Mr Yakubu Fuseini Batong, the Sissalla East Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) has bemoaned the low performance of students at the BECE and WASSCE in the Sissala East Municipality despite sustained interventions in the education sector.
Mr Batong said the performance of the 2021 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results were disturbing and called on all education stakeholders to work harder to reverse the trend.
He explained that the BECE results for 2021 saw a decrease in performance from 44 per cent in 2020 to 24 per cent in 2021, whilst the WASSCE results from Tumu Senior High Technical School also saw a decrease from 28.9 per cent in 2020 to 20.7 per cent in 2021.
Mr Batong expressed the concern in Tumu during the 66th Independence Day celebration where school children and voluntary organizations marched to observe the day under the theme: “Our Unity Our Strength, Our Purpose.”
Mr Batong enumerated 10 educational infrastructural projects being carried out, including the construction of four 3-Unit classroom blocks with ancillary facilities in Dimajang, Sentie, the Tumu Midwifery and, Gbenebisi.
He also mentioned the provision of dual desk to selected schools, the construction of KG block at Kowie, maintenance of the Ghana Education Office and rehabilitating teacher’s Quarters at Nabulo, among others.
However, it is disheartening to note that despite these government investments, parents, and teachers’ contributions towards developing children, their performance is still below average, and this must change, he said.
Mr Batong appealed to parents to take advantage of the interventions in the infrastructure and make sure that no child within the school-going age was left behind.
The MCE said as part of the effort to change the trend, the Municipal Education Oversight Committee was instituting measures to reverse the poor academic performance with the writing of two Municipal wide Mock Examinations and organizing seminars for BECE candidates whilst reading competitions at the lower primary had also been introduced to improve academic performance.
The MCE appealed to the public to make it an individual policy to clean their frontages both at home and at the workplace.
The MCE urged parents to be responsible in providing the basic needs of the girl child as the canker of elopement of school girls and teenage pregnancy was bedeviling the Municipality.
Ten public and seven private schools, Tricycles riders, GNAT LAS ladies, NAGRAT, Tailors, Boys and Girls Cadets and Camfed ladies participated in the marching, which was reviewed by Inspector Erebung Lieta Bismarck of the Ghana Police Service who was assisted by Cadet Major Engineer Samuel Osei Asare, Northern Sector Cadet Corps of the National Cadet Corps Ghana.
Dr Eric Oduro Osae, the Director-General, Ghana Internal Audit Agency, has urged parents to use the occasions of Ghana’s Independence Day Celebrations to teach their children the nation’s history.
Dr Osae made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the 66th Independence Day Anniversary on the theme “Our Unity, Our Strength, Our Purpose”.
The national event for the Celebration was held in Ho, the Volta Regional Capital.
Dr Osae, who is a Governance and Public Financial Management expert, a Chartered Accountant, and a Lawyer, said: “In fact, if I have my way, I will say that Day, should be a day of no movement of vehicles, it should be a day of tutelage, a day of teaching, a day of history telling; so that children will sit under the feet of their parents for them to tell them the history of this country”.
He noted that like the Israelites normally do, going forward if the Government of Ghana apart from declaring the day as a national holiday, work with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) so that parents would sit their children down to tell them the history of this country – “how great we were and where we are going”.
Adding that Independence Day should be a day when every Ghanaian should understand the political and socio-economic development of Ghana.
He said the national agenda should imbibe in every Ghanaian child the spirit of patriotism, the spirit of handwork, the spirit of honesty and the fact that Ghana belonged to all Ghanaians and that they could build the country by themselves.
He appealed to the Government to support public institutions like the NCCE to be able to tell the Ghanaian story.
“And we should stop calling it Independence Day, we should call it Nationalism Day, which is to rekindle the spirit of nationalism and patriotism among Ghanaians; by that we will be able to go places,” Dr Osae said.
“So I think that it is good we celebrate it.
I think we can modify the celebration so that it will reflect our forward looking attitude as a united people who are poised for development efforts.”
He said as a country, Ghana had come far by way of constitutional democracy; stating that the unity that they enjoyed as a country and the fact that they were all in unison thinking about developing the country.
He said the country had gone pass the stage, where Ghanaians were divided; saying “But the unity we are enjoying today speaks volumes and to the effect that we are able to move the celebration of our Independence Day from one region to the other, attests to the fact that we are bringing governance closer to the people”.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Minority Caucus has urged the Government to treat the shortage of childhood vaccines in the country as a national emergency.
Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, Ranking Member, Parliament Health Committee and NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for Juaboso, addressing the Parliamentary Press Corps on Tuesday in Accra said the shortage of vaccines for the six childhood killer diseases could best be described as a disaster, which was highly unacceptable.
“Let me state that every child in this country per the 1992 Constitution has the right to good Heathcare,” he stated
He said in some areas, it was even a crime for Government Officials in-charge of health to sit aloof to allow the shortage of vaccines in the country.
He said it was unacceptable for Government Officials in-charge of health to look on while vulnerable children were getting infected with diseases that could easily be prevented or avoided.
Mr Akandoh said there were two main ways of financing vaccines for children in Ghana, adding that of the 13 vaccines, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) was co-financing about 10 of them while the Government of Ghana was to finance the other three.
He said even with that, the Government of Ghana was still defaulting.
He said GAVI believed that the children could not be punished because of the mistakes of politicians and even though Ghana was owing, GAVI was still supplying those 10 vaccines.
“Now we as a country, we are supposed to 100 per cent procure about three of them (the vaccines), which include the vaccines against tetanus, poliomyelitis and measles and with these three we are defaulting.
“One very important thing we must all take note of is that GAVI, which is co-financing about 10 of these vaccines is considering withdrawing completely.
“So, if we cannot finance only three, can we finance 13 of them? GAVI is considering withdrawing from co-financing because we claim we are at a middle-income status. So, if we cannot finance only three, and it gets to a point where GAVI withdraws, we will be in deep troubles.”
He said Parliament passed the National Health Insurance allocation formula every year, and that there was an allocation in the National Health Insurance formula for the purchase of vaccines.
Mr Akandoh said when the formula was submitted to this House for 2022, an allocation of about GHS72 million was made to procure vaccines.
He said the Health Committee of Parliament invited the Minister responsible for Health and some other agencies, including the National Health Insurance Authority, and that at the said meeting, the Authority made it categorically clear that GHS72 million had been released.
“It beats my imagination that after the release of the GHS72 million, there are shortage of vaccines in this country,” he said.
“We started recording measles in this country around October, 2022, for about four clear months ago. This is an emergency situation, this is a clear failure of Government.”
He blamed the Health Minister and the Government for looking on over the past four months while the country still did not have vaccines in its system.
Adding that this was unpardonable, because in the planning for vaccines procurements and its deployment, and that they were supposed to plan.
Mr Akandoh mentioned that the House looked at the allocation for vaccines for 2024 in 2023, and that they looked at the vaccine’s allocations for 2023 in 2022, saying “so why have we run short of these vaccines”.
He said the shortage of vaccines in the country was highly unacceptable, especially so when these vaccines were not over-the-counter medications, where people could walk in and buy these vaccines.
He said the vaccines were sensitive and highly protected by organisations and states; “So, if you don’t have the vaccines, all the children in this country are at a very high risk”.
He noted that due to the instability in Ghana’s northern neighbor, Burkina Faso, there had been influx of refugees from that country into northern Ghana, and that children such as refugees who were not fully vaccinated against the six childhood killer diseases were likely to carry such diseases into Ghana
He said the issue of vaccines for the six childhood killer diseases was a sensitive matter and therefore a national emergency.
“What we are expecting at the end of the day is that the Minister announces that they have taken deliveries of the vaccines and for that matter tomorrow they are starting the distributions of these vaccines,” Mr Akandoh stated.
A farmer in the Ashanti Region’s Bepotenten, Peter Amenya has recounted to the High Court in Accra how Chinese galamsey lord Aisha Huang paid him an amount of GHC6000 and cleared “everything” from his farmlands.
Testifying as the 6th Prosecution Witness in the ongoing trial in which the notorious galamsey Queen is standing trial for four charges, Peter Amenya said “the accused person had cleared everything on my farmland with excavators for mining purposes.”
In his witness statement adopted by the Criminal Division of the Accra High Court on Tuesday, March 7, when he mounted the witness box, the witness also told the court how Aisha Huang stormed his farmlands without payment following earlier negotiations.
“I met the accused person sometime in 2017, through James Ogbey, one of her employees,” the Witness said.
“The said James Ogbey contacted me and my brother in-law called Timothy Teye Ali, and informed us that the accused person was interested in purchasing our farmland for her mining business,” he told the court.
The witness said, “Aisha then sent a surveyor, whose name I do not know, accompanied by James Ogbey to my farm to take measurements of the land.
“My farmland shared a boundary with the cocoa and palm plantation of Timothy Teye Ali,” and “The surveyor and James Ogbey took measurements of the farmland of Timothy Teye Ali as well.”
He told the court that, “after negotiating the price, James Ogbey called the accused person and told her about the size of the land and the price we had agreed on being GHS8,000.00 per an acre of land. She asked Ogbey to bring us to her mining site which was nearby.”
Mr Amenya told the court that in total “I was to be paid GHS22,000.00 for my two and a half acres of farm land.”
“Timothy Teye Ali, Boyoo@ Kojo Tia, Moses Teye Ali and I went with Ogbey to meet Aisha at her mining site. She gave each of us an amount of GHS1,000.00 as part payment to show her commitment to the purchase of our farm land. She made the payment through Ogbey,” he told the court.
The farmer said, three weeks “after the initial part-payment of GHS1000.00 to me, Jame Ogbey called me to his house and paid me an additional amount of GHS5,000.00 on behalf of Aisha with the promise that I would be paid the outstanding balance within a short period.”
“Prior to the receipt of the GHS5,000.00 the accused person had cleared everything on my farmland with excavators for mining purposes.”
Aisha Huang has pleaded not guilty to four charges namely undertaking a mining operation without a licence, facilitating the participation of persons engaged in a mining operation, illegal employment of foreign nationals, and entering Ghana while prohibited from re-entering.
She has since been remanded into prisons custody while the trial is ongoing.
In his witness statement adopted by the Criminal Division of the Accra High Court on Tuesday, March 7, when he mounted the witness box, the witness also told the court how Aisha Huang stormed his farmlands without payment following earlier negotiations.
“I met the accused person sometime in 2017, through James Ogbey, one of her employees,” the Witness said.
“The said James Ogbey contacted me and my brother in-law called Timothy Teye Ali, and informed us that the accused person was interested in purchasing our farmland for her mining business,” he told the court.
The witness said, “Aisha then sent a surveyor, whose name I do not know, accompanied by James Ogbey to my farm to take measurements of the land.
“My farmland shared a boundary with the cocoa and palm plantation of Timothy Teye Ali,” and “The surveyor and James Ogbey took measurements of the farmland of Timothy Teye Ali as well.”
Arrest
The 6th Prosecution Witness told the court that he later “heard that the accused person had been arrested for indulging in illegal mining and had been deported to China.”
“Aisha left behind an excavator which was parked at her mining site near my farm,” and that “James Ogbey told me he will sell this excavator as scraps and the money realised will be used to pay all the debts Aisha owed us.”
He told the court that he subsequently “heard the excavator had been cut into pieces and sold as scraps by James Ogbey so I went to where the excavator was located to verify.”
The excavator he said was not there and that “Since the arrest of Aisha, nobody has come forward to pay us our outstanding amount owed us.”
“My brother-in-law Timothy Teye Ali, reported James Ogbey’s conduct to the police for redress and Timothy subsequently sent the case the court.”
Cross-Examination
Under Cross-Examination from lawyers of Aisha Huang led by Miracle Attah-Chey, the witness said he dealt with James Ogbey.
When it was put to him that all payments regarding the land were made to himself and Timothy, he disagreed.
He however agreed with counsel’s suggestion that based on the fact that he dealt with James Ogbey throughout the transaction he approached Ogbey when she defaulted in making payments.
The witness has since been discharged by the High Court in Accra presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo.
The Minister of Health Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has said that the government recognizes that there have been vaccine shortages since the last quarter.
He indicated that the vaccines in short supply are Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG), Measles-Rubella (MR), and Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV).
This shortage is nationwide, he said.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, March 7, the Dormaa Central Member of Parliament said that the recent shortage in vaccines for measles, as regrettable as it is, is symptomatic of the steady global decline in measles vaccination since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic.
“Permit me to quote from a WHO recent publication on the subject that puts the challenge we are dealing with into perspective: Ghana’s Ministry of Health has been making efforts to ensure we secure adequate stocks of vaccines despite this global challenge.
“We have made all necessary efforts to ensure that despite these challenges we secure adequate stocks within the next few weeks. It is important to correct the erroneous impression that there have been deaths from Measles in Ghana recently. For the avoidance of doubt, there have been no deaths from the recently recorded spike in Measles cases. Indeed there have no deaths since 2003 though we have recorded cases annually.
“Finally, despite this challenge, Ghana’s immunization performance coverage remains among the best in the world. In 2021 we recorded 95% coverage.
“Working with UNICEF, we are fast-tracking the processes and it is expected that the vaccines would be supplied in the next few weeks All things being equal. The Ministry of Health will ensure that we stay on track with our immunization record and quickly overcome this bottlenecks,” he said
On Tuesday, March 7 some nursing mothers recounted how the vaccine shortage was affecting their babies.
A nursing mother at Adabraka Polyclinic in Accra, Naa Dromo Torto told TV3’s Judith Awortwe-Tandoh on Tuesday, March 7 that her 4-month-old baby has not received the polio vaccine for two consecutive months.
She said “Some mothers gave birth last month and they have not gotten the vaccines, this month too we are not getting so I think those babies are at high risk in experiencing some form of disabilities.”
Asked what assurances have been given to them to get their babies vaccinated, she said “Last month, they actually told me that the vaccine is finished so this month, Today too we are hearing the same story that there is still a shortage.”
