Good morning on national hug day! Common Swift Boxes hung Goes, cheap refueling and human trafficking lawsuit: Today is national hug day. Feel free to hug your loved ones or your colleagues today (do ask for permission). The special day was devised by the American pastor Kevin Zaborney, because he wanted to support people who were struggling in this month of January.

And watch out this morning as you head out, because it's foggy!

You see them flying ... In the Adenauerhof in Goes, eight common swifts are hung today. The cabinets are an alternative to the common swifts, which housing corporation Beveland Wonen wanted to install at the end of 2019. Under such a roof tile it gets very hot, so that animal welfare organizations objected.

Common Swift Boxes hung Goes

Human trafficking

A 32-year-old man from Zierikzee who is suspected of human trafficking and forced prostitution has to appear in court today. At his arrest, he was accompanied by a minor girl.

Do you have a digital backlog? then visit the digi market today at 3 p.m. at Hof Mondriaan in Middelburg. Among other things, presentations are given about virtual reality and 3D printing.

Cheap fuel

At some service stations in Zeeland you currently pay more than 1.70 euros per liter of gasoline. If you drive from Terneuzen to Zelzate to refuel there, you save ten euros, a test by our reporter showed.

The air pressure in Zeeland was particularly high yesterday. The barometer in Westdorpe registered 1048.8 and Vlissingen 1048.6 hectopascals, the highest levels since 1932.

Again

To begin with, it is foggy with a view of many places around 100 meters. In addition, the temperature is 0 to +1, and it can be slippery on bridges and overpasses. The fog will stay this morning for a while, but later in the morning most will dissolve and this afternoon it will be quite sunny. It will be around 6 degrees this afternoon, with a light breeze from the south to southwest.

Gorilla in the mist (Arte): the incredible and tragic fate of primatologist Dian Fossey

The classic Gorillas in the mist broadcast this evening at 8:55 pm on Arte, retraces the journey of the American primatologist Dian Fossey, who paid with his life for his commitment to gorillas in Africa.

With its careful staging, its powerful words, Gorillas in the mist is one of the remarkable films of the 1980s. Actress Sigourney Weaver, revealed by her role as Ripley in the Alien saga, plays there another woman of character, who really existed this time: the primatologist Dian Fossey. The feature film directed by Michael Apted is inspired by the memories of the American scientist published in 1983.

Africa as a horizon

Passionate from childhood about nature and the animal world, the young woman began her career at 23 as a therapist with autistic and disabled children. Eight years later, in 1963, during her first trip there, she fell in love with the African continent. To the point that this Californian of origin decides to give up everything to settle there in 1966. Dian Fossey will then devote most of her existence to the study of the behavior of gorillas. First in the Congo, where she was chased away by a bloody civil war, then in Rwanda, in the Karisoke camp, a research center she founded in 1967.
The job of a lifetime

In order to observe the great apes in their natural environment, at an altitude of 3,000 meters, she climbs the Rwandan mountains to live in cold and humid forests, in the company of her assistants. By dint of patience and discretion, days spent crouching, silent and motionless near a group of gorillas, the adventurer is accepted by animals. Despite the distrust of the dominant males, unaccustomed to a human presence, she approaches the members of the tribe as closely as possible, touches them, films them ... An exploit that no researcher had succeeded before her. In January 1970, Fossey appeared on the cover of National Geographic magazine. She tells how sociable, gentle, peaceful and vegetarian primates are, contrary to popular belief.

His murder never resolved

Her work disturbs the many poachers who are rampant in the region, and against whom she goes to war. Nicknamed by some the "White Witch", she fights daily for the defense and the preservation of gorillas, an endangered species. On December 27, 1985, she was assassinated with a machete in her camp in Rwanda, just 53 years old. The crime has never been solved. Fortunately, Dian Fossey's work has been continued by others in this region plagued by war, poaching and corruption. And if the gorillas still survive today, we owe it in part to the courage of this extraordinary woman.