LyrArc Article Gist
Hauslohner describes the situation in Egypt after the ouster of president Morsi by the military in July 2013- the old order from the Mubarak regime is back. Gen. Sissi is deputy prime minister and controls the government and the military plays a critical role as before the elections.

LyrArc Article Gist
WSJ's Vibhuti Agarwal and Shan Li describe the situation of families in New Delhi during the coronavirus surge that is affecting India in April, 2021. WSJ says the outbreak in India has implications for the world- threatening to extend the duration of the pandemic into 2022, with the possibility of new mutations bringing new dangers from the virus. Public complacency, relaxation of restrictions and failures in compliance with covid protocols after weariness with the long social and economic isolation, elections, and the force of a new variant, have led to the situation in India, with over 300,000 cases of infections daily.

LyrArc Article Gist
The CBI Institute of Directors and the British Chamber of Commerce tell The Times that there is no desire for massive deregulation in Britain. Jonathan Portes, professor at Kings College, London, even calls the Singapore comparison, that Britain would even resemble a low cost Asian economy "a fantasy."

Britain spends 35% of GDP on public services, Singapore spends 14% on public services. After Covid experts call this a sheer stretch of the imagination. More likely Britain could enhance growth through its interconnections with a rapidly growing Indian economy, with which it has strong ties of history, immigration and culture.

LyrArc Article Gist
Yahoo's uncertain future as Board members differ with CEO Marissa Mayer on the right strategy. Mayer sees Yahoo's turnaround as taking more time and this not being the right time to look for a buyer. And the Board saying Mayer has run out of time for the turnaround.

LyrArc Article Gist
UBS interim CEO Ermotti's career in investment banking and efforts to move UBS away from investment banking.

LyrArc Article Gist
VW's labor costs at its new plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will be $27 an hour in wages and benefits, according to analysts. The comparable cost for Detroit automakers and Toyota and Honda plants is $52 an hour. Over three years VW is expected to increase this to about $38 an hour, according to the Center for Automotive Research, Ann Arbor, Mich. This will enable VW to price the larger version of the Passat it will make in Tennessee at $20,000, instead of the current price of 28,000.

LyrArc Article Gist
Chancellor Scholz attends the Netherlands- Germany men's hockey final and says he is inspired by how our French friends conducted the Olympics. He says Germany will bid for 2040 Olympics. 

LyrArc Article Gist
WSJ reporters Chow, Schechner and Kostov provide this exceptional report from the 11th Arondissement in France, scene of the terrorist attacks in Nov. 2015, describing the conflicting visions of French society- one secular and the other in other parts of the country anti-immigrant. The National Front of Marie Le Pen sees immigration as "a mortal threat to France" and won about 25% of the vote in France in the 2014 European parliament elections, a first for a anti-immigrant party in Europe. It did very well in rural areas and small towns of northwest France and southern France. The debate on immigration is now dominating headlines in Europe, including Denmark, Norway, Germany, France, Rumania, Hungary, and other countries. The Syrian refugee crisis has exacerbated the situation.

LyrArc Article Gist
During this coronavirus pandemic SOuthwest Airlines in the U.S. is expanding its network and adding new airports to its flights. Four more in 2020 and six more in 2021.

LyrArc Article Gist
Laurent Bonadei says of this German team as they fended off repeated French attempts at goal over the first 90 minutes- “Germany deserves their qualification because they defended very well. Usually we manage to create more chances. We were against a team that was very smart. There was no panic from them – we wanted to get them to panic but it didn’t happen.” It was a game of sheer chaos starting with a bizarre hair pull by Katherine Hendrichs of the German team leading to a red card, and two goals for France not given because of offside decisions by umpires, and two penalty kicks for fouls. Not to mention a saved own goal by Anne-Katrin Berger that was something sensational to watch.Berger faced constant French attempts on goal for 90 minutes as France controlled the ball 70% of the time. Somehow the German team with 10 players held its defense together. Berger's soft spoken style stands out- “All the credit should go to the team, not me. Everybody here should talk about the performance of the team.” ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Republican Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell has differences with Mr. Trump. He made this clear in recent years on many issues and has remained silent on the Trump indictment. He is the senior senator from Kentucky.

