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The U.S. is keen on rebuilding its manufacturing now that the pandemic has exposed the weakness in depending on outside sources of manufacturing. After decades of job losses that hurt millions of workers and ripped apart the social fabric of America, this also left America bereft of the very ideals of opportunity for all on which the country was founded. This story by Asa Fitch and Luis Santiago in WSJ shows how America which produced 75% of the world's chips in 1990 when China's participation was negligible or non existent, made only 12% of the world's chips and semiconductors that power computers and smartphones in 2020. China's ascent only began as recently  in 2010 under a state model that targeted particular industries as Taiwan and South Korea had done before. America's failure to protect its technology led to the situation today. As this report points out Intel is the major American manufacturer of chips and it has a role to play in bringing back production and technology base to the U.S. ...

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In this WSJ column Russell Mead describes the Middle East as an opportunity when in reality it has done serious damage to the US and the European Union. With the shift to renewable energy and localized sources for natural gas and oil within EU and the US, the Middle East may no longer be relevant to the US and Europe. Afghanistan which has cost so much for the US and Europe in trillions of dollars that could have been invested in badly needed infrastructure is an extension of the Middle East. Iran is also part of the Middle East. These reserves of oil and gas in countries deeply imbedded with thinking and policy against modernization are more risk than opportunity for the US and European Union. The US and European Union need to look to bringing back manufacturing and renewing supply chains with India and Vietnam, the rest of South East Asia as an opportunity and shift mightily to renewables to fight climate change. This is the opportunity facing the US and the EU today. In a sense the chapter that started with the efforts of British oil companies in Iran in 1900 and Franklin Roosevelt's meeting with the Saudi King on an American ship during World War II is now coming to its closing and a new chapter has to be written on renewables and rebuilding US and EU strength in manufacturing in alliance with India and Vietnam, rest of South East Asia in what is called the Indo-Pacific.  ...

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South African captain Dean Elgar reflects on how he is handling the leadership role for the cricket team building understanding and trust of players from different cultures and social backgrounds in the team- white, black, Afrikaans, English Afrikaans, Indian. He brings a remarkable sensitivity to his role and describes his style of listening and acting as a friend off the field to learn about the players on his team. It is a role like no other captain of a sports team faces. Elgar says he does'nt think there is another country in the world that has to deal with this kind of dynamics in society.   He says there is always light at the end of the tunnel, a glimmer of hope, as he take on all this pressure without showing it. Seeing him as many will on television on the cricket field during the 3 Test series at Centurion, Johannesburg and Cape Town, one senses the kind of change in South Africa that gives so much hope and optimism for the future. He say he always thinks we must'nt stop learning from each other, we must sit down and listen more. This has made him more concerned and wary about the past and even more emotionally attached to the players, as he handles the huge amount of diversity- a massive learning curve with a lot of humility. On the day of the death of Desmond Tutu as cricket commentators talk about his humble and unselfish spirit, Dean Elgar appears to have defined his own role in just the right way.   ...

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See the BBC show geography of the Straits Hormuz of Iran and Saudi/Oman. Would Iran block the Straits of Hormuz, the narrow waters in the Persian Gulf where Oman, Saudi Arabia on one side and Iran on the other meet. At some points the corridor in the sea which is 20 miles wide at narrowest point, is 108 miles long, is only 6 miles wide for oceangoing tankers carrying a fifth of world oil supplies. The reason Iran woul be hesitant to do this are- Iran supplies China with discounted oil through these Straits. Iran central bank says $67 billion of its total oil exports go through the Straits Hormuz, 90% of it to China. China gets a third of its oil supplies from the Saudis/Iran through these Straits. India gets 40% of its oil supplies, Japan 75% and South Korea 60% of crude oil supplies through tankers plying this waterway. It would put China and  all industrialized countries in opposition to Iran. It would also cut Iranian oil exports and leave it's oil based economy unfunded.   ...

