning the Oscar for best original screenplay. Taking the stage with this co-writer Han Jin-won, Bong thanked the Academy for the “great honor,” while noting that “writing a script is a very lonely process, you never write to represent your country.”
Terrified residents of the Thai city of Nakhon Ratchasima have been reliving their ordeal after a gunman roamed around a shopping centre on a shooting spree that killed 29 people.
Some barricaded themselves in toilets or hid under tables, frantically searching for information on mobiles.
Jakraphanth Thomma began his rampage on Saturday afternoon, but it only ended with his death 16 hours later.
‘Eyimofe,’ a Nigerian movie meaning (this is my desire), has been selected for world premiere at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, billed for next month.
The movie, directed by twin brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri, will be shown at the forum section of the event holding in Germany.
‘Eyimofe’ addresses migrants’ endless pursuit for greener pastures in Europe and the reality they often meet at the end. It tells the story of two people’s quest for what they believe will be a better life in Europe.
The movie, presented by GDN Studios, was written by Chuko Esiri and produced by Melissa Adeyemo. It featured several characters including Jude Akuwudike, Tomiwa Edun, Temi Ami-Williams, Cynthia Ebijie and Jacob Alexander.
The movie’s latest feat continues what has been a amazing ride for the project which emerged 2018 ‘Purple List Award’ winner and one of ten projects chosen for last year’s IFP Narrative Lab in New York.
It also further showed Nigeria’s impressive record at the Berlin International Film Festival, considered one of the “Big Three” festivals alongside Cannes and Venice.
In 2018, Esiri and Adamu Halilu were the first Nigerian filmmakers to screen at the festival.
While Esiri’s ‘Besida’ played in the short film section, Halilu’s 1976 feature ‘Shaihu Umar‘, an adaptation of Sir Tafawa Balewa’s 1955, was viewed in the forum.
An apparently confident US President Donald Trump left Washington Monday for the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland as his historic impeachment trial begins in earnest today in the Senate.
The Democrats are calling for his removal from office, while Republican senators are determined to acquit him — and quickly, if possible.
Four months after the Ukraine scandal exploded and went on to overshadow the end of Trump’s term, and 10 months before Americans go to the polls to decide whether to re-elect him, the 100 members of the Senate will gather at 1 PM (1800 GMT) with chief justice John Roberts presiding over the trial.
The job of these lawmakers, sworn in last week as jurors, is to decide if Trump abused his office and obstructed Congress as charged in two articles of impeachment approved last month by the House of Representatives.
They state that Trump tried to pressure Ukraine into interfering in the 2020 US election to help him win, and then tried to thwart a congressional probe of his behavior.
It will be only the third time a president has endured an impeachment trial, after Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1999.
Part of the scandal centres on a July 25 telephone call in which Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s potential opponent in the November vote.
Democrats, who control the House of Representatives and led the investigation, accuse Trump of manipulating Ukraine by withholding nearly $400 million in military aid for its war against Russian-backed separatists and a White House meeting for Zelensky until the latter announced a Biden probe.
“The president did nothing wrong,” Trump’s lawyers responded in a 110-page brief submitted to the Senate on Monday.
This echoes the repeated assertions of the 73-year-old real estate magnate that the saga is a political witch hunt and a hoax, and that his phone call with the Ukrainian leader was “perfect.”
In the president’s brief, his 12-man legal team contested the very idea of his impeachment.
They called the two articles of impeachment — approved largely along party lines in the Democratic-controlled House — the product of “a rigged process” and “constitutionally deficient on their face” because they involved no violation of established law.
That team, which has recruited high profile lawyers such as Kenneth Starr, who tried to bring down Clinton over his affair with Monica Lewinsky, said in the brief, “The Senate should reject the Articles of Impeachment and acquit the president immediately.”
“President Trump abused the power of his office to solicit foreign interference in our elections for his own personal political gain, thereby jeopardising our national security, the integrity of our elections, and our democracy,” the House managers said Saturday in a memorandum.
They said the president’s behaviour “is the Framers’ worst nightmare,” referring to the authors of the US Constitution, and that Trump deserves to be removed from office.
But Trump looks almost certain to be acquitted because of the 53-47 Republican majority in the Senate.
