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Since 2007 Applle has sold 50 million units of the Apple iPhone, making it Apple's largest business. With the New iPhone 4 analysts expect Apple to sell about 37 million phones in the fiscal year to September 2010. This would be a 79% increase over the 20.7 million sets sold in the prior year. And of global sales analysts say about 55% of sales for the iPhone are from outside the US, compared to 25% 2 years ago. There is a lot of excitement among iPhone fans waiting in line at Apple stores in Europe and Japan, long before the stores opened.

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Telefonica offers part of its dividend in shares to conserve cash and considers IPO listings for operations in Germany and Latin America. Earnings decline by 54% in the first quarter of 2012. Shares have lost over 30% in 2012. Net debt is 57 billion euros, larger than its market capitalization and forecast at 2.7 times Ebitda. JP Morgan estimates show that sale of call center Atento for 1 billion euros, and stakes in in China Unicom and O2 in the Czech Republic could bring an additional 6 billion euros, which would bring debt down to 2 times Ebitda.

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Compared to 2008 Hillary Clinton is now very clear that she will stand up for woman's issues openly- "it is about no ceilings, no limits, for any of us." About playing the women's card she says "deal me in." One of the paradoxes of this election season is that white women registered voters 35 to 64 years of age have shown less enthusiasm for Hillary, around 34-36 percent in polls such as the NBC-WSJ poll. Interestingly the figure climbs to 66 percent for ages 18-34, and to 56 percent for ages over 64, for all women. Experts attribute this to the fact that women over 35 are facing fewer barriers than the women over 64 who remember the hard won battles for women's rights when it was hard for women to get a credit card or run for office, or be promoted in business. Traditional career choices were being teachers or nurses. A lot has changed in the last 20 years, and this has left some women who are no longer facing such barriers turning to other issues to choose their candidate such as happened in their enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders. Overall for all women registered voters  Hillary gets 52 percent support, Trump 37 percent, according to a July 2016 NBC/WSJ poll.   ...

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Germany's biggest bank Deutsche Bank is described here in WSJ as one of the banking industry's biggest basket cases, having suffered legal investigations, management turnover and legal fines over many years. This time the German government is working on merging the bank with Commerzbank AG in a last effort to straighten out the huge mess and losses at the bank, says WSJ. A former JP Morgan manager, Mr. Zames, 48 years old, who joined the bank at the time of the London whale scandal is now working for Cerberus Capital which is acting in a multilayered relationship with Deutsche Bank  as adviser to management as well as having complex financial dealings with Deutsche Bank. In the process says WSJ he would be rescuing a soured bet on Deutsche Bank by Cerberus which owns 3% of Deutsche Bank as well as 5% fo Commerzbank. The investment made in 2017 was shown as $1.1 billion but is worth half that today. The arrangement is unusual for Deutsche Bank and shows how far the bank has changed from its early years as Germany's leading bank. It was founded in 1870 and in 1998 acquired Bankers Trust for a presence on Wall Street. This turned out to be a bad investment as $4 billion premium paid for Bankers Trust was later written off. Deutsche Bank never really recovered from these moves into Wall Street banking. The SDP in the German coalition government sees the merger with Commerzbank as one more move to get out of the mess, though no one really knows considering the complex dealings of the bank and its problems with legal authorites in Germany. ...

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A close vote in Brazil with Lula at 48% and Bolsonaro at 43% means Brazil will go to a second round runoff as no candidate got 50% of the vote in the first round of the election.

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Juliet Small on ECHR how it got to this in 2025 where it ignores the right of governments to protect their own ctiizens. Of law turned upside down by lawyers in Strasbourg in 50's and 60's and after to where the legal class appears to have messed it up so much and left it to politics to clean up this mess in Europe.

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Captain Sumeet Sabharwal 56 years and First Officer Clive Kunder 32 years are the two pilots of Air India Dreamliner that crashed in Ahmedabad iseconds after takeoff in 2025. Preliminary investigation reports in WSJ shows the fuel switches were turned off depriving the plane of fuel in the critical moments of takeoff. The Captain is heard asking why the fuel switches are turned off seconds after takeoff.

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Men all in their 20's and at different points in their careers, from all parts of the US are interviewed by the WSJ 6 months into the DJT administration to see what they think of performance so far.

