On yer bike: London firms turn to cargo bikes

London (AFP) – On a busy north London street, plumber Ben Hume-Wright zipped through the heavy rush-hour traffic to his next job by bike.

Issued on: 20/12/2023 

More businesses are turning to E-cargo bikes to beat London traffic 

© Daniel MATTHEWS / AFP

Trades such as his used to rely on vans but many are now choosing to do more business using two or sometimes three wheels.

Since switching his Ford diesel pickup truck for an electric cargo bike two years ago, Hume-Wright said he has been busier than ever.

"I used to take on a maximum of five or six appointments" a day, he told AFP as the traffic ground forward behind him.

"I'll now book in six, seven and possibly even eight, because I know that I'm not going to get stuck in traffic."

Hume-Wright set up in 2010 and was reliant on his van for 11 years. But now describes it as a "glorified shed" handy for storing parts and tools.

When faced with a big installation job, he gets a supplier to deliver bulkier items directly to the client's address.

He then shows up on his bike with just the tools needed for the job.

"It's cheaper, I don't have any of the fuel costs and I just enjoy it. It's a lot more fun," he said.

Growth strategy

Transport for London (TfL), the local government body responsible for most of the British capital's transport network, launched its first "Cargo Bike Action Plan" earlier this year.

It wants to "promote and enable" their growth, given a rise in polluting van deliveries from online shopping since the pandemic.

Cargo bikes are popular in places such as Denmark and the Netherlands 

© Liselotte Sabroe / Ritzau Scanpix/AFP

The use of cargo bikes, which can cost several thousand pounds (dollars), also increased during lockdown and encouraging their use chimes with Mayor Sadiq Khan's aim of a carbon net-zero city by 2030.

TfL estimates that the move towards cargo bikes could save up to 30,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year across Greater London by that time.

Cargo bikes were popular across northern Europe until the mid-20th century but fell out of favour as motorised vehicles gained ground.

Their revival began in the early 2000s in cycling-crazy Denmark and the Netherlands, which unlike London are blessed with flat terrain and good cycling infrastructure.

The number of cargo bikes on the streets of Copenhagen increased from 20,000 in 2020 to more than 40,000 in 2022, the city said.

In Germany -- Europe's largest market for E-cargo bikes -- 165,000 units were sold in 2022.

Ben Jaconelli, chief executive of leading E-bike and E-cargo bike firm Fully Charged, said UK growth has been "astronomical".

He co-founded the firm in 2014, when the sight of an electric cargo bike was a rarity. "Nowadays, it's almost rare not to see," he added.

The Bicycle Association, a UK trade body, reported a 30-percent increase in UK sales of E-cargo bikes in the year to May 2023.

Contributory factors include the controversial expansion of London's ultra-low emission zone, which charges the drivers of the most polluting vehicles.

In London, traffic is heavy but yet to return to its pre-pandemic levels 

© JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP

Van fleet

Logistics company Zhero is also committed to using the bikes. It transports fine art between studios, galleries and related businesses such as framers.

Like Hume-Wright, environmental considerations were a key factor for the switch. But co-founder Joe Sharpe called it a "straight-up financial decision".

Joe Sharpe, co-founder of green logistics company Zhero, transports fine art by bike 

© Daniel MATTHEWS / AFP

"It's cheaper to move things by cargo bikes than it is by van," he said near Sadie Coles HQ gallery, a regular client in the busy Soho district.

"They're the most logical vehicle for moving things around the city... Sometimes we might be doing 30 to 40 deliveries a day on a cargo bike.

"In a van, eight to 10."

Vans -- or more specifically a fleet of E-vans -- are still a part of Zhero's business, in part for insurance reasons.

Zhero are insured for up to £25,000 (nearly $32,000) to transport artwork by bike, but that rises tenfold when transporting art in an E-van.

Sharpe hopes that the insurance world will adapt to the changing norms of logistics companies, but concedes that vans may always be "a part of the fabric" of cities.

Back in the warren of railway arches that make up Fully Charged HQ, an optimistic Jaconelli declared that this is "the decade of the E-cargo bike".

