Zambian Chronicle

Choose Your Language Of Preference Below

French Version German Version Russian Version Spanish Version 

 WATCH Zambian TV (ZNBC TV 

State House was a hive of activity as Zambia was celebrated African Freedom Day.

The atmosphere was fully cordial as Zambians and members of the diplomatic corp. from across the spectrum were present for the celebrations.

After the President laid a wrath at the Freedom Statue he hosted a banquet with invited guests there and many in attendance are pictographically presented with this post.

Despite the fact that this year’s program was rushed, it was very colorful according to present sources.

It is believed that the celebrations were shortened because the President was Japan bound as he was leaving soon after where he was expected for the Tokyo, International Conference on Africa’s Development (TICAD).

Entertainment was provided for by various sources and the Zambia National Service dancers where the epitome of it all …

When the Zambia Defense Forces Band started playing, former first President Kaunda was enthused and run to the dancing floor to put in his 2 cents worth …

His dance was entertaining and breath taking considering the guy is now 84 years old, what an ecstatic moment it was as others joined in

Former Vice President Nevers Mumba and his wife Florence were also in attendance as they enjoyed the moment …

Great Kalu, the new FAZ chief shared a light moment with former Vice President Nevers Mumba and Inspector General of police Ephraim Mateyo …

This is what it used to be, we were really “One Zambia One Nation” and the Zambian Chronicle would like to encourage this spirit within the Zambian Enterprise because Zambia is greater than any single one of us … thanks a trillion.

All pictures courtesy of the picturemonger.

Brainwave R Mumba, Sr.

CEO  & President – Zambian Chronicle

Copyrights © 2008 Zambian Chronicle. All rights reserved. Zambian Chronicle content may not be stored except for personal, non-commercial use. Republication and redissemination of Zambian Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Zambian Chronicle. Zambian Chronicle shall not be liable for any errors, omissions, interruptions or delays in connection with the Zambian Chronicle content or from any damages arising therefrom. 

Zambian Chronicle is a wholly owned subsidiary of Microplus Holdings International, Inc.

Copyrights © 2008 Microplus Holdings Int., Inc

Choose Your Language Of Preference Below

French Version German Version Russian Version Spanish Version 

 WATCH Zambian TV (ZNBC TV 

ZAMBIA sees foreign direct investment doubling in 2008 to US$3 billion, with Investments expected to push up Gross Domestic Product to 7.5 per cent in 2008 - up from a previous forecast from of 7.0 per cent.

The growth would create about 100,000 new jobs.
Government also expects that investment dependence on China would be diluted by new investments from India, Malaysia, South Africa and emerging African powerhouse Nigeria.

Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Felix Mutati, said on Friday new investments would push growth in the copper-rich country to 7.5 per cent in 2008.

“The target of US$3 billion in FDI will be achieved by the end of the year,” he told Reuters by telephone from the capital Lusaka. “There is not a singular but a divergent source of funds, giving us a good investment balance. We now think economic growth this year will be around 7.5 per cent.”

Zambia’s Treasury says the country received US$1.4 billion in foreign direct investment in 2007.
The main limiting factor was the country’s poor road infrastructure and limited power generation capacity, he said.

Mr Mutati said the country would aim to invest to improve that, with India’s ER Engineering building a US$500 million coal power plant as well as evaluating coal deposits.

Other Indian firms would invest millions of dollars in manganese mining, agriculture and agro-processing, Mutati added.

Other potential or confirmed investments included South African-backed sugar production, Nigerian banking and cement production and a Malaysian factory making mobile phones for the wider southern African region, he said.

The majority of the US$3 billion was already in the country, he said.

Earlier in the week, Zambia’s Minister of Finance and National Planning, Ng’andu Magande, told Reuters he was unfazed by worries over a recession in the developed Western economies because the country - like much of the rest of Africa - was now looking primarily to the east.

Mutati said a sixth of the investment would likely come from Nigeria, its economy riding high on record oil prices.

Nigeria’s Access Bank was last week granted a licence to operate in Zambia.

“Riding on the Access Bank initial investment of US$7.5 million, around US$500-million in new investments from Nigeria will come in,” he said.

“A team of Nigerians will be in Zambia next week to discuss investments in cement production, Manufacturing of packaging materials and haulage of goods.”

In another example of Africa to Africa investment, he said a consortium of Zambian and Kenyan investors were setting up an edible oils plant.

A South African firm was starting an explosives plant to feed the growing mining industry, he said, while Zambia Sugar - a Lusaka-listed unit of South Africa’s Illovo, itself a unit of Associated British Foods - had announced a US$205 million factory expansion plan.

The world’s largest cement manufacturer Lafarge will commission a US$150 million cement plant in July.

China is expected to invest an initial US$300 million of an eventual planned US$900 million in an economic tax free zone for Chinese firms.

