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US Official: Airstrikes Killed 10,000 Islamic State Figters

on June 03, 2015

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Amnesty Slams Nigeria Army For Abuses In Boko Haram Battle

on June 03, 2015

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Zimbabwean Court Stops Arrests Of Women At Night

on June 03, 2015

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Harvard Gets Biggest Gift Ever: $400M From Wall Street Alum

on June 03, 2015

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Questions And Answers About Newly Approved USA Freedom Act

on June 03, 2015

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FBI Behind Mysterious Surveillance Aircraft Over US Cities

on June 02, 2015

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Either Way, No More NSA Collection Of US Phone Records

on June 01, 2015

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Surveillance Powers Lapse With No Deal In Senate

on May 31, 2015

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Demolition Of Torched HQ Of Mubarak's Old Party Begins

on May 31, 2015

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It's A Wrap For CBS' Bob Schieffer At 'Face The Nation'

on May 31, 2015

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Refugees Fear History Is Repeating Itself In Burundi

on May 31, 2015

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OPEC Oil Output In May Reaches Highest Since 2012 -- Survey

on May 31, 2015

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Igbo Journal Review

Culture and Ideas for the Igbo Nation

Popular Posts

That African Presidents Wives' Annual Health Summit In Beverly Hills

Not much was talked about it. Not much was known about it. Not even the mainstream media mentioned it. In fact, it was not a big deal, because, as usual, knowing what should be expected from such a gathering of the wives of inept and corrupt African presidents, the errand boys, the opportunistic organizers had to run the show their own way which is typical of deceit and fraud. We've seen this kind of stuff happen many times as it ends up being a picnic and a loophole for money laundering. I was socializing with some friends when the event and its issues popped up. We were discussing about a retarded African continent, Nigeria in particular, and what should be done about it until one curious-minded fella among us brought up the topic, and stressed on how we lost it here in Diaspora as a collective and the failure to complete ourselves. "Did any of you hear about the summit held in Beverly Hills? Can you imagine the wife of our president was here and nobody knew about it?"

UN Forum Says People Of African Descent Still Face Discrimination And Attacks, Urges Reparations

Morris Griffin of Los Angeles, speaks during the public comment portion of the Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento, Calif., on March 3, 2023...(Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP, File) BY EDITH M. LEDERER UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. body formed to promote respect for and protect people of African descent around the world says in its first report that they continue “to be victims of systemic racial discrimination and racialized attacks” and calls for reparations. The report, which was delivered to the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, says reparations are essential to rectify past injustices against people of African descent and are “a cornerstone of justice in the 21st century.” Epsy Campbell Barr, chair of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, said at a news conference Tuesday the report underlines that “the legacies of colonialism, enslavement and apartheid are still alive today.” These legacies still have a real impact on the lives of millions of p

Culver Club Chit-Chats

Image courtesy of Dissolve On October 30, 2009, my buddy, classical music basoonist and pianist, Rudolph Porter, had agreed to locate a spot "and we can hang out." Culver Club was the place. He had performed there before. And Culver Club is where West Coast finest jazz pereformers display their arts, and it is a place of hangout for jazz enthusiasts on Fridays, on the Westside. On this particular day while Rudolph and I were poking around the lobby my phone vibrated and a friend's text message had timely popped up on my screen to check what I was up to and how I'm doing. This fella, Ebere, loves African-related media hyped issues, news and views, and he is so fascinated about it, especially when it comes to show-biz and the tap of fine leather we call Ahia Mgbede. Knowing my spot, he hopped on his car and found himself at where Rudolph and I were hanging out for the evening. On his arrival, after our bumping fists, he noticed jazz at the Culver Club was alive a

A Beautiful Holiday Weekend In Los Angeles

About a couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine had talked me into going to the Bay area to watch Stephen Bishop perform at the Intramuros, South San Francisco, in a benefit concert. She had wanted to see the concert so bad. I had been preoccupied in Los Angeles. She wants to play a role in the concert for worthy causes. For the concert, and about our friendship, we are a study of compare and contrast. She's into old-school -- the Norman Whitfield/Barrett Strong and Kenneth Gamble/Leon Huff composition-era. I'm into all vibes, a musicologist. She's a hardcore liberal; garrulous. I'm reserved, a somehow liberal conservative; a centrist. She's a fashion freak. I'm careless, fashionwise. She reads fiction and believes in the Zodiac signs. I'm the non-fiction reader kinda guy and have no faith in astrology. She's Libra. I'm Virgo. She cooks good. I'm a mixologist. She has shoulder length curly hair. I'm ishi nkwocha , shaved bald. She'

