The upcoming NBA All-Star Game is celebrating with a few high profile performers: Pharrell,Kendrick Lamar and Janelle Monáe .

Pharrell will kick off the game in New Orleans, playing with “surprise chart-topping musical guests” while the game’s players are being introduced.

One player, who if he gets his wish, won’t hear his name called though is Kobe Bryant.

According to CBS Sports, the L.A. Laker announced that since he only played in six of the first 43 games this season he did not feel that he deserved a starting position at the game.

A collection of personal notes written by the late Pope John Paul II over four decades is going on sale in controversial circumstances in Poland.

In his will, the late Pope stated that all his personal notes were to be burnt after his death.

But his private secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, kept them.

He said he did not have the courage to destroy them as they gave precious insight into the Pope's life and thinking.

The 640-page book, Very Much in God's Hands..

Personal Notes 1962-2003, contains Karol Wojtyla's personal reflections on religious subjects from his time as Bishop of Krakow until two years before his death in 2005.

'A crime to destroy them' Cardinal Dziwisz recently told reporters he had "no doubt'' about publishing the collection.

"These notes are so important, they say so much about the spiritual side, about the person, about the great Pope, that it would have been a crime to destroy them.''

The ideas in the book are briefly sketched, with some written in just two or three sentences, says the BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw.

The book has its supporters, he continues, but many people in Poland cannot understand why the late Pope's private secretary ignored his wishes.

Adam Szostkiewicz, a prominent religious commentator who opposed the book's publication, says much of it is impenetrable to the average reader.

The cardinal says he spoke to the Pope about which notes should be destroyed and which should be kept.

Cardinal Dziwisz was his closest aide for almost 40 years, first in Poland and then at the Vatican.

After John Paul's death, he was made Archbishop of Krakow in southern Poland.

He has said the proceeds from the book are to fund a memorial museum for the late Pope, who will be declared a saint at the Vatican in April.

The rivalry between dance-hall musicians Samini and Shatta Wale has taken an interesting twist even as the two get ready to go on a live programme on UTV for a ‘tell-it-all’ debate that would also be broadcast live on Peace FM.

Samini first threw the challenge to Shatta for them to go on national television and engage in a debate to enable the general public know the whole truth about the disagreement between them, and Shatta accepted.

Samini called for the debate when he spoke to Akwasi Aboagye on Peace FM’s Entertainment Review last Saturday and alleged that in the past the Chief Executive of Bullhaus Entertainment, Bull Dog came to him and asked for permission to go beat up Shatta Wale.

“His manager, Bull Dog, years back would meet back
stage and tell me that he wants to beat that guy (Shatta Wale) for me because the guy was fooling and he (Bull Dog) only wants clearance from me to beat him up.

Today, Bull Dog is behaving as if he has a fight with me because he manages Shatta.

But Bull Dog knows he used to come to my shows, remove his shirts, breathing profusely, jumping up and down and sweating all over.

You Bull Dog, today, because you oppose me, you sit on TV to say my brand is not marketable,” Samini revealed.

Incidentally, Bull Dog is Shatta’s manager and he has taken a strong exception to the allegation from Samini, describing it as blatant untruth.

“Samini is a liar; I have never ever told him that I wanted to beat up Shatta Wale for him.

Rather I spoke to Shatta Wale in the past to stop insulting Samini during his performances.

I even added jokingly that (Shatta Wale) was doing fine without Samini so he should concentrate on his career and forget about Samini.

I remember playfully telling Shatta some three years ago that if he doesn’t put a stop to that behaviour, I will give him a few punches. I’m not at Samini’s camp and I don’t manage him so what will I gain if I had told  him that?” Bull Dog noted in an exclusive interview with News-One.

He continues: “All these things are lies; I don’t take off any shirt in public.

I love Dancehall, I respect
Samini and I enjoy his music but I’m not a fanatic like that.

He told a series of lies on that day.

I just want people to be truthful and honest in their submissions.”

Many people have raised several concerns about what seems to be bad blood between Samini’s group and Shatta’s camp.

News-One has gathered that arrangements are underway for the debate to be organized in the studios of Peace FM, as well as on UTV.

Source: News-One

Justin Bieber will return to sunny Miami next month following his arrest on charges of driving under the influence, resisting arrest and driving with an expired license.

A Miami-Dade Country judge has set Bieber’s trial date for March 3 (which happens to be the great state of Florida’s 169th birthday!), Billboard reports.

