LyrArc Article Gist
India is the top destination for companies in Japan investing overseas. India was cited as the most favorable location for investment by 49% of Japanese companies, Vietnam by 30%, and China by 28%. The survey of 534 companies was done by the JIPBC, Japan Bank for International Cooperation. India was favored because of the infrastructure building and growing economy, surge in consumer demand. 

LyrArc Article Gist
Extensive research and analysis by The Guardian shows King Charles private fortune is about 1.8 billion pounds. Scottish and English land property at Balmoral and Sandringham is estimated at 330 million pounds. A stamp collection alone is 100 million pounds. For private income the Duchy of Lancaster, a land and property estate run as a profitable business, generates 20 million pounds a year.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Judge in the classified documents case sets the trial date for a speedy trial that takes place not in December as requested by the prosecution but a few months later in May 2024. This means the American people can have all the full facts and information to make their decisions on the course for America to follow in the next 25 years.

LyrArc Article Gist
With housing and education costs jumping 42% of all households in South Korea are one person households. Books that are popularizing a new trend "Two Women Talk Together" by Kim and Hwang is a book that is popularizing the idea of two women living together, combining the benefit of being single yet having someone to talk to in a cohabiting arrangement. 

LyrArc Article Gist
The entire campaign could be settled here in North Carolina as Harris with 20 offices in the state, and tens of thousands of more volunteers, the energy of popular two term Roy Cooper Democratic governor of the state, work to get the support of voters in the Raleigh Durham area as well as rural voters in the western parts of the state.

LyrArc Article Gist
DJT DOGE cuts to federal bureaucracy 2025 move ahead with the White House looking at large savings. DJT says at a Feb 12, 2025 press conference that in 2025 one simply had to look at line items in budgets and find so many items that did not make sense, and were a waste of taxpayer money, only a few that made sense.

LyrArc Article Gist
The hidden costs of pollution are shown by the Forever Pollution Project in France. Le Monde and partners estimate the cost at euros 12 billion a year for cleaning up PFAS, with the smallest particles TFA widely present in water to be treated. The cost of cleanup in the US for PFAS must be vastly higher in the US and has not been estimated.

LyrArc Article Gist
Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, is intervewed by Shira Ovide of the WSJ. Compared to Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Nadella has a quiet demeanor. Responding to a question about how he made it from heading R&D for the Bing search engine to the CEO position, he says what helped him most was working in different jobs at Microsoft with different contexts and challenges, including a mix of some where success was achieved and some in which it was much harder. The experience of people in his management team is similar. He says his sense of being an outsider while being an insider is something he always had in him, and something he now encourages as a CEO. Reading outside of work is his only rule, and this may help him maintain some distance from work to think like an outsider. His preference is literary reading not common among senior managers- T.S. Eliot's poetry. Taking some off from work for medical leave or other reasons, is something he supports, especially from his own experience needing such leave as a 29 year old at Microsoft....

LyrArc Article Gist
Simple changes in style-“I’m not planning on wearing a suit, and I don’t expect you to wear one.” Patel on Week 1, Feb 27 2025. Raises fitness requirements for FBI agents and gets his personal fitness trainer a pass into FBI. Oath of office taken on the Indian Bible the Bhagavad Gita held by Attorney General Pam Bondi. Also oath for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives. Addressing crime in cities including Detroit, Cleveland, Minneapolis. Action to move 1500 FBI agents to these cities in a regionalization plan out of Washington DC. Regionalize the FBI throughout the Nation to make it serve the safety of cities and neighborhoods throughout these United States. It reflects the illegal fentanyl flows into the United States from foreign countries that led to 490,000 deaths in the US over 12 years on which previous action of administrations has clearly been a colossal failure. Following the people's mandate to make America's neighborhoods safe for children and families, protecting the social compact with its people of the elected government. The unwritten aspects of the US Constitution or of any sensible Constitution of any civilized nation. To focus the FBI on internal threats in America's cities and neighborhoods from drugs, gangs and fentanyl flows that illegally enter the country. And not on foreign threats during this period when this social compact in the US is threatened by fentanyl flows and 490,000 deaths over the last 12 years. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The British government's sale of 7.5% of the shares in Lloyd's Bank to institutional investors in March 2014 for $7 billion. This reduces its stake in Lloyds bank to 25%.

