It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, November 09, 2022
Canadian dollar slides as crypto selloff spooks investors
By Fergal Smith - A Canadian dollar coin, commonly known as the "Loonie"
TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, pulling back from a seven-week high, as volatility in the cryptocurrency market weighed on investor sentiment.
The loonie weakened 0.7% to 1.3520 per greenback, or 73.96 U.S. cents, after trading in a range of 1.3412 to 1.3541. On Tuesday, the currency touched its strongest level since Sept. 21 at 1.3385.
"The plunge that we have seen in the crypto space over the last two days caught up with risk sentiment today, resulting in weak stock and commodity prices," said George Davis, chief technical strategist at RBC Capital Markets.
"The risk-off move has boosted the USD across the board."
Related video: Canada Launches Consultation on Crypto, Stablecoins and CBD
Investors fretted about the financial health of major cryptocurrency exchange FTX, with some questioning whether a rescue deal from bigger rival Binance would materialize.
The U.S. dollar climbed against a basket of major currencies and U.S. stock indexes fell as the outcomes of tightly contested U.S. midterm elections remained unclear.
Investors were shifting focus to U.S. inflation data on Thursday for clues on the path of future interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
The Bank of Canada is also expected to tighten further. Its governor, Tiff Macklem, is due on Thursday to give a speech on the evolution of the Canadian labour market.
The price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, settled 3.5% lower at $85.83 a barrel on Wednesday, after industry data showed that U.S. crude stockpiles rose more than expected and on concerns that a rebound in COVID-19 cases in top importer China would hurt fuel demand.
Canadian government bond yields eased across a flatter curve, with the 10-year down 5.8 basis points at 3.421%.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
CRYPTO MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M How Binance's plan to buy FTX unfolded in a matter of days
(Reuters) - Crypto exchange Binance signed a nonbinding agreement on Tuesday to acquire rival crypto exchange FTX, in a dramatic move that capped off a series of back-and-forth salvos between the CEOs of both companies.
Here are the key developments in the longstanding relationship between Binance and FTX:
* December 2019: Binance invested an undisclosed amount in FTX, which was then a derivatives exchange, CoinDesk reported. Binance also purchased long positions in FTT, FTX's native crypto token.
* July 2021: Binance announced that it was selling its stake in FTX, Fortune reported. As part of that exit, Binance received the equivalent of $2.1 billion in Binance's stablecoin and FTT, according to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.
* Nov. 2: Crypto news website CoinDesk reported on a leaked balance sheet from Alameda Research, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto trading firm, which maintains close ties with FTX.
* According to CoinDesk's report, $3.66 billion of Alameda's $14.6 billion in assets are held in “unlocked” FTT. Reuters was unable to independently verify the accuracy of the report or the origin of the leaked balance sheet. Still, investors quickly noticed that Alameda’s finances appeared to be heavily dependent on FTT, and FTT’s value was in turn heavily dependent on purchases from FTX, the token’s largest buyer.
* Nov. 6, 9:32 a.m. ET: Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison said in a tweet that the "balance sheet info which has been circulating recently" showed only a subset of Alameda's corporate entities. The firm has more than $10 billion in assets that are not reflected in the CoinDesk report, she said.
* Nov. 6, 10:47 a.m. ET: Concern escalated on Sunday when Zhao tweeted that Binance would liquidate its holdings of FTT “due to recent revelations that have come to light,” although he did not specify which revelations he was referring to or how much of the token Binance held.
* Nov 7: In a series of tweets on Monday, Bankman-Fried asserted that “a competitor is trying to go after us with false rumors.”
“FTX is fine. Assets are fine,” he said.
He tagged Zhao in a later tweet, saying "I'd love it, @cz_binance, if we could work together for the ecosystem."
* Nov. 8: In the 72 hours leading up to Tuesday morning, FTX had seen around $6 billion of withdrawals, according to a message to staff sent by Bankman-Fried that was seen by Reuters. Also on Tuesday morning, Bankman-Fried wrote that withdrawals are effectively paused.
Shortly after 11 a.m. ET, Bankman-Fried tweeted that FTX had "come to an agreement on a strategic transaction with Binance for FTX.com," and that while teams were working on clearing the backlog of withdrawal requests, all assets would be covered 1:1.
Zhao tweeted that there is "a significant liquidity crunch" at FTX and, in order to protect users, Binance signed a nonbinding letter of intent to acquire FTX.com, which does not include FTX's U.S. entity.
(Reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Before deal with rival, FTX scoured Wall Street, Silicon Valley billionaires for $1 billion lifeline
Nov 8, 2022,
Liz Hoffman, Bradley Saacks, and Louise Matsakis
Liz is Semafor’s Business & Finance Editor, joining us from The Wall Street Journal. Bradley is a Business & Finance reporter for Semafor, joining us from Business Insider. Louise is a Technology Reporter for Semafor, joining us from NBC News.
In the hours before it secured rescue financing from its rival Binance, the crypto exchange FTX sought a bailout of more than $1 billion from Silicon Valley and Wall Street billionaires, people familiar with the matter told Semafor.
Deposits have poured out of FTX since Sunday, when Binance said it would dump hundreds of millions of dollars of FTT, a token FTX created that gives holders a discount on its trading fees. That forced the exchange to sell the assets backing that token to meet redemptions, which it was unable to meet Tuesday morning in a classic bank-like run, the people said.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried — a billionaire himself on paper, at least until recently — tweeted Tuesday that the company had reached an agreement to sell FTX.com, its crypto exchange for non-U.S. residents, to Binance, the same crypto firm that sparked the panic in the first place.
Terms weren’t disclosed. Two of the people briefed on Bankman-Fried’s efforts said the firm was seeking more than $1 billion in financing before the Binance deal was sealed, with one adding that by midday Tuesday the hole appeared far deeper — closer to $5 billion to $6 billion.
It appears to be a classic liquidity crunch, when a bank or brokerage can’t sell securities quickly enough to satisfy redemptions or meet regulatory requirements. A similar dynamic forced Robinhood, the online brokerage, to seek emergency funding from existing investors, and was the root of the 2008 financial crisis.
Bankman-Fried (who is an investor in Semafor) said the deal does not involve FTX.US or Binance.US, which are separate entities. He didn’t return requests for comment and a spokesman for FTX declined to comment beyond Bankman-Fried’s tweets.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeted that his firm would now start examining FTX's books, adding that he can pull out of the deal "at any time."
The deal has had ripple effects through the entire industry. Bitcoin and Ethereum have fallen by 9% and 12% as of Tuesday afternoon, respectively, and FTT’s market cap is less than half it was at the start of the week.
The Binance lifeline hasn’t slowed the token’s losses; FTT was down more than 50% in the hours since the deal’s announcement.
LIZ'S VIEW
Bankman-Fried has some explaining to do.
First, here’s how stablecoins like the ones FTX holds work. They are called that because their value is supposed to be pegged to a fiat currency, like the U.S. dollar. The simplest way for their backers to guarantee that is to keep the money that investors give them in cash.
But that doesn’t generate much profit, so most invest that money in other assets — ideally safe things like Treasury bonds and money-market funds — that give a small return without adding a ton of risk. When customers want to exchange their stablecoins for, say, dollars, the platform has to sell those assets for cash, easy enough in the case of Treasury bonds.
Sometimes, as in the case of Tether, they invest in riskier assets like commercial paper, which give them a higher return. Selling those assets in a pinch is harder, and leads to a huge financial hole. Tether said in October it has cut all of its commercial paper holdings.
For the most part, crypto companies, which are lightly regulated, don’t have to tell investors where they’re investing their money, in the same way that a bank doesn’t have to tell you exactly what it’s doing with your deposits (though at a high level, bank balance sheets are publicly disclosed.)
Fast-forward to yesterday. “We don't invest client assets (even in treasuries),” Bankman-Fried tweeted. That suggests that those assets are sitting in cash and that when investors showed up and wanted money for their tokens, it should have been freely available. FTX’s scramble for cash suggests it wasn’t.
THE VIEW FROM THE BAHAMAS
Last year, amid growing scrutiny of the crypto industry around the world, Bankman-Fried announced that FTX was relocating its headquarters from Hong Kong to the Bahamas. The Caribbean nation has emerged as a hub for crypto, and in 2020, became one of the first countries to launch a central bank digital currency, dubbed the sand dollar.
FTX has promoted itself as a positive force in the Bahamas, announcing late last year that it had donated over $10 million to organizations throughout the country. In April, FTX broke ground on a $60 million complex that is expected to house its headquarters in the Bahamas, which is supposed to include two hotel towers, offices and an athletics center, according to The Nassau Guardian, a local newspaper.
