Serena Williams has been knocked out of the French Open 6-2, 7-5 by compatriot Sofia Kenin in the third round.
It was 37-year-old Serena’s earliest exit at the Slams since a third round loss to Alize Cornet at Wimbledon in 2014.
Kenin, the 20-year-old World Number 35, will face eighth seed Ashleigh Barty of Australia for a place in the quarter-finals. Three-time Roland Garros champion Williams was attempting to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 majors.
Credit: LIB
A high school in a Chicago suburb is spending more than $53,000 to reprint its 2018-2019 yearbook after staff discovered photos inside in which students were flashing the white supremacist “OK” hand sign.
Administrators at Oak Park and River Forest High School released a statement last week notifying parents that they were withholding the yearbooks from distribution after they discovered the photos, according to CBS Chicago.
This week, the Chicago Tribune reported that the high school will pay Jostens $53,794 to reprint the books and that the new versions are expected to be delivered to students by mid-June.
The racist adaptation of the “OK” hand sign began on 4chan ― an anonymous message board frequented by racists, trolls and extremists ― and has since been co-opted by prominent white supremacists who often use it to signal their presence to like-minded extremists. It’s prominent enough that those who use it have been fired from their jobs or faced other consequences ― recently, a Chicago Cubs fan was banned indefinitely from Wrigley Field after flashing the hand sign behind a black reporter during a live broadcast.
While the students’ intent was unclear and the photos weren’t made available, the content was apparently jarring enough that staff felt it necessary to reprint the yearbooks.
An email to parents, from school district Superintendent Joylynn Pruitt-Adams, notes that while the hand gestures could have been in reference to the classic schoolyard made-you-look “circle game,” its use by hateful people and ideologies led to the decision:
We’ve been made aware that this year’s ‘Tabula’ yearbook, which has not yet been distributed, contains several photos of students making a hand gesture that has different meanings. In some cases it’s used in what is known as the circle game. However, the gesture has more recently become associated with white nationalism. Regardless of intent, the potential negative impact of this gesture has led us to decide that we cannot distribute the yearbook as is. We are looking at alternative options, and in the coming days we will share further details about distribution plans. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience and support as we work through this situation.
The U.S State Department has announced that applicants for U.S visas will have to submit their social media names and five years’ worth of email addresses and phone numbers as part of the application process.
BBC reports that the proposal would affect about 14.7 million people annually.
Some diplomatic and official visa applicants will be exempt from the new rules.
“We are constantly working to find mechanisms to improve our screening processes to protect US citizens, while supporting legitimate travel to the United States,” the department reportedly said.
Gulf News reports that the U.S Embassy in Abu Dhabi confirmed the news. It quoted the embassy as saying:
This update — which we initially announced last year in the Federal Register — is a result of the President’s March 6, 2017, Memorandum on Implementing Heightened Screening and Vetting of Applications for Visas and other Immigration Benefits and Section 5 of Executive Order 13780 regarding implementing uniform screening and vetting standards for visa applications.
We already request certain contact information, travel history, family member information and previous addresses from all visa applicants. Collecting this additional information from visa applicants will strengthen our process for vetting these applicants and confirming their identity.
In that past, only people who needed additional scrutiny are requested to submit their social media names.
The Kaduna State Executive Council has approved six months maternity leave for all new mothers in the state.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai announced this on his twitter handle. He wrote’
”I am pleased to announce that just yesterday, our State Executive Council approved six months maternity leave for our female public servants. This encourages the healthy development of infants through prolonged breastfeeding, among other benefits”.
Credit: LIB
Asisat Oshoala has signed up with Barcelona Ladies from Chinese club Dalian Quanjian on a three-year parmanent contract, Completesports.com reports.
Oshoala, 24, spent the second half of the 2018-19 season on loan with Barcelona Ladies from Dalian Quanjian. The Nigeria international scored eight goals in 11 games in all competitions for the Blaugrana.
She also scored the only goal in Barcelona Ladies’ 4-1 defeat to Olympic Lyon in the UEFA Women’s Champions League final in Budapest this month.
The forward won the Chinese Women’s Super League title with Dalian Quanjian in 2017. Oshoala was also part of the Arsenal Ladies side that won the the English FA Cup crown in the 2015/2016 season.
