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A look by FR24 at the 5 years of Macron in office and some of the efforts that floundered such as the effort to work with Trump and Putin.

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China plans to retaliate against the Chinese operations of Ericsson and Nokia if Huawei is banned in 5G networks in Europe, following the U.S. ban. Planned by China are export controls on Ericsson and Nokia in China banning export of its products made in China. The German decision is to be made by September. Britain has already banned Huawei participation in its 5G networks.

Experts say this effort by China would lead to European companies redrawing their supply chains which they are already doing after the pandemic.  Nokia is doing this and Ericsson is also planning to shift production to other parts of Asia, or back to Europe or North America.

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France's finance minister Bruno Le Maire announces a $45 billion effort to cap energy price increases for electricity and gas to 15% increase. Earlier efforts had capped the increase to 4% till the end of 2022 in a tariff shield (bouclier tarifaire). France's public accounts minister says the budget being presented is "a budget to protect." Windfall taxes on energy companies will reduce the cost of the $45 billion to $12 billion. Other protection is offered in the form of increasing income tax brackets by 5% to lower the tax burden. In the absence of this effort the energy prices could have increased by more than 60%, says the Finance Ministry.

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Shares of Adani Enterprises went up by 3000% over 5 years putting valuations at extreme levels, says this report in the WSJ. This has created a disconnect between valuations and fundamentals say some experts. Hindenburg Research is a American forensic financial research firm started in 2017 by Nathan Anderson in New York City with 5 employees. It has issued a critical report of the Adani Group companies leading to a loss of 18.5% of its valuation. Adani Group companies make up 5% of the Bombay Stock Exchange and are a big part of its renewable energy effort even though the company had major interests in coal in Australia. Adani is trying to make the switch to renewable solar and wind energy and at the same time meet India's continuing need for coal because of its large population. The situation is similar to China and is poorly understood in the US and Europe, the effort to make large investments in renewable energy even as the company provides energy from fossil fuels. Adani set up the Mundra port in Gujarat helping Gujarat become energy sufficient and making it the most industrialized part of India. The London based Financial Times took a look at the Adani Group long before Hindenburg Research in the last 2 years and concluded that Adani Group companies have grown rapidly because India's effort for industrialization requires aggressive investment and risk taking which none of the other companies including India's Tata and Reliance Group are able to do in infrastructure and energy in the same way that Adani has. Reliance Group has invested in 4G and 5G and setup Jio to create low cost access to fast internet in India. When it comes to roads, airports, coal and renewable energy Adani has invested aggressively. This has created the perception that the Adani Group has benefited from its relations with the government. As the Financial Times put it Adani Group was the only private investor willing to take up the challenge of super sized goals needed for India's rapid growth. In this sense a forensic research company based on short selling is up against a company that has already faced skepticism about its rapid emergence as a renewable energy focused company shifting from fossil fuels, a transition neither Exxon or Chevron in the US have been able to do. ...

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Deteriorating China Iran relations as the oil imports from Iran for China face US tariffs of 25% on China's exports to US, and US economic relations far more significant for the Chinese economy. China gets somwhere between 1.4 to 1.6 million barrels aday from Iran (80% of Iran's oil exports) into Shandong refiners at $10 below Brent crude prices. Another 400 mbd comes from Venezuela to China. This means $30 billion comes to Iran from oil sales to China at $59 a barrel, and $8 billion for Venezuela from oil sales to China. This has financed much of the bellicose policies towards the US in the western hemisphere and in the Gulf region. Iran's bellicose policies in the Middle East, its nuclear policy, are now seen by China as a distraction and  detract from good economic relations with the US. China $400 billion oil deal 25 year cooperation agreement signed in 2021 was signed under the Biden administration and China today faces a completely different situation in 2026. Even China's relations with Russia are not the same as the US builds better relations with Russia. A wind down of the Ukraine war would change the situation completely and ensure peace in Europe including Russia, as the US works with the EU to meet future challenges having learned from this experience in Europe (Ukraine dividing Europe) and in the Western hemisphere (drug/ migrant. trafficking). When historians write this chapter of the inflows of capital from advanced West to Arab countries and the Gulf region they will write about the huge contrast between China/India's efforts to modernize and these nations where much of that capital was wasted in wars and conflicts and in grandiose projects that made no material difference to the standard of living and quality of life of the vast number of ordinary people. Once the oil dividend is gone with fossil fuels replaced with renewable energy by 2035-2040 this opportunity to advance is lost for the Arab and Gulf region. ...

