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The people in the U.S. are shifting to widespread use of masks. There was some cultural resistance in Europe and the U.S. to use of masks, compared to Japan, South Korea and China where the use of masks in epidemics was common in earlier health crises. Europe changed first and now the U.S. is adopting masks as a way to avoid th spread of coronavirus. Health authorites in the U.S. now recommend use of masks to prevent asymptomatic people with infection from spreading the infection. Health experts say the widespread use of masks in Asia is one reason in addition to quarantines, contact tracing and isolation of clusters, is how China, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore have controlled coronavirus to the point where it is no longer a serious danger.

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G7 Finance Ministers plan to release 300 million barrels of oil (2 weeks worth of Straits of Hormuz lost oil production ) to keep oil prices in check. Oil Prices reach $101 a barrel after 1 week of the US Israel war with Iran. Oil going through Straits of Hormuz are 20 million barrels a day, if 300 million barrels are released that would cover another 15 days of the war. By that time safety has to be reestablished, and additional production brought from Venezuela, from Russia for use by India, so that maybe 50% of the 20 million barrels can be produced from other locations in the world to make up for the loss. Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency says-  "In addition to the challenges of transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a substantial amount of oil production has been curtailed. This is creating significant and growing risks for the market. "IEA member countries currently hold over 1.2 billion barrels of public emergency oil stocks, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation."       ...

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US actions to conduct investigations on 18 countries under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 - March 12 2026 after the Supreme Court asks DJT to use another law for tariffs. A key focus of the investigation is to show how industrial overcapacity is deliberately built through subsidies to push product into US markets and destroy American competition. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said March 11- "Our view is that key trading partners have developed production capacity that is really untethered from the market incentives of domestic and global demand." The US and DJT have repeatedly shown how this has been done over two decades to destroy the US industrial base. Another focus is on the used of forced or underpaid labor working in substandard working conditions and excessive hours. Greer says he will have the investigations results ready by mid-July when the presidents new tariff of 15% (after the SC ruling) expires. Other probes or investigations will also be conducted. All trade agreements signed with Germany, EU, Japan, UK, India, China, and other countries will remain in place. These countries have expressed a desire to keep them in place as that offers key benefit of removing uncertainty in making business decisions. ...

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China’s 15th Five-Year Plan recommendations set out China’s energy and climate priorities - from the Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change. It says in its Conclusion as it relates to China's Energy Initiative working with German cooperation. It shows China is committed to cutting its reliance on fossil fuels from the Middle East particularly now with the situation in the Iran War and cutoff of such supplies. It is a broad comprehensive approach to industry, business and society's needs and how to best make the transition to low carbon emissions and renewable energy similar to what Germany is accomplishing on its own. "In essence, the recommendations for the 15th Five-Year Plan point to three main priorities: further expanding renewable energy and modernising the power system to reduce reliance on fossil fuels; shifting policy focus from controlling energy use to directly controlling carbon emissions, including plans to peak coal and oil consumption and expand carbon markets; and integrating climate and low-carbon goals across industry, finance and consumer policies, making green development a central pillar of China’s long-term economic strategy." ...

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Changes for US and Asia, EU, to ponder on are happening in Swedish schools. It is back to books in Sweden as digital learning has not worked well so far and reading has suffered in some ways dismally. At younger ages books are better for reading and comprehension than screens. "We're trying, actually, to get rid of screens as much as possible," says the Education Minister. The government uses a slogan "från skärm till pärm,  in Swedish this translates to "from screen to binder". Later in 2026 a ban on mobiles in schools even for educational use goes into effect. Digital acts as a distraction and lessens concentration say teachers. Sweden scores on PISA tests have gone down since 2012. A new curriculum based on books goes into effect in 2028 and 157 million euros will be used for new books in schools. "Reading real books and writing on real paper, and counting with real numbers on real paper, is much better if you want kids to get the knowledge they need," say Swedish education experts consulted for the changes. This is a sea change other nations need to consider doing. ...

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Kulfi Indian easy to make ice cream treat, no ice cream maker required. Use a loaf pan and pour in the thick milk ingredients and freeze, then cut into small slabs.

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Venki Ramakrishnan, head of the Royal Society and a Nobel laureate in Chemistry says that even with all the growing evidence of the importance of mask use Britain is way behind in mask use. Only one fourth of Britain's use masks compared to two thirds in the U.S. On public transport many people do not use masks in Britain.

