Month: July 2021

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Entertainment

Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union Take pleasure in North Fork Trip

Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union Enjoy North Fork Vacation

Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union are currently enjoying a relaxing North Fork vacation on Long Island, New York, and we couldn’t be more jealous. From family time with 2-year-old daughter Kaavia to dinner with friends, the couple made sure to document their entire trip on Instagram. Gabrielle’s best friend, Deirdre Maloney, and her family join the duo for the vacation, which makes for some excellent “shady baby” content from Kaavia.

The two all smiled as they took a short boat ride before visiting Croteaux Vineyards. There, Gabrielle did her best to teach Dwyane what a “trot” is and took full advantage of the vineyard’s rosé. While Gabrielle can say, “It’s like a panther” on Dwyne’s Instagram Story, our best guess is that it moves much like a horse. Regardless, Dwyane has taken his duty as an “Instagram Husband” very seriously – he knows ALL of Gabrielle’s best angles. See some of the couple’s best vacation photos ahead of time, including some precious family moments.

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Health

All vitality crises pale compared to Covid

All energy crises pale in comparison to Covid

LONDON – Oil and gas giant BP released its benchmark Statistical Review of World Energy on Thursday, describing 2020 as “a year like no other” due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on global energy.

Over the past seven decades, BP claimed to have witnessed some of the most dramatic episodes in the history of the global energy system, including the 1956 Suez Canal crisis, the 1973 oil embargo, the 1979 Iranian revolution and the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

“All moments of great turbulence in global energy,” said Spencer Dale, chief economist at BP, in the report. “But all pale compared to the events of last year.”

To date, more than 185 million Covid-19 cases have been reported worldwide with over 4 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The actual number of Covid-19 infections and deaths is believed to be far higher – and continues to rise.

The pandemic also resulted in massive economic losses, with global GDP estimated to have fallen by around 3.3% over the past year. This is the biggest peacetime recession since the Great Depression.

The Covid pandemic is having a dramatic impact on global energy. Here are some highlights from the report:

Energy developments

BP said the coronavirus crisis last year caused primary energy and CO2 emissions to fall at the rate they have since World War II. However, the relentless expansion of renewable energies went “relatively unscathed”, with solar energy recording the fastest increase of all time.

The oil and gas company said that global energy demand had fallen by 4.5% and global CO2 emissions from energy consumption had shrunk by 6.3%.

“These declines are enormous by historical standards – the largest declines in both energy demand and carbon emissions since World War II. In fact, the decrease of over 2 Gt CO2 means that last year carbon emissions were back to 2011 levels, ”said Dale.

“It is also noticeable that the carbon intensity of the energy mix – the average carbon emissions per unit of energy used – has decreased by 1.8%, also one of the largest decreases in post-war history,” he added.

For some, the decline in global CO2 emissions briefly raised hopes for so-called “peak carbon”, although the desire to limit global warming – and achieve a key goal of the groundbreaking Paris Agreement – is rapidly deteriorating.

It does so as politicians and business leaders publicly acknowledge the need to transition to a low-carbon society, with policymakers under increasing pressure to deliver on the promises made under the Paris Agreement ahead of this year’s COP26.

“There are worrying signs that last year’s COVID-induced decline in carbon emissions will be short-lived as the global economy recovers and lockdowns are lifted,” said Bernard Looney, CEO of BP, in the report .

“The challenge is to reduce emissions sustainably and in a year-on-year comparison without massively affecting our livelihoods and our everyday lives,” he added.

oil

An overview of Gunvor Petroleum or Rozenburg Refinery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Europe’s largest port covers 105 square kilometers (41 square miles) and stretches for 40 kilometers (25 miles).

Dean Mouhtaropoulos | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Oil demand fell most in the US with a decline of 2.3 million barrels, followed by the EU and India with 1.5 million barrels and 480,000 barrels respectively.

BP said global oil production has shrunk by 6.6 million barrels, with two-thirds of that decrease being attributable to the oil producing group OPEC.

The price of international benchmark Brent crude averaged $ 41.84 in 2020, according to the energy giant, its lowest level since 2004. The oil contract was last traded at $ 73.70.