Another mother Georgina Annum said “My baby is 9 months old. My baby has to take two vaccines, Polio and Yellow Fever but there is a shortage so right now we are waiting for the nurses to provide some for us. For two months now my baby has not been taking the two vaccines.”
Parts of the country have lately been experiencing a vaccine shortage of vaccines.
He added that indeed, there had been no deaths since 2003 though the country records cases annually.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, March 7, regarding the vaccine shortage the Dormaa Central Member of Parliament said that the recent shortage in vaccines for measles, as regrettable as it is, is symptomatic of the steady global decline in measles vaccination since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic.
“Permit me to quote from a World Health Organization (WHO) recent publication on the subject that puts the challenge we are dealing with into perspective: Ghana’s Ministry of Health has been making efforts to ensure we secure adequate stocks of vaccines despite this global challenge.
“We have made all necessary efforts to ensure that despite these challenges we secure adequate stocks within the next few weeks. It is important to correct the erroneous impression that there have been deaths from Measles in Ghana recently. For the avoidance of doubt, there have been no deaths from the recently recorded spike in Measles cases. Indeed there have no deaths since 2003 though we have recorded cases annually.
“Finally, despite this challenge, Ghana’s immunization performance coverage remains among the best in the world. In 2021 we recorded 95% coverage.
“Working with UNICEF, we are fast-tracking the processes and it is expected that the vaccines would be supplied in the next few weeks All things being equal. The Ministry of Health will ensure that we stay on track with our immunization record and quickly overcome this bottlenecks,” he said.
On Tuesday, March 7 some nursing mothers recounted how the vaccine shortage was affecting their babies.
A nursing mother at Adabraka Polyclinic in Accra, Naa Dromo Torto told TV3’s Judith Awortwe-Tandoh on Tuesday, March 7 that her 4-month-old baby has not received the polio vaccine for two consecutive months.
She said “Some mothers gave birth last month and they have not gotten the vaccines, this month too we are not getting so I think those babies are at high risk in experiencing some form of disabilities.”
Asked what assurances have been given to them to get their babies vaccinated, she said “Last month, they actually told me that the vaccine is finished so this month, Today too we are hearing the same story that there is still a shortage.”
Another mother Georgina Annum said “My baby is 9 months old. My baby has to take two vaccines, Polio and Yellow Fever but there is a shortage so right now we are waiting for the nurses to provide some for us. For two months now my baby has not been taking the two vaccines.”
Parts of the country have lately been experiencing a vaccine shortage of vaccines.
To honor the three people who perished in a horrific crash in Wales, a vigil is being held.
When Rafel Jeanne, Eve Smith, and Darcy Ross‘ VW Tiguan left the A48 in Cardiff and struck several trees in the Saint Mellons neighborhood, they were all murdered.
Although they lived, their two pals Sophie Russon and Shane Loughlin are still in critical condition.
Some hundred people have gathered at the A48 junction, which has been restricted to traffic, but more are anticipated to join.
Two minute silence and fireworks for crash victims at St Mellons vigil
People leaving bouquets of flowers on the roundabout of the A48
Flowers and candles have been laid out near the scene in a tribute to the victims, who were from Newport.
People also let out heart-shaped balloon bouquets in the air in their memory.
The community is demanding answers why it took the police so long to find the group, who had been missing for more than 48 hours.
They had been to a social club in Maesglas, Newport, on Friday and were thought to then have travelled 40 miles to the Trecco Bay area of Porthcawl.
More mourners are expected to turn up over the course of the evening
It is believed they then went to the Llanedeyrn area of Cardiff and were last seen at about 2am on Saturday.
All five were later reported missing by their families after they did not hear from them.
Friends and family desperately searched for them over the weekend and just after midnight on Monday, the car they had been travelling in was found crashed off the A48.
Tamzin Samuels, a friend of the three young women, said: ‘I do think the police could have done a lot more in putting the helicopters out earlier.
‘They only posted the appeal an hour before the girls were found. We found them before the police found them – we rang the police.
‘The search party found the girls before the police found the girls.
‘I think that speaks volumes really, they had all that equipment, and we had cars when we were looking.
‘They were really popular girls, the life of the party, and it was really out of character for them to do what they did, which is why we knew something was wrong.’
Following what appears to be a car accident, two more people were transported to the hospital with significant injuries, according to Gwent Police.
Three ladies and two men went missing on Saturday morning after their distraught relatives had not heard from them since 2 a.m.
Although the exact time of the car crash is unknown, it was discovered early on Monday morning, two days after the group disappeared.
All five clubgoers had last been seen in Cardiff in the early hours of Saturday.
Sophie Russon, 20, Eve Smith, 21, and Darcy Ross, 21, had travelled there from Porthcawl.
They had made the trip in a Volkswagen Tiguan with Rafel Jeanne, 24, and Shane Loughlin, 32, both from Cardiff.
Family members shared a CCTV image of the car before it was found this morning The scene on the A48 on March 6, 2023 in Cardiff, Wales this morning Eve Smith, 21, is one of five people who vanished after a night outDarcy Ross, 21, was also reported missing by her family Sophie Russon, 20, also went clubbing with the group in Cardiff
Following a search, police said the VW Tiguan had been recovered just after midnight in the St Mellons area of Cardiff.
The force has not identified who has been found dead and alive after the car seemingly came off the A48.
None of the group had contacted their family or been active on social media since the night out, with loved ones saying they ‘knew something was wrong’.
Sophie’s mother Anna Certowicz, 42, claimed last night that police officers had told her to ‘stop ringing’ the station for updates.
She says they ‘just didn’t seem to think it was worth investigating’ and believes ‘they assumed that Sophie was hungover somewhere’.
Ms Certowicz drove around the Gwent and Cardiff areas last night in a desperate search for her daughter.
‘They didn’t seem to care. I had to drive to Cardiff to knock on doors myself because they were doing s*d all’, she told the Daily Mail.
‘I think they assumed that Sophie was hungover somewhere, but she’s a sensible girl who works in a bank and hasn’t taken a day off for three years.’
Police were also searching for Rafel Jeanne, 24Shane Loughlin, 32, is the last member of the group It took nearly two days before the vehicle was found by police
The terrified mum added that Sophie had known Eve and Darcy since childhood and they were ‘incredibly close’.
Meanwhile, Eve’s sister, Lauren Doyle, previously revealed that her sibling’s car was still outside the Muffler club where they went out, and that her mum had her keys and bank card.
‘We are all worried sick and thinking the worst’, she said.
Specialist officers are supporting the families of those involved and inquiries are ongoing.
The case has been referred to the IOPC in line with normal procedures.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact police.
Prior to a hearing tomorrow, Sian Hedges, 26, and Jack Benham, 34, have been remanded in custody.
On November 28, 2020, Kent Police officers went to a house in the village of Hernhill because they were worried about the welfare of a one-year-old boy.
The youngster was taken urgently to a nearby hospital but was subsequently declared deceased.
On the same day, a man and a woman were arrested in connection with the incident.
On Monday, Jack Benham, of Highstreet Road, Hernhill and Sian Hedges, of Fillace Park, Yelverton, Devon were both charged following authorisation from the Crown Prosecution Service, with murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
Both were remanded in custody to appear at a hearing before Maidstone Crown Court on Wednesday 8 March.
Award-winning Ghanaian actress, Pascaline Edwards has said that her colleagues who claim to have earned a great deal of money from just acting are telling lies.
In a media engagement on Onua Fm, the 53-year-old actress-turned-fashion designer said the movie industry alone as a stream of income would not be able to provide anyone with the requisite resources to build a house or start a business.
“Whoever in the industry says they’ve made a fortune from making movies is a liar,” she said.
Pascaline Edwards also mentioned that acting was a passion-driven job and could propel you to celebrity status.
“The movie industry propels you to a certain level. It gives you a brand. You may get Brand Ambassadorial deals and endorsement which can be lucrative but the income from the movies and set is inadequate,” she pointed out.
She also admonished the youth and upcoming actors not to rely entirely on the funds they receive from movies but to venture into other profitable businesses.
“If you have to sell groundnut and maize as your regular day job do that and add the acting as your side hustle because it’s really a hand-to-mouth industry,” she said
“GBC still owes me 5000 cedis old currency, which is now about 50 pesewas in the new Ghana currency,” Edwards who has had a career spanning over 30 years said, also citing the failure of production houses and filmmakers to pay them their wages.
Pascaline Edwards was Ghana’s Best Female Actress in 2002 and is celebrated as an iconic actress who played several diva roles in her prime. She has acted in over a hundred movies and a number of stage productions.
The Special Prosecutor dragged Sumaila Abdul–Rahman, and his two deputies –Mr. Stephen Yir-eru Engmen and Mr. Patrick Seidu– to court over alleged procurement breaches.
The outgoing NDA CEO explained that his resignation will allow the ongoing judicial process to take place without any interference.
“I write to resign from my position as Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Northern Development Authority (NDA). This decision has become necessary to enable me step aside and allow the ongoing judicial process to take place without any interference,” he said in a letter addressed to President Nana Akufo-Addo.
He expressed appreciation to the President for the opportunity to serve the country.
“Let me take this opportunity to thank His Excellency the President for giving me the mandate to serve our country as the Acting CEO of the NDA,” he said.
The Tamale High Court has set April 4, 2023, to commence full trial of the case involving the three former officials of the NDA and a private businessman.
According to the High Court, it will continue hearing the case on the 5th and 6th of April as well.
The court on Tuesday February 28, 2023, during the case management conference, went through all the documents filed and mentioned in the witness statements, as documents the prosecution intends to rely on.
After the case management conference, counsel for the accused persons and the state prosecutors told the court they were satisfied with the process.
Mr. Joseph Whittal, CHRAJ Commissioner in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency in Tema explained that the goal of this year’s celebration was to expedite the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, particularly Goal five, which sought to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Mr. Whittal called for sustained efforts and committed leadership in establishing an all-inclusive environment for the development of women and girls all over the world.
“It is regrettable that women continue to face challenges of gender inequality which prevents them from achieving their full potential,” he said.
The gendered dimensions of inequality in the society cut across all spheres; economic development; education; access to healthcare; income; vulnerability to violence and even political representation.
He stated that a publication by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) revealed that women in public sector employment earned GHS165.00 on average, which is less than their male counterparts, representing a gender pay gap of 6 percent.
He said, “these inequalities are fuelled by some cultural and social practices, high levels of illiteracy and general lack of awareness”.
The GSS publication recorded that, 17 percent of the Ghanaian population aged 12 years and older do not own any functional Information Communication and Technology (ICT) device making the proportion among females 19.3 percent higher than males of 14.1 percent.
He noted that the internet today is not working equally for men and women, from gaps in quality of connectivity and digital skills to threats that disproportionately impact the safety and rights of women and girls preventing them from benefiting from digital opportunities technology present.
“Women and girls often experience online abuse centred around harassment, hate speech, cyber stalking, and non-consensual distribution of photos”, he noted.
Mr. Whittal stated that although there was cybersecurity legislation that protected children online, the measures appeared inadequate to protect women’s rights online.
He, therefore, urged the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization, Cyber Security Authority, National Communications Authority, and the Data Protection Agency to intensify public education and awareness on responsible use of the internet and technology and implement innovative policies meant to utilize the internet to reduce gender inequality.
He said, “the relevant agencies should mount surveillance to arrest and prosecute perpetrators of online bullying of women to serve as a deterrent to others”.
The Commission, again called on the government and its relevant agencies as a matter of priority, to design and implement innovative policies to improve access to technology by Ghanaian women and girls in the short through the medium to the long term as we observe the celebration.
He claims that he “loves everything about driving” and was motivated by his father Stuart, who has driven buses for 20 years.
Luke began training for a Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV) license after receiving his driver’s license, and he successfully passed the exam the first time around without any difficulties.
He said working with his dad would be one of the best things about his new job, along with helping people get around.
A full-time driver in Coventry can earn £28,500 – even more with overtime.
Luke said: ‘I’m looking forward to spending more time on the road, helping more people get around and working alongside my dad, who has worked for the garage for the past 20 years.
‘Although, now there is a bit of competition between me and dad for who’s the better driver!
The 18-year-old is now Britain’s youngest ever bus driver
‘It feels great to have passed with no minors. I put a lot of time and effort into practising for the test so it’s very satisfying to know my hard work has paid off.’
He said he was also not made to feel ‘silly’ because of his young age, adding: ‘Having a supportive team around me has helped a lot.
‘During my training, no question was too silly and my instructor was calm and informative so I didn’t feel pressured at all, which I believe has really spurred on my development.’
Luke said one of the best things about his job is getting to work with his dad
National Express driving trainer officer Darren Dunbar said: ‘To pass a PCV licence at 18 years of age and with zero minors is a major achievement.
‘Each year we have hundreds of drivers start training, out of these, only about two or three pass their test without fault.
‘We were not surprised by Luke’s result. He puts 100 per cent into everything he does and that definitely shows in his driving.
‘I’m really pleased for him, he’s a lovely guy and a great asset to the garage.’
The African Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) says Aker’s AGM decision to relinquish 80% interest in the South Deepwater Tano (SDWT) project shows how Ghanaian Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) fought to protect the country’s interest in the oil industry.
AGM Petroleum announced that it has relinquished work on the project after what it described as careful consideration of all options.
However, in a statement ACEP said “this comes after a long and hard-fought battle by Ghanaian CSOs to protect the country’s interests in the oil industry”.
According to ACEP, the battle began in August 2021, when CSOs rallied on fascinating advocacy projects to prevent a composite transaction that would transfer Aker’s interest in the Pecan field and the SDWT block to the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).
“The SDWT Block was valued at an outrageous $700 million at 65% commercial risking ($804m unrisked), based on untested and unappraised Nyankom discovery and bizarre assumptions about contingent resources of about 421 MMbls”, the stamen said.
