New York TimesCoptic Church Chooses Pope Who Rejects Political RoleNew York TimesCAIRO — A blindfolded 6-year-old reached into a glass bowl on Sunday to pick the first new Coptic pope in more than 40 years, a patriarch who promises a new era of integration for Egypt's Christian minority as it grapples with a wave of sectarian violence, ...Tawadros II: Egypt's new Coptic Orthodox popeAhram OnlineAP Photos: Egypt's Copts choose new popeHuffington PostNew pope named for Egypt's embattled Coptic ChristiansChristian Science MonitorBBC News -The Guardian -Brisbane Timesall 723 news articles »

Ghana has booked a date with Cape Verde for an international friendly on Tuesday, November 13 in Lisbon, Portugal. GNA Sports can confirm that the Black Stars would assemble in the Portuguese capital for the friendly which Ghana would be using as the final international brush up ahead of the 2013 African Cup of Nations

The GuardianMancini: Misfiring City are not yet fit for European gloryThe IndependentThe Italian was speaking after his team's 0-0 draw at West Ham United, which again illustrated some of the attacking problems that have left them with only one point in Europe ahead of tomorrow's home match against Ajax, and minimal prospects of getting ...Roberto Mancini unconcerned by Pep Guardiola Manchester City linkSports MoleAre Manchester City turning into Barcelona?Life's A Pitch (blog)all 566 news articles »

Accra, Nov. 4, GNA – Mr Abuga Pele, Executive Director of Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), has commended the Goodwill International Group (GIG) for successfully training the youth in oil and gas.      He said “I must commend the authorities of the Goodwill International Group especially its CEO, Mr Philip Akpeena for getting the foresight, wisdom and the expertise to train Ghana’s youth to fill gaps in the local content required in the oil and gas industry”.      Mr Pele was speaking to the media after a graduation ceremony of beneficiaries of the MDPI/Goodwill oil and gas training for some 7,020 persons organised in Accra.      Mr Pele said GYEEDA had no regrets partnering the Goodwill and MDPI for such a national exercise adding that the essence of nation building was about creating jobs and giving the youth the needed employable skills to cater for their future.       He said GYEEDA sponsored more than 4,000 youth to gain practical experience on the oil and gas from Goodwill training and expressed the hope that the beneficiaries would use the experience to gain employment from oil companies as well as forming their private enterprises to participate in the oil and gas value chain.      Earlier, Mr Kofi Humodo, Minister of Youth and Sports, in a speech read on his behalf, thanked Goodwill International Group and its partners for developing the programme.      He expressed the hope that the next group would be engaged in a similar training, which should commenced immediately to enable rapid increase of Ghanaian youth with the needed competencies and certificates for effective enforcement of the local content policy guidelines.      The Goodwill International Group in partnership with the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI) trained a total of 7,020 people on oil and gas aimed at filling gas in Ghana’s oil and gas local content requirement.       In addressing the challenges, government developed the local content policy guidelines to maximize the benefits of oil and gas wealth generation by optimizing the use of local expertise, goods and services in the oil and gas value chain.      Mr Philip Assibit Akpeena, Executive Director of Goodwill International Group, said to enable Ghanaian youth benefit from the local content package, Goodwill in partnership with the GYEEDA and other public and private organisations as well as individuals developed the programme and conducted it at the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI).      He said the programme was designed and delivered by internationally accredited trainers and service providers including Petro-skills, Micro 3 strategy and Health check International, among others to ensure that the content and delivery methodology as well as documentations and   certification met the global standards of the industry.      Mr Akpeena said regulatory requirements, ethics and expectations of local players, policy makers and policy owners, as well as public and private enterprises linked to the industry were considered in the planning and delivery of the programme.      He said local organisations such as the Ghana Maritime Academy and Ghana Petroleum Skills Development Institute and some experts of some of the universities were directly involved in the programme’s planning and delivery.      He said the delivery process was harmonised at both convergence level with local content requirements and opportunities and at divergence levels with international standard requirements and work abroad.      He said beneficiaries had been prepared in competency based courses linked to their respective careers and levels of education, to equip them with practical hands-on skills to take full advantage of opportunities in the oil and gas industry.      Mr Akpeena said the programme was in line with the government’s commitment to youth employment and local content facilitation and enforcement and that Goodwill would do its best to collaborate with agencies that aimed at its human resource development especially in the oil and gas sector.   GNA...

