A ship carrying about 20 tourists sank near Honduras, prompting search and rescue operations, according to the Honduran Fire Service.
The fire agency said that no reports of fatalities or injuries have been made as of yet in connection with the event that occurred in Beach la Cabaa, close to San Lorenzo.
This story is still developing.
Six people jailed by a Chinese court on Friday for their roles in the mistreatment and human trafficking of a woman, whose appearance in an internet video depicting her chained by the neck drew widespread outrage.
Dong Zhimin was given a nine-year sentence for torturing and imprisoning the lady illegally by the Xuzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Jiangsu province, and five other defendants received sentences ranging from eight to thirteen years for kidnapping, selling, and imprisoning the woman.
According to court documents, the woman, known as “Little Huamei” (Little Flower), is believed to have been kidnapped, sold, and given birth to eight children by her last abductor.
The first time she was abducted, she was taken from her home province of Yunnan, in the southwest of China, at the beginning of 1998 and sold to a farmer in Jiangsu, an eastern coastal province, for the equivalent of $1,180.
She then disappeared in mid-1998 before being spotted in Henan province, central China, where she was sold to human traffickers for the equivalent of $700, according to court documents cited by Chinese state media.
Those traffickers then took her back to Jiangsu later that year and sold her to Dong and his father, again for $1,180.
From 1999 to 2017, she was “basically able to take care of herself and communicate with others,” according to the court documents.
But after that, Dong kept her chained in a room without sunlight, electricity or running water.
Between 1999 and 2020, she gave birth to eight of Dong’s children and has since been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The case caused uproar on Chinese social media after videos of Little Huamei chained emerged online.
Local authorities initially claimed no trafficking had occurred, but criminal charges were brought in 2022 after the central government formed a special investigative team to look into the case.
Authorities in Russia have detained a 26-year-old anti-war protester on suspicion that she was responsible for the explosion that killed renowned military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky on Sunday at a cafe in St. Petersburg.
Following the explosion, the country’s interior ministry put Daria Trepova on a wanted list; shortly after, the Investigative Committee of Russia reported her arrest on Telegram.
However, Dmitry Rylov, Trepova’s spouse, has stated to an unaffiliated Russian media that he believes she was set up.
Meanwhile, a leading Russian politician has used the killing to call for “stringent measures” against the country’s informal opposition groups, following accusations from officials that organizations critical of the Kremlin were involved.
State media outlet TASS reported that “preliminarily, it was Trepova who handed Tatarsky a figurine with explosives” at the cafe. Russian media had reported suggestions that Tatarsky may have been killed by a device hidden in a statue presented to him by a woman. CNN is not able to independently verify the claims.
Tatarsky, a hawkish blogger who gained a high profile for his commentary on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was killed when a blast tore through the cafe where he was appearing as a guest of a pro-war group called Cyber Front Z.
Trepova was arrested in the early days of the conflict for demonstrating against it, TASS reported.
“Trepova participated in an unsanctioned rally on the day the special military operation began in Ukraine and was subjected to administrative arrest,” the article read, adding that court records confirmed that Trepova was arrested on March 9, 2022 and sentenced to 10 days in prison.
According to the TASS article, law enforcement officers conducted a search at Trepova’s residence in St. Petersburg on Sunday night, where her sister and mother were also questioned.
Trepova’s husband, Rylov, was a member of the Libertarian Party of Russia, the article said. Trepova, however, was not associated with the small political party. The Libertarian Party said in a statement Monday that Trepova, “has never been a member of our party. According to our records, she has never been a supporter … either.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary Wagner group that has taken a prominent role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said Monday that he “gave” the St. Petersburg cafe where the explosion took place to the Cyber Front Z group.
Russia’s independent news outlet Fontanka reported that the cafe belongs to Prigozhin, on the basis of the Concord company’s ownership mentioned on the cafe’s receipt. Prigozhin is the founder and sole owner of Concord, according to public records.
When asked to confirm whether he was the owner of the cafe, Prigozhin didn’t deny it, in comments published Monday by his holding company Concord on its VK social media page. “Indeed, I gave the cafe to the patriotic movement Cyber Front Z, and they held various seminars there,” Prigozhin said.
Russia’s National Anti Terrorism Committee (NAC) meanwhile claimed Monday that the explosion involved agents of the Ukrainian special services and associates of the jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny, allegations that were immediately treated with skepticism.
The Investigative Committee of Russia later claimed that “the planning and organization” of the killing was “carried out from the territory of Ukraine,” reclassifying the criminal case as a terrorist act.
Ivan Zhdanov, a long-time associate of Navalny, said the accusation that his Anti-Corruption Foundation was involved is an attempt to prolong Navalny’s jail term. “This is a rather idiotic situation. To refute the fact that we did it is idiocy. Obviously, we are not involved in this,” he said.
A senior politician with the governing United Russia party said Monday that the killing of Tatarsky shows that “stringent measures” must be taken against the informal opposition in Russia, despite Zhdanov’s rejection of any link.
“This is treason. All these people related to such organizations, should be prosecuted a traitors. This is a matter of honor to detain the heads of these organizations no matter where they are,” lawmaker Andrei Isaev said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov meanwhile repeated the claim during a news briefing that Ukraine may be behind the murder of Tatarsky, describing his killing as a “terrorist attack.”
US and Ukrainian officials have in the past warned that Russia has planned so-called “false flag” attacks inside Russian territory as a pretext for military escalation, including Russian claims ahead of last year’s full-scale invasion that Ukraine was sending “saboteurs” over the Russian border.
An independent Russian publication, The Insider, said it interviewed Trepova’s husband who believed his wife was framed.
“She was really just set up and used,” Rylov was quoted as saying. “Over the last day I contacted her, but I lost contact about 4-5 hours ago.”
“All I knew was that Daria needed, either for some task, or for some reason, to give some gift, I didn’t even know what,” he said, referring to the event at which the explosion took place.
“There is one very important point that she told me several times: she was sure that this thing would allow access to a person. That is, it was not something that should have exploded,” he said. “Dasha [Daria], in principle, is not the kind of person who could kill anyone.”
Russian state media Ria Novosti quoted one witness of Sunday’s blast as saying: “This woman sat at our table. I saw her from the back as she was turned away. When she gifted him the figurine, she went to sit in a different place by the window and forgot her phone at our table.”
The witness added: “The host at the stage took the figurine from the box and showcased it, Vladlen held it for a bit. They put it back and shortly after the explosion happened … I was running and my ears were blocked. There were many people with blood on them.”
The independent Telegram channel Astra Press quoted a witness as saying: “Everyone rushed to the exit when explosion happened. I myself saw the girl only until the moment of the explosion, when she gave a gift. She looked like an ordinary person.”
Tatarsky supported the war in Ukraine and had gained popularity since the start of what Russia calls its “special military operation” by providing analysis and commentary.
Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, created his Telegram channel in 2019, naming it in honor of the protagonist of Victor Pelevin’s novel “Generation ‘P,’” according to Russian state news agency Vesti. He had since written several books.
Before that, in 2014, Tatarsky took part in fighting alongside Russian forces in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, according to Vesti, citing public sources, when President Vladimir Putin’s fighters first invaded the country.
Tatarsky had more than half a million followers on Telegram, and while he was aggressively pro-war, he had sometimes been critical of Russian setbacks in Ukraine.
In May last year, he told CNN that he was not criticizing the overall operation, rather “individual episodes,” and that he still believed Russia would achieve its goals in Ukraine.
Tatarsky gained prominence after attending the ceremony in the Kremlin that marked the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
Sunday’s blast has echoes of the car bombing that killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of influential ultra-nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin in August 2022. Alexander Dugin is credited with being the architect, or “spiritual guide,” to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Dugina and Tatarsky moved in the same circles, and they had been photographed multiple times together
Three individuals were killed in separate incidents in the West Bank and Tel Aviv on Friday after Israel targeted Palestinian militant targets in southern Lebanon and Gaza, bringing to an end three days of escalating tensions in the area following police raids on Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa shrine.
Following the launch of scores of rockets into Israeli territory from Lebanon, which the Israeli military attributed to Palestinian militants, Israel launched its attacks.
The barrage from Lebanon was the most intense since the two nations’ war in 2006.
A gun incident in the occupied West Bank murdered two sisters, ages 16 and 20, who held dual British and Israeli citizenship, and critically injured their mother on Friday.
Later in the evening, a group of tourists was hit by a vehicle during an attack in Tel Aviv, described by Israeli authorities as a “terror attack.” An Italian man was killed and seven people were wounded, including three British tourists and an Italian citizen. Of the seven injured, three were still in hospital as of Saturday morning local time, according to the Ichilov Medical Center. The four others had been released.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “instructed the Israel Police to mobilize all border police units in reserve and the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) to mobilize additional forces in face of terrorist attacks,” according to his office.
The Israeli military said it was on high alert, calling up an unspecified number of reservists amid what it described as “very volatile times.”
The US said it “strongly condemns (the) terrorist attacks in the West Bank and Tel Aviv.”
“The three horrific attacks today, in which three were killed and at least eight others wounded, affected citizens of Israel, Italy and the United Kingdom. The targeting of innocent civilians of any nationality is unconscionable,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement issued Friday.
“The United States stands with the government and people of Israel. We are in close contact with our Israeli partners and reaffirm our enduring commitment to their security.”
Following the attack in Tel Aviv, the leader of the United Arab List and Palestinian-Israeli Knesset member Mansour Abbas rejected any “use of violence against any citizen.”
“Especially in these difficult times, it’s important for me to emphasize, as I have many times in the past. Regarding the attack in Tel Aviv, this is not the way of the Arab community and the Arab citizens in Israel,” Abbas said on Twitter on Saturday.
“The Arab leadership headed by Ra’am and the Islamic Movement will not accept in any way the use of violence against any citizen regardless of religion, race or nationality,” Abbas added.
Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, international spokesperson for the IDF, said that it was dealing with a “convergence of frontiers” in the region. “An event started off in Jerusalem got expanded to Gaza, Hamas and into Lebanon,” he told CNN.
In Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes hit an open area near the southern coastal city of Tyre. The Israeli military believes Palestinian factions launched dozens of rockets from that city. Israel has blamed Hamas, the militant group which controls Gaza, for the rocket launches.
“The IDF will not allow the Hamas terrorist organization to operate from within Lebanon and holds the state of Lebanon responsible for every directed fire emanating from its territory,” the IDF said in a statement.
Some regional countries have reportedly intervened to de-escalate tensions. A Qatari official told CNN that the gas-rich Gulf country was mediating to “deescalate the situation on all sides.”
“Qatar’s primary goal is to prevent unnecessary bloodshed and avoid destructive consequences for Palestinians and civilian populations,” the official said.
It is unclear which of the warring parties Qatari officials have been communicating with. Qatar does not have official diplomatic relations with Israel.
The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which holds sway over south Lebanon, has neither denied nor claimed responsibility for the attacks. But the powerful Iran-backed armed group warned that “hundreds of millions of Muslims” were prepared to “shed blood” in response to the Israeli police raids on al-Aqsa. In recent months, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said that violations at the mosque compound in Jerusalem’s old city would cause “all hell to break loose in the region.”
Israel has not blamed Hezbollah for the attack. On Friday afternoon, Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told CNN that the government had “no information” on whether Hezbollah greenlit the strikes.
“We know we have a very tough and difficult situation in south Lebanon. Hezbollah is there and they are armed. The Lebanese army and UNIFL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) are also there and working with others in order to stop such things, but they are not always successful,” Bou Habib said.
The foreign minister said that the ministry understands the attack “had its reasons…but we don’t like it coming from Lebanon.”
“What happened in Aqsa is the reason for what happened in Lebanon yesterday. I’m not justifying it … I’m explaining that what happened in al-Aqsa is very important and really there is a reaction,” Bou Habib added.
Lebanon said it would submit an official complaint to the UN Security Council, calling Israel’s strikes a “flagrant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.” Hamas also condemned the strikes in a statement Friday, and expressed “solidarity with the Lebanese people.” In a separate statement, it condemned Israel’s strikes on the Gaza Strip.
In Gaza, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Israeli strikes damaged a children’s hospital, causing distress to the young patients inside. “This is not the first time that health facilities have been targeted, and it is unacceptable,” the ministry added in a statement.
Hecht said the Israeli strikes targeted 10 sites in Gaza, including production sites and research and development sites as well as tunnel infrastructure. In earlier statements, the IDF said it hit several Hamas weapons manufacturing sites, an underground weapons complex, and “terror” tunnels in Beit Hanoun and Khan Yunis.
The exchange of fire comes as anger boils across the region over Israeli police raids at the al-Aqsa mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites, in Jerusalem on Wednesday, which drew widespread condemnation from the Arab and Muslim world and sparked retaliatory rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.
