Nicki Minaj Discusses Women Being Entrepreneurs and Her Admiration for Jay Z in 'Marie Claire' Cover Story

   Hip-hop's reigning queen Nicki Minaj has built her empire from the streets of Jamaica, Queens up to the No. 6 spot on Forbes' 2016 Hip-Hop Cash Kings list. Her evolution from street mixtape rhymer to pop powerhouse with "Anaconda," which hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, has solidified her rank among her male counterparts. In her November cover shoot for Marie Claire, the Queens native is all about women's empowerment, and confesses her admiration for Jay Z's hustle.

   Nicki Minaj has always encouraged women to be be their own boss, and have a sense of independence, instead of looking for cop-outs like "marrying into money". "I don't want that to be a woman's goal in life. I want your goal in life to be to become an entrepreneur, a rich woman, a career-driven woman," she tells Marie Claire.  While she gained prominence with Lil Wayne's co-sign and residency on his Young Money imprint, Minaj has flourished in the male-dominated hip-hop industry, often calling out the industry for its unfair treatment towards women and biased beauty standards.
   Minaj has also pocketed a few collaborations with Beyonce, like the "Flawless (Remix)" and "Feeling Myself" off Nicki's 2014 LP The Pinkprint, and says she feels "inspired" when the two artists work together. "Every time Bey and I do something together, I see how women are inspired, and it has nothing to do with how we look," the "Super Bass" MC explains. "It has to do with how we are owning who we are, and telling other women you should be the boss of your own career and the brains behind your life or your decisions or your art. I just love that feeling."
  Though she seeks the same opportunities her fellow rappers have, she's found a way to look past the industry's faults in order to build her empire, and has modeled her career after one of hip-hop's true moguls: Jay Z. "He did such a great job being an authentic street guy and a businessman, and I was like, 'Why aren't there women doing that, taking the success from rap and channeling it into their empire?'" she confesses about the Brooklyn-bred lyricist. "I felt like anything he could do, I could do."
SOURCE:www.naijacop.com

Black Monday: Women in Poland go on strike against abortion ban

  
    Women in Poland have gone on strike in protest against proposals for a total ban on abortion.

They marched through the streets wearing black as a sign of mourning for their reproductive rights.
Women who oppose the ban are staying away from work and school and refusing to do domestic chores, in a protest inspired by a women's strike in Iceland in 1975.
  Anti-abortion protests are being held around the country too.
Women took to the streets of the capital city, Warsaw, in a pro-choice march on what they are calling "Black Monday".
It is unclear how many women are taking part in the action and how widespread it will be beyond big cities.
If the law went through, which has cleared one parliamentary hurdle so far, went through it would make Poland's abortion laws as restrictive as those in two other countries in Europe: Malta and the Holy See.
Women found to have had abortions would be punished with a five-year prison term. Doctors found to have assisted in an abortion would also be liable for jail time.
   Critics say the law could mean women who have a miscarriage are also investigated, on suspicion of having had the pregnancy terminated deliberately. At early stages of pregnancy, miscarriages and abortions have indistinguishable symptoms.
   A separate bill seeks to curb in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), allowing only one embryo to be fertilised at any one time, and banning the practice of freezing embryos.


The city hall in Czestochowa in southern Poland allowed female staff to take the day off on Monday, while several businesses have closed for the protests.
But anti-abortion activists are planning counter-protests and the Polish Bishops' Conference asked Catholics to pray for "the conscience and the light of the Holy Spirit on all Poles who protect human life from conception to natural death".
While pro-choice activists marched in black and tweeted pictures of themselves wearing black, anti-abortion activists choice white for the colour of their counter-protests.

 
'If we agree that a mother can even kill her own child, how can we tell other people that they shouldn't kill each other?' wrote one woman.
  
One Polish pro-choice activist tweeted "gosh, how lovely this is" and included images of support messages from around the world.

Abortion is already mostly banned in Poland.
The exceptions are:

• where the woman's life is in danger
• where there is a risk of serious and irreversible damage to the foetus
• where the pregnancy is as a result of rape or incest - this must be confirmed by a prosecutor

As Poland's law currently stands it is one of the most restrictive in Europe for women seeking abortions - the only European countries with stricter laws are Ireland, Andorra, Liechenstein, San Marino and Northern Ireland (a part of the UK whose abortion law differs from England, Scotland and Wales).
As a result, even by conservative estimates there are far more illegal abortions than legal ones in Poland - between 10,000 and 150,000, compared to about 1,000 or 2,000 legal terminations.
SOURCE: www.naijacop.com

Chris Brown bans his friends from bringing random women to his home

  Chris Brown lives in his LA mansion with two of his best friends who until recently can throw parties, bring in women and do whatever they want. But Chris Brown has now put a stop to it following his recent arrest for allegedly pulling a gun on a girl at his home. Read the TMZ report after the cut...
  Chris Brown is done hosting frat house parties ... blaming his male friends and thirsty chicks for his recent arrest. Our Chris sources tell us he's now enforcing a strict guest policy at his Calabasas mansion -- and letting everyone in his crew know he's as serious as death ... no more randoms allowed. We told he's pulling back on parties for starters, but there's this problem with his 2 roommates/best friends.                             
They now have to submit a guest list to Chris IN WRITING, and they must describe who they are with sufficient details so he can decide whether he wants them in his home. We're told he also is imposing another strict policy ... guests are prohibited from bringing drugs or alcohol. The only booze and drugs allowed are his.