Harry Kane was on target on his return to Premier League action as Tottenham came from two goals down to snatch a 2-2 draw with Brentford.
Just 16 days after his penalty miss in the World Cup quarter-final against France, England skipper Kane scored with a towering header to drag Spurs back from the brink of defeat.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg then grabbed an equaliser as Tottenham cancelled out goals from Vitaly Janelt and Ivan Toney.
Their second-half display was a far cry from a lethargic first 45 minutes, with Kane’s only opportunity coming from an early free-kick which clipped the wall.
Brentford went ahead in the 15th minute when Toney flicked the ball on to Bryan Mbeumo, who swept it diagonally to Mathias Jensen in the penalty area.
Fraser Forster, making his first Premier League appearance for Spurs as deputy for World Cup finalist Hugo Lloris, kept out Jensen’s first-time shot but the ball fell at the feet of Janelt for a tap-in
.
It was a familiarly slow start from the visitors, the sixth game in a row in which they had slipped behind.
Toney was back in action for the first time since it emerged he had been charged by the Football Association for alleged breaches of betting rules.
The striker, who missed out on a place in England’s World Cup squad despite his hot form, had the ball in the net after rounding Forster but an offside flag belatedly ruled out the goal.
Toney was not to be denied after the interval, however, as he showed the Bees what they will be missing if he is hit with a ban by the FA.
Mbeumo swung in a near-post corner, Christian Norgaard flicked the ball on and the 26-year-old struck at the far post for his 12th goal of the season.
Kane hauled Spurs back into the match just after the hour when he met a sweeping Clement Lenglet cross with a superb header back across goal.
It was the striker’s 10th Boxing Day goal for Spurs, a Premier League record.
Mbeumo had a chance to restore Brentford’s two-goal lead but he blazed over and moments later Tottenham were level.
The dangerous Dejan Kulusevski pulled the ball back from the byline into the path of Hojbjerg, who lashed it home from 12 yards.
Back came the Bees and Mbeumo was booked for a blatant dive as he looked for a penalty after Forster came racing out of his goal.
Toney had a chance to win it for Brentford but hooked his effort over the crossbar before David Raya’s late save denied Son Heung-Min a stoppage-time winner.
Harry Kane broke the Premier League’s goalscoring record on Boxing Day with his strike during Tottenham’s clash with Brentford.
The England captain netted his 10th goal on the day when he headed home Ivan Perisic’s 65th-minute cross at Gtech Community Stadium.
Kane, who surpassed the previous record set by Robbie Fowler (nine), also maintained his record of scoring in all seven of his Premier League appearances on Boxing Day.
Antonio Conte’s side fell 2-0 behind as Brentford took control with goals from Vitaly Janelt and Ivan Toney, but goals from Kane and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg dragged the visitors level.
Kane’s appearance for Spurs came 16 days after a crushing defeat in the World Cup in Qatar, where England lost to France in the quarter-finals and Kane missed a late penalty.
He showed no signs of that hindering his performances back at club level, however, with the strike against Brentford being his 12th in the Premier League this season.
According to Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, the government is coordinating with organized labor to close the gap left by the exclusion of pension funds from the debt swap program.
After the government and organized labor signed an agreement, Mr. Ofori Atta addressed the media and said: “Obviously, the choice to exempt pension funds is at a cost, and we have committed government and the organized labor to work together to guarantee that we find means of plugging that hole.”
The “government has decided to grant an exemption to all pension funds” in the debt exchange programme, an MoU signed by the Minister of Labour Relations, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, dated Thursday, 22 December 2022, disclosed.
The exemption of pension funds under the programme follows a meeting between the government of Ghana (GoG) represented by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations on one hand, and Organised Labour/Associations, on the other hand, represented by the leaders of all labour unions/associations.
The government and Organised Labour shall, “however, work together to explore mutually beneficial options within the debt sustainability limits and to also promote macroeconomic stability and economic recovery in the spirit of social partnership,” the statement added.
Organised Labour had threatened a strike if the government failed to exempt the pension funds.
“We are asking the government to exempt us from the debt exchange programme. We have already told the world that if the government doesn’t do that, we will advise ourselves. Today, we are here to announce the advice. The advice is very simple: We have all agreed that because the government has refused to grant our request, we have decided firmly that all workers of Ghana are going to strike on December 27, 2022, and we will be on strike until our demands are met,” Dr Yaw Baah announced days before the exemption.
Ghanaian tactician, Sellas Tetteh has disclosed that the country owes him from 2009 when he led the Ghana U20 team to glory at the Youth World Cup.
According to him, he was supposed to be paid some $4000 when Ghana won the U20 FIFA World Cup but he has not received the money after 13 years.
“I have been discussing with Kurt Okraku because since we, the technical team when we won the World Cup they didn’t pay us any money. They didn’t pay us any money. There was a document for it. I went and discuss that with Kurt Okraku. At least they were supposed to give us $4000,” Sellas Tetteh disclosed in an interview with Sports Obama TV.
The veteran Ghanaian coach added, “As for the players their money and all those things, they were not paid anything. They kept it in an account for them. I have spoken to the people in charge and Kurt Okraku but he has been busy because of the World Cup. I will try and meet him and talk to him.”
Sellas Tetteh became a national hero in 2009 when he led the Ghana U20 team to World Cup glory.
He recently took ill but has thankfully recovered very well.
He is hoping that after 13 years, he could be appreciated by the country for bringing glory and honour to his country.
Many found Salt Bae’s behavior at the World Cup to be outrageous.
A quick recap in case you missed it: after Argentina’s win against France in the finals, Salt Bae, or Nusret Gökçe, somehow found his way onto the pitch, where he held and kissed the FIFA World Cup trophy and bothered a handful of players, including Lionel Messi, into taking photos with him.
Due to his actions, he is no longer allowed to attend the U.S. Open Cup final in 2023. The official Twitter account for the soccer competition tweeted as much on Tuesday: “Salt Bae is hereby banned from the 2023 U.S. Open Cup Final.”
FIFA hasn’t yet announced any punishment. The organization has launched a probe into how he got onto the field after the game. Additionally, FIFA said that his appearance on the field breached World Cup rules, which say that only winners and heads of state can touch the trophy. The 18-carat World Cup Trophy costs around $21.3 million.
“Following a review, FIFA has been establishing how individuals gained undue access to the pitch after the closing ceremony at Lusail stadium on 18 December. The appropriate internal action will be taken,” the statement said, per Fox News.
Besides Messi, Salt Bae managed to get photos with Angel di Maria, Leandro Paredes, Nicolas Otamendi, Paulo Dybala, and Alexis Mac Allister, among others.
He contends that the government may reduce spending in other ways that won’t interfere with its goals for debt sustainability.
“The government should have no trouble cutting roughly 41 billion from pension funds to pay interest. This is due to the fact that there is still a way out; the government can realign and change some of the budget lines to make room for this exception, he told myjoyonline.com.
However, despite growing concerns that external bondholders may make similar demands, Prof. lord Mensah noted that the conditions are different.
“These investors are long-term in nature, and they will not be responding immediately to some of these measures that the government is undertaking,” he said.
The finance ministry announced the extension of the expiration date of the invitation date for the Voluntary Domestic Debt Exchange to Monday, January 16, 2023 (at 1600 hours).
The Settlement Date for the Invitation is now expected to occur on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, “or as soon as practicable thereafter, but no later than the Longstop Date which is now scheduled for Tuesday, January 31, 2023, unless further extended by the Government pursuant to the Invitation,” a press release from the Finance Ministry stated.
“The announcement Date is now expected to occur on or about 17th January 2023″.
The previous deadline for the invitation was set for Friday, December 30, following the extension of the original deadline of Monday, December 19.
Anthony Martial thinks Manchester United have plenty of reason for optimism ahead of the second half of the season, praising the “great dynamic” instilled by Erik ten Hag.
The Red Devils have enjoyed something of a resurgence under the Dutchman following a dismal 2021-22 campaign, mounting a charge for the top four once again.
With a quarter-final berth in the EFL Cup secured, United next face Nottingham Forest on Tuesday as they resume their Premier League season following the break for the World Cup in Qatar.
Martial, who has been limited by injury so far but nevertheless has picked up four goals in eight games, certainly believes there is cause to believe the club can succeed this term under Ten Hag.
“Why not?” he told MUTV. “We’ve [got] a very good team of players, with a great dynamic about us and lots of victories under our belt.
“We now just to have keep on [with] those winning ways we have shown in these recent matches.
“There has been some time for rest, so we hope we will return in good shape for the challenges ahead, and to win all the matches we can.”
While several members of United’s squad – including the central defensive trio of Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez and Harry Maguire – enjoyed deep World Cup runs, Martial was absent after France passed him over.
But the forward feels those left behind have used their time wisely to ensure they can hit the ground running as 2023 comes around the corner.
“We’ve put in a lot of good work, and it has been a bit like a pre-season for us,” he added. “We’ve worked on fitness training and getting into top shape physically, and I’ve benefited a lot from that personally.”
