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Either China or India was going to at some point develop the Brahmaputra river known as Tsangpo in Tibet where it starts for hydroenergy. It turns out that the modernization of China preceding India's by 20 years and the occupation of Tibet in 1950 has put China in the position of developing this river with a huge dam. The Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam states of India is the same river that is called Tsangpo in Tibet when since 1000 China had little physical contact with the region greatly remote from Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. The Brahmaputra in its Tsangpo stretch of the river in Tibetan region originates at lake Mansarovar and Mount Kailas and on a map can be seen as very close to Guwahati, Assam and distant thousands of miles from Beijing. The dam will include 5 hydropower stations, produce 300 billion kilowatt hours and cost $170 billion. Two decades of rapid growth in China supported by the US with technology and capital have given China the capital needed for this type of scale of investment in renewable hydro energy. It will produce as much energy as the UK used in 2024. ...

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With the decline of its hardware business making iPhones Apple is looking at other fields. It is launching cheap online TV subscriptions in streaming wars in competition with Netflix and others. Apple is launching a new TV streaming service Apple TV+ in 100 countries for 4.99 British pounds a month undercutting Netflix's price of 5.99 pounds. The new service will be started November 1, 2019. Disney plans a streaming service for 7 pounds a month starting November 12. This service is alongside iPhone 11 launch and anew iPad, a new iWatch. Buy any new Apple device and you get a 1 year streaming service free.  Sales of iPhones fell 14% in the April to June 2019 quarter to 39 million units. Samsung's business is growing by 4% to 75 million units and Huawei by 16% to 58 million units. Apple sees the need to increases its services business with a target of $50 billion in 2020. Apple sees itself more as a media and cloud services company as it makes this change. In markets such as India Apple's growth is limited by its failure to lower prices on new iPhones. In China it faces strong competition from Huawei. The trade tensions are increasing the strength of Chinese brands in the Chinese market. The market in U.S. and Europe is saturated after years of expansion. New iPhone models are costly and bring peripheral advantages such as more and better cameras and features such as screens that are not breakable- for the iPhone 11- not dimensions that are critical for making a costly purchase. After years of growth tech companies such as Apple, Google, Alibaba, Amazon are reaching a point where incremental growth is not what it used to be and most of the rapid growth behind them. Trade tensions are also limiting the outlook in the Chinese market, and pricing remains a major factor in the Indian market. Western markets are saturated. There are fewer and fewer substantial new ideas from these tech companies. ...

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The German ambassador to India calls the Indian preparations for the G-20 meetings simply outstanding. Annalena Baerbock, the German Foreign Minister, is a very unpretentious person and when her plane arrived early, decided to spontaneously leave the plane without any formal arrival ceremony. The German ambassador says- "she laughed, she thought to herself it was quite funny, and we had a very nice welcome." Annalena Baerbock is simply one of the friendliest persons from Germany to land in India. It is clear about the way she relates to Africa and India- Baerbock was amazing the way she took the Benin Bronzes back to their home ground in Nigeria from Germany recently. For India she is one of those rare visitors the country is grateful to have from Germany, and welcome like no other, as one of its own. Baerbock and Habeck have given Germans something they can feel optimistic about the future.

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A whole range of issues can be seen in the debt crises in developing countries. The margin for error shrinks with poor governance, lack of honest assessment and transparency for finances, wars and conflicts within or outside the countries, living beyond their means, lack of focus on development, infrastructure that is unproductive or unaffordable including some Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure at higher interest rates. Countries that are dependent on overseas remittances, tourism, that were hit hard by the pandemic have seen their finances further weakened reducing the margin for error even more to the point that the smallest tipping point can lead to huge crises. Once the finances are weak all it takes is an external tipping point that creates serious crisis. The war in Ukraine with shortages of wheat, fertilizer and skyrocketing oil prices acted as that tipping point. Because this was a major blow the crises have a level of magnitude that is more than a payments crisis. One sees this in South Asia in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, and in the Middle East for countries such as Egypt and Tunisia shown in this WSJ report. It is now not simply a crisis but a crisis of great magnitude because in the case of Sri Lanka and Pakistan this WSJ report says that both countries foreign exchange reserves have dwindled to the point where they can pay for only one or two months of imports according to central bank data, analysts and IMF. This crisis has affected countries that were seeing steady foreign investment such as Turkey for decades, then a sharp falloff in foreign investment with a change in the climate for foreign investment. The crisis has taken the form of high inflation, significant depreciation of currency that makes imports costlier so that shrinking revenues from loss of remittances, tourism, or other sources will now have less value in supporting import needs. Lack of a credible path can delay setting a path out of the crisis. The $1.5 billion fuel and electricity subsidy made by the prime minister of Pakistan in late February was done without IMF approval leading to the IMF program having to be renegotiated. Lack of national political and cultural consensus on a solution simply makes it that much more difficult to find the way through it. In this regard South Korea was able to tackle the 1997 financial payments crisis effectively because of a national consensus. The situation in Egypt- Egypt has borrowed $20 billion from the IMF since 2016., placing it second to Argentina in aid from IMF since 1980's.  In 2020 and 2021 Egypt' government spent more than 40% of its revenue servicing its debt, and is forecast to do the same in 2022. The situation in Tunisia- A shortage of sugar, flour, and other critical supplies, and government delaying wage payments to civil servants. The government got $400 million in financing last month from the World Bank and hopes to secure a lifeline from the IMF. Compared to the period between the 2 World Wars the two bright spots are China and India where lessons of the past of civil wars, religious or political conflict, and poor governance, lack of knowledge of how the western countries industrialized and modernized, was replaced with the conviction that drives patient effort, courage in the face of adversity, honesty, and humility to learn including from western countries that have forged their own path through the same difficult road. The most difficult experiences have offered lessons which were learned- for South Korea the Korean War and invasion from the north, China the civil war and Japanese invasion, for India the partition of India and million of refugees. Stagnation from stumbled efforts also taught lessons, the Great Leap Forward in China, the License Raj with corruption in India.       ...