FTX is also planning to host its second annual Crypto Bahamas conference at the Baha Mar resort in Nassau next April. It’s not yet clear how the event or FTX’s other investments in the Bahamas will be impacted by its deal with Binance.
CORRECTION
Online brokerage Robinhood raised money from existing investors during a cash crunch in 2021. A previous version of the story misstated where it got its funding.
FTT is a native token of FTX, not a stablecoin. A previous version of the story misidentified FTT.
Russia’s Return to Grain Deal Is a Sign of Turkey’s Growing Influence
Having declined to join Western sanctions against Russia, Turkey has become the only remaining window to Europe for Russian companies and individuals.
After Moscow withdrew from the Ukrainian grain deal, it took Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan just two days to get Russia to return to the agreement and abandon the idea of blocking the export of Ukrainian grain. The speed of this reversal shows just how much Ankara’s influence on Moscow has grown in the last eight months, drastically shifting the relationship balance in Turkey’s favor.
Moscow originally agreed to unblock Ukraine’s ports to allow the export of grain back in the summer, when Russia appeared to have the advantage in the war. The Kremlin was urged to sign the agreement by Turkey, key importers of Russian and Ukrainian grain in the Middle East, and the UN.
It was also in Russia’s interests to agree to the deal. The simultaneous loosening of sanctions to allow exports of Russia’s own grain and fertilizer wasn’t officially billed as part of the deal, but was agreed with the United States and the EU.
The grain deal also provided the Kremlin with one more precious lever of influence over the West. Russian President Vladimir Putin first started hinting that Russia might withdraw from the agreement back in September—shortly after the Ukrainian army launched its successful counteroffensive.
The Kremlin’s official reason for criticizing the deal was that Ukrainian grain was supposedly largely being sent to Europe, rather than the poorer countries where it was needed more, though the destination for the Ukrainian grain was not part of the terms of the agreement.
In reality, Putin was irritated that despite the lack of formal sanctions, European companies did not resume business as usual with their Russian counterparts. Banks continued to delay transactions, or simply refused to work with Russian entities; several cargos of fertilizer remained blockaded in Baltic ports; and foreign buyers looked for alternatives to Russian suppliers.
Russia found an excuse to use the grain deal as a lever over the West on October 29, following an attack on the Crimean port of Sevastopol. The Russian military said that Ukraine had launched a drone attack from a civilian vessel sailing through the corridor designated for grain cargo, and that ships escorting the grain cargoes had been damaged in the attack. Moscow called it a terrorist attack, and suspended its participation in the deal.
In exchange for returning to the deal, Putin demanded written security guarantees for both military and civilian ships within the grain corridor. There were also non-public demands, such as other banks restoring relations with the state-owned Rosselkhozbank (Russian Agricultural Bank). The bank had previously played no significant role in the international trade of grain and fertilizers, but the Kremlin has apparently decided to turn it into a one-stop shop for payments for agricultural exports, thereby protecting it from sanctions in the same way it protected Gazprombank by channeling payments for gas exports through it.
In the couple of days following Russia’s withdrawal from the deal, Erdogan announced that grain could be exported without Russia’s involvement, and spoke to Putin by phone, after which Moscow suddenly did a U-turn and returned to the deal.
Furthermore, the Russian president promised that “in any case,” Russia would not prevent the export of Ukrainian grain to Turkey. In other words, even if Russia again withdraws from the deal, it will still be possible to ship Ukrainian grain out of Black Sea ports. There was much talk in diplomatic circles that Ankara had “leaned heavily” on Moscow, reflecting the Kremlin’s new weakness.
At the beginning of this year, Turkey needed its partnership with Russia more than Russia did. Russians made up the bulk of tourists vacationing in Turkish resorts (about 4 million in the first nine months of this year), and Turkish diplomats were begging Moscow to lift sanctions on Turkish agricultural produce. It was Russia that laid the TurkStream gas pipeline to Turkey along the Black Sea bed; Russia’s state atomic agency Rosatom is building a nuclear power plant (Akkuyu) for Turkey; and Moscow is Ankara’s key partner in the Caucasus, Syria, and Libya.
