Day: April 10, 2024

Tunis: Renowned for his original musical concept "La Chorale...C'est Vous", composer, arranger and conductor Amine Boudchar, known by his stage name Boudchart, has just announced on his official website that he will be performing in Tunisia for the first time on May 18, 2024, at the ThéStre de l'Opéra de Tunis-Cité de la culture Chedly Klibi. Boudchart has performed in several other countries, including France, Canada, Belgium, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh in January 2024 in a concert that drew more than 20,000 spectators. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Following the devastating Russian attacks on the north-eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited the area, to review the situation. 'All the conditions for reducing the electricity deficit are being created,' Zelensky said in a video message on Tuesday. There should be fewer power cuts, he said, adding that work is being done to repair the damage to the grids. The president accused Russia, of trying to drive people out of the city of over 1 million and the region. 'Everything that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin touches turns into ruins,' Zelensky said. However, Kiev will do everything it can to better protect the city from Russian attacks, he added. 'We have a solution to strengthen the air defence here.' Zelensky also appealed to international allies to do more to strengthen Ukraine's air defence - and not just in Kharkiv. The head of state also inspected the progress made in the construction of defence lines along the Russian border. Fears of a new Russian advan ce towards Ukraine's second largest city after Kiev have recently been mounting. Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for over two years. The major city of Kharkiv, which is only around 30 kilometres from the Russian border, was hit particularly hard by Russian attacks in March, especially on its energy infrastructure. At times, Kharkiv was completely without electricity and there were regular power cuts. Authorities across Ukraine's regions, from Lviv in the west to Donetsk in the east, reported deaths from Russian drone and missile attacks over the past day. Energy infrastructure was also once again hit. In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for urgent international efforts to supply more air defence systems, in view of the threat posed by Russia to Kharkiv. Putin wants to 'bomb Kharkiv to the ground,' warned Baerbock. 'He wants to destroy, he wants to deliberately destroy.' 'If Russia launches a major offensive there, it would cause immeasurabl e suffering,' she said. Baerbock, speaking at meeting with her Moldovan counterpart, lamented that Germany's stocks of Patriot air defence systems are 'pretty much exhausted.' She said that a fund was being worked on with Ukraine and European partners, to purchase air defence systems from other countries around the world, and deliver them quickly. She hoped that further information, could be provided at the meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Italy next week. Reports of civilian deaths in the past 24 hours, highlighted the need for Ukraine to better protect its skies. Authorities in the central region of Poltava, the northern region of Sumy and the eastern region of Donetsk all announced at least one death in their territory due Russian strikes. Zaporizhzhya Governor Ivan Fedorov, said the number of civilians killed in his region in strikes on Monday had risen from three to four, with another eight people injured. In Brussels, the European Commission said Germany, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands are to soon supply Ukraine with 157 power generators in various sizes. Another drone attack was reported on Tuesday, in the area of the Russian-occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya. According to the Russian management of the plant, a training centre next to the power station was hit. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi, said there was no 'direct threat to nuclear safety' but called the situation 'extremely serious.' On Sunday, the plant was attacked by drones in three places. According to an IAEA report, no serious damage was caused. Nevertheless, the Vienna-based agency categorized the attack as a 'serious incident' that had endangered the radiation shielding of a reactor. The IAEA did not say from which side the nuclear power plant was attacked, but it reported that 'Russian troops engaged what appeared to be an approaching drone' on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian public prosecutor's office said it aware of 54 cases, in which Russian soldiers are alleged to ha ve shot Ukrainian prisoners of war, stretching back to the early days of the war in March 2022. A total of 27 criminal proceedings have been initiated, the head of the department responsible for war crimes at the public prosecutor's office, Yurii Bielousov, wrote on Telegram on Tuesday. The United Nations has received reports of 12 incidents in which at least 32 Ukrainian prisoners of war were shot dead between the beginning of December last year and the end of February alone. The UN observers were able to verify three cases. In 2022 and early 2023, however, the shooting of 25 Russian prisoners of war by Ukrainian soldiers was also documented. Source: Ghana News Agency

Over 300 residents of Azizanya, Kewunor, and Ayigboe, communities in Ada East, have been left homeless due to flooding in the communities following some waves emanating from the Volta River. Lodges, drinking spots, and other business entities along the river bank have also been affected, with over 100 structures being submerged and properties destroyed. The river, which has been overflowing its banks for three days now, has worsened the plight of inhabitants of communities along its banks after the spillage of the Akosombo dam, which displaced close to a thousand people in the latter part of 2023. Mr Gabriel T. Akli, the Assembly member for Azizanya-Kewinor Electoral Area, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that, even though this was a regular occurrence, it has become intense. Mr Akli said, 'The communities have been facing this challenge, but not as strongly as this; we have noticed that after the Akosombo and Kpong dam spillages, the banks have been washed, exposing the communities to the waves of the r iver and the sea since they are close to the estuary.' He said they were awaiting some promise from the Ada East District Assembly to help create an embankment to protect the communities. He explained that because the Assembly was yet to have its presiding member elected, the convening of various committees had become a challenge, hindering them from putting their issues, including the flooding, before the Assembly for handling. He suggested that the only solution to save the communities from the waves was to embank the river with sand. Some of the affected residents told the GNA that they had lost their properties to the flood waters, indicating that their mattresses, clothing, smoked fish, utensils, cash, and other valuable items had all been washed away. According to them, whenever the communities get flooded, people come to their aid with foodstuffs and sometimes mattresses, but they end up losing them to the floods. They, therefore, appealed to organisations, the government, and individuals to help embank the river as a more permanent solution to their plight instead of the donations of items, which they said, even though important, was a temporary solution. Source: Ghana News Agency

