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Hugh Schofield of the BBC gives this analysis of the televised national debate between Macron and Le Pen on April 20. BBC also gives a video of the debate. On the economy and cost of living- Macron said actions he has taken to put a cap on fuel prices and tax exemption for pay bonuses were fairer and more effective than Madame Le Pen's ideas. Le Pen said she would cut the VAT on energy. Macron said a cap on fuel prices was "twice as effective as dropping the sales tax." Le Pen said she will cut taxes, and no tax for under 30's.  On Europe and Russia- Macron said Le Pen was one of the first leaders to recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea. "You are speaking to your banker when you speak to Russia," Macron said referring to a bank loan from Russia. He also said that the French did not look to Russia for finance, when Le Pen said she was turned down by French banks. On the European Union- Macron argued that Le Pen's idea of "a Europe of nations" would spell the end of the European Union and that "you are selling a lie." Schofield says Macron avoided the trap of coming across as too arrogant or technocratic, sometimes even holding back.  ...

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Add beans, peas and lentils, commonly known as pulses to your diet. High in protein and fiber these are some of the most affordable but not talked about much. Americans take about half a cup of beans each week which Christopher Gardner calls an insanely small amount. He is director of nutrition of the Stanford Prevention Research Center. “That’s an insanely small amount, given that beans, peas and lentils are such a powerhouse of protein and fiber and other nutrients. Nutrient-wise they have all of the good stuff and none of the bad stuff — and they tend to be a lot less expensive than other foods. There are few foods that cost as little as beans, peas and lentils.” A single cup of cooked lentils has 18 grams of protein- more protein than 3 large eggs, and it is fre of cholesterol and low in saturated fat. And it has 16 grams of fiber - about half of the recommended daily amount a adult should take. Try adding them to your daily meals and gradually increase intake. Try hummus as a dip or snack on chickpeas in salad. Take them in Mexican, Italian or Asian flavors. In today's inflation environment a pound of dried beans at 1.70 compares with $6 for a pound of ground beef, $4.20 a pound for chicken breast, and $4.60 for a dozen large eggs.      ...

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Biden says at the APEC Summit that the US is seeking stable and good relations with China, that this is good for the world. He pointed out that the US wanted to be clear -"We are derisking and diversifying our relationship with China, not decoupling." This refers to the excessive dependence that happened in the relationship with China in the supply chain, in manufacturing, and in trade during the last three decades.

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Leaders of France, Germany and Italy are shown on a train ride from Poland to Kviv as they visit Irpin and Kviv to show solidarity with Ukraine, in this story in The Guardian.

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Teachers are packing up classrooms for the last time says this report in WSJ. Worn out by the covid pandemic, under staffed schools and political battles teachers are leaving in large numbers. About 300,000 public school teachers and other staff left the field during the 27 months of the pandemic, according to Bureau of labor Statistics data. More teachers are thinking of doing the same, A National Education Association poll conducted in 2022 found 55% of teachers saying they would leave earlier than planned. Teachers are finding better pay and working environment in other professions and in business. Teachers of younger students in the early grades say teaching should be about kids learning but that isn't true anymore. 

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Xi Jinping's 3 day visit to Russia and his meetings with Mr. Putin. China presents the trip as an effort to start peace talks between Russia and Ukraine based on its proposals. China is also affected by the war in Ukraine as it works against China's recovery from the economic effects of the pandemic. China sees Russia as a partner in what it sees as a multipolar world, yet it is too close to Germany and the European Union, relations which provide it with access to western technology needed for its continuing growth. China does not want to disrupt the relationship with Germany and the European Union over the war in Ukraine.

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Governor Newsom of California is joining Republican Governors of Montana and Alabama to allow cities to act to limit encampments of the homeless in American cities, taking the case to the US Supreme Court. The Biden Administration is walking a delicate path by supporting rights of the homeless that lower courts support  yet not wanting to see the spread of homeless encampments affect the overall safety and health of cities where homeless encampments affect quality of life in neighborhoods. Homelessness of 600,000 people in the US, with more than half sleeping outside in open spaces and parks is now before the US Supreme Court. The pandemic, the large increase in housing costs in the western states, and the cost of living have pushed many people over the edge, at an alarming rate for four years. Justices ask city attorneys of Grants Pass, and in effect other cities in the US, where are people supposed to go if no other shelter is offered by the city, that they have a right to sleep, and breathe. "Sleeping is a biological necessity- Justice Elena Kagan. "Are they supposed to kill themselves, not sleeping," Justice Sotomayor.  Justices Kavanaugh and Roberts questioned whether judges should be making decision that should be made by policymakers. US Supreme Court is reviewing a lower court ruling upholding rights of homeless people in the US  under the 8th Amendment that is opposed by the city of Grants Pass, Oregon. A small western town of 40,000 people facing a problem of a significant portion of its population, about 8%, having to sleep in parks and in open public spaces because they have nowhere to go. It has only 138 beds from the Gospel Rescue Mission for homeless situations with strict rules. It faces in today's America rising homelessness- affordability of housing affecting people in many states. In 2022 an three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals which covers western states Oregon, California, and Washington upheld a lower court decision barring the city of Grants Pass from enforcing a citywide ban on sleeping in parks at night if no other shelter was available with fines ranging $75 -$295. As a result of this decision encampments of the homeless are increasing in the western states because restrictions on public camping no longer play a deterring role. Cities say this increases crime and drug use, disease, and hazardous waste.  ...

