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Wednesday 22 April 2015

Court discharges KKD

The ongoing rape case against ace broadcaster, Kwesi Kyei Darkwa (KKD) has been dropped by state prosecutors. 

The judge has subsequently dismissed the case after the state prosecutors filed a nolle prosequi. Stating the reasons for their decision the state prosecutors said “the vicitm in this case Ewureffe is still very unwilling to testify in court. 

The AG is mindful of the provisions under the prosecutors code one of which is that the best interest of the victim is to be considered in cases of this nature in deciding whether to prosecute a case or not.” 


“The other witness in this case who are mostly family members of Ewureffe are also unwilling to testify,” the lawyers said.

Below is the full statement the state prosecutors presented in court today, Wednesday 22nd April.

The Attorney General has entered a nolle prosequi for the following reasons:

1 The Victim in this case Ewureffe is still very unwilling to testify in court. The victim states that she is highly traumatized by the events on the day of the incident and its aftermath and so is not in the right frame of mind to appear before the court.

Thus the Attorney General believes that it is not in the best interest of the victim and the prosecution to present her before the court at this point in time. The AG is mindful of the provisions under the Prosecutors code one of which is that the best interest of the victim is to be considered in cases of this nature in deciding whether to prosecute a case or not.

2. The other witness in this case who are mostly family members of Ewureffe are also unwilling to testify. The AG believed in the case and so held on to it with the hope that the witnesses will willingly appear to testify when they are needed by the court. This is not to say that the AG is unaware of the various legal processes at her disposal to compel the witnesses to appear before the court. 

It is to be noted that the AG still believes in the case and reserves the right to commence the prosecution once the victim and witnesses are ready. 

Signed 
Attorney-General 

Saturday 11 April 2015

Shatta-Sark Vrs VGMA?

A user's photo.
Shatta Wale’s Mixtape Beach Party comes off today April 11, 2015 at Shatta Beach (Ussher Fort, near James Town in Accra)
Sarkodie who recently went on a Twitter rant about the seeming disrespect of Ghanaian artistes by Charter House, organizers of the Vodafone sponsored Ghana Music Awards, is expected to make a guest appearance.
The event, powered by Shatta Movement, BullHaus Entertainment and RichGame Records, have lined up performances from Pope Skinny and his Asuoden family, Ruddest boss Rudebwoy Ranking and his RM Crew, Rashid Mettal and his Zaafi Empire, Ara-B and his Osumania Clique, Chameleon, Basterro, Shineybwoy, Nino Vybes among several other ‘underground’ dancehall artistes. Fast rising social commentator, BELIEVE, will be on board with his “NOTIFICATIONS”.
Interestingly, today April 11, 2015 happens to be the biggest night on Ghana’s entertainment calender. It is the Vodafone sponsored Ghana Music Awards. This is an event to award artiste for their hard work in the year under review. Shatta Wale, who warned against any nomination by the event organizers because of his legal tussle and his supposed ‘poisoning of food to be served by Charter House, is organizing a beach party to celebrate with his friends.
Last year, Shatta Wale was at war with organisers, Charter House, over performance fees. Shatta Wale eventually withdrew his services from the show. He boycotted the event but went ahead to win the topmost Artiste of The Year Award. He has since been blacklisted by Charter House and all her subsidiaries.
How will Shatta-Sark’s Mixtape Beach Party fare against the might of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards? Well, let’s get ready to rumble.
Credit: RKB
Mixtape Beach Party

Sunday 9 November 2014

Sisqo - Biography

Birth Name: Mark Althavean Andrews
Birth Place: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Years Active: 1995–present
Genres: Pop, Rap/Hip Hop, Soul/R&B


Mark Althavean Andrews was born on November 9, 1978 and is an American R&B singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. He is known by his stage name Sisqó, and as the lead singer of the R&B group, Dru Hill. In 1999 Dru Hill went their separate ways so that each band member could pursue solo projects. 

Sisqó's debut album, “Unleash the Dragon,” was released that same year on Def Soul Records. The album was a moderate success and spawned the hit, “Thong Song.” The single peaked at #3 on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart. 

Sisqó began work on his second album around the same time that he was offered the opportunity to host the MTV show, “Shakedown.” Sisqó also took on acting roles in the films: “Get Over It” (2001), and “Snow Dogs” (2002).

His second offering, “Return of Dragon” appeared in 2001, however the album was not a commercial success and Sisqó returned to working with Dru Hill, who put out their third album in 2002. The group's album did not do as well as expected and Dru Hill were dropped from their record label. 




Matt Damon Confirms He'll Be Back As Jason Bourne

Matt Damon has confirmed that he'll be reprising his role as Jason Bourne in another film based on late author Robert Ludlum's spy series.

The actor, who last starred in The Bourne Ultimatum before Jeremy Renner took the mantle of the title character in 2012's "The Bourne Legacy."

