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referee Allaou Mahamat from Chad to officiate Dreams FC, Zamalek clash

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Referee Alhadji Allaou Mahamat

Alhadji Allaou Mahamat from Chad has been appointed as Referee for the CAF Confederation Cup semifinal 2nd leg game between Dreams FC and Zamalek SC.

The 37-year old will be assisted by Elvis Guy Noupue Nguegoue from Cameroon (Assistant I), Adou Hermann Desiré N’goh from Cote D’Ivoire Assistant II) and Patrice Milazar from Mauritius (Fourth Official).

Sanusi Mohammed from Nigeria will be the Match Commissioner. Others include, Chukwudi Callistus Chukwujekwu from Nigeria – Referee Assessor, Kabelo Bosilong from South Africa – General Coordinator, Juliet Bawuah from Ghana – Media Officer, Olawumi Adisa from Nigeria – Security Officer, Dahane Beida from Mauritania – Video Assistant Referee and Ahmad Imtehaz Heeralal from Mauritius – Assistant Video Assistant Referee.

The TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup semifinal 2nd leg game is scheduled for at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium on Sunday.

Credit: ghanafa.org

Legon Cities to maintain perfect record against Chelsea today

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Legon Cities players

Legon Cities will host Berekum Chelsea at the Theatre of Dreams in Dawu on Friday, seeking to extend their impressive home record.

The Royals are unbeaten in Dawu and will seek to add Chelsea to their list of victims in Friday’s opening matchday-28 Ghana Premier League matches.

Cities are coming into the game against Chelsea on the back of their remarkable 2-0 success over giants Hearts of Oak last weekend.

Meanwhile, the visitors are also in buoyant mood after they defeated defending champions Medeama 2-0 at home on Monday.

It will be interesting to see if they can grind out a positive result against the home side who are yet to suffer defeat at the Theatre of Dreams.

Legon Cities have accumulated 35 points from 27 matches and sit 12th on the table, having won 2, drawn 1 and recorded 2 defeats in their last 5 outings with one outstanding game to complete the cast.

The Royals have managed to secure 27 points at home, scoring 16 and conceding 10.  They have recorded only two defeats this season, losing to Asante Kotoko and Medeama at the WAFA park in Sogakope and the El-Wak Stadium respectively.

Berekum Chelsea have moved  5th on the table with 41 points following their home success over Medeama at the Golden City park.

They have recorded two wins, two draws and suffered one defeat in their last five matches.  Samuel Boadu’s men have bagged 11 points away from home this season, scoring 9 and conceding 24. Berekum Chelsea are winless in their last 6 consecutive away games.

Legon Cities have played Berekum Chelsea three time at home in the league since the 2020/21 season with all ending in a draw.

In the 2020/21 season, Legon Cities drew 1-1 with Berekum Chelsea, drew goalless in the 2021/22 season before recording a 1-1 draw in the 2022/23 season.

Both sides have conceded more than they’ve scored in this campaign so far.

Kwabena Boateng, Joseph Mireku, William Adjei, Fredrick Akatuk, Frank Akoto, Mohammed Alidu, Morris Fuseini, Nicholas Mensah, Samuel Tenedu, Rahim Abdul, Suraje Kamal and Albert Yeboah who scored a brace in their game against Hearts of Oak are all available for Cities in Friday’s clash.

Berekum Chelsea will rely on Premier Leaguer top scorer Stephen Amankona as well as other players including Mezack Afriyie, Emmanuel Sarpong, Flavien Kwasi, Hubert Gyau, Zakaria Fuseini, Awuah Dramani, Patrick Asiedu, Lord Amoah and Ahmed Adams for the cracking game.

Credit: ghanafa.org

Aston Villa host Chelsea at Villa Park

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Aston Villa players

On the back of contrasting results in the previous round of Premier League fixtures, Aston Villa and Chelsea renew acquaintances at Villa Park on Saturday evening.

While the Lions came from behind to beat Bournemouth 3-1 last weekend, the Blues were on the wrong end of a 5-0 scoreline at the hands of London rivals Arsenal on Tuesday.

Since losing 4-1 at Manchester City at the beginning of April, Aston Villa have collected seven points from their last three Premier League games to put themselves in the driving seat to secure their first top-four finish since 1995-96.

The Lions were forced to play out a 3-3 draw with Brentford a few weeks ago, but they have since beaten both Arsenal and Bournemouth, with goals from Morgan Rogers, Moussa Diaby and Leon Bailey securing a comeback victory – their 20th of the season – over the Cherries at Villa Park last weekend.

Unai Emery, who extended his contract as Villa manager until 2027 on Tuesday, has four games remaining to secure Champions League football for the West Midlands outfit, who sit fourth in the table and can move nine points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur with a win over Chelsea, although Spurs will then have three games in hand, starting with the North London derby on Sunday.

