Wednesday 15 December 2021

It’s A Wonderful Life.

 Baltic Dry Index. 2932 -284  Brent Crude 72.87

Spot Gold 1770

Coronavirus Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000

Deaths 53,100

Coronavirus Cases 15/12/21 World 271,745,504

Deaths 5,337,188

Just remember this, Mr. Powell: that this rabble you're talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath?

With apologies to George Bailey. 

It’s a wonderful life for banksters and billionaires, for everyone else not so wonderful, pretty miserable, downright miserable, frightening, or something much worse.  In the Magic Money Tree world of 2020-2021, it’s Bedford Falls for banksters and billionaires, Powellsville Pottersville for everyone else.

But today is decision day for the first up “wonderful life” central bankster, the Fed.

Later today we get the Gospel of Fed Chairman Powell and his bankster gang’s vision of the future.  Tomorrow, the second league teams of the ECB and BOE get their shot, before on Friday the third league BOJ gets its turn.

But only the Fedster’s really count these days, since as goes the USA so goes the rest of the G-7 if they know what’s good for them!

The Fedster’s really only have two options at present.

Due to persistent and rising inflation, take action now and crash the stock casinos, crashing the essentially bankrupt global economy, not a good idea ahead of Christmas and the New Year, turning President Carter Biden into a one term lame duck president once the Republicans retake Washington, or… 

Do nothing about inflation or pretty much anything else, allowing the Great Inflation, more likely Great Stagflation, to collapse the global economy, but hopefully after the US mid-term elections next November.

Any guesses as to which option Chairman Powell and his inflation thugs will pick?

Mainland shares muted as investors digest Chinese economic data; biotech firm BeiGene debuts in Shanghai

SINGAPORE — Chinese markets traded muted on Wednesday as investors digested key Chinese economic data. Meanwhile, Chinese biotech firm BeiGene made its debut in Shanghai.

The Shanghai composite was near the flatline and the Shenzhen component was down 0.31%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index inched down 0.1%.

Chinese biotech firm BeiGene made its debut in Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style board Star Market at an offer price of 192.6 yuan ($30.24) per share, after raising over $3 billion. However, the stock opened 8.1% below that offer price, at 176.96 yuan per share. It last traded at 170.68 yuan, or more than 10% down.

The company is already listed in Hong Kong and the Nasdaq in the U.S.

China released a slew of key economic data on Wednesday. Its industrial output for November was up 3.8% year-on-year, more than the 3.5% increase in October, and better than the 3.6% expected in a Reuters poll.

Data also showed that retail sales in November rose 3.9% year-on-year, less than October’s 4.9% increase, and below the expectations of 4.6% in a Reuters poll.

Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded near flat, while the Topix rose 0.48%.

Toyota shares jumped 3.62% after it announced it will invest eight trillion yen ($70 billion) into electrifying its vehicles by 2030, according to Reuters.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.18% while in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.7%.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as some large tech stocks moved lower and new inflation data continued to show a sharp rise in producer prices.

The Nasdaq Composite led the decline, falling 1.14% to 15,237.64. The S&P 500 slid 0.75% to close at 4,634.09. The Dow Jones Industrial Average held up better than its counterparts but still fell 106.77 points, or 0.30%, to 35,544.18.

The Fed will conclude its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday later stateside, and central bank Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak at a 2:30 p.m. ET press conference.

Investor sentiment is set to remain cautious after the World Health Organization on Tuesday warned the new Covid omicron variant is spreading faster than any previous strain, saying that the variant is probably present in most countries of the world.

Meanwhile, oil prices dropped after the International Energy Agency said demand for oil is set to be lower than expected next year, hit by the new omicron variant.

“Oil prices fell overnight after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that oil markets have returned to surplus this month and that surplus will deepen early next year,” said Vivek Dhar, director of mining and energy commodities research at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

More

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/15/asia-pacific-markets-chinese-industrial-production-retail-sales.html

The Federal Reserve is expected to take a very big step toward its first rate hike

The Federal Reserve is expected to announce a dramatic policy shift Wednesday that will clear the way for a first interest rate hike next year.

Markets are anticipating the Fed will speed up the wind-down of its bond buying program, changing the end date to March from June.

