Brazil President Lula Calls For End To Dollar Trade Dominance

 Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has called on developing countries to work towards replacing the US dollar with their own currencies in international trade, lending his voice to Beijing’s efforts to end the greenback’s dominance of global commerce.

Kicking off his first state visit to China since taking office in January, Lula called for the countries of the so-called Brics group of nations — which in addition to Brazil and China includes Russia, India and South Africa — to come up with their own alternative currency for use in trade.

“Every night I ask myself why all countries have to base their trade on the dollar,” Lula said in an impassioned speech at the New Development Bank in Shanghai, known as the “Brics bank”.

“Why can’t we do trade based on our own currencies?” he added, drawing loud applause from the audience of Brazilian and Chinese dignitaries. “Who was it that decided that the dollar was the currency after the disappearance of the gold standard?”

Lula’s call to shed dollar dependence dovetailed with Beijing’s increasing efforts to promote use of the renminbi in settlement of cross-border commodities trades, as Chinese policymakers seek to strengthen the role of the world’s second-largest economy in the global financial system.

The warm reception in Shanghai also came as Brazil’s leftist leader has sought to redirect the country’s foreign policy to a more multilateralist stance, with an emphasis not only on good relations with the US — he visited President Joe Biden in February — but also with China and the developing world.

Lula’s far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro had prioritised bilateral ties with the US under former president Donald Trump and other nations led by populist leaders such as Hungary and Israel.
China’s leader Xi Jinping will be keen to persuade the Brazilian president when they meet on Friday to demonstrate that appetite for rebalancing by backing a number of Beijing’s foreign policy initiatives.
These range from the Belt and Road trade and infrastructure programme to other schemes that seek to create alternative international governance systems to those dominated by the US.

Bilateral trade has ballooned over the past decade to $150.4bn last year, with China buying Brazil’s agricultural commodities and minerals and investing in the Latin American country’s large consumer market and infrastructure sector. On Thursday, Lula also visited Huawei, the Chinese telecom equipment company that is subject to US sanctions.

The growing economic relationship has encouraged both countries to promote greater use of their respective currencies in bilateral trade. This week, the Brazilian branch of the state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China settled its first transaction directly in renminbi in the country, Chinese state media reported.

Lula, who was also in Shanghai for the inauguration of his protégé, former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, as head of the New Development Bank, used the occasion to make impassioned speech about the need for the Brics countries to trade in their own currencies. Aside from the Brics, the bank’s membership includes Egypt, Bangladesh, Uruguay and the United Arab Emirates.

“Who decided that our currencies were weak, that they didn’t have value in other countries?” he said.
“Why can’t a bank like that of the Brics have a currency to finance trade relations between Brazil and China, between Brazil and other countries? It’s difficult because we are unaccustomed [to the idea]. Everyone depends on just one currency.”

Data from global payments platform Swift shows the Chinese currency’s share of trade finance has more than doubled to 4.5 per cent since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, largely on the back of a boom in shipments between Russia and China.
Maggie Wei, an economist at Goldman Sachs, said there were structural reasons to expect a growing Chinese share of global trade finance.

“In light of the renminbi’s comparatively small role in trade finance relative to China’s market share of around 15 per cent in global goods trade . . . it makes sense for the currency’s share of trade finance to continue rising,” Wei said.
But any effort by Brazil to spurn the US currency in the near term will face a substantial challenge. The dollar is vital to global commodities markets and benchmarks, which encourages top Brazilian miners such as Vale to keep most transactions dollar-denominated.

Source: ft.com

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South Africa extradites prison break fugitive from Tanzania

Dubbed the ‘Facebook rapist’, Bester sentenced to life in prison in 2012, escaped in May 2022 after a suicide hoax.

A South African fugitive who faked his own death in a prison break that embarrassed the authorities has been extradited from Tanzania and returned to prison, the government said on Thursday.

Thabo Bester, convicted of rape and murder, escaped from a privately run prison in Bloemfontein in May last year – but South African police only found out last month and launched a manhunt.

Bester was believed to have died after setting himself on fire behind bars, but in late March, police said an autopsy revealed that the person found dead in his cell had died from blunt force trauma to the head before being set ablaze.

A murder investigation has been opened.

The case has sparked outrage in South Africa, where women’s rights groups have long accused the government of not doing enough to tackle violence against women.

Dubbed the “Facebook rapist”, Bester – who was sentenced to life in prison for rape, robbery and murder in 2012 – lured victims on the social media platform before raping and robbing them. He killed at least one victim.

