Monday, November 04, 2024

Egyptian Officials Cite “Severe Loss” at One Year Mark for Houthi Attacks

Egypt reports $6 billion impact after a year of Houthi attacks has diverted traffic from the Suez Canal (SCA file photo)

Egyptian officials quantified the severe level of economic damage to the country’s economy as the Houthis closed in on the first anniversary of the launch of their assaults on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Egypt emphasized the impact while it was meeting with the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization Arsenio Dominguez while reiterating its commitment to maintaining freedom of navigation in the vital seaway.

Dominguez was touring the Red Sea region and meeting with leaders in Djibouti, Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. They discussed the current situation while Dominguez said the trip was meant to also express support for freedom of navigation as well as concern for innocent seafarers.

Egypt cited the dramatic economic impact as transits of the Suez Canal have declined. After record levels and a strong outlook for canal operations, reports indicate that overall traffic is down between 60 and 70 percent in the Suez Canal. The vast majority of containerships and all cruise ships diverted while an increasing number of bulkers, tankers, and car carriers have also rerouted. This comes despite the U.S. and EU efforts to maintain navigation and suppress the attacks by the Houthi. The past few months have shown a significant decline in the number of missile and drone attacks and long gaps between staging attacks.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aati however reported that the loss of traffic has cost the Egyptian economy around $6 billion in the past year. He emphasized to the IMO leader the critical role the canal income plays to the country.

It is just short of a year since Houthi forces boarded the car carrier Galaxy Leader on November 19, 2023, and commandeered it into a port holding the crewmembers. Dominguez sought to call attention to the crew which remain captive despite outreach by the Philippines and others to have the crew released.

Egyptian officials also emphasized that they are committed to maintaining open transit. This came as there was an online uproar after an Israeli warship was spotted transiting the Suez Canal over the weekend.

They responded to the online reports citing the Constantinople Convention, which was signed in 1888, that established international expectations of free transit. The Suez Canal Authority noted that it provides that “the Suez Maritime Canal shall always be free and open, in time of war as in time of peace, to every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of nationality.” They said that the authority remains legally and morally bound to uphold the agreements.

The Houthis however marked the upcoming one-year mark with the leader of the rebel group saying that the total number of targeted ships reached 202, which they called “an important achievement in every sense of the word.” The group’s spokesperson vowed that they would continue the attacks and not distinguish between vessels that had been sold and companies that trade with Israel.

Last week, CEO of Maersk Vincent Clerc said that his company as well as the new Gemini Cooperation with Hapag-Lloyd expected the disruptions would continue well into 2025. The new alliance finalized its routing plans focused on the diversions around Africa. Other carriers however continue to selectively send vessels through the Red Sea and Suez Canal but are delayed waiting for naval escorts to enhance security.

More Woes for Tasmania's Ferries: Newbuild Goes Adrift in a Storm

The newly-built Spirit of Tasmania V pressed up against a tug on the opposite embankment (Courtesy RMC)

Just days after it emerged that the brand-new Spirit of Tasmania IV will be transferred to Scotland and laid up, sister ship Spirit of Tasmania V broke loose from its outfitting quay at the Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) shipyard due to high winds.

On Friday evening, severe "hurricane-force" winds tore the ferry off the dock and sent it drifting towards the opposite wharf. Luckily, the presence of a tug and two barges between the vessel and the quayside prevented serious damage to the hull. Reported weather conditions at Rauma at the time of the casualty included wind speeds of up to 65 knots.

Spirit of Tasmania operator TT-Line said in a statement that the ferry is floating, safe and secure with every action possible being taken to protect her. “A detailed assessment of any damage is just not possible at this stage, but it appears there has been no breach to the hull,” said Kym Sayers, Spirit of Tasmania acting CEO.

She added that there are three tugs currently alongside Spirit of Tasmania V, and as soon as wind conditions are suitable, the vessel will be returned and secured to the layup berth at RMC.

"The good news is that the vessel has not been transferred to Tasmanian ownership at this stage, so the risk remains with the Finnish boatbuilder," Tasmanian Minister for Transport Eric Abetz told local media.

RMC had earlier released a statement stating that nobody was injured in the incident and there were no known leaks or other environmental damage, a situation that was prevented by advance preparations for the storm the previous day. In anticipation of the heavy weather, the company had assembled an emergency team, called a tug to the scene and doubled up mooring lines.

When completed, the 212-meter car and passenger ferry will serve the ports of Geelong and Devonport on Australia’s Bass Strait, a route known for its challenging sea conditions. The ship was launched in July this year and is currently in outfitting. The ferry, which will have a capacity of 1,800 passengers and a lifespan of 25 years, is expected to be delivered in the last quarter of next year.

Sister ship Spirit of Tasmania IV was delivered in September, but unfortunately cannot begin operations because of multiyear delays in the construction of a dock in Devonport, Australia. The ferry will be transferred to Leith, Scotland where she will be laid up for at least two months to avoid the harsh Baltic winter in Finland. TT-Line said it is still assessing its options for the vessel, which could include the possibility of leasing to a third party.

When both ships finally enter service, they will replace two aging hulls, Spirit of Tasmania I and II. The two new ships will significantly increase the passenger, vehicle and freight capacity on the route.

As Civil War Rages, Sudan's Government Cancels $6B UAE Port Project

The military government of Sudan has canceled a $6 billion port deal with the United Arab Emirates over the UAE's alleged weapons transfers to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the Sudanese militia that launched a brutal civil war in April 2023. An estimated 15-60,000 people have been killed and eight million displaced in the fighting to date, with no end in sight.

The RSF has its roots in the notorious Janjaweed, the Arab militia that drew charges from the International Criminal Court for ethnic cleansing in the Darfur region in the mid-2000s. The official Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF were allied for decades under longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir, and they worked jointly to restore a military dictatorship in 2021, ending a brief experiment in civilian rule that began in 2019.

