Day: November 4, 2022

A court in Senegal has dismissed a lawsuit by a fishermen’s collective against a fishmeal factory they had accused of polluting their village and destroying their livelihoods.

Dozens of people filtered into the Thies courthouse Thursday to hear the judge’s decision.

The lawsuit, filed by the Taxawu Cayar Collective against the Touba Proteine Marine fishmeal factory, accused the factory of polluting the town of Cayar’s air, soil and water.

The collective had asked for the temporary closure of the factory based on urgency.

During the legal proceedings, the collective presented video footage of the factory’s truck dumping fish waste into Cayar’s lake. An independent laboratory analysis revealed high levels of toxic metals in the lake, which was also found in the town’s tap water.

The collective is now deciding whether to appeal the decision or to bring forward new litigation that would permanently shut down the plant.

“We will pursue all possible legal avenues while respecting the laws of this country, said Alle Sy, a member of the fisherman’s collective. “We will never give up, as this is a battle close to our hearts.”

Boubacar Cisse, the lawyer for the fishmeal factory, formerly known as Barna Senegal, said the factory plans to take action against the collective.

“The factory is more than 3 kilometers away from Cayar, so how could a business like that pollute the air and make it unbreathable?” asked Cisse. “Obviously, Barna Senegal will retaliate against these people for having discredited the factory and tarnishing its image.”

The factory is one of at least a half dozen fishmeal plants operating in Senegal.

Source: Voice of America

The U.S. flu season is off to an unusually fast start, adding to an autumn mix of viruses that have been filling hospitals and doctors’ waiting rooms.

Reports of flu are already high in 17 states, and the hospitalization rate hasn’t been this high this early since the 2009 swine flu pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, there have been an estimated 730 flu deaths, including at least two children.

The winter flu season usually ramps up in December or January.

“We are seeing more cases than we would expect at this time,” the CDC’s Dr. José Romero said Friday.

A busy flu season is not unexpected. The nation saw two mild seasons during the COVID-19 pandemic, and experts have worried that flu might come back strong as a COVID-weary public has moved away from masks and other measures that tamp the spread of respiratory viruses.

Community Montessori school in New Albany, Indiana, switched to virtual teaching at the end of the week because so many students were out sick with the flu. Beginning Monday, the school’s 500 students will go back to wearing masks.

“Everybody just wants kids on campus, that is for sure,” said the school’s director, Burke Fondren. “We will do what we need to do.”

There may be some good news: COVID-19 cases have been trending downward and leveled off in the past three weeks, Romero said.

And in a few parts of the country, health officials think they may be seeing early signs that a wave of another respiratory virus may be starting to wane. RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, is a common cause in kids of cold-like symptoms such as runny nose, cough and fever. While RSV continues to rise nationally, preliminary data suggest a decline in the Southeast, Southwest and in an area that includes Rocky Mountain states and the Dakotas, CDC officials said.

Experts think infections from RSV increased recently because children are more vulnerable now, no longer sheltered from common bugs as they were during pandemic lockdowns. Also, the virus, which usually affects children ages 1 and 2, is now sickening more kids up to age 5.
At the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital, beds have been full for 54 days straight.

“The curves are all going up for RSV and influenza,” said Dr. John Cunningham, Comer’s physician-in-chief.

RSV illnesses seem to be unusually severe, he added.

Comer has had to turn down transfer requests from other hospitals because there was no room. Chicago-area hospitals had been able to transfer kids to Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin, but that’s stopped.

“They have no more beds, either,” Cunningham said.

There’s not yet a vaccine against RSV, but there are shots for flu and COVID-19. Health officials say flu vaccinations are down in both kids and adults compared with before the pandemic, although they are up in children from last year.

So far this season, there have been an estimated 1.6 million flu illnesses and 13,000 hospitalizations. Flu activity is most intense in some of the areas where RSV is fading, including the Southeast, according to CDC data.

Source: Voice of America

Luanda – ANGOSAT-2 satellite Thursday reached its final position 23E, in the geostationary orbit.

The position of the satellite, according to a report by the Management Office of the National Space Programme (GGPEN), places it at a distance of about 36,000 km from the earth’s surface.

