NBA legend Kobe Bryant has died in a helicopter crash aged just 41.
According to TMZ, the LA Lakers icon was travelling with three others in a private aircraft when it came down in Calabasas near LA, California, US.
It is understood up to FIVE people have died in the crash, with nobody on board surviving.
An investigation into the incident – which happened on Sunday morning – is underway.
According to reports, the helicopter went up in a ball of fire after hitting the ground.
He is survived by his wife Vanessa and their three daughters, who are thought to have not been on board.
His shock death sparked an outpouring of grief from the basketball world.
Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic tweeting: “NO PLEASE, I’m shaking this can’t be true please.”
Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love said: “Please no. Please God no. It can’t be true.”
Tristan Thompson added: “I hope this isn’t true man!!! Not Kobe.”
Bryant was drafted straight to the NBA from high school — where he won the Pennsylvania state championship in 1996.
He was picked up by the Charlotte Hornets before being traded to the Lakers.
Bryant, who stepped away from the game in 2016, spent his first 10 seasons wearing No 8 and his final 10 in No 24, with The Lakers retiring both jerseys.
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda signed an MOU with AfriGreen Sustain, a waste management social enterprise that is deviating Gulu’s solid waste management sector into an environmentally and economically sustainable model.
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Gulu, The Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda Public Affairs and Communications Manager Maureen Kyomuhendo said the partnership with Afrigreen Sustain is to enable mobilize the community to become aware of the dangers of plastic waste, as well as encourage the community to turn the challenge into job creation and income generation for the youth. It should be noted that in early 2018, the Coca-Cola Company made a commitment to work towards creating a #WorldWithoutWaste “The Coca-Cola Company and all its bottling partners are leading the industry to help collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one we sell by 2030. We’re working to bring people together to help us collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one we sell” Partnerships such as these bring us closer to our goal.
Maureen further urged the youths to embrace plastic management as an option to earning a living and a source employment for them.
On his part, Afrigreen Sustain founder and team leader Peter Okwoko said the partnership will help curb problems of plastic waste in Gulu Municipality which is soon turning into city that will come with increase in population that therefore comes with increase in use of products packed in plastics.
Okwoko added that the partnership will create employment to the youths in Gulu town. He thanked Coco-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda for the initiative and said their intervention in supporting plastic waste management in Gulu Municipality is timely and they shall work hard to ensure a visible difference in Gulu and the surrounding areas in a short period of time. We call upon other companies to emulate Coca-Cola`s example.
The biggest challenge with plastic waste management in Uganda is improper disposal mechanism and lack of recycling industries in the country. In Uganda, through Plastic Recycling Industries, an initiative of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, we are working hard to achieve the World Without Waste goal. In 2019, we collected 62% of all the plastic we sold as CCBA.
It is estimated that at least 600 tonnes of plastics are consumed every day in Uganda and most of them are disposed of in irresponsibly.
Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL) introduced their new Guinness variant Guinness Smooth in a luxurious ceremony held at the Kampala Serena Hotel gardens on Saturday night.
During the Launch, the Guinness Global Master Brewer Peter Simpson who played a major role in the making of Guinness Smooth took the invited guests through the four Flavour Rooms that speak to the character of the new beer.
The rooms included the Bittersweet Room, the Bold Room, the Rich Room and the Refreshing Room where consumers were let in on the sight, flavour, feel and taste of the new beer.
They were taken through the perfect serve for a Guinness Smooth, tasting and appreciating the perfect balance of sweet (butterscotch and toffee flavours) and bitter, and also smelling the chocolatey-coffee aromas and rich notes from roasted barley.
Speaking to guests, Mr Simpson commended Ugandans’love for the famous black liquid and couldn’t hide his excitement about people finally tasting a product that he has worked on with Ugandan brewers for a very long time.
“I cannot mention how proud I am that you all get to taste Guinness Smooth today. It is every brewer’s dream to see people taste his creation,” he said, before imploring guests to toast to Arthur Guinness who first brewed the world-renowned beer in 1759.
