Conference on Statistics recommends sharing of technological resources

Luanda – The promotion of the sharing of technological, laboratory, pedagogical and sports resources, among the Ministries of Education of the Member States of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), is part of the recommendations issued by the II International Conference on the Statistics Offices of Education.

The event took place in Luanda, from the 16th to the 18th of August, with the goal of presenting the status of the production of statistics and the main indicators of education in the community.

It also recommended the creation of adequate conditions for data collection in schools, in order to support the teaching and learning processes and evaluation.

It was also evident the need for the Ministries of Education of the Member States to guarantee the conditions of accessibility and permanence of students in schools so that they adapt to the process of integration and inclusion, avoiding the categorization and differentiation of students.

With regard to the Project for the Recovery and Acceleration of Schools in Regular Education (PRAEER), they concluded that Angola can implement using bilingual classes, depending on the specificities of each province.

Therefore, it was recommended the need to strengthen teacher training in order respond to the learning challenges of students enrolled in PRAEER classes.

Among other matters, it was also recommended, the creation of specific services for the collection and processing of statistical data in schools.

At the end of the conference, the Minister of Education of Angola, Luísa Grilo, said that the meeting generated the expected results, underlining the need of joint efforts to comply with the recommendations.

With regard to the Round Table, the activities to be carried out within the framework of the Work Plan (2022-2024) of the Group of National Experts on the Production of Education Statistics of the CPLP, for the continuous improvement of statistical production, were presented.

In this regard, the experts must approve the 2022-2024 work plan by August 28, 2023.

The CPLP includes Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor.

ANM/ART/DOJ

Public sector companies generate profits in the order of 67.7 percent

Talatona – Companies in the Public Business Sector (SEP) recorded, in 2022, profits of around 67.7%, corresponding to 2,661.5 billion kwanzas, a growth of 17.1% compared to 2021.

With these results, the State received dividends amounting to 2.2 billion kwanzas.

In 2021, profits, before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITA), were 2,273.8 billion kwanzas, with dividends of around 1.84 billion.

According to data presented on Friday by the Minister of Finance, Vera Daves de Sousa, the proportion of companies with approved accounts without reservations was 32.4%, an increase of 13.6 percentage points, compared to the 18, 8% from the previous year.

Vera Daves, who was speaking at the opening ceremony of the presentation of the aggregate report of the public business sector, referring to 2022, said that the country continues recording a high flow of State resources to companies, in the form of operating subsidies and capitalization.

Such operations together required 466 billion kwanzas from the General State Budget (OGE) for 2022.

As a counterpoint to this magnitude of resources, which are still spent by the State, the official made it known that the dividends received were in the order of 2.2 billion kwanzas.

For Vera Daves de Sousa, it is fair to recognize that these numbers remove full visibility to the work that has been carried out in terms of management and financial results of some public companies, which are beginning to pay dividends to the State.

However, according to the minister, it is necessary for SEP companies to contribute more to the economy, because, in her view, it is unreasonable that the aggregate assets of the sector correspond to 51.4% of the nominal Gross Domestic Product and, however, the annual turnover it generates corresponds to just 16.9% of the same indicator.

Vera Daves explained that the reform of the public business sector highlights the need to improve the financial autonomy of companies, eliminate permanent sources of fiscal risk and create the right incentives for companies to be profitable and pay dividends to State.

“We intend, more and more, to abandon the logic of subsidies and permanent recapitalizations and to rationalize the resources allocated to companies in the public business sector, within a framework of rigor, discipline and parsimony that, in general, are imposed on the execution of public expenditure”, the minister said.

For this reason, Vera Daves defends that companies in which the State is a shareholder should seek to be more efficient in their operations, maximize the profitability of their assets and promote the development of the national economy.

KAM/MAG/NE/DOJ

Brazil’s Lula da Silva reiterates support for Angola's development

 Luanda - Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed Thursday in Brasília his availability to continue contributing to the development of Angola.

Lula da Silva made the pledge during the hand over ceremony ofcredentials by the new Angolan ambassador to Brazil, Manuel Eduardo Bravo.

