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AMR announces it will purchase 260 A320 planes from Airbus and 200 additional 737's from Boeing. This is the first order from Airbus since the 1980's. Airbus and Boeing have agreed to $13 billion in lease financing to fully cover 230 deliveries . AMR president Horton says financing has been arranged for all othe orders from 2013 to 2016 and for 80% of 2017. This is critical because AMR is still losing money. Its second quarter loss increased to $286 millon from $11 million the prior year. Total debt is at $17.1 billion on June 30, 2011 compared to $16.1 billon the prior year, and cash balance at $5.1 billion the same as prior year. The new order will help reduce fuel costs. They will use 35% less fuel per seat than the old MD-80 planes according to AMR CEO Arpey. The new engines on the aircraft deliveries of A320s and 737s in 2017 and 2018 will provide even more fuel efficiencies compared to the 737s and A320s for this model year. For this reason Standard &Poors says the large order and financial commitment by AMR does not affect its ratings. It said the order will result in an airline that is over time more profitable because of the fuel effiencies gained but also more heavily indebted. S&P estimates of fully adjusted debt are at $24 billon. For Boeing the order means a decision to go with a new engine 737 and not an all new model that would succeed the 737. The technology was there says Jim Albaugh, CEO of the Boeing commercial plane unit, but the production system was not clearly understood to get production to 60 planes a month and avoid delays. For Airbus the AMR order is a significant advance. Except for Southwest which has an all 737 fleet, AMR was the last holdout without any Airbus planes. And the decision by Boeing to stay with a new engine 737 means Airbus wil not have to worry about Boeing leapfrogging the A320neo, which is anew engine A320. ...

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Angela Merkel of Germany and other EU leaders decided to back "global supply chains" and declined to support the EU Commission in Brussels at a virtual summit attended by 27 leaders of the EU states. It was also attended briefly by Joe Biden. Ursula von Leyen said 21 million doses of vaccine had been shipped from EU to Britain, of which 1 million were from Astra Zeneca and the rest from Pfizer and other makers of vaccines. A total of 77 million doses made in the EU wer shipped to 33 countries since 1 December 2020. Governments of Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium and Sweden were not in favor of blocking shipments from the UK because of the effect on supply chains. Pfizer is strongly opposed to the move to block shipments. Merkel emphasized the need to respect the global supply chains while making efforts to ensure EU countries get a fair share of vaccine supplies. The problems of UK vs Britain on vaccine supplies comes from the yield problems at a Belgium plant of Astra Zeneca and the company's refusal to divert supplies from the UK. Of the 120 million promised only 30 million could be delivered to EU. The UK's contract with Astra Zeneca states that supplies from its plants in Oxford and Staffordshire must be delivered to Britain first. The UK is facing an acute shortage of second doses even though it has given 31 million jabs. At this time 45 out of 100 people in the UK have jabs, compared with 13 out of 100 in the EU.   ...

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The low voter turnout helped protest parties such as the National Front in France and the Independence Party in Britain. The average across the EU was 43% turnout, with turnout in Britain at 36%, Slovakia 13%. Renzi in Italy led the Socialists there to 40% of the vote, and Merkel's CDU got 35% of the vote in Germany. The UMP came in second with 20% of the vote to Marie Le Pen's National Front's 25%, and Hollande's Socialists at 13% in France. In Britain the Independence Party won with Labor and Conservatives in second and third place. There are deep misgivings in Britain for Jean Claude Juncker who is the candidate for EU President from the centre-right European People's Party, which has 213 seats in the 743 seat parliament. Misgivings stem from whether Juncker can deliver on promises for a EU without much of the bureaucratic tendencies for Britain's 2017 referendum. The German SDP party's candidate is also contesting the election for EU president. Next come the centre-left parties of Socialists and Democrats with 190 seats. In the past EU president was chosen not by parliamentary election but by government leaders....