“When CSOs’ analytical evidence showed that Ghanaian politicians and GNPC were simply seeking to pervert standard practices in the oil industry on valuation and asset acquisition, we were faced with a super coordinated assault on our character by leading members of government, GNPC, sections of the media and members of parliament”, it added.
The statement pointed out that some academics and dark forces on the corridors of power, who had never commented on the oil industry but suddenly became industry experts, endorsed the transaction and vilified activists.
“On the side of the government, we were always prepared for their defence, even though their defence lost decorum and respect for the work of the civil society group. In some instances, we were described as having eaten fufu (a local Ghanaian dish) and lost reasoning. They sponsored high-profile prime-time interviews to tell the nations that CSOs only sought to derail the best decision ever taken in the oil industry”.
Recalling some of the attacks, ACEP said CSOs had their share of the attack in parliament.
“One MP, Honourable K.T. Hammond, now Minister for Trade in the Republic, described CSOs as ignorant people struggling to appreciate that the oil industry is technical. However, he made no technical presentation on the floor of parliament to defend his support for the transaction and at least attempt to debunk the specific issues raised by CSOs”.
The statement however acknowledged that parliament made a significant intervention, despite approving a $1.1 billion cap for GNPC to renegotiate the transaction, which CSOs argued could not be worth more than $300 million.
“I commend some members, particularly the majority leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and the then minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, for making crucial interventions to reject the Minister of Energy’s request for a blank cheque to borrow about $1.65 billion for GNPC in his memo”.
He stated that the MPs insisted that the records of proceedings should reflect that the Minister would return to parliament with a negotiated price informed by a genuinely independent valuation. In addition, parliament demanded that the ensuing loan agreement be resubmitted for approval
ACEP added that the demands of parliament extended the advocacy window for CSOs to defend the interest of the state, mindful of the fact that the “borrowing hands” were ready for the parliamentary approval.
Thankfully, the resilience of the CSO group and activists attracted the knowledge of Lukoil, a 38% interest holder in the pecan field, who were not informed of the transaction. Lukoil threw in the wrench seeking to be engaged in accordance with good practice and the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) covering the Pecan Field partnership. This singular act would occasion significant disagreements and back and forth, bolstering the advocacy for transparency on the transaction until it became untenable for government to proceed.
ACEP said after 18 months, Aker Energy has written to relinquish its interest in the AGM block to Ghana for free.
This reinforces CSOs position that the Nyankom discovery announced without effort to test the well was speculative and potentially non-commercial in ultra-deep waters. GNPC could not have been betting on the interest of Ghana.
Nigeria’s 2023 elections has seen a lot of disorganization and violence.The aftermath,the declaration of APC’s Bola Tinubu by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as winner has further heightened the state of insecurity.The elections have been shrouded in a lot of irregularities.Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called on INEC to consider a rerun prior to the declaration of a winner for the presidential race.
Demographics show a youth bulge of the country’s population. It actually has the biggest population of youth as a country, worldwide.It is a very youthful country with a median age of 18.1 years. About 70% of it’s over 219 million people under 30 years. The youth has displayed a liking for Peter Obi Gregory, of the Labour Party so INEC’s declaration of Tinubu has been met with mixed reactions.
The credibility of INEC,an institution founded in 1998 s hasn’t received favourable reviews in recent times. Nigeria’s democracy seems to be under threat.This brought to mind former U.S.A. President Obama’s words “Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions”.What could be truer?
The volatile situation may be inflamed by underlying issues such as the secession activism of the Biafran people. Nigeria needs all the prayer and support it may get especially from Ghanaians.Ghana happens to be the second home of Nigerians.The first choice of a destination considered for migration by Nigerians on the continent.
We may be culturally and historically related, moreover Ghanaians are hospitable, receptive and presently Ghana seems the easiest part in Africa that Nigerians can integrate.Being the last resort for our neighbors,we shouldn’t sit on the fences as danger looms in the dark in Nigeria.
The Nigerian Civil War of 1967 saw the migration of hordes into Ghana at a time when the standard and cost of living was good. As Ghana goes through a rough patch,the exodus of Nigerians into Ghana in their hundreds and millions may aggravate our plight.Any form of instability in Nigeria affects Ghana massively.
Ghana is a member of the UN and is bound by the International Refugee Law and the principle of non-refoulement, which asserts that a refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom.The 1992 Ghanaian Constitution has also made provisions for refugees in the Refugee Act (No. 305D of 1992).As Ghanaians and global citizens,we are not alienated from what happens to our neighbors.Let us pray for Nigeria and also expect them in our neighborhoods if the worse happens.
Long live Mother Ghana and Long live Africa.
DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s, and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana
Right before the Easter break, London City Airport decided to eliminate the 100ml liquid limit for hand luggage.
The modifications to the limitations, which have been in place since 2006, will be made for the first time in the UK at the east London airport.
This is made possible by brand-new, cutting-edge CT scanners that will replace outdated models and resemble those used in hospitals.
They may create a high-resolution 3D scan of the passenger’s bag, enabling officials to quickly examine it from all sides.
Instead of 100ml, the liquid limit will now be two litres in hand luggage.
Passengers will also no longer have to place creams and cosmetic items in a plastic bag when going through security.
This also applies to laptops in the new scheme, which won’t need to be removed from flyers’ bags to be scanned separately.
Latest London news
The east London airport will introduce the new scanners in the coming weeks
The airport’s chief executive Robert Sinclair noted the tech would help speed up lengthy security queues.
He said: ‘The good news for anyone planning a holiday or a business trip is that we will be the first mainstream UK airport to offer a fully CT security experience from the end of this month.
The new lanes will not only cut hassle but also queuing times, which I know passengers will love.’
A spokesperson added to Metro.co.uk: ‘We’re very pleased that the new machines in operation now and have our full compliment of 4 in place ahead of the Easter getaway.’
The new machines and liquid rules are set to be rolled out across all major UK airports in the months to come.
This hack will let you get liquids over 100ml onto the plane
The 100ml hand luggage rule will soon be scrappedTransport secretary Mark Harper outlined new plans back in December 2022
The government announced in December 2022 a deadline of June 2024 to get the new technology set up.
Transport secretary Mark Harper said at the time: ‘The tiny toiletry has become a staple of airport security checkpoints, but that’s all set to change.
‘I’m streamlining cabin bag rules at airports while enhancing security.
‘By 2024, major airports across the UK will have the latest security tech installed, reducing queuing times, improving the passenger experience, and most importantly detecting potential threats.’
Trials of the new and improved scanners have been underway at some of the UK’s busiest airports since 2018.
This has included Terminal 3 in London Heathrow, Gatwick and Birmingham.
The 100ml rule was first brought in to UK airports back in 2006 after a foiled terror attack plot using liquid explosives at Heathrow.
The plan was to bring hydrogen peroxide-derived explosives onto transatlantic planes inside soft drink bottles.
As the King and the Queen Consort arrived by automobile for a royal engagement, protesters from the anti-monarchy organisation Republic greeted them.
The group yelled questions at the King while brandishing banners and a megaphone that were audible over the national anthem and royal fanfare, including how much money the visit was costing the government and why the King kept Prince Andrew under protection.
As Charles and Camilla got out of a car, a protester said through a megaphone: ‘Answer your critics Charles.
The protesters gathered on the day King Charles and Queen Camilla visited Colchester Castle in Colchester (Picture: Getty)Anti-monarchy group Republic said it was time for a serious debate about the future of the monarchy (Picture: Ben Cawthra/LNP)Charles and Camilla ignored the protesters as they made their way to a series of royal engagements to commemorate Colcester’s new city status (Picture: PA)But the anti-momarchists would not be silenced and used a megaphone to make their voices heard (Picture: Getty)
‘Come over and talk to your critics.’
The protester also said ‘why are you wasting our money?’, and ‘don’t you believe in democracy Charles?’.
The group waved bright yellow placards reading ‘Not my King’, and said the British public deserved to have a say on whether they still wished to be ruled by an unelected head of state ahead of the coronation.
‘Why is Charles wasting tens of millions of pounds on a pointless parade?’ Republic CEO Graham Smith told BBC Essex ahead of the event.
‘He doesn’t need a coronation, he’s already King.’
The group said by protesting the event they hoped to raise awareness of opposition to the monarchy, which they say has been steadily growing.
Citing a recent poll suggesting the support for the monarchy among people aged under 45 has dropped below 50 percent, Mr Smith explained what his organisation wanted to achieve.
He added: ‘This coronation is a massive waste of money.
‘Anywhere between 50-100 million pounds is being spent on it, when there are schools and hospitals struggling with cuts, when there are people struggling with the cost of living crisis.
‘We think that’s appalling, and we think Charles should respond to those criticisms.’
He added that the group plans to protest at the coronation ceremony on May 6.
‘We believe the British public should be asked, do you want Charles or a choice? The tide is starting to turn against the monarchy and we need a serious debate about its future.’
Charles and Camilla, for their part, did not react to the protestors as they made their way down Colchester high street, which they were visiting to celebrate the former town’s new city status with a range of royal engagements.
Warning more protests will take place over the next two months, Mr Smith added: ‘Republic will be protesting at the Coronation, driving home the message that this is not a national celebration, but promotion of the monarchy at huge cost to the taxpayer. The time for change is here.’
Similar protests accompanied the King on another recent visit to Milton Keynes, which was also awarded city status as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations last year.
One plane landed on a car in a residential area in Rome – sparking a huge fire
The crash took place at 11.50am and is being investigated.
RomaToday reports the planes were both U-208 military aircraft who were carrying out ‘manoeuvres in the sky above the suburbs of Rome.’
A resident, Simone, told the publication: ‘I saw them crash before my eyes.
‘There were four planes. One lost its wing behind and started spinning on itself until it crashed and caught fire. It seemed they were doing formation tests.
The second plane landed in a field in Guidonia Both pilots died instantly in the collision
‘It was over my head and I heard the engine stalling after a bang.’
Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s newly elected Prime Minister who came to power in October, paid tribute to the pilots who lost their lives in the tragedy.
She said in a statement: ‘The news of the death of the two air force pilots in the plane crash in Guidonia fills us with sadness.
‘On behalf of the Government, I express my deepest condolences and my closeness to the families, colleagues of the 60th Wing and the entire Air Force corps. Our prayers go out to them.’
Hundreds of firefighters and military personnel rushed to the scene of both planes.
Rescue teams have been pictured assessing the damage.
The U-208 ultralight aircraft can carry up to four passengers, plus the pilot, and have a top speed of up to 177 mph.
Medical teams onboard the world’s largest civilian hospital ship, performed Tuesday, the first of 40 planned pediatric orthopedic free surgeries this month in Senegal.
Amadou, a four-year-old, was the first patient to receive surgery on board the Global Mercy ship which is docked in Dakar, Senegal.
He was born with one windswept leg and one bowed leg, two conditions that can be corrected by early intervention.
This is also the first time that one ship will serve two countries through one port. At the invitation of the Senegalese government, up to 25% of the surgery patients are expected from nearby The Gambia.
Over the next four months, Global Mercy will provide more than 800 surgeries.
At present, there are no fully certified pediatric orthopedic surgeons practicing in Senegal.
During the previous 2022 field service, Mercy Ships provided training and mentoring for more than 2,500 participants
After weeks of brutal battle steadily wore down an unyielding Ukrainian opposition, Russian soldiers are inching closer and closer to taking the city of Bakhmut.
Bakhmut is a relatively small town in eastern Donetsk that has been out of reach of Russia’s plodding ground assault for many months, which is not the kind of city Moscow had hoped to be fighting for in the second year of its invasion.
Yet, if it were taken, Russian President Vladimir Putin would have made some military progress and would have given his army the chance to conduct aerial assaults on more western major centers.
Here’s what you need to know about the battle for Bakhmut.
Ukraine’s biggest challenge at this moment is defending Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video message Tuesday.
Russian forces have been making incremental gains around the city, but Ukrainian forces are yet to retreat, creating a standoff that recalls drawn-out battles for other eastern cities such as Severodonetsk over the past year.
On Saturday, Land Forces of Ukraine said on its Telegram channel that “the enemy keeps trying to break through the defenses and take Bakhmut” and that the commander of Ukraine’s Eastern Military Group, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, had visited units that are defending the city and its approaches.
Alexander Rodnyansky, an economic adviser to Zelenksy, told CNN on Tuesday that “the situation is difficult. There is no secret about that.”
“Russia is trying to encircle it right now and they’re using their best Wagner troops, apparently, the most well trained and experienced,” the adviser added. “Our military is obviously going to weigh all of the options. So far, you know, they’ve held the city, but, if need be, they will strategically pull back because we’re not going to second guess all of our people just for nothing.”
The Ukrainian military has also confirmed that Russian forces are employing more experienced fighters from the ranks of the Russian private military company Wagner as they attempt to capture the town.
There are still around 4,500 civilians in Bakhmut, including 48 children, as Russian forces continue to advance on the city, the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Donetsk regional military administration Tetiana Ignatchenko told CNN on Wednesday.
She called on people to evacuate the city due to the danger but said they had enough supplies.
“There is food, water and medicine in the city. People were provided with everything in advance,” Ignatchenko said. “Still, everyone has to leave. The situation is extremely dangerous for civilians.
A soldier from Ukraine’s 93th Brigade says his country’s forces are still standing in Bakhmut, with no plans for a retreat.
“We are standing in Bakhmut. No one is going to retreat yet,” the soldier said a video posted by the Ukrainian military on Wednesday. “We are standing. Bakhmut is Ukraine.”
The soldier also claimed the situation in Bakhmut was a bit calmer than in previous days.
“We have muffled the enemy down a little bit. It’s a little calmer, but there are still gunfights on the outskirts,” he said. “There are isolated explosions, bombs are flying.”
But Ukrainian troops have acknowledged that it is becoming harder to hold onto the city as the routes in from the west are squeezed by Russian forces, who have advanced both to the north and south of Bakhmut.
