Asante Kotoko ace Amos Frimpong believes a positive result in Sunday’s Caf Confederation Cup clash with Nkana FC of Zambia will go a long way to boost the Porcupine Warriors’ hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.
The Ghanaians, who beat Zesco United – also of Zambia – 2-1 in Kumasi following an opening day away defeat to Al Hilal Omdurman of Sudan, are hoping to make it two wins on the spin in the matchday three fixture in Kitwe.
Nkana, likewise, are eyeing a second consecutive victory, having beaten Al Hilal 2-1 in their last game.
“We need a positive result against Nkana in order to enhance our chances of qualification from the group because it is an open one,†Frimpong, who has two goals to his name so far, told Graphic Sports.
“As for our three home matches, they are must-wins for us.
“So I think the focus should be on the away matches and how we will be able to get good results.”
Kotoko, like the other three teams in Group C, have three points to their name ahead of the matchday three fixture.
The Porcupines, who are back in the ‘money zone’ of the Confederation Cup for the first time in 11 years, are looking to finish among the top two to qualify for the next round.
A quarter-final berth will bring them closer to their hopes of going a step better than they did in 2004 when they finished as losing finalists.
Last year, they exited the championship in the preliminary round.
The Normalization Committe of Ghana has confirmed date for the kick-off of the special competition after a meeting on Tuesday, 19 February.
The decision was finalized at the Ghana FA secretariat between the Normalization committee and women’s football club owners.Following several deliberation at the meeting, the committee and the Normalization committee owners finalized the date for 9th-10th March, 2019 for the commencement of the special tournament.
The club would receive a sum of amount GH¢ 7,500 as participation fee whilst those who will reach the quarter finals would pocket GH¢ 3,000.The semi finalist and the winner to be announced later.
Portuguese giants Sporting CP have completed the signing of former Black Starlets striker Rudolf Blagogee from Croatian side NK Osijek where he had an impressive debut season.
The 18-year-old penned a deal with the Green and White lads after passing his mandatory medical and completing the formalities.
Blagogee, who was surprisingly omitted from the Ghana U-17 final squad that reached the quarter-final of the 2017 FIFA U17 World Cup held in India is a dynamic attacker who can operate on the wings as well as upfront.
The highly-rated forward is a joy to watch with good pace and power to score with lightning speed on the field of play.
Member of Parliament (MP) for Evalue-Ajomoro Gwira Constituency, Mrs. Catherine Afeku has given a strong indication of government’s preparedness to construct more toilet facilities among coastal communities across the country to ease open defecation.
The move, she noted, will help to boost domestic tourism and earn more foreign exchange for the nation.
Mrs. Afeku who doubles as the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, was speaking during the commissioning of a-12-seater water closet toilet facility for the people of Bankyim, a suburb of Axim in the Nzema-East Municipality.
The facility, has a well-furnished office, toiletries and other stationery to keep it safely.
She bemoaned how the community had been in dire need of toilet facilities for over three decades.
The Tourism Minister said as one of the best tourist sites in the country, it was incumbent upon people in the community to keep the environment clean to attract more tourists to the area.
On his part, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Nzema-East, Mr. Frank Okpenyen thanked the MP for the project and asked the residents to pay for using the facility in order to provide more of such facilities in other communities.
He advised the people to maintain sound hygienic practices and keep their natural surroundings clean to stem the outbreak of fatal diseases such as cholera, dysentery along the coast.
The Regent of Bankyim, Tufuhene Francis Cudjoe, who revealed that the community had lacked toilet facility for good 32 years, poured his heart out for Madam Afeku for being sensitive to their plight.
He promised to ensure that the project is maintained to prolong its life span.
The ex-Kotoko coach commended the management team for the team’s transformation within a short period which has ensured an impressive performance in the Confederation Cup.
“For me I am happy with what they (Kotoko) have done so far. It is not easy, the team has gone through some series of changes, he told the media.
“Looking at the current crop of players playing now, at the beginning of the season it wasn’t them, and even there has been new additions to the team.
Also looking at the change of managers, and when you compare things, they have done well and I must commend management of Kotoko for the level the team is at the moment, he added.
Nigeria is to hold a delayed presidential election this Saturday after the initial vote was rescheduled in a dramatic overnight press conference, five hours before polls were due to have opened.
The last-minute cancellation surprised the country and inconvenienced thousands of Nigerians who had travelled a long way to cast their votes. It has also cost the economy $1.5bn (£1.15bn), according to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) has given several reasons for the delay, including attempted sabotage and logistical issues such as bad weather and problems with delivering the ballot papers.
The governing All Progressives Congress (APC) and its main challenger, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), have both condemned the postponement and accused each other of trying to manipulate the vote.
So does the delay favour anyone?
In a statement issued on the day of the postponement, the APC alleged the PDP wanted to halt the momentum of its candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari.
The PDP, whose presidential contender is Atiku Abubakar, on the other hand said Inec had delayed the election to create “the space to perfect their rigging plans”.
According to Idayat Hassan, from Abuja-based think tank, the Centre for Democracy and Development, the week-long extension is too brief to have a significant influence on the result of the presidential vote.
She compares the latest postponement to the one in 2015, when the PDP – in government at the time – pushed the election back by six weeks, blaming the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east. That postponement, she says, ended up favouring the APC because it cast the PDP in a negative light – as a party that would pursue “power at all costs”.
She believes this year’s delay could slightly benefit the APC as it would increase voter apathy in most areas except those with historically high turnouts – “the north-west and the north-east… both strongholds of President Muhammadu Buhari”.
Other analysts say the postponement is likely to harm both parties equally, as their supporters who had travelled home to vote last week will be unable to make another journey this weekend.
Another view holds that the delay will harm Mr Buhari’s chances, as the electoral commission’s un-readiness reflects poorly on him. The commission’s chief, Mahmood Yakubu, was appointed by Mr Buhari in 2015.
Will the election definitely take place this Saturday?
Inec says there will be no further delays, but some observers have questioned whether the elections will go ahead on 23 February. Festus Mogae, a former president of Botswana, told the BBC’s Newsday programme that he was doubtful that all the preparations would be completed.
“It’s a great deal of work yet to be done,” the head of the international election observation mission said.
“I don’t know whether that can be managed or not, I am not in a position to judge but it makes me apprehensive.”
And the former vice-president of The Gambia, Fatoumata Tambajang, said she too had doubts about whether Inec could meet its new deadline.
“One has to be realistic given the enormity of the activities that are supposed to be taken care of,” she said.
As well as overcoming logistical hurdles, she said popular enthusiasm for the electoral process would have to be restored to where it was until last week’s cancellation.
What does the election commission say?
For Inec, keeping to the new date is central to maintaining the public’s trust. Alhaji Yahaya Bello, the resident electoral commissioner for the capital, Abuja, told the BBC there would be “pandemonium” if election materials were not deployed in time.
“People will just think that Inec has hidden them deliberately, so we can dock some of the results,” he said.
The business community has also stressed the importance of avoiding further delays, with the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry warning that economic activity would not pick up until the election had been held.
What happens next?
The first task is to reconfigure some 180,000 card readers that are being used to validate voters’ identity cards and check their biometric details. The dates on the readers need to be changed to the new election date.
In a statement, Inec said this process would take five to six days, and is due to be completed by Thursday 21 February.
Some sensitive election materials, including ballot papers, have been returned to the Central Bank of Nigeria for safekeeping. These are scheduled to be deployed around the country by Friday 22 February, at the latest.
Election staff, including an estimated one million so-called ad-hoc staff, will also be travelling then. It is unclear what happened to the staff and volunteers, including members of the country’s youth corps, that had already been deployed last Friday.
By law, all campaigning must end 24 hours before polling stations open. After initially saying that the ban imposed last week would remain in force, Inec went back on its decision on Monday, allowing political parties to resume campaigning this week.
South Africa’s Finance Minister Tito Mboweni faces a balancing act with his maiden budget if he is to reassure investors in the country’s troubled public electricity company without alienating union allies ahead of national elections.
