A vehicle struck a police car, turning it over in the middle of the street.
After failing to stop and colliding with two police vehicles, the driver was taken into custody.
At 5.10 p.m. on Saturday, the Metropolitan Police said that officers attempted to stop a car at North End Road in Fulham, west London, as part of an ongoing observation.
The motorist failed to stop, struck an unoccupied marked patrol car, forcing it to flip over, then continued and struck a second law enforcement vehicle.
The car was overturned in North End Road in Fulham (Picture: UkNewsinPictures)A cordon was quickly put in place (Picture: UkNewsinPictures)
The force said a man was arrested on suspicion of ‘a number of offences’.
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He was taken to hospital ‘as a precaution’ and remains in police custody.
Police said two officers who were in the second car were treated for minor injuries.
Additional officers, the London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service attended.
Commander Kyle Gordon said: ‘Our officers come to work each day to tackle criminality and protect Londoners.
‘his afternoon, two officers were injured by a man who appears to have been willing to do whatever he could to escape.
‘This incident is a reminder of the risks that are taken on a daily basis, and it is only by luck that these officers were not seriously hurt.’
According to reports, police have confiscated a state-of-the-art campervan valued at £110,000 while they look into fraud allegations related to the SNP’s finances.
According to the Mail on Sunday, it was confiscated from the Fife residence of the mother of former chief executive Peter Murrell as police raided the Glasgow residence he shares with Nicola Sturgeon.
For about £110,000, the Niesmann + Bischoff car may be sold.
Police detained Mr. Murrell on Wednesday as they looked into the spending of about £600,000 that was intended for an independence campaign.
Later on that day, he was released pending additional inquiry.
As well as Mr Murrell and Ms Sturgeon’s home near Glasgow, Police Scotland officers also searched the SNP’s headquarters in Edinburgh and removed boxes of items.
The ongoing investigation has been described by SNP president Mike Russell as the party’s biggest crisis in 50 years.
On Saturday, Ms Sturgeon spoke publicly for the first time since her husband’s arrest, telling reporters the last few days had been ‘obviously difficult’ and insisting she would ‘fully co-operate’ with the investigation.
Former leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) Nicola Sturgeon speaking to the media outside her home in Uddingston, Glasgow (Picture: PA)
She said Mr Murrell is home but ‘not able to say anything’ about his arrest while the inquiry continues.
‘Again, that’s not necessarily a matter of choice. That’s just the nature of this,’ she added.
The Glasgow Southside MSP said she intends to ‘get on with life and my job, as you would expect me to’.
Earlier, it emerged that the accountancy firm which had audited the SNP’s books for more than a decade had resigned.
Johnston Carmichael informed the party of the decision before Mr Murrell’s arrest.
The party’s treasurer is now seeking another auditor in order to comply with Electoral Commission rules.
Police Scotland said their investigation is ongoing.
An SNP spokesman said: ‘It would not be appropriate to comment on any live police investigation.
‘The SNP has been co-operating fully with this investigation and will continue to do so.’
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross claimed it is ‘absurd’ for Ms Sturgeon to say her decision to step down was not connected to the police investigation.
He told GB News on Sunday: ‘For her to somehow suggest and continue to suggest it had nothing to do with this ongoing inquiry I think is frankly absurd.
‘We’ve now seen the incredible sight of someone who has just been first minister inside a house when the police came to arrest her husband.
‘Now, obviously, that’s an ongoing live police inquiry and I can’t go much further into it but we have all seen the house being taped off.’
He said reports of the campervan being removed are ‘incredible’ and the story is ‘deeply damaging for Scotland’.
In a Sheffield estate in the early hours of this morning, a man in his 20s was shot and killed.
The incident in Gleadless Valley’s Callow Drive is being attended by South Yorkshire Police.
As soon as 1.30am rolled around, rumours of a man being shot prompted emergency services to be contacted.
Despite the best efforts of the medical staff, the victim was declared dead at the site after being found to have severe gunshot wounds.
Formal identification is yet to take place, but the force has notified his family, and a post mortem examination will take place in due course.
Pictures from Callow Drive show increased police presence, while forensic officers examine the scene.
At least seven bullet holes can be seen in the window of a property on the estate.
Detective chief inspector Phil Etheridge confirmed that a murder investigation has been launched, but no arrests have yet been made.
He said: ‘We have had a number of specialist resources in the area since the early hours trying to piece together what happened.
‘In the early stages of a murder investigation, enquiries progress at pace as we gather as much information as we can about the incident and who may be involved.
‘Therefore, I want to take this opportunity to urge anyone out there who might know something to come forward.
‘You can submit information anonymously via Crimestoppers, or directly to the investigation team via the Major Incident Public Portal (MIPP), as well as by calling 101 or speaking to an officer locally.’
Six persons in the Kumasi metropolis have been arrested for dealing in fake herbal products.
Their arrest was carried out as a result of a collaboration between the Ashanti Regional Office of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), in collaboration with the Police.
The swoop, which targeted dealers in unregistered herbal products, formed part of routine market surveillance conducted by the Authority to clamp down on perpetrators.
The culprits, who have all been granted bail pending further investigations, include two community information centre operators and four herbal product dealers.
Mr. John Laryea Odai-Tettey, the Regional Head of FDA, speaking to the media after the exercise, said the Public Health Act, 2012 mandated the FDA to ensure food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, chemical substances, blood, blood products, and tobacco were wholesome for public consumption.
He said the Authority had the responsibility to ensure the safety and quality and standards of such products as prescribed by the Act.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that products under our regulation and being sold for public consumption and use are registered, and that is why we embark on market surveillance to check the safety of the products,” he noted.
He said beyond the registration of the regulated products, his outfit had the duty to keep an eye on the market to fish out persons producing sub-standard versions of registered products.
“Unfortunately, a lot of people do not go to accredited health facilities to seek healthcare, but rather patronise some of these products without verifying their safety,” he pointed out.
Mr Odai-Tettey said the activities of the perpetrators were inimical to public safety and called on the public to support the FDA to flush out such miscreants for the good of the general population.
He said doors of the FDA were opened to manufacturers of herbal and other regulated products to submit their products for scrutiny to ensure they were safe for public consumption.
He said failure by manufacturers to submit their products for verification amounted to the violation of the Act and cautioned that the FDA would go after such recalcitrant manufacturers in the interest of public health.
He advised the public to patronise products from registered and recognised dealers such as pharmacies and licensed over-the-counter chemical sellers for their own safety.
Wholesalers and retailers of herbal products must also ensure they purchase from licensed manufacturers in order not to be victims of the operations of the FDA, he stated.
The Ranking Member of the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament, Mr James Agalga, has called for the arrest of the Abetifi MP.
He appealed to the Inspector General of Police, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, to arrest Mr Bryan Acheampong for publicly declaring that the governing New Patriotic Party will never hand over power to the main opposition National Democratic Congress in the 2024 elections.
Mr Acheamping, who is the Minister of Agriculture, and also served as a Minister of State in Charge of National Security, told party supporters after a health march at Mpraeso in the Eastern Region on Saturday, 8 March 2023: “NDC party will collapse”.
“If the NDC dares to use threats, violence and foolishness in the 2024 election we will let them know we have the men”, he threatened, stressing: “We will show them that we have the men. We have the men”.
Mr Bryan then noted: “It will never happen that we the NPP will stand on a platform to hand over power to the NDC”.
“It will never happen! We will make sure NPP remains in government at all cost”.
In his view, the government is fixing the economy, which will inure to the NPP’s electoral fortunes.
“Now with the way things are changing the economy will bounce back again, I am telling you that we are going to come around that curve and we are going to win the 2024 elections hands down.”
At the same event, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia taunted former President John Mahama, saying his only claim to fame are dumsor and guinea fowls under the Savanna Development Authority (SADA) project, flying away to neighbouring Burkina Faso.
According to him, unlike the Akufo-Addo administration, Mr Mahama cannot boast of one transformational achievement in his several decades of politics.
“Do you know that John Mahama has been in politics his entire adult life; over 30 years?” he told the crowd, adding: “He has been an assemblyman, deputy minister to minister then Vice President and then President”.
“But can you mention a single transformational policy that he has implemented?” he asked.
“Just mention one, but there is none. Only Dumsor and guinea fowls; that’s all, but with the NPP, we have mobile money interoperability, one district-one factory, digital address, Free SHS, zongo constituency fund; there is so much we have done.”
Also, Dr Bawumia said the National Democratic Congress (NDC), under President John Mahama, only created unemployment while in office but the Akufo-Addo administration has created 2.1 million jobs so far.
“During the NDC administration, there were no jobs; they created unemployment instead of employment but these days there are jobs everywhere”.
“I have been looking at the data lately and we have created 2.1 million jobs”.
He said 975, 000 of those jobs are in the private sector while 1.2 million are in the public sector.
“This is verifiable and identifiable data which is available”, Dr Bawumia noted.
Dr Bawumia told the crowd: “We are not done yet because there are more jobs for us to create”.
“But when it comes to job creation, no government since independence has created more jobs than the government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo”, daring: “Anybody can challenge me and I will provide the data”.
“But we want to do more; we want to get to the Promised Land. We can be a Dubai, we can be a South Korea, we can be a Singapore’ it is possible”, he noted.
Speaking to the crowd, too, the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Justin Frimpong Kodua, said the government will fix the ravaged economy by the end of the year.
“Akufo-Addo has stated that the NPP has the men to turn the economy around. We are confident that by the end of the year, the economy will be in good shape. We just need your support because the alternative is worse, it is empty and hopeless”.
Responding to his fellow MP’s comment, Mr Agalga said in a statement: “… The dishonourable conduct of Bryan Acheampong poses a direct and grave threat to Ghana’s democracy and for which reason he must be held accountable”.
“Consequently, we entreat the Inspector General of Police to, as a matter of urgency, arrest Bryan Acheampong and cause his prosecution for engaging in conduct which has the potential to undermine the peace and security of our country”.
Mr Agalga said Mr Acheampong’s track record and the behavior of the Akufo-Addo government toward the electoral commission, gives cause for worry.
A family has accused DPD of ‘invading their privacy’ after the delivery service insisted on putting a package inside their home.
Paula Adelburgh was anticipating receiving a package at her residence in North Staffordshire.
Nevertheless, the 51-year-old alleges the company would not deliver the package unless she took a photo of it inside the property.
DPD has informed Paula that this is the appropriate course of action.
She said: ‘They pressed the doorbell and my son went out. They said to him that they had to put it on the doorway to take a picture. But that didn’t add up to me and you shouldn’t have to do that by law.
‘The driver wouldn’t give it to my son outside and I don’t know why he wouldn’t take a photo of it outside the house.
‘Then he went through the side gate, opened the kitchen door, and put the parcel inside. He shouldn’t be going into my property to take a photo.
‘My husband intercepted him and said, “You don’t need to open the door. Take it outside.”‘
Delivery was attempted (Picture: BPM Media)
Paula added: ‘If my dogs had been off the lead, they would have gone for him. It’s a bit scary.
‘It’s not the delivery driver’s fault if he’s been told that’s the policy. But the policy needs changing.
‘I wouldn’t like to think what would have happened if the dogs were off the lead. I have sympathy for the drivers, they’re only doing what they’ve been told.’
She added: ‘You don’t know who’s coming. It could be anybody.
‘Not all vans have DPD on the side, you don’t know if they’re bogus. Anyone can say they’ve got a parcel for you. You just don’t know, do you?’