LyrArc Article Gist
Difficulties facing China from an overheating economy, a property bubble in many cities,, and a 22.5% jump in March in the broadest measure of money supply being the latest signs of trouble. The government announcement will show the economy growth at 12% rate in the 1st quarter of 2010 vs. 8.7% in 2009. The problem is that China may have acted too aggressively when the central bank increased money supply and state-owned banks in China's centralized banking system were ordered to jack up the lending. The $586 billion stimulus sent even more money to construction and energy companies. Without effective steps and fast the Chinese economy could run into serious problems.

LyrArc Article Gist
Edward Johnson and daughter Abby Johnson- Fidelity Investments succession turmoil and Abby Johnson emerging as CEO is covered in a new book- House of Fidelity by Justin Baer, Deputy Markets Editor WSJ. CEO Edward Johnson (Ned) failed to come up with a succession plan and executives under him were planning to sell the company to Chase or another bank. Ned had talked to Chase's Dimon in 2005 and said he was not interested in selling the company founded by his father. Yet this is what executives under Ned, Reynolds had in mind, who did not have confidence in Abby Johnson's leadership. Fidelity Investments has recovered from poor performance in that period and manages the pension plans of employers in the US, being the largest in this business. In 2026 Fidelity manages life savings of 20% of American adults and 50% of these customers signed up in last 5 years, says WSJ. After a period in her performance in the mutual funds business which was not great Abby was listed for demotion by executives under her father, who would sent her to run the philanthropy part of the business. It shows how awoman now 64 years struggled through this period and took the bold step of defying her father through control of 41% of the stock of the company to gain control of the company- a step that led to her father relenting and letting Abby run the company. It is a tale of how in such situations even the most favored can be put at a disadvantage by perceptions - in this case by Reynolds of Abby's leadership and ability- and need to act swiftly and decisively after impressions have been formed that lead to an outcome that doesn't need to occur. Her father Ned even though he in his younger period was a good stock picker, failed in two ways. By not planning a clear succession and lacking confidence in his daughter to overcome temporary obstacles. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Viktor Orban's defeat in the Hungarian election in April 2026 comes after decades of his blocking policies that emerged from the European Union in Brussels and is a relief for the European Union and Germany as it takes on the responsibility of leading continental Europe in its stance of opposition to Russia in the war in Ukraine with help of France and Britain. Peter Magyar who is staunchly pro European Union wins Hungary's 2026 election in a landslide with 137 seats to 57 with 77% of electorate voting as Viktor Orban concedes. Magyar's Tisza party gets 57% of the votes to 40% for Orban. Peter Magyar 45 years was part of the Orban Fidesz party before he formed his own party with dissatisfaction about the extent of corruption under Fidesz. Orban as head of the Fidesz was prime minister 1998-2002 then again in 2010 to 2026 for a period of 20 years spanning the first quarter of the 21st century. Magyar is not a progressive or so called liberal and shares many of the same views on social issues of Orban but he is pro-European Union and reflects the views of the Hungarian nation as independent in Eastern Europe and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 in an uprising against Soviet rule. In the period before the two world wars from 1600 Hungary was the place where in addition to Austria and Vienna, the Hapsburgs and other European armies pushed back the Ottoman Empire's expansion into Europe. Hungary was a key part of the Hapsburg Empire which ruled from Vienna, Austria, over most of Eastern Europe for 1600-1918. The Hapsburg Empire collapsed in World War I on the side of the Germans and a new nation Hungary emerged by 1921 but was much smaller than Hungary of the Hapsburg era. Today Hungary is a nation of 10 million with its capital on the Budapest on the Danube river in the heart of Central Europe. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
By the time NYSE began the switch to becoming a technology company it was too late, says one expert. Other stock exchanges such as the Frankfurt Stock Exchange switched entirely to electronic trading even as the NYSE clung to old ways. All the time the trading floor of the NYSE was losing trading volume, handling only 20% of all trading volume in NYSE-listed stocks in 2012, down more than 40% from 2007, according to analysts. NYSE's Liffe, European derivatives business that came from the merger with Euronext in 2007 alone could be worth about $6 billion, close to the market capitalization of NYSE Euronext. Liffe was one of the main reasons NYSE was attractive to ICE. NYSE CEO Niederauer and the Board sensed the danger if NYSE remained by itself, according to people informed about discussions. The feeling was NYSE would fall further behind in a few years and lose control over its future. This created a new urgency to the talks with ICE, a doable merger from a regulatory perspective because there was not much overlap in the businesses. Niederauer's personal relationship with Sprecher of ICE provided the catalyst to move ahead and work out details such as headquarters locations in Atlanta and New York City, and sharing of management roles with Niederauer reporting to Sprecher. In his letter to employees Niederauer made it clear that ICE was acquiring NYSE. ICE started with electricity trading in Atlanta, embraced technology and electronic trading as its foundation, and took advantage of the opportunities in using technology to meet the requirements set by the Dodd Frank legislation for derivatives and futures trading....

