GOL, World Bank Sign US$13M Agreements
The government of Liberia through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) Tuesday February 24, 2016 signed two financing agreements with the World Bank (WB), amounting to over US$13.25 million, aimed at supporting youth empowerment and solid waste management programs in the country.The agreements include US$10 million Liberia Youth Opportunities Project (YOP) International Development Association (IDA) credit, and a US$3.25 million grant as the 3rd Additional Financing of the Emergency Monrovia Urban Sanitation (EMUS) Project.Speaking during the signing ceremony held in the conference room of the MFDP in Monrovia on Tuesday, Liberia’s Finance and Development Planning Minister, Amara M. Konneh, disclosed that the US$10 million Youth Opportunities Project, which is intended for the government of Liberia to improve access to income generation opportunities for about 15,000 targeted youth aged between 15-35 years in both rural and urban Liberia, reflects the government’s commitment to raise the living standard of all Liberians, and will also help to cement the legacy of President Ellen Johnson SirleafAccording to him, 50 percent of the targeted youth under the YOP intervention will account for vulnerable female youths throughout the country. Minister Konneh said the YOP program is expected to last for 5 years with focus on pre-employment social support and household enterprises for urban youth; productive public works and life skills support; and capacity building for cash transfer program, among other interventions. He added that the project will be implemented by the government of Liberia through the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and the Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment (LACE).As for the Emergency Monrovia Urban Sanitation Project 3rd Additional Financing grant, Minister Konneh indicated that the funding will help increase access to solid waste collection and disposal services in Monrovia from 30 to 45 percent.He said the project targeted components consist of solid waste collection, building institutional and technical capacity of the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) and landfill cells – piloting recycling – and studies for new landfill. Minister Konneh noted that the project will be squarely implemented by the MCC on behalf of the government of Liberia only for 2016. The nation’s Finance and Development Planning Minister then expressed thanks and appreciation to the World Bank on behalf of the government and people of Liberia, noting that the Ministry will work closely with the 53rd National Legislature to ensure the ratification of the agreements. For her part, World Bank Country Manager in Liberia, Madam Inguna Dobraja said she was happy to represent the Bank in signing the two financing agreements, which she said was crucial to the development of Liberia.The World Bank Country Manager said both agreements – the US$10 million Liberia Youth Opportunities Project International Development Association (IDA) credit and a US$ 3.25 million grant as 3rd Additional Financing of the Emergency Monrovia Urban Sanitation Project – signed between theBank and the government of Liberia, will help the country to empower its youth, which accounts for over 60 percent of the nation’s total population. Considering the crucial developmental needs of Liberia, Madam Dobraja said the Board of Executive Directors of the Bank on November 16, 2015, approved the Liberia Youth Opportunities Project. According to her, the US$10 million YOP loan project will not only benefit young people in the country but the government in general. She said the financing will also provide support for strengthening the government’s capacity to implement its cash transfer program. The WB boss averred: “The project will provide apprenticeships to vulnerable youth in urban areas and support agricultural transformation and value chain addition, using productive public works and community-driven development approaches particularly for youth in rural areas.“To mitigate the impact of future shocks, the project will also improve efficiency in the delivery of cash transfers to target households, including youth. The YOP activities will be implemented in close cooperation with the private sector.“Additionally, this Youth Opportunities project benefits extremely poor and Ebola-affected households by supporting the development of a safety net system, including the development of management information, electronic registration, and payment systems to complement the Emergency Ebola Response Project.”The signing ceremony was attended by Madam Julius Duncan Cassell, Minister of the Gender, Children and Social Protection; Mr. Saah Charles N’Tow, Minister of Youth and Sports; Eugene Nagbe, Minister of Information; Madam Clara Doe Mvogo, Mayor, Monrovia City Corporation; and Mr. Julius K. Sele, Executive Director of Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment, as well as Deputy Ministers and Directors at MFDP and representatives of other government functionaries. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