A DPD spokesman said: ‘A photograph of the parcel in the open doorway is our standard procedure for proof of delivery.
‘Like many other carriers we switched to this process at the start of the pandemic.
‘The driver shouldn’t have gone to the other door to attempt the delivery and we will ensure that is made clear to him.’
The Bui Power Authority (BPA) has leased part of its acquired land to Bui Sugar Factory Limited to produce 60,000 tons of sugar every year to augment the country’s sugar needs.
The Bui Sugar Factory Limited is located at Fawoman, in the Banda District of the Bono Region and has already established a sugar-cane plantation to feed the factory for the production of sugar.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, Samuel Kofi Dzamesi revealed this last week when he led the Bono Regional Minister, Justina Owusu Banahene around the sugar-cane plantation as part of a working tour of the Banda District.
Briefing the Minister, Mr. Dzamesi said the Bui Sugar Factory Limited is as a result of equity share agreement between the Authority and the Chinese investors to produce 60,000 tons of sugar on 13,000 acres land acquired by the company.
“As of today 250, acres of land has already been developed as sugar-cane plantation to feed the factory for production of sugar when the factory is completed Mr. Dzamesi said.
He also stated that the Bui Sugar Factory is part of the government industrialization agenda of One District, One Factory (1D1F) and the plantation has so far employed about 500 people from the communities who are being paid weekly.
“When the factory begins full-scale production, it is expected to offer 1,500 direct employment and 500,000 indirect jobs to the youth,” he added.
Managing Director of the company, Yan Wai Hua explained that in order to have all-year production and not become short of raw materials because of erratic weather conditions, the company has dug out dams to irrigate the sugar-cane farms to ensure there is no break in production.
The Regional Minister Justina Owusu Banahene praised the instrumentality of the Bui Power Authority for its foresight in entering into a partnership with Bui Sugar factory limited, which she believes will go a long way to reduce the country’s high sugar importation.
Afrobeats singer, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has narrated how his dad, Chief Adedeji, sent policemen to arrest him several times in the early days of his career.
The ‘OBO’ crooner said his dad was initially against his musical career and wanted him to focus on his education.
Davido revealed this when he featured on Ebro in the Morning Show on Hot 97FM, New York, United States on the heels of his album release.
The station shared the interview on Youtube on Friday.
Davido said his dad, at different times, sent cops to arrest him and disrupt shows he was billed to perform at.
“He sent police to get me… like he sees a billboard; for example, ‘Davido performing, Wizkid performing’. He would send police to arrest everybody– the show promoter if you’re there (you would be arrested),” he told the FM station as he and the show presenters laughed about it.
When asked why his dad was doing that, Davido said, “So, I gotta go back to school.”
“He kept on doing it. Then there was one time. This is where I knew that ‘Oh I’m lit!’. They (the police) came and got me. Then I’m in the cell and the dude that got the keys his phone rings, and it’s my song! I said ‘that’s me’. He said ‘you’re Davido?’. I said ‘yes!’. And he let me go.”
He said after then he dropped a record that became big in Africa. “The president was playing it,” he boasted.
When the singer was asked when his dad stopped getting him arrested, Davido said, “I finished school. But I had to do like a part-time stuff.”
He noted that his father didn’t hate music, he wanted him to be serious with his education.
“Not that he hated music, he just wanted me to go to school. And I feel like, he wants that whatever I’m gonna do, I have to be successful,” he added.
He said his father now called him to ask what next, adding that his dad was proud of him, and he was his number one fan.
“He’s calling, asking me what next. He’s like over-asking questions,” he added.
Nigerian music superstar, David Adeleke, better known by his stage name, Davido, has revealed that his colleague, Ayodeji Balogun popularly calledWizkid, spoke to him on the phone every week after the death of his son, Ifeanyi.
Davido made this known in an interview on the Morning Show on Hot 97FM, New York, which was shared on Saturday.
He stated that he and Wizkid had a 12-year rift and that they only began talking after his son died.
Speaking in the video, he said, “With Wiz, over the years we had a rift, for 12 years we had a rift up until recently he chatted up and I am seeing the positivity.
“I am seeing the change in the industry a little bit because everybody is calming down, especially with my situation; the tragic situation that happened, he called me every week since it happened,” he added.
One can recall that Davido and his fiancee, Chioma Rowland, lost their only son, Ifeanyi in November 2022, shortly after his third-year birthday.
It was reported that the boy drowned in a pool at his father’s house in Banana Island and was rushed to a hospital at Lekki where he was pronounced dead.
The names of two British-Israeli sisters who were killed by gunfire in the West Bank close to an Israeli settlement have been released.
When the car they were riding in with their mother was attacked, Rina and Maia Dee—one of whom was reportedly 15 and the other in her 20s—were inside.
Local authorities claimed that their father, Rabbi Leo Dee, saw the incident from a different car that was pursuing them.
The 45-year-old mother was attacked by Palestinian terrorists and suffered significant injuries.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a statement naming the London-born sisters for the first time earlier today.
He said: ‘On behalf of all the citizens of Israel, I send my condolences to the Di Mafart family for the murder of the two wonderful sisters.
‘In these moments, if the family is fighting for its life, and together with the entire nation of Israel, I pray for its safety, and we all send our condolences and strength to this dear family in this moment of great sorrow.’
In a statement released to the Telegraph, Rabbi Dee said he was ‘confident that justice will be done’.
He told the newspaper: ‘Some people think that a religious government will suppress minority rights and become totalitarian.’
‘But this is not a risk in Israel as religious Jews simply believe in balancing love and justice. For our part, we have felt a warm hug of love from Jews in Israel and beyond and we are confident that justice will be done.’
The attack on the family, who lived in the Efrat settlement near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, came amid rising tensions and days of fighting at Jerusalem’s most holy site during the rare convergence of Ramadan, Passover and Easter.
On Friday, an Italian man was killed and five British and Italian tourists were injured in a car-ramming attack on a street in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly held a call with his Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, to discuss the ‘appalling’ attacks earlier today.
The Hamas militant group praised both incidents as retaliation for Israeli raids earlier this week on the Al-Aqsa mosque which resulted in dozens of worshippers being injured.
Middle East minister Lord Ahmad said: ‘I condemn yesterday’s attacks in the West Bank, killing two British-Israeli nationals and injuring one other, and in Tel Aviv where an Italian national was killed and British nationals were injured.’
A statement from the Foreign Office said it was ‘saddened’ to hear about the death of the sisters and ‘serious injuries sustained by a third individual’.
It added: ‘The UK calls for all parties across the region to de-escalate tensions.’
Ghanaian musician, Kwaku Flick, has expressed that Ghanaian TikTocker, ahuofe’s death will take a toll on creatives in the country.
Fans are expressing their condolences after the demise of popular internet sensation and viral TikToker, Ahuofe, who passed away on Thursday, March 30, 2023.
Sharing his opinion, Kumasi-based Hiplife artiste, Kweku Flick, said Ahuofe’s death comes as a shock to him due to his supportive role, especially for those in the creative arts.
He told Amansan Krakye in an interview, “Ahuofe promoted a lot of my songs on TikTok, especially my Black Stars World Cup Anthem and so he was very supportive.
“He’s someone who was all out so he did promote the songs of all the artistes he comes across without being biased or selective unless he doesn’t hear that song,” he said monitored by MyNewsGh.com
He added that, “I feel that his demise is a sad story because when I heard that story that he’s dead on that very day, I wanted to confirm it because we don’t play with stuff like that.
“So I had the patience to make some calls in order to confirm that indeed what I was hearing was true so we pray that God should keep his soul in a safe place,” he ended on Showbiz on Property.
Renowned Ghanaian Police Officer, Sa-ada Muhammed popularly known as ‘Hajia Police’ has stated that men should learn to say ‘sorry’ to their women even when they are not at fault.
According to the Afro-Islam pioneer and singer, whenever men apologize to women for no particular fault, it creates a feeling of joy and excitement amongst the couple.
“As for women they need a lot of care and the only thing is for men to learn how to say that I’m sorry to her or my dear please forgive me.
“That’s what we women expect from men even if you have not done anything wrong or you’ve not offended your women learn how to say that I’m sorry,” she stated in an interview with Amansan Krakye.
She added that saying sorry makes women submit and succumb to their men.
“That will make us happy and excite us women, so learn how to say sorry for doing nothing, and as for women if you’re able to say that she will follow you.
“She will do whatever you ask her to do so if men do these things there won’t be any war if men are able to romantically care for and caress their women,” Hajia Police concluded.
The first Easter Sunday service of the new monarch’s reign has been held at Windsor Castle with the presence of King Charles, Queen Camilla, and senior royals.
The Firm is present in full form at St. George’s Chapel in the Berkshire estate’s grounds for the customary Easter Sunday Mattins.
The funeral will be the first to be held since the late Queen’s departure, making it a melancholy occasion for the family. The 15th-century church will serve as her ultimate resting place.
Her devoted husband Prince Philip, who is interred next to her in the modest King George VI Memorial Chapel, passed away two years ago on this day as well.
A staple in the royal calendar, the family was pictured enjoying the bright spring sunshine before the morning service.
On what is also their 18th wedding anniversary, Charles and Camilla arrived wearing matching royal blue outfits, with the King in a suit and the Queen Consort wearing a long dress.
They were followed by the Duke of York and the Princess Royal.
The Prince and Princess of Wales were joined by their three children, George, Charlotte and Louis.
Kate wore a marine blue dress and matching pill-box hat.
William and Prince George walked side by side wearing matching navy suits, while Princess Charlotte held her father’s hand.
Prince Louis, attending the service for the first time, wore a suit jacket and light blue shorts.
The Earl and Countess of Wessex arrived with their son James, Viscount Severn.
Princess Beatrice and her husband, Eduardo Mapelli Mozzi, also attended the service, as did her sister Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, and Zara and Mike Tindall and their two daughters, Mia and Lena.
Following the service, the family will sit down for a roast dinner together, tucking into items sourced from royal estates, such as venison, spring vegetables, new potatoes, carrots, salmon and roast ham.
It is thought Charles may relax one of the late Queen’s dinner rules for the occasion.
Royal expert Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine, said: ‘They will all have dinner together but not the young children they will eat in the nursery dining room.
‘The Queen always said until they could hold a knife and fork properly they could not eat at the table, but Charles might have relaxed that rule a bit. But dinner is only for grown-ups.’
There is also said to be a new role for the Princess of Wales – organising the Easter egg hunt for the royal children.
Ms Seaward told The Sun: ‘Kate is a great organiser and will almost certainly organise an Easter egg hunt – the children can also go to the royal mews and see the horses there and there is an indoor pool for swimming and ponies for them to ride.’
Charles, as monarch, has succeeded his mother to become the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
In less than a month’s time, he will be crowned alongside Camilla in a religious service in Westminster Abbey.
As the Prince of Wales, Charles often released an Easter message and last year highlighted the millions of displaced people ‘wounded by the past, fearful of the future’, but this year has not, likely to be a reflection of his new role as head of state.
A fire outbreak has destroyed a warehouse belonging to Multipac Ghana Ltd, a beverage manufacturing company in Tema.
The fire started Saturday (April 8, 2023) dawn, at about 12am.
According to the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), it took firefighters about four hours to bring the fire under control.
The Deputy Director of Operations at the Ghana National Fire Service headquarters, Divisional Officer Grade 1, Joseph K. Forson who was at the scene said they received the distress call at 12:52 am.
The first fire engine from the Industry Area Fire Station, which was about two kilometers away arrived at the scene.
