According to the UK’s data authority, TikTok has been penalised Ā£12.7 million for failing to protect the privacy of children.
According to the Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) inquiry, the video-sharing software violated data protection laws.
The violations allegedly took place between May 2018 and July 2020.
The ICO provided TikTok with a “notice of intent” in September, which served as a warning before it could be penalized.
Despite its own policies prohibiting children under 13 from opening an account, the ICO estimates that TikTok allowed up to 1.4 million UK children under 13 to use the site in 2020.
UK data protection law says that platforms that use personal data when offering information to children under 13 must have parental consent.
Information commissioner John Edwards said: “There are laws in place to make sure our children are as safe in the digital world as they are in the physical world. TikTok did not abide by those laws.
“As a consequence, an estimated one million under 13s were inappropriately granted access to the platform, with TikTok collecting and using their personal data. That means that their data may have been used to track them and profile them, potentially delivering harmful, inappropriate content at their very next scroll.
“TikTok should have known better. TikTok should have done better. Our Ā£12.7m fine reflects the serious impact their failures may have had.”
The Finance Ministry has announced that it has made additional coupon payments on matured bonds that expired on February 20, 2023.
On its website, the Ministry stated that the payments cover coupons on both the 2-year note that matured on 20th February, 2023, and the 20-year note due on 20th February, 2023.
However, the ministry headed by Mr Ken Ofori-Atta noted that it is yet to make payments on the principal of the 2-year note maturing on 20th February, 2023; as well as payments on subsequent maturities.
According to the Finance Ministry, it will communicate the payment date “in due course.”
The ministry’s statement comes after threats from the Pensioner Bondholders Forum to resume picketing at the forecourt of the state institution should government fail to honor the payments.
The Forum issued a two-week ultimatum to allow government pay them their respective coupon rates on matured bonds.
āWe think that we will not allow it to continue and thatās why we are saying if by 21st all these anomalies are not resolved for us to return to normalcy and get our coupons and principals as and when they are due, then we will resume our picketing,ā Convenor of the Forum, Dr. Adu Anane Antwi, is quoted to have said by JoyBusiness.
The Pensioner Bondholders Forum is yet to comment on the recent development.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance has expressed gratitude to all stakeholders for “their patience and co-operation, as government continues to work towards the restoration of macro-economic stability.”
Management of the University of Ghana (UG) has filed an application for an order of prohibition to restrain His Lordship Obiri Francis, a High Court Judge from hearing the substantive case on the eviction of continuing Commonwealth Hall students.
According to the applicant, His Lordship Obiri Francis is affiliated with the Commonwealth Hall, thus the likelihood that he sides with the interested parties, who per the writ, are residents of the Hall.
āThe learned trial judgeās relationship with āVandalsā of Commonwealth Hall of the University of Ghana and his conduct of the case so far suggests bias or a real likelihood of bias.ā
An affidavit in support of the applicant by Gordon Akanzuwine Awandare, UGās Pro Vice Chancellor noted that Justice Obiri, when he was a student of the school, was officially attached to Akuafo Hall but was at all material times during his studentship in the University of Ghana, resident at Commonwealth and by definition a Vandal.
He added that Justice Obiri was āthe lead assistant of the then Chief Vandal, a very revered office of Vandals, by the alias Chief Korea.ā
Prof Awandare said this situation has the propensity to affect the nature of the proceeding for which reason he wants the Judge restrained from the case citing an instance from the February 9 hearing.
āThe decision not to consider the Application for leave to cross-examine Lawrence Edinam Egleh, the deponent of the Affidavit in Support of the Application for Injunction before considering and granting the application on the basis of the impugned affidavit,ā a portion of the document read.
āMoreso, when the Applicant had prayed the Court to abridge time or even take the application orally in keeping with the decisions of this Court. The Applicant did not have any other avenue to make the Application as the Application for injunction was not formally moved so that the Applicant would have made an application to cross-examine the deponent.ā
This comes after an Accra High Court order back in January 2023 for the University of Ghana management to refrain from revoking the residential status of continuing students in both Commonwealth and Mensah Sarbah halls.
This decision of the court was issued after some disgruntled students filed an interlocutory injunction on January 6, 2023.
However, this fresh motion is seeking to stay the interlocutory injunction over the new claims of potential bias.
The universityās administration issued an order intending to remove all continuing male students from the halls due to a violent altercation that had taken place between the two parties on August 15, 2022.
According to UGās management, they chose to implement the directive as a disciplinary step after fights between certain students from the two halls destroyed John Mensah Sarbahās statue, which was located at the Mensah Sarbah hall.
Per the administrationās announcement to the members of the university, starting from the 2022/23 academic year, āLevel 100 and graduate students (Masters and PhD level) will be assigned to Mensah Sarbah and Commonwealth Halls.ā
Kenya is getting ready to launch its first ever earth observation satellite, marking a significant milestone in the nation’s space research endeavors.
Next week, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Nation-1, also known as Taifa-1 in Swahili, is set to blast out from the Californian Vandenberg Space Force Base.
According to a joint announcement from the Kenya Space Agency and the Ministry of Defense, the satellite is intended to deliver earth observation data for use in agricultural, food security, and environmental management.
It was “fully designed and developed” by Kenyan engineers in collaboration with a Bulgarian aerospace manufacturer, the statement added.
A delegation from Kenya is expected to travel to the US for the launch.
The mission is seen as a significant milestone for Kenyan scientific innovation. The country is suffering its worst drought in decades after five failed rain seasons.
In 2018, Kenya launched its first experimental nano-satellite from the International Space Station.
Reporters without Borders, a media organization, has issued a report cautioning that the Sahel region is perilous for journalists and that there is a high chance of abduction.
“The deterioration of the state of the media in Chad, Burkina Faso and Mali has been exacerbated by military coups,” the report adds, saying that this is creating an environment of “controlled media”.
In addition, it mentions a “hostile atmosphere” for journalists brought on by regulations that restrict press freedom.
The report underlines the frequent attacks by extremists and continues by stating that “threats, the risk of kidnapping, even assassination, have become part of the daily life of journalists in the region.”
French journalist Olivier Dubois, who had been held captive in Mali for nearly two years by a group associated with al-Qaeda, was just recently freed in a high-profile case.
The WBA hasĀ announced that Oleksandr Usyk must face mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois.
The Ukrainian defended his three heavyweight championships against Anthony Joshua in a rematch in August before negotiating with Tyson Fury for a fight that would unify the division.
It was anticipated that Usyk would fight Dubois next after being unable to reach an agreement with Fury for a contest that would have crowned the first unified heavyweight champion since 2000.
The WBA Championships Committee ordered the bout between Heavyweight Super Champion Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois.
The organization sent the communication to the parties today with a 30-day negotiation period starting on April 4 and ending on May 2 #UsykDubois
On Monday, the WBA wrote on Twitter: “The WBA Championships Committee ordered the bout between Heavyweight Super Champion Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois.
“The organisation sent the communication to the parties today with a 30-day negotiation period starting on April 4 and ending on May 2.”
Usyk is the holder of the WBA, WBO and IBF titles and, with the rotational agreement between the government bodies, Dubois is the first in line for his shot.
New York Mayor Eric Adams has spoken against the possibility of a protest against Donald Trump’s arraignment on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference with police, the mayor Trump supporters to “control yourselves.”
He noted that while there were no specific threats against the city, the city was prepared, and encouraged anyone planning to protest to do so peacefully.
“While there may be some rabble rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow our message is clear and simple: control yourselves. New York City is our home, not a playground for your misplaced anger,” the mayor said.
He also had a specific message for Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has announced she will lead a protest outside the courthouse.
“While youāre in town, be on your best behaviour,” he said.
Trump’s lawyers have entreated a New York judge to prevent cameras in the courtroom to broadcast his arraignment on Tuesday.
This comes after several major media outlets requested access to the hearing.
In a letter to New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchant on Monday, Trump’s team said media outlets would “create a circus-like atmosphere at the arraignment” and “raise unique security concerns”, according to US media outlets.
Trump’s lawyers also argued the presence of media would be “inconsistent with President Trumpās presumption of innocence”, CNN reported.
The former president is on a plane from Florida to New York, and is using the time to share a few short posts on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“AMERICA FIRST!”Ā he wrote, a slogan from his 2016 presidential election campaign. He also reiterated the claim that the indictment was a witch hunt.
Trump is expected to land in New York around 16:00 local time (20:00 GMT).