Then on Thursday, the IDF said some 34 rockets were launched into Israel from Lebanon. Videos posted on social media showed rockets from Lebanon streaking through the skies over northern Israel, and the sounds of explosions in the distance. Israel closed its northern airspace in the wake of the barrage.
Footage from inside the mosque on Wednesday showed Israeli officers beating people with their batons and rifle-butts, then arresting hundreds of Palestinians. Israeli police said they entered the mosque after “hundreds of rioters” tried to barricade themselves inside.
Hecht, the IDF international spokesman, linked the rocket fire to the two Israeli incursions into the al-Aqsa mosque, saying they had created “very negative energies.”
“The context of the story starts two days ago on Temple Mount with these very, very harsh pictures coming out of the prayer at night,” Hecht said, using the Jewish name for the Jerusalem holy site, which is known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary.
The foreign minister for Jordan, the custodian of the al-Aqsa mosque and other Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, said “we are at a very dangerous moment.”
“What we see unfolding on the Lebanese border is obviously a consequence, a reaction to what we saw happening in al-Aqsa (mosque),” Ayman Safadi told CNN on Thursday.
Lebanon and Israel are considered enemy states, but a truce between them has largely held since the 2006 conflict. On Friday, the UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said its head of mission and force commander was speaking with authorities on both sides, and that both Israel and Lebanon have said “they do not want a war.”
There have been several small-scale rocket attacks from Lebanon in recent years that have prompted retaliatory strikes from Israel. Few casualties were reported in those incidents, with the largest death toll in an exchange of fire in 2015 that left two Israeli soldiers and a Spanish peacekeeper dead. Palestinian factions in Lebanon were believed to be behind those rocket attacks.
In what he called a “new tradition of respect,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky enjoyed Iftar on Friday with military personnel who were Muslims and were observing Ramadan.
During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, iftar is the meal that breaks the daily fast.
Zelensky expressed gratitude to the Muslim community in his remarks to dinner attendees, among them officials of the Mejlis, the highest executive and representational body of the Crimean Tatars.
He said the month of Ramadan was “respected everywhere in Ukraine – even at the front line, even in combat conditions.”
Since Moscow’s unprovoked invasion in February 2021, Ukraine has launched multiple strikes against Russian positions in Crimea, which was previously annexed by Moscow in 2014 and is currently under Kremlin control.
Zelensky has repeatedly vowed to liberate Crimea, which he says remains “part of Ukrainian people and society.
He also criticized Russia’s treatment of Muslims in Crimea.
“Russia’s attempt to enslave Ukraine and other people of Europe began precisely from the occupation of the Ukrainian Crimea, precisely from repressions in the Crimea against Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar freedom, against Crimean Muslims,” Zelensky said.
“The liberation of Crimea has no alternatives not only for Ukraine, but also for the whole world.”
Following Taiwan’s president‘s meeting with the US House Speaker in violation of Beijing’s repeated threats, China has announced that three days of military drills near Taiwan have begun.
Seen as “a serious warning against the Taiwan separatist forces’ cooperation with external forces, and a necessary step to preserve national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the drills were announced by the Chinese military‘s Eastern Theater Command on Saturday.
The exercises, dubbed “United Sharp Sword,” would feature “combat ready patrols and exercises in and around the Taiwan Strait, and to the north, south and east of Taiwan and the sea and airspace as planned,” Senior Colonel Shi Yi of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command said in a statement on Saturday.
The drills would focus on the country’s “capabilities to seize control of sea, air and information under the support of our joint combat system,” said the PLA.
Soon after the announcement by China, Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had detected a total of 42 Chinese warplanes over the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from the Chinese mainland. It said 29 Chinese warplanes had crossed the median line in the strait into its air defense identification zone. It added that eight PLA vessels had been spotted in the strait.
The drills come 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.
Beijing had repeatedly warned against the trip and had previously threatened to take “strong and resolute measures” if it went ahead. China claims the self-governing democracy of Taiwan as part of its territory, despite never having ruled it, and has spent decades trying to isolate it diplomatically. It has not ruled out the use of force to bring the island under its control.
Incursions by Chinese warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, a self-declared buffer zone beyond its territorial airspace, occur on an almost daily basis.
The highest daily number of Chinese jets entering Taiwan’s ADIZ in a single day was 56 warplanes back in October 2021.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Saturday it was closely monitoring the situation and would make every effort to defend national security and sovereignty.
“The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is deliberately creating tensions on the Taiwan Strait. Besides damaging peace and stability, it also creates negative impact on regional safety and development,” the ministry said.
The ministry had said earlier on Saturday it would respond to the drills in a calm, rational and serious way, and not seek to escalate conflict.
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.
Some of those missiles also fell into Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone near Japanese islands to the north of Taiwan, a move which heightened tensions between Beijing and Tokyo.
The August exercises also involved dozens of Chinese warplanes crossing into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone as well as PLA Navy warships in maneuvers in waters around Taiwan.
Beijing said at the time it was simulating an air and sea “blockade” of the island, but offered little solid evidence to back up the claim.
Officials in Taiwan had reportedly been expecting a less severe reaction to Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy because it took place on US soil.
To avoid provoking Beijing and triggering another military crisis, American and Taiwan officials had tried to portray Tsai’s visit as nothing out of the ordinary, citing an abundance of precedents for a Taiwan leader to transit through the US.
But the political significance of Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy is undeniable. It was the highest-level audience a sitting Taiwan president had received on American soil, with an official second in line to the presidency after the vice president.
Their meeting at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library highlighted the strengthening ties between Taipei and Washington, even though they remain unofficial in nature. The US withdrew its diplomatic recognition of Taiwan back in 1979, meaning it does not officially recognize it as a country. However, it supports Taiwan’s ability to defend itself by selling arms to Taipei.
Following the meeting between Tsai and McCarthy Wednesday, the US House Speaker said his country should continue to boost its support for Taiwan.
“We must continue arms sales to Taiwan and make sure such sales reach Taiwan on time. We must also strengthen our economic cooperation, particularly with trade and technology,” he tweeted.
The Ghana Cedi (GHS) recently has witnessed some significant stability against the dollar and other foreign currencies.
Prior to this development, the local currency had been ranked among the worst performing currencies globally.
In October 2022, Bloomberg reported that Ghana’s cedi slumped to become the world’s worst-performing currency (that year) as investors continued to squeeze foreign capital to the west (West) African country before a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
On Monday, October 17, 2022 for instance, the currency of Ghana which is the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer, depreciated as much as 3.3%, before paring the loss to 11.2750 per dollar at 3:30 p.m in the capital Accra.
However, the currency has recently recorded some significant gains against other major currencies across the globe.
As of April 6, 2023, data from the Bank of Ghana indicated that the cedi is buying at 10.9245 per dollar and selling at 10.9355 per dollar. The cedi is also buying at 13.5890 per pound sterling and selling at 13.5964 per pound sterling. The currency is buying at 11.9380 per Euro as well as selling 11.9488 per Euro.
Here are eight possible factors that have contributed to the cedi’s appreciation.
Lower local demand for USD:
1. There is lower local demand for the US$ as a result of reduced global fuel prices. This means that fuel (Ghana’s biggest import) costs less in US$, thus, putting less pressure on the Ghana cedi.
2. There is also a reduced demand for US$ on imported goods evidenced by reduced activity at ports since January 2023.
USD depreciation against global currencies
3. In 30 days, the dollar depreciated by 2.18 % against the Euro.
4. The USD has also depreciated by 3.34 % against the Yen.
5. Also, the USD depreciated by 4.83 % against the Pound.
Investors no more moving Cedi funds to USD
6. As a result of the the cedi’s relative stability, investors are no longer moving cedi funds to US$.
7. DDEP has been concluded: On February 23, 2023, the Ministry of Finance announced the government’s successful settlement and conclusion of its Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) in respect of the GHS-denominated notes and bonds, E.S.L.A. Plc or Daakye Trust Plc. This was achieved on Tuesday, 21st February 2023 (the “Settlement Date”).
A statement issued by the Public Relations Unit of the Ministry said, “This successful result is a significant achievement for the Government in the implementation of the economic strategies of the post-COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG) during this current economic crisis.”
8. Expectation of IMF deal by May 2023: Government is also expected to reach a deal with the IMF by May 2023.
The family of the deceased Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) officer in Bawku, in the Upper East Region, has urged the GIS leadership to work with other security organizations to ensure that justice was done in the officer’s killing.
The family expressed its sorrow at the loss of their cherished son and their hope that the GIS will act and coordinate with other security organizations to find and prosecute those responsible for the horrible and inhumane act.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Cephas Motey, a younger brother of the deceased appealed to the GIS to ensure that the body of the officer was brought back to Accra with dispatch to enable the family to fast-track the funeral planning process.
Mr Motey, a lawyer spoke on behalf of the family when the Comptroller General Of the GIS, Kwame Asuah Takyi led the leadership of the GIS to call on the family to express their condolences, reports Graphic Online’s Benjamin Xornam Glover from Klagon in Greater Accra.
Philip Motey, the immigration officer was killed in Bawku in the Upper East Region last Monday. He was in a vehicle with two other immigration officers when unknown assailants pounced on them and fired indiscriminately into their vehicle.
Motey was pronounced dead on arrival at the Bawku Presby hospital.
The two other officers are receiving treatment at the hospital, one in critical condition at Tamale and the other at Bawku.
The deceased, an Assistant Inspector of Immigration, 42, was in the company of Eric Ayibiya, 30, and Laurence Afari, 42, when they were shot multiple times while moving in a blue sedan vehicle in Bawku by the unknown gunmen.
The three officers stationed at different border posts, were on their way to the Bawku Township to buy food when the incident happened. The gunmen reportedly surfaced and shot into the vehicle and bolted after the incident.
The Comptroller-General, accompanied by Members of the National Immigration Management Committee speaking during a visit to the family house of the deceased on Thursday, April 6, 2023, gave the assurance that the GIS will liaise with the relevant security agencies to find the perpetrators of the crime, so they face the law.
He said the leadership of the Immigration Service would ensure that justice is served. The entire officers of the service are sad at the incident and are calling on management to take decisive action to ensure that justice prevail, he said.
Mr Takyi disclosed that because the deceased died in active service, the leadership of the service would consider recruiting qualified relatives of the deceased family into the service to compensate for the loss.
Mr Takyi on behalf of the GIS and in line with custom offered a cash donation of GHc5,000 and 40 packs of water to the family as part funeral preparations.
Calm person
The younger brother of the deceased, Cephas Motey, a lawyer, described the late officer as a selfless, calm, dedicated person who was aspiring to become a lawyer and had even completed his LLB course and was waiting to write the entrance examination for the professional part of the legal education.
“He would have become the third lawyer in our family,” he said, adding that their 89-year-old father and 79-year-old mother, who incidentally have had an experience working in the northern parts of the country, have been left devastated.
The Abuakwa Police have detained a 54-year-old electrician who has been putting in false meters for Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) customers at Kunsu in the Ahafo Ano South West District of Ashanti region.
When the Ashanti Regional Small Business Unit (SBU) monitoring team visited the neighborhood as part of the nationwide income mobilization effort, they were able to find John Kofie there.
It was discovered during an inspection of the customer’s property that a fake meter had been installed in place of the genuine one, which had accumulated arrears.
After a marathon interrogation of the customer, he mentioned the name of Kofie as the one who had installed the meter for him.
Further investigations by the team revealed that the suspect had installed many fake pre-paid meters which were out of the ECG database, to unsuspected ECG customers, resulting in massive illegal connections in the community and its environs.
He was therefore handed over to the Abuakwa Police in the Atwima Nwabiagya South Municipality for further investigations. A search at the residence of the suspect revealed seven new unauthorized pre-paid meters with fake moratorium documents under his bed.
A moratorium is a temporary suspension of an activity or law until further consideration warrants lifting the suspension, usually imposed by a government, regulators, or a business.
When questioned as to how he got those meters, he said, a staff from ECG gave them to him upon negotiations.
Kofie has since been handed over to the Ashanti Regional Police Command for further investigations to help arrest his other accomplices.
Mr Kofi Danso, Ashanti Regional Manager in charge of revenue mobilization at the ECG, warned the public to desist from tempering with ECG’s authorized installed meters, otherwise, if they were caught, they would face the full rigours of the law.
He advised the public to go through the appropriate channels to acquire meters to avoid any implications. Mr Danso told the GNA that, the ECG had so far been able to retrieve about Gh¢50 million in the Ashanti Region alone, in the few weeks of the nationwide revenue mobilization exercise.
He advised the public to quickly go to the various ECG offices to clear their debts before their power was cut off.
The Engineer, Mr Danso debunked the public allegations that ECG was short of meters and assured that there were enough meters to serve customers.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the vice president, has sent his best wishes to Christians in Ghana and all across the world as they celebrate the Easter holiday.
On Friday, April 7, during Christians’ celebration of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary, he made this known in a tweet.
