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Sale of 10% of Pakistan's largest oil company OGDCL for $813 million to international investors is a sign of confidence in the Pakistan economy and confidence in the whole South Asian region for sustained economic growth in the next 20 years. India's growth rate in the next 5 years is expected to reach 10% - see related piece on this estimate by Finance Minister Chidamabaram.

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Pello Bilbao becomes the first Spaniard in 5 years to win a stage in a Tour de France. He made it through hilly terrain in the massif central highlands of France to win Stage 10. Jonas Vinegaard retains a 17 second lead overall. 

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140 billion euro loan to Ukraine being considered by UK and Germany with Russian frozen assets in Belgium to support the loan.  Drone sightings over Belgian airports at Liege and Brussels with RAF experts sent by Britain to counter drones over Belgian sites.

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The 2018 state elections leave an inconclusive result says Soutik Biswas of the BBC.On one side an arrogant government and on the other side a older party from the Independence struggle that has not developed younger leaders and lacks a compelling narrative. Rajasthan has tended to give only 1 term to an incumbent government, and in Madhya Pradesh Congress party had 113 to BJP's 111, a very close vote, with the BJP facing anti-incumbency sentiment in an effort to win a fourth time in succession.  A lot depends on regional allies for the Congress says Biswas, and here it is not clear how well this will work. The Modi government faces discontent of farmers, and the loan waiver for farmers promise by Congress helped it with voters. In the general election much also depends on how well prime minister Narendra Modi keeps the narrative focused on development and retains the support of younger voters, and his personal popularity. This only leaves an embattled Republic between a government that has struggled to create jobs and modernize the country even with good intentions, and a older centrist party that has not cultivated new leaders from within its ranks and lacks a compelling narrative to take the country into the ranks of close to developed nations the way its neighbors South Korea, and China have rapidly developed. ...

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The government of Pedro Sanchez has announced additional $10 billion in cost of living aid to take the total to $45 billion. It comes through reduced VAT and $200 one off payments to households making less than 27,000 euros a year. The government has been able to bring inflation down to 6.8%, lowest in the European Union, though food inflation is higher.

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President Trump's poll ratings decline in the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. There just 78,000 more votes made him president, even after being behind 3 million votes in the nation overall, because of America's unique voting system by state. In these states the number of Americans proud or embarrassed of the president shows a decline in support. Only a third of adults express approval and about 40% express strong disapproval, 60% saying it leaves them embarrassed. Polling was done by Marist. 

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Analysts say the second phase of building China's strategic petroleum reserve will begin in the first half of 2011. This addition is expected to be for 168 million barrels, adding to the 100 million barrels in the reserve. China International Capital Corporation, a Beijing investment bank, says this stocking up and the rising inventories at Chinese oil companies could increase oil prices by $6.50 a barrel in 2011 and 2012. Existing Chinese reserves cover only 12 days of demand, compared to the 103 million barrels or 40 days for the US strategic petroleum reserve. This increases the uncertainty in world oil markets. A daily addition of 150,000 barrels a day would meet one third of the expected second phase in 2011, and this amounts to about 10% of the International Energy Agency's forecast increase in global demand for 2011. At the same time if oil gets too expensive, China could decide to wait for a more opportune time to build stocks.

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Wide gaps in learning persist for the British population. This analysis of GCSE, General Certificate of Secondary Education results in The Guardian shows 28% of grades awarded to students in London were at Grade 7 or above, in the northeast of England this drops to 18%, with gaps widening in 2023. GCSE is the part of the National Curriculum taught to students ages 14 to 16 years in years 10 and 11. The Grading system gives more attention to A's with three Grade 9,8 and 7 for A's and only Grade 6 for B's, and in this way puts more emphasis on one extreme top section of students than the middle to upper, which may be a mistake.

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President Biden says "I don't think anybody can deny the effects of climate change anymore," as the US goes through a heat wave in the south and the west of the country. Biden says it is outrageous that construction workers in some places were not given the right to a water break. Biden says the US Forests Service will use $1 billion to help cities and towns plant trees. This can help lower temperatures in cities and towns. San Antonio and Phoenix are some of the cities on the front lines of climate change, much of the south and western US is affected with abnormally high temperatures sometimes exceeding 110 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the hottest July on record in the whole world.

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Under a deal made between Partido Popular of prime minister Mariano Rajoy and the Ciudadanos party in Spain, the ruling party agreed to back measures to tackle corruption and ensure an independent judiciary. Public officials being investigated for corruption will be suspended from office. Selection will be done by members of the judiciary for 12 of the 20 board members previously elected by parliament that appoints judges and prosecutors. Wage subsidies are introduced for low income families and cuts in public spending for health and education are restored under the agreement,  which includes a program of 150 measures. The combined vote of the two parties get it to 169- 137 for the Partido Popular and 32 for Ciudadanos- and with the aid of a Canary Islands party to 170. The Ciudadanos party will not participate in the Partido Popular government but will vote in its favor. This is still short of the 176 votes needed in the 350 seat parliament. Rajoy could have a second term only if the Socialist party allows some members to abstain. As this is uncertain Spain faces the prospect of an election in December 2016. ...

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One of the favorable factors for Iraq in recent years was the surge in oil production, adding 1 million barrels a day to reach 3.3 million barrels a day. It surged to an average of 3.7 million barrels a day in December 2014 after a deal with the Kurdish region in northern Iraq for an additional 550,000 barrels a day in exchange for Kurds getting a 17% share of federal revenues. This helped Iraq overcome other problems. The drop in oil prices has led to a 40% drop in revenues and the invasion by Islamic State in a loss of some production.The federal budget of $101 billion planned revenues is based on an oil price of $56 and exports of 3.3 million barrels a day, resulting in a $20 billion deficit. It assumes $10 billion in new tax revenues which may be hard to achieve with a lack of strong central government. Experts on Iraq's oil industry say large investments are needed to offset declining oil production from older oil fields in southern Iraq. Oil exports were 2.5 million barrels a day in 2014, and experts say even this will be hard to achieve for 2015. Investments could come from western oil companies, but Iraq and the Kurdistan region are behind in payments to oil companies. Iraq is considering issuing bonds for $10-$15 billion....

