Category: Lifestyle

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

Elvis Costello, Patti Smith and Mavis Staples will be among the dignitaries expected in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this weekend for the opening of the Bob Dylan Center, the museum and archive celebrating the Nobel laureate's work.

Dylan himself won't be among them, unless he surprises everyone.

The center's subject and namesake has an open invitation to come anytime, although his absence seems perfectly in character, said Steven Jenkins, the center's director. Oddly, Dylan was just in Tulsa three weeks ago for a date on his concert tour, sandwiched in between Oklahoma City and Little Rock, Arkansas. He didn't ask for a look around.

"I don't want to put words in his mouth," Jenkins said. "I can only guess at his reasoning. Maybe he would find it embarrassing."

It's certainly unusual for a living figure — Dylan is due to turn 81 on May 24 — to have a museum devoted to him, but such is the shadow he has cast over popular music since his emergence in the early 1960s. He's still working, performing onstage in a show devoted primarily to his most recent material.

And he's still pushing the envelope. "Murder Most Foul," Dylan's nearly 17-minute rumination on the Kennedy assassination and celebrity, is as quietly stunning as "Like a Rolling Stone" was nearly a half-century ago, even if he's no longer at the center of popular culture.

The center offers an immersive film experience, performance space, a studio where visitors can play producer and "mix" different elements of instrumentation in Dylan's songs and a curated tour where people can take a musical journey through the stages of his career. The archive has more than 100,000 items, many accessed only by scholars through appointment.

Museum creators said they wanted to build an experience both for casual visitors who might not know much of Dylan's work and for the truly fanatical — the skimmers, the swimmers and the divers, said designer Alan Maskin of the firm Olson Kundig.

The museum hopes to celebrate the creative process in general, and at opening will have an exhibit of the work of photographer Jerry Schatzberg, whose 1965 image of Dylan is emblazoned on the building's three-story facade.

Since Dylan's still creating, "we're going to continue to play catch-up" with him, Jenkins said.

So for a figure who was born and raised in Minnesota, came of musical age in New York and now lives in California, how does a museum devoted to his life's work end up in Oklahoma?

He's never seemed the nostalgic type, but Dylan recognized early that his work could have historical interest and value, Jenkins said. Together with his team, he put aside boxes full of artifacts, including photos, rare recordings and handwritten lyrics that show how his songs went through revisions and rewrites.

With use of those lyrics, two of the early displays will focus on how the songs "Jokerman" and "Tangled Up in Blue" took shape — the latter with lyrics so elastic that Dylan was still changing verses after the song had been released.

Dylan sold his archive in 2016 to the Tulsa-based George Kaiser Family Foundation, which also operates the Woody Guthrie Center — a museum that celebrates one of Dylan's musical heroes and is only steps away from the new Dylan center.

Dylan likes the Guthrie museum, and also appreciates Tulsa's rich holdings of Native American art, Jenkins said. Much of that is on display at another new facility, the Gilcrease Museum, which is also the world's largest holding of art of the American West.

"I think it's going to be a true tourist draw to Tulsa for all the right reasons," said Tulsa Mayor G. T. Bynum. "This is one of the great musicians in the history of humankind and everyone who wants to study his career and see the evolution of his talent will be drawn to it."

Bynum hopes that it also encourages others who may someday want to put their archives on display, and make Tulsa a center for the study of modern American music.

Dylan designed and built a 16-foot-high metal sculpture that will be displayed at the entrance to the museum. Otherwise, he had nothing to do with the museum's design and declined, through a spokesman, to offer a comment about the opening.

"If Bob were telling us what we could or couldn't do, it would have felt like a vanity project, in a way," Maskin said. "It was a tremendous relief not to have to satisfy Bob Dylan."

Still, it's safe to assume the lines of communication are open if necessary: Jenkins, the center's director, is the brother of Larry Jenkins, Dylan's long-time media representative.

In addition to a dinner to celebrate the opening this weekend, Costello, Smith and Staples will all perform separate concerts at Cain's Ballroom. Costello was asked to program a jukebox that will be on display at the museum and, within a day, submitted his suggestions for 160 Dylan songs and covers, Steven Jenkins said.

The Bob Dylan Center is open to the public on May 10.