"Ultimately, I believe that all businesses will be using electric cargo bikes in some capacity in the future," he said. "Why would they not?"

video-phz/fg

© 2023 AFP

HINDUTVA IS ARYAN FASCISM
India court to weigh future of mosque in Hindu holy city

New Delhi (AFP) – An Indian court has weighed into one of the country's most bitter religious disagreements by greenlighting cases on whether a mosque in the holy city of Varanasi should be opened to Hindu worshippers.

Issued on: 20/12/2023 - 
The 17th century Gyanvapi mosque is among several Islamic places of worship that Hindu activists have sought for decades to reclaim for their faith © SANJAY KANOJIA / AFP/File
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The Gyanvapi mosque was built in the 17th century by the Muslim Mughal empire then ruling over much of India in a city where Hindu faithful from across the country cremate their loved ones by the Ganges river.

It is among several Islamic places of worship that Hindu activists, backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party, have sought for decades to reclaim for their faith in disputes that have previously sparked deadly religious riots.

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday directed a lower bench to evaluate petitions on the future of the mosque, which historians say was built over the demolished ruins of a temple to the Hindu deity Shiva.

The decision would permit several civil suits to proceed from Hindus demanding the right to worship at the Gyanvapi site and the restoration of a temple on its grounds.

Presiding justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal ordered a lower court to rule on the site's future within six months, describing the dispute as a matter of "national importance".

"It is not a suit between two individual parties. It affects two major communities of the country," he said, according to local media reports published Wednesday.

Emboldened right-wing Hindu groups have laid claim to several Muslim sites of worship they say were built atop ancient temples during Mughal rule.

Hindu zealots in 1992 demolished the centuries-old Babri Masjid in the nearby city of Ayodhya, sparking sectarian riots that killed more than 1,000 people nationwide.

A decades-long court battle over the future of the ruined mosque's site ended in 2019 when the Supreme Court permitted the construction of a temple to the deity Ram, who according to scripture was born in the city.

Prime Minister Modi, whose party has campaigned for the temple for decades, will inaugurate the structure next month ahead of national elections in which he is widely expected to win a third term.

Modi's party has come to be the dominant force in Indian politics thanks to its muscular appeals to the country's Hindu majority, emboldening the faith's hardliners.

Calls for India to enshrine Hindu supremacy in law have rapidly grown louder since he took office in 2014, making its 210-million-odd Muslims increasingly anxious about their future.

© 2023 AFP

Music gives Gaza children respite from horrors of war

Rafah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – It takes a while but slowly the children gathered around volunteer entertainer Ruaa Hassuna in a Gaza camp start clapping along as her music offers some respite from the horrors around them.

Issued on: 20/12/2023 - 

Volunteer entertainer Ruaa Hassouna plays her oud to Palestinian children in one of the makeshift camps that are now home to most of the Gaza Strip's 2.4 million people 

© SAID KHATIB / AFP

Smiles light up the faces of the children, huddled amid the tents outside the south Gaza town of Rafah which shelter hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by more than two months of relentless Israeli bombardment.

Hassuna is part of a troupe of more than a dozen volunteer entertainers who travel from camp to makeshift camp on a mission to provide children with some escape, however brief, from the death and destruction they have witnessed.

The 23-year-old plays the oud, a lute-like stringed instrument popular across the Middle East. Other volunteers entertain the children with slapstick, acrobatics, story-telling or dance.

"We use whatever means we can to remove the children from the war," says the 23-year-old. "The aim of getting them to sing is to alleviate their stress."

Hassuna says that when her young audiences hear her oud, they "no longer hear the hum of the drones" deployed by the Israeli army, instead immersing themselves in the music.

The United Nations says children make up half of the 1.9 million Palestinians displaced since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war.

They have been forced to abandon their daily routines and live under Israeli bombardment since Hamas's October 7 attacks on Israel killed about 1,140 people, according to an AFP count based on Israel figures.
'I want my childhood back'

Hassuna's troupe travels to a different camp every day, putting on a three-hour performance in each.