The Royal Society has put together a scientific advisory group to look at the evidence on pandemics.

Ramakrishnan says it was once normal to have a few drinks and drive home, and normal to not wear seatbelts. Today this is considered not socially acceptable behaviour, the same has to happen for use of masks. It is as important as handwashing and social distancing, says the Royal Society.  

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This is what our energy wars, our climate change wars are about in summary. Europe has moved faster than the US, India and China in cutting fossil fuels use over 20 years 2005 to 2025. Europe going from 1525 trillion watt hours to 792- cutting use by half. The US from 2900 to  2553 trillion watt hours just 12%. And China...China tripled its use. This has come at a price as the costs of renewables push up electricity prices beyond what homes and industry can support. UK electricity prices 80% higher than US and half of UK energy users plan to ration its use 2025. Half of electricity costs in UK come from cost and delivery, other half of costs from subsidies of renewables and other. In Germany high electricity costs are hobbling industry and reducing economic growth. Lower electricity prices make the US more attractive than Germany as a place to invest. Another way to look at it- US and Europe cut fossil fuel use by about 1100 trillion watt hours and China increased its use by 4200 trillion watt hours or 4 times what the US and Europe cut in 2024 over 2005. Adding India, Brazil this would be 5-6 times what the US and Europe saved in 2024 over 2005. The "And "strategy of combining reduction in fossil with building renewable capacity is working out compared to dumping fossil in one shove and going all out renewable. There is also the question of equity. China and India argue equity means we should be allowed to use some fossil with renewable for 2.5 billion people's needs. The other side of equity is the US saying the same as "no fossil period" strategy puts the needs of the large part of the population for lower costs of energy  pushed aside as wealthy classes say it is OK. Even when the savings through cuts and sacrifices in US and EU are cut down, cut down by 5-6 fold increase in China, India, Brazil alone. In this kind of climate change war it makes sense not to go with labels such as climate change denial DJT vs China climate change affirming, when China is diluting US-EU climate change entire twenty year savings of 2005-2024 by a factor of 4, 1100 trillion watt hours wiped out by China's 4200 trillion watt hours added. And India, Brazil taking this to a factor of 6. This is why a lot of the discussion with self-righteous indignation becomes less purposeful. What is clear is that every action to cut cost of living in US and EU for large parts of the people is an effort in the right direction as it frees up resources for the fight against climate change, the sense that we are all in the same boat and in the same struggle. The fight against cost of living is part of the long run struggle against climate change. ...

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Technology is reshaping the world of oil by 2018. The U.S. Permian Basin stretching from West Texas to New Mexico now produces more oil than the UAE and is likely to soon surpass Iran- production is at 3.1 million barrels a a day. There are as many rigs as in 2011 yet the production has tripled because of the use of high tech rigs that can move quickly to new locations over wide areas and with tech that can see hundreds of feet into the rock. By 2019 the U.S. will surpass Russia as the world's largest producer of oil. The drop in oil prices to about $40 a barrel in recent years is a result of Saudi efforts to block shale oil development by lowering prices. This has not worked. Initially some high cost producers exited the industry and the shale industry suffered. Over time the new technologies spurred by lower oil prices have led to the anticipated drop in cost. Shale oil can now be produced by core producers at $40 a barrel and still be profitable according to this WSJ report. All Middle Eastern countries cannot meet budget needs at $40 a barrel. In 2018 oil prices increased back up to $77 a barrel. In the next wave of declining prices the shale industry is better positioned than the OPEC countries.   ...

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With China slowing down imports of US agricultural products farmers in the US may be given priority for assistance from the DJT administration, including the use of the funds from tariffs on incoming goods.

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The US, Belgium and Italy oppose use of Russian assets in Belgium of $200 billion as collateral for loans to Ukraine. Ukraine is facing budget shortfall of $135 billion for the next 2 years 2026-2027. TheUk supports it use, and Germany and France are leaning in this direction with the EU's Leyen. US intention is to do this so that a peace settlement can be reached to end the war in Ukraine. Lack of trust between Western Europe and Russia threatens a breakdown in the efforts of the US for peaceful end to the war, leading instead of a settlement to increase in defense and armed forces of Germany and France at this point in December 2025.