World News - .geographical media - RSS

Gambian students back fromVenezuela speak

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:04:21 GMT

1 of 2

Monday, November 10, 2008

The Venezuela ambassador to the Gambia, Mrs Louder Perez, recently organised a briefing session for 7 Gambian students who had just returned from Venezuela, at the end of a 3 months intensive study in agriculture. The reception was hosted at the new Venezuelan Embassy complex in Kotu.

The purpose of the briefing was to expose the students to the media so that they could share their knowledge with the wider Gambian community, as to the new skills and technologies that they acquired while in Venezuela.

Addressing the session, Ambassador Perez expressed joy that the students had successfully completed their study. She remarked that the cooperation between the Gambia and Venezuela was part of the general framework of agreement that President Hugo Charvez is building between her country and Africa.

She further indicated that the cooperation was neither based on money nor material, but rather, it was a new type of cooperation that aims to build the capacity of the people for their own development so as to enable them to eliminate poverty. She called on the students to be ready to share their knowledge with their people, adding that Venezuela was looking forward to expanding the cooperation to other sectors of the country, not only agriculture.

For their part, the students expressed great satisfaction about the state of agricultural mechanisation in Venezuela. They also spoke at length about the various skills and techniques they learned, ranging from horticulture; seed production; aqua culture; food processing; and a host of other disciplines. They made strong promises to ensure taking their knowledge to the grass root by sharing their new skills and techniques with their fellow farmers in the fields.

The students further expressed optimism that with available resources, The Gambia has a great potential to mechanise her agricultural sector. They therefore called on the government to assist them with the necessary tools and equipment to enable them put into practice their knowledge and accomplish the dream of mechanising agriculture in the country. They also called on their fellow farmers to be open to changes and to accept the new skills and techniques from them, so that collectively they can improve the quality of production.

Author: by Gibairu Janneh

Mapping Study of Industries Validated

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 04:57:03 GMT

Thursday, September 25, 2008

A one-day validation workshop on the mapping study of industries in The Gambia ended yesterday at the Paradise Suites Hotel.

The workshop, which brought together stakeholders in different sectors was aimed at validating the study done by Sahel Investment on industries in The Gambia with a view to supporting the National Training Authority to provide complete cycle of skills training to all those in the formal and informal sectors.

The study is also among others envisaged to facilitate a successful implementation of the apprenticeship and industrial training policies which the NTA and other stakeholders like the Department of State for Trade, Industry and Employment and the National Youth Service Scheme are committed to undertake.

In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Momodou Bittaye, who represented the Director General of NTA underscored the importance of the validation of the study.

According to Mr. Bittaye, demand driven is the new approach to skills acquisition and the Gambia Skills Qualification is based on such concepts. “With the reverse tracer study which was also part of the mapping study, the NTA will be informed the trade areas that are in demand,” he added.

For his part, Mr. Jawara Gaye, Project Manager, Department of State for Basic and Secondary Education said the project links formal technical and vocational for the accomplishment of Vision 2020.

Speaking earlier on behalf of the lead consultant, Mr. Abdou Njie noted that Education and Human Resource Development is a key priority and an important factor of economic growth and poverty reduction.

“Recent reports have shown some deficiencies in the provision of training due to lack of links between NTA, government and training providers,” he said.

Author: By Abdourahman Sallah

More Students to Study in Taiwan

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:41:34 GMT

Friday, August 22, 2008

It seems the government of The Republic of China on

Taiwan

is showing no sign of abating in their quest to support the development of the human resource base of The Gambia. The ambassador of

Taiwan

in The Gambia, His Excellency Richard Shih, has spoken of his resolve to send more Gambian students to further their education in

Taiwan

. “I can guarantee you there will be more Gambian students going to

Taiwan

”.

He made this assurance recently at The Gambia National Petroleum Company (GNPC) office’s in Kotu during an orientation ceremony for a group of 49 Gambian students who were about to leave for Taiwan for further studies.

Ambassador Shih noted that The Gambia and Taiwan share a lot in common. “There Gambians in Taiwan are as well Taiwanese in The Gambia,” he stated.

He said that his country appreciates the support and relations with The Gambia.He revealed that as of now there will be 97 Gambians studying in Taiwan as well as those on short term courses.

Mr. Momodou Badgie, Director of GNPC, said that capacity building is key to national development of any country. We cannot depend entirely on foreign expertise to develop our country. This is a good initiative in realising vision 20202,” he concluded.