Renewable energy

“Arguably the most important element of the energy system needed to address both aspects of the Paris Agreement – responding to the threat of climate change and supporting sustainable growth – is the need for rapid growth in renewable energy,” said Dale of BP in the report.

Renewable energies, including biofuels and excluding hydropower, rose 9.7% in 2020, BP said. This was slower than the 10-year average of 13.4% year-over-year, but the increase in terms of energy was similar to the years before the pandemic.

Solar power rose by record levels, but wind was found to be the largest contributor to renewable energy growth.

In terms of capacity, solar power grew 127 gigawatts in 2020 while wind power grew 111 gigawatts – nearly double the highest annual increase to date, BP said. “The main driver was China, which has accounted for about half of the global increase in wind and solar capacity,” said Dale.

Speaking of BP’s latest annual Statistical Review of World Energy, Dale said, “The significance of the past 70 years pales when we look at the challenges the energy system will face for the next 10, 20, 30 years as the world continues after that strives to achieve net zero. “

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World News

Asia Grapples With Delta-Pushed Outbreaks

Asia Grapples With Delta-Driven Outbreaks

Indonesia has reported almost twice as many coronavirus cases as the US in the past few days. Malaysia’s per capita number of cases is roughly on par with Brazil and Iran. And the recent increases in Covid in Japan and South Korea have led to strict new restrictions on movement there from Monday.

Across the Asia-Pacific region, the Delta variant is causing new outbreaks in locations where transmission was previously kept relatively low but the rate of vaccination was too slow to contain recent outbreaks. One result is that everyday activities will be restricted again, just like in the fearful early days of the pandemic – even as the West returns to normal.

Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world, is a case in point. His government once hoped that its archipelagic geography and young population would save it from a debilitating eruption. But only about 13 percent of its 270 million people have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and Delta’s rise is marginalizing its healthcare system, forcing some patients to hunt for oxygen.

On July 3, the government closed mosques, schools, shopping centers and sports facilities on two of Indonesia’s largest islands for two weeks. But the daily average of new cases – more than 33,000 on Sunday – has continued to rise. Officials said Friday they would extend the same emergency rules to other islands.

Intensive care units in and around the capital Jakarta are at full capacity, doctors who have received the vaccine from the Chinese company Sinovac have fallen ill or died. The government has announced that it will give a third dose of the Moderna vaccine to around 1.5 million health workers starting this week.

In other Southeast Asian countries, too, the percentages of the population who even got a shot are in the single- or low-double-digit range. And as variant infections multiply, some are experiencing their worst outbreaks yet.

In Myanmar, where health workers went on strike to protest the military coup in February, cases are skyrocketing and schools were closed until July 23. People in several Malaysian cities are rubbing themselves under strict lockdowns as the country reports the highest per capita fall in the region. Vietnam is restricting freedom of movement in its two major cities and is trying to import vaccines. And at Thailand’s largest international airport, a terminal is being converted into a field hospital.

Richer countries in the region have more resources to fight the virus. But they too are vulnerable because they have made little progress in their vaccination campaigns. In Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea, less than one in three people has had an injection, according to a New York Times tracker.

New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, reported the largest daily increase in cases this year on Sunday, as well as Australia’s first coronavirus-related death this year, a woman in her 90s. Sydney, the state capital, has already been on lockdown and authorities have warned it could be extended beyond July 17 when it expires.

South Korea reported 1,378 new cases on Saturday, the third day record in a row. The government plans to increase the restrictions in the capital Seoul and some neighboring regions to the highest level from Monday. Schools are closing, bars and nightclubs are closing, and no more than two people are allowed to meet in public after 6 p.m.

And in Japan, the fourth state of emergency will come into effect in Tokyo on Monday, less than two weeks before the start of the Summer Olympics. Restaurants, department stores and other businesses are being asked to close early, and the organizers of the Summer Games have announced that they will be banning viewers from most events in and around Tokyo. A ceremony marking the arrival of the Olympic torch in town was held in an almost empty park late last week.

On Saturday, Fukushima Prefecture said it would also exclude spectators from Olympic events due to the rising number of cases, reversing a position announced two days earlier by Olympic organizers.

