Eight migrants drown after forced off boat by smugglers

 At least eight migrants have drowned and 12 are missing after human smugglers forced them off a boat near Djibouti, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Another 14 migrants survived and are receiving medical care, a statement said.

The migrants were all believed to be Ethiopians returning to the Horn of Africa after failing to reach Saudi Arabia via Yemen due to COVID-19 border closures.

The pandemic and the conflict in Yemen have made the journey to Gulf nations more dangerous, and some migrants have turned back.

“At least eight migrants have died and 12 are missing at sea after being forced off a boat by smugglers off the coast of Djibouti, Horn of Africa,” IOM spokesperson Yvonne Ndege said.

“According to eyewitness survivors, assisted by IOM, three smugglers violently forced the young men and women off the vessel while still at sea. Smugglers are known to exploit migrants on this route in this way, many having to pay or their families having to pay large sums to facilitate travel.”

Eight bodies washed ashore and were buried by authorities in Djibouti.

The IOM said some 2,000 migrants have arrived in Djibouti from Yemen in the past three weeks.

“This tragedy is a wake-up call,” added Ndege, warning that further tragedies could occur as hundreds of migrants are leaving Yemen every day on the precarious voyage by boat across the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

In 2017, up to 50 migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia were “deliberately drowned” when a smuggler forced them into the sea off Yemen’s coast.

And in 2018, at least 30 refugees and migrants died when a boat capsized off Yemen, the survivors reporting gunfire.

Mozambique President named Africa Oil & Power’s ‘Person of the Year’ for 2020

 FILIPE Nyusi, President of Mozambique, has been selected as Africa Oil & Power’s ‘Person of the Year’ for 2020 by Africa Oil & Power. This prestigious award is presented to exceptional individuals who display true leadership and innovative thinking in steering their countries or organisations to the forefront of the global energy sector.

President Nyusi has been at the helm of Mozambique’s energy sector during its many recent successes, including several multi-billion gas projects which are now in development in this Southern African country. These natural gas projects, once fully actualised, represent more than three times the country’s current GDP, with the Exxon-led Rovuma LNG project valued at $23.9bn, the country’s Total-led gas project valued at $23bn, and the $4.7bn Coral FLNG project, which is expected to reach first gas in 2022.

‘H.E. Filipe Nyusi has led the charge in creating an enabling environment in the energy industry and the broader economy that paved the way for extraordinary energy deals which Mozambique currently enjoys,’ said Jude Kearney, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Service Industries and Finance at the US Department of Commerce during the Clinton Administration and currently President of Kearney Africa Advisors. ‘I can think of no better individual in Africa’s energy space on whom to bestow this award. Mozambique has a bright future ahead as international gas projects drive new growth, job creation, economic development and prosperity,’ added Kearney.

Not only has President Nyusi been instrumental in the deals coming through, he has also helped drive a focus on national capacity building and has made sure the projects set aside natural gas for domestic use, setting the country on a path towards economic diversification and energy security.

‘H.E. President Filipe Nyusi has worked hard to create an environment that ensures that a strong gas industry will create jobs, boost entrepreneurship, protect our environment, diversify our economy for the benefit of all the citizens and generate much-needed revenue for the government. The President has made the energy sector a crucial component of the economic well-being of Mozambique,’ said Florival Mucave, CEO of the Mozambican Oil & Gas Chamber.

‘H.E. President Filipe Nyusi has taken Mozambique from a place of relative obscurity in the energy markets, to a place of leadership in the global natural gas industry,’ said Renée Montez-Avinir, Managing Director of AOP.  ‘His leadership has been instrumental in bringing these mega natural gas projects to fruition, providing vital investment security to close several multi-billion dollar deals. There is no doubt, the natural gas projects will transform Mozambique, bringing progress and prosperity to the entire country and placing Mozambique at the forefront of a global natural gas revolution,’ added Montez-Avinir.

In office since 2015, Nyusi has aggressively pursued an anti-corruption campaign; continued to lead the country in peace; and has successfully navigated the country through incredible challenges, including Tropical Cyclone Idai that struck Mozambique in 2019 and the economic fallout presented by Covid-19 this year.