On December 25, 2022, Medikal rode an ATV on stage to perform at the just-ended Freedom Wave Concert Concert 2022 at the Accra Sports Stadium.
In a video exclusive to GhanaWeb, the performer was spotted wearing a lemon green jacket over a black t-shirt and a pair of black pants while he serenaded music fans with some of his hit songs.
Popular tunes like “Den na Eko,” and “Too Risky,” among other songs composed by the artiste left the audience charged up.
While his delivery was exciting to watch, Shatta Wale‘s stagecraft left many SM fans thrilled.
Meanwhile, Ghanaian dancehall artiste and performer, Shatta Wale, at the concert gave fans something to talk about when he displayed his entire body donning only his boxers.
The artiste’s manhood, which was visible in his boxer shorts, drew the attention of many fans and sparked chatter online.
With his hand held high over his head, Shatta lay on the naked floor after stripping.
Watch Medikal’s Arrival And Powerful Performance On Stage At Freedom Wave Concert
Whitworth, who passed away suddenly on Christmas Eve, won 88 LPGA titles during her career – the most on any professional tour.
The six-time major winner was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1976, a year after winning the last of her three Women’s PGA Championship crowns.
Five years later, Whitworth became the first woman to reach career earnings of $1million on the LPGA Tour and, in 1990, was the United States’ first Solheim Cup captain.
“The golf world and the world in general lost one of its most incredible women with the passing of Kathy Whitworth,” LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in a statement.
“Kathy was a champion in the truest sense of the word, both on the golf course and off.”
Her partner Bettye Odle added: “It is with a heart full of love that we let everyone know of the passing of the winningest golf professional ever, Kathy Whitworth.
“Kathy passed suddenly Saturday night celebrating Christmas Eve with family and friends. Kathy left this world the way she lived her life, loving, laughing and creating memories.”
Rapper Pardison Fontaine who is also Megan Thee Stallion’s boyfriend, is speaking out on her assault trial against Tory Lanez.
“To any woman, especially ones of color, that has suffered an injustice, I feel for you …” Fontaine wrote on Instagram. “When you do find the courage to speak up it seems you will be ridiculed. Your credibility will be questioned, your entire past will be held under a magnifying glass. In an instant you can go from victim to defendant in the eyes of the public. To anyone with a sister, mother, niece or aunt, I pray for their protection. I pray for their covering. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”
Faintaine shared the message on Thursday afternoon, shortly after a California jury began deliberations in Lanez’s shooting trial. The rapper/songwriter—born Jorden Kyle Lanier Thorp—began dating Megan in October 2020, about three months after Lanez allegedly shot Megan in the feet.
Megan maintains the incident went down following a party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood home. She said she and the Canadian rapper had gotten into an argument at the event, and continued to fight in the car. Megan told authorities that the confrontation became so heated that she decided to exit the vehicle, which was also occupied by her ex-assistant and Lanez’s driver. Moments after getting out of the car, Lanez allegedly shouted, “Dance, bitch!” and shot Megan in the feet.
During her emotional testimony last week, Megan spoke about the backlash she’s received as a result of the case, as well as the impact it’s had on her relationships.
“I feel disgusted, I feel dirty, my own partner is embarrassed,” she said, referring to the coverage of her sexual history. “I can’t even be happy … I don’t want to talk to friends or family. I don’t want to live. I wish he had just shot and killed me if I had to go through this torture.”
Lanez has been charged with possession of a concealed, unregistered firearm; assault with a semiautomatic firearm; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. If convicted of the charges, Lanez will face more than 22 years in prison.
Jury deliberations are expected to resume Friday morning.
A U.S. couple, who have been living and working in Uganda, were accused of torturing their 10-year-old foster child.
According to People, Nicholas and Mackenzie Spencer welcomed three foster children from a local Christian ministry in 2018. A Ugandan police statement alleges the couple kept the child in question “barefoot and naked throughout the day,” and allegedly forced him to “squat in an awkward position” on occasion. The alleged victim also slept on a bare wooden platform without a mattress or bedding.
A caregiver for the child told The Daily Monitor that she reported the Spencers to the police after noticing his deteriorated state. She alleges the couple considered the child to be stubborn, hyperactive, and mentally unstable. In a statement to authorities, the caretaker claims the child was forced to sleep in a small room with a cold tiled floor. “I wanted to leave the job, but I knew if I left without doing something about it, the torture would continue,” she said.
The couple was taken into custody on Dec. 9, and have not been granted bail after prosecutor Joan Keko argued the two pose a “flight risk,” adding, “Their likelihood to abscond from bail is really, really high.”
The Spencers were initially charged with aggravated torture of a 10-year-old boy, and could face life in prison if found guilty. An additional aggravated child trafficking charge was recently tacked on, but they have yet to enter a plea. In response to the child trafficking charge, which carries the death penalty if convicted, their attorney Leila Saaliwulide sa
A U.S. couple, who have been living and working in Uganda, were accused of torturing their 10-year-old foster child.
According to People, Nicholas and Mackenzie Spencer welcomed three foster children from a local Christian ministry in 2018. A Ugandan police statement alleges the couple kept the child in question “barefoot and naked throughout the day,” and allegedly forced him to “squat in an awkward position” on occasion. The alleged victim also slept on a bare wooden platform without a mattress or bedding.
A caregiver for the child told The Daily Monitor that she reported the Spencers to the police after noticing his deteriorated state. She alleges the couple considered the child to be stubborn, hyperactive, and mentally unstable. In a statement to authorities, the caretaker claims the child was forced to sleep in a small room with a cold tiled floor. “I wanted to leave the job, but I knew if I left without doing something about it, the torture would continue,” she said.
The couple was taken into custody on Dec. 9, and have not been granted bail after prosecutor Joan Keko argued the two pose a “flight risk,” adding, “Their likelihood to abscond from bail is really, really high.”
The Spencers were initially charged with aggravated torture of a 10-year-old boy, and could face life in prison if found guilty. An additional aggravated child trafficking charge was recently tacked on, but they have yet to enter a plea. In response to the child trafficking charge, which carries the death penalty if convicted, their attorney Leila Saaliwulide said the charge “doesn’t make sense.”
Assaulting the man by the roadside was seen on tape by the uniformed personnel.
Uncertainty surrounds the assault’s origin.
In a statement, GRA stated that it is “collaborating with the police to deal with the matter” and that the incident has also been reported to the police service.
“We, however, wish to condemn this unfortunate situation and to use this opportunity to entreat the general public to report acts or incidents of such nature to the Authority for quick redress,” the statement added.
The addition of a new forward may be just what Liverpool needs to turn the season around in the second half.
The Reds had a sluggish start to the season and are currently sixth in the Premier League, four points behind fifth-place Manchester United and seven points behind fourth-place Tottenham.
Jurgen Klopp will hope to bring in attacking reinforcements in order to breathe new life into his side, who seem to have regressed after a strong 2021-22.
Ahead of the Merseysiders’ clash with Aston Villa on Boxing Day, we take a look at some of their possible transfer targets.
Current options
Liverpool’s preferred front three so far this season has seen Roberto Firmino play through the middle flanked by Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz.
Darwin Nunez, the big-money summer signing, has missed games through injury and suspension but he will be expected to kick on.
Klopp has lost Diaz to injury, however, and did not hide his disappointment at being without the Colombian.
He said: “It is clear it is a big disappointment for all of us, for [Diaz] as well. It was a non-situation in training, honestly. Nothing [and then he] felt something.
“[He] did not feel a lot [the] next day but we wanted to be really cautious and said: ‘OK, come on, let us have a look.’
“Then the news came and it was a proper smash in the face. But that is it now.”
Balancing the budget
Realistically, Liverpool will need to bring in another attacker in January if they are serious about securing a place in next season’s Champions League — but there are other areas of the pitch that also need improvement.
Reports suggest the Reds are focused on strengthening their midfield — which will be a costly endeavour.
Two names frequently mentioned as serious targets are Jude Bellingham of Borussia Dortmund and Enzo Fernandez of Benfica, who both starred at the World Cup.
That could mean Liverpool will have limited funds as they seek to strengthen in the final third.
Enzo Fernandez covers the middle of the pitch for Benfica
Marcus Thuram
Marcus Thuram — son of legendary full-back Lillian — is Borussia Monchengladbach’s star centre forward.
The 25-year-old Frenchman could be a low-cost option given he is in the final year of his contract.
Thuram came through the youth system at Sochaux before a two-year spell with Guingamp. He then joined Monchengladbach in the summer of 2019.
The nine-cap international has been in fine form in the Bundesliga, contributing 10 goals and three assists in 15 games.
That — coupled with an impressive showing in Qatar that saw him deliver two assists — could prompt Anfield chiefs to make a January move.
Marcus Thuram is in fine goalscoring form for Borussia Monchengladbach
Jhon Duran
Colombian forward Jhon Duran, 19, could be a bold choice.
