The Cape Times, South Africa
A leading opinion piece sheds light on political issues. President Cyril Ramaphosa is reported to have looked “absolutely exhausted” as he delivered his closing address at the ANC NEC Lekgotla on Sunday. It added: “With its weary promises, yesterday’s vision and cloud of self-correction, the ANC finally seems to be running out of steam.”
Forecasts for sunnier days, both for the ANC and South Africa, are blue skies that we “are unlikely to see in the near future, if at all”. It adds that it increasingly “looks like we’re heading into the eye of the storm; a storm that no rainbow, no matter how exquisite, can calm. Put simply, the prospects are bleak”.
During his speech, Mr. Ramaphosa spoke of unemployment being at its highest level ever. The president quoted from the most recent quarterly labor force survey, which showed an overall unemployment rate of nearly 35 percent and 50 percent for young adults in the 18-34 age group. In July last year, South Africa experienced its worst social unrest since democracy began.
New Zealand Herald
As technologies advance and everything is available at the touch of a button, cars are becoming more and more technological. But will our cars be so cluttered with this technology that it becomes unsafe? experts say yes.
It’s easy to be momentarily distracted by the infotainment system while driving. Be it through an incoming text, trying to sort your navigation system or simply changing the music. Getting distracted can result in some serious accidents, even if it’s only temporary. Safety experts say the auto industry encourages our distraction by overloading vehicles with unnecessary and increasingly complex technology.
The problem was highlighted recently when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched an investigation into Tesla, which then agreed to block drivers and passengers from playing video games on the dashboards. A study conducted by the University of Utah and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that some tasks can take longer than 48 seconds on modern infotainment systems. Another study conducted in 2018 by Canada’s Traffic Injury Research Foundation claimed that one in four fatal accidents could be linked to distracted driving, which is roughly equivalent to driving with a disability.
The Florentine, Italy
The bronze David in Piazzale Michelangelo, the bell tower of Badia Fiorentina and the façade of the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella are all now fitted with new permanent lighting. The update was donated by Firenze Smart, the City of Florence’s in-house company, on the occasion of the annual winter F-Light (Firenze Light Festival). Upgrading the existing systems means these monuments can remotely control the intensity and color of the lighting.
The sun of Toronto, Canada
One of the site’s lead stories highlights the issue of a “freedom convoy” of truckers that gathered Monday at the edge of the Trans-Canada Highway east of Calgary
Banning “essential” truckers due to vaccination status would exacerbate supply shortages and drive up costs for struggling small businesses, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
CFIB President Dan Kelly said he is urging the Justin Trudeau administration to drop policies he believes are based more on politics than science. “It feels strange that so late in the pandemic we decided that truck drivers were no longer an essential service,” Kelly said yesterday (Wednesday). “It seems they are more important than ever, especially given that there are all sorts of supply chain issues that are currently unrelated to the state of the Omicron. We are making this problem much, much worse than necessary.”
The federal government has been rejecting unvaccinated foreign truck drivers at the US border since January 15.
Chronicle of San Francisco
The Chronicle, which like many foreign newspapers reports little on Boris Johnson’s “party” troubles or even Ukraine’s military build-up, highlights the wildfires California has endured, including blazes that ravaged the Big Sur coast this week singed.
It said: “The January fire, which burned 700 acres Wednesday and is still smoldering near homes in rugged Palo Colorado Canyon, is believed to be the result of stray embers from a burn pile. However, scientists say the fire was made possible by an unusually long winter drought, coupled with a landscape increasingly fire-prepared by the warming climate.
“The winter months typically see the heaviest rainfall and a lull in wildfires. But Big Sur has seen less than a 10-inch rainfall this month. Despite December’s storms, many coastal areas are dry again and brimming with dead combustible scrub after two years of drought compounded by climate change.”
“I was totally taken aback by the fire,” said Craig Clements, a professor of meteorology at San Jose State University and director of the school’s Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center. “But after looking at some of the data, I thought, ‘Yeah, that makes sense.’ Due to rising temperatures and more intense droughts over the past few decades, the wildfire window has widened, and California’s fire season is now longer than it used to be: A study by the science and news organization Climate Central estimates that the threat of wildfires in western states is 105 days longer today than it was in the 1970s
You can find more stories from where you live at InYourArea
