A quick catch up on today’s top stories…
1) Russia to impose 15-year jail term on anyone who spreads fake news about its army
Russia’s upper house of parliament approved a draft law on Friday that would impose a jail term of up to 15 years for people who intentionally spread “fake” information about Russia’s armed forces, the TASS news agency reported.
The bill will become law once President Vladimir Putin signs it, as he is widely expected to do. Moscow says it is fighting back in what it casts as an information war with the West over the conflict in Ukraine.
2) Police arrest palm wine tapper while attempting to sell off his 16-year-old son
A 38-year-old palm wine tapper who hails from Gomoa Afranse in the Central Region has been arrested by Axim Police for selling his 16-year-old son to a fetish priest, Nana Tanor Kwaw at Ayisakro near Axim in the Nzema East Municipality of the Western region.
The fact of the matter is that the palm wine tapper who gave his name to the media as Kwabena went to the shrine of a fetish priest today, Friday morning March 4, at around 7:15 am wanting to use his son whom he came with for money rituals.
Upon realising he cannot obey the rules of the money rituals known in Ghanaian parlance as ‘sikaduro’, he changed his mind that he rather wants to sell the boy. The fetish priest feigned interest and asked him to go and bring the boy. As soon as he left, the priest drove straight to the Axim police station to report the matter.
3) Ghana set to receive additional $60.6m COVID-19 funds from World Bank – report
An amount of $60.6 million is being processed to be given to Ghana as an additional COVID-19 fund from the World Bank, myjoyonline.com has reported.
According to the news portal, the aforementioned amount is pending approval and would be handed over to the Government of Ghana before the end of March this year. So far, the Government of Ghana has made use of US$435.8 million injected into the local economy.
4) Dolly Parton to host Monday’s Academy of Country Music awards
Dolly Parton will take center stage on Monday at the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards, hosting the Las Vegas event alongside fellow singer-songwriter Jimmie Allen and rising star Gabby Barrett.
The awards ceremony will feature a tribute by Grammy-winning singer Kelly Clarkson to the 76-year-old Parton, one of country music’s most beloved artists and a cultural icon who transcends the genre.
5) Heat ruin Kevin Durant’s return to Nets
Bam Adebayo totaled 30 points and 11 rebounds as the Miami Heat overcame a 16-point deficit to beat Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets 113-107 on Thursday night in New York.
Durant returned from missing 21 games with a sprained MCL in his left knee and scored 31 points for Brooklyn. He hit 10 of 21 shots but missed two in the final minute.
