Almost the whole front page of the Graphic is devoted to the death of Princess Diana and her boy friend, Dodi Al Fayed. The headline of the story: “World mourns ‘Queen of Hearts’ Di and Dodi Killed in Paris Crash”, takes about a third of the front page. The Graphic says the world yesterday joined a tearful, grief-stricken Britain face the shock of the sudden death of Diana, the Princess of Wales, in a car crash in the French capital, Paris. The paper says Diana, only 36 and divorced from the British heir to the throne, Prince Charles a year ago, was killed along with her new boyfriend, Dodi Al Fayed, the Egyptian heir to the famous London Harrods empire, when the Mercedes saloon car on which they were travelling crashed while trying to evade a chasing mob of press photographers. The accident, the paper said, occurred around midnight . Dodi died on the spot but the Princess was rushed to a Paris hospital where doctors battled unsuccessfully to save her life. She was pronounced dead at 4 a.m. Paris time, after a two- hour operation. GRI
“PANAFEST opens”, is the headline of another front page story in the Graphic which says the Vice-President, Professor John Atta Mills has stressed the need for PANAFEST to be used to enhance economic ties between Africa and Africans in the diaspora. According to the paper, the Vice-President said the festival should also provide an important bridge to link Africa to the wider international community in the arts, science, technology, commerce and tourism. Opening the third PANAFEST on Saturday, Prof Mills described the festival as a “home-coming, a sharing, a remembrance of the past and a joyful celebration of the future.” The 10-day festival being held at Cape Coast and Elmina in the Central Region, has the theme: “The re-emergence of African civilization,” “Uniting the African family for development”. GRI
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah, has appealed to religious bodies to help save the country’s universities and other tertiary institutions from economic crisis. He said the present unhealthy and dangerous overcrowding in student halls, show the urgent need to initiate programmes to decongest halls of residence and called on churches to help provide hostel facilities in tertiary institutions. This is a Graphic story in the centre spread of the paper. According to the Graphic Prof Addae-Mensah also appealed to the Churches to contribute to various endowment funds of the universities for the provision of infrastructural facilities. GRI
