SADC Essay competition winners receive award

 Luanda – Southern African Development Community (SADC) announced the three Angolan winners of the 23rd edition of 2022 Secondary School Essay Competition on Friday.

The SADC Secretariat has allocated USD 1000 as prize money for national winners of the competition as follows: USD 500 for first prize, USD 300 for the second prize and USD 200 for the third prize winner.

The top three winners of 2022 Southern African Development Community (SADC) recently announced are:

In the first place was the student Casimira Pimenta in Angola’s Huambo province from the Secondary School Joaquim Kapango (12th grade), Irina Sardinha from the  Commercial high Institute of Luanda (12th grade), and Ecliseaste Ricardo from Polytechnic Institute of Benguela (12th grade).

The competition takes place in two phases, with Irina Sardinha, second ranked in Angola, obtaining 10th place in the regional contest.

In 2022, under the theme: How SADC can increase production capacity in the face of Covid-19´´, 33 newsrooms competed across the country and the top three went to the regional competition.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Secretary of State for Pre-school and Primary Education, Pacheco Francisco, said he was pleased and called for more efforts by the sector in order to evolve and win better places.

To him, the creation of the competition, in 1999, helps young people to deepen their knowledge about the region and create proposals for mitigation, as well as stimulating reflection on the resilience of different sectors.

The ceremony also served to launch the 2023 edition, with the theme: How SADC can promote industrialisation for inclusive, resilient and sustainable economic growth.

The SADC Secondary Schools Essay Competition is a regional competition for students from schools and member countries to provide new opportunities for further knowledge.

SADC currently has 16 member countries.

They are Angola, South Africa, Botswana, DRC, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritius, Eswatini, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Seychelles and Comoros.

SIC opens inquiry into alleged involvement of its staff in drug trafficking

 Luanda - Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) announced on Friday that it opened an investigation into the alleged involvement of its members in drug trafficking.

Confirming the information in a press note, SIC stated that the investigation resulted from complaints circulated on social media concerning the existence of an alleged cocaine trafficking network, made up of its staff and senior officials.

According to this body, assigned to the Ministry of the Interior, the investigation was immediately opened, after the tipoff, to check the veracity of the information.

In a press release,  SIC reiterated its committed to fight against drug trafficking throughout the national territory, particularly in border zones.

The source points out that the operational work, carried out in cooperation with other defence and security bodies, has produced satisfactory results.

It adds that the operation led to the seizure of large quantities of drugs at Luanda Port and at “4 Fevereiro” International Airport.

New political-administrative division poses challenges to government - minister

 Ndalatando - Angola’s minister of Territorial Administration Dionísio da Fonseca has considered the implementation of the new political-administrative division of the country as one of the challenges posed to the government.

Speaking Thursday in Lucala, northern Cuanza Norte province, Dionísio da Fonseca pointed mainly to the creation of the conditions for the effective delivery of services to the population.

At the end of his 48-hour visit to the province of Cuanza Norte, the minister said the government's project for the new political-administrative division of the country is focused on improving the quality and bringing closer  basic social services to citizens.

“Once in place, citizens will no longer have to travel long distances to meet their needs,” he concluded.

He underlined that the Executive is working toward mobilisation of financial resources to ensure that the citizen has education, health, identity card and other services close to him.

He says he understands society's skepticism towards this proposal, but advises citizens to think about a long-term project, rather than the immediate one.

The proposal for a new politico-administrative division of the country provides for the division of the provinces of Moxico and Cuando Cubango, raising to 20 territories at the provincial level, rather than the current 18.

It also provides for the elevation of communes and districts to the rank of municipalities, raising to 581 municipalities, instead of the current 164.

New cabotage terminal kicks off in April

Luanda - The new north cabotage terminal at the Port of Luanda will start operating from the second quarter of this year, with new equipment and technological means that will provide greater comfort and safety in the freight transport.

The works, that started more than two years ago, are at 60% of physical execution and, at this point, the assembly of equipment and technological means is already concluded.

The assessment results from a visit paid by the minister of Transport Ricardo D´Abreu this week to verify the degree of technical execution, as well as the estimated conclusion of the works.

Among other terminals advantages, the construction of the cabotage pier and pier bridge that will connect the provinces of Luanda, Zaire and Cabinda by sea, promoting the transport of people and goods in this corridor of the country, stands out.

The overall design of the project results from multidisciplinary work with solutions suited to the effectiveness required for each situation, in a technical-economic relationship.

