Ivory Coast tourist haven battles coastal erosion and rogue waves

By Loucoumane Coulibaly and Media Coulibaly

November 27, 2023

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A view of the ruins of a hotel under construction, that was recently abandoned after being destroyed by a sudden rise in water level which damaged several hotels and houses in the coastal towns east of Abidjan in August, in Grand Bassam, Ivory Coast September 20, 2023.REUTERS/Luc Gnago Acquire Licensing Rights

ASSINIE, Ivory Coast Nov 27 (Reuters) - On a shrinking strip of beach in southeast Ivory Coast, hotel owner Habib Hassan Nassar has to stack thousands of sandbags each week to protect his property from the rising sea.

Thanks to the metres-high sandbag barricade, the Kame Surf Camp hotel clings to its section of beach in the resort of Assinie, even as the waves hem the hotel in on three sides and, in a recent surge, devastated the businesses of its neighbours.

"Frankly, I am exhausted," said Nassar, 50, who first came to the area as a child when this stretch of beach on the Gulf of Guinea was much wider and it took five minutes on foot to reach the shoreline.

Now he spends up to 1 million cfa francs ($1,640) a week to keep the sea at bay and his business afloat, buying truckloads of sand and hiring workers to pour it into bags and shore up the hotel's defences.

Such expenses are likely to increase. Without adaptation, damages from sea level rise could cost 12 large African coastal cities up to $86.5 billion by 2050, according to U.N. climate experts. Those cities include Ivory Coast's commercial capital Abidjan, just down the coast from Assinie.

"A small business like mine, all it can do is fill sandbags and put them out front and pray for the best," Nassar said, surveying his sea wall in a skull T-shirt bearing the slogan: 'Call of the Wave'.

The rapidly growing populations of West Africa's low-lying coastal areas are particularly exposed to rising sea levels, a trend that is accelerating globally due to extreme glacier melt and record ocean heat levels, the World Meteorological Organization warned in April.

Coastal erosion at the palm-fringed tourist haven of Assinie is classified as of particular concern due to the high rate of beach loss at a resort that is an important economic hub, according to Ivory Coast's National Coastal Environment Management Program. It says the national coastal erosion rate averages between 0.5 and 3 metres a year.

Over several days in August, a series of rogue waves underscored the vulnerability of Assinie and other coastal towns east of Abidjan.

The oversized waves pummelled the shore, striking higher than ever before and devastating homes and businesses.

"I was lucky enough to anticipate ... but if you look around me, everything else has been completely destroyed," said Nassar, recalling the thunderous crash of the six and seven-metre-high waves against his homemade ramparts.

More than three months on from the onslaught, the water has receded from its peak but other hotels and restaurants are struggling to reopen after the waves swept away beach huts, swamped swimming pools and knocked down sea-facing walls.

The coordinator of the National Coastal Environment Management Program, Eric Djagoua, told Reuters such extreme events are becoming more frequent and said more political will was needed to protect vulnerable coastal infrastructure.

The urgency is clear. West Africa's coastal areas generate at least 56% of the region's economic activity and host a third of its population, according to a World Bank study from 2019.

Even as needs rise, richer countries are falling short on a promise to give $100 billion a year to help poorer countries adapt to climate change impacts like sea level rise.

For some, it is already too late.

Thirty kilometres down the coast from Kame Surf Camp, 60-year-old Alex Messan Kouassi stands in the wreckage of his home and hotel that the waves tore through in August.

"Everything is gone ... the sea came and took it all, what can I do?"

($1 = 607.3700 CFA francs)


Writing by Alessandra Prentice Editing by Bate Felix and Susan Fenton

Immigration, key to the Franco-Moroccan crisis

November 26, 2023
ByNation World News Desk


Diplomatic relatons between France and Morocco have collapsed since the country of France decided to veto entry and reject visas for Moroccan citizens who want to enter Europe. Although France has denied the major issue and confirmed that immigration measures have been reduced, Moroccans continue to report unjustified rejections.

A new report from professor Mehdi Alioua and the French researcher Jeanne Noug highlights the importance of immigration in the Franco-Moroccan diplomatic crisis. While many analyzes point to the role of high-level politics and issues such as the Western Sahara file in the deterioration of relations, Visa restrictions imposed by France on Moroccans play a significant role according to a report published by the University of Oxford earlier this year.

The article explains that, although France has reduced the number of visas under the pretext of not cooperating with the repatriation of Moroccan citizens, the lack of cooperation in the North African country “is not as impressive as France.” Likewise, the researchers pointed out that the diplomatic withdrawal occurred in the context of the 2022 French presidential election. France’s right-wing parties place a great deal of emphasis on the discourse of security and immigration in French politics.
Read Also: In Saskatoon, demonstrators continued to criticize the Parental Rights Act

They also argued that the ability to effectively repatriate migrants under the Obligation to Leave French Territory (OQTF) was seen as a justification for the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, “protect” France from the perceived threat of immigration.

The authors of the report noted that the events “may lead to a permanent state of exception” where populations are subjected to policies that are initially unique, but eventually become “routine and standardized” procedures. The publication explained that it does not exclusively affect immigration from the Alawite country, but is within the French immigration policies. Therefore, visa restrictions or border crossing difficulties affect everyone equally.
Read Also: The US revoked the visa of the president of the Guatemalan Congress

The situation shows that the rights of movement are the key for many who have started to criticize the nature of the visa process. In addition to the visa crisis, relations between France and Morocco, historically close political and economic partners, have been affected by other political and social problems in recent years.

