Usain Bolt says he will continue to "push the barriers" after
finishing London 2012 as a triple Olympic champion for the second time.
After claiming
100m
and
200m
golds, the 25-year-old anchored Jamaica to victory in the
4x100m relay
in a new world record time of 36.84 seconds.
"I like to push the barriers," said the 100m and 200m world record holder.
"I like to do things people have never done before because it sets you apart from everybody else."
Bolt, Yohan Blake, Nesta Carter and Michael Frater
became the first relay team to ever run under 37 seconds as they left
the United States trailing to win gold on the last full day of athletics
action inside the Olympic Stadium.
Blake said: "Basically, we are not human, we dropped
from space like Mr Bean. Mr Bean is not a normal guy, he makes jokes. We
are not normal guys. We are from space, I am from Mars."
But Bolt replied: "Yohan is crazy. If he keeps talking like that, someone is going to put him in a straitjacket one day."
Bolt was part of the Jamaica team that set a new 4x100m
relay landmark at last year's World Championships in Daegu and he said:
"It is the second time of running a world record with my team-mates and
to do it again is an honour.
"To have passed that line in a world record time is
wonderful. These guys really pushed themselves to make sure we ran fast
and broke the record."
Bolt became the first man to ever defend the 100m and 200m Olympic titles, beating Blake into second in both races.
Jamaica also completed a clean sweep in the 200m, with Warren Weir taking the bronze medal.
"There is great talent coming out of Jamaica," said
Bolt. "To be on the podium with my team-mates was wonderful. The relays
are always the favourite part of the championships for me because it's
much more relaxing. We can laugh and talk about other stuff.
"Individual sports are lonely but when you compete with the team you get to laugh and share a world record together."
Bolt declared himself a "living legend" after his
double Olympic title defence but says he will continue to race the rest
of the season for his supporters.
"The rest of my races are for my fans," he said. "It
will be the first time running as a living legend, so I'm going to see
my fans, wave to them, do some crazy stuff. It's going to be fun."
Bolt is expected to compete at the Diamond League
meeting in Lausanne on 23 August but is yet to decide whether to run the
100m or 200m.
Thousands of Ghanaians continue to
converge at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Accra to view the
body of the late President John Evans Atta Mills, on day two of the of a
three-day State funeral.
The viewing has been orderly, as security operatives make mourners
undergo checks, with meandering queues that stretch towards the military
cemetery near the State House.
The State House was bedeck with activities on Wednesday night during the
vigil for the first day of the funeral ceremony. Several groups of
musical and cultural performances galvanised the teeming crowds with
dirges, choral, poems and other performances in anticipation of the
vigil that starts from 1900 hours.
There is still heavy security presence in the area that has become a sea
of black and red colours in symbolic mourning of the 68-year-old
Ghanaian leader, who passed away three days after celebrating his 68th
birthday on July 24, at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra, while
receiving medical treatment.
Several high profile Ghanaians including the successor of the late
President Mills, President John Dramani Mahama, and his Vice Kwesi Bekoe
Amissah-Arthur, and immediate past First Lady Dr. Naadu Mills and son
of the late President, Mr Kofi Sam Atta Mills paid their respect to the
late president.
The leadership of the NDC, the NPP and
the CPP, as well as former Presidents John Agyekum Kufour and Jerry John
Rawlings and wife Nana Konadu, and the their flag-bearers paid their
last respects.
Mr Ambrose Dery, Deputy Minority Leader, after viewing the body,
reflected soberly on the death of the late President Mills and added
that it was a reminder of how fleeting life man is.
The head of the Consumer Protection Agency, Kofi Kapito struggled to
maintain his composure as he fought back tears after filing past the
remains of the renowned professor of law.
Felix Ofosu Kwakye, a leading member of the NDC’s communication team
told XYZ News that the death of President Mills will
always stay with those who knew what a remarkable man he was.
Nana Ato Dadzie, spokesperson of the Funeral Planning Committee told XYZ
News in an interview that despite all the hiccups at the
beginning of the ceremony, everything panned out well and that the
patience and tolerance that Ghanaians displayed on Wednesday depicts the
true nature of the man whose life country celebrates.
Early this morning at about 7:00am, the casket containing the remains of
President Mills was brought out of the 37 Military Mortuary Morgue to
mark the commencement of the funeral ceremony of the late president of
the Republic of Ghana.
This was after the final funeral ritual was performed by the family of the late president.
A slow funeral procession from the hospital then left for the residence
of the late president as customs demands at the Regimanuel Gray Estates
at East Airport area.
The remains of President John Evans Atta Mills is currently being conveyed to the seat of government – Osu, Castle.
Many mourners have lined up on the road to view the cortege amidst tears and wailing.
Updates
?8:32: am: ?Cortege moves past the State House.
8:45 am: Cortege has reached the Castle, Osu.
8:51am: Officials at the Castle are saluting the hearse. Mr. Bebaako-Mensah, Secretary to the President breaks down in tears.
