LyrArc Article Gist
Mokoto Rich of the NYT discusses sentiment in Japan as the North Korean nuclear program advances. A majority of Japanese surveyed do not favor preemptive strikes. Japan's Constitution only allows acting in self-defense. Experts say Japan has to consider what it would do for missiles flying over Japanese territory in the direction of the U.S. A Japanese government ruling in 1956 allows acting in self-defense in a broader way. Yet the public in Japan is not sure what is the best way to respond. Also to be considered is how this will be seen in South Korea and China- would Japan taking a greater defensive role and building its own anti-ballistic missile system defenses lead to greater tensions in the region.

LyrArc Article Gist
Washington Post's new idea of developing content for social media platforms  (Third Newsroom) to cut losses of $77 million in 2023 by earning profit on social brand exercises, comes at a time when the risks of social media platforms to education of children and to their mental health are great. Social media platforms entry into the news business has led to old news companies first interacting with them over a decade and realizing that this was leading to gains for social media platforms and losses for the old news companies. For older news companies such as the NYT, WSJ, Washington Post and others in the US this was a period in which these companies lost control over their news content along with loss of revenues. Over the last five years the companies have become profitable managing their own content and increasing subscriptions. The Washington Post has run into problems and has a $77 million loss. It was sold to Amazon's Bezos for $250 million by the founding family in 2013.  It is now trying to revive its business by doing what failed for the NYT, WSJ and others- by embracing rather than rejecting social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and others using the News Movement idea of UK journalist Lewis and Winnett. That News Movement makes content for Instagram and TikTok but has not generated profits. Under Lewis as head of Washington Post news division, Matt Murray formerly editor of WSJ would as head of Third Newsroom develop this kind of content for social media platforms. This runs the risks of aiding the work of social media platforms at a time when TikTok has raised national security concerns in the US, and along with Instagram is being cited as part of social media platforms that are affecting the mental health of children. Its disastrous impact on the health of the Nation and its future comes from reducing focus on education and studies by diverting an average of 4.8 hours each day away from educational activity for the children that make up the future generation of this Nation. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
A Kyodo News poll shows about 60% of Japanese want the Olympic games cancelled. Japan faces another wave of the pandemic with a surge in Osaka and other cities. The government's handling of the pandemic is disapproved by 71% of Japanese in a Kyodo News poll. Over 80% are unhappy with the slow vaccine rollout.   India faces a surge in cases public dissatisfaction that is similar to Japan and other countries in Europe. France and Germany have a slow vaccine rollout. In India vaccination drive is affected by a lack of supplies as in France and Germany with shortages of vaccine. The European Union in April signed contracts for over a billion doses with Pfizer and India has plans for ramped up supply of its Covishield and Covaxin vaccines to 2 billion doses by December 2021. This shows how difficult it is for advanced countries and major pharmaceutical producing countries such as as India to vaccinate their populations quickly in the initial stages of the vaccination effort. In July the vaccine effort would be in its 7th month and vaccine supply constraints are expected to ease as a result of aggressive action by governments in EU, France, Germany and India. This will also enable addressing needs in Latin America, Africa and South East Asia. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The Guardian looks at high street, the small downtowns in urban areas across the north of England and the Midlands, coastal towns in decline, where Reform UK is offering an alternative to the decline.  Are Britain's best days in the past, and after the failure of Austerity, Brexit and the disappointment with Starmer, what lies ahead. If Farage wins and falters will this put Britain in a spiral of permanent decline? Boarded up shops, closed department stores and banks, with the rise of online shopping and online services, is creating a new situation on streets in mid and small towns in England. People see the decline all around them and this is creating anew mood in favor of trying something else after Labour and Tories have promised and things are taking a turn for the worse in the physical appearance of neighborhoods. Across the UK 34,000 shops closed in 2024, that is 37 a day, and this is true more for the north of England, the Midlands and deprived coastal towns, where Reform has come close to Labour in the last election. In one focus group in You.gov and other research a participant used strong words- that it was "soul destroying" to see the extent of the decline. Across Europe, in Germany as in UK, in France, the same sense of high street decline is evident. Underinvestment in transport, policing, healthcare, and social services. University of Warwick professor Fetzer  has studied this and the effects of austerity first under Cameron and Brexit under Johnson, the covid period, return of Labour but no lifting up program of large investments that would create a feeling of change, to replace the sense that somehow Britain was "going to the dogs," with half a million shoplifting offences in 2025, up 13% in 2025 over 2024, and the homelessness. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The Commerce Department report shows personal consumption expenditures price index, an inflation guage preferred by the U.S Fed increased by 0.9% in Feb. 2014 over the prior year month. Inflation excluding food and energy costs was at 1.1% in Feb. 2014. This is well below the Fed's 2% target for 22 consecutive months.

