Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) Executive Governor, Dr. Joseph Mills Jones, has assured the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas (ULAA) that CBL and its board of governors remain committed to sustaining economic growth in the country despite the negative propaganda against the Bank. Speaking at a program marking the inauguration of officers of the ULAA leadership in the US recently, Dr. Jones emphasized that the CBL loan initiative does not only focus on micro economic stability, but is also waging war on poverty in the country.He said the initiative should be the collective responsibility of all Liberians and not the CBL alone. The CBL boss clarified that claims in some quarters in Liberia and the US that the Bank was misusing the country’s money are misleading and called on Liberians in the Diaspora not to give credence to such assertions.Governor Jones explained that the CBL has, over the years, cooperated with central government in smoothening it’s spending to keep certain national development programs on track by providing short term borrowing facility to the government.He, however, challenged Liberians in the Diaspora to foster economic growth and development back home.The CBL boss is under fire by some politicians on Capitol who have accused him of politicizing the CBL; an allegation the Governor has vehemently denied terming it “empty talk.”Jones has challenged his accusers to adduce evidence that he is using CBL money to run a political campaign, but his accusers are yet to come forward.They recently enacted a legislation amending the CBL Act to ban him, his deputies and the board of governors from contesting any political seat for three consecutive years after the expiration of their respective tenures.Several society groups including the business community who benefits from CBL loan schemes have challenged the bill in court terming it as exclusion and a blatant violation of the Liberian constitution.The actual whereabouts of the bill is still not clear amidst conflicting reports that it is on President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s desk, while others are suggesting the President has already signed it into law. Dr. Jones’ second tenure as Governor of the CBL will end in 2016.Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
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The construction of a new airport terminal building and the rehabilitation of Runway 04 and 22, financed by China Exim Bank for US$50 million through a concessional loan agreement, are expected to be completed in 22 months, says Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yue.Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony yesterday at the Roberts International Airport (RIA) in Lower Margibi County, Ambassador Zhang said the runway is also funded by the Saudi Fund and the Arab Bank for Economic Development (BADEA), supported by the United States Government and the Government of Liberia in the amount of US$30 million. According to him, the two projects will be implemented by the China Harbor and Sino Hydro, respectively.He explained that the new terminal will cover an area of more than 5000 square meters and designed for an average annual passenger volume of approximately 320,000 persons. Ambassador Zhang said this is the first time that China has offered a concessional loan to Liberia. He said further that the new terminal building is also a China-Liberia bilateral project while the entire project constitutes an outcome of multi-stakeholders cooperation. He said from now on, “We expect to see Chinese-led speed and quality. I am confident that China Harbor will present Liberia a state of the art new terminal building.” Earlier, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who performed the ground-breaking, said the airport will shortly be transformed and modernized through the rehabilitation and construction of the terminal. She said during World War II, the RIA was used by the United States of America for refueling its war machineries. “Improving the airport will be a milestone in Liberia’s social and economic development. To modernize the airport will further enhance a greater aspiration of the country and promote economic growth and development,” President Sirleaf said. She commended the President of the People’s Republic of China, through Ambassador Zhang, and the Chinese team for their dedication and commitment to the project. President Sirleaf expressed happiness that Liberia will have an airport that is up to international standards. “I am so glad that finally we can have an airport that will meet international standards. We feel ashamed especially when we have strangers visiting Liberia.” She said there were priorities in priorities and the RIA project had to be put aside for some other emergency priorities and thanked the Liberia Airport Authority (LAA) management, board chair, the Legislature and all of those who have contributed to the project. In separate remarks, the Liberia Airport Authority’s (LAA) Board Chair, Gbehzongar Findley, and LAA Managing Director, Wil Bako Freeman, thanked President Sirleaf for her extraordinary leadership to the development of Liberia and expressed delight that the project would serve as the President’s legacy. The Ceremony was graced by senior government officials, including Margibi Legislative Caucus, international partners, citizens of Margibi and well-wishers. The Roberts International Airport was built during the Second World War by the United States government to serve as a base for its military operations. After the war and until 1985, the airport was administered by Pan American/World Airways (Pan-Am) and remained a key link in the African network for Pan-Am. When Pan-Am ceased operations, the Government of Liberia assumed responsibility for the airport’s operations.Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
A homeless man, who reportedly stole a bag of garlic along with a bag of Boulanger, was on Tuesday jailed when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.Thirty-four-year-old Bhisham Sookdeo of no fixed address admitted to Magistrate Annette Singh that he stole the items on April 7, 2018, at Waterloo Street, Georgetown from Alesia Hayman.Police Prosecutor Devon Goodman revealed to the court that Sookdeo was given the bags containing the aforementioned items to take to the Bourda Market for the Virtual Complainant (VC), who is a stall holder. However, he never delivered nor were the goods ever recovered.Magistrate Singh cautioned the repeat offender not to make a third appearance before her as she will be inclined to give him the maximum penalty.After telling him to “stop stealing people’s things,” Singh sentenced him to spend the next month behind bars.