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This report in The Times of London says 2700 tons of exploding ammonium nitrate was stored in one of the warehouses at Beirut port. This caused the explosion. Yet no one knows what caused the explosion and what caused the accident. It says in Beirut no one is in control of safety and security because the government is run by many parties and factions. 

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Protests in Nigeria by young people against a police unit called Anti Robbery Squad that is supposed to fight crime and carjackings and allegations of extortion against the unit.

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Republicans in Congress led by Speaker Johnson and Senator Lindsay Graham insist that a reform of the asylum and parole system for the US border is a must before an appropriations bill for the government to aid Ukraine and Israel, Gaza humanitarian aid can be passed. At a meeting at the White House Speaker Johnson came to an agreement on immigration reform of the asylum and parole system. A large number of people from Venezuela were admitted to the US in 2023 as the US has no agreement with Venezuela for return of people coming from that country. 2023 migrant entry could surpass 1 million as a result of this influx from Venezuela. This is a huge problem as 7.7 million people have left Venezuela of which 6.5 million are in Latin America, leading to the effort to cross the US border. About 286,000 Venezuelans crossed the border in 2023 by one estimate.

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Kingsley of the NYT provides this report from Turkey describing the impact of the conflict with the Kurds inside and outside the country.

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The opening of new factories in America, the revival of manufacturing, gives a boost to companies producing steel and excavators. Nicor and Caterpillar benefit from the investments in manufacturing in the US under Biden's Make in America plan. 

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Poland's ruling party, the Justice Party, faces elections in 2024. The influx of grain from Ukraine has lowered prices for farmers in Poland, and this affects the largely rural base of the Justice Party. As a result the government has acted to stop Ukrainian grain from entering the country, and also bans the shipment of grain through Poland to other EU countries. The UN sponsored Black Sea ports agreement that allows Ukraine to ship from Odessa and other ports is also coming up for renewal.

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Spain's soccer icon Iniesta's support for Jennifer Hermoso and the rest of the Spanish women's soccer team speaks for everyone. Here Laia Herrero tells the story of Hermoso's grandfather a goalkeeper for Athletico and her father who encouraged her to play soccer at the park in her Madrid neighborhood. She started playing for Athletico when she was 14 years and has also played for Barcelona. She has a record as Spain's most prolific goal scorer.  

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China build its solar industry with huge subsidies, the US did not. From 2018 to 2022 the US solar industry suffered with lack of help from the US government under the Trump administration and the first year of the Biden administration. 30 US based solar companies shutdown in a bloodbath and many jobs were lost. Enter the climate law in 2022 under president Biden and in 2023 the US investment in solar reached $8 billion, three times what it was in the previous 6 years. 

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The famous Chilean author of books including: A Long Petal of the Sea, talks to the BBC about her life and travels, about her home country Chile. She left Chile in 1975, spent 13 years in Venezuela and three decades in California. Here she talks about Chile as Pablo Neruda describes it as that long petal on the sea, a country with an insular mentality surrounded by high Andes range, Patagonia, and the Atacama desert. She is not entirely critical of Chile's development under the administrations that came after the dictatorship years. Chile has some upward mobility, the economic conditions have improved compared to the rest of Latin America even though a lot remains to be done. The events in Venezuela show the limits of regimes that have attempted change. Even with administrations from both ends of the spectrum Argentina has turned to the IMF in economic crisis the last in 2018. Brazil has seen a commodities boom followed by a severe bust, and the lack of funding for basic services including sanitation and health. This gives a sobering view of the economic situation in Latin America. Allende says Chile has modernized and created prosperity though at some social cost.  Isabel Allende is still nostalgic about her home country and still calls it home as she reaches 75 years, with a world wide audience for her books in 42 languages, 70 million copies sold. ...

