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The strategies of the U.S. Justice Department in the probe into VW emissions cheating includes novel use of the civil financial fraud law Firrea. A multi front investigation is taking place, with each agency including the EPA and Justice Department, German prosecutors, all expanding their action to demonstrate effectiveness in enforcing the law. VW has set aside $7.3 billion for legal settlements and now admits to a "chain of mistakes," and a "culture of tolerance" for breaking rules leading to the cheating.

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There is a major shift in world opinion among major countries in Asia and Europe and North America moving negative by double digits in Pew research surveys. The shift is gradual and negative in Germany, France, Spain and Italy, and steeply negative in Sweden, Denmark, Britain and the U.S., Japan and South Korea. The people with negative views of China in world affairs are also the people who believe China did a bad job in handling the coronavirus.  In Australia in one year alone there is a 24% increase to 81% of people who see China unfavorably, in Britain this is a 19% increase in one year to 74%. In the U.S. the shift is over 4 years by 20% to negative views for 73% viewing China unfavorably or negatively. The shift in Canada is similar to the U.S. The biggest shift is in Japan where 86% view China unfavorably and Sweden where this is 85% after China handled Swedish relations poorly. See the color graphs in the original article in DW.com by clicking on original article here in Lyrarc.com. It is rare to see the such a dramatic shift in public perception of one country. The handling of the coronavirus by China in a way that hurt all countries with lack of transparency and total cooperation normally seen in pandemics and the cost in poverty and job losses, economic losses has resulted in a massive loss of confidence in China, and in the leadership of Xi Jinping. Most public opinion in these countries now believes that Jinping cannot be trusted to do the right thing in world affairs. ...

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New models introduced by Chrysler, Ford and GM, and the revitalization of the U.S. auto industry in 2011-2013.

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The issues related to India's borders all hinge on Tibet says the Council on Foreign Relations. Sardar Patel and Nehru had differences of their own on whether the McMahon Line set by the British in a treaty with Tibet as an independent country was the border with Tibet or the border with China.  Between 1913 and 1950 Tibet was an independent country, with an Indian High commissioner in Lhasa between 1947 and 1950. After the Cold War set in and China and the Soviet Union fought to defend the rights of colonial peoples the U.S. and Britain did not recognize Tibet as a part of China. Nehru simply remained with the British status quo of the McMahon line as the Indian border with Tibet, without any clear acceptance  of the invasion of Tibet in 1950 by China, yet accepting the new status quo after the invasion, differing from Sardar Patel on the issue. This is why no clear picture emerges from looking at the official positions of the two countries, and a better understanding can be gained by looking at the border issue from the Council of Foreign Relations in the U.S.   Essentially the border issue is not beneficial for what it gives back to each of the two countries. China sees itself rejecting the period of its weakness during the Japanese invasion so that it reasserts its position to borders that stretch outside where Chinese people live. India sees itself rejecting the weakness during the British period and the early post British period during which India was occupied with the issues relating to partition of British India and the partition of Kashmir. This is why the Council on Foreign Relations can provide a better understanding from and independent perspective.  Both sides have little to gain. China by being at the Tibetan border puts itself in a position where it has little to gain being on the border with a large rapidly industrializing country with a population of over 1 billion.  At over 4000 metres or 20,000 feet the territory and landscape is not one that humans can adapt too in any way, except for a few military personnel doing their term of duty of 6-12 months from India or China. China is even further away from the border as it is a remote border from Beijing, Shanghai, Canton or Chengdu, thousands of kilometres when it is just 8 hours from Srinagar by highway to Leh, Ladakh, and the Nepalese border very close to the Bihar state in India. The very distance suggests remoteness, with customs traditions in the region very different from that in China, suggesting very little connection between Beijing near Mongolia and Tibet or Ladakh very close to India by road or rail. To get some idea how close the Tibet border is to India consider that Rasuwagadhi Fort border point between Nepal and Tibet is only 127 miles by road from Kathmandu. The distance by rail from the Indian border in Bihar to the Nepalese border is only 34 kilometres with a new upgraded rail connection. Being this close India is likely to upgrade infrastructure throughout the northeast region as it upgrades infrastructure, roads and bridges and rail throughout India at an accelerated pace for economic development.     ...

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The problem of breakthrough infections requires people to follow all necessary prevention measures including social distancing, mask use, ventilation of indoor spaces, and hand washing, even if they are fully vaccinated. People who have taken vaccination very early in 2021 and have waning protection need a booster shot to build up immunity levels. Studies show that breakthrough infections can take place, making it all the more important to take all precautions.

