In the Saturday, 17 May 2025 edition of this column, I titled it "Let's talk forex". In this week's edition, we will talk forex again but this time looking at how this 24-hour market actually works.

Every time you exchange Ghana Cedis for US Dollars at the forex bureau, import goods from China or send money to family abroad through legitimate channels,you are participating in the largest financial market on earth: the Foreign Exchange Market or FX.

Unlike stock exchanges around the world, which have opening and closing times, the FX market never sleeps. It runs 24 hours a day, moving an amount of money that is difficult to comprehend.

In Ghana, we are good at celebrating anniversaries. Churches mark their silver and golden jubilees, schools roll out drums and kente, and hometowns turn festivals into colourful reunions.

But when an art house turns 20, the celebration deserves a different kind of applause. 

This is because it is about counting the imaginations nurtured, the talents discovered and the cultural doors opened.

That is the story of Nubuke Foundation, which is marking two decades of helping Ghanaian art find its voice, its audience and increasingly, its place on the international stage.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Ghana has raised concerns over children’s safety online after more than 51,000 reports related to child sexual abuse material were linked to Ghana in 2025.

The figures, shared by the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, represent a significant increase from the 750 reports recorded in 2016, highlighting growing concerns about technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse of children.

Speaking at a Child Online Protection and Digital Parenting Forum organised by the Cyber Security Authority as part of the 2026 National Cyber Security Awareness Month, UNICEF Ghana Child Protection Specialist Miho Yoshikawa called for stronger efforts to safeguard children in the digital environment.

Mohammed Ashim has been cutting hair and trimming beards for four years in Bengaluru.

But recently the 22-year old has been strapping a camera to his head to record his work.

The camera only records his hands and fingers - his client's faces are blurred out.

"The routine is simple, but you have to be disciplined about how you move. The operations team taught me that my hands always have to stay cleanly inside the frame, the lighting has to be sharp, and I can't tilt my head too abruptly while working."

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned a 19-year-old woman, Marian Elia, and her 21-year-old boyfriend, Izuchukwu Uzoma, over the alleged theft of ₦35.92 million from a woman in Benin City, Edo State.

The EFCC alleged that Ms Elia, who grew up in the home of the victim, Esther Ogbeifun, used her access to the woman’s phones and banking details to transfer the money from her Moniepoint account into an account operated by Mr Uzoma at United Bank for Africa.

For 107-year-old World War Two veteran Owen Filer, one of the secrets to his longevity has been a regular visit to the chippy.

"I've never overeaten... I lived on fish and chips," he said at a celebration on Friday, ahead of his birthday on Monday.

"Fish and chips, a full meal, a scoop full of chips and a fish."

Aside from this, Filer, who lives in Cwmbran, Torfaen, and is believed to be Wales' oldest man, said there was "no secret" to a long life other than living "properly".

The traffic tells the story, but let your love, and not loan, lead, says Bernard Otabil.

If you drove through Accra today, you would have felt the Christmas fever setting in, with the roads already experiencing the familiar traffic jams associated with the festive season.

I left Spintex at 6:30 a.m. for a meeting at the UPSA Auditorium on Thursday, October 15, and by 7:15 a.m. the N1 was already thick.

It was nearly bumper-to-bumper on the motorway, and the stretch from Tetteh Quarshie roundabout ( Accra Mall) to the Airport was crawling.

Mrs Selina Patience Kwami was one of three women among the 29 pioneering students of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) when it was established in Accra in 1959.

Then known as Miss Patience Carboo-Sumney, she had completed her secondary education at Aburi Girls' Secondary School and enrolled at the Accra Polytechnic before deciding to change her career path.

One day, during a class, her English teacher advised her to enrol at GIJ, explaining that journalism would be more suitable for her.

When Solicity Amankwa-Taylor began her studies in Environmental and Safety Engineering at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), she knew that completing her degree would require hard work and sacrifice.

What she did not anticipate was how quickly her family’s financial circumstances would change.

Her father had lost his job, her elder brother was also pursuing tertiary education, and her mother’s business had become the family’s main source of income.

