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General practitioner physician in Edinburgh, Gavin Francis, describes the mental health issues that are now common. He says they come in the form of panic and anxiety that are leaching into everyone's lives like a second pandemic.

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Read about how the Ground Mission Control talks to the astronauts looking at the moon in the fly by in the Artemis II Mission on April 6 2026. Artemis II takes the observations and the information collected on this fly by, pictures of crater areas on the surface of the moon and other places, where a future landing place may be found for a landing on the moon that sets up a permanent exploration center. Judging by the enthusiasm generated in the US and the public support it looks like such a permanent exploration site will come next. The astronauts Reid Wiseman, Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, and Victor Glover were great as a team and really boosted the public perception of the Artemis II Moon Mission with their live talk with Mission Control on earth that the world watched.

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Moritz Schuller of Tassspiegel writes a moving story in BBC News about Helmut Kohl, former chancellor of Germany, who died at the age of 87. Kohl helped bring chancellor Merkel to prominence by appointing her to positions in his government, first as Minister of Women and Youth in 1991, and then as Minister for the Environment in 1994. The two developed a bond that lasted. Merkel said on Kohl's 85th birthday -"Germany has much to thank him for."  Schuller presents a different side of Kohl in this article. There is this Kohl who had this tactical grasp of events as the Berlin Wall fell and German reunification was within reach. Who had this warm touch with other leaders, including a special relationship with French president Mitterand that advanced relations between the two countries. Yet he also describes the Kohl who was forgotten after being pushed out of office in a donations scandal. The rush to setup the eurozone currency and expanding it without the needed financial arrangements were seen by Germans as a weakness coming from the Kohl years in office. By 2008 Kohl had a debilitating fall and by this time was forgotten by Germans. Close to the end in 2014 at the Frankfurt Book Fair to present a book on his own view of the events of 1989-90, Kohl was seen as a frail figure, in a wheelchair and unable to speak much. ...

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Paul Mozur of NYT visits the Big Tech conference in Wuzhen, China, attended by large American companies such as Apple, Google. What he finds is very disconcerting, much of the technology can be used to track citizens of any country. Facial recognition technology, artificial intelligence, and other technologies are openly displayed and vendors including Unicom, show how this can be applied to track citizens. He sees the open discussion of how this data can be employed in this way as a sign of how much things have changed- showing how big tech surveillance is now an accepted way of doing things in China.

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European bans on social media for children 2026 UK, Spain, France, Italy, Denmark, for under 15 years and under 16 years. 

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BBC Persian service reaches 24 million people in Iran and overseas- it shows reactions of Iranians after first week of war. 

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China inflation of 1% in 2026 after 3 years of deflationary cycle with overproduction and low domestic demand following housing construction collapse.

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The IMF, ECB, and the EU, are requiring Greece to make cuts to private sector salaries by a reported 25% to bring Greece's wages more in line with a country like Portugal, because of the lower productivity of Greek workers and a way to make Greek goods more competitive. This is one way to accomplish what a devaluation of the drachma would have done when Greece was outside the eurozone. Greece's minimum wage is about $1000 a month- officials from the troika want to see this go down about $750 a month. The difficulty is that consumer prices are higher in Greece, with gasoline at $8 a gallon and other prices higher due to cartels that control the distribution of consumer goods in Greece. Other austerity measures required by the troika as a condition for further aid to Greece are pension cuts and higher taxes on businesses. Labor unions and business leaders pointed out other factors affecting Greece's competitiveness in a letter to prime minister Papademos as they opposed drastic wage cuts- the letter said " competitiveness is affected more by factors like bureaucracy- which is fed by complex regulation, state intervention, the tax system, corruption and antibusiness mentality rather than wage costs."...

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A unanimous vote of the Chinese Communist Party Congress now puts "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in a New Era" into the Chinese Constitution. As the 19th Party Congress ends Xi Jinping joins two other leaders of the Communist Party Mao  Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, who were so honored. It also appears that unlike previous leaders Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping is concentrating authority and direction for China. This Congress marks the end of Xi's second five year term as party general secretary.  Under Hu Jintao there were efforts by some Communist leaders to create new power bases. This period ended with Xi Jinping bringing a clear direction and authority under the Communist Party. This has led to China taking on a leadership role in the world economy and global political affairs after the election of Trump in the U.S. in 2017. The management of the economy also has provided a soft landing after threats of disruptions in trade relations with the U.S. ...

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Comey sends another letter to Congressional committees on Nov. 6, just 2 days before the election, saying that "based on our review we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton." Just 9 days prior to the election Comey had written to Congress that the FBI was looking into emails found on the computer of Mr Weiner, estranged husband of Clinton aide Abedin. By doing this Comey had inserted himself and the FBI into the election in a way that was not proper said leaders of both parties. The heavy criticism continued with Vice presidential candidate Kaine, president Obama and Secretary Clinton, seeing this as a blatant political move by Comey, who is a Republican. It is likely to remain a subject of criticism long after the election, say experts.

