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This article in Zeit Online tries to provide the facts behind Merkel's decision made in a period of 24-48 hours to let refugees marching towards Austria from Keleti station in Budapest, Hungary, September 5, 2015, to enter Germany. Other reports pointed out that too little time was given to make the decision and that it was purely done on humanitarian terms. And made during that short window of time, in which a decision had to be made to turn away the refugees going on foot for hundreds of miles or to turn them away. Given Germany's earlier history the choice was a difficult one but erred on the side of being humanitarian. Though Merkel's selfie with a refugee at a hostel on Sept 10, would seem to suggest otherwise, Merkel has said her decision was made with so little time and little opportunity to understand all the ramifications of this. It was not an open invitation to refugees to come to Germany. 

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Many of the young people joining terrorist groups come from Tunisia. A security expert tells DW.com that the radicalization of youth in Tunisia began with the overthrow of Ben Ali and his government in Tunisia at the beginning of the Arab Spring in 2011. Ben Ali's regime detained many of the people in opposition groups, leading to the release from prisons during the revolution. The radicalization of Tunisia's youth began during this period, according to this report. The Benghazi attacks on American embassy from Libyans opposing Gaddafi who had crossed the border into Mali, also followed a similar pattern after the overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya. In Libya many radicalized people in opposition groups were released from detention following Gaddafi's overthrow. The current democratically elected government of Tunisian president Beji Essebsi is monitoring the situation. This report describes the experience of some Tunisians in terrorist groups who were brought back home from other countries by their families. EU countries and the U.S. supported the Arab Spring but the aftermath was not well managed leading to further upheaval, and now terrorism. Some of this happened as the governments changed in the U.S. with Obama replacing Bush in the U.S. and Hollande replacing Sarkozy in France, and showing little interest in managing the aftermath or helping the new governments in Libya, Tunisia and other countries make a smooth transition with aid, security assistance, and maintaining the basic services provided by government. A well formulated and conducted effort from the West could have prevented the worst effects that are seen in 2014-2016. The costs to contain the crisis that has ensued are far greater than what would have been needed in material resources and expert assistance from the developed countries of Europe and the U.S.- without military involvement as there was a general sense of being lifted from years of dictatorship in Arab North Africa, and general sense of goodwill towards the West during the Arab Spring.   ...

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Regional rivals in each of China's 31 provinces make it difficult for foreign retailers, such as Tesco, Carrefour, Metro AG, Home Depot, to scale up and increase market share. Metro AG says it will pull out of China after testing electronics stores for 2 years. After years of losses Home Depot shut down its 7 large stores in China in 2012. Profit margins can be as low as 2%, making it unprofitable without the scale needed. Tesco's market share in China declined to 2.4% of China megastore sales in 2012 from 2.9% in 2008, and Carrefour sales declined to 6.9% from 8.6% in the same period, according to Euromonitor. Tesco now plans to partner with China Resources Holdings to merge its stores with the larger domestic Chinese chain's 4100 stores under 10 retail brands, with Tesco holding 20% of the joint venture. The CR Vanguard brand of China Resources 3000 stores would be merged wih Tesco's 131 stores.

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This editorial in the WSJ responds to Donald Trump's comments about the system being "corrupt" and "crooked" and saying there could be violence at the convention. It says the rules are transparent and long standing in Wyoming, Colorado and other states where Trump has not campaigned or sought support. It calls on the Republican National Committee not to be intimidated by Trump's statements, especially as it says the the Republican party should not nominate a candidate who has the highest negative perceptions rating of a shocking 65% with national voters in a general election. Trump never complained when he won 99 delegates in Florida with 45% of the vote and 50 delegates in South Carolina with 32% of the votes cast- securing the most delegates because of a winner take all or winner take most system. It says Trump has so far won only 37% of all votes cast and won about 45% of the delegates, a process that can be seen as disproportionately favoring Trump because of the rules. This is particularly true because Trump's core support has remained at about 35%, and the fragmentation of the remaining vote has hurt the other candidates. About 83% of eligible voters have not voted in the primaries, making the process less representative than it should be. ...

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The surging demand for children's reading activities at New York's neighborhood branch public libraries in 2015.

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The military and the old order in Egypt, including the lack of an imaginative Muslim Brotherhood party, remains a stumbling block for Egypt's return to democracy and the constructive channelling of the people's energy.

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This Journal editorial talks about the role GE Capital has played in generating profits for GE under CEO Welch, and then leading to a need for government money to help GE Capital survive. It describes as hollow the claims GE makes about leading a drive for US renewal through jobs growth and innovation when earnings were driven by a finance division for many years during the financial boom in mortgages. Capital was then massively misallocated from productive uses to speculative investments. The claims about investment in jobs in the US rings hollow says the Journal, because GE continues to cut jobs in the US- employment in the US for GE fell by 34,000 between 2000 and 2009. By inviting "government to be a industrial policy champion, a financier and a key partner," as stated in a 2008 letter to shareholders, GE CEO Immelt, says the Journal, is simply inviting the same kind of capital misallocation that led to the housing bubble.

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The largest part of the protest movement in Egypt is led by people under 30 years of age. This is a striking new face of the student protests and the opposition in Egypt to continued rule by dictators from the armed forces. A leader of the April 6 Youth Movement says most of the people he has signed up for protests via the internet- numbers reaching 90,000- were under 30 years. Ibrahim Issa, El-Baradei, Muslim Brotherhood leaders of an older generation, are all respecting this fact, and working with student leaders and young people to bring in a new transition based on the needs and concerns of a new generation of Egyptians.

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The Obama administration's failure to correctly grasp the situation and articulate a clear position on the democracy protests in Egypt, is raising many questions. On many of the events occurring about the transition, the administration was caught unawares. And its position gave a muddled message to the people of Egypt, not a clear statement of the US support for the democratic process. Senator John McCain said in an interview: "Every day that goes by, you have to ask: who profits from this? Its the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic extremists. There's the perception that we're on the side of Mubarak."

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Nicola Clark and Hubert Lebrun meet in a small town in Lorraine, France, where Clark's grandfather was a soldier in the invading German army and Lebrun's grandparents were residents of the small town of Mercy-le-Haut. This brings back stories of the execution of 17 year old Leon Mandy by the Germans, and the "monuments aux morts" in the town, one of 40,000 such memorials in France to war victims. An opportunity for both Germans and Frenchmen to reflect on the memories of that war.

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Gretchen Morgenson provides an account of the history of activities under Countrywide Financial management and board of directors. Mozilo was CEO of the company before its activities led to the mortgage financial crisis of 2008. The subsequent wave of foreclosures had a devastating effect on the middle class and the U.S. economy.

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Only a few thousand people turned up for president Obama at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on June 19, 2013, compared to the 200,000 people who turned up there for Obama in July 2008. This shows how much German opinion has changed in less than 5 years. The early enthusiasm about Obama has faded, says Greens Party leader Malte Spitz.

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Asset reports of Fed governors and candidates for Fed chairman show Ben Bernanke and Daniel Tarullo at the low end of $1-$3 million, Stein, Duke and Yellen at $5-$12 million in the middle, and at the high end are Summers $8-$31 million, and Powell between $17-$40 million.

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Jac Welch gives Obama an A for leadership. Mind you he says he doesn't agree with all the President's policies. He is talking about leadership. He scores Obama in four areas, Vision and Team Building, Speed and Authenticity, and he finds him at an A in all areas and gets an A in authenticity with alittle help from Michelle with her warmth and personality. There are 2 more traits on which the test is still going on he says, that of resilience and the wherewithal to champion unpopular causes.