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The risks facing China of slow growth and a bubble economy as the new leadership of Xi Jinping takes over in 2012. The export model for the economy is coming to the end of its run and the new leaders have to come up with a new plan for the future. At the same time they face the interests of state owned companies, banks and local governments interested in maintaining the status quo.

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Discussion on the need for a new framework in which debt of developing countries can be restructured with relief from private creditors and China. This is particularly needed for countries in Africa. Finance ministers from G-20 countries have come up with a new process for restructuring debt of world's poorest countries. These countries owe billions of dollars to China's state owned lenders and western fund managers who bought dollar denominated bonds of African countries. Zambia is the latest case of a country defaulting on its debt during the pandemic. Zambia missed a $42.5 million interest payment on some of its $3 billion in dollar denominated bonds. Zambia is one of Africa's largest copper producers and is now in default. Debts are now 100% of gross domestic product. Zambia's default follows default on debt of Ecuador and Argentina, which restructured their debts, after a steep sell off of emerging market bonds. Lebanon defaulted in March of this year. ...

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Bank of New York Mellon is informing large clients that it will charge them for holding cash. It is a sign of the anxiety in global financial markets that corporations and investors are putting away cash in their bank accounts rather than investing the money.

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American Bar Association officials now think that mandatory standardized tests such as the Law School Admission Test can deter law schools from using innovative ways to evaluate candidates for admission. Only one out of 21 members of ABA's accrediting council voted against removing mandatory tests such as LSAT or GRE to enter law school in the US. To attract people of diverse backgrounds is now considered important and many ways can be adopted to evaluate candidates without standardizing the process. Could Abraham Lincoln have done well on a standardized law school test? Could leadership qualities needed for the US to meet a new set of challenges be missed by standardizing processes and tests that produce the same type of candidate, and eliminate anything that does not conform to the set uniformity?

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Wind and solar tax credits to phase out end of 2027 instead of 2032 under Senate version of US Tax Cuts Bill. This gives less time for renewable projects in solar and wind to get these tax credits and places them in a difficult situation. Senator Tillis of North Carolina who voted against the bill plans not to run again. The 3B Tax Cuts Bill is being considered in Congress this weekend to be placed on president's desk before July 4th weekend. The generous subsidies of the Biden administration are being questioned by the new Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

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See the Breakthrough Agenda Report on Climate Change targets and hurdles after COP26, on the IEA website, and opportunity for 85 million additional jobs by 2030 in renewable energy. The report is done by the International Energy Agency, the International Renewable Energy Agency, and Climate Change Champions. It points out the need for better international coordination if climate change goals set at COP26 are to be achieved. The report calls for a breakthrough by addressing the international "collaboration gap."

IRENA makes 25 recommendations to be discussed at ministerial meetings. It also says that 85 million new jobs could be created in renewable energy worldwide by 2030 compared to 2019, offsetting the loss of 12 million jobs, creating a huge jobs opportunity with action on renewable energy.

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 Turkish German scientist Ugur Sahin who invented the mRNA vaccine for coronavirus is interviewed by Der Spiegel. He sees a new world of pharmaceuticals from this invention, with the first treatments of cancer.

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Raghuram Rajan warns about the difficulty of central bankers worldwide to escape from the scenario of ultra low interest rates.

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A new generation of younger leaders takes over at the European Central Bank under Mario Draghi. Belgian economist Peter Praet succeeds Peter Stark of Germany in the Economics Department. Portugal's Vitor Constancio is vice president. Jorg Asmussen, 45, from Germany is on the ECB executive board, so is Benoit Coeure, 42, from France, and Klaas Knot, 44, from the Netherlands. Asmussen will head the ECB's International Division. Jens Weidmann,43, is the new head of the Bundesbank. The result experts say could be a reorientation of the ECB's outlook away from the rigid anti-inflation stance of Draghi's predecessor, Claude Trichet, and a willingness to try new approaches to help Europe tackle this recession.