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Did a major U.S. chip maker Advance Micro Devices give away advanced computer chip technology in deals that saved the company as it faced a downturn in business. In Jun 2019 the U.S. Commerce Department issued an order that bars several Chinese companies from getting American technology. In the meantime Chinese versions of AMD chips are rolling off production lines in China, according to this report in the WSJ. It shows that AMD's partner in China, a military contractor, already used those chips to build what could be the world's fastest supercomputer. The AMD deals gave China access to state  of the art x86 chips made only by AMD and Intel Corp. Here the WSJ says AMD's CEO in October 2014 Lis Su, faced AMD's financial difficulties when she joined, with lack of cash, large debt, and declining revenues. Some analysts predicting bankruptcy protection. The deal for China's company Sugon to manufacture the x86 chips included $293 million in licensing fees, and $371 million for selling an 85% stake in its two factories in China and Malaysia to China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Co, a state backed financier. The U.S defense Department tried but failed to get AMD to submit the deals to Cfius, the committee on foreign investment in the U.S. that has people from Treasury, Defense, Commerce, Justice and Energy. The Treasury Department ruled in AMD's favor in the closing months of the Obama administration. Defense Department officials say the deals were structured to sidestep U.S. regulations through two interlinked joint ventures. The first venture focusses on R&D and production controlled by AMD, the second on design and sale controlled by AMD's Chinese partner. The second company venture enables China to show that the resulting product was developed locally in China. In another development Sugon publicly announced that it was using the AMD x86 chip to advance China's chip technology advancement just as it had done for high speed trains. Making indigenous an imported technology, designing it at home, absorbing it, and then innovating to make China a leader. By mid 2017 this information reached General Spalding at the Trump White House. Lawmakers wanted to give Cfius committee new powers. By August 2018 Defense department submitted the Sugon deal for review a second time. After the Defense Department's deputy undersecretary for Research and Engineering criticized the whole deal publicly in front of industry executives, Commerce Department stepped in and on June 21 it asked for the unwinding of the deal with Sugon,  imposing new export restrictions to limit access to U.S. technologies. For AMD the cash infusion from China enabled it to get back from near bankruptcy. China gained x86 technology in its bid to make the fastest supercomputer, the U.S. faced with another loss in technological edge, and AMD shares jumped 80% to $30 per share recently. Brian Spegele, Kate O'Keefe, and Yang Jie in Beijing, covered this story for the Wall Street Journal. ...

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Brilliant batting from Steve Smith with 210 in the first innings and a quick 82 in the second innings for the Ashes Test at Old Trafford. Australia set England a goal of 383. Pat Cummins took two wickets with England not scoring, with Pat Root bowled out in the first ball. England at 18 for two wickets have a uphill battle to save the Test. Steve Smith was adept at handling all the different bowling. 

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Qatar's sovereign wealth fund supports PSG Paris and Qatar Airways supports Bayern Munich. Barcelona is one of the richest clubs along with PSG but says this report it has wasted a lot of money about $950 million getting players that it later deemed not needed, 30 players for that amount since 2014.This includes Coutinho who scored 2 of the 8 goals of Bayern in the 8-2 Bayern win over Barcelona. Bayern also played with Thiago Alcantara a player released by Barcelona. All the time Barcelona was looking at players to support Messi and making bad decisions. It released Neymar to PSG for $260 million even though it had second thoughts about the merits of that decision, just because of the money. For what you get for the money Bayern got key players for under $120 million to beat Lyon. Manchester city spent $600 million by contrast to put together its team. For Bayern its home grown talent comes from Thomas Muller and Alaba. Lewandowski and Goretzka were signed up. The best talent comes from youngsters Serge Gnabry of France and Alphonso Davies of Canada, for a combined $21 million. PSG also has broken the bank in signings but it has cooled down since and is calmer now. It signed Mbappe for $160 million, a critical piece of the plan for PSG. PSG coach Tuchel brought back Chuopo Moting for free and he was the hero for the win over Atalanta in the closing minutes. Simply an act of faith in his players by Tuchel from old times when Tuchel coached the youth leagues, which he loved doing.  Bayern chairman Rummenigge says "we'll try to save money." Making the best use of money starting with homegrown talent and young promising players is a winning game. At key points in the game with Barcelona, Davies and Coutinho showed the value of this approach. ...

