Sunderland have signed former Arsenal defender Emmanuel Eboue on a short-term deal until the end of the season.
The Ivory Coast full-back, who was a free agent after leaving Galatasaray in the summer, started training with the Black Cats in February.
Eboue, 32, spent eight seasons at Arsenal after arriving from Belgian side Beveren in 2004.
He moved to Turkey in 2011, where he won three Super Lig titles and five domestic trophies.
Source: BBC
There was no show at the High Court hearing the eligibility case against the National Democratic Congress’ parliamentary candidate for the Klottey Korley constituency Dr. Zanetor Rawlings.
The presiding judge, Kwaku Aka Boafo, was reported to have gone on a seminar but the plaintiff MP of the constituency MP, Nii Armah Ashitey and his lawyer, Gary Nimako were present as well as the media and other spectators.
Nii Armah Ashitey who is also the incumbent MP dragged Dr. Rawlings to court challenging her candidature as a non-registered voter.
The Electoral Commission has confirmed that the daughter of former President Rawlings is not a registered voter in Ghana.
At the last sitting, Lawyer for the MP, Gary Nimako requested for an adjournment of the suit to allow him make necessary security arrangements claiming his life was being threatened by unknown assailants.
Meanwhile, the case has been postponed to Friday, 11 March 2016.
The Plaintiffs, Hon.NiiArmahAshietey and Nii John Coleman, sued the National Democratic Congress (1st Defendant), Dr. ZanetorAgyeman Rawlings (2nd Defendant) and the Electoral Commission (3rd Defendant) alleging that the 2nd Defendant was not eligible to contest the KlotteyKorle Primaries held in November 2015, because she was not a registered voter with the Electoral Commission.
On January 25, 2016, Counsel for the 2nd Defendant, Lawyer Godwin EdudzieTamakloe (supported by Ms. Sanja Morrison) filed an application requesting the Court to throw out the case.
The High Court dismissed the application, describing it as misconceived and unmeritorious. The Application failed both on procedural grounds and on its merits.
Below is a summary of issues raised and ruling.
Issue 1
Does the Plaintiff have capacity to mount this action based on the claims endorsed on the writ?
Argument of Counsel for the Applicant
Counsel for the Applicant argued that
• thePlaintiffs lackedthe legal capacity to institute the action because they had not demonstrated that their ‘personal rights’ had been affected, violated or likely to be violated;
• the action was premature, moot and an abuse of the process because Plaintiffs should have exhausted the party machinery for grievance resolution.
Ruling of the Court
• The argument on capacity is untenable and is therefore dismissed.
• With utmost respect and deference to learned Counsel, what personal rights is he talking about? Being members of the NDC and having contested the elections with the 2nd Defendant, who else has sufficient interest in the subject matter in this suit than the Plaintiffs herein? They are challenging the outcome of the elections in which they participated as candidates. They therefore have legal competence and sufficient interest to bring the case.
• While Counsel rightfully catalogues the bureaucratic hoops the 2nd defendant jumped through to qualify as a candidate to establish her bona fides, the same applies to the Plaintiffs herein, and by implication, they have interests to protect in this matter and are not mere busybodies.
• If the allegation that the national Constitution is violated by the defendants is true, then the Plaintiffs do not need to be members of the NDC and/or prove any ‘personal right’ to institute this action.
• The submission with regards to non-compliance with the internal mechanism of the NDC is also dismissed because the NDC Vetting Committee and officers are those accused of orchestrating the alleged breach of both the NDC regulations and the Constitutional provision. In my view, when the national Constitution is said to have been breached a Party’s internal mechanisms and remedies cannot be the panacea. The court is the appropriate forum for redress.
Issue 2
Is Estoppel applicable in this case?
