LyrArc Article Gist
US president Trump, working through his Secretary of State Rubio and VP Vance sets up a immediate ceasefire in the war between Pakistan and India of May 7-10, 2025. Vance had cut short his trip to India in Jaipur on the day of the Pahalgam attack of April 22, 2025, by terrorists sponsored and supported by Pakistan.  In response India targeted missiles on 18 terrorist camps targets in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Pakistan on May 7. Drone attacks followed on both sides followed by Indian missile attacks on 3 Pakistan airbases, An immediate ceasefire was accepted by both sides on May 10, 2025. After 75 years of such terrorist activity and militias from Pakistan since 1947 when partition of British Empire created Pakistan, 1.4 billion Indians have lost their patience. Especially because the attack was intended to cut short the revival of the Kashmir economy and modernization of India. In 2024 24 million tourists visited Kashmir reviving its economy. India has Vikshit Bharat 2047 modernization plan to make it an advanced economy, there is a feeling in India that modernization is essential no matter what the difficulties are, Pakistan essentially the Punjab, just one state as its economy stagnates and becomes a sponsor of terrorism. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Saudis and UAE take different positions on Project Freedom to clear Hormuz for shipping because of Saudi deal with Iran to export from pipeline at Yanbu in Red Sea free of missile attacks. That pipeline ships 50% of Saudi oil through Red Sea an alternative route. Saudis are concerned that Houthi rebels in Yemen on the Red Sea would attack the pipeline and lack assurance that their oil exports will not be affected by missile attacks from Iran. One effect of this is that UAE is the major target for Iranian missile attacks.

LyrArc Article Gist
The IMF and Egypt reach preliminary agreement on a $4.8 billion loan in Nov. 2012. Andreas Bauer, IMF division chief for the Middle East says fiscal reforms by reducing waste in expenditures, changing energy subsidies to better channel them to the most needy are part of the plan for Egypt. This includes tax reforms increasing progressive nature of income tax and broadening the sales tax. The goal is to bring the deficit down from 11% of GDP in 2011-2012 financial year to 8.5% in 2013-2014. As part of this plan more money can go to infrastructure investment. Monetary polcies will be geared to keeping inflation down and increasing Egypt's competitiveness to attract foreign investment and increase international reserves. Egypt's international reserves are at $15 billion in Nov. 2012. In all the program of assistance to Egypt including IMF assistance and other donor loans gives Egypt access to $14.5 billion in loans.

