Getting into the festive 'scent' by exploring Oman's top 5 frankincense experiences

If there is a scent traditionally associated with Christmas, that is frankincense – also, one of the gifts brought to Baby Jesus by the Three Wise Men.

Ghana chief Imam donates to cathedral project

Ghana’s chief Imam Sheikh Osman Sharubutu has donated more than $8,000 (£5,800) to support the construction of a controversial national cathedral.

The African country has a history of inter-religious harmony, although the donation is regarded as unusual. The 102-year-old cleric said the gesture was to strengthen peaceful co-existence between Christians and Muslims.

Ghana ex-president Jerry Rawlings dies aged 73

It has been announced that former Ghana President Jerry John Rawlings has died at the age of 73.

A charismatic figure, in African and worldwide politics, he led two coups, first in 1979, before twice being elected president in multiparty polls.

Railing against corruption when he first seized power, he was responsible for executing several former heads of state for their alleged graft and mismanagement and was also seen as a champion of the poor, but came to be criticised for alleged human rights abuses.

The son of a Scottish farmer and a Ghanaian mother, he entered the Ghana Air Force, graduating in 1969 before becoming a senior officer in the air force.

He overthrew a military government, handing over power to a civilian leader.

In 1981, Rawlings led a second coup and was the head of a military junta until introducing multi-party elections in 1992, when he was first elected president. He stepped down in 2001 after serving two terms but continued to wield a strong influence in the country.

He began his time in power as a committed socialist, but later introduced free-market reforms. He ushered in a long period of political stability after a tumultuous series of coups in the 1960s and 1970s.

In later years, Rawlings campaigned for African nations to have their international debts written off.

He died in hospital in the capital, Accra, after a short illness.

Former Nigeria senate president, Abubakar Bukola Saraki and wife Toyin Saraki don also react to di death of Jerry Rawlings.

Oga Saraki say; "Jerry Rawlings always lead from di front and match im words wit actions." while im wife, Toyin pray for God to grant Rawlings eternal and restful peace.

The country’s main opposition presidential candidate and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar say; "Jerry Rawlings na African giant and im tenure as leader of Ghana remains strong."

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari added: "the entire African continent will sorely miss the sterling qualities of the great leader".

"The passion, discipline and moral strength that the former Ghanaian leader employed to reposition his country over many years continue to reverberate across the continent and beyond."

African Union Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat said: "Africa has lost a stalwart of Pan-Africanism and a charismatic continental statesman".

While Liberian President George Weah said "Ghana, Liberia and Africa will miss a great leader.”

The former World Footballer of the Year added: "Liberia remembers his immense contribution to the attainment and sustainment of peace during our dark days of our own history."

Ghana President, Nana Akufo-Addo, announced seven days of national mourning. "A great tree has fallen, and Ghana is poorer for this loss," he said in a statement.

Ghana government supplying free water in Covid-19 crisis

As the country emerged as the first Sub-Saharan African country to make such cuts in its battle to combat coronavirus, the president of Ghana has announced that his government will pay people’s water bills for the next three months as the country continues it ceaseless fight against the deadly global crisis that is showing no immediate signs of coming to any full stop.

As the pandemic continues to take its hold on lives on people throughout the world, in the West African country, President Nana Akufo-Addo made a televised address to the nation where he said that his government has urged the country’s utility companies to ensure a reconnect any disconnected supplies.

Water-supply tankers have now been made available to provide water to the most vulnerable communities. It (Ghana) was also the first country in the region to cut interest rates to reduce its benchmark of 16% to an eight-year low of 14.5% - the first cut since January..

Meanwhile, Ghana’s health workers who are treating patients with coronavirus will receive a boost to their basic pay and all health workers will also be granted with a three month tax holiday.

In a resent account, the national figure there showed a total of 214 cases of people contracting the Covid-19 virus – with five deaths.

Ghana launches USD 550b Energy Transition and Investment Plan for achieving net-zero emissions, creating 400,000 jobs by 2060

His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, launched the country's new Energy Transition and Investment Plan during a Global Africa Business Initiative event in New York. 

Ghana passes Bill to legalise cannabis cultivation for industrial and medical use

Parliament in Ghana has passed into law the NCCB (Narcotics Control Commission Bill), with the Ministry of Interior being responsible of issuing licenses for the cultivation of cannabis. It came after the Supreme Court decided the law - Section 43 of Act 1019 - was unconstitutional, which delayed any smooth passage of the legislation to grant licenses for the cultivation of cannabis.

Ghana president, Akufo-Addo, plants one of five million trees

Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo has planted a tree in the capital, Accra, as part of a plan to put five million trees in the ground across the country in a single day.

The Green Ghana Project is supposed to become an annual event and aims to reverse the process of deforestation.