The most important of them is France’s ambiguous position on the Western Sahara conflict and, like other European countries, it emphasized that it neither recognized nor supported Morocco’s autonomy plans.

From the Moroccan Royal House it has been reported on different occasions that this issue is getting more and more weight in Morocco’s foreign policy. The recent French media and public reaction to the September 8 earthquake has further complicated the situation, with reports of Morocco rejecting French aid. For the authors of the report, these events lead to the question of whether the North African country “It can survive on its own without depending on its predecessor.”

Meanwhile, despite claims by French officials that the visa cuts are a thing of the past and that relations are back on track, Many Moroccans continue to report unfair visa denials and poor treatment at visa centers.

Ireland: After the riots in Dublin, minority communities express their concern

2023-11-26

Highlights: Ireland: After the riots in Dublin, minority communities express their concern. Many immigrants are plagued by fear. On Thursday, a stabbing occurred outside a school. Five people were injured, including three young children. More than 50 rioters have already appeared in court on charges of disturbing public order. The violence of the riots surprised me, but I think we felt it coming. People were really furious. With the arrival of Ukrainian refugees, the housing crisis has worsened. That's terrible. I really don't feel safe. I don't want to go downtown alone anymore.

A passer-by from the window of a damaged shop during violent protests on November 23, near O'Connell Street, Dublin, November 24, 2023. AFP - PAUL FAITH

Three days after the unprecedented riots in the streets of the Irish capital in response to a stabbing attack outside a school, minority communities in Dublin are expressing their concern....

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Ireland: After the riots in Dublin, minority communities express their concern

Three days after unprecedented riots took place in the streets of the Irish capital in response to a stabbing attack outside a school, minority communities in Dublin are expressing their concern. Many immigrants are plagued by fear.

By: RFI Follow

With our correspondent in Dublin, Clémence Pénard

On Thursday, a stabbing occurred outside a school. Five people were injured, including three young children. Shortly afterwards, in the evening, violent clashes, blamed on the far right, broke out, all against a backdrop of rumours spread about the nationality of the attacker, presented as Algerian.

Since then, some have been afraid. This is the case of Karthik, an Indian and a Muslim. The rioters stole his cash register, after smashing the windows of his store. "I think if you don't look like a white person, an Irishman, then anyone can be targeted. So, yes, right now, I'm scared. But when you come to a foreign country, you have to work, so we have no choice but not to come to work," he said.

« 

There are a lot of police officers here, so it gives us a little bit of hope that nothing is going to happen," Karthik said. When I came here, I felt like Ireland was my own country. Those were the good times! But now I realize that we are not part of the country, we just live here. In fact, they tell us that we don't belong here.

»

Brazilian immigrants, who are very numerous in Dublin, share the same feeling of anxiety. Maria arrived in Ireland six years ago. "I really don't feel safe," she says. I don't want to go downtown alone anymore. For a lot of racists, it was an open door. Now they just have some sort of pass to do whatever they want. The violence of the riots surprised me, but I think we felt it coming. People were really furious. With the arrival of Ukrainian refugees, the housing crisis has worsened. That's terrible.

 »

Since Thursday, more than 50 rioters have already appeared in court on charges of disturbing public order.

Violence in Dublin: "We know that there is a far-right faction operating in Ireland"

Irish Campaign Against The Dangerous Acts Of Immigrants In Ireland

By: BNN Correspondents
Published: November 25, 2023 


The streets of Dublin witnessed an unsettling spectacle of violence and chaos as anti-immigrant sentiments fueled a riot, triggered by an incident involving two foreigners. A tragic stabbing attack on three children and a woman, speculated to have been perpetrated by a foreigner, ignited the flame of unrest, leading to over 30 arrests.

The incident, shrouded in hearsay and speculation, stirred a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment across the city. The ensuing violence, characterized by looting, vandalism, and disruption of public transport, reflected a rising tension over immigration in Ireland. As rumors circulated about the assailant’s foreign origin, the city’s quiet murmurs of discontent evolved into a loud outcry, culminating in the chaotic scenes that unfolded.

In the aftermath of the upheaval, Ireland’s Prime Minister condemned the protesters, accusing them of seeking to sow chaos rather than protect the country’s way of life. The incident has become a flashpoint in the ongoing debate about immigration, with political leaders attributing the unrest to far-right agitators capitalizing on the situation to stoke xenophobia. The riots have underscored the societal strain caused by the issue of immigration and the potential for manipulation by radical elements.

The Human Experience Amidst the Chaos

Beyond the political skirmishes and societal tensions, the riots have had a palpable impact on the lives of immigrants in Dublin. One immigrant recounted the night of terror, with the chaos and violence raising significant safety concerns for those wishing to settle in the country.

The actions of the two foreigners, whose identities and nationalities remain undisclosed, have elicited a mix of admiration and rejection, reflecting the complex dynamics and polarized views on immigration in Irish society.

The Dublin riots serve as a stark reminder of the volatile nature of social dynamics and the profound impact individual actions can have on public perception. While the dust settles on the streets of Dublin, the incident leaves behind questions about the future of immigration and societal integration in Ireland, with the need for dialogue and understanding more crucial than ever.