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Investopedia's Hiranmayi Srinivasan gives the average year over year Consumer Price Index by president as prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics's Adrian Nesta, and offers discussion of each president and inflation rates from Eisenhower to Biden. The highest Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, both lost the election for second term. Nixon and Biden are next. Nixon survived the high inflation rates. During the Biden presidency something else happened the pandemic which made people feel worse and compare the preceding president's inflation rate at 1.9% compared to 5.7% average per year. 5.7% adds up to about 23% increase over 4 years. The worst part was that basic food items eggs, bread and other groceries may have been priced at much more than 23%, and with added burden of higher monthly rent as landlords increased rent by much more than 23%. This meant dipping into savings and money saved for a house, destroying the American dream.

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Only 27 of 249 Republicans in the House of Representatives have accepted that Mr. Biden won the presidential election, the rest refused to answer. And only 32 of these Republicans in the House say they will accept if this is certified by the Electoral College. The Senate is split 50 Republicans to 48 Democrats with 2 runoff elections in Georgia. In one Senate seat a Libertarian candidate too a slice of the vote denying a clear victory to the Republican Perdue for that seat. In the other election for Senate seat with  about 20 candidates running no one could secure a clear win. Mr. Biden with a very thin margin of 13,000 votes in Georgia over Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump contested the election because of the unprecedented nature of the 2020 election with mail in votes allowed in a way and in huge numbers that was not always well organized to be fault proof. With federal elections being run by state officials in 51 states and not by a national election commission as in India, and each state improvising its way of handling mail in ballots there was not a fault proof way of knowing if everything was 100% unquestionably correctly done. A national federal election commission not belonging to any party and unrelated to state or federal authority can ensure an election is free and fair better than the way it is organized in the U.S. Use of electronic machines for over 1 billion voters also ensures consistent way of doing it in India compared to the haphazard nature of the American process of vote ballots and separate counting in each state. This is the second election in which both parties differed on the election and disputed the result. The earlier one was Bush vs. Gore when Mr. Clinton was outgoing president following 2 terms in office. Yet surprisingly there are no calls for setting up a structure like that in India that would organize the vote collection under the authority of a national election commission and the use of modern technology consistently across the nation. ...

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Based on this Washington Post sample of reader views on the presidential Debate, 4 of 5 readers in the sample are critical of the way the Post, NYT, WSJ are acting against the elected and popular transformative president of the US. What do Washington Post readers think of the way media magnates running Post, NYT, WSJ are trying to run the country in the face of a elected president who remains popular for the action he has taken on cost of living, climate change, manufacturing jobs, factories and supply chains, and is investing trillions of dollar in renewing America's manufacturing, Chips and science, and Infrastructure? Their campaigns are there for all to see against the president, even as the British election shows Keir Starmer of Labour saying "from 20 points behind to 20 points ahead," achieving a landslide even with only 2% increase in votes since 2019. Starmer too was written off just twelve months ago. The first letter is from Little Rock stating the Post, NYT, WSJ position. The second is from Linda Barnes of Ashland, New Hampshire, who faults the Post for not having the headline about "Disastrous debate performance by Trump who failed to answer most questions and lied relentlessly." Lauri Costello of Las Cruces, New Mexico, says every American would have benefitted from an in depth analysis of the debate rather than a focus on how each debater looked and spoke. Diana Hasuly of Ashburn, Virginia, says the debate was an opportunity to see two men's perspectives about the future of America, and the Post had done a great disservice to America, as have the NYT, WSJ and the Media in general, by not spelling what each man was offering America for the future. To take just three Climate change, manufacturing investment and jobs, infrastructure spending, Biden is getting so much done and has the plan for 2030, the former president has none, simply none and did not talk about this. Mark Parkhurst of Silver Spring, Maryland, says of the June 28 front page in the Post that the Post uses "falshoods" not "lies" when a lie needs to be called a lie from the former president. And says to be fair the Media needs to point out the actual achievements of president Biden not dwell on MAGA rhetoric. Is the Post or the Media in general overreaching, is it listening? What would Washington, Lincoln or FDR say?   ...