“The situation in Bakhmut is very difficult now. It is much worse than officially reported,” a soldier who didn’t want to be named told CNN on Tuesday. “In all directions. Especially in the northern direction, where the (Russians) have made the biggest advance between Berkhivka and Yahidne.”
The city sits towards the northeast of the Donetsk region, about 13 miles from Luhansk region, and has been a target for Russian forces for months. Since last summer the city has been a stone’s throw from the front lines, so its capture would represent a long sought-after success for Moscow’s forces – and bring some limited strategic value.
The city has important road connections to other parts of the Donetsk region; eastwards to the border with Luhansk, north-west to Sloviansk and south-west to Kostiantynivka.
For several weeks the routes into Bakhmut have gradually come under the control of Russian forces. Rather than drive directly towards the city center, Wagner groups have sought to encircle the city in a wide arc from the north. In January they claimed the nearby town of Soledar, and have since taken a string of villages and hamlets north of Bakhmut.
If the Russians can take the high ground to the west of the city, nearby industrial towns Kostiantynivka and Kramatorsk would be at the mercy of their artillery and even longer range mortars. And it is unclear where exactly Ukrainian forces would fall back to should they retreat from the city.
But experts say capturing Bakhmut is unlikely to dramatically alter the overall picture of the war in eastern Ukraine, where little territory has changed hands in 2023. And it would in some ways signal the overriding failures of Russia’s invasion that, early in its second year, the capture of a relatively small city has required such a long and costly assault.
While Bakhmut’s strategic importance should not be overstated, its capture could still carry a very welcome symbolic impact for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
When Russian troops took the town of Soledar in mid-January, it marked a first gain in the Donbas for months. Six weeks on, the capture of Bakhmut would represent the completion of the next step.
It matters too to oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who runs the Wagner group and has frequently criticized the Russian Defense Ministry’s management of the “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine.
His Wagner fighters, many of them former prison inmates, have taken heavy casualties in what has become a battlefield of trenches and mud, reminiscent of World War I. After months in which the Russian Ministry of Defense delivered nothing but retreat, Prigozhin has been keen to show his men can deliver with the seizure of Soledar and now Bakhmut.
Nonetheless, urgent questions will remain for Putin even if his forces pull off a successful assault on Bakhmut.
“The specter of limitless Russian manpower is a myth. Putin has already been forced to make difficult and suboptimal choices to offset the terrible losses his war has inflicted on the Russian military, and he will face similarly difficult choices in 2023 if he persists in his determination to use military force to impose his will on Ukraine and the West,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank wrote on Sunday in an update on the state of Russian forces and firepower.
“Russia can mobilize more manpower, and Putin will likely do so rather than give up. But the costs to Putin and Russia of the measures he will likely need to take at this point will begin to mount rapidly,” the ISW wrote.
According to state and semi-official media, Iran has seen an increase in suspected poisoning attacks at girls’ schools around the nation in recent days. Medical professionals and teachers have accused government officials of trying to hush the victims.
Since late November, Iran has experienced a spate of alleged poisoning attacks, nearly exclusively at girls’ institutions. There have been hundreds of schoolgirls impacted by the ailments, several of them have been hospitalized.
Many incidences were recorded at numerous schools on Saturday, which is thought to be the worst day so far. Schoolgirls were seen on social media videos being led to ambulances and utilizing oxygen tanks at several locations across the nation. Through the use of video and eyewitness accounts from ten provinces, CNN was able to confirm dozens of these new occurrences.
On Monday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called the suspected poisonings an “unforgivable crime,” calling for “severe punishment” for anyone found responsible. As of last Wednesday, no one had been arrested in connection with the incidents, according to Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi.
“This is a big and unforgivable crime. If it is proven that the students were poisoned, the perpetrators of this crime should be severely punished. There will be no amnesty for these people,” Khamenei said on the sidelines of a tree-planting event in Tehran, according to official news agency IRNA.
In the southeastern Khuzestan province, the number of suspected poisonings totaled nearly 700 patients on Sunday, according to state media outlet ISNA, citing the Vice President of Ahvaz University of Medical Science, Habib Haibar.
Many of the reports and videos posted to social media were recorded Saturday, the start of Iran’s five-day work and school week, which runs from Saturday to Wednesday.
In a statement carried by the state-aligned Tasnim news agency on Saturday, Vahidi said “suspicious substances” had been identified in connection with the incidents.
“During field investigations by the relevant bodies, suspicious samples have been found, which are being examined at laboratories in order to identify the causes of complications in students,” Vahidi said.
“Results will be announced as soon as possible by the Ministry of Health,” he added.
Vahidi also emphasized that the government’s main priority is the health of students, according to Tasnim.
Speculation has swirled among Iranian lawmakers as the spate of suspected attacks dominates headlines. On Friday, Iran’s hardline President Ebrahim Raisi blamed the incident on “enemies of Iran” who, he said, aimed to stoke unrest in the country.
“Recently, the enemies who have been orchestrating and waging media and psychological warfare in Iran seek to weaken Iran’s security hoping to create an atmosphere of despair by fomenting insecurity and apprehension in the Iranian society,” Raisi said in a statement about the suspected poisoning attacks.
Raisi did not directly specify who the “enemies” were, although Tehran habitually accuses the United States and Israel of acting against it.
Both the US and United Nations have called on the Iranian authorities to fully investigate the suspected poisonings and hold those responsible accountable.
Meanwhile, parents of the victims have staged protests over the poisoning incidents, in scenes reminiscent of the start of a nationwide uprising that erupted last September over the death of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman died after being detained by Iran’s “morality police” and taken to a “re-education center,” allegedly for not abiding by the country’s conservative dress code.
Security forces reportedly fired tear gas at demonstrations on Sunday in the capital, Tehran. Social media video showed security forces dispersing the protests.
CNN spoke with four medical sources who treated the students who were believed to have been poisoned, one teacher from an affected school and four parents of the victims, who all claimed they were pressured not to speak about the issue.
One doctor who has treated several of the students affected told CNN he believed his phone was being monitored. He and three other medical sources said hospital administrators ordered them to refrain from speaking in public about the issue in what they described as a silencing campaign orchestrated by the government.
On Sunday, social media video showed multiple schoolgirls receiving medical attention at Yazd hospital, in central Iran.
“The private school was attacked by gas. All the children have difficulty breathing,” said the woman filming the video. “This is our country. They don’t even know what they are doing.”
The government has assured of its commitment to honouring outstanding payments to Independent Power Producers (IPP) under the ongoing debt restructuring exercise.
The government further promised to ensure that the financial sustainability of the entire power sector value chain is restored.
The Finance Ministry in a statement said, “in respect of the Arrears, Government will engage with IPPs under the ongoing debt restructuring exercise, with a view to restructuring the arrears in a manner consistent with the Government’s debt targets of 5596 NPV of debt-to-GDP and external debt service ratio of 1896 to revenue by 2028, amongst others, to achieve a moderate risk of debt distress under the IMF-WB Low Income Count, (LIC) – Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) framework”.
The Finance Ministry further assured that it is taking the necessary steps to address the arrears.
The Finance Ministry said, “government wishes to assure IPPs that it is taking the necessary steps to address the arrears as part of its external debt restructuring exercise. This is to forestall the build-up of future arrears and improve on efficiency within the sector”.
The Finance Ministry added in its statement that it has rolled out some measures to ensure payments are in line with IPP’s respective Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).
“Government has rolled out a raft of structural reforms, aimed at generating sufficient cash to ensure payments in line with your respective Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). These measures include but are not limited to:
i. PURC’s tariff increase in September 2022 by an average of 27%;
ii, PURC’s implementation of the Quarterly Tariff Adjustment in the last quarter of 2022, muffing in a tariff increase of 29.96% to address forex losses and inflation;
iii. the review of the Cash Waterfall Mechanism (“CWM”) and inclusion of VRA ‘s revenue stream therein; and
iv. Power Purchase Agreement (“PPA”) renegotiations with IPPs, with a view to restructuring PPAs and reducing power generation costs”.
The arrears, the Finance Ministry’s statement explained, “are a critical part of Government’s stock of arrears and outstanding debt obligations, the resolution of which remains a key element to be addressed, as part of Government’s engagement with the International Monetary Fund (-IMF) for a programme that is now at the Staff Level Agreement (“SLA”) stage”.
Popular Ghanaian media personality, Bridget Otoo, has waded into Tuesday’s chaos in Ashaiman, a suburb of Accra.
Her comments are in reaction to reports of a group of military officers storming the homes of civilians and subjecting them to various forms of brutalization.
In a couple of viral videos spotted online, some soldiers were seen moving from ‘house to house’ as they meted out stiff punishments to residents.
Their actions which have been deemed ‘revenge’, according to reports, were necessitated by the murder of one of their colleagues in the area.
Their conduct has been widely criticized by a large section of netizens on social media.
Forget Ashaiman for a second and insert east legon. A soldier is killed there & as a result the military goes to east legon and assault residents of east legon. It’s Ashaiman so you think they deserve it. We are not being ruled by Military. Or Police no longer investigate crime?
Whiles totally condemning the act on Twitter, Bridget Otoo labeled as unfair the treatment being meted out to the inhabitants of Ashaiman.
She said the case would have been different if the exact incident took place in East Legon.
“Forget Ashaiman for a second and insert East Legon. A soldier is killed there & as a result, the military goes to East Legon and assaults residents of East Legon. It’s Ashaiman so you think they deserve it. We are not being ruled by the Military. Or Police no longer investigate crime?” she questioned.
A request by Lawyers for Lawrence Asiamah Hanson popularly known as Bulldog, for an out of Court settlement in a defamation case against Charles Nii Armah also known as Shatta Wale has been granted.
The Artiste manager, Bulldog had sued Dancehall musician, Shatta Wale over claims of defamation.
Bulldog who is the plaintiff is seeking damages for the alleged defamation and same for malicious publication of falsehood against him by the defendant.
“The series of publication that the Defendant has made and continues to make about the Plaintiff are actuated by plain malice,” the writ filed by Bulldog’s Lawyer, Justice Srem-Sai said.
In court on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, lawyers of the plaintiff led by Dr. Justice Srem-Sai told the court that the parties have started negotiations for settlement and would need a month adjournment.
This he said is the reason they were unable to file the written submissions as per the orders of the court.
“We wish to pray for one more adjournment to attempt settlement and depending on the outcome we may apply formally for extension of time to file our witness statement,” Dr Justice Srem-Sai told the court.
Justice Joseph Adu Agyemang Owusu, presiding over the General Jurisdiction 13 of the Accra High Court after listening to the parties encouraged them to settle the matter out of court.
According to EIB Network’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Murtala Inusah, Shatta Wale and Bulldog were present and were spotted having a friendly conversation.
The case has been adjourned to April 18, 2023.
*Reliefs*
The plaintiff is seeking the following reliefs
1.A declaration of the Court that the series of publications made by the Defendant as particularised in the Statement of Claim are defamatory to the Plaintiff.
2. A declaration of the Court that the series of publications made by the Defendant in the Statement of Claim are malicious.
3. An order of the Court directed at the Defendant to on all his social media pages or accounts, make a publication on seven (7) consecutive days of an unqualified retraction of and unreserved apology for the defamatory words that the Defendant has published about the Plaintiff, such retraction and apology to be vetted and approved by the Plaintiff’s lawyers.
4. An order of the Court for perpetual injunction restraining the Defendant, his agents, workmen, assigns and servants from publishing or further publishing any defamatory words against the Plaintiff. 5. General damages for defamation. 6. Special damages for defamation. 7. Punitive damages for malicious publication of falsehood against the Plaintiff. 8. Cost, and 9. Any other orders or remedies that the Court may deem fit
*Background*
On November 02, 2022, Shatta Wale was said to have made a publication on his Facebook page implicating his former manager, Bulldog in the murder of Fennec Okyere among others.
Upon this, the Ghana Police Service opened investigations into the defendant’s publications.
Fennec Okyere, who was the manager of controversial musician, Kwaw Kese, was murdered at his Manet Gardens residence on the Spintex Road, Accra on Thursday, March 13, 2014 by unknown assailants. He died at age 31.
Lawrence Nana Asiama Hanson, was picked up by the Police Criminal Investigative Department (CID) as a suspect in the death of Fennec Okyere.
This was because Bullgod (then known as Bulldog) who had regular beefs with Fennec Okyere, had supposedly threatened him in an interview.
In 2017, the courts, on the advice of the Attorney-General that there was no evidence against the accused, discharged Bulldog.
Ecobank Group, through its Commercial Banking division and supported by the Ecobank Academy, has partnered with Visa to provide micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) across Ecobank’s footprint with access to Visa’s Practical Business Skills educational resource.
The online training forms part of Ecobank’s MSME Booster series and offers online learning tools for MSMEs seeking growth as they prepare for the new business year.
The course has been specially designed to cater for the needs of both seasoned business owners and startups eager to take their businesses to the next level. Participants will learn from key modules including financial management, how to promote a business, managing employees, creating a business plan, and digitising their business amongst others.
SMEs are at the heart of Africa’s economic growth where they provide up to 80% of the region’s employment and are the force behind a new middle class, fueling demand for new goods and services. The training course is part of Ecobank’s mission to help MSMEs sharpen their business skills and make an immense contribution to the continent’s economic fortunes.
While announcing the partnership, Acting Group Executive, Commercial Banking & Deputy Managing Director Ecobank Nigeria, Carol Oyedeji said: “MSMEs across Africa are collectively critical to the achievement of many of the sustainable development goals and that is why we place great emphasis on their upskilling. We are delighted to partner with Visa on a training programme that will help them understand how to get started, how to manage a business, and how to navigate the tough process of building and growing a business.”
“We are excited to continue to collaborate with our partners in sub-Saharan Africa to provide digital financial services and skills that empower micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The extension of Practical Business Skills through the MSME Booster Series will help to bridge the skills gaps that exist among youth and women and enable them to take full advantage of the digital economy.” said Carl Manlan, Vice President, Inclusive Impact & Sustainability Visa CEMEA.
