LyrArc Article Gist
Ford making plans to put 2 plants one in Nanjing, China, and one in Thailand with about $1 billion investment combined suggests Ford is looking at GM's strategy and planning for a new era in automobile production, one that makes more cars in high growth regions of Asia. The demand is expected to grow largest in India, China and the rest of Asia. And these cars will have to cost a lot less than they are today for the lower purchasing power of Asia's new middle clases and lower middle classes which are growing in numbers. Meantime the costs in the US are still high even after reducing the health care burden through the health care trust that GM negotiated with the UAW. The UAW agreement with GM reduces labor costs for new workers but existing workers costs continue to be at the levels from before. And non assembly new workers not all new workers get paid at lower rates than the existing rates. So the progress in labor costs is still short of where GM or Ford needs to see it to compete effectively worldwide. Meantime the automobile markets continue to change and grow worldwide. The American car companies cannnot wait, they have to make decisions based on the labor situation in the US and their response is to build new capacity in the Asian markets, even while maintaining labor peace at home so as not to have upheavals in the domestic markets in the USA. New product and designs can still be handled in the USA so GM could agree to make commitments for manufacturing new product at plants in the USA, while at a minimum getting the UAW to agree to take over health care responsibility and agree on the playing field in labor costs for the future, which would have to take into account global competition and not just a labor social contract from another era. Ford's 2 investments are in alliance with Mazda, of which it owns 33%, and which generated $168 million in profits in 2006. Of the product in Thailand 80% will be exported to the rest of Asia excluding China and India, and also to S. Africa and Australlia and New Zealand. It will make about 100,000 cars. Currently Thgailand exports about 650,000 vehicles out of production of 1.25 million vehicles. About 70% of exports are pickup trucks....

LyrArc Article Gist
Telefonica offers part of its dividend in shares to conserve cash and considers IPO listings for operations in Germany and Latin America. Earnings decline by 54% in the first quarter of 2012. Shares have lost over 30% in 2012. Net debt is 57 billion euros, larger than its market capitalization and forecast at 2.7 times Ebitda. JP Morgan estimates show that sale of call center Atento for 1 billion euros, and stakes in in China Unicom and O2 in the Czech Republic could bring an additional 6 billion euros, which would bring debt down to 2 times Ebitda.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Economist magazine points out that the higher reserves in emerging markets (estimated at $7.7 trillion total by The Economist), flexible exchange rates, and smaller current account deficits, make this a different situation compared to 1997. Only countries like Argentina, Turkey, and Thailand pose higher risks because of political uncertainty and failure to adopt the lessons of the 1997 crisis. China, Russia and Brazil have large reserves to cope with the crisis. Emerging markets will have to adapt over time and the gradual tightening anticipated under an employment levels conscious Yellen would give them the time to make the changes needed.

LyrArc Article Gist
This report in DW.com looks at the response of Germany to the coronavirus epidemic and says Germany may have let a window of opportunity to act quickly slip from its grasp. It says Germany's leader Merkel has not shown the leadership required by the health crisis. Germany DW.com points out recorded its first case on January 27, yet Merkel's first press conference on the subject of coronavirus came on March 11, when Italy was on lockdown quarantine for 2 days.  Germany lacks a quarantine and effective government action to mandate and require social distancing across the country to limit the spread. The steps this report points out pale in comparison with the actions taken in other neighboring countries. Spain earlier and Belgium on March 17th joined a lockdown in Italy. Merkel called on Germans to stay home, yet enforcement is lacking.  In this situation the calm and reacting with reason may be obsolete, a proactive approach being the right one. And a braver one because it would anticipate what happens a week two weeks from now based on experience of China and Italy, and act quickly with a lockdown and quarantine to prevent spread. Waiting in this manner risks too much says DW.com.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
