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Prince Philip's career in the Royal Navy is remembered here in The Times. His service off the cost of Greece, at Gibraltar, and off the coast of Sumatra, on British Navy ships is recalled. Here he is seen saving airmen in the seas in the war against Japan near Sumatra, and in attacks on Italian cruisers after Italy invaded Greece. During this period till 1947 Philip served in the Royal Navy. When asked about any "if only" he had in a BBC interview, Philip once said there were none, except one about his career in the Royal Navy. Here he was following his uncle Lord Mountbatten. During his service in the war he leaned some things in the Navy that became part of his personality, the way he was, his style so to speak.  This was about being matter of fact, just doing it, never complaining, getting on with it. Philip was on the HMS Whelp on September 2, 1945, when the Japanese surrendered. He saw British seamen then who had been prisoners for many years, returning from camps. He recalls seeing tears stream down their cheeks as they sat with him in the mess on the ship and recognized the familiar environment, they could'nt speak. Shaped by these experiences Prince Philip reflected the values of devotion to duty, humility, respect for women, and feeling humbled by life's experiences. The experience in the Navy shaped his view of life. When asked about how he coped with wartime dead and wounded he once said - "we did'nt have counsellors rushing around every time someone let off a gun. You just got on with it." Seen out of context his remarks during the last few decades seemed blunt, seen in the context of the Navy and his formative experience in the ships in these years it was just the way it was. Simply who he was, as he once replied. With it also came the kind of dedication to country, being the "rock" of support that he was for Queen Elizabeth over many decades, and his unique style, now cherished by his family, the country and the British Commonwealth.   ...

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The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says in a new report that the cost of renewable energy production in India in 2020 is the lowest of 8 countries, including China, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, U.S. It also points out that India has lowered the cost of solar energy faster than any other country since 2017- by 80% for the period 2010-2018. Solar energy for India in 2018 cost 27% lower than in 2017. Major achievements have been made in solar energy and are continuing with bold targets. In 2020 solar makes up 36% of total energy capacity, with production at 136 gigawatts. In India the conditions with high degree of sunlight in most parts of the country, and the technology cost reductions, lower cost of land and labor, help bring down the cost of solar energy every year. The bold targets and action taken are symbolic of the new efforts in India. The early efforts in India are described as overcoming the hurdle of preconceived notions that electricity shortages had to be accepted as a way of life. In Gujarat the first efforts over 15 years ago were taken by rejecting the idea that electricity could not be made widely and freely available. To do this policy had to be set by starting with first a clean slate and then with a clean heart say pioneers in India's early gains. A clean heart because of how desperately people needed electricity. And a clean slate because how desperately people needed to start from scratch with a new structure and new way of doing things set in place. As Vivekananda put it over 100 years ago "This I have seen in life. One who is overcautious about himself falls into dangers at every step. he who is afraid of losing honor and respect gets only disgrace. He who is always afraid of loss always loses." By taking bold action, making small experiments then setting bold targets and setting structures in place to execute manned with resources, India has achieved 4G in all parts of the country, and is doing the same for renewable energy to make electricity widely available in all parts of the country. ...

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 South Korea has run about 300,000 coronavirus tests, double that in Italy and ten times that in the U.S., says this report in the WSJ. This report shows how the South Korean testing works and the workday of Lee Hyuk-min, a clinical microbiologist at a testing lab of Yonsei University Health System Severance Hospital in Seoul, who is working from 4.45 am to 11 pm. South Korea's effectiveness in controlling the spread is based on a strategy of efficient testing that enables isolating quickly people and areas. South Korea's testing network is a legacy of the MERS coronavirus outbreak in 2015, and the government failure at that time to control it.  It brings together doctors, medical staff, labs, and political leaders in roles following the protocols established since then. Dr Lee and others are the final checkpoint in the system which coordinates a diagnostic operation that combines together 633 test sites and 100 labs. The protocol includes a uniform setup- same testing equipment, same training, same decision making process. At 8 am each day all labs upload results to a shared database, which allows public and private hospitals to monitor patient results and report them to Korea Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. Hospitals upload testing details to an online directory. This surveillance allows South Korea to predict where to concentrate its efforts for controlling spread, says Dr Lee who advises the South Korean government on lab testing issues. Action plan took 2 years for the new rules to be implemented following MERS in 2015. The plan included accelerated bio testing company approval for tests. The first company got approval on Feb 4, followed by 4 other firms. Dr Lee says testing is only part of the equation as labs are needed to process and confirm results. Another key is innovation. South Korea setup testing in drive thru locations, that limit contact and speed up testing, which the U.S. is adopting. Dr Lee says early identification is key, and identifying the first coronavirus patient which was done in South Korea on January 20. Other countries including the U.S. took too long to identify the first patient, says Dr. Lee. ...

