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Lupita Nyong'o Will Star In the Film Adaptation of Trevor Noah's 'Born A Crime: Stories From A South African Childhood'

Nyong'o will play Trevor Noah's mother Patricia Noah in the upcoming film based on his best-selling autobiography.

Following a stellar performance as Nakia in Black PantherLupita Nyong'o will star in an upcoming film adaptation of Trevor Noah's best-selling autobiography, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood.

According to Deadline, Nyong'o will play Noah's mother Patricia Noah who played a unique and pivotal role in her son's upbringing. She was shot in the head by Noah's stepfather in 2009, but survived.


Noah is producing the project, and Nyong'o has also signed on as one of its executive producers.

Released in 2016, Born a Crime garnered critical acclaim and won several awards including the James Thurber Prize for American Humor as well as two NAACP Image Awards.

No word yet on when the film will be released, but we have much more to look forward to from the actor in the meantime. She'll produce and star in a series, written by Black Panther co-star Danai Gurira, based on Chimamanda Adichie's Americanah. She's also slated to star in upcoming Australian zombie comedy Little Monsters, reportsShadow and Act.

More Lupita on our screens? Yes please and thank you.

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Photo by Amos Gumulira

Malawi’s President Says Half the Country Damaged by Cyclone Freddy

The death toll in Malawi has reached 447 people, with 282 residents missing and close to 400,000 people still displaced.

It has been a month since Cyclone Freddy ravaged Madagascar and then made a downfall in Malawi and Mozambique. But the aftermath of the tragedy still rages on. As more officials work to uncover the devastating effects of the cyclone that led to the loss of many lives, more details are surfacing.

In an interview with The Guardian published on Monday (March 20th), Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera said that over half of his country has been damaged by Cyclone Freddy.

“This demonstrates that climate change issues are real and we are standing right in the path of it,” Chakwera told The Guardian. Chakwera also stated that the devastation of the cyclone could very well keep Malawi in the cycle of poverty.

According to reports from the country’s authorities, the death toll in Malawi has reached 447 people, with 282 residents missing and close to 400,000 people still displaced. (When you factor in Mozambique and Madagascar, there have been close to 600 confirmed deaths.)

Cyclone Freddy first mounted in Australia before traveling across the Indian Ocean and settling in south-east Africa, where it destroyed property and killed residents across Mozambique, Madagascar, Zimbabwe and now, Malawi. This intense deadly storm has been dubbed one of the longest-lasting tropical cyclones ever recorded in history.

Chakwera also detailed the effects of the tragedy, stating that the country, which has a population of over 19 million people, was in dire straits.

“We need everyone’s help and support for this tragedy to be mitigated,” Chakwera said. “We are suffering and we can’t meet the needs. We have set up temporary camps and food is needed, shelter, yes, but must go past that and build stronger because of the damage.

There is also concern over an elevated cholera risk; since last year, there has been a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 1,700, making it one of the deadliest on record. Those numbers are now expected to go up.

“With the floods, people’s toilets have been washed away and most people have no access to safe drinking water,” Storn Kabuluzi, health services director, said.

Kengol DJ/Jailtime Records

Get to Know Kengol DJ’s Cameroonian Drill Music

The 32-year-old is blending drill and coupé-décalé—all from a prison in Cameroon.

Kengol DJ, born Magloire Noumedem, entered a world of suffering when faced with intense stares from the shadows of the notorious Central Prison of Douala—a place which operates more like a small walled city than a high-security jail.

"Arriving in prison is exactly as you might imagine — I can only laugh now, everyone half-naked, and the voices ringing out...it was terrifying." Kengol is an emotional man. Over two hours in his presence, he acts out his life experiences rather than recount them. It becomes an interview that is as much a performance, where Kengol lays himself bare—spitting bars wide-eyed one minute, singing his heart out the next, gesticulating wildly as tears run down his face.

The 32-year-old's latest single “Ca Va Aller' (It's Gonna Be Ok),” his cry of survival, is a fresh take on Drill that "Cameroon has never seen before--I call it Atalaku Drill,” Kengol explains, “I've crossed it with coupé-décalé." It was released this month on Jail Time Records, a label set up in prison to rehabilitate talent fallen to the wayside.

Noumedem was, by his own admission, lost to the streets when he was arrested for possession of drugs and sentenced to a term of 6 months: "Not many go inside to find the light, but I started to have visions. I could work day and night on my music, my God-given talents were no longer lost.”

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MUJAHID SAFODIEN/AFP via Getty Images

87 Arrested As South Africa Calls For Ramaphosa's Resignation

The planned #NationalShutDown saw the country appear in droves to protest the leaders accelerating the nation's demise.

South African political opposition party the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)'s long-awaited #NationalShutDown took place on Monday, with droves of angry protestors filling the streets of major cities. There were 87 arrests that took place before the protest officially started, as police minister Bheki Cele emphasized his no-nonsense stance on the unrest. In January, EFF leader Julius Malema called his army of red berets—and any other disgruntled South Africans—to shut the country down in an attempt to pressure President Cyril Ramaphosa into resigning. The mass protests are in response to the country's continued load-shedding epidemic, increasing unemployment rates, and a lack of confidence in the current ruling party.

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