https://www.watchghana.com/ Ghana's no:1 credible news website that delivers up to date Local news quick and simple, Breaking news and other relevant information on a timely basis. Easy to use website, works quickly, step-by-step and faster en-us Me (developer@w3-multimedia.com) Copyright © 2026 WatchGhana Publication, All rights reserved || Powered By W3 Multimedia Ghana Limited 1970-01-01T00:00:00+00:00 https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12864/wmo-annual-executive-council-meeting-to-focus-on-global-hazard-warnings-greenhouse-gas-watchhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12864/wmo-annual-executive-council-meeting-to-focus-on-global-hazard-warnings-greenhouse-gas-watchThe annual meeting of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Executive Council to prioritise developing a comprehensive strategy for issuing early warnings for global natural disasters and outlining the implementation strategy for the new Global Greenhouse Gas Watch initiative. Commencing from June 10 to 14 in Geneva, the EC meeting holds responsibility for executing resolutions set forth by the Organization's general assembly and highest governing body. A recent report from the WMO indicates that the trend of record-breaking warming is expected to persist in the next five years. Again, a concerning US report highlights that carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate, rapidly surpassing levels unprecedented in human history. WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo expresses concern, stating that the world is moving in the wrong direction. "As the UN Secretary-General says, we are playing Russian roulette with our planet," she said. Celeste emphasizes that the growing impacts of climate change and the rise in extreme weather events underscore the critical importance of robust National Meteorological and Hydrological Services. She highlights the significant potential of rapid advancements in satellite technology, supercomputing, and Artificial Intelligence to leverage scientific innovations for societal well-being. Celeste urges the world to capitalize on these opportunities to effectively address the challenges ahead. “Every single day we are working to support the adaptation and mitigation agenda to support sustainable development," she said. Early Warnings for All WMO says the Executive Council will examine the strategic rollout plan consisting of two pivotal phases: the catalytic phase and the sustained action phase. “During the catalytic phase, countries identify gaps and mobilize stakeholders to accelerate universal multi-hazard early warning system coverage through national road maps. This is followed by the sustained action phase, which focuses on collectively implementing road maps and enhancing capabilities,” WMO said in a statement. The statement said even 30 focus countries have been prioritized, the initiative is being expanded to other countries in order to meet the demand and need, adding that, the roadmap will guide WMO as it seeks to scale up and accelerate actions. “To date, 22 countries have held their national EW4All workshops, demonstrating their commitment to fulfill the goal of universal MHEWS coverage by 2027. Fourteen more workshops are planned this year.” EW4All Dashboard to provide transparent monitoring At COP28, the launch of the EW4All Dashboard marks a milestone in providing transparent and continuous monitoring of the initiative's progress. The WMO Road Map, designed with a focus on capacity building and resilience, adopts an inclusive approach centered on people. It underscores the importance of national authorities' sovereignty while advocating for coordination, integration, and alignment to facilitate rapid, large-scale action. Emphasizing coherence, consistency, accountability, and sustainability, the Road Map aims to harness technology and innovation, including Artificial Intelligence, to expedite progress. It also delineates the vision, objectives, and strategies to improve the implementation and utilization of multi-hazard early warning systems for weather, climate, and water-related hazards from 2024 to 2027. The Road Map aligns with the target date set by United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, and includes detailed timelines and milestones for achieving its goals. Early warning systems to decrease deaths, losses According to WMO early warning systems have played a significant role in reducing the number of fatalities and mitigating losses and damages caused by hazardous weather, water, or climate events. “They provide a nearly tenfold return on investment. But major gaps still exist, especially in small island developing states and least developed countries. Some 70% of all deaths from climate-related disasters have occurred in the 46 poorest countries over the past 50 years,” according to the statement from WMO. WMO President Abdulla Al Mandous expresses that achieving the goal of Early Warnings For All is still a distant reality, particularly for millions in developing nations who lack access to crucial life-saving early warnings. “Strong early warning systems require stronger political and policy support from the international community and governments, in addition to significant investment in infrastructure, technology, and training,” said Abdulla. During the opening address at the ongoing Executive Council meeting, Abdulla emphasizes the imperative for the world to champion Early Warnings For All, advocating for heightened investment and political commitment towards this goal. “Together, we can turn Early Warnings for All into a reality, saving lives and building resilience in a changing climate,” he said. WMO responsible for detection, observation, monitoring, analysis and forecasting The Early Warnings for All initiative is jointly led by the WMO and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), with support from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) among other partners. Within this initiative, WMO is tasked with overseeing the pillar focusing on detection, observation, monitoring, analysis, and forecasting, aimed at addressing critical gaps among WMO Members and Territories. Out of the 30 countries initially selected for coordinated assistance under Early Warnings for All, half of the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) currently possess only basic monitoring and forecasting capabilities, while close to a quarter operate with less-than-basic capacity. Only a third of WMO Members and Territories report having multi-hazard monitoring and forecasting systems in place, highlighting significant deficiencies, particularly in surface and upper air meteorological observations across Africa, parts of the Pacific, and Western Latin America. Additionally, 67 per cent of WMO Members report having warning and alerting services available 24/7. The road map aims to utilize the full extent of the WMO network and strengthen the capacities of its National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) to safeguard lives and livelihoods. WMO Members have already approved the framework supporting the priority activities, with clear delineation of roles and responsibilities. End

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-11T16:30:05+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12863/four-us-college-instructors-stabbed-in-public-park-in-chinahttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12863/four-us-college-instructors-stabbed-in-public-park-in-chinaPolice in China have arrested a 55-year-old man after four US university tutors were stabbed by an assailant at a public park in a rare attack on foreigners. The Iowa Cornell College instructors are in hospital after a "serious incident" during a daytime visit to the park in the northern province of Jilin, a college statement said. Iowa Representative Adam Zabner said his brother, David, was one of the four instructors injured in the incident, which he described as a stabbing. China's foreign ministry says that none of the injured are in a life-threatening condition. Police said an assailant with the surname Cui clashed with one of the Americans and then stabbed the person. He went on to injure three other US visitors and a Chinese tourist who tried to come to their rescue. Mr. Zabner said the group of instructors had been visiting a local temple on Monday when they were attacked by a man wielding a knife. He said his brother had been stabbed in the arm at Beishan Park in Jilin city and was recovering well in hospital. "My family is incredibly grateful that David survived this attack," he told the BBC. "We’d like to see David home in Iowa as soon as possible," he added. "We’re deeply thankful to the state department and Iowa’s federal delegation and understand that they are working hard to make that happen." Cornell College said the four instructors had been teaching "as part of a partnership with a university in China". The group had been accompanied by a member of Beihua University at the time of their visit to the park on Monday. China's foreign ministry said the injured were immediately rushed to hospital where they received treatment. Spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters that police believe the attack was a random incident, but an investigation is ongoing. "This was an isolated incident and the investigation continues," he said. "China is widely considered one of the safest countries in the world and China will continue to take relevant measures to ensure that foreigners are safe in the country." "We believe this will not damage relations with other countries," he added. A US State Department spokesperson had earlier told the BBC they were aware of reports of a stabbing incident in Jilin, but could not provide more information. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she was in contact with the department about the “horrifying” attack. “Please pray for their full recovery, safe return, and their families here at home," she wrote. Images of the incident circulating online appear to show at least three people bleeding and lying on the ground. However, the pictures appear to have been quickly censored on China's internet. On Tuesday, searches for terms such as "foreigners Jilin" produced no results despite the search term trending on Weibo. Internet users instead resorted to discussions under adjacent topics while some were also seen asking for more information about the incident. Online commentator Hu Xijin, who is formerly the chief editor of China's Global Times, had earlier posted on Weibo that China has been seeing a growing number of foreign visitors and the Chinese are "typically friendly" toward them. He described the incident as a "chance event". The post has since been removed. There are also few reports about the incident in Chinese state media. Mr Zabner said his brother, a Tufts University doctoral student, had visited China before and was on his second trip to the country with Cornell College. According to a 2018 news release from Cornell, the US school began a partnership with Beihua University that year to provide money for Cornell professors to live in China and teach a part of a course over a two-week period. The partnership focused on computer science, mathematics and physics, Cornell said at the time. Beihua University serves 24,000 students in the north-eastern Chinese city of 4.4 million people. Amid tense diplomatic relations, Beijing and Washington have sought to re-establish people-to-people exchanges in recent times. Chinese President Xi Jinping has unveiled a plan to invite 50,000 young Americans to China in the next five years, while Chinese diplomats say a travel advisory by the US State Department has discouraged Americans from going to China.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-11T16:25:59+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12862/last-civilian-hospital-in-besieged-sudan-city-closedhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12862/last-civilian-hospital-in-besieged-sudan-city-closedDoctors at one of the last functioning hospitals in the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher say they've been forced to close down the facility after it was attacked. The country is in the midst of a devastating civil war that began 14 months ago. El-Fasher is the only city still under army control in the entire Darfur region. The hospital has been supported by the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) which had described it as the only one left in el-Fasher where injured civilians could receive treatment. For several days there had been reports of shells hitting the city's South Hospital, causing injuries and deaths. But eyewitnesses say the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) entered the facility on Saturday, causing chaos. According to accounts, gunmen drove up to the hospital and opened fire - looting drugs and medical equipment, stealing an ambulance and assaulting staff. "Due to the chaos, our team was unable to verify if there were any dead or wounded," the medical charity's interim head of mission in Sudan, Maximilien Kowalski, told BBC Newsday. Medics at the hospital had told the BBC days earlier that they were planning to relocate it because of security concerns. When it was attacked on Saturday, thankfully only 10 patients and a reduced medical team were at the facility, MSF says. "The hospital is really close to the frontline, so it will remain closed for now," the medical charity's Sudan chief tells the BBC. Fuel, electricity and water supplies do not yet work at the nearby dilapidated Saudi Hospital where MSF is having to move their el-Fasher operations, says Mr Kowalski, leaving injured civilians with nowhere to go for at least a week. Saturday's attack is yet another sign that there are no rules in the Sudanese civil war. "Opening fire inside a hospital crosses a line," says MSF Head of Emergencies Michel Lacharite. He calls the attack "outrageous" and says "the responsibility lies with warring parties to spare medical facilities". The Sudanese national army, which has been fighting the RSF over the past year, has also been accused of widespread abuses. But in this case the RSF has forced a hospital where civilians were being treated to shut down. The suspension of activities at the hospital is a major setback for the people of el-Fasher as it was the main referral facility for treating the war-wounded. It was “the only one equipped to manage mass casualties and one of two hospitals with surgical capacity,” according to the MSF, which says more than 1,300 injured people have sought treatment there in the past month alone. Sudan's paramilitary RSF force is widely reported to be backed by the United Arab Emirates - officials there deny it. Across the country, more than 15,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the conflict started in April 2023, while almost nine million have been forced to flee their homes - more than in any other conflict in the world. The RSF took control of Gezira state, to the south of the capital, Khartoum, in December and has been accused of carrying out numerous abuses against civilians there - which it denies. Last week, at least 150 people, including 35 children, were massacred by suspected RSF forces in the village of Wad al-Nourah in Gezira state. In Darfur, rights groups have said the RSF is using rape as a weapon of war, and is targeting darker-skinned Masalit people and other non-Arab groups in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Several rounds of peace talks have failed to end the war, which began when the two generals leading the army and RSF respectively fell out. UN agencies say the fighting has sparked the world’s largest displacement crisis and that millions are facing a hunger catastrophe as a result.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-11T16:21:44+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12861/singapore-airlines-offers-to-pay-turbulence-victimshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12861/singapore-airlines-offers-to-pay-turbulence-victimsSingapore Airlines has offered to pay compensation to those who were injured on a London to Singapore flight that encountered severe turbulence. In a social media post, the airline said it was offering to pay $10,000 (£7,800) to those who sustained minor injuries. For passengers with more serious injuries, the airline is providing "an advance payment of $25,000 to address their immediate needs" and further discussions to meet "their specific circumstances". A 73-year-old British passenger died and dozens more were injured when flight SQ 321 encountered turbulence over Myanmar and was diverted to Thailand in May. Early investigations showed that the plane accelerated rapidly up and down, and dropped around 178ft (54m) over 4.6 seconds. Passengers described how crew and those not wearing seatbelts were sent flying and slammed into the cabin ceiling. A hospital in Bangkok where passengers are being treated said there were spinal cord, head and muscle injuries. There were 211 passengers - including many Britons, Australians and Singaporeans -and 18 crew on board the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft at the time of the incident. The company said it would offer a full fare refund to all passengers on the flight, including those who did not suffer any injuries. On top of this, Singapore Airlines said passengers will receive delay compensation in accordance with European Union or United Kingdom regulations. The airline also offered S$1,000 ($739; £580) to all passengers to cover immediate expenses and it arranged for loved ones to fly to the Thai capital where requested. Under international regulations, airlines must offer compensation when passengers are injured or die while on a plane. The incident brought attention to seatbelt practices, as airlines usually allow passengers to undo their belts during normal cruise conditions.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-11T16:19:48+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12860/haiti-pm-condemns-killing-of-police-officers-in-gang-ambushhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12860/haiti-pm-condemns-killing-of-police-officers-in-gang-ambushHaiti's new prime minister on Monday condemned the gang killings of three police officers on a patrol in a part of the capital controlled by gang leader Jimmy "Barbeque" Cherizier. A group of armed men working under Cherizier ambushed a patrol from the police's anti-gang unit in the Delmas 18 neighbourhood on Sunday and set it on fire, police in the Caribbean country said. Two officers were killed on site and two were evacuated by reinforcements - though one of them later died at the hospital. Prime Minister Garry Conille promised state aid for the victims' families. Conille was sworn in this month and has yet to install his cabinet after taking power nearly three months after his predecessor Ariel Henry tendered his resignation. "This barbaric act is a direct attack on security and on stability of the nation," Conille said in a video address. "I send heartfelt condolences to the family of these officers who are gone along with their colleagues and friends." He spoke after being briefly hospitalized on Saturday for what his office called "a slight illness." Police union SYNAPOHA, however, said words were not enough and demanded the victim's bodies be returned. Unverified videos on social media apparently filmed by gang members appear to show footage of the charred truck and captured firearms. Gang leader Cherizier later shared a video on social media in which he said police officers had gone rogue and come "to kill people in lower Delmas." He also challenged police to recover the seized firearms if they can. Kenyan President William Ruto on Sunday said that a long-awaited deployment of Kenyan police officers set to lead a U.N.-sanctioned international force to support Haitian police should arrive in one or two weeks, African news outlets reported. It remains unclear when the rest of the force - with troops from Benin, Chad, Bangladesh and the Caribbean - would land. SYNAPOHA warned at the start of this year of a rapidly shrinking and under-resourced police body. The international force was initially requested by Haiti's former government in 2022 but has faced extended delays. Gangs have since grown their control over the capital, pushing hundreds of thousands from their homes and millions into hunger.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-11T16:06:18+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12859/thirty-eight-die-after-boat-capsizes-off-yemen-officialshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12859/thirty-eight-die-after-boat-capsizes-off-yemen-officialsAt least 38 people from the Horn of Africa have died after their boat capsized off the coast of Yemen, local officials say. Survivors have told rescuers that the vessel, which was carrying around 250 people, sank due to strong winds. The search continues for nearly 100 people who are still missing. Local authorities in Rudum, east of Aden, said that those on board were migrants, mostly from Ethiopia, who use Yemen as a transit point to reach Gulf states. Hadi Al-Khurma, the director of Rudum district, told Reuters news agency the boat sank before it reached the shores. "Fishermen and residents managed to rescue 78 of the migrants, who reported that about 100 others who were with them on the same boat are missing. "The search is still ongoing, and the United Nations has been informed of the incident," he said. According to the UN, 97,000 migrants arrived in Yemen from the Horn of Africa last year. The increase has occurred despite the war in Yemen and recent Houthi assaults on ships in the Red Sea.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-11T16:03:15+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12858/french-officer-held-after-19-year-old-allegedly-shot-deadhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12858/french-officer-held-after-19-year-old-allegedly-shot-deadA French police officer is being questioned after a 19-year-old man was allegedly shot dead as he attempted to flee a traffic stop for speeding, prosecutors said. The victim was among three people in the car when police tried to stop them near Cherbourg-en-Cotentin in Normandy, western France late on Sunday, the state prosecutor Pierre-Yves Marot said in a statement. The driver allegedly refused to stop and continued driving, before then being halted by a second police car, according to the statement. All three occupants of the vehicle then attempted to flee on foot, it added. One escaped, another was detained and another was allegedly shot by an officer in the chest, the prosecutor’s office said. The victim has not been named. "The third person, a 19-year-old from Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, was confronted by officers from the second patrol and knocked into one them while trying to flee," the prosecutor alleged in quotes cited by the AFP news agency. "The officer then used a stun gun" while a colleague drew and "used her service weapon, fatally striking him in the chest", it added. The officer was being held for questioning on Monday evening by the internal affairs department of police regulator IGPN. It comes almost a year after intense and widespread rioting swept across France following the shooting of a 17-year-old during a traffic stop in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. A policeman was charged with homicide.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-11T16:01:39+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12825/adults-and-teens-turn-to-dumbphones-to-cut-screen-timehttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12825/adults-and-teens-turn-to-dumbphones-to-cut-screen-timeAdults and teens concerned about their screen time are turning in their smartphones for “dumber” models. Buried in the settings of many smartphones is the option to look up how much on average you are staring at your phone per day. It can bring an uncomfortable realisation, that what was supposed to be a useful piece of technology has become an obsession. “Social media is built around FOMO (fear of missing out), so I felt like I couldn’t get off it,” 16-year-old Luke Martin, from Canada, told the BBC. “Instantly I got Instagram and it was a downward spiral.” Luke is not alone. According to a study by Harvard University, using social networking sites lights up the same part of the brain that is also triggered when taking an addictive substance. This has raised concerns about phone habits among youth. In the UK, research by Ofcom estimates that around a quarter of children aged five to seven years old now have their own smartphone. Links have been shown in some studies between the use of social media and a negative effect on mental health - especially in children. Some campaigners want age limits to be introduced for smartphone use. Others, like Luke, are choosing to swap their smartphones for much simpler devices, so-called “dumbphones”. His new phone only has texts, calls, maps, and a few other limited tools. “My friends’ usage is like four to five hours I think, and that’s how much mine used to be before I got this,” he said. “Now mine’s like 20 minutes a day which is really good because I only use it for what I need it for.” Parents are also turning to dumbphones, not only for their children but to help themselves be more present for their families. Lizzy Broughton, who has a five-year-old son, recently bought an old-school style Nokia “flip” phone. “It helped me recalibrate my own habits, I have way more quality time with my son,” she explained. She says that when it’s time for him to get his own phone, she’ll choose a similarly pared-down model. “It doesn’t feel like the best idea to just start with a smartphone,” she said. “It’s like we’re handing over the world like try to figure out how to navigate that.” Sales of dumbphones have been increasing in North America. At Dumbwireless in Los Angeles, store-owners Daisy Krigbaum and Will Stults cater to customers looking for low-tech devices. “We have a lot of parents looking to get their kid that first phone, and they don’t want them drifting off on the internet,” he said. But giving up the smartphone is easier said than done. Mr Stults said some schools require pupils to have certain apps. And it is difficult to hold the line when children see their friends being given expensive smartphones, said Ms Broughton. “It’s going to require a community of parents to actually be like, can we do this differently?” she said. One workaround is a device called “unpluq”, which you tap against the phone to wirelessly block certain apps, like social media. “Parents can control the smartphone with this tag, and also monitor the usage,” Mr Stults said. There are several phones that have now been developed particularly for users who want to avoid an addiction to mindless scrolling. Chris Kaspar founded the company Techless to develop an “intentionally boring” but sleek device that looks much like an iPhone. The latest version is dubbed the “Wisephone II”. “It has no icons, just words, two colours, and two fonts.” He describes it as “very peaceful, very tranquil”. It will have some limited third-party tools, such as the taxi application Uber, but no social media. “We’re asking this question—what’s actually good for us?” Mr Kaspar said. He first developed the phone with his teenage foster daughters in mind and says 25% of their sales are to children, but that it is marketed to adults. “If you have a phone that’s branded as a kids’ device there’s some shame associated with that. So we made a very adult, sophisticated, Apple-esque, really nice device,” he said. With revenue from apps and social-media advertisements in the billions of dollars, the big companies have little motivation to encourage different habits, he said. Meanwhile, Canadian teen Luke says he is planning to stick with his new device, much to the amusement of friends. “They think it’s pretty weird but at this point I’m like it doesn’t really matter because it’s helped me so much,” he said. “It’s definitely taken me into a better spot right now.”