Other similar initiatives run by Ecobank to support SMEs included the Global Skilling Progamme, a collaboration with Microsoft, LinkedIn and GitHub to upskill and equip SMEs and their employees with digital skills at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic made business owners more aware of the need to close the digital skills gap within their workplaces and an improved digitally diverse talent pool is essential to a sustainable post-pandemic recovery.
As reported by the World Bank, the terrible earthquake that struck Turkey on February 6 killed at least 45,000 people, made millions of people homeless across almost a dozen cities, and resulted in immediate damage estimated at $34 billion, or around 4% of the nation’s annual economic output.
Yet, the quake’s indirect costs could be far greater, and recovery won’t be simple or quick.
The Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation places the total cost of the earthquake at $84.1 billion, with housing accounting for the lion’s share of that amount at $70.8 billion. The organization also places the cost of lost national income at $10.4 billion and the cost of lost working days at $2.91 billion.
“I do not recall… any economic disaster at this level in the history of the Republic of Turkey,” said Arda Tunca, an Istanbul-based economist at PolitikYol.
Turkey’s economy had been slowing even before the earthquake. Unorthodox monetary policies by the government caused soaring inflation, leading to further income inequality and a currency crisis that saw the lira lose 30% of its value against the dollar last year. Turkey’s economy grew 5.6% last year, Reuters reported, citing official data.
Economists say those structural weaknesses in the economy will only get worse because of the quake and could determine the course of presidential and parliamentary elections expected in mid-May.
Still, Tunca says that while the physical damage from the quake is colossal, the cost to the country’s GDP won’t be as pronounced when compared to the 1999 earthquake in Izmit, which hit the country’s industrial heartland and killed more than 17,000. According to the OECD, the areas impacted in that quake accounted for a third of the country’s GDP.
The provinces most affected by the February 6 quake represent some 15% of Turkey’s population. According to the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation, they contribute 9% of the nation’s GDP, 11% of income tax and 14% of income from agriculture and fisheries.
“Economic growth would slow down at first but I don’t expect a recessionary threat due to the earthquake,” said Selva Demiralp, a professor of economics at Koc University in Istanbul. “I don’t expect the impact on (economic) growth to be more than 1 to 2 (percentage) points.”
There has been growing criticism of the country’s preparedness for the quake, whether through policies to mitigate the economic impact or prevent the scale of the damage seen in the disaster.
How Turkey will rehabilitate its economy and provide for its newly homeless people is not yet known. But it could prove pivotal in determining President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s political fate, analysts and economists say, as he seeks another term in office.
The government’s 2023 budget, released before the earthquake, had planned for increased spending in an election year, foreseeing a deficit of 660 billion liras ($34.9 billion).
The government has already announced some measures that analysts said were designed to shore up Erdogan’s popularity, including a near 55% increase in the minimum wage, early retirement and cheaper housing loans.
Economists say that Turkey’s fiscal position is strong. Its budget deficit, when compared to its economic output, is smaller than that of other emerging markets like India, China and Brazil. That gives the government room to spend.
“Turkey starts from a position of relative fiscal strength,” said Selva Bahar Baziki of Bloomberg Economics. “The necessary quake spending will likely result in the government breaching their budget targets. Given the high humanitarian toll, this would be the year to do it.”
Quake-related public spending is estimated at 2.6% of GDP in the short run, she told CNN, but could eventually reach as high as 5.5%.
Governments usually plug budget shortfalls by taking on more debt or raising taxes. Economists say both are likely options. But post-quake taxation is already a touchy topic in the country, and could prove risky in an election year.
After the 1999 quake, Turkey introduced an “earthquake tax” that was initially introduced as a temporary measure to help cushion economic damage, but subsequently became a permanent tax.
There has been concern in the country that the state may have squandered those tax revenues, with opposition leaders calling on the government to be more transparent about what happened to the money raised. When asked in 2020, Erdogan said the money “was not spent out of its purpose.” Since then, the government has said little more about how the money was spent.
“The funds created for earthquake preparedness have been used for projects such as road constructions, infrastructure build-ups, etc. other than earthquake preparedness,” said Tunca. “In other words, no buffers or cushions have been set in place to limit the economic impacts of such disasters.”
The Turkish presidency didn’t respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Analysts say it’s too early to tell precisely what impact the economic fallout will have on Erdogan’s prospects for re-election.
The president’s approval rating was low even before the quake. In a December poll by Turkish research firm MetroPOLL, 52.1% of respondents didn’t approve of his handling of his job as president. A survey a month earlier found that a slim majority of voters would not vote for Erdogan if an election were held on that day.
Two polls last week, however, showed the Turkish opposition had not picked up fresh support, Reuters reported, citing partly its failure to name a candidate and partly its lack of a tangible plan to rebuild areas devastated by the quake.
The majority of the provinces worst affected by the quake voted for Erdogan and his ruling AK Party in the 2018 elections, but in some of those provinces, Erdogan and the AK Party won with a plurality of votes or a slim majority.
Those provinces are some of the poorest in the country, the World Bank says.
Research conducted by Demiralp as well as academics Evren Balta from Ozyegin University and Seda Demiralp from Isik University, found that while the ruling AK Party’s voters’ high partisanship is a strong hindrance to voter defection, economic and democratic failures could tip the balance.
“Our data shows that respondents who report being able to make ends meet are more likely to vote for the incumbent AKP again,” the research concludes. “However, once worsening economic fundamentals push more people below the poverty line, the possibility of defection increases.”
This could allow opposition parties to take votes from the incumbent rulers “despite identity-based cleavages if they target economically and democratically dissatisfied voters via clear messages.”
For Tunca, the economic fallout from the quake poses a real risk for Erdogan’s prospects.
“The magnitude of Turkey’s social earthquake is much greater than that of the tectonic one,” he said. “There is a tug of war between the government and the opposition, and it seems that the winner is going to be unknown until the very end of the elections.”
Nadeen Ebrahim and Isil Sariyuce contributed to this report.
This article has been corrected to say that the research, not the survey, was conducted by the academics.
Sub-Saharan African countries repatriate citizens from Tunisia after ‘shocking’ statements from country’s president
Sub-Saharan African countries including Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea and Gabon, are helping their citizens return from Tunisia following a controversial statement from Tunisian President Kais Saied, who has led a crackdown on illegal immigration into the North African country since last month.
Background: In a meeting with Tunisia’s National Security Council on February 21, Saied described illegal border crossing from sub-Saharan Africa into Tunisia as a “criminal enterprise hatched at the beginning of this century to change the demographic composition of Tunisia.” He said the immigration aims to turn Tunisia into “only an African country with no belonging to the Arab and Muslim worlds.” In a later speech on February 23, Saied maintained there is no racial discrimination in Tunisia and said that Africans residing in Tunisia legally are welcome. Authorities arrested 58 African migrants on Friday after they reportedly crossed the border illegally, state news agency TAP reported on Saturday.
Why it matters: Saied, whose seizure of power in 2021 was described as a coup by his foes, is facing challenges to his rule at home. Reuters on Sunday reported that opposition figures and rights groups have said that the president’s crackdown on migrants was meant to distract from Tunisia’s economic crisis.
Iranian Supreme Leader says schoolgirls’ poisoning is an ‘unforgivable crime’
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday said that the poisoning of schoolgirls in recent months across Iran is an “unforgivable crime,” state-run news agency IRNA reported. Khamenei urged authorities to pursue the issue, saying that “if it is proven that the students were poisoned, the perpetrators of this crime should be severely punished.”
Background: Concern is growing in Iran after reports emerged that hundreds of schoolgirls had been poisoned across the country over the last few months. On Wednesday, Iran’s semi-official Mehr News reported that Shahriar Heydari, a member of parliament, said that “nearly 900 students” from across the country had been poisoned so far, citing an unnamed, “reliable source.”
Why it matters: The reports have led to a local and international outcry. While it is unclear whether the incidents were linked and if the students were targeted, some believe them to be deliberate attempts at shutting down girls’ schools, and even potentially linked to recent protests that spread under the slogan, “Women, Life, Freedom.”
Iran to allow further IAEA access following discussions – IAEA chief
Iran will allow more access and monitoring capabilities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), agency Director General Rafael Grossi said at a press conference in Vienna on Saturday, following a trip to the Islamic Republic. The additional monitoring is set to start “very, very soon,” said Grossi, with an IAEA team arriving within a few days to begin reinstalling the equipment at several sites.
Background: Prior to the news conference, the IAEA released a joint statement with Iran’s atomic energy agency in which the two bodies agreed that interactions between them will be “carried out in the spirit of collaboration.” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said he hopes the IAEA will remain neutral and fair to Iran’s nuclear energy program and refrain from being affected “by certain powers which are pursuing their own specific goals,” reported Iranian state television Press TV on Saturday.
Why it matters: Last week, a restricted IAEA report seen by CNN said that uranium particles enriched to near bomb-grade levels have been found at an Iranian nuclear facility, as the US warned that Tehran’s ability to build a nuclear bomb was accelerating. The president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami, rejected the recent IAEA report, which detected particles of uranium enriched to 83.7% at the Fordow nuclear facility in Iran, saying there has been ‘“no deviation” in Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities.
A new sphinx statue has been discovered in Egypt – but this one is thought to be Roman.
The smiling sculpture and the remains of a shrine were found during an excavation mission in Qena, a southern Egyptian city on the eastern banks of the River Nile.
The shrine had been carved in limestone and consisted of a two-level platform, Mamdouh Eldamaty, a former minister of antiquities and professor of Egyptology at Ain Shams University said in a statement Monday from Egypt’s ministry of tourism and antiquities. A ladder and mudbrick basin for water storage were found inside.
The basin, believed to date back to the Byzantine era, housed the smiling sphinx statue, carved from limestone.
Eldamaty described the statue as bearing “royal facial features.” It had a “soft smile” with two dimples. It also wore a nemes on its head, the striped cloth headdress traditionally worn by pharaohs of ancient Egypt, with a cobra-shaped end or “uraeus.”
A Roman stela with hieroglyphic and demotic writings from the Roman era was found below the sphinx.
The professor said that the statue may represent the Roman Emperor Claudius, the fourth Roman emperor who ruled from the year 41 to 54, but noted that more studies are needed to verify the structure’s owner and history.
The discovery was made in the eastern side of Dendera Temple in Qena, where excavations are still ongoing.
Sphinxes are recurring creatures in the mythologies of ancient Egyptian, Persian and Greek cultures. Their likenesses are often found near tombs or religious buildings.
It is not uncommon for new sphinx statues to be found in Egypt. But the country’s most famous sphinx, the Great Sphinx of Giza, dates back to around 2,500 BC and represents the ancient Egyptian Pharoah Khafre.
Habibat Oyindamola Tinubu, daughter of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has become the latest target on Nigerian social media.
A post on popular Nigerian blog, TattleRoom Tale NG, has shared photos of the president-elect’s daughter who is said to be an LGBTQ rights activist and also identifies as ‘queer’.
The timing of these posts coincides with the announcement of her father’s election as President of Nigeria.
Tinubu’s daughter, Habibat, has been trending on social media after earlier tweets capturing her activism for LGBTQ rights surfaced online.
These tweets have since caught the attention of social media users who are discussing the acceptance of queer individuals in Nigeria, a country where same-sex relationships are illegal.
One of her tweets on March 6, 2020, read, “please read this chain carefully! Black bigotry is a problem. We shouldn’t be dividing ourselves or neglecting those within our community. Trans lives matter, and black trans lives are sadly treated as most invisible.”
In response to a user’s question about whether she would marry a bisexual man, she answered, “Yes, I will marry a bisexual man.”
Habibat’s strong activism for the LGBTQ+ community has also been demonstrated in her modeling career.
In one of the instances where she announced her ‘queer status’, was on a runway where she modelled as a cat and made cat noises.
This has stirred interesting comments from netizens who have questioned whether Tinubuis indeed the right person to lead Nigeria if his daughter isn’t morally upright.
Oyedeji then urged Nigerians to pray for her even if they thought she was not worth it and deserved no empathy.
“Guys please pray for me I might not worth it or deserve it, and yes I’ll be in safe hands. My team are professionals. Not withstanding prayers always goes a long way See you guys back in 5 hours.” She captioned the video.
Young Afghan women gathered in front of Kabul University on Monday to voice their opposition to the Taliban government’s prohibition on women attending school, as their male classmates started a new academic year and the UN heard the restriction may constitute a crime against humanity.
In a video that has gone viral on social media, several girls can be seen reading books while seated on the ground outside Kabul University. When the video was shot is not something CNN has independently confirmed.
The Taliban forbade women from enrolling in universities last December, nine months after the Islamic group forbade females from returning to secondary schools as part of a severe crackdown on women’s rights since it seized power in 2021.
On Monday, a Taliban spokesperson for the Ministry of Higher Education announced the start of classes in several provinces, claiming “all teachers and students attended their lessons in a safe and calm atmosphere.”
Photos from universities in Kabul show classrooms full of male students and teachers; images of female students on a banner at one private university had been struck out with spray paint.
“We are happy that the university has started; But I am sad that our sisters cannot attend universities,” a male student named Nasir told independent Afghan outlet TOLO News on Monday.
The Taliban has previously said the university ban was due to women not observing Islamic dress rules and other “Islamic values,” citing female students traveling without a male guardian. Interaction between female and male students was “not allowed in Sharia law,” it said.
The ban has sparked an outcry, with girls expressing devastation and the sense they had been robbed of their future.
On Monday, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, presented a report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva that said the Taliban’s ban on female education “may amount to gender persecution, a crime against humanity.”
The report listed various other compounding crises, such as the rise in forced and child marriages, sexual abuse and assault, the ban on women from other public spaces like parks and gyms, and other restrictions limiting women’s ability to work and travel independently.
These bans “deepen existing flagrant violations of women’s human rights, already among the most draconian in the world,” the report said.