US President Donald Trump
The first order of business Tuesday will be to set the rules, such as how long they will hear the arguments of the House managers, or prosecutors; how long they will hear the defense; the time allotted for questions, submitted by the senators but read by Roberts; and whether they will call witnesses or seek other evidence.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell late Monday proposed rules calling for each side to have 24 hours over two days to present their arguments. That makes for long trial days stretching late into the night but is a significantly quicker pace than in Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial in 1999. The chamber will debate and vote on the proposed rules Tuesday.
There are reports that two rockets landed near the US embassy in Baghdad on Monday. The extent of damage is not clear yet. Also not clear was where the rockets came from.
A BBC reporter Nafiseh Kohnavard near the scene confirmed the rockets in a tweet and said alarms were sounded warning people to take cover.
#Breaking
“Rocket attack alarms sounding off multiple times on the #US #Baghdad Embassy Complex and Union III. Heard the booms myself on Union III. Speakers telling all to take shelter immediately.” pic.twitter.com/F1lpbWm9RE
— Nafiseh Kohnavard (@nafisehkBBC) January 20, 2020
In recent times, rockets had targeted some military bases used by the US soldiers, after Iranian missile attacks on 8 January on Al Asad and Erbil air bases. Although the US initially claimed no person was injured or killed, a dew days ago, the Pentagon admitted some injuries to 11 US soldiers.
The US has blamed recent rocket attacks on the Green Zone on Iran-backed paramilitary groups. There has never been a claim of responsibility.
American actor and film producer William Bradley known as Brad Pitt and his former wife Jennifer Aniston are causing a frenzy on Twitter after the duo won Screen Actors Guild Awards at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday, reunited and shared hugs.
The lovebirds separated in 2005 after Pitt had an affair with co-star Angelina Jolie. They were pictured hugging and smiling at each other as they reunited backstage.
Pitt won the award for the best supporting actor for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood. While Aniston took home the award for her work in the Morning Show.
Lol this brad & Jen thing is trending ..& ppl tryiing say how Angelina probably mad..like do y’all not know she left him??? Bcuz he a druunk & wasn’t giving his wife& kids a safe environment to live in lol …
the longing for brad + jen is deep down the hope to mend something from the past which we hope was not irrevocably over; it’s not about them so as much as it is about the fantasy that no door is ever closed
Following an exit announcement from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from their royal duties as ‘Duke and Duchess of Sussex’, the British Premier Queen Elizabeth released a statement at the Buckingham Palace on Saturday.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan had earlier announced last week that they will no longer be working members of Britain’s royal family and they will not use their “royal highness” titles as they embark on a more independent future.
Read Queen Elizabeth’s statement below:
“Following many months of conversations and more recent discussions, I am pleased that together we have found a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family.
Harry, Meghan, and Archie will always be much-loved members of my family.
I recognize the challenges they have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the last two years and support their wish for a more independent life.
Queen Elizabeth | Meghan Markle | Prince Harry
I want to thank them for all their dedicated work across this country, the Commonwealth and beyond, and I am particularly proud of how Meghan has so quickly become one of the family.
It is my whole family’s hope that today’s agreement allows them to start building a happy and peaceful new life.”
Hollywood actor, Brad Pitt and his ex-wife Jennifer Aniston reunited and shared hugs after the duo won Screen Actors Guild Awards at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday.
The couple, who went their separate ways in 2005 after Pitt had an affair with co-star Angelina Jolie, were pictured hugging and smiling at each other as they reunited backstage.
Pitt won the award for the best supporting actor for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood. While Aniston took home the award for her work in The Morning Show.
When the pair met backstage, they were pictured hugging and smiling at each other. In one photo, Aniston, 50, was seen gently placing her hand on Pitt’s chest as he held her arm before they went their separate ways.
In his acceptance speech, Pitt poked fun at his being single. ‘ I have to add this to my Tinder profile,’ the actor said as he held the statue.
‘Thank you, my brothers, my sisters. This means so much. More than I can possibly fathom. I want you to know I watch everything. I watch you all, and the work has been mesmerizing. So I thank you.’