In their Indian Premier League debut, Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Mumbai Indians by an eight-wicket margin thanks to an outstanding opening partnership between Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis.
RCB had a great start to their 2023 season at The Mangalam Chinnaswamy Stadium, defeating their opponents on both sides of the ball after just missing the IPL final the previous year.
RCB got off to a quick start with the ball. Harshal Patel was well-positioned to catch an outside edge from Ishan Kishan (10) before Reece Topley bowled Cameron Green (5), but the latter mysteriously dropped Rohit Sharma after an odd incident between Dinesh Karthik and Mohammed Siraj.
Rohit was less fortunate when he handed Karthik a catch for just one run three balls later, though his exit allowed Tilak Varma to step up with a quickfire 84 off 46 balls, carrying Mumbai to 171-7.
That outstanding effort proved to be in vain, however, with Du Plessis (73) and Kohli (82 not out) putting on a strong opening stand of 148, both bringing up half-centuries by the end of the 12th over.
While skipper Du Plessis walked with five overs remaining, lofting through to Tim David for a simple catch, Mumbai never looked likely to break the momentum of RCB, who recorded a statement win.
Varma wastes no time
With his 84-ball innings, Varma helped Mumbai to a decent total while averaging a boundary per 3.5 deliveries.
In the early going of the IPL this season, only Jos Buttler (who hit a boundary every 2.2 balls in the Rajasthan Royals’ victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad) has had a better such rate than Varma, who hammered nine fours and four sixes out of the 46 balls he faced.
Sadly for the 20-year-old, Mumbai’s bowlers were unable to generate much momentum, and RCB’s top-order batsmen were in similar form.
Fifty up for Kohli
RCB never looked likely to fall short in their chase of 172, with Kohli taking centre-stage to bring up a personal IPL landmark.
With his knock of 82 runs from 49 balls, Kohli recorded his 50th score of 50 runs or more in the IPL. Only David Warner (60) has more half-centuries in the competition’s history.
Wild bear meat has recently been added to the menu of Japanese vending machines, which also sell edible insects, whale meat, and snails in a can.
A Japanese daily claims that a vending machine in Semboku city sells several cuts of the local black bear.
According to the Mainichi Shimbun, customers can purchase lean or fatty pork for roughly 2,200 yen ($17; Ā£13) for 250g.
Asian black bears are considered to be vulnerable on a global scale. Japan claims to have set hunting quotas.
The machine in Semboku, in the northern Akita prefecture, is purportedly operated by the neighborhood restaurant Soba Goro and sells 10-15 packs of meat each week from bears shot nearby by local hunters.
If the hunting season is weak, it runs out of supply.
Japan has the world’s highest number of vending machines per capita, located just about everywhere, from small alleyways to remote villages.
Commonly known as jidou hanbaiki or jihanki, they became popular in Japan back in the 1960s. They are a huge part of Japan’s culture of convenience stores, and can overwhelm with their sheer volume and variety.
In January, controversy ensued when an unmanned outlet in the port town of Yokohama near Tokyo, set up three vending machines offering different varieties of whale meat for as little as 1,000 yen.
The vending machine in Semboku selling ursine options stands at the entrance to Tazawako station, where the country’s famed Shinkansen or bullet train stops, as do other trains. And the meat is mainly purchased by visitors who arrive on the bullet train.
Licensed hunters are allowed to shoot and kill bears in Japan – but since the meat is considered a delicacy here, it’s not on the table at the average Tokyo restaurant.
However, since the machine selling bear meat was installed last November, its operators say they have been getting inquiries from the Kanto region around Tokyo.
“[Bear meat] tastes clean, and it doesn’t get tough, even when cold. It can be enjoyed in a wide range of dishes, from stew to steaks,” a Soba Goro representative told the Mainichi.
Experts say that more bears have been leaving forests and entering cities in recent years because they’re running out of food. They add that Japan’s dwindling human population, especially in rural areas, has also been a factor – the animals are drawn to sparsely inhabited areas, posing a threat to locals.
Five bear attacks were reported in the northern Miyagi Prefecture between April and September 2022, with seven people injured.
It was the highest number of attacks since the prefectural government began keeping records in 2001.
According to the environment ministry, between 3,000 and 7,000 bears have been killed in the past seven years as encounters between humans and the animals have risen.
The government caps the number of black bears that can be hunted at 12% of their estimated population – there are thought to be about 15,000 in the country.
Tiger Woods was spotted working out on Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club as he gets ready to make his 25th appearance at The Masters.
After playing in the Genesis Invitational, his first non-major PGA Tour event since October 2020, Woods said that he would compete in all four major tournaments in February.
Woods made his competitive comeback to golf at last year’s Masters, finishing 47th after carding back-to-back 78s over the final two rounds after suffering catastrophic injuries in a vehicle accident in February 2021.
Woods, a five-time winner of the Masters who last claimed the trophy in 2019, participated in three of the four major championships of 2022, most recently failing to make the cut at the 150th Open Championship in July.
Woods spent half an hour hitting balls at the practice range at Augusta on Sunday, having arrived at the course around 3pm local time.
Asked about the limited schedule he was looking to play back in February, Woods said:Ā “My goal each and every year from here going forward is to play in all the majors.
“I’m not going to play too much more than that. My body ā my leg, and my back ā just won’t allow me to play much more than that any more.
“That was my goal last year, and I was able to play three of the four. This year hopefully I can play all four. That is going to be my schedule going forward, because of all the limitations I have.”
Nato’s secretary general has announced that Finland will join the Western military alliance as its 31st member on Tuesday.
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which Finland shares a long border with, served as the impetus for the application.
Turkey had put off submitting the application because it believed Finland was aiding “terrorists.”
Sweden made a similar application to join NATO in May of last year, but Turkey is preventing it due to related grievances.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, has accused it of supporting Kurdish militants and enabling them to demonstrate in Stockholm’s streets.
Any Nato expansion needs the support of all its members.
“We will raise the Finnish flag for the first time here at Nato headquarters. It will be a good day for Finland’s security, for Nordic security and for Nato as a whole,” Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels.
“Sweden will also be safer as a result,” he said.
Finland’s membership is one of the most important moments in Nato’s recent history.
Finland, a country with a 1,340km (832 mile) border with Russia and one of the most powerful arsenals of artillery pieces in Western Europe, decided to ditch its neutrality and join the alliance in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Sweden also abandoned a longstanding commitment to neutrality in applying to join Nato, but unlike its neighbour it does not share a border with Russia.
One of Nato’s founding principles is the that of collective defence – meaning an attack on one member nation is treated as an attack on them all.
For Russian President Vladimir Putin, Finland’s accession is a major strategic setback.
He sent his army into Ukraine last year in the expectation it would check Nato’s expansion and weaken Western collectivism. In fact, it has achieved the exact opposite.
In response to Mr Stoltenberg’s announcement, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Grushko, said: “In the event that the forces and resources of other Nato members are deployed in Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia’s military security.” He did not specify.
Finland will become the seventh Nato country on the Baltic Sea, further isolating Russia’s coastal access at St Petersburg and on its small exclave of Kaliningrad.
Finnish public opinion has been radically altered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Almost overnight last spring, support for Nato membership leapt from an underwhelming one-third of Finns to almost 80%.
A search and rescue effort has been started by police in northwest Nigeria to find two female students who have been kidnapped from a university dorm in Zamfara state.
They said that an armed gang broke into the exclusive Gusau hostel and imprisoned two guards before robbing the students.
Fears of instability in Zamfara, which has previously experienced multiple kidnappings for ransom, have increased as a result of the occurrence.
Gunmen kidnapped around 300 female students from a boarding school in Zamfara in February of last year.
After being held captive for a few days, they were freed. Four staff members and fifteen students from an agriculture college were taken into custody on August 15.
After an exciting race at the Argentina Grand Prix, Marco Bezzecchi felt “at one”Ā with his bikeĀ and claimed his first MotoGP victory.
Bezzecchi, who started second, took the lead after the first turn and never looked back, building a sizeable lead over the pursuing pack.
Bezzecchi maintained control throughout, even if the rainy circumstances may have been challenging for some, such as reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia, who crashed from second place.
In addition to giving him his maiden victory in the class, Bezzecchi’s victory also propelled him to the top of the rankings when Bagnaia’s crash cost him the opportunity to earn 20 points.
“I didn’t expect this when I left home. As soon as I started riding here I felt very well and I was at one with my bike,” he said.