LyrArc Article Gist
Venezuelans flee hyperinflation and shortages of basic needs going over the Colombian mountains at 12,000 feet in an unprecedented migration. About 3 million refugees fled Venezuela in recent years.

LyrArc Article Gist
Germany's export oriented economy and its export oriented companies are struggling in 2021 with broken supply chains and high energy prices. This report in the WSJ looks at how Germany needs to rebuild its economy in a different way. German industrial output was 9% below its 2015 level in August, compared to 2% for the eurozone as a whole, according to EU's statistics agency. Italy's growth was 5% over the same period. There is a redirection underway to bring more production back home after years of outsourcing and outshoring. Other changes taking place are the policies being put in place for net zero emissions by 2050, and the targets for 2030 that would make this possible. This also changes prospects for Germany's large auto industry. By 2030 30-50% of all cars will have to be electric cars. About 30% of Germany's industrial output and exports are tied to overseas demand, 4 times that in the US. From 2003 when competitive overhauls took place under chancellors including Mr. Schroeder, German industrial growth was sustained by demand from China. Now with China looking to internal demand following global tensions on trade, sales of some companies are looking flat instead of sustained year over year growth. What will happen now? Here is what the likely new chancellor from the Social Democrats has to say about the overhaul of the German economy and industry- "It will be the biggest industrial modernization project that Germany has carried out probably for over 100 years, and it will really help our economy." The SDP and Greens that together share the same ideas for rebuilding Germany around infrastructure and climate change and upward mobility, badly neglected in the Merkel years, plan big investments. Big investments are to be made in climate protection, high speed internet, education, research and infrastructure. Germany's net investment rate has been around 0.5% of economic output since 2000, compared to 1% for Italy and 1.5% for the US, according to the World Bank. This WSJ report even says net public investment has fallen below zero as existing assets depreciate. To achieve this transition Germany has identified several problems. One is the delays in investment projects that cost German companies 55 billion euros a year, about half the money invested in research and development, according to Germany's statistics agency. Germany was thought to be an industrial powerhouse but the quality of work in projects and delays so apparent in the Berlin Brandenburg airport infrastructure project clearly shows a decline over the past two decades. This will need to be fixed. Other problems are in getting more workers as Germany faces a shortage of workers for factories to 2030.     ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The World Cup Soccer 2026 will take place in 16 cities in US, Mexico, Canada. It starts June 19 at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. The last time it was plaed in the US was 1994. The final game will be played at the MetLife Stadium 82,000 seat in East Rutherford, New Jersey, built in 2010. It will be played all over the US most in Dallas, in Toronto, Vancouver, Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara.

LyrArc Article Gist
As daily cases come close to the 5000 mark in France August 24, Health minister Olivier Veran says that it is happening 4 times more for the 20 to 40 years younger population than for over 65 years population. Cross contamination is also increasing. Another total lockdown in France was ruled out.

The WSJ reports new thinking about total lockdowns and says it may not be the best way to respond today.