‘I want to thank my co-stars, Leo [DiCaprio], Margot Robbie, Margot Robbie’s feet,’ Pitt said.
Moments later, Aniston received her own statue, winning for best actress in a drama and Pitt was filmed watching his ex-wife on a television screen backstage as she gave her own acceptance speech.
Aniston and Pitt were married for five years before he started seeing Jolie. In 2014, Pitt, now 54, and Jolie, 44, got married in 2014, before shocking the world with their divorce announcement in 2016. Their divorce was finalized in 2019.
At least two persons were killed and 15 people were reportedly injured in a shooting outside a bar in Kansas City, United States, celebrating the Kansas City Chiefs NFL playoff victory over Tennessee Titans Sunday night.
The shooting took place shortly before midnight, when a gunman opened fire on a queue of people waiting to enter a bar, Mail Online reported.
Two persons were found dead, including a woman in the parking lot of the 9ine Ultra Lounge, police said.
A Facebook post on the club’s page advertised Sunday night’s ‘Sold Out Sundays’ event, which appeared to be a celebration of the Kansas City Chiefs.
American rapper, Cardi B has taken to Instagram to share a video from her first date with her husband,Offset, which was at the Superbowl.
“My friend,” she said as she introduced Offset in the video that was taken 4 years ago.
She went on to add in the video that she had no idea what’s going on and who to support because she doesn’t watch sports and was only there for the Superbowl halftime performance, which she missed.
Sharing the video to IG, Cardi wrote: “This wasn’t the first time I met offset but it was our first date .SUPERBOWL. I can’t believe this boutta be 4 years ago.
Lawwwwwwdddd !”
Rappers Cardi B and Offset have had quite the ride since they first met somewhere around four years ago. Theymet for the first time somewhere around early 2017, at his request.
The couple’s first collaboration was released just prior to their first date at Super Bowl LI. Offset collaborated with Cardi on the track “Lick” for her second mixtape “Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 2,” which was released on January 20, 2017.
Cardi confirmed their relationship status in an Instagram post on Valentine’s Day 2017 — then deleted it. The couple were secretly married in September 2017 and welcomed their baby girl named ‘Kulture’ on July 10, 2018.
Former US First Lady Michelle Obama, like her husband Barack, has revealed her fondness for Burna Boy’s music.
In a Twitter post Sunday, Michelle listed the Nigerian singer’s ‘My Money, My Baby’ song on her workout playlist for 2020.
“It’s about that time when New Year’s resolutions get a bit harder to stick to. To offer a little inspiration, I want to share my go-to #WorkoutPlaylist with you. These songs always seem to give me that extra boost to get through my toughest workouts. What’s on your playlist?,” she wrote.
She listed many songs, with Burna Boy’s appearing as number four on the list.
Former US President Barack Obama had late in December listed Burna Boy and Mavin Records new sensation Rema among his ‘Favourite Music of 2019’.
Sixth on the 35-song list is Burna Boy’s Anybody and 26th is Rema’s Iron Man.
Reality TV star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian West said she had successfully completed her first year of law studies while preparing to release a documentary about her advocacy work for criminal justice reform.
“Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project” will debut on the Oxygen cable network on April 5. The two-hour film will show West visiting prisons and working alongside legal experts on four cases of people they believe have been unfairly sentenced.
West, 39, said she works daily on her law studies for a total of 20 hours per week and just completed her first year of a four-year apprenticeship program in California. She is aiming to take the bar exam in 2022.
Her late father, Robert Kardashian, was a prominent Los Angeles lawyer who was part of the legal team that represented football star O.J. Simpson in his 1995 trial and acquittal for double murder.
West is best known for developing beauty and fashion products and chronicling her life with her sisters on TV’s “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” She became interested in criminal justice reform after helping to win the release two women from prison.
At a discussion about her new documentary, West was asked how she would respond to people who may think she had attached herself to the cause in order to burnish her well-known brand.
“I’m very used to criticism, so nothing really fazes me,” West said at the event organized by the Television Critics Association.
“I really genuinely just stay focused on the cases and the people,” she added. “I’m not doing it for publicity. I really do care.”
Vince DiPersio, an executive producer of “The Justice Project,” said West was taking on a “fair amount of risk” by advocating for the release of prisoners.