Back then, Russia could afford to be choosy: in 2021, Turkey was not even among Russia’s top ten biggest foreign trade partners (it was in eleventh place). All of that changed with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The trade turnover between Russia and Turkey doubled in the first nine months of this year from the year before to reach $47 billion, and at the end of the third quarter of this year, Turkey may well have become one of Russia’s top three trading partners, behind China and Belarus only—and gaining on Germany.
Tech goods saw particularly stratospheric growth: Russia now depends on Turkey for equipment maintenance and other manufacturing processes, since tech imports to Russia from the rest of the world—including China—have fallen significantly. Turkey appears to have become a trans-shipment hub for deliveries of tech goods from Europe. Italy, for example, has significantly increased its supply of goods to Turkey, while Turkish exports to Russia have increased by similar amounts. Having declined to join Western sanctions against Russia, Turkey has become the only remaining window to Europe for Russian companies and individuals.
Meanwhile, Turkstream is now the only route for transporting Russian gas to Europe that is fully controlled by Moscow, following the damage caused to both Nord Stream pipelines by recent explosions. Now Moscow and Ankara have started discussing the creation of a gas hub in Turkey.
Russian propaganda presents the growth in cooperation with Turkey as proof that Russia is not isolated on the international stage. But it also has its flip side. The Kremlin can no longer ignore Erdogan’s own foreign policy ambitions and interests. Russian companies will have to provide their Turkish partners with significant discounts to make sure they don’t close the last window onto the European market.
There will also be a price to pay at home. Turkey has never been very popular among Russian ultra-patriots, and now they are outraged by their country’s return to the grain deal, which they see as a sign of weakness.
The Western sanctions that came in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the breakdown in relations with the West have seen Russia’s cooperation with several non-Western states broaden dramatically. Compared with the previous five years, Russia’s average monthly trade volumes this year have quadrupled with India, doubled with Turkey, and increased by more than 60 percent with China. Now the possible loss of those partners would not just deprive Moscow of a considerable portion of its hard currency revenues, it would also accelerate the rate at which the Russian economy lags behind in terms of technology, due to the deficit of imported equipment and components.
The Kremlin still has various tools for putting pressure on the West in its arsenal, including nuclear blackmail, but Russian demand for various goods and tech imports is growing by the day. As a result, Moscow will increasingly have to pay heed to its few remaining partners, taking into account their interests when setting policies, including with regard to Ukraine, and paying a political price at home, as well as a financial cost. The message from those partners to Putin is loud and clear: now “is not a time for war,” and the conflict with Kyiv has already dragged on for too long.
“We must use big data to protect food security and increase climate resilience,” says Commonwealth Secretary-General at COP27
08 November 2022
New Commonwealth policy guide demonstrates how governments can leverage digital tools to revolutionise the agricultural sector
The global threat to food security is one of the major concerns being addressed at COP27 in Egypt this week. Today the Commonwealth Secretary-General called on Commonwealth governments to learn from each other and work together to transform Commonwealth nations into a powerhouse to feed the world. Food security
To help governments to build a more productive and sustainable agricultural sector, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, encouraged member countries to use the Commonwealth’s new policy guide for governments:
“We must use big data and digital tools to protect food security and increase climate resilience. New technologies and data generation can transform business practices across the agricultural value chain and address bottlenecks in, productivity, harvesting, market access, finance, and supply chain management.
We are releasing this policy guide here today at COP27 because we know how essential food security is to our members and the world. This guide is the first of its kind to assess how digitalisation is impacting the agricultural sector across the Commonwealth. I strongly believe that this is a valuable step, not only for the Commonwealth but for small, developing and middle-income countries globally. It will help policymakers to understand how to target key areas to improve and develop this vital sector and support knowledge exchange between Commonwealth countries."
Agriculture ensures food security and employment in most Commonwealth member countries with over half of the Commonwealth’s 2.5 billion people residing in rural areas and engaging in smallholder farming.
Digital innovation
Developed by the Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda, the framework outlined in the ‘The State of Digital Agriculture in the Commonwealth’ policy guide, assesses different regions based on their existing digital innovations, data infrastructure, business development services and enabling environment for digitalisation and suggests strategies for progress.
According to the policy guide, while Commonwealth Africa lacks some vital data infrastructure, significant progress has been made through digital innovations, technologies and services. In Commonwealth Asia, technologies for agriculture have advanced across the region but affordability for services remains a challenge to the most vulnerable.
