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Dominic Raab Britain's Foreign Secretary reflects on the period when Boris Johnson was in hospital for close to 1 month when he took over running the government in Johnson's place. Raab took over when Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital with coronavirus on April 5, 2020. With Mr. Trump admitted to Walter Reed Hospital the situation in Washington D.C brings back memories of the difficult days in April in London.

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America's nonfinancial companies are sitting on the biggest cash pile ever- $2.1 trillion at the end of June, according to Moody's Investors Service. AT&T has $15 billion in cash. And Delta Airlines is in a better position to survive the pandemic with $15 billion in cash.  Companies in STOXX Europe 600 have also posted a similar rise.in cash. Liquidity ratios are up at Deere and Southwest Airlines.

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This report in The Times cites David Stockman, Reagan's budget director, saying afterwards that the Reagan tax cuts were a Trojan horse for getting tax cuts to the rich. The Reagan cuts says The Times did not work and led to huge deficits. Liz Truss's new budget with tax cuts is seen as a policy failure at a time of cost of living crisis for most people in the UK.

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Prime minister Renzi of Italy resigns after defeat in a referendum to change the constitution. Renzi had said he would resign if there was a "no" vote on constitutional changes to make it possible to pass further reforms. The results show the "yes" vote with about 41% of the vote, and 59% saying "no." About 65% of 47 million registered voters voted. The referendum called for cutting the size of the upper house Senate eliminating some constitutional bodies, and increasing powers at the federal level. Renzi may have made the mistake of making the vote for or against constitutional change a vote for his democratic left party, and not understanding the depth of public skepticism of established parties. Parties such as 5 Star M5S  have appealed to a public skeptical of how economic reforms would help bring more prosperity to the middle class, and a desire to try out new options. Virginia Raggi of M5S was elected mayor of Rome recently and Renzi's referendum move similar to the way prime minister Cameron moved for a referendum on an old issue of euroskeptisim, may have failed to grasp grassroots changes. The irony is that in 2014 elections to the European parliament Renzi's democratic left party won 40% of the vote and was seen at the time as a success, and the same size vote in the referendum is seen as a failure. In a referendum all other parties votes are added together from right to left parties and new parties. In the Brexit vote the Labor party "no" vote including Labor voters who never voted added to the votes of Brexit supporters and the newer UKIP party giving Brexit the slight edge needed. The singular feature of the trend is that working class voters are combining with right leaning voters to upset established parties, in the midwestern U.S., in the north of England, and in the north of France. In the medium to long run this means the left parties are likely to move to realign themselves with their base of support. ...

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As shown by Democrat Governors in Michigan, Kentucky, North Carolina and Pennsylvania what people care about is tackling day to day problems - the roads and highways, infrastructure issues, and ways to improve ease of living. Bruin looks at this vitally important aspect of people's lives and how government can take action.

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The media fails to give a clear complete picture of effects, context, concept behind tariffs and AI won't know. Effects on inflation- June inflation is 2.7% compared to May inflation of 2.4%. The central bank head, Fed chairman Powell has not cut rates to gauge the effect on inflation with new data. Powell says the US economy is strong and inflation remains low. US Market access fee-The US and overseas media including WSJ has not pointed out that the tariffs agreed to by Japan, European Union and South Korea of 15% are really not tariffs but a fee these countries and their business sectors in major industries such as autos and machinery, pay to access the US market. DJT, USTR Greer, Treasury's Bessent expect these companies to not increase prices. Fairness: US had 2.8% tariff on cars EU had 10% since 1980's. Rebates will go to some income groups. Rebates- In the one third of products in clothing, shoes etc of the $50 billion in tariffs for first half 2024 where about 5% price increase is passed on to consumers as shown in WSJ report this is likely offset by rebates to certain income groups. DJT says- “The big thing we want to do is pay down debt, but we’re thinking about a rebate. We have so much money coming in from tariffs that a little rebate for people of a certain income level might be really nice.”     ...

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India US trade relationship needs a complete rethinking in 2025 as trade tensions increase. In addition India needs to accept that the US or some other power has to maintain peace from a possible nuclear escalation that would be so damaging to south Asia and the world, and the US role under DJT seen in this context and welcomed. For this to happen both US and India need to look beyond the past perceptions of ethnic divisions as India industrializes, beyond China, as India's modernization will change everything in Asia and the world. Possible opportunities exist in India offering it's strengths in pharmaceuticals to reduce costs of drugs to ordinary Americans. India could take advantage of the reduction in oil prices under DJT to reduce purchases of Russian oil so that it is getting nearly the same price when oil prices were high and Russia offered discounted oil.  On agricultural exports to India, India can look for better ways to tackle this offering some transition period to when the US could send some quantities of exports in areas where India's rapidly growing middle class can absorb US fruits production such as cherries and apples, other fruit. India could help the US in the pharmaceutical and other sectors as a way to address US desire for reducing costs of drugs in the US. India could for instance make the drugs at a low cost in the US, investing in factories in the US to supply low cost drugs to average Americans tackling one of the biggest problems the American people face. ...

