February 16, 2023

Hisense introduit son téléviseur laser 90L5H grand écran familial en Afrique du Sud

LE CAP, Afrique du Sud, 16 février 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Hisense, première marque mondiale d’électronique, se prépare à procurer une expérience visuelle révolutionnaire aux foyers sud-africains avec la commercialisation locale de son téléviseur laser 4K 90L5H. Doté d’une palette de plus de 16,7 millions de couleurs, ce produit restitue des images plus vraies que nature avec un réalisme et une précision exceptionnels.

Présenté comme le téléviseur grand écran le plus familial de la société, le 90L5H est un véritable concentré de puissance, avec son écran de 90 pouces et ses 8,3 millions de pixels, doté de la technologie laser X-Fusion révolutionnaire de la société et du son multidimensionnel Dolby Atmos. Ce produit est le choix idéal pour de nombreux clients, qu’il s’agisse de cinéphiles passionnés à la recherche de la meilleure expérience sur grand écran, de sportifs désireux de plonger au cœur de l’action ou de joueurs à la recherche des meilleurs graphismes. Le 90L5H, d’une longueur de 1,80 m, a de quoi séduire les utilisateurs de tous horizons, qu’il s’agisse d’enfants, d’adolescents ou de professionnels qui apprécient les plaisirs de la vie.

En associant la technologie laser X-Fusion de la société et la technologie de projection à focale ultra-courte, le téléviseur 90L5H d’Hisense produit des images d’une grande netteté, qui offrent aux familles une atmosphère unique dans leur propre maison, semblable à celle que l’on retrouve dans un cinéma. Malgré sa taille, ce produit est très performant. Il est doté d’un écran réfléchissant et émet peu de lumière bleue afin que les utilisateurs ne ressentent pas de fatigue oculaire lors de longues séances de visionnage, et ce, sans perdre la qualité d’affichage d’origine.

L’investissement d’Hisense dans les performances ne s’arrête pas là. La société a employé sa technologie de rejet de la lumière ambiante pour accentuer davantage les couleurs, et les utilisateurs n’ont pas besoin d’éteindre les lumières pour obtenir une qualité d’image claire et saisissante. Par ailleurs, le contraste naturel élevé, avec un taux de 3 000:1, rend les reflets à l’écran encore plus saisissants et apporte de la profondeur et du réalisme aux images ombragées à l’écran.

L’équipe d’Hisense a privilégié une ergonomie élégante et attrayante lors de la conception du 90L5H, et il en résulte un produit qui trouvera sa place dans pratiquement toutes les pièces de la maison. Sous le capot, son cadre en aluminium robuste et sa surface résistante aux rayures allient une esthétique agréable à des performances robustes, le tout pour seulement 9 kg.

En matière de flexibilité pour les utilisateurs, le téléviseur prend en charge l’HDR10, l’HLG et le Dolby Vision tout en exploitant la gamme dynamique élevée pour transférer sa capacité à afficher des couleurs aussi vives aux contenus pris en charge. De plus, le mode Filmmaker (cinéaste) permet d’offrir aux utilisateurs une expérience visuelle plus authentique. Ce mode désactive certains des paramètres de la technologie d’image et de mouvement pour rétablir l’expérience visuelle telle que le créateur l’a voulue, ce qui permet à l’utilisateur de contrôler entièrement la qualité de l’image.

Pour en savoir plus, veuillez consulter : https://hisense.co.za/products/hisense-90-4k-laser-tv-90l5h/

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2002871/90L5H_KV.jpg

February 16, 2023

US Foreign Aid Agency Continues to Invest in Africa

Branching out from the usual bilateral agreements between the United States and individual nations, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) recently crafted a new type of grant to promote cross-border economic integration and trade between two African countries.

The first so-called regional compact in the amount of $504 million — $202 million for Benin and $302 million for Niger — will focus on reducing transportation costs between Benin’s Port of Cotonou and Niger’s capital of Niamey.

But there’s more, said Mahmoud Bah, deputy chief executive officer of the MCC, an independent U.S. agency that has been providing foreign assistance around the world for nearly two decades.

“It will also try to address some of the root causes of maintaining road assets,” he said. “In both countries, they’ve committed to improving road maintenance, so there will be policy and institutional reforms around road maintenance, contributions, how the fund is flowing and how those funds are allocated to roads that actually need to be maintained.”

Benin and Niger will contribute a combined total of $15 million to the various projects.