The teenager is able to play out wide as well as through the middle and plies his trade in MLS with Chicago Fire, having joined them in 2022 from Colombian side Envigado.
Since then, Duran has gone on to make his senior debut for the Colombia national team — earning three caps to date — and has developed into one of the most promising talents in South America.
He contributed eight goals and five assists in 27 MLS games this year.
Joao Felix
Joao Felix could operate as a false nine under Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool
Joao Felix is the biggest name linked with Liverpool this January transfer window.
But he would not come cheap. The 23-year-old Portuguese ace has failed to settle at Atletico Madrid since joining from Benfica in July 2019 and it is accepted that the time has come for him to move on.
A dynamic forward, Felix has never quite convinced pragmatic coach Diego Simeone but his performances for his country during the World Cup have reminded many of his talent.
The big question, however, is whether Liverpool have the financial capacity to sanction a move for Felix alongside their plans for a midfield revamp next summer.
Rapper Meek Mill has paid bail for 20 women so that they can spend the holidays at home, according to the REFORM Alliance, an organization he launched in 2019 alongside Jay-Z.
Five of the women were released on Saturday, and 15 more will be released in the coming week, says the nonprofit. Each woman will also receive a gift card “to purchase groceries or gifts for the holidays.”
Meek Mill said the donation was informed by his own personal experience with the criminal justice system.
“It was devastating for me to be away from my son during the holidays when I was incarcerated, so I understand what these women and their families are going through,” said the rapper in another Instagram post from the REFORM Alliance.
“For families impacted by the criminal justice system, the holidays can be an extremely challenging time,” Meek Mill went on. “No one should have to spend the holidays in jail simply because they can’t afford bail, and no child should be without their parents during this time if we can do something about it.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to help these women be with their families and loved ones during this special time of year.”
Meek Mill launched the REFORM Alliance in 2019 alongside a cadre of other sports and business leaders. The organization “aims to transform probation and parole by changing laws, systems and culture to create real pathways to work and wellbeing” according to its website.
The Philadelphia native has been a vocal advocate for criminal justice reforms. An explosive social media movement called #FreeMeekMill started after he was sentenced to two to four years in prison in 2017 for a parole violation. He was freed after spending five months in prison for the violation.
Arsenal have reportedly had their eye on Mykhaylo Mudryk for some time and they could finally be set to land their man.
The Gunners have enjoyed a fine start to the season and sit top of the Premier League table — five clear of second-placed Manchester City — having taken 37 points from their opening 14 games.
Maintaining that rhythm over the course of an intense campaign is going to be a challenge, especially with Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus now sidelined through injury.
Ahead of the North Londoners’ Boxing Day clash with West Ham, we take a look at how the addition of Mudryk could give them the added impetus they need.
Going from strength to strength
Pipping Pep Guardiola’s defending champions to the league title would be a phenomenal achievement for Mikel Arteta’s men.
The Citizens have lifted English football’s most prized trophy in four of the last five seasons — only a remarkable effort from Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool disrupted their relentless run of success.
Arsenal are endeavouring to do the same but Jesus’ injury has left them light in attack.
Shakhtar Donetsk ace Mudryk is not a striker but the addition of his attacking talents could help to fill the void.
Arteta knows that he must continue to strengthen an already strong side — if he allows his team to stand still, they will likely be overtaken.
Many miles to be run
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will be eager to sign new players in January
The Premier League title race is far from over.
City, Newcastle and Tottenham are all within eight points of Arsenal, while the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea are also waiting in the wings.
The unique nature of this season — effectively split into two by the break for the World Cup — has given England’s elite the chance to pause, reflect and recalibrate ahead of the Boxing Day restart.
It is imperative that the Gunners hit the ground running when they lock horns with David Moyes’ Hammers.
Injection of impetus
Mykhaylo Mudryk scored three goals in the Champions League this season
One way of injecting impetus into Arsenal’s title challenge would be a statement signing like Mudryk.
The dynamic 21-year-old Ukrainian plays on the left flank and has proven his quality both domestically and in the Champions League.
He has netted seven goals in 12 league games so far this season and a further three in Europe — impressing in a tough group also featuring Real Madrid, RB Leipzig and Celtic.
Mudryk’s ability to operate on the left of Arsenal’s attacking trident within their 4-3-3 could enable Gabriel Martinelli to shift to a more central role to replace his compatriot Jesus, though utilising Eddie Nketiah is another option.
Come and get me
Speaking last month, Mudryk made it clear that he would be open to joining Arsenal.
He said: “Shakhtar, for me, is my home. All my thoughts are only about Shakhtar. In winter, we [will] see.
“I think every guy dreams about [playing in the] Premier League. Arsenal is a very good team. Very good coach. I like the way they play.
“From my side, I cannot say no [to Arsenal]. But a transfer is not only my decision.”
Mykhaylo Mudryk impressed for Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League
Mikel’s main man
It seems more likely than not that Arteta will land his man.
Shakhtar have publicly put a price tag of £88million on the winger’s head — double what they quoted last summer when Everton and Nice fell short with bids.
But reports suggest that, when push comes to shove, the Ukrainian side will lower their asking price and sanction a move for a fee closer to £53m.
The Arsenal board appear to recognise the opportunity they have before them — a first Premier League title since 2004 — but the Gunners cannot afford to lose focus with West Ham and Brighton up first before the transfer window opens.
Harry Kane hoped to put his World Cup heartbreak behind him as he was named in Tottenham’s starting line-up for Monday’s trip to Brentford.
Kane missed a late penalty for England in their 2-1 quarter-final defeat to France in Qatar earlier this month.
With Tottenham and Brentford set to play the first Premier League game since the World Cup ended with Lionel Messi and Argentina beating Les Bleus in last week’s final, it had been speculated that Spurs boss Antonio Conte would rest players who had featured in the latter stages of the tournament.
However, Kane was included in the team to face the Bees, along with other World Cup participants Son Heung-min, Ivan Perisic, Eric Dier and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Captain Hugo Lloris was named on the bench, with Fraser Forster getting the nod in goal, and World Cup winner Cristian Romero was left out altogether.
Brentford head coach Thomas Frank – fresh from signing a new deal until 2027 – named Ivan Toney in his starting line-up, despite the striker recently being charged with 262 alleged misconduct offences related to betting rules that took place over a four-year period.
According to the Bank of Ghana’s interbank exchange rates, the Ghana Cedi is now trading against the dollar at a purchasing price of 8.2988 and a selling price of 8.3072 as of today, December 26, 2022.
Compared to the trade of 8.2959 as the purchasing price and 8.3042 as the selling price from yesterday. The exchange rate for buying and selling the dollar in Accra is 10.00 for buying and 11.50 for selling.
At a forex bureau in Accra, the pound sterling is being bought at a rate of 11.00 and sold at a rate of 14.50.
The Euro is trading at a buying price of 8.8173 and a selling price of 8.8276 as compared to yesterday’s trading of a buying price of 8.7899 and a selling price of 8.7986.
At a forex bureau in Accra, Euro is being bought at a rate of 10.50 and sold at a rate of 12.00.
The South African Rand is trading at a buying price of 0.4889 and a selling price of 0.4893 as compared to yesterday’s trading of a buying price of 0.4837 and a selling price of 0.4840.
At a forex bureau in Accra, South African Rand is being bought at a rate of 0.45 and sold at a rate of 0.90.
The Nigerian Naira is trading at a buying price of 54.6501 and a selling price of 54.7332 as compared to yesterday’s trading at a buying price of 56.5771 and a selling price of 56.5664.
At a forex bureau in Accra, Nigerian Naira is being bought at a rate of 10.00 Naira for every 1 Cedi and sold at a rate of 14.00.
Five people were arrested Saturday in connection with the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old the previous night at Minnesota’s Mall of America, the largest shopping center in the US, police said.
The suspects – three 17-year-old males and two 18-year-old males – were arrested after police executed a search warrant on Saturday, Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges told reporters.
Investigators believe the shooter is one of the adults who was arrested, Hodges said. They’re trying to determine if another shooter was involved. The suspects were expected to be charged with second-degree murder, according to Hodges.
“We don’t know why this happened,” Hodges said. “And we don’t know the why, because people flat out are just not cooperating and people don’t want to talk.”
Hodges had earlier said officers heard gunshots on the first floor of Nordstrom just before 8 p.m. local time on Friday and found a man shot multiple times in the store. ,
On Saturday, Hodges said an officer working at the Watches of Switzerland store saw people come out of Nordstrom, ran into the store, and found the victim.
Lifesaving measures were performed on the victim but were unsuccessful. A bystander who was grazed by a bullet is expected to survive, Hodges said.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said his office was working with local officials to provide support and resources, tweeting “the violence at MOA last night is absolutely unacceptable.”
The 30-year-old mall, about 10 miles south of downtown Minneapolis, is a popular tourist destination in the Midwest, with tens of millions of visitors each year. The giant shopping complex boasts more than 500 stores, more than 50 dining options, dozens of attractions and two hotels, according to its owners.
