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Posted by Earsbern on the 2nd April :-

Doc 71 - California
As usual, I am unable to copy this, so must interpret it as best I can. It's interesting. You may remember that back at 02/01/20, FRR wanted mediation, and Hope/OMF didn't.

Well, it seems that the mediation has been proceeding (very quietly - at least, I don't remember hearing about it!). If my understanding of this doc. is correct, mediation was scheduled to complete on 08/05/20 and, the doc says, a meeting was scheduled between the two parties on 15/04/20 "at JAMS(?) in San Francisco". (I think JAMS is a legal organisation of some sort, not a pub - but then, who knows?).
The doc continues "Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the parties determined to continue the scheduled mediation until 18/06/20, and have reserved this continued mediation date with JAMS". The parties are now requesting that "the court continue the deadline to complete mediation in this action until 20/07/20", in case any "mediation-related activity following the scheduled mediation (18/06/20) is required".

It's all a bit garbled, and sounds to me as though the court and both parties already understood it's contents, and so haven't tried too hard to write coherently. But the gist is clear enough.
Anyway, it looks very much as though mediation is progressing.

Doc 72 - California
Yep, you guessed it - Judge Seeborg has continued the deadline from 08/05/20 to 20/07/20.

Posted by Madpunter on the 2nd April :-

San Francisco, CA | JAMS Mediation, Arbitration, ADR Services
https://www.jamsadr.com/sanfrancisco
JAMS is the largest private alternative dispute resolution (ADR) provider in the world.
https://www.jamsadr.com/practices/

Posted by Looed on the 31st Mar :-

Article - "Georgia enters quarantine"
Pt.1

Quarantine has been declared throughout Georgia due to COVID-19, – the Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia stated at a briefing held after the conclusion of a session of the Interagency Coordination Council on the coronavirus.

The universal quarantine regime has been introduced as part of the new measures to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

“We have decided to significantly tighten measures within the framework of the state of emergency. Effectively – and I would like to emphasize this – effectively, we are declaring universal quarantine, which will begin tomorrow, at 8:00 in the morning, ” – Giorgi Gakharia said.

Gakharia said the citizens will be required to observe curfew between 21:00 – 06:00 from March 31.

According to Prime Minister, the quarantine means the following:

“• It is completely forbidden to travel using any type of public transport (including the subway), both within and between cities and municipalities.

• It is only permissible to travel using light vehicles (including taxis), and only if the recommendation of the Ministry of Healthcare has been taken into consideration, i.e., if there are no more than three persons in an automobile, with the essential condition that the two persons are seated in the rear seat. This is a very important recommendation and relevant state bodies will make the appropriate decisions in case of noncompliance.

• Also, it is only permissible to carry passengers for the purpose of transporting employees of facilities of strategic importance in an organized and safe manner.

• Gathering of more than three persons is forbidden, with the exception of grocery stores and pharmacies, where maintaining a social distance of two meters is mandatory.

• Furthermore, rules governing the operation of enterprises that are permitted by the government will be set out separately; they will have separate protocols that will be agreed with the Ministry of Healthcare. We are doing this so that the economy can continue to function and to ensure that the potential that the Georgian economy possesses is not brought to a standstill, as well as, of course, to ensure that our citizens can retain their jobs as much as possible.

• Our citizens above 70 years of age will be forbidden from leaving their homes, unless they are going to their nearest grocery store, their nearest pharmacy, or their nearest medical facility.

• If our citizens above 70 years of age live alone, the Ministry of Healthcare and the Ministry of Economy, as well as local municipalities, are obligated to provide them with assistance.

Pt.3
Bolder steps are now needed and opportunities to do so are at hand. Recent improvements in battery and other technologies related to the production of EVs, coupled with lower production costs, point to much lower prices for transportation and less need for oil. Prices for EVs should continue to drop as technology advances. Significant drops in prices have also occurred with solar power technology. The price of producing electricity from solar power installations is now approaching, if not equaling or surpassing, that of new facilities using fossil fuels.