Sunyani, Nov. 5, GNA – Mr Hayford Francis Amoako, Secretary General, National Democratic Party (NDP), has held a meeting with the Brong-Ahafo Regional Executive Committee and Constituency Executives to discuss strategies crafted to win Election 2012.       He pledged the commitment of the National Executive Committee to provide the various campaign teams with the necessary logistics to make their activities easier and ensure victory.       Mr Amoako, a former Member of Parliament for Nkoranza, speaking to the Ghana News Agency after the meeting, advised the executives and parliamentary candidates not to succumb to monetary pressures and threats from groups and individuals and divide their ranks.      “None of the Parliamentary Candidates should step down or defect from the party due to threats of injury or even death because the party would massively win Election 2012.”      The NDP Secretary General however, admonished to work assiduously in their constituencies to improve the chances of NDP on December 7, adding, “We should win more than half of the constituencies in the Region in the Parliamentary elections. It is therefore, incumbent on you to work harder”.       Mr Amoako encouraged them to keep up with the good work and assured them that their concerns would be addressed.       The executives pledged their unflagging support and undying love for the party and promised to be faithful.       They informed the Secretary General about some of the activities they had embarked upon in their constituencies and called on the National Executive Committee for support and encouragement.       The executives raised some concerns and called for immediate action to redress them to ensure total victory in their constituencies.   GNA...

Sunyani, Nov. 5, GNA– The Brong Ahafo Regional Secretariat of the National Democratic Party (NDP) has appealed to religious leaders to intervene on behalf of the party’s flagbearer, Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings, to contest for the presidency in Election 2012.      Making the appeal at a press conference in Sunyani, Nana Obiri Pantanpram, Brong-Ahafo Regional Chairman of NDP, said the inclusion of its flagbearer on the ballot paper would be in the supreme interest of the nation.      The Electoral Commission (EC) rejected the nomination forms of Nana Konadu citing major errors as the reason for their action.      However, she is seeking redress at an Accra Fast High Court (Human Rights Division).      Nana Pantanpram said they agreed with the decision of the flagbearer to seek redress and expected that the party would contest for the Presidency on December 7.      He said it was wrong for the EC to exclude its flagbearer from the polls and indicated that the NDP had come to stay and poised to win Election 2012.      Prince Agyei, Brong-Ahafo Regional Communications Director of NDP, denied that the party had collapse in the Region, and urged all party faithful and sympathisers to disregard the rumour.      He noted that it was a ploy by those who were opposed to the party to persuade its members to join other political parties.     “The NDP is still strong and existing in the Region, its members are still united and campaigning for the party which has probity, accountability, social justice and progress of the people as its tenets,” he added.      Prince Agyei said the party would contest in 22 out of the 29 constituencies in the Region on December 7 and was confident that all their parliamentary candidates would win their seats.   GNA...

Bolgatanga (UE), Nov. 5, GNA - Mr Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister, has taken delivery of 2000 footballs from the Ministry of Youth and Sports for onward distribution to senior high and technical schools and districts in the region.   This was contained in a statement released by the Acting Regional Public Relations Officer, Mr Peter Atogewe Wedam in Bolgatanga.   Mr Woyongo, who thanked the Sports Ministry for the gesture, said the move would help promote sports in the region.   He said it would also help produce the needed young and energetic footballers to replace the current players in the national male and female teams many of whom were getting old.   The Minister expressed the hope that the presentation would whip up interest of the youth in sports and enhance sports development in general in the region.   He cautioned sports masters in the various schools against selling the footballs or keeping them to themselves.   Mr Woyongo commended basic school pupils who won prizes at the just ended Milo Marathon in Accra for their achievements.   He also congratulated the Black Maidens for their feat in the just ended Women’s Under-17 World Cup and encouraged young girls to participate actively in football.   Mr Michael Frimpong, Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, who presented the footballs, disclosed that each SHS would receive 15 footballs whilst each district and municipal assembly take home 115 footballs to help develop sports in their respective districts.   Mr Frimpong said the Ministry had already done similar distributions in other regions across the country and was working to distribute other sports kits in future.   Mr Thomas Awiah, Regional Physical Education Coordinator at the Ghana Education Service thanked the Sports Ministry for the gesture.   He appealed for the provision of adequate support for other sport disciplines such as hockey, hand ball, and table tennis in order to develop the youth in all the areas of sports in the country.   The sports coordinator said 23 public senior high and technical schools, 11 private SHS, three community SHS and other technical/vocational schools would all receive the footballs.   GNA...

