Monday 24 August 2015

National Security probes presidential press corps accident

The late Samuel Nuamah

The National Security has begun investigations into circumstances leading to the death of one of the presidential press corps members in a motor crash near the Shai Hills in the Greater Accra region last week.

Ghanaian Times journalist Samuel Nuamah died on the spot when the commercial vehicle in which the press corps was using flipped several times during a tyre burst incident.

Several of the journalists including state broadcaster Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s Napoleon Ato Kittoe, Pascaline Adadevoh and Peace FM’s William Gentu sustained serious injuries, but are recuperating at the 37 Military Hospital.

The national security wants to establish whether the incident was due to a mechanical fault or otherwise, sources within the security setup have hinted Starrfmonline.com.

The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the Media Foundation for West Africa have welcome the probe into the incident.

Meanwhile, survivors of the presidential press corps who were involved in the accident have been recounting rare stories of endurance after last Thursday's incident.

GBC's Cameraman Mark Sasu has been credited for not only bringing the pictures to viewers, but also for his rescue abilities.

GBC’s Kittoe told Radio Ghana he believes the best point of the survival story is hearing that
UTV/Peace FM's William Gyentu is alive.

Source: starrfmonline.com

Thursday 20 August 2015

25 Most Useful Websites And Apps For College Students That Will Make You Smarter And More Productive

Many people say that today’s college students have it easy. All information they need is at their fingertips, so they can easily complete all academic projects after browsing the Internet for a few hours. However, that’s not what happens in reality.

The curriculums have become more rigorous than ever, so college students have to think of different ways of increasing their productivity and motivation.

Luckily, there are many apps and websites that will improve their skills of time management, planning, brainstorming, writing, socializing, and many other aspects of student life. In this article you will find a list of 25 websites, apps and tools that will immediately turn you into a smarter student.

1. StudentRate

Student Rate
Among all the new responsibilities as a college student, budgeting may be the toughest one. StudentRate.com is a website where you can find great discounts and steal deals that range from textbooks, to travel, to technology.

2. NinjaEssays

NinjaEssays
With the help of this website, you can always get your papers and assignments ready for submission. The company will assign your projects to real experts, so you can be sure that the results will be excellent.

3. Koofers

Koofers
Koofers enables you to access flashcards and prepare for exams more easily. In addition, students use Koofers to get information about job and internship openings and to get hired in adequate positions.

4. Alarmy (Sleep If U Can)

Alarmy
Missing important classes is out of the question if you want to be a successful college student. Let’s see if you can sleep through this alarm! It’s annoying, but will get you out of bed for sure.

5. OpenStudy

OpenStudy
When you need to study hard for exams, you can access OpenStudy and become part of study groups for history, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and other courses you take.

6. Sworkit

Sworkit
When you forget about the importance of exercising, this app will remind you that there is always time for investing in your health and fitness.

7. Help.PlagTracker

Help.Plagtracker
When you write a paper, you have to make sure it’s perfect in all aspects before turning it in. At this website, you can easily hire a professional editor to smooth out the content and start getting better grades on your academic assignments.

8. Audible

Audible
When you’re too tired to read the book for your literature class, listening to an audiobook will help a lot. Now you can spend your time productively when waiting in line or taking long walks.

9. Half

Half
You can save a small fortune by buying and selling your textbooks online. There are other websites with a similar purpose, but Half is the easiest one to use.

10. Mint

Mint
Gaining budgeting wisdom takes time and effort, but everything will go much more smoothly with the help of Mint – a free app that will categorize and organize the expenses for you.

11. InstaGrok

InstaGrok
At this website, you can research the topic of your interest and get a customizable concept map that will help you make the studying materials cooler. You will easily remember important information thanks to the interactive visual interface.

12. Studious

Studious
Sometimes you forget to turn your phone off during classes, and that’s exactly when your parents decide to call you. This Android app will help you avoid interrupting the class and getting on the professor’s nerves.

13. StudyBlue

StudyBlue
No matter how much you dislike taking notes and making flashcards, those learning strategies are important if you want to make your studying easier. StudyBlue enables you to make fun flashcards and take notes anywhere, anytime.

14. SelfControl

SelfControl
It is very important to stay away from distractions during studying time. This free Mac app will help you avoid Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other distracting websites.

15. Rate My Professor

Ratemyprof
When you are about to create your class schedule, you can check the reputation of different professors at this website.