Christians all throughout the world commemorate Good Friday as the day when Jesus willingly endured suffering and died by crucifixion as the final atonement for sin.
It is also observed to celebrate the day Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, heralding his victory over sin and death and pointing ahead to a future resurrection for all who are united to him by faith.
To this end, Dr Bawumia has entreated all Christians to imitate the sacrifice Jesus Christ made to humanity.
He believed that if Christians are able to emulate the steps of Jesus Christ, there would be a “cordial co-existence on earth.”
“I wish Christians in Ghana and around the world a happy Easter. As Christians commemorate the passion of Jesus Christ, I entreat all to learn from the sacrifice illustrated by Christ to humanity and emulate it,” he tweeted.
The vice president was also hopeful and wished that the Easter celebration will be “an incident-free festive season.”
In an effort to recover debts owing to the corporation, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has increased the disconnection exercise in the Dambai area of the Oti Region.
Since the campaign began on March 20, 2023, over 200 clients in Dambai have been disconnected, and according to the corporation, over GH700,000 has been recovered.
The disconnecting was a part of a nationwide revenue mobilization effort by the ECG that lasted one month and started on March 20, 2023.
The company is targeting to retrieve about GH¢5.7 billion from debtors, with about GH¢220 million owed by customers in the Volta Region.
The Acting Volta Regional General Manager of ECG, Michael Buabin has said the 200 customers who were disconnected from the national grid owed the ECG over GH¢780,000.
During the disconnection exercise, it was observed that some customers usually reconnected themselves after being disconnected from the meter. Therefore, such customers were disconnected from the pole and asked to visit the District Office to settle their indebtedness.
Since the exercise began, the ECG office in Dambai has visited areas like Katanga, Tokoroano, Dormabin, Asukawkaw, and the Dambai Market.
The Acting Dambai District Manager, Mr. Solomon Adjiku, added that the company had also apprehended one customer who engaged in illegal connection in the District and subsequently handed him over to the police.
Mr. Kwesi Agyeman Busia has been chosen as the top CEO of the year 2022 for DVLA’s (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority) innovative and revolutionary initiatives.
The 7th World Business Quality Branding Awards were presented to the DVLA CEO on Friday, March 24, in Accra by the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Ghana (EFG).
In choosing Mr. Busia as the CEO of the year, the EFG took into account all of his accomplishments during the past four years at the DVLA, including changing the organization’s appearance, utilizing technology to streamline operations, digitizing the vehicle registration process, and putting in place a new, strict roadworthy certification regime.
Among other things, he drafted and implemented a business plan leading to achieving financial independence for the DVLA and coordinated the installation of a modern customer service call center.
At the same event, the CEO of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), Dr Afua Asabea Asare, was named the female Public Sector CEO of the year for her role in turning round the fortunes of the authority.
The CEO of JRA Cosmetics Limited, Jane Reason Ahadzie also emerged the female CEO of the year.
The other award winners were the CEO of KAB-FAM Ghana Limited, Charles Antwi-Boahen, who emerged as business executive of the year; CEO of Alpha TND Limited, Pankaj Bhati, who won the Outstanding Managing Director category; and the Managing Director of Lambodra Enterprises Ghana Limited, Er Nikkesh Neel, who went home with the young CEO plaque.
Motivation
In an interview with the Daily Graphic at the event, Mr Busia said the recognition he had received was a testament that the DVLA was walking the right path.
Again, he said the honour was a wake-up call for him to do more to ensure that the DVLA lived up to its mandate.
“This award tells us that we need to innovate to stay relevant. The driver and Vehicle licensing landscape continues to evolve so we can only respond to it by adopting technology to address the challenges,” he said.
He added that going forward, the DVLA was focused on consolidating and entrenching the good initiatives it had put in place to improve on service delivery.
“We do not want to wake up tomorrow and realise that DVLA has been reduced to nothing. We have a policy where we are making sure that for everything we do, the systems are entrenched; the enforcement is entrenched; and data is entrenched,” he said.
Mr Busia added that the DVLA had fully integrated its systems with the National Identification Authority (NIA)
Top brands unveiled
Apart from the individuals who won honours, the EFG also unveiled the 25 most popular global brands and the premium quality brands in Ghana.
Some of the premium quality brands in the country were McDan Shipping Company Limited, Bel-Aqua Mineral Water, B5 Plus Group, Dzata Cement, Azar Paints, and Emirates.
The top 25 most popular global brands included MTN, Nestlé, Danote Group, Ethiopian Airlines, Nissan, Samsung and Samsung.
Good leadership
The Founder and President of EFG, Sam Ato Gaisie, urged leaders of both private and public organisations to strive for excellence in the discharge of their duties.
He said it was when managers of such institutions provided quality leadership that the country would achieve sustainable development.
Mr Gaisie also said in the wake of technological advancement, it was important for CEOs and business leaders to adopt innovative strategies to improve productivity.
The Ghanaian office of the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that it is still dedicated to cooperating with all stakeholders to support Ghana’s health sector priorities in order to provide the best possible level of health for all Ghanaians.
The improvement of Ghana’s UHC service coverage index from 35 in 2010 to 47.8 in 2021 was cited as evidence that the country had achieved substantial progress toward achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC), but it was crucial that those gains be maintained by following Ghana’s UHC roadmap.
These guarantees were made in a statement that Sayibu Ibrahim Suhuyini, WHO Ghana’s communications officer, signed and released in Accra to commemorate the organization’s 75th birthday, which falls on Friday, April 7.
WHO formation
In 1948, countries of the world came together and founded WHO to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable so that everyone, everywhere can attain the highest level of health and well-being.
Working with 194 member states across six regions and on the ground in more than 150 offices, WHO envisions a world where Health for All is realized. The theme for the celebration is Health for All.
Health for All
The statement said, at the heart of Health for All was the attainment of UHC through primary health, and where people could have access to affordable, equitable, good quality and sustainable health care.
It said in Ghana, around 36.2 per cent of health expenditure came out of people’s pockets and as a result, significant number of persons continued to be pushed further below the poverty line due to spending on health.
It, therefore, called for national health strategies to position primary health care as the entry point into a health system which not only treated ill health, but also prevented illnesses and promoted good health, thereby reducing the need for more expensive curative services.
It said the right to health was a basic human right that promoted health and wellbeing, dignity, and a good quality of life for everyone, despite who they were, where they lived or what they do.
Anniversary
Touching on the anniversary, the statement quoted the WHO Representative in Ghana, Dr Francis Kasolo as saying that, it was an opportunity for them to reflect on the remarkable achievements of their collective efforts to advance the health and wellbeing of the people of Ghana.
“It is also the chance for us to rally around a common agenda and strengthen our commitment to tackle emerging health challenges towards achieving health for all,” it said.
Support to Ghana
The statement mentioned some of WHO’s support to Ghana to include technical and financial support in building a resilient health system that was capable of withstanding shocks.
It said the WHO had also extended support in the fight against diseases, leading to the interruption of wild poliovirus as well as the elimination of Guinea worm, Trachoma, Human African Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) and Neonatal Tetanus as public health problems.
The organization, it further stated, had assisted the country in the development of strategic documents such as the National Action Plan for Health Security, National strategy on non-communicable diseases including Mental Health, Comprehensive Multi-Year Plan for the Expanded Programme on Immunization and the National Innovative Health Financing Strategy.
On immunisation, the statement said in contrast to the global immunisation picture, in Ghana, 1.24 million children received the third dose of the Diphtheria-Pertussis-Tetanus (DPT) containing vaccine in 2022 compared to the 1.17 million children who received the same vaccine in 2019.
This, it described as remarkable performance adding that, it was achieved through concerted support provided by WHO and other partners to sustain the delivery of essential services, including immunization.
The National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu, has received food donations from Alan Kyerematen in observance of Ramadan.
The gift was given at the Chief Imam’s brand-new Fadama home in Accra.
When he handed up the products on Wednesday (April 5), the former trade and industry minister, who is running to be the NPP’s flagbearer, said that the gesture is a part of his commitment to giving back to society.
Although I’m not a stranger, I’m nevertheless happy to come see my father.
Visits during this time make me immensely happier.
As we have come to ask the Chief Imam’s blessings for me personally as I set off on this journey, it is a time for spiritual rebirth, Mr. Kyerematen added.
Chief Imam, Sheikh Sharubutu thanked Mr Kyerematen for the gesture.
“Allah is the only one who can reward you. But we will also add to your wish and desire by way of prayers so that God will bring into fulfillment of your heart desires” chief Imam stated.
Mr Kyerematen who is seeking to lead the NPP in the 2024 general election was accompanied by former Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina, Alhaji Saddique Abubakar Boniface, former Communications Director of NPP, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, MP for Anyaa Sowutuom Dr Kissi Adomako, National Deputy Coordinator, Zongo Caucus for Alan, Alhaji Kamel, Constituency chairman for Tema west, Nana Boakye and some Okaikwei Central constituency executives.
The Public Sector Reform Secretariat (PSRS) has given the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) information and communication technology (ICT) equipment worth US$1.5 million to aid in its digitalization effort.
In addition to various computer peripherals, the equipment includes 215 desktop computers, 60 laptops, 106 printers, 75 cameras, and 75 tripod supports.
On Thursday, April 6, a brief ceremony was held in Accra during which the equipment was jointly given to the CEO of the DVLA, Kwasi Agyeman Busia, by Thomas Kusi Boafo, CEO of the Public Sector Reform Secretariat, and Robert Poku Kyei, Technical Advisor at the Office of the Senior Presidential Advisor.
The items were presented to the DVLA as part of the Public Sector Reform for Results Project (PSRRP), which was started in 2019 to help resource selected critical public sector institutions to improve their performance.
The other 12 beneficiary institutions under the $35-million World Bank funded project are the Passport Office, Births and Deaths Registry, Office of the Head of Civil Service, Public Services Commission, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Monitoring and Evaluation Secretariat, Public Sector Reform secretariat and the National Information Technology Agency (NITA).
The remaining beneficiaries are the ministries of Transport, Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (MFARI) Environment, Science Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Local Government, Decentralisation and Development (MLGDD).
Beneficial project
Mr Kusi Boafo explained that the PRSRRP was part of the six-year National Public Sector Reform Strategy (NPSRS) which was launched by the government in 2018 and meant to improve efficiency and accountability in the delivery of services in the selected state entities.
He said most of the innovations that had been rolled out by the DVLA to revolutionarise service delivery was the results of the PRSRRP.
“It is worth noting that since the implementation of the PSRRP, the DVLA has benefited immensely from major initiatives such as the procurement of six mini vans, ICT equipment including license printing machines and consumables, capacity building for staff of the authority, and these were all geared towards improving citizens experience in assessing public sector services,” he said.
The PSRS CEO added that the equipment that had been presented to the DVLA currently was targeted at helping the authority to modernise its operations at the various offices across the country.
He said the equipment was also meant to support the tertiary drive and the express mobile service initiatives by the DVLA.
Transformation agenda
Mr Busia described the receipt of the ICT equipment as a major boost to the DVLA’s transformation agenda.
“In 2016, the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) ranked the DVLA as the most corrupt institution in Ghana; and this was a very negative tag on such a key state institutions. However, through innovations and introduction of transformative agenda that focuses on people, process and technology, the same GII awarded the DVLA as the best in administrative reforms in 2020. This means that we are doing something great and changing that negative narrative,” he said.
Mr Busia reiterated that his preoccupation was to transform the authority into robust institution capable of delivering efficient services to the public.
He said the transformative agenda was crucial to ensure that the DVLA provided services that would respond to the country’s changing vehicle landscape.
For his part, Mr Poku urged the DVLA management to put the equipment to good use to ensure that the objective of transforming service delivery at the authority was achieved.
He called for proper maintenance culture and prudent use of the equipment.
Vice Admiral Seth Amoama, the Chief of Defence Staff, opened four separate self-contained living units on Thursday at the Jungle Warfare School (JWS) in Akyem Achiase, Eastern Region, to accommodate four military officers and 30 sitting washrooms for trainees.
The facilities are part of GH100 million in funding provided by the Chinese government to upgrade the infrastructure of Ghanaian military barracks.
In his inaugural address, Vice Admiral Amoama said all the military barracks needed infrastructure, especially residential accommodation and the current government had initiated a laudable programme to solve the problem.
He stressed that apart from its core mandate of training military officers and recruits, the JWS was also offering assistance in the provision of security in the country.
Vice Admiral Amoama stated that jungle Warfare Training was very essential to the military so his outfit would do everything possible to fully equip the JWS to delivery its core mandate.
He noted with pride that the Achiase JWS had been recognised as one of the best of such military institutions worldwide, and therefore, admonished the management and the trainees to sustain the proud record.
The CDS advised users of the the facilities to observe proper maintenance culture for them to last longer.