The troupe of entertainers is the brainchild of returning expatriate Awni Farhat who says he wanted to do something to address the impact of the war on children's mental health © SAID KHATIB / AFP

"It's an important project because, from what we've observed, the psychological state of the children is very bad," said returning expatriate Awni Farhat, the person behind the initiative.

This space "allows them to unburden themselves of the psychological problems created by this war", said Farhat, who lives in the Netherlands but returned to Gaza during a week-long humanitarian truce in late November.

The UN children's agency, UNICEF, has described the Gaza Strip as "the most dangerous place in the world" for a child.

Speaking after a two-week visit to the besieged coastal enclave, UNICEF spokesman James Elder said he had witnessed children hospitalised for amputations who were then "killed in those hospitals" by Israeli bombardments.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory says more than 19,667 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, most of them women or children.

Many of the children in the troupe's audiences are hardened beyond their years, their innocence shattered by fear and bereavement.

"I want to forget my worries and forget the people I've lost," said 15-year-old Nizar Shaheen, adding that he felt "suffocated" by life in the camps.

"I want to live my childhood like we did before," he said, adding: "We don't know where to go. Today, there's no food, no water, there's nothing."

© 2023 AFP

'He lost all feminists in France': Macron stands by Derpardieu, 'misses appointment with history'


Issued on: 22/12/2023 

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday faced accusations of siding with sexual aggressors after saying film icon Gerard Depardieu, charged with rape and facing a litany of sexual assault claims, was the target of "a manhunt". Depardieu, who has made more than 200 films and TV series, was charged with rape in 2020 and has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than a dozen women. He currently faces fresh scrutiny over sexist comments caught on camera during a trip to North Korea in 2018 that were broadcast for the first time in a documentary on national television earlier this month. Asked in a television interview on Wednesday whether Depardieu should be stripped of France's highest state award, which he received nearly three decades ago, Macron said: "You will never see me take part in a manhunt. I hate that kind of thing. "The presumption of innocence is part of our values." Macron said he had "huge admiration" for Depardieu, whom he called "an immense actor". But Generation.s Feministe, a feminist collective, said Macron's comments were "an insult" to all women who had suffered sexual violence, "first and foremost those who accused Depardieu". With the French president under heavy fire for remarks wholeheartedly defending France's cinema legend, FRANCE 24's François Picard is joined by Natacha Henry, award-winning author and international consultant on gender-based violence for the Council of Europe and the European Commission. She is also a Fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

07:13  

FRANCE 24 © 2023
Video by:  FRANCE 24

French government escapes €1.1 billion fine for climate inaction in 'Case of the Century'

France's moves to limit climate damage came late but were sufficient, a French court ruled on Friday, in a blow to attempts by environmental campaigners to impose a 1.1 billion euro ($1.21 billion) penalty on the state for alleged failings.

Issued on: 22/12/2023 -

A view shows emissions from the chimneys of Yara France plant in Montoir-de-Bretagne near Saint-Nazaire, France, March 4, 2022. 

© Stephane Mahe, Reuters

By: NEWS WIRES

The ruling comes two years after a landmark legal order on France to honour its climate change commitments and take all necessary measures to repair ecological damage and stop further carbon emissions rises by end-December 2022 at the latest.

Campaign groups including Greenpeace and Oxfam lodged a motion to impose a penalty on the state, alleging President Emmanuel Macron's government had not taken sufficient action to comply with the initial court order to lower emissions.

"The Court first found that the State, in compliance with the injunction issued against it, had adopted or implemented measures capable of remedying the damage in question", the Paris administrative court said in its ruling issued on Friday.

Although data from 2021 and 2022 showed some shortcomings, these did not justify a penalty because excess emissions were offset by a sharp drop in the first quarter of 2023, it added.

Read more Paris court finds French state guilty of climate inaction in 'Case of the Century'

The court also rejected the argument that because emissions had fallen mainly thanks to external factors, notably the COVID-19 pandemic and soaring energy prices resulting from the war in Ukraine, over the last two years this reflected a failure by the state to take necessary actions.

The campaign groups said they would appeal the ruling.

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"We are more determined than ever to ensure that the 2021 condemnation of the government and France's climate commitments are respected," said Jean-François Julliard of Greenpeace France.

