Today is the day Belgium and England is going to battle over the 3rd and 4th position of the 2018 FIFA World Cup held in Russia .

Donald Trump's attack on Germany has poked a hornet’s nest lurking beneath the EU's facade of unity

Angela Merkel's relationship with Donald Trump will have been tested by his recent comments  - REUTERS

Donald Trump was right to criticise Germany for its billion dollar energy deals with Russia at the Nato summit in Brussels on Wednesday morning. He hit the nail on the head – and Angela Merkel where it hurts -  when he took aim at the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

A consortium of Russian, German, Dutch and French companies plan to build the 750 mile Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will funnel 2 trillion cubic feet of Kremlin-controlled gas into Germany from late 2019.

The lead Russian company is the state-owned Gazprom, which has former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on its staff roster and a controlling 51 per cent share in the project, which will cost at least $15 billion.

“Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia, where we’re supposed to be guarding against Russia, and Germany goes and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia,” Mr Trump told Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general on Wednesday morning before pointing out, yet again, that Berlin had failed to meet its Natodefence spending target of 2 percent of GDP.

Nord Stream 2 has caused bitter recriminations in the European Union, with critics accusing Berlin of undermining the EU’s united front against Russia and weakening the bloc’s ties with a wounded Ukraine.  

Video: Trump Attends NATO Summit Amid Tense Relations With Allies

As well as flying in the face of Brussels’ foreign policy, the pipeline bypasses Ukraine and Eastern European EU countries, depriving them of valuable transit fees and exacerbating the bloc’s crippling addiction to Russian gas imports, while strengthening Russian influence. Gazprom supplies almost 40 percent of Europe’s gas supply.

Mr Trump may have exaggerated when he described Germany as a“captive of Russia” but even the most slavish admirers of the EU were forced to admit the volatile US president had a point.

*Egypt, Madagascar and Cameroun name squad for Accra 2018*

Three countries have named their athletes to represent them at the 9th Africa Arm Wrestling Championship to be hosted in Accra from Thursday, July 26 - 29. The championship dubbed ‘ACCRA 2018’ would take place at the DG Hathramani Hall situated at the Accra Sports Stadium and it is expected to attract over 13 countries from the continent.

More than 100 athletes from these countries including host nation Ghana would converge at the venue to battle it out for laurels and bragging rights within the period. Northern African country, Egypt has participated in all championships since its inception and would be represented by; Mohamed Abdelrahman Abdelmoati, Abdelrahman Nasr Alsayed Youssef, Omar Said Omar Ibrahim, Eslam Makram Ahmed Afifi and Mai Alaaeldin Ragab Abdelghany.

The remaining athletes are; Amany Ibrahim Ali Salem, Ahd Nasr Alsayed Youssef, Ragab Gomaa Mohamed Hedar and Said Mahmoud Ali Afifi. The team would be led by President of the Egypt Armwrestling Federation, Mahmoud Mahmoud Mostafa Baeakat.

Germans want Donald Trump to pull US troops out of Germany, poll finds

Soldiers listen in front of an U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jet during a briefing in a hangar at the U.S. Spangdahlem Air base, Germany: REUTERS

Germans would actually welcome the withdrawal of American troops stationed in their country, a new poll has found – as Donald Trumpthreatens to pull the plug on military support.

The finding comes on the first day of a Nato summit in which the US president is urging Europe to spend more on defence if it wants to continue to receive American military protection.

But far from being seen as a threat, a YouGov poll for the dpa news agency found that more Germans would welcome the departure of the 35,000-strong American force than would oppose it.

42 per cent said they supported withdrawal while just 37 per cent wanted the soldiers to stay, with 21 per cent undecided.

Last month the US media reported that the US government was in the process of assessing the cost of keeping troops in Germany ahead of a possible withdrawal, citing Pentagon sources.

But the policy of actually pulling out of the country has not actually reached the negotiating table in his week’s Brussels summit and is not expected to be discussed as a possibility – for now.

The cause of US withdrawal enjoys significant support from across the political spectrum in Germany but is particularly strong with the supporters of certain parties.

The United States continues to devote more resources to the defence of Europe when the Continent’s economy, including Germany’s, are doing well and security challenges abound. This is no longer sustainable for us

Donald Trump in letter to Angela Merkel

Voters for the left-wing Die Linke are particularly in favour of withdrawal, with 67 per cent backing it, as are supporters of the far-right AfD, on 55 per cent. Greens also back withdrawal by 48 per cent.

Less supportive of withdrawal are voters for the centre-right CDU, at 35 per cent, the SPD at 42 per cent, and the FDP at 37 per cent.

We the people from kwahu and how support our artiste
This is the  time the people of kwahu have to wake up and learn how to support their artiste and others with great talent in the kwahu community, kwahu is one of the most popular known community that mount stage for events such as the Easter festival, Christmas, etc.
We mount stages for the Stonebwoys, Shatta wales and more great musicians but we don't give our own artiste much time, just because they haven't make it to the higher level.
We've forgotten that Sarkodie,Stonebwoy,Shatta Wale and others were once an underground artiste.
Hypocrisy and favoritism is killing our talents from the kwahu community. We have to ask our ourselves: if the people of Ashaiman didn't support Stonebwoy, was he gonna become this?
We are having good and hard working artists like Stone Kay, Stinchy, Real Gee, Pinto, Jeehwemo Adjetey and many more. We have to at least give them much time and support our own and we are going to have great artist to help push kwahu out there.

Trumps former personal driver sues claiming years of unpaid overtime
He was Donald Trump's personal driver for 25years  and he's pretty sure Trump took him for a ride.
Chauffeur Noel Cintron filed a lawsuit against the Trump organization in the New York State court on Monday "thousands of hours" of allegedly unpaid overtime.

Due to the statute of limitations, Cintron is asking for just six years worth of  overtime wages- a total of about 3,300 hours

PRESIDENT AKUFO-ADDO ON 3 DAY VOLTA REGION TOUR.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is embarking on a three-day tour of the Volta Region which begins today, Monday, 9 July. His tour will end in the northern part of the region. There would be a sod-cutting ceremony for an irrigation project at Dzemeni-Tongor. The president was welcomed into the region at Sogakope from where he proceeded to the palace of the paramount chief of Anlo state in Anloga, Togbui Sri III, to pay homage.

Nana Akufo Addo will then inaugurate a shopping centre in Anlo and a hostel for students named after the late Major Courage Quarshiga at the Keta midwifery college.