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Micheal Martin, prime minister of the Irish Republic, says the 2011 visit by Queen Elizabeth to Ireland helped in "lightening the load of history." A history which has seen the British rule over the island of Ireland since 1603. The use of Irish language was banned the period of The Plantations with British settlements began in the Northeast and south east, and of British law, leading to great resentment by the Irish. The Queen spoke words of Irish during her visit to Dublin Castle for state dinner and laid a wreath at the Dublin Garden of Rememberance, a park that is dedicated to the Irish men and Irish women who fought against British rule.  One of these Irish women is remembered in India as Sister Nivedita, who helped organize the early efforts of Swami Vivekanada's mission to revive the effort for practice of yoga and for Swaraj or self rule in British India.

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Key points from the prime minister's Independence Day speech on August 15, 2021, as reported in The Times of India. 

The prime minister concluded by saying that 25 years from now on the 100th anniversary in 2047 the aspirations of today will be presented as accomplishments by the then prime minister. He covered many topics relating to goals for India in the next 25 years, from the environment, small farmers, and infrastructure to hydrogen and renewable energy. The thread running through the entire speech was the aspirations of the Indian people, and of Indian youth, that are irreversibly set and that nothing could stop the Indian people from achieving these aspirations with the goals set high for the first time in 50 years. The impossible had to become the reality with hard work and calm, good humored resolve, not affected by the difficulties on the way.

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Pam Bondi, US Attorney General gives a vigorous defense of the DJT administration and the president in hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. She tells US senators it was Democrats who politicized the Justice Department first. And Bondi defended the hard work of the administration in fighting illegal immigration and violent crime. In 5 hours of exchanges she answered Senators on the other side- “Don’t you ever challenge my integrity.” “I have abided by every ethical standard. Do not question my ability to be fair and impartial as attorney general.” She told Senator Durbin of Illinois when asked about the sending of the National Guard to Chicago- “I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump." Senator Graham of South Carolina, and Senator Grassley of Iowa who is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, asked Bondi why the Jack Smith investigation into Trump under president Biden had looked at phone calls made by Senator Graham and by Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, both Republicans. Graham asked Bondi: “Can you tell me why my phone records were sought by the Jack Smith agents? Why did they ask to know who I called?” Grassley called this an "outrage" and an "unconstitutional breach." At the same time FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that he had fired "those who had acted unethically" in this situation. These exchanges show the mood of the Nation and the people as the National Guard heads to Chicago in September 2025 to reduce violent crime and tackle illegal immigration.     ...

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Sabine Kinkartz of the DW.com looks at the way in which Olaf Scholz achieved what was seen as impossible through patience, grit, and hard work in the face of adversity. SPD was seeing poll numbers of as low as 15% in the spring of 2021, just months before the election. Scholz believed in his party's ideas for the renewal of Germany, remained undeterred even after losing an election to lead the SPD to Esken and Walter-Borjans in 2019, when Esken and Walter-Borjans reinforced the idea that the SPD should stand for workers and families, what it always stood for. Scholz was put forward as candidate by Esken and Walter-Borjans in 2021 with conviction. By Spring 2021 it was clear that Scholz had achieved the impossible, getting the conservative Merkel and the CDU, with instincts against borrowing in all situations, to agree to a huge aid package for Germany to fight the pandemic, and a huge aid package for the European Union to fight the pandemic.  That Scholz remained undeterred in his campaign by low poll numbers and went on campaigning on the basis of convictions about what is right for Germans and Germany, comes from deeper convictions from his days growing up in the Hamburg youth wing of Social Democrats in the years following SPD's Wily Brandt and the post war recovery. Germany's most remembered leader after Adenauer, Willy Brandt was leader of the SPD Social Democrats from 1964 to 1987, and chancellor 1969-74. Both Adenauer and Brandt are respected some 50 years later in the world and in Germany. That Germany is going back to this tradition of leadership after the period of the Merkel years when Germany was held back, brings new hope to Europe and the world. In allying with the Greens under a younger generation leaders Scholz saw the promise of an opportunity to tackle problems of climate change and investment in infrastructure together. Both parties see borrowing as essential to invest big in the future. Scholz message to Germans, Europeans and the world is - "Big jobs, but our country is capable of doing them." A message sent out from the US by president Biden, and from Asia by the Indian prime minister. ...