His trial date will follow his arraignment for the same charges on Feb. 14, where he has already plead not guilty on the three misdemeanors from his Jan. 23 arrest after he was caught drag-racing and driving under the influence in a Lamborghini.

The arrest report states that the officer smelled an “odor of alcohol emanating from the drivers breath and bloodshot eyes.”

It continues to explain that Bieber had “slow deliberate movements and a stupor look on his face.”

Under the influence, Bieber did not understand why he was being arrested and continually asked each officer why he was being transported to the Miami Beach Police Department.

If you ever get a chance to take a ride on Justin Bieber’s private plane, make sure to pack your gas mask.

Last week, Bieber’s plane was detained on the tarmac at Teterboro Airport due to a strong odor of marijuana—no weed was found onboard—but according to NBC News the pilots were forced to wear oxygen masks to keep from inhaling the massive amount of pot smoke coming from the cabin.

“The captain of the flight stated that he warned the passengers, including Bieber, on several occasions to stop smoking marijuana,” the official report says.

NBC says the pilots were forced to wear their oxygen masks so that “they wouldn’t risk inhaling marijuana and failing a drug test.”

Hiplife artiste Kwaw Kese has rendered an unqualified apology to organizers of the just ended Vodafone Icons after he accused them of trying to extort money from him to decide on the winner of the contest.

Kwaw recounted that since he hijacked the stage at the finals of the Vodafone Icons and incited his fans against the organizers, corporate bodies in Ghana have refused to book him for their events.

“Because of the stunt I pulled on the Vodafone stage some time ago, most of the Corporate companies don’t call on me for shows and other things any longer.

I just want to tell Vodafone that
if I have offended them in anyway, we are all human so I want to apologize to Vodafone for what happened,” Kwaw Kese stated.

It could be recalled that Kwaw Kese was furious after his younger brother, Buda, was eliminated from the final round of the Vodafone Icons reality show.

Even though he had not been able to substantiate any of his claims, the ‘Man Insane’ alleged that a member of the organizing team asked him to pay GH10,000 in order for Buda to win.

“Oh yeah the guys at Vodafone are like my colleagues and I have realized that what I did on that very day did not go down well with them.

We have to promote peace. I just want to say that I’m sorry for what I did.

We all have to come together to promote the showbiz industry and move Ghana forward so I just have to eat in the peace bowl with them and just move on,” he added.

Vodafone Ghana officially dissociated itself from Kwaw Kese’s allegation and are yet to accept the apology.

Ghanaian actress, Lydia Forson, has facilitated the rescue of a 12-year-old boy who had been forced into child labour at Gasoekope, an island on the Volta River.

The boy, who gave his name as Emmanuel, said he was taken from his mother at Tema to the Volta Region where he was forced into child labour, together with several other children brought from other parts of the country.

Emmanuel, at a point, could not take the treatment meted out to him and the other trafficked children and therefore escaped from the village, thinking he could find his way back to Tema.

The young boy however got lost within the cluster of villages in the area and was stuck because the whole vicinity was surrounded by water.

He was wandering on the banks of the Volta River when he met Lydia Forson.

The actress was in the Volta Region for an outreach programme to rescue children trafficked to the area.

She was working in collaboration with Right To Be Free, an organisation founded by Eric Peasah.

Lydia Forson explained that the boy was standing at the shore waiting for an available boat to get in when they found him.

“Our boat was the only available boat. He was afraid to tell us he was running away so he lied that he wanted a lift to the neighbouring village.

He didn’t know who we were and we saw he was afraid because he was lost and didn’t want to say it.

“We took him with us and in the boat we questioned him.

When we were far from the village he finally opened up a little. When we got to Kpando, he tried to escape from us, so he started panicking and wouldn’t talk.

“But we spoke to his master, reported it to the police and social welfare and took him with us.

He finally started relaxing by the third day when he saw we were leaving Kpando. All he kept saying was he didn’t want to work on the water and he wanted his mum,” Lydia explained.

She said the boy is currently at the Osu Children’s Home in Accra undergoing a process to reunite him with his mother.

The beautiful actress spent three days in the region to scout for other trafficked children.

She visited villages like Gasoekope, Koala DDT, Adzaboso and Abionikope via boat for three days.

She said all the children they met did not talk unless their masters allowed them to. They always had their heads bowed down and were afraid.

“This year, our vision is to rescue 20 children who have been sold or trafficked to be used for labour.

The plan is to visit the villages, talk to the chiefs and ‘owners’ of these children to convince them to release the children.

