President Akufo-Addo is chairing an extraordinary summit of Heads of State in the West African sub-region to find a lasting solution to the recent spate of coup d’états and insurgent activities in the region.
The summit will among others, review the political situation in Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso. It will further deliberate on measures to deal with the threats of terrorism.
Opening the summit at the Jubilee House, President Akufo-Addo who is also the Chairman of ECOWAS wants the leaders to take tough actions that will put all leaders and potential ones in check.
“This meeting will continue to focus on the political instability in our region with the resurgence of coup d’etat since August 2020, and hopefully find some lasting solutions to this research,” he said.
He added that “In dealing with these unfortunate matters, our objective has always been to find ways to help those countries return to constitutional order.”
President noted that the summit will re-examine and assess the situation in Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso.
This, according to President Akufo-Addo, will allow the countries with coups “deal better with the security and humanitarian challenges they are facing, in line with our resolute commitment to upholding democratic government and democratic institutions in the ECOWAS, space, as enshrined in our protocol on good governance.”
He welcomed the delegates, particularly the President of the African Union Commission His Excellency, Moussa Faqih Muhammad.
“We are privileged to welcome you again to your second home in Ghana, after our last extraordinary summit of 25th March 2022, where we discussed and deliberated on political trends in our region. I express my profound gratitude to all of you and the members of your delegation for attending this important extraordinary summit. The seventh we have held on this critical issue, which shows your strong commitment to democracy, peace, and stability in our region,” he said.
Could any of these African All-Stars step into the Senegal superstars’ shoes at Anfield?
Sadio Mane set to depart?
One of the major African transfer sagas of the summer is set to surround Sadio Mane and his future, with the Liverpool superstar reportedly indicating to the club that he is not intending to sign a new deal at Anfield.
As Senegal forward enters the final year of his deal, his intention leaves the Reds with a big decision to make; do they cash in on the forward now or hold onto him until the end of his deal in 2023?
Should Mane leave Merseyside this summer, he will surely be virtually impossible to replace, but could any of these five African All-Stars help ease the blow of losing one of Africa’s all-time greats?
Victor Osimhen
Not a similar player to Mane, but Osimhen would certainly give Liverpool a focal point in attack and could offer a different dimension to the Reds’ forward line.
He’s coming off the back of a season in which he netted 14 goals for Napoli in the Italian top flight—the best scoring campaign of his career—and at 23, appears primed to become one of the world’s finest strikers in the coming years.
Arsenal are reportedly considering the forward’s services this summer, so Premier League audiences may get to see Osimhen on English shores before too long.
Wilfried Zaha
Capable of thriving in the left-hand channel or even through the middle, Zaha is also coming off the back of the best campaign of his career after scoring 14 for Crystal Palace.
He found a new level under Patrick Vieira, still proving he’s at the top of his game, and at 29, Zaha should have a few more peak years ahead of him.
Does he still have one more big move left in the tank as well?
After failing to make his mark at Manchester United and having been passed over by Arsenal, Zaha still has a point to prove at one of Europe’s giants.
Emmanuel Dennis
Only last year, Liverpool was reportedly on the brink of a £35 million move for Ismaila Sarr, only for the deal to fall through at the death.
The Senegal Wideman’s stock has fallen in recent months—he hasn’t scored since November—but one of his Watford teammates has demonstrated enough to suggest that he deserves to remain in the Premier League despite the Hornets’ relegation.
West Ham United is understood to be keen on the Super Eagles attacker, but Liverpool may well want to take a look at an attacker who had a hand in 16 goals—only two fewer than Mane—during his debut Premier League season.
Sebastien Haller
Back in March, SI reported that Liverpool was considering a summer move for Ajax frontman Haller in light of the striker’s magnificent performances both in the Netherlands and Europe this season.
In light of Mane’s potential exit—and reported interest in Haller from Manchester United—Liverpool may well need to intensify their interest in the West Ham United flop if they’re serious about bringing him to Anfield.
Haller finished the Champions League campaign as the tournament’s third-highest scorer—behind only Robert Lewandowski and Karim Benzema—and has already scored 32 goals across a season and a half in the Eredivisie.
Kamaldeen Sulemana
Unlike a few of the other players on this list, Sulemana is still far from being the finished article, and he’d need time to develop at Anfield.
Nonetheless, the Wideman has immense potential—as he’s demonstrated for both Ghana and Stade Rennais—and was even reportedly on Jurgen Klopp’s radar before moving to Ligue 1.
Liverpool was rumored to still be keen on the Wideman as recently as late 2021, and he could be an ideal option to understudy Mane for a season should the Senegal superstar ultimately opt to see out his current contract.
