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Ajaz Patel comes from a humble background in Mumbai before moving to New Zealand as a child. Here he recalls the excitement of getting his first cricket spikes. His father worked at his brother's automotive shop in the new country and his mother was a schoolteacher.

Ajaz did the incredible feat of getting all 10 wickets with spin bowling at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai in his first innings bowling for New Zealand. Like Jim Laker 10 for 53 against Australia in 1956, and Anil Kumble with 10 wickets against Pakistan, Ajaz's effort is a result of hard work, patience, and knowhow, says this report in The Times. And in Azaz's situation he had less experience as his first Test match was played at age 30 years. 

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On India becoming the third largest economy in the world by 2030 prime minister Modi says- "When I became Chief Minister in 2001 the size of Gujarat's economy was around $26 billion. When I left Gujarat to become PM the size of Gujarat's economy had become $133 billion. When I became PM the size of India's economy was $2 trillion, and at the end of 2023-2024 the size of India's GDP will be more than $3.75 trillion. It is this track record of 23 years that shows a $5 trillion economy is a realistic target." Further "when I talk of Modi's guarantees, I bind myself to it. It propels me to work harder. It leads me to give everything to the people."

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Gen. Milley is being succeeded as chairman Joint Chiefs by Air Force chief C. Q. Brown. General Mark Milley completed a 4 year term as chairman Joint Chiefs at a ceremony attended by president Biden. He told the crowd- "We do not take an oath to an individual, we take an oath to the Constitution, to the idea that is America, and we are willing to die to protect it." Milley is a Bostonian whose father a Navy Corpsman fought in World War II. He was picked by former president Trump just as former Attorney General Barr and former vice president Mike Pence were picked by Trump, yet Pence, Barr and Milley, all had serious differences with Mr. Trump. All defended democracy and the transition from one president to another in January 2021.

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The Fed's action will help retirees and savers after two decades of low interest rates were introduced to counteract the abuses of the financial market actors in 2009 and in prior crises. It hurts borrowers who had benefitted from such policies and as the situation returns to a more normal 5-6% interest rates that have prevailed for most of the postwar period, the situation is better for most Americans and the American economy. Not only is the Fed fighting inflation, it is also ending an abnormal period for interest rates which hurt American savings and older Americans saving for retirement. When combined with the Biden administration's spirited action to invest in American manufacturing, in science and technology advancement, in infrastructure and education, this creates a resilient economy with low unemployment and moderate inflation.

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The important thing is doing the right thing- building America, building jobs and wages for average Americans. All Americans. Dionne writes in The Washington Post that Biden investments  in renewable energy, infrastructure, and manufacturing, are promoting growth in all parts of the country, many of them rural, Republican leaning, that have experienced decades of neglect. And others once part of the 50's and 60's Truman Kennedy period Democrat leaning- parts of the northeast, the midwest that had suffered badly from outsourcing and sending of jobs to China. A rising tide lifts all boats, in the words of John Kennedy, and Biden tells a Philadelphia rally of union workers that looking back 10 years from now it would be seen that this is when it all started.

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Strack of DW.com reports on the 2016 CDU convention where Merkel received 89.5% of the vote. Merkel receives applause for the burqa ban, and her denunciation of populist hate sentiment, of Islamism and parallel societies, parallel cultures. The best passages of Merkel's speech says Strack, were about reunification, about how she started in politics from the natural sciences, her start at SPD, then shifting  quickly to the "Democratic Beginning" leading to the CDU. "Head into the open," "that is where freedom is," and says Strack she had the hall listening to a chancellor speaking with emotion when in the past she has been cool and reserved. Parallels to the 1994 campaign of Kohl for a fourth term when enthusiasm came only from "generation" Kohl are being made.

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Without hydropower and the clean energy from dams estimates are for 10% more use of burning fossil fuels. China and Brazil have added 12.5 gigawatts of power from hydropower, 50% of this in the world for 2017. Africa added 1.9 gigawatts in this period and 6 countries depend on hydro for 90% of electricity production.  The entry of private capital and the financing from the government in the case of China and India is replacing the role of the World Bank. 

The effect of lack of electricity in India and Africa is underestimated in how it affects people's lives in these regions with lack of water supplies, and lack of electricity severely hurting people in large numbers who are marginalized or forgotten because they never had access to lighting at night before.