Mutati said taxes generated from the new investment would be used for poverty reduction. Around 64 percent of Zambia’s 12-million people currently live in poverty.

Source - MINING WEEKLY.

Choose Your Language Of Preference Below

French Version German Version Russian Version Spanish Version 

 WATCH Zambian TV (ZNBC TV 

NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft landed in the northern polar region of Mars today to begin three months of examining a site chosen for its likelihood of having frozen water within reach of the lander’s robotic arm.

Radio signals received at 4:53:44 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53:44 p.m. Eastern Time) confirmed the Phoenix Mars Lander had survived its difficult final descent and touchdown 15 minutes earlier.

The signals took that long to travel from Mars to Earth at the speed of light.

Mission team members at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver; and the University of Arizona, Tucson, cheered confirmation of the landing and eagerly awaited further information from Phoenix later tonight.

Among those in the JPL control room was NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, who noted this was the first successful Mars landing without airbags since Viking 2 in 1976.

“For the first time in 32 years, and only the third time in history, a JPL team has carried out a soft landing on Mars,” Griffin said. “I couldn’t be happier to be here to witness this incredible achievement.”

During its 422-million-mile flight from Earth to Mars after launching on Aug. 4, 2007, Phoenix relied on electricity from solar panels during the spacecraft’s cruise stage. The cruise stage was jettisoned seven minutes before the lander, encased in a protective shell, entered the Martian atmosphere. Batteries provide electricity until the lander’s own pair of solar arrays spread open.

“We’ve passed the hardest part and we’re breathing again, but we still need to see that Phoenix has opened its solar arrays and begun generating power,” said JPL’s Barry Goldstein, the Phoenix project manager.

If all goes well, engineers will learn the status of the solar arrays between 7 and 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time (10 and 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time) from a Phoenix transmission relayed via NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter.

The team will also be watching for the Sunday night transmission to confirm that masts for the stereo camera and the weather station have swung to their vertical positions.

“What a thrilling landing! But the team is waiting impatiently for the next set of signals that will verify a healthy spacecraft,” said Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, principal investigator for the Phoenix mission.

“I can hardly contain my enthusiasm. The first landed images of the Martian polar terrain will set the stage for our mission.”

Another critical deployment will be the first use of the 7.7-foot-long robotic arm on Phoenix, which will not be attempted for at least two days. Researchers will use the arm during future weeks to get samples of soil and ice into laboratory instruments on the lander deck.

The signal confirming that Phoenix had survived touchdown was relayed via Mars Odyssey and received on Earth at the Goldstone, Calif., antenna station of NASA’s Deep Space Network.

Phoenix uses hardware from a spacecraft built for a 2001 launch that was canceled in response to the loss of a similar Mars spacecraft during a 1999 landing attempt.

Researchers who proposed the Phoenix mission in 2002 saw the unused spacecraft as a resource for pursuing a new science opportunity.

Earlier in 2002, Mars Odyssey discovered that plentiful water ice lies just beneath the surface throughout much of high-latitude Mars. NASA chose the Phoenix proposal over 24 other proposals to become the first endeavor in the Mars Scout program of competitively selected missions.

Source: University of Arizona - Lunar & Planetary Laboratory

Phoenix cost about $420 million in total. The project was overseen by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and led by the University of Arizona.

Further Reading from another source … 

Phoenix lands gently on Mars

By John Timmer | Published: May 26, 2008

Yesterday evening in California, engineers looked on as NASA’s Phoenix lander made it safely to the surface of Mars.

A number of things had to go right for this to happen, as the lander had to separate from the solar panels that powered it on its trip, take an appropriately fiery trip through the Martian atmosphere to decelerate, deploy a parachute, and then fire thrusters to slow it further as it approached the planet’s surface.

At the Jet Propulsion Labs in Pasadena, which managed the landing, each of these steps was greeted with loud cheers and the sight of many middle-aged engineers exchanging hugs.

The landing was unusually well monitored, as NASA and the European Space Agency arranged for three orbiting Mars observatories to be in the neighborhood as Phoenix approached.

The first images sent back show that the probe is sitting in a rocky, dusty plain covered in small undulations. Perhaps more significantly, they show full deployment of the craft’s solar panels, which will be essential for its activity over the Martian summer.

Given the lander’s polar location, it has a finite time to get science done before Martian winter kills its power supply. That short life span is a worthwhile tradeoff, as Mars’ Polar Regions see seasonal expansions of its icecaps, which include water.

If there is interesting water-based chemistry going on on Mars, the poles are one of the best places to go looking for it. Exploring the poles was considered so important that Phoenix represents a third try, following the crash of one probe and cancellation of a second. It carries instruments designed for the first, and is built on the modified body of the second.

Summer on Mars lasts for roughly six months, so the engineers at JPL are likely to be very busy trying to squeeze out as much science as they can before the sun sets on Phoenix.

Source: Ars Technica