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Re: World News Random, Random

#121

Post by ti-amie »

Wow
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Re: World News Random, Random

#122

Post by ti-amie »

“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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Re: World News Random, Random

#123

Post by ti-amie »

“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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Re: World News Random, Random

#124

Post by ponchi101 »

If only somebody, or some group of people, could have warned us...
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Re: World News Random, Random

#125

Post by the Moz »

ponchi101 wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 6:41 pm If only somebody, or some group of people, could have warned us...
Can you file away this comment so we can use it for future occasions like California wildfires, Caribbean hurricanes etc...
:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
:shock: :shock: :shock:
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Re: World News Random, Random

#126

Post by ponchi101 »

the Moz wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 8:33 pm
ponchi101 wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 6:41 pm If only somebody, or some group of people, could have warned us...
Can you file away this comment so we can use it for future occasions like California wildfires, Caribbean hurricanes etc...
We can actually make some code that can be typed and then will spit out such a string, if you really want to... ;)
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Re: World News Random, Random

#127

Post by JazzNU »

Lebanon crisis escalates after failure to agree government


By Maha El Dahan, Laila Bassam


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon’s financial crisis intensified on Monday after Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri publicly repudiated President Michel Aoun, saying the latter wanted to dictate cabinet membership and grant veto powers on policy to his political allies.

After the latest of more than a dozen meetings with the president to form a new cabinet, Hariri called Aoun’s demands “unacceptable”. Hariri’s televised announcement dashed hopes for an end to five months of political deadlock between the two and a reversal of the country’s financial meltdown.

“This is a catastrophe for the country, we were holding on by a thread but now we’re heading towards a total crash,” one official source told Reuters, asking to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Lebanon has been without a government since shortly after the Aug. 4 chemical explosion that destroyed the port of Beirut and devastated downtown areas of the capital, killing hundreds of people, injuring thousands and making 300,000 homeless.

The giant blast accelerated the downward spiral of an economy trapped in debt, banking, financial and fiscal crises, while foreign donors refuse to bail out Lebanon until it forms a government of capable technocrats committed to reform.

Aoun sent a list suggesting different scenarios for a cabinet of either 18,20 or 22 ministers, with names to be filled in, Hariri said.

“This is unacceptable because it is not the job of the prime minister-designate to fill forms from someone else or of the president to form a government.”

In a statement read by the presidency spokesperson, Aoun said he was “surprised” by Hariri’s comments and that his proposal to Hariri had not included a blocking minority.

The lack of agreement came after a hint of a breakthrough on Thursday when the two last met and Hariri had said he saw an opportunity to be seized.

“The current deadlock and dim outlook will certainly have a toll on the exchange rate, making it more difficult for the average worker to get by without food aid,” said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center.

The Lebanese pound dropped to over 13,000 to the dollar on the informal market after news of the outcome of the meeting, having traded earlier in the day at around 11,000.

Lebanon’s economic crisis, which is posing the biggest threat to its stability since the 1975-1990 civil war, has seen the Lebanese pound sink by almost 90%, plunging many into poverty.

As businesses shut down, joblessness and hunger are rising. Lebanon’s banks, having lent 70% of their assets to an insolvent state and central bank, have locked most depositors out of their savings.

Hassain Diab’s cabinet, which resigned after the Beirut port blast, remains in a caretaker capacity until a successor is formed but fractious politicians have been unable to agree a government since Hariri’s nomination in October.

There is no budget and there will soon be no hard currency to pay for imports of subsidised wheat, medicine and fuel.

Under a sectarian power-sharing system, Lebanon’s president must be a Maronite Christian and the prime minister a Sunni Muslim. Aoun is an ally of Hezbollah, listed as a terrorist group by the United States.

Veteran Sunni politician Hariri was nominated to form a cabinet of specialists that could enact reforms and unlock foreign aid.

The Shi’ite Amal movement, headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri who backs Hariri, called for it to be formed urgently on Monday.

But Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday that even though he would approve a government of technocrats if formed, a cabinet with no politicians would not last long.


