Catch-up on the top headline news for 8th of December
1) WAEC has cancelled and withheld thousands of results
The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has disclosed that a total of 1,339 subject results and 174 entire results of some students who sat for the 2021 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates in Ghana have been cancelled.
WAEC explained that the results were cancelled due to exams malpractices which includes the use of foreign materials, tearing off parts of question papers and collusion. This was revealed in its 2021 provisional WASSCE results. Aside from the cancellations, the entire results of 3,667 candidates have also been withheld pending the conclusion of investigations into various cases of examination malpractice detected during and after the conduct of the examination.
2) Arabic teacher granted ¢500k bail after defiling 5-year-old girl
The Circuit Court in Accra presided over by Her Honour Mrs. Patricia Amponsah has granted bail in the sum of GHC500,000 to Abdul Mugis, an Arabic teacher at Maamobi for allegedly defiling a five-year-old girl.
This was after the accused person pleaded not guilty to the charge of defilement when he was arraigned on Tuesday, December 7, 2021. In addition to the bail sum, Mugis, 51, is to produce three sureties, and the sureties the court said must be justified with titled deeds. The case has been adjourned to January 10, 2022, for Case Management Conference.
3) Visa launches crypto advisory service for financial institutions, merchants
Visa Inc, the world’s largest payment processor, on Wednesday launched a global crypto advisory service for clients such as banks and also merchants, as the adoption of digital currencies gains steam.
Visa’s services include educating institutions about cryptocurrencies, allowing clients to use the payment processor’s network for digital offerings, and helping manage backend operations. A new global study by Visa showed nearly 40% of crypto owners surveyed would be likely or very likely to switch their primary bank to one that offers crypto-related products in the next 12 months.
4) Britain will phase out 2G and 3G mobile networks by 2033, open doors to 5&6G
Britain will phase out its 2G and 3G mobile networks by 2033 to free up radio waves for 5G and eventually 6G services that will power technologies such as driverless vehicles, drones and virtual reality, it said on Wednesday. All four of Britain’s networks – EE, Vodafone, O2, and Three – had agreed to the timetable, the government said.
BT, which owns the EE network, said in July it would phase out 3G by early 2023, followed by 2G, which is more than 25 years old, later in the decade. Setting a date to end 2G and 3G services will make it easier for new equipment makers to enter the market because they will not have to support legacy technologies, the government said.
5) 13 Tottenham players, staff test positive for coronavirus
Antonio Conte has confirmed eight players of Tottenham’s first-team squad and five staff members have tested positive for coronavirus. Spurs host Rennes in the Europa Conference League on Thursday, with UEFA regulations meaning the match cannot be postponed unless a club has fewer than 13 players or no registered goalkeeper available.
“The situation makes me very upset because the situation is serious,” Conte said. “It’s contagious and there is a big infection. Now we are a bit scared because tomorrow we don’t know what will happen.”
