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Chinese leader Xi Jinping .at APEC Summit in Gyeongju and meeting DJT in Busan, South Korea, October 30 2025. At the Summit and in meeting with DJT temporary trade arrangements with US and concerns expressed by Japan's PM Sanae Takaichi. The US, China and Japan are in a delicate diplomatic effort to continue working with each other till issues are resolved.

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Chase bank investments in strategic companies of the US with the US government in a Jamie Dimon effort October 2025. Chase Bank CEO Jamie Dimon says- “It has become painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing—all of which are essential for our national security." 

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Swing in districts where Spanish is spoken at home for Democrats was large in 2025 governors races in Virginia and New Jersey, the swing was smaller in districts where English was spoken in districts where Hispanics make up a larger part of the voter base. This helped Democrats in the 2 governors races and was about cost of living and other concerns.

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Kiel, Dresden and Coventry are three cities that suffered the worst in aerial bombardment in the Second World War. By 1945 these cities lay in ruins. A new Cathedral was built near the destroyed one. The inscription on brick "Father Forgive" is where the German president put a wreath on December 5, 2025, showing the German flag to show the spirit of reconciliation,

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A man with a handgun and magazine of ammunition is shot by federal law enforcement officer on Jan. 24, 2026 as protestors confront federal law enforcement officers in Minneapolis. Earlier federal law enforcement in California, and in other states, Washington DC, Nashville Tennessee, have led to protests but not of the kind in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minneapolis is a state with liberal views yet it also has a strange mix as it was in Minneapolis that local police shot an unarmed black man during the Covid epidemic. This time it is not local police in that role but local police under the orders of the state and local authorites, the mayor and state governor Frey and Walz, not cooperating with the federal law enforcement of immigration law in the US that seeks to remove migrants with crime records from the US neighborhoods and streets. Walz was selected by Kamala Harris to run on the Democratic ticket for president in the US against DJT and Vance in 2025. Republicans allege serious fraud in Minnesota and misuse of state funds that have added to the dangerous mix of politics in the state, that is found nowhere else in America. From the Republican point of view unwanted migrants from certain unstable countries with criminal records were allowed to settle in the state. Democrats and Democrat media are not cooperating as the national elections in the US were lost on just this issue of migrants illegal entry numbering about 7 million over the last administration of Biden with costs to the US of over $110 billion in federal and local funds. No one knows where this will end up yet the view world wide over migration is moving to safe neighborhoods and safe streets as essential human rights, essential women's rights, essential rights of all Americans and all Europeans, that the problems of failed states cannot be solved on American or European soil. The Monroe Doctrine was put in place for just this reason as respecting Russia as a power in its area of influence in Northern Europe means no intervention by Russia or  China in the western hemisphere, so that the US never faces the situation of Guatemala and central American states, or of Venezuelan failed states in sending millions in a stream through Mexico for illegal entry on US southern border. Overall US policy, domestic and foreign has changed to ensure safety wellbeing in the US as the first and only priority for all its citizens and the sum of good citizenship the main objective for the Nation. ...

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Asked about it yesterday January 16 DJT tells the press outside the White House after a meeting announcing his Great Healthcare Plan, it is a good thing that Canada has signed a trade deal with China. It reflects the new view not clearly understood or told in the press what US trade policy is about. US trade policy in 2026 is about bringing investment and jobs back to the US to rebuild communities and towns across 51 states- once destroyed by the foolish trade policies of the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama 3 destructive policy decades. Supplementing this with the investment favorable policy of instant depreciation for investments in plant and equipment in the Big Beautiful Bill of 2025. Using tariffs to level the playing field and ensure fairness in business practices by industries and nations towards America after over 3 decades all else has failed. All the time protecting Rural America, and communities and towns across the US devastated by outshoring. Using Tariffs to make certain that drug and migrant trafficking, and hostile unelected governments in the western Hemisphere cannot take place with direct and  indirect intervention in the western hemisphere by foreign powers. To do this with the Monroe Doctrine Corollary set by Teddy Rooosevelt in his Annual Message to Congress of 1905- "A great free people owes it to itself and to all mankind not to sink into helplessness before the powers of evil." Under such a policy Canada can pursue trade deals with China as the US has done. The clear rationale for the US policy is nowhere evident in the press today, how trade and domestic policy and foreign policy converge to protect all Americans, even though this was something that was pursued under the Biden administration with mistakes made in handing the Border management to Mayorkas and Harris incompetence. In the use of Tariffs doing this in such a way that US economic interest, investments, capital and stock markets are protected by carving out areas of exemptions in the policy. This has given the US an highly advantageous use of Tariff policy in ways not reflected in the press version of Tariffs. As TR pointed out, as Lincoln pointed out over a century ago, the interests of both Labor and of Capital are both legitimate and vital for the Nation. It is time to see this as one whole and not separate to rebuild America.   ...