Irish writer Paul Lynch wins Booker Prize 2023 with Prophet Song inspired by Syrian War

'This is a triumph of emotional storytelling, bracing and brave,' said judge Esi Edugyan

Paul Lynch, author of 'Prophet Song', accepts the 2023 Booker Prize. EPA

Simon Rushton
Nov 26, 2023

Irish writer Paul Lynch won the 2023 Booker Prize on Sunday for his novel Prophet Song, the story of a family and a country on the brink of catastrophe as an imaginary Irish government veers towards tyranny.

Lynch, 46, was presented with his trophy by last year's winner Shehan Karunatilaka, at a ceremony held in London.

The writer, who lives in Dublin, is the fifth Irish author to win the award, worth £50,000 ($63,000) after Dame Iris Murdoch, John Banville, Roddy Doyle and Anne Enright.

The event on Sunday had a keynote speech delivered by Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was released from a prison in Iran last year.

Canadian writer Esi Edugyan, chairwoman the judging panel, said the book was “a triumph of emotional storytelling, bracing and brave” in which Lynch “pulls off feats of language that are stunning to witness”.

Ms Edugyan said Lynch’s book “captures the social and political anxieties of our current moment” but also deals with “timeless” themes.

The novel, Lynch's fifth, seeks to show the unrest in western democracies and their indifference towards disasters such as the implosion of Syria.

“From that first knock at the door, Prophet Song forces us out of our complacency as we follow the terrifying plight of a woman seeking to protect her family in an Ireland descending into totalitarianism,” Ms Edugyan said.

'I wanted to deepen the reader's immersion to such a degree,' Lynch said. AFP

Lynch, who was previously the chief film critic of Ireland’s Sunday Tribune newspaper, said he wanted readers to understand totalitarianism by heightening the dystopia with the intense realism of his writing.

“I wanted to deepen the reader's immersion to such a degree that by the end of the book, they would not just know, but feel this problem for themselves,” he said.

Past winners of the Booker, which was first awarded in 1969, include Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie and Yann Martel.

The island of Ireland has had one more Booker win, Northern Irish writer Anna Burns in 2018.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe spoke about reading during her imprisonment in Iran.

“Books helped me to take refuge into the world of others when I was incapable of making one of my own,” she said.

“They salvaged me by being one of the very few tools I had, together with imagination, to escape the Evin [prison] walls without physically moving.”

“One day a cellmate received a book through the post. It was The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, translated into Farsi.

“Who thought a book banned in Iran could find its way to prison through the post? We hid the cover in newspapers to hide it from the camera.”

She said inmates wanted to read the book, as did a guard.

Irish author Paul Lynch wins 2023 Booker Prize

By AFP
November 26, 2023

Irish writter Paul Lynch with his 2023 Booker Prize-winning novel 'Prophet Song'
- Copyright AFP Saidu BAH

Clara LALANNE

Irish author Paul Lynch won the 2023 Booker Prize for fiction on Sunday for his novel “Prophet Song,” a dystopian work about an Ireland that descends into tyranny.

The 46-year-old pipped five other shortlisted novelists to the prestigious award at a ceremony in London

He becomes the fifth Irish writer to win the high-profile literary prize, which has propelled to fame countless household names, including past winners Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel.

“This was not an easy book to write,” Lynch said after collecting his award, which comes with £50,000 (around $63,000) and a huge boost to his profile.

“The rational part of me believed I was dooming my career by writing this novel. Though I had to write the book anyway. We do not have a choice in such matters,” he added.

Lynch’s book is set in Dublin in a near future version of Ireland. It follows the struggles of a mother of four as she tries to save her family from totalitarianism.

There are no paragraph breaks in the novel, which is Lynch’s fifth.

Canadian novelist Esi Edugyan, who chaired the five-person judging panel, called the story “a triumph of emotional storytelling, bracing and brave”.

“With great vividness, Prophet Song captures the social and political anxieties of our current moment,” she said.

“Readers will find it soul-shattering and true, and will not soon forget its warnings.”

The Booker is open to works of fiction by writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the UK or Ireland between October 1, 2022, and September 30, 2023.

– Murdoch, Doyle –

None of this year’s six finalists — which included two Americans, a Canadian, a Kenyan and another Irish author — had been shortlisted before and only one had previously been longlisted.

The shortlisted novels, announced in September, were chosen from a 13-strong longlist that had been whittled down from an initial 158 works.

Among them was Irish author Paul Murray’s “The Bee Sting”, a tragicomic saga which looks at the role of fate in the travails of one family.

Murray was previously longlisted in 2010.

Kenyan writer Chetna Maroo’s moving debut novel “Western Lane” about grief and sisterhood follows the story of a teenage girl for whom squash is life.

The judges also selected “If I Survive You” by US writer Jonathan Escoffery, which follows a Jamaican family and their chaotic new life in Miami.

He was joined by fellow American author, Paul Harding, whose “This Other Eden” — inspired by historical events — tells the story of Apple Island, an enclave off the US coast where society’s misfits flock and build a new home.

Canada was represented on the shortlist in the shape of “Study for Obedience” by Sarah Bernstein. The unsettling novel explores the themes of prejudice and guilt through a suspicious narrator.

The Booker was first awarded in 1969. Last year’s winner was Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka for “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida”.

The previous Irish winners are Iris Murdoch, John Banville, Roddy Doyle and Anne Enright.

Opinion (NOT A REVIEW)

This year's Booker winner is political fiction  at its laziest

Cal Revely-Calder

THE TELEGRAPH

Sun, 26 November 2023 

Showing civilisation on the brink: Paul Lynch - David Levenson/Getty Images Europe

I should have seen this coming. For the last four years, the Booker Prize has alternated between picking the right book and the very wrong. Last year, it went to Shehan Karunatilaka for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, a comic thriller set in Sri Lanka and the afterlife. That novel was a deserving winner, quick-witted and spry in style. According to the pendulum, then, 2023 would go awry.

