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James Marson tells the story of how Ukraine volunteer forces helped defend Kviv from the Russian army in the early days of the war. As refugees spilled out on the roads the regular army did not have the mobility and speed that volunteers organized in small units. Volunteers quickly blew up bridges and dams to slow the Russian advance until regular army units could move into action. This was how Kviv was defended in March 2022.

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The man who has provided leadership in America for so many epidemics from HIV and H1N1 to coronavirus. Dr. Anthony Fauci is the short kid with a Brooklyn accent in this story in the WSJ, fighting battle after battle against epidemics. Character is built through many stumbles, and overcoming adamantine walls of difficulties. Dr. Fauci has shown this kind of resilience as he joins the president in the latest fight against an epidemic.

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Poor countries are disproportionately hit by climate change. Take Kenya for instance. Drought hit Kenya in 2011 causing $11 billion in damage, then again in 2014-2018 leading to food insecurity for 3.4 million people and leaving 1 million with scarcity of water. This story is repeated in many parts of Africa.

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The incomprehensible situation that the UK Tory governments have not asked Shell and other oil companies to pay a properly implemented windfall tax on record profits. Shell made over $30 billion in profits in 2022 so far says this report in The Guardian and paid no windfall tax, because Mr. Sunak as finance minister put a huge offset to taxable profits by giving back 91p for every  1 pound as tax breaks to oil companies for investing in extraction in North sea fields when he imposed the windfall tax. Shell made large investments in North Sea fields that nullify the windfall tax so no such tax is paid. Mr. Sunak thus completely negated the very positive effect of the windfall tax. This tax if paid would help the UK with its fiscal situation during the pandemic and reduce borrowing costs, provide credibility in financial markets, fund assistance to vulnerable segments during a cost of living crisis, at a time of crisis in UK finances in October 2022.  ...

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Former Immigration minister Lord Kirkhope says of the riots in the UK around race and immigration that the language used by Sunak such as "Stop the Boats," as a riot chant shows the dangers of the Tories getting muddled up by moving the old party of Macmillan and other respected prime ministers in the direction it should not be in. It is clear that the Tory government with 4 prime ministers over a short period and no focus on effective action on the immigration issue was simply pandering to the issue. Lord Kirkhope said-  “Some have found it politically expedient to conflate the issues of legal migration and asylum seekers.    The current situation with levels of social unrest not experienced in this country for a very long time is deeply worrying. The role of divisive rhetoric, including by some from the previous administration, has certainly not helped the situation. ‘Stop the boats’ has been one of the riot chants and that is a most unfortunate result.” ...

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This is the story of Jackie Robinson who ended segregation in American baseball in 1947. This was a turning point for the US during the Truman administration as the first moves to end segregation were beginning that would be heard during the Kennedy administration. Jerry Brewer describes the Robinson of the 1950's as he became a baseball icon and gave new hope to a new generation of Americans in the post war period. His son David says baseball was Jackie Robinson's way of creating opportunity in America and he did this in a relaxed way, holding back emotions, and keeping his smile against adversity. His wife Rachel 104 years is interviewed in this story and shows the same resilient spirit throughout her life. Brewer writes that Jackie Robinson's is a struggle that goes on, that nostalgia makes understanding difficult obscuring the struggles that got us to this point, and creating an idea that the bad stuff was handled long ago and is no longer there, that problems are exaggerated and society has advanced. Progress he writes is neither adequate or permanent, every generation has to learn and educate itself and share this with fellow citizens in its midst. ...

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Hoda Kotb just launched her new wellness and meditation app Joy 101. She broke away from a television news career at 60 years to do this. Hoda says, don't look at the odds, because if you do you won't try anything, recounting her own experiences starting late and trying new things with the help of other people without the fear of failing.

