President sends condolences to José Eduardo dos Santos' family

 Luanda - The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, on Saturday presented condolences to the family of the former Angolan Head of State, José Eduardo dos Santos.

"The Head of State called Mrs. Ana Paula dos Santos this Saturday," said the official Facebook page of the Presidency of the Republic.

The former Angolan president died this Friday in Spain, at the age of 79, victim of illness.

José Eduardo dos Santos came to power in September 1979, following the death of Angola's first president, António Agostinho Neto.

He held the office of President of the Republic for 38 years, until September 2017, when he was succeeded by the current Head of State, João Lourenço.

Besides being President of the Republic, he was Commander-in-Chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and President of the MPLA, the party that has ruled the country since the proclamation of national independence on 11 November 1975.

His political record also includes the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs and other functions in the State and in MPLA.

He led the process that culminated with the signing of the Peace Accords, on the 4th April 2002, following the death of the then UNITA founding leader, Jonas Savimbi.

2022 Elections: Constitutional Court publishes candidate’s definitive lists

 Luanda - The Constitutional Court (TC) published this Saturday the definitive lists of the eight candidates admitted to the August general elections in Angola.

The lists include the candidacies of seven political parties and one coalition, namely MPLA, UNITA, CASA-CE, PRS, FNLA, APN, PHA and P-NJANGO.

According to a source at the TC, the lists are available on the Internet and posted in the windows of the institution, and can be consulted by all citizens.

The announcement follows the conclusion of the analysis of the answers presented by the candidates during the phase of correction of insufficiencies or irregularities that took place from 26 June to 5 July this year.

The TC also verified the regularity of the files and the authenticity of the documents presented, as well as the ineligibility of the candidates.

At the end of the process, the TC shall send the list of accepted candidates to the National Electoral Commission (CNE).

Another copy is sent to the mandataries and, within 48 hours after the publication of the definitive lists, the CNE will draw lots to define the position in which the ballot papers will be placed.

Latin American countries mourn José Eduardo dos Santos' death

 Luanda - Several Latin American countries are mourning the passing away of Angola's former president, José Eduardo dos Santos, on Friday in Barcelona, Spain.

According to a statement issued by the Angolan embassy in Cuba, the Caribbean country mourns the death of former Angolan president, José Eduardo dos Santos, from 6 a.m. local time until midnight Saturday.

According to a decree published in the Granma newspaper, the official organ of the Cuban Communist Party and signed by the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz Canel Bermúdez, while this period is in force the national flag will be at half-mast in public buildings and military institutions.

On Twitter, the Cuban statesman regretted the unfortunate event and expressed his condolences to the people and the Angolan Government and to the family of former President José Eduardo dos Santos.

In another message, according to a note from the Angolan embassy in Cuba, addressed to President João Lourenço, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega recalled the moments shared with former President José Eduardo dos Santos.

The Prensa Latina news agency highlights on Saturday that the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, on behalf of his government lamented the death of the former Angolan statesman and highlighted his role in the anti-colonial struggle.

The Venezuelan statesman recalled the brotherhood, friendship and solidarity that José Eduardo dos Santos dedicated to the South American nation, especially, to the historical leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chávez.

"In this terrible time, Venezuela expresses to his family and friends, to the people and to the illustrious Government of the Republic of Angola, its sincere solidarity and heartfelt condolences, before the passing to eternity of this distinguished son of Africa," the document reads.

President increases to seven days national mourning

 Luanda - The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, changed from five to seven days the period of national mourning for the death of José Eduardo dos Santos.

The measure is contained in a new presidential decree, produced on Friday night, which revokes the previous one that set a five-day national mourning period.

José Eduardo dos Santos came to power in September 1979, following the death of Angola's first president, António Agostinho Neto.

He held the office of President of the Republic for 38 years, until September 2017, when he was succeeded by the current Head of State, João Lourenço.

Besides being President of the Republic, he was Commander-in-Chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and President of the MPLA, the party that has ruled the country since the proclamation of national independence on 11 November 1975.

His political record also includes the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs and other functions in the State and in MPLA.

He led the process that culminated with the signing of the Peace Accords, on the 4th April 2002, following the death of the then UNITA founding leader, Jonas Savimbi.

Canada hit by massive mobile and internet outage

 Canada's largest mobile and internet provider has suffered a major outage, with bank ATMs and emergency service hotlines affected.

Canada’s largest mobile and internet provider has suffered a major outage, with bank ATMs and emergency service hotlines affected.

Government operations have also been hit by the Rogers Communications issue. The company says it is working rapidly to resolve the nationwide problem.

“We know how important it is for our customers to stay connected,” the company said in a statement. It is not known what caused the outage, which is the second one in 15 months.

Rogers is the mobile carrier of nearly 11 million Canadians, with a stake in everything from hockey to cable television.

Toronto’s police department tweeted that some mobile phone users were having trouble calling the emergency services, despite it remaining “fully operational”.

“If the call connects please stay on the call as long as possible,” the force wrote, adding that people who cannot connect should call back.

Police in Ottawa tweeted: “If your call fails, please try again, or call from a landline or cellphone with another provider.″

The outages have also hit passport offices, courthouses and transit payment systems.

On-call medical employees for the Scarborough Health Network, which operates hospitals in Toronto, have been asked to come into work until the issue is resolved.

In the Quebec province, a Montreal court delayed a trial hearing for disgraced fashion mogul Peter Nygard after jail officials were unable to connect him to a videoconference system.

In urban areas, people have flocked to cafes and places with functioning Wi-Fi.

“There’s tonnes of people here with their laptops just working away ferociously, the same as they would at home, because they’ve got no service at home,” one Starbucks customer in Toronto told Reuters.

On Friday afternoon, the vice-president of Rogers told CBC that the company was still working to identify the “root cause” of the issue.

“As of now, we don’t have an ETA of when the problem will be fixed,” said Kye Prigg.

“I wouldn’t like to say whether it’s going to be fully online today or not,” he said, also declining to say whether cyberhackers may be to blame.

This is the second major outage to affect Rogers in just over a year. Last April, customers reported intermittent disruptions while trying to access data or place voice calls.

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