It has been going on across the country's 16 regions and everyone from school children to judges have been taking part, it was reports.

The focus has been on people planting trees in places where they can easily maintain them, Hugh Brown from the Ghana Forestry Commission said.

In other words, people have been encouraged to put the saplings in the earth in their homes or in places like school, college and church compounds.

Ghana set for hung parliament

Ghana is set to have a hung parliament next year after the opposition won the outstanding Sene West constituency in the central part of the country. The vote count was delayed because of a dispute. Both the ruling party and the opposition now have 137 seats each -plus there is one independent MP - making up a total of 275 MPs in Ghana's parliament. This could pose a serious challenge to President Akufo-Addo's second term.

He was declared winner of the elections, in December, but lost the 60% parliamentary majority he had in his first term. Even though the sole independent MP has pledged his support to the ruling party, the laws of the country require that a greater proportion of ministers be appointed from parliament.

This means a number of the ruling party MPs doubling as ministers may not be in parliament at all time to push through, bills, proposals and contracts submitted for approval. Experts have said that a hung parliament will ensure an effective oversight role of the legislature but could also stall government programmes and policies especially if the opposition decides to frustrate the government.

A hung parliament will complicate Akufo-Addo’s efforts to act decisively to restore an economy hurt by the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. The global health crisis has driven Ghana’s ratio of debt to gross domestic product to 71% in September, the highest in four years. Before the crisis, Africa’s biggest gold producer was already under fiscal pressure due to the costs of cleaning up the banking sector and energy-sector liabilities.

Kobi Annan, an analyst at the U.K./Ghana-based Songhai Advisory, said: “The NDC will have power that no opposition party has had under the fourth republic: an opposition that can veto what they want.”

The NDC is building up a case to challenge the outcome of both the presidential and parliamentary elections, where it said it got a working majority of 140 seats, instead of the 137 it’s been awarded.

Ghana spelling champion reveals winning strategy

Eleven-year-old Naa Koshie Manyo-Plange who has won the latest Ghana Spelling Bee says she read a lot of books to broaden her vocabulary. Ms Koshie said that her parents encouraged her and she watched the movie Akeelah and the Bee to learn from the starring.

She said: "We had training and we were given a certain group of words to study, so we had to study them and come with about 100 words from that group."

The national finals were held last weekend with 60 competitors all hoping to win the coveted trophy and cash prize of around $1,700 (£1,200).

"I think its important to take part in something like the spelling bee - because if you lose it helps you to be a good loser and when you win it helps you not gloat, and builds resilience because it makes you want to come back for more," she says.

Ghana students celebrate as first to complete GISI finance licensing programme

The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) have taken part in an Alumni ceremony with the Ghana Investment and Securities Institute (GISI).  This celebrated the inaugural 10 students completing the licensing programme developed by GISI in partnership with the CISI in 2019.

Amongst the achievers were Chris Hammond and Andrew Ntumi. Both Chris and Andrew will also be part of CISI’s global awards for achieving the top mark globally in the International Certificate in Wealth & Investment Management and the International Introduction to Securities & Investment respectively.

Ghana to pay last respects to former leader Jerry Rawlings

Ghanaians paid their last respect to former president Jerry Rawlings, during the second of a four-day event organised in his honour by the government and his family.

Rawlings' coffin was displayed at Accra International Conference Centre, where the body remains until today. The former president will be buried tomorrow (Wednesday).

Born in 1947 to a Scottish father, James Ramsay John, a pharmacist from Castle Double, and Ghanaian mother Madam Victoria Agbotui from Dzelukope of the Volta Region, the former leader who staged two coups and later led the West African country's transition to a stable democracy, he trained as an air force officer and came to power in 1979 after leading his first coup, and then transferring power to civilian rule soon after.

His burial was delayed, in part, because of disagreements between Ghana's current political leaders.

Credited with embedding democracy in Ghana and establishing social and political stability during two decades in public life, Rawlings, a former air force officer, twice led military take-overs, before later returning the country to multi-party politics and winning elections.

Jerry Rawlings’ daughter Zanetor said of him: “My father was very loving and was passionate about a lot of things.”

Late former President Jerry John Rawlings will be accorded a Commander-in-Chief status at his burial service with the Ghana Armed Forces set to fire a 21-gun salute as well as offering other military courtesies to him.

He died in November, age 73, and was survived by his wife, Nana Konandu Agyeman, three daughters- the afore-mentioned Zenator, Yaa Asantewa, Amina and a son, Kimathi Rawlings.

Ghana to ‘bounce back’ after pandemic is cleared

The Majority Leader in Ghana’s Parliament and the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensa, has given the assurance that the country will bounce back strong once the coronavirus pandemic passes.