Afia Schwarzenegger has reacted to a video that has celebrated TV presenter, Delay speaking bitterly about her being a hater and always dragging her in the mud even though she help to bring her to the limelight and make her famous.
In her reaction, Afia Schwar mocked Delay for being a cry baby who is afraid to face her head-on despite always bragging about being someone who is tough.
Afia Schwar went to mercilessly insult Delay for trying to supposedly get public sympathy after she started their beef in the first place.
The self-acclaimed queen of Ghana comedy used some unprintable words on Delay to show that she was very angry over the video of Delay shedding some tears on Wontumi FM drivetime show on Friday afternoon.
She ended the video with a warning to Delay not to try and pick a fight with her the next time if she knows she can’t stand her heat.
Watch the video Afia Schwar on Instagram which is captioned:
“Don’t start what you can’t finish and play victim!!!! Any day you want to try me..read about the eagle!!! I’m Vawulentina Nana Agyeiwaa Kodie Sikabediden”
Ghana loses its position as the top gold producer in Africa after output fell nearly 30 percent in 2021.
The volume of Gold declined to 2.818 million ounces in 2021 from 4.022 million ounces in 2020, the lowest level of output since 2008.
Mr. Joshua Mortoti, the President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, said the drop in production followed concurrent reductions in the output of large and small-scale Gold producers.
The large-scale sub-sector’s contribution to national gold production fell to 2.720 million ounces in 2021 compared with 2.847 million ounces in 2020.
Mr Mortoti said the decline in the sub-sector’s contribution was due to a broad fall in output in most of the large mines.
Also, the production of small-scale producers plummeted by 91.66 percent to 0.098 million ounces in 2021 from 1.175 million ounces in 2020.
“The near collapse in the sub-sectors output was principally a reflection of the producers’ response to the imposition of a 3 percent withholding tax on their output by the government in 2019,” Mr Mortoti said.
“Although anecdotal evidence suggests that the impost did not culminate in the cessation of operations, it is believed that it induced the small-scale miners and Licensed Gold Exporting Companies (LGECs) to export their output through non-official channels,” he added.
On the other hand, the output of the sole producer of bauxite, Ghana Bauxite Company, dropped from 1.162 million tonnes in 2020 to 0.839 million tonnes in 2021.
The cutback in production was largely an outcome of the uncertainty regarding the renewal of the lease of the operator of that mine, Bosai Minerals Group.
On the upside, the exports of diamonds recorded growth for the first time since 2014. The quantum of diamonds exported through the implementer of the Kimberly Process, PMMC, improved by 114.20 percent.
The increase in exports from 25,292 carats in 2020 to 54,174 carats in 2021 was primarily a consequence of high recoveries by artisanal winners, who have been the sole producers of that mineral since the only large-scale producer (Great Consolidated Diamond Company) was put under “care and maintenance”.
Likewise, the attributable production of manganese by the Ghana Manganese Company, which is the sole producer, expanded from 2.357 million tonnes in 2020 to 3.336 million tonnes in 2021.
The 41.52 percent upturn was reflective of a full year’s production.
In the preceding year, the company’s output was adversely impacted by a series of “stop and start” orders by the government.
On the domestic tax contributions of the mining sector, Mr Mortoti said the total direct domestic fiscal contributions of the producing member companies of the Chamber increased from GH¢3.973 billion in 2020 to GH¢4.611 billion in 2021.
The 16.05 percent expansion in fiscal payments was driven primarily by an upturn in all the direct fiscal streams; corporate income tax, mineral royalties, and employee income tax.
There were chills and a lot of emotions accompanying the revelations in a video fast making rounds on Facebook, where a man has been arrested for sending his daughter to a herbalist to have her killed for money.
In the video shared by Nana Adu-Boafo Jnr on Facebook, who identifies himself as a chief, military man, writer, author, poet and herbalist, he narrated how the man, Evans Oppong (who is also captured in the video wearing a plain white cloth and sitting on a wooden stool) brought his daughter to him, optimistic that she would be killed for rituals.
He explains in the post that Evans Oppong had just returned from abroad and came to him for help because things were not going on well with him there.
He added that the man explained that he has 12 children and that he wanted to use two of them for rituals, and that was why he went for this daughter from school and brought her to him.
However, unknown to Evans Oppong, he had just walked into a trap.
“This man brought his own biological daughter to me for money rituals. He promised me 10,000 GHc and other good surprises after the rituals.
Ghana Police Service has busted one Evans Oppong, Ghanaian Borga for attempting to use his daughter for money rituals.
