The two guys who were detained in connection with the killing of a woman in Mankessim, in the Central Region, told the police they did it as part of ritualistic money-making.
A Cape Coast district court yesterday arraigned Nana Clark, Tufuhen of Ekumfi Akwakrom, and a self-described pastor named Michael Darko on counts of murder and murder conspiracy.
The prosecutor, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Daniel Gadzo, laid out the case’s details in front of Bernice Mensima Ackon at Cape Coast District Court Two. He said both Nana Clark and Mr. Darko, the two defendants, had separately admitted to the police that Georgina had been killed for money rituals.
Their plea of not guilty was not taken by the court.
The court remanded them in police custody to re-appear on October 4, 2022.
Facts
Narrating the facts of the case, the prosecutor, DSP Gadzo, told the court that the deceased, Georgina Aso Botchwey, lived at Yeji in the Bono East Region and had travelled to Cape Coast as part of admission procedures to the Ankaful Psychiatric Nursing School.
The prosecutor said the deceased arrived in Cape Coast on September 8, 2022 and called Darko, who is also Botchwey’s boyfriend, to inform him of her arrival.
DSP Gadzo said Darko arranged and picked Botchwey up on September 9, about midday from the Ankaful Psychiatric Nursing School in a taxi to Pedu Junction in Cape Coast where the two joined Nana Clark who was waiting there in his Benz car with registration number GT 8686-C.
The prosecutor said Nana Clark then drove to Akwaakrom where he seized the deceased’s mobile phone and locked her up in a room.
He further said the accused persons then went to Esikafoambantem, a suburb of Mankessim, where they dug a hole in an uncompleted storey building belonging to the chief.
The murder
DSP Gadzo also told the court that the two accused persons then went back for the deceased and sent her to Esikafoambantem where Nana Clark allegedly hit the deceased and she fell.
“Darko then held the neck of the deceased till she died,” the prosecutor said.
He said the two men then took the hair of the deceased, buried her in the already prepared shallow grave and left the uncompleted storey building around 2 a.m.
Complaint
DSP Gadzo said a complaint was lodged to the police by the brother of the deceased, Alfred Duodu.
He said police picked up intelligence and started looking for the accused persons and on September 19, 2022, arrested Darko at Anomabo where he admitted to the crime and subsequently led the police to where the deceased had been buried.
DSP Gadzo further told the court that the police then picked up Nana Clark at his hideout at Ekumfi Akwaakrom on Wednesday (Sept 21) who also admitted to the crime.
The prosecutor prayed the court to allow them some time to conclude their investigations and thus asked that the accused persons be remanded.
Throughout her 70- year reign, Queen Elizabeth’s contribution and support for the creative industry was generous, unwavering and all too easy to take for granted.
The fact that the Queen had two honorary degrees in Music (awarded before she ascended the throne) – a Bachelor of Music (BMus) from the University of London and a Doctor of Music (DMus) from the University of Wales – is fittingly symbolic of her commitment to music.
While many continue to pour in tributes in memory of Queen Elizabeth II who died on Thursday, September 8 and will be buried today, September 19, Graphic Showbiz looks back into the life of the monarch and how well she served the creative, entertainment industry.
Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne at the dawn of the age of mass media. Her coronation in 1953 was the first national television event and almost every step she took in public after that was documented on film. As a result, there were shows and documentaries to stream about her.
On the contrary, a number of actresses have attempted to portray what might have happened behind closed doors during her private moments.
Queen Elizabeth II watches a performance by Giovanni Guzzo on a Stradivarius violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Picture: PA
During Queen Elizabeth’s reign, drama, poetry and art flourished. Playwrights like Christopher Marlowe and Shakespeare, poets like Edmund Spenser and scientists like Francis Bacon all found ways to express their genius, thanks to the patronage of Queen Elizabeth’s court members. From the start of her reign, Queen Elizabeth was a major patron of the arts.
Previously, playhouses had often been castigated or closed down for being ‘immoral,’ but the Privy Council prevented the Mayor of London from closing the theatres in 1580 by citing Queen Elizabeth’s personal fondness for theatre.
Not only did she support the arts, Queen Elizabeth also often featured. For example, Queen Elizabeth appears allegorically as several characters in Spenser’s Faerie Queen.
During Queen Elizabeth’s reign, attending plays was a popular pastime and that influenced the theatre of the time.
The theatres were set up in such a way that both rich and poor people could use them.
The poor would be forced to stand, while the wealthy would sit in the covered seats around them.
As a result, everyone enjoyed going to the theatre and that placed the financial condition of the entertainment industry in a better place.
Other forms of entertainment
Other forms of entertainment were dancing, chess, checkers and tennis. On street corners, there were street entertainers performing magic tricks among others.
Queen Elizabeth was known to enjoy chess and dancing.
Nobles also enjoyed hunting and horseback riding, which Queen Elizabeth also enjoyed.
All classes, however, reveled in the vicious entertainment of bear-baiting, in which dogs were unleashed on a bear while onlookers watched.
People bet on whether the dogs or the bear would win.
To say the least, Queen Elizabeth did not only put herself in ensuring the betterment of the entertainment industry but she also participated and was a big fan of varied entertainment related news and activities.
Due to her interest and engagement in the showbiz sector, the Queen got featured in many movies and music videos.
There were instances where script and movie writers wrote stories about the Queen and got people to play the roles.
All too soon, it is an end of an era as Queen Elizabeth will be buried alongside her husband Prince Philip in a small chapel in the grounds of Windsor Castle in a private ceremony after her state funeral today.
Dancehall singer, Stonebwoyhas announced that he will stay strong and keep his head high despite the plans against his career by some Ghanaian industry players who sabotage him.
On Friday, September 24, the singer published a screenshot of a conversation with a friend who had received a tipoff of a plot against his brand.
In their chart, the sender brought to the fore how Stonebwoy’s colleagues have been pitched against him by these same stakeholders in the music industry.
“KING, honestly the agenda against you is wild o. Very wild. Some industry players say ‘he is not there for us, when we need him.’ Reason they keep pitching…” the unknown sender told Stonebwoy.
In response, the ‘Gidigba’ singer published the screenshot to officially announce to the public all the schemes and arrows fired at him.
“Topic for another day, Time is the master…We See Them And We Know Them.. Still We Stand #Gidigba,” he tweeted.
As the weekend begins and citizens try to figure out what to wear for their weekend outings, it’s time for us at GhanaWeb to look back and get our dear readers some fashion inspo from their favourite celebs.
All this means we will have the chance to admire more than a few fabulous evening and daytime looks, resulting in plenty of inspiration.
This week saw many great looks from Sandra Safo Ababio, as she marked her birthday in a flamboyant and expensive look that could go for cheap if you know what to do.
Serwaa Amihere on the other hand served her looks with a grey but a sexy-casual style that could be worn to the office and at events.
Becca dazzled in a beautiful yellow dress, stylishly crafted with big sleeves, striking a strong pose that screamed, “I am here and I need you to watch me.”
From lessons on how to dress up your wardrobe classics to ideas for your next big event, these are our favourite A-list looks from this week so far.
Scroll down for more inspiration and ideas in fashion:
Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo made his Cameroon debut in a 2-0 defeat to Uzbekistan as the Indomitable Lions lost the first of two final warm-ups prior to naming their World Cup squad.
The forward represented France at junior level before switching allegiance to the central African nation of his father last month.
The 23-year-old played the full 90 minutes at Goyang Stadium near Seoul in the north of South Korea, where Nicolas Nkoulou returned for the first time since winning the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations final.
The Greece-based defender, 32, was persuaded to come out of international retirement by coach Rigobert Song for November’s World Cup in Qatar.
Mbeumo joined Brentford, with whom he has scored six Premier League goals, in 2019 after coming up the youth ranks in France, who he represented between 2015 and 2020 at varying age levels.
Yet Russia-based duo Hojimat Erkinov and Oston Urunov scored either side of half-time to give Uzbekistan the win over the five-time African champions, who begin their World Cup campaign against Switzerland in November.
Cameroon, who are also grouped with Brazil and Serbia in Group G at the finals, will take on hosts South Korea in another friendly, in the capital, on Tuesday.
Later on Friday, Morocco and Ghana take on Chile and Brazil respectively as they continue their preparations for the World Cup, with African champions Senegal facing Bolivia on Saturday.
Satisfied Tunisia
Elsewhere, Tunisia coach Jalal Kadri declared himself satisfied with his side’s tough 1-0 win over Comoros in the Parisian suburbs of Croissy-sur-Seine as their build-up to the World Cup continues.
Kuwait-based forward Taha Yassine Khenissi, who served a doping ban last year, headed home the only goal early in the second half on Thursday.
“We played against an opponent who proved again to be a top side as shown during the last Nations Cup, an opponent with quality, good potential and squad,” Kadri said of the debutants, who reached the last 16 earlier this year.
“After a difficult first half, we found our rhythm. The quality of the pitch prevented both teams from playing free-flowing football, but we are satisfied with the team’s continuous growth by keeping a winning trend going.
“We also achieved our objective to see a lot of players involved in order to give them game time on the pitch before the World Cup.”
Jalal Kadri has one more friendly left prior to naming his World Cup squad
Tunisia’s next friendly comes against five-time World Cup winners Brazil in a prestige clash on Tuesday, also in the French capital, with the Carthage Eagles suffering a 4-1 friendly loss to the South Americans in 1974 – the nations’ only previous senior meeting.
Lorient defender Montasser Talbi is aware of Brazil’s reputation in world football but insists they can spring a surprise.
“I’m sure a win is possible because we are an ambitious team. We showed it during the last Kirin Cup by beating Japan in their home and Chile,” the 24-year-old told BBC Sport Africa.
“We are fully confident and ambitious. We know it is going to be a special match – with sold-out capacity at the Parc des Princes against a wonderful team, maybe the best offensive squad in world football. But we must remain focussed.
“Since my childhood in France, we grew up knowing of Ronaldinho and Ronaldo and Brazil’s Joga Bonito [‘beautiful game’] – and that is still the case. They have good players, good with the ball such as Vinicius Jr. and Neymar. That’s a great and difficult challenge for any opponent.”
In Qatar, Tunisia will meet Denmark, Australia and defending champions France.
Charles Kwadwo Fosu, popularly known as Daddy Lumba has embarked on a tour of his radio station (DLFM 106.9), a few weeks after its inauguration.
In the company of his young son, the celebrated veteran highlife singer was welcomed by the radio station’s manager and introduced to the employees who were particularly delighted to meet ‘Daddy Lumba Junior‘ for the first time.
In a video shared on the singer’s YouTube page, parts of the newly opened complex were on full display, including the brown and yellow-themed studio of the radio station which is still running a test transmission.
Daddy Lumba was clad in white apparel from head to toe, while his son wore a shirt with colours that represented that of the radio station.
Father and son exchanged pleasantries, interacted and took pictures with the workers, and sped off in their sleek Toyota land cruiser not long after.
In the particular video which announced their visit, the FM station was spotted sitting right opposite the Wisconsin University situated at North Legon.
Three businesses’ management personnel were detained by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) on Thursday for failing to generate Value Added Tax (VAT) invoices.
According to the VAT Act of 2013 (Act 870), which requires business owners to pay tax, issue VAT bills to potential customers, and then make statutory payment to the GRA, this is a crime.
These companies are Champions Dishes in Adabraka, Grace has Found Us Depot, and Celeb’y Non Alcoholic and Alcoholic Drinks shop, all of which are situated in Dansoman.
Among the team were officers from the Customs Division the and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Assessment
The Head of Enforcement at the Accra Central Area of the GRA, Joseph Annan said the authority would do a preemptive assessment on the businesses and recommend a full audit to be conducted and make sure every amount was paid.
Currently, he said the authority was doing nationwide test purchasing to detect all tax defaulters.
“This places that we visited are places that we had already sent our officers to purchase from them and all of them did not issue the VAT invoice and it is an offence under our VAT Act 2013 (Act 870).
“We are handing them over to the police for further investigations but for us as tax administrators, we will assess them and apply all the penalties and the interest that are applicable,” Mr Annan said.
Ghana captain, Andre Ayew has promised that the Black Stars of Ghana will pose a strong challenge to the Selecao of Brazil when both teams lock horn on Friday in an international friendly match.
The match is expected to take place in Le Harve, France before the Black Stars jet out to Spain for another friendly against Nicargaua on September 27.
According to Ayew, Brazil is the best in the world with the quality of players they have playing for top clubs in Europe.
He, however, stated that they will be unintimidated by that when they face the Samba boys.
He said at a pre-match conference, “Brazil for me is currently the best in the world. So we are playing the best and we have to acknowledge that they have players playing in the top clubs week-in-week-out, winning trophies.
“We are not going to compare ourselves to them. That will be making mistake. But we are going to challenge and go into the battle. That’s 100%.”
According to Seth Meyers, “Donald Trump went on Fox News last night and lost his mind.”
The moment in question? When the former president declared to Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he could simply declassify government documents with his mind when he was in the White House.
“There doesn’t have to be a process, as I understand it. You know, there’s different people say different things, but as I understand there doesn’t have to be,” Trump said. “If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, ‘It’s declassified.’ Even by thinking about it.”
Meyers was aghast.
“Despite being served softball question after softball question, [Trump] fully disintegrated into a sweaty, red-faced, rambling, incoherent mess,” he said.
“It’s amazing that Trump continues to have the confidence of a man who is ready for anything while being prepared for nothing. If Trump was on ‘Family Feud,’ he would buzz in before he got asked a question.”