Author: By Nfamara Jawneh

Source: Picture: Richard Shih (Ambassador of Taiwan)

3 ambassadors present credentials

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:56:31 GMT

« previous

1 of 3

Friday, July 18, 2008

Three new ambassadors accredited to The Gambia and based in Dakar, Senegal, yesterday, presented their letters of credentials to President Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh at State House, Banjul, to formally start their diplomatic assignments in the country.

The three envoys namely Dr Sukarni Siker of Indonesia, Jean-Francois Paroz of Switzerland and Auguste Richard Paracin of the Island Republic of Madagascar, have resolved to further strengthen the existing bilateral relations between their respective countries and The Gambia.

The first to present his credentials to the Gambian leader was Dr Sukarni Siker of Indonesia. He told waiting journalists shortly after the ceremony that he will work to consolidate agricultural cooperation and provide scholarship for Gambian students to study in Indonesian institutions of higher learning.

For his part, Jean-Francois Paroz of Switzerland said his discussion with President Jammeh centred mainly on migration and measures needed to curb the illegal aspect of it.

According to him, his government will create more training opportunities for Gambians study at learning institutions in Swiss, as a ways of tackling illegal migration. He was quick to add that the phenomenon is a global problem, but both countries need more time to study the issue and come up with coherent mechanisms to curb the phenomenon.

He then disclosed that his government has procured new uniforms for the Gambia Immigration Department, which will soon arrive in the country.

The Malagasy envoy, Auguste Richard Paracin, said his discussion with Dr Jammeh centred on cooperation in the areas of tourism, environment and culture, amongst others.

He disclosed that he also conveyed a special invitation from President Marc Ravalomanana to Dr Jammeh to attend the next year’s AU Summit, which will be hosted by his country.

Author: by Pa Malick Faye

Study on Women and Islam Commissioned

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:34:21 GMT

Friday, July 04, 2008

A research study conducted by Dr. Omar Jah PhD Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of The Gambia was recently launched at the Tango offices in Kanifing.

The study, titled Action Aid Study on Women and Islam, aims among other things to clearly demonstrate the position of Islam pertaining to gender and to challenge some misgivings about Islamic gender policies.

The findings of the survey results show that the professional level, responses from Islamic religious leaders vis-à-vis Islamic law and covering of a women’s face in public, obligation of the female circumcision in Islam, and Islamic law and women’s inheritance of land are somehow disturbing.

In general, the findings show that although much needs to be done, if the present Gambian gender attitudes and policies are read against the background of the researcher’s theoretical framework, The Gambia can be characterised as a country on the right track.

Recommendations of the findings suggest that there is a need for more funding for research like the one being launched in order to bring to the fore the comparison in a more universal sample size.

It further suggested that government should establish a bureau comprising a male and female scholars at the level of the Qadi Appeal panel, whose jurisdiction would be to investigate complaints from couples with regard to the abuse of power in divorce or khul. It also highlights the need for capacity building for Qadis as well as strengthening of the recording techniques at Qadi courts in order to facilitate the due process of family law matters.

Speaking on the occasion, the author of the report, Dr Jah, said that the study demonstrates that every legal, political, or sociological complication at any age, Islam can give a proper solution if handled properly based on a pure Islamic worldview and agenda. “The issue of gender is cross cutting, and to demonstrate the Islamic perception to the gender discourse a refined handling of the Qur’anic and the Sunni injunctions is need to cause a proper orientation of attitudes and policies,” he said.

Dr Jah commended all individuals and institutions who supported him during the research.

Participants at the launch of the study all applauded Dr. Omar Jah for a job well done.

Author: By Nfamara Jawneh & Njie Baldeh

Source: Picture: Dr Omar Jah Jr

Lovelines: I want to remain single

Fri, 16 May 2008 05:17:37 GMT

Friday, May 16, 2008

Lovelines,

I want to be single after a futile two years relationship but guys will not let me be. Please I am confused.

Fatoumatta,

To remain celibacy requires total determination because guys will not allow you to be hence you are still very young as par your age to take such decision. All you need to do is to try as much as possible to study the types of guy you date. Be very sure of the type of friendship they want from you comparing to what you wanted from your man to avoid going into any futile relationship. Good luck!

