The death toll from Cyclone Freddy in Malawi and Mozambique has risen past 200 on Tuesday, after the record-breaking storm triggered floods and landslips.

Rescue workers warned that more victims were likely as they scoured destroyed neighbourhoods for survivors even as hopes dwindled.

The fierce storm hit south-eastern Africa at the weekend, in its second landfall since late February after brewing off Australia and traversing the Indian Ocean.

Malawi’s government said at least 190 people were killed with 584 injured and 37 missing, while authorities in neighbouring Mozambique reported 20 deaths and 24 injured.

“The situation is very dire,” said Guilherme Botelho, emergency project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Malawi. “There are many casualties, either wounded, missing or dead, and the numbers will only increase in the coming days.”

Many people died in mudslides that washed away homes in the country’s commercial capital, Blantyre.

Across the country, nearly 59,000 people have been affected and more than 19,000 displaced, with many now sheltering in schools and churches.

Freddy was still causing localised rains and winds in southern Malawi on Tuesday, but conditions were expected to ease from Wednesday evening, according to the country’s meteorological service.

People in Malawi and Mozambique picking up the pieces after fierce storm swept through at the weekend

In Chilobwe, a township outside Blantyre, stunned survivors surveyed flattened houses and other structures as rain continued to fall.

John Witman, who is in his 80s, stood in front of what had been his son-in-law’s home. It was now just rocks and gushing water, the house having been swept away.

“I wish that we could find him, and find closure. We feel helpless because no one is here to help us,” he said.

In Chimwankhunda, a few kilometres away, Steve Panganani Matera pointed to a mound of mud. “There were plenty of houses, but they are all gone,” Matera said. “There are plenty of bodies down there in the mud.”

Fourteen-year-old Mayeso Chinthenga said his family’s house was taken by the cascading mud. “We were out looking for firewood when we saw rocks rolling down the mountain so we ran for safety. Some of our neighbours died on the spot,” he said at a nearby school.

President Lazarus Chakwera, who returned to the country on Tuesday after attending a United Nations conference in Qatar, hailed the relief efforts by volunteers. “We have arrived to a devastated nation,” he said in a statement.

Cyclone Freddy reached landlocked Malawi early on Monday after sweeping through Mozambique at the weekend.

The storm has unofficially broke the World Meteorological Organization’s benchmark as the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record, set in 1994 for a 31-day storm named John.

Freddy became a named storm on 6 February, making landfall in Madagascar on 21 February and sweeping over the island before reaching Mozambique on 24 February.

It then returned to the Indian Ocean and gathered new energy over its warm waters, before reversing course to come back much more powerful at the weekend, packing wind gusts of up to 200 km/h (125mph), according to Emmanuel Cloppet of the Meteo-France weather service.

Meteorologists say that cyclones tracking across the entire Indian Ocean are very infrequent – the last occurred in 2000 – and that Freddy’s loopback was even more exceptional.

“It’s a very rare thing that these cyclones feed themselves over and over again,” said climate expert Coleen Vogel at South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand.

The cyclone has piled more woes on Malawi, already grappling with the deadliest cholera outbreak in its history, which has killed more than 1,600 people since last year.

Fears of a cholera resurgence after the outbreak started in the aftermath of another tropical storm last year have been exacerbated by vaccines shortages.

World Opinions – Agencies

L’article Africa. Cyclone Freddy death toll passes 200 as rescue workers warn more victims will be found est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

More than 250 protests have been staged in the French capital Paris and around the country against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms with rubbish collectors, utility workers, train drivers and others walking off the job against the proposed legislation.

An estimated 1.28 million people demonstrated nationwide on Tuesday against Macron’s plans to push back the retirement age to 64, the interior ministry said. The protests come weeks after an estimated 1.27 million people participated during the previous round of protests.

Big crowds took to the streets in Paris, Marseille, Nice and other cities. Some minor clashes with police broke out in Nantes, Rennes and Lyon.