He is under pressure to bail out the state power utility Eskom – along with its $30bn mountain of debt – which is at the centre of the country’s mounting economic troubles.
Mboweni will deliver his budget to parliament in Cape Town on Wednesday at 12:00 GMT.
Analysts warn of tensions that may emerge should the restructuring lead to job losses.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced this month that the utility would be divided into three, but unions have rejected that, saying it would lead to job cuts.
Over the past few weeks, the utility has implemented a nationwide programme of rolling blackouts as it failed to meet demand.
The scale of the power outages, unseen in more than a decade, has rocked the continent’s most industrialised nation, plunging businesses, homes and traffic lights into darkness.
But the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has been warned by its coalition partner, the COSATU trade union federation, that sackings could damage their alliance ahead of national elections due on May 8.
South Africa to hold presidential election on May 8 (2:41) “We remain totally opposed to any restructuring plan that will benefit the capitalist class and increase prices for the working class,” said spokesman Sizwe Pamla.
Ramaphosa indicated last week that details of the government’s rescue plan, which will be designed to stave off another damaging credit rating downgrade, would be revealed in Wednesday’s budget.
Fears are mounting that if Eskom defaults on its massive debts, lenders would be entitled to call back other loans to different parts of the state including the troubled national carrier South African Airways.
Fraud, corruption and incompetence have gripped public sector businesses and compromised their credibility, while mounting debts have spooked investors.
High unemployment and debt
“It has become clear that Eskom’s coal-heavy system is now a dangerous impediment to sustainable growth in South Africa,” said Jesse Burton, a researcher at the University of Cape Town’s Energy Research Centre.
Mzukisi Qobo, an associate professor at Wits Business School, said Mboweni would likely announce steps “towards eliminating wastage in government and offer a clue on whether government intends to increase taxes”.
Several taxes, including VAT as well as levies on fuel and alcohol, were hiked last year in an effort to raise $2.5bn to plug gaps in receipts at the tax collector.
Mboweni, who replaced former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene when he was forced to resign over meetings with the scandal-tainted Gupta brothers, took office in October.
His speech is also expected to address the country’s stubborn 27 percent unemployment rate as well as the overall sluggish economy which only returned to growth in December following a recession.
Net debt currently stands at around $160bn, or 48.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), according to the treasury. Michael Sachs, an economist at Wits University, said the government was being forced to borrow more to service its debts, creating a dangerous cycle.
He called for “an executive with clear and effective policies, that makes trade-offs, confronts those trade-offs and mobilises society behind those solutions”.
“Whether we will get there after the election, I am not sure,” he added.
Ramaphosa will be hoping Mboweni’s speech treads a fine enough line to help him win a sixth term for the ANC, in power since the dawn of democracy in the country in 1994.
Koku Anyidoho, Former Director of Communications at the Presidency during the erstwhile Mills administration, has revealed that, the late President John Evans Atta Mills cheated death and defied medical science.
The Former President in 2011, refuted rumours that he was sick and about to die, but he proclaimed that he will live to ensure that the Better Ghana Agenda is achieved.
Koku Anyidoho, recounting the last days of the ex-President on earth, stated that a Professor and a lead Physician at the 37 Military Hospital who attended to the late president disclosed that the former leader should have died earlier than he did, per his poor state of health.
According to the founder of the Atta Mills Institute, “They moved us into a room brought in a clinical psychologist to try and work on us because we were very down. Then the lead physician said, you people know the President was sick, and we said yes. And he said we have done everything possible but he is no moreâ€. Mr. Anyidoho recounted.
Koku added that, he will not forget the last words of the physician – “allow him to go and rest, you people should allow him to go and rest because he defied medical science for eight years. per his medical records, he should have die eight years ago, if he is no more you should allow him to go and restâ€.
The former Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress further disclosed that, details of the circumstances leading to the death of the former President Mills will be published in a book he co-authored with Prof. Kwabena Ahwoi about the life of the late President
Ahead of the 2012 election, the health of the former President became a major campaign issue which was exploited by the New Patriotic Party. Atta -Mills died on July 24, 2012. He was the first sitting Head of State to die in office in Ghana
Coach Chambeshi, is confident his side can prevent Songne Yacouba who has been the attacking threat for Kotoko from casing havoc against them on match day.
The Nkana coach has been speaking ahead of the game, with much confidence, “We are preparing for the team as a whole not one player(Sogne Yacouba), he told Kumasi based radio station Oyerepa FM.
He recognized the threat that Yacouba could pose to his side, but insisted that the Burkinabe will not score on match day.
“He is a good player but not scoring and am not sure he will score against us. We will attack Kotoko as its our style,free flowing football”, he added.
Assistant Headcoach of the Black Stars, Maxwell Konadu, has indicated, that the team only needs a united front in order to win the Africa Cup of Nations(AFCON).
Egypt will host this year’s Africa Cup of Nations which has been scheduled for June and July as well as expanded to 24 teams.
The Black Stars have already booked a place in the AFCON.
Former Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Hanna Bissiw has joined the “Mask For Mosquito Bite” challenge by covering her face on live Television.
The challenge is in direct response to some claims by the SWAT Commander at the National Security, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Samuel Kojo Azugu who explained that the masked civilian operatives during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election wore masks to protect their faces from mosquito bites.
“My Lord, sometimes we wear those masks because of mosquito bites. To prevent mosquitoes from biting our ears and faces,” DSP Azugu said during a cross-examination at the Justice Emile Short’s Commission of Inquiry on Monday, February 18, 2019 in Accra.
Peacefmonline.com has sighted a photo of Hanna Bissiw and others joining the trend and sharing their mask photos online.
He said the firm was focused on improving its product offerings and implementing “a leaner, more agile business model”.
About 2,800 job cuts are expected, according to labour organisations – a blow in a country where the unemployment rate is already above 10%.
“We know this action will have a major impact on our employees in São Bernardo and we will be working closely with all our stakeholders on the next steps,” Mr Watters said.
The decision to close the factory and exit the heavy truck business comes as Ford grapples with a sharp decline in profits driven by its international operations.
In South America, revenue fell 9% last year and the firm lost market share in most countries.
In addition to the Sao Bernardo closure, Ford recently stopped making its Focus car in Argentina.
The company said it had also slashed salaried and administrative costs in the region by more than 20% in the past few months.
‘Major impact’
The Sao Bernardo do Campo facility currently produces Ford Cargo trucks, certain F Series trucks and the Fiesta car.
Sales of those models will end after its inventories are sold, Ford said.
The closure is expected to cost Ford about $460m, with much of those costs due to separation and termination payments for employees, dealers and suppliers.
The Sao Bernardo do Campo assembly plant is one of two Ford factories in Brazil and has been operational since 1967.
It is located near Sao Paulo, in an area with a rich history of car-making and unionised labour, which helped to launch the career of former Brazilian president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva.
It caused chaos for travelers, affecting more than 1,000 flights and about 140,000 passengers.
Since then airports have been trying to improve their procedures to detect drones, but they continue to see illegal flights near their perimeters.
In January departures at Heathrow were temporarily stopped after a drone was reportedly sighted.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: “The law is clear that flying a drone near an airport is a serious criminal act.
“We’re now going even further and extending the no-fly zone to help keep our airports secure and our skies safe.
“Anyone flying their drone within the vicinity of an airport should know they are not only acting irresponsibly, but criminally, and could face imprisonment.”
Stop and search
It is already illegal to fly a drone above 400ft or within 1km of an airport boundary, and those who recklessly or negligently endanger an aircraft with a drone face up to five years in jail.
The government said the new stop and search powers would apply to people suspected of using drones maliciously nears airports.
The powers, to be included in the government’s new Drones Bill, would also allow police to access electronic data stored on a drone.
The Association of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (Arpas UK), which represents the drone industry, welcomed the wider no-fly zone but cautioned on the stop-and-search plans.
“Police will need to know exactly what the rules are and in exercising their powers do so in the right way,” said Rupert Dent, an Arpas UK committee member.
“We are keen it doesn’t prevent legitimate operators from operating drones in a legitimate fashion.”
