More than 10,000 passengers who fly with Air New Zealand in June are being asked to weigh themselves before boarding the aircraft.
As part of a requirement from the nation’s Civil Aviation Authority, the airline plans to conduct a month-long survey to guarantee “the safe and efficient operation of the aircraft.”
It’s crucial for pilots to be aware of the weight and balance of the laden aircraft in order for planes to perform their defying of gravity work.
Currently, airlines use ‘assumed mass’, estimating the total weight of the passengers by using set figures.
Passengers will be asked to step on the scales before borading an Air New Zealand flight in June (Picture: AP)
Each passenger is typically assumed to weigh 88 kg; or 93 kg for men and 75 kg for women.
But every so often, the airline checks in to see if the average weight of passengers has changed. The last time Air New Zealand weighed its passengers was in 2021, and the airline is looking to update its figures now that international travel has resumed post-pandemic.
If a pilot knows the plane is carrying less weight than the assumed mass, they can load less fuel accordingly, increasing the safety and cutting the environmental harm caused by each flight.
Although some passengers may be hesitant to step on the scales, Air New Zealand has assured fliers that the data will remain anonymous and will not be visible to any passengers or airline staff.
‘We know stepping on the scales can be daunting. We want to reassure our customers that there is no visible display anywhere. No one can see your weight – not even us. It’s completely anonymous,’ said Alastair James, Air New Zealand’s load control improvement specialist.
‘It’s simple, it’s voluntary, and by weighing in, you’ll be helping us to fly you safely and efficiently, every time.’
Mr James explained that before each take-off the pilot needs to know the weight and balance of the loaded aircraft.
‘We weigh everything that goes on the aircraft, from the cargo to the meals onboard, to the luggage in the hold. For customers, crew and cabin bags, we use average weights, which we get from doing this survey.’
Nick Brasier, chief operating officer of British tech start-up Fuel Matrix previously told the Independent that airlines currently load about 1 per cent more fuel than they need. Consequently, they burn up to 0.5 per cent more fuel in carrying the surplus.
Though it might sound small, the fuel savings are significant when totted up. Since airlines spend an estimated £160 billion on fuel every year, the potential saving is up to £802 million.
Any reduction in fuel usage could also have a significant impact on lessening the airline’s carbon footprint- a Boeing 747 carries 240,000 litres of jet fuel and burns through it at a rate of four litres per second.
The airline said the survey began this week and will run through July 2.
The children were among 13 members of the same household that passed away after contracting acute food illness in Namibia.
Authorities think the porridge turned hazardous when it was combined with a fermenting byproduct of a home-brewed alcoholic beverage.
It’s believed that at least 20 family members ate the poisonous porridge.
Three girls, age 6, and two other females, age 3 and 12, together with four boys, ages 2, 9, 13, and 14, all died in hospitals.
The adult victims were as old as 33, according to the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation.
Namibia’s Ministry of Health and Social Services confirmed the devastating incident happened in the Kavango East region in the far northeast of the African country on Saturday.
Eight people remain in hospital, with five of those in a critical condition.
A spokesman for the country’s ministry of health said: ‘It is reported that members of a household consumed a poisonous/toxic porridge made with pearl millet mahangu flour and added dried and pounded fermented sediment from homemade beverage/beer, locally known as mundevere.’
The ministry says it conveys its ‘deepest sympathy and condolences to the bereaved family’, who live in the village of Kayove in the Nyangana district.
They added: ‘All the patients are being monitored closely. Additional blood samples were also taken for alcohol poisoning testing.
‘The Ministry of Health and Social Services has deployed a team of social workers to provide psychosocial support and counselling to the bereaved family.
‘Officials from the ministry will provide health education to members of the community on food preparation practices and the dangers of mixing food with potentially contaminated materials.’
Earlier this year, a dad spoke of how he was almost paralysed after eating a curry that gave him catastrophic food poisoning.
A guy who fatally knifed his brother after an incident at Lidl has been sentenced to prison.
At their home in Waverley Road, Small Heath, in south-east Birmingham, last year, Lenville Waite fatally stabbed his elder brother Clifton.
The family reportedly quarrelled that day over a news report that featured a picture of Lenville and linked him to an attack on a security guard at a Lidl. Derby Crown Court was informed of this.
At one stage, the brothers left the property separately but resumed the quarrel after they had both returned.
‘There was some confrontation, probably nothing to do with that, about a fan,’ Judge Shaun Smith KC told the 59-year-old defendant.
‘Going back to what you told the police your brother would find fault in quite a few things to start an argument. During the course of that the Lidl incident got brought up again.
‘Your brother said you could not do to him what you did to the Somalian, in reference to the security guard knocked to the floor at the shop. Your temper clearly just went at that moment in time.’
Previously, Lenville had again used a knife to scare his sibling during arguments, the court heard.
The judge added: ‘I accept initially you picked up the knife in the way you picked it up previously.
‘But when your brother was not having that, when he was not going to desist as he had done previously and started wrestling you, that is when you decided, albeit momentarily, you were not going to use it to threaten him, you were going to use it to stab him and you did stab him.
‘And it went in the wrong place as far as he is concerned. It could have gone anywhere. It did not. He died very, very quickly.’
After the 61-year-old’s death, Lenville went on the run, first staying at a homeless shelter in Birmingham city centre.
He then travelled to Coventry where he bought new clothes from Primark before he was arrested.
Lenville told police he was ‘glad it is all over’ when he was arrested and was said to give a ‘consistent’ account of the background to the attack over the course of nine interviews.
The judge concluded the offence was ‘aggravated’ by the use of a knife but he accepted he had not premediated the killing and had an intention to cause ‘really serious harm’ but not an ‘intention to kill’.
Following a trial, Lenville was found guilty of murder, and was today sentenced to life with a minimum term of 17 years.
Former Trade and Industry Minister, Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen will pick his nomination forms for the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP)’s flagbearership contest today, Wednesday, May 31, 2023.
According to sources, a delegation will pick up the forms on his behalf at the party’s headquarters.
The NPP will elect its flagbearer for the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections in November and so far 11 aspirants have declared their intention to contest for the position.
However, since Friday, May 26 when nominations opened, seven persons have so far picked the nomination forms which cost GHs 50,000.
These include Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, a former Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, a former General Secretary of the party, Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, a former MP for Mampong, Francis Addai-Nimoh, a former Agriculture Minister, Dr Owusu Afryie Akoto, Energy Analyst, Kwadwo Poku.
Meanwhile, the filing fee has been pegged at GH¢300,000.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has justified its decision to adjust tariffs in the second quarter of 2023.
According to the commission, the move is needed to sustain the operations of the various companies in the production and distribution chain of electricity.
“The second quarter tariff decision of 18.36% for electricity helps to fully recover 100% of the inflationary effect, 100% of the gas price effect and 50% of the exchange rate effect” the commission said in a statement.
The PURC adjusted tariff for the second Quarter Tariff Decision of the Commission, which is expected to take effect from June 1, 2023 .
Explanation of the June 1st, 2023 Quarterly Tariff Adjustment
With the recently announced quarterly tariff decision, the electricity utilities are to recoup an amount of GHS1.3149 billion over the next quarter. This is to help purchase fuel to generate power, transmit, distribute and continuously serve consumers. To recover the full amount, electricity tariffs should have been increased by 27.51%. However, given the approved tariff of 18.36%, an amount of GHS877.70 million will be recovered, leaving a balance of GHS437.22 million to be recovered. On the other hand, the amount to be recovered through the water tariff is GHS 650,267,161 million.
This brings us to the reasons for the recoveries. In other words, what and why are we recovering?
The first is the price of natural gas.
In the first quarter tariff decision, Jubilee Oil Field contributed 32.7% of gas, Sankofa contributed approximately 51.8%, while Nigeria Gas (N-Gas) contributed 15.1%. Gas from the Jubilee Field was priced at USD 0.5/mmbtu, Sankofa was at USD 6.6272/mmbtu, while N-Gas was priced at USD 8.1510/mmbtu in the weighted average cost of gas (WACOG).
For the second quarter tariff decision, the contribution of Jubilee Field reduced marginally to 32.2%, whiles Sankofa increased to 53.9%. This reflects changes in the quantity of Natural Gas received from both fields.
The price of N-Gas on the other hand, increased from USD 8.1510/mmbtu to USD 8.6641/mmbtu, reflecting an upward change in price.
The overall implication is that the weighted average cost of gas which was USD 6.0952/mmbtu in the first quarter now increased to USD 6.5165/mmbtu in the second quarter. representing an increase of 6.9%.
Since gas prices are a pass-through cost, it is imperative that we should pay the gas price differential to enable the power producers to generate enough power for consumption. Thus, the percentage increase of 6.9% had to be passed through the tariff.
The second variable is the Exchange Rate.
The projected exchange rate used for the first quarter tariff decision (that is February to April) was GHS 8.6816 to the USDollar. Meanwhile, the actual exchange rate for that same period was GHS 10.9507 to the US Dollar. This led to an exchange rate under-recovery of GHS 2.2690.
It is important to note that all Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) are denominated in US Dollars. This means ECG buys power in US Dollars, but sells in Ghana Cedis. The implication is that any under-recoveries with the exchange rate threatens the utility’s ability to procure and sell power. This also threatens the ability of the power generators to procure fuel for generation. Thus, the exchange rate has to be recovered.
Additionally, the Commission only passed on 75% of the exchange rate under-recovery, which was experienced between September 2022 and January 2023 in the first quarter tariff decision. The remaining 25% which is equivalent to GHS 0.6202 had to be recovered. This means that for the second quarter tariff decision, that 25% equivalent to GHS 0.6202 from September 2022 to January 2023 period plus the previous quarter under-recovery of GHS 2.2690 has to be recovered.
The Commission however, considered the present economic circumstances of Ghanaians and Industry, and decided to recover the GHS 0.6202 under-recovery from September 2022 to January 2023 period, plus 50% of the GHS 2.2690, which is GHS1.1345 under-recovery of the previous quarter, which comes up to GHS 1.7547 (1.1345+0.6202) to be recovered.
Finally, the projected exchange rate for the next quarter (June to August) is GHS 10.9571 to the US Dollar. If the under-recovery of GHS 1.7547 of the previous quarter is added to the projected exchange rate of GHS 10.9571, the applicable exchange rate amounts to GHS 12.7118 to the US Dollar. Since only 50% of the exchange rate effect is being recovered, it means, an equivalent of GHS 437 million has been effectively passed on to the next quarter.
The third variable for consideration is the Hydro-Thermal mix.
The hydro-thermal mix used for the second quarter is 29.01% for hydro, and 70.99% for thermal; as against 26.11% for hydro and 73.89% for thermal used for the first quarter tariff decision. The increased hydro allocation of 29.01% helped to reduce the potential tariff by about 2.5%. This means that without the increased hydro allocation, the tariff would have gone up by an additional 2.5%.
The final variable is Inflation.
The projected inflation figure for the year, was 42.63%. If this figure is divided into four quarters, that amounts to an inflation rate of 10.66% per quarter.
The average actual inflation for the first quarter was 50.47%. Again, if this is divided by four, we get an inflation figure of 12.62%. This means that the inflation effect for the second quarter will be 12.62% – 10.66% which is 1.96. This figure is that which was considered in the second quarter tariff decision.
Media personalityDeloris-Frimpong-Manso popularly known as Delay has caused a stir on social media after claiming there is nothing wrong with wearing cheap clothes.
Known for speaking her mind and living in her truth regardless of what people think, she wrote on her Twitter page; ‘Wearing unbranded clothes and cheap clothes doesn’t mean you’re poor, remember you have a family to feed, not a community to impress‘
Following her claim, some fans are dragging her for wearing cheap Togo clothes.
Delay always looks simple with mild makeup in all her photos. She doesn’t really go the extra mile to spend too much money on her looks.
Perhaps that is why some fans believe she wears cheap clothes.
Meanwhile, Delay recently revealed at a mentorship program that she came from nothing to a hero and attained financial freedom.
Ghanaian musician, Ofori Amponsah is urging Ghanaians to redirect their attention from investing in the deceased to celebrating the living.
Mr. All4Real who was a special guest on Onua Showtime with Mcbrown, shared his thoughts on the importance of acknowledging and appreciating artists during their lifetime, rather than waiting until they are no longer with us.
With a remarkable 25-year journey in showbiz set to be commemorated in 2024, Ofori Amponsah expressed his preference for honouring individuals during their lifetime rather than attending funerals, believing that genuine celebration should happen in the present moment.
