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Juan Carlos of Spain in his memoir in 2025- says about moving away from Spain to the UAE that it was to "help his son, and so that journalists cannot find me." The king remains popular with the Partido Popular and its support in the Madrid region, less popular in other parts of Spain, in the fractious nature of Spanish politics. There is a sharp contrast to how he was perceived in the years of transition to the EU in 1981 and the decade after that and today. The problems of the British royal family and Charles are seen in the perceptions of the Spanish royal family, the only two major monarchies in Europe.

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PM'S Questions UK Parliament, November 12 2025- on Labour and Reform UK performance on migration, governance and the economy. Keir Starmer answers questions from MP's in the British parliament. It comes as Conservatives shift to UK Reform and the Conservatives are at a new low in popularity, and the Labour Party revamps its migration policy so that it is closer to socialist prime minister Mette Frederiksen's policy in Denmark who has a successful policy to stop migrants and deport illegal migrants. Without this action by Labour to follow the US and Denmark it faces serious challenge from Reform UK in the north and east of England. 

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Oracle AI data centers spending 44% higher than estimates hurt its stock- AI alert. Oracle stock down 15%. The trade deficit of US lowest in 5 years at $53 billion in September 2025. It dropped during the pandemic 2020-2022 then went up, in anticipation of the Trump tairffs up to $136 billion in March 2025 then dropped to $50 billion in April 2025 and around that figure since. American exports of goods and services $289 billion and imports $342 billion in September 2025. It would still mean a trade deficit of $600 billion annualized figure for which tariffs  and bringing jobs factories home are strategies to bring it down.

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Faltering peace talks in Moscow December 2, 2025, after EU modifications of US/Russian draft developed by Witkoff with Putin adviser Dimitriev. Putin says European nations have modifed the plan and this is unacceptable to Russia. Putin says-

“All these changes are meant to do one thing. To block this entire peace process.” He said European nations were trying to hand Russia a strategic defeat. 

Because the proposals were drafted without Ukrainian involvement and involved conceding parts of eastern Ukraine there were serious doubts about the earlier plan from the EU and France, Germany, Britain.

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"Kurzarbeit" job preservation programs incorporate an idea that workers make up for less pay when a company is doing well by being paid and on the job when a company is doing poorly, leading to job preservation benefitting the employee and skills preservation benefitting the company. In 2013 in the throes of the eurozone crisis France passed a labor reform law and committed to improving competitiveness by adopting some ideas from its close neighbor and partner in the eurozone experiment, Germany. But experts say little has changed. France's unemployment is at a high of 10.4% in the third quarter 2014, according to the French statistics office Insee, with little prospect of economic growth in 2015. What happened? A report commissioned by the French and German governments from economists Jean Pisani-Ferry and Henrik Enderlein, says job preservation agreements in France are too strict and ineffective. Half a million more people are without jobs in Dec. 2014 compared to May 2012 when president Hollande took office. Insolvencies in France are 35% higher in 2014 than the average between 2003-2007, for Germany 31% lower, according to credit insurer Euler Hermes. Just in the 12 months to Sept 30, 63,000 companies in France were declared insolvent. Job preservation agreements have failed because other changes in the legal system are needed. Currently a company must prove to an employee council why it is reducing wages in a downturn. A small group of employees can still reject the agreement and ask for severance packages, leading to layoffs. The reforms were done in piecemeal fashion, say economists Jean Pisani-Ferry and Henrik Enderlein....

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Prof. Gorton and Prof. Metrick of the Yale School of Management review 16 scholarly studies and papers on the causes of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis in the current isue of the Journal of Economic Literature. Another article in the same journal reviews 21 books on the subject. Samuelson says the most cited causes- lax regulation and passive regulators, and the policy of home ownership that encourage the packaging and of securitization of mortgages to government sponsored agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac- are only the surface causes. If we are to explain how a whole society seemed to believe in the idea that somehow there was a way to maintain a rising tide continuously, with only small corrections over several decades, by the clever manipulation of monetary and fiscal policies; then one has to look to the hubris of economists who acted as if this was possible and the gullibility of business and a public that desperately wanted to believe as some have put it "that this time it was different," or that shrewd management of economic policy could actually bring about such a panacea. The abiding lesson is economic policies based on a better understanding of how modern industrial economies work are merely useful tools, no more no less, and there is no substitute for a good ethic, wise management and careful thinking on the part of the public, business and government, particularly for the people in leadership positions. ...

