Struggling Everton Sack Manager Lampard

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January 23, 2023

Frank Lampard has been sacked as manager of English Premier League soccer club Everton, British media reported on Monday, after a poor run of form that has left the club in a relegation battle.

Lampard was hired by Everton to replace Rafael Benitez in January 2022, but the former Chelsea boss leaves with the team languishing 19th in the table.

Everton fell to a damaging 2-0 defeat at relegation rivals West Ham on Saturday – a ninth loss in their past 12 Premier League matches which left them level on points with bottom club Southampton.

Everton owner Farhad Moshiri had previously offered public backing for Lampard.

But the tame surrender at West Ham proved the final straw for Moshiri, who was at the game to watch Everton for the first time in 14 months.

After several hours of reports that Lampard had been sacked, Everton finally confirmed the 44-year-old’s departure on Monday evening.

“Everton Football Club can confirm that Frank Lampard has left his post as senior men’s first team manager today,” a club statement said.

“Everyone at Everton would like to thank Frank and his coaching staff for their service during what has been a challenging 12 months.

“Frank and his team’s commitment and dedication have been exemplary throughout their time at the club, but recent results and the current league position meant this difficult decision had to be taken.

“We wish Frank and all his backroom team well for their future in the game.

“The club has started the process to secure a new manager and will provide updates on the appointment in due course.”

Paul Tait and Leighton Baines will take training until a new manager is appointed, with Everton’s next game against Premier League leaders Arsenal on February 4.

Everton felt compelled to act over Lampard’s future as they fight to avoid playing outside the top flight for the first time since 1954.

Lampard arrived at Everton 12 months ago with the team languishing in 16th place and the former Chelsea and England midfielder initially looked a shrewd appointment, helping the Merseyside club avoid relegation.

FAN FURY

Fuelled by fervent backing from their fans at Goodison Park, the Toffees beat the drop by winning three of their last six league matches, including a dramatic 3-2 success against Crystal Palace that preserved their top-tier status.

But Everton are now looking for their eighth permanent manager in less than seven years after Lampard failed to build on the momentum from that successful end to last term.

In a sign of the turmoil enveloping Everton, club directors were earlier this month ordered to stay away from Goodison Park due to perceived security risks.

Lampard won only 12 of his 44 matches in charge of Everton in all competitions.

Former Burnley boss Sean Dyche, ex-Leeds coach Marcelo Bielsa and West Ham’s former Everton manager David Moyes are among the potential candidates to replace Lampard, according to bookmakers.

Al-Ittihad boss Nuno Espirito Santo, formerly of Wolves, and ex-Everton striker Wayne Rooney, now in charge of MLS side DC United, have also been mooted as possible contenders.

Hampered by the sale of Brazil forward Richarlison to Tottenham in the close season, Everton managed only three wins in 20 league games this term against a backdrop of mounting fan fury.

There have been widespread protests against the board and Lampard at recent games.

Supporters staged a sit-in demonstration after the recent loss to Southampton, with Everton defender Yerry Mina and teammate Anthony Gordon confronted by fans when they left Goodison Park in their cars.

Responding to Lampard’s sacking, Everton fans’ group ‘NSNOW’ called for Moshiri to “stop the rot”.

“Nothing tells the story of Everton’s mismanagement under the current owner and board more than the fact we now need to appoint our eighth ‘permanent’ manager since 2016,” the statement said.

“The chaos and dysfunction within Everton’s leadership has got us into this position. The owner needs to take urgent and radical steps to stop the rot. Or sell to someone who will.”

WHO Urges Action To Protect Children From Contaminated Medicines

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John Mutiso

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January 23, 2023

WHO is releasing an urgent call to action to countries to prevent, detect and respond to incidents of substandard and falsified medical products.

Over the past four months, countries have reported on several incidents of over-the-counter cough syrups for children with confirmed or suspected contamination with high levels of diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG).

The cases are from at least seven countries, associated with more than 300 fatalities in three of these countries. Most are young children under the age of five.

These contaminants are toxic chemicals used as industrial solvents and antifreeze agents that can be fatal even taken in small amounts, and should never be found in medicines.

KPA Chair Pledges To Improve Ferry Facilities

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John Mutiso

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January 23, 2023

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Board Chairman Hon. Benjamin Tayari has said the board will come up with strategic measures aimed at improving ferry facilities.

He made the commitment today during his orientation at the KPA Ferry Services Department.

He was conducted on a tour of the ferry facilities by the General Manager Mr. Bakari Gowa who also briefed him about plans for expansion of ferry services.

Hon. Tayari commended the ferry services team for their tireless efforts towards service delivery regardless of challenges.