LyrArc Article Gist
By winning 30% of the vote Pete Magyar of Tisza party in the EU elections 2024 emerges as the second largest after Viktor Orban's Fidesz. This gives Hungary a strong opposition party to the Fidesz. It broadens the centrist parties trying to hold European Union together from the challenges presented over migration issues by AfD in Germany and Wilders party in Netherlands. It is expected to join Leyen's EPP.

LyrArc Article Gist
Nouriel Roubini on what the Fed needs to do in the closing months of 2009 and in 2010, especially for the exit strategy on the massive monetary easing of 2009, supervising banks and financial institutions and requiring adequate capital at banks to cover crisis needs. See the actions by the FSA in Britian to require larger capital cushions for banks.

LyrArc Article Gist
People have to take charge of their own lives by eating healthy food and lots of fruits and vegetables, to reduce obesity in this pandemic. Studies show that people with obesity were twice as likely to end up in hospital, and 74% more likely to end up in intensive care. Efforts to rid our diets of sugary drinks and junk or processed foods need to be escalated, and exercize, walking, cycling, other activity need to be made part of our daily activity. This needs to be taken up as a fight for life, a war against decades of neglect and reckless behaviour in eating habits.  Even vaccines will not work well when body mass index BMI is over 30. Obesity has reached unbelievable and scary levels - 66% in the UK, U.S., high in the Middle East, and increasing all over the world. Added risk is high smoking levels in China and India. Coca Cola takes the place of water in parts of Mexico where obesity is high and Mexico has suffered from high coronavirus cases. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
President Biden reassured yet also cautioned Israel by saying that in the rage over the Hamas attacks Israel should "not be consumed by it."  And make mistakes that the US made after the 9/11 attacks of going too far, losing world sympathy and entangled in decades of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also stated that US information showed that Israel had not bombed a Gaza hospital, that the damage came from rocket attacks within Gaza.

LyrArc Article Gist
This NYT report cites safety experts saying that Norfolk Southern's excessive focus on profits may be partly to blame for derailments and accidents like the one in Ohio. Norfolk Southern made $3 billion in 2022, invested $2 billion in its railways and operations, up a third from 2021. But says the NYT Norfolk invested only half of the $18 billion it put into stock buybacks and dividends for its railways and  operations over a five year period. One environmental group says the railways have fought all kinds of basic safety regulations- modern braking systems, stronger tank cars for explosive, even information on what's on trains from passing to communities. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington now leads an investigation from the Senate Commerce Committee. She said- Over the past five years the 7 railroads "have cut their workforce by nearly one third, shuttered rail yards where rail cars are traditionally inspected, and are running longer and heavier trains." Concerns about staffing shortages and rail road scheduling policies led to workers not being able to take medical leave leading to workers deciding to go on strike. This was averted by president Biden on December 2, 2022 by imposing a contract for pay raises and better terms for workers on the railroad companies only about 3 months before this train disaster. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Over the next 20 years China will need 6500 737 Max single aisle planes and 1500 Dreamliners, Boeing says. China will make up 20% of world demand. The US visit of Xi Jinping and the major efforts for good relations of president Biden through vigorous diplomacy by Blinken, Yellen and others gives Boeing an opportunity to meet this demand.

LyrArc Article Gist
With about 81% of people over 12 years getting 2 doses of vaccination, Netherlands has one of the highest vaccination rates in Europe. The recent surge in UK, Germany and Austria has also hit Netherlands with 16,000 new cases per day. A partial lockdown starts on November 13 for 3 weeks in Netherlands.

