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The figures are staggering. $380 billion of $400 billion in Nigerian oil revenues estimated lost to corruption and waste from 1960 to 1999. This is the estimate given by Nigeria's top anticorruption official and quoted in the NYT. Meanwhile life expectancy in Nigeria is about 47 years and little of the oil revenues goes to infrastructure, health, education and investment to improve the lives of Nigeria's people. The oil companies after years of bad publicity, Shell and Exxon, appear to be shrugging their shoulders that there is little they can do beyond their own small investments, $100 million by Shell and $22 million by Exxon each year on roads and other related infrastructure. The western oil companies typically get 7% of the profits from oil sales, with the government keeping 93%, according to the NYT. Mouwad describes life inside a 50 acre area in Port Harcourt which houses Italians working for oil company Eni. A militant movement MEND is fighting in the Delta region to have more resources devoted to this neglected region of Nigeria. The result is that life is becoming difficult for foreign oil workers in the area. About 13% of oil revenues go to the states but corruption and waste eat up the money at the state level too. The River States budget is an example, of about $1.3 billion budget only $22 million goes to health services, helicopter services and catering for the governor's office alone cost $38 million and $10 million. MEND the delta region organization wants more money for the delta states and is organizing disruption of oil production as a method to make itself heard. This has increased the need for security consultants to protect oil company property and personnel. Already a quarter of Nigerian oil production has been shut down....

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Hit hard by the pandemic the people of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico are showing less vaccine hesitancy. This is enabling this region to catch up with the US in vaccinations. The difference is that people trust vaccinations. About two thirds of people in Chile and Uruguay are vaccinated. Supplies of vaccine are coming in from US, UK, Russia and China. Brazil is now doing 1.5 million vaccinations a day, compared to 750,000 in US daily. This report says that on a per capita basis taking into account the populations US is currently vaccinating at half the rate of Mexico and a third of the rate in Peru and Colombia, Argentina. With 8% of the population Latin America had one third the deaths making vaccination urgent and essential for this region. People are taking the threat of Delta variant seriously in the region. Astonishing as it may sound after all the publicity of deaths in Brazil this report in WSJ says 88% of people in Brazil want to get vaccinated, while 67% say this in the US, poll from Ipsos. Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Chile all top the US, says WSJ. ...

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In a factory the size of 5 football fields located in Gurnee, Illinois, Abbott Labs makes its BinaxNow Covid-19 home tests. Abbott turned out 1 billion tests in 2021 and at one point had 80% of the market. Along with Pfizer vaccine, BinaxNow Home covid-19 tests are a dominant product during the pandemic. Abbott generated a fifth of its $43 billion in revenue from these home tests. Abbott faced several hurdles along the way. It gained when the US government authorized it to make the test. Yet after vaccination took off by mid 2021 the demand for tests declined and Abbott nearly idled its giant factory in Gurnee. Delta and Omicron variants led to a sudden reversal and surge in demand. Abbott developed its test based on an existing design it used in the US for flu tests, by a company it inherited by acquisition called Binax. To do that test one sends a swab up the nose, add that sample and a liquid mixture to a rectangular paper card, and close the card shut. The liquid then travels up the paper strip, revealing one or two pink lines, one for negative, two for positive. This is done in 15 minutes and the simple design described as a lollipop shape, put Abbott far ahead of competitors. The US FDA authorized Becton Dickinson and Quidel to make the tests before it authorized Abbott, but these rival companies had a poor and complex design. The Trump administration gave Abbott a $760 million contract to buy 150 million tests for distribution to health departments, long termcare facilities, nursing homes, and schools. And by October 2020 Abbott was already making 50 million tests a month. When it comes to distribution Abbott tapped into its pharmacy connections for baby products such as Similac baby formula. This gave it an advantage over Quidel and others who also lacked the manufacturing knowhow for large scale ramp up. The BinaxNow in pharmacies was sold at $24 for a box of two tests, while government paid $5 for one test. Abbott says it makes $ 7 per single consumer test. Yet there was one problem waiting to hit Abbott in 2021- demand dried up as the vaccination campaign took off. In fact the plant manager, Mr. Rodriguez, planned to move to another job inside Abbott as production declined. Then came the Delta variant and he was asked to ramp up production again. With Omicron demand soared. The Biden administration committed $3 billion to help boost test production and asked Kroger and Walmart to sell over the counter tests at cost for 3 months. Abbott had to lure workers from Amazon at $25 an hour for the Gurnee plant expansion. What was learned by the government and Abbott from this experience? The US government now looks for ideas in meeting demand volatility, supply challenges and production needs,. Sustaining production capacity is important for future virus flareups- a new government-industry partnership is required for maintaining test making infrastructure. With government help Abbott plans now to keep the facility at Gurnee operating indefinitely. ...