In early 2023, SAF leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan "Hemedti" Dagalo had a falling out over ministerial appointments, largely on regional lines. Al-Burhan re-appointed prominent Islamists from the Nile region to the positions of power that they held under al-Bashir. Hemedti, who came from the country's rural southwest, feared that these appointments would weaken his influence and responded by going to war.

In more than a year of fighting, neither side has gained a firm upper hand, though the RSF made major gains in Khartoum and the country's west. As of October 2024, the SAF was on the offensive, retaking parts of Khartoum and Dinder. "It is not clear how far the army is able to advance but they are putting up a big fight," Suliman Baldo of the Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker told Al Jazeera.

Foreign powers have weighed in on both sides of the conflict, with some evidence of Iranian and Russian support for the SAF - including a landmark Russia-SAF deal to build a naval base on the Sudanese coast.

The UAE is widely believed to support the RSF with large quantities of arms, flown into neighboring nations and trucked across the border. The UAE denies providing any backing for the RSF, describing its intervention as a humanitarian aid operation, and in public it has called for mediated peace talks.

The economic motive for the UAE's alleged support, according to analysts, may be the Gulf nation's interest in securing its landholdings in Sudan's fertile Nile region. The UAE is overwhelmingly dependent on imported food, and has invested heavily in agricultural land in Sudan; the $6 billion transport network and seaport complex that it had planned with the SAF-led government would have supported exports of UAE-bound agricultural products.

That planned seaport, Abu Amama, sits well within SAF-controlled territory. On Sunday, SAF finance minister Gibril Ibrahim told local media in Port Sudan that the agreement was off, citing repeated reports of UAE arms deliveries to the RSF. "After what happened, we will not give the UAE a single centimeter on the Red Sea coast," Ibrahim told Sudan Tribune.

The agreement with the UAE was signed in 2022, the year before the RSF launched its attack, and it was the first major foreign investment announced under the brief SAF-RSF military regime. In addition to the greenfield port north of Port Sudan, the project would have included a 400,000-acre agricultural development in the Nile region, hundreds of miles of new roadways, a large free trade zone, and a reported 35 percent share of port profits for the Sudanese government. Sudanese dry bulk specialist Invictus Investment partnered with AD Ports Group on the proposal.

Sweden Cites “Defense Concerns” Blocking Plans for 13 Baltic Wind Farms

floating offshore wind farm — Sweden approved its first floating wind farm proposal while rejecting farms proposed for the Baltic (file photo)

The Swedish government announced that after reviewing all considerations including defense issues it would not proceed with permits for 13 proposed wind farms planned for the Baltic outside of Sweden’s territorial waters. The government said defense considerations had won out in the review while it also approved one offshore wind farm plan and emphasized that it still wants to develop wind and solar energy.

The government said during a press event on Monday in Stockholm that it had determined the projects could not be permitted because of the impact that they would have on defense. Pal Jonson, Defense Minister, said the Armed Forces had provided documentation that showed the wind farm would delay the country’s ability to react to incoming missiles and the activity of submarines.

Sweden increased its defense considerations after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the general heightened security anxieties in the Baltic region. It was highlighted that both Sweden and Finland joined NATO in response to safety concerns and increased tensions with Russia.

Map shows the locations in the Baltic rejected due to security concerns (Swedish government)

“In these current cases, however, the defense interest has weighted the most,” said Romina Pourmokhtari, Climate and Environment Minister.

Among the companies proposing the offshore projects were Sweden’s OX2, Germany’s RWE, and Norway’s Statkraft. The decision is also seen as a setback to Sweden’s midterm plans for electrification and sustainability. The country has called for doubling its electric power supply which could have largely been achieved with the 13 projects which would have had a combined capacity of 140 terawatt-hours. Experts also highlight that the Baltic is a primate location for wind farms due to its relatively shallow seabed and consistent wind speeds.

The Swedish government emphasized that the projects needed to be considered in the broader scope but that it remains committed to wind and solar energy. While rejecting the 13 projects based on location, they granted permission for the Poseidon project which would be on the western coast in the southern Skagerrak. It became the first floating wind project to gain approval with government officials saying it would put Sweden at the forefront of floating wind. Vattenfall has invested in developing the project.

“It opens the door to developing additional offshore wind farms at greater ocean depth than has been previously possible,” they said announcing the approval.

Poseidon would consist of up to 81 floating turbines standing at up to 340 meters (over 1,100 feet) and have a potential for 5.5 TWh per year. The permission calls for the wind farm to be completed within 10 years and to have a total 40-year lifespan. The minister said it could tentatively start construction by 2029 and possibly be completed by around 2031.

It requires further review and permissions including for underwater cabling and the interconnect to the main power grid. The developer will also have to incorporate considerations for commercial fishing as well as marine mammals, bats, and birds.

Poseidon is the third offshore wind project to gain approval from the current government. They noted that 10 additional proposals are currently being reviewed. In addition, they are directing the state authorities to update the rules and technical specifications for intermittent power generation, including wind and solar. They are calling for additional consideration on how these forms of power generation can be supplemented or designed to contribute to power needs. The report is due at the end of 2025.

Canadian West Coast Ports Set to Stop Work as Union Lockout Begins

Vancouver Canada — Container and cargo operations will stop starting with the Monday afternoon shift (Vancouver file photo)

Employers at Canada’s West Coast cargo ports confirmed they will be proceeding with the lockout of union members from the International Longshore and Wharehouse Union Ship & Dock Foreman Local 514 starting on Monday afternoon, November 4. All container and general cargo operations will be coming to a halt although grain exports and cruise operations (which are out of season) are excluded from the current job action.

