Gentlefolk,
This post describes our main activities during the month of May 2023.
The contents of this post are in the following sequence:
Photos of our activities during May 2023.
Covid 19 pandemic - good riddance!
Some news items which caught my eye in May 2023.
Winter arrived in mid-May. The first half of May was good: clear blue skies, temperatures between 2C and 18C, but little wind so pleasant. Then winter arrived: temperatures from minus 5C to 14C, often cloudy with a biting wind, so unpleasant. The Bureau of Meteorology said the mean temperature (average of max & min) for Canberra in May was 7.8C, the coldest in years.
Our highlight of the month was a visit to Sydney. The main purpose was to see our friend Angie Zhang who is undergoing chemo - she is bearing up well so far - we also saw Andrew & Caroline and the two grandkids.
Here are some puzzling questions to brighten your day:
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Photos of our activities in May.
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| Vera with Ketut Nanik. Their mothers were sisters from Singaraja, Bali. Ketut and her husband Adrian Clynes moved to Canberra a few years ago. |
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| I attended this talk by the Ambassador of Costa Rica, HE Armando Vargas Araya. My eyues were opened about Costa Rica, a relatively small country of 5 million people situated between Nicaragua and Panama in Central America. Did you know that in 1948 Costa Rica voted to abolish the military? Yes, they do not have a standing army. Panama followed suit in 1993. Actually, according to Wikipedia there are about 20 countries (most small island states) which do NOT have a military. Isn't that amazing, to think of a world without arms!!!??? |
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| President of ACT AIIA Heath McMichael with Ambassador Araya. |
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| Betsy Phillips' birthday party (the number on the balloon was kind!). |
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| Vera's cousin, Maggie and her husband Joop, visited from Sydney. |
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| We went to a Shortis and Simpson concert at Smith's Alternative Cafe. |
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| John Shortis and Moya Simpson in convert with Nigel and Beth who run Smith's. It was another wonderful night of entertainment. |
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| Tony Maple led a guided tour of Queanbeyan for a group from the Australia China Friendship Society. |
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| Tony told the story of Bill Tankey whose father Tan Kee came to Australia from Fujian Province; he married Catherine West in Sydney in 1854. Bill was the second of their six children. Bill moved to Queanbeyan in 1888, had seventeen children from two wives. He was enterprising and had several jobs (including as a contracting company which built part of the railway to Cooma), and died in 1939. He is buried in the Catholic Section of the Queanbeyan cemetery. |
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| The group in Strawberry Lane, Queanbeyan. In the 18902 Bill Tankey managed The Queanbeyan Leader newspaper which had offices here. |
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| I watched the Brumbies v Highlanders at Canberra Stadium. The Brumbies won an entertaining game 48-32. The Brumbies have been the best of the Australian teams in the Super Rugby Pacific competition and are currently sitting 4th on the ladder (so will make the finals). |
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| A photo of the Volunteer Guides of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House. Difficult to see, but I am in the centre at the back. |
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| My father Akos Olah was born in Hungary on 19 May 1912; my mother Edeltraut Gorner was born in Germany on 18 May 1920. Both have long-since passed away, but we always think of our parents during May at the time of their birthdays. This photo was taken about 1985. |
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| My mother with her sister Magda, photo taken in 1950. We emigrated to Australia at the end of that year; brave new world! |
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| Jen sent this framed family photo to Vera for Mother's Day. It was taken in Bali last month. |
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| Andrew and I watched the South Sydney v Parramatta Rugby League game at the new Stadium in Sydney. Souths were the favourites, but Parra blitzed them. |
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| We watched Jay (6) play soccer for Easts Football Club. James (holding the ball) scored a good goal. |
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| The games are at Queens Park, just 10 mins walk from their home. |
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| Here is Eddie's soccer team (also Easts) getting advice from their coach at half time. |
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| Dinner with Sydney friends, from left: me, Vera, Howard, Angie, Nikki, and Charles. |
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| Angie Zhang; she is undergoing chemo at present. Brave girl! |
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| Andrew's soccer team (all in their 40s); their competition is on Sunday mornings. |
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| Andrew's team played students from the University of NSW - oldies v youngsters - but they acquitted themselves well, with a final score of 3-all. |
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| We saw this play at the Belconnen Community Theatre. Good fun, entertaining. |
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| After the play we met some of the actors. From left: Kim Wilson (lead actor in the play), Vera, Robin & Tieke Brown, and Noel Cock. |
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| On 13 November 2015 terrorists launched an attack in Paris, killing 131 and injuring almost 500. This film describes the action by the police to find the perpetrators before they can strike again. The film is frenetic and fast-paced (very different from 'normal' French movies). |
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| In Australia this film was called "Cairo Conspiracy", set in Egypt in Arabic with English sub-titles. Adam is the son of a poor fisherman. He is offered a place to study at prestigious Al Azhar University in Cairo. Shortly after his arrival, the Grand Imam dies and Adam becomes an unwitting player in the power struggle to select a successor. A good movie, with fine acting and a suspenseful plot. |
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Covid 19
pandemic, January 2020 to May 2023.