The crew detected the fire in one of the warehouses at the premises of the factory where raw materials are kept.
Multiple fire pumps were called in to support.
DO1 Forson said a total of six pumps and one water tanker from the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority as well as ten private water tanker operators were called in to help extinguish the fire.
The fire was brought under control at 4:20 am and totally extinguished at 6:33 am.
DO I Forson said there were no casualties or injuries recorded adding that investigations were underway to determine the cause of the fire.
Nigerian entrepreneur and co-founder of Releaf Ikenna Nzewi is at the forefront of revolutionizing the agri-tech industry in Africa through innovative technological hardware that streamlines the sale of high-quality raw materials to food factories in the region.
His forward-thinking mindset and passion for sustainable agriculture are the driving forces behind his groundbreaking initiative, which promises to transform the industry.
Nzewi’s exceptional expertise, with a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Yale University and experience as an associate consultant at Bain & Company, has been invaluable in leading the charge at Releaf.
Through his startup, the Nigerian entrepreneur is establishing smaller factories in proximity to smallholder farmers, providing FMCG manufacturers with easy access to high-quality raw materials, and driving positive economic growth and sustainability in the region.
Since founding Releaf in 2017, Nzewi has recorded incredible success in transforming the sale of high-quality raw materials to food factories in Africa.
Releaf’s technology enables decentralized purchasing and processing of raw crops, improving profitability and preventing post-harvest loss for a more climate-resilient future.
The startup has leveraged its supply chain technology to process more than 10 million kilograms of palm nuts, resulting in a remarkable sevenfold increase in monthly revenue year-on-year.
The success of its pilot, Kraken, has not only validated its thesis but also attracted significant interest, as evidenced by a pre-Series-A funding round led by Samurai Incubate Africa, which raised an impressive $3.3 million.
The $3.3 million in funding will be used to launch two new technologies: Kraken II, a portable version of Releaf’s award-winning palm nut de-sheller, and SITE, a geospatial mapping application that assists in determining the most profitable positioning of food processing assets.
Under Nzewi’s visionary leadership, the company has successfully secured over $100 million in supply contracts from industry giants such as Presco and PZ Cussons, resulting in a tripled valuation since its seed round.
However, his impact extends beyond financial success, as his passion for technology and sustainability in the agricultural sector is transforming the food industry in Africa and inspiring a new generation of innovators on the continent.
As a distinguished fellow at Harambeans, an alliance of African entrepreneurs, Nzewi is dedicated to cultivating an entrepreneurial ecosystem to foster scalable solutions and empower young innovators across Africa.
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has commended the work of the African Development Bank Group in helping the continent to deal with the impact of global economic challenges.
The Egyptian leader on Tuesday received the President of the African Development Bank Group Dr Akinwumi Adesina in the capital Cairo.
Dr Adesina was accompanied by the bank’s Chief Economist and Vice President Professor Kevin Urama and the Secretary-General Professor Vincent Nmehielle. Others at the meeting included the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt Hassan
Abdallah, Deputy Governor for Monetary Stability Rami Aboul Naja and Deputy Governor for External Affairs Mannullah Farid.
Dr Adesina was in Egypt to familiarise himself with preparations ahead of the Bank Group’s 2023 Annual Meetings scheduled for 22-26 May in the resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Up to 13 heads of state and government are expected to join the bank’s Governors, executive directors, development partners and management at the meetings to discuss Mobilizing Private Sector Financing for Climate and Green Growth in Africa.
President El-Sisi said Egypt looked forward to continuing and increasing cooperation with the bank in various development sectors.
The bank is closely working with Egypt to mobilise international climate financing to address the country’s climate challenges, building resilience of vulnerable systems and promoting sustainable development.
The Just Green Transition (JGT) initiative has a pipeline of investment-ready projects worth $14.8 billion to tackle the Nexus on Water, Food and Energy.
The African Development Bank was asked to lead mobilisation of financing for the water pillar projects.
Dr Adesina said, “The bank has mobilised $2.3 billion exceeding the initial target of $1.4 billion.”
In addition, the bank is supporting water desalination projects in the country.
The African Development Bank Group head praised Egypt’s bold efforts to tap into private sector finance for green growth initiatives.
The government of Egypt plans to issue a green bond in the Chinese capital markets by end of June this year. The Green Panda Bond with a face value of $500 million will be issued in Chinese Renminbi.
Dr Adesina said, “This will be the first time for an African country to issue a bond in the Chinese capital markets.”
The bank’s Board of Directors will in the next couple of months discuss Egypt’s request to provide a partial credit guarantee of $345 million to support the issuance of the bond.
The Green Panda Bond will be the latest among several other bonds that Egypt has issued since 2020 when it launched its Green Financing Framework.
Adesina also commended Egypt for its commitment to increasing the role of the private sector in the economy.
Egypt launched early this year the privatisation of 32 state-owned entities worth $40 billion over the next four years to reduce the footprint of the public sector in the economy and give more room to private sector to grow.
In terms of additional financial support to Egypt in 2023, the bank plans to provide the country $133 million to deal with macroeconomic instability caused by the continuing global compounded crisis.
Last year, the bank provided $272 million policy-based operation in supporting Egypt’s efforts to tackle the impact of the crisis.
On Wednesday, Dr Adesina met with the Governor of South Sinai Governorate, Major General (Rt) Khaled Fouda who said the city of Sharm El Sheikh was ready to host more than 2,000 delegates who will be attending the bank’s Annual Meetings in May.
Adesina said the bank was impressed by the infrastructure and facilities the Egyptian government had established in Sharm El-Sheikh, which successfully hosted last year’s COP 27.
“The infrastructure you have developed in Sharm El-Sheikh is amazing. It’s world-class. The city is constantly changing, putting green growth at the heart of its development. It’s an example of how successful financing of municipalities and other sub-national entities can deliver impactful social economic development,” the bank chief said. “Other African countries can learn from Sharm El-Sheikh.”
Adesina also met with diplomats representing the bank’s shareholders and development partners in Egypt. He said the bank was committed to supporting countries across Africa achieve accelerated development despite the recent economic shocks and geopolitical tensions affecting them.
“It is a very difficult world to be dealing with, and so as African Development Bank, our role is to support the accelerated development of African countries in financing their economic and social development agenda, and also building the resilience of their economies. We help African countries to be able to deal with the series of shocks—whether it is climate, whether it is debt, whether it is recovering from the Covid-19 situation, or whether it is investing in the things they need for structural transformation of their economies,” Adesina reaffirmed.
Present at the event were Egypt’s Minister for International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat; Deputy Assistant Minister for Regional Economic Organizations Ebtisam Rakha; the Acting Central Bank Governor of Egypt, Mr Hassan Abdallah, who is also the Governor for Egypt of the African Development Bank; Dr Mohamadou Labarang, Cameroon Ambassador and dean of African Ambassadors in Egypt; and the bank’s Executive Director Nomoto Takaaki.
Daria Trepova has been formally accused by Russian authorities with crimes related to terrorism in connection with the murder of Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky.
According to a court statement released on Tuesday, Trepova, 26, was charged under the criminal code with “illegal carrying of explosive devices done by an organised group” and a “terrorist act committed by an organised group that resulted in the deliberate infliction of death on a person.”
Tatarsky was a guest of a pro-war organisation when he was killed in an explosion on Sunday at a cafe in the heart of St. Petersburg.
Investigators allege that Trepova, acting at the behest of Ukraine, brought a “statuette filled with explosives” to the venue and handed it to Tatarsky.
It subsequently exploded, killing him and injuring more than 30 other people. The Russian investigative committee has requested that Trepova remain in detention until June 2.
In Russia, it is standard procedure to keep a suspect in custody for a certain period of time while their trial is ongoing, and Trepova could be held past June 2.
Multiple videos show the moments leading up to the explosion.
One 25-second video shows Tatarsky standing with the event’s host receiving an unexpected gift. Video shows the blogger taking the statuette out of a box – a small figurine painted gold and wearing a combat helmet in his likeness.
The footage then pans over to a woman in the audience, purportedly Trepova.
Russian state media TASS reported that “preliminarily, it was Trepova who handed Tatarsky a figurine with explosives” at the cafe.
A witness said Trepova gave the statuette to the event’s host, before moving to a different part of the room. The video itself does not show her handing the statue to the host and CNN is not able to independently verify the claims.
Another clip, shot from further back in the room, appears to show an interaction between Trepova and Tatarsky before the blast.
At one point Tatarsky calls her Nastya – not her real name. After the statuette is presented, she turns to return to her seat toward the back of the hall, but Tatarsky calls her to sit near the front, which she does.
“Sit here or here. Sit over on the chair,” Tatarsky said to her.
“I’ll sit over there. I am too shy,” she replied.
At least 32 people were injured in the blast, with 10 people in serious condition, state media Ria Novosti reported, citing the Russian Ministry of Health.
Security cameras recording outside caught the explosion tearing through the building, blowing out the cafe’s windows and frontage.
No evidence has yet been presented about who carried out the bombing.
Russia’s interior ministry added Trepova to a wanted list following the explosion, and her arrest was announced on Telegram by the Investigative Committee of Russia shortly after.
The ministry then released a video of the suspect in custody, identified by Russian authorities as Trepova. In the video, a male voice asks the woman if she understands why she has been detained. She replies in the affirmative, and said she was detained for being at the scene of the murder of Tatarsky.
A male interrogator then asks Trepova what she did at the cafe. She replies that she brought the figurine, but declined to answer who gave it to her.
The video was selectively released by the Russian authorities and it’s unclear if she was speaking under duress.
Human-rights advocates and international observers say Russian police routinely use torture and ill treatment to extract confessions, and Russia’s security service uses coercion and entrapment to recruit informants among Russia’s opposition groups.
Trepova’s husband, Dmitry Rylov, told an independent Russian publication that he is convinced his wife was framed.
“She was really just set up and used,” Rylov was quoted as saying by The Insider.
According to Russian state news agency TASS, Trepova was arrested in the early days of Russia’s war in Ukraine for demonstrating against it, and sentenced to 10 days in prison.
Her husband was a member of the Libertarian Party of Russia, TASS said. Trepova, however, was not associated with the small political party and the Libertarian Party has denied she was ever a member or supporter.
Within Russia,suspicion has fallen on Ukrainian special services, informal Russian opposition groups and associates of the jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny, though his supporters have denied having anything to do with the explosion.
Russia’s Investigative Committee for St. Petersburg said it had opened a murder investigation but later reclassified the criminal case as a terrorist act, claiming that “the planning and organization” of the killing was “carried out from the territory of Ukraine.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also called the explosion a “terrorist attack” and accused Ukraine of being behind it. “There is evidence that the Ukrainian special services may be involved in the planning of this terrorist attack,” Peskov said.
Ukraine has said little about the explosion, beyond blaming in-fighting in Russia. On Monday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declined to make any comment about the blast.
Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was one of Russia’s most outspoken and ultranationalist military bloggers, known for his ardent pro-war commentary and occasional criticism of Moscow’s battlefield failures. He amassed a large following on the social media platform Telegram for his commentary on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
CNN’s Teele Rebane, Jennifer Hauser, Svitlana Vlasova, Anna Chernova, Katharina Krebs and Darya Tarasova contributed reporting.
This week, farmers in central and eastern Europe demonstrated against the negative effects of cheap grain imports from Ukraine that have lowered domestic prices and decreased sales for regional producers.
In the border between Romania and Bulgaria, protesters used tractors to obstruct traffic and border checkpoints in an effort to stop Ukrainian trucks from entering their nation, according to local news sources.
