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This report in Der Spiegel shows how the efforts to act on climate change are stalled in Germany with the failure to agree on how coal fired plants will be closed in the ongoing three party negotiations. The FDP party is pro-business and no agreement is reached with the Greens and the CDU on how to move ahead with the 65% of German power plants that do not rely on renewable energy such as solar and wind. Modern gas facilities are unprofitable making this a major challenge for Germany to cut power emissions under the Paris Climate Change Agreement and German targets of the Merkel government. Spiegel points out that energy companies are not keen on keeping the old coal power plants which are now outdated and an agreement is needed.

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Supreme Court nominee Kavanuagh has shown a pro-business tilt on many issues. On net neutrality he favored telecom and IT companies. On a ruling on the Consumer Protection Bureau he empowered the president to fire the director on the legal reasoning that there should be several commissioners running the agency. The Net Neutrality ruling from the Obama years was overturned by president Trump, the Consumer Protection Bureau continues to have a Director. On other issues such as Clean Air Act he overturned a ruling. He also defended the rights of pharmaceutical companies vs. the FDA.

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The EU Commission's first Vice President, Frans Timmerman, says it is ready to act against Poland under Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty that protects the rule of law and independence of the judiciary. This would strip Poland of its EU voting rights. Poland's new law lets the government appoint judges letting it control the judiciary.   Timmerman said the Polish laws are "a systematic threat to the rule of law."

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LBJ who made the Obama nomination possible with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and LBJ's own mostly anti civil rights record in line with his Southern support base in his 20 years in Congress before 1965. Robert Caro who has written biography of LBJ writes about LBJ and those times.

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The Indian Supreme Court on July 27 upholds the core amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)  which gives the enforcement authority, the Enforcement Directorate ED, the powers to make summons, arrest, and other powers to enforce the law. The Supreme Court called the PMLA a law against "the scourge of money laundering." After independence in 1947 some of the problems that Mohandas Gandhi witnessed in the early Congress party ministries allowed by the British in the 1930's became a part of the political fabric as accepted ways of operating. It is only in the last decade that these practices have come to be seen as inconsistent with the development of the country and ones that would have been rejected outright by Mohandas Gandhi as inconsistent and repelling to his India of Hind Swaraj. In a 545 page judgement the Special Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkarm Dinesh Maheshwari, and CT Ravikumar, stated that- "This is a sui generis (unique) legislation... The Parliament enacted the Act as a result of the international commitment to sternly deal with the menace of money laundering of proceeds of crime having transnational consequences." Mohandas Gandhi would be appalled by how elected ministries operated in the India that followed in the first decades after 1947. Not only were some of the basic principles of honest government being violated, it was being done with such impunity that over time it crept into the culture of how things operated in India, destroying any confidence the people had in the responsibilities of government and its ability to deliver on those responsibilities. The Supreme Court has now taken up the task of restoring some of the integrity of Gandhi's Hind Swaraj with its statement that- "Money laundering is an offence against the sovereignty and integrity of the country." Money laundering the SC says is "every process and activity", direct or indirect dealing with the proceeds of crime. Justice Khanwilkar wrote: "Today, if one dives deep into the financial systems, anywhere in the world, it is seen that once a financial mastermind can integrate the illegitimate money into the bloodstream of an economy, it is almost indistinguishable. In fact the money can simply be wired abroad at one click of the mouse. It is well known that once this money leaves the country, it is almost impossible to get it back. Hence a simplistic argument  that Section 3 (offence of money laundering) should only find force once the money has been laundered, does not commend to us."   ...

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600,000 knee replacement surgeries a year in the US and 30 million suffering from osteoarthritis. The Wash. Post looks at new options which include use of coral that can repair the cartilage in a knee. The coral is part of Agili-C approved by US FDA and developed by CartiHeal. It is made from a calcium carbonate that is derived from exoskeletons of coral that act as a scaffold in the body to help regenerate bone and tissue, says the Washington Post in this article.

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Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican Majority leader in the U.S. Senate has come up with a new health care bill that is aimed at winning over reluctant Republican Senators. Two taxes on high income people on 3.8% investment income and a payroll tax of 0.9% on incomes over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples are retained in this version of the bill, which adds $231 billion over a decade. Some of this is used to offset rising premiums in the new bill, and provide additional funds. The deep cuts to Medicaid are retained and Senator Collins of Maine says she is opposed to the new bill because this will hurt people in rural areas of Maine, and does nothing to change this. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is also opposed to the bill. Opposition comes from moderate Senators opposed to deep cuts to Medicaid in Republican health care alternatives to president Obama's Affordable Care Act, and from conservative Senators opposed for other reasons.  Senator Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana introduced their own version just minutes before Mitch McConnell brought up his revised bill. All Democratic Senators are opposed to the Republican bill and call the deep cuts to Medicaid disastrous for lower income people.  ...