“Sometimes people want you to die before they celebrate you and say oh as for this guy he was good. I really don’t like funerals that much, so I rarely attend,” he shared.
According to the ‘Otoolege’ crooner, it is important to extend a helping hand to others whiles the are alive instead of waiting for them to depart from this world before offering support.
“I believe in celebrating the living. If someone wants a cup of water, offer it to them, don’t wait for them to leave this earth before you go and buy stuff for their funeral,” he admonished.
As Ofori Amponsah approaches the milestone of 25 years in the entertainment industry in 2024, his call for celebrating the living takes on even greater significance, especially at a time when many veterans have been neglected t,o their fate and only celebrated after their death.
Ghanaian radio presenter Captain Smart has encouraged DJ Azonto to remain undeterred by public criticism regarding his clothing choices.
DJ Azonto has been slammed by some netizens for his style of dressing, especially when he wore a female dress on the red carpet of this year’s Vodafone Ghana Music Awards.
A viral video circulating shows Ghanaian radio presenter Captain Smart advising DJ Azonto about the way he should go about his craft despite the backlash in the entertainment industry.
Captain Smart told DJ Azonto not to be discouraged by the negative comments from the public and to continue to express himself through his fashion choices.
He said that DJ Azonto should not be ashamed of his style or explain himself to anyone and should continue to wear whatever fits his brand.
Captain Smart opined that people should be able to express themselves through their fashion choices without fear.
On the other hand, DJ Azonto has been relentless in churning out bangers over the past few months, dropping some hits including Fa No Fom, “Enfa Bi Da,” “Kaba Ne Skirt,” “Add Wale,” “Ampe,” “Wagaashi,” and “One Prayer ft. Lil Win, among others.
He was recently nominated for Best New Artiste at this year’s Ghana Music Awards USA and Discovery of the Year at the Ghana Entertainment Awards USA.
Six people have died over the holiday weekend, including a 26-year-old man who was killed in a ‘life-threatening’ jet ski accident in front of beachgoers.
Around 6 o’clock yesterday evening, emergency services were called to Worthing Beach, which is located around 10 miles west of Brighton.
The man was rushed to the hospital in a “life-threatening” condition, according to the ambulance service, and the coast guard reported that his jet ski capsized while he was out at sea.
The man passed away at the hospital later that evening, Sussex Police reported Metro.co.uk.
‘Emergency services responded to a report of a medical incident in the sea at Worthing beach, shortly before 6pm on Monday, May 29,’ a spokesperson said.
‘A 26-year-old man was taken to hospital, where sadly he was later declared deceased.
The man was ‘separated’ from his jet ski, the coastguard said (Picture: Sussex News and Pictures)
‘His next of kin have been informed. There were no suspicious circumstances. A report will be prepared for HM Coroner.’
A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesperson told Metro.co.uk: ‘HM Coastguard, Sussex Police, South East Ambulance Service and an air ambulance responded to reports of a man separated from his jet ski off Goring-by-Sea yesterday, 29 May.
‘At around 6pm, a Coastguard Rescue Team from Littlehampton and a lifeboat from Littlehampton RNLI were sent to the scene.’
South East Ambulance Service said paramedics were called to Littlehampton Boat Station at 6pm.
‘Ambulance crews attended and were joined at the scene by the Kent, Surrey, Sussex Air Ambulance Service,’ the spokesperson confirmed.
‘A man was taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition.’
The incident came only a day after a paddleboarder in Worthing died after suffering a medical incident in the water.
At about 5:40pm on Sunday, as the south coast wound down after a day of sweltering 24°C sun, a man in his 70s was treated by ambulance workers.
He was later pronounced dead at the scene.
At least four other people died across the bank holiday weekend, including a swimmer during the Swansea Triathlon and two men at Torbay, Devon.
Ghanaian musician Mr. Drew has confirmed that incorporating dance challenges into his artistic practice has become an integral aspect of his craft.
In an interview with Amansan Krakye, he said, “As for me I have always been for dance and I have always been championing dance challenges.
“When you observe carefully, you’ll realize that all the way from the Covid time, I started doing dance challenges with my younger brother,” he stated on Cape Coast-based Property FM.
He established that he forms a part of Ghanaian musicians whose craft is associated with dance, as a marketing tool.
“So as for me everyone knows that when Mr Drew drops a song a dance challenge will surely follow and I always love to attach dance to my music.
“If the song is danceable why not there is no problem so the dance challenge is ongoing and even today I posted one which is viral with the lookalikes so as for the dance definitely that’s what we do,” Mr Drew ended.
Michael Collins Ajereh, a Nigerian producer and singer popularly known as Don Jazzy, has expressed his acceptance of a partner who engages in infidelity, as long as she respects his inclination towards polygamy.
According to the Mavin boss, he is not a one-man-one-woman kind of man, adding that he cannot stop being attracted to other women simply because he is in a relationship.
He said this in an interview with media personality, Chinedu Ani Emmanuel, popularly known as Nedu.
“I don’t mind if my girl sleeps with another man; so far, she has let me have many girlfriends.
“I’m not the type of man who will stay with one woman; I don’t know how some men manage to do it, because if my girlfriend has beautiful female friends, I will feel like dating them all.
“I’m someone who likes beautiful women; it’s always difficult to take my eyes off them,” Don Jazzy said.
A man who stalked his ex 130 miles before trying to behead her has been jailed for life after murdering her.
Dennis Akpomedaye, 30, was given a minimum term of 29 years for the murder of 21-year-old Polish student Anna Jedrkowiak, known as Ania, in Ealing, west London in May last year.
Judge Rajeev Shetty, sentencing at Kingston Crown Court, said the attack was ‘ferocious and savage.’
He added: ‘There is no mitigation here, there is no evidence of a mental disorder or disability.’
Akpomedaye tried to behead Anna Jedrkowiak just after midnight on May 17 last year, a court heard.
Dennis Akpomedaye, 29, denied murder but was still convicted (Picture: Met Police)
Ania, who had moved from Newport, in south Wales, to the capital to continue her studies, was walking home from the restaurant she worked at with her new boyfriend.
When they got to Roberts Alley, in south Ealing, west London, Akpomedaye used a large kitchen knife to saw at Ania’s neck and ‘stabbed her several times in the stomach’, her partner said.
This was ‘an apparent attempt to decapitate her’, prosecutor Deanna Heer KC previously told Kingston Crown Court. Paramedics were called but ‘it was not possible to save her life’.
Akpomedaye ran away and was arrested 22 hours after he approached an ambulance worker to complain about an open wound to his fingers – which he claimed had been caused by a pitbull.
The murder weapon was found in a pond in nearby Gunnerbury Park. Also found were his and Ania’s mobile phones and a photo frame with a picture of them together.
During the trial, it came out that he had travelled to London Victoria on May 15 and then made his way to the restaurant where Ania worked.
But she was not there and CCTV footage shows him pacing back and forth outside the venue with his face covered by a scarf. He then went to her home and ended up spending hours riding buses around Ealing.
The next day, at 8pm, he bought a £4.99 knife from a local shop and paced outside Ania’s workplace again.
When she and her new boyfriend left to head home, Akpomedaye followed them while wearing a balaclava and launched his terrifying attack.
Michelle Gbagonah, more commonly known as Shatta Michy, has openly acknowledged that providing for all the needs of her son with Shatta Wale is not an easy task. Nevertheless, she finds immense happiness in ensuring that little Majesty is never deprived of anything in life.
The single mother in an interview on Showtym with Andy Dosty alleged that the father of her only child has made no effort in seeing their child.
“When it comes to seeing the boy, you (Shatta) haven’t made that effort. I on the other side am taking everything cool. It is one of those things. I am not preventing him. He knows my house and phone numbers, I heard him say that I blocked his calls but my other number is online, everybody knows it..strangers even call me,” she said.
Michy who described herself as a hardworking woman was quick to deny rumours of keeping Majesty away from his father following their messy breakup.
The singer-turned-television presenter mentioned that Shatta has failed to engage her in what she termed as “proper and matured communication” when it comes to their son.
“My son hasn’t shown any sign of missing his father (Shatta Wale). We don’t have discussions and so I can not tell. My son is quite satisfied in life and I don’t think he has a reason to look for that, you know. Proper communication is what’s stopping him from seeing his son. Matured communication is what he’s lacking, there is more to do on that side,” Michy opened up to Andy Dosty when asked about the bond between father and son.
Just like many single mothers, assuming the role of a father doesn’t come easy but this Ghanaian woman is willing to do everything to secure a brighter future for her child.
“I don’t want to fuel his topic but taking care of my child makes me fulfilled in life and so if I have to do it, I will. I thank god, I don’t have to beg to feed my child…it doesn’t come easy. I have about three streams of income and I am still looking for more. The bills get bigger by the way but I am also trying to devise ways,” Michy added.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is justifying why embattled former lawmaker for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson should not be treated differently when former lawmaker for Bawku Central, Adamu Dramani Sakande faced the same fate.
According to the National Organiser of the NPP, Lawyer Henry Nana Boakye, Mr. Quayson had the opportunity to make his case at the High Court through to the Supreme Court, and not for once did he convince any of the judges he was deserving of staying in parliament.
He is at a loss as to why the NDC, whose Attorney General prosecuted Adamu Sakande, is waging an emotional campaign in Assin North because the same courts have applied the law to remove Gyakye Quayson as MP.
Read his full argument below;
In July 2012, Ghanaians woke up to the shocking news that Mr. Adamu Dramani Sakande, NPP MP for Bawku Central, had been convicted and sentenced to jail for two years for falsely declaring under oath he had renounced his UK Citizenship. The NDC celebrated the decision as unprecedented and a triumph of the rule of law
Today, the same NDC, whose Attorney General prosecuted Adamu Sakande, is waging an emotional campaign in Assin North because the same courts have applied the law to remove Gyakye Quayson as MP.
For the record, Mr. Quayson had the opportunity to make his case at the High Court through to the Supreme Court, and not for once did he convince any of the judges he was deserving of staying in parliament. His criminal trial is underway, and he still has every opportunity to defend himself.
The leadership of the NDC, as usual, has failed to take responsibility for their incompetence in undertaking requisite due diligence before the 2020 elections; and rather, has diverted blame to the Court that applied the law in equal measure in 2012 and 2023. In the end, Mr. Quayson would be the only one to personally suffer criminal sanctions despite the NDC’s leadership and its legal team being responsible for the tardy handling of the legal issues.
Our laws, like our justice system, are non-discriminatory and blind to parties or persons. Let the NDC blame their leaders for their indolence and spare residents of Assin North and the emotional blackmail.
RIP Hon. Adamu Dramani Sakande…. BE WISE, Hon Gyakye Quayson
Less than 24 hours after the explosive interview with her husband Eamonn Holmes aired, Ruth Langsford served as the host of today’s Loose Women episode.
Eamonn made several accusations regarding Philip Schofield‘s life on This Morning, another ITV show, during the interview with GB News. He said Phil ‘created an atmosphere where everyone despised him.’
“People would steer clear of him in the hallway.” He didn’t glance at anyone and didn’t recognise anyone by name, he continued.
After Phil, 61, left This Morning on May 20, he was interviewed. A little over a week later, he made another statement and admitted to cheating on his wife of 30 years, Stephanie Lowe, by having an affair with a considerably younger male coworker.
Eamonn, who previously fronted Friday’s This Morning episodes with Ruth, claimed the young runner in question was ‘promoted’ without being asked, and was moved on to Loose Women from This Morning. He called for the ‘unprecedented move’ to be investigated, particularly ‘who authorised it.’
He also alleged that Phil’s lover would be ‘delivered from Phillip’s London home [to the ITV studio], usually on a Friday morning, because Thursday was playtime when he and Phillip would hit the town.’
Ruth, 63, was even mentioned in the interview, including a claim that she is ‘still in touch’ with the colleague who had a relationship with Phil.
Eamonn discussed Phillip Schofield in a new interview (Picture: GB News)
The presenter had to push all that to one side to present Loose Women, and some viewers commended her professionalism.
‘Poor Ruth looks tired and a bit drawn…Good for her turning up for #LooseWomen today,’ wrote one person.
Another shared their admiration for Ruth’s decision not to pull a sickie: ‘You have to admire Ruth for choosing not to have shingles today.’
Other people wondered what the atmosphere was like backstage.
‘Wonder how awkward it was for poor Ruth going into the studios today.’
Another added: ‘Them elephants in the room are pretty quiet lol.’
