Keeping you updated!

Hi guys, sorry once again for the bad update. However like I have said , I am on my summer holiday. I have not had access to the computer since I have been to the countryside... All the same we have a TV there and I have been following the Olympics...Read this story and tell me what you think!

Swedish Ara Abrahamian throws his bronze medal in protest

Abrahamian threw down his 84kg greco-roman bronze in disgust after his shot at gold was ended by a decision denounced by the Swedish coach as "politics".

Abrahamian took the medal from around his neck during the medal ceremony, stepped from the podium and dropped it in the middle of the mat before storming off.

The Swedish wrestler had to be restrained by team-mates earlier as a row erupted with judges over the decision in a semi-final bout with Andrea Minguzzi of Italy, who went on to the take gold.

Abrhamian, who won silver at the Athens 2004 Games, shouted at the referee, then went over to confront judges, angrily throwing off the restraining arm of a team official.

Swedish fans booed loudly as the judges filed out of the arena. Abrahamian said nothing to waiting reporters but whacked an aluminium barricade with his fist as he left the hall.

"It's all politics," said Swedish coach Leo Myllari.

Myllari did not say if he intended to lodge a formal protest over the decision by referee Jean-Marc Petoud of Switzerland, judge Lee Ronald Mackay of Canada, and mat chairman Guillermo Orestes Molina of Cuba.

Other favourites went out in the semi-finals or earlier. Athens 96kg gold medallist Karam Gaber of Egypt failed to make it to the quarter-finals. Aleksey Mishin of Russia, who took Athens gold in the 84kg class, was beaten by Minguzzi.

Read more on:
Telegraph
Yahoo

2 medals to Africa so far in the Olympics

Hi guys!

I don´t know if I have mentioned this to you guys before but I love sports. However, I must say it´s thanks to my big brother, who introduced me to the world of Sports. First it was football, then tennis and afterwards he showed all about cricket and rugby. I remember how we used to sit every Saturday afternoon and watch English Premier League, those were the days. I remember too when in mid-June how we also watched Wimbledon. We loved it! It was so much fun!

The interest is still there for sports and I tell you it was a sport fun fare this summer. As you all know, there was the European Championships (Football) which were quite fun, even though, I personally think that Sweden was big disappointment.
Now it´s the Olympics though and some positive news so far. OH, what a start for Africa! Zimbabwe currently leading the ranks for Africa with 1 silver medal and Algeria with 1 bronze medal. Well done to the girls, so far!

Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe takes silver as she finished second at 4:29.89 minutes while Austarilan Rice had winning time of 4:29.45 and third place was American Katie Hoff who finished at 4:31.71.

China's Xian Dongmei won the Olympic gold medal in the women's 52kg judo today Sunday the 10th. North Korea's An Kum Ae won the silver. Japan's Misato Nakamura and Algeria's Soraya Haddad won bronze.

Enjoy the Olympics!

First it was Obama now it´s Michelle´s turn

The International Best-Dressed List now out and the article published by Telegraph is as follows:

While Senator Barack Obama’s wife came first on the list, Senator John McCain’s wife did not make it on to the list at all and was dismissed by critics as being too conventional to be stylish. Mrs Obama joins French first lady Carla Bruni, Kate Middleton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Tilda Swinton, Daniel Craig and Angelina Jolie on the list.Notable among those missing was Victoria Beckham. But given that Mrs Obama topped the lot, it was Mrs McCain who stood out most among the American absentees - and critics appeared to relish the fact.

“Clothes make the woman, after all,” wrote the New York Daily News of the snub.
“Like it or lump it, the personal style of each candidate’s wife has become an important part in establishing individuality, likability and power. Michelle Obama, who has her own favourite high-end designers, has made sure to advertise her everywoman-frugality every chance she gets.”

Keren Eldad, New York fashion manager of the Los Angeles Times, said: “McCain’s style is like the political style of her husband: conservative and outdated. It screams 'safety’ and escapes any nod to change, to risk, or to bravado. She may throw on a tailored leather jacket every once again, but through her pearls and all that hairspray, can we really detect any semblance of inspiration? Of fun?

“Obama, on the other hand, gets it. She is a modern woman, she has fun with fashion, she embraces life with fury and grace - making apparel choices so varied, that time and again signal this woman never sees anything in life as constant. That’s change. And that is the essence of what fashion is all about”.

Vanity Fair’s style connoisseurs deemed Mrs Obama ready for the crown of the world’s best-dressed woman for her ensemble of a Maria Pinto purple sheath dress, with a black Azzedine Alaïa belt, worn when her husband claimed the Democratic presidential nomination. “She’s our commander in sheath,” the magazine said.