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Chrysler's second quarter loss of $172 million, follows a first quarter loss of $197 million. Operating profit for the second quarter was $183 million, compared to $143 million in the first quarter. Chrysler's forecast is to breakeven on sales between $40-45 billion. Revenue was up by 8.2% in the second quarter to $10.5 billion. Main problem Chrysler faces is an old product lineup. A slowdown in the economy in the second half of 2010 and in 2011 could hurt Chrysler more than the other automakers. Chrysler has available cash of $7.84 billion and additional $2.3 billion available from U.S. Treasury and Canadian government loan agreements.

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British prime minister Theresa May's EU withdrawal agreement was defeated in the House of Commons by a vote of 344 to 286, a margin of 58 votes. 5 Labour MP's voted in favor, and 34 Brexiteer MP's in the European Research Group voted against. The Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland voted against. The vote did not include a declaration on the future relations with the European Union. The vote happened on March 29, the deadline for Britain to leave the EU. A new deadline of April 10 has been set to seek a longer extension.

Options going forward are to use a longer delay of a year to come up with consensus, have a second referendum, or hold a general election. Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn called for Mrs. May to resign and hold a general election. Britain will hold European parliament elections in May.

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Barton Swaim editorial page writer of the WSJ on Vladimir Putin Weekend Interview with Beatrice de Graaf of Utrecht Uiversity and Niels Drost of Clingendael Institute in The Hague, Netherlands - how Western World missed Czar Peter the Great's World View and its shaping Putin's World View creating vast misconceptions when US thinks Russia thinks like western norms.  Could the US have missed a key component of the thinking of Russian leaders in putting themselves in the line of Russian kings (Czars) since the Enlightenment with belief in nationality, autocracy and Empire of the Enlightenment. “Of course he (Putin) also refers to the Second World War, and he does refer to Stalin—but not that much. Far more often he talks about the great Russian czars.” And the great Czars that was important to Putin, de Graaf counts 3000 statues built in Russia to these role models for Putin. In the early years says de Graaf Putin talked incessantly about the modernization of Russia, Russia joining the Modern World in the years of the Enlightenment, Russia fighting off Napoleon and under the Soviets Nazi Germans. Graaf says he talked about- “Peter the Great and European interests, of Catherine the Great and literacy and the Enlightenment. He spoke of Alexander I and Europe joining to defeat Napoleon." Deep down Putin felt in these talks 11,000 of them on the Putin site which puts up his speeches and talks over a 20 year period, which Niels Grost with his fluency in Russian has looked at. Of these 3000 talks and speeches are in this reference to the great Czars. Even before Ukraine there was a sense of hurt that considering the vast expanse that Russia occupies in Europe Russia had by restoring the old Russia by 2000 found itself in a odd predicament. As de Graaf and Swain point out the US market based economy based on GDP, the US presidents such as Bush and Obama saw Russia as a  middle power based on its exports and imports, its trade, its commerce which was the only way they could see the world. This led to a special kind of shortsightedness says this interview in the WSJ. Putin's key adviser says of Russia's goal - to be seen as a Northern European Power (from WSJ) in 2025.Putin sees Russia as looking for "respect," as a goal.  This is where US business may have got it all wrong- the authors say about China and India- and the US, seeing themselves as Empires not in today's Modern World as with imperialist ambitions, but with a historic sense of regional presence across Asia and North America with their rapid modernization. DJT's talk of Canada as a 51st state, one finds US business as accepting the idea that Canada is part of the US regional influence. And under the Monroe Doctrine of 1824 revived by no less than Teddy Roosevelt and FDR, in its cooperation form by JFK in 1960, the regional influence of the United States in the Western Hemisphere is also accepted by US business and the American public. It is this context that the authors say offer an alternative view of the Russian leader and his policies. Beatrice de Graaf and Niels Drost are the author of "Putin's Czarist Dream" At that point there is in addition to nationality, autocracy and Empire of the czars the ideas embedded in Eastern Orthodox Christianity which are different says de Graaf of Utrecht University in Netherlands, from Western Christianity. This Eastern Orthodox Christian idea is a bit different from St. Augustine's just war and discussion of what constitutes a just war, and the definition of that being given under Russian tradition by Russian Czars or leaders who Putin identifies himself with such as Peter the Great. Peter the Great  created the beginnings of Russia as a modern European state in St. Petersburg during the years of the Enlightenment. In the Eastern Asian tradition the Bhagavad Gita also has a discussion of what constitutes a just war so that it extends to different regions of the world not just European. ...

