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US Naval Blockade of Iran to include taking all Iran sanctioned ships in oceans of the world, says Gen. Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. Caine says-The U.S. "will actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran. This includes dark fleet vessels carrying Iranian oil. As most of you know, dark fleet vessels are those illicit or illegal ships evading international regulations, sanctions or insurance requirements.” It will also include ships carrying war supplies. Most of Iran's 1.6 million barrels a day of exports goes to smal independent refineries on the eastern coast of China, which are known as "teapot" refineries.

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Squats are a very good way to stay fit.

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China's housing developers are increasing the issuance of high yield bonds in 2013. European and American companies have issued $120 billion in junk bonds for Jan-March 2013. Chinese companies issued $8 billion to overseas investors for Jan-March 2013, increasing from $2.3 billion in junk bonds issued in the same period for 2012, according to Dealogic. Yields are dropping. In the U.S. yields have dropped from an historical level of 10% to 6% on junk bonds. The same pattern is seen for China's junk bonds. Yields for bonds issued by Chinese housing developers have dropped from 11-12% to 7-8%. Investors are taking on higher risks on these bonds and the current yields do not reflect higher risk, as the bonds are issued from overseas subsidiaries for foreign investors. As with the bankruptcy of Suntech Power, foreign bondholders could lose everything. These junk bonds are not backed by the company assets in mainland China, and local banks and creditors in China come first in getting their money back. ...

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William Leitch says of this show in Spartanburg, South Carolina by Bob Dylan- it is about art and resilience and about just putting one foot in front of the other and continuing to be who you are and providing people of the world, what you alone can provide with what is your own unique product. Dylan cites in "To Ramona" as Leitch cites his motto- "Everything passes, everything changes. Just do what you think you should do." Dylan's concerts are smaller and in a simple format, not like Springsteen's. There is something perennial about him.

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"Feierabend" is the German word for when you stop working for the rest of the day. It is also the period after stopping work and beginning a period of leisure and rest. Germans working from home for government, in software industry and in other business places, are using this time when work stops at say 4 or 5 pm to shift to exercize. Here Nils Backhaus, of Germany's Federal Institute for Health, marks the end of a day's work by taking his racing bike and cruising along the the tranquil landscapes of the Ruhr river, just outside Dortmund. Stress and recovery go hand in hand, it is the bodily rhythm for Nils Backhaus and many Germans. You cannot do double time the next day. You have to first regenerate and get renewed after a day's work. This improves both health and the productiveness of work. It also creates enthusiasm the next day to begin work. A clean disconnection is needed says this report and "Feierabend" helps one do it. Workers working from home can end up working too much with no demarcation that ends the day. During the coronavirus with many workers working from home this demarcation has been lost for many people resulting in overwork and fatigue of body and mind. Microsoft 365 team has seen this surge to the point where managers have the software do this demarcation to stop work, and ask people using the software to say how they feel. What better way than something like Feierabend where one makes a clean break from work and goes out and does something completely different. It gives the mind and body a chance to rest and to regenerate. Prof. Rothauge of the Catholic University of Eichstatt who has studied the history of the evolution of work says this comes from an historical context. The industrial revolution introduced new work habits and days structured around work routines. This also provided a period of breaking away from work to rest. It was important to see the rest period as a way to regenerate not simply engage in some other equally taxing work. It was all part of the same coin, resting and renewal of mind and spirit after a day's work ended enabled one to make a fresh start the next day. It was what made productive work possible and an integral part of it.  During the coronavirus it is very important to do this regeneration and renewal, and to start this by having a clear disconnection from work after several hours of intensive work or a day of normal pace work. Intensive work of 3-4 hours or 4-5 hours can make up a days work at home because of the uninterrupted nature of working remotely from home, say workers with extensive experience of working from home. At that point break away and make the clean break or disconnection to regenerate and renew for the next day. ...

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With Hong Kong affected by the protests, then the crackdown by China, the pandemic, large companies that used it as a base for operations in China are now shifting to Singapore,Shanghai and other locations. Except for finance, retail and other industries are moving out of Hong Kong. Shanghai is seen as more connected to the Chinese economy. And for others Hong Kong is no longer as global now with its integration into China.

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It will require more than one term for Labour to put right the terrible damage done by the Conservatives says this report in The Observer, after local elections in Britain show Conservatives down to 26% of the vote.