"The government's action is far too half-hearted, and sometimes even harmful to the climate," he added.

France's strategy to tackle climate change relies heavily on making increased use of nuclear energy, with at least six new reactors planned for construction over the next decade.

The government is in the process of phasing out coal as a source of energy, investing in rail infrastructure and encouraging voluntary sector-by-sector saving measures.

(Reuters)

DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS

Cocaine market sees new players, bananas and Amazon submarines: report

Bogotá (AFP) – The global cocaine market is changing.

Issued on: 22/12/2023 - 

Colombia cultivated a record 230,000 hectares of coca leaf in 2022, and produced 1,738 tonnes of cocaine, according to the United Nations 

© Schneyder Mendoza / AFP/File

Colombia is still the biggest producer of the drug, but other actors are taking an ever bigger role in manufacturing and distributing it, according to a report based on thousands of Colombian prosecutor's files leaked by hackers.

A group of around a hundred journalists has deciphered some seven million emails and 38,000 files leaked by the Guacamaya hacktivist group which in 2022 broke into the computer systems of security agencies and armies from Mexico, Chile, Peru, Salvador and Colombia.

The so-called "Narcofiles" report outlines the networks of cocaine production and trafficking around the world.

"The market is changing," Nathan Jaccard, Latin America editor for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a consortium of investigative journalists which accessed the files, told AFP.

Colombia cultivated a record 230,000 hectares of coca leaf in 2022, and produced 1,738 tonnes of cocaine, according to the United Nations.

However, the country's cocaine trade has been hard hit by falling coca leaf prices and the emergence of new, synthetic drugs such as fentanyl.

The "Narcofiles" report shows that Mexican, Albanian, Brazilian, Ecuadorian and Israeli groups are starting to gain power in the global drug trade.

"Colombia no longer plays a leading role in the international drug trafficking chain," explains Elizabeth Dickinson, an analyst at Crisis Group.

A leaked memorandum between Colombia and Israel describes a "significant increase" in crimes committed in the South American country by Israelis attracted by sex tourism and linked, according to local authorities, to cocaine trafficking.

Bananas and submarines

The "Narcofiles" also revealed the growing role of the banana industry in the export of cocaine, and an increase in trafficking along routes such as the Amazon River, from which more and more submarines loaded with cocaine head to the Atlantic.

Coca paste is treated in Colombia © JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP/File

According to the European Commission, 70 percent of drug seizures in Europe take place at ports. Traffickers use banana shipments to hide their goods, as fresh produce passes customs checks more quickly.

Another new hotspot in the cocaine market is the triple border point where Peru, Colombia and Brazil meet in the Amazon.

This region was "relatively calm 15 years ago", said Jaccard.

The report also reveals that coca leaf plantations have multiplied in Central America and Mexico, while coca paste is increasingly being processed in laboratories in Europe.

"Drug traffickers are deciding to move closer to the markets" to reduce costs and risks, while maximizing profits, Jaccard explained.

Some of the changes mean that Colombian cartels and their kingpins, the likes of Pablo Escobar, no longer "run the show," said Dickinson.

Although large criminal structures such as the Clan del Golfo, the world's leading producer of cocaine, continue to operate in the country, "we are witnessing a process of atomization of groups" which reduces their power, said Jaccard.

© 2023 AFP

Online video games, the latest hunting grounds for drug cartels

Strasbourg (France) (AFP) – Narcotics police the world over are sprucing up their video game skills, as cartels go increasingly online to sell drugs and recruit dealers.

Issued on: 20/12/2023 

Online games provide perfect cover for cartels to discreetly sell drugs or find personnel © Chris DELMAS / AFP/File

"Cartels have been incredibly tech savvy over recent years, reaching vast audiences," Benjamin Shultz, foreign malign influence analyst at Deloitte, told a Council of Europe meeting.

"The Sinaloa Cartel has a Twitter account with almost 200,000 followers and they tend to post nearly daily, engaging and posting images and other contents that glorify what they do," he said. The account has since been shut down.

To bring greater attention to the role of online gaming in the drug trade, the Council of Europe's Pompidou Group, which works on international drug issues, held a forum in Mexico City on December 19 and 20.