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Federal Reserve proposals in Dec 2011 for large U.S. banks leave capital cushions at 5% of assets. This phases in the higher 7% of assets rule for capital reserves and a surcharge of upto 2.5% based on bank risk levels under new Basel III regulations for implementation in 2016.

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Tempelhof airport is chosen as place for additional housing space for thousands of refugees arriving in Berlin in 2015. Berlin is expecting 40,000 refugees under the quota system. Housing space is hard to find to accomodate refugees arriving in large numbers in September 2015. The airfield has been preserved by conservationists as a place for children to play frisbee and as outdoor park space. Now the hangars at Tempelhof can be used to create housing space as winter approaches and tents become inadequate. During the Berlin Airlift 200,000 flights by the air force of U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa, participated in sending food and medical supplies to the people of Berlin when the Soviets blockaded Berlin on April 1, 1948 till May 12, 1949. It was lifted when it was clear as much in supplies were delivered by air as before the blockade. As this time Germany takes on a similiar humanitarian challenge the memories of that period provide inspiration for the effort.

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The India- U.S. trade deal after the negotiations and the visit of the Indian prime minister to the U.S. is expected to take additional time. The U.S. wanted to see a 20% duty on mobile phones and ethernet switches to be reduced, greater access to the Indian market for medical devices such as stents and knee implants, and greater access for dairy, agricultural products. Making these products affordable in India is a goal of the government preventing it from making concessions. India wants preferential access to the U.S. market as a developing country restored under the Generalized System of Preferences.  A comprehensive trade deal would have to include issues of intellectual property, e-commerce, and the sensitive issue of H1B visas. Commerce minister Piyush Goyal led negotiations for India and Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the two sides "narrowed" down their differences. India's Jio from Reliance Group has hugely reduced the price of mobile phones and mobile data making it accessible with 4G across the country at prices that are the lowest in the world. The introduction of a universal health care program requires bringing down the price of medical products to improve access to modern medicine. This means less room for American products that would increase the price and reduce access in a vast developing country. India is also playing catchup in these technologies so that there is less room for unrestricted entry in the Indian market.  Efforts were made to increase trade and investment in India with the help of Mr. Bloomberg during the visit of the prime minister, and the Bill Gates Foundation continued its commitment to public welfare gains in India in the fields of sanitation, hygiene and healthcare.  ...

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Steps the US has taken to not let the war escalate even as it arms Ukraine to be able to defend itself. The goal being to defend Ukraine and seek a settlement as quickly as possible with Russia. Biden, Macron and Scholz have talked to Putin in the last few weeks as the winter war drags on with no one gaining from this war. 

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Marie Le Pen's National Front Party gets only 8 seats in France's parliament following the second round of voting. It will not have enough seats to form its own parliamentary group. After winning about one third of the votes in the presidential election Marie Le Pen will not have enough seats in parliament to act as opposition leader. Marie Le Pen will represent the industrial constituency of Henin-Beaumont in northern France. Many voters from the parties on the right and the left decided not to vote in the parliamentary elections giving smaller representation to all parties, with a sharp drop for the Socialist and Republican parties. The big gainer in this situation was the En Marche party of  president Macron. For the first time younger members were elected with average age around 40-ish and 38% of parliamentary seats going to women, which is seen as a positive factor in the results. By giving Macron a solid majority in parliament the French people chose to give the government the ability to implement its program for reviving the economy, and reducing the gap between rural areas, industrial towns and large metropolitan areas such as Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux.   ...

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Rebuilding in Ukraine is focused on destroyed bridges and infrastructure as Russia continues to destroy apartment blocks, and targets the electricity grid.  Many of the apartment blocks destroyed outside Kviv in Irpin in this story are hard to rebuild because of the constant attacks most recently with hypersonic missiles that are hard to detect. A couple fled from Donetsk, settled in Irpin in a new apartment only to have to flee again after a Russian missile attack left their apartment building in ruins. How do you build in the midst of a war is the question Ukrainians ask themselves every day. About 150,000 apartment buildings and half the electricity grid is destroyed, so also 1500 schools and 20,000 kilometres of roads. It would cost $350 billion to repair. It would require policy decisions on what quality of building materials and how many to apartment buildings to build and how quickly.

