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The Iranian view on the negotiations to resolve questions about Iran's nuclear program with the U.S. and European countries in Istanbul, Turkey. This view is from Ali Akbar Salehi, Foreign Minister of Iran.

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A proposal by the former FDIC chairman, Sheila Bair, to now extend the U.S. Federal Reserve loans made to American bankers to everybody in this country. This will level the playing field, and bring a true sense of equality, with everyone entitled to the same benefit. And this could be done in Europe too, because the ECB could level the playing field by making the low interest loans it made recently to European bankers now available to everybody in Europe. And wouldn't that be a good idea? Yes, it comes from someone who has a good knowledge of banking, seeing us all through a financial crisis, and a keen sense of what is good for the U.S. and Europe. Bair makes her point in a novel way, yet it voices the feelings of the middle class in the U.S. and Europe.

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At the current rate of reducing the 10% current account deficit by the central bank, it will be the end of 2013 when it could be brought down to 6%. This may not be fast enough as Turkey could face an external shock if sentiment of foreign investors changes before that. As Turkey partly depends on foreign investors for short term funding of the deficit, this is critical for Turkey's economy. Only one quarter of capital inflows are in the form of long term direct investment. As the situation in the eurozone worsens in 2012-2013, Turkey is in serious danger of a sharp downturn in the economy after years of growth. The IMF has cited Turkey in the list of countries where the credit growth to GDP has increased to the level of a warning light indicator. Other countries cited by the IMF are China, Vietnam, S. Africa and Brazil.

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As part of his plans to revive Sony, CEO Hirai plans to increase sales in emerging markets by 44% in 3 years. Sony is the leading brand for television, audio equipment, and notebook computers in India. Hirai plans to increase operating margins to 5%, and increase revenues by 33%, by March 2015. The outgoing CEO, Mr. Stringer reached 5.4% operating margin in the fiscal year ending March 2008, but things changed after the global financial crisis and the problems in 2011 with the tsunami and earthquake in Japan and floods in Thailand. Sony also plans to start a new medical business with medical diagnostic products, and endoscope type products that use its advanced image sensors. Sony plans to focus on mobile devices, digital cameras, and videogames for further investment.

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E-book sales reached 20% of total U.S. book sales in 2011- a total of $970 million. Book sales in paper copies were a bit lower than $5 billion in 2011, close to where they were in 2011, showing that book sales have not fallen as e-book sales have increased. This is based on figures from the monthly industry reports of the Association of American Publishers. The Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five publishers for price collusion is having a serious impact on Barnes & Noble, as Barnes & Noble's made a profit of about 30% or $3.90 under the pricing model Apple helped establish, where the e book title sold for $12.99. In a lower pricing arrangement Amazon establishes Barnes & Noble's profits would decline substantially or even lead to a loss. Barnes & Noble's stock lost 17% in April, 2012.

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With only 63 million metric tons of food storage facilities and 75 metric tons of foodgrains stocks after the 2012 harvest season, India faces an acute shortage of storage capacity. About 3-4 million tons of additional capacity are planned by May or June 2012, and 11 million tons in 2013, according to India's Food Ministry, but more capacity will be needed this year. If not corrected this could mean that about 8 million tons of foodgrains could rot out in the open or in makeshift conditions. This is a major problem as about 200 million people in India are considered to be food-insecure, and an estimated 42% of children suffer form malnutrition.

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Google's 2 for 1 stock split in March 2012, and special voting shares that give Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt more control over the company. The two founders and Schmidt now control about 68% of super-voting shares.

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A plan appears to have been put in place by the U.S. and the European Union countries to strengthen the American position in negotiations with Iran underway in Istanbul. The impact on oil prices and on U.S. and E.U. growth as a consequence of higher oil prices, especially when the eurozone countries faced lowed growth, was one of the ways Iran hope to blunt the tightening of sanctions against Iran's nuclear program. It now appears from information released by the International Energy Agency that a plan was implemented by the Saudis in recent months to build up reserve supplies. At the same time a similiar effort was being implemented to increase production in Iraq and Libya so that it would add to reserves added by the Saudis. Daily output from OPEC countries increased by about 1.4 millon barrels in the Sept 2011- March 2012 period, as the confrontation with Iran took shape with increasing pressure using sanctions on Iranian oil, according to the IEA. Of this 1.4 million barrels a day increase, one third is from the Saudis and the rest from Iraq and Libya, according to IEA. In March 2012, OPEC oil production increased by 135,000 barrels a day to 31.4 million barrels, mostly from higher output in Iraq. The Saudis have filled up domestic oil inventories and placed an additional 10 million barrels of oil in storage close to markets in Europe and Japan. This suggests that this was part of a quietly implemented plan in cooperation with the U.S. and the EU countries to increase the effectiveness of sanctions and protect global oil supplies from disruptions; even as the U.S. pressured Japan, S. Korea, India and other countries to reduce purchases of Iranian oil. The economies of India, the EU and other countries were already beginning to feel the impact of higher oil prices in the 1st quarter of 2012....

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Louis Gallois, CEO of EADS gives his views about reviving European industrial competitiveness.

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Sony CEO Hirai describes his plans for Sony in the next three years.

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Experts at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Nuclear Policy Program describe what to look for and in what time frame in the 2012 negotiations between Iran and the U.S. and other European countries in Istanbul, Turkey over Iran's nuclear program.