…as production kicks in fully – IMFBy Jarryl BryanThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) having concluded its Article IV consultations in Guyana, has come up with projections that oil will dominate Guyana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by as much as 40 per cent.The IMF team during one of its consultations in Guyana this yearThis is contained in the Fund’s concluding statement, which estimates that this shift in GDP share and financial contribution will occur by 2024. This is also the time when Guyana is expected to really start earning its share of oil revenues, once cost oil has been accounted for.“The oil sector is projected to grow rapidly, accounting for around 40 per cent of GDP by 2024 and supporting additional fiscal spending annually of 6.5 per cent of non-oil GDP on average over the medium term, which will help meet critical social and infrastructure needs”.“Public debt and the external current account deficit are projected to decline steadily following the onset of oil production,” the IMF said, adding that for this year, the current account deficit is expected to reach 22.7 per cent of GDP owing to higher oil sector-related imports.According to the Fund, these imports will mostly be financed by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the oil sector. However, it was optimistic of Guyana’s overall economic outlook around the time of the commencement of oil production, pegged for early next year.“Real GDP grew by 4.1 per cent, led by construction and services sectors, up from 2.1 per cent in 2017. Inflation remained low at 1.6 per cent at end-2018. The external current account deficit rose to 17.5 per cent of GDP, from 6.8 per cent in 2017, due to weaker exports and higher imports related to oil production”.“Public finances improved in 2018 as the central government deficit came in at 3.5 per cent of GDP, lower than the budgeted 5.4 per cent of GDP. Economic growth is projected at 4.4 per cent in 2019, extending the broad-based expansion across all major sectors,” the Fund added.As of the middle of this year, no single sector had more than a 15 per cent share of the GDP. According to the Finance Ministry’s 2019 mid-year report, the highest individual bite of the GDP came from the wholesale and retail trade, which had a 13.4 per cent share of the GDP.Combined, agriculture, fishing and forestry has just a 15.6 per cent share of the GDP, with major sectors like sugar, rice and forestry having just 0.9 per cent, 3.5 per cent and 1.7 per cent respectively.Sugar and GDPBack in 2016, before the closure of the sugar estates by the coalition Government and the redundancy of thousands of workers, sugar had a 1.5 per cent share of the GDP and agriculture, fishing and forestry combined had 17.4 per cent.Meanwhile, the mid-year report also showed that critical sectors like gold and manufacturing had 9.4 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively. For a single sector to have 40 per cent is therefore a significant portion of the GDP.Exxon Mobil, which announced its 14th oil find only on Monday (the very day as Tullow announced its 2nd), has pegged oil production at 120,000 barrels of oil per day utilising the Liza Destiny FPSO. Furthermore, Liza Phase 2 is expected to start up by mid-2022, after Exxon made a final investment decision after getting regulatory approval earlier this year. It had been reported that the project would use the Liza Unity FPSO to produce up to 220,000 barrels per day.The Liza Destiny, Guyana’s first oil production vessel, arrived in Guyana’s waters at the end of last month after travelling nearly 11,000 nautical miles for 42 days from the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore.The vessel is a significant component of the Liza Phase 1 development, which involves four undersea drill centres with 17 production wells. Besides its production capacity of 120,000 barrels of oil per day, it also has an overall storage volume of 1.6 million barrels. During normal operations, there will be at least 80 persons living and working on-board the vessel.Before its departure from the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore, the Liza Destiny was commissioned by First Lady Sandra Granger. The Liza Destiny FPSO was converted from oil tanker, “Tina”, a 1999 Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC). The conversion included upgrading of the hull and integration of 14 topside processing modules, totalling 16 thousand metric tonnes.
