Nigerian music superstar, Divine Ikubor, popularly known as Rema, has made history as the first African artiste to feature on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Rolling Stone is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. According to Rolling Stone, the Afrobeats sensation known for breaking boundaries on the global stage is the Cover Star for the April edition of the prestigious magazine. Mavin Records lauded the uncommon feat with a post on its official Instagram page. “Rave Lordé Rema the Afrobeats Visionary, makes history as @Rollingstone USA First African Cover Star!” the record label wrote. Following the recognition, the ‘Heis’ crooner thrilled audiences with an electrifying performance at the Rolling Stone concert, performing some of his hit songs, including ‘Dumebi’, ‘Woman’ and ‘Calm Down’. This milestone has further cemented Rema’s place as a trailblazer for African music, as this feat is coming shortly after he was highlighted on the cover of Dazed Magazine, another major international platform. Rema, born in 2000 in Benin City, came to the limelight in 2019 after signing with Mavin Records. His rising profile has continued to highlight Afrobeats on the global stage, as his hit song “Calm Down” featuring Selena Gomez became the most streamed Afrobeats track in history, earning him multiple platinum certifications. The song also broke records as the first African-led track to surpass a billion on Spotify streams, dominating international charts. ‘Calm Down’ became the number one hit on the world’s first regional streaming chart and first-ever official chart in the Middle East and North Africa, earning Rema a Guinness World Record. Among other global showcases, Rema has also made history as the first African artiste to perform at the prestigious Ballon d’Or ceremony, when he thrilled the audience at the 2023 Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris, France. NAN

Questions are mounting about what, if any, actions local officials took to warn campers and residents. The hope of finding survivors of the catastrophic flooding in the US state of Texas continues to dim a day after the death toll surpassed 100, and crews kept up the search for people missing in the aftermath. As the storms that had battered the Hill Country for the past four days began to subside, more attention was being paid to the government’s response. Questions are mounting about what, if any, actions local officials took to warn campers and residents who were spending the July Fourth holiday weekend in the scenic area long known to locals as “flash flood alley”. At public briefings, officials in hard-hit Kerr County have deflected questions about what preparations and warnings were made as forecasters warned of life-threatening conditions. “We definitely want to dive in and look at all those things,” Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said on Monday. “We’re looking forward to doing that once we can get the search and rescue complete.” Some camps were aware of the dangers and monitoring the weather. At least one moved several hundred campers to higher ground before the floods. But many were caught by surprise. Debate has also intensified over how state and local officials reacted to weather alerts forecasting the possibility of a flash flood and the lack of an early warning siren system that might have mitigated the disaster. On Monday, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick promised that the state would “step up” to pay for installing a flash-flood warning system in Kerrville by next summer if local governments “can’t afford it”. “There should have been sirens,” Patrick said in a Fox News interview on Monday. “Had we had sirens here along this area … it’s possible that we would have saved some lives.” The Houston Chronicle and New York Times reported that Kerr County officials had considered installing a flood-warning system about eight years ago, but dropped the effort as too costly after failing to secure a $1m grant to fund the project. In San Antonio and in Washington, Democrats are questioning whether cuts at the National Weather Service (NWS) affected the forecasting agency’s response to catastrophic and deadly flooding in Central Texas. The White House and Texas Governor Greg Abbott have denied the allegations and accused them of “politicising” the disaster. The NWS’s San Antonio office is responsible for forecasting the area’s weather, collecting climate data and warning the public about dangerous conditions. Texas officials criticised the NWS over the weekend, arguing it failed to warn the public about impending danger. The office issued a stream of flash flood warnings on Thursday and Friday across its digital and radio services, which are used to communicate with public safety professionals, according to alert records. The messages grew increasingly urgent in the early hours of Friday morning. The team sent an emergency text message to area mobile phones at about 1:14 am, calling it a “dangerous and life-threatening situation”. Phones must have reception or be near a cell tower to receive that message, said Antwane Johnson, former director of the Public Alert Team for the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Mobile coverage is spotty in areas around the Guadalupe River, according to Federal Communications Commission records last updated in December. “Even though those messages were issued, it does not mean it got to the people who needed them,” said Erik Nielsen, who studies extreme rain at Texas A&M University. Here’s a closer look at the timeline of how the floods hit Texas and what warnings were sent when: Follow Al Jazeera English:...

This forgotten mineral is having a moment.

What is magnesium?

Are you getting enough magnesium?

cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure or coronary artery disease

insomnia

migraines

anxiety

diabetes and diabetic neuropathy

muscle soreness after exercise

constipation.

Is there a test to check magnesium levels?

What are the symptoms of low magnesium?

malnutrition (or simply choosing a diet that’s low in magnesium)

gastrointestinal conditions (such as Crohn’s disease) that cause vomiting, diarrhea, or poor absorption of magnesium

kidney disease, some types of which cause excess loss of magnesium in the urine

medications like diuretics or certain types of chemotherapy

alcohol use disorder, because alcohol can boost the loss of magnesium in the urine.

What are the symptoms of too much magnesium?

Which foods are good sources of magnesium?

Should you take a magnesium supplement?

Which type of magnesium is best?

magnesium citrate, which is often taken as a laxative for gut health

magnesium glycinate, which is commonly promoted for improved sleep and reduced anxiety

magnesium oxide, which tends to be taken for constipation or indigestion.

The bottom line