Uganda reports blood shortages amid coronavirus pandemic

 Health authorities in Uganda say the supply of blood has sharply declined since the start of the coronavirus pandemic as fewer people donate and schools remain closed. The consequences are sometimes deadly.

Students, especially those in secondary school, are the largest group of blood donors in the East African country but schools have been closed since March amid efforts to curb the spread of the virus.

This means the government agency charged with collecting blood is failing to meet its targets.

Dr. Emmanuel Batiibwe, the director of a hospital that looks after many of the poorest residents of the capital, Kampala, cited multiple deaths there in recent months related to blood shortages.

One victim was a woman with pregnancy complications. Children under 5 and patients going into surgery are also among those frequently in need of a blood transfusion, he said.

In July, Batiibwe’s China-Uganda Friendship Hospital received only 18 of a requisitioned 218 units of blood. The next month 68 of 217 units came in, he said.

“There’s a problem somewhere,” he said, calling the shortage a “disaster.”

The head of Uganda Blood Transfusion Services, Dr. Dorothy Byabazaire, told lawmakers earlier this year that her agency collected 56,850 units of a targeted 75,000 between April and July.

Facilities across the country submit blood orders to the agency, and there is a sharing mechanism among facilities in the event of emergencies. But “borrowing” blood can be time-consuming, Batiibwe said.

The Uganda Red Cross, which helps authorities to mobilize blood donors, said it hasn’t been easy to recruit donors during the pandemic. The country has confirmed more than 8,600 coronavirus cases, including 79 deaths.

“People don’t feed well anymore. People are stressed,” said spokeswoman Irene Nakasiita, adding that some willing, potential donors are turned away because their blood levels are too low.

Similar challenges were echoed by Ariho Franco, a donor recruiter for a blood bank operated by Kampala’s private Mengo Hospital, who said that while schools are closed they are focusing on public places. They have set up tents in locations such as the public square in central Kampala. Donors receive soda and cookies.

“The blood shortage is a serious problem because the few people who are out there that we are able to reach are unable to donate due to various reasons,” Franco said.

He said blood collection teams are facing challenges in finding donors among communities reeling from the economic impacts of the pandemic. Some people say they are not sure where their next meal will come from, he said.

“At the end of the day some people may only survive by the mercy of God since the little blood that will have been collected will only be reserved for serious emergencies,” he said.

Blood shortages have been reported elsewhere, including in parts of Europe.

Local media in Romania have cited fear of COVID-19 infections among the reasons for a decline in the number of blood donors. The cities of Iasi and Cluj face a dire situation as some cancer patients needing frequent transfusions and people needing urgent surgery have had to bring their own donors to survive.

Facebook Bans QAnon Conspiracy Theory Accounts Across All Platforms

 Facebook has banned all accounts linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory movement from its platforms.

“Starting today, we will remove Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts,” the company said on Tuesday.

The move is a significant escalation to Facebook’s earlier decision to remove or restrict groups and accounts sharing and promoting QAnon material.

QAnon is a conspiracy theory that says President Trump is waging a war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Facebook said its staff had begun removing content and deleting groups and pages, but that “this work will take time and will continue in the coming days and weeks”.

“Our Dangerous Organizations Operations team will continue to enforce this policy and proactively detect content for removal instead of relying on user reports,” the statement added.

Facebook said it was updating measures implemented in August, which aimed to “disrupt the ability of QAnon” to organise through – and operate on – its networks.

That policy – introduced to limit the risks to public safety posed by QAnon, “offline anarchist groups” and US-based militia organisations – resulted in restrictions on more than 1,950 Facebook groups and over 10,000 Instagram accounts.

This is a big move from Facebook, which has laid out how it plans to proactively remove all evolving QAnon content from its platforms.

It comes after I asked Facebook’s vice-president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, why the site still allows QAnon to spread political disinformation to US voters and beyond using hashtags like #SaveOurChildren.

Facebook’s first crackdown on this dangerous conspiracy theory focused on violent content plugged by those supporting it, removing a number of groups and pages.