During the show, Ruth did bring up Eamonn but avoided any discussion around the interview. Instead, she spoke about how the couple feels when it’s raining on holiday.
‘I get really sulky, like a petulant child. Eamonn will say: “It’s alright”,’ she told the panel.
Suhumhene, Osabarima Ayeh Kofi, has reinstated Nana Opeabre Awuah Asiedu as the Benkumhene of the Suhum Traditional Area.
Nana Asiedu had been suspended earlier this year in February but has now been officially reinstated following an apology and promises to refrain from further disrespectful behaviour, Graphic.com.gh reports.
The suspension of Nana Asiedu was announced by Osabarima Ayeh Kofi during the first Akwasidae ceremony of the year on February 5, 2023, citing disrespectful remarks made by the Benkumhene.
However, during a ceremony held at the Suhumhene Palace on Saturday, May 27, 2023, Osabarima Ayeh Kofi expressed that Nana Asiedu had apologized for his actions and had given assurances that such behaviour would not be repeated.
Accepting the apology, the Suhumhene emphasized that all necessary traditional rites had been performed to reinstate Nana Asiedu and allow him to resume his duties as a chief.
Osabarima Ayeh Kofi further advised Nana Asiedu to conduct himself with decorum, showing respect towards the Suhumhene and his elders, thus ensuring peaceful coexistence within the traditional area.
Expressing gratitude for the Suhumhene’s acceptance and reinstatement, Nana Asiedu and his family extended their appreciation.
Nana Asiedu pledged not to engage in any actions, either directly or indirectly, that would disrespect Osabarima Ayeh Kofi in the future.
Furthermore, he outlined his vision for the traditional area, emphasizing his commitment to promoting development and improving the socio-economic conditions of the people.
The resolution of this dispute and the reinstatement of Nana Asiedu mark a significant step towards unity and harmony within the Suhum Traditional Area.
With the commitment of both parties to fostering peaceful relations, the focus can now shift towards pursuing development initiatives that will benefit the community and its residents.
Based on recent revelation, after their relationship ended, ITV allegedly gave money to the young runner Phillip Schofield had an affair with.
ITV is said to have ‘paid off’ the young runner Phillip Schofield sensationally admitted to lying about having an affair with.
Following his admission that he had lied about having an affair with a considerably younger guy who worked as a runner on the show, former This Morning host Schofield, 61, quit the programme earlier this month and ultimately left ITV altogether.
The unnamed teenage runner was 15 when they first met, according to Schofield, who also claimed that the “unwise but legal” relationship started after the runner reached 18.
This Morning has been in chaos since the bombshell confession, with Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary filling in for Schofield and Holly Willoughby, who is reportedly set to return to the sofa next week.
Former This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes has since done a tell-all interview with GB News claiming rumours about the relationship were rife, while former This Morning regular Dr Ranj Singh has also spoken out about the ‘toxic’ feeling on set.
Now the Daily Mail is reporting that the young man who Schofield admitted an affair with was given a payment by ITV at the end of his relationship with the presenter.
Former This Morning presenter Schofield admitted to lying about the affair earlier this month (Picture: ITV)
The man had been moved from This Morning to Loose Women after his relationship with the presenter reportedly soured, which Holmes had said was a ‘promotion’ he had not asked for.
According to the outlet, sources have claimed the runner was given a financial settlement from the broadcaster, which ITV have reportedly refused on numberous occasions to comment on or deny.
An insider reportedly claimed someone senior at ITV must have known about the payment as it required ‘people of some seniority’ to sign off it.
A source claimed a person of some seniority would have had to sign off on any payment (Picture: ITV/Rex/Shutterstock)
It comes after Holmes’ late-night interview on Monday with GB News’ Dan Wootton, where he called for the ‘unprecedented’ promotion of the runner to be investigated, particularly ‘who authorised it.’
Holmes claimed he heard from a reliable source that the runner would arrive via taxi from Schofield’s home on Friday mornings after they went out on Thursday nights.
Holmes went on to claim the young man was ‘in a bad way’ and he and Holmes’ wife Ruth Langsford kept an eye on him, but he ‘never admitted’ any sort of relationship with Schofield but he would ‘phone often’ for ‘comfort’.
‘We never intruded, we just asked if he was okay, and we were here if he needed support. He felt alone and no one was looking after him. But there was press pressure on him.’
He claimed there was an ‘overriding, more than suspicion’ on what was going on, and accused ITV of a ‘total cover-up’ as he claimed the ‘thorough investigation’ involved simply asking both men if they were in a relationship, which they denied, and then moved on.
Phillip Schofield statement in full
‘I am making this statement via the Daily Mail to whom I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story which they wanted to write about me a few days ago.
‘The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning. I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.
‘Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.
‘When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing. Nobody “forced” me out. Neither I nor anyone else, to my knowledge, has ever issued an injunction, super or otherwise, about my relationship with this colleague, he was never moved on or sacked by or because of me. In an effort to protect my ex-colleague I haven’t been truthful about the relationship.
‘But my recent, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled speculation and raised questions which have been impacting him, so for his sake it is important for me to be honest now.
‘I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife.
‘I have therefore decided to step down from the British Soap Awards, my last public commitment, and am resigning from ITV with immediate effect expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the amazing opportunities that they have given me.
‘I will reflect on my very bad judgment in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it. To protect his privacy, I am not naming this individual and my deepest wish is that both he and his family can now move on with their lives free from further intrusion, and that this statement will enable them to do so.
‘I ask the media now to respect their privacy. They have done nothing wrong, and I ask that their privacy should be respected.’
Like the Kumawu constituency in the Ashanti Region, which saw deplorable roads suddenly being repaired due to the by-election, roads in the Assin area of the Central Region are about to see major upgrades due to a by-election.
On May 30, 2023, Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin got the Assin North seat declared vacant following the Supreme Court’s order to the House to expunge the name of the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency, James Gyakye Quayson of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), from its records.
But ahead of the Speaker’s order, the Roads and Highways Minister, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, who led the repair works in Kumawu, was already in the Assin area inspecting road projects there, suggesting a similar strategy was going to be used to get the constituents to vote for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate.
On Tuesday, May 30 2023, the Minister of Roads and Highways paid a working visit to the Central Region to inspect the progress of work on some ongoing road projects.
The Ministry reports that “as part of his visit, the Minister inspected the 31.2km Assin Foso to Assin Praso road project, which is completed and ready for commissioning”.
Already, a video has emerged of some construction equipment said to belong to “Maripoma”, with the man who did the amateur video saying they were on their way to the Assin North the same way the company deplored its equipment to Kumawu.
Interestingly, while in the Central Region, residents of Teshie in Accra were issuing a two-month ultimatum to the government, demanding the rehabilitation of all deplorable inner roads within their community.
According to the residents, the deteriorating roads at Greda Estates, Tsuibleoo, Teshie Lascala, and other areas are severely impacting their daily commute, necessitating urgent action.
The residents have already submitted a petition to the Chief Priest of Teshie, Numoo Badu Odaan Odiapense I, highlighting the poor state of their roads.
Additionally, they have submitted a similar petition to the Municipal Chief Executive for Ledzokuku, Mordecai Quarshie. Frustrated with the lack of progress, they have expressed their intent to organize another protest if their roads are not rehabilitated within the next two months.
In their quest for improved roads, the residents took to the streets on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, demanding their fair share of development resources.
Citi News’ Kennedy Twumasi visited various communities in Teshie and witnessed firsthand the deplorable condition of the roads, which poses significant challenges to both motorists and pedestrians.
In response to the residents’ demands, the Ledzokuku Municipal Assembly has announced the immediate commencement of rehabilitation works on several inner roads in Teshie.
The assembly has committed to rehabilitating roads in Tsuibleoo, the LEKMA to Adjorman roundabout, Fertilizer Road, and King Kortey Road as soon as possible.
Furthermore, the assembly has pledged to address the poor conditions of the inner roads in Greda Estates, Teshie Lascala, and the entire Coffee Street at Teshie once the initial rehabilitation projects are completed.
The vacancy announcement was disclosed in a letter the Clerk of the House wrote to the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC).
“In the exercise of the power conferred and the duty imposed on the Clerk to Parliament by section 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana (Amendment) Act, 1996 (Act 527), L. CYRIL KWABENA OTENG NSIAH, Clerk to Parliament do hereby formally notify you of the occurrence of a vacancy in the Assin North Constituency necessitated by the Judgement of the Supreme Court dated May 17, 2023, vide Writ No. J1/11/2022 issued in respect of James Gyakye Quayson in the case of Michael Ankomah Nimfah vs James Gvakve Quayson.
“The Electoral Commission of Ghana and The Attorney-General and request you to take appropriate consequential action as required by law,” parts of the letter.
A seven-member panel of the Supreme Court ordered Parliament to expunge the name of James Gyakye Quayson as a Member of Parliament.
In the ruling, the apex court barred Mr. Quayson from holding himself as a Member of Parliament, citinewsroom.com reports.
Mr. Quayson was standing trial for counts of deceit of a public officer, forgery of a passport, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury, and false declaration.
Justice Jones Victor Dotse, Justice Nene Amegatcher, Justice Mariama Owusu, Gertrude Araba Torkornoo, Justice Prof. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Justice Yonny Kulendi and Justice Barbara Ackah-Yensu declared that Mr Quayson was not qualified at the time he contested the election 2020.
The state had, on February 12, 2022, charged James Gyakye Quayson with five counts being; deceit of a public officer, forgery of a passport, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury, and false declaration.
As the trial continued in July 2022, his lawyers, led by Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata, questioned the competency of the Prosecution’s First Witness, Richard Takyi-Mensah, a teacher and his subsequent tendering of his witness statements.
But, his objection was overruled by the trial Judge Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzu, on the grounds that the witness was competent and duly admitted the witness statements and paragraphs.
Dissatisfied with the High Court’s ruling, Mr. Quayson and his lawyers filed a motion at the Supreme Court seeking to quash the trial judge’s decision and order of Prohibition against the judge.
The former host of This Morning, 63, sat down with Dan Wootton in an effort to expose the former ITV broadcaster, who recently left ITV after confessing to lying about having a romance with a considerably younger male colleague.
Phil, 61, was thus dropped by his 35-year agent and will no longer present the British Soap Awards, which would have been his final public appearance.
He has now been dropped as a Prince’s Trust ambassador, while the future of This Morning remains unclear, with reports swirling that guests are refusing interviews and brands don’t want to renew sponsorship deals.
Meanwhile, former co-host of 13 years, Holly Willoughby, 42, took an early half-term break and is due to return to the sofa next week, but has also released a statement claiming Phil lied to her when she quizzed him on his relationship with the runner.
Eamonn has been incredibly vocal about his feelings towards Phil since the drama began, branding him a ‘liar’ and claiming he took him and his wife Ruth Langsford for ‘fools’.
In the first part of his GB News interview, he made shocking allegations about Phil’s relationship with the young co-worker, which occurred while he was married and before he came out as gay.
He said Phil would have ‘playtime’ with the youngster on Thursdays before he was chauffeured into work the next day, also saying Ruth is still in touch with the former runner.
And now, Eamonn has said he feels ’embarrassed’ and ‘ashamed’ looking back at how he supported Phil when he came out as gay in a historic moment on This Morning in February 2020.
He alleges that Phil’s coming out was a bid to get ahead of any other reports about the relationship.
Eamonn said he was ‘ambushed’ the morning after the National Television Awards and told by producers that the usual Friday episode with him and Ruth would not be going ahead, as Holly and Phil were taking over for the first segment.
He claimed the NTAs the previous night saw the young runner who had the affair with Phil confront ITV stars, which Eamonn believes was the catalyst in Phil revealing his sexuality.
‘I’m driving in, they say, “Phillip will be driving in to appear on the programme today?”, “Why?”, “We can’t tell you, Holly will be coming in as well. You will be hosting bits of the programme but they have something to say.” I’m thinking, oh good! Hopefully, he’s going! But it wasn’t to be.’
Eamonn proceeded to describe the moment Phil came out to him that morning.
‘He comes into our dressing room and he falls down on his knees, crying, I said, “What’s the matter?”, “I’m gay!”,’ Eamonn reenacted.
‘I looked at him and said, “Is that all? What is this?”, I thought he’d killed a child or something! I stood him up and pulled him up, and said, “So what, you’re gay!”, and that tied into a lot of things that you may have heard.