Online games such as "Grand Theft Auto" or "World of Warcraft" provide perfect cover for cartels to discreetly sell drugs or find personnel.

Emoji conversations

"The darknet has been decreasing in popularity for cartels, law enforcement has gotten pretty good at getting into the darknet, whereas video games garner really untapped resources and are very unmonitored," Shultz said.

In online games, users can connect with almost anyone, teenagers can talk to strangers, and there are not many controls, he explained.

The games' internal messaging systems are extremely difficult to intercept, particularly when traffickers communicate with emoticons or emojis.

In online games, users can connect with almost anyone 

© JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN / AFP/File

An entire conversation can be carried out with symbols, avoiding any suspect words that could trigger attention.

Within drug circles in the United States, the electric plug emoji means "dealer," a small palm tree means "marijuana," and a key stands for "cocaine."

Mexican police were the first to notice the practice, with an early case involving three adolescents aged 11 to 14 who were recruited while playing "Garena Free Fire" and offered $200 a week to be lookouts in Mexico City.

The three were arrested just before boarding a bus that their recruiter had bought them tickets for.

'Not an isolated phenomenon'

"This type of transaction and dealing is still much more common on Instagram or Snapchat, and most of the cases with video games have been localised near the US-Mexico border," Shultz said.

"In Europe video games are very unregulated, they're not monitored so this could be very well percolating under the surface," he added.

Thomas Kattau, deputy executive secretary of the Council of Europe's Pompidou Group, said "it is a global issue, and the idea is you need to have a forum where we can make law enforcement and governments aware of the phenomenon."

"Mexico is the country that has taken the lead on this issue and brought it to the attention of law enforcement," he said.

"And now we have seen similar things occurring in the UK and other countries, and therefore we see it is not an anecdotal, isolated phenomenon, but something which is quickly replicating."

Shultz and Kattau suggest better education both for parents and their children about the risks of online games, as well as greater efforts by game developers to reinforce protections, above all by using artificial intelligence to improve surveillance software.

© 2023 AFP

France's undocumented migrants face uncertain future under new immigration law

Despite facing serious labour shortages, the French government passed a more restrictive immigration bill this week after watering down measures that would have streamlined the legalisation of foreign workers. 

But some of the law's new provisions may still offer a glimmer of hope for the country’s hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants.

Issued on: 22/12/2023 

People queue in front of the prefecture of Lyon as they wait to obtain a renewal of their residence permit.

© Jeff Pachoud, AFP

By: Gregor THOMPSON AFP

Until it became unstuck, the sticking point – as far as France’s right wing was concerned – for the Macron government’s sweeping immigration bill was how to deal with the country’s undocumented migrants.

In presenting the bill's initial text a year ago, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and Labour Minister Olivier Dussopt included provisions making it easier to legalise undocumented migrants working in sectors with labour shortages. But representatives from Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party repeatedly stated they would not endorse legislation granting undocumented workers legal status.

After the language of the bill was significantly weakened in a joint committee, Le Pen saw an opening for a strategic victory and changed course; it passed the National Assembly (lower house) on Tuesday with Le Pen's endorsement.

While it does not go as far as the original text, the new law gives undocumented workers in high-demand occupations a path to obtaining residency permits. Speaking a day after the law was passed, Darmanin said he expects the number of legalisations (régularisations) to double, with “ten thousand additional foreign workers each year".

At the same time, the law will make it more difficult – and more risky – for undocumented workers in France: a law abolished by former president François Hollande that allowed police to fine foreigners up to €3,750 if they are found to be in the country unlawfully has been reintroduced. The bill also steps up sanctions against companies employing illegal workers.

‘Sans papiers’

The number of undocumented workers, or what the French call the “sans papiers” (without papers), is impossible to calculate. Darmanin himself estimates the number to be between 600,000 and 900,000.

Amadou* moved to France from Mali on a work visa in 2001 (overstaying a legal visa is the most common path to becoming an undocumented migrant in Europe).

Finding work has never been a problem. He has primarily worked in the hospitality sector and in retirement homes – he currently works at a restaurant in Paris’s 7th arrondissement (district). “I’ve been working in France for 19 years without a holiday, without any sick days or absences,” he says.

