Category Archives: Ghana

‘Death by a thousand cuts’: vast expanse of rainforest lost in 2018

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Pristine forests are vital for climate and wildlife but trend of losses is rising, data shows

Millions of hectares of pristine tropical rainforest were destroyed in 2018, according to satellite analysis, with beef, chocolate and palm oil among the main causes.

The forests store huge amounts of carbon and are teeming with wildlife, making their protection critical to stopping runaway climate change and halting a sixth mass extinction. But deforestation is still on an upward trend, the researchers said. Although 2018 losses were lower than in 2016 and 2017, when dry conditions led to large fires, last year was the next worst since 2002, when such records began.

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Rotten eggs: e-waste from Europe poisons Ghana’s food chain

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Toxins from old computers, fridges and other electronic goods are polluting chicken eggs in an area where 80,000 people live

Some of the most hazardous chemicals on Earth are entering the food chain in Ghana from illegally disposed electronic waste coming from Europe.

According to a new report by two environmental groups tracking the disposal of e-waste, chicken eggs from the Agbogbloshie slum in Ghana’s capital, Accra – where residents break up waste to recover metals – contain dangerous levels of dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), among other harmful substances.

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Malawi starts landmark pilot of first ever child malaria vaccine

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Immunisation gives partial protection against the killer disease, and lessens the severity of other cases

Malawi will begin immunising young children against malaria today, in a landmark large-scale pilot of the first vaccine to give partial protection against the disease, the World Health Organization said.

Although the vaccine protects only a third of children aged under two years from life-threatening or severe malaria, clinical trials have found those who are immunised are likely to have less severe cases of the disease. Earlier, smaller trials also showed the vaccine prevented four in 10 cases of malaria overall, in babies aged between five and 17 months.

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Ghana: at least 60 dead after two buses collide in Bono East

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One of the buses involved in latest collision on Ghana’s roads caught fire, say police

At least 60 people have been killed in a head-on collision between two buses in Ghana, police have said.

The incident – the latest deadly crash on Ghana’s roads – happened on Friday at about 2am local time in the Bono East region, about 270 miles (430km) north of the capital, Accra.

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Afrobeats star Fuse ODG: ‘I love myself now. Africa has done that for me’

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When the south London-raised musician visited his home country, Ghana, he fell in love with it. Now, he is building schools and organising festivals there, and calling for others to return and rebuild a nation

It was in 2011 that Fuse ODG had an awakening. Frustrated with his experiences growing up in south London, he decided to take a trip to Ghana, the country of his birth. “I saw a whole new Africa that I had never seen on TV,” he says. “You’re just a human here, you don’t feel like a minority. It feels like home. That’s the energy I got from coming back: peace of mind.”

That trip was a catalyst for what happened next: a string of hit Afrobeats singles that melded old African highlife rhythms with western rap and R&B melodies. Now, the 30-year-old is about to release his second album, New Africa Nation, which comes hand in hand with a vastly more ambitious project: to build schools, bring together communities and change the way Africa is perceived.

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‘Alarming’ Burkina Faso unrest threatens west African stability

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Reach of extremist groups could spread to Ghana, Togo and Benin, says US military chief

A rapid and alarming deterioration of the security situation in Burkina Faso is threatening to spread to its three southern neighbours, a senior US military figure has warned, heralding the potential destabilisation of a vast area of west Africa.

Related: Kidnapped Canadian found dead, Burkina Faso officials say

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Journalist who exposed football corruption shot dead in Ghana

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Exposés by Ahmed Husein, who died in Accra, had also lifted lid on corruption in judicial system

A Ghanaian journalist who helped expose corruption in African football has been shot dead in Accra.

Ahmed Husein was part of a team led by award-winning journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, whose investigation led to the resignation of the head of the Ghana Football Association.

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Hillary Clinton’s defeat made me cry more than I did when Mahama lost – Betty Mould

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Ghana's first ever female Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Betty-Mould Iddrisu has revealed that she cried her heart out passionately when Hillary Clinton lost to Mr Donald Trump in the United States 2016 election, even more than she did when her party the National Democratic Congress was licked by the New Patriotic Party in Ghana's 2016 election; MyNewsGH.com has learnt. The Gender champion said "Ghana has made progress despite our cultural and traditional environment over the past 40 years" regarding the issue of women in general.

Break your silence on Ghana-US Military pact – ” Ablakwa tells Akufo-Addo

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The Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has questioned President Nana Akufo-Addo's deafening silence on the controversial Ghana-US Military agreement. In an open letter to the President, the former Deputy Education Minister, said the President's silence on the matter was deplorable.

Trump’s policy for Africa encouraging – Akufo-Addo

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During the 72nd United Nations General Assemby meeting, recently held in New York, the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, held a meeting with eight African leaders, including President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, where he acknowledged the tremendous potential of the continent for the development of their economies, and added that his policy for Africa was to promote trade and investment. President Nana Akufo-Addo, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Statesman and a section of the media, yesterday, said he was enthused about the new policy direction announced by Mr Trump, explaining that it would go a long way to erase the culture of aid and dependency which had not served African countries well over the years.