“Brands that don’t innovate don’t survive. 261 years and counting, this is the first innovation extension or variant of brand Guinness in Uganda. This right here is history in the making,” UBL’s Marketing Director Juliana Kaggwa said at the event.
“We are giving young vibrant millennials an opportunity to join the family of Guinness through a variant called Smooth. The brand is smooth and therefore easy on the tongue,” Ms Kaggwa said.
She noted that people have different palates and Guinness Smooth is a variant that maintains the full-bodiedcharacter of Guinness, though with bitter-sweet undertones. “It is a beer with a distinctively smooth and refreshing taste,” she said.
The night also featured performances from Uganda’s very own soul star Maurice Kirya and SheebahKarungi, arguably the hottest female artiste in the land who took guests on musical rollercoaster of some of her hits songslike Mummy Yo, Enyanda and Sweet Sensation, her banger with Nigerian star Orezi.
With the frothy, but smoother version of Guinness flowing endlessly, it was indeed as smooth life for guests and there were no “janworries” of having to dig into their pockets as it was on the house.
The Guinness Master Brewer, Peter Simpson is in town ahead of the launch ofthe new Guinness variant ‘Guinness Smooth’a beer that has hit the Ugandan market like a wave ever since it was first introduced earlier this week.
Simpsonwho has been very fundamental in the making of this particular variant will officially launch the product in a luxurious function that is slated to take place tomorrow Saturday January 25, at the Kampala Serena Hotel.
Based at St James Gate Brewery, the home of Guinness in Dublin, Simpson who joined the brewery 12 years ago prides himself in having been part of the brewing process of not only Guinness Smooth but many other Guinness variants around the world.
“I have been working closely with the local brewing team here in Uganda to develop the liquid and make sure that we have a truly unique product that is perfect for everyone to enjoy when out to catch up with friends, this is a new expression of Guinness, crafted with Ugandan consumers in mind, you need to try it” said Simpson.
Simpson is also part of a Guinness initiative that encourages innovation by its talented team of expert brewers tasked with creating new products like the Guinness Smooth & Hop House 13 and exploring new recipes while drawing inspiration from the two and a half centuries of expertise contained in the Guinness archives.
AS National Resistance Movement (NRM) celebrates 34 years in power this weekend (26th January 2020 in Ibanda), we take a look at how Entertainment Industry has thrived under this regime which is under the leadership of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
In 1986, when NRA took over power there was entertainment but not at the level it is at today.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has said have been able to perform and show off their talents because of prevailing peace and stability brought by his NRM government
With stability and peace created by NRM prevailing, the environment for improved entertainment industry was created and this didn’t take long for Ugandans to see change in the industry.
From singers to actors to entertainment venues, all these ones have developed tremendously under the NRM government with the prevailing freedom of speech and resources to use.
H.E M7 with singer Eddy Kenzo at State House Entebbe last year
While it was very difficult to host music concert those days because of security reasons, it is easy these days because the venues are very secure and very available. The likes of lates; Elly Wamala, Philly Lutaaya, Paul Kafeero were very brilliant musician but the political atmosphere at the time they were shining wasn’t conducive to their work. The late Lutaaya had to shift to Sweden because of political instabilities in Uganda at that time.
H.E M7 attending concert marking 33 years of acting by Sam Bagenda aka Dr. Bbosa at Theatre La Bonita
While promoters in 80s and 90s used to bring musicians from outside Uganda especially Congolese, this has since ceased after the rising of Ugandan singers like Jose Chameleone, Bebe Cool, Bobi Wine, Juliana Kanyomozi, Iryn Namubiru, Afrigo band become more popular under NRM. These and more led the overthrow and influx of foreign musicians in Uganda. They have become household names not only in Uganda but also East Africa and beyond.