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This is about Governor Newsom, Biden, Michigan and what the Media just doesn't get. Governor Newsom said in South Haven, Michigan yesterday- "I believe in this man. I believe in his character. I believe that he has been one of the most transformative presidents in our lifetime." One has to go back to FDR and Truman to understand Biden. FDR and Woodrow Wilson were the leading transformative presidents of the last one hundred years. FDR and Truman had to overcome many problems to provide the leadership America needed in critical times as the nation turned from a largely agricultural country to and industrial nation, through wars and economic upheavals. Biden is tackling one of these difficult periods in the Nation's history and is bringing exceptional experience, conviction and ability to this task.

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Queen Elizabeth was more comfortable with Labour prime ministers than Conservatives. This included Harold Wilson of Labour. The Queen had a prickly relationship with Margaret Thatcher. King Charles  has strong views on social issues such as housing and migration, and on climate change. Charles 75 years and Keir Starmer 61 years are shown here to have similar views on social issues in Britain. If Starmer wins the election they will meet weekly, and have much in common. The royal historian says there is a meeting of minds in terms of the social issues at stake, the plight of the people of Britain. The national anthem was played at the beginning of the Labour Conference in 2022. Sir Keir Starmer was made Queen's Counsel in 2004 and was knighted in 2014 for his services in public prosecutions. 

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The Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Deputy Chair, Nanette Baragan, Adriano Espaillat ,say "we stand with president Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris." There are 43 members in that group. Biden also had a good conversation Monday night with 60 members of the CBC Congressional Black Caucus. The CBC offered full support to Biden and Harris and the CBC called for efforts to invest in housing and invest in the Black Community. Every member of CBC praised Biden. Senator Patty Murray, president pro tempore of the Senate, asked Biden to be more forceful and energetic- "There is such a case to be prosecuted against Trump, president Biden has to lead the charge making that case." She also praised Biden for leading a "historic" first term.

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In a game where the physical push and shove happened abundantly with many fouls including some involving Toni Kroos and leading to the sending off of Pedri, the Spaniards simply were the more resilient side. Spain led for most of the regular play period with a goal from Dani Olmo from a Yamal pass. Wirtz scored for Germany only in the 86th minute with a scramble taking place in front of goal. Spain were the better team overall and scored in extra time in what was a quarter final game but could have been the final, such was the intensity displayed by Germany who were seen by their fans as not having the determination to win in other games. Spain simply had some of the best players- Rodrigo, Yamal , Olmo and Morata and the play was relentless on both sides.

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The Fed's Jerome Powell makes a half percentage point rate cut that takes the federal funds rate to between 4.75% and 5.00%.  11 of 12 Fed governors supported the decision for a half percentage point rate cut.

Powell said:

"We are committed to maintaining our economy’s strength. This decision reflects our growing confidence that with an appropriate recalibration of our policy stance, strength in the labor market can be maintained.”

This is the US central bank's, the Fed's response to high cost of living concerns in the US. It provides relief to households with credit card balances, and business with variable rate debt. Rates for corporate debt and mortgages had started declining in anticipation of rate cuts.

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Djokovic who struggled with a knee injury and pain put every effort he could muster into his game. He won over young Spanish player Alcaraz in 2 tiebreakers 7-6, 7-6. The injury happened for a miniscus tear during his quarterfinals game with Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece. He had only 24 hours to recover before the semifinals game against Italy's Mussetti and seemed very worried. It shows the effort put into the games by athletes in the face of adversity. In cycling overcoming tire punctures and precious seconds, in rowing 0.18 seconds separating Netherlands women's scull quad from the second place,  injuries of women's rower Brayshaw in a horse riding accident and a British rower who came back from a surgery after a bike accident to win gold.

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Vance calls for hearing different voices in Europe to be heard. The anti-migration parties and voices were excluded by the conference chair Christoph Heusgen, who advised Merkel on foreign policy, and did little to prevent the mass migration into Germany and other countries. Vance called for the all voices to be heard even those which one disagreed. He said European countries are not as brittle as they think they are that all voices could not be heard and all views debated. Vance expressed his own view that people in Europe and the US were feeling endangered  after a decade of mass migration supported by politicians and parties in Europe. These politicians had not received support for their action at the ballot box said Vance, including with Brexit and in US with the election of DJT.

