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Scottish Nationalists Vow Independence Vote After Election Win

Zoe Maven
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Scottish Nationalists Vow Independence Vote After Election Win

Pro-independence parties In Scotland have won a majority in parliament paving the way to a high-stakes political, legal and constitutional battle with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the future of the United Kingdom.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the result meant she would push ahead with plans for a second independence referendum once the COVID-19 pandemic was over.

Sturgeon said it would be absurd and outrageous if Johnson were to try to ignore the democratic will of the people or try to block the right of the people of Scotland to choose their own future.

She added that it is the will of the country,” she added after her Scottish National Party (SNP) was returned for a fourth consecutive term in office

The British government argues Johnson must give approval for any referendum and he has repeatedly made clear he would refuse.

He has said it would be irresponsible to hold one now, pointing out that Scots had backed staying in the United Kingdom in a “once in a generation” poll in 2014.

The election outcome is likely to be a bitter clash between the Scottish government in Edinburgh and Johnson’s United Kingdom-wide administration in London.

The nationalists argue that they have democratic authority on their side; the British government say the law is with them and It is likely the final decision on a referendum will be settled in the courts.

African Nations Gear Up To Polish Image At Dubai Expo

Zoe Maven
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African Nations Gear Up To Polish Image At Dubai Expo

African nations are attending this year’s Dubai Expo 2020 in force, intending to project the image of a modern and ambitious continent and shed stereotypes of conflict and underdevelopment.

The six-month mega-event, delayed by the Covid pandemic, is a milestone for the wealthy Gulf emirate which has spent some $8.2 billion transforming a barren stretch on the outskirts of the city into an eye-popping site bristling with high-tech pavilions.

As the huge project nears completion ahead of the scheduled October 2021 opening, African delegates touted their ambitions to generate trade and investment at a high-level meeting this week.

AU’s head of strategic partnerships Levi Uche Madueke said with nearly all African states represented for the first time, Expo provides a stage to advertise a “continent that is ready to move forward.

Madueke said despite the need to develop infrastructure and the existing barriers to international trade, Africa has a lot to offer thanks to its rich natural resources and youthful population.

He added that the time had come for the Continent to reach out to the world, and for the world to understand and collaborate with it.

Since the first World Expo was held in London in 1851, global fairs have been used to showcase innovations and as a branding exercise for participating countries.

And in its quest to gain influence on the international scene, the United Arab Emirates has increased its political and economic presence in Africa in recent years, particularly in the eastern Horn.

Death Toll Rises To 50 From Blasts Near Afghan Girls School

Zoe Maven
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Death Toll Rises To 50 From Blasts Near Afghan Girls School

The death toll from bombs planted outside a girls’ school in an area of the Afghan capital populated largely by Shiite Hazaras rose to 50 Sunday as the Taliban denied government accusations that they were behind the bloody attack.

The Saturday’s blasts rocked the west Kabul district of Dasht-e-Barchi, a regular target of Sunni Islamist militants and comes as the United States military continues to pull out its last 2,500 troops from the violence-wracked country

Describing Saturday’s carnage, Interior Ministry spokesman Tareq Arian told reporters that a car bomb first detonated in front of the Sayed Al-Shuhada School, and when the students rushed out in panic two more devices exploded.

He said more than 100 people were wounded, adding that most of the victims were female students.

No group has so far claimed the attack, but Afghan officials including President Ashraf Ghani blamed the Taliban.

Speaking in a statement after the blasts, Ghani said that the savage group does not have the power to confront security forces on the battlefield, and instead targets public facilities and the girls’ school.

The insurgents have denied involvement and insist they have not carried out attacks in Kabul since February last year, when they signed a deal with the United States that paved the way for peace talks and withdrawal of the remaining US troops.

The United States was supposed to have pulled all forces out by May 1 under a deal struck with the Taliban last year, but Washington pushed back the date to September 11.

Thousands March In France For Real Action On Climate Change

Zoe Maven
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Thousands March In France For Real Action On Climate Change

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Paris and other French cities on Sunday to call for more ambitious measures in the fight against climate change.

