Month: December 2016

The High Court has ruled that there is no law allowing the highways authority to place speed limit road signs or prescribe punishment for ignoring them.
Delivering the ruling, Justice cited the law
He said that to place on or near a road traffic sign prescribing speed limits on the road does not exist in law.
The court also ruled that driving 20 km/h above the 100 km/h limit is not illegal.
the judge said.
 
“On the other hand, section 70 (5A) on its own does not disclose an offence since it only prescribes a penalty for a conviction in violation of the speed limit,” she said.
The judge gave the ruling after Ankush Shah was charged before the Magistrate’s Court after he ignored the speed limit indicated on a sign along the Southern Bypass Road between Kikuyu and Kiambu.
He however successfully pleaded his case and through his lawyer, raised questions over the charge.
According to the charge, Shah was driving at 120 km/h instead of 100 km/h and termed the charge as defective.
 
Shah’s lawyer said.
Shah had his objection dismissed but later moved to the High Court where he successfully pleaded his case.
He had wanted the judge to declare that all drivers fined or charged under the contested section were illegally punished.
In her ruling, the judge said the judge said the driver was within the law by exceeding the limit by 20 km/h.
“I must emphasise that the applicant having been charged for driving at 120 km/h and the law cited, an offence could only have been created if he was driving in excess of 120 km/h. He was therefore within the allowed speed limit. Effectively no offence had been committed by the speed he was driving at,” the judge said.

According to , the two developed bitter hate for each other after Miss Sanura slipped and fell on the escalator in Europe and when Zari reached to help the old lady out,
” the source intimated to the publication.
 
The reason for the beef was said to be Zari’s controlling nature which greatly repulsed Diamond’s mum.
Rumours of the beef was further fuelled by  Diamond’s mum and sister taking to social media to wish Diamond’s ex Wema Sepetu a ‘Happy Birthday’ in lieu of Zari who only received ‘blue ticks’ from the  two. This incident came days after the two were conspicuously missing in action at Zari Hassan’s glamorous party in Zanzibar.
 
An act that caused a flurry of reactions on social media with many interpreting this as Zari has a strained relationship with the in-laws and Wema is their preferred choice.
But the birth of Sanura’s husband (Diamond’s son) seems to have changed all this. In fact the two spent a chilled out afternoon together according to Zari Hassan.
 
Sanura also shared a photo Zari took during an outing at Afrikaans is Groot, Pretoria, South Africa.
 

Arsenal lynchpins Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil will not be allowed to leave the club before their contracts expire in 18 months’ time, manager Arsene Wenger said on Thursday.
British media reports this week suggested Chilean forward Sanchez and German playmaker Ozil want new deals that will put them on a par with the Premier League’s highest earners.
But while Wenger cannot guarantee the pair will stay at Arsenal beyond the terms of their current contracts, he vowed neither player would be sold during the next year and a half.
“These players will stay here for at least 18 months. I cannot repeat always the same things,” Wenger told his weekly press conference at Arsenal’s London Colney training base.
“I think at some stage you have to accept that negotiations are private and secret and we do not always have to come out every day to explain what we do in football negotiations.
“We are professional people. We work until the last day of our contracts with full commitment.
“These players have 18 months on their contracts and, no matter what happens, they will stay for 18 months. Hopefully they’ll stay for longer than that.”
Sanchez, 27, and Ozil, 28, have been in sparkling form of late as Arsenal have climbed to second place in the league table and secured a place in the Champions League last 16 as group winners.
In the past, Arsenal have cashed in on players unwilling to sign new deals, such as when they sold former captain Robin van Persie to Manchester United in 2012.
But Wenger suggested he would sooner let Sanchez and Ozil leave for free in 2018 than sanction moves for them.
He was, however, unable to offer fans any guarantees the duo will sign new contracts with the club.
Asked what assurances he could give supporters, the Frenchman replied: “None.
“They have 18 months left on their contract and they are completely committed to do well as long as they are here.
“Beyond that, we’ll try to extend their contracts, but I cannot make that the subject in every press conference because it’s a normal part of every renewal when you renegotiate.
“The less you talk about it, the better it is.”
Wenger played down reports former Barcelona former star Sanchez could be tempted by a mega-money move to the Chinese Super League.
“I believe it (that there has been interest). Yes, why not?” he said. “But why should you go to China when you’re playing in England today?
“We live in a world where great players like Alexis and Ozil earn a lot of money and they have the privilege of choosing where they really want to play.”
Arsenal can go top of the table for 24 hours at least if they beat Stoke City by two goals or more at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
Right-back Hector Bellerin could feature after returning to training following an ankle injury.
But Arsenal remain without Per Mertesacker (knee), Mathieu Debuchy (hamstring), Santi Cazorla (ankle) and Danny Welbeck (knee).

Paris officials have announced a crackdown on rats which blight parks and gardens around the City of Light and are thought to easily outnumber humans.
The city’s rodents were given an image overhaul in 2007 in the hit animated film “Ratatouille” which depicted them cooking in a famous restaurant.
But they remain a health hazard and eyesore for Parisians as well as an embarrassment after pictures of them scavenging on the grass in front of the Louvre museum in 2014 made foreign newspapers.
“In order to stop the recent increase in the presence of rats around Paris, an immediate and targeted action plan has been put in place,” Paris city hall announced on Wednesday.
Eradicating the vermin is “impossible”, the statement said, but reducing their number “significantly” can be achieved by blocking exits from the sewer system, reducing their habitats and trapping them.
Around half a dozen squares and gardens have been temporarily closed and traps have been laid, with other areas set to follow including the park in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Other measures will include new rat-proof rubbish bins and efforts to ensure garbage or food is not left for long periods in the street.
Pest control experts estimate that there are around two rats for every one of the two million people who live in central Paris.

The European Commission launched legal action on Thursday against authorities in seven EU nations including Germany and Britain for failing to crack down on emissions cheating exposed by the Volkswagen “Dieselgate” scandal.
The commission, the EU’s executive arm, “is today acting against seven member states on the grounds that they have failed to fulfil their obligations” under EU law, said a statement.
The Dieselgate scandal blew open when Volkswagen admitted in September 2015 that it installed software in 11 million cars worldwide that reduced emissions of harmful nitrogen oxides when it detected the vehicle was undergoing tests.
Brussels drew sharp criticism for failing to act against Volkswagen compared to the US, where authorities not only exposed the wrongdoing, but secured a $16.5-billion (14.8-billion-euro) settlement from the Germany-based automaker.
But the Commission lacks the authority to fight Volkswagen. Day-to-day regulation of the auto sector, including approving new car models for the road, remains under the authority of national governments.
“Abiding by the law is first and foremost the duty of car manufacturers. But national authorities across the EU must ensure that car manufacturers actually comply with the law,” said EU Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska.
The commission’s so-called infringement procedure is the first step in a long legal process that can see member states sent to EU court for breaking European law.
Germany, the bloc’s most powerful nation, is accused of failing to apply the appropriate penalities when faced with proof of cheating by Volkswagen.
The commission also accuses Germany, along with Britain, of not turning over to Brussels evidence found in national probes of Dieselgate.
Other countries facing the EU’s infringement action are the Czech Republic, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Spain.
The Dieselgate scandal exposed that some VW cars spewed out up to 40 times more harmful nitrogen oxide — linked to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases — than legally allowed in the EU.
The European Environment Agency said in a 2015 report that nitrogen oxide was responsible for around 72,000 premature deaths in Europe.
Still, one year after the scandal, nearly 30 million cars on Europe’s roads were still way over air pollution limits, campaign group Transport and Environment said in a report in September.

The singer who dropped doing music a few years ago has been experiencing pain in her entire body however the doctors cannot find any type of sickness in her body.
This comes a few months after the singer was admitted in hospital after a snake bit her leg as she was opening the gate to her compound. Since then, the singer has been experiencing weird things in her body and she is now forced to think that she was bewitched.
 said Mhando.
During a recent interview with one of Tanzania’s top tabloids, , the lady revealed that she her body gets itchy whenever she gets a feeling of something crawling all over her body. This has been going on for some time now and she is yet to discover what is making her feel this way.
she went on.
The singer however cleared rumors claiming that she is using drugs that are affecting her health and music career. Anyway, this comes a year after the lady was rumored to have converted back Islam after spending many years serving the gospel industry with well written songs which became hits in East Africa.
 

Junaid Jamshed, a pioneer of Pakistani pop who renounced music to become a Muslim evangelist and started one of the country’s most successful clothing boutiques was among 47 people killed in a plane crash Wednesday.
He died alongside his second wife, Nahya, and is survived by his first wife Ayesha as well as four children.
Born in Karachi on September 3, 1964, he shot to fame in the late 1980s as lead singer of the boy-band “Vital Signs”, where his dashing looks and brooding vocals made him a style icon and heartthrob for a generation emerging from the harsh Islamist rule of military dictator Zia-ul-Haq.
The band’s fusion of Western guitar-driven pop set to traditional Tabla beats inspired the creation of a new genre — Sufi Rock — that is hugely popular throughout South Asia today.
Their greatest hit, “Dil Dil Pakistan”, an upbeat ode to the homeland with a synthesizer-heavy 1980s sound, remains an unofficial national anthem.
Many of his biggest fans became critics when in the early 2000s he left his career in pop to become a member of the Tableeghi Jamaaat, a Sunni evangelical group that preaches its austere brand of Islam throughout the world.
Jamshed ditched his leather jackets and stone-washed jeans for traditional tunic and baggy pants, grew a beard, and began recording religious ‘Naats’ — hymns that are sung a capello, because instruments are seen as “haraam” (forbidden).
Pakistani liberals’ disappointment only grew as Jamshed made a series of controversial statements, often targeting women — including famously telling a female TV host that women should not be allowed to drive or leave the home without male guardians.
But his new guise also endeared him to conservative Pakistanis who followed his TV appearances closely and regarded him as a role-model for leaving a decadent lifestyle behind.
In 2014, he found himself embroiled in controversy for appearing to criticise one of the Prophet Muhammad’s wives in one of his sermons, prompting a blasphemy case to be brought against him.
He issued a tearful apology and the case was not pursued — his strong connections with the country’s religious right seemingly safeguarding him from persecution minorities often receive when charged or even accused of the same crime.
In addition to his preaching, Jamshed set up a upmarket clothing boutique in 2002 catering to both men and women, a highly profitable business that today boasts a strong presence across the country.
In his last tweet, Jamshed posted pictures of himself with fellow preachers in scenic northern Chitral, from where the ill-fated Pakistan International Airlines flight 661 made its final journey.
“Heaven on Earth Chitral. With my friends in the Path of Allah. Snowpacked Tirchmir right behind us,” he tweeted.
His death was mourned by clerics, politicians and fans of his earlier work.
“Disenchantment with the person he was yesterday vanishes with this tragedy. Today, the last decade didn’t happen. Rest in peace, Junaid Jamshed,” wrote columnist Umair Javed.

