A quick catch up on today’s top stories…
1) Ghanaians abroad can soon travel back home with Ghana Card – Bawumia reveals
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has revealed that Ghana’s unique biometric identification card, the Ghanacard, will soon become an electronic passport for all Ghanaians.
“We have been working with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) this year to globally activate the e-passport function of the Ghanacard and I am happy to announce that on 13th October 2021, Ghana officially became the 79th member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Public Key Directory (PKD) community,” he said. The newest function of the Ghanacard, the Vice President revealed, will be used an e-passport for Ghanaian citizens travelling back home.
2) All NIA offices across all 16 regions commence full operations today
The National Identification Authority (NIA) has said its 16 Regional and 275 District offices across the country will be operational, effective today, Wednesday, 3 November 2021.
According to the Authority, Wednesday, 3 to Friday, 5 November 2021 will be for “setting up, conducting public sensitisation and engaging with community leaders on the impending operations of the Regional and District offices.” It will, however, begin “Issuing Ghana Cards to Ghanaians who registered during the mass registration but could not receive their cards” from Monday, 8 to Tuesday, 16 November 2021, excluding weekends.
3) Nigerian rescuers struggle to dig out survivors with 22 confirmed dead in building collapse
Rescuers in Nigeria on Wednesday raced to find survivors, two days after a high-rise building under construction collapsed and trapped scores of people in the commercial capital Lagos, as the death toll rose to 22, an emergency official said.
National Emergency Management Agency coordinator for Lagos Ibrahim Farinloye told Reuters via text message that the death toll had climbed to 22 after several bodies were recovered overnight. Nine people were pulled out alive.
4) Prince Andrew to face U.S. trial in 2022 for sexually abusing woman
A U.S. judge on Wednesday said Britain’s Prince Andrew should be prepared for a civil trial late next year on accusations that he sexually abused a woman when she was under 18 and also being abused by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said he anticipated a trial on Virginia Giuffre’s civil claims would begin between September and December 2022, provided that a jury could be accommodated safely amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “I will look at the possibility of September, but in any case October through December as being the target here,” Kaplan said in phone conference with Andrew’s and Giuffre’s lawyers. Giuffre, 38, sued Andrew, Queen Elizabeth’s second son, for unspecified damages in August.
5) UK court jails man for racially abusing England trio after Euro 2020 final
A man who livestreamed himself on Facebook while racially abusing England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after the Euro 2020 final has been jailed for 10 weeks. Jonathon Best, 52, a forklift driver, used the site to rant about the England trio, who are all Black, after they missed penalties in the shootout against Italy in the final on July 11.
Best was sentenced at London’s Willesden Magistrates Court on Tuesday, having pleaded guilty to sending by public communication network a grossly offensive or indecent or obscene or menacing message or matter, the Crown Prosecution Service said on Wednesday.