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Across Africa the situation is worsening for food security following the pandemic. More people are likely to die from food insecurity than from the pandemic. A succession of crises including drought, a locust swarm moving over vast parts east Africa into South Asia, and tons of crops rotting in the field after the lockdowns, are making the situation worse. With the lockdowns many informal economy workers are not able to earn a living, with no safety net this means they are going without food and slipping deeper into poverty. Remittances from overseas supported many people in the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and this has dropped by about 20-30%. As a result the World Food Program estimated in April that 265 million people, double that in 2019 will face world hunger- 3 in every 100 in the world. About 821 million will face food insecurity. The world food system is fragile with just none plant species accounting for two thirds the global crop, with threats of soil erosion, rising temperatures, extreme weather and disease. Wars, high inflation, political struggles, and conflicts make things worse. The hope comes from the fact that this time the largest countries China and India are emerging in 2020 very different from what they faced for most of the nineteenth century, with recurring famines and lack of access to food supplies. India now even allows farmers to export food to buyers in other countries directly. Getting money into the hands of farmers and people in food insecurity areas is one way for them to access existing food supplies all over the world. ...

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Coronavirus has given time for developing world to prepare as it hit Europe first, but now that it has hit Brazil, Mexico, India, South Africa, it is following a pattern that keeps it there for months with no end in sight. This is straining hospital and doctor resources to the limit and leaving doctors stressed and exhausted. This report looks at the nonstop flow at one of Mexico City's largest hospitals Salvador Zubiran.

The informal economy in these countries makes it harder to lockdown completely or for a long period. Now that the economy is reopened the larger population and congestion and the inability to have further lockdowns or tightened restrictions for economic reasons makes for the flow of new coronavirus patients over many months. Some restrictions have been reintroduced in India and the higher recovery rate of close to 70% has offered some glimmer of hope, yet more needs to happen to win this fight.

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It is hard to imagine that one is even writing about this, as shocking as it is- the 4 or 5 minutes between a decision to launch nuclear weapons and the end of life on this planet earth as we know it. Here Sam Nunn, a U.S. senator who was part of the negotiations for arms control and who is the leading American in this field talks about the unimaginable danger. He says the strategy from the Cold War where Russia and the U.S. put their nuclear forces in a position to be launched within minutes, 4 to 5 minutes, is outdated and needs to be changed. Hillary Clinton described the issue in the television debate. Yet this was not discussed because of the nature of the 2016 presidential election with lack of serious discussion.  And both Nunn and Clinton emphasize that once the missiles are in the air they cannot be ordered to go back. Accidental error, judgemental error, informational error in which one side thinks the other has launched a missile, a firing by mistake, are possible. In this situation Nunn says Trump is temperamentally unfit, and Clinton is fit to take on the responsibility. Yet the question this raises is as Nunn signals- is anyone but God fit to make this decision to launch nuclear weapons. Nunn says it is outdated and wrong to have only a few minutes, as such a decision cannot be made in a few hours or days, much less in 5 minutes. Nunn brings up a discussion he had in Moscow when he brought this up with Russians and president Putin. Russian president Putin told Nunn that he was fully aware of this. Putin's response was- "Senator Nunn, at some point it becomes automatic."  Nunn does not clarify what this means, or what Putin means to say. For people on the planet it is not enough to have Reagan, Gorbachev, Clinton, as Nunn mentions being responsible people for a nuclear decision. The current state of affairs is simply shocking and the lack of attention to this is also shocking. Equally dangerous is that 20 countries have weapons usable nuclear material, and sophisticated hacking of command and control processes is another danger.       ...