On the international scene, she has won three Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Cup with the Super Falcons. The former Rivers Angels star is expected to feature for Nigeria at the next month’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday cut the number of cabinet ministers from 36 to 28, in a move he said would tackle the country’s “bloated” government and improve efficiency.
AFPSouth African President Cyril Ramaphosa trims the cabinet and appoints women to have the positions as he seeks to get the country back on track
Half the new ministers are women, making South Africa one of the world’s few gender-balanced governments.
Ramaphosa announced the new line-up after he led the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party to victory in elections earlier this month.
He took office last year after the ousting of graft-tainted Jacob Zuma, who had expanded the number of ministerial posts in an alleged attempt to strengthen his patronage network.
“To promote greater coherence, better coordination and improved efficiency, we (are) reducing the number of ministers from 36 to 28,” Ramaphosa said in televised address to the nation.
“This is a significant move of downscaling our state. Many people believed our government… was bloated and this was agreed right across the board.”
In another dig at his predecessor, Ramaphosa said that the ANC had been re-elected with a mandate to end “state capture” — the term used to describe government corruption under Zuma.
“All South Africans are acutely aware of the great economic difficulties our country has been experiencing,” Ramaphosa said.
“It is therefore imperative… we place priority on revitalising our economy while exercising the greatest care in the use of public funds.”
“For the first time in the history of our country, half of all ministers are women,” he added.
Balance of factions
Naming his new slimline cabinet, Ramaphosa kept internationally-respected Finance Minister Tito Mboweni in place, as well as his controversial Deputy President David Mabuza.
Mabuza is seen as a pro-Zuma figure whose name has come up in media reports on alleged corruption and political killings when he was premier of the eastern province of Mpumalanga.
“The retention of Tito Mboweni as finance minister… will appease markets and result in a positive perception of cabinet,” said a briefing note from Peregrine Treasury Solutions, a South African investment company.
It added that keeping Mabuza as deputy president “indicated that President Ramaphosa had to compromise to appease the Zuma faction within the ANC.”
Ramaphosa’s close ally Pravin Gordhan was kept on as public enterprises minister, a key role as debt-laden state companies were at the centre of alleged graft schemes under Zuma.
“The cabinet announcement largely rewards the President’s supporters and seems a conservative selection without the injection of real fresh blood from the outside,” said analyst Daniel Silke on Twitter.
Ramaphosa, 66, an anti-apartheid activist who became a wealthy businessman, faces a tough battle to drive through reforms in a country suffering from chronic unemployment, racial tension and crime.
The ANC won the May 8 election with 57.5 percent of the vote, its smallest majority since it led the fight against the apartheid regime that was replaced by multi-racial democracy in 1994.
The party’s celebrated reputation was badly sullied under Zuma’s 2009-2018 rule as it was confronted by multiple corruption allegations and public anger over the failure to tackle post-apartheid inequality.
South Africa’s economy grew just 0.8 percent in 2018 and unemployment hovers at over 27 percent — soaring to over 50 percent among young people.
Credit: Pulse
MacKenzie Bezos has pledged to give away at least half of her $35 billion fortune to charity as part of a movement started by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates.
MacKenzie Bezos became one of the world’s wealthiest individuals following her recent divorce from Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos.
Bezos joins Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson, and Robert F. Smith on the list of donors to Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s initiative.
In a letter published by Giving Pledge, Bezos writes of having “a disproportionate amount of money to share” and credits “an infinite series of influences and lucky breaks we can never fully understand” for her wealth.
Bezos’ signature, alongside hedge fund billionaires David Harding and Paul Tudor Jones, Brian Armstrong chief executive of cryptocurrency company Coinbase, and WhatsApp’s co-founder Brian Acton, brings the total signatories to more than 200 people.
The Giving Pledge began in August 2010 when 40 of America’s wealthiest individuals made a commitment to give more than half of their wealth away. The scheme is described as an “open invitation for billionaires … to publicly dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy”.