Justice Minister Ronald Lamola on Saturday announced that Thabo Bester was arrested by Tanzanian authorities on Friday night along with a woman with whom he is reportedly romantically involved, and a Mozambican accomplice.

On Thursday, Lamola said the pair had been extradited to South Africa.

“We can confirm that these fugitives have been returned to South Africa” from Tanzania, Lamola told a news conference in Cape Town.

“Mr Thabo Bester has been readmitted into the Kgosi Mampuru central maximum correctional facility,” Lamola said, thanking the Tanzanian government.

The woman was under arrest pending a court appearance later on Thursday, he said. Bester and the woman landed at a privately owned airport north of Johannesburg in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The father of the woman was earlier this week charged with murder in connection with the man found dead in Bester’s cell.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

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What Ghana’s Law Says About Restriction On Use Of Military Uniforms

 In one breath, the Ghana Police Service wants to enforce a law that is little known to many Ghanaians, while on the other, those found culpable just cannot understand why there is such a fuss about civilians wearing camouflage in Ghana.

More recently, all of these conversations have gained a lot of attention in the public eye after a recent case of the police invited some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) over what they were wearing during an outdoor event.

The eight Ashanti Region executives of the opposition NDC had been campaigning with John Dramani Mahama in March 2023 when they were captured in photos wearing the military’s camouflage.
In their defence, they said what they were wearing was merely the party’s “Green Army” and that besides, they had bought them “at Kumasi Kejetia Market, which bears no military symbol of the Ghana Armed Forces to warrant this needless invitation.”
The police, however, disagreed and invited them to appear before it.
NPP National Youth Organiser invited by police for wearing military camouflage

In another very recent instance, GhanaWeb reported on Thursday, April 13, 2023, that the Upper West Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service had invited the National Youth Organiser of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Abdul Salam Mustapha, for questioning.

According to a copy of the invitation letter sighted by GhanaWeb, Mr. Salam was to report to the Upper West Police Command on Friday, April 7, 2023, “to assist in an ongoing investigation” in which he was seen wearing a military camouflage during a radio interview contrary to the law.
But Salam Mustapha believes the invitation by the police is a result of an equalisation attempt by the opposition National Democratic Congress, which also recently had some of its executives invited by the police on similar grounds.

So, it has remained an issue for many of these civilians – mostly politicians, caught wearing these attires and disagreeing with the police. And they have not been alone.
There’s no law against wearing military camouflage in Ghana – Toobu
A former senior police officer, who is now the Member of Parliament for Wa West, Peter Lanchene Toobu, agrees that such actions should not warrant arrests by the police.

In fact, he stated that there is no existing law in Ghana barring the wearing of camouflage by civilians.
He explained further in an interview with Eyewitness News on Citi FM that although the police can question a person for wearing a military uniform, the only other way would be to ban the importation of camouflage.

“The principle is simple, if you are a police officer, you dress in a uniform to show that you are an officer and if you are a soldier, you are a soldier by training, but the uniform is symbolic of who you are and so if you are not a police officer or a soldier, and you are wearing army uniform, they [the military] have the right to question you,” he said.

Lawyer provides a clearer understanding of Ghana’s law on the matter:
A lawyer, Kofi Opare Hagan, also believes that the enforcement by the police is questionable.
In a post on his Facebook page, he detailed what he says is what the position of Ghana’s laws on the subject actually is.

“The law restricting the use of military uniforms by civilians, as cited, applies only to military uniforms actually used by ‘a’ Military. Whether they have stopped using it or not is immaterial. But that uniform must have been part of a military wear in Ghana or abroad.

“No Army anywhere in the world uses True Religion. Ghana Police Service should stop this nonsense of reacting to bogus petitions and wasting the limited police resources they have. The interpretation of military uniform can be found in the law itself,” he stated.