Tonight’s party to attend.
Sky World Lounge has come up with yet  another cray cray party!
 
Known for it’s upbeat parties, all roads will be leading to the only  place you can find a potent mix of wild adult fun, great entertainment and crazy offers on the drinks… Come join hundreds of cool people dancing the mid-week away at the moist awaited party.
This is the funkiest week gig, with one of the best club DJs around on the decks through most of the night Video mixing the best of local and international, spanking new and classic hits to keep you on your feet all night alongside the man behind hit songs like: Nyar Siaya, Nyar Ahero and Hera Remo, Joyman will be in the house too.
 
It will be an intimate luxury VIP night filled with a wide selection of unique cocktails and premium brands served by perfectly polished team of beautiful hostesses.
Local beers @ 200, Buy Skyy Vodka 750 ml and get 2 Reď Bulls Free.
Skyworld Lounge is located on Tom Mboya Street.
This is the place to be, so make a date and experience a night like no other.

Six ODM lawmakers have condemned President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto for keeping quiet on the ongoing health crisis.
Ugunja Member of Parliament, Opiyo Wandayi, Florence Mutua (Busia), Fred Outa (Nyando), Zulekha Hassan (nominated) and National Assembly Health Committee members Raphael Otaalo (Lurambi) and James Nyikal (Seme) during a media briefing at Parliament Buildings yesterday urged the government to intervene and stop the ongoing doctors and nurses’ strike.
 
The lawmakers termed the raging health crisis a creation of the Jubilee administration, which, they said, wants to continue clinging to billions meant for devolved functions.
So far over 20 patients have already died since the strike began three days ago.
which will see the lowest paid doctor earn Sh342,000 while the highest should be earn Sh946,000.
 
The union are also demanding a 25- to 40-percent pay rise for nurses has was agreed in a 2013 collective bargaining agreement, yet to be implemented.
The MPs accused jubilee government of starving the counties of the money meant for essential devolved functions like health, so it can provide its loyal foot soldiers with “
In a statement read by Wandayi, the MPs demanded and immediately intervene to have the health services resume back to work, and save Kenyans from the anguish and pain they are currently going through
For the two day, ahead of 2017 general elections.
 
On Tuesday he launched the tarmacking of Kibwezi-Migwani road to bitumen standards at a cost of Sh18.4 billion.
The week before he had been on a similar errand in the central region despite the doctors having issued an ultimate two weeks before.
The lawmakers pledged support to the health fraternity and amplified their claims that the national treasury was withholding money meant to pay doctors.
  Wandayi said.

He further added
On Wednesday, while commissioning of the Kenya Medical Training College, Makindu Campus, Ukambani. President Uhuru urged the health workers to return to work, saying the government was ready to negotiate with them.

It is ranked as the top match to see before you die: the ferocious tie between Boca Juniors and River Plate, who meet on Sunday in the Argentine league.
In a country where football is power, and even a matter of life and death, the Buenos Aires derby is the ultimate battle.
British football magazine Four Four Two this year ranked it as the best “clasico” in the world, above Barcelona-Real Madrid.
It is the mother of all derbies — and the rival club’s mothers are among the first sacred entities to be profaned once the fans start chanting.
“When they’re not winning, the stands are empty,” sing the Boca faithful of their rivals, dubbed the “Millionaires.”
“Come on you millionaires and win, to make the dung-shovelers cry,” retort the River crowd, using their rivals’ historical nickname.
“This country lives and breathes football. The passion for it is astonishing and charming,” said Ariel Scher, a specialist in sport and politics at the Deportea sports journalism school.
“It is in the derbies that the sense of identifying with the team is strongest.”
Sunday’s match sees former Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez, 32, lead his boyhood club Boca away against River and their veteran midfielder Andres D’Alessandro, 35.
“The clasico is the most beautiful experience for a player,” Tevez has said.
“It is one of the few matches where I find it difficult to switch my frame of mind from being a fan to being a player.”
The two teams’ former stars include Diego Maradona of Boca and the late Alfredo Di Stefano who played for River Plate and later Real Madrid.
The 62,500 seats in River’s Monumental stadium in the north of the city will be a sea of red and white, with not a yellow and blue Boca short in sight.
Away supporters have been banned from most Argentine league matches since 2013, when a Lanus fan was killed at a game against Estudiantes.
So Boca fans will have to watch it on television — among them Argentina’s current president, the millionaire businessman Mauricio Macri, who was president of Boca Juniors from 1995 to 2007.
River, generally seen as playing a more attractive game, have more Argentina league titles — 35 to Boca’s 25.
But Boca, considered the more gutsy side, have won more derbies against River — 268 to their rivals’ 252.
Both clubs were born over a century ago in the Italian immigrant district of Boca, in the south of the capital near a tributary of the Rio de la Plata.
River Plate later moved away north to a new stadium in the upmarket Nunez neighborhood, where they opened the Monumental stadium in 1938.
Boca stayed in the old neighborhood at their stadium, known as “la Bombonera,” or “the candy box.”
Nowadays neither team is particularly richer than the other, but the stereotype persists, notably in their nicknames.
A flood in the working class Boca district was thought to have given the local fans their own moniker: bosteros, or “dung-shovelers.”
River Plate have been dubbed the “millionaires” ever since they got rich and signed an expensive player in the 1930s.
Their other nickname “chickens” (cowards) comes from an infamous defeat in 1966, when River Plate gave away a 2-0 lead to lose 4-2 to Uruguayan side Penarol.
“Dung-shovelers” and “chickens” are among the lighter insults exchanged by fans in their frequently homophobic, racist and incendiary chants that sometimes extend to death threats.
Referees have been known to stop games due to such chants and River Plate’s own president Rodolfo D’Onofrio has called for fans to be expelled for them.
“Some try to make light of it by saying it is all a game,” said Scher. “But where does it all end?”

Former Olympic cyclist Jess Varnish said she was “shocked and upset” after it emerged only one of her nine complaints against British Cycling’s former technical director Shane Sutton was upheld.
British Cycling said in October that Varnish’s allegation of “inappropriate and discriminatory language” against Sutton, a 59-year-old Australian, had been upheld.
But the BBC reported on Wednesday that Sutton had been cleared of eight of the charges and that the British Cycling board has only found he may have used the word “bitches”.
“I am shocked and upset by this latest news and have instructed my solicitor to appeal the findings of the internal investigation on my behalf,” Varnish, 26, told the BBC.
“Having provided substantial evidence to back up my complaints, to now learn that the majority were not upheld is heartbreaking. I know what was said and I know I’ve told the truth.”
The BBC said a leaked document showed the British Cycling board had not upheld claims Sutton used the term “Sheilas” or told Varnish: “Get on with having a baby.”
Sutton resigned in April ahead of the Rio Olympics over Varnish’s sexism allegations, as well as separate claims he called Paralympic cyclists “gimps” and “wobblies”.
He rejected the allegations, but said he was stepping down so as not to create distractions prior to the Olympics.
He said last month he would appeal against British Cycling’s verdict.
The BBC said British Cycling’s board had also not been satisfied by allegations of swearing against Sutton and claims he said women were difficult.
It also rejected allegations he made comments about bodyweight and claims equipment was not evenly distributed between male and female riders.
Varnish added: “I have requested from British Cycling the full investigation report to understand why the weight of evidence provided by me and others wasn’t sufficient for the board to uphold my complaints.”
Varnish was dropped from British Cycling’s world-class performance programme after her and partner Katy Marchant failed to qualify for the Olympics in the two-woman, two-lap team sprint.
Marchant went to Rio and won a bronze medal in the individual sprint.
Varnish now works as a personal trainer, having elected not to appeal against her exclusion from the programme.

The most wonderful time of the year is just around the corner, so why not celebrate the holiday season with a family-friendly movie marathon?
Choose from a smorgasbord of holiday delights, from your all-time favourite Christmas classics to family-friendly movies that will fill your heart with the festive spirit.
Here are just five of the for you and your family to curl up with and enjoy this holiday:
 
1.
Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) are forced to spend Christmas with their families – for the first time as a couple. With Brad’s mother (Sissy Spacek) sleeping with his best friend, his blue-collar brothers (Jon Favreau and Tim McGraw) bullying him, and Kate’s mother (Mary Steenburgen) embarrassing her, it looks set to be a blue Christmas for the couple – until they realise that they both, ultimately, want the same thing.
 
2.
In this adorable CGI animated film, a young boy arrives in Heaven before his time. He meets the cheerful puppy Halo, who helps him find his way back down to Earth so that he can retrieve his treasure box, which contains the perfect present for Baby Jesus. This sweet story reminds us that “the best gifts in life come from faith, friendship and doing the right thing.”
 
3.
Princess Crystal is destined to rule the kingdom of penguins, but her subjects are concerned that she still believes in Santa. Her jealous sister Lucinda decides to join Crystal on her quest to find him, hoping to embarrass her. But on their journey, the sisters learn a lot about each other, and that they’re not so different after all. With the voice talents of real-life sisters Hilary and Haylie Duff.
 
4.
Holidays are all about family, but families don’t always get along. The Rodriguez clan go to their parents’ home for the holidays, expecting the good times they remember from when they were young. But they’ve brought plenty of their own baggage along – and then find out that their parents are splitting up.  Could this be the last holiday they will all spend together?
 
5.
Don’t miss Julia Donaldson’s charming and magical story about a piece of wood called Stick Man, who ends up on a grand adventure as he tries his best to get home to his stick family in time for Christmas. The award-winning animation is also an African success story as it was animated by  South African animation company Triggerfish.
These series are available to stream or download on for a pocket-friendly monthly subscription. ShowMax has two options: ShowMax Select for Ksh 330 per month, which brings you a selection of local and international content), and ShowMax Premium for Ksh 880 per month, which brings you the full catalogue, including local hits and major international releases. 

The man of God was apparently pranked by Xtian Dela in a whatsapp conversation that later triggered DJ Mo to call Dela a dog for playing games with him.
 
The conversation was however later shared by Xtian Dela on social media to share the ‘funny joke’ but his audience were quick to note that the social media bigwig had cropped out a section of the conversation that read
This is however not the first time the two are seen roasting each other on social media. But did DJ Mo go too far with his response to the joke?
Well, this has sparked different reactions from social media users who were quick to call out DJ Mo for pretending to be a holy man yet his actions portrayed something different.
 
It is however difficult to judge since this was done on a light note, but judging from how DJ Mo and his family carry themselves as spiritual beings with no mistakes; one finds it hard to pass judgment.

The Jubilee Party has announced the nomination fees for all aspirants seeking various elective positions on its party ticket ahead of next year’s elections.
the party’s Secretary-General Veronica Maina said in a statement.
The Jubilee Party has asked governors aspiring to run on its ticket to part with Sh100, 000 as nomination fee.
Those gunning for the senatorial positions will have to pay Sh50, 000 while aspiring Members of Parliament and Women will part with Sh30, 000.
 