The herbalist he visited with the daughter for the money rituals called the police to come and pick him.
According to the herbalist, the man said he just returned from abroad empty handed with no money.
ed-up Democrats in San Francisco and Los Angeles, liberal-leaning California cities reeling from COVID-era spikes in homicides and gun violence, may punish their own party at the polls next week over its criminal justice policies.
San Francisco’s progressive district attorney, Chesa Boudin, is likely to be pushed out of office in a recall vote, while voters in Los Angeles will be choosing a new mayor – with an ex-Republican as a leading candidate.
The results could send a blinking-red warning to Democrats ahead of November’s midterm elections.
In congressional and local races across the United States, Republicans have seized upon calls by progressives to reduce police department budgets and other liberal criminal justice policies to paint almost all Democratic candidates as lenient on crime.
Democrats have struggled to formulate a persuasive rebuttal, even as a new wave of moderates, such as New York Mayor Eric Adams, has urged them to take a more tough-on-crime approach.
In April, the pollster Gallup found concern over crime was at its highest level since 2016, with 53% of Americans saying they worried “a great deal” about it. An ABC/Washington Post poll in May showed Americans trusted the Republican Party over Democrats to handle crime by 12 percentage points.
But focus groups also show Americans increasingly worried about the proliferation of firearms. That is an issue that Democratic consultants said the party’s candidates could hone in on, shoring up their support with suburban and Black voters by explicitly tying lax gun laws to surges in crime.
“It is absolutely something Democrats can and should be using to combat against the increasing narrative of their being soft on crime,” said Angela Kuefler, a strategist who advises Democratic candidates on gun issues.
Kuefler noted there is widespread public support for enhanced background checks of gun purchasers and actions to decrease the flow of illegal guns into cities.
A series of mass shootings – including last week’s at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two teachers dead – has reignited the U.S. debate over policing and guns.
President Joe Biden has tried to balance a push for changes in policing from the more radical wing of his party with voters’ concerns about security. An executive order last week, for instance, established guidelines for the use of deadly force by federal law enforcement officers.
Boudin, on the other hand, embraced a strong progressive agenda in San Francisco – and appears to be paying the price.
COVID CHAOS
Boudin was elected in San Francisco in 2019 after pledging a series of reforms, saying he would not try juveniles as adults, would not push for sentencing enhancements for certain crimes that can add years to prison sentences, and would not seek cash bail for any defendant.
He largely followed through on his promises, which also included diverting low-level offenders away from incarceration to reduce the city’s jail population.
But after the pandemic began, the city saw increases in homicides, gun violence and property crime. Hate crimes against Asian Americans rose. Videos of large-scale “smash and grab” retail theft went viral.
Residents, including some deep-pocketed Republicans, blamed Boudin’s policies and launched a recall petition.
“It is a radical ideology that has upset everyone: left, right, gay, straight, young, old, male or female,” said Richie Greenberg, a local independent activist and spokesperson for the recall effort.
Boudin’s supporters say robberies and other crimes shifted from tourist areas to residential ones as a result of the pandemic, creating the perception of a crime surge. They point to data that shows a more nuanced reality, with assaults and rapes decreasing during the period, even as homicides and shootings increased.
Still, said Lara Bazelon, a law professor at the University of San Francisco and a Boudin defender, “People are feeling less safe regardless of what the stats say.”
Opinion polls show Boudin likely to be recalled on Tuesday. A replacement would be chosen by the city’s mayor, London Breed, a Democrat who has criticized Boudin but has not taken a stance on the recall.
In Los Angeles, Rick Caruso, a billionaire developer and former Republican, is battling U.S. Representative Karen Bass and a host of other liberal candidates in the mayoral election.
Caruso, who has spent more than $30 million of his own money in the campaign, made crime the centerpiece of his candidacy in a city that saw homicides reach a 15-year high in 2021. That forced Bass, a longtime progressive champion in Congress, to move to the center and pledge to put more police on the streets. Caruso and Bass could be headed to a runoff, polls show.
Republicans think crime could be a winning political issue in a number of congressional races, including in the suburbs of Minneapolis, New York City and Portland.
The party has already gone after Democratic Senate candidates in battleground states on crime, with Cheri Beasley in North Carolina an early target.
Republican-funded TV ads have assailed Beasley’s record, saying in one that she “failed to protect” child crime victims. Beasley, the former chief justice of the state Supreme Court, on Twitter called the ad “misleading” and warned more were to come.
She answered with an ad of her own, touting her efforts as chief justice to keep human traffickers off the streets.
“I’ll never stop fighting to make North Carolina safe,” she says.
