EU bans Algerian spread toasted on social media

This picture shows Algeria's chocolate hazelnut spread
This picture shows Algeria's chocolate hazelnut spread "El Mordjene" for sale in Algiers, on September 15, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 18 September 2024
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EU bans Algerian spread toasted on social media

This picture shows Algeria's chocolate hazelnut spread "El Mordjene" for sale in Algiers, on September 15, 2024. (AFP)
  • French supermarket chain Carrefour is the only retailer to have indicated that its interest in selling the product, telling AFP on Monday that it hoped to have it on shelves “as soon as possible while respecting European food import regulations”

PARIS: The EU has blocked imports of an in-demand Algerian hazelnut spread that became popular in France after social media influencers raved about it.
“Incredible texture,” “good enough to die for,” and “so so very good” are some of the eulogies for El Mordjene Cebon spreading across TikTok while the jars can be found in small shops in France for more than 10 euros ($11).
But El Mordjene, which resembles creamy peanut butter, was not to the taste of the European Union.
“Algeria does not meet the conditions for a third country to export products to the European Union containing dairy inputs intended for human consumption,” the French agriculture ministry told AFP.
The ministry said it has opened a probe into how El Mordjene continues to be sold in France.
“I’ve struggled to get my hands on it, and I hope they will put it back on sale in France and Europe,” said Benoit Chevalier, an influencer with 12 million followers on TikTok.
French supermarket chain Carrefour is the only retailer to have indicated that its interest in selling the product, telling AFP on Monday that it hoped to have it on shelves “as soon as possible while respecting European food import regulations.”
A small shop in the southern city of Marseille was selling a jar for 30 euros. The shopkeeper, who declined to give his name, said he had been selling the product since 2022.
In France, El Mordjene Cebon is up against market behemoth Nutella, made by Italy’s Ferrero, which has three-quarters of the market for spreads, according to France’s supermarket federation.
In Algeria, the product’s international success is a source of national pride.
Algerians “are crazy for it,” said Rabie Zekraoui, a 23-year-old store owner in the capital Algiers. “We only have one crate left,” adding that “we must support Algerian products.”
Is Cebon behind all the social media buzz?
“All this makes us very happy but the reality is that we have nothing to do with it,” said Amine Ouzlifi, spokesman for the company, which is based in Tipaza, some 70 kilometers (40 miles) west of Algiers.
 

 


Climate change and harsh weather in France bring challenges to Chablis wine country

Climate change and harsh weather in France bring challenges to Chablis wine country
Updated 29 September 2024
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Climate change and harsh weather in France bring challenges to Chablis wine country

Climate change and harsh weather in France bring challenges to Chablis wine country
  • Much of France’s wine country faced one of the wettest years on record in 2024 so far amid a changing climate