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Three members of Angela Merkel's political bloc, the CDU and CSU, were made to step down after taking hundreds of thousands of euros from mask manufacturing companies with business before the government. New rules for CDU and CSU for ethics are drafted in a paper, "Strengthen Trust, Follow Rules, Sanction Infractions." Members of parliament are expected to act as role models in society. The mask scandal has angered Germans frustrated with poor performance in the vaccination drive. It hurt the CDU in 2 state elections with its vote dropping to 24-28%. Now the CDU will ask all candidates to swear to uphold the ethics rules before running for office.

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Microsoft generates most of its profits from its Windows software and the Office Suite on the 315 million PC's sold annually. The Bing search engine and the XBox videogame have been marginally profitable or sustained losses. Ballmer's focus was on protecting the Windows franchise from new technologies and products. In the process Microsoft was not able to capitalize on new opportunities as technology shifted including cloud computing, smartphones and tablets. A new CEO after Ballmer is expected to come up with a new strategy.

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In his farewell address Mr. Trump stated there were no new wars during his presidency- "the first president in decades who started no new wars." He also stated that he stood up to China- "we rallied the nations of the world to stand up to China like never before."

About the controversies that dogged his administration he said - "I did not take the easiest course, by far it was actually the most difficult. I did not seek the path that would get the least criticism. I took on the tough battles, the hardest fights, the most difficult choices, that's what you elected me to do."

He urged prayers for the new administration.

About the movement he started to defend borders, bring back American factories, Mr. Trump said - "The movement we started is just beginning. There has never been anything like it."

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This editorial in the WSJ says the reinterpretation of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution to allow collective self-defense in no way brings Japan back to its militarist past. It reminds readers that Prime minister Abe faces the Japanese public's skepticism as a majority of Japanese in polls show they do not favor the collective self defense interpretation. The New Komeito party in the coalition government also restricted the interpretation. South Korea's reservations have also to be considered by Japan. The revised interpretation lets Japan fill some needed changes in its role in the new situation where China has taken a more assertive stance on territorial issues in Asian waters near Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan and South Korea. In this manner the restricted interpretations lets Japan fulfill a role necessary for the U.S. to continue its presence and strength in the Pacific and Asian waters needed to maintain peace in the region.

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The first spread event for Omicron outside of South Africa is now known to be in Norwegian capital of Oslo. Some workers of renewable energy company Scatec SA returning from South Africa where the company has a solar panel project attended an annual holiday party. The party was at Louise an upscale Oslo restaurant, with 120 people all vaccinated, and tested the day before. More than half have tested positive for covid 19, with at least 13 having the new variant Omicron. Oslo municipal health department says it expects more Omicron cases among the 64 coronavirus cases as remaining workers get tested. The results so far are anecdotal and thin to be sure, yet they show none of the infected employees were seriously ill, says this report in WSJ, citing a company spokesman. The spokesman says people had different sysmptoms but none were severe. Tine Ravlo, assistant superintendent of the Oslo municipal government says- all of them are under isolation at home. And  for now they have what they describe as mild symptoms such as headache, cough, sore throat, and flulike symptoms.  Norway has 80% of population of 5.4 million people fully vaccinated. Mask mandates are in place again in Norway, private indoor gatherings limited to fewer than 100 people. ...

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Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker gets an order in with a number of Chinese manufacturers for supply of over a million N95 masks. The hard hit east coast states of the U.S. face a critical shortage of N95 masks for health care workers in hospitals. The problem is getting them shipped from Shenzen, China to to Boston's Logan airport. Someone suggested using the Patriots football team's Boeing 767 jet. Robert Kraft, Patriot's owner agreed and the passenger plane was converted to carry cargo. The Chinese consulate in New York stays open over the weekend to process the flight crew's visas. Approval for landing without the crew being asked to quarantine for 14 days was another hurdle. Chinese authorites agreed to permit the landing for about 3 hours to pick up cargo only, with the flight crew staying on the plane. Chinese internet company Tencent sent some of its employees to help prepare the shipment and send it to Shenzen airport. The Boeing 767 makes a stop in Alaska before flying to Shenzen and completes the flight back to Logan airport in Boston. Governor Baker and the Patriot's Mr. Kraft send 300,000 of the masks to New York. ...