“She is a nationally known figure and she has a big brand. God forbid someone gets out and does something terrible, but Kim is willing to take that risk,” he said.
In 2018, West successfully lobbied President Donald Trump to commute the life sentence of a 63-year-old Tennessee woman convicted of a first drug offense. In early 2019, she helped win clemency for another Tennessee woman who had been convicted as a teenager of murdering a man who paid to have sex with her.
Some of the people featured in the documentary were brought to West’s attention by letters sent directly to her. She said she works on some of the cases herself and sends others to attorneys she believes can help.
West said she hopes the documentary will convince viewers that there are people who deserve a second chance even if they were involved in a violent crime.
“You really have no idea what was on the other end and what led them to those decisions,” West said. “I hope people can be more empathetic.”
World leaders gather in Berlin on Sunday to make a fresh push for peace in Libya, in a desperate bid to stop the conflict-wracked nation from turning into a “second Syria”.
Chancellor Angela Merkel will be joined by the presidents of Russia, Turkey and France and other world leaders for talks from around 2:00 pm (1300 GMT) held under the auspices of the United Nations.
The summit’s main goal is to get foreign powers wielding influence in the region to stop interfering in the war — be it through weapons, troops or financing.
Leaders of both warring factions — strongman Khalifa Haftar and the head of Tripoli’s UN-recognised government Fayez al-Sarraj — are also expected at what is the first such gathering since 2018.
Speaking to reporters before leaving Istanbul for Berlin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the summit could be “an important step on the way to cementing the ceasefire and a political solution” in Libya.
But pro-Haftar forces upped the ante ahead of the talks by blocking oil exports at Libya’s key ports, crippling the country’s main income source in protest at Turkey’s decision to send troops to shore up Sarraj’s Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA).
The move underlined the devastating impact of foreign influence in the crisis.
“Libya needs all foreign interference to stop,” the United Nations’ special envoy Ghassan Salame told AFP.
The UN hopes all sides will sign up to a plan to refrain from interference, and commit to a truce that leads to a lasting end to hostilities, according to a draft of a final communique seen by media.
That document also urges all parties to re-commit to a much-violated UN arms embargo and raises the prospect of intra-Libyan political talks in Geneva at the end of the month.
If all goes to plan, the Berlin participants will hold an evening press conference.
But the summit has already ruffled feathers, with several countries in the region fuming at being left out, including Greece, Morocco and Tunisia.
Libya has been torn by fighting between rival armed factions since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising killed dictator Muammar Ghadafi
Most recently, Sarraj’s troops in Tripoli have been under attack since April from Haftar’s forces.
Clashes killed more than 280 civilians and 2,000 fighters and displaced tens of thousands, until a fragile ceasefire backed by both Ankara and Moscow was put in place on January 12.
At follow-up talks in Moscow, Sarraj agreed to a permanent truce but Hafter walked away without signing the deal.
Although Sarraj’s government is recognised by the UN, powerful players have broken away to stand behind Haftar — turning a domestic conflict into what is essentially a proxy war in which international powers jostle to secure their own interests.
Alarm grew internationally after Erdogan ordered troops to Libya early January to bolster Sarraj.
Underlining the stakes involved, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said “we have to make sure Libya doesn’t become a second Syria.”
Sarraj meanwhile issued a call for international “protection troops” if Haftar were to keep up his offensive.
President Donald Trump’s legal team presented Saturday its line of defense for his upcoming impeachment trial, a process they dismissed as unconstitutional and “dangerous.”
It was the first time the team presented its arguments, modeled on those put forward since December by Trump and his fellow Republicans.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone will be lead lawyer, backed by Trump’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow. They will be joined by Ken Starr, who was at the center of Bill Clinton’s impeachment in the 1990s, and celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz.
In an initial response to the president being charged, written by Cipollone and Sekulow, the defense said that the articles of impeachment — passed by the majority-Democrat House of Representatives — “are a dangerous attack on the right of the American people to freely choose their president.”
“This is a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 election,” the team said in a statement.
Trump has been impeached on charges that he abused his office to try and force Ukraine into digging up dirt on leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden by withholding $400 million in military aid and a White House meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He was also impeached for allegedly obstructing Congress.