 

The Brazilian president pointed out the need to leverage the partnership and speed up the implementation of projects of common interest.

 

Lula da Silva expressed his satisfaction at visiting Angola in the coming days, an opportunity that, as he stressed, will serve to restart a new era between both countries and overcome the “lethargy” of a recent past, according to a press note from Angolan Embassy in that country.

 

While the diplomat, who praised the centuries-old relations between the two fraternal peoples, described the President Lula da Silva's state visit to Angola as a historic milestone in the deepening of Bilateral Cooperation.

 

The Angolan diplomat is also a non-resident ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, countries where, in the near future, he will also have to present Letters of Credence.

 

Cooperation between Angola and Brazil began to take shape on June 11, 1980, with the signing of the Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation Agreement.

 

Angola and Brazil developed their cooperation in the areas of health, culture, public administration, professional training, education, environment, sports, statistics and agriculture.

 

Available data put bilateral trade at US$700 million in 2022.

 

Brazil was the first country in the world to recognise Angola's independence, proclaimed on November 11, 1975. SC/TED/NIC

2.6 Seism hits Lubango city

Lubango – The municipality of Lubango, in the southern Huila Province, on Friday (18) was shaken by a 2.6 magnitude Seism, a moderate tremor in the Ritcher scale, whose epicentre was detected on the southeast part of the city.

According to a communiqué from the National Meteorology and Geophysics Institute, the tremor happened at around 8.30 am.

The available data indicate that the mild quake did not cause human or material damages.    

To remind that two similar tremors happened in Huila’s Caluquembe municipality in 2017, first in January and then in October.

MS/jmc

Niger Becomes Hotbed Of Disinformation After July 26 Coup

Since the July 26 coup, Niger has become the latest hotbed of disinformation in the troubled Sahel region as West African powers grapple with crafting a response to the political crisis.

From false rumours and misleading videos to manipulated audio clips, more than a dozen social media claims either backing or discrediting the coup leaders after they toppled President Mohamed Bazoum, have been debunked.

Soon after his removal, amateur footage of a large march surfaced online purporting to show a pro-Bazoum rally in Niger’s capital Niamey on August 6. In reality, the clip was filmed on the day of the president’s removal from power.
Another viral video allegedly featured Niger’s deposed finance minister crying after coup leaders gave him an ultimatum to account for missing funds or face death.

But Agence French Presse found the clip was from 2021 and in fact showed Niger’s former Justice Minister Marou Amadou expressing his gratitude to ex-President Mahamadou Issoufou.
Misleading reports about foreign interference in the crisis are rising as uncertainty mounts over the possibility of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) using military force to reverse the coup.

The regional bloc, chaired by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, was quick to condemn Bazoum’s removal and pile sanctions on Niamey days after the takeover, with Nigeria – Niger’s main electricity provider – cutting off supplies.

There were also false claims about French fighter jets landing in Senegal to support a possible ECOWAS intervention, or about fighters from the Russian mercenary group Wagner and Burkinabe troops arriving in Niger to support the new leaders.
The coup meant landlocked Niger joined neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso to become the third Sahel country to experience a coup in as many years.

Like elsewhere in the region, anti-French sentiment has been rising in Niger. Its new military leaders have the support of fellow ex-French colonies Mali and Burkina Faso, which have turned their backs on Paris in favour of closer Moscow ties.

In May, Bazoum told British newspaper The Independent that Wagner had been sponsoring “disinformation campaigns against us”.

Some analysts, however, said there were few signs of organised, large-scale offensives aimed at spreading false content as seen in other African nations.
Disinformation about post-coup Niger did not seem “particularly well coordinated or centrally managed”, said Ikemesit Effiong, an analyst at the geopolitical consultancy SBM Intelligence in Nigeria.

Nonetheless, coup supporters have “largely amplified the threat of conflict with ECOWAS, particularly Nigeria as well as France, to mobilise support online and on the ground” in a region where “anti-imperialist and anti-Western views are popular and an easy sell”, Effiong said.

