Libro de Visitas

Byronnem

18 Apr 2025 - 12:37 am

Critics say this power imbalance is clear in the 2016 contract Guyana signed with Exxon. Under the agreement, Exxon keeps 75% of everything it makes from its oil operations in Guyana, with the remaining 25% shared equally between the company and the government, which also takes a 2% royalty.
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“It was a bad deal,” Ali said in the BBC interview, but he has rejected the idea of unilaterally changing the agreement, which was signed by the previous government. He says the next contract with Exxon will be on different terms.

An Exxon spokesperson said the contract is “globally competitive for countries at a similar stage of exploration” and said Guyana is averaging $1 billion a year in “oil profits.”

Exxon has also faced a number of lawsuits over its potential environmental impact, many filed by Melinda Janki, a Guyanese international lawyer, who drafted the country’s Environmental Protection Act back in the 1990s.

A big victory for Guyana’s people and environment came in 2023, when the court ruled Exxon should have unlimited liability for the costs of any oil spill. Exxon has since appealed the ruling and has posted a $2 billion guarantee while it awaits the appeal outcome.
Exxon said this commitment supplements “its robust balance sheets … and the insurance policies they already had in place.” Janki says this isn’t enough. Offshore oil spills can be extremely expensive to deal with, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill cost nearly $70 billion to clean up.

The push and pull between those who say oil offers Guyana a brighter future and those who fear the industry’s impact will continue.

Exxon said it’s had a positive impact on the country, including employing more than 6,200 people, investing more than $2 billion with local Guyanese businesses since 2015 and spending more than $43 million on community projects.

Howardsnobe

17 Apr 2025 - 09:12 pm

Tyler O’Neill hits record-extending sixth straight Opening Day home run
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For six seasons in a row, Tyler O’Neill has homered on MLB Opening Day.

Making his debut for the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday, O’Neill started the season with his record-extending sixth straight home run on Opening Day during his team’s 12-2 win against the Toronto Blue Jays.

No other player has homered on more than four consecutive Opening Days, with the 29-year-old outfielder’s three-run shot sending the Orioles into a 5-0 lead at the top of the third at Rogers Centre.
Todd Hundley (1994-97), Gary Carter (1977-80) and Yogi Berra (1955-58) all hit four consecutive home runs on Opening Day, while the Major League Baseball record for the total number of Opening Day home runs is held jointly by Adam Dunn, Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Robinson on eight.

“I’m just not trying to make too much of it,” O’Neill told reporters about his streak. “I’m just trying to go out, have a good first at-bat and see what the game gives me from there.

“Obviously, I understand what’s going on, but it’s not like I’m going out there trying to do anything crazy.”

O’Neill, who signed a three-year, $49.5 million contract to join Baltimore from the Boston Red Sox in the offseason, finished three-for-three with three RBIs and two walks against the Blue Jays.

“It’s a little different when the lights turn on and you’ve got to show up, so it was really cool to see all the guys show up today,” he said. “We got after it out there.”

While the first two games of the MLB regular season took place between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers in Tokyo last week, Thursday marked the first official day of the season in the United States.

Scottseeno

16 Apr 2025 - 07:54 am

Tbilisi, Georgia — Jailed journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli gets weaker every day as her hunger strike has reached three weeks in Rustavi, a town near the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, her lawyer says. Now the 49-year-old is having difficulty walking the short distance from her cell to the room where they usually meet, and human rights officials, colleagues and family fear for her life.
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Amaghlobeli was arrested Jan. 12 during an anti-government protest in the coastal city of Batumi, one of over 40 people in custody on criminal charges from a series of demonstrations that have hit the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million in recent months.
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The political turmoil follows a parliamentary election that was won by the ruling Georgian Dream party, although its opponents allege the vote was rigged.

Protests highlight battle over Georgia's future. Here's why it matters.
Its outcome pushed Georgia further into Russia's orbit of influence. Georgia aspired to join the European Union, but the party suspended accession talks with the bloc after the election.