Maskin has no expectation that Dylan will ever see the designer's work. Still, he indulges himself in a fantasy of a slow summer day, a security guard dozing in the corner, and someone slipping in wearing black jeans, sunglasses and a familiar mop of hair to wander among the displays.

"To be honest, I don't think that's going to happen," he said. "I think he's interested in the work he's doing, and not the work he's done."

Source: Voice of America

An Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe worth an estimated $200 million headlines this month's spring sales in New York that collectors say are among the most anticipated ever.

Christie's expects Warhol's 1964 Shot Sage Blue Marilyn to become the priciest 20th century artwork when the auction house puts it under the hammer on Monday.

Not to be outdone, competitor Sotheby's is offering $1 billion of modern and contemporary art, including the second helping of the famed Macklowe Collection, during its marquee week in May.

"The excitement is certainly unprecedented," Joan Robledo-Palop, a collector and CEO of Zeit Contemporary Art in New York City, told AFP, about the buzz surrounding this season's auctions.

The 100-centimeter by 100-centimeter silk-screen Warhol is part of a series of portraits the pop artist made of Monroe following her death from a drug overdose in August 1962.

They became known as the Shot series after a visitor to Warhol's "Factory" studio in Manhattan fired a gun at them, piercing the portraits which were later repaired.

Alex Rotter, head of 20th and 21st century art at Christie's, has called the portrait "the most significant 20th century painting to come to auction in a generation."

The current most expensive 20th century auctioned work is Picasso's Women of Algiers, which fetched $179.4 million in 2015.

The auction record for a Warhol is the $104.5 million paid for Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) in 2013.

Other highlights offered by Christie's include Jean-Michel Basquiat's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Derelict (1982), expected to go for more than $30 million, and Untitled (Shades of Red) by Mark Rothko, tipped to fetch up to $80 million.

The auction house is also offering three Claude Monet oil on canvases that are predicted to sell for upwards of $30 million each.

Rothko, Picasso, Richter

"Every couple of decades you have a sale where the quality is so high that you don't see all of this at once normally. This season really grew into one of those unique moments," Rotter told AFP.

After selling the first batch of works from the Macklowe Collection -- the most expensive to hit the market at $600 million -- last fall, Sotheby's will auction the remaining 30 items when its sales open on May 16.

Highlights include Gerhard Richter's 1975 Seascape, estimated at up to $35 million, and Rothko's Untitled from 1960 that has a high-end pre-sale estimate of $50 million.

Sotheby's said its modern evening auction of 19th and 20th century works, including by Pablo Picasso and Philip Guston, is its "most valuable" in the category in 15 years.

Picasso's Femme nue couchée is appearing at auction for the first time, and Sotheby's expects it to fetch more than $60 million. Other highlights include a Monet view of Venice tipped to fetch $50 million.

Brooke Lampley, head of sales for global fine art at Sotheby's, said she expects records to be broken across categories.

"The art market is very strong. That's why we see such an amazing array of works on offer this season," she told AFP.

Source: Voice of America

Ugandan ministers of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) attending the Dubai Expo 2020 have toured several other pavilions to benchmark what others have.

State ministers, Godfrey Kabyanga in charge national guidance and Joyce Ssebugwawo, state for ICT, accompanied by Prof. William Bazeyo, the chairperson of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Martha Mugarura, assistant commissioner for urban development in the ministry of lands and other officials toured several pavilions including Kenya and Rwanda.

In comparison, while Uganda served coffee free coffee without milk, their counterparts at the Kenyan pavilion served coffee with milk but at a fee, while it was free at the Rwandan pavilion, where a line stretched outside and entrance was being controlled by a security official provided by the expo management.

While the Ugandan team just walked inside the Kenyan pavilion and found nobody to take them around, at the Rwandan entrance were told to wait because of the long lines but later a Rwandan official, Isaac Ngabonzinza who learnt of their presence came and asked them to enter without following the queues.

Ngabonzinza took the officials inside and was happy to receive a team from the neighboring country and did his best to impress them. The Permanent Secretary of the ICT ministry Dr. Amina Zawedde said so many countries were showcasing what they have done best in their respective countries including cultural strengths like displaying dances, serving the food they have and other things but Uganda this time decided to exhibit technology.

