LyrArc Article Gist
"Egregiously unsanitary conditions" at Abbott's Sturgis Michigan plant, with leaking roofs and cracks in production equipment that let in bacteria, are described before a House panel, by the head of the Food and Drug Administration in the US. The closing of the plant led to baby food shortages.

LyrArc Article Gist
France's Social Security bill passes in parliament under PM LeCornu with support of Socialists and Greens December 2025. Previous PM's faile to compromise. LeCornu changes his style and wins support of Socialists and Greens (who abstain) with removal of reforms to the Social Security system and by increasing spending on healthcare. This also separates socialists from more intransigent elements on the socialist side led by Melanchon (Insoumise). 

LyrArc Article Gist
French president Macron now faces two no confidence motions one from the right wing parties led by Marine Le Pen and one from the  left wing parties led by Melenchon. Using Article 49 to push through raising the pension age to 64 was an action that bypassed parliament leading to this situation. Macron's action is seen as not appropriate to the moment when there is the cost of living crisis after a severe pandemic and energy shortages in Europe. Macron lacks a majority in parliament.

LyrArc Article Gist
The U.S. effort to protect the sea lanes in the straits of Hormuz as the Iranian backed Houthi rebels advance into the southern port city of Aden in Yemen. This involves support of Saudi airstrikes in Yemen and control of airspace over Yemen. In Iraq the U.S. makes airstrikes to support Iranian backed Shiite militias near Tikrit. The lack of a coherent policy and years of inaction by the Obama administration in the Middle East leads the U.S. into a situation where it is drawn into airstrikes on both sides of the Middle Eastern sectarian Sunni-Shiite conflict.

LyrArc Article Gist
How to build a global port network with less cash- China's state owned Cosco and it's European ports network is an example of savy buying during financial crises, and when companies in Europe and the US were keen to make sales of ports. China simply integrated it into a vast exports network, using containerized terminal expansion modernization to build its manufacturing for export model. This was an extension of its domestic network where it added new port infrastructure to newly built rail and road connections.  India today is learning from this example. By 2000 the Chinese global export model was entrenched. It was also the year when the junior Bush president extended the wars of Reagan/Bush in Iraq of the 1980's to Afghanistan. China had a clear road ahead to build state of the art infrastructure of ports, logistics and exports over the next 10-15 years without any defense costs.  Piraeus in Greece south of Athens, a port concession acquired in 2004 Antwerp in Belgium (Austrian Netherlands), a minority stake in a container port acquired in 2008. In 2013 with sale of Terminal Link ports in a 49% stake deal by CMA of France holding 51%, China has stakes in Zeerbrugge and Antwerp, Busan South Korea, and Le Havre, Montoir and Fos in France, Xiamen in China, Miami and Houston in US. Rotterdam, Netherlands- Cosco acquired in 20126 a 35% stake in Euromax Terminal in Rotterdam from Hong Kong's Hutchison's Holdings for $125 million. Valencia and Bilbao majority  51% stake for $270 million, when JP Morgan paid as much as $950 million to ACS of Spain for these ports after the 2009 crisis led to Spanish divestments. Today in TEU's shipping containers China sends goods to Europe 10 times what it takes in through Spanish ports. Hamburg-In May 2023 Germany's Scholz overruled Habeck to let sale of 24.9% of Hamburg port to COSCO go through ...

LyrArc Article Gist
In the first round of French elections June 2024 the RN National Rally and Alliance gets 33%. The National Front Populaire gets 28% and the Assemblement of Macron gets 20%, Les Republicains 10%, additional 2% of other Left parties, 2% of Centrist parties. To win in the first round one has to get over 50% of the vote and over 25% of the registered voters. Only about 60 seats were decided in the first round. In the second round on July 7 there will be tactical voting with the NFP dropping out of seats in which the Assemblement and Les Republicains have an edge. The same is likely to happen for the Assemblement and Les Republicains dropping out of races which the NFP could win. Most of urban France is with the Assemblement and the NFP, Les Republicains, rural France and small towns with the RN of Marine Le Pen.