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Tim Cook is interviewed by Jenna McGregor of The Washington Post. He describes the problems he faces running Apple. He had expected Jobs to stay on as  chairman to continue leading the company even after the illness. Cook thought Jobs would "bounce" back. The death of Jobs was a big blow for Cook. Cook describes taking advice from Jobs's wife Lucerne at key moments. For tax issues before Congress he talked to Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, on political issues with Bill Clinton, and on personal issues with Anderson Cooper of CNN. The books he is reading include Mohandas Gandhi's "The Story of My Experiments with Truth," that he found at the Gandhi Ashram in Gujarat, India, on a recent visit. 

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As the ECB reduces its monthly purchases under its QE program to 60 billion euros from 80 billion euros starting in April 2017, the initial market reaction was that quantitative easing was going out. This says Barley is not the case, and markets are overreacting. The ECB is now ready to buy bonds yielding less than the deposit rate. The ECB promised to extend purchases to Dec. 2017 or further. Look deeper says Barley and ECB forecasts headline inflation at 1.7% in 2019, less than 2% target. So continued QE made sense but at a lower pace. In the end it is the flow that matters not the stock of purchases, says Barley.

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China inflation of 1% in 2026 after 3 years of deflationary cycle with overproduction and low domestic demand following housing construction collapse.

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Intense emotion as the bells of Notre Dame ring in Paris after the renovation from the 2019 fire for the first time. A test that went on for 5 minutes. December 7 and 8 will have ceremonies for this opening. 14-15 million visitors are expected in 2025.

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Toyota benchmarks a production method of using MQB platform introduced by VW in 2012, and adopts it for its New Global Architecture for manufacturing plants. The method allows production of multiple models in one plant, and even on one production line, reducing costs by about 30%. The Prius and the Lexus will be made using this method, and Toyota will shift half its production to the new method by 2020.

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Sector by sector infrastructure reviews chaired by the prime minister have resumed as the coronavirus cases fall below 50,000 a day on June 26. The prime minister has done a detailed review from a few ministries including transport and civil aviation. Before the pandemic such reviews were done every quarter. A separate presentation by each sector is given to the full council of ministers so that all ministers are aware of the problems and how they are tackled by each ministry.

Before the second wave of the pandemic the prime minister had met with private industry partners in infrastructure development to push forward with significant progress. The task now is for quick implementation so that time lost from the second wave can be made up.

 

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Questions about the wisdom of Exxon's moves against Venezuelan oil company Petroleos de Venezuela- taking it to court for taking a majority interest in 4 big oil projects managed previously by large western oil companies. Responding to Venezuelan public concerns about the deterioration in the oil production and development in Venezuela, President Chavez is negotiating with Shell and Total to bring in technical expertise and capital from western oil companies, while working at the same time with Petrobras and other national oil companies from China and Russia to develop its heavy oil assets. With Brazil facing capital needs for its own huge offshore Tupi oil field discovery, the $10 billion that is needed for developing the Carabobo oil field in the Orinoco will have to be financed with other foreign help and expertise. Petroleos Venezuela cannot rely solely on other national oil companies as it had thought it could do before. With things changing in Venezuela, and possibly even a new more friendlier government in future elections, has Exxon found itself on the outside when the European oil companies can build their presence in Venezuela?...

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Australian anthropologist Genevieve Bell heads a group of 75 people at Intel Labs working to figure out all the ways technology affects people and society. Here she talks to NYT's Quentin Hardy. She says there are three areas in which technology is changing the way we live, and act, and our relationship to society. Like electrification the digital revolution is changing the concept of time, introducing new ideas about availability and response time. Here she points out the need to leave some parts of the day for disconnectedness, to preserve quiet time in our lives for recharging and getting a sense of who and where we are. Then there is the idea of space, of imaginary space when connecting to people in distant places, and physical space such as at airports and public places with wifi and internet to connect. After space and time come social relationships, about relating to one's fellow human beings. With this comes ideas of privacy, security and risk. With changes in how we view time, space and social relationships, comes anxiety. Social movements are likely to develop around ideas of government and governance, on issues such as what it means to be unequal and denied economic opportunity, when the digital revolution itself is opening up new visions of what is possible, just as electrification did at the turn of the twentieth century....

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Observers describe the new Pope, Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina, as a person of overwhelming authenticity and compassion for the poor. The selection comes at a time when there is increasing global inequality and a period of slow growth and recession in many countries, particularly in Europe. His message should resonate with people in many countries.

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Changpeng Zhao, Binance founder is pardoned in 2025 as crypto financing enters US politics.