Arguments of Counsel for the Applicant
Counsel for the Applicant argued that
• thePlaintiffs are estopped from contesting the Applicant’s qualification because the 2nd Defendant filed her nomination forms; provided all essential information required of her; was duly vetted by a committee chaired by the NDC General Secretary together with other national executive officers;was declared qualified to contest for Parliamentary Candidate; competed against the plaintiffs and emerged successful. The present action is therefore an afterthought and in bad faith;
• the Plaintiffs are estopped from bringing this action because they are relying on petitions authored by individuals who were plaintiffs in the case of Joseph Botchway and 2 others v NDC and the judge in that case (Mills Tetteh J) held that the suit was brought in bad faith and therefore it was an abuse of court process.
Ruling of the Court
• The argument that the Plaintiffs are relying on petitions authored by some of the individuals who were the plaintiffs in the case of Joseph Botchway& 2 others v NDC and 2 others, is over-enthusiastically put. I have no difficulty in dismissing the submission as misconceived and unmeritorious.
• For an estoppel res judicata to be properly founded in law, the authorities agree that the parties in the case and the facts or legal issues raised in the earlier case ought to be the same as the present. I am not persuaded that the legal issues are the same because the Plaintiffs’ herein interests are totally different from the plaintiffs in the earlier case.
• Also there is no merit with regards to the submission on estoppel on the grounds that because the Plaintiffs contested with the 2nd Defendant they are estopped by conduct from raising her eligibility now. With respect, what legal principle is that? If one was not eligible to contest the election because he/she was not qualified, he/she can at anytime even after the General Elections be disqualified on the grounds that the election was a nullity.
Issue 3
Is the High Court the proper forum based on the pleadings?
Arguments of Counsel for the Applicant
Counsel for the Applicant argued that
• thePlaintiffs should have resorted to the internal mechanism of the party and not the High Court because the NDC is a voluntary organization whose Constitution and Regulations do not form part of the laws of Ghana;
• the Plaintiffs were in the wrong forum because the nature of the relief being sought calls for the interpretation of Article 94(1)(a) and that is the preserve of the Supreme Court. The High Court is only clothed with jurisdiction to deal with matters relating to the enforcement of Fundamental Human Rights under article 33 of the 1992 Constitution.
Ruling of the Court
• Undoubtedly, the fact that the Supreme Court has the original and exclusive jurisdiction to interpret and enforce the Constitution cannot be over-emphasised.
• Consequently when the question arises as to the interpretation of a provision of the Constitution, it is imperative for a lower court to stay proceedings and to state a case for the consideration of the Supreme Court. (Article 130(2) of the 1992 Constitution).
• However, the submission of defendant’s counsel is not the correct position of the law. It is not correct that once it is alleged that the Constitution is breached, any action should be started at the Supreme Court for constitutional interpretation or, if it is at the lower court, a reference should be made to the Supreme Court.
• As a matter of law, the lower court is only obliged to refer a case to the Supreme Court for interpretation in terms of article 130(2) of the 1992 Constitution where in the determination of a claim before a court an issue of interpretation of a provision of the Constitution arises or where the validity of a law vis-a-vis the Constitution arises.
• Unless the words of an article of the Constitution are imprecise and ambiguous, an issue of interpretation does not arise. The words in article 94(1) are not imprecise and/or ambiguous to necessitate an interpretation of the Constitution by the Supreme Court.
• It is a very unfortunate and untenable legal submission from Counsel of the 2ndDefendant that a political party’s laws do not form part of the laws of Ghana.
• Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution guarantees that every citizen of 18 years or above and of sound mind has the right to be registered and vote in public elections and referenda.
• Article 55(2) of the 1992 Constitution has equally bestowed on every citizen of Ghana of voting age the right to join a political party.
• Article 55(5) of the 1992 Constitution further requires that the internal organisationof a political party shall conform to democratic principles and with the tenets of the Constitution. This is therefore a constitutional parameter from which the NDC or any political party in the Republic for that matter cannot be excluded.
Procedural Matters
The Court held that there were certain procedural errors made by Counsel for the Applicant.
• The Applicant filed a Conditional Appearance and then went ahead to file the application for dismissal. This was wrong in law. It is not permissible for a defendant who has entered a Conditional Appearance to move the Court to have the writ set aside because he has a legal defence. Counsel should therefore have entered an Unconditional Appearance.
• Secondly, the Applicant did not state which rule of court the application was premised on even though it is generally accepted that every application/motion filed at the High Court must be premised on a known rule of procedure. When learned counsel was asked for clarification as to the rule under which the application is brought, he informed the court that ’the application is hybrid’ but he thinks it is based on Order 11 Rule 18(1)(b).
The Court held that even it could have struck out the application based on procedural errors, the Court was of the opinion that the nature of this matter and the contention of the parties made it necessary to consider the merits or otherwise of the application.The Court therefore went ahead to deal with the merits of the Application.
Relevant Provisions for Ease of Reference
NDC Constitution (as amended in 2010 and 2014)
Article 43(9)(a)
A member shall not be qualified to contest primaries for any Parliamentary seat if he is disqualified under national electoral laws from contesting for any parliamentary seat.
Article 43(10)
The National Executive Committee shall issue guidelines regarding the election of Parliamentary candidates based on the provisions of this Article.
Guidelines for the Elections of the NDC Parliamentary Candidates for the 2016 Parliamentary Elections
Section B QUALIFICATION
A person wishing to contest to be a parliamentary candidate of the party must:
1. be a citizen of Ghana, who has attained the age of 21 years;
2. be a card-bearing member of the party who has paid party membership dues;
3. be a known and active member of a branch of the party in the constituency;
4. not be a member of any other political party;
5. be qualified in accordance with the 1992 National Constitution to be elected as Member of Parliament.
Section C DISQUALIFICATION
A member shall not be qualified to contest primaries for any parliamentary seat if he
a. is disqualified under national electoral laws from contesting for any parliamentary seat;
b. is not an active member of the party at the constituency level for four years immediately preceding the date of filing the nomination;
c. is for any reason disqualified from being a party member as spelt out under Article 8 of the party’s constitution;
d. fails to meet the requirements for the election of Member of Parliament under Article 94 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
1992 Constitution of Ghana
Article 94(1)
e. Subject to the provisions of this article, a person shall not be qualified to be a Member of Parliament unless ‘He is a citizen of Ghana has attained the age of twenty-one years and is a registered voter’.
Article 55(5)
The internal organisation of a political party shall conform to democratic principles and its actions and purposes shall not contravene or be inconsistent with this Constitution or any other law.
Story by Kweku Antwi-Otoo/Onua FM/tv3network.com
Rape charges against Nelson Mandela’s grandson have been provisionally withdrawn by a South African court.
The National Prosecuting Authority told the BBC it withdrew the case against the 24-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, “pending further investigations”.
A 15-year-old alleged that he raped her in the toilets of a Johannesburg bar in 2015.
He said the sex was consensual and he believed she was much older.
Prosecutors now say “new information has come to light” and they need more time look into it.
They may re-instate the charges at a later stage, reports the BBC’s Pumza Fihlani from South Africa’s main city, Johannesburg.
During the hearing in August, his lawyers disputed the age of his accuser, saying she was 16, the age of consent.
Under South African law, sex with someone under 16 is classed as rape whether consensual or not.
Nelson Mandela was South Africa’s first black president.
He become an icon to many after spending 27 years in prison for his role in the fight against apartheid – white minority rule.
Source: BBC
The Ashanti Regional Security Council has hinted the curfew imposed on Old Tafo, following recent violent clashes, will soon be lifted.
The Regional Minister, Alexander Ackon, says the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) is convinced the security situation in the area has improved, hence the decision.
A conflict over a parcel of cemetery land in early February led to clashes between some Muslim youth and the Tafo traditional council.
The threat of reprisal compelled the regional security council to impose dusk-to-dawn curfew which was later reviewed.
Residents there have been clamouring for the lifting of the curfew.
Regional Minister, Alexander Ackon, in an interview with TV3’s William Evans Nkum, said the curfew will soon be lifted, though he will not give timelines.
The Regional Minister, who recently assumed office, paid a courtesy call on the Asantehene at the Manhyia Palace yesterday where the Old Tafo and other related issues where discussed.
He was in the company of members of the regional security council and some municipal and district chief executives.
The Asantehene cautioned Mr. Ackon against being partisan in the discharge of his duties.
Source: tv3network.com | Ghana
Gorgeous and talented television anchor Wendy Laryea of TV3 has unsurprisingly made it to the enviable list of Ghana’s Top 30 Under 30 Pioneers for 2016.
This is an annual publication by the Future of Ghana that showcases and celebrates excellence by recognising exceptionally talented Ghanaians leading in industries globally.
The annual project is also dedicated to nurturing and mobilizing Ghana’s talent for the development of the country.
“The publication is endorsed by prominent business leaders & government, highlighting inspirational role models and showcasing outstanding thought leaders and organisations. The publication transcends stereotypes, highlighting the unsung contributions future leaders and organisations are making to the Ghanaian and global economies,” the organization noted on its website.
Wendy Laryea was nominated alongside hundreds of Ghanaians but after months of intensive scrutiny, she was shortlisted with 29 others for the prized recognition.
Persons who made it to the final 30 include young film actor Abraham Attah, Sadiq Abdulai Abu, Bright Oduro-Kwaterng Jnr, Kojo Nimako, Zeinab Andan and Dziffa Akua
The usually calm-looking broadcaster was humbled by the recognition when she spoke to TV Online.
“I didn’t see it coming,” she said with an honestly stunned tone, but conceded, “I felt good because my work is being recognized.”
The Future of Ghana Publication, an e-magazine, also creates the platforms for discussing solutions to specific issues the Ghanaian community faces in Ghana and the Diaspora. The publication is expected to be out soon.
Source: tv3network.com
Offices of lawyers challenging Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s victory in last month’s election have been broken into.
Lead counsel Mohamed Mbabazi said laptops, computers and documents were taken from his office.
The lawyers are representing Uganda’s former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi who wants the election results annulled.
Local and international observers criticised the election process which saw Mr Museveni win 60% of the vote.
Lawyers were in the process of gathering witness evidence for the petition against the election result when they were burgled.
Mr Mbabazi, who was standing for president, is claiming voters were bribed and people were arrested during the vote.
Main opposition candidate Kizza Besigye was detained by police multiple times throughout the campaign, vote and during the count.
Mr Mbabazi’s lawyers are due to present their case to the Supreme Court Justices by Sunday.
Source: BBC
The taxi driver, whose exploits led to the arrest of two armed robbers in Cantonments in January, has received a fully furnished two-bedroom house in fulfilment of a government promise.
President John Dramani Mahama had promised to provide the driver full accommodation for crashing his taxi into the motorbike of the robbers, who had attacked a staff of Koala Supermarket in a drive-by crime.
On Tuesday, March 8, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, presented keys to the house to Frank Ade.
“The nation is very grateful to this gentleman,” Mr Agyemang-Mensah said.
“This should encourage all Ghanaians to help in maintaining law and order.”
He said maintenance of law and order is not an exclusive preserve of the police.
“As good citizens, all of us must be involved in maintaining law and order.”
The taxi driver, who won the praise of Former President Jerry John Rawlings, expressed gratitude to Ghanaians for praising him over the incident.
“God bless them all.”
Government has assured of Mr Ade’s security.
He has already received a brand new car from management of Koala Supermarket while the police have also replaced his taxi.
Source: tv3network.com|Ghana
The Vodafone Employee Volunteerism Project has organised a life empowering programme for remand students at the South Labone Girls Vocational Training Centre.
The programme held on the theme ‘Hope Initiative’ was organised by Vodafone employees with background in Youth Development and Project Management, and equipped the remand girls with skills such as batik tie and dye, sewing, modelling, and customer service experience.
Corporate Communications Manager of Vodafone Ghana Ebenezer Amankwah said the exercise was necessary to equip the girls with vocational skills that would make them self-reliant after they are reintegrated into society.
“They need these skills because they won’t be here forever; they will go back into the society and the skills they have been equipped with can help them to re-integrate into the society,” he said.
He noted that the Employee Volunteerism Project team would organise programmes that would directly benefit the society and their customers as part of their corporate social responsibility to society.
He explained that the main purpose for the event was to empower the girls to bring something good to the society in future irrespective of where they were.
Mr Amankwah disclosed that next year the team may go to another remand home or institution to impact their lives in one way or the other.
Source: tv3network.com|Ghana
Defeated Member of Parliament aspirant of the New Patriotic Party in the Klottey Korle constituency, Nii Noi Nortey has declared that he would contest as an independent candidate in the November 7 polls.
His decision follows what he describes as ‘extensive consultation’ with friends, colleagues and the grass root members in the constituency. Nii Noi Nortey won the first NPP primary in the constituency when he contested against Philip Addisson and one other.
Defeated Member of Parliament aspirant of the New Patriotic Party in the Klottey Korle constituency, Nii Noi Nortey has declared that he would contest as an independent candidate in the November 7 polls.
His decision follows what he describes as ‘extensive consultation’ with friends, colleagues and the grass root members in the constituency.
Nii Noi Nortey won the first NPP primary in the constituency when he contested against Philip Addison and one other.
He indicated that “as lawyer Addison said he has the support of the flagbearer, Nana Addo but I also want to say I have the support of the grassroot.”
Nii Noi lost the recent rerun of the primaries which was closely fought between him and the eventual winner, Phillip Addison.
Addison polled 396 out of the 765 votes cast, to beat his only contender, Nii Noi Nortey, who polled 367 votes. Out of 790 delegates expected to cast their ballot, only 765 voted. Two ballots were rejected.
After the election, his supporters were agitated and questioned the decision of the party to allow for a rerun. They accused the leadership of the NPP of being biased.
Addressing the media to outline his decision, Mr. Nortey said “I have done my part for his party. I have been obedient. I have been respectful, what we got back in return was for a party to go out there and not to defend its actions, what we got back in return was for the party to organize an election just to favour someone else.”
Source: tv3network.com
Two persons have been confirmed dead after an Urvan bus they were travelling with was involved in an accident Wednesday morning.
Twelve others who sustained several degrees of injuries are currently being treated at the Tema General Hospital.
The cause of the accident is sketchy but police sources told TV3 it is likely the driver had brake failure.
Doctors are working serious around the clock to also resuscitate some of the passengers who went into coma as a result of the accident, Josephine gathered.
TV3’s correspondent Josephine Frempong who was at the hospital reports that some of the victims had serious head injury.
The mini urvan bus was conveying passengers from Ashaiman, a suburb of Accra, to Koforidua in the Eastern Region.
The bus allegedly developed a brake failure and somersaulted several times near Shai Hills, injuring the occupants with two losing their lives.
Source: tv3network.com | Ghana
Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, wife of the 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, has appealed to Ghanaians to entrust the mandate of leadership into the hands of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in this year’s election, assuring that “he will deliver on all the promises he has made”.
According to her, Ghana, a country blessed with an abundance of natural and human resources, deserves much better than what she is currently being offered by the John Mahama-led government, stressing that “Nana Akufo-Addo is the leader who can move this country forward”.
Mrs. Akufo-Addo made this known on Sunday, March 6, when she worshipped with members of the Resurrection Power and Living Bread Ministries International, at Kotobabi.
Addressing the congregants, after being afforded the opportunity to speak by Rev. Boakye Acheampong, Regional overseer of the Church, she explained that, in the eighth year of the NDC administration, headed by President Mahama, no section of the Ghanaian society has been spared from the effects of the mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy.
She described the growing spectre of hundreds of able-bodies thousands of unemployed Ghanaian youth who are compelled to be dependent on their hard-pressed parents, as a sign of a country unable to provide the basic needs of its citizens and the result of bad leadership. She also bemoaned the crisis confronting healthcare delivery in the country.
“We are all in Ghana, and we know how things are today. Things are not easy and we are all witnesses to what is happening. What we need today is a leader with a vision who can take us forward. Ghana is a blessed country and we deserve much better. Nana is my husband, and I know him well. I can assure you that he will deliver on all the promises he has made,” she said.
This was met with a rousing roar of approval from the packed membership of the church.
To this end, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo appealed to the congregation to vote for Nana Akufo-Addo in November, maintaining that “this year, there has to be a change. You all know my husband, Nana Akufo-Addo, this is his third attempt, and by the Grace of God, ‘third time lucky’. He is very passionate about Ghana. I am appealing to you to change things this year and vote for Nana Akufo-Addo to move Ghana forward”.
She assured members of the Resurrection Power and Living Bread Ministries International that “when the NPP is victorious in November, I will be back here to give thanks to God”.
Source: NPP Communications Directorate
Mr Moses Foh-Amoaning, the Executive Secretary of the National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values, has said homosexual unions were unlawful and it is a criminal offense to engage in the act.He said this during one of its regional consultative meetings with traditional councils to draw attention to the growing threat of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-sexual (LGBT) right activism in the country.
The meeting, which was attended by the clergy, Muslim leaders, school chaplains, opinion leaders and members of the Oguaa traditional council, was jointly organised by Emmanuel University and the National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values.Mr Foh-Amoaning, who is also a senior law lecturer at the Ghana school of Law, said homosexuality was a human weakness and legalizing it would mean elevating what was clearly a human wrong into human rights.
The law lecturer questioned why people were being prosecuted for engaging in sodomy, which is a similar sexual orientation, but homosexuals were not, saying so far as sodomy remained an offense, so should homosexuality.“We cannot trust our politicians on all other issues because there have been several matters where this country has been sold off by our politicians, but on this issue of homosexuality, we would not allow our politicians to sell us off”, he said.“Why is polygamy a criminal offence in the United States, but it is normal in Ghana, so what right has Obama got to tell us that if we criminalize homosexuality, we are against human rights.Is he not against human rights when he made polygamy a criminal offence in the US?”He said the coalition believes that homosexuality is a human weakness and therefore would seek to provide a comprehensive solution to the problem and not victimize assault and kill those who engaged in it as it was being propagated by some people.
He said there is no scientific, theological and legal or any psychiatric basis for homosexuality and for that matter Africa and the rest of the world must be courageous enough to speak against it.
Mr Foh-Amoaning said the attempt by the western world to force African countries to accept homosexuality was a form of neocolonialism aimed at enslaving the mindset of black people and challenged African leaders not to succumb to this undue pressure.He pledged the coalition’s commitment to ensure that persons vying for any political office clearly state their position on the issue of homosexuality in this year’s general elections.
He said it cannot not be legally tenable simply because someone has a propensity to a certain sexual orientation for that orientation to be elevated into human rights and be protected by the law.
It was on the theme: “Uniting to combat the scourge of Homosexual (LGBT RIGHTS) Activism in Ghana, the Tripartite Strategy”.
The coalition is a mix of Christian and Para Christian bodies, Muslim society and other entities aimed at ensuring the preservation of sexual and family values.
He said the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights in itself did not state any rights for homosexuals and emphasized that the Ghanaian constitution was also explicitly clear in respect to the Human Rights provisions.
Source: GNA
An American tourist has been killed and several people wounded in a spate of attacks targeting Israelis near Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem, police say.
The American, named as Taylor Force, was one of 10 people stabbed by an attacker in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv.
US Vice-President Joe Biden was at an event close by at the time.
Earlier, two Israeli police officers were shot and wounded in Jerusalem. An ultra-Orthodox Jew was stabbed in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv.
Israeli police said the attackers in all three incidents were Palestinian, and had been killed.
Israeli police said the attacker in Jaffa stabbed a number of people in the port area, before moving through the city attacking others.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said five of the wounded were in a serious condition.
The American stabbed to death has been identified as a student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Taylor Force was on a trip to Israel to learn more about global entrepreneurship and start-ups, university chancellor Nicholas Zeppos told his fellow students in a letter.
Others on the trip were safe and unharmed, Mr Zeppos said, calling the incident a “horrific act of violence”.
Mr Biden, who had been attending an event with former Israeli President Shimon Peres in the nearby Peres Centre for Peace at the time, “condemned in the strongest possible terms the brutal attack” and “expressed his sorrow at the tragic loss of American life”, the White House said in a statement.
Israeli police said the attacker was a 21-year-old from the West Bank town of Qalqilya who was shot dead at the scene.
In the Jerusalem attack, police said a gunman opened fire on a group of police officers outside the Old City’s Damascus Gate, seriously wounding one of them. The suspect wounded another in the subsequent chase, but was then shot and killed, police said.
Meanwhile, witnesses in the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikva said a Palestinian attacker was killed with his own knife by the ultra-Orthodox Jew who he had just stabbed. The wounded man was rushed to hospital to be treated for wounds to his upper body.
At least 29 Israelis have been killed in a wave of stabbing, shooting or car-ramming attacks by Palestinians or Israeli Arabs since October.
More than 180 Palestinians – mostly attackers, Israel says – have also been killed in that period.
The assailants who have been killed have been shot dead either by their victims or by security forces as they carried out attacks. Some attackers have been arrested.
Other Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops.
Source: BBC
A Ukrainian pilot on trial in Russia over the killing of two journalists has addressed the court and says she will continue a hunger strike she has been on for five days.
Nadia Savchenko was making her closing statement in the trial.
She denies directing artillery fire at the Russian journalists in June 2014.
She is reported to have refused all food and drink since 3 March when the hearing was adjourned before she could make her final statement.
At one point in her appearance on Wednesday, she leapt onto the bench inside the cage and showed the judges her middle finger, the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford reports from the court in Donetsk in southern Russia, where the trial is being held.
She mocked the judges in Ukrainian, saying they were proving that Russians were “fascists”.
A translator read out her formal, final statement in which she proclaims her innocence and describes her trial as a “farce”.
The EU and US have both called for her immediate release.
A verdict in the case is due on or around 21 March but her lawyers have said she will not survive that long unless she is force-fed.
She was captured in 2014 at the height of the fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels.
The 34-year-old insists the whole case against her is politically motivated, and she has become a symbol of Ukraine’s resistance against Russia.
She says she was kidnapped by rebel fighters at least an hour before the attack in which the two Russian TV journalists were killed.
Ukrainian consuls in the Russian region of Rostov say judges in the case are refusing to issue any more permits to visit Ms Savchenko in prison.
Her relatives have also used up all their visiting permits, meaning a group of Ukrainian doctors en route from Kiev to visit her will also not be given access.
The EU has expressed concern about Ms Savchenko’s wellbeing, and Nobel prize-winner Svitlana Aleksievich is among more than 4,300 signatories to an open letter urging European leaders to act to secure her freedom.
Relations between Russia and Ukraine – along with its Western allies – have deteriorated following Moscow’s annexation of the Crimea peninsula in 2014 and its support for pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Sourc: BBC
Accra Hearts of Oak have backed down on proposed hikes in their ticket prices that would have shot up popular stand tickets by 100%.
The Phobians announced on Tuesday that tickets for popular stands for their games will be sold at GH¢ 10 from an initial GH¢ 5 but they have had to stop the increment after strong protests from fans.
Under the proposed increases, VIP tickets would have gone up to GH¢ 30 while lower VIP tickets was supposed to go up to GH¢20 from an initial GH¢10.
But the old prices would stay in place now which means Hearts of Oak fans will continue to pay GH¢ 5 for popular stand and Osu stand tickets, GH¢ 15 for lower VIP and GH¢ 20 for VIP tickets.
Hearts Public Relations Officer Opare Addo told TV3 Sports the club had to back down on the proposed increases because it did not want to reverse the gains it has made at the gates in recent weeks.
“We figured we needed to listen to the fans because we are getting good numbers at the stadium and did not want a decision that would force them to stay away.”
Hearts have started the season on a good note and have won two of their first three games, gathering seven points from the nine available.
Source: TV3 Sports Desk|Ghana