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African Union summit overshadowed by fresh crises

The African Union’s annual summit was to kick off Sunday with another year of crises on the continent likely to upstage an official agenda focused on infrastructure and development issues.

The 53-member state body’s leaders are expected to discuss last year’s coups in Guinea and Mauritania, which were suspended from the AU.

The meeting will also closely monitor developents in Zimbabwe, where a deal on a unity government could ease a year-old crisis, and in Somalia, where old foes are moving closer to a coalition government too.

The summit will be preceded by a high-level meeting on the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where fighting has displaced tens of thousands over the past five months.

The summit’s theme is “Infrastructure Development in Africa” with a focus on transport, energy and investment issues against a negative international financial background.

AU Commission chief Jean Ping bemoaned the current global economic downturn which he said will adversely affect African countries that deserve no blame for the crisis.

“African economies and African people will suffer the full wrath of the crisis for which they are not responsible,” Ping told a preparatory meeting of foreign ministers on Friday.

Ping argued that the financial crisis “would divert the
international community’s attention from funding development to rescuing banking and financial institutions”.

But he also noted that conflicts have deepened Africa’s vulnerability to the global economic slump.

“The continent’s vulnerability is always worsened by potential and open conflicts,” Ping said.

Adding to its woeful list of long-running conflicts, a military coup in Mauritania in August 2008, another one in Guinea four months later, as well as a thwarted attempt in Guinea Bissau further hindered the continent’s political growth.

However, Ping remarked that progress had been made in restoring stability in Burundi, the Comoros, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic, among other trouble spots.

He also lauded the “well conducted elections in Guinea Bissau, Zambia and Ghana”.

However, the bloc has continued to struggle with its peacekeeping operations.

Its force in Sudan’s western Darfur region has been converted into a hybrid mission including UN peacekeepers and the Addis-based organisation is hoping for a similar scenario in Somalia.

Less than half of the force pledged by the AU two years has been deployed and the force has so far failed to contain deadly civil fighting in Mogadishu and elsewhere.

The AU force in Somalia, or AMISOM, currently comprises 3 400 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi and is expected to number 8 000.

Despite numerous appeals, member states are yet to respond with additional soldiers.

After Somalia’s Parliament — enlarged this week to include the opposition and gathered in Djibouti — elected a president early on Saturday, the Horn of Africa country’s new head of state could be one
of the summit’s highlights.

On development, Ping said several infrastructure projects in the continent are to be resumed such as the construction of the Cairo-to-Cape of Good Hope and Dakar-to-Djibouti highways, a regional reference university and electricity networks.

A special session will also discuss the bloc’s governance, a divisive issue among the AU’s 53 members.

Source: AFP

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Google search engine hit by ‘human error’

Google’s search service has been hit by technical problems, with users unable to access search results.

For a period on Saturday, all search results were flagged as potentially harmful, with users warned that the site “may harm your computer”.

Users who clicked on their preferred search result were advised to pick another one.

Google attributed the fault to human error and said most users were affected for about 40 minutes.

“What happened? Very simply, human error,” wrote Marissa Mayer, vice president, search products and user experience, on the Official Google Blog.

The internet search engine works with stopbadware.org to ascertain which sites install malicious software on people’s computers and merit a warning.

Stopbadware.org investigates consumer complaints to decide which sites are dangerous.

The list of malevolent sites is regularly updated and handed to Google.

When Google updated the list on Saturday, it mistakenly flagged all sites as potentially dangerous.

“We will carefully investigate this incident and put more robust file checks in place to prevent it from happening again,” Ms Mayer wrote.

Source: BBC

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Stabbing of Ghanaian in UK – Police quiz suspect

Police have been granted more time to question a man in connection with the murder of a man who was travelling with his three-year-old daughter to see his newborn son

Ghanian-born John Nii Kacsu Abbey died at a bus stop in Croydon, south London from a single stab wound to the heart on Thursday evening.

The 26-year-old boxer from Croydon, south London – who was known to his friends as King – was travelling to see his wife who had given birth earlier the same day.

Mr Abbey’s family was too upset to speak to reporters but his wife reportedly told staff at the Ghana High Commission in London that she was consumed by grief.

The 22-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder after turning himself in at a south London police station. Officers have been given until Sunday evening to hold him.

Detectives said Mr Abbey became involved in an argument with a second man, believed to be a former colleague, before the fatal blow was struck.

They are appealing for two teenagers wearing hooded tops, who fled the scene and may have been involved in the scuffle, to come forward.

