According to him, not everyone who claims to be a beggar is really poor and that helping some people can kill you before your time.
In a tweet, David Osei explained that some of these so-called beggars can harm the givers.
He emphasised that some of them can even kill the people who genuinely opted to help before their time, so people need to be extra careful and apply wisdom to their philanthropic deeds.
“Not every poor person deserves your help!! Be careful out there, before they kill you before your time!! #wisdom,” he tweeted.
His assertion comes at a time when many people find it difficult to give because of the alleged instances that some of the beggars are agents of devil who are out to destroy people.
Other schools of thought even have it that most of the foreigners begging on the streets are doing so to raise money to sponsor terrorism operations and groups.
Prince David Osei is a famous Ghanaian actor, model, producer, director, and philanthropist.
In 2005 he joined the Ghana Movie Industry (Ghallywood) started attending movie auditions and was selected for minor roles. In 2006, Prince David Osei rose to fame after starring in the blockbuster movie “Fortune Island” which gave him an award as Best Actor of the Year in Ghana at the City People Entertainment Awards.
After his success in the Ghana movie industry, Prince David Osei was welcomed to Nollywood and since then he has acted in several Nollywood blockbuster movies alongside Mercy Johnson, Chika Ike, Omotola Jalade, Genevieve Nnaji, Desmond Elliot, Ramsey Noah, Jim Iyke, Ken Erics and a host of other top Nollywood celebrities.
Ghanaian businessman, Osebo The Zaraman believes that Christians have been brainwashed into accepting certain things, which include false practices under the pretext of Christian worship.
According to Osebo, a majority of Christians in Ghana and Africa have neglected the true gospel by falling victim to fake preachers who have exploited them for years.
In an interview with blogger Nkonkonsa, Osebo called for a change of mind among some believers while urging Christians to worship God in truth and also uncover the mysteries of their religion.
“If apple can cure sicknesses, then there will be no sick person in Italy. People fetch River Jordan and bring it into the country. If it heals sicknesses, people over there wouldn’t have been ill. We have been brainwashed into believing certain things. In Africa, Christianity is our first priority. Christianity is not practiced through only preaching. You prove it by your deeds.
Every Saturday, I donate. I don’t fast, I don’t visit the Atwea Mountains, MOGPA or Achimota Forest to pray. God listens to our prayers no matter the location. The fastest way by which God listens to our prayers is through the act of giving. It is not through cheap talk,” he disclosed.
“Faith and work complement each other. Paul said it in the bible. What is your faith? Is your faith about storming the church with canes to lash the devil? Is it by stomping your foot in churches disrespectfully whiles requesting things from God? We don’t understand Christianity,” he added.
The fashionista who highlighted the importance of giving to the needy admonished Christians to channel their energies into positive things instead of blaming the devil for every happening.
Artworks generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) have become a source of controversy, but Nigerian filmmaker and artist Malik Afegbua is making a case that it can challenge us to create a better real world – and a more stylish one for older people.
At first glance, his images look like they were snapped on the edge of a fashion runway, but these models are not actually real people.
Instead, the pictures are the result of Afegbua’s imagination working in conjunction with AI software, showing older-looking models in beautiful clothes.
He knew he had created something special after he had posted them on social media.
Especially after they caught the eye of the Oscar-winning costume designer behind the Black Panther films, Ruth Carter. “This is so dope!!” she wrote on Instagram.
Malik Afegbua/SlickCity
The series of images, called Fashion Show For Seniors, has attracted thousands of similar comments.
With more than 100,000 likes for the pictures on social media, Afegbua’s work has clearly made an impact in the real world. But questions linger about whether computer-generated work is a threat to human creativity. There are ethical issues as well.
The artist, though, takes a thoughtful and nuanced approach.
Malik Afegbua/SlickCity
We are just about to get the Zoom interview started, with Afegbua sitting in his home office in Lagos, Nigeria – when his two-year-old son calls out for a bit of attention.
“He was born smart and everything he does is so techie. He already knows how to use mobile phones and iPads,” he says proudly.
It is clear that he is passing down his love of technology and art to his son, but what made this business-school graduate pivot into pursuing a creative career?
“Someone gifted me a camera and that’s where it took off.”
He became a filmmaker and now produces commercials, documentary films and virtual reality exhibitions. He also embraced the emergence of AI as a newly leading force in art.
With his fashion show series, he saw an opportunity to challenge what he sees as the marginalisation of older people in society and wanted to challenge perceptions around ageing.
“I’ve never seen a fashion show for elderly people, but they exist – so why not?”
Malik Afegbua/SlickCity
One obvious objection is that there are real elderly people, and real fashion designers, who could have been photographed in the real world.
But for Afegbua it is the aspirational message behind the images that is crucial.
He believes they can make people think: “What if we start doing things in this way?”
Malik Afegbua/SlickCity
There has been some backlash against the use of AI in art, centred around whether computers can truly replicate human creativity, but Afegbua sees this as an exciting opportunity for artists to evolve.
AI image software either takes keywords (called prompts) that are suggested by the artist or uses uploaded photos, to create an image based on that information.
What Afegbua says he is doing with his work is teaching AI to become more creative and, in turn, he makes new discoveries.
“Artificial intelligence learns from us and learns from the World Wide Web. I try to learn from it as well. I try to learn how to talk to it, how to communicate better to get exact results from it.”
Malik Afegbua/SlickCity
For the Fashion Show for Seniors pictures, Afegbua went back and forth with several AI-image generators – he uses three different ones for a variety of results – to find a look that was just right for his “models”.
“I’m a lover of fashion, and I always like to experiment. I wanted to mix traditional African Nigerian fashion with something futuristic, something Afro-futuristic.”
Another set of pictures, which he calls his Fiction series, is also inspired by an idea of the future – despite dating the world he has created to 250,000 years ago.
Galvanised by the stylings of Black Panther’s Wakanda army and his new Hollywood pal, Ruth Carter, the collection of images represents the people of Ngochola, an imagined ancient African civilisation.
Malik Afegbua/SlickCity
“They can speak to machines with their minds because they’ve cracked different codes. They’re very technologically advanced in that they understand how to mix biology with, you know, technology, and combine it together,” he says of the people living in Ngochola.
Malik Afegbua/SlickCity
It is clear that Afegbua is an unapologetic champion for the use of AI in art, but he recognises concerns around its use may be valid.
Recently there have been complaints that, without acknowledgement, artists’ original work is being used as source material which is then manipulated.
This is not Afegbua’s method, but he knows that AI can be used like this.
“When it comes to AI, there are a lot of ethical issues in terms of it stealing other people’s work to create lots of different things,” he admits. “It’s a tool – and every tool can be used in an unethical way.”
There does not seem to be any let-up in demand for AI-generated images, with the #AIfilter hashtag racking up 1.3 billion views on TikTok, where users have been uploading selfies in return for a new computer-generated picture of themselves.
Malik Afegbua/SlickCity
Afegbua is an optimist when it comes to the use of technology in art.
“I don’t think it has a shelf life. I think it’s only going to get better because the algorithms keep getting better. The engines keep getting better.”
“I feel that it’s going help shape the storytelling and the intentional picture of Africa now, because it makes things a lot more accessible.”
Malik Afegbua/SlickCity
In this vein, Afegbua plans to continue developing the Elder series.
He wants to use the AI technology to help re-imagine what is possible today and in the future.
Prince Bright, also known as Bling Sparkles, is a Ghanaian hip-life musician.
He is the sole member of the Buk Bak music group after the demise of his partner, Ronny Coaches.
The artiste is the next to take his turn on E Vibes as he takes fans through his journey to stardom.
Prince Bright says he is not retiring anytime soon from music as he’s got a lot up his sleeves for all music lovers.
Prince started his primary education at Kings College in Kokomlemle, and continued to City Secondary Business College before moving to Accra Technical Training Centre in Accra to study Graphics and Design, where he met Ronny.
Make a date for the full story on JoyNews at 8:30 am February 25, and Joy Prime at 4:30 PM on February 25.
The E Vibes show strives to evoke memories through the setting of the interview and their rise, the memories they made on their way to the top with the hope that their unique stories will help shape the younger generation.
E Vibes is different from your regular day-to-day interviews. This show is carefully designed to provide some quality time with selected personalities
Since taking off in November 2020, some of the biggest global icons in music, movies and the political space have been featured on the show by the exciting Becky who simply “got the Vibes”.
Shaquille O’Neal, 50, has become an official member of The Navy, as he defends Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show from critics.
On Friday, the four-time NBA champion spoke on the “Diamonds” singer’s halftime performance on his podcast show, The Big Podcast with Shaq, responding to her haters, telling them to “shut the f#ck up.”
“All you people disrespecting Rihanna, shut your face. Shut it up. We living in a world where people got too much freedom, keep your f—ing thoughts to yourself. She did a wonderful job. She’s pregnant, she blessed it, she did her thing, she didn’t fall. Just leave it there. All you superstars, that’s disrespectful and causing beef, shut your face,” O’Neal said.
O’Neal scorned internet trolls. He continues saying, “If she was my woman and I seen one of you superstars do that, I’m gonna have to get at you. Rappers. Presidential candidates. I’m gonna have to get at you. Leave her alone.”
On Feb. 12, Rihanna took center stage for the first time in seven years. She performed a twelve-song medley, seemingly announcing her second pregnancy with her long-time boyfriend, ASAP Rocky.
The pair welcomed their first child, a baby boy, in May last year. The highly anticipated show reached nearly 119 million views Sunday night.
The couple and their son recently posed for British Vogue for the March cover. On Instagram, Rihanna revealed she had no clue she was pregnant while shooting the cover. In an Instagram post, the Barbadian singer wrote, “my son so fine! Idc idc idc! How crazy both of my babies were in these photos and mommy had no clue .”
But for the Lord who showed his undeserving mercies on gospel musician Stella Aba Seal, she would not be among the living.
Madam Seal, in an interview with Zionfelix, noted that her quest to have fibroids removed from her uterus almost turned fatal due to medical negligence,
She revealed that she underwent the procedure at one of Ghana’s notable hospitals, and though she was scared, they assured her of excellent services.
“It was my very first surgery. I was very scared since my best friend’s mother died from the same fibroid surgery. So I did not want to be put to sleep. I wanted to see and hear everything but not feel the pain. So they injected me with anesthesia.”
However, Madam Seal said the health workers did not wait for the drug to take effect before they began operating on her.
She recounted how she screamed due to the excruciating pain she felt when one side of her abdomen was slashed wide open.
“I don’t even want to remember it. I almost died twice. The anesthetist panicked and wanted to administer another one. I began screaming ‘don’t put me to sleep’, but they ignored and injected the drug into my veins.
Madam Seal said she was dazed but awake and felt everything, including the moment the doctors pushed her womb back into its place.
At some point, she narrated that she dozed off and woke up in her private ward, but her pain was far from over.
She was close to death again after her surgery, but was saved narrowly by a nurse whose contact she had saved on her phone.
According to her, the anesthetist apologized profusely for the near fatal mistake.
“The anesthetist came to me to apologize. She said she was going through a relationship challenge and she was confused. She said it was her fault. She should have taken me through test to see if I was numb or not.”
Madam Seal said the apology, coupled with some personal reasons prevented her from suing the hospital as she had intended.
According to her, she has been through a lot of setbacks in life, but that particular incident is still embedded in her memory and she doubts she will ever forget.
World War One epic All Quiet on the Western Front has dominated at the Baftas, taking home seven awards, including best film.
It also won best adapted screenplay, best film not in the English language and best director for Edward Berger.
Its seven wins mean it has broken the Bafta record for the most awards won by a film not in English.
The Banshees of Inisherin was among the other big winners, taking outstanding British film and two acting prizes.
The big winners
7 – All Quiet on the Western Front
4 – The Banshees of Inisherin
4 – Elvis
Scottish screenwriter and producer Lesley Paterson accepted best adapted screenplay for All Quiet on the Western FrontThe filmmaker behind the World War One epic, Edward Berger, was also named best director
All Quiet on the Western Front is a screen adaptation of the 1928 novel by Erich Maria Remarque. In is his acceptance speech for best film not in the English language, Berger said the filmmakers “grew up with a responsibility to tell the story” and were honoured the public had “accepted it with overwhelming love”.
He also paid tribute to those fighting in Ukraine and told the audience he was able to get over his own “doubt” about making the film thanks to his daughter Matilda, who had encouraged him after reading the book at school.
Kerry Condon was named best supporting actress for The Banshees of Inisherin
Irish stars Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan won best supporting actress and actor, and the movie was named outstanding British film despite its Irish setting and storyline.
After winning that award, director Martin McDonagh initially joked: “Best ‘what’ award?” But he then clarified the film was eligible for the category thanks to its financing from Channel 4.
He also accepted the prize for best original screenplay. In his speech, he said: “Making such a sad film shouldn’t have been this much fun, but it was because of [the cast].”
Dublin-born Keoghan, who spent time in care as a child, dedicated his supporting actor prize to “the kids from the area that I came from who are dreaming to be something”.
In her own acceptance speech, Condon told McDonagh: “Thank you for all the parts you’ve given me throughout my career. They make me feel so proud to be an Irishwoman.”
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic was another big winner, also taking home four prizes – best casting, costume design, make-up and hair and best leading actor.
Austin Butler, who played the titular role in Elvis, thanked the Presley family in his acceptance speech
Austin Butler, who played the legendary singer in Elvis, said in his acceptance speech: “This is truly extraordinary. To my fellow nominees, I am in awe of you. I am so grateful for all these times we’ve been able to spend together.”
He added: “I want to thank the Presley family, I cannot thank you enough for your love. I hope I’ve made you proud.”
Cate Blanchett was named best actress for her performance in Tár, in which she plays a renowned orchestra conductor whose career unravels when she is accused of abuse.
The Australian actress said the past 12 months had broken down the idea that women’s experiences are not “monolithic”, adding that her role as Lydia Tár “was a dangerous and career-ending potential undertaking”.
She also thanked her mother and the film’s director Todd Field, adding that 2022 had been an “extraordinary year for women”.
Banshees director Martin McDonagh accepted the awards for outstanding British film and best original screenplay
Earlier in the night, Carey Mulligan was incorrectly announced as the winner of best supporting actress before it was corrected to Condon.
Deaf actor Troy Kotsur, who won a Bafta last year for Coda, was announcing the winner using sign language and an interpreter when the mix-up occurred. It was edited out of the later broadcast on BBC One.
Elsewhere, there were wins for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (best animated feature), Babylon (best production design) and Aftersun (outstanding British debut).
As Aftersun director Charlotte Wells held up her trophy on stage, she joked: “My mum is here, this is for you… literally, because I overpacked.”
Aftersun director Charlotte Wells told her mother: “This [award] is for you… literally, because I overpacked”
Navalny won best documentary, and producer Odessa Rae used her acceptance speech to pay tribute to investigative journalist Christo Grozev, who could not be at the ceremony due to “a public security risk”.
Grozev, who features in the film about the poisoning of Kremlin-critic Alexei Navalny, claimed during the week that Bafta had withdrawn an invitation after acting on police advice.
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse, adapted from the illustrated book by Charlie Mackesy, won the Bafta for best British short animation.
Mackesy praised those involved in the adaptation and hailed those who strive to be “kind” and “brave” in life.
Sex Education star Emma Mackey won the rising star prize, calling her win “really special” and thanking “all the casts and crews I’ve had the privilege of working with thus far”.
Sex Education star Emma Mackey won the EE rising star award
Prior to Sunday’s wins for All Quiet On The Western Front, the record for the most Baftas for a non-English language film was held by Italian coming-of-age drama Cinema Paradiso, which scooped five in 1991.
The ceremony was hosted by Richard E Grant, who gave an assured and self-deprecating performance, with jokes that landed well with the audience.
It was a star-studded evening at this year’s BAFTA Film Awards, packed with the actors and creatives behind some of the last year’s best films.
All Quiet On The Western Front, The Banshees Of Inisherin, and Elvis all won top prizes, while Austin Butler, Cate Blanchett and rising star Emma Mackey were among the celebrities heading home with a golden-mask statuette.
Scroll down for the full list of winners.