India is storing as much oil as it can at today's low oil prices of about $20-$30 per barrel in May 2020. With India asking the U.S. to store oil from U.S. shale producers at its strategic petroleum reserve storage facilities in the U.S. Already its existing storage facilities of 5.3 million tonnes (39 million barrels) are full, and the storage capacity will be more than doubled with an additional 6.5 million tonnes (48 million barrels) to be built quickly. About 8.5 million tonnes (62 million barrrels)  are in ships on oceans around the world. Demand is only 20% during the lockdown but is expected to reach levels of 2019 by June 2020. Only about 20% of oil consumption comes from existing storage.   That Indian oil capacity is 39 million barrels of storage shows how little was done over succeeding administrations without national aspirations for a growing country with hundreds of million of young people, when the oil storage capacity today of 39 million barrels compares with over 500 million barrels for Japan and for China. A huge Indian government aid package of $280 billion for the economy can be offset by gains in other areas such as low oil price oil storage, and gains in supply chain manufacturing, increasing the size of the domestic market for local manufacturers with incentives and loans, and new rules for stressing local manufacturing for a self-reliant economy. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Vietnam has seen rapid growth in the last 20 years as it joined the shifted away from the state planned economy similar to China in the late 1980's, joined the worlds trading system, freed up the economy and attracted foreign investment. But something doesn't seem right. Looking at the Vietnam growth curve, growth in Vietnam's GDP vs growth of world GDP the curve seems to be following a similiar pattern, there is a sharp downturn in the early 1990's with a V shaped bounce back and a sharp downturn in early 2000 followed by another V shaped bounce back in growth to this date. As America begins its first of several years of credit contraction and investment contraction followed by similiar patterns in some European economies like the UK, Ireland, Spain and a slowdown in the rest of Europe, the question hangs over growth in Asia, from South Korea and Taiwan where recent elections reflected these concerns in electing politicians who promised new ways of kickstaring their economic growth, to China, India and Vietnam where the concerns are about how to meet the growing expectations of the large numbers of people, probably the majority of the people in these countries who have been left out of the economic development experienced in urban areas and by the new middle class. Corruption, the stock market collapse or severe setback, and a slowdown in their main export markets, and are problems shared by all 3 countries China, India and Vietnam. India and Vietnam share the problems of a poor infrastructure. In this new environment Asian countries will have to come up with innovative solutions to maintain growth and quality of growth, as some of the chaotic growth of the last 20 years may have come at some cost like that of the environment in the case of China and better solutions can be found than growth that sacrifices goals in health care and other necessary goals of balanced development....

LyrArc Article Gist
Founded in 1880, Carl Welcker's company has seen the changing fortunes of manufacturing for over a century, during depression and after the wars. Still the 50% drop in orders for this company, which makes the machines that make 80% of the spark plugs in the world, is like nothing Carl Welcker has experienced. Its a tragedy he says. Its the speed of the manufacturing decline that is causing concern. In Europe where a fifth of GDP comes from manufacturing industrial production is down 12% from ayear ago. In Brazil it is down 15%, in Taiwan 43%. In China exports are down 25%. In the USA, industrial output went down by 11% in February 2009, according to the Federal Reserve. The pattern of this decline recalls the pattern of 1929, as tightening creedit and consumer fear reduces demand for manufactured goods in one country after another, creating a downward spirtal that reduces global trade. And of concern is that trade is declining even faster than manufacturing.German exports are down 20% from ayear ago, Japan's have plunged 46%, and in the USA exports fell at an annualized rate of 23.6% in the fourth quarter of 2008. A company like Schutte in Cologne, Germany, expanded rapidly as globalization opened new markets in Eastern Europe and Asia. Sales more than doubled in 5 years from 58 million euros to 100 million euros. Which suggests that the extraordinarily rapid expansion of the last few years may have its reverse effect heightened in a slowdown, as those additional sales to China and Eastern Europe disappear. For the USA manufacturing accounts for 14% of GDP, for the world 18%, and for China 33%. But this creates a misperception about the importance of American manufacturing exports. First, manufacturing contributed more to GDP growth than any other sector of the US economy, and accounts for two thirds of American exports, says the chief economist for the National Association for Mnaufacturers in Washington. America's share of global manufacturing output, he says, has remained steady at 20 to 23% for the past decade. This covers jet engines, locomotives, pharmaceuticals, and high tech products. For countries like India where manufacturing accounts for 16% of GDP, the last quarter of 2008 saw the first quarterly production decline in over a decade. And industries like handicrafts exports have fallen by 55% to $1.35 billion, and textile makers have cut half a million jobs. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Of the $19 billion in aid to farmers for the coronavirus, $16 billion of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, goes in direct payments to farmers and rancher with checks going out end of May. Another $3 billion goes to mass purchases of dairy, meat and produce that will be distributed through food banks. Faced with loss of sales with restaurants and schools closed, and disruptions in deliveries to grocery stores, farmers in the U.S. have stopped or slowed production. As a result huge quantities of food that can't be sold are being destroyed. Plowing under thousands of acres of vegetables, dumping millions of gallons of milk, and destroying eggs. In addition to this aid Agriculture Secretary Perdue says the department is using funds set aside under the larger coronavirus relief aid package of $2 trillion for the U.S., and funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation. Mr. Perdue is himself a farmer from Georgia, who was governor for eight years. These funds are separate from the $28 billion to farmers being distributed by USDA to offset losses from loss of sales to China. USDA plans to make monthly purchases of $100 million each of fresh produce, dairy products and meat, and work with the nation's food distributors to assemble a pre-approved box of food to be given out at food banks and other outlets. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