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Germany's deputy finance minister, Jorg Asmussen, was nominated by the German government to the executive board of the ECB. This follows the resignation of Jurgen Stark. Asmussen was originally appointed by the previous finance minister, Peer Steinbruck, and is from the SPD party. He was retained by Finance Minister Schaeuble because he had experience with the global financial crisis of 2008. Both Asmussen and the new Bundesbank president, Jens Weidmann, are students of Axel Weber, who was a professor before becoming central banker.

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Experts at the East-West Center in Honolulu, say China will add about 55 million barrels to its strategic reserves in 2012, which is another factor that will keep oil prices high in 2012. A number of new storage locations are coming on stream to store the additional reserves. China imported 5.57 millon barrels a day in March 2012, an increase of 8.7% from the prior year month. Oil imports for the 1st quarter of 2012 increased by 11% over the prior year quarter, according to China's General Administration of Customs. This is a much faster pace than imports in 2011, which increased by 6%. China is building its strategic reserves to reach a goal of 90 days supply similiar to the U.S. strategic reserves. Lu Tienan, director of China's National Energy Administration, said at a conference in the first week of April that current total oil stocks, including strategic and commercial are enough for 40 days. It is doing this in the face of higher oil prices, because of the threat of sanctions against Iran's nuclear program could lead to a cutoff of Iranian supplies. China's oil imports from Iran were 11% of total imports in 2011, making this an urgent priority for China. Estimates of the East-West Center are for crude oil imports at an average of 5.77 million barrels a day in 2012, an increase of 13% over 2011. International Energy Agency estimates are for China's total oil demand for 2012 to be 9.9 million barrels a day in 2012, an increase of 6% over 2011....

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Argentina's Kirchner government pressures soy farmers in the Pergamino region, north of Buenos Aires, to increase soy bean exports after a bumper crop. This is intended to maintain Argentina's international reserves of $29.5 billion in May 2014. Soy bean exports are likely to bring in an estimated $29 billion in 2014, making up about one third of exports.

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Labor Department reports U.S. created 209,000 jobs in July 2014. The unemployment rate goes up slightly to 6.2%. Wages went up only by a penny and remain only 2% higher than a year ago. Retail was up by 27,000 jobs, manufacturing by 28,000 in July. Economists say the steep drop in the unemployment rate to 6.2% does not reflect the true conditions in the labor market, as the labor force participation rate is at 62.9%. One economist called this disturbing as some of the youngest workers are dropping out of the labor force. The Alliance for American Manufacuring pointed out that the U.S. manufacturing sector has recovered only about 30% of jobs lost during the recession following the 2009 financial crisis. It said the the lack of investment in infrastructure, high trade deficits and currency manipulation by China and Japan, remain obstacles for American manufacturing's resurgence.

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Indian regulators, the Commission for Air Quality Management, closed 6 of the 11 coal fired electricity plants within 100 kilometers radius of New Delhi, as it battles toxic smog that has covered the city for about 2 weeks. Schools and colleges are closed till further notice, and entry of trucks is restricted till November 21. 

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Germany reaches daily coronavirus cases of 20,000 on November 4, with total 600,000 cases for a population of 83 million people. France reached 40,000 daily cases. Both countries are in a national lockdown for the second wave of coronavirus which is different from the first in that some parts of the economy remain open.

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The Spanish lockdown kept children inside homes till the easing recently. Children are shown playing outside with a sudden outburst of energy after all the weeks inside. This comes as a great release for parents and children. Simple things like going outside with kids to a park can define a new joy and happiness today.

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The National Health Service in Britain already had a backlog of 4.4 million cases in February 2020. It now has another 1.3 million added to this during the coronavirus interruptions of service. Estimates are for this to go up to 7.2 million by September. 3.5 million people will need an outpatient appointment this month as services restart.

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Massive tax relief of about $650 billion according to the Joint Committee on Taxation- in the U.S. economic package of $2 trillion -will help companies in the oil, aerospace, automobile,  airline and other industries ride out this coronavirus economic slump. They are designed to generate cash quickly for companies in this crisis.

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Lopez Obrador's Morena party lost its absolute majority in the lower house in Mexican elections, but will still retain about 290 seats out of 500 when parties allied with Morena and with the same direction are seen as working together on the president's agenda. Obrador called the elections "free and fair."