“We have countries we are looking up to. We are comparing ourselves with countries like Saudi Arabia that have gone ahead in terms of technology, Kenya, Rwanda, DR Congo,” she said.

“This is not a Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) trade show, but each country is showcasing what they have and Uganda is picking something from each one of them”.

She said Uganda was showcasing her ability and capability to attract ICT and innovation investments. “This Expo should have started in 2020 but it was delayed because of Covid-19 but since October last year Uganda has been participating and as we wind up, we have the innovation Week,” she said, justifying reasons Uganda decided to dedicate a week on ICT and innovations.

The Permanent Secretary says Uganda has a lot of potential in terms of regulatory environment in which investors put their money, among them the infrastructure internet connectivity and had set up data centres and research and developing on a small scale. “Although it is still on small scale, we are improving and that is why we are here, we have a lot of research, we have an enabling environment that governs electronic transactions and cyber laws,” she explained.

Source: New Vision

Troy Kotsur made history on Sunday as the first deaf man to win an Oscar for his role in "CODA," and Ariana DeBose took the supporting actress trophy for "West Side Story" as Hollywood returned to all-out glitz at this year's Academy Awards.

In "CODA," an acronym for "child of deaf adults," Kotsur played Frank Rossi, the father of a teenager who struggles to help her family's fishing business while pursuing her own aspirations in music.

"This is amazing to be here on this journey. I cannot believe I am here," Kotsur said in a heartfelt speech delivered in sign language as he accepted the supporting actor honor.

"This is dedicated to the deaf community, the 'CODA' community and the disabled community. This is our moment," he added.

The only other deaf person to win an Oscar was Kotsur's "CODA" co-star Marlee Matlin. She won best actress for her role in 1986 romantic drama "Children of a Lesser God."

Supporting actress went to DeBose for playing the spirited Anita, who sings "America" in Steven Spielberg's remake of the classic musical.

As she held her gold statuette, the Afro-Latina actress asked the audience to imagine her as a young girl "in the back seat of a white Ford Focus."

"You see a queer, openly queer Latina, who found her strength in life through art. And that’s what we’re here to celebrate," she said.

"So, anybody who's ever questioned your identity. Or find yourself living in the gray spaces, I promise you this: There is indeed a place for us," she added, referencing the moving song from "West Side Story."

DeBose also thanked "divine inspiration" Rita Moreno, who earned the best supporting actress award in 1962 for playing Anita in the original movie version of the musical.

Beyonce opened the show by performing "Be Alive," an Oscar-nominated song from the movie "King Richard," about the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. She and her backup dancers, clad in sparkling yellow gowns, performed from a tennis court in the sisters' hometown of Compton, California.

After going three years without a host, a trio was chosen to guide Sunday's ceremony: Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes.

"This year, the Oscars hired three women to host because it's cheaper than hiring one man," Schumer joked.

"And for you people in Florida, we’re going to have a gay night," added openly gay Sykes, referring to legislation in the state that limits LGBTQ discussion in schools and has been labeled by critics in Hollywood and elsewhere as the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

A dark Western, "The Power of the Dog," is battling the feel-good drama "CODA" for the prestigious best picture prize. A win by either movie would mark a milestone by handing the statuette to a streaming service.

Netflix Inc NFLX.O released "Power of the Dog" while "CODA" streamed on Apple TV+ AAPL.O.

Producers said they planned an upbeat show but will acknowledge the crisis in Ukraine, which has killed thousands and driven a quarter of Ukraine's 44 million people from their homes. Actor Mila Kunis, who was born in Ukraine, is among the night's presenters. Jason Momoa wore a handkerchief in the colors of the Ukrainian flag: blue and yellow.

Jessica Chastain, Nicole Kidman and other nominees donned a rainbow of colors for a ceremony with 2,500 gown- and tuxedo-clad attendees and free from last year's pandemic restrictions. Nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee wore a light blue suit, while Chastain picked a lavender and gold gown with giant ruffles on the skirt. Kirsten Dunst and Marlee Matlin chose bright red.

After past complaints about a lack of diversity, two of this year's four acting accolades may go to people of color. Will Smith is likely to earn his first Oscar for "King Richard," awards watchers say, as is Ariana DeBose for "West Side Story."

