“But it is a curve each of them feels, unmistakably. It's The Parabola. They must have guessed, once or twice -guessed and refused to believe- that everything, always, collectively, had been moving toward that purified shape latent in the sky, that shape of no surprise, no second chance, no return.’’

Thomas Pynchon in Bleeding Edge “No matter how the official narrative of this turns out," it seemed to Heidi, "these are the places we should be looking, not in newspapers or television but at the margins, graffiti, uncontrolled utterances, bad dreamers who sleep in public and scream in their sleep.”

The number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths continues to decrease, with over 3.5 million new cases and 78 000 new deaths reported globally in the past week; a 15% and 7% decrease respectively, compared to the previous week

Last week people were still wondering why total new cases were not going up yet in the UK if B.1.617.2 made up such a large share of all new infections. Well, surprise, surprise: in the meantime they do go up. Here new cases shown by variant. Overall R value in the UK now at 1.3.

We should be asking why Chile is seeing another surge and locking down with ICUs full when more of their population is fully vaccinated than ours. 

Why is Uruguay having a terrible surge with similar vax rates?

I am convinced that the only ‘’zoonotic’’ origin was one that was accelerated in the Laboratory.

There is also a non negligible possibility that #COVID19 was deliberately released – 

Today only the Paid for Propagandists and Virologists and WHO will argue that there is a ''zoonotic'' origin for COVID19. 

It is remarkable that the Propaganda is still being propagated more than a year later. 

Those who have chosen to propagate this narrative are above the radar and in plain sight and need to be called to account. 

The Utter Failure to call these 5th columnists to Account is the clearest Signal that there is no external threat because it is already on the inside.

Controlling the COVID19 Narrative, suppressing the Enquiry, parlaying the situation into one of singular advantage marks a singular moment  and  

Xi Jinping has exhibited Chinese dominance over multiple theatres from the Home Front, the International Media Domain, the ‘’Scientific’’ domain over which he has achieved complete ownership and where any dissenting view is characterized as a ‘’conspiracy theory’’

It remains a remarkable achievement

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“Money is accordingly a system of mutual trust, and not just any system of mutual trust: money is the most universal and most efficient system of mutual trust ever devised.”

“Cowry shells and dollars have value only in our common imagination. Their worth is not inherent in the chemical structure of the shells and paper, or their colour, or their shape. In other words, money isn’t a material reality – it is a psychological construct. It works by converting matter into mind.”

In a flowing cream hijab, Karima M. Imam walks through her fields in scrubland in northern Nigeria as workers harvest a gnarled brown root that has turned gold since COVID struck: ginger.

"If I had the capital, I'd plant more. People are looking for ginger now, and there is not enough," she said at her five hectare farm on the outskirts of Kaduna.

As the pandemic rages, people around the world have sought to guard against illness by turning to so-called halo foods. 

While scientists have dismissed many claims on social media about how superfoods can fend off the virus, their positive role as part of a healthy diet is widely acknowledged.

As demand for halo foods surges, prices for ginger in Nigeria and acai berries in Brazil have leapt while exports of Indian turmeric and Chinese garlic have jumped in the past year.

"The demand for ginger is high because they are using it as medicine," Imam said, adding that during the lockdown she boiled ginger with turmeric and garlic to take as a remedy.

Thanks to the ginger rush, Imam has been able to start building a new house in nearby Millennium City, with a small warehouse attached so she can store and sell fresh ginger, which goes for more than when it has been cut and dried.

Lebanon’s severe economic and financial crisis is likely to rank as one of the worst the world has seen in more than 150 years, the World Bank said in a report released Tuesday.

The World Bank said that since late 2019, Lebanon has been facing compounded challenges, including its largest peace-time economic and financial crisis, the spread of coronavirus and a massive blast at Beirut’s port last year that is considered as one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.

Congo-Brazzaville's President Denis Sassou-Nguesso has appointed his son Denis-Christel as a cabinet minister - a move that has revived media speculation that he has a dynastic succession in mind.

Not that such a transition looks imminent. Elected to a further term in March, after ruling the country for all but five of the past 41 years, there's no sign of the 77-year old head of state losing his appetite for wielding power himself.

Yet if Denis-Christel does eventually step into his father's shoes, this will confirm Congo-Brazzaville's alignment with an increasingly prevalent pattern in Central Africa.

In neighbouring Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba is the son of Omar Bongo, who ruled from 1967 to 2009, while in the Democratic Republic of Congo Joseph Kabila ruled for 17 years after succeeding his assassinated father Laurent-Désiré as head of state in 2001.

Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang - in power since deposing his tyrannical uncle Francisco Macías Nguema, the country's first head of state, back in 1979 - has already installed his son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, as vice-president, in pole position to succeed him.

And after Chad's President Idriss Déby died last month - reportedly from wounds incurred in battle with rebels - his son Mahamat, a four-star army general, rapidly emerged as the leader of the interim ruling military council.

And now there are even rumblings about a possible family succession in Cameroon, where an anonymous "citizens' movement" campaign has begun to promote the image of Franck Biya, son of the 88-year-old President Paul Biya, who is not yet midway through his latest seven-year term.

The International Monetary Fund staff agreed to provide a $1 billion facility to Uganda, the lender’s second bailout to an African nation in four days to help the continent’s economies mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The loan to Uganda comes after the IMF staff on May 27 agreed to provide $1.5 billion to the Democratic Republic of Congo over the next three years, and following the Fund’s provision of more than $15 billion for sub-Saharan African nations since the pandemic hit the region in 2020. 

The latest deals need final approval by IMF management and its executive board.

The funds will help Uganda, Africa’s top coffee exporter, and Congo, the world’s biggest source of cobalt, recover from the pandemic that has reduced income and pushed 30 million across the continent into “extreme poverty.” 

The slow pace of vaccinations is also hampering recovery in nations across the region.

“Covid-19 continues to pose risks,” IMF said in a statement approving the three-year facility to Uganda on Tuesday. 

“Weaker external demand and possible resurgence of containment measures linked to higher Covid-19 positivity rates are downside risks. It will be important to identify contingency strategies in case these risks materialize.”

Uganda has seen a surge in virus infections over the past month, recording 614 new cases on May 30 and taking the total tally of confirmed cases to 47,761 and 362 deaths, according to the health ministry. 

The infection rate is 17.4%, compared with 1.5% on May 1.