The Edge Uganda

2015-03-06T21:14:00.000-08:00

Justin Bieber's Valentine's Day Is Open

2014-02-05T10:08:00.000-08:00

Well, Justin Bieber's Valentine's Day just got a bit better. After his DUI arrest last month, Bieber was ordered to appear in a Miami courtroom on February 14, which certainly would have cast a pall over his romantic plans ... but after his attorney filed a not-guilty plea on his behalf, that V-Day arraignment has been canceled.

But the Biebs probably isn't celebrating just yet.

Because, as the Hollywood Repoter confirmed, since those pleas were made, Bieber will now have his day in court, with his trial is set to begin on March 3.

That date is just one week before he's set to appear in a Toronto court to answer to an assault charge, which was alleged to have occurred late last year after Bieber attended a Maple Leafs game at the Air Canada Centre.

But back to his business in Miami: Before his trial begins, Bieber has a docket sounding set for February 19. It's not clear whether the singer will be present for the hearing, though unlike most pretrial conferences (where his defense team meets with the prosecution and a judge to discuss the status of the case), a defendant is usually in attendance at a docket sounding, so he or she is aware that the case is proceeding to trial.

If found guilty on all counts (not just DUI, but resisting arrest and driving without a valid license,) Bieber could face up to three years in prison, though most legal experts think he wouldn't serve any time ... rather, as Florida DUI attorney Ken Padowitz told MTV News last month, his sentence could include "six months of probation, a $250 fine, license suspension and enrollment in a DUI course."

Bill Gates steps down as Microsoft Chairman and CEO

2014-02-05T05:16:00.000-08:00

Bill Gates

Microsoft has moved to reboot for a mobile future, naming Indian-born Satya Nadella chief executive as founder Bill Gates shed his title of chairman for a more hands-on role.

Gates "will devote more time to the company" in his new role on the board as "founder and technology advisor," a company statement said.

New Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella

Nadella, 46, who becomes the third CEO at Microsoft, has been executive vice president of its Cloud and Enterprise group.

The moves come with Microsoft losing ground to rivals like Apple and Google amid a shift away from the traditional personal computer to mobile devices and cloud services.

"As the industry changes we have to innovate and move forward," Gates said in a video released on the Microsoft website.

"I'm thrilled that Satya has asked me to step up. I'll have over a third of my time available to meet with product groups."

The 58-year-old Gates said that "during this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella."

He added, "The opportunity ahead for Microsoft is vast, but to seize it, we must focus clearly, move faster and continue to transform. A big part of my job is to accelerate our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly."

India on Wednesday cheered the appointment of Nadella.

"India makes a power point," said a proud front-page headline of the Times of India newspaper about the 46-year-old cricket lover's appointment.

"India has clearly emerged as the talent machine that is consistently churning out global CEOs," said the daily.

Nadella, who has spent nearly half his life working for the technology titan, follows a string of Indian-origin men and women who have made it to chief executive positions globally.

He called Nadella "a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together."

Gates stepped down as CEO in 2000 and left day-to-day operations in 2008 to devote more time to his multibillion-dollar Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Microsoft said John Thompson, lead independent director, will assume the job of chairman at the tech giant.

Nadella, who takes over from the retiring Steve Ballmer, said, "Microsoft is one of those rare companies to have truly revolutionized the world through technology, and I couldn't be more honored to have been chosen to lead the company."

They include Anshu Jain at the helm of Deutsche Bank, Indra Nooyi at PepsiCo and Ajay Banga at Mastercard.

The shake-up at Microsoft drew positive responses from analysts.

"I think this is a terrific development for the company," said Greg Sterling at Opus Research.

"Nadella also seems to have encouraged the new Gates role, which will be good for the company too. Personally, Nadella is a more humble and understated figure than Ballmer, which will be good for the company's image. I also think Nadella brings a strong mix of business and technology expertise to the role."

Frank Gillett at Forrester Research said Nadella has shown "a willingness to shake things up, so that seems positive to us."

Gillett added that by using Gates as a key advisor, "he's reaching for Gates's experience in running the company but also in the successes in that era. But by having him in an informal role, it also says we are in a new era. All in all, it seems quite positive."

Roger Kay at Endpoint Technologies Associates said Nadella will need to articulate a vision for Microsoft, which under Ballmer was undergoing a transformation from software to "devices and services."

"Nadella has to come up with the vision," Kay said. "Gates's vision was appropriate for the 1970s and 1980s."

Kay said Nadella "admits that he is green in asking support from Gates but that's OK. I think people can come into a job green and grow into it."

Nadella "has been the enterprise guy, so I would expect him to go in that direction. They may even spin off the consumer business."

Deutsche Bank analyst Karl Keirstead said Nadella was a "good choice."

"Although Microsoft is a big ship to turn, in our view Nadella will push to make Microsoft more innovative and agile, more like Apple and less like IBM," Keirstead said in a research note.

Matthew Hedberg at RBC Capital Markets called Nadella "a safe choice" and said his background "could mean a bigger emphasis on cloud and enterprise than Microsoft has had in the past."

Hedberg added that the shift in roles for Gates would be a "bigger positive for investor sentiment."

In late morning trading, Microsoft shares were up 0.33 percent at $36.60.

Nadella heads the team that runs the public, private and service provider clouds for Microsoft. Previously, Nadella was president of Microsoft's $19 billion server and tools business.

He is a native of Hyderabad, India and earned degrees from Mangalore University, the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and the University of Chicago.

AFP

Four times murderer Escapes From Custody, Abducts Woman

2014-02-03T07:29:00.000-08:00

A convicted quadruple-murderer is on the loose this morning after escaping from custody in Michigan and abducting a woman, corrections officials told ABC News.

Officials say Michael David Elliot escaped from the Ionia Correctional Facility Sunday - possibly through a hole in a fence - before obtaining a car and driving to Indiana.

Elliot abducted a woman with a knife or box cutter before driving with her to Elkhart, Ind. - about 130 miles south - where they stopped for gas, Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan said. While the woman was able to escape, Elliot remains at large.

Marlan tells ABC News that a hole was discovered in a fence on the grounds of the Ionia Correctional Facility.

“That appears to be how [Elliot] escaped - through a hole he created at the bottom of the fence,” Marlan said in an email.

Michigan State Police Lt. Troy Allen said officials are looking for the woman's red 2004 Jeep Liberty four-door with license plate number 5FTG55. Officials plan on meeting with the woman to find out more information about the incident.