‘I think anyone to be imprisoned in a life that isn’t true to them is totally wrong and we were very supportive, Ruth hugged him. It wouldn’t have entered our minds that the man would’ve been discriminated against for being gay, so we were very, very supportive of that.’
However, Eamonn went on to say he felt ‘used’ in Phil’s coming out episode.
As filming was about to begin, he claims producers asked several times if he and Ruth wanted a script, and it gave him ‘bad vibes’, which is why he didn’t say anything in the intro and let Ruth do the talking.
This Morning then panned to Holly and Phil, with Eamonn calling their segment ‘false’ and ‘choreographed’.
‘Then we notice, The Sun newspaper’s here, so the story was sold to them. The director of daytime was there, the editor was there, the agents YMU were there,’ and we began to feel… this is not our show at all,’ he said.
‘It then materialises that all is not as it seems.’
Eamonn then accused Phil of ‘doing a deal with the newspapers’ to put out a ‘version’ of events.
‘It was all a bit weird,’ he stated.
‘At that stage, though, I believed he was gay and he was coming out and that was the end of it. But we were lied to.
‘Ruth and I, to this day, are embarrassed and ashamed when we see those pictures,’ he said, referring to how he and Ruth hugged Phil after his big moment on the sofa.
‘We see people who are tortured by their sexuality and what they have to go through, and this man used it as a cover-up for something else that doesn’t reflect well on him.
‘We feel angry about that. We feel used.’
Schofield declined to comment when approached by Metro.co.uk.
Phillip Schofield statement in full
‘I am making this statement via the Daily Mail to whom I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story which they wanted to write about me a few days ago.
‘The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning. I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.
‘Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.
‘When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing. Nobody “forced” me out. Neither I nor anyone else, to my knowledge, has ever issued an injunction, super or otherwise, about my relationship with this colleague, he was never moved on or sacked by or because of me. In an effort to protect my ex-colleague I haven’t been truthful about the relationship.
‘But my recent, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled speculation and raised questions which have been impacting him, so for his sake it is important for me to be honest now.
‘I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife.
‘I have therefore decided to step down from the British Soap Awards, my last public commitment, and am resigning from ITV with immediate effect expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the amazing opportunities that they have given me.
‘I will reflect on my very bad judgment in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it. To protect his privacy, I am not naming this individual and my deepest wish is that both he and his family can now move on with their lives free from further intrusion, and that this statement will enable them to do so.
‘I ask the media now to respect their privacy. They have done nothing wrong, and I ask that their privacy should be respected.’
The passing ofProf. Ama Ata Aidoo, a Ghanaian playwright, on May 31, 2023, has deeply saddened numerous Ghanaians, particularly those in academia and the art industry who have had the privilege of crossing paths with her.
The renowned author, playwright, poet, and educationist was reported dead in the early hours of Wednesday after a brief illness.
Here are some facts about the late professor.
1. Her writing career began at age 15
The late Ama Ata Aidoo commenced and projected her writing craft at the age of 15.
Her passion for writing started at a tender age, where she discovered her prowess and molded the foundation to become exceptional and impactful with her craft.
Ama Atta Aidoo wrote hugely influential plays, novels and poetry that explored the role of women, and the impact of Western influences on women in Africa. She also drew attention to the African oral tradition.
2. She is a past student of Wesley Girls Senior High
Born and bred in a Fante household, the late Ama Atta Aidoo enrolled in Wesley Girl’s Senior High School at Cape Coast from 1961 to 1964.
She was said to have been taken there by her father who was then an advocate of Western education.
3. Most of her plays were perceived as attacks on Western culture
The late Mrs. Aidoo has written fiction, much of which deals with the tension between Western and African worldviews, and the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed.
Some critics have complained about what had been described as her repeated attacks on the West.
Notable of some of her books are; “The Dilemma of a Ghost. Harlow, UK: Longman, 1965. Anowa. Harlow, UK: Longman, 1970. No Sweetness Here: A Collection of Short Stories, Birds and Other Poems. Harare, Zimbabwe: College Press, 1988. The girl who can and other stories. Legon, Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 1997”.
4. She was a lecturer and a visiting professor in Kenya and the US
The late Ama Atta Aidoo was a lecturer who taught at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, for over ten years.
She was also a visiting professor in Kenya, Eastern Africa and the United States.
5. She was Ghana’s Education minister in 1982
She was appointed as Ghana’s Minister of Education in 1982 but lasted only 18 months, resigning in disappointment when she saw that she would not be able to make education freely accessible to everyone.
She then founded the Mbaasem Foundation in 2000 to support and promote the work of African woman writers.
6. She has won several awards
The astute playwright has won many literary prizes, including the 1992 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Africa) for her novel Changes.
The National Youth Authority (NYA) has encouraged young individuals in the private sector to embrace contemporary business practices and trends in order to keep their businesses running.
Speaking at a workshop organized to empower young stylists and those in the cosmetic industry in the Eastern Region, the Eastern Regional Director of the NYA, Mariam Mensa Minnah, mentioned that the private sector continues to play a major role in the economy and the ever changing phase of doing business within the sector requires stakeholders to adapt to current trends.
She says that in order to keep young Ghanaians in the business, it was important to build their capacity to meet international standards and create a level playing ground for effective competition.
According to Marian Mensa Minnah, the NYA’s core mandate is to provide relevant and conducive environment that defines and supports the implementation of effective frontline youth empowerment practices, focusing on young people’s participation in socio-economic and political development whilst facilitating private and third sector investments in youth empowerment.
The training workshop, which was in collaboration with a Japanese firm, Kanekalon Products, brought together stylists and cosmetologists from across the Eastern region.
Participants were taught proper bookkeeping; how to identify quality products, and how to access credit facilities, among others.
This is the 5th of its kind, and the National Youth Authority intends to make the training an annual event.
John Dumelo, a Ghanaian actor and political aspirant, has recently shared his thoughts on the conduct of his former friend and best man, Frederick Nuamah.
In response to a question on Twitter on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, from a curious fan about his relationship with his opponent, Dumelo expressed that “betrayal is an understatement,” further escalating the tension between the two prominent figures.
The feud between Dumelo and Nuamah initially arose in March when Nuamah accused Dumelo of reneging on his promise to abstain from contesting in Ayawaso West Wuogon.
This accusation followed an interview Dumelo gave to Graphic Showbiz, where he openly expressed his disappointment about Dumelo’s alleged change of heart.
According to Nuamah, Dumelo even gave his blessings when the former decided to pursue his own candidacy. The revelation deeply hurt Dumelo, who vehemently denied the accusations and felt a profound sense of betrayal.
As the dust settled, both individuals found themselves vying for the opportunity to represent the party in the upcoming 2024 general elections.
However, the National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s Functional Executive Committee (FEC) postponed the primaries, leaving the specific date undisclosed.
Despite their fallout, Fred Nuamah had expressed intentions to mend his relationship with Mr. Dumelo. However, it appears that their efforts have been unsuccessful thus far.
“John Dumelo is not my friend; he is my brother, and I would never allow politics to come between us, nor would I allow politics to destroy our brotherhood,” Nuamah stated. He emphasized that their political party, the NDC, is an institution that advocates for unity, making it in their best interest to resolve the matter amicably.
According to Nuamah, the controversy between John and himself, as members of the NDC, would be resolved internally. He suggested that the issue may have already been resolved, considering their close bond and the party’s commitment to unity.
The alleged betrayal has strained their once blossoming friendship, leaving the possibility of John Dumelo forgiving his former best friend and reconciling in the future uncertain.
Several properties worth thousands of Ghana cedis were destroyed by furious youth in Obuasi on Tuesday, May 30, as they expressed their anger over the detention of a group of illegal miners.
The illegal miners were arrested for entering an underground concession belonging to AngloGold Ashanti, Obuasi Mine.
The rampaging youth destroyed property mostly belonging to AngloGold including vehicles and billboards, to press home their demand for the release of their colleagues who had been arrested after exiting the shaft.
The illegal miners, numbering about 48, who were being held at the Central Police Station were later released.
But the irate youth continued to agitate for those underground to be allowed to go home without arrest.
Over 200 illegal miners on Monday, May 29 were believed to have been trapped in the northern areas of the mine where no active mining has been done for years.
News of the incident sparked widespread protest in the Obuasi township as people converged at the Obuasi East Assembly to implore authorities to intervene.
However, when the relevant authorities including security agencies went to the location, the miners refused to come out for fear of being arrested.
Following the arrest of those who came out, the rest decided to stay underground to avoid arrest, leading to the unfortunate destruction of property belonging to AngloGold.
Meanwhile, AngloGold Ashanti has provided an update on the incident in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday.
The mining firm said the unauthorised persons purported to have been trapped could exit on foot via the existing ramp through the main access to the area.
“No person underground has been confined in any way and the main exit from the mine remains opened,” the statement clarified.
It said any unauthorised person underground could leave the mine at any time by the exit points where public security remained on standby.
“Intrusion of illegal miners into underground areas remain a significant dangerous activity and AngloGold Ashanti Ghana is working alongside authorities to ensure that only authorised mine personnel and contractors can access underground work areas,” the statement concluded.
In a lengthy news conference with Russian state media, a former staff member who had accused Joe Biden of sexual assault has defected to Moscow.
When Tara Reade accused then-candidate Joe Biden of harassing and assaulting her when she worked in his Senate office in 1993, the story made news throughout the 2020 presidential campaign.
No former Biden employee has come forward to claim they ever saw or heard of any kind of sexual misbehaviour in his Senate office, and Biden has categorically denied Reade’s accusations.
In an interview with MSNBC in 2020, Biden said he is “saying unequivocally, it never, never happened. It didn’t. It never happened.”
Reade later faced credibility questions of her own including about her education and other credentials.
After being out of the headlines for years, Reade turned up in Moscow on Tuesday, where she sat alongside convicted Kremlin spy Maria Butina and answered questions from Russian state media.
Butina was sentenced to 18 months in a US prison in 2019 for conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent, and now serves in the Russian parliament in President Vladimir Putin’s party.
Reade said she decided to come to Russia following death threats she received this year after she reiterated her accusations regarding Biden and announced on Twitter that she was willing “to testify under oath in Congress if asked.”
“When I got off the plane in Moscow, for the first time in a very long time I felt safe, and I felt heard, and I felt respected. That has not happened in my own country,” Reade said.
CNN cannot verify Reade’s claims of receiving threats on her life.
Reade said that “this illusion of Russia as an enemy is propagated by a few Washington elites who are determined to cause problems.”
During the news conference, Butina promised to discuss the possibility of granting Russian citizenship to Reade and ask Putin “to fast track her citizenship request.”
A study released on Wednesday claims that pterosaurs, the world’s earliest flying reptiles, were once able to fly across Australia 107 million years ago.
After scrutinising two fragments of ancient bone taken more than three decades ago at Dinosaur Cove, a fossil-bearing site in the Australian state of Victoria, palaeontologists came to that conclusion.
According to a study published on Wednesday in the scientific journal History Biology, the samples turned out to be the oldest pterosaur remains ever discovered in the nation.
The giant creature was the first vertebrate to evolve the ability of flight and lived alongside dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era which started 252 million years ago.
Experts from the Perth-based Curtin University and Museums Victoria, in Melbourne, examined bones from two individuals, including a wing bone belonging to the first juvenile pterosaur ever reported in Australia.
A piece of pelvis bone was found to have come from a pterosaur with a wingspan exceeding two meters (6.5 ft). Some pterosaurs had wingspans of more than 10 meters (33 ft).
The Australian specimens were discovered during an excavation at Dinosaur Cove in the 1980s, led by palaeontologists Tom Rich and Pat Vickers-Rich, from Museums Victoria Research Institute.
The lead author of the study published Wednesday, Adele Pentland from Curtin University, told CNN that the discovery showed the massive creatures flew over Australia tens of millions of years ago, despite harsh conditions during the Cretaceous Period (145 million to 66 million years ago), when Victoria was in darkness for weeks on end.
“Australia was further south than it is today,” she said, adding the location where the two specimens were recovered would have been in the polar circle at the time.
Fewer than 25 sets of pterosaur remains belonging to four species have been found in Australia since the 1980s, she said. By comparison, in places like Brazil and Argentina more than 100 sets have been retrieved at individual sites, she added.
Pentland, a PhD student, attributed the three decades it took to confirm the present specimens to the lack of enthusiasm about the species in the country, until she got hold of them and “finally gave them the moment in the sun.”
In a statement, Rich, from Museums Victoria Research Institute, said it was “wonderful” to see the excavation work done at Dinosaur Cove in the 1980s pay off.