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-10T08:41:47+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12824/narendra-modi-sworn-in-for-third-term-at-grand-ceremony-in-delhihttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12824/narendra-modi-sworn-in-for-third-term-at-grand-ceremony-in-delhiNarendra Modi has been sworn in as India's prime minister for a third term in a grand ceremony at the presidential palace in Delhi. The leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party took his oath, saying he would "do right to all manner of people without affection or ill-will". Mr Modi's BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won the general election with 293 seats, a much lower margin than predicted by exit polls. The election saw a resurgence of India's opposition, which won 234 seats. Thousands of guests have been attending his inauguration at Delhi's presidential palace. Among them are the heads of neighbouring Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives - but not Pakistan or China. Tight security has been in place in Delhi, which was declared a no-fly zone, with more than 2,500 police officers deployed around the venue. Speaking as he was sworn in by President Draupadi Murmu, Mr Modi said he would uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India and govern with "true faith and allegiance to the constitution". He said: "I will do right to all manner of people in accordance with the constitution and the law without fear or favour." A council of ministers of Mr Modi's new cabinet were also sworn in during the ceremony. Mr Modi, 73, is only the second Indian leader to win a third consecutive term after the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Exit polls had projected outright victory for his Hindu Nationalist BJP party, which ruled India for a decade, but it lost its parliamentary majority in the general election. His NDA bloc relied on two key allies, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Janata Dal (United) JD(U), to cross the 272-seat mark needed to form the government. On Friday, the elected MPs voted Mr Modi as the leader of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the parliament), leader of the BJP parliamentary party, and leader of the NDA. It is not clear what concessions his allies may have negotiated in return for their support. India media report that several are seeking key ministerial posts. The opposition INDIA alliance, led by the Congress party, has called the election a mandate against Mr Modi's government. Mr Modi, however, countered this on Friday, saying: "Opposition tried to paint 2024 Lok Sabha results as a loss for us. But we didn’t lose, we never lost, we will never lose." Mr Modi thanked voters for their mandate, and said he would "do everything" to eradicate corruption and poverty. "Empowering the poor and middle class is our priority," he said. During his election campaign, Mr Modi and his party were accused by critics of using hate speech, attacking the country's Muslim minority, and jailing opposition figures. On Friday, the prime minister-elect said the NDA alliance was "committed to the principle of "sarva panth sambhava" (religious equality). The INDIA alliance has said it will fulfil its duty in parliament by holding the government in check and protecting the constitution.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-10T07:47:12+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12823/un-says-more-aquatic-animals-were-farmed-than-fished-in-2022-that-s-the-first-time-in-historyhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12823/un-says-more-aquatic-animals-were-farmed-than-fished-in-2022-that-s-the-first-time-in-historyThe total global volume of fish, shrimp, clams and other aquatic animals that are harvested by farming has topped the amount fished in the wild from the world’s waters for the first time ever, the United Nations reported Friday. The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, in its latest report on fisheries and aquaculture — or farming in water — says the global catch and harvest brought in more than 185 million tons of aquatic animals in 2022, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Experts say the milestone in human history had been expected, as the hauls from fisheries have largely stagnated over the last three decades — largely because of limits in nature. Manuel Barange, who heads FAO’s fisheries and aquaculture division, said aquaculture has benefited from a growing recognition of the nutritional benefits — like Omega 3 and other micronutrients found in food from aquatic animals — and lesser environmental impact than food derived from land animals. The total amount of aquatic animals captured in the wild fell from 91.6 million tons in 2021 to 91 million tons the following year, FAO said in its latest State of the World’s Fisheries and Aquaculture report. Global production rose to 94.4 million in 2022, up from 91.1 million a year earlier, it said. Asia was the source of more than 90% of all aquaculture production of aquatic animals, the FAO added. Some 90% of aquatic animals that are farmed or fished go to human consumption, with the remainder going to other uses like feed for other animals or fish oils. The most common fish that are captured in the world’s oceans, seas, rivers, lakes and ponds include Peruvian anchovies, skipjack tuna and Alaskan pollock, while freshwater carp, oysters, clams, shrimp, tilapia and prawns are among the most harvested animal life.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-10T07:44:02+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12822/donald-trump-to-sit-for-probation-interview-on-mondayhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12822/donald-trump-to-sit-for-probation-interview-on-mondayDonald Trump will sit for a virtual interview with a probation officer from his home in Florida on Monday, part of the sentencing process for his felony conviction in the New York hush-money case. The first former US president criminally convicted, Trump will appear from Mar-a-Lago and will be seated alongside his lawyer Todd Blanche, a source with knowledge of the matter told CBS News, the BBC's US partner. A New York City probation officer will use the interview in a pre-sentencing report for Justice Juan Merchan, who is currently deciding what punishment Trump must face. Trump was convicted last month of 34 counts of falsifying business records and is expected to be sentenced on 11 July. A former commissioner for the New York City Department of Correction and Probation told NBC News that it is not normal for a probation interview to take place virtually. "It is highly unusual for a pre-sentence investigation interview to be done over Zoom," said Martin Horn. But he added that any visit by Trump to the courthouse in downtown Manhattan would be "very disruptive" to other court business, especially given the presence of the Secret Service and media, and could be unfair to other defendants who might not want to be identified. “So in the end, this might be better for the probation officer,” he said. Convicts in the New York Court system do not usually have their lawyers present for probation interviews, according to the Associated Press. However, Judge Merchan has allowed Mr Blanche to appear alongside his client on Monday. Pre-sentencing reports include information about a convict's personal life, criminal history, financial means, health condition and overall living arrangement. They are used by the judge to inform what punishment should be given. The interview is often an opportunity for a convict to argue for leniency in the sentence. Jurors found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments made to former porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election campaign. Most legal commentators believe that Trump is unlikely to face any jail time, given his lack of criminal history and age. Trump is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. He has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the prosecution in New York is politically motivated and an attempt to prevent him from retaking the White House in November's election. He has also said he will appeal the conviction.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-10T07:42:36+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12821/macron-dissolves-the-french-parliament-and-calls-a-snap-election-after-defeat-in-eu-votehttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12821/macron-dissolves-the-french-parliament-and-calls-a-snap-election-after-defeat-in-eu-votePresident Emmanuel Macron dissolved the lower house of France’s parliament in a surprise announcement sending voters back to the polls in the coming weeks to choose lawmakers after his party was handed a humbling defeat by the far-right in the European elections Sunday. The legislative elections will take place in two rounds on June 30 and July 7. The announcement came after the first projected results from France put the far-right National Rally party well ahead in the European Union’s parliamentary elections, handing a chastening loss to Macron’s pro-European centrists, according to French opinion poll institutes. Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, nationalist party was estimated to get around 31%-32% of the votes, a historic result more than double the share of Macron’s Renaissance party, which was projected to reach around 15%. Macron himself wasn’t a candidate in the EU elections and his term as president still runs for three more years. He said the decision was “serious” but showed his “confidence in our democracy, in letting the sovereign people have their say.” “In the next few days, I’ll be saying what I think is the right direction for the nation. I’ve heard your message, your concerns, and I won’t leave them unanswered,” he said. In latest legislative elections in 2022, Macron’s centrist party won the most seats but lost its majority at the National Assembly, forcing lawmakers into political maneuvering to pass bills. With Sunday’s decision, he is taking a big risk with a move that could backfire and increase the chances of Le Pen to eventually take power. A scenario in which an opposition party would eventually win a parliament majority could lead to a fraught power-sharing situation called “cohabitation,” with Macron to name a prime minister with different views. Le Pen, who head the National Rally group at the National Assembly, “welcomed” Macron’s move. ’We’re ready for it,” said Le Pen, who was the runner-up to Macron in the last two presidential elections. “We’re ready to exercise power if the French people place their trust in us in these future legislative elections. We’re ready to turn the country around, ready to defend the interests of the French, ready to put an end to mass immigration, ready to make the purchasing power of the French a priority.” The EU elections results were a hard blow for Macron, who has been advocating for Europe-wide efforts to defend Ukraine and the need for the EU to boost its own defences and industry. The National Rally’s lead candidate for the EU elections, Jordan Bardella, campaigned for limiting the free movement of migrants by carrying out national border controls and dialling back EU climate rules. The party no longer wants to leave the EU and the euro but aims to weaken it from within. “Tonight, our compatriots have expressed a desire for change,” Bardella said. “Emmanuel Macron is tonight a weakened president.“ An official at Macron’s office said the decision to dissolve the National Assembly was justified by the “historic score of the far-right” that could not be ignored and the current “parliamentarian disorder.” “You’re never wrong when you give the people a say,” said the official, who spoke anonymously in line with the practice of Macron’s office. EU elections’ projections also show a resurgence of the Socialist Party, with about 14% of the votes. The party campaigned on more ambitious climate policies and protections for European businesses and workers, with about 14% of the votes. Reacting to Macron’s announcement, far-left politician Francois Ruffin called on all leaders from the left, including the Greens to unite under a single “Popular Front” banner. “To avoid the worse, to win,” he wrote on X. France is electing 81 members of the European Parliament, which has 720 seats in total.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-10T07:41:16+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12820/failed-coup-plotters-go-on-trial-in-dr-congohttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12820/failed-coup-plotters-go-on-trial-in-dr-congoThe trial of 51 individuals, including three Americans, accused of attempting to overthrow the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo last month, has begun. The hearing is being broadcast live on national TV and radio from N’dolo military prison in the capital, Kinshasa. The defendants were ushered into the military court wearing blue-and-yellow shirts, marking their first appearance in public since the failed coup. Arrested during attacks on the presidential palace and the home of an ally of President Félix Tshisekedi, they face multiple charges, including financing terrorism, murder and attempted assassination. They have not yet been asked to plead in the case, which is being held under a marquee in the grounds of the jail. The US State Department says it has not been given access to its citizens in custody. Six people were killed during the attempted coup on 19 May, including the suspected leader of the plot Christian Malanga. The rest of the defendants were detained after the attack on the Palais de la Nation and the home of Vital Kamerhe, who is the parliamentary speaker. Local media reports said the assailants were members of the New Zaire Movement linked to Malanga, a formerly exiled DR Congo politician who had acquired US citizenship. His son Marcel Malanga is among the US nationals who were arrested. Another is 21-year-old Tyler Thompson, whose family told the BBC this week they had "zero idea" how he had become entangled in the plan. Videos taken in Kinshasa after the incident show Mr Thompson being hit with the butt of a rifle and repeatedly struck in the head by Congolese security forces. Other individuals of different nationalities were also involved and are on trial, according to army spokesman General Sylvain Ekenge. One is a Congolese man who holds Belgian nationality and there is also a Canadian citizen originally from DR Congo. According to the AFP news agency, there is also an investigation into the conduct of the soldiers who foiled the coup for allegedly committing executions after the operation. President Tshisekedi was re-elected for a second term in disputed elections last year in December. He won about 78% of the vote. Nearly 20 people were killed in election-related violence in the run-up to the vote. DR Congo is a country with vast mineral wealth and a huge population, but despite this, life has not improved for most people, with conflict, corruption and poor governance persisting. Much of the country's natural resources lie in the east where violence still rages despite Mr Tshisekedi's attempts to deal with the situation by imposing a state of siege, ceasefire deals and bringing in regional troops.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-10T07:39:40+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12819/confident-putin-warns-europe-is-defencelesshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12819/confident-putin-warns-europe-is-defencelessEver since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has been engaged in nuclear sabre-rattling, dropping a series of not-so-subtle hints that trying to defeat a nuclear power like Russia could have disastrous consequences for those who try. Today President Putin claimed that Russia wouldn’t need to use a nuclear weapon to achieve victory in Ukraine. He was being interviewed at a panel discussion at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum: the annual event often described as ‘Russia’s Davos’. There are few occasions when Mr Putin looks dovish compared to the person asking him the questions. But when the person asking the questions is Sergei Karaganov it would be hard not to. Mr Karaganov is a hawkish Russian foreign policy expert. Last year he called for a pre-emptive nuclear strike. Today he suggested holding a “nuclear pistol” to the temple of the West over Ukraine. President Putin wasn’t so extreme in his language. But he is no dove. The Kremlin leader said he did not rule out changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine: the document which sets out the conditions under which Russia would use nuclear weapons. “This doctrine is a living tool and we are carefully watching what is happening in the world around us and do not exclude making changes to this doctrine. This is also related to the testing of nuclear weapons.” And he delivered a warning to those European countries who’ve been supporting Ukraine: Russia’s has “many more [tactical nuclear weapons] than there are on the European continent, even if the United States brings theirs over.” “Europe does not have a developed [early warning system],” he added. “In this sense they are more or less defenceless.” Tactical nuclear weapons are smaller warheads designed to destroy targets without widespread radioactive fallout. This has been a surreal week in St Petersburg. On the one hand, a huge international economic forum has been taking place , sending the message that Russia is ready for cooperation and that, despite everything, it’s business as usual. Clearly, though, it is not business as usual. Russia is waging war in Ukraine, a war which is now in its third year; as a result, Russia is the most heavily sanctioned country in the world. And, right now, tensions are soaring between Russia and the West. Earlier this week, at a meeting with international news agency chiefs in St Petersburg, President Putin suggested that Russia might supply advanced conventional long-range weapons to others to strike Western targets. This was his response to Nato allies allowing Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western-supplied weapons. He repeated the idea again today. “We are not supplying those weapons yet, but we reserve the right to do so to those states or legal entities which are under certain pressure, including military pressure, from the countries that supply weapons to Ukraine and encourage their use on Russian territory.” There were no details. No names. So, to which parts of the world might Russia deploy its missiles? “Wherever we think it is necessary, we’re definitely going to put them. As President Putin made clear, we’ll investigate this question,” Vladimir Solovyov, one of Russian state TV’s most prominent hosts, tells me. “If you are trying to harm us you have to be pretty sure we have enough opportunities and chances to harm you.” “In the West some will say we’ve heard this sabre-rattling before,” I respond, “and that it’s a bluff.” “It’s always a bluff. Until the time when it is not,” Mr Solovyov replies. “You can keep thinking that Russia is bluffing and then, one day, there is no more Great Britain to laugh at. Don’t you ever try to push the Russian bear thinking that ‘Oh, it’s a kitten, we can play with it.” CEOs from Europe and America used to flock to the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. Not any more. Instead I saw delegations from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America. Russia has been using this year’s event to try to show that, despite Western sanctions, there are plenty of countries in the world who are ready to do business with Russia. And what have we learnt in St Petersburg about Vladimir Putin? That he sounds increasingly confident and determined not to back down. He seems to believe that in the current standoff between Russia and the West, it is the West that will blink first.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-10T07:38:01+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12799/anc-eyes-national-unity-government-after-election-losshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12799/anc-eyes-national-unity-government-after-election-lossSouth Africa's African National Congress (ANC) has suggested forming a government of national unity after losing its parliamentary majority in last week's elections. It says it has reached out to all parties but negotiations are still underway. "The results indicate that the South Africans want all parties to work together," ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri told journalists. The ANC got about 40% of the vote, with the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) on 22%, the MK party of former President Jacob Zuma on 15% and the radical Economic Freedom Fighters on 9%. This was the first time the ANC has lost its majority since Nelson Mandela led it to victory in the first democratic elections following the end of the racist system of apartheid in 1994. Under South Africa's proportional representation system, any government would need to be formed of parties which together got more than 50% of the vote. Ms Bhengu-Motsiri said the ANC has had discussions with the DA, the EFF and other smaller parties. She revealed that despite reaching out to MK, there has been no positive response. The ANC spokesperson added that the ANC would like to resolve this quickly as parliament convene in less than two weeks. Its first priority will be to elect a president to form the next government. Since the results were announced, there has been feverish speculation in South Africa about what sort of coalition could be formed. Forming a government of national unity would allow the ANC to sidestep the dilemma of who to work with. A coalition with the DA would have angered many party activists who see it as representing the interests of the white minority - a charge the party denies. The DA also opposes two of the ANC's core policies - its black empowerment programme, which aims to give black people a stake in the economy following their exclusion under apartheid, and the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, which promises universal healthcare for all. However, working with two radical parties that broke away from it - MK or the EFF - would alarm the business community, as they both favour seizing white-owned land without compensation and nationalising the mining sector. There is also a wide chasm between MK and the ANC due to the personal animosity between President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mr Zuma, the man he replaced as ANC leader in 2018 after a bitter power struggle. Mr Zuma has said he is open to working with the ANC as long as it has a new leader, while the ANC has said President Ramaphosa will not be removed and that it is non-negotiable. While it will be difficult to get parties from across South Africa's political spectrum to agree on common policies, Ms Bhengu-Motsiri was optimistic. "We believe that despite any differences we may have, working together as South Africans, we can seize this moment to usher our country into a new era of hope," she said. She added that the ultimate decision on the way forward was up to the ANC’s national executive committee, which will be meeting on Thursday. South Africa has previously had a government of national unity. Following the historic 1994 elections, Mr Mandela's ANC worked with his former enemies in the National Party, which was responsible for the implementation of apartheid, as well as the Inkatha Freedom Party, a conservative party with a ethnic Zulu base, whose supporters had frequently clashed with ANC activists, leading to thousands of deaths.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-06T20:24:23+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12798/new-reality-for-migrants-at-u-s-mexico-border-as-biden-asylum-ban-takes-effecthttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12798/new-reality-for-migrants-at-u-s-mexico-border-as-biden-asylum-ban-takes-effectJessica Leon, an asylum-seeker from Ecuador, scaled a border wall on Tuesday with her 3-year-old daughter, setting foot on U.S. soil in San Diego, California, just hours before a new asylum ban took effect. She and about a dozen other migrants from Guatemala, Colombia and Vietnam who climbed the wall immediately turned themselves in to U.S. border agents. They were directed to walk to the place known as Whiskey 8 - a dusty strip of U.S. territory between two border walls, one dividing the U.S. from Mexico and the second a more imposing obstacle several yards further north. The open-air detention site has become a symbol of the chaotic U.S. asylum process, which U.S. President Joe Biden says is in desperate need of reform. In a sweeping executive action announced Tuesday, Biden implemented an asylum ban that allows U.S. immigration officials to quickly deport migrants who cross illegally to their home countries or to turn them back to Mexico. Immigrant advocates criticized Biden's move, saying it mirrored hardline actions of his Republican predecessor former President Donald Trump as the two are facing a rematch in the Nov. 5 elections. The American Civil Liberties Union said it planned to sue over Biden's measures. Leon and her daughter arrived just hours before the policy took effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT Wednesday, or 9:01 p.m. Tuesday in San Diego. Some asylum-seekers gravitate to Whiskey 8 on their own. Others who have been detained by the Border Patrol elsewhere between the two walls are dropped off there, or directed to walk there, for subsequent processing. It remained uncertain on Wednesday how long the Whiskey 8 routine would continue. Aid workers said a group of 85 migrants gathered there anew on Wednesday morning, despite the ban taking effect. Like many lined up in Tijuana, Mexico, waiting to cross Tuesday, migrants who apply to approach a legal port of entry through a government-run cell phone app will still be allowed to enter. 'ALL BY MYSELF' Having spent her last $3,000 on a month-long overland journey from Ecuador, Leon, a 28-year-old house cleaner, said she hoped for a better life for her daughter. "I'm all by my myself with her," she said, peering down at her daughter and breaking into tears during in a brief interview conducted between the bollards of a 30-foot (9-meter) border fence. At Whiskey 8, so-named by the Border Patrol, people have access to aid workers, immigration lawyers and journalists who may gather on the other side. The border wall bollards are spaced far enough apart to talk, deliver food and water, or charge a phone, but too close together for a human to pass. Asked why she fled her home in the Andean city of Cuenca, Leon mentioned the criminal climate - "they kill, they rob, they extort." U.S. asylum law requires proof of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, with cases usually decided by an immigration judge. Biden's new policy raises the bar for initial asylum screenings for migrants like Leon, which could lead to more claims being rejected sooner, or some people being denied outright if they fail to express fear of return. In his presidential proclamation justifying the move, Biden said during a recent 5-year period 83% of asylum-seekers passed through the initial screening stage but less than 25% were ultimately granted asylum or other protection and often after waiting years to reach a final decision due to immigration court backlogs. Under the new rule, the minimum time asylum-seekers have to find a lawyer is slashed to four hours from 24 hours previously, two U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss government operations. The aim is to screen almost all migrants faster - possibly in under a week - and migrant families could end up being held in tent facilities near the border while their deportation cases are being evaluated, one of the DHS officials said. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. San Diego has become a top entry point for migrants from all over the world in recent months, putting strains on border agents and immigration service providers. Migrants who cross illegally elsewhere in the San Diego area have gathered at several makeshift sites in recent months to wait for Border Patrol agents to pick them up for processing. Among those at Whiskey 8 on Tuesday was Jairon Lopez, 26, a moto-taxi driver from Guatemala. He, too, said he was seeking a better life after fleeing extortion from gangs in the town of Chiquimulilla. "It's like that saying, 'Plata o plomo.' They say that in Guatemala now," Lopez said of a phrase that translates roughly as "your money or your life." So he hitchhiked through Mexico, arriving at Whiskey 8 just hours before Biden's deadline loomed.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-06T20:23:02+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12797/israeli-strike-on-un-school-in-gaza-kills-at-least-20https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12797/israeli-strike-on-un-school-in-gaza-kills-at-least-20An Israeli air strike on a UN school packed with hundreds of displaced people in central Gaza has killed more than 20 people, local residents say. The Israeli military said it carried out a strike on a UN school that housed a "Hamas compound". Local journalists told the BBC that an Israeli warplane fired two missiles at classrooms on the top floor of the school in the Nuseirat refugee camp. The Hamas media office said at least 27 people were killed and accused Israel of committing a "horrific massacre". Ambulances and rescue teams have been rushing the wounded and dead to a nearby hospital. Footage on social media showed destroyed classrooms and dead bodies wrapped in shrouds at a morgue. "Enough war! We have been displaced dozens of times. They killed our children while they were sleeping," a woman injured in the attack screamed in one video. Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas media office, rejected Israel's claims that the UN school had hidden a Hamas command post. "The occupation uses ... false fabricated stories to justify the brutal crime it conducted against dozens of displaced people," he told Reuters. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said jets had conducted a "precise strike on a Hamas compound embedded inside an UNRWA school in the area of Nuseirat". The IDF statement said it had "eliminated" Hamas and Islamic Jihad "terrorists" who took part in the 7 October attack on southern Israel, when around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 36,580 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. The IDF said it had taken steps before the air strike to "reduce the risk of harming uninvolved civilians". Earlier, the Israeli military said it had taken “operational control” over eastern areas of Bureij refugee camp and the town of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, as dozens of Palestinians were reported killed. On Wednesday morning, the military said troops backed by air strikes had begun an operation against “terrorists and terrorist infrastructure above and below ground". Residents reported intense bombardment and the charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said at least 70 dead people - the majority women and children - had been brought to a local hospital since Tuesday. MSF said its medical team on the ground had described the situation at Deir al-Balah's al-Aqsa hospital - one of the only remaining functional health facilities in central Gaza - as "apocalyptic". The charity said women and children made up the majority of the 70 dead people and 300 wounded, brought to hospital over the past 24 hours, and that many patients were suffering from severe burns, shrapnel wounds, fractures and other traumatic injuries. "The odour of blood when I entered the emergency room [this morning] was just overwhelming. People are lying on the floor. People are lying outside... bodies being brought in white plastic bags. The families standing over them and praying," MSF medical referent Karin Huster said in an audio message. "It's just an emotionally overwhelming situation. It's impossible for anyone to cope."