16. iStudiez Pro

Istudies
This awesome planner will help you organize your life throughout college. You can use it on your iPhone, Mac or iPad to enter a smart summary of all planned events for the day.

17. TED

Ted
The speeches featured at this website are not only motivational, but informative as well. TED is a reliable resource you can use to get ideas and resources for your projects.

18. Dragon Dictation

Dragon
Instead of typing like a maniac, you can become more productive by dictating. Dragon Dictation will instantly transform your words into text.

19. SugarSync

SugarSync
Your files and folders hold important information that needs to be protected from loss. SugarSync will make you feel safe, but will also make your work easier because it will sync the files on multiple devices.

20. Quizlet

Quizlet
Quizlet enables you to study vocabulary, languages, and many other things for free. It supports effective study tools that will help you see learning as a fun activity.

21. Dictionary.com Mobile

Dictionary
When you don’t understand what your eloquent professor is saying, you can access this smartphone app and translate his expressions into simple words.

22. Wolfram Alpha

Wolf
Wikipedia is really overestimated, and your professors don’t appreciate it. Thanks to this app, you can access expert knowledge and trustworthy information whenever you need it and wherever you are.


23. Notella

Notells
When your professors drop important information unexpectedly, this app will prevent you from missing it. This is a super fast note-taker that will save you when you least expect it.

24. RealCalc

Realcalc
With the help of this scientific calculator, you may actually start enjoying calculating. You don’t have to invest in an expensive calculator to use in class when you have this brilliant software at your disposal.

25. BenchPrep

BenchPrep
This extensive library of interactive test prep courses will help locate all exam study material you need. BenchPrep also provides an impressive base of flashcards, practice questions and study lessons.

Featured photo credit: World Bank Photo Collection via flickr.com

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Source;lifehack.org  

Swansea manager rubbishes Ayew money-chasing reports

Manager Garry Monk has rubbished reports that his superstar Andre Ayew chased the money when he signed for the Swansea City insisting the Ghanaian midfielder turned down bigger offers to join the English Premier League club revealing that his only ambitions are football ones.

Ayew has made a dream start to life in the Premier League with two goals in his first two appearances after joining the club from French giants Marseille on a free transfer.

The performances of the deputy Ghana captain after just two matches has underlined the size of the coup landed by Swansea in seeing off a string of European giants to capture the Ghana World Cup star.

Ayew’s father, the African and Maseille great Abedi Pele, who doubles as one of his son’s representatives, has recently claimed he turned down interest from Roma and Atletico Madrid to head to South Wales to join Monk’s ranks.

His quickfire start to British football has led to criticism of clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool, West Ham and Newcastle who were beaten to the punch by Swansea.

Jack Sullivan – son of West Ham owner David Sullivan – used Twitter to claim the Hammers’ offer of £90,0000-a-week wages were trumped by a supposed £120,000 on offer at the Liberty.

And the Swans boss says the unlikely link-up works because the high-profile signing was NOT lured to the Liberty Stadium by money.

“It was refreshing because there were a lot of big teams around Europe who were offering him a lot more than we were – but it was never about money for him,” said Monk of the 25-year-old.

“He liked our approach – how we were doing things and moving forward. He felt this was the right club at this stage of his career.”

“It was refreshing when I spoke to him to hear his views on the game because he was very much football-orientated – he’s not into the glitz and the glamour and the money side of it.

“You don’t get a lot of that now when you pick up a paper. It’s normally all about the money.

“The Premier League was obviously a big attraction and, when I spoke to him, he liked the way I was approaching things and he wanted to be part of things.

“It was refreshing because there were a lot of big teams around Europe who were offering him a lot more than we were – but it was never about money for him.

“He liked our approach – how we were doing things and moving forward. He felt this was the right club at this stage of his career.”

While Swansea are thought to have made Ayew one of their highest earners, paying a substantial signing-on fee across the life of the four-year deal he signed in July, it is nowhere near those kind of figures which fly in the face of the way the Swans board operate.

Source: Ghanasoccer.com

Tuesday 18 August 2015

Afoko denied bail as families clash in court

The families of the late NPP Upper East regional chairman Adams Mahama and his suspected murderer Gregory Afoko clashed in court this morning ahead of a ruling on application for bail.

The two families had the standoff during a bail application hearing of the suspect Tuesday morning.