Elliot, 40, has brown eyes and brown hair, stands 5’8” and weighs 165 pounds, according toDepartment of Corrections records.

He was convicted of murdering four people on Aug. 8, 1993 and is serving four life sentences.

Mandela's estate worth an estimated R46m

2014-02-03T05:10:00.000-08:00

The provisional assessment of former president Nelson Mandela's estate was about R46m, Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke said on Monday.
Mandela bequeathed R1.5m to the NRM Family Trust, in his will that was read out in Johannesburg.
He also left royalties to the trust of which a percentage would be given to the African National Congress.

Mandela bequeathed R50 000 each to a number of personal staff, including Zelda la Grange, his former personal assistant.

Other beneficiaries listed in the will that was read by Moseneke included his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

He also left money to a number of schools and organisations.

Wits University, Qunu Secondary School and Orlando West High School in Soweto bequeathed R100 000 from the anti-apartheid icon.

Two Young Nigerians among Forbes Magazine’s list of 2014 10 Most Powerful Men in Africa

2014-02-03T05:06:00.002-08:00

Two young Nigerian technology entrepreneurs, founder, HotsStop.com, Chinedu Echeruo and CEO, Konga.com, Simdul Shagaya have made the influential and respected American business magazine, Forbes Magazine’s list of 2014’s “10 Most Powerful Men in Africa.”

In the list which was released during the weekend Forbes indicated that the 2014 list follows the launching list of the 2011“10 Youngest Power Men In Africa”.

Shagaya (above) and Chinedu (below)

The magazine noted that the 2014 list is distinctive and it comprises of “Africa’s emerging power brokers who are carving a name for themselves and simultaneously changing their communities and the continent.”

Chinedu Echero is a Nigerian US based technology entrepreneur who founded HotStop.com in 2005. HotStop was sold to Apple in July, 2013 at an undisclosed amount but Forbes disclosed that it’s within the billion dollar range.

HopStop is an online city transit guide for travelers using its website, or apps for iPhone. The company’s services covers over 140 cities round the world, according to Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. In 2011, the online transit guide was named one of the top 100 fastest growing software companies in the United State by Inc. magazine.

Echero also founded Tripology.com an interactive travel service that connects travelers with with travel specialists. The platform was acquired by an American travel and navigation information company, Today Travel Media Group in 2010.

The technology entrepreneur holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS from Syracuse University. He worked for several years in the Mergers & Acquisitions and Leveraged Finance groups of J.P Morgan Chase where he was involved in a broad range of M&A, Financing and Private Equity transactions.

Simdul Shagaya, who also made the list founded Konga.com and DealDey. He bagged the ‘All Africa Business Leaders Awards’ Entrepreneur of the Year award last year.

Konga.com which was described by Forbes as Africa’s answer to Amazon.com is Nigeria’s largest online shopping portal that sells goods and services directly to consumers.

Shagaya is a graduate of George Washington University, Dartmouth College and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mandela leaves staff members R50 000 each

2014-02-03T03:55:00.002-08:00

Johannesburg - Former president Nelson Mandela left an amount of R50 000 to certain members of his staff.

Justice Dikgang Moseneke, one of the executors of Mandela's estate, made the announcement during the reading of Mandela's will at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in Johannesburg on Monday.

The staff members include his former PA Zelda la Grange.

Mandela also left amounts of R100 000 to educational institutions he attended during his lifetime.

Mandela left R1.5m and future royalties to the NRM Family Trust.

The provisional balance of the estate was about R46m, the executors stated.

Moscow school shooting: Policeman, teacher killed as hostages are released

2014-02-03T02:38:00.001-08:00

Moscow police have confirmed that a policeman and a teacher were killed as a young man with a rifle took children hostage at a city school. The gunman, who is reportedly a high school student, has been detained, police said.

According to Lifenews, the gunman, “Sergey G.,” was a straight-A student who had a conflict with the school’s 37-year-old geography teacher, Andrey Kirillov.

The scene of the shooting.

"I need the geography teacher," Sergey said, threatening the security guard with a rifle and a hunting gun.

The security guard managed to call the police.

When they arrived, he showed the officers to the classroom, and the high school student opened fire at them, killing an officer and wounding another one, Kommersant newspaper reported.

The gunman took hostage over 20 teenagers aged 15 in the school’s biology classroom, releasing most of them soon afterward, according to police.

Kommersant FM reported that the incident was caused by a conflict between the student and the geography teacher. The student was due to graduate with honors, but reportedly thought that the teacher had tried to interfere with his graduation.

A video that emerged on Youtube showed a helicopter arriving at the scene, and then the kids being evacuated from the building by the teachers. The children weren’t apparently wearing any winter clothes, despite the temperature in the Russian capital standing at -9 degrees Celsius (15 degrees Celsius).

The kids had to stay outside for some more time. Then the parents arrived, and those kids who weren't wearing winter clothes were taken home by the district's cars.

A sixth-grade student who was in the school's building at the time of the incident told Kommersant FM radio that their PE teacher locked them inside the gym during the hostage-taking, and wouldn't let them go until the incident was over.

Lifenews TV channel reported that the phone connection with the school had been lost, and that shocked parents were gathering outside the school.

Police said the gunman was neutralized at around 1pm local Moscow (0900 GMT). Before the detention, the student managed to fire at least 11 times, Russia's Investigative Committee said.

The student's father helped to detain his son, Interfax news agency reported, citing a source in law enforcement agencies. The weapons the student brought belonged to his father and was registered to him, too.

"The student's father participated in the negotiations, along with the security services personnel," the source told Interfax.

The school’s pupils are being questioned by Russian Investigative Committee staff, Kommersant daily reported.

Officers have confiscated their smartphones and other gadgets, as children had started posting information about the incident and the questioning online, the newspaper said.

Investigative Committee spokesperson Vladimir Markin told journalists that the detainee will be charged with homicide, hostage-taking and endangering the life of a law enforcement officer.

According to Article 317 of the Russian Criminal Code, endangering the life of a law enforcement officer is punishable by 12 to 20 years in prison.

Article 20 of the Code defines the age of 14 as the age of discretion for felonious homicide.

All Russian schools have an armed security guard, according to a law passed in the wake of the 2004 terrorist attack on a school Beslan, North Ossetia.