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Since 2000 the area under millet cultivation in India is steadily declining, reversing only since 2015. In 2006 millet was taken regularly by 39% of the population in India. By 2021 it had declined to 9 days a month. The area under cultivation for nutri-cereals declined from 41 million hectares in the 1980's to 24 million hectares in 2018 The reason being low yields, processing hand pounding millets time consuming laborious task of women, very little marketed.

Over the last 10 years production of sorghum (jowar), has declined, of pearl millet (bajra) stagnant, finger millet (ragi) also declining. Productivity of jowar and bajra has increased only marginally.

With these problems India if it is to realize the mission for millets in India's food supplies and nutrition, and export to the world, has to use mechanized hulling, better seeds, and improved agricultural practices, access to markets.

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India plans to vaccinate 300 million people in the first drive of the vaccination campaign. The two vaccines approved are the Covishield from Astra Zeneca partnership with Serum Institute of India, and the Bharat Biotech vaccine. India is the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world, and its vaccination production and campaign is being watched closely.  The largest maker of vaccines is Serum Institute of India based in Pune. Countries that are seeking India's help in vaccines are Brazil, South Africa, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh. Brazil has ordered 1.5 million vaccine doses. The Indian government has approved sending vaccines to other governments. Price of 100 million doses to be supplied by Serum Institute to the Indian government is 200 rupees a dose or about $2.73 a dose. Vaccine sold in private markets will be priced at 2000 rupees a dose. Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech have stockpiled 70 million doses. ...

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Saudis are now prepared to increase oil production after weeks of US diplomacy in exchange for security guarantees against attacks by Yemeni rebels and Iran. Russian oil output has declined by about 1 million barrels a day since the start of the war says WSJ. Drops in production lead to a rise in oil prices more than making up for the decline in revenues for Russia. This makes oil sanctions a weak deterrent for Russia in its invasion of Ukraine unless Saudis and UAE step in with increased oil production to make the EU embargo on Russian oil work effectively to cut Russian oil revenues financing the Ukraine invasion. Europe has stepped up with its embargo on about 90% of Russian oil- all except pipeline supplies to Hungary and Czech Republic, Slovakia as an exception. This will reduce oil production in Russia as EU is the biggest importer of Russian oil, bigger after previous German chancellor Merkel's failure to see the risks in such dependence and increased imports. For the oil embargo to lead to sharp reduction in Russian oil revenues that reduces financing of the Ukraine invasion, and for the EU oil embargo to bring results the missing piece is Saudi action to increase production. This may now be in place as Mr. Biden visits Riyadh next month. Crown Prince Salman of Saudi Arabia has pushed Saudi Arabia to make changes to modernize the country's culture providing the US with a partner that is now different than the Saudi Arabia steeped in tradition and inward looking under previous rulers. Under president Obama Democrats favored Iran and reduced security guarantees that were set up since president Franklin Delano Roosevelt met the Saudi King in 1944 aboard an American ship during the war. The turn of events with Russian invasion of Ukraine with Chinese support have created risks of a China invasion of Taiwan with aggressive action of China. President Biden has made this clear and stated straightforwardly the American position on Ukraine- Russia winning by invading a neighboring country sets the precedent for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. This is why the US remains resolute with its European partners in seeing to it that Ukraine remains as Biden said in the NYT  "independent, sovereign and able to deter invasion and defend itself." For Europe it is about defending its neighborhood from the Baltic Sea to Bulgaria in the Balkans with American support. For the US it is about keeping its leadership presence in Asia in an alliance with Japan, India, Australia and most of South East Asia including Indonesia, Bangladesh with a population of close to 3 billion people. China which was supported by the US throughout the period of colonial dominance since the 18th century preventing its breakup and foreign rule as happened in India, and a major recipient of American aid and investment in the 20th century is now where Japan stood in the two decade period 1925 -1945 with its aggressive expansion under Japanese imperialist rule. In this sense the world is moving back to the days of the Free World's struggle in the days after the Iron Curtain fell over Europe with Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe. Saudis, UAE, and Turkey as part of NATO, are also moving back to the positions they had over a long period for centuries from 1800. Saudi Arabia and UAE came into prominence after discovery of oil and were backwaters to Egypt and Turkey which were supported by Britain to keep Russia from advancing in Asia and Europe during that period. India under the British Empire is now in the Indo-Pacific Framework with Japan which was inward looking and under European influence for most of the last 200 years.  ...