As it sought to cement its grip on power, Georgian Dream has cracked down on freedom of assembly and expression in what the opposition says is similar to President Vladimir Putin's actions in neighboring Russia, its former imperial ruler.
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Allanlag

14 Apr 2025 - 02:45 pm

Why axolotls seem to be everywhere — except in the one lake they call home
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Scientist Dr. Randal Voss gets the occasional reminder that he’s working with a kind of superstar. When he does outreach events with his laboratory, he encounters people who are keen to meet his research subjects: aquatic salamanders called axolotls.

The amphibians’ fans tell Voss that they know the animals from the internet, or from caricatures or stuffed animals, exclaiming, “‘They’re so adorable, we love them,’” said Voss, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. “People are drawn to them.”

Take one look at an axolotl, and it’s easy to see why it’s so popular. With their wide eyes, upturned mouths and pastel pink coloring, axolotls look cheerful and vaguely Muppet-like.

They’ve skyrocketed in pop culture fame, in part thanks to the addition of axolotls to the video game Minecraft in 2021. These unusual salamanders are now found everywhere from Girl Scout patches to hot water bottles. But there’s more to axolotls than meets the eye: Their story is one of scientific discovery, exploitation of the natural world, and the work to rebuild humans’ connection with nature.

A scientific mystery
Axolotl is a word from Nahuatl, the Indigenous Mexican language spoken by the Aztecs and an estimated 1.5 million people today. The animals are named for the Aztec god Xolotl, who was said to transform into a salamander. The original Nahuatl pronunciation is “AH-show-LOAT”; in English, “ACK-suh-LAHT-uhl” is commonly used.
Axolotls are members of a class of animals called amphibians, which also includes frogs. Amphibians lay their jelly-like eggs in water, and the eggs hatch into water-dwelling larval states. (In frogs, these larvae are called tadpoles.)

Most amphibians, once they reach adulthood, are able to move to land. Since they breathe, in part, by absorbing oxygen through their moist skin, they tend to stay near water.

Axolotls, however, never complete the metamorphosis to a land-dwelling adult form and spend their whole lives in the water.

“They maintain their juvenile look throughout the course of their life,” Voss said. “They’re teenagers, at least in appearance, until they die.”

Gabrielsuimb

14 Apr 2025 - 02:20 pm

Axolotl problems
As Mexico City grew and became more industrialized, the need for water brought pumps and pipes to the lake, and eventually, “it was like a bad, smelly pond with rotten water,” Zambrano said. “All of our aquatic animals suffer with bad water quality, but amphibians suffer more because they have to breathe with the skin.”
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To add to the axolotls’ problems, invasive fish species such as carp and tilapia were introduced to the lake, where they feed on axolotl eggs. And a 1985 earthquake in Mexico City displaced thousands of people, who found new homes in the area around the lake, further contributing to the destruction of the axolotls’ habitat.

These combined threats have devastated axolotl populations. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are fewer than 100 adult axolotls left in the wild. The species is considered critically endangered.
While the wild axolotls of Lake Xochimilco have dwindled to near-extinction, countless axolotls have been bred for scientific laboratories and the pet trade. “The axolotl essentially helped establish the field of experimental zoology,” Voss said.

In 1864, a French army officer brought live axolotls back to Europe, where scientists were surprised to learn that the seemingly juvenile aquatic salamanders were capable of reproduction. Since then, scientists around the world have studied axolotls and their DNA to learn about the salamanders’ unusual metamorphosis (or lack thereof) as well as their ability to regrow injured body parts.
In addition to their role in labs, axolotls have become popular in the exotic pet trade (though they are illegal to own in California, Maine, New Jersey and Washington, DC). However, the axolotls you might find at a pet shop are different from their wild relatives in Lake Xochimilco. Most wild axolotls are a dark grayish brown. The famous pink axolotls, as well as other color variants such as white, blue, yellow and black, are genetic anomalies that are rare in the wild but selectively bred for in the pet trade.

What’s more, “most of the animals in the pet trade have a very small genetic variance,” Zambrano said. Pet axolotls tend to be inbred and lack the wide flow of different genes that makes up a healthy population in the wild. That means that the axolotl extinction crisis can’t simply be solved by dumping pet axolotls into Lake Xochimilco. (Plus, the pet axolotls likely wouldn’t fare well with the poor habitat conditions in the lake.)