Experts told AFP that the spread of disinformation targeting Niger mirrored a pattern already witnessed elsewhere on the continent: it usually originates on encrypted platforms like Telegram and WhatsApp before being shared on other social media apps.

Moreover, several anti-French and pro-Russian accounts that post propaganda about Mali and Burkina Faso have also promoted false claims about Niger.
One such actor is the Pan-African Group for Trade and Investment (GPCI), a media firm founded by pro-Russian businessman Harouna Douamba, originally from Burkina Faso.

The GPCI is at the heart of a vast network of websites and Facebook pages pushing disinformation to further stoke tensions, according to the All Eyes on Wagner investigative consortium.

For instance, AFP found that one of its accounts recently alleged that France was preparing a “plot to destabilise” Niger and arm “terrorists”.

The GPCI also posted warnings about an imminent military intervention on “suspicious sites involved in spreading disinformation” in Chad and Nigeria, for example, according to a French analyst who runs the well-known Casus Belli account on X (formerly Twitter), which monitors suspicious content in Africa.

The analyst, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, said the pan-Africanist TV channel Afrique Media was also involved in the disinformation drive.

The Cameroon-based broadcaster has partnered with state-owned Russia Today and regularly reports on Wagner operations in Africa.

On August 9, the channel shared a video purporting to show Bazoum looking relaxed after allegedly signing a resignation letter.

However, the deposed leader has been held prisoner at his home since July 26, with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denouncing “the deplorable living conditions that President Bazoum and his family are reported to be living under”.

The current wave of disinformation is as much the work of local actors as of foreign influences, said Maixent Some, a Burkinabe financial analyst who tracks Africa-linked disinformation on social media.
“There was an anti-French feeling long before the arrival of Russia” and Moscow was able to capitalise on this sentiment, he told AFP.

Meanwhile, some analysts said pan-African activists are using their alliance with Russia to further “personal agendas”, including political ambitions.

Source: Aljazeera

………………………………………………………

IHRC Africa Boss Given A New Additional Appointment With A Permanent Portfolio

 IHRC Chief today holds the interactive meeting with His Excellency Ambassador Zein Abu, the IHRC Africa Chairman to confer on him the permanent portfolio of Senior Deputy Chairman of the International Human Rights Commission (IGO) as the Head of Africa Region.

Both discussed the working of the Commission in the company of the Directorate on the enhancement as well as the active working mechanism of the organization in Africa.
They also discussed the forthcoming 7th World Summit on Human Rights 2023 to be held in Geneva, Switzerland to oversea all arrangements and active participation of the sponsor states.

IHRC Chief will announce the Summit dates in the coming week after final consultation with the foreign ministers of the sponsor states.
They concluded that the IHRC Africa Region will remain both an administrative support charter and the IGO’s heartbeat for the Organisation’s major resolutions.

The IHRC Africa’s Headquarters which is in Accra will facilitate and accommodate conferences, provide syndicate offices, plenary session rooms and administrative settings for member states representatives as well as project desks in a 3,000 Square meter 2 storey facility.

The IHRC Chief praised the consistent growth of the IHRC Africa fostered by its very experienced Directors and their collaborators and look forward to the launch of its Development Partners effort in the the coming months

Source: Peacefmonline.com

………………………………………………………

Woman who posted ricin poison to Trump in 2020 jailed for almost 22 years

Pascale Ferrier, 56, pleaded guilty to biological weapons charges for sending ricin in 2020 to then-US President Trump.

A woman was sentenced to 262 months – almost 22 years – in prison for sending threatening letters containing homemade ricin poison to then-President Donald Trump at the White House in 2020, the US Justice Department said.

Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier, 56 a dual citizen of Canada and France, pleaded guilty to violating biological weapons laws earlier this year for sending highly toxic ricin-filled letters to Trump and eight Texas state law enforcement officials, the Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday.

Ferrier had been detained in Texas for 10 weeks in 2019 and she believed the law enforcement officers were responsible for her detention, the Justice Department said in a statement. She had also used the Twitter social media platform “to propose that someone should ‘please shoot [T]rump in the face’,” the department added.