BEST FILM All Quiet On The Western Front – Malte Grunert The Banshees Of Inisherin – Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh Elvis – Gail Berman, Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Patrick McCormick, Schuyler Weiss Everything Everywhere All At Once – Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang Tar – Todd Field, Scott Lambert, Alexandra Milchan
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM The Banshees Of Inisherin – Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin Aftersun – Charlotte Wells Brian and Charles – Jim Archer, Rupert Majendie, David Earl, Chris Hayward Empire Of Light – Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris Good Luck To You, Leo Grande – Sophie Hyde, Debbie Gray, Adrian Politowski, Katy Brand Living – Oliver Hermanus, Elizabeth Karlsen, Stephen Woolley, Kazuo Ishiguro Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical – Matthew Warchus, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Jon Finn, Luke Kelly, Dennis Kelly See How They Run – Tom George, Gina Carter, Damian Jones, Mark Chappell The Swimmers – Sally El Hosaini, Jack ThorneThe Wonder – Sebastian Lelio, Ed Guiney, Juliette Howell, Andrew Lowe, Tessa Ross, Alice Birch, Emma Donoghue
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER Aftersun – Charlotte Wells (writer/director) Blue Jean – Georgia Oakley (writer/director), Helene Sifre (producer) Electric Malady – Marie Liden (director) Good Luck To You, Leo Grande – Katy Brand (writer) Rebellion – Maia Kenworthy (director)
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE All Quiet On The Western Front – Edward Berger, Malte Grunert Argentina – 1985 Santiago Mitre Corsage – Marie Kreutzer Decision To Leave – Park Chan-wook, Ko Dae-seok The Quiet Girl – Colm Bairead, Cleona Ni Chrualaoi
DOCUMENTARY Navalny – Daniel Roher, Diane Becker, Shane Boris, Melanie Miller, Odessa Rae All That Breathers – Shaunak Sen, Teddy Leifer, Aman Mann All The Beauty And The Bloodshed – Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov, John Lyons Fire Of Love – Sara Dosa, Shane Boris, Ina Fichman Moonage Daydream – Brett Morgan
ANIMATED FILM Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio – Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar, Alex Bulkley Marcel The Shell With Shoes On – Dean Fleisher Camp, Andrew Goldman, Elisabeth Holm, Caroline Kaplan, Paul Mezey Puss In Boots: The Last Wish – Joel Crawford, Mark Swift Turning Red – Domee Shi, Lindsey Collins
DIRECTOR All Quiet On The Western Front – Edward Berger The Banshees Of Inisherin – Martin McDonagh Decision To Leave – Park Chan-wook Everything Everywhere All At Once – Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert Tar – Todd Field The Woman King – Gina Prince-Bythewood
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY The Banshees Of Inisherin – Martin McDonagh Everything Everywhere All At Once – Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert The Fabelmans – Tony Kushner, Steven Spielberg Tar – Todd Field Triangle Of Sadness – Ruben Ostlund
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY All Quiet On The Western Front – Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell Living – Kazuo Ishiguro The Quiet Girl – Colm Bairead She Said – Rebecca Lenkiewicz The Whale – Samuel D Hunter
LEADING ACTRESS Cate Blanchett – Tar Viola Davis – The Woman King Danielle Deadwyler – Till Ana de Armas – Blonde Emma Thompson – Good Luck To You, Leo Grande Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All At Once
LEADING ACTOR Austin Butler – Elvis Colin Farrell The Banshees of Inisherin Brendan Fraser – The Whale Daryl McCormack – Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Paul Mescal – Aftersun Bill Nighy – Living
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Hong Chau – The Whale Dolly De Leon – Triangle of Sadness Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All At Once Carey Mulligan – She Said
SUPPORTING ACTOR Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin Brendan Gleeson –The Banshees of Inisherin Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once Eddie Redmayne – The Good Nurse Albrecht Schuch – All Quiet On The Western Front Micheal Ward – Empire Of Light
ORIGINAL SCORE All Quiet On The Western Front – Volker Bertelmann Babylon – Justin Hurwitz The Banshees Of Inisherin – Carter Burwell Everything Everywhere All At Once – Son Lux Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio – Alexandre Desplat
CASTING Elvis – Nikki Barrett, Denise Chamian Aftersun – Lucy Pardee All Quiet On The Western Front – Simone Bar Everything Everywhere All At Once – Sarah Halley Finn Triangle Of Sadness – Pauline Hansson
EDITING Everything Everywhere All At Once – Paul Rogers All Quiet On The Western Front – Sven Budelmann The Banshees Of Inisherin – Mikkel EG Nielsen Elvis – Jonathan Redmond, Matt Villa Top Gun: Maverick – Eddie Hamilton
CINEMATOGRAPHY All Quiet On The Western Front – James Friend The Batman – Greig Fraser Elvis – Mandy Walker Empire Of Light – Roger Deakins Top Gun: Maverick – Claudio Miranda
MAKE UP & HAIR Elvis – Jason Baird, Mark Coulier, Louise Coulston, Shane Thomas All Quiet On The Western Front – Heike Merker The Batman – Naomi Donne, Mike Marino, Zoe Tahir Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical – Naomi Donne, Barrie Gower, Sharon Martin The Whale – Anne Marie Bradley, Judy Chin, Adrien Morot
PRODUCTION DESIGN Babylon – Florencia Martin, Anthony Carlino All Quiet On The Western Front – Christian M Goldbreck, Ernestine Hipper The Batman – James Chinlund, Lee Sandales Elvis – Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, Bev Dunn Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio – Curt Enderle, Guy Davis
COSTUME DESIGN Elvis – Catherine Martin All Quiet On The Western Front – Lisy Christl Amsterdam – JR Hawbaker, Albert Wolsky Babylon – Mary Zophres Mrs Harris Goes To Paris – Jenny Beavan
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS Avatar: The Way Of Water – Richard Baneham, Daniel Barrett, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon All Quiet On The Western Front – Markus Frank, Kamil Jafar, Viktor Muller, Frank Petzoid The Batman – Russell Earl, Dan Lemmon, Anders Langlands, Dominic Tuohy Everything Everywhere All At Once – Benjamin Brewer, Ethan Feldbau, Jonathan Kombrinck, Zak Stoltz Top Gun: Maverick – Seth Hill, Scott R Fisher, Bryan Litson, Ryan Tudhope
SOUND All Quiet On The Western Front – Lars Ginzsel, Frank Kruse, Viktor Prasil, Markus Stemler Avatar: The Way Of Water – Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Julian Howarth, Gary Summers, Gwendoyln Yates Whittle Elvis – Michael Keller, David Lee, Andy Nelson, Wayne Pashley Tar – Deb Adair, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley, Steve Single, Roland Winke Top Gun: Maverick – Chris Burdon, James H Mather, Al Nelson, Mark Taylor, Mark Weingarten
RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public Emma Mackey Aimee Lou Wood Daryl McCormack Naomi Ackie Sheila Atim
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse – Peter Baynton, Charlie Mackesy, Cara Speller, Hannah Minghella Middle Watch – John Stevenson, Aiesha Penwarden, Giles Healy Your Mountain Is Waiting – Hannah Jacobs, Zoe Muslim, Harriet Gillian
BRITISH SHORT FILM An Irish Goodbye – Tom Berkeley, Ross White The Ballad Of Olive Morris – Alex Kayode-Kay Bazigaga – Jo Ingabire Moys, Stephanie Charmail Bus Girl – Jessica Henwick, Louise Palmkvist Hansen A Drifting Up – Jacob Lee
When actresses Kyeiwaa and Christiana Awuni settled on a pavement at Tema Station to sell, what they did not expect was an embarrassing situation befalling them.
At that time, they had starred in the popular Sunday special, Cantata, but their wage was just fame and nothing substantial to show for it.
It is for this reason the duo decided to sell second-hand clothing to make extra income, but that dream was shattered the very day they made the attempt.
Christiana Awuni, who brought this to light in an interview onAdom TV’s The Journey, said they were chased out of the market by some traders.
“There was a day myself and Rose Mensah (Kyeiwaa) went to sell ‘fos’ at Tema Station. The traders mocked and hooted at us. It was terrible. They chased us out and we had to flee from the embarrassment”.
According to Christiana Awuni, the traders tagged her and Kyeiwaa as greedy fellows who wanted to kick them out of their little business.
The traders feared the actresses will use their fame to gather customers to their side while they (traders) went home empty-handed.
Christiana Awuni made the comments while speaking on some challenges of being a popular on-screen person.
She indicated that the restrictions that come with the job are many.
Ghanaian gospel musician Isaiah Kwadwo Ampong, popularly known as Great Ampong has said that he no longer holds any grudge against highlife artiste Daddy Lumba.
Ampong had publicly chastised Lumba over what he described as ‘cheating’ in a joint project they produced about seven years ago.
He told Nhyira FM in an interview that after receiving advice from a lot of people, he would not continue his beef with Lumba.
“Cheating is painful, but enough is enough. I have been advised by some chiefs and prestigious persons to let the matter slide. Everyone has tendencies of being a litigant but being able to let it go is what makes me a better Christian.
I have also worked for people and no one can come out and say I cheated them even though I had control of their songs as a writer. So if I don’t cheat them, I don’t expect anyone to cunningly cheat me. That’s my principle of life,” he said.
How the beef started
In 2015, gospel musician Great Ampong and highlife legend Charles Kwadwo Fosu released a joint album titled ‘Hosanna’.
Ampong told Delay in an interview in 2016 that it was Daddy Lumba that called him and asked that they should do a music project together.
“He called me on phone and said he was a fan of my works so he would like us to work on a project together. He invited me to his house and we had a discussion,” he noted.
The album has eight (8) songs but Ampong claims he wrote 6 out of the 10 songs. Some of the songs on the album include ‘Father and Son’, ‘Hosanna’, and ‘Jesus is a Winner’.
The project had a great reception but things did not go well for Ampong. According to him, after the launch of the album, Lumba took the money they got from the programme home without giving him a pesewa.
Meanwhile, he says he spent his resources on the launch and expected Lumba to give him some of the money.
Another allegation against Lumba is that the highlife musician uploaded all the songs they produced on his personal accounts on digital music stores.
Over the years, Ampong has remonstrated the act by Daddy Lumba on various platforms, describing how wicked the legendary musician had been to him.
In the wake of all this, Lumba has never made commentary on the matter.
Was Lumba’s ‘Ofon’ a diss song to Ampong?
When Lumba announced that he was going to release a song titled ‘Ofon N’adi Nsemfon’ (Twi expression translated as worthless people talk about worthless things) some had suggested it was a reply to the owner of Joy Daddy Industries who had earlier alleged that Lumba took their money without fulfilling his part of a contract they had.
But in an interview with Nyansaboakwa on Happy FM Ampong said Lumba’s song was actually meant for him and music producer Roland Acquah (RoRo).
He noted that 2018, he got the information that Lumba was going to release a ‘diss’ song for him.
“A boy from his camp told me Lumba had gone to record a song for me and Roro. I caught wind of the song in 2017, 2018. So I was looking forward to hearing the song. And now that he has released it, he’ll hear from me. This is the beef of the year,” the gospel musician said.
The gospel musician noted he was going to reply Lumba with a song.
However, he later said on Power FM that he had rescinded his decision and that the song he was going to release was not a diss song to Lumba.
Since the song,’Nyame Akatua’ was released, a lot of people have still linked it to Lumba.
Ampong advised to go to court
Ampong had said in several interviews that when Daddy Lumba requested for the joint project; he did not ask for any agreement to be signed.
According to the gospel musician, he thought Lumba was his elder brother who would not exploit him in any way.
However, some had advised that if it was true Ampong wrote 6 of the songs on the album, he should take Lumba to court.
Actress Tonto Dikeh has advised women to choose the father of their children wisely.
This follows an online banter between the actress and her ex-husband, Olakunle Churchill.
She had in a post on Instagram described the businessman as a deadbeat father.
She told women to be extra vigilant and look out for signs when choosing a partner to have a child with.
Tonto admonished women to rather learn from her so that they don’t make the same mistakes she did years ago.
According to the actress, her mission is not to hate a man but to figure out how to survive a broken man.
“Dear women choose the father of your child carefully. Don’t love me. Learn from me. If I can save one woman today, I live a fulfilled life forever. The mission is not to HATE A MAN, ITS HOW TO SURVIVE A BROKEN MAN. There are always signs, it’s there. Just look well…#SURVIVINGCHURCHILL #SURVIVINGAYAHOOBOY,” She wrote.
Ghanaian businessman, Osebo The Zaraman has called for a change of mind among some believers who have been brainwashed into accepting certain things, which include false practices under the guise of Christian worship.
According to Osebo, a majority of Christians in Ghana and Africa have neglected the true gospel by falling victim to fake preachers who have exploited them for years.
In his call, Osebo urged Christians to worship God in truth and also uncover the mysteries of their religion.
“If apple can cure sicknesses, then there will be no sick person in Italy. People fetch River Jordan and bring it into the country. If it heals sicknesses, people over there wouldn’t have been ill. We have been brainwashed into believing certain things. In Africa, Christianity is our first priority. Christianity is not practiced through only preaching.
You prove it by your deeds. Every Saturday, I donate. I don’t fast, I don’t visit the Atwea Mountains, MOGPA or Achimota Forest to pray. God listens to our prayers no matter the location. The fastest way by which God listens to our prayers is through the act of giving.
It is not through cheap talk,” he disclosed in an interview with blogger Nkonkonsa.
The fashionista who highlighted the importance of giving to the needy admonished Christians to channel their energies into positive things instead of blaming the devil for every happening.
“Faith and work complement each other. Paul said it in the bible. What is your faith? Is your faith about storming the church with canes to lash the devil? Is it by stomping your foot in churches disrespectfully whiles requesting things from God? We don’t understand Christianity,” he added.
Ghanaian businessman Nana Kwame Bediako, also known as Cheddar or Freedom Jacob Caesar, has been lauded for his assistance to Turkey in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake.
In a tweet, Turkish politician Dr. Lütfü Savaş praised the well-known businessman and philanthropist for his support in a message published on Twitter.
“It gives us hope to see support from all over the world with us. I would like to thank African Prince Freedom Jacob Caesar for his contributions to our city after the earthquake disaster we experienced,” he said.
In the photos, Cheddar was captured wearing khaki-coloured clothing, which he paired with boots and badges.
Meanwhile, the kind of support Chddar was said to have given, wasn’t stated in the politician’s post.
Cheddar’s visit was during the period when Ghanaian footballer, Christian Atsu was found under the rubble in Turkey.
Christian Atsu died tragically on February 6, 2023, after a catastrophic earthquake affected southern, central, and western Turkey and western Syria.
The earthquake caused severe damage and tens of thousands of casualties in the region.
After several weeks, his body was found and transported to Ghana on February 19, 2023.
Ghanaian singer, MzVee opened up about her high school experience and how she chose to study Home Economics because she was lazy and thought it would be the easiest way to acquire a second-cycle education.
However, she soon realized that the practical component of the course consumed so much of her time that she couldn’t read her books, making it one of the toughest things to do.
In a myjoyonline.com report, MzVee said that this experience taught her that nothing in life is easy and that everything is difficult if you want to succeed.
She stated that she lost interest in the course, but it was too late to make any changes, so she did her best to graduate.
“I picked Home Economics because I was lazy. I didn’t want to learn. I came to understand that it is one of the toughest things to actually do. Because the practical consumes so much of your time that you are unable to read your book.
“It was tough, and that’s where I learned my first lesson: nothing in life is easy. Everything is difficult. So far as you want to succeed at it, it is difficult,” she said.
Talking about how she found herself doing music, MzVee said she was influenced by a colleague in high school to join a girl’s band, D3, in 2012, which became the genesis of her music career.
She added that, although she never planned to pursue a career in music, she was discovered by Richie Mensah, who liked her voice after she went to the studio with her colleague, Samira Buari.
“That’s the shocker because I didn’t plan on doing music. I literally just stampeded upon this blessing. I didn’t send myself to see any producers,” MzVee explained.
MzVee is collaborating with Reddington Chalets to host an “Independence Concert” on March 4, 2023, at Whuti in the Volta Region.
Residents of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi (SALL) traditional areas have expressed their displeasure over government’s failure to grant them representation in Parliament.
In an open letter addressed to the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, the aggrieved residents say they are appalled by the state’s inability to address their concerns despite their numerous efforts.
The letter, which was signed by the Director of Research and Intelligence of the Joint Steering Committee of the Lolobi and Akpafu traditional areas, also blamed Parliament and the Electoral Commission for their woes.
According to the indigenes, the Electoral Commission is remotely responsible for their non-representation in Parliament. They described the Commission’s inaction as “bizarre”.