Amadou first applied for working papers – to no avail – in 2012. The second time he applied, in 2018, he was denied because he didn’t have children or a partner to support. Since then, despite help from his employer, he has been unable to get another meeting.

Amadou belongs to an association that supports undocumented migrants in Montreuil, a suburb just east of Paris. He often participates in protests but realises he and people like him are largely powerless. “I’d like to get my papers but, considering it’s [the politicians] who decide, we are not their priority,” he says.

France’s right-wing Les Republicains party and the far-right National Rally are reluctant to endorse a path towards legalisation because they believe migrants choose France for its advantageous social system. Therefore, the logic goes, making life difficult for migrants will prevent more migrants from coming – an idea that has no grounding in research.

Read moreMacron accused of doing far-right’s bidding with stricter immigration law

By contrast, studies have found that legalising migrants has positive macroeconomic and fiscal outcomes in developed countries.

Citing research from the Institute of Labour Economics, French economist Pierre Cahuc argued for the significant advantages that legalisation can have on a country's economy in the French financial daily Les Echos.

“It is a crucial factor to take into account in the context of low growth and an ageing population,” Cahuc said. “From a purely fiscal standpoint, legalisation could also have a positive impact since declared work generates income for the state coffers.”

Violaine Carrère, a lawyer at Gisti, an immigrant information and support group, agrees. “When you are on a payroll, you pay into social security. And with a real salary, you can spend more."

Not only does it benefit the economy, Carrère says, becoming legal enables migrants "to integrate fully and lead a dignified life".

“Staying stuck, working all the time – it’s not a life that many people would want to live,” says Amadou.

“Everyone wants to be happy, have a good life, a roof and a family. If you’re a sans papier it’s all out of reach.”

Labour shortages

Under French President Emmanuel Macron, unemployment has fallen to 7.4% of the workforce, the lowest level in more than a decade. He has pledged to continue this mission, pushing for full employment (which the country’s labour organisation considers to be 5%).

At the same time, eight out of 10 professions in France saw labour shortages in 2022, according to the Directorate for Research, Studies and Statistics (Direction de l'Animation de la recherche, des Études et des Statistiques). This increased from seven out of 10 in 2021 due to France’s ageing population and a wave of resignations.

Targeting low domestic unemployment rates while seeking a concurrent increase in migrant labour might seem contradictory. But it is simply not possible to make up for France’s worker shortfalls with a supply of domestic labour that is mostly young – some 17% of French youth are unemployed, significantly higher than the EU average.

Research is focusing on three central reasons for this, says migration policy analyst Anna Piccinni. The first and second are skill disparities and remuneration: much of the increasingly qualified youth are not motivated by low-skilled jobs, especially if the salary level is not what they expect.

Piccinni’s third reason is that labour shortages are often localised and migrants offer a more mobile labour force – filling the gaps that non-migrant workers might be unable or unwilling to fill. “Often, shortages of low-skilled labour are not in urban areas, where the youth move for their studies and then stick around for jobs,” she says. “Migrants have the potential to fill these gaps.”

Indeed, she points out that many municipalities across Europe are now creating incentives to retain migrant populations – such as Altena, a small town in Germany known for its successful integration scheme.

This point has not been lost on France's business community. Speaking to Radio Classique in the lead-up to Tuesday’s vote, Patrick Martin, who heads the French entrepreneurs' union, said relying on a foreign labour force is necessary for the country.

“We are already experiencing enormous recruitment pressure,” Martin said. “We have to call a spade a spade and make a choice" to allow a larger immigrant workforce.

For Piccinni, this cannot be achieved without fewer bureaucratic hurdles for issuing work permits to migrants who have already demonstrated a commitment to participating in the economy. “This has to be part of the solution,” she says.

Even the most anti-immigration governments in Europe are doing this, she points out. Georgia Meloni’s government in Italy signed a decree in March allowing 82,000 non-EU migrant workers to work in the country because of seasonal labour shortages.