So, what does the law of Ghana actually say about the use of military uniforms by the citizenry?
Restriction on Use of Military Uniforms and Equipment Act, 1967 (NLCD 177)
According to the Seven Hundred and Forty-Six Act of the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana entitled, Restriction on Use of Military Uniforms and Equipment Act, 1967 (NLCD 177), it states:

Section 1 – Military Uniforms, Etc. Not To Be Worn By Civilians
No person shall wear or use any military uniform, equipment, accoutrements or other material unless he is-
(a) a member of the Armed Forces of Ghana wearing or using the uniform, equipment, accoutrements or materiel which he is authorised to wear or use, or
(b) a member of any other Armed Forces and has the consent of the National Liberation Council, or is entitled by law or by diplomatic usage, to wear or use such uniform, equipment, accoutrements or materiel, or
(c) an ex-serviceman wearing or using such uniform, equipment, accoutrements or materiel on a ceremonial, anniversary or other special occasion approved by the National Liberation Council, or
(d) a person whom the National Liberation Council has by executive instrument authorised to wear or use such uniform, equipment, accoutrements or materiel.

Section 2 – Unauthorised Persons Not To Sell Or Buy Military Uniforms, Etc
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No person shall sell or buy any military uniform, equipment, accoutrements or other material unless he is authorised in that behalf by the National Liberation Council.

Section 3 – Licences Not To Be Issued For The Importation Of Military Uniforms, Etc
Except as the National Liberation Council may in any particular case otherwise direct, no licence shall be issued under the Importers (Regulations and Imposition of Fees) Act, 1963 (Act 218) for the importation of any military uniform, equipment, accoutrements or other materiel.

Section 4 – Offence
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(1) Any person who contravenes any provision of this Decree commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred new cedis or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(2) No prosecution shall be instituted under this paragraph without the consent of the Attorney-General.
Section 5 – Interpretation
In this Decree-
(a) “Armed Forces” includes the Police and Prisons Services;
(b) “military” shall be construed as relating to all or any of the Armed Forces, the Police and Prisons Services; and
(c) “military uniform, equipment, accoutrements or other materiel” does not include accommodation stores and military vehicles but shall include every manner of secondhand military uniform, equipment, accoutrements or other materiel worn or used by the Armed Forces of Ghana or of any other country notwithstanding that such uniform, equipment, accoutrements or materiel has ceased to be worn or used by any such Armed Forces.

Source: ghanaweb.com

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‘Doggy Style’ Linked To Penis Fracture

 Some studies have linked doggy style to penis fracture (Barros et al. 2017; Barros et al. 2020). I know this article will raise many eyebrows but it is important to men’s health. It has been found that a penis fracture can occur when there is trauma to an erect penis.

Some studies have reported this issue and linked it to doggy style. For instance, in Ghana, a recent study by Assabill et al., (2022) reported three case studies of penis fracture linked to vigorous sexual activity in Cape Coast in men 31-60 years.

A penis fracture differs from other fractures in the body because the penis has no bones. During an erection, the penis is engorged with blood that fills two cylinders (corpora cavernosa).

If an engorged penis is bent suddenly or forcefully, the trauma can rupture the outer lining of one of the two cylinders (tunica albuginea). This can result in a penis fracture.

The trauma is most often caused by sexual intercourse, such as when the penis slips out of the vagina and is accidentally thrust against the pelvis.

Results
A penis fracture often results in a penis that bulges and appears purple, looking somewhat like an eggplant. Signs and symptoms of a penis fracture include: Immediate penile pain; a popping or cracking sound; rapid loss of erection; and swelling in the penile shaft. There is also the discoloration of the penile shaft due to bleeding underneath the skin.

Sometimes the tube that drains urine from the body (urethra) is damaged as well, and blood might be visible at the urinary opening of the penis. A penis fracture requires urgent medical attention.

The injury can usually be diagnosed with a physical exam, but additional testing such as ultrasound may be needed. Prompt surgical repair is typically recommended.

Studies
I chanced on this important study on men’s health and I have decided to share it with you. The study, by Barros et al. (2017) evaluates the relationship between sexual position and the severity of the penile fracture.

The authors studied 90 patients with penile fractures. Also, the mechanism of injury and the sexual position was assessed.

They divided their sample by the genesis of the fracture in six groups: (a) masturbation or penile manipulation; (b) ‘man-on-top’ position; (c) ‘doggy style position; (d) ‘woman-on-top’ position; (d) blunt trauma; and (e) ‘rolling over’ fracture. The patient’s ages ranged from 18 to 66 years (mean of 39 years).

They found that the sexual position at the time of injury varied, with 23 cases (25.5 per cent) occurring in the ‘man-on-top’, 37cases (41 per cent) in the ‘doggy style, and 9 cases (10 per cent) in the ‘woman-on-top’.

