Author: newsfilegh

When Ghanaian comedian OB Amponsah walked off the stage of D2R 2019, little did he envisage that the next few days were going to plunge him into total disbelief, flatten his dimples, and loosen all the air from his head which was still swelling as a result of the delirious raves he had received. The D2R crowd had given him the biggest applause and cheer of his comedy career, and he had gone to bed with sugar and honey fighting for real estate in his head. OB woke up the next morning thinking to himself, ‘I have arrived’, but that…

China has widened a lockdown in Hubei province – the centre of the coronavirus outbreak – as the death toll climbed to 26. The travel restrictions will affect at least 20 million people across 10 cities, including the capital Wuhan, where the virus emerged. On Thursday, a coronavirus patient died in nearby Hebei province – making it the first death outside Hubei. Another death was later confirmed in north-east Heilongjiang province. The north-eastern area borders Russia and is more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) from Wuhan. Nationally, there are currently 830 confirmed cases of patients infected with the virus. The…

Nine suspected drug dealers have been arrested at Achimota in Accra in a special police operation Wednesday. The intelligence-led operation which was conducted at ‘Vegas Ghetto’ led to the retrieval of several parcels of wrapped white substances and dried leaves believed to be narcotic drugs. A police statement Thursday said several other items were also retrieved from the suspects. “The operation is part of the Police Administration’s resolve to weed out criminals from the Ghanaian society,” it explained. It said such intelligence-led preventive policing and strategic operational exercises will continue, to ensure that law and order is achieved before, during…

The immediate past Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), William Matthew Tetteh Tevie, who is standing trial on allegations of stealing and causing financial loss to the state, has testified that he is not a thief. “In my whole professional life I have never stolen anybody’s money,” he told the Accra High Court yesterday when he opened his defence. Tevie is standing trial with Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, a former Board Chairman of the NCA; Nana Owusu Ensaw, a former board member; Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman, a former Deputy National Security Coordinator, and a businessman, George Derek Oppong. They are alleged…

The Trump administration is imposing new visa rules aimed at restricting “birth tourism,” in which women travel to the United States to give birth so their children can have U.S. citizenship. The regulations, which take effect Friday, address one of President Donald Trump’s main political priorities. The regulations seek to chip away at the number of foreigners who take advantage of the constitutional provision granting “birthright citizenship” to anyone born in the United States, a particular peeve of Trump’s. Under the new rules, pregnant applicants will be denied a tourist visa unless they can prove they must come to the…

Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara has told the BBC he is “not in a rush” to decide on running for a third term in office in the elections that will be held at the end of October. President Ouattara has in the past indicated that he will run for the presidency should the leaders of the other main parties, who are also political veterans, do the same. He told the BBC’s Nicolas Negoce at the recent Africa summit in London that: The election will be free and fair and transparent. The date is 31 October according to the constitution and…

A desperate search for vitality has over the years pushed some Ghanaian youth into consuming poisonous substances, including various kinds of glue, turpentine and petrol, but the latest discovery will shock the nation. In the Upper West Region where the new substance abuse is believed to have originated, the youth mix both used and unused women sanitary pads with water and boil for some minutes after which they sieve the concoction for drinking. For smokers, they mix dried human faeces with Indian hemp and then roll it up in papers like cigarette sticks. The human excreta, according to the abusers,…

Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Samuel Nartey George, has donated 300 sets of desks and 50 tables to the Ahwiam D/A Basic School in his constituency. The donation was done Wednesday, January 22 to mark his birthday. He also cut the sod for the construction of an ultra-modern 4-storey KG Block for the school. “I came here during my rounds and saw that the desks were damaged and in some of the classrooms there were no desks at all; the kids were sitting on blocks. I assured the District Director of Education that I would change all the desks…

Members of the Asokwa Municipal Assembly have failed to elect a Presiding Member after two rounds of voting on Thursday. None of the two contestants, Oscar Riches of Old Asokwa Electoral area and Bismark Osei Tutu of Kyirapatre, secured the mandatory two-thirds of the total 18 votes cast, to emerge the winner. The first round of voting saw the two securing nine votes each, taking the voting process into a second round which ended with Oscar Riches polling 10 votes and eight votes for Osei Tutu. The Assembly will meet in the next 10 days to vote again. Municipal Chief…

Africa’s richest woman, Isabel dos Santos, has been formally accused of embezzlement by prosecutors in Angola. Attorney General Helder Pitta Gros said the allegations related to her time as chairwoman of state oil firm Sonangol. An international arrest warrant would be issued for Ms dos Santos and five others, who all live abroad, if they did not present themselves, he said. Ms dos Santos recently denied alleged corruption revealed by leaked documents. She also told the BBC she was considering running for Angola’s presidency. Ms dos Santos currently lives in the UK. What is she accused of? Prosecutors are seeking…