Category: Entertainment

A permanent exhibition that shows the construction art of the Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela was opened in Lalibela town today.

The exhibition organized under the theme “Lalibela Built by Faith” is expected to have a great value in extending the stay of visitors in the historical town. A “Sustainable Lalibela” project, which is being implemented with the the financial support of the French Development Agency since March 2021 to preserve Ethiopian cultural heritage, is also underway in Lalibela town.

The opening ceremony of the permanent exhibition was attended by senior federal and regional government officials, including Tourism State Minister Sileshi Girma, representatives of the French Embassy and the French Development Agency.

The five-year “Sustainable Lalibela” project with the support of the French government has been executed by the maintenance of the historical heritage of Lalibela and the heritage development of the city of Lalibela. An exhibition, which explored the entire history of the Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela and heritages through photo and virtual technology, was displayed for 2 months in Addis Ababa starting from September 2022.

At the time, senior government officials including Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and others visited the exhibition.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

This is contained in statement issued by the artist’s publicist, Kemi Israel, on Saturday in Abuja.

Israel said that Veecil, in the song, featured talented rising Nigerian artists such as Syemca, Layzee Ella, and The Majeek.

“Black Energy” showcases Veecii’s versatility and creativity as a music producer.

“He creates a sweet fusion of Afrobeats and Soul, as he enlists these gifted artists who delivered catchy melodies and relatable lyrics on the track.

“This song serves as the lead to his first ever body or work. His passion for music emerged at an early age.

“He started with his proficiency as a drummer before transitioning to the piano, where he honed his craft and gained a deep understanding of music production.

“Veecii is no stranger to the music scene, having received numerous accolades and recognitions, including an award for his outstanding contribution to “Make Music Lagos 2021,” Israel said.

According to him, Veecil’s talent as one of the contestants in the inaugural season of “Stardom Nigeria”, was adjourned one of the best in the highly acclaimed reality TV show.

“With his exceptional talent and passion for music, Veecii is undoubtedly one to watch”.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Durban Tourism, the marketing authority for the city of Durban, South Africa, says some tourism infrastructural development are underway in the city ahead of the 2024 edition of Africa’s Travel Indaba (ATI) expo.

Winnile Mntungwa, Deputy Head, Durban Tourism, gave the assurance during a news conference at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre on Thursday.

Mntungwa assured tourists that the development would totally transform Durban, the host city for the just concluded three-day ATI expo.

According to her, the development is neccesary as Durban remains the host for the 2024 and 2025 editions of the expo.

“A film city similar to what is obtainable in Hollywood will be constructed as well as a resuscitation of the waterfront in the city.

“There will be a different Durban in 2024, when you come for Indaba. You all know that we take pride in ourselves as the city under construction.

“We hope to complete the film city which will be of disney standard; cruising activity will be upgraded and we have a lot of other infrastructural developments ongoing as well,” she said.

Mntungwa noted that the organisation had exceeded its success projections for the expo so far, as 6,000 delegates were targeted but was able to attract 8,629 delegates.

“I am happy, we are making a positive and upward impact, we look forward to a big one in 2024 and I believe we Africans will continue to tell our stories more,” she said.

Also, Zinnie Nzama, Acting Chief Convention Bureau Officer, South Africa Tourism, noted that 21,000 meetings were held during the expo as against 18,000 meetings held in 2022.

She said this was quite encouraging as she appealed to Africans to engage themselves further and make 2024 edition of the expo a bigger one.

Mr John Arittho, Chief Operations Officer, Durban International Convention Centre (ICC), promised to provide a more comfortable venue for the expo in 2024.

Arittho also assured tourists that the hotel facilities around the ICC would be made available for them to use in 2024.

He disclosed that for each day of the just concluded expo, 6,000 meals were served.

“The most interesting aspect of the expo was having students from different vocational academy in Durban participate in the expo.

“This is a way of catching them young to enable them become self reliant and responsible,” he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Some exhibitors at the just concluded 2023 Africa’s Travel Indaba (ATI) on Thursday commended the South Africa Tourism (SAT) for a well organised expo.

The exhibitors who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews expressed excitement over sales recorded and business deals sealed at the expo.

NAN reports that the three-day expo witnessed business meetings, conferences, exhibitions, diverse cultural displays, virtual tourism education, nightlife experience and more.

The expo attracted no fewer than 8,000 delegates from across the globe with over 1,000 exhibitors.

Tabitha Muchogu, Sales and Marketing Administration Manager, Heritage Hotels,Kenya, who had been attending the expo for the past 15 years, said significant improvement was observed.

Muchogu said the organisation of the fair was well coordinated and appropriate imformation were consistently and promptly circulated.

She noted that the quality of buyers had also improved tremendously as travel agents known as the buyers had the potential to sell their products.

“Now I can see that we have fewer jokers coming into the exhibition, who one can confidently transact businesses with. I don’t know how this was done but there are great improvements compared to the past editions.

“Going forward, I would want the South Africa Tourism to consider serving local dishes because what we had was lots of finger foods,” she said.

Also, Julia De Beer, Marketing and Reservations Manager, Siviti Timbavati Plains, said “It is a great experience here, the exhibition has been a prosperous one, we have made sales.