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-06T20:20:24+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12796/king-pays-tribute-on-80th-anniversary-of-d-dayhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12796/king-pays-tribute-on-80th-anniversary-of-d-dayKing Charles has paid a heartfelt tribute to those who took part in the D-Day landings, praising them for "replacing tyranny with freedom". "We are eternally in their debt," the King told a commemoration on the eve of Thursday's 80th anniversary. He was speaking in Portsmouth, one of the key departure points for the Normandy landings in June 1944. The King hailed the "courage, resilience and solidarity" of those who had taken part in D-Day and whose numbers were now "dwindling to so few". Wednesday was the first of two days of commemorative events taking place in both Britain and France. On Wednesday evening, crowds watched a spectacular drone light show in Portsmouth At the same time, on the other side of the Channel, thousands of headstones were illuminated in honour of fallen Allied troops at the Bayeux War Cemetery. Earlier in the day, crowds gathered near Sannerville, Normandy, to watch a large-scale parachute re-enactment of the Allied liberation of the region. King Charles, with Queen Camilla and his son the Prince of Wales, addressed a national D-Day commemoration held under blue skies on Southsea Common on Wednesday morning. The audience rose to their feet when veterans stood to make speeches and the Queen was brought to tears. In his biggest public speech since his cancer diagnosis, King Charles hailed the "greatest amphibious operation in history" and the courage of those who "must have questioned if they would survive". The King said their efforts to end "brutal totalitarianism" must never be forgotten. And he called on the present generation to honour those who had died, in ways that "live up to the freedom they died for, by balancing rights with civic responsibilities". Prince William delivered a poignant reading from the diary of Captain Alastair Bannerman, in which the soldier remembered his family as he headed towards the French coast on the morning of D-Day. Captain Bannerman survived the landing and the war, Prince William said, adding: "Too many never returned." Speaking to some of the veterans later, Prince William was asked about his wife Catherine's recovery and said: "She'd love to be here today." He said Catherine's grandmother had worked at Bletchley Park, the top-secret home of the World War Two codebreakers, and "never spoke about anything until the very end" of the war. "It was all very secret," he added. Dame Helen Mirren praised the bravery of the veterans in attendance during her introduction to the event at 11:00 BST, while Prime Minister Rishi Sunak read an address to the crowds. Portsmouth was one of the embarkation points on the south coast eight decades ago, as Allied forces crossed the Channel to liberate France and Western Europe from Nazi occupation. Foundations for the Allied victory were laid by the success of the Normandy landings, in which troops from the UK, US, Canada and France conducted the largest seaborne invasion in history. The commemorative event heard from those who took part in D-Day, including Roy Hayward, who landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944 at the age of 19. Mr Hayward, now aged 98, said he wanted to remember those who had "fought for democracy" and "to ensure their story is never forgotten". Last week the King met one of the veterans of the Normandy landings, Jim Miller, who at the age of 20 had gone ashore at Juno Beach. The King invited Mr Miller to Buckingham Palace to personally hand him his 100th birthday card. "I am humbled to reach such a great number, especially when I think of those who fell on the Normandy beaches all those years ago," Mr Miller said afterwards. Earlier on Wednesday, 21 veterans attended a memorial event at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. A further 23 surviving D-Day veterans attended commemorations in Normandy, where they were joined by Princess Anne. There were 225 D-Day veterans able to travel to Normandy five years ago, and the Royal British Legion has said these "poignant commemorations will be our last opportunity to host a significant number of Normandy veterans". On Wednesday evening, a joint UK-France thanksgiving service was held at Normandy's Bayeux Cathedral, which was illuminated in honour of those who fought on the beaches. The King will travel to France for a commemorative event on Thursday at the British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer, which will also be attended by the 23 veterans. The trip to France will be the King's first overseas travel since his cancer diagnosis. An international ceremony with more than 25 heads of state will be attended by Prince William.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-06T20:16:45+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12795/muhammad-ali-s-childhood-home-goes-on-sale-for-1mhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12795/muhammad-ali-s-childhood-home-goes-on-sale-for-1mMuhammad Ali's childhood home in Kentucky has gone on sale. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in Louisville, Kentucky, was converted into a museum that offered a glimpse into the early years of "The Greatest" when he still went by the name of Cassius Clay. It went on the market on Tuesday along with two neighbouring homes - one was turned into a welcome centre and gift shop while the other was meant to become a short-term rental. The owners are asking for $1.5m (£1.1m) for the three properties. Finding a buyer willing to maintain Ali's childhood home as a museum would be "the best possible result," co-owner George Bochetto said. "This is a part of Americana," said Bochetto, a Philadelphia lawyer and former Pennsylvania state boxing commissioner. "This is part of our history. And it needs to be treated and respected as such." The museum opened shortly before the boxer died in 2016. Bochetto and his business partner at the time renovated the frame house to how it looked when Ali lived there with his parents and younger brother. "You walk into this house ... you're going back to 1955, and you're going to be in the middle of the Clay family home," Bochetto said in a 2016 interview. Using old photos, the developers replicated the furnishings, appliances, artwork and even its pink exterior from Ali's days living there. The museum featured videos focused on the story of Ali's upbringing, not his storied boxing career. "To me, that's the bigger story and the more important story," Bochetto said in an interview last week. Ali lived in the home when he left for the 1960 Olympics in Rome, from which he returned a gold medal winner, launching a career that made him one of the world's most recognisable faces and becoming a three-time heavyweight boxing champion. Despite its high-profile debut, the museum ran into financial troubles and closed less than two years after opening. The museum is situated in a western Louisville neighbourhood several miles from downtown, where the Muhammad Ali Center preserves his humanitarian and boxing legacies. As efforts to reopen the childhood museum languished, offers to move the 1,200-square-foot house to Las Vegas, Philadelphia and even Saudi Arabia were turned down, Bochetto said. "I wouldn't do that because it's an important piece of Louisville history, Kentucky history and I think it needs to stay right where it is," he said.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-06T20:12:18+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12794/dozens-of-gold-miners-trapped-in-nigeriahttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12794/dozens-of-gold-miners-trapped-in-nigeriaDozens of gold miners are trapped underground after a pit collapsed in central Nigeria. The incident happened on Monday after heavy rainfall in Niger state but news was slow to emerge because of the country's general strike, which was called off on Tuesday. Niger state emergency service agency spokesman Hussaini Ibrahim told the BBC that one person has been confirmed dead and they think over 30 people are still trapped as rescue efforts continue. Officials believe the collapse was caused by the torrential rains which softened the soil. “As at this morning [Wednesday] we believe over 30 people are still trapped, we can't give you exact figures because even those on site didn’t know," said Mr Ibrahim. “One person has been confirmed dead and six persons were rescued and rushed to the hospital.” He said that four excavators and rescue workers were at the scene trying to help those trapped. Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Dele Alake said that officials of the Mines Inspectorate had been sent to mining site in Galadima Kogo. “Rest assured, we will investigate the causes of the disaster to prevent a recurrence and ensure the safety of all Nigerians,” he said in a statement. Niger state is known as a hotbed of activity by criminal gangs who kidnap people for ransom. Last year, mining activities were banned in the Shiroro area, where the mine collapsed, along with neighbouring districts, due to insecurity and safety concerns. The state official said extra security had been provided to ensure that rescue workers were not abducted. Mining accidents are not uncommon in Nigeria with many involving illegal miners going unreported. In January, a deadly blast which rocked Ibadan, killing two people and injuring 77 others was said to be from explosives stored by illegal miners, the Oyo state government announced.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-06T20:10:00+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12793/endometriosis-tormented-her-every-month-and-killed-her-aged-38https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12793/endometriosis-tormented-her-every-month-and-killed-her-aged-38Mary Njambi Koikai, better known as Jahmby Koikai, dedicated most of her short life to telling her fellow Kenyans about the debilitating condition of endometriosis, which led to her death this week aged just 38. As a popular radio host and reggae DJ, she had the perfect platform. Bravely, she shared her struggles, often calling those in authority to account, demanding better healthcare for women, especially those struggling with the menstrual disorder. “People really identified with her suffering, with her pain,” fellow activist Doris Murimi told the BBC. From the tender age of 13, she experienced regular monthly torment, an excruciating pain that came with her menstrual cycle. However, it took 17 years to know exactly what she was suffering from and get a proper diagnosis for the condition. That was because of the lack of local facilities specialising in the treatment of endometriosis. Endometriosis is a gynaecological condition associated with menstruation where tissue similar to the lining of the womb develops in other areas of the body, including the fallopian tubes, pelvis, bowel, vagina and intestines. Endometriosis is not considered fatal, but in rare instances, it can cause life-threatening complications. Symptoms include severe to debilitating pain often in the pelvic area, fatigue, and heavy periods. In rare cases, it can also appear in other parts of the body including the lungs, brain, and skin. Ms Koikai’s was one of those extreme cases, with her condition worsening over the years, especially as her reproductive organs matured. It affected her schooling, relationships, work and many other aspects of her life. She recounted to the BBC in 2020 that at one point while in university, she sat an exam but couldn’t write anything because of the pain. She had to repeat some years, delaying her graduation. In 2015, her lung collapsed from thoracic endometriosis, a rare manifestation of the disease. The condition would recur in subsequent months and years, often requiring specialised surgery. One of the most enduring images of Ms Koikai is of her in a hospital bed with her upper body heavily bandaged, and many tubes along the right side of the chest. This was in 2018, when she already had a series of lung collapses and surgeries. She had been admitted to a specialised hospital in the US and was fundraising for the expensive treatment. She was weak and in a lot of pain. “I will not describe the pain because I lack words that aptly fit what I’ve been through,” she said at the time. The condition had ravaged her body. At the US hospital, tissue that had grown because of the endometriosis was removed from her uterus, bowel areas and ovaries. The biggest challenge, she said, was her lungs. It had spread so much, partly because of the way it had previously been managed back home that the surgeon in the US could not “believe all what had been done”. “The scar tissue and the placement of wrong chest tubes [in Kenya] created this mess,” she said. Despite her many scars, she was still smiling. “Deep scars. Raw scars." As she described it, “each of the scars told a story. I see all I’ve battled. Emotionally. Mentally. Physically.” Yet she chose to battle her condition with fortitude, while publicly raising awareness of the condition. Ms Koikai was born in 1986 on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi. She was raised by her mother and grandmother, who taught her to be patient and tough in every life’s situation. She had always wanted to be a broadcaster from early on. Despite her condition, she managed to complete her university studies and become a popular radio host and a reggae DJ – also known as Fyah Mummah to her fans. It’s possible that most people in Kenya got to know of the condition because of her. Five things about endometriosis:     It affects about 10% of reproductive age women and girls globally     It is a chronic disease associated with severe, life-impacting pain especially during periods, sexual intercourse and bowel movements     It has no known cure and treatment is usually aimed at controlling symptoms     While early diagnosis and effective treatment of endometriosis is important, this is often limited in low- and middle-income countries Doris Murimi, the founder of Endo Sisters East Africa, a non-government organisation that raises awareness about the condition, was one of the panellists in one of the forums on a local TV station when Ms Koikai first publicly narrated her story. She said that until then, many people did not seem to understand endometriosis, even when her organisation went out to train and talk to people. After that, “she was always the reference point, so basically she really was the face of endometriosis awareness in this country”, Ms Murimi told the BBC. Endometriosis affects about 10% (190 million) of women and girls of reproductive age globally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). There is no known cure, so treatment is usually just controlling the symptoms. But Ms Koikai admitted that the “biggest challenge” for people with endometriosis was “misdiagnosis and with this comes botched surgeries, wrong medication”. That’s what she had gone through, she said, with doctors having to deal with the damage caused due to misdiagnosis before managing the disease. She stayed about two years in the US while doctors treated her. Then and through the years that followed, she chronicled her experience, which made many people engage and identify with the condition. Ms Murimi believes that by living and sharing her story, Ms Koikai had moved the country to understand what was a complex thing to comprehend. Many other people have paid tribute to her strength in speaking up for women suffers from endometriosis. Comedian Senje, who also has the condition, says the encouragement she received from Ms Koikai was invaluable in her own struggle. “You gave me strength every single time I felt like giving up, I looked up to you because I believed if you made it then I would too... My heart is broken,” said the comedian whose real name is Sylvia Savai. Dennis Itumbi, a strategist in Kenya's ruling coalition, noted Ms Koikai’s efforts to create awareness even up to her last days. “In your final days, you pushed to understand and raise awareness about the dilemma many girls face - thoracic endometriosis. You died educating and motivating me,” he wrote. On 20 May, she put up her final post on Instagram addressed to President William Ruto, calling for better access to health “for millions of women battling endometriosis in silence”. She died two weeks later in a Nairobi hospital from complications linked to the condition. In the end, her life, her struggle and campaign made a difference. “A lot has changed, thanks to Koikai,” said Ms Murimi, noting that since last year, there was “an endometriosis centre…and we have like two or three top specialists”. But the fight to address menstrual disorders will continue, she said.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-06T20:06:15+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12758/epoch-times-cfo-charged-in-67m-money-laundering-plothttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12758/epoch-times-cfo-charged-in-67m-money-laundering-plotThe chief financial officer of the Epoch Times news outlet has been arrested over his alleged involvement in a massive money-laundering scheme. Federal prosecutors allege that Bill Guan, 61, participated in a global plot to launder at least $67m (£52m) of illegal cash to benefit himself and the Epoch Times. According to the indictment, Mr Guan led the outlet's "Make Money Online" team, which used cryptocurrency to purchase tens of millions worth of crime proceeds. Mr Guan has not yet entered a plea. If convicted, he could spend more than 30 years in prison. In a statement on Monday evening, the Epoch Times told the BBC that it "intends to and will fully cooperate with any investigation dealing with the allegations against Mr Guan". "Although Mr Guan is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, the company has suspended him until this matter is resolved," the news outlet said. It did not respond to specific questions about the Make Money Online team referenced by prosecutors. Mr Guan could not be reached by the BBC. In the 12-page indictment, federal prosecutors detailed the alleged plan, which they say began around 2020. The plot, prosecutors said, was simple: members of the Make Money Online (MMO) team would purchase crime proceeds via cryptocurrency at a discount and transfer those proceeds into bank accounts held by entities affiliated with newspaper. The illegal proceeds would ultimately be moved back into the Epoch Times accounts through "tens of thousands of layered transactions", including through prepaid debit cards and financial accounts opened using stolen identification information. According to the indictment, for years the scheme worked to enriched the Epoch Times, pumping tens of millions of dollars into the paper. Coinciding with the time Mr Guan came up with the alleged scheme, the outlet's internal accounting showed its annual revenue balloon by some 410% - from $15m in 2019 to roughly $62m the following year. When banks asked Mr Guan where the surge of money was coming from he lied, claiming the funds came from "donations", prosecutors said. Mr Guan has been charged with one count of conspiring to commit money laundering and two counts of bank fraud. Prosecutors noted these charges "do not relate to the Media Company [the Epoch Times'] newsgathering activities". Founded in 2000, the Epoch Times began as a small, low-budget newspaper handed out for free in New York. It was started by Chinese-Americans affiliated with a religious group called Falun Gong. In the years since, it has grown into purportedly one of the US's most powerful conservative news organisations and a home to conspiracy theories, right-wing misinformation and sharp opposition to the Chinese Communist Party.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-04T07:46:02+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12757/us-dog-breeder-fined-35m-after-4-000-beagles-rescuedhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12757/us-dog-breeder-fined-35m-after-4-000-beagles-rescuedA company that breeds animals for medical testing has been fined a record $35m (£27m) after 4,000 beagles were rescued from its facility in Virginia in 2022. The fine against Envigo RMS LLC for animal cruelty is the largest fine ever issued under the Animal Welfare Act, according to the US Department of Justice (DoJ). “Envigo promoted a business culture that prioritized profit and convenience over following the law,” Christopher Kavanaugh, the US attorney for the Western District of Virginia, said in a statement. “This callous approach led to dire consequences: the inhumane treatment of animals and the contamination of our waterway,” he said. Envigo's parent company, Inotiv, has agreed to pay the record eight-figure settlement. It has also agreed to not breed dogs for the next five years. By committing the crimes it was charged with "and by not making the necessary infrastructure upgrades and hiring the requisite staff, we fell short of our standards for animal and environmental welfare and apologize to the public for the harm caused by our conduct," Inotiv said in a statement on it's website on Monday. The breeding facility in Cumberland, owned by Envigo RMS, was sued in May by the US Department of Justice. The federal agency accused it of multiple acts of animal cruelty. Inspectors found some dogs were being killed instead of receiving basic veterinary care for conditions that can be easily treated. The animals were also being fed with food that contained maggots, mould and faeces, while some nursing mothers were not given anything to eat at all. The rescue of the 4,000 dogs from the facility in August 2022 led to a nationwide effort by animal shelters to find the dogs new owners in the US. The justice department said on Monday that Envigo had admitted that it had "conspired to knowingly violate the Animal Welfare Act by failing to provide, among other things, adequate veterinary care, adequate staffing and safe living conditions for dogs housed at the Cumberland County facility". The breeder's sister company, Envigo Global Services Inc, has also admitted to breaking the Clean Water Act by not properly treating wastewater, adversely affecting the dogs' health and contaminating the environment. The agreement calls for the company to pay $22m to the US government, as well as pay approximately $1.1m to the Virginia Animal Fighting Task Force and approximately $1.9m to the Humane Society of the United States for their help rescuing the beagles. The deal will be formally approved by a judge on 7 October.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-04T07:42:48+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12756/idris-elba-helps-uncover-the-wwii-soldiers-of-colour-who-never-got-their-duehttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12756/idris-elba-helps-uncover-the-wwii-soldiers-of-colour-who-never-got-their-dueOne of Idris Elba’s grandfathers fought in World War II, but he doesn’t know what he endured. No pictures or stories survive. “That part of my family’s history has been erased somewhat,” says Elba. That helped fuel the actor’s push to narrate and executive produce the four-part National Geographic docuseries “Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color,” which premieres Monday, days ahead of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, when the Allies landed on the coast of France, on June 6. Episodes will also later be available on Disney+ and Hulu. More than 8 million people of color served with the Allies, and the series digs deep to focus on how some fared at D-Day, Dunkirk, Pearl Harbor and the Battle of the Bulge. It tells the story of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only all-Black combat unit to fight on the D-Day beaches, and Force K6, a little-known Indian regiment of mule handlers from the British army trying to evacuate at Dunkirk. The series uses archival footage, descendant interviews, soldier journals and actor portrayals — a mix that Elba says he found visceral and moving. “It really did actually impact me just in the narration booth, watching the imagery, looking at the faces, wondering about my own personal connect. Could my grandfather be one of the people in one of the pieces? That was what I thought about. So, it did definitely resonate with me.” The series also highlights stories like that of Doris Miller, a mess attendant aboard the USS West Virginia who after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor raced to an unattended anti-aircraft gun and fired at the planes until forced to abandon ship. He had never been trained to use the gun because Black sailors serving in the segregated steward’s branch of the Navy were not given the gunnery training received by white sailors. Miller’s bravery earned him the Navy Cross. “It just feels like a privilege and an honour to be able to shed some light on their stories,” says director Shianne Brown, who helmed the D-Day episode. Her episode highlighted Waverly Woodson, Jr., a medic who was wounded by shrapnel during the landing but nevertheless spent the next 30 hours treating the wounded and the dying on Omaha Beach. He would note: “There’s no such thing as a colour barrier in action.” Brown says that observation proved so powerful. “If your leg has just been blown off, you need a medic to help you. At that moment, you’re not going to say to Waverly, ‘No, I don’t want you to treat me.’”