Local grain farmers claim they are unable to compete with Ukrainian grain prices and have requested compensation from the European Commission.
Ukraine, often called the “breadbasket of Europe” due to the vast quantities of grain it produces, had its Black Sea ports blockaded by Russia following the invasion in February 2022.
Fearing that the situation was “threatening global food security,” the European Commission set up what it called “solidarity lanes” in May to facilitate exports.
The Commission also temporarily eliminated all duties and quotas on Ukraine’s exports, allowing a glut of cheap Ukrainian grain to flow into Europe.
This has caused “huge market distortions” in neighboring countries, according to European farmers’ association Copa-Cogeca.
Pekka Pesonen, Secretary General of Copa-Cogeca, told CNN “the EU needs to address the severe consequences that open borders and unmanaged imports of some agricultural goods have caused to the bordering EU member states.”
“We call for stabilizing import volumes to match our EU capacity to absorb the inflow of goods,” he added.
Anger grew after the European Commission announced a draft decision to extend duty-free and quota-free imports of Ukrainian grain until June 2024, prompting Polish agriculture minister Henryk Kowalcyzk to resign from his post Wednesday.
In Kowalczyk’s resignation statement, he said that the Polish government – along with those of Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria – had submitted a request to the European Commission to “activate the protection clause in the field of duty-free and quota-free imports of grain from Ukraine.”
“Bulgaria is in solidarity with Ukraine, but a local glut is being created on the agricultural market, because instead of export corridors our countries are becoming warehouses,” Bulgaria’s agriculture minister Yavor Gechev said.
The National Association of Bulgarian Grain Producers said “Bulgarian farmers’ warehouses are full of stagnant produce. There is no market for Bulgarian grain.”
According to their data, 40% of last year’s grain and sunflower harvest remains unsold.
Romanian farmers are also feeling the strain. At protests in Bucharest on Friday, Liliana Piron, executive director of the League of Romanian Agriculture Producers’ Associations, said farmers have “reached a point where they feel they can no longer face the costs” of “unfair competition” from Ukraine.
“We are less than three months away from the new harvest and the danger is real, that the goods we will have ready this season will not be able to be sold at prices above production costs,” Piron said, according to RadioFree Europe.
“We will witness a chain of bankruptcies of Romanian farmers,” she added.
In response to the growing unrest, the European Commission last month proposed support measures worth 56.3 million euros (around $61.3 million) for Bulgarian, Polish and Romanian farmers “to compensate affected farmers for the economic loss due to increased imports.”
“The trade disruptions incurred by the Russian aggression should not take place at the expense of farmers from neighboring countries,” the Commission said in a statement.
The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) has commenced a nationwide payroll monitoring exercise as part of measures to clean up government payroll and ensure equity.
The exercise which is kick-starting with the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) will among other things seek to uncover salary irregularities, ghost names on the payroll and undeserving allowances among others.
Addressing the media in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the FWSC, Ing. Benjamin Arthur said as part of their mandate, they did not only determine wages but also had a response to monitor the payroll of government.
He said even though monitoring and evaluation formed part of the commission’s daily activities, it had become necessary to step the process up to ascertain whether it was doing well or not.
Mr Arthur said the monitoring exercise was to offer the commission the opportunity to clean up the payroll data to ensure that workers as well as government which is the employer, were not shortchanged.
He said the commission served notice to commence with this national monitoring exercise in April and the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) was the first field operation stop.
We believe that having signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the IAA last year to collaborate in conducting the monitoring, we thought that our house should be clean so we have asked them to do their own internal monitoring and share the report with us,” he said.
He said the exercise was not a joke but a very serious one as such persons who knew that they were not deserving of their emoluments must refund, stressing that “In our operations if we come across those who are not benefiting from certain allowances and they have been misplaced as far as grade is concerned we will have to take steps to correct same. If we find out that people fraudulently are receiving salaries, we will definitely contact or liaise with appropriate authorities to take the necessary actions.”
Mr Arthur said the overarching objective of the whole exercise was to ensure that people earn what was deserving of them and also ensure equity.
On his part, the Director-General of the (IAA), Dr Eric Oduro Osae, said the monitoring exercise would help promote accountability and transparency in the payment of salaries to public sector workers.
He said the payroll as a component of government budget was getting higher and higher as such there was the need to clean it up.
Dr Osae said there was no better way of cleaning it than through a monitoring by the FWSC.
He said there were issues of missing names, issues of unknown names, issues of people using other people’s names and vehicles for car maintenance allowances and people with different dates of births.
He said persons who were taking government monies illegally would be sanctioned according to law.
Dr Osae noted that internal auditors were leading the charge in either eliminating or reducing payroll fraud in the country.
“Again internal auditors are working with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and even as the FWSC monitor the payment of salaries, internal auditors will also do the payroll auditing bit to ensure that persistently we reduce payroll fraud and government’s compensation budget which is ballooning on the account of some of these irregularities,” he said.
He explained that there had been instances of differences in retirement age and they had been flagged off because of the use of the Ghana Card.
Asante Gold Corporation has announced that it has completed its previously announced non-brokered placement of approximately C$27 million pursuant to which the company issued a total of 18,232,000 units of the company to a major institutional investor.
Each unit was sold at a price of C$1.50 and was comprised of one common share in the capital of the company and one common share purchase warrant of the company.
Each warrant is exercisable to acquire one common share at a price of C$1.75 per common share until April 6, 2024.
The securities issued under the offering are subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day following the closing date of the Offering in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Until the investor holds at least 5% of the outstanding common shares, the investor will have a right to participate in future equity financings by the company to maintain its share ownership percentage in the company.
No commissions or finder’s fees were paid by the company in connection with the offering.
The company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to advance the exploration and development of the company’s mineral properties and for general corporate working capital purposes.
About Asante Gold Corporation
Asante is a gold exploration, development and operating company with a high-quality portfolio of projects and mines in Ghana.
Asante is currently operating the Bibiani and Chirano Gold Mines with combined forecast production of approximately 400,000 ounces of gold for 2023.
The company continues with detailed technical studies at its Kubi Gold Project for early production. All mines and exploration projects are located on the prolific Bibiani and Ashanti Gold Belts.
Asante has an experienced and skilled team of mine finders, builders and operators, with extensive experience in Ghana.
The company is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange, the Ghana Stock Exchange and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Asante is also exploring its Keyhole, Fahiakoba and Betenase projects for new discoveries, all adjoining or along strike of major gold mines near the centre of Ghana’s Golden Triangle.
About the Bibiani Gold Mine
Bibiani is an operating open pit gold mine situated in the Western North Region of Ghana, with previous gold production of more than 4.5 million ounces.
It is fully permitted with available mining and processing infrastructure on-site consisting of a newly refurbished 3 million tonne per annum process plant and existing mining infrastructure.
Mining commenced in late February 2022 with the first gold pour announced on July 7, 2022. Commercial production was announced on November 10, 2022.
About the Chirano Gold Mine
Chirano is an operating open-pit and underground mine located in the Western Region of Ghana, immediately south of the Company’s Bibiani Gold Mine.
Chirano was first explored and developed in 1996 and began production in October 2005.
The mine comprises the Akwaaba, Suraw, Akoti South, Akoti North, Akoti Extended, Paboase, Tano, Obra South, Obra, Sariehu and Mamnao open pits and the Akwaaba and Paboase underground mines.
Gold Equivalent Production in 2021 was 154,668 oz on a 100% basis (source Kinross Gold Corporation).
Iranian officials will employ cameras in public locations to spot women who disobey the nation’s hijab rule, according to state media.
Because they don’t cover their hair, Iranian women run the possibility of being arrested. As part of the widespread demonstrations that followed the murder of a young woman in detention for allegedly breaking hijab laws, many have been disobeying the required attire.
But, the authorities don’t appear to be changing their position.
Iranian police would utilise smart cameras in public locations to detect persons who violate the rules, they said, in an innovative move to reduce tension and problems related to the implementation of the hijab law, according to the state-aligned Tasnim news agency.
After the women have been identified, they would be sent warning messages which detail the specific time and place they had “violated” the law, according to Tasnim.
“In the context of preserving values, protecting family privacy and maintaining the mental health and peace of mind of the community, any kind of individual or collective behavior against the law, will not be tolerated,” Tasnim reported.
A viral video earlier this month showed a man throwing yogurt on two women for not wearing the hijab.
Both were later arrested for breaking Iran’s dress code.
Political Scientist and Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana Dr. Michael Kpessa-Whyte has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor by the University.
The astute academic and stalwart of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), with expertise in Comparative Public Policy and Political Institutions, joined the Institute of African Studies(IAS) in 2011.
He had previously served as Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Jonson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
Dr Kpessa-Whyte has brought his expertise to bare both in impacting his students and advising Government. He served as Policy Advisor to former President John Mahama, and Executive Director of the National Service Scheme, where he initiated several reforms.
Education
Dr Kpessa-Whyte holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Ghana (2001); Master of Arts, Political Science (International Relations), Department of Political Science, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada(2005); and a Ph.D. in Political Science (Comparative Public Policy), Department of Political Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada(2009).
His research interests are in but not limited to Social Policy and Socio-economic Transformation in Africa; Aging and Retirement Income Security (Pension) Policies in Africa; Politics of Early Post-Colonial Africa; Public Policy and Democratization in Africa; The Politics of Development Policy Decisions in Africa; Theories of African Development Institutional Theory in the Context of Informality African Political Thought & Pan-Africanism.
“Kill the chicken to terrify the monkey,” says an adage from the Chinese language.
Translation: Destroying a smaller adversary is the finest method to intimidate a powerful one.
Nevertheless, what follows? According to reports, one individual in China has just learned.
In a strange court case that has been covered by the nation’s state-run media, a man who only went by the surname Gu was this week sentenced to prison after a jury held him responsible for killing 1,100 chickens that belonged to a neighbour with whom he had a dispute.
The pair had reportedly been squabbling since the neighbor, Zhong, cut down Gu’s trees without permission in April 2022.
The court in Hengyang county of central China’s Hunan province heard that Gu had responded by sneaking onto Zhong’s chicken farm during the night on more than one occasion.
It is unclear what Gu’s intentions were but the flashlight he used caused the flock to panic and as the birds crowded into a corner in fear, hundreds of them died in the ensuing crush.
The first time Gu trespassed onto his neighbor’s property, he caused a crush in which 500 chickens died. He was apprehended by police and forced to pay Zhong compensation of 3,000 yuan ($436).
But he didn’t stop there and returned to Zhong’s property a second time, this time killing 640 chickens.
On Tuesday, the Hengyang court ruled that Gu had intentionally caused “property loss” to Zhong.
Chinese authorities said that the 1,100 dead chickens were estimated to be worth a total of 13,840 yuan ($2,015).
The court ordered Gu to serve six months in prison with one year of probation – a sentence it said took into account the remorse Gu had shown for his crime.
Tamara, 73, claims that “God protects me.” She is one of the few residents of the eastern Ukrainian settlement of Konstantinivka.
God will deliver me if I’m in need. If not, then it is what it is, she says with a shrug.
For the past 40 years, Tamara has resided in the same flat. She states casually that her drug-addicted son is in Russia. Long ago, she lost her husband. Just her and her cat are left now.
The city of Bakhmut, the location of some of the most violent fighting in the conflict, lies 22 kilometres, or 13.5 miles, east of Konstantinivka.
Tamara is waiting for a bus home, sitting on a broken wooden bench in the square which also serves as the town’s main taxi stand.
