Day: September 29, 2022

Luanda – Delegations from Angola and Zambia analyzed, in Lusaka, mechanisms for the implementation of an action plan aimed at effective materialization of the memorandum of understanding in the field of migration between the two States.

The memo signed in 2019, aims to ensure the integrity of the border between the two countries and provide for deeper cooperation in the combat against  drug trafficking and illegal emigration.

 

Angola and Zambia are currently studying joint measures to combat cross-border crimes and improve the implementation of the visa waiver agreement.

 

A note from the Migration and Foreigners Service (SME) states that the assessment for the implementation of an action plan took place during the 33rd session of the Zambia/Angola joint permanent defence and security commission.

 

The meeting, that started on September 27 in the Zambian capital, and is to end on Thursday, counts on the participation of an  Angolan delegation headed by the SME director-general,  João António da Costa Dias.

 

The 33rd session of the joint commission also analyzed the regularization of the migratory situation of Angolan citizens residing in Zambia, as refugees.

 

Angola and Zambia, which share a border, are part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

 

 

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – The Ministry of Education (MED) directed Thursday the promotion of strategies of permanent dialogue with the members of the school community, aimed to lay down rules of school coexistence that ensure the protection of the child against all types of discrimination.

In a press release sent to ANGOP, MED also recommended the creation, in the schools, of a harmonious environment of respect for difference.

 

The document referred to the different ways in which each student maintain their hairstyle without, however, subverting the code of conduct and school discipline.

 

The guidance stems from a fresh public debate due to the measure on banning students from showing up at education institutions with alleged unusual hairstyles.

The sector recalls that the education is a fundamental human right and constitutes the pillar for peace and sustainable development.

 

The Education and Teaching System is governed by the principles of equality and child protection, as provided for in paragraph 2 of article 23 and paragraph 1 of article 80, both of the Constitution of the Republic.

The note reinforces the principle of universality, provided for in article 9 of the Basic Law of the Education and Teaching System (Law no 32/20 of August 12), which promotes combat of all type of discrimination for reasons of the individual’s ancestry, sex, race, ethnicity, colour, disability, language, place of birth, religion, political, ideological or philosophical convictions.

 

It appealed to school managers of public, public-private and private institutions, in the exercise of their functions, to abide by the Constitution of the Republic and the Law, assuring the materialisation of the general principles that govern the Education System.

 

 

 

Source: Angola Press News Agency

 

Caxito – The historical background of the first President of Angola António Agostinho Neto on liberation of Angola and well-being of the Angolan people was stressed on Thursday.

The recognition was expressed by the vice governor  for the Political, Social and Economic sector, Francisco Bartolomeu Pedro, in Caxito, northern Bengo province.

Speaking on the life of the poet, to mark his centenary, the governor noted that Agostinho Neto had as one of the biggest ideals the liberation of the Angolan people and had a significant contribution for liberation of Angola and some countries in sub-region of the southern African continent.

He said that Agosinho Netos, as academic figure, politician, poet, doctor, fighter and statesman, is reference to the national culture, having written some works translated in some languages.

The director of the National Institute of the Child in the Bengo, Luciano Chila, invited the future generation students to follow the moral, civic and patriotic values of Agostinho Neto.

In turn, the president of the Organisation of Pioneer of Agostinho Neto, António Rosa, said the organisation will continue to intensify the civic, moral and patriotic education activities in the schools and the 18 provinces of the country.

António Agostinho Neto was doctor and poet, born on September 17, 1922 in Kaxicane Village, municipality of Icolo and Bengo, current province of Luanda.

He died on September 10, 1979.

As Angola’s first president, he proclaimed the country’s Independence on November 11th 1919.

 

 

Source: Angola Press News Agency

 

U.N. agencies are calling for an end to food loss and waste as the United Nations marks the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste Thursday.

A U.N. Environment Program report says over 930 million tons of food waste were generated in 2019. The chief of UNEP’s energy and climate branch, Mark Radka, said that represents about 20% of available food.

“There is evidence that household food waste is generated at a similar per capita level in all countries, regardless of country income level,” he said. “So, households, on average generate about 74 kilograms per person, per year in food waste.”

It has serious implications, given the U.N.’s latest estimates that 828 million people globally are going hungry. Food and Agriculture Organization findings indicate 14% of the world’s food is lost after harvest. An estimated 17% is wasted in retail and at the consumption stage.