8:53am: Chief of Staff John Henry Martey Newman prays for the soul of
President Mills at the Castle. He asks for peace and leads the officials
to say the Lord's prayer.
9:05am: Cortege leaves Castle for State House
9:30am: Cortege arrives at the State House as the hearse pulls up infront of the Banquet Hall.
9:40am Family head pours libation for the body to be sent inside the Banquet Hall
9:50am: The casket adorned with the red, gold and greed colours of the
Ghana flag has being carried inside the Banquet Hall by pallbearers of
the Ghana Air Force dressed in ceremonial attire.
10:00am: Dr Richard Anane former Minister under the erstwhile Kufuor administration says Ghana has lost a good man.
10:00am There is a cultural display as fontonfrom drummers and dancers play mournful tunes on the main funeral park.
11:00am: Vice President Amissah-Arthur and President John Dramani
Mahama have arrived at the State House to file past the remains of late
President Mills. The President is clad in a black suit and leading the
entourage to enter the hall.
11:10am: President Mahama, Vice President Amissah-Arthur, widow, Dr.
Naadu Mills and Samuel Atta Mills (son of the late President) enter the
auditorium.
11:05am: ?Ministers of State are all waiting for the President to file past the remains of President Mills.
12:pm Former President Kufuor pays his last respect.
12:10pm Nana Akufo-Addo, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey and other leading NPP members pay their last respect.
12:20pm: Former President Rawlings and wife pay their last respect**
2 August 2012 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today
announced the resignation of the United Nations-League of Arab States
Joint Special Envoy for the Syrian crisis, Kofi Annan.
“Mr. Annan has informed me, and the Secretary-General of the League of
Arab States, Mr. Nabil El Araby, of his intention not to renew his
mandate when it expires on 31 August 2012,” Mr. Ban said in a statement.
“I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Mr. Annan for the determined
and courageous efforts he has made as the Joint Special Envoy for
Syria.”
Mr. Annan, a former UN Secretary-General, was appointed in late February
to serve as the high-level representative
of the Secretaries-General of the United Nations and the League of Arab
States on the Syrian crisis, providing good offices aimed at bringing an
end to all violence and human rights violations, and promoting a
peaceful solution to the Syrian
crisis.
We have worked closely together these past
months, and I am indebted to him and his team for all they have tried to
achieve. I will continue to draw on his wisdom and counsel, and on the
work of the Office of the Joint Special Envoy.
Syria has been wracked by violence, with more than 10,000 people, mostly
civilians, killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad
began some 17 months ago. Over recent days, there have been reports of
an escalation in violence in many towns and villages, as well as the
country’s two biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo.
As part of his efforts, Mr. Annan put forward a six-point peace plan to
help end the Syrian crisis. The plan calls for an end to violence,
access for humanitarian agencies to provide relief to those in need, the
release of detainees, the start of inclusive political dialogue, and
unrestricted access to the country for the international media.
Despite initial signs of acceptance of the plan and repeated calls from
UN officials, there has been little in the way of the plan’s
implementation by the parties to the conflict.
“
The hand extended to turn away from violence in favour of dialogue and
diplomacy – as spelled out in the six-point plan – has not been not
taken, even though it still remains the best hope for the people of
Syria,” Mr. Ban said.
The UN chief noted that both the Syrian Government and the opposition
forces continue to demonstrate their determination to rely on
ever-increasing violence, and that, in addition, “persistent divisions”
within the Security Council have themselves become an obstacle to
diplomacy, making the work of any mediator vastly more difficult.
“Kofi Annan deserves our profound admiration for the selfless way in
which he has put his formidable skills and prestige to this most
difficult and potentially thankless of assignments.
He has worked within
the mandate provided to him by the General Assembly and with the
cooperation of various Member States,” Mr. Ban said.
He added, “We have worked closely together these past months, and I am
indebted to him and his team for all they have tried to achieve. I will
continue to draw on his wisdom and counsel, and on the work of the
Office of the Joint Special Envoy.”
The UN Secretary-General is now consulting with his counterpart at the
League of Arab States, in order to promptly appoint a successor “who can
carry on [with] this crucial peacemaking effort.”
“I remain convinced that yet more bloodshed is not the answer; each day
of it will only make the solution more difficult while bringing deeper
suffering to the country and greater peril to the region,” Mr. Ban said.
Addressing
reporters in Geneva today, Mr. Annan said the increasing militarization
on the ground in Syria and the clear lack of unity in the Security
Council had “fundamentally changed the circumstances for the effective
exercise” of his role.
“Yet the bloodshed continues, most of all because of the Syrian
government’s intransigence, and continuing refusal to implement the
six-point plan, and also because of the escalating military campaign of
the opposition – all of which is compounded by the disunity of the
international community,” the Joint Special Envoy said.
“At a time when we need – when the Syrian people desperately need action
- there continues to be finger-pointing and name-calling in the
Security Council,” he added.
