A U.S. mail truck possibly carrying absentee ballots in Georgia was completely destroyed after it caught fire on Monday.
The Baker County Sheriff’s Office shared pictures on Facebook of the Jeep engulfed in flames in a rural area near Pretoria/Tarva Road, approximately ten miles southwest of Albany.
The sheriff’s office said the delivery driver was not injured, but the car is a total loss along with all the mail inside of it.
Deputies said the Newton Post Office has a list of packages and mail that was being delivered on the route. Those missing a delivery can contact the post office for more information.
During a press conference on Tuesday, the Secretary of State’s Office addressed the fire and said election officials have already spoken with the election’s director in that area, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
“There are 43 outstanding ballots in the county. We’re working with USPS to see if they have images of what might have been on that truck, to reissue them,” Interim Deputy Secretary of State Gabriel Sterling said. “Worst comes to worst, we’ll reissue the 43 ballots, or the county will reissue the 43 ballots, and first across the line for those voters will be the ballots that are accepted.”
Sterling added that this is one example of many things state election officials might deal with during an election cycle.
According to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s Twitter account, more than a million votes had been cast in the state’s midterm election as of Tuesday evening.
Fox 5 also reported 100,000 absentee ballots were received on Tuesday alone and another 124,000 Georgia residents voted in person during the early voting period.
Baker County is located in southwest Georgia and is about 150 miles south of Atlanta.
LONDON – Roughly twelve hours after giving his first speech as prime minister of the United Kingdom yesterday, former Chancellor, now Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had completed appointing his cabinet of 31.
A day later, Sunak sat down with his ministers in his first official cabinet meeting to begin the work of fixing the mistakes that he claimed in his speech that predecessor Liz Truss made.
“The PM outlined how economic stability and fiscal sustainability would be at the heart of this government’s mission – acting with compassion and protecting the most vulnerable,” read a tweet from the official page of the prime minister.
The meeting will outline details of the medium term economic package agreed to between the prime minister and his Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
“The package will contain the UK’s medium term fiscal plan to put public spending on a sustainable footing, get debt falling & restore stability,” reported 10 Downing Street.
Earlier, Sunak had spoken to world leaders including President Joe Biden of the United States and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Roberson Alphonse, who works at the daily newspaper Le Nouvelliste and radio station Magik9, is recovering in a hospital in Port-au-Prince.
A well-known Haitian journalist survived an assassination attempt in which he was shot in his car while on his way to work in the capital Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, officials said.
Roberson Alphonse, who works at the daily newspaper Le Nouvelliste and radio station Magik9, has undergone two operations so far and is hospitalised and expected to recover, according to Frantz Duval, chief editor for both media.
The incident highlights the deteriorating security situation in a country racked by gang violence.
Haiti’s Ministry of Culture and Communication said it learned “with horror the news of the assassination attempt” that occurred in the Delmas neighbourhood.
“His rigour, his effort to be impartial, and his sense of perfection make him a model for the profession,” the ministry said in a statement.
“My friend, Roberson Alphonse could be anything he wants anywhere in the world. He picked Haiti. He also could’ve (made) millions selling his platforms. He opted for integrity and independence. I love him and I wish him well,” he wrote.
Duval thanked an unidentified person he said rescued Alphonse and applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding before medical help arrived. He noted the car had more than 10 bullet holes.
Body of another journalist found
The attack on Alphonse comes just weeks after Haitian leaders requested the immediate deployment of foreign security forces as the country faces an unprecedented crisis.
Also on Tuesday, authorities found the body of another journalist who had been missing for several days. Garry Tess used to host a political talk show in the southern city of Les Cayes, according to the government’s Office of Citizen Protection, which said it was extremely worried about the security of journalists in Haiti and urged they be protected.
No one has been arrested in either case, although journalists in Haiti have long been the target of warring gangs who have grown more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
Meanwhile, the president of Haiti’s Senate, Joseph Lambert, demanded a judicial investigation.
The attacks come more than a month after two other journalists identified as Tayson Latigue and Frantzsen Charles were fatally shot and their bodies set on fire while reporting in a slum controlled by gangs.