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Astrid Prange says the movement started by Luther against paying for penalties for sins being paid for by indulgences, and seeing faith as a gift from God, helped the renewal of the church and Christianity. It came at the time of the printing press, touching a chord with people in Germany. Luther was not a revolutionary, as he was conservative and principled, his goal being to go back to the Christian church's origins. Prange says that in this he is typically German. On October 31, 2016, Pope Francis joins Protestants in Lund, Sweden, for the Lutheran World Federation's celebration of 500 years since the Reformation. Luther would have welcomed this, considering what Pope Francis brings to the Catholic world with tolerance, spiritual renewal and reviving the original teachings of the Christian church.

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Ukraine leader Zelensky is expected to be in Washington to meet president Biden and to address the US Congress on December 21, 2022. A bill in Congress includes $44 billion for aid to Ukraine.

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US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal relaunch the US India Trade Forum for a winning partnership as Tai visits New Delhi in November 2021. 

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Coronavirus cases reach a daily high of 53,000 in the UK, December 28, 2020. London has twice the rate as England. There are calls for a nationwide lockdown as the NHS faces a crisis.

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The new Indian parliament building in New Delhi where the flag is hoisted in 2023 marks a remarkable journey since the first parliament met Aug. 15, 1947- a 75 year journey for India.

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The world is truly changing again. Japan which suffered from deflation after it went through decades of rapid growth is once more reviving and has its first experience with inflation in decades in 2023.

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JN.1 is the latest mutation of the Omicron virus. it is spreading in France and other countries. The NYT looks at this new variant and the threat it poses in November 2023.

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Starting in 2023 the penalty on missed RMD drops to 25% from 50%, and down to 10% if corrected in 2 years. The statute of limitations for missed RMD's is three years.

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About 21% of Independent voters are less likely to vote for the former president Trump after the conviction of the former president in New York trial in a Ipsos survey in June 2024.

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India's new bankruptcy law is a big step forward in letting credit markets function normally and drawing in new capital. The new law says the bankruptcy should be completed in 180 days after a default. Indian banks hold about $105 billion in non-performing or bad loans, according to the Reserve Bank of India. It is essential that India cope with the bad debt to attract new capital investment and increase growth. Asset reconstruction company being formed by Ambit and J.C. Flowers & Company was approved in late 2016 by the Reserve Bank of India, India's central bank. So far Indian banks have showed unwillingness to take a loss on the loans and take a big discount. Only $3 billion in asset reconstruction has taken place in 2016 through selling bad loans, according to Credit Suisse. Indian industry has relied heavily on bank loans and sale of stock for capital investment as the corporate bond market is undeveloped. This is about to change to finance growth, with the bankruptcy law and transparency as a first step. Larger foreign firms are teaming up with local partners to tackle distressed debt and bad loans, with locals knowledge of risks making it easier to profit from capital invested. ICICI bank won the first ruling of the new bankruptcy law by the National Company Law Tribunal against Innoventive to recover assets, providing the first test of the law. In the past such action would drag on for years, showing India is now serious about getting rid of bad loans in the banking system, and to revitalize credit markets to finance new growth. ...

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The Guardian in its Editorial on Keir Starmer on February 10, 2026, says Labour was in the political wilderness for 18 years, and yet it has taken only 14 months for the project which put it into power to implode. It is referring to the project of McSweeney from County Cork, Ireland, and others to put a centrist to replace Corbyn, and selecting Keir Starmer. This was a weakness from the start as a candidate has to emerge on his own merits not be put in place by handlers like McSweeney, as he would not be able to govern on his own thinking and make his own decisions.  McSweeney was a campaign organizer and not successful at that as portrayed as Labour could have taken more than the 34% of the vote it received after 18 years of Tory rule without the likes of McSweeney. The Guardian says "excessive power and influence" was given by Starmer to McSweeney, and that the outsourcing of Britain's direction served neither the prime minister or the country well.  This is aserious flaw. McSweeney did not have the long experience of advisers that backed up Biden in the White House. And even the long experience of Biden group of advisers failed Biden when it came to immigration policy and the Border. And yet the question remains why was there such a lack in the talent pool for good governance for Labour, as it was for the Conservatives, for 3 decades since the 1990's? Similar to the situation with Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama governance in the US, why is there not a good talent pool for effective governance in the UK and the US? The Guardian goes on to question the judgement of Starmer and the clique around him including McSweeney for their attitude towards helping the working class in support payments during a cost of living crisis- what it calls a contempt filled approach of the cliques to the normal priorities of a Labour party. The Editorial concludes that Labour has lost control of the trajectory of events- as more Mandelson emails are expected- and that it is hard to see how this trust can be won back. For Britain having 5 prime ministers over 4 years is a shocking lack of the talent, of confidence, that once prevailed in the nation that once led the world with the Industrial Revolution, and in science and technology. ...

