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India's vaccination drive which has passed one billion vaccinations is one of the great stories of our time. This report in DW.com looks at vaccination drive in a region that is densely forested. It is in central India in the state of Chhattisgarh with about 30 million people and about 7 million tribal people living in dense forests that make up 40% of the state's territory.  One such place is the Dandakaranya forest, Sukma district, 500 kilometres from the state captial of Raipur. It takes an arduous journey just to get to this place which has no electricity, no potable water and no road connectivity.  Block development officer Kapil Kashyap from Sukma tells DW.com how they worked hard, won trust among villagers and brought basic medical services to them. Astonishingly with such effort to overcome vaccine hesitancy, 95% of the people in the village here had their first shot, and 40% received two doses. It is such a kind of effort in every district that prime minister Modi has called for in the unrelenting effort needed to vaccinate fully 1.3 billion Indians. ...

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Viewing people as "pass throughs for units of fiscal stimulus" that is no longer an option, no longer wise, no longer possible. Brian Deese, US president Biden's economic adviser, uses this sentence as he describes the approach of president Biden in putting together a $2 trillion plan to invest in infrastructure and in the people of America. He compares 2009 to 2021 and talks about the differences then and now after the pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic exposed all the weak spots in the American fabric and society and in the way national life was organized. Today the pain is felt in socio economic groups throughout the country.    US president Biden wants to make a decisive impact with large investments in infrastructure, education, health and jobs. In American manufacturing competitiveness and in America's technological advancement. The investments made in 2009 were in simple recovery mode, this time the investments are intended to bring America back to its position in the world after 1945, the hope and the optimism for a better future. ...

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New habits better than old ones are what builds character. And character cleaves through all manner of difficulties.  Experts say the wrong way to do this is to draw up lofty resolutions that are big steps and gradually lose hope through the year as carrying it out runs into problems.  It is best to go small, to take many mini steps towards a goal and associate each mini step with positive feelings. The goal should also be fairly simple and something you already wanted to do, or always wanted to do.  Going small one can set new habits in motion through little actions done through the day at particular times. It may even start taking no more than a few minutes, that is just fine. Its the accumulated actions, and the learning, the positive feelings, that set up a new habit. Gradually without thinking too much about it this changes us over time whether it is trying to meditate, do yoga or some other exercize, tackle some priority, or do something fun that is also vitally helpful for our growth and development. ...

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This group of 26 leading scientists from Australia, France, Britain and the US are calling for a new international full, open and unrestricted forensic investigation into the origins of the coronavirus in its original location of Wuhan. This happens as scientists on the WHO investigation team in Wuhan say they did not have unrestricted access to conduct their investigation. The Biden administration has restored ties to the World Health Organization after the Trump administration cut ties on this issue of transparency. The Biden administration says transparency is an essential condition for the US as it seeks to continue US participation in WHO. The US, India, France, Britain and other European nations have a long history of participation in WHO and were original founders. Recent flawed election processes at WHO and the lack of effective leadership from western foundations have led to the lack of effective leadership of WHO that prevailed in post war world for the first five decades of the organization. Much of that leadership was from western nations, India and Japan, during a period in which the pandemics were managed limiting their spread from the areas of origin. ...

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The Oxford vaccine developed in partnership with Astra Zeneca aims to be the vaccine for the world. The partnership has said it will make 2 billion doses and will provide this without making a profit at about $3 for one dose. Serum Institute of India was the leading supplier of vaccines to the world before the pandemic. Now it is preparing to make 1 billion doses of the Oxford vaccine. Already Astra Zenca has setup agreements for manufacturing  in other countries, with about 24 manufacturing facilities in countries such as Brazil, Japan, and Australia. Arrangements are also made with Russia and Mexico. The Russian partner has capacity to make 1 billion doses of the vaccine. In May the U.S. agreed to buy 300 million doses for $1.6 billion and manufacturing facilities are already being setup in the U.S.  The U.S. and other governments are sharing the risks as Astra Zeneca is hiring other companies to build the manufacturing capacity and working with them to install the new machines and supply the vaccine ingredients. For this the U.S. has Operation Warp Speed a $10 billion vaccine initiative and its organization, including the military. ...

