Country
First Country: New Music From Blake Shelton, Eric Church, Reba McEntire & More
Eric Church, Soul The third part in Church’s Heart & Soul trilogy focuses on the soul — from Motown to Stax to Muscle Shoals — that have influenced his life and music. Top cuts are the languid “Hell of a View,” about finding the perfect partner to go through life’s adventures with; the chugging, unapologetic “Break It Kind of Guy” and “Lynyrd Skynyrd Jones,” the kind of emotional storytelling song that so few artists even attempt these days, much less succeed with to the degree that Church does. Keith Urban feat. Breland & Nile Rodgers, “Out the Cage” Urban is country music’s most fascinating shape-shifter, easily melding different musical styles with complete ease. Here, he busts forth with a frenetic, nonstop banger with great assists from newcomer Breland and icon&nb...
Southeast Asian leaders discuss Myanmar crisis with junta chief
Southeast Asian leaders began a crisis meeting on Myanmar on Saturday aiming to persuade Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who led the military takeover that sparked turmoil in his country, to forge a path to end the violence. The gathering of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta is the first coordinated international effort to ease the crisis in Myanmar, an impoverished country that neighbours China, India and Thailand. Myanmar is part of the 10-nation ASEAN. With participants attending in person despite the pandemic, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Friday that the summit reflected the “deep concern about the situation in Myanmar and ASEAN’s determination to help Myanmar get out of this delicate situation”. It’s unusual for the leader o...
PANDEF seeks South-south security outfit
The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has paid a consultative visit to former President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja to discuss the current security situation of the country and South south matters particularly the need for a regional security arrangement for the South-South as being done by other zones in the country. The PANDEF delegation led by the National Chairman, Senator Emmanuel Ibok Essien, said they visited the former President because he was a key voice in the country, and the political leader of the Niger Delta Region, and that his vast knowledge and understanding of the complexities and intricacies of the country, and the region, would be of immense benefit to PANDEF, and other groups in the country in the efforts to resolving the challenges we are confronted with. The group in a s...
PSG boss: Idrissa Gueye a pleasure to work with
Paris Saint-Germain manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed his delight to work with Idrissa Gueye and praised him for his contribution to his side. The midfielder is currently spending his second season at Parc des Princes, having teamed up with the club from Premier League side Everton in the summer of 2019. Gueye has featured in more than 60 games since joining the side and in the current campaign, he has made 42 appearances, scoring two goals and providing one assist across all competitions. His performances ensured the Parisians to their second spot on the Ligue 1 table and their progression into the semi-finals of the Champions League. Pochettino has lauded the impact of the Senegal international to his side ahead of their encounter with the Maroons. “He’s a player with experience, ...
Nigerian government virtually inaugurates seven digital economy projects in five zones
The Federal Government on Friday in Abuja virtually inaugurated seven Information Technology (IT) projects located in five geo-political zones of the country. The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, said at the event that they were part of efforts to consolidate on implementing the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS). Pantami said that the projects were in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s key agenda, which included economic development, security and fight against corruption. Newsmen report that the projects were actualised by parastatal agencies under the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy. The projects commissioned included a Community ICT Centre in Dutse, Jigawa, for North West; an IT Hub at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University,...
Wheat farmers bemoan $6.1 billion annual import, laud CBN restriction on forex for importers
The Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN) says about $6.1 billion is spent yearly to import wheat into Nigeria. The President of the association, Alhaji Salim Muhammad, made this known at a news conference on Wheat Forex in Abuja on Thursday. Muhammad commended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over the policy that placed wheat on Forex restriction. He described it as an impressive policy and a welcome development. According to him, Nigeria consumes 5 million metric tons of wheat per annum, while a meagre 420,000 tons is produced locally. He said that in view of numerous challenges that plagued local production, the policy would enable the government to unlock the unrealised potentials in the wheat sub-sector. “The forex restriction policy will give relevant stakeholders the confiden...