He has also explained the government’s decision to absorb water bills in the wake o the virus.

“Don’t forget that the country will have to bounce back after all these things”, he said, “so you will want to see which recourse will not will not inflict a mortal wound on the economy”, as he hinted that the government is also considering absorbing electricity bills for all Ghanaians as part of the way of fighting the Covid-19 virus.

Earlier the Suame lawmaker hinted that the government had intended to absorb electricity bills or reduce the tariff in the country which was announced by President Nana Addo Dankwa-Addo previously.

“This has been on the table and the cabinet was considering it over the past two weeks”,
Osei Kyei Mensa said. “But a determination will be made and, of course, you would have to look at the circumstances and standing of the country, the national purse now before you make any decision”.

The president earlier announced that the government will absorb water bills of Ghanaians for the next three months to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Ghana welcomes two survivors of the 1921 Tulsa massacre

Two survivors of a racially-driven massacre that killed up to 300 people in the United States were both in Ghana, as they visited the west African country to “connect with the motherland.”

107-year-old Viola Fletcher and her brother Hughes Van Ellis, who is 100, are from the district of Greenwood in Tulsa, in Oklahoma, which was devastated by a mob of armed white people in 1921. In the area otherwise known as “Black Wall Street” at least 300 African Americans were killed in the attack, with some 10,000 left homeless when the district was set ablaze, leaving a vibrant economy in ruins.

Ghanaian singer falls short in record-breaking sing-a-thon attempt

The Guinness World Records (GWR) has just revealed that an attempt by Ghanaian media personality, Afua Asantewaa, to beat a sing-a-thon record was "unsuccessful".

Ghanaian star Okyeame Kwame champions COP26 campaign in Glasgow

Okyeame Kwame led a 100,000 climate activists march in Glasgow for Climate Justice at #COP26.

This year’s COP26 was a little more than business as usual. After the geo-political power play of G20 verses developing nations who emit the least of carbon emissions but suffer the most negative impact of climate change, the negotiations between the parties were a little more ambitious than finger pointing.

Ghanaians around the world celebrating its 65th Anniversary of Independence

Celebrations are continuing around the world to mark the 65th anniversary of Ghana’s Independence Day as Ghanaians in Africa and around the world highlighted the declaration of Independence from Britain by the president at that time, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, on March 6 1957.

Ghana was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence from colonial rule. The country’s independence served as a precedent for many African countries to break free from the clutches of colonial rule. On the date of Independence, Ghanaians would typically reminisce about their history, the sacrifices made by Dr Nkrumah, and all those who fought for the country’s freedom and independence from the British.

Gilbert F. Houngbo reappointed IFAD President with an ambitious agenda

In a strong show of support and recognition for the leader who has successfully showcased the importance of long-term rural development as a key solution to the global challenges the world is currently facing, Member States have reappointed Gilbert F. Houngbo as President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for a second term at its annual Governing Council meeting. With an even more ambitious agenda at the heart of his second mandate, and a particular focus on technologicial solutions, innovative financing models and new private sector partnerships, IFAD will continue tackling hunger and poverty and address the devastating impacts of climate change, youth unemployment and most recently COVID-19, leading on the ground to ensure no one is left behind.

“With the pandemic still devastating rural areas and the projections for increased poverty and hunger, the need for IFAD to scale up is more urgent than ever,” said Houngbo, who has been IFAD’s President since 2017. “Today it is COVID, yesterday it was a tsunami, and we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. The threat from climate change and extreme weather will not diminish, and we should prepare. No rural woman or man should ever be in a position of having to sell his or her meagre assets – or be forced to migrate – in order to survive” Under Houngbo’s continued leadership, IFAD aims to double its impact by 2030 and offer a life out of poverty and hunger to millions more people. The goal is to ensure 40 million people per year increase their incomes by at least 20 per cent by 2030, which is double what IFAD currently achieves.

To this end, Houngbo has called on donors to contribute significantly more to IFAD, to deliver an overall programme of work of at least US$11 billion from 2022 to 2024, including through a new private sector financing programme and an expansion of its pioneering climate change adaptation programme. This will help rebuild stronger rural economies as countries recover from the impacts of COVID-19, and help these marginalised rural populations become far more resilient to climate change and other shocks.

In his acceptance speech, Houngbo said that addressing the devastating impacts of climate change and reversing the decline of biodiversity are amongst his highest priorities. Last month IFAD launched the Enhanced Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP+), which aims to be the largest fund dedicated to channeling climate finance to small-scale producers. Houngbo envisages the programme to mobilise $500 million and help more than 10 million people adapt to an unpredictable climate. Despite their disproportionate vulnerability to climate change, small-scale farmers currently receive only 1.7 percent of global climate finance.