And so it has. Though the shortlist was the strongest in years, Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song was by some distance the weakest link. In Britain, and his native Ireland, Lynch’s novels are well-regarded, but none of the previous four have been runaway hits. (On the other hand, the Americans admire him, and he’s oddly successful in France.) His style has a self-serious beauteousness; reviewing Prophet Song for this paper, Declan Ryan described it as “darkly lyrical, rich and somewhat stylised”. Several critics have even gestured to Cormac McCarthy, a comparison Lynch must like: he has used the latter’s sparse, magisterial writing for one of this novel’s three epigraphs.

Prophet Song, like some of McCarthy’s work, shows civilisation on the brink. In a totalitarian Ireland – secret police, arbitrary arrest – a molecular biologist, Eilish, loses her husband to the machine. She decides she must rebel, but she’s quickly isolated at work, and when a civil war erupts, her children slip from her control, while the distance to her father, who has dementia and lives across town, becomes a terrifying gulf. The conflict soon reaches Dublin: homes are destroyed, the lines of contact shift, Eilish and co become unmoored.

Booker chair Esi Edugyan said that Prophet Song "forces us out of complacency" - Handout


Lynch has described Prophet Song as allegorical: “Why are we in the West so short on empathy for the refugees flooding towards our borders? [The novel] is partly an attempt at radical empathy.” He wanted to bring the crisis home to the West, and make readers identify with those displaced. Upon his victory, Esi Edugyan, chair of this year’s judges, declared that Prophet Song “forces us out of our complacency” and “captures the social and political anxieties of our current moment”. Readers, she added, “will not soon forget its warnings”.

The problem is how she, and Lynch, imagine political fiction to work. There isn’t much to be gained from slamming morals upon the table. Most people who care about an issue as big as the refugee crisis already know what they think. “That could be me, were I not in the West” is the most basic thought any person can have.

Allegories are hard to craft well, because once they’re solved, the bulk of the text can seem like mere ornament. You can add explosions, and make them exciting, but that’s not the same thing as making them resonate. The purpose of Prophet Song is obvious early, so its success relies on how it’s told; yet Lynch’s prose is undisciplined, overwritten and often illogical, as when Eilish muses on the “easterly breeze blowing cold hell upon Bull Island yet cooling the mind to think”. Nor are the plot and the pacing impressive. Lynch is a film critic too, and it shows. Too many novels wish they were prestige TV scripts; this one thinks it’s in Hollywood.

The disappointment is all the more bitter, because the judges had the opportunity to reward what fiction, and only fiction, can do. They could have gone for Chetna Maroo’s Western Lane, Jonathan Escoffery’s If I Survive You, or Paul Harding’s This Other Eden – all superior books – while I half-expected the winner to be Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, about the disintegration of an Irish family. It has been lavishly overpraised, but in its thematic breadth, physical length and (slightly strained) humour, it was at least obvious “Booker bait”.

Overturning perceptions: Sarah Bernstein's Study for Obedience was a strong contender - Alice Meikle

But I had hoped they would give the Prize to Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein, which – as I wrote last weekend – was my novel of the year. I haven’t believed since 2020, and Shuggie Bain, that someone deserved the Booker more. Study for Obedience and Prophet Song have a similar pivot: an isolated figure, an ambient threat. Bernstein’s novel is about a woman who moves to a “cold and faraway land”; her heritage, which we slowly learn is Jewish, sees the locals react with menace and fear. Her character makes the situation stranger still: she longs to be obedient, subservient, to abnegate her autonomy and dissolve into a group.

She’s no Hollywood heroine, in other words: no solitary figure defying the world. And so much isn’t stated outright; your sympathies keep being unsettled, your perception overturned. What is she thinking, and the locals doing, and what are the desires or hopes or self-loathing beneath it all? Study for Obedience could never be called an allegory – if anything, it’s a rebuke to those who like their stories trite.

The irony, then, is this: the Booker Prize could have gone to a political novel, one that does “force us out of our complacency”, and that represents, per the rubric, “the best sustained work of fiction” this year. It would have been a novel in which politics and fiction were interwoven subtly, and still have me thinking five months on. Yet the judges overlooked it – and, worst of all, on the same terms by which they picked Lynch. Come back next year, I guess.

Internet major Yandex considers selling all of its Russian assets
The Dutch holding company of Russian internet major Yandex is considering selling all of its Russian assets, rather than just a controlling stake. A decision on a possible deal is due in December. 

By bne IntelliNews November 16, 2023

The Dutch holding company of Russian internet major Yandex is considering selling all of its Russian assets, rather than a controlling stake as discussed previously, Reuters reports citing unnamed sources.

As followed by bne IntelliNews, Yandex, Russia's internet giant and most valuable tech company, is undergoing a split between its foreign and domestic assets to minimise sanction risks following Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.

Reportedly, the parties involved in the Yandex split are racing to complete the deal in December 2023. Dutch-based Yandex NV may sell 100% of a holding company set up in Russia's Kaliningrad region, or the so-called special economic zone domestic offshore, sources told Reuters.

Under this scenario Yandex NV would “make a clean break with Russia”, sources said. The total value of the deal is reportedly at RUB560bn ($6.2bn), after the mandatory 50% Kremlin-imposed discount for foreign exit deals.

