China is imposing tough measures to contain the Wuhan coronavirus – The Economist

A city in lockdown  —–  Almost all Chinese provinces now have confirmed cases

Jan 26th 2020 – BEIJING – China

Editor’s note (January 27th): Some numbers in this article have been updated since publication.

IT IS THE third day of the Chinese new year, a time when families would normally still be celebrating. But Zhang Fang (not her real name) is keeping herself isolated in her bedroom. She probably has a mild infection typical of the season, but is not taking risks. Ms Zhang, a marketing manager in her 20s, lives with her husband and her in-laws in a central district of Wuhan, the Chinese city first affected by a newly identified coronavirus that has been causing global alarm.

Wuhan, a city of 11m people, has been in lockdown since January 23rd.       

ExxonMobil ups Guyana recoverable resources to more than 8 billion barrels, makes discovery at Uaru

Posted by: Denis Chabrol in – Demerara Waves – January 27, 2020

Oil discoveries, including dry holes and the latest, Uaru.

IRVING, Texas – ExxonMobil has increased its estimated recoverable resource base in Guyana to more than 8 billion oil-equivalent barrels and made a further oil discovery northeast of the producing Liza field at the Uaru exploration well, the 16th discovery on the Stabroek Block.

The new recoverable resource estimate includes 15 discoveries offshore Guyana through year-end 2019. The Uaru discovery is the first of 2020 and will be added to the resource estimate at a later date.         

Doomsday Clock: A Hundred Seconds to Midnight – by Rosaliene Bacchus

A Hundred Seconds to Midnight

– by Rosaliene Bacchus

On Thursday, January  23, 2020, our atomic scientists advanced the Doomsday Clock another twenty seconds, bringing the fate of humanity to a hundred seconds to midnight. For those who don’t know, midnight signifies humanity’s self-annihilation with its nuclear arsenal. The guns that Americans cling to, like a toddler clings to his teddy bear, would be rendered useless in the face of a nuclear threat. To learn more, read the full statement issued by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

In his article “Twin Threats,” published in The Nation magazine (issue dated 01/27/2020), Michael T. Klare argues:

“All things being equal, rising temperatures will increase the likelihood of nuclear war, largely because climate change will heighten the risk of social stress, the decay of nation-states, and armed violence in general…”

Read More: A Hundred Seconds to Midnight by Rosaliene Bacchus

Medical: Over 70% of 12- to 14-year-olds in China are short-sighted – The Economist

Experts say they should get out more

China –Jan 18th 2020 edition –  The ECONOMIST

The phone on Wang Xiaoying’s desk rings incessantly on a weekday morning. An optometrist in Shanghai, Ms Wang doubles as a part-time operator for China’s first publicly funded call centre providing information about myopia. It began operating on January 7th. Most callers are parents who worry about the deteriorating eyesight of their young offspring. “Make sure your child spends two hours outdoors each day!” Ms Wang often urges them. Another tip she offers is to avoid reading when supine. Trying to focus on an object held up by an unsteady arm is likely to strain the eyes, some experts believe.

The government reckons that more than 450m people in China, or at least one in three, are short-sighted (meaning that distant objects appear blurry). Globally just over one in five are.         

OPINION: A plea to humanity amidst the brutality – By Yvonne Sam

By Yvonne Sam

Are we not our brother’s keeper?

I am in no way soliciting a response, to the afore-stated inquiry, based on the fact that current happenings in Guyana reveal that the people are still answering Cain’s question to God. (Genesis, 4:9). Ironically, the Brother’s Keeper epithet was first framed as a negative:  When God asked after Cain, fresh from murdering Abel, where his brother was. Cain answered, “I know not; am I my brother’s keeper?”

Today any morally upright, sane thinking, god fearing, people loving, oil benefitting Guyanese knows that where God is concerned, the right response is a resounding “Yes!”  After all, Jesus told us so Himself, through stories like the Good Samaritan and imperatives like “Love Your Neighbor.”         

World Economics: The Greatest Financial Train Wreck the World Has Ever Seen – Bill Bonner’s Diary

Bill Bonner’s Diary

BALTIMORE — Last week, stocks finished at an all-time high. But guess what? In terms of real money — gold-linked, pre-1971 dollars — stocks have been losing ground since the start of the millennium.

We are looking at one of the most remarkable episodes in financial history. Investors think they are making money… when they’re actually getting poorer.

Donald J. Trump tells the international Deep Staters at Davos that the U.S. economy is “spectacular”, but most of its countries have never recovered from the crisis of ’08-’09.

What a jolly time to be alive… to be conscious… with a few dollars saved up and a sense of humor. And coming up… a financial Demolition Derby on a global scale…             

India: Narendra Modi stokes divisions in the world’s biggest democracy – The Economist

India’s 200m Muslims fear the prime minister is building a Hindu state

Narendra Modi

Leaders- Jan 23rd 2020 edition – Jan 23rd 2020 – The Economist

Last month India changed the law to make it easier for adherents of all the subcontinent’s religions, except Islam, to acquire citizenship. At the same time, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (bjp) wants to compile a register of all India’s 1.3bn citizens, as a means to hunt down illegal immigrants (see Briefing). Those sound like technicalities, but many of the country’s 200m Muslims do not have the papers to prove they are Indian, so they risk being made stateless. Ominously, the government has ordered the building of camps to detain those caught in the net.       

Reducing Fire, and Cutting Carbon Emissions, the Aboriginal Way – Thomas Fuller | The New York Times

Thomas Fuller | The New York Times

As blazes rage in southern Australia, Indigenous fire-prevention techniques that have sharply cut destructive bushfires in the north are drawing new attention.

COOINDA, Australia — At a time when vast tracts of Australia are burning, Violet Lawson is never far from a match. 

In the woodlands surrounding her home in the far north of the country, she lights hundreds of small fires a year — literally fighting fire with fire. These traditional Aboriginal practices, which reduce the undergrowth that can fuel bigger blazes, are attracting new attention as Australia endures disaster and confronts a fiery future.                 

Corruption: Guyana registers best ever score on Transparency International ranking

By Stabroek News – January 24, 2020

Guyana has risen three points in the latest Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) Report, registering its best score ever and was once again listed among 22 countries which have significantly improved their standing in the last eight years.

“In the last eight years, only 22 countries significantly improved their CPI scores, including Greece, Guyana and Estonia,” the TI Corruption Perceptions Index 2019 report said.

Guyana now has a score of 40 and is ranked at 85 out of the 180 countries which were looked at for the report which was released on January 23, 2020.           

Guyana: Power Generation: Giftland to supply GPL with 4.5 megawatts of power

Jan 21, 2020  News

– Power Purchasing Agreement finally signed

The state owned Guyana Power and Light Inc. has finally sealed the deal with Giftland Mall to supplement more than four mega watt (Mw) of power to the grid after almost two years of back and forth.

This disclosure was made by the Public Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson, yesterday on the sidelines of an event.

According to Minister Patterson, “the Power Purchase Agreement has been signed…The technical modalities have been worked out and I think very shortly the licence will be granted.”

“Giftland will be supplying about four megawatts into the power grid to augment what GPL has at the moment,” Patterson added.