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Gerard Baker of the WSJ writes about not getting involved in unnecessary wars and prudent interventions where necessary. He does not bring up the nuclear issue which is the only issue this war was about- is that a prudent intervention where necessary? The other issue is what the Anglo-Saxon,Saxon world and the Europeans think and feel about the Jewish state after the experience deeply unsettling  of World War II for western civilization itself. Throughout 2026 in Britain, UK, Australia and Canada, and in the  European Union, the people have stood by the Jewish people and the Jewish state while also respecting the rights of Palestinian people. Iran's hostility towards the Jewish state, to its elimination, is the reason for the conflict. Is prudent intervention necessary for the US in this context and what is the Anglo-Saxon and European attitude to defending western civilizations thoughts and sentiment?  What does a nuclear weapons state do to the situation in the Middle East- the Arab states and Israel? This is the main reason for the US involvement even as it is committed to no unnecessary wars. A naval blockade during Iranian closure of the Straits is not an escalation, the US did not bomb Kharg Island only imposed a naval blockade. The US is able to sustain this kind of blockade for a long period as it showed in Venezuela and shows in its backyard in Latin American particularly where it is essential that the US stop all drug smuggling on the seas. The Editorial Board of the WSJ has sent warnings to the DJT administration that it would be a mistake to not address the nuclear issue now and to separate it to a subsequent stage as mediators Pakistan and Turkey have arranged for reasons that are not in the US interest- because that would leave Iran to renege on promises and go for nuclear weapons  third time and repeat the failures of the Obama administration. It can be noted that the WSJ reflects the views of the business community in the US which is thoughtful and not prone to overreach or US interventions. Baker is not part of it after resigning as Editor in Chief in 2018. Yet the members of the Board include- Henninger, McGurn, Strassel, Riley, Finley, Noonan, Taranto, O'Grady, Jenkins and many others. It is unlikely that all of these members would have a drastic and strongly interventionist attitude. ...

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Canada's Carney gives up on USMCA renegotiated deal with US as he makes deal with China Jan 2026. No date is set for USMCA renegotiation. Carney stepped up the criticism of the US and suggested middle powers find their way by makiing deals of their own. This has drawn criticism from DJT, Luttnick and Scott Bessent, the Commerce Secretary and Treasury Secretary. Canada's economy has some fragile points in its dependence on the US and this may not be the wise course of action for Canada at this time. Germany, Italy, are meeting on February 12 and Europe may follow a different course of action of working with the US, India is close to a trade deal, so that Carney's and other remarks about going to partner with China at a gathering as isolated as Davos is from the real world may be very counterproductive.

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The German lower and upper houses of parliament, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, passed legislation to end the use of coal by 2038. The phase out has two parts one is the legal avenue for reduction in emissions, the other is the regional economies of affected states. The government will provide 40 billion euros for restructuring economies, including reskilling workers and providing new infrastructure, for the effort. coal operators will also receive compensation if they announce plans for closure of coal plants by 2026.

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2023 is the year when electric cars will finally be made competitive with gasoline cars with the help of government incentives, competition, and lower raw material prices. This trend will continue. Battery powered GM vehicles will cost $30,000 this fall. The Inflation Reduction Act provides government tax credits of $7500 for electric car buyers.

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World leaders at COP26 in Glasgow 2021 agree to pledge that they will end deforestation by 2030. This includes countries with large forest areas such as Russia, Brazil and Indonesia, and countries in Africa. Forests act like a carbon sink absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. About one third of global emissions are absorbed in this way.

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Indianapolis and Terre Haute in Indiana, Columbus in Georgia, Whitesburg in Kentucky and Hutchinson near Wichita, Kansas are smaller cities in areas that suffered a drain of people in the past. They are cities that offer $5000 to $7000 in 2025 to remote workers to attract them to move back to the midwest and central states.

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China State Shipbuilding and China Shipbuilding Industry merge in $16 billion merger August 2025. The companies were split up in 1999. In an effort to create scale the companies are being merged. This company is building China's first aircraft carrrier the Shandong. China's main port is at Quingdao in the northeast.

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Simon Tisdall says in The Guardian that Macron's style of bold, haughty and hyper may not work in the 2022 election. En Marche was a movement hastily put together by Macron as a minister in the government of French Socialist party's Hollande, months before the last presidential election. It has failed to live up to its goal of renewal in France. The first round of the French election is on April 10, 2022.