Young men as a demographic group are optimistic about the economy even with high interest rates restricting housing access. Young men supported DJT in 2024 by 15 percentage points 57% to 42% giving the president an edge. Overall on foreign affairs messy international disputes, on immigration and hurdles in resolving returning migrants to home countries, they are considerate about what difficulties the president faces. They are optimistic about president DJT and his ability to handle tariffs, inflation, and the economic growth that will improve their lives in the coming years.

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Experts say about 110,000 votes separate Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the three states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that decided the 2016 presidential election in the U.S. giving Trump the win. Post election reflection in the Democratic party points to a disconnect between the establishment in both parties and the white working class. It is described as something that was not thought enough about even though as pointed out in Lyrarc, and in The Washington Post by columnists, and in news coverage about the inequality movement long before Bernie Sanders appeared in 2015. In the period when banks were favored over millions of homeowners facing foreclosure in 2010-2014, the surging stock market and the zero to to half percent interest on savings that hurt savings of most of the working class and lower middle class without stock investments, and the continuing problems in communities facing job losses from trade for the third decade. The hollowing out of the regions in Ontario from job losses from the Canadian industry helped Justin Trudeau win the Canadian election. In this election it helped Trump in crucial midwestern states, combined with a degree of indifference shown by establishment Democrats. Former Vermont governor Howard Dean is planning to run for chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Bernie Sanders says he backs Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison to be the next chair of the DNC. Jeff Weaver, campaign manager for Sanders, says the problem lies in what has been clear for some time now "that the centrist wing of the democratic party has no standing with working class and middle class  voters in this country." In 2016 only 51% of union households supported Clinton the lowest since 1980, 43% supported Trump. Obama won 59% of union households in 2008 and 58% in 2012 to 40% for Republican Romney. Trump picked up 3% of union households, Clinton lost 7% of union households, creating about a 10 point gap that would be magnified in industrial states where union jobs are concentrated, for about 18% of the people who voted in the election, enough to create the shortfall in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsyslvania. Fed chairman Janet Yellen pointed out the problems at an Inequality conference in Boston in 2014, pretty stark in its reminder that inequality had surged to levels not seen since the depression of the thirties, with 62 million households having a net worth of $11,000. Krugman and other economists had pointed this out on the pages of the NYT. Yet the post election reflection in the media is as if this is some special insight when it was clear for all to see, and covered in depth in Lyrarc for years since 2008. There is voter fatigue after 8 years of one party in power as pointed out by Obama campaign strategist, David Axelrod. The loss of union enthusiasm made the task of  a third term for the Democratic party even more difficult.     ...

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Under current policies of the Tory governments by how much will Britain miss the Paris Climate Accords emissions targets of 68% cuts by 2030? Answer: by a wide margin of 9%, as emissons cuts will only be 59%.

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After seeing the ups and downs of American attitudes over 50 years from overconfidence to despair Krugman reminds Americans that nobody is best at everything and it is always a good idea to learn from what other countries do.

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Europe and India are preparing to sign a free trade deal that would triple existing 53 billion euro trade level in 5 years. An E.U.-India summit will take place in the fall to conclude this deal. Spain is particularly interested in India as its domestic market shrinks with austerity measures taken to reduce the deficit.

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Questions raised by investors following the layoffs at 3G acquired companies and the practice of investing in Coca Cola sugary drinks- does the carefully cultivated folksy image of Warren Buffett match the investing practices and the special rules that apply to Berkshire?

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Peter Navarro who has advised the DJT administration on world trade says even when there is no war the perceived risk from the narrow straits at Hormuz and the threats posed by militant groups financed by Iran had led to a premium being baked into oil prices. Navarro says on the Iran Premium (perceived threat risk premium) thatis is about $15 in oil prices. That it reduces growth in global output by 0.4% or $10 trillion over 25 years or $4 trillion over 10 years. As this perceived risk comes down oil prices will come down even further - even into the $50-$60 per barrel range, says Navarro. He cites different economic studies that show even in normal times the ballistic missiles and militant threats posed add up to $15 premium in oil prices to reflect this risk. What this means is higher oil prices and lower growth across the world- in poorer countries and in the US and Europe as a result of this. The current war he says gives the opportunity to reduce or remove this premium paid for perceived risk. The loss in global output he cites is about $450 billion a year adding upto $4 trillion in a decade and over 25 years about $10 trillion. Confronting the threat is not just a matter of national security, it also means this drag on growth on poor and better off countries from Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan to UK, Spain, Germany, and Italy, countries that can be so much better off with much of that $10 trillion tax or burden on world economies removed. ...