“The EC’s role in our plight cannot be overlooked.
“It is on record that the Joint Steering Committee (JSC), with the Paramount Chiefs of Akpafu and Lolobi Traditional Areas and other stakeholders, met with the EC Chair, Jean Mensah, to demand answers to why the people of Akpafu and Lolobi were included in the referendum, when it is on record that they never petitioned the President or the Justice Brobbey Commission to join the new region to be called Oti.
She had no answer to justify the inclusion”, portions of the letter read.
The letter continued, “Our understanding of the exclusion of the SALL Traditional Areas was as a result of the issuance of an administrative fiat by the EC, which we find worrisome.
“Our lay understanding of exercising our voting franchise emanates from Chapter 5 of the 1992 Constitution which guarantees Rights”.
The locals further stressed that, “It is therefore unconstitutional and illegal for EC to use an administrative fiat, which is not grounded in law to take away rights that are guaranteed.
“It is not only bizarre, but undermines our fundamental human rights and a threat to our democracy”.
They have therefore called on the Attorney-General to expedite action in relation to their representation in Parliament.
It would be recalled that the Electoral Commission (EC) through a release issued on the eve of the 2020 elections, caused the exclusion of SALL to vote and elect a Member of Parliament.
Although voters in the SALL traditional areas were allowed to vote in the Buem Constituency for the presidential election, they were directed by the EC not to participate in the parliamentary elections.
This subsequently generated a lot of agitations, with some legal luminaries describing the order as unlawful.
Meanwhile, the Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, says one surest way of getting parliamentary representation for Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi (SALL) residents is to annul the 2020 parliamentary elections of Buem.
In his view, this will offer an opportunity for SALL residents to be captured under the said area.
The Buem Constituency currently has the National Democratic Congress’ Kofi Adams as its Member of Parliament.
Popular Ghanaian social media personality and influencer, Nana Tonardo, won the admiration of social media users after he shared beautiful photos of his adorable daughter.
In the photos he shared on his Instagram page, proud Tonardo was seated in a chair with a broad smile while the young lady sat on his lap.
From the background of the photos and the outfit father and daughter wore, it looked like the adorable pair were at an event. Tonardo was sharply dressed in an expensive-looking suit and a pair of large sunglasses.
His daughter also looked ravishing in her peach cold shoulder sleeve dress. She complemented her pretty outfit with a pair of glasses that matched that of her dad’s.
Life is short, Anything could happen, and it usually does. If You tell the truth, You don’t have to remember. No excuse for lying, no matter how gifted You are .. Focus on being the best version of You. FATHER AND DAUGHTER VIBE #Myinvestement
The post garnered over 7k likes and hundreds of comments. Followers of the social media sensation praised him for raising his daughter into a beautiful young woman.
Fans Admire Tonardo’s Pretty Daughter
ahwene_pa_glamour admired her:
Nana please give her a sibling. We the odiii disciples can’t wait for that news
mzznyakoaapapabi also wrote:
Odiiiiii and his female version!ur daughter is beautiful ankasa!
99greensouls commented:
Just imagine you get issue plus this sweet lady here. Only God can save you from Tonardo
queen_rabidoll_ also reacted:
She is very beautiful and your photocopy
lafiera_2010 commented:
You are blessed .Concentrate your energy to keep taking care of your princess and don’t let distractions destroy your image.
You know the relationship was toxic, but for some reason, you can’t help but miss them, pine over them, and hope for them to change. Or, you might stay in a dead-end relationship because it hurts too much to leave.
First, to clarify, when I say dead-end relationship, I mean a relationship that involves an attachment to someone who is painfully unattainable (perhaps they are emotionally unavailable, they don’t want a committed relationship, or they are already married). This doesn’t necessarily mean that this person is evil or has bad intentions, but it means you and your partner are on two completely different wavelengths, and this is a chronic pattern, not a blip.
If you logically know you’re in a dead-end relationship, then why the hell is it so hard to let go of them? Well, you just might be addicted your ex. Here are some ways to find out.
You have a compulsive drive to remain connected to a particular person. Whether this is your ex that you were with for years, or the person you just went on a few dates with. You feel a drive to connect even if you know it’s bad for you, but can’t seem to control the urge and reaction to that urge.
Panic at any signs of a threat to the connection
You feel overwhelming panic if you sense that the connection might be threatened or if you can’t get your beloved’s attention or affection. This might cause you to react in ways that violate your own values and boundaries. You might call/text the person even though they have disrespected you or are not responding. You feel humiliated and ashamed, but you can’t seem to help but keep trying different things to make the person react and give you attention.
Intense withdrawal
You feel intense withdrawal symptoms. While it’s natural to feel sad after a separation and to miss the person and the relationship, you suffer a degree of agony where you feel like you’ve completely fallen apart and the only way to feel better is to get a ‘fix’ by going back to the person. The craving overrides all sense of sensibility and rational thought. In an almost unconscious state, you’ll do whatever it takes to satiate the craving.
Feeling incomplete
Beneath all these different hallmarks of addiction is a sense of incompleteness and not feeling whole, and the only way to fill that hole is to fill it with the validation of someone else. This person becomes the center of your universe in which you orbit around, and you’ll do whatever it takes, despite the negative consequences to maintain the connection.
If this describes your attachment to your ex or someone you’re dating, it may be an indicator that you are in a relationship where the addictive elements have become so intense that it’s controlling your ability to make healthy choices. The overwhelming compulsion to stay connected comes at a cost for your longterm happiness and emotional well being. The first step to breaking your addiction is recognizing that this is an issue and that yes, you’re hooked on someone despite it’s negative toll on your well being. The next step is learning the tools to shift your patterns.
Remember, it takes two people with unresolved issues to make a dysfunctional relationship function. Our relationship patterns follow us wherever we go. Your patterns do not change unless you do the work to change them.
A Ghanaian bride, Edna, looked like a real-life princess for her traditional white wedding.
The trending pre-wedding photoshoot
The lovely couple slayed in stylish outfits for their pre-wedding photoshoot. The bride wore a thigh-high dress by Lauren Couture while posing beautifully for the cameras.
The groom wore a black designer suit styled with a white suit for the photo shoot.
Ghanaian groom gifts his wife with expensive shoes, an iPhone and cash after wedding
The stunning bride couldn’t hide her excitement after opening her surprise package. She received €10,000 (GH¢135,000), an iPhone 14 Pro Max, and Jimmy Choo heels as a wedding gift after their luxurious wedding in Ghana.
Jimmy Choo shoes range are estimated to cost between GH¢7000 and GH¢18000.
Whether you’ve gone through a breakup, or you can’t stop thinking of someone who isn’t available – you may know that feeling of wanting to make contact despite your better judgment. You may even feel a sense of addiction – like you have no control over your impulse to make contact.
You’re not alone. This is quite common when we experience separation, rejection, or a threat to our attachment. Here are some tips that will help you.
1. Understand what’s happening in your brain.
When you’re trying to get over someone, it’s important to stop contact and revisiting old messages or photos. You have old neural pathways that were built when you were with the person, and the more you engage, the more you keep strengthening old neural pathways. When you stop contact, you allow those old neural pathways to prune away. Also, when you crave checking their social media, your brain is actually craving dopamine. Find another way to get that dopamine in a healthier way.
2. Try ‘chunking’
Goals that are too hard are likely to be abandoned, so commit to 30 days of no contact. After that, assess and see if you can commit to another 30. This breaks down the goal into chunks and makes it more manageable. If you must communicate due to co-parenting, the key is to keep the interaction neutral. Do not share good news, do not engage in a fight – both create a chemical rush. The emotional charge is what keeps you hooked.
3. Ride the 20-minute wave.
The intense craving to contact the person will last on average 20 minutes. That’s how long it usually takes for the intensity to reach its peak and then start to subside. When we don’t know there’s an expiry date to the pain, we think it will last forever and then give in to the temptation. Find something to distract yourself (preferably something that requires you to move your body) during these 20 minutes.
Withdrawal is normal. You’re not going crazy. But it takes practice to learn how to manage the impulses. It’s a matter of practice. You got this.
A friend has revealed that a man who committed suicide shortly after discovering his fiancée dead was plagued by “disgusting” false accusations that he was to blame.
In January of last year, Craig Daffern, a 35-year-old gardener from Blackpool, found Jenny Shanley, 36, in the lavatory at their residence in the Lancashire village of Westby.
After texting a buddy, “I’ve had enough but I love you all,” his death was discovered three days later in a small village, close to a telephone exchange facility.
A coroner found last week that Jenny, who had three children by a previous partner, had taken her own life ‘impulsively’ after becoming ‘significantly intoxicated’ on cocaine and alcohol.
One of Craig’s best friends has since revealed the grieving boyfriend’s mental health spiralled aftrer he was repeatedly ‘blamed for what happened to her’.
The friend, wishing to remain anonymous, told LancsLive: ‘After Jenny’s death Craig talked to his friends about what people were saying on social media and it absolutely broke him.
‘He was pushed to suicide by those comments and I can’t even begin to imagine how he felt when he took his own life.’
Craig and Jenny were said to be ‘very happy’ and he was planning to propose
The last text he received from Craig said: ‘I can’t do this anymore.’
The friend added: ‘I just hope that those people who made those comments, and they know who they are, realise the consequences of their actions.
‘All of Craig’s family have been dignified in not responding but someone had to speak out so that people know why Craig did what he did.’
Jenny’s mum told the inquest her daughter had overdosed on sleeping pills when her marriage broke down four years earlier but had ‘more recently been in a happy place’.
She said their relationship had been ‘volatile’ and that Craig had texted her the night before Jenny’s death saying she needed to ‘knock the drinking and sniffing on the head’.
One of Jenny’s friends police that the couple were ‘very happy’ together and she had never seen any evidence of violence between them.
Craig’s friends have since said he planned to propose to her during an upcoming trip to Land’s end.
Returning a narrative conclusion the coroner said: ‘The family appear to think that because Craig chose to end his life a few days later that means he was involved. There has been some suggestion they had a volatile relationship but there has been no criminal prosecutions and I am also conscious of the fact Craig isn’t able to answer those assertions.
‘At the time she died Jennifer was significantly intoxicated and had taken cocaine and that may have affected her judgement. She had talked about how stressful her life was and there may have been some money worries. Craig wasn’t happy about her cocaine use, particularly on that night.
‘I think that by the time she died she was affected by the cocaine and alcohol and made an impulsive decision she might not have made otherwise. I am of the view that Jennifer would not have died had it not been for the cocaine use.’
After the inquest, Craig’s sister Heather said: ‘We are all still heartbroken beyond belief but in time we will come to terms with this utter tragedy of losing such a happy couple who loved each other so much.
‘Craig loved Jennifer and simply couldn’t live without her and we hope everyone can now move forward.’
The victim’s next of kin have been informed and are receiving support.
The incident is being treated as isolated and there is not thought to be any threat to the wider public.
Detective Chief Inspector Debbie White said: ‘This is a fast-moving investigation and we are asking anyone with any information about the incident to please come forward.
Police sealed off the area where the incident occurred in broad daylight this afternoon
‘We are treating this as an isolated incident with no threat to the wider community, however the public can expect to see an increased police presence in the area this evening as our enquiries continue.
‘In the meantime, we would urge the public to refrain from speculating around the circumstances.
‘Our thoughts remain with the victim’s family at this difficult time, and we are determined to find those responsible for this tragic crime and bring them to justice.”
According to testimony given in court, a man “accidentally” stabbed his mother in the heart and liver before hugging her and running away.
On August 22 of last year, Karen Dempsey, 55, was stabbed in a Kirkby, Liverpool, sports pub.
Jamie Dempsey, her son, is accused of killing her during a confrontation with Brian Flynn, his heroin dealer, to whom he owed a debt of about $2,000 at the time.
According to evidence presented at Liverpool Crown Court, Mr. Flynn ‘glassed’ the 32-year-old inside the establishment before he was also stabbed.
Afterwards, Dempsey claimed to have been acting in self-defence, telling police: ‘I was scared for my life, what do you want me to do?’
Peter Glenser KC, prosecuting, said the mother and son had arranged to meet for a drink in the bar, even though Dempsey had raised concerns about his foe being there.
Jurors heard a fight broke out about half an hour after the pair had arrived in the premises, with Mr Flynn hurling a glass at the defendant, smashing it in the back of his head.
Mr Flynn then ‘followed up this assault with punches’ thrown at Dempsey as Ms Dempsey and others managed to restrain him.
But Mr Flynn then picked up a second glass and again chucked it at Dempsey who fled the bar via the back door.
Another confrontation erupted outside, with Dempsey now clutching a knife in his right hand.
He stabbed Mr Flynn at least twice before a man, referred to in court only as ‘Male A’.
Dempsey claimed to have been acting in self-defence (Picture: Liverpool Echo)
Ms Dempsey also attempted to intervene, but the blade ‘made contact’ with her chest, piercing her heart and liver.
The fighting ceased and Dempsey hugged his mum before fleeing the scene of the crime, leaving her with blood pouring down her dress.
Ms Dempsey, a grandmother, was rushed to Aintree University Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 9.45pm.
A ‘heavily bloodstained’ Mr Flynn was stopped by police nearby and arrested. He too was taken to hospital after suffering serious injuries, having being stabbed in left armpit.
Dempsey was later dropped off outside a closed police station by a friend. After phoning Merseyside Police, he told them ‘he was wanted’ – not yet knowing his mum was dead.
In a recording played to the court, he said: ‘I have been accused of stabbing someone tonight but I haven’t. It was in self-defence. There’s been an altercation. I’ve defended myself.’
Dempsey, of Brechin Road, Kirkby, is defended by Timothy Cray KC, and denies murder. The trial continues.
A Russian missile struck the sole hospital in Bashtanka, a district centre in southern Ukraine, at 5:20 p.m. on April 19 of last year. When the bomb wave tore through the remaining hospital buildings, shattering windows and knocking down doors, it also destroyed an outpatient clinic and some vital equipment.
According to Bashtanka Hospital director Alla Barsehian, several patients were having surgery at the time, and a number of women were in the labour ward.
All patients were safely evacuated, but health care workers turned up to work the next morning. In the rain, shoulder to shoulder with their friends and family, they began cleaning up the debris by hand. One and a half days later – with plastic wrap for windows and no doors – the facility reopened.
“We are the lifeblood of this district,” Barsehian said. She told CNN when she returned to the destroyed buildings the day after the attack, patients approached her and asked when the next appointment for their doctor was available — this is when she realized they had no choice but to carry on. “We didn’t have time [to deliberate], we had to quickly restore everything and continue doing our jobs because people needed us.”
The explosion in Bashtanka came just over a month after a similar attack destroyed Mariupol maternal hospital in March 2022. Russian officials then claimed that the hospital was a justifiable military target, but a pattern was emerging.
https://ix.cnn.io/charts/ysh3I
More than 250 attacks during Russia’s invasion last year left nearly one in 10 Ukrainian hospitals damaged, some repeatedly, according to new analysis reviewed by CNN by investigators from the United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Ukraine published Tuesday.
The analysis is a joint undertaking of five different non-governmental organizations (NGOs): eyeWitness to Atrocities (eyeWitness), Insecurity Insight, the Media Initiative for Human Rights (MIHR), Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), and the Ukrainian Healthcare Center (UHC). CNN has reviewed their analysis but cannot independently confirm the details of each attack.
Nearly 200 medical workers, who at the time of war are protected under international human rights laws, were either killed, injured, kidnapped or arrested, the collaboration between the NGOs revealed.
Researchers documented 707 health care attacks between February and December 2022, including damage to facilities, such as strikes by ground-launched explosives, and other attacks, such as looting, denial of access to health care and disruption of patients’ access to utilities necessary for medical care.
“These findings should be a wake-up call for the global community to act now to end impunity for wanton violence against health workers, in Ukraine and around the world,” Christian De Vos, report co-author and research director at Physicians for Human Rights, a US-based human rights NGO, told CNN.
https://ix.cnn.io/charts/aTm6z
“While violence against health care in conflict zones is a global phenomenon, Russia’s assault on Ukraine’s health system in 2022 stands out for its scale and indiscriminate violence against civilian infrastructure,” said Christina Wille, report co-author and director of Insecurity Insight, a Swiss non-profit organization monitoring threats of violence across the globe.
