Critics have savaged EL James’s rewrite of her erotic bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey, with one calling the writing “bad throughout” and another accusing it of “rapturous self-regard”. Grey re-tells the events of James’s 2011 original from the perspective of its antagonist, Christian Grey. The book, writes the Evening Standard’s David Sexton, “loyally repeats every line [and] every excruciating email”. ...

Prayers have been held across the United States after the killing of nine people at a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina. The suspect, Dylann Roof, 21, was detained during a traffic stop in Shelby, North Carolina. After a court appearance on Thursday, Mr Roof waived his right to extradition and was flown back to South Carolina. Six women ...

Political activist Dante Saunders has challenged government to tell the nation exactly how much money allocated to road construction projects in successive national budgets has been spent so far. Mr. Saunders argues that the money the Patriotic Front (PF) government has been allocating to road projects since assuming office does not add up to the amount of road construction that ...

Opposition political parties have been urged to respect Republican President Edgar Lungu if they want to be respected by the people. Former MMD Eastern Province Chairperson Kennedy Zulu says the opposition should understand that disrespecting President Lungu will not earn them respect from the people of Zambia. He says opposition leaders should realize that the same way they are disrespecting ...

The Forum for African Women Educationalists in Zambia (FAWEZA) has observed that high levels of poverty especially in rural areas have to a large extent contributed to girls dropping out of school. FAWEZA national Coordinator Agness Shipanuka tells QFM News that they are saddened as an organisation by the continued increase of children dropping out of school on account of ...

The opposition All People’s Congress (APC) has regretted government’s intention to unilaterally enact a law to control political parties in the country. APC president Nason Msoni says his party finds it obnoxious and shocking that the Patriotic Front government can sit down in isolation and think of enacting a law that will prescribe how politicians and political parties ought to ...

The Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR) has welcomed the establishment of a sinking fund for repaying the US$750 million and US$1 billion Eurobonds government issued on the international capital market. ZIPAR however thinks that the traditional view is that the sinking fund should be adopted only in the case of a government revenue surplus. ZIPAR Researcher Shebo ...

German Ambassador to Zambia Bernd Finke has observed that Zambia’s unexpected challenges in generating revenue from the mining sector underlines the need to diversify the country’s economy. And Mr. Finke says borrowing for a developing country like Zambia should be part of an overstore strategy. Mr. Finke has told Qfm News by telephone that this means that borrowing should go ...

PERRIE Edwards mum has defended her daughter over allegations she forced Zayn Malik to quit One Direction. Since the Bradford-born boy decided to leave Harry Styles and co, Perrie has been dubbed ‘Yoko Ono’ by Directioners. But Debbie Edwards has made it clear the singer didn’t have a say in Zayn’s decision. She told The Mirror: “It was his decision ...

The Zambia National Women’s Lobby says women should be concerned that even the presidency has noticed that it is rare for women to support each other. Chairperson Beauty Katebe says it has been taken as a notion that women do not want to support and empower each other, but that this has now become a problem. Ms Katebe says if ...