Union members reported to work for the morning shift on Monday while announcing they were starting a limited strike action. The approximately 700 foremen overseeing operations in ports including Canada’s largest port, Vancouver, and the third larger, Prince Rupert, said they would be refusing overtime assignments as part of the ongoing struggle to reach a new contract with the BC Maritime Employers Association. The previous contract expired on March 31, 2023.

The foremen were following a similar tactic taken by the Canadian East Coast longshore union which began rejecting overtime nearly a month ago at the Port of Montreal in its contract dispute. Montreal warned of disruptions but continued to operate, while the West Coast employers said the lockout would be a defensive action because the limited action was unpredictable and could easily escalate.

The West Coast union responded saying the employers were “grossly overreacting,” to the limited action. The union emphasized that members reported as normal for the morning shift at 0800 this morning.

BCMEA announced that it would begin the lockout at 1630 this afternoon as the afternoon shift was due to report. They said all activity across the province would be impacted while also saying that their “final offer” remained open to the union.

Shippers have reportedly been scrambling to deal with the anticipated disruptions. The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade reported that C$800 million (US$575 million) of trade flows through the West Coast ports and that the action would cause widespread disruptions. Reports are saying auto parts supplies were likely to be among the most impacted although clothing, footwear, chemicals, and lumber are all going to be impacted.

The current action is limited to the foreman but in 2023 the longshore workers went on strike for 13 days. Analysts commented that it took up to three months to recover from last year’s strike with containers delayed anywhere from 39 to 66 days.

Port of Vancouver has reported strong growth in 2024 with volumes up 14 percent to over 1.8 million TEU in the first six months of the year. Loaded imports were just under 1 million TEU in the first half of the year while over 410,000 export containers were also moved.

U.S. business leaders are also expressing concern because up to 20 percent of the volume is reported to be cross-border trade into the U.S. Some of the traffic is expected to divert into the U.S. ports.

Canada’s Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon had proposed a special mediation program after labor regulators ruled that the local had bargained in bad faith aware of the coming automation steps without putting forward proposals for over a year. MacKinnon said over the weekend that he was in touch with both sides and repeated that federal mediators were standing by to assist in new negotiations.

The West Coast action comes as negotiations are also reportedly stalled in Montreal for a new dockworker contract. The union extended the overtime strike to include a total stop at two container terminals which are reported to handle 40 percent of the port’s cargo volumes. The terminals have a contract to service MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company vessels.

Both unions are focused on life-work issues and manning and scheduling issues. While wage increases are part of the demands, automation and its impact on the workflow have emerged as the sticking point. In Vancouver, DP World moved ahead with new remotely controlled cranes which have become the focus of the labor dispute. The local had previously called for a strike focused on DP World. The local’s strike mandate was due to expire meaning it would have started a new membership vote.

Video: Turkish Pro-Palestinian Protestors Stage Sit-In on German Cargo Ship

Protestors on cargo ship bow — Protestors aboard the cargo ship docked in Istanbul (Mehmet Yaroglu on X)

A group of pro-Palestinian protestors stormed the cargo ship Kathrin while the ship was docked in Istanbul on Sunday, November 4, and attempted to stage a sit-in to call attention to their demands that Turkey close loopholes permitting trade with Israel. The group repeated the ongoing allegation that the vessel is or has transported explosive material to Israel.

The protestors who were reported aligned with the Anatolian Youth Association climbed fences and were able to get aboard the Kathrin which was docked in Istanbul’s Port of Haydarpasa. They posted videos and photos online including of the group on the bow of the vessel waving the Palestinian flag.

Members of the group had been staging a protest at the port for more than a month. They claim Turkey has blocked aid vessels from going to Gaza after in May 2024 suspending all trade with Israel. Turkey trades with the Palestinian Authority but there have been growing allegations in Turkey that many of the shipments which must go to Israeli ports under the guise of trade with Palestinians are being diverted to Israeli interests. Other accusations have said although Turkey reports suspending trade with Israel, that companies are sending their goods via ferries to Greece and elsewhere as intermediaries to get goods to Israel.

The Anatolian Youth Association and other activist groups said they have been tracking ships and movements from Turkish ports. Last week, they sought to disrupt the port call of a Zim vessel. The Youth Association alleges that an Evergreen-managed containership Uni-Phoenix (19,300 dwt) departed last week from Turkey bound for Israel. It is currently in Piraeus, Greece. Another Turkish-owned cargo ship Medkon Isik (3,000 dwt) they allege is also loading goods bound for Israel.

Turkish police responded to Sunday night’s protest and told the individuals who had boarded the Kathrin to disperse. They had been calling for the ship to depart while also saying that they would remain aboard to prevent any cargo operations. Those that did not leave the ship were detained and media reports said 16 people would be appearing in an Istanbul court Monday afternoon.

Problems have followed the cargo ship since it departed Vietnam in July with reports surfacing that it was transporting explosive material to Israel. Countries in Africa and Eastern Europe denied docking permission before the ship went into a port in Albania and then on to Egypt. Human rights groups alleged the containers with the explosives were still aboard or possibly offloaded in Egypt, an accusation the Egyptian Army denied. They said they were not assisting the Israelis but the ship docked at a military pier to offload cargo for the Egyptian military. Despite protests, Egypt said it permitted the vessel to depart when it filed papers showing its destination as Turkey.

The German managers of the vessel responded to Reuters last week saying the vessel was never booked to sail to Israel. The activists who hounded the ship for months admitted that they did not know how the explosives they believed were aboard would reach Israel, but they succeeded in getting Portugal to revoke the ship's registry (it was moved to Germany) and from docking in multiple ports. German authorities last week declined to get involved saying the material aboard was not from Germany and as such did not require their export license.

The Kathrin currently remains in the anchor at Istanbul.