Fire crews are making progress on containing the wild fire near Prophet River. The fire is still just under 2,000 hectares in size, but is now 15 per cent contained.Prince George Fire Centre spokesperson Jill Kelsh said crews are still attacking the fire directly from the west and south sides. Hot spots are being extinguished in that area as well.Helicopters are bucketing as needed and burn off procedures are being considered for the north and east side of the fire.- Advertisement -An evacuation alert for the area including Prophet River is still in effect.
Kenya hosted and won the tournament last year, spreading it across Machakos, Kisumu and Kakamega.“It was difficult convincing a new host within that period,” CECAFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye told Capital Sport.The tournament has now been pushed to July, after the completion of the current seasons all over the region. The Seniors tournament will be preceded by the CECAFA Kagame Cup in June.CECAFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye addressing the media on the 2017 CECAFA Seniour Challenge Cup/ Photo/RAYMOND MAKHAYA“The other challenge was with the date because now, all the leagues in the region are starting and it would have been difficult to get them to stop so that we can have the national team play,”“The Governing Council also having consulted with sponsors made this decision to push it to July because then, the leagues will have ended. It is the position we will take moving forward,” further stated Musonye.The Kagame Cup will either be held in Tanzania or Rwanda while the Senior Challenge is yet to get a host city.Meanwhile Musonye has confirmed that CECAFA will organize an Under-20 tournament which will be held in Uganda in December while they will receive a Sh100mn (1mn USD) every year from FIFA for women and youth football.“That was passed by FIFA and moving forward our women and youth tournaments will all be catered for. The only thing which we will be sponsoring on our own is the Senior Challenge and Kagame Cup,” Musonye added.0Shares0000(Visited 2 times, 1 visits today) 0Shares0000Harambee Stars players celebrate after winning the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup. PHOTO/Timothy OlobuluNAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 13 – The Council of East and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) has called off this year’s edition of the Senior Challenge Cup owing to time constraints in getting a new host as well as the calendar change currently being undertaken by CAF.The tournament has initially been set for the end of this month spilling to the first week of December, but after the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) pulled out of hosting it due to financial constraints, CECAFA was thrown into the deep end.
Nathan Delfouneso [right] in action for Blackburn Former Aston Villa and Blackburn striker Nathan Delfouneso is a target for League One Swindon Town.The 25-year-old is a free agent having come to the end of his contract at Blackburn in June.Swindon are in the market for attacking reinforcements and have held talks with the forward about a switch to the County Ground.There were high hopes for Delfouneso when he broke into the Villa first team back in 2008 and he made 31 Premier League appearances for the club before he left for Blackpool in 2014.He spent a year there before moving to Blackburn but he started just seven league games for Rovers before coming to the end of his contract.Now he could be set for a move down south with Swindon hoping to snap him up on a free. 1
Frank Warren names four dream fights he wants to make in 2020, including Fury vs AJ South Africa vs England first Test live on talkSPORT 2 Jake Paul vs AnEsonGib officially announced with date and venue confirmed What is the team news?Pedro is likely to sit this clash out after struggling to overcome a shoulder injury.Sarri named a strong squad in the opener at PAOK and has Andreas Christensen could be back from illness.MOL Vidi, who were known as Videoton last year, are without suspended midfielder Szabolcs Huszti. SPORT LATEST MONEY Forbes list reveals how much Mayweather, Ronaldo and Messi earned this decade 1 live cricket The most unbelievable UFC knockouts of the decade, with McGregor, Silva and Holm 
KO KINGS ANOTHER ONE Canelo, Joshua and Wilder pick up prestigious Ring Magazine awards for 2019 Chelsea continue their Europa League adventure with a home tie against Hungarian side MOL Vidi.Maurizio Sarri showed that he is going to take the competition seriously by playing a strong team at PAOK – and was rewarded with the three points. Sarri has made a good start to life in English football PLANS What time is kick-off?This Europa League group clash is set for Thursday, October 4.Kick-off is at 8pm.The first competitive meeting between the two sides, MOL Vidi lost their opening game 2-0 at home to BATE.Which TV channel is it on?You can catch this match live on BT Sport 2.Tune in from 7.45pm for coverage, whilst you can also stream using the BT Sport App on your mobile, laptop or tablet. CELEBRATION 