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This story by Asa Fitch of the WSJ shows how NVIDIA co-founder Jensen Huang, built NVIDIA into a major semiconductor company. He did this by developing faster chips for graphics and other uses using parallel processing instead of sequential processing. It is now a rival to Intel as it plans an acquisition of ARM Holdings in Britain. Huang started NVIDIA in 1993 when computer users wanted faster computer graphics.  NVIDIA has about $10 billion in sales compared to larger rival Ital with $72 billion in sales. With its efforts in AI and other tech fields NVIDIA now surpasses Intel in valuation. Softbank bought ARM Holdings in 2016 for $32 billion. It is now looking to sell ARM to NVIDIA or another buyer. Problems it faces in the acquisition is British laws that may decide to prevent approval for sale of the company and the loss of jobs. ARM based in Cambridge has 6700 employees. ARM makes the chips for smartphones. The trade war between the U.S. and China and the sale of ARM chips to Huawei are also factors that will be considered in British approval or disapproval of this sale of a British company owned by Softbank of Japan.  ...

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The Economist warns in this editorial and cover issue that if Germany and the European Union do not act fast the Greek crisis could have a Lehmann like effect on Europe's banking systems, with a sovereign default. This would threaten the weaker economies of Portugal, Spain and Italy. As Simon Johnson has done on the pages of the New York Times, the Economist calls the German government and Chancellor Angela Merkel's handling of this crisis filled with ineptitude. Instead of leading the German people and giving a true account of things she followed public opinion- to see that Greece was punished for its mistakes and to provide a lukewarm show of support. A true account would have shown how Germay has gained from the euro, the huge portion of Greek debt that German banks hold, and the losses that the government would have to step in and avert in its banking system if Greece defaulted. Waiting till after a big regional election in Germany on May 9, was to show a lack of grasp of how such a crisis could explode if Greece in the meantime was shut out of capital markets (yield on Greek bonds shot up to 20%). Helping Greece was more in Germany's interest than an act of charity that public opinion in Germany seems to think it is. Other mistakes the Economist cites are- the idea that going to the IMF would be humiliating thus not bringing in the IMF actively much earlier. In the view of these experts it is the ineptitude that led to the loss of confidence in financial markets that now necessitates a much larger aid package for Greece, from $60 billon to $150 billion. The other is to have a slow decision making machinery in the Eurozone and knowing this not to have taken more aggressive action. Suggestions from the Economist as an adhoc measure- set up a single crisis management committee to make quick decisions. Set up a firewall between Greece and the other states like Spain and Italy so that contagion does not spread, with these countries also being shut out of financial markets at some future date if the situation deteriorates. The other is that the European governments should setup inter-governmental liquidity lines, and the European Central Bank act using the new arrangements....

