China-Ghana Relations: Ghana goes ahead with US$2 billion Chinese bauxite barter deal that has conservationists up in arms

Ghana is going ahead with a controversial US$2 billion deal where China will build roads and bridges in exchange for bauxite ore mined in part of West Africa’s Upper Guinean Rainforest.

Beijing has released a first tranche of funds worth US$649 million under the Sinohydro deal, Ghanaian Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia said on Monday.

The agreement also included a 300 million yuan (US$42.7 million) grant and debt forgiveness worth US$35.7 million to help with Ghana’s infrastructure development, he said.

Read more at: Ghana goes ahead with US$2 billion Chinese bauxite barter deal that has conservationists up in arms | South China Morning Post

Italy: Christian migrants thrown overboard into Mediterranean en route to Italy

Italian police arrested 15 Muslim migrants on Thursday suspected of throwing about a dozen Christians from a boat in the Mediterranean as it headed to Italy. Police in the Sicilian capital Palermo said they had arrested the men, from Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal after survivors reported they had thrown 12 people from Nigeria and Ghana to their deaths and threatened other Christians.

The 15 were arrested on charges of multiple homicide motivated by religious hatred.

“The motive for the resentment was traced to their faiths,” police said. “Twelve people are said to have drowned in the waters of the Mediterranean, all of them Nigerian and Ghanaian.”

The survivors’ account underscores the rising chaos in the Mediterranean, which thousands of migrants, many fleeing war and deprivation in Africa, try to cross in rickety boats in the hope of a better life in Europe.

In a separate incident the same day, another 41 migrants were feared drowned after their boat sank en route to Italy, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.

Around 20,000 migrants have reached the Italian coast this year, according to the IOM, fewer than arrived in the first four months of last year, but the number of deaths has risen almost nine-fold.

Read more: Europe - Christian migrants thrown overboard into Mediterranean en route to Italy - France 24

Soccer World Cup: US beats Ghana 2-1 in team's opening Group G game at World Cup

Clint Dempsey scored in the first minute and rookie substitute John Brooks scored a late game winner as the U.S. defeated Ghana 2-1 Monday in the World Cup opener for both.

The victory gave the Americans a measure of revenge against the tiny West African county that knocked them out of the previous two World Cups and put the U.S. and Germany on top of the Group G, with Ghana and Portugal at the bottom.

Dempsey's goal came on a low shot just 32 seconds into the match. Ghana dominated much the rest of the game, and Andre Ayew leveled in the 82nd minute.

Just four minutes later, Brooks --  a 21-year-old who came on at halftime because Matt Besler was injured -- scored off a corner from Graham Zusi. It was the first time an American sub had ever scored in the World Cup.

Dempsey's goal made him the first U.S. player to score in three different World Cups and was the fastest ever scored by an American in the tournament.

Read more: US beats Ghana 2-1 in team's opening Group G game at World Cup | Fox News