CATCH-UP | PalmPay

CATCH-UP at this time spotlights PalmPay, a leading Africa-focused fintech platform committed to driving economic empowerment across the continent. Given its secure, user-friendly and inclusive suite of financial services, PalmPay brings top-tier products into the pockets of everyday Nigerians by offering money transfers, bill payments, credit services and savings on its smartphone app with a network of 500,000 mobile money agents.

Since its official launch in Nigeria in 2019 under a Mobile Money Operator license, PalmPay’s platform has grown to 25 million users and over 300,000 merchants are part of its cashless payment ecosystem.

According to a recent report by Ynaija “PalmPay celebrates 25 million user milestone in Nigeria, network of 800,000 mobile money agents and merchants”.

14TH COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY CLASS OF 2023 OF THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA (AUN) - VIDEO

 

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NewsRoundUp at this time takes-off from the United States with the now trending story about the Supreme Court solidifying protections for workers who ask for religious accommodations. 

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NewsRoundUp at this time sets out with the shocking story from Egypt of a Mum allegedly hacking her 5-year-old son to death and then cooking and eating his head. According to the local Egyptian media report which also claims the suspect committed the crime with a machete and cooked and ate part of his head, her arrest has been effected after the boy's horrified uncle found body parts in buckets at the home in Abu Shalabi, Egypt. Officers were shocked when the suspect, Hanaa, confessed that she had eaten part of her son's head because she "wanted him to stay with her forever".

WARD9ice | THE WAY OF THE WORLD

OTSEMOBOR is an undergraduate student. No, he is more than a student. I mean, he could approach anything in a skirt no matter the given circle. He’s gifted in the act of winning over the opposite sex and has done this severally in favor of his peers and himself. There was this exclusive party to be hosted by a popular Governor in West Africa. Of course, Ose was not invited. But he had all the details. Don’t ask me how because I don’t know ‘how’. Anyway, he found his way into the party and without long he had spotted his catch.

“ Hello!” he said confidently as party jams fill the atmosphere.

“ Hi!” the lady responds arrogantly. 

“We seem to be the only ones not catching the fun at this party, don’t you think so?” he fired.

“Please, excuse me. I’m not interested in the pleasure of any conversation. Thank you!” she snapped.

XCLUSIVE INTERACTIVE | SASHA VELOUR

Sasha Velour

XCLUSIVE INTERACTIVE courtesy, Interview Magazine features Sasha Velour in an interview with Mikelle Street captioned: Sasha Velour Delivers a Long Drunken Drag Bar Speech

On season nine of RuPaul’s Drag Race (which she ultimately won), Sasha Velour developed a bit of a reputation. She was called the face of Brooklyn drag, with performances that were both artsy and extremely studied. And it’s true: Sasha Velour is a glossy, living piece of art, but she also thinks deeply about who she is, what that represents, and the impact she can have. This all crystallizes in her new book The Big Reveal, which is part-memoir, part-drag history, part-manifesto, addressing queer expression and gender variance at the macro level, literally beginning with the Mesolithic age, and also the micro, sharing intimate details of her post-Drag Race reign.

Ward9ice | Strawberry Jam Under the Sea

WARD9ice this moment brings you curtesy, reedsy.com,  Strawberry Jam Under the Sea, a story entry submitted into Contest #192 by Aeris Walker about someone stuck in an endless cycle who finally manages to break free.

I am swimming, thrusting my arms through golden water—golden-like oil. The water grows thick and syrupy, then it pulls me under. I’m in a bottle, glass sloping above me. Someone tilts and pours, and I slide onto a pan, palms burning from the heat. I slip and roll in the slick spill. Steam rises off my wet hair. Then I am smothered under the sticky weight of raw meat.

“Mommy, can I sleep with you?”

The voice startles me, a breathy whisper in the dark. Then it comes again.

“Please? I had a bad dream.” Jack’s lisped dweem melts my heart, and I can’t say no.

FLAUNT YOUR LEISURE | Prince Batholomew Enehi

 

TAKEAWAY | DID YOU KNOW that to prepare for her role in the television film Search for Grace, actress Lisa Hartman Black underwent hypnosis?

DID YOU KNOW that to prepare for her role in the television film Search for Grace, actress Lisa Hartman Black underwent hypnosis?

