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PM Modi asks India's youth to help bring about an end to the leakage of public funds that end up illegally in private hands when these funds are desperately needed to build roads, bridges, housing, logistics centers for exports, airports and ports on a scale similar to the United States and EU nations. Only by doing this and focussing every penny for building infrastructure and international trade under Made in India can India meet the aspirations of 1.2 billion people and set the pace for the 0.5 billion people in other parts of south and south east Asia including neighboring Indonesia- 1.7 billion people. The US and European Union would be grateful that this happens as it secures the future also of the US and the EU nations through a new manufacturing supply chain. With this effort India would integrate efforts for renewable energy and combating climate change with the US, European Union, and the nations of Latin America and Africa on a new scale that is needed. Jobs come with infrastructure and Made in India manufacturing, it is the foundations that have to be put in just as for a house being built. See the pledge and how significant it is in Lyrarc Insights (see left side front page menu) under India - The Way Forward, Bharat and Cina in Sanskrit - the heritage of Vedanta and the Buddha that the Asian people identify with. ...

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Defense minister Rajnath Singh says on the last day of Aero India, that India has "great potential to emerge as a global and regional Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) hub, given the cost competitiveness of its manpower resources, the availability of abundant specialist capabilities and geographical advantages."

Between 2016 nd 2019, 138 proposals worth over $37 billion for domestic manufacturing of defense equipment components were approved. Aero components sector is expected to double from 30,000 crore today to 60,000 crore by 2025. Aerospace has a big role to play in reaching the targets of domestic defense production of $25 billion and exports of $5 billion by 2025. India will have moved from defense production of $11 billion to $25 billion by 2025.

This includes the LUH new generation single engine helicopter to be designed and developed by HAL.

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Home design for remote work and how architects think about this is shown in this report. The key is to have multiple locations to work and have the small furniture arrangement that can be flexibly used in these multiple locations. Also add infrastructure meaning easy connectivity and other technical features. The idea is to have flexibility to work from many places in the house. It does not have to be an expensive house design, simple modifications throughout a single family home can be done to rearrange space to create these types of locations. Another part of the design is to also add small exercize equipment say a rower or bike or treadmill in different places in such a way that it takes minimal space and looks to the outside like a garden or a garden view. What this does is to create a home space just for the home owner where he can relax, work and sometimes combine work and relaxation for tasks that are suited, and provide a exercise place that is distributed. It can also include a meditation area in one or two locations that creates a soothing environment. Experimentation is ok and customizing it to one's preferences. ...

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As BP reports large losses in the second quarter resulting from its focus on safety, and building a smaller but more profitable company, BP's CEO Dudley says- "One of the things we are not going to do is drift off the path of focus on safety." He emphasized this by adding that "stepping up the accelerator of performance in place of that is not going to happen." BP has cut overall production from 3 million barrels a day in 2009 to 2.3 million barrrels as it focuses on safety and profitability. Dudley says "its going to be value over safety." As it finishes repair and improvement work in the Gulf of Mexico, BP will repeat the exercize in its North Sea fields. Extensive maintenace work is leading to extended shutdown periods.

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Key points in the National Digital Communications Policy 2018 to be approved by the Modi cabinet are that every citizen of India will have 50 mbps access to broadband by 2022. Key development institutions will have 100 mbps speed. 

10 million public wifi spots are planned for 2022. Expand the ecosystem to 5 billion connected devices by 2022. And attract $100 billion in new investment. Under National Digital Grid the National Fibre Authority will be created to have the supporting organization to achieve these goals.

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A state wide ban on single use plastic bags goes into effect in New York state March 1, 2020. This is part of a global push to get rid of single use plastic bags that pollute the environment, end up in waterways, rivers, on trees and landfills. Some clues are offered here on why store owners still used plastic bags, and why large grocery chains still use plastic. The plastic bags cost much less than paper bags. Here one small store owner says 100,000 plastic bags cost him $2000, the same number of paper bags $15,000. New York state uses 23 million single use plastic bags a year. A public education campaign is underway. New York city requires stores to charge 5 cents per paper bag, with 3 cents going to an environmental fund and 2 cents to a the local government. Astonishingly for a large city in a developed country this report shows a Moroccan immigrant saying that it is already popular in her home country Morocco where the ban on single use plastic bags has reduced litter. Americans are not used to carrying reusable bags to the grocery store in the way Germans or people in other countries are. ...

