Author: Krobea

US politician Nancy Pelosi is thought to have set a new record for the longest speech ever made in the House of Representatives, after telling the stories of immigrants for eight hours. Ms Pelosi was advocating on behalf of undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children, known as “Dreamers”. She wants them protected as part of a budget deal being agreed this week. The House minority leader began her speech at 10:04 local time (15:04 GMT) – and did not finish until the evening. Dreamers were previously protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals scheme – something…

North Korea appears to have held a low-key military parade, a day ahead of the Winter Olympics, South Korean media said. Its timing drew criticism from the US as it’s the first time in 40 years the annual event has been held in February. Early on Thursday state television began showing patriotic films in what appeared to be a prelude to a live broadcast of the parade. But reports later surfaced that it had already taken place. “It seems that North Korea opened the parade at 10:30 a.m. (Seoul time),” anonymous government sources told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. In…

A Deputy Minister of Transport, Titus Glover, has added his voice to the call for the legalisation of the commercial motorbike operations, popularly referred to as Okada, in the country. Speaking to Bright Kwesi Asempa on the Wednesday edition of the ‘Yensempa’ morning show on Onua FM, the Deputy Transport Minister opined that the commercial motorcycle operators are doing well in terms of generating incomes for themselves and their dependants even though their activities is against the laws of the land. He added that there must be a national dialogue as to how to apply the laws on the operations…

The Minority Chief Whip of the Parliament of Ghana, Muntaka Muhammad Mubarak, has stated that the legislative arm of government has lost another golden opportunity to redeem its image. He said this in reaction to the final report of the ad hoc committee tasked to investigate allegations of monies paid by expatriate business owners at the Ghana Expatriates Business Awards (GEBA) to sit near President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The Asawase Member of Parliament said the outcome of the report and the attitude of the chairman of the five-member committee is sad for Ghana’s democracy. According to him, in other…

Spending just 10 minutes a day talking to people with dementia about their interests or family could help improve their quality of life, according to a study. Researchers carried out a nine-month trial in 69 care homes in England. One-to-one interaction, combined with personalised care, significantly reduced the residents’ anger and agitation, the study found. The authors said other homes should try taking a more “personal” approach. ‘Simple things… implemented robustly’ The study, published in PLOS Medicine, involved more than 800 people with dementia across care homes in south London, north London and Buckinghamshire over a nine-month randomised controlled trial.…

Popular hiplife/hiphop artiste Kwaw Kese may not be a happy person at all after controversial actress and broadcaster Afia Schwarzenegger accused him and Shatta Wale of being bad role models because of their smoking habits. Afia Schwarzenegger said the two were ageing and should know better in quitting smoking. But Kwaw Kese did not take kindly at this ‘advice’ at all from the former radio presenter. According to him, she cannot make sense. The reason? “[Because] she smokes more than we 2 combined,” the Abodam man tweeted on Wednesday. How can Afia make sense when she smokes more than wee…

Kenya has deported opposition supporter and lawyer, Miguna Miguna following his role in the unofficial swearing-in of opposition leader Raila Odinga as “the people’s president”. Mr Miguna has boarded a flight to take him to Canada, where he is a citizen. The government says Mr Miguna has renounced his Kenyan nationality, which he denies. TV stations were stopped to prevent them broadcasting the ceremony, which officials said was an act of treason. Mr Odinga boycotted last year’s election re-run, saying it would be rigged in favour of President Uhuru Kenyatta. After Mr Odinga’s unofficial swearing in on 30 January, Mr…

US entrepreneur Elon Musk has launched his new rocket, the Falcon Heavy, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mammoth vehicle – the most powerful since the shuttle system – lifted clear of its pad without incident to soar high over the Atlantic Ocean. It was billed as a risky test flight in advance of the lift-off. The SpaceX CEO said the challenges of developing the new rocket meant the chances of a successful first outing might be only 50-50. “I had this image of just a giant explosion on the pad, a wheel bouncing down the road. But…

A new Athletics World Cup will take place in London this summer, with eight top nations competing. The inaugural competition is scheduled for 14 and 15 July – the same weekend as football’s World Cup final in Russia and the Wimbledon tennis finals. Britain and the United States will take part, along with South Africa, Poland, France, China, Germany and Jamaica. One male and one female athlete from each nation will compete in all field and track events up to 1500m. The countries will be competing for prize money of $2m (£1.42m) over two evening sessions at London Stadium. To…

Healthcare givers at the Suntreso Hospital and Kumasi South Hospital in Kumasi have undergone a neonatal care training sessions imparted by three Israeli Neonatal experts. The purpose of these trainings was to boost the staff’s capacity in their area of Kangaroo Mother Care. Every year, these neonatal health experts visit the two health centres to assess and train health care givers on neonatal procedures. As part of their visit, Dr. Agneta Golan, Dr. Eylon Shani, and Dr. Dan Greenberg assessed the operational success and challenges of the units and provided advice on their further management. In 2009, as envisaged by…