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-04T07:39:39+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12755/southwest-airlines-is-back-in-court-over-firing-of-flight-attendant-with-anti-abortion-viewshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12755/southwest-airlines-is-back-in-court-over-firing-of-flight-attendant-with-anti-abortion-viewsWhether a flight attendant was fired for her religious beliefs or for improper conduct when she sent graphic anti-abortion material and disparaging messages to a union leader was at the heart of appeals court arguments Monday, as Southwest Airlines and the union sought to reverse an $800,000 award to the woman. The case also involves an earlier judge’s contempt order requiring three of the airline’s attorneys to undergo religious liberty training from a conservative advocacy group. Three judges with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Monday. Appellate Judge Corey Wilson closely questioned attorneys on both sides of the lawsuit, filed by flight attendant Charlene Carter against the airline and her union. Wilson said the key question in the case was how an employer should balance allowing actions such as Carter’s messages, while also not creating a hostile workplace for other employees. Southwest argues it broke no laws firing Carter because she violated company rules requiring civility in the workplace by sending “hostile and graphic” anti-abortion messages to the union leader, who was a fellow flight attendant. Wilson questioned whether Carter was treated fairly when the airline looked at her Facebook feed and found the material deemed objectionable. Shay Dvoretzky, an attorney for Southwest, said the airline only looked at Carter’s social media because she had used Facebook to send the anti-abortion messages. According to court documents, Carter called the coworker and union leader “despicable” for attending the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, D.C., which featured calls for protecting abortion rights. Carter’s attorneys argue in briefs that she made clear to management she sent the material because she was a Christian and an opponent of abortion. They say firing her violated federal law shielding employees from religious-based discrimination and that Southwest management and the union, which complained about Carter’s messages, should be held liable for her firing. The judge asked Carter’s attorney whether any worker should be allowed to get away with harassing coworkers “as long as it’s cloaked in religious conduct or religious practice.” Monday’s arguments did not address another aspect of the appeal — a contempt order requiring religious law training for three Southwest attorneys. The airline argues the training violates First Amendment speech rights of the attorneys. Lawyers for Carter say the type of training ordered “is a commonplace civil contempt sanction.” They deny it impinges on the airline’s free speech rights. The contempt order was issued after U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr, a Trump nominee who joined the bench in 2019, ordered the airline to tell flight attendants that under federal law, it “may not discriminate against Southwest flight attendants for their religious practices and beliefs.” Instead, the Dallas-based airline told employees that it “does not discriminate,” and told flight attendants to follow the airline policy it cited in firing Carter. Starr found Southwest in contempt in August for the way it explained the case to flight attendants. He ordered Southwest to pay Carter’s most recent legal costs and he dictated a statement for Southwest to relay to employees. He ordered the three lawyers to complete at least eight hours of religious liberty training from the Alliance Defending Freedom, which offers training on compliance with federal law prohibiting religious discrimination in the workplace. The conservative group has played a high-profile role in multiple legal fights. They include defending a baker and a website designer who didn’t want to work on same-sex marriage projects, efforts to limit transgender rights and a challenge to longstanding federal approval of a medication used in the most common way to end a pregnancy. The initial monetary award against Southwest and the union was $5.1 million, the bulk to be paid by Southwest. The judge, citing federal limits on punitive damages, later reduced it to about $800,000, including $450,000 in damages and back pay from Southwest, $300,000 in damages from the union and about $60,000 in interest.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-04T07:36:39+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12754/toyota-apologises-for-cheating-on-vehicle-testing-and-halts-production-of-3-modelshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12754/toyota-apologises-for-cheating-on-vehicle-testing-and-halts-production-of-3-modelsToyota Chairman Akio Toyoda apologised Monday for massive cheating on certification tests for seven vehicle models as the automaker suspended production of three of them. The wide-ranging fraudulent testing at Japan’s top automaker involved the use of inadequate or outdated data in collision tests and incorrect testing of airbag inflation and rear-seat damage in crashes. Engine power tests were also found to have been falsified. Toyota Motor Corp., based in Toyota City, central Japan, suspended production in the country of the Corolla Fielder, Corolla Axio and Yaris Cross. The deceptive tests were also found on discontinued models. The company said the wrongdoing does not affect the safety of the vehicles already on the roads, which include the Corolla subcompact and Lexus luxury vehicles. “We sincerely apologise,” Toyoda told reporters, bowing deeply and holding the position for several seconds, as is customary in Japan at news conferences where companies apologize for misbehaviour. A Japanese government investigation into Toyota began in January. The issue does not affect Toyota’s overseas production. Also Monday, Toyota’s Japanese rival Mazda Motor Corp. reported similar irregular certification testing and halted production of two models, the Roadster and Mazda 2. It said incorrect engine control software was used in the tests. Mazda, based in the southwestern city of Hiroshima, also acknowledged violations on crash tests on three discontinued models. None of the violations affect the vehicles’ safety. Tokyo-based Honda Motor Co. also apologized Monday for improper tests, such as those on noise levels and torque, on a range of models. Honda said affected older models — the Accord, Odyssey and Fit — are no longer in production. The safety of the vehicles is not affected, it said. Certification problems started surfacing two years ago at Toyota group companies, truck maker Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor Co. — specialising in small models — and Toyota Industries Corp., which makes machinery and auto parts. Shinji Miyamoto, a Toyota executive overseeing customer satisfaction, said Toyota began looking into its own tests following the problems at the group companies. The apparent unravelling of the testing systems at Toyota and its group companies is an embarrassment for an automaker that’s prided itself for decades on production finesse and a corporate culture based on empowering workers to make “ever-better cars.” Toyoda, the grandson of the company’s founder, suggested some certification rules might be overly stringent, noting such tests differed around the world. But he repeatedly said he wasn’t condoning the violations. “We are not a perfect company. But if we see anything wrong, we will take a step back and keep trying to correct it,” said Toyoda. He said the company may have been too eager to get the tests done and abbreviated them at a time when model varieties were burgeoning. Toyota sells more than 10 million vehicles around the world.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-04T07:33:57+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12753/trump-rnc-raise-141-million-in-may-boosted-by-guilty-verdicthttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12753/trump-rnc-raise-141-million-in-may-boosted-by-guilty-verdictRepublican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee said on Monday they had raised $141 million in May, nearly doubling the prior month's haul thanks to a flood of support following his conviction. The tally includes the $53 million the Trump campaign said it raised in the 24 hours after a New York jury convicted the former president of falsifying business records related to a payoff to silence a porn star on the eve of the 2016 presidential election. Trump had denied any wrongdoing. For months, Trump and his allies had worked to paint the New York prosecution as politically motivated and orchestrated by President Joe Biden, a Democrat, even though there is no evidence that Biden played any role in the state-level case. In a statement, the campaign and the RNC said the fundraising showed that supporters saw through "the sham Biden trial" and the verdict had outraged and motivated Americans. Up until the past few months, Biden's re-election campaign had routinely surpassed Trump's in fundraising ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Trump for the first time in April outraised Biden, pulling in $76 million. The Biden campaign, which has not yet announced its fundraising total for May, had one of its best 24 hours of fundraising after the New York jury found Trump guilty, according to a person familiar with the matter. "We'll see how the numbers actually shake out come July, but one thing’s for certain: Trump’s billionaire friends are propping up the campaign of a white collar crook," Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said. The Trump campaign and RNC said they received more than two million donations at an average of $70.27 each in May. It said one quarter of the month's donors gave funds for the first time in this election cycle. The numbers will not be confirmed until filings are submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-04T07:31:42+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12736/the-anc-dilemma-which-will-determine-south-africa-s-futurehttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12736/the-anc-dilemma-which-will-determine-south-africa-s-futureSouth Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) is faced with a tricky dilemma which will determine the future of the country after it spectacularly lost its parliamentary majority in last week's election. Having won only 40% of the vote, the ANC needs to find a coalition partner to secure a majority in parliament which will support its choice of a president - unless it tries to go alone with a minority government. One option would be to strike a deal with the second biggest party, the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA), which won 22% of the vote. However, this would be politically risky, as the DA's critics accuse it of trying to protect the economic privileges the country's white minority built up during the racist system of apartheid - a charge the party denies. Alternatively, the ANC could work with two radical parties that broke away from it - former President Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party or Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). These three parties share the same constituency, the black majority, and their combined vote comes to 65%. Mr Malema has warned the ANC against forming a coalition that would "reinforce white supremacy" and be a "puppet of a white imperialist agenda". This was a clear reference to a coalition with the DA, whose policies are diametrically opposed to the ANC's, but they both agree on the need to uphold the constitution that South Africa adopted at the end of apartheid in 1994. President Cyril Ramaphosa has made it clear that any coalition agreement would have to be within the framework of the current constitution. One of the big obstacles to a deal is the DA's fierce opposition to the ANC's efforts to create a welfare state - especially a government-funded national health service, which the DA rejects, saying it is too expensive andthreatens the future of the private health sector. The DA believes in the free market, opposes a minimum wage, and wants to reduce red tape, saying this is the best way to improve the economy and raise living standards for all South Africans. It is vehemently opposed to the ANC's black economic empowerment policies, seeing them as discriminating against racial minorities while simply leading to the enrichment of the ANC's business cronies. Denying the allegations, the ANC has resolutely pursued these policies, arguing that they give black people a stake in the economy that they were excluded from during apartheid. ANC chairman Gwede Mantashe has gone as far as to say the ANC's black empowerment policies are non-negotiable, suggesting that he has ruled out a coalition with the DA. But, according to some local media, President Ramaphosa is willing to enter into a coalition with the DA, believing that their policy differences could be overcome. The ANC's other option is to form a coalition with MK, which was the big winner of the election by securing third spot with 15% of the vote in the first election it contested. But it is demanding a fresh poll, alleging that it got even more votes but the final result was rigged. The electoral commission has rejected the allegation, and MK has not yet presented any evidence for its claim. The chasm between it and the ANC is wide, wider than with any other party, partly because of the personal animosity between Mr Zuma and Mr Ramaphosa, who ousted him as the country's leader. As well as demanding a new president, MK wants the constitution to be torn up so that South Africa becomes an "unfettered parliamentary democracy" - something the ANC has ruled out. At first glance, this also rules out the EFF, as it too is demanding a constitutional amendment so that white-owned land can be expropriated without compensation. Mr Malema, a former ANC youth leader who was expelled by the party in 2012 for fomenting divisions and bringing the party into disrepute, said the EFF was willing to work with the ANC in a coalition government. However, the party's demand for land expropriation was a "cardinal principle", and it would not join the government if the ANC rejects it. The ANC and EFF together have 198 seats - just short of the 201 seats needed for a parliamentary majority, so a smaller party would have to be brought into a coalition. Or they could team up with Mr Zuma's MK, which also supports land expropriation, and says there is a need to distribute farmland on an "equal basis among the farming population". But to change the constitution, a two-thirds majority is needed and again the ANC, EFF and MK fall just short of the 267 seats needed - they have 256 seats between them. While the ANC is opposed to constitutional amendments, it accepts that the current land-ownership patterns need to be tackled. In an interview with South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper, former President Kgalema Motlanthe, a close ally of Mr Ramaphosa, said the "land question" was a "source of national grievance". His comments suggest there could be room for agreement with the EFF, and possibly even MK, on the issue. The DA strongly opposes a deal between its three rivals, saying it would be a "Doomsday Coalition" that would turn South Africa into a "Zimbabwe or Venezuela". "The Doomsday Coalition will plunge this country into ethnic and racial conflict the likes of which it has never witnessed before," the party says.     Can the ANC reinvent itself after dismal result?     Who's up, who's down - and why But some ANC officials hold the opposite view - that stability would be threatened if MK is excluded, given its electoral success, which has made it the largest party in KwaZulu-Natal. KwaZulu-Natal is South Africa's second-most populous province, and is often described as the economic artery of the nation because of its ports. It is also politically the most volatile province, with a history of violence - more than 300 people died in riots after Mr Zuma was sent to prison in 2021. He was convicted of contempt of court for defying an order to co-operate with an official inquiry into corruption during his nine-year presidency, which ended in 2018. ANC members in KwaZulu-Natal point out that with another court case looming - Mr Zuma is due to stand trial next year on charges of corruption over a 1999 arms deal - there is a real risk of a fresh wave of violence. They therefore feel some sort of deal needs to be reached with him to draw a line under the past, and to recognise his status as a former president - especially as he has demonstrated that he commands 15% of the national vote. ANC leaders in Gauteng - South Africa's biggest and rich province - are said to favour a deal with the EFF, but their hand has been considerably weakened by the fact that the two parties do not have enough seats for a parliamentary majority. That increases the prospect of an ANC-DA coalition, especially as it is favoured by the private sector as the best option to guarantee economic stability and to avoid capital flight. But South Africa's respected News24 website reports that the ANC is considering the option of forming a minority government, while signing a confidence-and-supply agreement with the DA, and the Inkatha Freedom Party, a mainly black party with support in KwaZulu-Natal, which has 17 seats. The two would vote with the ANC on crucial issues such as the budget, while the ANC would have to constantly lobby them - or other parties - to support it on other legislation. This could help the ANC out of its dilemma of choosing a coalition partner, and it may also suit the DA, as a coalition with the ANC could cause it to lose support to parties to its right. However, there is a risk that a minority government could lead to political instability and "transactional politics" - opposition MPs demanding or being offered bribes to back ANC-sponsored legislation. It is still too early to say what will happen. All the parties are still considering their options, but many South Africans are hoping that by the time parliament convenes, within a fortnight, there will at least be an outline deal on what the next government will look like.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-04T06:32:48+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12734/white-house-expected-to-unveil-sweeping-immigration-orderhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12734/white-house-expected-to-unveil-sweeping-immigration-orderPresident Joe Biden is expected to issue a sweeping new executive order aimed at curbing migrant arrivals at the US-Mexico border as early as Tuesday. Under the planned order, US officials could swiftly deport migrants who enter the US illegally without processing their asylum requests once a daily threshold is met, according to CBS. That, in turn, will allow border officials to limit the amount of migrant arrivals, three unnamed sources briefed on the expected order told CBS, the BBC's news partner. More than 6.4 million migrants have been stopped crossing into the US illegally during Joe Biden's administration - a record high that has left him politically vulnerable as he campaigns for re-election. Migrant arrivals have plummeted this year, however, although experts believe the trend is not likely to be sustainable. CBS - the BBC's US partner - and other US news outlets have reported that Mr Biden has been mulling use of a 1952 law that allows access to the American asylum system to be restricted. The law, known as 212(f), allows the US president to "suspend the entry" of foreigners if their arrival is "detrimental to the interests" of the country. The same regulation was used by the Trump administration to ban immigration and travel from several predominantly Muslim countries and to bar migrants from asylum if they were apprehended crossing into the US illegally, provoking accusations of racism. Asylum processing at ports of entry is expected to continue under the order. About 1,500 asylum seekers go through the process at official crossings each day, mostly after setting up appointments using a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) app known as CBP One. Mayors of several border towns - including Brownsville and Edinburg, both in Texas - were expected to be in Washington for the president's announcement. Democratic lawmakers have also been reportedly briefed on the plan. The proposal, however, is likely to be challenged in court, either from immigration advocates or from Republican-led states. A White House official told the BBC on Friday that no final decisions had been made on possible executive actions. In a statement, a White House spokesperson noted that a bipartisan border security deal failed earlier this year as a result of opposition from Republicans in Congress. "While Congressional Republicans chose to stand in the way of additional border enforcement, President Biden will not stop fighting to deliver the resources that border and immigrational personnel need to secure our border," the spokesperson said. "As we have said before, the administration continues to explore a series of policy options and we remain committed to taking action to address our broken immigration system," the spokesperson added. Republicans criticised the Biden border plan as an election-year ruse and argued that US laws already exist to prevent illegal immigration, but they were not being duly enforced by the Democratic president. News of the potential executive order comes as numbers of migrant detentions at the US-Mexico border fall. Recently released statistics from CBP show that about 179,000 migrant "encounters" were recorded in April. In December, by comparison, the figure spiked to 302,000 - a historic high. Officials in the US and Mexico have said that increased enforcement by Mexican authorities is largely responsible, although many experts have cautioned the reductions are unlikely to be permanent. The decline in migrant crossings at the US border comes at a politically fraught time for President Biden. Polls show that immigration is a primary electoral concern for many voters in the presidential election in November. A Gallup poll at the end of April found that 27% of Americans view immigration as the most important issue facing the country, topping the economy and inflation. A separate poll conducted in March by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that two-thirds of Americans now disapprove of Mr Biden's handling of the border, including about 40% of Democrat voters.