Graphic Online has learned that Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Faustina Agyeiwaa Kodua Andoh-Kwofie, the first woman to lead the prominent Intelligence Department of the Ghana Police Service, has been named Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
Isaac Ken Yeboah, a retired COP, is replaced by her.
COP
Today, September 22, 2022, Isaac Ken Yeboah announced his retirement from the military and was officially withdrawn from the service during a ceremony held at the National Police Training School in Accra.
This followed his attainment of the compulsory retirement age of 60, after serving 30 years, nine months and 22 days in the police service.
In attendance was the Inspector-General of Police, George Akuffo Dampare, former IGPs – Patrick Acheampong and David Asante-Apeatu, former COPs and senior police officers among others.
Related: Police CID boss Ken Yeboah retires from active service
Replacement
Globally, the issue of a lack of female representation at the upper echelons of security services becomes topical but Ghana achieved a major milestone in August 2021 with the elevation of the then Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Faustina Agyeiwaa Kodua Andoh-Kwofie as the first woman to head the high profile Intelligence Department of the Ghana Police Service (GPS).
She has moved from that step to take over as CID boss at her current rank of DCOP.
Who is ACP Andoh-Kwofie?
Until her elevation last year to head the Intelligence Department, she was the Director in charge of the Commercial Crime Unit under the CID at the National Police Headquarters.
Her duties at her former office included leading and directing investigations into fraudulent transactions such as money laundering.
She, is therefore, coming into her new position with critical firsthand experience in what has become the menace of financial crime that thrives in a globalised digital economy.
Having risen through the ranks by dint of hard work, she has over 29 years of work experience in active policing.
She was enlisted into the service on October 1, 1992, and passed out on October 1, 1993 as a Constable,” she recounted to The Mirror in an interview which was published last year.
Related: New chapter for policewomen: As Faustina Andoh-Kwofie heads Police Intelligence
Breakthroughs
With excellent managerial and leadership skills, she has held various command positions in the GPS and symbolic of what is becoming a trend of excellence in Ghana’s policing leadership, she holds a professional qualification outside of her policing work. She is a trained lawyer.
Memberships
She is a member of the International Police Women Association.
She was a member of a task force that drafted a national action plan for the Elimination of Child Labour in 2007 at Sogakope and was also a member of a committee that was set up by the then IGP Kwarteng Acheampong to review the syllabi used by the Ghana Police College in 2007 and a member of Police UN & UN Mission selection text team in 2007.
She has also been a Board member for Africa Centre for Counter-Terrorism since 2016.
Academic background
Her desire to achieve academic laurels is undoubtedly manifested in the various academic programmes she has undertaken and the positive impact these have on her work performance.
She holds a Bachelor of Laws (BL) from the Ghana Law School and an LLB from the University of Ghana. She was called to the Bar in 2013.
Among her tall list of academic successes are MA in International Relations, MBA in Human Resource from University of Ghana, MSc Criminology & Criminal Justice-University of Portsmouth, UK, and a Bachelor of Education in Psychology, University of Cape Coast.
She has four academic research works to her credit. ACP Andoh-Kwofie had her secondary education at St Monica’s Secondary School and Nsutaman Catholic Secondary where she was the Assistant Head Girl from 1990 to 1991 and the Girls Prefect from 1988 to 1989 respectively.
Currently, she is the Vice-President of the Nsutaman Old Students Association (NOSA).
Family
She is from Kwamang in the Sekyere Central District in the Ashanti Region. She is a Presbyterian and a mother of two boys.
She enjoys researching modern trends in policing and how to combat crime.
For her, cooking is her passion and she loves to sing when in a great mood.
From Doja Cat to The Weeknd, here’s a look at pop stars who’ve made major changes to their ‘dos.
Wild colors and shaved heads, oh my! Many of today’s most famous musicians have quite the penchant for making daringly drastic adjustments to their hairstyles — whether it’s to usher in a new era of music, accompany an avant-garde photo shoot, or just to try something new.
In some ways, musicians are just like many of us: using hair as a means of both self-expression and self-reinvention. Unlike the general public, however, celebrities’ cosmetic changes are put on display for the whole world to see, critique and copy. And sometimes, an artist’s hairstyle is so singular to a specific time that it becomes a part of their iconography.
When Swifties think of 1989, for example, they’re instantly taken back to the sleek, chin-length bob Taylor Swift sported from 2014 to 2016. Fans of The Weeknd can count the moment he parted ways with his iconic dreadlocks as the beginning of his Starboy era, while Billie Eilish admirers will forever equate bleach blonde tresses to her sophomore record Happier Than Ever.
Other times, though, an artist may change up their look for much more personal reasons. Take Demi Lovato, for instance, who cut off her long brown waves because it helped her recover from years of body image issues. And when Halsey got a buzz cut, it was symbolic of their journey toward self-love and accepting their biracial identity.
From Doja Cat’s head shave to Halsey’s ever-changing tresses, keep reading to see which modern pop stars have had some of the biggest hair transformations.
Doja Cat
Photo : Matt Winkelmeyer/GI
Doja Cat shocked the world when she revealed on an Instagram Live that she’d shaved off her full head of hair — before proceeding to do the same exact thing to her eyebrows. Though it received a bit of backlash, the “Woman” rapper fiercely stood by her new look and posted multiple photos demonstrating how she’s rocking it: with colorful, painted-on brow art in place of where her eyebrows used to be.
“I feel like I was never supposed to have hair,” she said at the time. “I don’t like having hair. I cannot tell you one time since the beginning of my life that I’ve ever been like, ‘This is cool.’ I just do not like to have hair.”
Billie Eilish
Photo : Theo Wargo/WireImage
From cool silver to cobalt blue, neon green to Barbie blonde, Eilish has gone through many drastic color changes in a short amount of time. The young singer-songwriter has said that switching up her hair color from one shocking shade to another is one of her favorite ways of expressing herself, though she did go back to black in early 2022.
“My hair, it has randomly been the thing in my life that I change a lot,” she said while filming her self-care routine for Vogue in July 2022. “I didn’t even know that was a part of me, I just did it. Black is kind of what feels most like me, weirdly … It’s much easier to go out the world and be a normal person with a normal hair color. It’s kind of a life changer. When I had green hair I couldn’t do s–t. I couldn’t go anywhere.”
See our gallery of the “Bad Guy” singer’s hair transformation.
Taylor Swift
Swift has had not one, but two major hair changes that have sent shockwaves through the Swiftieverse. The first came in 2014 — just a few months before her 1989 era began — when she chopped off her famous long blonde curls and traded them in for a short, sleek bob. The cut was such a momentous occasion that dozens of her friends and Red tour crew looked on as it went down, captured by Swift herself in a now-deleted Instagram video.
Swift shook up her look a second time in 2016 when she debuted a bright platinum hair color she named “Bleachella” at that year’s Coachella festival. That style was short lived, however, and she later hinted in her Reputation track “Dress” that it represented a rough time for her.
“Flashback when you met me, your buzz cut and my hair bleached,” she sings. “Even in my worst times, you could see the best of me.”
Harry Styles
A few months after One Direction split up and almost exactly one year before his debut solo album dropped, Harry Styles severed ties with his distinguishing mop of long, dark, curly hair. The “As It Was” singer has kept it pretty much the same short — but still fluffy — length since then, but his tousled, lustrous mane will never be forgotten by hardcore fans of his “Hairy” Styles days.
Karol G
Karol G had pretty much become synonymous with her sea-foam blue waves of locks before switching them out for a searing shade of cherry red, which she unveiled in August 2022. She explained at the time that the change represented her stepping out of one musical era and moving on to the next.
“I want to thank everyone who loved this era,” she said shortly before revealing her blazing new look. “All of you who lived it with me, and everything I evolved and learned from it. I’m definitely ready for what’s to come. The next level is unblocked. And no, I don’t have blue hair anymore but I know we will all love what’s to come.”
Ariana Grande
Photo : Robin Marchant/GI
Though special shout-outs go to her temporarily pink and silver hair colors, Ariana Grande’s biggest hair change came when she finally said goodbye to the bright-red dye job she sported for four years while playing Cat Valentine on Nickeoldeon’s Victorious and Sam & Cat.
When the “Thank U, Next” vocalist reverted back to her natural brunette shade and adopted a slicked-back high ponytail, it not only became her signature look that inspired girls everywhere to try it out themselves, it also represented the monumental shift in her career when she went from children’s TV network actress to internationally acclaimed pop star.
Ironically, though, it was her time as a redhead that necessitated the iconic ponytail Grande popularized. “I had to bleach my hair and dye it red every other week for the first 4 years of playing Cat…as one would assume, that completely destroyed my hair,” she explained in a 2014 Facebook post. “My real hair is back to brown and I wear extensions but I wear it in a pony tail because my actual hair is so broken that it looks absolutely ratchet and absurd when I let it down.”
Lorde
There was a time when Lorde’s most dramatic hair transformation was when she cut her famous dark, wild curls short in 2017, kicking off her Melodrama era with a fresh new look. That all changed in 2022, when she surprised her audience at Glastonbury by coming out onstage looking unrecognizable with bright blonde hair.
Machine Gun Kelly
Machine Gun Kelly spent much of his earlier career as a blond bad boy, but once he was one album into his genre shift from rap to rock, he dyed his hair a punk shade of pink. The color change came just before he dropped his 2022 album Mainstream Sellout, after which he starred in a documentary about his life titled Life in Pink.
Zayn Malik
Photo : Jamie McCarthy/GI
Zayn Malik has surprised his fans with new hair colors several times, going pink in 2016, blue in 2021 and back to pink in 2022.
Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato came into stardom with long, wavy brown hair. But in November of 2020, the “Cool for the Summer” vocalist chopped it all off in favor of a pixie cut, which they sometimes dye different colors, grow out into a mullet or shave off.
“I feel so free,” Lovato said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show after the major hair cut. “I feel more authentic to who I am, and I also feel like I used to hide behind my hair. I’ve talked a lot about my past, being in recovery from an eating disorder, and I used to use my hair to hide behind — it would cover my body.”
“When I started doing all this work on myself I thought, ‘What is something that I’ve been holding on to my whole life that I need to let go of?’” they added. “I feel more like myself now.”
Check out our gallery of Lovato’s hair evolution.
The Weeknd
There was a time when The Weeknd could be recognized instantly just for his distinctive dreadlocks, which stood upright and tall on their own, and hung over the “Blinding Lights” singer’s forehead. But in 2016, ahead of the release of his album Starboy, he chopped it off in favor of a shorter style, a decision he later explained to Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1.
“The vision wasn’t there anymore,” the Grammy winner said of cutting his hair. “It was the greatest feeling of all time. It was so good. I could sleep better, I felt lighter, and when I perform, I perform better and feel better, it’s cool. … The best part about all of it is I get to wear f–king hats again. Wear a f–king cap and walk into a restaurant and nobody knows it’s you.”
Bad Bunny
Bad Bunny spent a large chunk of his career sporting buzz cuts, sometimes dyed different colors and often with a V shape shaved in the front to frame his natural widow’s peak. But around 2020, he switched gears and started growing out his natural, dark curls.
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus used to be known for not one, but two hairstyles at the same time: her own brunette waves and the artificial straight blonde highlights she wore over her natural hair while playing the title character in Hannah Montana. But once she ditched the wig and the G-rated Disney Channel persona, one of the first — and most major — steps she took to reinvent herself into the brash, shock factor-loving star she is now was cutting off almost all of her hair and shaving the sides of her head.
That look became synonymous with Cyrus’ Bangerz era, back when she proudly challenged listeners by releasing social boundary-pushing singles such as “We Can’t Stop” and twerking on Robin Thicke during their much-talked-about 2013 VMAs performance. Ah, memories.
J Balvin
Any misconception that buzz cuts have to be boring is easily debunked by J Balvin. The Latin music super star’s hair was comparatively long until around 2017, when he started keeping it (mostly) buzzed and brightly dyed, often with eccentric, colorful patterns.
Halsey
Halsey’s hair seems to change more often than the seasons, as she’s not afraid to grow it out, dye it different colors or shave it off completely at a moment’s notice. From beautiful braids to multi-color dye jobs, fans are used to seeing the “Without Me” singer play around with her hair, but the standout hairstyle Halsey sported when most of the star’s listeners discovered her was aquamarine waves.
Another of the notable hairstyle changes for Halsey, however, was when they shaved it all off in 2015, and again in 2020. “Hair has also been a big indicator of racial issues in my life,” she explained in 2016. “It’s one of the ultimate symbolic struggles for women of color. Shaving my head was important to me because I needed to be able to prove that I could still love myself if I did it.”
Ghana could surprise a few in the upcoming World Cup in Qatar as their potential starting XI is packed with quality.
In the 2022 tournament, Ghana will be one of five representatives from Africa alongside Senegal, Cameroon, Tunisia and Morocco.
Against all odds, the Black Stars reached the quarters finals of the 2010 world cup in South Africa and was one penalty away in stoppage time from getting through to the semis but Asamoah Gyan failed to convert and Ghana ended up losing in a penalty shootout.
They qualified for the latest edition of the tournament by getting the better of Nigeria on away goals in a two legged play off.
It was Arsenal man Thomas Partey’s away goal that made the difference.
Ghana will be in Group H alongside Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea. A tough group to navigate through but they could shock a few as they have some good quality within their
The Black Stars have been busy recruiting players as they have managed to lure the likes of Inaki Williams and Tariq Lamptey to switch their allegiances.
Chelsea winger Callum Hudson Odoi, who is currently on loan at German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen could also represent Ghana.
Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah is also being targeted by the Black Stars as they look to gather the best squad possible ahead of their opening match in November.
Here is a potential starting XI for Ghana.
GK – Joe Wollacott (Charlton Athletic)
RB – Tariq Lamptey (Brighton)
CB – Mohammed Salisu (Southampton)
CB – Daniel Amartey (Leicester City)
LB – Gideon Mensah (Auxerre)
CDM – Thomas Partey (Arsenal)
CDM – Iddrisu Baba (RCD Mallorca)
RM – Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace)
CAM – Mohammed Kudus (Ajax)
LM – Kamaldeen Sulemana (Rennes)
ST – Inaki Williams (Athletic Bilbao)
Mohammed Kudus could be the next big star after his impressive performances for Ajax so far this season. Kudus scored the equaliser with a stunning finish at Anfield against Liverpool earlier in the month.
Though the Dutch champions lost the match 2-1 after a late Joel Matip winner, Kudus drew plaudits from many fans for his performance.
How far will Ghana get in the world cup? Let us know in the comments
An estimated 3,000-year-old gold mask has been unearthed by archaeologists in central China. It is the first of its kind to be identified dating back to the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 B.C.E.).
The mask was discovered among royal tombs in Shangcheng county in the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou, China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration announced Friday. Notably, it predates another gold mask found at the Sanxingdui archaeological site last fall.
Sanxingdui in southwest China is considered to be one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century and is believed to be the center of the ancient Shu Kingdom, dating back roughly 4,800 years. The Shu would have coexisted with the Shang dynasty. The site, which is still being excavated, has yielded troves of gold and bronze artifacts.
According to the director of the Zhengzhou Municipal Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Gu Wanfa, the Henan find indicated that the Sanxingdui artifacts were influenced by Zhongyuan culture. The societies among the Henan region became the basis of modern Chinese civilization.
Unlike the the gold mask from Sanxingdui, however, the Shangcheng mask would have fully covered the face.
“There has been a saying about bubaijinshen, or an imperishable gold body, since ancient times in China. [The gold mask] proves that the concept had existed since the Shang dynasty,” Gu Wanfa told the South China Morning Post.
Additionally, gold leaves and plaques inlaid with turquoise were found in the tombs, along with shell coins and weapons made of bronze and jade.
Until now, few gold objects have been recovered from the Shang dynasty. It is still unclear whether the mask was made locally or acquired through trade.
Dressed in a ceremonial regalia, COP Yeboah earlier inspected a Guard of Honour after which he was graciously pulled out in a Pick-up vehicle as he waved goodbye to colleagues, friends and family who had turned up in their numbers to bid him farewell.
COP Yeboah said he was happy to have served in the service and the nation for many years without blemish.
He said the experience he had gathered over the years will shape the rest of his life.
“It is time to spend the rest of my life in private. I am proud to be a Ghanaian and extremely proud to have served in the Ghana Police Service and my country honourably without blemishes.
“I will forever be grateful to the Almighty God for giving me the wisdom to choose a career as a police officer and serving under very fine officers at various times in my career,” COP Yeboah added.
He thanked senior officers who he said made his journey in the service a fruitful one, especially those who encouraged him when the going was tough.
Commendation
The Chaplain General of the Police Service, DCOP Very Reverend Father George Arthur, who read the exaltation, commended the out-going CID boss for the important role he played in the service which he said had helped to improve the image of the Police Service.
About COP Yeboah
COP Yeboah rose through the ranks to become the CID boss.
He was a member of the National Security Council, a member of the Small Arms and Light Weapons Commission, and a former member of the Police Council.
He had Bachelors and Masters Degrees from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and a Lawyer.
COP Yeboah was also a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Academy in Quantico, and a product of the University of Virginia, both in the US.
He held several managerial positions in the Police Service, including Director-General, Administration; Director-General, Technical; Director-General, Legal and Prosecution, and Northern and Ashanti Regional Police Commander, among other positions.
COP Yeboah is married with four children.
He was presented with a citation by the Police Service for his selfless contributions.
The match tickets for Ghana’s international friendly match against five-time World Cup champions Brazil have been sold out hours before kick-off on Friday.
The Black Stars tackle the Seleçao in a pre-World Cup preparatory game at the Stade Océane in France with kick-off at 18:30 GMT
The Stade Océane (or Grand Stade du Havre) is a football stadium in Le Havre, France. Its capacity is 25,178 all-seated and it is the home ground of Le Havre AC.
It replaces the Stade Jules Deschaseaux as the club’s home stadium.
Its inauguration was 12 July 2012, with a friendly fixture between Le Havre AC and Lille.
GHANAsoccernet.com can confirm that match tickets printed for the upcoming match were sold out at Thursday, September 22, 2022.
This has left many other people who were interested in attending the game worried.
Brazil will be parading super stars like Neymar, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Vinicius Jr, Casemiro amongst others to face the four-time African champions.
The Black Stars aren’t left of the super stars as they also come into the game with names such as Thomas Partey, Inaki Williams, Tariq Lamptey and Mohammed Kudus.
Jimmy Kimmel torched Donald Trump’s two adult sons on Thursday by offering his own interpretation of what the ex-president said in a wild Fox News interview earlier this week.
During the interview, Trump claimed he had the power to declassify documents with his mind when he was president.
“You can declassify just by saying, ‘It’s declassified.’ Even by thinking about it,” Trump told Sean Hannity.
Kimmel called him “Harry Hou-dummy” over the claim.
“If Trump actually had the power to change things just by thinking about them, Don Jr. would’ve turned into a Big Mac 30 year ago,” Kimmel cracked.
In the same interview, Trump said the FBI took his will when they executed a search warrant at his home last month.
“That could cause a lot of problems if that gets published from people that won’t be so happy or maybe will be very happy,” Trump said.
“It would cause a lot of problems,” Kimmel conceded. “Because you’d have to explain to Eric why he’s not in it.”
Summer may be over, but Kim Kardashian is already laying the groundwork for a fancy seaside vacation next year — and many more summers to come, it would seem. Property records show everyone’s favorite reality TV star-turned-billionaire shapewear mogul and aspiring lawyer has paid $70.4 million for an oceanfront estate on the Encinal Bluffs, one of Malibu’s most coveted neighborhood pockets. The off-market deal closed last week.
The deal is by far the priciest residential transfer in Malibu this year, and is also 2022’s fourth-priciest California home sale, behind only the $75 million Drake paid for his new home, a $120 million Holmby Hills deal and Bel Air’s infamous “The One” megamansion, which sold at auction for $126 million. Jade Mills of Coldwell Banker held the Malibu listing; Tomer Fridman of Compass repped the buyer.
Built in 1944 but extensively remodeled in the 1990s and again in 2016, the Mediterranean villa-style house was once the centerpiece of a 6-acre estate long owned by biotech entrepreneur Walter de Logi, who died in 2014. The following year, his widow Lynda sold the big property for more than $50 million to her next-door neighbors, Cindy Crawford and longtime husband Rande Gerber.
The 6-acre estate was subsequently split into two parcels: one of them a 2.8-acre, mostly vacant lot and the other a 3.2-acre spread containing the main house. Crawford kept the smaller parcel for herself but sold the 3.2-acre one in 2018 for $45 million to Adam Weiss, a retired hedge fund manager from California’s Silicon Valley.
Weiss subsequently re-landscaped the somewhat dated premises with the help of Harrison Design. To take the property to “the next level,” the team enhanced the home’s Southern California character by “redirecting the driveway, bringing in several tons of hand-selected boulders, and even using cranes to move 40-foot trees” to make the approach much more compelling, per the firm’s senior principal Jesse Harrison.
And it was Weiss who sold the property to Kardashian, after living there for a few years. After listing it in March with a $99.5 million price tag, the ask was slashed to about $90 million before Kardashian came calling with a significantly lower offer.
Weiss, 55, is moving to the Hawaiian island of Maui, where last year he and wife Barret Swatek paid $45 million for an oceanfront estate not far from Jeff Bezos’ vacation home. Kardashian, 41, continues to mainly reside at her vast estate in Hidden Hills. She also has two “spare” Hidden Hills homes, one of which recently popped up for sale, and still owns a luxury condo in Calabasas and a vacant lot in La Quinta’s prestigious Madison Club.
And for those curious, Kardashian’s new estate is about 14 miles up the coast from Kanye West’s $57 million Brutalist spread, so not exactly sugar-borrowing distance. Besides Crawford, some of Kardashian’s nearest new Malibu neighbors include retired TV super-producer Marcy Carsey, Leo DiCaprio, Neil Diamond and Michael Eisner.
Locked behind an impenetrable hedge wall and a towering gate, Kardashian’s new Malibu mansion is invisible from the street, set at the end of a very long driveway.
Inside, the nearly 7,500-square-foot house includes four bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms, plus multiple spacious living areas. Pocketing walls of glass display dazzling whitewater and sunset views.
A reverend preacher and another individual have been taken before the Accra High Court for their alleged participation in the recent galamsey operations involving the Chinese illegal miners in the nation.
The 59-year-old Rev. Wallace Dela-Brown and Wilberforce Essien have been charged with conspiring to mine without a permit and hiring non-Ghanaians to do mining operations and services without a permit issued by the ministry, respectively.
The accused have entered a not guilty plea.
The court, presided over by Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, subsequently admitted the two to bail in the amount of GH$2 million each with two sureties.
Per the bail conditions, the sureties should be justified with landed properties and must be residents of Accra.
The accused are also to deposit their passport, passport pictures with the registrar of the court.
They are also to report to the police once every week.
Brief facts
Per the brief facts of the case presented to the court by an Assistant State Attorney (ASA), Derick Ackah, were that on September 8, 2022, police had information about illegal mining activities, popularly known as galamsey, at Teleku-Bokazo near Nkroful in the Western Region involving some Chinese who were residing at Esiama.
He said that based on the information gathered, the police mounted an operation at Esiama where suspects, Huang Qian Xi, LiJian Wen, Huang Qian Sheng,Shi Zhong Qi and Wei LinXi, who are all Chinese, were arrested.
He told the court that an excavator and other mining equipment were also seized.
The Assistant State Attorney stated that investigations revealed that Essien was one of the Ghanaians who contracted the aforementioned accused persons currently in custody.
The Assistant State Attorney said on September 16, 2022, Rev. Dela-Brown was arrested and in his cautioned statement, he admitted the offence and stated, among other things, that he had an agreement with the Chinese to provide them with logistics and financial support to undertake activities on a concession belonging to Rev. Dela-Brown.
He said Essien mentioned that he had a contract with the Chinese to undertake mining activities on his concession.
Rev. Dela-Brown also indicated that Essien paid him an amount of GH¢150,000.
The prosecutor told the court that investigations into the matter were ongoing.
Per the bail conditions, the sureties should be justified with landed properties and must be residents of Accra.
The accused are also to deposit their passport, passport pictures with the registrar of the court.
They are also to report to the police once every week.
Brief facts
Per the brief facts of the case presented to the court by an Assistant State Attorney (ASA), Derick Ackah, were that on September 8, 2022, police had information about illegal mining activities, popularly known as galamsey, at Teleku-Bokazo near Nkroful in the Western Region involving some Chinese who were residing at Esiama.
He said that based on the information gathered, the police mounted an operation at Esiama where suspects, Huang Qian Xi, LiJian Wen, Huang Qian Sheng,Shi Zhong Qi and Wei LinXi, who are all Chinese, were arrested.
He told the court that an excavator and other mining equipment were also seized.
The Assistant State Attorney stated that investigations revealed that Essien was one of the Ghanaians who contracted the aforementioned accused persons currently in custody.
The Assistant State Attorney said on September 16, 2022, Rev. Dela-Brown was arrested and in his cautioned statement, he admitted the offence and stated, among other things, that he had an agreement with the Chinese to provide them with logistics and financial support to undertake activities on a concession belonging to Rev. Dela-Brown.
He said Essien mentioned that he had a contract with the Chinese to undertake mining activities on his concession.
Rev. Dela-Brown also indicated that Essien paid him an amount of GH¢150,000.
The prosecutor told the court that investigations into the matter were ongoing.
Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo has been charged by the Football Association over footage which appeared to show him knocking a phone out of a fan’s hand.
A video was shared on social media alongside comments claiming he smashed the device as he left the pitch after a 1-0 loss at Everton in April.
Ronaldo, 37, later apologised on social media.
He was cautioned by police regarding the incident in August.
“It is alleged that the forward’s conduct after the final whistle was improper and/or violent,” the FA said in a statement.
Manchester United said they would support Ronaldo in his response to the charge.
Stephen Colbert spotted what may have been the wildest moment in a Donald Trump interview. His comment was truly bizarre ― even by the former president’s standards ― and it wasn’t even the one getting all the attention.
During an interview this week with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump claimed that he had the power to declassify documents with his mind. But Colbert noted that Trump said something even crazier, telling Hannity that the FBI may have searched his Mar-a-Lago home looking for former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s emails.“That’s so crazy, he confused Sean Hannity,” Colbert said. “And Sean comes pre-confused.”
Colbert added:
“At this point, he’s just throwing out magnetic conspiracy theories at the refrigerator to see what they spell out: ‘Um, maybe they were looking in my basement for the Sasquatch who shot JFK with Hunter Biden’s laptop with his partner the chupacabra who hung Jeffrey Epstein with Barack Obama’s long-form birth certificate chemtrails.’”
The song, first released in 2019, also debuts inside the Hot 100’s top 40.