At the time, volunteers spent years digging a 60-meter tunnel in a seaside cliff where the bones were found.
“These two fossils were the outcome of a labor-intensive effort by more than 100 volunteers over a decade,” he added.
Xi Jinping, the leader of China, has urged his country’s top national security officials to consider “worst case” scenarios and prepare for “stormy seas,” as the Communist Party’s attempts to fend off any perceived internal and external threats become more arduous.
At a meeting of the party’s National Security Commission on Tuesday, Xi stated that “the complexity and difficulty of the national security issues we now face have significantly increased.”
The key tests of strong winds, heavy waves, and even dangerous, stormy seas must be prepared for, he continued, adhering to bottom-line thinking and worst-case scenario thinking.
The latest stern instructions from Xi, China’s most powerful leader in decades, comes as Beijing faces a host of challenges, from a struggling economy to what it sees as an increasingly hostile international environment.
In face of what he called a “complex and grave” situation, Xi said China must speed up the modernization of its national security system and capabilities, with a focus on making them more effective in “actual combat and practical use.”
He also called for China to push ahead with the construction of a national security risk monitoring and early warning system, enhance national security education and improve the management of data and artificial intelligence security.
Since coming to power a decade ago, Xi has made national security a key paradigm that permeates all aspects of China’s governance, experts say.
He has expanded the concept of national security to cover everything from politics, economy, defense, culture and ecology to cyberspace. It extends from the deep sea and the polar regions to space, as well as big data and artificial intelligence.
Under Xi’s notion of “comprehensive national security,” China has introduced a raft of legislation to protect itself against perceived threats, including laws on counter-terrorism, counter-espionage, cybersecurity, foreign non-government organizations, national intelligence and data security.
Most recently, it broadened the scope of its already sweeping counter-espionage law from covering state secrets and intelligence to any “documents, data, materials or items related to national security and interests.”
“Everything in Xi’s PRC is national security and there is an intensifying focus on better coordinating security and development, with the security side winning out over the economics side it appears,” Bill Bishop, a long-time China observer, wrote in the Sinocism newsletter, referring to China with its official name, the People’s Republic of China.
In Hong Kong, a sweeping national security law was imposed by Beijing to stamp out dissent after huge democracy protests roiled the city.
The perception that security has replaced economic growth as Beijing’s top priority is compounded by multiple recent raids on foreign companies, including American consultancy Bain & Company and due diligence firm Mintz Group.
The raids have spooked international businesses, at a time when the Chinese government is trying to woo foreign investment to help revive a slowing economy hampered by three years of zero-Covid restrictions.
In March, Chinese authorities detained a Japanese employee of Astellas Pharma in Beijing on suspected espionage – the 17th Japanese national to have been detained in China since the counter-espionage law was introduced in 2014.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Xi said China must proactively shape a “secured external environment” to better maintain the security of the country’s “opening up” and “promote the deep integration of development and security.”
On Tuesday, weather officials warned that smoke from blazing wildfires in Nova Scotia that have caused almost 18,500 people to flee is moving from Canada to the United States and will affect communities throughout the northeast.
The ongoing fires cover more than 25,000 acres, have burned numerous buildings, and have caused enormous clouds of smoke to rise over the area. They are occurring while the Canadian region experiences heat records-breaking temperatures. Due to the “seriousness of the current fires,” officials declared a burn restriction for the entire province on Monday.
According to the National Weather Service in Boston, the smoke is moving towards Cape Cod and will spread throughout portions of New England as the winds change to the southeast.
“Those with a sensitive nose may be able to smell the smoke as it pushes through the region,” the agency said.
A fire burning in Halifax, the provincial capital of Nova Scotia, is “not yet under control” and has forced around 16,492 people to evacuate, according to Halifax Regional Municipality officials.
Authorities said about 2,000 people have been evacuated from Shelburne County in southwest Nova Scotia.
All schools in Shelburne County and at least 14 schools in Halifax will be closed Wedesday, officials announced in an update Tuesday evening, as wildfires remain out of control.
Residents are still advised to avoid the evacuation areas as at least 200 structures suffered damage from the fires, Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Deputy Chief Dave Meldrum said on Tuesday, adding that the fires have not yet been contained.
“Please don’t return to the evacuated area. It’s still a dangerous place. It’s not ready for you yet,” Meldrum added.
“I am praying for any type of precipitation at this point, and I know everybody up here shares in that thought,” David Steeves with the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables said in a press conference on Tuesday.
Steeves said the possibility of wildfires spreading more quickly is increasing every day. There is no rainfall expected in the coming days for the area, according to CNN meteorologists, but as of Tuesday evening, the forecast called for a chance of rain at the end of the week.
“Weather is not helping us at all in regard to this,” Steeves said.
Near Philadelphia, the air quality was considered “moderate” as of Tuesday morning, according to a recent tweet from the National Weather Service. But it’s still uncertain whether the wildfire smoke will reach the ground before dissipating. If it does, the air quality could deteriorate quickly – especially for sensitive groups such as the elderly, young children and people with respiratory illnesses.
An area of high pressure centered to the south of Nova Scotia will bring winds from the southeast later on Tuesday, allowing the smoke to disperse inland and exit north and west of New York. Although some smoke and haze may linger overnight, a general clearing trend is expected near coastal New York.
Eight of the 13 wildfires burning in Nova Scotia started on Monday, three of which are “out of control,” Scott Tingley, manager of forest protection for the region’s Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, said during a Tuesday news conference.
The five remaining active wildfires are “small” and authorities have been successful in containing them, Tingley said.
During the news conference, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston reminded residents of the provincewide burn ban, saying it was “absolutely ridiculous” that at least six illegal burns were found on Monday by conservation officers.
“Don’t be burning right now. No burning in Nova Scotia,” Houston said. “For God’s sake, stop burning. Stop flicking your cigarette butts out your car window. Just stop it.”
The ban is expected to stay in place until June 25, “unless the Province determines it can be lifted sooner,” officials said in a news release on Monday.
“Our resources right now are stretched incredibly thin right now fighting existing fires,” Houston said.
Every household required to evacuate will receive $500 administered through the Canadian Red Cross, according to the release. The funds are intended to help with what Houston called “urgent needs such as food and personal care items.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the wildfires “incredibly serious” in a tweet Monday.
“We stand ready to provide any federal support and assistance needed,” Trudeau said. “We’re keeping everyone affected in our thoughts, and we’re thanking those who are working hard to keep people safe.”
Joran van der Sloot, the main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, a teenage girl from Alabama, wants to be temporarily moved to the United States, according to his lawyer Maximo Altez.
According to Peruvian officials, Van der Sloot will be extradited from their country to the US to face extortion and fraud charges relating to an alleged scheme to demand money from Holloway’s family after she vanished.
Altez claimed that last week, van der Sloot sent him a letter requesting that the lawyer not challenge Altez’s admission to the United States. Van der Sloot wrote, “I want to go to the US,” according to Altez, speaking to CNN en Espaol on Tuesday.
Van der Sloot was involved in a fight inside his prison ward during visiting hours on Saturday and suffered a cut to his fingers and some bruising, Altez said. He was placed in the prison’s medical section, Altez said.
“It wasn’t a direct assault against him, it was a fight among some inmates and my client got involved when he tried to defend his friend, who was injured on the leg. As a consequence (Joran) got injured in his hand,” Altez told CNN en Español.
The attorney had earlier said his client had been “severely” beaten, ABC News reported.
Van der Sloot, a Dutch national, was convicted in 2012 of murdering Stephany Flores, 21, in his Lima hotel room and sentenced to 28 years in prison.
“He (van der Sloot) was not beaten. He was not attacked,” a spokesperson for the Peruvian National Penitentiary Institute said in a statement sent to CNN en Español on Monday.
The spokesperson did not comment further.
Altez told CNN en Español that van der Sloot sent him another letter the day after the incident requesting his transfer to another ward or another prison.
Altez can’t communicate directly with his client as there are no phones inside Peru’s Challapalca Prison, so they communicate by letter, he said.
An attorney for the Holloway family, John Kelly, declined to comment when reached by CNN Tuesday.
Van der Sloot faces extortion and fraud charges in connection with an alleged plot to sell false information about the whereabouts of 18-year-old Holloway’s remains in exchange for $250,000. Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway, wired $15,000 to a bank account van der Sloot held in the Netherlands and through her attorney gave him another $10,000 in person, according to a 2010 US federal indictment.
Once he had the initial $25,000, van der Sloot said he would show the attorney, Kelly, where Natalee Holloway’s remains were hidden, but the information turned out to be false, the indictment states.
The indictment asks for van der Sloot to forfeit $25,100. That amount includes $100 Beth Holloway initially transferred to van der Sloot to confirm his account.
Natalee Holloway was last seen alive with van der Sloot and two other men 18 years ago leaving a nightclub in Aruba.
Police in Aruba arrested and released the three men – van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe – multiple times in 2005 and 2007 in connection with Holloway’s disappearance. Attorneys for the men maintained the men’s innocence throughout the investigation.
In December 2007, the Aruban Public Prosecutor’s Office said none of the three would be charged and dropped the cases against them citing insufficient evidence.
Holloway’s body has not been found. An Alabama judge signed an order in 2012 declaring her legally dead. No one is currently charged for her death.
Tuesday marked the end of the crew’s historic week-long journey when a SpaceX capsule carrying a decorated former NASAastronaut and three paying customers returned from the International Space Station.
Tuesday morning, the Crew Dragon spacecraft blasted off from the space station. The crew spent over 12 hours in orbit as the capsule made its way back towards Earth. At 11:04 p.m. ET, the Crew Dragon and its passengers safely splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico outside Panama City, Florida, following a fiery reentry.
This mission, dubbed Axiom Mission 2, or AX-2, launched from Florida on May 21.AX-2 was put together by the Houston-based company Axiom Space and marked the second all-private mission to the orbiting outpost, meaning solely commercial companies, rather than a government agency, have been leading the mission.
This mission was also a milestone in the history of spaceflight as stem cell researcher Rayyanah Barnawi became the first woman from Saudi Arabia to travel to space.
The AX-2 mission is one in a lineup of commercial missions designed to spur private sector participation in spaceflight — particularly in low-Earth orbit, where the International Space Station orbits.
Former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, 63, led the AX-2 crew. Whitson, now an Axiom Space employee, also became the first woman to command a private spaceflight.
“I’m really excited about returning to space, but even more excited about welcoming three new astronauts,” Whitson said in a May 21 statement from the Crew Dragon spacecraft after launch.
One of the three paying customers joining Whitson was John Shoffner, an American who made his fortune in the international telecom business and founded the hardware company Dura-Line Corp.
Saudi Arabia also paid to fly two of its citizens: Barnawi and Ali AlQarni, a fighter pilot in the Royal Saudi Air Force.
“I am very honored and happy to be representing all the dreams and all the hopes of all the people in Saudi Arabia and all the women back home,” Barnawi told reporters at a May 16 news conference.
During the mission, Barnawi led stem cell research suited for the microgravity environment aboard the space station. Theorbiting laboratory has long been a key venue for various scientific experiments, as the lack of gravity can give researchers a better fundamental understanding of the topic at hand. Barnawi and AlQarni also engaged in outreach projects, including testing out a kite in microgravity and capturing video for viewers back home.
The AX-2 crew spent about eight days working alongside astronauts representing NASA, Russia’s Roscomos space agency and the United Arab Emirates Space Agency aboard the space station, though they operated on different schedules. The AX-2 crew worked through a lineup of more than 20 investigations and science projects — including stem cell and other biomedical research.
This mission marked Whitson’s first return to space since 2017. Her extensive prior experience on the station made her a US record holder in 2017 for the most cumulative days logged in space, and she ranks eighth on the all-time list, according to NASA.
Whitson has flown on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft as well as NASA’s space shuttle, but she said preparing for this mission was “obviously different” because it involved training to operate SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which has only been flying astronauts since 2020.
“That’s been one of the biggest challenges for me is learning this particular spacecraft,” she said. “But I’ve really enjoyed it.”
Barnawi and AlQarni are only the second and third Saudi nationals to travel to space. The first was Prince Sultan bin Salman, who spent about a week on a NASA space shuttle mission in 1985.
Saudi Arabia has faced a barrage of criticism from the Biden administration and Congress over its human rights record, though the ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia remain strong.
AlQarni said in a news conference earlier in May that he believes Arabs’ participation in spaceflight is a “great opportunity” that can inspire the region.