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-04T06:28:25+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12733/new-york-couple-find-safe-containing-100k-in-lakehttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12733/new-york-couple-find-safe-containing-100k-in-lakeA couple of "magnet fishing" enthusiasts say they pulled up a safe containing an estimated $100,000 (£78,000) from a New York lake. James Kane and Barbie Agostini threw a rope with a magnet into a lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens on Friday and pulled up the safe. Upon opening the secured box, they said they found it stuffed with bundles of water-damaged $100 bills. They told NY1 police told them the safe wasn't linked to any crime and that they were allowed to keep the money. The BBC has approached the New York Police Department (NYPD) for comment. "We have found plenty of safes before," Mr Kane said. "And then I saw the numbers and thought: 'This is not possible.'" "We pulled it out and it was big stacks of freaking hundreds," he added. "These are thick stacks - they're soaking wet, they're pretty much destroyed." "There were no IDs, no way to find the original person, in the safe," Mrs Agostini said. "[The police] were like: 'well, congratulations!'" Magnet fishing involves trailing a line with a strong magnet through lakes and rivers and seeing what is pulled up. The couple said they began magnet fishing during the Covid-19 pandemic. They said they have previously found World War Two-era grenades, nineteenth-century guns and a full-size motorbike.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-03T09:29:28+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12732/trump-warns-of-breaking-point-for-americans-if-he-s-jailedhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12732/trump-warns-of-breaking-point-for-americans-if-he-s-jailedDonald Trump said on Sunday he would accept home confinement or jail time after his historic conviction on criminal charges by a New York jury last week but that it would be tough for the public to accept. Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, four days before Republicans gather to formally choose their presidential nominee to face Democratic President Joe Biden in November's election. Prison time is rare for people convicted in New York state of felony falsification of business records, the charge Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, faced at his trial. The maximum sentence for such a charge is four years imprisonment. "I'm not sure the public would stand for it," the former president told Fox News of a potential prison sentence. "I think it'd be tough for the public to take. You know, at a certain point, there's a breaking point." Trump has vowed to appeal his conviction by the New York jury, which found him guilty of 34 felony counts over falsifying documents to cover up a payment to silence a porn star ahead of the 2016 election. To succeed on appeal, Trump, 77, must demonstrate that Justice Juan Merchan made significant errors overseeing the trial. His lawyers have said they expect to take the case to the Supreme Court. On Sunday, Trump, who tried to disqualify Merchan from the case, repeated allegations of bias by the judge and the district attorney who prosecuted the case. "The United States Supreme Court MUST DECIDE!," Trump wrote on social media. Trump plans to appeal after his July 11 sentencing date, his lawyers say. If an appeal in New York state courts proves unsuccessful, he could appeal to the Supreme Court. Trump's attorneys would have to persuade at least four of the court's nine justices to hear his case. To prevail, Trump would then have to demonstrate that the state prosecution violated his federal constitutional rights and that his legal team followed proper procedures during earlier stages of his legal proceedings. 'Speak out against this' Trump has used his conviction to step up his fundraising efforts but has not otherwise sought to mobilize his supporters, in contrast to his comments protesting his 2020 loss to Biden that were followed by a deadly attack by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021 on the U.S. Capitol. Asked what Trump supporters should do if he were jailed, Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump told CNN: "Well, they're gonna do what they've done from the beginning, which is remain calm and protest at the ballot box on November 5th. There's nothing to do other than make your voices heard loud and clear and speak out against this." Some Trump supporters have hung U.S. flags upside down following the verdict. The inverted flag has been a symbol of distress or protest in America for over 200 years. At least one Democratic lawmaker expressed concern on Sunday about the potential for Trump's supporters to respond violently to his conviction. "His base listens to him. They don't listen to Lara Trump. And this is another dangerous appeal to violence," Democratic U.S. Representative Adam Schiff told CNN. But U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump ally, said any response must be lawful. "We are the rule of law party - chaos is not a conservative value. We have to fight back and we will with everything in our arsenal. But we do that within the confines of the rule of law," Johnson told "Fox News Sunday." The matter is unlikely to be resolved before the November presidential election, when he will seek to take back the White House from Biden. Opinion polls show a close race between the two men and suggest that his conviction could hurt him with some Republican voters and independents. Trump still faces three other criminal cases, including two over alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 loss, although they are not likely to come to trial or conclude before the election. He denies wrongdoing in all the cases and has called the charges a Democratic conspiracy to prevent him from competing. Biden has sought to defend the nation's justice system, saying it is "reckless" and "dangerous" to call the verdict "rigged." The U.S. Justice Department denies any political interference.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-03T09:27:50+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12731/south-africa-s-president-faces-up-to-poor-poll-resulthttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12731/south-africa-s-president-faces-up-to-poor-poll-resultSouth Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has admitted his African National Congress (ANC) party has suffered a challenging election result after the party lost its majority for the first time since apartheid ended 30 years ago. The ANC, once led by Nelson Mandela, won 159 seats in the 400-seat parliament in Wednesday's election, down from 230 in the previous assembly. Mr Ramaphosa still described the results as a victory for democracy, calling on rival parties to find common ground - apparently preparing for coalition talks. The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party has said it is open to coalition talks with Mr Ramaphosa, but it opposes a number of his government's key priorities. With all the votes counted, the ANC finished at 40% - down from 58% in the previous election, the electoral commission announced on Sunday. This was lower than the party's feared worst-case scenario of 45%, analysts said. The ANC now must go into a coalition to form the next government. "Our people have spoken, whether we like it or not, they have spoken," Mr Ramaphosa said. "As the leaders of political parties, as all those who occupy positions of responsibility in society, we have heard the voices of our people and we must respect their wishes." He added that the voters wanted the parties to find common ground. "Through their votes, they have demonstrated clearly and plainly that our democracy is strong and it is enduring," he said. South Africa's political parties have two weeks to work out a coalition deal, then the new parliament will sit to choose a president. The centre-right DA remains the second-largest party in parliament with 87 seats, and has said it is open to talks of a coalition. "We urge all others who love our constitution and all it represents to set aside petty politics and narrow sectarian interests and join hands now," DA leader John Steenhuisen said. However, his party opposes two of the ANC's key priorities - its black empowerment policies, which aim to giving black people a stake in the economy following their exclusion during the racist apartheid era, and the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, which promises universal healthcare for all. The ANC has said both policies are non-negotiable in coalition talks. Former president Jacob Zuma, who now leads the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party that came third with 58 seats, did not attend the results announcement and had suggested that he might challenge them. The MK has said it would be prepared to work with the ANC, but not while it was led by Mr Ramaphosa. He replaced Mr Zuma as both president and ANC leader following a bitter power struggle in 2018. In a BBC interview, Patrick Gaspard, who was the US ambassador to South Africa in 2013-16, described the two politicians as "sworn enemies". Earlier on Sunday, Mr Zuma called for an election rerun and said the electoral commission should not announce the final results. On Saturday, he warned the commission that it would "be provoking us" if it ignored his demand for a fresh election, and for an independent investigation into his party's claims that it was rigged. "Don’t start trouble when there is no trouble,” he said. There are now concerns over how Mr Zuma's supporters may respond to the results. The 82-year-old has been the political wildcard in this election - and he is preparing to flex his muscles as the kingmaker in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal, where the MK party has wrestled a huge chunk of votes from the ANC. Formed just a few months ago, results show that for the national election, it has taken the largest share of the vote in the province - 44% to the ANC's 19%. Local issues could have been a big factor in that shift, with some community members turning their backs on the ANC party because it had failed to fix acute water shortages. Parts of the province, such as Trenance Park, which is a mere 20 minutes' drive from the main city of Durban, have had no tap water for 10 months. Residents rely on water tankers that sometimes do not deliver water on time. People in KwaZulu-Natal hope that now the election is over, the problem will be fixed for good. Earlier, South Africa's police chief warned that threats to destabilise the country would not be tolerated. "There cannot be any room for threats of instability in order to register objections or concerns about the electoral processes," Police Minister Bheki Cele said at a news conference. The ANC has always polled above 50% since the country's first democratic elections in 1994, which saw Nelson Mandela become president. But, support for the party has been dropping significantly because of anger over high levels of corruption, unemployment and crime. "There are tens of millions of young people in that country who are called the Born Free generation, born after 1994 after the end of apartheid, and they feel that their country underwent a political transformation, but not an economic one," Mr Gaspard told the BBC. He added that back in 2015 "it was already becoming abundantly clear that there was a downward trajectory for the ANC because it was failing to deliver on essential services in the country", specifically mentioning rolling blackouts.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-03T09:26:28+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12730/donald-trump-joins-tiktok-and-rapidly-wins-three-million-followershttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12730/donald-trump-joins-tiktok-and-rapidly-wins-three-million-followersRoughly a day since joining TikTok, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had attracted 3 million followers on the short video social media platform that he tried to ban as president on national security grounds. The decision to join the platform on Saturday could help the former president reach younger voters in his third bid for the White House. He is in a close race with Democratic incumbent Joe Biden ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election. Biden's election campaign is already on TikTok, with over 340,000 followers, although Biden has signed a bill that would ban the app, which is used by 170 million Americans, if its Chinese owner ByteDance fails to divest it. Trump posted a launch video on his account, which has the address @realdonaldtrump, on Saturday night. The video, which has more than 56 million views, showed Trump greeting fans at an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight in Newark, New Jersey. Trump said a statement he would "use every tool available to speak directly with the American people..." ByteDance is challenging in courts the law that requires it to sell TikTok by next January or face a ban. The White House says it wants to see Chinese-based ownership ended on national security grounds. TikTok has argued it will not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government and that it has taken substantial measures to protect the privacy of its users. Trump's attempt to ban TikTok in 2020 when he was president was blocked by the courts. He said in March that the platform was a national security threat but also that a ban on it would hurt some young people and only strengthen Meta Platforms' Facebook, which he has strongly criticized. Trump already has an active social media presence with more than 87 million followers on X and over 7 million followers on his own platform, Truth Social, where he posts almost daily. A U.S. appeals court last week set a fast-track schedule to consider the legal challenges to the new law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered the case set for oral arguments in September after TikTok, ByteDance and a group of TikTok content creators joined with the Justice Department earlier this month in asking the court for a quick schedule.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-03T09:24:50+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12729/heat-wave-kills-at-least-33-poll-workers-as-india-s-election-wraps-up-in-searing-temperatureshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12729/heat-wave-kills-at-least-33-poll-workers-as-india-s-election-wraps-up-in-searing-temperaturesIndia’s relentless heat wave killed 33 poll workers as the country concluded its final day of voting in the world’s largest general election, officials said, underscoring the impact of searing temperatures in recent days. The workers died in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, the state’s chief election officer, Navdeep Rinwa, told reporters at a news conference. Their families will receive $18,000 each in compensation, he added. Voters and election workers have endured an extended period of unusually high temperatures across much of the country’s north as India voted in a seven-phase election that began on April 19. The last phase took place on June 1. At least 61 people have died from heat strokes, heat exhaustion, dehydration and other heat-related illnesses since May 24, according to local health and government officials. Of that number, at least 43 were election workers, authorities said. Election duty is compulsory in India for public sector employees. They’re assigned by the election commission before polling begins. A woman stands beside her family member who is suffering from heatstroke in Varanasi, India, on May 30, 2024. Home to more than 1.4 billion people, about 969 million were eligible to cast their vote  — more than the populations of North America and the European Union combined. Election rules state that voters should be no more than 2 kilometres (1.24 miles) from a polling station. To carry off such a huge election, India relies on a network of some 15 million polling officials and security staff, with some of these election workers travelling via road, boat, camel, train, and helicopters to reach citizens across the vast nation. Northwest and central India have been experiencing maximum temperatures above 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit) with some towns even crossing the 50-degree mark (122 Fahrenheit), according to the Indian Meteorological Department. The capital territory of Delhi sweltered to its highest-ever temperature of 49.9 degrees Celsius (121.8 degrees Fahrenheit) last week, as the oppressive heat wave forced authorities to impose water rationing. Before voting began, the Election Commission of India announced several measures to account for high temperatures during voting, such as making water available at polling booths and setting up tents for shade. “Heat wave conditions over Northwest, Central & East India are likely to continue with reduced intensity during next 3 days,” the Indian Meteorological Department said on Sunday. India is among the countries expected to be worst affected by the climate crisis, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, threatening its development while risking reversing its progress on poverty alleviation, health and economic growth. The country often experiences heat waves during the summer months of May and June, but in recent years they have arrived earlier and become more prolonged. Experts say the climate crisis is only going to cause more frequent and longer heat waves in the future, testing India’s ability to adapt. Counting up all the votes will take place on a single day – Tuesday, June 4 – with results expected later that day.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-03T09:22:31+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12728/rescue-worker-dies-several-thousand-evacuated-in-southern-germany-floodshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12728/rescue-worker-dies-several-thousand-evacuated-in-southern-germany-floodsA firefighter died while trying to rescue trapped residents and several thousand people were forced to leave their homes as heavy rain caused flooding in southern Germany. The 42-year-old man who died was in a rescue boat carrying four firefighters that capsized late on Saturday. His body was recovered early on Sunday, said a spokesperson for the Bavarian town of Pfaffenbach an der Ilm, around 50 km (30 miles) north of Munich. Municipalities had days to prepare for the flooding but around 3,000 people had to be evacuated in southern Germany as the water cut off some areas, authorities said. “We owe our thanks and respect to the rescue workers and helpers who are battling the consequences of the floods in many places,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on X. Scholz is scheduled to travel to the region on Monday, where he will meet with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and Bavaria’s premier mid-morning local time to get an overview, a government spokesperson said. Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck pledged support for the affected regions during a visit on Sunday and noted that climate change is causing more severe weather events. “Natural disasters have always accompanied mankind. What we are seeing is that the frequency of these events is increasing significantly. Record floods occur every few years … record rainfall every few years,” Habeck, of the Greens Party, told broadcaster n-tv. Parts of Europe were hit by major flooding in 2021 that killed nearly 200, with Germany bearing the brunt. The disaster was largely blamed on the consequences of climate change and prompted calls for stricter warning and safety measures.