The business development sector, financing and investments are underdeveloped and in need of progress in the Caribbean and Pacific Small Island Developing nations. In the Commonwealth across Europe, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, mobile applications are common and smart farming technologies are widely used, therefore the policy guide encourages other regions to learn from best practices and innovations from these regions to assist them in making rapid and valuable progress.
Whilst speaking on a COP27 panel focussed on ‘Commonwealth Countries Growing Together for Climate Resilience and Food and Nutrition Security’, Secretary-General Scotland stressed that efforts must be made by both the public and private sectors to realise the full potential of digital solutions for the agricultural sector. She went on to encourage policymakers to take advantage of the Commonwealth’s new guide, and the technical expertise and assistance offered by the Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda programme.
World can survive inflation and recession but not climate crisis, IMF says at COP27
Naser ElTibi & Tala Michel Issa, Al Arabiya English Published: 08 November ,2022:
The world can survive inflation and recession but not an “unmitigated climate crisis,” the International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director told Al Arabiya on the sidelines of the COP27 UN climate conference in Egypt.
“What we need is very massive education campaign, because if people are overtaken by current difficulties and they are not mindful of climate change being an existential risk to humanity, they would be slow to do their part for the transformation,” said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
“We can survive recession. It is hard, but we can survive it. We can survive inflation [but] what we cannot survive, as humanity, is an unmitigated climate crisis.”
World leaders, government officials, top decision makers and experts gathered at COP27 in Egypt’s coastal town of Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss the most pressing issues facing humanity in an effort to mitigate the climate crisis.
COP27, which kicked off on Sunday and is set to run until November 18, still has much to discuss, from financing the global transition to clean energy to protecting the world’s forests and future-proofing cities.
When asked about a macroeconomic blueprint which the IMF will put forward at the climate summit, aiming for a 25 percent reduction in global emissions by 2030, Georgieva said that first, it would need to gradually increase the price of carbon “to the level necessary to create the incentive for businesses and consumers to bring down emissions.”
“Currently, carbon price globally, on average, is $5 a ton. By 2030, it has to be at least $75 [per] ton if we want to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement,” she explained.
“We need to mobilize, on a much bigger scale; private investment in emerging markets, in developing economies. For this to happen, we need good data, and the IMF is working on that.”
The IMF head also noted that it needed taxonomies to “create comparability for investors from advanced economies, all the way to the poorest countries,” as well as “de-risking schemes.”
“At the IMF, we created the new instruments, the Resilience and Sustainability Trust, to finance this long-term structural transformation. So, we are part of the financing, but we want to use this instrument primarily to bring down perceived and real risk for private investments to move to emerging markets in developing economies.”
‘Major problems’ at hand
Georgieva said that there were currently two problems at hand: climate impact and a “mountain of debt on the shoulders of poor nations.”
“It is important to seek ways to bring a solution to these two problems that connects them,” she explained.
“What we [at the IMF] have concluded is twofold. One, there are ways in which good data for emission reductions can create a predictable revenue stream for countries and be used to service their debt. Two, there has to be a credible way to certify the emission reduction on one side and then what it means for those that are forgiving the debt – in other words, who are receiving the credits.”
If the goal is to ensure that countries credibly link ecological conservation and climate action to a financial flow, then “we have to have good data [and] standardize it, and then make it a part of the solution for the climate crisis,” said Georgieva.
“From the IMF side, we are going to engage on this.”
“I want to caution that if there is a massive problem that requires debt restructuring, that may not be a good candidate for this predictable long-term flow. But if we are talking about debt service over time, not debt restructuring at the moment, [then] yes, we can link carbon credits generated by country to debt service obligations in a way that helps solve two problems at once.” What can be done during COP27
Georgieva believes that a lot can be achieved at this year’s climate conference.
“There are two things that can be done during COP. The first one is to lift up attention to project preparation and make access to project preparation funds easy also for private investors that are looking for opportunities in the developing world and, two, to provide platforms on a country basis for everybody in the public sector, multilateral development banks and the private sector to come together and seize opportunities that exist,” she said.
The IMF head said that despite everything, there is “some good news to celebrate”: the emergence of significant financing through climate-related bonds.
“Last year, we had $252 billion [in financing]. Only a couple of years ago, we counted them in the tens of billions, not in the hundreds of billions. So, we have to also celebrate where progress is made. Ask: how did they do it? And how we can do even more of it and replicate it elsewhere.”
