Новости за 24.03.2021

The Japanese government has handed a multimillion-rand training yard over to South Africa's Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). The Japanese government, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), funded the construction of the training facility at the DWS's Roodeplaat Training Centre of DWS.

A diagnostic test can help Grade 1 teachers in South Africa see who is struggling with mathematics and how to help them, including identifying challenges with terminology owing to different home languages, a study by University of Johannesburg (UJ) and University of Helsinki researchers, published in the Early Childhood Research Quarterly journal, shows. A 15-week intervention programme linked to the test provided teachers with material to support children efficiently. Enabling teachers to find out... Читать дальше...

Global development finance organisation the World Bank has called for national data systems to be strengthened to realise the full potential of the data revolution to transform the lives of poor people. It has likened data to steam-power and electricity and highlights that new systems will also be needed for these innovations to realise their economic potential.

The latest NielsenIQ Africa Prospects Indicator (API) report, titled 'Recalibrating for an Unprecedented Future', has revealed that, despite the unprecedented times in which we live, there are pockets of positivity to drive businesses through the Covid-19 storm. Commenting on the results of the tenth edition of the API, global intelligence unit executive director Ailsa Wingfield says that, as countries deal with second and third waves and virus mutations, the evidence of significant economic, employment... Читать дальше...

Investor engagement initiative on climate change Climate Action 100+ (CA100+) issued its first Net Zero Company Benchmark of the world’s biggest corporate emitters, including petrochemicals and chemicals producer Sasol and State power utility Eskom. However, in a response to questions by Engineering News, Sasol says it is regrettable that the report has been publicly released and commented on while Sasol was not provided an opportunity to comment and that its previous and recent comments on a few... Читать дальше...

Africa has considerable potential to generate solar and wind energy at a low cost, as it hosts many areas of high solar irradiation and good wind speeds. There is also potential to transport that energy to other areas where there is high demand for green energy to produce hydrogen, Delft University of Technology Professor Dr Ad van Wijk has said.

The Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Brics) Manufacturing Conference, which kicks off in Johannesburg on Friday, will give local manufacturers the opportunity to reflect on how they can grow using new technologies. Organised by the Brics Manufacturing Working Group (MWG), the conference, which takes place at the Sandton Conference Centre, aims to help local manufacturers to leverage off South Africa’s membership of Brics by taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the grouping.

South Africa’s logistics sector will operate more efficiently under an increasingly capacitated South African Revenue Service (Sars), rather than a Border Management Agency (BMA), as proposed by government, says South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) chairperson Dr Juanita Maree. Maree says the current border release process is “very manual” when dealing with other government agencies (such as Port Health, the South African Police Service (Saps) and the Department of Agriculture... Читать дальше...

Europe-based global major aerospace group Airbus announced on Wednesday that its first two Pléiades Neo Earth observation satellites had arrived in the French territory of Guiana in South America. There they will be integrated with Vega launch rockets before being launched from the European Space Centre at Kourou.  The two will form part of a four-satellite constellation, all four satellites being identical. The satellites and the constellation they will form, are entirely funded, owned, manufactured and operated by Airbus. Читать дальше...

In February, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said South African Airways's business rescue practitioners had asked government for an additional R3.5-billion, which caused a bit of a stir. SAA's rescue practitioners, on the other hand, maintained that the money had already been allocated as part of the original business rescue plan. It appears that SAA, in fact, requires a total of R19-billion for implementing its "larger rescue process" and an application has indeed been made to Treasury for further funding of R3.5-billion... Читать дальше...

The number of registered mobile money accounts increased 12.7% to 1.21-billion in 2020 – double the previous forecast – owing to a dramatic acceleration in mobile transactions during the Covid-19 pandemic as lockdown restrictions limited access to cash and financial institutions. The latest GSMA 'State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money' reveals that transaction values also grew across the board as more money circulated and was cashed-in and cashed-out than ever before.

The National Coronavirus Command Council has been advised, by the Ministerial Advisory Committee, to put the country under an Alert Level 2 lockdown as a precaution for the Easter holidays, News24 understands.   Scientists and government officials have long warned of a third wave of coronavirus infections, possibly soon after the long Easter weekend. But Cabinet ministers who are part of the NCCC are lobbying for large church gatherings to be allowed over Easter because "churches have been behaving".