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GM's relationship with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation is the singlemost important relationship for the company. Its 50-50 joint venture with SAIC has sales volume of 2.6 million vehicles, 30.5 billion dollars in revenue, and earned GM a profit of $1.5 billion in 2011 for operations in the Chinese market. In 2009 just before seeking bankruptcy protection GM gave SAIC 51% ownership in exchange for a $400 million credit line GM used for its Korean operations and $84.5 million. Now that GM has recovered it has sought to restore its 50-50 role in the partnership. In a new agreement reached with SAIC, Shanghai GM will be split in two parts- a sales arm which will book revenues in which SAIC will retain a 51% ownership, and a operating arm in which the old 50-50 partnership is restored. The operating arm is where the budget will be set, product decisions made, hiring done including the next CEO. Under the arrangement made before bankruptcy GM retained a call option to buy back the 1% stake, as long as SAIC was able to book revenue. VW also has a 50-50 partnership with SAIC. Shanghai GM has a 14% share in the Chinese market, with a 41% increase in sales since 2009, making it spectacularly successful for GM. This is the largest market share of any company in the Chinese market, with VW coming in second. GM and SAIC also operate a venture in India. ...

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Shell reported a 60% drop in profit for the second quarter of 2013, after taking a $2 billion writedown on the value of its liquids rich shale assets. Excluding the charges, Shell's profit was $4.6 billion, declining 20% on the prior year quarter. Shell has the largest investments among oil companies in unconventional sources of oil and gas in the U.S. It is producing 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day from unconventional sources, including 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day from shale at end of 2012. Shell expects the exploration and production division for the Americas to remain at a loss during the second half of the year because of current oil and gas prices. Shell is now conducting a strategic review to sell around half of its main nine unconventional oil and gas assets in North America.