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Francois Fillon wins 44% of the vote to Alain Juppe at 28.6%.  Mr Sakozy suffers defeat in the election primary after 3 presidential debates in which Fillon's "statesmanlike" image came across better than the flamboyant style of Sarkozy. Another factor is that Juppe is seen as too close to former president Chirac and suffered from his effort to make changes and job cuts as prime minister under Chirac. Fillon is less well known which turned out to be an advantage. Fillon has the support of traditionalist Catholic groups. Fillon's platform is for 500,000 job cuts to reduce the large size of France's public sector, remove the wealth tax imposed by Hollande, reduce taxes, increase work week to 48 hours maximum and scrap 35 hour work week, gradually raise retirement age to 65, increase business incentives to improve economic growth. Fillon lives in Le Mans western France.

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Microsoft leaders for reasons of climate change action and aid to poor African and Latin American nations see the positives in Harris-Walz focus on investment in the future. A similar situation exists with JP Morgan Chase bank leaders. Intel and Ford Motor Company leaders see the Biden administration investment in American companies for stronger competition with Chinese or Taiwanese companies, and for climate change action by investing in EV industry technologies, in the same way. Overall cutting corporate taxes is not as big a priority for American business as government assistance and support to match the hidden subsidies Taiwan and China, South Korean governments give to their companies in Chips and EV's, other advanced technologies industries.

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New forms of development aid that take intermediate technologies and advocate self-help are shown here in The Guardian. One is a Kew Gardens project in Madagascar.

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A former solicitor general questions the 4 page summary of Attorney General Barr as a misrepresentation of the findings of the Mueller investigation following the protest by Mr. Mueller himself that the findings were distorted in the summary. It defeated the very purpose of appointing the Special Counsel. It was upto Congress to come up with its conclusions according to how the U.S. constitutional process was intended to work on questions of national importance, and not the Attorney General appointed by the president. Neal Katyal helped draft the regulations about the way a special counsel is supposed to operate. He can show the findings on each matter whether the president is cleared or not cleared, bu it is Congress that has to make up its mind and come up to its own conclusions. That is Congress's role and not the Attorney General's role. By taking on Congress's role and drafting a 4 page report that exonerates the president Mr. Barr has violated the letter and the spirit of the regulations set for the Special Counsel's office. Mr. Katyal concludes this article saying -"There is no more sacred duty for Congress than gettting to the bottom of whether our president has taken care that the laws of this country have been faithfully executed." He says in drafting the special counsel office regulations he and others had thought of the possibility of there being "a nefarious Attorney General" though "we didn't predict this amount of duplicity."  The U.S. Congress now faces the challenge of getting to the bottom of the matter and drawing its own conclusions. Katyal questions polls showing that the public does not want further inquiry because he says the Attorney General has created confusion, misrepresented Mr. Mueller and delayed the release of the Mueller Report to the public.     ...

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Payne and Applebaum take a look at the Airbus factory in Mobile, Alabama. The $600 million manufacturing facility could have been built anywhere, as parts are made in many different countries. There are no special advantages in assembly at Mobile, that could not be obtained elsewhere. It is mainly the result of a decision at Airbus to make the planes in the large markets, and gaining a larger share of America's military budget. Airbus got $158.5 million in state and local incentives, including a school that trains Airbus workers. The goal is to make it cost not a cent more than it costs to make the airplanes in Europe, even though it costs a lot to ship parts from Hamburg. The non unionized labor makes it possible to have lower labor costs with the starting wage at $16.50 an hour.

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About 18,000 people in 134 countries were surveyed by Hubbub, a international group, based at Durham University. The survey found men and women need 5 to 6 hours of rest doing activities in which they are alone- doing things which they find restful which can vary by person. The survey shows the people who are rested do better on a well being scale. These activities include watching television, doing hobbies, gardening, taking a jog or a walk, reading, listening to music. The rhythms of work, of how we use time, also affect our well being. The most problematic thing is the notion that somehow when we rest or take some time to do restful activities we are lazy, say the authors of the study. Of the activities reading came first, then being in a natural environment, being on one's own, listening to music, and doing nothing in particular. About two thirds of people feel they were not getting enough rest. Interestingly the wellbeing gradually decreases when it is over 6 hours- so it is something like engagement in life combined with periodic rest periods that produces good results.  And the fading boundary between rest periods alone and work because of cell phones and other devices is not a positive. ...