South Africa is playing an important role in the ‘hydrogen economy’ as the country targets clean and reliable alternative energy sources, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said on Wednesday. In his opening keynote address to the Platinum Group Metals Industry Day chaired by mining stalwart Bernard Swanepoel, Mantashe said that hydrogen energy was being considered as one of the most plausible choices for alternative energy and as an energy-carrier, owing to the abundance of elemental hydrogen on the planet. Читать дальше...

Global crude steel production for the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) increased by 4.1% year-on-year to 150.2-million tonnes in February. Worldsteel reports that China produced about 83-million tonnes of steel in February, a 10.9% year-on-year increase.

A research team composed of scientists in Japan and the UK has discovered a chemical compound that could be used to produce non-toxic infrared (IR) semiconductors. It would also be cheaper than the compounds currently used to produce such semiconductors. The compound is composed of calcium, oxygen and silicon and its formula is Ca3SiO. It has been shown to be a ‘direct transition semiconductor’, which means it is capable of emitting IR radiation. Current non-toxic semiconductors are not capable of emitting IR radiation.

Total will restart construction at its $20-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) development in Mozambique after the government increased security, the French energy firm said on Wednesday. In January, Total withdrew most of its workforce from the site in Mozambique's northernmost province of Cabo Delgado, where there has been an insurgency, now linked to Islamic State, since 2017, after an attack nearby.

The FNB and Bureau of Economic Research Civil Confidence Index rose by five points to 21 in the first quarter of this year. This was the third consecutive quarterly increase, but the current index level means that the vast majority (close to 80%) of respondents are dissatisfied with prevailing business conditions.

February inflation slipped to 2.9% year-on-year, from 3.2% reported in January. Consumer inflation data, released by Stats SA on Wednesday, showed that this is the lowest reading since June 2020 when the rate was 2.2%. The Reserve Bank's monetary policy committee is meeting this week and is due to make a rates announcement on Thursday. Economists previously expressed expectations for rates to remain on hold, but the latest inflation print is below the 3% to 6% target range of the SA Reserve Bank.

Financial services provider Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) says a recent agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) will contribute to enhancing the investment scales in favour of sustainable development in the future Nedbank CIB sustainable finance solutions head Arvana Singh explains that the $200-million loan facility procured by CIB will help to complement Nedbank’s established green-finance operations, grow its climate portfolio and expand its support of renewable-energy... Читать дальше...

Sudan's cabinet has backed an initiative for the United Arab Emirates to mediate in a dispute over Sudan's border with Ethiopia, and over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the Sudanese information minister said on Tuesday. Tensions surrounding the control of farmland in al-Fashqa, on the border, have escalated in recent months, while talks over the operation of the GERD, which will affect water volume downstream on the Nile in Sudan and Egypt, are deadlocked.

South African state-owned defence company Denel has appointed Thandeka Sabela as acting CFO, the firm said on Tuesday. The firm's former CFO, Carmen le Grange, resigned earlier in March, extending a series of exits including the board chair and chief executive, deepening a crisis at the cash-strapped firm..

The South African new-vehicle market is on the recovery path, with sales bouncing back in February compared with January. The main issue currently holding back manufacturers is not market appetite, but the ability to supply sufficient vehicles to meet demand, says vehicle retailer Motus.

Dale Spiral Systems & Bakery Automation is this month getting its first-ever 96 t carton cooler ready for delivery to a dairy manufacturer, which has been in development for the last four years. Marleny Arnoldi visited the site.

The blockage of the Suez Canal by a giant container vessel is likely to send a ripple of disruption through the global energy supply chain. European and US refiners that rely on the vital waterway for cargoes of Mideast oil may be forced to look for replacement supplies should the blockage persist, potentially boosting prices of alternative grades. At the same time, flows of crude from North Sea fields destined for Asia will be held up.

John Deere has announced the expansion of its construction equipment line-up to 18 countries across Southern and Western Africa, where Deere-branded construction products were previously not available.  This expansion, which will include backhoe loaders, excavators, wheel loaders, motor graders and crawler dozers, will be sold and supported by independent, newly appointed John Deere dealers, still to be announced.