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-03T09:19:20+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12727/agency-approves-plan-to-hike-us-stamp-prices-to-73-centshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12727/agency-approves-plan-to-hike-us-stamp-prices-to-73-centsA request by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to raise prices of first-class mail stamps to 73 cents from 68 cents effective July 14 has been approved, regulators said Friday. The plan, announced in April and approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, will raise overall mailing services product prices by 7.8%. USPS said this month it is also seeking an average 25% price hike for high-volume shippers to enter packages for regional delivery through its Parcel Select service. USPS in November reported a $6.5 billion yearly net loss as first-class mail fell to the lowest volume since 1968. Stamp prices are up 36% over the last four years since early 2019 when they were 50 cents. USPS has been aggressively hiking stamp prices and is in the middle of a 10-year restructuring plan announced in 2021 that aims to eliminate $160 billion in predicted losses over the next decade. USPS has said it expects its "new pricing policy to generate $44 billion in additional revenue" by 2031. First-class mail volume fell 6.1% in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2023 to 46 billion pieces and is down 53% since 2006 -- to the lowest volume since 1968. First-class mail, used by most people to send letters and pay bills, is the highest revenue-generating mail class, accounting for $24.5 billion, or 31% of USPS 2023 revenue. In April 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden signed legislation providing USPS with about $50 billion in financial relief over a decade. Earlier this month, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy agreed to pause planned further consolidation of the postal service's processing network until at least January after a bipartisan group of senators raised concerns about the impact on mail deliveries. DeJoy said the change would delay USPS cost savings of $133 million to $177 million. Senator Gary Peters said he would keep pushing DeJoy and the USPS board of governors "for a plan that won't interfere with critical mail service."