"We have to make three visits per village and after that when we get the children we reunite them with their parents, and where the parents can’t take care of them we support the families.

And also try to find for the fishermen alternative methods to fishing that won’t require them using children in this dangerous water,” Lydia added.

UK-based Ghanaian Afrobeat singer, Nana Richard Abiona known on stage as Fuse ODG has set his sights on changing the negative perceptions of Africa through his music.

The award winning artiste is currently enjoying huge success with his three smash hit singles, Azonto, Antenna, and Million Pound Girl (Badder Than Bad), enjoying huge rotations across the world.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC, Fuse ODG revealed that he is on a mission to project what he termed "the new Africa" to the world through his music.

He said: "I've always known that I am on a mission to showcase the new Africa to the world so the music is just a vehicle for me to use to spread that message and I'm pretty close to God as well so I feel like the music just naturally comes but the mission is just something that really carries me in a long term."

Currently enjoying massive following through his music, the Afrobeat sensation noted that it is time to let the world know that Africa is not only about poverty and disease and war; the continent equally holds a lot of opportunities.

"Now people are starting to learn, I'm out there screaming This Is New Africa (TINA); that Africa is not all about the negative images; you can actually be successful staying in Africa, you can actually invest in Africa and be successful, [and] you can actually be happy living in Africa," Fuse ODG stressed.

He believes it's about time Africans took action to redeem the image of the continent: "We need to actually do something, we need to actually take action to make sure that the perception does actually change and us being in Africa actually doing something to make sure that Africa is a great place to be."

Already, Fuse has been holding talks with students and the youth urging them to go back to Africa and invest their skills.

"I went to Stanford University to do a talk and I connected with the students as to how we can go back to the continent and invest our skills," the Best African Act award winner at the 2013 Music of Black Origin (MOBO) recounted.

He said: "I feel like our parents left Africa because the home that they had wasn't quite habitable so they came to the UK or they came to another country. It is important to rebuild our homes so they can actually go home and just relax.

I feel like it has to be our generation (developing Africa); we've gained skills from the UK, the US..."

After news came out that Selly and one of her friends who they both starred in 2013 Big Brother- The Chase, were involved in an ungodly posture.

That photo in question was taken by her boyfriend (Praye Tieta) when Huddah was going back to Kenya after her short visit to Ghana.

Our platform has received a Rejoinder from the management of Selly, read below…

REJOINDER FROM SELLY - GHANA’S
REPRESENTATIVE IN BBA 2013
My attention has been drawn to an article published on the Ghanacelebrities.com on Saturday 1st February, 2014 captioned: “In the Face Of On-Going Bi-Sexual Accusations; What Is Wrong With These Photos?”

Reference was then made to some snapshots I had with Huddah Monroe, who represented Kenya in the BBA, when she visited Ghana a few months ago.

The article labelled me as bi-sexual and sought to create the impression that I was cheating on my fiancée, Praye Tietie.

I wish to state unequivocally that the story published on the website and other news portal was fictitious, concocted and a desperate attempt by my detractors to impugn my hard won reputation.

My relative silence since Saturday must not be misinterpreted as that of fear or guilt and I challenge the author to provide proof of the story if any.

The said photos which were the subject of the article were even taken by Praye Tietie and not in secrecy as the author wanted the public to believe.

After the BBA show, I have been busy working on other projects to enhance my career and would not allow such frivolous publications to distort my attention.

Signed:
Selly Ghalley

This year’s Sasquatch! Music Festival, like Coachella before it, is offering double the fun by expanding to two weekends.

But unlike the Indio, California fest, each weekend of Sasquatch! will have entirely different lineups.

The Washington festival’s first weekend, taking place Memorial Day Weekend (May 23-25), will include fest mainstays OutKast , along with The National , Queens of the Stone Age , M.I.A . and Foster the People .

Newer artists like HAIM, Chance the Rapper , Phantogram, Rudimental and First Aid Kit make the bill.

Hip-hop is represented by Tyler the Creator , while dance acts like Major Lazer, Big Freedia and Ryan Hemsworth.

The weekend will also include performances from tUnE-yArDs, Violent Femmes , Panda Bear , Mogwai, Foals, AlunaGeorge, Cage the Elephant , Liars, Phosphorescent, Bob Mould, Washed Out, Elbow, Portugal. the Man , Deafheaven, Parquet Courts, Die Antwoord, The Naked and Famous, The Dodos and Austra.