That would free the central bank to start raising interest rates from zero, and Fed officials are expected to release a new forecast showing two to three interest rate hikes in 2022 and another three to four in 2023. Previously, there had been no consensus for a rate hike in 2022, though half of the Fed officials expected at least one.

At the end of its two-day meeting Wednesday afternoon, the central bank should also acknowledge that inflation is no longer the “transitory” or temporary problem officials had thought it was, and that rising prices could be a bigger threat to the economy. The consumer price index rose 6.8% in November, and it could be hot again in December.

“I think getting out of the easing business is very much overdue,” said Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of global fixed income at BlackRock.

The Fed put its quantitative easing program in place to combat the effects of the pandemic in early 2020, and it also slashed its fed funds target rate back to zero.

Preparing the markets

Fed officials in mid-November began discussing the idea of a more rapid taper, and they have successfully swung market expectations to look for a faster end to the one-time $120 billion a month in bond purchases. Market expectations have also moved forward on the timing of interest rate increases from starting late next year to beginning in June.

Rieder said by ending the bond purchases sooner, the Fed is giving itself the option to raise interest rates. “I think they can hike rates in 2022. I don’t think there’s a rush,” Rieder said.

He said the Fed could hike twice in 2022, and three to four times in 2023.

More

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/14/the-federal-reserve-is-expected-to-take-a-very-big-step-toward-its-first-rate-hike.html

Europe's biggest economy is on the brink of a winter recession

By Charles Riley, CNN Business  Updated 1101 GMT (1901 HKT) December 14, 2021

London (CNN Business)Germany is teetering on the brink of recession this winter as supply bottlenecks and a wave of new coronavirus cases hobble the economy.

Europe's largest economy will shrink 0.5% in the fourth quarter of this year, compared with the third, and stagnate in the first three months of 2022, according to projections published Tuesday by the Ifo Institute for Economic Research. An economy is in recession when it contracts for two consecutive quarters.

"Ongoing supply bottlenecks and the fourth wave of the coronavirus are noticeably slowing down the German economy," Timo Wollmershäuser, head of forecasts at Ifo, said in a statement. "The strong post-pandemic recovery that was originally expected for 2022 still hasn't materialized."

Growth is expected to pick up next summer as a wave of coronavirus cases subsides and supply bottlenecks ease, but the slow start to the year will cost the manufacturing powerhouse. Ifo slashed its growth forecast for 2022 by 1.4 percentage points to 3.7%.

More

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/14/economy/germany-recession-omicron/index.html

Finally, in the Chinese property market, what else, yet more trouble.

China Property Plunge Worsens as Shimao Deal Raises ‘Red Flag’

Tue, December 14, 2021, 9:41 AM

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese property stocks sank to a nearly five-year low after a deal between two units of Shimao Group Holdings Ltd. heightened corporate governance concerns in an industry already grappling with a liquidity crisis.

Shares of Shimao Group and its property-services unit both tumbled by the most ever on Tuesday, while a Bloomberg index of property stocks dropped 4.3% to the lowest level since February 2017. A connected-party acquisition announced by the developer late Monday “not only implies tight liquidity conditions for Shimao, but is also a corporate governance red flag,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts wrote as they downgraded both stocks.

After a burst of optimism last week that the worst might be over for China’s embattled property sector, investors are once again heading for the exits as signs of funding stress re-emerge. Record losses in Shimao Group’s shares and bonds have been particularly unnerving, given that the company was until recently considered among the sector’s strongest players -- able to withstand the financing curbs that led to defaults by China Evergrande Group and Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd.

Shimao Group has blamed the selloff on unspecified “rumors,” but the company’s sparse public comments on its financial health have only added to speculation that it faces a cash crunch. The Monday announcement that Shimao’s services unit had agreed to buy another unit of Shimao Group for 1.65 billion yuan ($259 million) was taken as a sign by some analysts that the developer is shifting money from stronger to weaker parts of the business.

The deal’s valuation was higher than usual, suggesting Shimao Group “is essentially transferring the cash from property manager to developer level,” JPMorgan analysts wrote. They noted equity investors are increasingly worried about publicly listed property managers being used as a “financial tool” by developers that share the same owners. Property services companies including Sunac Services Holdings Ltd. and Country Garden Services Holdings Ltd. plunged at least 10% on Tuesday.