While meeting singer Eddy Kenzo real name Idrissa Musuza in October last year at State House Entebbe, President Yoweri Museveni congratulated Eddy Kenzo, one of Uganda’s high sounding and outgoing personality in the music industry, for making very good achievements in the music and entertainment sector. “I want to congratulate Kenzo for making very good contribution in music. He was a street boy and an orphan but he had a talent of singing,” said President Museveni. President Museveni used the occasion of his meeting with musician Eddy Kenzo to appeal to the youths in Uganda to emulate the example of Mr. Kenzo to get out of poverty by exploiting their talents fully. “I appeal to the youths to use his example to get out of poverty by using their talents. If you are not singing, you can do it by farming, innovations and painting, among others, he said.
He noted that the musicians have prospered because of performing good entertainments in Uganda adding that this is possible because of the prevailing peace provided by the NRM government. He observed that Uganda is an easy destination for investment in comparison to other destinations mainly because of the prevailing peace. Not only musicians have developed but also other entertainers like comedians, actors, fashionista.
There was barely any comedian in Uganda before but look at how comedy has sprung up and led its own revolution in entertainment.
With the environment favouring one to what they want, there was birthday of comedy in Uganda which has seen several young Ugandans earn big from the industry and are now international recognized. The Amarula Family was one of the groups that led to comedy revolution. The comedy has since given birth to stars like Amooti, Alex Muhangi, Patrick Idringi Salvado, Prince Emma, Mendo Herbert Ssegujja who himself has a household name imitating His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, Anne Kansiime who has gone to shine on the world stage as a comedienne, the Fun Factory group has a lot full of talent making it big on comedy.
The film industry has also been on the rise with many Ugandans joining and creating movies and films that have seen many theatres come up to show these films. Forget about Hollywood movies and Nigeria, Uganda we now also have Kina-Uganda and our theaters have been proudly showing such films. Look at The Ebonies and Bakayimbira Dramactors, Deception, Hostel and several others have come up to act Series that being show on our televisions and cinemas.
While attending a concert to mark 33 years of acting for Mr Sam Bagenda aka Dr. Bbosa in December last year at Theatre La Bonita, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni lauded the dramatists for taking advantage of the peace brought by his government to develop their talent.
“With peace ushered in by the NRM, people are bound to exhibit talents in all aspects; Preachers will preach, actors will act, artistes will compose and sing, farmers will flourish in fields, herders will tend, everyone will get chance to showcase their God-given talent,” M7 said.
You can’t talk about entertainment without mentioning Radios and Televisions, before NRM came to power there was only one Television and Radio (both UBC). At the moment they are close to 15 TV Stations and over 300 Radio stations. With these stations, entertainers have had the chances to showcase their talents and this has led the industry to develop at a faster rate.
During this regime, we have had many earn big being Master of ceremonies and Deejays at different entertainment centres and social events. This wasn’t the case before.
Fashion industry which is also under entertainment has come up and we have had a number of Ugandan become creative in field. We have seen people like Anita Beryl, Stellah Atal, Sylvia Owori, Fatumah Asha, Judith Heard, Ahumuza Brian aka Abryanz, Jenny Linda do wonders in style and fashion. They have created different labels which have won them accolades not only in Uganda but also abroad. Televisoion fashion shows have also been allowed to air and this improved on how stars can style themselves especially when hitting stages.
Music promoters like Balaam Barugahara and others have not struggled to get gigs because they have musicians to use.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of recent while attending concerts of Bebe Cool, Catherine Kusasira and Sam Bagenda aka Dr. Bbosa pledged support to entertainers so as boost their careers. The NRM has recently created a platform to help entertainers and these days, the president meets different groups of entertainers to see who to support them in their field. This surely shows that Entertainment industry is headed for even better working environment. Congratulations to NRM upon this milestone
As celebrated Comedian Patrick Salvado celebrates a decade of comedy, international award winning star Eddy Kenzo has pledged his support for the ‘Man from Ombokolo’ and promised to serve all the Semyekozos and love niggas lemonade hits at Africa Laughs Season 5 slated to take place at KololoAirstrip on Valentine’s Day.
“Salvador is a brother and I will be at Kololo Airstrip to perform and celebrate 35 years of a brother and 10 years of him making us laugh,” said Eddy Kenzo.
