SOME events are a gift to a columnist, others are a curse. Somebody with a large blank space to fill every week doesn’t drop to his knees in thanks when Kilkenny win another All-Ireland hurling title, but the Rugby World Cup is a gift that keeps on giving.

The death toll from a huge petrol station explosion and flooding in Ghana’s capital has more than doubled to 150 people, the president said last night.

SEBASTIAN BARRY’S latest novel, his eighth (just published in paperback), opens with a bang: the World War II torpedoing of a ship carrying British officers to Africa.

Rainbow in the Cloud

Authorities are having trouble figuring out how many more people are getting ebola in Liberia and Sierra Leone and where the hot spots are in those countries, harming efforts to get control of the deadly outbreak, the UN’s top ebola official in West Africa said yesterday.

Tullow Oil, a multinational explorer with partners including Anadarko Petroleum Corporation will invest $2.2bn (€1.7bn) next year to drill wells in Ghana’s Jubilee and Tweneboa-Enyenra- Ntomme oil fields.

So what does a Ryder Cup captain do, once he’s delivered the trophy to his bosses at the European Tour?

The UN mission to combat Ebola has opened its headquarters in Ghana, where it will co-ordinate aid for the accelerating West African crisis.

Researchers aided by the EU play a major role across the globe in developing valuable ideas, writes Máire Geoghegan-Quinn

The US Embassy in Ghana has apologised after a staff member sent what is being described as “an errant tweet” criticising the president from the official Embassy Twitter account.

West African nations neighbouring those hit by the Ebola epidemic — Mali, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Guinea Bissau — should prepare for the possible arrival of people carrying the deadly virus, said the World Health Organisation.

I doubt very much if Mansfield is twinned with Accra but these days the two can surely feel each other’s pain.

A five-storey shopping centre collapsed in Ghana, killing at least one person and leaving several dozen people trapped in the rubble.

A five-storey shopping centre collapsed in Ghana today killing at least one person and leaving several dozen people trapped in the rubble.

The top three floors of a six-storey shopping centre have collapsed in Ghana, trapping people, according to witnesses.

John Atta Mills, who ran three times for president before being elected in the closest vote in Ghana’s history on a platform vowing to reform the west African country, has died aged 68, officials said.

Shannon could be in line for a jobs boost if Government plans to develop an international aid hub at the airport get the green light.

Emergency workers in Nigeria fought fires and searched for bodies through the night after an airliner crashed, killing all 153 on board.

Ten people have died after a cargo plane attempting to land in the Ghanaian capital Accra crashed into a bus near the airport.

THOMAS VERMAELEN has undergone surgery on his left ankle and is expected to be out for at least a month, Arsenal confirmed yesterday.

An American president who has "the blood of Africa within" him praised and scolded the continent of his ancestors today, asserting that forces of tyranny and corruption must yield if Africa is to achieve its promise.

A CURIOUS tale lies behind the origin of a gold ring. It begins in the damp tunnels and dusty pits dotted like cheese holes across Ghana’s mining towns.

A tanker carrying gasoline overturned on a highway in Ghana and exploded while people were trying to collect the leaking fuel, killing at least 21 and injuring about 80, police said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the international community to find a solution to the global food crisis, saying sharply rising prices could pose a threat to the stability of developing nations, particularly in Africa.

A terminally ill woman who was deported from Britain while undergoing treatment for cancer has died, it was reported today.

Cameroon defender Geremi has hailed his team for their performance in the African Cup of Nations despite losing to Egypt in the final yesterday.

CHELSEA manager Avram Grant has warned Premier League bosses to think carefully about taking the English game across the globe.

Defending champions Egypt will meet Cameroon in the African Nations Cup final on Sunday.

Mikel John Obi has returned to Chelsea insisting that Nigeria should have reached the semi-finals of the African Nations Cup.

Two British teenagers jailed in Ghana for drug smuggling will be free to come home in less than three months, it emerged today.

Prosecutors in Ghana finished examining witnesses today in the trial of two British teenage girls accused of trying to smuggle £300,000 (€444,000) worth of cocaine to the UK in laptop bags.

The trial of two teenage British girls accused of attempting to smuggle £300,000 (€448,000) worth of cocaine to Britain began in a Ghana court today, officials said.

Two teenage British girls arrested in Ghana for allegedly attempting to smuggle cocaine to Britain in laptop cases are expected to appear in court.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to head to the Middle East in a fresh push for peace, hoping to build on momentum created by the appointment of Tony Blair as a special envoy for the region.

Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho left London on a charity mission to Africa today after setting his sights on winning the Champions League next season.

I LIVE beside the sea, where the arrival of the seasons is announced on the avian public address system.

Pop star and activist Bono called today for African media and civil society organisations to ensure that hard-fought debt relief money doesn’t end up in politicians’ pockets.

SCHOOLCHILDREN cheered as the first total eclipse in years plunged Ghana into daytime darkness yesterday, a solar show sweeping northeast from Brazil to Mongolia.

Excited children peered skyward in Ghana today, joining others around the world for a long-anticipated solar show – the first total eclipse in years, which will sweep north-east from Brazil to Mongolia.

Tourists and scientists were gathering around the world for a solar show – the first total eclipse in years, which will sweep north-east from Brazil to Mongolia, blotting out the sun across swathes of the world’s poorest lands.

THE college of cardinals met for a second day of talks yesterday to prepare for the conclave to elect a successor to Pope John Paul.