By, Dwight Brown,  NNPA Newswire Contributor For 43 years the Toronto International Film Festival has been the epicenter of the film industry. This year at TIFF, 500,000 filmgoers previewed the highest quality films in the world before they are shown at their local theaters. Many movie lovers come to Toronto, home to 2.5 million people from 200 distinct…

What does a suitcase full of million dollar watches look like? Well, it’s blinding for one and it caught the eye of police at the Sao Paulo Viracopos airport in Brazil who confiscated the gem-encrusted time pieces found in the luggage of the son of the long-time ruler of Equatorial Guinea. In a second bag…

All eyes were on a powerful storm as it sent water cascading into swollen rivers and raised fatalities at the beginning of the week to 25. That was Nigeria. This week, from the Carolinas to the Nigerian Delta, from the Philippines to Hong Kong, weather unlike anyone can remember has been pounding the planet. Preparation…

The fastest man in the world – Kenyan track star Eliud Kipchoge – not only held onto his title but broke his own record at the Marathon held this week in Berlin. President Uhuru Kenyatta led Kenyans in congratulating compatriots Eliud Kipchoge and Gladys Cherono who retained their respective Marathon titles. “Congratulations my friend Eliud…

South Africa’s rising suicide rate is in the spotlight as the World Health Organization marks World Suicide Prevention Day. According to the Men’s Foundation of South Africa, 450 men take their lives every month with four out of five deaths being the result of suicide. Last month, Professor Bongani Mayosi succumbed to the pressures of…

A fast-moving fire that swept Brazil’s National Museum on Sept. 2 incinerated priceless objects and reduced hundreds of African antiquities to ash, museum official are now saying. The museum’s permanent African exhibit was named Kumbukumbu – a Swahili word for the memory of people, objects and experiences. A throne from the Kingdom of Dahomey (current-day…

There are two sides to every coin and two widely opposing views on China’s offer of generous loans and grants to African countries announced at the recent Forum on China-Africa Cooperation forum in Beijing. At the confab, with representatives from 53 of 54 African countries, sky-high numbers were bandied about. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced…

Images of a popular reggae music star in a wheel chair holding crutches have raised questions of whether Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ordered the arrest and torture of the star-turned-parliamentarian, Bobi Wine, who attended a recent rally of the opposition in the town of Arua. Museveni was forced to release the star for treatment in…

A growing number of museums in Europe are turning thumbs down on oil company dollars when the companies not only contribute to global warming but fund the “science” that supposedly disproves it. Oil company funding also misleads public perception of environmental devastation as in Nigeria where billions of dollars were made extracting oil while highly…

  When colonial powers redrew borders in Africa and picked choice lands for themselves and less desirable land for everyone else, some of those deals remained through this century. Few were undone. This week, a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will decide if colonial deals that redrew African borders can be declared…