Ward representatives will fork out Sh20, 000.
The in the Cord coalition.
Those vying for gubernatorial posts Sh500, 000, those going for MP will pay Sh250, 000, MCAs will pay Sh25, 000 while the county woman representative will pay Sh125, 000.
However, all women, youth and persons with disabilities will be allowed to pay half the amounts for the respective positions.
The party also warned against those it said were swindling funds from unsuspecting aspirants.
said Ms Maina.
The Jubilee nomination fees are non-refundable and payable under the account name “Jubilee Party” whose account number is 0180270840079 through the Equity Bank NHIF Branch.

They robbed the family and attempted to even slash the owner with a machete before flattening the house with a bulldozer.
A house they had owned for 26 years was pulled down in a span of a few minutes .The owner said that some people had been asking them to vacate the house before the Sunday incident but the family refused since there was no court order and they owned the property since 1990.
 
Following this inexcusable act of impunity, Kenyans have expressed outrage after the unbelievable incidence. They have also  rushed to a page set up for the Kurji’s and have so far contributed about 850, 000 Kshs to help the family.
 
Sonko has also joined the cause of seeking justice for the distraught family. He made a call to the man who sent out the destruction order, a man identified as Francis.
The man asked when Sonko called him up.
Sonko said before going ahead to confront the man. Asking him why he dealt with the family with such callousness and telling him that he should spend a few months in jail to pay for what he did.
Sonko yelled. (Translation: You are a thief! You think you can bribe everyone? You thief, you deserve to be in jail. You think you can buy everyone? When we meet you shall know who I really am.)
the man on the other end shouted back.
Sonko asked. ( Are you calling me a dog?)
 
After this outburst, the man ended the call before calling the senator back. Sonko then told him that just because they are fiends it doesn’t mean that he will support him in the cases of social injustice. He then went on to reveal that the title deed used to evacuate the Kurji’s was fake.
He then went on to ask the man why he had called him a dog and yet he was elected by the people. ”
”Sonko vowed. (: You will own that property over my dead body)
 
 He then went on to tell the man that he should auction off his property to pay for the Kurji’s damaged property…listen to the audio by clicking
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Celebrity crushes are as old as, ummm, celebrity crushes. Everyone has a celebrity they would kill – or die – for. Trouble is, we can barely get to meet them leave alone date them and fly off to Jamaica with them.
But crushes are fun… They’re not meant to be taken seriously and it’s cute to just have that one super hot celebrity that just lights up your day with whatever they do. And in Nicki Minaj’s case, whatever they wear.
Celebrity crushes might even spawn bitter Hip Hop beefs when one player ends up snapping up a girl another nigga wanted. Like in the case of Drake and Meek Mill.
Or the madness currently going on with Tyga whose super hot girlfriend Kylie Jenner is the celebrity crush of fellow rapper 21 Savage.
I’m totally smitten by Ariana Grande. Like, smitten. I live for Ariana. Breathe for Ariana and believe in Ariana.
But she’s too far way, way too far successful, too breathtakingly gorgeous, too high-level and definitely too rich for this scraggly blogger here. But dream on, Cabu Gah, dream on.
Anyway… Ghafla Kenya is studded with guys who have their own little dreams with their own secret celebrity crushes.
And today, I’ll make it public every single Ghafla guy’s celebrity crush in Kenya.
And why not start with myself ? But of course.
 
I would move mountains – and sixteen other rocks – to get Wangechi. She’s everything I dream of, everything I want and everything I ever needed. A girl so classy, so flawless, so incredibly gifted, so beautiful, so grounded, so chilled out. Raps like heaven. And sings like a cherubim. And that chocolate skin, that’s the skin of the world. And with a body that petite, Good Lord! PS: Her new mixtape Do Not Consume If Seal Is Broken is tearing up the Internet. Listen to it
 
There’s so many questions here. Like, first, who is Fawwie Sol? Why Fawwie Sol? Who knows Fawwie Sol? What does Fawwie Sol do? Who else has a crush on Fawwie Sol? Is she related to Sauti Sol? I need to log onto Instagram and investigate this woman. But Irari is the Big Chief. I’m still confused on what would make a whole Editor crush on Fawwie Sol? Investigations begin in three, two, one….
 
Majani is the big Boss. The CEO. And what do witty creators of a super popular blog want? Well, a little lightskinned girl from KTN. I mean, Lois Hannigan. Also known as Lola to those that are close to her. Like me. Majani’s obsession with Lola dates back to the 18th Century. And still, thousands of years later, he’ll never get her. Ever ever. Woooiyee.
 
 Who doesn’t like a big booty that comes with brains!? Who doesn’t like a High Court advocate who also slays on Instagram and has the hips of a Brazilian samba Queen!? Corazon has been driving Martin crazy for years now. He’d do anything to smash that cookie. Do anything to wake up next to this fly as hell mamacita. But she’s a lawyer. Who flies to Dubai thrice a week. And he’s here sitting his butt writing. All day. It doesn’t work that way. Pole Boss.
Moore is Ghafla’s King of videography. He’s probably interviewed every single Kenyan celebrity alive. And yet, amongst them all, no one captures his heart and soul quite like Xtatic. That sexy female rapper who is now married to some music video producer. (Bad news.) Lakini Moore Hapana tambua. To him, Xtatic is everything and everything. He wouldn’t mind sinking his teeth into that butt. And who doesn’t like a sexy mama that can rap circles around the city?
 
Jerome is our social media guy. The guy that ensures that he’s flooded your timelines with troves of tweets and crashed your Facebook News Feed with over 16 billion posts a day. OK, that aside, Jerome only wants one thing for Christmas. Avril. Only that. He wants the newly-single damsel to rock his world and serenade him with tunes like all day in bed. As they watch birds fly in the Diani Beach sky. Perfect.
Goga has so much IT knowledge he once hacked the Hillary Clinton Campaign Headquarters in Nevada just to browse through her emails and KPLC bills. Haha. Dude is a beast. And what do IT gurus love most? A recently-divorced woman. That is, Betty Kyalo. And can we fault him? Kyalo is soooo freakin hot! Such a bombshell! Now we know the one guy that never misses the Friday Briefing. Good luck with that girl, Mr. Okari. Oh,a dn wanna know why Goga is crazy about Miss Kyalo? Ok, the little , silly fact that she can rock sneakers! What a sneaky excuse!
 
This Kalenjin jamaa only wants girls from his kabila. Aaiiiiii. But we can’t blame him. Cece is moto wa kuotea mbali. Girl is not just tremendously beautiful, she’s also quite the singer. Like have you heard her song 9 to 5? Have you?!!! Even Victor Peace knows what’s up! Lakini Tubei hapa hawes toboa. Rudi lane kijana.
Like WTF dude??? Pick a woman! At least one! Who even has two crushes at the same time? In the same Country? Only Munyu… Muluya wa Busia (Not to be confused with Kristoff tafathari ) Now now, how did Cece Sagini become the celebrity crush of two dudes in Ghafla? At the same time? Like, kwani how hot is this girl? Might wanna crush on her too! And as for Joy Kendi, well, girl has been doing her thing now right? Good luck bedding her Mr. Munyu. Good luck Papa.
No one should ever have a crush on Lilian Muli. No, seriously. Like how do you tell your people, your parents, the community, the world that you have a crush on Lilian Muli? Where do you even start? Brother Ben, you’ve gotta try harder. Hatutaishi hivi.
 
Huyu kijana anacheza na mali ya Mungu. Bro, we said who is your celebrity crush! Not who is your spiritual hero! Lakini Miss Natasha is hotter than a Pizza Inn oven. Tarus is normally such a nice guy. Who writes such nice little articles. And here he is lusting over a whole woman of God! Man, you’ve got to be a special kind of crazy to sit your thick butt all day fantasizing over a woman of God. But at least it’s not Bishop Margaret. Or Kathy Kiuna. Thank goodness. Now, someone needs to repent. And we all know who.

The following year, the popular Nigerian entertainment blogger bought a mansion in the exclusive Banana Island area of Ikoyi. “I bought a two-storey luxury house in the exclusive Banana Island area of Ikoyi…and to be honest, I still can’t believe it. It’s everything I prayed my house would be. That’s me standing in front of my house. #ProudSelfMadeWoman.” She wrote on social media after flaunting her new acquisition.
Now this year, the blogger said to be worth about 1 Billion Kshs has bought a Range Rover autobiography said to be worth about 20 Million Kshs.
While we are used to Linda flaunting her new purchases on social media, this time the brother was the one who exhibited Linda’s new acquisition.
 
Peks Ikeji captioned a side by side photo of Linda’s 2014 and 2016 car.
 
He was also quick to reveal how proud he was that his sister had come this far by posting
This new car comes about a month since the launch of her social networking site:
 

FIFA chief Gianni Infantino on Thursday said Asian countries backed his plan to expand the World Cup to 48 teams — and added that up to three countries should be allowed to co-host the tournament.
Infantino, speaking after a three-day FIFA summit in Singapore, said Asian football associations “unanimously” supported a larger World Cup, with a “big majority” favouring 48 teams.
Infantino’s proposal for a 48-team World Cup in 2026, featuring 16 groups of three, will be submitted to the FIFA Council next month. A 40-team World Cup is also on the table.
“They are very supportive on expanding it. Everyone, unanimously,” Infantino told reporters.
“All of them were in favour of an increase and a big, big, big majority were in favour of the 48 teams with the 16 groups of three,” he added.
The FIFA Council will vote in Zurich on January 9-10 whether to maintain the current World Cup format of 32 teams, or extend it to 40 or 48.
Under the 16-group format, every qualified team would play at least two games and the top two in each group would then go through to the last 32.
“I like 40 (and) I like 48 with the play-offs because it brings excitement before the group stage,” Infantino said.
“But the 16 groups of three means that every game is important. There is no dead rubber. Every game is meaningful, is important.”
Asia currently has four designated World Cup berths, with a fifth available via a play-off. The Asian confederation is the world’s second biggest with 46 full members.
Infantino also said he supported allowing up to three countries to co-host the World Cup, instead of expecting one bidder to provide a dozen stadiums.
Japan and South Korea co-hosted the tournament in 2002 but a World Cup spread across three countries would be unprecedented.
“If a country does need to have 12 stadiums of more than 50,000 spectators but only (has) four, then why shouldn’t we allow three countries to join forces, each country four stadiums and have 12 stadiums?” Infantino said.
“That would then fit more in football development strategy… and more countries could participate in the dream of hosting at least one part of the World Cup, so I’m very open to it.”
He added that club football would not be affected by an expanded World Cup, and stressed that countries around the globe would reap the benefits of being able to participate.
“There’s no downside for the clubs because the calendar is not impacted,” he said.
“But there’s an upside for football because it allows eight or 16 more teams and more countries and more regions in the world to participate in the competition, which is the World Cup.”
Infantino also described his trip to Chapeco in Brazil as “very, very emotional” after he attended a massive funeral for the city’s football team, which was all but wiped out in a plane crash.
Asked if there are plans to help rebuild the team, Chapocoense, Infantino said there will be “programmes to help them”, without giving any details.