“We have clearly seen from the pattern [in the data] a method of warfare which is incompatible with the respect for international humanitarian law and needs to be addressed,” Wille told CNN, referring to incidents of indiscriminate use of explosive weapons against Ukraine listed in the report and alleged cases of kidnapping and torture of individual health workers.
CNN has asked the Russian government for comment but has not yet received a response. Russia has previously claimed that it only fires on targets of military value. Following the 2022 attack at the Mariupol maternity and children’s hospital, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed — without providing evidence — that Ukrainian forces had “equipped combat positions” within the hospital. Video from the hospital after the bombing clearly showed there were both patients and staff there, including heavily pregnant women who were carried from the hospital.
Denied access to health care
Nearly a year into the war, Russia is mounting enormous pressure on Ukrainian civilians by using explosive weapons in urban areas, and damaging crucial services, such as the energy grid and the health care system.
Nearly one in three Ukrainians lack access to medical services — and that number is greater in the eastern and southern parts of the country — according to a December 2022 survey by the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration.
Experts warn that civilians are left with hardly any access to medical care in areas that have seen active combat. Nearly 80% of Mariupol’s health care facilities are destroyed, leaving the city’s remaining population of 100,000, many of them vulnerable or elderly, practically on their own, according to previous research by the Ukrainian Healthcare Center (UHC) think tank, one of the report partners. By June last year, at least 320,000 Mariupol citizens have either fled, been forcibly relocated or died, according to Mariupol’s City Council.
“An implicit loss of health [in Ukraine] is vast,” said Pavlo Kovtoniuk, UHC co-founder and Ukraine’s former Deputy Minister of Health. “We see a huge deprivation of health care services and pharmaceuticals in recently de-occupied territories.”
But even away from the frontline, small to medium communities are feeling the effects of the attacks on their health care facilities and workers. Like Bashtanka, they are normally served by just one hospital or clinic, Kovtoniuk said, adding that disruptions result in people dropping their medication for chronic conditions, stopping health checkups or suffering from mental health issues alone, the consequences of which will only be seen in years to come.
“Russian attacks have an impact that exists long after the physical damage to a building; lack of access to necessary care and essential medicines destabilizes the population at large,” De Vos told CNN. “I think that is precisely why the health care is often targeted.”
Evidence for The Hague
Kovtoniuk’s team and their colleagues at the Media Initiative for Human Rights (MIHR) traveled across Ukraine in the last year to visit attack sites, assess damage and interview victims. They used specialized software designed by UK-based eyeWitness to Atrocities, another report partner, to document what happened on the ground in a way that could be submitted as legal evidence in national and international criminal cases related to the war.
For locations that were impossible to reach due to combat or occupation, a group of Ukrainian and international investigators gathered social media reports and checked them against satellite imagery to verify that the events actually took place, Kovtoniuk said.
“The report is the very first comprehensive effort to map and analyze attacks on Ukrainian health care infrastructure and personnel by Russian forces,” said Iryna Marchuk, an associate professor of international and criminal law at the University of Copenhagen, who was not part of the research.
“The health care infrastructure in Ukraine has been deliberately targeted by Russian forces, which is absolutely prohibited in international humanitarian law and constitutes a war crime falling within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court,” Marchuk said in an emailed statement last week.
Marianna Vishegirskaya walks downstairs in of a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. Vishegirskaya survived the shelling and later delivered a baby girl in another hospital. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
The Geneva Conventions qualify indiscriminate bombing in populated areas, failure to distinguish between combatants and civilians, and intentionally directing attacks against distinctively marked medical units, transport, and personnel as war crimes. The United Nations considers deliberate, strategic targeting of civilian populations a crime against humanity.
The World Health Organization (WHO) maintains its own database of attacks on health care facilities, transport, supplies and personnel in Ukraine. WHO counted 774 attacks from the start of Russia’s invasion through the end of 2022, with 101 deaths and 131 injuries of medical personnel and other civilians on the ground. However, it does not disclose precise details of the attacks in this database.
The coalition of investigators from the UHC, MIHR, PHR, Insecurity Insight and eyeWitness is urging the international legal community to investigate the evidence it gathered.
“When Russia entered the war in Syria in 2015, it used the same tactic, but it was never held accountable for that, so it decided to use it again in Ukraine,” Kovtoniuk told CNN.
Richard Goldstone, former justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa who was instrumental in helping end apartheid in South Africa, said he found the report to be damning. “I anticipate that it will assist in bringing some of the criminals responsible for these atrocities to justice,” he said in an emailed statement.
Remains of the missile that struck the Bashtanka Multiprofile Hospital. Photo captured by the hospital’s medical personnel in April 2022.Bashtanka Multiprofile Hospital
Evidence from the Tuesday report is likely to be presented at a non-binding tribunal this week in The Hague, Stephen Rapp told CNN. Rapp, a former US ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, is one of three judges hearing evidence on aggression in Ukraine. Rapp says the tribunal will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to confirm an indictment and issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We hope that our proceedings will inspire the UN General Assembly to authorize the Secretary General to enter into an agreement with Ukraine to establish a tribunal with legal jurisdiction over aggression in Ukraine,” Rapp told CNN.
Back in Bashtanka, the hospital was rebuilt by the end of summer 2022 with the help of donors and volunteers from across the country, Barsehian said. And far from scaring the health workers away, the attacks have only made them more determined.
“Our job is not harder than the soldiers’ one. We are used to all sorts of challenges,” said Barsehian. “We were not scared, we were angry.”
As certain nations’ authorities refused to let them in, a United Nations commissiondevoted to ending torture called off its review of Australian prisons and detention facilities, joining Rwanda as the only other nation where a visit had been cut short.
The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) announced in a statement that it was postponing the final two days of a 12-day tour that had been put on hold due to “obstacles” in fulfilling its mandate the previous year.
“Despite the good cooperation the Subcommittee has with the Australian Federal Authorities following our initial mission, there is no alternative but to terminate the visit as the issue of unrestricted access to all places of deprivation of liberty in two states has not yet been resolved,” SPT chairperson Suzanne Jabbour said in the statement.
Last October, the SPT said it had been prevented from visiting several places in the states of New South Wales and Queensland, calling it a “clear breach” of Australia’s obligations under the UN’s OPCAT (Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment) agreement designed to protect detainees’ human rights.
Australia is one of 91 signatories to the agreement, which allows inspectors to make unannounced visits to all places of detention, including police stations, immigration detention centers and social care institutions. The UN and human rights groups have long criticized Australia’s treatment of detainees, particularly refugees and asylum seekers who are subject to long periods of offshore detention if they arrive in the country by boat.
A spokesperson for Australia’s Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the “disappointing decision” to terminate the visit doesn’t reflect the federal government’s “commitment to protecting and promoting human rights.”
In partial findings published in November, the SPT said it was concerned about the mandatory detention of people who arrive in Australia without a valid visa, including children, and that there was no maximum time for their detention.
The committee also said it had “serious concern” about the imprisonment of children as young as 10 in places where they were “frequently subjected to verbal abuse, racist remarks and solitary confinement.” It recommended Australia raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to international standards, which is at least 14, according to the UN’s Committee on the Rights of the Child.
The SPT also urged Australia to stop using physical restraints to discipline children in supervision and end the practice of solitary confinement for children.
Australia had made some effort to uphold its obligations by appointing representatives to the Australian National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), a body appointed by the government to comply with OPCAT rules.
However, Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay said they still hadn’t been appointed in the three largest states: New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. A joint statement from NPM representatives in some states and territories called for more support for them to be able to do their jobs.
Finlay said Australia still had a “long way to go” to meet its minimum obligations, and was at risk of being named as a country of “significant concern.”
“Being publicly listed alongside the 14 other countries which are currently substantially overdue in meeting their OPCAT obligations (such as Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan) would be damaging to our international reputation and impact on our broader credibility with respect to human rights advocacy,” Finlay said in a statement.
In October, Queensland had refused inspectors access to inpatient units, but in December changed the laws to remove privacy barriers that it said had prevented access. The change would also allow the UN to interview detainees in private, the government said in a statement.
In October, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said state prisons keep “the highest standards anywhere in the world” and had independent processes in place to monitor conditions.
Sophie McNeill, senior Australia researcher with Human Rights Watch, said Tuesday the UN’s decision to terminate the visit was “deeply embarrassing” for Australia.
“Failing to cooperate with UN experts in providing unrestricted access to sites of detention sets a terrible example to other governments in this region who don’t need more excuses to defy the UN,” she said on Twitter.
Award-winning female bodybuilder Mary Nyarko Omarley also known as ‘Mary got fit’, disclosed in an interview with TV3 that her bodybuilding journey has been challenging.
She said that she regularly gets body-shaming comments from her social media pages because of how she looks but is not ready to give up. And most of the commenters tell her she would not find a husband.
Initially, she wanted to be a teacher to have time for herself, her husband and her kids in future. But she decided to go into bodybuilding because she could not continue her education.
In 2019, she contested in some bodybuilding competitions and won international trophies after her bodybuilding competition debut.
She added that women especially should be confident in themselves and believe in their potential. Mary’s most inspiring moment on social media was when a fan told her ‘thank you for being you’. The short phrase inspired her and made her realize she was doing what she loved and appreciated for that.
During the interview, she disclosed to her interviewer that she plans to settle down in the next five years and have a maximum of two kids. And she encourages all bodybuilders to set goals for themselves and achieve them.
Watch the Ghanaian female bodybuilder’s video below:
Late Ghanaian footballer Christian Atsu’s close associate, Wisdom, has penned a touching message mourning the loss of the football star.
On his Tikok page, Wisdom reminisced about his good times with Atsu and how much he would miss him.
According to Wisdom, Atsu planned to have him live with him when he retired and also made sure he learnt how to drive so he could use his numerous cars.
The emotional young man said Atsu made sure he never lacked and revealed the plans Atsu had for him.
Wisdom questioned the demise of Atsu and asked why he had to leave so soon. The sorrowful young man brought to light how kind-hearted Atsu was and always ensured he was ok and never lacked anything.
As the most populous country in Africa elects a new leader, it will be the largest democratic process on the continent.
The country is currently dealing with a wide range of economic and security issues, from cash and fuel shortages to an increase in terrorism attacks, high inflation, and a falling local currency.
Since the nation’s transition to democratic governance in 1999, no incumbent or former military commander has run for office.
Outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari is term-limited and will step down amid a patchy legacy that has brought “a lot of frustration and anger” to Nigerian voters, analysts say.
Eighteen candidates are in the running for Nigeria’s highest office, each confident they can turn the country’s fortunes around if voted into power, but opinion polls suggest three are leading the race for the popular vote.
One of the key contenders is Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the candidate of Buhari’s party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Another is the main opposition leader and former vice president Atiku Abubakar, of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Nigeria’s presidential elections have typically been two-horse races between the ruling and opposition parties, but this year’s vote has a third strong contender, Peter Obi, who is running under the lesser known Labour Party.
Tinubu, 70, a former governor of Nigeria’s wealthy Lagos State, wields significant influence in the southwestern region where he is acclaimed as a political godfather and kingmaker.
The affluent political veteran, boasts of aiding the election of Buhari to the presidency on his fourth attempt in 2015, after three previous unsuccessful bids.
After decades as a political puppet master, Tinubu declares it is now his turn to emerge from the shadows into the presidency; his campaign slogan is “Emi Lokan,” which translates to “it is my turn,” in his native Yoruba language.
The ruling party candidate has, however, been dogged by allegations of graft which he strongly denies. Critics say he has also not convincingly addressed concerns about his health, and has, at times, appeared confused and incoherent on the campaign trail. He has also made gaffes that have made him the butt of jokes and viral memes on social media.
Tinubu has also come under criticism for abstaining from presidential debates and delegating questions about his manifesto to members of his team during a recent outing at the UK think tank Chatham House.
One of Tinubu’s main challengers is the opposition party’s Abubakar, who is running for the sixth time following five previous losses.
Abubakar, 76, who served as vice president from 1999 to 2007, is a staunch capitalist who made his fortune investing in various sectors in the country. The tycoon has been investigated for corruption in the past. However, he denies any wrongdoing.
Many believe Abubakar’s presidential ambition might usurp an unofficial arrangement to rotate the presidency between Nigeria’s northern and southern regions, since he is from the same northern region as the outgoing leader, Buhari.
Peter Obi is a two-time former governor of Anambra State who is being touted as a credible alternative to the two major candidates.
Obi eschews the excesses of the typical ‘African Big Man’ leader He shuns a large entourage, flies economy class and carries his own luggage. His “no frills” approach has attracted hordes of supporters, mostly young Nigerians who call themselves ‘Obidients.’
Obi is also the only Christian among the leading candidates. His southeastern region has yet to produce a president or vice president since Nigeria returned to civil rule in 1999.
The ruling party’s Tinubu, although from the religiously mixed southwestern part of the country, is a Muslim and also chose a Muslim running mate, fueling public anger over his choice.
Described by Tinubu as “Mr. Stingy,” Obi, 61, is famed for his frugal approach and is seen as a ‘Mr Clean’ of Nigerian politics.
However, his offshore accounts were among those found in the Pandora Papers, which exposed the hidden riches of the global elite in 2021. Obi denies any wrongdoing.
The past two elections have been postponed at short notice and there are fears this one will suffer the same fate. However the electoral commission insists there will be no disruptions.
Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, a political economist and former presidential candidate in the 2019 election told CNN he expected a high turnout, “except if suppressed by a security breakdown of any sort,” he told CNN.
More than 93 million Nigerians are registered to vote but uncertainty hangs over voter turnout on polling day, with insecurity among the biggest concerns.
Public policy analyst Abideen Olasupo told CNN the uncertainties surrounding this year’s elections have put off many voters.
“Nigerian voters are currently the most disturbed and confused voters in the world right now because they are not sure if the election will hold; and if it will hold, they are not sure if the process will not be manipulated,” Olasupo said.
Citizens have also been disrupted by an attempt to curb vote buying by making the old currency notes useless to prevent rogue politicians from stockpiling cash. But there are fears shortage of the new naira notes could disrupt the elections itself.
Electoral body INEC reportedly warned that the inability of banks to distribute enough of the new cash could make it difficult to pay temporary staff and security guards needed to operate thousands of polling stations for presidential and parliamentary elections on Feb. 25.
As it is, voting will not take place in more than 200 polling units across Nigeria, in places such as Imo and Taraba (two of Nigeria’s conflict-prone states) says INEC, because of concerns over security.
Separatist gangs and marauding gunmen known locally as bandits have terrorized parts of the country through kidnappings for ransom.
Elsewhere,other impediments threaten voter turnout as some Nigerians are yet to collect their permanent voter’s card (PVC) with less than a week to the poll.
The co-founder and head of intelligence at data company Stears, Michael Famoroti, tells CNN that critical issues around security and the economy will be top of mind for voters and could influence their electoral choices.
“Nigerians fall under two buckets: One is insecurity. However, overall, the main issue that Nigerians agree needs to be dealt with is the economy,” he said, with concerns ranging from poverty to unemployment and policy.
“The cash crunch, petrol scarcity … are issues that are likely going to be top of mind for those who make it to the polls and arguably could sway the votes,” Famoroti says.
Fuel shortages and scarcity of the newly redesigned local currency have stirred violent protests in parts of Nigeria as millions of people struggle to get their hands on new versions of bank notes.
Nigerians expect the eventual winner of the presidential poll to hit the ground running in finding solutions to those problems, including tackling the country’s burgeoning debt profile, oil theft, and a controversial petrol subsidy that deprivesthe country of major oil revenue.
The top three candidates have made promises to tackle some of these issues. The ruling party’s Tinubu vows to create jobs, grow the economy, and “obliterate terror, kidnapping, banditry, and violent crime from the face of our nation.”
Touting a “recover Nigeria” mantra, the PDP’s Abubakar says he wants to “block government wastages” by first running a small government, weaning the country off the petrol subsidy, and making it “the hub of crude oil refining in Africa.”
The Labour Party’s Obi says his government will be keen to shift Nigeria’s focus “from consumption to production” while also being determined “to fight and significantly reduce corruption” and create systems to reduce unemployment, insecurity, and inflation.
A predictive poll by Stears puts Obi ahead of the two main challengers in a large voter turnout scenario. A lesser turnout will favor Tinubu, according to the Stears’ poll.
“There was a scenario where we only considered voters who had picked up their PVC … based on that scenario, the Labour Party candidate is the most likely winner,” Famoroti told CNN.