A daughter of the suspect, reports indicates collapsed in the violent exchanges.

It took the intervention of security officials and other staff of the judicial service to calm tempers between the two families.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights court hearing the matter has denied bail to the accused.

The court presided over by Justice Ken Okaibi in a ruling said it is in the interest of the general public that the suspect is kept behind bars until the final determination of the matter.

Gregory Afoko is standing trial for the acid attack that led to the death of Adams Mahama in May this year.

Source: adomonline

Voters register is ‘incurably flawed’ - Dr. Bawumia

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia

New Patriotic Party's (NPP) 2016 running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has described the current voters register as incurably flawed and unfit to be used for the 2016 elections.

Dr. Bawumia, addressing the press at the Alisa Hotel in Accra said that the NPP being convinced of the flaws in the voters roll is requesting for a new one.

“The voters register is incurably flawed and can’t be relied on for 2016 elections…that is why we submitted our petition to the EC this morning…,” he said.

The NPP is currently holding a press conference to present their case for a new voters roll ahead of the 2016 elections.

The former deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana is presenting the party’s argument.

The event #NewVotersRegisterNow is attended by several NPP bigwigs including flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Party scribe, Kwabena Agyepong and Party chairman, Paul Afoko.

Dr. Bawumia is doing a powerpoint presentation to state the party's case.

He refers to the use of National Health Insurance cards to register during the opening of the voter register to buttress the point for the compilation of a new one.

Source: adomonline.com






s
register to buttress the point for the compilation of a new one.

Gov’t to GMA: Call off strike and return to negotiation table

Government has made a passionate appeal to striking doctors to as a matter of urgency rescind their decision and go back to work.

Health Minister, Alex Segbefia, who made the appeal at a press conference on Tuesday, said government is willing to further engage the striking doctors, only if they call off their three-week-old strike.

“I urge all striking doctors to immediately come to the negotiation table and call off their strike because the strike action is really affecting lives and health care delivery,” he said.

Scores of people are reported to have died as a result of the doctors’ strike; negotiations between government and the doctors have broken down.

The doctors are demanding a conditions of service document which they say does not exist.

The President’s earlier comments, according to some of the doctors, smacks of disrespect to their profession.

But Mr. Segbefia noted that if negotiations over their conditions of service is to continue, they will be able to make headway, therefore, pleading with the striking doctors to return to work.

Source: adomonline.com



Bawumia's wife tackles ‘Living Goat’ Mahama

Samira Bawumia, wife of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, New Patriotic Party (NPP) vice presidential candidate, has said that President John Mahama’s switch from a ‘dead goat’ to a ‘living one’ was a convenient way of shirking his responsibilities as head of state.

She stated that President Mahama was not sympathetic to the plight of the citizenry. It would be recalled that the president, addressing Ghanaians living in Botswana in March this year, said he had become impervious to threats of strikes and demonstrations back home as he had adopted what he termed “dead-goat syndrome” to tell agitating labour groups and the opposition that a dead goat’s skin does not fear the knife.

However, during an interview on state-run Uniiq FM in Accra in commemoration of World Youth Day last week, President Mahama backtracked and said he had now changed from “dead goat” to “living goat” as strike actions by agitating public sector workers overwhelmed him.

But Mrs. Bawumia indicated that the president used such political tactics to cover his inefficiencies.

Speaking at the launch of the Patriotic Youth Movement (PYM) in Accra over the weekend, Mrs. Bawumia was emphatic that the 2016 polls would offer the opportune time to “change government and save Ghana.”

She said the journey towards salvaging Ghana from the hands of the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration was not only the responsibility of the leadership of the NPP, adding that the youth of the party have a key role to play in achieving the task of winning the 2016 polls.

Abdul Sallam Mustapha, a Deputy National Youth Organizer of the NPP, stated that he was touched by the desire of the youth to see the return of the party to power.

Mr. Mustapha urged members of the PYM to go and work in their assigned regions.

Source: Daily Guide

177 Cuban doctors to rescue health sector

The Health Ministry is counting on over one hundred and seventy Cuban doctors to take care of patients in need of medical attention at the major public hospitals across the country.

This forms part of government’s emergency plan as the Ghana Medical Association has withdrawn their services for the past three weeks demanding their conditions of service.

Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, Health Minister Alex Segbefia said the Cuban doctors will take care of the pressure at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra and the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi.

