Sex abuses causing children to lose confidence in parents – Dr Tony Aubynn

Dr Tony Aubynn (second Left) interacting with management of Crown Prince Academy

The chief executive of Ghana Chamber of Mines, Dr Tony Aubynn, is calling on Ghanaians to direct their attention at the rampant cases of incest in society, which he said are causing children to lose confidence in parents and the elderly. 

Speaking to Myjoyonline.com at the 20th anniversary and 10th graduation ceremony of Crown Prince Academy in Accra over the weekend, Dr Tony Aubynn cautioned the nation, against behaving like an ostrich towards what he described as parents “misdemeanor and misdeeds” in society.

He said many have taken advantage of the innocence of children and the trust they have in their parents and the elderly in general, to sexually abuse them.
This, he said, has unfortunately eroded the trust children had in adults especially their parents and teachers.

Pregnant Women Who Use Nasal Sprays For Colds And Hayfever Increase The Risk Of Rare Birth Defects

 
Women who use decongestants such as nasal sprays in the first three months of pregnancy may raise their child’s risk of certain rare birth defects. 

Some types of over-the-counter decongestants, such as those commonly used by hayfever sufferers, were linked to rare birth defects of the digestive tract, ear, and heart, new research found.
‘Major birth defects of any kind affect about two to three per cent of live born infants, so they are rare,’ study author Dr Allen Mitchell said.

‘The associations we identified involved defects that generally affect less than 1 per 1,000 infants. Some of them may require surgery, but not all are life-threatening.’

Legon students protest GH¢100 levy to support GETFund project

Students of the University of Ghana, Legon are kicking against an extra charge of GH¢100 imposed on them by school authorities to support a GETFund project.
The Students are being charged the “Physical Development Levy” to support expansion projects by the Ghana Education Trust Fund ahead of the admission of two batches of Senior High School (SHS) graduates this year.

But the Legon students say they are already burdened with payment of their tuition fees.
Eric Edem Agbana, President of the Students Representative Council (SRC), told Joy News the government should be made to pay for the expansion projects, not students.

A vast majority of candidates who applied for admission to the universities, especially the public ones, may not be admitted this year because a large number of applicants from the 3-year and 4-year SHS batches, will be vying for limited places.

Source: ngrguardiannews

750 million mobile phones vulnerable to SIM Card security flaw

AS many as one quarter of all mobile phones in use in the world today could be vulnerable to an SMS attack that allows hackers to gain full control of the phone. The vulnerability was discovered in the outdated, 1970s-era cryptography technique called DES encryption that’s still used by around half of all Subscribers Identification Modules (SIM) cards.

 According to the researcher, Karsten Nohl, there is a security flaw that potentially opens up around 750 million SIM cards to hackers who could take control of a mobile phone globally.

Nohl, the founder of Security Research Labs in Berlin, Germany, told the New York Times that the encryption hole would allow hackers to obtain a SIM card’s 56-digit digital key, which then opens the SIM Card for modification.

Already, a World Bank report has revealed that mobile phone has reached three quarters of the world, stressing that that with over six billion mobile subscriptions in use worldwide, up from fewer than one billion in 2000, three out of every four human beings worldwide now have access to a mobile phone.

Source: graphic.com.gh

Metro Mass Transit to be transformed

The new management of Metro Mass Transit (MMT) has resolved to transform the organisation into a benchmark transport organisation in the transport sector in the country.

It is, therefore, developing a five-year strategic plan based on six pillars of human resource development, reorientation of staff, building of a positive corporate identity, waste reduction and more importantly, customer care.

The new Managing Director of the MMT, Noble John Appiah, who disclosed this during a meeting with staff of the MMT in Wa in the Upper West Region, asked workers of the company to share the vision of the new management to work to promote the MMT.

"The MMT has a promising future, but much depends on how we work as a team," he noted and advised staff of the company to turn a new leaf by talking politely to passengers and ensuring that the MMT became the safest transport organisation in the country.

Private Universities To Pay Tax

Private universities in the country have called for an immediate restoration of the tax exempt status of private universities. Until recently, private universities in Ghana were exempted from the payment of corporate tax in accordance with Section 10 (1d) of the Internal Revenue Act. Section 10 (1d) of the Act exempts “income accruing to or derived by an exempt organisation other than income from business”. Section 94 of Act 592 defined exempt organisation as “religious, charitable or educational institution of a public character”. The Internal Revenue Act (Act 592) was amended by Act 859 in May, this year, with the aim of bringing private universities into the tax net. But the development, according to the Conference of Heads of Private Universities in Ghana (CHPUG), was detrimental to the interest of university education and Ghana’s development planning. There are 63 private colleges and universities, admitting 26 per cent of students who enter universities every year. In the 2011/2012 academic year, the private universities had an enrollment of 50,000 students.

Students Warned Against Illegal Migration

Ghanaian students have been warned against illegal migration because of the danger and the potential phenomenon it has for destroying the aspirations of travellers. Eric Appiah, the Vice President of the Sahara Hustlers Association told students that “My brothers and sisters, it is better for you to stay in this country and build a good life than go through hell to be in a white man’s country where you will suffer to make a living.” He was speaking to over 1000 students at Keta Senior High School in the Keta Municipality of the Volta Region during a public education forum organized by the Ghana Immigration Service.