The Buzz and What's Cracking

Ever since the tragedy in her family, all has just been going on well for this hard working girl whose movie, "Dream Girls", earned her an Oscar in a brilliant supporting female role. The movie, I will tell you, is one of the best I've seen when it was released on Christmas Day, 2006. Jennifer Hudson is everywhere and she is doing stuff. She will be among the lineups for NBC's "Today" summer jams and her appearance will be in June. Expect some damn good stuff when she delivers at Time Square in New York. I read Emma Okocha's interesting response to David Ejoor's interview "The Reminiscences of David Ejoor..." which has erupted another Igbo-bashing. Okocha set the record straight with facts. I have no beef with Ejoor, but I have a problem with his theme of the said interview which lacked merit; and, all in all, fabricated and full of lies. Ejoor is a midget in the history books of the 'Nigerian' crisis, and for him to insult the lat

BOOK REVIEW: Memoirist Lilly Dancyger’s Penetrating Essays Explore The Power Of Female Friendships

This cover image released by Dial Press shows "First Love" by Lilly Dancyger. (Dial Press via AP) BY ANN LEVIN Who means more to you — your friends or your lovers? In a vivid, thoughtful and nuanced collection of essays, Lilly Dancyger explores the powerful role that female friendships played in her chaotic upbringing marked by her parents’ heroin use and her father’s untimely death when she was only 12. “First Love: Essays on Friendship” begins with a beautiful paean to her cousin Sabina, who was raped and murdered at age 20 on her way home from a club. As little kids, their older relatives used to call them Snow White and Rose Red after the Grimm’s fairy tale, “two sisters who are not rivals or foils, but simply love each other.” That simple, uncomplicated love would become the template for a series of subsequent relationships with girls and women that helped her survive her self-destructive adolescence and provided unconditional support as she scrambled to create a new ide

Arizona’s Now-Repealed Abortion Ban Serves As A Cautionary Tale For Reproductive Health Care Across The US

AUTHORS: SWAPNA REDDY CLINICAL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN HEALTH POLICY, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY MARY SAXON LAW DEGREE CANDIDATE ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY When the Arizona Supreme Court ruled on April 9, 2024, that the state’s Civil War-era law banning nearly all abortions was enforceable , it brought into stark reality the potential impacts of leaving reproductive rights up to the states to regulate, and the related consequences for women’s health. The ruling, set to go into effect in late June 2024, will only remain active for a few months because Arizona lawmakers repealed the law on April 30 . Starting in the fall, a previous state law banning abortion after 15 weeks will be reinstated. The rapidly changing legal landscape and conflicting information has fueled fear and confusion for women, families, hospitals, physicians and other health care providers, and had a chilling effect on abortion services. We are a health policy expert who studies how laws and policies affect health outco

How Cannabis And Psilocybin Might Help Some Of The 50 Million Americans Who Are Experiencing Chronic Pain

BY KEVIN F. BOEHNKE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ANESTHESIOLOGY, U NIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency announced in late April 2024 that it plans to ease federal restrictions on cannabis , reclassifying it from a Schedule I drug to the less restricted Schedule III, which includes drugs such as Tylenol with codeine, testosterone and other anabolic steroids . This historic shift signals an acknowledgment of the promising medicinal value of cannabis . The move comes in tandem with growing interest in the use of psilocybin, the active component in magic mushrooms, for treatment of depression , chronic pain and other conditions . In 2018 and 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted a breakthrough therapy designation to psilocybin , meant to expedite drug development given that preliminary studies suggest it may have substantial therapeutic value over currently available therapies for treatment-resistant depression and major depressive disorder . Both of these deve

"We Owned the '80s" -- Quincy Jones on "Remembering Michael Jackson"

As a baked in the gene music freak and one who grew up embracing an era music of all genre evolved and had been basically the same in terms of studio time sessions when crossovers could play in any band, regardless, which brought about the best generation, ever, and with Michael, according to the original studio rat, Quincy Jones, "we owned the '80s" from Michael changing all that musical divide and establishing a kind of music that gave us a sense of belonging, throwing his craft for all. The studio rat, Jones, is absolutely right, penning his piece "Remembering Michael Jackson," last week, for the Los Angeles Times' Calendar Section. Who else could have said it better other than Mr. Jones, the studio rat who had worked from the 50s with the likes of Frank Sinatra to our present day Generation "Z?" On the legendary King of Pop, the studio rat had this to say in his delight article: "Michael Jackson was a different kind of entertai

What America’s First Board Game Can Teach Us About The Aspirations Of A Young Nation