“I felt incredibly well since the first moment and yesterday was also very nice, so when I saw the rain this morning I was really sad because I said ‘no, I was so good in the dry, for sure it will be difficult in the wet.’
“But when I jumped on the bike in warm-up it was amazing. I started believing again and thought I could do this. I enjoyed riding and was really, really focused. Everything went well. It was a long journey.”
— Mooney VR46 Racing Team (@VR46RacingTeam) April 2, 2023
Johann Zarco’s late charge through the field saw him finish second, overtaking Alex Marquez on the final lap, and he is hopeful he can follow in Bezzecchi’s footsteps this season with a maiden win.
“A good result like this gives a very good motivation. Congrats to Bezzecchi ā I was in fifth position and there were three guys in front of me and I thought if I catch them I will be second, but where is the first one?” He said.
“I even thought that there was maybe a mistake on my pit board. I could see him on the last lap but was four seconds in front and he did an amazing job. Hope my turn will come this year.”
A group of women in a community in western Kenya were found to carry two new strains of two common sexually transmitted illnesses.
More than 400 women over the age of 15 have been given new mutation-positive diagnoses for gonorrhea and chlamydia.
Because the town of Busia is near the border and truck drivers stop there, the experts from the Kenya Medical Research Institute worry that the sickness may spread to Uganda, a neighboring country.
The risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases is higher for this group of persons.
To determine the extent of the sickness and whether the novel mutations can be treated by conventional antibiotics, the researchers intend to undertake additional investigations.
They said the changes on the genetic makeup of the virus had not been seen before.
Barcelona haveĀ demanded the resignation of LaLiga president Javier Tebas after it was claimed he produced fake evidence against them.
According to a story from La Vanguardia published on Monday, Tebas provided prosecutors with evidence that purported to implicate the club and two former presidents in the ongoing Negreira case.
According to the report, the documents issued by Tebas were part of another case, not linked to either of Barcelona’s former presidents and were decades old, something the LaLiga chief called “false” on social media.
However, Barca are keen for a deeper explanation from Tebas and want him to issue his resignation.
“Barcelona, as president Joan Laporta has said in recent weeks, feel the victim of a media lynching based on events that have never occurred: Barca have never bought referees,” a statement read.
“It is not the first time the president of LaLiga has used his media machinery to attack Barcelona but, aside from his usual nonsense, we could never have imagined he would have hoped to incriminate our club with false evidence.
“The news published by La Vanguardia is of such severity that it should alert all LaLiga clubs, as they are practices that should have no place in the functions attributed to the president of LaLiga. For this reason alone, but also out of dignity and respect for the presidency of LaLiga, Mr. Tebas should resign from his position.
“However, knowing his obsession with persecuting Barcelona and constantly showing his aversion and antipathy towards our club, we understand that he will persist in his behaviour of continuing to harm our club.”
Four opposition Kenyan MPs have had their charges against them dismissed a day after opposition leader Raila Odinga agreed to call off rallies and seek discussions with President William Ruto.
Thousands of people rushed to the streets when the four were detained for unlawful assembly a fortnight ago.
Following his rejection of the results of the election from the previous year and his criticism of the government’s response to the cost-of-living crisis, Mr. Odinga had called for rallies twice a week.
Several altercations took place between police and young protesters.
The country’s stability has been challenged by the conflict between Kenya’s rival politicians, so any chance of discussion is warmly welcomed.
Sam Nartey George, the representative for Ningo-Prampram, has claimed that the adoption of the three new tax legislation on Friday in parliament was not approved by the minority.
He claims that it is necessary to examine the clerk of parliament about how they were able to obtain 137 despite Ahmed Tuferu’s absence due to an injury.
On the basis of the information the clerk gave the speaker, he continued, the majority won the vote with 137 votes, hence he was not to be held responsible.
According to him, the minority would not have had to participate in the vote process if the revenue bill had been approved by consensus.
āIf we had acquiesced, we wouldnāt have gone through with the vote, we wouldnāt have accounted for our 136, we wouldnāt have challenged what appeared to be an error in counting. We are aware now that at the time we did the first count, Ahmed Tuferu was not in Parliament.
āThere are two [majority] MPs who also walked in after the clerks had finished taking the vote from the majority side, so clearly, that vote shouldnāt have read 136, 137, but be that as it may, the Speaker only announces what it is presented to him.
āThe clerks have a question to answer as to how they managed to get 137,” he is quoted to have said by CitiTV.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of Parliament has explained why the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nanton Constituency, Northern Region, Mohammed Hardi Tufeiru, was counted despite being absent in the chamber during voting.
According to him, the leaders reported that the MP was incapacitated by some physical infirmity, and based on this, the MPs, including doctor Dickson Adamako Kissi who accompanied the MP, were counted and accordingly recorded.
Mohammed Hardi Tufeiru is reported to have been involved in an accident, preventing him from participating in the head count vote in the chamber.
Following this development, the Minority Chief Whip, Govern Agbogza, quizzed the speaker about why he counted 137 from the majority side of the house despite the absence of two.
Govern Agbodza said, āWhen we took the last vote, you counted 137 for our colleagues. Some members of the public are aware that two of our colleagues were not physically present here, I think it will be appropriate for you to make a pronouncement so that the public knows why you still counted 137.ā
In response, the speaker said, āā¦that is why I referred you to Order 114 rule 4, and asked you to read that order, but for the education of the public, I will read that order.
āOrder 114 rule 4 says for members who are incapacitated by some physical infirmity from passing through the lobbies shall upon reporting their incapacitate to the speaker though the clerk, be counted and recorded accordingly in the house.
āWe have some of our members that are incapacitated and what I did was to ask the clerk to go and physically see them, the state of incapacitating, whether they are of sound mind because we are dealing with the decision taken, voting before they can come to testify; which has been done and so they recorded and counted accordingly.ā
Graham Potter, in the opinion of interim Chelsea head coach Bruno Saltar, did anĀ “amazing job” for the team.
Following a loss to Aston Villa on Saturday that sent the team into the bottom half of the Premier League rankings, the Blues severed connections with Potter on Sunday.
Less than seven months had passed since Potter’s hiring at Stamford Bridge, when he succeeded Champions League-winning coach Thomas Tuchel. His departure also followed a major spending binge in the January transfer window.
Potter was finally fired because he was unable to use the talents of Chelsea’s wide range of newcomers and because of a serious goal scoring deficit.
Despite all of that, Potter did an impressive job in west London in the eyes of Bruno.
“I’m here right now because Graham and the club thought that was the right step, I’m here to just try to help the club and be the most professional I can,” he said at a pre-match press conference.
“I’m just trying to keep the process going, to collaborate the best that we can. I think Graham did an amazing job. Football is a really complex business and we have to keep going.
“It’s been really difficult at every single level, you have to deal with the press conference, you have to deal with the players. It’s difficult to deal with it, it’s been a really difficult 12 hours.”
Bruno faces a baptism of fire at Stamford Bridge, with his first game coming against top-four chasing Liverpool, and he expressed his admiration for opposing boss Jurgen Klopp.
“We have to see it as an opportunity for the players. We’re representing Chelsea, a club with amazing history, who are about winning, about dominating,” he added.
“We need to prepare for the game, preparation helps a lot with performance. That’s what players need to focus on.
“Obviously I have pure admiration towards Jurgen. I can’t say anything other than what everyone knows. They’re going through a tough season as well, but have top players.
“We’re expecting a tough game, that’s aggressive because they have high intensity players.”
Ashanti regional minister, Simon Osei Mensa, on Monday, April 3, 2023, failed to give a warm audience to the School Feeding Programme caterers who had picketed at the regional Coordinating Council.
According to reports, the caterers are requesting an increase in the daily charge for each child from 97 pesewas to GHS3.
They claim that because food is so expensive and children only receive an allowance of less than one cedi each day, they are unable to cook nutritious meals for the kids. They assert that a gallon of oil that they used to buy for, say, GHS105 now costs approximately GHS1,000.
Government settled two periods of a three-term debt it had with the caterers two weeks ago.
As a result, the ladies petitioned for their one term in arrears as well as the increase per head.
They demonstrated outside the Regional Coordinating Council’s office, which is located in the same building as the National School Feeding Program’s Ashanti regional secretariat.
It is said that after hearing the chants from the women at the premises, the regional minister, Simon Osei Mensah came out from his office.
āWhy are you making noise? This is a security zone and people are working here, so if you have something to present you should come in a peaceful manner in order not to disturb anyone,ā the minister is said to have stated in Twi.
