AFRICA :NEWS,CULTURE, CHINA/AFRICA/WORLD

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is well under way, and international brand Puma has partnered with well-known American artist Kehinde Wiley in order to promote unity and awareness in Africa. Puma, who sponsors twelve African football teams including the four that qualified for this year’s World Cup, has commissioned Wiley to create four individual pieces of art inspired by players from these teams. On Wednesday, June 23, 2010 the Kehinde Wiley Project debuted at the Bree Street Studios in Cape Town, South Africa, and the opening was a colourful, expressive evening full of good food, flowing drinks, and celebrities galore.

Attica was honoured to participate in the Kehinde Wiley Project by providing the lounge seating areas for the opening, as well as the media day. Kehinde Wiley, originally from Los Angeles, USA is half American and half Nigerian, and he is inspired by African culture. The art pieces that are central to the Kehinde Wiley Project are rich in colour and texture, which is why Attica’s pieces were so useful in the space. The clean white leather and distinct lines of Attica’s pieces provided a stark contrast to Wiley’s striking and vibrant prints, reflecting the colours that were used in the portraits and creating and interesting artistic affect.

Guests were welcomed into a bright and clean exhibition space with champagne and Union beer, and were encouraged to wander through the gallery to experience both the photography and art pieces created by Wiley. Attica’s pieces were placed strategically to provide ample seating for guests, both on the beautiful outside balcony and inside the art space. The incredible view of Cape Town’s CBD only added to the ambiance, and the weather was perfect to sit outside and enjoy the event.

The crowd was an eclectic, refreshing mix of young and old, hip and urban, chic and elegant, and in the mix was a plethora of both local and international celebrities. The highlight of the evening was the appearance of Kehinde Wiley himself, who took time to speak with local TV stations as well as answer questions about his inspiration. Also in attendance was super model Kimora Lee Simmons and her husband, actor Djimon Hounsou, and Attica was proud to provide the furniture on which these iconic personalities were interviewed. The chic white pieces provided the perfect backdrop for these celebrities, enhancing their bodies’ shape and each individual style.

Attica was happy to be involved in such an inspirational project with such talented and passionate brands and artists. Its range added the perfect amount of décor so as to not take away from the art expo, but to enhance what was already present. For more information on Attica’s range, please visit www.attica.co.za or call Chelsea Perino and 021 447 3518.

Check  what else Puma is doing for Africa   The  Unity Kit and also Puma city in NYC

[30 Jun 2010 10:03]

JOHANNESBURG — Disputed plays have always been a part of the World Cup, but the blatant missed calls —and the impact they’ve had — have led FIFA president Sepp Blatter to announce that soccer’s governing body will reconsider the use of high-tech solutions to help referees.

A look at the plays that have sparked controversy in South Africa:

_ Argentina 3, Mexico 1 — In the 26th minute of a second-round game with Mexico, Argentina’s Carlos Tevez headed in a pass from Lionel Messi from close range. Though replays showed Tevez was clearly offside, referee Roberto Rosetti of Italy awarded the goal after consulting with his linesman as Mexican and Argentine players surrounded them, angrily gesturing.

_ Germany 4, England 1 — In the 38th minute of a second-round game, with England behind 2-1, Frank Lampard sent a shot off the crossbar. The ball came straight down at least a foot inside the goal line, but referee Jorge Larrionda waved play to continue. Television replays confirmed the ball was in the net and the game should have been tied at that point.

_ United States 2, Slovenia 2 — Moments after the Americans tied the score in the first round, Landon Donovan took a free kick from the side of the penalty area in the 85th minute as players jostled in front. Maurice Edu spun away from Bojan Jokic and, one step into the 6-yard box, stuck out his left foot and put the ball in. But referee Koman Coulibaly had whistled play dead for a foul. He never explained who on the U.S. team did what.

_ United States 1, Algeria 0 — In the final group game, Clint Dempsey scored in the 21st minute off the rebound of Herculez Gomez’s shot. But the goal was called offside. Replays indicated Dempsey was in a fair position.