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]]>Miscellaneous2024-06-03T09:15:25+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12494/france-returns-26-looted-treasures-from-beninhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12494/france-returns-26-looted-treasures-from-beninPresident of France Emmanuel Macron has handed back 26 Treasures they took from Benin during the colonial period, fulfilling the promise he made to restore part of Africa's heritage. These artefacts that were taken by the French forces 130 years ago, was brought back home from Paris by the President of Benin Patrice Talon and the Culture Minister Jean-Michel Abimbola. Some of the artefacts that was taken from the Kingdom of Dahomey in the south of present-day Benin, included a royal throne, three totemic statues, said President Talon. According to President Talon, the treasures were more than just cultural goods as described by France. "This is our soul, Mr. President", he said. The return of the pieces taken from Benin, comes as calls mount in Africa for European countries to return to the colonial spoils lining their museum selves. In France, most are held by the Quai Branly museum, which has begun a major review of its collection to identify works believed to have been acquired through violence.

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]]>Miscellaneous2021-11-11T15:33:11+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12450/cape-verde-s-prosecutor-general-admits-arrest-warrant-in-alex-saab-extradition-request-was-not-in-his-namehttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12450/cape-verde-s-prosecutor-general-admits-arrest-warrant-in-alex-saab-extradition-request-was-not-in-his-nameOn 21 July the United States submitted its extradition request for Alex Saab to Cape Verde. In a shocking admission, the Cape Verde Attorney General has admitted that the arrest warrant contained in the request was not in Alex Saab’ name.  Despite this glaring legal error, Cape Verde’s Minister of Justice and the Attorney General still approved the extradition request. What the motivation was for these two senior officials to overlook this important point remains unanswered but we do know Attorney General José Landim is trying to pass it off as a “trivial mistake”. These facts were relevant for the ECOWAS Court in its decision to consider the detention illegal. The law has been blatantly violated by the United States and Cape Verde which was confirmed by honourable justices of the ECOWAS Court of Justice. Closer examination of the events surrounding Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab’s 12 June 2020 arrest are revealing addition and substantial legal errors. Presumably it was these errors which the ECOWAS Court of Justice recognised when it ruled earlier this year on 15 March and 24 June that Alex Saab’s arrest and detention were illegal due to substantial violations of Cape Verde Law. It is now known that at the time of his arrest on 12 June 2020,  Alex Saab was  not presented with a Red Notice, despite claims by Natalino Correia (arresting policeman) to the contrary. Correia did not, and could not, have shown Alex Saab “the Red Notice” as it was only  after the arrest. The Red Notice against Alex Saab did not contain, as required, an underlying arrest warrant which means that the Red Notice was published in breach of INTERPOL’s own Rules of Processing Data (IRPD) which require “reference to a valid arrest warrant” as per Article 83 (2) (v) about the minimum data required before the issuance of Red Notices. Why would INTERPOL be so lax in following its own rules? It may be coincidence, but INTERPOL’s Head of Legal Affairs is Mary D. Rodriguez, seconded to INTERPOL from the United States Department of Justice where, presumably she will return once her time at INTERPOL is over. Nonetheless, Venezuela successfully challenged the illegality of the Red Notice and it was cancelled on 25 June 2020. The Bolivarian Republic immediately communicated to Cape Verdean Attorney General, Minister of Justice, Barlavento Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Justice for Alex Saabs release. Venezuela’s legal and legitimate request received no response. In the days after Alex Saab’s arrest on 12 June 2020, José Landim boasted to the world how Saab had been arrested as a result of Cape Verde’s cooperation with international colleagues based on an INTERPOL Red Notice. By 25 June the illegitimacy of the Red Notice and Cape Verde’s shameful complicity in the arrest of a lawfully appointed diplomat was clear for the world to see. Jose Landim’s admission, hidden away in submission to the Constitutional Court brings discredits him and brings shame on his office. The least he can do is to now admit the whole entrapment of Alex Saab was politically motivated and ask the Court to order Saab’s immediate release.

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]]>Miscellaneous2021-07-22T19:52:24+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12438/cape-verde-economy-sag-prime-minister-busy-playing-politics-with-alex-saab-s-releasehttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12438/cape-verde-economy-sag-prime-minister-busy-playing-politics-with-alex-saab-s-releaseThe Economy of Cape Verde continues to suffer serious downturn never witnessed in the history of the country since its independence in 1975. Since independence, the country has never been faced with an economic, social, financial and budgetary situation of the magnitude we are facing today, Dr Olavo Correia, Deputy Prime Minister has confirmed. This is because the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Ulisses Correia continues to look unconcerned and focuses more on ensuring Venezuelan Diplomat Alex Saab, who faces extradition to the United States, remains in illegal detention in Cape Verde. In the absence of economic leadership and with a Prime Minister intent on focussing doing the bidding of the United States, it is no surprise that Cape Verde’s economy contracted by 14.8 percent in 2020. The Finance Minister attributed the financial crisis to COVD-19 pandemic, but opposition figures insist the economy downturn has been made worse, because the Prime Minister has been busy playing geopolitics instead of focusing on domestic matters. The past few months have seen the actions of Prime Minister Ulisses Correia and his Interior Minister resulting in Cape Verde defying three binding decisions of the ECOWAS Court and earns heavy criticism from leaders of the other 14 Member States at the last month’s ECOWAS summit held in Ghana. More recently, Cape Verde has been ordered to halt Alex Saab’s extradition by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva, while it investigates allegations of torture and denial to specialist health care which Saab, as a cancer patient, has been refused for over a year. Cape Verde arrested Saab who is also Venezuela’s Deputy Ambassador to the African Union on 12 June 2020 based on a request from the United States. On 15 March 2021, the ECOWAS Court of Justice, in a unanimous decision delivered by Judge Rapporteur Justice Januaria Costa (a senior Cape Verde jurist and the country’s former Minster of Justice) ruled that Saab’s arrest and detention were illegal due to numerous violations of Cape Verde Law, that he should be freed immediately and the extradition process be terminated. There are suggestions that in pandering to the politically motivated United States pursuit of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior, have systematically destroyed the good name and the economy of Cape Verde.

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]]>Miscellaneous2021-07-20T14:46:00+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12332/un-calls-for-immediate-release-of-mali-president-bah-ndawhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/12332/un-calls-for-immediate-release-of-mali-president-bah-ndawUN chief António Guterres has demanded the immediate release of Mali's President Bah Ndaw and PM Moctar Ouane, who have been detained by soldiers. They were driven by soldiers to a military camp near the capital, Bamako. The two men have been leading an interim government which took power after a military coup last August. They were detained just hours after a government reshuffle in which two army officers who took part in the coup were replaced. Late on Monday, Mr Ouane told AFP in a phone call that soldiers "came to get him". The news agency said the line was then cut. Defence Minister Souleymane Doucouré has also reportedly been detained. The African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), the EU and the US have also condemned the arrests, saying Mali's top politicians must be released without any preconditions.

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]]>Miscellaneous2021-05-25T12:48:56+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11950/malawi-top-court-annuls-presidential-election-resultshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11950/malawi-top-court-annuls-presidential-election-resultsThe vote in May returned President Mutharika to power, leading to deadly confrontations and widespread unrest. Lilongwe, Malawi - The constitutional court in Malawi has annulled last year's disputed presidential election results, citing "widespread" irregularities and ordered a new vote. The election last May returned the sitting president to power, leading to deadly confrontations and widespread unrest. In their ruling, which lasted about 10 hours, a panel of five judges comprising ordered a fresh presidential election to be held within 150 days. The 500-page ruling cited the widespread use of unauthorised correctional fluid, Tippex, to alter figures, the use of duplicate result sheets and unsigned results forms as cases that compromised the outcome of the elections. The courts admonished the electoral body for an abrogation of duty, saying the manner in which the May 21 presidential election was held demonstrated incompetency and infringed on citizens' constitutional rights. "The position of this court is that the widespread use of Tippex greatly undermined the integrity of the elections so much that applying the qualitative approach, the argument by the second respondent (Malawi Electoral Commission) that the valid vote count was not affected and that no monitor came forward to raise a complaint does not matter and this argument is thrown out", the ruling stated. The court further ordered that the new elections be held under a majoritarian system, a legal provision which was rejected by the Malawi Parliament some two years ago, who instead opted for simple majority system. The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) had declared President Peter Mutharika the narrow winner of the May election with 38 percent of votes, followed by Lazarus Chakwera with 35 percent and former Vice President Saulos Chilima third with 20 percent. The four other candidates collectively got nearly 6 percent. Dissatisfied with the outcome, the two contenders petitioned the court to have the results nullified citing several irregularities. Since the announcement of the election results over eight months ago, Malawi has experienced a spate of protests across the country demanding the resignation of Jane Ansah, the chairwoman of the MEC for allegedly mismanaging the elections. While there have been disputes over past elections in Malawi, this is the first time a presidential vote result has been overturned in the country. It is the second country in sub-Saharan Africa to see its election results annulled, after Kenya's top court in 2017 overturned the result of a presidential vote.

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]]>Miscellaneous2020-02-04T10:47:17+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11949/kenyas-former-president-daniel-arap-moi-has-died-aged-95https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11949/kenyas-former-president-daniel-arap-moi-has-died-aged-95Moi was seen as a unifying figure when he took power in 1978. He led Kenya for 24 years before stepping down in 2002. Former Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi, the country's longest serving leader, has died aged 95. The death of Moi, who ruled Kenya from 1978 to 2002, was announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta in a statement carried by the state broadcaster on Tuesday. "It is with profound sadness and sorrow that I announce the passing of a Great African Statesman, H.E. Daniel Toroitich arap Moi, the Second President of the Republic of Kenya," the announcement said. "His Excellency the Former President passed on at the Nairobi Hospital on the early morning of this 4th February, 2020, in the presence of his family," it said. Kenyatta ordered a period of national mourning until a state funeral is held, on a date not yet announced. Moi had been in hospital for more than a month. Al Jazeera's Catherine Soi reporting from Kakamega in western Kenya said opinion on how people will remember the former leader is divided. "Some people say he started off well in his presidency. He kept the country relatively stable when neighbouring countries were in conflict. He was very passionate about education and built many schools. He was also passionate about the environment and oversaw many tree-planting projects," Soi said. "Other people will say all that was overshadowed by his reign of terror, detention of political opponents. Several of them died during his time in office," she added. 24-year reign Despite being called a dictator by critics, Moi enjoyed strong support from many Kenyans and was seen as a uniting figure when he took power after founding President Jomo Kenyatta died in office in 1978. Some allies of the ailing Kenyatta, however, tried to change the constitution to prevent Moi, then the vice president, from automatically taking power upon Kenyatta's death. Wary of any threat during that uncertain period, Moi fled his Rift Valley home when he heard of Kenyatta's death, returning only after receiving assurances of his safety. "Nobody thought he was going to last long in power. He became president to fill in a gap," Lydia Muthuma, a historian at Technical University of Kenya, told Al Jazeera. "But after an attempted coup in 1981, we saw Moi's true colours. He made sure we understood who was in charge. The news bulletins always started with what he did on the day. He was not a tolerant leader," she added. In 1982, Moi's government pushed a constitutional amendment through Parliament that made Kenya effectively a one-party state. Later that year, the army quelled a coup attempt plotted by opposition members and some air force officers. At least 159 people were killed. Moi's government then became more heavy-handed in dealing with dissent, according to a report by the government's Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission that assessed his rule. Political activists and others who dared oppose Moi's rule were routinely detained and tortured, the report said, noting unlawful detentions and assassinations, including the killing of a foreign affairs minister, Robert Ouko. "The judiciary became an accomplice in the perpetuation of violations, while parliament was transformed into a puppet controlled by the heavy hand of the executive," the report said. Corruption, especially the illegal allocation of land, became institutionalised, the report said, while economic power was centralized in the hands of a few. In 1991, Moi yielded to demands for a multi-party state due to internal pressure, including a demonstration that year during which police killed more than 20 people, and external pressure from the West. Multi-party elections in 1992 and 1997 were marred by political and ethnic violence that critics asserted were caused by the state. By the time Moi left power in 2002, corruption had left Kenya's economy, the most developed in East Africa, with negative growth. Kenyans later voted for a new constitution that was implemented in 2010. Moi often blamed the West for bad publicity and the economic hardships many Kenyans had to endure during his rule. As with his predecessor, Kenyatta, many government projects, buildings and currency notes and coins were named after Moi.

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]]>Miscellaneous2020-02-04T10:38:27+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11948/could-coronavirus-spoil-the-rebound-in-us-factory-activityhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11948/could-coronavirus-spoil-the-rebound-in-us-factory-activityUS manufacturing activity bounced back in January, but coronavirus and Boeing woes could spell trouble ahead. Activity at factories in the United States staged a surprise rebound in January, as a surge in new orders helped break a five-month-long contraction streak. While the bounce-back raised hopes that a prolonged slump in business investment has likely bottomed out, headwinds from Boeing's 737 MAX troubles and the coronavirus outbreak could spoil the turnaround. A rebound in business investment is critical to keeping the longest economic expansion in US history on track as consumer spending - the engine of US economic growth - shows signs of fatigue. The improvement in manufacturing reported by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on Monday likely reflected a break in trade tensions between the US and China after the two countries signed a phase one trade deal last month. But manufacturing, which accounts for 11 percent of the US economy, is not out of the woods. Boeing last month suspended production of its troubled 737 MAX jetliner, which was grounded last March following two fatal crashes. And the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed hundreds in China and infected thousands globally, could disrupt supply chains, especially for electronics producers. "A first step toward de-escalation in the trade war certainly helped," said Tim Quinlan, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina. "We are only beginning to understand the potential effects of the coronavirus outbreak and what it means for supply chains." Economists estimate that Boeing's biggest assembly-line halt in more than 20 years could slice at least half a percentage point from first-quarter US economic growth, while the coronavirus could hurt global growth, which has been stabilising after declining since mid-2018.   "The production cuts at Boeing could yet weigh on the hard data at the start of this year," said Andrew Hunter, a senior US economist at Capital Economics in London. "The likely hit to manufacturing activity in China from the coronavirus shutdown could also become a headwind for US producers, particularly those reliant on intermediate parts from China." The ISM said its index of national factory activity increased to a reading of 50.9 last month, the highest level since July. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the manufacturing sector. The ISM index had held below the 50 threshold for five straight months. Economists polled by Reuters news agency had forecast the index rising to 48.5 in January from the previously reported 47.2 in December. Washington and Beijing signed a phase one trade deal last month, but it left in place US tariffs on $360bn of Chinese imports, about two-thirds of the total, which economists say will remain a constraint on manufacturing. The ISM said, "global trade remains a cross-industry issue, but many respondents were positive for the first time in several months." The survey's forward-looking new orders subindex jumped to a reading of 52.0 last month, the highest since May. A measure of exports orders raced to the highest level since September 2018, while a gauge of imports touched levels not seen in 11 months. Manufacturers also reported paying more for raw materials and other inputs. The survey's measure of prices paid hit its highest level in 10 months, suggesting some build-up of inflation pressures at the factory level. The US Federal Reserve held interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day policy meeting last week and could keep monetary policy on hold at least through this year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that while purchasing managers' indexes in many jurisdictions of the manufacturing sector had moved up off of their lows, "I would just say none of this is assured." The 18-month-long US-China trade war has pressured business confidence and undercut capital expenditure. Business investment contracted in the fourth quarter for the third straight quarter, the longest such stretch since 2009.