LyrArc Article Gist
One needs to look at India -US relations over the long span 1900-2025  looking only at the long haul. In taking a look at the relationship in this way Gandhi's letter to FDR during the Quit India Movement from Wardha July 1 1941, and FDR's reply (with Churchill and FDR fighting Japan in 1941) ranks as memorable and long lasting, far likely to prevail as an idea that holds the imagination of it's peoples than the pulls and shifts of different administrations. Even in the  depth of the war against the Nazis in Europe, and the Imperial Japanese Army rampaging through China, Gandhi felt comfortable looking to America as a friend. Churchill was the antagonist at the time unwilling to let the British Empire fade, and FDR was a friend through the Second World War. Gandhi opens his letter to FDR saying "Dear Friend. I twice missed coming to your great country... I have profited greatly from the writings of Thoreau and Emerson..." And FDR writing back "I shall hope that our common interest in democracy and righteousness will enable your countrymen and mine to make common cause..." For India the powerful words of Cordell Hull his Secretary of State, were offered by FDR with unmistakable goals of freedom and democratic process for India. Eisenhower and Dulles support for Pakistan in the 1950's into 1970's, a period of China and India in the 1970's and 1990's shifting away from old economic arrangements, till India US under Biden 2020 where India as with FDR  was "the closest in the world" to the US, following China's shift to Communist rule and now competition with the US. Taking this long perspective India and the relationship with America will be determined by the 1.8 billion people of the two countries (with Indonesia 2.1 billion people), and the potential for this is vast and only growing by the year. There is a natural affinity and feeling that is only now coming into its own because of a shared responsibility, and a shared understanding, as parts of the former British Empire, separated in 1783 and 1947. And the mutual desire to build the modern world on the terms left by advances of science and technology combined with the ancient civilization of the Bible, Buddhism and the Upanishads. In this sense modern India is made with America and does not exist separate from America, and modern America forward is made with India and does not exist separate from India. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Even if a automobile part for assembly is manufactured in the U.S., the subparts may be sourced overseas. This makes it extremely difficult to pinpoint the country of manufacture. Toyota Siena is 90% sourced with US and Canadian parts according to the U.S. National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration. The Ford Mustang 2005 by contrast uses 65 %US and Canadian parts according to NHTSA. There is a publicity war between the US makers and the Japanese with commercials arguing about who is more American. According to the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association $28 billion is the amount of cumulative investment in N. America and $45 billion is the amount of annual purchases of parts, so that 67% of the Japanese brand cars sold in N. America are made there. A graph from National HighwayTraffic Safety Association shows the Average percentage of auto parts made in the US and Canada for cars sold in N. America. It shows 2 interesting things. 1. That the US makers GM and Ford are closer to 80% and the Japanese makers Toyota and Honda are about 70%. So American makers still have more American content. Note though that Nissan is only around 54 % domestic content, significantly lower. Its always been a much weaker competitor than Toyota, and its sales recently have been sluggish in the US. The Koreans are not shown here but its quite possible that their content is closer to Nissans than to Toyota or lower than Nissans. So all foreign plants may not be the same. Notice the change in Toyota from 52% domestic content to 70% domestic content, from 2000 to 2005,an 18% jump which could only result from a deliberate strategy anticipating the controversy of who is truly American and who isn't. 2. In contrast GM has definitely shifted from 92% to 80% and rapidly moving in the opposite direction than Toyota. The sea change currently underway in the American auto parts industry is in the background, with Delphi looking to increasing manufacture and sourcing overseas particularly Asia (China, India etc), to bring down costs and be competitive in a globalizing auto parts industry. In the future as Delphi shifts overseas and GM procures from China and India one could see a continuing rapid shift to higher overseas content to add the cost savings directly to GM and Ford's bottom line. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Note the shift to internet based access and use of software. this is happening already in information access, which Google does over the internet. When it comes to applications we see the traditional model of installed software for Microsoft and Oracle. So there is a gap for someone larger and with the resources to make it work to come into this gap and use it to get a lead over its competitors. This maybe what SAP is about to do. The pricing of the software is at $149 oer user per month and the target is to increase customers to 100,000 by 2010 double its present customer base. The project is called Business ByDesign and 12,300 out of 61,000 developers at SAp are working on this new software. About $560 million will go into marketing and getting it off the ground to users.

LyrArc Article Gist
How to retain high performing younger teachers in classrooms in the face of budget cuts.

LyrArc Article Gist
Russian strategy is to continue to make gains and not seek an immediate ceasefire. Russian drone attacks on Ukraine continue in May 2025.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Democratic Party's better performance in the midwestern states of Michigan, and Wisconsin, and in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia,in the 2018 midterm elections.  These states are crucial to win in the presidential election of 2020.

LyrArc Article Gist
Deutsche Bank's image takes a hit in a criminal investigation of alleged tax fraud at Deutsche Bank involving cross border trading of carbon emissions certificates by traders. Co-CEO Jurgen Fitschen called the Governor of Hesse to protest a raid by 500 German police officers and investigators of the headquarters of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt. The officers arrested some executives and confiscated data. Fitschen and co-CEO Jain were in a supervisory role for the trading and not directly involved. Fitschen signed a tax declaration that is part of the case. Over 20 Deutsche Bank executives are under investigation in the case. Because Fitschen was also being examined in the case this is being viewed in Germany as placing himself ''above the law," by interfering in a criminal investigation. Christopher Frank, head of the German Association of Judges, a senior prosecutor in Freiburg, said in an interview: "Its disturbing that a bank executive believes he can influence the independence of the judiciary through a phone call...This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the principle of separation of powers."...