Chris Brown’s “Under the Influence” revives itself as a bonafide hit as the three-year-old track ascends into the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The song climbs 14-10 on the list dated Sept. 24 following its resurgence on TikTok and subsequently across major streaming services.
With his new success, Brown captures his 41st top 10 hit on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and breaks from a tie with Ye to stand alone in seventh place for the most top 10 hits on the chart since it became an all-encompassing genre ranking in 1958. Here’s the updated leaderboard:
The “Influence” spreads its impact onto other charts. It repeats at No. 4 on Hot R&B Songs for a second week, while it debuts at No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 for Brown’s 51st top 40 hit.
“Influence” pushed to 10.7 million official U.S. on-demand streams in the week ending Sept. 15, according to Luminate, a 22% boost from the prior week. The influx thrusts the track 4-2 on R&B Streaming Songs list, 12-5 on R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs, and 30-14 on the overall Streaming Songs chart. On all three rankings, the rebounding success beats all the other charting titles for the weekly Greatest Gainer honor.
While streaming contributes nearly all the “Influence” chart activity, sales are notably climbing alongside the song’s breakout moment. The tune sold 2,000 downloads in the week ending Sept. 15, up 18% from the prior week, and lifts 9-6 on R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart.
“Influence” is from Indigo (Extended), a deluxe version of Brown’s 2019 album, Indigo, released that same year. Though the album cut was not released as a single at the time, its recent streaming success has led to Brown’s label, RCA, officially sending the track for play on U.S. rhythmic radio stations as of Sept. 20.
Chris Brown’s “Under the Influence” revives itself as a bonafide hit as the three-year-old track ascends into the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The song climbs 14-10 on the list.
Between 1,000 and 1,400 cases of childhood cancer are detected each year in the nation; the majority of these cases occur late, making treatment challenging and expensive.
This predicament has been related to a lack of understanding and awareness of juvenile malignancies.
Because of this, Dr. Ernestina Schandorf, a paediatric oncology resident at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, has urged for a concerted effort to raise awareness in order to ensure that parents can monitor and look out for the early warning signals to aid in treating the patients and reduce costs.
“Childhood cancers can manifest in any part of the body, and although the causes are largely unknown, certain infections, such as such malaria, hepatitis and HIV, could put children at risk,” she said.
Speaking at an event held by the Paediatric Oncology Unit of Korle Bu to launch the Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Dr Schandorf said only two to four out of 10 children would survive cancer because of late presentation.
Awareness promotion
September each year is designated World Childhood Cancer Month to generally educate people on and increase awareness of childhood cancers.
In Ghana, the focus this year is to make the public aware that childhood cancers can be cured when detected early.
Awareness, signs
Dr Schandorf said while the causes of adult cancers were mostly known to be environmental and lifestyle habits, the exact causes of childhood cancers were not known.
Again, she said signs of cancers were non-specific and could present as any other disease and advised the public to seek early care and not self-medicate.
Dr Schandorf said there were early warning signs that parents should look out for in their children and seek medical help for any prolonged symptoms they might have.
The signs, she indicated, could be white spots in the eyes, which might be eye or brain cancer; lumps in any part of the body, unexplained symptoms, such as children having temperature for two weeks, aching pain which could be bone or blood cancer and neurological symptoms.
She noted that although childhood cancers had been around, awareness of the diseases was now picking up in low and middle-income countries because initially infectious diseases were the most common cases in the sub-Saharan region.
It’s curable
The good thing, the paediatric oncology fellow said, was that childhood cancers were curable when detected early.
“Unlike adult cancers, childhood cancers are very curable, especially when they present very early.
“When detected early, the cost of treatment is also low, compared to when they are detected late when you need more advanced treatment,” she said.
Treatment
Dr Schandorf further explained that the cost of cancer treatment was enormous and the treatment could vary from six months to three years.
She noted that four childhood cancers were covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and expected an increase in the awareness of the diseases and the survival rate in the country.
The cancers covered by the NHIS are acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, Burkitt lymphoma, retinoblastoma and Wilms tumour.
Paediatric oncology
Giving a database of the opportunity for treatment of childhood cancers, Dr Schandorf said presently there were two comprehensive Paediatric Oncology units in the country at Korle Bu and the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).
She said between those two facilities, there were six trained paediatric oncologists — four at Korle Bu and two at Komfo Anokye.
Also, there were eight trainee paediatric oncology fellows, three paediatric oncology pharmacists and 18 nurses in paediatric oncology, she added.
Survivor
A childhood cancer survivor, Franklyn Amoako, was 14 when he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma or bone cancer.
His family visited several hospitals and were later referred to Korle Bu.
His was a late detection, and as part of his treatment, he underwent 20 cycles of chemotherapy, as well as surgery to amputate his leg below the knee.
“When they told me I had cancer, I was so shocked; I was devastated. I didn’t know that children could get cancer; I thought it was something that only happened to grown people,” Master Amoako, now 17, said.
The Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC), Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA) and 18 shipping lines have agreed to increase basic freight rates for the 2022/2023 cocoa season to all destinations but the United Kingdom (UK).
As a result, basic freight for containerised shipments has gone up by 5% and basic freight has shot up by 10%.
In addition, Bunker (Fuel) Adjustment Factor (BAF) to all destinations except UK has been increased by 2 percentage points from 28 – 30%.
These were reached after a marathon meeting at this year’s Cocoa Freight Negotiation Conference held at the Hilton Sorrento Palace, Sorrento, Italy on September 20, 2022.
This means the rate calculated per tonne, for shipping the commodity to the various locations across the world currently stands at £31.50 to the United Kingdom (UK) for both bagged and bulk; to the Northern Continent €54.02 for bagged and €56.60 for bulk; to Estonia €61.74 for bagged and €64.70 for bulk; to Mediterranean Europe €60.64 for bagged and €63.53 for bulk; to the Far East US$100.44/106.09 for bagged and to Brazil US$116.24 for bagged and US$121.78 for bulk.
The reasons that resulted in the decision predominantly were events in the global shipping market, which include increasing charter rates, container shortage and rising bunker prices. Also, the consideration of the need to keep a competitive freight rate for Ghana’s cocoa, especially in the light of competition from neighbouring countries played a role.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers Authority, Ms. Benonita Bismarck, on her part used the occasion to acknowledge the cooperation and support of the shipping lines who have kept faith with the nation by promoting trade and serving as trusted conduits between the Cocoa Marketing Company and the buyers for the international transportation of Ghana’s cocoa.
Managing Director of the Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC), Vincent Okyere Akomeah, was confident that the agreed rates will be a win-win for the government and the shipping lines.
He said the move would help to save the government substantial revenue as the shipping lines would get good and reliable business.
He was optimistic of a good cocoa year with the help of key stakeholders such as the GSA, the shipping lines, buyers and insurers, among others.
Some of the shipping lines who were present at the conference to agree on prices include Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Company, ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd, Grimaldi, COSCO Shipping Lines, Messina Lines, Ocean Network, CMA-CGM and Arkas.
In the tracking week ending Sept. 18, the single increased by 1% to 8.1 million audience impressions, according to Luminate.
TobyMac (real name: Toby McKeehan) co-wrote “The Goodness” with Bryan Fowler, Gabe Patillo and Kyle Williams and co-produced it with Fowler and Williams.
TobyMac’s 11th Christian Airplay chart-topper is also his 25th top 10 and follows “Promised Land,” which hit No. 5 in February. The Fairfax, Va., native last led when “Help Is on the Way (Almost Midnight)” began a five-week domination in June 2021.
Nigerian-born Blessing Offor lands his first Christian Airplay No. 1 among four entries. He logged two prior top 10s: “Hallelujah” hit No. 10 this January and “Brighter Days” rose to No. 5 in May. (Concurrently, his new solo single “Believe” re-enters at No. 50, up 1% to 207,000 impressions.)
Meanwhile, “The Goodness” rules the streaming-, airplay and sales-powered Hot Christian Songs chart for a third week. It first topped the Sept. 3 tally, granting TobyMac his seventh leader and Blessing Offor his first. The song drew 1.3 million official streams and sold 1,000 downloads in the U.S. in the Sept. 9-15 tracking week, in addition to its airplay.
TobyMac ties Casting Crowns and for King & Country for the fourth-most No. 1s since Christian Airplay began in 2003. MercyMe leads with 17, followed by Jeremy Camp and Matthew West with 12 each.
DOE Does It Again
DOE, aka Dominique Jones, claims her third straight career-opening No. 1 on Gospel Airplay, becoming the first woman to achieve the feat. The singer-songwriter’s latest single, “When I Pray,” which she co-wrote, reaches the summit with a 2% gain in plays.
The track follows “Brighter,” which led for a week in January, and her featured turn on Travis Greene’s “Good & Loved,” which reigned for a week in May 2021.
DOE, who was raised in Shreveport, La., broke through in the Jones family group forever JONES, which likewise topped Gospel Airplay in its first visit to the chart, as “He Wants It All” dominated for a week in 2010.
DOE passes Casey J to become the only woman that has led Gospel Airplay with her first three entries since the list launched in 2005. Casey J began with two No. 1s: “Fill Me Up” dominated for 15 frames starting in February 2015 and “I’m Yours” ruled for five beginning in March 2016. Among all artists, DOE ties Pastor Mike Jr., who made it three in a row – and counting, like DOE – when “Amazing” began a two-week command in May.
The cost of shipping cocoa from Ghana to markets worldwide, excluding the United Kingdom (UK), has gone up by 5%.
The Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC), the Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA), and 18 shipping lines that will transport the nation’s cocoa exports the following year came to an agreement on the adjustment, which will take effect on October 1 of this year.
The deal was made last Wednesday at the Cocoa Freight Negotiation Conference in Sorrento, Italy.
Shipping costs per tonne
Consequently, the rate for shipment per tonne to the Northern Continent (part of North America, Scandinavia and parts of Asia) is up from €51.45 to €54.02, while that to Estonia is up from €57.75 to €61.74, with that to the UK staying at £31.50.
Shipment to Mediterranean Europe, which includes Albania, Andorra, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia and Southern France, has increased from €58.80 to €60.64, with shipment to the Far East rising from $94.19/$99.48 to $100.44/$106.09, while that to Brazil has gone up from $109 to $116.24.
The bunker adjustment factor (BAF) — an additional charge levied on the shippers to compensate for fluctuations in the price of the ship’s fuel — has also been increased from 28 to 30 per cent for all destinations, except the UK, which was maintained, and the Far East and Brazil, which have already been added to the freight rate.
The adjustment has become necessary as a result of recent events on the global shipping market.
Last year, the negotiating partners agreed to increase the rates for the current season by five per cent due to a rise in charter rates, persistent container shortage and increasing bunker prices.
Reason behind adjustment
Announcing the new charges at the end of the 2022/23 Freight Negotiation Conference, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GSA, Benonita Bismarck, said the rate increment was also in consideration of the need to keep a competitive freight rate for Ghana’s cocoa, especially in the light of competition from neighbouring countries.
She explained that basic freight and the BAF for shipment to the UK remained unchanged because lines which called at UK ports would be compensated with additional volumes to other destinations.
Ms Bismarck said in response to feedback from stakeholders, it had been decided that the liner and mega-bulk rates be differentiated, as was done in 2005.
“Basic freight for containerised shipments to all destinations except the UK has been increased by five per cent. Freight rate for mega bulk shipments to all destinations except the UK has been increased by 10 per cent,” she said.
All-inclusive freight rate
She noted that shipping lines would quote an “all-inclusive” freight rate, taking into account the new adjustment and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) shore handling (or receipt and delivery) charges and other incidental loading costs.
“All freight payments will be made in US dollars. The exchange rate for conversion, where applicable, shall be sourced from Reuters at bill of lading date,” she said.
“The participating shipping lines are required to submit written confirmation of their bank details at the beginning of each season to the CMC,” Ms Bismarck added.
The CEO said with the agreement made under the negotiation, the CMC was to ensure uniformity of lift-on/lift-off charges by the service providers, and that the price of other materials was not increased within the season.
Actor Ryan Grantham, known for a brief role in “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and appearances on “Riverdale,” has been sentenced to life in prison for fatally shooting his mother.Grantham, 24, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the 2020 killing of Barbara Waite, 64, as she played piano in their British Columbia home. He’ll be eligible for parole in 14 years, CBC reported.Grantham is known for a number of roles over his career, including the 2010 movie “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” in which he played a student portraying a shrub in an on-stage adaptation of “The Wizard of Oz.”He also appeared in “Riverdale” as Jeffery Augustine, a teenager who hits Fred Andrews with his father’s truck and kills him.
Grantham confessed to the murder in a GoPro video and showed off his mother’s body, according to evidence presented in court.
Prosecutors said Grantham left the crime scene with Molotov cocktails and firearms with a plan to kill Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa. He also considered committing a mass shooting before surrendering to police, CBC reported.
Defense lawyer Chris Johnson said the actor, who has been jailed since his arrest, anticipated Justice Kathleen Ker’s sentence, CTV reported.
“I think he’s pretty apprehensive about the whole thing. He’s a fairly tiny person, and to go to the prison system, I’m sure it’s a daunting and scary thought for him,” Johnson said.
Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo made his Cameroon debut in a 2-0 defeat to Uzbekistan as the Indomitable Lions lost the first of two final warm-ups prior to naming their World Cup squad.
The forward represented France at junior level before switching allegiance to the central African nation of his father last month.
The 23-year-old played the full 90 minutes at Goyang Stadium near Seoul in the north of South Korea, where Nicolas Nkoulou returned for the first time since winning the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations final.