A 50 foot marble statue was placed at the canopy near India Gate of King George V in 1936, by Edwin Lutyens, in an irony of history only 11 years before independent India emerged out of the British Empire in India. It was not removed till 1968 and no decision was made on what should replace it until 2022. Today the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose now stands at that place, Bose led the Indian Army's fight for independence from territory freed by the Japanese after Gandhi adopted Quit India in 1942 and most of the Indian leaders were arrested and Netaji escaped to East Asia. Part of the reason Netaji and patriots who fought to free India through means other than non violent protest were not seen as having made significant contribution was the sense that the Japanese invasion of China had shown it was another colonial power. However without the Japanese weakening British rule in Asian countries the British may have continued their rule in India. After the Japanese had proved the British, Dutch and French empires could be removed from Asia, the process that began with Naoroji, Tilak and Gokhale, and continued by Gandhi, Bose, Nehru and  Patel working together  seemed inevitably headed for success. Seen in this way a genuine understanding of Hind Swaraj can be gained. Mohandas Gandhi points this out in Hind Swaraj by saying that Gokhale was the true leader of independent India. In the true sense of genuine struggle the leaders and unknown soldiers who were jailed in the Andaman islands made significant contributions including Tilak. The struggle for Hind Swaraj was done by people who took the largest risks, and who weighed the future carefully. And this includes Gandhi and Bose,Tilak and Gokhale, and most of all the unknown people who were at the Salt March and Quit India movements.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The benchmark price of U.S. crude oil dropped to $31.41 a barrel on January 11, 2016, as oil prices continued to drop sharply following a slowdown in China, appreciation in the U.S. dollar and no cuts in production from Saudi Arabia. Analysts expect a crisis for energy producers that is deeper than ones in 1986, and five plunges in oil price all the way back to 1970. With the oil prices at $30 and expected to drop below $30, the companies that took on a lot of debt have no choice but to keep up production. In the process many may find themselves in bankruptcy. Private equity with capital of $100 billion is likely to come in at this point to buy cheap assets without the debt, say analysts. U.S. banks energy portfolios are small, with Wells Fargo energy exposure only 2% for oil and gas loans in the third quarter of 2015, or about $17 billion. Loans that are rated "sub-standard. doubtful or loss," are projected at 15% of loans to energy producers, about $34.2 billion, in a biannaual review by banking regulators. The unusual aspect of this energy price slump is that production is not declining with falling prices- oil production in the U.S. was estimated by the government at 9.2 million barrels a day in Jan 2016- 1% higher than at the beginning of 2015 when prices were over $40 a barrel....

LyrArc Article Gist
Dropping wheat and corn prices will reduce the effect on increase in inflation for food prices. A recently signed agreement for UN and Turkey to supervise exports of Ukrainian grain to world markets is showing up in declining futures prices for corn and wheat that will show up in lower food prices. A large harvest for wheat and other foodgrains in Russia and Ukraine is also having an impact. Slower economic growth in China from frequent lockdowns and the ailing property sector, could bring oil prices down from the highs. The shift to renewable energy taking on a huge impetus from recently passed legislation in the US Congress for $369 billion investment and similar moves in Europe with a 15% required reduction under new EU rules could have the same effect of pushing down fossil fuel prices from their highs. This suggests Fed chairman Powell's sense that the economy would improve in the second half is consistent with international developments. The war in Ukraine could also have a possibility of coming to a close in coming months with Russian gains in the east and Ukraine recovering lost land around the Black Sea in the south. Decades of fighting in Ukraine may have obscured the fact that the eastern parts of Ukraine voted in pro Russian governments in the past and the western parts of Ukraine have voted in pro EU governments. The war could end with a settlement around these new boundaries. This would also enhance president Biden's foreign and domestic policy achievements and help the US focus on climate change actions, building new supply chains, rebuilding its manufacturing, its leadership in science and technology, its alliances with EU, and with Japan and India in the Indo-Pacific. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Feldstein wants to see a stronger dollar, that is less inflation eroding the value or purchasing power of the dollar at home. Abroad he wants to see a weaker dollar in relation to Europe, Japan and Canada where about half of US imports originate. And a weaker dollar in relation to lower wage Asian countries to improve America's trade balance. Better to do this now than to wait a few years when the adjustments needed would be greater. America needs to export more and import less to improve the trade balance. A competitive dollar in relation to trading partners in Europe and Asia would provide the improvement in the trade balance that the U.S. needs for keeping economic growth. With the risks to the economy from declining housing prices improving the trade balance becomes important. During the 1985-1988 period the dollar declined in value significantly, falling 37%, but the inflation rate averaged 3.1%,says Feldstein. This is what he means by having astrong dollar at home, which is to say not eroding its purchasing value, while at the same time increasing exports and reducing imports. During this period merchandise exports increased by 40% while imports increased at half that pace. A repeat of that experience is possible and necessary to maintain growth, according to Feldstein. See the link to McKinnon, at Stanford, The Yuan and the Greenback, WSJ, August 29, 2006, which cautions against anything but a very gradual and carefully managed appreciation of the yuan, giving importance to inflation and interest rate differentials between the US and China. One point to note narrowing of interest rate differentials between the US and China is seen as backdrop for dollar weakening on exchange rate basis. McKinnon appears to consider a smaller interest rate differential as a cue for an even lower appreciation of the yuan, see his example of 2% inflation in the US and 3% interest rates. Interestingly the two approaches may complement each other. Offering a perspective of China maintaining its growth and not risking deflation or slowdown, and of the US maintaining its growth and not risking a slowdown from the housing market collapse, by strong domestic investment and exports. How to keep both economies going may be the policymakers challenge for strong global economic growth....

LyrArc Article Gist
India agrees to an immediate ceasefire after a call from Pakistan's head of military operations for a ceasefire. The conflict started with attack on tourism that was reviving the Kashmir economy after three decades through a terrorist attack killing 26 tourists in Phalgam, Kashmir on  April 22, 2025 in the mountains near the Pir Panjal range. 24 million tourists visited Kashmir in 2024. Indian response was swift on May 7 early morning hours attacking 18 terrorist camps inside Pakistan occupied Kashmir and inside Pakistan. India called it a act of self-defense to Pakistan sponsored state terrorism going back to 1947. What is different in this brief 4 day war is that India made it economic with efforts at IMF to make terrorism an issue for loans to Pakistan, and ending the Indus Waters Treaty on water sharing. Pakistan economy is struggling with no debt relief from China, making it turn to the IMF, a politically split population with Opposition leader Imran Khan in jail, and continued domination by the military over civilian govenrment. On May 9 drone attacks were launched from Pakistan using Turkish made drones in large numbers on cities and towns in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab. Blackouts were placed in India by May 8 in all cities in the north and in Pakistan. India responded with its own drones and missile attacks on three military airbases as the war broadened to military targets on May 10. US mediated a ceasefire through Saudis and Turkey. Earlier Saudis and Iran were in New Delhi with whom India has good relations to get a ceasefire. Mr. Trump's efforts behind the scenes secured an agreement. VP Vance had cut short an Indian trip in Jaipur on April 22. India and the US are allies in the Indo-Pacific, and India and Russia have decades of friendly relations. China now uses Pakistan as a proxy state, but does not provide the economic aid it needs, for which it has turned to the IMF.    ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Speaking at the Davos forum, economist Nouriel Roubini, who correctly predicted the global economic crisis, says this recovery is likely to peter out by the end of of 2009 with a long period of "sub-par gowth" ahead. His optimism for the emerging market economies is tempered by what he sees as an "asset price bubble" developing in China, Russia's aging population and political obstacles to structural overhauls in Brazil and India. In the U.S. and Europe other economists also generally agreed that the recovery will be "U-shaped" or "W-shaped" implying this recovery in late 2009 will not last beyond 2010.

LyrArc Article Gist
Ip's point about the actions of previous president's in promoting a recovery long after they are in office has to be qualified by the uncertain economic outlook for 2013, with a slowdown in the eurozone, China and India, and the efforts to control the deficit in the U.S. also affecting the economic outlook. The process of deleveraging has still to work itself out and the economy is still being supported by the Fed's continual easing of monetary policy.