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India's Supreme Court ruled that Vodafone PLC does not owe $2.2 billion in taxes on the acquisition of a majority stake in Hutchison Essar Ltd. The Indian tax authorites were directed to return 25 billion rupees ($500 million) which Vodafone had deposited. With declining foreign investment in India and a lower growth rate of about 7%, this tax case had assumed larger significance. The Supreme Court decision emphasized that taxing Vodafone "would amount to imposing capital punishment for capital investment." Vodafone had difficulties in its Indian operations- a $3.4 billion impairment charge in May 2010 because of strong competition. Vodafone is estimated to have invested $26 billion in India since 2007, and in the fiscal year ending March 2011 showed only $115 million in profit on sales of $3.86 billion.

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Tennis player from Serbia is disqualified for hitting the line umpire with a tennis ball. Djokovic was behind 6-5 to Carren Busta of Spain and lost his serve when this happened. Once before in that match he hit a ball at the stands in frustration. The Organizers of the U.S. Open decided there were clear reasons for him to be disqualified and lose all points he had earned at the U.S. Open. Djokovic had earlier come under criticism for his playing in events where there was no social distancing. Tennis has lost much of the graceful behaviour from the time when players like Althea Gibson, Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver played the game in an earlier era. Too much of the money is focused on prize money, television advertising, star status and number of grand slams won, bringing the game down to a level where the fans enjoying a good game is left behind and focus is all on individual players. The same is true for soccer where so much focus was placed on Barcelona and Messi and the 700 million transfer fee. The message from reality comes from the 7-2 win by Bayern Munich over Barcelona with a traditional approach to the game based on using new players costing far less money, a good dose of common sense and hard work. Coaches at Manchester City and Liverpool, and Real Madrid all attributed their success in the game to hard work and discipline of players, with every player playing for the team and for fans, and not for star status. ...

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The Labour party's support for not withdrawing from the European Medicines Agency is the subject of an argument after Prime Minister's Questions in the British parliament. Labour leader Keir Starmer confronts prime minister Boris Johnson in parliament after Johnson reminds Labour that it had on repeated occasions called for the UK not to withdraw from the European Medicines Agency.  The UK vaccination drive is far ahead of the vaccination drive in European Union countries including France and Germany, because of British initiative in boldly betting money on vaccine supplies with pharmaceutical companies, and earlier approval by the UK health regulatory authority. Here is the comment in the House of Commons by Boris Johnson- "If we had listened to (Starmer), we would still be at the starting blocks because he wanted to stay in the European Medicines Agency and said so four times from that dispatch box." Starmer disputes the statement. The Times cites Hansard, the official record of the House of Commons. It records that Starmer questioned why Britain would want to withdraw from the Medicines Agency in Jan. 2017. In 2018 Labour party supported an Amendment to the Trade Bill that called for the UK to seek participation in the European Medicines Agency. Germany, Spain and France are hit hard by the second wave of the coronavirus and the lack of adequate vaccine supplies is causing grief in European Union. The EU president Von der Leyen, another European Union style bureaucrat, seen as having bungled the handling of vaccine supply. ...

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SDP candidate Olaf Scholz is seen as the most convincing of the candidates, and ahead of the Green's Baerbock and CDU's Laschet in a poll following the 90 minute television debate on German television. Scholz maintained an unperturbed demeanor as he responded to an attack from Laschet on a money laundering investigation being conducted on the finance ministry. He said Scholz was presenting a misleading picture because it was centered on the possibly illegal activities of a single employee in Cologne. He added that he had increased the financial oversight at the ministry since he took over in 2018. Looking at the problems facing German industry, and the challenges from climate change facing Germany,  Scholz had this to say on the scale of the effort needed in renewable energy- "We have 250 years of economic and industrial history behind us, based on coal, gas, and oil. And if we are to change that now that means we have to do an awful lot, for it to really work." The SPD goes into the election at this point with a six point lead over CDU. SPD at 26% vs CDU at 20%, Greens at 15%, in the INSA poll. The election debate on television continues to give SPD and Scholz the confidence needed to stay ahead. Unlike the period facing Merkel Germany after the pandemic faces challenges in social, safety net, child care, climate change, and foreign policy that require new thinking and ability to tackle new frontiers. ...

