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The personality based governance under Carlos Ghosn is seen as a problem now that Mr. Ghosn is in a jail cell in Tokyo and under investigation by Japanese prosecutors. Mr. Ghosn faces charges that he under reported his deferred pay over a five year period to 2011.  The Economist magazine points out the other problems that might have led to to the authorites being informed about the failure of Nissan to make the internal audits. This relates to the activities  of Mr. Ghosn to arrange a possible takeover by Renault through a merger. Nissan owns only 15% non voting stake in Renault, and Renault by comparison owns a 43.4% ownership in Nissan. The French government has a 15% stake in Renault and efforts were made by Mr. Macron, as Economy minister, to secure double voting rights for long term shareholders such as the French government. This leaves the Japanese government and Nissan reluctant to see the move to Renault's takeover. The French government left with suspicions on the reasons for Mr. Ghosn's removal now less likely to cede control over the joint venture. The jet setting high flying ways of executives such as Mr. Ghosn with the company's identity being defined by their activities are also coming under much criticism. The CEO of Chrysler Mr. Marchionne was gravely ill at 66 following a decade of deal making, with chain smoking, leading to a severe illness. Renault under Ghosn rescued Nissan in 1999, Fiat under Marchionne rescued Chrysler in 2009 with U.S. government help. The Economist magazine points out the Nissan alliance with Renault is now tarnished by another high flying executive.   ...

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Seattle is now the first U.S. city experiencing what it is like in a lockdown with streets empty. Seattle metro area is a city of 4 million with growing economy - at 6.9% growth, and 50% increase in jobs since 2010. New rules in Washington state are to wash your hands leaving the house and re-entering, no one going to anyone else's house. 

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Nissan Motor Company CEO Hiroto Saikawa confirms that Nissan executives passed on information from a probe to Japanese authorites so that plans for a Renault takeover of the company could not take place. Mr Ghosn was seen as pushing a plan for a full combination of Renault with Nissan. Their motivation this report says was to protect Nissan and protect Japan's industry. In April 2018 the French government with a 15% stake in Renault laid out plans for a merger.

Nissan sells more cars than Renault but has a smaller stake in Renault. Renault owns 43.4% of Nissan after a 1999 bailout deal when Nissan sought help. Nissan holds only 1 15% nonvoting stake in Renault. Hence the imbalance. The alliance has benefited Renault because of the dividends from Nissan shares and sharing of auto parts and designs. Japan is seen as a very prideful nation according to Nissan executives who wanted to protect Nissan from takeover.

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Firefly landing of craft on moon March 2025, first by a private company in the US working with NASA. The company is based in Texas.

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The lack of jobs is a major problem for Tieling New City in Liaoning province in China. Liaoning provincial leaders started the plan to build a new city in 2005 to help revive the local rust-belt economy. The new city was planned for 60,000 residents in 2010 and 180,000 by 2015. Today because of few job opportunities most of the new city is empty. The business park is also empty. The original plan was to create growth in the province by creating 7 such urban centers and building highways and high-speed rail lines to connect them to Shenyang, a 90 minute drive south of Tieling. Rural residents would take up homes in the new urban areas with affordable homes, and businesses would be attracted to these smaller cities because of lower labor and land costs, but this has not happened. Credit Suisse property analyst Du Jinsong, says there are better job opportunities in higher tier cities, so that lower tier cities are seeing a net outflow of population. He found that in two thirds of 287 mostly small urban centers there were fewer residents than people registered to live there. ...

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Over 100 women scientists are part of the Chandrayan moon missions of Indian space agency ISRO. Many are leader of project teams and head key parts of the scientific efforts of ISRO. Prime minister Modi says the moon mission shows the strength of women or 'nari shakti' and the potential of the younger generation of women for careers in science and technology. About 25% of the 16,000 employees of ISRO space agency are women, and Modi says "they will inspire women for generations to come." Women make up 43% of graduates in STEM scientific fields, yet when it comes to being part of scientific institutes or universities this drops to 14%, an imbalance that prime minister Modi and ISRO women seek to address. DW.com looks at the work of women in the moon, mars and solar missions including Ritu Karidhal, Nidhi Porwal, Reema Ghosh, Kalpana Kalahasti. Kalahasti is deputy project director and has overseen the satellite imaging that will be done from Chandrayan 3. Reema Ghosh worked on the "Pragyan" rover that is now exploring the moon's surface. ...

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Tensions continue between Nissan and Renault after the prosecution of Carlos Ghosn. Renault asks a Japanese investment bank to approach Nissan to setup a plan for a holding company. Nissan owns a smaller share of the shares in the alliance 15% stake even though it is the dominant partner, compared to 44% for Renault, and 15% for the French government.  This is the result of the original merger decades ago when Nissan was in a financial crisis. The imbalance in management control and shareholding structure is a major complaint of Japanese executives. Today nationalist sentiment in Japan, and Nissan executives see the arrangement giving Renault major management role as an affront to Japanese sentiment and underrating the contributions on the Japanese side of the alliance which is technically superior.

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This NYT report by Patrick Kingsley shows how the hopes for peace with Kurds in Turkey under the Erdogan government have faded. By 2015 peace talks faltered with Kurdish separatist groups. Kingsley's report shows towns such as Sirnak and Cizre in the southeastern part of Turkey are now ghost towns after government troops and tanks moved in. This means that Turkey not only has about 3 million refugees from Syria and Iraq fleeing the war there, but also large numbers of refugees in Kurdish areas inside Turkey. Added to this are the tensions between the party of prime minister Erdogan and the opposition, following a crackdown and as the referendum for granting new powers to the presidency under Mr. Erdogan approaches.