Author: by Yunus S. Saliu

GLOBAL: Another setback for microbicide research

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:03:03 GMT

Monday, March 03, 2008

The first microbicide candidate to reach the final phase of testing has failed to prevent HIV transmission, researchers announced on Monday.

Testing of the microbicide, Carraguard, was carried out over a three-year period on 6,000 women in South Africa, and was completed in March 2007. But there was no difference in HIV infections between women in the group using Carraguard compared to the placebo group.

"The trial ... was unable to demonstrate Carraguard's efficacy in preventing HIV transmission," noted Dr Khatija Ahmed, principal investigator of the trial.

The microbicide developed by the Population Council, an international non-profit organisation, contains carrageenan, which is derived from seaweed and widely used in the food and cosmetics industries as a gel, stabiliser and thickening agent.

Laboratory, animal and early human tests suggested it might prevent HIV and other sexually spread infections, but Ahmed admitted that "what Carraguard showed in the lab couldn't be converted to humans".

She suggested that the low adherence rate could have been a factor: women who participated in the study used Carraguard less than half the number of times they had sex, and only 10 percent said they used it every time as directed. However, condom use shot up from 33 percent when the study began, to 64 percent.

While acknowledging that the news was a disappointment, Ahmed stressed that the Carraguard trial was a "major milestone for microbicide development", as the trial had been completed with no safety concerns being raised.

This is another setback in the race to develop an effective microbicide - applied via a range of products like gels, films and sponges - that could help women prevent the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

In 2000, a large full-scale trial showed that nonoxynol-9, a potential microbicide, was unsafe after women in the study developed a higher risk of HIV infection.

Seven years later, microbicide research was dealt another blow when the US-based reproductive health research organisation, CONRAD, announced the premature end of trials of a cellulose sulphate-based microbicide after the data safety and monitoring committee found a higher number of infections in the active group compared to the placebo group.

Advocates and researchers are reluctant to describe this trial as a setback. Fiona Scorgie, programmes coordinator at the Gender AIDS Forum, a non-governmental organisation monitoring microbicide trials in South Africa, told IRIN/PlusNews that although the end result had been disappointing, the trial had been "successful on another level".

The women participating in the trials had benefited from regular health screenings, while the safety of Carraguard meant that it could be used in future microbicide trials as a "vehicle for more specific substances, like antiretrovirals", but further development was needed.

According to Scorgie, communities also had to be involved in the process, rather than being passive recipients. "Communities have a very important role to play ... it's important that we inform ourselves and remain critical".

Source: PlusNews

Study says CO2 levels rising faster than anticipated

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 03:33:47 GMT

Thursday, November 01, 2007

The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is increasing faster than expected, according to a new study published in Tuesday's edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study said that rising levels of CO2, the main greenhouse gas blamed for climate change, threaten to accelerate global warming. The study attributes the change in CO2 levels to increased use of fossil fuels and a decline in the amount of gas being absorbed by the oceans and land.

CO2 emissions have increased by an average of 3.3 percent per year since 2000, compared with 1.1 percent per year in the 1990s. The rate has increased 35 percent more than scientists had anticipated based on economic growth, according to Corinne Le Quere, one of the paper's authors.

"The causes of the acceleration are surprising," Le Quere said. "One is that we are not as efficient at using CO2 as we had anticipated, and the second cause is that it appears that the CO2 sinks are weakening." The main natural CO2 sinks are the oceans and plants.

The study attributed approximately half of the unexpected growth to an increase in the carbon intensity of the global economy, a measure of the amount of carbon emissions per unit of economic activity. "For 30 years we were becoming more efficient at using CO2 for producing energy and wealth, and this has completely stalled since 2000," Le Quere said, adding that increased use of coal by developing countries such as China and India was partially to blame.

The remaining unexpected growth was attributed to a decline in the ability of the oceans and land to absorb CO2. Most climate models do not account for a weakening of CO2 sinks, Le Quere said. Alan Robock, associate director of the Center for Environmental Prediction at Rutgers University, called the reduction of the oceanic CO2 sink "really shocking".

The study "raises some very important issues that the public should be aware of: Namely that concentrations of CO2 are increasing at much higher rates than previously expected and this is in spite of the Kyoto Protocol that is designed to hold them down in western countries," said Kevin Trenberth, the head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and a lead author of the 2007 assessment report of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The IPCC predicted in February of this year that temperatures would rise by up to 6.4 degrees Celsius over the next century. However, Le Quere suggested that this scenario might be overly optimistic. "There’s quite a significant difference from what was forecast,” she said. "It’s rather scary and the IPCC scenarios are, therefore, rather too optimistic — as if they weren’t bleak enough already. The whole thing is likely to mean mitigation is rather more difficult than was thought."