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The transformation of Fiat Auto. Marchionne relying on "my kids", getting good people throughout the Fiat global operations and outside of a younger generation, who were open to doing things in a new way. He had the courage to unassumingly go about the business of remaking Fiat, by removing middle and upper managers who produced a kind of paralysis or sclerosis in Fiat, making change impossible after years of a failed culture embedding itself. And in their place he brought in an energetic courageous bunch of younger managers and designers. It would be fair to say that he tore up the old plans, tore up the old organization charts, tore up the car plans and designs in the pipeline, tore up the failed models and put in place new ones- the Bravo for the Stilo, and tore up the old management, put in new people and tasks and wedded them in an informal way, with their own culture developing along the way. The were teams and their tasks, all wedded together in an informal arrangement, in close proximity, with informal communication. Marchionne saw his role as helping people reach decisions, setting stretch goals, and encouraging levels below him to take responsibility and make courageous decisions. He saw the Cinquicento as his version of the Apple iPod, and benchmarked Fiat against Apple, so he was looking outside the auto industry for people to emulate and for new ideas. He himself was from outside the auto industry. ...

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Going to a baseball game or a cricket game, a soccer game or basketball game, used to be part of the experience of growing up as a child not only in America, but in many parts of Asia since the 1950's. Sports organizers are failing the public and the Nation, many nations, when they let prices keep out the vast majority of the young people from sports games. This is true of the New York Knicks games in 2026 with the San Antonio Spurs, with tickets transport, everything going up. Here DW.com asks important questions about the FIFA World Cup. Most of America's younger generation, the vast majority of children will be excluded from these games. DW.com writes about the cheapest ticket listed on the FIFA website at $8625 and one ticket listed for $690,000. When told the cheapest ticket for the first Paraguay US game was $1000 US president DJT said it was "ridiculous," that he woudn't pay that either, and expressed real disappointment. DW.com raises other questions about the sudden 50% increase in teams and 60% increase in games for the World Cup in 2026. Teams suddenly up from 32 to 48, and games from 64 to 104. If more smaller football associations or countries were to be added, would it have been better to try this out in smaller steps? Has this diluted the sporting quality of individual games. If more games why would prices jump this much? Last World Cup the average price of a ticket was the same as the list price and no resale markets to create artificially high prices in the stratosphere driving out most buyers. ESPN looks at he process that set these prices in the adjoining piece. ...

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At a time when the cost of living is increasing sharply with the war in Ukraine, and at a time when taxes are going up for ordinary British people, the Sunak story of non-dom status and not paying fair share of taxes in Britain is affecting the Conservative party's popularity. 

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The U.S. faces a migration crisis of migrants from Guatemala moving through Mexico to the U.S. The Trump administration works to get Mexico to police its national borders with Guatemala using trade tariffs  as a tool of diplomacy. This story shows how failing coffee prices have increased levels of migration from Guatemala. 