“The articles of impeachment are constitutionally invalid on their face. They fail to allege any crime or violation of law whatsoever,” the defense team said.
In a call with reporters earlier Saturday, a source close to Trump’s legal team said the articles violate the Constitution because they are “the product of invalid proceedings that flagrantly denied the president any due process rights.”
The impeachment process risks doing “lasting damage to our structure of government,” the source said.
The sources added that Trump had met with Zelensky at the UN in September and that the military aid had been released, proving there was no quid pro quo with Kiev — although by that point, a whistle-blower within the administration had already triggered the impeachment proceedings.
The House managers, or prosecutors in the impeachment trial, filed their official brief on Saturday, in which they said that Trump’s conduct “is the Framers’ worst nightmare,” referring to the authors of the US Constitution.
President Donald Trump
“The case against the President of the United States is simple, the facts are indisputable, and the evidence is overwhelming,” the managers said in a joint statement after filing the brief.
“President Trump abused the power of his office to solicit foreign interference in our elections for his own personal political gain, thereby jeopardizing our national security, the integrity of our elections, and our democracy.”
The Democratic U.S. lawmakers leading the impeachment case against Republican President Donald Trump said on Saturday the president must be removed from office to protect national security and preserve the country’s system of government.
In a 60-page brief filed ahead of a Saturday deadline, the lawmakers laid out their arguments supporting charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress against the president.
“The Senate should convict and remove President Trump to avoid serious and long term damage to our democratic values and the nation’s security,” the lawmakers said, for the first time formally calling for the Senate to convict the president and remove him from office.
“The case against the president of the United States is simple, the facts are indisputable, and the evidence is overwhelming,” they said.
Trump’s legal team issued a resounding rejection of the House of Representatives’ impeachment, calling the charges a “dangerous attack on the right of the American people to freely choose their president.”
“This is a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 election — now just months away,” they argued in a six-page document released on Saturday.
It was the first time Trump had formally addressed the merits of the two articles of impeachment – abuse of power and obstruction of Congress – that the Democratic-led House approved late last year.
The two articles, aimed at ousting Trump from office, form the basis of a trial that will begin in earnest on Tuesday in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Trump and Democratic lawmakers offered duelling arguments about the politically polarizing impeachment case involving Trump’s attempt to persuade Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden last year.
“President Trump categorically and unequivocally denies each and every allegation in both articles of impeachment,” the Trump lawyers’ document said. (For full document see here)
As well as the charge of abuse of office for pressuring Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son Hunter Biden, Trump is also accused of obstructing Congress in its investigation into his conduct.
“An acquittal would also provide license to President Trump and his successors to use taxpayer dollars for personal political ends,” the Democratic lawmakers’ brief said.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and has accused Democrats of a partisan-driven effort to undo his 2016 election victory.
The Senate trial is unlikely to lead to Trump’s ouster, as no Republican senators have voiced support for doing so.
Republican President Donald Trump
The Trump lawyers, in their document, argued that Trump acted at all times with full constitutional legal authority, said one of three sources close to Trump’s legal team who briefed reporters on a conference call on Saturday.
“We will take the facts head on and we believe that the facts will prove, and have proven, that the president did absolutely nothing wrong,” the source said.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan will no longer be working members of Britain’s monarchy and they will pay their own way in life as they embark on an independent future, Buckingham Palace said on Saturday.
They will also no longer use their “Royal Highness” titles, the palace said in an announcement that sought to end turmoil in the monarchy sparked earlier this month when the couple announced they wanted to reduce their official duties and spend more time in North America.
The queen and senior family members met last week to discuss the situation and have been in “constructive and friendly” discussions with officials on how this stepping back would work in practice for Harry, 35, and his American wife, former actress Meghan, 38.
“Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved members of my family,” Queen Elizabeth said in a statement issued by the palace, referring to the couple’s baby son.
“I recognize the challenges they have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the last two years and support their wish for a more independent life.”
The queen said she was “particularly proud” of how quickly Meghan had become one of the family. The couple married in May 2018 in a lavish ceremony at her home in Windsor Castle, west of London in front of a global TV audience of millions.