The mission will “hold a big message. … We are holding hands, we are working together for the betterment of humanity and just trying to innovate,” he said during a mid-May news briefing.
This mission isn’t the first time individuals have paid their way to space. A company called Space Adventures brokered several such missions to the space station in the early 2000s, booking rides for wealthy thrill seekers on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.
Axiom brought that business model to the United States, partnering with SpaceX to establish a framework for getting an array of customers to the space station. The company’s first foray, Axiom Mission 1, or AX-1, launched in April 2022 and marked the first time private citizens traveled to the space station from US soil.
Axiom’s goal is to make these missions routine, offering more opportunities for people who are not professional astronauts to experience spaceflight. During a prelaunch news conference, Derek Hassmann, chief of mission integration and operations at Axiom Space, said his company expects to see more customers sponsored by governments, similar to the AX-2 passengers from Saudi Arabia.
“Government astronauts are indeed a key piece of our business plan,” he said. “Early in the program … it wasn’t clear to us what the balance would be between private individuals and government astronauts since nothing like this had ever been done before. But it’s become clear to us that the government … market is key, and we’re pursuing that actively.”
Axiom leadership envisions private spaceflight will continue even after the space station is retired, which NASA anticipates will happen in late 2030. Axiom is one of several US companies gunning to create a new, privately owned space station. It’s an effort supported by NASA, which aims to bolster private sector participation closer to home so the agency can focus on investing in deep-space exploration.
Erin O’Toole, a former leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, has claimed that China tried to influence the outcome of the 2021 election by spreading false information and waging voter suppression campaigns; a Canadian lawmaker who was born in Hong Kong has claimed that she was targeted for her human rights activism. Both claims are supported by information from Canada’s spy agency.
O’Toole informed the legislature on Tuesday that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had last week discovered a number of threats against him.
Each of these threats, he claimed, was made with the intention of smearing him, spreading untrue information about his political views, and seriously impeding his ability to carry out his duties as a lawmaker and as the head of the official opposition.
O’Toole emphasized that alleged misinformation occurred in the run-up to the 2021 general election, which saw the reelection of a Liberal Party government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.O’Toole is a current Member of Parliament (MP).
A day earlier New Democrat MP Jenny Kwan said that CSIS had also informed her that she was targeted within a foreign interference campaign and “would continue to be a target.”
“Coming out of this briefing it is more clear to me than ever that I will not be intimidated, that I will not be silenced in any way, whoever is trying to put pressure on me in whatever way they are trying to do it, they will not succeed,” Kwan said.
The lawmaker pointed to her activism related to human rights in Hong Kong following Beijing’s imposition of a National Security Law on the semi-autonomous city and her support of issues related to China’s Uyghur Muslim minority population as reasons why she was targeted.
The allegations come amid a years-long deterioration of ties between the two countries and comes amid a period of rising concerns in Canada about Chinese influence, including through the operation of overseas police stations and policing of speech in the country, which has a large community of people with Chinese heritage.
Earlier this month, Canada expelled an accredited Chinese diplomat accused of involvement in a harassment campaign against Canadian opposition lawmaker Michael Chong and his relatives. China quickly retaliated by expelling a Canadian diplomat.
The alleged harassment took place after Chong sponsored a motion to condemn China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority group.
O’Toole said Tuesday that he believed that Beijing aimed to retaliate against him for discouraging the use of Huawei technology in Canada’s 5G network and criticizing human rights abuses in the country, among other things.
BothO’Toole and Chonghave criticized Trudeau’s government for seeming to be slow to act on such intelligence.
Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said later on Tuesday that CSIS has been “very proactive in engaging of federal parliamentarians” and that he had undertaken reforms to improve the flow of intelligence.
The government is creating a national coordinator to fight against foreign interference and creating a foreign agent registry, Mendicino said.
China has repeatedly dismissed previous claims of political interference in Canada’s political system.
In the aftermath of the recent tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions, Beijing accused Canadian media and some politicians of “fabricating false information.”
The two countries’ relations have already come under significant strain in recent years, in particular following Beijing’s detention of two Canadians in China in move widely seen as retaliation for Canada’s 2018 arrest of a Chinese businesswoman Meng Wanzhou.
Beijing repeatedly denied that their cases were political retaliation, but the two men, former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, were released on the same day Meng was allowed by Canada to return to China in 2021.
State-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that the second stage of the rocket malfunctioned during North Korea‘s effort to launch a military reconnaissance satellite into space on Wednesday. Pyongyang claimed it wanted to conduct a second launch as soon as possible.
As a result of an anomalous activation of the engine on the second stage after the first stage was detached during normal flight, the new satellite vehicle rocket Chollima-1 lost propulsion and crashed into the West Sea, according to KCNA.
According to the study, the mission failed because “the reliability and stability of the new engine system” were “low” and the fuel utilised was “unstable.”
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said it identified an object presumed to be part of what North Korea claims to be its space launch vehicle in the sea about 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Eocheong Island at around 8:05 a.m. and is in the process of obtaining it.
Earlier, South Korea’s military said Pyongyang fired a “space projectile,” triggering emergency alerts in Seoul and Japan, weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered officials to prepare to launch the country’s first military reconnaissance satellite.
Both countries later canceled those alerts when it became clear there was no danger to civilian areas from the North Korean launch.
Analysts said Wednesday morning’s events illustrated problems for both North and South Korea, for Pyongyang in its space program and for Seoul in its public alert process.
“North Korean space efforts have consistently failed, indicating that whereas its military ballistic capabilities are being developed, its space launch capabilities are not proceeding at the same pace of development,” said Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at The Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
“That is curious because space launch capabilities and ballistic missile systems are essentially similar technologies in many respects, and North Korean testing of ballistic missile systems have been more successful,” Davis said.
North Korea has performed dozens of ballistic missile tests over the past two years, which analysts have said have shown a maturation in the program.
The test of a new solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in April showed that Pyongyang could launch the missiles more quickly in the event of any nuclear confrontation, analysts said.
The North Korean launch sparked air raid sirens around Seoul about 6:30 a.m., causing confusion among residents who are used to pre-announced tests of the warning system in the middle of the day.
The sirens were followed by a text sent to cell phones, telling people to prepare to seek shelter.
The alert was canceled about 20 minutes after it was issued.
Who implemented the alert remains uncertain. The Interior Ministry said it was issued by the Seoul city government in error.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon apologized to the citizens for “causing confusion” over sending a citywide alert, adding that efforts will be made to refine the system to avoid similar situations.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said any criticism of government leaders for the alert may be unwarranted.
“The government would receive more criticism if it did not make every effort for public safety,” Easley said.
In fact, he said the alert could help shake South Korean residents from complacency about the dangers posed by Pyongyang’s missile programs.
“The Yoon administration will likely promise improvements to the alert system but may also expect that greater awareness of the North Korean threat will increase support for the government’s military deterrence policies,” Easley said.
Both the South Korean and Japanese governments condemned the North Korean launch as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
“Whether it was a success or not (it was) a serious provocation that threatens peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and the international community,” according to a statement from Yoon’s office.
In Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Tokyo “vehemently protested” to North Korea. He promised continued “vigilance and surveillance” from the Japanese government.
Japan’s Defense Ministry had warned on Monday it would destroy any North Korean missile that entered its territory after Pyongyang notified the country of plans to launch a “satellite.”
Tuesday night, over objections from Indigenous organisations, Brazil‘s lower house of Congress passed a law that would restrict the acknowledgment of ancestral territories.
The PL 490/2007 bill would diminish the control that the environment and Indigenous peoples ministries now have over environmental regulations and the delineation of Indigenous territories by removing some of their authority.
The proposed law, which was approved by a vote of 283 to 155, still needs the Senate’s and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s assent.
Ahead of the vote, Indigenous groups blocked a highway just outside the country’s largest city Sao Paulo. Protesters burned tires, fired arrows and threw objects at the riot and military police, who used water cannons and tear gas in return.
Indigenous groups from across the country also planned protests in the capital Brasilia, where Lula da Silva is meeting with South American leaders.
The president could still veto the bill, Reuters reports, but Congress could have enough support to override the move.
“PL490 has been approved by the Chamber: a serious attack on indigenous peoples and the environment,” Sônia Guajajara, the Indigenous Peoples minister, tweeted late on Tuesday.
“We keep fighting for life. Still in the Senate, we will dialogue to avoid negotiating our lives in exchange for profit and destruction. We will not give up!.”
Lula da Silva has promised to repair the damage to the Amazon caused during the tenure of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. A surge in invasions and illegal extraction of natural resources in protected Indigenous lands were reported under the far-right former leader’s time in office.
Last month, Lula da Silva recognized six Indigenous territories, Reuters reports, fulfilling part of his campaign promise to protect Indigenous lands from being taken for farming, gold mining and logging in the Amazon.
But Lula da Silva has had to face a hostile Congress, which approved expediting the bill’s review process last week.
While the bill does not impact fully recognized Indigenous territories, it would affect territories that are under claim.
Rights groups warn that the bill would “prevent Indigenous communities from obtaining title of their lands if they were not physically present on them on October 5, 1988, the day Brazil’s current Constitution was adopted,” writes Human Rights Watch.
“Indigenous peoples who were expelled from their territory before October 1988 and cannot prove they were involved in an ongoing dispute over their claim on that date would not be able to secure legal recognition of their lands,” Human Rights Watch wrote in a statement.
“Choosing an arbitrary cutoff date and refusing to recognize ancestral lands claimed after that date is not in line with international standards,” it added.
If the bill passes, it could tarnish Lula da Silva’s climate ambitions. “If Lula loses this battle in Congress, it will represent yet another political defeat for his administration and display the conservative force he faces,” Bruna Santos, director of the Wilson Center’s Brazil Institute, told CNN.
In relation to a Pentagon statement, China has turned down a US proposal for Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Li Shangfu to meet at the Shangri-La Dialogue Security Forum this week in Singapore.
China’s opposition to the meeting comes at a time when tensions between the two nations are high due to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the independent island of Taiwan in August of last year and the US’s decision to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon that flew over important US military installations in February.
In the statement, the Pentagon said China had declined an invitation extended in early May for a meeting, but said the refusal would not deter the US from seeking better lines of communication.
“The PRC’s concerning unwillingness to engage in meaningful military-to-military discussions will not diminish the Department of Defense’s commitment to seeking open lines of communication with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at multiple levels as part of responsibly managing the relationship,” Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder in the statement.
China’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday said the country “attaches importance” to developing US-China military relations but blamed Washington for hampering communication.
“Responsibility for the current difficulties faced by the two militaries in their exchanges lies entirely with the US side,” spokesperson Tan Kefei said when asked about reports that China rejected the Singapore meeting and other exchanges with US military officials.
“The US claims that it wants to strengthen communication, but in reality it disregards China’s concerns and creates artificial obstacles, seriously undermining mutual trust between the two militaries,” he added.
In a separate statement, the Chinese Embassy in the US questioned the sincerity and significance of the invitation, pointing to US sanctions imposed on Chinese officials, institutions and companies, and saying the US should lift its “illegal unilateral sanctions” to create favorable conditions for dialogue.
The statement did not specifically call out US sanctions against Li, which were imposed in 2018 by the administration of former president Donald Trump over China’s purchase of Russian weapons, including a Su-35 combat aircraft and a S-400 surface-to-air missile system.
The US has imposed a range of sanctions on China in recent years for a variety of reasons including alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang and restrictions on political freedoms in Hong Kong.
The Wall Street Journal first reported China’s refusal to participate in a meeting between the defense chiefs.
Austin told CNN earlier this year that he had not spoken to his Chinese counterpart in “months,” and China has continued to rebuff requests for meetings and phone calls, defense officials said.
“This is far from the first time that the PRC has rejected invitations to communicate from the Secretary, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or other Department officials,” a defense official said.
“Frankly, it’s just the latest in a litany of excuses. Since 2021, the PRC has declined or failed to respond to over a dozen requests from the Department of Defense for key leader engagements, multiple requests for standing dialogues, and nearly ten working-level engagements,” he added.
China’s Defense Ministry also refuted this characterization in its statement Wednesday, which said “in fact there has been no interruption in contacts and exchanges between the two militaries.”
About 4,000 residents of Amansie West district in the Ashanti region have been registered on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
This is part of an initiative aimed at tackling health issues in the district, especially at a time when the country is reeling from severe economic losses.
Prof. Joseph Albert Quarm, who began the project through his foundation, 9 Prof Quarm Foundation) says that many residents have not been unable to enroll in the scheme for years due to financial barriers, making the move critical.