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The simple fact that other countries are subsidizing heavily the early period for building a new industry, as Taiwan has done in semiconductors, China in solar panels, and European governments in other industries, had serious industrial implications that were ignored for too long. US president Biden is following the same approach to bring back American leadership in manufacturing of semiconductors - supporting and nurturing American manufacturing. The unavoidable fact is that tens of billions of dollars are needed in risky bets on semiconductor manufacturing that is feasible only with the help and cooperation of governments. The choice is do this or lose leadership in one sector after another autos, semiconductors, renewable energy, and so on. What many fail to understand is that loss of this leadership leads inevitably to dependence, and loss of national sovereignty or economic security in some form or other. The path to leadership comes through gaining a storehouse of knowledge and technologies which makes it harder for new entrants including ones such as the US who have ceded this position of leadership completely as in semiconductors manufacturing. ...

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From 2007 to 2022 US electricity demand flattened with new energy efficient technologies. It is now poised to increase from 2022 to 2035 and the process is happening  with approval of new natural gas plants and new data centers, new manufacturing plants needing large amounts of renewable energy. This say Plumer and Popovich in NYT could very well upset president Biden's plans to get 100% of energy from renewables by 2035 and cut greenhouse gas emissions by half to tackle climate change. Utilities are moving ahead with putting up new natural gas plants, and new data centers are needed for the shift to remote work since 2020, electric automobile and chip making plants are coming up at a rapid pace. Without a sustained effort the climate change action needed may not take place with the long lead times to bring renewable solar, wind and other energy and put it in place for transmission. This report looks at the data centers coming up in Virginia and the EV manufacturing plants in Georgia as examples for the new demand and how it could upset plans for climate change action. ...

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President Biden is determined to stop the further loss of jobs in the US. He has sent Yellen to China to communicate this. India, the UK and Argentina are opening investigations into China's dumping of goods in their countries. Chile is considering new tariffs. Brazil and Indonesia are feeling the impact. They are joining the EU and the US to fight the danger posed by dumping by China. To offset a large property market bust China is pushing more investment in factories leading to overcapacity in markets, much of the product then ends up at lower prices in other markets around the world putting companies out of business in home countries and loss of millions of jobs. Couldn't other countries do the same. The US is taking that approach to support its own industries. Economists and business leaders in the US who have never felt the pain from factories closing have let America down with textbook theory that ignored this leading to the loss of 2 million jobs in the 2000 era, with failed presidents since then ceding American advantage in manufacturing.  ...

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M.r Modi recalls the blessings of Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav given to him with his advice in 2014 when he became prime minister and met Opposition leaders in India. Mulayam Singh was mentored by Ram Manohar Lohia, a socialist educated at Humboldt University in Germany in the 1930's and an early activist in India's Independence struggle under Mohandas Gandhi. PM Modi who has translated many of the ideals of Mr. Lohia into practice with development work for water, sanitation, electricity, gas stoves, housing, for tens of millions, says Mr. Mulayam Singh's advice has stayed with him even today. Without the stability given by leaders such as Lohia and Mulayam Singh India could not have navigated carefully the difficult period of the first 50 years after independence in 1947. For democracy to prevail leadership of this kind is essential. America turned from time to time to leaders such as Lincoln, FDR during its history, India is in a formative period for its democracy as it goes through modernization for a country with 1.2 billion people and many languages.  ...

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This WSJ editorial sees president Biden's speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia as intended to give the Democrats the advantage in the midterm elections for Congress. It says Vice President Pence and other Republicans opposed Mr. Trump when he claimed he had won the election. Seen from outside the US in Europe, and Asia, other parts of the world there was a real sense that democracy was facing a critical time in the US. Mr. Biden's speech about the struggle for the soul of America is very real considering that the Republican party is today for the most part pro-Trump and lessons learned from the traumatic experience of 2020 are sometimes set aside. There were real issues with the future of democracy during the transfer of power to Mr. Biden in 2020, and the future of America's leadership in the world as the place where the Declaration of Independence inspires the whole world for 200 years, which cannot be ignored and will always be remembered, as much in America as in the world to which offers hope and acts as a beacon. ...