Accra, Nov. 5, GNA – Five Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are undergoing a five-day capacity training programme in Monitoring and Evaluation and Grants Management in Accra to strengthen their competencies.   They will be equipped with the necessary skills to monitor and evaluate their projects to achieve better results.   It was being organised by the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WASCI) with funding from the French Embassy in Accra under its Fund for Social Development project.   WACSI is a capacity building institute in West Africa that serves as civil society by providing them with requisite skills to promote professionalism within the sector.   The beneficiary organisations of the grant and capacity development scheme were Global Mamas at Ningo-Prampram, Greater Accra Region; Hunger Alliance of Ghana, Accra; Centre for Alternative Development, Tongo, Upper East Region; Children we Care Foundation, New Tafo, Eastern Region; and the Foundation for Information and Strategic Development, Sandema, Upper East Region.   Mr Charles Kojo Vandyck, Capacity Building Officer of WASCI, said the two trainings would serve as learning and sharing platform for the participants.   He said during the period, participants would be provided with requisite knowledge to promote efficiency in the management of project grants provided by the French Embassy.   “Four months after the training, WACSI will provide beneficiary organisations with technical advice to support their project management operations for projects specifically supported by the French Embassy.   “This is to ensure that the knowledge and skills acquired from these trainings are effectively utilized to achieve better results that would contribute to enhance social development in Ghana,” he said.   Mr Gilbert M. Atta-Boakye, Managing Partner at CICADA an M&E Consortium, said so far NGOs activities have made some progress but not getting things right.   He said even though the donor communities were making monies available for development projects at the end of the day, there was nothing to prove and stressed the need to evaluate their activities to see why things were done that way.   He said in some cases, the project vanished immediately the donors left the place and even those NGOs who included sustainability plan in their proposal did not implement those plans, so after two to three years, there was nothing to show for such projects.   “We need to find out if it is our thinking or our culture that is making us to think that those projects are not ours because the funding does not come from us,” he said.   Mr Atta-Boakye recommended that development practitioners should sit back to analyze and see if their targets were being met, if not they should go back and evaluate things all over.   He stressed the need for communities to see development as their own and develop the interest and the zeal to sustain them.   He also advocated serious governmental involvement to hold NGOs accountable for whatever contract they signed with the donors and to ensure that it was implemented to the later.   Every year, the French Government supports small and medium-scale development projects in Ghana by providing financial support to community-based CSOs with its special programme “Fund for Social Development”.   It was established in 1999 and focuses on poverty alleviation, especially on economic and social empowerment of the women and the deprived youth mainly through the support of income generating activities.   GNA...

Nyanyanu, (C/R) , Nov. 5, GNA – More than 40,000 delegates are expected to throng the Convention Grounds of Jehovah’s Witnesses at Nyanyanu, near Kasoa,in the Central Region for a three-day annual District Convention being organized on the theme: “Safeguard Your Heart”.   The convention, which promises a fresh examination of biblical references to the figurative heart, would feature lively discourses, dramatic bible readings and presentations, and a live drama.   Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra ahead of the convention slated for Friday 9th November 2012 to Sunday November 11th 2012, Mr. Samuel Gaskin, the Local Media Contact for the Witnesses’ Convention, told the Ghana News Agency that the convention would lay emphasis on how “protecting the figurative heart will enhance one’s spiritual well-being, family life and happiness”.   He said daily themes and titles of the programme would be based on passages of the scripture including 1 Samuel 16:7, 1 Chronicles 28:9, and Matthew 12:34.   Mr Gaskin said: “The convention theme, “Safeguard Your Heart!” is based on Proverbs 4:23” and added that admission to the convention was free.   Throughout Ghana, there would be 97 conventions in 27 cities. The first of the 11 three-day successive events in Accra alone, has already taken place at Baatsona in Accra on Friday October 5, 2012.   Worldwide, Jehovah’s Witnesses number more than 7,600,000  and are active in more than 236 countries.   GNA...

