Category: Lifestyle

World Cup host Qatar was eliminated from the tournament Friday after losing to Senegal in its second match, 3-1, while an anticipated match between England and the United States ended in a 0-0 draw.

Both England and the United States had chances to score but failed to convert their shots into goals. U.S. captain Christian Pulisic hit the crossbar during the first half of the match while his teammate Weston McKennie shot over the goal from about 7 meters out.

English captain Harry Kane had a chance to win the match with a header but sent the ball wide.

England, the favorite to win the match, has met the United States three times at the World Cup but has yet to win against the Americans. Apart from Friday, the teams played in 1950, in which the United States won 1-0 and in 2010 when the teams played to a 1-1 draw.

During Qatar’s match, the host team showed flashes of strong attacking play but struggled to keep pace with the Senegalese team. Qatar was unlucky when it was denied a penalty and the chance to take the lead after Senegal’s player Ismaila Sarr ran into Akram Afif.

The referee did not award a penalty even though replays suggested that contact took place between the players.

Senegalese fans rhythmically drummed throughout the match, while Qatar’s fans broke out into the wave around the stadium.

Following the match, Qatar’s fate in the tournament was sealed when the Netherlands and Ecuador drew 1-1 in another Group A game of the day.

Qatar now has no chance to advance to the round of 16 regardless of the outcome of their next match against the Netherlands on Tuesday. Their elimination from the tournament is the quickest for a host country in World Cup history.

South Africa is the only other host team that did not make it past the group stage of the tournament, but it was able to win one of its matches.

In the match between Ecuador and the Netherlands, Ecuadorian captain Enner Valencia scored his third goal in Qatar, making him the current top scorer at the World Cup.

Ecuador played a strong game against the favored Netherlands, impressing for the second time after their win against Qatar 2-0 in the tournament’s opening match.

Ecuador will next play Senegal on Tuesday and will need just a draw to advance to the next round.

In another match that took place Friday, Iran beat Wales 2-0 with both goals taking place in the last minutes of the game.

Roozbeh Cheshmi scored the first goal in the 98th minute, and Ramin Rezaeian scored the second in the 101st.

Iran and Wales are in Group B along with England and the United States.

Iran lost its first match to England 6-2 while the United States and Wales played to a 1-1 draw.

All four countries are still in contention to advance to the round of 16, but England has the easiest path having already earned four points in the group stage. They are followed by Iran with three points, the United States with two and Wales with one.

The United States must win against Iran when they play on Tuesday to advance.

Games on Saturday include a much-anticipated match between Argentina and Mexico, in which Argentina, who entered the tournament as a favorite, could face early elimination if it loses.

Argentina suffered the biggest upset of the tournament when it lost to Saudi Arabia 2-1 in its first match.

Saudi Arabia faces Poland Saturday when it is again the underdog.

Also Saturday, defending World Cup champion France plays Denmark. A win by France would advance them to the round of 16.

Source: Voice of America

Seychelles will host the 13th edition of the Indian Ocean Youth and Sports Commission ( CJSOI ) Games in 2025, a senior government official has said.

The announcement was made by Sports Minister Marie-Celine Zialor on Tuesday during the sending off ceremony for the Seychelles team, which will travel to Mauritius for this year’s games.

“I have a very exciting announcement to make. During the closing ceremony of this year’s games, the CJSOI flag will be passed to Seychelles, which means that we will be the next host of the games in 2025,” said Ms. Zialor.

It will be the third time that Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, has hosted the games after doing so in 1999 and 2008.

Hosting such a major sporting event means that proper facilities will need to be in place. Seychelles already faces a number of problems with its sports facilities, in particular the Unity Stadium, which has been deemed unsuitable to host international matches by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

“Even before taking this decision, we had already started talking to everyone involved locally, about the work that needs to be done with the sports infrastructure in the country,” the minister told SNA.

She said many works have already been approved and are underway such as the works of the national stadium, Unity Stadium, where new running tracks are to be installed and the football field is also to be redeveloped.

Ms. Zialor said that there are plans to create a complete sports complex in the southern district of Mahé, at Anse Royale. Work will be carried out to improve other sports venues in the country, not only for the games but also for the benefit of sports development in Seychelles.

“One thing we’re also looking at is having temporary venues, like Qatar’s makeshift 974 Stadium which is made up of containers, a stadium that will be dismantled after the FIFA World Cup is over. We’ve already had some discussions about it and we are moving quickly to see how we can have something similar in Seychelles,” she said.

The CJSOI Games , introduced in 1994, have the main objectives of promoting friendship among the youth of the participating nations and fostering regional cooperation.

It includes Seychelles, Mauritius, Madagascar, La Réunion – a French overseas department – Djibouti, Mayotte and Comoros as participating countries, with sports and cultural exchanges as part of the event.

