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The Panama News blog links, June 9, 2022

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The Panama News blog links

a bilingual Panama-centric selection of other people’s work
una selección bilingüe Panamá-céntrica de las obras de otras personas
If you are not bilingual Google Translate usually works
Si no eres bilingüe, el traductor de Google generalmente funciona

Canal, Maritime & Transport / Canal, Marítima & Transporte

Mundo Marítimo, Cuarta terminal de contenedores en Colón

Hellenic Shipping News, Panama backs amendments to improve seafarers’ lot

Mundo Marítimo, Puerto Futuro de Colombia en tramite en Barranquilla

Reuters, Greek court overturns decision allowing US seizure of Iranian oil cargo

Wonderful Engineering, First autonomous cargo ship transoceanic voyage

Reuters, Automakers back restoration of California emissions authority

EFE, El aeropuerto de Santiago de Chile busca tener hidrógeno verde

road crew
The road crew. Mostly jobless PRD members and not much of a “Put Panamanians back to work” program. Nor even a thorough fixing or maintenance of the roads. Photo by the editor.

Economy / Economía

Metro Libre, Cinco años del establecimiento de relaciones comerciales con China

Prensa Latina, Panama to import more rice

TVN, Valderrama apuesta por mantener Plan Panamá Solidario

Stiglitz, Getting deglobalization right

yahoo!, Goldman Sachs: dos claves para afrontar la desaceleración

Baker, Impediment to productivity growth: waste that makes some people rich

E&N, Colón costarricense entre las monedas más depreciadas de Latinoamérica

CITES bust

Science & Technology / Ciencia & Tecnología

Mongabay, Noise pollution spooks whales the way predators would

ONU Noticias, Una ráfaga de radio rápida a 3 mil millones de años luz de distancia

Mongabay, Why are tropical birds more colorful?

Gizmodo, Earbuds designed especially for kids

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There is always a lag of several years in these US national statistics. The COVID epidemic has made the lags worse, and the death tolls worse. However, the general proportions of suicides, criminal homicides, justifiable homicides and accidental deaths still hold.

News / Noticias

TVN, Primer trimestre escolar: deficiencias, ausentismo y miedo

Telemetro, Chepo complacido con veto de proyecto sobre lago Bayano

Metro Libre, Médico pidió licencia sin sueldo y quedó San Félix, Chiriquí, sin alcalde

Prensa Latina, Cuba and Panama seek to strengthen parliamentary ties

El País, El Salvador accused of torture, arbitrary arrests and deaths in custody

Al Jazeera, Moscow’s chief rabbi leaves Russia amid pressure to back war

AP, Vietnam’s health minister arrested over COVID test gouging

EFE, Papa Francisco: Recortes en salud es un atentado contra la humanidad

AP, Biden sidelines Guaidó for summit

Daily Dot, TPUSA’s Benny Johnson demands underage girls start getting pregnant

AP, Great resignation’ reaches White House with staff turnover

Tallahassee Democrat, DeSantis aide belatedly registers as a foreign agent

Miami Herald, Florida undercounted COVID cases and deaths

El País, CIA spying on Assange’s lawyers could annul US extradition bid

Opinion / Opiniones

Buruma, Stop blaming the Russian soul

Klein, Did the assault weapons ban of 1994 bring down mass shootings?

Woischnik & Hügel, La Cumbre de las Américas de Joe Biden

Mena, Minería sin dios y ley

Noriega, Conflicto de intereses

Turner, SOS ante el manejo de los desechos de Panamá

Zúñiga, Cuando la ambición se impone sobre los valores

Radar, Candidaturas independientes: ¿Camino cuesta arriba?

Blades, Sobre el fallo del 20 de mayo del 2022 y los Martinelli

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Culture / Cultura

La Estrella, Entradas al Festival Alfredo Saint Malo con opción de pago por donación

BBC, Canada’s men go on strike forcing Panama friendly to be called off

La Estrella, Honor al Tristán Solarte

Remezcla, Sech Releases Summer Anthem ‘Noche De Teteo’

USA Today, PGA suspends Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series participants

Sjölin, Old lesbian expresssions to remember when watching Gentleman Jack

Clarín, ¿Por qué Banksy es un artista anónimo?

