He said the tree, which stood for hundreds of years, wasn’t just a tree, but “a connection between the past, present, and the future and we must strive to immortalise it”.

The preservation of the tree will be led by the tourism and cultural affairs ministry, he said and would serve as a reminder of the country’s shared heritage and history.

Mr. Bio spoke when he visited the site of the fallen tree in the centre of the city.

Earlier, the president had described the tree “as a great loss for the nation” and said the tree was a symbol of liberty for early settlers. It also appears on Sierra Leone banknotes.

The 70m (230 ft)-high cotton tree was said to be the oldest of its kind in the country – a government statement estimated it to be 400 years old.

Just 300m away are the Freedom Steps, climbed by newly arrived freed slaves who offered prayers at the tree before making Freetown their home.

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One of the strongest earthquakes to hit the region in a century shook residents from their beds at around 4 a.m. on Monday, sending tremors as far away as Lebanon and Israel.

In Turkey, at least 2,921 people were killed and more than 15,800 others injured, according to Turkey’s head of disaster services, Yunus Sezer.

In neighboring Syria, at least 1,451 people have died. According to the Syrian state news agency SANA, 711 people have died across government-controlled areas, mostly in the regions of Aleppo, Hama, Latakia, and Tartus.

The “White Helmets” group, officially known as the Syria Civil Defense, reported 740 deaths in opposition-controlled areas. Much of northwestern Syria, which borders Turkey, is controlled by anti-government forces amid a bloody civil war that began in 2011.

The epicenter of the 7.8-magnitude quake was 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi, in Turkey’s Gaziantep province, at a depth of 24.1 kilometers (14.9 miles), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

A series of aftershocks reverberated throughout the day. The largest, a major quake that measured 7.5 in magnitude, hit Turkey about nine hours after the initial quake, according to the USGS. That aftershock hit around 95 kilometers (59 miles) north of the original.

Video from the scene in Turkey showed day breaking over rows of collapsed buildings, some with apartments exposed to the elements as people huddled in the freezing cold beside them, waiting for help.

A host of countries have sent rescue workers to help the stricken region, where a colossal effort to find and free trapped civilians is underway. A cold and wet weather system is moving through the region, further hampering that challenge.

Monday’s quake is believed to be the strongest to hit Turkey since 1939, when an earthquake of the same magnitude killed 30,000 people, according to the USGS.

Earthquakes of this magnitude are rare, with fewer than five occurring each year on average, anywhere in the world. Seven quakes with magnitude 7.0 or greater have struck Turkey in the past 25 years but Monday’s is the most powerful.

Source: cnn.com

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Her announcement on the House floor came a day after Republicans claimed a majority in the House in the next congressional term.

“The House will be in order,” said Pelosi, wearing a white pantsuit and her signature Mace of the Republic brooch. As she walked to the well of the floor and took the podium, she got a round of applause from her colleagues.

Her decision comes after her party was able to halt an expected Republican wave in the House though Republicans will still have a majority, albeit much narrower than forecasted. Her announcement also comes weeks after a brutal attack on her husband, Paul, last month in their San Francisco home.

Pelosi’s departure on Jan. 3 will presage Democratic fight to pick a successor

Pelosi will remain speaker until Jan. 3 when a new Congress is sworn in and Republicans will have the majority.

Kevin McCarthy is the presumptive favorite to assume the gavel after House GOP lawmakers nominated him for the position Tuesday.

Her departure will leave a leadership vacuum among Democrats.

New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, chair of the House Democratic Caucus is viewed as the frontrunner to succeed Pelosi as Democratic.

Source: usatoday.com

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Sunak’s win on Monday came days after Truss’s resignation after her disastrous tax cuts plans and policy U-turns plunged the markets into chaos. The unprecedented economic crisis drew a rare intervention from the Bank of England.

Britain faces serious economic challenges and needs stability and unity, Sunak said on Monday in his first public speech since winning the contest.

“There is no doubt we face a profound economic challenge,” Sunak said. “We now need stability and unity, and I will make it my utmost priority to bring our party and our country together.”

Sunak, a former finance minister, has been left with the task of steering a deeply divided country through an economic downturn set to make millions of people poorer.

Sunak’s only challenger, Penny Mordaunt, leader of the House of Commons and former defence minister, was reportedly backed by 30 MPs compared with nearly 150 supporting Sunak.

