July 4, 2022

Nature Hear-Through: All-new Hisense U5120G Soundbar Launches in South Africa

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, July 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — World-renowned electronics manufacturer, Hisense, has recently announced the launch of the newest generation of U5120G Soundbar in South Africa. Available from June 29th at Takealot, Tafelburg, HiFi Corp, and Hirsch’s, the powerful and easy-to-use U5120G Soundbar will retail for R7999 and is expected to be a popular addition to at-home entertainment systems, providing a theatre-like experience for consumers.

The innovative U5120G Soundbar comes with 11 in-built multi-directional speakers and a 180-watt wireless subwoofer for a total of 510 watts of high-quality audio. The 8-inch subwoofer can process sounds as low as 40Hz, adding deep and powerful bass effects to movies, TV shows, games, and music. The devices feature easy connectivity and are Bluetooth compatible, meaning setup is clean, easy, and painless.

As to audio experience, speaker positioning inside the U5120G Soundbar creates a surround system with real 5.1.2ch sound. A user remarked that, unlike traditional surround sound systems, which have one “sweet spot” seat for the best surround effects, with an intuitive DTS Virtual:X feature and Dolby Atmos, the U5120G Soundbar provides them with an immersive 360-degree surround sound that is warm and heartfelt at any seating position in their TV room.

The U5120G Soundbar can process high-resolution audio, giving sound quality comparable to that of recording studios and concert halls. Its Hi-Remaster technology enables it to upscale the sound quality of other input sources such as CDs and MP3s. Many users praised this feature, claiming that it amplified the compressed audio into an expanded, warmer and richer audio signal that adds depth and dimension to music or movies. For higher-end audio requirements such as movies and games, the U5120G Soundbar also supports 4k and 3D, processing data without quality loss and greatly improving the overall entertainment experience.

According to user feedback, the U5120G Soundbar is easily wall-mountable. It is also easy to set up, with a single remote that supports EzPlay and intuitive menus for customization and switching between different audio modes. If users do not wish to change audio modes manually, the AI EQ mode supported by Hi-AT technology offers sound optimization for each scene. Whether watching sports, a movie, or the news, listening to music or playing a game, AI EQ mode can detect and adjust to the best sound experience.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1852729/U520G.jpg

July 4, 2022

Gambia bans timber exports after smuggling fears

BANJUL— The Gambia has suspended all timber exports, following reports the West African state is serving as a transit point for the illegal smuggling of endangered rosewood.

“All existing permits issued for the export/re-export of timber are permanently revoked,” the information ministry said in a statement, instructing port authorities to prevent any logs from being loaded onto ships.

“The export/re-export or import of Pterecarpus erinaceus is banned,” it added of endangered African rosewood used for woodworking and protected under CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

There was no official explanation for the ban, but it comes after reports of contraband timber passing through the country, mostly after being logged illegally in neighbouring Senegal’s Casamance region.

The Environmental Investigation Agency, a non-governmental organisation, said in a report in 2020 that The Gambia has served as a transit point for an estimated 1.6 million rosewood trees since 2012.

Citing interviews with traffickers, the report added that rosewood smuggling “rapidly exploded” in 2012 due to strong demand in China.

French shipping giant CMA CGM said in 2020 it would suspend all timber exports from The Gambia due to suspicions it had unwittingly shipped undeclared rosewood.

Casamance is separated geographically from the rest of Senegal by the Gambia River, around which lies the tiny state of The Gambia.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

July 4, 2022

West Africa leaders lift sanctions on 2 junta-led neighbors

ACCRA (Ghana)— West African leaders attending a regional summit agreed Sunday to lift sanctions on two neighbors led by military governments that are now promising a return to democratic rule.

The summit of the Economic Community of West African States resolved to lift all economic and financial sanctions imposed on Mali and Burkina Faso, although those countries will remain suspended from the regional bloc, said Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, an Ivorian politician who has been serving as president of the ECOWAS Commission.

Guinea, the third country under sanctions, received no reprieve because it did not submit an acceptable roadmap toward elections, he said.

He said the suspension of all three nations from ECOWAS would remain in force until they hold elections.

In lifting the sanctions on Mali and Burkina Faso, leaders at the summit in Ghana’s capital, Accra, accepted transition plans presented by military authorities in those countries. Mali’s junta proposed scheduling a presidential election by March 2024. Burkina Faso proposed a 24-month transition leading to polls.

ECOWAS sanctioned Mali severely in January by shutting down most commerce with the country, along with its land and air borders with other countries in the bloc. The measures have crippled Mali’s economy, raising humanitarian concerns amid widespread suffering.

The wave of military coups began in August 2020, when Col. Assimi Goita and other soldiers overthrew Mali’s democratically elected president. Nine months later, he carried out a second coup, dismissing the country’s civilian transitional leader and assuming the presidency himself.

Mutinous soldiers deposed Guinea’s president in September 2021, and Burkina Faso leader Roch Marc Christian Kabore was ousted in a January coup. Burkina Faso authorities said Saturday that Kabore, who has been under house arrest, is now a free man.

The political upheaval came as many observers started to think that military power grabs were a thing of the past in West Africa, an increasingly restive region that also faces growing danger from Islamic extremist fighters.

