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Millions evacuated ahead of super cyclone

India and Bangladesh are evacuating millions of people from coastal areas ahead of a super cyclone which is approaching from the Bay of Bengal.

Cyclone Amphan is expected to make landfall in an area near the border of the two countries later on Wednesday.

More than 20 relief teams have already been deployed, and several more are on standby, Indian officials say.

The coronavirus outbreak is making it harder for officials in both countries to evacuate people in these regions.

Amphan is expected to hit the coast with winds gusting up to 185km/h (115mph), forecasters say.

Officials in Bangladesh fear it will be the most powerful storm since Cyclone Sidr killed about 3,500 people in 2007. Most died as a result of sea water surging in.

While the storm’s current wind speed is likely to reduce slightly before it makes landfall, India’s weather department is predicting the surge of water caused could be as high as 10-16 feet (more than 3-5 metres).

The cyclone comes as tens of thousands of migrant workers flee cities for their villages during India’s lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.

West Bengal and Orissa (Odisha) are among the Indian states that are seeing a larger number of them return.

Orissa has now cancelled trains which were due to arrive with thousands of migrants between May18 and 20.

And some district officials have barred entry into their areas and requested the state government to accommodate the migrants – many of whom are walking home – elsewhere until the storm passes.

The evacuation is expected to continue into Wednesday morning. Bangladesh’s disaster management minister has told the BBC that they plan to evacuate about two million people to safety.

Extra shelters have been prepared to allow for social distancing. Masks are also being distributed.

State officials in India are also struggling to find shelters for evacuees. In Orissa, for instance, 250 of the more than 800 existing shelters are being used as coronavirus quarantine centres.

So both states have asked for schools and other buildings in the areas likely to be hit by the super cyclone to be turned into temporary shelters – they need more than the usual numbers in order to house people while enforcing social distancing norms.

Around 50,000 people have been evacuated from areas near the Sunderban islands in India. -BBC

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Committee probing petitions against Chief Justice to begin hearings tomorrow

The Committee set up by President John Dramani Mahama to inquire into three petitions filec against the Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, will commence hearings tomorrow, Thursday May 15, 2025.

The five-member Committee chaired by Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang of the Supreme Court, was set up by the President in accordance with Article 146(6) of the 1992 constitution and in consultation with the Council of State, following a determination of a prima facie case against the Chief Justice.

The committee will sit three times a week and present their recommendations to the President upon completion of their work.

It would be recalled that President John Dramani Mahama recently suspended Chief Justice following the establishment of a prima facie case in response to three separate petitions seeking her removal from office.

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38-year-old man gets life imprisonment for killing Assemblies of God pastor in 2018

After close to seven years of trial, a seven-member jury on Wednesday, May 14, returned a guilty verdict in the murder case involving the killing of the Senior Pastor of the Central Assemblies of God church at Tema in 2018.

The convict, Francis Nabegmado, a relative of the deceased, inflicted a fatal knife wound on Rev. Dr. David Nabegmado on December 30, 2018, after alleging that the senior pastor was a false preacher who engaged in idol worship and human sacrifices.

After an hour of summing up by the judge, Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, the jury retired briefly and returned with a unanimous guilty verdict.

Based on the unanimous verdict of the jurors who had previously studied the statements of the five witnesses called by the prosecution, and listened to the summing up process, the judge sentenced the 38-year-old to life imprisonment.

When he was offered an opportunity to comment on the verdict, the convict told the judge that he wanted to go home to meet his family.

“My Lady, I want to see my family, and I want to be taken to Yendi”.

When the judge told him she couldn’t make such an order for him to go and see his family in Yendi, the convict forcefully said, “I insist”.

Francis, who will now spend the rest of his life at the Nsawam medium security prison, had told the court throughout the trial that the decision to attack his uncle, Rev. Nebegmado, was driven by insanity, but that did not save him from receiving a life sentence.

Speaking briefly after the sentencing, Senior Pastor of the Assemblies of God church at Tema Community 4, Rev. Emmanuel Kwesi Ofori, said the church has been waiting for this closure for the past seven years and will soon issue an official statement.

Source: Myjoyonline.com