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Vaccine mandates are becoming a favored action as companies and governments see the dangers of rapid spread of highly transmissible delta variant. Following the action by the French government to make vaccinations mandatory for all healthcare workers, and require health pass passe sanitaire showing one is fully vaccinated at restaurants, cafes, and trains, more governments are taking up this action. This is supported by French premier Castex showing that 97% of the 18000 average daily cases in France this week, up 150% from prior week, are from unvaccinated people. Similar situation prevails in the US making it critical that governments take action early, and not miss the right time for such action.

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Beppe Severgnini is a columnist for Italy's newspaper Corriere della Serra. Here he describes the rift between generations in Italy that is holding Italy back.

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On the dangers facing Nigeria as the issue of transition to a post Obasanjo administration is faced. The question is whether Obasanjo continues for a third term by revising the constitution, or arranges a worthy successor to continue his policies and help establish democratic institutions and processes in Nigeria. The issue is important for Nigeria's future and that of the whole of Africa. Unrest in the Niger Delta where oil is produced is also a concern, as well as the need for better resource distribution and much needed development in Nigeria.

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A change in the union voting rules authorized by the National Mediation Board which helps unionization efforts at airlines- with an impact on Delta Airlines- is holding up the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's funding reauthorization bill in Congress. With Congress in recess some of the FAA work in modernization of airport navigation systems will come to an halt. Normally FAA funding is made for the long term for a number of years but the last such funding bill expired in 2007. Since then the FAA has operated using 20 extensions because of Congressional differences.

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The WSJ's Susan Carey interviews Alaska Airlines CEO, Brad Tilden, in June 2013. Tilden talks about the expansion to flights on the East Coast using Boeing's newer planes which do not need refueling on transcontinental flights. Alaska Airlines now flies to New York, Boston, Washington D.C , Chicago, Denver and Dallas. Alaska Airlines is strong on the West Coast and Pacific Northwest, with headquarters in Seattle. Connections with American and Delta are another asset. Management maintains good labor relations, and strives to be nimble with speedier decisionmaking than rivals.

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Legal experts say the complaint does not match the settlement by the Justice Department in the merger of American and US Airways. Whether the settlement increases competition after the merger and protects consumers also hinges on what the competition is- Delta and United, or Southwest, Jet Blue and other lowcost carriers. One view is that Southwest appeals to a different group of customers and is a different type of airline, and providing more competition from low cost carriers in New York and Washington DC does not affect the competition between the larger airlines.

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According to a report from China's Environment Ministry for the first half of 2013, only 4 cities met the acceptable air quality standards. The national grade 2 standard in China is for 35 micrograms per cubic meter for levels of airborne particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrograms in diameter. WHO standard is for 25 micrograms per cubic meter in a 24 hour period. The 4 cities with acceptable air qualty out of 74 cities monitored by the Environment Ministry are Lhasa in Tibet, island city Haikou, coastal town Zhoushan, and Pearl River Delta city of Huizhou.