The regional compact also aims to eliminate trade bottlenecks between the two nations and cut down on spoilage from delays, Bah told VOA.

MCC previously invested $1.1 billion in Benin and Niger. Some of that money went toward eliminating procedural constraints affecting the flow of goods through the Port of Cotonou.

The new projects aim to build on progress made.

“We hope that we will connect our previous investment to this new investment,” said Bah. “The port of Benin is effectively a model in the region, thanks to the work we jointly did, and this road piece connecting that port to customers, farmers, clients in Niamey along the corridor from Cotonou is the big story here. I truly believe that regional integration is an essential piece of the entire continent’s development.”

Other grants in the works

In southern Africa, MCC recently signed a memorandum committing Washington and Maputo to pursue a compact later this year to protect Mozambique’s coastal areas.

“Mozambique is one country that is faced with extreme adverse effects of climate,” said Bah. “Sixty-five percent of Mozambicans live on the coastal part of Mozambique. It has 2,300 kilometers of coast, and it’s being pounded every year by heavier and heavier cyclones. In the last five years, Mozambique had four 100-year cyclones — cyclones that are supposed to happen every hundred years.”

About four years ago, Cyclone Idai killed hundreds in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi and displaced millions in what the United Nations called “one of the worst weather-related catastrophes in the history of Africa.”

In Mozambique, Bah also visited mangroves, which are slated for funding in an upcoming MCC compact.

“It’s the ecosystem that allows the planet to survive certain climatic impacts, but it’s being taken away by these cyclones,” he said. “Also, the mangroves themselves are being chopped to make charcoal, but the people that are chopping these mangroves have no other alternatives.”

MCC also hopes to help restore an 80-year-old bridge on the brink of collapse and connect small farmers by helping them become more commercially viable.

Eligibility criteria

To receive money from MCC, a country needs to meet the agency’s standards on a range of criteria, from good governance to economic freedom.

And even after receiving funds, the criteria need to be respected throughout implementation. For that reason, MCC recently terminated Burkina Faso’s grant funding after a military takeover.

“When we see a coup d’etat, especially the military coup d’etat, it calls into question the model and what for us … is a red line,” said Bah. “We cannot face Congress and say, ‘We need to support this country,’ when in fact we see an attempt or a confiscation of the constitution by a group of military [forces].”

Bah said he hoped the partnership between the two countries would soon be restored, because it was a tough decision for the MCC to stop the work that had already begun.

Meanwhile, MCC is working on signing a compact with Sierra Leone this year to help make electricity cheaper and its energy sector more reliable.

Other potential beneficiaries in Africa include Mauritania, Togo and Gambia. Senegal will be tapped for the next regional compact.

Free money?

MCC started under a Republican administration nearly 20 years ago and has benefited from bipartisan support.

To the skeptics who say there’s no such thing as free money, Bah said the only cost of getting an MCC grant is abiding by the agency’s model and meeting the eligibility criteria. Otherwise, the grants are not to be repaid.

And to anyone who may be uneasy with taxpayer money being spent overseas, here is one way to look at it, he told VOA.

“When countries grow and have a peaceful transfer of power, where they have a democratically elected government, there is a tendency for that growth to be contagious and for us to spend less money in those countries than the alternative,” said Bah.

“So, it’s an opportunity for businesses in the U.S. to find frontier emerging markets where they can invest. It’s an opportunity for our partner countries to invest in the U.S. To me, it’s a win-win situation.”

Source: Voice of America

February 16, 2023

Tesla Recalls ‘Full Self-Driving’ to Fix Unsafe Actions

U.S. safety regulators have pressured Tesla into recalling nearly 363,000 vehicles with its “Full Self-Driving” system because it misbehaves around intersections and doesn’t always follow speed limits.

The recall, part of a larger investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into Tesla’s automated driving systems, is the most serious action taken yet against the electric vehicle maker.

It raises questions about CEO Elon Musk’s claims that he can prove to regulators that cars equipped with “Full Self-Driving” are safer than humans, and that humans almost never have to touch the controls.

Musk at one point had promised that a fleet of autonomous robotaxis would be in use in 2020. The latest action appears to push that development further into the future.

The safety agency says in documents posted on its website Thursday that Tesla will fix the concerns with an online software update in the coming weeks. The documents say Tesla is recalling the cars but does not agree with an agency analysis of the problem.