FAO Senior Enterprise Development Officer Rosa Rolle calls food loss and waste a global problem that has significant impact on climate, food security, and the sustainability of agri-food systems.

“Over the past two years, agri-food systems across the globe have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and the war in Ukraine, pushing millions of people into food insecurity, with hunger and malnutrition on the rise,” she said.

The FAO says food waste and loss accelerate climate change and harm the environment. It says about 31% of total greenhouse gas emissions, which lead to global warming, are attributable to the agri-food system.

The UNEP says reducing food loss and waste could decrease methane emissions by 15% by 2030. It notes methane has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years after it reaches the atmosphere. It says at least 25% of today’s global warming by methane is caused by human action.

 

 

Source: Voice of America

 

The James Webb and Hubble telescopes on Thursday revealed their first images of a spacecraft deliberately smashing into an asteroid, as astronomers indicated that the impact looks to have been much greater than expected.

The world’s telescopes turned their gaze toward the space rock Dimorphos earlier this week for a historic test of Earth’s ability to defend itself against a potential life-threatening asteroid in the future.

Astronomers rejoiced as NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impactor slammed into its pyramid-sized, rugby ball-shaped target 11 million kilometers (6.8 million miles) from Earth on Monday night.

Images taken by Earth-bound telescopes showed a vast cloud of dust expanding out of Dimorphos — and its big brother Didymos, which it orbits — after the spaceship hit.

While those images showed matter spraying out over thousands of kilometers, the James Webb and Hubble images “zoom in much closer,” said Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer at Queen’s University Belfast involved in observations with the ATLAS project.

James Webb and Hubble can offer a view “within just a few kilometers of the asteroids and you can really clearly see how the material is flying out from that explosive impact by DART,” Fitzsimmons told AFP.

“It really is quite spectacular,” he said.

An image taken by James Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) four hours after impact shows “plumes of material appearing as wisps streaming away from the center of where the impact took place,” according to a joint statement from the European Space Agency, James Webb and Hubble.

Hubble images from 22 minutes, five hours and eight hours after impact show the expanding spray of matter from where DART hit.

‘Worried there was nothing left’

Ian Carnelli of the European Space Agency (ESA) said that the “really impressive” Webb and Hubble images were remarkably similar to those taken by the toaster-sized satellite LICIACube, which was just 50 kilometers from the asteroid after separating from the DART spacecraft a few weeks ago.

The images depict an impact that looks “a lot bigger than we expected,” said Carnelli, the manager of the ESA’s Hera mission, which intends to inspect the damage in four years.

“I was really worried there was nothing left of Dimorphos” at first, Carnelli told AFP.

The Hera mission, which is scheduled to launch in October 2024 and arrive at the asteroid in 2026, had expected to survey a crater around 10 meters (33 feet) in diameter.

It now looks like it will be far bigger, Carnelli said, “if there is a crater at all; maybe a piece of Dimorphos was just chunked off.”

The true measure of DART’s success will be exactly how much it diverted the asteroid’s trajectory, so the world can start preparing to defend itself against bigger asteroids that could head our way in the future.

It will likely take Earth-bound telescopes and radars at least a week for a first estimate of how much the asteroid’s orbit has been altered, and three or four weeks before there is a precise measurement, Carnelli said.

‘Huge implications’

“I am expecting a much bigger deflection than we had planned,” he said.

That would have “huge implications in planetary defense because it means that this technique could be used for much larger asteroids,” Carnelli added.

“Until today, we thought that the only deflection technique would be to send a nuclear device.”

Fitzsimmons said that even if no material had been “flung off” Dimorphos, DART still would have slightly affected its orbit.

“But the more material and the faster it’s moving, the more of a deflection there will have been,” he said.

The observations from James Webb and Hubble will help reveal how much — and how quickly — matter sprayed from the asteroid, as well as the nature of its surface.

The asteroid impact marked the first time the two space telescopes observed the same celestial body.

Since launching in December and releasing its first images in July, James Webb has taken the title of most powerful space telescope from Hubble.

Fitzsimmons said the images were “a beautiful demonstration of the extra science you can get by using more than one telescope simultaneously.”

 

 

Source: Voice of America