Luanda - Angolan head of State João Lourenço will inaugurate Monday (Jan. 23) the Satellite Control and Mission Centre as part of the National Space Strategy.
This was announced Friday by the Press Department of the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication.
The country had recently witnessed the successful launch of its ANGOSAT-2 satellite in orbit.
The Satellite Control Centre, which is based in Luanda’s Funda locality, was built in a total area of 6,617 square metres.
The three-floor infrastructure has 47 compartments and duly equipped with technical and technological means.
ANGOSAT-2 was launched on 12 October, 2022 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, which has been into orbit at position 23E.
Chelsea have reportedly had a £55 million offer for Moises Caicedo rejected by Brighton.
The Blues made an official offer in writing for the midfielder, according to The Athletic, but the Seagulls have turned down the London team’s approach because they have no interest in selling him this month. Chelsea hope to reunite Caicedo with his former coach Graham Potter, but their offer was far below the figure that would convince Brighton to consider letting him leave in the January transfer window.
The Stamford Bridge side want to strengthen in midfield in the winter market, especially as they have won just one of their last five matches. They are, at least, set to add another young star to their ranks as Noni Madueke will join from PSV in a £30.5 million ($38m) deal. Potter’s team are in action again on Saturday when they face Liverpool at Anfield.
Some opposition leaders and Sonko’s supporters fear the case is an attempt by Senegal’s president to remove a potentially popular rival.
Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko will face trial on charges of rape and making death threats to a beauty salon employee in 2021, an investigating judge has said.
The judge referred the matter to Senegal’s criminal chamber for trial in a letter dated January 17 and seen by Reuters news agency on Wednesday.
Sonko’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the 48-year-old politician has previously denied all the charges.
A trial could jeopardise his intention to compete in the 2024 presidential election. Sonko, who came third in the 2019 election, has announced he will run.
It could also stoke political tensions in Senegal. Clashes broke out in the country in March 2021 when Sonko was initially summoned by the investigating judge and arrested.
Sonko is accused of sexually assaulting a woman who worked in a massage parlour and later threatening her. He and his backers say the trial is politically motivated to eliminate him from the presidential race.
He enjoys widespread support among Senegalese youth, many of who are frustrated with the government as unemployment and economic hardship have remained high, leading to sporadic and sometimes violent protests.
Cries of “Macky Sall is a dictator” rang out in Dakar during one protest in July 2022.
El Hadj Diouf, lawyer for the plaintiff, said his client was delighted by the judge’s decision.
“It does not come as a surprise. We have nothing to hide,” he told Reuters by telephone.
Some opposition leaders and Sonko’s supporters fear the case is an attempt by Senegal’s President Macky Sall, 61, to remove a potentially popular rival if he decides to seek a third term amid dwindling support.
Sall’s government has rejected the accusation saying the matter is for the courts to handle.
Other rivals have been the subject of criminal charges in the past, including former Dakar Mayor Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade, the son of former President Abdoulaye Wade, eliminating them from the 2019 presidential race.
Sall’s second term will be up in 2024. He has not said whether he will run for a third term.
Berlin- African Union (AU) Commissioner Josefa Correia Sacko said in Berlin that the transformation agenda for Africa's food systems outlined rapid expansion of agricultural production and productivity to ensure access to nutritious food for the continent.
The African diplomat, who was speaking at the Global Forum on Food and Agriculture (GFFA), taking place on January 18-21, spoke of the importance of boosting financing for investment to strengthen and harness Africa's growing food market.
Josefa Sacko underlined that priority areas call for targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the informal sector in agri-food value chains, especially those operated by women.
"It is our collective responsibility to outline, define specific policies to ensure SMEs' access to technologies and innovation, better seeds, mechanisation, irrigation, digitalisation and access to information on inputs, prices, markets, climate and land use," Sacko said.
Josefa Sacko spoke of the importance of a fact-findings to aid strengthen the two-decade ambition of the African Union, to boost financing for public and private investment in agriculture, through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) an initiative instituted by the African Heads of State and Government.
