Atlantico Weekly

Archive for the ‘Media’ Category

Cape Verde news update, April 25th

In Agriculture, Cape Verde, Economy, Energy, Media, Politics, Telecom, Tourism, Travel on April 25, 2010 at 1:18 pm

POLITICS

The National Assembly has approved the new journalists’ statute, which consecrates the mandatory need to have a degree of higher learning in journalism in order to practice the profession in Cape Verde (A Semana).

Former Portuguese president Ramalho Eanes admits that the decolonization process carried out by Portugal in 1975 “was not the best,” but even so considers the idea that Cape Verde should not have become independent, voiced several days ago by his successor, former Portuguese president Mário Soares, “not very reasonable” (A Semana).

DEFENCE

Cape Verde may be chosen to host the headquarters of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Naval Logistics Base (A Semana).

ECONOMY

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected 5% growth in the Cape Verdean economy for this year, a figure expected to improve to 5.5% in 2011, according to the institution’s World Economic Outlook (A Semana).

ENERGY

The island of São Vicente experienced several power outages Wednesday, April 21, particularly on the outskirts of the city of Mindelo and other villages, where the blackout lasted for more than 16 consecutive hours. According to water and electricity utility Electra, the power cuts were caused by a technical problem in the main generator at the Lazareto power station (A Semana).

AGRICULTURE

“The lifting of the embargo on agricultural products from the island of Santo Antão is scheduled to take place in July,” according to Minister of the Environment, Rural Development and Marine Resources José Maria Veiga (A Semana).

The City hall of Ribeira Grande de Santiago joins today to the Earth Day with a programme of distribution and planting fruit trees, in the Cidade Velha (Inforpress).

TELECOM

The project for the extension of Cabo Verde Telecom’s fiber optics network in Chã das Caldeiras on the island of Fogo will move forward with the placement of aerial rather than underground cables, despite recent protests by local residents, who feared the aerial cables would jeopardize the area’s natural beauty (A Semana).

HEALTH

Cape Verde is among the 10 countries oin Africa that have managed to decrease malaria prevalence in its territory by approximately 50 percent between 2000 and 2008, as WHO data show (Inforpress).

TRAVEL & TOURISM

The certification process is delaying the arrival of new plane ATR of the private air carrier Halcyonair (Inforpress).

The confidence indicator for the Tourism sector in Cape Verde in the first quarter posted its lowest level since 2002, the year in which the archipelago’s National Statistics Institute (INE) first launched the series of Company Economic Climate Surveys (Macauhub).

Cape Verde news update, February 14th

In Airports, Banking, Cape Verde, Media, Oil, Politics, Ports, Telecom, Tourism, Travel on February 14, 2010 at 2:44 pm

POLITICS

Cape Verdean President Pedro Verona Pires met with a Venezuelan delegation made up of three cabinet ministers and the director of the country’s Department of Petroleum. The visit is the first by high-level Venezuelan officials to Cape Verde, and comes as the two countries are seeking to expand bilateral relations (A Semana).

At the same time, the president of Cape Verde’s National Assembly signed a cooperation protocol with Cuba’s parliament. The accord comes as part of a visit by a Cape Verdean parliamentary delegation to Cuba (A Semana).

The new extraordinary ambassador and plenipotentiary of the Republic of Cape Verde in Senegal, Francisco Pereira da Veiga, promised today in Praia to work with persistence to fulfil the mission that was conferred to him (Inforpress).

AIR TRAVEL

The African market is responsible for 15% of TAP Air Portugal’s revenues, and is expected to grow some 6.5% this year. The continent represented the only market in which the Portuguese airline saw growth last year, reason enough for Africa to be considered one of TAP’s most important destinations. TAP will soon start operating flights to and from Sao Vicente’s Sao Pedro airport (A Semana).

TACV Cabo Verde Airlines will begin operating a direct weekly flight between São Vicente and Portuguese capital Lisbon on April 29 in order to respond to demand in Cape Verde’s northern region (A Semana).

TACV is in negotiations aiming to take Brazilian adepts to the first World Football Cup to be hold in Africa,  next June (Inforpress).

TELECOM

The liberalization of the telecommunications sector in Cape Verde in 2006 resulted in an exponential increase in the number of mobile telephone users from some 100,000 to the current figure of nearly 300,000 (A Semana).

