Mark Wahlberg tops Forbes’ 2017 Highest-Paid Actors list

23.08.2017

Mark Wahlberg

46-year-old Mark Wahlberg was named the world’s highest paid actor on Tuesday, earning an estimated $68 million before taxes over the past 12 months according to the list compiled by Forbes.
The actor earned his spot at the top of the list majorly due to earnings from “Transformers: The Last Knight” and comedy sequel “Daddy’s Home 2,” due out in November.
“The former may have scored a miserable 15 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and the lowest gross of the franchise to date, but Wahlberg need not worry — fixed compensation means he benefits even when movies don’t do well,” said Forbes.
Last year’s top-ranked star Dwayne Johnson “The Rock”, is in second place with $65 million, after starring in the big screen reboot of lifeguard action-comedy “Baywatch” and starring in HBO comedy “Ballers.”
The former wrestler earned $50 million more than his 2016 total due to his appearance in the upcoming “Jumanji” set for release in December.
Vin Diesel, who co-stars with Johnson in Fast and Furious, came in third on men’s list with $54.5 million, just ahead of comedy actor Adam Sandler, who made $50.5 million, largely because of a deal with Netflix that allows him to produce his own movies.
Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan who is still hugely popular in China came in fifth with $49.5 million over the last 12 months.
Robert Downey Jr., Tom Cruise and Bollywood kings Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar rounded out the top ten.
This year, newcomers comprise one fifth of the list, including Ryan Reynolds, Ryan Gosling, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo. Like Hemsworth, Renner and Ruffalo also have their paychecks from the Avengers to thank largely for their totals.
The top ten men continue to out-earn their female counterparts by a huge margin of $488.5 million compared with just $172.5 million, a disparity Forbes attributed in part to the preponderance of superhero movies and action blockbusters that offer few starring roles for women.
Oscar-winning Emma Stone, 28, topped the list of actresses published last week with a relatively modest $26 million.

JAMB puts Cut Off Mark for Universities at 120

23.08.2017

The Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) has installed the minimum cut-off mark for admission into the university in the 2017/2018 session as 120.
JAMB registrar Ishaq Oloyede said the decision was made after a meeting with vice-chancellors, rectors, and provosts of higher institutions, Punch reports.
It was also decided at the meeting that the cut-off mark for admission into polytechnics and colleges of education should be placed at 100, while the cut-off for innovative enterprising institutes was pegged at 110
Oloyede said universities can decide whatever their cut-off should be, but should not go below the minimum of 120. He said:

What JAMB has done is to recommend; we will only determine the minimum, whatever you determine as your admission cut-off mark is your decision.
The Senate and academic boards of universities should be allowed to determine their cut-off marks.

Decisions on first-choice candidates are to be made on or before October 15, while for second choice candidates, December 15.
Admission into public higher institutions for the 2017 UTME examination is to end January 15, 2018, while the date for private institutions is given as January 31, 2018.
Oloyede also said JAMB discovered over 17,160 students who were illegally admitted by higher institutions.
He added that some of these students have been regularized by the board. He said:

30 per cent of those in higher institutions do not take JAMB or have less than the cut-off marks.
The admission process is now automated with direct involvement of the registrar of JAMB for final approval.
We have agreed to regularise admissions that were done under the table this year. From next year, we will not accept anything like that.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Education Adamu Adamu has formally lifted the ban placed on universities from conducting post-UTME examination.
He said the ban by the Federal Government was a mistake.
He said although the ban was a result of tertiary institutions abusing the post-UTME process, he encouraged them to conduct the test for candidates seeking admission, fixing the fee for N2000.