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King Charles view that Britain "is not an island" are opposite of Brexiters and Liz Truss who see Britain as an island apart from Europe, says this editorial in The Guardian. King Charles views on Irish issues are well known and the efforts of the Tories to make things difficult for Ireland and Northern Ireland to work within the Peace Accords is seen by The Guardian as a sign that Ms. Truss and Mr. Johnson now find themselves working against the views held by Prince Charles as the constitutional head of Britain's government. Queen Elizabeth and the royal family have worked for decades to build good relations with Ireland, setting history aside. The Tories have said clearly that the monarchy has not just the right but a duty to make its views known, says the Guardian. And Charles has no hesitation in making these views known. Will the Tories and Liz Truss, now work with the Irish government under Michael Martin and take the advice of president Biden to build relations of the two Irelands within the Irish peace Accords, asks this editorial. ...

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Krugman points out that even though the economy has the lowest unemployment and inflation has dropped significantly, wages of working class Americans are up significantly, there is a huge infrastructure building effort, and investment in Make in America, there appears to be a disconnect when people are asked about the economy. Many tend to say they are personally better off yet the economy is not doing so well which is not reflected in  what is happening on the ground. Part of the problem could be the pandemic and the economic difficulties of the last three years that is only now gradually changing for the better and that the benefits of the better economy have not reached all people. Part of it is also a reflection of culture and other wars where opinion on social issues is transferred to the economy whether it is real or not. The extent of the culture wars has grown and sometimes been stoked for personal or party interest to affect the true civic responsibilities of the people to offer their best judgement based on careful understanding and reflection. ...

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The Biden Xi meeting was a momentous event, of great importance and significance setting the tone for next 3 decades of US- China relations. Here is how China's Xinhua agency covered it. Xi's speech emphasized the world and the US and China's need to work on climate change, inclusiveness for benefits to reach all parts of the people. Biden's efforts to support the labor movement are part of the US efforts in this direction, Xi's to bring the benefits to the regions of China and rural parts left behind in three decades of development. Openness and innovation Xi emphasized, on which the US is working to say openness but as China does to support its own solar and EV industries, and for innovation to protect its own technologies. In this way the US is saying we will work with you but without the illusions of the past in which free market thinking was an hindrance and support its own new technologies and industries as China is doing, and protecting its technologies from being transferred. ...

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Cable television's decline as seen from the experience of CNN. This report in the WSJ says not only is cable television declining in viewers, CNN is falling behind MSNBC and Fox which are also declining. The 24 hour cable news network format is seeing rapid shift to streaming services that generate little profit. Monthly prime time viewers for CNN cable television is down to 568,000 compared to one estimate of 166 million for its website and app streaming services. The result is a search by Warner Discovery, new owner of CNN, for a way to reverse the slide in people watching by showing both sides instead of skewing to one side, which is also not working. 68 million Americans subscribe to cable television packages including CNN down from 72 million in 2022 for which CNN gets $1.25 per subscriber. Advertising produces most of the revenue- $600 million in 2022 down from 900 million in 2020. Smaller audiences and poorer ratings with so many choices for viewers from CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox, etc mean less advertising revenues.   ...

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The U.S. Federal Reserve's role as backup lender increased with the pandemic. The U.S. central bank lent half a trillion dollars to counterparts overseas representing most of the emergency lending at the time in 2020. It eased a dollar shortage globally, helped stop a market selloff, and continues to support global markets in 2020. The Fed is now the global source of dollar funding, which builds the role of the U.S. currency a the dominant currency. Countries that benefit from the Fed are Australia, Singapore, South Korea, Britain, Japan and European Union countries. On March 31 the Fed launched a program that let 170 central banks around the world borrow dollars against their holdings of U.S. Treasurys adding confidence.  To understand the dollar's dominant role about 88% of 6.6 trillion dollars in currency trades taking place daily involve dollars according to BIS. By end of 2019 U.S. dollar denominated debt securities and cross border loans reached about $27 trillion up from about $17 trillion in 2010. All the talk of having another reserve currency by other central banks has not happened. ...