MEDIA

The Council of Ministers, Cape Verde’s cabinet, this week analyzed a number of proposed alterations to the law regulating media outlets and journalistic activities in the country. The main innovations include the introduction of on-line publications, the consecration of collective entities’ right to respond and the right to clarification (A Semana).

PORTS

Rough seas with waves of more than five meters caused the rupture of some 30 meters of the wall protecting Vale dos Cavaleiros port in São Filipe, on the island of Fogo. The waves are now endangering various other buildings at the sea port, including the passenger terminal (A Semana).

The first phase of refurbishment and expansion work on the port of Porto Novo is due to begin next May, the chief executive of national ports management company, Enapor, Jorge Pimenta Rodrigues said in Santo Antão (Macauhub).

BANKING

The chairman of the board of the Administration of the African Bank of Investment (BAI – Cape Verde ), David Jasse, announced that his bank intends to conquer 15 percent of the Cape Verdean market in three years (Inforpress).

WIND

The installation of four wind farms on four Cape Verdean islands is due to begin in the archipelago’s capital Praia, whose municipal council signed an agreement to grant land for the project on the outskirts of the city. Representing an investment of US$84 million, the four wind farms will produce between 22.5 and 28 megawatts of power, and the wind farm to be built near Praia will have a capacity of 10 megawatts (Macauhub).

Angola news update, January 3rd

In Airports, Angola, Banking, Economy, Investments, Media, Oil, Ports on January 3, 2010 at 2:56 pm

ECONOMY

Traffic defines life in Luanda, Angola’s rapidly expanding capital. Traffic and fresh concrete. In many minds, Angola remains synonymous with the Africa of war, a bullet-strafed nation where civil conflict raged for so long that it seemed beyond redemption. Read the report in the Mail & Guardian.

Angola is in the international spotlight. From magazine covers to billboards, messages of “Viva Angola” and “Proud to be Angolan” in Luanda mark the war-scarred Southern African nation’s rising international presence. Read another report in the Mail & Guardian.

OIL

Angola will not hold a bidding round for new oil concessions for at least another year, the head of state-owned oil company Sonangol said (Reuters).

The total production of crude-oil in Angola, from January to November 2009, reached 601,492,344 barrels, which represents a significant decrease in comparison to the same period of 2008, in which was produced 635,755,166 barrels (ANGOP).

Angola’s oil minister, Botelho de Vasconcelos said that the new refinery located in Lobito would only be concluded in 2014 or 2015. Angolan newspaper Jornal de Angola reported that the new refinery was intended to make up for the current refining deficit of around 50 percent (Macauhub).

MEDIA

A company owned by the daughter of Angola’s president agreed to buy a 10 percent stake in Portugal’s pay TV and Internet company Zon in a deal that also marks the beginning of Zon’s expansion to Africa (Reuters).

Zon Multimedia SA, which announced a venture to provide pay-television service in Angola, said the African country’s market has the potential to grow several times over (Bloomberg).

STOCK EXCHANGE

Angola may list parts of its state-run oil company, Sonangol SA, in 2012. Sonangol is considering listing units in Johannesburg and New York, as well as in Luanda once the exchange opens, he said (Bloomberg).

PORTS

At least USD 3.2 million were invested throughout the year 2009 in the rehabilitation of the Port of the southwest Namibe Province, thus enabling the reclassification and improvement of the first 240 metres of the wharf (ANGOP).

AIRPORTS

Over 500,000 passangers will travel every year through the newly inaugurated Mukanka International airport, in Lubango, southern Huila province, against the 120,000 handled by the old airport, according to Angolan Transport minister, Augusto da Silva Tomás (ANGOP).

INVESTMENTS

Sab Miller Angola plans to invest US$120 million in a tin can factory that is due to start operating in October, 2010, in Viana municipality, Luanda province (Macauhub).

Portuguese construction company Mota-Engil said Wednesday it planned to invest, in 2010, in the construction of a factory to manufacture nails and electro-soldered mesh in Benguela, Angola (Macauhub).

BANKING

Net profits in Angola’s banking sector posted growth of 98 percent in 2008, according to an annual study by KPMG about the banking sector in Angola (Macauhub).