In the French capital, workers, families and activists gathered in a joyful atmosphere, chanting slogans.

Despite the Paris march being largely peaceful, some scuffles sporadically broke out on the sidelines, with some people throwing projectiles at police who responded with tear gas.

Unions threatened to freeze up the French economy with work stoppages across multiple sectors, most visibly an open-ended strike at the SNCF national rail authority.

More than 1.28 million people took to the streets in France as unions intensify fight against Macron’s pension reform.

Some unions have called for open-ended strikes in sectors from refineries and oil depots to electricity and gas facilities. Workers in each sector will decided locally in the evening on that, Martinez said.

All oil shipments in the country were halted on Tuesday amid strikes at the refineries of TotalEnergies, Esso-ExxonMobil and Petroineos groups, according to the CGT.

Truckers have sporadically blocked major highway arteries and interchanges in go-slow actions near several cities in French regions.

A fifth of flights were cancelled at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport and about a third of flights at Orly Airport. Trains to Germany and Spain were expected to come to a halt, and those to and from the United Kingdom and Belgium will be reduced by a third, according to the SNCF rail authority.

Most high-speed trains and regional trains have been cancelled.

Public transportation and other services were disrupted in most French cities. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower was closed, as was the Palace of Versailles, west of the capital.

According to the education ministry, about one-third of teachers were on strike nationwide.

The reform would raise the minimum pension age from 62 to 64 and require 43 years of work by 2030 to earn a full pension, amid other measures. The government has argued that the system is expected to dive into deficit within a decade as France’s population ages and life expectancy lengthens.

The bill is under debate in the French Senate this week.

World Opinions – agencies

L’article French workers stage massive strike against pension reform.. Pictures est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Workers have broken out of Apple’s largest iPhone assembly factory in China after a Covid outbreak forced staff to lockdown at the workplace.

Video shared online showed about 10 people jumping a fence outside the plant, owned by manufacturer Foxconn, in the central city of Zhengzhou.

Chinese people and businesses are continuing to grapple with President Xi Jinping’s rigid zero-Covid policy.

It is not clear how many cases of Covid have been identified at the factory.

However in the last week, Zhengzhou, the capital of China’s Henan province, reported 167 locally transmitted infections – up from 97 the week before, according to Reuters news agency.

The city of about 10 million people was partially locked down as a result, as China continues to use strict lockdown measures to deal with Covid.

Foxconn, which acts as a supplier to US-based Apple, has hundreds of thousands of workers at its Zhengzhou complex and has not provided an official count of how many are infected.

The Taiwan-based company claimed on Sunday that it would not stop workers from leaving.

However, in footage shared on Chinese social media, and by the BBC’s China correspondent Stephen McDonnell, workers were allegedly filmed escaping from the grounds to begin lengthy walks back to their hometowns in a bid to avoid being caught on public transport.

One 22-year-old worker, surnamed Xia, told the Financial Times it was « total chaos in the dormitories » he and colleagues were being kept in. « We jumped a plastic fence and a metal fence to get out of the campus, » he added.

Workers also claimed the area surrounding the plant had been locked down for days, with Covid-positive workers being subjected to daily testing and quarantines to try to contain the outbreak.

Last week, on 19 October, Foxconn announced it was banning all dine-in catering at the Zhengzhou plant and required workers to eat meals in their rooms.

At the same time, the company told reporters it was maintaining « normal production » as the plant ramped up production of the latest iPhone 14 models.

« The government agreed to resume dine-in meals to improve the convenience and satisfaction of employees’ lives, » Foxconn said in a statement on Sunday.

It added that for those wanting to return home, « the [plant] is co-operating with the government to organise personnel and vehicles to provide a point-to-point orderly return service for employees from today ».

The BBC has reached out to Foxconn for comment.

Under China’s strict zero-Covid policy, cities are given powers to act swiftly to quell any outbreaks of the virus. This includes anything from full-scale lockdowns to regular testing and travel restrictions.