“I am a permanent user of the ferry and therefore I know the challenges you face. It is now time for us to get it right and offer better services for the people,” he added.

The Chairman was informed of future ferry operations plans to include more water bodies to cover Mombasa to Diani, Lamu, Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana.

Currently ferry operations are at Likoni and Mtongwe crossing channels with over 300,000 passengers and about 6,000 cars crossing the Likoni channel daily.

Besides his today’s tour at the ferry services, the Chairman also visited the SGR marshalling yard, the Second Container Terminal, Terminal Engineering workshops, Mombasa Old Port, Floating Bridge and the New Kipevu Oil Terminal.

At the Second Container Terminal, the General Manager Cargo Operations Dr. Sudi Mwasinago told the Chairman that the Port of Mombasa with a total yard capacity of 47,000 TEUs currently handles an average of 17,000 TEUs “meaning we have a 30,000 TEUs extra yard capacity and therefore we have no issues of congestion.”

President Ruto Laughs Off Raila’s Maandamano Plan

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John Mutiso

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January 23, 2023

President William Ruto has assured Kenyans that he will ‘easily fix’ opposition leader Raila Odinga’s threats.

During the burial of Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria’s sister, Ruto stated that his administration will not succumb to opposition blackmail and that he will put an end to impunity.

“We are going to bring impunity to a stop in Kenya. Don’t be threatened, they will be surprised how we will fix them,” Ruto said.

The Head of State also noted that the planned demonstrations by the ODM leader are meant to engineer a handshake between him and the former prime minister.

However, Ruto warned the opposition that he will not be intimidated to satisfy the interests of a few leaders.

“We are not going to be blackmailed to serve the interests of a few people, their families and their businesses. That will not work. We are going to serve the people of Kenya,” the president said on Monday, January 23.

Ruto dismissed the opposition’s demand that the servers be opened to determine who won the August 9 presidential election, claiming that the electoral commission had already done so.

“I have heard them say that they want the servers opened, I don’t think they live in this country, Chebukati and the IEBC opened the servers long ago,” Ruto said.

“Form 34As from each polling station are in the portal, Form 34Bs are in the portal, Form 34C are in the portal, I am wondering which server they want to be opened.”

Ruto said that the Azimio coalition is wasting time through their threats insisting he was validly elected as President by Kenyans.

Ruto reiterated that, unlike the previous presidents, he will not be cowed by the ODM leader.

“If for whatever reason, plan or intention; you intend to get anything similar or close to a Handshake from Hustler, then you are daydreaming my friend.

“Look for a different person to threaten. I was elected by Kenyans in broad daylight. For you, you had the system, the deep state and the government, but we defeated you,” said Ruto.

President William Ruto laughs off Raila maandamano, accuses Azimio of forcing a handshake
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.#PoliticsLive | #Kamukunji | Raila Odinga pic.twitter.com/HDMNgY6Usv
— Uzalendo News (@UzalendoNews_KE) January 23, 2023

Kilifi: Over 1400 Teenagers Benefit From Action Aid Programs

By

Dan Ojumah

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January 23, 2023

Sauti Ya Wanawake and Action Aid’s empowerment program for teen mothers has enrolled around 1,141 teenage mothers from Kilifi County.

Teen mothers are trained in technical skills as part of the empowerment initiative to help them better their life.

The girls are among the 13,000 Kilifi residents who made headlines in 2019 after becoming pregnant as teenagers, prompting action by the county, national government, and non-governmental organizations.

As part of the empowerment initiative, Sauti ya Wanawake and Action Aid Kenya developed a program for out-of-school girls to empower them with polytechnic skills to enable them to be self-sufficient.

“Some of them are these ones who joined technical institutions through action Aid and Sauti ya Wanawake and now they have qualified with different expertise,” she said.

She said Statistics in the last few years indicated that there were over 13,000 teenage pregnancies in Kilifi County but many could be wondering where the teenage pregnancy victims are since then.

“As you know Kilifi has many challenges, especially for the girl child including teenage pregnancies which are still being experienced in different areas of the county,” she said.

Velma Kagonya from Sauti ya Wanawake said they issued 164 sewing machines to girls who did tailoring while 56 girls who trained in hairdressing got equipment to open their own saloons.

“It has been a long journey with these girls, which began five years ago, they were enrolled into polytechnics through our support and gained knowledge,” she said.

The Girls called on the county government to set up an empowerment centre where they can do their tailoring work so that they can be given to them to do the work in case of any orders from schools.

Pakistan: 220 Million People Without Power After Countrywide Blackout

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John Mutiso

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January 23, 2023

A nationwide power outage in Pakistan left nearly 220 million people without electricity on Monday, threatening to cause havoc in the South Asian nation already grappling with fuel shortages in the winter months.