Cape Verde news update, August 2nd

In Agriculture, Airports, Cape Verde, Economy, Investments, Media, Politics, Ports, Security, Stock exchange, Tourism, Travel on August 2, 2009 at 11:32 am

CLINTON

Hillary Clinton will visit Cape Verde on August 13 and 14, with the main point on her agenda being the insertion of African women into the world market. Another issue to be discussed will be security in Sub-Saharan Africa (A Semana).

STATE OF THE NATION

The debate on the State of the Nation that took place in the National Assembly Wednesday, July 29, began with personal attacks between various different members of parliament and ended with asymmetrical readings on employment, health care, safety and Cape Verde’s macroeconomic indicators (A Semana).

STOCK EXCHANGE

The demand for Cabo Verde Fast Ferry future bonds was slightly greater than the supply, according to Cape Verde Stock Exchange president Veríssimo Pinto (A Semana).

INFLATION

The Consumer Price Index registered a monthly variation rate of -0.3% between May and June of this year, while the homologous variation rate dropped 1.8% in regards to May, standing at 0.1% (A Semana).

AIR TRAVEL

Privately-owned Cape Verdean company Halcyon Airways will begin operating flights to the island of São Nicolau this week, offering three weekly flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays (A Semana).

AGRICULTURE

The embargo that for the past twenty years has prevented agricultural products from leaving the island of Santo Antão appears close to ending (A Semana).

MEDIA

Our friends at A Semana are about to launch a completely revamped interactive website, aimed not only at the country’s resident population, but especially at Cape Verde’s large and widely scattered diaspora.

INVESTMENT

Cape Verde’s prime minister proposed Monday the creation of a network of entities to reduce the waiting time for the resolution of companies’ problems and make it easier to invest in Cape Verde, according to Inforpress ( Macauhub).

The minister for Infrastructures, Transport and Telecommunications in Cape Verde, Manuel Inocêncio, revealed that the government is to invest 50 million Euros in the Porto da Palmeira, on the island of Sal. The first phase of the modernization and expansion work, estimated at 19 million Euros, is being carried out by the Mota-Engil consortium and should be finished by July 2010 (Macauhub).

Angola news update, July 4th

In Angola, Banking, Brazil, Foreign Trade, Media, Oil, Tourism, Travel on July 4, 2009 at 9:23 am

OIL

Chevron announced that its joint venture had begun oil production from its offshore Mafumeira Norte oilfield in Angola (Reuters).

MEDIA

Portugal’s Zon Multimedia is considering launching pay television services in Angola in a project with the daughter of the country’s president (Reuters).

BANKING

Banco Espirito Santo SA may open its planned investment banking and brokerage unit in Angola this year, Diario Economico reported, citing Jose Maria Ricciardi, head of Espirito Santo’s investment banking division (Bloomberg).

SOUTH ATLANTIC

Around 50 Brazilian companies are due to take part from 14 to 19 July in the Luanda International Fair (Filda) in Angola, organised by the Brazilian Agency for Export and Investment Promotion,Apex-Brasil (Macauhub).

AIR TRAVEL

The Safety Commission of the European Commission will recommend that Angola’s national airline Taag be removed from the blacklist and re-launch flights between Luanda and Lisbon, Portugal’s National Civil Aviation Institute (INAC) said (Macauhub).

CONSTRUCTION

Angola’s Minister for Urbanism and Housing said that from August 110,000 houses will be built as part of a public/private partnership. The first 10,000 houses will be built  in the provinces of Bengo, Luanda, Huíla and Namibe, in cooperation with Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. The other 100.000 units will be built by Israeli group RL in Bengo, Benguela, Namibe and Malanje (Macauhub) .

Surinam and Cape Verde have most free press

In Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Media, Panama, Sao Tome and Principe, South Africa, Surinam on May 5, 2009 at 10:35 am

Freedom House, a US based NGO, have published their 2009 report on international freedom of the press. Of the countries featuring in this news site, Freedom House considers Surinam (43rd place), Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe (both 60th) and South Africa (66th) as “free”. The organisation considers Brazil (89th) and Panama (92th) as “partly free” and Angola(132nd) as “not free”.

Read the full report and how Freedom House came to these concusions here.

Cape Verde news update, April 10th

In Airports, Banking, Cape Verde, Hotels, Infrastructure, Investments, Media, Security, Tourism, Travel on April 10, 2009 at 9:16 am

BANKING

Cape Verdean bank, Banco Interatlântico, owned by Portugal’s Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), posted a net profit in 2008 of 212.4 million Cape Verdean escudos, or 27 percent more than in 2007, the chairman of the bank said (Macauhub).

