It's a nightmare for both tourists and companies

While many tourists were demanding their money back between January and July, seven and half millions of flight were cancelled.

Since the second quarter this year there have been fewer jobs in the companies that design, manifacture, and sell airplanes, and some big companies based in the Middle East, such as Emirates,  Etihad, and Qatar Airways, have announced job losses and pay cuts of up to 50%.

The last three pictures I took while I was travelling by plane last year:

                                           Stromboli island (South Italy)

                               Bracciano lake (Central Italy, 30 km north from Rome)

I love travelling by plane above the clouds. Plane pilots sometimes do so because of less resistance in the atmosphere.

It's time for us to make olive oil

It's time for us to make olive oil. With an average production of more than 560,000 Tons, Italy has the second biggest production of olive oil in Europe and the world. The olive trees are manly diffused in the hills (53%), and a large percentage of olive oil production in Italy occurs in the Southern regions, combining traditional, intensive and super intensive groves.

In November the countryside in some parts of Italy still shows signs of the traditional farming methods related to olive oil production, including the involvement of donkeys, which are useful when olive trees are located in the hills.

The EU with its roughly 67% of the world's olive oil is the leading producer. Other olive oil producers are in California (US), Argentina, North Africa, and Middle East.  

And last but not least, olive oil can lower our "bad" (LDL) cholesterol level while leaving our "good" (HDL) cholesterol intact.

https://www.oliveoilsource.com/page/why-olive-oil-good-you

 

Food and drinks on the cobblestones

With regards to the coronavirus epidemic, the Italian Government has recently issued a new legislative measure, which allows coffees and restaurants owners to put their tables and chairs on the cobblestones. According to social distancing rules, entrepreneurs will serve drinks and food along the streets, alleys and squares, if their coffees and restaurants are located in pedestrian areas. 

I hope this new legislative measure may help both employers and employees. 

Human trafficking and migrants smuggling

This week I was sorry to hear, once again, that many migrants from Africa died in the Central Mediterranean. All this took place just a few miles from European countries. Instead of helping African underdeveloped economies, they continue to steal young people from Sahel countries, pretending not to see the cemetery that the Mediterranean sea has become. Not to mention of human trafficking and migrants smuggling. 

Since 2013 some EU leaders have issued political asylum to African migrants who are not forced to escape armed conflict or persecution. This is a crime against humanity, as those governments are stealing young men and women from territories who would need economic support, because of drought, climate change, flooding, epidemic, etc. 

As it is known, illegal immigration can help developed countries, as many of them are now grappling with the challenges posed by rapidly aging population. Actually, the share of older persons in the EU's total population will increase in the coming decades. This will, in turn, lead to an increased burden on those of working age to provide for the social expediture required by the people aged 65 and over for a range of related services. 

That's the main reason why EU leaders continue to bury their heads in the sand.

The nightmare has gone to an end

The American electorate has spoken! Huge congrats to the US people on such great political choice. The nightmare has gone to an end, and once again the values of democracy and the principles of the American Constitution will be among the US.

According to the US Supreme Court, the 290 democrat members of the Electoral College will have no choice but to vote for the Presidential Candidate they promised to support. In this perspective, thirty-two states and Districs of Columbia have laws requiring electors to vote as they had promised.

As it is known, on July 6, this year, the US Supreme Court stated that states are entitled to remove or punish electors who changed their votes. The bad news is that in states without such penalties, electors remain free to change their votes.

The picture above was taken by a friend of mine who went to NYC last year. That's why that image shows people who are not wearing masks. 

US electoral college system

In almost every US Presidential Election, the winner of the national popular vote also won the Electoral College. What happened in 2016 was extremely rare, as while Clinton received 2.87 million more votes than Trump did, Trump received the majority in the Electoral College. Actually, in the 2016 US Presidential Election, ten members of the Electoral College voted for a candidate different from the one to whom they were pledged. 

This happened just five times in American history, but twice in the last 16 years, the other time being George W. Bush's Electoral College defeat of Al Gore in 2000. In the US Electoral College system, each state gets a certain number of electors based on the total House and Senate representatives in each state's congressional delegation. According to many political experts, the problem is that the Electoral College weights the election in favor of small, rural states. The picture above shows that smallest-population states have three elctoral votes, while California, the largest, has 55. 

With regard to US popular vote, which will be held next week, the poll found that Joe Biden hold an 8-point lead over Trump nationwide, 52 % to 44 %:

As it is known, Russia's intelligence services conducted cyber operations against targets associated with the 2016 US Presidential Election.

(source: https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf )  

I do hope this time Russian Government doesn't order an influence campaign aimed at 2020 US election. 

Naples' aerial images

Since Sunday, 25 October, people in Italy haven't been gatherings along the streets to protest against new lockdown measures. Actually, entrepreneurs, retailers, and representatives associations are still afraid they couldn't be able to reach their goals in order to maintain employment. 

Here below there're two aerial images of Naples, the Italian town most hit by COVID-19 second wave. Although Naples is located in a developed country, it is a town where there are many informal labourers, who are suffering the most. 

Many people around the world have been displaced, and many of them have been living in countries that are suffering from conflicts. We also have in some places a combination of drought related to climate change, conflicts and economic crisis. In this context, lockdown measures, closed borders, curfews, and travel restrictions have disrupted global food supplies and incomes. I Hope the number of new infections will decrease soon, because it is not something the poorest communities can deal with.