The Taliban’s return to power preceded a deepening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, worsening issues that had long plagued the country. After the takeover, the US and its allies froze about $7 billion of the country’s foreign reserves and cut off international funding – crippling an economy heavily dependent on overseas aid.
Already scarce humanitarian aid diminished further in December when the Taliban announced a ban on female NGO workers – prompting multiple major foreign aid groups to suspend their operations in the country.
The Interbank forex rates from the Bank of Ghana today, March 7, 2023, have shown that the Ghana Cedi is trading against the dollar at a buying price of 11.0083 and a selling price of 11.0193.
At a forex bureau in Accra, the dollar is being bought at a rate of 12.20 and sold at a rate of 12.80.
Against the Pound Sterling, the Cedi is trading at a buying price of 13.1835 and a selling price of 13.1989.
At a forex bureau in Accra, the pound sterling is being bought at a rate of 14.70 and sold at a rate of 15.70.
The Euro is trading at a buying price of 11.6699 and a selling price of 11.6815.
At a forex bureau in Accra, Euro is being bought at a rate of 12.50 and sold at a rate of 13.50.
The South African Rand is trading at a buying price of 0.6053 and a selling price of 0.6058.
At a forex bureau in Accra, South African Rand is being bought at a rate of 0.50 and sold at a rate of 1.10.
The Nigerian Naira is trading at a buying price of 41.0031 and a selling price of 41.8865.
At a forex bureau in Accra, Nigerian Naira is being bought at a rate of 14.00 Naira for every 1 Cedi and sold at a rate of 19.00.
For the CFA, it is trading at a buying price of 56.1535 and a selling price of 56.2093.
At a forex bureau in Accra, CFA is being bought at a rate of 17.50 CFA for every 1 Cedi and sold at a rate of 21.50 CFA for every 1 Cedi.
Our forex bureau rates are provided by Afriswap Bureau De Change in Osu, Accra.
Softer price pressures helped lead to a revival of demand, supporting expansions in both new orders and business activity. Companies also increased their staffing levels, for the third month running.
The S&P Global Ghana Purchasing Managers’ Index moved back above the 50.0 no-change mark during February, posting 50.2 from 47.2 in January. The index signaled a first strengthening of the private’s health in just over a year, albeit that it was only marginal overall.
Both output and new orders returned to growth in February, rising for the first time in 14 and 12 months respectively. In both cases, the increases were slight as economic conditions remained challenging. Where improvements were signaled, panelists often attributed this to softer inflationary pressures.
Overall input costs increased at the slowest pace for a year, although it was still marked as both purchase prices and staff costs rose.
Higher purchase costs often reflected currency weakness, but the rate of inflation eased to a two-year low in February. Bucking the wider trend, staff costs increased at the fastest pace in three months as companies acted to help their workers through a period of rising living costs.
Companies often passed higher input costs on to their customers, but softer inflationary pressures meant that in some cases they were able to offer discounts in attempting to stimulate demand. As a result, the rate of output price inflation eased for the third consecutive month – to the slowest since December 2021.
Hopes that cost pressures will continue to soften and that economic conditions will improve supported confidence in the 12-month outlook for business activity. That said, sentiment eased from the one-year high seen in January to the weakest in three months.
Higher new orders and the filling of previously vacant positions meant that employment increased again in February. The rate of job creation was slight but quickened for the second month running to the fastest since June last year.
The rise in employment came amid some signs that capacity could soon come under pressure. Firms continued being able to address backlogs, but the latest reduction was the smallest in the current 14-month sequence of falling outstanding business.
Rising demand and the prospect of further improvements in the coming months led companies to expand their stocks of purchases, ending a 14-month sequence of reductions. Moreover, the rise in inventories was solid and the fastest since September 2021.
With inventories up, companies generally judged that their holdings of inputs were sufficient for current workloads. This, allied with cost pressures, resulted in a further decrease in purchasing activity, albeit that it was only marginal and the softest in seven months.
Meanwhile, suppliers’ delivery times continued to shorten, extending the current sequence of improving vendor performance to 19 months. The latest shortening of lead times was the most pronounced since September last year, with companies attributing this to quicker deliveries, competition among suppliers, and prompt payments.
Andrew Harker, Economics Director at S&P GlobalMarket Intelligence said: “Ghana’s private sector was in recovery mode in February, as the latest PMI data signaled renewed increases in output and new orders while inflationary pressures softened – selling prices rose at the slowest pace since the end of 2021.
“Economic conditions remain challenging, however, and firms will need to see inflation continue to come down if this recovery is to be sustained in the months ahead.”
Last Saturday, Xandy Kamel emotionally revealed how her first child tragically died after he drowned during an appearance on UTV’s United Showbiz Program.
As claimed by Xandy, her first child who had completed JHS and was waiting for his results drowned and died in a very catastrophic manner.
On the day the sad incident happened, Kaninja who was still married to her immediately left home to go and celebrate his birthday in the nightclub with his friends.
Before leaving home to go and celebrate his birthday, he had earlier refused to assist her to the police station to lodge an official complaint to the police over her child’s death.
Xandy Kamel
All these happened just three days before the collapse of their marriage.
A social media user who knows Xandy Kamel inside out has exposed the actress big time.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with GhPage, the man who chose to remain anonymous accused Xandy Kamel of maltreating her late cousin.
As explained by the man, Xandy Kamel has never given birth and has no child of her own hence Ghanaians should ignore her claims of painfully losing her first child.
He went into deep details as to how Xandy sacked the deceased to of her house – Rendering him homeless.
Because he had no place to stay, he normally went to the beach to seek solace and that’s where and how he drowned.
Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman Mr Bernard Antwi Bosiako popularly known as Chairman Wontumi has taken over social media trends after exclusive videos of his 90% complete place landed on the internet.
Without a doubt, Chairman Wontumi is amongst the richest men in the country with regard to his mining company and other businesses both known and unknown.
Arguably, Chairman Wontumi’s palace might be the largest and most expensive mansion in the country.
The business magnate and gold merchant has made sure to own that title as he is reported to have blown a whopping $15 million and contracted the most expensive building engineer to work on the mansion.
Although the mansion is near completion, the trending videos on the digital space have sent shivers down the spines of netizens.
The ‘Wontumi Palace’ is expected to be ready for occupation by two months’ time.
If sources from grapevines are anything to go by, it is said that the palace will have about a 40-bedroom complex, a large swimming pool, and a very spacious compound to accommodate all of his expensive cars plus other mind-blowing features.
The question that lingers on the minds of many is how is the Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman funding the construction of his mansion.
Radio personality, Abeiku Santana has urged the general public to support local businesses to thrive in order to inure to the benefit of all.
Aside from the fact that one can pride themselves on having contributed to the growth of an enterprise, Abeiku Santana who is also an entrepreneur said the country will see significant development if local businesses get the needed support.
He also stressed that it is imperative people ventured into businesses that solve the immediate needs of the public, emphasizing that such decisions, if well executed, will be financially rewarding and also save humanity.
“We have come to the dispensation where artificial intelligence is the order of the day. Artificial intelligence is a system, programme that can analyze and collect data and you use it to process everything that you’re looking for…” he said during the launch of Rent for Me Ghana, a company that assists people in paying their rent.
“If you check Abraham Maslow’s theory of need, the basic one is accommodation, food, clothing… Anyone who ventures into such business never go wrong. If you venture into food, clothing, accommodation and pension, there is no way you’d go wrong.
“It’s important that as entrepreneurs, we find innovative ways of giving solution to people’s problems… I’ll implore on all of us to make it work,” the Kaya Tours CEO added.
Abeiku Santana, who holds a Master’s Degree in Tourism Management from the University of Cape Coast, has contributed to the growth of Ghana’s tourism industry in diverse ways. He was adjudged the Tourism Oriented Media Personality at the 2020 National Tourism Awards.
In 2020, he gained a special recognition award as the Exclusive Man of the Year for his exploits in tourism marketing and promotion, using his platform to promote Ghana’s tourism.
Stating reasons Ghanaians must count themselves lucky, Afia said she is currently in Germany where train and bus workers are demonstrating against the government, in the quest to demand a better life.
Making reference to Nigeria, Afia said the citizens will ‘kill’ to have a president like Akufo-Addo, thereby citing, that they have currently rejected their president-elect, Mr. Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
In what was meant to be a goodwill message on Independence Day, Afia Schwarzenegger was spotted on Instagram asking Ghanaians to cut Akufo-Addo some slack.
“Nowhere cool. Come to Germany and see. The bus and train drivers are on demonstration. Be happy that you are a Ghanaian and be grateful that Nana Addo is your president, because Nigerians wished they had a handsome, young-looking president like ours. Also, our president speaks good English and has a nice speaking accent. Be grateful that you have a president like Nana Akufo-Addo who will not lick the microphone when he speaks. And we are breaking the eight with Bawumia.”
Tinubu was elected president of Nigeria in a recent election that saw him poll 8.8 million votes to defeat former-associate-turned-foe Atiku Abubakar and surprise frontrunner Peter Obi, who scored 6.9 million and 6.1 million, respectively.
Afia Schwarzenegger has since been trolling Nigerians for electing what she termed as ‘an old feeble’ man as a president.
The comedienne and Kwame A Plus have shared earlier posts on social media where they were captured mocking Nigerians for their new choice of leadership.
The latest in a succession of recent assaults against security officials in the South Asian country left at least nine police officers dead and 11 others injured in a suspected suicide blast on Monday in Pakistan‘s unrest-plagued Balochistan region, according to authorities.
Mehmood Notezai, senior superintendent of the Kachhi Police, reported that a police vehicle was attacked in the Sibi area of the province. Initial information indicates that it was a suicide attack, he said, adding that an investigation was in progress.
Afterwards, a newly founded militant organization known as Tehreek e Jihad Pakistan (TJP) claimed responsibility for the explosion.
A statement from TJP sent to CNN confirmed that the group was formed on February 23 in order to “establish an Islamic system in Pakistan” through the use of “armed Jihad.”
This is the first major attack by the group in the country. Pakistan’s interior ministry has not confirmed that the TJP is behind the attack.
Among the officers injured in the incident, three remain in critical condition and are receiving hospital treatment, Sibi’s Combined Military Hospital administration said.
Footage obtained by CNN showed pieces of debris strewn along an isolated highway at the scene of the attack, as authorities scoured the site for evidence.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by area, has seen a decades-long insurgency by separatists who demand independence from the country, citing what they say is the state’s monopoly and exploitation of the region’s mineral resources.
The blast Monday was the third major attack against Pakistani security personnel in as many months, highlighting the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the country.
At least four people were killed and 14 others injured in February after militants stormed the police headquarters in the southern city of Karachi. Pakistan’s Taliban, known as Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack, according to spokesman Mohammad Khorasani.
And in January, at least 100 people – mostly police officials – died after a suicide bomb ripped through a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar, marking one of the deadliest attacks in the country in years.
TTP officials initially claimed the blast was “revenge” for the death of a TTP militant last year before the militant group’s main spokesperson later denied the group was involved in the attack.
Only 15 minutes after liftoff, controllers sent the destruct command, which caused Tuesday’s debut of Japan’s new flagship space rocket to fail, according to the country’s space agency.
The mission couldn’t be completed, thus a destroy command was sent to H3 at 10:52 a.m. (Japan Standard Time), according to a statement from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
According to a report from public broadcaster NHK, the H3 rocket’s second stage did not ignite.
The rocket, which took off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan, was carrying the Advance Land Observation Satellite-3 (ALOS-3), a ground-mapping and imaging orbiter that the space agency said was planned to become a key tool in disaster management efforts.
ALOS-3 “would cover all of the land areas of not only Japan but also across the whole world,” it said.
Tuesday’s failure occurred on JAXA’s second attempt to launch the H3. On February 17, two secondary booster engines strapped to the side of the space vehicle did not ignite on the launch pad and the H3 failed to take off.
The space agency has touted the H3 as the successor to Japan’s H-2A and H-2B rockets, with flexible configurations based on what it would need to lift into orbit. It has previously touted the expected ability of the H3 to launch both government and commercial missions.
JAXA said the H3 would be more economical than many other launch vehicles because its uses “commercial-off-the-shelf products of other domestic industries such as the automobile industry rather than products exclusive to space use.”
“With several configurations, the H3 offers performance and price suitable for purposes of each satellite,” it said, adding that it was looking for regular launches over the long term.
“We are aiming to create an operational world where Japanese industrial base can be underpinned by steadily launching the H3 six times or so annually for 20 years,” JAXA said.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is the prime contractor for the rocket. NHK reported that JAXA and Mitsubishi have spent more that $1.5 billion on the project since its inception nine years ago.
Five poachers were each given five years in prison by a court in western Thailand on Monday for killing a mother tiger and her cub in a national park the previous year.
The Kanchanaburi provincial court concluded that the five men violated conservation rules when they killed the protected animals in Thong Pha Phum National Park before skinning and burning their remains to make them ready for sale on the black market.
The tiger parts were taken by park authorities when they found them in January of last year. Photos shot in the bush and released by authorities revealed the skins of two flayed tigers. Photos taken nearby also revealed bones and cadaver fragments.
The court rejected the men’s argument that they had killed the tigers in revenge for attacks on livestock, ruling they “should have felt protective of nature” given that they lived in a community near the forest.
Tigers are an endangered species with only about 4,500 remaining in the wild, according to the the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Though their numbers have increased in recent years, WWF says fewer than 200 of the big cats remain in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries across Thailand.
Poaching, one of the biggest threats to tigers’ survival, is driven largely by demand in China and Vietnam for their bones, skins and other body parts used in traditional medicine.
The safety and effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine is still heavily debated in China, where it has both adherents and skeptics.
Though many of the remedies in TCM have been in use for hundreds of years, critics argue that there is often little verifiable scientific evidence or peer reviewed studies to support their supposed benefits.
Thong Pha Phum National Park Chief Charoen Jaichon welcomed the court ruling.
“I’m happy that justice has been delivered,” he told CNN on Tuesday. “This is a strong warning to any illegal hunters in Thailand’s national parks.”