The Onion, Abortion law requires women to spend night in creepy old house on hill

AP, Rafael Warnock’s children’s book coming this fall

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Banco Mundial, Aumenta el riesgo de estanflación

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RD
La guerra en Ucrania provoca inflación y condiciones financieras restrictivas. Foto de Santo Domingo, por CEPAL.

En medio de una abrupta desaceleración del
crecimiento, aumenta el riesgo de estanflación

por el Banco Mundial

CIUDAD DE WASHINGTON, 7 de junio de 2022. Como agravante de los daños provocados por la pandemia de COVID-19, la invasión rusa a Ucrania ha exacerbado la desaceleración de la economía mundial, que está entrando en lo que podría convertirse en un período prolongado de escaso crecimiento y elevada inflación, según el último informe Perspectivas económicas mundiales elaborado por el Banco Mundial. Este contexto aumenta el riesgo de estanflación, con consecuencias potencialmente perjudiciales tanto para las economías de ingreso mediano como para las de ingreso bajo.

Se prevé que el crecimiento mundial descienda del 5,7 % en 2021 al 2,9 % en 2022, un porcentaje considerablemente menor que el 4,1 % que se anticipó en enero. Se prevé que oscile en torno a ese ritmo durante el período 2023-24, a medida que la guerra en Ucrania afecte la actividad, la inversión y el comercio en el corto plazo; la demanda reprimida se disipe, y vayan eliminándose las políticas monetarias y fiscales acomodaticias. Como resultado de los daños derivados de la pandemia y la guerra, este año, el nivel de ingreso per cápita de las economías en desarrollo se ubicará casi un 5 % por debajo de su tendencia previa a la pandemia.

“La guerra en Ucrania, los confinamientos en China, los trastornos de la cadena de suministro y el riesgo de estanflación afectan el crecimiento. Para muchos países, será difícil evitar la recesión”, afirmó el presidente del Grupo Banco Mundial, David Malpass“Los mercados están expectantes, por lo que es urgente fomentar la producción y evitar las restricciones comerciales. Se requieren cambios en las políticas fiscales, monetarias, climáticas y de endeudamiento para contrarrestar la asignación inadecuada de capital y la desigualdad”.

En el informe Perspectivas económicas mundiales del mes de junio se presenta la primera evaluación sistemática de la forma en que las actuales circunstancias económicas mundiales se comparan con la estanflación de la década de 1970, con especial énfasis en la forma en que la estanflación podría afectar los mercados emergentes y las economías en desarrollo. La recuperación de la estanflación que se registró en los años setenta exigió fuertes aumentos en las tasas de interés en las principales economías avanzadas, lo que contribuyó en gran medida a desencadenar una serie de crisis financieras en los mercados emergentes y las economías en desarrollo.

“Las economías en desarrollo deberán equilibrar la necesidad de garantizar la sostenibilidad fiscal con la necesidad de mitigar los efectos de las múltiples crisis en los ciudadanos más pobres”, señaló Ayhan Kose, director del Grupo de Perspectivas del Banco Mundial. “Comunicar con claridad las decisiones en materia de política monetaria, aprovechar la credibilidad de los marcos de política monetaria y proteger la independencia del banco central puede anclar eficazmente las expectativas inflacionarias y reducir el grado de restricción monetaria requerida para lograr los efectos deseados sobre la inflación y la actividad”.

La coyuntura actual se asemeja a la de la década de 1970 en tres aspectos principales: perturbaciones continuas del lado de la oferta que favorecen la inflación, precedidas por un período prolongado de política monetaria altamente acomodaticia en las principales economías avanzadas; perspectivas de menor crecimiento, y vulnerabilidades que los mercados emergentes y las economías en desarrollo afrontan respecto de la aplicación de una política monetaria restrictiva que será necesaria para poner freno a la inflación.

Sin embargo, el episodio actual también difiere del que se vivió en los años setenta en múltiples dimensiones: el dólar es fuerte, lo que refleja un marcado contraste con la grave debilidad que tenía la divisa en esa década; los porcentajes de aumento de los precios de los productos básicos son menores, y los balances de las principales instituciones financieras son en general más sólidos. Lo que es más importante, a diferencia de los años setenta, los bancos centrales de las economías avanzadas y muchas economías en desarrollo tienen, en la actualidad, mandatos claros para la estabilidad de los precios y, durante las últimas tres décadas, han establecido un historial creíble de cumplimiento de sus metas de inflación.