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Toshiba sets up a new board of directors in August 2015 following the accounting scandal. Seven of eleven directors are from the outside, all Japanese. Outside directors will head the audit, compensation and nomination committees.

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After the secession of South Carolina in late December 1860, for a brief period New York city's governing body, the Common Council, considered secession to become an independent city state. Pro-independence position was because as an independent city state, similiar to the northern German port cities, New York could keep to itself the tax revenue of $56 million- tariffs on imported goods collected at ports- as two thirds of imports by value passed through New York. The state's merchant class was pro-south, especially as most of the cotton exports passed through New York. New York made 40 cents on every dollar that Europeans paid for cotton from the South. The money came from warehouse fees, shipping, insurance and profits. Cotton helped build most of the mercantile buildings in lower Manhattan and rows of upscale brownstones. Wall street businessmen and The New York Herald newspaper opposed Lincoln's election. The New York Daily News was edited by the mayor's brother, Benjamin Wood, and it warned working class whites about competing with emancipated black labor. New York financiers even threatened to stop buying federal bonds. At which point Horace Greeley, pro-Union publisher of the New York Tribune, urged the Treasury to sell bonds directly to individuals. What changed all this was the firing of the cannon at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers gathered in a patriotic rally in Union Square on April 20. New York quickly declared its support for the Union alongside other Northern states that April. ...

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Map shows new troop deployments for tens of thousands of new troops (20 to 30 thousand) to be sent to Afghanistan under the new strategy to salvage the situation there. All of these new troops will go into the countryside and especially in the opium growing region in the south and Helmand valley region. And also on the border with Pakistan. This will effectively double the number of American troops in Afghanistan. The boom in growing opium in the south has increased the funding of Taliban insurgents to hire new trrops and to get new weapons.

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Bernie Sanders launches his 2020 presidential campaign at Brooklyn College by sharing his personal story of parents who were immigrants from Germany during the Nazi period. His father made a living selling paint to hardware stores and the family struggled in the early years.  He tells students he lived only a short distance away growing up "in a three and half room rent controlled apartment, and going to quality public schools." Mr. Sanders is the top choice in the early primaries including New Hampshire, competing with former vice president Mr. Biden. His campaign raised $10 million in just two weeks at the beginning of the campaign. He is campaigning for Medicare for All, $15 minimum wage, tution free public college. With Mr. Corbyn leading the Labor party in Britain in a new direction, Mr. Sanders is leading the Democratic Party in a new direction, both supporting the pro-working class traditional policies of their parties for most of the twentieth century. ...

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Rosa Chang, immigrant from South Korea, is pursuing her dream of green park space in the middle of Brooklyn's densely packed and traffic filled areas. She is unrelenting giving it her all for over ten years, and keeps this vision alive even today, says John Leland in this NYT report. Rosa Chang sees Gotham Park on 9 acres in Brooklyn that is covered with parking space and six lanes of clattering bridge traffic. Chang is trying to attract $200 million needed for this to happen to add badly needed park space for kids and families in Brooklyn neighborhoods. She has the support of Meera Joshi, deputy mayor of operations, under Mayor Eric Adams, and Dan Doctoroff, deputy mayor under former mayor Michael Bloomberg. Doctoroff who helped create other parks in New York City sees this park could bring in $290 million for local merchants by bringing in Asians, Hispanics and Blacks, Whites all closer together in this space. It would provide green park space for park deprived neighboring communities. Bloomberg and Doctoroff created 7 parks in the city including the High Line and Brooklyn Bridge Park. It is  people like Chang, who was born in South Korea, grew up in Toronto and visited many cities in Europe and around the world, that understand what livable spaces look like and where green space is essential for kids and families to grow up. ...

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Indian Railways plans to modernize 199 railway stations in its first phase including new stations for Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Delhi to be completed 2-3 years.

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People tend to keep digital email, messages and photos longer than they need them thinking they may come in use someday like a pair of old pants. This digital clutter and unerased digital stuff just adds to stress. It also makes the important stuff less visible. Speed in internet performance is also a factor. WSJ looks at this problem.