If you want to vie for a political office and wish to see your name on the ballot box come 8th august 2016, then you MUST open your campaign account by 5pm today.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has asked political parties and candidates who will contest in next year’s elections to open campaign financing accounts by today.
The electoral body cited the Election Campaign Act which requires that political parties and candidates have campaign accounts at least eight months before the day of the general election, IEBC CEO, Ezra Chiloba said in a statement sent to newsroom.
 
The general election is supposed be held on 8th august 2016 according to the constitution.
Also read :
In addition to opening accounts, political parties and candidates are required to establish campaign financing expenditure committees and appoint authorised persons who will manage the campaign funds.
 
The electoral guidelines state.
“
For accountability purposes any person or organisation seeking to contribute to a candidate or political party is required to channel such contributions through the independent candidate/political party expenditure accounts.
The IEBC announced that a Political Party Campaign Financing/Expenditure committee should consist of nine members.
 
Three of them are to be nominated by the governing body of the political party and one of the committee members must be the Secretary-General.
Also read :
IEBC guidelines also state that, not more than one member shall be from the same region and not more than two-thirds shall be of one gender in order to promote gender parity and ethnic balance.

The Tanzanian socialite first made headlines when she was featured on Rayvanny’s hit song Kwetu and since then her life changed for the better.
Due to her fine looks, she became famous and was even linked to Diamond Platnumz when she started sharing his photos on Instagram expressing how she felt about him.
 
She was however attacked by Tanzanians on social media for trying to steal someone’s(Zari) husband and since then she kept a low profile, however her expensive lifestyle revealed that she was getting sponsored by a wealth guy (Diamond Platnumz) who is now said to be responsible for her pregnancy.
Also read:
The girl has however refused to reveal who the baby daddy is but judging from the comments, most fans believe that she is involved with baba Tiffah.
Anyway, the lass has been enjoying her new life as she now flies in and out of Tanzania courtesy of the man responsible for her pregnancy.

The plight of Mary Kibwana Kamango prompted Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko to threat to hold peaceful demonstration against Lebanese and Saudi embassies in Nairobi to demand for their immediate closure.
The Nairobi Senator who was instrumental in bring Mary back to Kenya, dispatched his ambulance to pick her from JKIA and take her to Kenyatta National Hospital for treatment when she landed back home.
Mary was SEVERELY burnt by her employer in the Middle East. Sonko revealed her evil boss deliberately set her on fire on 17 April 2016 as she was going about her chores.
 
“Our investigation revealed that on 17th April 2016 while Mary was attending to her normal duties her employer deliberately set up the gas cylinder causing fire that injured her severely.
Despite her calls for help, she was neglected and ignored only to be rescued by a neighbour who managed to put off the fire. Later that day, her mobile phone was confiscated by her useless employer while she was taken to hospital. It took several days before her family got information of her tragedy. The cell phone number for her employer who set ablaze our Kenyan sister is +962795681190. Due to the nature of Mary’s injuries, she was transferred back to Kenya.” Sonko wrote in part.
 
Mary succumbed to her injuries two months after being admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital for specialized treatment.
Despite her tragic death and increased cases of Africans being mistreated in the Middle East, Kenyans continue to fly to Saudi Arabia and other Arab states in search of blue-collar jobs. 

System Rave aims to celebrate the entertainment market by using the concert as a platform to preach positive fun and further create more avenues to propel the gospel industry to an even higher level. System Rave concert is held once an year.
 
The concert is going down on the 10th of December, 2016, from 9pm to 6am and it is an open concert for audiences as young as 15 all the way up.
Held at the KICC Tsavo Ballroom, will be led by influential men and women in Kenya from diverse professional, economic, artistic, and other qualities which will lend the project the dynamism required to produce desired results.
Tickets will go for Ksh 200/- regular, Ksh 500/-, VIP and Ksh 2,000/-, VVIP.
 
Among the artists to expect at System Rave are:
• Willy Paul
• Kelele Takatifu
• Hope Kid
• DK Kwenye Beat
• Jimmy Gait
• Size 8
Among others will be hitting the stage.

Betty Kyallo has three siblings; Brian Kyallo Msafiri, Mercy Kyallo and Gloria Kyallo. The Kyallos support each other in all ways.
The KTN anchor is very protective of her two sisters, but her brother is in charge of the overall wellbeing of his sisters.
Betty recently launched her ultra-expensive salon in Kilimani and Brian was there to show her support for her side hustle.
Also read:
It was during the launch of Posh Palace Hair Studio and Spa that Betty disclosed how she relates with her brother.
 
Even though she is very close with all of her siblings, Betty’s relationship with her brother is a bit different.
Brian is more of a father figure than a mere brother to the Friday Briefing anchor. Betty confessed that her brother is very strict to her.
She says Brian supports her in every possible way and that she is still answerable to him to date.
Betty Wrote.
Betty’s confession makes you wonder whether she was still answerable to Brian even when she was still married to Dennis Okari; as in it is widely thought that wives are only answerable to their husbands.
 

Please don’t join Nasa Uhuru has personally pleaded with Gideon Moi.
President Uhuru Kenyatta personally telephoned Kanu leader Gideon Moi and urged him not to join the National Super Alliance.
Providing the latest and strongest signal, Jubilee Party is uneasy with the alliance that hopes to replicate the National Railbow Coalition (NARC) victory which effectively ended Moi’s 24 years grip of power.
The President, according to a source in the Moi family, last week urged the Baringo senator to back his own reelection next year and lead KANU back to Jubilee.
 
Details of Moi’s response were not disclosed. However, Uhuru’s appeal is said to have informed Gideon’s decision to back away from his offer to enter into a deal with Mudavadi.
Also read :
Last week Gideon Moi came out and announced KANU was not interested in joining any coalition at the moment clearly backing away from the national super alliance spearheaded by ANC leader, Musalia Mudavadi.
Uhuru and Gideon share a longstanding political history, retired President Daniel Moi was mentored by Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya and Moi returned the favor by becoming Uhuru’s political godfather. Plucking him from the corporate world and thrusting him into politics in 2002.
 
according to the Star, Uhuru told Moi that
The team crafting the Super Alliance had proposed a constitution change and create two Deputy Presidents post in their new government should they win and reserved one of them for Gideon Moi.
By elevating Moi to the DP’s position,he will enjoy similar status to Deputy President William Ruto. Thus, NASA hopes to get votes in Baringo, Bomet and other parts of South Rift.
Also read :
 
Senator Moi after the phone call said his party had an existing pact with Jubilee, which they signed after the 2013 general election, and would honor it until it elapses.
” He was speaking in Mombasa during public hearings on the Local Content Bill.
The Baringo senator said.
The main contention about NASA and Jubilee is the apparent clash between Gideon Moi and William Ruto. Both leaders harbor presidential ambitions and want to be Riftvalley kingpins.
 
Ruto has declared he wants to take over after Uhuru in 2022, and rule for ten years until 2032, by that factor alone there is no room for Gideon Moi in Jubilee, and there is no way he can take over after Ruto in 2032.
Gideon moi is now 53 years old, add five years of Uhuru presidency and then let’s assume Ruto takes over and rules for another ten years, now add 16 years to Gideon’s age the guy will be 69 years old before he evens says president.
The only way Gideon has a chance of presidency, is if Jubilee plans to kick out Ruto after 2017 and that may be what Uhuru called Gideon to personally tell him.

Seventy-five years ago, a handful of idealistic “Free French” took up arms to defend the British colony of Hong Kong in a futile battle against Japanese invaders.
But their sacrifice, though largely unknown in their homeland, is not forgotten in Asia.
There are six names on the worn stele that pays tribute to them in a corner of the British military cemetery in Stanley, on a hill in the south of Hong Kong island.
“I do not see why these people should be forgotten,” says Francois Dremeaux, chairman of the Hong Kong committee of French Remembrances of China.
“My job is to make their memory live by giving it meaning,” adds the history teacher, who helped oversee a ceremony dedicated to them last week.
Dremeaux, who has written a thesis on the French presence in Hong Kong in the interwar period, feels there is much to learn from these men, who in 1941 chose to fight in a battle some 10,000 kilometres (6,000 miles) from their homeland.
Hong Kong was a British enclave, and there was nothing forcing them to defend it, he adds.
“We cannot even say they were defending their colony,” Dremeaux said.
“They defended an idea, freedom, and did it of their own free will, which makes their sacrifice even more noble.”
Apart from representatives from the French consulate and army, those attending the modest commemoration were largely students from the French international school where Dremeaux teaches.
The group sang ‘Le Chant Des Partisans’, the anthem of the French Resistance — a tune rarely heard on the shores of the South China Sea.
By June 1940, many in the French community — which numbered around 400 in the late 1930s, had already fled to Indochina. Those who remained largely rallied to the Gaullist Resistance cause.
While the French embassy in Beijing was loyal to the pro-Nazi Vichy regime, in diplomatic correspondence Hong Kong consul general Louis Reynaud railed against the “treason” of the armistice Germany demanded and stamped his official telegrams with “V” for victory.
A “Free France” committee was set up in Hong Kong with about 20 active members to recruit volunteers, turn merchant sailors on stopover in port or prepare propaganda broadcasts.
Then on December 8, 1941, hours after their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded Hong Kong, which had been living under the threat of the imperial forces since they seized the nearby Chinese city of Canton — modern day Guangzhou — three years earlier.
Some of the Frenchmen joined the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps established by Britain to support regular forces vastly outnumbered by the Japanese.
Dremeaux picks up the trail of the Free French at several key moments in the 17-day “Battle of Hong Kong”, including the fight for the island’s sole power plant.
While only six names are on the stele, Dremeaux believes around ten took a stand against the Japanese.
Among them was Armand Delcourt, a 42-year-old merchant who came to Hong Kong in 1926 and married a Eurasian woman of Japanese and Scottish origins, Captain Roderic Egal, who was in transit from Shanghai when the invasion began, Henri Belle, a sailor passing through Hong Kong who took up arms, and Paul de Roux a director of the Banque d’Indochine.
Egal and Belle were both captured and sent to prison camps, the latter dying in captivity. Roux did not fight but set up a resistance network. He was arrested and tortured, before committing suicide to prevent the enemy forcing him to talk.
Delcourt was wounded by two bayonet blows on December 21 while defending a strategic hill pass and executed two days later, shortly before the governor surrendered on Christmas Day.
On January 5, 1942, brutalised by the Japanese, his pregnant wife gave birth prematurely in a Hong Kong church to a girl who for decades would not know the circumstances of her father’s death.
“I did not know the full circumstances of my father’s death until much later when I was in Australia and received the letter from my father’s close friend Carlos Arnulphy who had managed to trace me,” Monique Westmore, who now lives in Melbourne, told AFP by email.
“I would have loved to have known my father but when I read the documents that are attached (to the letter) I understand that he was a man of great principle — I do sometimes ask myself ‘why did you go knowing that your wife was hugely pregnant and also you weren’t exactly a young man?’,” Westmore wrote.
“The battle of Hong Kong was a total disaster and many people lost their lives.”
His military death notification praised him as “a continuous example of courage and enthusiasm” in an unequal battle who “cheerfully made the supreme sacrifice, confident in the final victory of France.”
For Dremeaux, the path chosen by Armand Delcourt resonates strongly today, “a time of withdrawal” when countries are increasingly looking inward.
“He was married to a Japanese woman, lived abroad and gave his life for Free France,” he said.
“To be patriotic is not a contradiction with being open to the world”.