“Beyond the perception of migration as a threat to social cohesion and security, some governments are aware and willing to recognise the role it has in [fulfilling] employers' needs,” Piccinni says.

* Not his real name

Former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam elected to lead Ivory Coast opposition

Ivorian-French banker Tidjane Thiam was Friday elected leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Ivory Coast, a victory which puts him in position to contest the next presidential election in 2025.

Issued on: 23/12/2023 

Former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam, the newly-elected president of the Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI), gestures after his election during the 8th extraordinary congress of the Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI-RDA) at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Foundation for Peace Research in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast on December 23, 2023

© Sia Kambou, AFP

By: NEWS WIRES

Thiam, a former boss of banking giant Credit Suisse, won very comfortably with 96.5 percent of the vote against 3.2 percent for his rival Jean-Marc Yace, the mayor of a commune in the economic hub Abidjan, according to the results announced late Friday.

"It is with great humility that I accept the responsibility that you have decided to entrust to me," Thiam said.

More than 6,000 delegates took part in the vote at a party congress in the capital Yamoussoukro.

Thiam was the favourite and had the support of a large majority of the party's lawmakers.

With this election, the Democratic Party (PDCI) hopes to rejuvenate its image following the death of its former leader Henri Konan Bedie, in early August at the age of 89.

It was once the sole legal party in Ivory Coast and ruled for decades following the country's 1960 independence from France, but lost power after a 1999 coup.

At 61, Thiam is a relatively young top political figure in the West African nation and is returning after more than 20 years abroad.

"Our new president will have to put us back in working order. He will have to give more responsibilities to the young people of the party," said interim party president Philippe Cowppli-Bony, 91.

"We have been treated too much as a party of old people. It's positive to see two young candidates, it's nice," said Ohoueu Assi, a congressman from Guiglo in the west.

The party, which is eyeing a return to power in two years, also proposed supporting Thiam's nomination for the 2025 race.

"2025 will be a crucial electoral year for our party, we must be ready," Thiam said.

"If Thiam is our candidate, which I hope, we will have the capacity to return to power," said Cyprien Koffi, a delegate from San Pedro in the southwest.

"He can breathe new life into it."

Once an ally of President Alassane Ouattara, in power since 2011, the PDCI regained its place in the opposition in 2018 and boycotted the last presidential election.

More than two decades after leaving Ivory Coast following the 1999 coup, Thiam returns after a high-profile business career.

In 1982 he was the first Ivorian to pass the entrance exam for the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, from which he graduated two years later before an initial career as an engineer.

He then spent a few years with consulting firm McKinsey before being tapped by the powers that be in Ivory Coast.

An early career as a government minister was interrupted in 1999 when a coup toppled president Bedie and the PDCI has not regained power since.

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He then went into the private sector abroad, first with insurance firm Aviva and then as CEO of Prudential before becoming head of Credit Suisse in 2015.

After leading a restructuring of the bank, his initially praised strategy was criticised after three consecutive years of losses and a fall in its share price.

He stepped down in 2020 after a corporate espionage scandal at the bank, which he denied involvement in.

Thiam is also a great-nephew of Ivory Coast's long-serving first president, and PDCI founder, Felix Houphouet-Boigny.

(AFP)

PRIVATIZED POLICING

Argentinian protest organisers will have to cover security costs, government says

The organizers of the first protest against Argentine President Javier Milei's government will have to cough up tens of thousands of dollars to cover the cost of security forces deployed to the demonstration, the government's spokesman said Friday.


Issued on: 23/12/2023 - 

People attend a protest organised by state workers against Argentinian President Javier Milei's adjustment policy in Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 22, 2023. 

© Cristina Sille, Reuters

By: NEWS WIRES

Thousands turned out for the march on Wednesday to oppose Milei's austerity measures and commemorate the deadly 2001 protests that followed the country's economic meltdown.

Spokesman Manuel Adorni said a heavy deployment of police, paramilitary officers and anti-riot forces, cost 60 million pesos ($73,000 at the official exchange rate).

"The bill will be sent to the social movements" who will "bear the responsibility of the cost which should not fall on citizens."

Organizers had criticized the heavy show of security as an attempt at provocation.