The minister also visited the closed circuit television operations center at the Port of Luanda, recently installed, which has provided greater control and security to the entire area of port jurisdiction.

The official visited the Maritime Passenger Terminal (TMP) at the Port of Luanda, where he learnt about the operation of the X-ray equipment, the operation of the Luanda Bay car park, as well as the departures and arrivals process of passengers and goods.

Counting down the hours, minutes and seconds to New Year 2023

 On this final day of (YEAR), we have chosen to gather in Worship together as the family of God to honor Jesus Christ!

While many in the World choose to celebrate in far different ways, we want to express our appreciation to God for His leading and guidance this past year. 

As we look back on the past year, we can see the many ways in which God has blessed us and guided us through the challenges that we have faced. And as we look ahead to the new year, we can have hope and confidence that God will continue to be with us and lead us on the path that He has for us.

We had a Sustainable Christmas 2022

 Merry Christmas 2022: Celebrating Christmas Sustainably

To safeguard the environment and public health, we can live more sustainably. Especially around the holidays, it's critical to have a sustainable lifestyle that safeguards the planet.

Christmas is certainly the time for giving and celebrating. But the overwhelming amount of festive waste from food, paper, electronics, plastics and gift wrapping also makes it a critical time of year for our planet.

This year we decided to have a Christmas in harmony with the planet. We didn't spend a lot of money, nor did we exchange expensive gifts between the adults, we ate sustainable food bought locally, and there were only small exchanges of gifts between the little children that Christmas coincided with their birthday.

With a little imagination and ‘common sense’, we can all reduce the impact of the holiday season on the environment and have a happy, carbon-friendly Christmas.

Christmas dinners – 150 million miles worth of carbon emissions. Environmentalists argue Christmas to be the world’s greatest annual environmental disaster.

Our over excessive eating habits during Christmas cause the same carbon footprint as a single car travelling 6,000 times around the globe, according to a University of Manchester study. As a nation, we consume 80% more food over the Christmas season than during the rest of the year.

China Covid: Beijing Criticises ‘Political’ Rules For Its Tourists

 The Chinese government has suggested that travel restrictions imposed by several countries on Chinese arrivals are politically motivated – and has warned that it may retaliate.

The US, India and the UK are among the nations that have introduced mandatory testing for arrivals from China.

The country has recently seen a surge in Covid cases following the easing of its strict controls.

And there are fears that cases and deaths are being vastly underreported.

China’s last daily Covid update, on 24 December, reported fewer than 5,000 cases – but some analysts claim the daily caseload is already over two million, and could peak at almost four million this month.

A lack of data – and China’s announcement that it was easing curbs on travel from 8 January – led to more than a dozen countries announcing Covid testing on arrivals from China.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged China to share more real-time information and a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry on Tuesday said that Beijing was willing to “improve communication with the world”.

However, spokeswoman Mao Ning said the government was “firmly opposed to attempts to manipulate the epidemic prevention and control measures for political purposes, and will take corresponding measures…according to the principle of reciprocity.”

China’s borders have been largely closed since March 2020 – meaning few foreigners were able to enter and those that did had to undergo rigorous testing and quarantine.

The European Union’s disease prevention agency and Australia’s Chief Medical Officer have both argued that high levels of vaccination and immunity reduce the threat that Covid poses.

But despite that, countries – including in the EU – have imposed testing for Chinese arrivals.

“I think we’re performing our duty in protecting French people by asking for tests,” France’s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Tuesday.

“We’re doing it while respecting the rules of the World Health Organization and we will continue to do it.”

The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, has said an overwhelming number of member states favour introducing travel restrictions. Some countries have already introduced their own measures but a decision on whether that will be extended to all EU countries is expected on Wednesday.

The US has also defended its testing requirements, saying that its approach is based “solely and exclusively on science”.

It’s not the first time that Beijing has been at odds with the international community over the virus. It was first detected in Wuhan in central China in late 2019 and the government resisted attempts to investigate the origins.

Meanwhile, China has on Tuesday rejected an offer from the European Union to supply an unspecified number of Covid-19 vaccines to help deal with the surge in cases, saying it has an “adequate supply”.

Official data shows China has given more than 3.4 billion doses – the vast majority of which are CoronaVac.

The government has so far insisted in using only Chinese-made vaccines, which have been proven to be less effective than other Western-developed mRNA vaccines against the Omicron variant.

Source: BBC

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