He was full of praise for the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Achiase, Mr Richmond Amponsah Agyabeng and the Member of Parliament for the area, Mr Kofi Ahenkorah Marfo for supplementing the efforts of the government and the military high command to develop the JWS and urged them to sustain the spirit.
The CDS and his entourage including, the Chief of Army Staff, Major General James Oppong Peprah, the Acting Commanding Officer of the JWS, Lt. Col. Jacob Cudjoe, the Acting Chief Instructor at the JWS, the DCE for Achiase, Mr Richmond Amponsah Agyabeng and the Baamuhene of Achiase, Baffour Owusu Sakyi Baah, went round the barracks to inspect ongoing development projects.
The soldiers at the JWS also demonstrated their skills to the CDS and his entourage
A decision regarding whether or not they will attend the King’s coronation next month is reportedly “on the verge” of being made by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The Duke of Sussex is reportedly set to finalize his arrangements for the ceremony but still has “a lot of uncertainties about how the occasion will work.”
The event, which will see Charles take the throne on May 6, is presently being finalized at Buckingham Palace. It will take place in Westminster Abbey.
But despite the deadline for RSVPs reportedly passing on Monday, it is understood the Sussexes have yet to tell palace aides if they will be flying in from California for the service.
‘There have been lengthy discussions between the Sussexes and the palace,’ a source told the New York Post.
‘There is a time crunch on this, of course. It is such a historical event and it’s hoped that Harry and Meghan will be there.’
Another source added: ‘All families are difficult, but this is no normal family, of course.
‘Harry has a lot of questions about how the event will work.’
However, now that President Biden has informed Charles he will not be attending the ceremony and will be sending his wife Jill instead, the Sussexes are expected to reveal their plans within the next few days.
A source told The Times: ‘I hear they are going to confirm their plans soon, particularly now that Biden has.’
If Harry and Meghan do attend the service, they will not take part in the Coronation procession afterwards nor join senior royals on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, it was previously reported.
Instead Prince William will be the only royal liege at the ceremony, and only he will kneel to ‘pay homage’ to the King, before touching the crown and kissing his father’s cheek.
The action is usually performed by all the royal dukes, but Charles scrapped the traditional obligation, effectively absolving Prince Harry of any ceremonial duties.
Harry and Meghan’s children, Archie, aged three, and one-year-old Lilibet, are too young to perform roles in the ceremony. They have reportedly not been invited to the event.
But although Harry is likely to attend in some capacity, not all royals are looking forward to his appearance.
Last month, a royal source said: ‘There have been discussions among the family, including Edward and Anne.
‘They do not want private conversations at the coronation making it into the paperback edition of Spare.’
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor has asked the investor community to consider Ghana’s stable democratic environment to invest in the country to build a robust integrated aluminum industry.
At the ongoing Fast Markets Bauxite and Aluminium Conference in Miami, USA, Mr Jinapor said the Akufo-Addo-led Government remained committed to making Ghana the mining hub of Africa, and using mining as the impetus for sustainable development.
“We will continue to engage relevant stakeholders for the benefit of the people of Ghana,” he said.
The Minister touched on the success story of the Ghana Bauxite Company (GBC), the oldest and only existing bauxite mine in the country, and the Ghana Integrated Aluminum Development Corporation (GIADEC), highlighting the opportunities for investment in those entities.
He noted, for instance, that the GBC had the capacity to produce over five million metric tonnes of bauxite annually, and it had been positioned as an anchor of Ghana’s integrated aluminium industry, through strategic partnership and investment.
At a workshop held in Akosombo by GIADEC on the downstream aluminium industry, Mr Jinapor hademphasised the need to add value to Ghana’s mineral resources to ensure optimal benefit.
The Minister said the Government had, since 2017, been pursuing the path for Ghana’s mineral resources: gold, bauxite, iron ore, lithium and other green minerals, which played active roles in advancing socio-economic development through value addition.
An eight-year manhunt in Europe finally ended with the capture and imprisonment of a rapist.
While being on trial for raping a man he knew in September 2014, Sarbaz Najmadeen Ali, 36, escaped the courtroom during a lunch break.
He was found guilty of rape, attempted rape, penetration assault, and two counts of sexual assault against a 33-year-old in Hastings in 2013 by a jury at Hove Crown Court while he was not present.
Ali, however, managed to flee the nation before being apprehended, and he later committed other sex crimes in Germany and France.
Eventually, a police officer in the German city of Regensburg recognised Ali from a BBC Crimewatch appeal and told Sussex Police he was in custody there.
But Ali was then extradited to France for sexual offences he carried out there.
He had to serve one year in jail there before the UK could execute a European Arrest Warrant and get him extradited to this country.
Ali, a former barber, appeared at Lewes Crown Court on Wednesday and was finally brought to justice.
The predator, formerly of Stockleigh Road, St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex, was handed a total of seven years in prison, plus a further three years on an extended licence.
He was also sentenced to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for life, which will restrict his access to children under the age of 16.
‘This is to reflect his dangerousness to young people following his conviction in France,’ Sussex Police said.
Investigator Julian Stokes said: ‘Admiration has to be given to the courageous victim, who gave evidence at the trial in 2014 and who has had to wait for more than eight years for justice to be served following Ali’s sentencing.
‘This demonstrates that Sussex Police will go to extraordinary lengths to bring dangerous offenders such as Ali, back to the UK to face justice.’
Drug kingpin dubbed the “Escobar of Essex” was sentenced to 16 years in prison after botching a £20,000,000 cocaine deal and accidentally shipping the drugs to the incorrect nation.
Investigators deciphered the encrypted texts of 55-year-old Jonathan Parkhill and discovered his intimate ties to Colombian gangs, leading to his capture.
They disclosed that the narco baron, who was originally from Clapham, Essex, had been seeking to recover a 30 kg shipment that had accidentally ended up in South Africa but was intended for Germany.
It was subsequently taken in 2020.
Also revealed was a failed plot between Parkhill and his right-hand man Kevin Hanley, 44, to smuggle 500kg of cocaine into Belgium, in a deal estimated to be worth over £19,000,000.
The money from the deal was supposed to be split between Parkhill and a number of ‘Colombian Groups’, the Sun reports, but was foiled when the deal went south and Hanley was beaten up.
Parkhill’s arrest came in 2021 when he was scooped by authorities at Heathrow Airport. He had just returned to the UK after a trip to Colombia- the home of infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Hanley was arrested near his home in Uxbridge, West London, where officers found a sawn-off shotgun on the property.
During an appearance at Isleworth Crown Court, the duo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine as well as admitting to a ‘string of other offences’.
Parkhill was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Hanley was handed an 11-and-a-half year prison sentence.
Following their sentencing, a source told the Sun: ‘Parkhill is one of the biggest drug traffickers caught in the UK for a long time.’
Their arrests were among 746 others as part of the National Crime Agency’s Operation Venetic.
Set up in 2020, the NCA’s objective was to ‘take down the encrypted communication platform EncroChat’, which ‘at the time was one of the largest providers of encrypted communication’.
The EncroChat system used modified Android phones and cost £1,500 for just six months of use.
Handsets could only communicate with other identical phones.
They only had the special chat app on them, apart from a currency converter to help calculate profit on deals.
There were thought to be 10,000 users in the UK, with an estimated 60,000 worldwide.
Almost 95 percent of industries established in Tema under Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s regime, which formed part of the vision of making Tema a harbour cum industrial city, have collapsed.
Mr Abraham Koomson, the Secretary General of the Ghana Federation of Labour, disclosing this to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Tema, said those that managed to survive successive governments, were struggling with their operations.
Mr Koomson said the lack of concern for the survival of these companies by successive governments was worrying, and that their existence in the country must be a focus for the Economic Development Team of subsequent governments to ensure a sound economy.
The unionist who was visibly unhappy about the collapse of the companies mentioned some as the Ghana Textile Manufacturing Company Limited (GTMC), Tema Textile Limited (TTL), Tema Food Complex, State Housing Corporation, and the Black Star Line.
Other collapsed firms in Tema are Sanyo, Akasanoma, Pioneer Aluminium, Ghana Aluminium, ICI, BBC, Meat Factory, Mankoadze Fisheries Limited, Africa Motors, Super Paper, and Westcodye Textiles, among others.
He said even though companies such as the Tex Style Limited (GTP), Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO), Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), ALUWORKS, Nestle Ghana Limited, and Steel Works managed to survive, current operational costs and over taxations have left them struggling for survival.
He stated that TOR for instance, was established when Ghana was yet to discover oil, yet, it was doing well, adding that it baffled him as to how such a company had been run down by politicians when the country could give its share of the oil to it to refine.
He recalled that in the textile sector alone TTL at the time, employed over 3,000 people, while GTMC and GTP had about 4,000 and 2,000 workers, respectively.
He indicated that apart from the direct employment for both skilled and unskilled labour in the textile companies in Tema through their productions, they created indirect jobs for cotton farmers and cloth sellers, among others.
“Even the waste from the textile companies served as sources of revenue for people, who came to buy and used it as resources for other products,” the GFL Secretary added.
Mr Koomson attributed the high crime rate within Tema and its environs, and Ghana in general partly to the collapse of such industries and the inability of government to meaningfully engage people, coupled with harsh economic conditions.
In accordance with Russia‘s purported “gay promotion law,” a gay Chinese national who is well-known on TikTok and YouTube will be expelled from the nation.
Haoyang Xu, a Chinese national, moved to study Russian at university, and Gela Gogishvili, 23, a Russian native, met two years ago on a dating app.
Being the cultural center and capital of Tatarstan‘s province, Kazan, they have spent the past year updating social media with posts about their daily lives there.
Simple enough are the YouTube videos.
For their 65,300 subscribers, they might recreate popular TikTok trends or sequences from movies, or they might just cuddle up in bed and kiss and hug each other.
Their TikTok videos for their 740,000 followers aren’t so different. Washing dishes or dancing together in their bedroom.
But on Wednesday afternoon, Haoyang was arrested by police outside a Burger King for promoting ‘non-traditional sexual relationships’.
In Russia, LGBTQ+ people are silenced by a powerful law that bans so-called ‘LGBTQ+ propaganda’ in any media, from streaming services and social media to films and music.
Passed in 2013, the law initially banned content seen by minors but was extended to all age ranges last November as part of President Vladimir Putin’s increasing effort to cast Russia as facing a battle against ‘corrupt Western values’.
In a YouTube video posted on the day of Haoyang’s arrest, Gela said that police stopped his boyfriend and asked to see his passport and registration documents.
He asked Gela to bring them to him at the restaurant, but when he arrived, the officers escorted them both to the Yapeyeva police station to check the documents were ‘not fake’.
‘It seemed like a trap,’ Gela said in the video, adding: ‘We arrive at the police station and they accused me of LGBTQ+ propaganda Article 6.21. Haoyang is threatened with deportation.
‘They deceived us.’
Gela claimed they were held in the station for five hours. They were only allowed a lawyer after one of the couple’s subscribers phoned the station and demanded they have access to one.
Gela said he was released three hours later, but Haoyang was detained overnight and his mobile phone confiscated by migration officials.
Robert Lebedev, the PR manager for the Moscow-based LGBTQ+ group Delo LGBT+, told Metro.co.uk that the couple have been targeted by high-profile homophobic campaigners since December.
In February, a local tipped the police about them Haoyang and Gela’s social media platforms.
‘They had to flee to Moscow to escape police pressure,’ Lebedev said, noting they sought legal help from Delo LGBT+, before having to go back to Kazan.
Haoyang was accused of uploading 19 videos in which the couple ‘touch each other on different parts of the body, including the genitals’, the court heard today.
Prosecutors accused Haoyang of ‘spreading among minors the desire to change sex’.
Their lawyer, Adel Khaydarshin, questioned the prosecution’s claim as the couple’s YouTube viewing statistics are not public and the content is listed as 18+.
He faced being fined up to 200,000 rubles (nearly £20,000).
On the couple’s joint Telegram, a post said Haoyang was found guilty and sentenced to a week in a temporary detention centre for migrants before being deported.
Gela told the Telegram news channel SOTA after the ruling: ‘We didn’t want to hide and scurry like rats. We wanted to fight for our rights and love.’
His lawyers will appeal the ruling.
‘It’s a scene we saw coming,’ Lebedev said, adding: ‘There was only a small chance Haoyang could escape.’
Ksenia Mikhailova, a lawyer for the advocacy group Coming Out, told Metro.co.uk that Haoyang’s guilty verdict captures the ways in which the ‘gay propaganda law’ can be especially punishing for non-Russian LGBTQ+ people.
‘(Article 6.21) of the Administrative Code against propaganda does not provide such a punishment (of deportation) for an arrest of a Russian citizen, only for foreigners,’ she said.
‘The anti-propaganda law makes foreign citizens more vulnerable to intersectional discrimination.
‘The law affects queer people in all aspects of their lives because it’s difficult to predict what behaviours will be recognised by a court as positive LGBTQ+ representation.’