Eye witness accounts
Following the Gatwick disruption, Sussex Police arrested a drone enthusiast and his partner who lived near the airport, but they were released without charge on 23 December, having been cleared of any involvement.
In a statement, Sussex Police said they had still not found the perpetrators, despite having 130 eyewitness accounts of illegal drone flights.
“We continue our criminal investigation, which is challenging in its scale and in the type and quality of evidence immediately available,” a spokeswoman said.
“Despite a reward of £50,000 for public information leading police to the person or persons responsible, we have not received the critical information that we believed exists within the community.”
A US-based organisation that campaigns for LGBT sportspeople has cut its links with tennis legend Martina Navratilova over comments she made about male-to-female transgender athletes.
The 18-times Grand Slam winner wrote it was “cheating” to allow transgender women to compete in women’s sport as they had unfair physical advantages.
Athlete Ally said the remarks were transphobic and perpetuated myths.
It said it had sacked the star from its advisory board and as an ambassador.
In an article for the British newspaper The Sunday Times, Navratilova wrote: “A man can decide to be female, take hormones if required by whatever sporting organisation is concerned, win everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune, and then reverse his decision and go back to making babies if he so desires.”
She added: “It’s insane and it’s cheating. I am happy to address a transgender woman in whatever form she prefers, but I would not be happy to compete against her. It would not be fair.”
Trans sportswomen quickly hit back. Rachel McKinnon, who last year became the first transgender woman to win a world track cycling title, called the comments “disturbing, upsetting and deeply transphobic”.
In its statement, Athlete Ally said Navratilova’s comments were “transphobic, based on a false understanding of science and data, and perpetuate dangerous myths that lead to the ongoing targeting of trans people through discriminatory laws, hateful stereotypes and disproportionate violence”.
Navratilova has been a longstanding campaigner for gay rights and suffered abuse when she came out as gay in the 1980s.
Under guidelines introduced in 2016, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allows athletes transitioning from female to male to participate without restrictions.
Male to female competitors, however, are required to have kept their levels of testosterone – a hormone that increases muscle mass – below a certain level for at least 12 months.
The Caribbean island, off Venezuela’s north coast, is planning to host US aid. Senior Venezuelan military commander Vladimir Quintero confirmed the closure of the air and sea border on Tuesday, but gave no further details.
The military has so far managed to block shipments of US aid from coming across the border with Colombia.
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s military has reaffirmed its support for President Maduro, rejecting a call by US President Donald Trump to switch allegiance to Mr Guaidó.
Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino, appearing alongside senior officers, said any attempt to impose a new government would have to be done over “our dead bodies”.
He said the armed forces would block the delivery of aid sent by the US and other countries that have recognized Mr. Guaidó as interim president.
What has Brazil said?
The government of President Jair Bolsonaro is among those which recognizes Mr. Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, pending elections.
“Brazil is taking part in this important international initiative to support the Guaidó government and the Venezuelan people,” he said.
However, it is not clear if the convoy of aid will be allowed to cross the border. Mr Padrino warned on Tuesday that the military was “deployed and on alert along the borders… to avoid any violations of territorial integrity”.
Mr Guaidó has said 600,000 volunteers have already signed up to help carry aid into the country on 23 February – the deadline he has set.
What has the US said?
Mr Maduro insists the planned deliveries of aid to Venezuela are a smokescreen for a US-led invasion.
In a speech on Monday, President Trump described Mr Maduro as a “Cuban puppet” and accused a “small handful at the top of Maduro’s regime” of stealing and hiding money.
He called on the military to abandon Mr Maduro, saying: “They are risking their future, they are risking their lives and Venezuela’s future for a man controlled by the Cuban military and protected by a private army of Cuban soldiers.”
On Tuesday Cuba denied it had security forces in Venezuela.
“Our government categorically and energetically rejects this slander,” Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said in Havana.
What’s the background? Mr Guaidó, the head of the country’s opposition-led National Assembly, declared himself interim leader during anti-government protests last month.
He has vowed to oversee fresh elections on the grounds that Mr Maduro’s 2018 re-election for a second term was flawed. Many opposition candidates were barred from running or jailed and there were allegations of vote-rigging.
The UN say more than three million Venezuelans have fled in recent years as the country grapples with hyperinflation and shortages of essentials like food and medicine.
Mr Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, has been criticised at home and abroad for his handling of the economy.
He has, however, retained the support of key allies who have helped bankroll the country’s economy, including Russia and China.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the strategic document prepared and presented to him by the Ghana Beyond Aid Charter Committee which was constituted by him some eight months ago will be laid before Parliament to afford the House the opportunity to be formally served with the document as the main deliberating chamber of the nation.
Addressing the committee after they presented the strategic document as well as a two-paged Charter to him at the Jubilee House, President Akufo-Addo said, as quickly as possible he would want Parliament to have access to the document, discuss it thoroughly and approve it to give same a national appeal in order to make its content a guiding light for all state actors.
“I have had the opportunity to read the document and it provides also very clear guidelines and a roadmap for how we are to go about things in Ghana and to go about things in a collective sense,” he said.
The President added that he was, “so happy that very important parts of the Ghanaian polity, trades unions, business groups, academia, young people, members of the Executive, have all come together to fashion this consensual document.”
He further observed, “I don’t know whether it will be appropriate for me on Thursday as I deliver the ‘State of the Nation’ message, to leave a copy with Mr. Speaker, but clearly if it is not done on Thursday, it will be done as soon as possible so that Parliament becomes formally seized of the document.”
“It is important that Parliament, which is the main deliberating chamber of our country, is seized of it and also sees it as a document that is going to guide all the work of institutions of our State; Executive, Legislature, Judiciary, across board, social institutions as well as public ones,” President Akufo-Addo said.
Motivation for Setting Up the Charter Committee
Amongst other things, the President indicated that there are two essential reasons behind the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ agenda. The first is to institute the “consciousness that every Ghanaian needs to have, in that no one is going to come from anywhere to develop Ghana for them other than Ghanaians themselves”. Secondly, the President noted that, “The document is also going to be a guide as to how we go about applying the slogan [Ghana Beyond Aid] for it to become meaningful in the lives of the thirty million Ghanaians in Ghana and those outside Ghana”.
Chairman of the Committee
The Senior Minister and Chairman of the Committee addressing the President before presenting the strategic document said, members of the committee have invested a great deal into the whole concept of the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ to develop the document as well as the Charter.
“We also decided, as a buy in of the whole country, this document must be presented before Parliament so that we discuss it in detail and seek the opinion and views of all the country’s representatives in Parliament,” the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Marfo said.
Members of the Committee
Yaw Osafo Marfo, the Senior Minister, is the Chairman of the Ghana Beyond Aid Charter Committee; Ken Ofori Atta, Minister for Finance; Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Employment and Labour Minister; Professor Gyan Baffour, Minister for Planning; Hajia Alima Mahama, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development are amongst the Ministers of State who are on the Committee. Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah and Mrs Philomena Sampson, both of the Trade Unions Congress; David Ofori Acheampong, Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT); Nana Osei Bonsu and Kwaku Agyemang Duah, both of the Private Enterprises Federation; Dr. Yaw Adu Gyamfi, Association of Ghana Industries are also members of the Committee from industry. The Secretary to the Committee is Dr. Eric Yeboah of the Office of the Senior Minister and a Senior Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Yaw Ansu, is an alternative member of the Committee.
Dauda feels at home already after joining from Belgian giants Anderlecht during the January transfer window.
“I’ve only been here for a week or so, but it does not feel like that, the group and the people at the club have done everything they can to take me on. It feels like I have been part of Vitesse for a long time,” he said.
“It is my goal to become important as quickly as possible, which I will do by working very hard.”
Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu is calling for swift police action in dealing with the perpetrators of the violence that happened at the NDC Headquarters in Kumasi.
According to him, the incident that led to the death of one person is unfortunate and worrying.
Addressing the press, Haruna Iddris, however, indicated that what happened in Kumasi cannot be compared in any way to the happenings at the Ayawaso West Wuogon By-election.