On this day there is only one taxi with a sign on the windshield offering rides to Dnipro, a four-hour drive to the west, far away from the frontlines. There are no takers.
Occasionally the air shakes with distant explosions.
Stray dogs prowl the center of the square, on the lookout for scraps. In January when I was last here, they hung around sandwich and kebab shops. The shops are now all shuttered.
On the ground next to Tamara is a shopping bag containing her purse and a few groceries. She says she can’t survive on her monthly pension, amounting to about fifty dollars. She supplements it with food shared by soldiers passing through town. When all else fails, she says, she begs.
Tamara wears scuffed and dirty white running shoes, the laces untied. Her feet don’t reach the ground.
Earlier this week missiles struck an apartment building in Konstantinivka, killing six people.
As she waits for the bus, Tamara quickly crosses herself.
The towns and villages close to the fighting are largely abandoned. As the fighting in Bakhmut rages on – the battle has been going on for more than seven months – Russian shells and missiles land in communities well away from the front lines.
What passes for normal life is a thing of the past here. Many of the windows in houses and apartment buildings in Konstantinivka have been blown out. Remaining residents nail plastic sheeting to the window frames to keep out the cold.
Running water and electricity are intermittent at best.
In the courtyard of a crumbling Soviet-era apartment block, Nina, 72, surveys the wreckage around her. An incoming missile hit a shed, shredding trees, throwing mangled sheets of metal in all directions, splattering shrapnel on surrounding walls.
“I’m on the last breath of survival,” she sighs. “I’m on the verge of needing a psychiatrist.”
What keeps her sane, she tells us, are her flat mates – five dogs and two cats.
“In the market they tell me I should feed myself, not my cats and dogs,” she says, a smile creeping onto her wrinkled face.
As we speak another old woman in a stained winter coat trudges by, dragging a bundle of twigs to heat her home.
An eerie metallic squeak echoes across the courtyard as a young girl, perhaps 10 or 11 years-old, sways on a rusty swing. Her face is blank. For more than half an hour she goes back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
Since shortly after the war began more than a year ago Ukrainian officials have urged the residents of communities near the worst of the fighting to evacuate to safer ground.
Many have heeded the call but often the elderly, the infirm and the impoverished insist on staying put. And try as they might to persuade the hesitant, the government hasn’t the manpower and resources to forcibly evict them.
In the town of Siversk, northeast of Bakhmut, barely a structure has been left undamaged. On the main road, incoming artillery shells have left gaping holes, now full of water.
At the entrance to an apartment building, Valentina and her neighbour, also named Nina, are getting a bit of fresh air. They pay no mind to the Soviet-era armoured personnel carrier parked next to the building opposite them.
Every night, and often almost every day, Nina and Valentina must huddle in their basement, which doubles as a bomb shelter. Nina’s husband is disabled and never leaves the basement.
Here, there is no running water, no electricity, no internet, so mobile signal. I only found one small store open.
Valentina struggles to look on the bright side. “It’s fine” she responds in a loud, confident voice when I ask how she is. “We put up with everything!”
“What do we feel?” responds Nina in a quivering voice. “Pain. Pain. When you see something destroyed you tear up. We cry. We cry.”
Valentina’s mask drops, she nods, and her eyes fill with tears.
The 2024 election appears to be a stiff one as political parties, especially, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) are ensuring that the election would be conducted in a free and fair manner.
According to the Member of Parliament for Abetifi Constituency, Bryan Acheampong, the NPP will resist any attempt from the NDC to harass or intimidate its members during the general election.
Addressing party faithful after a health walk through the principal streets of Mpraeso on Saturday, April 8, 2023, Bryan Acheampong said the NPP will prove to the NDC that they have the men should they try anything mischievous on election day.
Amidst shouts and cheers from the party faithful, the NPP MP said, “We will show NDC that we have the men if they want to do intimidate, harass us, or do anything foolish during the 2024 elections…”
“It will not happen that we will hand over power to NDC. We’ll use any means for NPP to stay in power,” he stated.
It would be recalled that Former President John Mahama on March 13, 2023, made the same comments, stating that, the National Democratic Congress will match the New Patriotic Party boot for boot in the 2024 elections if the government attempts to intimidate and harass supporters of the NDC.
He said NDC will be very vigilant at the polling stations during the general elections in 2024.
John Dramani Mahama said this when he addressed party supporters in the Tain and Banda constituency in the Bono East Region.
The final prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials, Benjamin Ferencz, passed away at the age of 103.
Before going to the courts, Ferencz participated in combat in Europe during the Second World War and assisted in the liberation of various concentration camps.
He was appointed chief prosecutor for Nuremberg’s Einsatzgruppen trial, where 22 Nazis were charged with crimes against humanity, at the age of 27.
After Germany was conquered in 1945, the Allies held the Nuremberg trials in an effort to prosecute Nazis for crimes committed during World War II.
The Einsatzgruppen trial was his first court case, but the evidence which Ferencz discovered perfectly recorded and documented in Nazi headquarters, allowed him to successfully rest the case in only two days.
The men on trial commanded Hitler’s roaming SS extermination squads, killing between them an estimated one million victims.
In his opening statement, he said, “Vengeance is not our goal. Nor do we seek merely a just retribution. We ask this court to affirm by international penal action man’s right to live in peace and dignity, regardless of his race or creed. The case we present is a plea to humanity.”
All the defendents were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is often considered the biggest murder trials in history.
Ferencz was the first prosecutor to use the term “genocide” in a court of law, introducing the term in his opening statement: “So, here, the killing of defenseless civilians during a war may be a war crime, but the same killings are part of another crime, a graver one, if you will, genocide, or a crime against humanity. This is the distinction we make in our pleading. It is real and most significant.”
For Ferencz “law, not war” was more than a motto, it was his life’s mission.
For decades he advocated the establishment of an International Criminal Court and is considered one of the ICC’s founding fathers.
In 2011, he delivered the closing statement for the prosecution at the ICC’s first trial, saying, “What makes this Court so distinctive is its primary goal to deter crimes before they take place by letting wrongdoers know in advance that they will be called to account by an impartial International Criminal Court.”
In January, Ferencz was awarded the US Congressional Gold Medal, but was unable to attend the ceremony due to his declining health.
In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour last year, Ferencz said he was “heartbroken” by the war in Ukraine.
“To see it happening again, very similar, kids being shot, homes being blown up, it pains me to see that we have learned so little from the Holocaust and from the trials,” he said.
Ferencz fought for justice his entire life, saying “to let the world continue to use [war] as an instrument of persuasion is so stupid and so incredible, that I simply can’t stop doing it at the age of 103.” He added that he was “not discouraged,” and to “never give up, never give up, never give up.”
At the end of the interview, he asked for help to create a more humane world.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), six rockets in total were fired from Syria in the direction of Israel, with three of them landing on Israeli soil. The Israeli-occupied Golan Heights received one of the rockets.
Israeli land has not yet been damaged, according to the IDF.
It is the most recent flare-up after Israel attacked Palestinian militant targets in southern Lebanon and Gaza early on Friday in retaliation for dozens of rockets fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that it had begun striking targets in Syrian territory after the rockets were launched.
“A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck additional targets in Syrian territory, including a military compound of the Fourth Division of the Syrian Armed Forces, military radars systems and artillery posts used by the Syrian Armed Forces,” the IDF said in a statement early on Sunday local time.
The strikes by the fighter jets followed earlier IDF strikes on Syrian territory using a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle or drone), which targeted the launchers thought to have fired the rockets.
The IDF said it “sees the state of Syria responsible for all activities occurring within its territory and will not allow any attempts to violate Israeli sovereignty.”
Syria said it had responded to “Israeli air attacks in the southern part of the country,” and claimed to have intercepted “some Israeli missiles.”
“Around 5 a.m. today, the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack with a number of missiles from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, targeting some points in the southern region,” Syrian state media agency SANA quoted a Syrian military source as saying.
According to SANA, the military source added that Syrian air defenses had “intercepted the aggressors’ missiles and shot down some of them.”
Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed the narrow strip of land in 1981. The Golan Heights are considered occupied territory under international law and UN Security Council resolutions.
The rocket launches come amid heightened tensions in the region following Israeli police raids on the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
Israeli police raids of the mosque are considered by Muslims as a major provocation.
Israeli police raided the mosque twice on Wednesday last week, claiming that “hundreds of rioters and mosque desecrators (had) barricaded themselves” inside.
On Saturday night, the Israeli police again alleged that, “many youngsters [had] entered the mosque and closed the doors, for no reason.”
Israel’s neighbor Jordan warned of “catastrophic consequences” if Israeli forces were to storm the mosque again.
Should the Israeli police, “assault worshipers again, in an attempt to empty [the mosque] of worshipers, in preparation for major incursions into the mosque,” it would, “push the situation towards more tension and violence, for which everyone will pay the price,” the Jordanian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Ambassador Sinan al-Majali, said in a statement late on Saturday local time.
“The Israeli government bears responsibility for the escalation in Jerusalem and in all the occupied Palestinian territories and for the deterioration that will worsen if it does not stop its incursions into the holy al-Aqsa mosque… and its terrorization of worshipers in these blessed days,” al-Majali said.
The warning from Jordan was followed by a statement from the Israeli Foreign Ministry early on Sunday, saying that people who “barricade themselves inside [the al-Aqsa mosque] are a dangerous mob, radicalized and incited by Hamas and other terror organizations.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry called on Jordan’s Waqf guards, “to immediately remove from the al-Aqsa Mosque these extremists who are planning to riot (on Sunday) during Muslim prayers on the Temple Mount and the Priestly Blessing at the Western Wall.”
The Waqf is the Jordan-appointed body that manages the al-Aqsa mosque compound, known as the Temple Mount by Jews.
In a separate development on Saturday night, the IDF killed a 20-year-old Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank town of Azzoun, according to the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health.
The man, Ayed Azam Salim, was shot and killed by live Israeli bullets in the abdomen and chest in the Qalqilya district, according to the ministry.
“Following routine activity, multiple suspects hurled an explosive device towards IDF soldiers at town of Azzun,” the IDF said in a statement. Soldiers responded “with live ammunition towards them” and a person was hit, the statement added. No IDF soldiers were injured, according to the statement.
Salim was taken to a hospital in Qalqilya where he died, according to Palestinian News Agency WAFA.
On Friday, one person was killed and seven others injured in a car-ramming attack in Tel Aviv. Police said that the car was driven by a 45-year-old resident of Kfar Kasem, a predominantly Arab city east of Tel Aviv.
The victim, an Italian tourist, was named by Israeli and Italian authorities as Alessandro Parini. Italian media said he was a 35-year-old lawyer. Israeli authorities described the incident as a “terror attack.”
National Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Joseph Yammin has reacted to comments by the Member Parliament (MP) for Abetifi Bryan Acheampong, that suggest that the NPP will not hand over power.
He assured the party that they will beg to hand over the NDC and John Mahama in 2024.
In a Facebook post reacting to statements made by the Abetifi MP after a walk for Vice President Bawumia in Kwahu suggesting the NPP will break the 8 with a Bawumia presidency at all cost, Mr. Yammin said the NDC will be well prepared to face NPP and any tricks that will unfold in the 2024 elections.
“When I hear people speak so childish like what a dishonorable member of parliament by name Bryan Acheampong or something is reported to have said I get to wonder if indeed they know and understand the exact words coming out of their mouths.”