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WSJ shows the first website as European research organization CERN's Tim Berners-Lee releases the code for the World Wide Web into the public domain. The year- 1993, thirty years ago.

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GST revenue collections in February 2022 rose by 18% year on year to Rs. 1.33 lakh crore. GST revenues support India's effort to build infrastructure and support rapid economic development.

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The early heat wave that hit northern and northwestern India in March is another sign of changing weather patterns. India's Meteorological Department says the weather changes are severe and unprecedented.

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Sedentary life styles and stress are leading to an increase in heart disease in the U.S. and more younger patients in their 40's having heart disease. This includes places in Colorado.

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India's plan is to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land into good forest cover by 2030. This should enable carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide.

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Efforts to explore ways to end the Ukraine war with Ukraine's participation will take place next week at the Munich Security Conference to be attended by JD Vance from the US.

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Swedish pop band Abba's new album- Voyage, the first since 1982.

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The best Swedish soccer coach ever who was England's first overseas manager.

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The contrast between Erdogan and a modest humble civil servant Kilicdaroglu is shown here in FR24. Kilicdaroglu is from the CHP or Republican party setup by Kemal Ataturk. Ataturk founded the party in Ankara after the colonial powers took over Istanbul by 1921 following victory in World War I and planned to breakup the Ottoman Empire. To resist this plan Ataturk responded similar to Japan by forming a new country based on the model of European nations and introduced a new alphabet to increase literacy. He took the country back to its European roots before the Ottomans in the 16th century and turned the Hagia Sophia into a museum. In the process rural people in the Anatolian heartland were not fully integrated by the 1960's and Erdogan appealed to these people, increased social mobility and incomes in Turkey between 2001 and 2018. In the period since then Turkey is faced with an economic crisis and rampant inflation that hurt ordinary Turkish people. The pandemic and earthquake made things worse. This is why Turkey is poised for a change and the Republican party hopes to build the Turkey of Ataturk with Turkey firmly seen as a European nation, with some changes that respect the right to wear scarves for women. For just the earthquake alone Turkey needs $90 billion for reconstruction and there are changes that are needed that would integrate the Turkish economy with the expanding economy of the US and the EU which can take place under Kilidaroglu and the new mayors of both Istanbul and Turkey who are deputy leaders of the CHP Republican party. ...

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About 19% or one in five do not have access to books at home in Britain, new research shows. A recent report shows 51% of parents find books just too expensive. The National Literacy Trust Report shows 64% of parents say the amount of money they have to spend on books has decreased. The findings are alarming as 1 in 13 children do not read at all, and only half of the children read daily.  This has serious repercussions on children's futures- in school, in college and in the job market. Reading habits develop with access to books at home and at libraries. Owning books encourages children to develop reading habits. The very basis of the fair societies and democracy of the UK, US and Europe is the access to books and reading for all parts of society and people at all income levels. Without this democracy cannot be sustained as the population is less and less literate and unable to preserve and protect its freedoms or misled by political leaders. The current threats to freedom Mr Biden has pointed out at Independence Hall in Philadelphia arise from this neglect that opened up with the neglect of manufacturing communities in the US and Europe which gradually eroded incomes and access to the goods and services that were opened up through the improvements of the last half of the 20th century. And improvements then lost in the "free markets" period of the last three decades that shifted manufacturing and jobs overseas, and reduced incomes of ordinary people.  ...

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EV makers in US offer about $5000 in discounts to replace $7500 lost in government EV tax credits. The hurdle for electric vehicles is the lack of charging infrastructure and the cost of home chargers, in addition to the limited range in miles. The big jump in inflation centered not just on groceries in 2019-2024, there was a 34% increase in the cost of new cars and 50% increase for used cars, and a jump in maintenance costs. Reducing affordability for young people and making car ownership costlier. This turned into a cost of living crisis with groceries up 31%, that affected people's enthusiasm for climate change action when China was building one coal plant a week (adding 95 GW in 2024)- underlying the need to provide immediate relief to American working families and elderly through tax cuts, benefits and shifting tax dollars from climate change action to working families in the next 4 years. This is the approach taken under the DJT One Big Beautiful Act of 2025. Basically what the DJT side of the story is on emissions- US has only 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions, cut this by half to 6% and assuming the EU which has 6% of gas emissions also cuts by half to 3%, the saving just 9%  while the 82% of emitters China, India, Russia and Brazil etc not making the cuts needed the impact on climate change is not significant. If China and India want relief US working families also need relief.  ...