Friday’s shooting comes about five months after suspects fired gunshots into a crowded store at the mall. No injuries were reported in the August incident.
Hodges said the fatal shooting was the first firearms-related homicide at the mall. There was a domestic-related fatal stabbing at the mall in 1999, he said.
A preliminary investigation into Friday’s incident indicated there was an altercation between about five to nine people inside Nordstrom. Store surveillance video showed a male pulling out a gun and shooting the victim, Hodges said.
“We have an incident where if someone decides that they want to pull out a gun and shoot somebody with complete lack of disrespect for human life, I still don’t know what we can do to stop that,” Hodges said.
A motive for the shootinghas not yet been determined.
A gospel singer and football players were at the mall during the shooting
Jovonta Patton, a Billboard gospel singer, was filming an Instagram reel at a Gucci location inside Nordstrom when gunshots went off in the background.
Pattonquickly ran to the back room of the store to hide for about 15 minutes, where about six or seven others had also taken cover, he told CNN.
Several New York Giants players were also inside the mall at the time of the shooting, according to NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero.
The team was staying at a hotel nearby ahead of a game against the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis on Saturday. Giants spokesperson Pat Hanlon told The Associated Press on Friday the players who were at the mall during the shooting had made it back to the hotel, and everyone had been accounted for.
CNN has reached out to the New York Giants for comment.
Team announcer, Bob Papa, was also inside the mall during the incident.
“Scary here @mallofamerica,” he tweeted Friday. “Shooting in mall. On lockdown at #TwinCitiesGrill. Two gunmen at least one victim.” An hour later, Papa said, “Safely out of mall and back at hotel. Prayers to victim.”
Jordan Ayew is in excellent condition, according to Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira, ahead of their Monday English Premier League match against Fulham.
The league returns after it was halted for six weeks due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, challenging clubs across the tournament to maintain match fitness.
Ayew represented Ghana at the tournament but exited at the group stage, featuring in all the games for the Black Stars.
“The injuries are the same. We have Macca [James McArthur] who is still progressing on his individual work. Nathan [Ferguson] is getting really close. In the new year he’ll be starting training with the team,” Patrick Vieira told the club’s website.
“[Jordan Ayew and Joachim Andersen] are good. After they went out of the World Cup they had a couple of days and have been back in training since. They’re really good mentally, physically and are ready to go again.
“The two players we had came back in really good shape; mentally they were good. Looking at the [League Cup] game between Liverpool and Man City, the [other World Cup] players are in a good place.”
Ayew has made 16 appearances for Crystal Palace across all competitions and provided two assists so far.
This move will also broaden the African Diaspora community’s commercial engagements in the U.S. toward supporting transactions that are essential to the economic development of both the U.S. and Africa.
The two banks will support trade and economic integration in Africa and across a broad range of trade-enabling sectors, including helping to revive and strengthen the African aviation sector.
Both parties will also facilitate trade and investments in healthcare, power, digitisation, Agriculture and Agro-processing, and transportation infrastructure including rail and road projects, as well as investments in renewable energy projects, most importantly, scaling support for industrial development across the African continent.
Afreximbank and U.S. EXIM will also cooperate with other U.S. departments and agencies through the Prosper Africa initiative, a U.S. Trade and Investment Initiative that aims to increase trade and investment between the U.S. and African countries.
The Prosper Africa initiative also targets other organisations, businesses and investors from the African Diaspora community in the U.S.
“With the signing of this memorandum of understanding, we move from intentions to action and set the stage for our two institutions to serve as anchors for a renewed, vibrant U.S. – Africa trade and investment relationship,” said Afreximbank President and Chairman Prof. Benedict Oramah during the signing ceremony.
“As the political actors from the U.S. and Africa renew their commitments to a stronger alliance in today’s fractured world, our two institutions must convert the political intentions into concrete business, trade and economic gains for the expectant African and American people. The time to act is now! By entering this MoU with U.S. EXIM, Afreximbank is helping to open wide that window of opportunity,” he concluded.
On her part, U.S. EXIM President and Chair Reta Jo Lewis said the partnership that U.S. EXIM and Afreximbank have undertaken is very much part of the present administration’s commitment to revitalising partnerships and collaboration with Africa.
According to her, the MoU will be to partner with Afreximbank in an effort to create economic opportunity and job creation in Africa and the United States, as well as engage America’s African Diaspora – which will be strengthened and encouraged to maintain close, familial, social and economic connections with the continent.
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade. Afreximbank deploys innovative structures to deliver financing solutions which support the transformation of Africa’s trade structure – accelerating industrialisation and intra-regional trade, and thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa.
A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin implementation of the AfCFTA.
Afreximbank is working with the AU and the AfCFTA secretariat to develop an Adjustment Facility to support countries’ effective participation in the AfCFTA. At the end of 2021, the Bank’s total assets and guarantees stood at about US$25billion, and its shareholders’ funds amounted to US$4billion. Afreximbank disbursed more than US$51billion between 2016 and 2021.
The Bank has ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa1), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.
Police in Brazil have arrested a man they say had tried to detonate an explosive device to “sow chaos” ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on 1 January.
The man had planted the bomb in a fuel truck near the airport in Brasilia, but it failed to go off, police said.
The suspect told officers he had hatched the plan with other supporters of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro.
Police are trying to find his possible co-conspirators.
The 54-year-old suspect told investigators he had come to Brasilia on 12 November to take part in protests outside the army’s headquarters.
Supporters of President Bolsonaro have been demonstrating there for weeks, demanding that the security forces intervene to prevent his elected successor, Lula, from taking up office.
These hardcore supporters of the far-right president believe that the presidential election, which Lula won by a narrow margin against Mr Bolsonaro, was fraudulent, even though there is no evidence to support their claim.
Mr Bolsonaro himself had repeatedly sown doubt about Brazil’s electronic voting system in the run-up to the election, thereby fuelling his supporters’ mistrust of the result.
Police said the suspect had told them that he and fellow protesters outside the army headquarters had decided “to try to provoke an armed forces intervention” to prevent “communism from taking hold in Brazil”.
They had planned to detonate a number of bombs across the capital to force the army to declare a state of emergency, in the hope of stopping the swearing-in ceremony from taking place.
Brasilia Police Chief Robson Cândido told journalists at a news conference that the group had set off the explosive device it had planted on a fuel truck parked at the city’s airport, but that it had failed to go off.
The device was spotted by the truck’s driver, who alerted police.
Officers managed to track the suspect to an apartment, where he was storing “an arsenal of weapons”, according to Mr Cândido.
Brazil’s justice minister designate, Flávio Dino, said security measures for Lula’s swearing-in on 1 January would be “re-evaluated and reinforced” following the incident. “Democracy won and will win,” he wrote on Twitter, referring to the election and the handover of power.
Former England striker Gabby Agbonlahor claims that Eddie Nketiah must now prove that he deserves his new contract in order to take Gabriel Jesus’ place when domestic play begins.
The Brazilian player for the Gunners will be sidelined for a number of weeks after undergoing surgery on his right knee as a result of an injury sustained during Brazil’s World Cup group stage encounter against Cameroon.
Nketiah has struggled to hit top form for Arsenal, making 12 league appearances and is yet to find the back of the net.
“Eddie Nketiah has got to step up now. He’s getting paid £100,000-a-week. He’s got to repay that faith by banging in the goals until Jesus is back,” Agbonlahor told Football Insider.
“Arsenal shouldn’t have given him that money if he wasn’t good enough to step up and be their main striker if needed.
Nketiah has made 19 appearances across all competitions for Arsenal this season, scored three goals and provided one assists.
Orlando Brown has had another run-in with the law.
According to an online booking record obtained by Complex, the 35-year-old actor was arrested in Ohio for domestic violence. More specifically, the record says he was charged with “domestic violence – cause belief of imminent physical harm by threat of force” on Thursday morning.
TMZ reports that a Lima Police Department spokesperson said they received a call about a physical altercation on Thursday and ended up apprehending Brown for the misdemeanor crime. At first, it wasn’t known who called the cops on Brown, but it was said that he had a confrontation with someone in his family or who was staying in the home.
The outlet later found out that Brown’s brother Matthew claimed that Brown is homeless and didn’t want him to stay in a shelter. So, instead, Matthew let Brown stay in a home that was being fixed up, and at this point, has been in Lima, Ohio for over a month.
However, on Thursday, Brown apparently started verbally attacking Matthew by accusing him of raping his wife—and then Brown physically attacked Matthew by threatening him with a broken-off knife blade and hammer, behavior Matthew said was “crazy.” Matthew said Brown didn’t actually physically hurt him and put them down at some point.
Brown has had several prior bouts with the law and has attended rehab. In 2018, he was arrested for narcotics possession and purported burglary.