The women in response said āwe are here to present a petition on our arrears and increment in the fee per head for the children.ā
Mr. Osei Mensah who got infuriated with the response said āif this is what youāre saying then go.ā He snubbed them and walked to his office.
The capital sentence is no longer mandatory in Malaysia, potentially saving the lives of more than 1,300 people who are now on death row.
Since 2018, there hasn’t been any executions in the nation.
Nonetheless, lawmakers unanimously decided to abolish the death penalty as the mandatory punishment for 11 major offenses, including terrorism and murder, on Monday.
Judges will still have the option to apply the death penalty in unusual circumstances.
Yet, for the most heinous offenses, the courts will now impose caning or life sentences of up to 40 years, according to MPs.
The reforms still need to clear the countryās upper house but are widely expected to pass.
Speaking in parliament on Monday, Malaysiaās deputy law minister said capital punishment was irreversible and had not worked as a deterrent to crime.
āThe death penalty has not brought the results it was intended to bring,ā said Ramkarpal Singh.
There are 34 criminal offences punishable by death in Malaysia ā 11 of which before Monday carried the mandatory death penalty.
The new laws once enacted will apply retrospectively, allowing those on death row 90 days to seek a review of their sentences.
There has been a moratorium on executions in Malaysia since 2018
There are currently 1,341 such prisoners in the country, more than 60% of whom had received a mandatory sentence according to an Amnesty International assessment.
The legislative process of overturning the countryās death penalty began last June, when the former government under Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced it would abolish the death penalty as a mandatory punishment.
However Malaysia has been debating abolishing capital punishment for over a decade now. The two critical bills to reform the laws were introduced into parliament last week following a year of political debate.
Rights groups have hailed the reform as a major step forward for Malaysia and the wider South East Asia region, with Human Rights Watch saying it hoped it might influence neighbouring countries.
Last year, neighbouring city-state Singapore executed 11 people for drug trafficking offences.
The military government in Myanmar also handed down its first death sentences in decades, executing four pro-democracy activists.
According to official data, some 1,318 prisoners were hanged between 1992 and 2023 in Malaysia.
The 2023 World Literacy Award has been awardedĀ to an Ivorian digital entrepreneur and smartphone designer, Alain Capo.
The prize’s website states that it “recognizes individuals and organizations for their outstanding endeavors that promote literacy learning” each year.
At least 16 of the Ivory Coast’s languages can be used to communicate on a smartphone created by Alain Capo.
He stated to the news agency Reuters last year that he designed the phone to allow smartphone use for those who are illiterate.
Speaking at the ceremony at Oxford University in the UK, Mr Capo said he felt honoured: “Itās an amazing honour to receive this award and the global acknowledgment of the work in literacy as we increase access to education and literacy for all.”
He also spoke about what drives him: “Iāve seen, first-hand, the inequalities of education worldwide, and it inspired me to step up and make a difference.”
Kwame Ato Asare Ani, one of the suspects involved in the Axim Police attack and currently on the run, has broken his silence over the incident which threatens his freedom.
On April 2, 2023, the Police announced that it has arrested four members of a gang that attacks its officers of the Axim Division Police Patrol team on March 9, 2023.
“Kojo Siah, Emmanuel Mensah, Maxwell Cudjoe and Agyabu Haruna Dissawu were arrested on March 28, 2023, and have been remanded into custody following their first hearing in court. However, the prime suspect ā Kwame Ato Asare Ani is currently at large,” the Police statement noted.
The details of the incident are blur as per the police, a video footage that has come to its attention, showed its officers “pleading with members of the gang” while being accused of extortion.
Reacting to being a wanted man, Kwame Ato Asare Ani, stated that he is the victim in the story.
Speaking with UTV in the local parlance, he explained that the contention with the police officers started when he decided to withhold payment from the officers after taking delivery of GHC100,000 from some illegal miners.
This is because he collects monies from the galamsey operators in the area for the police in exchange for protection from criminals.
Ani stated that he was given GHC20,000, one-fifth of the total amount, therefore felt cheated.
In the viral video, the young man presumed to be Kwame is heard saying that āI had showed you the site and was telling you to drop me off, but you said you were taking me away.ā
āYou were coming for money from the site and we have paid you. So why were you want to still keep me in the vehicle? Where were you taking me?ā he quizzed.
According to the Police, a search conducted at the residence of Asare Ani led to the retrieval of three pump-action shotguns.
āAlso, two machetes and eight BB refilled cartridges were retrieved from the suspectās unregistered Honda CRV vehicle. Other items retrieved from the suspects include two live refilled BB cartridges and one unregistered motorbike,ā the statement added.
In the world of politics, rhetoric is a powerful tool that is often used to sway public opinion and win elections.
It is the art of using language effectively to persuade or influence others, and it is an essential part of any politicianās arsenal.
But to discredit Dr. Bawumiaās credibility on mere political rhetoric is an exercise in futility. This is because rhetoric, in and of itself, is not a reliable indicator of a politicianās credibility.
While it is true that some politicians use rhetoric to manipulate or deceive their audiences, it is equally true that many politicians use it as a means of communicating their ideas clearly and compellingly.
Dr. Bawumia is a politician who has a reputation for being a skilled orator who can connect with his audience on a deep emotional level, using vivid language and powerful *metaphors* to convey his ideas. His speeches are often described as inspiring and motivating, and he has a large following of supporters who are drawn to his charisma and energy.
Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
However, some of Dr. Bawumiaās opponents have criticized him for relying too heavily on rhetoric and not providing enough substance in his arguments.
They argue that his speeches are full of empty promises and vague generalizations and that he lacks the intellectual depth to provide real solutions to the problems facing the country.
While it is true that Dr. Bawumiaās speeches are often heavy on emotion and light on specifics, this does not necessarily mean that he lacks credibility. Many successful politicians throughout history have relied on rhetoric as a means of inspiring their followers and winning elections.
The key to evaluating a politicianās credibility is to look beyond their rhetoric and examine their actions and accomplishments. In the case of Dr. Bawumia, he has a long record of public service and has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of the Ghanaian people.
He has championed causes such as gold for oil, digitization in healthcare delivery, and job creation, and has a track record of getting things done.
US Vice Prez Kamala Harris and Vice President Bawumia
It is worth noting that, Dr. Bawumia has a reputation for being humble and submissive to his compatriots. He has never been involved in any major scandals or controversies and has always been open and forthcoming about his positions and policies.
This kind of integrity is a rare commodity in politics, and it is something that should be valued and appreciated.
In all, while it is important to be critical of politicians and hold them accountable for their actions, discrediting Dr. Bawumiaās credibility based on his political rhetoric is misguided. Rhetoric is a powerful tool that can be used for good or for ill, and it is up to us as party people and as citizens to evaluate a politicianās credibility based on their actions and accomplishments, rather than on the way they present their ideas.
Dr. Bawumia has a long record of public service and a reputation for humbleness and transparency, and these are the qualities that should matter most to us when evaluating his candidacy.
DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s, and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana
Daniil Medvedev defeated Jannik Sinner 7-5, 6-3 in the Miami Open final on Sunday, extending his unblemished record against him to six games.
Together with Felix Auger-Aliassime and Diego Schwartzman, Medvedev now has a 6-0 record against a single opponent after defeating Sinner in the Rotterdam Open final in February. This is the Russian’s greatest record against a single opponent.
With five break point opportunities to Medvedev’s three, Sinner had a fantastic chance to win the opening set. He also played flawless service games with no double faults, while Medvedev committed four.
The 21-year-old Italian could have forced a tiebreaker in the first set, but failed to hold his serve at 6-5 down, and Medvedev capitalised on the momentum to grab an immediate break to start the second frame.
To Sinner’s credit, he snatched the break right back, but Medvedev got another and safely served it out the rest of the way.
The writing was on the wall after the first set, as Medvedev came into the contest a perfect 24-0 this season when securing the opener, and the title is his 16th on hard courts since 2019, two more than second-placed Novak Djokovic (14) over the span.
It is his 19th singles title overall ā at a 19th different tournament ā and after a brief rough patch getting over the line, he has become one of the sport’s great finishers.
From November 2021 through June 2022 he lost five finals in a row, but he has since won six of his past seven, claiming his fifth Masters 1000 crown in the process.
Director of LGBTQ+ Rights Ghana, Alex Kofi Donkor, has rubbished claims that the activities of the LGBTQ community are an abomination since animals do not engage in same-sex activities.