RT.

2013 PLE Results to be released on Friday

2014-01-28T09:36:00.000-08:00

The Ministry for education and sports has confirmed that Primary Living Education (PLE) for 2013 will be released on Friday January 31, 2014.

Education and sport minister, Jessica Alupo, on Tuesday told reporters at Parliament that results are ready.

Minister Jessica Alupo receives results from UNEB Secretary Mathew Bukenya last year.

This comes after media reports last week suggesting that the examinations body, Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) had failed to complete marking of the exams due to a breakdown in her computer system.

A total of 582,085 candidates sat for Primary Leaving Examinations in November last year.

2014 Grammy Awards Winners

2014-01-27T02:41:00.001-08:00

The 56th edition of the annual Grammy Awards was held on Sunday night, 26 Jan at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles and were hosted by LL Cool J.

Below is the full list of all the winners of the awards;

Pharrell Williams, Daft Punk,. the day's big winners.

Album Of The Year
Sara Bareilles - The Blessed Unrest
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories - WINNER
Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - The Heist
Taylor Swift - Red

Record Of The Year
Daft Punk & Pharrell Williams - 'Get Lucky' - WINNER
Imagine Dragons - 'Radioactive'
Lorde - 'Royals'
Bruno Mars - 'Locked Out Of Heaven'
Robin Thicke featuring TI & Pharrell - 'Blurred Lines'

Song Of The Year
Pink featuring Nate Ruess - 'Just Give Me A Reason'
Bruno Mars - 'Locked Out Of Heaven'
Katy Perry - 'Roar'
Lorde - 'Royals' - WINNER
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Mary Lambert - 'Same Love'

Best New Artist
James Blake
Kendrick Lamar
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - WINNER
Kacey Musgraves
Ed Sheeran

Pop Field
Best Pop Solo Performance
Sara Bareilles - 'Brave'
Lorde - 'Royals ' - WINNER
Bruno Mars - 'When I Was Your Man'
Katy Perry - 'Roar'
Justin Timberlake - 'Mirrors'

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Daft Punk & Pharrell Williams - 'Get Lucky' - WINNER
Pink Featuring Nate Ruess - 'Just Give Me A Reason'
Rihanna Featuring Mikky Ekko - 'Stay'
Robin Thicke Featuring TI & Pharrell - 'Blurred Lines'
Justin Timberlake & Jay Z - 'Suit & Tie'

Best Pop Vocal Album
Lana Del Rey - Paradise
Lorde - Pure Heroine
Bruno Mars - Unorthodox Jukebox - WINNER
Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines
Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience - The Complete Experience

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Tony Bennett & Various Artists - Viva Duets
Michael Bublé - To Be Loved - WINNER
Gloria Estefan - The Standards
Cee Lo Green - Cee Lo's Magic Moment
Dionna Warwick - Now

Dance/Electronica Field
Best Dance Recording
Duke Dumont Featuring A*M*E & MNEK - 'Need U (100%)'
Calvin Harris featuring Florence Welch - 'Sweet Nothing'
Kaskade - 'Atmosphere'
Armin Van Buuren featuring Trevor Guthrie - 'This Is What It Feels Like'
Zedd Featuring Foxes - 'Clarity' - WINNER

Best Dance/Electronica Album
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories - WINNER
Disclosure - Settle
Calvin Harris - 18 Months
Kaskade - Atmosphere
Pretty Lights - A Colour Map Of The Sun

Alternative Field

Best Alternative Music Album
Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks
Tame Impala - Lonerism
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires Of The City - WINNER

Rock Field
Best Rock Performance
Alabama Shakes - 'Always Alright'
David Bowie - 'The Stars Are Out Tonight'
Imagine Dragons - 'Radioactive' - WINNER
Led Zeppelin - 'Kashmir'
Queens Of The Stone Age - 'My God Is The Sun'
Jack White - 'I'm Shakin''

Best Metal Performance
Anthrax - 'T.N.T.'
Black Sabbath - 'God Is Dead?' - WINNER
Dream Theater - 'The Enemy Inside'
Killswitch Engage - 'In Due Time'
Volbeat featuring King Diamond - 'Room 24'

Best Rock Song
Gary Clark Jr - 'Ain't Messin 'Round'
Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, Pat Smear - 'Cut Me Some Slack' - WINNER
The Rolling Stones - 'Doom and Gloom'
Black Sabbath - 'God Is Dead?'
Muse - 'Panic Station'

Best Rock Album
Black Sabbath - 13
David Bowie - The Next Day
Kings Of Leon - Mechanical Bull
Led Zeppelin - Celebration Day - WINNER
Queens Of The Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
Neil Young with Crazy Horse - Psychedelic Pill

R&B Field
Best R&B Performance
Tamar Braxton - 'Love And War'
Anthony Hamilton - 'Best Of Me'
Hiatus Kaiyote featuring Q-Tip - 'Nakamarra'
Miguel featuring Kendrick Lamar - 'How Many Drinks?'
Snarky Puppy With Lalah Hathaway - 'Something' - WINNER

Best Traditional R&B Performance
Gary Clark Jr - 'Please Come Home'- WINNER
Fantasia - 'Get It Right'
Maysa - 'Quiet Fire'
Gregory Porter - 'Hey Laura'
Ryan Shaw - 'Yesterday'

Best R&B Song
Anthony Hamilton - 'Best Of Me'
Tamar Braxton - 'Love And War'
PJ Morton Featuring Stevie Wonder - 'Only One'
Justin Timberlake - 'Pusher Love Girl' - WINNER
Fantasia featuring Kelly Rowland & Missy Elliot - 'Without Me'

Best Urban Contemporary Album
Tamar Braxton - Love And War
Fantasia - Side Effects Of You
Salaam Remi - One: In The Chamber
Rihanna - Unapologetic - WINNER
Mack Wilds - New York: A Love Story

Best R&B Album
Faith Evans - R&B Divas
Alicia Keys - Girl On Fire - WINNERJohn Legend - Love In The Future
Chrisette Michele - Better
TGT - Three Kings

Rap Field
Best Rap Performance
Drake - 'Started From The Bottom'
Eminem - 'Berzerk'
Jay Z - 'Tom Ford'
Kendrick Lamar - 'Swimming Pools (Drank)'
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz - 'Thrift Shop' - WINNER