The market value of Nigerian billionaire Mike Adenuga‘s shareholding in Conoil Plc has increased over the previous two months as renewed investor interest in the company’s shares as a result of its remarkable financial performance has sent its shares soaring on the Nigerian Exchange.
Adenuga currently holds the third-richest position in Nigeria after Abdul Samad Rabiu overtook him in October 2022, according to data compiled by Billionaires Africa. The value of his Conoil share has increased by N10.5 billion ($22.82 million) from the beginning of the year.
Conoil is a leading petroleum marketing firm that offers a range of products, including diesel, kerosene, low-pour fuel, aviation fuel, and gasoline. The company also produces and markets lubricants under the “Quatro” brand name.
With a majority stake of 74.4 percent in the oil marketing business, Adenuga serves as its chairman and is also the founder of telecom service provider, Globacom.
Since the start of the year, the company has experienced a significant surge in its share price on the Nigerian Exchange, rising by nearly 77 percent from N26.5 ($0.0576) on Jan. 1 to N46.85 ($0.1017) on March 2.
This can be attributed to sustained investor interest in the company’s shares following its outstanding financial performance at the end of its 2022 fiscal year.
As a result, investors continue to accumulate shares in Conoil, making it a highly attractive investment opportunity.
As a result of the remarkable 77-percent year-to-date increase in Conoil’s share price, the value of Adenuga’s stake has risen from N13.68 billion ($29.7 million) at the start of the year to N24.19 billion ($52.53 million) at the time of writing this report.
With a profit of $168.4 million in 2022, Conoil is well-positioned for another substantial dividend payout in 2023, making it a highly attractive investment opportunity for shareholders like Adenuga.
More unmarried ladies are becoming attracted to married men, and intentionally seeking them out for relationships. Here’s the reason.
Surely it’s not new that married men, particularly those in Lagos, are having sustained romantic relationships and open sexual affairs with younger, single women. However, while it used to feel as though these married men tricked the unmarried women into the relationships, things seem to now be changing.
More unmarried women are apparently becoming attracted to married men, and intentionally seeking them out for seduction.
For context, over the period of over seven days on popular relationship expert, Joro Olumofin’s Instagram blog a few months back, I witnessed reports upon reports roll in, personal accounts underlining the commonness of the practice and proving how it is seemingly becoming a ‘goal’ for young, single women to have married partners as opposed to dating someone single just like them.
Why do single women date married men
The obvious first reason why this relationship seems to be thriving logically has to be for the financial benefits attached to such romantic affairs.
An Instagram user shares his personal experience on Joro’s Instagram page within the period mentioned above. Being single and unable to get any girls despite several attempts, he had gotten a ring and put it on his wedding finger. Like magic, girls became drawn to him and offered sex as cheaply as imaginable.
“…That wedding ring signifies success and stability which these lazy Nigeria girls like,” the anonymous user writes. Whether or not he was being 100% sincere is another thing, I concede.
Regardless, the idea, apparently, for many women who intentionally date married men, is that young men of their own age are yet to find their feet and would find it difficult to meet the outlandish demands they make in order to fund their unsustainable, opulent lifestyles. But guess who has more than enough to sponsor trips abroad, super-expensive weaves and all other aspects of the glamorous life these women seek?
So the need to sustain an expensive lifestyle regardless of a low economic standing is one reason why.
Another reason for this could be the need for independence; to be free to enjoy sexual satisfaction and all other pleasures of a relationship without actually being in a relationship.
“I know a babe who is dating a married man just for the sex,” says Dairo, a photographer in Lagos.
“She says she does not want the clinginess that normal boyfriends often come with. She wants to keep partying and living as she deems fit and not shifting and bending to accommodate some guy in her life.
“They meet, have sex, hang out a little, fool around, and have some great laughs; after which the married man returns home to his family and thee lady to her preferred life of singleness.
“I think, like her, many women want both relationship benefits and independence; a thing which may be difficult with a boyfriend or some other single guy who may likely start to catch feelings after a while of having sex.”
The relative detachment which many married men often feel towards side-chicks is very perfect and enables this independence that Dairo speaks of.
Ayo, a fun-lover, believes that there’s also a belief among women that married men, due to experience, know how to treat women better. For some other babes, this is the attraction point.
Having been with a married woman for a while and being a man in his mid-thirties and older would have enabled him to not just be more financially loaded, but also very experienced at treating women with more care and their bodies to more pleasure.
Dating married men is wrong
The reasons for dating married people, no matter how logical they sound to those proffering them, are still not, and never will be enough, to justify the practice of dating someone else’s husband. And of course, it won’t hold water as an excuse for married men who cheat on their wives, too.
Some might say karma will show up at your doorstep later in life, but whether or not it does is a 50-50 thing. In the meantime though, deal with the battle in your conscience.
Based on the most recent information from officials, the four Americans who were abducted in Mexico on Friday were a close-knit group of friends going from South Carolina so one of them, a mother of six, could receive medical attention across the border, according to two family members.
Latavia “Tay” Washington McGee, 33, traveled to Mexico for the treatment with Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown, and their buddy Eric, but she never showed up for her doctor’s appointment on Friday, according to her mother Barbara Burgess, who spoke to CNN.
Burgess claimed that the FBI had notified her on Sunday that her daughter had been abducted and was in danger. They instructed me to phone them if she calls, she claimed.
Mexican authorities are still searching for the missing Americans, who drove into the border city of Matamoros on Friday, where they werefired upon by unidentified gunman and “placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men,” according to the FBI.
Investigators believe the Americans were mistakenly targeted by a Mexican cartel that likely mistook them for Haitian drug smugglers, a US official familiar with the ongoing investigation tells CNN.
The US citizens have no concerning criminal history that has been identified by investigators, the source said.
The group of friends, who were bonded “like glue,” grew up together in South Carolina, Brown’s sister Zalandria Brown told CNN. She added, that she and her brother are also close. “Zindell is like my shadow, he’s like my son, he’s like my hip bone. We’re just tight like that.”
This was the second time Washington McGee, a mother of six children,had gone to Mexico for a medical procedure, her mother said. About two to three years ago, Burgess said, her daughter traveled to the country for a surgery.
Mexico has become a popular destination for “medical tourism,” attracting travelers who may be seeking cheaper alternatives or medical treatments that are unapproved or unavailable in the US. But the CDC warns the growing trend can carry dangerous risks depending on the destination and facility, including infection and possible post-procedure complications.
Receipts found in the group’s vehicle also indicated the Americans were in Mexico for medical procedures, a US official with knowledge of the investigation tells CNN.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday that the group had crossed the border to “buy medicines” and assured the “whole government” is working to resolve the case.
Federal and local Mexican authorities are participating in the effort to locate the missing Americans, Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica said Monday.
The White House and US State Department are “closely following” the case, spokespeople said in briefings Monday.
“These sorts of attacks are unacceptable. Our thoughts are with the families of these individuals and we stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday, adding that the State and Homeland Security departments are coordinating with Mexican authorities.
“We will continue to coordinate with Mexico and push them to bring those responsible to justice,” Jean-Pierre said.
CNN has reached out to the FBI, the Tamaulipas Secretary of Public Security’s office and the Mexican Attorney General’s Office for more information.
Washington McGee’s aunt, Mary McFadden, told CNN that when the family hadn’t heard from the group of friends by Sunday, they began searching online for any news related to their travel destination. Then, the family saw a video McFadden described as showing her niece being kidnapped.
“We recognized her and her blonde hair,” McFadden said. She said she also recognized her niece’s clothing from a live video Washington McGee had posted to Facebook earlier Friday.
“This happened in plain daylight. We don’t know if she is dead or alive. The last picture we saw, she was walking alive,” McFadden said.
“She is a mother and we need her to come back here for her kids,” she said, adding that Washington McGee’s children range in age from 6 to 18 years old.
A video obtained by CNN shows a woman and other unidentified people being roughly loaded into a white pickup truck. CNN has confirmed the video matches the incident but has not independently confirmed it is the four Americans shown in the video.
The video shows the woman being pulled or pushed onto the bed of the truck by two unidentified people as a third visibly armed man watches. The three men then appear to drag at least two limp people onto the truck bed, the video shows.
Additionally, photos obtained by CNN appear to show fragments of the scene where the situation occurred, including the car believed to have been driven by the Americans crashed with another vehicle before they were taken at gunpoint from the scene.
The US citizens were driving a white minivan with North Carolina plates, according to the FBI in San Antonio.
The FBI would not confirm the authenticity of the photos, but CNN has geolocated the images and confirmed their authenticity with a US official with knowledge of the investigation.
The photos also show a woman looking at and then sitting next to three people lying on the ground outside a white minivan. All the doors of the van are open. It is unclear whether the four people in the photos are the US citizens.
The woman then appears to have been loaded onto the bed of a white pickup truck, beside which several people can be seen lying on the street, the photos show.
One photo shows that an ambulance arrived, but it’s unclear if medical attention was being provided.
Investigators trying to locate the US citizens and identify those involved in the alleged kidnapping have been working to gather surveillance footage, collect ballistics and fingerprint evidence, take biological samples for genetic profiles and process the vehicles involved, Tamaulipas officials said.
A joint task force of federal and state agencies has been created for “processing all the information related to the case” and maintaining constant communication with US officials, Barrios Mojica, the Tamaulipas Attorney General, said.
“Given the presumption that they are American citizens, a line of direct communication was established with US authorities to exchange information and dedicated to locating them. These communications are being carried out at the highest level between the State Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the United States Embassy in Mexico,” Barrios Mojica said.
The FBI is also requesting the public’s help in finding the Americans and identifyinganyone involved in the incident. The agency announced a $50,000 reward for the return of the victims and the arrest of those responsible.
Ongoing violence has plagued some Mexican cities as they become the backdrop of organized crime and drug trafficking operations, which the country’s government has been battling since at least 2006.
Matamoros, a city in the state of Tamaulipas, has a population of more than 500,000 people and is located just across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas. The city has recently been the site of a large encampment of asylum-seeking migrants hoping to cross into the US.
The US State Department has issued a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory for US citizens thinking of going to Tamaulipas, citing crime and kidnapping.
“Criminal groups target public and private passenger buses, as well as private automobiles traveling through Tamaulipas, often taking passengers and demanding ransom payments,” the State Department advisory says.
China’s new foreign minister, Qin Gang in his first press conference has warned that “conflict and confrontation” with the US is unavoidable if Washington does not reverse course.
Qin had a reputation for being a cautious and skilled diplomat while serving as China’s ambassador to the US until recently.
Nevertheless, he adopted a much more aggressive tone in his maiden speech as foreign minister at China’s annual legislature gathering, warning of the “catastrophic implications” of what he called Washington’s “reckless gamble” in how it treats its fellow superpower.
“If the United States does not hit the brakes, but continues to speed down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing, and there will surely be conflict and confrontation,” Qin said on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress in Beijing.
At the highly scripted event, Qin set the tone for China’s foreign policy for the coming year and beyond, berating the US for rising bilateral tensions and defending Beijing’s close partnership with Moscow.
Ties between the world’s two largest economies are at their worst in decades, and tensions soared further last month after a suspected Chinese spy balloon floated over North America and was then shot down by US fighter jets.
On Tuesday, Qin accused the US of overreacting in its response, which he said created “a diplomatic crisis that could have been avoided.”
The incident, Qin said, shows “the US perception and views of China are seriously distorted. It regards China as its primary rival and the biggest geopolitical challenge.”
“The US claims it seeks to compete with China but does not seek conflict. But in reality, the so-called ‘competition’ by the US is all-round containment and suppression, a zero-sum game of life and death,” he said.
“Containment and suppression will not make America great, and the US will not stop the rejuvenation of China,” Qin said.
The great power rivalry between the US and China has intensified in recent years.
Under leader Xi Jinping, China has become increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad, taking a more aggressive approach to exert its influence and counter the West.
And Washington has pushed back.
Under the Biden administration, the US has shored up ties with allies and partners to contain Beijing’s rising influence, including in its backyard.
It has also pushed to decouple from China in emerging technologies, recently banning the export of advanced chips to the fury of Beijing.
Qin lashed out at Washington for its Indo-Pacific strategy, accusing it of forming exclusive blocks to provoke confrontation, advocating for decoupling and plotting an “Asia-Pacific version of NATO.”
“The real purpose of the Indo-Pacific strategy is to contain China,” Qin said. “No Cold War should be repeated in Asia, and no Ukraine-style crisis should be repeated in Asia.”
China’s refusal to condemn Russia for the invasion of Ukraine and its growing partnership with Moscow have further strained its relations with the West. While Beijing has sought to cast itself as a neutral peace broker, it has also defended its “rock-solid” ties with Russia.
On Tuesday Qin said the Sino-Russian relationship “does not pose a threat to any country in the world, nor will it be interfered or sowed discord in by any third party.”
“The more unstable the world becomes, the more imperative it is for China and Russia to steadily advance their relations,” he said.
Qin highlighted the issue of Taiwan as the “bedrock of the political foundation of Sino-US relations and the first red line that must not be crossed.”
The Chinese Communist Party claims the self-governing democracy of Taiwan as part of its territory, despite having never controlled it, and refuses to rule out the use of force to “reunify” it with mainland China.
On Tuesday, Qin urged the US not to “interfere in China’s internal affairs” and questioned Washington’s different responses to the issues of Ukraine and Taiwan.
“Why does the US talk up respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity on the Ukraine issue, but does not respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity on the issue of Taiwan? Why does the US ask China not to provide weapons to Russia while keeps selling arms to Taiwan?” Qin said.
Qin’s remarks come amid reports of a potential meeting between Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in April.
The Financial Times reported Monday that Tsai could meet McCarthy in California, rather than in Taiwan as the US Speaker had initially indicated.
A US State Department spokesperson said Monday he was “not aware of any confirmed travel” by the Taiwanese President, and Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said it had no information to share regarding any potential US visit.
