Barcelona is apparently planning a transfer attack on Manchester City for Erling Haaland in 2025, with the Liga giants hoping to keep Xavi.
Xavi, a Blaugrana icon, said in January that he will stand down as manager of Camp Nou at the end of the 2023-24 season. Barcelona has now reached the Champions League quarter-finals and reduced the distance on Clasico rivals Real Madrid in the Liga title race, prompting speculation that Xavi may be persuaded to stay.
Barca believe that ambition in the recruitment market will help them to convince their current head coach that more success can be savoured, with Mundo Deportivo claiming that prolific Norwegian striker Haaland will be targeted in the summer of 2025.
Barca are keen to have contingency plans in place for when Robert Lewandowski departs, with the Polish frontman set to turn 36 in August. Haaland would be a suitable long-term replacement and the kind of addition that would help to keep Xavi in the most demanding of coaching roles.
The Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited (CBG) has developed several products to support small and midsize businesses (SMEs) at Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region to open opportunities for them through its newly introduced products.
Key among the products is the collateral-free loan, which enables SMEs to access loans up to GHS500,000.00 without collateral.
Disclosing this at the bank’s official launch at Nkawkaw in the Kwahu West Municipality, Mr Daniel Wilson Addo, the Managing Director, said the CBG had a responsibility to provide safe, convenient, and competitive banking products and services to the Nkawkaw residents and surrounding communities.
He said with the town being an SME hub, the bank had a special interest in the sector, hence the introduction of the products.
CBG has flexible products for individuals, businesses, children, and students ranging from investments, loans, savings, advisory services, and insurance. Currently it has 114 branches across 13 regions of Ghana.
Mr Addo said the bank was established to support the economic growth of Ghana by providing convenient and competitive banking products and services to all clients, including micro and small enterprises as well as retail traders.
Plans were also underway to introduce unique digital solutions such as mobile banking and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to customers for an easy banking experience.
Mr Yaw Owusu Addo, the Kwahu West Municipal Chief Executive, entreated the bank to strengthen its ties with reputable businessmen in the area since natives of Kwahu were known for their business acumen.
That, he said, would foster the economic growth and development of the bank.
Nana Asante Kwame Betieni, the Chief of Kwahu Atibie, assured the bank of the traditional area’s commitment to avail land for the construction of accommodation facilities for the workers.
He, therefore, advised the workers to portray professionalism, hard work, dedication, and excellent customer service to clients to establish a good working relationship and image.
FILE PHOTO: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas//File Photo
Ghana is scheduled to conduct its second assessment of the three-year, $3 billion IMF-supported post-COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG).
This review begins today, Tuesday, April 2, 2024, and follows the successful conclusion of the previous review earlier in January.
Over the weekend, IMF mission personnel arrived in Ghana to begin assessing Ghana’s performance against programme objectives. This examination will last the following two weeks.
During this time, Ghana’s adherence to the programme goals will be regularly monitored, with an emphasis on topics such as economic recovery, budgetary management, and structural change.
The outcome of this review will have significant implications for Ghana’s economic trajectory and its relationship with international financial institutions.
Already, the government has expressed confidence in passing this review of the IMF programme, as it is hopeful of meeting all structural targets to unlock the third tranche of IMF cash of $360 million by the end of June.
This round of assessment by the IMF will be the second programme review after the bailout was finalized but the first of the two reviews expected this year.
The next review for 2024 is scheduled for November.
The IMF team will consider the qualitative and quantitative targets after the second tranche facility was released to the country for budgetary support.
However, this is happening despite the challenges the government grappling with reaching an agreement with its bilateral and commercial creditors for the restructuring of external debts.
Although the government has made significant progress in negotiations, it remains optimistic that it will be successful in securing the third tranche of $360 million to bring the disbursements to about $1.56 billion so far.
During the visit, the IMF will be meeting, the President, government and Central Bank officials, and civil society organizations among others.
Finance Minister, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam and Bank of Ghana Governor, Dr. Ernest Addison have both assured that the government is prepared to stay the course.
The IMF mission staff will end on Friday, April 12, 2024, after which they will return to Washington DC with their status report subject to the approval of the IMF Board.