“This decision is a historic one and shows, once again, the diversity and talent of our party,” Mordaunt said in a statement as she withdrew from the race just minutes before the winner was due to be announced. “Rishi has my full support.”

Sunak and Mordaunt had lost to Truss last month in the race to appoint a successor to then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He was forced to announce his resignation in July after a wave of scandals linked to parties held during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Sunak will be the UK’s first leader of colour and the first Hindu to take the top job. At 42, he will also be the youngest prime minister in more than 200 years.

The multimillionaire former hedge fund boss will be expected to impose deep spending cuts to try to rebuild the UK’s fiscal reputation, just as the country slides into a recession, dragged down by the surging costs of energy and food.

He will also inherit a political party that has fractured along ideological lines, a challenge that damaged the fortunes of several former Conservative leaders.

Source: aljazeera.com

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Thursday’s development came after her new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, rolled back virtually all of her economic agenda.

Hunt’s move was supposed to be an impetus for growth, but it became Truss’s declaration of political bankruptcy.

Speaking outside Downing Street, she said she had told King Charles she was resigning as leader of the Conservative Party.
In front of dozens of reporters, she said she came into office at a time of “great economic and international instability”.

She added: “I recognise… given the situation I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.”

Having been formally appointed by Queen Elizabeth II on Sept. 6, Truss is now by far the shortest-serving prime minister in British history and will be remembered as one of the most calamitous.

The previous holder of this record, George Canning, lasted 119 days in the early 19th century; Truss will serve about 50.

A leadership contest to decide the next leader of the ruling Conservative Party, who will by default become the next prime minister, is now underway and will conclude in the next week. The opposition Labour Party called for an immediate election.

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Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo said the queen had overseen the “dramatic transformation” of the Commonwealth into a global “force for good” during her 70-year reign.

Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde said Elizabeth had been a “towering woman leader” who would be remembered for her public service.

Dignitaries from across the world have traveled to the UK capital for the queen’s state funeral taking place today, Monday 19.

The state funeral began before 11 am (10:00 GMT) when the queen’s coffin was placed on a gun carriage and pulled by 142 Royal Navy sailors to the abbey, the finale of 10 days of national mourning for Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.

Source: www.africanews.com

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She replaces Francis Saye Korkpor who retires this month after reaching the constitutional limit of 70 years.

Justice Yuoh becomes the third female chief justice in Liberia’s 175 years of existence and the first since 2003.

The judiciary has remained tight-lipped on her age.

She ascends to the top of the judicial system barely 13 months before the next presidential and general elections.
Justice Yuoh was one of two female judges currently in the five-member Supreme Court.

Criminal Court Judge Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay, a man, has been nominated to replace her at the court.

Liberia’s previous two female chief justices were Frances Johnson Allison and Gloria Musu Scott.

Educational Background

Her Honor Justice Sie-A-Nyene Gyapay Yuoh was born in Montserrado County, Republic of Liberia.

She obtained her high school education and a diploma from the St. Teresa’s Convent, a Catholic High School in Monrovia in 1974, thereafter which, she enrolled at the Cuttington University College (CUC), now Cuttington University (CU), in Suakoko, Bong County, in pursuit of her tertiary education where she graduated in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Political Science.

In 1979, Justice Yuoh enrolled at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, University of Liberia, where she was trained as a lawyer. In 1981, she completed her law studies at this institution and obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree, and was subsequently admitted into the Liberia National Bar Association as an Attorney-At-Law.

Her Honor was also admitted as Counsellor-At-Law of the Supreme Court Bar in 1988.

Public & Professional Service

Associate Yuoh began her public and professional service within the Executive Branch, Republic of Liberia, first at the Ministry of Justice as an Assistant Minister for Legal Affairs from 1983 – 1985, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the Coordinator, African Affairs, 1988 – 1990, the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) as Corporate Secretary/Assistant Legal Counsel/Secretary, Board of Governors of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) from 2000 – 2003 and lastly at the Law Reform Commission, where she served as Acting Executive Director and Commissioner respectively from July 2011 – April 2013.

She also extended her professional legal services within the private sector where she served as Associate and Legal Counsel at the David A.B. Jallah Law Firm, on Johnson Street, Monrovia Liberia, from 1994 – 2000.