Many had hoped President Xi would drop the legislation before the end of the year but at the recent 20th Communist Party congress, he made clear this was unlikely to happen anytime soon.

World Opinions – BBC News

L’article Apple: Chinese workers flee Covid lockdown at iPhone factory est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

On Zoom, no one can hear you scream. But since our return to the office, those quiet corners and private meeting rooms might be proving in high demand.

Whether it’s for personal or professional, or the inextricable intersection of the two, nearly everyone who passes time in an office will have at least once had a meltdown there.

A 2019 survey by the job-search website Monster.com showed that, of more than 3000 respondents, nearly 85% said they had cried at work. A more recent survey by a temp agency of a similar sample size showed that 52% had lost their temper.

​​And that was pre-pandemic. Now it seems that workers are increasingly pursuing their own strategies for releasing tension, some surprisingly primal.

In the new season of financial drama Industry – which premieres on BBC One on Tuesday night – strung-out City workers flee to toilet cubicles to self-medicate with caffeine, nicotine and harder stuff in a desperate effort to keep on even keel.

For those without an expenses budget, stepping outside the office might be our only option.

A new survey of 1,000 office workers carried out for Leadenhall market found that going for a breather was the most common way for office workers to let off steam, followed by a walk around the block.

Now those who find themselves stressed out in the City can seek out something stronger (and no, it’s not served by the pint at The Lamb Tavern).

Next week Leadenhall market is staging a free “Screamatorium”: an enclosed, private space in which to scream your heart out.

Catherine Jordan Jones, a spokesperson for Leadenhall market, believes it is the only such facility of its kind in the UK. “Now it’s back to work, back to school, people might be feeling a little bit blue – it’s just a fun way of letting go.”

For those who are competitive-minded, a staffer will be on hand to measure the decibels of each scream and maintain a leaderboard. (90-130dB is the average.)

Afterwards, participants can wring out every last drop of aggression in a game of whack-a-mole, before winding down in a neighbouring meditation room, with some breathing exercises – and sugary carbohydrates, in the form of free cake.

“I think it’s a good combination: scream, whack, cake,” says Jordan Jones. “Who wouldn’t be happy after that?”

“Primal scream” therapy was a touchstone of 1970s self-help, but lacks scientific basis, says Harold Gouzoules, a professor at the department of psychology at Emory University and an expert in screams – both human and non-human.

“We are all familiar with the release that comes from a good yell, or a good scream – but, for some people a good cry, or a good laugh, or hitting a punching bag, serves the same purpose,” he says.

“There is certainly tension, and release of tension – but I don’t think screaming has any kind of primacy, in terms of the way to go about it.”

Indeed, if the thought of screaming into the void holds dangerous allure, the reason might be simple: we enjoy it.

Gouzoules points to the popularity of haunted house attractions and theme parks; one study found that people told not to scream on a rollercoaster reported enjoying themselves less.

“There is that fun aspect,” says Gouzoules – though, he adds, he himself does not share in it. “I’m not a screamer. I try to be a laugher.”

But with the mental health crisis worsening since the pandemic, and therapy increasingly unaffordable, it may be no surprise that there is apparently mounting demand for appropriate places in which to let loose.

Gemma Whiddett, manager of Norwich Rage Rooms, says business has never been busier. The facility rents out fortified rooms filled with ceramics for smashing by the half-hour, and has emblazoned above its front door: “Anger is a gift.”

“I don’t think people really got it, at first,” Whiddett says.

But, over the past year, not only has there been a surge of interest; people are coming with specific reasons for release.

On top of the standard stag dos, says Whiddett, “we’ve got people coming in the day before a funeral, people recovering from drink and drug addictions … It’s not just fun any more: people have a real reason to come in.”

She recalls a recent customer: “She spent five minutes smashing, 40 minutes sitting on the floor crying – and she actually left smiling.”