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Tokyo has the reputation for being the city with the longest working hours. Overwork leading to death has a term for it in Japan- "karoshi." But this is changing. Recent studies show Mumbai as the city with the longest working hours per worker per year at 3315 hours. The Japanese government had a law passed this year limiting legal overtime work to 45 hours a month, with an extension in busy periods to 100 hours for a maximum of 6 months. Yet the culture is taking time to change, even though long hours often leads to low productivity. It does not mean productivity is high in Mumbai or Tokyo. Dublin, Ireland has one of the highest productivity scores, workers in Dublin worked 1856 hours a year and still created $84 in GDP every hour- compared to this in Mexico City the third hardest working city had only $18 in GDP per hour. This is calculated by dividing GDP by the hours worked. Occupational health psychologists say working longer hours can be less productive because of the drain on performance, resulting in poor concentration, memory and compromised problem solving and creativity. The lack of rest means resources are not replenished with rest, and can deteriorate physical and mental health. Singapore a fairly liveable city has the highest percentage of people working more than 48 hours per week, in a Kisi study. Suggestion for work life balance include taking holidays and short breaks, and switching off from work mentally, using mindfulness and meditation. Practicing self-compassion and prioritizing self-care is needed. ...

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French voters turned to parties outside the mainstream left Socialist Party and the right Republican Party for the first time in a run off presidential election. The National Front's Jean Le Pen made it to the runoff in 2002, then lost to Chirac of the Republican Party who won 78% of the vote. This time the Republican Party candidate Fillon had about 20%, the Socialist Party candidate Hamon won just 6% of the vote with the rest of the socialist vote going to a far left candidate Jean Luc Melenchon who had 19.6%. The winners were Emmanuel Macron, a former Economy minister under president Hollande of the socialist Party, getting about 24% and Marine Le Pen, the daughter of Jean Le Pen of the National Front, getting 21.5%. Compared to the U.S. the situation is slightly different in France because of the very high unemployment rate for young people- younger voters supported the National Front, and people especially in rural areas in the north, north east, and the south of the country around Nice and Marseille supported the National Front. Macron's movement En Marche, centrist party drawing support from centre right and centre left without clear ideology except to renew France and pro-EU, was strong in urban areas, among more educated people, especially in Paris and the area around Bordeaux and Toulouse in the south east of the country. Fillon did not do well in some traditional Republican Party areas including Nice, with inroads from Le Pen, who defined the party around anti-immigration, closed borders, and withdrawal from the European Union. ...

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German authorites are looking into the possibility that higher up management knew about the emissions cheating and whether management had permitted it to take place. A search warrant was issued by a judge in Munich in March 2017 that makes it possible for investigators to take documents and other evidence on mobile phones of senior management, including Mr. Muller and Mr. Stadler, two very senior executives who head VW and Audi. Almost 2 years after the story first came to light the investigation continues and the probe deepens into who knew what at the highest levels of management.

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China adopts a two child policy nationwide in October 2015, abandoning a one child policy adopted in 1980. Experts had warned for years of a policy that would lead to fewer young people, and a rapidly aging society. UN forecasts show China will have about 400 million people over the age of 60 in 2030, 25% of the population in 2030, compared to 14% today if current trends continued. Growth of elderly people would burden the pension and health care systems. The birth rate of 1.4 children per woman is lower than in the U.S. today.

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Nate Cohn of the NYT points out that based on the way in which moderate voters shifted to vote for Cruz in Wisconsin, especially in the eastern part of the state, this could be a turning point in the Cruz campaign. Cohn cites exit polls showing 29% of moderate voters went for Cruz in Wisconsin compared to 12% in Michigan and 15% in Illinois. In Madison's Dane County, a moderate area, Cruz had 38% of the vote. If this proves to be resilient then Trump could become the underdog in California, Indiana, Maryland, and Montana, with Pennsylvania becoming competitive, says Cohn. Reasons why this shift of moderate voters to Cruz could be a lasting shift are the results on March 15, 2016, with Cruz getting 40% of the vote in Missouri, and 30 percent in Illinois.