Se prevé que la inflación mundial será moderada el próximo año, pero probablemente seguirá estando por encima de las metas de inflación en muchas economías. En el informe se observa que, si la inflación continúa siendo elevada, una repetición de la resolución del anterior episodio de estanflación podría traducirse en una marcada desaceleración mundial, acompañada de crisis financieras en algunos mercados emergentes y economías en desarrollo.

En el informe también se ofrecen nuevas perspectivas acerca de cómo los efectos de la guerra sobre los mercados de la energía empañan el panorama del crecimiento mundial. La guerra en Ucrania provocó un alza en los precios en diversos productos básicos relacionados con la energía. Los precios más altos de la energía reducirán los ingresos reales, aumentarán los costos de producción, restringirán la situación financiera y limitarán la política macroeconómica, especialmente en los países importadores de energía.

Se prevé que el crecimiento en las economías avanzadas se desacelere drásticamente del 5,1 % en 2021 al 2,6 % en 2022 (1,2 puntos porcentuales por debajo de las proyecciones de enero). Se prevé que el crecimiento se modere aún más al 2,2 % en 2023, lo que reflejará en gran medida la retirada del apoyo mediante políticas monetarias y fiscales proporcionado durante la pandemia.

Entre los mercados emergentes y las economías en desarrollo, también se prevé una caída del crecimiento del 6,6 % en 2021 al 3,4 % en 2022, muy por debajo del promedio anual del 4,8 % durante el período comprendido entre 2011 y 2019. Los efectos secundarios negativos de la guerra neutralizarán considerablemente cualquier estímulo de corto plazo para algunos exportadores de productos básicos derivado de los precios de energía más altos. Se revisaron los pronósticos del crecimiento de 2022 en casi el 70 % de los mercados emergentes y las economías en desarrollo, que incluye la mayoría de los países importadores de productos básicos, así como cuatro quintos de los países de ingreso bajo.

En el informe se destaca la necesidad de tomar medidas de política decisivas a nivel nacional y mundial para evitar que la guerra en Ucrania provoque peores consecuencias para la economía mundial. Esto incluirá esfuerzos globales para limitar los daños provocados a quienes se hayan visto afectados por la guerra, amortiguar el impacto del alza en los precios del petróleo y los alimentos, agilizar el alivio de la deuda y ampliar la vacunación en los países de ingreso bajo. También implicará contar con enérgicas respuestas de la oferta a nivel nacional y, a la vez, mantener el adecuado funcionamiento de los mercados de productos básicos a nivel mundial.

Además, los encargados de formular las políticas deberán abstenerse de implementar políticas distorsionadoras, como controles de precios, subvenciones y prohibiciones de exportación, que podrían acrecentar el reciente aumento en los precios de los productos básicos. En el contexto complejo de una mayor inflación, un menor crecimiento, una situación financiera más restrictiva y un limitado espacio para la política fiscal, los Gobiernos deberán redefinir la prioridad de los gastos para orientarlos a brindar apoyo específico a las poblaciones vulnerables.

 

Descargue el informe Perspectivas económicas mundiales (disponible a las 9.30, hora del este del 7 de junio de 2022) : https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/37224/9781464818431.pdf

Resumen ejecutivo: https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/18ad707266f7740bced755498ae0307a-0350012022/related/Global-Economic-Prospects-June-2022-Executive-Summary.pdf

 

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Wappin? Our belated musical mix / Nuestra mezcla musical, ya tarde

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Zappa

Friday playlist delayed thanks to Claro
Lista de reproducción del viernes retrasada gracias a Claro

Frank Zappa – Weasels Ripped My Flesh
https://youtu.be/OP-cQa3eEZk

Kany Garcia & Alejandro Sanz – Muero
https://youtu.be/uJrbkz7Hy2E

Roger Waters – The Bravery of Being Out of Range
https://youtu.be/JamLmpVOgE0

Dolly Parton – When Life is Good Again
https://youtu.be/zEUYlo6OoDY

Ulpiano Vergara – Mi Persona Favorita
https://youtu.be/6qRBJiMeuRM

The Barefoot Movement — Bad Moon Rising
https://youtu.be/p4c_zNf9BUg

Jefferson Airplane – When the Earth Moves Again
https://youtu.be/UCmS53zUVZM

Mezcla Mon Laftere 2022
https://youtu.be/MayObo3sYio

Charles Mingus –1965 bootleg / documentary
https://youtu.be/T2KDM6TA6ow

 

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The invocation at the NRA convention

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NRA
Psalm 106. Meanwhile Abbott was elsewhere, pointing the finger at black folks in Chicago.