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
J Cole featuring Miguel - 'Power Trip'
Jay Z featuring Beyoncé - 'Part II (On The Run)'
Jay Z featuring Justin Timberlake - 'Holy Grail' - WINNER
Kendrick Lamar featuring Mary J Blige - 'Now Or Never'
Wiz Khalifa featuring The Weeknd - 'Remember You'

Best Rap Song
ASAP Rocky featuring Drake, 2 Chainz & Kendrick Lamar - 'F***in' Problems'
Jay Z featuring Justin Timberlake - 'Holy Grail'
Kanye West - 'New Slaves'
Drake - 'Started From The Bottom'
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz - 'Thrift Shop' - WINNER

Best Rap Album
Drake - Nothing Was The Same
Jay Z - Magna Carta...Holy Grail
Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - The Heist - WINNER
Kanye West - Yeezus

Country Field
Best Country Solo Performance
Lee Brice - 'I Drive Your Truck'
Hunter Hayes - 'I Want Crazy'
Miranda Lambert - 'Mama's Broken Heart'
Darius Rucker - 'Wagon Wheel' - WINNER
Blake Shelton - 'Mine Would Be You'

Best Country Duo/Group Performance
The Civil Wars - 'From This Valley' - WINNER
Kelly Clarkson Featuring Vince Gill - 'Don't Rush'
Little Big Town - 'Your Side Of The Bed'
Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift & Keith Urban - 'Highway Don't Care'
Kenny Rogers with Dolly Parton - 'You Can't Make Old Friends'

Best Country Song
Taylor Swift - 'Begin Again'
Lee Brice - 'I Drive Your Truck'
Miranda Lambert - 'Mama's Broken Heart'
Kacey Musgraves - 'Merry Go 'Round' - WINNER
Blake Shelton - 'Mine Would Be You'

Best Country Album
Jason Aldean - Night Train
Tim McGraw - Two Lanes Of Freedom
Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park - WINNER
Blake Shelton - Based On A True Story
Taylor Swift - Red

Other Selected Fields
Best Reggae Album
Beres Hammond - One Love, One Life
Ziggy Marley - Ziggy Marley In Concert - WINNER
Sizzla - The Messiah
Sly & Robbie and The Jam Masters - Reggae Connection
Snoop Lion - Reincarnated

Best Spoken Word Album
Stephen Colbert - America Again: Re-becoming The Greatness We Never Weren't - WINNER
Carol Burnett - Carrie And Me
David Sedaris - Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls
Billy Crystal - Still Foolin' 'Em
Peter Seeger - The Storm King

Music For Visual Media Field
Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media
Django Unchained
The Great Gatsby (Deluxe Edition)
Les Misérables (Deluxe Edition)
Muscle Shoals
Sound City: Real To Reel - WINNER

Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media
Alexandre Desplat - Argo
Craig Armstrong - The Great Gatsby
Mychael Danna - Life Of Pi
John Williams - Lincoln
Thomas Newman - Skyfall - WINNER
Alexandre Desplat - Zero Dark Thirty

Best Song Written For Visual Media
Coldplay - 'Atlas' (from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)
Jessie J - 'Silver Lining' (from Silver Linings Playbook)
Adele - 'Skyfall' (from Skyfall) - WINNER
Colbie Caillat featuring Gavin DeGraw - 'We Both Know' (from Safe Haven)
Lana Del Rey - 'Young And Beautiful' (from The Great Gatsby: Deluxe Edition)
Regina Spektor - 'You've Got Time' (from Orange Is The New Black)

Production Field
Producer of the Year (Non Classical)
Rob Cavallo
Dr Luke
Ariel Rechtshaid
Jeff Tweedy
Pharrell Williams - WINNER

Music Video Field
Best Music Video
Capital Cities - 'Safe And Sound'
Jay Z - 'Picasso Baby: A Performance Art Film'
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Ray Dalton - 'Can't Hold Us'
Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z - 'Suit & Tie' - WINNER
Jack White - 'I'm Shakin''

Best Music Film
Coldplay - Live 2012
Green Day - ¡Cuatro!
Ben Harper with Charlie Musselwhite - I'm In I'm Out And I'm Gone: The Making Of Get Up!
Paul McCartney - Live Kisses - WINNER
Mumford & Sons - The Road To Red Rocks

Following your dream is not an automatic path to success

2014-01-27T00:48:00.000-08:00

WHEN Trent Brown was laid off from his job as a sales representative in 2010, he chose to view it as an opportunity to make a life change. Instead of searching for some other company job, he decided to help his wife, Janell, expand her cupcake and cake-making hobby into a business.

Just six months after he lost his job, they opened One Sweet Slice in the Salt Lake City area where they lived.

Mr. Brown, 35, triumphantly wrote on his wife’s blog, “Thank you for laying me off, corporate America.” Posing with their four children on their website www.onesweetslice.com, they represent one of those stories everyone loves. Lose your job, find a passion and turn it into a business that’s fun and successful.

But while their cakes and cupcakes garnered acclaim — including winning Food Network’s television show “Cupcake Wars” — and brought in substantial revenue, it wasn't enough to support their family. And the decision to open a second store pushed them into unexpected debt.

“I’m pretty conservative and I knew it would be difficult, but it was a hundred times more difficult than I thought it would be,” Mr. Brown said.

So, even though “everyone thinks we’re wildly successful,” he decided he had to return to the corporate world to support his family. And given his age, it was a realistic option. While his wife is still in charge of overseeing the stores, a few weeks ago he started a job as an interactive marketing manager.

In these times of job insecurity and rapidly evolving careers, reinvention is both a dream and a comfort for many.

“During the Great Recession, when the labor market was at its weakest, business creation rose to record highs,” said Dane Stangler, director of research at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

From 2004 to 2010, the number of new businesses — both those with employees and one-person operations — grew steadily from an average of 470,000 a month to an average of 565,000 a month annually, according to the Kauffmann Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, an annual study conducted by the foundation. It dipped a little last year, probably because of the improving job market.

It’s impossible to say how much of that business activity is part of a second career move. But according to Encore.org, which helps people over 60 find meaningful work, a 2011 survey found that almost 40 percent of Americans aged 44 through 70 are already in or eager to start second careers.

But the numbers say nothing about the true human and financial cost of reinvention — or the failure to reinvent. So maybe it’s time to step back and consider some of the lessons learned from those who didn't strike it rich the first time out, or even the second, and, some experts suggest, judge ourselves less harshly in the process.