Queer Russians are not the only ones caught in the law’s dragnet, she added.
‘It affects not only queer people – several people who are not LGBTQ+ activists are being recognised as “foreign agents” for LGBTQ+ propaganda,’ Mikhailova said.
Lebedev agreed. He said three out of four ‘LGBTQ+ propaganda’ cases since Putin ratified the law in November have been against non-Russian citizens.
‘They’re trying to present so-called “gay propaganda” as something non-Russian, that “we can never be gay, only foreign citizens and they should be deported”,’ he said.
‘This narrative is relatively new – and it scares us.’
Despite facing the same charges, Gela, Lebedev added, is unlikely to face the same fate as his boyfriend as he is a Russian citizen. He will, however, likely faces fines in the thousands.
Footage on Gela and Haoyang’s joint today Telegram showed Haoyang being led away in handcuffs.
‘Here it is in Russia, in handcuffs to lead a man for the fact he simply loved,’ the caption read.
‘Love is illegal.’
Broadcast journalist and entrepreneur, Serwaa Amihere has finally decided to reveal the mystery behind her big tummy.
Serwaa Amihere went viral after a video of her looking pregnant at the launch of her clothing line business. There were several rumors that she was heavily pregnant.
Well, setting the records straight in a Snapchat video, Serwaa who was wearing her signature alluring smile with a filter and a pleated silk shirt said she was “not pregnant yet”.
“You guys I have seen a lot of comments of people asking me if I’m pregnant. I know the rumour is going to start again that Serwaa is pregnant. I am sorry but I am not pregnant just yet.” she stated
According to the GhOne TV presenter, she had just been experiencing excessive bloating and was currently on a diet as well as exercise to mitigate it.
“My stomach has just become really big and I’m working on it. I started dieting yesterday and exercising so yeah I am not pregnant please hold on with the rumours,” she said.
The Co-owner of Oh My Hair and founder of Office&Co By S.A might not be planning on being a mother yet but she’s had some experiences in that corner as auntie and second mum to her niece.
This horrifying incident occurred in Russia when a car carrying two children plunged into a sinkhole full with hot, boiling water.
In Saint Petersburg on Wednesday, video captures the white SUV getting swallowed up as the ground gives way beneath them.
Once a pipe burst, the ground collapsed inward, creating the sinkhole and dumping scorching water everywhere.
The second child was apparently uninjured, but the driver and his 10-year-old son both sustained burns.
Two members of the emergency services who rushed to the family’s rescue were also hospitalised with burns.
One suffered burns across more than 30% of his body, local media said.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: ‘Both rescuers were sent to hospital with burns to their lower extremities.’
A total of 31 emergency personnel and 11 units of special equipment were needed to handle the clean-up operation.
The Prosecutors’ Office of St Petersburg said: ‘We organised an inspection into the fact of a pipeline rupture at house 4 on Drovyanaya Street, operated by St. Petersburg Heating Network JSC.
‘Currently, measures are being taken to clear up the site of the accident, while the causes of the breakthrough are being investigated.
‘Employees of the prosecutor’s office of the Admiralteisky district left for the place to coordinate the actions of emergency services and control over the elimination of the consequences of the incident.’
Founder of Grace Mountain Ministry cum Alpha Hour convener, Rev Elvis Agyemang, has commented on the proposed sex bout between popular American porn actor, King Nazir, and Ghanaian socialite Shugatiti.
Reacting to the ongoing sexual discussions between the duo, he expressed his utmost shock over the fact that people are willing to pay to watch this ‘match.’
Earlier, in a series of conversation on Twitter, the American porn actor requested to make Shugatiti reach orgasm and was willing to feed fans with a live telecast of their game.
This was after Shugatiti expressed in an interview with Zionfelix that she has never experienced orgasm in her life adding that no one can make her cum.
“You can’t satisfy me, I have never cum in my life, I don’t get orgasm. I asked my doctor, and he said it was normal because not all women will get orgasm. So for me, I don’t get orgasm; so pleasing me is out, you just have to match up with the energy till we get tired. I enjoy having sex; I get so wet; I enjoy the penetration and how things are moving in and out. I also enjoy long hours, like the whole day. Me, I don’t get tired. The honest truth is that all the people I have made out with match up with my energy,” she told Zionfelix.
King Nazir, after chancing on Shugatiti’s comments have since come up with ideas in a bid to help her resolve that problem.
This includes a live telecast of their game, which he had begun soliciting funds for.
“For the fans that wanna see this match up happen! You can support here.This will help us secure funding for broadcasting/live PPV, set design, staff, etc,” his post on Twitter read.
However, Rev. Elvis Agyemang has expressed shock after chancing on this development.
Expressing disappointment and bitterness at ‘the extent of filth this generation has embraced and engulfed all in the name of modernity’, he seized a moment during his Alpha hour session and said,
“I took my wife’s phone and I was glancing through Facebook and I something that said a lady in Ghana has a sexual match with a young man and people who want to watch are to be charged. Have we gotten to that? Have we gotten to that? Young men and women, have we gotten to that? It didn’t start now. “The oppression of the soul didn’t start now, and there are people who were commenting saying they can’t wait. The open sexual bout, you can’t wait.”
Rev. Agyemang said things are likely to get out of hand if this generation fails to heed good counsel and blindly adopts the foreign culture.
“This is the generation we find ourselves in. Right now, nakedness has become common, sexual talk has become common. The souls of young people have been worked on. Very soon murder will be common. If we talk and you won’t listen, very soon, pulling out guns to shoot others will be common. The way we have adapted everything about Americans, very soon the thing that is dangerous there will start happening here.”
Rema has refuted rumours that he and Davido, a more senior colleague, are at odds. The Marvin Records artist discussed his alleged dispute with Omo Baba Olowo in an interview with foreign journalist DJ Ebro.
Rema asserted that it was just a rumour and further stated his admiration for his senior colleagues in the Nigerian music business. He claims that he steers clear of conflict, is an introvert, and despises disputes.
Back in December 2022, former president of the United State of America, Barack Obama has dropped his traditional playlist and predictably, some top Nigerian artists made the list.
The first black president to occupy the White House shared the content of his favourite tunes for the year on his Twitter platform- which elicited a plethora of relations from tweeps as expected.
Evidently, Burna Boy’s Last Last was the first song listed by Barack Obama, followed by Ayra Starr’s Rush and Rema’s Calm Down.
Sharing the tweet, Barack Obama emphasized the love behind spreading his favourite playlist while asking to know other songs to add.
“I always enjoy sharing my end of year music playlist with all of you — and this year we heard a lot of great songs. Here are some of my favorites. Are there any songs or artists I should check out?”
Reacting to the development, Rema thanked Obama for seeing him as someone worth listening to just like in 2019. The ‘Ginger Me’ crooner said he feels the same way he felt in 2019 when his name also made the list.
He wrote; ”I feel the same way I did in 2019 when I saw my Name on this list, I’m very grateful. ”
According to a study issued by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, more than 150 Catholic priests and other members of the clergy harmed more than 600 children alone in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
The’staggering’ amount of child abuse that occurred over a 60-year period in the oldest diocese in the United States was described in the 463-page study, which was made public on Wednesday.
Anthony G. Brown, the attorney general of Maryland, described the publication date as “a day of reckoning and a day of accountability” for the Catholic Church in Baltimore.
‘This report illustrates the depraved, systemic failure of the Archdiocese to protect the most vulnerable,’ Maryland Attorney General Anthony G Brown said. ‘Time and again, the Archdiocese chose to safeguard the institution and avoid scandal instead of protecting the children in its care.’
Starting in 2019, investigators reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents dating back to the 1940s that included ‘treatment reports, personnel records, transfer reports, and policies and procedures.’
Archbishop William Lori, the current Archbishop of Baltimore, called the report ‘a sad and painful reminder of the tremendous harm caused to innocent children and young people by some ministers of the Church.’
The archbishop issued an apology and offered an ‘unyielding public acknowledgment of the horrors of this era.’
The archdiocese has paid over $13million to about 300 victims since the 1980s, and has since instituted a zero-tolerance policy for clergy accused of sexual abuse.
The report found that abusers in the church ‘took advantage of the position of authority and respect afforded priests and other clergy in Catholic communities.’
It also found that many abusers continued their abuse even after reports or concerns were raised against them.
One example given was Father Anthony Joseph Maskell. Parents had reported disturbing attention Maskell was showing young people.
The same year archdiocese was sent a letter signed by members of his congregation, Sacred Heart of Mary in Baltimore, who said he was bringing ‘young girls into the rectory under suspicious circumstances and talk[ed] for hours.’
Despite these reports, Maskell continued to be employed by the archdiocese until 1994, including in multiple roles involving children.
In 1969, Maskell was transferred to Archbishop Keough High School, an all-girls school in Baltimore, where he worked as a guidance counselor. He was accused of abuse by at least 39 students at the school.
Maskell was never criminally charged, and he denied the allegations until his death in 2001.
The report came to the conclusion that Maryland should amend its statute of limitations for civil actions involving child sex abuse. Many of the victims waited until later in life to report their abuse due to repression or fear of retribution, but Maryland law currently bars plaintiffs from recourse if they are over the age of 38.
On Wednesday. the Maryland legislature passed a bill that would completely remove the current statute of limitations. It was sent to the desk of Governor Wes Moore, who has previously said he would sign the bill into law.
The report also asked the church to expand public accountability to other non-clerical employees of the archdiocese, including teachers, coaches, and deacons.
The report gave the example of John Merzbacher, who worked as a teacher at Baltimore’s Catholic Community Middle School, as well as three city public schools, from 1960 through 1979.
The report details some of Merzbacher’s most heinous crimes, including sexually and physically assaulting students, threatening them with guns, and instructing male students to rape female students at gunpoint.
According to the report, some of these acts were done in front of the school’s principal, Sister Eileen Weisman.
At least 27 students from Merzbacher’s seven years teaching at Catholic Community Middle School were identified as victims, and even more came forward from his teaching in Baltimore public schools.
Merzbacher, now 82, was eventually convicted of rape and child sexual abuse in 1994 and sentenced to serve four consecutive life sentences.
Of the 156 archdiocese employees identified in the report, ten of them were redacted upon release. Another 37 people were identified during grand jury proceedings, but a circuit court judge ruled that their names should be excluded until further proceedings.
The Minority Chief Whip, Kwame Governs Agbodza, has slammed the government over the introduction of a “Digital Transport Fee”, which will be charged on all complete trips on Uber, Bolt and other ride-hailing service.
According to him, the introduction of the GH¢1 ‘Digital Transport Fee” is a guise the government is using to burden the people of Ghana with another tax.
In a Facebook post shared on Thursday, April 6, 2023, Agbodza added that the government has over the past few years introduced a number of taxes in the ride-hailing sector and the introduction of more taxes is likely to cripple the sector.
“It would be recalled that in 2019, DVLA introduced a GH¢120 annual fee on ride-hailing platforms – Uber, Bolt and Yango. This charge came in two parts – GH¢60 for unique DVLA stickers, while drivers were to also pay GH¢60, all under the umbrella of Verification of License and Roadworthy Fee.
“At this time of great economic difficulty, chiefly driven by high transport and fuel cost, it will be most insensitive on the part of government, acting through the DVLA, to impose yet another tax under the guise of Digital Transport Fee.
“What really happened to Government’s mantra of moving the economy from taxation to production? The Ghanaian people demand answers from DVLA and the Transport Ministry now,” parts of the post read.
Governs Agbodza, the Member of Parliament for Adaklu, called on the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), which the ride-hailing companies have indicated directed them to collect the GH¢ tax, to explain to the people of Ghana why they are taking it.
“… the DVLA must come out immediately to provide details on what this charge constitutes and how it situates within any approved guidelines, regulations or fees and charges instituted by relevant authority, be it the Ministry of Transport, the National Road Safety Authority or any other body so authorised by law,” he wrote.
Following a 16-year-arrest old’s on suspicion of murder, a girl, 14, has been identified as the victim of a fire at an east London apartment building.
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.
The blaze tore through the three-story building at the address, injuring five individuals there, according to the fire department.
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.
‘Our thoughts are with the family of the victim.’
A man who requested an ambulance while experiencing a heart attack was discovered dead by paramedics five hours later, according to an inquiry.
In Taverham’s Lidl parking lot, Martin Coleman, 54, passed away while awaiting an emergency response.
He was discovered in his van outside the business in the early hours of July 1 of last year, just 15 minutes’ drive from the closest hospital.
An inquest heard that Mr Coleman, a handyman from Reepham, had pulled over into the car park at around 10.15pm after being overcome with chest pains and heart palpitations while driving.
He phoned for an ambulance telling a call handler: ‘I think I am having a heart attack’.
At the time, the service was on ‘black alert’ due to the pressures it was facing and no ambulances were available when he called.
He was told to keep his phone line free, so did not contact friends and family.