LyrArc Article Gist
Angela Merkel of Germany and other EU leaders decided to back "global supply chains" and declined to support the EU Commission in Brussels at a virtual summit attended by 27 leaders of the EU states. It was also attended briefly by Joe Biden. Ursula von Leyen said 21 million doses of vaccine had been shipped from EU to Britain, of which 1 million were from Astra Zeneca and the rest from Pfizer and other makers of vaccines. A total of 77 million doses made in the EU wer shipped to 33 countries since 1 December 2020. Governments of Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium and Sweden were not in favor of blocking shipments from the UK because of the effect on supply chains. Pfizer is strongly opposed to the move to block shipments. Merkel emphasized the need to respect the global supply chains while making efforts to ensure EU countries get a fair share of vaccine supplies. The problems of UK vs Britain on vaccine supplies comes from the yield problems at a Belgium plant of Astra Zeneca and the company's refusal to divert supplies from the UK. Of the 120 million promised only 30 million could be delivered to EU. The UK's contract with Astra Zeneca states that supplies from its plants in Oxford and Staffordshire must be delivered to Britain first. The UK is facing an acute shortage of second doses even though it has given 31 million jabs. At this time 45 out of 100 people in the UK have jabs, compared with 13 out of 100 in the EU.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Approval process by government is now much stricter and the approval process takes longer for new wind turbines. A leading renewable energy developer BayWa re. estimates 45% of the old turbines installed 20 years ago would not be approved under today's stricter standards. As these become unprofitable a lot of new turbines have to replace older ones. After years of gains suddenly in 3 years the wind power capacity installed each year is dropping sharply, and is in deep trouble. Especially because wind energy plays a big role in Germany, accounting for 25% of total electricity production in 2019, solar only has 10%. For all of Germany only 290 MW was installed in first half of 2019, 80% drop from same period 2018.  In 2018 2800 MW of wind turbines were installed, and that was down from 5000MW in 2017. Problems in addition to stricter approval standards is the resistance from the public which fears wind turbines close to residential areas could affect health of residents. In Bavaria 10H ban is imposed on new installations, requiring 10 times the height of the wind turbine as minimum distance from homes. Other issues are wildlife and the impact on  birds in the area. 300 turbines for 1200 MW are blocked for this reason. Other reasons are military concerns, FM radio beacons. It used to take 10 months for approval. Now the process is so long that the technology itself has changed by that time. Commercial risks are growing for operators in this environment as new costly regulations come into place. A regulation in Brandenburg requires payment of 10,000 euros to neighboring municipalities per wind turbine. Subsidy eligibility is also being cut. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Erich Scwartzel's exceptional account of Dreamworks going astray as its CEO went in a hundred different directions- a smaller studio trying to get into multiple platforms and industries, and trying to compete with much larger Disney in China- provides a unique insight into what happens when a CEO, especially one with creative talent, loses his primary focus. Extensive interviews by Schwartzel with insiders shows the creative people at the studio struggling to get Katzenberg's attention as he made many of his frequent trips to China. DreamWorks Animation CEO's effort to get into several related businesses, television, publishing, theme parks, children's toys, and enter the Chinese market in a big way to compete with Disney, has led to a loss of focus in its main business of feature films. The result is large impairment charges and several films from the "Rise of the Guardians" in 2012 to "Penguins of Madagascar" recently, that did not cover rising production costs at the box office. Four of six films since 2012, before the recent film "Home," failed at the box office since 2012. Katzenberg now says he realizes pursuing different directions led to spreading resources too thin, and he intends to make producing 2 or 3 good feature films every year his No. 1 priority. Restructuring underway and some box office flops led to 4th quarter loss of $263 million from $17 million profit the prior year. About 20% of the workforce or 500 workers will be laid off, a Northern California operation will be closed, and the Glendale headquarters sold and leased back to improve cash flow. DreamWorks shares were at $22.68, March 27, 2015, down from $44 Feb 2010, and IPO day close of $38.75. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
How one war widow is coping with the death of a husband in the war in Afghanistan. Lisa Hallett in Puget Sound with three small kids has kept alive her husbands memory as she makes a 26 mile run through the streets near Puget Sound, Washington.