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The remarkable composition of the most vibrant immigrant filled city in the world, with 47% of the employed being immigrant and foreign born, mostly from developing countries such as Dominican, Chinese, Mexican, Guyanese, Jamaican, Ecuadorean, Haitian, Trinidad and Tobago, and Indian. The city's immigrant population is 3.1 million, 37% of the total population of 8.2 million. The report is written by Joseph Salvo, director of the population division of the City Planning Dept. and Arun Peter Lobo, deputy planning director. Dominicans are 380,000, Chinese 350,000, and Mexicans 186,000. During 2002 to 2011 Chinese population went up 34%, Mexicans 52% and Dominicans 3%. Queens has 1.09 million immigrants, half of that borough, Brooklyn 946,500 or 37% of the borough. The 37% immigrant foreign born population of the city compares to 27% for the New York Metropolitan region. Other interesting details- the growth in the Chinese population of about 89,000 in the city is greater than the entire population of Indians of 76,000, and the large growth in the Ecuadorean population by 22,000. The Indian population went up by 8000 or 12%. Indians in the New York Metropolitan region were in the upper income groups in neighborhood income comparable to people from UK, Germany and Israel, with Chinese being from lesser neighborhood income groups. Median income for Indians in the city was $84,000 compared to Chinese of $43,000, with 28% of Chinese immigrants having a college degree compared to 65% for Indians. This suggests immigrants from China are from poorer areas....

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Simple moong dal kitchdi a staple of Gujarati diet is what keeps Indian cricketer Hardik Pandya in fit shape. Moong dal kitchdi is made from moong dal and rice tempered with spices and ghee, and cooked just right. Spices are usually turmeric, pepper and cloves .

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Note Lenovo's new manufacturing facilities in India and Mexico. Note also that India is expected to surpass China's market as the fastest growing PC market in the world with growth rates of 20% a year. Selection of Chennai for the first and Himachal pradesh for the second factory.

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Jonny Bairstow finds himself through people he trusts back in Yorkshire, and finds that staying still works for him rather than chase the ball. After a disappointing start with Australia in the Ashes Bairstow is now with Joe Root England's top two batters. This story in the Indian Express says how he found his game and is now having joy in the game of cricket.

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The Indian government has received bids of Rs. 1.49 lakh crores for 5G spectrum auction from companies led by Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Adani. The 700 megahertz band important for coverage for distant and remote locations also received strong bids which is seen as a positive development. Previous auction in 2015 raised 1.09 lakh crore rupees making the 1.49 lakh crore rupees auction in 2022 a significant advance.

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In pictures showing the impact of heat waves and drought on China, one sees the dry bed of Poyang Lake, as shown here in the Indian Express. The climate crisis is affecting China with the effects on the Yangtze and other rivers. Parts of China dependent on hydropower are seeing power cuts. Never before have so many effects of climate change happened worldwide in one year as in 2022.

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Xiaomi is China's leading brand. It is very different from other companies in China and America. It is tightly controlled by its founder Lei Jun who has built a loyal following for the brand  through fan clubs and creating an enthusiastic following. Because the firm is run by founder Lei Jun it can make quick decisions to enter a market. Lei Jun was a computer science student in Wuhan in 1987 as China opened up to the world.  By 2017- in three years from being zero in the Indian market place in 2014- Xiaomi had become the largest smartphone company in India. The company was launched in 2010. Profit margins are thin about 1% in a very competitive pricing market.  Metrics are based on revenue per user of $9 per user from an installed base of 190 million smartphone users, spending 54 minutes a day using Xiaomi's app, game and other services, or 20% of the phone use time. Revenue per user comes from advertising, and from commissions on the apps and games it sells to its user base. In 2015 Xiaomi had a loss, in 2016 sales dropped, in 2017 new products led to a resurgence in the market with sales increasing 68%. As Xiaomi goes into its IPO, experts say much of the $10 billion from the IPO could go into reinvestment as Xiaomi reinvents itself and moves into other internet business. ...