GHANA

Stock futures rose on Tuesday, pointing to a higher start for Wall Street after sharp falls in the previous session, but with some caution expected to persist over euro zone debt concerns.

In early 2008, an official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent a report to his superiors detailing what he called the most significant development in the criminal exploitation of aircraft since 9/11.

A Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a U.S. passenger jet on Christmas Day began his journey in Ghana and spent less than 30 minutes in Nigeria's Lagos airport, the Nigerian government said on Thursday.

The draw of the teams who will face each other in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa took place Friday in South Africa.

Algeria took the final spot in the 2010 World Cup African qualifiers list after beating Egypt 1-0 in Khartoum, Sudan.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc agreed to buy up to 45 percent of explorer Tullow Oil's licence offshore French Guiana, boosting hopes rich West African oil reservoirs could be replicated across the Atlantic. The companies said in statements on Wednesday that Shell had agreed to purchase 33 percent of the Guyane Maritime Permit, around 150 kilometres off the coast of French Guiana, for an undisclosed sum, and had an option to buy another 12 percent.

Twelve of the worst pollution problems in the developing world are being cleaned up, demonstrating that tens of thousands of others also could be improved, according to a report released on Wednesday.

State-run Ghana National Petroleum Corp believes Kosmos Energy's deal to sell its stake in the huge Jubilee oil field to Exxon Mobil is illegal and is ready to buy the stake itself, a GNPC source said on Monday.

China National Offshore Oil Corp is in talks with Ghana National Petroleum Corp to bid for a stake in a large oil discovery off West Africa, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.

Exxon Mobil has agreed to buy Kosmos Energy's stake in the Jubilee field in Ghana, three sources close to the matter said on Tuesday.

Privately held Savannah Gold Ltd is seeking 1 million pounds in fresh investment to launch a drilling programme in Nigeria, and hopes to list the firm in Canada in the middle of next year.

A third of malaria cases in African babies can be prevented by giving them regular doses of antimalarial drugs even before the children are infected, researchers said on Thursday.

China's top offshore oil producer CNOOC Ltd said it will take a conservative approach to acquisitions as it reported its lowest half-year earnings since 2005 on weak crude oil prices.

Chinese citizens are allowed to tour another nine nations, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Middle East, from September 15, according to the National Tourism Administration.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed Angola on Sunday to do more to fight corruption during a two-day visit to the oil-producing country aimed at bolstering ties between the two nations.

U.S. President Barack Obama has sent video message on Wednesday to the eighth African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum (AGOA).

India's leading oil producer ONGC has hired Citigroup to advise it on a bid for Kosmos Energy's stake in an oil field in Ghana in a deal that could be worth between $3 billion and $5 billion, sources familiar with the deal said.

Private equity-backed Kosmos Energy is still mulling a possible sale of its Ghanaian oil interests, despite securing a loan to fund the fields' development, industry sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

U.S. President Barack Obama told Africans on Saturday that Western aid must be matched by good governance and urged them to take greater responsibility for stamping out war, corruption and disease plaguing the continent.

The following is the full prepared statement of President Obama's speech in Accra, Ghana on July 11, 2009 as presented by the White House, according to the Associated Press.

Ghana has concluded licence negotiations with Tullow Oil on operating the Jubilee oilfield and government approval is imminent, the country's deputy energy minister said on Wednesday.