160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set! NEW YORK (AP) – Even though nine out of 10 people with digital video recorders say they usually fast-forward through commercials, broadcast executives argued Wednesday that doesn’t mean the death knell for advertisers. People with DVRs watch more television, and even if they zip through ads, they notice them, the executives said. Researchers from ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN and the WB took the unusual step Wednesday of appearing together to share data about the impact of DVRs on TV-watching habits. An estimated 7 percent of the nation’s 110 million homes with television have the time-shifting devices. Starting Dec. 26, Nielsen Media Research will begin incorporating DVR data into its ratings. That means it won’t just measure how many people watch “Desperate Housewives” on a Sunday night, but also how many people record it and watch up to a week later. Preliminary data shows that homes with DVRs average 12 percent more television viewing than those that don’t have them, the researchers said. The ability to watch without being tied to a schedule can significantly increase the visibility of programs that might not be appointment viewing. For example, people with DVRs are watching the WB shows “Supernatural” and “Smallville” at more than twice the rate of people without the machines. Yet the industry’s chief fear is that people with DVRs will completely tune out commercials. That’s not completely unfounded: a CBS survey found 64 percent of DVR users said they always skipped commercials and another 26 percent said they skipped them most of the time. A separate study by Forrester Group put the “skip” rate at 92 percent. But Alan Wurtzel, NBC’s chief researcher, said it was an “urban myth” that DVRs make commercials worthless. The networks said their research showed that a majority of people are watching their screens even while darting through the ads, and most of these notice the ads. (Still unanswered is how much these spots are sinking in as they speed by.) More people are also likely to say they skip ads when they actually don’t, they said. “There is a certain amount of commercial exposure that takes place even in the most difficult environment, when people say they are fast-forwarding through commercials,” Wurtzel said. The industry seems split between two extremes – those who believe DVRs will make traditional advertising worthless and those who think they won’t have any effect, said Josh Bernoff, principal analyst for the Forrester Group. The truth will be somewhere in between, he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if we actually see (advertising) rates come down,” he said. “But this is not the end. Television came in and people still advertised on radio.” The increase in product placement advertising and commercial sponsorship shows how the industry is already preparing for a different landscape, he said. In the short term, the industry must decide how new data on DVR usage will be used in computing advertising rates, said Sara Erichson, a general manager at Nielsen Media Research. In a little more than a month, Nielsen will report different numbers for people watching a show live and people watching recorded versions. The broadcast researchers say they believe the data will convince advertisers – some of whom have already cut back on their television spending – of the value of TV commercials. “We don’t like to say the advertisers are wrong,” said David Poltrack, CBS and UPN research chief. “But we think they’re getting a lot of wrong advice.”
A pervert who sexually abused two young girls at a caravan park in Portsalon has been jailed for four years.Letterkenny Court.The man committed the crimes on the two young girls, who were aged just 11 and 12 at the time. The man was sentenced at Letterkenny Circuit Court today where he pleaded guilty to all four charges of sexual assault.Judge Keenan Johnston said the assaults were a fundamental and fatal breach of trust by the man.But he said the sentence must be proportionate to the crimes committed.Of the young girls trauma, Judge Johnson said the victims should not blame themselves as they had ben.“They have been robbed in the most serious way of their childhood,” he said.He also ordered the man to be observed for five years after he is released and to be placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.The four incidents, which he pleaded guilty to, happened between January and May 2010 while the girls were visiting their relatives’ mobile home.Letterkenny Circuit Court was given graphic details of the incidents.The court heard the victim impact statements form both young girls who were aged around 11 or 12 when the attacks happened.One of the girls had tried to kill herself and the other blamed herself for the assaults.The court heard how three of the assaults took place in the caravan park and another while on a walk.The accused, who is originally from Derry, was arrested by Gardai after one of the girls complained to her teacher about an assault.After he was arrested and released, the man and his wife moved to Spain.Garda Sgt Bridget McGowan said Interpol then acted on a European Arrest Warrant for the accused and he was deported to Ireland in July 2013.He has been in custody since.The court heard the man has one previous conviction for indecent exposure.Relatives of the two girls who were abused sobbed at the back of the court as the man was sentenced.PERVERT WHO ABUSED TWO GIRLS AT CARAVAN PARK JAILED FOR FOUR YEARS was last modified: February 5th, 2014 by StephenShare this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Tags:abuseDerryGirlsPortsalon