LyrArc Article Gist
It reduces oil prices a little bit so why not let India buy Russian oil for 30 days- Scott Bessent announcement March 5 2025. Bessent said for the US- "India is an essential partner of the United States, and we fully anticipate that New Delhi will ramp up purchases of US oil. This stop-gap measure will alleviate pressure caused by Iran's attempt to take global energy hostage."

LyrArc Article Gist
Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vlouten wins the Tour de France Femmes in mountainous terrain on the eighth leg of the tour and overall. She says her overall training experience, Annemiek is 39 years, helped her pull ahead. Other cyclists say she was  on another planet as they felt the strain of the climb and lost pace. Only 72 hours before Annemiek was not well and felt it was hard packing her suitcase. She also changed her bike 7 times says this report. Marianne Vos led through the early 5 stages.

LyrArc Article Gist
"All I want is freedom for the people,” DJT says said in a phone interview with the Washington Post at around 4 a.m.“I want a safe nation, and that’s what we’re going to have." The nuclear threat from Iran has been the subject of negotiations for years with no tangible results. This nuclear weapons development has led to sanctions and shortages in the economy of Iran with the situation deteriorating and protests in Iran.

LyrArc Article Gist
In India's southern coastline state of Kerala, PM Modi has pursued a strategy of working with the CPI led government on development projects, and at the same time contested elections to set up a BJP government in the state. The capital city of Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) local election has led to a BJP municipal government in 2026. In an address to supporters in Trivandrum PM Modi said he was gratified by the results in elections for the capital city of Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), and wanted to make it India's model city., It reminded him he said of the situation in Gujarat when the BJP party won elections in Ahmedabad for the first time in 1987 for city government. By showing good governance in Ahmedabad, BJP was able to win elections in the state and provide good government and industrialization for Gujarat for the decades since 2001 when Modi formed the state government. This bodes well for Kerala said the Indian PM. Many schemes for improving the welfare of farmers, for people in health, housing and small business loans are coordinated by the federal, state and city governments to get the best results and this speeds up industrialization and modernization in the Indian model to create the kind of results China and Japan achieved in their heyday. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Nice mayor Eric Ciotti formerly of the Republicains in France, teaming up with Marine Le Pen.

LyrArc Article Gist
Three NBC reporters talk to people in areas in southern France, including Cogolin, which voted in a National Front mayor. This report describes the contrast between the National Front under Jean Le Pen and his daughter, Marie Le Pen. Marie took over the party leadership in 2011, and has downplayed her father's more racist ideology, even calling her self Marine dropping her last name. About 22% of French women are expected to vote for Marine, according to Elabe polling agency. In previous elections only 12% of French women had supported Marine's father because of overt racism. Yet recent remarks by Marine about Vichy regime shootings have revived some of the old memories of the National Front among some women. High unemployment and sense of neglect has led to a search for alternatives, and the terrorist incidents in Nice and Paris have added to the momentum for the National Front that calls for tougher measures. The Republican Party candidate Fillon, now has the support of Alain Juppe of Bordeaux, and former president Sarkozy. Fillon is also advocating tougher measures, and it is not clear how many votes would shift from Fillon on the right to Le Pen.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Bill Clinton, a former president, is no longer a popular figure in the Democratic Party in 2025. A new generation of leaders in the Democrats seek to put Clinton in the past. Clinton's main achievement are the peace accords in Ireland and in the Balkans with Serbia and Croatia, Bosnia. In domestic policy Clinton did little to anticipate the problems of getting health insurance for all, outshoring, and increasing jobs and wages for factory workers. He was involved in the scandal with an intern that led to efforts to impeach him and resulted in much of the second term being wasted in the process. It was under his successor Bush that the egregious provision that removed the power of Medicare to negotiate prices of drugs with manufacturers was passed. Bush was pushed into the war in the Middle East after 9/11 attacks by Middle East terrorists and havens in Afghanistan, that led to a two decades war in Afghanistan. Withdrawal happened under DJT and Biden consuming resources and time leading to the affordability crisis, outshoring of jobs and lower wages for factory workers. No one talks now about Clinton, Bush, Obama, because of these wars and the loss of America's leadership in manufacturing, squandered resources of attention, time and money that would have created new infrastructure and health insurance for all, inshoring. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The day by day account of events in Europe tht led the ECB to act and a similiar account of events in the USA that led the Federal Reserve to act. How the key players in the US, the individuals directly invoved at the Fed and on Wall Street discussed the developing crisis, monitored it and finally agreed on steps. A key event in the crisis in the USA is the sudden drying up in demand for commercial paper which could lead to a cycle of continuing credit contraction. See the related article by Brian Wesbury in todays WSJ, who sees the Bernanke Fed's actions in a macro perspective as being just the right steps for now. See