The fact-findings, the AU commissioner said, would require foreign funding to progressively move towards direct investments in the form of capital, technology transfer and market share.
"We need more funding for public-private investment in specific infrastructure for agricultural and food systems, including rural roads, mobile technologies, water and power generation and distribution," Sacko said.
The Angolan diplomat added that initiatives to increase consumption of micronutrient-rich foods, such as biofortification of staple foods and industrial fortification and home school feeding are to be promoted and expanded.
Sacko said the African Union is focused on the promotion and enforcement of food safety standards in formal and informal markets.
Josefa Sacko pointed out as one of the main focuses of the AU intervention, the strengthening of national and regional research and development capacities for sustainable production, processing, marketing and consumption of traditional and indigenous food crops, which have proven to be climate resilient over the years.
The AU commissioner acknowledged that the interconnected shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, the worsening effects of climate change and conflicts, including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war are aggravating a situation that endangers the goals of sustainable development by the year 2030.
She said despite the crisis, the African Union Commission and the Federal Republic of Germany have reached an agreement to expand and intensify cooperation on sustainable food systems.
The agreement will focus on the global challenges of climate change, agriculture and agriculture-sensitive nutrition, transformation of food systems, agri-food processing standards, as well as strengthened partnerships between German and African actors in food systems.
The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) is the leading international conference on key future issues facing global agriculture and the food industry. The event is hosted by the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture and takes place under the motto "Creating the future of food systems together".
Luanda – Angolan head of State João Lourenço Friday in Luanda accredited nine ambassadors, including three residents.
João Lourenço received Credentials from Lukas Gasser of Switzerland, Kakala Mayiba (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Suzuky Toru of Japan.
The non-resident ambassadors accredited include Miguel Gonzalez of the Dominican Republic, Lennart Larsson (Kingdom of Sweden), Claude Morel (Seychelles) and Francisco Branco of Republic of East Timor.
The list also features Abdi Eybe and Romana Konigsbrun, from the Republics of Djibouti and Austria respectively.
Speaking to the press, the Swiss ambassador reiterated his country's support in the fight against corruption and the recovery of Angola’s assets through legal cooperation between the two States.
With 29-years of career, Lukas Gasser said that the understanding signed about a year and a half ago secures the continuation of legal cooperation in the fight against corruption.
The ambassador, who has already worked in Caracas, Warsaw, Yerevan and Amman, also praised the presence of Swiss companies in the development of the Angolan economy, foreseeing an increase in trade between the two countries.
Graduated in Social Communication, the new DRC ambassador praised the performance of the Angolan Head of State in the search for solutions to restore peace in the region, with emphasis on the East of his country.
He considered the conflict in eastern DRC as a war imposed on the peaceful Congolese people.
The Congolese diplomat referred that relations between the two countries are very good, aimed at consolidating socio-cultural, scientific and university exchanges.
The new head of the Japanese diplomatic mission, who has already worked in Norway and Australia, pledged to promote a greater presence of private investment, to strengthen the Angolan economy.
Heavy weaponry is promised to support Kyiv’s ‘heroic resistance’ against Russia, despite Moscow’s threats.
The United States and some of its European allies have announced significant new arms donations to Ukraine, including armoured vehicles and heavy weaponry, ahead of a crucial meeting on bolstering the country’s defences nearly a year after Russia invaded.
The US said its package of military support – which includes armoured personnel carriers, air defence systems and tens of thousands of rockets and artillery rounds – was worth some $2.5bn. There will be 59 Bradley Fighting Vehicles and 90 Stryker Armoured Personnel Carriers, the US Defense Department said in a statement on Thursday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was a “significant new security assistance package to help Ukraine continue to defend itself against Russia’s brutal war.” The latest package brings US military assistance for Ukraine to some $27.4bn, he added.
Earlier, the United Kingdom, in a joint statement with defence ministers and representatives of nine European countries, said it would send 600 Brimstone missiles to Kyiv, while Denmark promised 19 French-made Caesar howitzers, and Sweden its Archer artillery system, a modern mobile howitzer Ukraine has been requesting for months.