Damon and pal Ben Affleck were in Los Angeles on Friday to promote season four of HBO's "Project Greenlight" and introduce winner Jason Mann, who the two will mentor during the upcoming season. During the event, Affleck let it slip that Damon, who was rumored to be in talks for a return back in September, will reunite with director Paul Greengrass for a fourth Bourne film together.

"Well, he's going to be doing a Bourne movie next fall when I've just completely lost any semblance of physical fitness," Affleck told E! News.

Damon confirmed the news, adding, "Yes, next year. It'll be in 2016 when the movie will actually come out."

"Paul Greengrass is going to do another one and that's all I ever said. I just needed him to say yes," Damon added.

Greengrass originally had no plans on doing another, telling Deadline.com, "In the end I felt I had given it my all in two films I'm very proud of ["The Bourne Supremacy" and "The Bourne Ultimatum"] and didn't want to make another if I didn't believe it could be as good if not better.
"I couldn't come up with an idea, and the business reality of franchises is that when a studio has a Bourne, they're obliged to make one every couple of years," he added. "I discovered in my heart I didn't have another one in me."

Fortunately for fans, Greengrass has had a change of heart, and he and Damon will begin filming their thirdBourne flick together next year.

As for "Project Greenlight," Affleck and Damon resurrected the series earlier this yearafter it was canceled in 2005 following the third season.

The documentary series follows the entire filmmaking process and Damon and Affleck will mentor Mann as he directs his movie. The two stars are also over the moon about their new director.

"Jason should be doing this, this is what he is meant to do, and he's really, really good at it," Damon told People. "I think he's somebody who, in 25 years, we'll look back and he'll have made a lot of wonderful movies, all kinds of different movies, and we'll say, 'Of course this is the guy that got that job!'"

"Jason was, by far, the best, and we were really, really impressed by him and we really feel confident that he's going to do something special for us and HBO," Affleck added.

The show is set for a return in spring 2015.

Photo Credits: © WENN

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Rihanna Goes Topless For Esquire UK


Rihanna returned to Instagram on Monday following a hiatus since May, when she shut down her account because the site kept deleting her topless photos.

Now she's back and posting like wildfire, ironically adding several topless shots from her new shoot for the UK version of Esquire magazine.

The singer sizzles in several of the shots, which are borderline NSFW, going topless in several of them. She even pushed the limits of the site, as in one shot part of her nipple and nipple piercing are visible, while a second shot also leaves little to the imagination.

The shots were taken by famed photographer Ellen Von Unwerth, and in the issue RiRi dishes on some of her favorite recipes.

The issue is on newsstands now in the UK, but the magazine's website promises to post more info, including her recipes and a behind-the-scenes video of her shoot later this week. The site does feature several more sexy shots of the singer in various stages of undress though.







Photo Credits: Ellen Von Unwerth for Esquire Magazine

Saturday 1 November 2014

Aishwarya Rai - Biography


Birth Name: Aishwarya Rai
Born: 11/01/1973
Birth Place: Mangalore, Karnataka, IN


Born Nov. 1, 1973 in the Karnatka port city of Mangalore, India, Aishwarya Rai was the youngest of two children by Krishnaraj Rai, a marine biologist, and his wife, Brindya. A stellar student, she initially considered a career in medicine before settling on architecture. However, she had dabbled in modeling while in high school, and took it up again to pay for her college education at Raheja College. A commercial for Pepsi Cola, filmed during an outbreak of riots in Mumbai, instantly boosted her profile, and she was soon gracing magazines like Vogue and advertisements for Longines watches, Coca-Cola, and De Beers diamonds. In 1994, she took part in the Miss India competition, where she claimed second place, before capturing the Miss World title that same year.