The nationwide protests come after the lower house of parliament this week approved a climate bill to curb greenhouse gas emissions that environment activists say doesn’t go far or fast enough.

A group of climate campaigners, “Ensemble pour le climat” or “Together for climate” said the proposed law is a climatic and social failure while Greenpeace France denounced government’s refusal to take action for climate.

Activists blame President Emmanuel Macron, who has been very vocal about his support for climate change action, for having “weakened” a set of measures initially proposed by a panel of 150 citizens who had worked for months on the issue.

Seeking the upper hand in what could be a key issue in next year’s elections, the president promised a referendum on the bill if it gained approval in both houses of parliament.

The National Assembly, where Macron has a majority, overwhelmingly voted in favour of the revision in March, but on Monday, the bill goes to the Senate, where the right-wing Republicans hold the majority.

Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade, a National Assembly deputy for Macron’s LREM party charged on Sunday saying they have already decided “to empty the bill of its substance”,

He warned in the JDD weekly that changes “will prevent the agreement,” as under French law a referendum can go ahead only if it is approved in identical wording by both houses of parliament.

Macron’s office responded by telling Newsmen that the plan to change to constitution was “in no way buried”.

Large Segment Of Chinese Rocket Disintegrates Over Indian Ocean

Zoe Maven
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Large Segment Of Chinese Rocket Disintegrates Over Indian Ocean

The Chinese space agency says a large segment of a Chinese rocket re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated over the Indian Ocean on Sunday.

Officials in Beijing had said there was little risk from the freefalling segment of the Long March-5B rocket, which had launched the first module of China’s new space station into Earth orbit on April 29.

However, the US space agency NASA and some experts said China had behaved irresponsibly, as an uncontrolled re-entry of such a large object risked damage and casualties.

In a statement, the China Manned Space Engineering Office said after monitoring and analysis, at 0224 GMT on May 9, 2021, the last-stage wreckage of the Long March 5B Yao-2 launch vehicle had re-entered the atmosphere.

Providing coordinates for a point in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives, It added that most of the segment disintegrated and was destroyed during descent.

The US military’s Space Command said the rocket “re-entered over the Arabian Peninsula at approximately 10:15 pm EDT on May 8 (0215 GMT Sunday)”.

Monitoring service Space-Track, which uses US military data, said that the location in Saudi Arabia was where American systems last recorded it adding that it was confirmed the rocket actually went into the Indian Ocean north of the Maldives.

Because it was an uncontrolled descent, there was widespread public interest and speculation about where the debris would land.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin suggested last week that China had been negligent, and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson echoed that after the re-entry on Sunday.

Congo Leader Visits Sudan, Egypt For Talks On Nile Dispute

Zoe Maven
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Congo Leader Visits Sudan, Egypt For Talks On Nile Dispute

Congo’s president, the current head of the African Union, has met with Egyptian and Sudanese officials amid international and regional efforts to relaunch negotiations over Ethiopia’s disputed dam on the Nile River’s main tributary.

President Felix Tshisekedi was received by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of Susan’s ruling sovereign council, at the Khartoum’s airport after the two leaders then headed for talks at the presidential palace.

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok also attended the talks, according to a statement by the sovereign council.

Foreign Minister Mariam al-Mahdi said Congo’s president has offered an initiative to break deadlock over the dam’s dispute adding that the Sudanese authorities would study the initiative.

The Egyptian leader’s office said Tshisekedi then flew to Cairo where he met with Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

Burhan reiterated Sudan’s call for a negotiated agreement on the filling and operation of the dam’s massive reservoir, the sovereign council said in a separate statement.

The latest round of African Union-brokered negotiations in Congo’s capital of Kinshasa in April failed to make progress on the issue.

The dispute now centers on how quickly Ethiopia should fill and replenish the reservoir and how much water it releases downstream in case of a multi-year drought.

Egypt and Sudan argue that Ethiopia’s plan to add 13.5 billion cubic meters of water in 2021 to the dam’s reservoir is a threat to them. Cairo and Khartoum have called for the U.S., the U.N, and European Union to help reach a legally binding deal.