The Greece-based defender, 32, was persuaded to come out of international retirement by coach Rigobert Song for November’s World Cup in Qatar.
Mbeumo joined Brentford, with whom he has scored six Premier League goals, in 2019 after coming up the youth ranks in France, who he represented between 2015 and 2020 at varying age levels.
Yet Russia-based duo Hojimat Erkinov and Oston Urunov scored either side of half-time to give Uzbekistan the win over the five-time African champions, who begin their World Cup campaign against Switzerland in November.
Cameroon, who are also grouped with Brazil and Serbia in Group G at the finals, will take on hosts South Korea in another friendly, in the capital, on Tuesday.
Later on Friday, Morocco and Ghana take on Chile and Brazil respectively as they continue their preparations for the World Cup, with African champions Senegal facing Bolivia on Saturday.
The Veterinary Service Department of the Ghana Health Service has explained the need to charge a fee of GH¢10 for the vaccination of dogs in the country.
The service posits that the vaccines being used at its outfit are largely procured by private agencies.
This comes after the Service issued a rabies alert following the death of eight people in the Ashanti region.
Speaking at the World Rabies Day Press briefing, Chief Veterinary Officer at the Veterinary Service Department called on development partners for support in order to make the vaccine free and accessible.
“Even at the GH¢10, it is very difficult to afford by some people, but we are still appealing to the stakeholders to make sure that this vaccine is free so that we eliminate the disease as we have targeted by 2030,” he said.
These earlier rabies cases were reported from Asante Akim South, Bosomtwe and Kwabre East.
Annual global figures show that, about 60,000 die from rabies, especially in Africa and Asia.
Primarily spread through animal bites, the disease is virtually 100 percent fatal once symptoms present themselves.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is facing more legal challenges after he participated in a cruel political stunt that involved luring migrants away from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard on false pretenses last week.
Florida state Sen. Jason Pizzo (D) on Thursday sued the Republican governor and other state officials, alleging their actions as part of the scheme broke state law. He aims to ban DeSantis from continuing to transfer migrants.
Pizzo said DeSantis used state funds to help pay for the transportation costs of flying two planes carrying about 50 migrants to Massachusetts.
While there is a provision in the state budget allocating $12 million to “a program to facilitate the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state consistent with federal law,” in this case, the migrants were not in Florida to begin with.
The only time the migrants were in the Sunshine State was when the two planes landed at a Florida airport before taking off again for Massachusetts.
Besides, the migrants are legally allowed to stay in the country while their requests for asylum or other relief are being processed.
“Senator Pizzo never misses an opportunity for his 15 minutes of fame and is challenging an action on an appropriation he voted for,” Taryn Fenske, a spokesperson for DeSantis, told CNN Thursday.
Apart from DeSantis, the three other defendants named in the lawsuit are Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s chief financial officer; the state’s Department of Transportation; and Jared W. Purdue, the department’s head.
Three Venezuelan migrants who were flown to the island filed a lawsuit Tuesday against DeSantis and others involved in executing the scheme.
“These immigrants, who are pursuing the proper channels for lawful immigration status in the United States, experienced cruelty akin to what they fled in their home country,” the lawsuit states.
The three migrants described how they were tricked by hired scouts who offered free accommodation and the promise of legal work papers if they boarded planes, which they were told would take them to Washington, D.C., and Boston. Instead, the planes transported them to the remote island of Martha’s Vineyard without giving prior notice to local officials, and where no arrangements had been made to house them.
But locals stepped up to the challenge.
“Our island jumped into action putting together 50 beds, giving everyone a good meal, providing a play area for the children, making sure people have the healthcare and support they need,” Massachusetts state Rep. Dylan Fernandes (D) wrote on Twitter. “We are a community that comes together to support immigrants.”
Fernandes has also called on the Justice Department to launch a probe into DeSantis’ actions.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office in Texas is investigating the operation.
DeSantis has been floated as a likely 2024 presidential candidate for the Republican Party.
The drowning of a mother and her three children in the Viepe-Torkor lagoon near Laklevikope has been attributed to Seven Seas Salt Company Limited by the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO).
Last Saturday, while on a fishing trip in the lagoon at Denu in the Ketu South municipality, the woman, her husband, and their three children—all elementary school students—fell into a trench on the lagoon bed. The mother, her son, and their two daughters perished as a result.
Last Wednesday, Torgbui Paul Alossode, the Municipal Director of NADMO, informed the Daily Graphic that the disaster was also brought on by the salt mining company’s inability to put up warning signs in the lagoon.
Meanwhile, he disclosed the identities of the deceased as Yawa Apena, 41, who drowned along with her children, Bridget Amewu, 14; Daddy Amewu, 10, and Sitsofe Amewu, eight.
Their bodies were sent to the morgue at the Ketu South Municipal Hospital soon after the incident.
The Municipal NADMO Director said the father, Atitso Amewu, who also nearly drowned and was rushed to the same hospital in critical condition, had since been discharged.
Torgbui Alossode said the last tragedy brought to six the number of people who had gone fishing in the lagoon and fallen into similar trenches and drowned since the beginning of this year.
Dikes
The director said the company put up dikes in the lagoon as part of its salt mining activities, leaving trenches in the water body.
Dikes are long walls and embankments built to prevent flooding from the sea.
Fishing in the lagoon is often done on foot in the area due to the low level of the water.
“For now, the company must halt the creation of more dikes in the lagoon,” Torgbui Alossode insisted.
Reaction
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of Seven Seas Company Limited, Adams Mensah, maintained that the company did not flout safety regulations.
He explained that the company carried out salt mining activities strictly under the concession which it was given by the Minerals Commission.
Mr Mensah said the dikes were constructed in the concessions and the trenches around them were not yet filled due to the recent rains.
“We were only waiting for the dry season to level up the trenches when this happened,” he added.
The PRO said the company was set to start paying out compensation to about 100 individual fish pond owners whose ponds fell within the concession when the tragedy occurred.
Mr Mensah said the communities around the lagoon were aware that Seven Seas Company was operating in a concession that was “a no-go area”.
According to him, the company had earlier erected signposts at vantage points to indicate where the construction of dikes and other activities of the company were ongoing.
“So we are all very sad about this unfortunate incident,” he added.
Feasibility studies
As part of investigations into the matter, he said, NADMO had demanded the documents covering the environmental assessment plans and feasibility studies undertaken by the company and the approval papers from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Amateur clips are being shared on social media showing people taking bales of maize flour off a lorry that overturned on a major highway in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
The crowd of looters include motorists, motorbike taxi operators and pedestrians.
The cause of the accident is unclear and there were no police officers on sight, according to the footage.
A local journalist is among those who has tweeted footage from the scene:
The prices of basic food commodities like maize flour and wheat flour, potatoes, vegetables and fruits have been rising in the country – attributed to a combination of external and domestic factors.
Last week the government scrapped a subsidy on petrol which has increased the retail price to an all-time high.
House Democrats delivered a preemptive rebuttal of their Republican peers’ policy rollout on Thursday, branding it as an “extreme” and “cynical” fusion of Donald Trump-inspired authoritarianism, infringements on key personal freedoms and traditional trickle-down economics.In a conference call with reporters, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), who chairs House Democrats’ campaign arm, cited Democratic special-election wins in vacant House seats in Alaska and New York as evidence that the Republican policy agenda is already unpopular.“Voters are rejecting the cynical reality that is the MAGA Republican movement, that is extreme and dangerous, that has taken away our reproductive freedom, that’s threatening our political freedom by ignoring the attack on our Capitol, and by making it harder to vote,” said Maloney, who spoke alongside Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) and Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison.
The Democrats’ frontal assault was timed to precede House Republicans’ rollout of the “Commitment to America,” a policy framework for a potential GOP governing majority. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other top Republicans are unveiling the plan in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, an industrial town outside of Pittsburgh, on Friday. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is due to respond to McCarthy with remarks in Pittsburgh itself.
But House Republicans’ big policy debut is already off to a rocky start. A web page with the plan’s core elements was leaked ahead of schedule on Wednesday.
McCarthy’s team quickly locked up the webpage ― and the materials it contained ― to the public before reopening it on Thursday. The triage was not enough to preclude the short-term political damage, however, as Democrats pounced on elements of the plan that they see as liabilities for the GOP.
House Democrats seized, in particular, on a part of the webpage where Republicans committed to “protect the lives of unborn children and their mothers.” Coming on the heels of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s introduction of a national bill forbidding abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, Democrats pointed to this section as a sign that House Republicans have a similar federal prohibition in store.
“Don’t let them fool you,” said Jacobs, the freshman cohort’s representative to House Democratic leadership, who is on a cross-country tour campaigning in support of swing-seat Democratic candidates. “Kevin McCarthy has promised that a Republican majority will pass a national abortion ban.”
“We’ve all seen just how dangerous the Republican Party’s war on women has been,” she added.
Jacobs went on to outline extreme cases of young women who suffered because of state-level abortion restrictions that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned a constitutional right. Those examples include the ordeal of 10-year-old girl in Ohio whose mother had to drive her to another state to receive an abortion after she became pregnant from a rape.
As of Thursday night, the materials publicly available on the “Commitment to America” webpage still contained a pledge to protect “unborn children” in a section on “defending Americans’ rights under the Constitution.”
It also criticized the provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that would empower Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices.
“The Democrats’ drug takeover scheme could lead to 135 fewer lifesaving treatments and cures,” the site says in a section discussing health care policy.
House Democrats have also interpreted a Republican promise to “save and strengthen Social Security and Medicare” as a veiled threat to cut the beloved programs’ benefits.
“They want to undo all of the legislation that Democrats have passed to lower prescription drug costs, and they want to cut Social Security and Medicare, and their agenda will continue to undermine our democracy,” Harrison said. “They want to roll back our rights and make it harder to vote. They are relentlessly committed to Donald Trump’s big lie [that the 2020 election was stolen].”
Although House Republicans have proposed cutting Social Security and Medicare in past Congresses, save for restrictions on eligibility for Social Security Disability Insurance, they did not seriously entertain benefit cuts for either social insurance program during their last period with unified control of the federal government, in 2017 and 2018.
Democrats instead hope to turn a proposal that Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), chair of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, introduced in February into a liability for Scott’s colleagues in the House. Among other things, Scott’s plan, which has not been embraced by GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, would require all federal laws to be reauthorized every five years. That would turn Social Security and Medicare from mandatory budget items to perpetual targets of legislative wrangling.
The Democrats on Thursday’s call also glossed over elements of the “Commitment to America” that likely have more popular traction than the policies they singled out. Though the “Commitment to America” is vague on the details, it contains proposals to expand “school choice,” prohibit transgender females from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, beef up border security and crack down on progressive prosecutors.
House Democrats’ efforts to force Republicans to answer for their traditional economic agenda, the actions of a conservative Supreme Court they helped appoint and Trump’s election denial movement reflect what some Democratic pollsters are seeing as an effective one-two punch against the GOP.
There is a particular body of research backing up Democrats’ decision to associate conservative lawmakers with the term “MAGA,” an acronym for the Trump slogan “Make America Great Again.” In a new poll conducted by Hart Research for the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank, pollster Geoff Garin found that 58% of independent voters would be less likely to vote for a candidate who is identified as a “MAGA Republican,” compared with 12% who would be more likely to do so. A slim majority (51%) of all voters believe that “MAGA Republicans” are “extreme.”
The US ambassador to Ghana, has reaffirmed the US Embassy’s commitment to processing the backlog of visa requests from aspiring Ghanaian students hoping to study in the US.
She stated that the embassy was currently working around the clock to schedule student visa interviews in a timely manner so that those who were successful may fly in advance.
Ms. Palmer advised prospective students to continue applying to US universities despite being discouraged by delayed appointment interviews if they wanted to pursue undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral degrees in the US.
Non-emigrant visas
Welcoming prospective students to the opening of the 2022 Education USA College Fair in Accra, Ms Palmer said “I have, with permission, taken every officer with the Consulate and put them to work on the visa line.
“The Consulate section has opened up lots of appointments for non-emigrant visas and I will encourage people that need to go to the United States to go ahead and apply for visas,” she said.
Education fair
The two-day fair brought together about 40 high education institutions in the US to offer the students accurate, comprehensive, and current information about opportunities for students to study at accredited universities in the US.
Some of the participating universities are Howard University, Drexel University, Emory University School of Law, Millersville University, Iowa State University of Science and Technology and Middle Tennessee State University.
The rest are New York Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Taxes Technology University, PACE University, Webster University, University of Houston-Victoria, University of Arizona and University of Kentucky.
Interview waiver
The US ambassador said given the concerns over visa application backlog, the embassy had instituted another programme, dubbed, “Interview waiver programme” to support people who already had expired visas to renew them without going back to the embassy.
“You can just send visa application to us by mail and those renewals are very straightforward,” she assured the public.
She also said the embassy had instituted a procedure by which prospective students could request for expedite visa appointments.
With about 4,200 students studying currently in 630 different educational institutions in the US in 2021 alone, Ms Palmer said Ghana was the second highest “sender” of students to the US.
Additionally, the ambassador indicated that Ghana was also among the top 25 countries globally that sent graduate students to the United States.
Consequently, she said, she had already encouraged Ghanaian students to go and study in the United States.
Bond
A Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, was happy that education had kept the bond between Ghana and the US together over the years.
He noted that the partnership with the US Embassy had been mutual, enabling Ghana to enjoy teaching and learning materials from the US Embassy.
Serbia-based winger Osman Bukari has expressed the pride which comes in representing Ghana.
The in-form Red Star Belgrade star is part of the players at the Black Stars camp ahead of friendlies against Brazil and Nicaragua.
