Author: anadmin

Cabinda – Construction of the passenger maritime terminal in Cabinda is in its final stage, with testing of equipment installed and external paving, the project manager, Helder Faria said today.

Speaking to Angop, the contractor said that they were proud of the pace of physical and financial execution of the work, which is now 81.55 percent, whilst work on the breakwater is 71.33 percent.

Helder Faria said that this dynamic was the result of the commitment of the technicians of the Chinese general contractor CGGC and the sub-contractors, Tecnovia and Mota Engil, involved in this structural work, which will speed up the mobility of people, facilities and cargo from Cabinda to Soyo-Zaire and Luanda, and vice-versa.

According to the manager, what is delaying the conclusion of the work, particularly the breakwater as the main element for safety and docking of ferries, is the lack of monitoring of financial execution.

“We have, in this work on the breakwater, 71.33 percent of the physical implementation that is not accompanied by the financial part, which has caused constant changes in the dates for the final conclusion of the work,” he explained.

That percentage (71.33), the spokesman said, is a record from 2021, after the increase and adjustments, which allowed for payment of US$9 million, used to import machinery and boards for the project (breakwater).

Source: Angola Press News Agency

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Thursday the Union of European Football Associations’ (UEFA) decision to hold its tournament in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic was “absolutely irresponsible.”

The Euro Cup 2020 tournament has been underway for about two weeks, with games held throughout Europe. The semifinal and championship rounds are scheduled to be played in Britain’s Wembley Stadium next week with at least 60,000 spectators expected.

With COVID-19 restrictions varying from nation-to-nation, crowd sizes for the tournament have ranged from completely full — 60,000 in Budapest — to 25-45% capacity in other venues where there have often been around 10,000-15,000 spectators, Reuters reports.

During Thursday’s COVID-19 briefing in Berlin, along with German Health Minister Jens Spahn, Seehofer said living during the pandemic, especially in Britain where the highly contagious delta variant has caused surges in new cases, taking precautions against contact and maintaining hygiene regulations are “indispensable.”

Spahn said nations like Britain, where a high number of people have received only the first of two vaccinations, the delta variant has led to an increase in infections. He said he expects the variant to be the dominant strain Germany by the end of July, accounting for as much as 80% of all new infections.

Seehofer said he suspects the decision to hold the tournament was more about commerce than protection and urged the UEFA “not to push off” the decision to limit crowd sizes at their matches on local hosts and instead make the decision themselves.

Earlier this week the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, called on the UEFA to “carefully analyze” its decision regarding next week’s finals at Wembley.

Source: Voice of America

Luanda – The chairperson of the Organisation of Petroleum Producing Countries (OPEC), Diamantino Azevedo, said today that he remained optimistic about world demand for oil, predicting growth of six million barrels per day (6 MB/D), in 2021, after the 9.3 MB/D decline recorded in 2020.

Diamantino Azevedo, who is also Angola’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, made this statement at the opening of the 181st Meeting of the OPEC Conference, which is being held by video conference from Vienna, Austria.

“I am in the very fortunate position of opening this meeting of the OPEC Conference today at a time of growing hope and optimism,” he said.

In the seven months since the last OPEC Conference, Diamantino Azevedo said, the global economy has shifted from reverse to forward gear, looking at expected global growth of 5.5 per cent this year after contraction of 3.4 per cent in 2020.

OPEC’s latest Monthly Oil Market Report projects a strong recovery in oil demand in this second half of the year, putting it within ” stunning” distance in the fourth quarter.

For Diamantino Azevedo, the story of this improvement, in market prospects, would not be complete without acknowledging the “key” role played by the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC).

“Today begins the third month of the step-by-step upward production adjustments. Countries agreed to undertake in early April and the market continues to welcome these prudent and forward-looking steps to support sustainable stability which in turn provides backing for economic recovery,” he stressed.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) African region is facing a serious third wave of COVID-19 cases, driven by variants throughout the continent.

In a virtual briefing with reporters Thursday, WHO Africa Regional Director Matshidiso Moeti said new cases have increased in Africa by an average of 25% for six straight weeks to almost 202,000 in the week ending June 27, with deaths rising by 15% across 38 African countries to nearly 3,000 in the same period.

“The speed and scale of Africa’s third wave is like nothing we’ve seen before,” Moeti said. “The rampant spread of more contagious variants pushes the threat to Africa up to a whole new level.”

Meanwhile, WHO European Regional Director Hans Kluge said Thursday that region’s streak of 10 straight weeks of declining COVID-19 cases has come to end. During his weekly briefing in Copenhagen, he said cases in the region’s 53 countries increased 10% last week.

Kluge attributed the rise to “increased mixing, travel, gatherings and easing of social restrictions,” which he said is taking place amid “a rapidly evolving situation” – the emergence of the more transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus, a situation aggravated by the region’s slow rate of vaccinations.

Elsewhere in Europe, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer called the decision by the organizers of the Euro Cup 2020 soccer championships “utterly irresponsible” for holding their tournament during a pandemic.

Seehofer said the decision by the Union of European Football Association’s (UEFA) to hold games in stadiums around Europe with largely unmasked crowds of up to 60,000 people was clearly more about commerce than protection. He said that while some localities put restrictions on the crowds, the organization should have made those decisions itself.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced Thursday that new emergency measures will go into effect on Saturday for the islands of Java and Bali to blunt the rise of new cases in the world’s fourth most-populous country.

The measures, which include tighter restrictions on movement and air travel, a ban on restaurant dining and the closure of non-essential offices, will last through July 20, a period that includes the Muslim holiday of Eid.

Indonesia has been dealing with the worst coronavirus outbreak in Southeast Asia, posting 24,836 new infections and 504 deaths on Thursday, both of them record-setting numbers. The country has recorded more than 2.1 million coronavirus infections, including 58,491 deaths.

Johns Hopkins University is now reporting 182.2 million confirmed coronavirus infections, including 3.9 million deaths. The United States remains the global leader in both categories with 33.6 million overall cases and 604,718 deaths.

Source: Voice of America