Drug-resistant superbugs: Ukraine’s other wartime enemy

By AFP

November 4, 2024

Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have come back from the front with wounds festering with multidrug resistant organisms - Copyright AFP/File STR

Barbara WOJAZER and Bohdan KUTSENKO

Ukrainian soldier Anton Sushko, severely wounded, thought he was finally safe when he spotted a rescue team after crawling for hours through the battlefield in eastern Ukraine.

“That’s it, I thought, here are the guys… We made it. Wounded, but alive,” the 40-year-old recalled from his hospital bed in Dnipro, southeastern Ukraine.

But Sushko wasn’t out of danger yet.

By the time he escaped, a wound on his left leg had got infected with aggressive bacteria resistant to antibiotics, making it harder for doctors to treat him.

Thousands of other soldiers have, like him, come back from the front with wounds festering with multidrug resistant organisms, pointing to a little-understood cost of the war.

Bacteria have long developed resistance against medicines designed to fight them, rendering many drugs useless.

The process known as antimicrobial resistance (AMR) directly causes over a million deaths and contributes to five million deaths every year, according to the World Health Organization.

This has been accelerated by the massive use of antibiotics to treat humans, animals and food, including in Ukraine.

But Ukraine has seen a particular increase in antimicrobial resistance during the Russian invasion, according to WHO representative in Ukraine, Jarno Habicht.

“The ultimate cause why we see the rise of antimicrobial resistance is actually the ongoing war,” he said.

– ‘Dirty, rotting’ –

Direct combat and aerial strikes have triggered a rise in patients suffering from traumatic wounds, who have overwhelmed understaffed hospitals.

The Dnipro Mechnikov Hospital, where soldier Sushko was being treated, saw its workload increase tenfold, said chief surgeon Sergiy Kosulnykov.

“Every blast is an open wound, and every open wound is an infection,” Kosulnykov said, showing AFP slides of purulent lesions.

Explosive battlefield injuries rarely get treated in time as evacuations from the drone-infested front lines have become increasingly perilous.

By the time medical teams take a look, the wounds are often “dirty, rotting, with necrosed (dead) tissues and bones, and full of aggressive microbes that are difficult to fight,” Kosulnykov said.

To save their patients’ lives, teams often have no choice but to prescribe strong antibiotics.

And they rarely have time to wait for laboratory results determining the right antibiotics.

“It’s impossible to imagine all of that without a growth in resistance,” said Kosulnykov.

“The more we try to somehow kill a microbe, the more it defends itself.”

The process sends doctors on a quest for ever stronger antibiotics to save the lives of patients, who cannot do much but hope a cure works.

– ‘Not in vain’ –

As he waited, Sushko tried to find sense to it all.

“I distract myself with music, I read literature to go deeper into the roots of our people, for my soul to grasp that our guys aren’t giving their lives in vain,” he said.

Racing to save his patients, Kosulnykov lamented the lack of tools and modern medication plaguing his department.

But he said that the hospital usually managed to procure the right medication when soldiers’ lives hung in the balance.

Many uncertainties still remained.

One in particular puzzled Kosulnykov.

He estimated around 50 percent of wounded soldiers admitted in his service had developed antimicrobial resistance even before starting treatment.

“We ask ‘Has he been in hospital before? Somewhere else?’,” Kosulnykov recalled a frequent question.

“They come straight from the battlefield… This is incomprehensible. We simply don’t understand,” he said.

Ukraine has long been known for high AMR rates compared to most European countries, because antibiotics were until recently accessible without prescription.

The surgeon also suggested that static trench warfare, similar to World War I, may contribute to the rise in AMR.

– ‘No complete victory’ –

“We need to better study the root causes of antimicrobial resistance” as the war continues, said WHO’s Habicht.

Part of that research relies on monitoring, said Habicht, who added Ukraine had increased the number of laboratories monitoring drug-resistant bacteria to 100, compared to three in 2017.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the public health agency, found that “aggressive bacteria is now spreading beyond Ukraine’s borders”.

Habicht however refused to give into fearmongering.

He emphasised the need for the war to end, as well as for monitoring and research to ensure appropriate treatment.

“We don’t want to go back to the era where we cannot treat certain diseases,” Habicht said.

Three weeks after AFP visited the hospital, Sushko went back home, his infection under control.

The hospital’s team values any success, but Kosulnykov remained level-headed.

“People fought infections before me, and they will fight infections after me. There are some local victories, but there will be no complete victory.”

‘War ruined me’: Lebanon’s farmers mourn lost season

By AFP
November 4, 2024

The conflict has displaced more than half a million people, including farmers who abandoned their crops just when they were ready to harvest - Copyright AFP -
Jonathan SAWAYA

Lebanese farmer Abu Taleb briefly returned to his orchard last month to salvage an avocado harvest but ran away empty handed as soon as Israeli air raids began.

“The war broke out just before the first harvest season,” said Abu Taleb, displaced from the village of Tayr Debba near the southern city Tyre.

“When I went back in mid-October, it was deserted… it was scary,” said the father of two, who is now sheltering in Tripoli more than 160 kilometres to the north and asked to be identified by a pseudonym because of security concerns.

Abu Taleb said his harvesting attempt was interrupted by an Israeli raid on the neighbouring town of Markaba.

He was forced back to Tripoli without the avocados he usually exports every year.

Agricultural regions in Lebanon have been caught in the crossfire since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah ramped up in October last year, a full-scale war breaking out on September 23.

The UN’s agriculture agency, FAO, said more than 1,909 hectares of farmland in south Lebanon had been damaged or left unharvested between October last year and September 28.

The conflict has also displaced more than half a million people, including farmers who abandoned their crops just when they were ready to harvest.

Hani Saad had to abandon 120 hectares of farmland in the southern region of Nabatiyeh, which is rich in citrus and avocado plantations.

“If the ceasefire takes place within a month, I can save the harvest, otherwise, the whole season is ruined,” said Saad who has been displaced to the coastal city of Jounieh, north of Beirut.