LyrArc Article Gist
NYT reporters Confessore, Rosenberg and Hakim show how Michael Flynn after leaving the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014 over differences with the Obama administration on unattended warnings about the rise of Islamic State militants, decided to do consulting and use his own connections. This led to the Flynn Intel Group, and the controversial connections with Russia and Turkey under investigation. This article gives a detailed account of the period 2014-2016 and Flynn's business.

LyrArc Article Gist
Mogan McSweeney of Cork Ireland, son of an IRA courier with a politics and marketing degree from Middlesex University, joined the Labour Party in London fighting off Corbyn supporters during the Corbyn leadership till 2019. The Guardian says McSweeney settled on Keir Starmer as the candidate to replace Corbyn as a centrist on the right. It was says the Guardian McSweeney as an organizer against the Corbyn left that installed Keir Starmer in 10 Downing Street. And then by getting Starmer to appoint his mentor Mandelson led to Starmer becoming "the most unpopular prime minister in history." It says May local elections may sound the end of Starmer. McSweeney is blamed for some of Starmer's failure to project a image of firmness as he backtracked on issues on the advice of McSweeney, to the point that many in Labour party thought McSweeney made Labour driverless. As McSweeney ejected all Corbynites from the Labour Party he weakened the party and led to Labour bleeding its vote to the Greens and the Liberals. Labour's got a landslide with many Labour MP's winning by thin margins- its vote was slim only 34% of the vote, itself a warning that something was not right. On immigration the root causes were not addressed till early 2026- the ECHR human rights that needed to be put aside as written with serious flaws and which allowed asylum hotels. This led to a shift to Nigel Farage, called back from retirement to lead Reform UK in 2026 and way ahead of Labour and Conservatives in the polls. Worse 50% of Labour's vote disappeared in 2026 polls by February hardly 2 years after the win in 2024, as the support McSweeney helped organize had no depth of conviction- most of it to Liberals and Greens under Polanski. The result is that even the Guardian is disappointed and says McSweeney installed Starmer as PM and then made him "the most unpopular PM in history." Net favorability in Feb 2026 -57 similar to Sunak of Conservatives in June 2024. A 75% unfavorable rating in Jan 2026. And 14 points below the Labour party in "like" ratings. Only 18% are favorable for Starmer. It shows how a series of British prime ministers with mediocre backgrounds have failed in the country. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
A building boom during the pandemic led to extra supply of new apartment complexes in Austin. This is now coming down as the supply is 72% down from the peak year in 2025. As a result there are fewer special offers of discounts on rentals in Austin. Austin, Nashville and Phoenix experienced a wave of new apartment building complexes added to supply during the pandemic years, with Austin getting the largest supply because of new job opportunities in technology fields. Homes were going at 15% discount compared to bidding wars in San Francisco and San Jose in northern California.