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President Trump plans to give "a very, very positive message" in his third State of the Union message on February 4, 2020. This comes one day after the chaos of the Democratic Iowa caucuses and a day before the president's certain acquittal in the Senate for impeachment charges of obstruction of justice and abuse of power. The president is likely to avoid partisan jabs to focus on his economic record. The theme is "the Great American Comeback." Mr. Trump will emphasize what he has called "the blue collar boom," the ways his policies are helping the middle class, aides say. The president will point out his administration's efforts for working families, for paid family leave, affordable child care, lowering cost of prescription drugs and health care.White House speechwriters writ much of the text, with policy suggestions from key government agencies taken in. Mr. Trump makes edits with a marker, and thinks about the best way to get points across till the last minute, something that comes easily to him with his colloquial style. ...

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 Robert Costa CBS: Are you worried about the Senate majority? It's a narrow majority for you right now. What's your candid assessment about the Senate majority and Democratic chances? Chuck Schumer, US Senate Majority Leader:  My candid assessment is we're going to not only win the Senate, but we have a good chance to pick up a seat or two. Our candidates, our senators, are running on their records of accomplishment. And that's why they're running ahead of even the national ticket. Because when they show all the good stuff we're bringing to their states, through the infrastructure bill, through the Chips and Science Bill, was so many good new manufacturing jobs, through bringing broadband to rural areas for the first time, where rural areas desperately needed. You know, Franklin Roosevelt said in the 1930s, electricity was a necessity and brought it to them. We're doing the same thing with broad bands, which in the 21st century is a necessity-- ...

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Japanese prime minister Kishida joins president Biden in deciding not to run again with low popularity ratings and cost of living concerns of the public. The LDP administration of prime minister Kishida put through a $100 billion investment package to revive the economy in November 2023. In the first quarter of 2024 the Japanese economy GDP growth suffered from a 0.7% decline. Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida of the LDP party popularity has remained at around 25% and Kishida has decided not to run again for prime minister. His term expires in 2025. A new LDP leader will be elected. This report says growing voices in the LDP party persuaded Kishida not to run and have a new leader. Inflation which was tame for over a decade has increased with surging prices for oil and gas after the Ukraine war. The situation is similar to the US and EU where rising prices have hurt ordinary people struggling to make a living. Kishida committed Japan to investing 2% of GDP on defense. The effects of economic developments is that the Japanese currency is weakening. ...

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China says its students are subject to harsh questioning when coming to the US, and these students face racial discrimination in the US. 105,000 student visas for Chinese students were issued by the US embassy in Beijing and consulates in China in 2023 as the pandemic recedes and normal exchange relations resume. About 50,000 exchange program participants in the US are expected to visit China over 5 years. Nicholas Burns, 68 years, is the new US ambassador to China in April 2022. As the mood changes in the US with both presidential candidates ramping up their stand on trade with China and tariffs, US China relations face headwinds after the normalization of US-China relations following the pandemic, when Xi and Biden met in San Francisco in 2023. Chinese student facing racial discrimination in the US and the difficulties with learning English pose serious problems for Chinese students which Nicholas Burns in a diplomat sheltered world may have no idea of. This applies to students from mainland China and Taiwan alike. Burns may have too hastily dismissed this side of the perspective from Xi Jinping. ...

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France's former president who preceded Macron was Francois Hollande of the Socialist party. Macron was a socialist party member from Amiens and a member of Hollande's cabinet, choosing to challenge Hollande with his own newly created party EN Marche just months before the election of  2016. This party is relabeled the Renaissance or Ensemble in 2024. Francois Hollande, 69 years, was elected in 2024 Assembly elections with 43% of the vote from Correze, and speaks for the NFP Front Populaire which defeated the Macron Ensemble and the RN National Rally to be the largest party in the National Assembly. Here he talks about the snap elections, the failure of Macron for working families struggling to make a living, and the responsibility to the French Nation of the Front Populaire, the need for cost of living actions to lift the burdens on working families, and the need to stand up for working people across the country. Today the NFP is the only party that calls for investing $140 billion in the French economy, in manufacturing, in infrastructure and public services, for climate change action. ...