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Minimobility can be seen in some locations in the US such as Peachtree City, a town south of Atlanta where golf carts are popular. In Europe it is taking off and popular on its small streets and with its  culture of smaller vehicles. The Renault Duo, Citroen Ami, Swiss Microlino, Swedish Luvly, are electric vehicles for 1-2 passengers made at prices from $8000 for the Ami to $16000 for the Microliner. The Microliner has a range of 150 miles and max speed of 55mph. By 2030 about $100 billion of these small electric vehicles could be on the road compared to $3 billion in 2023. 

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How should airwaves be given out for 5G- auctioning the spectrum to the highest bidder or letting government own it and rent it out to private companies so that national security interests are better protected and companies have broader access.

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Bernie Sanders with 46% of the delegates, 13.4 million votes, 22 states, and many of the young people in the U.S. behind him, told a news reporter at his home in the final sprint two weeks before the election- he plans to see the major planks of the Democratic platform implemented. He said Clinton is progressive on a number of issues, but the platform is more progressive with upward mobility a critical concern. Sanders played a critical role in shaping the platform. He says he opposes someone from Wall Street in positions of Treasury Secretary, Trade Representative, and will make known his views who would be best in these positions, including Attorney General. Sanders is supported in the Senate by Senators Sherrod Brown, Jeff Merkley, and Elizabeth Warren. Warren has campaigned with Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, and both support minimum wage, women's rights. WIth a win for Democrats in the Senate Sanders will become either the chairman of the Budget Committee, or with his preference chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. His main goal now is to see key economic Cabinet positions that affect upward mobility, intergenerational mobility, which is damaged today for the middle and working class, go to persons who would do the most to improve it.  ...

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By preventing serious illness in patients two pills for coronavirus from Pfizer and Merck can change the course of this pandemic. Pfizer will give a royalty free license to Medicines Patent Pool, an organization backed by the United Nations for its coronavirus pill. Merck has also given a royalty free license to Medicines Patent Pool for it pill. This organization will then grant a license for the manufacture of the coronavirus pills to poor developing countries. India is included in the list of countries yet China, Russia and Brazil are excluded for the Pfizer license.  Merck has given Indian generics manufacturers approval to make the pill. This will provide supplies of the pill to 105 developing countries, South Africa will also make the pill to provide it at $10 a course in Africa. Pfizer will begin manufacturing of large quantities in 2022 with 50 million planned for 2022 and 21 million in the first half of 2022. Pfizer pill will be made available in 95 countries. The Merck pill is called Molnupiravir. Pfizer pill is called Paxlovid with 30 pills taken over the course of 5 days. Pfizer pill is effective in studies when given to people who had not been vaccinated. It has to be given within 3-4 days of getting coronavirus confirmed through a test which makes testing critical for its use. ...

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It is not just about the Apple ad Crush video that turns millions of hours of creativity in books media by crushing it into an iPad Pro that people find repulsive. Look carefully and the iPad which was touted for it helping to create a big change in promoting education has done little and Apple has not increased literacy in the world through the iPad. New products from Apple, Google and other tech companies are only slight variations from the old. A thinner iPad when the previous iPad was already thin, and small changes at the periphery that are no longer in much demand. Prices are still way too high.