“This isn’t a course where you have to bomb the ball,” he said. “It’s definitely a ball-striker’s course. You have to get the ball in the right position, because the greens are tough.” Johnson, who opened the round from the first tee, made the turn at 1-under 34. He was 2-under through five and missed a 10-foot birdie attempt at the par-4 No. 1. After a bogey on No. 6 where he sent his second shot into the right-side bunker, he made perhaps his best shot of the day at No. 7. He reached the par-4, 368-yard green in two, but faced a 25-foot birdie attempt that was downhill. He tapped it, but the ball picked up speed and raced into the hole. “Thank God it hit the hole,” said Johnson, who begins today’s round at 11:25 a.m. “That was a nice gift.” After a bogey at No. 9 – where his second shot hit a tree alongside the left fairway – he went birdie-bogey at 12 and 13, respectively. But he took advantage of both par-5s on the back nine – Nos. 15 and 18 – to earn his 68. “You want to get off to a good start,” he said. “You don’t want to shoot yourself in the foot on the first day.” To say the top of the leader board is a bit crowded would be an overstatement. Six players – Eduardo Romero, R.W. Eaks, Fuzzy Zoeller, Jay Haas, 2004 Toshiba champion Tom Purtzer and Ben Crenshaw – share the lead at 6-under 65. Haas and Crenshaw played bogey-free rounds, but Purtzer’s card was eye-catching. He had three bogeys for the day, but seven birdies and an eagle on the par-5 No. 3 to give him a share of the lead. “When I come here, I always feel like I’m going to play well,” Purtzer said. “(I) felt good today and putted well. It was a good stretch of holes coming in.” It may be hard to believe, but Crenshaw is in search of his first Champions Tour title. The two-time Masters champion finished in the top 50 on the tour’s money list for the first time last year. “It’s fun to play this course,” Crenshaw said. “The course is running a bit; it’s dry. This is a great test of golf. You’ve got to be careful in spots. If you get in certain spots you can get in trouble.” 160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set! NEWPORT BEACH – Helendale may be Mark Johnson’s residence, but one could excuse him for feeling right at home at this beautiful seaside community instead of the High Desert. Johnson fired an opening-round 3-under-par 68 on Friday at the Champions Tour’s Toshiba Classic. He may be three shots off the lead held by a logjam of six players, but if the last two years are any indication, Johnson should be near the leaderboard all weekend. 
“It’s a nice start,” said Johnson, who won this event in 2005, then tied for runner-up at last year’s event. “Overall, I struck the ball well and drove the ball well.” The round was Johnson’s seventh straight sub-par round as a professional at the par-71, 6,584-yard Newport Beach Country Club. He was effective off the tee all day and mastered the three par-5 holes, going 3 under. 
The events of February 6, 1958 are woven into the fabric of the club, who recovered to become the first English team to lift the European Cup 10 years later on a deeply emotional night at Wembley.McGuinness, now 80, was not on the plane — which crashed on the third take-off attempt in terrible weather conditions — because he was injured.The ill-fated aircraft was bringing the team back via Munich from Belgrade after they had reached the European Cup semi-finals. Twenty-three people died in total. “You think of the ones who went, you don’t think of yourself escaping or not going on the trip,” says McGuinness, who was in hospital following a cartilage operation when he heard the terrible news.A rescue worker stands next to the debris of the plane carrying the Manchester United football team which crashed after taking off from Munich airport during a snowstorm on February 6, 1958 © INTERCONTINENTALE/AFP/File / STAFF“I was thinking how great they were, it will never ever stay out of my mind. It is the number one thing that remains with me.“They were extra-special and so young when they died… unbelievable.”For McGuinness, whose own career ended prematurely aged just 22 when he broke his leg, the two standouts were the halfbacks, “cheeky chappie” Eddie Colman and Duncan Edwards, “a giant”, to whom McGuinness played understudy.“I couldn’t have licked their boots,” says McGuinness modestly at his home in Sale near Manchester in the northwest of England.Colman’s parents did not have a telephone and only learned of the accident through his close friend and Manchester City goalkeeper Steve Fleet as he ran to their corner shop to tell them. Edwards survived the crash but died two weeks later in hospital.– ‘Best-ever United team’ –“They would have been the best-ever United team, in fact they were the best ever. They would have won everything,” says McGuinness, who attended all his teammates’ funerals.“But then the crash happened and eight were killed and two never played again. It was a very difficult time, even now,” he adds with tears welling in his eyes.Players and staff members of the Manchester United team, and sport journalists prepare to board the BEA Elizabethan plane in Manchester, northwest England which was to crash in a blizzard at Munich airport on February 6, 1958 © AFP/FileUnited, featuring the likes of Bobby Charlton and George Best, with Busby still in charge, famously lifted the European Cup at Wembley in 1968.