“We have an intoxication with starting fresh, with rebirth, with radical heroic transformation,” said Marc Freedman, chief executive of Encore.org. “It makes for a very dramatic story, but it sets an impossibly high bar for people at any stage of life.”

That doesn’t mean, he said, that people can’t move to different paths and successfully change careers. But rather than reinvention, we should look at it as reintegration — of building on the knowledge, interests and skills a person already has.

The image of throwing out a past career, he said, and careening in a totally different direction is “unrealistic and misleading.”

Karin Hazelkorn, 59, can attest to this. She took a generous buyout from Cisco Systems in 2011, where she worked for 12 years in marketing, business development and project management, with the aim of converting her love of handcrafted textiles — and desire to preserve the craft — into a new career.

She moved from San Francisco to New York for half a year, took classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology, went to industry trade shows and traveled to Southeast Asia to test her idea of creating a partnership between textile artisans and fashion houses.

But it wasn’t coming together. She admired those people who seemed to go “from banker to baker” and felt a little deficient.

“Did they work harder than me? Have better contacts?” she said.

Eventually she decided her initial idea wouldn’t work, and now is considering other opportunities that will combine her business skills and knowledge of textiles. She is excited, but it is different from her original plan.

“I would tell people to really build on the skills you have,” Ms. Hazelkorn said. “It may not be exactly what you wanted to do, but it’s a more natural move.”

The inspiring stories that portray drastic career moves in a rosy light “are coming from a good place,” said Ofer Sharone, a professor of work and employment research at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “But they go too far. They paint a picture that someone can take complete control, when they can’t.”

And, not everyone knows her passion — or has one.

“People in the labor market are blaming themselves for not being able to find a passion,” said Professor Sharone, author of the book “Flawed System/Flawed Self: Job Searching and Unemployment Experiences.” “The presumption is everyone has a deep-seated passion, but they might not.”

Dreaming big while being realistic is one critical piece of advice. Another is to have a financial cushion.

Kevin Lincoln, who was laid off in 2006 from his job at a paper mill in Green Bay, Wis., after 34 years, was one of the fortunate ones. His severance package included displaced workers’ benefits that paid for training and education. He went to a community college to study leadership and management, graduating with almost straight A’s. But the jobs were hard to come by — largely he believes, because of his age — and he’s now working as a delivery driver for about half his previous salary.

“It’s easy to say I’m going to reinvent myself,” said Mr. Lincoln, 62. “Just go and try.”

Without financial resources, said David Blustein, a professor of counseling, developmental and educational psychology at the Lynch School of Education at Boston College, “people need to think of a survival job in the short term, and ideally scaffold up to a long-term plan.”

Tiffany Aliche, 30, of Newark, had savings. But her desire to become a financial coach after being laid off as a preschool teacher cost her big. She went through her savings and ended up moving back in with her parents. Her condominium went into preforeclosure, and she reduced her possessions to fit into two suitcases.

But by working free and doing relentless social media marketing, she started her company, the Budgetnista, last year, and made almost as much as she did as a preschool teacher. She said she hoped to surpass that this year.

But knowing that her family would never let her end up homeless or starving is what allowed her to continue, she said.

Something that is not always obvious is that critical success does not always equal financial success. One writer who wanted to see if she could develop a thriving business making artisanal jams said the impressive accolades and awards were wonderful, but “there was no money.”

Of course, everyone defines financial success differently. For some it’s reaping in large profits. For others, it’s not going bankrupt.

That’s the case for Seely Gerraughty. Fifteen years ago, she and her husband left their jobs in Houston and bought a deserted crack house in Narragansett, R.I. Ms. Gerraughty, who was a medical social worker, and her husband, a national editor at The Houston Chronicle, turned it into the Blueberry Cove Inn.

The first year they made $50 in profit. Now the inn is successful, in that it has survived and is usually full during the high season. But “most of our profit is plugged back into the infrastructure,” said Ms. Gerraughty, 57.

Owning a B&B may seem like a dream career, if you gloss over the fact “you’re on duty 24/7 and I worked from July to November without a single day off. There is brutal, grinding work behind any small business,” Ms. Gerraughty said.

But the Gerraughtys cannot say they did not know what they were getting into. They did their research before deciding to buy an inn, particularly by going into online chat rooms of trade organizations.

“In those chat rooms, they don’t paint the rosy pictures,” she said.

Mr. Brown agreed, saying he wished he and his wife had better understood some basics, like pricing and costs, before plunging in.

Now they review their financials with local free assistance from the Small Business Administration and their marketing strategies with mentors from SCORE.org, which provides free mentoring and workshops for small businesses.

And Ms. Hazelkorn said it was crucial to talk to people — and ask pointed questions — from those who will give you real-world feedback on your ideas, not just friends and colleagues who will encourage you.

Of course if your second career doesn't work out or you tire of it, there’s always the possibility of a third one.

“I’m not settled on a career choice,” Ms. Gerraughty said. “I like long drives — I’m thinking of long-haul truck driving.”

New York Times

Coca Cola Rated Next Season 2 launched

2014-01-09T06:12:00.001-08:00

Century Bottling Company, the makers of Coca Cola soft drinks, in conjunction with Urban TV have launched the second season of the musicla reality show, Coca Cola Rated Next.

The competition was launched on Thursday at Coca Cola's main processing plant at Namanve, in Mukono District.

Season 1 judges. The three are back for Season 2.

50 million ha been staked for the winner of this year's competition. Along with the cash prize comes a one year recording contract with Fenon records.

Auditions begin on Saturday 11 with Mbarara District, then Masaka the next weekend after which the team will head to Kampala.

Daniel Kaweesa from Arua won season 1 of this competition. Do you have what it takes? pick your audition form from your nearest Coca Cola distributor and live to your dream.

Karegeya to be buried in South Africa- Family

2014-01-07T10:53:00.001-08:00

The family of former Rwandan intelligence chief Col. Patrick Karegeya has resolved to have their son buried in South Africa, a country where he had been in exile for a long time.

This follows the refusal by the government of Uganda to have the former spy chief brought back home for a decent burial.

Col. Patrick Karegeya

The Government advised the family either to bury him in his home country Rwanda or the country where he was resident.

Government further claimed that Karegeya was not a Ugandan citizen therefore could not be buried in a Country where he is an alien.