Security guards at a nearby office described how they took Mr Abbey’s little girl away after she was left watching in horror as paramedics desperately tried to save her father’s life on the pavement.

One staff member said: “I said she shouldn’t be watching something like that, I asked around to see whose child she was and somebody said she was the victim’s, so I took her away into our building.”

He said that the three-year-old was “in shock, her eyes were wide open”. She was muttering under her breath occasional words like “mum” and “Mayday”.

Source: Evening Standard

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Ghana aims for third gold in Rwanda

Ghana will be hoping to win their third Africa Youth Championship title when they meet Cameroon in Sunday’s final in Rwanda.

The Black Satellites are hoping to be the third Ghanaian side to lift the trophy having won the tournament in 1993 and 1999.

The two sides cancelled each other out in an exciting 1-1 draw in the group phase.

Ghana dominated the game but needed a Dede Ayew equaliser after Jacques Daogari had given Cameroon the lead.

Despite being declared favourites, Black Satellites coach Sellas Tetteh is aware of the threat posed by their opponents.

“The final will be a different ball game. We played some good football in the first game but did not get the result we deserved,” said Tetteh.

“Cameroon are strong, fit, and well conditioned but not technically sound.

“They are also strong in the air and have got better with each game but we can overcome them with skilful play.”

The Young Lions beat continental giants Nigeria, who have similar traits with Ghana in playing style, to clinch their place in the final.

Cameroon coach Alain Wabo says he will frustrate the highly-rated Ghanaians to win their second title, having triumphed in 1995.

“We will be champions again after teaching Ghana some lessons, because I know how they play and I have studied all their video tapes,” Webo boasted.

“They play like Nigeria and we know how deal with those tactics.”

Meanwhile, Nigeria beat South Africa 2-1 on Saturday to clinch the bronze medal at the Regional Stadium in Kigali.

Midfielder George Maluka opened the scoring for the South Africans on eight minutes with a long drive.

But the Flying Eagles rallied and restored parity through Rabiu Ibrahim before Frank Temile’s effort on the stroke of half time secured the victory.

Source: BBC

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Woman who had eight babies already have six

How in the world does a woman with six children get a fertility doctor to help her have more — eight more?

An ethical debate erupted Friday after it was learned that the 33-year-old Southern California woman who gave birth to octuplets this week had six children already.

Large multiple births “are presented on TV shows as a ‘Brady Bunch’ moment. They’re not,” fumed Arthur Caplan, bioethics chairman at the University of Pennsylvania. He noted the serious and sometimes lethal complications and crushing medical costs that often come with high-multiple births.

But Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, who has fertility clinics in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York, countered: “Who am I to say that six is the limit? There are people who like to have big families.”

Kaiser Permanente announced the mega-delivery Monday. It was only the second time in U.S. history that eight babies survived more than a few hours after birth. The six boys and two girls are said to be in good condition.

So why, with a brood of six including 2-year-old twins, did Nadya Suleman chose to have more children?

Friends and family explained that her only goal in life was to be a mother. The woman’s mother, Angela Suleman, said her daughter had the embryos implanted, in hopes, of getting “just one more girl.”

Her daughter has always loved children, her mother said. Then she sighed. “I wish she would have become a kindergarten teacher.”

Doctors said the woman rejected an offer from doctors to abort some of the embryos.

Some medical experts were disturbed to hear that the woman was offered fertility treatment, and troubled by the possibility that she was implanted with so many embryos — well beyond the number advised by U.S. fertility industry guidelines.

Source: AP

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Fake Ghanaian Reverend Minister scams florist of $22,000

The first emails arrived at Westdale Florists on Friday, January 2.

They were from Rev. Benjamin Wallace, pastor at Christ the King Cathedral in Ghana.

His church was celebrating its anniversary and he wanted to order 50 gift baskets and wreaths from the small Hamilton flower shop and have them shipped to Ghana.

What’s more, the good reverend provided all the money up front — around $6,700, including shipping fees. The funds went into the store’s bank account without a hitch.

Wow, thought store owner Rosanna Yeomans, what a great start to the new year.

And the news got even better over the next four days.

The congregation had collected more money and the reverend had ultimately gathered enough funds to buy 500 wreaths and 300 gift baskets. Without fail, every email and every phone call ended with a “God bless you” from Rev. Wallace.

You can probably guess where this story is headed.