Aston Villa are sure to have one eye on their Europa Conference League semi-final with Olympiacos next week, but they must first shift their focus to Saturday’s Premier League clash with Chelsea and will endeavour to complete their first league double over the Blues since 1989-90, after winning 1-0 in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge in September last year.

Only the current top three in the Premier League have accumulated more home points at this stage of the season than Aston Villa (38), who have also won four of their last five matches at Villa Park in all competitions, but Emery’s men were beaten the last time they played host to Chelsea, losing 3-1 in an FA Cup fourth-round replay in February.

Credit: sportsmole.co.uk

 Be Still

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Dr. Joyce Rosalind Aryee, Executive Director, Salt and Light Ministries

 

                                “Be still, and know that I am God…” – Psalm 46:10

Introduction

You and I know that it is difficult to be still when your world is falling apart. It is impossible to be still when we find ourselves facing a threat to our survival or security. We simply cannot be still when that which we are expecting, which we think we deserve, seems to be slipping out of our grasp and we are helpless to do anything about it. Simply put: being still is difficult because it takes practice, patience, and self-discipline to actually be still.

To be still requires us to switch out and switch off from anything that distracts us from paying attention to what God is saying about our situation. To be still requires us to be deliberate and unyielding in our determination to stay hooked to God no matter how scary the journey looks. To be still involves a decision to remain unwavering in our faith that God will come through even at the last minute.

To be still is to consciously leave the results in God’s hands even when there is the temptation to manipulate the situation in our favour through our strength, our contacts or associations and any other resources at our disposal. To be still is an act of faith that may feel and look stupid to us and to onlookers until the moment God comes through.

To be still is to act (or to refrain from acting) contrary to what is expected in the situation. To be still involves behaving in a manner that is contradictory to our human instincts and inclinations, not because we want to, but because that is what God requires of us at that point in time.

Sometimes, in our holier-than-thou moments, we are tempted to be judgmental and indignant about the Peters, the Judases, and the Esaus in the Bible. We question their unbelief, their impatience, their audacity and their supposed irreverence for the things of God while we tell ourselves that we would have done better if we were in their shoes.

Is that really so? We can only answer this question truthfully to ourselves when we find ourselves in a place where we have to choose between being still before God or choosing convenience and doing things our way no matter what God says.

Let’s face it – it is simply not easy to sit still, to be still, when you know you have it within your means to act or react in order to intervene in a situation that is getting out of control. Yet if we truly want God to intervene we must be willing to sit still. Only then will He step in and make Himself, His name and His power known to everyone involved in that situation.

I love Peter – the brash, impulsive, and adventurous Peter who walked with Jesus. He was always testing the limits, always trying to prove to himself and to others that he was in control, that he wasn’t taking any ‘nonsense’ from anyone. Sure, he wasn’t taking any ‘nonsense’ and if he had to cut someone’s ear to prove it (Luke 22:50), I’m sure nothing would have stopped him from doing just that.

He was full of himself but didn’t know it. He was unbelieving even if he didn’t believe that of himself. He was obsessed with results – meeting targets, meeting deadlines, working within his own man-made schedules and he didn’t even try to hide it. He was used to taking charge and so during the storm he and his friends couldn’t help blurting out to Jesus ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ (Mark 4:38).

In my mind’s eye, I can already see Peter looking at Jesus in impatience and annoyance wondering why He wasn’t acting sooner to stop this storm. In fact, judging from their question, they were indirectly rebuking Jesus for sleeping while they were worried about the imminent danger they faced from the storm. However, in His usual composure, Jesus simply woke up and commanded the wind to “… be still” (Mark 4:39). And the hushing beauty of it all is that the wind actually obeyed the voice and the words of the Lord! We are told in this Scripture that the wind quieted down; and that is not all –a great calm followed.

Oh, how I wish we could be like the wind that easily obeys God’s command to be still. Oh, how I wish that during our most terrifying moments, our faith would still be strong enough to hear and obey the Word of the Lord:

“Be still and know that I am God”. For when we are still, we will surely know Him as God. We will see His interventions in ways and measures beyond our wildest imaginations. We will see Him work things out in ways that we could never have done in our own strength or wisdom.

We will know His peace in the midst of the trials and the turbulence of life. We will live to experience the testimonies and miracles that we read about in the Bible. We will know that He is God, the All-Sufficient One, the One who teaches us to profit (Isaiah 48:14), the One who speaks and it is done, the Lord of Hosts.

But first we must be still. We must still those thoughts of unbelief, those thoughts of inadequacy, the thoughts that frighten us and cause us to stay up at night. First, we must be still.

We must still those emotions of anxiety, and frenzy, and panic. We must still the voices that project discouragement, fear, and limitation to us through the wrong people around us, through sensational media reportage, through unpredictable economic crunches and whatever else the world tries to throw at us. First, we must be still.