Rai soon gave up her studies and relocated to London to continue her modeling career.Three years later, she made her feature film debut in "Iruvar" (1997), a political thriller based on real-life actor turned Prime Minister M.G. Ramachandran. Rai played two roles - a village girl loved by the film's Ramachandran figure, and an aggressive actress who began an affair with him. The film, produced by the South Indian-based Tamil film industry, was a sizable and controversial hit - Ramachandran was considered semi-divine after his death in 1987 - and led to Rai's Bollywood debut in the romantic drama " Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya" (1997), featuring popular leading man Bobby Deol. Though not a box office success, it further rebranded Rai as an actress and earned her a Most Promising Newcomer from the Star Screen Awards. The following year, Rai returned to the Tamil industry for the musical romance "Jeans" (1998). A comedy-drama of errors surrounding a pair of Stateside twin brothers (Prashanth Thyagarajan) who enlist Rai in a scheme to please their father by marrying twins, the film was shot at numerous locations around the world, including Los Angeles, the Grand Canyon, New York City and Paris in order to accommodate a musical number in which Rai is compared to the seven wonders of the world. As a result, "Jeans" was among the most expensive Indian films ever produced, and became India's submission for Best Foreign Film for the 1998 Academy Awards.The exposure afforded by "Jeans" gave Rai's career the boost it needed, and she surprised many by steering away from glossy roles built around her looks in favor of more dramatic parts.
She began earning numerous awards and her first bona fide box office hit with "Hun Dil De Chuke Sanam" (1999), a melancholy romance about arranged marriage, with Rai playing a lovelorn wife whose husband helped her find her first and true love. That same year, she received even stronger reviews as a humble pop star whose relationship with a wealthy young man was damaged by familial and class conflicts in "Taal" (1999). A major hit with non-resident Indian viewers, it became the first Indian film to reach the top 20 on Variety's box office list. Both films began a lengthy string of critical and commercial hits for Rai, which culminated with 2002's "Devdas." A melodrama based on a classic Indian novel, the period piece starred movie idol Shahrukh Khan and Rai as lovers torn apart by his mother's rejection of their relationship. One of the most expensive Bollywood film ever produced, "Devdas" swept the Indian awards, reaping Filmfare and Star Screen awards for Rai, and made international headlines for a special screening at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, which eventually led to its submission as Best Foreign Film at the 1999 Oscars.

The gathering momentum behind Rai's career exploded after the release of "Devdas." She was soon a highly visible presence around the globe, joining L'Oreal's "Dream Team" of global brand ambassadors alongside such international beauties as Catherine Denueve, Penelope Cruz and Andie Macdowall in 2003. That same year, Rai also became the first Indian actor to become a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival. Her face was featured on magazine covers and layouts, including TIME magazine, which listed her among its "100 Most Influential People in the World" column in 2004, as well as GQ, the New York Times, and countless others. The UK's Hello magazine named her the most attractive woman in the world that same year, a label that would follow Rai for years to come.Rai's film career stood in sharp contrast to the overwhelming media attention that followed her during 2003 and 2004. A string of high-profile dramas failed to attract audiences, and her English-language debut in "Bride and Prejudice" (2004), Gurinder Chadha's Bollywood take on Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," was met with middling reviews and box office returns. A brief reprieve came in the form of the police thriller "Khakee" (2004), with Rai playing a witness to a violent terrorist organization's crimes. It became the fifth highest-grossing Indian film of the year, but was soon followed by more disappointments, including her second English-language film, "The Mistress of Spices" (2005), with Rai as a mystical shopkeeper and Dylan McDermott as the American who loves her. A remake of "Umrao Jaan" (2006), with Rai as a famed courtesan, drew negative comparisons to the 1981 original, starring beloved Bollywood actress Rekha, who met Rai as a teenager and complimented her on her looks.

Rai bounced back in a blockbuster way with "Dhoom 2" (2006), the second film in an incredibly popular series of Hollywood style action movies. Rai was the film's supporting villainess, a master thief who aided the series' chief bad guy, Mr. A, before succumbing to the charms of detective Jai (Abhishek Bachchan). The expensive thriller became the one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films in both its native country and abroad, and re-established Rai's star status, despite a storm of controversy over a kissing scene between her and Hrithik Roshan, who played Mr. A.

The following year, Bachchan and Rai, who had been frequent co-stars since 1997, announced their engagement, which ignited a media frenzy over the newly-minted super couple. Their wedding took place in a private ceremony at Bachchan's residence on April 20, 2007.

As Rai's film career continued to rally, her popularity continued to expand into international markets. She had already been feted with such unique and varied tributes as a tulip named in her honor in the Netherlands, a wax figure at Madame Tussaud's in London, and even a best-selling line of Barbie dolls made in her likeness. Near-constant coverage in magazines led to a high-profile piece on "60 Minutes" (CBS, 1968- ) and appearances on American talk shows like "Late Night with David Letterman" (CBS, 1993- ) and "The Oprah Winfrey Show" (syndicated, 1986-2011). And she continued to collect superlatives, including a place on People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World list in 2006.In 2007, she co-starred with her husband in "Guru," a popular rags-to-riches story about a small-town villlager (Bachchan) who rose to the top through ambition and occasional ruthlessness. Rai played Bachchan's wife in a largely ornamental role that nevertheless earned her a Filmfare Award nomination. That same year, she made another stab at English-language stardom, first with the British film "Provoked" (2007) and later in "The Last Legion" (2007), a period adventure film produced by Dino De Laurentiis. The former was based on the real-life case of an Indian woman who murdered her husband (Naveen Andrews) in self-defense after suffering a decade of abuse at his hands, while the latter starred Colin Firth as a Roman soldier fighting barbarians in ancient Britain alongside Rai's Indian warrior. Neither film fared well with critics or at the box office, and a proposed remake of Coline Serreau's "Chaos" (2001) that would have teamed Rai with Meryl Streep never came to fruition.