Decorate your House using the Easter theme. For example, put up a nice palm weave to celebrate palm sunday. You can also get a Gooss for your door and drape it with a Scarlet cloth/ribbons
Good Friday: Go to church on Good Friday. Take time to think about the scriptures shared and the lessons on the cross. You can go to your church or visit another especially big services like the Miracle Service with Evangelist Dag Heward-Mills, usually held at Independence Square. Afterward, you can attend a concert to celebrate. An example is Harvest Praise 2024.
Holy Saturday Spend the Saturday with your family. Have a family devotion and spend the day together. Plan together activities like decorating the dining area or the living area
Resurrection Sunday It is a must to go to church. What better way to celebrate the resurrection than going to church
Easter Monday This is your picnic day. Go to the beach or plan a hike. You can go quad biking with the family and have your lunch or something on a nice green patch on the Aburi Hillside. Don’t let your Easter be boring again! Go and enjoy it with the whole family
Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Flagbearer, has pledged to add 2,000 megawatts of solar power to the national grid, if he is elected President in the December polls.
He said 2,000 megawatts of solar power would reduce the cost of power for businesses given the high cost of electricity from other energy mixes.
The NPP Flagbearer made the promise during an engagement with the Council of Indigenous Business Association (CIBA) in Accra, on Monday.
The meeting formed part of Dr Bawumia’s engagements with key stakeholders to listen to their concerns and factor them into the NPP’s 2024 Election Manifesto.
CIBA is the largest informal business group in Ghana, which contributes significantly to job creation and the country’s development.
Dr Bawumia, thus, encouraged members of CIBA who were yet to register their businesses to do so to benefit from the many government initiatives intended to boost their businesses.
During the interactions, the NPP flagbearer explained in detail his proposed tax reforms, including the business-friendly proposal for tax amnesty for businesses and individuals, as well as a flat tax rate, to support the growth of businesses, if he became President in 2025.
He outlined the benefits of the Government’s digitalisation initiatives to businesses, noting that many in the country were already leveraging the digital platforms to improve services to their clients.
Under his administration, Ghanaians would witness stress-free passport acquisition as individuals could apply for it online using the Ghana Card, he said.
Dr Bawumia assured the Ghana National Association of Traditional Healers that once the Food and Drugs Authority certified medicines produced by the group, he would make sure the products were registered under the National Health Insurance Scheme.
The NPP presidential candidate supported a proposal by the National Refrigerators and Air Condition Workshop Owners Association for the establishment of a refrigerator manufacturing plant in Ghana.
He promised to peg the country’s import duty at par with Togo or even lower to make diversion of cargo through neighbouring countries’ ports unattractive.
Dr Bawumia appealed to Ghanaians to give him the chance to become President, saying; “I am currently a Vice-President, someone was President, I have not been President before so give me the chance and you will notice the work I will do.”
“I know I will come to you again after you’ve given me the chance in this year’s elections, and so, I will work very hard to justify the mandate…”
Mr John Nimoh, the Executive Secretary of the Group, said it would sign a social contract with the NPP flagbearer and make sure they held him into account if he became President.
He said the CIBA, in partnership with Waltergate Limited, was restructuring its activities through a data system and members would be registered and issued with identity cards with payment solution benefits.
Mr Reginald Yofi Grant, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, says his outfit would soon introduce an Investor Grievance Mechanism to address challenges investors faced when setting up businesses in Ghana.
He said the Mechanism, which would be an online platform, would enable the GIPC to identify challenges investors faced and address them.
Mr Grant said this during the opening of GIPC’s AfterCare Forum, a forum for investors to discuss their challenges and opportunities in doing business in the country.
The event brought together investors, business owners, state institutions and government officials to deliberate on how to enhance investors’ experience and stay in the country.
Mr Grant said it formed part of the Centre’s “investor retention” strategy, aimed at providing an enabling environment to enhance investor experience.
He said since the establishment of the AfterCare Unit at the Centre two years ago, it had been able to address some challenges investors faced as well as made smooth and less cumbersome their setting up and operational experience.
Mr Grant said some of the challenges they faced included lack of transparency and accountability in their dealings with public agencies and delays in the issuance of government permits to start business.
He added that they would be enhancing their collaboration with state institutions, especially the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in addressing challenges investors faced in their localities.
Mr Grant said so far, engagements with investors at the forum had been fruitful, saying investors aftercare was a continuous process towards making the business environment conducive for them.
Mr Roger Aboujaoude, Chief Executive Officer of Maleka Farms Limited, commended the GIPC for the establishment of the Unit, saying it had come in time to address their concerns.