This year the games are being held from December 4-11 with the participation of a delegation of 200 athletes, coaches and officials from Seychelles.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

Big name entertainment providers like Netflix, Showmax and Paramount have been meeting African content creators this week at the Fame Week Africa conference in South Africa. The three-day conference, which ended Friday, was billed as the continent’s premier business conference for the creative and cultural sectors.

A local government official who declined to be named said numerous deals were being concluded on the floor – and predicted that Fame Week Africa would put Cape Town on the world map in terms of film events.

Countries like the United States, Canada and Kenya had government representation there, while businesses in film, TV, animation, music and entertainment technology had cubicles set up in the Cape Town International Convention Center.

Bonolo Madisakwane, the content distribution executive for Paramount Africa, was sitting in one of them.

“Next week is going to be a very busy week for me and my programming team,” she said. “We have received a lot of screeners. I’m very, very hopeful.”

She said Fame Week Africa was the biggest event of its kind in Africa since the COVID-19 lockdown and people have taken full advantage of it.

“Most of them I had pre-meetings already but quite a number of them, the minute they see me and I’ve got nobody sitting there with me, they just take a seat and they just pitch whatever it is that they want to pitch and they ask all the questions,” Bonolo said.

One man who was hoping to catch up with the likes of Bonolo was South African actor and social media influencer Ernest St. Clair, who has over 67,000 followers on Instagram. He stars in a new film, “2 Thirds of a Man.

“We shot this film in lockdown and it’s finally released and been picked up,” he said. “We are really hoping for it to be picked up by other channels like Showmax.”

Another participant, Canadian singer Domanique Grant, was there to promote her company that works with brands and artist management and development.

“We help to do everything from sponsoring vocal lessons to bringing them to major conferences so that they can get into the industry,” she said.

Having lived in Uganda, she’s also hoping to reach a wider African audience. She is also at the conference to promote her new album, “Queen/Dom.”

“‘Queen/Dom’ is about generational healing and self-love,” she said.

Jill Casserley, Africa sales manager for RX Global, which organized Fame Week Africa, said she believes there will be more events like this to come and that a lot of business was done at this one.

“I’m sure it will continue,” she said. “People are happy to be back to face-to-face meetings. I think they’re done with virtual markets.”

The event was sponsored by MIP Africa, the International Animation Festival, Muziki Africa, Media and Entertainment Solutions Africa and the city of Cape Town.

Source: Voice of America

Pat Carroll, a comedic television mainstay for decades, an Emmy-winner for “Caesar’s Hour” and the voice Ursula in “The Little Mermaid,” has died. She was 95.

Her daughter Kerry Karsian, a casting agent, said Carroll died at her home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Saturday. Her other daughter Tara Karsian wrote on Instagram that they want everyone to “honor her by having a raucous laugh at absolutely anything today (and everyday forward) because besides her brilliant talent and love, she leaves my sister Kerry and I with the greatest gift of all, imbuing us with humor and the ability to laugh…even in the saddest of times.”

Carroll was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1927. Her family relocated to Los Angeles when she was 5 years old. Her first film role came in 1948 in “Hometown Girl,” but she found her stride in television.

She won an Emmy for her work on the sketch comedy series “Caesar’s Hour” in 1956, was a regular on “Make Room for Daddy” with Danny Thomas, a guest star on “The DuPont Show with June Allyson” and a variety show regular stopping by “The Danny Kaye Show,” “The Red Skelton Show” and “The Carol Burnett Show.”

Carroll also played one of the wicked stepsisters in the 1965 television production of “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella” with Lesley Ann Warren.

In addition, she also played one of the wicked stepsisters in the 1965 television production of “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella” with Lesley Ann Warren. Plus, she won a Grammy in 1980 for the recording of her one-woman show “Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein.”

A new generation would come to know and love Carroll’s voice thanks to Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which came out in 1989. She was not the first choice of directors Ron Clements and John Musker or the musical team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, who reportedly wanted Joan Collins or Bea Arthur to voice the sea witch. Elaine Stritch was even cast originally before Carroll got to audition. And her throaty rendition of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” would make her one of Disney’s most memorable villains.

Carroll would often say that Ursula was one of her favorite roles. She said she saw her as an “Ex-Shakespearean actress who now sold cars.”

“She’s a mean old thing! I think people are fascinated by mean characters,” Carroll said in an interview. “There’s a fatal kind of distraction about the horrible mean characters of the world because we don’t meet too many of them in real life. So when we have a chance, theatrically, to see one and this one, she’s a biggie, it’s kind of fascinating for us.”

She got the chance to reprise the role in several “Little Mermaid” sequels, spinoffs and even theme park rides.

Carroll was also the voice of Granny in the English-language dub of Hayao Miyazaki’s “My Neighbor Totoro.”