Latest reports suggested that the deal to split Yandex could indeed be completed by the end of 2023, with a seven-investor consortium potentially getting 7.28% in the Russian part of the company (total of 50.96%).

The deal discussed between the company and the government was previously mediated by ex-finance minister and veteran policymaker Alexei Kudrin. But the deal has reportedly been much delayed due to the US sanctions against Kudrin and anti-war statements of Yandex founder Arkady Voloz.

Now the deal is said to move ahead with Kudrin pushed aside, with no clarity on whether he is still slated to succeed Volozh and get an equity stake in Yandex. The restructured part of Russian Yandex will reportedly be managed by the investors and the new board, and not Kudrin and his team.

As for Volozh, previous unconfirmed reports claimed that his anti-war statements will shave at least $150mn from his proceeds for the Yandex deal. The latest report by Forbes also claimed that the foreign part of Yandex could receive much less IP than previously expected (international businesses of driverless cars, educational services, cloud and data management technologies).

Volozh's family trust (45.1%) and the company's board members, managers and employees (6.6%) were the main owners of the voting shares. However, the Volozh family trust no longer has any voting rights in the company. In 2022, the trust transferred its voting rights to the company's independent board members, according to a spokesperson for the family.

The state Public Interest Fund established in 2019 controls a "golden share" in the company. It is understood that the PIF will drop down to the Russian entity as a result of the restructuring.

Prior to Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, Yandex was hailed as an up and coming global technological group, looking to boost the monetisation of its technologies on the one hand and leverage these technologies to support its international expansion on the other.

Apart from e-commerce, its investment case previously rested on developments in transportation, fintech and foodtech, with the developed ecosystem seen as a key advantage. Yandex was Russia’s leading developer of AI and driverless technologies.

 

Power cut for half a million people and four die as worst storm in 100 years hits Crimea

Crimea was hit by the worst storm in a 100 years, killing four and cutting the power for 500,000 residents. / bne IntelliNews

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By bne IntelliNews November 27, 2023

More than half a million people are without power and four died after the worst storm in a 100 years hit the Crimean peninsula on November 26.

Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the peninsula's Russian governor said 498,000 people in Crimea have been left without electricity due to the extreme weather, citing data from the Russian company Krymenergo, Ukrainska Pravda reports.

Nine-metre-high waves crashed against the coast Astra reported, sweeping Russian military defences away and plunging towns and villages into darkness as the power system failed, TASS reported. Houses facing the water in Simferopol were evacuated and hurricane winds in Sevastopol uprooted trees as well as tearing down billboards. Around 500,000 Crimea residents are facing power outages due to the stormy weather, Kryuchkov wrote on Telegram.

"One person is missing and four others have been injured in a slew of hazardous weather events," Russia’s Emergency Ministry said, adding that its employees had been busy evacuating people from flooded houses all night.

Greek meteorologists have named the storm “Bettina” and it is the latest in a string of extreme weather events to hit the Mediterranean basin this year. It follows on from tropical storm Daniel that killed around 10,000 people in Libya earlier this year after it burst a dam and washed the town of Derna in the middle of the night.

The latest reports from the Russian Health Ministry say seven more people have been injured in the most recent bout of bad weather in Yevpatoriya in northwestern Crimea, of whom two have been hospitalised.

The Crimean authorities issued a storm warning at the weekend, which could last until November 27 and officially announced a day off work for the duration of the storm.

"Due to the stormy weather, problems with electricity supplies were reported from the villages of Kotelnikovo, Poltavka, Krasnoznamenka, Petrovka, Voskhod, Muskatnoye, Pyatikhatka, Novopokrovka, Klepino, and Zarechnoye," Vasily Grabovan, head of the Krasnogvardeisky district administration, wrote on his Telegram channel.

The weather service predicted heavy rains and gale-force winds of up to 40 metres a second. Some 200 people were evacuated from their homes in Yevpatoria. The head of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov said that a crisis centre had been set up due to deterioration of weather conditions, TASS reports.

A gale warning was issued in Crimea for November 25-27 due to heavy rains and stormy winds of up to 40 metres a second.

The storm was affecting other cities along the coast including Odesa, Ukraine’s busiest port. The storm is expected to reach the capital today on November 27 where the wind is predicted to increase to 17-22 m/s and bring heavy snowfalls.

The Ferocious Fury of Crimea Storm: Setting New Records in Genichesk

By: Safak Costu
Published: November 27, 2023 



The Crimean Fury: Mother Nature’s Unleashed Wrath

In the quaint city of Genichesk, nestled in the Kherson region, Mother Nature has shown her formidable might in an awe-striking display. A recent storm, proudly carrying the title of “The Crimean Fury,” wreaked havoc, leading to the most powerful surge seen in the area in over six decades. At some locations, the tidal height astonishingly exceeded 100 meters, underscoring the sheer intensity of this unexpected natural phenomenon.

Footprints of Fury: The Impact Detailed

The storm’s onslaught severely impacted day-to-day activities in Genichesk, paralyzing the sea-based economy and casting a dark shadow over the once serene city. Local sources reported massive evacuations and issues of safety following the storm. Severe disruptions in transportation connectivity and power supply were noticeable, adding to the resident’s woes. The echoes of Mother Nature’s raw power were undoubtedly felt far and wide, proving the apocalyptic might behind the term “storm surge”.