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Modi speech for the ages to the people of Barrackpore, West Bengal, April 27 2026 surpasses any but the best of Gandhi's speeches for a century since the 1930's. "Shakti ki Bhakti" pilgrimage for the ages for the women and children and families of Bengal and India. A plea for freedom of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa as a north star for India, in the task of urbanization, modernization industrialization, and scientific revolution of India. "Purvi Bharat ka bahvisya sudhar kanrna chunav hai." This northeast that is key to the future of India's 1.4 billion people in this election in West Bengal of May 4, 2026 after 5 decades of failed governance, of failed industrialization and failed modernization in a region of 300 million people, half the size of the European Union. Impatience in Modi's voice with the pace of change that has failed the aspirations of a young generation of India.  This has left the northeast region as a backward agrarian economy. Change in federal  overnment for rapid modernization in India came in 2014 with Modi government. It was stalled for a few years by the Covid pandemic. The effort for modernization of the Indian economy after 5 decades of failed good governance is thus in its first decade and in that decade impeded by the state governments of Maharastra and Rajasthan in the western region that also includes Gujarat. In the northeast failed governance continued in West Bengal , Bihar and Orissa. In Delhi and the Punjab a similar situation. It is only now that Maharashtra and Rajasthan are aligned with federal government in industry and modernization goals. And it is only now that Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal are aligning themselves at the state level with the federal goals for modernization and rapid urbanization plus industrialization. In the south Tamilnadu (Madras region) and Kerala (Kochi), and Karnataka (Bangalore region) are also lacking in aligning with the efforts at the federal level. As a result the changes that are happening have the potential to bring a new wave of industrialization and modernization in the north, northeast and western regions of India with the federal government and the state governments in alignment on industrialization and modernization. This could bring to the world economy a development similar to China's second decade of development from 2000 to 2010 when a new surge happened in China's modernization. India's modernization will happen with the reindustrialization in the US and the European Union  and will set the pace for the world economy in the decades to come. ...

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This report in The Times shows the need to counter misinformation in parts of the media about vaccines. Inadvertently or through a poor comprehension of the data, German media reports in Handelsblatt and the Bild have stated that vaccine effectiveness for older people is 8%. Here in The Times of London, Oxford University and Astra Zeneca point out that the 8% figure is for the number of people in the trials who were given the vaccine in the age group 56-70 years. This does not refer to how effective the vaccines were in older people.  The first dose increases monoclonal antibodies for people of all ages, say Astra Zeneca and Oxford. We are now beyond trials in a sense today as Israel has vaccinated large parts of the population and the UK, India are vaccinating millions of British and Indian citizens. Israeli reports from one of the major medical centres show that the second dose increases monoclonal antibodies by multiple times and provides effective protection. As British data is available from medical research institutions from the vaccination drive in Britain, and from India, the effectiveness of the vaccines used in Britain and India will be shown more clearly. India today has used a package with near 100% compliance to tackle the virus relatively effectively by combining safety protocols (masks+ social distancing+ hygiene) with nutritional, medicinal protocols, restricted overseas flights. Cases are down to 13,000 for 1.2 billion people, with positivity rate in testing down to 1.66%. One readers comment in The Times says a lot- She says her 79 year old Irish mother was given the vaccine today in Coventry, England. She was given the Astra Zeneca Oxford vaccine jab by a British Asian doctor who took the time to talk to her, and listened to her and thanked her for her service as a midwife for 40 years. That these few minutes were the happiest time in 10 months for her mother. It also showed she says the very best of this country.   ...

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European Union countries reopen for travel this summer. A new travel pass or digital Covid certificate is approved to promote freedom of travel as more people get vaccinated. About a third of people are vaccinated for first shot in France and about 40% in Germany, which means in coming weeks they will have the second shot and enough antibodies to make a return to normal life possible. The EU has negotiated this time with Pfizer for 1.8 billion doses and is building enough vaccine supplies. For the first time governments are stepping up with plans and resources allocated - in India the government now has plans to create supplies of 2 billion doses by the end of the year. This means there is new hope if the vaccination is accompanied by efforts to build booster shot supplies this time planning ahead. Managing the risk of those who are vaccine skeptical remains a problem to be tackled. Masks and other essential precautions also need to be followed in crowded spaces as this was neglected where there was a second or third wave. Public education for this is essential to better manage the pandemic. ...