“Following media reports of the death of Col. Patrick Karegeya in South Africa and speculation regarding his interment, the Government of the Republic of Uganda wishes to clarify that the deceased was a citizen of the Republic of Rwanda and resident in South Africa at the time of his death.

"Therefore, burial arrangements should be made in one of those countries. The Government of Uganda has communicated this position to the family of the Late Karegeya,” a statement issued by Government said.

His wife, Leah Kabuto Karegeya, issued a statement on Sunday saying the family had taken a difficult decision to bury Karegeya in Johannesburg, adding that the date would be communicated later.

Karegeya was on January 1 discovered slumped on a bed by staff at a $350-a-night hotel room in Michelangelo Towers Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa.

He was born in Mbarara district, Western Uganda, where his parents still live.

Pictures: 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

2014-01-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

The 2014 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's largest consumer technology trade show is on in Las Vegas, Nevada and runs from 7-10 January.

This year's edition has seen new inventions and innovations in the technology sector across the globe. From Electronics, Automobile, to games, the event is so far the biggest for the year 2014.

Below are some of the images from the show on its first day;

Rihanna Strips Down for Mac Viva Glam Campaign

2014-01-06T10:12:00.000-08:00

In true Rihanna style, the risqué singer bared it all for her latest MAC Viva Glam campaign.

The "Diamonds" singer posed for famed photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, who also shot her recent Balmain campaign.

Rihanna didn't shy away from showing excitement, posting on her Instagram.

Brazil too slow in her 2014 World Cup Preparations- Sepp Blatter

2014-01-06T09:41:00.000-08:00

FIFA president Sepp Blatter cannot remember a World Cup host nation falling as far behind with their preparations as Brazil has, he said in an interview.
“Brazil has just found out what it means and has started work much too late,” he told the Lausanne-based newspaper 24 Heures.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

“No country has been so far behind in preparations since I have been at FIFA even though it is the only host nation which has had so much time, seven years, in which to prepare.”

Blatter has experience of nine World Cups, dating back to Argentina in 1978. He joined soccer's ruling body as a development officer in 1975 before becoming secretary general and then taking over as president in 1998.

Six of the 12 stadiums in Brazil missed the final deadline of Dec. 31 which FIFA set for them to be completed and put at the disposal of organizers.

They are the venues in Sao Paulo, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Cuiaba, Natal and Manaus.

Many infrastructure and transport projects have been shelved or scaled back and organizers are still debating how to provide extra flights for the thousands of traveling supporters.

Brazil were elected unopposed as hosts in 2007 under the old rotation system which awarded the finals to South America.

The other nine South American countries had agreed to support Brazil as the only candidate in 2003, in effect giving them an additional four years to get ready.

Blatter also said he was resigned to further protests such as those that took place during last year's Confederations Cup.

“I am an optimist, not a pessimist. I am therefore not worried,” he explained. “But we do know there will be protests again.

“The last ones during the Confederations Cup in this same country had their roots in the social networks.

“There was no specific goal, or a genuine demand, but during the World Cup the protests will perhaps be more concrete, more organized,” said Blatter.

“But football will be protected, I don't believe that Brazilians will attack the football directly. For them it's a religion.”

The World Cup starts June 12 and ends on July 13.

One of the venues for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Germany Chancellor Merkel injured in ski accident

2014-01-06T03:49:00.001-08:00

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suffered a pelvis injury during a skiing holiday in Switzerland, putting her on the sidelines for the next three weeks.

What she first thought was heavy bruising turned out to be a partial fracture, meaning she must take it easy for three weeks and work from home where possible, said her spokesman Steffen Seibert on Monday.

"The chancellor is of course able to work and is in full communication," said Seibert.

Doctors told her Friday that the injury was in fact an "incomplete" bone fracture that will require her to rest for three weeks.

Seibert told reporters that Merkel would need to cancel a number of official appointments in the coming weeks but would continue to lead the government and hold Cabinet meetings.

He says Merkel's fall occurred "at low speeds" but was unable to say if another person was involved.

KCCA launches City Road improvement projects

2014-01-06T00:30:00.000-08:00

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has launched the City road improvement project, intended to imnprove the transport sector both within and outside the city.

The projects are expected to kick off this month (January).

KCCA Executive Director Jennifer Musisi is committed to building a Modern City.

According to KCCA, the projects are expected to result into improved mobility in the city, reduced travel times for city dwellers, reduced vehicle operating costs in the city, reduced dusty and muddy conditions, and better living conditions for people living along the roads.

List of roads to be improved by KCCA

And here comes the New Year, 2014

2013-12-30T21:32:00.001-08:00

The World will tonight kiss good bye to the year 2013 and usher in the New Year, 2014, which many are looking forward to, to fulfill all their unfulfilled goals set for 2013.

The new year across the globe is welcomed in style, with musical concerts, fireworks, proposals to loved ones, fulfillment of pledges and others.

Uganda will be joining the rest of the world in celebrating the ushering in of the year 2014.

Prayers have been organised by the different religious denominations.

Nambole Stadium, Nakivubo Stadium, Kololo airstrip, Mt Sion prayer Center, Bukalango, and other churches will host the night's prayers as thousands welcome the New Year.

Several concerts have as well been organised for those who love to party. Sheraton Hotel, Kampala will host the annual UG Mix party, that features all Ugandan musicians at the Sheraton Hotel gardens.

The Kabaka's Palace at Lubiri, Mengo will be hosting the annual CBS radio Enkuuka y'omwaka, that too features key Ugandan artists.

The King of Buganda, His Majesty Ronald Mwenda Mutebi II will be the main celebrant at the fete. He will hold a symbolic key to open the year 2014 and then address his subjects on the Kingdom's projects, planned for 2014.

70 Journalists killed while on duty in 2013

2013-12-30T10:06:00.002-08:00

At least 70 journalists were killed around the world in 2013, including 29 who died covering the civil war in Syria and 10 in Iraq, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

French Journalist Gilles Jacquier was among the 70 journalists killed while on duty

The dead in Syria included a number of citizen journalists working to document combat in their home cities, broadcasters who worked with media outlets affiliated with either the government or the opposition, and a handful of correspondents for the foreign press, including an al-Jazeera reporter, Mohamed al-Mesalma, who was shot by a sniper.

Six journalists died in Egypt. Half of those reporters were killed while reporting a 14 August crackdown by Egyptian security forces on demonstrators protesting the ousting of Mohamed Morsi.