But those supporting QAnon soon adapted, using new palatable hashtags to reach parent groups, local forums and the average Instagram feed. And the movement kept growing.

This latest move will be welcomed – but will also be very hard to enforce, especially since QAnon has become so big and spread under new guises.

I recently spoke to US voters about how QAnon disinformation about candidates and child trafficking rings could already have impacted their friends and neighbours ahead of polling day.

They explained how people they know now believe totally unfounded claims they’ve seen on Instagram and Facebook about the Democrats running a child-trafficking ring or presidential candidate Joe Biden abusing children.

Could this move – like the last – also be too late?

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Facebook is not the only social media giant to look at tackling the QAnon conspiracy movement.

In July, Twitter banned thousands of accounts and said it would stop recommending content linked to QAnon in an attempt to help prevent “offline harm”. It also said it would block URLs associated with the group from being shared on the platform.

What is QAnon?

In October 2017, an anonymous user put a series of posts on the message board 4chan. The user signed off as “Q” and claimed to have a level of US security approval known as “Q clearance”.

These messages became known as “Q drops” or “breadcrumbs”, often written in cryptic language peppered with slogans, pledges and pro-Trump themes.

The amount of traffic to mainstream social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and YouTube has exploded since 2017, and indications are that numbers have increased during the coronavirus pandemic.

• QAnon: What is it and where did it come from?

Judging by social media, there are hundreds of thousands of people who believe in at least some of the bizarre theories offered up by QAnon.

QAnon followed on from the “pizzagate” saga in 2016 – a fake theory about Democratic Party politicians running a paedophile ring out of a Washington pizza restaurant.

Eddie Van Halen: Revered Guitarist Dies At 65 After Cancer Battle

 The Dutch-American musician, 65, had been undergoing treatment for throat cancer. 

His band, Van Halen, were best known for their song Jump, which hit the top of the US charts in 1984. 

His son Wolfgang paid tribute to him on social media, saying he was the best father he could ever ask for.

“Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift,” Wolfgang, who became Van Halen’s bassist in 2006, wrote.

“My heart is broken and I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss. I love you so much, Pop.”

Some of rock’s biggest names have paid their respects to the “Mozart of rock guitar” on social media, with Kiss Singer Gene Simmons dubbing him a “guitar god”.

Celebrity news website TMZ, which first broke news of his death, said Van Halen died at St Johns Hospital in Santa Monica, California on Tuesday surrounded by his family.

The guitarist had been in and out of hospital in the past year and recently underwent a round of chemotherapy, TMZ reported, citing sources.

Van Halen is survived by his son Wolfgang and his wife Janie Liszewski, whom he married in 2009.

How did Van Halen rise to stardom?

Born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Van Halen was the son of Eugenia Van Halen and Jan Van Halen, a clarinettist, saxophonist and pianist. The musical influence rubbed off on Van Halen, who was taught to play piano as a child.

When the family emigrated to Pasadena, California in 1962, they brought a piano on the boat.

“We actually played music on the boat on the way over here, you know? I’m serious! It wasn’t like, ‘so what do you want to do in life?’. Dad said, ‘we’ve got to make a living’. So if it weren’t for music, we wouldn’t have survived,” Van Halen said in a 2012 interview with Esquire.

As he grew up, Van Halen switched to drums and then guitar, initially playing alongside his father and brother at weddings and bar mitzvahs.

As an adult, Van Halen formed Van Halen in the early 1970s in Los Angeles. He was the guitarist, his brother Alex was the drummer, David Lee Roth was the singer and Michael Anthony was the bassist.

Van Halen was said to be the main song-writing force behind the band’s eponymous debut album, released in 1978. The album shot to number 19 on the Billboard charts, becoming one of the most successful debuts of the decade.

But Van Halen’s biggest success came with their sixth album, 1984, which saw Van Halen focus on synths over guitars. It produced the band’s only number one single, Jump, and the MTV favourite Hot For Teacher.

Jump was also the band’s only significant hit in the UK, reaching number seven in 1984.