Genece Brinkley, the Pennsylvania judge who sentenced Meek Mill to prison, is facing her own legal battle.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the 66-year-old judge was transferred to civil court this year amid growing concerns about her ethics and work management. Brinkley’s pending criminal cases were reportedly reassigned and subjected to reviews by various lawyers and judges, who allegedly found a pattern of questionable rulings and behavior; these include imposing illegal sentences, allowing sentences to run past their maximum date, and failing to “quickly address cases remanded to her by higher courts.”
Brinkley filed a petition this month to reserve the transfer, saying the reassignment “raises unwarranted suspicions about [her] integrity and performance.”
“The last place that such shenanigans can be allowed is in our courts where integrity must be the hallmark,” she wrote.
The petition, which was submitted to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, came months after Brinkley filed a racial and gender discrimination complaint against Lucretia Clemons and Lisette Shirdan-Harris, two Black supervising judges for the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. Brinkley, who is also Black, declined to provide details about the alleged discrimination, but said it was “based on race, age, and gender.”
Brinkley became a judge in 1993, and won retention elections in 2003 and 2013. Her time on the bench has been widely scrutinized, with many calling her rulings unjust and heavy-handed. That criticism was fueled in 2017, when she slapped Mill with a two-to-four-year prison sentence for probation violations. The sentencing, which stemmed from a decade-old drug and gun conviction, sparked nationwide calls from criminal justice reform.
Mill’s legal team also accused Brinkley of having a personal “vendetta” against the Philly rapper, as she allegedly had ties to his former manager Charlie Mack.
Brinkley reportedly urged Mill to ditch Roc Nation and return to Mack, and also asked Mill to give her a shout-out in one of his songs. Mill rejected both requests.
A hundred days after they began, the longest running anti-government protests in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution have shaken the regime, but at a heavy cost to the people.
More than 500 protesters, including 69 children, have been killed, according to the Human Rights Activists’ News Agency (HRANA). Two protesters have been executed and at least 26 others face the same fate, after what Amnesty International calls “sham trials”.
Although nationwide demonstrations have swept Iran before – once in 2017 lasting until early 2018, and another in November 2019 – the current protests are unique, as they involve people from across society and women are taking a lead role under the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom”.
Some Iranian celebrities have taken irrevocable steps to support protests, leading to their arrest or exile.
Taraneh Alidoosti, a well-known Iranian actress, is being held in the notorious Evin prison after she condemned the execution of a young protester. Previously, she published a photo of herself without a mandatory headscarf, holding a sign with the protesters’ slogan.
“I have worked with Taraneh on four films and now she is in prison for her rightful support of her fellow countrymen and her opposition to the unjust sentences being issued,” Asghar Farhadi, who directed Alidoosti in his Oscar-winning film The Salesman, wrote on Instagram.
“If showing such support is a crime, then tens of millions of people of this land are criminals,” Mr Farhadi added.
‘Death threats’
Another prominent Iranian actress who has left the country, Pegah Ahangarani, told BBC Persian: “Both sides have been radicalised, the regime in its crackdown and people in film industry in their response.
“Iran cannot go back to pre-Mahsa Amini era,” referring to the Kurdish Iranian woman whose death in the custody of Iran’s morality police on 16 September sparked the protests.
Hamid Farrokhnezhad, another well-known Iranian actor, moved to the US earlier this month and immediately called Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei a “dictator”, comparing him to Franco, Stalin and Mussolini.
Image caption,”Women, Life, Freedom” has become the slogan of the protests
Ali Karimi, one of Iran’s most celebrated former footballers, who was living in Dubai, also supported the protests. He said Iranian intelligence agents threatened to kill him, eventually leading him to move to the US.
Karimi is now one of the most outspoken critics of the Iranian regime on his Instagram account, with more than 14 million followers.
Another Iranian football icon, Ali Daei, had his jewellery shop and restaurant shut down by the Iranian judiciary after coming out in support of a nationwide strike.
What also marks the current protests out from previous ones is the emerging use by demonstrators of petrol bombs.
Iran’s Generation Z has been at the forefront of these protests, defying strict religious rule and setting new trends such as burning headscarves.
Another new trend among young protesters is so-called “turban tossing” – sneaking up behind Shia Muslim clerics, knocking their turban off and running away.
A 16-year-old boy, Arshia Emamgholizadeh, was arrested in the north-western city of Tabriz last month, accused of “turban tossing”.
He was held for 10 days before being released. Two days later, he committed suicide, something his family blames on his treatment in prison. During his detention, Arshia had been beaten with batons and given unknown pills, a source close to the family told BBC Persian.
Iranian authorities have not only cracked down on protesters, but have also used the bodies of those who have died in custody or been killed as bargaining chips to silence the families of victims.
Fearing such pressure, the brother of a killed protester stole his body from a morgue, driving around town for hours, a source told BBC Persian.
So far, two men have been executed after being convicted of vaguely defined national security charges linked to the protests, in what human rights groups have condemned as gross miscarriages of justice.
Many of those on death row have said they were tortured.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network, a non-governmental organisation, said a Kurdish-Iranian rapper, Saman Yasin, who was sentenced to death, attempted to commit suicide on Tuesday. The rights group has previously said Yasin was tortured while in detention. Iran’s Supreme Court upheld an appeal against his death sentence on Saturday and ordered him to be retried.
In an audio file obtained by BBC Persian, a 26-year-old amateur bodybuilder, Sahand Noormohammadzadeh, alleges that he was subjected to several mock executions in prison.
Image caption,Sahand Noormohammadzadeh, a bodybuilder, maintained his innocence at his trial last month
Mr Noormohammadzadeh was sentenced to death in November after he was found guilty of “enmity against God” (defined under Iranian law as “creating public insecurity” with a weapon). He was accused of blocking traffic on a highway by tearing down railings during a protest in Tehran on 23 September, which he denied.
BBC Persian has also obtained X-ray images that show three ribs of an imprisoned radiologist were broken, piercing his lung. Dr Hamid Ghare-Hasanlou was found guilty of “corruption on Earth”, a crime which carries death penalty.
An informed source told Amnesty International that Dr Ghare-Hasanlou was subjected to torture and ill-treatment in order to extract a forced “confession”.
They say returns are low and that they are struggling to break free from poverty.
“Cocoa’s future is very poor. It’s very poor. It’s very poor. We don’t like it. We want the government to just increase everything for us because we spend time, our energy mostly on the side of the cocoa business, but after all, we get nothing”, said Bensil Aryetey, a farmer.
Millions of small farmers in Ivory Coast and Ghana, which together grow 60 percent of the world’s cocoa, live in grinding poverty.
Tanzanian giants YANGA Princess has secured the services of Ghanaian goalkeeper Safiatu Salifu.
The shot stopper joins the club from Women’s Premier League powerhouse, Ampem Darkoa Ladies and is expected to play a huge role for the side.
Safiatu Salifu signed a two-year deal to join YANGA Princess, the female team of Young Africans.
Salifu helped Ampem Darkoa Ladies to topflight success last season, keeping ten clean sheets and conceding only four goals in 14 matches. She was also MVP once in the same season.
He move to Tanzanian is expected to help Young Africans compete with rivals Simba, who were in the CAF Women’s Champions League last season.
Megan Thee Stallion may have to gear up for more legal battles.
In the years since she publicly accused Tory Lanez of physical assault, Megan has been subjected to a wide range of criticism and nasty victim-blaming. Some have accused the Houston rapper of lying about the shooting, while others say she was the aggressor in the incident and, therefore, responsible for her own injuries. This issue has been addressed in numerous articles, which suggested that bloggers were partly to blame for the misogynistic and abusive attacks on Megan.
“It’s been very clear, as I’ve seen entertainment and gossip spaces commenting on the case, that she has been set up as someone who is out for herself, lying, and problematic in all these ways,” Catherine Knight Steele, a communications professor at the University of Maryland, told NBC News. “This points to the way that mis- and disinformation, and misogynoir, is trafficked because of its profitability, even in the Black community. It’s profitable for these sites to traffic in the most vile stereotypes about Black women.”
As Lanez’s assault trial comes to a close, Megan’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, said they are “exploring all legal options” to combat misinformation about the shooting case. He suggested they may take some kind of action against bloggers who intentionally shared misinformation about the trial in order to paint Megan as the wrongdoer.
NBC News pointed to content shared by Milagro Gramz, a blogger who has covered the Lanez’s assault case. Back in May, Gramz posted an LAPD report in which a doctor “confirmed” that Megan’s foot injuries were “due to stepping on glass.” Gramz’s post circulated on social media, fueling conspiracy theories that Megan had lied about being shot in the foot. However, the report was written before the doctor had discovered bullet fragments in Megan’s feet.
Gramz insisted she was not trying to “tear anyone down,” and admitted her content wasn’t always based in facts.
“On my end, everything is not going to be something that was intended to be a factual statement,” Gramz told NBC News. “It might have a comedic effect.”
Megan’s other lawyer, Jordan Siev, said they have reported about a half a dozen of Gramz’s tweets on Megan’s behalf. The platform confirmed the blogger had violated its policies, and locked her account for 11 hours.
