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Vice admiral Henrique Gouveia de Melo, is a former submarine commander who has instilled confidence in Portugal's vaccination drive. The drive had a faltering start in January 2021. Gouveia has reminded Portuguese people of the vaccine campaigns that came before- against measles, polio and other deadly diseases. Public memories of these campaigns including the first national vaccination plan in 1965 have helped take the fully vaccinated percentage to 83%, highest in the European Union. Israel and UK are at 61% and 66% fully vaccinated after starting much earlier.  Spain is also close to Portugal in fully vaccinated people. In Portugal the focus remained on protecting people, and vaccine skeptics played a very small role. Portugal used large scale vaccination centers in sports facilities with the help of the military and municipalities.  Gouveia brought with him a team of 30 military strategists, mathematicians and doctors to work with health ministry officials to coordinate a network of 300 vaccination centers, mostly in municipal sports stadiums, with 5000 doctors, nurses and volunteers. 154,000 jabs were given daily. He is shown in military uniform talking to people, instilling trust and confidence day after day. ...

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It took Panasonic 6 years to get its Wuxi factory near Shanghai, China, to near net zero carbon dioxide emissions. It was tough say company executives. Panasonic has a job on its hands. It would take 37 such efforts to neutralize the 2.2 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions of the company's operations. When suppliers are included this is only 2% of the 110 million metric tons associated with Panasonic. To get an idea of how much this is- it is the same as  half of Spain's annual emissions, and five times that of Apple Inc. Zeroing out emissions would take till 2030, or beyond, depending on how much pressure there is from customers, investors and government. It is this pressure from all sources that is making the 100 largest corporate emitters to take notice and take action on climate change. Solar panels are only part of the action, every part of company operations has to be examined and changes made including energy saving so that less energy is needed in the first place.  For companies taking such action this report by WSJ on Panasonic Wuxi is a lesson on how it is done, step by step. ...

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Chancellor Merkel has shown exceptional leadership during the coronavirus health crisis in Germany, leading to increasing popularity for her government. Her approval ratings are the highest of any coalition government in the last 23 years. The government says this report in DW.com has appeared level headed in its actions, and Merkel has paid careful attention to advice from Germany's Robert Koch Institute, the German public health agency. Merkel also shared important facts for tackling coronavirus in an effective television address. By listening to the expertise of RKI public health agency the government has maintained calm and better handled the crisis. In the U.S. a similar process is taking place with the heads of the public health agencies, Dr. Fauci and Dr Birx playing a similar role, and president Trump paying careful attention to health experts. DW.com says doctors, nurses, police officers, and people working at supermarkets and pharmacies, are being applauded by the public, with people taking to the balconies to applaud. This is also happening in Spain. The hope expressed by DW.com is that going forward these professions will be better paid and public health become a top priority. ...

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With U.S. crossing the 300,000 mark in infections on April 5 the country enters a new and critical phase in the fight against the global pandemic. Globally cases of infections jumped by 100,000 for the first time to 1.2 million. Health experts say the next 2 weeks are critical for winning the war against the global pandemic. White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx urges people to isolate themselves, avoiding even the trips to the grocery store or the pharmacy. Models show the infections peaking in New York, Detroit, and New Orleans in the next 6-7 days Birx says. In Europe the pandemic may be reaching a peak in Paris area and eastern France. High speed trains transferred patients from eastern France to western France as the fight continues. In Italy and Spain strict containment measures are now bringing in results with rate of infections increasing by less than 5% from the previous day. Daily deaths are less and pressure on hospitals is beginning to ease, with number of patients in intensive care decreasing. Queen Elizabeth II will address the British nation in a prerecorded address, the fourth one in seven decades of her reign, to thank health care workers. ...

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Following a $3.1 billion bid a European consortium led by construction firm Sacyr of Spain, 5 years of work and cost overruns over 50%, an agreement is reached with Panama for resumption of work on the Panama Canal expansion.

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DW.com shows Kashmiris voicing their concerns about their future. The Kashmir economy can get an immediate and significant boost from tourism which creates significant number of jobs and opportunities for young Kashmiris. Spain gets 85 million tourists and its economy is highly dependent on tourism. Kashmir also has the potential for boosting production of fruits and vegetables for export. 

It is this economic force that Kashmir can see building its future and would boost the living standards of the people in this region. By creating a strong economy Kashmir can boost investments in schools, universities and hospitals, healthcare, to improve the quality of life in the region.