Official: Dennis Amachree not speaking for DSS on Isa Pantami
Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Service (DSS) has disowned reasons adduced for its alleged failure to reveal alleged link of Malam Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy to terrorism before his confirmation as minister in 2019 adduced by one of its former officer, Dennis Amachree. Amaechree, a former Assistant Director of DSS had in an online interview on Wednesday said the secret police was aware of alleged link of Pantami to terrorism. But he said the DSS decided not to make the reasons public, thus enabling Pantami to sail through senate screening due to a lot of factors including federal character balancing. Amachree had said, ”There is no information that escapes the DSS, we have all of it, all. When I was working there, we keep a catalogue of...
Lathan Warlick on the Near-Death Experience That Led to His Collaborative Country EP ‘My Way’
“I wasn’t really into trying to rap or do hip-hop or nothing like that because everybody in my neighborhood was doing it,” he tells Billboard. “I didn’t really want to jump into that.” A near-death experience in 2011 that found Warlick staring down the barrel of a .45 caliber pistol led him down a new direction, spiritually and creatively. After winning $1,400 in a talent show, Warlick and some friends celebrated in a nightclub, when his friend got into an altercation. Warlick swiftly ushered his friend to the exit, then turned and saw everyone fighting. Outside the club, two men chased him, cornered him, and one pulled a gun. “My grandma always said if I was in a time of need, just call on God. That’s what I did,” Warlick recalls. The man holding the firearm pulled the t...
Yola Announces New Album Stand For Myself, Shares “Diamond Studded Shoes”: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-22T12:35:37+00:00“>April 22, 2021 | 8:35am ET Yola has announced a new album titled Stand For Myself, due out later this summer via Easy Eye Sound. As a preview, the Grammy-nominated artist has shared a fiery new single from it called “Diamond Studded Shoes”. Like the English singer-songwriter’s heralded 2019 album Walk Through Fire, her sophomore record was also produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. Finding herself stranded in limbo after the pandemic killed her stadium tour plans, Yola hunkered down and began writing the songs that would become Stand For Myself, which she calls “a collection of stories of allyship, Black feminine strength through vulnerability, ...
Yola Announces New Album, Shares ‘Diamond Studded Shoes’: Listen
“The video is in part inspired by the Truman Show and is about being trapped in a false construct,” Yola said in a release. “It is supposedly perfect, but you’re trapped in a life that wasn’t meant for you. I wanted to convey the feeling that everything you know to be true is not quite working the way it’s supposed to. The island at the end is a paradigm of mental conditioning, we are all trapped on an island of our own thinking, until we change it.” The song taps into the civil unrest many have been feeling over the past year. Yola asks listeners “to unite and turn our focus to those with a stranglehold on humanity” instead of falling prey to “the false divides created to distract us from those few who are in charge of the majority of the world’s wealth and...
NDDC: Ijaw youths tackle minister over forensic audit, sole administrator’s tenure
Bayelsa youths under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide accused the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio of overseeing an unending forensic audit and illegal extension of the tenure of the sole administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Efiong Akwa, describing it as a delib-erate attempt to delay the constitution of a substantive NDDC board. According to the youths, though the conduct of the forensic audit was ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari and supported by the stakeholders from the region, Senator Godswill Akpabio has turned the forensic audit into an unending exercise used to perpetuate corruption and further bleed the commission of scarce funds. The spokesman of the IYC, Comrade Ebilade Ekerefe, who made the statement...
NIN: Kaduna agency supports enrolment of 2.1 million poor, vulnerable
File Photo The Kaduna State Residents Registration Agency (KADSRRA) says it is supporting the enrollment of 2.1 million poor and vulnerable captured in the State Social Register for the National Identity Number (NIN). Its Executive Secretary, Dr Zayyad Tsiga, made this known in an interview with newsmen in Kaduna on Thursday. Tsiga said that Kaduna State with support from the National Social Safety-Net Coordination Office had so far captured 2.1 million individuals. He said that KADSRRA was working with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to enroll all the poor and vulnerable individuals into the National Identity Database (NIDB). This, Tsiga said, would enable the poor and vulnerable to obtain the state residency card and NIN, which would be required to access social protec...