The title and printer’s address for the game. The copyright notice of July 12, 1822, appears in small type at the bottom. Library of Congress BY MATHEW WYNN SIVILS PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN LITERATURE IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY Board games are booming: In 2023 alone, the industry topped US$16.8 billion and is projected to reach $40.1 billion by 2032 . Classics like “Scrabble” are being refreshed and transformed , while newer inventions such as “ Pandemic ” and “ Wingspan ” have garnered millions of devotees. This growing cardboard empire was on my mind when I visited the American Antiquarian Society in August 2023 to research its collection of early games . As I sat in that archive, which houses such treasures as the 1640 Bay Psalm Book, the first book printed in British America , I beheld another first in American printing: a board game called “The Travellers’ Tour Through the United States.” This forgotten game, printed the year after Missouri became a state , has a lot to say about America’s

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: 2015: Leadership and Sins of Nd'Igbo

Click on image to read full story and analysis

FROM THE ARCHIVES: BIAFRA: Relative Discourses

I signed up because I had little experience in Africa, after having served in the United Nations forces in Congo. Also upset about what happened in Biafra and Czechoslovakia, I did not want to stand next to and just watch.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: INTERVIEW: JULIUS KPADUWA

The problems that confront Imo State are really not unique. It is the same problem that confronts almost every state in Nigeria, and it's one of economic development. The primary thing or my clear vision for the people of Imo State will be getting all the able-bodied men and women back to work, so that we can begin to have the quality of life that has so far eluded the people of Imo State.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Where We Met

But seeing a Nigeria headline on my screen it then occurred to him I must either be a Nigerian or perhaps a curious minded fellow who is reading to find out about the notorious Boko Haram, if they have captured more of their victims, or if there's an ongoing battle between the insurgents and the nation's security forces. Elevating my head up and starring at each other, I told him I was Igbo

FROM THE ARCHIVES: The Otokoto Saga Interview

Now, the main question is about eleven year old Ikechukwu Anthony Okonkwo whose head was found dripping with blood with the convicted murderer Innocent Ekeanyanwu on a police tip-off inside a traveling commercial bus at Eziama in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: THE AMBROSE EHIRIM-CHIKA UNIGWE INTERVIEW

Every writer has to be able to live in the head of her characters. I had to make myself a blank blackboard for the characters to inscribe their lives on me. I had to wipe off that board every time a new character had to be created and totally surrender myself to that new character.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: INTERVIEW: THE SYLVESTER MENSAH STORY

The idea of writing a book had always engaged my thoughts based on reflections and the desire to share my experiences. The motivation was however triggered after reading the book of a gentleman l consider the busiest in Ghana, H. E. John Dramani Mahama

FROM THE ARCHIVES: INTERVIEW: DR. APOLLOS NWAUWA

Contrary to what many think, the Igbo Diaspora is not really a homogenous, coherent group. Like other ethnic nationalities in the USA, the Igbo Diaspora consists of peoples from all walks of life separated by everything and only united by the fact that they are all Igbo. Serious social class disparity exists between them; therefore, presenting a united front in influencing or engineering actions at home continues to be a challenge.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: INTERVIEW: OZO'S KENI SAINT GEORGE

It was indeed a very boisterous, purpose driven, well-to-do Royal family. I come from a lineage of Royals and a well groomed family unit. My Father, Chief George Ozuloke, was a Court Judge for all of 18 years. He was both a Christian and Animist. He had 7 wives of which my mother was the first. I went to St. Martins Primary School and later to a wonderful School – Abbot Secondary Grammar School in Ihiala, my town. I even did a stint in Ihiala Seminary trying to be a Catholic Priest

Sovereign National Conference: A Symposium

A sovereign nation is born when, out of civilization, any such populations of human assemblage pledge loyalty and confide their trust to a governing body which they elect to oversee to their security, welfare and yes, to their happiness. The ensuing system of governance thrives and becomes sustainable by the wishes of the people whose interests it caters for.

ARETHA FRANKLIN (1942-2018)

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Aburi Accord Plays On

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Nchamere Nd'Igbo: Evidence of Anti-Igbo Pogrom

Obafemi Awolowo's orchestrated "Economic Blockade" denies food and medicine to Children of Biafra during Yakubu Gowon's-led genocidal campaign against the Igbo Nation. CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW ALL PICTURES

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Inside Nigeria's Fourth Republic: Nothing But A Messy 14 Years

In the fourteen years of said democracy, things that never happened in the past - the way it had now turned out - started happening at an alarming rate and spooky by its nature.......Click on image to read full story

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