And when we are still, we too, shall see and experience great calm like the disciples of Jesus Christ did in Mark 8:39. We shall experience the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.

We shall experience the peace of God that gives us protection and immunity from depression, and heartache and any other thing that is detrimental to our physical and spiritual health and wellbeing. When we are still, Jesus Christ shall be exalted among our peers, above our enemies, above our challenges, in our businesses, in our marriages, and in our lives. And God will be known and glorified in all nations. Selah.

 

  • Authored by: Hannah Arabella

 

Stay blessed!

Please continue to join us on Asempa 94.7 FM – Sundays 5.30 am., Sunny 88.7 FM – Tuesdays        5:30 am; and YFM 107.9 – Sundays 6.30am; for our Radio Bible Study as well as Sunny FM 88.7 FM every Sunday at 3:30 pm. for Hymns and their Stories.

 

How Marijuana Affects Your Mind and Body

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Marijuana, weed, pot, dope, grass. They’re different names for the same drug that comes from the cannabis plant. You can smoke it, vape it, drink it, or eat it. Many people use marijuana for pleasure and to relax. But a growing number of doctors prescribe it for specific medical conditions and symptoms.

Marijuana has mind-altering compounds that affect both your brain and body. It can be addictive, and it may harm some people’s health. Here’s what can happen when you use marijuana:

 You Can Get ‘High’

It’s why most people try marijuana. The main psychoactive ingredient, THC, stimulates the part of your brain that responds to pleasure, like food and sex. That unleashes a chemical called dopamine, which gives you a euphoric, relaxed feeling.

If you vape or smoke weed, the THC could get into your bloodstream quickly enough for you to get your high in seconds or minutes. The THC level usually peaks in about 30 minutes, and its effects may wear off in 1-3 hours. If you drink or eat pot, it may take many hours for you to fully sober up. You may not always know how potent your recreational marijuana might be. That also goes for most medical marijuana.

It May Affect Your Mental Health

Not everyone’s experience with marijuana is pleasant. It often can leave you anxious, afraid, panicked, or paranoid. Using marijuana may raise your chances of clinical depression or worsen the symptoms of any mental disorders you already have. Scientists aren’t yet sure exactly why.

In high doses, it can cause psychosis, which makes you paranoid or causes you to lose understanding of what’s real and what’s not, so you hear or see things that aren’t there and can have long-lasting odd thoughts. Psychosis lessens as your high comes down.

Increased risk of schizophrenia

Psychosis is a symptom of a serious medical condition called schizophrenia. Schizophrenia also affects the way you understand what’s real, but it includes other symptoms like trouble with speech and not being able to focus and show emotions. Also, schizophrenia, unlike psychosis, is long-term.

Recent research suggests that if you start to use marijuana at a young age, use it frequently, and for a long period of time, you could be at risk of having schizophrenia or other mental conditions that involve psychosis. This risk could be higher in young men or people assigned male at birth, especially those 16 to 25 years of age.

Studies also note that if you’re at risk of a mental condition, you may be more likely to smoke marijuana at an earlier age, maybe as a way to medicate yourself.

Once you have schizophrenia, stopping marijuana use won’t make the condition or its symptoms go away.

If you think you’re addicted to marijuana, getting an early diagnosis can help with treatment and prevent the risk of chronic conditions like schizophrenia.

Your Thinking May Get Distorted

Marijuana can cloud your senses and judgment. The effects can differ, depending on things like how potent your marijuana was, how you took it, and how much marijuana you’ve used in the past. It might:

  • Make your senses stronger (colors might seem brighter and sounds might seem louder)
  • Twist your sense of time
  • Hurt your motor skills, or skills that involve our muscles completing certain actions, and make driving more dangerous
  • Lower your inhibitions so you may have unsafe sex or take other chances

You May Get Hooked

About 1 in 10 people who use marijuana will become addicted, or have cannabis use disorder. This means you can’t stop using it even if it harms your relationships, school, job, health, or finances. The CDC states that you have a 10% risk of a cannabis use disorder if you use marijuana.

Like the possible risk of chronic conditions like schizophrenia, the chances of cannabis use disorder are greater the younger you start marijuana and the more heavily you use it. For instance, the odds of addiction are 1 in 6 if you use marijuana in your teens. It might be as high as 1 in 2 among those who use it every day.

You might have cannabis use disorder if you:

  • Crave weed
  • Try to quit cannabis but fail
  • Spend a lot of your time using cannabis
  • Use more marijuana than you had planned to
  • Miss out on time with family or friends to use pot
  • Still use marijuana even though it causes you physical or mental problems
  • Use pot while you drive or during other high-risk activities
  • Need more weed to get the same high
  • Have issues with learning, attention, or memory

You could also grow physically dependent on marijuana. Your body could go into withdrawal, leaving you cranky, restless, unable to sleep, and uninterested in eating when you don’t use it.