When a call handler phoned him back at around 11.15pm, there was no answer from Mr Coleman.
It was not until after 3.30am that paramedics from the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital arrived and found him dead inside the vehicle.
The inquest heard his call had been picked up by a handler in Newcastle as part of an arrangement between trusts to help deal with demand at busy times and was correctly prioritised as a ‘category two’ call.
These are the second most urgent type of calls, which include heart attacks, and should be responded to in no more than 40 minutes – with a target of 18 minutes.
At 10.29pm, the call handler told Mr Coleman an ambulance would be on its way and instructed him to make himself comfortable and to keep his phone line free.
Mr Coleman was able to climb out of his vehicle, recline the passenger seat and get back in to lie down and wait for the ambulance to arrive.
But by the time it reached the Fir Covert Road car park, at 3.40am, he was already dead.
His daughter, Roxanne, told the inquest: ‘My dad was a strong, proud man who would only call for an ambulance if he really needed it.
‘I loved him more than life itself. I greatly admired his desire to help anybody.
‘He was so much more than a father and a grandfather. He is not going to be a statistic, he is a human being who is missed and loved more than anything.’
Chris Hewitson, patient safety manager at the East of England Ambulance Service, told the court that at the time of Mr Coleman’s call the service did not have a single ambulance free to attend, nor were there any community first responders available.
Mr Coleman’s daughter questioned why her father’s call was not escalated when he did not answer the attempted ‘callback’ around an hour after his original one.
She asked whether callers could be asked to provide an alternative contact number -such as a next of kin – when making an emergency call on their own.
Mr Hewitson said this was not something that was currently done but could be considered.
Meanwhile, David Allen, head of operations at EEAST, highlighted the pressures the service continues to face – despite efforts to make improvements.
He said: ‘Sometimes we can have up to 30 ambulances waiting outside the Norfolk and Norwich [hospital] at any one time.
‘There are over 400 patients across the three Norfolk hospitals who are medically fit to leave but cannot be discharged.’
He said the ambulance trust was making efforts to treat more people in the community and had been able to reduce the number needing hospital admission by 22pc.
Yvonne Blake, area coroner for Norfolk, concluded that Mr Coleman had died of a heart attack – but that she could not give a precise time of his death.
The unconfirmed report of the death of Ghanaian Socialite Twene Jonas who has allegedly been shot and killed by an unknown gang in New York City has become a matter of interest.
The vociferous socialite who is famed for ruthlessly attacking Ghanaian public figures including politicians, celebrities, and pastors was pronounced dead by a TikTok user identified as Nana Agyemang.
According to the faceless handler of the account, Twene Jonas was murdered Tuesday, April 3, 2023, a video he shared paying tribute to the internet personality suggests.
It is believed that Jonas may have been a target of assassination because of his incessant attacks on Ghanaian leaders and personalities, and a hit on him has now been undertaken.
This rumour monger, however, cannot be trusted with this news as he is notorious for causing fear and panic by sharing the content of doom about celebrities.
He recently triggered angry reactions when he claimed dancehall musician Shatta Wale had passed away.
The Vice President Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and Daasebre Akuamoah Agyapong, Kwahuhene will grace the 4th edition of the Kwahu Mountain Marathon slated for Saturday April 8th.
Other dignitaries expected include Ministers of State, Members of Parliament, District Chief Executives, and other high profile personalities from the sporting fraternity.
The event is expected to take off at Nkawkaw GOIL Fuel Station to Kwahu Traditional Council (KTC) Mpraeso with an estimated participant athlete of 500 as part of the Easter celebrations in Kwahu.
Mr. Edward Boahen, the Project Manager of the Kwahu Mountain Marathon, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Tema that the 2023 Kwahu Mountain Marathon activities will commence at 06:00 hour to 10:00 hour within a distance of 23 kilometers.
The theme for the 2023 Kwahu Mountain Marathon is “Embracing the new normal, incorporating exercise and physical fitness into our daily life”.
The Kwahu Mountain Marathon, which is being sponsored by GOIL Ghana Limited would begin from Obomeng to Mpraeso through to Nkwatia and then finally end at Mpraeso Kwahu Traditional Council.
He said the organizers have arranged pre-marathon events which include a marathon float; a keep fit festival; pasta night; and health screening.
Mr. Boahen said there would be a pre-marathon float from Nkawkaw through some principal streets of Kwahu which would end at the Forecourt of the Kwahu Traditional Council, Mpraeso, while the public would be educated on COVID-19 protocols, AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases on Friday, April 07.
He said all Keep Fit Clubs would converge at the Forecourt of the Kwahu Traditional Council for a special aerobics session to serve as a rehearsal for the float. About 20 Clubs are expected to participate in the festival.
Mr. Boahen said there would be a special athletes’ pasta night before the event, which is a form of social interaction with pasta served alongside music and dance.
“There shall be a health screening after the event as a form of Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) for the community, after the Marathon on April 08,” he said.
Mr. Boahen noted that the objective of the 2023 Kwahu Mountain Marathon seeks to promote a unique long-distance race on the mountain, use sports as a tool for promoting health, physical fitness, and tourism, and create a unique platform for the youth to exhibit their talents and grab an opportunity to participate in international competitions.
He said it is also a unique platform to harness talent in Ghana and the region, create an avenue to champion awareness of COVID-19, drug abuse, and HIV AIDS, and bridge the “Unity Gap” through sports.
He said the Kwahu Easter Mountain Marathon activities will create a platform to market products and brands to the vibrant population during the Easter Festival and will create an opportunity to associate with an event that has the youth as a major participant.
The statement further explained that organizers will ensure there will be mass participation within expected professional athletes. All keep fit clubs will be mobilized to join the race to boost the numbers and promote the event among the people in the communities.
Following an altercation at a theme park, a man was detained and a murder investigation was opened.
However after the altercation at Sea Lane in the Lincolnshire village of Ingoldmells, close to Skegness, a 42-year-old male was discovered hurt.
At 12.57 a.m., when police were summoned, he passed away shortly after, and a 30-year-old male was subsequently brought in.
There have been no further explanations of what transpired or how the 42-year-old died.
The individual who was arrested will be questioned as soon as possible, according to Lincolnshire Police.
‘We are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the incident, who has information, or dashcam footage between 9pm last night and 3am this morning in the Roman Bank area to get in touch.’
In a statement issued before the death was confirmed by police, the nearby Fantasy Island amusement park said: ‘We are open today from 11am as advertised, however due to a police incident, access to our site is limited.
‘Some of our operational procedures may be adapted, and there may be some ride closures in place in order to respect the sensitivity of the incident.’
Today, April 7, 2023, marks the beginning of Easter.
Christians in Ghana are joining their counterparts all over the world to commemorate Good Friday, one of the most significant events on the Christian calendar.
The Day marks the suffering, crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ to atone for the sins of the world and reconcile believers with God eternally.
Holy Friday is observed as part of the Paschal Triduum, which is the final three days of Lent and Holy Week – the Friday preceding Easter Sunday.
Many Christians in Ghana wear black or mourning clothing to attend special church services to commemorate the day, which is one of the pillars of Christianity.
Some churches organise conventions for soul winning or musical concerts to celebrate Christ for His gift of life to mankind.
Good Friday comes barely a week after Palm Sunday, which marked the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem.
Many Christians have over the Lent period been fasting, praying and asking for repentance and meditation on the agony and suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross and to understand what this means for their faith.
Members of Christian denominations including; Catholics, Methodists, and Anglicans observe the Holy Friday with worship services, prayer and vigil services, fasting and almsgiving.
However, according to the Moravian church, communicants have a Good Friday tradition of cleaning gravestones in Moravian cemeteries.
Good Friday is a widely instituted legal holiday in many countries around the world, including Ghana.
In Germany, laws prohibit some acts, such as dancing and horse racing that are seen as violating the solemn nature of the day.
The Catholics celebrate Baptism and the anointing of the sick as the only sacraments during this time.
Though the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, a traditional prayer book of the Anglican Church, did not specify a particular rule to be observed on Good Friday, local custom mandates an assortment of services including; the “Seven Last Words from the Cross.
Ahead of the celebrations, some Christians have extended best wishes, advices and word of encouragement to the Christian community.
The Reverend Dr Lawrence Tetteh, Founder and President of Worldwide Miracle Outreach, for instance, urged Christians to learn lessons from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to give meaning to His suffering.
He said Jesus Christ’s humility, Service, obedience and selflessness should be “our hallmark.”
“My prayer is that as a people, we will reflect on the mercies of our God and bless others accordingly…. May the nations be blessed as we renew our minds to deepened our relationship with our maker,” he added.
The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, the Most Bishop Paul Boafo, urged repentance and the adoption of healthy lifestyles that would promote peace, unity andnational advancement.
The Northern Electricity Company (NEDCo) of the Volta River Authority (VRA) says its customers in the Upper West Region owed the company more than GH¢107 million.
Of the amount, government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, including Municipal and District Assemblies, owed about GH₵82 million while private entities owed about GH¢25 million.
The Wa Area Manager of the VRA-NEDCo, Mr Francis Yormesor disclosed this in Wa during a Consumer Clinic organised by the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC).
The forum was to create an avenue for utility consumers to share their challenges and complaints for redress.
It was also to provide a platform for the PURC to strengthen its education on the rights and responsibilities of utility consumers and how to demand those rights.
Representatives from the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), VRA-NEDCo, traditional leaders, Heads of Department, business operators, and other utility consumers in the region attended the forum.
Mr Yormesor said the company was in talks with the government to help settle its debt as a chunk of the debt was from the government sector.
“We are embarking on a mass disconnection exercise and the Agencies, Departments, Ministries, and MMDAs will not be spared.
You cannot disconnect some essential institutions like the regional hospitals and there is the need to do some negotiations for the government to do the needful,” he explained.
Mr Yormesor identified power theft through illegal connections as a major challenge to the company and warned that any customer caught in that act would be served with a demand notice and to pay the bill or face prosecution.
“With the prepaid customer, they think nobody comes there and because there is no meter reading it is free, but please be warned, we have our men monitoring, and now we have a programme where we go around in the evening with the assistance of the police.
This is because most people have now strategised and are stealing power in the evening, especially water producers, they do most of their productions in the night, you go in the daytime and there is nothing there, we are coming after them,” the Wa Area Manger said.
The Wa Area of the VRA-NEDCo covered parts of the Savannah Region and the entire Upper West Region with a total customer base of 137,000 of which 53 per cent were on prepared meter and 47 per cent on postpaid meter.
The entire area was served from three bulk supply points at Sawla in the Savannah Region and Wa and Tumu in the Upper West Region.
Mr Kwasi Abebrese, the Upper West Regional Chief Manager of the GWCL, explained that customers of the company in the region owed it about GH¢2.5 million as at end of March 2023.
He said as part of efforts to recoup their monies, they had begun serving notices to defaulting customers and any customer who failed to respond to their notice within 14 days would risk being prosecuted, adding that a first set of 20 customers were being processed for court.
Mr Abebrese explained that the region had an abundance of water but was challenged with limited distribution lines.
He indicated that the company currently had about 10,000 customers and about 60,000 consumers in the region and that they were working hard to ensure they covered most of the population in the urban centres.
Mr James Suntaa Kubgee, the President of the Upper West Regional Bar Association, commended the PURC for organising the forum to enlighten the utility consumers on how to lodge their complaints with the commission.
He also appreciated the challenges the utility companies were facing in providing quality service to meet customers’ expectations.
A bear is suspected of killing and dismembering a runner who was found dead in a woodland.
Before leaving on a run in Val di Sole, Trentino, Italy, Andrea Papi, 26, was last seen alive yesterday morning.
After his fiancée notified authorities when he didn’t come home, his horrifically mutilated body was discovered in a forested area mere hours later.
His severe injuries, which appeared to be the consequence of an animal assault, were discovered, according to the local media.
The young PT student is believed to have been attacked by one – or more- bears on the forest road overlooking the town.
Investigators suspect Andrea might have been mauled on the road and then dragged deeper into the forest where he was ‘disembowelled’.
An autopsy is being carried out to determine if Andrea was already dead when the animals found him.
The culprits are likely to be brown bears which live in forests and woodlands in the region.
The case has shocked the local community, with many residents claiming bear sightings have increased recently.
Just last month – locals claim – several farms were hit and one sheep ended up being mauled to death.
Local MP Maurizio Fugatti said: ‘This is a moment of pain, so I believe that what is right must be done in respect of the people concerned at this particular moment.
‘I was on site on Thursday morning and I was able, together with the local authorities, to see what had happened in person.
‘We then met the administrators of the municipality concerned and of the entire valley.
‘The prefect was alerted and together it was decided to set up a committee for public order and safety.’
Grammy award-winning American gospel artiste, Don Moen is excited about the upcoming Harvest Praise concert.