Much has been and will be said,
but what can you say?

 

 

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In gringo lingo, this Claro practice is called “bait and switch”

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they gave me this
They gave me this…

Claro pulls the bait and switch

by Eric Jackson

Hey! They’re big, bad Claro and they’re now bigger and badder due to a merger / acquisition deal. They don’t have to answer to customers, especially since they have divided up the wireless modem turf such that THIS customer has no option for Internet service, except to go someplace that has free WiFi for as long as they’ll tolerate a scruffy old hippie using it.

That’s how this story comes to you. Your editor paid Claro on a contract for unlimited monthly data service, and without even being asked got switched to a more expensive limited deal. As in paid for a month, and got three weeks.

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…but I paid for that.

Do I make an issue of it? I do here, and then there WILL be complaints to Claro management itself and to government regulators.

Not that it’s likely to make much difference. In a business culture wherein it seems that everyone in management – of both private companies and the government and its dependencies – cheated their way through a fourth-rate US university business administration school with a C+ average, there are certain universally-taught norms:

* We gave you what you ordered, even if you have receipts that say otherwise….

* We have never had this problem before. The problem is that there’s something wrong with YOU….

* Who are YOU? We’re the multi-billlion-dollar multinational company, punk….

* If you publish that we’ll get your journalist license canceled and have you thrown in jail for criminal defamation….

* The guy who sold you that contract? He doesn’t work for us anymore….

Maybe they will surprise me, say that there was a mistake somewhere in the system and correct it. I’m not holding my breath.

Do I want to pretend to see through the sensors of an inhuman creature that has human cogs but neither eyes nor a soul of its own? Claro, or whatever they end up calling the entity when the merger is all done, deals with a society in which a lot of people will sell their vote for a bag of groceries, or take the groceries and pretend, but vote for someone else. Corporations doing business in Panama, domestic and foreign, have to deal not only with the products of horrible schools but with wise guys who play the juega vivo games of the private sector. Ripping off a customer and personally pocketing the proceeds rather than letting them accrue to the company’s account is not an unknown scheme here.

The cliché is that a fish rots from the head down, that the one on top is who sets the tone for a corporate culture from top to bottom. Except that he’s selling out to a new entity, I could put the human face of Carlos Slim on my annoyance. Then play on popular resentment against billionaires, xenophobia against Mexicans, racism against Arabs or so on.

But you see, The Panama News ain’t Fox. The editorial stance here is to play to readers’ intelligence, not insult it.

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SUCH A DEAL! When the Internet service goes out, they switch you to this. But then, all this stuff about free navigation that doesn’t work when you chip runs out three weeks into a 30-day contract. Moreover, find another way to connect and you can’t readily connect to a customer service place where you can register your complaint and have it addressed.

  

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And the deal is, limited rather than unlimited service, at a higher price.

 

 

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Protesters ginning up for this weekend’s NRA convention

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NRA
“Don’t look away,” said one advocacy group. “Rally against the NRA.” Indivisible Houston created a cardboard cutout of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) ahead of the NRA’s annual convention scheduled to take place on May 27, 2022 in Houston, Texas. The sign reads, “I murder teachers and children.” Photo by Indivisible Houston.

Faith leaders, teachers mobilize for protests at NRA’s Houston meeting in wake of Uvalde massacre

by Julia Conley – Common Dreams

As national and local gun control advocacy groups prepared to rally in Houston on Friday to protest the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting days after a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Indivisible Houston reported that Senator Ted Cruz “made an early appearance” at the convention with a “startling admission.”

The group installed on Thursday a cardboard cutout of the Republican senator outside the George R. Brown Convention Center, where the NRA gathering will take place. Cruz was pictured giving a thumbs-up sign with the words “I murder teachers and children” written in red across his chest.

Indivisible Houston displayed the cutout as it joined faith groups, Moms Demand Action, Youth for Beto, and the local Black Lives Matter chapter in planning to protest at nearby Discovery Green this weekend.

“Don’t look away,” Youth for Beto urged gun control advocates. “Rally against the NRA.”