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ICBC's strong performance is largely because of the leadership of Jiang Jiangqing. Jinagqing was reluctant to engage in the large scale lending encouraged by the government during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. For this reason he is not popular with the leadership in the government and the Communist party. This could change considering the large number of loans from that period which are expected to go sour in coming years. The U.S., Spain, U.K. and other countries suffered from the effects of bad loans in the banking system and experts say China is not likely to be an exception. Especially considering the excessive lending during that period and slowing growth in China. When this happens Jianqing's banking skills and conservative approach is likely to gain increasing respect within China. Jiangqing has expressed the view that the last thing China needed was to go back to the situation in 2000 when China's banking system was weighed down with bad debt. One has only to look at the change in Spain where once respected senior IMF officials like Rodrigo Rato are now looked at very differently. Jianging's push for expansion overseas- so that ICBC does not end up being a regional bank- is not viewed favorably by the government, which looks for a domestic focus. ...

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Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, has 495 billion euros in claims on the European Central Bank through the interbank payment system known as Target2. Hans-Werner Sinn, president of the Ifo Institute in Munich, says the breakup of the Euro zone would mean that this claim would be put at risk. Data compiled by Tornel of the University of California, Los Angeles, and Westermann of the University of Osnabruck, Germany, show Target claims going from 7% of Bundesbank assets in the beginning of 2006 to 64% by October 2011. Collateral on these loans held by the ECB is mainly sovereign debt of the financially weakest ECB countries such as Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. Losses on these loans are to be distributed among 17 eurozone central banks according to the proportion of their share in ECB capital, with Germany's being 28%. However with dire finances in some countries Germany could end up with a much larger share of losses. This gives Germany one more reason for the statement that the breakup of the eurozone is unthinkable....

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The head of the European Centres for Disease Control ECDC, Dr. Andrea Ammon, says the Delta variant of the coronavirus will make up 70% of all cases in Europe by early August, and 90% of all cases by the end of August. ECD modeling shows that there is a risk of another wave like the one after last summer in Europe. The Delta variant is much more infectious than the UK Alpha variant and the UK variant much more infectious than the original variant. A 50% reduction in non-pharmaceutical interventions such as allowing the staging of events would lead to an increase in infection in all age groups. Latest ECDC data show 34% of people in Europe fully vaccinated and 57% with one dose. One dose offers much less protection. Younger individuals have a lower vaccination rate and are vulnerable. Also vulnerable are the older people not vaccinated yet. About 40% of people over 60 are not yet vaccinated, and 30% of people over 80 years are not yet vaccinated in the European Union. As in the US vaccination varies by region within the EU. All these vulnerable groups can be affected in another wave of the coronavirus similar to after last summer when restrictions were removed. Dr. Ammon is a former advisor to the German government. She says it is important for young people who are not vaccinated to continue to follow the strict social distancing precautions.  This is not happening today as governments are relaxing mask mandates in Britain, France and Spain. Soccer games are coming back to fan filled stadiums increasing the risk. Tourist spots in Portugal and Greece are now looking similar to the vacation spots in Croatia that increased infections in Europe after summer 2020. ...

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One more area where the Obama administration has not acted decisively is the building of high seed rail networks. Spain has plans to invest $140 billion over next 10 years to develop a network of 6200 miles of high speed rail lines.So far the Obama administration has allocated $8 billion, and the whole issue is being put off for another 18 months. Department of Transportation has already received proposals for $100 billion of new high speed rail lines from 40 states.

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Vodafone is well positioned to cope with the eurozone crisis. Operations in Greece and Spain are only 6% of total enterprise value, according to JP Morgan estimates. Vodafone expects free cash flows of 5.3-5.8 billion pounds in 2012 compared to 6.1 billion pounds in the prior year. Vodafone continues to show growth in Turkey and India. And the 45% stake it has in Verizon Wireless in the U.S. also contributes to earnings, as growth in Verizon Wireless revenues was 7.3% in 2011.

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Mervyn King, a member of the Bank of England's Financial Policy committee, and former Governor of the Bank of England, says the British banks will need to raise 25 billion pounds in 2013. This is needed to meet potential losses in UK real estate and in loans to Ireland and Spain. The deputy governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, says the British banks have half of this in their plans for 2013, and Mervyn King says the problem is very manageable.