The system, which is being tested on public roads by as many as 400,000 Tesla owners, makes such unsafe actions as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, failing to come to a complete stop at stop signs, or going through an intersection during a yellow traffic light without proper caution, NHTSA said.

In addition, the system may not adequately respond to changes in posted speed limits, or it may not account for the driver’s adjustments in speed, the documents said.

“FSD beta software that allows a vehicle to exceed speed limits or travel through intersections in an unlawful or unpredictable manner increases the risk of a crash,” the agency said in documents.

Musk complained Thursday on Twitter, which he now owns, that calling an over-the-air software update a recall is “anachronistic and just flat wrong!” A message was left Thursday seeking further comment from Tesla, which has disbanded its media relations department.

Tesla has received 18 warranty claims that could be caused by the software from May 2019 through Sept. 12, 2022, the documents said. But the Austin, Texas, electric vehicle maker told the agency it is not aware of any deaths or injuries.

In a statement, NHTSA said it found the problems during tests performed as part of an investigation into Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” and “Autopilot” software that take on some driving tasks. The investigation remains open, and the recall doesn’t address the full scope of what NHTSA is scrutinizing, the agency said.

Despite the names “Full Self-Driving” and “Autopilot,” Tesla says on its website that the cars cannot drive themselves and owners must be ready to intervene at all times.

The recall announced Thursday covers certain 2016-23 Model S and Model X vehicles, as well as 2017 through 2013 Model 3s, and 2020 through 2023 Model Y vehicles equipped with the software, or with installation pending.

Source: Voice of America

February 16, 2023

Study: Don’t Blame Climate Change for South American Drought

Climate change isn’t causing the multi-year drought that is devastating parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Bolivia, but warming is worsening some of the dry spell’s impacts, a new study says.

The natural three-year climate condition La Nina – a cooling of the central Pacific that changes weather worldwide temporarily but lasted much longer than normal this time – is the chief culprit in a drought that has devastated central South America and is still going on, according to a flash study released Thursday by international scientists at World Weather Attribution. The study has not been peer reviewed yet.

Drought has hit the region since 2019 with last year seeing the driest year in Central Argentina since 1960, widespread crop failures and Uruguay declaring an agricultural emergency in October. Water supplies and transportation were hampered, too.

“There is no climate change signal in the rainfall,” said study co-author Friederike Otto of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College in London. “But of course, that doesn’t mean that climate change doesn’t play an important role in the context of these droughts. Because of the extreme increase in heat that we see, the soils do dry faster and the impacts are more severe they would have otherwise been.”

The heat has increased the evaporation of what little water there is, worsened a natural water shortage and added to crop destruction, scientists said. The same group of scientists found that climate change made the heat wave last December 60 times more likely.

And cutting down trees in the southern Amazon in 2020 reached the highest rate in a decade and that translates to less moisture being available farther south in Argentina, said study lead author Paola Arias, a climate scientist and professor at the Environmental School of the University of Antioquia in Colombia.

The team of scientists at World Weather Attribution use observations and climate models to see if they find a climate change factor in how frequent or how strong extreme weather is. They compare what happened to how often it happened in the past, and they run computer simulations that contrast reality to what would have happened in a world without human-caused climate change from burning of fossil fuels.

In this drought’s case, the models actually show a slight, not significant, increase in moisture from climate change but a clear connection to La Nina, which scientists say is waning. It will still take months if not longer for the region to get out of the drought — and that depends on whether the flip side of La Nina — El Nino — appears, said study co-author Juan Rivera, a scientist at the Argentine Institute for Snow Research, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences.

In the past, the team of scientists has found no obvious climate change connection in some droughts and floods, but they do find global warming is a factor in most of the severe weather they investigate.

“One of the reasons why we do these attribution studies is to show what the realistic impacts of climate change are. And it’s not that climate change makes everything worse,” Otto said. “Not every bad thing that’s happening now is because of climate change.”

Source: Voice of America

February 16, 2023

Malawi suffers cholera, climate double tragedy

LILONGWE, ALREADY battling its worst cholera outbreak in two decades, Malawi now has the extra burden of inclement weather that has claimed dozens of lives.

At least 62 people have died during stormy weather since the beginning of the rainy season.

Of those, four have died over the past few days and three are missing. This after widespread floods caused by heavy rainfall that affected particularly the Blantyre city in the Southern region, surrounding areas and 28 councils.

Since the (November) 2022/2023 rainy season, the Department of Disaster Management Affairs has also confirmed 185 injured people and more than 94 000 affected people across the country.