Is it really over???
In May 2023 the WHO declared the Covid 19 pandemic was no
longer a global health emergency. It was still around, but the number of new cases and deaths had fallen sharply and were being managed effectively.
Could this cursed pandemic, which has dominated our lives for the last 3 years, really be over?
The following table shows the top ten countries by number of
cases, and deaths. The figures are taken from the Worldometers website, based on
statistics from individual country government sources. But The Economist thinks these official figures are "rubbery" and that the real figures could be two or even three times more.
Covid 19 Pandemic, Top 10 countries (ranked by number of
cases). Figures have been rounded.
Source: www.worldometers.info accessed 26 May 2023
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Country |
Cases of Covid 19 Millions |
Deaths attributed to Covid 19 Thousands |
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Global |
689 |
6.9M |
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USA |
107 |
1.2M |
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India |
45 |
532 |
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France |
40 |
167 |
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Germany |
38 |
174 |
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Brazil |
38 |
703 |
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Japan |
34 |
75 |
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South Korea |
32 |
35 |
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Italy |
26 |
190 |
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UK |
25 |
225 |
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Russia |
23 |
399 |
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Australia |
12 |
21 |
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China |
0.5 |
5 |
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News items which caught my eye during May 2023.
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Global
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World Health Organization said
that “Covid 19 is no longer a global heath emergency”; 765 million confirmed
cases, 7+ million dead. Coronation of King Charles 3rd
in London. Thousands attended including PM Albanese and GG Hurley. A grand spectacle, the British do it well. The Americans nominated Ajay Banga
to be the next President of the World Bank. He is an Indian-American who was
CEO of Mastercard. Two mass shootings in Serbia; gun controls introduced. Imran Khan was arrested on corruption charges; freed on
bail. Big protests. Israel – Gaza heavy fighting. The annual Eurovision song contest
held in Liverpool was won by Loreen from Sweden. Womens soccer: Chelsea beat Man
United to win the FA Cup for the 3rd time; Sam Kerr scored; record
crowd 77,390. Turkiye: Recep Erdogan (52%) narrowly
beat rival Kilicdaroglu to win a 3rd term of 5 years as President. Thailand: the Opposition ‘Move
Forward’ Party defeated the Govt (will end 9 years of military rule). Cyclone Mocha devastated Myanmar
and Bangladesh. Europe’s Champions League final
next month will be between Inter Milan and Manchester City. Although Arsenal led most of the
season, Man City won England’s Premier League (3rd successive
win). Leicester City (The Foxes) relegated to second division (they won the
Premier League in 2016). Luton promoted. Bayern Munich pipped Borussia
Dortmund to win the German Bundesliga for the 11th time. In
France, Paris St Germain won its 11th championship; Messi scored
giving him a total of 496 goals, one more than Ronaldo. The G7 (USA, UK, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, and Japan) met in Hiroshima, Japan. President Biden cut short
his overseas trip and returned to Washington to resolve the debt ceiling
stand-off. Greek election won by Centre-right
New Democracy Party (new PM
Mitsotakis). Syrian President Bashar al Assad
attended the Arab League summit in Saudi, first time since 2011. To combat emissions, France banned
domestic short-haul flights of less than 2.5 hours, where train options
exist. Brazil declared a 6 monthly animal
health emergency to contain the spread of avian flu (H5N1). A Canadian report accused China of
interfering in the last two federal elections (2019 and 2021). Denied by
China. Netflix began stopping the free
sharing of passwords / access outside the subscriber’s home. Germany has experienced two
quarters of negative growth (Q4 2022 -0.5%; Q1 2023 -0.3%) which is the
technical definition of recession. The EU Digital Services Act
obliges companies to tackle false/illegal online content. 350 leading academics and technocrats signed an open letter warning Govts of the potential dangers of unregulated Artificial Intelligence (AI).
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Russian invasion of Ukraine |
According to the BBC major
military aid donors to Ukraine so far: USA $47B, UK $7B, Germany $4B, Poland
$3B. President Zelensky visited several countries during May to shore up support: Vatican, Germany, UK, Arab League
summit in Saudi, and the G7 meeting in Hiroshima. Russia extended the Ukrainian
grain export agreement for 2 months. USA agreed to allow supply of F16
jets to Ukraine. Two separate drone attacks on Moscow were blamed on Ukraine (denied). A Russian anti-Putin group attacked installations in Belograd. Russia fired missiles and drones at Kyiv for 3 consecutive nights; most were shot down, little damage. Everyone says the Ukrainian counter-offensive is imminent. |
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USA
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Talks to increase the “debt
ceiling” (set to expire on 5 June) dominated the media during the second half
of May. Some House Republicans wanted big spending cuts, but Biden disagreed.