In January, gang members killed two other journalists who were reporting in Laboule, a community south of Port-au-Prince.
The Miami-based Inter-American Press Association says this year has been one of the most violent for the press since record-keeping began in 1987.
Journalists also are still seeking justice in the March 2018 disappearance of freelance photographer Vladjimir Legagneur, who was last seen in Port-au-Prince’s Grand Ravine, one of its poorest and most dangerous areas.
The government’s decision to seek international security assistance has triggered anger and protests, with Haitians shouting against “foreign occupation” and demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who had asked international partners for “the immediate deployment of a specialised armed force, in sufficient quantity” to stop the “criminal actions” of armed gangs across the country.
One of Haiti’s most powerful gangs surrounded a main fuel terminal more than a month ago, demanding Henry’s resignation as they prevented the distribution of petroleum.
Gas stations have shut down, banks and grocery stores are operating on limited hours and potable water is becoming scarce as the country battles a cholera breakout that has killed at least 40 people, with more than 1,750 suspected cases so far.
US soldiers on guard on the roof of the US Embassy watching a protest rejecting international security assistance and demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in Port-au-Prince, October 17, 2022 [Odelyn Joseph/AP Photo]
UNICEF warned on Monday that the actual number of cholera cases is likely much higher, given under-reporting. The agency noted that it has only been able to find a third of the 318,000 litres (70,000 gallons) of fuel needed to serve more than half of 16 cholera treatment centres in Port-au-Prince.
On Tuesday, the European Union said it was extremely concerned about the deterioration of Haiti’s situation, adding that it has reached unsustainable levels.
“The EU regrets that as a humanitarian catastrophe unfolds and protests have been co-opted by gangs, escalating into violence, looting and territorial gains for armed gangs, political actors have so far failed to find a political solution to the crisis,” it said.
“The EU, therefore, urges all political actors to …engage in constructive negotiations to overcome the current political crisis and its security and humanitarian consequences.”
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has said that bridging the huge digital gap in Africa requires deliberate and constant partnership between governments and the private sector.
He said governments must lead the way by deliberately reducing the tax burden on the private sector in exchange for obligated investments into innovations that will deliver very affordable digital access for the masses, adding that anything short of that is mere lip service that will not deliver any dividends.
President Kagame was delivering the keynote address on to the topic – Building a Digital Future Together – at the opening of the Mobile World Congress Africa in Kigali, Rwanda.
The GSMA flagship event comes to Africa for the first time and brings together over 2,000 participants from across 75 operators and with almost 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, to be addressed by at least 187 speakers in 47 sessions. A cross-section of delegates at the opening of MWC Africa 2022 In what was described as shocking statistics about the digital divide in Africa, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) reports that in Africa in 2021, only 33 percent of the population was using the internet, meaning an estimated 871 million people are not realizing digital dividends.
This is in spite of the fact that several Africa governments, including Ghana, brag about having built substantial infrastructure geared toward driving digital inclusion.
President Kagame said it is common knowledge that technology is catalytic to national and human development and yet almost half of Africa’s population do not have access, in spite of the usual boast by governments about having built infrastructure. “Digital infrastructure is key, but it is not enough,” he said. “We must make the infrastructure meaningful to our people through deliberate partnerships with the private sector.”
Partnership in Rwanda
He noted that in Rwanda the partnership between government and private sector has been very deliberate and the message is driven regularly across the entire ecosystem to ensure that everyone is playing their part to bridge the digital gap.
According to him, digital inclusion goes beyond connectivity, explaining that if people have connectivity but cannot afford to access it, that connectivity is meaningless. Again, if people could access the connectivity but it does not address their specific economic, health, educational and other needs, that connectivity is meaningless.
“Connectivity must be affordable, accessible and meaningful to the target groups and that requires very strong public and private sector partnership,” the President said.
According to him, the other factor required to make connectivity meaningful to the masses is skills development that will enable people take advantage of the digital connectivity, and that should form a critical part of government’s policy. He said, in Rwanda, partnership with the private sector has resulted in high-skilled youthful workforce, which has given birth to lots of innovative start-ups in the country.