The number of casualties has exceeded the 60 people killed when Cyclone Idai struck Malawi in 2019.

Idai was the most fatal tropical cyclone in the South-West Indian Ocean and second-deadliest tropical cyclone recorded in the Southern Hemisphere.

Malawi, the Southern African country of 20 million people, is in the throes of a climate crisis that is triggering more erratic and extreme weather.

Flooding could worsen the cholera crisis.

Earlier this week, the reported 42 427 cumulative confirmed cases and 1 384 deaths from the water bourne disease. This exceeds the 968 deaths from 33 546 cases in 2001/2002.

About 600 new cases continue to be reported daily.

Since the beginning of February only, the country has recorded 7 000 new cases including 239 deaths, mainly in most populated areas such as the capital Lilongwe and Blantyre, the finance and commerce hub.

Initially, cholera was limited to the southern parts of the country.

It has now spread throughout Malawi across all 29 health districts putting at risk over 10 million people, including more than 5 million children.

This week, President Lazarus Chakwera launched the national Tithetse kolera (End Cholera) campaign to curb the outbreak. It was launched in Mgona, one of the capital’s cholera hotspots.

“The Tithetse Cholera campaign will upgrade efforts by all stakeholders in eradicating the endemic,” Chakwera assured.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) supports the government’s efforts to contain the outbreak.

“We will continue to work with partners to implement the strategies that have been outlined in the End Cholera campaign,” said Dr Neema Rusibamayila Kimambo, WHO Representative in Malawi.

WHO has deployed 40 international experts to provide emergency support to national health authorities in strengthening disease surveillance, prevention and treatment measures, community engagement and multi-sectoral coordination to improve sanitation and provide safe water.

The organisation is also supporting health authorities to mobilise and deploy 450 health workers for case management.

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world with over half of the population living below the poverty line and one-fifth in extreme poverty.

Source: CAJ News Agency

February 16, 2023

Angola and Tanzania sign legal instruments

Addis Ababa – Angola and Tanzania signed Thursday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, two legal instruments that mark the re-launch of bilateral cooperation between the two States.

They are the Memorandum of Understanding for the creation of a Bilateral Commission between the two countries and another on Cooperation between the Diplomatic Academy “Venâncio de Moura” and the Tanzanian Center for Foreign Affairs.

The Angolan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Téte António, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Tanzania, Stergomena Lawrence Tax, signed the legal instruments.

The first agreement establishes a mechanism for bilateral consultations at the diplomatic level to ensure promotion and expansion of economic, social, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation and set up a Bilateral Commission between the two countries.

The second aims at maintaining an active exchange of information about their respective study programmes, courses, seminars and other relevant academic activities, particularly those referring to innovative practices that meet current demands for capacity building.

The two legal instruments were signed on the sidelines of the 42nd Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union, which has been taking place since Wednesday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Minister Téte António said the signing of these legal instruments represents the filling of a gap that existed, until now, between the two countries.

While Tanzania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stergomena Lawrence Tax, highlighted the ceremony, stating that the agreements are very beneficial for both countries, as they will strengthen bilateral cooperation.

Ministry of Health, PEPFAR strengthen technical partnership

Angola’s Ministry of Health and American Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) strengthened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the technical assistance programme for HIV/AIDS in the country.

Speaking to the Angolan press, in Addis Ababa, the Angolan minister of Health, Sílvia Lutukuta, said the support for technical assistance for combat HIV/AIDS, which PEPFAR provides to Angola, could increase from USD13 to USD 23 million.

She said that the Ministry she heads will prepare a massive plan for community support, surveillance, treatment and follow-up of patients with HIV/AIDS in the country.

She noted that the HIV/AIDS issue in Africa has become a major challenge, recalling that worldwide, last year alone, 600,000 people died from the disease and 400, 000 of these people in Africa.

The Emergency AIDS Relief Plan (PEPFAR) was created 19 years ago by then US President George W. Bush.

PEPFAR has partnered with countries and communities to bring hope and healing to millions of people around the world.

Over the last two decades, the US has invested $100 billion to transform the global AIDS response through support for PEPFAR and as the largest donor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

PEPFAR has saved more than 21 million lives, prevented millions of HIV infections, and supported at least 20 countries to achieve epidemic HIV control or meet their HIV treatment goals. DC/AL/ADR

Source: Angola Press News Agency