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The broken world economy has hurt the American people, in small communities and towns across the US whose societal fabric was destroyed by a system of world trade with abuses done by China. Japan, European Union, Canada and Mexico since 2000. Shortsighted American leaders and economists allowed this to happen. Robert Lighthizer on the New World Order a new system of world trade that replaces the old in 2026. The old trading system was one in which lip service was made to free trade while all the time the system was used by Japan, Germany, China, Canada, Mexico and other nations to build non tariff barriers and other policies to support their industry  at the expense of the United States leading to disillusionment in the US. The facts are mind boggling- the loss of 5 million jobs, many small communities across the US decimated with loss of jobs. About 20 trillion in wealth transfers to China and other countries over 2000-2020, with foreigners owning $27 trillion more of US assets than the US owns of theirs. US Trade Deficits that went up by 40% in 4 years of the Biden administration from $800 billion to $1.2 trillion. Economists and weak leaders got it all wrong allowing this to happen from Geoge W. Bush to Clinton Bush and Obama. Lighthizer says "shortsighted leaders aided and abetted this process," from 1990 to early 2010. Consider that US had 17.3 million  people in manufacturing, in factories all over the US in 1970, in 1999 we had the same number of jobs, even though there were changes in technology and productivity- the US held its own with the rest of the world. The Bush, Obama years were the worst for the US industry - by 2026 we have 12.6 million - loss of 4.7 million jobs since 1999. And real median household income took a big hit growing from $72,000 to $84,000 about 17% in the last 25 years, compared to twice that in the period 1975-2000 prior quarter century. The result is the fracturing of American society- and dire consequences for healthcare as communities suffered from loss of jobs leading to drug overdoses, alcohol abuse and suicides, which are common in post industrial American communities. Think of this fact: two thirds of America's workforce that does not have a college degree, that is working class people, lives 8 fewer years than college graduates, a gap that was only 2.5  years in 1992. The wars carried on by Bush and continued by Obama in the Middle East also wracked these same communities till Biden and DJT pulled out. One has only to drive across America to see this with one's own eyes. Trade may be an abstract topic for economists and politicians- there is nothing abstract about this. And the economic growth of the US has suffered with the unfair trading system with China, European Union, Japan, Canada and Mexico. From 1945 to 2000 American growth was 3.2% a year. Since 2000 only 2 years of growth over 3%. US has not seen historically normal growth for the last 19 years and at this rate (if we continued along this path) the Congressional Budget Office says 1.8% growth for 2027-2035. There are other factors yet the the major driver of this is our trade deficit of $1.2 trillion dollars a year. It is a story of remarkable persistence in the Nation's interest through 2 adminstrations- this Lighthizer story. Lighthizer fought Japanese commercial interests as Deputy Trade Representative under Ronald Reagan, and as US Trade Representative under DJT in the first DJT administration in 2016-2020. His Deputy at the time is Jamieson Greer who is now the US Trade Representative in the second DJT adminstration in 2025. For 30 years this brave American patriot has fought to reverse the bad actions of presidents and economists that have led to devastating losses in the American countryside. He says any new trading system must be perceived as fair to working people. It will survive only if working people think it is good for them. It cannot and must entrench a small, permanent elite. The benefits going to labour must be at least as great as those going to capital. It should create fulfilling high paying jobs for the vast majority of the American people. This is America's new promise to its people, its new compact with its people. ...

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The 100th radio talk by Mr. Modi will be broadcast on Sunday April 30, 2023. Mann Ki Baat -or What is on my mind and in my heart- is all about women, upward mobility, diversity, about the development story in the everyday lives of ordinary Indians. It is also a documentary on a nation on the move, about a billion and a half people on the move, from small towns and villages to cities across the country. 

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CSU faculty organized against OpenAI contract expiring June 2026 at a time when students/faculty worry about loss of critical thinking skills amid 40% unemployment of new graduates. This is the California State University System once a major national institution of education under Governor Edmund Brown Sr in the 1960's that powered the 60's middle class, now torn apart by mistakes in higher education. Imagine Teniente-Matson in an AI created form speaking in many languages not realizing that this has little to do with education, as shown here in the NYT- coming to San Jose State from Texas A&M San Antonio. Both Hispanic student dominated institutions of education that have first generation Hispanics entering college- the promise of this first generation finding opportunities in the US economy. It is already fading for new graduates with high unemployment of 40%. The AI Initiative pushed by Governor Newsom in the state has created confusion or chaos says the NYT. This is the biggest 4 year public higher educational system in the US with 22 campuses, with diversity in California about 50% Hispanic. This is what "great" looked like for America in the 1960's with Eisenhower and JFK. Today with such misplaced initiatives and lack of the same wisdom and dedication to knowledge from that in the 1950's and 60's it is a fraction of its former self. It was marketed at $16.9 million for 500,000 licenses by OpenAI as a way for these first generation Hispanic college students most working class people to move forward. But as every commencement speech and everyone from the president to business leaders can attest it is all about hard work, hard work, hard work, and focus on reading and math, on sound basic skills, with pen and paper not ipads and iphones and AI that this job will be done. AI can never teach someone to persevere, to overcome obstacles, to put in the hard work over and over again to accomplish great things or to develop the curiosity for knowledge, the sense of new discovery  for scientific knowledge and invention that has powered America and Europe for three centuries. ...