Fame and misfortune
The difficulties that axolotls face in the wild are almost diametrically opposed to the fame they’ve found in recent years. Axolotls have captured the human imagination for centuries, as evidenced by their roles in Aztec religion and stories, but the early 21st century seems to be a high point for them. An axolotl graces the 50 peso bill. There are axolotl-inspired Pokemon, and Reddit commenters have noted that the character Toothless from the “How to Train Your Dragon” movie series is distinctly axolotl-like.

The introduction of axolotls to Minecraft in 2021 neatly mapped onto an uptick in Google searches for the animals, and social media makes it easy for people to gain access to photos and videos of the salamanders, particularly the photogenic pink ones often kept as pets.

The axolotl pet trade probably doesn’t directly harm the wild populations since wild salamanders aren’t being poached or taken from Lake Xochimilco. However, Zambrano said, axolotls’ ubiquity in pop culture and pet stores might make people assume that because axolotls “live in all the tanks around the world, they are not in danger.”

Jimmytwerm

14 Apr 2025 - 06:23 am

Americans nearing retirement and recent retirees said they were anxious and frustrated following a second day of market turmoil that hit their 401(k)s after President Donald Trump’s escalation of tariffs.

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As the impending tariffs shook the global economy Friday, people who were planning on their retirement accounts to carry them through their golden years said the economic chaos was hitting too close to home.

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Some said they are pausing big-ticket purchases and reconsidering home renovations, while others said they fear their quality of life will be adversely affected by all the turmoil.

“I’m just kind of stunned, and with so much money in the market, we just sort of have to hope we have enough time to recover,” said Paula, 68, a former occupational health professional in New Jersey who retired three years ago.

Paula, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she feared retaliation for speaking out against Trump administration policies, said she was worried about what lies ahead.
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“What we’ve been doing is trying to enjoy the time that we have, but you want to be able to make it last,” Paula said Friday. “I have no confidence here.”

Trump fulfilled his campaign promise this week to unleash sweeping tariffs, including on the United States’ largest trading partners, in a move that has sparked fears of a global trade war. The decision sent the stock market spinning. On Friday afternoon, the broad-based S&P 500 closed down 6%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 5.8%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 2,200 points, or about 5.5%.

Michaelpasty

14 Apr 2025 - 05:24 am

Americans nearing retirement and recent retirees said they were anxious and frustrated following a second day of market turmoil that hit their 401(k)s after President Donald Trump’s escalation of tariffs.

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As the impending tariffs shook the global economy Friday, people who were planning on their retirement accounts to carry them through their golden years said the economic chaos was hitting too close to home.

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Some said they are pausing big-ticket purchases and reconsidering home renovations, while others said they fear their quality of life will be adversely affected by all the turmoil.

“I’m just kind of stunned, and with so much money in the market, we just sort of have to hope we have enough time to recover,” said Paula, 68, a former occupational health professional in New Jersey who retired three years ago.

Paula, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she feared retaliation for speaking out against Trump administration policies, said she was worried about what lies ahead.
https://kraken12-at.net
“What we’ve been doing is trying to enjoy the time that we have, but you want to be able to make it last,” Paula said Friday. “I have no confidence here.”

Trump fulfilled his campaign promise this week to unleash sweeping tariffs, including on the United States’ largest trading partners, in a move that has sparked fears of a global trade war. The decision sent the stock market spinning. On Friday afternoon, the broad-based S&P 500 closed down 6%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 5.8%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 2,200 points, or about 5.5%.

Jeffreybof

14 Apr 2025 - 04:46 am

Americans nearing retirement and recent retirees said they were anxious and frustrated following a second day of market turmoil that hit their 401(k)s after President Donald Trump’s escalation of tariffs.

kraken4
As the impending tariffs shook the global economy Friday, people who were planning on their retirement accounts to carry them through their golden years said the economic chaos was hitting too close to home.

kra10 cc
Some said they are pausing big-ticket purchases and reconsidering home renovations, while others said they fear their quality of life will be adversely affected by all the turmoil.