In a bid to draw more viewers, especially younger ones, after years of declining ratings, the show will add two awards, the results of fan votes for favorite film and scene. Some winners were announced ahead of the live show with their speeches edited into the show.

The best picture race hinges on whether the 9,900 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences back a gothic psychological thriller or an uplifting story.

"Power of the Dog," starring Benedict Cumberbatch as a repressed cowboy who torments his brother's new wife, outpaced all movies with 12 nominations. It had been considered the leader until "CODA" landed top honors from the Screen Actors Guild and Producers Guild.

Source: Voice of America

For the first time in two years, the Academy Awards are rolling out the red carpet at Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre for what the film academy hopes will be a back-to-normal Oscars. Except for all the stuff that's changed.

The telecast for the 94th Academy Awards will begin, as usual, at 8 p.m. EDT on ABC. But little else about how this year's Oscars will get underway is traditional. An hour before the broadcast begins, attendees will assemble in the Dolby for the presentation of eight awards and acceptance speeches that will be edited into a broadcast that producer Will Packer has promised will be a tight three hours.

It's one of many shifts, both slight and tectonic, around this year's ceremony. After two years of pandemic — and a socially distanced 2021 edition with record-low ratings — the Academy Awards will try to recapture their exalted place in pop culture with a revamped telecast that's expected to see a streaming service win best picture for the first time.

It won't be easy. The film industry recovered significantly from the pandemic in 2021, but despite one of the biggest hits in years in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," the rebound has been fitful. The global movie industry sold about half the tickets last year as it did two years ago, $21.3 billion in 2021 compared to $42.3 billion in 2019, according to the Motion Picture Association. Hollywood pushed more of its top films directly into homes than ever before; half of this year's 10 best-picture nominees were streamed at or very near release. Even the film academy shifted entirely to a streaming platform for voters, rather than DVD screeners.

Then there are the challenges of commanding worldwide attention for a night of Hollywood self-congratulation after two years of pandemic and while Russia's war ravages Ukraine. Packer has said the war in Ukraine will be respectfully acknowledged during the broadcast.

Netflix's "The Power of the Dog," Jane Campion's gothic western, comes in with a leading 12 nominations and a good chance of snagging the top award. But all the momentum is with Sian Heder's deaf family drama "CODA," which, despite boasting just three nods, is considered the favorite. A win would be a triumph for Apple TV+, which acquired the movie out of the Sundance Film Festival last year and has spent big promoting it to academy members.

But expect the most awards on the night to go to "Dune," Denis Villeneuve's sweeping science fiction epic. It's the odds-on-favorite to clean up in the technical categories.

After several years sans-host, the Oscars will turn to the trio of Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall to emcee the broadcast, which is also streaming on platforms including Hulu Live TV, YouTubeTV and on ABC.com with provider authentication. Producers have also lined up a star-studded group of performers including Billie Eilish and Beyoncé to sing nominated songs, while the "Encanto" cast will perform Lin-Manuel Miranda's breakout hit "We Don't Talk About Bruno."

It will be a staggered start, with stars making their way into the Dolby at different times. ABC's red carpet preshow will run 6:30 to 8 p.m., with the first hour of awards happening inside the theater between 7-8 p.m. News of those winners will spread first on social media and later be woven into the telecast. To accommodate the shift, the red carpet will also open an hour earlier than usual, at 4 p.m. Eastern.

The rejiggered approach, which has been deeply unpopular with some academy members, should make for some complicated red-carpet logistics. The academy, wanted to give each winner an uncompromised moment, is urging attendees to be in their seats by 7 p.m. Some stars, like "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" nominee Jessica Chastain, have said they won't do red carpet interviews if it means missing the presentation of awards like best hair and makeup, for which the artists of "Tammy Faye" are nominated.

That's one of the eight pre-show categories to be handed out during what producers are calling the "golden hour." The others are: film editing, sound, original score, production design, live-action short, animated short and documentary short.

Earlier this month, more than 70 Oscar winners, including James Cameron, Kathleen Kennedy and Guillermo del Toro, warned that the change would turn some nominees into "second-class citizens."

Behind the change is alarm over the Oscars fast-falling ratings. While drops have been common to all major network award shows, last year's show attracted only about 10 million viewers, less than half of the 23.6 million the year before. A decade ago, it was closer to 40 million.