LyrArc Article Gist
DJT's pick for head of the Drug Enforcement Administration Sheriff Chad Chronister of Florida says he is withdrawing because of the "gravity" of the job. He has 30 years of experience in law enforcement. The DEA has 10,000 employees and offices around the world with budget of $3 billion. Chronister's experience is mainly in the Tampa area and he felt the "gravity" of the job required him to reconsider. Cutting fentanyl flows from China and from Mexico will require a lot of experience and expertise.

LyrArc Article Gist
China has two ports in Panama and significant investments in port and maritime activity that give it an advantage over the US in its own backyard. The Panama Canal was one of the bold endeavors of the twentieth century. In Path Between the Seas, David McCoullough describes this feat of engineering, the lives lost to malaria, the efforts it generated to find a cure for malaria, and the indomitable spirit of McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt that every American can rightly be proud of.  It was handed over by president Carter to Panama, in the way Clinton handed over entry into the World Trade Organization without protections and written agreement for level playing field in trade in the 1970's and in the 1990's when US had no idea that American business would create from these beginnings in phases supply chain partner, competitor, and adversary for America.  In 2025 Americans can look back and see that American interests were not protected in a period of so called "American triumphalism" under Carter, Clinton, Bush, Obama that has since disappeared with the loss of American manufacturing and destroying the small factory towns across America- and also France and EU nations- that depended on manufacturing for jobs and standard of living.  DJT is simply charting the long road back for America to the Bold Endeavours and Spirit of American adventure that Americans see in themselves as a nation founded on the frontier since Washington's days in the Pennsylvania country in the 1750's. The Spirit the led to the founding of the new nation through a protracted war on the frontier with the British. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
In his State of the Union speech president Trump was off on some points such as how many jobs were created, how good the economy is, and on on safety of cities El Paso and San Diego after border walls and fencing, according to the WSJ. El Paso was the second safest city of twenty similar sized cities in the U.S. before the border wall with Mexico, and continued to be that way after the wall was built over that section. San Diego has seen 91% drop in border apprehensions over a decade after fencing the border but this has not meant a discernible impact on people crossing illegally.  Mr. Trump was right that customs duties increased by $13 billion in the third quarter of 2018 after placing tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods. Wages are growing faster for manufacturing and construction workers than service occupations, as Trump claimed. On the growth of the economy the economy GDP grew by 3.5% in 2018 before slowing down by the end of the year. India and China's growth in GDP is much faster. Growth in jobs was at the pace in the first 2 years of the Trump administration in some 2 year periods of the Obama administration, and much faster in manufacturing in the 1990's, says the WSJ.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The aggressive effort of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, to increase interest rates to dampen inflation will have an effect on Asian currencies and trade. The Japanese yen lost 14% of its value and the Korean won 8%, Chinese yuan 5% since the beginning of 2022. This is a result of the widening gap between interest rates in the US and Japan where the interest rates have not been increased due to mild inflation.  Asian trade is done in US dollars and exports to the US are invoiced in dollars. Citigroup says about three quarters of trade in Asia-Pacific is invoiced in dollars. Weaker currencies would translate into higher effective prices for imported commodities - energy and food. This pushes up domestic inflation and hurts manufacturing.   Add to this a shift in the US demand from goods into services in 2022 and there is weaker external demand for the economies of Asia. This will exacerbate the slowdown in Asian economies. Many countries such as South Korea and Thailand have increased their external borrowing in dollars. Debt service ratio was 21% in South Korea and 14.5% in Thailand, according to Bank for International Settlements. Years of low rates allowed governments in Asia to borrow more without incurring high interest bills. Now that situation is changing quickly and will result in difficulties for South Korea and Thailand says this report in WSJ. In the last 10 years Asian economies excluding China increased debt to GDP ratios by 15 percentage points, according to Gavekal. The result might not be debt crises as in Sri Lanka but painful slowdowns in economy with combination of loss in external demand from the US and higher inflation, higher interest bills. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