"The Middle East has become a killing field for journalists. While the number of journalists killed for their work has declined in some places, the civil war in Syria and a renewal of sectarian attacks in Iraq have taken an agonising toll," the committee's deputy director, Robert Mahoney, said in a statement.

"The international community must prevail on all governments and armed groups to respect the civilian status of reporters and to prosecute the killers of journalists."

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has been tracking deaths among reporters and broadcasters since 1992.

Most of the killings it has documented over the years involve people covering the news in the places where they live. That was the case, as well, in 2013.

Many of the deaths occurred during combat, or among reporters covering conflict zones, but journalists in several countries were also murdered after reporting on sensitive subjects.

Reporters and commentators who covered police misconduct, political corruption or drug trafficking and other sensitive topics were slain in separate incidents in Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Russia.

A pair of Radio France Internationale journalists were abducted and killed after meeting a leader of ethnic Tuareg separatists in Kidal, Mali. Militants in Iraq killed five members of the news staff of Salaheddin TV in a suicide attack this month on the channel's offices in Tikrit, Iraq.

For the first time in a decade, no journalists were known to have been killed for their work in Mexico.

The CPJ is still looking into the deaths of an additional 25 journalists in 2013, not included in the tally of 70, to determine whether their deaths had anything to do with their work.

To date, at least 63 journalists have been killed covering the conflict in Syria, the CPJ's report said – and that tally may understate the problem. Sixty journalists have been abducted in Syria this year alone. Thirty are still missing.

Suicide attack on Russian train station kills at least 20

2013-12-29T02:08:00.003-08:00

Close to 20 people are reported dead after a suicide bomb blast went off at a railway station in the city of Volgograd, central Russia, according to police.

Dozens of others were severely injured.

Police at the scene of the accident.

Volgorad experienced another suicide attack in October when a female suicide bomber killed at least six people when she attacked a bus, loaded with passengers.

Volgograd lies about 900km (560 miles) south of Moscow and 650km north of the North Caucasus.

Russian authorities are concerned militant groups could be ramping up violence in the run up to the the 2014 winter Olympic Games in the city of Sochi, which is due to start on 7 February.

No group claimed immediate responsibility for this explosion.

Having bad odour makes people generous to you- Research

2013-12-24T09:35:00.000-08:00

You are seated at your work station and then someone walks straight to you. You realise the odour coming out of them is unbearable, to the extent that you feel like telling them to walk out of your office.

Sharing a desk or spending time with someone who smells is usually best avoided, yet it could make you more compassionate.

Research has found that bad body odour is commonly associated with vulnerability, which triggers feelings of concern in others.

This means people tend to increase their level of co-operation when dealing with someone who smells bad because they feel sorry for them.

Lead author Jeroen Camps and colleagues, from the university KU Leuven in Belgium, said: 'Scents are omnipresent in our daily world and they are of great importance as represented by the use of perfumes or fragrances in the work environment.'

'Even though it has been argued that bad scents invoke negative judgments, we argued and demonstrated that a bad body odour elicits feelings of pity in others and increases prosocial behaviour.'

This can include underarm sweat, smelly feet, bad breath or other foul-smelling odours.

The research, published online in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, involved several experiments.

In the first experiment, 36 participants were randomly placed into two groups.

Half were asked to sniff a bad smelling T-shirt that had been dowsed in human sweat, beer and sprayed with foul smells. The other half smelt a more neutral-smelling T-shirt.

All the T-shirts were of the same shape and colour and all participants were told to imagine the item belonged to someone they worked with.

Researchers then measured how participants felt about the other person, using ratings from one - totally disagree, to five - totally agree.

Pity was measured through two statements: 'I feel sorry for the other person' and 'I find the other pathetic' and the participants in the odour condition felt significantly more pity than those in the neutral condition.

A second experiment involved 62 participants. They were first asked to complete a maze alone before being seated next to someone wearing either a neutral or bad smelling T-shirt and asked to complete another maze.

Finally, participants moved to a third room and were asked to divide 11 credits giving a chance to win film tickets between themselves and the other person.

People who had sat next to an unpleasant smelling person donated more credits to him or her on average than people who sat next to someone without bad body odour.

The authors said this 'showed that there are situations in which a person's unpleasant body odour increases others' helping behaviours toward this person'.

A third experiment involving 42 people showed participants were more generous to people with bad body odour if they were not held responsible for smelling bad than if their BO was seen as their fault.

However, the earlier findings also indicate that if such information is not available 'people seem to give the bad smelling person the benefit of the doubt'.

AK47 rifle inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov dies at 94

2013-12-23T09:42:00.000-08:00

Mikhail Kalashnikov's automatic rifle became one of the most familiar weapons on the planet.

It was employed by the armies of dozens of countries, and incorporated in several national flags.

Mikhail Kalashnikov

But the AK47 also became a symbol of revolution around the world. It saw action on battlefields as diverse as Angola, Vietnam, Algeria and Afghanistan.

It was also heavily utilised by Palestinian groups and famously appeared in the hands of Osama bin Laden.

It's comparative simplicity made it cheap to manufacture as well as reliable and easy to maintain in the field. It became the most widely used assault rifle in the world.

Yet Kalashnikov, although honoured in Russia, made very little money from his gun and once complained he would have been financially better off designing a lawnmower.

Mikhail Kalashnikov was born on 10 November 1919 into a Russian peasant family in the village of Kurya, Altai Territory. He was one of 18 children, of whom only six survived.

He was called up by the Red Army in 1938, and his design skills were used to improve the effectiveness of arms and equipment used in Soviet tank regiments.

It was after he was wounded in October 1941, when the tank he commanded was struck by a German shell, that Kalashnikov began to design the firearm that was to make his name famous.

The German army had pioneered the concept of an assault rifle, a weapon that combined the accuracy of a conventional rifle with the firepower of a sub-machine gun.

Russian troops frequently found themselves outgunned by German weapons which were far superior to those available to the Soviet army.

While he was in hospital he was approached by a fellow soldier who asked why the Russian army could not come up with a gun that would match that of the Germans.

"So I designed a machine gun for a soldier," he said. "It was called an Avtomat Kalashnikova, the automatic weapon of Kalashnikov."

There were teething problems with early prototypes but in 1947 he completed the Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947, the name quickly shortened to AK47.