When an Israeli strike sparked a fire in one of Saad’s orchards, he had to pay out of his own pocket for the fuel of the fire engine that extinguished the blaze.

His employees, meanwhile, have fled. Of 32 workers, 28 have left, mainly to neighbouring Syria.

– ‘Worst phase’ –

Israeli strikes have put at least two land crossings with Syria out of service, blocking a key export route for produce and crops.

Airlines have suspended flights to Lebanon as insurance costs soar.

This has dealt a deadly blow to agricultural exports, most of which are destined for Gulf Arab states.

Fruit exporter Chadi Kaadan said exports to the Gulf have dropped by more than 50 percent.

The supply surplus in the local market has caused prices to plummet at home, he added.

“In the end, it is the farmer who loses,” said Saad who used to earn $5000 a day before the war started.

Today, he barely manages $300.

While avocados can stay on the tree for months, they are starting to run out of water following Israeli strikes on irrigation channels, Saad said.

Citrus fruits and cherimoyas have already started to fall.

“The war has ruined me. I spend my time in front of the TV waiting for a ceasefire so I can return to my livelihood,” Saad told AFP.

Gaby Hage, a resident of the Christian town of Rmeish, on the border with Israel, is one of the few farmers who decided to stay in south Lebanon.

He has only been able to harvest 100 of his 350 olive trees, which were left untended for a year because of cross-border strikes.

“I took advantage of a slight lull in the fighting to pick what I could,” he told AFP.

Hage said agriculture was a lifeline for the inhabitants of his town, which has been cut off by the war.

Ibrahim Tarchichi, president of the farmers’ union in the Bekaa Valley, which was hit hard by the strikes, believes that agriculture in Lebanon is going through the “worst phase” of its recent history.

“I have experienced four wars, it has never been this serious,” he said.

Three charged as Modi slams Canada Hindu temple violence

By AFP
November 4, 2024

Relations between India and Canada (led by Justin Trudeau (L) and Narendra Modi) have spiralled since the killing on Canadian soil last year of a Sikh activist - Copyright POOL/AFP Evan Vucci

Ben SIMON

Canadian authorities charged three people on Monday following violence at a Hindu temple which provoked angry condemnation from India and sent already frosty bilateral ties between the two nations to a fresh low.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed Sunday’s “deliberate attack” outside the Hindu Sabha Mandir in the city of Brampton, near Toronto, in which Sikh activists appeared to clash with a rival group.

His Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau has also denounced the violence.

Peel Regional Police, who cover Brampton, said Monday that three people had been arrested and charged in connection with protests at a place of worship.

The alleged offences include assault with a weapon and assaulting a police officer.

“I strongly condemn the deliberate attack on a Hindu temple in Canada,” Modi said in a statement on X.

Canada is home to the largest Sikh community outside of India, and includes activists for “Khalistan”, a fringe separatist movement seeking an independent state for the religious minority carved out of Indian territory.

Relations between India and Canada nosedived after Ottawa accused the Indian government of orchestrating the 2023 killing in Vancouver of 45-year-old naturalized Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistan activist.

Trudeau has charged Modi’s government with violating Canadian sovereignty over the killing, and of a wider campaign of targeting Sikh activists on Canadian soil.

India has rejected the allegations and accused Ottawa for decades of harboring fringe religious extremists.

“Such acts of violence will never weaken India’s resolve. We expect the Canadian government to ensure justice and uphold the rule of law,” Modi added.

– ‘Fear’ –

Video circulating on social media appears to show individuals carrying yellow Khalistan flags clashing with a rival group, including people holding Indian flags. There were also isolated fist fights, videos show.

Sikhs for Justice, a pro-Khalistan group with a presence in Canada and the US, said their members were “peacefully protesting” outside the Hindu temple against the presence of Indian consular officials who they say were inside.

Modi said “the cowardly attempts to intimidate our diplomats” was “equally appalling” as the violence.

Arunesh Giri, president of the Canadian Hindu Foundation, told AFP Monday that “fear” is pervasive across the community.

“The Hindu community in Canada is feeling that they are not being provided a safe place for the worship,” he said.

His foundation called for rallies Monday outside the Brampton temple and another holy Hindu site in British Columbia in western Canada as a show of “unity.”

He urged Canadian leaders — who have been vocal about the insecurity affecting members of the Sikh community — to “stand with Hindu Canadians.”

India’s foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal had earlier said the attack on the temple was carried “perpetrated by extremists and separatists”, and asked Canada to “ensure that all places of worship are protected” from such attacks.

“We also expect that those indulging in violence will be prosecuted,” he added.

“We remain deeply concerned about the safety and security of Indian nationals in Canada.”

Beyond Nijjar’s killing, Canada has accused India of directing a broad campaign against Sikh activists which Ottawa says has included intimidation, threats and violence.

On Saturday, New Delhi denied that interior minister Amit Shah had plotted to target Sikh activists on Canadian soil, and said it had officially rebuked Ottawa over the “absurd and baseless” allegation.

New Delhi and Ottawa earlier this month each expelled the other’s ambassador and other senior diplomats.

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Daylight saving time: Risks and benefits

ByDr. Tim Sandle

November 4, 2024
DIGITAL JOURNAL

Sunset in the calm water of the North Atlantic off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Source - Handydannydan, CC SA 4.0.

In the U.S., the practice of moving to wintertime is undertaken where clocks are moved back one hour and this brings daylight saving time to an end.

The necessity of daylight saving time has often been questioned, by scientists, economists and politicians. However, any legislative efforts to end the time change have stalled or, at times, been reversed.

Virginia Tech economist Jadrian Wooten has outlined why the retail industries want to keep daylight saving time, the problems associated with it, and at least one justification for leaving it be.

Do any industries benefit from daylight saving time?