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As the US asserts the Monroe Doctrine we show here what TR (Teddy Roosevelt) said about the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine in his Annual Messageto Congress in 1904- for the good of the American continent following the principles of good government the US had learned from Britain in the centuries before 1700. "A great free people owes it to itself and to all mankind not to sink into helplessness before the powers of evil." "It is not true that the United States feels any land hunger or entertains any projects as regards the other nations of the Western Hemisphere save such as are for their welfare. All that this country desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count upon our hearty friendship. If a nation shows that it knows how to act with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no interference from the United States. Chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power." ...

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The need for a global response to a global problems not a lot of local solutions is the subject of this article by Dr. Larry Brilliant, who for 7 years 1973-80 worked with the World Health Organization to eradicate smallpox globally. 1. Action for a global response-The WHO can act as the vehicle for action globally-  restructure it and empower it to do the job. Put the right people in place who have the confidence globally. Set a new pandemic treaty and put it in place. 2.  Get a more advanced version of the mRNA vaccine which does not need a cold chain. India is reportedly working on one. Put funds and people in place for vaccine drives in poor countries.  Other action needed is learning from the situation in South Africa where the HIV patients are reported by Stephanie Nolan in NYT to have been more susceptible to mutations of the new variant. How can resources be put in place in poor countries so that patients in vulnerable populations get their medicines regularly, and are vaccinated. Overall how can these populations have the vaccine supplies needed- including ones without cold chain suggested by Larry Brilliant, potentially through vaccine work in India. Can international teams be developed with developed countries in Europe and US financing the effort and India offering its manpower and knowhow?   ...

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The 22 states that formed the state of Rajasthan 22 months after independence in 1947 were part of the Rajputana Agency under the British Empire in India. It spanned 330,000 square kilometres with an agent under the Governor General in charge at Mount Abu. All had Hindu rulers except Tonk and most of them were Rajput except for Jat rulers in Bharatpur and Dholpur. These states were not affected by the 1857 revolt against British rule because they remained loyal to the British. Sardar Patel, deputy prime minister, headed the States Ministry with VP Menon as Secretary. The integration to form the new state happened in stages. The first union was the Matsya Union of Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur, Karauli, at the eastern edge of the Rajputana Agency by March 18, 1948. Nine other states near Udaipur in the south east merged to form the Rajasthan Union by March 25, 1948. On March 30, 1949, Patel pulled in 4 states bordering Pakistan, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Jaipur, and Bikaner into Greater Rajasthan. The Matsya Union was merged into this state. In 1956 under States Reorganization Act Ajmer was added from federal rule and Abu Taluk was integrated into Rajasthan. ...

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For the first time since independence in 1947 India gets a Master Plan for infrastructure development in the whole country.  All federal government ministries are pulled together under one roof. Ministries will coordinate their plans for infrastructure development. Specific investments, specific delivery times, real time monitoring will be done through digital technologies under a single master plan. Railways, highways and roads, waterways transport, energy, telecom broadband and other modal connectivity will now be done in one plan with all federal and state ministries pulled into the master plan. This will produce network effects with today's digital technologies as this has never been tried before in the world. Logistics costs of 14% of product cost will be cut by 6% to 8% under the new logistics frameworks set through this plan and the investments to be made of 100,000 crore rupees. This will boost exports and manufacturing as the new supply chains restructured after the pandemic attract foreign investment to India. For this Indian industry, universities, and federal plus state governments have to act in a coordinated way under a single plan, which will happed for the first time under Gati Shakti.   ...

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New offices, making them less awful, (NO-LA) this is the trend says this report in WSJ. Reopened offices are opening on a voluntary basis. How will they attract employees back?  Try sweeping views, new yoga and wellness areas, "tech-free reflection zones,"  more conference rooms. This report looks at spaces by Accenture and other companies. Accenture adds sweeping views of the Hudson river, access to an outdoor terrace. The idea is to act as a pull, rather than a push. Unilever is changing offices into destination spaces where employees will come and work in 40% of the time. Salesforce is moving out desks to add more couches, TV's and whiteboards for teams. More offices are building spaces for 60% collaboration, up from 40% previously. Sanofi in Paris is adding options for breakfast, early dinner.  Other ideas are engagement days if workers are coming in only a few days a month. At Hightower this means one set day in the office a week, two engagement days a month for collaborative work. And workers are allowed to not coming one month a year and work from anywhere they choose.  ...

