LyrArc Article Gist
Musharaff as part of Pakistan's transition to democracy as the Supreme Court decision lets him run for President.

LyrArc Article Gist
Sweden is developing solutions to use alternatives to oil. There is a general shift in Europe to nuclear energy as an attractive non-polluting source of energy. In the case of Sweden there is the use of abudant water in the form of hydropower. There is also the shift to ethanol, with incentives for use of ethanol, mixing 5% ethanol in gasoline and ethanol costing one third less at the pump. Conversion of gas stations to have 2400 of 4000 stations providing ethanol or alternatives by 2010 from the 450 stations today. These Swedish solutions provide a model for the U.S. and other countries.

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With China's automobile market declining for the fifth month in a row, and trade tensions rising, it now appears that carmakers such as Ford expanded too quickly in the Chinese market. Ford, Peugeot, and Hyundai appear to have poorly times their expansion in China, expanding at the tail end of the Chinese boom just ahead of the new Trump administration's efforts to challenge China's lopsided trade balance.  It has become so bad that this report shows workers at a Peugeot factory in China spending their days washing floors and attending Communist political study sessions at work. At a Ford plant workers shifts are reduced to a couple of days a month. Sales grew 3% in 2017 and declined 2% in the first 11 months of 2018, after increases of 14% in previous years taking the market to 28 million in a dizzying ride as it surpassed the U.S. sales of 17.5 million. Overcapacity is a problem in China with the aggressive expansion. There is capacity to make 43 million cars, but will produce 29 million in 2018, according to PwC, consulting firm. Ford meanwhile put in a new plant in Harbin in 2017, expanding its capacity to 1.6 million a year, but sales peaked at 1.27 million in 2016, and are down 6% in 2017, and 34% in 2018 to about 700,000. While there are no layoffs some workers are making only $220 monthly, forcing them to take second jobs as cab drivers or couriers. Suzuki decided to quit in 2018 exiting China entirely just so it would not pile up losses in what is now a market that is way overblown from the boom years. Electric vehicle production in the pipeline of about 7.5 million vehicles will compound this problem further with 32 new plants planned by 26 firms.   ...

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Efforts by the EU to change the Irish corporate tax rate of 12.5% in exchange for help from the EU.