Hollywood Unlocked founder Jason Lee has also been accused of providing bias coverage of the assault case, as he implied that Megan’s behavior is what led to the assault.
“Megan was drunk as hell and super aggressive, and she’s a big girl,” Lee said on his show earlier this year. “I’m telling you right now, she has a problem,” he said. “I’m telling you right now whatever happened with her and Tory, there’s more to the story. I’ve seen her in action. I’ve seen her be aggressive.”
Lee told NBC News that his platform is “unbiased,” and it was “unfair” to assume either parties’ guily.
“I’ve always struggled with the way she’s been treated,” he said. “While I don’t believe it’s fair to say Tory’s automatically guilty, I also don’t believe it’s fair to call a woman who says she was shot by a man a ‘liar.’”
Lanez assault trial is expecting to conclude within the upcoming days, as jury deliberations will resume Friday morning. The rapper has pleaded not guilty to three charges: assault with a semiautomatic handgun; carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. He will face more than 20 years in prison if convicted of the charges.
The enterprising winger who joined the Serbian outfit in the summer has become an instant hit for the club.
The former Accra Lions star has racked up 7 goals and provided 5 assists in the 24 matches he has played for the club so far.
In an interview with Nkawkaw-based Agoo FM monitored by Footballghana.com, Osman Bukari expressed he is focused at Red Star Belgrade and will decide on his future ones the season is over.
“I have read news of club’s interest in me but I will wait for the season to end before I can decide on my future. It’s been six months since I joined Red Star Belgrade so I want to focus and finish the season. So we will see what happens at the end of the season” he said.
The Red Star Belgrade winger was part of the 26 players that represented Ghana at the mundial, where the Black Stars bow out at group stage.
The winger who has been in a rich vein of form registered his name on the scoresheet when Ghana lost 3-2 to Portugal in the World Cup opening game.
More recently, the Bank of Ghana’s current management has collaborated closely with other important players to achieve notable stability during the past four (4) years. When the covid pandemic started, the disinflation process was disrupted, which caused inflation to rise once more in 2020 and is currently estimated to reach 12.2 percent at the end of November 2021, the bank said in a statement. Inflation, which was 15.4 percent at the end of 2016 was significantly reduced to 7.9 percent in 2019.
The central bank indicated that Togbe Afede XIV is reported to have raised several issues about the Bank of Ghana’s conduct of monetary policy and its governance structure.
While they rarely comment on general media discussions with the understanding that different stakeholders will have different views on the conduct of monetary policy, and also has a strong commitment not to be distracted by such discussions but rather remain focused on its primary mandate of controlling inflation, the BoG said it found it very important to respond to the claims by made by the revered traditional ruler.
A statement issued by the head of Research at the BoG said “To begin addressing the issues he raised, we will put in perspective where we have come from as far as macroeconomic management is concerned. Achieving and maintaining macroeconomic stability has been one of the major challenges to public policymaking in Ghana. Its evolution is intertwined with the development history of Ghana.
“More recently, the current Management of the Bank of Ghana has worked very closely with other key stakeholders to achieve significant stability in the last four (4) years. Inflation which was 15.4 percent at the end of 2016 was brought down significantly to 7.9 percent in 2019, until the disinflation process was dislodged with the onset of the covid pandemic, which saw inflation rising again in 2020 and currently estimated at 12.2 percent at the end of November 2021.
The gains from this disinflation process have been passed on to the market as the Central Bank reduced the Monetary Policy Rate, which stood at 25.5 percent at the end of 2016 to 13.5 percent at September 2021, and lending rates have dropped from 28.1 percent at the end of 2016 to 20.2 percent at the end of September 2021.
Barely a year after becoming a born-again Christian, changing her name, and deleting all her risqué photos on her social media pages, Moesha Boduong is back with more racy photos and videos amidst claims that her ‘born again’ chorus was just for showbiz.
The socialite, however, has maintained she was touched by God but that encounter, according to her, was after she drank alcohol mixed with hard drugs.
In an interview with Deloris Frimpong Manso on The Delay Show aired on December 25, 2022, Moesha admitted to hallucinating at home after drinking the substance.
“I had a few drinks with some friends that made me see things in a different way,” said Moesha in the interview monitored by GhanaWeb. “All I felt was that I realized I was really seeing so many things that were not really making sense to me. And all of a sudden, I just started weeping.”
“And I felt this spirit all over my body and all of a sudden, I started feeling closer to God and God just kept making me feel powerful and special. And I just started speaking about God, called all my family members preaching to them… I just started seeing things, saying things to my family members and friends that were their real stories and I knew that God was really inside me.”
Disputing suggestions that her reaction was under the influence of the substance she took, Moesha vehemently mentioned that God indeed touched her.
“The drink had hard drugs. I read something like it had weed; they just say hard drugs. Everyone that had that drink had similar reactions and everybody got better. I felt the presence of God and it’s been like that till now,” she said while stating her statement is not an endorsement of hard drugs but feels God saved her that very moment.
Moesha also traced the genesis of her encounter with God to a bad relationship experience.
She said: “I was in a relationship with somebody that I was not supposed to be in a relationship with. And God touched me. And I went to Victoria Michaels’ brother’s church. And I felt the presence of God and it was so deep. I never felt like that in any church before. All I know is that God lives in that church and God touched me.”
In June 2021, a video clip of Moesha at the Revelation Church renouncing her sins and announcing her newfound love for Jesus Christ went viral as many expressed shocks over the decision. Others, however, doubted its veracity, stressing that it was a stunt.
The actress, known for her racy lifestyle, also announced she had changed her name from Moesha to Maurecia.
Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira has hinted that Ghana striker Jordan Ayew will be starting against Fulham in the English Premier League on Monday.
Ayew featured at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, representing his country Ghana as they exited at the group stage. He made three appearances and provided two assists as Black Stars finished bottom of their group with three points.
The topflight resumes after it was halted for six weeks due to the World Cup, challenging clubs across the tournament to maintain match fitness.
“[Jordan Ayew and Joachim Andersen] are good. After they went out of the World Cup they had a couple of days and have been back in training since. They’re really good mentally, physically and are ready to go again,” Patrick Vieira told the club’s official website.
“The two players we had came back in really good shape; mentally they were good. Looking at the [League Cup] game between Liverpool and Man City, the [other World Cup] players are in a good place.”
Twin boys who were kidnapped earlier this week in Columbus, Ohio have been reunited and the suspect has been taken into custody.
CNN reports that the five-month-old babies had been taken on Monday, when their mother, Wilhelmina Thomass had left them inside her car while picking up a DoorDash order as a driver. Kyair Thomass was found first, on Tuesday and Kason Thomass was later found on Thursday.
“Kason Thomass was found alive & safe in Indianapolis near a Papa John’s pizza location. The five-month-old boy is in good health & being transported to a hospital to be checked out,” the police said in a statement via Twitter.
At around 2 p.m. on Thursday, police apprehended the suspect, 24-year-old Nalah Jackson, who allegedly stole Wilhelmina’s black 2010 Honda Accord while it was still running. When the mother came out, her car was no longer there. Kyair was later found near the Dayton International Airport at around 4:15 a.m.. Kason would be found two days later in the stolen vehicle wearing the same clothes from Monday.
Jackson has been hit with two felony counts of kidnapping. She will deal with federal charges too since she traveled across state lines.
Restaurant employees would later tell police that they witnessed a homeless woman leave the restaurant right after Wilhelmina walked in.
It doesn’t appear that there is any sort of link between Jackson and the Thomass family.
Another week, another unwelcome and unnecessary change to Twitter thanks to Elon Musk.
The social media playform typically kept the viewing metrics for tweets private, allowing users to see how their content was being engaged with but not the public. However, Twitter has now made it so that tweets have a public view count alongside retweets, quote tweets, and likes. The feature started to roll out on Thursday, and is now showing up for users on web and the iOS and Android apps.
Per a Twitter FAQ, not all tweets will have public view counts. Community tweets, Twitter Circle tweets, and older tweets will not have the data available. “Anyone who views your Tweet counts as a view, regardless of where they see your Tweet (e.g. Home, Search, Profiles, Tweets embedded in articles, etc.) or whether or not they follow you. Even an author looking at their own Tweet counts as a view,” reads the FAQ. “Multiple views may be counted if you view a Tweet more than once, but not all views are unique. For example, you could look at a Tweet on web and then on your phone, and that would count as two views.”
When users began to question what the point of a view count on tweets is, Musk shared a justification. “Tweets are read ~100 times more than they are liked,” he shared, ignoring how engagement has always been a far more important metric on Twitter, especially when it comes to advertisers.
Tweets are read ~100 times more than they are liked — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 23, 2022
Other users highlighted the user interface design of views, which currently sit on the left hand side under tweet. Elon, who recently shared a poll to decide whether he should step down as Twitter CEO, asked users if the impression count should be moved to the right or stay on the left.