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An Indian born researcher takes on the mission of saving German forests and making them more resilient to climate change. Somidh Saha is at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. In this video from DW.com he shows what is being done in Germany to protect forests.  Woodlands are under threat worldwide from urbanization and industry. About 80% of German trees are not in good health according to a German government study. Damage is shown being done by the bark beetle to trees already weakened for other reasons including drought. Saha says one has to be careful in evaluating how much of a country's space is healthy forests. In India he says it is sometimes said that 21% is forest land. Yet this includes plantations of many kinds- tea, rubber, coconut and so on. The healthy part of forests of high quality and suited to wildlife is a much smaller part of India. The COP26 in Glasgow was unique in one way- for the first time a zero deforestation target was set for the world. World leaders promised to end deforestation by 2030. Protecting forests protects the planet from climate change as forests act like a carbon sink.   ...

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Ms. Le Pen of the National Front called her going into the second round runoff against Macron's En Marche movement, "an act of French pride." Emmanuel Macron has his own way of looking at this. As this NYT editorial points out Macron says his is a movement "of patriots fighting the threat of nationalism." At his rallies and the rally following coming out the front runner in the first round of elections Macron is shown with people waving French flags all around him. The message- that in today's world of global cooperation for economic progress nationalist feeling has to be balanced with healthy cooperation and integration into the regional community, the European Union. That he is a patriot who also has in him a feeling for the communities in his wider region. That real economic progress can only be achieved working in cooperation with neighboring countries and regional community, and around new ideas for renewal.

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On world tuberculosis day the work of Dr. Zarir Udwadia is acclaimed for drawing attention to a resurgent tuberculosis in India through a medical journal article in 2012 for untreatable TB. India has 2.8 million new TB cases annually, 100,000 being drug resistant, according to WHO. India relies on outdated diagnostic tests that miss about 50% of the cases and Dr Udwadia says India needs newer technologies including GeneXpert tests. TB can be easily treated at a cost of $5 with 4 drugs over 6 months if done in time. Wrong drugs, incorrect doses, irregular medication, lets the TB bacteria become resistant causing havoc- leading to taking of 250 injections and 15000 pills treated for upto 2 years and costing thousands of dollars, with the toxicity of the drugs levels creating risks of deafness, blindness, kidney failure, and psychotic conditions. Crowded conditions in slum areas act as an incubator of the disease and infection rates, with 20 people being infected by one patient alone. ...

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Criticism in China of president Xi Jinping mounts as the tariff war with the U.S. Trump administration escalates. The recent vote in the People's Congress abolishing term limits also comes under criticism.

Some of the criticism comes from the view that president Jinping adopted too high profile a role for China with the "Made in China 2025" and other policy that suggested China was trying to supplant the U.S. These critics suggest China should have adopted a low profile in such matters. Under previous administrations China preferred to act in a cooperative way. The issue about artificial islands in the South China Sea aggravated sensibilities of western nations without adding much to China's security, being another issue that disturbed U.S. relations with China.

 

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This analysis in the Wall Street Journal shows North Korea gaining from the cancellation of the meeting with North Korean leader Kim by president Trump. This makes the U.S as being less keen on dialogue. North Korea responded in a subdued tone saying it is willing to continue talks, and praised Mr. Trump's initial openness.

North Korea is seen as benefiting as China may have gained some leverage in how much it will act in enforcement of strict sanctions policies that pressured North Korea. North Korea has its nuclear facilities intact and has gained positive publicity from the Olympics and the meetings with South Korean leader Mr. Moon. North Korea sees the recent moves as its effort to be recognized as a nuclear power state, and is seen as continuing to follow this policy

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Efforts to ramp up the actions on stopping illegal migration in the EU after the US president describes the shaky situation in Europe. EU ministers agree on centralized list of safe states to return migrants- Bangladesh, India, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. EU plans to downgrade trade ties with countries that do not cooperate. The idea of return hubs outside the EU are proposed by Denmark. Denmark is now working with UK to help the UK develop a Denmark style policy that cuts down illegal migration after the unrest in Britain over asylum hotels. Failure to act quickly and have a comprehensive approach that works to reduce illegal migrants across borders can lead to governments such as the UK being voted out for other parties with strong anti-immigration stance as the mood shifts in Europe.