Reporting By Laila Bassam, Maha El Dahan and Ellen Francis; Editing by Samia Nakhoul, Giles Elgood and Bernadette Baum

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-leba ... SKBN2BE2JC
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Re: World News Random, Random

#128

Post by ti-amie »

“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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Re: World News Random, Random

#129

Post by ponchi101 »

No, that's not oil, folks. It is economics. 100 large ships (boston whalers do not go into the Suez Canal) are consuming fuel oil as they stand there because they cannot shut down engines, because that takes time to do, and more time to re-start. So they were there, burning a considerable amount of oil, while going nowhere. As soon as the news came out, and no idea of how long the interruption would last, the futures market must have reacted; just imagine if that boat had been stuck for a few days, not just one. Add to that all the supply lines that were interrupted, and blocking the Suez canal for just one day has real consequences.
Somebody is in real trouble for this disruption, and lawsuits may start flying. I would not want to be the captain of that boat.
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Re: World News Random, Random

#130

Post by MJ2004 »

ponchi101 wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 1:46 am As soon as the news came out, and no idea of how long the interruption would last, the futures market must have reacted; just imagine if that boat had been stuck for a few days, not just one. Add to that all the supply lines that were interrupted, and blocking the Suez canal for just one day has real consequences.
As if we need more reminders on the fragility of the state of the world. Wouldn't want to have to go around Africa instead though.
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Re: World News Random, Random

#131

Post by ponchi101 »

Well, what do you know? The carrier is not free yet, it is actually stuck at the southern entrance of the canal and the salvage company that is trying to get it unstuck says it may be days, even weeks. It is 430 feet long so it truly blocks the whole width of the canal.
Now: what do you do? The vessels still in the Red Sea can back up and decide but I am sure that many of them do not have a bow thruster to do a 180° turn. They would need tugs to help them. Get in line. Then, their companies decide: wait it out, if it will be only days, or as MJ says: go around Cape Hope? That puts your navigation time up by at least three weeks (down the Red Sea, around Cape Hope, not an easy pass, up the coast of west Africa, into the Mediterranean for a lot of them). Imagine the amount of fuel such vessels will burn.
Those INSIDE the canal (coming from the north and stuck there) have no space to maneuver. They are likely as big as the one stuck so they can't do 180°, even with thrusters. So, do they lay anchor and wait or are they going to be tugged back to the canal entry, rotate in the Mediterranean, fuel up (Port Said and Damietta are not big enough to handle that level of influx) and do the opposite? Last: the Mediterranean ports get their fuel and stock FROM the Gulf, via the Canal. Now that is not possible.
And somebody is bitching about oil going up? Heck, that is the least of problems.
This is major.
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Re: World News Random, Random

#132

Post by ti-amie »

Thanks for the update and explanation Ponchi. Whose ship is it? I know the registration means jack but is there any idea who it really belongs to?
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Re: World News Random, Random

#133

Post by Suliso »

ti-amie wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:17 pm Thanks for the update and explanation Ponchi. Whose ship is it? I know the registration means jack but is there any idea who it really belongs to?
Japanese owners, Taiwanese operators and all Indian crew.
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Re: World News Random, Random

#134

Post by ti-amie »

Suliso wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:18 pm
ti-amie wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:17 pm Thanks for the update and explanation Ponchi. Whose ship is it? I know the registration means jack but is there any idea who it really belongs to?
Japanese owners, Taiwanese operators and all Indian crew.
Thanks suliso!
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Re: World News Random, Random

#135

Post by ti-amie »

A picture is worth 1,000 words.

Image

In pictures: Efforts to dislodge huge ship from Egypt's Suez Canal

Efforts are continuing to refloat the Ever Given, a 400m-long (1,300ft) container ship which has been blocking the Suez Canal in Egypt since Tuesday.

Dredgers have been clearing sand and mud away from the bow of the vessel, while tugboats and the ship's winches are being used in an attempt to move it.

On Thursday, the Ever Given's owner, Japanese firm Shoei Kinsen, apologised for the effects the incident has had on traffic waiting to go through the canal.

It said it was doing its utmost, along with local authorities and the vessel's operators, to resolve the problem, but warned that it was extremely difficult.

Image
A flotilla of tugs has been trying to move the 200,000-tonne vessel

Image

Image
The stranded ship is visible from farmland near the Suez Canal

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56516151
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