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Chris Buckley in the NYT today makes no mention of the Bo Xilai episode in 2012 and what this meant for Xi's future policy actions. Cheng Li calls it the most significant happening since the Lin Biao incident in 1971 and Tianmen in 1989. Brookings Institution offers this discussion of the Bo Xilai episode with Cheng Li, China expert on its economic and political elites. Cheng Li rejected the idea that China at the time in 2012 reflected "resilient authoritarianism," instead anticipating problems such as Bo Xilai emerging as a demagogue putting China in an ultranationalist and uncertain direction. This happened during the transition to a new team of leaders led by Xi Jinping in 2012. Xi could see the corruption in the CCP and the hypergrowth in China causing problems of irreparable environmental damage (now climate change), regional inequality, and offering an opening for demagogues to step into this mix of problems. Xi  acted devising policy shifts away from Hu Jintao and Wen Biao of the Bush-Paulsen era and pushing away from focus on rapid growth, shifting to counter inequality, unstable dependence on construction and housing, and excessive debt of that period. Little mention is given to this in NYT Chris Buckely's version of US-China relations in today's NYT (November 13, 2023). ...

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Many prior pieces focussed on extravagant gasoline consumption in Iran because of subsidized prices. A recent piece showed how Iranians protested against the rationing of gasoline. Iran needs more refineries as its refinery capacity is limited- no mention on how Iran is tackling refinery constraints. The subsidy is huge as it 34 cents vs $2 on world markets, it also costs Iran $5 billion which it can use to build more refineries. This piece shows Venezuela's willingness to supply Iran in the event Iran cannot depend on supply from India, Netherlands, France, UAE and other suppliers.

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US added 22,000 jobs in August 2025, with job losses in construction and manufacturing, and gains in healthcare.

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Players in World Cups past, Kurt Hamrin for Sweden in 1958, Guillermo Sepulveda for Mexico in 1962, and Tarcisio Burgnich in 1970, share their memories and pictures of playing against Brazil and Pele in The Guardian. He is remembered by Kurt Hamrin as a rare talent who was humble and kind. He was Hamrin says "incredibly humble." After the first Brazilian World Cup title win in 1958 against Sweden Hamrin recalls- Pele took the Swedish flag draped around him and circled the stadium to show respect for his opponents. Who does that nowadays. Something is lost. No, a lot is lost and needs to be recovered of the way we played and lived. Asen, Marshall and Romano conducted the interviews for The Guardian.

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US president Biden now plans to break the $2 trillion Build Back Better into smaller pieces so that where there is greatest support such as early childhood education, action on climate change, and other parts of Build Back Better, these parts can move forward in 2022. This is seen by Biden as a better strategy to accomplish the same goals.

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Some ideas on how to reopen the economy in Britain in phases starting with release of some activities in May, followed by mid-June, and early July. Medical precautions and new protocol for being out on the streets, in public transport and in offices would have to be observed.

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Vast majority of DJT supporters 88% (down from 95%), approve of the president DJT's overall performance. On tariffs and Big Beautiful Bill. Democrats vastly disapproving, the messaging on cuts to Medicaid even though it's funding had grown close to $1 trillion ($909 billion in 2024), the uncertainty on tariffs even though the $1 trillion China trade surplus needed serious corrective action, federal government job cuts, leads to much larger proportions of Democrats opposing than Republicans supporting leading to about 60% unfavorable overall on tariffs and Big Beautiful Bill. Such unpopular action is sometimes the role of government like the action to rebuild the trading system and bring restraint to runaway spending on benefits, and can be overcome with a strong economy and capital investment for growth in future years. Another problem for the DJT administration is in the messaging to get the message across when some of the president's actions can be inconsistent or appear inconsistent. Add to this the distractions such as international diplomacy on Ukraine that take the president's time. Yet changes were needed in the international trading system and tough action is sometimes necessary when most countries and groupings, China EU, Canada, Mexico, can game the system their benefit to the detriment of the American people and jobs/communities at home. On the Big Beautiful Bill at the rate of growth in funding for Medicaid to $909 billion in 2024 from $2 billion at its inception under LBJ in the 1960's some restraint on spending would ultimately keep such help flowing where it is needed over the long haul. ...

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China is increasing use of domestic coal and reducing Australian coal imports in an effort to increase energy security and become self sufficient in coal. Spot price of thermal coal used to generate electricity is expected to drop by 39% in 2019. Coking coal used for steel production will decline by 38% as China uses more costly local coal and the steel industry in Europe, India and the U.S. lowers production with lower coal demand. The world consumed less coal in 2019 over 2018. Largely from less coal used in electricity generation which dropped by 2.5%.