The powerful gun rights organization has faced calls to cancel the convention as the nation mourns its latest mass shooting victims, including 19 children and two teachers who were killed by an 18-year-old gunman Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Cruz has garnered heightened outrage this week over his opposition to broadly popular guncontrol legislation as he’s scheduled to speak at the convention along with former Republican President Donald Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

Since the shooting, the senator has proposed equipping schools with bulletproof glass and “one door into and out of the school,” while accusing people calling for stricter regulations on gun purchases of trying “politicize” the students’ and teachers’ murders.

Indivisible Houston meanwhile accused Cruz in the hours after the shooting of profiting “off of the bodies of children” as he plans to speak at the convention.

Faith leaders including Teresa Kim Pecinovsky, an ordained minister with the Disciples of Christ, and Presbyterian elder Megan Hansen, are planning to lead dozens of people from diverse faith backgrounds in a silent march through the convention center on Friday during the meeting.

“Christianity has helped lead us to this place and that is a tragedy,” Hansen told Bloomberg in an apparent reference to right-wing Christian lawmakers who oppose gun control. “We should be leading away from the violence and individualism associated with guns.”

Becky Pringle and Randi Weingarten, the presidents of the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions, announced Thursday that they will also rally outside the convention center, joined by two teachers who survived previous school shootings in Parkland, Florida and Newtown, Connecticut.

“No matter where, educators know: this cannot stand,” said Pringle. “We need action to make our schools safe from gun violence.”

 

 

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Editorials: Prematurely lame ducks; and Baal’s prayers and decorum

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teachers
Protesting teachers, whose grievances include physically dangerous and unhealthy schools in many places, the apparent diversions from the teachers’ retirement fund to mysterious private sources, broken promises about the funding of education and an ugly looting binge by the political caste in general, at everyone else’s expense. The teachers’ strike in Colon is now into its 18th day. ASOPROF photo, from that union’s Twitter feed.

An early lame duck period

When the end of a government’s term draws near, people who got their public sector jobs by way of political ties who were not thieves from the outset often begin to steal because soon after the turnover they will no longer have government jobs. Public officials, including some elected ones, pay ever less attention and respect to those whom they are hired to serve. They’re on their way out, are not counting on any future, so don’t care how bad they look.

Usually that happens in the last year of an administration. With Nito’s executive branch, the PRD-dominated National Assembly and down to local levels with some representantes and their crews that can read strange handwriting on walls, that process is underway right now.

The “now” is Panama reeling under the impact of an epidemic that has cost us thousands of live and uncounted health problems for a great many others. It’s a Panama squeezed by high prices. It’s a Panama in record debt. We’re in a bad way, folks, and the traditional lowest priorities – Colon, the remote areas, the indigenous comarcas, the people lowest on the economic scale – are being rudely brushed off. It seems that every day someone else is blocking the road. “Dialogue” gets belatedly offered, but rarely cash.

They’re going to give some company a tax break so that theoretically it will create jobs and Colon will be trickled upon? They’re conducting a study RIGHT NOW? Hey! – for the large minority who don’t depend on public transportation, the new license plates are coming soon. LOOK! – the diputada has married a playboy PRINCE of a republic that has no royalty!

None of that stuff matters. It’s even worse, because to scrape by the government is approving ruinous contracts for ephemeral crumbs, destroying our environment for centuries to come to help balance this month’s national economy and making obsequious foreign policy gestures that compromise Panama’s neutrality, interests and dignity.

And all the while, a mad piñata scramble among the PRD. Lame duck periods are ugly things to behold in Panama.

 

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What to about all the massacres in the USA?

First of all, show all due respect for the thoughts and prayers of a governor who signed the bill that allowed a messed-up 18-year-old to buy an AR-15 without any wait or background check. We heard you loud and clear for too long, Mr. Abbott, and Texans, Americans and the world audience don’t need to hear your whining about decorum when you offer banal thoughts and blasphemous prayers. Disrespect and disruption are all due.

Yeah, the Republicans in Congress are going to block domestic terrorism legislation. You see, they’re really into that stuff. The crowd they assembled to attack the Capitol in order to block certification of the voters’ decision in 2020, the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the nazis – those are their constituents. Wouldn’t want to stop them from trying it again now, would we Senator McConnell?