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Portugal's parliament gave preliminary approval to a new budget bill with 4.3 billion euros in tax increases on income, captal gains, property and car ownership, and 1 billion euros in spending cuts compared to the 2012 budget. Banco Espirito Santo was able to sell 750 million euros in 3 year bonds with an interest rate of 5.875%. Over 200 investors from France, UK, Germany made buying offers of more than 2.7 billion euros. The rate is lower than expected and reflects ECB policy support for bond markets of countries requesting aid.

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Hyundai's residual values have increased from 40% a year ago to 43%, according to Automotive Lease Guide, surpassing Detroit automakers and catching up with Toyota and Honda; as a result of improving perception of its quality and value. Hyundai's profit is up, as it is able to charge better prices and cuts back on incentives. The Sonata's new model is selling quickly, and this has required using capacity at a Kia plant in the US to build more of this model. Incentives are down by one third compared with 2009. And Daiwa Capital Markets forecast is for profits to triple by the end of 2010, in only 2 years. Ten new product launches in 2010-2011 will add more traffic to its showrooms.

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Anthony Faiola provides this exceptional look at the thinking of Chancellor Merkel and German experts, about the refugees creating more opportunities than risks for Germany. Germany is an aging society, with low birth rates. How to reverse this, so that there will be more young workers to meet future needs long term ten or twenty years from now, is a problem facing Japan and Germany. Germany is also fortunate with the timing, with Germany's unemployment rate at a low of 6.2%, and years of growth ahead from a eurozone recovery. A fortunate circumstance in the nature of refugees from Syria, is that many of them are young, well educated, skilled workers, doctors, engineers and architects, from a relatively moderate Arab country. This is a better immigrant pool than the one Germany took in from Turkey in early postwar years, in terms of education, youthfulness and skills, and one in which the lessons learned from that pool's inadequate integration could be applied here. This is why Germany is not only willing to take in 800,000, but German leaders are saying they could take in 500,000 a year for several years. Just as Germany has taken a long term view, and has the strength to execute it in its shift to renewable energy, Germany's centre right Christian Democrats and centre left Social Democrats in the coalition government see the issue long term around which they can bring a cohesive understanding and consensus in their country. Merkel addressing parliament said on September 9, 2015- "The refugees need help to learn German, and they should find a job quickly. Many of them will become new citizens of our country. If we do it well, this will bring more opportunities than risks." The decision to shift to renewable required a whole new mindset and leadership, in the same way German leaders are articulating the position based on a careful understanding of the situation and Germany's long term interests in reversing Germany's population decline and lower working age people. There are about 3 million Turkish people in the country, adding about 1.8 million Syrian and other refugees would still bring the percentage of people of foreign origin to less than 6% of the 81 million population, just a little bit less Christian and just a little bit less German in origin, which is in keeping with changes in a globalized world and no different than its neigbor France. What looked like a problem, if handled and managed well could be an opportunity knocking at Germany's door. Merkel's genuine convictions about universal civil rights make the "wilkommen refugees" very real in other ways....

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The Trump administration proposes a zero policy for Iranian oil imports which says the U.S. will grant zero exemptions to countries importing Iranian oil.  Big importers China and India are likely to resist this policy.

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This analysis by Gerald Seib in the WSJ shows the FBI chief Comey reopening the investigation into Clinton's email server just one week before election date November 8, as a move that does not enhance the democratic process because either way it will lead to questions why this was done at this late stage. The emails were found on a laptop used by Huma Abedin, an assistant to Hillary Clinton. Experts say the emails can be processed in a few days, and the FBI, the Justice Department are moving quickly to do this. 

Election experts say most of the decided voters for both parties will not be affected by this especially since most people will have made up their minds by now. Some voters who had questions about Trump might be moved to vote for him, and some undecided voters may be less enthused to come out to vote, though it is not clear at this stage. By mid week a clearer picture is likely to emerge. 

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Increasing regulation on Mexico's telephone monopoly of America Movil, and Telmex, part of Carlos Slim's telephone business in Mexico. Mexico's three main parties have agreed to increase regulation on the monopoly to reduce the high charges paid by Mexico's telecom users. Estimates by OECD show Mexicans paying an extra $13 billion a year from 2005 to 2009 because of the monopoly and high prices. The administration of Pena Nieto made controlling telecom and other monopolies an important part of its program. To get an idea of the extent of the monopolistic control - 70 percent of the cellphone market and 65 percent of fixed lines are controlled by companies run by Slim.  AT&T is now a competitor and is helping bring down high cellphone plan prices.

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The sport of Curling at the Milan Olympics and Britain's role in the sport. Curling sport Explained by the BBC Sports.

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Efforts to defuse the standoff between Immigration enforcement agents and local government in Minneapolis. DJT talks to governor Walz on the phone.

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Europe behind the scenes support with its bases in Iran War, March 2026. French, British, Portuguese, and Greek bases used by American aircraft.