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The problem facing Africa is whether vaccine supplies will run out before new vaccine supplies come from America, Britain and France. Only less than 1% of African people have been fully vaccinated out of a population of 1.3 billion people. US president Biden said America will provide 500 million doses of Pfizer vaccine to poor nations before the G-7 meeting in Cornwall, UK. Britain added 100 million and France 30 million doses. With new more transmissable variants out there Africa is in considerable danger today. The Delta variant from India has been shown to be about 70% more contagious than the Alpha variant from Kent UK. It is already the dominant variant for new cases in the UK. The new variants are now spreading in Africa. Cities such as Johannesburg, South Africa, and Kampala, Uganda are seeing a surge in cases. Another problem in Africa is that governments are increasingly reluctant to impose strong lockdowns because of the economy. Already it is believed that Africa's middle class has been severely affected during the last 18 months. ...

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This Swiss scientist was one of the first of many scientists who asked questions about the origins of the coronavirus. Ms. Lentzos says not because we are conspiracy theorists, but because this is our profession. She says the scientific community that has disregarded different possibilities have strong vested interests, people who feared for their careers or their grants. Lentzos points out that in the scientific community like other communities it is not all about an idealized version of science, there are conflicts of interests, agendas, it is a social activity with good players and bad players. 

The WSJ did a lot of work on this, the Washington Post also, the New York Times totally silent, she says.

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Photos of leaders from US, Europe and Japan at the G-7 meeting on the coastline at Cornwall, UK. Scathing humor from Hannah Jane Parkinson with the photos as The Guardian looks at the other side of these meetings.  Some of this humor- About Merkel- she may be looking forward to taking a break from keeping control of this kindergarden of people who run the world. Justin Trudeau- looks like he has morphed into Llewelyn-Bowen a British television personality who does home renovation, and the suggestion that Johnson could have had Trudeau do his $200,000 home renovation for much less.  Biden and Boris Johnson with Biden's hand over Johnson's shoulder- probably Jane Parkinson says Biden telling Johnson not to pretend and act like a walrus over dinner which Johnson is plain to see planning to do, because I know you are a bit of a clown. All said in humor. Johnson in parliament a lot more human, responsive and caring than any of his predecessors, and Biden taking on the role of Truman and FDR in the mature years of their presidency. ...

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Boris Johnson, chaired the meeting of G-7 leaders from US, Canada, Europe and Japan. He used the meeting to make a call for "levelling up" following the pandemic and avoiding the policies of the 2009 financial crisis and recession when little was done to help the people who faced hardships. Boris Johnson does not like the word "austerity" and he called for greater efforts to create opportunity, and to support women and girl's education in poor countries.

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BBC cites a report from ProPublica site that shows US billionaires pay little or no taxes. BBC has not confirmed this, yet it comes at a time when president Biden's plan is for American recovery with $1.8 trillion in spending on infrastructure, education and healthcare, services for elderly. This Biden plans to finance with taxes for people with the highest incomes. Earlier reports have shown some large corporations pay only a fraction in taxes that they normally would pay under a fair tax code. In some cases such as tech companies the tax code has not been updated, in others companies have used overseas tax locations. Much of the American public is unaware of how this affects the overall shape of society and the condition of America's infrastructure, the state of its educational system and its healthcare system, and of public services, the conditions for the elderly and children. The affluent have simply looked the other way.

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China faces risk of a surge inthe coronavirus in June 2021. The area in and around Guangzhou appears to be seriously affected. The city tested almost its entire population of 18.7 million between June 6 Sunday and June 8 Tuesday. This report shows pictures of a deserted Beijing airport, strict restrictions on foreign travel. The SinoPharm vaccine effectiveness against the Delta variant in India and UK is unknown. The government is locking down entire neighborhoods rather than entire cities or provinces.  As the risks of the Delta variant and other new variants increases most of the population even in the US and Europe have either no dose or one dose. Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia show the Astra Zeneca vaccine effectiveness with one dose at only 30%, only after two weeks following the second dose does the vaccine effectiveness reach about 70%. The population of China and India are so large that much larger parts of the population remain unvaccinated. In China with 1.3 billion people and even if the figure of 800 million doses stated by the government is accepted- it could be an overestimate as the US has only managed 300 million doses with many vaccines- most of the population is unprotected. Vaccine skepticism is high in China making vaccination an uphill task. SinoPharmvaccine is not as effective as Pfizer, Moderna, Astra Zeneca, or Covaxin vaccines, making the task even more of an uphill kind. ...