That aside, the guitarist was possibly just as well known in the UK for playing the guitar solo on Michael Jackson’s 1983 hit Beat It.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, Van Halen received great acclaim for his distinctive guitar parts in many of the band’s hits, from Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love to Panama.

He refined and popularised a style of playing known as the “two-handed tap”; and his lightning-fast technique influenced countless rock guitarists in the 80s.

What do we know about his cancer battle?

Van Halen had been battling separate bouts of cancer for years.

He first confirmed he had tongue cancer in 2001, telling fans he would beat the disease. He received treatment and the subsequent surgery removed about a third of his tongue.

He was declared cancer-free in 2002. But TMZ reported last year that Van Halen had been privately battling throat cancer for five years, flying between the US and Germany for radiation treatment.

Throughout his treatment, Van Halen continued to attend concerts and rehearse music with his son Wolfgang, TMZ said.

Who has paid tribute to Van Halen?

Simmons tweeted: “My heart is broken. Eddie was not only a Guitar God, but a genuinely beautiful soul. Rest in peace, Eddie! …Eddie Van Halen Dead at 65 from Cancer.”

On Twitter, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea wrote that Van Halen had a “beautiful creative heart”.

Sammy Hagar, who replaced Roth as Van Halen frontman when he split from the band in 1984, shared a picture of himself alongside Van Halen, with the caption: “Heartbroken and speechless. My love to the family.”

Geezer Butler, founder member of Black Sabbath, described Van Halen as a “true gent and true genius”.

“Just when I thought 2020 couldn’t get any worse, I hear Eddie Van Halen has passed. So shocking – one of the nicest, down to Earth men I have ever met and toured with,” he wrote.

The Twitter account of rock group Pantera tweeted Van Halen was a “tremendous influence” on their music.

A post said: “RIP Eddie Van Halen. Van Halen were a tremendous influence on both Vinnie & Dime & Pantera. Hopefully they are all rocking out together now!”

Star Wars actor Mark Hamill sent his condolences to Wolfgang, adding: “But take solace in knowing that he will be long remembered and live on forever as one of Rock’s most extraordinary guitar virtuosos.”

Angola, Tajikistan formalise beginning of cooperation

 Angola and Tajikistan formalised on Monday an agreement to establish diplomatic relations to mark the beginning of bilateral relations of friendship and cooperation.

The agreement was signed by the ambassadors of Angola and Tajikistan to the United Nations in New York, respectively, Maria de Jesus dos Reis Ferreira and Mahmadamin Mahmadaminov. 

According to a note from the Angolan representation at the UN reached ANGOP, the agreement allows the evolution to formalise and deepen relations between the two States, should the respective Governments so wish in the future.

Tajikistan is a mountainous country wedged in Central Asia that borders Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north and the People's Republic of China to the east.
Its capital is Dushanbe and it has a population estimated at 9.101 million.

Minister of Education condemns student's behaviors

 Angolan minister of Education Luísa Grilo condemned Monday the attitude of some students who gathered to take pictures without using face masks on the first day back to school.

The fact took place in one of Luanda-based schools.

Students, who have already been identified, were spotted taking pictures at the time their teachers were taking turn, said Luísa Grilo, who vowed to punish those  implicated.

Speaking during the daily covid-19 update briefing, the minister appealed to the students, parents and guardians to observe the measures adopted by the health authorities.

“The most serious is that those who behaved in the way they did are no longer kids, but young teenagers. It was not spontaneous but it had been planned. These behaviours should not repeat again”, regretted the official.

On the other hand, Luísa Grilo congratulated the parents and the guardians who, despite the situation, expressed availability to take their children to school.

The minister described the return to school as an attitude of responsibility by the parents, guardians and teachers.

Classes re-opened on October 5, covering student population in the universities and those in the Grades 6th, 9th, 12th and 13th.

For October 19th, features students of Grades 7th, 8th, 10th and 11th, all of them also from 2nd cycle of high school, while primary and 1st cycle start on October 26th.

With the classes divided into groups, in primary education and 1st cycle, the classes will last 02h30, while in the 2nd cycle of secondary education 03h30 of workload, without a break.