GOFFPHOTOS-Prince Harry returned to the UK with Meghan for the Jubilee celebrations
Prince Harry and Meghan’s travel over the Atlantic for the Jubilee weekend had been treated beforehand like some kind of unpredictable weather front approaching.
Storms were feared. Royal officials feared the damage. But it’s been very low-profile for a couple who provoke such a high level of public attention.
They watched Trooping the Colour from a window, not part of the carriage procession or the family group allowed on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
There’s no escaping their big box-office status, but here they were watching from the wings.
They also dodged any airport arrival photo-fest, with suggestions the Queen sent cars to collect them from a private airport. Everything stayed under the radar.
Such a low profile is not likely to be accidental, with Prince Harry and Meghan wanting to avoid any accusations of stealing the limelight.
This is the Queen’s big weekend, celebrating her 70 years as monarch, and there are likely to have been warnings about avoiding anything that could overshadow the Jubilee events.
So it’s likely that Prince Harry and Meghan will have been urged to stay on-message and remain in the background, part of the backing band rather than the centre of attention.
It might be seen as a way of building bridges. It’s the Sussexes back to take part in a big event in a way perhaps not seen since leaving their royal roles in 2020.
Their daughter Lilibet, aged one this weekend, until this week hadn’t met her great-grandmother the Queen.
This quieter approach, without appearances and interviews, might be a way of re-establishing family links and connections with home.
While limiting the Buckingham Palace balcony to “working royals” meant excluding Prince Harry, Meghan and Prince Andrew, the two California-based royals were still part of the family group watching.
Covid is going to keep Prince Andrew away from the Thanksgiving Service at St Paul’s on Friday – an announcement on Thursday afternoon that raised some eyebrows. But Prince Harry and Meghan will be there and it will be a further sign of inclusion.
If the ambition of Buckingham Palace is for Prince Harry and Meghan to be there but not to draw attention to themselves, it won’t be easy. Because there is no escaping how much public interest they generate and how easily they could start making headlines.
Image caption,Meghan Markle with Savannah Phillips and Mia Tindall watching Trooping the Colour
If many of the Jubilee events are rather worthy events like lighting beacons, Prince Harry and Meghan can generate media fireworks, touching on issues of race and representation, celebrity and wealth. They are a news tinderbox, even without trying.
They certainly divide opinion, provoking strong positive and negative responses. They attract and they irritate. And such interest drives media attention, not to say huge web traffic to news stories, like moths drawn to a digital light.
According to a survey from YouGov this week, young people are more likely to be supportive of Prince Harry and Meghan. But overall the couple have lost much public sympathy in the UK, with their popularity at its lowest recorded level. But everyone has an opinion.
As the Jubilee weekend progresses there will be more attention on the Sussexes.
There have been expectations they will meet the Queen, but it’s understood that any such meetings will be considered as private and any details will remain speculation.
If the appearances so far are any guide, it could be a case of cryptic smiles from a distance and a determined effort to say little. In PR terms, it might not be a bad tactic.
Students at a Hong Kong university this week have hid tiny figurines of a “democracy goddess” around campus in the lead-up to the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
The anonymous acts defy the authorities’ increasing crackdown on public recognition of the highly sensitive incident.
Until recently, Hong Kong was one of the few Chinese territories which commemorated the June 4 1989 event.
Public vigils were held each year.
However Beijing has now effectively banned the city’s annual gathering and shut down Hong Kong’s Tiananmen museum.
These actions have been seen by activists as part of China’s broader agenda to snuff out political dissent in Hong Kong.
The figurines created by students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) are a copy of the “Goddess of Democracy” statue which was pulled down by university officials last December.
The statue had been a fixture on the campus for 11 years, and was modelled after the original democracy symbol paraded by students at Tiananmen Square in 1989 before they were killed by soldiers.
“This is a kind of a rebellion. The university ‘stole’ the statue from its students so we’ve decided to make our own versions on it and put it back,” one of the protest organisers told Hong Kong Free Press, a local outlet.
Protesters have printed out tiny 3D replicas of the statue, and concealed them on campus for other students to find. Attached are notes urging the finder to “Bring her home, and do not forget the meaning behind it!”
“Manneoi was born to remember the Chinese martyrs so we picked the days before June 4,” one of the organisers told the BBC, using the Cantonese name for the “Goddess of Democracy”.
The Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing became the focus for national demonstrations calling for greater political freedoms in 1989. Thousands of people – mainly students – camped for weeks in the square before the military moved in on 4 June and opened fire.
The Chinese government says 200 civilians and several dozen security personnel died. Other estimates have ranged from hundreds to as many as 10,000.