Approaching the issue from an economic perspective, Wooten states: “The retail industry still seems to be the biggest advocate for daylight saving time. They argue that extended evening daylight encourages people to shop after work and boosts foot traffic. These benefits may not be as significant as they once were. With the increases in online shopping, extended daylight hours may not drive the same level of spending as they did in the past.”

Drawing on empirical research, Wooten notes that studies suggest that the energy saving benefit of daylight saving time is just a fraction of a percent. This raises the question “is that even worth the effort involved?”

Wooten continues: “Given the disruptions to sleep patterns, health concerns, and even traffic accidents that come with the time change, many would argue that the energy savings simply aren’t enough to justify it anymore. People generally largely vote in favor of not changing clocks, and politicians have tried to push through bills picking daylight saving time or standard time and sticking with just one.”

What are some of the most egregious unintended consequences of daylight saving time?

Looking at wider society, Wooten observes: “Many people would point to the health risks — heart attacks, strokes, and even workplace accidents — as the most serious, but these are often concentrated among older people at risk for those health issues to begin with. You see similar increased health risks around major holidays, but no one argues we should ban those. I’d argue that the spike in car accidents is particularly troubling, since it’s an increased risk for everyone on and near the road.”

Can there be any economic justification for daylight saving time in 2024?

Returning to the core economic argument, Wooten states: “I’d argue that the most compelling economic justification may actually lie in its mental health benefits from maintaining more ‘average’ sunrise and sunset times across the year. These benefits are less obvious than traditional metrics like spending, but they’re significant. Switching permanently to either standard time or daylight saving time would disadvantage either early risers or night owls, while the current system provides each group with benefits for half the year.”

Brewing change: British population now prefers coffee to tea

By Dr. Tim Sandle
November 2, 2024
DIGITAL JOURNAL

Morning coffee. — Image © Tim Sandle

A nation of tea drinkers? No longer, if new research is correct. One poll suggests as many as 56 percent of people living in the UK prefer coffee to the more traditional British cup of tea. This is according to a review commissioned by De’Longhi (who happen, for the sake of transparency, to manufacture coffee machines for the home).

Compared to tea, coffee contains much higher levels of caffeine, and caffeine is known to stimulate cortisol levels and elevate a person’s mood.

In terms of coffee types, the favourite coffee if the milky latte (46 percent of respondents to a new survey). The latte, literally meaning “milk” in Italian, is a shot of espresso into which hot, steamed milk is added and followed by a light layer of foam.

This variant derived from the cappuccino, which began to be made after the invention of the espresso machine in late 19th century Italy. The cappuccino is equal parts milk, foam and espresso whereas the latte is larger and contains more milk.

Although the latter began to be popularised in 1950s Italy it mostly took off when it became more standardised in Seattle during the 1980s.

In second place is the cappuccino (39 percent), followed by the flat white (26 percent) and then, the classic espresso (19 percent).

The full outcome is:Latte 46%
Cappuccino 39%
Flat White 26%
Espresso 19%
Iced coffee 19%
Mocha 18%
White Americano 17%
Flavoured coffees, e.g. caramel latte 15%
Black Americano 13%
Oat milk latte 10%
Macchiato 9%
Black filter coffee 8%
Cold brew 5%
Cortado 3%

The survey was conducted by the Italian home appliances brand, De’Longhi (conducted by Perspectus Global).

The survey also finds that Gen Z individuals tend to be keener on coffee than older generations with the research revealing they spend £64.50 a month on the black stuff, more than twice that of the £28 spent by over 60s.

Some 87 percent of younger people describe themselves as a “coffee connoisseur” compared to just 66 percent of over 60s.

De’Longhi Marketing Director Helen Cutmore explains: “It’s evident from this research that consumer tastes really differ.”

Regionally, the coffee capital of the UK is Newcastle where people drink 17 cups of coffee a week, compared to the least caffeinated city in the UK, Coventry, where residents only drink 11.

Indonesia volcano eruption kills 10, sets houses aflame

Agence France-Presse
November 4, 2024

Rescuers carry away victims of a volcanic eruption in eastern Indonesia (AFP)

A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted overnight, killing at least 10 people as it spewed fireballs and ash on surrounding villages, officials said Monday as they raised the alert to its highest level.

Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,703-meter (5,587-feet) twin volcano located on the popular tourist island of Flores, erupted shortly before midnight, forcing authorities to evacuate several villages.

Residents described their horror when the crater started shooting flaming rocks at their homes.

"I was asleep when suddenly the bed shook twice, as if someone had slammed it. Then I realised the volcano had erupted, so I ran outside," said 32-year-old hairdresser Hermanus Mite.

"I saw flames coming out and immediately fled. There were ashes and stones everywhere. My salon also caught fire and everything inside was lost."

Abdul Muhari, spokesman of the country's disaster mitigation agency (BNPB), confirmed the death toll at a press conference, adding that 10,295 people had been affected by the eruptions.

He said the number of evacuees was still being calculated.

An AFP journalist near the volcano said five villages were evacuated, forcing thousands of people to seek shelter elsewhere.

Buildings near the volcano were covered by thick ash while some wooden homes caught fire, and the ground was pockmarked with holes caused by flying molten rocks.

The crater erupted just before midnight and then again at 1:27 am (1727 GMT Sunday) and 2:48 am, the country's volcanology agency said.

The volcanology agency hoisted the highest alert level and told locals and tourists not to carry out activities within a seven-kilometre (4.3-mile) radius of the crater.

"There has been a significant increase in volcanic activity on Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki," it said in a press release Monday.

It released images that showed the roofs of houses collapsed after they were hit by volcanic rocks, and locals sheltering in communal buildings.

- 'All in panic' -

Locals said the initial eruption was masked by adverse weather conditions.