"This reminds me of the dictatorship" of 1976 to 1983, said Eduardo Belliboni, leader of the leftist movement Polo Obrero.

The security operation was supervised from police headquarters by the right-wing president's Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, televised images showed.

Milei's government has sought to clamp down on hundreds of annual traffic-clogging demonstrations in the capital, also threatening to withdraw social assistance from those who block roads.

(AFP)

The democratization of empathy has been made possible by ChatGPT


By Dr. Tim Sandle
Published December 21, 2023

ChatGPT can deliver an essay, computer code... or legal text, within seconds. — © AFP INDRANIL MUKHERJEE

According to Alok Kulkarni AI chatbots and human agents are set to collaborate to deliver hyper-personalized CX. It will also follow that Artificial General Intelligence will disrupt the knowledge economy and democratize intelligence.

As how businesses will adapt to these changes, it is likely that organizations will need to evolve their CX strategies to accommodate machine customers. Customer experience (CX) refers to how a business engages with its customers at every point of their buying journey.

Alok Kulkarni is Co-Founder and CEO of Cyara and he has outlined his thoughts to Digital Journal for some key changes in 2024.

AI chatbots and human agents collaborate to deliver hyper-personalized CX

In charting variations to CX for next year, Kulkarni thinks: “In a ChatGPT-dominated future, contact centers will experience a significant transformation, with a substantial portion of the workload shifting from human interactions to AI-driven chatbots. These chatbots will offer a hyper-personalized omnichannel experience, streamlining customer interactions without the need for multiple vendors.”

He also thinks technology will evolve through the learning capabilities of AI: “While AI chatbots will handle routine tasks, human agents will retain a crucial role, particularly in scenarios requiring empathy and nuanced judgments. The democratization of empathy, made possible by ChatGPT, is a notable evolution. However, given the inherent flaws in current AI models, such as bias, hallucinations and drift, enterprises will need to continuously train and test their chatbots to ensure a seamless transformation with minimal risk and maximum customization at scale. In 2024, human agents will focus on addressing unforeseen circumstances and complex interactions, helping to reduce response times as AI bots adeptly handle changing customer needs and service demands.”

Artificial General Intelligence will disrupt the knowledge economy and democratize intelligence

Kulkarni also sees technology evolving in new and exciting ways: “We will see continued advancements in Language Models, with increased adoption by contact centres to augment human efficiency. These models, serving as humans in the loop, will gradually take on more tasks that were traditionally performed by humans. The outcomes of these interactions will serve as valuable training data, facilitating the evolving role of AI bots in contact centre operations.”

Further advances include: “We can also anticipate the maturation of Language Models, especially Large Language Models toward Artificial General Intelligence, which will significantly disrupt the knowledge economy, especially in the customer service industry. This technology’s acceleration will also lead to the democratization of intelligence–becoming as ubiquitous in customers’ lives as a cell phone–as they leverage advanced AI capabilities to enhance their daily experiences. Ethical considerations and the responsible use of AI technologies will become increasingly crucial as AI becomes more prevalent, and it will be imperative to strike the right balance between innovation and ethical frameworks to ensure fair and unbiased outcomes.”

Organizations will evolve their CX strategies to accommodate machine customers

The impact of technology will also force companies to adapt and to reflect on organisation culture, notes Kulkarni: “The emergence of machine customers in 2024 will introduce a new dimension to the customer experience, especially in the support realm. Organizations will need to adapt their support strategies to accommodate non-human economic actors. This may involve creating specialized interfaces and communication channels designed to interact with machine customers. Automation will play a crucial role in handling routine transactions and inquiries, allowing human agents to focus on more complex issues that may arise in interactions with machine customers.”

As well as automation, cybersecurity will also be impacted, according to Kulkarni: “Organizations must also heighten security measures to accurately identify and authenticate machine customer requests to guard against potential deep fakes. This is essential as building trusted relationships with human customers while ensuring efficiencies for machine customers will be paramount. Serving machine customers will require organizations to take a more proactive approach that involves developing APIs and integration capabilities for seamless communication, alongside creating self-service options tailored specifically for machine customers to enhance their overall experience.”