LIGNORELLES: On a brisk late September morning in the heart of Chablis wine country, grape pickers haul large and heavy buckets over their shoulders, drenched in sweat as they climb the very steep slope of the Vau de Vey vineyard.
It’s the final day of the harvest at the Domaine Roland Lavantureux winery, and workers are handpicking the last of the prized Chardonnay grapes that will eventually be transformed into the bright and high-end Premier Cru that is bottled by the estate.
But wine lovers around the world may struggle to get their hands on the 2024 “millesime” — wine that comes from a single year’s harvest. It will be available in smaller quantities than usual.
Much of France’s wine country faced one of the wettest years on record in 2024 so far amid a changing climate, after years of challenges to vineyards and wine quality caused by drought and heat. At the Lavantureux estate, the picking lasted just nine days — about half the usual time — after a year of unpredictably harsh weather marked by frost, hail, record rainfall and the spread of a dangerous fungus that has left Chablis growers on edge.
“I have been working here since 2010. This is my most difficult year,” says winemaker David Lavantureux, who follows in the footsteps of his father Roland, a winemaker himself. “And all the old-timers will tell you the same thing. It’s been a very difficult year because the weather has been so unpredictable. We have not been spared a single thing.”
The ordeal began in April with the frost. Then in May, a double hailstorm pummeled the region. Then came relentless rain, right up to the harvest. According to the Burgundy wine federation, some 1,000 hectares (nearly 2,500 acres) of vines in the Chablis country were affected by the May storm. And the excess moisture allowed a destructive mildew fungus to thrive.
Disease devastates the vineyard
Once entrenched, the disease causes huge crop losses and can also affect wine quality. Together with his brother Arnaud, David fought hard to try and control mildew with various treatments, which were washed away by the rain and didn’t prove effective.
“On our estate, we’re looking at losses of 60 to 65 percent,” David Lavantureux said. “It’s going to be a low-yield year.”
The weather impact wasn’t confined to the Lavantureux estate. Wet conditions across France have wreaked havoc on many wine-growing regions this year. Mildew, combined with episodes of frost and hail, have reduced overall production. The French ministry of agriculture estimates that it will amount to 39.3 million hectoliters, below both 2023 levels (-18 percent) and the average for the past five years (-11 percent).
“It’s been a very tough year, both physically and mentally,” Arnaud says. “We’re relieved the harvest is over. I’m exhausted.”
The challenges of this year will inevitably influence the wines produced at the family winery, resulting in a 2024 vintage with distinct characteristics.
“Balances are not at all the same,” adds Arnaud. “There’s more acidity. Maturity is less optimal. But the goal is to craft the wine so that, in the end, the balance is as perfect as possible.”
Adapting to a changing climate
Located in the northern part of the Bourgogne region, the vineyards of Chablis have traditionally benefited from a favorable climate — cold winters, hot summers and annual rainfall between 650-700 millimeters (25-27 inches).
But climate change is altering those conditions, bringing unseasonably mild weather, more abundant rainfall, and recurrent spring frosts that were less common in the past.
The frost damage is particularly frustrating. A similar phenomenon hit French vineyards in recent years, leading to big financial losses. And scientists believe the damaging 2021 frost was made more likely by climate change.
“There was a period when we thought that with global warming setting in, Chablis would be safe from frost,” David Lavantureux says. “And finally, over the last 15 years, it’s come back even stronger.”
To adapt, winemakers have been adopting creative solutions. Cutting the wines later helps delay bud burst and reduce the vulnerability to late frost, while keeping a larger foliage above the fruit shields the grapes from the scorching sun in hot summers.
During frost threats, many growers use expensive methods such as lighting candles in the vineyards. They also install electric lines to warm the vines, or spray water on the buds to create a thin ice layer that ensures the blossom’s temperature remains around freezing point but doesn’t dip much lower.
Throughout the Burgundy region, anti-hail devices have also been deployed in a bid to lessen the intensity of hailstorms.
“It helps reduce risk, but it’s never 100 percent protection,” David Lavantureux says. “We saw that again this year with several hailstorms, two of which were particularly severe.”
Looking ahead
Fortunately for the Lavantureux family, two very good years in 2022 and 2023 should help mitigate the financial losses induced by the reduced 2024 harvest as international demand for Chablis remains solid, especially in the United States.
In June, the Burgundy wine association said that Chablis wine exports to the US reached 3 million bottles, generating 368 million euros ($410 million), a 19 percent increase compared to the previous year.
“We’ve put this harvest behind us,” says Arnaud Lavantureux “Now it’s time to think on the next one.”


Earth will have a temporary ‘mini moon’ for two months

Earth will have a temporary ‘mini moon’ for two months
Updated 28 September 2024
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Earth will have a temporary ‘mini moon’ for two months

Earth will have a temporary ‘mini moon’ for two months
  • The mini moon is actually an asteroid about the size of a school bus at 10 meters
  • When it whizzes by Earth on Sunday, it will be temporarily trapped by our planet’s gravity and orbit the globe

WASHINGTON: Earth’s moon will soon have some company — a “mini moon.”
The mini moon is actually an asteroid about the size of a school bus at 33 feet (10 meters). When it whizzes by Earth on Sunday, it will be temporarily trapped by our planet’s gravity and orbit the globe — but only for about two months.
The space rock — 2024 PT5 — was first spotted in August by astronomers at Complutense University of Madrid using a powerful telescope located in Sutherland, South Africa.
These short-lived mini moons are likely more common than we realize, said Richard Binzel, an astronomer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The last known one was detected in 2020.
“This happens with some frequency, but we rarely see them because they’re very small and very hard to detect,” he said. “Only recently has our survey capability reached the point of spotting them routinely.”
The discovery by Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos was published by the American Astronomical Society.
This one won’t be visible to the naked eye or through amateur telescopes, but it “can be observed with relatively large, research-grade telescopes,” Carlos de la Fuente Marcos said in an email.
Binzel, who was not involved in the research, said it’s not clear whether the space rock originated as an asteroid or as “a chunk of the moon that got blasted out.”
The mini moon will circle the globe for almost 57 days but won’t complete a full orbit. On Nov. 25, it will part ways with the Earth and continue its solo trajectory through the cosmos. It’s expected to pass by again in 2055.
 