There was no Rev. Wallace, no church in Ghana and by the time an Amsterdam bank realized the credit card numbers given by the pastor had been stolen from its computer system, Westdale Florists had been scammed out of $22,000.

It’s a cautionary tale that highlights the growing global nature of fraud in an electronic age.

Struggling

Weeks later, with only a slim chance of recovering any of her lost money, Yeomans is struggling to keep her store afloat.

“Every day I wake up and think `What’s going to happen today?”‘ said Yeomans. “I had my little pity party and nights of crying myself to sleep.

“This isn’t going to stop me.”

Yeomans knows what you’re thinking.

With the benefit of hindsight, she said, it’s a lot easier to spot the signs of the scam.

“I know,” Yeomans says sheepishly. “Now I know.”

“Everyone is looking at me and wanting to give me a slap on the back of the head, like `Didn’t you know?’ Well, no, I didn’t.”

She’s still smiling, although it’s a bit difficult these days.

Even though she’s the victim in this story, Yeomans is embarrassed.

She’s also not being treated like the victim by the financial agencies that she thought were supposed to protect her from fraud.

The store’s bank account has been frozen, credit card companies have red–flagged her shop and she says Paymentech, the payment processing company for credit card providers, is threatening to send a collection agency after her.

“In spite of the fact that they approved everything,” said Yeomans. “In spite of the fact that I did everything I was supposed to do.

“That’s what’s frustrating,” she added. “Now the banks don’t want to deal with me even though it’s not my fault, and the credit card companies aren’t going to deal with me.”

A spokesperson for Paymentech did not respond to requests for an interview.

Hamilton police have launched an investigation but with little hope of success. Even if they tracked down the fraudster, Hamilton police have no jurisdiction in Ghana.

“This kind of fraud is so easily done,” said Det. Const. Randy Drumm of the major fraud unit. “She has not benefited in any way. In fact, she went so far as to wait until the money was in her account.”

Rev. Wallace’s first order was a little unusual, but not unprecedented for a flower shop.

Westdale Florists is part of a wire service and has an Internet presence, so orders come in from around the globe or get shipped to overseas destinations routinely. What’s not typical, however, is for an order to originate in a far–off destination and also get shipped back there.

But one of Yeoman’s suppliers here told her that the cost of product is so high in Africa that it can be cheaper to purchase something in Canada or the U. S. and then pay for the shipping.

The first order came to about $6,700, including about $1,500 for shipping.

The gift baskets would include chocolate, cookies, pretzels, candy, all wrapped in cellophane with a bow on top.

Wallace said he’d forward the shipping fees to Yeomans and then she had to transfer the shipping money by Western Union to John Freeman, owner of a company called ATS Shippers in Ghana.

Policy

Freeman indicated in an email to Yeomans that the shipping fees had to be sent from
Canada because “due to technical problems that we’re facing in our credit card department, we only accept payments via Western Union and it is our company policy that a full payment must be made before pickup can be scheduled.”

The reverend sent Yeomans half a dozen credit card numbers, along with their expiry dates. Most important, he also sent the three–digit security codes that appear on the backs of credit cards, a key feature that financial institutions require to establish that the card numbers are legitimate.

He told Yeomans each card had a $1,500 limit, so he needed to split the payment among several cards.

The transactions all went through and the money appeared in the store’s bank account.

Yeomans then wired the shipping fees via Western Union to ATS Shippers. She was startled to discover that she needed to provide two pieces of picture identification to Western Union to transfer anything over $1,000, but at the other end the money could be picked up by someone just using a code word that had been agreed upon by the two sides.

Drumm, the detective, has managed to track down the Western Union depot in the Ghanaian capital of Accra where the money was transferred, with no luck.

“They had nothing for me,” said Drumm. “The person who picked up the money showed no ID, no nothing.”

The reverend then expanded his order, adding another 150 wreaths and 250 gift baskets. That added about $16,000 to the order, including $2,650.09 for shipping.

Same Digits

Once again, the credit card numbers were approved, once again the money was deposited, and once again Yeomans wired the shipping fees to ATS Shippers.

She even contacted her bank manager because she had noticed that all of the credit card numbers started with the same 12 digits, with only the final four differing. She was told that was typical for an organization that might have multiple cards attached to one expense account.

Yeomans began purchasing the products needed to make the baskets, then worked through the weekend. At home, she made 300 bows in the evenings.

By the close of business Tuesday, January 6, the reverend’s order had grown to 500 wreaths and 300 gift baskets worth $44,000, including shipping — all of it paid up front.