An Accra Circuit Court has adjourned to May 3, the case of two Prison Officers accused of aiding Wang Xiao, a Chinese convicted prisoner to escape from Nsawam Medium Security Prisons. The Officers Joseph Oteng and Sergeant Isaac Boateng Bonsu have denied the charges of conspiracy and aiding escape. The court presided over by Mrs Afia Owusuaa Appiah adjourned the matter to enable the prosecution to file their disclosures. The correctional officers are currently on GHC 100,000 bail each. The prosecution led by Chief Inspector Wisdom Alorwu, earlier told the court that the complainant was the third in Command at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons and the accused were serving under his supervision. The court heard that on February 7, 2024, at around 0700 hours, the two officers were detailed to escort Xiao, a Chinese national serving a year's sentence at Nsawam Medium Security Prisons to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital for treatment. The prosecution said after the convict was treated by a medical officer at the hospital's Dental Department, the accused agreed to accompany the convict to Oceans Hotel at Korle Gonno to meet his wife for a discussion in exchange for a reward of GHC1,000, which they agreed to split. According to the prosecution, the accused removed the convict's handcuff and took him to the hotel reception. The prosecution said the second accused, Bonsu, informed the receptionist that they were there to see someone in one of the rooms. Chief Inspector Alorwu said the two officers sent the convict to the room where they met his alleged wife who offered them food and drinks, while she spent some time with the husband in the room. The prosecution said upon returning to the hotel room to contact the convict, the accused discovered that both the convict and his alleged wife had fled through the balcony. It said after the convict fled; the accused proceeded to the Tema Station Hockey Pitch to hide the handcuffs with a witness in the case. They (accused) immediately called their superiors in Nsawam and i nformed them that when they were escorting the convict from the hospital, they were unexpectedly stopped by a Yellow and black unregistered Toyota Vitz Taxi and the inmate leapt into the taxi and fled with it. The prosecution said the accused were interrogated by their superiors at the Ghana Prisons Service headquarters, who then submitted a formal complainant to the Police on February 13, 2024. During investigations, the accused led the Police to the hotel and a review of a CCTV footage revealed that the convict and his alleged wife jumped from the balcony of the first-floor building and fled while the accused were relaxing in the reception area after receiving meals from the convict's wife. The prosecutor said it was only when the hotel staff alerted them to check on the prisoner that they realized that they had escaped. Source: Ghana News Agency

The Cape Three Points Development Association has called on the government to take steps to rehabilitate the deplorable Sankor to Cape Three Points road in the Ahanta West Municipality of the Western Region. Mr Joseph Cudjoe, the Chairman of the Association, speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview, said that stretch had been in a sorry state for several years, and that little had been done by the authorities to reconstruct the road. He said the situation had been a source of worry for residents in the various communities along that road as it gave rise to criminal activities, loss of lives and damaged vehicles, among other things. According to him, the community, which was the landmark points of Ghana's oil and gas discovery could not boast of good road network to aid easy commuting in and out of the area. He said: 'In spite of the economic significance of Cape Three Points to the country in terms of tourism, and oil and gas among other resources, we feel that we have not had a fair share of the national infrastructural development, especially roads.' Mr Cudjoe noted that the nature of the road had forced Cape Three Points residents to use a stretch that passed through a rubber plantation to join the Princess Town - Axim Road. 'The people of Cape Three Points drive up to about five miles through a rubber plantation to join the Princess Town - Axim Road. But even on that stretch, there is a very steep hill that makes it almost impossible for bigger vehicles to use,' he said. He added that: 'Surprisingly, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) transport their fuels and other equipment to their Lighthouse in the town through the new routes we discovered, because the main road; Sankor-Cape Three Points has been abandoned.' He, therefore, appealed to the GPHA and other stakeholders to come to their aid and fix the five-mile road for them, while the government also took steps to rehabilitate the main Sankor-Cape Three Points road. Dr Patrick Ekye Kwesie, Leader of Western Nzema Youth Lea gue, expressed worry over the situation, saying; 'Cape Three Points, despite being a sensational village, has been reduced to a 'fetid environment', where our road network has been very terrible, which is negatively Impacting our social and economic lives. 'We are pleading with Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, and other stakeholders in the petroleum sector to intervene and help engineer the hill that leads to the community because it's been a bane on us and can cause havoc as the raining season approaches.' Source: Ghana News Agency