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Unemployment in Spain among people ages 16-24 is 42.9%. This is the highest rate in Europe, and it is double the overall rate of 19.3% for Spain. By comparison the overall jobless rate in the USA for workers ages 16-24 is up to 19.1%. Why this high an unemployment rate for young workers? Greece has youth unemployment rate of 25%, while Ireland has a youth unemployment rate of 28.%, and Italy 26.9%. The rate in Poland is 21.2%, down from 35% a few years ago. In Eastern Europe overall the rate is 27.9%. This puts Spain at a level higher than Eastern European countries where youth unemployment has traditionally been higher. Worse, this is a result of a spike in unemployment from 17% at the height of the boom three years ago, to the currrent 43%. Alfonso Prieto, deputy secretary general of employment studies at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, says this high rate in Spain is a result of a disproportionate share of Spanish youth employed on temporary contracts. During the boom years a large number of young workers joined a culture of temporary work, with the term "mil euristas," used for workers on 1000 euros a month. With the economy in trouble these were the first people laid off. Low skilled and immigrant workers who lost jobs are also reflected in the statistics, as Spain witnessed an influx of millions of immigrants during the boom. Still worse the government is under tremendous pressure from the EU and bond markets because its budget deficit reached 11% of GDP in 2011, and austerity measures are being adopted. Spain is spending 30 billion euros in unemployment benefits, but the money is not doing much to prepare workers for jobs in new industries or new vocations for the future. ...

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A series of actions by Ford to cut prices, Toyota to have no price increases, and Hyundai to invest $21 billion to Make in USA and similar actions by GM, mean that except for about 300,000 imported German VW cars the car market in the US will have no price increases for average Americans. Foreign media and media in the US that is misleading say there will be price increases in the US for cars after US tariffs on imports from Japan of 24% and on EU of 20%, South Korea 25%.  NHK Japan reports that Toyota will not increase prices in the US despite DJT Liberation Day announcement of 24% tariff on Japanese imports including auto imports. Toyota will continue to make the 3.12 million cars it makes in Japan as well as the employment, of which 586,000 are exported. Toyota says it needs to cross the threshold of 3 million domestic car production to keep its technological capabilities.  Toyota will also look at ways to increase US production.  Hyundai is planning investments of $21 billion in the US from 2025 to 2028. Hyundai is likely to follow Toyota and make no price increases till it ramps up American production to Make in the USA. Ford is cutting prices of cars under its From America For America sales program. Ford has 568,000 cars in inventory. It has 60% capacity and can ramp up to make up for VW cars that are priced higher to give American buyers of German cars a cost effective option.  ...

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When shortages of wheat following the war in Ukraine are causing a crisis in some countries such as Egypt and Africa, there are other unusual changes  as emerging market currencies such as the Brazilian Real and the Chilean Peso, South African Rand are increasing in value. Even with the strengthening of the US dollar the supply chain disruptions are benefiting exporters of soyabeans such as Brazil and Argentina, and copper such as Chile with strengthening of their currencies. The Brazilian Real has strengthened by 13%. The WSJ calls it the sharpest commodities rally in modern trading history. One analyst says this is unusual how emerging market currencies could rally in the first quarter of 2022 with war in Ukraine, supply chain disruption, strengthening dollar reaching almost parity with the euro.  Today this is a positive sign for the Free World in Latin America. Currencies weakening are ones in countries exposed to a sharply slowing Chinese economy and rising energy costs such as Thai Baht and South Korean Won.  Brazil's central bank is also increasing its lending rate to the highest level in 5 years. Other American allies in Eastern Europe such as Poland which has taken in 3 million Ukraine refugees are also seeing a strengthening currency in this new situation. The National Bank of Poland increased its key lending rate by three quarters of a point to 5.25% which has attracted investors to the Polish currency the Zloty. ...