“I am not able to speak to the matter than to express worry and concern about the crippling insecurity in the country and the emerging violence which remains as the greatest threat to our democratic process. In the matter that happened in Kumasi, the law must deal with you swiftly, decisively and ruthlessly with any person associated with the event.â€
Police have said four alleged members of pro-National Democratic Congress group, the Hawks, are suspected to be behind the attack at the Ashanti Regional NDC office in Kumasi that left one dead and one other injured.
A statement from the police named the suspects as Warrior, Mijinmma, Damos and Abu Taliban.
The crime scene has since been cordoned off by the Ashanti Regional Police as investigations into the incident began.
The shooting is said to have happened when the National Chairman of the NDC, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, the General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, and the Regional Executive Committee met at the regional office.
So far, police have said men with guns on motorbikes “invade the premises, shooting indiscriminately.â€
A team of crime officers from the Ashanti Regional Police Command were deployed to the office at Amakom in minutes after the incident.
There were traces of blood stains around the premises of the office when Citi News got there on Monday afternoon before it was cordoned off.
Condemnation of clash
The NDC Secretariat in the region has condemned the clash describing it as regrettable.
The party first confirmed that one person had died from the incident.
“We regret to announce that one of the two men who was shot has passed on and the other is in a critical condition at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).â€
Former President John Dramani Mahama also said the incident was “clearly a criminal actâ€.
“I strongly condemn this incident. It is clearly a criminal act, and I call on the police and relevant security agencies to investigate and immediately apprehend the culprits and subject them to the full rigours of the law.â€
Suame NDC Chair attacked over party car
This incident comes after the Constituency Chairman for the NDC in Suame, Ashanti Region, Saeed Umar, was last week attacked by some assailants believed to be NDC members.
The victim, Saeed Umar was allegedly attacked by some supporters who demanded he returned a vehicle belonging to the party.
Some three persons arrested in connection with the alleged attack was subsequently granted bail.
Nkana Fc head coach, Beston Chambeshi, says his team is confident of a victory against Asante Kotoko in Sunday’s Caf Confederation Cup game to be played at the Nkana Sports Stadium in Kitwe.
Nkana FC defeated Al Hilal of Sudan in their second group game at the Nkana Sports Stadium a week ago.
Speaking ahead of the game, Chambeshi, is highly optimistic that his team will pick all three points in this fixture against the Porcupine Warriors in this Group C third game
“The preparations are okay, the players are working hard in training and they are ready for Sunday’s match.
“We are taking this match seriously because we have to get the maximum points and maintain our good record at home so we are looking forward for the game and we have to respect Kotoko so we are ready for them”, he told Oyerepa Fm.
Chambeshi indicated that Asante Kotoko is a strong team and his side will accord them with respect.
“I know the team when I was a player, I played against Kotoko, at that time it was a strong team but now I don’t know the players playing there so we have to respect them”
He added that his team will be offensive against the Ghanaian giants.
“Nkana is an attacking team so we will take this match against Kotoko with no different approach”
The former Ashanti Regional Minister, Joseph Yammin, has expressed shock he has been linked to the shooting incident at the Ashanti Regional office of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which led to the death of one person.
According to him, he has nothing to do with the shooting and knows nothing about those who pulled the trigger.
“My surprise is why my name will be brought into this matter in the first place because I had nothing to do with this thing” he told Journalists in Kumasi on Tuesday, 19 February 2019.
Mr Yammin and the former Municipal Chief Executive for Ejisu, Mr Afrifa Yamoah Ponkoh were invited and interrogated by the Ashanti regional police command on Tuesday in connection with the incident and have since been granted bail after a search had been conducted at their respective residence.
GOVERNMENT SAYS it is reviewing road traffic regulations.
The reviews being done on Road Traffic Regulation, 2012, L.I.2180 through the Transport Ministry, according to Government, seeks to address some implementation challenges as well as incorporate innovations in the management of road transport services.
Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori-Asiamah who made this known to journalists on Tuesday February 19 in Accra, said the move aims at sanitizing road transport in Ghana.
The Minister said the implementation and enforcement are geared towards helping to reduce road crashes which are mostly caused by indiscipline among road users particularly drivers and motorcycle riders.
According to him, it is to address some implementation challenges as well as incorporate innovations in the management of road transport services and to ensure smooth implementation and enforcement so as to reduce these road crashes.
The need for these enforcements, he lamented, has resulted from the fact that the country recorded about 2,341 persons killed and 13,677 persons injured due to Road accidents.
Mr. Ofori-Asiamah bemoaned that the predominant factors leading to these crashes were “indiscipline among road users particularly drivers and motorcycle riders, acts of excessive speeding, wrongful overtaking, pedestrian knockdowns and disrespect for traffic signals at intersections by motorcycle ridersâ€
According to him, moving forward, his Ministry will work to complete the review of the regulations to ensure smooth implementation and enforcement so as to reduce these road crashes.
In addition, he stated that the Transport Ministry will complete the review of the road traffic regulations L.I.2180 to ensure smooth implementation and also to allow for the incorporation of new innovations.
The Volta River Authority (VRA) owes Ghana gas US$735 million accruing from gas supplied the authority to power its thermal plant.
Despite the heavy debt, management of Ghana Gas do not intend halting supply to VRA as the gas supplier does about 90 percent of business with the authority.
Head of Finance at Ghana Gas, Emmanuel Essel says from April last year, an arrangement was arrived at where VRA paid US$3 million monthly for the gas supplied till October when the payments ceased while it had received US$20 million.
The Ministry of Finance also did a US$230 million balance sheet restructuring of the US$900 million debt bringing it down to US$735 million with an eye also on the ESLA bond.
In 2017, the ESLA bond Plc, set out to raise GHc6 billion for the first tranche of the GHc10 billion debt. The managers of the transaction eventually raised some GHc4.7 billion. ESLA Plc successfully closed its books for the issue of the seven-year bond on Friday, October 27, 2018, and accepted GHc2.42 billion of the seven-year bonds at a final yield of 19%.
Total bids tendered for both auctions amounted to GHc5.32 billion; GHc4.70 billion was accepted under the GHc10 billion ESLA Bond programme.
Communications Director of Ghana Gas Company, Ernest Owusu Bempah congratulated staff and management for being professional in the execution of their duties submitting it was indigenous engineers who did maintenance works on the installation at Sanzule where ENI attached their pipe. He said the state saved US$70 million in 2017 by utilizing the homegrown personnel. The ENI Onshore Receiving Facility (OCTP- TEN) project is at Sanzule in the Ellembelle constituency in the Western Region.
Ghana Gas Company is the State Agency that has the mandate to operate infrastructure required for the gathering, processing, transporting and marketing of natural gas resources in Ghana while the Volta River Authority meanwhile is the main generator and supplier of electricity in Ghana.
Former President John Mahama has said he will work day and night to lead the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to victory in the 2020 general elections if elected flag bearer of the party come Saturday, 23 February 2019.
In a short video posted on his Facebook wall, Mr Mahama said: “When you vote for John Mahama, I will fight hard and work day and night with you to ensure our victory and address the problems of unemployment and the high cost of living in the countryâ€.
He continued: “Together we will present to our countrymen and women a renewed and reinvigorated NDC, a party ready and able to lead Ghana beyond the unprecedented economic hardships of the present day, beyond the rising unemployment and despair of our youth, beyond the closure and collapse of financial institutions and businesses, beyond the dishonesty and nonchalance of the current administration, and beyond the family and clan syndrome that has rightly shocked and outraged so manyâ€.
Mr Mahama is contesting six other candidates for the slot. They include Mr Alban Bagbin, Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Mr Sylvester Mensah, Prof Joshua Alabi, Mr Nurudeen Iddrisu and Mr Goosie Tanoh.
The Ghana Football Association Normalization Committee has today reached an agreement with the National Women’s League clubs to start a Special Competition.
The meeting attended by Owners/Representatives of the clubs met at the GFA Secretariat on Tuesday, February 19, 2019, to discuss the proposed Women’s Normalization Competition.