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The European Union Commission says Ireland must recover 13 billion euros in back taxes for giving tax preferences to Apple that are against EU rules. The EU Commission says Ireland allowed Apple to pay a corporate tax rate of 1% on its European profits in 2003, and .005% in 2014. The EU Commissioner says the use of Ireland as the place where Apple pays taxes on operations in Europe has no base in reality, as most profits are earned in other countries outside Ireland. Taxable profits of Apple "did not correspond to economic reality," according to Ms. Vestager, the EU Commissioner.  In the current environment where political upheaval is unsettling the democratic process in the U.S., Britain, Spain, France and Italy, as well as in Brazil and other countries in the developing world- because of deep recessions, and efforts to cut the deficits with deep cuts in state spending including in education and healthcare, basic services- the moves by companies to reduce taxes to these absurdly low levels such as .005% when other companies in the EU are paying 12.5%, is becoming increasingly unpopular. As pointed out in this BBC News article this sounds like the way Carnegie, Rockefeller and Vanderbilt operated during the late 19th century, and were seen as operating in a manner that was above the law. Janet Yellen pointed out at a Boston Fed Conference on inequality in Oct 2014 that the bottom half of the distribution or 62 million households in the U.S. in 2013, had a net worth of about $10,000, One quarter of these households had a net worth of zero dollars. The working class and blue collar workers in the U.S. provide much of the support at Trump rallies. Younger college educated people support Sanders, because of the situation of the working and middle class in the U.S., and a similar situation exists in Europe. It is for the sake of the democratic process and delivering services in education, healthcare, and other basic areas to all, that companies small and large need to pay their fair share of taxes, regardless of size, influence, or technological advantages. Today this is is seen by most leaders who draw public support as the right way forward for the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asian countries, including proper allocation of resources to best serve the needs of working people. For example the 13 billion euros is equal to all of Ireland's healthcare budget, and 66% of its social welfare budget.    ...

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The resilience of Indian democracy shows in the fourth phase of the election with 70% election voter turnout for parliament. The Election Commission says 67% over all four phases with the current heat wave 45-50 degrees centigrade. 150 million more voters over 18 years will vote this time in 2024 compared to 2019. 978 million people or 70% of the population eligible to vote. And 5.5 electronic voting machines, 1 million polling stations, 15 million election workers and security personnel. Compare this to the elections for European parliament with voter turnout in 2014 of 42%, in 2019 of 51%, and expected increase in June 6-9  election to 61%. Total seats are 720 compared to 543 in India. There are 3 debates, in Maastrict, Netherlands and Brussels, Belgium, in May the last in English. With Ursula Von Der Leyen of CDU heading European People's Party, Zimmerman of Renew and Nicholas Schmit for Party of European Socialists and others. EPP met in Bucharest, Romania, PES in Florence, Italy in March, Greens in Lyon, France. Issues in EU Climate change, Security policy, Economy, Migration and Borders. In India issues are Vikshit Bharat 2047 modernization effort, State governance leakage of funds intended for development, Security, Backward Caste development. ...

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The legenday hitter and catcher of the New York Yankees Yogi Berra (1925-2015) dies in New Jersey at the age of 90. His many popular sayings, including the one " It aint over, till its over," and "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." He was born in St. Louis to a family of immigrants from Northern Italy. In his best year with the Yankees in 1950 he had 124 runs batted in and 116 runs scored. He was MVP in 1951, 1954 and 1955, and was part of the team that was the rival for the Brooklyn Dodgers between 1947 to 1956. As a catcher he played Game 5 of the 1956 World Series, the only no-hitter in World Series history, which was played against Brooklyn Dodgers. He became a loved figure in American life with his wit and sayings, his skills in the game, and his integrity. Between 1963-1974 he served as manager and coach for the Yankees and the New York Mets, and later coached for the Houston Astros in the eighties.

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Jan Corzine will tell the House Agriculture Committee in hearings today in prepared testimony: "I simply don't know where the money is," and that "there were an extraordinary number of transactions during MF Global's last few days." Trustees looking at MF Global liquidation say about $1.2 billion is missing from customer accounts. MF Global made extraordinary bets on European sovereign debt of Italy, Spain and Portugal and other countries of over $6 billion. He says he reduced the leverage of the firm from 37 to 1 in early 2010 to 30 to 1 in late 2011. He says there were discussions where his strategy was debated and that it was prudent strategy to make these investments. He lobbied the CFTC on the issue of whether there should be a ban on futures firms swapping customer funds for higher yielding assets such as government bonds, because these transactions would benefit futures commission merchants. There are questions of conflicts of interest because CFTC head Gary Gensler and Jan Corzine both worked closely at Goldman Sachs....