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The bonds developed between Kamala Harris as AG in the settlement with the banks for faulty mortgages with other AG's is shown here in NYT. Roy Cooper of North Carolina was one of the AG's Kamala had a lot of contact with in Washington and in Durham. Roy, 67 years, was elected governor twice in North Carolina. Beshear, 49 years, was AG in Kentucky at the time. He was elected governor of Kentucky, a Democrat in a state voting Republican. Roy took on the banks "for relief for homeowners who were wrongfully foreclosed upon,” Mr. Cooper said.  “I admired her tenacity then as I do now.” Mr Hood AG for Mississippi says Kamala was the fun AG with a sense of humor, and Roy Cooper was the affable low key guy, the gentleman lawyer who never raised his voice, and yet built coalitions and was effective. The AG of Pennsylvania who was elected as Kamala left office as AG and ran for the US Senate, is Ben Shapiro, 51 years. Shapiro came in as AG when Kamala left the AG office to run for the US Senate. He came to know Kamala when he was State Rep. and has stayed in touch over the years. He led a multistate effort that led to the Opioid settlement, and is popular in Pennsylvania with 61% approval and won the governor's office with help from the suburbs and rural counties in 2020. ...

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British prime minister Boris Johnson is looking at options to increase investment by Britain in domestic telecom companies so that they can  compete in the 5G technology market. The idea is to create a new international alliance of partners including South Korea, the U.S., India. This is part of a wider effort to regain leadership in this area for an alliance of western companies partnering with some Asian countries. It is also intended to reduce reliance on Huawei.

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Modi speech for the ages to the people of Barrackpore, West Bengal, April 27 2026 surpasses any but the best of Gandhi's speeches for a century since the 1930's. "Shakti ki Bhakti" pilgrimage for the ages for the women and children and families of Bengal and India. A plea for freedom of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa as a north star for India, in the task of urbanization, modernization industrialization, and scientific revolution of India. "Purvi Bharat ka bahvisya sudhar kanrna chunav hai." This northeast that is key to the future of India's 1.4 billion people in this election in West Bengal of May 4, 2026 after 5 decades of failed governance, of failed industrialization and failed modernization in a region of 300 million people, half the size of the European Union. Impatience in Modi's voice with the pace of change that has failed the aspirations of a young generation of India.  This has left the northeast region as a backward agrarian economy. Change in federal  overnment for rapid modernization in India came in 2014 with Modi government. It was stalled for a few years by the Covid pandemic. The effort for modernization of the Indian economy after 5 decades of failed good governance is thus in its first decade and in that decade impeded by the state governments of Maharastra and Rajasthan in the western region that also includes Gujarat. In the northeast failed governance continued in West Bengal , Bihar and Orissa. In Delhi and the Punjab a similar situation. It is only now that Maharashtra and Rajasthan are aligned with federal government in industry and modernization goals. And it is only now that Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal are aligning themselves at the state level with the federal goals for modernization and rapid urbanization plus industrialization. In the south Tamilnadu (Madras region) and Kerala (Kochi), and Karnataka (Bangalore region) are also lacking in aligning with the efforts at the federal level. As a result the changes that are happening have the potential to bring a new wave of industrialization and modernization in the north, northeast and western regions of India with the federal government and the state governments in alignment on industrialization and modernization. This could bring to the world economy a development similar to China's second decade of development from 2000 to 2010 when a new surge happened in China's modernization. India's modernization will happen with the reindustrialization in the US and the European Union  and will set the pace for the world economy in the decades to come. ...

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The work of key Ministries in India is tracked by the Hindusthan Times in March 2018 showing the progress of the Modi government. At the Defense Ministry  a major effort is underway to promote the defense sector to reduce the defense imports of $100 billion over the last decade, and to make this a major jobs generating sector. The Foreign Ministry is pursuing the China-India dialogue, and efforts to tackle the trade deficit with China of $51 billion. The Ministry of Education is working on giving universities autonomy from the Universities Grant Commission so that first tier universities can plan their own development, hire faculty and plan for the future without UGC approval. Jawaharlal Nehru University and the University of Hyderabad, first tier institutions have autonomy from UGC under this effort. 