Workers remove Olympic rings from Eiffel Tower — for now

Workers remove Olympic rings from Eiffel Tower — for now
Updated 27 September 2024
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Workers remove Olympic rings from Eiffel Tower — for now

Workers remove Olympic rings from Eiffel Tower — for now

PARIS: Workers removed the Olympics logo from the Eiffel Tower overnight on Friday, returning the beloved monument to its usual form — but perhaps only temporarily.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has promised to build new Olympic rings and return them to the landmark as a tribute to the hugely successful Olympic Games held in July and August.
The proposition has been criticized by descendants of the tower’s designer Gustave Eiffel, as well as conservation groups and many Parisians.
After initially suggesting the rings should be permanent, Hidalgo has proposed they remain on the city’s best-known symbol until the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
Workers using a crane removed the 30-ton rings from between the first and second floors of the tower during nightfall on Friday, just under four months after they were put up on June 7.
The new rings, which the International Olympic Committee is expected to pay for, would be lighter versions and less prominent, according to a deputy Paris mayor, Pierre Rabadan.
Culture Minister Rachida Dati, a longtime critic and opponent of Hidalgo, has cast doubt over the idea, saying the Socialist city leader would need to respect procedures protecting historic buildings.
Hidalgo also wants to retain the innovative cauldron placed in front of the Louvre museum as well as statues of illustrious women used during the opening ceremony.


US records suicides at highest levels in 2022 and 2023

US records suicides at highest levels in 2022 and 2023
Updated 27 September 2024
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US records suicides at highest levels in 2022 and 2023

US records suicides at highest levels in 2022 and 2023
  • Aside from a two-year drop around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, US suicide rates have been rising for nearly 20 years
  • The overall suicide rate in 2022 and 2023 was 14.2 per 100,000, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show

NEW YORK: US suicides last year remained at about the highest level in the nation’s history, preliminary data suggests.
A little over 49,300 suicide deaths were reported in 2023, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number that could grow a little as some death investigations are wrapped up and reported.
Just under 49,500 were reported in 2022, according to final data released Thursday. The numbers are close enough that the suicide rate for the two years are the same, CDC officials said.

US suicide rates have been rising for nearly 20 years, aside from a two-year drop around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. So “a leveling off of any increase in suicide is cautiously promising news,” said Katherine Keyes, a Columbia University public health professor who studies suicide.
Indeed, there’s reason for optimism. A 2-year-old national crisis line allows anyone in the US to dial 988 to reach mental health specialists. That and other efforts may be starting to pay off, Keyes said, but it “really remains to be seen.”
Experts caution that suicide — the nation’s 11th leading cause of death in 2022 — is complicated and that attempts can be driven by a range of factors. Contributors include higher rates of depression, limited availability of mental health services, and the availability of guns. About 55 percent of all suicide deaths in 2022 involved firearms, according to CDC data.
The CDC’s Thursday report said:
• Suicide was the second leading cause of death for people ages 10–14 and 20–34, and the third leading cause for people ages 15–19.
• Deaths continue to be more common among boys and men than girls and women. The highest suicide rate for any group — by far — was in men ages 75 and older, at about 44 suicides per 100,000 men that age.
• Among women, the highest rate was in those who were middle-aged, about 9 per 100,000. But more dramatic increases have been seen in teens and young women, with the rate for that group doubling in the last two decades.
• The overall suicide rate in 2022 and 2023 was 14.2 per 100,000. It also was that high in 2018. Before then, it hadn’t been that high since 1941.
 


Viral Korean Olympic shooter scores first acting role as assassin

Viral Korean Olympic shooter scores first acting role as assassin
Updated 20 September 2024
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Viral Korean Olympic shooter scores first acting role as assassin

Viral Korean Olympic shooter scores first acting role as assassin
  • The 32-year-old took silver in the women’s 10m air pistol in July and her ultra-calm demeanour turned her into a worldwide online sensation

SEOUL: South Korean pistol shooter Kim Ye-ji, whose skill and nonchalance won the Internet at the Paris Olympics, has landed her first acting role — as an assassin.
The 32-year-old took silver in the women’s 10m air pistol in July and her ultra-calm demeanour, combined with her wire-rimmed shooting glasses and baseball cap, turned her into a worldwide online sensation.
As videos of her shooting went viral, she drew praise from celebrities such as Elon Musk.
“She should be cast in an action movie. No acting required!” Musk wrote on his social media platform X at the time.
Now she will play an assassin in “Crush,” a spinoff short-form series of the global film project “Asia,” a spokesperson for Seoul-based entertainment firm Asia Lab told AFP on Friday.
Kim will star alongside Indian actress and influencer Anushka Sen, the company said in a separate statement, saying it was excited to witness “the potential synergy that will arise from Kim Ye-ji and Anushka Sen’s new transformation into a killer duo.”
Since winning silver, a short clip showing Kim at the Baku World Cup in May has gone viral, spawning fan art, endless memes and multiple edits setting the clip to K-pop.
Kim signed with a South Korean talent agency in August to assist her in managing her extracurricular activities and she has since been featured in a magazine photoshoot for Louis Vuitton.