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Peugeot's finances come as a shock to the French government as it cuts spending to reduce the deficit. A 3 billion euro loan was made to Peugeot in 2009. Another loan may be needed from the French government says Peaple because Peugeot is losing 200 million euros in cash each month. One key reason for Peugeot's problems is that it gets 58% of its sales in Europe, with particular emphasis in southern European countries, and demand in key markets France, Italy and the UK is expected to decline by about 7- 10%, according to Moody's forecasts. Peugeot's operating loss for the first half of 2012 was 700 million euros. The plan to close the Aulnay plant and other planned cost reductions may not be enough say experts. The closing of that plant could save 600-700 million euros, according to JP Morgan estimates. This would improve operating profit margins to 3.3% from 2.2% based on 2011 results, and this may not happen with the price competition in these markets. This leaves Peugeot in a precarious position....

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After years of negotiations Russia and China reached agreement on a memorandum that provides deliveries by Gazprom of 38 billion cubic metres of natural gas to China by 2018, under a 30 year supply deal. The pipeline to deliver gas to China is part of a $50 billion project for a pipeline that takes gas to Vladivostock for liquefaction. A spur from that pipeline would take gas to China. This would make China the largest importer of natural gas from Russia. In 2012 Germany imported 33 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Russia, followed by other large importers Ukraine, Turkey, Belarus and Italy. A new agreement between China and Russia's state owned oil company, Rosneft, doubles the oil imports to 31 million metric tons a year under a 25 year deal. The current level of imports is 15 million tons set by a deal in 2009. The lower price of natural gas going to Europe helped the two countries bridge differences over price. China's National Petroleum Corporation will partner with Rosneft for exploration in new oil fields in the Russian Arctic region....

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Italy's prime minister, Mario Monti put it best when he said in a speech in Brussels in April 2012: "If a country becomes more productive and competitive, but there is no demand for its products domestically or around it, growth will not materialize." There is a new shift in opinion towards a balance of fiscal discipline with growth measures to get Europe back on track. The feeling in different parts of Europe is that the German view of austerity alone will not work for Europe. And the view is coming from the far right to the far left, from Marie Le Pen, far right presidential candidate in France, to the far right leader whose move to withdraw support to the government in Netherlands on the issue of austerity measures led to its collapse. Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party in the Netherlands, said: "we don't want our pensioners to bleed just to meet the dictates from Brussels." The IMF has put out research that questions what is now called "the German hypothesis." The "German hypothesis," is based on the unique experience of Germany with the Hartz reforms under chancellor Schroeder which were based on wage restraint by workers, the German "kurzarbeit" program of government support for retaining workers with lower pay during cyclical downturns, improving competitiveness of German companies, and conservative budget practices. There appear to be two exceptions to this. One is that demand has to be strong outside or domestically for a country to reduce unemployment and improve productive capacity utlilization as it increases competitiveness. This was the case as Germany made the Hartz reforms under Schroeder. Wage restraint acts as a form of devaluing currency for reducing the cost of its products to improve exports. All leading parties and the unions are now in favor of wage restraint and lowering wages to preserve jobs to improve France's competitive position. Germany had the benefit of a decade to implement these reforms to reduce unemployment, because demand was not declining domestically or around it during its reforms. The situation is different in Spain where in all likelihood demand would shrink further with unemployment rising from 25% to higher levels, and higher sales taxes. This is why Francois Heisbourg, special advisor at the Paris based Foundation for Strategic Research, says about the current situation in Europe, that destroyiing Greece with strict austerity alone wasn't something the EU can look back at with the sense of having done the right thing, for Spain it appears misguided and lacking careful thought. The editors of the Wall Street Journal expressed the same sense when they described the March 2012 bailout of Greece as a tragic sideshow, because the main purpose was to buy time and insulate the other larger economies in the EU by giving the French, Spanish and German banks time to improve their financial position. The Journal called it bad for Greece leaving it with debt at 120% of GDP till 2020 and no economic growth, and bad for democracy as it was done against overwhelming Greek public opinion- The Tragic Greek Sideshow, Feb. 22, 2012. Volker Perthes, director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, a Berlin think tank, says the Germans have always viewed German leadership in Europe with discomfort, and would prefer a leadership where several states, France, Italy, Spain, and other countries in the EU coalesce around consensus positions. This is historically true for the German position since chancellor Adenauer. With the Free Democrats in decline, and the Social Democrats and the Pirate party doing well in recent German elections and favoring consensus in Europe, Merkel's Christian Democrats need to rethink their policy to give greater weight to economic growth for a consensus position in Europe. ...