According to him, the comparison which has been made times without number does not hold water as animals are not human beings.
He noted that although members of the LGBTQ community have a different preference when it comes to their sex life, they remain human and ones with rights.
āIt’s funny people make comparisons, that animals are not gays as they claim they donāt see male animals having sex, how can someone do that comparison? Are they in the animal world? How many animals have they studied to come to such baseless conclusions? People should allow people to be,ā he is quoted to have said by MyNewsGH while speaking on Kumasi’s Ultimate FM.
āWe are not animals and it is wrong to compare us to animals. We have rights just like any human being and we must be treated right,ā he stressed.
He questioned the force at which some Ghanaians, particularly, MP for Ningo-Prampram Sam Nartey George, are opposing the LGBTQI community and its activities.
āI hear Sam George speak against us all the time. If he had a son or daughter who wanted to express his sexuality differently would he be doing what he is doing? If he feels he is a lion, he cannot be a lion on us. He has been called Gyata Gyata Gyata and he wants to act his name, not on us then he should go to the forest and do that,ā he said.
Meanwhile, the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament has recommended that the House pass the controversial Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021.
According to the Committee, a majority of Ghanaians are in favour of the legislation.
While admitting that the bill had āsignificant human rights concernsā, the Committee informed the House that it petitioned the Attorney-General for its opinion.
After their 2022/23 Ghana Premier League week 25 match at Nana Agyemang Badu I Field, Tamale City players and their team bus were attacked by Aduana FC supporters in Dormaa.
The home team required a 90+10 minute penalty to win 1-0 and increase their lead at the top of the standings to 44 points, three more than Bechem United in second place.
Just after the game, images of the team’s vandalized bus appeared on social media with a player’s head bandaged.
Tamale city player Issac Mensah hit with a stone in the eyes by Aduana supporters,the player is fighting for his eyes. pic.twitter.com/FNNjyabnHd
There was also a video of the team bus moving while stones were being pelted at them by unknown persons when they were moving out of Dormaa.
Tamale City head coach, Hamza Mohammed, later told 3 Sports their bus was destroyed and players attacked.
āOur bus is destroyed. Aduana FC fans were throwing stones at us,ā he said.
This is the second time in two home games that Aduana FC have played additional ten minutes, also scoring an equalizer in the ninth minute of added time against Real Tamale United a fortnight ago.
AfterĀ a goalless game againstĀ Dreams FC, Hearts of Oak assistant coach David Ocloo is optimistic that his team can win the Ghana Premier League.
In the Theatre of Dreams Park in Dawu on Saturday, the Still Believe team held the Phobians to a scoreless draw.
Although both sides had chances to score goals, they were unable to do so and were forced to settle for a draw.
Hearts of Oak had the majority of the possession and numerous opportunities, but they were unable to penetrate the Dreams FC defense. Ocloo acknowledged that his squad was unlucky not to have won, particularly in the game’s closing moments.
āThis was a game we finished very strongly. Towards the end, you could see that my players were giving their all and were very determined to win it, but unfortunately, we couldnāt score the needed goal,ā Ocloo said.
āI still believe that we can win the GPL.ā
Hearts of Oak are 4th on the Ghana Premier League table with 39 points after 25 matches.
The abrupt acquisition of Credit Suisse by its competitor UBS, the nation’s second-largest bank, is the subject of an inquiry by Swiss authorities.
When concerns about Credit Suisse’s financial situation arose last month, the acquisition was hastily completed.
The Federal Prosecutor of Switzerland announced on Sunday that they would look into any potential “criminal offenses” that may have been committed.
Credit Suisse chose not to respond. We’ve reached out to UBS for comment.
The deal for UBS to buy Credit Suisse was backed by the Swiss government, and was put together rapidly after a weekend of emergency talks between the two banks and the country’s financial regulators.
At the time, the Swiss National Bank said the deal was the best way to restore the confidence of financial markets and to manage risks to the economy.
The takeover came as markets were being rattled by fears over the health of the global financial system following the failures of two smaller US banks.
The deal, when it was announced, valued Credit Suisse at $3.15bn (Ā£2.6bn), whereas on the Friday before the settlement was reached it had been valued at about $8bn.
However, the deal has angered taxpayers and shareholders of both banks, who were deprived of a vote on the takeover. Some have also argued it has damaged Switzerland’s global reputation as a financial centre.
In statement issued on Sunday, Switzerland’s Federal Prosecutor said there were “numerous aspects of events around Credit Suisse” that need to be investigated to identify any possible “criminal offences”.
“The Office of the Attorney General wants to proactively fulfil its mandate and responsibility to contribute to a clean Swiss financial centre and has set up a monitoring system so that it can take action immediately on any issues that fall within its area of responsibility,” it added.
It added it had made contact with “national and cantonal authorities”, and that “investigative orders were also issued”.
Separately, Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported on Sunday that the newly combined UBS-Credit Suisse bank was set to cut its workforce by 20-30%.
The combined bank will have more than 120,000 staff worldwide. The report said about 11,000 jobs could be cut in Switzerland.
After failing to find a buyer, Cineworld hasĀ abandoned ambitions to sell its companies in the US, UK, and Ireland.
The owner of the movie chain also claims to have reached a provisional agreement with creditors to emerge from bankruptcy.
The business, which is the owner of the Picturehouse chain in the UK, disclosed plans to raise $2.26 billion (Ā£1.8 billion) in fresh capital.
In order to escape its $5 billion debt, Cineworld sought US bankruptcy protection last year.
“This agreement with our lenders represents a ‘vote-of-confidence’ in our business and significantly advances Cineworld towards achieving its long-term strategy in a changing entertainment environment,” chief executive Mooky Greidinger said.
The company said it will continue to consider proposals for the sale of its business outside the US, UK and Ireland.
The proceeds of the capital raising will be used to fund the turn around of the business including costs related to the restructuring its debts, Cineworld said in a filing with the US bankruptcy court in the Southern District of Texas.
On Monday morning in London, Cineworld Group shares fell by more than 20%.
It is the world’s second-largest cinema chain by the number of screens, with more than 9,000 screens in almost 750 locations.
Cineworld’s operations span 10 countries – including the UK, the US, Poland and Israel – with approximately 30,000 employees worldwide.
Cinema chains were one of the worst hit industries during the pandemic.
Many cinemas were forced to close for extended periods during the lockdowns, or had to operate at a reduced capacity due to social distancing rules.
Cineworld reported a huge loss for the first six months of 2020 after it was forced to temporarily close some cinemas, and movie studios delayed the release of some blockbuster movies.
The company’s London-traded shares have plunged by more than 90% over the last year as investors fret about its future. Its current stock market value is below Ā£40m ($49.1m).
Cinemas have also been facing tough competition from streaming services, which soared in popularity during the lockdowns.
In 2020, a row broke out when Cineworld and rival AMC, which owns the Odeon Cinemas chain, criticised Universal Pictures for releasing Trolls: World Tour online at a time when cinemas were forced to close because of coronavirus.
Cineworld subsequently signed a deal with Warner Bros to show films in theatres before they are streamed.
More recently, streaming giant Netflix reported a sharp fall in subscribers, as the rising cost of living leads to people cutting back.
After lockdown restrictions eased, cinema chains have seen large audiences drawn by the latest Hollywood blockbusters.
Big box office hits in recent months include Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water and Dungeons & Dragons: Honour among Thieves.
With the unexpected production cuts announced by some of the top exporters in the globe, oil prices have risen.
After increasing by more than 5%, the price of Brent crude oil is now trading above $84 a barrel.
Experts cautioned that escalating oil costs might make lowering living expenses more difficult.
The RAC motoring club, however, stated that it does not anticipate a jump in gasoline prices until the higher oil price is maintained for a number of days.
After Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and numerous Gulf states announced on Sunday that they were reducing output by more than one million barrels of oil per day, Brent crude prices increased.
In addition, Russia said it will extend its cut of half a million barrels per day until the end of the year.
Energy giants BP and Shell saw their share prices rise on Monday, with both rising more than 4%.
Oil prices soared when Russia invaded Ukraine, but are now back at levels seen before the conflict began.
However, the US has been calling for producers to increase output in order to push energy prices lower. A spokesperson for the US National Security Council said: “We don’t think cuts are advisable at this moment given market uncertainty – and we’ve made that clear.”
Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG, warned that the oil price surge could make the battle to bring down inflation harder.
However, she said that rising oil prices won’t necessarily lead to higher household energy bills.