The competition will kick off on March 9, 2019, at various venues.
Twelve (12) teams have been put into four groups of four for the tournament format.
The Anloga District has convened for a collaboration between stakeholders and the people of Anloga land to make the district one of the best in the country.
In a speech read on behalf of President Nana Akufo-Addo by the Volta Regional Minister, Dr Achibald Yaw Letsa, said his government is offering a new approach to doing things to drive the agenda for change, growth, job creation and prosperity for all. According to the President, the agenda will certainly be fulfilled if government brings governance to the doorsteps of the people which will ensure effective and efficient decentralisation through grassroots participation, better planning and improved service delivery in local communities.
“The assemblies are an integral part of my vision for economic and social transformation provided in the coordinated programmes of economic and social development policies 2017-2024, which I presented to the parliament of Ghana,†the President said.
He said he is determined to fully meet the constitutional imperative to ensure the accountability of local government authorities.
The Awormefia of Anlo, Togbui Sri 111, appealed to the President to expedite work on the proposed Keta Harbour project. He also called for the dredging of the Keta lagoon as well as the fixing of the poor road network in the Shine area of the new Anlo district. He however thanked the President for the creation of the new Anlo district and pledged his support.
Deputy Local government minister Collins Ntim described the inauguration of the district as a fulfilment of the dreams of the Chiefs and the people of the area. He was of the view that the new district will become one of the fastest developing districts across the country judging from the enthusiasm and commitment demonstrated by the people of the area.
He disclosed that procurement processes for the needed logistics and equipment for the new district including vehicles are underway to ensure that the district is fully grounded. Mr Ntim commended the Chiefs and the people of the Anlo state sustaining the peace and tranquillity in its 36 paramouncies over the years adding that the peaceful nature of the area is the prerequisite for total development of the area.
The MCE for Keta ,Seth Yormewu said the struggle for the creation of the district began several years ago until the NPP government gave meaning to the request last year. He thanked the President, the regional ministers and other stakeholders who worked in close collaboration with one another to achieve this feat.
Mr Yormewu charged the people to continue to collaborate with one another in order to ensure that the dreams and aspirations of the new district are achieved.
The constitution says that Ghana shall have a system of local government and administration, which shall be decentralised. The assemblies are the focal areas for the government and brutal and urban development agenda, which includes the provision of better opportunities for poverty reduction and enhancement of quality life, using agricultural regeneration and industrialisation as well as urban renewal programmes with emphasis on development and maintenance of urban infrastructure.
A New Patriotic Party executive, Kwame Baffoe Abronye, is pushing for former Aids ambassador Joyce Dzidzor Mensah to be arrested and prosecuted for deceiving the public about her HIV/AIDs status.
The controversial party man claims in a petition to the Police CID that Ms Mensah in August 2011 deceived officials of the Ghana Aids Commission (GAC) into believing she was HIV/AIDs positive.
“As an established fact devoid of ambiguity, Joyce Mensah is not an HIV patient but has through illegitimate means acquired and enjoyed privileges meant for persons suffering from the virus†he claimed.
With that alleged false declaration, Abronye said Ms Mensah secured a contract with the Commission to become an HIV/AIDs ambassador; a position that was for only HIV/AIDs patients.
“As part of her contract as AIDs Ambassador, she received several benefits and incentives from the commission which inherently came from the state. One of such benefits was that, the State provided her with a fully furnished apartment
Even after the said contract was terminated in November 2012, Abronye claims Ms Mensah remained in the apartment until August 2014 when the lease to expired.
Abronye claims in the petition dated February 18 that his intelligence has revealed “there was a conspiracy between Joyce Mensah and certain members of the Aids Commission†that enabled her to succeed in deceiving the GAC officials.
Abronye
“In all this and in my candid opinion, this amounts to willfully causing financial loss to the state and in violation of the criminal cod,†he argues.
He avers the conduct of Ms Mensah smacks of fraud, deceiving public officers and false declaration hence she out to be arrested, interrogated and accordingly prosecuted under the criminal code.
Abronye attached to his petition were the HIV status of Ms Mensah and other related Facebook post by Ms Mensah in which she emphasises that she has no HIV.
Background
Ms Mensah was first arrested and investigated in January 2015 after she announced in December 2014 that she was not an HIV/AIDs patient as she made Ghanaians to believe for years.
â€I am not HIV positive, but I did confess that I was for the sake of those who are really HIV positive,†she announced on December 15, 2014.
She said she lied on her status and apologised to Ghanaians for the deceit.
The outcome of the investigations was not made public by the Police CID which was in charge of the case that was brought against Ms Mensah by the GAC.
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri will be sacked before their next game, ex-Blues striker Chris Sutton said after their FA Cup defeat by Manchester United.
Fans booed the Italian’s substitutions during the fifth-round match, and joined in when United supporters sang “you’re getting sacked in the morning”.
“This is Maurizio Sarri’s last game at Chelsea. The Italian job is over for them,” said BBC Radio 5 live pundit Sutton after the 2-0 home defeat.
Sutton, who played for Chelsea in 1999-2000, said: “He’ll get the sack for numerous reasons – things he’s said, that he can’t motivate the players, his inability to be able to adapt and change.
“He won’t survive tonight. Well he might until 9am tomorrow [Tuesday].”
Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba scored United’s first-half goals as they reached the quarter-finals, where they will face Wolves.
Chelsea, who are sixth in the Premier League, meet Malmo in the Europa League last-32 first leg on Thursday, and Manchester City in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final.
“Why risk him taking charge of a game against Manchester City?” said Sutton, speaking eight days after City beat Chelsea 6-0 in a Premier League game.
Former Napoli boss Sarri – who has never won a trophy as a manager – replaced fellow Italian Antonio Conte last summer.
He altered the team’s tactics from a wing-back system to a 4-3-3, with several players struggling to adjust to the change.
Sarri has also been criticised for what are seen as predictable substitutions. Monday’s game was the sixth time in 10 matches that one of Ross Barkley or Mateo Kovacic has been substituted on for the other in the second half, with Willian and Pedro involved together in another four changes in that time.
Blues fans called for teenage winger Callum Hudson-Odoi and chanted “you don’t know what you’re doing” at Sarri when Italian right-back Davide Zappacosta instead came on for the final eight minutes.
Liberia’s President George Weah was once an international footballer and still sometimes plays on Saturdays as the BBC’s Mike Thomson discovered when he was invited to watch a kick around where some players seemed hesitant to tackle the country’s leader.
The call that came in the early hours was unexpected. “The president’s car is outside,” I was told, “it’s waiting to take you to his excellency’s football match.”
I don’t often get invites to watch heads of state kick balls about but that itself wasn’t the surprise on this occasion. It’s just that former Fifa World Footballer of the Year, George Weah, now president of Liberia, was supposed to be in Madagascar. Obviously, plans had changed.
After a hurried bite of toast, we sped off through a still waking Monrovia before arriving at the Ministry of Defence.
Had the driver got lost, I wondered? But sure enough, as we drove through the security gates, there behind an austere grey building, was a large football pitch.
One of the first players I saw was a tall, middle-aged man wearing black shorts and a blue number 14 shirt. ‘I’m the best dribbler’
After ambling back and forth, without seeming to break a sweat, he beckoned to a member of his team.
Seconds later a commentator screamed over the PA system: “His Excellency is on the ball… he’s going for goal… oh, what a pass!”
So, yes, this was indeed the former AC Milan, Chelsea and Monaco star, turned leader of Liberia.
That may be but a few minutes later, his team’s coach, former Arsenal player, Christopher Wreh, came up with a rather different explanation.
After telling me proudly that the president’s team has never, ever, lost a match, he added:
A coalition of 16 US states led by California is suing President Donald Trump’s administration over his decision to declare an emergency to raise funds for a Mexican border wall.
Mr Trump made the declaration on Friday to bypass Congress after it refused to approve $5.7bn (£4.4bn) for the wall.
The states say they want to block Mr Trump’s “misuse of presidential power”.
The Democrats oppose funding Mr Trump’s barrier, a key campaign pledge, and have vowed to contest his declaration.