TOURISM

Cape Verdean President Pedro Pires affirmed this weekend that it was time for Cape Verdeans to get past their “spirit of survival” and show more boldness and entrepreneurship. Pedro Pires, who spoke at the official opening of the tourist village Sírio in Chã das Caldeiras, on the island of Fogo, stressed that “it’s time to think about the future, and we have to know what future we want and what future we can build.” (A Semana)

Cape Verde saw a 6.5% increase in the number of tourists visiting the country in 2008 despite the international financial crisis, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE) (A Semana).

INFRASTRUCTURE

The INC/Engeobra consortium has concluded asphalting work on the recently-completed road connecting Porto Novo and Janela, on the island of Santo Antão. Work on the highway, considered one of Cape Verde’s longest, began in 2003, and the road will be officially opened to traffic in May or June of this year (A Semana).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

The Judiciary Police will investigate accusations made by the PAICV regarding the existence of a corruption scheme inside the São Vicente municipal chamber, which is administered by the political party MpD. Reliable sources say that the police will investigate the alleged favoring of individuals close to the MpD in the distribution and sale of 68 plots of land on the island of São Vicente (A Semana).

The Supreme Court of Justice on Monday ordered the detention of three Judiciary Police agents allegedly involved in the theft of 140 kilograms of cocaine from police safes last year. The three agents, whom the Supreme Court had ordered released late last year, are now back at Praia’s São Martinho prison (A Semana).

SECURITY

Airport and Air Security company ASA and the National Police signed a protocol Monday afternoon for the acquisition and installation of optical and biometric reading devices in Cape Verde’s four international airports. The 13 million-escudo investment is aimed at quickening and improving security services in the airports (A Semana).

SEX

Cape Verde is first on a list of more than 40 sub-Saharan African countries in terms of condom use, according to last Sunday’s edition of French newspaper Le Monde. Some 70% of Cape Verdeans with more than one sexual partner say they use prophylactics (A Semana).

The Portuguese edition of Playboy will be distributed in Cape Verde, according to an announcement by Frestacom, the company responsible for the recent release of the publication in Portugal (A Semana).

South Africa news update, Feb. 26

In Elections, Media, Mining, Politics, Retail, Security, South Africa on February 26, 2009 at 9:35 pm

POLITICS

The Congress of the People (Cope) formally introduced its presidential candidate, Dr Mvume Dandala, to the media at Emperors Palace in Ekurhuleni on Monday. Read the full article in the Mail & Guardian

MEDIA

Kagiso Media’s headline earnings increased by 20% to R106,3-million, the black-owned and managed media company said on Monday.Read the full story in the Mail & Guardian

MINING

The world’s largest diamond group, De Beers, said its three shareholders have agreed to loan the company $500 million to help it weather the economic downturn, following muted sales in 2008 (Reuters).

AngloGold Ashanti , the world’s No. 3 gold producer, has agreed to sell a mine in South Africa to smaller rival Simmer & Jack Ltd. (Simmers) in a bid to beef up its balance sheet (Reuters).

RETAIL

Africa’s biggest supermarket group Shoprite posted profit at the top end of its forecast as cheaper products helped it win market share, but warned of slower growth as the global crisis bites (Reuters).

DEFENCE

LAND Systems SA yesterday unveiled its new version of SA’s most successful mine-protected vehicle for export. The latest version of the company’s acclaimed RG series of mine-resistant personnel carrier vehicles — the RG31 Mk6E — made its international debut at the IDEX exhibition of modern defence weaponry and technology in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Business Day).

Private media grow in Angola

In Angola, Media on January 10, 2009 at 4:16 pm

After years of state domination, private newspapers, radio stations and most recently a television channel are shaking up Angola’s media landscape, but face doubts about their independence.

Read the news story at the Mail & Guardian

Angola launches private TV channel

In Angola, Media on December 17, 2008 at 7:11 pm

LUANDA, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Angola launched its first private television channel on Sunday, marking an end to the state stranglehold on broadcast media in the southwestern African nation. TV Zimbo will go on air for several hours a day during a three-month test phase before it becomes fully operational ahead of presidential elections in 2009, and the Angolan-hosted African Cup of Nations soccer championship in 2010.

Read the story at Reuters

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