As Ukraine’s political and economic leaders grapple with the current coronavirus crisis, they also need to focus attention on integrating new technological breakthroughs in energy and transportation. The objective should be to significantly lower the country’s future consumption of fossil fuels and achieve greater energy autonomy. Ukraine already has a national strategy in place encouraging solar- and wind-generated electricity production. The country should now strengthen its strategic commitment to facilitating the adoption of renewable and alternative energy sources, energy storage, and EVs.
Pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians like Viktor Medvedchuk who would want to negotiate cheap fossil fuel supplies with the Kremlin represent the past. They are the country’s political dinosaurs. Ukraine’s young leadership, which represents itself as modern, must prove that they are indeed so, and reject tying Ukraine’s future to a sinking ship. Instead, they must make decisions based on an understanding of the broad technological changes taking place in the global energy sector, and anchor the Ukrainian economy to modernity.
While Ukraine’s bargaining position with Russia in peace talks may currently appear weak, the recent precipitous drop in oil prices suggests this position will become stronger as Russia’s income from oil exports crashes. Moreover, to paraphrase the eighteenth-century French diplomat Talleyrand, making significant concessions on the eve of disruptive changes in the energy sector would be worse than a crime. It would be a blunder. Russia’s income from energy exports will likely continue to fall in the future. The repercussions for Russia, which has built a fossil fuel energy empire, will be grim. Time is on Ukraine’s side. The trend is clear, and the trend is Ukraine’s friend.

Source - https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/time-for-ukraine-to-exit-russias-energy-empire/

Pt.2
Since achieving sovereignty in 1991, Ukraine’s dependence on Russian oil and gas imports has weighed heavily on the country’s economy and political life. Russia has skillfully leveraged Ukraine’s energy dependency to influence or control the country’s political and economic development through a combination of pricing policies, corruption, cut-offs, and threats. Despite these obviously unfriendly policies, some of Ukraine’s political leaders remain eager to maintain the dependent relationship. This was made clear on the eve of Ukraine’s last parliamentary elections in summer 2019, when pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians Viktor Medvedchuk and Yuriy Boyko met with the then Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev. During their discussions on the need to rebuild close ties between the two countries, the prospect of lower natural gas prices for Ukraine was a central theme.
Since 2014, when Russia seized Crimea and instigated an ongoing war in eastern Ukraine, such propositions have become politically toxic, not least because export revenues from energy sales are critical to subsidizing Russian aggression. Over the past two decades, income earned from energy exports has consistently constituted over one-third and up to half of the Russian state budget. The price of oil is decisive for the Kremlin, as weak fossil fuel prices limit Russia’s ability to pursue an expansionist foreign policy, including its relentless pressure on Ukraine.
In order to continue this foreign policy, Russia must maintain its position as a world leader in fossil fuel export while keeping prices high and increasing market share abroad. This places Russia’s economic interests in direct conflict with most of the world’s governments, which have recognized the need to reduce fossil fuel consumption and move towards more renewable sources of energy in order to address climate change. It is now recognized that this must be done to maintain the long-term stability and well-being of the planet. Clearly, Ukraine’s interests and strategic goals align it with the majority of the world’s nations.
Ukraine has already taken steps to lessen its dependence on Russian energy imports. In 2015, it stopped importing natural gas directly from Russia. Meanwhile, the availability of US liquified natural gas exports to Europe, which became possible following the fracking revolution, has offered an alternative to Russian gas. In the second half of 2019, in response to Russian restrictions on oil sales to Ukraine, some imports have been coming from US sources. Russia and Ukraine signed a new five-year gas transit agreement in late 2019, but diversification should remain a priority.