‘Guard our memories’
In Hong Kong on Wednesday, police warned people against staging “unauthorised assemblies” on Saturday and participating in “extremist” behaviour.
The student organiser who spoke to the BBC said they were told by other students to “be careful” but they felt “ok” regarding their treasure hunt: “It’s not a public assembly or protest”.
“It is sad for us to consider the risks as assembly should be our basic human right.”
They said they wanted people who found the statues to “guard our memories” and “don’t be so depressed because there are still people who haven’t given up”.
But in the end, organisers ended the activity on Thursday night as “we are afraid the university would interrupt our event”.
They said they had received word that university staff were monitoring students taking part in the hunt yesterday.
Image caption,A figurine in the same location on campus where the statue once stood
China’s erasure of public displays of June Fourth – as the Tiananmen anniversary is popularly known in Chinese – has become near total in Hong Kong since Beijing enacted a national security law on the island in 2020.
In the past year, local police prosecuted at least 26 pro-democracy activists for trying to commemorate June Fourth. They include Joshua Wong, media baron Jimmy Lai and former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Cyd Ho, and Andrew Wan.
They were all found guilty for attending or “inciting” others to participate in a vigil honouring the massacre victims in 2020, with some facing jail terms of up to 14 months.
In January this year, a Hong Kong court also sentenced activist Chow Hang-tung to 15 months in prison for her role leading to the banned 2021 vigil. Ms Chow had already been served a 12-month sentence for her role in the previous year’s vigil.
Last year, prior to her arrest, she had told the BBC she urged locals to pay tribute by lighting a candle on the anniversary or shining their phone flashlights at home.
Outside of China, diasporas around the world including in Taiwan, the UK, US, Canada and Australia have planned commemorations.
The Ghana Police Service has secured an injunction against the planned three-day armed demonstration by the #FixTheCountry Movement.
Conveners of the #FixTheCountry Movement had informed the Police of the intended demonstration on June 4 with some requests which included the permission to be armed during the demonstration as well as contracting a private security company to provide security during the demonstration.
The group also requested to picket in front of the Police Headquarters in Accra and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, as well as speak directly to the nation on GTV to lay out their grievances.
But the Police last Wednesday noted that although it was willing to protect any lawful demonstration in the country, the nature of this demonstration was inconsistent with the Public Order Act.
Consequently, the Police on Wednesday, June 1 filed a motion at the Accra High Court to restrain the organizers from embarking on the demonstration.
Granting the injunction Friday, the Court presided over by Comfort Kwasiwoo Tsiawoo, explained that the nature of the protest posed a security threat; hence the decision.
Meanwhile, a statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Juliana Obeng noted, however, “The Police Service will not impede in the way of any individuals or groups in the exercise of their right to demonstrate, as long as it is within the Omits of the laws of the country.”
Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk has a “super bad feeling” about the economy and needs to cut about 10% of jobs at the electric carmaker, he said in an email to executives seen by Reuters.
The message, sent on Thursday and titled “pause all hiring worldwide”, came two days after the billionaire told staff to return to the workplace or leave, and adds to a growing chorus of warnings from business leaders about the risks of recession.
Almost 100,000 people were employed at Tesla and its subsidiaries at the end of 2021, its annual SEC filing showed.
The company was not immediately available for comment.
Tesla shares fell nearly 5% in U.S. pre-market trade on Friday and its Frankfurt-listed stock was down 3.6% after the Reuters report. U.S. Nasdaq futures turned negative and were trading 1% lower.
Musk has warned in recent weeks about the risks of recession, but his email ordering a hiring freeze and staff cuts was the most direct and high-profile message of its kind from the head of an automaker.
So far, demand for Tesla cars and other electric vehicles (EV) has remained strong and many traditional indicators of a downturn – including increasing dealer inventories and incentives in the United States – have not materialized.
But Tesla has struggled to restart production at its Shanghai factory after COVID-19 lockdowns forced costly outages.
“It is always better to introduce austerity measures in good times than in bad times. I see the statements as a forewarning and a precautionary measure,” said Hanover-based NordLB analyst Frank Schwope.
Many carmakers achieved record profits in 2021, but the economic situation is now more uncertain, he noted.
Musk’s gloomy outlook echoes recent comments from executives including JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sachs President John Waldron.
Inflation in the United States is hovering at 40-year highs and has caused a jump in the cost of living for Americans, while the Federal Reserve faces the difficult task of dampening demand enough to curb inflation while not causing a recession.
Musk, the world’s richest man according to Forbes, did not elaborate on the reasons for his “super bad feeling” about the economic outlook in the brief email seen by Reuters.