Nothing has worked to resolve the anger and violence out and about in US society. It’s not one simple issue, not a subject for one law, not a catchy bumper sticker slogan.

But you know what? Bill Clinton, whatever one may think about him, did manage to get a useful law passed, the assault weapons ban. It by and large worked. Yes, there were plenty of murders in the decade it remained in effect, but not a new one-gunman massacre every day.

Then the Republicans repealed it. They’re FOR domestic terrorism. They threaten it every day. When it happens because they legislated for it to happen, they falsely accuse someone else.

Let’s start small by going back to where American law once was. Let’s ban assault weapons again. The killers might still kill, but it will be harder for them to inflict mass casualties.

 

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Marie Curie working in her lab. In her fearless research she learned about radiation sickness and eventually died from it. And the world tended to understand.

 

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.

Marie Curie

Bear in mind…

 

 

The accent of one’s birthplace lingers in the mind and in the heart as it does in one’s speech.

François de La Rochefoucauld

 

 

To have become a deeper man is the privilege of those who have suffered.

Oscar Wilde

 

 

I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.

Charlotte Brontë

 

 

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Rohde, What is monkeypox?

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do the monkey
Monkeypox causes lesions that resemble pus-filled blisters, which eventually scab over. Photo by CDC/Getty Images

What is monkeypox? A microbiologist explains
what’s known about this smallpox cousin

by Rodney E. Rohde, Texas State University

On May 18, 2022, Massachusetts health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a single case of monkeypox in a patient who had recently traveled to Canada. Cases have also been reported in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Monkeypox isn’t a new disease. The first confirmed human case was in 1970, when the virus was isolated from a child suspected of having smallpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Monkeypox is unlikely to cause another pandemic, but with COVID-19 top of mind, fear of another major outbreak is understandable. Though rare and usually mild, monkeypox can still potentially cause severe illness. Health officials are concerned that more cases will arise with increased travel.

I’m a researcher who has worked in public health and medical laboratories for over three decades, especially in the realm of diseases with animal origins. What exactly is happening in the current outbreak, and what does history tell us about monkeypox?

A cousin of smallpox

Monkeypox is caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to a subset of the Poxviridae family of viruses called Orthopoxvirus. This subset includes the smallpox, vaccinia and cowpox viruses. While an animal reservoir for monkeypox virus is unknown, African rodents are suspected to play a part in transmission. The monkeypox virus has only been isolated twice from an animal in nature. Diagnostic testing for monkeypox is currently only available at Laboratory Response Network labs in the United States and globally.

The name “monkeypox” comes from the first documented cases of the illness in animals in 1958, when two outbreaks occurred in monkeys kept for research. However, the virus did not jump from monkeys to humans, nor are monkeys major carriers of the disease.

Electron microscope view of monkeypox, showing oval-shaped, mature virus particles and spherical, immature virions
Monkeypox belongs to the Poxviridae family of viruses, which includes smallpox. Photo by CDC/ Cynthia S. Goldsmith

Epidemiology

Since the first reported human case, monkeypox has been found in several other central and western African countries, with the majority of infections in the DRC. Cases outside of Africa have been linked to international travel or imported animals, including in the United States and elsewhere.

The first reported cases of monkeypox in the United States was in 2003, from an outbreak in Texas linked to a shipment of animals from Ghana. There were also travel-associated cases in November and July 2021 in Maryland.

Because monkeypox is closely related to smallpox, the smallpox vaccine can provide protection against infection from both viruses. Since smallpox was officially eradicated, however, routine smallpox vaccinations for the United States general population were stopped in 1972. Because of this, monkeypox has been appearing increasingly in unvaccinated people.

Person getting temperature tested at airportIndonesia began screening travelers after a monkeypox case was reported in Singapore in May 2019. Photo by Jepayona Delita/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Transmission

The virus can be transmitted through contact with an infected person or animal or contaminated surfaces. Typically, the virus enters the body through broken skin, inhalation or the mucous membranes in the eyes, nose or mouth. Researchers believe that human-to-human transmission is mostly through inhalation of large respiratory droplets rather than direct contact with bodily fluids or indirect contact through clothes. Human-to-human transmission rates for monkeypox have been limited.

Health officials are worried the virus may currently be spreading undetected through community transmission, possibly through a new mechanism or route. Where and how infections are occurring are still under investigation.