He said there are already sixteen Cuban doctors in the rural areas, but will be transferred to Accra and Kumasi where the impact of the strike is gravely felt.

The Health Minister also revealed that retired doctors will also start work next week to also help other medical officers in the hospitals take care of emergencies and outpatients.

Alex Segbefia added that the retired doctors who will be engaged on contractual basis would help with supervision and training of physician assistant and house doctors.

“The retired doctors are more than willing to take up the task to save the health sector,” he stressed

Source: adomonline.com

Bawumia uncovers 76,000 Togolese in Ghana's voter roll

Voter rolls of Ghana and Togo in enhanced photo

New Patriotic Party's (NPP) 2016 Vice Presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has revealed that a team commissioned by the party to go into Ghana’s voter register has identified 76,286 persons with the same data in both Ghana and Togo’s voter register.

Dr. Bawumia, speaking at a widely publicized press conference in Accra on Tuesday, said the party’s team identified this suspected anomaly after comparing Ghana’s register with that of Togo.

These persons, he said, were mostly found in the Volta region with Ketu South cited as one of the constituencies where the anomalies are abound.

What made the team suspicious, he said, was the fact that pictures that accompanied the names in Ghana’s album were never taken from a ‘live environment’ but instead were scanned photographs thus suggesting the holders of the card were never present at the registration centres to register.

“What is damming is that many of the pictures were not taken from a live environment but rather scanned… we have examples from Ketu South where entire pictures were scanned and you will see staple marks depicting they were attached to documents…,” he said.

Dr. Bawumia’s presentation follows several calls from the rank and file of the opposition party for the EC to compile a new voters register ahead of the 2016 elections.

Their claim, Dr. Bawumia said, was earlier based on the conviction that the register is ‘incurably flawed’ intimating that it does not qualify to be used for next year’s crucial elections.

At the conference attended by various party bigwigs including party flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, party chairman, Paul Afoko, General Secretary, Kwabena Agyepong, former trades Minister, Alan Kyeremanteng and a host of others, Dr. Bawumia said he could not comprehend how persons with same data could get into both Ghana and Togo's voters registers.

“The question, therefore, is how these scanned pictures got into the EC register…it is not a document we can rely on for free, fair, transparent elections…,” he said.

The identification of such persons, he said, only forms ten percent of the party’s inquiry into Ghana’s voters register, promising that the NPP is scheduled to present more shocking revelations from the voters register.

Ghana’s voters register, he said, would also be compared to that of Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.

To help tackle this problem and make the next election more credible, Dr. Bawumia suggested that the Electoral Commission of Ghana compiles a new voters register by June 2016, saying the Commission should give Ghanaians a new Permanent Voters Card (PVC) as was done in Nigeria.

He further suggested that the EC grants a period of two weeks for the registration to be carried out simultaneously across the country.

The new compiled voters register, he said, should be edited by internationally reputed audit firms and all political parties given copies.

Source: adomonline.com

Blockheaded NPP is simply being mischievous - Gen Mosquito

The Chief Scribe of the ruling National Democratic Congress [NDC], Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketiah says the opposition NPP’s calculations which informed its opinion that the register is flawed were based on faulty presumptions.

According to him, one can deduce either pure mischief from the NPP’s calculation or simply a display of low intelligence [blockheadedness] with the intention to deceive Ghanaians.

The New Patriotic Party [NPP] has argued that with a voter population of about 14 million, Ghana has a questionable and statistically indefensible rate of 56 percent of its population being above 18 years.

But Asiedu Nketiah on Okay FM is convinced that this calculation is itself statistically challenged because the 2010 population census based on which the NPP made its calculation is inaccurate.

He enumerated that in order for the NPP’s calculations to be acceptable, they have to base their computation on the 2012 population; adding it is wrong to compare the number of people in 2010 to that of the 2012 voters register.

He further explained that “if per the 2010 census population is pegged at 25 million and for that reason 12.5 million people were eligible to vote then, it does not mean in 2012 eligible Ghanaian voters should not reach 14 million. Are they saying no Ghanaian reached the voting age between 2010 and 2012 for the country to have nearly 14 million eligible voters?”

He, therefore, surmised that it is "either the NPP is acting so dead-set in their ways to do such calculations, or it is a deliberate attempt to deceive Ghanaians by playing mischief.”
Source:ghanaweb.com