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Iran peace talks in Islamabad on April 12 and Iranian refusal on nuclear weapons development and ballistic missiles leading to collapse in 21 hours of talks. Vance leaves talks and US plans to impose a naval blockade of Iran. This report by the Guardian shows that media coverage has created a sense of delusion that the world including the poorest countries in the world in Asia, in Latin America and even in Europe, and the industrialized countries will somehow allow the free navigation for oil and other raw materials to be interrupted by any nation. There are protests all over the world about increase in fuel prices, some of this affects LPG supplies for cooking in countries with a population of 1.4 billion people (India) many times that of the entire Middle East. Tens of millions of migrant workers head back to their homes in poorest states in India as LPG cylinder prices quadruple and are in short supply April 13, 2026.It also affects China and Japan which are dependent on Hormuz,  not the US which exports oil and does not seek to gain from oil prices. Posturing by the media and European governments on this issue has created this delusion that this is about US actions, when the US is only acting in the interests of all nations to keep the planet safer from dangerous nuclear proliferation in the region most torn by repeated wars in the last 50 years. Some of the language used about attacks on power plants has become a reason to justify such reporting to present aggressive ballistic missile development and nuclear weapons development in Iran in a benign way, becoming oblivious of how it affects the lives of billions of people around the world, as the Middle Eastern region a small fraction of the world's population (less than 7%) and a small fraction of the planet's surface (less than 6%) continues to operate in a way that is destructive for the lives of people around the world.   ...

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Lufthansa's CEO announced in the early days following the crash that pilot Lubitz was "100 percent" fit to fly. Kulish and Clark point to the denial at Lufthansa and some other airlines about the need for airlines to have a clear understanding about the psychological condition of pilots. This exceptional report with contributions by a team of NYT reporters tells the story of Lubitz and the airline industry's lack of effective screening. The lack of systematic screening of pilots for psychological issues was raised by the UN's Civil Aviation Organization in 2012, and by the European Commission's Aviation Safety Agency focussing on strict data protection rules with Germany in November 2014. A culture of privacy in Germany following the experience of pervasive intrusions into privacy by the Nazis and the Soviet backed GDR government in East Germany, and strict data protection rules, create a special situation in Germany of being reluctant to pass on information or delve into personal records. The head of Lufthansa's department of aviation psychology, says he would not have accepted the pilot Lubitz if he had known about his medical problems of depression before or during the training period....

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A touching story about a soldier who was once part of the Lost Battalion in World War II in the Vosges French Alps. Ford Callis is determined to recover at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville from a fall at home. His only thought is how he can get back to care for his demented 94 year old wife. A physician who takes care of Callis describes the thoughts of doctors and staff at Vanderbilt Medical Center that day as they reflected on the meaning of marraige in a deeper spiritual sense.

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Following the defeat of chancellor Merkel's CDU party in the 2016 Berlin state election, getting just 17.6% of the vote, chancellor Merkel looked reflective and a bit emotional about the result. She urged Germans to understand that this decision on refugees will benefit Germany in the long run. She said she would work to regain the people's trust. Looking back she said-"If I could, I would turn back time by many, many years to better prepare myself and the whole German government for the situation that reached us unprepared in late summer 2015." She says the decision was "absolutely right" to admit the refugees from war torn Syria, but accepted that "it led to a time when we did not have enough control over the situation." Both the CDU and the SPD, the main parties, lost about 6-7 percentage points each in votes cast. Gainers were the Free Democratic Party with 6.7% of the vote, who gained votes from the CDU. For the SPD votes were lost to the Greens and the left party Die Linke each party winning over 15% of votes.  Both the CDU and the SPD had candidates who did not attract voter interest. A popular former Mayor of Berlin from the SPD did not run in this election. The anti-immigrant AfD party gained  about 14% of votes.  ...

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Americans have changed their habits after pandemic and now try to leave office at 5.01 pm to go home, giving room for exercise, cooking dinner, children, and other activity at home. There is a pushback to avoid staying till later in the evening for after hours activities at the workplace.