The president’s announcement came after he signed a spending bill to avoid another government shutdown that granted him only $1.375bn for new border barriers.
Mr Trump said he did not need to declare the emergency but did so in the hope of obtaining the funds for the wall more quickly. Analysts say these comments could undermine his legal arguments.
What does the lawsuit say?
The lawsuit filed on Monday seeks to block Mr Trump acting on his emergency declaration to build the wall, saying the president does not have the power to divert funds approved by Congress to pay for his project.
“We’re suing President Trump to stop him from unilaterally robbing taxpayer funds lawfully set aside by Congress for the people of our states. For most of us, the office of the presidency is not a place for theatre,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said.
Joining California in the lawsuit were Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Virginia and Michigan.
All states but Maryland are governed by Democrats. They argue that President Trump’s order to divert funds would cost them millions of dollars, damaging their economies.
The White House has not commented on the lawsuit, filed in the court for the Northern District of California.
California Governor Gavin Newsom dismissed the president’s decision as “political theatre” while New York state’s Democratic Attorney General Letitia James promised to “fight back with every legal tool at our disposal”.
The president said the emergency would allow him to get almost $8bn for the wall, still considerably short of the estimated $23bn cost of the barrier along almost 2,000 miles (3,200km) of border.
Mr Trump accepted that he would be sued for the move, and predicted that the case was likely to end up in the Supreme Court.
“We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border,” he said. “Everyone knows that walls work.”
Critics, however, accused the government of a “manufactured crisis”, saying the president’s assertions about the situation were untrue.
But the committee has not achieved their core mandates of reviewing the statutes and start the process of organizing elections.
A statement signed by Communication Consultant Ahmed Osumanu Halid read: ”The Normalisation Committee has not sent any proposal to the Presidency for an extension of its mandate.
”The general public is hereby being advised to treat the story published on 442gh.com by Chief Seidu Adamu as falsehood and should be disregarded as such.”
The Good News according to Psalm 1:1 shuns followers of Jesus Christ or otherwise Christians from mingling themselves with unbelievers. It reads, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornfulâ€.
But in the rightful thinking of Gospel musician Brother Sammy, the above-mentioned quotation from the Bible is indirectly null and void. This is because Brother Sammy in a latest interview has vowed to organise his programs henceforth inside night clubs for obvious reasons soul winning.
To tell the world especially Ghanaians his seriousness about the move, the controversial gospel musician revealed that he has his upcoming program happening live inside Vienna City, a popular night club in the Garden City, Kumasi.
Speaking to FanteQuoo of Inside Prime Page TV fame, Brother Sammy described contemporary Christians as hypocrites for their unwillingness to mingle themselves with those thy perceive as sinners. To buttress his point, he cited the Good News as contained in Mark 16:15 which reads, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.â€
An outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, Mr Sanders has described him as a “pathological liar” and “racist”.
Mr Sanders – an independent who caucuses with the Democrats – is one of the best-known names to join a crowded and diverse field of Democratic candidates, and early polls suggest he is far ahead.
His calls for universal government-provided healthcare, a $15 national minimum wage and free college education electrified young voters, raised millions of dollars in small donations and are now pillars of the party’s left-wing.
The bodies of 24 gold miners have been recovered from a flooded mine in Zimbabwe, and rescuers have pulled out eight survivors who had been trapped underground, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Authorities said the accident happened after shafts and underground tunnels where the illegal miners were working became flooded by water from a burst dam last Tuesday. The survivors were rescued last Saturday at the mine located 90 miles southwest of the capital, Harare.
Zimbabwe’s deputy mines minister, Polite Kambamura, on Monday said search operations would continue in the area, saying that around 70 workers are feared trapped in the incident.
Women console a mourner as relatives arrive to await news on the return of the body of one of the miners. Kambamura said rescuers were experiencing difficulties accessing the area due to the size of the shafts in the flooded tunnel. A photo from the scene of the disaster showed one of the rescued miners covered in thick brown mud being pulled from a pit at the mines. Victor Rupende from the Zimbabwe Miners Federation, one of the groups coordinating the search, told CNN heavy rains have also hampered rescue operations at the mine.
Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared the incident a national disaster, adding that the government will continue to provide assistance to those working to find the missing miners.
Families and residents awaiting the news of their loved ones have camped out at the mining site in Battlefields, a rural settlement rich in gold deposits, where artisanal mining is common.
Henrietta Rushwaya, president of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation, urged the government to formalize the operations of artisanal miners to promote safety in the sector.
Zimbabwe is rich in minerals such as diamonds, uranium, chrome, platinum and gold. Revenues from the industry still account for about 30% of government income.
Accra Hearts of Oak will battle Dreams FC on Sunday February, 24 at the Accra Sports Stadium in the special S.T Nettey Memorial Cup.
The game is being used to honor Mr. S.T. Nettey, a commissioner of Labour and Social Welfare under the N.L.C. regime and also onetime spiritual head of Accra Hearts of Oak.
The game promises lots of fireworks as both clubs are unbeaten in their off season games so far.
The last four clashes between the two clubs have been too closed to call with both clubs having won one each whilst the remaining two have ended in draw.
The Accra Regional Commander, DCOP Patrick Adusei Sarpong has revealed that he only learnt about the presence of armed masked men during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election in the media.
According to the DCOP he had not encountered any of the masked men during his patrol and briefing of the officers he deployed.
Speaking before the Emile Short commission of inquiry, today [Tuesday] the Regional Commander said the masked men were not part of the security team he deployed to provide security at the by-election.
“Mr. Chairman, I was doing the patrol myself, and I never came across the men you have described. These men you have described are not part of the men I deployed. My attention was drawn to these men after the incident at the constituency.â€
“When the incident happened it was aired on the television and people were discussing it. It was at that point that I got to know they were from national security. Throughout my briefing and patrol I never encountered them,†he said.
He also stated that his unit has no authority or power over men from national security
“…it was said they were from national security, so if these men from national security are working, a policeman from my unit has no power or authority to stop them or do anything,†he said.
The Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election was suspended temporarily after the masked armed men clashed with some voters and citizens at the La Bawaleshi polling centre where over six persons were injured in the process.
The Emile Short Commission was set up to investigate the events following the public outrage that ensued.
Ghanaian actor Omar Sherriff Captan who is now a preacher has revealed that he broke his virginity at the age of 17 and he really enjoyed it with no regrets.
According to the actor in an interview with Abeiku Santana on “Atuu†show, the lady was older than him and whether it was the right time or not he enjoyed it.
Mukarama led Ghana to the quarter finals of the tournament, where she scored seven goals before the team painfully lost to eventual finalist Mexico on penalties.
Despite coming home early, Mukarama managed to grab the bronze ball award given to the tournament’s third best player.
Following her stupendous performance at the World Cup in South America,the University of Development Student has been under the radar of some professional female soccer teams from the United States.
Currently, she plays for Northern Ladies in the National Women’s League in Ghana.
Mukarama was also recognized by CAF, earning early nomination for the Africa Women Footballer of the year award which was won by South African forward Christina Kgatlana.
Award-winning Ghanaian film director, Peter Sedufia has married his beautiful girlfriend, Anny Araba Praba Adams aka Maame Araba Praba, of TV3’s Ghana’s Most Beautiful (GMB) pageant fame.
Sedufia whose work as a director includes award-winning movies like Keteke and Sidechic Gang, married the former GMB contestant in a ceremony over the weekend.
The marriage journey of Sedufia and Maame Praba started with a traditional marriage ceremony on Friday, February 15, followed by a white wedding on Saturday, February 16, in Accra.
Taking to social media on Monday, February 18, to share photos from the ceremony Sedufia gushed:
“Praba Maame, I’m sorry it took me this long to find you. I’m sorry for keeping you waiting and I’m sorry for searching for the wrong ones all these while. BUT, most importantly, I’m happy I’ve finally found you now and will search no more. What many thought was a tale is now a reality, and I’m glad it is. You are my Anny Honey!â€.