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Flat payment rates for Medicare Advantage to Insurers by the DJT administration which is questioning how health care needs of the country remain unmet and US healthcare comparing very unfavorably with other advanced countries in Europe and Japan and also in India. Some of this is because of the behaviour and practices of the health and pharmaceutical industries in the US. The 2027 payment by government for Medicare Advantage is 0.09 percent. In 2026 it was about 5%. In 2025 it was -0.16 percent and in 2024 it was -1.12% under the Biden administration showing a great deal of dissatisfaction with funding Medicare Advantage. Medicare Advantage was set up by the Bush Republicans in 2003 who set it up with the nice sounding name Medicare Modernization Act. It was an effort to help the insurance companies with government money. Today in the second term of DJT in 2026 affordability is what American people care about most and the DJT administration is unhappy with the insurance companies. Dr. Mehmet Oz is in charge of Medicare and Medicaid Services Agency of the federal government and he says about Medicare Advantage and new policy to save “taxpayers from unnecessary spending (on Medicare Advantage) that is not oriented towards addressing real health needs.” The DJT Kennedy-Oz approach is for comprehensive digital information linking all medical providers, making America healthy again, cutting through the dense fog created over the last 2 decades, making pharmaceutical costs as affordable as the best in European nations, and refusing to subisidize if delivery is poor and health results are poor.   ...

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A new Made in India 4G network is taking shape under BSNL. Rupees 24,000 crore have been allocated by the Indian government for this effort.

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The title may not reflect the content of this report on Admiral Giroir who heads the U.S. coronavirus testing effort. He is a pediatrician who worked for hospitals in Texas before heading a vaccine project at Texas A&M University.  Internal politics led to his resigning from the effort to build a vaccine development capability with pharmaceutical companies at Texas A&M. Most of the rest of this report shows a physician who is determined to pursue big projects such as the one he is tackling today. President Trump appointed him to lead FDA, and to be the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. With the missteps of Secretary Azar testing suffered in the early months of the crisis as reported in the WSJ. Adm. Giroir has taken a leading role since  this period. He also heads the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps of 6200 staff playing a vital role. On March 13 he was asked to lead the effort in testing.  He comes to this role with experience in the field of vaccines realizing that "the challenges are not just biological but engineering." New technology would be needed to make massive amounts of vaccine. His idea is that transformational efforts are needed. His idea for a billion dose per month facility in Texas did not work, yet he worked on it for about 5 years from 2010 to 2015 at Texas A&M University, at one point being the vice chancellor. He was selected by Texas Governor Perry as chairman of the task force in Texas in 2014 to oversee the effort to fight the Ebola virus. He now is in a position to bring all his experience and aspirations to tackle the coronavirus, cutting through much of the red tape and bureaucracy, and pulling together the effort combining science of pharmaceutical companies with the technology of manufacturing billions of vaccine doses in a record time. Today he sees capacity for testing reaching 40-50 million tests a month by September 2020.   ...

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DOGE's Musk led effort puts important work of savings  to make the dollars be spent wisely and prudently, at risk from the style of Elon Musk. Pew Research found earlier in February that 57% of people had "unfavorable" views of Musk, and 37% had "very unfavorable" views of Musk. Musk's style is prone to publicity and showmanship compared to the need for hard patient work needed over many months and years to root out corruption and waste. Lyrarc draws a parallel between DJT efforts to cut waste and fraud, unnecessary spending in 2025 after trillions of dollars in Biden approved spending, with the efforts in 1941 of the Truman Committee to keep a wary eye for waste and fraud in the billions of dollars of wartime spending. The major difference is that the Truman Committee had the support across the aisle from all Americans and Congress and it involved hard patient work 1944-46 under Senator Mead of New York. 1946-47 under Kilgore from Wisconsin, 1947-1948 under Brewster a Republican from Maine, for the better part of a decade. Truman Committee set up the War Production Board and cut waste and corruption. In 1948 Truman Committee was made permanent as the Subcommittee for Investigation into Governmental Affairs. ...

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The Russian central bank under Elvira Nabiullina raises interest rates by 3.5% to 12%. In the first 5 months of 2023 the Russian government spent 50% more in rubles than in the same period in 2022. The increase in spending meant increase in wages and more hiring for production of goods including production for the war effort. The policy was to carry on the war effort without the effects of the war being felt by ordinary Russian citizens. The result has been higher inflation at 7.6%. Nabiullina faces a unique set of challenges to control inflation, maintain the economy even as Russia continues the war effort in Ukraine. 

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Shehbaz Sharif 70,  is the younger brother of a three term prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif. He ran Punjab province, the country's largest state when his brother was prime minister. In this way he brings substantial experience to the problems of the economy that now face many developing economies such as Pakistan.  First on the agenda is to normalize relations with the US, rebuild ties with India, and restart negotiations with the International Monetary Fund. Pakistan faces severe inflation of 14% and devaluing currency that makes imports costlier as the foreign currency reserves have dropped to alarming levels of $24 billion when annual import needs are at about $56 billion. This has a direct impact on cost of living, standards of living and on industry. Shehbaz Sharif understands the situation and has said restoring the economy "will take effort, effort and more effort." A similar statement has been made by Mr. Modi in Hindi "sab ka viokas, sab ka prayas" which also mean effort, effort and more effort, which all of South Asia and Bay of Bengal, and South East Asian countries needs considering the impact of Covid pandemic, and now inflation from the war in Europe hitting food supplies. The situation is grim in other parts of South Asia- in Myanmar, in Sri Lanka, in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia. The popular sentiment is also shifting as seen in the Indian part of the old British Punjab province. Mostly Sikh this part of old Punjab state in India made a complete change bringing in a new party Aadmi to improve the economy and provide good governance. In this situation all governments are expected to deliver on good governance and the economy.   ...