_ Mexico 2, France 0 — In a first-round Group A match, Javier Hernandez appeared to be in an offside position when he ran onto Rafael Marquez’s pass and went around goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to give Mexico a 1-0 lead in the 64th minute.

_ Brazil 3, Ivory Coast 1 — Brazil striker Luis Fabiano handled the ball twice as he juggled it past two Ivory Coast defenders before scoring for a 2-0 lead in a group win that secured advancement for the Brazilians. The referee later came over to Luis Fabiano and patted his own upper right arm.

_ Slovakia 3, Italy 2 — Fabio Quagliarella thought he scored a late equalizer for Italy but was ruled offside, a ruling that was disputed by the Italians and appeared to be an error on replays. The loss eliminated the defending champions in the group stage.

_ Ghana 1, Australia 1 — Aussie forward Harry Kewell was sent off in the 24th minute after blocking a goal-bound shot with his upper arm. The arm was pinned against his body, but Swiss referee Roberto Rosetti showed Kewell the red card in the first-round match.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

CAPE TOWN — The president of Equatorial Guinea, who has ruled the oil-rich West African nation for three decades, sought Monday to recast his reputation as a corrupt, repressive leader in a more progressive mold.

Standing at his side to help him do that was the American lobbyist he has hired for $1 million a year: Lanny J. Davis, who served as a special counsel to President Bill Clinton.

In a speech here, the president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, said he would carry out reforms over the coming decade to ensure that his country’s oil revenues would be used to benefit its impoverished people. He also promised to invite the International Red Cross to look into accusations of human rights violations in Equatorial Guinea.

When he submitted to a brief, rare questioning by journalists, Mr. Obiang denied that large amounts of his country’s oil wealth had been stashed in bank accounts abroad and defended his long rule, saying, “My country is democratic.”

Mr. Obiang seized power in a coup in 1979. He won elections in 1996, 2002 and 2009 with at least 95 percent of the vote, and Mr. Davis said he had advised Mr. Obiang that his huge margins of victory had made critics skeptical of the country’s democracy.

“I’ve kidded him he’d do better to win by 51 percent than 98 percent,” Mr. Davis said.

Mr. Obiang’s appearance came after two recent public setbacks for him. In April, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, an alliance of governments, civil society groups and companies that sets standards for the disclosure of revenues from oil, gas and mining, excluded Equatorial Guinea for failing to meet its requirements. And this month, the executive board of Unesco put off awarding a new international prize for scientific achievement after an outcry that the award had been financed by Mr. Obiang and named for him.

Mr. Obiang’s address on Monday, at a conference sponsored by Time, Fortune and CNN, drew sharp criticism from one of the participants who appeared on the stage where he had spoken. Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said it was inappropriate that Mr. Obiang was given a platform at an event celebrating Africa’s progress and the critical importance of honest leadership for the continent.

“I felt it was a contradiction in terms to have him here,” she said.

Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time magazine, defended the decision to invite Mr. Obiang. “We made him agree to take questions from the press, which he hasn’t done,” Mr. Stengel said. “My job as head of a journalistic organization is not to forbid people but to make them reckon with the press and the public.”

In his speech, Mr. Obiang said his country would increase spending on education, health and other social programs and strengthen the rule of law and freedom of the press.

“I am sure many of you who have criticized us in the past for whatever reason will retain your skepticism,” he said. “Here I have not tried to say that all is well in Equatorial Guinea, but simply present what is available and what we aspire to achieve.”

Mr. Davis said he agreed to represent Mr. Obiang after meeting him in February in Equatorial Guinea, which has close ties to the American oil industry. “He said, ‘I want to turn to the United States and make my country to be like the United States in its values, its democracy.’ ”

Mr. Davis said he advised Mr. Obiang that he would need to follow promises of reform with action — and invite journalists and civic groups to verify progress.

After Mr. Obiang left, a journalist asked Mr. Davis what would happen now to political prisoners. He replied, “If there are political prisoners and no substantive charges against them, they will be freed.”

