Half the time, when you talk about domestic tourism, the average compatriot doesn’t really know what hymn you are singing or which sheet you are singing it from.

In the spirit of the month of love, let us take a fun, soft approach. The point at hand is that we can make our people’s participation in tourism a bit more attractive. But this must be strategised.

I always love it when PaJohn Dadson romanticises his domestic travel initiatives with tags such as ‘Wango Wango’, ‘A Highlander Affair’, ' A Fling in the Brong’, ' Savannah Safari’, etc.

A fulfilling relationship is one of the best things that can happen to you. It offers companionship, support, unconditional love and shared decisions.

However, all the beauty in a relationship can quickly evaporate if one partner begins to control the other.

In fact, one of the most common reasons relationships fall apart is controlling behaviour.

We all know that since childhood, eating fruits and vegetables has been important for overall health; yet, do you know just how important it is? 

A well-balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables doesn't just benefit overall health; it plays an important role in maintaining a healthy urinary system as well. 

The headline for this week, “Patience is a strong virtue in finance”, is actually a direct quote from the headline of the August 19, 2016, edition.

Yes, almost 10 years ago, but it is still relevant today and, perhaps, will remain relevant for years to come. Why? You will soon find out!

I went back to this headline this week, mainly due to a statement from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the effect that a company that calls itself Mekanism Marketing Ltd., and was taking deposits from the public, was not licensed to engage in deposit-taking activities. 

When Maud Lindsay-Gamrat talks about food, she does not speak merely of meals — she speaks of systems, safety, dignity and opportunity.

As Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Atlantic Catering and Logistics Limited, she leads what has become Ghana’s foremost indigenous hospitality and logistics company.

Dear Mirror Lawyer, my six-year-old granddaughter, Elsie, is fascinated by the concept of law, equality and justice for all. Last week, she asked me an intriguing question. 'Granny, do the laws of America apply in Ghana?'

I laughed with joy, wondering how a six-year-old could ask such an intelligent question. Interestingly,

I too, do not know the answer to this question because it appears that we have a lot of similarities in our legal system. 

A lecturer stood out in my department when I was an undergraduate at the University of Ghana. He was the favourite of almost every student because of his unconventional approach to teaching.

Unlike other lecturers, he would mark our examination papers and interim assessments and share them with us. He would go ahead and ask anyone who felt unfairly assessed to come to his office for a remark.

What made his personality even more unique was that most of our lecturers were his former students in the same department. He not only taught them but also guided them on their path of career to stand at par with him! 

PLAN International Ghana has urged journalists to refrain from extracting stories from survivors of sexual violence while they are still in a state of trauma.

The Head of Programmes and Influencing at the organisation, Eric Ayaba, said such conduct was not only unprofessional but also deeply uncompassionate.

A SUSPECTED armed robber has been shot dead in a gun battle with police at Dormaa-Gonokrom, a border community in the Dormaa Municipality of the Bono Region.

According to the police, the incident occurred last Thursday during an intelligence-led operation targeting robbery gangs operating in the region.

While many people reach for a coffee the moment they wake up, the body’s real first need is just water.

After six to eight hours without fluids, your system is craving hydration.

Water is a necessary part of life. The body is 70 per cent water, so it is not surprising that you need to drink water every single day to maintain a healthy body. 

Valentine’s Day is a popular festive occasion, second only to Christmas. It is widely known as a celebration of love.

Ironically, the origin of Valentine’s Day is not entirely clear. For some, it is linked to birds that were seen flying in pairs in mid-February. 

Others associate it with an ancient fertility festival where people met and selected future partners. Some also believe it commemorates a priest who was killed because of his acts of kindness.

Dear Mirror Lawyer, do I need a lawyer to look over a contract to make it valid? Ama Owusu. 

Dear Ama, while it is prudent to have a lawyer look over a contract to ensure that your interests are well protected thereunder, a lawyer’s oversight over a contract is not what makes it valid. Generally, the following elements are determinants of whether a contract is valid and enforceable. 

Many years ago, when Mr John Ampao met his wife, Josephine, in Lagos, Nigeria, their dream was simple, like that of most immigrants — to work hard, earn a decent income and raise their family without struggle.