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Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard University economist, author of the well researched book on the 2008 financial crisis, "This Time Is Different," gives his thoughts on the economic prospects for the U.S under the new Trump administration. He says 4% GDP growth and 3% inflation is possible temporarily for a while with stimulus policies, less regulation, and increased private investment. After 8 years of not investing in much needed infrastructure because of concerns about the deficit, the timing is right for such investments, especially as the economic effects of the crisis of 2008 gradually fade.  This is about taking advantage of ultra low interest rates to invest in infrastructure. He says it helps that Trump policies are pro-business. He sees drawbacks as the stimulus program adds a 25% increase with extra debt, adding $5 trillion over 10 years, but adds that for many years Nobel prize winning economist Krugman and others have said that there is good reason to increase borrowing to invest, and this is now being tried. Inflation remains an uncertainty- if there are large quantities of underutilized and unemployed resources it would raise prices less than its effect to increase output. The reverse would apply if the U.S. economy is closer to full capacity. One factor that would help- increasing confidence for business and increasing investment. Against this what he calls optimistic view or spin, is the idea of mistakes under a Trump administration, errors made and a degree of incompetence which he says is a real possibility. Overall his view is that some risks are appropriate now, and from his deep study of financial crises sees the slow growth of the last 8 years a result of a financial crisis that now begins to fade, creating the possibility of higher growth under prudent policies.  ...

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German leadership in the eurozone and the EU- with the strong stand for eurozone countries to do their economic homework and restore fiscal balance, and the action taken to bring the EU countries together on Russian intervention in Ukraine- is leading to questions about the dominant role played by Germany. Chancellor Merkel has played a leadership role partly because of the absence of other leaders with strong support in their home base who could provide such leadership. Merkel's poll rating in Germany actually shot up during the eurozone crisis from 40% in 2010 to 70% in 2013, and steady at 67% in June 2015, as German taxpayers and voters see Merkel as preventing debt ridden countries in the eurozone passing on higher costs in the debt crisis to Germany. With German wages kept low for the last decade to ensure a economic recovery and lower unemployment, Germans see no reason to support other eurozone countries when a low wage sector exists inside Germany, except under conditions that ensure fiscal balance. In a Harris poll taken in France June 30-July 1, 2015, Chancellor Merkel is rated higher at 43% expressing approval compared to 36% saying they approve of French premier Hollande's handling of the Greece and eurozone crisis. Over 50% of people in Spain and in France disapprove of Merkel's handling of the eurozone crisis, yet two thirds of France's main centre right party support Merkel's handling of the eurozone crisis. In the Harris poll when asked how Merkel, IMF, Hollande and Tsipras handled the Greece crisis people polled in France gave 43% approval to the IMF and Merkel compared to 36% for Hollande and Tsipras of Greece, and 60% disapprove of Hollande and Tsipras handling of the crisis compared to 53% disapproval for the IMF and Merkel. The Christian Democrats party in Germany has dominant leaders in its tradition starting with Konrad Adenauer in the early postwar years, through the Kohl years during reunification and Merkel in the eurozone crisis. By contrast the Social Democrats from the period under Wily Brandt, through the Schmidt years and Schroeder have operated under more of a consensus leadership. Under Sigmar Gabriel or some other Social Democratic leader Germany is likely to have a different style of leadership in the future, especially because the German public does not favor Germany playing this kind of dominant role. At different points in the eurozone crisis Merkel's leadership was needed for decisionmaking- making banks take a 50% writedown on their loans in negotiation with Charles Dallara in Brussels, calling for Italy's president to bring in a new government (led by Mario Monti) when premier Berlusconi failed to make needed changes, and providing flexibility for spending rules for Spain, Italy and France. Merkel has actually moved to the centre to maintain popular support inside Germany, especially since the new coalition government was formed with Social Democrat leader Sigmar Gabriel. On the other major issue of immigration Merkel has provided decisive leadership to prevent the rise of anti-immigrant parties in Germany. Herfried Munkler, author of "Power in the Middle," about why Germany is playing this role may provide clues to Germany's role- by representing different aspects of German public opinion Merkel has prevented the rise of right wing populist or nationalist parties in Germany, which would distort the German narrative about what it sees as its role in keeping Europe together after three wars. ...

