Ugandan President throws down mad beats in recent political ad

In February of 2011, Yoweri Museveni, the Ugandan President, will be up for re-election - and his campaign strategy includes dropping some hip hop knowledge on the Ugandan citizenry. Recently, Museveni release a video for a rap song called, "You Want Another Rap?". The video has received close to 50,000 views on YouTube (additionally, the song is apparently a staple in Ugandan clubs):



The video and song was created after Museveni recited lines to an African folks song at a rally - reminiscent of "Yes We Can," another viral hit that was derived from a political speech. The song also includes lines of Runyankore, an African tribal language.


And public YouTube Insight data shows that Museveni is targeting his constituents well on YouTube. The video has received most penetration in Uganda and surrounding nations. And he is also reaching his goal of relating to a younger audience - the video is most popular with males ages 25 - 44.

Runaway Gorilla is Returned to Democratic Republic of Congo's Park

A 375-pound silverback gorilla named Mukunda was transported back to the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo last week. He escaped from the park and for two months destroyed crops in local villages, according to The Huffington Post.

This footage shows how Mukunda was tracked down, anesthetized, and transported back to his former habitat:

User name: gorillacd
Location: Democratic Republic of Congo
Date uploaded: June 18
Views: 668

User notes: A Silverback Mountain Gorilla in Congo's Virunga National Park is re-located to the forests after ravaging the crops of villagers on the outskirts of the park. The re-location, that involved anesthetizing the gorilla, took all day and involved carrying a 170 kilo animal up very steep hills in the baking African sun.

Click here to watch this video on YouTube.

Win-a-Trip with Nick 2010

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof just announced his fourth annual "Win a Trip" contest, in which a lucky winner will get the chance to travel to Africa. Kristof will select one university student to accompany him as he embarks on a reporting trip for 10 days to a yet-to-be-disclosed location in Africa. The winner will write blog posts for nytimes.com as well as send video reports from the field that will be posted to Nicholas Kristof's YouTube channel.

So, if you're a student 18 or older currently enrolled in an American university, you're eligible to win if you write an essay and/or submit a video up to 3-minutes long. All videos must be attached as a video response to this call-out video (just click on the text "Post a Video Response" right above the comment section, or click on this link)

Read more about the contest and the official rules on Kristof's blog.