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Health

A Covid Take a look at as Simple as Respiration

A Covid Test as Easy as Breathing

People with diabetes, for instance, may have breath that smells fruity or sweet. The odor is caused by ketones, chemicals produced when the body begins to burn fat instead of glucose for energy, a metabolic state known as ketosis.

“The idea that exhaled breath could hold diagnostic potential has been around for some time,” Dr. Davis said. “There are reports in ancient Greek and also ancient Chinese medical training texts that reference a physician’s use of smell as a way to help guide their clinical practice.”

Modern technologies can detect more subtle chemical changes, and machine learning algorithms can identify patterns in breath samples from people with certain diseases. In recent years, scientists have used these methods to identify unique “breathprints” for lung cancer, liver disease, tuberculosis, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease and other conditions. (Dr. Davis and her colleagues have even used V.O.C. profiles to distinguish among cells that had been infected with different strains of flu.)

Before Covid hit, Breathomix had been developing an electronic nose to detect several other respiratory diseases. “We train our system, ‘OK, this is how asthma smells, this how lung cancer smells,” said Rianne de Vries, the company’s chief technology and scientific officer. “So it’s building a big database and finding patterns in big data.”

Last year, the company — and many other researchers in the field — pivoted and began trying to identify a breathprint for Covid-19. During the virus’s initial surge in the spring of 2020, for instance, researchers in Britain and Germany collected breath samples from 98 people who showed up at hospitals with respiratory symptoms. (Participants were asked to exhale into a disposable tube; the researchers then used a syringe to extract a sample of their breath.)

Thirty-one of the patients turned out to have Covid, while the remainder had a variety of diagnoses, including asthma, bacterial pneumonia or heart failure, the researchers reported. The breath samples from people with Covid-19 had higher levels of aldehydes, compounds produced when cells or tissues are damaged by inflammation, and ketones, which fits with research suggesting that the virus may damage the pancreas and cause ketosis.

The Covid patients also had lower levels of methanol, which could be a sign that the virus had inflamed the gastrointestinal system or killed the methanol-producing bacteria that live there. Those breath changes combined “give us a Covid-19 signal,” said Dr. Thomas, a co-author of the study.

Categories
Politics

Janet Yellen Warns That Coronavirus Variants Threaten World Restoration

Janet Yellen Warns That Coronavirus Variants Threaten Global Recovery

VENICE – Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said Sunday she was concerned that coronavirus variants could slow global economic recovery and called for urgent efforts to accelerate vaccine use around the world.

Your comments on the conclusion of a meeting of Finance Ministers of the Group of 20 Nations came when the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus triggered outbreaks among unvaccinated populations in countries like Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Portugal. Delta is now also the dominant variant in the USA.

“We are very concerned about the Delta variant and other variants that are emerging that could threaten recovery,” said Ms. Yellen. “We are a networked global economy. What happens in any part of the world affects all other countries. “

Many cities and countries have begun declaring victory over the pandemic, easing restrictions and returning to normal life. But Ms. Yellen warned that the public health crisis was not over.

She said the world’s top economic officials spent much of the weekend in Venice discussing how they could improve vaccine distribution with the goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the world by next year. Ms. Yellen noted that many countries have successfully funded vaccine purchases but lack the logistics to get them into people’s arms.

“We have to do more and be more effective,” she said.

The proliferation of variants has begun to dampen optimism about the course of the recovery.

Capital Economics analysts announced this week that they intend to cut their economic growth outlook for the year to below 6 percent.

The proliferation of new varieties of coronavirus has “raised doubts about the pace of real economic growth in the second half of this year and beyond,” wrote Paul Ashworth, chief economist for North America at Capital Economics, in a research note.

The International Monetary Fund said it was sticking to its 6 percent global growth forecast this year, but warned that growth would be stifled in developing countries where infection rates are skyrocketing.

“The divergence between economies is worsening,” said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Saturday. “Essentially, the world is facing a two-pronged recovery.”

Some finance ministers also raised concerns over the weekend that variants and slow vaccine uptake could turn the recovery on its head. This concern was highlighted in the Group’s joint statement as a downside risk to the world economy.

“The only hurdle on the way to a quick, solid economic recovery is the risk of a new wave of pandemics,” said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. “We all need to improve our vaccination performance.”