“Let me tell them and I mean the NPP that if their thinking of breaking the 8 is not about how good they’ve been as a government but how prepared they are to rig the elections then they should forget about the so-called breaking the 8.” He said.
“If their thinking is that the NDC will go into the 2024 elections unprepared then they should rethink because we are ready to meet them.
Let me tell them and they should mark it that THEY WILL BEG TO HANDOVER POWER TO JOHN MAHAMA AND THE NDC IN 2024 if Ghanaians vote against them,” he warned.
In line with its commitment to promote Domestic Tourism in Ghana, the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has re-launched the ‘Experience Ghana, Share Ghana’ to promote domestic tourism campaign in Kwahu in the Eastern region.
The campaign is under the Ghana Tourism Development Project (GTDP) being undertaken under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.
The campaign which is intended to stimulate domestic and regional tourism was tied to the 2023 Kwahu Paragliding Festival to give patrons a four-day exciting, fun flying experience on the Odweanoma Mountain at Atibie-Kwahu.
Speaking at a brief opening ceremony of the 15th National Paragliding Festival, CEO of GTA, Akwasi Agyeman, said the initiative was launched a few years back to accelerate the pace of tourism through a renewed focus on both domestic and visitations from the West African region.
“We are also using this occasion to promote the ‘Experience Ghana, Share Ghana’ Campaign. As we know, we have been very aggressive on our domestic tourism promotion over the last few years. We are kick-starting the ‘Experience Ghana, Share Ghana’ Campaign to start the process.”
“As part of this year’s festival, we have been joined by some cyclists to climb the mountain. We have also added other exciting activities such as hiking, camping for those who want to spend the nights on the mountain, a bonfire dinner, and a dancing competition to project Odweanoma Mountain as a unique tourist attraction on its own where tourists can paraglide, hike, bike, camp, and have events to promote domestic tourism”, he noted.
Mr. Agyeman added that there will be another paragliding event in September this year dubbed ‘corporate paragliding’ in Kwahu as part of GTA’s 50th anniversary activities.
He paid tribute to the vision bearers of the Paragliding festival and commended the chiefs and people of Kwahu for their support, the GTA team especially the eastern regional team and all stakeholders of the event.
On his part, Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts, and Culture, Mark Okraku-Mantey, said the Kwahu Paragliding plays a major role in Ghana’s Domestic and International tourism.
“This event is very important to the Tourism Ministry, the Government of Ghana and the people of Kwahu for its contribution to the Kwahu Easter celebration. This plays a major role in Ghana’s Domestic and International tourism. In 2020, GTA targeted to make Ghana the number 1 tourism destination in West Africa by 2026, but in 2022 we emerged the first because of Government’s viable decision in the tourism ministry”.
“Kwame Nkrumah Park and Bonwire Museum are almost ready. And in two weeks, we are cutting sod for 5 Amphitheatres. The Creative arts school is 70 percent ready in Kwadaso, Kumasi. Culture policy is in the making, All-Africa Games is coming off next year in Ghana and the President of the Republic is coming to Kwahu to launch the Abetifi Stone Age Park. The Tourism Ministry is here to push domestic tourism and work towards it to become the number one contribution to GDP and I believe we can do it”, he revealed.
According to a Chinese scientist, it’s possible that humans are where the Covid-19 virus first appeared.
According to Tong Yigang of the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, the genetic sequences of viral samples collected from Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Market, thought to be the pandemic’s epicentre, were “almost identical” to those of patients infected with the coronavirus. This suggests that Covid-19 may have originated from humans.
Tong, who was speaking at a press conference held by the Chinese State Council regarding research into the origin of the virus, said more than 1,300 environmental and frozen animal samples had been taken at the market between January 2020 and March 2020, and researchers had isolated three strains of virus from the environmental samples.
He also said there was not yet sufficient evidence to back up recent studies that had suggested racoon dogs were the origin of the Covid-19 virus.
Speaking at the same event, a Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researcher, Zhou Lei, called for global scientific collaboration in tracing the origins of the virus, saying that the site where Covid-19 was first discovered was not necessarily where it originated.
China has in the past been heavily criticized for blocking international investigations into the origins of the virus. Earlier this week the World Health Organization said it still did not have key data from China about the beginnings of the outbreak, a lack of disclosure the head of its program on emerging diseases said was “simply inexcusable.”
However, China repeatedly maintains that it has been transparent and cooperative with the WHO.
Debates surrounding the origins of the virus reemerged recently following an assessment last month by the US Department of Energy it was most likely the result of an accident from a laboratory. But the US agency also marked it as a “low confidence” determination.
On Saturday, Zhou refuted the lab leak theory, saying it is “extremely unlikely.”
Jordan has issued a warning that another Israeli assault on the al-Aqsa mosque will have “catastrophic consequences.”
The spokesperson for the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Sinan al-Majali, stated that if the Israeli police continued to “assault worshippers in an attempt to empty [the mosque] of worshippers, in preparation for major incursions into the mosque,” it would “push the situation towards more tension and violence, for which everyone will pay the price.”
Al-Majali stated that “the Israeli government bears responsibility for the escalation in Jerusalem and in all of the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as for the deterioration that will get worse if it does not cease its incursions into the revered Al-Aqsa mosque… and its terrorising of worshippers in these blessed days.
The warning from Jordan was followed by a statement from the Israeli Foreign Ministry early on Sunday, saying that people who, “barricade themselves inside [the al-Aqsa mosque] are a dangerous mob, radicalized and incited by Hamas and other terror organizations.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry called on Jordan’s Waqf guards, “to immediately remove from the al-Aqsa Mosque these extremists who are planning to riot (on Sunday) during Muslim prayers on the Temple Mount and the Priestly Blessing at the Western Wall.”
The Waqf is the Jordan-appointed body that manages the al-Aqsa mosque compound, known as the Temple Mount by Jews.
Israeli police raided Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque twice on Wednesday last week, claiming that “hundreds of rioters and mosque desecrators (had) barricaded themselves” inside.
On Saturday night, the Israeli police again alleged that, “many youngsters [had] entered the mosque and closed the doors, for no reason.”
Israeli police raids of al-Aqsa mosque are considered by Muslims as a major provocation.
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has cautioned Minister for Agric, Bryan Acheampong to tread cautiously citing his recent statements on never handing over power to the opposition after 2024 polls.
Ablakwa said his colleague MP for Abetifi is better off learning from how real mighty men have been toppled by people power.
He took a swipe at colleague NDC MPs who defied the party late last month to vote in support of the approval of Acheampong as minister. Acheampong was approved with votes from the NDC MPs along with five other appointees of president Nana Ado Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
“We blame those treacherous MPs but Braggadocious Bryan Acheampong should learn from history,” Ablakwa said in a social media post that referenced countries where presidents were chased out or deposed by protesters.
“From Sri Lanka, Sudan, Ecuador, Tunisia, Yemen, Burkina Faso, Philippines, Algeria, Guatemala, Egypt, Mali, Bolivia, CAR, El Salvador, Chile to Iranians overthrowing the Shah; history is replete with real mighty men crushed by PEOPLE POWER,” the post added.
Bryan Acheampong booms at Kwahu
Bryan Acheampong is on record as saying the governing New Patriotic Party will do everything within its means to win the 2024 general elections.
According to him, the NPP is not ready to hand over power to the National Democratic Congress (NDC), therefore, his party will go to the election fully prepared.
He stated that the NPP has the men to match the opposition boot for boot during the 2024 polls.
Addressing party faithful after a health walk through the principal streets of Mpraeso on Saturday, April 8, 2023, Bryan Acheampong stressed that “We will show NDC that we have the men if they want to do intimidate, harass us or do anything foolish during the 2024 elections…It will not happen that we will hand over power to NDC. We’ll use any means for NPP to stay in power.”
Member of Parliament for the Assin Central constituency in the Central region, Kennedy Agyapong has revealed that traces of his family lineage shows that he is an Ashanti with Islamic leanings (Asante kremo).
Agyapong stated that Northerners are good people because he could recall an instance in which he had been suspected of drug dealing and had been arrested by the then Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) now (NIB) for an investigation.
Nevertheless, his northerner friends came to his defence and took protective measures on his properties to prevent any false planting of accusations against him.
In a video shared by Oman Channel and sighted by GhanaWeb, the NPP flagbeaerer hopeful while speaking to members of the party in the Ayawaso East Constituency of the Greater Accra region, said that the majority of his family members are Muslims.
“I recall when I was in BNI custody being accused of dealing in drugs, my friends who are northerners went to all my businesses to secure it for me because they could go and plant something there against me.
“…and the truth is, for my household, I celebrate both Salah and Christmas, in fact, my grandmother was a Muslim before she married.
“So, she was ‘Asante Nkremo’ but all my male grandfathers are Muslims, I have Seidu, Abass, Siaka, and Yakubu, and all of these people are in my family who are Muslims.
“They settled more at Ajumako Anyan Asiam, whereby one of them married a Muslim there, so, all my family people are full of Muslims, except a few of us that our grandparents married Christians.
“So, I am one of you because I’m almost a northerner, I come from Wa, and we don’t tolerate nonsense, that is the point but they always attribute that to violent people,” he said.
The race for the NPP flagbearership is growing with several bigwigs such as Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and John Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen amongst the contenders.
November 4, 2023 has been slated as the date for the NPP presidential primaries to select a flagbearer for the general elections in 2024.
Ghanaian gospel minister,Ohemaa Mercy, has vehemently kicked against the practice of LGBTQ in the country.
Sharing her view on the subject in a discussion on United Showbiz on Saturday, April 8, the popular gospel singer stressed that the act is being backed by a strong evil spirit that completely destroys and strips people of their honour.
Illustrating her point, Ohemaa Mercy said even dogs do not mate with their peers who are of the same sex.
“I was telling everybody that it is a strong spirit, it turns a graceful human being into an animal. Even a dog won’t practice same-sex; how much more you, a human being? This issue is no joke. For Ghana to accept this? It won’t be a joke,” she stated.
Buttressing her points further, the ‘Ote me mu’ hitmaker listed some dire consequences the country would face, should the practice be embraced.
“If we are a Christian country and we fear God, we shouldn’t incur God’s wrath. If we think other countries have accepted it, then let’s not forget that Ghana is a small country. God’s wrath will destroy us all. We are against it and we are standing against it for the next generation. If we accept this, the country will be destroyed. It is not a good thing, it is God’s taboo. LGBTQ can destroy a nation and permit Satan to rule over it,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, the president has been subjected to huge backlashes following his comments on the LGBTQ during a press conference with the US Vice President, Kamala Harris, at the Jubilee House in Accra.
After listening to the US Vice President re-affirm her stance on LGBTQ as well as state her grievances over the current anti-gay bill placed before parliament, Akufo-Addo refuted the suggestion that Ghana already had an anti-LGBT law.
He said the bill, which was championed by “only a hand full of MPs”, is currently being considered by Parliament.
This comes on the back of an announcement by the government that any win on sport betting will attract 10 percent tax.
The development has angered the Ghanaian public, especially the youth who have lashed out at the government for being insensitive.
According to them, there are no jobs in the country for graduates and yet the government wants to take a portion of the little they earn from sports betting.
Commenting on the development the Minority leader says in a desperate attempt by the government to defend the new tax regime they are peddling falsehood.
“In a desperate bid to deflect public anger over taxing gambling, sport betting and lottery proceeds. The NPP has taken a tiny portion of a 2021 discussion I was involved in to create the impression that the NDC has said it will ban gambling and sport betting.”