The country’s Ministry of Energy said in a statement the country’s National Grid went down at 7.34 a.m local time, “causing a widespread breakdown in the power system,” according to initial reports.

“System maintenance work is progressing rapidly,” the statement added.

A “limited number of grids” in the capital Islamabad and the city of Peshawar have had power restored, the ministry said.

It is unclear how long the outage will last and efforts are underway to restore power to various parts of the country.

In the city of Quetta, in Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province, the outage has affected all aspects of daily life, including hospitals, markets and households.

“Due to unavailability of generators, services are affected in health centers in suburbs of Quetta city,” the director of Balochistan’s health department, Dr. Imran Zarkoon, told CNN.

Zaheer, the owner of a clothing shop in Quetta, said they have no backup and have been waiting for the electricity to be restored for hours.

“The whole market of Jinnah road is practically shut, as without electricity customers do not turn to shops,” he said.

The outage comes as the country’s fragile economy continues to struggle with multiple challenges, including a severe energy crisis.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered all federal departments to reduce their energy consumption by 30%, while his government ordered all markets to close by 8.30 p.m. and restaurants by 10 p.m.

The decision to reduce energy usage came as Pakistan announced its foreign exchange reserves had dwindled to alarmingly low levels. In December, the country’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves stood at $11.7 billion, which is half the amount it held at the start of last year, according to the central bank.

Monday’s power outage is Pakistan’s most widespread power shutdown since 2021, when the nation plunged into darkness for hours after a “sudden plunge in the frequency in the power transmission system.”

Kenya’s Economy Projected To Slow Down At 5% In 2023

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John Mutiso

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January 23, 2023

Kenya’s economy is expected to remain subdued in 2023, growing at a projected 5%, pulled down by a persistent rise in commodity prices, global events and a high risk of debt distress.

However, there is an opportunity for the economy to register a remarkable upward trend if the government focuses more on fiscal consolidation efforts that include cutting back on non-priority expenditures to increase investment and help tame runaway inflation.

The findings were revealed in a report titled Macro-Fiscal Analytic Snapshot 2022/23, released by the Institute of Public Finance (IPF) in collaboration with the Oxford Policy Management (OPM).

The report also indicates that the deferment of fiscal consolidation in 2020 and 2021 made it difficult for the country to attain the necessary economic stability and resulted in the move from “medium: to “high risk” of debt distress.

Speaking during the official launch of the report, James Muraguri, the Chief Executive Officer of IPF noted that while there have been efforts by the current government to tighten its fiscal policy, more needs to be done in terms of cushioning Kenyans against the runaway inflation, effects of the Russian-Ukraine war and the depreciating value of the Kenyan shilling against the US Dollar.

“The last two years saw the government set revenue and fiscal deficit targets that were overly ambitious. With limited buffers against external shocks, the government is finding itself in a tight spot as it tries to navigate the global tightening of the monetary policy and rising debt interest payments. With this in mind, we expect a change in policy direction focusing more on fiscal policy coordination to address surging price levels, cushion citizens facing hunger and starvation and the successful distribution of subsidized fertilizer during the upcoming long rains,” Mr. Muraguri said.

On donor support, the report notes that it has been on a fluctuating trend between 2016 and 2020. While there was an increase in total Official development assistance (ODA) disbursement in the years 2017, 2019, and 2020, of 12%, 21%, and 24%, respectively, the increase was because of expanded assistance to the education sector, health sector, WASH, production, and the humanitarian sector. However, there has been a decline in support for the economic infrastructure and services sector post-pandemic, partly because of a change in commitment from the financing partners.

Toward this end, there is a need for the government to shift from donor reliance and to develop a domestic resource mobilisation strategy to bridge the budget gaps currently being witnessed. Lower borrowing should also create space for private sector credit and higher investment in health, agriculture and education sectors which are critical pillars for long-term economic growth.

The Institute of Public Finance (IPF) also reckons that some of the key focus areas likely to shape economic performance during the current budget cycle include; The need to ease fiscal pressure through budgetary consolidation, Harmonisation of revenue measures, Level of debt distress, Support to the agriculture sector, Reorganization of the health budgets as well as the performance of the County Governments.

“Our projections point to some pain for the local Mwananchi especially in the shorter term as the government continues to implement its macro-stability agenda. Sustained poverty reduction and growth over the next few years is possible if the government makes good its intentions to support the manufacturing and export sectors,” Mr. Muraguri added.