They did not observe differences between the severity of the penile fracture between the ‘doggy style and ‘man-on-top’, but the ‘doggy style’ had more severity of penile fracture when compared with ‘woman-on-top’ and penile manipulation. The ‘man-on-top’ and ‘doggy style positions showed more associations with bilateral fractures.

A more recent study by the same author(Barros et al. 2020) to report their experiences over the past 20 years in the diagnosis and surgical treatment of penile fracture (PF) examined medical records from January 1997 and January 2017, in 255 cases and found that sexual trauma was the main causes of penile fracture.

In this case, 110 (43.1 per cent) occurred with the “doggy style” position, 103 (40.3 per cent) with the “man on top” position, 31 (12.1 per cent) with the “woman on top” position, and 11 (4.3 per cent) in other sexual positions.

Source: graphic.com.gh

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Dozens killed in Democratic Republic of the Congo village attacks

 ‘We’re tired of it,’ say residents facing ongoing violence in the Ituri province, near the border with Uganda.

Dozens of civilians have been killed as suspected armed groups raided villages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to local advocates and news reports.

The attacks took place on Friday in the province of Ituri, an area along the country’s northeast border with Uganda that has regularly experienced systematic attacks on communities since 2017.

Charite Banza, the head of local civil society, told the Reuters news agency that Friday’s attack killed about 30 people, “both women and men”.

“They set fire to several houses, looted property,” Banza explained.

Other sources told the AFP news agency that the death toll exceeded 40. A regional administrator named Innocent Matukadala told the news outlet that 36 bodies were found in the town of Kilo Etat, plus another eight in Matete and more in Itendy.

Robert Basiloko, another civil society leader from the area, told AFP he estimated 43 were killed, including five children. “Every day there are deaths,” he said. “We’re tired of it.”

Sources quoted in both Reuters and AFP identified a group of militias called the Cooperative for Development of the Congo, or CODECO, as the suspected culprit in the attacks.

The United Nations reports that violence and insecurity have caused an estimated 1.5 million people to be displaced in Ituri over the past six years.

The conflict stems in part from ongoing tensions between the Lendu and Hema ethnic groups, as well as from the desire to control Ituri’s natural resources, which include gold and oil deposits. The conflict stretches back decades, with violence becoming particularly intense in the 1990s and 2000s.

Since the violence spiked again in December 2017, attacks on civilians have become a near-daily occurrence, according to the UN. Spokesperson Eujin Byun issued a statement on January 24 that its refugee agency, the UNHCR, “is deeply concerned by the escalation of brutal attacks on civilians”.

“More than 200 civilians have been killed in the last six weeks in Ituri in a series of attacks by non-state armed groups, which also destroyed 2,000 houses and closed or demolished 80 schools,” Byun said at the time.

In 2021, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared a “state of siege” for both Ituri and the neighbouring province of North Kivu.

The country has the largest population of internally displaced people on the African continent, with the UN estimating that at least 5.6 million have fled their homes.

The attacks have spilt over from villages to shelters housing the internally displaced, according to the UN. The Plaine Savo camp has been repeatedly attacked by armed groups, including those affiliated with CODECO, leaving families dead and shelters burned to the ground.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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Japan PM unharmed after ‘smoke bomb’ at campaign event

Crowd at fishing harbour in western Japan scattered in panic after explosion as police subdued a man at the scene.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was evacuated unharmed after what appeared to be a smoke bomb was thrown at him while he was on the campaign trail in Wakayama prefecture in western Japan.

Footage on Japanese television showed a disturbance in a crowd gathered at the Saikazaki fishing harbour where Kishida was out in support of a ruling party candidate. The video showed a a blast and white smoke, just as he was about to speak.

The prime minister took cover as people in the crowd scattered in panic. Kishida was unhurt and police subdued a man who looked to be in his 20s or 30s at the scene, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Saikazaki is about 65km (40 miles) southwest of Osaka city.

“I was stunned. My heart is still beating fast,” a woman at the scene told NHK.

There was no immediate official confirmation of the incident, with local police declining to comment.

The incident comes just nine months after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated last July while campaigning for a parliamentary election, shocking the nation and leading to the resignation of top local and national police chiefs as well as a tightening of security guidelines for prominent people.

The latest attack also comes as Japan hosts a series of Group of Seven (G7) ministerial meetings this weekend ahead of the May 19-21 summit that Kishida will host in the southern city of Hiroshima.

The prime minister had just finished sampling fish at the site and was about to deliver remarks in support of the ruling party’s candidate in local polls and a lower house by-election that are set for April 23.