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India's foreign exchange reserves reached an all time high of $545 billion in October 2022. By December this had dropped to $561 billion because of the central bank RBI's effort to maintain the value of the Indian currency in relation to the US dollar. This is at Rs 81 to the the dollar in Dec 2022. India' needs healthy foreign exchange reserves to finance imports for its industrialization and investment efforts to modernize the country. Inflation is also a priority to keep the cost of living at levels that provide affordability. This is at about 5% in Dec. 2022. Finance minister Sitharaman cited this as key achievements. Including large foreign investment inflows as part of changing the supply chain to include India as a manufacturing hub for the west. This sets the stage for long term growth.

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India's 267 million farmers 44% of the workforce that make it difficult to reduce 39% tariff on imported dairy and grain. Older Americans have lost the memories of famines in India including one in Bihar in the 1960's, not to mention the Bengal famine during the British rule in 1944 in which Britannica says 3 million people lost their lives. By 1965 India depended on US grain. Dhume reminds readers that in as recent as 1966 9 million tons, a quarter of US wheat crop, was sent to India to prevent famine. China had a similar situation of famine and starvation in the 20th century. This is why India and China have focused effort on achieving self sufficiency in food, and  agricultural productivity is one of the great achievements of the 20th century ranking with electricity and other inventions. When it comes to other upscale agricultural products such as walnuts, blueberrries, and almonds, and other, India's middle class would benefit from nutritional benefits of US agriculture in these fields at low or no tariffs. This suggests there is room for opening some sectors other than dairy and grain that are staple to the Indian diet of the vast population. US 50% tariff is motivated by India going from 2% Russian oil imports in 2019, to shifting importing from Saudis and UAE to Russia so that Russia now makes up a third of it's oil imports by 2024. In May it reached 4 million barrels a day dropping to 2 million barrels a day by July 2024.   ...

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Kamala Harris made remarkable progress in her handling of Central America (Guatemala, San Salvador and Nicaragua) during her assignment of tackling the problems in this region that were leading to high migration. A drought had hit agricultural regions in Guatemala adding to the surge at the time.  Here is how Harris tackled the problems of the economy, food, poverty, lack of jobs and migration from Guatemala. Harris increased investment in the region getting private and government sources in the US to invest $5 billion in the region. 250,000 jobs were created from this effort with loans from IDFC and US AID and State Department. Northern Central America was facing a hunger crisis and it was Harris who pulled together $300 million in emergency humanitarian assistance. Harris held corrupt leaders to account. Anti-corruption candidate Arevalo was elected president of Guatemala in 2023 through her efforts to ensure the rule of law and democracy are respected after the chaos of the Trump years. Joint taskforce Alpha was set up combining efforts of 3 US agencies to conduct countersmuggling operations.    ...

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Germany faces serious problems in its vaccination drive and efforts to control the pandemic in November 2021. The rate at which people are getting vaccinated has slowed to 150,000 a day and the percentage of the population that is vaccinated is stuck at 67%. This percentage of 67% fully vaccinated in Germany as of November 3 is much lower than that in Spain, France and Italy.  Spain is at 78%, France at 69% and Italy at 72%. (Data from NYT) This report in the Guardian points out that most of the remaining one third of the population is not eager to get vaccinated as surveys show that the those who have refused to get a jab are unlikely to change their minds.There is also the problem of booster shots. Germany's 16 regions conduct the vaccination drives and with many of the vaccination centers not active since September staff has to be retrained or rehired. This makes it harder to give booster shots to everyone that was vaccinated early by the start of winter. Why is it that Germany lags behind Spain in vaccination? There is a great deal of trust in Spain and Portugal in the health service and people are 100% behind their health system. The other countries that have a low rate of fully vaccinated are the US at 58%, Brazil 57%, Russia at 33%. Even the UK with its well respected National Health Service remains at 68% fully vaccinated. Today the US, Russia, Brazil, European Union countries and India have many of the 5 million deaths from coronavirus. India's vaccination drive is approaching 1100 million vaccinated, yet there is along way to go in getting most of the population fully vaccinated because of the large population of 1.3 billion. This is why the Indian prime minister on the first day of returning from the COP26 climate summit devoted his time to meeting with leaders of different states and heads of districts with low vaccination rates to press home the idea that the effort had to be taken up vigorously in the coming months. ...