The singer who recently released her anticipated album dubbed which means Journey in Swahili. The album simply sums up Victoria Kimani’s life as she takes her fans through the things she has learnt and places she has travelled to.
In a recent interview with Radio Maisha’s Mwende Macaria and Clemmo 254, the lady got an opportunity to talk about her music and the struggle she has been through trying to learn Swahili and her culture.
She went further to talk about her personal life and for the very first time she revealed who she has been dating. Well, the singer is currently dating a popular producer said to have produced her latest hit song .
The Nigerian guy, Reinhard, is currently working as the Chocolate City Producer and as far as we know, his relationship with Victoria Kimani is not affecting the lady’s singing career.
This is the first time Victoria Kimani has revealed the man she is seeing. For the many years that the singer has been in the industry the lass has ensured to keep her life very private.
Anyway below are a few photos of the photos of the fella.
 
 

LeBron James let his game do the talking as his NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers humbled the New York Knicks 126-94 at Madison Square Garden.
While the Cavs were dismantling the Knicks, Western Conference powerhouse Golden State were producing another dominant win of their own, routing the Clippers 115-98 in Los Angeles.
The Warriors launched a five-game road trip in emphatic style against the third-ranked team in the West.
Cleveland’s trip to New York was the Cavaliers’ first since last month’s comments by Phil Jackson in which the Knicks president described James’s business associates as a “posse” in an interview with ESPN.
James found the term offensive, but insisted it didn’t give him extra motivation.
“I’m motivated for the love of the game,” he said. “I’m motivated by the process. I’m motivated knowing my kids are watching me tonight on national television.
“So I don’t need more,” James said, adding that he had no plans to talk to Jackson about the matter while in New York.
His performance on the floor, however, spoke volumes. He scored 25 points, handed out seven assists and grabbed six rebounds.
Kyrie Irving scored 20 points and dished out six assists. Tristan Thompson pulled down a season-high 20 rebounds and Kevin Love had 16 points for the Cavaliers, who notched their sixth straight win at Madison Square Garden and their eight win in a row over the Knicks.
Cleveland led all the way and were never really threatened.
“We were getting stops and we were able to get out in transition,” said Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue, whose efforts to get his team back to step up their defensive efforts have paid off with two straight victories after a rare three-game slump.
While offense “comes easy” Lue said, defensive effort remains key in the quest for a championship.
“When it comes easy we tend to get caught up in the just back-and-forth instead of getting stops and taking on that tough grind-it-out game,” Lue said. “When you’ve got guys like Kyrie, Bron and Kevin who can score so easy, sometimes that just (becomes), ‘Oh, you scored, but we know we can score the basketball.’
“So now we’ve got to get back to playing Cavaliers basketball on the defensive end.”
Defense was also key in Los Angeles, where the Warriors raced to a 37-19 first-quarter lead — holding the Clippers to just 33 percent shooting in the opening period.
“I really never thought that we got our spirit back after the beginning,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said.
Klay Thompson scored 24 points and Draymond Green contributed 22 as the Warriors beat the Clippers for the seventh straight time.
Stephen Curry chipped in 19 points and six assists. He missed all eight of his three-point attempts but he came up with seven steals to help keep the Clippers out of synch.
Kevin Durant added 16 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Warriors, who held Clippers forward Blake Griffin to just 12 points on five-of-20 shooting.
Jamal Crawford led the Clippers with 21 points while point guard Chris Paul notched 15 points with six rebounds and five assists.
Up 62-49 at halftime, Golden State had stretched their lead to 91-75 going into the fourth. They out-scored the Clippers 58-38 in the paint and handed out more than twice as many assists.
“When we don’t turn the ball over and we play great defense we can move the ball, create more possessions,” Curry said. “Obviously to keep a team like that under 100 — that’s pretty special.”
While the Clippers were getting beaten up at Staples Center, the Los Angeles Lakers were taking a pounding in Houston, falling 134-95 to the Rockets.
Eric Gordon came off the bench to score 26 points and James Harden added 25 and eight assists as the Rockets blew out the Los Angeles Lakers 134-95.
The Rockets drained 15 three-pointers, extending their NBA-record streak of games with at least 10 treys to 21.

The Asian Tour’s strategic tie-up with the European Tour is a “great option” which will create more tournaments and opportunities for regional golfers, the body’s new CEO told AFP.
Josh Burack said the “strategic alliance”, adopted after Asian players baulked at a proposed merger with the bigger tour, wasn’t a second-best move for Asia.
The agreement was struck in July after Burack’s predecessor Mike Kerr, who had backed a full merger of playing memberships and business interests, stepped down last December amid deep divisions over the move.
“The alliance is a partnership that commits us to working more together,” Burack said in an interview at the $2 million Hong Kong Open, which is sanctioned by both tours.
“If the European tour puts a new tournament into Asia, they need to do it with us. That’s very important because it ensures that we maintain half the field for our players.
“And at the same time we work together to promote and market these new tournaments… We feel it’s a great option for the Asian tour.”
Last month the Asian Tour announced the first new tournament co-sanctioned with the European Tour, the Philippine Masters, which will take place from 2018 in a three-year deal.
Burack, who joined the Asian Tour in October, said it would be the first of several new events in the region.
“We will have at least one new tournament with the European Tour in 2017 as well in the APAC (Asia-Pacific) region,” he said.
“We have ambitions to have more tournaments with them in the years ahead. Last year we had seven co-sanctioned tournaments with the European Tour and our joint ambition is to grow that.”
Even the European Tour is dwarfed by America’s powerful PGA Tour, which has moved to establish an ‘Asian swing’ with three consecutive tournaments in the region from next year.
The CIMB Classic, the CJ Cup and the WGC-HSBC Champions have a combined prize money of nearly $26 million, but Burack said he didn’t feel threatened by the PGA Tour.
He said he hoped to co-sanction the new CJ Cup, which will be in South Korea. The Asian Tour already co-sanctions the CIMB Classic and the WGC-HSBC Champions.
“We have discussions ongoing with the PGA Tour now, it’s not agreed yet, but we’re hopeful we’ll be able to be a sanctioning party as well and that we’ll have some players taking part in the CJ Cup,” he said.
Burack said PGA Tour officials had assured him that the three-week swing was created purely for practical reasons, to make it worthwhile for US-based players to fly out to Asia.
“I think for them it was more a creation out of convenience rather than they have any ambition to do bigger things,” he said.
“Their domestic business in the US is so mammoth it dwarfs what every one of us is doing in golf.”
Burack said the Asian Tour would use its independence to try to grow the game in the region, adding that at least 20 playing slots were reserved for players from the host country of each tournament.
“We want to remain an independent organisation on behalf of our players,” he said.
“We’re a long way from having the regular commercial programme of the US PGA Tour or even the European Tour, but absolutely that’s our ambition,” Burack added.
“We are creating a new commercial team that I’m putting in place now and the ambition is that we’re going to be actively looking for new tour partners as well as new sponsors to underwrite new tournaments.”

China should “significantly” increase military spending and build more nuclear weapons as a response to US President-elect Donald Trump, an editorial in the nationalistic Global Times newspaper said Thursday.
China should “build more strategic nuclear arms and accelerate the deployment of the DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile” to protect its interests, should Trump attempt to corner the country in an “unacceptable way”, it said.
“China’s military spending in 2017 should be augmented significantly,” it added in the print article run in both English and Chinese.
The paper is not part of the official state media, but has close ties to the ruling Communist Party.
Chinese officials are sometimes thought to use it as a rhetorical hammer, but have also admonished it for its often bombastic language.
The president-elect frequently savaged China on the campaign trail, even calling it America’s “enemy” and pledging to stand up to a country he says views the US as a pushover.
But he has also indicated he is not interested in projecting US power away from home, saying America is sick of paying to defend allies like Japan and South Korea — even suggesting they should develop their own nuclear weapons.
The editorial follows a Twitter tirade by Trump earlier in the week blasting China’s trade and foreign policies, as well as a protocol-shattering decision to accept a congratulatory phone call from Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen.
Beijing regards Taiwan as a rogue province awaiting unification.
In the editorial, the Global Times said: “We need to get better prepared militarily regarding the Taiwan question to ensure that those who advocate Taiwan’s independence will be punished, and take precautions in case of US provocations in the South China Sea.”
On Wednesday, Trump selected Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who has close ties to Chinese President Xi Jinping dating back to the mid-1980s, as ambassador to China — potentially welcome news for Beijing, which called him an “old friend” upon receiving reports of his nomination.
Nevertheless, the state-owned China Daily newspaper remained pessimistic about the future of relations with the US.
A Thursday editorial said that though the Asian giant had thus far responded to Trump with “laudable” prudence, further provocations from the unpredictable politician would jeopardize Sino-US ties.
“China has to prepare for the worst,” it said. “What has happened over the past weeks tends to suggest that Sino-US relations are facing uncertainty as never before, as Trump’s words are not necessarily more bark than bite.”

High up on a hillside in the south of Hong Kong, shaded beneath dense green foliage, are the pockmarked remnants of World War II pillboxes, a reminder of the city’s failed attempt to fend off a Japanese invasion.
It is 75 years since Hong Kong fell — less than three weeks after the Japanese first attacked what was then a British colony.
Hours after swooping on Pearl Harbor, bringing a reluctant United States into the war, Hong Kong was an early target in what would become a full-blown Asian campaign for imperial Japan.
Although extra troops had been brought in to bolster its defences, the outpost of the British Empire was crushed under heavy bombardment in the 18-day Battle of Hong Kong.
The brutal confrontation, much less reported upon than other clashes in the Pacific theatre, saw around 1,500 allied troops die trying to defend the territory.
Keen to limit potential losses, the British government had initially been reluctant to send reinforcements in to what they saw as an indefensible position, despite Japan’s advance into southern China in the late 1930s as part of the ongoing Sino-Japanese conflict.
But in September 1941, Canadian troops were drafted in to boost defences, joining local, British and Indian soldiers.
It was still a token force — the 15,000 allied troops were vastly outnumbered by more than 50,000 Japanese who carried out a devastating aerial attack that wiped out RAF planes at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak airport on December 8, the first day of the offensive.
The British were relying on Gin Drinkers’ Line, an 11-mile (18 kilometre) military defensive cordon that ran across the hills of Hong Kong’s northern New Territories, not far from the border with southern mainland China.
A combination of bunkers, trenches and machine-gun posts, it was designed to combat any southward invasion from the Japanese.
But a small group of Japanese forces soon breached a weak point in the line and troops joined them in an all-out assault, forcing the allies to retreat south across the harbour to Hong Kong Island in a matter of days.
As the Japanese pursued them, fierce fighting broke out around the North Point power station on the island’s northern shore.
Japanese troops then marched south, battling counter attacks in the connecting hills and valleys.
Hours before they eventually surrendered, the allies tried to defend the island’s southern peninsula of Stanley.
Injured troops and medical staff there were attacked at St Stephen’s College, which was being used as a military field hospital.
Horrific testimony from eye witnesses tells how nurses were raped and killed, wounded soldiers attacked and mutilated.
In the wake of the massacre, the British governor of Hong Kong officially surrendered to the Japanese on December 25.
Japan occupied Hong Kong until August 30 1945, setting up internment camps across the city.
General Takashi Sakai, who led the invasion and became governor of Hong Kong during the occupation, was executed by firing squad in Nanking, China, in 1946 for war crimes.

