By the government's own estimates, the guionese economy as a whole will expand almost 50 % this year. But if you take out oil, it's going to grow by less than 8%. Guiana is a country with massive ethnic divisions between groups of african and indian descent. The last election a couple of years ago turned pretty ugly, in part because these oil riches were up for grabs. Cronyism is rife. Outside of georgetown, it feels like a whole different world.
Voters in the Philippines choose a new president on Monday. The
likely winner is a scion of one of the country’s most controversial families. Exxon struck oil off the coast of
Guyana a few years back. How will becoming a petrostate change this small country on South America’s northern coast? And
koalas are adorable but imperilled—by development, stray dogs and now, a quickly spreading bacterial infection.