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- 🎬 No more last meals
🎬 No more last meals
Good morning. This past Saturday, Nigerian-born bodybuilder Samson Dauda was crowned Mr. Olympia 2024. He is only the second-ever Mr. Olympia to be born on African soil with Egyptian Mahmoud Elssbiay bringing home the title in 2021.
Early advice for 2025: Don’t get inspired to the point of entering a Mr. Olympia win as part of your New Year’s resolutions. It took Dauda 10 years of training to achieve this feat. Or better still, try to tick off a complete week of gym training for a start, you have 11 of those left this year.
JUSTICE
Amnesty International is pushing to end the death penalty in Africa
Lily Padula
The many reports that last meals for inmates on death row left much to be desired are finally being addressed.
Last week, Amnesty International urged Kenya, Tanzania, and the Gambia to take decisive action and put an end to the death penalty amidst years of debate as to the integrity of the practice.
Why these 3?
They all have one thing in common; they haven’t carried out an execution in over a decade.
Zimbabwe’s last execution was in 2005. President Mnangagwa, who narrowly escaped execution himself as a young man, has been vocal about abolishing capital punishment.
President Adama Barrow, of Gambia signed an international treaty banning the death penalty shortly after coming to power in 2017.
Kenya’s last execution was in 1987. And despite continuous court sentences, Kenya has an established practice of not carrying them out. In 2023 for example, 606 death sentences were commuted.
The stage is already set. Bills are sitting in Parliament in both Kenya and Zimbabwe to end the death penalty for all crimes, while the Gambia has a constitutional amendment in progress. If they succeed, they’ll join the 24 African countries that have already done away with capital punishment entirely.
The practice isn’t exactly losing steam, however. Amnesty International recorded over 1,100 executions globally in 2023, up by 31% from the previous year, with Iran and Saudi Arabia leading the pack. DR Congo, on the other hand, equally re-instated the capital punishment in September amidst claims it would deter any potential coups. 37 executions have since been carried out. -BO.
DIGITS
43.3%: Share of logged-in Reddit users who are millennials, compared to Gen Z (29.6%), Gen X (19%), and boomers (7%). Business Insider’s Katie Notopoulos speculates this could be because millennials still prefer reading and writing over video. Overall, Reddit’s usage is growing as a search tool because, apparently, Google can no longer tell you what a baby peacock looks like.
SHOWER THOUGHTS
“Fingernails and hair probably make a noise when growing. It’s just too small and slow to hear.”
NEWS
Round the continent
South Africa’s endangered penguins (yes, you heard that right) have found a new home in a UK zoo.
Egypt has suffered its second deadly train crash accident in a matter of weeks, leaving at least 20 injured.
Zambia’s worst electricity shortage in years has worsened as a result of the ongoing drought. The country is currently generating only 10% of its needed power output.
Catholic Church Bishops in Ghana organized an ‘Environmental Prayer Walk’ in Accra this weekend to protest the destructive effects of illegal mining, or ‘galamsey’.
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