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Reliance's Indian web browser JioPages supports 8 Indian languages, encrypted connections, and is available for download on Google Play Store.

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Thirty billion dollar infusion into First Republic Bank helps stabilize the bank during the crisis created by SVB bank's collapse.

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Tim Lee has predicted the collapse of the Turkish currency Lira for 7 years in his investment newsletter. Like other economists who saw warning signs in Turkey's overdependence on foreign capital to finance credit and growth, Lee found himself ignored and lost clients as the Turkey boom that benefited Mr. Erdogan party continued.  The doubling of tariffs on Turkey's steel has finally focused investors minds on the situation in Turkey. These figures are sobering- about 70% of Turkey's economy is dependent on foreign loans denominated in U.S. dollars, according to the IIF, the Institute of International Finance. The loss of the currency Lira's value by 70% in 2018 means that the dollar denominated loans made by Turkish banks to businesses in Turkey will be harder to pay with revenue made in Lira. Another startling statistic is that American investors own 25% of outstanding Turkey's bonds, and about 50% of publicly traded Turkey stocks. The deterioration of relations with the U.S. is more likely to lead to investors focusing on this aspect of the Turkish situation and pulling back.     ...

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Early elections in Turkey for parliament and the presidency called by president Erdogan are giving the opposition a chance. The economic growth during the early Erdogan years is beginning to fade with Turkey's rising debt levels, companies with large debt repayment, and the loss of half the value of Turkish currency Lira since 2014.  Muharram Ince of the Republican People's Party, CHP, is able to connect to religious voters from his secular base. The CHP has allied itself with the Islamist SP Party, and the nationalist party Iyi led by Meral Aksener. This alliance is now poised to challenge Mr. Erdogan in the coming election with a different combination of forces loosening Mr. Erdogan's grip on Islamist voters and nationalist voters, by bringing together the nationalist, secular and Islamist in a new way. The focus of this alliance is not dividing the country between Islamist and secular as in recent elections, but more along the lines of keeping some of the basic elements of democracy eroded in Mr. Erdogan's efforts to setup what the opposition leader Mr. Ince calls a "one man regime." As in Malaysia's recent election corruption is also an issue raised by the opposition. ...

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This report in DW.com says contrary to the stereotypes about rightwing AfD voters being less educated, low income, new studies show the AfD voters come from all levels of society. There is only one thing in common and that is they all think having so many refugees is bad for Germany. They don't want refugees to migrate to Germany. Recently the AfD has made gains in German elections with chancellor Merkel's policy leading to a large number of refugees entering Germany. Germany has seen a realignment in many ways. The Social Democrats have lost support as voters shifted to the Greens party which now has about 20% support among German voters, and the Free Democrats have come back to about 10% under Mr. Lindner. The AfD swing as the mood shifts away from Merkel's policies, is one of many trends in Germany. The Christian Democrats also have a new leader as the traditional parties go back to their roots following a period when Merkel's policies erased many of the differences between the traditional SPD and CDU during the period of coalition governments dominated by Merkel's Christian Democrats. The SPD suffered serious election losses as Merkel pursued centrist positions. ...

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This podcast in WSJ tells the amazing story of the development of a vaccine for malaria by a British scientist that took forty years. In a world of short run startups this tells the story of medical and indirectly other research include research on renewable energy to tackle climate change that takes years to develop and makes a lasting change in our lives. This is also true of the mRNA vaccine developed by two German scientists of Turkish descent who developed the Pfizer vaccine. The Novavax vaccine in the US also has a story of resilience in the face of many challenges. Mr Scholz of the SDP, currently vice chancellor of Germany and winner of the German election said recently he wanted to expose the myth that was created of the self-made man that has penetrated our culture over the last 2 decades. One cannot even conceive of self made people at a time when the whole world depends on vaccines developed such as mRNA vaccine by these 2 German scientists at university labs that are the first line of defense against the coronavirus. Both scientists took only half a day off when they got married. Both are children of immigrants to Germany from Turkey. They both cycle to work. Mr. Shin says "I don't have a car. I am not going to get a plane. What's life changing is to be able to impact something in the medical field." The electric batteries used in today's electric cars use technology developed by a Japanese scientist and professor who also worked at Toshiba in the face of many challenges. ...

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DW.com shows the Straits of Hormuz where the Persian Gulf meets the Gulf of Oman before it meets the Arabian Sea facing India. Ships cross a narrow space of 2 miles in the narrowest point that is 21 miles wide in the Straits of Hormuz. The UAE, Oman face Iran in that area. 20 million barrels of oil by tanker traffic cross the Straits of Hormuz every day. India, China, Japan and EU depend on the Straits of Hormuz for oil supplies making it critical for sea navigation. Iranian parliament  has threatened closing of the Straits as aresponse to the US strike on nuclear weapons development sites. China and India lose cheaper oil supplies from Iran as a result of the Israel-Iran war. Russia, Saudis, UAE, Qatar, gain because it increases the price of oil supplies from Russia. Iran loses a source of oil revenue with damage to its oil facilities. The Israeli economy is resilient and its stock markets are showing rapid growth as the war changes the Gulf region and  Southwest Asia, South Asia moving it in the direction of economic and business deals and agreements that enhance improvement in the lives of the people away from decades of conflict from the colonial era in which the British and the French gained control of the Gulf region and Iraq, Syria after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the anti colonial regimes that failed to provide development, the CIA's intervention under Dulles and Eisenhower to remove the democratically elected government of Mossadegh in Iran in 1953 and its repercussions in the Reagan period with Rumsfeld/Reagan compounding that error by supporting Iraq's Hussein leading to 3 decades of loss of American lives in the region's wars and also endangering Israel. ...