Vietnamese football authorities apologised on Thursday after fans hurled stones at the Indonesian team bus shortly after their Suzuki Cup semi-final tie in Hanoi, breaking a window and injuring two of the visiting team’s staff.
The second leg of the fiercely contested tie at the My Dinh stadium on Wednesday night ended in 2-2 draw after extra time, sending Indonesia into the final with a 4-3 aggregate score.
But as the victorious visitors left the stadium, a mob of Vietnamese football fans — reportedly on motorbikes — attacked their bus, throwing rocks and shattering at least one window.
Indonesia’s assistant coach and the team doctor were slightly injured in the incident, the general-secretary of Vietnam’s Football Federation Le Hoai Anh told AFP Thursday.
“We would like to apologise to the Indonesian team for this unexpected incident,” Anh said, adding that a replacement vehicle was dispatched to pick up the team.
Security was also strengthened around the players’ hotel that evening, he added.
Many Vietnamese were swift to condemn the incident online.
“A loss is a loss,” a reader wrote on state-controlled VNexpress news site.
“Vietnamese football will never develop well if we carry on behaving like this”.
Indonesia advance to the December 14 final where they will play Thailand or Myanmar.
Thailand, who host their neighbours in Bangkok later on Thursday, have a comfortable two goal advantage from last weekend’s first leg.
Vietnam won the biennial AFF Suzuki Cup in 2008, and Indonesia has lost in the finals four times between 2000 and 2010.

Christmas is around the corner and most people are making plans to travel to the Coast for proper beach holiday or to catch up with relatives and friends upcountry.
It true most people save for the long festival season so as enjoy properly in Christmas and New Year festivities.
Thieves also know there is a lot of money in circulation during Christmas period; that’s why it’s highly advisable to avoid carrying hard cash in bulk.
Co-op Bank has taken the initiative of making sure your money is safe this festive season; the bank is encouraging Kenyans to use debit or credit cards when settling bills.
Whether you are travelling by air or bus, you can pay your fare using debit or credit cards and avoid carrying around a lot of cash with you.
Co-op bank’s debit and credit cards can be used to pay for goods and services at No Extra Cost; be smart and swipe as you go.
 
Another good thing about using Co-operative bank’s credit and debit card is convenience or ease of doing transactions.
Wherever you go countrywide, Co-op Jirani agents are all over to serve you.  Banking with Co-op bank has been made easier as Co-op Jirani agents are located in your estates, shopping centers and any other place where population gathers.
With Co-op bank’s debit and credit card, you can easily track card expenses on the bank/card statement.
Furthermore, Co-op bank has partnered with the to offer a 5% discount off clients’ bills if payment is done via Co-op Card.
Revitalize Wellness Center is equipped with state of the art facilities including fitness and meditation classes, luxurious spa treatments, relaxing massages, salon services, nutritional consultation, and a coffee and juice bar.

The hidden secrets of Egyptian mummies up to 3,000 years old have been virtually unwrapped and reconstructed for the first time using cutting-edge scanning technology in a joint British-Australian exhibition.
Three-dimensional images of six mummies aged between 900BC and 140-180AD from ancient Egypt, which have been held at the British Museum but never physically unwrapped, give an insight into what it was like to live along the Nile river thousands of years ago.
“We are revealing details of all their physical remains as well as the embalming material used by the embalmers like never before,” the British Museum’s physical anthropology curator Daniel Antoine told AFP at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney Thursday.
“What we are showing to the public is brand-new discoveries of their insides.”
Two of the travelling mummies were previously exhibited at the British Museum in 2014, with the other four being revealed to the world for the first time in the Sydney show that opens on Saturday.
A dual-energy computed tomography (CT) scanner at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London — of which only a handful are in operation around the world — was used to obtain thousands of slices of images of the mummies, with volumetric software then harnessed to create 3D models, Antoine said.
It effectively allows visitors to virtually peel back the layers of history through interactive 3D visualisations of the CT scans.
“I’ve been able to image the arteries of the mummies, the ones that have been left, and I’m able to look at whether they are suffering from diseases which many people are suffering from today, (such as) cardiovascular diseases,” Antoine added.
He believes the mummies can be rescanned in a decade’s time using the latest technology to find out more about their state of health, what diseases they were suffering from and the nature of their deaths.
“We hope in the future to image the soft tissues at the cellular level to look at whether there’s any changes or to find evidence, for example, of cardiovascular diseases but also things like cancer.”
The scans found that one of mummies, Tamut, a priest’s daughter from about 900BC, had plaque in her arteries. Three-dimensional printing was also used to recreate amulets found during scans of her mummified remains.
The earliest evidence of mummification in Egypt suggests that the practice of wrapping bodies to preserve them after death dates back as far as 4500BC.
The mummies are due to travel to Asia next year.

The encounter had seemed promising enough, but the couple brought together by an online dating site failed to connect because of one glaring, irreconcilable difference: He was a Donald Trump supporter, she was not.
It’s a scene played out again and again in the dating world: In an increasingly partisan and polarized country, similarity in political viewpoints has become a major criterion when choosing — or weeding out — prospective love interests.
But now, new dating websites are cropping up to take the guesswork out of pinning down political leanings.
One site, TrumpSingles.com specifically caters to fans of the divisive real estate billionaire.
Adored by millions of Americans, Trump is reviled by at least as many, some of whom are still mourning his election last month as America’s next president and the defeat of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
A similar site was set up for supporters of Bernie Sanders, the tousle-haired Vermont senator whose fiery rhetoric and embrace of environmental causes earned him a fervent and loyal following among liberals and voters under the age of 30.
TrumpSingles says it has registered 12,000 people with a goal of “Making Dating Great Again” — a riff on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
Unlike conventional dating sites such as Match.com and OKCupid, the site screens its users to ensure they are not trolls seeking to make trouble, but truly supporters of the president-elect, who takes the oath of office next month.
“I thought it was actually a nice idea because I’ve heard so many stories of people going on dates and everything is going fun and the political talk starts and kills any chance of a relationship happening,” TrumpSingles creator David Goss says.
Some 15 percent of Americans use online dating sites, mostly singles under the age of 24, according to the Pew Research Center.
Many have no interest in hooking up with those who support Trump, whose retrograde views on immigrants and women are widely rejected.
“No Trump supporters” has even become a common refrain on Tinder, Happn and other dating apps.
But some subscribers to the TrumpSingles website can be loud and proud in their support for the billionaire businessman.
Others may be “in the closet” over expressing support for Trump, perhaps after years of voting for Democrats or because they live in Democratic cities such as Philadelphia.
A cursory look at the site shows the majority of those registered are white — similar to the broad swathe of the American electorate that carried the Republican to power.
Some of the site’s online profiles feature photos showing supporters wearing Trump-themed campaign hats or T-shirts.
On different dating sites, such displays would often be deal breakers. Not so on TrumpSingles, says Goss, who describes his site as open to Trump supporters of all stripes.
“It doesn’t matter your sexual preference, religion, anybody is allow to come and be on the site as long they are for the right reasons,” the 35-year old television producer says.
BernieSingles.com started as a Facebook group and quickly mushroomed to 30,000 users in just six months.
Its founders say they are in the process of retooling the site, which will be re-christened as ProgressivesMeet.com early next year.
“It’s a platform that takes advantage of the passion for politics,” says Chase Dimond, 24, who created the platform with Jared Stephens, also 24, and Jill Crosby, 50.
And why no dating site for supporters of Hillary Clinton?
The key point is tapping into deep-felt love for a candidate, with hopes of setting off sparks between supporters.
“There’s no passion or fire behind Hillary,” Crosby says.
“There’s a lot of questioning about her — her ethics and her morals,” she adds. “It’s not the same movement Bernie uncovered.”

It wasn’t always pretty, but Giannis Antetokounmpo posted his second triple-double of the season to help the Milwaukee Bucks to a 115-107 NBA victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Jabari Parker led the Bucks with 27 points, 10 of them in the third quarter as Milwaukee erased a seven-point halftime deficit.
After connecting on just three of 11 from three-point range in the first half, Milwaukee hit six from beyond the arc in the third.
Greek forward Antetokounmpo scored just one point in the period, but he pulled down three rebounds and handed out four assists.
He finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.
“Some would say it wasn’t a pretty game for him,” Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. “But he’s a winner and he helped his team find a way to win tonight by getting other guys involved.
“Being able to get a triple-double for us, I think his record is pretty good when he does that. He sets the tone for us, and again he set the tone for us today.
“Some would say his game, it wasn’t pretty. But a win is a win. That is the maturity of a 22-year-old, that you can see a leader is growing right in front of us.”
Matthew Dellavedova scored 17 points for Milwaukee, whose reserves contributed 40 points in the home win.
Damian Lillard led the Trail Blazers with 30 points, while CJ McCollum added 23. Allen Crabbe had 14 off the bench for Portland and hit a three-pointer with just under a minute remaining that trimmed the deficit to four.
A turnaround hook by Aussie guard Dellavedova stretched the Bucks’ lead back to six points. Antetokounmpo and John Henson sank a pair of free throws each to close it out.
The Bucks, whose four-game winning streak was snapped Monday night against San Antonio, have won six of their last eight to improve to 11-9.
“We are rolling right now,” Antetokounmpo said.