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One foreign policy expert says president Trump tried to reverse everything in Obama's foreign policy almost to the point of an obsession. He visits Saudi Arabia before visiting Mexico and Canada, close neighbors, as other presidents have done. The relationships with Mexico and Canada deteriorated. Yet Mr. Trump has a good personal connection with Trudeau of Canada and Macron of France.  Taking the advice of advisers including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, president Trump despite tough talk on the North American Free Trade Agreement, takes a moderate approach on NAFTA renegotiation. Trump also softens some of the rhetoric on China as he seeks Chinese help to restrain North Korea. An international coalition of states supported by the U.S. reverses gains by Islamic State, with Iraq and Iran gaining over Islamic State. President Obama's policy of not taking decisive action, reversed towards the end of the second term, had led to the rise of Islamic State and the refugee crisis in Europe as refugees left Syria and Iraq. NATO or the South Korean defense was not significantly weakened as feared at the beginning of the first year. Missile defense proceeded in South Korea with U.S. missile systems. The appointment of a senior senator from Texas, Kay Hutchinson, signaled that the NATO policy had not changed significantly. As a result it could be said that the year 2018 began with a bang about the risks internationally with president Trump's unconventional approach, and ended without some of the worst fears being realized. Relations between North and South Korea improved as Koreans decided to work together for peace in the peninsula- with North Korea agreeing to participate in the Winter Olympics in South Korea.   ...

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Saeed Jan Qureshi, with only a high school education and a passion for books, started an extraordinary bookstore in Islamabad, Pakistan. Th store is now one of the largest in the world, with 42,000 square feet over 3 stories, displaying 200,000 titles, and an inventory of 4 million books in 5 warehouses, books mostly in English. Rod Norland of the NYT provides an exceptional and heartwarming story of the man, his son, and a passion for books that gives a different picture of Pakistan, the country and its people. Saeed's son Qureshi provides advice to readers, referring them to a book "Fallen Leaves," by American historian Will Durant. The story shows the passion for reading and books in South Asia.

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This piece in the WSJ misses a deep understanding of India just as the US media failed to understand China in the years of Japanese imperialism in Asia. India with 1.4 billion people and Indonesia with over 300 million people form 1.7 billion people moving towards modernization by 2047. Much of this will accelerate and be achieved by 2037 by which time India will have the third largest economy in the world and have one that is likely to surpass China in its dynamism and youthful energies. DJT's first responsibility was to America and the World- to bring a quick end to the war in South Asia, and the presence of nuclear weapons is a factor too important for the president to not take this responsibility seriously. DJT also made it clear that the economy is where it is all going to happen- the modernization of India and Indonesia in the way the US had helped each of these nations modernize- Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, and now India over 1900-2037. The people of South Asia fully support the US president in this endeavor. ...

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Ed Wallace is very much on target when he says the esteem and loyalty has faded with the new generation replacing the older generations in the U.S. automobile market. The two generations have completely different perceptions of GM and Ford. He gives the background and paints the picture of their world, the perceptions and feeling of the older generations loyal to Detroit cars. His conclusion that this is gone forever may not be entirely true, as nostalgia cars or cars which go back to an earlier era may still have customer appeal. The perceptions also vary across regions, and is true for the west and south and other parts of America which have a higher proportion of foreign brands.