To help restore the Oscars' position, some argued in the lead-up to this year's awards that a blockbuster like "Spider-Man: No Way Home" should have been nominated for best picture. It's up for just visual effects.

Instead, a wide gamut of films are in the hunt, ranging from the much-watched Netflix apocalyptic comedy "Don't Look Up" and the roundly acclaimed three-hour Japanese drama "Drive My Car."

One thing producers have promised: the night's final award will be best picture. Last year's show concluded awkwardly with the unexpected presentation of best actor to a not-present Anthony Hopkins.

Source: Voice of America

The 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards will kick off with a "Hamilton" reunion, feature a lifetime achievement award for Helen Mirren and, maybe, supply a preview of the upcoming Academy Awards.

The SAG Awards, taking place at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, begin at 8 p.m. EST Sunday and air on both TNT and TBS. (The show will also be available to stream Monday on HBO Max.) After the January Golden Globes were a non-event, the Screen Actors Guild Awards are Hollywood's first major, televised, in-person award show — complete with a red carpet and teary-eyed speeches — this year.

While the Academy Awards aren't mandating vaccination for presenters (just attendees), it's required for the SAG Awards, which are voted on by the Hollywood actors' guild SAG-AFTRA. One actor in the cast of the Paramount series "Yellowstone," Forrie J. Smith, has said he wouldn't attend because he isn't vaccinated.

The evening's first awards, announced before the show began, honored a pair of blockbusters on both the big and small screens. Netflix's "Squid Game" and the James Bond film "No Time to Die" each won for best stunt ensembles.

"Hamilton" trio Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr. and Daveed Diggs were set to open the ceremony. Kate Winslet is presenting the actors' lifetime achievement award to Mirren, a five-time SAG Award winner.

A starry group of nominees — including Will Smith, Lady Gaga, Denzel Washington, Nicole Kidman and Ben Affleck — will make sure the SAG Award don't lack for glamour.

Five films are nominated for the SAG Awards' top honor, best ensemble: Kenneth Branagh's "Belfast," Sian Heder's coming-of-age drama "CODA," Adam McKay's apocalypse comedy "Don't Look Up," Ridley Scott's high-camp "House of Gucci" and Reinaldo Marcus Green's family tennis drama "King Richard."

The leading Oscar nominee, Jane Campion's "The Power of the Dog," failed to land a best ensemble nominations but three of its actors — Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Kodi Smit-McPhee — are up for individual awards.

Winning best ensemble doesn't automatically make a movie the Oscar favorite, but actors hold the largest sway because they constitute the largest percentage of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Last year, the actors chose Aaron Sorkin's 1960s courtroom drama "The Trial of the Chicago 7," while best picture at the Oscars went to "Nomadland." The year before, SAG's pick of "Parasite" presaged the Oscar winner.

In the television categories, Apple TV+'s "Ted Lasso" comes in with a leading five nominations, closely trailed by HBO's "Succession," Apple's "The Morning Show" and "Squid Game" — all of which are up for four awards.

Source: Voice of America

Two U.S. government agencies - space agency NASA, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said Thursday 2021 was the sixth hottest year on record.

In separate reports, the agencies also said their data indicates the last eight years were the eight hottest since modern recordkeeping began. They also said global temperatures in 2021 were .85 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average. NOAA says last year was also the 45th year – since 1977 – average global temperatures rose above the 20th century average.

The agencies’ data shows global temperatures, averaged over a 10-year period to take out natural variability, are nearly 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than 140 years ago.

In an interview with reporters, NOAA analysis chief Russell Vose said it is “warmer now than any time in at least the past 2,000 years, and probably much longer." He predicted 2022 would also be among the warmest years ever.

Both agencies attributed weather anomalies from the past year, like melting sea ice, severe wildfires, and record flooding, as attributable to the warming climate.

NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt told the Associated Press the long-term trend is “very, very clear. And it's because of us. And it's not going to go away until we stop increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.”

Source: Voice of America

Writers and poets have condemned the arrest of award-winning Ugandan author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, who is being held without charge for alleged offensive communication. Security forces arrested him earlier this week after Rukirabashaija criticized the government.