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Ann J. Selzer who does the polling for the local Iowan Des Moines Register for three decades says- “It’s hard for anybody to say they saw this coming.” Yet the process does drive results. The only time Democrats did poorly in Iowa with reason was under Hillary Clinton, and it was clear that Obama did not have Tom Vilsack's back. Vilsack the three time popular governor of Iowa was Agriculture Secretary, yet Obama distracted by Silicon Valley did not give the support he needed. Joe Biden as president made Tom Vilsack one of, if not the most important part of his Domestic Agenda, underlining also to all that foreign policy would be driven by domestic agenda, and by domestic is meant in large part long neglected Rural America. Growing up as an adopted child in difficult childhood, Tom Vilack represented the best of Iowa and America in his public service in the state and the entire Great Prairie states that form the heartland of America's breadbasket, and for the world.   ...

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Turning Open AI into for profit after starting as a supposedly altruistic tendency venture has opened new fault lines in the company with many people leaving. The AI is now becoming a kind of gold rush with companies putting huge price tags on talent and committing some of the nation's limited capital resources into directions that lead to the massive waste that led to economic crises in the 1930's. It is reported that it will put major stress on the grid and on electricity resources and that Tech companies do not want to pay for this. The government needs to act boldly with its own "bold persistent experimentation" to find solutions where the Nation keeps its edge in many emerging technologies yet does not waste resources, or divert resources from other purposes that are vital to the better lives that all Americans aspire to. These needs are in housing (3 million new homes), in small business uplift, in renewable energy and climate change action, in education to lift NAEP scores, in early childhood education, and in healthcare. ...

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Tampa Bay area is one of the ten most high risk areas in the world, according to the World Bank. Estimates of damage from a severe hurricane are as high as $175 billion in a 2015 study. The Washington Post's Anna Phillips looks at this region which has grown by about 200 percent in the last two decades. Pinellas County home to St Petersburg and Clearwater, Tampa Bay area, now has 3.2 million people. Developers are lulled into a sense of complacency, says this report with the lack of severe hurricanes in recent decades. The last time a severe hurricane hit was 1921.  This area has 700 miles of shoreline. The problem is that sea levels are rising from climate change, Tampa Bay area has 5 inches of sea level rising, plus the Bay area water is shallower. Water pushed into the narrow area of Tampa Bay would likely rise further. This causes the most damage from waves and floods. Sea levels are higher in 2023 compared to 2009 by 7 inches in Charleston SC, Wilmington NC, Galveston Texas, and in Tybee Island Georgia.   ...

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DJT administration 25% tariffs on Canada Mexico for not stopping fentanyl flows as domestic policy go ahead on March 4, 2025. This lays the ground to tackle aproblem that has led to 490,000 American deaths and devastated communities across the US - the flow of fentanyl into the US from Mexico, Canad and China. Separately an additional 10% tariff is going to effect on China on top of earlier tariffs on China.  The media keeps talking about this tariff as a economic action, not as action to stop all fentanyl flows as is repeatedly stated by DJT and the Administration. Most of the media has failed to talk about the fentanyl deaths over 12 years referring as one of the prominent media states as the "death of thousands" not giving the staggering number and the scale of the devastation of communities in America after the damage from the 2009 financial crisis caused by banks, the deindustrialization of America that was allowed to happen under Bush Republicans and Obama Democrats, and the covid pandemic crisis.  ...

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Banks like the staus quo, streamlining regulation will be hard for the new DJT American administration, says Sheila Bair, former head of the US FDIC, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Deposit insurance is important for peace of mind of bank customers and the proper functioning of the banking system, particularly in a crisis. The recent Silicon Valley banking crisis required deposit insurance for the stability of the banking system. Bair who acted to protect the banking system in the 2009 financial crisis in the US, says banks prefer having multiple agencies so that they can choose which one works best for them.  Bair said recently- “Banks may complain, but at the end of the day, they like to have their own regulator they have a relationship with,” Bair said. “They like the status quo.” The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is one of the agencies that DJT administration and Republicans oppose. With only 2-3 vote margin for its majority in the House it will be difficult to get Congress to agree on changes to the staus quo. ...