Nigeria donates Relief Materials, $1m, to Sierra Leone

23.08.2017

Nigeria has donated 315 tonnes of relief materials and $1m cash to Sierra Leone to help alleviate the suffering of people affected by flood and mudslide in the country.
Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama made the presentation to his Sierra Leonean counterpart, Samura Koroma, in Freetown on Tuesday.
The relief items included bags of rice, beans, maize, sorghum, milk, spoons, plates, mattresses, blankets, roofing sheets, soaps, mosquito nets and mats.
Others were medical supplies, such as anti-malaria drugs, antibiotics and disinfectants.
Onyeama, while making the presentation, said President Muhammadu Buhari sent him to express to the government and people of Sierra Leone his profound sadness over the tragedy that occurred last week. He said:

We have come on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari who heard the sad tragedy that befell your country and your people.
Myself, the Director-General of NEMA, Mustapha Maihaja; and representative of the Minister of Health, Zainab Sheriff, have come to really express our profound sorrow and condolences for the large loss of lives, damage to properties and suffering of a large number of people in your country.

Onyeama said Nigeria and Sierra Leone have a very strong bond making both countries feel they belong to the same family.
“Therefore, your loss is our loss. We grieve with you at this occasion,” he said.
He said although Nigeria is facing a huge humanitarian, economic and social challenge, it shared the pains of the people of Sierra Leone. He said:

We are flying constantly large quantities of food supplies and medicines and also a cash donation of a million dollars.
Our planes will be carrying about 315 tonnes of food and medicines.

Onyeama said some of the cargo might be delivered by sea, and the gesture is “a token of our solidarity with the Government and people of Sierra Leone.”
‘’You are very much in our heart and we pray for you to overcome this tragedy soon,” he added.
Koroma expressed appreciation to Nigeria for the gesture. He said:

Nigeria had always been there for Sierra Leone in the past.
You were there for us during the civil war when Nigeria sent her troops.
You sent your support and personnel during Ebola disease outbreak, and you are here to support us again during this time of mudslide and flood

On August 14, a downpour which caused severe flooding in Freetown and a mudslide in the Regent area left more than 300 people dead, including children.
The incident left more than 3,000 homeless and in need of humanitarian assistance.
Some 600 people are still missing and rescue workers warn that the chances of finding survivors are decreasing each day.

22.08.2017

R. Kelly

Another woman has come forward to say she was abused by R. Kelly when she was a teenager, then was paid to keep quiet.
The singer has been recently accused of keeping women in an abusive “sex cult.”
Jerhonda Pace was just 15 when she met R. Kelly, her musical idol.
Married now with 3 children, Jerhonda said she cut high school every day to attend R. Kelly’s trial on 14 counts of making child pornography.
In an interview with Buzzfeed, Jerhonda revealed all the details of her affair with the singer, including a court case and a settlement.
Although she signed a non-disclosure agreement, Jerhonda said she’s risking being sued so she might help others get out of that situation. She said:

If I can speak out and I can help them get out of that situation, that’s what I will do.
I didn’t have anybody to speak up on my behalf when I was going through what I was going through with him.
He’s brainwashed them really bad, and it kind of reminds me of Charles Manson.
I just really hope I can help these women out. Kelly needs to be stopped.

Jerhonda, who described herself as a “super-fan” of R. Kelly, said she’d been listening to him since she was 11. She said:

My family listened to his music, my friends listened to his music, everybody was just in love with the music. WGCI was the biggest supporter — they played him all the time — and it was my favorite radio station.

When R. Kelly was indicted for making child pornography, Jerhonda said her love for him did not fade, as she attended the trial proceedings every day.
She said watching the 26-minute, 39-second video prosecutors alleged depicted R. Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old girl, urinating in her mouth, and ordering her to call him “daddy” was disturbing.
She said she thought: “Well, maybe that’s not the girl. If she would have come forward, I think it would have made a huge difference,” defending her idol in her head.
After R. Kelly was acquitted, Jerhonda, the a 15-year-old, spoke to MTV. She told them: “They can’t say he likes little girls. They don’t have proof of that. Because he’s innocent now. He’s free.”
Although the MTV article claims she was 18,public records, birth certificate, and driver’s license confirms Jerhonda was 15.
She admits she lied to the reporter because Cook County sheriff’s officers were not admitting anyone under 18 into the trial.
She met R. Kelly when he was walking into the court building, she said. “He seemed like a cool guy, and he would always speak to me when he saw me.”
She got his autograph, too, which she still has in her possession. She said: “He didn’t have anything to sign, and neither did I, but my friend reached into her pocket and found an old bank slip, so I got his autograph on her bank slip. I laminated that.”
In 2009, a friend and employee of R. Kelly friended her on MySpace. The friend invited her to a party the singer was throwing at his mansion.
She lied to her parents to attend the party, she said, telling them she was going to a friend’s house.
There Jerhonda met R. Kelly, she said, where he called her over to the bar and told her he had noticed her at the trial. She said:

