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Valero may sell some of its refineries and become smaller and more focussed on efficiency. Globally more refineries are coiing up in places like China and India and capacity growth willshrink margins. Valero's strategy reflects this. It is the USA's largest refiner.

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How Chinese policy now focuses on inflation and lets the currency appreciate. The Tibet riots were partly due to discontent for the rising prices of cooking oil and meat and inflation partly caused the discontent leading to the 1989 demonstrations in Beijing.

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GM is conducting a wholesale review of its product lineup and its brands as the severity and sharp decline in sales of SUV's and pickup trucks has caught many automakers including Toyota by surprise. Prices of used pickup trucks and SUV's have declined by 25% in a matter of a few months with the sharpest decline in May and early June according to CarMax a used car retailer. See the link to this in WSJ, June 19, 2008. For GM this amounts to a redirection of critical resources that would be wasted under the earlier plan which involved a new generation of trucks and SUV's to hit the market in 2012. Now these resources need to be redirected to where the market is in smaller fuel efficient designs. GM is seeing its stock price and critical resources of cash and investment in desirable new product impacted by this lack of perception and action on the direction and speed with which the market is moving. is moving

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P&G CEO, Bob McDonald, says the company will focus on getting things right in the North American market, before investing further in emerging markets. Price increases in the U.S. market for powdered laundry detergent, automatic dishwashing detergent, oral care, blades and razors, have led to loss of market share and P&G is working to reverse this situation by lowering the prices. After becoming CEO in 2009, McDonald pushed hard to increase sales in emerging markets- during the 70's and 80's P&G had neglected developing countries- and this now makes up 37% of sales, up from 20% in 2000. But margins are smaller in emerging markets, and there was a sense among shareholders that P&G had lost its focus in the largest markets in the U.S. and Europe.

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The Blinken Lavrov first meeting is off to a good start as both sides agree to have their differences and still work together. The US will now work with Germany in supporting the Nordstream 2 Russian gas pipeline. During the pandemic this means one less distraction with better relations and cooperation between the US and Russia helping all countries focus on economic issues and development.

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In extended diplomacy Carney visits Beijing, China and says middle powers are seeking ways to interact and trade in a world of big power rivalry. His visit is followed by visits by UK's Starmer and Germany's Merz, and preceded by Macron. At the same time Merz visits Ahmedabad for a kite festival and signs a new trade agreement with India, followed by Leyen and Costa of the EU who sign a EU-India trade agreement for 27 countries of the European Union. All this suggests carefully planned effort in Europe to create new channels of trade and reorient existing trade relationships that will be more resilient with the US shifting to focus on Monroe Doctrine idea of the Western hemisphere as its region of influence and security. This report shows pictures of Starmer and Xi meeting at the Plough Pub in UK in 2015 and reflects on how this has changed 11 years later with China now  a dominant power with the world's 3rd largest economy and a third of world's manufacturing and logistics. How does this change the relationship with China in 2026 for UK and Canada, and the EU? At the same time Germany-India and EU-India relationship creates a 2 billion people market with capital, technology and labor potential to create the largest potential driven economic group in the world, combining EU's 20 trillion to India's $4 trillion economy and mutually complementing, which has potential to rival the US at $30 trillion by 2030 as India grows rapidly in the new EU/Germany/India market and the EU gets a new boost with the complementarity of the two regions by 2035. This suggests that something new is happening and Germany after a lot of soul searching have hit on something we should see blossom by 2030 in the way China has grown since that picture with Cameron of Xi at the Plough Pub in UK. A problem China faces as it continues to push exports is that EU/ India and US will take in less exports and there is only so much it can put in Latin American and African market, UK/Canada market leading to industries with massive oversupply. Major economic redirection may result from the Merz/Leyen/Costa visit and firming up trade agreements with India if the EU, Germany and India have the determination to seize this opportunity in the 21st Century. As Leyen said it has the potential to create a stable world with values of the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, and Mahajima Nikaya of the Buddha supporting the industrial states that emerged from the Industrial Revolutions. ...

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US law now supports turning back migrants at the border. Under public health policy Title 42 migrants are denied asylum, a federal appeals court ruling supporting this. It is also now supported by the Biden administration. It is a key tool used by both the Trump and Biden administrations to combat illegal border crossings. It also reduces one more area in which differences were mistakenly created between Republican and Democratic parties, that distracted from focus on much needed infrastructure and other priorities for the American people.

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The Senate election in Georgia with Governor Kemp running for the Republican party will show how much support there is for Mr. Trump's idea that the 2022 presidential election was stolen by Democrats. Mr. Kemp has avoided getting into Mr. Trump's contention that the election was stolen, preferring to focus on good governance for the state and local issues relating to the economy. Kemp is likely to be the Republican nominee for the election to the US Senate and is well positioned to win the Senate seat.

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Real Madrid player Rodrygo is a product of training at Brazil's club Santos. His father is a manager of soccer teams in Brazil, and retired to focus on Rodrygo's career. He was just 11 when he signed with Nike ,a younger age than Neymar at age 13 who is also a product of Santos club training. The support of his dad has played a large part in his development as a player.

He is expected to play a big role in the Champions League final with Liverpool.

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The lack of sincere intent or the capacity  to  deliver on promises for working class families that Boris Johnson made to win a majority in parliament is evident as the focus shifts to a partygate report in parliament. Boris Johnson resigns as MP. These promises remain unfulfilled and now appear as never really serious. It is left to a Labour administration to help tackle the cost of living and other problems for workers and families in Britain and build a better future for the British people.

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Germany holds the presidency of the G-20 in 2017. This provides chancellor Merkel an opportunity to provide German leadership on many issues. The ministerial conferences will lead to the summit in Hamburg in July 2017. Concern about the incoming Trump administration views on trade in international circles gives Germany and China a larger role in the meetings for 2017. Germany plans to put more focus on the real causes of migration and flight from poor countries and war zones.