Facebook owner Meta to cut more than 11,000 jobs
Nov 9, 2022,
Facebook's parent company Meta said on Wednesday that it would cut more than 11,000 jobs, reducing the size of its team by about 13% in the first mass layoffs in the firm's history.
"Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history," Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a message to employees. "I’ve decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go."
The sweeping job cuts at Meta — the first in the corporation's 18-year history — follow mass layoffs at Twitter last week under Elon Musk's new leadership and another round of culls at Microsoft in October. Meta also plans to extend its hiring freeze through the first quarter.
Zuckerberg said that he, like others, had predicted the surge of e-commerce at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was a "permanent acceleration" and as a result increased the company's investments. "I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that," he wrote, saying that things "did not play out" as he expected and that factors including the economic downturn and growing competition had led to lower-than-expected revenues.
Meta had reported more than87,000 employeesworldwide at the end of September across its different platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Shares in Meta rose 5% in pre-market trading on Wednesday, after weeks of concerns among investors about Zuckerberg's big bet on his metaverse virtual-reality project.
The company said every member of staff would soon receive an email explaining what the layoffs meant for them. It also listed some details about the severance pay, health insurance, and immigration support employees could expect in the U.S., adding that support for Meta staff in other countries would be "similar".
"I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted," Zuckerberg said.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the company will begin laying people off from Wednesday morning, according to The Wall Street Journal. According to the news outlet, Mark gave the news to hundreds of executives in a meeting on Tuesday. Meta had more than 87,000 employees at the end of September and the upcoming cuts are said to affect thousands of jobs, though, no concrete figures have been given.
According to people who were at Tuesday’s meeting, Mark seemed to be downcast about the news and held himself responsible for the cuts. He said that he’d been over-optimistic about growth and ended up hiring too many people. Now, given the economic conditions, the company needs to cut thousands of jobs to keep the company’s finances healthy.
To help those affected by the cuts, Meta’s head of human resources, Lori Goler, told the meeting that affected employees will receive four months of salary as severance. This should help people with their living costs as they look for a new job.
Meta will release a general internal announcement about the layoff plans at 6 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday. Those affected will be informed in the hours following the general internal announcement. According to the report, people in recruiting and business teams are those most likely to be affected.
It is not yet known how the cuts will impact the company's Irish workforce - Meta directly employs 3,000 people in Ireland with an additional 6,000 people supporting its operations here
Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg was said to be downcast at a meeting of executives last night and told them he was accountable for the company's missteps that had led to overstaffing.
Speaking on RTÉ's Prime Time last night, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that he is not "unduly concerned" about by the prospect of widespread lay offs in the tech sector, and that while he did not want to downplay the seriousness of anyone losing their job, he believes that Ireland has a very well diversified economy.
First sentence ever written in Canaanite language discovered: Plea to eradicate beard lice
Hebrew University unearths ivory comb from 1700 BCE inscribed with plea to eradicate lice—"May this [ivory] tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard”
IMAGE: THE IVORY COMB (CREDIT: DAFNA GAZIT, ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY).view more
CREDIT: THE IVORY COMB (CREDIT: DAFNA GAZIT, ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY).
The alphabet was invented around 1800 BCE and was used by the Canaanites and later by most other languages in the world. Until recently, no meaningful Canaanite inscriptions had been discovered in the Land of Israel, save only two or three words here and there. Now an amazing discovery presents an entire sentence in Canaanite, dating to about 1700 BCE. It is engraved on a small ivory comb and includes a spell against lice.
The comb was unearthed at Tel Lachish in Israel by a team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) and Southern Adventist University in the United States, under the direction of Professors Yosef Garfinkel, Michael Hasel and Martin Klingbeil. The inscription was deciphered by semitic epigraphist Dr. Daniel Vainstub at Ben Gurion University (BGU). The ivory was tested by HU Prof. Rivka Rabinovich and BGU Prof. Yuval Goren and was found to originate from an elephant tusk. Their findings were published in Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology.
The letters of the inscription were engraved in a very shallow manner. It was excavated in 2017 but the letters were noticed only in subsequent post-processing in 2022 by Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu. It was cleaned and preserved by Miriam Lavi.