Salvador will be celebrating a decade since he tradedhis blue collar job for comedy, his birthday and the Singleton Africa Laughs Season Five spiced up with Africa’s funniest comedians that will be flying in to celebrate his milestone.
Following his baby mama’s introduction to another man, Eddy Kenzo had an emotional breakdown that had him calling out for help from the Uganda Government but it also led to the birth of his hit song Semyekozo.
Being Valentine’s Day, Eddy Kenzo will be at KololoAirstrip cheering up his fellow ‘love niggas’ as his estranged lover Rema Namakula will be at Hotel Africana entertaining all the lovers.
The Africa Laughs tickets are available at all Shell outlets and Quicket online platform with early bird tickets at Shs35,000, V.I.P at Shs100,000 and VVIP at Shs300,000.
15 million Airtel Money mobile wallet users in 14 countries to have capability to route any money transfer received from across the world into their wallets.
Customers around the world will have the capability to push funds directly to an Airtel Money mobile wallet in real-time
Airtel Africaplc (“Airtel Africa” or “Group”), a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, and Western Union, a leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, today announced a strategic agreement to offer Western Union’s cross-border capability viathe Airtel Money wallet, enabling customers to move money in real-time across 14 countries in Africa .
The collaboration with Airtel Africa will enable more than 15 million Airtel Money mobile wallet users in Nigeria, Uganda, Gabon, Tanzania, Zambia, DRC, Malawi, Madagascar, Kenya, Congo, Niger, Tchad, Rwanda and Seychelles to simply route any money transfer received from across the world into their wallets. The service will allow users to send and receive Western Union Money Transfer transactions using their Airtel Money accounts. They can also use the funds to pay bills and merchants, top-up airtime and send money domestically and internationally. Service launch is expected in the course of 2020.
Global senders will also be able to direct international money transfers to Airtel Money mobile wallets using Western Union’s digital services in 75 countries plus territories, or the walk-in Agent network across more than 200 countries and territories.
“Western Union’s unique ability to partner with a growing base of tech leaders is helping Africa to connect to the global financial system and enables African companies like Airtel to pursue their global ambitions. It also drives financial inclusion and improve last mile access for millions of unbanked Africans to financial services,” said Western Union President and CEO, HikmetErsek.
“Sub-Saharan Africa is leading the way globally in mobile money and digital technology and is allowing the continent to leapfrog traditional barriers to development and accelerate economic growth. We are delighted to be part of this success story by leveraging our inclusive omnichannel approach and core assets – including global settlement capabilities, network,compliance and technology systems – to enable international cross border money transfers and payments,” Ersek said.
RaghunathMandava, CEO of Airtel Africa, said, “We are very excited to partner with Western Union to offer Airtel Money customers better access to one of the world’s largest money transfer organisations. International remittances into Africa are a lifeline to some of our customers. This partnership will give our customers the convenience and security of directly receiving and sending remittances from their Airtel mobile money wallets. They will now be automatically credited and debited via their Airtel mobile money wallets on their phone and can immediately access the funds to pay bills or merchants and transfer funds to family and friends or convert to cash from the widespread Airtel Money agents, kiosks and branches.”
This tie up with Western Union adds to other tie ups that Airtel Africa has already put in place to help customers get inflows from across the world.
Sub-Saharan Africa is a home to the world’s largest free trade area and a 1.2 billion-person market, the continent is poised to create an entirely new development path harnessing the potential of its resources and people, according to the World Bank1. GSMA2 project that in 2025, there will be nearly 6 billion unique subscribers, 5 billion mobile internet users and adoption of smartphones will reach nearly 80%.
Preparations are in high gear for the 2 days “Running out of Trees” relay from Kampala to Gulu.
The relay that will have 33 high profile and diverse runners run 10 kilometers each, is set to take place on Feb 7th and 8th February 2020. Flag off will be at Parliament.
The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Water and Environment Alfred Okot Okidi and Uganda Breweries Legal and Corporate relations director Charity Ekudu Kiyemba during the launch of the “Running out of trees” campaign in October
The “Running out of Trees Campaign” spearheaded by Uganda Breweries Limited in partnership with Ministry of Water and Environment, was launched in October 2019.