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Watch key moments of King Charles Address to the US Congress April 28 2026. This is the most warmly and most embraced speech in the US Congress in decades. The last time a British monarch was in the US, and addressed the US Congress was Queen Elizabeth in the Suez crisis of 1956. Looking back the Suez crisis was precipitated by a Arab nationalist military officer taking over (nationalizing) the Suez Canal in Egypt from British and French control. As this was when the British and French Empires existed in Africa and Asia, and the US was for freeing people requiring breakup of these Empires.  It should be remembered American General Stilwell carried out this policy in China by fighting the Japanese Empire in China, and also India. America was never on the side of Empires as some would have us believe, and there is no better example of American spirit and generous heart than General Joe Stilwell in China for 1900-1950. Today Keir Starmer and Macron's move to represent the British and French as innocent bystanders is anything but, as the British and French created 50 years of wars in the Middle East by creating the artificial states of Lebanon, Syria and Iraq of Shia and Sunni people out of the defeated Ottoman Empire by 1921. King Charles was making the best of the bad situation in his speech as he supports US position of naval blockade to prevent Iran (or for that matter any place in the Middle East a powder keg of a region like the Balkans in 1914 that started WWI) from getting nuclear weapons. ...

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This view from the Editorial Board comes as Republicans in Congress geared up for a legislative victory decided to ignore the expert opinion of the Joint Committee on Taxation and polls showing a majority of Americans disapprove of the tax law. It says a "corrosive partisanship" that is affecting the nation has led to this decision. Not an informed consensus necessary to make real and lasting changes to the tax laws that increase growth without disrupting hard won gains in social cohesion after World War II.  Republicans pushed through a trillion and half dollars in tax cuts in the law that reduces the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%, and cut taxes in 2019 by 51 times ($51,400) for the top 1% of incomes compared to ($1000) for middle class families earning less than $100,000 (Tax Policy Center). The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates it will add $1 trillion to the U.S. deficit as only $500 billion is expected in increase in government revenues over a decade from additional economic growth. This is supported by evidence from countries such as Britain that implemented this type of corporate tax cut without generating much economic growth, says Greg Ip in the Wall Street Journal. The "victory" then comes at a high cost says the Washington Post- in years to come programs to help the growing lower middle class and working class will be subject to cuts and taxes will have to rise to balance budgets.   ...

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Russian president, Vladimir Putin, tells academics and journalists at an event called the Valdai Discussion Club, he had reservations about expanding the state sector by approving the deal for Rosneft to acquire TNK-BP assets. His motivation for doing this was the endless shareholder conflict between the Russian partners and BP. Putin says he warned British prime minister Tony Blair that a 50%-50% ownership venture would not work as nobody was in control, and described this as so bad that "sometimes they were fighting each other with their bare hands." The injection of private ownership into Rosneft with the 20% stake for BP would provide stability for the company and was the bright side to this. Foreign academics and journalists participate in three days of discussions with Russian academics and journalists in this event. Putin has no new vision for this third term beyond consolidating and protecting the achievements of the last decade. He cited as his achievements- growth of the economy, expansion of the foreign exchange reserves, and the increase in the birthrate....

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BP's new strategy is to increase wind energy from 2.5 gigawatts in 2019 to 50 gigawatts by 2030, in the next 10 years. It will partner in  offshore wind projects in the U.S. done with Norway's Equinor. It will invest in 50% of leases with Equinor for $1.1 billion. Another $3 billion will be needed to spend on the first of four wind farms planned for New York and Massachusetts in offshore locations. It expects a 10% return on its investment.

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51 million people camped in US parks in 2022. No shows are becoming a big problem because campers often make multiple reservations, then fail to cancel. Action is being taken in California, Minnesota and other states to to prevent no shows.

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The EU will put up 50 billion euros for a 200 billion euro planned AI investment by Europe, with the rest coming from providers, investors and industry. This was announced at the AI Action Summit in Paris, Feb 2025.

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The additional 50 kilometres of bicycle lanes are leading to a surge of people on bicycles in the French capital.