“I’m just kind of stunned, and with so much money in the market, we just sort of have to hope we have enough time to recover,” said Paula, 68, a former occupational health professional in New Jersey who retired three years ago.

Paula, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she feared retaliation for speaking out against Trump administration policies, said she was worried about what lies ahead.
https://kra26.net
“What we’ve been doing is trying to enjoy the time that we have, but you want to be able to make it last,” Paula said Friday. “I have no confidence here.”

Trump fulfilled his campaign promise this week to unleash sweeping tariffs, including on the United States’ largest trading partners, in a move that has sparked fears of a global trade war. The decision sent the stock market spinning. On Friday afternoon, the broad-based S&P 500 closed down 6%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 5.8%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 2,200 points, or about 5.5%.

Terryvor

13 Apr 2025 - 06:29 pm

The voice of ‘White Lotus’ star Walton Goggins is the lullaby we didn’t know we needed
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While his “White Lotus” character Rick has been the source of some stress this season, Walton Goggins is here to soothe us into a state of dreamy sleep to make up for it.

The actor has partnered with relaxation and meditation app Calm for one of their famed Sleep Stories, lending his smoky voice to a fable titled “The Yard Sale.”

Goggins announced the Sleep Story on his verified Instagram on Tuesday, writing, “A friend once said to me the first question you ask someone shouldn’t be, ‘How are you?’ but rather, ‘How did you sleep last night?’ I agree.”

The post included an excerpt from the story, in which Goggins is heard languidly instructing listeners to relax their bodies and get into bed. “You could even climb into a hammock,” he added. “I wouldn’t do that because I’ve never gracefully got in or out of one.”

In the caption, the actor also wrote that he “wanted to create a Sleep Story that feels dreamlike, helping people slow their minds down by wandering through a yard sale (which happens to be one of my favorite things to do), uncovering hidden treasures.”

“It’s the Walton Goggins version of counting sheep. I hope you enjoy,” he added.

Other celebrities who have read bedtime stories in the hopes of putting audiences to sleep include Dolly Parton and the late Jimmy Stewart, whose voice was featured in a Calm Christmas Sleep Story in 2023 thanks to generative AI technology.

Goggins currently stars on “The White Lotus,” where his character is often the most stressed out and tortured of the ensemble, at one point setting a slew of snakes free.

Williamemore

13 Apr 2025 - 03:46 pm

“You have a government that is reckless about what is going to happen to Guyana,” said Melinda Janki, an international lawyer in Guyana who is handling several lawsuits against Exxon. It’s pursuing “a supposed course of development that is actually backward and destructive,” she told CNN.
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And while plenty of Guyanese people welcome the new oil industry, some say Guyana’s startling economic statistics do not reflect a real-world prosperity for ordinary people, many of whom are struggling with the higher prices accompanying the oil boom. Inflation rose 6.6% in 2023, with prices of some foods shooting up much more rapidly.

“Since the oil extraction began in Guyana, we have noticed that our cost of living has gone sky high,” said Wintress White, of Red Thread, a non-profit that focuses on improving living conditions for Guyanese women. “The money is not trickling down to the masses,” she told CNN.

CNN contacted President Ali, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Finance for comment but received no response.
Guyana, a former Dutch then British colony which gained independence in 1966, is one of only a handful of countries that is a “carbon sink,” meaning it stores more planet-heating pollution than it produces. This is due to its vast rainforest; trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow.

The country has protected its biodiversity where others have destroyed theirs, President Ali said in a BBC interview last year. In 2009, the country signed an agreement with Norway, which promised Guyana more than $250 million to preserve its 18.5 million hectares, or nearly 46 million acres, of forests.

Ali insists the country can balance climate leadership and fossil fuel exploitation. The new oil wealth will allow Guayana to develop, including building climate adaptations such as sea walls, he has said. He has also pointed to the continued failures of wealthy countries, already grown rich on their own fossil fuels, to help poorer countries with climate finance.

But there are concerns Guyana could fall victim to the “resource curse,” in which vast, new wealth ?can actually make life worse for those who live there.