Russian Santa Claus Prefers Christmas to Presidency, Pension

Russia's Santa Claus. (Reuters)
Russia's Santa Claus. (Reuters)
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Russian Santa Claus Prefers Christmas to Presidency, Pension

Russia's Santa Claus. (Reuters)
Russia's Santa Claus. (Reuters)

The Russian Santa Claus has refused to leave his magical Christmas world despite the temptations that surround him.

He rejected his pension, but not just because accepting this money will make him a normal person and deprive children from their dreams about the kind white-beard and red-costumed man, who is loaded with happiness, hope and gifts.

And because the Russian Santa still has confidence in his energy and vigor, he rejected the pension so people don’t say that he “became old” and cannot accomplish his missions.

In Russia, Santa Claus is Known as “Ded Moroz”, or “Grandfather Frost.” He lives in the city of “Veliky Ustyug” located in the Russian parts of the snowy North Pole.

As part of his tour of Russian cities, Ded Moroz held a press conference in Moscow at the TASS news agency after he visited its headquarters and wished its employees and journalists a merry Christmas.

Answering the questions of journalists, who tried to determine whether he was a normal person or a “guest from the magical world”, Ded Moroz replied that employees from the pension department visited him in his house and brought him documents of his monthly retirement pension, but he refused it.

With a smile on his face, he added that “I still have the power and energy”, but refused to reveal his real age, and insisted on staying in his own world.

Santa’s press conference coincided with the inauguration of electoral campaigns for the presidential elections in Russia.

However, he said that his tasks and mission are much more important than the presidency.

He said: “I’m not sure if the Russian President can be Santa Claus. I therefore believe that my role is much more valuable.”

This position did not prevent him from bringing a gift for the president, but he did not reveal what it was.



Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)

Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published on Friday, which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms.

Taiwan, the Philippines and then China were lashed by the year's most powerful typhoon this week, with schools, businesses and financial markets shut as wind speeds surged up to 227 kph (141 mph). On China's eastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of landfall on Thursday.

Stronger tropical storms are part of a wider phenomenon of weather extremes driven by higher temperatures, scientists say.

Researchers led by Zhang Wenxia at the China Academy of Sciences studied historical meteorological data and found about 75% of the world's land area had seen a rise in "precipitation variability" or wider swings between wet and dry weather.

Warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, which is causing wider fluctuations in rainfall, the researchers said in a paper published by the Science journal.

"(Variability) has increased in most places, including Australia, which means rainier rain periods and drier dry periods," said Steven Sherwood, a scientist at the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study.

"This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods."

FEWER, BUT MORE INTENSE, STORMS

Scientists believe that climate change is also reshaping the behavior of tropical storms, including typhoons, making them less frequent but more powerful.

"I believe higher water vapor in the atmosphere is the ultimate cause of all of these tendencies toward more extreme hydrologic phenomena," Sherwood told Reuters.

Typhoon Gaemi, which first made landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday, was the strongest to hit the island in eight years.

While it is difficult to attribute individual weather events to climate change, models predict that global warming makes typhoons stronger, said Sachie Kanada, a researcher at Japan's Nagoya University.

"In general, warmer sea surface temperature is a favorable condition for tropical cyclone development," she said.

In its "blue paper" on climate change published this month, China said the number of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea had declined significantly since the 1990s, but they were getting stronger.

Taiwan also said in its climate change report published in May that climate change was likely to reduce the overall number of typhoons in the region while making each one more intense.

The decrease in the number of typhoons is due to the uneven pattern of ocean warming, with temperatures rising faster in the western Pacific than the east, said Feng Xiangbo, a tropical cyclone research scientist at the University of Reading.

Water vapor capacity in the lower atmosphere is expected to rise by 7% for each 1 degree Celsius increase in temperatures, with tropical cyclone rainfall in the United States surging by as much as 40% for each single degree rise, he said.