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A tiny rainforest country is growing into a petrostate. A US oil company could reap the biggest rewards
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Guyana’s destiny changed in 2015. US fossil fuel giant Exxon discovered nearly 11 billion barrels of oil in the deep water off the coast of this tiny, rainforested country.It was one of the most spectacular oil discoveries of recent decades. By 2019, Exxon and its partners, US oil company Hess and China-headquartered CNOOC, had started producing the fossil fuel.? They now pump around 650,000 barrels of oil a day, with plans to more than double this to 1.3 million by 2027.
Guyana now has the world’s highest expected oil production growth through 2035.
This country — sandwiched between Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname — has been hailed as a climate champion for the lush, well-preserved forests that carpet nearly 90% of its land. It is on the path to becoming a petrostate at the same time as the impacts of the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis escalate.
While the government says environmental protection and an oil industry can go hand-in-hand, and low-income countries must be allowed to exploit their own resources, critics say it’s a dangerous path in a warming world, and the benefits may ultimately skew toward Exxon — not Guyana.
Since Exxon’s transformative discovery, Guyana’s government has tightly embraced oil as a route to prosperity. In December 2019, then-President David Granger said in a speech, “petroleum resources will be utilized to provide the good life for all … Every Guyanese will benefit.”It’s a narrative that has continued under current President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, who says new oil wealth will allow Guyana to develop better infrastructure, healthcare and climate adaptation.
Exposure to phthalates during pregnancy can affect a newborn’s brain development, study finds
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZGb3vQW2Bw]гей порно молодые[/url]Phthalates — the synthetic chemicals used in everyday products for food packaging, personal care, toys and more — have been linked to abnormal neurological development in infants.
Now, scientists may have discovered a biological pathway for how this phenomenon could occur. Researchers found that in utero exposure to phthalates is linked with altered metabolism of neurotransmitters and amino acids involved in brain maturation, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications.
The report is the first to use untargeted metabolomics — the study of all small molecules or metabolites in a biological system — to connect a mother’s phthalate exposure to a newborn’s metabolites, and those metabolites to neurological development, said senior study author Dr. Donghai Liang via email.
“This represents an important step forward in understanding how prenatal chemical exposures shape infant development at the molecular level,” added Liang, an associate professor of environmental health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta.First introduced in the 1920s, phthalates are used to make plastics softer and more flexible, primarily in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products such as vinyl flooring, medical devices, children’s toys, food packaging or shower curtains. The chemicals also help lubricate substances and carry fragrances in various personal care products including deodorant; nail polish; perfumes; hair gels, sprays or shampoos; soaps; and body lotions.
Phthalates are also endocrine disruptors that have been linked to preterm birth, infant genital abnormalities, childhood obesity, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular issues, and low sperm count and testosterone in men.
“We conducted this study because phthalates are everywhere in our daily lives,” Liang said, hence their nickname “everywhere chemicals.”
Harming infant health
The findings are based on mother-newborn pairs enrolled in the Atlanta African American Maternal-Child Cohort between 2016 and 2018. In urine samples collected from 216 mothers between eight weeks and 14 weeks of gestation at visit one and 145 participants between 24 and 30 weeks’ gestation at visit two, the authors measured eight phthalate metabolites. Participants were around age 24 on average, and their levels of some phthalate metabolites were higher than the average determined by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Within a day or two of birth, the authors collected the babies’ blood via a heel stick.
The team found prenatal phthalate levels were associated with lower levels of tyrosine, an amino acid and precursor to the thyroid hormone thyroxine. Thyroxine was also abnormally low in those with in utero phthalate exposure, and low thyroxine has been previously associated with greater vulnerability to illness and neurodevelopmental issues in newborns, the authors said. Tyrosine is also a precursor to the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine, all of which partly contribute to the body’s fight-or-flight response. Low levels of these neurotransmitters can lead to various problems, including anxiety, depression and trouble focusing.
Prenatal phthalate exposure was also linked with lower levels of the essential amino acid tryptophan, which converts into 5-hydroxytryptophan (or 5-HTP), which then turns into serotonin. Both 5-HTP and serotonin were also low. Serotonin has several critical roles in the body, including mood regulation, sleep, learning, memory, digestion and the body’s response to stress. Previous research has linked low serotonin with mood disorders such as depression and anxiety, sleep problems, and digestive issues.
“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.
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.
Look of the Week: Naomi Watts is twinning with her canine co-star
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What’s white and black and red all over? Naomi Watts and her 145lb co-star, Bing, a Great Dane, taking a dog walk on the crimson carpet for the New York premiere of “The Friend.”Directed by Scott Mcgehee and adapted from Sigrid Nunez’s 2018 novel of the same name, the film — set to release in US theaters on March 28 and in the UK on April 25 — follows a solitary writer and teacher named Iris whose life is upended after a close friend bequeaths his giant pet dog to her following his death.