Search for Grace is a 1994 American fantasy thriller television film directed by Sam Pillsbury from a teleplay by Alex Ayres. It was produced by CBS Entertainment Productions and stars Lisa Hartman Black and Ken Wahl. The film tells the story of Ivy (played by Hartman Black), a landscaper who leaves her long-time boyfriend to be with the mysterious Johnny (Wahl). Ivy begins experiencing flashbacks to the life of a long-dead woman named Grace (also played by Hartman Black), whose life in 1927, including her doomed relationship with the gangster Jake (Wahl), mirrors her own.

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NewsRoundUp at this time begins with Bobrisky, opening up about his experience of being deported from the United Arab Emirates due to their strict Islamic laws. He revealed that he has visited Dubai many times before, but was sent back to Nigeria during his last trip. Speaking on the TokeMoments audiovisual podcast hosted by Toke Makinwa, Bobrisky submitted that his deportation was due to his attire and the day he arrived. “The last time I went to Dubai, I was sent back to Nigeria. I have been there so many times. But that one was their prayer, I think one of their special days. It happened to be on Friday, they go to the mosque. They are holy so extra on that day. When I got there, the camera did not accept my face. You know me na, I was on makeup, I want to brag first class, I want to talk ‘oh! guys, I’ve been to Dubai. Your mummy is in first class’.” , he narrated and added further.  “So, I got to the Immigration where you are going to do everything. They saw my passport, they looked at my face. They said ‘face camera’. And I faced the camera. It rejected my face several times. They [Immigration officers] said ‘Are you sure you’re the same person?’ And I said ‘yes’. The man looked at me, he said ‘Idris, you are a Muslim?’. I said ‘yes’. He looked at my passport. He was confused.” According to him while he was later taken to a private office where he was questioned about his gender identity, “So, we went to one of their private offices. And they said ‘Are you trans or..’ I said ‘Well, I used to be a guy’. And they said ‘Oh! on a normal day if it is not Friday’ they would have just allowed me in. But because it was Friday, jumʿah day, they said ‘no, they can’t allow me in’,” he recalled.

TAKEAWAY | DID YOU KNOW ... that Ned Beatty turned down the role of John Doe in the film "Seven"?

DID YOU KNOW ... that Ned Beatty turned down the role of John Doe in the film Seven because the script was the "most evil thing" he had ever read?

Ned Thomas Beatty was an American actor. In a career that spanned five decades, he appeared in more than 160 films. Throughout his career, Beatty gained a reputation for being "the busiest actor in Hollywood". His film appearances included Deliverance (1972), White Lightning (1973), All the President's Men (1976), Network (1976), Superman (1978), Superman II (1980), Back to School (1986), Rudy (1993), Shooter (2007), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Rango (2011). Beatty was nominated for an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain, and a Golden Globe Award; he also won a Drama Desk Award.

CATCH-UP | Longing

CATCH-UP at this time focuses on “LONGING”, a video game.

The Longing is a 2020 point-and-click adventure game created by independent developer Studio Seufz. Set in an underground kingdom, the player controls the Shade, a creature tasked with watching over a sleeping king for 400 days. The Shade performs recreational activities, including reading and exploring, as it waits out the 400 days in real time. The in-game timer continues regardless of the player's actions but moves faster if the Shade performs certain actions inside its home, such as decorating the walls with drawings.

Developer Anselm Pyta conceived of The Longing after hearing the Kyffhäuser legend while visiting the Barbarossa Cave. Pyta sought to explore emotional themes in a narrative-driven story and used time as a game mechanism. The developer was inspired by dungeon synth music, which helped him define the subterranean atmosphere and theme of loneliness. Pyta acted as the primary developer for most of the game's six-year production, having to rely upon personal intuition to design the pacing due to playtesting difficulties.

WARD9ice | DOUBLE DATING

 DOUBLE DATING

TO IMPRESS HIS FRIEND JOHN CHATS WITH MICHAEL ABOUT HIS HOLIDAY ROMANCE WITH BUNMI. BUT THEN IT ONLY TURNS OUT THAT BUNMI IS MICHAEL’S FIANCEE

This story is set in the day at a leisure park in Lagos, Nigeria.

 

MICHAEL: Wao! John, it’s been ages since we last met.

JOHN: Yes. But I was in your neighborhood last week, I asked after Saint and I was told you had moved.

MICHAEL: Even if I hadn’t moved you would have found it difficult to trace me with the name “Saint”. I am known as Mike around here You know, my real name. So how do find Lagos?

JOHN: Oh, wonderful. The ladies are really sweet. I traveled to Jos with one angel last week and we really had a great time together. S*x with her was hmmn… fantastic!