LyrArc Article Gist
Paul Peterson, a professor who heads the Program on Education Policy at Harvard, says that public school education has not done as well as private or charter school education. In two areas character or values, and school discipline, public schools lag far behind private schools or charter schools. Private schools score 59% and 46% in these two areas, public schools lag far behind at 21% and 17%, in the 2016 Education Next Survey, says Peterson. He says by appointing Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary, the Trump administration sees the need to think how public schools can benefit from improvement in these areas.

LyrArc Article Gist
The ECB's monetary policy is making its way through the financial system to help homeowners in the eurozone with their mortgages. A large majority of Spain's home mortgages have rates that increase or decrease according to the level of 12 month Euribor, according to Spain's mortgage association. The mortgage rate is normally set by adding about 0.3% to the Euribor 12 month rate. In Italy about half the mortgages have variable rates, most linked to Euribor, according to mortgage broker Mutuionline. The decline in 12 month Euribor rate to 0.187% by April 2015, as a result of the ECB's monetary policy, provides significant relief to mortgage holders during the eurozone economic crisis. This is especially true for Spain with its housing crisis and high unemployment. In Portugal the interest rate on most mortgages is determined by using the monthly average of the 3 month and 6 month Euribor, which are close to zero. Some mortgage holders in Portugal are seeing their mortgage payments cut by about half as a result, providing much needed relief to homeowners with mortgages. This is one way in which the ECB's monetary policy is helping the eruozone recovery in 2015-2016. Spain and Portugal suffer from high unemployment which has led to many homeowners unable to afford their mortgage payments, affecting everything from housing prices to consumer spending and demand in the economy, with severe effect in the period 2011-2014....

LyrArc Article Gist
U.S. daily coronavirus cases reach a high of 88,000 on October 29. About 46,000 people are hospitalized in the U.S. Increases in following states - Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota and Maine. About 1000 daily deaths are reported.

LyrArc Article Gist
Oil prices drop deepens with the June WTI futures contract dropping 28% to $14.61 a barrel. Demand is falling off much faster than supply with most of the world in lockdown. The world is also running out of storage space for oil.

LyrArc Article Gist
Prime minister Abe of Japan and President Jinping of China meet for 25 minutes on the sidelines of the Asia Africa Summit in Indonesia, on April 21, 2015. In a sign of thawing in relations both sides take an active interest in improving relations. This is the 60th anniversary of the Bandung conference in Indonesia, and Japan restated its pledge during the 1955 meeting of Asian and African leaders to not use force in territorial disputes. Abe said he had "deep remorse" for Japan's role in World War II. Xi Jinping's speech covered China's effort to build the "Silk Road" infrastructure projects in Asia and Africa, and said the AIIB bank was seen positively by the international community. Jinping emphasized the joint responsibility of both countries for peaceful development and regional stability. Abe suggested that a communications system for emergencies be established between the two countries and a defense dialogue be setup.

LyrArc Article Gist
Watch this video from BBC on how germs spread without proper and frequent hand washing. This video shows the 20 second hand wash that is critical in the fight against coronavirus. Make sure you make the lather from the soap and water and rub it also on the back of hands and nails, and take the time.

Avoid touching the face, hands, mouth with your hands. 

Don't take the basics for granted, basics are what the coronavirus fight to prevent community transmission is about.