----Separately, a Shimao Group unit told Bloomberg on Tuesday that it has prepared funds to repay a 30 million yuan bond maturing Friday.

The assurance did little to assuage investors. Shimao Group’s shares fell 20% at the close in Hong Kong, while Shimao Services Holdings Ltd. plunged 32%. Shimao Group’s 4.75% bond due 2022 dropped 15 cents on the dollar to 64 cents, leading declines among Chinese high-yield debt. The company’s yuan notes also tumbled.

More

https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-developers-sink-shimao-deal-031814538.html

  

Global Inflation/Stagflation Watch.

Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians,  inflation now needs an entire section of its own.

Wholesale prices measure rises 9.6% in November from a year ago, the fastest pace on record

Published Tue, Dec 14 2021 8:32 AM EST

Wholesale prices increased at their quickest pace on record in November in the latest sign that the inflation pressures bedeviling the economy are still present, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.

The producer price index for final demand products increased 9.6% over the previous 12 months after rising another 0.8% in November. Economists had been looking for an annual gain of 9.2%, according to FactSet.

Excluding food and energy, prices rose 0.7% for the month, putting core PPI at 6.9%, also the largest gain on record. Estimates were for respective gains of 0.4% and 7.2%, meaning the monthly gain was faster than estimates but the year-over-year measure was a bit slower.

The Labor Department’s record keeping for the headline number goes back to November 2010, while the core calculation dates to August 2014.

Those numbers come with headline consumer prices running at their fastest pace in nearly 40 years and core inflation the hottest in about 30 years.

Demand for goods continued to be the bigger driver for producer prices, rising 1.2% for the month, a touch slower than the 1.3% October increase. Final demand services inflation ran at a 0.7% monthly rate, much faster than the 0.2% October rate and a sign that the services side could be catching up in prices after lagging through much of the recovery.

More

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/14/wholesale-prices-measure-rises-9point6percent-in-november-from-a-year-ago-the-fastest-pace-on-record.html

GRAPHIC-Europe facing record low gas storage by winter's end

Tue, December 14, 2021, 12:02 PM

OSLO, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Europe's gas storage levels could hit record lows by the end of the winter heating season due to an early cold spell and muted Russian flows, Gas Infrastructure Europe data showed, leaving consumers and companies with much higher prices for longer.

Gas prices surged this week near to record highs seen in October, driven by cold weather, concern over possible disruption to Russian supply and delays to the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

The benchmark front-month contract on the Dutch TTF hub climbed as high as 120 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) on Tuesday, close to record intraday levels seen in early October.

Prices in Europe had jumped this year by as much as 700% by October, with British prices up around 500%.

The power price shock along with rallies in oil prices are also adding to wider inflationary pressures.

Typically Europe would fall back on gas stocks built up over the summer months but demand has been far higher this year as economies started to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We started winter with the lowest stocks of any recent year, and withdrawals have been quite steep in November, which means the market remains concerned," Alex Froley, an LNG analyst with ICIS told Reuters.

The European Commision is expected to propose a system for EU countries to voluntarily jointly buy gas to form strategic reserves later this week, but any action is likely to come too late to bolster current stock levels.

Storage sites in European countries and Britain were only 75% full at the start of the winter heating season in October, and have fallen to around 63% full by early December, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe shows.

Since the beginning of November, storage in Europe fell by 14.1 billion cubic metres (bcm) compared with a 5-year average drawdown of 11.1 bcm over the same period, Julien Hoarau, head of Engie EnergyScan said.

A cold snap in Europe has lifted demand while Russian gas giant Gazprom is waiting for a permit to start shipping gas through the contentious Nord Stream 2 pipeline and booking less capacity via existing transit routes through Ukraine and Belarus.

More

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/graphic-europe-facing-record-low-120223925.html

Shanghai aluminium scales over 2-week peak on tight supply

Dec 14 (Reuters) - Shanghai aluminium futures hit a more than two-week high on Tuesday, supported by low inventories and improving demand amid easing Chinese restrictions on energy use.

The most-traded January aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed up 1.7% at 19,210 yuan ($3,018.92) a tonne, after hitting a peak since Nov. 26 at 19,315 yuan.

Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange inched 0.1% lower to $2,651 a tonne by 0715 GMT, having earlier hit a peak since Dec. 2 at $2,665.

There is no large-scale resumption of aluminium output in the near future and northern China might cut production to curb pollution ahead of the Winter Olympics early next year, said Huatai Futures in a report.

As China eases energy consumption curbs, downstream aluminium processing companies continue to expand operations, and consumption continues to improve, it added. read more

The premium of LME cash aluminium over the three-month contract hit near a two-week high of $16.20, indicating tightness in short-term supplies.

LME warehouse inventories were at 909,650 tonnes, hovering near a September 2007 low of 882,800 tonnes hit earlier this month.

More

https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/copper-hits-1-week-low-firmer-dollar-omicron-worries-weigh-2021-12-14/

Chickens, tractors, grain silos destroyed by deadly U.S. tornadoes

Mon, December 13, 2021, 8:03 PM

CHICAGO (Reuters) -A Deere & Co dealership and a Pilgrim's Pride Corp chicken hatchery were destroyed when deadly tornadoes swept through Kentucky on Friday, while silos holding millions of bushels of corn suffered damage, the companies and the state's agriculture commissioner said on Monday.

At least 64 people, including six children, lost their lives in Kentucky after a raft of tornadoes tore through six states https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/least-64-people-confirmed-dead-kentucky-after-barrage-tornadoes-2021-12-13.

"We have a 200-mile swath through Kentucky that has pulled-down grain systems, destroyed chicken hatcheries and of course blown-over barns," said Ryan Quarles, Kentucky's agriculture commissioner.

The destruction in the Midwest could further raise already high chicken prices and add to supply-chain headaches https://www.reuters.com/world/the-great-reboot/desperate-tires-components-shortage-roils-us-harvest-2021-10-12 that have made it difficult for farmers to replace tractor parts.

Poultry is Kentucky's top agricultural commodity, and at least a dozen chicken barns collapsed, Quarles said. The state is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to properly kill and dispose of chickens housed in barns that were destroyed, he said.

---- One Pilgrim's Pride chicken hatchery was a total loss, and another is expected to be offline until spring after suffering significant damage, the company said in a statement. It added that other company hatcheries are supplying chickens to farmers near Mayfield, a town of 10,000 that suffered some of the worst damage from the tornadoes.

Pilgrim's, which is mostly owned by Brazilian meatpacker JBS SA, is evaluating damage to a local feedmill, while a production plant is expected to be fully operational on Wednesday, the statement said.

The loss of the hatchery in Mayfield "automatically triggers a multi-month delay in the processing and raising of chickens because the hatchery simply is not there anymore to supply the farmers," Quarles said.

Mayfield is in Kentucky's top county for agricultural sales, accounting for 6% of the state's total farm business, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/Online_Resources/County_Profiles/Kentucky/cp21083.pdf, though the state is not a top grain producer. Kentucky held 1.5% of U.S. corn stocks in December 2020, the USDA said.

"Lots of farmer elevators damaged. Some small feed mills have damage with indefinite timelines," said Andrew Jackson, broker at Producers Hedge, in Lancaster, Kentucky.

Mayfield Grain Company, a crop handler, had roofs ripped off of parts of a storage system that holds 6 million bushels of grain in Mayfield, Quarles said. That's enough corn to fill two Panamax vessels -- each ship the length of two football fields.

More

https://www.yahoo.com/news/chickens-tractors-grain-silos-destroyed-200339576.html

 

Covid-19 Corner

This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.

Up to 40% of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic, analysis finds

NEW YORK, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Up to 40% of people infected with COVID-19 globally experience no symptoms early in their illness, a study published Tuesday by JAMA Network Open found.

However, these asymptomatic individuals still may be susceptible to "long-haul" COVID-19 complications, such as severe chronic fatigue, and also may pass the virus to others unknowingly, the researchers said.

In the analysis of data from 95 studies that collectively included 30 million participants, 0.25% of those tested for the virus were positive but reported no symptoms, the data showed.

Nearly 5% of nursing home residents or staff tested were positive, but without symptoms, while just over 2% of airline and cruise-ship travelers and pregnant women assessed for the virus were.

Among confirmed cases of COVID-19, though, more than 40% of those with the virus were asymptomatic, according to the researchers.