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A meeting of European leaders from Germany, France, Spain, and Italy with African leaders from Libya, Chad and Niger, comes up with priority steps to take for reducing migration from African countries to Europe. Steps include aid to countries with high flow of migrants. The EU gave $10 million to Niger to fight illegal immigration. The French president Macron suggested setting up hotspots from where migrants could apply for legal migration. Chancellor Merkel cautioned that this applied only to humanitarian refugees and not to economic refugees. The presidents of Chad and Niger point out that the cause is poverty, and smugglers need to be diverted to other occupations such as commerce or farming. During 2017 to August 125,000 migrants have come across the Mediterranean on boats. Smugglers put people on small boats leading to many deaths and rescue efforts. 

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Labour's executive director of Policy from 2020 to 2022, says steps easy to understand and grasp, and which can be effectively implemented to deliver are needed for Labour party to win confidence of the British people. Claire Ainsley says Australia is doing this under Mr. Albanese. Mr. Scholz is doing this in Germany. "Keir Starmer's embrace of a mission driven approach to government provides opportunity to tackle the root causes of stagnating wages and volatile costs." "Whether this tentative revival can be turned into durable majorities will rest on whether we can deliver on the change that people are crying out for. If voters give the centre left a chance to be in government again, then the changes Labour instigates must make a difference in people's lives." She says centre left governments in the US, Germany, Australia offer a role model of how action can be taken to improve the lives of workers and families. Other centre left governments in Canada, Spain, are striving to do this also. To make simple to understand and quantify pledges to the people and deliver on them step by concrete step. A similar approach is taken in India and in states in India. Germany is an example. Ainsley says Germany made 4 simple pledges to back its bigger visions. Solid delivery on wages, pensions cost of living support, energy, and public services. ...

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The British government is considering effectively preventing two households from meeting indoors by limiting the number of people meeting indoors to 6 from the 30 now in place. Experts believe a second wave of infections is a distinct possibility if nothing is done especially with higher infections among younger people in Europe after reopening. People are seen as relaxing too much. Young people in Spain and other European countries are a big part of the problem today. In Germany the incidence of cases for 15-24 years is fifteen times the number of cases for 70-79 years in the first week of September, showing how completely reversed the situation has become with young people acting as spreaders of the pandemic. The incidence of new cases is 30 per 100,000 in Germany for 15-24 years compared to just 2 for the 70-79 years. In Berlin it is as high as 43 for 15-24 years and the Health Minister is concerned because in contrast to local groups these individuals can spread it throughout Berlin.  School reopenings in Europe and in America are a distinct danger so that colleges in the U.S are switching back to remote learning because of improper behaviour of young people including parties and gatherings. Tougher restrictions are seen as necessary to get people to pay attention to social distancing that was practiced earlier in April. This is true of Europe, America, and Asia. Even curfews are now being considered. ...

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Saying that these countries had significantly cut imports from Iran, the U.S. government gave exemptions from the sanctions on Iran to 10 European countries and Japan. Exemptions were given to Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. This leaves 11 countries facing possible sanctions including China, India and S. Korea, with negotiations underway with these three major importers. The sanctions law passed by the U.S. Congress gives the government room to avoid damage to global oil markets and U.S. allies.

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Christian Seifert, chief executive of the German Football League acted quickly to get the Bundesliga played by teams in empty soccer stadiums but reaching millions on televsion. Following the example of the Bundesliga which started with games on May 16, the La Liga in Spain starts on June 11, and the Premier League in Britain on June 17. Two rounds of play are done and seven more to go for Bundesliga. Even the sounds of fans were brought back for television. Bayern Munich played Borussia Dortmund in  1-0 game that brought the old games and rivalries back to life for sports fans on television. Seifert says he was just doing his job. It helped that the German health infrastructure was good and handled the coronavirus well, making it possible for sports not to be seen as a potential burden for hospitals. The empty stadiums- all the teams and team fans accepted this. It wasn't that some teams had different views on how to proceed. A $300 million broadcast rights payment was one more incentive to get going and still be safe by keeping the stadiums empty-  and everybody calmly accepting that as a necessary aspect of the modified way for 2020. You could still enjoy the game and be thankful you could - on television. ...