In front of the cameras Monday evening, the “Mulholland Drive” actor and Bing looked like they were cut from the same cloth — both in temperament and in their matching black polka dots. Watts was dressed in a white gown with fur-tufted spots that bore a striking resemblance to Bing’s own coat, but the Cruella de Vil comparisons ended there. Instead, Watts and Bing were captured in the throes of lots of paw-shakes, puppy kisses and head scratches.
The dress that Watts wore, titled the “Domino” and designed by Jacquemus, debuted during the Spring-Summer 2025 Paris couture shows in January. The look was both elegant and offbeat, with a high-cowl neck and open-back, asymmetrical waistline that mimicked a French tuck. It was styled with a skirt that sprouted furry black polka dots, which close up were unnervingly reminiscent of body hair. But from afar they gave the impression of soft-edged dabs of watercolor bleeding downstream.The look was styled by Jeanann Williams, who has also been working with “The White Lotus” star Leslie Bibb. Williams’ decision to coordinate Watts with Bing was a new take on method dressing — the thematic styling trend that has dominated celebrity red carpets since Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” in 2023. Since then, the sartorial trope, which connects actors to their on-screen characters through clothes, has become somewhat tired — with some observers claiming that the 7-month-long “Wicked” press tour, in which Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande became prisoners to the colors green and pink, was peak saturation.
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.
Aged 15, New Zealander Sam Ruthe has already run a four-minute mile. He would ‘love to try and qualify’ for the 2028 Olympics
[url=https://parasvvap.org]paraswap[/url]Sam Ruthe had the eyes of thousands on him when he stepped onto a running track in Auckland just over a week ago.
Undaunted by the occasion, Ruthe went on to become the first 15-year-old to run a sub-four-minute mile, even managing a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders as he crossed the finish line.
The race was almost entirely engineered for the high school student to break the fabled four-minute barrier – a feat first achieved by Roger Bannister more than 70 years ago – but the weight of running history was a burden that Ruthe seemed to bear lightly.
The first three laps, he later said in a video documenting the race, “felt pretty comfortable – nothing too crazy.”
Perhaps the most intimidating part of his achievement occurred when Ruthe returned to school the next day, only to be immediately called into the principal’s office.
“He’s like, ‘Alright, so you’re gonna have to go up on stage and we’ll get the whole school to clap you,’” Ruthe tells CNN Sports’ Patrick Snell. “It was really scary, actually. I headed into class and everyone thought I was famous.”
It’s easy to forget, given his history-making performance last week, that Ruthe is like most other 15-year-olds in New Zealand. He goes to school, spends time with his friends, and helps with chores around the house.
He also just happens to be one of the most exciting middle-distance runners on the planet, one of the latest star athletes to emerge from sports-mad New Zealand.
“Every morning I come downstairs and he’s already done the dishwasher, he’s already packed his lunch, and he’s ready to go,” Ruthe’s father, Ben, tells CNN Sports.
“He’s just a disciplined kid. He goes to bed early, he looks after himself, he eats well, he looks after his sister. He’s just a good kid around the house in all ways, really. We’re very lucky.”
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Ruthe is next due to compete in the 1,500 meters at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne on Saturday, and one target time to aim for will be his dad’s fastest time of 3:41.22 – three hundredths of a second faster than Ruthe’s current personal best.
But he still has a way to go before he can call himself the most decorated runner in his family. Dad Ben and mom Jess are both former national champions who represented New Zealand on the world stage, while his maternal grandparents won European championship medals for Great Britain.His grandmother, Rosemary Stirling, arguably had the most impressive achievement: an 800m Commonwealth Games title from 1970.
Despite his family pedigree, Ruthe was never under any pressure to take running seriously. His parents, in fact, didn’t allow him or his sister Daisy to train at all until they were 13, never wanting their identities to be tied solely to running.
“It feels like it’s the right decision about now,” says Ben.
But as he gradually starts to realize his potential, Ruthe, when pushed, admits to having big goals in the sport.
“If I had to pick one thing, definitely Olympic gold,” he says. “I feel like that’s most runners’ dream and the biggest thing you can actually win. So that’ll definitely be the top of my bucket list.”
The 2032 Olympics in Brisbane, Ruthe adds, would be a nice target. And as for the Los Angeles Games in three years’ time? “I’d actually love to try and qualify for LA 28,” he says. “I feel like that’ll be a tough goal. But if I do that, I’ll be really happy.”Already, Ruthe’s name is being mentioned in the same breath as Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the most successful middle-distance of this generation. It was his record as the youngest-ever four-minute miler that Ruthe took last week, and the New Zealander also beat Ingebrigtsen’s 1,500m record for a 15-year-old earlier this year.
Ingebrigtsen’s success, Ruthe says, has given him hope that he too can “have a good future” in the sport. But his biggest source of motivation comes not from the two-time Olympic champion, but from those closest to him – his training group led by coach Craig Kirkwood and athlete Sam Tanner.
The pair were instrumental in Ruthe’s recent mile time of 3:58.35, and it was five-time national champion Tanner who paced him perfectly around four laps of the track on his way to the record.
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