A clean break from commissions of every sort is needed in India, without that Mohandas Gandhi's work and legacy is lost, the opportunity of modernization of India and the economy on a scale surpassing China using the latest technology and huge investments in infrastructure is lost.  Lyrarc has a pledge in India -The Way Forward for every young person in India to take. The future of infrastructure building, ease of living, modernization of a nation of 1.4 billion depends entirely on this. Every penny, every cent, every rupee goes into infrastructure building to create a modernized nation and economy similar to the US and Europe. The situation with "40% commission" in Karnataka and its impact on the recent outcome in the southern Indian state of Karnataka is shown in the Indian Express. Indian Express analysis shows that the ruling party did well in coastal Karnataka and poorly across the rest of the state in comparison to 2019. It happened even in Gujarat but was corrected in time by Mr. Modi.  This analysis in Indian Express says the reason the vote share of 36% led to 104 seats in 2019 and only 66 seats in 2023 is that a lot of the votes were concentrated not all over Karnataka as in 2019 but only in Old Mysore and in Bengaluru, and also in south Karnataka where it cut into JDS party votes without winning seats. Divine providence offers an opportunity for everyone to reject commissions 100%. Gandhi's Hind Swaraj 1910 needs that kind of committment today to surpass that made in 1931 during the Salt March against British rule, to build a modern nation and modern economy by 2035 comparable to the best in the US and Europe. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
What is the difference between South Korea and the U.S., Europe in the handling of coronavirus? It is tracking and testing.  President Trump and health adviser Dr. Fauci, see South Korea as the successful model to be followed in controlling the coronavirus. What has happened till now it is accepted with shortage of basic medical supplies and equipment, stress on hospital systems, are merely mitigation actions. South Korea was prepared for the coronavirus crisis because of the MERS and other epidemics, and failures resulting in corrective actions. Labs were centralized and better equipped for testing and tracking the infected. One of the key tools is testing. President Trump says the goal is for the U.S. to exceed and far surpass tests per capita in South Korea. Five million tests are planned by the end of April in the U.S. Where the U.S. falls short is in use of multipronged digital tracking using data from people's use of mobile phones, credit card usage, and use of apps designed to separate infected people from others. South Korea is a democracy with a population of 52 million people, about the size of France. People who were student activists in the democratization era in South Korea say the use of digital technology is a need today. We have to adapt in emergency situation they say. Ki Mo-ran, epidemiologist, and adviser to South Korean government says this is a key part lacking in the European and U.S. efforts to control coronavirus. She says in South Korea we know the patient's contacts, where he goes and stays, so we don't have to lock down everybody. Without digital tracking one cannot know which place is contaminated, which place is clean, so that there can be a lockdown of just that area and not the whole country, says Ki Mo-ran. She asks the question- is one person's privacy more important than the lives of a family or other people who are affected. Is it OK to lockdown every child in the country in a home as in Spain for over a month so that particular people's privacy is respected? These are serious questions for western society, are they exceptions or is democracy not just a western idea but equally cherished in Asian societies, people talk about Confucianism in China and the Asian culture forgetting that the biggest democracies are quite large and functioning well in India in addition to South Korea, Taiwan Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Japan, far larger in area and population than China. The French government has chosen the app TraceTogether as the least intrusive one adaptable to France for use there. The U.S. is having Google and Apple develop one of its own. India will be developing one of its own. The NYT raises the question will it be watered down so much in France or in the U.S. and UK to be less effective than the  dire need for an alternative to lockdowns? ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Carrie Lam, the chief executive of Hong Kong, who has struggled through the crisis triggered by the extradition bill she introduced has decided to finally withdraw it. Protests have gone beyond the issue of the extradition bill as Lam herself agrees. She pointed out in her video message that the protests are about housing, land supply, income distribution, social justice, mobility, and many social, economic issues in addition to political ones. Protestors have five demands and the freeing of all those arrested is not something Lam has agreed to. Lam says some protestors violated the rule of law. Protest leaders including Joshua Wong, see the withdrawing of the extradition bill as poor timing. Hong Kong has seen 13 weeks of protests and the pictures are all over the world showing how much the issues and the the lack of responsiveness of Carrie Lam has resulted in this standoff.  Lam would like to replace the confrontations with police "with conversations." Why she took so long to meet or seek meetings and conversations is not fully understood and will be discussed for a long time. This brought China to the brink of a crisis that would have repercussions including on trade issues, when it needed to be handled in a better way. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
India is building roads and facilities to match China's in the border between Ladakh and China particularly in the finger area. This is resulting in increased clashes between Indian and Chinese patrols. India's view of the territory on its side does not coincide with China's. India has seen borders such as the McMahon Line set during the British period as the border, China has a different perception since its takeover of Tibet of what constitutes Tibetan territory.  As a result any true border line depends on the strength of bases of each side on the high altitude border at over 4000 or 5000 meters. China had built infrastructure in the region much earlier and India is merely catching up to keep the current line of control as the border. The Indian perception is that China sees as a way to change the status quo building bases and capabilities in the region, making it necessary for India to match these capabilities by roads and bases of its own.   ...