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Upcoming Biden meetings with G-7 leaders, EU leaders, NATO, and president Putin of Russia. Biden's goal of US leadership in Asia, Latin America and Europe in close alliance with allies Britain, France, Japan, India and Australia. 

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US banks are awash with cash deposits by companies. During the pandemic companies borrowed- at rates close to zero set by the Federal Reserve at the height of the pandemic- in case they needed the money, and deposited cash at the banks. Verizon increased its cash holdings by 45% to 10.2 billion in the 1st quarter of 2021. Now banks in the US are turning down cash deposits by companies which have to carry it on their books earning no interest. Banks cannot lend out the cash deposits as there is not enough demand for loans.

Between late March and May 26 US bank deposits surged to $17.09 trillion, increasing by another $411 billion in April and May, according to the US central bank.

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Dipti Deshpande writes in the Economic Times that how India's economy recovers depends a lot on how well the government tackles the problems of vaccine supplies, vaccination staff and incentives for vaccination to the public, vaccination logistics, and vaccination skepticism. Vaccination plays a large role in the reduction of fear and permits resumption of normal activity as seen in the US, UK and France. Government education of the public on vaccine safety should be conducted on an organized basis across the country starting now for the gaol of vaccinating the entire population by December 2021. In the 200 days remaining in 2021 the government would have to administer over 1000 million doses or at the rate of 5 million doses a day just for the single dose population, with the second dose meaning additional supplies and logistical effort, organized health staffing, all to be organized.  The thrust of this article is that the economy and especially laggard sectors such as services would gain a fully powered recovery if the problems of vaccine supplies and vaccination drives are resolved early with preparation, lessons learned, and proactive action all taking place immediately. The period after the decline in cases to below 50,000 a day which is fast approaching for India is one that needs to be used to take deep yogic breaths, and prepare the Indian mind for the next challenge for government and nation.   ...

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Already vaccination experts at the Baylor College of Medicine cited here say they foresee another wave of the coronavirus in the Southern US because of vaccine skepticism barriers to vaccination, and much of the population not being vaccinated. The percentage of the population in the Carolinas, Georgia, Georgia and Louisiana, that has both doses of vaccine is low. About 50% have had just one dose. In southern states Mississippi and Alabama the vaccination rates are much lower leaving large parts of the population unvaccinated. The widespread presence of the Delta variant in the UK and the R rate being between 1.00 and 1.2 in UK shows that the UK even with higher vaccination rates than the US is still facing a danger of another wave as it reopens.  The ominous aspect of this is that from just over 400,000 the vaccinations per day dropped to 316,000i n the US. This means there will be a period when vaccination drive is stalled while the reopening is fully underway with a new contagious variant twice as contagious as the original coronavirus. This leaves the US at risk of another wave, with the south and western US, younger people who are out more and unvaccinated, more at risk.  ...

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The Biden vaccination target of 70% of American adults at least partially vaccinated with one dose by July 4, 2021 remains elusive as vaccination rates have dropped. From a high of 2 million a day vaccinations have dropped to 400,000 a day during the first week of June 2021. Vaccination skepticism particularly in the south and western part of the US is making it harder to vaccinate the rest of the US population. This poses increasing risks as the new variants of the virus such as the Delta variant found in India, and now the most widely prevalent strain of virus in the UK, remain a serious problem. The unvaccinated population in the US is too large for any degree of safety in numbers vaccinated. Consider that at the press briefing given by the White House on June 3, 2021, only 28 states out of 51 states have fully vaccinated 50% or more of their population. There is a large variation between different states with states in the south such as Mississippi as low as 34% at least one dose and a similar situation in Alabama. In Arkansas, Georgia, Carolinas, and Louisiana  it is higher at about 50% with at least one dose. Even these figures are deceiving as in some parishes in Louisiana only 20% have even one dose. Studies show that only after the second dose are enough antibodies released to protect well against coronavirus. This is why vaccine experts at Baylor College of Medicine cited in NYT foresee a second wave in the southern US because of the South so underachieving in the case of vaccination.  ...

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Five US Treasury Secretaries talk about their plan to fix tax evasion- no questions answered why they did not fix it when they were in office going back in the years of presidents Obama, Bush, Clinton. These were lost decades for American infrastructure and neglected American manufacturing supply chains. It will take years to repair that damage.