Country
Tony Rice, Master Bluegrass Guitarist, Dies at 69
“Sometime during Christmas morning while making his coffee, our dear friend and guitar hero Tony Rice passed from this life and made his swift journey to his heavenly home,” Skaggs wrote on Facebook this weekend. “Many if not all of the Bluegrass guitar players of today would say that they cut their teeth on Tony Rice’s music. He loved hearing the next generation players play his licks. I think that’s where he got most of his joy as a player.” Tall and lean, and with an understated live presence that contrasted with the dynamism of his guitar, Rice had health problems over the past quarter-century. A muscle disorder around his vocal cords left him unable to sing onstage, and tennis elbow limited his playing. His last live guitar performance was in 2013, when he was ...
Ghana’s opposition NDC to petition against election results this week
Ghana’s main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), which has been crying foul about the results of the 7 December presidential and parliamentary elections, says it is ready to contest the outcome in court. A member of the party’s legal team, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, said on Saturday that the election petition against the results declared by the Electoral Commission (EC) will be filed by Wednesday. “We’ll go to court. We’ve made that clear… Certainly, by Wednesday, all these matters would be placed before the court,” Dafeamekpor was quoted by the local media as saying. Under the electoral laws, the aggrieved party has 21 days to file its petition at the court. This will be the second time in the Fourth Republic, which started in 1992, that the outcome of a presidential election ...
Ricky Skaggs, Kenny Chesney, Rosanne Cash & More Pay Tribute to Tony Rice
The bluegrass giant, known for his innovative and elegant flatpicking, released dozens of albums dating back to the early 1970s and played alongside such major artists as Dolly Parton and Jerry Garcia. Rice received numerous awards over the decades, including a Grammy in 1993 for best country instrumental performance and was a six-time recipient of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) guitar player of the year honor. His death was confirmed in a statement from the IBMA. Cash tweeted that Rice’s death leaves an “enormous vacancy” in the bluegrass community and that the guitarist “never played a bad note in his life.” Chesney, meanwhile, credited Rice as an inspiration from his childhood and recalled watching the late musician perform at ...
Nashville Explosion on Christmas: Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw & More React to ‘Another Tragedy’
Tim McGraw wrote a heartfelt message to the city on Saturday (Dec. 26): “Trying to find the words….but this is a tough one,” he tweeted. “Yesterday, on Christmas Morning, the world watched as Nashville was hit by another tragedy. It’s been a year….but we will rise again.” “Grateful for the first responders who spent Christmas morning on one of our toughest years ensuring that no lives were lost. We are bruised, but not broken. Praying for my city and hopeful that we will find the strength to rise once again with the dawning of a New Year,” McGraw continued. “Tough year for Nashville,” Brad Paisley said Friday night. “Be safe everyone.” Early Friday morning, Cassadee Pope posted an update from Nashville, writing, “Our house s...
Senator Sani visits survivors of 2012 Kaduna church bombing
CNN Ex-Senator from Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, on Saturday visited survivors of a 2012 Boko Haram bomb blast at St Monica Catholic Church, in Malali, Kaduna. In 2012, about eight worshippers had died at the explosion, with several others sustaining injuries. Those who survived the attack lamented that they have since been abandoned to cater for themselves. The survivors used the former lawmaker’s visit to call on the government and citizens for aid to be able to get back their life. A survivor, Polycarp Lawrence, who lost an eye in the attack, said that he has been paying for his medical bills with the little support from the church, which has not been enough. ‘Since the bomb blast of 2012, I have not found my rhythm back in life. Life has been so difficult for me and my family. There has...
Russia says intercepted IS attack plot
Russia’s FSB security service said Saturday it had foiled an attack planned by a cell loyal to the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in the country’s unstable southern republic of Dagestan, arresting four people. “Members of the group planned to detonate an explosive close to an administrative building belonging to security services, followed by an armed attack against interior ministry employees” in regional capital Makhachkala, the FSB said in a statement. As well as arresting four “members of the international IS terrorist group”, investigators found “firearms and bladed weapons, a large amount of ammunition and an explosive device”, it added, along with mobile phones containing “exchanges with organisers located abroad”. On December 17, police killed two attackers targeting security fo...