LyrArc Article Gist
Solo travel for married men or women is a growing trend. Most solo travelers who are married are women who enjoy the freedom of independent travel. In 2023 such solo travel increased by 46%. Women are keen on seeing the world when their partners are not interested in this kind of travel destination. Solo travel means not having to schedule something with another person, being able to go where one feels is right, and meeting people, making new friends. One partner having more flexible schedule has added to the trend to venture out independently to see new places, new cultures and new people.

LyrArc Article Gist
Brazil's debt at 57% of GDP which is not likely to decline in 2014, is a concern for analysts at Moody's. Heavy spending and lower tax revenues with high interest rates will increase the deficit to 3.7% in 2014 from 2.48% in 2012, according to central bank estimates. Inflation is about 5.98%. Trade surplus is lower at about $2.6 billion for 2013. Brazil's foreign reserves are much higher than Argentina at $359 billion, ten times short term debt, Argentina at 109% of short term debt and Turkey at 84% of short term debt- which protects Brazil compared to its reserves in the 1997 financial crisis.

LyrArc Article Gist
Christian prayer breakfasts and Easter program in the West Wing of the White House with the president DJT participating in fervent prayer.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are effective against the virus variant identified in Britain. It is less effective against the virus variant from South Africa. The U.S. banned all travel to and from South Africa effective Jan 30. U.S. coronavirus cases were at 125,000 on Jan 24 down 20% for the week. 

LyrArc Article Gist
The relationship from college years at Amherst College in the U.S. of Greek political leaders Antonis Samaras and George Papandreou. The efforts to setup a national unity government that failed. The increasing support for the opposition New Democracy Party led by Samaras- with 16% unemployment- and the prospect of new elections. Samaras supports spending cuts. He also favors tax cuts, and a flat tax rate of 15% on business. Greece has a long history of tax evasion and distrust of central authority going back to centuries of Turkish rule. Samaras believes that the lower tax rate of 15% would help change the Greek cultural trait of evading taxes becaue it would be on the honor of people to pay such a basic tax. EU leaders are skeptical that lower taxes are the right policy to reduce the deficit. This adds to the political uncertainty as the new government would have to implement the measures agreed to between the current Greek government and the EU leaders. A similiar situation existed in Portugal but the recent elections there, participation of the opposition party in talks, and the newly elected government conducting its own negotiations, has removed that element of uncertainty which exists in Greece. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Deferred counting of ballot boxes from Istanbul, Ankara and big cities in May 2023 where Kilicdaroglu of the Republican party draws major support. Both Istanbul and Ankara have mayors from the Republican party of Kemal Ataturk who founded the party in 1921 in Ankara to resist the colonial powers but adopted the European model in education and in the constitution, dress, way of life similar to Japan's conversion in the Meiji period of 1871.