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US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says this is not chaos in tariff policy because you don't change 70 years of policy overnight. He says China's is highest because it has the highest trade deficit, then EU, Japan, South Korea at 15% because of the smaller deficits with these nations, Vietnam because it is used  by China to send products to the US, India because of geopolitical reasons buying Russian oil. See Dasha Burns, Politico White House Bureau Chief's  interview with USTR Jamieson Greer.  He says about India- Jamieson USTR calls India "an outlier" and says "I'm confident we will get a deal with India in the near future." India he says has largely corrected its imports of Russian oil and negotiations are underway for a deal.  ON USMCA Greer says of the $31 trillion in trade with Canada and Mexico $29 trillion is us right. trade between Canda and Mexico is small. So he says it makes sense to negotiate separately with Canada and separately with Mexico. This suggests that there doesnt need to be a USMCA- separate deals are just fine says Greer. Mexico has gained much in automobiles under USMCA- US wants to make more in the US including auto parts which it can do by negotiating this with Mexico. It does not make a ton of economic sense to marry the three economies together, says Greer, as the import export profiles, lab,or situations are all different. Are Tariffs good for the economy and do they lead to higher prices? Greer says inflation was down in the first DJT term in trade with China and tariffs. Greer says there is never a 1 to 1 with tariffs. It tariffs become a kind of leveage in getting agreements. That is the style of these tariffs. You tell Ecuador or Brazil we don't make these here so there will be no tariffs on bananas and on coffee. Says Greer- we have seen inflation in check, imported goods relatively low priced. We have seen that we can have growth and higher wages with tariffs at the same time. The growth in 2025 third quarter at 3.8% annual growth, and Atlanta Fed predicting 4.2% growth in 2026. And tariff money can be used for paying down the debt and financing America's reindustrialization, Greer says members of Congress are asking about this.When a new administration comes tariffs will still be part of the playbook. ...

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Ukrainian view on surrendering the 25% of Donbass it does not control for peace deal are shown here in interviews by DW.com in that region near the frontlines. The Kviv Institute of Sociology survey shown here is that 71% of Ukrainians are against giving up the 25% of Donbass. Survey in the Donbass region show 47% opposed, 29% undecided and 24% support giving up tereritory for a peace deal. About 200,000 people mostly pensioners and people who do not want to see their home being looted still live in the Kviv controlled Donbass areas near the frontlines. What about elections? If elections are held and an Ukrainian party including that of Zelensky were to agree to surrendering the Donbass how would the Ukrainian 71% opposed or undecided react. Other attitudes to giving up the rest of Donbass is that there is afeeling even among people who might favor this for a peace deal that Russian forces might continue the war at a later time. Germany's Merz is investing heavily to build up the Bundeswehr and recharge the German economy- the German response is to coordinate with UK, France and Italy and the EU to set up a bloc independent of the US to respond to the peace overtures of the US president with one's of it's own that do not include giving up the Donbass, and to create guarantees that the war ends here, no sporadic starts as in the last 2 decades. ...

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Brazil faces the prospect of lower growth of about 2% and higher inflation of over 6% in 2012 as its economy experiences a sharp slowdown.

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Floyd Norris says the announcement by the ECB on Dec. 20, 2011, that 523 banks borrowed 489 billion euros under the newly created Long Term Financing Operation goes a long way towards giving Europe time to address the debt crisis. A major problem is recapitalization of European banks and the ECB's action helps address this problem. This is one of the achievements of the December summit of European leaders, though it was not the way markets had expected. Markets were focussed on large scale bond buying by the European Central Bank or issuance of euro bonds. ECB head, Mario Draghi, aware of widespread opposition in Germany to such proposals made it clear this was not going to happen. The Long Term Financing Operation of the ECB provides unlimited amounts of loans to European banks at 1% for 3 years, and accepts sovereign government debt as well as other types of securities as collateral. The result of this action was to lower the yield on a recent Spanish bond auction to 1.7% for three month bills from 5.1% the prior month. Spanish and Italian banks can now buy government debt of their countries and use the bonds as collateral at the ECB for three year loans at 1%. This Norris estimates will generate profits of about 37 billion euros for European banks from the difference between the ECB rate of 1% and the rate on two year bonds of Spain and Italy of 3.6% and 5.1% respectively for the bond purchases of 489 billion euros- calculated on a spread of 2.5 percentage points over three years. Another infusion of funds from the ECB will occur in February 2012. The new capital infusion gives European banks less reason to reduce lending in the eurozone as they work to meet the higher capital reserve requirements set under new Basel III rules. This is especially important given the austerity measures being implemented across the eurozone countries and Britain to reduce government deficits, and in light of the lower growth expected as a result....

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Vice President Biden says "I would not refer to Mubarak as a dictator," showing a lack of sensitivity and understanding of the Egyptian people's demands for freedom of expression, human rights, and democracy. Harshaw says that its clear the Mubarak regime has been wounded at the core. In the light of this the Obama administration's hesitant and timid response to the protests against 30 years of one party rule under Mubarak is baffling. It means the US will have to bear the costs of being on the wrong side of public opinion in the Arab world says Harshaw. And President Obama has failed to bring the much needed change that he promised for US relations with Africa, the Arab world, and the developing world. Apart from improvement of relations with Turkey, the failure of the Obama administration to grasp opportunities for forging a new era of relations with the Muslim world.

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Barley says the review of LIBOR rates by the new UK Financial Conduct Authority could lead to changes with the unintended effect of raising interest rates. This could impede the economic recovery.