The ivory comb is small, measuring roughly 3.5 by 2.5 cm. The comb has teeth on both sides. Although their bases are still visible, the comb teeth themselves were broken in antiquity. The central part of the comb is somewhat eroded, possibly by the pressure of fingers holding the comb during haircare or removal of lice from the head or beard. The side of the comb with six thick teeth was used to untangle knots in the hair, while the other side, with 14 fine teeth, was used to remove lice and their eggs, much like the current-day two-sided lice combs sold in stores.
There are 17 Canaanite letters on the comb. They are archaic in form—from the first stage of the invention of the alphabet script. They form seven words in Canaanite, reading: “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”
“This is the first sentence ever found in the Canaanite language in Israel. There are Canaanites in Ugarit in Syria, but they write in a different script, not the alphabet that is used till today. The Canaanite cities are mentioned in Egyptian documents, the Amarna letters that were written in Akkadian, and in the Hebrew Bible. The comb inscription is direct evidence for the use of the alphabet in daily activities some 3700 years ago. This is a landmark in the history of the human ability to write,” shared Garfinkel.
Ancient combs were made from wood, bone, or ivory. Ivory was a very expensive material and likely an imported luxury object. As there were no elephants in Canaan during that time period, the comb likely came from nearby Egypt—factors indicating that even people of high social status suffered from lice.
The research team analyzed the comb itself for the presence of lice under a microscope and photographs were taken of both sides. Remains of head lice, 0.5–0.6 mm in size, were found on the second tooth. The climatic conditions of Lachish, however, did not allow preservation of whole head lice but only those of the outer chitin membrane of the nymph stage head louse.
Despite its small size, the inscription on the comb from Lachish has very special features, some of which are unique and fill in gaps and lacunas in our knowledge of many aspects of the culture of Canaan in the Bronze Age. For the first time, we have an entire verbal sentence written in the dialect spoken by the Canaanite inhabitants of Lachish, enabling us to compare this language in all its aspects with the other sources for it. Second, the inscription on the comb sheds light on some hitherto poorly attested aspects of the everyday life of the time, haircare and dealing with lice.
Third, this is the first discovery in the region of an inscription referring to the purpose of the object on which it was written, as opposed to dedicatory or ownership inscriptions on objects. Further, the engraver’s skill in successfully executing such tiny letters (1–3 mm wide) is a fact that from now on should be taken into account in any attempt to summarize and draw conclusions on literacy in Canaan in the Bronze Age.
Lachish was a major Canaanite city state in the second millennium BCE and the second most important city in the Biblical Kingdom of Judah. To date, 10 Canaanite inscriptions have been found in Lachish, more than at any other site in Israel. The city was the major center for the use and preservation of the alphabet during some 600 years, from 1800-1150 BCE. The site of Tel Lachish is under the protection of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
Aerial view of Tel Lachish (Credit: Emil Aladjem).
A Canaanite’s Wish to Eradicate Lice on an Inscribed Ivory Comb from Lachish.
South Korea revises school curriculum to exclude terms 'gender equality' and 'sexual minorities'
Nov 9, 2022,
Diego Mendoza
The South Korean government has removed the terms "gender equality" and "sexual minorities" from the national school curriculum, according to local media reports, meaning future textbooks must reword these topics for approval.
REUTERS/Pool via Jeon Heon Kyun
According to Yonhap News Agency, the curriculum overhaul is the largest change to the nation's educational system since 2015, with gender and sexuality at the forefront of revisions.
Under the earlier curriculum, "social minorities" could be defined in classes as "disabled people, immigrant foreigners, and sexual minorities," but the revised guidelines omit the term "sexual minorities."
The term "gender equality" in textbooks will also be changed to "gender prejudice" and redefined as the "ethical problems of gender discrimination," Yonhap reported.
An official from the Ministry of Education said that the current terminology "causes confusion" among students about their social life, according to The Hankyoreh newspaper.
The language changes reflect a nationwide push from right-wing religious groups that oppose LGBTQ rights, with many of these factions also advocating for clear distinctions between gender roles in society.
President Yoon Suk Yeol capitalized on this rhetoric during his election campaign, and at one point said he would consider shutting down the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
South Korea has some of the largest labor market gender gaps among OECD countries, both with regards to earnings and labor force participation, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Critics of the new revisions say that the decisions are discriminatory and based on outdated concepts of gender and sexuality.
"It seems that the expression was changed in order to make it invisible to people who are experiencing discrimination in their daily life because of their gender identity in society," Kim Su-jeong, director of Korea Women's Hotline, told The Hankyoreh newspaper.