Precious Obazee
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Precious Obazee
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Zimbabwe Education Ministry Blames Covid Lockdowns For Decline in Examination Pass Rate

Zimbabwe’s Education Ministry has attributed the 6.8% pass rate decline in the country’s Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) Ordinary Level results to the devastating effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Spokesperson in the ministry, Taungana Ndoro told Zimbabwe media that the pandemic induced lockdown had seen a significant decline in the Ordinary Level pass rate due to reduced face-to-face teaching.

Schools were forced to introduce on-line teaching, but this was not practical in some schools especially government learning centres due to the unavailability of ICT gadgets, learning materials and high data costs.

Ndoro added that the pandemic also brought about unforeseen consequences that affected the students’ interests in learning and the education sector as well.

However, the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) said the decline in the 2020 results showed the depreciation in learning standards in education.

The Union said statistics show a decline of 11% on total number of candidates who sat for the examinations, adding that the numbers can only be attributed to some learners who either failed to register or sit for examinations and that enrolment statistics never dropped.

ARTUZ said in a statement that the poor pass rates across the nation are direct attributes of poor investment into the education sector amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Union said it is shocking the deficit in the education system has been turned into a blame game by the orchestrators of the prevailing crises in the education sector.

An Ordinary Level student told news men that online learning had seriously affected their academic performance due to lack of resources to attend the virtual lessons.

Another student attributed the decline in students’ academic performances to lack of confidence in e-learning, adding it was not a conducive method of learning some subjects, especially practical lessons.

He said “Some of the topics, especially practical ones, are not suitable for online learning. They were hard for me to grasp and understand over the computer and I didn’t feel confident during exam time.”

However, Ndoro said the Education Ministry had since adjusted to the environment induced by the Covid-19 pandemic by putting in place blended teaching methods which he said, included catch up strategies and the distribution of self-study guides for pupils with no online learning facilities.

According to ZIMSEC, there was a decline in the Grade Seven examination pass rate from 46.9% to 37.11% reporting a 9.79% decrease.

There was also a decrease in the Advanced Level pass rate by 2.1% with 2019 recording 83.1% and in 2020, a reduction to 81%.

Remnants of China’s Largest Rocket Plunges Into Indian Ocean

Angel Gimalo
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Remnants of China’s Largest Rocket Plunges Into Indian Ocean

Remnants of China’s largest rocket have plummeted back to Earth, plunging into the Indian ocean near the Maldives, according to Chinese state media, ending days of speculation over where the debris would hit.

Most of the debris burned up in the atmosphere, it reported, citing the Chinese Manned Space Engineering office.

Parts of the 30-metre core of the Long March 5B rocket re-entered the atmosphere at 10.24am Beijing time (2.24am GMT) and landed at a location with the coordinates of longitude 72.47 degrees east and latitude 2.65 degrees north, state media cited the office as saying.

NASA was critical of China’s lack of transparency over the rocket’s re-entry, saying spacefaring nations had a duty to minimise the risks to people and property on Earth.

“It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris,” said Nasa administrator Bill Nelson, a former senator and astronaut who was picked for the role in March.

“It is critical that China and all spacefaring nations and commercial entities act responsibly and transparently in space to ensure the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of outer space activities.”

The US Space command confirmed the re-entry into the atmosphere of the rocket over the Arabian peninsula, but said it was unknown if the debris had hit land or water. “The exact location of the impact and the span of debris, both of which are unknown at this time, will not be released by US Space Command,” it said in a statement.

Space watchers around the world have been anticipating the arrival of the Long March 5B space rocket since it started to lose altitude last week amid concerns it was out of control.

It is one of the largest pieces of space debris to return to Earth and prompted the White House to call for “responsible space behaviours”.

China’s failure to issue strong safety reassurances in the run-up to the re-entry fuelled anxiety.

Scottish National Party Wins 4th Term Just Short Of Overall Majority

Angel Gimalo
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Scottish National Party Wins 4th Term Just Short Of Overall Majority

The Scottish National Party on Saturday won a fourth term in the devolved parliament but fell short of the outright majority it was seeking to push for a fresh independence referendum.

The SNP led by Nicola Sturgeon won 64 seats in the 129-seat parliament in Thursday’s vote, while it needed 65 seats to form a majority government.

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