Author: Ewang Johnson
Many people celebrated Christmas Day with a traditional mass on Thursday, while others enjoyed the holiday with tiramisu at Sydney’s Bondi Beach or watching a parade of Ukrainian soldiers in Lviv. In Bethlehem, Christians celebrated their first festive Christmas in over two years as the occupied West Bank city emerged from the shadow of the war in Gaza. Source link
Ghana has taken a major step toward regulating digital finance after parliament passed a law legalizing the widespread use of cryptocurrency. The new Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill aims to bring the booming but previously unregulated market under oversight. This move directly responds to central bank estimates that 17% of Ghanaian adults, about 3 million people, are already engaging with virtual assets. The legislation will establish a licensing system for crypto platforms, aiming to improve transparency, protect consumers, and stabilize the national currency, the cedi. Officials believe formal regulation will also lower banking costs and support small businesses. With crypto transactions in…
FRANCE 24’s Charli James previews the new exhibit “All About Love” at the Grand Palais in Paris, which is celebrating the superstar American artist Mickalene Thomas. It spans 20 years of her striking, multi-disciplinary work that rewrites the role of Black women in art history. Plus, a special Christmas show at the Palace of Versailles imagines how the holidays looked inside the court of King Louis XIV. Source link
Host nation Morocco kicked off their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations campaign with a hard-fought victory over Comoros, securing a 2-0 win in rainy Rabat. After missing an early penalty, the Atlas Lions struggled to break down a disciplined Comoros side until Brahim Díaz struck early in the second half. The match then opened up, with both goalkeepers tested, before substitute Ayoub El Kaabi sealed victory with a spectacular overhead kick. Morocco managed the win despite injuries to key defenders and the absence of their captain, Achraf Hakimi. The result extends their record-winning streak to 19 matches. However, sterner tests lie…
🇧🇷🇫🇷From Rio to Paris, @BiancaCosta is blending bossa nova and rap into her own sound, the bossa trap. The result? 50 million streams worldwide 🌍 Now 26, she’s releasing her debut album, “Gringa”, Portuguese for “the foreigner”. Speaking with FRANCE 24’s Stella Elgersma, she talks about Brazilian creative energy, the musical influences in her album and her friendship with Neymar. Source link
Getty ImagesVirginia Giuffre’s powerful posthumous autobiography Nobody’s Girl detailed her sexual abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and his circle (Credit: Getty Images)But 2025 was also a year when memoirs attracted attention for the wrong reasons. Journalist Olivia Nuzzi’s much-hyped American Canto which, among other things, detailed her “digital affair” with Robert F Kennedy, was called “aggressively awful” a “hate-read” and “insufferable filler” by critics. Despite generating hundreds of column inches of coverage, the book sold fewer than 1,200 copies in its first week.In September, the New York Times published a story that raised questions over Amy Griffin’s hit…
By Frank EleanyaWhen President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of Nigeria’s decades-old fuel subsidy in May 2023, the shockwaves were immediate and severe. Overnight, petrol prices surged from ₦185 ($0.36) to above ₦500 ($0.96) per litre, later climbing past ₦600 ($1.15). As households and businesses struggled with the inflationary fallout, the policy shift also reshaped the economics of transportation, creating an unexpected opening for alternatives to petrol-powered vehicles.That was the beginning for SAGLEV, a company positioning itself as Nigeria’s first electric-only vehicle manufacturer. While existing local automakers such as NORD and Innoson Motors have introduced electric models, the bulk of their…
There’s nothing more innately human than humming a tune. Especially when it’s made by humans. But don’t bother trying to see The Velvet Sundown in concert: the band doesn’t exist. The sounds are produced with artificial intelligence. Source link
The blockbuster based on the brick-building video game came top at the US box office – and, with their “chicken-jockey” chaos, its colourful screenings pointed to the future of cinema.Oppenheimer is a cerebral drama with Cillian Murphy as the scientist who invents the atom bomb. A Minecraft Movie is a zany video game adaptation with Jack Black belting out a song about “lava chicken”. But the two films have a lot in common. The obvious thing is that they each made almost $1bn at the global box office: A Minecraft Movie is currently the highest grossing film of 2025 in…
Author: Kojo RichmanKimberley doesn’t announce itself loudly. It reveals itself slowly through dust, distance, and stories that sit heavier than the landscape suggests.By the time we arrived, the city was already in motion. Skaters from across the African continent were rolling in, boards under arms, accents colliding, styles distinct yet familiar. There was no spectacle yet, just anticipation. That quiet hum before something meaningful unfolds.The Kimberley Diamond Cup wasn’t just another competition. With a R300,000 prize purse equal for both male and female skaters, it set a non-negotiable standard. No grandstanding about equality. Just action. Same prize. Same respect. Same…