A Lookback: Comparisons with Past Outlashes

Genichesk, despite its tranquility, is no stranger to the caprices of the weather. Over the years, the region has been victim to several powerful storms, their impacts varying in magnitude. However, the city’s memory of these past storms pales in comparison to the ‘Crimean Fury’. Observations and data obtained mark this recent surge as the most powerful in a span of 60 years, thereby placing it on a grim pedestal in the city’s weather history.

Teeth of the Storm: Unfurling the Scientific Sketch

Storm surges often originate from a complex interplay of atmospheric and oceanic factors. In this case, a range of meteorological elements came together, fuelling and culminating in this extraordinary event. Climate experts argue these events could become more frequent, as steadily rising global temperatures intensify weather patterns and phenomena. While weather-conscious residents of Genichesk and nearby regions brace themselves for potential future surges, the scientific community is intently studying the patterns to better predict and mitigate the effects of these catastrophic events.

Resilience Amidst Ruins: The Pathway to Recovery

In light of the recent calamity, the citizens of Genichesk are demonstrating commendable resilience. Recovery efforts are underway, with locals banding together to rebuild their city and restore normalcy. Stricter zoning regulations and fortified coastal structures are being proposed to better safeguard the region from future tidal events. Lessons learned from ‘The Crimea Fury’ are proving critical in shaping the city’s response to potential future calamities.

The Power of Preparedness: Staying a Step Ahead

The storm surge has underscored the necessity for improved forecasting systems and early intervention strategies to prepare for such natural disasters. Fostering a sense of emergency preparedness within communities can potentially reduce the detrimental impact of these events. As we move forward into an era of increasingly erratic weather patterns, it serves as a timely reminder that preparedness saves lives and that knowledge truly is power in the face of Mother Nature’s awesome, unpredictable might.

MEH

‘Authentic’ Is Merriam-Webster’s Word of 2023. Here’s Why–and What Other Words Came Close

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Merriam-Webster, the oldest dictionary publisher in the U.S., choosing a top word.

BY LEANNE ITALIE / AP
NOVEMBER 27, 2023 

In an age of deepfakes and post-truth, as artificial intelligence rose and Elon Musk turned Twitter into X, the Merriam-Webster word of the year for 2023 is “authentic.”

Authentic cuisine. Authentic voice. Authentic self. Authenticity as artifice. Lookups for the word are routinely heavy on the dictionary company’s site but were boosted to new heights throughout the year, editor at large Peter Sokolowski told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview.

“We see in 2023 a kind of crisis of authenticity,” he said ahead of Monday’s announcement of this year’s word. “What we realize is that when we question authenticity, we value it even more.”

Sokolowski and his team don’t delve into the reasons people head for dictionaries and websites in search of specific words. Rather, they chase the data on lookup spikes and world events that correlate. This time around, there was no particularly huge boost at any given time but a constancy to the increased interest in “authentic.”

This was the year of artificial intelligence, for sure, but also a moment when ChatGPT-maker OpenAI suffered a leadership crisis. Taylor Swift and Prince Harry chased after authenticity in their words and deeds. Musk himself, at February’s World Government Summit in Dubai, urged the heads of companies, politicians, ministers and other leaders to “speak authentically” on social media by running their own accounts.

“Can we trust whether a student wrote this paper? Can we trust whether a politician made this statement? We don’t always trust what we see anymore,” Sokolowski said. “We sometimes don’t believe our own eyes or our own ears. We are now recognizing that authenticity is a performance itself."


Merriam-Webster’s entry for “authentic” is busy with meaning.

A screenshot of the definition of authentic in Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary.Merriam-Webster.com

There is “not false or imitation: real, actual,” as in an authentic cockney accent. There’s “true to one’s own personality, spirit or character.” There’s “worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact.” There is “made or done the same way as an original.” And, perhaps the most telling, there’s “conforming to an original so as to reproduce essential features.”

“Authentic” follows 2022’s choice of “gaslighting.” And 2023 marks Merriam-Webster’s 20th anniversary choosing a top word.

The company’s data crunchers filter out evergreen words like “love” and “affect” vs. “effect” that are always high in lookups among the 500,000 words it defines online. This year, the wordsmiths also filtered out numerous five-letter words because Wordle and Quordle players clearly use the company’s site in search of them as they play the daily games, Sokolowski said.

Sokolowski, a lexicologist, and his colleagues have a bevy of runners-up for word of the year that also attracted unusual traffic. They include “X” (lookups spiked in July after Musk’s rebranding of Twitter), “EGOT” (there was a boost in February when Viola Davis achieved that rare quadruple-award status with a Grammy) and “Elemental,” the title of a new Pixar film that had lookups jumping in June.

Rounding out the company’s top words of 2023, in no particular order:

RIZZ

Slang for “romantic appeal or charm” and seemingly short for charisma. Merriam-Webster added the word to its online dictionary in September and it’s been among the top lookups since, Sokolowski said.

KIBBUTZ

There was a massive spike in lookups for “a communal farm or settlement in Israel” after Hamas militants attacked several near the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7. The first kibbutz in Israel was founded circa 1909.

IMPLODE

The June 18 implosion of the Titan submersible on a commercial expedition to explore the Titanic wreckage sent lookups soaring for this word, meaning “to burst inward.” “It was a story that completely occupied the world,” Sokolowski said.

DEADNAME

Interest was high in what Merriam-Webster defines as “the name that a transgender person was given at birth and no longer uses upon transitioning.” Lookups followed an onslaught of legislation aimed at curtailing LGBTQ+ rights around the country.

