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Economic progress in South Asia may finally put behind it simmering political tensions is evident from nature of this proposal on Kashmir by Pakistan. This proposal by President Musharraf is for India and Pakistan to recognize the "line of control" as a de facto border, gradually withdraw troops, and support a new body to run the government in Kashmir. Musharraf say Pakistan then "will have to, yes," give up its claims on Kashmir. The region would have to be given more autonomy to run its affairs. Musharraf would still have to win support from the political parties for this proposal to take shape and be able to control militants in the region who oppose a settlement.

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Continuing years of tension, protests and Indian army deployment in Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir state (J&K) in India.

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Money managers, including AllianceBernstein's Daniel Loughney, say months of difficult negotiations and brinksmanship on Greece have affected the euro currency and may appear negatively in the euro's future in the coming years. The euro declined at one point in the negotiations to $1.05 in March before going back up to its current value of $1.12 in June 2015. This compares to the value of $1.40 in summer 2015. Compared to 2012 the markets in Southern Europe and the euro currency are largely protected from the situation in Greece, as little of the Greek government debt is held by banks and the private sector outside Greece. Some money managers (Franklin Templeton Inc. and SLJ Macro Partners) are even saying Greece's exit from the euro may be a good thing. Extraordinary liquidity is available from the ECB's bond buying program started in March 2015, protecting the eurozone banks and markets.

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This article in Zeit Online tries to provide the facts behind Merkel's decision made in a period of 24-48 hours to let refugees marching towards Austria from Keleti station in Budapest, Hungary, September 5, 2015, to enter Germany. Other reports pointed out that too little time was given to make the decision and that it was purely done on humanitarian terms. And made during that short window of time, in which a decision had to be made to turn away the refugees going on foot for hundreds of miles or to turn them away. Given Germany's earlier history the choice was a difficult one but erred on the side of being humanitarian. Though Merkel's selfie with a refugee at a hostel on Sept 10, would seem to suggest otherwise, Merkel has said her decision was made with so little time and little opportunity to understand all the ramifications of this. It was not an open invitation to refugees to come to Germany. 

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This essay in the Economist magazine points out the special nature of the 2017 presidential election in France with the rejection of establishment candidates- Manuel Valls, Sarkozy, Juppe, and now Fillon. Fillon and Valls were prime ministers under Sarkozy and Hollande, from the Republican and Socialist parties respectively. With unemployment high in the areas outside the major cities their is a surge in support in these areas for the National Front. Emmanuel Macron, former Economy minister in the Hollande government, is the only candidate leading Marie Le Pen at this time. In a second round of voting he has to bring in centre right supporters and centre left voters and moderate voters, and appeal enough to working class voters, young unemployed people, offering hope for a better future to win this election against Le Pen. Economist magazine research shows support highest for Le Pen outside major cities in outlying areas, and for Macron in the major cities. There is also an education divide as seen in the U.S. election and Brexit referendum with less educated voters preferring the nationalist sentiment, church support sentiment fostered by the National Front.  ...

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Yannis Palaiologos, a journalist at Katherimini newspaper in Greece, gives his assessment of the situation in Greece before parliamentary elections in Jan. 2015. He says Samaras's New Democracy Party coalition with Pasok has lost momentum ever since the European parliamentary elections. Yet the left party coalition led by Alexis Tsipras is unlikely to win outright and will need to ally with the centrist parties or the Communists, even with the 50 seat bonus given to the winner under Greek election rules. Tsipras will need to ally with centrist parties and moderate his policies to stay in the eurozone. Chancellor Merkel has said a Greek exit will be manageable. A majority of Greeks want to stay in the eurozone, but find the high unemployment of 25% and steep decline in the economy with a loss of 25% of GDP under continuing austerity policies difficult to accept.