The IMF Executive Board last week approved a plan to provide $ 650 billion in reserve funds that countries could use to buy vaccines and fund health initiatives.

Ms. Yellen said she urged her group of 20 colleagues to expedite the “fair” delivery and distribution of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics to ensure that low- and middle-income countries could fight the virus flare-up.

Policy makers at the weekend’s meeting also spent time focusing on new investments in preparation for future pandemics. Ms. Yellen said that while this is important, more needs to be done in the short term.

“Variants certainly pose a threat to the entire globe,” she said.

Categories
Health

Almost all deaths, hospitalizations amongst unvaccinated

Nearly all deaths, hospitalizations among unvaccinated

Jeff Zients, the White House Covid-19 Response Czar, speaks during a press conference at the White House discussing a pause in the delivery of the Johnson & Johnson Janssen Covid-19 vaccine on April 13, 2021 in Washington, DC, languages.

Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images

As more and more people in the United States are being vaccinated against Covid-19, the vast majority of hospital admissions and deaths occur in people who have not yet received a Covid vaccination, White House officials said Thursday.

“Virtually all Covid-19 hospital admissions and deaths in the United States now occur in unvaccinated people,” Jeff Zients, White House coordinator of the coronavirus response, said at a news conference. He said the cases will continue to increase, especially in unvaccinated people, especially as the Delta variant hits the US

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the Covid vaccines currently in use are proving successful in preventing serious illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths from the Delta variant.

Cases are still rising: the seven-day moving average of new cases rose to 13,900 per day, an 11% increase from the previous week, Walensky said.

However, recent data shows that “the vaccines are actually effective against the Delta variant,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Officer of the White House, in the meeting.

“The bottom line is that there is simply no reason that people 12 years and older should be seriously affected by this virus,” said Zients.

Federal officials are increasingly seeing outbreaks in communities with low vaccination rates, they said.

Walensky said the Delta variant now accounts for about 80% of all new cases in parts of the Midwest and upper mountain states, according to early CDC data.

“This rapid increase is worrying. We know that the Delta variant has increased the portability and is currently appearing in the country’s pockets with low vaccination rates,” said Walensky at the briefing.

The remarks came as President Joe Biden’s Covid team focused on the portion of the population that had not yet been vaccinated.

Millions of people in the US remain unvaccinated, “and because of this, their communities are at risk, their friends are at risk, the people they care about are at risk,” Biden said Tuesday. He said the government is focusing more on increasing vaccination availability in places like doctor’s offices and workplaces while expanding door-to-door contact efforts.

The Delta variant, first discovered in India, has now spread to more than 100 countries, including the USA, according to the World Health Organization.

The highly transferable variant is expected to have global effects for the foreseeable future, scientists predict.

The Olympic organizers announced on Thursday that they would be banning all spectators from the Games this year in Japan, which has just declared a new Covid-related state of emergency in Tokyo, partly due to the Delta variant.

Almost 158 ​​million people in the US are fully vaccinated – about 48% of the population, according to CDC data. Just over 67% of Americans 18 and older have received at least one dose.

– CNBC’s Berkeley Lovelace Jr. contributed to this report.

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Entertainment

Britney Spears’s Lawyer Asks to Step Down from Court docket-Appointed Function

Britney Spears’s Lawyer Asks to Step Down from Court-Appointed Role

An attorney representing Britney Spears at the Conservatory, who has overseen her life for the past 13 years, moved on Tuesday to be allowed to resign and be the last party to resign from the agreement after Ms. Spears did so at a hearing at the labeled abusive last month.

Samuel D. Ingham III, a veteran of the California probate system, has represented Ms. Spears since 2008 when a Los Angeles court granted preservation powers to the singer’s father and a probate attorney given her mental health and substance abuse concerns. Mr Ingham was appointed by the court after it was found that Mrs Spears, who was hospitalized at the time, was unable to hire her own lawyer.

At a June 23 hearing, Ms. Spears vehemently criticized the conservatory, claiming she had been forced to perform, take debilitating drugs, and remain under birth control.

The singer also asked questions about Mr. Ingham’s advocacy on her behalf, partly because she told the court that she didn’t know how to end the deal. Ms. Spears informed the judge that she wanted to hire her own lawyer.