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Bay area officials in California in the San Francisco region are now asking residents to wear masks indoors and in crowded outdoor settings. One of the major problems in this pandemic in the US is the lack of consistent messaging. A consistent messaging would keep masks as an extra precaution knowing the risk from new variants.

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The suddenness of the wildfires in British Columbia in the village of Lytton, and the suddenness of the floods in western Germany, are a new aspect of worsening climate crisis. The wildfire in Lytton is described here in The Times- an inferno, an immense fireball that swept over the village in seconds. 

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The British trucking industry faces an acute shortage of drivers with coronavirus, aging workforce, and exodus of foreign workers after Brexit. As a result some supermarket shelves are empty and petrol stations across the UK had run out of gasoline for cars. One third of BP stations had run out of petrol by September 27.

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Effects of endless distractions of social media on mental health. Social Media is no way to get news. It is only about 10 years since it spread, and mostly for misinformation. There are better ways to use technology to get news information across to viewers as is being done here in Lyrarc.

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Gerald Seib writes in the WSJ that the immigration issue still acts as a divide in Trump's presidency. At least two other issues leave room for working with Congress and the opposite party. Democrats and the president are equally angry over drug prices. And infrastructure building is supported by Democrats and the president.

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With inflation running at 6.7% in Russia, the central bank has decided not to increase interest rates following the U.S. Fed's bond purchase tapering decision in Jan 2014. The ruble declined by 6% in Jan 2014 and 15% for the last year. With the economy slowing the central bank finds it difficult to raise interest rates, and with inflation the bank has less flexibility to lower rates and increase credit availability. The ruble's lower value is a result of a shrinking current account surplus, with the added effect of capital flight from markets seen as riskier by investors. Currency collapse is a sensitive issue for many Russians after the 1997 crisis and collapse of the ruble. Central bank chief Ms. Nabiullina was on television explaining the decline to ordinary Russians, saying- " It's not that the ruble is weakening but the dollar and the euro are rising in price." Economists say the ruble's weakening won't add as much to inflation as slowing demand will make it harder for retail chains to raise prices....

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New legislation that cleared Congress on helping homeowners about 400,000 homeowners avoid foreclosure. Congresspromises to get tough on lenders and loan servicers if they do work to honor what Congress has mandated. The Federal Housing Administration will run the program and it will insure upto $300 billion in refinanced 30 year fixed rate loans The mortgages cannot be for more than 90% of a home's newly appraised value. For mortgages that exceed that value the lender would have to voluntarily write down the principal to the qualifying level. If the home goes up in value the borrower must share newly created equity with the FHA. THe program begins October 1 and ends Sept 30, 2011. Borrowers will not qualify if they have intentionally defaulted on the loan or if they had a debt to income ratio of less than 31% as of March 1. This is the first serious effort by Congress and the Administration to work in bipartisan fashion to put a serious dent in the housing foreclosure levels which are at the root of the present financial crisis and Secreatary Paulson, Bernanke, and Barney Frank and others in Congress have helped support this effort which should eventually help the financail markets recover from failing mortgages that caused this crisis....

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The number of supercommuters is up significantly as a result of the drop in home prices and high unemployment. It is up 60% in Manhattan since 2002, up to 59,000 or 3% of the workforce. In the Philadelphia- New Jersey corridor- it is 7.3% according to NYU. Houston saw a large increase between 2002 and 2009. In Maricopa County near Phoenix, 131,000 people or 8.6% of the labor force supercommutes. About 13% of the workforce or 427,000 people supercommute in Texas. Prof. Mitchell Moss of New York University, defines a 100 mile plus commute to get to work as a supercommute. His work at NYU's Rudin Center for Transportation shows 1.15 million people supercommuting in 10 major U.S. metropolitan areas. Employers are showing flexibility not wanting to have to dispose off properties, and employees prefer not to uproot families.

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Churches across Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska are aided in their mission with savings from solar panels. Churches are taking advantage of the Climate Law that provides refunds for most of the cost of solar installations. The savings are being used for free meals for schoolchildren, aid to homeless shelters, and to mantain church gardens. Pastor Julia Brown of the Solomon's United Church of Christ in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, says it saved $70,000 installing 30 solar panels on the roof of the church that will be used for meals for these purposes.