“We did think of the players (after the 4-1 European Cup victory over Benfica) and said ‘this is for them — it is not for us, it is for them’,” says McGuinness.“Really, the players who died, they made United,” adds McGuinness, who was on the United coaching staff when they won the European Cup and later managed the club.There is a clock at Old Trafford stuck at four minutes past three, the time when the plane crashed and the club has a Munich Tunnel that includes an eternal flame in memory of those killed.But McGuinness, who at the tender age of 31 was handed the unenviable task of managing United after Busby stepped down, says it is a shame that the Busby Babes are lost in time. “They (the young) missed them,” says McGuinness. “There wasn’t enough footage of them, they were magnificent players.”He describes a different era, far removed from the wealth and glamour of the modern Premier League.“I couldn’t have a car, they wouldn’t let us,” says McGuinness, grinning. “Duncan (Edwards) rode a bike to training as he couldn’t afford a car. “The coaches, Bert Whalley (who also died in the crash) and Jimmy Murphy, were magic with us, they knocked us and bullied us into being players.“I liked being pushed around because it meant I learned how to do it to the others. We trained sometimes in the Old Trafford car park where we kicked ourselves to death.”McGuinness pays special homage to Murphy for pulling the side together in the aftermath of the crash and with Busby — who twice received the last rites from a priest — near death. “The two of them (Busby and Murphy) were totally different. Matt would put his hand on your back and say ‘do this’ and Jimmy would do the opposite and yell at you.“One was a bully and the other a father. We had a wonderful staff that made us feel ‘United, United, United’.”0Shares0000(Visited 2 times, 1 visits today) 0Shares0000Former Manchester United player and manager Wilf McGuinness pictured at his home in Sale, north west England, on January 30, 2018 © AFP/File / Paul ELLISManchester, United Kingdom, Feb 5 – Not a day goes by when Wilf McGuinness doesn’t think of the friends and teammates he lost when the Munich air crash ripped the heart out of Manchester United’s “Busby Babes”.The disaster, 60 years ago this week, killed eight of the young, vibrant side who had won successive league titles and left manager Matt Busby fighting for his life.
0Shares0000Lionel Messi’s inspirational performance for Barcelona was described as the norm for the Argentine by Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino © IKIMAGES/AFP / Ian KINGTONLONDON, United Kingdom, Oct 4 – Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino lauded Lionel Messi’s consistent brilliance after the Argentine dealt a huge blow to Spurs’ Champions League hopes with a double in Barcelona’s 4-2 win at Wembley on Wednesday.Messi also hit the woodwork twice in a virtuoso display as Barca bounced back from a three-game winless run in La Liga to move alongside Inter Milan at the top of Group B with maximum points from two games. Spurs, by contrast, have lost both of their opening two fixtures and have a mountain to climb to reach the last 16.“He’s a fantastic player. The most important (thing) is Messi shows in every game why he is Messi,” said Pochettino.“His average performance is this type of game. He’s always above everything.”Spurs battled back bravely in the second-half with goals from Harry Kane and Erik Lamela twice reducing Barcelona’s lead to a solitary goal.But Pochettino lamented Philippe Coutinho’s second-minute opener when Spurs captain and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was caught out of position on his first appearance after a five-week injury layoff.“When you start 1-0 down from the changing room that is difficult for the players,” added Pochettino.“The players understand this type of game when you play at this level, it is so difficult to come back.“The most important (thing) is the character we showed.”Coutinho described playing alongside Messi as an “honour” as Barca again came away from Wembley with happy memories having won the European Cup twice at the home of English football in 1992 and 2011.“Everything Messi does on the field is unpredictable,” said the Brazilian.“To play with him is an honour. He’s always doing something new.”0Shares0000(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)
The director of the San Francisco zoo where a teenager was killed by an escaped tiger said Thursday that the wall around the animal’s pen was just 12? feet high – well below the height recommended by the main accrediting agency for the nation’s zoos. According to the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the minimum recommended height for tiger exhibit walls is 16.4 feet. San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel A. Mollinedo said safety inspectors had examined the nearly 70-year-old wall and never raised red flags about its size. “When the AZA came out and inspected our zoo three years ago, they never noted that as a deficiency,” Mollinedo said. “Obviously now that something’s happened, we’re going to be revisiting the actual height.” The San Francisco Chronicle, citing anonymous