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Li Shanfu, China's defense minister meets Rajnath Singh in New Delhi for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting India is chairing in 2023. Rajnath Singh tells Li that border issues have to be resolved for normal bilateral ties to be restored.

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"Millions of Americans treated like they were invisible," like they didn't count, that president Biden talked about in his State of the Union Address to the US Congress, is  the subject of this piece in the NYT. 

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Tackling with resilience and patience the stormy display by Atletico Madrid, Pep Guardiola's team prevails in Madrid. A bandaged Phil Foden after some rough play continued to support Kevin de Bruyne in the field. Manchester City wins on aggregate.

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Australia has mandatory voting which most Australians support. Voter turnout is over 90%. Compare with France where voter discontent with choices leads to low voter turnout. Voter abstention in 2022 presidential election in France was 28%. 

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Supply chains are back to normal with better shipping rates, delivery capacity and retailer inventory. This should have a restraining effect on surging inflation and is a good sign for the US Fed's Jay Powell in his fight against inflation.

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The increasing price of wheat and the failure to modernize Pakistan's agriculture is the subject of this report in The Indian Express. The floods and the Ukraine war, lack of development in agriculture, have created a food crisis in Pakistan.

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The pandemic's effects on children with one in three going hungry and one in five growing up stunted, according to a report by UN agencies- UNICEF, FAO and the World Food Programme, is shown in this report in The Guardian.

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Children's scores remain below pre-pandemic levels for kindergarden, and for 1st and 2nd grades for students tested in 2023. Test scores of over a million students in the US show this sizable gap in school readiness for these younger children.

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The damage to India Canada relations by Mr. Trudeau's efforts to win political support for his government of a section of the Indian community in Canada. India has expressed its strong concerns about statements made by Mr. Trudeau in the past.

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The huge humanitarian consequences of the Gaza Israeli conflict are shown in this report in WSJ with or without an evacuation the consequences are serious with the Israeli response and land invasion after the Hamas attack on Israel's border towns.

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Taylor Swift's show in Buenos Aires, Argentina, attracts a staggering 2.8 million on the waiting list, and 200,000 in the audience over 3 shows. Swift is amazed at this turnout, her popularity reaching that of Messi in this South American country.

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Phoenix gets 13 days of extreme heat at 110 degrees. A place in southern Iran showed 132 degrees. About 61,000 people died in last summer's heat wave in Europe. This year the heat wave is worse than last year.

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US GDP growth annualized for the 1st quarter is reported to be 1.6% and inflation at about 2.8%. The prospects of continued strong growth and higher inflation suggests the Fed's Powell will not make any interest rate cuts in coming months.

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China's parliament meets this week for opening sessions. Premier Li Qiang tells parliament that China will set a 5% growth target. Facing deflation, implosion of the property sector, and declining manufacturing will make it difficult to achieve this target. 

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With Mikel Oyarzabal's late goal in the 87th minute Spain wins Euro Cup 2024. Spain is now the only team that wins Euro Cup soccer 4 times, in 1964 then waiting 44 years till 2008, then 2012 and now 2024.

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There is a large multiracial population in the US that is growing rapidly. About 12 million Americans are multiracial, and under the age of 18 years 19% of Americans are multiracial. In California this rises to 25% under age of 18 as multiracial.

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A large blackout leaves Venezuela's capital Caracas and parts of the country in complete darkness. The blackout was the result of problems at the El Guri hydroelectric dam in eastern Venezuela. Venezuela's power grid has deteriorated rapidly from lack of investment, corruption leading to siphoning off of funds for investment in new turbines and technology, and mismanagement with the power company run by people with little experience in power generation. Initially Electricidad de Caracas was  bought by AES Corporation in the U.S. in 2000, then nationalized by president Hugo Chavez in 2007. The lack of investment is also a result of policies that subsidize power making it practically free, just as in the case of gasoline. 70% of Venezuela's electricity comes from El Guri hydroelectric dam. Hyper inflation estimated at an astounding 1 million percent is ruining Venezuela's economy leading to 3 million refugees into neighboring Colombia and other countries. ...

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A decent amount of pace is good for walking exercise. If you can keep that pace consistently that is good, if you need to slow down once in a while that's ok and overall this gives benefits. It is not Japanese walking as much as it is walking with a sense of seriousness to get the exercise one needs.