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Republicans wanted to see money spent in the states on the idea that states best knew where needs were. Democrat Clinton called it "ending welfare as we know it," and signed the bill for TANF where $16 billion was sent to states in anti poverty programs and $15 billion added to this by the states. This is how TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) started under Clinton in 1996. It was put under Department of Health and Human Services. A lot of latitude was given to states on how to spend the money. In 2026 much of this money is not spent wisely. GAO government agency audits show 37 states had 56 severe deficiencies with "opaque accounting practices." This includes Florida, Louisiana, and Connecticut. The Government Accountability Foundation calls the lack of accountability "fraud by design," saying that one fifth of the $31 billion never reaches the people it was intended to benefit. Both Republican and Democratic states are not using the funds the way they were meant to be used. Needy families getting help have come down from 1.9 million in 2010 to 850,000 in 2025.  ...

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California gets 75% of its oil from imports and one third of imports from refineries dependent on Hormuz Straits. 20% of jet fuel comes from South Korean refineries, and 25% of gasoline from South Korean, Indian and Taiwanese refineries. This means things can get very tight if the war continues in the Middle East. This could happen as South Korean, Indian and Taiwanese refineries become low in their own stocks and export much less. California has not benefitted from the shale revolution in the Permian basin as pipelines do not exist for transporting that oil. Shipping oil on tanker ships from Texas to California costs more than shipping oil to California from Asian refineries. Over 20 years California lost 50% of its oil refining capacity by creating conditions averse to the oil industry, instead of adopting a two pronged approach of shifting to renewable energy with some flexibility for fossil fuels hat was adopted by the federal Biden administration, also run by Democrats. As a result Chevron which was California based for 144 years shifted its headquarters to Houston,Texas. There are no signs Governor Newsom, a Democrat is reversing his position to show more flexibility on fossil fuels during a transition phase to renewable energy.  ...

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How seriously are the Border Crossing encounters with migrants being taken by the Biden administration compared to the Trump administration, or earlier administrations Republican and Democrats. Pew Research Center provides these 7 charts and other data. In 2021 border crossing encounters with migrants were shown as 1.6 million. Of this 27% were repeat crossings a number much lower in previous years. It had fallen to just 400,000 in 2020 as the policy of expulsion put in place by the Trump administration was continued by the Biden administration. In 2019 the border crossing encounters with migrants after three years of the Border Wall construction under president Trump were 851,000. The Biden adminstration in 2021 had 52% expulsions compared to Trump administration 66% in April 2020 after invoking public health Title 42 which Biden continued. About 33% said the Trump administration was doing a good or somewhat good job in 2019 compared to 29% for Biden in 2021. But a much lower percentage of Republicans were saying Trump was doing a bad job than the 56% of Democrats saying that for Biden today. The previous surge in 2021 was mainly from Guatemala and Central America. The current surge is from about 400,000 migrants from Venezuela where expulsion does not work as well because the US has cut off relations with the government of Mr. Maduro in Venezuela, There are 7.1 million refugees from that country in Latin America. The Trump administration would have faced similar problems with the Venezuelan surge that the Biden administration is facing. The largest jump in 2021 is in Yuma Arizona 12 fold, two fold in Tucson and San Diego, three fold in El Paso, the Del Rio and Rio Grande up 5 times.    ...

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Here are the 10 drugs with their negotiated prices for one-month supply: Januvia treats diabetes. The negotiated price is $113 (£103), down 79%. Fiasp, Fiasp FlexTouch, Fiasp PenFill, NovoLog, NovoLog FlexPen, NovoLog PenFill: These are insulin medications, treat diabetes. The negotiated price is $119, down 76%. Farxiga treats diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease. The negotiated price is $178.50, down 68 %. Enbrel treats rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. The negotiated price is $2,355, down 67%. Jardiance treats diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease. The negotiated price is $197, down 66%. Stelara treats psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The negotiated price is $4,695, down 66%. Xarelto prevents and treats blood clots and reduces risk of coronary or peripheral artery disease. The negotiated price is $197, down 62%. Eliquis prevents and treats blood clots. The negotiated price is $23, down 56%. Entresto treats heart failure. The negotiated price is $628, down 53%. Imbruvica treats blood cancers. The negotiated price is $9,319, down 38%. ...