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As airlines charge for food they are getting more feedback from customers and they are collecting this feedback to learn what customers want and what kinds of food to carry. Delta and Midwest and US Airways are lloking at different food options that are healthier and liked by customers. Delta and Midwest have hired Chefs from restaurants to come up with better nutritional and flavorful dishes that will appeal to customers. Customers who take longer flights or who change planes with very little time to get food in the stopover time are dependent on getting something good from the airline food or staying hungry. These travellers are willing to pay more for better food. The whole shift to having customers pay for food may result in better food choice and menus which are healthier and flavorful. Certain kinds of foods don not hold up in an airplane environment and chefs are experimenting with menus and choices that will be best suited for this. One traveller faulted American for serving a huge cookie thats like a half pound size. It shows how little thinking goes on in airline offices about the food thats served. Already US airlines are falling behind in getting newer planes and some airlines are usoing really old planes that aren't fun to travel in now add the discomfort from badly thought out or not thought out at all food and imagine the onboard experience. see th link to how US airlines are falling behind in getting new planes and the links to all the flight delay especially into New York....

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About $2 billion estimated by the Nigerian government is the amount stolen by military ruler Abacha from the central bank between 1993-1998. The Swiss government agreed to return $458 million of this to Nigeria in September 2006. Desperately needed development funds have long been diverted from the oil wealth of Nigeria into private accounts. Note the present government has made some progress in the area of fighting corruption. Also note that much more needs to be done for development in places where oil is produced like the Niger delta, and these problems have resulted in the shutdown of oil production in the area, affecting world oil prices.

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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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Omicron cases are up in an almost vertical line on a graph with cases doubling every 2-3 days in the UK, similar to the pattern in South Africa during the beginning of the spread in South Africa. Since then early data in South Africa show the trend in the province of Gauteng, center of the omicron outbreak in South Africa in the Johannesburg area, has reached its peak. On Dec. 16 it recorded 27% of national infections compared to 70% the week before. Head of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in South Africa, Michael Groome, says "we had areally dramatic increase in Gauteng, which has now leveled off."  Hospital admissions in South Africa show a different pattern than earlier hospital admission rates in previous waves, with only 1.7% of cases being hospitalized in this Omicron wave compared to 19% for the Delta variant wave at a similar point in the wave, says Health Minister Joe Phaahla. In UK as of Dec. 14, this WSJ report cites health authorites saying 73% of cases in London are omicron variant, doubling every 1-2 days, with omicron making up 41% of all cases in England. In the US the Centers for Disease Control show Omicron variant making up 2.9% of all cases in US as of Dec. 11, with highest concentration in New York, New Jersey of 13.1%. Proportion of positive tests went up from 3.3% to 5% in New York City. A convention in New York City, Anime convention at Javits Center, November 23, 2021, shown in a recent NYT report, could potentially have acted as a super spreader event in New York according to NYT though not confirmed, similar to football stadiums events in Italy in March 2020. Dense atmosphere and large crowds increase the risk of a super spreader event happening, say experts. ...

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Jet Blue came to Boston in 2004. At the time it had one gate and 30 employees at Boston's Logan International Airport. The airline now has 2300 workers and 17 gates in Jan 2012. It now has 104 nonstop daily flights to 44 locations in the U.S. and Caribbean, with plans to reach 150 flights by 2015. As American and Delta pulled back to focus on their main hubs, Jet Blue expanded quickly. It started as an airline for vacation travellers, but soon attracted business passengers for the cheaper cost of flights, especially for cost conscious travellers after the recession hit in 2008. Jet Blue also offered better service and more leg room for business passengers. Jet Blue's CEO, Dave Barger, says 30% of traffic into and out of Logan now is for business travel.

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Southwest ranks 4th, American and United 5th and 6th in this survey in the WSJ. The top ranked airline for US quality travel is Delta Airlines in 2024.

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Delta, Southwest rank at the top of airlines in America for the least canceled flights and mishandled baggage. The lowest ranking from the Transportation Department was for American and United.

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Competition in the trans atlnatic market with a Delta- Northwest merger.

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How does this relate to Nigeria and Shell, and Shell problems in the Niger Delta?

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WSJ rankings show Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Minneapolis all Delta hubs as the best on time airports in the US. For reaching the most destinations Dallas, Texas and Dulles in Virginia. The best small airport is Indianapolis.