According to him, it is always an honour to be in the national colours and has therefore set sights on the upcoming Ghana games.
Ghana will take on Brazil on Friday, September 23 in France before taking on Nicaragua on September 27 in Spain.
“Always an honour to be in the national colours, feels good to be back with the boys. Let’s go Ghana” he tweeted which was sighted by Footballghana.com.
Osman Bukari has bagged 7 goals and provided 3 assists in 14 matches for Red Star Belgrade this season and will hope to get playing at the Black Stars.
The history of the Old Ghana Empire should inform the current generation of our citizens and the political class, especially the Parliamentarians (MPs) that we need to enact or pass a law to place a 10-year EMBARGO, FREEZE OR MORATORIUM on all forms of MINING, be it LEGAL or ILLEGAL; SURFACE and UNDERGROUND in order to save all our waterbodies from extinction.
The history of the Old Ghana Empire should also inform all kinds of GALAMSEY operators and our rural folks who depend on it for their livel8hoods to join hands with Government, Parliament, Legislature and the mass of our people to enforce this 10-year temporary ban on all forms of MINING in the country to restore our waterbodies to their unpolluted states.
This call and action is also necessary because the future of our AGRIBUSINESS, especially peasant farming and our natural habitats, particularly our FORESTS, which all form the basis of livelihood for our rural folks is at stake.
Check the history of the Old Ghana Empire, it was the insatiable quest for gold at all costs with their own forms of GALAMSEY that led to their ultimate collapse as a people and as a nation.
Unless of course, we will be okay with importing water for even bathing and cooking?
This PRECIPICE that we currently face, if we do not handle well will lead to our going into a future war with possibly Burkina Faso or Cote d’Ivoire over water for our basic needs.
This PRECIPICE of the degradation of our water bodies and environments might lead to the possibility of some of our women and mothers giving birth to deformed babies of all sorts because of the quantum and diverse chemicals we have injected into our everything, especially our waterbodies.
This PRECIPICE that is staring us in the face as a nation and as a people, if those of us in the urban areas think we are safe and that it is only our RURAL FOLKS who stand the risks, then we should think again.
GREEDINESS is one strange sickness, capable of shepherding an otherwise sane people to destroy themselves; and unfortunately, this where GALAMSEY will lead us if we don’t act now.
We all have roles to play, no matter how small.
LET’S STOP THIS THIS CANKER BEFORE IT DESTROYS US ALL…
Dear Honourable Speaker of Parliament, please for the sake of POSTERITY, I write to beseech you to kindly take this call up for the future of our nation, GHANA.
Nigerian disc jockey Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola, professionally known as DJ Cuppy, has opened up about the struggles of dating being the daughter of a billionaire.
In an interview, DJ Cuppy said that many of the guys she has found herself dating are more interested in her father, billionaire Femi Otedola, than in her.
She explained that she does not want to be in a relationship where people are fixated on her father instead of the relationship they are building.
“Back home, I feel like so many guys don’t want me, they want my dad. They just love my dad. I met a guy recently and the next thing he asked me was, ‘so when am I going to meet your dad.’ I was shocked,” DJ Cuppy said.
She added that “I have met guys in the UK; when I tell them that I am from Nigeria, they ask me what village, I know the person is not really Nigerian…I want someone to love me a lot and be happy and my dad would be like a by-product.”
This is not DJ Cuppy’s first time talking about relationships, her struggles and what she looks for in a partner.
Earlier in August 2022, she noted that she needed a partner that compliments her.
“I really think I have to find a partner that compliments me but still pushes me and is better at some things than I am, so they can inspire me to improve myself as a person,” DJ Cuppy wrote in a post on Instagram.
According to Godfred Yeboah Dame, Ghana’s Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, the government of Ghana is still dedicated to advancing and defending the basic human rights of the nation’s minorities.
He maintained that it was crucial that the government carry out its responsibilities in order to prevent the marginalization of minority rights in Ghana.
In order to emphasize the government’s commitment, Hon Yeboah Dame said that Article 17 of the constitution, which ensures equality before the law and forbids discrimination based on gender, race, color, ethnic origin, religion, faith, or social or economic standing, would be strictly enforced.
The Attorney-General made these remarks at the High-Level Meeting of the 77th Session of the General Assembly to mark the commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious And Linguistic Minorities.
Mr Dame, in his address, said, despite the progress made in advancing the rights of minority groups following the adoption of the Declaration 3 decades ago, challenges persist.
“We solidarize with the people belonging to minority groups and remain concerned about the disproportionate suffering they are subjected to in conflict situations, including their vulnerability to forced displacements, obstacles to education and other attendant effects resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic”, he added.
Mr Dame re-iterated Ghana’s commitment to the implementation of the Declaration as he said it is the government’s conviction that unbridled political will by the Member States at the national, regional and multilateral level was critical to advancing the rights of minority groups sustainably.
The Attorney General highlighted the following points, which he says are instrumental in dealing with the issue confronting minority groups: “First, We believe that although the Declaration was adopted three decades ago, it remains relevant in addressing contemporary challenges facing minority groups. It is, therefore, important for the Member States to make their commitment to its implementation”.
“As we move towards a post-COVID-19 future, it is important for Member States to deliberately put in place measures that would enhance emergency aids, boost data collection for monitoring and tracking of disparities among minority groups, intensify outreaches including minority languages and sign languages on how to prevent and address COVID-19 and other challenges, and availability of services. This would help ensure that minority groups are not disadvantaged”.
“The growing exclusion, marginalisation and discrimination against minorities require a more holistic and comprehensive approach in addressing the situation. We welcome the integration of employment, sustainable development and social protection into domestic policies and the advancement of equal rights and opportunities for all, ensuring that the interest of minority groups is served. Furthermore, deliberate policies that create a conducive environment for minority groups to meaningfully participate in political activities and decision-making are encouraged”.
“Equally important is the urgent need to empower minority women and girls to help ameliorate the various forms of abuse they are subjected to. We believe this can be addressed by urgently considering measures embedded in economic support and stimulus packages that reflect the needs of women who face multiple forms of discrimination. In addition, the introduction of interventions such as helplines, psychosocial support and online counselling is recommended”.
Hilary Mantel, the Booker Prize-winning author of the acclaimed “Wolf Hall” saga, has died. She was 70.
Mantel died “suddenly yet peacefully” surrounded by close family and friends, publisher HarperCollins said Friday.
Mantel is credited with reenergizing historical fiction with “Wolf Hall” and two sequels about the 16th-century English powerbroker Thomas Cromwell.
The publisher said Mantel was “one of the greatest English novelists of this century.”
“Her beloved works are considered modern classics. She will be greatly missed,” it said in a statement.
Mantel won the Booker Prize twice, for “Wolf Hall” in 2009 and its sequel “Bring Up the Bodies” in 2012. Both were adapted for the stage and television.
The final installment, “The Mirror and the Light,” was published in 2020.
Chairperson of the National Films Authority Mr. David Kwame Dontohhas blamed emerging filmmakers in the country for the collapse of the movie industry which some years back was the backbone of the country.
According to David Dontoh, these new movie producers got the opportunity to infiltrate the industry because filmmaking itself at a point became easy
“When we were transitioning from celluloid film to video film… video film is a lot cheaper, a lot faster easier and virtually anyone can manipulate the camera”, he revealed
The veteran actor is of the view that these new film producers used a lazy approach in making films by ignoring writing quality scripts and casting qualified people in their movies.
“When video technology came into the system, people found it easy to use it to make money for themselves”, David Dontoh said on E-TV in a studio discussion monitored by MyNewsGH.com.
The letter I received from a government agency was simple. “Dear Phillip Nyakpo,” it started.
By the time I read the first sentence, I knew it was serious.
“I’m writing to you from the State Library of Western Australia regarding your publication, Absolute Radio: The Inspiring Story of the First Private Radio in Ghana’s Western Region.”
“That was fast,” I told myself after reading that line. I released Absolute Radio worldwide on 6 September 2022, and the letter from the government agency came on 15 September, just nine days later. Search for “Absolute Radio book”
“This system has a way of tracking activities and people,” I thought.
The Obligation
The letter from the State Library of Western Australia continued, “As you are publishing in Western Australia you are required, under Legal deposit legislation, to deposit one copy with the State Library within 30 days of publication.”
In that short sentence, I realised for the first time that I had a “legal obligation “as a result of publishing the book – and I had no idea.
I was stunned.
The next sentence in the letter was however comforting.
“Your deposit enables us to create and preserve our heritage collection of Western Australian material.”
The book Absolute Radio is mostly “an African material.” The story comes from the culturally stylish twin city of Sekondi-Takoradi in Ghana. Having written the book after 15 years of continuous residency in Australia, the work qualified as a publication that was not just published in Australia, but has a traceable Australian DNA.
Forty-Four Chapters in Australia
All the interviews and research conducted for the book took place right here in Australia – including all the 70 people I talked to.
Many of the 44 chapters of the book were written in iconic places in Western Australia, including Kalbarri, Geraldton, Esperance, Margaret River, Albany and Rottnest Island.
The Author’s introduction I wrote in the book started with a strong Australian flavour.
“The energy and passion to tell the stories in this book started in Australia in 1996 where I learned to become a journalist.”
That was the introduction.
Obligation Fulfilled
On 20 September 2022, I walked into the State Library of Western Australia (State Archives), armed with a fresh hard copy of Absolute Radio. I greeted one of the smart librarians and announced that I had come to discharge my legal obligation of depositing a copy of my book.
The librarian smiled and asked to take the copy off me. I filled a simple form for the record and within five minutes, I walked away with a receipt to prove that I had fulfilled my legal obligation with the Absolute Radio book.
As I stepped away, the sentence from the letter I received kept echoing in my mind:
“Your deposit enables us to create and preserve our heritage collection of Western Australian material.”
I looked back and thought “that state institution will now discharge its mandate to preserve my work as part of a “heritage” collection.” It felt like a privilege.
Phillip Nyakpo is the author of Absolute Radio, an inspiring true story that examines the foundation of Ghana’s private broadcasting industry.
Donald Trump on Thursday told New York Attorney General Letitia James how to do her job after she sued the ex-president and his three eldest children for allegedly wrongly valuing assets to cheat lenders and tax officials. James called the scope of fraud “astounding.”
The former president, in friendly territory with Sean Hannity on Fox News for part two of an interview, made a wild segue from claiming he intimidated the Taliban to attacking James. He said crime in New York has been “the worst we’ve ever had.” (NYPD stats show homicides are down 13% from the previous year, while rapes, robberies and assaults are up.)“Letitia James, she should focus on murder and crime in New York, where they walk into stores with axes and they start swinging the axes at people,” Trump said, perhaps referring to a man who destroyed furniture at a Manhattan McDonald’s last week with a hatchet.
“That’s where she ought to be focused, not on how much is Mar-a-Lago worth,” he continued.
James’ pursuit of Trump’s alleged scamming appears to fall squarely within her jurisdiction.
“The Attorney General’s Office is charged with the statutory and common law powers to protect consumers and investors, charitable donors, the public health and environment, civil rights, and the rights of wage-earners and businesses across the State,” the AG’s website says.
Kudus has had an interesting few weeks at Ajax, from going absent hoping to force a move to Everton, to becoming the club’s in-form forward who can do no wrong.
A couple of Kudus’ goals have been remarkable, with a cracking effort at Anfield probably the pick of the bunch.
In this feature, GOAL highlight the numbers that have typified the Ghana international’s outstanding run in front of goal, analyse some of those efforts and point out why Otto Addo will be delighted with the 22-year-old’s opportune streak.
Scoring rate
Kudus’ four Eredivisie strikes have come in seven appearances, with only two being starts.
The Ghana international is scoring a goal every 60 minutes, although this is not the best frequency in the Dutch top flight among players to have scored more than once — Feyenoord’s Santiago Gimenez has found the back of the net twice from five substitute appearances, with those goals coming every 55 minutes.
Among Champions League participants to have netted at least twice, only nine outdo Kudus who is averaging a goal every 88 minutes — a list that includes Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Robert Lewandowski who respectively are scoring every 55, 60 and 60 minutes.
Breakdown of goals
All four of the 22-year-old’s Eredivisie strikes have come inside the box, with the Ghanaian proving to be a menace inside the penalty area.
The theme is repeated in Europe, where none of Kudus’ strikes has come from outside the area.
Unexpectedly, four of the in-form forward’s six goals in all competitions have been netted with his left foot, with two right-footed goals making up the rest of his return.
Best goal
Kudus’ first strike in Europe’s premier competition was one to remember and carries some sentimental value, too.
The Ghana international still had much to do after receiving a pass from Calvin Bassey in the left half-space, but he held off then spun Rangers right-back James Tavernier, carried the ball into the box before arrowing an effort past Jon McLaughlin that went in off the far post.
However, the red-hot attacker’s goal at Anfield slightly edges that cracker against the Scottish giants.
Kudus sealed a 25-pass move against Liverpool which came about after Alfred Schreuder’s troops kept the ball away from the Reds for 84 seconds.
The finish was a thing of beauty: Kudus received possession from a Steven Berghuis cut-back and took a touch that created separation from Virgil van Dijk before powering his effort off the underside of the bar before Allison Becker could set himself.
It was the perfect strike to seal an outstanding team move.
Underrated movement
Kudus’ intelligent positioning off the ball, which has led to high-percentage chances or shot attempts, has been another striking theme.
This has been evident in goals against Cambuur, where he found room for a tap-in, in the 5-0 success over Heerenveen, where his second came about similarly, and Sunday’s strike at AZ Alkmaar.