“The energy price cap, that households benefit from, has already been determined using earlier market expectations,” she said. “Plus, when you look at energy use in households, it tends to be more gas-heavy rather than oil.”
There have also been fears that there could be an impact on transport costs, if fuel prices rise.
The RAC said it does not expect this to happen in the short-term.
“Any sudden increase in the cost of oil shouldn’t result in a rise in the UK average price of petrol for a fortnight, unless of course the barrel price stays higher for several days,” RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams told the BBC.
The reduction in output is being made by members of the Opec+ oil producers. The group accounts for about 40% of all the world’s crude oil output.
Saudi Arabia is reducing output by 500,000 barrels per day and Iraq by 211,000. The UAE, Kuwait, Algeria and Oman are also making cuts.
A Saudi energy ministry official said the move was “a precautionary measure aimed at supporting the stability of the oil market”, the official Saudi Press Agency said.
Nathan Piper, an independent oil analyst, told the BBC the move by Opec+ appeared to be an attempt to keep the oil price above $80 a barrel in the medium term, given that demand could be hit by a weakening global economy and sanctions have had a “limited impact” on restricting Russian oil supplies.
At the RPF-16th Inkotanyi’s congress, which got under way on Sunday, Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, was convincingly re-elected as the party’s chairman.
According to a Rwandan national daily, the Rwandan president received 2, 999 votes, or 99.8% of the total, whereas Abdulkarim Harelimana, who came in second place, received just 3 votes, or 0.2%. The party’s supporters were thrilled with the outcome.
“I’m very satisfied with the elections, how it went, the results. Especially the re-election of the President of the Republic and President of the RPF, Paul Kagame, who was re-elected by a very large majority of 99.8 percent,” a member of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, Olivier Mugabonake, said.
Kagame, who has served as president of Rwanda for 22 years, will now lead the Rwandan Patriotic Front for a further five years. He has done so since 1998.
Even the Rwandan Patriotic Front’s Alice Urusaro Karekezi wants him to run for president once more.
“It’s true that it’s the work of all Rwandans who have accompanied him in this. But it’s true that the particular character of his leadership has a lot to do with this success. As far as I am concerned, if he runs for a re-election (to the presidency, ed), yes without hesitation.” Karekez said after the announcement of the result.
On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the ruling party since the end of the genocide, the 2,000 supporters gathered at the congress in Kigali cast their votes on Sunday.
Nigerian Afrobeats singer Davido recently smashed yet another record in his illustrious career by having his most recent album, “Timeless,” receive the most first-day streams of any album ever on Spotify Nigeria and Boomplay.
This has increased the number of achievements the album has already made since Davido announced the arrival of his much awaited fourth studio album on his social media accounts early on Friday morning.
The 17-track album received 4.91 million streams on Spotify Nigeria on the first day of release, breaking Burna Boy’s “Love, Damini” record of 1.36 million streams (July 8, 2022).
The album broke the previous record for the first day of streams on Spotify by 3.61 million streams (4.91 Million streams).
Timeless scored 4.91 million listeners, beating out Burna Boy’s Love, Damini (1.36 million), Wizkid’s More Love, Less Ego (1.21 million), Asake’s Mr Money With The Vibe (992 thousand), Fireboy’s Playboy (524 thousand), Rema’s Rave & -Roses (396 thousand), and Omah Lay’s Guy Alone (335 thousand).
In a similar vein, Davido’s “Timeless” album shatters the record for Boomplay’s greatest first-day streams with 7.25M streams, beating Burna Boy’s “Love, Daminiprevious “‘s record (3.38M).
The album’s opening track, “OVER DEM,” set a platform record on March 31 with 460,000 streams. The song “OVER DEM” by Davido surpasses the previous record for the most streams in a single day for any music on Spotify Nigeria (460K).
The 17-track album includes Nigerian musicians like The Cavemen, Fave, Asake, DMW’s newest artists, Morravey, and Logos Olori, as well as Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo from Benin, rapper Skepta from Nigeria, South African music producer/DJ Musa Keys from South Africa, and Jamaican dancehall/reggae singer Dexta Daps.
The tune “Champion Sound,” which features Focalistic and was made available in 2021, is also included on the album.
In order to allow for bipartisan discussions on the creation of the nation’s election commission, Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga has canceled protests scheduled for Monday.
President William Ruto requested Mr OdingaĀ to call them off and allow for talks.
The opposition has been holding demonstrations twice a week in opposition to rising living expenses, the creation of a new electoral commission, and the validity of the president’s election from the previous year.
President Ruto agreed to one demand and suggested a bipartisan discussion in parliament over the electoral commission’s reorganization.
But his statement did not mention the cost of living. He also asked Mr Odinga to respect the constitution and the Supreme Court, which validated his election last year.
In his speech, Mr Odinga acknowledged the presidentās calls for dialogue and described Mr Rutoās statement as important.
But he warned that protests would resume within one week if the talks did not bear fruit.
The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi), the country’s ruling party, elected its first female vice-chairperson on Sunday as President Paul Kagame kept the chairmanship position.
With 1,945 votes, or around 93% of the total votes cast, Consolee Uwimana won the election.
According to observers, elevating her is the party’s strategy for empowering women and maintaining racial parity in its top leadership.
Up until 2019, Ms. Uwimana, a seasoned banker and businesswoman, served as a senator.
In 2024, Rwanda will have its next round of general elections.
President Kagame has been president of the East African nation since 2000. A controversial referendum in 2015 removed a two-term constitutional limit for presidents.
On Sunday, Mr Kagame got 99.8% of the total votes to retain leadership of the ruling party.
Rwanda has one of the worldās highest proportions of women in parliament and government.
The UN human rights office is “extremely worried about the impact” of plans by the United Kingdom government to send some migrants to Rwanda if they arrive in the country through unlawful routes.
The UK government’s proposals to send certain migrants to Rwanda if they enter the country illegally are still causing the UN human rights office “great worry about the impact,” the office claims.
Suella Braverman, the UK home secretary, has insisted that migrants can travel freely in Rwanda.
She stated on Sunday that she thought the Rwanda policy would have “a significant deterrent effect” so that people wouldn’t travel to the UK over the Channel.
Yet, according to evaluations conducted by the UN agency for refugees, the Rwandan asylum system was “not robust enough,” according to the UN human rights office.
“There are also concerns about respect for the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression in Rwanda. Those concerns do remain today,” spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
“We have a lot of evidence of how these plans [off-shore asylum facilities] go wrong,” she added.
In an effort to remove the African National Party (ANC) as the country’s ruling party in the national elections held next year, the Democratic Alliance, the largest opposition party in South Africa, re-elected John Steenhuisen as its head on Sunday.
In order to defeat his opponent, former Johannesburg executive mayor Mpho Phalatse, who received only 17% of the vote, Mr. Steenhuisen received 83% of the vote.
Over the ensuing three years, he will be the party’s leader.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Steenhuisen said the DA will work with other ālike-minded partiesā ahead of the 2024 elections.
He, however, ruled out working with the ruling ANC and the smaller opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the upcoming elections.
Mr Steenhuisen took over the reins of the party in November 2019 following the resignation of then DA leader, Mmusi Maimane.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will be seeking re-election under ANC – whose popularity has declined in recent years.
A viral video on social media has documented how a group of young men attacked officers of the Axim Police Division patrol team on March 9, 2023.
In the video, a man who appears to be the leader of the group said the police officers failed to let them go after showing them the location of a certain site.
He also claimed that he had paid the police officers some amount of money when they met at a “site”. It is unknown what site is being referred to.
The group blocked the road with motorbikes to prevent the police car some of its members were in from moving. After that, they intimidated the officers, threatening to hit a female officer.
They managed to also take possession of the gun a male police officer was carrying.
Further development
The attention of the Police was drawn to this incident and a team began investigation.
It was until about three weeks after investigation commenced that four members of the gang, Kojo Siah, Emmanuel Mensah, Maxwell Cudjoe and Agyabu Haruna Dissawu were captured. They were arrested on March 28, 2023 and have remanded into custody after appearing before a court of law.
In a press statement dated April 2, the Police administration noted that the issue of “extortion” by the officers has been referred to the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSP) for investigation.
Carlos Alcaraz, the top-ranked player in the world, was defeated by Jannik Sinner 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-2 on Friday, sending Sinner into the Miami Open championship round.
Sinner, 21, is off to a great start in 2023. The Italian has only lost three matches since the Australian Open began, to Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, and Alcaraz.
