"Phone Co. under probe...Foreign money missing, police suspect shady business", is the banner headline on the front page of the Times. The accompanying story says the Manhyia Police in Kumasi are conducting thorough investigations into the claim by the proprietor of a communications centre in Kumasi that huge sums of money were stolen from the centre about a fortnight ago. The monies were said to be 14 million cedis, 11,000 U.S. dollars, 1,200 pounds sterling and 5,500 CFA francs. The Times says it is the suspicion of the police that the centre doubles as an unlicensed foreign exchange bureau. According to the Times, police sources said at the weekend that Mr Akwasi Dapaah, proprietor of Gideon Communications Centre at Ashanti New Town, reported to the police the alleged burglary at the centre on November 29. GRI

In another front page story, the Times reports that the Ashanti Region recorded the highest number of fire outbreaks in the country, last year. The paper says the Regional Minister, Mr Daniel Ohene Agyekum, disclosed this on Friday at Sabronom in the Ahafo Ano South District when he launched the 1997/98 Ashanti Regional Fire Awareness Campaign. Mr Agyekum, the Times says, attributed the situation to the irresponsible and careless manner in which people handled fire to hunt for grasscutters and other rodents, and throw about lighted cigarette butts. He stressed the need to sustain the fire awareness campaign to make people know the harmful effects of fire outbreaks on rthe environment and the ecosystem. GRI

In a back page story, the Times reports that a 100 million-cedi endowment fund of the Ashanti Regional branch of the Ghana Journalists' Association (GJA), was launched in Kumasi at the weekend. The Times says the occasion coincided with the inauguration of the regional executive of the assocxiation. In an address, the deputy Minister of Communications, Mr John Mahama advised journalists not to write stories that are damaging to the country's image. He said Ghana has a higher internet penetration and stories written by journalists are read by a larger audience. Journalists, he said, must therefore be careful about what they write. Mr Mahama deplored the situation where certain stories written by journalists are based on fabrication and outright distortion. In his welcoming address, the regional chairman of the GJA, Mr Nehemia Owusu-Achiaw, outlined an action plan that will include continuing educational programmes for journalists in the region. GRI