[Ghanaian Chronicle]President John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday announced that Ghana would improve on her neighbourliness programme by strengthening her relations with other countries. He said in that regard, Ghana would also spearhead the integration of the African continent by forging ahead for the removal of trade barriers within the continent, harmonizing a common currency and promoting intra- African trade.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]Accra -Alhaji Amin Amidu Sulemani, Minister of Roads and Highways, has never impressed me as one of the portfolio holders in the Mahama Administration, who deserve to be celebrated. His appreciation of the problems of state does not appear to justify state largesse spread on him monthly while moribund economic policies consign many Ghanaians to bed without food on daily basis.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]FOUR MONTHS after the implementation of the Complimentary Basic Education programme (CBE) in the Upper East Region, educationists and stakeholders have overwhelmingly embraced the programme and pledged their commitment to making it a success.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has announced that it had not started recruitment exercise and appealed to persons seeking to be enlisted or enrolled into the military should exercise patience until an official announcement or advertisement.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]The Vice President, His Excellency Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur has expressed disgust at the poor maintenance culture of the Ghana Police Service, saying that it has contributed to the fast deterioration of their facilities.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]THE WANTON activities of illegal miners in some communities in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region have assumed an alarming dimension. The Illegal miners, popularly known as galamsey at Zongoire, are now excavating graveyards in search for the precious mineral. This is complete disrespect for the dead, but they are not worried over their conduct.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]Kumasi -The AMENFI East Constituency Chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Kwaku Badu has advised the party to do away with factionalism if it really wants to regain political power.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]An Aspirant for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairmanship position, Mr. Paul Afoko has stated that the party will not easily take over power from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) if there is no true unity and commitment in the rank and file of the party.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]Kumasi -A newsman of the Ashanti Independent, Mr. David Afum has been awarded a diploma in theology after two years of theological studies at the International College of Bible Theology (ICBT) and Faith and Fire Theological College and Seminary (FFTCS).

[Ghanaian Chronicle]Ghana yesterday took a giant step towards tightening its regulations on money laundering, with Parliament adopting the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill 2013 report from its sub-committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]Kumasi -The Sachet Water Retailers Association in Kumasi has raised the price of sachet water to 20Gp effective Monday February 10, 2014.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]It would appear that Criminal Investigations Department Director-General COP Prosper Agblor has good intentions for the generality of Ghanaians whose taxes are used to pay him monthly.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]The Tanker Owners Association on Tuesday elected new executives to man the affairs of the association at a meeting held in Tema.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]Ayigbe -Fire has destroyed over a thousand acres of timber, cocoa and teak plantations running millions of Ghana Cedis at the Yaya Forest Reserve at Ayigbe, a village in the Wenchi Municipality.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]FOUR PROJECTS of Afrikids Ghana have received eleven bales of second-hand clothing and boxes of assorted biscuits from the Susana Wesley Mission Auxiliary (SUMA), a women's group of the Methodist Church of Ghana.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]The AMANSIE West District Assembly has presented an amount of GH¢22,327 to 37 people living with disabilities, to support them in the areas of Trading, Education and Surgery.

[Ghanaian Chronicle]Kumasi -Landowners and developers at Sasaamon Bomso in the Afigya Kwabre District of the Ashanti Region have appealed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Mohammed Alhassan, to intervene in what they describe as constant brutality being meted out to them by police personnel in the region.

Headlines & Global NewsCuriosity Takes First Earth Photo from MarsHeadlines & Global NewsNASA has recently tweeted a photo taken by the Curiosity rover which is exploring Mars. The photo features the Martian night sky with a tiny speck which was identified with a pointer as our home planet, Earth. (Photo : NASA). NASA has recently tweeted a ...Wave hello! Mars buggy spots Earth and the moon as bright stars in the skyDaily StarFossil hunters on Mars look for evidence of ancient life formsScience RecorderPictured: Astonishing image of Earth taken from surface of Mars by NASA's ...Mirror.co.ukLos Angeles Daily News -WSBT-TVall 85 news articles »

The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Dankyira, has warned that the country risks serious health implications if nothing is done to halt the menace of illegal mining. The effects, he said, would be very devastating. He said the use of heavy metal to pollute surface and underground water had severe health implications that would not manifest immediately but in the near future. Speaking to the media at Sekondi during a working visit to the Western Region, Dr Appiah-Dankyira called on the government, Parliament, opinion leaders, the media, religious bodies and the security services to, as a matter of urgency, speak against and stamp out galamsey. Mercury dispensed through the activities of illegal miners in the form of mercury vapour and the pollution of surface and underground water, he said, were highly toxic to humans. Dr Appiah-Dankyira said mercury, which was a heavy metal and one of the chemicals used by illegal miners in their activities, had a dire effect on the health of humans, as it could cause the breakdown of the central nervous system. “Those activities expose Ghanaians through drinking and inhaling gaseous mercury, which is absorbed into the blood. Once in the circulatory system, it can pass through the blood-brain barrier and accumulate in the brain, damaging the central nervous system,” the director general said. He said the earlier the country spoke against and took drastic measures to clamp down on galamsey, the better, since consumers of pipe-borne water may be consuming small amounts of mercury and unknown to the public, bits of it would accumulate and give negative effects in the not-too-distant future. Dr Appiah-Dankyira urged the general public to join forces with the regulatory bodies to halt the galamsey menace immediately to safeguard the life of Ghanaians. He applauded the current clamp down on galamsey but urged the task force in charge of the exercise to do more to eliminate the problem from the Ghanaian society. Other doctors present at the media encounter indicated that even though pipe-borne water was treated, it still contained some amount of the mercury. The doctors said aside those who drank treated water, millions of Ghanaians lived along the banks of these river bodies and fetched the raw water, which is heavily contaminated with chemicals such as mercury and arsenic, for domestic use. The doctors said the unregulated nature of the activities of the illegal miners polluted the underground water with other natural chemicals, which should not be overlooked. How mercury becomes a toxicological problem According to a United States geological survey on mercury contamination of aquatic ecosystems, like many environmental contaminants, mercury undergoes bio-accumulation. Bioaccumulation is the process by which organisms (including humans) can take up contaminants more rapidly than their bodies could eliminate them, thus the amount of mercury in body accumulates over time.