Two notable incidents in the last month have not resulted in a goal but demonstrated Kudus’ recognition of the best positions to occupy.
In the 4-0 success over Rangers, he lost Tavernier and is open for a tap-in from six yards, but Devyne Rensch understandably opts to shoot after a flowing Ajax move culminated in the right-back one-v-one with the Gers’ shot-stopper.
Against Sunday’s opponents, AZ, Kudus created separation from all the bodies in the penalty area following a cross into the box. This allowed the Ghanaian to take a touch amid the cluster after Steven Bergwijn found him, but his effort was cleared off the line by Dani de Wit, preventing an equaliser with 20 minutes to play.
Ten minutes later, the ball found Dusan Tadic in the right channel inside the box, and the Ghana international moved to the far post hoping to be picked out by the Serbian. However, the Ajax captain opts for a cut-back to Edson Alvarez, whose lay-off to Bergwijn does not result in an equaliser following a goal-line block.
The ball eventually drops to Kudus in that phase of play; after Tijjani Reijnders’ opportune block ricochets off AZ goalkeeper Hobie Verhulst but the angle was already against the in-form forward.
Those situations did not result in goals, but that awareness to occupy the favourable spaces and positions should lead to “easy” strikes for the young attacker.
Sustainability
How long can Kudus keep this going?
The Ajax man has hit nine shots on target in the last five games games, resulting in six goals, and both Champions League strikes have come from Expected Goals (xG) of 0.3.
Considering one of those shots was cleared off the line against AZ, the said stat should probably read seven goals from nine shots on target.
While Kudus’ talent in occupying the favourable spaces is unmistakable, such an over-performance is ultimately unsustainable, and a mean reversion is expected sooner or later for a player whose 40 percent goal conversion in the Eredivisie will be unrealistic to sustain.
The analysis comes with the caveat of a small sample size of games, so it will be sensible to monitor his progress over the coming months.
Otto Addo’s Kudus prayer
Admittedly, there has been an influx of players who have switched allegiance, including Athletic Club’s Inaki Williams.
However, the forward is not the most prolific in La Liga, while the Ayew brothers are either unproductive in Jordan’s case, or playing outside the competitive leagues in Andre’s case.
Felix Afena-Gyan has been confined to the Cremonese bench, Benjamin Tetteh has not opened his Hull City account, and Kamaldeen Sulemana has not fired on all cylinders.
Having Kudus in this form will benefit Addo, even if the Ajax man may not play a central striking role for the Brazil game and the World Cup.
The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has dismantled a group that is reportedly trafficking underage children across Ghana’s western border so they can work as forced laborers in Cote d’Ivoire’s fishing industry.
Last Tuesday, four men who are thought to be members of the syndicate attempted to send some kids across the border at New Town in the Western Region for a nine-month fishing trip in Cote d’Ivoire. They were caught.
Following the arrest of the four syndicate members last Tuesday, about 16 children, some as young as nine years old, were freed from the traffickers.
The children, recruited from coastal towns such as Biriwa and Apam Dogo in the Central Region, were making the journey without the consent of their parents, while others had been sold off by their parents for monetary gain.
September arrest
Giving details of the September 13 arrest, the arresting officer, Assistant Superintendent of Immigration (ASI) Ebenezer Kuntou Asare, told the Daily Graphic that the GIS received a tip-off from some Customs officers about a group of young people trying to cross the border at an undesignated point.
GIS officers on duty quickly moved in to march the travellers to the New Town Border Post, where they were profiled.
He said when the group was interrogated, the gang leader, Kwame Tawiah, confessed that he was leading the group to cross the border to engage in fishing activities in Cote d’Ivoire, but maintained that they had the consent of some of the parents of the children involved.
However, further interrogation of the children revealed that the parents of some of them were not aware of any such trip.
He also indicated that the children had been coached to lie about their ages, but after “profiling”, it was established that they were minors.
He said after extensive interrogation, it was established that the children were going to be given to fishers (masters) in Cote d’Ivoire to assist in fishing activities.
Gaining roots
ASI Asare said the traffickers had been operating for some time and were already gaining roots along the border.
“My first encounter with them took place last year, but other officers have had separate encounters with some of them,” he said.
He said three of the boys who were between 14 and 16 years confessed that they had been sent across the border last year to engage in fishing activities, and that they were paid GH₵1,900 after nine months.
“They had returned to their hometowns to help recruit other young people and were on their way back to their base in Cote d’Ivoire when they were intercepted,” the officer explained.
Secured shelter
The culprits are presently in the custody of the Half Assini Police, while the children have been handed over to the Social Welfare Department.
The Social Welfare Officer in charge of Half Assini, Benjamin Adu, told the Daily Graphic in a telephone interview that the rescued children would be kept in a secure shelter away from their hometowns to prevent them from falling victim to the traffickers again.
“They are all from the Central Region and so when they were intercepted, we contacted the Social Welfare officials there and they came for the children, but we don’t want them to go back to their hometowns so they are being held in a shelter,” Mr Adu said.
Prevalence
Human traffickers are becoming more organised and tend to target vulnerable parents and communities to facilitate child trafficking in the fishing industry in Ghana and other West African countries, including Cote d’Ivoire.
A United States Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report 2021 on a study of the prevalence of child trafficking in selected communities in the Volta and the Central regions indicated that traffickers had subjected children from nearly one-third of the 1,621 households surveyed to forced labour, primarily in inland fishing and forced labour in domestic work.
The traffickers force boys as young as five years to work in hazardous conditions, including deep diving and mending of fishing nets, while girls perform work on-shore, such as cooking, cleaning fish and preparing fish for the market, while they are also vulnerable to sexual abuse.
Alarmingly, countries in West Africa tend to detect more trafficking victims than those in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Fifth Global Report on TIP conducted in collaboration with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) last year.
The report said of the 4,799 victims detected in 26 sub-Saharan African countries, 3,336, including 2,553 children, were in West Africa.
Ruthy Mummie De-Nelson popularly known as Ruthy an entertainment critic has disclosed that Lynx Entertainmentsignee Kuami Eugenewould part ways with the record label by December 2022.
There have been several rumours that the Angela hitmaker is planning to leave the record label.
Kuami has denied the reports several times but Ruthy is of the firm belief that the rumours are true and that the musician is planning to go his separate way by the end of December.
According to her, she has been digging deep and her sources have confirmed that indeed Kuami Eugenewould leave the Lynx Entertainmentlabel soon.
She went ahead to state that that is the more reason why Kuami Eugene for the past few months hasn’t released any new songs for his fans and music lovers.
Ruthy claimed that Kuami Eugenehas recorded a lot of bangers but he is intentionally keeping them away so he can release them when he finally parts ways with Richie.
The Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr. John Kwakye is warning of further hikes in inflation if the Bank of Ghanaphases out the 1 and 2 notes as planned.
In a tweet, he said the planned move will not only put pressure on the 5 note but will also trigger higher inflation.
“Phasing out 1 and 2 cedi notes from the economy as planned by BoG will not only put pressure on the 5 cedi notes, but will also further fuel inflation”
Dr. Kwakye who is an immediate past member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Ghana explained further that the country may undertake a redenomination of the local currency again in the future if it does not address the rapid depreciation of the cedi and inflation.
“If we don’t rein in inflation and cedi depBoGreciation, it won’t be long before we undertake another redenomination.”
The country’s inflation is one of the highest on the continent so far this year.
It hit 33.9% in August 2022, the highest in 21 years, data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) revealed.
This is expected to increase the cost of borrowing by raising interest rates further, and consequently trigger increase cost of living and doing business.
In order to build a solid base for the party that can win elections and win seats in Parliament, the Convention People’s Party (CPP) is starting an expanded national mobilization.
To begin with, the party is making sure that each constituency has at least 17 polling station executives and 13 electoral area officers who serve as the foundation of the party and are committed to evangelizing the party’s ideas and programs while also electing constituency executives.
Yirimambo Moses Ambing, the CPP’s national organizer, revealed this to the Daily Graphic in Accra and claimed that the mobilization program was the result of reflection the party undertook following its performance in the 2020 elections.
He explained that it was clear from interaction with party members across the country that the base of the party must be widened at the polling station and electoral areas so that these executives, together with the parliamentary candidate, could secure more votes and seats.
“With this mass recruitment exercise, we will have nearly 34,000 polling station executives and when we add the electoral area numbers to it, the party’s members will be big. With this, if each member can get five voters, the party will be making a great stride come 2024. We will definitely spring a surprise,” Mr Ambing indicated..
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Piloting.
He noted that when it became clear that the party members wanted to have that expanded executives at the local level during the introspection, the national executive piloted the same across 12 regions just to find out if it was empirically feasible..
Mr Ambing said the party hierarchy was overwhelmed with the interest and participation of members for the expanded base programme and noted that “the success of the piloting is an indication that the members at the grassroots want to own the party and drive its success”..
He explained that the report of the successful piloting had been documented together with all the findings and would be placed before the Central Committee of the party for their perusal and green light so that it would be rolled out..
.
ICT.
He said the party had already developed a template form for the mobilisation and would also train some of the executives to ensure that they appreciate the nitty-gritty of the new programme and be in a better position to shepherd the process to a successful end..
Mr Ambing, who took the Daily Graphic round an office where computer servers and monitors had been set up, said it was capable of taking the database of at least eight million members, including their names, pictures, voter identification numbers, polling stations and constituency numbers..
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Members.
He appealed to the members of the party who had been sitting on the fence to join the current executive in the mobilisation programme, noting that they should take up positions at either polling station or electoral areas and work assiduously to secure a resounding victory..
He said the prospects for the party to win elections were bright but the realisation of this feat would require all hands on deck..
On Monday Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest at a private ceremony at St. George’s Chapel Windsor. She was buried next to her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh who died in 2021, her mother, father, and sister.
A well-organised funeral service which was watched by millions on television and social media platforms had taken place at Westminster Abbey and was attended by more than 2000 people, including invited leaders from around the world, and royals from other parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Apart from US President Joe Biden who was permitted to use the “Beast” vehicle to the event, the rest of the invited leaders were put in coaches and minibuses.
The decision to put them in coaches was a major talking point on social media, especially in Africa. If you monitor the conversation on Ghanaian social media space, the impression created was that those driven by coaches were African leaders. And, unsurprisingly, even those seemingly educated who ought to have known better and done their own research to verify the constant information misrepresentation, fell for the African Leaders in a Single Bus Ride claim.
But there were other leaders like New Zealand’s Jacinda Arden, Justin Trudeau from Canada, and others. Mr Trudeau played down the fuss about the bus ride when he told reporters that “a lot of great conversations happen on the bus”. The sight of Justin or Jacinda on a bus is not a big issue for them or most of their people, because, even in their current position, some of them ride to work using public transport.
In 2017 for example, a picture emerged of Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte riding a bicycle to go meet the King at the Dutch Royal House. A year before that in Britain, then Mayor of London Boris Johnson was pictured riding a bicycle to work.
These two images generated discussion in Africa’s blogosphere about “servant” leadership and the true meaning of public service. Those who slobbers on these images are not necessarily saying these leaders do not use official vehicles with well-detailed security to work, because that cannot be true.
However, the use of public transport by them does not reduce the high-profile positions they occupy. In contrast, the sight of African leaders in a bus on the home soil of a former colonial power to mourn a boss they asked to grant them the space to run their own affairs was always going to be a perfect silage for controversy and ridicule.
Back home where they rule, they have at their disposal vehicles that often speculated to be worth thousands of Pounds or Dollars. And at any given time when they must travel to either an official or private engagements, they line up these vehicles and once they take off, even from a distance, their presence is often felt by bystanders. It is always a sign they oversee the affairs of the country.
Even their assigns with less authority often indulge in such display of optical power. So seeing them on a bus at a funeral miles away from home was a topic too hot to ignore. Below are some of the comments from Africans who were intrigued by the images of their leaders happily smiling on a bus.
@lareinedihya “Why would they even accept this kind of humiliation? It’s obvious that they seem not be of the same importance as European leaders, which is why they shouldn’t have gone there at all. Going there to mourn their colonizer? WHY?”
@e_lumumba “Our leaders went to the UK and are being treated the way they treat us.”
@a_kaseraalome “Why even bother to go!!!!! it’s obvious their absence wouldn’t have been noticed either way….Neo-colonisation is real, I feel sad at these images of mostly African Heads of States being carted in hired buses that are not even uniformed. What a shame.”
@Rhumeey “The priceless smiles on their faces…so happy to be invited, ridiculed.. and humiliated regardless!’
@Rebecca84830094 “Really? All European leaders have also gone on coaches. It would take 4 hours to get them there if all went in their own cars, and 4 hours for them to leave. That is why. For security and logistics!”
Britain’s active role in colonialism and associated brutalities in Africa will never go away. It is impossible!
The Crown is viewed by anti-colonial critics as the symbol that profiteered from the orchestrated pillaging of natural resources, human brutalities and looting of African artefacts.
The argument was that the same African countries who either fought or used intellectual persuasion to get Britain to hand over political power back to them should have declined any invitation to attend the funeral.
Others also argued that African governments should have demanded from the CROWN a public apology for “crimes” committed centuries ago, as a requirement for them to attend the funeral.
It is remotely impossible for any African leader to demand apology from the British s really a wishful thinking to even suggest in reality.
It will be completely out of tune with diplomacy, common sense, and empathy for any African president to fathom such a thought.