Source: Voice of America

Experts are alarmed over the looting of underwater cultural heritage in Africa with universities being urged to develop programmes geared towards protecting and preserving such historical artifacts.

The experts including archaeologists, local and international heritage and cultural institutions noted that treasure hunting in different parts of Africa poses serious threats to the preservation and protection of crucial underwater historical artefacts.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director in charge of Eastern African regional office, Prof Hubert Gijzen said underwater cultural heritage in countries like Mozambique face threats from treasure hunts, looting and commercial exploitation.

He was speaking at the Fort Jesus, Mombasa during a ceremony to award certificates to archaeologists from 11 Africa countries who participated in underwater cultural heritage research.

The participants were on 10-days of training to increase their professional and scientific capacity in underwater cultural survey, raise the awareness and protection and preservation can be applied to underwater cultural heritage in Africa.

The attendants from Kenya, Tanzania, Djibouti, Eretria, Seychelles, Mauritius, Namibia, Sudan, Mozambique, Senegal and Benin also surveyed Kenya Sussex shipwreck, assessed the maritime cultural heritage of Mombasa old town and identified the emerging threats, challenges and opportunities.

Prof Gijzen challenged governments to develop proper legislations that would help protect and preserve the rich historical materials hidden beneath the waters of the sea, lakes and rivers on the continent.

“Environmental degradation, such as acidification or pollution, also endangers its preservation, in addition to technological advances that drive coastal development and exploitation of marine resources,” he added.

He said looting is a criminal act punishable under the law and that the governments should develop stringent laws that would deter theft and destruction of underwater wreckages, monuments and artifacts.

“We have to tighten legislation that would help stop treasure hunting of these historical materials. The UNESCO 2001 convention on the protection of the underwater cultural heritage provides us with a roadmap for protecting this fragile and often undervalued heritage, which includes shipwrecks, aircrafts and even sunken cities,” added Gijzen.

The loots including shipwrecks, aircrafts wrecks and other important materials of historical nature are sold to brokers with linkage to industries and museums in the developed world.

The UNESCO Eastern African regional director also appealed to 35 countries on the continent to ratify the convention to pave the way for the protection of their rich historical underwater materials.

Similar sentiments were echoed by UNESCO Kenya National Commission Secretary General Evangeline Njoka who said looting of the artefacts have robbed African countries of their rich history.

“Africa thus loses its cultural legacy. Scientific information and resources of greatest educational and recreational interest to the local communities,” observed Dr Njoka.

She noted that the preservation and protection of the unique underwater archeological artefacts provide greater opportunity to the diversification of the tourism industry in Africa.

“Today tourism and recreation are a higher factor of employment in any coastal region than the fishing industry. 37 per cent of world tourism is motivated by cultural heritage. This makes the submerged heritage not least as a potential venture of sustainable tourism development in Africa, which is however disappearing rapidly,” she added.

National Museum of Kenya (NMK) acting Director General Stanvas Ogalo noted that countries need to allocate adequate funds to fully exploit underwater archaeology in Africa where research has found its interaction with Greece, China, Persian and India.

“Underwater cultural heritage is an important resource for humanity that needs to be protected and preserved for posterity. However, managing this heritage resource represents a balance among competing forces and is subject to changing financial climates. Without proper management, the exploitation of marine environments would result in a conflict and endangered resources of which underwater cultural heritage is part thereof,” observed Ogalo.

He also noted that lack of undergraduate and graduate programmes on underwater archaeology is a major drawback facing the sub-Saharan African countries.

“As such it is only through increased capacity building that we as a region can take this forward. It’s for this reason that I thank the Japanese government for funding this training worship and UNESCO for continued support of Under Water Heritage programmes in the region,” he added.

NMK Head of Underwater Archaeology, Bita Ceaser, the only Kenyan underwater cultural heritage specialist, challenged African universities to develop marine archeology and other related disciplines for the countries to fully exploit the untapped submerged resources.

He further observed that the underwater cultural heritage places Kenya as a key recreational tourism destination in the world.

“There is a huge potential we can actualize in our sea. We have huge potential for recreational tourism where tourists will visit to see our submerged cultural heritage. This is even possible because even the sea water is warm and that is why most of the time, we do our survey and research wearing just shorts,” he added.

Ceaser said Kenya has made huge milestones in protection of her underwater cultural heritage with NMK being positioned as a center of research and studies on the continent.

He said it was the first country in Sub Saharan Africa to undertake underwater archaeological works and recognize the value of underwater cultural heritage.

This was in 1977 during excavation of ‘Santa Antonio de Tanna’ shipwreck in Mombasa whose exhibition is now in Mombasa Fort Jesus Museum.

The archaeologist said over the years the country has undertaken underwater archaeological surveys to document and understand the underwater cultural heritage.

Source: Kenya News Agency