Harry will remain a prince and the couple will keep their titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex as they begin a new life split between North America and Britain, but they will not take part in any future ceremonial events or royal tours.
The Statements by Queen Elizabeth and Buckingham Palace:
Statement from HM The Queen.
Following many months of conversations and more recent discussions, I am pleased that together we have found a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family.
Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved members of my family.
I recognise the challenges they have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the last two years and support their wish for a more independent life.
I want to thank them for all their dedicated work across this country, the Commonwealth and beyond, and am particularly proud of how Meghan has so quickly become one of the family.
It is my whole family’s hope that today’s agreement allows them to start building a happy and peaceful new life.
Statement from Buckingham Palace
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are grateful to Her Majesty and the Royal Family for their ongoing support as they embark on the next chapter of their lives.
As agreed in this new arrangement, they understand that they are required to step back from Royal duties, including official military appointments. They will no longer receive public funds for Royal duties.
With The Queen’s blessing, the Sussexes will continue to maintain their private patronages and associations. While they can no longer formally represent The Queen, the Sussexes have made clear that everything they do will continue to uphold the values of Her Majesty.
The Sussexes will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the Royal Family.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have shared their wish to repay Sovereign Grant expenditure for the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage, which will remain their UK family Markle
Prince Harry & Meghan Markle
Buckingham Palace does not comment on the details of security arrangements. There are well established independent processes to determine the need for publicly-funded security.
This new model will take effect in the Spring of 2020.
World boxing heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua has officially presented his four title belts to President Muhammadu Buhari, which he regained after beating Mexican-American, Andy Ruiz Jnr in a rematch in Saudi Arabia in December.
The British-Nigerian celebrated his recent victory with the President on Saturday when the Nigerian leader met with some Nigerians living in the United Kingdom.
The 30-year-old surprised everyone in the room as he prostrated to pay homage to President Buhari, in line with the tradition of the Yoruba .
The President congratulated Joshua, who was the cynosure of all eyes during the meeting, on regaining his world championship belt, as well as putting Nigeria “on the world map again like Hogan Bassey.”
On his part, Joshua pledged to “stand up for Nigeria anytime you need me.”
Joshua beat the Mexican-American boxer, Andy Ruiz Jr., through a unanimous decision.
The victory helped him to reclaim the IBF, WBO, WBA and IBO heavyweight world championship belts he lost to Ruiz Jr. in June.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Anthony Joshua, second left, with Buhari, FM Onyeama and High Commissioner in UK, Justice Oguntade
An extended photo of all the people who witnessed the special presentation by Anthony Joshua
Joshua’s parents are from Ogun State. Joshua visited Lagos in July and spent weeks socialising.
Following Joshua’s victory in December, President Buhari rejoiced with him and saluted him for bringing joy to millions of Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora, who had rooted for him to regain the titles he lost in New York last June.
Joshua also used the opportunity of the meeting to request a selfie with Buhari, which the President granted.
Celine Dion took some time during her concert in Miami, Florida to speak about some emotional memories of her mother, Thérèse Tanguay Dion.
On stage at the American Airlines Arena, the 51-year-old singer said, “I’m pretty sure that you heard the news about my mom passing away early this morning. But I’m doing okay.
“My mom was 92. She was ill for quite a while. And we knew she wouldn’t be with us long.
“Two days ago, we got a call from the nurses who were taking care of her so well, saying that her time was coming soon. Very soon. So last night, I joined my brothers and sisters in Montreal and I spent the evening at her bedside.”
“We told stories. We sang songs. We hugged each other. And we said our goodbyes.
“We are pretty sure that mom waited for us to be all together before [she passed],” Celine said of the emotional night according to footage from the concert obtained by TMZ.
Celine Dion also shared a tribute to her mom on Instagram on Friday and confirmed that her tour would continue after her mother’s reported death on Thursday.
58-year old singer, Celine Dion
“Maman, we love you so much… We dedicate tonight’s show to you and I’ll sing to you with all my heart. Love, Céline,” she wrote.
Thérèse died on Thursday at age 92 after months of declining health. Celine’s father, Adhémar Dion, died at age 80 in 2003.