sources, reported Thursday that police were investigating the possibility that the victims had taunted the tiger and dangled a leg or other body part over the edge of the moat. The newspaper said police had found a shoe and blood inside the enclosure. But at an afternoon news conference, Police Chief Heather Fong said police had no information that anyone had put a leg over the railing, and she said no shoe was found in the animal’s enclosure. She did not address whether the victims had teased the tiger. She said a shoeprint was found on the railing of the fence surrounding the enclosure, and police are checking it against the shoes of the three victims. “Right now, what I want to know is if it was taunting, who did it? Why, why wasn’t this protected right? I want some answers,” said the dead teenager’s father. As for the zoo, “They know what they did wrong, they know what they did.” Mollinedo said the wall was 12 feet, 5 inches high, and was built in 1940 as part of a Depression-era government work program. Other zoos have higher walls around their tiger exhibits. The Philadelphia Zoo said it has 16-foot walls topped with a 3-foot overhang. At the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, Va., the walls are 15 to 20 feet high with a 5-foot overhang and an electrified wire. At the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, Ariz., the wire fence is about 17 feet.160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set! AD Quality Auto 360p 720p 1080p Top articles1/5READ MORECoach Doc Rivers a “fan” from way back of Jazz’s Jordan Clarkson On Wednesday, Mollinedo said that the wall was 18 feet high and that the moat around the tiger’s pen was 20 feet wide. On Thursday, he said the moat was 33 feet wide. Investigators have yet to say how the 350-pound Siberian tiger got out of the open-air enclosure. But based on the initial estimates of the height of the wall, animal experts expressed disbelief that a tiger in captivity could have made such a spectacular leap. The accrediting association did not immediately return calls for comment Thursday about the height of the wall. The animal went on a rampage near closing time on Christmas Day, mauling three visitors before it was shot to death by police. Carlso Sousa Jr., 17, died and two brothers, ages 19 and 23, suffered severe bite and claw wounds. They remain hospitalized. Police declared the zoo a crime scene and said they had not ruled out any possibilities, including carelessness on the part of the zookeepers or a deliberate act that let the animal out.
The annual Finn Harps 5k run/walk will take place on Sunday 17th May from the Finn Valley Centre at 11am.This is part of the Donegal Grand Prix schedule and there will be shower facilities and refreshments afterwards. Registration will start from 9.30 am.Adults €7, kids FREE and everyone is welcome. 🙂SPORTS NOTICE: ANNUAL FINN HARPS 5K THIS SUNDAY AT FINN VALLEY CENTRE was last modified: May 15th, 2015 by Mark ForkerShare this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Tags:5kAnnualCommunityFinn Harps FCNoticesSport
A referee’s course aimed at beginners takes place this Saturday, February 27th at 10am in Jackson’s Hotel in Ballybofey. Many clubs around the county need more referees and anybody who is interested to go along and give it a try.GAA NEWS: REFEREES BEGINNERS COURSE THIS WEEKEND was last modified: February 25th, 2016 by StephenShare this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)
AD Quality Auto 360p 720p 1080p Top articles1/5READ MOREBlues bury Kings early with four first-period goals Boyd, 57, did not deny that he shot and killed Julie Curry Boyd, 36, and her father, 57-year-old Thomas Dillard Curry. Family members said Boyd stalked his estranged wife after they separated following 13 stormy years of marriage and once sent a son to her house with a bullet and a threatening note. During the 1988 slayings, Boyd’s son Christopher was pinned under his mother’s body as Boyd unloaded a .357-caliber Magnum into her. The boy pushed his way under a bed to escape the barrage. Another son grabbed the pistol while Boyd tried to reload. Boyd told The Associated Press in a prison interview that he wants no part of the infamous numerical distinction. “I’d hate to be remembered as that,” Boyd said Wednesday. “I don’t like the idea of being picked as a number.” In Boyd’s plea for clemency, his attorneys said he served in Vietnam where he was shot at by snipers daily, which contributed to his crimes. 160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set! RALEIGH, N.C. – A convicted murderer was put to death today in the nation’s 1,000th execution since capital punishment resumed in 1977. Kenneth Lee Boyd, 57, received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 2:15 a.m., said state Department of Correction spokeswoman Pam Walker. Boyd was convicted of killing his estranged wife and father-in-law in 1988. His death came after both Gov. Mike Easley and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene and stop the execution. Larger-than-normal crowds gathered at the prison in Raleigh, where prison officials tightened security. Police arrested 16 protesters late Thursday who sat down on the prison’s four-lane driveway, officials said. 
