U.S. stocks close lower

U.S. stocks ended lower on Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 427.09 points, or 0.9 percent, to 47,289.33. The S&P 500 sank 36.46 points, or 0.53 percent, to 6,812.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 89.76 points, or 0.38 percent, to 23,275.92.

Eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in red, with utilities and health leading the laggards by dropping 2.35 percent and 1.49 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, energy and technology led the gainers by adding 0.91 percent and 0.07 percent, respectively.

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama has hailed the growing educational and cultural exchanges his country is enjoying with China, highlighting the role of Confucius Institutes and Chinese-funded infrastructure in building a stronger skilled workforce.

Mahama was speaking in an exclusive interview with the China Media Group (CMG) which aired on Friday. The Ghanaian President visited Beijing back in October to attend the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women, and also met with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his trip, with both leaders stressing the long history of friendship between the two nations.

In the CMG interview, Mahama said that the three Confucius Institutes established in the cities of Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast are helping to cement exchanges and open up new opportunities for young people, noting that the enthusiasm for learning Chinese is rapidly spreading across Ghana, reflecting a broader cultural and educational engagement between the two sides.

"[When students return from training programs in China,] they come back with the skills that they acquired in China. And there's a good colony of Chinese speakers. And so it's interesting, when Chinese companies come in and establish industries, sometimes they don't need to bring Chinese people to Ghana, they find a pool of Ghanaians who are qualified and can speak Chinese. So it makes it very easy for them to employ them and be able to carry out their work," Mahama said.

He also drew attention to China's contribution to Ghana's higher education sector, singling out the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) in the Volta Region, which is helping nurture a new generation of medical professionals.

"The campus of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, that's training a lot of doctors, paramedics and other specialists. [It] was funded by China and that is one of our public universities that has a good reputation and is performing very well. And that was based on friendship," Mahama said.