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Geopolitics

Isaac On Katrina's Path And Gaining Strength, As Republican Convention In Tampa Spared

CNN, NEW YORK TIMES (US) REUTERS

Tropical storm Isaac raged into the Gulf of Mexico Monday, threatening to become a hurricane and make landfall in Louisiana, almost seven years to the day after Hurricane Katrina decimated southeastern American cities and towns.

Governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have declared states of emergency, with Alabama Governor Robert Bentley ordering mandatory evacuations for residents on the coast starting from 8 a.m. Monday, reports CNN.

After hitting Haiti, where it killed at least six people, Isaac has gathered strength over Cuba and the Florida keys, bypassing the state's west coast.

Isaac's path is forecasted as almost identical to that of Katrina, which hit New Orleans in 2005, killing some 1,800 people across the region.

The tropical storm is expected to be upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane on Monday or Tuesday, with winds of up to 105 miles per hour, Reuters reports.

Seeing increased lightning activity associated with Isaac, which is usually an indicator that system is intensifying. ow.ly/i/SJlL

— NWS Tampa Bay (@NWSTampaBay) August 27, 2012

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu told reporters: "We are much, much better prepared structurally than before." There are no plans at present to evacuate New Orleans.

#NOLA Mayor Mitch Landrieu: "Now is not the time to panic. It’s a time to prepare.” #Isaac

— Jonathan Serrie (@jonathanserrie) August 27, 2012

Oil companies have been scrambling to evacuate their offshore oil-rigs and production platforms.

The Republican National Convention, set to start on Monday in Tampa Bay, was postponed due to the storm.

The opening session on Monday was set to feature Mitt Romney"s formal nomination as Republican candidate. The New York Times reports Romney as saying: "I hope everybody’s fine there. I’m concerned about the people that are going to be affected by it."

Mr. Romney, however, remains upbeat, even though the timing has created a headache for his senior staffers, as the media networks focus their attention on the storm's developments: "It'll be a great convention," Romney told reporters.

So the storms in Florida have delayed Mitt Romney's selection as Rep pres candidate. Guess that shows how Mother Nature feels about him.

— Susan P (@downatheel) August 27, 2012

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Society

Genoa Postcard: A Tale Of Modern Sailors, Echos Of The Ancient Mariner

Many seafarers are hired and fired every seven months. Some keep up this lifestyle for 40 years while sailing the world. Some of those who'd recently docked in the Italian port city of Genoa, share a taste of their travels that are connected to a long history of a seafaring life.

A sailor smokes a cigarette on the hydrofoil Procida

A sailor on the hydrofoil Procida in Italy

Daniele Frediani/Mondadori Portfolio via ZUMA Press
Paolo Griseri

GENOA — Cristina did it to escape after a tough breakup. Luigi because he dreamed of adventures and the South Seas. Marianna embarked just “before the refrigerator factory where I worked went out of business. I’m one of the few who got severance pay.”

To hear their stories, you have to go to the canteen on Via Albertazzi, in Italy's northern port city of Genoa, across from the ferry terminal. The place has excellent minestrone soup and is decorated with models of the ships that have made the port’s history.

There are 38,000 Italian professional sailors, many of whom work here in Genoa, a historic port of call that today is the country's second largest after Trieste on the east coast. Luciano Rotella of the trade union Italian Federation of Transport Workers says the official number of maritime workers is far lower than the reality, which contains a tangle of different laws, regulations, contracts and ethnicities — not to mention ancient remnants of harsh battles between shipowners and crews.

The result is that today it is not so easy to know how many people sail, nor their nationalities.

What is certain is that every six to seven months, the Italian mariner disembarks the ship and is dismissed: they take severance pay and after waits for the next call. Andrea has been sailing for more than 20 years: “When I started out, to those who told us we were earning good money, I replied that I had a precarious life: every landing was a dismissal.”

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