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]]>Miscellaneous2020-02-04T10:30:54+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11947/alphabet-shares-fall-as-google-misses-on-saleshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11947/alphabet-shares-fall-as-google-misses-on-salesNew concerns have emerged among investors about whether Google's dominance will survive US antitrust investigations. Google's parent company Alphabet Inc on Monday reported its worst fourth-quarter revenue growth since 2015, missing analysts' estimate for a period in which its top online advertising rivals beat expectations. Shares of the company fell about three percent in extended trading to $1,435.10. Alphabet offered new disclosures about its cloud computing and YouTube ads units, posting $2.61bn and $4.72bn in quarterly revenue from these two units, respectively. The company has been the web's biggest draw for advertisers for a decade, enabling it last month to become the fourth listed company to top $1 trillion in market capitalization. But new concerns have emerged among investors about whether Google's dominance will last as United States antitrust regulators investigate Google and as Amazon.com Inc and Facebook Inc continue to grow their ads businesses globally. Over the last year, Google has posted slowing sales growth for its ad business. It has blamed foreign exchange rates and one-time product changes. Expenses have ballooned with the hiring of thousands of salespeople, the building of new data centres, and the marketing of the Google brand through hardware and other ventures. The fourth-quarter results continued those trends. Overall sales were $46.08bn, up 17 percent, compared with an average estimate of $46.94bn among financial analysts tracked by Refinitiv. Google ad sales were $37.93bn, up 16.7 percent from the same period last year, while Google's "other" revenue bucket, including app store purchases and cloud computing deals, rose 21.6 percent to $7.88bn. Alphabet's total costs and expenses rose 18.5 percent from a year ago to $36.809bn. That left profit of $10.67bn, or $15.35 per share, compared with the analysts' average estimate of $8.787bn, or $12.53 per share. Google faces internal challenges, too. Some of its 119,000 employees have resisted working on weapons-related software for militaries or censored search products for Chinese users, leading Google to abandon such efforts. Others have expressed frustration with curbs on company-wide discussions and what they have described as retaliation for labour organising. In December, Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai gained the additional role of Alphabet CEO from Larry Page as he and fellow cofounder Sergey Brin stepped back even further from day-to-day management. It is unclear whether Pichai plans major changes to quell workplace unrest. But a shareholder lawsuit, which alleges that company leaders covered up sexual misconduct at Google, recently entered mediation and threatens to loosen the control held by Pichai, Page and Brin. On Monday, Pichai's new role brought with it changes to Alphabet's financial disclosures, which investors before generally criticised as being too opaque to explain how the company is weathering specific challenges. Shares of Alphabet were up 28.1 percent in the last 12 months entering Monday, compared with 21.8 percent for Facebook shares, 23.5 percent for Amazon, 68.1 percent for Microsoft Corp, and 88.7 percent for Apple Inc.

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]]>Miscellaneous2020-02-04T10:28:36+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11946/airbus-bribery-fallout-investigations-launched-worldwidehttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11946/airbus-bribery-fallout-investigations-launched-worldwideAirAsia's chiefs step aside, while Ghana, Colombia and Sri Lanka are launching investigations into Airbus dealings. Fallout from the Airbus bribery scandal reverberated around the world as the head of one of its top buyers temporarily stood down and investigations were launched in countries aggrieved at being dragged into the increasingly political dispute. The European planemaker is bracing for a rocky period with airlines and foreign governments, some of which have complained they were not forewarned about the charges and said they had little knowledge of the sums of money swirling around their fleet purchases. Airbus agreed on Friday to pay a record $4bn in fines after reaching a plea bargain with prosecutors in the United Kingdom, France and United States over alleged bribery and corruption stretching back at least 15 years. "Friday was the end of Act I, now we are seeing the beginning of Act II with possible repercussions on airline relationships," a person close to the company told the Reuters news agency. Airbus declined to comment further after welcoming the agreement on Friday as an opportunity to "turn the page". Prosecution documents agreed by Airbus detailed a global network of agents or middlemen in transactions across the group's business and run from a cell in Paris where the group had part of its headquarters, split between France and Germany. Outlines of the operation and its annual budget of 250 million to 300 million euros ($277m to $332m) had been reported by Reuters. Prosecutors also cited parallel projects or investments alongside some negotiations, including the sponsorship by Airbus' then-parent EADS of a Formula 1 team owned by top officials at Malaysia-based AirAsia, an important customer. Shares in AirAsia fell up to 11 percent. AirAsia Group said Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes and Chairman Kamarudin Meranun would step aside for at least two months while the airline and Malaysian government probed allegations. In a joint statement, the two co-founders of Asia's largest budget airline denied any wrongdoing or misconduct. "We would not harm the very companies that we spent our entire lives building up to their present global status," they said. Fernandes, one of aviation's best known executives, already faces domestic pressure after backing former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2018 elections. Najib was overthrown by Mahathir Mohamad, prompting Fernandes to apologise for backing the losing candidate. Inquiries launched In Ghana, a political storm erupted over accusations of Airbus payments to a relative of a government official in connection with the purchase of military transport planes. The UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said the agent had no aerospace experience, having previously worked in football merchandising and as a facilities manager. It did not say what the agent, who had been helped by two unnamed British television actors, did with the money. President Nana Akufo-Addo’s office said Ghana would "conduct a prompt inquiry to determine the complicity or otherwise of any Ghanaian government official, past or present". The National Democratic Congress (NDC), which was in power at the time, said claims that Airbus paid bribes were false. In Colombia, airline Avianca said it had hired a law firm to investigate its relationship with Airbus and determine if it had been a victim of wrongdoing. French prosecutors said in settlement documents that Airbus had agreed to pay multi-million dollar commissions to an agent over jet sales to Avianca, some of which were earmarked for a senior executive at the airline’s parent Avianca Holdings. The payments were thwarted by a freeze on agent commissions as Airbus tightened processes in 2014, they said. Avianca is ultimately owned by Synergy Group, formerly the vehicle of Bolivian-born entrepreneur German Efromovich who bought the airline out of bankruptcy in 2004 and grew it to become Latin America's second-largest. He lost control of Synergy in 2019. Contacted by Reuters, Efromovich declined to comment. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered a full investigation after the UK's SFO reported that Airbus had hired the wife of a SriLankan Airlines executive as its intermediary in connection with aircraft negotiations. Airbus misled UK export credit agency UKEF over her name and gender while paying her company $2m, the SFO said. Korean Air and Taiwan's China Airlines declined to comment on allegations of payments to intermediaries over the jet purchases. Settlements in France and the US also trained a spotlight on dealings in China, which tends to be supplied through large plane orders coinciding with state visits. Prosecutor findings issued with the settlement detailed alleged bribery and hospitality paid for using money diverted from a pilot-training fund, into which Airbus made payments. Analysts had said Airbus is poised to win more business in China as a result of recent US-Chinese trade tensions, though the prospect of a trade deal has also boosted rival US planemaker Boeing Co. Chinese aviation officials, many affected by an order to government officials to work at home due to the coronavirus outbreak, could not be reached for comment. But the foreign ministry said, "China has always attached great importance to its cooperation with France in the aviation industry".

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]]>Miscellaneous2020-02-04T10:20:36+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11835/yahya-jammeh-ordered-us-to-kill-44-ghanaians-gambian-soldiers-confesshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11835/yahya-jammeh-ordered-us-to-kill-44-ghanaians-gambian-soldiers-confessTwo Gambian soldiers working for a hit squad controlled by former President Yahya Jammeh on Monday admitted to participating in the 2005 execution of 56 West African migrants, including 44 Ghanaians on the orders of Jammeh. Lieutenant Malick Jatta and Corporal Omar A. Jallow revealed to Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) that the migrants were executed by the “Junglers” squad, a paramilitary force that took orders from Jammeh, across the Gambian border in Senegalese territory. “We were told they were mercenaries,” Jatta said, adding that he shot and killed one of the migrants. “I heard people shouting in the forest saying ‘save us Jesus.’” Jallow told the TRRC that Lt Col Solo Bojang, the leader of the operation, told the men that “the order from Yahya Jammeh is that they are all to be executed.” In reaction to the testimonies by the two soldiers, the Jammeh2Justice Ghana Campaign, a civil society coalition seeking to bring Jammeh and those who bear the greatest responsibility for the massacre of Ghanaians to justice said, the public testimonies by the two soldiers add to the mountain of evidence against Jammeh and his accomplices. Its campaign co-ordinator, William Nyarko, asked the Government of Ghana to take an active interest in the proceedings at the TRRC and seek justice for the Ghanaians, adding, other West African states, including Nigeria, Togo, and Ivory Coast whose nationals were also unlawfully killed should do same for their nationals. The Jammeh2Justice Ghana Campaign is led by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) in collaboration with its partners Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Africa Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), Amnesty International, Human Rights Advocacy Center (HRAC), POS Foundation, and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI).

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]]>Miscellaneous2019-07-24T15:22:43+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11682/zimbabwes-energy-minister-fired-amid-blackoutshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11682/zimbabwes-energy-minister-fired-amid-blackoutsZimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa has sacked the Minister of Energy and Power Development, Joram Gumbo, amidst the worst electricity blackouts since 2016. He has been replaced by Fortune Chasi, the Transport and Infrastructural Development Deputy Minister. Mr Gumbo has been made a minister in the president's office, in charge of implementation and monitoring performance of government departments. The state-owned power firm said on Monday there would be blackouts of between five and eight hours a day because of a drop in output at its largest hydro plant and ageing coal-fired generators.

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]]>Miscellaneous2019-05-15T23:27:47+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11607/more-food-aid-could-boost-fight-against-ebola-in-congo-agencies-sayhttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11607/more-food-aid-could-boost-fight-against-ebola-in-congo-agencies-sayDAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Giving more food aid in Ebola-struck parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo could help stop the spread of the second-biggest outbreak in history, aid agencies said on Wednesday. Food shortages are longstanding problem in the central African country, where about 13 million people, or 15 percent of the population, did not have enough to eat last year, according to the international food security tracking system IPC. Public mistrust is a major obstacle to stopping the epidemic, which has infected more than 1,300 people and killed 880 in eastern Congo since July, with many refusing vaccines and resisting treatment, while medical centres have been attacked. “People receiving food are found to be more willing to cooperate in registration, vaccination and treatment,” said Claude Jibidar, the World Food Programme’s country director. Delivering food to families that might have been exposed to Ebola also helps prevent the disease’s spread by keeping people at home instead of in markets and public places, he said. The world’s worst epidemic of Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever, killed more than 11,300 people in West Africa from 2013 to 2016. Congo’s Ebola outbreak is spreading at its fastest rate yet, with a record number of new cases in recent weeks as militia violence and community suspicion have impeded access, with many deaths occuring outside of treatment centres. Providing greater support for people affected by violence in the area - where about one million are displaced due to years of conflict - could make them more willing to seek Ebola services, said Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) charity. “It is very unlikely for somebody who is without shelter, without food, without education for their children ... to run and go get treatment when their basic needs were never addressed,” said Kimberly Bennett, a spokeswoman for NRC. Worsening violence and poor rains have contributed to a rise in hunger in parts of North Kivu province - one of the areas hard-hit by Ebola - said the NRC, particularly among displaced families and those hosting them. People infected or suspected of Ebola infection have also been forced to abandon their work when they are quarantined to prevent transmission of the disease, it said.

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]]>Miscellaneous2019-04-25T08:20:38+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11436/senegalese-president-favourite-in-vote-as-economy-boomshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11436/senegalese-president-favourite-in-vote-as-economy-boomsDAKAR (Reuters) - Senegalese vote on Sunday in an election President Macky Sall is expected to win after strong economic growth in his first term, while rights groups criticise him for squeezing out rivals. Senegal's small fish-exporting economy expanded more than 6 percent last year, one of the highest rates in Africa, driven by construction of a new railway and other projects. The 57-year-old told thousands gathered for his final rally in Dakar on Friday that he would deliver universal healthcare and better access to education in a second term. "Victory in the first round is inevitable," Sall told a crowd earlier in the week. About 6.5 million people are registered to vote at polling stations that are due to open at 8 a.m. (0800 GMT) and close at 6 p.m. Official results are due out on Friday with a run-off for the top two on March 24 if no one secures a majority. Opinion polls are banned in the run-up to the vote, but a survey by a Senegalese data company in November gave Sall 45 percent support. Of his four rivals now lined up in the smallest field of candidates since 1988, none had more than 16 percent. Despite Sall's popularity, some citizens question whether a high-speed train, new motorways and a swanky conference centre will benefit average citizens in the former French colony of 15 million people where average income is less than $200 a month. Many people do not have reliable water or power supplies. Rights groups have criticised the exclusion of two popular candidates from the race in the West African nation that has long been viewed as the region's most stable democracy. It has seen peaceful transitions of power since independence in 1960. Former mayor of Dakar Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade, son of former President Abdoulaye Wade who was in power from 2000 to 2012, were barred from running due to corruption convictions. The former president said in a statement the vote was being rigged and told supporters of his son to boycott the poll. The government has dismissed the criticism, promising a free and fair vote. The remaining challengers are third-time contender and former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck, and Ousmane Sonko, a former tax inspector who is popular among the youth. Lawyer Madicke Niang and IT professor Issa Sall are also running. Sonko told supporters at his final rally on Thursday that he would congratulate Sall if the vote was fair. "But if he steals the victory, I ask the youth to walk to the presidential palace and chase him out," he said. At least one person was killed this month in clashes between Sall's backers and his opponents in the southeastern city of Tambacounda, but campaigning has been largely peaceful.

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]]>Miscellaneous2019-02-24T12:44:54+00:00https://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11431/african-giants-senegal-and-nigeria-elect-presidentshttps://www.watchghana.com/en/details/11431/african-giants-senegal-and-nigeria-elect-presidentsIn the looming weekend (February 23 – 24,) the eyes of the world will be on West Africa as two ‘big boys’ in democracy march to the polls to elect presidents. Elections have become routine across much of Africa where leaders have often subjected themselves to the electoral process. Specifically in West Africa, the last few years have seen commendable strides in The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Benin, where power has successfully changed hands. The case of Africa’s most populous nation Nigerians will have the option of reelecting incumbent Muhammadu Buahri for a second and final term or finally give a a former vice-president Atiku Abubakar the opportunity to become president after a number of attempts. This is the sixth vote since a return to civilian rule in 1999. As Africa’s most populous nation, over 84 million people registered to vote according to Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. A recent update indicated that over 72 million people had collected their Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, and all things being equal should be able to cast their ballots when polls open on Saturday, February 23. There is a crowded playing field of over seventy candidates for the vote originally scheduled for February 16 but pushed by a week with INEC citing challenges to do with logistics transportation across the vast expanse of the 36 states. Campaigning officially ended on February 22 according to electoral laws – i.e. 24 hours to the opening of polls. Security has been a top issue with a presidential order for ballot snatchers to be dealt with ruthlessly. In the end, permutations indicate that it will be a straight win for either of the two main candidates. A run off could result and or the courts could be petitioned by an aggrieved party, voters will then prepare to return to vote for governors and lawmakers in March. Over in Senegal, the numbers are dwarfed in comparison to Nigeria. About six and half million people are registered to vote with five candidates in the race for the seat of president. Like in Nigeria, the incumbent is seeking re-election for a final term in office. Macky Sall who has been in office since 2012 is seeking a five-year mandate extension in one of Africa’s most stable democracies. Senegal located in the far west of the region has not experienced a disruption of their political system since independence from France in 1960. From the era of first president Leopold Sedar Senghor through to Sall’s mandate. Senegal has had four presidents in Senghor, his successor Abdou Diouf and Abdoulaye Wade, the first opposition candidate to defeat an incumbent. Sall is the fourth president after beating Wade in 2012. Incidentally, a 2016 referendum slashed the presidential term from seven-years to five years. The new tenure will kick off with whoever wins the February 24 polls. Sall does not have an out and out challenger with critics holding that he had locked out two main aspirants – Karim Wade and Khalifah Sall – both men were disqualified over corruption convictions. In both cases, all is set according to authorities and the players, the voters, the observers, the media and political watchers await the period during and after the polls.

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50 XSLT tips. [via Simon]

Transcript of the Eldred Supreme Court case. Converted to HTML and publicly archived by Aaron.

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