I was a bit nervous. Even though I had already met him at his trial, I was like literally at his house, so it did not feel real. At the time I was still, you know, pretty starstruck, so I was in disbelief.

Jerhonda said she had told R. Kelly she was 19 at the time, in Illinois where 17 is the age of consent.
She said he met her again on June 5, 2009, after sending his employee to pick her up in a black SUV.
“He told me that he wanted me to undress for him [and] walk back and forth like I was modeling,” she said.
The two then had oral sex, she said, after which R. Kelly made his first attempt to ensure that she did not talk about their sexual relationship by having her write out and sign letters stating that she had stolen jewelry and cash from him, and that her parents had set her up to blackmail him.
Four days later, Jerhonda said, R. Kelly gave her an alcoholic drink he called Sex in the Kitchen. The two had sex, Jerhonda losing her virginity, which she said R Kelly found exciting.
She said: “I was drunk, because I wasn’t used to alcohol.”
Over the next 7 months the two have sex consistently, she claimed. R. Kelly also filmed most of the encounters on his iPhone or a video camera on a tripod.
She said: “I had to call him ‘daddy,’ and he would call me ‘baby.’ He wanted me to have two pigtails, and I had to go out and find little schoolgirl outfits.”
On July 17, 2009, she told him she was 16-years-old. “I gave him my state ID,” she said.
R. Kelly told her it was fine, but that she should tell anyone who asked that she was 19, and act like she was 25.
Consistent with what other alleged victim of the singer have said, she too followed rules while she was with him.
She had to dress in baggy clothes, turn over her phone, and ask permission to shower, eat, go to the bathroom, and leave the house.
If she disobeyed, she was mentally and physically abused, she said.
Asked why she complied, Jerhonda said:

At the time, I didn’t know what I liked, honestly. I just knew that I liked his music, so I was pretty much accepting of anything that came with him at the time.

She ended the relationship after she was “choked, slapped and spat on,” after R. Kelly caught her texting a friend, she said.
She met with an attorney afterward, who had reportedly settled many cases with other alleged victims of the singer.
She signed a non-disclosure agreement, and a settlement was reached.
She said she knows she might get sued. But she speaking out was necessary to help others. She said:

I know speaking out against Kelly, Kelly could sue me. But I’m really not worried about it anymore.
I feel like this is a healing process for me, because I’ve been holding this in for so many years, and to see that he always gets away with it, it’s just not right. I’m just going forward with my head held high.

Amal & George Clooney donate $1m to fight Inequality

22.08.2017

The Clooneys – lawyer Amal and Hollywood actor George Clooney are donating $1m to fight inequality and injustice.
Following the recent trend in the United States of white supremacy and nazi rallies, and the reluctance of President Donald Trump to condemn their actions, citizens have taken it upon themselves to fight for equality.
Acoording to Deadline, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is partnering with the Clooney Foundation for Justice to increase the capacity of the SPLC to combat hate groups in America.
The George & Amal Clooney Foundation donated a grant of $1m through the Clooney Foundation for Justice. George said:

Amal and I wanted to add our voice (and financial assistance) to the ongoing fight for equality. There are no two sides to bigotry and hate.
We are proud to support the Southern Poverty Law Center in its efforts to prevent violent extremism in the United States.
What happened in Charlottesville, and what is happening in communities across our country, demands our collective engagement to stand up to hate.