Col. Chris Hadfield is certainly earning his keep as tourism ambassador with this beautiful picture posted from Malin Head today.Picture posted by @Cmdr_Hadfield – The Wild Atlantic Way“A sunset like no other, unbeaten January beauty on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. Like standing in a painting.”The retired Canadian astronaut was astronomically impressed with the Malin Head view commenting, “You don’t even see light this beautiful in space”. With more than a thousand retweets and favourites, Chris’ picture is promoting Donegal’s natural beauty as it rockets throughout the Twittersphere.Chris seems to have taken a shine to the Inishowen locals where he is now enjoying a traditional music session in McGrory’s, Culdaff.Col. Hadfield with Inishowen musiciansPhoto: @McGrorysCuldaffBefore the space jam, Chris had lunch in Harry’s Restaurant in Bridgend and visited a Buncrana school to learn some Irish, as he famously tweeted ‘as Gaeilge’ from space last year. STUNNING – COL. CHRIS POSTS STELLAR MALIN PIC was last modified: January 13th, 2014 by Rachel McLaughlinShare this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Tags:astronautchrisHadfieldInishowen
Tags: Al MerrikhCAF Champions League 2018/19topvipers sc Vipers are featuring in only their second CAF Champions League edition (file photo)CAF Champions League Al Merrikh vs Vipers SCAl Merrikh Stadium, OmdurmanWednesday, 28-11-2018 @08:30pmSUDAN – Uganda’s CAF Champions League representatives, Vipers SC will be hoping for a positive result in their preliminary round first leg clash away to Sudanese side-Al Merrikh in Omdurman.The Venoms who are featuring in only their second spell in Africa’s premier club competition have it all to do on Wednesday if they are to replicate KCCA FC’s adventure last season.KCCA set the bar high by becoming the first and only Ugandan side to qualify for the lucrative Group stages of the competition under the revised set-up, last season.For Vipers to replicate that, they need to get a result somehow, off the Sudanese in the first leg, a view shared by their head coach-Javier Martinez“We go into this game seeking for a good result away in Khartoum, said Martinez ahead of the game.“It is important that we won our last league game therefore we go into this game with our spirits high.“The players are in good shape and ready to fight for a positive result.The Venoms departed for Sudan minus their first choice goalkeeper-Fabian Mutombora who is currently nursing an injury he suffered while on international duty. Bashir Sekajja who deputized in goal in Vipers’ 2-1 win over Paidah Black Angels in their last league game is set to replace the Burundian on Wednesday.They will also be without left-back Aggrey Madoi who was left out of the match day squad under unclear circumstances. That means Yayo Lutimba will start on the left side of the four man defence.Al Merrikh has in the past played games against Ugandan opposition in different CAF Competitions with the first dating back to 1987 when they defeated the Blue Bats 2-0 in the now dissolved Africa cup winners cup.They are a side who will surely pose serious questions to Vipers’ ambitions, having featured prominently in the Champions League. This will be their 21st appearance in the competition with their best result coming in the 2015 edition were eliminated at the semifinals stage.Match Facts:This will be the first ever competitive meeting between the two sides.Al Merrikh have played against Ugandan oppositions 9 times in the past, winning 7 (D1 L1). The loss came at home to KCCA in the CAF Champions League four years ago when they were defeated 2-0.The Red Devils go into the game having lost only two of their last 19 games in all competitions (W14 D2).In the Champions League, they have won only three of their last 8 (D1 L4).At home, they have been formidable at home, winning 13 of their last 15 (D1 L1). The only loss in that period dates back to May 2017 when they lost 2-1 to Tunisian giants Etoile du Sahel.For Vipers, they have lost only one of their last 13 fixtures in all competitions (W6 D6). The loss came at the hands of Kenyan side-Gor Mahia in the CECAFA Kagame Cup in July.The Venoms are featuring in only their second CAF Champions League edition. In the first, they were eliminated at this (2-1 on aggregate) stage by Nigerian side-Enyimba.Comments 
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