“We recognise that equipping Ukraine to push Russia out of its territory is as important as equipping them to defend what they already have,” the statement said.
“Together we will continue supporting Ukraine to move from resisting to expelling Russian forces from Ukrainian soil. The new level of required combat power is only achieved by combinations of main battle tank squadrons, beneath air and missile defence, operating alongside divisional artillery groups, and further deep precision fires enabling targeting of Russian logistics and command nodes in occupied territory.”
The announcements came ahead of a meeting of defence and other officials from some 50 countries, including all 30 members of NATO, at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany to discuss support for Kyiv amid brutal battles in Ukraine’s east and Russia’s continued air attacks on its cities.
Looking ahead to the German talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late on Thursday that Kyiv expected “strong decisions” from the meeting.
“We are, in fact, now waiting for a decision from one European capital, which will activate the prepared chains of cooperation regarding tanks,” Zelenskyy said in a video address.
“We are preparing for the Ramstein meeting tomorrow. We are expecting strong decisions. We are expecting a powerful military aid package from the United States,” he added.
Pressure on Germany to provide its modern Leopard 2 tanks is intensifying, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government so far appearing reluctant to authorise their transfer for fear of provoking Moscow. Germany has veto power over any potential transfer.
The Kremlin warned on Thursday that sending heavy weapons capable of striking Russian territory would be construed as an escalation.
“Potentially, this is extremely dangerous,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “It will mean bringing the conflict to a whole new level which, of course, will not bode well from the point of view of global and pan-European security.”
Ukraine and Russia have both relied primarily on Soviet-era T-72 tanks, which have been destroyed in their hundreds during the war that began on February 24 last year when Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops across the border in what he continues to call a “special military operation”.
Denmark is among nine European countries, all NATO members, offering more heavy weaponry to Ukraine. The Danes said they would send the Caesar howitzer weapon system [File: Henning Bagger and Ritzau Scanpix/AFP]
Fearing the colder months will give Russian forces time to regroup and unleash a significant attack, Ukraine has stepped up calls on its allies to increase assistance.
During his trip to Washington, DC in December, Zelenskyy told the US Congress that supporting Ukraine was not charity but an investment in democracy.
Berlin on Thursday appeared to leave open the prospect of allowing allies to supply Ukraine with the requested tanks, saying the situation would “become clear in the next few hours or tomorrow morning”.
Lithuania’s defence minister, Arvydas Anusauskas, told the AFP news agency that “some countries will send” Leopard tanks to Ukraine, promising “more news tomorrow” at the talks.
Ukraine’s Western allies have been reluctant to transfer heavier weapons to avoid NATO appearing to confront Russia directly, but officials in Kyiv say tanks are crucial if Ukraine is to recapture land occupied by the Russians and defend itself from further attacks.
“From Washington to London, from Paris to Warsaw, you hear one thing: Ukraine needs tanks. Tanks are the key to ending the war properly. It is time to stop trembling before Putin and take the final step,” Zelenskyy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, CIA Director William Burns travelled in secret to Kyiv to meet Zelenskyy, a US official told the Reuters news agency on Thursday, declining to say when the visit took place.
The Washington Post, which first reported Burns’s trip, said the CIA director was in Ukraine at the end of last week and briefed Zelenskyy on how the US sees Russia setting its military plans in the coming weeks and months.
Fighting continued to be most intense in the eastern industrial region known as the Donbas, Ukrainian military officials said on Thursday night.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Russian forces shelled the town of Bakhmut, Russia’s main focus in the Donetsk province, which combined with the Luhansk province form the Donbas region.
Soledar, about 20 km (12 miles) from Bakhmut, also came under fire. Russian forces say they control the town, which is renowned for its salt mines, while Ukraine says its military is still fighting there.
Nearby towns also were shelled by Russian forces – including Klishchiivka, just south of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian military said. Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Russian mercenary army, said his forces have taken control of Klishchiivka, a claim contested by Ukraine.
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