“However, we then also estimated a low turnout scenario. The idea is that these are the harder than hardcore voters and those that most likely will turn up to vote on the day. Under that scenario, the APC candidate … emerges victorious,” he added.
Another poll by Lagos-based SBM Intelligence does not foresee a frontrunner but suggests that Obi and Abubakar could garner a sufficient number of ballots to meet the 25% vote spread in 24 of Nigeria’s 36 states required by law to win.
The forecast is different for the Political Africa Initiative (POLAF) whose survey polled three million people and predicts a close race between the opposition PDP (38%) and the ruling APC (29%).
Obi’s Labour Party is projected to occupy third place with 27% of the votes.
“This election is extremely difficult to predict,” Moghalu, the political economist, told CNN.
“That’s because of the ‘Third Force’ factor of Labor Party candidate Peter Obi, which has scrambled the projections of the two traditionally dominant parties, APC and PDP.
“While many still believe one of the two will come out on top ultimately, the fact that several scientific opinion polls have put Obi in the lead means that the possibility of an upset clearly exists,” says Moghalu.
Moghalu believes Nigerians may vote largely along ethnic and religious lines, as well as traditional party lines.
“The only major factor that is an ‘issue’, and will influence many votes, is the hunger for a change in direction which millions of young and middle-aged voters have, and for that reason support Obi. Will that be enough to propel him to victory? That’s the X-factor.”
The Director General of the Internal Audit Agency, Dr Eric Oduro Osae, has explained why some State Owned Enterprises (SoEs) cannot be sold to private entities, despite challenges they are bedeviled with.
He says some SoEs cannot be sold to private investors due to national security implications.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, he said such enterprises provide critical services that cannot be left in private hands.
“Some of these SoEs are critical, we cannot hand them over to private investors because of the national security implications of the work they do”
“Can you imagine handing over ECG to a private investor, you may not know where the resources are coming from, handing over VRA to a private investor, handing over BUI to a private investor, handing over GRIDCO to a private investor, this is not to say some private investors are not critical,” he said on Tuesday.
Dr Oduro added that even though some countries have succeeded in implementing this initiative, the level of security involved in the work may differ.
“It will depend on the level of national security, because in our case if you hand it over and you get somebody from a certain country coming to get a certain amount in it, they will hold all of us hostage”, he said.
However, CEO of Dalex Finance, Kenneth Thompson, had a different view.
He described Dr Oduro Osae’s argument as based on emotions.
According to him, if the developed countries have tried it and succeeded, Ghana can imitate.
“Are we more intelligent than some other countries? I mean their modules have worked let’s learn from it,” Mr Thompson indicated.
About a week ago, the Minister for Public Enterprises in Ghana, Joseph Cudjoe announced that 12 State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) have been submitted to cabinet for approval to be sold to private investors.
The initiative is part of the government’s plan to restructure the economy, by making the SoEs more efficient, profitable and less of a drain on public resources.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, announced that he is suspending his nation’s participation in the New START nuclear weapons reduction treaty with the United States, putting the final surviving agreement that governs the two greatest nuclear arsenals in the world in jeopardy.
The statement was made by Putin on Tuesday during his much-delayed annual state of the country address to the Russian National Assembly.
The deal places restrictions on how many deployed intercontinental nuclear warheads the US and Russia can each possess. The two parties would soon need to start talks on a new arms control pact because it was last renewed in early 2021 for five years.
Under the key nuclear arms control treaty, both the United States and Russia are permitted to conduct inspections of each other’s weapons sites, though inspections had been halted since 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
While Russia is not withdrawing from the pact completely, it appears to be formalizing its current position. For months, US officials have been frustrated over Russia’s lack of co-operation with the agreement.
According to US officials, Russia has continually refused to allow inspections of its nuclear facilities. “Russia is not complying with its obligation under the New START Treaty to facilitate inspection activities on its territory,” a US State Department spokesperson said in January.
“Russia’s refusal to facilitate inspection activities prevents the United States from exercising important rights under the treaty and threatens the viability of US-Russian nuclear arms control,” the spokesperson said.
A session of the Bilateral Consultative Commission on the treaty was slated to meet in Egypt in late November but was abruptly called off. The US has blamed Russia for this postponement, with a State Department spokesperson saying the decision was made “unilaterally” by Russia.
The latest development announced by Putin “puts (the) treaty on life support,” Hans Kristensen, the Director of the Nuclear Information Project, wrote on Twitter, questioning whether Russia will now stop exchanging data with US counterparts.
Putin’s nuclear saber rattling during the war has alarmed the US and its allies, though officials have repeatedly dismissed the moves as empty threats.
In December, Putin warned of the “increasing” threat of nuclear war, and this month, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, threatened that Russia losing the war could “provoke the outbreak of a nuclear war.”
“Nuclear powers do not lose major conflicts on which their fate depends,” Medvedev wrote in a Telegram post. “This should be obvious to anyone. Even to a Western politician who has retained at least some trace of intelligence.”
And though a US intelligence assessment in November suggested that Russian military officials discussed under what circumstances Russia would use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, the US has not seen any evidence that Putin has decided to take the drastic step of using one, officials told CNN.
It appears the Lawyers for businessman Seidu Agongo are peeved over what has been described as unlawful conduct by a retired justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Clemence Honyenuga.
They, thus, have made the strongest move yet to get the retired justice to recuse himself from the ongoing trial at the High Court.
The judge is being accused of deliberately putting hurdles in the way of the accused so that they falter and get jailed on trumped-up charges.
In a motion filed on Friday, February 17, the embattled businessman called the entire trial, which has lasted over four years, a sham.
The retired judge has been presiding over the trial of former COCOBOD Chief Executive, Dr. Stephen Opuni, and businessman Seidu Agongo, as well as Agricult Ghana Limited, who are facing 27 charges, including willfully causing financial loss to the state in contravention of the Public Procurement Act in the purchase of Lithovit liquid fertiliser between 2014 and 2016. A copy of the affidavit sighted by Newstitbits.com made copious reference to the May 7, 2021 ruling on the submission of no case, in which Justice Honyenuga in his closet unilaterally and “curiously rejected” as many as 18 evidentiary documents that the accused persons said exonerated them of any wrongdoing.
“That by rejecting the exculpatory evidence and marking them as rejects thus ensuring that we can never rely on the said exhibits at the trial while at the same time calling on us to open our defence in respect of the very same matters means that this Court has already sealed our fate and only wants us to go through a sham of a trial when it has already predetermined our guilt even before we are heard especially when similar evidence tendered by the Prosecution was spared the wrath of this Court.”
Mr. Agongo described the actions of Justice Honyenuga in that ruling as a “clear assault” on his constitutional rights to fair trial as well as being against the rules of natural justice and, “as a result, disqualifies the said trial Judge from continuing with the further conduct of the proceedings in this matter”.
Justice Honyenuga was also accused of being selective in applying the laws.
According to him, the judge “unfairly, capriciously, discriminatorily, and prejudicially” applied the hearsay rules “only against the Accused Persons”.
He cited the case of two farmers whose statements were taken and tendered in evidence in a similar manner but by two different parties. He noted that the farmer whose statement was tendered by the accused was rejected, but the same court accepted the one tendered by the prosecution and used same in his ruling against the accused.
Academic Exercise
“That I am advised by Counsel and I verily believe the same to be true that a fair minded trial Court in a criminal matter must be interested in evidence that enures to the benefit of an accused person and not seek to capriciously put such evidence beyond the use of an accused as this Court had done in rejecting and marking as rejects all these documents to the effect that we cannot rely on them in our defence at the trial.”
He is therefore convinced that no matter the evidence that would be adduced, “our fates are sealed and any further trial proceedings before the same judge will just be an academic exercise”.
Justice Honyenuga was once again accused of “clearly being influenced by extrajudicial considerations” in the matter before him.
The businessman also cited a recent event in court to buttress his reason to get the judge to back off.
On February 14, 2023 when the case was called, Mr. Agongo was not in court due to ill health.
The judge had previously ordered the registrar of the court to go to the 37 Military Hospital, where the accused was on admission, to ascertain the veracity of his claim.
“As I indicated, I have limited time to conclude this matter but such medical excuses are delaying the trial of this case. I must state emphatically that this court has the discretion to accept or reject medical evidence and I must also add that the second accused is on bail and he is still subject to this court’s discretion. And I must also add that this court has enormous powers to deal with any situation in this court,” the judge said in part before adjourning the case.
But he said comments made by the judge were terrifying and suggested that the judge did not trust him.
“That I was simply terrified to have read the above sentiments expressed and the threat issued by the said Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC), who obviously did not care whether or not I was unwell because he must by all means conclude this matter and considers my ill health as an impediment to his goal,” Agongo’s affidavit read.
“…his present threats to me would lead any independent observer, unfortunately, to the only irresistible conclusion that the said Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC) cannot be an arbiter in this matter; and must, respectfully, recuse himself in the interest of justice.”
When the motion was brought to the attention of the court on February 20, the judge admitted that issues raised in the motion were very serious.
“In view of the very serious matters raised, I am adjourning this case to Thursday 10:00am. I would have abridged the time to Wednesday the 22nd February to hear the motion but I am aware that the Supreme Court will give a ruling in the review filed by the first accused.”
Find excerpts of Agongo’s affidavit below
21. That I am advised by Counsel and I verily believe the same to be true that a fair minded trial Court in a criminal matter must be interested in evidence that enures to the benefit of an accused person and not seek to capriciously put such evidence beyond the use of an accused as this Court had done in rejecting and marking as rejects all these documents to the effect that we cannot rely on them in our defence at the trial.
22. That by rejecting the exculpatory evidence and marking them as rejects thus ensuring that we can never rely on the said exhibits at the trial while at the same time calling on us to open our defence in respect of the very same matters means that this Court has already sealed our fate and only wants us to go through a sham of a trial when it has already predetermined our guilt even before we are heard especially when similar evidence tendered by the Prosecution was spared the wrath of this Court.
23. That I am advised by Counsel and I verily believe the same to be true that when this Court, presided over by Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC), suo motu decided to reject the exhibits, all of which had been admitted at the trial with the agreement of the Prosecution in not objecting to their being tendered, the said Court ought to have given the Accused Persons, including the Applicants herein, a hearing on the matter prior to making a decision which the said Judge failed to do.
24. That for the trial Court on its own to exclude all the exculpatory evidence without giving us a hearing is clearly an assault our constitutional rights to fair trial and against the rules of natural justice and, as a result, disqualifies the said trial Judge from continuing with the further conduct of the proceedings in this matter.
25. That while this Court did not explain what it meant by saying in its Ruling that because the matter is a “sensitive” one we should open our defence, I am advised by Counsel and I verily believe the same to be true that the sensitivity of a criminal case is not a legally recognized ground on which to call upon an accused person to open a defence in a criminal matter; and to that extent the trial Judge has shown that he is clearly being influenced by extrajudicial considerations in this matter.
26. That apart from having unlawfully excluded those exhibits as this Court did; this Court in its Ruling of 7th May, 2021, also made sweeping definite final and conclusive findings against us, the Applicants, at the stage of submission of no case to answer as though the said Ruling was the final judgment of this Court after full trial, when the said Court was yet to hear us; demonstrably leaving no room in this Court’s mind for the statutory reasonable doubt that we are required to raise as to our guilt on the charges laid against us.
27. That at page 40 of the Ruling (Exhibit “SA 2”), for instance, this Court states “…of course, this cannot be the Lithovit Fertilizer the 2nd and 3rd accused [Applicants herein] knew that what they supplied to COCOBOD cannot be Lithovit fertiIizer. “
28. That at page 42 of Exhibit “SA 2″, the trial Judge stated further ” … In the instant case, the 2nd and 3rd accused knew that the representation they made and supplied COCOBOD with 700,000 litres, and 1,000,000 litres of Lithovit were (sic) false because they knew that the liquid substance they had supplied to COCOBOD were (sic) not Lithovit fertilizers. “
29. That again the trial Judge, Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC), stated at page 43 to 44 of the Ruling that ” … In the instant case, the 2nd and 3rd accused knew that the liquid substances they supplied to COCOBOD were false and they knew that they were not the Lithovit Foliar fertilizer from Germany. PW7’s testimony supports the assertion that the liquid substance was prepared from their (accused’s) own warehouse with(sic) any scientific formular. From the GSA and UG (1) it is clear that this liquid substance was intentionally prepared using insignificant portions of the genuine Lithovit Fertilizer from Germany, (urea was then added to it to pass off as Lithovit fertilizer from Germany. “
30. That at page 45 of Exhibit “SA 2” the said trial Judge continued thus ….. Is a result of the representations made by the 2nd and 3rd accused that they had supplied COCOBOD with Lithovit Foliar Fertilizer from Germany tested and approved by CRIG and COCOBOD, both the Audit, Inspectorate and Finance Departments believed that they were paying for genuine Lithovit fertilizer from Germany but did not know that they were paying for a liquid substance that could not be described as Lithovit Foliar fertilizer.”
31. That on page 54 of the Ruling, Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC) stated further that “… All these were perpetuated to facilitate the 2nd and 3rd accused’s [Applicants herein] business and defraud COCOBOD. Indeed these acts were all perpetuated to facilitate and intentionally, voluntarily to aid the 2nd and 3rd accused [Applicants herein] to perpetrate fraud on COCOBOD by supplying a different product from what was tested and approved… However, the 1st accused although he knew the correct state of affairs and knowingly facilitated and aided the 2nd and 3rd accused [Applicants herein] to defraud COCOBOD… there was no way COCOBOD would have been defrauded of such huge amounts. “
32. That at page 55 of the Ruling, Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC) continued his assault on the Applicants herein by stating “… The 1st accused made things easier for the 2nd, and 3rd accused to succeed in their enterprise of defrauding.”
33. That the said trial Judge continued his onslaught at page 59 of the Ruling thus: “… It is in evidence that these colossal amounts were paid through the 1st accused as the CEO of COCOBOD to the 2nd and 3rd accused [Applicants] who supplied Lithovit liquid fertilizer which was not tested nor approved by COCOBOD and which scientific reports which PW5 tendered as exhibit H from the Ghana Standard Authority and University of Ghana Chemistry Department that the Foliar liquid fertilizer is worthless. It is a fact that the state is the owner of these monies paid out and her coffers were depleted without receiving any value for its money. This indeed constitutes financial loss to the state… The actions of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd accused were willful.”
34. That on page 60 of the Ruling, Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC) continued thus “…it is safe to conclude that that the 1st, 2nd and 3rd accused intentionally engaged in a conduct which injured the state financially … It was an adulterated product and therefore could not have been tested and approved product from Germany. It was an intentional conduct to merit the charge.”
35. That at page 64 of the Ruling, Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC) stated “In the instant case the prosecution had proved that the accused persons acted together and the purpose was to cause financial loss to the state as earlier proved under the substantive offence. “
36. That t am convinced beyond any doubts that with the above categorical and determinative statements made by Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC), even before we could be heard, after he found ways of putting very vital evidence that would have assisted us to raise any doubts as to our guilt beyond our use at the trial by marking them as rejects at the submission of no case stage; we (Applicants) stand no chance before him no matter what manner of evidence we adduce before the said Court as, for all practical purposes, our fates are sealed and any further trial proceedings before the same judge will just be an academic exercise.
37. That by the above statements the court has again deprived us of our constitutional rights to be condemned only after the Court has heard both sides of the matter
38. That these deliberate hurdles placed in the way of the Accused Persons in this matter notwithstanding the 1st Accused (not a party to this Application) eventually opened his defence on 2nd December,2021, by calling DW1, Mr. Charles Tetteh Dodoo, and has so far called six (6) other witnesses; Dw7 currently testifying.
39. That midway through the evidence of the DW7, Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC), on the 16th of December, 2021, ordered all accused persons, including the Applicants herein, to file Witness Statements together with any documents the Accused might rely on at the trial; with a further order that each witness, together with the Accused Persons, including the Applicants, shall have a day to give their evidence-in-chief and the cross-examination of each witness shall not exceed two sitting days.
40. That the trial Judge, Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC), imposed these new restrictions on the Applicants in the conduct of our defence even though no such restrictions were imposed on the Prosecution when it conducted its case.
4t. That when the 1st Accused after the 16th December,2021, Ruling/Orders brought an Application in the Supreme Court for Certiorari and Prohibition, Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC), quite extraordinarily, personally swore to and filed an Affidavit in Opposition denouncing the 1st Accused and the allegations made in his said Application before the Supreme Court; thereby clearly descending into the arena of conflict or taking issues personally with the 1st Accused, with whom the Applicants herein have been jointly charged with conspiracy.