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Three tankers held off the coast of Mumbai by India's Cost Guard have been sanctioned for carrying Iranian oil. India stopped buying Iranian oil in DJT's first term 2016-2020. In his second term DJT wanted India to stop buying sanctioned Russian oil as a way to reduce funding for Russia's invasion of Ukraine now in its fourth year. India has stopped buying Russian oil as part of the goodwill effort to reach trade agreements with the US, EU, and Germany. The seizing of the oil tankers is part of a new effort by India to support bringing Russia to the negotiating table to end the Ukraine war. Russia has demanded Ukraine turn over Donetsk region to end the war, which is a major stumbling block as Ukraine says there are Ukrainians living in Donetsk region. Germany's increase in its defense budget and investment in its armed forces has led to Germany+ (Germany plus UK and France) acting as the chief supporter of Ukraine, after the US has taken more of a neutral stand. The US basically wanting to end the war in 2026 so that the US can address the situation in the western hemisphere with drug and migrant trafficking gangs in Mexico, Venezuela and Columbia, and rebuild its economy to bring back manufacturing from China. For India the guiding principle of its foreign policy is Gandhiji's thinking and advice for fairness and peaceful coexistence - it does not believe in a British inspired NATO expanding on the borders of Russia, and at the same time does not see how a war on a neighboring Russian speaking region is in Russia's continued interest for a fourth year with bombing of energy infrastructure to leave Kviv in darkness. Non -alignment was Nehru's not Gandhiji's idea- the ideas of respect and fairness are basic to Gandhiji's thinking and India will remain true to his ideas in world relations. One aspect of this change in world affairs is missed by all and the media, that is that with the EU and US+ Japan, and India+ Indonesia there is a population of 1 billion of western peoples, and about 2 billion of Asian peoples, for a total of 3 billion people. This is a region three times the size of China, which with its access to capital and technology, labour and good governance is in a position to industrialize and reindustrialize, and bring manufacturing/science and technology to the core of this economic region by 2035. An industrialized India with 2X-3X the size of its current GDP will still be governed on Gandhiji's ideas for world relations in 2047. ...

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Inflation is over 2% in Japan for the 22nd month. Decline in working age population by the 1990's, the shift of jobs and factories overseas, and the banking crisis all led to deflation in the Japanese economy. By 1998 inflation was setting in and has continued for two decades to 2022. This could happen in China as it's economy faces similar problems which is why linear projections from the last 10 years for China are misleading and erroneous, just as linear projections for India from the previous decade's growth were misleading and erroneous after 2014. The second decade after 2024 is likely to lead to major investments in infrastructure leading to India joining the developed nations.

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US economic growth was 2.4% in the second quarter of 2023. Even though the Fed increased rates at 10 consecutive meetings by 5% since March 2022 to tackle inflation the US economy appears strong. Large investments in the trillions of dollars in US manufacturing and infrastructure, tackling climate change is what is different this time compared to the past 2 decades when bad decisions were made with twin wars in the Arab and Muslim world, and the supply chain was transferred to China, investments were neglected in infrastructure, education and health in public goods, and capital markets allocated money with decreasing advantage to the economy. President Biden was in a unique position after the pandemic to take stock of all these mistakes and move the nation forward in positive directions in a decisive way in scale as well as in spirit and determination. That he has done so is more proof of the resilience of America.

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HTC was the first company to come out with a smartphone using Google's Android software in 2010. By the second quarter of 2011 HTC's share of the global smartphone market climbed to 10.7%, only to see a sharp decline in 2012 dropping to 2.2% according to IDC, as it faced stronger competitors Samsung and Apple. Second quarter 2012 revenues were down 27%, and an expected drop of about 50% in the third quarter. Samsung and Apple invest significantly more in distribution and marketing, and discount prices on older high end models making it difficult for HTC to compete. In 2012 the company's value declined by 50%.

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Six European Union states pass Britain, France and Germany in fully vaccinated percentages on August 5, 2021- Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Malta. Fully vaccinated are very close to 60% in these states. The fully vaccinated person in the EU gets a EU Digital Covid Certificate as shown here. The vaccination drives in Britain, France and Germany have now stalled due to the vaccine hesitant groups. To get some idea of this the second dose was given to 265,000 in France and 165,000 in UK on August 4. In the US southern states vaccination drive never got off to a good start adding to the problem of unvaccinated who are most of the people in new daily cases, leading to a new surge by August 4. France will soon overtake the UK in fully vaccinated percentage, showing that an early start as in UK is not enough. One in three in the UK in the 18-30 years age group has not taken the first shot, which is alarming. The US has a similar problem in the southern states in an aggravated form and also across the US in some form where young people have not taken up vaccination. ...