“I didn’t know I could move to quit the conservatory,” Ms. Spears, 39, said in court. “I’m sorry for my ignorance, but to be honest, I didn’t know that.” She added, “My lawyer says I can’t – it’s not good, I can’t tell the public what they did to me.”

“He told me to really keep it to myself,” said the singer.

It is not known what private discussions Mr. Ingham and Mrs. Spears have had about whether or how they might move to terminate the Conservatories. Last year, Mr. Ingham began looking for significant setup changes on behalf of Ms. Spears, including attempts to remove power from her father, James P. Spears, who maintains control of the singer’s $ 60 million fortune.

Mr. Ingham’s total income from Ms. Spears’ conservatory since 2008 is nearly $ 3 million; Ms. Spears is responsible for paying attorneys on both sides of the case, including those who argue against her will.

Mr Ingham did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On his file, he asked the court to assign a new lawyer to Ms. Spears, but did not address his reasons for withdrawing. The filing also included the letter of termination from the law firm Loeb & Loeb, whom Mr. Ingham had recently called in to help.

Mr Ingham said he would stay in office until the court appoints a new attorney for Ms. Spears, but it is not clear how a new attorney will be selected or whether Ms. Spears would have a say on the matter.

Filing comes a day after Ms. Spears’ longtime manager Larry Rudolph also resigned. In a letter to Mrs. Spears’ co-restorers, Mr. Spears and Jodi Montgomery, who is responsible for the personal care of the singer, Mr. Rudolph said he learned that Ms. Spears had expressed intentions to officially retire.

Ms. Spears has not played or released any new music since 2018. In January 2019, she announced an “indefinite break from work,” canceled an upcoming residency in Las Vegas, and announced her father’s health.

Last month, Ms. Spears said in court that she had been pressured into these scheduled performances and an earlier tour. She described being forced into weeks of involuntary medical examinations and rehab after speaking out against choreography in rehearsals. “I’m not here to be anyone’s slave,” said Ms. Spears. “I can say no to a dance step.”

She told the judge, “My father and everyone involved in this conservatory organization and my management who played a huge role in the punishment when I said no – ma’am, you should be in jail.”

Last week, an asset management firm that was to take over as co-manager of the singer’s estate also moved to resign, citing the “changed circumstances” following public criticism from Ms. Spears. The company, Bessemer Trust, said in a judicial file that it believed conservation was voluntary and that Ms. Spears had agreed to allow the company to co-restorer alongside her father.

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Politics

15 extra our bodies recovered, dying toll rises to 79

15 more bodies recovered, death toll rises to 79

Search and Rescue teams look for possible survivors and to recover remains in the collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on July 07, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. Officials say the death toll climbed to 36 today, with 109 still unaccounted for.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

Search teams have recovered 15 more bodies from the rubble of the collapsed condominium building in Surfside, Florida, bringing the death toll to at least 79 people as of Friday afternoon, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a press conference. 

Levine Cava said 61 people are still unaccounted for and detectives are working to verify that each individual listed as missing was actually in Champlain Towers South when it collapsed over two weeks ago.

“In the midst of this terrible tragedy, and we’re so grateful, very grateful to all of those across our community and the world who continue to keep us in your prayers, and in your hearts,” Levine Cava said.

The painstaking search shifted from a rescue effort to a recovery operation on Wednesday after authorities decided that there was little hope of finding people alive in the rubble. But authorities vowed to continue the search for victims until they have cleared all the debris at the site, according to Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett. 

Burkett commended search teams for their work, noting that the pile of debris that was initially four to five stories high is now near ground level.

The National Institute of Technology, or NIST, is making “very significant progress” with its investigation into the cause of the collapse, Levine Cava added. NIST teams have collected over 200 pieces of evidence, which have been sent to a physics measurement lab in Washington to assist with analysis. NIST is also using drones and lidar scanners, tools that measure the distance of an object on the Earth’s surface using light, in the probe. 

Levine Cava said Thursday that the public also has “a very important role to play in this investigation.” She urged the public to submit any photos or videos related to the collapse to NIST’s website. 

