Author: newsfilegh

Women in Bangladesh are no longer required to declare if they are virgins on marriage registration forms, the country’s top court has ruled. The high court ordered that “virgin” be replaced with “unmarried”. The other two options on the form – “widow” and “divorced” – remain unchanged. Women’s rights groups – who had argued the word “virgin” was humiliating – welcomed Sunday’s verdict. Separately, the court said grooms now also must declare their marital status. Marriage laws in the Muslim-majority Bangladesh have been criticised by women’s rights groups as restrictive and discriminatory. Many girls in the country are forced into…

Optimists are more likely to live longer than those who have a more negative approach to life, a US study has found. Positive people were more likely to live to the age of 85 or more. The theory is that optimists may find it easier to control emotions and so be protected from the effects of stress. And researchers said pessimists could benefit from doing things like imagining a future where everything turns out well. The study used two existing groups of people recruited for different studies – 70,000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study and 1,500 men in the…

Optimists are more likely to live longer than those who have a more negative approach to life, a US study has found. Positive people were more likely to live to the age of 85 or more. The theory is that optimists may find it easier to control emotions and so be protected from the effects of stress. And researchers said pessimists could benefit from doing things like imagining a future where everything turns out well. The study used two existing groups of people recruited for different studies – 70,000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study and 1,500 men in the…

Minister for Railways Development Joe Ghartey has challenged the various Chambers of Commerce in the country to collaborate with their foreign counterparts to consider developing lands along railways in readiness for the business opportunities a revitalize sector will bring. The Minister explained that already government and its development partners have commenced a programme to develop associated infrastructure to go along with the revitalization efforts. “If you go to Eshiem now, it is becoming a new hub. There is a tile factory, Dangote factory and other large scale industrial activities. “If you go towards Shama, there is the Black Ivy championing…

Energy analyst Kojo Poku Nsafoah has alleged that there is “a lot of rot” at the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST), therefore petitioning government to intervene to sanitize the state-owned company According to him, BOST was becoming an issue due to the varying conflicts of interest. He said that is making it difficult for any appointed officer to salvage the image of the company. BOST had suffered successive scandals leading to the resignation or dismissal of two of its managing director in three years. Edwin Provencal was on Monday, August 26 appointed the new Managing Director though…

Film producer Harvey Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to two additional charges of predatory sexual assault. Mr Weinstein, who briefly appeared in a New York court, has already pleaded not guilty to raping a woman in 2013 and a forcible sex act on another in 2006. Prosecutors filed the new indictment on Monday to allow jurors to hear testimony from a third accuser, actress Annabella Sciorra. Mr Weinstein, 67, has denied sexual misconduct claims by over 70 women. Ms Sciorra, who is known for her role in the HBO series The Sopranos, says Mr Weinstein raped her inside her Manhattan…

An artificial intelligence system that generates realistic stories, poems and articles has been updated, with some claiming it is now almost as good as a human writer. The text generator, built by research firm OpenAI, was originally considered “too dangerous” to make public because of the potential for abuse. But now a new, more powerful version of the system – that could be used to create fake news or abusive spam on social media – has been released. The BBC, along with some AI experts, decided to try it out. The model, called GPT-2, was trained on a dataset of eight…

The Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Communications (STRATCOMM) Africa, Esther Cobbah, has disclosed communication is a great tool for effective development the world over. During a discussion on ‘Communication, Leadership and Business’ on TV3’s Time with the Captains business programme on Monday, August 26, she stressed that communication aids development. Addressing a mixed audience of entrepreneurs and students, she said ” I thought that sharing of knowledge will bring development so I went to the school of communication and my eyes opened because I actually saw that communication is the tool for effective development”. According to the communications expert, many…

Leading media conglomerate Media General has been nominated as the Most Eminent Media Brand of the Year for the maiden edition of National Communication Awards. The Awards, which are being organized by RAD Communications Limited, is under the theme ‘Communications for Organizational and National Development’. It seeks to recognise the efforts of communication companies, teams and individuals who through their efforts have used communication to champion organizational and national development. Media General since its inception through brands such as TV3, 3FM, 3news.com, Onua FM, Akoma FM, Connect FM and Adesa Productions Limited has contributed towards championing development. Aside being nominated…