DOPPELGANGER

Sokolowski calls this “a word lover’s word.” Merriam-Webster defines it as a “double,” an “alter ego” or a “ghostly counterpart.” It derives from German folklore. Interest in the word surrounded Naomi Klein’s latest book, Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World, released this year. She uses her own experience of often being confused with feminist author and conspiracy theorist Naomi Wolf as a springboard into a broader narrative on the crazy times we’re all living in.

CORONATION

King Charles III had one on May 6, sending lookups for the word soaring 15,681% over the year before, Sokolowski said. Merriam-Webster defines it as “the act or occasion of crowning.”

DEEPFAKE

The dictionary company’s definition is “an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said.” Interest spiked after Musk’s lawyers in a Tesla lawsuit said he is often the subject of deepfake videos and again after the likeness of Ryan Reynolds appeared in a fake, AI-generated Tesla ad.

Read More: How to Spot an AI-Generated Image

DYSTOPIAN

Climate chaos brought on interest in the word. So did books, movies and TV fare intended to entertain. “It’s unusual to me to see a word that is used in both contexts,” Sokolowski said.

COVENANT

Lookups for the word meaning “a usually formal, solemn, and binding agreement” swelled on March 27, after a deadly mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. The shooter was a former student killed by police after killing three students and three adults.

Interest also spiked with this year’s release of Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant and Abraham Verghese’s long-awaited new novel, The Covenant of Water, which Oprah Winfrey chose as a book club pick.

More recently, soon after U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson ascended to House speaker, a 2022 interview with the Louisiana congressman recirculated. He discussed how his teen son was then his “accountability partner” on Covenant Eyes, software that tracks browser history and sends reports to each partner when porn or other potentially objectionable sites are viewed.
INDICT

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on felony charges in four criminal cases in New York, Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C., in addition to fighting a lawsuit threatening his real estate empire.

IMPERIALIST RIVALRY

Russia Woos Africa With Free Grain, Fertilizer Research Funding

As Bloomberg News reported, Russian shipments of donated grain are due to begin landing in Africa within days.

NOVEMBER 26, 2023

As Bloomberg News reported, Russian shipments of donated grain are due to begin landing in Africa within days, giving fresh impetus to its bid to bolster its influence in the continent.

President Vladimir Putin promised to send free grain to six African countries that have strong ties with Moscow at a Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg in July. The move followed criticism that Russia’s war in Ukraine and its withdrawal from a deal that facilitated the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea were pushing up global food and fertilizer prices.

The shipments will total 200,000 tons by year-end, the Russian Agriculture Ministry was cited by the Interfax news agency as saying Nov. 17, with Somalia and Burkina Faso set to be the first recipients. Zimbabwe, Mali, Eritrea and the Central African Republic are also due to get between 25,000 and 50,000 tons of grain each, Putin said in July. That’s a tiny fraction of what they consume.

Russia’s push to strengthen ties with African nations by increasing trade and deploying Wagner mercenaries to prop up unstable governments follows efforts by the US and its allies to isolate it in response to the invasion of Ukraine. It remains a minor player however — its two-way trade with the continent was only $18 billion in 2022, a fraction of China’s $282 billion.

Research presented at a conference in Cape Town on Sunday organized by a foundation set up by former South African President Thabo Mbeki sought to dispel the notion that Moscow bore primary responsibility for rising food costs. Direct or indirect sanctions imposed on Russia and its ally Belarus cut global fertilizer and ammonia supplies by 40.8 million tons through April 2023, according to the study, which was backed by a fund founded by Russian fertilizer billionaire Andrey Melnichenko.

Ukraine and Russia are two of the world’s leading exporters of grain and vegetable oil. The war has impacted on global supplies of both commodities, with Russia bombing Ukrainian stores and ports.

While Russian fertilizer hasn’t been subjected to international sanctions, penalties imposed on owners of companies that produce it and restrictions by the banking and logistics industries, saw exports fall last year. They have since recovered, spurring a decline in prices.

The study’s analysis of the impact of the Black Sea grain deal showed that it helped to feed about 95 million people but fell short in ensuring that fertilizer originating from Russia could flow freely to global markets. Had that happened, food could have been produced that fed about 199 million people, it said.

Billionaire Melnichenko, who holds dual citizenship from Russia and the United Arab Emirates, was sanctioned by the European Union and the US following the invasion of Ukraine. He traveled to South Africa late last year to lobby politicians to support his pleas for the EU to resolve fertilizer supply issues.

Pretoria has adopted a non-aligned stance toward the war in Ukraine that has drawn criticism from the US and some of its other largest trading partners. Thabo Mbeki spent time in exile in Russia during apartheid rule and served as South Africa’s president from 1999 until 2008. –With assistance from Paul Vecchiatto.

ECONOMIC HEGEMONY

The Domination of Dollar: Why is it so Powerful?

U.S. dollar is the de facto global currency, which means it is held in reserves by many governments, and that, most people and businesses trust it for international trade.

BYFARHAN R. JHUSWANTO
NOVEMBER 27, 2023

The dollar is the official currency of the United States and its surrounding regions, and it also serves as the official money of certain other countries. In fact, the U.S. dollar is frequently considered the world’s reserve currency. More than $1.8 trillion of U.S. currency is already in circulation worldwide, with two-thirds of $100 notes and nearly half of $50 notes likely to be held outside the U.S. As a matter of fact, the U.S. dollar is the de facto global currency, which means it is held in reserves by many governments, and that, most people and businesses trust it for international trade. Even as the coronavirus outbreak wreaked havoc on global markets, wiping off trillions of dollars in assets, the U.S. dollar remained untouched. It rose 4% versus a basket of major currencies at one time, including the euro, pound, yen, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, and Swedish krona.