Although MacKenzie Bezos doesn’t list any particular causes she writes,
“MY APPROACH TO PHILANTHROPY WILL CONTINUE TO BE THOUGHTFUL. IT WILL TAKE TIME AND EFFORT AND CARE. BUT I WON’T WAIT. AND I WILL KEEP AT IT UNTIL THE SAFE IS EMPTY.”
Credit: fabwoman.ng
Nigerian born, Yemi Adenuga has been elected to Meath County Council as a Fine Gael councilor for the Navan area in the local elections.
Adenuga has also made history as being the first black woman elected to Meath County Council.
She is famed for appearing as the matriarch on the British television reality program, Gogglebox, along with her husband, Nollywood star Deji Adenuga and their two daughters.
This new feat was shared by her husband in a series of videos posted on Facebook.
Adenuga has been making waves in her community, being on the board of Cultúr – an organization in Navan that “works with migrants, asylum seekers and refugees promoting equal rights and opportunities to develop an intercultural County Meath”.
She also runs Sheroes Global, which is “a women development and support organization with a mission to build women & youth to become positive change agents through changing orientation and to build a positive mindset.
In an interview with the Irish Examiner, the newly elected official said:
“I’M DELIGHTED TO BE DECLARED THE FIRST MIGRANT COUNCILLOR IN MEATH AND I’M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO WORKING WITH THE COUNCIL ON ISSUES THAT AFFECT THE PEOPLE IN THE TOWN AND COUNTY. THIS IS A VICTORY NOT JUST FOR ME BUT FOR ALL WOMEN AND ETHNIC MINORITIES.”
Yemi Adenuga enjoyed a long broadcasting career in her homeland but moved to Ireland “for pastures new” almost 20 years ago.
Her husband, Deji Adenuga, has starred in over 200 films the over the last 25 years and flies over and back from Nigeria. They married in 1992.
Credit: fabwoman.ng
Nigeria’s OluTimehin Adegbeye has emerged winner of the 2019 Gerald Kraak Prize.
Adegbeye was awarded the prize for her submission, a nonfiction piece titled Mothers and Men.
The announcement was made on Thursday, May 23, at the Gerald Kraak Prize ceremony in Johannesburg.
Asegbeye’s submission was described by the judges as “a sensitive memoir casting new light on questions of rape, secondary victimisation and motherhood.”
OluTimehin Adegbeye is a Nigerian writer, speaker, and activist whose work focuses on gender, women’s rights, sex, sexuality and sexual violence, urban poverty, and sustainable development. Her TED Talk, “Who Belongs in a City?”, was chosen by TED Lead Curator Chris Anderson as one of the ten most notable talks of 2017.
Adegbeye is a Carrington Youth Fellow and a Women Deliver Young Leader. Her writing has appeared in Latterly Magazine, Premium Times, This Is Africa, StyleMANIA, Essays Magazine, Klassekampen, and Women’s Asia 21, among others.
Credit: LIB
French-Senagalese director Mati Diop has become the first black female director to win an award in Cannes’ 72-year history.
Diop took home the Grand Prix – the equivalent of a silver prize – for her film Atlantics, a Senegalese drama about sexual politics among young migrants.
The 36-year-old had previously said she was a “little sad” to make history as the first woman of African descent to even have a film screened at the festival.
“It’s pretty late and it’s incredible that it is still relevant,” she said at the time.
“My first feeling to be the first black female director was a little sadness that this only happened today in 2019.
”I knew it as I obviously don’t know any black women who came here before. I knew it but it’s always a reminder that so much work needs to be done still.”
She said she had had an “urgent need” to feel more represented on screen and see more people who look like her behind the camera, telling fresh stories.
“As a black woman I really missed black figures and black characters cruelly. And that’s also why I made this film: I needed to see black people on screen — huge, everywhere,” she laughed.
“It’s also something new. I can’t believe when I go to see a Jordan Peele movie… I can’t even believe what I’m feeling,” she said, referring to the Oscar-winning African-American film-maker behind “Get Out” and “Us”.
“I’m so excited, I’m looking at how many black people are in the room — I almost count them… it’s a little hysterical.”
Diop said Cannes as the world’s biggest film festival had the power to help transform the industry by knocking down barriers for previously excluded groups.
“Hopefully it will be more and more common that black people are in front of characters of the same colour. Inshallah (God willing),” she said.
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