When Mrs Obama appeared on the popular US daytime talk show, The View, wearing a black and white Donna Ricci dress that cost $148 (£74), the dress sold out overnight and made the designer a household name.

Mrs McCain, on the other hand, has been criticised for her stiff appearance and dress — her hair until recently was always styled in a rigid “up-do” - and is often compared with a Stepford Wife or a cyborg in the media and on blogs. When Mrs McCain made an effort to soften her image and literally let her hair down for a Vogue photo shoot, the Washington Post ran a feature on the transformation.

Do you think Michelle is well dressed? Write in and comment guys!

Read more on:
Telegragh
Vanity Fair
The TV watch

The billionaires of Africa

Hallo everybody!

Check out the list below. Do you know anyone below?
Africa does have magnates, wealthy and they can be rated among the world´s richest. They are indeed loaded and are billionaires in US $. Here they come. The list starts at No. 10 with...

Patrice Motsepe (South Africa)

African Rank No.10 – World Rank No.503 – Wealth $2.4 billion

It has been fourteen years since the end of Apartheid and Africa’s largest economy South Africa has finally produced its first black billionaire, Patrice Motsepe. The Pretoria raised lawyer was born into a relatively well off black family for the time, his father ABC Motsepe was one of the wealthiest black business men in the country. Motsepe specialised as a mining law and this paved his way into the industry that was to make his fortune. His company African Rainbow Mineral is today one the largest mining concerns in South Africa. Motsepe is also the owner of one of South Africa’s most successful football clubs Mamelodi Sundowns FC

Mo Ibrahim (Sudan)
Africa rank No.9- World Rank No.462- Wealth $2.5 billion

founder of Mobile Telecommunications giant CelTel which operated Mobile Phone services across Africa. He sold the firm in 2005 to Kuwaiti Investors.


Samih Sawiris (Egypt)
African Rank No.8 – World Rank No.396 – Wealth $2.9 billion

Samih Sawiris is the first of the four Sawiris family members we meet in this list. It has been a good year for Samih as his interests in tourism and leisure have seen his wealth rise from $1.6 billion to $2.9billion. Probably his most significant investment over the year was his commitment to invest $500 million in a luxury alpine resort in Andermatt, Switzerland his first venture outside the Middle East. The resort will comprise a 5-star hotel, apartment and villa, an ice rink all spread over 37 acres.

Aliko Dangote (Nigeria)
African Rank No.7 – World Rank No.334 – Wealth $3.3 billion
Another débutante on the list and the first from Africa’s most populous nation. While the average man on the street in Nigeria would insist that the country has produced many billionaires’, mostly former heads of state and their cronies, Dangote represents a break from this tradition as a man who has created his wealth in a comparatively transparent manner. His interests in sugar,cement and food have propelled Dangote to the top of the pile in Nigeria. His close relationship with former Nigerian President Obasanjo some argue has fuelled his wealth and Obasanjo’s exit from power last year saw Dangote’s influence wane somewhat typified by the revocation of his purchase of former-state owned refineries by the new government.

Johann Rupert & family (South Africa)
African Rank No.6 – World Rank No.284 – Wealth $3.8 billion
Johann Ruperts and family have seen their total wealth slip by about $500 million and drop three places down the list of Africa’s richest on the back of challenging global economic conditions and downturn in the luxury goods sector where his Richemont group is a major player. The tough economic conditions had not stopped rumours of Rupert looking to pay millions to purchase the English football team Blackburn Rovers, a deal Rupert has categorically denied.

Nicky Oppenheimer & family (South Africa)
African Rank No.5 – World Rank No.173 – Wealth $5.7 billion
The Oppenheimer fortune is facing challenging times as investment pours into Russian extensive mineral resources fuelling competition, resource hungry representatives of China and India scour Africa looking to secure their supply lines and back home the Black Empowerment policy has meant changes in Anglo American Corporation the mining giant founded by the Oppenheimer family. Despite these challenges the family fortune has grown but not enough to keep their position in last year’s list as they drop three places to No’5.

Mohammed Al Amoudi (Ethiopia)
African Rank No.4 – World Rank No.97 – Wealth $9.0 billion
Last year year’s list omitted Mohammed Al Amoudi but this year the Ethiopian born billionaire takes his rightful place. Al Amoudi migrated to Saudi Arabia from Ethiopia in 1965 and made his fortune in property before diversifying into petroleum interests. Al-Amoudi was one the biggest sponsors of celebrations earlier this year to mark the the start of the millennium in Ethiopia. The centre piece of his sponsorship was the construction of the multimillion dollar Millennium Central Hall in Addis Ababa.