LyrArc Article Gist
During a public dialogue during the federal government's open day German Chancellor Scholz takes time to go over the origins of the war in Europe as he understands it. Of Russia acting "clearly with the intention of conquering its neighboring country," in an imperialist manner. Here is what he said- On Nato During talks before the war started in February when he met Putin in Moscow Scholz assured Putin that Ukraine would not join NATO "in the next 30 years." NATO was never a threat to Russia even though Putin says NATO's increasing eastward expansion was to the detriment of Russia's interests. On the origins of the war in Europe- Scholz says Putin launched the war for "completely absurd reasons." During his talks with Putin for example he says Putin told him that Belarus and Ukraine should not be independent states. "This is a war that Putin, Russia, started, clearly with the intention of conquering its neighboring country. I think that was the original goal." "Putin actually had the idea of swiping a felt-tip pen across the European landscape and then saying, 'This is mine and this is yours.' " Something Germany could not accept. Scholz condemns Putin's imperialism. He compares Russia's actions to the early days of imperialism. Scholz was reported to be reading Cambridge historian Brendan Simms book Europe- The Struggle for Supremacy in Europe from 1453 to the Present, before the war started. Simms shows a Europe that fought intermittent wars for supremacy between European powers Spain, Britain, Dutch, French, Germany, Austria- Hungary, Russia, Sweden over most of the period 1450 to 1950. The last part of the period was marked from 1850 to 1900 by an openly imperialist land grab for territory in Africa and Asia between Britain, France, Japan and Germany.  The period 1950 to 2000 marked by the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union and China.    On planning for the war in advance- DW.com reports that Olaf Scholz is convinced that Putin planned this war long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. On the future of the war- Scholz says he will not end the dialogue with Putin. Scholz and Germany, Biden and the US want to show that the imperialist type of expansion into neighboring states is no longer accepted, not for Russia or China. Scholz says Russia is currently engaged in gaining territory in eastern Ukraine, but it is not certain that it will stay that way, so giving in is not a sensible strategy.  Ukraine needs the Black Sea ports and the area around Kherson on the Dnieper river to maintain its economy through exports of foodgrains. There is international consensus that these exports are essential to most of Africa and other parts of the world. The war in the remaining part of 2022 into the winter is being fought in this area. Another area of international consensus is that of the refugees mostly women and children in other parts of eastern Europe, and the displaced people within Ukraine moving from the east and south to the west. For the first time the US and Germany are providing Ukraine with the air defense systems that it needs to protect refugees, something that was missing for the many early months of the war leading to millions of refugees inside and outside Ukraine.       ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The WSJ is still calling the president's stop fentanyl flows tariffs on CMC Canada Mexico and China economic tariffs in this editorial board opinion. It is incomprehensible that little or no mention is made in most of the media of the magnitude of injury to the US, the 490,000 deaths in America over 12 years as the result of Canada, Mexico and China not taking the needed action to stop fentanyl flows into the US. There is also the added factor of lack of a level playing field in trade which has resulted in the same communities in many cases having suffered from in the case of China loss of 25 million jobs over the last 10 years and loss of $250 billion in infrastructure and public services for schools, libraries, childcare, and health care clinics that were lost from losses in taxes for local communities in the US. This has decimated life in these communities and in small towns across America.  In the case of Mexico the illegal migrant flows that were not stopped at the border have put an added burden on already underfunded and strained public services in local communities in the US. This is the reason for much of the frustration and anger that has built up over time in these communities with the response from the DJT administration to find solutions. CMC countries could have taken action on their own, yet the US had waited too long for this action. Reciprocal in reciprocal tariffs is about fairness, a level playing field, something that China had agreed to in the spirit of the WTO entry in 1994 and American desire to aid China industrialize build a modern economy. Instead US business was coopted by China during the industrialization process 1995-2010, 2010-2020, including in the first term of the DJT administration even when tariffs were imposed. This happened with transfer of technologies happening late into the first term of the DJT administration 2016-2020, which has led to a much of the pent up frustration and action in the first 100 days of DJT in 2025.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Fox News leads in total viewers in 2015 with an average of 1.8 million viewers in prime time. It also leads in the 25-54 year demographic. By comparison CNN had average of 490,000 viewers, MSNBC had average of 352,000 viewers. A major problem for cable news channels is an aging demographic. The median age for most channels is over 60 years, for CNN 61, for MSNBC 63 and Fox News even older at 67 years of age. In the the crucial 25-54 year old demographic FOx News does poorly with 207,000 total day viewers, CNN does badly with 149,000 and MSNBC at 89,000, posing some serious questions for all the cable news channels in the U.S. Among news shows "O'Reilly Factor" with 2.8 million viewers was first, followed by "The Kelly File" by Megyn Kelly. News stories about Pope Francis, terrorism in France and in the U.S., provided added momentum to news channels in 2015.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Guardian looks at Iran's role in the Hamas attack on Israel, and its intentions to prevent a deal betwen Israel, Saudi Arabia and the US that was being negotiated this month. It looks at the situation in the Middle East and the role of Egypt, Turkey, UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the crisis,  their historic role of supporting Palestinian rights and how their national interests have shifted over the last three decades to seek friendly relations with Israel, the EU and the US.

