THE SAFEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD

Before I focus on the safest countries in the world, a quick run through of "newsworthy" items. This is a regular Monday workday for most, but not West Virginia because Governor Jim Justice issued an executive order declaring today to be an official holiday for all public employees. Tomorrow, July 4, is a day off for all in the USA, including West Virginians.

I once loved roller coaster rides. Not anymore, mostly because of old age. Plus, I saw on TV one of them in Crandon, Wisconsin, with riders stuck upside down...for hours. They were rescued.

Turns out this happens a lot. Watch this one after a power outage in North Carolina. These riders were stuck for 45 minutes. Everyone survived, and got two vouchers to return.

On the other hand, some love going upside down in a roller coaster. Here are five of the tallest that by design go upside down. You got to watch this video. The most severe is Valravn at Cedar Point near Sandusky, Ohio. Itself has broken 10 world records.

Heard about the upcoming cage match between Mark Zuckerberg (52) and Elon Musk (39)? Musk is 70 pounds heavier, but Zuckerberg is said to be in fighting shape. Dana White, president of UFC for those MMA competition, has been contacted. Will be for charity.

The European Space Agency two days ago launched a SpaceX rocket from Florida carrying the Euclid (Greek mathematician known as the father of geometry) Telescope to better understand dark energy and dark matter. This six-year project will cost $1.4 billion.

Finally, after four years of futility, Ricky Fowler edged out Collin Morikawa and Adam Hadwin at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. You can watch what happened here. Actually, Fowler has done well these past few years, for he has been the brand ambassador for Mercedes Benz since 2016, and is associated with companies like Farmers Insurance, Titleist, Taylor Made, Puma, Rolex and Rocket Mortgage. Ricky started a foundation 2011 to help provide aid for both Japanese and Native American communities. His mother is half Navajo and half Japanese.

Now, on to the safest countries, by Condé Nast Traveler. I have evolved to the stage where I now only go to safe countries and cities. I waver even at Spain and New York City, and for good reason will forever avoid France (they are #57). Note, though, that the U.S. sits at #131. The asterisk indicates I visited there since 2019. I've in the past been to all of them, except for Iceland.

The list is driven by the Institute of Economics and Peace's Global Peace Index.
Factors include terrorism, covid, riots and physical assault, among 23 qualitative and quantitive indicators.
163 nations were ranked.
#10 Switzerland, even though it ranks high in weapons exports.
#9 Japan,* which comes in second to Finland in safety and security rankings, what I consider to be important in my travels.
#8 Slovenia has low crime and terrorism rates. Hmm...nice to know
#7 Portugal was #18 in 2014, #4 last year and has a low crime rate. Many choose to retire here.
#6 Singapore* is new to this list and ranks #2 in the Asian Pacific region.
#5 Austria was #4 last year.
#4 New Zealand was #2 last year, and dropped because of violent demonstrations.
#3 Ireland was #8 last year. The top three safest countries are in Europe.
#2 Denmark, with a well-functioning government, low levels of corruption and equitable distribution of resources. Also, one of the happiest countries.
#1 Iceland...for the 16th year in a row. Low in military spending, but is increasing in homicide and terrorism.
The selling of war weapons tends to hurt a country in this ranking,

I've in the past visited the following countries. From the World Peace Index:

#15 Germany

#21 Qatar

#22 Australia*

#23 Mauritius

#24 Norway

#28 Sweden

#32 Spain

#33 Taiwan (safe from crime, but is close to China)*

#34 Italy

#37 UK

#39 Costa Rica

#41 Vietnam

#43 South Korea*

#48 Oman*

#53 Indonesia

#60 Greece

#67 France*

#75 UAE*

#80 China

#92 Thailand*

#99 Cuba

#103 Peru

#108 Bahrain*

#115 Philippines

#121 Egypt

#126 India*

#131 USA*

#132 Brazil

#136 Mexico

#143 Israel

Here is another source indicating unsafe countries, with #1 being Afghanistan, #2 Syria, #3 Ukraine, #4 Mali and #5 Iraq.

I should have also added Canada, the #11 safest country. Here is a video from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been

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