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U.S. Supreme Court nominee BrettKavanaugh, a Court of Appeals judge in the District of Columbia, could affect the Mueller investigation and issues of pardon, because of his expansive views of the presidency. He was part of the Kenneth Starr investigation of president Clinton. During that investigation he pursued it vigorously but later his opinion was that the president should be not distracted from his important duties, and should have some freedom from being prosecuted. For this reason it is not clear how he would act in the Mueller investigation. President Trump could have considered this when he selected Kavanaugh, says this report.

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The movement for Catalan independence is stronger in smaller towns in the interior of Catalonia. In Barcelona feelings are mixed, and it is possible that Barcelona would vote against independence. The city's leftist Mayor Ada Colau, says Barcelona is a pluralistic city with many opinions and is not pro-independence in the way the rest of Catalonia is. One reason is the cosmopolitan look of Barcelona with some of the residents coming from other parts of Spain. Prof. Bartomeus of the University of Barcelona says the support for independence is low in Barcelona compared to the rest of the Catalan region. 

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BP makes a final settlement with the states and the U.S. government for the Gulf oil spill. Of the $18.7 billion settlement in July 2015, the Clean Air Water Act penalty is $5.5 billion, the Natural Resource Damages are $7.3 billion, the 400 local government claims are $1 billion, the economic claims to 5 states are $4.9 billion, according to BP. Most of the money goes to the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Florida, for environmental improvement and economic development. Louisiana gets $6.8 billion. The settlement comes after court rulings went against BP. BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, says it provides -" A path to closure for BP and the Gulf. It resolves the last remaining legal exposures, provides clarity on costs." BP shares were up 5.1%, and Fitch Ratings say this strengthens its ratings. For BP this adds $10 billion in cost to $44 billion already incurred for legal and cleanup costs.

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Tesco plans to hire 20,000 new employees to help improve the shopping experience at Tesco stores in Britain. This would also act as a"shot in the arm" for the UK economy, says Tesco UK CEO, Richard Brasher. Official figures show 2.67 millon people in Britain are unemployed, with unemployment at 22% for young people ages 16-24.

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France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain agreed to have automatic exchange of information for offshore accounts to fight tax evasion. Luxembourg agreed to join this group. The EU nation move follows the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2010 which requires foreign banks and entities to disclose accounts of U.S. citizens, in an effort to fight tax evasion.

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Anat Admati, is a professor of finance and economics at Stanford University School of Business. He says banks should depend on generating 30% of their assets from equity, something the banking industry of today in the U.S. and Europe considers heretical. More of the bank's assets should come from equity and much less from borrowed funds. Outside of banking healthy corporations in the U.S. carry debt at about 70% of assets and there is no reason banks should not do the same. In 2013 says Admati, the situation is not much different from that after the 2008 global financial crisis- large banks carry liabilities and debt at over 90% of their assets. The $2.2 trillion in debt at JP Morgan Chase bank is about 91% of assets of $2.4 trillion. Basel III regulations allow banks to borrow upto 95% of assets, and proposed banking regulations in the U.S. put this at 95%, with the way this is measured still being debated. At such high levels of debt the margin of error is small, and systemic risk which is high in a globally interconnected banking system means the whole banking system can freeze from one large bank going into failure such as Lehman Brothers. This happened in 2008 and the margin of error is still small, which is why global banking is such a high wire act with the U.S. Federal Reserve, the ECB and other central banks issuing regular warnings and regulators faced with the task of keeping the banking system in check through vigilance and investigations of banks violating laws. How much difference has Dodd-Frank legislation in the U.S. made after 2008? Jason from Atlanta says in response to Admati's article, that the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 was 37 pages and the banking system did not freeze up in the way it did in 2008 for the rest of the twentieth century until its repeal. The 879 page Dodd-Frank legislation of 2011 is overly voluminous and still leaves 243 rules to be written by regulators in consultation with the financial industry. Banks are larger now than they were in 2008 and have an outsized influence in shaping the rules, leaving the U.S. Federal Reserve's supervisory committee and Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo with the job of somehow keeping banks out of trouble. JP Morgan Chase, Admati reminds readers, has $2.4 trillion in assets as of June 30, 2013, and debts of $2.2 trillion, with $1.2 trillon in deposits and $ 1 trillion in other debt owed to money market funds, other banks, bondholders and the like. ...