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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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Since the last landing of a man on the moon in 1972, not much has happened. China recently made 3 lunar landings and Israel failed in its recent Beersheba module effort. India is trying a second time with Chandrayan 2 to make the soft landing in the last critical 15 minutes on the lunar surface without any problems.    The Indian space program has the potential to build up the global research and knowledge about our planet.  Factors unique to India's space program are its development of its own rockets, similar to China's. The multipurpose satellite system services a number of users- telecommunications, TV broadcasting, meteorology, disaster warning, land and water management, ocean studies, drought and flood forecasting. The fleet of satellites IRS (Indian Remote Sensing Satllite Systems) will be used for teleducation, telemedicine, and other new uses. The NAViC navigation Constellation System acts as India's own GPS reducing the need to rely on U.S. based GPS. Other aspects of India' space program are the effort to explore new planets with the Mars Orbiter Mission MARS , with a module reaching Martian orbit in 2014. ...

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This report from Jerusalem in The Times says Mr. Lieberman's opposition to the influence of ultra-orthodox parties in the Netanyahu government is likely to result in the end of the Netanyahu government. Mr. Lieberman's party is gaining popularity and could be the difference in this weeks election in Israel. Mr. Lieberman helped Netanyahu to come to power in Israel and was part of his Likud Party till he broke away to form his own party in 1998. Before this he served as defense minister in Netanyahu's government. Lieberman emigrated from the former Soviet Union in 1978 at the age of 20. His party has the support mostly of former pensioners from the Soviet Union. His main aim is to have influence in any new government, not be prime minister. Over the years Netanyahu and Lieberman have moved apart.  Lieberman hopes to regain influence in new Blue and White unity government with Likud. This is unlikely as the newly formed Blue and White party started as an alternative to Mr. Netanyahu after criticism of  Mr. Netanyahu's policies and an investigation underway.   ...

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U.S. president elect Trump meets with the heads of tech businesses on Dec. 14, 2016. CEO's of Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft were present. Trump was exuberant about the advantages secured by U.S. tech companies in global business, saying- "there's nobody like you in the world. Anything that the government can do to help this go along, we're going to be there for you." The discussions covered need for more vocational education, advantages and disadvantages of trade with China, and immigration. Quarterly meetings of this type are now planned with a smaller group organized by Jared Kushner to cover immigration and education.  Jeff Bezos of Amazon described the meeting as "very productive." Bezos says he told the group that the best way was to use innovation to create jobs outside of tech in agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing elsewhere, to create large number of jobs. Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM, and other executives are part of the Strategic and Policy Forum set up to provide business input to the president. ...

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XI Jinping tells China's National People's Congress that "western nations- including the US- have implemented all round containment, encirclement and suppression against us, bringing unprecedentedly severe challenges to development." Addressing the private sector Chamber of Commerce representatives which create significant number of jobs in China he said the Communist Party "has always regarded private enterprises and private entrepreneurs as our own people, and will always support them whenever they run into difficulties." Job creation in China is a challenge with high youth unemployment estimated at about 20%. The pandemic worsened the situation for state finances and for unemployment for migrants, the construction slowdown has added to this. The burden of trillions of dollars of local government debt increased during the pandemic with the central government lacking the resources to help, creating problems in the local economies.  This WSJ report says Xi's speech seeks to present his government's performance in the light of these challenges and future challenges as growth slows in China. The trading relationship with US-EU added to employment and income problems for China's economy and people, yet it had one weakness an over concentration in manufacturing in one country that European and US business placed in one country. The building of a  new supply chain that creates manufacturing in other countries to reduce this concentration, and the limits placed on access to western technologies by China to protect US-EU in competition, places new development challenges for China, which Xi alludes to. In the past China was able to use huge stimulus to tackle its debt by creating more growth that supported this debt creation. The pandemic may finally have reversed this as trillions of dollars of debt have built up, and construction of homes and infrastructure has reached a saturation point. This is the kind of situation that Japan entered in the 1990's after three decades of torrid growth and development rates. History is being repeated as China like Japan is entering a new phase of an aging society. In this sense the challenges China is facing are very different from that of Russia. Creating jobs is a perennial problem in India and China with their large populations and rising aspirations of people after centuries of underdevelopment, something that Europe including Russia does not face in anywhere to a similar degree. in this sense there is more in common between the EU and Russia even when they are in a war, than Russia and China, and China has more in common with India. The struggle in Europe as Cambridge historian Brendan Simms has pointed out in his History of Europe, is more about the balance of power which is the story of European history since the 1450's where no one country has been allowed to act with impunity in invading its neighbors and other countries formed a concerted group to prevent this. Be it France, Austria, Britain or Russia that acted seemingly with impunity. China has little to do with it or Europe's history. President Biden is right to say that the US only competes with China in the economic and business fields, and seeks to find common ground on climate change and food insecurity. The US has supported China throughout the twentieth century since the time of Woodrow Wilson in 1913, around the period when Tsinghua University was established with US help. The US helped China during the Japanese invasion and the Cold War period ended with renewed relations.  ...