That night, however, she received a call at home from her bank manager. Some red flags were starting to show up.

He’d done some checking and he couldn’t find a Christ the King Cathedral in Ghana, nor could he find any evidence of a Rev. Wallace.

When Yeomans arrived at her shop the next morning, there was an email waiting for her from the fraud detection branch of Amsterdam–based banking giant ING Direct.

The credit card numbers being provided by Wallace had been hacked from ING’s computers. The transactions were fraudulent.

“This is kinda when I got hit in the stomach,” said Yeomans.

“Reverend” Wallace did not respond to an email request for an interview.

Yeomans ultimately lost $16,000 in shipping fees that she wired to Ghana, as well as another $6,000 that was spent on products that can’t be returned. And Paymentech wants all $44,000 back — even though it allowed the credit card transactions in the first place.

She’s now turned the fight over to a lawyer, and hopes her shop can stay in business.

“If I come out even — no further ahead, no further behind — I’m happy with that,” said Yeomans.

“And lesson learned.”

Source: Brantford Expositor

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Cardiff City signs Owusu-Abeyie on loan

Ghana’s Quincy Owusu-Abeyie has joined Cardiff City on loan.

The 22-year-old who plays wide left or upfront and plays for Spartak Moscow will play for Cardiff City till the end of the season, according to reports reaching ghanabusinessnews.com.

This season Quincy has been on loan at Birmingham and while there, he scored what turned out to be the winning goal at City in September 2008.

He played his last game for Birmingham against Sansea December 28, 2008 and the match ended in a goalless draw.

Quincy, who features regularly for Ghana’s national team, the Black Stars since he was called up, played in the team’s last friendly against Tunisia in Accra in November 2008. The match ended in a goalless draw.

He had been with Arsenal for two and a half years before he moved to Moscow.

Quincy played international football for his native Netherlands at the youth level, but in 2007 requested to become eligible to represent Ghana instead. FIFA approved his request on January 10, 2008, just ahead of the 2008 African Cup of Nations.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

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Minimum Capital Requirements, Secondary Reserve Ration stifle Rural Banks in Ghana – Study

The increase of the Minimum Capital Requirements and Secondary Reserve Ration by the Bank of Ghana (BOG) would hamper the operations of Rural and Community Banks (RCBs), a research finding has said.

The Research spearheaded by the North-Eastern Chapter of the Association of Rural Banks and carried out by Managing Consultant of Pinnacle Investment and Trade Aid Integrated, indicated that the increase in Minimum Capital from GH¢50,000 to GH¢150,000 without the corresponding measures to support distressed RCBs could result in the demise of a number of rural banks particularly those in the Northern Ghana.

“This could have serious consequences for rural financial intermediation which is so critical to national development”, it stated.

The research findings also said the Secondary Reserve Ration which was currently 30 per cent poses another problem and indicated that it would be a barrier to rural banking especially the banks in the three Northern Regions because it would reduce their working capital which would in turn reduce the amount and number of loans that could be made to their customers thereby hampering their productivity.

It indicated that most of RCBs in the Northern sector find it difficult to pay dividends which serves as a disincentive to investment which would affect the ability of RCBs to raise further capital.

The research findings mentioned some of the major challenges confronting RCBS as the 2,000 Ghana Cedis loan ratification policies and said this leads to a delay in serving some of their clients who demand loans above 2,000 Ghana Cedis.

“The consequence of this was a growing lack of confidence in RCBs thereby making them lose some major customers.”

The Research findings also indicated that the proposal that RCBs which were not able to meet the Minimum Capital could merge would rather defeat the purpose of Rural Banking since the interest of the mergers would be to make profit. It said it would also create administrative problems and confrontations between communities.

The Research recommended that the current minimum capital requirement be maintained at least three more years and any increase should not be more than double of the existing amount.

It also recommended that any future consideration of an increase in the Minimum Capital requirement take into account the distribution of income across the country.

“A better understanding of the distribution of income, given spatial variation in endowment and socio-economic infrastructure is imperative towards the formulating of policy on Minimum Capital requirement. This may prove effective in placing the RBCs at a level that can truly contribute to achieving sustainable poverty reduction, whilst fostering economic growth”, it added.

It recommended that if the Minimum capital requirement must be increased at all cost, it should be accompanied with additional policy measures that could seek to support distressed RCBs to meet the new requirement.

The Research findings also supported the view of BOG to scrap the Secondary Reserve Ration and asked that it should be sped up.

