Higher fares for flights and ferries helped to push the rate of inflation up in April, the first increase in the rate for 10 months. The Consumer Prices Index, rose to 1.8% in April from 1.6% in March, according to the Office for National Statistics. The ONS said the timing of Easter, which fell in April this year, was likely to have had an impact on travel costs.It said the cost of petrol was also higher than the same month a year ago [...]

A Greensboro high school senior originally from Ghana has been accepted into 24 universities all over the country. Akosua Beoke is one of 45 graduates from the Early College at Guilford — the first graduation of 30 for Guilford County Schools. Beoke and her family moved to Greensboro from Ghana seven years ago. Her father Frank Beoke said it was a sacrifice well worth it for the opportunities for his children. “It’s a sacrifice; I was actually in a good paying job back in Ghana [...]

Voters in Guinea-Bissau began casting their ballots on Sunday in a presidential run-off election meant to draw a line under a 2012 military coup and renew cooperation between the chronically unstable West African nation and donors and investors. Former finance minister Jose Mario Vaz, candidate of the dominant African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), secured more than 40 percent of the vote in the first round and is considered the front runner [...]

A group of Muslims in the country will march through some principal streets in Accra to put pressure on the Nigerian government to expedite action in finding the 200 missing school girls. The group also intends to send a petition to the National Chief Imam which will then be forwarded to the Nigerian government in Abuja for review. Over 200 girls were abducted by Islamist group, Boko Haram in a North Eastern Nigerian town called Chibok[...]

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has called off a visit to the town where more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted, officials say. Sources had told the BBC he would stop in Chibok, in the north-east, on his way to a conference in France on the threat from Boko Haram militants. But the visit was called off for security reasons, the officials said. The president – under pressure over his government’s failure to rescue the girls – will fly direct to Paris. The BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse in [...]

President John Dramani Mahama is paying a one-day official visit to Guinea-Bissau on Thursday ahead of the country’s elections this weekend. The President is visiting Guinea in his capacity as the new Chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Guinea-Bissau’s presidential and parliamentary elections have been postponed twice from November last year[...]

ROME, March 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama said during his two-day visit to Italy on Thursday that he had "confidence" in the promised reforms of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and praised improving economic situation in the European Union (EU).Speaking at a joint press conference after meeting Renzi in Rome, Obama said he was "favorably impressed by the energy" of the new Italian prime minister who[...]

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has claimed the global financial crisis may never have happened had women been in charge of the world’s biggest banks. Christine Lagarde said women have ‘different ways of taking risks’ and make fewer snap decisions than men. In a US radio interview yesterday, she added that women are still hugely under-represented in finance, including the IMF, where she is the only woman in the boardroom[...]

A UK industry regulator has called for the law to be changed to require pornography sites to carry out age checks before granting access. Video-on-demand watchdog Atvod said the government must act to protect children from seeing graphic adult material.It said credit and debit card operators would be forbidden from processing payments from British customers to sites that did not comply. But one campaigner[...]

President John Mahama has indicated that his tenure as the chairman of ECOWAS will ensure that the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) delivers the best results for development and prosperity of West Africa. “…Regarding the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union, everything must be done to ensure that the people of West Africa are given an agreement that delivers the best results for their[...]

Five Nigerian gay men were stripped naked and paraded by an angry mob through the streets of Ekurede Urhobo, Greater Warri in the West African country for being homosexuals. The men were identified when two of them were engaged in verbal altercation over money. According to reliable reports, one of the men, known as GP, had invited his lover from Lagos. After they had sex, his visitor refused to pay him[...]

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has submitted a proposal to the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, to use the country’s armed forces in Ukraine, Kremlin has reported. "In connection with the extraordinary situation in Ukraine and the threat to the lives of Russian citizens… I submit to the Federation Council a request to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory until the[...]