Some leaders who spoke at Accra’s one-day summit urged action as armed groups expand their footprint in the region.

“These terrorist attacks are now not only focusing on the Sahel, but also expanding to the coastal states in our region,” Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo. “It is imperative for us to continue to implement our regional action plan against terrorism and to coordinate our various security initiatives.”

In the first half of 2022, the region recorded a total of 3,500 deaths from 1,600 extremist attacks targeting countries including Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria, according to Brou.

In Burkina Faso, where attacks blamed on Islamic extremist fighters are soaring, gunmen killed at least 55 people in the country’s northern Seno province last month.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

July 4, 2022

Congo and Rwanda to Meet for Talks Amid Tensions Over Rebels

Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi will meet his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, for talks in Angola this week, officials said Monday.

There were no details on what they would discuss, but the neighbors have been at diplomatic loggerheads since a surge of attacks in eastern Congo by the M23 rebel group — which Kinshasa accuses Kigali of backing.

Rwanda denies supporting the rebels and has, in turn, accused Congo of fighting alongside insurgents — a faceoff that has raised fears of fresh conflict in the region.

The meeting is likely to take place on Tuesday or Wednesday in Angola’s capital, Luanda, according to the officials — two of them from Congo and one Rwanda — who did not wish to be named.

Earlier on Monday, Kagame said he did not mind Rwanda being excluded from a regional military force set up in April to fight rebels in east Congo, removing a potential stumbling block to the initiative.

Congo had welcomed the plan but said it would not accept the involvement of Rwanda.

“I have no problem with that. We are not begging anyone that we participate in the force,” Kagame told Rwanda’s state broadcaster in a wide-ranging interview.

“If anybody’s coming from anywhere, excluding Rwanda, but will provide the solution that we’re all looking for, why would I have a problem?” Kagame said.

At the end of March, the M23 started waging its most sustained offensive in Congo’s eastern borderlands since capturing vast swaths of territory in 2012 and 2013.

Rwanda accuses Congo’s army of firing into Rwandan territory and fighting alongside the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, an armed group run by ethnic Hutus who fled Rwanda after taking part in the 1994 genocide.

Recent attempts to stop the violence militarily have proven unsuccessful, and in some cases backfired, security analysts and human rights groups say.

Despite billions of dollars spent on one of the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping forces, more than 120 rebel groups continue to operate across large swaths of east Congo almost two decades after the official end of the central African country’s civil wars.

Source: Voice of America

July 4, 2022

Aid Flows Into Tigray Region as Ethiopia’s Humanitarian Truce Holds

The West African bloc ECOWAS has lifted economic and financial sanctions against Mali’s military government after it vowed to hold elections in February 2024. The move was welcomed by many Malians who have been struggling under the restrictions and the global rise in fuel and food costs.

Early Monday morning, Bamako’s grand marché, or central market, slowly comes to life.

On Sunday evening, regional bloc ECOWAS announced the immediate lifting of economic and financial sanctions against Mali following a summit in Accra, Ghana.

The sanctions, imposed in January after military leaders delayed elections until 2026, were lifted after leaders announced a new election timetable in June with elections in 2024.

Mali is a landlocked country and depends on its ECOWAS neighbors for trade. The economic sanctions prohibited the trade of goods and closed borders between Mali and its neighbors, with exceptions for food, fuel and medicine.

Moussa Souare sells clothing in Bamako’s grand marché out of a small kiosk. He says his merchandise comes from Senegal, Benin and Nigeria — all countries that were cut off from Mali during the sanctions.

Taking a small break from speaking to clients, he says the sanctions made an already difficult situation worse.

Everyone works a little bit here and there to make a living, he says. Especially here, it’s a poor country. Our merchandise, it’s not made here. We don’t have those factories here.

In Bamako’s ACI 2000 neighborhood, a group of motorcycle taxi drivers gathered near a roundabout waiting for dispatches.

Seydou Coulibaly says he only began driving a motorcycle taxi, which pays little, because of a lack of available work in Mali. He says he hopes the lifting of sanctions will open up the country to more investment, and more jobs.

He says the sanctions were implemented, and we had a lot of difficulties. Different products became expensive, and there was also the rise in gas prices.

Though fuel was not subject to sanctions, gasoline prices have risen in Mali recently as they have worldwide.

Political analyst and political science professor Kalilou Sidibe says that though the lifting of sanctions is a turn in the right direction, it’s too early to say how the 2024 elections plan will play out.

For the moment, he says, the sanctions have been lifted. But the international community is watching the government. How will they proceed? How will concrete progress be made on the ground? It’s only after all of this that confidence can be re-established, he says.

The military government, which first took power in a 2020 coup, originally promised elections in February of 2022. It delayed elections in December 2021, citing lack of security.

Sidibe added that the management of Mali’s rampant insecurity will be an important issue for the junta and their ability to hold elections as promised.

With the lifting of sanctions, ECOWAS member states’ ambassadors will be able to return to Bamako. During the summit, ECOWAS leaders also agreed to a 24-month transition to civilian rule in neighboring Burkina Faso, which has also been under military rule since January. Burkina Faso and Mali have both seen increasing Islamist violence under military rule.

Source: Voice of America