Mr Manish Gupta, the Indian High Commissioner, has lauded Ghana’s technological and digitalisation drive towards development and urged government to double up on that path.
He said technology played a big role in economic development and provided a solid foundation for transparency and integrity in the delivery of public services in the most efficient manner.
Alluding to India’s success story, he recommended that every household in Ghana should have a bank account, a biometric identification card (Ghana card) and a mobile phone to help formalise the economy expeditiously and carry everybody along.
Mr Gupta made the remarks during a meeting with the media in the Central Region, together with the leadership of the Department of Geography and Regional Planning, University of Cape Coast (UCC), as part of his three-day working visit to the Central Region.
The Ambassador, who is barely three months in Ghana, later paid courtesy calls on Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong, the Vice Chancellor of UCC, and Osabarimba Kwesi Atta II, the Oguaamanhen at the Emintsimadze Palace.
He also visited the Central Regional Coordinating Council and the Regional Office of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Cape Coast.
He had paid a visit to the Elmina Castle on Monday and rounded up his tour at the Komenda Sugar Factory, which was funded by the Indian Exim Bank.
The Ambassador stressed that it was crucial to absorb technology for proper planning and integrate the various systems, adding that digitalising all public infrastructure, for instance, would enhance services such as passport and taxation.
“When you do away with human interface in dealing with the public, life is much simpler,” he said, commending Ghana’s efforts so far.
Mr Gupta expressed the Indian Government’s commitment to strengthening the bilateral partnership with Ghana for mutual development, particularly in the areas of education, health, energy, technology and manufacturing.
Highlighting India’s longstanding relationship with Ghana, he said his country would go beyond the Government-to-government engagement, to the level of people-to-people.
Touching on food security, he said Ghana had the potential to becoming a net food exporter and food basket for the West African sub-region without depending on Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) foods.
Ghana had the ideal climatic and soil conditions for agriculture and needed the right kind of investments to be food sufficient, he said.
He, therefore, urged the Government to focus on investing more in the grassroots, especially by training and supporting farmers and adopting the best farming practices.
“While the Planting for Food and Jobs policy was a good start, Ghana could do better. We should not be depending on anybody for food”.
On health, the Ambassador said India was doing exceptionally well in the sector, particularly with the production of pharmaceuticals and called for a deeper cooperation in that area.
As Ghana joins the rest of the world to transition to renewable energies, he was looking forward to a closer collaboration between the two countries on the production of solar energy given Ghana’s excellent weather conditions.
He expressed satisfaction at the performance of the media so far.
Professor Kofi Nyarko, the Head of Department, Geography and Regional Planning, UCC, expressed gratitude to the Ambassador for his visit and commitment to work with the University.
He said UCC had had a high level of collaboration with the Indian High Commission for a while and was determined to continue that path because India had a lot to offer.
FILE PHOTO: Members of the Army National Guard deter migrants attempting to cross into the U.S. past razor wire in El Paso, Texas, U.S., March 22, 2024. REUTERS/Adrees Latif/File Photo
A United States appeals court has put on hold a Republican-backed Texas law that would allow state authorities to arrest and prosecute people suspected of illegally crossing the US-Mexico border – a statute that President Joe Biden’s administration has argued infringes on federal authority.
In a 2-1 decision late Tuesday, a panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Texas’ plea to allow the legislation go into effect while the state appealed a judge’s verdict banning it.
The law, formally called S.B. 4, has become a flashpoint in a broader battle between Texas and the Biden administration over border security and immigration. It would make it a state crime to illegally enter or re-enter Texas from a foreign country and would empower state judges to order that violators leave the United States, with prison sentences up to 20 years for those who refuse to comply.
The 5th Circuit panel’s action was the latest of three rapid-fire rulings on the status of the law. The Supreme Court last week had let it take effect, but the 5th Circuit panel hours later restored U.S. District Judge David Ezra’s February injunction blocking enforcement.
Ezra, based in Austin, cited a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving an Arizona law that held that states cannot adopt immigration enforcement measures that clash with federal law.
The 5th Circuit panel is scheduled to hear arguments on the merits of the state’s appeal on April 3.
Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump who dissented in Tuesday’s decision, predicted that the panel would uphold the ruling blocking S.B. 4 over his objections.