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About 400,000 Ukrainians have found work in Europe since the start of the war. 200,000 in Poland, 100,000 in Czech Republic, 200,000 in Italy. WSJ Silvers and Papachristou looks at the experience of refugees looking for work under EU programs designed to help refugees, including overcoming language barriers.

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Dagmar Breitenbach of DW.com  discusses today's youth in an interview with Albert Wunsch, author of the book "The Pampering Trap." Wunsch is a psychologist and education expert, who says today's youth lack the perseverance of their parent's generation. When confronted with difficult situations today's young people in Germany are seen as lacking maturity, persistence, and patience. Part of the problem is that parents have shielded their children from life's realities, says Wunsch. Parents want to be their kid's friends, and not act like an authority figure. In Germany authority figures still have the taint of looking bad, and parent shy away from that perception. The avoidance of conflict, including constructive conflict leaves children and youth at a disadvantage, because they go through life not having had to experience difficulties and learn from these experiences. Lacking this sensible kind of conflict in which parents have to ask themselves what is of value that they can transfer, the transfer of what one generation has learned is not being transferred to the next. Another problem is that young people prefer to hedge, not make commitments, says Wunsch. Financial literacy on how to manage money is also at a lower level. Some of these problems are mentioned for young people in America in the best selling book by Ben Sasse- "The Vanishing American Adult." Developments in Germany are also evident in other places. The dropout rate in Germany is also high. Studies cited here show this to be about 25% to 33% of college students dropping out.   ...

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Hospitals across Paris are stockpiling drugs and protective equipment to tackle a second wave of coronavirus. About 163 deaths were reported in France on October 20, up 50% from the 100 deaths average the previous week. During early April the deaths in France were about 400 to 600 a day.  Spain is drawing "elasticity plans" to add more beds for coronavirus. In Lombardy region of Italy hit for the second time similar plans are being made as Italy records 70 deaths a day. 

The head of the Delafontaine hospital ICU unit in Saint Denis suburb of Paris says the first wave left the staff exhausted and he finds it hard to imagine having to go through it all once again. ICU beds in Liverpool England are 95% occupied, in Madrid 39%, in Paris about 50%. Poland and Czech Republic are being hit hard in the second wave after avoiding the worst of the first wave.

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In the UK, Spain and Italy the impact of Covid 19 was largest with GDP falling 10%, less in France at 7.5% and smaller in Germany, Norway, Sweden and Denmark at 5%. Countries that tended to implement social restrictions when hospital admissions were low had smaller GDP losses, says this study from Insitut Pasteur. 

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Compared to chancellor Scholz Merz sets his goals and is clear about his goals. His active style is different from previous chancellors. His first meeting with Trump showed this personal style which is proving to be more effective than Merkel or Scholz. Merz had to wait for a long time in the private sector till Merkel retired to come back to politics. During Merkel's early years Merz challenged Merkel for leadership of the Christian Democrats party. Merkel's policy on migrants has proved to be a failure, and Merz is now in a position to take the CSU in a new direction closing the border and working closely with the US and Britain, Italy, on border enforcement. Merz is also unique and very different from the disinvestment period under Merkel which let German infrastructure deteriorate and fall apart, another failure of Merkel's years as chancellor. Merz's first action was to get close to a trillion dollars of new funding to rebuild defense and infrastructure over the next decade. Merz is head of a coalition with the SPD with SPD's leader Lars Klingbeil as finance minister. Scholz headed a coalition that was dysfunctional as the Free Democrats Lindner was opposed to investment in German economy from the outset. Under Merkel the Christian Democrats took no action to rebuild Germany, and were preoccupied with eurozone finances. ...