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Coral Davenport of the NYT provides some of the basics of the Paris climate change agreement. This includes an effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions by half to avoid a situation in which atmospheric temperatures rise by 2 degrees Celsius or 3.6 degree Fahrenheit.  The earlier effort to negotiate an accord failed in 2009 in Copenhagen. This time all 186 countries were asked to signup with the USA and China, the No. 1 and No. 2 polluters and India leading the way. Germany is well on its way to self sufficiency through development of solar and wind energy with the German government leading the way, and France leads in the use of nuclear energy. How did this happen now? As Davenport points out there are scientific studies. But this is not the primary reason China is shifting.Davenport fails to emphasize the health concerns and pollution concerns that motivated China to shift away from coal. China's industrial revolution of the last 3 decades has come at a huge cost in pollution of air and water, and president Xi Jinping has decided to make the shift away from coal a top priority. It is estimated that mortality rates for areas of high coal use north of the Yangzte river have higher mortality rates than areas of lower use of coal south of the Yangzte river. The other big polluter India is shifting because it is learning from China's experience. Davenport mentions the resistance to the scientific evidence in the Republican party. As a result it is already clear that it lacks support in Congress and under a future Republican administration. In a fashion similar to healthcare, president Obama failed to create a consensus before proceeding in the hope that this would be better than waiting. However American industry is already moving away from coal as documented in Links- "The Trump executive order on coal and the continuing shift to natural gas." Utilities in the U.S. are making the shift away from coal because of the economics and planning ahead as governments can change every four years. ...

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Even though volatility is high in stock markets, the U.S. stock market has rebounded to levels in August 2019. The level on March 10, 2020 after effects of the coronavirus on the global economy was for the DJIA average in the U.S. to be at the level it was on August 14, 2019, as shown on the graph in the WSJ, in the neighborhood of 25,000. In the last quarter of 2019 there were steep gains in the Dow Jones averages that could not be fully explained, these gains have disappeared. Considering the suddenness of the crisis from the coronavirus in China, and the double whammy of impact on global manufacturing supply chains of first the tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S., followed by the coronavirus, the impact on stock markets seen in this overall context is comprehensible. Particularly the sharp gains in the last quarter of 2019 which now appear to be muted. There is also some good news for economies such as China and India, which are large oil importing countries, and the rest of Asia, in the sharp drop in oil prices that helps cushion some of its impact on the global economy. For the U.S. this also happens at a time when the economy is in much stronger shape than at any time in the last ten years. ...

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Ali Sethi, a novelist, questions the simple minded theory that all that matters in South Asia is the Hindu-Muslim divide and with it the idea of a separate Muslim state. He points to this as far from the daily reality of caste, landholding classes, education and the lack of it, sectarianism within the religion, and other differences. And in many ways these outweigh the overly simplified idea of two religions and different states.

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How oil impacts countries with high demand, India and China, and how it helps Russia. China imports 50% of its oil, with Angola as the largest supplier. India imports 70% of its oil though it has a third of the demand that China has. India and China subsidize oil. China raised retail prices for fuel by 10% on Nov. 1, 2007.

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India's largest oil refiner, state owned Indian Oil, had a loss of $4 billion in the June 2012 quarter. Analysts say prices have to go up by 26% for sales to be profitable. The government mandates fuel prices at below market rates. Below market prices for diesel are estimated to cause 60% of the loss at refiners.

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How the formation of Special Economic Zones like the one at Shenzen in China is now moving forward in India with the help of the central and state governments. The SEZ's like the one near Chennai are attracting a lot of foreign investment to India and take care of the roads, power, water, access to ports, and make it easier for investment capital to come to India. Companies from Germany, S. Korea, Taiwan and Japan, Finland and the USA are investing in these SEZ's. India needs manufacturing investment to create large numbers of jobs for a large and younger demographic.

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China gives Sri Lanka a $1.1 billion loan for infrastructure projects, roads, airports and power stations. Interest for loans has ranged from 4 to 6.4%, higher than World Bank loans but lower than loans from western commercial banks. Sri Lanka has $54 billion in debt, with large debt payments for a nation of 20 million. Chinese loans have helped build a expressway from Colombo to Katunayake airport, Puttalam power station, and a port at Hambantota. New loans are for work expanding Colombo's port facilities. During the 2015 election campaign the UNP party was critical of China's loans given to the Rajapakse government. The current UNP coalition of prime minister Ranil Wickremasinghe is continuing work on Chinese projects on the island and at the same time seeking  loans from India and Britain to maintain balanced relations. China sees Sri Lanka as an important part of president Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative. To assuage Buddhist and national sentiment in Sri Lanka China has adopted Buddhist diplomacy in negotiating with the new UNP led coalition government. ...