Source: webmd.com

Namibia angered by tourists posing naked in dune safari

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The Big Daddy dune is one of Namibia's top tourist destinations

The authorities in Namibia have condemned tourists who posed naked in one of the country’s top attractions – the Big Daddy dune in the Namib desert.

Visitors told a local newspaper they were shocked by the behaviour and called for action against the tourists.

The unnamed foreigners might be blacklisted from entering any of Namibia’s parks, a spokesperson from the tourism ministry told local media.

Photos and a video have been widely shared, sparking sharp reactions.

Kenneth Nependa, vice-chairperson of the Federation of Namibian Tourism Associations, told the Namibian Sun news website that the behaviour risked attracting tourists “who think anything goes in Namibia”.

“It is very sickening and it really [creates] a bad image for Namibia,” Mr Nependa said, adding that the Big Daddy dune was not just a relaxing place for tourists but for families too.

It is not clear who took the photos and the video of the three male tourists, who are seen stark naked in the sandy dune, next to their clothes.

The authorities did not immediately respond to BBC enquiries about the identity of the tourists.

Romeo Muyunda, spokesperson for the ministry of environment, forestry and tourism, termed the behaviour “extremely shocking” in a statement cited by local media.

He said it was public indecency punishable by Namibian law.

“We appeal to that section of tourists to summon the conscience so that they do the right things,” Mr Muyunda added.

The tourists had left the country by the time authorities received the reports, he said.

He appealed to Namibians to report violations of park regulations immediately for swift action.

Credit: bbc.com

Egypt trying to ‘preserve the Palestinian cause from liquidation’

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Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has denounced “forced migration” after Israel said it plans to attack Rafah city where more than one million people are living.

Israel says it would evacuate civilians from the Gaza border city and storm it despite allies’ warnings this could cause mass casualties.

“Egypt has adopted a clear stance since the first minute [of the war] totally rejecting the forced migration of Palestinians from their lands to Sinai or any other place in order to preserve the Palestinian cause from liquidation and safeguard Egypt’s national security,” el-Sisi said in a televised speech.

Credit: aljazeera.com

18 countries call on Hamas to release captives

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The US and 17 other countries have issued an appeal for Hamas to release captives as a pathway to end the crisis in Gaza.

“We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza now for over 200 days,” a statement by the countries said.

The signatories were the leaders of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom and US.

“We emphasize that the deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, that would facilitate a surge of additional necessary humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza, and lead to the credible end of hostilities,” the statement said.

Credit: aljazeera.com

Israel should allow investigators into Gaza: Amnesty

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Nasser Hospital mass graves

A lack of resources and continuous air strikes in Gaza will hinder efforts to investigate human rights abuses, says Donatella Rovera, a senior adviser with Amnesty International.

“The expertise, the skills, the resources – such as the ability to carry out DNA tests – none of that is available [in Gaza], and to make matters worse, there is the constant bombardment,” Rovera told Al Jazeera.

“Where there is evidence of a crime committed yesterday, it may be destroyed by a bombardment committed today,” she said.

Furthermore, Rovera noted, human rights investigators have not been allowed inside Gaza for years.

“Something can be done immediately. That is for the Israeli authorities to allow independent investigators in immediately. If they have nothing to hide, they should have no reason in preventing them getting into Gaza,” she added.

Credit: aljazeera.com

Spanish prosecutors ask judge to scrap case against Pedro Sánchez’s wife

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Public prosecutors in Madrid have called for a preliminary inquiry to be dismissed into Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s wife, hours after he said he was suspending his duties to assess whether he would remain in office.

In an appeal to the Madrid court, prosecutors said there was no evidence in the complaint against Begoña Gómez.

The court began the case into claims by a right-wing anti-corruption group.

But the group has since acknowledged the allegations could be false.

The Spanish Prime Minister announced he was cancelling his agenda on Wednesday evening, in a dramatic online statement that said he needed “stop and reflect”. He complained of “unprecedented slander and harassment from the right and far right”.

He said his wife would work with the judiciary to make clear there was no substance to the claims and that he would make a decision on his political future on Monday.

The Madrid prosecutor’s opposition to the case which has been brought against Ms Gómez is a boost for the prime minister as he considers his future.

But with the justice system often moving slowly, it could take some time for the case against Ms Gómez to be shelved, if that is the ultimate decision.

The complaint against Begoña Gómez was raised by anti-corruption campaigners Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), led by a man linked to the far right called Miguel Bernad.

Given the track record of Clean Hands, which has presented a litany of unsuccessful lawsuits against politicians in the past, the public prosecutors’ decision is not necessarily surprising.

Credit: bbc.com

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