“I have also been able to learn a lot, for instance, I learnt the real estate business from some other exhibitors around.”

Similarly, Cassilda Ntsane, Group Sales Manager, Premier Hotel in Pretoria, who commended SAT for a well organised expo, advised them to ensure that the number of buyers exceeded that of the exhibitors, going forward.

“This will ensure that market demand meets supply,” he said.

Frank Udeme from Nigeria, said the expo was beneficial to him because he learnt diverse aspects of African culture.

He urged Africans to keep being friendly with one another and explore more of African boarders during leisure, instead of visiting the western world for tourism.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Demeke Mekonnen underlined the need for more efforts to modernize Ethiopia’s agricultural development activities with a view to strengthening the overall economy of the country.

Demeke made the remark at the opening of a panel discussion held on the margins of the Agriculture and Science exhibition inaugurated today at the Science Museum in Addis Ababa under the theme “From the Lab to the Field.”

Noting that agriculture is the main economic source of the country and the backbone of other sectors as well, Demeke said the government has given the highest priority to accelerate the sector.

According to him, a lot of encouraging achievements have been registered in the sector due to the efforts being made over the past years.

The agricultural development activities in the lowland areas of the country are a very good testament to which the agriculture sector can be improved as long as the necessary efforts are made, he said.

Hence, he stressed the need to change the old ways of agricultural development activities by mechanizing and transforming the sector through the utilization of necessary technologies.

Demeke further stated that efforts will be made to replicate the encouraging successes being registered in the productivity of wheat on other crops too.

Minister of Agriculture, Girma Amente for his part said the government has been carrying out several efforts to expand agricultural mechanization citing the efforts made to import agricultural equipment free of duty.

The Agriculture and Science exhibition, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with Ethio Telecom, aims at promoting the role of technologies in transforming the agricultural sector and improving production and productivity in a sustainable manner.

The exhibition is expected to create awareness among farmers and pastoralists, youth, students, researchers as well as investors on the role of science and technology to improve production and productivity and realize sustainable development.

Agriculture and Science exhibition will be open for public viewing for consecutive weeks starting tomorrow.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Stigma and discrimination remain barriers that limit access to tuberculosis (TB) screening, treatment and care – compromising the lives of people who are infected and affected by the disease.

This is according to Deputy President Paul Mashatile who to led his first World TB Day commemoration on Friday at the Tlhabane Sportsground in Rustenburg, North West.

“We think it is unacceptable that in the year 2023, we are still talking about stigma,” he told the crowds gathered in a marquee.

“We should therefore collectively champion interventions against social isolation associated with TB at the community level. We must also continuously maintain well-coordinated multi-sectoral interventions against stigma and discrimination in our communities.”

The Deputy President said the government and civil society will continue to work together to look at how to strengthen the systems that link people to care and scale up initiatives that encourage the use of TB prevention therapy.

He announced that in September this year, world leaders will gather at the United Nations General Assembly for the United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB.

“We cannot over-emphasise the importance of collaboration in the TB response. We can do more by leveraging our combined strengths and resources.”

The Deputy President is the sixth Chairperson of the South African National Aids Council (SANAC).

TB remains one of the leading causes of ill health and death in South Africa, exacerbated by patients who do not complete their treatment while others are either undiagnosed or are unreported even though they know their status.

This year’s theme: ‘Yes! You and I Can End TB!’ is aimed at encouraging individual action to strengthen the national strategy against this curable disease.

It underlines, according to the Deputy President, the significance of taking personal responsibility and joining forces to eradicate TB as a public health threat by 2030.

“We must recommit ourselves to raising greater levels of awareness about the disease alongside its terrible health, social, and economic implications and strengthen other efforts to prevent the further spread of the disease in our communities.”

He said that the North West province faces specific challenges in the fight against TB due to mining activities and a high number of informal settlements, which result in overcrowding and unfavourable living conditions that expose people to health hazards.

However, he is of the view that the active roles of civil society, the private sector, development partners, research institutions, community members, TB survivors and people infected with TB, all remain paramount in the fight to end TB.

He said government is determined to build a world free from the devastation of preventable and curable diseases such as TB and that it will continue to embark on catch-up programmes and shortened treatment.

This is after the infectious disease took a backseat due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“However, regardless of the setback, we have made conscious efforts to rebuild and intensify TB interventions across the country,” he said.

NSP for HIV, TB and STIs

To that effect, through the fourth National Strategic Plan (NSP), the State will continue to guide the collective response to HIV, TB and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

“Viewed together, the plans set out in the NSP provide insight into the path we have travelled as a nation to overcome one of the most devastating human challenges of our time.”

The Deputy President also took the time to launch the fifth NSP for HIV, TB and STIs for the period 2023 to 2028 as adopted by Cabinet.

He described the plan as a blueprint and roadmap for a multi-sectoral, people-centred approach to eliminate HIV, TB and STIs as public health threats by 2030.

SANAC is leading several activities as part of the NSP rollout, which includes messaging about STI transmission, condom use, availability of family planning services and availability of ground-breaking HIV prevention tools.

“It is about our lives, how we protect, prolong, value and improve it. Let us work together to ensure that this NSP is one of the last in our times.

“Yes! You and I, together, can end TB,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South African Government News Agency