42. That I have always attended Court on this matter until the 31st of January, 2023, when I was absent on account of ill health. I had attended the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital for medical care; and the Court adjourned the matter to 2nd February, 2023, for me to furnish proof of having sought such medical attention.
43. That on the 31st of January, 2023, I was given Three (3) days excused duty and scheduled to attend a review on 7th February, 2023; and as such I was unable to attend Court on the 2nd of February, 2023, but my lawyers furnished the Court with the Medical Note I had been given from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on 31st January,2023; upon which the court adjourned the case to 6th February, 2023, for continuation.
44. That on 6th February,2023, I attended Court though I was still seriously unwell on the insistence of my lawyers in order that we are not accused of delaying the proceedings; and at the end of the day’s proceedings the matter was adjourned to 8″‘February, 2023, for continuation.
45. That on 7th February, 2023, I duly attended my medical review session as scheduled but was still unwell and had to be taken to the 37 Military Hospital at night on the said 7th of February,2023, where I was admitted until 11th February, when I was discharged, and therefore could not attend Court on the 8th of February, 2023; I attach herewith evidence of my attendance at the 37 Military Hospital marked as Exhibit (SA 3).
46. That I am informed by Counsel and I verily believe the same to be true that on the said 8th of February, 2023, Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC) expressed his grave displeasure at having to adjourn the matter due to my absence from Court on account of being on admission at the Hospital and “with a heavy heart” adjourned the matter to 13th February, 2023, while ordering the Registrar of the Court to verify from the 37 Military Hospital whether I was indeed admitted there and for my lawyers also to furnish the Court with proof of my said admission on the l3th of February,2023.
41. That I am informed by Counsel and I verily believe the same to be true that on 13th February,2023, though the Court was furnished with the Medical Advisory Certificate given to me from the 37 Military Hospital upon my discharge on 11th February, 2023, which confirmed the dates of my admission at the said Hospital and gave me a week’s excused duty, Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC) adjourned the matter to 14th February, 2023, in order to receive the report of the Registrar as to whether or not I had in truth been admitted at the said Hospital; a clear indication that the said judge disbelieved the fact of my ill health and or admission.
48. That I am again informed by Counsel and I verily believe the same to be true that on the 14th of February, 2023, Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC) was incensed that I was absent and given a week’s excused duty and unable to hide his indignation, delivered himself in the following words or in words of similar nature: “At the last adjourned date, I expressed my difficulty in having to adjourn the case because of the absence of the 2nd accused on medical excuse duty. As I indicated, I have limited time to conclude this matter but such medical excuses are delaying the trial of this case. I must state emphatically that this court has discretion to accept or reject medical evidence and I must add that the 2nd accused is on bail and he is still subject to this court’s discretion. And I must also add that this court has enormous powers to deal with any situation in this court.”
49. That I am also informed by Counsel and I verily believe the same to be true that the Registrar’s report to the Court on the said 14th of February,2023, was to the effect that the Adjutant of the 37 Military Hospital, who was the appropriate person to have responded to the Registrar’s query, was otherwise engaged at the time the Registrar visited the said Hospital and as a result the Registrar was asked to wait till 11:00am when he would have been attended to, but Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC) would seem to have taken this report to mean disrespect towards him and stated thus: “At the last adjourned date, I also indicated that I was giving the 2nd accused the benefit of the doubt for his absence from court. I will, again, give him the final benefit of the doubt, especially when the effort of the Registrar who was to verify from the 37 Military Hospital whether or not the 2nd accused was on admission, ended in a fiasco.”
50. That I was simply terrified to have read the above sentiments expressed and the threat issued by the said Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC), who obviously did not care whether or not I was unwell because he must by all means conclude this matter and considers my ill health as an impediment to his goal.
51 That the said trial Judge’s conduct in unlawfully excluding vital evidence critical to our defence; setting up a personal battle with the 1st Accused, with whom we are jointly charged; sending the Registrar of the Court to the Hospital to confirm whether I had been on admission despite documentation from the Hospital to that effect; and his present threats to me would lead any independent observer, unfortunately, to the only irresistible conclusion that the said Justice C.J. Honyenuga (JSC) cannot be an arbiter in this matter; and must, respectfully, recuse himself in the interest of justice.
Baby Maxin, the only child of Ghanaian media personality and actress Nana Ama McBrown, marked her fourth birthday on February 2, 2023.
She slayed in two outfits for her birthday photoshoot to mark her special day. While the pictures were taken, her celebrated celebrity mother was there with her.
Below are the outfits and styles she rocked.
1. All-black ‘boss lady’ outfit
She rocked a pair of black leather shorts, wearing star-studded black net stockings underneath.
She paired it with a white shirt and styled her look with a black and gold slim-fit suit. She completed this look with black boots with gold elements to make it stand out.
Her hair was held in a bun and styled into a bow with a gold ribbon to keep it in place. The front part of her hair was braided into twists, with one strand hanging on each side of her face. Two large beads were used to style each strand.
Baby Maxin looked like a fairytale princess in this set of pictures. She radiated with vibrant colours from head to toe.
Her hair was parted in the middle, with each partition braided into French braids with a blue and purple wig to give it that ombre effect. She accessorised her hair with a pair of dark sunglasses.
She wore a yellow top and white stockings, which she covered with a pink tulle mini-skirt. She rocked the stockings with s black pair of shoes.
More birthday wishes and messages continue to pour in for the young and bussing fashion icon
djswitchghana:
Long live #BabyMaxin !❤️
akuapem_poloo:
Happy birthday beautiful baby girl
tracey_boakye:
Happy birthday, @iambabymaxin. God bless you, Mummy’s Joy ❤️❤️❤️❤️
kafuidanku:
Happy Birthday, Sweetness . May God continue To Bless And Protect You ❤️
queenafiaschwarzenegger:
Happy birthday my mum❤️❤️❤️
official_dacoster:
Not my kid sister growing so beautifully … God bless you ❤️
ohemaawoyeje:
May God make through you continuity happy birthday, Princess.
charlie_dior:
Happy birthday, doll! I wish you all the best, princess ❤️❤️❤️
dina_shant:
Happy birthday to Mama’s heartbeat. May you continue to grow in grace and the wisdom of God, pretty Maxin, and when the enemy comes like a flood to destroy you, may the spirit of the Lord always lift you up Live long and celebrate more birthdays, pretty Maxin
faustinafremaadonteng:
Happy birthday, Maxin. May God continue to bless and grant you prosperity, wealth, happiness, success, wisdom, good health and long life.
Founder of the Fountain Gate Chapel Eastwood Anaba, during his usual teachings, said that good people do not die early, as many assume.
He told his congregation that when a good person is no more, they have not just died. Instead, God called them to leave the earth earlier. His teaching was meant to explain the numerous concerns about the ex-Black stars and Hatayspor winger Christian Atsu’s demise despite his good deeds.
And the reason for that is most human beings are naturally dark-hearted and do not deserve good people. And as a result, God needs to save some people from the earth thus, ‘calling them’. Sometimes I tell my wife that when I see Christians, I see evil- he told his congregation.
He also explained that if you truly see the light of God, you will see that human beings are very dark. His reasons for making these claims and talking about how God saves the good-hearted are because people misinterpret the wonders or actions of God.
Christians assume God has not been fair to a kind-hearted person if he dies early, and hence there is no point in doing good and being kind since people who do that don’t survive the atrocities they face.
Watch Eastwood Anaba’s Sermon on good people below:
Around 4 p.m. local time on Sunday, a shark attacked a 59-year-old man who was swimming close to a pontoon at Château-Royal beach in the nation’s capital Nouméa, according to New Caledonia 1.
The man was saved by two persons on a jet ski, and CPR was given, but the broadcaster reports that the man died as a result of his wounds.
In response, authorities closed beaches in Nouméa, a popular destination for international tourists in the French overseas territory.
“Swimming and nautical activities are closed in a 300-meter coastal band until further notice,” Nouméa City Council said in a statement. A shark culling was also activated following the attack, New Caledonia 1 added.
This was the second attack in less than a month in the same location. In late January, a 49-year-old woman suffered multiple injuries after being attacked by a bull shark while swimming at Château-Royal beach, according to the Global Shark Attack File.
Nearby beaches were closed after that attack and only reopened last Thursday, according to local media reports.
The number of international visitors to Nouméa, known for its clear blue water and idyllic beaches, dropped sharply during the pandemic, according to World Bank data, but the industry is slowly recovering.
New Caledonia’s tourism website warns visitors to be wary of sharks and to only swim in monitored areas, where authorities carry out patrols and monitor shark alerts.
The archipelago is ranked 13th on Florida Museum’s list of unprovoked shark attacks, with 19 attacks since 1580, but it trails well behind the US, with more than 1,600 during the same period. The US is followed by Australia, South Africa and Brazil.
The most recent fatal attack in New Caledonia was in February 2021, when a tiger shark is believed to have attacked a yachtsman in Maître islet, according to local news reports.
The French territory sits to the east of Australia’s coast, north of New Zealand, and most tourists visit from September to November.
A Russian vessel outfitted with one of Moscow’s most potent weaponry docked in a port on South Africa’s east coast this past weekend as the anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s ruthless invasion of Ukraine approaches.
Similar to the Russian tanks and artillery pieces that rolled into Ukraine last year, the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, which President Putin claims is carrying hypersonic Zircon missiles, has a “Z” and “V” clumsily painted in white on its blackened smokestack.
It is participating in a 10-day naval exercise in the Indian Ocean alongside South African and Chinese warships, war games that South Africa says have long been planned.
But the timing of the exercises has Western diplomats privately incensed and publicly critical, and they risk an embarrassing backlash for the government in Pretoria.
“The timing of these exercises is particularly unfortunate and will focus the world’s attention on South Africa during the anniversary of the war. I don’t think Western nations are going to let this one slide,” said Steven Gruzd, head of the African Governance and Diplomacy Program at the South African Institute of International Affairs.
On the basis of realpolitik alone, freezing out Russia or, at the very least, postponing the naval exercises, may have seemed like a smarter choice.
Ukraine’s biggest supporters, the United States and countries in the European Union, are also big trade partners for South Africa.
European Union and US two-way trade with South Africa outstrips Russian economic ties many times over. And though Russia promises more trade deals, its battered economy is unlikely to provide the direct investment that South Africa desperately needs.
South African officials also point to drills held with the French and US militaries in recent years.
But ties between South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) and Moscow run deep – and they aren’t easily broken.
“By default, we are on the side of Russia. And to us Ukraine what we call a sell-out. It is selling out to the west,” said Obey Mabena, a veteran of the ANC’s armed wing in an interview last year with CNN.
While Mabena doesn’t represent the government or the ANC, his sentiment is likely shared by more than a few ANC stalwarts.
Mabena fled South Africa in the 1970s, like many in his generation, driven out by the police brutality of apartheid South Africa. In exile, many South African youth joined the armed wing of liberation movements like the ANC and Pan Africanist Congress.
There were often Soviet advisers at their training camps in other African countries.
“We found that there is a country like the Soviet bloc that was ready to give us everything that we needed. Give us food, they gave us uniforms, they trained us, they gave us weapons,” said Mabena, “For the first time we came across White people who treated us as equals.”
Liberation fighters and politicians have a very different experience with the West. The US government only supported comprehensive economic sanctions in mid-1980s – decades after the apartheid regime took power.
Anti-apartheid activist and South Africa’s first Black president, Nelson Mandela was on a terror watchlist until 2008 – a holdover from Cold War. Many ANC members are convinced that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had a hand in Mandela’s capture, something that has never been proven.
Of course, many of the ANC cadres went to Soviet-era Ukraine for their education and training.
And the anti-apartheid movement had some of its most powerful allies in the US. In Congress, then-senator Joe Biden famously lambasted Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state for backing the White South African government.
In recent years, South Africa’s links to Russia have only deepened with the formation of BRICS, the economic and diplomatic partnership of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
Backing out of the joint naval exercises would have been an insult to Russia, but likely also to China, a far more important economic partner. China’s Ministry of National Defense confirmed its participation in the naval exercises in a statement Sunday, saying the drills would promote defense and security cooperation among BRICS members.
South African’s chief diplomat called some of the criticism of the naval exercises a “double-standard.”
Like several African nations, South Africa has abstained from UN General Assembly votes to condemn Russia’s invasion and the annexation of Ukrainian territory.
“The response we got is you can take it or leave it. And in the face of that arrogance, we thought the only decision we could take was to abstain,” Naledi Pandor, minister of international relations and cooperation, told CNN in June.
She maintains that the goal for the global community should be a negotiated settlement between Russia and Ukraine under the authority of the United Nations. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has offered to mediate in those talks.
Neither side has taken him up on the offer. But South Africa’s stance on the war has hardly frozen out the country. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and other senior US diplomats have all visited South Africa since the start of the war.
Perhaps mindful of the history, America’s senior diplomats are careful not to criticize South Africa by name.
But if South African officials believe their stance is the pragmatic approach, it is difficult to argue that it is the moral one. Certainly with a pedigree of moral giants like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu – the late Archbishop of Cape Town whose foundation said this was no time to “sit on the fence.”
Pretoria may come under even more criticism if, as rumored, Russia test-fires a hypersonic Zircon missile from the frigate Admiral Gorshkov during the naval exercises.
The missiles are long-range weapons that travel more than five times the speed of sound and are harder to detect and intercept than other missiles.
Putin has previously boasted about them. “It has no analogues in any country in the world,” he said, according to TASS. “I am sure that such powerful weapons will reliably protect Russia from potential external threats and will help ensure the national interests of our country,” he added.
Showing them off in the joint drills could be another propaganda highlight for the Russian leader, whose weapons haven’t lived up to expectations in the Ukraine war.
And by staying assiduously “neutral,” South Africa could be handing Putin a significant win on the anniversary of the war.
“They are going to milk this. Russia is going to use this as a propaganda tool and the message is ‘we have friends, we have cooperation,’” Gruzd said.
After an abrupt easing of its “zero-Covid” policy late last year, China has declared a “big and decisive triumph” in its control of the coronavirus outbreak that has swept the nation in recent months.
The assessment was made by the top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party on Thursday during a closed-door meeting presided over by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and it is the latest indication that the nation is attempting to reduce the political repercussions of zero-Covid.
The years-long policy had generated widespread discontent – including rare nationwide protests – before it was scrapped in December amid rising economic costs, in a decision that caught the public off-guard.
The swift rollback of stringent disease controls sparked a surge in cases that saw hospitals overwhelmed and people scrambling for basic medicines.But the outbreak appears to have subsided in intensity in recent weeks, with official figures showing visits to fever clinics returning to levels below those of the period before restrictions were lifted after dropping from a peak in late December.
In its Thursday meeting, the Politburo Standing Committee said the highly populous nation had “created a miracle in human history” as it had “successfully pulled through a pandemic,” according to a summary published by state-run news agency Xinhua.
The summary also said the group claimed that China had kept the lowest Covid-19 fatality rate in the world – a metric that China’s top leadership touted throughout the pandemic, as its lockdowns, enforced quarantines and border restrictions kept case numbers – and fatalities – low compared with some other major economies.
But experts say the assessment – the first from China’s top leaders since the surge of cases has appeared to recede –merely serves to underscore the deep questions that remain about the impact of the outbreak on the country.
Since ending zero-Covid, China has officially recorded more than 80,000 fatalities – a figure that counts people who were tested for Covid-19 and died in hospital but excludes deaths that went untested or those who died at home during the surge of the virus. Those excluded could be a sizable group, experts say, as testing stalled and many patients were likely to have avoided hospitals.
“There are still many questions about the death toll in China due to Covid – it might be useful if they could release more information, particularly about the all-cause deaths compared to the pre-Covid years,” said virologist Jin Dongyan, a professor at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Biomedical Sciences, pointing to one method for assessing a more complete picture of fatalities in the country.
China has also been criticized by the World Health Organization for its limited data transparency during the outbreak, includingits earlier and more narrow definition of a Covid-19 death, which Chinese health officials updated in January.
It’s also not clear how many people were infected overall since China relaxed the zero-Covid policy – raising further questions about how authorities calculatedthe undisclosed Covid fatality rate, which experts say is typically measured by dividing the number of deaths over the total number of cases.