“Today’s decision means that we’ll likely never know how Texas’s state courts and its state law-enforcement officers would have implemented S.B. 4,” the judge wrote in his dissenting opinion.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the office of Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Civil rights groups that joined the Biden administration in challenging the law praised Tuesday’s ruling, saying it will temporarily prevent Texas authorities from violating migrants’ rights and potentially engaging in racial profiling.
“This unconstitutional proposal should never have gotten this far, and we look forward to the courts blocking it permanently so we can get back to discussing real policy solutions,” Edna Yang, co-executive director of the group American Gateways, said in a statement.
LEGAL DISPUTES
The lawsuit, filed in January, argued that the measure violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law by interfering with the U.S. government’s power to regulate immigration as well as running afoul of the 2012 Supreme Court decision.
The administration has said immigration is the exclusive province of the federal government and that the Texas law would upend enforcement of complex U.S. laws that establish procedures for deportation and allow migrants to apply for asylum and other legal status.
Immigration and security along the border with Mexico are hot topics for voters ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. election in which the Democratic president is seeking a second term in office. Donald Trump, the Republican candidate challenging him, pursed restrictive immigration policies during his presidency.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a fierce Republican critic of Biden’s immigration policies, signed the law in December, saying it was a necessary step to address an increase in illegal entries. Texas officials have blamed Biden for an increase in illegal border crossings that they have said drains states resources and threatens public safety,
The Biden administration has said interference from Texas and other states only compounds the problem at the border.
It and other critics of the Texas law have said that migrants who cross the border already can be charged with illegal entry or re-entry under federal laws. Advocates for migrants have said the law could fuel racial profiling by state authorities of people already in Texas.
The challenge to the Texas law is one in a series of legal disputes between Republican state officials and the Biden administration over the state’s ability to police the border, including its placement of razor-wire fencing and the installation of a 1,000-foot-long (300 m) floating barrier in the Rio Grande river.
Iowa lawmakers on March 19 passed a law similar to the Texas measure that is awaiting the signature of the state’s Republican governor. Several other states are considering allowing arrests of people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.
Israel attacked at least three homes in Rafah overnight, instilling dread among the more than a million residents hiding in the final haven on the Gaza Strip’s southern border that a long-awaited ground assault might be imminent.
One of the airstrikes killed 11 family members, according to health officials. Mussa Dhaheer, who watched from below as neighbours assisted an emergency worker in lowering a victim in a black body bag from an upper level, claimed he awoke to the bomb, kissed his scared daughter, and dashed outside to see the devastation. His father, 75, and mother, 62, were among the fatalities.
“I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say. I can’t make sense of what happened. My parents. My father with his displaced friends who came from Gaza City,” he told Reuters.
“They were all together, when suddenly they were all gone like dust.”
At another bomb site, Jamil Abu Houri said the intensification of air strikes was Israel’s way of showing its disdain for a U.N. Security Council resolution last week demanding an immediate ceasefire. Next up, he fears a ground assault on Rafah, which Israel has threatened to carry out despite pleas from its closest ally Washington that this would cause too much harm to civilians.
“The bombing has increased, and they have threatened us with an incursion, and they say that have been given the green light for the Rafah incursion. Where is the Security Council?” Abu Houri said.
“Look at our little ones. Look at our children. Where should we go? Where should we go?”
Separately, in the Israeli occupied West Bank, which has seen worsening bloodshed in parallel with the Gaza war, three Palestinians were killed and four others wounded by Israeli fire during a raid in Jenin overnight, the Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday.
At least 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive into Hamas-run Gaza, according to the health ministry there, with thousands of other dead believed unrecovered under rubble. The war began after Hamas fighters raided Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253 hostages according to Israeli tallies.
Israeli forces just north of Rafah kept the two main hospitals in Khan Younis, Al-Amal and Nasser Hospital, under a blockade imposed late last week. In the north, they were still operating inside Al Shifa, the enclave’s largest hospital, which they stormed more than a week ago.
Israel says the hospitals have been used by Hamas fighters, which Hamas and medical staff deny. The Israeli military has said it killed and captured hundreds of fighters in a battle in Al Shifa. Hamas says civilians and medics were rounded up.
Gaza’s health ministry said wounded people and patients were being held inside the human resources department that was not equipped to provide them with healthcare.
Residents living nearby report hearing explosions in and around Al Shifa and lines of smoke coming from buildings inside the medical facility.
