NEWS

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According to a statement from his longtime friend Xzibit, Saafir, a rapper from Oakland who was well-known for his albums like 1994's Boxcar Sessions and his role in the 1993 movie Menace II Society, passed away on November 19. His age was 54.

According to the X rapper, Saafir, whose real name was Reggie Gibson, died at 8:45 a.m. while surrounded by loved ones.

Xzibit wrote, We have so much history I can’t even explain what I’m feeling right now, in a statement posted to Instagram on November 19. We encircled him and expressed our love for him. Now he can relax.

The former member of Pimp My Ride also showed sympathy for the pain Saafir's family must be going through by saying, Friends, family, everyone that rocked with us from the Hip Hop community, if you could be so solid and reach out for @chopblack his younger brother, and @lilsaafir his son, the family really needs to be supported during this time.

Adding, My soul is crushed, We love you, Bro.

In the early 1990s, Saafir gained notoriety for his collaborations with the hip-hop groups Digital Underground and Hobo Junction, which he joined with the late Tupac Shakur, his former roommate.

His career, however, really took off in 1993 when he was cast in the cult classic Menace II Society, which also starred Samuel L. Jackson and Jada Pinket Smith. He signed a major record deal with the late Quincy Jones the following year, and his debut album, Boxcar Sessions, received praise from critics.

After dropping a few follow-up documents, Saafir mostly disappeared from the public eye because of persistent health issues, such as a cancerous tumor in his spinal cord that necessitated numerous surgeries and prevented him from walking.

In 2013, the Can-U-Feel-Me? rapper told the San Francisco Bay Guardian,I had to have the surgery to get the tumor out. The doctor warned me that I would likely become paralyzed by the time I was in my late 40s if I didn't remove it. Ironically, I'm still somewhat in that predicament even after having the surgery.

Saafir, whose final album, Gold Blooded, Vol. 3, was released in 2020, continued to concentrate on his craft despite his difficult health journey, which may have taken him out of the spotlight.

I’m definitely writing about my experience, how I’m dealing with it and going through it, he stated. Many people believe that I'm going to do the same s-t now after seeing my s-t from the 1990s, but that's simply not the case. I've changed as a human.

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In less than six months of serving as Haitian Prime Minister, Garry Conille has been fired by the country's ruling council. An executive order, signed by eight of the council's nine members, named businessman and former Haiti Senate candidate Alix Didier Fils-Aime as Conille's replacement.

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Large crowds of people have marched on to the New Zealand parliament in Wellington to protest against a bill that critics say strikes at the core of the country’s founding principles and dilutes the rights of Māori people. The Hīkoi mō te Tiriti march began nine days ago in New Zealand’s far north and crossed the length of the North Island in one of the country’s biggest protests in recent decades.

The traditional peaceful Māori walk, or hīkoi, culminated outside parliament on Tuesday, where protesters implored lawmakers to reject the controversial Treaty Principles Bill that seeks to reinterpret the 184-year-old treaty between British colonizers and hundreds of Māori tribes.

Police said about 42,000 people, a significant number in a country of about 5 million people, marched toward parliament to oppose the legislation. New Zealand’s Treaty of Waitangi, a document signed by the colonial British regime and 500 Māori chiefs in 1840, enshrines principles of co governance between Indigenous and non-Indigenous New Zealanders.

Two versions of the text – in Māori, or Te Tiriti, and English – were signed but each contains differing language that has long sparked debate over how the treaty is defined and interpreted. New Zealand doesn’t have a written constitution. Instead, the treaty’s principles have been developed over the past 40 years by successive governments and courts.

The agreement seeks to protect Māori interests, their role in decision-making and relationship with the British Crown. And courts have used the principles to redress Māori disenfranchisement and enact policies that seek to remedy social and economic disparities Māori face. The Treaty Principles Bill was introduced by David Seymour, leader of the right- wing ACT New Zealand Party, which is a junior coalition partner with the ruling National and New Zealand First parties.

Seymour says he does not seek to change the text of the original treaty but argues its principles should be defined in law and should be applicable to all New Zealanders, not just Māori. Supporters of the bill say the ad hoc way in which the treaty has been interpreted over the years has given Māori special treatment.