After a three-hour battle of attrition with Alcaraz, he has finally avenged his loss to Tsitsipas by winning in straight sets at the Rotterdam Open.
In addition, Sinner’s 26 unforced errors were only one fewer than Alcaraz’s 27, but the 19-year-old Spanish player had an uncommon nine double faults. Both players generated exactly 12 break point possibilities. Alcaraz’s 10-match winning streak was broken by the defeat.
The victory gives Sinner his second appearance in the Miami Open final after losing the 2021 edition to Hubert Hurkacz, and he now joins Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as the only players to ever reach the final here twice before turning 22.
Sinner will get a chance to avenge his only other loss this year in the final after Daniil Medvedev booked his spot with a 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-3 victory over Russian compatriot Karen Khachanov.
Incredibly, Khachanov lost despite hitting 53 winners and only 11 unforced errors, and he ended up edging the total point count 93-88, but he could only convert two of his six break point opportunities, while Medvedev converted two out of four.
The win means Medvedev is the first player since Roger Federer in 2019 to reach the final of both the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open in the same season, and he is the first since Federer in 2006 to reach five ATP finals before the clay court season begins.
Rotterdam š Doha š Dubai š Indian Wells š„@MiamiOpen š
In Kostyantynivka, an industrial city close to the troubled Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, at least six civilians have reportedly been killed, according to Ukraine.
According to the head of the presidential staff, Andriy Yermak, 16 apartment complexes and other structures, including a nursery school, were damaged by missiles and rockets.
The city is only 27 kilometers (17 miles) west of Bakhmut, the scene of months of fierce battle that claimed many lives on both sides.
At least eight people were hurt, according to Mr. Yermak, when the Russians used S-300 surface-to-air missiles and Uragan rockets to attack Kostyantynivka.
The city is near Kramatorsk and Slovyansk, two key cities which Russia is striving to capture in order to complete its occupation of Donetsk region. Kostyantynivka’s population before Russia’s February 2022 invasion was about 70,000.
Explosions also rocked Russian-occupied Melitopol on Sunday, the southern city’s Ukrainian mayor Ivan Fedorov said. He said the blasts targeted the rail depot there.
Melitopol has been hit repeatedly by Ukrainian missiles because it is a transport hub for the Russian military, lying just north of Russian-occupied Crimea.
Russian ammunition hunger
On Saturday Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told fellow Russian commanders that steps were being taken to ramp up ammunition production. “The volume of supplies of the most needed ammunition has been determined. Necessary measures are being taken to increase them,” he said.
Independent military analysts have said repeatedly that Russia is running short of precision weapons, after firing so many in the Ukraine war.
Mr Shoigu and the defence ministry have been sharply criticised by Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, who accuses them of depriving his troops of key ammunition. Wagner – officially called a private military company – has suffered heavy losses in the Bakhmut fighting, with convicts released from Russian prisons drafted in to swell the group’s numbers.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky insists that, despite heavy casualties, his forces entrenched in ruined Bakhmut will not surrender the city. The Russians are reported to have made small gains there in recent days.
Bakhmut has little strategic value, but Ukraine has seen it as an important drain on Russia’s military equipment and manpower.
In a Telegram post on Sunday Mr Zelensky praised his compatriots in a message marking a year since Russian forces were expelled from the Kyiv region.
“Ukrainian people! You have stopped the greatest anti-human force of our time. You have stopped a force that despises and wants to destroy everything that gives meaning to people. And we will free all our lands,” he said.
Virgin Orbit, a rocket business owned by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, has announced it will lay off 85% of its employees after failing to get additional funding.
Media sources state that the company will also stop operating for the foreseeable future.
It happens a few weeks after the business temporarily halted operations in an apparent effort to strengthen its finances.
Earlier this year, the first satellite launch from UK soil was aborted by a Virgin Orbit rocket.
Thursday after-hours trading in New York saw a more than 44% decline in the price of the company’s shares.
Virgin Orbit stated that it made the choice “in order to decrease expenses in light of the company’s inability to acquire meaningful funding” in a file with US regulatory authorities.
The job cuts will impact approximately 675 employees who “are located in all areas of the company.”
It said that Sir Richard’s investment firm Virgin Investments has injected $10.9m (Ā£8.8m) into Virgin Orbit “to fund severance and other costs related to the workforce reduction”.
Virgin Orbit said it expects the severance payments and other costs to total around $15m.
It comes amid media reports that the company’s boss has told staff the firm will suspend its activities until further notice.
“We have no choice but to implement immediate, dramatic and extremely painful changes,” Virgin Orbit chief executive Dan Hart said at a meeting with employees, according to CNBC, which first reported the news.
Virgin Orbit did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.
The firm, which was founded in 2017, has not turned a profit as a public company.
It develops rockets to carry small satellites and is part of Sir Richard’s business empire, which includes airline Virgin Atlantic and space tourism company Virgin Galactic.
In January, Virgin Orbit attempted theĀ first ever satellite mission launched from UK soil, which ended in failure.
The company’s LauncherOne rocket – which was launched from the Boeing 747 aircraft Cosmic Girl – reached space but fell short of reaching its target orbit.
The mission was billed as a milestone for UK space exploration. It was hoped it would mark a major step forward in fulfilling an ambition to turn the country into a global player – from manufacturing satellites to building rockets and creating new spaceports.
Earlier this month,Ā Virgin Orbit said it was “initiating a company-wide operational pause”Ā and “anticipates providing an update on go-forward operations in the coming weeks.”
Petra Kvitova defeated Elena Rybakina to win the Miami Open by a score of 7-6 (16-14) 6-2, ending Rybakina’s impressive run in the United States.
The 33-year-old, two-time grand slam champion Kvitova deprives rising star Rybakina of the Sunshine Double by becoming the second-oldest Miami champion.
Despite being in incredible shape and having just won the Indian Wells Open, Rybakina was unable to find her rhythm on Saturday.
Kvitova gained momentum in the second set after winning the first one in a drawn-out tie-break, cruising to a 5-2 lead before breaking to win it with a long forehand from Rybakina.
“It feels unbelievable. I’m 33, and it’s my 30th title, so I’m very happy,” Kvitova told Amazon Prime Sport.
“I didn’t think, that was the key. Elena didn’t lose a tie-break [this season]. I thought, well, she has to lose at some time. I had to be a bit more aggressive, it was a bit of a struggle. I was a bit nervous, yes.
“I would have laughed [if someone told me I was going to win]Ā but it feels great for sure. Nobody expected this, not me, not my team. I’m happy I’m injury free and, oh my God, I made it.”
Kvitova is the second woman to win the singles title in Miami after turning 33, following Serena Williams in 2015.
Indeed, only Serena Williams (68), Justine Henin (42), Venus Williams (40), Kim Clijsters (40) and Maria Sharapova (36) have more WTA singles title to their name in the 21st century than the Czech.
Rybakina, meanwhile, will lament the chance of a Sunshine Double going begging.
The 23-year-old is the fourth player to fail to win the Sunshine Double in Miami’s final after Serena Williams (1999), Lindsay Davenport (2000) and Sharapova (2006 and 2013).
“I want to congratulate Petra for a great two weeks here in Miami, and good luck for the rest of the year,” said Rybakina. “Thank you to my team, we’ll keep going.”
The Ghana Police Service has arrested four members of a gang that attacked its officers belonging to the Axim Divisional Police patrol team in the Western Region on March 9, 2023.
These individuals are reported to have seized the magazine of a Service rifle together with some mobile phones of the police.
They were only arrested about three weeks after an intelligence operation was launched by the security agency.
Kojo Siah, Emmanuel Mensah, Maxwell Cudjoe and Agyabu Haruna Dissawu were arrested on March 28, 2023, and have been remanded into custody following their first hearing in court. However, the prime suspect – Kwame Ato Asare Ani is currently at large.
In a statement dated April 2, the Police revealed that a search conducted at the residence of Asare Ani led to the retrieval of three pump-action shotguns.
“Also, two machetes and eight BB refilled cartridges were retrieved from the suspect’s unregistered Honda CRV vehicle. Other items retrieved from the suspects include two live refilled BB cartridges and one unregistered motorbike,” the statement added.
The Police have pledged that its officers are working to capture Kwame Ato Asare Ani.
Meanwhile, there appears to be a twist as the suspects have accused the police officers they had attacked of extortion.
Per the police, a video footage that has come to its attention, showed its officers “pleading with members of the gang” while being accused of extortion.