Posted by Looed on the 29th Mar :-

Atlantic Council article - "Time for Ukraine to exit Russias energy empire"
Pt.1

"One joke about predictions is that it is hard enough to predict the past, let alone the future. Yet the disruptions triggered by the coronavirus outbreak impel Ukraine’s leaders to make critical decisions based on an understanding of what the future is likely to bring. As they seek to safeguard the health of the country’s citizens, they must also plot a path through the economic turbulence that lies ahead. This presents huge challenges but also rare opportunities.
Instability has recently hit the global energy sector, where the coronavirus outbreak caused a steep drop in demand for crude oil, accelerating a price decline caused by Russia’s decision to spark a price war after it failed to agree with Saudi Arabia over production cuts. As an energy importer, Ukraine will benefit from low prices in the near term. Ukrainian policymakers should also now be considering the likely longer-term trends after the coronavirus effect on demand fades, or if Russia and Saudi Arabia agree to prop up prices.
It is worth emphasizing that the background to Russia’s price war was the successful application of new techniques, primarily by US producers, for oil and gas extraction, known as fracking. The additional oil and gas produced has helped keep a lid on prices. The fracking costs, however, add to production expenses. Through a price war, Russia aims to drive some of the US oil companies out of the market. Even if Russia succeeds in this quest, its victory will likely be very short-lived. An even more disruptive, technologically-driven factor looms ahead, namely a significant increase in sales of electric vehicles (EVs) worldwide, which should continue the downward pressure on oil prices.
According to a 2017 report on transportation by Stanford University’s Tony Seba and James Arbib, the coming adoption of EVs as the preferred mode of transportation will soon impact demand enough to trigger a permanent fall in oil prices (and a 30% drop in production by 2030), posing an existential threat to many oil producers worldwide. The economic and geopolitical implications of this massive disruption should strike Russia hard, and Ukraine should take advantage of this.

Posted on the 1st April :-

The current death rate from the virus is 5%, based upon the 918,187 cases and 46,070 deaths worldwide to date. Obviously this may change as the pandemic has only just reached many countries and others are starting to get more organised. There are other factors apart from underlying health issues which will contribute to peoples chances of survival.
The death rate is much higher for Spain and Italy and the air quality in Northern Italy and Spain will have been a factor (see earlier post with links to air quality in Spain and Italy). Indonesia, which only had it's first case on the 1st March also has a high death rate and has had very poor air quality due to large scale burning of forests to replace them with oil palm plantations.
Poverty will also be a factor, hence Brazil with large numbers living in the favelas has a much higher death rate than Israel or Australia, countries with a similar number of cases.
Government's procedures will also have an effect, as in Sweden they have only just decided to close the ski slopes and the country has remained open for business, whereas the other Scandinavian countries have put extensive restrictions in place. Hence,the death rate for Sweden is much higher than the other Scandinavian countries.
Access to good Medical facilities and whether a country has a high number of older people, especially those with underlying medical problems will all contribute to peoples chances of survival.

It is too early to make conclusive statements based upon the statistics to date, but it does look like less contact means less chance of survival when looking at the Scandinavian figures. Stay in doors and stay safe and talk to friends and family on the phone or via the internet.
Italy 110,574 cases; 13,155 deaths; death rate 11.9%; first case Jan 29th.
Spain 102,136 cases; 9,053 deaths; death rate 8.9%; first case Jan 30th.
Indonesia 1677 cases; 157 deaths; death rate 9.4$; first case Mar 1st.

Brazil 5,923 cases; 206 deaths; 3.5% death rate; first case Feb 24th.
Australia 4,864 cases; 21 deaths; 0.4% death rate; first case Jan 24th.
Israel 5,591 cases; 25 deaths; death rate 0.4%; first case Feb 20th.

Sweden 4,447 cases; 239 deaths; death rate 5.4%; first case Jan 30th.
Norway 4,828 cases; 44 deaths; 0.9% death rate; first case Feb 25th.
Denmark 3,107 cases; 104 deaths; 3.3% death rate; first case Feb 21st.
Finland 1,446 cases; 17 deaths; death rate 1.2%; first case Jan 28th.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

https://www.thelocal.com/20200331/the-n ... oronavirus
https://www.lifeinnorway.net/coronavirus-in-norway/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/worl ... virus.html

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