Another of Houngbo’s goals is to address the major challenges rural young people face in finding decent employment, which has an enormous impact on instability and migration. In Africa, 60 per cent of young people live in rural areas and between 10 and 12 million young people enter the job market every year. With increased investments in agri-preneurs and rural small and medium-sized enterprises, IFAD aims to create greater employment opportunities for rural youth. This builds on Houngbo’s focus over the past four years, to engage more with the private sector to bring expertise, innovation and much needed investments to rural areas.

Under Houngbo’s leadership, IFAD expanded its programme of work to reach 36 per cent more poor and vulnerable people. At the end of 2019, 132 million people in more than 90 countries benefited from IFAD’s investments. However in his speech Houngbo recognised the huge financing gap threatening the world’s ability to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger by 2030. To this end, he has led IFAD to start diversifying its funding sources to maximise the support it can give to the world’s poorest people. In 2020, IFAD was the first UN fund to receive a credit rating, with both Fitch and Standard and Poor’s announcing AA+ ratings. These strong ratings will help IFAD mobilize more funds from various potential investors at a favourable cost.

Houngbo also spoke about the importance of food to rural people. As the majority of them work in agriculture, food is not just critical for sustenance, but also for their livelihoods. He stressed the need for investing in sustainable food systems that enable rural populations to earn decent incomes, have nutritious diets and to lead dignified lives, and the key role IFAD will play in putting this on the global agenda during the upcoming UN Food Systems Summit.

Small-scale farming systems produce half of the world’s food calories, but these farmers are often the ones that go hungry. IFAD is the only multilateral organisation focused solely on addressing hunger and poverty in rural areas where three quarters of the world’s poorest and most food insecure people live. Decades of progress on extreme poverty are now in reverse due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As many as 150 million people could fall into extreme poverty by 2021 and an additional 136 million people are expected to go hungry.

Gilda Garza “Mexico’s Most Influential Artist” Brings Kings and Queens to Venice

Known as “the most influential artist in Mexico,” Gilda Garza is an internationally recognized painter constantly pushing the boundaries between emotion and art.

As America approaches September’s Hispanic Heritage Month, this award-winning Mexico native prepares to make history with a moving collaborative collection by sculptural artist Mario Furlan in a live exhibition at New Murano, Atelier Muranese.

Gladstone Couple Forego Housework to Snag World-First scUber Ride on the Great Barrier Reef

Gladstone couple, Terry and Kym Purcell, today vetoed the daily housework to “hail” the world's first rideshare submarine experience on the Great Barrier Reef.

Three days after watching the launch of scUber on the Australian news, avid diver Terry Purcell surprised his wife of 32 years with the once-in-a-lifetime experience. His mission was to show her the underwater world that he passionately loves.

“I've been diving on the Great Barrier Reef since I was seven years old and the reef around Heron Island is the most wonderful spot in the world,” said the 54-year-old owner of Purcell's Engineering in Gladstone.

“Today is really about my wife. She does not have a diver's certificate. She snorkels but it's not the same. With this (scUber), she can experience the reef first-hand and see it close up.”

“Besides, who else do you know who can say, 'I hailed a submarine'?”

Terry set his alarm clock early and was on the Uber app by 7:30 am to request the On Demand ride when it opened to the public for the first time.

Within minutes of entering “Great Barrier Reef” into the Uber app, a submarine icon popped up on his screen followed by the arrival of a colourful Great Barrier Reef-branded Tesla. The Tesla transferred the couple to Marine Helicopters at Gladstone Airport for a scenic flight to Heron Island and the one-hour underwater scUber experience.

Commenting on the experience and the $3000 price tag, Terry said “It's an absolute bargain. You can't put a cost on this. For my wife to be able to see the reef at 18 metres below sea level and to see the bottom of a true coral atoll like I do when I dive was just magic.”

When asked what else he would have been doing if he wasn't on scUber, the retired company owner said, “probably the housework.”

Tourism and Events Queensland, in partnership with Uber, announced the launch of scUber, the world's first rideshare submarine experience on May 23.

For a limited time only, scUber riders will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the exquisite beauty of the Great Barrier Reef – all without the need for a snorkeling mask or a diving license!

The scUber experience will be available starting on Heron Island, off the coast of Gladstone in the Southern Great Barrier Reef region from May 27, before moving to Agincourt Reef off the coast of Port Douglas in Cairns & the Great Barrier Reef region from June 9. Availability is strictly limited.

Global business travel made a comeback in March

A new survey finds the number of companies that allow domestic travel rose by double digits as international travel jumps.

The number of companies that allow domestic business travel rose in March, international travel is returning and travel bookings are on the increase.