Signs and symptoms

After the virus enters the body, it starts to replicate and spread through the body via the bloodstream. Symptoms usually don’t appear until one to two weeks after infection.

Monkeypox produces smallpox-like skin lesions, but symptoms are usually milder than those of smallpox. Flu-like symptoms are common initially, ranging from fever and headache to shortness of breath. One to 10 days later, a rash can appear on the extremities, head or torso that eventually turns into blisters filled with pus. Overall, symptoms usually last for two to four weeks, while skin lesions usually scab over in 14 to 21 days.

While monkeypox is rare and usually non-fatal, one version of the disease kills around 10% of infected people. The form of the virus currently circulating is thought to be milder, with a fatality rate of less than 1%.

Vaccines and treatments

Treatment for monkeypox is primarily focused on relieving symptoms. According to the CDC, no treatments are available to cure monkeypox infection.

Because smallpox is closely related to monkeypox, the smallpox vaccine can protect against both diseases.

Evidence suggests that the smallpox vaccine can help prevent monkeypox infections and decrease the severity of the symptoms. One vaccine known as Imvamune or Imvanex is licensed in the United States to prevent monkeypox and smallpox.

Vaccination after exposure to the virus may also help decrease chances of severe illness. The CDC currently recommends smallpox vaccination only in people who have been or are likely to be exposed to monkeypox. Immunocompromised people are at high risk.The Conversation

Rodney E. Rohde, Regents’ Professor of Clinical Laboratory Science, Texas State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

 

¿Wappin? Rainy day music / Música de día lluvioso

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Boza
Boza performs for prisoners in Bogota. Photo from his Twitter feed.
Boza actúa para presos en Bogotá. Foto de su cuenta de Twitter.

Sonidos para crecer y renovarse
Sounds to grow and renew

Boza – San Andrés
https://youtu.be/mq3S6eRtwEc

Barry Mann – Who Put the Bomp
https://youtu.be/lXmsLe8t_gg

Prince & The Revolution – Purple Rain
https://youtu.be/bm03wqLY3Nc

Carlos Santana & John McLaughlin – A Love Supreme
https://youtu.be/p2IpZb3osxY

Ismael Rivera con Kako y Su Orquesta – Cantar Maravilloso
https://youtu.be/khuRDG0eCto

Mon Laferte – No Soy Para Ti
https://youtu.be/NaLSPQvQHaU

Billy Bragg – Never Buy The Sun
https://youtu.be/l1P6KUyOhBc

Any Tovar – Corazón En Huelga
https://youtu.be/GFIKo4YEqFw

Avril Lavigne medley at the 2022 Juno Awards
https://youtu.be/rK5GUFk5WuM

Little Eva – The Locomotion
https://youtu.be/lNNW0SPkChI

Yomira John – Solita
https://youtu.be/9B4G7wppIuY

Osvaldo Ayala – Dos Rumbos
https://youtu.be/05y0-xOrqIc

Lady Gaga – Hold My Hand
https://youtu.be/O2CIAKVTOrc

Roger Waters – The Gunner’s Dream
https://youtu.be/aC9rY4HeN6A

Samy y Sandra Sandoval – Por Culpa de Mi Pasado
https://youtu.be/145T5Nvqi9g

 

Contact us by email at / Contáctanos por correo electrónico a fund4thepanamanews@gmail.com

 

To fend off hackers, organized trolls and other online vandalism, our website comments feature is switched off. Instead, come to our Facebook page to join in the discussion.

Para defendernos de los piratas informáticos, los trolls organizados y otros actos de vandalismo en línea, la función de comentarios de nuestro sitio web está desactivada. En cambio, ven a nuestra página de Facebook para unirte a la discusión.  

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Dinero

Aponte, Written presentation to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee

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Aponte
Mari Carmen Aponte, five years ago when she was acting US Assistant Secretary of State for hemispheric affairs. State Department photo.

Statement of Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte
Nominee for US Ambassador to the Republic of Panama
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
May 18, 2022

Chairman, Ranking Member, distinguished Members of the Committee, I feel honored and grateful for the trust and confidence President Biden and Secretary Blinken placed in me by nominating me to serve as United States Ambassador to the Republic of Panama. It is an honor to appear before you for the second time, after having served as Ambassador to El Salvador and Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere. I look forward to discussing my view of the bilateral relationship and how I will make it even more productive and dynamic if confirmed as ambassador.