LyrArc Article Gist
The revised AIG rescue plan helps banks recover some of their losses on collateralized debt obligations and helps AIG by cancelling the credit default swaps it wrote on these CDO's, and thus helps shore up the financial system. This is what happened. During the boom period banks bought protection from the insurer AIG on securities backed by now-troubled mortgage assets. These securities are called CDO's or collateralized debt obligations backed by subprime mortgage bonds, commercial mortgage loans and other assets. Banks in the US, and Europe bought credit default swaps on these securities from AIG, and AIG promises to compensate them if the securites default. Now with the housing and the credit crisis the values of these CDO's plummet, banks go to AIG and AIG has to provide them collateral to help cover these losses of the banks. AIG ends up giving $35 billion in collateral to the banks including Goldman, Merrill, UBS, Deutsche Bank and others. The continuing fall in value of the CDO's meant AIG had to give more and more collateral to the banks leaving AIG severly exposed, which is along with other problems on its accounting books when the government stepped in in early October to bailout AIG with loans, with interest rates that became punitive for AIG leaving it in a struggling condition. What does the new revised plan do. It eases conditions on the interest rates and the New York Fed puts $30 billion of its money to buy the multisector CDO's at market prices averaging 50 cents to the dollar and AIG provides an additional $5 billion. With than one action banks get to recover their $35 billion and AIG gets to cancell its credit default swaps on these CDO's, in effect freeing AIG from thses swaps that were creating a hemorrhaging effect as it had to keep posting more and more collateral to banks, and banks got to recover the money on CDO's. In effect helping shore up the financial system. There are other problems at AIG but this was the biggest and most draining, and it helps AIG protect its other businesses, and banks get to put this dismal chapter behind them. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This article was inspired by NASA's Visualization Studio and Harry Stevens shows in the Washington Post how carbon dioxide builds up in the air in real time through months of the year over the earth.

LyrArc Article Gist
The loss of support of tribes in Anbar province, as Islamic State targets tribal leaders and officials who supported U.S. sponsored Awakening Councils during the presidency of George Bush. Many of the gains of that period are diminished with the lack of trust of Sunni tribal leaders in the Shiite led Iraqi government. For the tribes that are fighting Islamic State the Iraqi government is hesitant to provide support believing the arms will later be used against it. The U.S. government is also hesitant to increase its involvement. The Islamic state has alienated Sunni tribes supporting it because of its violent methods. These tribes support Islamic State because of a lack of alternatives and because of money paid to them by Islamic State.

LyrArc Article Gist
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are emerging as large arms buyers. Saudi Arabia spent $80 billion on arms purchases in 2014, more than France or Britain, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The Emirates spent $23 billion, triple the amount spent in 2006. Qatar made a $11 billion deal in 2014 for air defense systems and helicopters. It is looking for F-15 fighter jets to replace its fleet of older Mirage jets. Lockheed plans to replace smaller Pentagon sales by increasing global arms sales to 25-30%, according to CEO Marillyn Hewson. It has setup a separate division for foreign military sales.

LyrArc Article Gist
The uncertainty that hangs over Iraq after the American withdrawal. Religious reconciliation and sectarian reconciliation is fragile. There is a push for autonomy in the provinces. There is a fear of Iranian backed militias in some areas. A prominent Iraqi singer says "all of Iraq is sad."

LyrArc Article Gist
An Ottawa native, Andrew Scheer, 38 years old, representing the state of Saskatchewan, is elected leader of the Conservatives in Canada by winning about 51% of the vote from 141,000 party members votes.  He is a former Speaker of the House of Commons. Scheer put less emphasis on social issues such as same sex marraige and abortion, basing his campaign on the idea of being less negative and strident than Mr Harper, the previous leader who lost the 2015 election to the liberals under Trudeau. Scheer opposes carbon taxes, and emphasized putting potential immigrants through testing for "Canadian values."