Accra, Nov 5, GNA - Vice President Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur on Monday exuded confidence and was poised to explain the vision of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) at running mates’ debate to be held Takoradi on Tuesday.   He said the NDC had superior vision to the other parties, and he was very ready to explain the vision to Ghanaians.   The Ghana Institute of Economic Affairs, having organized an earlier one for the presidential candidates in Tamale, is organising another one for the vice presidential candidates for the parties with representation in Parliament.   The contestants are Vice President Amissah-Arthur, for the NDC; Madam Cherita Sarpong Kumankuma, for the Convention People’s Party (CPP); Madam Helen Sanorita Dzatugbe Matrevi, for the People’s National Convention; and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia for the New Patriotic Party (NPP).   The debate comes off between 1830 and 1000 hours at the Takoradi Takoradi Akroma Plaza.   The flagbearers’ and running mates debates are intended to deepen multi-party democracy and promote issue-based elections in Ghana.   Tuesday’s encounter would provide an opportunity for the running mates to deal wittingly with issues of socio-economic importance and good governance as did their flagbeaerers.   It would offer the electorate an opportunity to assess the new faces on the political block and judge their suitability, especially the female running mates.   Vice President Amissah–Arthur told journalists in Accra, prior to leaving for Takoradi that despite being the first sitting Vice President to take part in the debate, the occasion would offer him the opportunity to explain ongoing programmes to Ghanaians.   He noted that all the other parties had ever been in power with records, but he as Vice President had more experience in administration than the other running mates and would use his experience to offer greater insights into issues that would be raised at the encounter.   The Vice President was the Governor of the Bank of Ghana before his selection as Vice President in August, while Dr Bawumia was a deputy Governor at the same institution before his selection to partner Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, the NPP flagbearer in 2008, and retained again for the December 2012 polls.   The other two contestants, PNC’s Helen Matervi, 43, was a teaching assistant at the University of Cape Coast.   The CPP running mate, is a child’s rights advocate, and until recently was a traditional ruler in Dormaa in the Brong Ahafo Region.   GNA...

Accra, Nov. 5, GNA – An Accra High Court on Monday declined to grant an injunction filed against the Electoral Commission (EC) preventing it from printing the December 7, presidential ballot papers.   The court noted that the EC would suffer hardship as it prepare for the country’s general elections.   According to the court personal should not override that of public interest stressing that the hardship the EC would suffer cannot be compared to that of the individual.   The court presided over Sir Justice Dennis Agyei, a Court of Appeal Judge sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court Judge therefore awarded cost of GH¢500 against the New Vision Party, which dragged the EC to court.   The court noted that it had the jurisdiction to look at the substantive issues concerning the EC’s refusal to accept the NVP’s nominations forms.   On October 31, this year, after the NVP had sent the matter to court, it raised issue as whether it had the jurisdiction to preside over the case and interim injunction against the EC seeking an order to halt it from printing the December 7, presidential ballot papers.   The NVP had proceeded to the High Court after the EC had rejected its presidential nomination form on October 18, this year. The EC had rejected the NVP presidential nomination form, saying the forms were full of blank spaces, contrary to the requirement for completing the forms.   According to the EC, it had a constitutional duty to conduct the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for December 7 and any delay in carrying out the necessary preparation for the election would be detrimental to the whole nation.   It had therefore prayed the court to dismiss the application as it had no merit.   At the court's sitting on October 31, Mr J.K. Yeboah, counsel for NVP told the court that NVP, led by Prophet Daniel Nkansah had complied with Constitutional Instrument 75 by filling the presidential nomination forms.   However, he said, the EC, under the same Constitutional Instrument, rejected the forms without any justifying cause, adding that the action of the Commission constituted a breach of the candidate's rights as a corporate citizen.   According to Mr Agyemang, the High Court had the jurisdiction to hear the matter as no election had been conducted and they were not challenging the validity of a person who had been elected.   On the injunction, Mr Agyemang said the EC, after rejecting the presidential nomination form of the NVP; the presidential candidate had moved another step by balloting for positions on the ballot paper.   The NVP contended further that a great hardship would be inflicted on the party should it win the substantive case and the EC is subsequently directed to accept the nomination form.   “This is a clear case where the wheel of the law applies its brake on the defendant to stop any further movement,” the party added.   The EC, represented by Mr James Quarshie-Idun, had filed the Commission’s affidavit in opposition to the two applications.   GNA...