Don Moen, in an interview on Breakfast Daily on Citi TV ahead of the concert, said God is set to do a new thing with his people, and he is excited to partake in it.
“I don’t know if you have seen the advertisements for the Jesus Revolution movie that is coming out in the US. There is a lot of talk about a move of God and revival. I want to be a part of that, and that is why I am here. I believe God is going to do something new. My part is a small part.”
“I believe that something new is going to spring forth in Ghana.”
Harvest Praise is an annual gospel music outreach program, initiated by Harvest International Ministries (HIM) in 1998 and held on every Good Friday.
The biggest gospel musical concert has since helped people who hitherto did not know Christ, come to have an amazing relationship with their maker.
The annual event has also been used to project local and international talents in the gospel music industry.
Other artistes on the bill to thrill the audience include Nigerian Gospel artiste Moses Bliss, Harvest Gospel Choir, and a host of other surprise gospel artistes.
The Harvest Gospel Choir will also take the opportunity of the event to launch its own album.
The 25th Harvest praise tickets selling at GHȼ80 for single, GHȼ150 for both Double and VIP can be purchased at the Baatsoona Total filling station, Airport Shell, Harvest Chapel International and online at http:.tickets.ipaygh.harvestprai.com as well as other selected outlets.
As a family-oriented program, children between 5–12 years will be treated to a special package of music, dance, and games to be held simultaneously in an auditorium on the same premises. Performances by KingzKid, Kasa Music, Louis Pascal, and Children of God will ensure the children have a nourishing and life-changing experience.
A violent husband who forced his expectant wife off Edinburgh’s Arthur’s Seat only days before she intended to leave him was sentenced to life in prison.
In September 2021, Fawziyah Javed, 31, and their unborn child were assassinated near the landmark in the Scottish capital by Kashif Anwar, 29.
Ms. Javed, an employment lawyer who was around 17 weeks pregnant when she fell 50 feet, used her final words to accuse Anwar of pushing her in front of another walker.
Daniyah Rafique, 24, managed to reach her as she lay dying on the hillside and was told: ‘Don’t let my husband near me, he pushed me.’
PC Rhiannon Clutton, 35, who rushed to the scene, said she was told by Ms Javed her husband pushed her because she ‘told him I wanted to end (the marriage)’.
Anwar, from Leeds, was convicted of murder following a week-long trial at the city’s High Court.
The judge, Lord Beckett, handed him a life sentence with a minimum term of 20 years.
As he was led down to the cells, one of Ms Javed’s relatives screamed from the public gallery: ‘Die, you bastard.’
Jurors were visibly upset after the result, some crying, and the judge thanked them for the ‘admirable way’ they performed their duties.
In a statement read on behalf of the Javed family outside court, they said: ‘Our life sentence began the day that our daughter was brutally murdered.
‘Whilst we welcome the verdict, this outcome does not feel like justice when compared to what we have lost.’
Ms Javed’s mother, Nighat Yasmin Javed, said: ‘There are just no words to describe the depth of pain and grief.
‘There’s no words in the English dictionary that go deep enough.’
She had told jurors her daughter first met Anwar at an opticians in Leeds city centre, near their home in Pudsey, where he worked as an optical assistant.
The couple had an Islamic wedding on December 25, 2020, but the court concerns were raised within months.
Mrs Javed told advocate depute Alex Prentice KC she was ‘very worried’ about her daughter, and revealed they had a secret code word she could use if she was ever unsafe.
She said: ‘I said if you feel that you are in danger, just text me “I like cream cakes”, and I will contact the police.’
Mrs Javed explained this was because of the ‘abuse, the violence, the aggression, and coercive control’ in the relationship.
She said her daughter’s calls and texts were monitored by Anwar, and that between three or four months after the wedding her daughter wanted out of the marriage.
Mrs Javed told the jury: ‘The accused was being abusive, controlling, manipulative, aggressive and violent towards her. She didn’t want to stay in a marriage like that, she wanted to leave.’
The court heard how a midwife spoke to Ms Javed after becoming worried about the way Anwar spoke to her at Leeds General Infirmary weeks before the murder.
Elizabeth Petty, 41, who was working on the L44 ward that evening, said a patient told her Ms Javed was told: ‘If you died during childbirth that would be okay. I would be free.’
The midwife told the jury that when asked if that was what was said, Ms Javed had confirmed it was, and that she appeared ‘scared’ and ‘upset’.
A week later, on August 30, 2021, a Walima– a Muslim marriage celebration event – was held for the couple.
One of the guests, Lubna Qasim, told jurors Anwar was ‘really keen on visiting Arthur’s Seat.
But Ms Qasim said her friend Ms Javed was scared of heights and had looked her straight in the eyes and replied: ‘I’m not so sure.’
The couple checked into a hotel in Edinburgh the following day.
They were due to return to Yorkshire on September 4, which would have been Ms Javed’s 32nd birthday.
But jurors heard she planned not to return to Anwar’s home but go to her parents’ house and contact police to retrieve her belongings.
She was pushed to her death from the landmark in Holyrood Park on September 2.
CCTV showed the couple walking arm-in-arm through Waverley railway station towards Arthur’s Seat.
A selfie of the pair was taken on Ms Javed’s phone at about 8.30pm – the last picture of her alive.
Firefighter Sean Stratford was one of the emergency responders dispatched to the scene just after 9pm.
He said he was approached by a man, who he could not identify: ‘He said that he stood up to take a selfie, he slipped and bumped her and she had fallen.
‘She was not in a very good state at all.’ Ms Javed was declared dead on the hillside at 10.18pm.
In the early hours of the next morning, PC Sean Henderson, 37, said Anwar was told of the news.
He told jurors: ‘There wasn’t much of a reaction, in my opinion, he didn’t say much to it and didn’t have any obvious physical reaction.’
Anwar told PC Henderson: ‘I know how this looks. We had our problems as a couple, but … ”
The court was told Anwar never finished what he was saying as more officers entered the room and he was arrested on suspicion of murder.
PC Henderson told the court: ‘From start to near finish, he was very calm and composed throughout. I was actually struck how calm his demeanour was throughout.’
Detective Constable Steven Cavallero told the court when Anwar was in custody he asked: ‘How many years do you think I will get? Double figures? Maybe 15 to 20 years you reckon?
Under the current administration of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, a number of “new taxes” have been introduced which has raised the cost of living and impacted on livelihoods.
While government believes these taxes are necessary for development, the rate at which they are introduced has become opposite of the promises the New Patriotic Party made before assuming office in 2016.
In addition to these new taxes introduced, some old taxes have been amended to broaden the tax net and increase the country’s domestic tax base.
On March 31, 2023, Parliament passed some amended tax bills that are waiting to be assented by the President.
According to the Ghana Revenue Authority, Parliament passed three new tax laws and amended two existing laws to be implemented.
Some of these taxes have been kicked against by cross section of Ghanaians, CSOs, lawmakers who believes these taxes will only compound the woes of citizens which are already grappling to make ends meet.
GhanaWeb Business takes a look into the number of taxes introduced by the governing NPP under Akufo-Addo thus far.
Penalty and Interest Waiver Act, 2021 (Act 1065)
A waiver of penalties and interests on accumulated tax arrears up to December 2020 for persons who make arrangements to pay the principal tax.
COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy Act, 2021 (Act 1068)
This Act imposes a one percent levy on the supply of goods and services made in the country other than exempt goods or services; and import of goods and services other than exempt imports. The Levy also applies to the supply of goods subject to the VAT Flat Rate.
The COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy is not allowable as an input tax deduction
Financial Sector Recovery Levy Act, 2021 (Act 1067)
This Act imposes a five percent levy on the profit before tax of banks. The tax is payable in quarterly installments.
Energy Sector Levy (Amendment) Act, 2021 (Act 1064)
This amendment has added two additional sections, 5A, and 5B.
5A entails the imposition of an Energy Sector Recovery Levy of GH¢20 pesewas per litre of petrol/diesel and 18 pesewas per kg on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) while 5B entails the imposition of a Sanitation and Pollution Levy of GH¢10 pesewas per litre of petrol and diesel respectively.
Income Tax (Amendment) Act, 2021 (Act 1066)
This Act amends the Sixth Schedule to the Income Tax Act 2015 and provides for a 30 percent rebate of income tax due for the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2021 for taxpayers in the following areas – accommodation and food, education, travel and tours, and arts and entertainment sectors
Electronic Transaction Levy
This is a 1% levy on electronic transactions above GH¢100 which was passed in 2022. Ahead of this revised rate, government had imposed a 1.5% charge on all electronic transactions.
Minimum Chargeable Income Taxation
This is a turnover tax at 5% applicable to businesses declaring losses consistently for the past 5 years but is inapplicable to farming businesses and businesses in their first 5 years of operation.
New Income Tax for Companies involved in Lottery, Betting & Games of Chance
This is a new 20% income tax which is imposed on the income of the “gross gaming revenue” of betting, lottery, and gaming companies
Withholding Tax on Winnings from Betting, Lottery & Games of Chance
Betting, lottery, and game of chance winnings will now be subject to a 10% withholding tax at the point of payout
Unified Loss Carry Forward Position
All businesses can now carry forward their losses for 5 years. This used to be 5 years for only priority sector businesses and 3 years for all others.
Foreign Exchange (FX) Loss
FX losses of a capital nature not deductible – can now be capitalized and granted a capital allowance.
New Tax Return for Realisation of Assets & Liabilities
After realizing an asset or liability, a person must now file a tax return with the GRA within 30 days.
Pension-Related Tax Exemption for 2023
Withdrawals from a Provident Fund or Personal Pension Scheme before the statutory retirement age) due to loss of employment, COVID-19 or the current economic hardship are exempt from tax in 2023
New Income Tax for Companies in Lottery, betting, and Games of Chances
A new 20% income tax was introduced on the gross gaming revenue of betting, lottery, and gaming companies.
Withholding Tax on Realisation of Assets & Liabilities
A new withholding tax of 3% (for residents) and 10% (for non-residents) applies on the consideration received on realisation of assets and liabilities.
Changes in Motor Vehicle Benefit for Employees
Employees who receive motor vehicle benefits will see an increase in the taxable cap. The GH¢600 cap is now GH¢1,500, the GH¢500 cap is now GH¢1,250 and the GH¢250 cap is now GH¢625. However, unrealised FX losses are not deductible. Also, resident person-to-resident person transaction-related FX losses are not deductible.
Increased Marginal Income Tax Rate for Individuals
The highest tax rate for individuals has been increased to 35% for annual incomes exceeding GH¢600,000. It was previously capped at 30% for annual incomes exceeding GH¢240k.
Growth & Sustainability Levy (GSL) – A
A new GSL has been introduced to replace the 5% National Fiscal Stabilisation Levy (NFSL). The GSL has a very expanded scope and will apply to 3 categories of persons.
These categories are:
Increase in Special Elected Rate for Gifts and Gains
Individuals could previously exercise a special election of having their gifts received and gains from realisation taxed at 15%. This rate is now pegged at 25%.
Growth & Sustainability Levy (GSL) – B
The GSL. will apply to 3 categories of persons. Category A entities will pay 5% of Profit Before Tax.
Category B (the extractive industry) will pay 1% of gross production, and Category C (all other entities) will pay 2.5% of Profit before Tax.
Excise Duty Review
The Excise Duty Act has been amended to increase the excise duty rates for specified commodities and to expand the coverage of excise duty to cover some items/commodities that were previously out of the scope of the application of Excise Duty.
About 1,200 police personnel have been deployed to Kwahu to provide security before, during and after the Kwahu Easter festivities, sources in the Eastern Regional Police Command have confirmed.
The personnel who have been drawn from the Headquarters in Accra, the Ashanti Regional Command are expected to provide both ground and air support to their counterparts from the Eastern regional command to minimize, reduce and possibly prevent crime during the entire festive season.
The men, both plain and uniformed officers from the Police Form Unit (FPU), Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), Special Weapons and Tactical Unit SWAT, CID and MTTD, have been tasked to be of good moral character, uphold service with integrity and add human face while they discharge their duties.
Dozens of police motor riders are expected to complement the efforts of the MTTD to control and manage traffic on the main Kumasi Highway up the mountain.
The service will also deploy drones to increase police presence on the ridge as high-profile dignitaries and diplomats including President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his Vice Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia are expected to grace functions on the Kwahu ridge.
Citi News understands that about 150 personnel have also been detailed to perform similar duties at Jakiti in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern region where Easter is also busily observed.
Meanwhile, the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) is also expected to roll out a road safety campaign at Bunso Junction Friday morning April 7, to help keep motorists in check as a measure of reducing crashes.
Following violence that broke out following a home game last month, six youths have been prohibited from entering Sunderland’s Stadium of Light for the remainder of the campaign.
The teens, who range in age from 13 to 17, are thought to have been involved in the altercation that broke out outside The Wheatsheaf pub close following the 1-1 tie with Luton Town on March 18.