Life in Lagos was not easy, but it was promising. Mr Ampao, a trained visual artist, ran an art gallery where he created and sold paintings. Josephine, a food vendor, also supported the home while caring for their growing family.

Then one morning, everything started changing.

Kerosene is a widely used household fuel. It is a petroleum distillate and one of the most dangerous hydrocarbons. Besides their utility in cooking, especially among the poor, kerosene lamps (lanterns) are the primary source of lighting in our towns and villages.

The danger of kerosene in the household lies not in its inflammable property (which can easily be ignited and cause severe burns) but in its accidental ingestion by children. Other toxic effects of kerosene are attributable to its physical properties, including high volatility, low viscosity and low surface tension. 

Highly volatile compounds with low viscosity and low surface tension are more likely to be inhaled or aspirated into the respiratory system. Kerosene is poorly absorbed after ingestion (drinking), but absorption is rapid after inhalation or aspiration into the lungs.

Stacks of teddy bears, neatly wrapped gift boxes, and cartons of chocolates remain unsold in warehouses across Accra’s Central Business District, as Valentine’s Day vendors say the Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s (AMA) enforcement exercise is crippling their ability to cash in on the season of love.

The situation came to light during interactions between The Mirror and traders at Kingsway, Okaishie and around the COCOBOD area in Accra last Wednesday.

Vendors who had stocked up heavily in anticipation of February 14 fear they may not recover the capital invested in the seasonal trade.

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana (EPCG), Rt Rev. Dr Lt Col Bliss Kofi Agbeko (retd), has cautioned young people against engaging in promiscuous acts during Valentine’s Day celebrations, stressing that the occasion was never intended to promote casual or irresponsible sexual activity.

According to him, the celebration traces its origins to the 14th-century Roman Empire, where it was associated with fertility rites known as Lupercalia. The rites involved sacrifices and purification rituals believed to enhance fertility in women.

Who needs the pressure to pack all your love (and flowers and chocolates) into one day in February? This is the perfect year to ditch Valentine’s Day and lean into a less pressure-filled holiday. It’s time to embrace Galentine’s Day.

On Valentine's Day, there's the temptation to believe that somewhere out there is "The One": a soulmate, a perfect match, the person you were meant to be with.

Across history, humans have always been drawn to the idea that love isn't random. In ancient Greece, Plato imagined that we were once whole beings with four arms, four legs and two faces, so radiant that Zeus split us in two; ever since, each half has roamed the earth searching for its missing other, a myth that gives the modern soulmate its poetic pedigree and the promise that somewhere, someone will finally make us feel complete.

It has been 14 years since Mark Essien launched his first startup, Hotels.ng. He is, by all accounts, an OG tech bro in Nigeria, having raised $1.2 million for the company at the time.

Hotels.ng has not just survived; it has thrived over the years, recording about 20,000 orders a month.

“Hotels.ng is doing great. I would consider it a stable, profitable business. It helped me understand the African travel space and build the required relationships,” Essien says.

This keen understanding of the African travel space is why his new startup, Tripdesk — an AI-driven travel management platform, has already generated $2.3 million in revenue just four months after launch.

Interestingly, about 30% of this revenue is profit.

The world is entering an era of "global water bankruptcy" with rivers, lakes, and aquifers depleting faster than nature can replenish them, a United Nations research institute said on Tuesday.

It argues that decades of overuse, pollution, environmental destruction, and climate pressure have pushed many water systems so beyond the point of recovery that a new classification was required.

"Water stress and water crisis are no longer sufficient descriptions of the world's new water realities," read a new report by the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH).

These terms were "framed as alerts about a future that could still be avoided" when the world had already moved into a "new phase", it said.

Our brains age along with the rest of our bodies, and as they do, they produce fewer new brain cells. Now, researchers have found a key mechanism through which the typical age-related decline in neuron production might be slowed.

In later life, the neural stem cells (NSCs) that turn into fully fledged neurons become more dormant – almost as if they're going into retirement after a long lifetime of service. As that happens, cognitive decline creeps in.

A major reason why NSC activity fades with age is the wear and tear on telomeres, the protective caps on the ends of DNA. Telomeres fray a little more each time a cell divides, and over time, this impairs cells' ability to grow and divide, leading to increasing cell death.