"We didn't hear any warning signs because it started with thunder and lightning," said Petrus Muda Turan, head of a village on the Catholic-majority island, adding that the dead included a baby and a young nun.

"After midnight, people finally began to evacuate in a panic. When we ran, we didn't know what to bring, so we just took ourselves."

Authorities warned there was a potential for rain-induced lava floods and advised people to wear masks to protect against volcanic ash.

Abdul from the disaster agency said an airport in Maumere, the second-largest town on Flores, had been temporarily closed and a desk had been set up for locals to report any missing relatives.

There were multiple tremors and eruptions at the volcano last week, sending columns of ash between 500 and 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) into the sky several days in a row.

Laki-Laki, which means "man" in Indonesian, is twinned with a calmer volcano named after the Indonesian word for "woman".

The mountain had several major eruptions in January, prompting authorities to evacuate at least 2,000 residents.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent eruptions due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an area of intense volcanic and seismic activity.

In December last year, an eruption at one of the country's most active volcanoes, Mount Marapi in West Sumatra, killed at least 24 climbers, most of them university students.

And in May, more than 60 people died after heavy rains washed volcanic material from Marapi into residential areas, sweeping away homes.

That month, Mount Ruang in North Sulawesi province erupted more than half a dozen times, forcing thousands of people on nearby islands to evacuate.

Chinese investors show irrational enthusiasm for Trump ‘meme stock’

Analysis

The share price of a small Chinese company in financial difficulties has skyrocketed in recent days. The company's only real asset is its name: Wisesoft, which in Chinese sounds like the phrase 'Trump wins big'. Chinese investors are prone to buying shares solely on the basis of a company name.

Issued on: 02/11/2024 -
By: Sébastian SEIBT

An investor observes stock price figures at a stock exchange on September 27, 2024 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. © Long Wei, VCG via Reuters

Former US president Donald Trump’s influence looms large, and not just in the United States. In China, his name has prompted some people to make a quirky bet on the stock market.

The share price of a small company that makes air traffic control software, Wisesoft, doubled over the past month on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, a gain at odds with the company’s lacklustre financial results. It recorded a loss of Є3.5 million, (27.04 million yuan), for the first nine months of 2024.

Wisesoft's attraction for local investors is in its name, phonetically close to the expression “Trump wins big”, notes Bloomberg News.

Homonyms everywhere

It's not the first time that Wisesoft's share price seems to be linked to Trump. At the end of June, the company’s shares surged in the wake of the debate during which Trump outperformed President Joe Biden, then still a presidential candidate. Stock traders also flocked to Wisesoft in 2015, when rumours of Trump's presidential candidacy began to gain momentum.

Picking stocks with conspicuous names makes little economic sense, but in China “it's not unusual", says Johannes Petry, a specialist in political economy and Chinese financial markets at Frankfurt's Goethe University. “Throughout the history of the Chinese stock market it happens quite a lot."

Trump’s name was also involved in the popularity of the Chinese acoustic components specialist Goertek, which saw its share price soar in July after the assassination attempt on the former president in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The reason: the company's Chinese name is a homonym for the Chinese expression meaning “severed ear”, a strained reference to the Republican candidate's ear injured during the attempted assassination.

Chinese investors had a more traditional reason for their stock market picks in 2024, the year of the dragon in the Chinese zodiac, as speculators bought shares in companies whose names contained a reference to dragons.

Investors also pay close attention to the pronouncements of China’s President Xi Jinping. On October 22, during a speech on economic policy, Xi quoted a famous Chinese saying, “How many times in life can one seize the moment to fight?” Afterwards, reports the South China Morning Post, shares of the Shenzhen-listed Edadoc Technology, whose name means “fight for technology” in Chinese, rose sharply.
Immature retail investors?

"Basically the important thing to know about the Chinese stock market is that there are 200 million investors, more than the combined population of France, Germany and the UK," Petry says, adding that most are retail share owners.

There's a societal reason for the large number of small investors, Petry notes. Social safety nets are weak in China, and the authorities have long encouraged the population to invest in the stock market to compensate for the absence of a public pension system.

In addition, “there is growing wealth in a large part of society, in the middle class” which is looking for ways to invest its money, says Petry.

“The government also encourages people to invest in the stock market to contribute to the growth in GDP,” he adds.

According to Wang Zichen, a research fellow at the Centre for China and Globalisation interviewed by the South China Morning Post, bets on Wisesoft and other companies with crowd-pleasing names are a sign that “China’s stock market still lacks maturity, and investors often act irrationally”.

This is perhaps understandable, given that stock markets only reopened in China in the 1990s after a long period in which they were shunned by the Chinese Communist Party.

Today, millions of individuals place their “buy” and “sell” orders from their mobile phones between business meetings or in the evening from their sofa.
Trump’s 'meme' appeal

Maxime Raturat, a financial market analyst for stockbrokers XTB, says that Wisesoft is just another case of a “meme stock”, a Chinese version of GameStop, which made headlines in 2021.

GameStop, a video game company, was worth little or nothing on the New York Stock Exchange until it went viral.

Major institutional investors, including hedge funds, took out contracts allowing them to profit if GameStop’s share price dropped.

Enthusiastic buying by millions of individual investors who organised on social media spurred an unexpected rise of 1600 percent in GameStop shares in January, 2021, before they fell back.

Raturat says a meme stock “has three defining characteristics: an amusing or familiar name – in this case, the association between Wisesoft and Trump; a company experiencing significant financial problems; and, high liquidity”, meaning lots of buyers and sellers of the stock.

For him, Wisesoft ticks all the “meme” boxes.

The typical scenario for a meme stock is as follows: institutional investors start betting against a company perceived as fragile on the stock market. They hope to profit by short selling, borrowing the shares and then selling them on the open market, planning to repurchase them later for less money.