Since then, they have been granted bail with terms such refraining from going near the ground’s exclusion zone.
The terms will apply to the remaining home games Sunderland plays this season, commencing with Hull City on Friday, for an initial three months.
Northumbria Police said a proactive operation will be in place for those matched to enforce bail conditions and robustly deal with any other youths responsible for disorder.
Inspector Steve Prested said: ‘Violence has no place in our communities and football rivalries are no excuse whatsoever to engage in such activity.
‘We are committed to dealing with anyone intent on causing disorder and continue to do so robustly and as effectively as possible.
‘Following reports we received about the incident on Saturday, March 18, we swiftly launched an investigation aimed at apprehending those responsible.
‘We will always pursue and support any action taken against individuals who do involve themselves in violence.
‘This could potentially result in banning orders which not only prevent you from watching regulated football matches in the UK for a fixed period, but can also affect your future career prospects as they may be disclosed to potential employers through a vetting process or DBS check.’
Nigerian actress turned politician, Funke Akindele has finally broken her silence after ignoring her ex-husband, Abdulrasheed Bello, aka JJC Skillz’s birthday, a few days ago.
According to Funke, the present situation would not matter anymore.
She also advised Nigerians to avoid stressing themselves over little things.
She shared via Instagram, “A year from now, it won’t even matter. Try not to stress the little things.”
Funke Akindele snubbed Abdulrasheed Bello’s birthday on the 4th of April, 2023.
It came as a surprise to her followers as she always rained heaven and earth on her ex’s birthday on social media, but this time around, he did not make a post about him.
The Cape Coast District Court has ordered the seizure of two vehicles, a bus and a Mahindra pick-up truck belonging to Aggrey Memorial A.M.E Zion Senior High School.
This according to a report by Myjoyonline.com is due to the failure of the school to settle a debt of over one hundred thousand Ghana cedis owed to a businesswoman who supplied food items to the school.
The vehicles have thus been seized on the orders of the court and are currently parked on the premises of the Cape Coast District Court.
The court in due course will hand over the cars to an appointed auctioneer to be sold to settle the debt.
Kanamis Enterprise whose Managing Director is Comfort Nkrumah filed a suit against the school at the court.
According to the statement of claim, Kanamis entered into a contract with the school for the supply of food items on credit basis in 2018.
The company supplied a total amount of goods valued at some GHS 257,000, out of which the school settled GHS 157,000 leaving an amount of GHS 154,717.
The company after futile attempts to get the school to settle the remainder of the amount resorted to initiating the court action.
The school has since admitted to the debt in court.
The report says the vehicles have been parked on the premises of the court for over a week.
A new set of delays at the Port of Dover have already ruined Easter vacations.
Ferry operators warned travelers that the bank holiday check-in and border crossing processes could take two to three hours.
Despite organized efforts to prevent the pandemonium that occurred last weekend, when thousands of people were delayed by up to 14 hours, long lines had already started to form early on Good Friday.
Port officials insisted they had carried out an ‘urgent review’ with ferry operators and French officials, whose ‘lengthy border processes’ were blamed for failing to cope with the Easter rush.
Coach companies were urged to ‘spread’ services booked for Friday over to Thursday and Saturday, but few are thought to have made amendments.
Whereas last weekend’s delays mainly affected coaches, cars are now taking much longer than usual to process as well.
Irish Ferries, one of three main operators sailing out of Dover, warned passengers check-in could take up to three hours on Friday morning.
The other two, DFDS and P&O Ferries, said the wait to board their vessels was two hours and one hour respectively.
P&O said the roads in and around Dover are ‘extremely busy’ but insisted all of its departures in the first half of the day are set to leave on time.
People travelling within France are set to face further disruption over the weekend due to protests and strikes over plans to raise the national retirement age from 62 to 64.
Several major motorways in and around Paris, other major cities and the French Alps were blocked or closed, while a number of regional TER and cross-country TGV train lines have been suspended.
Flights to other European destinations have also been severely affected due to French air traffic controllers walking out.
At least 20 BA services due to fly on Thursday were axed as they needed to use French airspace.
Protesters also blocked a road from Terminal 1 of Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, forcing travellers to make part of their journey on foot.
Motorists making trips within central and southwest England are also likely to experience severe congestion on Friday, according to the RAC.
Traffic is expected to crawl at just 12mph during the busiest times on the A303 westbound, the M5 south from Bristol and the M25 anticlockwise between Hertfordshire and Surrey.
Some two million people are set to travel from Britain overseas during the long weekend, according to The Travel Association, with other popular destinations including Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Greece.
The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources in charge of Mining, Mr. George Mireku Duker has stated that the government would continue to establish an enabling environment for the smooth operation of licensed major and small-scale mining firms in the country.
He noted that mining businesses play a crucial and important role in Ghana’s economy and progress and that the government will implement any policy or assistance that will allow their smooth operation and profit maximization.
He gave this assurance when he paid a working visit to TW Tailings Mining Company at Suhyenso in the Amansie Central District of the Ashanti Region on Tuesday.
The Deputy Minister stated that the main purpose of the visit was to ascertain the traceability of the gold objects which the company refines.
He said that part of developing an enabling climate for a strong mining business is ensuring that minerals are obtained from authorized sources.
“There are mining companies who have secured licenses but not following and it wouldn’t augur well for us to sit in Accra and watch on these complaints that we do receive.
There are companies with licenses but not following best practices so it is just prudent for us to come to the field and have a first-hand experience.
Traceability is key to us because we discourage people mining in our forests and people mining illegally and if these minerals are secured or procured from illegal miners then you need to find a way of ending it,” he added.
Mr. Mireku Duker toured the firm to analyze its operations for himself.
During the tour, he stated that the Ministry will continue to pay unannounced visits to mine companies to verify that rules are obeyed.
He lauded the corporation for including Ghanaians in its workforce and expressed satisfaction with everything. “This is an organized operation and they follow all the best practices and safety protocols. The only caution is to have the road motorable.”
The Manager in charge of Health and Safety of TW Tailings Mining Limited, Mr. Ernest Antwi gave a general overview of the company including staff population and operational capacity and processes.
Mr. Antwi assured that the company has acted within the dictates of its licenses and also adhered to environmental guidelines.
Nhyiaeso MP and Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Stephen Amoah has refuted claims that he was arrested in 2021.
In 2021, the MP was among seven drivers of V8 vehicles who were allegedly involved in reckless driving, violating road traffic regulations.
The minister was allegedly apprehended during a special operation by the police around Accra’s Airport Bypass.
However, subsequent reports stated that Dr Amoah had failed to appear in court after an arrest warrant was issued.
According to a police statement, five of the seven drivers who were summoned before the La Magistrate Court were present, with the exception of the MP.
However, speaking on Joy Prime’s’Prime Morning’, he refuted the claims saying it was false.
“When I started driving out of Parliament, I saw one land cruiser with a caged motor, so I followed it. If that is a crime, that one is 100%. Apart from that, everything was a lie. That they asked me to come to court, and I never…Everything was fake,” Dr Amoah told Roselyn Felli on Wednesday.
Nonetheless, he does not blame the institution’s senior officials, stating that some are honest and dedicated to their work. He said lying is just a habit for some of them.
Thus, he challenged the police to substantiate their claims, stressing that it has always been a problem within the police force.
“They do that to a lot of people. They had also arrested the MP for Madina, Xavier Sosu, by then.”
The minister also said some of these claims are made primarily for the sake of publicity and institutional equality.
He revealed that the police eventually apologised to the judge in the case for a miscommunication.
“If what I’m saying is a lie, the police should come and prove that they never went back to court,” the MP dared.
Although he is guilty of the offence, the Nhyiaeso MP thinks the issue could have been addressed appropriately.
Based on his experience, Dr. Amoah believes the majority of prisoners are innocent of their crimes.
More than 25% of young individuals who identify as asexual indicated they felt excluded from the LGBTQ+ community.
Over 27% of people, according to the organization Just Like Us, stated they either rarely or never feel included.
Today, on World Asexuality Day, a study that involved interviewing 3,695 people between the ages of 18 and 25 was released.
According to the research, asexual people are the group most likely to feel excluded, aside from those who are still unsure of their sexual or gender identity.
Almost one in five (18%) said they rarely feel a part of the LGBTQ+ community, while almost one in 10 (9%) said that they never feel this way.
Just Like Us ambassador Sarah Sharp wrote in The Gay Times that they are often asked whether they only identify with the term ‘queer to feel like they are allowed access to LGBTQ+ spaces and circles’.
They went on: ‘I still find myself questioning whether being asexual on its own is enough.
‘It can feel as if we are tolerated rather than welcomed, and sometimes even like we’re outright rejected.
‘Having our validity disputed by LGBTQ+ peers is the most hurtful form of exclusion I have experienced.
‘I’ve had a bisexual friend tell me I can’t be asexual because “everyone experiences some sexual attraction”.’
Asexual young adults of colour were even more likely to feel overlooked with 39% of them answering that they rarely or never feel involved – compared with 24% of white people.
Just Like Us’ interim CEO Amy Ashenden said: ‘Sadly, we can see that asexual young adults are feeling excluded from the wider LGBT+ community.
‘I hope that this research makes clear the need for greater awareness of the lived experiences and realities of asexual people, especially as we can see a wider pattern here of LGBT+ people of colour feeling excluded from our community.’
Conversely, non-binary young adults were most likely of all identities to say that they felt included in the community (56%).
The new data forms part of a report by Just Like Us called Positive Futures – set to be published on Jun 1.
The report will look at the experiences of young LGBT+ adults in the UK, covering a range of topics from their wellbeing, home life and time in school to their experiences in the world of work, as well as taking into account intersections like faith, race and disability.
A court in Busan, South Korea, on Wednesday sentenced two employees of the Liberia Maritime Authority (LiMA) to nine years in prison each for sexual assault, local media report.
Moses Owen Brown and Daniel Tarr had been detained in South Korea since last year for allegedly raping two Korean teenagers, according to Korean police.
The Liberian government said it has requested its legal representation in South Korea to furnish it with the various appeal options available.
“The government shall continue to remain engaged with the Republic of Korea through official diplomatic channels to explore many options which may be available to Browne and Tarr,” a government statement said.
It said the families of the two Liberians have been notified of the court decision and will be facilitated to visit the men.
The Interbank forex rates from the Bank of Ghana today, April 7, 2023, have shown that the Ghana Cedi is trading against the dollar at a buying price of 10.9245 and a selling price of 10.9355.
At a forex bureau in Accra, the dollar is being bought at a rate of 10.30 and sold at a rate of 11.30.
Against the Pound Sterling, the Cedi is trading at a buying price of 13.5890 and a selling price of 13.6037.
At a forex bureau in Accra, the pound sterling is being bought at a rate of 13.40 and sold at a rate of 14.40.
The Euro is trading at a buying price of 11.9380 and a selling price of 11.9488.
At a forex bureau in Accra, Euro is being bought at a rate of 11.10 and sold at a rate of 12.00.
The South African Rand is trading at a buying price of 0.5993 and a selling price of 0.5999.
At a forex bureau in Accra, South African Rand is being bought at a rate of 0.30 and sold at a rate of 0.90.
The Nigerian Naira is trading at a buying price of 42.1894 and a selling price of 42.2470.
At a forex bureau in Accra, Nigerian Naira is being bought at a rate of 13.50 Naira for every 1 Cedi and sold at a rate of 18.50.
For the CFA, it is trading at a buying price of 54.8973 and a selling price of 54.9470.
At a forex bureau in Accra, CFA is being bought at a rate of 17.00 CFA for every 1 Cedi and sold at a rate of 21.00 CFA for every 1 Cedi.
Our forex bureau rates are provided by Afriswap Bureau De Change in Osu, Accra.
Ghanaian actor turned politician, John Dumelo, has expressed his opposition to the Ghanaian government’s decision to implement a 10% tax on earnings from lotteries, games of chance, and sports betting.
The new tax policy is part of the government’s efforts to increase domestic tax revenue and expand the tax base.
In a tweet, Dumelo criticized the government’s decision and noted that the youth, who have created their own jobs through sports betting and other forms of gambling, would rise against the government if the tax policy is implemented.
He argued that instead of taxing the youth’s winnings, the government should focus on creating jobs and providing economic opportunities for the youth.
“Create jobs; you won’t create. The youth have created their own jobs too; ahhh, you want to tax their winnings…continue. That day will come when the youth will rise against you. It will be too late,” he said.
Dumelo’s comments have sparked a heated debate on social media, with some Ghanaians supporting his position and others criticizing him for promoting gambling and opposing a legitimate tax policy.
John Dumelo is not new to the political scene in Ghana. He contested for a parliamentary seat in the 2020 general elections under the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), but lost to his opponent from the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
However, he has remained vocal on issues affecting youth and has used his platform to advocate for their interests.