"The high percentage of asymptomatic infections highlighted the potential transmission risk of asymptomatic infections in communities," study co-author Min Liu told UPI in an email.

"Screening for asymptomatic infection is required especially for countries and regions that have successfully controlled [the virus]," said Liu, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Peking University in Beijing.

The findings highlight the importance of widespread, comprehensive testing, as asymptomatic infections should also be isolated and undergo contact tracing, he said.

Research published in January also suggested that as many as 40% of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic.

This may mean that case totals are underestimated, perhaps by as much as 80%, the January study indicates.

"This is a highly important finding because this substantial group of people can transmit the virus to others," molecular medicine specialist Dr. Eric Topol, who published similar findings last year, told UPI in an email.

"It is essential that we have pervasive rapid testing to determine a person's infectiousness to limit transmission for people without symptoms," said Topol, director of Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, Calif., who was not part of the JAMA study.

For this study, Liu and his colleagues compiled data on asymptomatic COVID-19 cases from 95 studies published in 2020 or early 2021.

More

https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2021/12/14/COVID-19-asymptomatic-cases-study/3931639492511/

'I alerted the wider world to Omicron - and I believe Britain is overreacting':  Doctor Angelique Coetzee, the South African GP who knows more about its effects than anyone, calls for calm despite variant cases spiking 50 per cent in 24 hours

By Dr Angelique Coetzee For The Daily Mail

The UK Government's handling of what Boris Johnson warned will be a 'tidal wave' of Omicron infections verges on hysteria.

With predictions of one million cases by the end of the month and concerns about the NHS being overwhelmed with up to 10,000 hospitalisations per day, I gather there is talk of Christmas again being cancelled and a possible New Year lockdown.

Yet you only have to look at the picture in South Africa, where the world's first known cases of Omicron were spotted, to realise this reaction is out of all proportion to the risks posed by this variant.

And I should know — because I am the doctor who first raised the alarm about Omicron back in November.

The variant appeared to have been circulating in South Africa for some time, having previously been identified in Botswana. It was my duty — both as a GP and as chair of the South African Medical Association — to report my concerns.

More

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10306211/DR-ANGELIQUE-COETZEE-alerted-wider-world-Omicron-believe-Britain-overreacting.html

Two vaccine doses won’t protect from Omicron infection, Oxford study finds

Rich Haridy December 13, 2021

A new study from researchers at the University of Oxford has found two doses of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine may not be enough to protect against infection from the Omicron variant. The data offers no indication of protection from severe disease, but shows two doses will not be enough to prevent Omicron infection in most people.

As scientists race to learn more about the newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, laboratory studies are beginning to offer insights into how this viral variant responds to vaccine-induced antibodies. This new study, available as a preprint and not yet peer-reviewed or published in a journal, looked at the way antibodies generated after two-doses of COVID-19 vaccines responded to an isolate of Omicron gathered from an infected case in the UK.

Blood samples were tested from individuals taken around four weeks following a second dose of either Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine or the AstraZeneca vaccine. The researchers were looking at what are known as neutralizing titres, a measure of an antibody response generated in reaction to a virus.

Two doses of AstraZeneca fared the worst with the study indicating neutralizing titres dropped to below detectable thresholds in all but one sample. The Pfizer vaccine fared marginally better, with only one sample dropping below the detectable threshold for neutralizing titres. However, the researchers still saw an average 30 fold reduction in neutralizing titres for two doses of Pfizer compared to the antibody responses seen with an earlier strain of the virus.

The study is cautious to note these findings do not indicate two doses of either vaccine will be ineffective at preventing severe disease, hospitalization or death from COVID-19. Antibody responses are just one part of the immune system response to a viral threat, and while antibody responses do generally play a major role in preventing initial infection, other immune cells jump into gear to kill and clear a virus once it has taken hold.

This data foreshadows Omicron leading to higher rates of breakthrough infections in those with only two vaccine doses. And although the severity of disease caused by Omicron is still unclear, the researchers stress more cases will inevitably lead to a greater burden on healthcare systems even if the variant is found to generally lead to milder disease.

The study offers no new insight into the effect of three vaccine doses against Omicron, but the researchers hypothesize an extra dose will boost neutralizing antibody responses significantly. A recent study from Pfizer offers valuable data affirming that hypothesis.