The bill, however, is widely opposed by politicians from both sides of the aisle and thousands of Indigenous and non-Indigenous New Zealanders, with critics saying it could undermine the rights of the Māori.

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The new chapter of Donald Trump's presidency is being ushered in by his family.

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Tina Knowles, the mother of the Formation singer, denied reports that her daughter received $10 million to speak at a Kamala Harris rally in Houston, Texas, on October 25. A screenshot of a post from the Candace Owens Show that had been flagged on Instagram as fake news and taken down was posted by the 70- year-old on her personal Instagram page on November 16.

When she wrote, It's called false information, Sadly, other platforms with a lack of integrity still have it up.

The matriarch went on to clarify that the post in question was about the claim that Beyoncé was paid seven figures at the rally. She shares a younger daughter, Solange Knowles, and the Love On Top hitmaker with her ex-husband, Matthew Knowles.

The lie is that Beyonce was paid 10 million dollars to speak at a rally in Houston for Vice President Kamala Harris, Tina said. When in Fact: Beyonce did not receive a penny for speaking at a presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harrris's rally in Houston.

In fact, she actually paid for her own flights for her and her team, and total Glam, she said. They are not only lying and disrespecting Beyonce's name, but they are trying to further discredit the power of our vice president!

Tina went on to ask, When does  the lies and rumors stop? Of course you won't see this in the news!!!!!

John Legend, who appeared alongside Bruce Springsteen at a Harris rally in Philadelphia on Oct. 28, backed up the House of Deréon founder in the comments of her post.

Let them know, Ms. Tina he wrote. We all performed or appeared for free because we care about our nation's future. Beyoncé wasn't the only celebrity to be accused of receiving a fee for appearing at one of the Vice President's rallies, either.

Similar rumors were also addressed by Oprah Winfrey, who denied rumors that she had accepted a $1 million appearance fee to join the Vice President at a Unite the Nation event in Detroit in September.

Usually I am reluctant to respond to rumors in general, but these days I realize that if you don't stop a lie, it just gets bigger, she wrote in an Instagram post on Nov. 11.I received no payment at all. I contributed my time and effort to the campaign.

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Vice President JD Vance is joining Donald Trump on his return to the White House.

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Both Malaga and the northeastern Catalonia region have been placed on the highest alert for strong rain by National weather office Aemet expecting the rain to last until Friday. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in the Costa del Sol region of southern Spain as extreme rain and flooding drenches the area.

The Malaga area, including the tourist resorts of Marbella, Velez and Estepona, is expected to take the brunt of the extreme weather phenomenon known as a Dana. Parts of the eastern Valencia area have also been placed on the highest alert, weeks after the area was devastated by flash floods that killed more than 220 people.

Several other regions in Spain remain braced for more heavy showers and low temperatures. Up to 180mm of rain could fall in Catalonia in north-eastern Spain in just 12 hours, accompanied by thunderstorms along the coast near Tarragona, forecasters say.

Schools in the entire southern province of Málaga have been closed while many supermarkets have kept shutters down. Footage circulating on social media showed the city's normally busy areas deserted as water flooded the streets. Around 3,000 people living in close proximity to the Guadalhorce River have been told to leave their homes, the Regional Government of Andalusia has said. Regional government's Minister of the Presidency Antonio Sanz said: We have not evacuated entire towns, but rather specific areas linked to the riverbank.

This decision has been communicated to the government of Spain in order to receive collaboration from the state security forces and bodies. The severe weather alert in Málaga has also led to the opening time of the Billie Jean King Cup between Spain and Poland being postponed, the International

Tennis Federation said. The two nations were set to play in Malaga on Wednesday. Spain's meteorological agency Aemet has placed parts of the Andalusia region and the Balearic Islands on orange alert from now until Thursday.

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The vice-president of Equatorial Guinea has issued a stern warning that civil servants caught engaging in sexual activities within their offices will face "strict penalties. This follows the leak of hundreds of purportedly pornographic videos to the public. The videos reportedly involve high-ranking civil servant Baltasar Ebang Engonga having sex with various women - including the wives of prominent officials - in his office.