The United States and Panama have a long history of partnership and collaboration to advance mutual goals. We remain Panama’s largest trade partner and its number one source of foreign direct investment. Panama’s location and role in global trade, due to the Panama Canal, make its success important to both US prosperity and national security. Traffic to or from the United States represents nearly seventy percent of all Canal transits.

Panama’s strategic location along major land and sea transit routes makes it critical in the interdiction of illicit drugs destined for the United States and a vital partner in addressing irregular migration. As a carbon negative country, Panama has the potential to serve as an environmental model not only for the region but for the world.

While Panama and the United States have ample historical, cultural, and economic ties, challenges exist in the bilateral relationship. Each year, thousands of migrants take a perilous journey through the Darién Gap, many passing through Panama on their way to the United States. We must find more ways to work together to manage migration, provide protection, and give potential irregular migrants incentives to remain in their home countries.

We must also continue to promote democratic governance and rule of law. Corruption, a serious challenge in Panama, has a corrosive effect on many layers of the state; we must not allow it to progress further. The government efforts to enforce recent anti-money laundering reforms and to correct deficiencies required for Panama’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s Grey List will determine Panama’s financial stability and attractiveness to investors. Panama also suffers from organized criminal activity, which threatens to undermine democratic institutions and economic prosperity.

If confirmed, I will use my position as ambassador to strengthen our relationship with Panama and build the security and prosperity of the entire region. This includes continuing our engagement with Panamanian government ministries, civil society, and the private sector to showcase our strong partnership and hedge against problematic PRC influence and activities. We need a stable, strong, and secure Panama, and Panama needs the United States as a friend, ally, and partner.

Effective implementation of US foreign policy in Panama requires a cohesive, diligent, and effective whole-of-US-government team, and we have an extraordinary interagency embassy team in Panama. The Mission’s efforts center on the strategic work of ensuring the United States remains a valued partner,
collaboratively managing migration through the Darién, and the battle against corruption that threatens the foundations of institutional democracy. Just as I did in El Salvador as US Ambassador there, I want to empower and listen to the Embassy team to make the bilateral relationship stronger, more effective, and more dynamic. If confirmed, I will prioritize strengthening diversity and inclusion. I commit to ensuring our workplace remains a safe, fair, and just space for all.

The challenges we face, now more than ever, call for strong, smart, and vibrant diplomacy. Panama can and should serve as a key player in confronting Central America’s challenges. We will strengthen bilateral ties by reaching out to the complete spectrum of Panamanian society, not just to government leaders and the country’s elite, but to community leaders, minority and women’s groups, youth, and all facets of civil society. We are going to do this with Panama, hand-in-hand, so that together we can move forward stronger.

If confirmed, I will lead our Embassy team in Panama City with pride and dedication and look forward to keeping you apprised of our progress. I will prioritize protecting US citizens in Panama while championing the interests of the United States in cooperation with our Panamanian friends.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I look forward to answering your questions.

 

Editor’s note: The questions and answers were typical and in many cases reflected the fears, opinions and presumptions of the committee members — which ought to give pause to US citizens who are Latin Americanist observers of Washington’s dysfunctional and often delusional notions about the region.

  • The obsession about China? It at least reflects a real business and geopolitical rivalry, even as old Republican fantasies of Chinese assignments of PanCanal pilots probably live on as footnotes informing QAnon thinking.
  • A “troika” of an unpopular government in Panama, an unpopular and now departed Costa Rican administration and the Dominican Republic? Sounds like SEATO or some such figment of US imagination, or Comrade Enver Hoxha’s invincible one-billion-strong Albanian-Chinese Alliance. Even if the idea for it may not have come directly out of Washington.

Be that as it may, in Ms. Aponte we deal with someone who knows the ropes, knows the region and has been confirmed by the Senate before. Hers is not a controversial nomination and it looks likely that after four years without a formal ambassador here the United States will be fully represented in Panama. Adequate funding for consular services and other US diplomatic functions in Panama? To be seen. But surely an upgrade in US relations with the Panamanian government, friendly or combative as the ties may turn out to be.

Catch Ambassador Aponte’s testimony here, in an excerpt by La Prensa from the Senate committee hearing. Due to microphone problems the first part of the testimony has an echo but that problem gets fixed a few minutes into the recording.

 

 

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