Citizens will be able to submit opinions on the changes until Nov. 29, after which the curriculum will become official, according to South Korean website Asia Economy. The curriculum will go into effect in 2024.
“We need proof of life”: Sister of jailed British-Egyptian activist speaks out at COP27
Nov 8, 2022
Karina Tsui
Sanaa Seif, the sister of jailed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, said Tuesday that she did not know if her brother was alive after he stopped drinking water to escalate his six-month hunger strike in an Egyptian prison.
Seif voiced concerns about Abd El-Fattah’s condition during a press conference at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, drawing a large crowd on the sidelines of the event.
REUTERS/Emilie Madi
Abd El-Fattah was among the leading activists in the country’s 2011 uprising, and has been in jail for more than a decade. In 2019, he was sentenced to five more years in prison after being accused of spreading false information on the mistreatment of inmates in Egyptian jails.
He began a hunger strike in April, and stopped drinking water on Sunday – just as the climate summit began.
Seif, who has been advocating for her brother’s release from Britain, traveled back to Egypt for the global climate summit, which draws leaders, activists, and executives from all around the world.
"Are they force-feeding my brother right now? Is he handcuffed in a bed put on IVs [intravenous therapy] against his will? This is what it sounds like to me," Seif said at the press conference in the German pavilion at the summit. "If that is the case, then he has been plunged into a worse nightmare than he was already in."
She demanded for "proof of life," adding that the British embassy should be allowed to see him.
Egypt's government has publicly said that Abd El-Fattah is getting "healthcare" available to all inmates while France's president Emmanuel Macron said President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi had assured him that the country was "committed" to ensuring the activist's wellbeing, the BBC reported.
Abd El-Fattah’s case and concerns for his health are drawing increasing attention at the global climate summit.
On Tuesday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk issued a statement calling for the government’s immediate release of the activist and to “provide him with the necessary medical treatment.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also raised Abd El-Fattah’s case with Sisi at COP27 and his government is trying to push for the activist's release, CNN reported.
“I did not get any response,” Seif said, referring to her calls to the British government to get proof that her brother was still alive.
Nepal earthquake kills six, rattles New Delhi
Published: 09 Nov 2022 - 09:13 am | Last Updated: 09 Nov 2022 - 09:15 am People stand outside the ruins of collapsed houses after an earthquake struck early Wednesday, in the western district of Doti, Nepal November 9, 2022. Nepal Army/Handout via Reuters
Reuters
Kathmandu: An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 in Nepal early on Wednesday killed four children and two adults, seriously injured five others as several houses collapsed in the western district of Doti, and shook New Delhi in neighbouring India.
Local media showed mud and brick houses destroyed by the quake in the Himalayan country and rescuers digging through the rubble to look for survivors. At least two people are reported missing, said Nepali army spokesperson Narayan Silwal.
Women in the district, about 430 km (270 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu, were shown sitting in the open with babies wrapped in blankets to shield them from the cold. Volunteers rescued a cow trapped under the debris.
Ram Upadhyay, chairman of the Purbi Chowki rural municipality in Doti, said he was in a nearby village when the quake struck at 2.12 am Nepal time (2027 GMT). "It shook terribly and I rushed out immediately. Now we are collecting details including the dead bodies," he said.
Five people were seriously injured as eight houses collapsed, said Bhola Bhatta, Doti's deputy superintendent of police.
Nepal is still rebuilding after two major earthquakes in 2015 killed almost 9,000 people, destroyed whole towns and centuries-old temples and caused a $6 billion blow to the economy.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who faces re-election later this month, offered condolences to the families of the victims. "I have instructed the relevant agencies to arrange immediate and proper treatment of the injured and the victims."
A ground rescue team of the army has been rushed to the site, said spokesperson Silwal, and two helicopters were on standby in nearby Surkhet and Nepalgunj towns.
Kalpana Shrestha, a senior bureaucrat of Doti district, said details were being collected from villages near the epicentre and that one child was among those rescued from under the debris.
Nepal's seismological centre set the earthquake at a magnitude of 6.6. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) had pegged the earthquake at a magnitude of 5.6.
The quake was centred about 158 km (100 miles) northeast of Pilibhit, a populous city in the neighbouring Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, and occurred at a depth of 10 km, EMSC added. There were no reports of damage on the Indian side, though the quake woke up many residents of the capital New Delhi.