A few months after their nuptials, Kenyan Miss Trudy was presented with an SUV by Ghanaian YouTuber Wode Maya.
By presenting her a Toyota Fortuner on Christmas Day, Wode Maya decided to make this Christmas unique.
In a YouTube video, the content producer reveals how he surprised Trudy with the new SUV.
Maya, who wed Trudy in September, recalled that he had different ideas when he left the house in the morning after promising his wife he was going for a jogging.
He went to a vehicle lot instead, where he purchased a new Toyota Fortuner for almost KSh 9 million.
“We met four years ago and we’ve been through it all. Trudy has never asked for money for hair, dresses or anything. It is time to give husbands out there pressure. I don’t need a car as I will miss interactions with people I meet and Uber drivers.”
Then Maya called Trudy, who had moved to Ghana to prepare for him, and said they were going to see his mother.
Maya informed her that he had scheduled an Uber for them when he got back home.
But when he got outside, he showed off the black SUV with the ribbons. With her eyes wide open, Trudy assumed her husband was playing a practical joke on her.
“Babe thank you so much I can’t believe this. This is crazy. I have always wanted big cars like this. Do you know there are rich people’s cars?”
Maya clarified that he purchased the car so Trudy could tour Ghana. When Trudy saw how far they had come, she said:
“He had nothing when we met but over the years he has done a lot for his family and many other people. When you meet a boy don’t judge him because of where he is at the moment but where he could be in future.”
To commemorate the event, the two popped a bottle of champagne.
“Getting a car was not a priority as we first wanted to build a home. God bless Maya he works so hard and makes many sacrifices for us.”
Hailie Jade Mathers is opening up about what it’s like to be Eminem’s daughter.
In the first episode of her new podcast Just a Little Shady, the 26-year-old child of the rap legend kicked things off by addressing the elephant in the room and spoke about the “surreal” experience of living life as Slim Shady’s spawn.
“I remember going on [Eminem’s tour bus] and all our memories of being young were so cool and unique to look back at now,” Hailie’s co-host and childhood best friend Brittany Ednie said during a conversation beginning around the 3:00 mark. “But at the time, it felt so normal and not anything strange or different. I mean, ’cause we didn’t know any better.”
“Obviously we were in a normal public school, we never thought anything was different,” Hailie interjected. “I don’t know, we had so many normal experiences that when something like that happened, I thought like, ‘Oh, everybody else does this too.’ Not realizing that like, no, that’s freaking weird. It’s so fun to look back, when we have these conversations here, wherever, like thinking back as an adult, like, ‘Wow, that’s actually so surreal.’ Those memories of me thinking those were normal things, now I look back and I’m like, ‘Holy crap, that was cool.’”
Elsewhere, Hailie spoke about a trip she and Ednie took to Florida with Em, and recalled her dad sending them off to Disney World so he could record in peace.
“I always think about that time,” Hailie said. “We went to Florida, my dad was working on something, and he was working the whole time. But he set up for us to do the limo and take it to Disney and we did the princess tea party, and he had the dresses waiting for us.”
She continued, “And even then, like at the time, we were so happy and so excited, but we didn’t like get to appreciate that moment as much as now, when we talk about it and think back on it. We’re like, ‘Oh my god, that was just awesome.’”
Eminem has often been very vocal about his love for his daughters, recently going to bat for Hailie against Machine Gun Kelly after the latter tweeted out that she looked “hot as fuck” in 2012. Em responded to the disrespect on his 2018 Kamikaze track “Not Alike.”
“If you wanna come at me with a sub, Machine Gun/And I’m talkin’ to you, but you already know who the fuck you are, Kelly/I don’t use sublims and sure as fuck don’t sneak-diss/But keep commenting on my daughter Hailie,” Marshall rapped.
The insult kickstarted a brief feud between the two rappers, with MGK returning shots on “Rap Devil.”
The forward for Hearts of Oak, Daniel Afriyie Barnieh, declined a sizable transfer offer from an unnamed Sudanese powerhouse.
Ghanasoccernet reports that the Sudanese team is prepared to pay Hearts of Oak a hefty transfer price of $1 million for their top player.
However, the forward and his agent do not believe that the player’s future lies in Sudan because there are other, more opulent options on the table.
Hearts have opened contract talks with the talented forward for months now but no compromise has been reached between the pair.
Barnieh was part of the Black Stars squad that played at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar although he did not play a single minute but featured in Ghana’s last preparatory game against Switzerland where he shone.
Hearts have tabled a new proposal before the player but he and his representatives have rejected it with a move away on the cards.
The club has been in talks with the player about extending his contract with them for a while but no agreement has been reached with reports claiming that the player has now decided against renewing his contract with Hearts.
Barnieh’s contract is due to expire at the end of this month and the player has refused to pen his signature to a new deal as reports indicate that several foreign clubs are pursuing him.
Afriyie Barnieh has received a lot of offers from European and African clubs which are currently being weighed by him and his representatives as they look for the best option for a move next month.
The Ghana U23 player has been in great form for the home-based Ghana national team as he contributed immensely to their qualification for the 2022 CHAN tournament.
Afriyie Barnieh scored three goals in four matches in the qualifiers against Benin and Nigeria, earning in place in the Black Star’s final squad for the World Cup in Qatar.
The former Ghana U20 captain attracted a lot of attention at home and abroad when he excelled in the last warm-up friendly match against Switzerland in Abu Dhabi on November 17, 2022.
The young attacker was handed his very first start for Ghana at the senior level as the Black Stars beat the Swiss team by a 2-0 scoreline.
Afriyie Barnieh was impressive for the Ghana U23 side when they eliminated Mozambique from the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers with him scoring in each of the two-legged t
The 2022/23 Ghana Premier League will continue on New Year’s Eve through to Monday, January 02, 2023.
The topflight enters match week 10 with Legon Cities who recorded a resounding victory against Kotoku Royals, facing Karela United at the WAFA Park at Sogakope on Friday, December 30, before Hearts of Oak take on Bechem United on Saturday, December 31, 2022.
Defending champions Asante Kotoko have a date with league leaders Aduana Stars at the Nana Agyemang Badu I Park on Sunday, January 01, 2023 while Berekum Chelsea clash with Bibiani Gold Stars at the Golden City Park on Monday, January 02, 2023 to wrap up the Match Day 10 fixtures.
The league which went on a one month break for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 finals, bounced back on Monday, December 19, 2022.
Aduana Stars are top of the league table with 19 points, two points adrift Asante Kotoko who are in second place with 17 points. Hearts of Oak, Bibiani Gold Stars and Accra Lions follow in third, fourth and fifth positions respectively.
Ghana shot-stopper Lawrence Ati Zigi has been shortlisted for the Swiss Super League Best Player Award folloiwng his impressive display for St Gallen.
The 26-year-old has been one of the consistent performers for his side as they lie 3rd on the league table with 24 points after 16 matches played so far.
Ati Zigi was adjudged Player of the Month for November prior to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
He has made 58 saves only a shot behind FC Luzern goalkeeper Marius Muller in terms of total saves made this season.
Ati Zigi will have to beat off competition from David Douline (Servette FC), Valon Fazlu (FC Aarau), Cedric Itten (FC Young Boys) and Koro Kone (Yverdon FC) for the award.
Ati Zigi represented Ghana at the World Cup, featring in all Black Stars’games as they exited the competition at the group stage. Black Stars finished bottom of their group with only three points.
According to Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, Executive Director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the so-called burden-sharing principle is unacceptably regressive when it excludes certain bondholders from the domestic debt exchange program.
Following threats from organized labor to go on strike, the government on Thursday gave in to pressure and exempted all pension funds from the Domestic Debt Exchange Program.
“Obviously the decision of exempting pension funds is at a cost and we have committed government and the organised labour to work together to ensure that we find means of plugging that hole.”
Commenting on the fallout from government’s decision on the exemption, the Executive Director of the CDD-Ghana maintained that it’s crucial to also extend the domestic debt exchange to individual bondholders, at least for amounts above a certain threshold for the purpose of plugging a portion of the hole.
“Such bondholders are, as a group, wealthier and, therefore, far less vulnerable financially than pensioners and others who have their investments in pooled or managed funds. If one of the principles here is burden-sharing, then big individual bondholders, too, should bear their fair share of the pain,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
At least one person has been killed in a shooting that took place Friday afternoon at the Mall of America. After police responded and lifted the mandated lock-down, the mall will remain closed for the duration of the night.
At around 8:17 p.m. Bloomington Police responded to a reported shooting at the mall. Videos on social media show shoppers hiding in stores—but the incident in question allegedly took place within the vicinity of Nordstroms.
The identity of the deceased along with the shooter have not been confirmed per Fox News.
The Mall of America security is working in conjunction with Bloomington Police and have released the following statement:
“Just before 8 p.m. this evening, Bloomington Police Department responded to a shooting contained in a tenant space. As a result, Mall of America was put into lock-down. The lock-down has since been lifted. The Mall is now closed for the evening.”