What caused this increase in the value of the U.S. dollar?

On December 19, 2019, Steven Mnuchin, the United States Secretary of Treasury, stated that “the dollar is strong because of the U.S. economy and because people want to hold dollars and the safety of the U.S. dollar.” Investors getting away to “safe havens” in times of unpredictability, referring to investments that are expected to hold their value during market instability. And, certainly, the U.S. currency is regarded as such. But why is this so? It comes from the world’s greatest economy, the United States, which is politically and economically stable in general. As we can be certain that the value of the U.S. dollar will vary, it is unlikely to fall as precipitously as the Turkish Lira or the Argentine Peso.

All of that demand for the dollar can lead to shortages during times of economic crisis, which exacerbates the problem. The Federal Reserve, America’s central bank, is in charge of creating money and goes to great lengths to avoid a squeeze when there is a rush for the greenback. During the financial and coronavirus crises, for example, it established a number of ‘ swap channels’ with other major central banks to ensure there is adequate money available for investment and spending. When demand for the U.S. dollar rises, this helps to stabilize the currency markets.

How did the U.S. dollar become the world’s primary reserve currency?

Well, for a long time, industrialized economies’ currencies were linked to gold. During World War I, however, many of these countries abandoned the gold standard and began paying their military expenses with paper money instead. The U.S. dollar, which was still pegged to gold, eventually surpassed the British pound to become the world’s top reserve currency. During World War II, the United States sold weapons and supplies to several of its allies and was paid in gold. By 1947, the United States had amassed 70% of the world’s gold reserves, putting other countries at a significant disadvantage. The 44 Allied countries convened in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944 to try to resolve this and other financial issues. They concluded there that the world’s currencies would be anchored to the U.S. dollar, which would thereafter be linked to gold. As central banks began to accumulate reserves, these dollars were redeemed for gold, reducing the U.S. stockpile and raising concerns about the U.S. dollar’s stability. President Richard Nixon of the United States shocked the world in 1971 when he de-linked the dollar from gold. From there, floating exchange rates emerged, implying that exchange rates were no longer bound to gold and were set by market forces instead.

Despite market volatility and subsequent inflation, the U.S. dollar continues to be the world’s reserve currency. Because of their vast volume and America’s efficient banking system, the notes were more convenient and less expensive to exchange than other currencies. Today, the vast bulk of foreign exchange transactions are conducted in U.S. dollars, with no other currency coming close. In recent decades, the United States has even been suspected of “weaponizing” its money in order to gain strategic and geopolitical advantage. Critics referenced the Trump administration’s restrictions on North Korea and Iran, which included prohibiting them from using the dollar in trade. Some economies rely sorely on U.S. currency, which is frequently utilized in day-to-day transactions. In Cambodia, ATMs allow us to withdraw money in U.S. dollars. Commodities such as metals, energy, and agricultural items are typically exchanged in U.S. dollars on a global basis.

Here’s an illustration of how the U.S. dollar affects ordinary business transactions. Let’s assume an Indonesian coffee factory wishes to sell its products to a Turkish department store. If the Turkish shop attempts to pay in Turkish Lira, the Indonesian coffee farmer is likely to respond, “I have no idea how much this is worth, and I obviously won’t be able to use it in Indonesia.” Meanwhile, the department store might claim that the rupiah isn’t worth anything too in Turkey. As a result, they’re both more likely to transact in U.S. dollars. These dollars will subsequently be converted into Indonesian rupiahs. Once we add up the number of transactions as such that occur every day, you’re sending a lot of money into foreign economies.

Is There Any Chance for an Alternative Reserve Currency?

We have established that the U.S. dollar is financially secure. But we might be wondering, what about other currencies that are stable too like the Swiss Franc or the Singapore dollar, both of which come from politically and economically stable countries too. Well, those are fair points, but the truth is, those countries just have far less influence and economic power. Switzerland’s population is a mere 8 million, while the U.S. has more than 332 million. According to the central banks’ foreign exchange reserves worldwide cited from the International Monetary Fund’s report on Q4 of 2019, the majority of currency reserves are 60,9% made up of U.S. dollars, the euro makes up nearly 21%, the Japanese yen makes up nearly 6% while the pound sterling makes up nearly 5%. Thus, could any of these other currencies give the dollar a run for its money?

For years there have been calls for an alternative reserve currency, ranging from countries like China and Russia to intergovernmental organizations like the United Nations. In recent years, some central banks have added the Chinese yuan to their reserves. The threat of the U.S. sanctions or the “weaponized dollar” has also prompted a desire for some countries to bypass dollar-denominated trading. In 2018, Germany’s foreign minister wrote in an op-ed that it is “essential that we strengthen European autonomy by establishing payment channels independent of the U.S.” Some are hoping the world’s future reserve currency won’t be tied to a national government at all. They believe that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin will eventually dethrone the dollar. Even yet, any change in the strength of the U.S. dollar is unlikely to occur overnight. Despite plans for an alternative reserve currency, it’s still difficult to imagine any country ever succeeding the United States as the world’s reserve currency anytime soon.


Farhan R. Jhuswanto is a master's student at Gadjah Mada University. His research interests revolve around the international political economy, diplomacy, and other economic features such as trends, exports-imports, and investments.