LyrArc Article Gist
NYT provides an extraordinary display of working age population demographic data in graphics for the world and individual countries to 2050. India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt and African countries are given the opportunity to make progress similar to South Korea, Japan and China over the next 25 years. India with 1.4 billion people and a determined federal government can set the stage for the type of progress that can modernize the country and build a level of infrastructure that compares with the best in Europe, the US and Japan.

LyrArc Article Gist
Indian Railways is going through a huge modernization program making travel at high speeds possible between major cities and making remote locations accessible. This BBC report looks at the travel that was done in the older version of Indian Railways in crowded rail compartments and different conditions. Rail travel to Baramulla in Kashmir and Rameswaram in Tamilnadu state are shown at different ends of India. This is changing rapidly as more modern trains which cover long distances in a few hours are taking the place of older trains. Modern rail stations are replacing old ones with levels of convenience and technology matching that in Europe.

LyrArc Article Gist
Experts say there is no Mediterranean diet anymore. The World Health Organization says this historic way of eating healthy is on its way out. In Italy, Spain and Greece fruit, vegetables, fish and olive oil are being replaced by sweets, fizzy drinks, colas, and junk food. Now more than 40% of nine year olds in Italy, Spain and Greece are obese or overweight. Protests against the spread of fast food outlets in Italy have failed over two decades. Now cities such as Florence, Venice and Verons are banning the opening of new fast food outlets. A diet developed over millenia has fallen as marketing of fast food expanded. Olive oil lost its foothold in the sixties and seventies as it was replaced by seed oil and margarine. A leading expert says she is optimistic the situation can be reversed in the next generation. For this to happen there has to be a change from the proliferation of fast food courts such as this one near Madrid airport of 138 shops and dozens of food outlets.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Institute of Fiscal Studies, IFS, shows where the money is going in Labour's first Budget. See graphs of the household income over the 75 years under Conservative and Labour governments, which shows slower growth in household income over the next 5 years. Healthcsare and Education are growing at 4%. The growth of 6-10% is for local government spending, housing, communities and local government, work and pensions, Justice, HM Revenue. The slow rise in household incomes to 2030 is the result of trickle down economics which is sold vigorously by some groups as economic orthodoxy including the largest corporations paying little in taxes. This is true also of the US. FDR called it Tory policies and policies that say trickle down economics works when it doesn't. FDR said at DNC in 1932- "And we thought the Tories left in 1776." Today this is why UK household incomes show slight growth to 2030, and even this Labour Government is hesitant to boldly question this economic orthodoxy.  For Britain the debacle of Brexit turning some legitimate questions of immigration into isolation from economies of mainland Europe adds to the problem.     ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Experts at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Nuclear Policy Program describe what to look for and in what time frame in the 2012 negotiations between Iran and the U.S. and other European countries in Istanbul, Turkey over Iran's nuclear program.