President Bashar al-Assad said victory in Aleppo would be a “huge step” towards ending Syria’s five-year civil war, ignoring pleas for a truce as rebels in the city lose more ground.
In a blistering three-week offensive, Syrian government forces have seized about 80 percent of east Aleppo, a stronghold for rebel groups since 2012, with increasingly cornered opposition factions calling for an “immediate five-day humanitarian ceasefire”.
The United States, Britain and France have also called for a truce, warning of a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov were set to meet Thursday in Germany’s Hamburg after talks the previous day failed to achieve a breakthrough on efforts to halt the fighting in the devastated city.
Asked at the start of the session about Russia’s position on a ceasefire, Lavrov said: “I am in agreement, and I confirm support for the American proposal of December 2”, referring to a meeting with Kerry in Rome at which they were believed to have agreed on a plan to evacuate civilians and rebels from east Aleppo and to work towards a new ceasefire.
Tens of thousands of children in Aleppo are “sitting targets” in the ongoing fighting, according to Save the Children Syria Director Sonia Khush.
“It defies belief that after nearly six years of suffering through this war, the international community is still willing to stand by as civilians are bombed with seeming impunity,” she added.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 19 civilians were killed in the regime bombardment of east Aleppo on Wednesday.
In an interview with Syrian daily Al-Watan, published Thursday, Assad said defeating the beleaguered rebels in Aleppo “will be a win for us, but let’s be realistic — it won’t mean the end of the war in Syria”.
“But it will be a huge step towards this end.”
When asked about the possibility of a truce in Aleppo, Assad said, “it’s practically non-existent, of course”.
Assad said a rebel loss in Aleppo “will mean the transformation of the course of the war across Syria” and would leave opposition factions and their backers with “no cards left to play”.
Aleppo was once known as the beating heart of culture and commerce in Syria, but the outbreak of fighting there four years ago left it divided between rebels in the east and government forces in the west.
In his wide-ranging interview, Assad pledged to fight rebels even beyond Aleppo, because “the war in Syria will not end until after the complete elimination of terrorism”.
“Terrorists are present elsewhere — even if we finish with Aleppo, we will continue our war against them,” he said.
Assad touted local agreements between his government and rebel groups as the best way to resolve Syria’s complex conflict.
Such deals have seen opposition fighters quit a string of towns around Damascus in recent months, often in exchange for an end to regime bombardment.
“It is the only available solution, in parallel with striking the terrorists. Its success has been proven over the past two to three years, and is now speeding up,” Assad told Al-Watan.
He said these agreements had protected Syrian civilians and infrastructure and allowed former rebels to “return to the bosom of the state. What more could we want?”
Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 with widespread demonstrations but has since turned into a brutal multi-front war drawing in world powers.
Many Western countries cut ties with Damascus in 2011 and have imposed crippling economic sanctions, but Assad said he remained open to better relations with them.
“We really do want ties with every country in the world, including the West, despite our previous knowledge of their hypocrisy.”

American and British spy agencies have tried to intercept data from passengers’ mobile phones on commercial airlines including Air France, media reports say, citing documents from US whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The French flag-carrier was an early target of the US National Security Agency and its British counterpart GCHQ as it was seen as a terrorist mark and it carried out tests in 2007 on allowing the use of mobile phones on its aircraft.
“The use of mobile phones with internet connections in the sky gave rise to the creation of specific programs at the NSA and GCHQ,” said Le Monde, which has access to Snowden’s archive in partnership with news website The Intercept.
While it is not normally possible to make phone calls on planes, some carriers allow passengers to connect to a cabin wifi, allowing them to use internet-based functions on their handsets.
In 2012, at least 27 airlines allowed passengers to use mobile phones on board, including British Airways, Aeroflot, Etihad, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.
But Air France was “such a symbol of the surveillance of communications on board airlines that the British spy agency used a drawing of one of their planes to illustrate how the interception worked.”
Asked about the British and American surveillance claims, Air France told Le Monde: ?We are visibly not the only ones to have been targeted and we know absolutely nothing about these practices.?
According to the report, internal documents from the two agencies describe the results of the “impressive” programs — codenamed “Thieving Magpie” and “Homing Pigeon” — which allowed data to be collected “almost in real time”.
In order to spy on a telephone, all that was needed was that the aircraft be cruising at an altitude above 10,000 feet, the report said.
Secret aerial stations on the ground could intercept the signal as it transited through a satellite.
“The simple fact that the telephone was switched on was enough to give away its position, the interception could then be cross-referenced with the list of known passengers on the flight, the flight number, and the airline code to determine the name of the smartphone user,” the report said.
The mobile phone’s function could also be disrupted, it said, forcing the user to input their access codes and thereby allowing the British spy agency to intercept the information.
Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, leaked thousands of classified documents to the press in 2013 which revealed the vast scope of US surveillance of private data that was put in place after the 9/11 attacks.
After fleeing his home in Hawaii, he now lives in exile in Russia where he has sought asylum.
Should he ever return to the United States, Snowden would be tried for espionage and other charges carrying up to 30 years in prison.

Photos of a street urchin breaking down in tears after seeing Glady Kamande went viral prompting Kenyans to act.
Also read:
Kamande suffers shortness of breath and has been diagnosed with collapsed lungs and therefore fully relies on an oxygen concentrator, oxygen cylinders and a generator to breath.
 The 32-year-old lady has braved the surgical knife for 12 times; the repeated surgeries ruptured her optical nerve causing her to be blind.
She later suffered from Recurrent Thromboembolism that resulted in her lungs collapsing. Her body could no longer support her respiratory mechanism.
Gladys Kamande needs to get treatment in Artemis hospital in India so that she could undergo surgery and be able to breath again.
A certain Ndungu Nyoroo started the initiative on Monday December 5th to raise money for Kamande’s treatment in India.
#IamWithGladys has been used to marshal Kenyans to contribute towards the treatment of Glady Kamande.
So far, Kenyans have managed to raise over 3 million shillings in just over four days; she needs Kes 7 million to undergo the treatment in India.
 
A concerned Kenyan begged politicians to chip in and assist Gladys get her treatment.
 

Dwight Howard scored 23 points and pulled down 17 rebounds to help the Atlanta Hawks end their seven-game NBA losing streak with a 103-95 victory over the Miami Heat.
“It was good to get the monkey off our backs, but we’ve got to keep working,” said Howard, who connected on nine of 11 shots from the floor and made five of six from the free-throw line.
Seven of his rebounds came on the offensive glass, and he added four assists and two blocked shots for good measure.
Defensively, Howard helped limit Miami’s Hassan Whiteside to just eight points — 10 fewer than his season average.
The Hawks also got 21 points and nine rebounds from forward Paul Millsap and 17 points and seven assists from Dennis Schroder.
Thabo Sefolosha contributed 10 points, five rebounds and five assists.
The victory stopped the rot, at least temporarily, for a team that started strong this season but had lost 10 of their last 11 games.
“It’s not fun,” Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer said. “This group has a lot of pride and you need to win a game at some point. I still feel like we can get better.”
Howard, a three-time defensive player of the year who was acquired in the offseason by his hometown team, said the Hawks have plenty of time to recover their losses this season.
“Every team has that bump in the road. I’d rather have that bump now than later in the season. Now we’ve got a chance to get some good wins.”

Life expectancy in the United States dropped last year for the first time since the peak of the HIV/AIDS crisis more than 20 years ago, as deaths rose from nearly every major cause, federal data showed Thursday.
The total US population’s life expectancy in 2015 was 78.8 years, a decrease of 0.1 year from 2014, said the report by the National Center for Health Statistics.
Deaths from eight of the top 10 causes mounted, including spikes in accidental deaths among children and deaths from Alzheimer’s disease in the elderly.
The report did not delve into the reasons for the across-the-board decline in life expectancy from birth, but experts pointed to economic struggles, drug addiction and the increasing burden of dementia on an aging population as potential factors.
Across the nation, 86,212 more people died in 2015 than a year earlier.
“This is unusual,” said lead author Jiaquan Xu, an epidemiologist at the NCHS, which is part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“2015 is kind of different from every year,” Xu told AFP.
It “looks like much more death than we have seen in the last few years.”
The last time life expectancies at birth dropped for the total US population was in 1993, a year when the deaths from AIDS reached a peak in the United States, compounded by a bad flu year that resulted in more flu and pneumonia deaths, he said.
Homicide and accidental death rates also went up that year.
For 2015, the data also showed a 1.2 percent increase in the death rate for the total population, and this “rose significantly for the first time since 1999,” noted the report.
For US men, life expectancy dropped 0.2 years from 76.5 years in 2014 to 76.3 years in 2015.
For US women, life expectancy decreased 0.1 year to 81.2 years in 2015.
The overall downward trend in America stands in sharp contrast to the situation worldwide, where global life expectancy has increased five years from 2000 to 2015, according to the World Health Organization.
Women in Japan currently have the longest average lifespan at 86.8 years, while men in Switzerland can anticipate 81.3 years.
Sierra Leone has the lowest life expectancy, with women at 50.8 years and men at 49.3.
In the United States, life expectancy has stagnated nationwide in recent years.
Federal data from 2014 showed a slight downturn in life expectancy for white people, which experts said could be due to rising drug abuse — particularly the prescription painkiller epidemic — and poverty.
But this year, there was no single cause.
Deaths from Alzheimer’s disease rose 15.7 percent in a single year.
“Such a dramatic rise is a profound reminder of how devastating this condition has become,” said Keri Peterson, a doctor at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York who was not involved in the report.
Among adults, there was a 6.7 percent increase in deaths from “unintentional injuries.”
Another alarming finding was the rise in infant deaths, where data showed an 11.3 percent increase in the rate of death for babies under age one due to unintentional injuries.
“Most of them died from accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed,” said Xu, noting that these injuries are classified separately from sudden infant death syndrome.
SIDS, meanwhile, rose to the third top cause of infant mortality, up from fourth place in 2014.
“We know that unintentional injuries in children are complicated,” said Michael Grosso, medical director at Northwell Health’s Huntington Hospital in New York, noting that they can include car crashes, falls, suffocation, fires and smoke-related injuries.
“Accidental injury really relates to social stressors,” such as financial pressures and addiction, he told AFP.
“The dramatic upswing in the use of opiates and narcotic use across our country is potentially a big factor in driving a phenomenon like accidental injury.”
Across the US adult population, increases were seen in deaths from heart disease (0.9 percent), chronic lower respiratory diseases (2.7 percent), stroke (3.0 percent), diabetes (1.9 percent), kidney disease (1.5 percent), and suicide (2.3 percent).
The rate of cancer deaths decreased 1.7 percent, and influenza and pneumonia deaths were unchanged.
“The only good news we see in 2015 was that the cancer death rate continued to decrease,” said Xu.