These new findings have somewhat informed the recent push to offer a third mRNA vaccine dose to all adults in England as soon as three months past a second dose. In the UK, the prevalence of AstraZeneca and the massive growth in Omicron cases led Prime Minister Boris Johnson to recently declare an “Omicron emergency”. The UK government is looking to administer third doses to tens of millions of people by the end of the year.

The new Oxford study is available on the preprint server MedRxiv.

https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/omicron-two-dose-vaccine-pfizer-astrazeneca-oxford-study/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=0bf823b764-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_12_14_09_14&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-0bf823b764-90625829

COVID-19 outbreak prompts shutdowns in Chinese manufacturing hub

SHANGHAI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Multiple companies have suspended operations in one of China's biggest manufacturing hubs as local authorities try to contain a COVID-19 outbreak, halting production of goods from batteries to textile dyes and plastics.

At least 20 listed companies have shut operations in virus-hit areas in Zhejiang, an eastern province with a large industrial sector that accounts for around 6% of China's GDP and where many goods are manufactured for export.

Tens of thousands of Zhejiang residents are in quarantine and some domestic flights have been suspended as a national health official said the outbreak in three cities - Ningbo, Shaoxing and Hangzhou - was developing at a "relatively rapid" speed. read more

The three cities accounted for more than 50% of the province's economic output of around 6.46 trillion yuan ($1.02 trillion) last year.

Zhejiang reported 44 locally transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms on Dec. 13, official data showed on Tuesday, taking the total to 217 just over a week since the first case was reported on Dec. 6. Prior to the current outbreak, the province had reported just one local case this year.

Companies reporting suspended production on Tuesday included Zhejiang Mustang Battery Co (605378.SS), Guobang Pharma Ltd (605507.SS) and textile dyes maker Zhejiang Runtu Co (002440.SZ).

Ningo-based Mustang Battery said it expected the outbreak to be brought under control very soon, and the production suspension was a temporary measure that "will not have a long-term negative impact on the company's growth."

Zhejiang Runtu said all its units in the Zhejiang Shangyu Economic Development Zone (SEDZ), which accounts for 95% of its revenue, had been halted since Dec. 9 and it expected a negative impact on its fourth quarter results.

There are more than 350 industrial enterprises in the zone, which is located near the cities of Ningbo, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Suzhou and Wenzhou.

More

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/production-suspensions-chinese-manufacturing-hub-amid-covid-19-outbreak-2021-12-14/

Next, some vaccine links kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada. The links come from a most informative update from Stanford Hospital in California.

World Health Organization - Landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccineshttps://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines

NY Times Coronavirus Vaccine Trackerhttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html

Regulatory Focus COVID-19 vaccine trackerhttps://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker

Some other useful Covid links.

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus resource centre

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Rt Covid-19

https://rt.live/

Centers for Disease Control Coronavirus

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

The Spectator Covid-19 data tracker (UK)

https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/national

 

Technology Update.

With events happening fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section. Updates as they get reported.

The Log4J Vulnerability Will Haunt the Internet for Years

Hundreds of millions of devices are likely affected.

12.13.2021 08:34 PM

A vulnerability in the open source Apache logging library Log4j sent system administrators and security professionals scrambling over the weekend. Known as Log4Shell, the flaw is exposing some of the world's most popular applications and services to attack, and the outlook hasn't improved since the vulnerability came to light on Thursday. If anything, it's now excruciatingly clear that Log4Shell will continue to wreak havoc across the internet for years to come.

More

https://www.wired.com/story/log4j-log4shell/?bxid=5cc9e09a3f92a477a0e84d6d&cndid=52110326&esrc=Wired_etl_load&mbid=mbid%3DCRMWIR012019%0A%0A&source=EDT_WIR_NEWSLETTER_0_DAILY_ZZ&utm_brand=wired&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_content=WIR_Daily_121421&utm_mailing=WIR_Daily_121421&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nl&utm_term=P4

You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money. Well, it doesn't, Mr. Potter Powell. In the whole vast configuration of things, I'd say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider.

With apologies to George, Bailey, It’s A Wonderful Life, and Frank Capra.

 

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