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More thoughts on the Test Series Australia vs India this time from the BBC. Rohit Sharma and Kohli slump, newcomers Jaiwal and Konstas, Jasprit Bumrah without bowling support, and Cummins-Starc-Boland.

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Swarnalatha Reddi is a part of a young generation of Indian women engineers joining industry. Click on Original Article to see this video of how Chennai is becoming the world wide hub for electric vehicle technology and manufacturing. Shown here are Swarnalatha as a new e-mobility engineer from a neighboring state who moved to Chennai's Mahindra R&D division. Senior managers at Mahindra and BMW say that the local government is paying particular attention to needs of manufacturing in Chennai.

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Pictures from the lockdown in Paris, France, which has been tightened to reduce new infections in the pandemic. Unlike other countries with lax controls in lockdowns people in Paris are required to carry a document showing authorization to go outside, the place where a person is going, and show it to police on the street. 

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Changes in Eastern Europe, first with the departure of Sebastian Kurz after a second scandal. The Greens party in the coalition insisted that he resign. In the Czech Republic the government of prime minister Andrej Babis was voted out of office. A liberal-conservative three party coalition won 28% of the vote, and the Pirates and Mayors party won 16% of the vote. The two alliances won 108 seats in the 200 member lower house. Babis headed a minority government of ANO party, Social Democrats and supported by Communist party,(ANO is yes in Czech language), with many scandals, and opposed EU's climate change policies, says DW.com. 

With the changes in Austria this offers new opportunities for a closer European Union as Eastern Europe changes.

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The debate in France about the need for a new policy to boost manufacturing at home. The planned closure of a Bridgestone factory in Bethune in northern France in 2021 provides another example of the effect on local communities with closing of plants. The French government has pledged to relocate more production back to France. About 15 billion euros of a 100 billion euros package to fight the effects of the pandemic on the economy will go to relocate sectors and boost local manufacturing and jobs.

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So far Italy has resisted the second wave of the coronavirus by adhering to the strict social distancing and mask guidelines better than other parts of Europe. After the traumatic experience in March and April Italians especially in the north near Milan are strictly following the guidelines. The daily number of new infections is at 1851 on October 1, and fatality rate is low.

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In parts of Africa including Kenya and Ghana a simple step like washing hands required for preventing coronavirus is not easy to do without running tap water. Lack of safe clean water is a problem in many areas making it that much more difficult to wash hands.

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Bicycling makes it easier to get to school in rural parts of Ghana and outside the capital Accra. A bike club in Accra provides bikes to schools.

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In some countries such as Tanzania and Chad the vaccination drives have not even begun says this report in the DW.com. A new surge now underway in Africa as cases increase by 30% in June comes at abad time with African vaccination drives stalled. Only 31 million doses adminstered in Africa for a population of 1 billion people. Less than 1% of world vaccine supplies are going to poor countries in Africa and Latin America.

Vaccine companies chose to sell their vaccines to the highest bidders, putting Covax  behind. Aims of Covax are also coming down and watered down to vaccinating 20% or 30% of the population in poor countries, says this report in DW.com.

This means new variants could develop and move back to Asia and Europe, the US in 2022. It means the coronavirus could affect African economies in 2022 and beyond.

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Germany has 60.4 million people who can vote in the upcoming September 26 parliamentary elections. Of this more than half are over age 50 years. This is part of a demographic change in Germany with falling population, more deaths than births in the country. As a result German voting population is getting older and smaller, 1.3 million smaller this time than in the last election. In 1987 23% of voters were under age 30 years, in 2021 this is down to 15%. For older voters in 1987 26% of voters were over age 60 years, in 2021 this is up to 38%. Older voters also have higher turnout of about 81% compared to voters age 21 to 24 years at 67% turnout. Older voters had a strong party affiliation early in their life says one polling expert for Infratest. Older voters tend to vote mostly for SPD or CDU the two main parties. The far right and far left parties have support in East Germany's 12.5 million population out of 82.5 million in Germany. CDU gets its vote from workers with higher than median income, and SPD from voters at the median income. Greens are supported by higher income groups.   ...

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German chancellor Scholz and Canadian prime minister Trudeau sign an agreement in Newfoundland for exporting Canadian green hydrogen energy to Germany in just 3 years. Canada is seen as a major supplier to Germany for energy in the medium term including LNG. Newfoundland is the base for a green hydrogen plant. Windy areas which are not densely populated are considered ideal for production of green hydrogen, which is why Newfoundland was chosen.

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Even with an economy that is considered advanced Germany lags behind in social and education mobility. From one generation to the next disadvantages are passed on for less educated lower income people, and a person from lower income or less educational background is more likely to see children not getting a university education.

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On World Soil Day DW.com provides this reminder about how important soil is to our life. It is a reminder too of the all things that are really important during the pandemic. Few remember the words of FDR in 1937 during the Dust Bowl days in America when overplowing and displacement of prairie grasslands that anchored the topsoil reduced once-fertile plains to parched, barren wasteland that were swept by dust storms. This was brought to life in Steinbeck's novel Grapes of Wrath. American president Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) said in 1937 that "a nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself."   This is true for India and all parts of the world, now more than ever. The promotion of ancient grains by Mr. Modi in India helps in the way that crops can be varied so that the soil can regenerate itself, and is not drained of nutrients with one or two crops such as rice and wheat. A 2015 study by University of Sheffield in UK showed that one third of the world's arable land  was lost to pollution and erosion in the last 40 years. That study says it takes 500 years to form one inch of topsoil. Countries like India cannot afford land degradation and Modi's emphasis on improved practices in agriculture away from pesticides and careful use of chemical fertilizer, with natural substitutes in traditional agriculture taking precedence, cannot come at a better time. Healthy soils also create carbon sinks storing greenhouse gases and reducing climate change. A square meter of soil can contain 10,000 different species of worms, insects, bacteria and fungi, with a single gram home to a billion bacteria. Rich fertile earth that nourishes ecosystems is a world apart from the dust storm swept land that led to crop failures in Depression period America, leading to farmers migrating and poverty, Some of the agricultural practices that promote biodiversity are more labor intensive, and suited to India, and can actually increase agricultural production. With the added advantage of produce being organic. It can increase crop yields through better biodiversity, to yield 2.3 billion metric tons of additional crop yields per year worldwide, worth 1.24 trillion euros, (imagine that) according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, cited by DW.com. For Indian farmers this is a great opportunity in agriculture to improve agriculture and increase incomes. It is also an opportunity for farmers everywhere, in Europe, America, other parts of Asia, Latin America and Africa. ...