Japan to halt all new entries from abroad next week
Japan will halt all new non-resident foreign arrivals coming from overseas from Monday until late January, Tokyo said Saturday, as the country reported its first cases of a new strain of the coronavirus. Japan currently restricts entry for foreigners from most countries over fears of the virus, requiring all visitors to undergo mandatory quarantine upon arrival. Tokyo now plans to strengthen those requirements: Japanese travellers and foreign residents from countries where the new coronavirus strain has been reported must take tests within 72 hours ahead of their departure for the country and again upon arrival at Japanese airports. It will also strengthen quarantine requirements on all travellers returning to Japan. Citing the Japanese government, the Jiji Press and Kyodo agencies said th...
Christmas celebrated under pandemic’s shadow
Hundreds of millions across the world celebrated pared-down Christmas festivities on Friday due to coronavirus restrictions, as Pope Francis called for vaccines for everyone, describing them as “glimmers of hope in this period of darkness and uncertainty”. The pandemic has claimed more than 1.7 million lives and is still running rampant in much of the world, but the recent launching of mass vaccine campaigns has boosted hopes that 2021 could bring a respite. Like so many across the globe, the pope was forced to break with normal Christmas tradition, holding his annual “Urbi et Orbi” speech by video from the apostolic palace, to prevent a crowd from gathering in St Peter’s Square. “I call on everyone, on leaders of states, on businesses, on international organisations, to promote cooperatio...
Yuletide: FRSC decries violations of coronavirus protocols, speed by motorists
Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has decried high level of speed and COVID-19 violations by motorists across the country during the yuletide. Zonal Commanding Officer RS9, Enugu, Mr Owoimaha Odoma, disclosed this to newsmen on Friday in Owerri. He said the issue became worrisome as over speeding often led to road crashes, while violation of COVID-19 protocol by motorists could also escalate the dreaded virus in various communities. Udoma, who is the zonal inspection head on FRSC ‘Operation Zero Tolerance to Road Traffic Violation’, warned motorists against over speeding. “We embarked on road monitoring in the states under the zone and we have observed that violations of speed and COVID-19 guidelines were the major challenges on the road during this period. “We started this road inspection ...
Italy reports 459 coronavirus deaths on Friday – ministry
Italy reported 459 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday against 505 the day before, the health ministry said. The daily tally of new infections increased by 19,037 from 18,040 the day before, taking the total number of cases since Italy’s epidemic began to 2.02 million. Italy on Thursday became the eighth country in the world to exceed 2 million officially recorded cases. The number of swab tests carried out in the past day was 152,334 from a previous 193,777, the health ministry said. The first Western country hit by the virus, Italy has reported 71,359 deaths since its outbreak came to light on Feb. 21, the highest toll in Europe and the fifth highest in the world. Patients in hospital with COVID-19 stood at 23,402, down by 668 from the day before. The current number of intensive care pa...
Lagos governor recovers from coronavirus, urges precautions
The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday announced his recovery from COVID-19 infection, having tested negative, following 14 days of treatment. Addressing State House correspondents at ‘Lagos House’, Marina, Sanwo-Olu said that he experienced moderate symptoms like headache, cough, among other COVID-19 symptoms. He thanked the people of Lagos and the medical team for their care, prayers, and concern throughout his isolation. “I was fortunate to have had a relatively moderate COVID-19 experience. About one in every 10 persons who contracted the disease in Lagos State were not so lucky; they have to go into intensive care, and some of them did not make it out alive. “For this reason, my gratitude is deep and profuse. And it is also for this reason, that I am here to app...
Carrie Underwood Replaces Herself Atop Hot Christian Songs With John Legend Collab ‘Hallelujah’
In the tracking week ending Dec. 17, Underwood and Legend’s “Hallelujah” surged by 56% to 8.6 million U.S. streams, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. It also sold 5,000 downloads in that timeframe (up 16%) and drew 1.6 million in radio airplay audience (up 14%) in the week ending Dec. 20. “Hallelujah,” which Legend wrote with Toby Gad, is from Underwood’s first holiday album, My Gift. The 11-song set debuted atop the Top Christian Albums and Top Country Albums charts dated Oct. 10 with 43,000 equivalent album units. It leads the former for a 12th week and the latter for a fourth frame (47,000 units, after hitting a high of 53,000 the week before). The LP is Underwood’s first on Top Christian Albums and her eighth No. 1, encompassing al...