Aftershocks rattled the survivors of a devastating Indonesian earthquake that killed more than 100 people, as officials urgently appealed on Thursday for medicine and doctors to treat the hundreds injured.
The shallow 6.5-magnitude quake levelled hundreds of homes, mosques and businesses across Aceh province, one of the areas worst affected by the devastating 2004 tsunami.
Search and rescue crews using advanced life-detecting devices have been combing the rubble for any sign of movement, as hopes fade of finding any more survivors more than a day after the quake.
“These scan through the rubble to see if anyone’s alive or dead,” national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told AFP.
The death toll stands at 102 but is expected to rise, he added. The figure has fluctuated as authorities identify the dead across the region.
Thousands of soldiers and emergency personnel have been using excavators to clear rubble in the worst-hit areas, with volunteers — equipped with little more than hoes and their bare hands — also chipping in.
President Joko Widodo asked all Indonesians to pray for their countrymen in the disaster-stricken province.
“Aceh is not alone,” he posted on his official Twitter account.
But attention is shifting to caring for those injured and homeless.
The army has established kitchens, shelters and a field hospital in the hard-hit town of Meureudu, Aceh military chief Tatang Sulaiman told AFP.
“Our priority today is to re-check all the buildings to ensure no more victims are trapped, and to help the refugees,” he said.
Medical supplies and other essentials are lacking, officials said, with the region’s ill-equipped hospitals overwhelmed.
More than 700 people were injured in the quake, many seriously, according to the disaster agency.
Said Mulyadi, the deputy chief of the worst-hit Pidie Jaya district, said they were in desperate need of medicine and extra hands to treat the injured.
“We need surgeons and orthopaedics, because many victims have fractures,” he told AFP.
Most victims spent the night outdoors, either unable to return to their homes or terrified of the aftershocks rattling the region, he added.
Aid has begun trickling into the region, with emergency shelters erected to house those left with nowhere to go.
But more was needed for the 4,000 people evacuated to shelters, said local disaster agency chief Puteh Manaf.
“They really need food, clean water, medication and blankets,” he told AFP.
Many fled for higher ground when the quake struck, fearing a tsunami, though no alert was issued.
A huge undersea earthquake in 2004 triggered a tsunami that engulfed several countries around the Indian Ocean, killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia alone, the vast majority in Aceh.
Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide.
Aceh lies on the northern tip of Sumatra island, which is particularly prone to quakes.
In June a 6.5-magnitude quake struck off the west of Sumatra, damaging scores of buildings and injuring eight people.

The gym mats glisten with humidity and sweat as Cambodian wrestling star Chov Sotheara grapples with her male trainer, crashing through a cultural taboo against women in sport with every tussle and throw.
In conservative Cambodia gender lines are clearly defined with woman expected to adhere to ‘feminine’ norms of behaviour and appearance. They are certainly not meant to be throwing men over.
But without female partners to practice with, 33-year-old Chov Sotheara has no other choice.
“It’s hard for parents and friends to understand that as a woman you can also enjoy sport,” she said from a Phnom Penh gym that feels a far cry from the Rio Olympics, during which she represented her country last summer.
“In Cambodian society, people say it’s not good for women to play sports because after a while they will start to look like men and no-one would want to marry them,” she added, beaming as she swept her long hair into place.
Cambodia’s poor sporting infrastruture matches its status as one of Southeast Asia’s least wealthy nations.
It boasts precious few sporting success stories — although Cambodia’s first and only Asian Games gold medal was won by a woman taekwondo fighter in 2014.
Women make up only 25 percent of the kingdom’s top athletes and only 10 percent of coaches.
For Chov Sothera the statistical imbalance plays out in a lack of female training partners.
Until as recently as 2007 schoolgirls were taught the “Chbab Srey” — a code of conduct delivered through short poems that urged women to demonstrate moral virtue, ‘polite, timid’ manners and absolute subservience to husbands.
Those ideas have calcified into attitudes with dangerous consequences for women.
A United Nations study in 2013 found that a quarter of Cambodian women are victims of physical or sexual violence by their spouses — much of which goes unpunished.
Women also lag men in educational attainment and employment.
But sporting moves are afoot to rewrite their lines.
At Skateistan, a skate park established in 2011, an equal number of young women and men wait their turn to hare down the ramps, whooping and cheering their peers on.
“We want to know who these women are, to give them confidence and courage because girls in Cambodia are so shy to participate in society or in sports,” said Chan Sangva, known as “Tin”, who leads the skate workshops in an indoor arena ringed by bright graffiti murals.
That ethos has worked for some.
“Skatebaording builds my spirit, it gives me confidence. It releases stress… it makes me happy,” said Puth Chan Chhorvy, 15, who has used the park for one-and-a-half years.
But for the shiest young women, joining mixed sessions is still jarring.
So the non-governmental organisation which runs the skate park has built in discreet areas where they can practice out off sight.
Sport is gradually opening room for women, explains Vath Chamroeun, secretary general of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC).
But he gives a startling example of misinformation to illustrate the extent of the cultural barriers that must first be hurdled.
“For example, a lot of people believe that when women play sport they could lose their virginity,” he says.
To knock down such damaging myths, the NOCC has set up a committee to encourage more women to participate in sport with an eye on the 2023 Southeast Asian Games, which Cambodia will host for the first time.
The competition that garners little global attention but is fiercely contested within the region, giving lesser known athletes the chance to shine.
“Women athletes can act as role models for our country. They show that sport doesn’t have a negative impact on their life … really it’s the opposite,” he adds.
But it remains an uphill task, with restrictive gender norms and ideals of beauty conniving to deprive women of the freedom to pick up any sport.
“Outdoor sports are seen as very bad for women because you are exposed to the sun and the ideal is to have skin that is as white as possible,” says Nary Ly, who at Rio became the first Cambodian women to compete for her country in the marathon.
“And sport develops your muscles which people consider unattractive for women.”

Thai authorities have ordered a controversial Buddhist temple to suspend its 24-hour TV channel, as police redouble efforts to arrest the spiritual leader of the scandal-hit sect.
A cat-and-mouse game between investigators and the powerful Wat Dhammakaya temple in Bangkok has staggered on for months over allegations its former abbot accepted illicit funds.
Police are reluctant to raid the super-rich temple’s 1,000-acre compound after previous attempts saw thousands of devotees of the breakaway order turn out to defend the 72-year-old monk.
Authorities suspect Phra Dhammachayo of accepting embezzled funds worth 1.2 billion baht ($33 million) from the owner of a cooperative bank who was jailed.
Eager to avoid clashing with devotees on temple grounds, police have repeatedly allowed deadlines for the monk’s surrender expire.
But the stand-off has heated up in recent weeks, with authorities leveling new accusations against the well-connected monk and moving to target the temple’s acting abbot for sheltering him.
On Wednesday Thai broadcasting authorities ordered the temple to suspend its television channel for 15 days, citing “inappropriate” content.
The channel appeared to be off the air on Thursday.
Colonel Paisit Wongmuang, chief of Thailand’s Department of Special Investigations (DSI), accused the temple of using its media arm to lure supporters to the compound and thwart police’s attempted raids.
“In previous searches we found that the temple has used television as propaganda to attract people to come for (religious reasons), but instead used people to meditate and block the temple’s gates,” he said.
The satellite station, called Dhammakaya Media Channel (DMC), broadcasts across multiple continents and airs everything from meditation teachings to cartoons and daily news.
It is part of a broader PR arsenal, including print media and active social media pages, that has established Wat Dhammakaya’s presence in countries spanning the globe.
In a statement released Wednesday night, the temple denied the police’s allegations and said it was preparing to fight the black-out order.
While the movement says its core focus is on teaching meditation, critics accuse the sect of propagating a cult-like brand of Buddhism that promises benefits in the afterlife in exchange for donations.

“Getting a letter in the post is a first for me, and what’s more at home!” says Odette Tshibambe, a student in her thirties in Kinshasa.
Her excitement is understandable. After 30 years of turmoil for the postal service in the Democratic Republic of Congo, letter carriers clad in smart canary yellow shirts have finally returned to the streets of the capital.
Anifa Kayumba, head of Kinshasa’s vast sorting office, recalls “dark times” during her 33 years on the job when dispirited workers would routinely go without pay.
The postal service’s headquarters was like a “funeral home”, she says, with a coffin blocking the entrance to mark a state of “permanent mourning”.
Customers lost all confidence in the service “because (most) of the packages were pilfered or lost,” says Elisabeth Lengema, a postal worker with 26 years experience.
At that time, employees only came to work to “rummage through” the parcels, taking home whatever valuables they could lay their hands on including watches, jewellery and tickets, adds Kayumba.
The handful of packages that escaped the attention of dishonest sorters were delivered to recipients’ homes only after the payment of special “transport costs” — assessed by how much the recipient appeared able to pay.
Even the home of the postal service, the vast art deco “Hotel de la Poste” building, a throwback to the Belgian colonial era between 1909 and 1960, had fallen into disrepair. In recent years it had become a favoured haunt of street urchins and vagrants.
Postal service managers responded by “quitting the building and instead leasing smart offices at high rents” elsewhere, says Didier Musete, who was named head of the service in 2014. He was tasked with returning not just the head office to its former glory, but also reviving the ailing postal system entirely.
The return to service was only made possible after a deal was struck in which employees gave up their claims for more than 80 months-worth of back pay arrears, instead settling for monthly salaries of several hundred dollars paid regularly.
Today, surrounded every morning by mountainous piles of neatly filled jute postal sacks, Kayumba is bullish about the future of her service.
The postmen and women of the vast metropolis of 10 million people have once again taken to the city on foot, on bicycles and even mopeds to deliver letters and parcels.
Honore Kabiena, a postman in his fifties, sets off on his yellow post service moped to deliver to several districts in the north of the capital including Gombe, Lingwala and Barumbu.
At every stop, he removes his helmet emblazoned with the words “La Poste” and updates his delivery manifest.
“Customers shouldn’t think that I’m going to ask them for a ‘shipping fee’,” says Kabiena, recalling the postal service’s difficult recent past.
On Kinshasa’s June 30 Boulevard, a sweeping avenue that cuts through the heart of the city close to the banks of the River Congo, even the Hotel de la Poste has had something of a facelift.
The imposing clock on the upper left corner of the wide edifice is once again keeping time after years of neglect.
Inside, the serving counters are busy once more.
Customers queue up to buy stamps, send items abroad and receive cash transfers from relatives living overseas.
Despite significant progress, the postal service is for the time being only able to handle post between overseas destinations and Kinshasa — there is not yet a functioning operation outside of the capital.
The DR Congo is a quarter of the size of the entire United States and is almost entirely devoid of infrastructure outside of its major cities.
A nationwide postal service will come in a second phase, according to Musete, who hopes to attract financial transfers from the vast Congolese diaspora around the world — one of Africa’s largest.
Currently, remittances from abroad are largely handled by the private sector, but Musete is hoping to attract transfers to the state-owned postal service to shore-up its bottom line.
Congo’s postal service is far from profitable and is dependent on state funds — mainly those that come from fees charged to telecoms operators for use of an undersea fibre optic cable running under the Atlantic installed in 2014.
To secure growth, the postal service is hoping to sign deals with two large public sector clients — DR Congo’s water and electricity companies.
With 389 post offices nationwide, Musete is hopeful that the firms — which currently rely on private couriers — will increasingly turn to the postal service to send bills and reminders to their customers.
Nearly all letters sent in the country are currently delivered in the same way — via friends, family and colleagues or informal private shipping services.
But Musete may never get a chance to change the situation.
He was suspended by the government in November for “serious mismanagement”, accused of overcharging on contracts and concluding deals for laying the undersea fibre link and the renovation of the Hotel de la Poste under the table without seeking bids.
Despite the accusations facing Musete — which he denies — his loyal sorting office chief Anifa Kayumba says that he has performed “a veritable miracle” in getting Kinshasa’s postmen and women back to work.