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In a factory the size of 5 football fields located in Gurnee, Illinois, Abbott Labs makes its BinaxNow Covid-19 home tests. Abbott turned out 1 billion tests in 2021 and at one point had 80% of the market. Along with Pfizer vaccine, BinaxNow Home covid-19 tests are a dominant product during the pandemic. Abbott generated a fifth of its $43 billion in revenue from these home tests. Abbott faced several hurdles along the way. It gained when the US government authorized it to make the test. Yet after vaccination took off by mid 2021 the demand for tests declined and Abbott nearly idled its giant factory in Gurnee. Delta and Omicron variants led to a sudden reversal and surge in demand. Abbott developed its test based on an existing design it used in the US for flu tests, by a company it inherited by acquisition called Binax. To do that test one sends a swab up the nose, add that sample and a liquid mixture to a rectangular paper card, and close the card shut. The liquid then travels up the paper strip, revealing one or two pink lines, one for negative, two for positive. This is done in 15 minutes and the simple design described as a lollipop shape, put Abbott far ahead of competitors. The US FDA authorized Becton Dickinson and Quidel to make the tests before it authorized Abbott, but these rival companies had a poor and complex design. The Trump administration gave Abbott a $760 million contract to buy 150 million tests for distribution to health departments, long termcare facilities, nursing homes, and schools. And by October 2020 Abbott was already making 50 million tests a month. When it comes to distribution Abbott tapped into its pharmacy connections for baby products such as Similac baby formula. This gave it an advantage over Quidel and others who also lacked the manufacturing knowhow for large scale ramp up. The BinaxNow in pharmacies was sold at $24 for a box of two tests, while government paid $5 for one test. Abbott says it makes $ 7 per single consumer test. Yet there was one problem waiting to hit Abbott in 2021- demand dried up as the vaccination campaign took off. In fact the plant manager, Mr. Rodriguez, planned to move to another job inside Abbott as production declined. Then came the Delta variant and he was asked to ramp up production again. With Omicron demand soared. The Biden administration committed $3 billion to help boost test production and asked Kroger and Walmart to sell over the counter tests at cost for 3 months. Abbott had to lure workers from Amazon at $25 an hour for the Gurnee plant expansion. What was learned by the government and Abbott from this experience? The US government now looks for ideas in meeting demand volatility, supply challenges and production needs,. Sustaining production capacity is important for future virus flareups- a new government-industry partnership is required for maintaining test making infrastructure. With government help Abbott plans now to keep the facility at Gurnee operating indefinitely. ...

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The sense of conflict in China and US relations may not have developed in the shaping of Xi Jinping's thinking till the emergence of Mr. Trump. Jinping comes into the China shaped by Deng and Zemin after the collapse of the purely Communist experiment with modernization without access to western technologies and capital, and the experiment with American help. It is only after the realization that the Communist party had lost its sense of purpose in these years leading to the Bo Xilai episode, and the rhetoric of Mr. Trump against China, that the idea of first friction and then conflict emerged. The initial idea for Jinping before Trump was that this has worked for China- the experiment with the cooperation of the US in modernizing China. Trump's rhetoric and the Republican party's rhetoric about China stealing American jobs and technology after 2015 may have been targeted to win the election but it had an unintended effect after the tariffs of shaping Jinping's thinking about the future for China. Between the Bo Xi Lai episode in 2012 when it appeared he would be attempting to manipulate the Communist party's direction in unknown and unpredictable ways, Bo's trial in 2013 and the anticorruption campaign and the 2015 election campaign of Mr. Trump in the US, there must have been much soul searching in the party that shaped Jinping's thinking about the future for China after all the tumult of the 20th century starting with the Boxer rebellion in 1901. Stability is highly prized in China particularly for modernization. This perspective is important to grasp for world peace to be preserved with different coexisting perspectives about the world based on national as well as shared interests in issues such as climate change. US after its own disastrous experiment with capitalism that led to widening inequality of the kind not seen since Lincoln in the 1850's, the 2009 crisis, and the shift of jobs to China under a purely capitalist idea of how economies should function, had its own national interests in jobs, local manufacturing and Made in the USA. Once this process was underway after 2016 and grasped by president Biden after 2020, and supply chain reconstruction made the goal after covid, the US and China were on divergent economic and political paths.   That rethinking by Xi Jinping is not over as it may still be going on. The war in Ukraine may even convince Jinping and China's No. 2 leader Li Keqiang who studied the US constitution and American urbanization under mentors when he was in college, that Russia's prolongation of the war in Ukraine does not serve the interests of China. That risking relations with the European Union as Russia prolongs the war and finds itself in the complex problems of  a war it started, is not in China's interests in setting its own course for the future. ...