Spotify Latest Tech Name To Cut Jobs, Axes 6% Of Workforce

By

John Mutiso

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January 23, 2023

Q4TKVVSQXDMMBVJGPSLWC3Z4II — FILE- This March 20, 2018 file photo shows the Spotify app on an iPad in Baltimore. Music streaming service Spotify says it's cutting 6% of its workforce, becoming yet another tech company resorting to layoffs as the economic outlook worsens. CEO Daniel Ek announced the restructuring in a message to employees that was also posted online Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Music streaming service Spotify said Monday it’s cutting 6% of its global workforce, becoming yet another tech company resorting to layoffs as the post-pandemic economic outlook weakens.

CEO Daniel Ek announced the restructuring in a message to employees that was also posted online.

As part of the revamp involving a management reshuffle, “and to bring our costs more in line, we’ve made the difficult but necessary decision to reduce our number of employees,” Ek wrote.

Big tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google announced tens of thousands of job cuts this month as the economic boom that the industry rode during the COVID-19 pandemic waned.

Stockholm-based Spotify had benefited from pandemic lockdowns because more people had sought out entertainment when they were stuck at home. Ek indicated that the company’s business model, which had long focused on growth, had to evolve.

The company’s operating costs last year grew at double its revenue growth, a gap that would be “unsustainable long-term” in any economic climate, but even more difficult to close with “a challenging macro environment,” he said.

Spotify made “considerable effort” to rein in the costs over over the past few months, “but it simply hasn’t been enough,” he said.

“I hoped to sustain the strong tailwinds from the pandemic and believed that our broad global business and lower risk to the impact of a slowdown in ads would insulate us. In hindsight, I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth,” Ek said.

He said that’s why the company is cutting its global workforce by about 6%, without giving a specific number of job losses. Spotify reported in its latest annual report that it had about 6,600 employees, which implies that 400 jobs are being axed.

“I take full accountability for the moves that got us here today,” Ek said.

After years of heady growth, analysts say tech companies are being forced to cut jobs in preparation for an economic dowturn that’s likely to cut demand for their software, products and services and reduce digital ad spending.

Just last week, Google announced it was slashing 12,000 jobs while Microsoft said it would cull 10,000 workers, bringing to at least 48,000 the number of cuts that Big Tech companies announced in January alone.

In early trading, shares of Spotify added 4.2% to $102.01.

Galaxy Event: All You Need to Know About the Samsung S23

By

Dan Ojumah

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January 23, 2023

On February 1, Samsung will reveal the Galaxy S23 series at its Galaxy Unpacked event. The Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 Ultra are expected to be part of the range, with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC under the hood.

According to 9to5Google, the Galaxy S23 trio will be powered by a modified Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with a faster clock speed.

According to the publication, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 used in the Galaxy S23 series smartphones will be called “Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy” and will have a clock speed of up to 3.36GHz instead of 3.2GHz (Prime core) on the regular Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (SM8550-AB) seen on the iQOO 11, nubia Red Magic 8 Pro, and a few other phones.

The rest of the features of this customized Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 are believed to be virtually the same as the ordinary version, which means the Prime core will be accompanied by four Performance cores clocked at up to 2.8GHz and three Efficiency cores clocked at up to 2GHz.

Having said that, it’s uncertain whether Samsung would use the “Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy” branding on a large scale or limit it to the Unpacked event.

Samsung has not yet revealed the specifications of the Galaxy S23 lineup, but recent leaks concerning the S23 series have left nothing to the imagination.

Microsoft Invests Billions In ChatGPT-Maker OpenAI

By

John Mutiso

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January 23, 2023

Microsoft says it is making a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment” in the artificial intelligence startup OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT and other tools that can write readable text and generate new images.

The tech giant on Monday described its new agreement as the third stage of a growing partnership with San Francisco-based OpenAI that began with a $1 billion investment in 2019. It didn’t disclose the dollar amount for its latest investment.

OpenAI’s free writing tool ChatGPT launched on Nov. 30 and has brought public attention to the possibilities of new advances in AI.

It’s part of a new generation of AI systems that can converse, generate readable text on demand and even produce novel images and video based on what they’ve learned from a vast database of digital books, online writings and other media.

OpenAI started out as a nonprofit artificial intelligence research company when it launched in December 2015. With Tesla CEO Elon Musk as its co-chair and among its early investors, the organization’s stated aims were to “advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.”

That changed in 2018 when it incorporated a for-profit business Open AI LP, and shifted nearly all its staff into the business, not long after releasing its first generation of the GPT model for generating human-like paragraphs of readable text. Musk also left its board in 2018.

OpenAI is also the creator of the DALL-E tool for generating new images.

Microsoft said Monday its strengthened partnership can help “to accelerate AI breakthroughs to ensure these benefits are broadly shared with the world.”