Sedufia is also the founder of founded OldFilm Productions, the production house for his films, where Araba, a graduate of NAFTI, works.
The wedding ceremony was attended by top Ghanaian actors and actresses including Fred Amugi, Peter Ritchie, Kofi Asamoah, Adjetey Anang, Eddie Nartey, and Gospel star Uncle Ato.
The secure messaging apps, including Telegram and Discord, have become popular following successful police operations against criminal markets operating on what is known as the dark web – a network that can only be accessed by special browsers.
The secure apps have both a public and encrypted side.
Often, the public side is listed online so users can search and join groups advertising drugs, stolen financial data and other illegal material.
Once a group is joined, however, messages are protected by peer-to-peer encryption, generally putting them beyond law enforcement’s reach, say experts.
Abuse catalogues
The investigators found evidence that paedophiles were using both Telegram and Discord to give people access to abuse material, and that links to Telegram groups were buried in the public comments section of YouTube videos.
These contained code words that would be indexed by search engines and, once clicked on, took people to the closed group.
Researchers confirmed that at least one of these groups contained hundreds of indecent images of children.
There were good reasons that paedophiles hid links on YouTube, said cyber-crime expert Dr Victoria Baines, a former Europol officer and adviser to the UK’s Serious and Organised Crime Agency, the National Crime Agency’s predecessor.
“YouTube is indexed by Google, which means if you are an ‘entry level’, for want of a better phrase, viewer of child abuse material you may start Googling,” she said.
“And while Google tries to put restrictions on that, [the links] are publicly accessible on the web, so it is a means of getting people who are curious or idly searching into a closed space, where they can access material.”
YouTube said it has a zero tolerance approach to child sexual abuse material and has invested heavily in technology, teams and partnerships to tackle the issue.
A spokesperson said if it identified links, imagery or content promoting child abuse, the material is removed and the authorities alerted.
A spokesman for Telegram said it processed reports from users and engaged in “proactive searches” to keep the platform free of abuse, including child abuse and terrorist propaganda.
It said reports about child abuse were usually processed within one hour.
Explicit photos
The BBC investigation also found that paedophiles are exploiting the Discord app, which is popular among young people, who use it to text and chat while gaming online.
It discovered a series of chatrooms openly promoted as suitable for 13 to 17-year-olds, but with very sexual descriptions that aimed to persuade children to hand over explicit photos.
Ariel Ainhoren, head of research at security firm IntSights, said the firm had recently identified a group on Discord in which one user had posted a price list for child abuse imagery. The group was no longer active, but the user had given out an email address for sales queries that was still viewable online.
“The user was offering gigabytes of pornography or paedophile material: nine gigabytes for $50 (£39), 50 gigabytes for $500, and 2.2 terabytes, which is a huge amount, for around $2,500,” said Mr Ainhoren.
Nine gigabytes could contain many thousands of images, depending on the file sizes.
The user also said he was selling access to child sexual abuse and rape forums.
File on 4 has passed details of the illegal material revealed by its investigation to the National Crime Agency.
Once told about the groups, Discord said: “The number of these violations makes up a tiny percentage of usage on Discord and the team is committed to improving our policies and processes to make it even smaller.
“Discord’s Trust and Safety policy exists to proactively protect the safety of our users – on and off platform – and we have a variety of security methods that help users avoid unwanted or unknown contact.
“As all conversations are opt-in, we urge users to only chat with or accept invitations from individuals they already know.”
Image caption Dr Baines: Public links can lead the curious to closed abuse chatrooms
It said it uses computer, human and community intelligence to spot violations of its rules.
Card crash
The radio investigation also unearthed widespread abuse of the apps to sell stolen payment card data.
One British victim’s full name, address, date of birth, password, bank account and credit card details, including the three-digit security code, were published by criminals.
She said it was “very alarming” to see her details, which were being offered up for free as a “taster”.
“Someone has a very sophisticated way of hacking into my information without me knowing it”, said the woman, who is not being named by the BBC to protect her from potential harm.
Details of the illegal material revealed by the investigation have been passed to the National Crime Agency.
Telegram was asked questions about the way it was being
exploited by criminals, and also told it about the trading of the woman’s personal information.
Last year, Theresa May told the Davos meeting of world leaders that small technology platforms can quickly become “…home to criminals and terrorists”.
She said: “We have seen that happen with Telegram and we need to see more co-operation from smaller platforms like this.”
Security minister Ben Wallace said the government had set up a £1.9bn cyber-security programme to increase the police’s capability to infiltrate criminal groups online.
He said the government was set to publish a White Paper looking at whether tech platforms need to have a duty of care towards users, to oblige them to remove illegal material from their platform.
“We are exploring in the online harm White Paper the area of duty of care, and if they don’t fulfil that, then one of the things we are exploring is that there will be a regulator involved,” he said.
It is the deadliest militant attack on Indian forces in Kashmir since the insurgency against Indian rule began.
Pakistan-based Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammad said it was behind the attack.
The flag-toilet paper connection emerged soon after the 14 February attack in a few blogs commenting on the attack and became a trending topic on social media over the weekend. The number of people searching for the connection may have also influenced how Google returns results.
Now a Google search returns news stories about the link but anyone searching images for the “best toilet paper in the world” gets a page dominated by the green and white flag. Many of the images are from news stories about the connection. Others are screenshots of the critical social media posts that linked the flag to toilet paper.
Google has not yet commented on how this could have happened.
This is not the first time that a search via Google has returned curious results. Heads of state including US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have both been linked to searches for derogatory phrases.
YouTube is playing a significant role in convincing some people that the Earth is flat, research suggests.
A study quizzed people at flat earth conferences and found most cited videos viewed on the site as a key influence.
They were won over by videos which claimed to amass evidence proving the Earth was not a spherical planet.
YouTube needed to do a better job of ensuring visitors get accurate information alongside such videos, said the researcher behind the study.
“There’s a lot of helpful information on YouTube but also a lot of misinformation,” Prof Asheley Landrum from Texas Tech University, who carried out the study, told The Guardian.
The algorithms the site used to guide people to topics they might be interested in made it easy to “end up down the rabbit hole” of misinformation, said Prof Landrum.
“Believing the Earth is flat is of itself is not necessarily harmful, but it comes packaged with a distrust in institutions and authority more generally,” she added.
The study involved interviews with 30 attendees at two conferences.
Questioning revealed YouTube had suggested the flat earth videos after attendees had watched other clips at home about conspiracy theories.
Some said they only watched the videos to criticise them but were won over by the arguments being advanced. The results from Prof Landrum’s study were presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Science this weekend.
Prof Landrum said there was a need for scientists and science advocates to produce their own YouTube videos that answered and debunked the claims of flat earthers and conspiracy theorists.
“The only tool we have to battle misinformation is to try and overwhelm it with better information,” said Prof Landrum.
The decision to site the regional capital of the newly created Savannah Region at Damongo was a consensus between the government and the chiefs in the area, Minister for Regional Re-organization and Development, Daniel Kweku Botwe has explained.
“All the chiefs in the kingdom met, all the opinion leaders met, and they actually discussed their capital. They openly did it and there was consensus,†he said on TV3 magazine show, New Day, on Tuesday.
He was commenting on the burning of the New Patriotic Party constituency office at Salaga by some angry youth who were not pleased with the announcement of Damongo as the capital for the new region.
He observed there was no partisanship in the committees they formed for the Savannah Region campaign drive as they were a mix of National Democratic Congress and NPP executives.
Mr. Botwe lamented what happened at Salaga was “so unfortunate and so sadâ€.
Ex- Black Stars and Hearts of Oak goalkeeper, Sammy Adjei, says Ghana football will collapse if educational qualifications are introduced into the management and administration of Ghana football.
There have been reports indicating that the an Ad-hoc committee of the Normalisation Committee are proposing that educational qualifications be introduced to persons who will want to contest for top positions at the Ghana Football Association.
According to the reports only persons with Masters can contest for the Ghana Football Association Presidency as well as persons with Degrees will contest for the Executive Committee positions.