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Baked goods salty snacks and other ultraprocessed foods made up 55% of calories of all Americans in 2021-2023. 62% for children and adolescents, says CDC in 2025. It is an astonishing figure and shows the neglect of health nutrition by business and previous administrations in the US, in an alarming and dangerous way. RFK Jr. at Health and Human Services department, and Rollins at Agriculture department, have made it their life's mission to get America healthy again. And fight the battles, conduct the policy changes that have to be made to do this. Education of the public and making healthy choices available and affordable, are a big part of the challenge today. Individual states such as Iowa and West Virginia, Texas and Florida are already taking it up at the state level in a concerted effort.

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Donald Trump is acquitted in the second impeachment trial with a vote in the Senate of 53 in favor to 47 against. A two thirds majority is required to impeach a president. Senators Burr of North Carolina and Cassidy of Louisiana were Republicans who joined the expected ones to vote for impeachment- the Republicans Mitt Romney of Utah, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The Republican defense lawyer insisted that Trump's speech to his supporters was not an intention to incite them on the day of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 but an expression of his rights to free speech guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution First Amendment. He made the point that the prosecution lawyers had selectively focused attention on the words "fight like hell" and taken them out of the entire context in which they were made, ignoring key parts of Mr. Trump's speech. The defense argued that the president had already left office and this made an impeachment unconstitutional. Seventy five million voters voted for Mr. Trump and he cited this as the most number of votes won by a sitting president. President Biden is shifting his attention to the president's agenda and needs Republican support to pass key legislation including financial help to households, unemployed, and business to recover from the pandemic. The U.S. health effort behind the vaccination drive and seeing the struggle in Europe to access key medical supplies of vaccine is also leading to new efforts to move beyond the rhetoric to the hard work ahead with support of all parties. As part of this the trial once it reached the Senate was quickly resolved in about 5 days. The defense used only a small fraction of the time allotted with bipartisan effort to not let the trial drag on, bipartisan effort to putting some statements simply on the record and not calling witnesses.   ...

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In inflationary times in the world's largest populated country- that Rs 40 or about 50 cents US still gets you a South Indian vegetarian meal at Sangeethas restaurant chain in Chennai, India is the result of the efforts of many people. On its 40th anniversary the 34 branches in Chennai (and 23 overseas) has struggled with inflation to offer the 40 Rupee meal in India. Partly from the dedication of P Suresh and Sanjana Suresh, the founders.

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Video presented by Gen. Dan Caine on how the Fordow site strike was done in real time. Dan Caine explains why the strikes were effective as Bombs Unit 57 were designed specifically for Fordow and the effort at Fordow is a project of the Threat Reduction Agency in the US War Department, doing this since 2009 when Fordow was being built.

Defense Secretary Hegseth points out that in the media's haste in reporting it had missed a key event at NATO meetings in The Hague, Netherlands. For the first time all EU nations had decided to shoulder their defense responsibilities for Europe. Germany and other nations will put 5% of the budget into defense of Europe.

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The struggle for the Donbas region is now centred around the town of Bakhmut with about 50-70 casualties a day and an effort by Russian infantry to advance to the once tree lined town of 70,000. The Ukraine war drags on into the cold winter of 2022.

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What harm will one ton of carbon dioxide pollution cause to the planet? Under Obama administration $50, under Trump administration $5, under Biden administration $200.  Mr. Revesz asks the obvious question others forgot to ask- how does this regulation or change affect future generations, what problems children and grand children won't face because of this action? The man who heads OIRA is given the task of doing the cost benefit analysis for billions of dollars of US government projects designed to fight climate change. Because of its looming importance Mr. Revesz of NY University School of Law was brought right into OIRA in the White House instead of the EPA. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is located right in the White House. It is the gatekeeper and final word on new federal regulations on climate change. Astounding as it may sound, during the Obama and Trump administrations no effort was made to track the cost of climate change for future generations. Mr. Revesz is changing that. As a result of his efforts at NYU School of Law and in assisting attorneys general in the Trump administration, and now at the Whit House he is changing the way the world looks at climate change action. He shows how the EPA new rules on tailpipe emissions will promote electric cars. The benefits exceed $1 trillion from the shift and this will show that it exceeds the cost of the fossil fuel companies and the US economy making the changes required. ...