Rai returned to Bollywood for the historical epic "Jodhaa Akbar" (2008), with Hrithik Roshan as the 13th century Muslim emperor who conquered much of South Asia but struggled to win the affections of his fiery wife (Rai). A slow-building hit across the world, it garnered respectful reviews in both the West and Far East, as well as a Star Screen Award for Rai. However, "The Pink Panther 2" (2009), with Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau and Rai as an Indian security expert with romantic ties to a mysterious French thief (Johnny Hallyday), failed to recapture the surprise success of its 2006 predecessor. In 2010, she collaborated with director Mani Ratnam for a thriller that would be shot simultaneously in two languages, with Rai playing the same role opposite two different actors in the respective films. The Hindi version, "Raavan" (2010), with her husband as a bandit seeking revenge against a corrupt police official by kidnapping his wife (Rai), was a commercial failure, while the Tamil version, "Ravaanan," with Vikram in the lead, was a box office and festival hit, especially at the 67th Venice Film Festival, where it earned Ratnam the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award. Rai closed out 2010 with a flurry of popular features, including the science fiction thriller "Enthiran," with Raijinkanth in dual roles as a scientist and the robot he creates in his likeness who falls in love with his fiancée (Rai). A decade of pre-production work and a two-year shooting schedule, as well as location filming in Brazil and the United States and extensive special effects, resulted in the most expensive Indian film ever made, as well as one of the most profitable ever released. She followed this with a more modest drama, "Guzaarish" (2010), with Hrithik Roshan as a quadriplegic who sought to end his suffering through euthanasia, and Rai as his faithful nurse. Though only modest in terms of box office returns, the film swept the various awards ceremonies, and netted Rai her ninth Filmfare Award nomination. She soon began work on her next film projects, which included the romantic comedy "Ladies and Gentlemen" (2011) with Bachchan, and "Heroine" (2012), a drama about an actress in career decline.

The period was also marked by some of Rai's greatest career honors, including the 2009 Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, for her contributions to the country's film industry. She also received France's second highest honor, the Order of Arts and Letters, that same year, but was forced to refuse the award due to her father's illness. The following year, India's Reliance Broadcast Network presented her with the Actress of the Decade award at the BIG Star Entertainment Awards, while the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) gave her the "Decade of Global Achievement Award." However, these and other tributes were superseded by the 2011 news that Rai and Bachchan were expecting their first child.

Taylor Swift - Biography

Birth Name: Taylor Alison Swift
Born: 1989/12/13
Birth Place: Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, United States
Years Active: 2006–present
Genres: Country Pop, Pop, Teen Pop

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop singer-songwriter and actress. Swift signed a record deal with Big Machine Records in 2005 and released her eponymous debut album the following year. In the United States, “Taylor Swift” peaked at number five on the Billboard 200, peaked at number one Top Country Albums, and was certified five times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). “Taylor Swift” marked the longest stay on the Billboard 200 by any album released in the 2000s. The album produced five singles ("Tim McGraw", "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn" and "Should've Said No" ) all of which charted within the top forty in the United States and were certified platinum by the RIAA. Swift followed with the release of the EPs “Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection” (2007) and “Beautiful Eyes” (2008), which peaked at number twenty and at number nine on the Billboard 200, respectively. Swift released her second studio album, “Fearless,” in 2008. The album peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 for eleven non-consecutive weeks, became the best-selling album of 2009 in the United States, and was certified six times platinum by the RIAA. 
Thirteen songs from “Fearless” charted within the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100, breaking the record for the most top forty entries from a single album. “ Fearless” also produced five singles. "Love Story" (2008), the first single from “Fearless,” became Swift's best-charting song, peaking at number one in the Australian Singles Chart and being certified triple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association. “Fearless'” third single, "You Belong with Me" (2009), became Swift's best-charting single in the United States; it peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified double platinum by the RIAA. "Fearless" (2010), the fifth single from “Fearless,” became the first single released after being certified gold by the RIAA as a result of digital downloads. 
Swift won the Billboard Music Award for "Artist of the Year" in 2009 because of the chart success she enjoyed on Billboard charts during the year. Swift obtained her biggest debut on the Billboard Hot 100 at number two in 2010 with "Today Was a Fairytale" from the “Valentine's Day” soundtrack. The singer's third studio album, “Speak Now,” was released in 2010. The album has peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 for seven non-consecutive weeks thus far. The album was able to sell a total of 1,047,000 copies in its first week of sales, becoming the sixteenth album in music history to sell more than a million albums in a single week. It was certified three times platinum by the RIAA. “Speak Now” spawned two singles to date, "Mine" (2010) and "Back to December" (2010), both have peaked within the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Swift has sold more than 13 million albums worldwide and is the top-selling digital artist in music history with over 24.3 million digital tracks sold, to date.