According to the Assistant Commissioner of Police Director, Public Affairs, Grace Ansah-Akrofi, the matter has been referred to the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSP) for investigation.
The UK’s most recent statistics show that house values dropped in March at their highest annual rate in 14 years.
The lender reported that prices had dropped 3.1% from a year earlier, which is the biggest yearly fall since July 2009.
Following the turmoil in the financial markets that followed the mini-budget, The Nationwide claimed that the housing market reached a “turning point” last year.
“Activity has been subdued” ever then, it was added.
“It will be hard for the market to regain much momentum in the near term, since consumer confidence remains weak and household budgets remain under pressure from high inflation,” said Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist.
A drop in house prices would generally be welcomed by potential first-time buyers, who have watched property values surge, even during the pandemic.
However, the reality is thatĀ renting has become more expensiveĀ for many people, and mortgage rates are higher than they might have planned for. The continuing rise in many regular bills and food prices are also adding to the financial strain.
The Nationwide’s findings, based on its own lending data, suggest prices have now fallen for seven months in a row. This echoes the general conclusion of other house price surveys and commentary, which show a slowdown in the sector and falling prices.
In March, the Office of Budget Responsibility – which advises the government on the health of the economy – predicted that house prices will drop by 10% between their peak last year and the middle of next year.
The Nationwide said that prices were already 4.6% below their peak, after taking seasonal factors into account.
Alice Haine, analyst at investment platform Bestinvest, said: “What is clear is that the red-hot property market of pandemic days – when buyers snapped up bigger homes in the race for space, aided by temporary stamp duty incentives – is now behind us, with buyers and lenders taking a far more conservative approach towards home ownership.”
Concern over mortgage rates is a major factor in the slowdown in the sector. Rates surged after last year’s mini-budget during the short-lived Liz Truss government.
Although the rates have dropped back partially since, a succession of base rate rises by the Bank of England have fed through – so interest rates on home loans are higher now than people became accustomed to in the past decade.
Although the UK’s housing market is made up of a series of local property sectors, the Nationwide’s regional breakdown for the first three months of the year suggested a slowdown across all areas of the country.
After Inter’s 1-0 loss to Fiorentina on Saturday, Simone Inzaghi expressed his annoyance with Romelu Lukaku’s difficulties in front of goal.
Giacomo Bonaventura’s crucial header in the second half at San Siro increased Inter’s losing record in Serie A to its worst in six years.
The Nerazzurri have now dropped three straight matches in the top division, with Lukaku’s terrible miss coming just before Bonaventura’s game-winning goal.
While representing Belgium at the international level, Lukaku found his scoring touch again, but he was unable to carry that success over to his club team as he missed a close-range shot with the goal gaping.
No Inter player had more shots than his three, with Lukaku not managing to get any of them on target, despite accumulating 1.2 expected goals.
While not pinning the blame entirely on Lukaku ā who is reported to have confronted Inzaghi about a lack of opportunities while he has been fit this season ā Inter’s coach was quick to point out the importance of those misses.
Speaking to DAZN, Inzaghi said: “If he had scored those chances, Lukaku’s performance would be judged in a very different way.
“His role is to create the opportunities, make the movements that the team needs.
“He wasn’t the only one who had chances today, so I wouldn’t focus only on Romelu.”
Inzaghi also stressed he is ultimately responsible for turning Inter’s fortunes around.
“There is great disappointment, we lost two consecutive home matches,” he said. “We need to work more, starting with me.
“At the moment, we need to be more determined, because we had so many chances to score and we should have done.
“I cannot ask for more in terms of effort, as the players did everything I asked of them.”
Inzaghi is not wrong. While Fiorentina had more shots (19 to 16) and got the same number of attempts on target (three each), Inter finished with a 2.8 xG compared to the visitors’ 1.2, suggesting the quality of opportunities that went their way was far greater.
Lukaku’s glaring miss came from by far the best opportunity of the match, with Opta’s model estimating the chance would be converted 92 per cent of the time (0.92 xG).
The 29-year-old’s future is uncertain. He is on loan at Inter, but due to return to parent club Chelsea at the end of the season.
Before the match, Inter chiefĀ Giuseppe Marotta told DAZN: “[Lukaku’s]Ā love for the Inter jersey is 10 out of 10, we’ll evaluate the prospects with Chelsea.”
Iranian authorities have detained two women after they were beaten with yogurt, ostensibly for not covering their hair in public.
In the viral video, a man approaches two female customers and starts conversing with them.
He then furiously throws what looks to be a tub of yogurt over their heads after grabbing it from a shelf.
According to Iran’s judiciary, the two women were imprisoned because it is against the law to display one’s hair in Iran.
Also, the individual was detained for upsetting the peace, it said.
The arrests come after months of demonstrations calling for an end to the requirement that women wear the hijab (headscarf).
The footage shows the women in the shop, waiting to be served by a member of staff. A man who looks to be passing by then walks in to confront them.
After he speaks, he repeatedly attacks them with yoghurt. The attacker is then pushed out of the shop by the shopkeeper.
Arrest warrants were issued and the three were subsequently arrested, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.
It added that “necessary notices” have been issued to the owner of the shop to ensure compliance with the law.
Not wearing the hijab in public is illegal for women in Iran, however in big cities, many walk around without it despite the rules.
Anger and frustration with the law have driven dissent in Iranian society.
Protests spread across the Islamic Republic in September following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman detained by morality police in Tehran for allegedly wearing her hijab “improperly”.
The protests widened, but they remained rooted in the issue of the hijab.
Thousands have been arrested andĀ four protesters have been executedĀ since December. But the authorities show no sign of relenting.
One hardline Iranian MP, Hossein Ali Haji Deligani,Ā has issued an ultimatumĀ to the judiciary to come up with measures to put a stop to the flouting of the rules within the next 48 hours.
And on Saturday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated that Iranian women should wear the hijab as a “religious necessity”.
“Hijab is a legal matter and adherence to it is obligatory,” he said in quotes cited by AFP news agency.
According to a humanitarian organization, the Taliban are now holding three British people hostage in Afghanistan.
One of the males was identified by Scott Richards of the Presidium Network as Kevin Cornwell, a 53-year-old Middlesbrough resident.
According to Mr. Richards, Mr. Cornwell and a different nameless guy were both detained in January. He stated that on a different day, a third man was also taken into custody.
The home secretary stated that the men were “the subject of discussions” by the administration.
Speaking to Sky News, Suella Braverman said: “Anyone travelling to dangerous parts of the world should take the utmost caution. If they are going to do that they should always act on the advice of the Foreign Office travel advice.
“If there are risks to people’s safety, if they’re a British citizen abroad, then the UK government is going to do whatever it takes to ensure that they’re safe.
“The government is in negotiations and working hard to ensure people’s safety is upheld.”
The Foreign Office said it was working hard to contact the men.
The Presidium Network is a UK-based non-profit organisation that provides support to communities in crisis, representing the needs of people affected by violence or poverty to international policy makers.
Mr Richards confirmed the organisation is representing Mr Cornwell, a paramedic who works for a charity, and the second unnamed man but not the third British national.
Mr Richards said while there were “no official charges as such”, the two men’s detention on 11 January was understood to be over a weapon in a safe in Mr Cornwell’s room, which he said was stored with a licence issued by the Afghan interior ministry.
“That license is missing,” he said, adding: “But we have taken several statements from witnesses who have seen the licence and affirm its existence.
“It is perfectly possible that during the search the licence was separated from the weapon and, as such, why we refer to this scenario as a probable misunderstanding.”
The third man is understood to be Miles Routledge, 23, from Birmingham, who wasĀ evacuated from Afghanistan by British Armed ForcesĀ in August 2021.
Image caption,Miles Routledge said previously he travelled to Afghanistan as he enjoys “dark” and “extreme” tourism
The former Loughborough University student has attracted attention by travelling to dangerous countries and posting about it on social media.
He previously shared that he chose Afghanistan because he enjoyed “dark” and “extreme” tourism.
Following his extraction from the country less than two years ago, he told the BBC he was “exhausted but relieved” and thanked the British Army who had been deployed to support the evacuation of UK nationals from Kabul.
Mr Richard told Sky News: “To our knowledge and awareness, we do believe they are in good health and being well treated.
“We have no reason to believe they’ve been subject to any negative treatment such as torture and we’re told that they are as good as can be expected in such circumstances.”
He added that there has been “no meaningful contact” between authorities and the two men Presidium is assisting.