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This exceptional account by WSJ's Shira Ovide on Microsoft Windows 10 looks at ways CEO Satya Nadella is changing Microsoft's culture and old way of doing business. Microsoft is changing its culture and strategy of charging for all its products. It will let businesses and individual buyers upgrade for free to the new Windows 10 product. This means $500 million less in sales revenues in 2015, but opens up new oppoortunities in sale of add-on apps and services on more devices, such as health sensors and smartphones. The failure to penetrate the smartphone business- with a meager 3% penetration for Windows in smartphones - is a problem facing Microsoft as it competes with Apple, Google and other companies. Terry Myerson describing the thinking behind this change at Microsoft puts it in a cultural perspective, saying that it should result in a more engaged user base. There is a sense that the space Microsoft is in stretches way beyond PC's to all the new computing devices now in place, including smartphones and other devices, with Windows taking up only 15% of these devices. Founder Bill Gates calls this "exciting" and is excited to see the reaction in the market....

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According to the General Accountability Office inquiry, 28 drug products had price increases over 100% in 2000, in 2008 71 drug products had such large increases. Medicines like Adderall for attention deficit disorder, Inderal for chest pain, Sumycin for infections were in the list of 416 brand name drug products where makers or distributors raised prices at least once by 100% or more for period 2000-2008. As large pharmaceutical companies sold their marginally profitable drug products or small selling products to smaller companies, these smaller companies would immediately increase prices to recover the money they paid to the large pharmaceutical companies. 26 of the brand name products saw prices raised 10 fold. A third of the drugs with large price increases treat depression and disorders of the central nervous system.

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Temperatures soar to over 125 degrees Fahrehheit in Saudi Arabia in June leading to the deaths of 1170 Hajj pilgrims.

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David Ellison's Skydance buys Free Press site for $150 million and merges with Paramount Global in $8 billion merger to acquire CBS News. Bari Weiss of Free Press is made Editor in Chief at CBS News.

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The pandemic has affected Brazil, and Peru, Ecuador, the worst in Latin America. Countries where there was a lack of funding for public health and no consensus on how to tackle the crisis such as Brazil have done worse. Brazil has 11 deaths per 100,000 people compared to just 1.0 for Argentina. Chile with a political crisis and months of protests has no consensus in the country. It has done worse with 4 deaths per thousand and 95% of intensive care beds in the country taken, leaving hospitals overburdened and in stressful conditions. 

In Argentina the lockdown has been extended till June 7 and there appears to be a consensus on the government's approach to the crisis. Mexico under president Obrador decided to reopen earlier and now faces more coronavirus cases. Reopening the economy so that people in the informal economy could provide for their families was a priority for president Obrador. 

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Innovation Network Corporation of Japan will invest 140 billion yen in Renesas and take a two thirds stake in the company. This is an effort to restore and strengthen Japan's semiconductor industry. Renesas has struggled to cope with falling chip prices and the effects of the tsunami. The company posted a loss of 150 billion yen for the year ending March 2012. Renesas was formed in 2003 by merging the chipmaking operations of Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric and NEC Corp.

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Barry Eichengreen of the University of California, Berkeley, looks at problems in the British economy reflected in the sharp decline of the pound of over 10% which he says will get even worse. The problem is weak productivity growth. Eichengreen looks back in time to similar crises for the British currency the pound. In 1931 it was unemployment at 21% that made the pound weak. In 1949 the high war debt made it difficult to finance British imports. In 1967 under Harold Wilson the drop in productivity was a problem. In 1992 the cumulative loss of productivity and uncompetitive exports with British output per hour about 15% below Germany led to a sharp decline in the pound. The current crisis reflects falling productivity from a lack of investment in infrastructure, deterioration in educational levels, the lack of trained and educated people to fill positions. Frictions and inefficiencies as a result of Brexit compound the difficulties.  The brief look at the last 100 years for th British pound gives a better understanding of the outlook for the British pound, which will only get worse, says Eichengreen. ...

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The US tariff on China made EV"s imported into the US is 100%. The EU has a 10% tariff. It has now imposed additional tariffs that range from 17% to 38% depending on its investigation with Chinese companies on how much support they get from the Chinese government as hidden subsidies. This move is to level the playing field. The result is that BYD faces a 17% tariff because it has operated relatively on its own. For Geely and SAIC it goes up to 38%. The tariff on European companies making EV's in China and exporting them is additional 21%. US carmakers (GM and Ford) have only a small presence in the Chinese car market compared to the Europeans who  make and sell 3 million luxury cars in the Chinese market (BMW, Audi, Mercedes Benz). About 25% of EV's sold in Europe are now China made EV's. The EU wants to level the playing field so that local makers maintain a strong presence in their home markets. The US with no significant car manufacturing presence in China of Ford, GM to protect is taking stronger action. ...

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Sony showed improved results and a recovery in its consumer business with a net operating profit of $170 million for the year ending March 31, 2015. A remarkable result is the first operating profit in the television business after over 10 years of losses.

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Venezuela signs a deal in Moscow restructuring over $3 billion in debt. It will be repaid over 10 years  with minimal repayment over the first six years. The Maduro government has about $150 billion in debt that is coming due. The Russian deal does not include $6 billion owed by PDVSA Venezuela's oil company to Russia.