“That something like this happened in the middle of an election campaign that constitutes the foundation of democracy is regrettable. It’s an unforgivable atrocity,” Hiroshi Moriyama, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)’s election strategy chairman, told NHK.

Abe’s alleged assassin, Tetsuya Yamagami, reportedly targeted him over his links to the Unification Church and the incident sparked revelations about the connection between the group and Japanese politicians.

Yamagami has been charged with murder and several other crimes including violation of a gun control law.

Abe was relatively unprotected and speaking on a street in western Nara when he was killed.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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S Korea, Japan, US to deepen security ties amid N Korea threat

 Allies condemn ‘in the strongest terms’ Pyongyang’s latest weapons test, and urge end to ‘destabilization’.

Japan, South Korea and the United States have agreed to enhance security cooperation in response to rising threats from North Korea, as they condemned the country’s test of its first-ever solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Defence officials from the three countries discussed the regularisation of missile defence exercises and anti-submarine exercises as a deterrence as well as response to North Korea’s “nuclear and missile threats”. They also discussed ways to resume trilateral exercises, according to a joint statement issued on Friday at the end of the 13th Defence Trilateral Talks in Washington, DC.

They “condemned in the strongest terms the DPRK’s repeated violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs), including its continuous nuclear and missile provocations and illicit ship-to-ship transfers”.

DPRK is the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

The statement also urged Pyongyang to “stop all destabilizing activities immediately” and “reaffirmed that a DPRK nuclear test, if conducted, would be met with a strong and resolute response from the international community”.

North Korea last tested a nuclear weapon in 2017 but the rapid expansion of its military arsenal in recent years has raised concern it may be preparing to resume nuclear testing.

Leader Kim Jong Un was shown in state media on Friday supervising with his family the test of the solid-fuel Hwasong-18, which was described as a “miraculous success“.

Kim has ordered a rapid modernisation of the country’s weaponry with a record number of tests in 2022.

Developing solid-fuel technology, which is safer to use, easier to manoeuvre and faster to deploy than liquid-propelled variants, was a key part of Kim’s arms development plans.

Testing this year has ramped up amid large-scale joint military exercises by US and South Korean forces that Pyongyang claims are a rehearsal for invasion.

Talks on denuclearisation have been stalled since 2019 when a high-profile summit between Kim and then-US President Donald Trump collapsed.

The three defence officials repeated a call for North Korea to return to talks.

The “path to dialogue” remains open, the statement said.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

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Tunisian footballer dies after setting himself on fire in protest

 Nizar Issaoui, 35, said the reason for his protest was being falsely accused of ‘terrorism’ in the village of Haffouz.

A professional footballer in Tunisia has died after setting himself alight earlier this week as a protest against “police injustice”, his family said.

Tunisian football player Nizar Issaoui, 35, suffered third-degree burns and was taken to the specialist burns hospital in Tunis, but doctors were unable to save his life, his brother said on Friday.

“He died yesterday [Thursday] and will be buried today.”

Issaoui, a former player for top-flight side US Monastir and a father of four, published a video on Facebook in which he said the reason for his protest was being falsely accused of “terrorism” in the village of Haffouz, Kairouan, central Tunisia.

Issaoui was a free agent at the time of his death after a career that saw him play for a range of clubs from the lower divisions to the top flight.

Issaoui’s protest recalled that of street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi, who burned himself to death on December 17, 2010, sparking the Tunisian revolution that was the trigger for the Arab Spring uprisings, which toppled authoritarian leaders across the Middle East.

News of Issaoui’s death sparked protests on the streets of Haffouz, Tunisian media reported. Young demonstrators hurled stones at police who responded with tear gas.

Issaoui decided to make his protest against the police after officers accused him of terrorism when he complained that he was unable to buy bananas for less than 10 dinars ($3.30) a kilogramme, double the price set by the government.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has said Tunisia is experiencing its worst crisis in a generation, with inflation hovering around 11 percent and food becoming increasingly scarce.

The Tunisian government has been negotiating with the International Monetary Fund for a $1.9bn loan agreement. The country’s budget deficit was aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

In a Facebook post shortly before his fatal action, Issaoui said, “For a dispute with someone selling bananas at 10 dinars, I get accused of terrorism at the police station. Terrorism for a complaint about bananas.” He also said he had sentenced himself to “death by fire”.

“I have no more energy. Let the police state know that the sentence will be executed today,” he wrote.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

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