A provisional agreement was reached on 29 May which still needs to pass Congress. Wall Street was volatile but steadied. A Manhattan jury found that former
President Trump sexually abused (but did not rape) E. Jean Carroll and awarded her
$5M for battery and defamation. Trump will appeal. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
declared that he will contest the Republican nomination for the 2024
Presidential election. Trump is way ahead as the preferred GOP candidate at
present. The Federal Reserve raised
interest rates by 0.25% (to 5.25%); the 10th hike since March
2022. US GDP increased 1.1% in Q1 2023;
inflation rate was 4.9% in April, falling. The FIDC accepted a bid of $10.6B
by JP Morgan to purchase First Republic Bank (14th largest lender
in the USA) which became insolvent. In Q1 2023 a record 32 million
passengers passed through NY airports (Kennedy, Newark and La Guardia). Writers strike in Hollywood demanding
better conditions. Tests on two new drugs by Eli
Lilly, Lecanemab and Donanemab, appear to slow Alzheimer’s Disease. Richard Branson’s space coy Virgin
Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Goldman Sachs paid $215M to settle
a sex discrimination case (offered female staff lower pay and conditions). Elon Musk announced Linda Yaccarmo
as the new CEO of Twitter. Warren Buffett sold his stake in Taiwan’s TSMC. California, Arizona and Nevada
agreed to reduce extraction of water from the Colorado River, in exchange for
$1.2B in Fed Govt aid. Queen of Rock & Roll, Tina
Turner, died in Switzerland aged 83. Florida passed a new law
prohibiting citizens of certain countries from owning property within 10
miles of critical infrastructure such as water plants and power stations:
China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and Syria. Texas may follow suit. South Carolina law banning
abortion after 6 weeks. President Biden appointed Air
Force General Charles Brown Jr as new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He is the second Black American (after Colin Powell) to lead the military.
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Australia |
The Reserve Bank raised interest
rates by 0.25% (to 3.85%). Unemployment rate edged up, from 3.5% to 3.7% in
April. Inflation rate also rose, to 6.8%. The CEO of Qantas for 15 years,
Alan Joyce, announced that he will be replaced by Vanessa Hudson (current
CFO). The Federal Govt said it would
contribute $240M towards a new stadium in Hobart, which was a provision of
the AFL to approve a Tasmanian team in the competition. The stadium has been
controversial in Tassie. The Federal Govt banned
recreational vaping; sales thru pharmacies allowed. Rents in Australia increased by an average of 11.7%
over the last 12 months. Westpac Bank announced half-year
profit of A$4B (up 22% on year earlier). Australian Trade Minister Don
Farrell visited Beijing for talks with counterpart Wang Wen Tao. NSW banned political donations
from clubs with slot machines (similar bans on property developers, tobacco
and liquor companies). ASIC figures: there were 828 company
insolvencies in March 2023, almost twice as many as in March 2022. The Govt offered the APS a 10% pay
increase over 3 years. Erstwhile super star entertainer, then
convicted child molester, Rolf Harris, died in England aged 93. The Victorian budget raised
charges on large companies and rich individuals to raise funds to pay off the
A$31B spent during the Covid pandemic. PwC investigated for misuse of
confidential govt information. Premier of Western Australia, Mark
McGowan (55), resigned from parliament citing exhaustion. He became Leader of
the WA Labor Party in 2012, and Premier in 2017. Labor won the 2021 State
election with a huge majority.
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China |
About one-third of China’s 2M
military personnel are conscripts serving for 2 years; their focus is on space and
cyber-warfare. Chinese comedian fined $3M for
joke about the military and Xi Jin Ping. Q1 2023 China (1.07M) passed Japan
(1M) as world’s biggest motor vehicle exporter. China’s exports of MVs in
2022 totaled 3.2M; big jump in exports of new energy vehicles. China banned the use of Micron computer
chips from infrastructure projects, citing network security risks. First Chinese-built airliner, C919
starts commercial flights; single aisle, twin engine, 164 seats, range
5,500km. Orders for 1,035 aircraft received.
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INTERNATIONAL TRADE
My 30 year career as an Australian Trade Commissioner gave me an interest in matters related to international trade. I subscribe to Bloomberg's excellent daily newsletter "Supply Lines - tracking Covid-19's impact on trade" (former title 'Trade Matters').
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That's it for another month, folks.
Our best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.
Vera & Alex Olah
Canberra, Australia
Wednesday 31 May 2023.