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Kurczewski test drives aNano LX around the test drive track near the Tata Pimpri factory, and on city streets. He thinks the pickup is good for Indian city streets. The four speed manual transmission makes changing gears abreeze. The 0.6 liter engine is half the size of the Toyota Yaris or the Honda Fit. Acceleration is slow 30 seconds to reach 60mph, but in Indian traffic this works fine. Visibility is excellent. No exterior passenger side mirror, no radio, and luggage goes in from inside the car, all deisgned to keep costs down. THere is Airconditioning in the LX which accounts for half of Nano orders so far and goes for $3800. Three point safety belts, but no air bags. A Nano Europa with improvements to meet European safety and emission standards and air bags will be intorduced to Europe in 2011, and asimilar car also intoroduced to the USA by 2011 possibly at Chrysler-FIat dealers.

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A record for Day 3 at MCG of over 83,000 in Australia India Fourth Test Cricket, the largest since 1937. The record for total attendance of 255,000 is likely to be broken. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar build a 127 run partnership and Reddy gets to 105. India are only 114 runs behind a massive Australian first innings of 474 with 1 wicket in hand.

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Final stage negotiations for India and USA nuclear pact for transfer of nuclear peacetime technologies to India to help it meet its energy needs.

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India's currency, the rupee, ges a makeover, as the Indian government chooses a design symbol for the Rupee. It will be some variation of the letter R, similiar to the way Japan uses the Y for Yen with double bars across it, or how the Europeans chose the epsilon Greek character for the Euro symbol.

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The first of many coastal wind turbine energy projects on America's coastline produces energy. The Vineyards Wind project in New Bedford harbour in Massachusetts sends 5MW of energy to the New England grid this week. The Operator says 5 850 feet tall turbines will be operational early this year. In all 62 turbines will generate wind energy, enough to power 400,000 homes. The White House's and president Biden's target is for 30 gigawatts of wind energy to power 10 million homes by 2030. Understand how Danish companies are leading the effort which is also why Danish companies were invited to India for its nascent wind energy industry. Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners is the developer with Avangrid of Spain. South Forks Wind is a smaller 12 turbine project off the New York coastline which s being developed by Orsted of Denmark. This Guardian report says some of the opposition to these projects in other parts of the country are coming from fossil fuel companies that seek to prolong the use of fossil fuels in the face of warnings of climate change by scientists and other leaders in government and industry. ...

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The US economy is in a far healthier place and the country is a better place today because of direct government aid to people, including stimulus checks deposited directly into bank accounts. Similar action took place in India, Britain, European Union countries with deposits of aid made directly to people's accounts. As a result Europe and India are in a much better place today.

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Politicians, militant groups, intelligence agencies and security forces, unsettle the Kashmir valley, at a time when Pakistan faces a serious economic crisis, and India faces a slowing down and inflation also. Changing the demography of Kashmir and the dispute over 99 acres seems rather phony and it shows that political unrest can be whipped up when there is such a long legacy of conflict even when the conditions worldwide in developing Asian countries are shifting to modernization.

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How the Philippines is tackling some of its problems especially the tax increases and sales taxes to increase the government',s tax collection rate which was a major problem there. 70% of the budget was going to pay interest in 2005, with little left to build roads, power supply and infrastructure. Endemic corruption among tax officials and loopholes in the tax code made things much worse in Philippines, than India and Indonesia. Ms Arroyo pushed through measures to increase taxes and to bring foreign investment into the country. Remittances of $14 billion a year from the 10 million Filipinos in the US, and Europe and the Middle East have also helped, and these remittances have increased with business confidence rising in the country's future.

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America takes the first step to improve relations with Belarus as part of improving relations with Russia. For the British, French and some northern European interests arguing for continuing policy of war in Ukraine, one can only see a long history of opposing Russia from the beginnings of the British and French Empires after defeating the Spanish and the Dutch by 1700 and for the last 325 years. American interests have diverged from the British in the policy of freedom for Asian and African people under FDR that led to decolonization after the war.  America has the greater responsibility to reduce the buildup of nuclear weapons, to ensure that fertilizer and food supplies flow to all countries, build peaceful relations with 3 billion people in China and India, and to reduce international tensions. DJT shows a concern for all loss of life in Ukraine, particularly for the young of all sides who are losing their lives in a senseless war that needs to be respected. ...

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This NYT article looks at another side of Biden in the meeting with Putin, Biden's optimism. Biden says of his style- "the important thing is to put an optimistic front, an optimistic face." By doing this he achieved more with Putin than was thought possible after years of deteriorating relations. In a way it could be said that Biden brought the optimism that Russia, Germany, France, India, and other nations, the rest of the world also need, especially now during the pandemic. He prepared carefully for his meeting, more than most presidents, much more than Reagan, Trump or Obama. He met with German and French  leaders, prepared with Blinken and Sullivan, coordinated with G-7 allies at Cornwall in the UK, in a way that was rarely done before.  After the meeting Biden could tell reporters "The country has put a different face on where we've been and where we're going- and I feel good about it." It is also a measure of Biden's leadership style that he took a constructive approach in the face of difficult issues.  Biden based it on a sound footing. The way Biden says "is to know what your adversary's interests are." In Russia's case Biden and his team see this as "legitimacy, standing in the world stage." And for Russia "desperately wanting to be relevant." For the most part Putin and Russia responded positively to this effort by Biden to change the tone, texture of voice, and manner in the conversation. ...