The Youth President Kagame noted that Africa is full of vibrant youth who are looking for opportunities to contribute to national development and “we cannot afford to reduce them to a statistic.”
He said initiatives like Smart Africa and others on the continent are geared towards addressing the digital gap, particularly from the perspective of empowering the youth with skills and resources to play an active role in the progress of the continent.
“However, as individual counties, we need to be deliberate and constant about public and private sector partnerships in address our specific needs within the context of bridging the digital gap at the country level and ultimately at the continental level,” he said. According to him, African countries cannot afford to leave anyone behind the digital curve if the continent is to see a success implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) initiative.
Ghana has been recognized as the only country that has reached maturity stage in access to financial inclusion in Africa.
This is contained in this year’s State of Inclusive Instant Payment in Africa Report put together by AfricaNenda and launched at the ongoing Mobile World Congress Africa 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda.
The report seeks to tell a story about all instant pay rollouts across the continent to identify the areas of commonality with the view to driving adoption to boost financial inclusion on the continent.
This year, the report focused on inclusive instant payment systems in 12 Africa countries and Ghana was the only country that scored 100% on access to financial inclusion.
Ghana’s feat was based on the successful mobile money interoperability (MMI) platform, which integrates all payments platforms across banks, fintechs and telcos, giving access to every Ghanaian to make and receive instant payment. Ghana’s mobile money interoperability is hosted by a state institution – Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlements Systems (GhIPSS), headed by Archie Hesse, who was present at the launch of the report in Kigali.
During a panel discussion, he explained how GhIPSS was able to achieve that level of financial inclusion by integrating three instant payment platforms into what he called the “financial inclusion triangle.”
According to him, GhIPSS started by first integrating banks to make them interoperable on the back of the GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP); then GhIPSS introduced a biometric payment system called e-zwich, which was also made interoperable, before moving on integrate the mobile money operators into an interoperable platform.
“What we then did was to close the triangle by making all the three platforms interoperable to ensure that no matter who is making payment and from wherever, they will be able to do so seamlessly and instantly,” he said.
Archie Hesse said GhIPSS has since improved the services by adding other services like Proxy Pay, Internet Gateway Payment, Request to Pay and the Universal QR Code dubbed GHQR, which can be linked to both bank accounts and digital wallets, with affordability as the key driving force.
He said GhIPSS, in collaboration with the banks have also come up with a bank-wide wallet called GhanaPay to ensure that the banks also play a role in the mobile money space with the view to bridging the financial inclusion gap.
Meanwhile, there is still a gap of about 32% in Ghana’s financial inclusion target, but that is not for lack of access, but more to do with education and individuals’ slowness to adoption.
Archie Hesse believes that with the introduction of GhanaPay, plus regular public education on the advantages of instant payment, that gap will be close.
He also underscored the importance of fintechs in driving adoption, saying that “fintechs are the ones that will innovate and create services in the areas of insurance, agriculture and others to drive last mile adoption.”
The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, has disclosed that she is 43% Nigerian. The mother of two made this known during a conversation with Senegalese-American actress and comedian Issa Rae, and Nigerian-American comedian and writer Ziwe Fumudoh.
According to her, a couple of years ago she took a genealogy test which revealed that she is 43% Nigerian.
”I had my genealogy test done a couple of years ago and I am 43 percent Nigerian.
The revelation came as a shock to Ziwe who excitedly shouted “No way” and further asked about the tribe in Nigeria she was from.
But Meghan answered, “I am going to start to dig deeper because anyone that I told especially Nigerians women is always like what?”
Meghan had previously spoken about being biracial – her mother is African-American and her father is Caucasian – but did not delve deeper into her roots until more recently.
In a 2015 essay published in ELLE Magazine, the duchess opened up about her mixed-race heritage and said: “Being biracial paints a blurred line that is equal parts staggering and illuminating.
“While my mixed heritage may have created a grey area surrounding my self-identification, keeping me with a foot on both sides of the fence, I have come to embrace that. To say who I am, to share where I’m from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident mixed-race woman.”
In September 2019, Meghan addressed her racial heritage for the first time since marrying the Duke of Sussex a year earlier, during the couple’s tour of Africa.