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A Flash Eurobarometer poll before French elections in 2017 show 56% of Europeans in the EU saying the euro is a good thing, only 36% saying its not, those saying its good at 64% in Germany, and being 57% in Spain, and 53% in France. Walker of the WSJ says the euro has survived the crises of the last few years, with some but not all the steps taken to avoid a repeat of the problems, and public opinion still favoring the eurozone as it looks forward to economic growth in coming years. The middle class is not attracted to risking its savings in euro denominated assets, costs of the turmoil that might be caused by leaving the euro act as a signal for caution, and in Southern Europe countries remember the days before the euro with devaluations and high inflation. With gradual economic recovery it appears that the euro is still the best option there is. Surveys show three fourths of the French oppose leaving the euro, and experts say the euro is not to blame for France's slow economic recovery- more confidence and political stability with economic renewal are seen as the ways to get France going again. This may be why the national elections in France will likely bring a president who is pro-EU. ...

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The Finance Ministers of Germany and France, Wolgang Schauble and Christine Lagarde, support a reprofiling of Greece's debt. This is a form of restructuring of Greek debt under which Greece's private creditors would be expected to take repayment over a longer period. This would help Greece cover its fiscal gaps in 2012 and 2013. Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the group of 17 finance ministers of the EU also supports this move. This is opposed by the ECB Executive Board member Jurgen Stark of Germany, Jens Weidmann, Bundesbank President, and Christine Noyer, head of the French central bank. The ECB's view is that there would be contagion effects from a restructuring which would affect Ireland, Portugal and Spain. Creditors such as Societe General bank support this view. The finance ministers have a political constituency and recent elections in Finland and Germany show lack of public support for additional financial support to Greece, Ireland and Portugal. The ECB is pushing for Greece to exhaust all options include privatization and further spending cuts, and for European governments to come up with the money. The ECB position including a threat by ECB officials to stop accepting Greek bonds as collateral for loans is coming under criticism. Sony Kapoor of Brussels think tank Re-Define, says the ECB is following anarrow interest and considering the political opposition has an untenable position- forcing Greeks and the people of the eurozone countries to bear the entire burden of the crisis with no contribution whatsoever from the banks that made the decisions to make these loans. Not even to the point of a milder form of restructuring that reprofiling would accomplish, that extends debt repayments to creditors over a longer period. Krugman and and an editorial this week in the Wall Street Journal also take this view....

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DJT calls for 10% cap on credit card interest for affordability crisis for US families. Most of the credit card companies in the US base these operations in places without usury laws such as Nevada, and charge exorbitant rates on credit cards, a practice that is going on for 6 decades since the 1960's. It makes it harder for families to get out of poverty and living from paycheck to paycheck. It is another aspect of the affordability crisis. Democrats have never raised this up for action. “Please be informed that we will no longer let the American Public be ‘ripped off’ by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%, and even more,” the president says he wants the cap to start Jan. 20, 2026 If this happens it will be a big win for the American people and end a decades long usury type business in credit cards that violates the idea on which the US was founded of opportunity for all and access to credit as critical in making this happen. Interest rates of 30% are a way to reduce social mobility in the way a feudal order once did in the years before the Modern World and the Scientific Revolution. A society without social mobility is one in decline can be seen in the way Spain went into decline after 1700 and Britain emerged to lead the Modern World and the Industrial Revolution. This is the crisis America faces today- change or cede leadership to China or some other nation. It is about this not the capitalist system or other system as many like to portray it, and Adam Smith was all about growth and social mobility that were part of his system which today is sadly forgotten, yet needs to be bravely put forward. ...

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Angela Merkel is faced with the problem of getting German public opinion to support the bailout of Greece, Ireland, and then Portugal and next Spain. At the same time she wants to be seen as committed to the euro and the European Union. She is pushing for bondholders to bear a part of the costs of the bailout as part of their responsiblity for decisions they made, so that the German government and taxpayer is not left with the burden. This is not working out well and she is losing public support.

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The prime minister of Belgium describes the summit meeting of EU leaders in early February 2011, as "surreal," with considerable disagreement. There was a feeling that other EU leaders should have been consulted in the early stages of preparation of the draft document that was prepared by Germany and France. Austria did not support a higher retirement age. Portugal, Spain and Belgium did not support an effort to delink indexation of wages for inflation. Further summits are planned with the intent of reaching agreement at a summit in March.

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The efforts by Poland to maintain control over its banking sector. About 70% of the banking sector was owned by foreign owned banks before the recent withdrawal by banks from Western Europe. State regulators and the central bank would like to see more of the banking sector in Polish hands. Bank Zachodni WBK, wholly owned by Banco Santander of Spain will merge with Kredyt Bank, a subsidiary of KBC Group of Belgium, to create a larger bank with a stake of $104 million taken by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.