Another man booked in after having been turned down for a promotion. “People are realising there is a use for the rage room,” says Whiddett. “We get a lot of people who work in hospitality – and primary school teachers.”

Andy Reynolds opened Smash Space, Newcastle’s first and only rage room a year ago, and has since had more than 3000 people through the doors.

He had anticipated that the target market would be students; in fact it has proved overwhelmingly to be 30- to 50-year-olds, working full-time.

Reynolds has even heard of psychiatrists referring patients for a cathartic smashing session. “There’s been a big uptake on the mental health aspect,” he says. “We’re living in a stressful world, and people have difficult jobs, and it’s good for them to have that outlet – even just of having fun with your friends.”

Reynolds himself works as a legal adviser at the Ministry of Justice five days a week, meaning it has been almost a year since his last session. “That may be my error,” he jokes.

Sometimes, real life does get in the way of release. In 2021, a large clay “scream pot” on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum – and imagined as a safe space for visitors to express their frustrations in public – had to be cordoned off due to the risk of spreading Covid-19. (The Screamatorium, first slated for the period of mourning for the Queen, was likewise “postponed as a mark of respect”.)

Instead, the function of the scream pot – by the Iranian-Canadian artist, Babak Golkar, from his 2014 series Time to Let Go – was demonstrated by video. “It was not what I intended,” says Golkar from Vancouver. “You have to be able to put your face against that object, and try it.”

Golkar started making his scream pots in 2011, seeking both to expand his practice with clay – and an outlet for his own repressed emotions. “It’s really difficult to pinpoint what the origins of those frustrations were,” he says, “but suffice to say, they must have been piling up for a while.”

Golkar has since made several terracotta scream pots – the largest person-sized, up to 2 metres long – with a muffling effect.

“It’s such a basic thing, to scream: if a child screams in public, nobody turns their head – but if I scream in public they’ll call the authorities,” he says. “I was really interested to engage the public – to offer them a platform, or an excuse.”

For six months in 2014, some of Golkar’s larger scream pots were installed outside the Shangri-La hotel in Vancouver, commissioned by the Vancouver Art Gallery, set on a pile of sandbags and pointed directly at what was then the Trump International hotel nearby.

It was one of the most popular pieces of public art ever at that site, says Golkar. “I wish I had more projects like this one, that just keeps getting more and more relevant.”

He has even received requests to mass-produce scream pots for personal use. One critic suggested everyone should have one, Golkar says. “The world would be a happier place, I think.”

 The Screamatorium is open at Leadenhall market in London from Tuesday 27 to Friday 30 September, from 11.30am-7pm daily with free admission and no need to book.

By Elle Hunt – theguardian.com

L’article Rage rooms and primal screams: how stressed-out workers are letting off steam est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Amazon has defeated activists hoping to establish the company’s first unionised warehouse in the US.

Workers at the Bessemer, Alabama warehouse voted 1,798 to 738 against the effort, labour officials said.

That represented a majority of votes cast in the contest, which was seen as a key test for Amazon after global criticism of its treatment of workers during the pandemic.

The union said it would challenge the results.

It accused Amazon of interfering with the right of employees to vote in a « free and fair election », including by lying to staff about the implications of the vote in mandatory meetings and pushing the postal service to install a mailbox on company grounds in an effort to monitor the vote.

« Amazon has left no stone unturned in its efforts to gaslight its own employees, » said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which organised the effort.

« We won’t let Amazon’s lies, deception and illegal activities go unchallenged, which is why we are formally filing charges against all of the egregious and blatantly illegal actions taken by Amazon during the union vote. »

Amazon said on Friday that it was « not true » that it had intimidated staff.

It said the firm worked hard to listen to concerns and improve, casting the outcome as a choice by staff, rather than a company victory.

« We’re not perfect, but we’re proud of our team and what we offer, and will keep working to get better every day, » it said.

World Opinions News – BBC.COM

L’article Amazon defeats historic Alabama union effort est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.