“This is propaganda of the cheapest kind and should be disregarded. The NDC has NEVER said it will ban gambling or sport betting. I actually spoke in opposition to taxing gambling, sport betting, and lottery in 2021,” Mr. Forson stated.
He continued: “I remain opposed to taxing the proceeds of gambling, sports betting, and lottery, among others.”
A renowned provider of agritech, Farmerline, has announced the official start of operations in Cote d’Ivoire as part of its expansion into francophone Africa.
This will strengthen partnerships throughout West Africa and speed up its commitment to assisting small-scale farmers worldwide.
The expansion will provide Ivorian farmers with access to high-quality fertilisers and seeds, free education on climate-smart farming practises via a shortcode, connections to international markets, and well-trained field agents in keeping with Farmerline’s current model of combining local and international industry stakeholder partnerships, farm resources, logistics, and award-winning digital tools.
This year marks a decade since Farmerline was launched by co-founders Alloysius Attah and Emmanuel Owusu Addai; delivering daily voice and SMS agronomic messages to 800 farmers in the Ashanti Region in Ghana.
Since 2013, there has been collaboration with over 3000 strategic partners across 48 countries, including government institutions, local agribusinesses, NGOs and food companies who have licensed Mergdata to support and improve the lives of 1.7 million small-scale farmers to date.
‘We’ve worked with partners who have been using our technology in Ivory Coast for the past six years,’ Alloysius explained in a press statement.
‘The time has come to expand and fully commit to helping Ivorian agribusinesses to drive forward the farmer and agribusiness digitisation agenda, including creating and distributing localised agronomic and farm services to support as many farmers in the country as possible.
‘Ivory Coast is home to over three million smallholder farmers, and Abidjan is the centre of the francophone Africa region,’ Alloysius adds. ‘We’re very excited about the opportunities we see there and partnerships will be key to realising the possibilities. We don’t see this as a winner takes all approach or a zero sum gain. We will continue collaborating with local agribusinesses, farm cooperatives, our existing partners, government and food trading companies aligned with our mission to create lasting profit for small scale farmers and promote sustainable agriculture in the country.’
Last year, Farmerline announced a Pre-Series A investment raise of $14.4 million and grew their team across the West African locality. The company’s new Regional Manager of Francophone Africa & Country Manager of Ivory Coast, Joel Amani Kouame says: ‘Our team are excited to bring our solutions to Ivory Coast and we look forward to serving the farmers in this region.
‘Agriculture remains the core of African economies, and by bringing big data management technologies and predictive analytics into farming; alongside providing quality inputs in a timely manner, agronomic support and a marketplace for smallholders, we can make the sector far more efficient. We believe our approach to agriculture can create lasting benefits for small scale farmers and help drive economic growth in the region.’
Over 100 industry stakeholders, including H.E Mme Yvette DAOUD, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, joined Farmerline at Sofitel Abidjan Hotel Ivoire in Abidjan on 6th April for the launch announcement, which featured presentations from their existing and forthcoming local partners including Beyond Beans, TechnoServe, Bayer and Locagri.
‘The rural sector in Cote d’ Ivoire has grown in recent years thanks – in part – to the sophistication of cooperatives and the greater role they play in farming communities,’ says Fayelle Ouane, Country Director for TechnoServe in Cote d’Ivoire.
‘We’re thrilled to partner with Farmerline to bring innovative solutions and improved opportunities to farmers in the country. With our combined expertise and innovation, we look forward to reaching close to a million farmers across different regions over the next few years.’
A social media user has incurred the wrath of Delay after he passed a comment about her marital status.
Delay who was in Kwahu for the Easter festivities uploaded a photo on social media and as usual, there were comments trooping under her post.
Fans admired her looks and others commended her for being industrious among others.
A netizen, however, took his comments to a different trajectory, asking the renowned media personality to marry.
“Y3 na ware, almost 60 years. Who are you waiting for,” he trolled.
Delay hit back with a wild response, “I’d rather stay single than settle for a pig like you.”
The individual went silent afterward.
The 40-year-old TV presenter has kept her personal life away from the public so it is unclear whether or not she is married or even has kids.
The fact that she has been goofing about being single on social media has warranted a lot of mockeries, and concerns from netizens over the years.
For instance, her nemesis, Afia Schwarzenegger, who claims she (Delay) is childless uses that as a tool to slander her each time they are involved in a social media banter.
According to him, the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led government is doing all it takes to stabilize and reboot the economy which has suffered from the aftershocks of COVID and the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.
He told party faithful at a rally in the Eastern Region on April 8, that by June, July 2023, a deal will be secured with the multilateral lender.
“Due to the challenges encountered by the economy in recent times the opposition NDC think they will win power.
“But the government has instituted measures to salvage the situation with impact already showing in the reduction in fuel prices and appreciation of the Ghana cedi against the major foreign currencies.
“The NDC was thinking that the election will be held at a period where the economy has been entangled with difficulties but the government will fix the challenges before that.
“I promise that by June/July this year the government will be able to secure a deal from the IMF to help drive the economy out of its current economic challenges and this will subsequently collapse the NDC,” he said in Twi.
Government hoped to secure a Board approval of the IMF for a US$3billion facility after securing a staff-level agreement late last year.
Government is looking to secure external debt restructuring agreements after a tumultuous domestic debt exchange programme was passed earlier this year.
A March ending timeline was missed but there has yet to be any official communication of when the approval is likely to be secured.
Chairman for the New Patriotic Party(NPP) in the Bono Region, Kwame Baffoe popularly known as Abronye DC has vowed not to ever talk to Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa AKufo-Addo.
He says President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been unfair to him throughout his administration and for that reason, he has decided to sever ties with the President.
What broke the camel’s back according to Abronye was the fact that he applied for the vacant Electoral Commission job but the President failed to give him the appointment with the excuse that he did not want to appoint a known party member.
“There is nowhere in Ghana’s constitution which says people appointed to the Electoral Commission should not be Ghanaians. There is nowhere in the constitution which says people appointed to the Electoral Commission should not be members of the NPP, NDC, CPP. So far as you are a Ghanaian, you are worthy of working at the electoral commission.
The NDC that is up in arms over the recent appointments also did the same when they had power. They appointed Hajia Sadatu Maida who recently retired from the Commission and was the daughter of a known NDC man.
“I realized she will be retiring so I wrote to the President in 2022 to put me there when she leaves but the President told me he cannot do that. He said he will not appoint a known NPP man to the position. I have decided I will never talk to Nana Addo again. I will never talk to him until he leaves power,” Abronye is on record to have said.
Abronye believes that he has all it takes and would have been a great appointment for the Electoral Commission if the President had appointed him for the position that became vacant.
“I could have done the job because I have experience with elections in Ghana. I don’t know the guy he had appointed and I don’t have a problem with that but my fight is that I am saddened by the President’s failure to appoint me and I will never talk to him again,” he said in an interview.
The entrance of famous televangelist and father of the Christian Charismatic Movement in Ghana, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams at the premiere of ‘A Taste of Sin’ did not go unnoticed.
In a viral video shared on micro-blogging platform, Instagram, the celebrated clergyman was seen entering the Silverbird Cinemas with an entourage. The team included his aides, wife, security, and some media personnel who were trying to get a good shot of the preacher.
As expected, movie lovers present also cheered Archbishop Duncan-Williams on as he greeted some dignitaries present.
In the movie, “A Taste of Sin”, Duncan-Williams had his debut cameo appearance.
According to the producers of the movie, Dominion TV and Sami’s Media, “A Taste of Sin” is an enthralling story that explores the power of faith, forgiveness and hope through the lives of two pastors intertwine- one tempted by a shortcut to success, and the other facing unimaginable trials in his marriage.
As they navigate these challenges, they grapple with fidelity, temptation, and their own beliefs.
Other stars who were present for the movie premiere were; Jackie Appiah, Majid Michel, James Gardiner, Frank Rajah, and other high-profile individuals, all eager to see what the new movie had to offer.
In the Kumawu district of the Ashanti Region, five people are allegedly responsible for assaulting a police officer who was carrying out his official duties. They have all been detained.
According to Graphic Online, the incident happened on April 7, 2023, on a Friday.
A police patrol squad lead by General Corporal Sylvester Berhene and two other officers stopped a Kia taxi with the licence plate AS 9504 – 19 at around 4:45 on Friday.
The police situational report states that there were seven people inside the taxi.
According to the police account, while Corporal Sylvester Berhene was conducting the search in the boot of the vehicle, some of the occupants became angry and pounced on him.
They reportedly struggled and put him down on the ground.
A video of that part of the incident has been shared on social media (See attached video below).
Fight over “rat carcass”
However, other reports suggest that the fight with the police man was as a result of an attempt by the policeman to take the carcass of a rat from the young men.
The young men were reportedly returning from a hunt and had the carcass in the boot of the taxi.
They reportedly resisted the attempt by the police corporal to take away their meat, resulting in the confrontation.
The police man is alleged to have fired a warning shot, which resulted in the youth pouncing on him in an attempt to prevent him from being able to fire more shots.
Reinforcement
The police surveillance team was contacted for reinforcement and when they arrived, the police managed to arrest three of the assailants namely Edward Boateng aged 20 years, Evans Addo aged 20 years and Yaw Kusi aged 22 years.
The others managed to escape but two of them were later arrested.
The two have been named as Michael Owusu and Boateng Yaw, aged 28 and 20 years respectively.
They were apprehended by the surveillance team, according to the police account.
According to the police, the officer who was assaulted sustained physical bodily injuries at his forehead and a dislocation of the left knee.
Sammy Gyamfi, the NDC’s communications director, claims that no one in the NPP, which is currently in power, has the power to thwart the will of the Ghanaian people in the general elections of 2024.
Mr. Gyamfi was reacting to Bryan Acheampong, Minister of Food and Agriculture, who said that the NPP would use all available methods to win re-election in 2024.
On Saturday morning (April 8), after taking part in a health walk as part of celebrations for this year’s Kwahu Easter, Mr. Acheampong, the NPP’s member of parliament for Abetifi, addressed NPP supporters in the area and declared that the NPP will never cede power to the NDC.
He said the NPP will do what it takes to retain power and that “we have the men”.
He said the NPP has what it takes to quell any form of ill conduct that the NDC may be planning to use to win the 2024 elections.
However, responding to Mr Acheampong’s comment, the NDC Communications Officer said “Sovereignty resides in the people and not in a man who only served as a mere Airman Basic (the lowest enlisted rank in the United States Air Force immediately below airman) for about 2 years.”
For him, the former Deputy National Security Minister has no locus to threaten any NDC member and that the NDC will go into the 2024 elections well prepared.
He expressed the hope that “majority of the Ghanaian electorate will surely vote for change come 2024 and nobody can subvert their will.”
Mr Gyamfi said “If Bryan and his ilk are motivated by getting away with the evil they perpetrated during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election and the 2020 elections, then they are sorely mistaken, for it will not be business as usual. Notice is hereby served.”
He has, therefore, asked the supporters of the NDC to “ignore the ludicrous tantrums of Bryan Acheampong.”
The General Overseer of the Kings Christian Ministry in Tamale, Bishop Professor Albert Luguterah has called on the feuding factions in the Bawku chieftaincy conflict to give peace a chance through the spirit of Easter.
Easter is the most important and oldest festival of the Christian Church, celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross to atone for the sins of humanity after the fall of the ‘first Adam’.
Bishop Luguterah, who made the call in an interview with the GNA in Tamale, said Easter was a season of tolerance, togetherness, peace and reconciliation, hence the need for all feuding factions to smoke the peace pipe and allow stability and development to thrive.
“Easter is a season for forsaking all unrighteousness, including unforgiveness and bitterness and embracing each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord.”
He noted that the repercussions of the conflict in the area did not only impede its socio-economic activities but also affected the spiritual growth and well-being of the people.
“Residents need to demonstrate the love of God for one another just as Christ was sacrificed for our redemption. It is important the feuding factions also sacrifice their differences to ensure lasting peace for the area,” he said.
Bishop Luguterah prayed for God’s everlasting peace over Bawku to bring stability.
China said on Sunday that it was practising pinpoint attacks on crucial Taiwanese assets as the military drills it initiated in response to theisland president‘s meeting with the US House Speaker entered their second day.
Chinese navy engaged in “tactical manoeuvres” during the fictitious training, according to government media.
Many services allegedly “simulated joint precision strikes on important targets on Taiwan Island” and in the surrounding waters, according to CCTV.
It said the exercises, dubbed “United Sharp Sword,” were being carried out under the supervision of the Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Taiwan’s defense ministry reported that, as of noon local time, it had detected a total of 58 PLA warplanes over the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, of which 31 crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s ADIZ, or air defense identification zone. It said it had also detected a total of nine PLA navy vessels.
China launched the exercises on Saturday, a day after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen returned from a 10-day visit to Central America and the United States where she met US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
It described them as “a serious warning against the Taiwan separatist forces’ collusion with external forces, and a necessary move to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Beijing had repeatedly warned against Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy and had previously threatened to take “strong and resolute measures” if it went ahead.
China’s ruling Communist Party claims the self-governing democracy of Taiwan as its territory despite never having ruled it, and has spent decades trying to isolate it diplomatically. It has not ruled out using force to take control of the island.
China reacted in a similar fashion when then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August, launching a series of military drills that surrounded the island and firing missiles over it.
Those drills were the first time China had fired missiles over the island, and many experts saw them as representing a major escalation of China’s military intimidation against Taiwan.
China says Operation Joint Sword military drills will continue through Monday.
The Greater Accra Regional Command of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has embarked on an educational campaign through some of the principal streets of Accra. The education drive is to sensitise Ghanaians to be fire safety conscious during and after the Easter festivities.
The education campaign started from the Regional Headquarters at Korle-Bu and went to Kaneshie, Abossey Okai, Sabon Zongo, Laterbiokoshie, and some principal streets in Accra.
The firemen distributed flyers with messages on fire safety to the public. Officers from other security services joined in the campaign march with placards that also had inscriptions on fire safety.
Sending the message of fire safety across, the Fire Officers carried placards with inscriptions: “Switch off and unplug electrical appliances when not in use in your home or office; do not overload sockets with many electrical gadgets; do not place electrical wires under carpets; and hire the services of a qualified electrician to work on your electrical installations.”
Other messages include keeping a fire extinguisher in your car, avoiding the use of petrol or kerosene to revive a fire indoors, turning off the gas or electrical supply to your cooker immediately after use, and others.
At Kaneshie, the team made a stopover to educate the public. The Regional Director of Safety, DO 1 Evans Osei Wusu, encouraged the public to continue to adhere to the safety protocols.
He added that “The public, let us be their friends, and they should also be our friends; they should come to us if they do not understand anything.”
“Our doors are always open; we do not close our doors at midnight. You can contact us about anything you want us to do for you. If there is any fire, they should not hesitate, wait and try to put the fire off before calling us, and if they put it off, they should still call us because they might be something hidden somewhere.”
The Regional Commander, ACFO I Roberta Aggrey Ghanson, said the Ghana National Fire Service, GNFS, is ever ready to encourage and educate the public to minimize fires and ensure safety.
“We have communicated to the world, that we are ready for our work, and we want everyone to be safety minded.”
ACFO I Roberta Aggrey Ghanson said, “Let us live in unity because Mother Ghana wants us to live in peace, and once there is peace together, we can do it.” She urged all to continue to adhere to the safety messages. “Let us keep the route of escape safe; let us switch off all electrical gadgets when leaving home, among others, because we want you alive, and so it is the same access to be used by the emergency team when they are coming in to rescue you. As we are avoiding what we need to avoid, we say, let us keep our environment safe from fire and let us keep our route of escape safe for use.”
The fire safety campaign march ended at the regional command at Korle-Bu, and the general consensus was that “fire safety is a shared responsibility.”
Bryan Acheampong, the minister of food and agriculture, is optimistic that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government will be able to reach a settlement in the months of June and July of this year.
He claimed that doing so would aid in economic stabilisation and alleviate citizens of the pressing financial issues that the opposition National Democratic Congress had turned into a talking point (NDC).
He added that the opposition NDC’s chances of winning the 2024 general elections would be destroyed by a growing economy since it might not have any relevant campaign messaging for Ghanaians.
Campaign message
Addressing New Patriotic Party (NPP) supporters at Mpraeso in the Eastern Region on Saturday morning at the end of a health walk as part of activities marking this year’s Kwahu Easter, Mr Acheampong noted that the NDC would collapse without a campaign message before the next elections.
“Due to the challenges encountered by the economy in recent times the opposition NDC think they will win power.
But the government has instituted measures to salvage the situation with impact already showing in the reduction in fuel prices and appreciation of the Ghana cedi against the major foreign currencies.
“The NDC was thinking that the election will be held at a period where the economy has been entangled with difficulties but the government will fix the challenges before that.
“I promise that by June/July this year the government will be able to secure a deal from the IMF to help drive the economy out of its current economic challenges and this will subsequently collapse the NDC,” he said in Twi.
We have the men
Mr Acheampong who is also the NPP Member of Parliament (MP) for Abetifi indicated that the NPP has been endowed with the skills and men to stop the NDC from misbehaving or instigating any trouble in the upcoming elections.
He said the NPP would take necessary steps to retain power in the 2024 elections.
“Handing over power to the NDC as a result of the 2024 elections will not happen,” he said.
Renowned economist, Kwame Pianim has described Ghana’s current Parliament as the worst in its history.
He criticised the 8th Parliament over the passing of three new taxes.
Speaking in an interview on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, he noted that the current Parliament will go down into history as one of the worst for its lack of due diligence.
Mr Pianim explained further that the legislators fail to ask the relevant questions in the House. However, pass all borrowing bills before the House that have led to the country’s economic disaster.
“This Parliament is going to go down in history as one of the worst Parliament we’ve [Ghana] has ever had,” he stated.
According to Mr Pianim, the government is interested in procurement because the more projects the country has, the more opportunities for people to make money.
“COCOBOD project and they are not even wondering about how bankrupt they put the organisation in – they are thinking about building a new headquarters. It doesn’t make sense,” he cited an instance.
He further entreated President Akufo-Addo not to assent to the three new revenue measures.
On April 1, Parliament passed three revenue measures in the government’s attempt to generate approximately $4 billion in internal revenue.
The measures, according to government, will enable it complete processes to secure a $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
However, the business, traders associations and some Ghanaians have been agitated about the passing of these new measures saying it will lead to the collapse and relocation of businesses in the country.
Adding his voice to this call, Kwame Pianim stated that it is because the bill was not well thought out by Parliament.
“After the Ministry of Finance has done its work, obviously, they have to have an economic model which says after the domestic debt exchange what is the economy looking like? What is it going to be?
“Are we going to have depression and low economic growth for the next three or five years and if so what is going to happen to government’s revenue? Nobody seems to be looking at that and then it goes to Parliament.
“We expect parliamentarians to consult their people, think about it and ask questions. They obviously don’t they just pass them so our last hope is for the President to say thank you Parliament I will not sign this bill because it is not good,” he said.
Some young men have found themselves in the grips of the police after a brawl with a police officer on highway patrol duties over rat carcass.
It is alleged the policeman, known popularly as ‘Abodwese’, attempted to take the carcass from the band of young men who were returning from hunting activities at Kumawu in the Ashanti Region.
But the young men resisted, resulting in the confrontation.
An eyewitness, Nana Sarpong, who narrated the incident to Luv News, explained that when the young men refused to hand over the dead animal to the officer, he fired a warning shot.
“After firing warning shots, the officer used the butt of the gun to hit one of the men,” he claimed.
A video obtained by Luv News shows one of the men holding the officer by the neck as others tag along.
Two other police officers are heard telling the men to stop the struggle.
They intervened by taking the rifle from their colleague officer.
But the officer continued to be held by his uniform as his colleagues walked away.
The young men have since been arrested by police.
Luv News sources say police at Effiduase have commenced investigations into the matter.
Police in Massachusetts started looking for Harmony Montgomery, 5, after she vanished and were led to believe she had been killed. They were investigating a swampy area off an motorway.
The Massachusetts State Police and the Manchester, New Hampshire Police Department are both participating in the search, according to information released by the New Hampshire Department of Justice on Friday.
At Revere, Massachusetts, search teams were seen scouring the wetlands off Highway 107.
They deployed 18 troopers, as well as search dogs and drones to the site just north of the Boston metro area.
They declined to give any further information about the search, or comment further on what information lead them to the area.
Montgomery disappeared in 2019, but wasn’t reported missing until 2021. Harmony’s birth mother, Crystal Sorley, raised concerns after she told authorities the last time she was her daughter was Easter 2019.
Her body has never been found, but investigators uncovered enough evidence to charge her father, Adam Montgomery, with her murder.
He was arrested in October, 2022 and charged with second-degree murder, falsifying physical evidence, abuse of corpse, and tampering with witnesses. He remains in police custody.
Investigators believe Adam killed his daughter ‘by repeatedly striking Harmony in the head with a closed fist,’ New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said.
They have since determined that her murder took place between November 28 – December 10, 2019. Between then and March, 2020, investigators believe Adam falsified evidence and hid her body.
Following a 16-year-arrest old’s on suspicion of murder, a girl, 14, has been identified as the victim of a fire in an east London flat block.
According to today’s statement from the Metropolitan Police, a murder investigation has been opened, and arson is being suspected as the cause of the fire.
On Thursday around 5:28 p.m., reports of a fire along Tollgate Road in Beckton prompted the response of police, paramedics, an air ambulance, and six fire engines.
Five people at the address were injured as the blaze tore through the three-storey building, sending billowing black smoke in the air, the force said.
Footage showed flames shooting out of the windows on the second floor, with witnesses claiming residents leapt from their windows to escape the raging fire.
A manager of a Lidl opposite the flat block told MyLondon: ‘I saw people jumping out the windows from the balcony at the top, people were running around everywhere.
‘They had a mattress there and they were trying to jump on it but some people didn’t get to the mattress.’
London Fire Brigade said the fire ‘destroyed’ a stairwell running between the ground floor and second floor of the residential block. Half the second floor was damaged.
Scene and safety cordons remain in place around the building, its windows now gutted and blackened.
Chief Superintendent Simon Crick who leads the North East Command Unit said: ‘My thoughts at this time are with the victim and their family and friends. Incidents such as these send shockwaves through our communities and I don’t underestimate the impact this will have in the local area and beyond.
‘Your officers will be on patrol in the immediate vicinity over the Easter Weekend, please talk to them if you have any concerns.’
Detective Chief Inspector Joanna Yorke of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command added: ‘We are at the very early stages of our investigation and are still keen to hear from anyone who has information but has not yet spoken with police.
‘I understand the effect an incident of this kind will have on the local community and I reiterate Chief Superintendent Crick’s advice that anyone with concerns should speak with local officers.
‘I would like to thank residents in the immediate area for their cooperation while my team conduct their enquiries.