“This should have been automatically endorsed by the Security Council
and something the international community should have built on,” he
said. “Without serious, purposeful and united international pressure,
including from the powers of the region, it is impossible for me, or
anyone, to compel the Syrian government in the first place, and also the
opposition, to take the steps necessary to begin a political process.”
In a statement issued on Thursday afternoon, the President of the
General Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, expressed his regrets over
Mr. Annan’s resignation, while at the same time commending his efforts
and noting that he understands how difficult the Joint Special Envoy’s
task has been.
“
Mr. Annan’s well-known experience, wisdom, and world wide credibility
were invaluable assets in his difficult mission,” Mr Al-Nasser’s
spokesperson said. “Regrettably, reports of atrocities and human rights
violations that amount to crimes against humanity committed by the
Syrian Government against their own people are occurring on daily
basis.”
The spokesperson added that President Al-Nasser re-iterates his call on
the international community to unite to put an end to the violence and
find a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis.
The Security Council is due to hold consultations on Syria on Thursday
afternoon, and the General Assembly is expected to hold a meeting on
same issue on Friday.
A week after the sudden death of President John Evans Atta Mills, the
Cedi, which has depreciated in value in recent months, continues to
struggle against major foreign currencies.
Reuters said analysts
had expressed worry about the weakening cedi due to rising imports for
the oil industry and added that inflation had trended upwards, making
life difficult for the locals even though economic growth had increased
due to oil production. Statistics show that the cedi has lost
over a third of its value since Ghana began producing oil in November
2010, trading currently at around 1.95 per dollar.
Reuters said
locals attributed the fall of the currency to trade with China, as many
traders are accumulating actual paper cash in dollars due to the lack of
effective transfer channels for the Yuan in Ghana.
To stem the
situation, the central bank raised interest rates by 250 basis points
starting from February to halt the currency from further weakening.
But
Reuters quotes Lisa Lewin, head of sub-Saharan research at Business
Monitor International as saying the central bank’s stop-gap measure was
to the detriment of growth.
It said the government had asked
Parliament to increase the fiscal deficit target in 2012 to 6.7 percent
of GDP to finance an 18 percent pay rise offered to public sector
workers this year and to reform wage structures for state employees.
According
to Bright Simons, president of Mpedigree and lead researcher at IMANI
Centre for Policy & Education, the cedi’s fall is a supply
management rather than a demand management problem.
“The central bank is treating it like a demand problem by trying to regulate how actors in the economy access forex.
Businesses
are noticing an increasing level of regulatory interference in their
ability to access forex at the banks and elsewhere.”
Touching on
the challenges to be faced by President Mahama, he said given that the
central bank was empowered to deal with monetary affairs independent of
the government, the new President could not do much to alter what he
called “this largely futile exercise.”
“However, since the real
problem is supply-related, it behooves the administration to put a brake
on signals that weaken investor confidence and encourage forex hoarding
and speculative activities because these disrupt the flow of forex into
the economy to balance against natural growing demand.”
“The
truth of the matter is that actual Foreign Direct Investment (as opposed
to pledges) flows have slowed. The expected CDB facility will be
disbursed later than anticipated.”
Mr. Simons said oil revenues
are way short of what was budgeted and all such developments had
affected the supply of forex in the economy, adding “activities that
interfere with availability of forex merely compounds the problem.”
“Government
must in the short term rein in expenditure and in the long term boost
non-traditional exports. These are the only ways to stem acute spikes in
forex imbalances.”
He urged the new President to persuade the Central Bank to coordinate with his government to fix the supply side of things.
Dr Bossman Asare, a Political Science
lecturer at the University of Ghana has predicted that the 2012
presidential election is likely to go into a second round.
The
lecturer is basing his predictions on the type of candidates the two
main political parties, National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New
Patriotic Party (NPP), have selected to run for the elections on their
tickets.
The opposition NPP unanimously retained its 2008
Presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo and his running mate, Dr.
Mahumudu Bawumia, to run for the elections.
Following the death
of President John Evans Atta Mills, the ruling NDC have been forced to
accept John Mahama as its Presidential candidate.
While the party
awaits a delegates’ congress to affirm John Mahama’s flagbearership,
his choice of Vice President and running mate has stirred up debates as
to viability to the NDC’s electoral fortunes.
President John
Mahama has selected Bank of Ghana Governor, Mr Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur
for the vacant Vice Presidential slot and is awaiting Parliamentary
vetting and approval to assume office.
Speaking on Election
Headquarters on Joy FM Thursday, Dr Bossman Asare said considering
the qualities all four candidates are bringing to play, he “certainly
thinks that second round is not unlikely, we are likely going to see a
second round in this particular elections.”
He, however, advised
the NDC to “make the effort to sell” Amissah Arthur to the Ghanaian
populace because, “many people do not know him” and are not familiar
with his track record.”
According to lecturer, “if the NDC wants
to make an impact, he must be leading some campaigns,” because “…people
are also looking forward to a Vice President who can takeover as
President when the need arises