The solid links between culture, sound business initiatives and international cooperation were among the salient issues that emerged at the launch of the Ghana Food & Arts Festival (GFAF) on March 27, 2026, at the GNAT Hall in Accra.

Organised by Cultural Tribes Event LLC, led by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Derick Nii Adawu Abbey, the festival then spread its wings to Kortrijk in Belgium in September 2026.

It is currently gearing up for another splash of fine quality Ghanaian foods and arts in Barcelona, Spain, from November 24 to November 26, 2026.

When we were teens, my brother and I used to pluck mangoes “illegally” from a neighbour’s compound. 

We were not the only culprits, other teens in the neighbourhood did, too. When the mango season was due, we would go and pelt two particular trees with stones, again and again.

Year after year, it was noticeable. Anytime we barged into that compound, it was the same two trees that took the beating. The others stood there as though they didn’t exist.

In Ghanaian culture and traditions, every adult is expected to marry and, among others, continue the lineage. In the past, it was the duty of parents to find partners for their children.

They would search the community for a prospective partner and do a thorough search on the person and his or her extended family to ensure he or she would be a good life partner. The search was localised, so most people ended up marrying within their tribe.

Your parents get you a partner, and you accept him or her. Such marriages tended to be stable even when the partners had never met or courted.

Dear Mirror Lawyer, I had a son about 12 years ago with an accountant who has refused to take responsibility for him since birth. I have raised my son alone, from pregnancy to the age of 12.

My woes worsened when scammers convinced me to invest in a scheme that promised high returns and subsequently took all my money. 

All efforts to get my son’s father to help have fallen on deaf ears. Please, Lawyer, advise me on the steps to take to ensure he takes care of his child.

Comfort Odoom, 
Nkawkaw, Kwahu.

Pink ribbons continue to herald the month of October as World Breast Cancer Awareness Month to remind all of us that breast cancer is still with us.

Perhaps the need to draw attention to breast examinations is ever more pressing, as increasingly, younger people are being diagnosed with this condition.

This year's theme is "Every story is unique, every journey matters." Worldwide, over 2.3 million new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year.  

Locally made metal trunk sellers in Accra say their businesses are going through a difficult period as more senior high school (SHS) students opt for suitcases, leaving traders with unsold stock.

The sellers, some of whom have been in the trade for decades, attribute the decline in demand for trunks to changing consumer preferences, the inclusion of suitcases on school prospectuses and the sale of school supplies on campuses.

After 30 years of division caused by a protracted chieftaincy dispute, the people of Atronie, a farming community in the Sunyani Municipality, have honoured one of their sons, Mr Alex Boampong, for playing a key role in restoring peace and unity to the community.

Mr Boampong, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of road construction firm Alexiboam Company Ltd, was presented with a citation and a cow at a community durbar in recognition of his role in resolving the 30-year-old dispute and his continued support for the welfare and development of the people.

Every few weeks, a new hair growth product seems to take over social media. One person claims an oil helped her hair grow within months, while another shares before-and-after pictures showing how her thinning edges have become fuller. Then come the videos from influencers of bald patches filling in and short hair growing noticeably longer.

Reviewed by Hadiza Nuhhu-Billa Quansah
Author: Dr Albert Antwi-Boasiako
Pages: 338
Publisher: G-Pak Ltd

On Friday, October 9, 2026, Mr Emmanuel Kojo Kwarteng became a lawyer, adding the legal profession to a diverse career spanning journalism, marketing, corporate communications, public relations, banking, authorship, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and community service. 

Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan carried out their first joint engagement on Thursday, October 15, since their surprise move back to the UK in August.

King Charles III's 42-year-old younger son and Meghan, 45, who left Britain and quit royal duties in 2020 amid a bitter royal family feud, were greeted with cheers before they chatted and joked with well-wishers in the central city of Nottingham.

More than 50 years after the first crewed moon landing, American businessman, Jeff Bezos has a straightforward explanation for why returning to the lunar surface remains so difficult. 

The Amazon founder says the United States devoted almost 3 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to the effort in 1969, making Apollo an exceptionally expensive national project.

During an October 2026 interview with Fox News presenter Bret Baier, Bezos argued that the next phase of exploration must take a different approach.