The toxic envelope addressed to Trump was intercepted in September 2020 at the White House mail sorting facility in Washington, where US Postal Service personnel flagged it as suspicious and contacted the FBI, according to an FBI affidavit filed then with the charging documents.

In an unrelated case, letters laced with ricin were also sent in 2013 to then-US President Barack Obama and then-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Ferrier, who was arrested two days after posting the letter, admitted that she had made ricin at her residence in Quebec, Canada, prosecutors said. Ricin is a deadly poison made from castor beans.

Prosecutor Michael Friedman said the sentence was an “appropriately harsh punishment” that sends a clear message.

Ferrier’s defence lawyer Eugene Ohm said his client had no prior criminal record and was an “inordinately intelligent” French immigrant who had earned a master’s degree in engineering and raised two children as a single parent.

But, in September 2020, prosecutors said Ferrier made the ricin and posted it to Trump with a letter that referred to him as “The Ugly Tyrant Clown” and read in part: “If it doesn’t work, I’ll find better recipe for another poison, or I might use my gun”.

The letter also told Trump to “give up and remove your application for this election”.

In a winding speech, Ferrier told the judge that she considers herself a “peaceful and genuinely kind person”, but became angry about problems such as unfairness, abuses of power and “stupid rules”.

She spoke about feeling like she had done little to support her values while her children were young, and considered herself to be an “activist” rather than a “terrorist”.

She expressed little remorse but said, “I want to find peaceful means to achieve my goals.”

US District Judge Dabney Friedrich handed down the 262-month sentence outlined in a plea agreement with prosecutors, which also expels Ferrier from the country once she is released from prison and requires her to be under supervised release for life if she ever returns to the US.

The judge noted a “real disconnect” between the Canadian grandmother who has worked towards another degree while behind bars and the crimes Ferrier pleaded guilty to. She pushed back on Ferrier’s framing of her actions as that of an activist.

“That isn’t really activism,” she said. “I hope you have no desire to continue on this path.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

………………………………………………………

Netherlands-Based Kenyan Woman Pens Heartfelt Letter to Dad Who Disowned Her at 3

 A young lady brought up by a single mum after her father abandoned her when she was three years old is ready to reunite with him. Fridah Mukiri Harriet said she was willing to meet her father, Zakayo Kinyua Mbaabu and reconcile despite the lost years.

Despite the challenging upbringing without him, she grew up to be a forgiving and understanding woman. The mum of one said regardless of the misunderstanding the father had with her mum, she was ready to put it behind them.

“I have forgiven you. I don’t care about the years lost because now I understand the best timing is always when everything aligns. So no future, no past. It wasn’t easy growing up without you, and I have suffered the consequences. I somehow feel now my daughter, your granddaughter deserves your presence. You have time to make it up.

Please don’t show up for me. I am all grown now to carry my cross. So little or nothing you can do for me now but show up for her. She is at the age when you left me. Bit older. I understand you left before I could even turn three years. She is six years. She has everything but doesn’t have you yet, so complete that circle for her and I will be happy,” Mukiri said.

The Netherlands-based woman said she was still proud of her father because she carried her father’s DNA.

Mukiri noted her mother taught her and her siblings not to speak ill of their absent father despite what happened.

“I still laugh though why she loved you this much. She somehow infected the whole love to us too. We have grown to be very wonderful girls,” she added.

The Meru-born lady said she would not want to be judgemental to her father.

“I want to protect my mum and my father, too, in the information I have provided. My dad knows our names since we have not changed them.

My daughter still has grandparents in the Netherlands, so she is not so lonely. She does not ask much about her grandfather, now my father, who is missing,” the 33-year-old lady added.

In another story, tears flew as a lady finally met her dad after 19 years during her return from the US.

A lady who was sent to the United States of America at two returned to her family after 19 years.

The Ethiopian lady, Kalkidan, said her father was the first to leave home in search of greener pastures, and they lost contact for over eight years.

Before Kalkidan’s father was found, she had already left home and travelled to America, where she lived until their reunion.

 by John Green

………………………………………………