Chinese health authorities stopped releasing figures for so-called asymptomatic cases nationwide late last year, as they dismantled the countries’ extensive Covid-19 mass testing apparatus and allowed people to test and recover at home.
In late January, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) chief epidemiologist Wu Zunyou said on his personal social media account that around 80% of people in China had already been infected.
Reported death figures have also declined, with China reporting just 912 hospital deaths for the week of February 3-9, according to the latest CDC reporting, which also says fatalities peaked on January 4 with a total of 4,273 deaths that day.
Providing a more complete picture of the outbreak – andthe death toll – may not suit the government’s interests of reassuring the public about their handling of the virus, according to Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
Huang pointed to several international reports, based on modeling, which has placed the actual death toll at upwards of 1 million over the past two months. “You can’t expect the government to admit to this (scale),” he said, “because people are going to ask the question – how could we have paid so much economic and social cost (from zero-Covid) to essentially come up with an outcome that is equal if not worse to the (toll in the) US.”
Instead, Huang said, Chinese leaders were seizing the moment to take control of the narrative around the outbreak as the surge appears to have receded.
“People’s lives are returning to normal, and the viral wave comes to an end, so that kind of uncertainty (about the outbreak) is no longer there, and there is a need to reconcile the contradictory narrative, the credibility crisis that the abrupt policy U-turn created,” Huang said, referring to the shift in official tone as China swiftly adjusted from warning about the dangers of the virus and the need to contain it, to allowing it to spread.
“This is the perfect time to say that the outcome justified the decision,” Huang said.
But even as signs indicate that China’s population has widespread natural immunity, as in other countries, that does not mean the virus is gone or that China’s health care systems are prepared for potential future surges driven by potentialnew variants, experts say.
The Politburo Standing Committee referenced the need to continue to bolster health care in its meeting, according to the Xinhua summary, which said the body “urged all localities and departments to optimize related mechanisms and measures, strengthen the medical service system,” and called for planning for the next phase of vaccinations and enhancing medical supplies.
Jin at the University of Hong Kong agreed that China needed to continue to prepare, even as signs suggested the latest surge was largely over.
“Covid is still around and will be with us for much, much longer,” he said. “After this tsunami, still they have the new challenge of strengthening the health care system.”
Jackie Ankrah, daughter of the late former Head of State, Lieutenant General J. A. Ankrah, has recounted how she recently suffered massive backlashes for saying she is proud of her father.
It can be recalled that sometime in November 2022, the broadcaster cum musician said although her father overthrew the Nkrumah government, he still did a lot of things worth celebrating.
She said in an interview with Asaase Radio that despite her father’s flaws, he had achieved a lot for the country.
“We don’t talk about my father much which is unfortunate because of the Nkrumah overthrow. My father was the first in many things, but my father was an amazing, remarkable, incredible soldier.
“Just recently, he was honoured at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, and when they wrote and spoke about him, I was proud because my father has done so many things that we don’t get told about because we rewrite history all the time. But I think these are things that we must talk about to encourage one another and encourage the next generation,” she told Naa Ashorkor.
But in her latest interview on HitzFM, Jackie established that the aftermath of passing such statements was brutal.
Ms Ankrah said she was criticized for speaking her reality and that affected her emotionally.
“I received a lot of attacks recently because I said I was proud of my father. It really affected me because I am human but whose father would I be proud of? I can’t do anything about who I am, who my parents are, my father is my father, my father is who he was and he is ever going to be in the history of Ghana,” she said.
Jackie, however, established that her admiration for her father and willingness to defend his legacy still stands tall.
“I would have to face the fights and attacks as long as it’s to honour my father not like he’s stolen like other people’s father. People have their opinions and you can’t change their opinions but only live your life and do the things God desires of you,” she asserted.
Joseph A Ankrah was the chairman of the National Liberation Council from 1966 to 1969 and was Ghana’s first military head of state after he overthrew Dr Kwame Nkrumah alongside other members of the NLC.
He died in 1992 and left behind several wives and 18 children.
The Minister-designate for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong was taken aback over how he was seriously interrogated by Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson whom he considered a friend.
Mr. Acheampong, who thought his friendship with the Minority Leader will save him from being grilled when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Monday, had his hopes dashed.
While he was receiving punches from the Minority Leader, he exclaimed: “Ato you are my friend. Today, you don’t trust me? Ei Ato. You should be testifying on my credibility”.
In response, Dr. Forson who is also the Member of Parliament for the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam constituency in the Central Region said he was only doing his job as expected of him by Ghanaians.
“We are here for the people of Ghana, so we have to ask the questions that are needed.”
Dr. Forson was interrogating Bryan Acheampong, a former Minister of State at the National Security Ministry, on the role he played that led to the disturbances at the by-election held in the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency on January 31, 2019.
The Abetifi lawmaker vehemently rejected claims that he deployed national security operatives to unleash mayhem at Ayawaso West Wuogon.
“In the 500-plus page report [of the Commission of Inquiry], there wasn’t any part that mentioned that I authorized it. So everybody including myself was surprised and afraid that my name found expression in the conclusion that I should be reprimanded. That is why the White Paper rejected that recommendation because it failed to establish the factual basis that I authorized that operation.”
The BBC has released a close to a 30-minute documentary on the once-very-popular Ghanaian music genre, hiplife, tagged, ‘Hiplife Rewind’ – and as highly anticipated, there’s been an admixture of reactions that have greeted the said textual.
Obviously, not every industry person would be smitten by the project, so, it is okay to have persons express their appreciation or misgivings about the project, but what is quite bewildering is to see and hear some connoisseurs of the genre pass their opinions on the documentary.
For some of these enthusiasts, the documentary was not a true reflection of the actual fable of the genre; others are grousing that it lacked facts while some are also decrying the lack of participation of some true pioneers of the genre.
The intriguing bit of all the cacophony that has ensued after the BBC release is the fact that, most of these complainants, the connoisseurs of the genre have been and are still in a position to offer the true depiction of the actual happenings of hiplife as they deem it fit, yet, they have been cavalier all these years but quick to quip about the supposed failings of others who have made efforts to tell the story.
There’s nothing like ‘perfect’ so, the BBC were not expected to get it 100% right but some of the complaints are unfounded, exaggerated and misplaced.
Why blame the BBC?
Okyeame Quophi, one half of the hipilfe group, Akyeame, has repudiated the documentary stating, “I watched this hiplife documentary on YouTube yesterday which is produced by the BBC and now fully understand why HIPLIFE IS DEAD. The 30 minutes plus presentation lacks the facts and very misleading. Apuuu. Wei!”
On Peace FM, legendary producer, Hammer of the Last 2, had misgivings of the textual. Artiste Manager, Bullgod, has also expressed some disdain about the project and Andy Dosty, the famed DJ and a stalwart of hipilfe, also on Hitz FM, raised issues with some personnel who were not featured in the documentary.
Directed and produced by Akwasi Sarpong and Keyvah Cardoso for the BBC, the international media house, in a very short documentary, tried to explore the story of Ghana’s influential music genre through personal accounts of key artistes and creatives in the scene. It attempted to figure out the trajectory of the music genre and the industry’s playful, ongoing ‘rivalry’ with Nigeria on which country discovered Afrobeats; and whether the now-popular genre sprung from Ghana.
In that short period of the documentary, the BBC cannot feature every player; it had to be strategic and selective in the selection of the cast – persons who were present at the emergence of hiplife, those who were influenced by the genre and how they transitioned to Afrobeats, and yes, they got it right!
Ambolley
The documentary not bad, no!
In that short spate of time, the BBC tried to chronicle the influence of hiplife, its lack of sustainability and the takeover of Afrobeats.
For many of the naysayers, their biggest worry is the fact that, the documentary failed to present the actuality of hiplife but they (critics) are wrong in that regard. The project, although tagged, ‘Hiplife: The Rewind’, was not solely on the history of the genre. It sought to address three (3) core subjects in a limited duration and generally, they fulfilled that aspiration.
The concept of the project is the reason Panji talked about taking his group, NFL, a hiplife group to Atlantic Records but were rejected but the same label accepted and validated Burna Boy, an Afrobeats artiste.
In relation to the personnel casted in the documentary, especially for the pioneers of the genre, they did not get their selection wrong. Gyedu Blay Ambolley is the right person to speak on the genesis of rap. Reggie Rockstone is the best fellow to speak on anything related to the hiplife. Abraham Ohene-Djan, a luminary in the audio-visual space and the entire Ghanaian music industry is the right person to speak on how they were able to put visuals to the hiplife emergence.
The likes of Eno Barony, M.anifest are the right fit to discuss how hiplife influenced their respective careers and Kuami Eugene and KiDi are obviously the right guys to talk about how they got influenced by hiplife but are now tinkering with Afrobeats.
At the end of the day, the project highlighted how the well-accepted Afrobeats got its influence from hiplife and that’s the story it sold to the rest of the world – and interestingly, on YouTube, viewers of the documentary are super excited about the project, offering rave reviews and all.
Quophi Okyeame
The Nigerians are not sleeping
Last year, DW-TV got interested in the story of the Afrobeats, put a concept and a budget together and made a move to shoot a documentary on Afrobeats. 3 years ago, BBC made a project on the history of Afrobeats, spoke to some players of the genre, packaged it and projected it.
The Nigerians did not take those documentaries that spanned for a duration of 25 minutes each as the Bible of Afrobeats; they took control and decided to tell their story as they deemed it fit and sold it to the rest of the world.
On the 29th of June 2022, streaming platform giant, Netflix, premiered their first-ever Afrobeats documentary, ‘Afrobeats: The Backstory’. The Africa-led musical movement has arguably been the fastest-rising cultural phenomenon of the 2020s, therefore it made all sense for the streaming company to acquire Ayo Shonaiya’s work and push it.
In a 12-episode textual which had its own backlash after its release, Ayo Shonaiya, the Nigerian filmmaker, gathered footage from over 20 years of real time experiences. At the time when memories were being created Shonaiya was making sure to create a visual representation of these moments.
At the time, Afrobeats was still on the come up and no proper structure had been put into place but the clips collected by Shonaiya has given the body of work more meaning and has amplified the storytelling, making the consumption of the documentary a lot easier. The documentary did justice to highlighting the relevance of what is being experienced now and its importance to the future.
Even in a bid to tell the Nigerian perspective on Afrobeats, the documentary still gave credence to the influence of Ghanaian highlife and hiplife and even that, some Ghanaians still had issues with the portrayal.
Panji
Hiplife Aficionados sleeping, as always
The hiplifestory is such a refreshing one; a history that has so many personalities involved, a genre that influenced and altered the culture of an entire generation. A genre that saved the lives of a multitude and served as the livelihood to so many people. That genre is such a sellable product when packaged right!
Some of these connoisseurs are always nitpicking about every documentary that touches on hiplife, always quick to express how they lack facts and details and all that rhubarb. Some even argue that, since they were part of the emergence of the genre, they are not in that right positioning to tell the story. Others also claim that, they lack the resources to shoot and project the story, as it ought to be told right. It’s always one excuse or the other.
Ayo Shonaiya was just not a filmmaker; he was part of the story, part of the birth and growth of Afrobeats – having managed the likes of D-Banj, Don Jazzy and ElDee and many others who laid the foundation for the genre.
Some of these experts would not make a move, but let somebody garner interest in anything Ghanaian, gather personnel and resources to plan and execute and project the concept, then they (experts) will be on the sidelines – yelping how inappropriate the project was and how well it should have been done.
We can fix it
Yes, we can talk all we want and express varied opinions on projects executed by others and nothing should stop anybody from raising genuine issues on anything Ghanaian when there are shortcomings, but at the end of the day – what are you also doing with what is claimed as the authentic story? Why are you not telling the story and selling it, as it should be? What are you waiting on?
Panji Anoff, Mike Cooke, Zapp Mallet, Mark Okraku Mantey, Hammer, Abraham Ohene Djan, DKB, Andy Dosty, Okyeame Quophi, Okyeame Kwame and the deluge of astute personalities who engineered the success story of hipilfe are all in some capacity to put their efforts and resources together to project the hipilfe story as it should.
Nothing should stop these ‘fine brains’ from assembling in any room to draw up a plan, a proposal and to solicit for any form of succour in a bid to project the so-called true hipilfe story.
Chinese state media reported that a study team among historic palace ruins in the Yueyang archaeological site in the central city of Xi’an discovered broken pieces of the 2,400-year-old toilet as well as a bent flush pipe last summer.
When the find’s specifics were made public last week, it sparked intense curiosity in China and provided a unique window into the wealthy and technologically savvy life of the nation’s former ruling class.
Liu Rui, a researcher at the Institute of Archeology at the Chinese Academy of Anbariya Islamic Institute loses legal battle against Tamale Technical University College of Social Sciences, who was part of the excavation team, told state media the toilet would have likely been reserved for high-ranking officials during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) and the later Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). He added that servants would likely have poured water into the toilet bowl every time it was used.
“The flush toilet is concrete proof of the importance the ancient Chinese attached to sanitation,” Liu said, adding that there were very few records of indoor toilets in ancient times.
Access to clean, flush toilets remain an issue in parts of modern China. Early in his tenure, Chinese leader Xi Jinping promised to “revolutionize” the country’s restrooms, as part of efforts to improve rural hygiene.
“The toilet issue is no small thing, it’s an important aspect of building civilized cities and countryside,” Xi said in an article in the state-owned People’s Daily in 2018. “This work should be advanced as a specific task of rural revitalization and such shortcomings that affect the quality of people’s life should be filled with great efforts.”
Prior to the newly announced discovery, the invention of the first flush toilet was widely credited to English courtier John Harington, who supposedly installed one for Queen Elizabeth in the 16th century, though 4,000-year-old drainage systems that might have been connected with toilets have been found in northwest India.
The ruins from Yueyang, the former capital of Qin State and later the first capital of the Han Dynasty, were discovered in the 1980s. The recent find is part of a broader effort to understand ancient Chinese dynasties, including how people lived and how their cities were constructed, the Institute said in a statement announcing the discoveries.
Archaeologists are now analyzing soil samples collected from the toilet in hopes of finding out what people ate during that time, according to China Daily.
Top image caption: The unearthed flush lavatory, which is comprised of a toilet bowl and sewage system, excavated from the Yueyang site in Xi’an, China. Credit: Xinhua/Shutterstock
The minister-designate for agriculture, Bryan Acheampong has described the report by the commission of enquiry that investigated the Ayawso West Wuogon by-election violence, as unfair to him.
According to the former Minister of State in Charge of National Security, the Emil Short Commission was not fair to him when it ultimately blamed him for the violence and recommended that he be reprimanded.
Answering questions posed to him during his vetting at parliament’s Appointment Committee sitting, the nominee said he did not authorise the operation by some National Security SWAT officers that led to some injuries on politicians during the January 31, 2019, incident.
“In the 500-plus page report [of the Commission of Inquiry], there wasn’t any part that mentioned that I authorized it. So everybody including myself was surprised and afraid that my name found expression in the conclusion that I should be reprimanded. That is why the White Paper rejected that recommendation because it failed to establish the factual basis that I authorized that operation.”
The Ayawaso West by-election took place on 31 January 2019 after the death of the incumbent MP Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko on 21 November 2018. Lydia Alhassan of the New Patriotic Party was elected with 69% of the vote.
Violence erupted in the La-Bawaleshie polling station two hours after the election had started, though there was no death recorded there where casualties who sustained life threatening injuries.
A government commission of enquiry report indicted the then minister and recommended that Mr Bryan Acheampong be reprimanded.
Minister-designate for Trade and Industry, Kobina Tahir Hammond, has rebuffed the decade-old perception by a section of the public that he was compromised in the sale and purchase of Ghana National Petroleum Authority’s drill ship in 2001.
He said the country must rather be thankful to him for beating down the demand of Corporation’s debtees from $47 million to $19.5 million.
Mr Hammond, MP, Adansi Asokwa, has long been fingered by elements of the opposition National Democratic Congress of complicity in the sale of the ship to defray a judgement debt awarded against Ghana by a London court.
A Judgement Debt Commission chaired by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Yaw Apau had found that “the payment of the $19.5 million instead of the $14 million earlier on agreed (with French Bank, Societe Generale) constituted financial loss to the Corporation and Ghana”.
But confronted with questions on the findings at his vetting in Accra yesterday, Mr Hammond who was the deputy Minister of Energy at the time of the sale said he did nothing untoward in the matter.
“I put it to everybody here: when is it in recorded history that a deputy minister of three months at post sells a state asset like a ship?