It recommended APEX Bank, in collaboration of BOG to subsidize the training cost instead full cost recovery and also asked that automation of RCBs by the Millennium Development Authority to facilitate their work to be able to satisfy customers.

The Research recommended that Northern rural banks be allowed to continue to open agencies whilst they strived to meet the Minimum required Capital and also be allowed to pay dividend to shareholders, whilst organizing to meet the minimum capital.

It recommended that politicians should stop pressurizing RBCs to give loans.

Mr. John Asabigi, President of the North Eastern Chapter of Rural Banks commended the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) for sponsoring the Research.

He appealed to the appropriate authorities, especially BOG to implement the recommendations of the research to enable RBCs to undertake their activities since it was a major sector for addressing the poverty needs of the people.

He indicated that there was the need for BOG and other partners in development to create an enabling environment for more rural banks to be opened in the rural areas to alleviate poverty.

Source: GNA

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Northern Region needs more agriculture extension officers

The Northern Region lacks the required number of agricultural extension officers to effectively educate rural farmers on best agricultural practices to improve on agriculture production in the region.

Out of the required number of 650 agriculture extension officers needed, the region has 300 with only 11 of them being women Mr. Sylvester Adongo, Regional Director of the Ministry of food and Agriculture (MOFA) disclosed this at the launch of the Women Extension Volunteer Programme in Tamale on Friday.

The 45 women volunteers drawn from all the districts in the region underwent a week’s training programme where, among other things, they were educated in basic nutrition, home and farm management, value chain education, animal health care, crop production techniques and post harvest losses.

The training programme was a collaboration between the MOFA and the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).

Mr. Adongo said as a result of the limited number of agriculture extension officers in the region most rural farmers do not receive the necessary technologies for agriculture development.

He observed that most of the technologies could not be well disseminated by men and this therefore required that women be included for the effective promotion of improved agriculture technologies to the rural farm households.

Mr. Adongo impressed on the women volunteers to take their work seriously to enable them to make a difference and impact in the agriculture sector.

He commended the VSO for its support to the agricultural ministry in the areas of livestock development and capacity building for gender based farmer organisations.

Mr. Awudu Ibrahim Tanko, Country Director of VSO said the region was confronted with problems of food, health, education that needed new thinking to solve them.

He said it was for this reason that the VSO adopted new measures and strategies to involve women in the core of any new interventions in agriculture and entrepreneurship to bring about a general improvement in the lives of the people.

He urged NGOs not to work in isolation but team up with the relevant government agencies and organisations to bring development to the people.

Mr. Joseph Mahama Dasana, Regional Coordinating Director in a speech read for him commended the MOFA for recognizing the contribution of women in agriculture over the years and drawing up programmes to address their felt needs.

He said MOFA was committed to the attainment of its vision of gender equity and had accordingly established a gender focal unit to facilitate the implementation of the gender and agriculture development strategy.

He said the realization of this vision was however dependent upon the commitment of all stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society working to achieve the goal.

“The women extension volunteer programme requires changes and action from every member of MOFA as well as all those who are connected to Ghana’s agriculture sector”, Mr. Dasana said.

Source: GNA

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Wife of murdered man tells of grief

The wife of the young father stabbed to death at a West Croydon bus stop spoke of her sadness over the killing.

She told a welfare officer at the Ghanaian High Commission that she is consumed with grief over her dead partner and her now fatherless newborn baby.

Martin Quansah, welfare officer at the Commission said: “She sounded the lowest that you can imagine a human being sounding. She was completely down and flat.”

A 22 year old man continues to be questioned by detectives following the fatal stabbing at 6.15pm on Thursday night outside the Lidl supermarket.

The man, whose partner had given birth that morning, was on the way to the Mayday hospital with his three year old daughter when he was killed.

The young girl is expected to be interviewed by specialist police officers.

A post-mortem examination revealed the victim, who was originally from Ghana, died of a single stab wound to the heart.

Security guards at a nearby office described how they took the girl away.

One staff member said: “I said she shouldn’t be watching something like that, I asked around to see whose child she was and somebody said she was the victim’s, so I took her away into our building.”

He said that the three-year-old was “in shock, her eyes were wide open”. She was muttering under her breath occasional words like “mum” and “Mayday”.

Police are appealing for witnesses and are looking for two young black males who were wearing hooded tops.

Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons, of Scotland Yard’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command, said: “It is a tragedy for the three-year-old, the man’s wife and the son he will never see.”

Source:Croydon Guardian

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