For 23 days, after its launch on 12 October, from the Baikanour Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Angolan specialists from GGPEN with the support of Russian experts in Luanda, Moscow and Zheleznogorsk carried out several maneuvers that involved engineering principles related to orbital mechanics, with success.

With the parking of ANGOSAT-2 in orbital position 23E, the second phase of tests follows, related to the verification of the performance of the parameters of the satellite communication channels.

It has six C-band communication channels, 24 Ku-band communication beams.

The satellite will cover the entire African continent, a significant part of southern Europe and almost total coverage of the southern region of Africa, also constituting a source of revenue.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – Angola’s Vice President of the Republic Esperança da Costa will travel Saturday (5) to Sharm-el-Sheik (Egypt), to represent the Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, at the 27th Session of the UN Conference of the Parties (COP27), scheduled for 6 – 9 November.

A press note from the Vice-President’s Office states that Angola will reiterate its concern about climate change, one of the greatest challenges that humanity faces, due to the effects this phenomenon has caused.

At this meeting, Egypt assumes the Presidency of the Conference of the Parties (COP27), which marks the thirtieth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Among the topics to be defended by Angola at COP27, emphasis should be placed on the financing of some projects focused on the environment, aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change.

Angola will come up with the Blue Carbon projects, which are being designed by the Otchiva Association, with the support of Sonangol and Total, of Photovoltaic Power Plants, the so-called clean energies, by the Ministries of Energy and Water and Natural Resources, Oil and Gas, as well as that of Green Hydrogen.

These projects will be presented at the Congo Basin Stand, which also has the Blue Fund Project.

The sustainability of protected areas and the impact of solid waste on the environment are, among others, the burning issues to be analysed during COP27.

Angola has taken concrete steps to mitigate the effect of climate change, one of which was the Construction of the Cafu Canal, a project that aims to bring water from the Cunene River to the populations of the provinces of Cunene and Namibe, aimed to combat the effects of drought in these regions.

The Angolan delegation to the United Nations Climate Summit will be integrated, among other entities, by the Minister of the Environment Ana Paula Chantre Luna de Carvalho, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Esmeralda Mendonça, and the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Angola to Egypt Nelson Cosme.

The delegation will also include representatives from the Civil Affairs Office to the President of the Republic, National Assembly, the Ministries of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Economy and Planning, Fisheries and Marine Resources, Agriculture and Forestry, Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Media, the boards of Sonangol and Endiama, and members of civil society.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – Angolan head of State João Lourenço Friday directed the governors from 17 of the country’s 18 provinces to prepare Integrated Intervention Plans.

The meeting marked the start of the preparation process of the Integrated Intervention Plans for each of the country’s 17 provinces, with the exception of Luanda, which has its instrument of action approved.

At the end of the meeting, the minister of Territory Administration Dionísio da Fonseca clarified that the integrated plans aim to address the pressing issues of each province, with stress to education and health sectors.

As for the health, he said, the plans should cover the construction of primary and secondary units, such as health posts, medical centers and municipal hospitals.

He highlighted the fact that the Angolan Executive has already made investments in the tertiary network, with the construction of several hospitals in the 2017/2022 period.

Dionísio da Fonseca noted that the integrated intervention plans will also include actions in the areas of basic sanitation, water supply and electricity.

The plan, he added, will also include places for private investors to  produce essential goods and services for the population.

Dionísio da Fonseca said that the master plan should focus on ongoing and stalled projects, so that from 2024 onwards, the budgets cover new actions for the benefit of Angolan citizens.

He also said that the projects will be secured by resources from the treasury and credit lines, which are being negotiated.

Speaking to the press, the minister announced the preparation of Municipal Master Plans as priorities, aimed to facilitate the subdivision of land and contribute to increasing the offer of housing, mainly for young people.

In the coming days, each of the provincial government will gather, in a memorandum, the main projects to be implemented in their respective territories, including idled infrastructure, the process of construction and those considered priority in construction.

After this preparatory work, the Cabinet Council will hold special sessions for the approval, one by one, of the Integrated Intervention Plans for each province, as happened to Luanda.

Source: Angola Press News Agency