This shooting comes just two days before Christmas but is the second lock-down this year in Mall of America after bullets flew outside of the Nike store in August. No one was injured. In October, the mall implemented a new metal detector system after two shots rang out on New Year’s Eve last year leaving two people injured.
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges will be giving an in-person news release at the Mall of America about this evening’s shooting at 10:30pm.
Meek Mill is bringing cheer this holiday season, as the REFORM Alliance co-founder paid the bail of women currently incarcerated in Philadelphia.
The women, who were incarcerated at Riverside Correctional Facility in Philadelphia, also received gift cards to buy presents for their families. Five women were released today and will be reunited with their families, with 15 more women to be released in the coming week.
“It was devastating for me to be away from my son during the holidays when I was incarcerated,” Mill said in a press release. “So I understand what these women and their families are going through. No one should have to spend the holidays in jail simply because they can’t afford bail. I’m grateful for the opportunity to help these women be with their families and loved ones during this special time of year.”
It isn’t the first Christmas that Meek has paid it forward to his hometown.
Last year, the Philly rapper donated $500,000 worth of Christmas gifts to families in need.
Meek teamed up with Philadelphia 76ers partner Michael Rubin, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and Roc Nation to organize the event, which delivered gifts that included MacBook Air laptops, Amazon Fire HD tablets, bikes and helmets, video game gift cards, board games, winter coats, dolls, play sets, playing cards and gift cards, among countless other items.
A French man is $65,000 richer after a surgery left him without his penis.
According to the New York Post, a French hospital compensated a man nearly $65,000 after a series of errors during surgery resulted in the “total removal of his penis.” The procedure, which took place at the Nantes University Hospital, left him with “no feeling” where his penis used to be.
“I have hatred towards this doctor who did not listen to me,” the unidentified victim told local rag Frenchblue. “He played Russian roulette with me!”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the procedure occurred after the man, a father of three, had been diagnosed with carcinoma. In an effort to deal with the tumor, a urologist at the hospital made the decision to remove the man’s penis.
“Indeed he had removed everything,” the man said. “He had just left the testicles and had cut at the base. I’m really devastated and it’s really shameful.”
The victim added, “You can’t replace a feeling of a penis with several sensors.”
The victim’s lawyer, initially sued for one million euros, a lawsuit which was subsequently rejected by the French court. However, he reportedly plans to file an appeal on the grounds that the “psychological damage was not taken into account.”
He thus questioned the timeliness of the information’s dissemination.
On December 25, 2022, Ato Forson posted on his Twitter account, “Folks,
According to this Ministry of Finance Press Release’s Point 3(v), the government has now included holders of domestic bonds in the domestic debt exchange!
“Not Surprising but why sneak it in on the eve of Christmas???” he asked.
The finance ministry said that the government was “expanding the type of investors that can participate in the Exchange to now include individual investors.”
It also added the setting of a non-binding target minimum level of overall participation of 80 percent of the aggregate principal amount outstanding of eligible bonds.
“Offering accrued and unpaid interest on eligible bonds, and a cash tender fee payment to holders of eligible bonds maturing in 2023,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, when the government announced the programme on December 5, 2022, it stated that individual bondholders and treasury bills were to be exempted from the programme.
But the Christmas eve statement said, “there would also be eight new instruments to the composition of the new bonds, for a total of 12 new bonds, one maturing each year starting January 2027 and ending January 2038.”
However, the ministry said the modifications would be set forth fully in an Amended and Restated Exchange Memorandum, expected to be published in the week of December 26, 2022.
“Conforming changes (including adding and modifying defined terms) in respect of the above amendments and modifications to cure ambiguity, omission, defect, error or inconsistency may be included in the Amended and Restated Exchange Memorandum,” the Ministry added in the release.
The government also announced an extension to the deadline for voluntary participation in the debt exchange programme to January 16, 2023, from the previous December 30.
Coach Annor Walker and the Technical team of the Black Galaxies have confirmed Gladson Awako as captain of the side.
The Hearts of Oak midfielder has been acting as captain of the side during the qualification stage for the CHAN tournament.
He will be assisted by former U-20 striker Daniel Afriyie Barnieh as 1st vice-captain and RTU midfielder David Sandan Abagna as 2nd vice-captain.
Coach Annor Walker announced these appointments at a brief team meeting held at the team’s base camp in Cairo on Sunday, December 24, 2022.
The home based national team arrived in Egypt on Saturday, December 24 to step up preparations for the CHAN tournament which will be staged from January 13- February 4, 2023 in Algeria.
The team will commence intensive training on Monday December 26 and will play some friendly games during their stay in Cairo.
Ghana is in Group C alongside Madagascar, Sudan and Morocco.
The newly announced leadership of the players have been tasked to lead Ghana through to a successful appearance at the tournament.
The day that was originally set aside to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ has evolved beyond its original meaning and is now considered a social occasion honoring family togetherness and love.
‘Kill fowl’
“Bronya akoko” it is called. Across the length and breadth of the country, most homes will at least slaughter a fowl to celebrate the arrival of Jesus Christ.
Only a few things compare to the excitement of sitting together as siblings de-feathering the fowl for the soup.
‘Borga’ will come home
Whether from the United States, United Kingdom or from the big cities, most homes are likely to host a relative who for the most part of the year was at another place hustling or engaging in some economic activities.
The ‘borga’ will sponsor the family’s Christmas activities with ‘soft drinks’ on the table.
Christmas outfit
Be it the Santa hat, fresh dress from the tailor or dressmaker, a Ghanaian will at least see some Christmas-tuned dress.
For most Christians, the first Sunday of the festivities is white Christmas so churches are usually packed with people in white clothes while the following Sunday usually sees red-dominated clothes.
Give out to the needy
This is fast becoming a feature of Christmas celebrations in urban areas with well-to-do families preparing dishes and presenting them to the less privileged.
What used to preserve corporate institutions is now being embraced by homes as they donate food to street hawkers and others.
In the villages, families cook and share with other members who are financially not in a place to at least buy ‘bronya akoko”.
Non-alcoholic drinks dominate family gatherings
Alongside the special Christmas, food is special drinks, usually non-alcoholic drinks, as the day of the Saviour is supposed to be kept holy.
If you happen to be the youngest in such homes, you will most likely get half a bottle of the drink as you cannot share the same amount with your parents and elder siblings.
Ultimately, the day is marked with loads of fun in Ghana.
Chelsea are closing in on a deal for West Ham midfielder Declan Rice.
The West Londoners have been long-term admirers of the Hammers ace, who was released from the Blues’ academy at the age of 14.
Now 23, England international Rice is tied to the Irons until 2024, but has rejected three new contract offers tabled by the club.
The Athletic report Chelsea have never been closer to bringing Rice back to Stamford Bridge, but will need to fend off approaches from Manchester United and Manchester City.
Rice played a key role in the Three Lions’ run to the World Cup quarter-finals and expressed his wish to continue to showcase his talents on the elite stage while on international duty.
Earlier this month he said: “100% I want to play in the Champions League.
“For the last two or three years I’ve been saying that. I’ve been playing consistently well for my club and I feel like I really want to keep pushing.
“I see my friends who are playing Champions League and for big trophies.
“You only get one career and at the end you want to look back at what you’ve won and the biggest games you’ve played in.”
West Ham are resigned to losing their club captain next summer, but will place a reported £100million price tag to ensure they receive substantial compensation from any potential suitor.
Rupert, the second-richest businessman in Africa and the richest billionaire in South Africa, saw a $300 million decline in his wealth from $10.9 billion to $10.6 billion. His net worth increased by $1.76 billion in November, thus this decline follows that increase.
The market value of Rupert’s stake in Richemont, the luxury goods company of which he is chairman, decreased from $7.71 billion to $7.54 billion in December alone.
This was due to a 5.04 percent decrease in the company’s share price, from CHF123 ($131.8) per share on December 1 to CHF116.8 ($125.2) per share. The market value of his stake in investment holding Remgro Limited also decreased during this time.
Analysts attribute the December drop in the market value of Richemont and Remgro to global economic uncertainty, which has been exacerbated by the rise in consumer prices, which continues to put pressure on luxury demand.
Despite this, Rupert remains optimistic about the future of his businesses, particularly Richemont, which he believes will continue to thrive in the luxury goods market.
In addition to his stakes in Richemont and Remgro, Rupert also has a significant presence in the healthcare industry through his involvement in Mediclinic International, a private hospital group based in South Africa, Namibia, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.
Rupert’s investment firm, Remgro, owns 44.6 percent of Mediclinic, making it the largest hospital operator in South Africa. Recently, Mediclinic and a consortium led by Remgro reached an agreement to buy out Mediclinic’s outstanding shares.
The terms of the deal value the group’s entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital at approximately £3.7 billion ($4.48 billion) with an implied enterprise value of around £6.1 billion ($7.4 billion).
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