Champlain Towers North, the identical sister property of the collapsed condominium building, is also being evaluated, Burkett said. Engineers and authorities are using ground-penetrating radar and are taking samples of concrete to determine the structure’s salt content and strength. 

Meanwhile, alternative housing arrangements have been made for residents of the sister property who wanted to evacuate. 

Laura Solla weeps as she places flowers near the memorial site for victims of the collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on July 08, 2021 in Surfside, Florida.

Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images

The exact cause of the collapse of Champlain Towers South remains unknown. 

Recent evidence points to structural flaws in the building far before the collapse, such as a 2018 report that reveals the 40-year-old building had waterproofing issues beneath the pool and cracking in the underground parking garage. 

Experts have also said that the repeal in 2010 of a Florida law that required condominium buildings to plan for repairs may have contributed to the collapse.

Several resources are being provided to families and individuals affected by the collapse. The Family Assistance Center continues to offer mental health counseling as well as financial and housing assistance, among other critical services. 

Authorities announced Thursday that nearly 200 families have been served by the center. 

Levine Cava also said Thursday that rescue teams are collecting and cataloguing personal items found in the rubble of the condominium building, such as photos, technology devices, documents and jewelry. Authorities are developing a process for families and survivors to reclaim missing belongings that have been found.

Categories
World News

Crackdown on Didi and firms prefer it may value China as a lot as $45 trillion by 2030

Crackdown on Didi and companies like it could cost China as much as $45 trillion by 2030

A navigation map on the app of Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi is seen on a mobile phone in front of the app logo displayed in this illustration picture taken July 1, 2021.

Florence Lo | Reuters

This was a clarifying week for global investors — or for anyone concerned about authoritarian capitalism — of just how much the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would be willing to pay to ensure its dominance.

The answer, according to a rough calculation from a new partnership formed by the Rhodium Group and the Atlantic Council, is as much as $45 trillion in new capital flows into and out of China by 2030, if the party were willing to pursue serious reform. It’s an immeasurable loss of economic dynamism.

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

Graph courtesy of the Rhodium Group and Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center’s China Pathfinder Project

What is clear is that Chinese President Xi Jinping, during this month’s celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the CCP, has sent an unmistakable message at home and abroad of who is in charge.

Chinese domestic companies, particularly of the tech and data-rich variety, will be more likely to shun Western capital markets and adhere to party preferences. Foreign investors, only too happy to accept risk for the long-proven upside of Chinese stocks, now must factor in a growing risk premium as Xi tightens the screws.

“Wall Street must now acknowledge that the risk of investing in these companies can’t be known, much less disclosed,” writes Josh Rogin in the Washington Post. “Therefore, U.S. investors shouldn’t be trusting their futures to China Inc.”

The story that triggered this week’s stir was the $4.4 billion U.S. initial public offering (IPO) of the world’s largest ride-hailing and food delivery service, Didi. The ripples could be long-lasting and far-reaching for the lucrative relations between China and Wall Street. Dealogic shows that Chinese companies have raised $26 billion from new U.S. listings in 2020 and 2021.

Until this week, the greatest concern for investors was that new US accounting rules would stymie that flow. It is now more likely to be Chinese regulators themselves who plug the spigot.

The facts are that Didi Global began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on June 30, auspiciously one day ahead of the CCP centennial celebration.

One early hint of trouble was that the company played down the blockbuster listing. Not only did company officials resist the usual routine of ringing the opening bell. They went further by instructing their employees not to call attention to the event on social networks.

Still, Didi’s shares rose 16% on the second day of trading, setting the company’s market value at nearly $80 billion.     

But by July 2, Chinese regulators put Didi under cybersecurity review, banned it from accepting new users, and then, in the next days, went even further by instructing app stores to stop offering Didi’s app.

Credit all of that to a mixture of increasingly authoritarian politics, regulatory concerns over data privacy and U.S. markets, and the continual expanding of fronts in the U.S.-Chinese contest.

The cost to investors by Friday was a drop to only 67% of the stock’s original value. If that’s as far as the downside goes and if the regulatory retaliation against Didi stops where it is, this week could still be dubbed a win by Didi executives.

The more serious matter is the wider chilling effect, coming in the context of a series of stalled or reversed Chinese economic and marketization reforms.