In 2013, Madam Justice Yuoh was nominated, appointed, and subsequently commissioned as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia.

Professional & Social Affiliation

Madam Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Yuoh has proudly served as Vice President of the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) from 1994 – 1998; was a founding member of the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) and served as its 1st Vice President from 1997 – 1998; Chairperson of the Judiciary Committee of the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) from 2012 – 2013 and also served as President of the Maryland County Local Bar Association in 2013.

Justice Yuoh is married, and she and her husband, are blessed with ten (10) children and two (2) grandchildren.

Source: BBC/ judiciary.gov.lr

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During a solemn address to the nation, he spoke of his love for his deceased mother and his wife and children.

Charles became King on Thursday after the death of Queen Elizabeth, aged 96, at her Scottish residence.

King Charles flew from Scotland to London on Friday and delivered his first speech as sovereign.

“Queen Elizabeth was a life well lived; a promise with destiny kept and she is mourned most deeply in her passing,” the King said in the opening moments of his address.

“That promise of lifelong service I renew to you all today.”

King Charles called the late Queen an inspiration and example to him, praising her profound personal commitment to serving the people of the United Kingdom and her other realms.

King Charles also spoke of his profound sorrow at losing his mother, saying he felt it “beyond measure”.

The new monarch also praised his “darling wife” Camilla, now Queen Consort, his eldest son and heir, Prince William, and his daughter-in-law Kate, on whom he bestowed the titles of Prince and Princess of Wales.

He expressed his love for his younger son Prince Harry and daughter-in-law Meghan, a significant gesture towards a couple whose relationships with the rest of the Royal Family had strained.

Source: Reuters

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Health officials say wastewater samples in New York City and four adjacent counties have tested positive for a poliovirus that can cause paralysis.

Although only one case has so far been confirmed, it was the first in the country in nearly a decade.

Polio was largely eradicated from the US by vaccinations that began in 1955.

By 1979, the US was declared polio-free.

But according to New York officials, vaccination rates are too low in parts of the state. Friday’s emergency declaration is aimed at boosting flagging immunisation rates.

There is no cure for polio, but it can be prevented by the vaccine. Mostly affecting children, the virus typically causes muscle weakness and paralysis, and in the most serious cases permanent disability and death.

New York’s state health department said it aims to boost vaccination rates from the current state-wide average of about 79% to above 90%.

“On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said in a statement. “If you or your child are unvaccinated or not up to date with vaccinations, the risk of paralytic disease is real.”

She added that “for every one case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds of other people infected”.

An inactivated polio vaccine is used in both the US and the UK as part of the routine childhood programme. In the US, about 93% of toddlers have received at least three doses of the polio jab, according to vaccination data from the CDC.

Officials began monitoring wastewater in the state for poliovirus after an unvaccinated man in Rockland County, just north of New York City, contracted the virus in July – the first recorded case since 2013 – and suffered paralysis.

The case was later genetically linked to paralytic polio found in a wastewater sample collected from nearby Nassau County in August.

Wastewater samples in Orange County, Sullivan County, and the five boroughs of New York City have also tested positive for paralytic polio.

The emergency order issued on Friday by Governor Kathy Hochul is the state’s third this year, in addition to similar orders issued in response to the coronavirus pandemic and monkeypox.

It empowers emergency medical workers, midwives, and pharmacists to join the network of providers who can roll out the polio vaccine.
Source: BBC

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According to the A-G’s report from 2021, the Consul-General received $100 for each regular Visa application but only paid out $60 to the state.

Therefore, the amount declared and paid to the government chest was $60 for each $100 that was received.

The Consulate also charged $200 for each express visa processing but accounted for $100.

“Between September 2018 and September 2019, the Honorary Consul-General at the Houston Consulate levied each Visa applicant a US$100.00 and a US$200.00 for “Express Service” for which he accounted for US$60.00 and US$100.00 respectively,” the audit report revealed.

“In total, the office accounted for US$458,900.00 out of US$843,900.00 leaving a difference of US$354,760.00 unaccounted for,” the report further noted.

The Auditor–General thus recommends that the Head of Chancery at Ghana’s mission in Washington immediately recovers the difference of 354,760.00 from the Honorary Consul-General.

“We recommended that the Head of Chancery should immediately recover the difference of US$354,760.00 from the Honorary Consul-General.”

Source: MyJoyOnline

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