FIFA, the world governing body for soccer, is the victim of a South African crime wave that has targeted World Cup tourists, the English national team and foreign journalists.

South African police say seven World Cup replica trophies have been stolen from FIFA headquarters in Johannesburg.

Official FIFA clothing was also taken. Police were looking into the theft and suspected the people responsible were “very familiar with the environment in the FIFA offices.”

FIFA’s headquarters is in the high-class northern Johannesburg suburb of Sandton.

England’s team, staying in a posh resort in Rustenburg, about 2-1/2 hours outside Johannesburg, had money, clothing and other things taken from hotel rooms. Police later recovered the items and have arrested those they believe are responsible.

In recent days a freelance photographer from the U.S. had his photo equipment, a laptop computer and other items taken as he rode in a FIFA shuttle between a Johannesburg stadium and a media hotel, while other journalists have reported hundreds of dollars worth of fraudulent charges being added to their hotel bills.

– Kevin Baxter in Pretoria

PRETORIA, South Africa — South Africa’s police commissioner says seven World Cup replica trophies have been stolen from FIFA headquarters in Johannesburg.

Gen. Bheki Cele said at a security briefing Tuesday “we know that there was a burglary at the FIFA offices where they took seven replicas of the World Cup.”

Cele says official FIFA clothing was also taken.

FIFA said the trophies were taken from a storage room, but there was no sign of a break-in. The trophies, which are usually used as gifts, are about 6 inches tall and worth $256.

Cele added police were looking into the theft and suspected the people responsible were “very familiar with the environment in the FIFA offices.”

FIFA’s headquarters is in the high-class northern Johannesburg suburb of Sandton.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

BY KAREN ANGEL DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERBronx movie theater was packed for a recent screening of “Grandmother to Grandmother: New York to Tanzania.”The film, shown at the Concourse Plaza Multiplex Cinemas during Bronx Week last month explores two programs, one in the Bronx and one in Tanzania, that help support grandmothers who are raising their grandchildren.

The African children have lost their parents to AIDS, while drugs, violence and incarceration play a greater role in New York City.

But, as the film makes clear, the issues the African and the New York grandmothers face are the same.

They worry about finding the money to feed and clothe their grandchildren and send them to school, and about dying and leaving the kids with no one.

At a recent Sunday barbecue at the Presbyterian Senior Services/WSF Grandparent Family Apartments in Morrisania, those worries were on the back burner as grandchildren zipped around the paved backyard on scooters and grandmothers chatted and played dominoes.

“Here you have support,” said Annie Barnes, 67, who is raising two teens and lived in the nearby Forest Houses before the center was built in 2005. “Over there, you’re on your own. Everyone here is like a big family.”

As of the 2000 census, 83,946 New York City grandparents - most of them single grandmothers - were the primary caregivers for their grandchildren. In the Bronx alone, 18,970 grandparents were raising their grandchildren.

It’s a burden made heavier by the fact that about 20% of city residents 65 and older live at or below the poverty line - twice the national rate for the elderly.

The 48 grandmothers and two grandfathers who live in the 50 units in the Grandparent Family Apartments have an average income of $10,000 a year, with 30% of that income going toward their rent. All are African-American or Hispanic.

The center’s $400,000 yearly budget is primarily funded by the city, state and federal governments (with $155,000 threatened by budget cuts this year), while private donations helped cover the $13 million to build it. It’s the only one of its kind in the state - and one of only a handful around the country.

It offers counseling and support groups for the grandmothers and grandkids, and academic, music, art, sex education and vocational programs for the kids, including a mandatory one-hour after-school academic program.

In 2008, courtesy of Presbyterian, two “grandfamilies” visited their African counterparts, with the meeting chronicled in the film.

“It made me see the world different,” grandchild Andre Rodriguez, 18, said of the trip. Seeing the hardships faced by the Africans “made me more grateful. It put me on a better track.”

For more information on “Grandmother to Grandmother” or to purchase a DVD, log on to www.olddogdocumentaries.com.

kangel@nydailynews.com