Onsi Sawiris (Egypt)
African Rank No.3 – World Rank No.96 – Wealth $9.1 billion
The list has already seen the first of the Sawiris family and the top three positions are all taken up by family members, the Sawiris father and his other two sons. Onsi Sawiris despite being in retirement and having divested most of the Orascom Empire he built to his three sons has seen his wealth almost double from $5 billion in 2007 to $9.2 billion today. Interestingly the combined Sawiris fortune of $34.7 billion would see the family at No.7 amongst the world’s richest.

Nassef Sawiris (Egypt)
African Rank No.2 – World Rank No.68 – Wealth $11.0 billion
Of all those who made this list Nassef Sawiris has had the most spectacular rise in his wealth, last year his wealth was estimated at $3.9 billion but he starts this year with three times that fortune at $11 billion. Nassef Sawiris runs the construction arm of the Orascom empire and soaring oil prices have ensured his target market of the Middle East is awash with development funds. Orascom Construction signed some big deals last year including building a $1.8 billion fertiliser plant in Algeria, a $110 million Solar Plant in Egypt and part of a consortium building Cairo’s new metro.

Naguib Sawiris (Egypt)
African Rank No.1 – World Rank No.60 – Wealth $12.7 billion
In gloomy world economy the growth of telecommunications, the internet and the media have been one of the few bright spots. In the emerging market it has been no difference and Naguib Sawiris has benefited tremendously from this. In particular the mobile telephony part of his empire has shown strong growth although not without controversy as investments in North Korea and investigations into the purchase of an Italian Teleco.

As you can see Egyptians dominate the list due to the Sawiris family being so successful. Note also that no women in Africa are billionaires, but hopefully this will change with time. Write in and comment on this list.

Thats all for today guys!

Information has been provided by :
Clickafrique
Forbes

World map of happiness now out

Toping the list is Denmark, with its democracy, social equality and peaceful atmosphere, leading to it being the happiest country in the world, researchers in this World map of happiness project have said.

Yet Zimbabwe a country , torn by political and social strife, is the least happy. I became really sad when I read this and even more to read that as the rest of the world is getting happier, the African continent is becoming sadder .

This is what they say causes happiness:
"I strongly suspect that there is a strong correlation between peace and happiness," said Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, who directed the study.
Inglehart said, "there is a strong correlation between happiness and democracy".

Why Denmark then?
"Denmark is prosperous – not the richest country in the world but it is prosperous."
They add also the following highly ranked countries Puerto Rico, Colombia, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada and Sweden.

The united states ranks 16 even if it´s ranked the world´s richest country.The researcher Inglehart said, "Though by no means the happiest country in the world, from a global perspective the United States looks pretty good," . "The country is not only prosperous; it ranks relatively high in gender equality, tolerance of ethnic and social diversity and has high levels of political freedom."

What determined who are happy or not was the extent to which people were free to choose how to live their lives, Inglehart said.

Really sad to read even if Sweden is in the sixth place felt sad for my fellow Africans. To cheer me up though, this is what I watched at got a laugh at least....

Enjoy this courtesy of ZWTUBE
West Africa idol auditions

Best dressed politician a Kenyan

Hi guys the list is now finally out and I am so proud to present the nominees for this year...

Well this year forget France´s president Nicolas Sarkozy or even Hamid Karzai, Afghan president who made it in the Esquire magazine´s list of well dressed man in 2007 . This year only one politician made it to the top ten rankings and he happens to have Kenyan blood. I am talking about Barrack Obama a politician with Kenyan roots.

Not only has Obama enjoyed the success of being ranked in Esquire but has silently given an answer back to Tom Ford one of the fashion icons, who has long said he wants to sharpen Obama´s already well thought look of tailored suits with a tinge of edginess. He has actually said in other words that he thinks that Obama is not well dressed. The funny thing though is that Tom Ford did not make it in the list at all. That says something about our fashion icons hmmm... I suppose like beauty, fashion too is in the eye of the beholder.

For Obama everything seems to be working out just right, he is now the democrats presidential candidate. However Telegraph News possed a question that I too am wondering over, they say "What does Obama really finds most amusing? Being the presidential candidate or being one of the best dressed man in the world this year?".

All I can say its nice to see him in the list!Obama and his lovely wife Michelle

For the complete list of the nominees check this link out The top ten list 2008