The new rifle was adopted by the Soviet army in 1949 and Senior Sergeant Mikhail Timofeevitch Kalashnikov was awarded the Stalin Prize First Class.

It was just one of many awards he was to be given, among them three Orders of Lenin and the Hero of Socialist Labour.

In 1987 he was made an honourable citizen of Izhevsk, where he had lived and worked from 1949. On his 75th birthday, he was promoted to Major-General by President Boris Yeltsin.

However the simplicity of his weapon meant that he failed to gain much financial benefit from his invention.

Dozens of arms manufacturers in other countries found the AK47 very easy to copy and few paid any royalties because of a dispute over patents.

But late in life - when he was 83 - Kalashnikov was reported to have acquired a 30% share of a German company in exchange for the use of his name for products including Kalashnikov umbrellas and mineral water.

But it is the AK47 which guarantees that his name will be remembered.

Mikhail Kalashnikov refused to accept any responsibility for the many people killed with the weapon.

"My aim was to create armaments to protect the borders of my motherland," he said.

"It is not my fault that the Kalashnikov was used in many troubled places. I think the policies of these countries are to blame, not the designers."

BBC

Woman marries terminally ill Husband on Hospital bed

2013-12-22T02:06:00.001-08:00

This is the bittersweet moment a loving girlfriend married her terminally-ill husband on his hospital bed.

Cola Glenny, 22, said 'I do' to Felix Glenny, 23, as he lay in Medway Maritime Hospital Kent, suffering from incurable bowel cancer.

Felix and Cola exchange wedding rings

Felix was able to make it out of his bed to celebrate the 'perfect' day afterwards with his new wife, while their two children Ralph, two, and Pearl, four months, looked on.

He was admitted to hospital in November after suffering for several weeks with what he thought at first were stomach cramps.

But after being admitted to hospital on 11 November, doctors found a large tumour in his bowels.

Although they were able to remove it, further tests showed that the cancer had spread and Felix had only weeks to live.

After finding out last week that the cancer is terminal, Felix and Cola decided to marry as soon as possible, and invited their friends and family to a ceremony conducted by the hospital chaplain yesterday.

Speaking to MailOnline tonight, Cola said: 'After a second operation last Friday they discovered that the cancer had spread everywhere. That's it now, there’s no stopping it.

'When they told us I had to leave the room – it was too much to take it.

'After it all settled down and we got our heads round it as much as we could, Felix just said he wanted to get married as soon as we could. We arranged it for yesterday.

'It was crazy because we were really happy, but it was so emotional.

'It was a lovely day and we’ve been thinking about it today, saying “It was perfect and it couldn’t have gone any better”.

'We had talked about getting married even before he was ill - and when we found out the cancer was terminal we wanted to do it straight away.

'Felix managed to get out of bed and we went over the the social club and had a ceremony – the Chaplain from the hospital came over and gave us a blessing.'

'It was a really nice day and everyone really helped us out. All of our family was there and a lot of our friends.'

Felix, who is also known as Ryan, met through mutual friends in Lower Stoke, Kent, in August 2010. They quickly fell for one another and within a year the couple had moved in together and Cola was pregnant with her first child, Ralph.

Cola, a hairdresser, and Felix, who works for a water supply company, lived happily together for two years and had a second child, Pearl, who is now four months old.

But only weeks after his second child was born, Felix was struck with awful stomach pains and couldn't make it to work. But when the couple visited the hospital and called doctors, they were repeatedly told that Felix was not seriously ill.

Their concerns were ignored despite the fact that three of Felix's family members have recently died of bowel cancer - his mother and grandfather last year, and his aunt in 2007.

Cola said: 'He was ill two weeks prior to being taken in to hospital, we kept going up there and they kept turning us away, saying it was a bug.

'We had three ambulances out. We rang 111 and we told him all his symptoms, and they sent ambulances. Twice they took us to hospital.

'Once they said it was a kidney infection, another time they said it was irritable bowels and one of the other times they didn’t even take us to the hospital because they said there was nothing wrong with him.

'In A&E they said it was a sickness bug. I told him he has a family history of bowel cancer, but they just weren’t interested. He finally got taken in on the 11 November.

'Finally we went to a medial centre and we said we’re not going anywhere until we know what’s wrong with him.

'We’re not being fobbed off again and again – we basically said to people at the hospital and said we’re not going anywhere until it’s sorted.

'Then a surgeon had a feel of his tummy and could feel something in his bowels, and that’s when they did the CT scan and found it was cancer.

'It was awful finding out – we’ve got two small children. He’s been in hospital since. In the four weeks since he had his tumour removed the cancer spread quite far.'

But despite being struck by such a desperate illness, Felix's thoughts remained with his young family throughout - and how he would provide for them.

Cola said: 'He’s quite a family man, he insists he brings the money in. So he went to work two or three times while he was ill, but couldn’t really do much, because he had major stomach cramps which would go and come back

'For the last couple of days before he went to hospital he was just in bed all day and didn’t eat for two weeks.

'Felix’s best friend Ashley – when he went into hospital he was really concerned about money, as he has a family and a house to keep up.

'That was the only thing he was talking about before his first op, saying he wanted to make money for us.

'Then Ashley started to GoFundMe website, with a little bit about what’s going on. It’s now raised more than £7,000.

'It’s lovely – I’ve had so many people message me saying they’re thinking of me and I don’t even know them.

'Felix is really comfortable at the moment. He’s got his head round everything and just wants to spend time with the kids, me and his family.

'He’s been really really positive, and is trying to think of the kids.

'He doesn’t want to get upset in front of the kids, he doesn’t want to let them know what’s going on.

'Especially Ralph, who is starting to understand that his dad’s in hospital.

'But he’s been really positive, and since finding out it’s terminally he’s been exceptionally brave.

'The kids and I will be in the hospital on Christmas Day.

'Pearl is too young to know what’s going on, but Ralph sort of understands. When we go to see his dad he says "poorly".

'It will be his last Christmas with them, so we want to make it as special as possible.' said Cola.

Cargo train derails and crashes into houses in Kibera, Kenya

2013-12-22T00:49:00.001-08:00

A cargo train on Sunday derailed and crashed, trapping scores in the wreckage at Kibera, a Kenyan suburb, reports Kenya Red Cross officials.

The few that have been rescued from the wreckage have been evacuated to the nearest hospitals, including Kenyatta National Hospital.