The latest came on Thursday, when The Wall Street Journal reported that the Cyberspace Administration of China, which reports to Xi, would police all overseas market listings.

On that same day, Chinese medical data firm LinkDoc became the first Chinese company to ditch its IPO after the Didi news. Expect more Chinese companies to shelve planned listings and for many others to remove them from consideration.

For all the billions of lost investment capital this could bring over the short term, the larger cost is one that could be measured in trillions of dollars of endangered potential as Xi consistently backs away from the market liberalizations he once appeared to champion.

The story could not be more clearly written than through the accompanying chart from Rhodium and the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center. From 2000 to 2018, China’s economic growth shook the world as it expanded its share of the global gross domestic product (GDP) from 4% to 16%. China enjoyed similar growth in goods exports and imports.

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

Graph courtesy of the Rhodium Group and Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center’s China Pathfinder Project

At the same time, however, China’s inward portfolio investment grew from near zero to just 2% of the global total while its outward portfolio investment grew from near zero to only 1%. This is not just unachieved potential from the past — it is now also the deeply endangered potential for the future that could equal the estimate $45 trillion through 2030.

In a must-read analysis of the Chinese economy in Foreign Affairs, Atlantic Council nonresident senior fellow Daniel Rosen, who is also a Rhodium Group founding partner, argues that China under Xi has repeatedly attempted to reform the Chinese economy, only to pull back. The accompanying chart provides a useful overview of what has become habit.

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

Graph courtesy of the Rhodium Group and Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center’s China Pathfinder Project

“The consequences of that failure are clear,” Rosen writes. Since Xi took control, total debt has risen to at least 276% of GDP from 225%. It now takes 10 yuan of new credit, up from six, to create one yuan of growth. GDP growth fell to 6% in the year ahead of the pandemic from 9.6%.

Writes Rosen: “At some point, China’s leaders must confront this tradeoff: [S]ustainable economic efficiency and political omnipotence do not go hand in hand.”

Conventional wisdom has it that the West was naïve to think that China’s economic growth and modernization, which the West so enthusiastically supported, would eventually bring with it political liberalization. Now the conventional wisdom is that China has shown it can be brutally authoritarian and economically dynamic simultaneously.

What’s probably more true is that Xi may soon face the contradictions between his simultaneous desire for economic dynamism and increased authoritarian control. History shows he cannot have both, but for the moment, Xi appears willing to risk the dynamism in favor of the control.

Categories
Health

El trastorno bipolar en los jóvenes: avances y retos

The Challenges of Bipolar Disorder in Young People

He said, “I didn’t know what was going on or if it could be treated.” He added that for parents of teenagers who have a hard time identifying abnormal behavior in teenagers, “it is sometimes difficult to distinguish what is an illness and what is normal grandiosity or normal sadness caused by breaking up with a girlfriend could have been caused “. “.

Burmaher stressed that although young people with bipolar disorder often experience repeated major depressive episodes, “episodes of depression are not necessary to make a diagnosis”. In some cases, mania is the main symptom.

When depression is the symptom that prompts people to seek professional help, making a proper diagnosis can be especially difficult. As Ketter explained, sometimes people with depression cannot remember previous episodes of mania that occurred when they were not depressed.

Miklowitz mentioned that one of the first signs of bipolar disorder is “mood dysregulation, which means the child feels angry or depressed at a certain moment and feels excited, happy, and full of ideas soon after.”

He made a list of characteristics that can help parents distinguish these extremes from the normal ups and downs of adolescence. Some of these symptoms, many of which should be obvious to those around them, are “megalomania, decreased need for sleep, rushed or rushed speaking and / or ideation, delusional ideas, distraction, excessive goal-oriented activity, and risky and impulsive behavior,” said Miklowitz.

As for the symptoms of depression, he suggests observing whether “there is some deterioration in normal activities; for example, if the child is suddenly absent from school or is late, does not finish homework, falls asleep in class, drops the grades, does not want to eat with others, talks about suicide or injures himself ”.

Depending on the severity of the respective deterioration, if non-life-threatening symptoms are found in adolescence, it is possible to initiate psychotherapy and avoid drugs with side effects, said Miklowitz.