“I was in office for just three months and you can imagine that no decision can be taken at my level. Every twist and turn I was given executive instrument some which were signed by the AG.
“Of the $47 million, following my arrangement and going around, they decided that instead of the $47 million, they would collect $19.5 million,” Mr Hammond told the Committee.
His claim was in response to questions by members of the minority on the committee who sought to know his role in the sale of the ship and portions of the government White Paper on the report of the Committee which indicted Mr Hammond and urged the Economic and Organised Crime Office to launch criminal investigations into the matter.
Giving explanation to what led to the sale of the ship, Mr Hammond said upon coming into office by the John Agyekum Kufuor government in 2001, it was realised that the GNPC had been ran aground and a decision had been made by the corporation
at the time to go into hedging, a transaction he said was a gamble.
As a result of its unfruitful investment into oil and gas discoveries, the corporation was saddled with a $47 million debt.
“In June 2001, the Ministry of Energy was informed that from the activities of the GNPC, there was a debt of $47 million that GNPC had created.
“They had entered into an agreement with a company called Societe Generale in France and in the process, the drill ship had been collateralised between 1994 and 1998 before we came to power.
Owing to the indebtedness, he said the ship was impounded in Aman, India by the French bank prompting a decision by Cabinet.
“At Cabinet, my minister brought up this issue and the Attorney General at the time considered the issue and was very clear in his mind that the position of Ghana was hopeless. So there was no way pleading the case but to settle.
“I was informed that since I was a practising barrister at the Bar of England and Wales, and this matter was pending in the court of England, it was suggested that I should go and find out what we could do,” he narrated.
Popular Ghanaian socialite, Ayisha Modi has shared her narrative about why Christian Atsu’s works weren’t projected enough while he was alive.
In the wake of the Ghanaian footballer’s demise, many have wondered why his good deeds weren’t trumpeted while he was alive.
The late footballer was said to be a great philanthropist, a support system for many who have encountered him, among others.
But all these were brought to the spotlight after his demise.
Analyzing the situation, Ayisha Modi shared why the ‘culture of praising the dead’ seems predominant among Ghanaians.
According to Ayisha, people would have been tagged all sorts of names if they had dared to celebrate the Black Stars winger while he was alive.
She said people, particularly celebrities, would have been described as ‘bootlickers’, ‘attention seekers’ among others if they had consistently eulogized him.
“To those of us in the media, if we dared celebrate him while he was alive, the simple commentary that would come from some of our colleagues and social media activists will be that he has bribed us or we are doing that because we want money or favour or recognition from him.
“How does he appreciate and even feel good about the good things he did now that he’s gone? We could have done it for him while he was alive.”
She also established that there are instances where people who have been continually praised for their good deeds relaxed at a point.
This Ayisha believes, could be the reason black people do not give others the praise due them while they are alive.
“Good people deserve to be praised while alive but maybe there is a very good reason why Ghanaian culture frowns upon praising a good person when he is alive. Our ancestors realized that often when a black man is praised alive, he tends to relax and don’t get better so it’s better to hold till he accomplishes much more but if he dies in the process, he is given all the praise and a descent barrier,” she added.
A 55-year-old man has been found dead in his room at Mankessim in the Mfantseman Municipality of the Central Region.
According to reports, the deceased, Kwame Entie’s lifeless body almost rotten was found after the residents started inhaling bad odour emanating from the direction of his room.
He was said not to be feeling well recently and visited the hospital and was recovering until his demise.
Residents say he’d not been seen in the past few days but their curiosity was aroused after they began to smell the bad ordor and alerted the Police.
His room was subsequently searched but was unfortunately found dead on Sunday, February 19, 2023 in the evening.
The body has been deposited at the Saltpond Government Hospital Mortuary for autopsy and preservation while police have commenced investigation.
Ghanaian multiple Grammy-nominated musician, Rocky Dawuni has named his live performance at The Hollywood Bowl as one of the biggest highlights of his career.
Rocky on July 24, 2011, shared a stage with American singer and songwriter, Steve Wonder who played the harmonica, as he performed his tunes including ‘Extraordinary Woman’ from his album ‘Hymns For The Rebel Soul’.
The reggae legend who describes his sounds as Afroroots is credited for being the first-ever Ghanaian singer to gain a Grammy nomination.
“As a performer, my biggest, most profound highlight was when I performed at The Hollywood Bowl, a very historic stage with Steve Wonder and a lot of really amazing artistes including Janelle Monae.
“I felt that as a live musician, to have the opportunity to perform alongside such a luminary was also a testament to the journey I’ve been on. So that I believe was one of the highlights,” Rocky told Face2Face Africa in a February 2023 interview.
According to the Foreign Ministry, China’s top diplomat will travel to Russia this month. This will be the first trip to Russia by a Chinese ambassador in that position following Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The eight-day international trip by Wang Yi, who was appointed last month as the top foreign policy advisor to Chinese President Xi Jinping, will begin on Tuesday and include stops in France, Italy, Hungary, and a speech at the Munich Security Conference this weekend, where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken may also be present.
The foreign itinerary is Wang’s first after leaving his post as Foreign Minister and taking up his new role, and it could provide a test of the diplomat’s ability in balancing Beijing’s close ties with Moscow, while also attempting to boost China’s image and relations in Europe – and by extension the United States.
Wang’s attendance at the Munich Security Conference, which Blinken is expected to attend, could provide a chance for the two to meet in person for the first time since US-China tensions again flared after a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon entered American airspace late last month.
The fallout from the balloon has been swift, with Washington accusing China of overseeing an international surveillance program – and Beijing denying those claims and in turn accusing the US of “illegally” flying high-altitude balloons into its airspace more than 10 times since the start of last year. China maintains the balloon, which US forces identified and then downed earlier this month, is a civilian research aircraft accidentally blown off course.
The incident also had an immediate impact on what had been seen as an opportunity for the US and China to stabilize relations, as Blinken postponed an expected early February visit to Beijing after US officials announced they were tracking the device.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Monday declined to confirm that Blinken would attend the Munich conference and said there was no meeting with a Chinese official scheduled. He noted, however, that the US was “always assessing options for diplomacy,” including meeting in third countries.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin did not mention any potential meeting with Blinken when announcing Wang Yi’s travel plans during a press briefing on Monday.
Wang’s itinerary would bring an opportunity for China to work for “new progress in bilateral relations” with France, Italy and Hungary, as well as “promote China-EU strategic mutual trust,” the spokesperson said.
China’s relationship with Europe has come under significant stress in the wake of the Ukraine war.Beijing has refused to condemn the invasion outright or support numerous measures against it in the United Nations. China has also continued to partner with the Russian military during large scale exercises, while boosting its trade and fuel purchases from Moscow.
According to China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang’s visit to Moscow will provide an opportunity for China and Russia to continue to develop their strategic partnership and “exchange views” on “international and regional hotspot issues of shared interest” – a catch-all phrase often used to allude to topics including the war in Ukraine.
The Foreign Ministry did not specify whether Wang would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“China is ready to take this visit as an opportunity and work with Russia to promote steady growth of bilateral relations in the direction identified by the two heads of state, defend the legitimate rights and interests of both sides, and play an active role for world peace,” spokesman Wang Wenbin said.
Wang’s visit may also foreshadow a state visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Moscow later this year. Putin extended an invitation to Xi during a customary end-of-year call between the two leaders, but China’s Foreign Ministry has yet to confirm any plans.
Last night, Union was seen on camera hailing Nigerian artist Tems after her performance at the NBA All-Star Game.The NBA All-Star event happened over the weekend with various lineups in Salt Lake City. LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo led the All-Star Game.
Apart from the many games that were played, three Nigerian artists, Tems, Rema, and Burna Boy, graced the stage and gave mind-blowing performances.
Tems’ performance appeared to have blown away Gabrielle Union, who resorted to hailing the singer in the now-viral video.
“There’s only one Tems. This is the queen,” she said.
Tems continues to climb the ladder of success, putting the Nigerian music industry on the global stage with award-winning collaborations and groundbreaking releases.
The Derwent River in Tasmania is home to a peculiar kind of fish that prefers to walk along the riverbed rather than swim. The spotted handfish, which has pectoral fins that resemble hands and swims by using them, hides in the dark depths, ready to pounce on any prey it draws with the fluffy lure above its mouth.
The fish is difficult to notice and even more challenging to photograph due to its cream hue and dark brown or orange markings, which mix in with the sandy floor. In addition to this, the species is critically endangered, with an estimated 3,000 individuals remaining in the wild.
But French photographer Nicolas Remy was determined to see the elusive fish for himself. In 2022, he traveled from his base in Sydney to Australia’s coldest state, and dived into the waters of the Derwent which were a chilly 11 degrees Celsius.
An hour in, he spotted the first handfish, but with the burst of his camera flash it was gone. All the photograph had captured was a cloud of silt. Remy realized he would have to hone his technique for this species and spent three consecutive days and a total of nine hours in the river.
Eventually, after mastering a special swimming technique with his flippers that didn’t stir up the silt, and using a different kind of lighting device that created a narrow spotlight, Remy got his shot – a close-up of the charismatic fish, with its “hands” and the fluffy lure in plain sight. The photograph went on to win first place in the cold-water category of the Underwater Photography Guide’s Ocean Art 2022 contest.
Remy hopes that his photographs will help to shine a light on this rare species that most people know – and care – little about. Using portrait-style photography, he wants to create an emotional connection with the handfish, prompting people to get engaged in conserving the “very strange looking fish.”
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Efforts to preserve the spotted handfish, and its even more critically endangered relatives, the red handfish and Ziebell’s handfish, are ongoing. The National Handfish Recovery Team plans to revive all three species, which are found in the waters of south-eastern Australia. Of the red handfish, only 100 adults are thought to remain, while the Ziebell’s hasn’t been spotted in the wild since 2007.
“Low dispersal capability, small population size, and relatively low reproductive output make them susceptible to environmental disturbance,” says Jemina Stuart-Smith, chair of the National Handfish Recovery Team, who notes habitat loss, pollution and urban development as major threats. What’s more, their quirky method of walking rather than swimming, makes it difficult for handfish to use ocean currents to carry them away from degraded areas, she adds.
Recovery efforts involve monitoring populations of all three species, restoring their natural habitat, removing invasive species or over-abundant sea urchins, and working with aquariums to establish captive breeding programs and insurance populations. In the Derwent River, the team has planted artificial habitat to encourage spotted handfish spawning, which has already shown promising results in stabilizing populations, says Stuart-Smith.
But while there has been some progress, the situation is still urgent and the recovery team needs longer-term funding and resources, says Stuart-Smith. She hopes the Australian government’s recent threatened species action plan, which aims to prevent any new extinctions, will help as the red handfish is listed in the plan’s 110 priority species.
Generating awareness is also crucial to conservation efforts, she says, and photography can be an important medium for this.
Mark Strickland, American photographer and judge of the Ocean Art 2022 photo contest, agrees. He told CNN in an email: “By capturing and sharing beautiful images of such rarely seen species, underwater photographers can play an outsized role by creating awareness and concern among people who might otherwise be unaware of the plight being faced by these species and the fragile habitats where they reside.”
To the great surprise of the current residents, the letter, which was sent in February 1916, arrived at its designated destination in south London’s Hamlet Road.
“We noticed that it said ’16 on it. Hence, we mistakenly believed it to be 2016,” Finlay Glen told CNN on Thursday. We concluded that it couldn’t have been 2016 when we realised the stamp was a King rather than a Queen.
Glen told CNN that the letter arrived at the property a couple of years ago, but he has only recently taken it to the local historical society, so they can research it further.
The envelope has a 1 pence stamp bearing the head of King George V. The letter was sent in the middle of World War I – more than a decade before Queen Elizabeth II was born.
“Once we realized it was very old, we felt that it was okay to open up the letter,” said Glen, 27.
Under the Postal Services Act 2000, it is a crime to open mail not addressed to you. But Glen said he can “only apologize” if he’s committed a crime.
Finlay Glen with the century-old letter, outside the Hamlet Road property.Finlay Glen
After realizing that the letter may be of historical interest, he gave it to the Norwood Review, a local quarterly magazine.
“As a local historian I was amazed and delighted to have the details of the letter passed to me,” said Stephen Oxford, editor of the magazine, in a release.
The letter was addressed to “my dear Katie,” who, according to Oxford, was the wife of local stamp magnate Oswald Marsh.
It was written by Christabel Mennel, the daughter of tea merchant Henry Tuke Mennel, while her family was on holiday in Bath, in western England. In the letter, Mennel writes: “I’ve been most miserable here with a very heavy cold.”
The neighborhood of south London was a hub of business activity at the time. “Lots of wealthy, middle class people moved into the area in the late 1800s,” Oxford told CNN.
Oswald Marsh, the former resident of the Hamlet Road property, “was a highly regarded stamp dealer who was often called as an expert witness in cases of stamp fraud,” according to Oxford.
The Norwood Review is producing a full report on the letter.
“My dear Katie,” the letter begins.Finlay Glen
Yet it remains a mystery as to how the letter arrived at Glen’s flat.
“Incidents like this happen very occasionally, and we are uncertain what has happened in this incident,” a Royal Mail spokesperson told CNN in a statement Thursday.
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“We appreciate that people will be intrigued by the history of this letter from 1916, but have no further information on what might have happened.”
Oxford noted that the letter was postmarked “Sydenham,” an area in southeast London. He thinks it “may well have been lost sitting in a dark corner in the Sydenham sorting office and only recently discovered.”
Glen said he and his girlfriend would be happy to give the letter to a local archive if it’s of “serious historical significance.” But, if it’s found to be more “innocuous,” he said, “it would be nice for us to be able to hold onto it.”
Glen, a theater director and playwright, said that he doesn’t often include strange twists of fate in his plays. But, after this serendipitous delivery, “perhaps the next one will.”
The chairman of Pakistan’s Senate, Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, also expressed his “deep sorrow and grief,” while the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, led by former prime minister Imran Khan who was ousted in a vote of no confidence last year, said: “Our prayers and condolences go to his family and we share their grief.”
The former leader, who had been living in self-imposed exile in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates since 2016, seized power from former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif — Shehbaz Sharif’s older brother –in a military coup in 1999 and appointed himself president in 2001, while remaining head of the army. He continued to lead Pakistan as president until 2008.
Musharraf became a key ally of the United States following the 9/11 terror attacks, and he tried to become an indispensable figure in combating Islamic extremism.
But his time in power was marred with controversy and he was accused of widespread human rights abuses and oppression.
His term was punctuated by two failed assassination attempts in 2003. In November 2007, he declared a state of emergency, suspended Pakistan’s constitution, replaced the chief judge and blacked out independent TV outlets.
Musharraf said he did so to stabilize the country and to fight rising Islamist extremism. The action drew sharp criticism from the United States and democracy advocates. Pakistanis openly called for his removal.
Under pressure from the West, Musharraf later lifted the state of emergency and called elections, held in February 2008, in which his party fared badly.
He stepped down in August 2008 after the governing coalition began taking steps to impeach him.
Musharraf then went into exile but returned to Pakistan in 2013 with the aim of running in the country’s national elections. Instead, his plans unraveled as he became entangled in a web of court cases relating to his time in power.
In 2019, he was sentenced to death in absentia for high treason. The ruling was later overturned.
Musharraf had been living in Dubai since March 2016, when Pakistan’s Supreme Court lifted a travel ban, allowing him to leave the country to seek medical treatment there.
He was married to Sehba Musharraf and had a son and a daughter.
The leadership of four unions comprising the Motor Riders Union, True Drivers Union, Concerned Drivers Union and Abossey Okai Spare-part Dealers Association have petitioned former President John Dramani Mahama, urging him to contest for the Presidency in the 2024 general elections.
The unions believe John Dramani Mahama will be the best leader to address the country’s current economic challenges if elected President.
Presenting the petition to the office of the former President, the Public Relations Officer of the Motor Riders Association, Setsofia Quashie said Ghanaians are yearning for a change in government that will lead to the transformation of the economy.
“Since you left, everything has been in shambles, we can’t even buy fuel to work to make ends meet. Things have been so tough that we can’t wait to see you come to rescue us. We are by this petition asking you to endlessly consider the points raised and do the needful by heeding to the call of all Ghanaians who are yearning for a change.”
Receiving the petition on behalf of John Mahama, former Chief of staff, Julius Debrah said the former president will consider the request.