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This report by Goodman in the NYT shows that the ANC has lost most of the moral authority it had under Mandela. After 9 years under president Zuma, and after the term of his predecessor Mr. Mbeki from 1999-2008, South Africa remains stuck with stagnant economy, and about two thirds of young people in the townships being jobless. The challenge is how to change the economy to where growth is generated and benefits go to a broader section of the population. Problems the new president Ramaphosa faces are how to change the protections given to conglomerates that dominated the economy under Apatheid, and the patronage network that evolved with the ANC in the post Apartheid era. Growth performance of the South African economy is dismal. According to the World Bank the South African economy in 2016 was about the size of the economy in 2009. Many warnings about the economy and the operation of the state run electric utility appeared during Mr. Zuma's presidency, including one by former president De Klerk. Growth in 2018 is expected to be only about 1.1%. The economic gains by the largely black population have suffered with lack of growth and mismanagement of the economy. Official unemployment is at 27%, with about two thirds of the young people in the townships being jobless.  ...

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The impact on global trade of the pandemic is uneven with faster recovery in export led economies China, Germany and South Korea, and slower recovery in U.S., France and India. Export shipping from ports in Ningbo, China, Hamburg, Germany, and Los Angles, U.S. are gradually returning to normal. Yet the impact on orders from the U.S. for Chinese companies is slow compared to before the pandemic and some companies in China says the orders are placed to meet current demand but future demand is uncertain. As trade recovers the U.S. and European policy on supply chain renewal is leading to companies redoing their supply chains. This means less manufacturing in China and more in the U.S., Europe and other parts of the world following the pandemic.

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The reference Bazooka man comes from Scholz's hard work putting together the 750 billion euro funding package to help German businesses and workers survive the coronavirus pandemic. At the time Scholz said-"This is the bazooka that's needed to get the job done. We are putting all our weapons on the table to show that we are strong enough to overcome any economic challenge that this problem might pose." Scholz gets high marks for his hard work during the Covid crisis as finance minister putting together the funding packages. This BBC report says Scholz chaired cabinet meetings when Merkl went into self-isolation as a precaution. BBC says it gave Scholz the platform he needed to go back to his roots as Mayor of Hamburg when he stood up for social cohesion and help for workers and families. Before he announced his SPD candidacy when asked if he would run he would say - "we need to work, not indulge in vanities." Scholz also played an important role in European solidarity. He was the lead architect with France of the European Union 750 billion euro recovery fund. This brings him strong praise from France, and also support from Italy, Spain, Portugal and other countries in the EU. French foreign minister Bruno Lemaire has praise not only for Olaf Scholz but also for his brother Jens Scholz, who airlifted 6 critically ill French patients to an hospital in Kiel. Says Lemaire "It really is a great German family." Scholz grew up in Hamburg, becoming a Socialist youth leader and studying labor law. He was Mayor of Hamburg from 2011 to 2018. In 1998 he entered the German parliament, the Bundestag.   ...

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Professor Zoubida Charrouf of Mohamed V University in Rabat, Morocco, with the support of Morocco's Ministry of Agriculture is pushing cooperatives in Morocco that produce Argan oil to increase wages for women. Wages are sometimes as low as $50 a month for the women who work with piles of fruit in the countryside along the Atlantic coast. Many work for below the minimum wage in Morocco. Women do most of this work. Argan trees are native to this part of Morocco and Berber women have the skills for this work.  Argan oil is used in Morocco for dipping bread and a food. In Europe and America. Argan oil is used by the cosmetic industry. A similar situation is faced by people in agriculture in other regions. In Ghana cocoa farmers are faced with precarious prices for cocoa and struggle to make a decent living. In Morocco there is the threat also of industrial production of argan- harvesting and production of argan oil using modern machinery, cutting costs but also depriving these Berber women of a chance to earn a living. How can these different factors be processed in a way that leads to a win-win, fair-fair situation for consumers and producers? ...