“A war zone, this is how it looks in and around Al Shifa,” Mohammad Jamal, 25, who lives 1 km away from Al Shifa, said via a mobile phone chat app.
“Explosions never stop, we see lines of smoke coming from inside, no one moves even in streets that are hundreds of meters away because of Israeli snipers on rooftops of buildings,” he said.
A drone view of the Dali cargo vessel, which crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge causing it to collapse, in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., March 26, 2024, in this still image taken from a handout video. NTSB/Handout via REUTERS
The black box from the goods ship that collided with a Baltimore bridge was found by US federal safety investigators, the agency’s leader said on Wednesday, as rescuers searched for the remains of six workers who went missing in the fall.
A highway team will also examine the mangled remnants of the Francis Scott Key bridge, attempting to establish how and why a container ship collided with a pillar of the 1.6-mile (2.6-kilometer) span in the early morning darkness on Tuesday.
After boarding the ship late Tuesday, investigators from the United States National Transportation Safety Board discovered the data recorder, according to NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. They will interrogate the ship’s crew, she stated.
The disaster forced the indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, and created a traffic quagmire for Baltimore and the surrounding region.
Rescuers pulled two construction workers from the water alive on Tuesday. One was hospitalized. The six presumed to have perished included immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, said the Mexican Consulate in Washington.
Officials said the eight were part of a work crew repairing potholes on the road surface when the Singapore-flagged container vessel Dali, leaving Baltimore bound for Sri Lanka, plowed into a support pylon.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it was looking for their bodies 18 hours after they were thrown from the bridge into the frigid waters at the mouth of the Patapsco River.
Divers resumed their search in the 50-foot-deep waters surrounding the twisted ruins.
“We do not believe that we’re going to find any of these individuals alive,” Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath said at a briefing.
Maryland State Police and U.S. Coast Guard officials said diminished visibility and increasingly treacherous currents in the wreckage-strewn channel made continued search efforts on the river too risky to continue overnight.
A trestled section of the bridge almost immediately crumpled into the water, sending vehicles and workers into the river.
The 948-foot (289 m) ship had reported a loss of propulsion shortly before impact and dropped anchor to slow the vessel, giving transportation authorities time to halt traffic on the bridge before the crash. That move likely prevented a higher death toll, authorities said.
Item 1 of 9 A view of the Dali cargo vessel which crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge causing it to collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., March 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Segar
[1/9]A view of the Dali cargo vessel which crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge causing it to collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., March 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Segar Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
It was unclear whether authorities also tried to alert the work crew ahead of the impact.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore said at a Tuesday news briefing the bridge was up to code with no known structural issues. There was no evidence of foul play, officials said.
SHIP’S SAFETY RECORD
The Baltimore wreck drew attention to the vessel’s safety record. The same ship was involved in an incident in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2016, hitting a quay as it tried to exit the North Sea container terminal.
An inspection in 2023 carried out in Chile found “propulsion and auxiliary machinery” deficiencies, according to data on the public Equasis website, which provides information on ships.
But Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority said in a statement that the vessel passed two separate foreign-port inspections in June and September 2023. It said a faulty fuel pressure gauge was rectified before the vessel departed the port following its June 2023 inspection.
Video footage on social media showed the vessel slamming into the 47-year-old Key Bridge in darkness, the headlights of vehicles visible on the span as it crashed into the water and the ship caught fire.
All 22 crew members on the ship, owned by Grace Ocean Pte Ltd, were accounted for, its management company, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, reported.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said closure of the port would have a “major and protracted impact to supply chains.” The Port of Baltimore handles more automobile freight than any other U.S. port – more than 750,000 vehicles in 2022, according to port data, as well as container and bulk cargo ranging from sugar to coal.
Still, economists and logistics experts said they doubted the port closure would unleash a major U.S. supply chain crisis or major spike in the price of goods, due to ample capacity at rival shipping hubs along the Eastern Seaboard.
The loss of the bridge also snarled roadways across Baltimore, forcing motorists onto two other congested harbor crossings and raising the specter of nightmarish daily commutes and regional traffic detours for months or even years to come.
The bridge, named for the author of the Star-Spangled Banner, carries about 31,000 vehicles across the harbor daily and serves as the main route for motorists between New York and Washington seeking to avoid downtown Baltimore. It opened in 1977.
Tuesday’s disaster may be the worst U.S. bridge collapse since 2007, when the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis plunged into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people.