They protect themselves against the risk of big losses with an automated system programmed to start buying the shares again if they rise above a certain threshold – a way to limit potential losses since the goal is to buy back the shares at a lower price than you sold them for.

This is where a multitude of small investors comes in, buying up the shares of the distressed company that are now worth little or nothing to counter the strategies of the big speculators.

And if these individual investors manage to boost the share price, the automated mechanism of institutional investors is triggered, and these large investors also begin to buy, amplifying the rise in the shares.

In the final act, the small investors can then sell their shares, making a profit in the process.

The same process that propelled the rise of GameStop is behind the ascent of Wisesoft and other similar Chinese stocks, according to Raturat.

“The great specificity in China is this attraction for homonyms,” says Raturat.

The growing number of meme shares is driven in part by Chinese retail investors’ faith in the power of a name, Raturat notes. And for them, Donald Trump is a meme not to be missed.

This article has been translated from the original in French.

Lightning strike kills more than a dozen people at Uganda refugee camp

More than a dozen people, most of them children, have died after lightning struck a refugee camp in northern Uganda on Saturday. The refugees were sheltering in a makeshift church when lightning hit the metal roof and killed them.

Issued on: 03/11/2024 -
By: NEWS WIRES

The refugees died when lightning struck the metal roof of the makeshift church they were sheltering in. © Ethan Miller, Getty Images via AFP/ Illustration picture

At least 14 people, including several children, were killed in a Ugandan refugee camp when lightning hit a makeshift church where they were sheltering, local officials said Sunday.

Around 50 people took shelter in the church in Palabek refugee camp in northern Uganda on Saturday evening when a heavy storm hit the area.

Fourteen people died when lightning hit its metal roof, including five girls and nine boys aged between 14 and 18, said William Komech, resident district commissioner for Lamwo region, told AFP.

“There are several injured who are being admitted to health centres,” he added.

The refugees were mostly from the Nuer community of South Sudan.

“The government is working with UNHCR and other agencies are providing the necessary assistance to the survivors,” Hillary Onek, Uganda’s minister for refugees and disaster preparedness, told AFP.

“The government team is already on the ground helping to deliver the bodies to their respective families,” he added.

Uganda has suffered several lightning-related deaths in recent years.

A lightning strike at a primary school killed at least 18 students in 2011, and nine teenagers were killed in an incident in August 2020.

In February 2020, four endangered mountain gorillas were killed by an apparent lightning strike in Mgahinga National Park in southwest Uganda.

(AFP)

Turkey sacks three more mayors in Kurdish-majority southeast

The Turkish government stripped three elected pro-Kurdish mayors of their posts in southeastern cities on Monday and replaced them with state officials, citing charges on terrorism-related offences.

Issued on: 04/11/2024 -
By: NEWS WIRES

File photo: Ahmet Turk (centre), the removed mayor of Mardin, pictured at a press conference in Istanbul on August 29, 2019. © Bulent Kilic, AFP file photo

Turkey on Monday sacked three mayors in the Kurdish-majority southeast on alleged "terrorism" charges, despite Ankara's apparent desire to seek a rapprochement with the Kurdish community.

In a sweep, the mayors of the southeastern cities of Mardin and Batman as well as Halfeti – a district in the Sanliurfa province – were removed from their positions and replaced with trustees, the interior ministry said.

All three belong to DEM, the main pro-Kurdish party, and were elected in March's local elections, when opposition candidates won in numerous towns and cities, including Istanbul.

Ahmet Turk, 82, was Mardin's mayor, while Gulistan Sonuk was serving in Batman and Mehmet Karayilan in Halfeti.

In a statement, the ministry outlined a string of allegations against them, from membership in an armed group to disseminating propaganda for the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Since 1984, the PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state in which more than 40,000 people have died.

It is blacklisted as a "terror" group by Turkey and its Western allies.

Kurds make up around 20 percent of Turkey's overall population.

DEM swiftly denounced the mayors' removal as "a major attack on the Kurdish people's right to vote and be elected".

"The government has adopted the habit of snatching what it couldn't win through elections through using the judiciary, the police and the trustee system," DEM said in a statement.

Turk, a prominent Kurdish politician who was dismissed twice before, was in May sentenced to 10 years jail for alleged PKK membership over his involvement in a series of 2014 protests.

He was serving pending the outcome of an appeal.

At the time, the HDP party – now DEM – called for protests over Ankara's failure to send in troops to protect Kobane, a Kurdish-majority city in northeastern Syria which was being overrun by the Islamic State (IS) group militants.
'No step back'

Writing on X, Turk promised not to give up.

"We will not step back from the fight for democracy, peace and freedom. We will not allow usurpation of the people's will!"

Mardin governor's office banned protests in the city for 10 days.

"The government has lost control," Istanbul's powerful opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu wrote on X.

"The right to elect only belongs to voters and cannot be transferred," he said.

Imamoglu, a key figure in the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) who is likely to run as a candidate in the 2028 presidential election, said he would convene an emergency meeting of the Turkish Union of Municipalities (UMT).

The latest dismissals come just days after another CHP mayor was arrested for alleged PKK ties in an Istanbul district and replaced by a trustee.

Ahmet Ozer, 64, mayor of Esenyurt district, was arrested on Wednesday.

Both the CHP and DEM condemned his arrest as politically motivated, with DEM calling it a "political coup".

The wave of dismissals came after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed full support for efforts to reach out to Turkey's Kurds, describing it as a "window of opportunity".

But he warned the appeal was not directed at "terror barons" in Iraq and Syria.

Over the years, the Turkish government has removed dozens of elected Kurdish mayors in the southeast and replaced them with its own trustees.

Six months ago, the election authority removed DEM's elected mayor in the eastern city of Van and replaced him with the losing candidate from Erdogan's AKP party, sparking furious protests.

As a result of the backlash, the winning candidate was later reinstated.

(AFP)

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment