GHANA FLOOD; mourning started on monday to last through wednesday.

GHANA FLOOD; mourning started on monday to last through wednesday.

By eMiracle   12:06:00   No comments:

Ghanaians on Monday, June 8, began a 3-day national mourning for victims of last Wednesday’s flood and fire disaster thought to have claimed over 150 lives in the capital, Accra.
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7495050444002015912#editor/target=post;postID=7118156693432010333;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=3;src=postname
As of the time of this report, Ghana has counted more than 300 diseased due to the flood intensity  

All flags have been asked to fly at half mast across the country while citizens are being encouraged to wear black clothes or red armbands for the three-day period to mourn with the families of the victims of the disaster.

President Mahama announced the 3 days of national mourning in an address after a national crisis meeting of the National Security Council.

“The 3 days of mourning will end on Wednesday June 10 with a memorial service for the departed near the site of the fire disaster at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to be attended by President John Dramani Mahama”, the statement said and added, “As we go about our work and other duties during the 3 days, let us remember the victims and pray for their souls and pray for strength and comfort for their families and friends.”

The government, the statement noted, has taken responsibility for the hospital bills of all victims of the flood and fire disaster as directed by the President. In addition, water, food and non-food items have been distributed to affected persons and communities.

The food items include bags of rice, gallons of cooking oil, canned fish, tins of milk, sugar, tea bags, tomato paste, noodles among others. The non-food items distributed include blankets, mattresses, mosquito nets, mosquito coils, clothing, buckets, bowls and basins.

Government commended the individuals and corporate organisations that have provided various forms of support to help with the relief efforts.

if you missed the Ghana flood news, here is a video to show you how awful and serious the incident was

Read More

PRISON BREAK (NEW YORK)

PRISON BREAK (NEW YORK)

By eMiracle   12:01:00   No comments:

According to reports getting to us from CNN news, over the weekend, two convicted killers escaped from a prison facility in New York. 

An employee at the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York is being questioned as a possible accomplice in the escape of two convicted killers over the weekend, a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation confirmed to CNN.

The source refused to address the media on the extent of the woman's involvement or the kind of help she may have provided.

The New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the inmates -- Richard Matt and David Sweat -- recived help in carrying out the intricate plot. The duo, who were in side-by-side cells, used power tools to cut through the cells' steel walls and clambered through a maze of underground pipes, according to authorities.

"They wouldn't have had the equipment on their own, that's for sure," Cuomo told CNN of the convicted killers, who escaped sometime after they were last seen at bed check Friday night.

In their place, the pair left decoys to trick guards into thinking they were asleep in their bunks -- and a . It read, "Have a Nice Day!"

Tricking the guards

People call the Clinton Correctional Facility "Little Siberia."

That's in part because of its remote location -- in the sparsely populated northeast corner of New York, about 25 miles from the Canadian border.

And also because it's in a region where wintry weather can persist more than half the year.

The facility has 2,689 inmates, and two of its most notorious inhabitants were Matt, 49, and Sweat, 35.

these questions need answers
Along with the taunting sticky note, the pair also left a host of unanswered, and uncomfortable, questions for law enforcement.

How did they get the power tools? How could they have known the layout of the bowels of the old prison? Did they have help from the inside?

Former inmate: New York prison break an inside job 03:42

Cuomo, who toured the escape route and announced the $100,000 reward Sunday, said it was possible the tools came from contractors working on the 170-year-old prison. Authorities are also looking at civilian prison employees, he said. But he seemed to rule out the involvement of the prison's certified employees.

"I'd be shocked if a guard was involved, and that's putting it mildly," he said.

Read More

same-sex marriage approved in Ireland

same-sex marriage approved in Ireland

By eMiracle   02:21:00   No comments:

Waving rainbow flags, embracing and crying, two thousand people gathered to watch the official results in the courtyard of Dublin Castle after voters, young and old, accounted for one of the highest turnouts in a referendum for decades."The amount of people who came out to vote is just such an emotional thing for us," said Fred Schelbaum, 48, standing with his civil partner Feargal Scott, 43, who he said he intended to marry.

"Up to now a lot of gay people felt they were tolerated in Ireland. Now we know that it's much more than that."

The crowds cheered as gay rights icons appeared on the square, including David Norris, whose campaign led to the 1993 decriminalization of gay sex and, and Rory O'Neill, whose Panti Bliss drag queen character became the face of the campaign.

Supporters in favour of same-sex marriage pose for a photograph as thousands gather in Dublin Castle …

"The future for young LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) people in this country is incredible," O'Neill said.

"I'm just glad to be here on the day this Ireland came into being."

"A lot of my family have voted no in this campaign so at a personal level it has been very traumatic," she said. "I needed to wake up this morning to have thousands of people affirm my rights when certain people in my family weren't."The emergence of a new generation of young voters was a "historic watershed" in Irish politics that had the potential to finally break the link between church and state, she said.
"We woke up today to a new Ireland. The real Irish Republic that I have dreamed of my whole life," she said.

Several high-profile Irish figures who have come out as gay since the start of the campaign hailed the new atmosphere it had ushered in the country.

"Ten years ago Ireland was still a very dark place," said former minister Pat Carey, who waited until his late 60s to open up about being gay.

"There was a lot of raw wounds that needed to be healed. I think the young people of Ireland have grabbed this country by the neck and it's unrecognizable to what it was 10 years ago."

Read More

Meet the Four Nigerians Killed For Drugs Conviction In Indonesia

Meet the Four Nigerians Killed For Drugs Conviction In Indonesia

By eMiracle   13:30:00   No comments:

Indonesian authorities Tuesday executed eight people convicted for drugs. Meet four of them who were Nigerians.
Martin Anderson
Anderson was sentenced to death in 2004 after being found guilty of possessing about 50g (1.8oz) of heroin. The 50-year-old travelled to Indonesia on a false passport and was thought to be Ghanian, but is in fact – like three of his fellow prisoners – from Nigeria. He was reportedly shot in the leg during his arrest. His lawyer told the media that he has been in poor spirits since being moved to Nusa Kambangan to face execution.

Anderson and Agbaje

Raheem Agbaje Salami (also known as Jamiu Owolabi Abashin)
Abashin, 50, has said he was homeless in Bangkok when a new “friend” offered him $400 to take some clothes to Indonesia. He was arrested in Surabaya with 5.5kg (12lb) of heroin and originally sentenced, in 1999, to life in prison. The sentence was changed to one of death in 2006. In an appeal for presidential clemency, Abashin admitted he had known he was carrying the drugs. His appeal was unsuccessful.
Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise
Nwolise, 47, was convicted in 2002 of smuggling just over a kilogram of heroin into Indonesia. He was sentenced to death.

Nwolise and Oyatanze

His wife said he believed he was carrying tablets – which he swallowed – containing goat horn powder for some Nigerian friends in Pakistan. She also said he had no translator during his trial, and there are allegations that a bribe was sought to spare him a death sentence.
Okwuduli Oyatanze
Oyatanze, 41, was sentenced to death in 2002, found guilty of attempting to bring 2.5kg of heroin through Jakarta in capsules inside his stomach. Charles Burrows, a Catholic priest who has counselled Oyatanze in prison, says that the Nigerian man, following the collapse of his clothing company, had thought being a drugs mule would be “easy money”.
The chairwoman of the House Committee on diaspora matters, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has revealed that there are currently more Nigerians on death row in Indonesia.

Source: Naij News

Read More

Togo's defeated opposition leader rejects Gnassingbe victory

Togo's defeated opposition leader rejects Gnassingbe victory

By eMiracle   12:33:00   No comments:

Jean-Pierre Fabre (l) was the only serious challenger to President Faure Gnassingbe (r)

Togo's defeated opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre says he considers himself the new president, rejecting official election results.

Earlier, Togo's official election body declared President Faure Gnassingbe the winner, with a provisional 59% of the vote.
Mr Fabre, who gained 35%, told AFP news agency the results were a "crime against national sovereignty".
Observers from the African Union said the election was free and fair.
Mr Fabre called on the Togolese to "take their destiny into their own hands".
His party, the opposition Combat for Political Change (Cap 2015), said the results bore "no resemblance to those compiled from reports collected in polling stations by its representatives".
Asked by an AFP reporter if he considered himself the new president-elect, he replied: "Of course."
West African regional leaders led by Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama have been attempting to mediate the dispute, having arrived in the capital Lome on Tuesday.
President Faure Gnassingbe's family has ruled Togo for 48 years.
Mr Gnassingbe has ruled since the 2005 death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema.

On Monday Mr Fabre called for a delay in announcing the results, citing widespread irregularities.
The final results still need to be confirmed by the country's Constitutional Court.
Turnout was around 53-55%, according to the electoral commission, Ceni - at least 10% lower than the last elections in 2010.

We all had the news of the fraud allegations and violent protest in togo which took the lives of at least 400 people................

Source: BBC NEWS

Read More

Nepal earthquake: Rescue effort intensifies

Nepal earthquake: Rescue effort intensifies

By eMiracle   08:34:00   No comments:

 

According to reports getting to via from BBC news, more than 2,300 people were killed in the worst earthquake there in more than 80 years.

Rescue missions and aid material have started arriving in the country.
Seventeen people have been killed on Mt Everest by avalanches - the mountain's worst-ever disaster.
Meanwhile a powerful aftershock was felt on Sunday in Nepal, India and Bangladesh, and more avalanches were reported near Everest.
The 6.7-magnitude tremor, centred 60km (40 miles) east of Nepal's capital Kathmandu, sent people running in panic for open ground in the city.

"We have launched a massive rescue and rehabilitation action plan and lots needs to be done," Information and Broadcasting Minister Minendra Rijal told Indian television."Our country is in a moment of crisis and we will require tremendous support and aid."

The rescue effort began in earnest in Kathmandu on Sunday morning

.

There are fears the death toll could rise yet further

Aid - such as this material from Sri Lanka - has gradually started to arrive in Nepal

Historic buildings were badly damaged in the quake

Scores of people slept outside on Saturday night - braving wet and cold weather - either because their homes were destroyed or because they feared numerous aftershocks.
World leaders and global charities have offered emergency aid to Nepal, as the government grapples with the scale of the disaster.
India is at the forefront of the relief effort, offering help including helicopters which have been deployed to remote areas.......
Source

Read More

New York's Statue of Liberty evacuated after bomb threat

New York's Statue of Liberty evacuated after bomb threat

By eMiracle   15:04:00   No comments:

According to news reaching us from new york CNN, it has been confirmed that the statue of liberty has been moved due to bomb threats. i quote  

 

New York (CNN)New York's iconic Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island will reopen to the public Saturday -- one day after a bomb threat that led to its evacuation was declared unfounded, officials said.

The NYPD bomb squad on Friday examined a locker thought to contain a suspicious package and found it was empty, a law enforcement official said.

Police declared the scene clear at 3:15 p.m.

Other lockers checked as a precautionary measure, the law enforcement source said.

Images posted on social media showed crowds of visitors walking on ramps to awaiting ferries.

All civilians were evacuated and only emergency personnel remained on Liberty Island, according to police. The fire department had EMS units there as a precaution.

Mike Burke, the head of Statue Cruises, which operates the ferry to the island, said: "Our first priority is the safety and well being of all of our visitors."

Burke said about 2,700 people were safely transported from the island and offered full refunds. Service to Liberty Island is to resume at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

Shortly after 11 a.m., the National Park Service was informed that a 911 caller made a threat to blow up the Statue of Liberty -- which led to the evacuation, according to park service spokeswoman Mindi Rambo.

A sweep by U.S. Park Police canine units "alerted on an area of interest near the lockers at the base" of the Statue of Liberty, Rambo said.

Park police had notified the NYPD, which dispatched its bomb squad, officials said.

It is not uncommon to get false positives from the bomb-sniffing dogs.

"Following their investigation, it was determined that there was not an explosive device," Rambo said.

Approximately 3.5 million people visit the Statue of Liberty every year. Visitors must pass through security screening similar to airport security procedures, according to the National Park Service.

Previously, the statue closed in November 2012 because of significant damage sustained from Superstorm Sandy. It reopened on July 4, 2013, with a ribbon cutting ceremony and long lines of tourists.

The last time the island shut down to the public was in October 2013, when it closed for 12 days because of the a government shutdown.

The statue was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland on October 28, 1886. It was a gift to the United States from the people of France to commemorate 100 years of Franco-American friendship as well as the centennial of America's independence.

source

Read More