However, regardless of the location, a face to face between Tsai and a senior US politician will most certainly draw the ire of Beijing, fueling even more tensions in already tense relations across the Taiwan Strait – and between US and China.
Defying Beijing’s threats of retaliation, McCarthy’s Democratic predecessor Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei in August in the first trip by a US Speaker in 25 years.
Beijing responded by staging unprecedented military exercises around Taiwan and cutting off key lines of communication with the US.
China’s Foreign Ministry has since warned McCarthy not to visit Taiwan.
Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist with the Australia National University’s Taiwan Studies Program, said Tsai’s potential meeting with McCarthy in California is not necessarily a “replacement or downgrade.”
Instead, it could be an “add-on,” he said, suggesting McCarthy could always visit Taiwan at a later date.
While Taiwan wants to normalize high-level visits by American officials to Taiwan, it also needs to be seen by its Western partners that it is being a responsible stakeholder in the process.
“Some may think that there is better timing than this current moment to be pursing another US speaker visit to Taiwan,” Sung said.
A meeting in the US, he added, could serve as “a very visual deliverable in the short term to show continued US support for Taiwan, regardless of change of party leadership in the legislature.”
Tsai has transited in the US before on her visits to Taipei’s diplomatic allies.
She last visited the US in 2019 and gave a speech in New York – a trip that angered Beijing.
To China, Tsai’s potential meeting with McCarthy will be provocative no matter where it takes place, Sung said.
“Beijing is going to be very unhappy and protest vigorously regardless. So I guess for them it will be a difference in intensity, but not a difference in kind. Beijing won’t like any such high level exchange be it taking place on Taiwan or US soil.”
This was revealed in a statement signed by the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Per-Kjetil Skare, noting that the move was after “carefully considering all options.”
It added that the “AGM is an independent company and the decision has no implication for Aker Energy’s plans in Ghana.”
Meanwhile, AGM noted that it has carried out the substantial activity in Ghana and contributed through drilling two ultra-deepwater wells including the Nyankom discovery, and matured the subsurface understanding to benefit the Ghanaian authorities and other industry players.
In Kochi, a city in southern India, firefighters were working hard on Tuesday to stop the spread of hazardous fumes after a dump caught fire five days earlier, engulfing the area in a dense haze and suffocating locals.
The tall Brahmapuram landfill in Kerala state is the most recent garbage mountain in India to catch fire, contributing to the country’s increasing climate difficulties by producing deadly heat and methane emissions.
Officials encouraged residents of the more than 600,000-person metropolis to stay inside or, if they must go outside, to wear N95 face masks. Officials reported that the pollution caused the closure of schools on Monday.
The blaze broke out last Thursday, according to Kerala’s fire department. The cause has not been established, but landfill fires can be triggered by combustible gases from disintegrating garbage. Images and video released by officials showed workers racing to extinguish the billowing flames that sent thick plumes of toxic smoke rising high into the sky.
While the fire has been largely put out, a thick cloud of smoke and methane gas continues to cover the area, reducing visibility and the city’s air quality, while emitting a lingering, pungent odor.
Some firefighters had fainted from the fumes, the fire department said.
Kerala’s top court said it will take up the case on Tuesday.
India creates more methane from landfill sites than any other country, according to GHGSat, which monitors emissions via satellites. Methane is the second most abundant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide – but it is a more potent contributor to the climate crisis because it traps more heat.
As part of his “Clean India” initiative, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said efforts are being made to remove these mountains of garbage and convert them into green zones. That goal, if achieved, could relieve some of the suffering of those residents living in the shadows of these enormous dump sites – and help the world lower its greenhouse gas emissions.
But while India wants to lower its methane output, it hasn’t joined the 150 countries that have signed up to the Global Methane Pledge, a pact to collectively cut global emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. Scientists estimate the reduction could cut global temperature rise by 0.2% – and help the world reach its target of keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius.
India says it won’t join because most of its methane emissions come from farming – some 74% from farm animals and paddy fields versus less than 15% from landfill.
In 2021, India’s environment minister Ashwini Choubey said pledging to reduce the country’s total methane output could threaten the livelihood of farmers and impact the economy. But environmentalists say the country is facing a dire climate challenge from its steaming mounds of trash.
Brahmapuram is just one of some 3,000 Indian landfills overflowing with decaying waste and emitting toxic gases.
Commissioned in 2008, the landfill is spread across 16 acres, according to a 2020 report from the International Urban Cooperation, a European Union program.
The landfill receives about 100 metric tons of plastic waste each day, the study added, of which only about 1% is suitable for recycling. The remaining 99% is dumped as a heap at the site, the study said, calling it a “menace for the municipal corporation.”
“The plastic dump at Brahmapuram is increasing in size day by day,” it said. “It has seen several fires over the past few years, thus polluting the air and the environment.”
Despite its growing size and threats, the landfill is not India’s largest. The Deonar dumping ground in the western coastal city of Mumbai, which stands at some 18 stories high, claims the top spot.
Deonar has also seen sporadic fires break out, enveloping about a million residents in the nearby Chembur, Govandi and Mankhurd suburbs.
There is no formal processing of waste in most Indian cities, according to the government’s Central Pollution Board. Rag pickers from nearby slums often trek up the towering mounds and scour through the waste for a few cents per day, but they are not trained in properly segregating it.
In some cases, the trash is simply burned in open dump yards on the roads.
Last year, firefighters worked for days to extinguish flames after a fire broke out at Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill – the capital city’s largest.
Standing at 65 meters (213 feet), it is nearly as tall as the historic Taj Mahal, becoming a landmark in its own right and an eyesore that towers over surrounding homes, affecting the health of people who live there.
And methane emissions aren’t the only hazard that stem from the landfill. Over decades, dangerous toxins have seeped into the ground, polluting the water supply for thousands living nearby.
At Bhalswa, one of Delhi’s other large landfills, residents have complained of deep, painful skin gashes and respiratory issues from years of living near the hazardous mound.
In a 2019 report, the Indian government recommended ways to improve the country’s solid waste management, including formalizing the recycling sector and installing more compost plants in the country.
While some improvements have been made, such as better door-to-door garbage collection and processing of waste, India’s landfills continue to grow in size.
And as the country is expected to soon overtake China as the the world’s most populous nation, climate experts fear time to act upon the issue is running out.
Controversial Nollywood actor Uche Maduagwu has challenged Nigerian journalist Kemi Olunloyo to come out with evidence of actress Tonto Dikeh and fraudster Ramon Olorunwa Abbas popularly known as Hushpuppi in a hotel together.
Recall that Kemi had accused Tonto Dikeh of once dating Hushpuppi, getting pregnant for her lovers without knowing the father, aborting pregnancy, taking hard drugs, and also refusing ex-husband, Olakunle Churchill access to their son despite court instructions.
This infuriated Uche Maduagwu, who sent Kemi a notice of caution daring her to back up any charges she makes against Tonto with evidence or face legal action.
Uche claims to have persuaded Tonto Dikeh not to involve the police in the situation.
In a post on his Instagram page, Uche claimed that Kemi had been accusing individuals of a variety of offenses, like making fun of Peter Obi of the Labour Party, and now she’s doing same to Tonto.
He added that this won’t work because Tonto won’t take things lying down so Kemi should bring evidence.
He wrote: “I cannot count the number of Times I’ve begged Mama King on PHONE for your matter, that she should not involve Police or ILE EJO, because we all know where all your KATI KATI led you to on top Rivers Pastor matter, but now, it is clear, at 58, you no WAN grow up spiritually, so if you no fit provide Evidence over this your Latest allegation of tontolet dating or coming out of IKOYI Hotel with Hushpuppi, you go provide am for ILE EJO. You mocked Peter OBI for Crying on TV, OBIDIENTS no talk, now you cook up this LIE?”
Efforts to advance gender equality are “vanishing before our eyes,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said in a Monday address to the Commission on the Status of Women.
According to the most recent projections from UN Women, the UN agency devoted to gender equality and the empowerment of women, gender equality is “300 years away,” said Guterres, speaking to the important UN women’s rights group before March 8’s International Women’s Day.
Guterres cited high rates of maternal mortality, girls being forced into early marriage, and girls being kidnapped and assaulted for attending school as evidence that hope of achieving gender equality “is growing more distant.”
In his speech, Guterres did not mention Iran, which was expelled from the 45-member commission in December over protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s so-called “morality police.”
“Women’s rights are being abused, threatened, and violated around the world,” Guterres said, naming a few countries in particular, including Afghanistan, where he said “women and girls have been erased from public life.”
On Monday, young Afghan women gathered outside Kabul University to protest the ruling Taliban’s ban on female education, a restriction which a new UN report says may amount to “a crime against humanity.”
The report presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday also noted the rise in forced and child marriages, the ban excluding women from other public spaces like parks and gyms, and other restrictions limiting women’s ability to work and travel independently in Afghanistan.
Guterres said the deputy secretary-general and the executive director of UN Women recently visited Afghanistan and conveyed to the Taliban authorities that “we will never give up fighting for” women and girls.
“Crisis and conflict affect women and girls first and worst,” Guterres said, including the war in Ukraine as an example. Last year, the UN called for an investigation into reports of rape and sexual violence against Ukrainian women and children following Russia’s invasion.
Guterres also said that “in many places, women’s sexual and reproductive rights are being rolled back,” though he didn’t specify where.
Last June, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, leaving the right to abortion up to individual states. The year before, a ban on abortions due to fetal defects took effect in Poland – essentially ending almost all abortions in the country.
To achieve gender equality, Guterres called for “collective” and “urgent” action, from increasing education, income and employment for women and girls, especially in developing nations in the Global South, to promoting the participation of women and girls in science and technology.
“Centuries of patriarchy, discrimination and harmful stereotypes have created a huge gender gap in science and technology,” Guterres said. “Let’s be clear: global frameworks are not working for the world’s women and girls. They need to change.”
This week, the final full moon of the winter will illuminate the sky, providing skywatchers with yet another unique opportunity.
The March moon, known as the “worm moon” by Native American tribes in the 18th century as a reference to various critters emerging from their winter dens to welcome spring, will achieve its highest light around 7:42 a.m. ET on Tuesday, March 7. But, if someone were to glance up at the correct time, they might also see a breathtaking planetary phenomena.
“What is a little more interesting now, and also visible tonight and this week, are the close and prominent positioning of Venus and Jupiter in the western sky right after sunset,” said Mike Hankey, operations manager for the American Meteor Society, via email. “The astronomical word for this is ‘conjunction.’ These planets will be setting as the moon is rising, so they are only visible for about an hour at sunset, near the western horizon.”
People who get a little rain on Monday or Tuesday night might also get to spot a moonbow, which is like a solar rainbow but produced by moonlight when it’s refracted through water droplets in the air, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Moonbows only happen when a full moon is low in the sky, so look for them after sunset when the sky is dark.
The worm moon isn’t your last chance to catch a special space or sky event. Here are the full moons, eclipses and meteor showers to watch out for this year.
Most years have 12 full moons, but 2023 will have 13, with two — which are supermoons — happening in August. Supermoons are brighter and closer to Earth than normal and therefore appear larger in the sky.
Here’s the list of full moons remaining in 2023, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac:
April 6: Pink moon
May 5: Flower moon
June 3: Strawberry moon
July 3: Buck moon
August 1: Sturgeon moon
August 30: Blue moon
September 29: Harvest moon
October 28: Hunter’s moon
November 27: Beaver moon
December 26: Cold moon
There will be two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses in 2023.
A total solar eclipse — when the moon moves between the sun and Earth, blocking the sun — will be visible to people in Australia, Southeast Asia and Antarctica on April 20.
An annular solar eclipse will occur on October 14 and be visible across North, Central and South America. This is when the moon passes between the sun and Earth when the moon is at or near its farthest point from Earth — making the moon appear smaller than the sun and creating a glowing ring around the moon.
When viewing solar eclipses, wear proper eclipse glasses to avoid eye-damaging sunlight.
A penumbral lunar eclipse — when the moon moves through the penumbra, the faint, outer part of Earth’s shadow — will occur on May 5 for those in Africa, Asia and Australia.
On October 28, a partial lunar eclipse will be viewable by people in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, parts of North America and much of South America. That’s when the sun, Earth and moon don’t completely align, so only part of the moon passes into shadow.
There are 11 more meteor showers to catch this year, and they are most visible from late evening until dawn in areas unaffected by light pollution.
Ghanaian socialite, Andreas Owusu, popularly known as Efia Odo, has once again sought the attention of Ghanaian musician, Black Sherif.
This was spotted during her reaction to a recent picture Black Sherif shared on Twitter.
The Ghanaian rapper took to Twitter to share a picture of himself with the caption ‘Pink watch joker is not smiling.”
As usual, the post gathered a lot of engagement from fans who liked, shared, and retweeted.
However, Efia Odo, who seems to be a distant admirer of Black Sherif also shared his post but with an interesting caption which read, ‘I got something pink that will make you smile.’
Her statement has got netizens wondering what exactly she was referring to.
Others who think Efia Odo’s comment might be somewhat related to something sexual have asked her to keep off, as they believe the rapper is still very much young.
Black Sherif on the other hand, is yet to respond to her offer.
This isn’t the first time Efia Odo has made subtle advances at Black Sherif on social media.
Earlier in December 2022, the actress reacted to a viral photo of the rapper in which he was said to have had an erection.
“What’s that in his pocket”? Efia Odo wrote beneath the picture where Black Sherif’s alleged ‘boner’ was spotted.
The demise of Nigerian talented Tik Tok dancer Obi Madubogwu who is popularly known as Odogwu Mara has left his family in a state of trauma and difficult moment.
According to GossipmillNaija, the young man who was well-known for his exuberant dance performances on TikTok passed away after consuming potentially poisonous Indian hemp.
Since then, the young man’s fans and followers have flooded his social media page with condolence messages, while some have just expressed astonishment at his untimely passing.