Source: Wikinews

25 More Students to Benefit from Taiwan Scholarship

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 07:04:25 GMT

Thursday, September 06, 2007

The second batch of 25 students selected for the Taiwanese government scholarship package are scheduled to leave for Taiwan on September 13th to study a special BSc elite degree programme in Information Technology at the National Taipei University of Technology, NTUT.

Addressing students at the initiation ceremony held at the Gambia National Petroleum Company office in Kanifing on Friday, the Taiwanese Ambassador to The Gambia, Dr. Patrick Chang, encouraged the students to work hard when they go to Taiwan, adding that that way they could help attain President Jammeh’s Silicon Valley objective. “The president has the development of this country at heart,” he said.

Musa Touray, Principal Higher Education Officer deputising for the Secretary of State for Higher Education, advised students to comport themselves well and serve as good ambassadors of The Gambia. He said that the students were selected by a special committee before being approved by the president.

Mr. Lamin Saho, the Principal Assistant Secretary at the Department of State for Communication and Information Technology, who also deputised for the department’s Secretary of State, described Information Technology as vital in the attainment of the Silicon Valley project.

The occasion, attended by Mr. Fafa Sanyang, Commissioner of Petroleum, was chaired by Mr. Mam Sait Ceesay, Press Officer Office of the President.

It could be recalled that in 2006, the first batch comprising 25 Gambian students were sent to Taiwan to pursue studies in Petroleum Engineering

In another development, Ambassador Chang last week donated three vehicles to the Department of State for Agriculture at a ceremony held in Banjul, and another vehicle to the women of Banjulinding.

In presenting the vehicles Ambassador Chang said the development of the agricultural sector would contribute to the attainment of food self sufficiency in the country.

Kanja Sanneh, the Secretary of State of Agriculture, thanked Ambassador Chang for the donation, adding that the vehicles would ease the problem of mobility at his department.

Author: By Nfamara Jawneh

Source: The Point

WABSA launches newsletter

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 06:27:27 GMT

Friday, August 31, 2007

The West African Bird Study Association (WABSA) has recently launched its newsletter. This initiative emanated from the ambition to participate actively in the sensitisation of the general public on issues pertaining to environment. In their maiden edition, an emphasis has been put on desertification, one of the growing threats to the African continent and the planet.

In the editorial, Lamin Jobaate, WABSA Executive Director, pointed out that ‘there is a general understanding that desertification problems are most severe in the semi-arid, Sudano Sahelian zone of the country which constitutes 75% of the total land area, especially in the north of the River Gambia.’

Pursuing in this alarming tone, he argued that the southern part of the country is being menaced by the advance of the desert, as so many factors continue to contribute to the deterioration of the existing ecosystem. ‘‘The growing demographic pressures, coupled with 30% drop in rainfall over the last 20 years, contributed to the extensive destruction of the forest cover’’, he noted. According to him, such a situation caused drastically the decline of the rate of production in the cash crops, horticultural crops and wildlife species.

He further commended the reaction from the general public, government departments and Non-Governmental Organisations and indicated that it has over the last years, witnessed some positive developments and challenges. As such, they must be extolled ‘for the giant strides they have taken to minimise the negative environmental impacts.’ He then added: ‘‘The Department of Forestry, the Department of Parks and Wildlife Management, the National Environment Agency and the Gambia Tourism Authority have been in the forefront of the desertification control in The Gambia.’’

Taking into consideration the international environment conventions that The Gambia has ratified, he outlined government’s commitment to take the lead in the domain of conservation. Among the conventions that necessitate the political support of the government, he enumerated the United Nations Conservation on Desertification (UNCD), the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), the Climate Change Convention and the Bonn Convention. In other words, The Gambia is in the right track in tackling the rising challenges and adversity faced by the environment sector.

He concluded by drawing people’s attention to the fact that the achievement of these goals depends on the full participation and support of all Gambians. ‘‘It is our duty therefore, particularly the youth, to ensure the protection and conservation of our remaining flora and fauna’’, he hinted.

Author: Written by Abdoulie John

Source: The Daily Observer Newspaper