LyrArc Article Gist
For anyone trying to understand the Middle East read the gripping story told in Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's own words-"The Great Speech- Nutuk," it is on Kindle Amazon. It shows week after week  Mustafa Kemal as he fought the colonial powers  the British and the French, and then turned a Caliphate into a modern country. If the Vietnamese who fought the French were seen by JFK in the way he saw Ataturk (hear JFK's words on Ataturk in Lyrarc.com) then there would be no Vietnam War. Ataturk's Republican People's Party in opposition for 2 decades wins by a landslide in Turkey's main cities- in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa and Antalya. In Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu wins by a margin of 11.5 percentage points. In Ankara Mansur Yavas wins by a margin of 28 percentage points. Voter turnout was 78% surpassd only by the 87% turnout in the presidential election. Imamoglu is now the contender for the presidency. This is a delayed reaction by voters to the economy with inflation having reached 86% in February and a slowdown in growth, with hardships for ordinary families. Ozgur Ozel, 52 years, replaced an aging civil servant Kilicdaroglu who hung to leadership for 13 years losing repeatedly to Mr. Erdogan and not able to exceed a 25% of the votes. Imamoglu supported Ozel to change leadership of the party founded by Kemal Ataturk in fighting for Turkey's independence from foreign powers in the 1920's. Under Ozel-Imamoglu leadership the Republican party won 38% of the vote to 35% for Erdogan's Justice Party. This is a historic win and sets Turkey on a new path, which could also set a new path for the Arab nations in the Middle East because of the tone of moderation and modernization, good governance, scientific mind, set by Kemal Ataturk. Hear JFK's remarks on the 25th anniversary of Ataturk in Lyrarc.com. If JFK had said the same for another nation building effort in Vietnam similar to that of Ataturk there would be no Vietnam War but a negotiated peace- that is if Kennedy was alive and his life not cut short in 1963.  Few people in US and Europe even know how Kemal Ataturk founded the Republic in the place of the Caliphate type of structure in Ottoman Empire, and defended his homeland from the French and British colonial powers who sought to dismember Turkey, then the remaining parts of the Ottoman Turk Empire. It is told in his own words in the Kindle book "The Great Speech Nutuk," and it is a story that is gripping in its detail of the fight against colonial powers effort to dismember Turkey in the 1920's and even maintain the old Ottoman structures to their benefit. The story is told as if it was happening right in front of our eyes. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
A common error in taking out student loans is assuming that federal government loans are cheaper than private loans.

LyrArc Article Gist
GM executive Mark Hogan had candid discussions with Akio Toyoda when Hogan began a second five year stint at NUMMI in 1997, and Akio was executive vice president at NUMMI in 1998. NUMMI was a joint venture between Toyota and GM. He now joins the Board of Directors at Toyota, the first outside board member, and only the second foreigner to do so after Jim Press. His role is to help counteract the insular culture at Toyota based in Nagoya, Japan, where most decisions end up coming to Nagoya. This was a problem that led to poor handling of the recall crisis in 2010, when Akio Toyoda brought Hogan in as an advisor to Toyota. He will listen to voices outside Japan and have direct access to Akio Toyoda. Hogan told the media: "I see my role as listening to global voices outside of Japan and then sharing insights that will help Toyota to respond more quickly to changes in society." His role also includes looking at Toyota's Brazilian operations, where Toyota has only 5.2% of the market and lags far behind Fiat, VW, and other competitors. Hogan headed GM's Brazilian operations in the 1990's and says he would kid Akio about Toyota's underperormance in Brazil. In 1994 Hogan left GM to become president of Magna International, a Canadian auto parts maker....

LyrArc Article Gist
Sony is setting aggressive goals for its medical business by targeting sales of 200 billion yen ($2.6 billion) by 2020. The Olympus joint venture with Sony is expected to make up about one third of the sales. Olympus has a 70% share of the endoscopes market. Sony is planning on sales of 50 billion yen for its medical monitors, printers and other equipment by March 2015. With its recent investment of 50 billion yen in the joint venture Sony now has a 11% stake in Olympus, making it the largest shareholder. Olympus will use half of the capital injection to develop better medical devices and the rest to setup training centers in emerging markets and cover costs.

LyrArc Article Gist
This Washington Post editorial says the Obama administration is complicit in the military attack on Morsi protester camps and civilians in Cairo on August 14, 2013, because of its failure to follow through on its warning that U.S. aid would be cut of in the event of the military taking a leading role in the overthrow of an elected government. U.S. legislation requires this action. By failing to call it a military takeover and by the administration's failure to strongly condemn the massive violation of human rights in the military attack on protesters and civilians, the Post says the Obama administration becomes complicit in the action. It sees this as self-defeating for the U.S., and unconscionable.

LyrArc Article Gist
Ford's ways to boost fuel economy in the immediate short run. Putting Eco-Boost engines, reducing weight, using aerodynamic materials, power assisted steering, and doing this on the Ford Explorer.