But in reality, and granted that Britain was ready to offer such an apology alongside monetary compensation for their role in the slave trade, are African leaders willing to honestly utilise the money for the wellbeing of their citizens, or ship them back to banks in western economies for their personal upkeep and that of their relatives?
Relationships aren’t meant to be smooth sailing all the time. And if you are reading this article, then you must have noticed signs she has someone else in her life. Or if your relationship has been rocky for a while, then you might even have noticed signs she has moved on to someone else. Whatever it may be, it’s not your fault.
Or you might be someone who thinks, “My girlfriend might like someone else, but she still loves me.” While this mindset can work for some couples who either want to compromise or want to explore an open relationship. But if you fall in neither category, then this mindset will be damaging for you. The key is to have sufficient evidence to support your suspicions and then talk to her about it. We’re here to help you with that. Here is a list of signs she has someone else in her life.
If you suspect that your girlfriend has feelings for someone else, but are not sure, then this list will be able to help you out. Even if you want to talk to your girlfriend about whether she has fallen for another person, you will need some proof. Without some measure of evidence, she might get defensive and angry. But with sufficient proof, she will be forced to come clean to you about her possible infidelity.
Her affair can be emotional or physical. Whatever it may be, there will be regret and hurt on both sides. But it is important to not take the blame on yourself. Find the courage to get out of this situation in a calm and graceful manner. In Silver Linings Playbook, Bradley Cooper plays a character called Pat. Pat catches his wife cheating on him. And after a long period of grief and turmoil, he wins a dance competition and opens his dream restaurant with the new love of his life!
While we’re not suggesting that your story will end with the launching of a new business alongside a new partner, what we mean is – to remember that your partner’s infidelity is not about you. So, try and keep your sanity about yourself, and prioritize your mental health and life goals. The following list will also come in handy if you and your girlfriend broke up recently and you want to know more about her present love life. Here are the 11 signs she has someone else in her life.
1. She spends a little too much time on her phone
Technology may have brought people closer together and opened up networking opportunities like never before, but it’s also made it very easy for people to cheat on their partners.
Take the case of Alan who never had reasons to be suspicious of his wife’s increasing phone time and frequency of going outside. He chalked it up to an increase in work hours that happened due to a promotion. Even though there were all the signs of a dead-end relationship in his marriage, he always just thought she was a busy woman. However, one night, her wife fell asleep after a long day. He decided to go through her phone while she was sleeping. He found out that she had been cheating on him with multiple people.
We usually overlook a partner’s change in behavior because, by nature, we trust the people we love. However, if you find your partner spending more time on her phone, or if she smiles and giggles when texting someone but then hides it from you, these could be signs that she has someone else in her life. These signs aren’t conclusive proof of signs that she has moved on to someone else, but they could be pretty solid foundations to help draw your conclusions.
2. She is acting differently
Usually, your girlfriend will start displaying differences in her behavior if she has feelings for someone else. You might catch her daydreaming at random times, or getting fidgety around you. You might also find her getting increasingly irritated when spending time with you.
It is important to note that there could be a lot of reasons for her acting this way. She could be nervous about an upcoming exam, or that presentation at work. However, it is always important to listen to your gut in these matters. Otherwise, you might just miss out on the important signs that she has met someone else.
3. One of the strange signs she has feelings for someone else – She is doing more favors for you
Guilt is a very powerful emotion. It can make a person act very nice toward you to help ease their guilt. If you suspect that your girlfriend has cheated on you, then you might want to look at how she is treating you. Is she being extra nice to you these days? Is she going out of her way to do favors for you? Maybe she bought you a nice gift, even when there is no occasion for it. You might be thinking, “This isn’t so bad, I don’t think she is cheating on me, maybe my girlfriend likes someone else, but she loves me.” The problem with this line of thinking is that you think that her being nice to you or showing affection is a definite sign that she will soon forget the other person and come back to you for good. But that is almost never the case.
Therefore, if you find your girlfriend doing favors for you out of the blue, they could be signs she has met someone else recently, or signs that she has moved on to someone else entirely, and her guilty conscience is making her do nice things for you.
4. She smiles at random moments
Have you caught your girlfriend smiling at random moments? It might look harmless and innocent at first, but it could be some of the first signs that your partner is falling in love too fast with someone else. You remember the over-talking stage of your relationship, right? When things looked rosy and everything felt nice and warm and giggly. She is experiencing the same things, but for another person this time.
Therefore, if you find your girlfriend smiling to herself at the weirdest of times, then it could be a sign that your partner is falling for someone else. Remember this could also mean a plethora of other things. Maybe she is remembering a moment with the two of you in it, or maybe she is thinking about her celebrity crush or even an Instagram reel she saw. But it never hurts to playfully ask, “Hey, what are you smiling about there?”
5. She doesn’t want to get physical anymore
An important sign that she has someone in her life is if she doesn’t want to get intimate with you anymore. Note how she responds to you initiating physical intimacy. Does she shrug away? Does she reply with “I’m too tired?” Or “I’m not in the mood right now?” These are valid reasons as to why she doesn’t want to be intimate with you, but make a point to note her changes in attitude to physical intimacy with you.
Do you also see marks on her body that weren’t there before? Try bringing it up casually in a conversation and see what she says. If she fumbles and isn’t clear about where she got her marks, then they might be physical signs she having one-night stands or hooking up with someone else.
6. She suddenly has a lot more outdoor errands to run
Usually, people who start cheating won’t stop at one encounter. They will keep up with the affair as long as they are not in danger of getting caught. If you find your girlfriend making a lot more excuses to stay out, or she has started running errands at strange times of the day, then these might be the signs she has met someone else.
Also, take note of the patterns of her errands. Do they line up with the staying home time of anyone you suspect? You could also ask one of your friends to tail her. Though this should be the absolute last resort since this is technically considered stalking, and could get you or your friend in serious trouble.
7. She is talking a lot about the person she told you not to worry about
Have you always had a bad feeling about someone in her friend group, but she always insisted that you have nothing to worry about since they are ‘just’ friends? Maybe that person and your girlfriend have had a history in the past, and they still hang out with each other. If she has feelings for someone else other than you, then she will start talking about this person a lot in the initial stages of her intense attraction to them. This realization could hurt you more than your girlfriend cheating on someone random. Because she’d always tried calming your fears about them.
Just think of Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith. Will reportedly went through a period of insecurity when Jada kept bringing up how close she and Tupac were. In their talk show, Will asked if anything happened between her and Tupac, but Jada maintained they were just good friends. Imagine if they actually did have an affair, Will would have been crushed.
8. She has a work spouse and insists it’s nothing
Work spouses are usually very close friends that some people have. And though there is nothing wrong with having intimate friendships outside of a romantic relationship, it is always smart to keep an open eye. This dynamic might make you defend your relationship by thinking, “My girlfriend likes someone else but loves me.” But believe us, they might be more than just work spouses.
Think of it this way, your partner and her work spouse have to spend much of their work time together. They will also have a lot of things in common. They might also hold some similar interests on account of working in the same field. They might also be required to work in close quarters a lot of the time. It is very hard not to develop some semblance of a relationship in such a situation. Office romances are all too common these days. So, if you find her talking about this person non-stop, then it might be a sign your partner is falling for someone else.
Think of any actor who has played Spider-Man. Tobey Maguire, Tom Holland, and Andrew Garfield have all gone on to date their co-stars who played MJ. Workplace romances are common occurrences. And you need to be diligent about whether or not your girlfriend is taking the term ‘workplace spouse’ a bit too literally.
9. She has stopped putting effort into the relationship
They say, “You should never stop dating your partner.” The first few months of a relationship are usually fun and exciting. This is when you are getting to know this person, and every day feels like you are learning something new about them. However, beyond the first few months or years of a relationship, both of you will fall into some sort of routine. There are fewer and fewer surprises, and you might fall into comfortable silences once in a while. However, both parties have to work and put the effort into the relationship beyond the first few months or years.
If she has feelings for someone else, she will stop paying attention to the relationship you are in. You might also notice that she is paying a lot of attention to her physical appearance when she is going out to meet someone but has basically given up on impressing you. This could be a physical sign that she is sleeping with someone else. She already has one foot out of the door at this point. This might be a good time to have a talk with her.
10. She has mentally checked out of the relationship if she has feelings for someone else
When a relationship feels like it’s at a breaking point, the people who want it to work out will fight for it. If your girlfriend seems like she doesn’t care about what happens to the relationship, then it could be a sign that she has moved on to someone else. At this point, she is basically waiting for you to break up with her, thus making her job easier. Forcing someone to stay in a loveless relationship or loveless marriage because the cheater is too weak to break up is very harmful, but quite common.
For example, you might come to her with some problem that you think your relationship needs to address. And instead of validating your queries, she shuts off and stops talking. She might even get defensive and say things like “If you have such an issue with this, why don’t you just break up with me?” or “If I am such a bad person, you should just be with someone else.” If your partner has said something along these lines to you, then it could be a sign that your partner is falling for someone else. At this point, it is up to you to decide whether or not it is worth fighting for this relationship.
11. She is talking about the future but in the short term
A thing most couples will do is talk about their long-term and short-term goals. These future plans will most likely include both of you in it. You could have the same long-term goals like marriage, children, or the purchase of a house. You might also have the same career goals. These plans will usually involve the words ‘us’ and ‘we’.
If she has feelings for someone else, you will start seeing a shift in her goal-setting patterns. Suddenly “We will move in together” will become “I will come to visit you on the weekends.” Or
“We will buy a house together” will turn into “I will rent a studio apartment in the city.” It is a sign that she is entertaining the thought of being with someone else. You might have no place in her vision of the future.
Key Pointers
She might have somebody else in her life if she is always smiling at her phone or acting differently than usual
Is she talking a lot these days about a new person to you?
If you notice that she has stopped putting time and effort into the relationship, it might mean that she has feelings for somebody else
Like we said, before you go and confront your girlfriend, it is important to have a talk with her. Lay out your concerns and let her explain herself. Good communication is foremost in any relationship. If you have doubts about whether or not she has feelings for you or not, this guide should help you out. But ultimately, only your girlfriend can tell you the whole truth.
FAQs
1. How can you tell if your girlfriend is hiding something from you?
A strange change in behavior will usually indicate that your girlfriend is hiding something from you. Maybe her work timings have shifted, or she is paying less and less attention to the relationship you both are in. A sudden increase in the time she spends on her phone could also be a cause for alarm. We would suggest that you talk to her about these changes. If she starts getting defensive, calls you names, and turns the blame on you, then she is most definitely hiding something from you.
2. What to do if your girlfriend has feelings for someone else?
If you’re worried that your girlfriend has feelings for someone else, the best thing to do is talk to her. Communication is key, and if you want to make the relationship work, it’s important to be honest about how you feel. You can also try talking with a friend or family member who knows both of you well. They may have some advice on how to deal with this situation, or they might be able to mediate between the two of you in an attempt to make things easier on everyone. But if she’s decided to leave you, then there’s nothing to do but accept this painful decision, take space, and focus on your own healing.
An American former professional boxer, Michael Gerard Tyson, known as Mike Tyson, has admitted to having offered rapper Remy Ma a luxury car in exchange for one night together.
American rapper, Joseph Antonio Cartagena, better known by his stage name Fat Joe, made this revelation on the latest episode of Mike Tyson’s Hotboxin podcast.
Fat Joe and Angie Martinez stopped by for an interview on the podcast and at one point Joe recalled what went down when he got invited to the boxing legend’s home.
Admitting to this, Mike Tyson can be seen struggling to hold back laughter as Joe narrated the story.
Fat Joe recounted: “Mike invites me to the house, and he says, ‘Bring Remy Ma with you’.”
“Mike invites me to the house and he says bring Remy Ma with you. This is around lean back or some sh*t like that. We go to the house. He opens the door butt naked. Mike opens the door ass naked.” As Tyson laughed on, Joe continued, “I’m only worried about him. He takes me a tour of the house, I’m not lying to you. Every room I walked in there was a chick in every room, in every fucking room. I’m like what the fuck, I’m like this guy lives a fucking life. He offered us some fucking 500 bands.”
In an effort to deepen the relationship between the government and the party, Mustapha Ussif, the minister of youth and sports, recently paid a visit to the NPP’s national headquarters.
It also fits into the party’s efforts to mobilize its membership for a third straight electoral victory in 2024 and to “break the eight,” as the catchphrase goes, by bridging the gap between government appointees and party officers.
During the conversations, Mr. Ussif said that approximately 75% of the 31.8 million people in the nation were under the age of 25, which fueled the government’s resolve to enact many youth-focused reforms.
Interventions
He mentioned that interventions such as YouStart, Green Ghana, various modules of the Youth Employment Agency and the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) had led to employment, training, capacity building and the provision of financial support to the country’s youth.
The Youth and Sports Minister, therefore, encouraged the party to liaise with the appropriate government officials and agencies supervising these youth- centred interventions to ensure their success.
Mr Ussif further encouraged the party to emulate the youth structures of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress which, he said, had been crucial to the party’s long stay in power.
Way forward
The General Secretary of the Party, Justin Frimpong Kodua, who received the minister on behalf of party headquarters, reiterated the point that this initiative of holding regular party-government meetings would be replicated across the country, particularly in the regional capitals.
That, he said, was to provide a platform for government appointees, particularly ministers of state and chief executive officers (CEOs) to interact with party officers and grassroots.
As part of this initiative, the party headquarters have witnessed visits over the previous weeks by some government appointees, including the CEO of Ghana Water Company Limited, Dr Clifford Braimah, and the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor.
Other appointees are expected to have their turn in the coming weeks.