According to Sammy Adjei, the introduction of these educational qualifications to Ghana football will collapse the game as there have been some personalities who have succeeded without attaining degrees and masters in education.
“There are some people who have never been to school before but have football wisdom and knowledge. Osei Kuffuor played for Bayern Munich and we all know he passed in the hands of Alhaji Grusah. If they stick to that recommendation Ghana football will collapse”, he told Otec FM.
Founder of King Faisal Football Club, Alhaji Grusah, who has publicly declared to contest for the FA President seat, also added his voice and said, “The Normalisation Committee does not know what they are saying. If that is what the Normalisation Committee want, then they should tell the Professors, Doctors and Lawyers to form teams and let’s see how difficult it is to bring up a football team”.
He added” The Normalisation Committee shouldnt think of proposing anything like that because it wont work, we dont need Professors, Doctors or Lawyers to direct us how to handle our football”.
The founder of Huawei has said there is “no way the US can crush” the company, in an exclusive interview with the BBC.
Ren Zhengfei described the arrest of his daughter Meng Wanzhou, the company’s chief financial officer, as politically motivated.
The US is pursuing criminal charges against Huawei and Ms Meng, including money laundering, bank fraud and stealing trade secrets.
Huawei denies any wrongdoing.
Mr Ren spoke to the BBC’s Karishma Vaswani in his first international broadcast interview since Ms Meng was arrested – and dismissed the pressure from the US.
“There’s no way the US can crush us,” he said. “The world cannot leave us because we are more advanced. Even if they persuade more countries not to use us temporarily, we can always scale things down a bit.”
However, he acknowledged that the potential loss of custom could have a significant impact.
What else did Mr Ren say about the US?
Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned the country’s allies against using Huawei technology, saying it would make it more difficult for Washington to “partner alongside them”.
Australia, New Zealand, and the US have already banned or blocked Huawei from supplying equipment for their future 5G mobile broadband networks, while Canada is reviewing whether the company’s products present a serious security threat.
Mr Ren warned that “the world cannot leave us because we are more advanced”.
“If the lights go out in the West, the East will still shine. And if the North goes dark, there is still the South. America doesn’t represent the world. America only represents a portion of the world.”
Many of the UK’s mobile companies, including Vodafone, EE and Three, are working with Huawei to develop their 5G networks.
They are awaiting a government review, due in March or April, that will decide whether they can use Huawei technology.
Commenting on the possibility of a UK ban, Mr Ren said Huawei “won’t withdraw our investment because of this. We will continue to invest in the UK.
“We still trust in the UK, and we hope that the UK will trust us even more.
“We will invest even more in the UK. Because if the US doesn’t trust us, then we will shift our investment from the US to the UK on an even bigger scale.”
What does Mr Ren think about his daughter’s arrest?
Mr Ren’s daughter Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, was arrested on 1 December in Vancouver at the request of the US, and is expected to be the subject of a formal extradition request.
The first covers claims Huawei hid business links to Iran – which is subject to US trade sanctions. The second includes the charge of attempted theft of trade secrets.
Mr Ren was clear in his opposition to the US accusations.
“Firstly, I object to what the US has done. This kind of politically motivated act is not acceptable.
“The US likes to sanction others, whenever there’s an issue, they’ll use such combative methods.
“We object to this. But now that we’ve gone down this path, we’ll let the courts settle it.”
What did Mr Ren say about Chinese government spying?
Huawei, which is China’s largest private company, has been under scrutiny for its links to the Chinese government – with the US and others expressing concern its technology could be used by China’s security services to spy.
Under Chinese law, firms are compelled to “support, co-operate with and collaborate in national intelligence work”.
But Mr Ren said that allowing spying was a risk he wouldn’t take.
“The Chinese government has already clearly said that it won’t install any backdoors. And we won’t install backdoors either.
“We’re not going to risk the disgust of our country and of our customers all over the world, because of something like this.
“Our company will never undertake any spying activities. If we have any such actions, then I’ll shut the company down.”
Is Huawei part of the Chinese state?
Analysis – Karishma Vaswani, BBC Asia business correspondent – Shenzhen
For a man known as reclusive and secretive, Ren Zhengfei seemed confident in the conviction that the business he’s built for the last 30 years can withstand the scrutiny from Western governments.
Mr Ren is right: the US makes up only a fraction of his overall business.
But where I saw his mood change was when I asked him about his links to the Chinese military and the government.
He refused to be drawn into a conversation, saying only that these were not facts, simply allegations.
Still, some signs of close links between Mr Ren and the government were revealed during the course of our interview.
He also confirmed that there is a Communist Party committee in Huawei, but he said this is what all companies – foreign or domestic – operating in China must have in order to abide by the law.
The Greater Accra Regional commander, DCOP Patrick Adusei Sarpong has said that, the Ghana Police Service did not form an election taskforce to oversee electoral happenings during the Ayawaso West Wuogon polls.
According to him, though the ideal situation in a national election is for the security agency to form an election taskforce, same is not required in a by-electoral process.
He explained that ample time is required to structure such formations; by-elections however he continued, come up at very short intervals and hence are not factored as far as creation of taskforces are concerned.
“For general elections, national security elections taskforce is formed, regional one is formed and district is also formed but it is not same for the by-elections because for the national elections, it is planned and everybody knows that time that the national elections will be held so meetings are held several times and preparations are put in place but it is not the case in by-electionsâ€.
“Because they come at a time nobody expects and when they come, it is incumbent on the regional Commander, together with the electoral officers to quickly plan how the elections should be conductedâ€, he said.
DCOP Adusei Sarpong further indicated that a total of 761 security personnel were deployed by the police service on the said day for electoral purposes. The number comprising both police and immigration service personnel whom they wrote to for assistance.
“We made a request to the Immigration, they agreed to assist, and deploy personnel to us and we deployed them together with the police menâ€. “In all we deployed 428 police personnel as well as 341 immigration personnel, total, 761. Combined force of the police and immigrationâ€, he added.
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee wrote that through the use of Onavo, which was billed as a way to give users an extra layer of security, Facebook could “collect app usage data from its customers to assess not only how many people had downloaded apps, but how often they used them”.
The report added: “This knowledge helped them to decide which companies were performing well and therefore gave them invaluable data on possible competitors. They could then acquire those companies, or shut down those they judged to be a threat.”
A graph the committee includes in the report shows an analysis of data collected with Onavo, detailing how commonly apps were used by Facebook owned and rival services.
In 2014, the company successfully acquired WhatsApp for $19bn in cash and shares.
Limiting Vine
The report also details the way the company could shut off access to its services to competitors.
For example, in 2013 Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg was informed about the launch of the Vine video service by social media rival Twitter.
He was told via email that Twitter was going to allow Vine users to find friends on Facebook.
“Unless anyone raises objections, we will shut down their friends’ API access today.” the email read – a move that would prevent Vine users from inviting their Facebook friends to the service.
Zuckerberg agreed to the move, replying “Yup, go for it.”
Twitter eventually chose to close Vine in 2016.
Whitelisting
According to the report, as of November 2013, more than 5,000 apps on Facebook were “whitelisted”, meaning that they could gain special access to user data and the data of those user’s Facebook friends.
Whitelisted companies included ride-hailing app Lyft, Airbnb and Netflix.
An internal email discussed linking a yearly spend of $250,000 on advertising to maintain company access to user Facebook data.
An email from Mr Zuckerberg, sent in October 2012, outlined his scepticism about the risk of data leaks happening between Facebook application developers.
“I think we leak info to developers, but I just can’t think of any instances where that data has leaked from developer to developer and caused a real issue for us,” he wrote.
The customers accordingly have their funds locked up with the company which has stopped operating after a directive from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on September 7, 2018 ordered the company to suspend its unlicensed deposit-taking operations with the public.
Chief Executive Officer of Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah has since been arrested in Dubai on December 7, 2018 in connection with a fraudulent gold deal involving an Emeriti firm, Horizon Royal Diamonds.
The customers demonstrating in Tarkwa number around two hundred and are demanding that the government intervenes and help them retrieve their locked up investments in the firm.