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On the idea that America is losing faith when it is losing churchgoing people it should be said that during the Second Awakening in the 1850's America was struggling against the sin of slavery. The country and Evangelicals rallied around Lincoln who had an unconventional idea of Christian beliefs coming directly from reading the bible not churchgoing.   Lincoln was denied the Whig nomination for Congress in 1843 and faced Evangelical opposition in the 1846 Congressional election which he won against an evangelist Cartwright, because of his unconventional views on Christianity coming from reading the Bible. The Lincoln Association of Springfield reports that during the dark days of 1862 Miner tells Lincoln that Christians are praying for you as they have never prayed before, and Lincoln replies "If I were not sustained by the prayers of God's people I could not endure this constant pressure. I would give up hoping for success."   Americans are less church going today than at previous times in history about 40 million Americans have stopped going to church in the last 25 years. This is evident among Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Southern Baptists. White and Black congregations are affected in the same way, though less for Hispanics. Pew reports 63% of people in America identify as Christians, down from 78% in 2007.  ...

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This Explainer by Lisa Thomas-Darbois shows how the National Assembly is elected and how it works with the president and their respective powers under the Fifth Republic set up in 1958 during the Algiers Crisis and decolonization by Charles De Gaulle. In 1962 a constitutional amendment led to direct popular election of the president. De Gaulle was elected in 1965. Though De Gaulle resigned in 1968 much of the work of modernizing French agriculture from a backward local regional basis to a national technological basis was done by De Gaulle, and French infrastructure postwar rebuilding started. This was continued through the 5 year presidency of DeGaulle's assistants Pompidou and seven year presidency of Giscard Destaing till 1981, modernizing France over 2 decades. To get elected to the National Assembly one has to get 50% of the vote in the first round and 25% of eligible voters. In the second round only the top two parties and parties with more than 12.5% of vote participate. A change was made to make the president's term 5 years and have the election of the National Assembly after the presidential election. Under this change Macron was able to get a majority in the Assembly after his election as president in 2017. In the event the opposition parties get a majority in the National Assembly cohabitation happens and the prime minister is from the opposition ranks as is likely in 2024. This transfer authority on domestic policy to the majority in the Assembly with foreign policy run by the president. It happened twice under presidetn Mitterand and once under president Chirac. ...

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The inspiring story of Joan Poh, only the second rower to compete for Singapore in an Olympics. She rises at 5 am to workout as she also works as a nurse in a 10 hour shift at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. She has missed meals as she does her training in the midst of work as a nurse. She returned to working in nursing after a call from Singapore government for frontline medical workers in April of 2020. She sees sport as a dream, a luxury that one has to work for. Puts in 100% as a nurse and when rowing 100% as a rower.  At 5 foot 5 inches, 30 years old,  she is much smaller than other rowers, and uses her technique and training to compete. She is the oldest of 3 children who grew up in a 1 room apartment in Singapore. Without resources she learned to row on a long boat by joining a dragon boat rowing team when she was 17, then learned to scull in 2015 at age 25. In 2019 she took extended leave from her hospital to train for the Olympics in Australia. A Canadian who won Olympic Bronze in 1996 and 2000 coaches her free from Vancouver Island in Canada, using videos and workout programs, and went to Singapore when Poh qualified for the Olympics to train her in person. She looks at competing not just as medal winning, and sees this as one step in building a team in the right direction. She sees creating opportunities for others, and overcoming her childhood situation growing up struggling for resources. She says early on it was for her not wanting her lack of resources to decide what she could do. As she puts it - to always aim for a strong start even though one started with not such a good start. ...