Prof Quarm states that in November of last year, he assisted 186 persons to undergo various procedures at an estimated cost of GHS765,000.
“I feel that I need to give back to my community. Once I’ve put up this hospital here, my aim was to make sure at least they get free, quality healthcare within this environment. We all know how difficult it is around times like this, we cannot look at people to die unnecessary deaths just because of money,” he said.
He further mentions that if constituents visit his hospital with their health insurance card and incur an additional fee, the Foundation will cover half of it to ease their burden.
Frank Badu Bediako, the District Director of Health Services in the Amansie West District, believes the programme would help residents.
He stated that more than 36% of the district’s residents had yet to enroll in the health insurance scheme, which concerns the health directorate.
“Though it’s good, we feel could be better because our target is that at least 70 per cent of them should have valid NHIS cards,” he said.
Mr Bediako commended the Prof Quarm Foundation and urged other individuals and groups to assist in registering people in the area so that 70 per cent or more are covered by the Health Insurance Scheme.
On galamsey and its health concerns, he stated that, while the district has yet to report an abnormality, malaria, diarrhea infections, and other diseases are on the rise due to open pits, and that substantial assistance is required.
Mr. Bediako urged the government to train health workers and expand local facilities with sophisticated labs and equipment in order to efficiently deliver healthcare.
Some district beneficiaries applauded the initiative, claiming it will significantly reduce their health concerns.
Presidential candidate hopeful for the NPP, Kojo Poku on Tuesday, May 30 picked his nomination forms from the party’s headquarters.
In an interview with the press during the nomination pickup, Kojo Poku said that this is the beginning of a new day and it’s a good day for the KMP family in all 16 regions of the country.
Flanked by a number of supporters, the NPP flagbearer hopeful added that he will storm the party headquarters in the next two weeks with all his supporters to endorse and submit his form in a grand style.
“We have finally picked the form as you all can see. It is the beginning of a new day. Picking the form is one step, actually having the good people of KMP in all 16 regions endorse this form is the second step and in good time in the next two weeks, we will bring all our supporters to do a bit of funfair in submitting the form,” the aspirant said.
The New Patriotic Party opened nominations for presidential candidates on Friday, May 26, 2023.
As part of the nomination process, the party said prospective candidates will be expected to pay a non-refundable fee of GHS 50,000.00.
The NPP’s nomination fee requirement aims to ensure that only serious and committed candidates participate in the flagbearer elections.
SEND Ghana has called on the government of Ghana to convert theCOVID-19 levy into a public health emergency fund.
This comes on the back of President Akufo-Addo announcing that there will be no scrapping of the 1% COVID-19 levy during his 29th address to the nation on Covid-related activities and declaring an end to it as a health emergency.
The Deputy Country Director of SEND Ghana, Emmanuel Ayifah, speaking on Starr Today on Starr FM, said that the NGO and other CSOs are looking forward to and pushing to see the COVID-19 health levy changed to a health emergency fund to assist with unforeseen health crises instead of disbanding it.
“The government should not disband COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy but try to convert it into a public health emergency fund and also let Ghanaians see how much was left in the Trust Fund so that we can all rally around to establish the Fund. So that in the event of any future eventuality which is bound to happen, the issue is that once that happens, it is going to help us we don’t have to run helter-skelter looking for money because the Fund will be critical in helping to increase resilience in Ghana’s health system and also prepare for us to respond in times of public health emergency. Once we do that, I think that it will rather help us as a country.”
In 2022, SEND Ghana and many other CSOs in the country urged the government to establish a health emergency fund. This, they believe will save and stabilize the economy should there be any unplanned calamity concerning health.
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ahanta West Constituency of the Western Region, is demanding the resignation of the incumbent Member of Parliament, Ebenezer Kojo Kum on grounds of ill-health.
The NDC Ahanta West Communication Bureau in an open letter to the New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament, said the constituency was lagging behind in terms of development due to the MP’s continuous ill-health which has affected his ability to function effectively.
“We write as your constituents to express our deep disappointment on the current state of affairs and the lack of progress we are witnessing under your tenure as our Member of Parliament. We believe it is time for a change, a time to relinquish stress to give way for total concentration on your health.”
It is unclear what ailment the MP is battling with, but he has been sick for nearly two years. Due to his ill-health, resigned as Minister for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs in February 2023.
A few months ago however, he is reported to have been flown to Accra to vote in Parliament when the NPP badly needed numbers to sway a critical decision in their favour.
According to the NDC, just as he resigned his ministerial position due to his ill-health, he ought to do the same for his constituents who are longing for development.
“We respectfully request that you consider resigning from your position as our Member of Parliament same way as you resigned as the Chieftaincy minister to allow for much-needed development and growth of Ahanta west constituency.”
“We implore you to consider the greater good of our constituency (Ahanta west) and the aspirations of its residents. Stepping aside would demonstrate your commitment to the welfare and progress of our constituency rather than clinging to a position as the MP that you no longer serves the best interests of the people.”
The party says the constituency requires someone with a new perspective “to invigorate our constituency and bring about the changes we desperately need. By resigning from your position, you will save yourself from stress and prioritize your health and would allow an opportunity for a by-election, enabling the Constituency to choose a representative who can address these issues more effectively and work towards achieving sustainable development for all.”
Mr Ebenezer Kojo Kum, a lawyer, is serving his second term as MP for Ahanta West. He was well and hearty during his first term, but his health started deteriorating at the start of his second term after the 2020 election.
Ghana’s constitution has no provision that disqualifies or requires a Member of Parliament to resign his or her position on grounds of ill-health.
On the matter of the qualification to be MP, the constitution only makes reference to a person being of sound mind in Article 94 to hold an office.
This means that a Member of Parliament may only choose to resign voluntarily if they so wish on the basis of ill-health.
The standing orders of parliament also permits a member to excuse him or herself “from service on the House or on any committee, so long as he or she has leave of absence.”
The Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Nana Frimpomaa Akosua Sarpong Kumankumah has filed nomination to contest the upcoming flagbearer race of the Party.
The Chairperson was the first among four candidates that had picked nomination forms to file her forms at the Party’s headquarters in Accra on Monday evening.
Accompanied by some members of the Party, Nana Kumankumah presented her forms to Wing Commander Patrick Sorborjor, the Chairman of the CPP Congress Committee in the presence of members of the Committee.
Nana Kumankumah was the running mate to Dr Abu Sakara, who contested the 2012 presidential elections on the ticket of the CPP.
She was subsequently voted as Chairperson of the CPP in 2020 and has occupied that position till date.
Speaking to journalists after filing her forms, Nana Kumankumah said she was confident that members of the CPP would vote for her to lead the Party for the 2024 presidential elections.
She expressed optimism that she would be able to break what she described as the ‘monopoly’ enjoyed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress since the commencement of the 4th Republic.
She said her vision was also to ensure that the Party won seats in Parliament, adding that she had identified some constituencies that the Party could win with the right strategies in place.
“I am the woman of the century for the youth of this nation. I am here because I believe in Ghana. I have taken up this mantle to ensure that I give the youth an alternative vehicle to vent their frustration in a constructive way,” she said.
The CPP is expected to hold its presidential primaries in Tamale in the Northern Region from 29th to 30th July 2023.
The elections would be followed by the constituency primaries, which the Party said would be announced in due course.
The Party currently does not have representation in Parliament.
In the 2020 presidential elections, the CPP garnered 12, 200 votes, representing 0.93 per cent.
Mr Ivor Kobina Greenstreet, who represented the Party in the 2020 presidential elections, is not contesting the Party’s upcoming primaries.
An inspector with the Ghana Police Service, who has been accused of shooting his girlfriend multiple times at Adum, in Kumasi, has been charged with murder.
Inspector Ahmed Twumasi of the Kumasi Central Divisional Command has been on provisional murder charges following his arrest at Oyoko near Effiduase a month ago.
The married inspector who was keeping a girlfriend, made his second court appearance in a month to a hostile court made up of relatives and friends of his late girlfriend, Victoria Dapaah.
They openly cast aspersions and threatened to ‘deal’ with the accused.
This compelled the police to subject all those seated in the courtroom to a search.
Lead Prosecutor, ACP Kofi Blagodzi told the court, presided by His Worship Buabin Quansah, that the A-G’s advice paves the way for a bill of Indictment to be followed by committal proceedings that will commit the accused person to a trial at the High Court.
According to him, the commitment and sole effort of the A-G in Kumasi to expeditiously advise on the case must be commended.
He reiterated the police administration’s resolve to work speedily to bring finality to the case, hence the seriousness attached to it.
The owner of Hilton Hotel in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, Dr Rahmon Adedoyin has been sentenced to death by hanging, along with two workers of the hotel, for the murder of a student, Timothy Adegoke.
Justice Oyebola Ojo, Osun State Chief Judge sitting at the High Court in Osogbo, said based on the circumstances of the case as established by the prosecution, the three were culpable of conspiracy to commit murder, and the unlawful killing of the postgraduate student of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) student.
The two others also sentenced to death are Adeniyi Aderogba, 37 and Kazeem Oyetunde, 38, both workers of the hotel.
Three others – Magdalene Chiefuna, 24, Lawrence Oluwale, 37, and Adedeji Adesola, 23, were acquitted of the charges and discharged by the court, while sentencing for a seventh defendant was adjourned to Wednesday.
The late Timothy Adegoke
Adegoke, 37, went missing after lodging at the Hilton Hotels and Resorts at Ile-Ife on his arrival from Abuja on November 5, 2021.
He was due to write an examination at the OAU Distance Learning Centre, Moro, Osun State, the next day, November 6 and November 7, 2021.
He however went missing and was found dead, buried in a grave following a police investigation of the hotel owner, Dr Rahman Adedoyin and its workers.
The defendants were slapped with the crime of murder, with counts including conspiracy to commit murder, unlawful killing of Timothy Adegoke, conspiracy to commit a felony, dumping of the body of Adegoke, conspiracy to improperly and indecently interfere with the body of Adegoke, conspiracy to alter receipt, altering and cancelling of receipt and administering of extra-judicial oath in connection with the killing.
The one-week memorial of Akwaboah’s father Akwaboah Snr was solemnly observed by Ghanaian musicians on Tuesday, May 30.
Akwaboah Senior died on May 16, 2023, after a period of illness.
A number of people joined the family for the one-week memorial in Accra and commiserated with them for the loss of their beloved who was a legendary Highlife musician.
“#AkwaboahLivesOn One week celebrations ongoing” photos from the event shared by Akwaboah Junior on social media read.
The photographs captured Akwaboah Junior alongside two individuals, believed to be his family members, all dressed in mourning attire.
Akwaboah Senior, widely recognized for his iconic songs such as ‘Awerekyekyere’ and ‘Hini Me’, left an enduring legacy not only as a beloved musician but also as the father of the accomplished contemporary Ghanaian musician, Akwaboah Junior.
In Gower, approximately 40 miles north of Kansas City, Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, 95, established the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles.
According to the abbey, Lancaster’s body was exhumed in April so that it could be transferred to the chapel, where she will be laid to rest.
But the sisters opened the coffin to find her body completely intact, shocking the local community and drawing countless eyes to the quiet Midwestern town.
The sisters were baffled, to say the least, given that Lancaster was not embalmed after her death in May 2019 and was buried in a cracked wooden coffin.
Now between 10,000 to 15,000 Catholics were expected to flood Gower to see Lancaster’s body each day over Memorial Day weekend, Clinton County Sheriff Larry Fish said in a Facebook video on May 25.
‘We’re told to expect somewhere in the neighbourhood of about 10,000, maybe 15,000 people per day – Saturday, Sunday, Monday,’ Fish said.
The nun’s body was coated in a protective wax and placed inside a glass case yesterday so people can come and pray over her.
Worshippers have also been allowed to take a teaspoon of dirt from her grave.
Among those who travelled to see Lancaster was Samuel Dawson, a Catholic who visited from Kansas City with his son last week.
‘It was very peaceful. Just very reverent,’ he said, adding that he saw many out-of-state cars when he was there.
He added that the nuns ‘wanted to make her accessible to the public… because in real life, she was always accessible to people’.
Fish added that Gower, a town of just 1,500 people, isn’t built to cope with this amount of tourists.
Some are expected to travel as far as Canada and Mexico to see her in the months ahead.
Police have cleared land to make new parking spaces and created a mobile command centre to handle the crowds, FOX4 Kansas City reported.