The campaign seeks to rally Corporate Companies to come together and respond to the growing concern of deforestation in the country.
So far, a number of companies have come on board to support the campaign including Liberty Assurance which recently handed over a cheque of UGX 5,000,000 to UBL towards the run. Other companies include TOTAL Uganda and StanbicUganda among others.
The Managing Director Liberty Life AssuranceJoseph Almeida and Country Head of Health, Frank Tindyebwa hand over a dummy cheque worth UGX 5, 000,000 to David Onyango, Uganda Breweries Corporate Relations Manager
The objective of this run is to rally every Ugandan to embrace April 25, 2020, the national day of tree planting on which 40million people in Uganda will be expected to plant and grow at least one tree.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has withdrawn and dropped charges of; criminal tresspass, impersonation, obtaining money by false pretense and fraud maliciously levied on Angella Katatumba by Mukesh Shukula aka Shumuk in yet another failed attempt to gain ownership of Hotel Diplomate Muyenga.
It is public knowledge that H.E Prof Boney Katatumba won his property cases against Shumuk at Commercial court.
The Honorable Justice Peter Henry Adonyo ruled very harshly against Shumuk ordering him to put all the titles back into the names of Boney Katatumba of which Shumuk fraudulently put in his names.
The titles are for the properties of Katatumba Suites, Hotel Diplomate Muyenga and Katatumba’s 200 acre Island in Banda, Kalangala. The judge further ordered Shumuk to pay Katatumba 54 Billion for the balance he owes Katatumba at Katatumba Suites. Shumuk appealed and was granted a stay of execution. The reason why he has not yet been thrown out of Katatumba Suites.
Shumuk then resorted to opening the same case that he lost, using forgeries that he is currently standing trial for at Buganda Road Court. He has so far opened cases against Angella Katatumba at; Makindye court, Lands at High Court and Execution Division, all of which he has miserably lost, in the hopes of gaining possession of Hotel Diplomaté.
The most recent case he opened against Angella Katatumba was a Private prosecution case at Makindye. The charge sheet was full of trumped up and bogus charges against Angella Katatumba of; criminal trespass, obtaining money by false pretense, cheating and impersonation at Hotel Diplomaté.
The DPP, the Honourable Justice Mike Chibita, noted that Shumuk was maliciously targeting Angella Katatumba and he then withdrew the case against Angella Katatumba and dropped all the charges of which, Makindye court then acquitted her.
Men have been advised to ejaculate for not less than 21 times in every month and five times each week if they want to avoid prostate cancer. A twitter video circulating online shows the female herbal practitioner, Dr. Ebenezar of Amuzu Hospital emphasizing the need for men to have sex frequently to safeguard themselves against dreadful cancer.
While explaining the need for men to pay attention to regular sexual habit, she backed her advice with research conducted by researchers at Harvard University which was published in a journal called the European Urology.
According to the research, men who engage in frequent sexual activity stand the chance of evading prostate cancer, and the vice versa.
The researchers observed the sexual habits of 32,000 men and came to the determination that those with a higher rate of ejaculation were less likely to have prostate tumors.
“We found that men reporting higher compared to lower ejaculatory frequency in adulthood were less likely to be subsequently diagnosed with prostate cancer. This large prospective study provides the strongest evidence to date of a beneficial role of ejaculation in the prevention of prostate cancer,” the researchers said.
Breaking down the findings of the research, they advised: “21ejaculations or more per month can protect you (males) from prostate cancer.”
Dr. James Balch, a member of the American Medical Association and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons believes that men must eat good foods to stimulate frequent sexual desire and activity in order to stay away from prostate cancer.
“If a man wants to stay out of the operating room and avoid cancer of the prostate, he needs to go full blast to avoid the high-fat junk foods and environmental toxins that contribute to prostate problems and to start a wise nutritional program that includes the basic supplements that affect the prostate,” he is quoted as saying.
To avoid sudden death of your man friend, boyfriend, husbands, women, ask your men for more sex.