President of the Poets Association Uganda Ronald Sekajja says Rukirabashaija’s arrest aims to reinforce fear among writers.

Unknown Ugandan forces arrested the award-winning author Tuesday after he published comments critical of President Yoweri Museveni’s son.

Sekajja told VOA that Rukirabashaija’s arrest shows that the government allows little space for criticism.

“If anyone thinks it comes up as abuse or as insult, then charges need to be placed and they take him to face the law. I think our biggest concern as the writing community is the manner in which he is arrested and no charges are placed and he’s been in detention,” Sekajja said.

Rukirabashaija’s lawyer Eron Kiiza says the author is being held at a hidden interrogation facility in Kampala.

“They are claiming he made some offensive communication. They are not giving us details of those. So, they are charging him with offensive communication. Of course, we know him and the first son have had some exchange on Twitter,” Kiiza said.

Rukirabashaija on Twitter called Museveni’s son, Lt. General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, obese, drunk, bad-tempered, and a rotting corpse of a future president.

Kainerugaba is seen as a possible successor to his long-ruling father in Uganda’s 2026 election.

Rukirabashaija, a 2021 PEN Prize winner for international writer of courage, posted about his arrest Tuesday on Facebook.

“Men with guns are breaking my door,” he wrote. “They say they are policemen but are not in uniform. I’ve locked myself inside.”

Kainerugaba seemed to take credit for the arrest. He posted on Twitter, "I want the arrest of Kakwenza Rukira (Rukirabashaija) to be a lesson to all those who think they can abuse me on social media and walk away scot free."

Makerere University professor and writer Stella Nyanzi says the author’s arrest shows Museveni’s son is just as intolerant of critics as his parents.

“The face of the enemy has changed. It is the first time that the first son is engaging in this sort of brutal arrest that we have known his father and mother to make on writers. It's not an accident that Kakwenza writes as he does. It is of worry to be isolated,” she said.

Nyanzi herself was jailed in 2019 for writing sexually explicit criticism of Uganda’s first lady Janet Museveni.

PEN International on Twitter condemned what it called Rukirabashaija’s “violent, unlawful arrest,” calling for his immediate release and expressing grave concern about his safety.

Ugandan security forces in 2020 detained and tortured Rukirabashaija, he said, for his book The Greedy Barbarian, which describes high level corruption in a fictional country.

He was arrested a second time after he wrote the book Banana Republic, which detailed his alleged torture at the hands of military intelligence.

Uganda’s police spokesperson declined to comment on Rukirabashaija’s latest arrest, saying he was too busy to take calls.

Source: Voice of America

U.S. health authorities on Wednesday authorized the use of synthetic antibodies developed by AstraZeneca to prevent COVID-19 infections in people who react badly to vaccines.

It was the first time the Food and Drug Administration has given emergency authorization for such a purely preventative treatment.

The FDA warned the drug Evusheld is "not a substitute for vaccination in individuals for whom COVID-19 vaccination is recommended" and can only be authorized for people with weakened immune systems or those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, such a strong allergic reaction.

In those cases, the drug can be administered to people 12 and older.

Evusheld combines two types of synthetic antibodies (tixagevimab and cilgavimab), and is given as two intramuscular injections, one right after the other. These antibodies help the immune system fight off the virus by targeting its spike protein, which allows it to enter cells and infect them.

The FDA said that the treatment "may be effective for pre-exposure prevention for six months."

It cannot be administered to someone who is already infected with the virus, the FDA said, although AstraZeneca is testing it for such treatment.

Side effects may include an allergic reaction, bleeding from the injection site, headache, and fatigue.

The FDA authorization was based on a clinical trial carried out on unvaccinated people older than 59, or with a chronic disease, or at high risk of infection.

The drug was given to 3,500 people while 1,700 received a placebo. The trial showed that the treatment cut the risk of developing COVID-19 by 77%.

Two cocktails of antibodies, made by Regeneron and Eli Lilly, are currently authorized for prevention of infection in the United States, but only in people who have been exposed to the virus shortly before, or who have a strong chance of being exposed, such as employees of retirement homes or prisons.

In addition to being immunocompromised or unvaccinated, these people must also be at high risk of developing a severe case of the disease.

Source: Voice of America