Weather conditions in various countries, and political tensions in the Black Sea region, have made food markets more volatile, FAO reports in the new Food Outlook. In its first major forecast for 2014, FAO puts cereal production at 2,458 million tonnes (including milled rice), down some 2.4 percent from the 2013 record, though global output is still expected to be the second largest ever.

THE MATERNAL Mortality Rate (MMR) in Ghana declined by 49 percent between 1990 and 2013. That is according to a new report on "Trends in maternal mortality: 1990 to 2013", released on May 6, 2014 by the Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group (MMEIG) of the United Nations. Despite this remarkable achievement, the same report estimates that 3,100 women died from pregnancy-related complications in Ghana, between January and December 2013.

The decision by the technical committee set up by the Ministry of Finance to investigate the Subah-Ghana Revenue Authority scandal to polish its report and exonerate officials from any wrongdoing, has rather opened another can of worms. The President of Imani Ghana, Mr. Flankin Cudjoe, who led the crusade against the whole Subah saga after The Chronicle broke the story, has already described the report, which was deliberately leaked to a section of the media on Monday, as a scam which must be rejected.

GHANAIAN AFRO pop singer and ambassador for the 2014 Brazil World Cup Ms. Rebecca Acheampong, popularly known in music circles as Becca, has made rhetorical statements in view of the allegation of dating her producer and manger of EKB records, Mr. Kiki Banson, which exhumed controversy between her, the musician, and the family, has laid bare the truth.

Micosoft has partnered with Facebook , Spectralink Wireless and two other companies to provide low-cost wireless connectivity to students and faculty at universities in Koforidua, Ghana through the use of TV whitespace. '

Accra -AIRTEL Ghana and tiGo's subscriber bases have dropped continuously in 2014 while those of rivals have been on a positive trend.

Accra -THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that Ghana's high fiscal and current account deficits of over 10 percent pose major risks to the growth of the economy.