Mother Cecilia, the abbess for the monastery, told the Catholic News Agency that she didn’t believe what she saw at first when she opened Lancaster’s coffin.
‘I thought I saw a completely full, intact foot and I said, “I didn’t just see that’. So I looked again more carefully,’ she said.
‘I see her foot!’ Cecilia then screamed, adding: ‘I mean there was just this sense that the Lord was doing this. Right now we need hope. We need it.
‘Our Lord knows that. And she was such a testament to hope. And faith. And trust.’
The nuns didn’t mean to make the news public but a private email about Lancaster’s body was leaked to the press, prompting a wave of worshippers.
Bishop Johnston, the Diocese of Kansas City-St Joseph, said that in Catholicism, bodies that do not decay are ‘incorrupt’, a sign of holiness that could lead to Lancaster being considered a saint.
‘There is a well-established process to pursue the cause for sainthood,’ Johnston said, ‘but that has not been initiated in this case yet.’
Rebecca George, an anthropology tutor at the Western Carolina University in North Carolina, said that a body not being reduced to bones in a few years isn’t exactly shocking.
‘With 100 years, there might be nothing left,’ she said, ‘but when you’ve got just a few years out, this is not unexpected.’
Government’s decision for the country to return to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arguably came as a shock to many Ghanaians, especially major personnel of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), according to the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the party, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako.
Prior to the government’s announcement on Ghana’s quest for IMF support in July 2022, President Akufo-Addo and his officials had initially vowed not to seek support from the fund, despite the apparent economic challenges.
10 months down the line and some NPP personnel are expressing how they truly felt about that announcement.
During a press briefing organised to mark the region’s current NPP leadership’s first-year anniversary,
Mr Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, on Monday, May 29, 2023, revealed that he was just as shocked as every other Ghanaian was when the government declared its intention to return to the Bretton Woods Institution.
“The time you announced that you were going to the IMF, actually, we were surprised and confused,” he said.
However, he said he later came to realise that the President meant no evil for the country.
“Today, he has proven to us that God chose you [the President] at this difficult time for you to be a leader,” he added.
He made these remarks during a press conference organised to mark the region’s current NPP leadership’s first-year anniversary.
Among other things, he touted the achievements of the government under the leadership of President Akufo-Addo and also thanked him for allowing himself to be used as ‘a vessel to save Ghanaians.’
After several rebuttals against claims of Ghana ever returning to the IMF under the leadership of President Akufo-Addo, the government, through some officials, including Information Minister, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah and Deputy Finance Minister, John Kumah, finally conceded and made a u-turn on its stance regarding government seeking support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and his Deputy, John Kumah, had on various occasions disputed assertions that the country would eventually return to the IMF. Even a few days before the announcement, the latter had categorically stated while answering questions on the floor of Parliament on behalf of the Minister for Finance, that the country was not returning to the Bretton Woods institution.
“Government has resolved to take necessary and tough measures to restore and sustain macro stability as well as promote credibility and investor confidence through the implementation of government’s fiscal consolidation and debt sustainability measures. We will continue to collaborate with the fund as we stabilise the economy for a strong recovery and revitalisation. As we speak, Ghana is not going to the IMF, but we also want to make it clear that we will continue to work with the Fund for fiscal consolidation and debt sustainability,” he said.
But to the utmost surprise of the entire citizenry, government through a statement signed by the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, and dated July 1, 2022, indicated that there had already been a conversation between the IMF boss, Kristalina Georgieva and President Akufo-Addo conveying its decision to engage with Fund.
Meanwhile, Ghana has been able to secure a $3 billion bailout from the IMF over three years. It has so far received about GHS 600 million which is the first tranche of money to be disbursed following an agreement and pending fulfilments of certain terms for rest of funds to be released.
Regarding the idea that Covid-19 slipped from a lab, a former scientist employed by the Chinese government said, “you can always suspect anything.”
Professor George Gao, a virologist and immunologist, previously served as the director of China’s Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and is currently vice president of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
According to what he said on the BBC Radio 4 episode Fever: The Search for Covid’s Origin: You can always have suspicions. It is science. Never discount anything.
In China‘s response to the pandemic and efforts to determine how it began, Professor Gao was crucial.
But China has always strongly refuted the suggestion that the virus may have originated in a Wuhan laboratory.
The Chinese Embassy in the UK said: ‘The so-called “lab leak” is a lie created by anti-China forces. It is politically motivated and has no scientific basis.’
Wuhan was the location of the first lockdown of the 2020 pandemic and where the novel coronavirus Covid-19 was discovered.
Professor George Gao was previously the head of China’s Centre for Disease Control and is now vice president of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Picture: Reuters)China has always strongly refuted the suggestion that the virus may have originated in a Wuhan laboratory (Picture: AP)
The capital of the Hubei province is home to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which is one of China’s top national laboratories and spent years studying coronaviruses.
Professor Gao said some kind of formal investigation was carried out and ‘that lab was double-checked by the experts in the field’.
He said he has not seen the result, but has ‘heard’ the lab was given the all-clear.
Professor Gao added: ‘I think their conclusion is that they are following all the protocols. They haven’t found [any] wrongdoing.’
Many theories have been circulating surrounding the origin of Covid-19 since the pandemic again.
The going theory is that the virus spread from animals to humans, with many scientists saying the weight of evidence suggests a natural origin.
Recent analysis from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market – which was linked to several early cases – also backs up the suggestion that the pandemic could have started as a zoonotic spillover event.
Another idea is that Covid-19 infected someone researching the threat of viruses emerging from nature.
But the lab leak theory resurfaced in February when a United States government department report concluded the virus most likely emerged from such a leak.
But a previous investigation into the emergence of Covid-19 by the World Health Organisation found it was ‘extremely unlikely’ the virus leaked from a lab.
But the podcast reported the Chinese government refused a second phase of investigation, which would involve audits of laboratories in the Wuhan area.
In Florida, a teacher was discovered dead next to her boyfriend, leaving her young daughter in her cot screaming.
According to the Port St. Lucie Police Department, Amanda Hicks, 26, was found dead on Saturday, May 27, having apparently been the victim of a murder-suicide.
A family member requested a welfare check on Hicks and her partner, and police were called to the couple’s residence in the city in southeast Florida.
The Hicks’ infant daughter’s cries could be heard from outside the house when they arrived, despite the doors being closed and no one home.
Concerned officers then peered through a rear sliding-glass door, where they saw two adults who appeared dead.
The officers then ‘forced their way through the locked front door and took the unharmed, crying infant from their crib,’ the Port St Lucie Police Department said.
The baby, later identified by family members as Hicks’ 10-month-old daughter Alani, is now safe with a family member, the police said.
‘It appears at this time, an adult female was killed by an adult male who then took his own life,’ the police said. ‘Detectives believe the two adults were romantically involved.’
Investigators have not yet revealed how the couple were killed.
Neither Hicks nor her boyfriend have been named by authorities, but a spokesperson for Martin County School District where she taught sixth grade confirmed her death.
‘Additional information about memorials and opportunities for supporting Amanda’s beautiful little girl will be forthcoming,’ said Darcia Borel, the principal at Dr David L Anderson Middle School, in an email sent out to faculty.
‘Please remember to hug your loved ones a little tighter and keep Amanda’s family in your thoughts and hearts.’
Neighbors at their apartment complex told CBS 12 News the couple ‘seemed very normal, very normal.’
They had reportedly just moved to the home only three weeks ago.
Yul Edochie is on the brink of welcoming another child into his life, following the heartbreaking loss of his first son, Kambili, from his first marriage to May.
In a video shared on his official Facebook account, Yul was heard in the background singing praises to his second wife, Judy Austin, as she posed in different styles and smiled sweetly.
The video confirmed that the actress is indeed pregnant with another child for Yul.
In the said video, there was also their first child together, Star, who was running into the photo session at the beginning.
Watch Video :
Clearly, excited about the beauty of his second wife, and their child,Yul Edochie captioned his post with: “IJELE ODOGWU. Judy Austin. Grace and Elegance personified. Happy Soul.”
As stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a drone strike on Moscow earlier today was directed at civilians with the intention of inciting the nation.
The incident, which resulted in minor building damage in the Russian capital and forced evacuations, has been attributed by the Kremlin to Ukraine.
Kyiv hasn’t responded, but yesterday the military intelligence chief of Ukraine, Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, issued a warning about a quick response to prior strikes on Kyiv before sunrise.
After reportedly shooting a woman at a birthday party and killing a relative, a man handed himself in.
Delvin Diaz, 33, hosted a birthday celebration in his Brooklyn flat, and Geoliver Tineo, 23, reportedly attended. Police informed the New York Post that the argument started because Tineo, the nephew of Diaz’s sister-in-law, was either not invited or brought a visitor who was not invited.
Tineo is suspected of shooting at Diaz on Saturday night in front of his residence on Drew Street near Stanley Avenue. According to police, Diaz was hit numerous times.
In addition, a 31-year-old woman was grazed in the head. It was not immediately known if Tineo was targeting her.
Delvin Diaz was shot several times and died (Picture: Facebook)
Diaz was transported to Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, where he died of the wounds. The woman was also taken to the same hospital and is in stable condition.
Tineo surrendered to law enforcement officials early Sunday, about four hours after the 9.30pm ordeal.
He has been charged with murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a loaded firearm.
In addition, a 31-year-old woman was grazed in the head. It was not immediately known if Tineo was targeting her.
Delvin Diaz was shot several times and died (Picture: Facebook)
Diaz was transported to Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, where he died of the wounds. The woman was also taken to the same hospital and is in stable condition.
Tineo surrendered to law enforcement officials early Sunday, about four hours after the 9.30pm ordeal.
He has been charged with murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a loaded firearm.
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has officially entered the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential race, as members of his camp on Tuesday picked up a nomination form for him.
This comes after national executives of the party rejected an earlier attempt by members of the ‘Bawumia Fun Club’ to pick the form for him, accompanied by a cheque for the mandated GHS 50,000.
The group had on Friday, May 26, attempted to pick the presidential nomination forms for Dr. Bawumia to contest the presidential candidacy of the ruling party, however, the party said it had no authorisation from the campaign team of the vice president to receive the endorsement.
Speaking to JoyNews after picking up the form on Tuesday, however, former Chief Executive Officer of the Bui Power Authority, Fred Oware who was accompanied by the Director-General of the National Lottery Authority, Sammi Awuku, said they were authorised to do so.
Explaining why the team was not flanked by party supporters, Mr. Oware said it “was a private assignment.”
Backing this stance, Mr. Sammi Awuku added that, Dr Bawumia will be ready to communicate with the media after filing the form.
On May 3, 2023, the Vice President declared his intention to lead the NPP in the 2024 general election.
The Vice-President told the Majority Caucus in Parliament last Tuesday of his intention to contest the presidential primary slated for November 4, this year.
This disclosure to the Majority Caucus in Parliament was reiterated at an informal meeting with NPP supporters in Hohoe over the weekend.
“I want you to know that I appreciate your support. We are going to break the 8. First of all, we are going to file for the flagbearership which I’m going to do, win the flagbearership, break the 8, and go to Jubilee House. That is what I’m going to do,” Dr. Bawumia noted.
The Vice-President is in the race with former Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen; former Food and Agriculture Minister, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto; Assin Central Member of Parliament (MP), Kennedy Agyapong, and a former MP for Mampong in the Ashanti Region, Francis Addai Nimoh.
The rest are a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General and MP for Essikado-Ketan, Joe Ghartey; a former General Secretary of the NPP, Kwabena Agyepong; Former Trade Minister Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku and former Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko.
The party is expected to elect one of the nine as its presidential candidate for the 2024 election.
Already, six people have picked up forms to contest in the flagbearership race.
Nomination for the presidential primary began on May 26 and is expected to end on June 24, 2023.
The party’s parliamentary primaries are scheduled for February next year.
Director General of NaCCA, Prof. Edwin Appiah has asserted that not all textbooks on the market are approved by the body.
This comment comes on the back of complaints made about some controversial textbooks that denigrate the Christian religion, mistakes found in some books and sometimes, some poorly written books by authors.
The DG stated that some authors are impatient in waiting for the approval of their books before putting them up for sale on the market.
Speaking on the ‘Point of View’ on Citi TV, Prof Edwin warned and advised parents to be attentive and careful about the textbooks they purchase for their wards.
“Most of the books out there have not been approved by NaCCA. The publishers falsely claim that their books are approved by GES and NaCCA, but this is a lie. These are some of the marketing gimmicks that publishers use,” he said.