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If the wording in the Pew Research Survey were to include that only the government can tackle huge problems in climate change, infrastructure, and manufacturing, the over 50% of Americans that support government taking on these responsibilities might just as well be closer to 60-70 percent. The tide is turning as the whole culture since Reagan and the key adopters of Reagan's theory  successive Democratic administrations of Clinton and Obama is being reversed- Democrats and Independents supporting the change to get government to tackle these problems is up 15 percentage points. Another shift is the young people who are filled with frustration by the lack of government taking on a bigger role to solve problems such as climate change, manufacturing jobs in US, infrastructure rebuilding that only the government can do. 

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A Swedish supplier Autoliv's scientists say GM in the late 1990's asked the supplier to match Takata's airbag that saved several dollars per airbag. The problem say the scientists at Autoliv was that the Takata airbag that was made at lower cost used a dangerous volatile compound. Autoliv cited here by Tabuchi of the NYT, says it refused to do this. Years later 100 million of the Takata airbags are installed on cars in the U.S. made by GM and other automakers.  The chemical ammonium nitrate used by Takata is still being used to make airbags with modifications to reduce its explosiveness. In this indepth account Tabuchi looks at the evidence against using ammonium nitrate, the warnings that were not heeded from Autoliv, and the work of Italian and other scientists that confirm the explosiveness of the substance when exposed to temperature and moisture changes. Here Tabuchi cites reports from suppliers of the nitrate who were hesitant to supply the substance to Takata because of liability issues. And he points out that there was manipulation of testing quality control for the defective airbags that passed the test, so that in addition to the use of the faulty chemical, the company failed to maintain strict quality control as required by the automakers. The pressure from automakers for cost reduction is given as one of the reasons for the problem, just as the pressure from BP to cut costs led to some of the faulty work done by suppliers at oil wells leading to explosions on a oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Before the approval of the faulty chemical for airbags Takata airbag business was in dire straits leading to management looking for ways to develop a viable business, as other propellants had failed to deliver results. It is at that point that Takata approved ammonium nitrate despite evidence of its explosiveness that led to TRW, another airbag maker, to reject it.  ...

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It started out as a crazy idea but Paris Olympic organizers began to see the beauty of it. The Olympics on the River Seine itself. Organizers saw the 2018 Youth Olympics done on the streets of Buenos Aires showing that it could be done. And they were upto the challenge with a 1.4 billion e French government project to clean up the river and its rancid dirty water in time for the event in 2024, and to make it swimmable for the first time. Swimmers would dive into the Seine. Click on Original Article to see Les Carpenter's report in The Washington Post and see how the river Seine looks at different times of the day. It would be risky but after the pandemic it was worth trying to bring back the idea that Paris is back. Paris 2024 CEO Thobois, a badminton athlete himself, was upto it. After listening to all the experts, all the plans, the organizers looked at each other at the meeting and said that this is crazy -let's do it anyway.

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It is important to remember that FDR and Harry Truman won in North Carolina by huge majorities, so did Adlai Stevenson, John Kennedy, LBJ. In fact going back to Woodrow Wilson in 1912 and 1916. Democrat Josh Stein, Attorney General elected in 2020 and Republican Mark Robinson, the Lt. Governor are very different candidates for governor in North Carolina. Rory Cooper, a Democrat, who won by 4 percentage points is not running after two terms as popular governor because of term limits.  Cooper's focus has been on education, ease of living, infrastructure and clean energy. North Carolina has one of the largest rural populations in the country with one in three being rural with new out of state residents settling in the suburbs. In recent years it has generally voted for a Democrat as governor and Republican for the legislature. Only in  elections since 1980 except in 2008 it has voted Republican for president. In 2024 it is expected to be a swing state. If elected Robinson would be the first black governor of North Carolina, Stein the first Jewish governor.   ...

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The evolution of the Murdoch newspaper and television business from a small Adelaide newspaper News of Adelaide circulation 75,000 inherited from his father Keith Murdoch in the 1950's, is shown in this NYT report. It comes as a new generation is taking the place of the old. Rupert was then a student of 23 years at Oxford University in the 1950's. In the 1980's he acquired New York Post and The Times of London. By 1988 Rupert Murdoch shifted to use technology in the newspaper business. He followed this by acquiring other newspapers and setting up a television business Sky Television in the UK by 1989, and Fox News television channel in 1996. These television channels along with CNN and NBC, ABC now appeal to an older demographic in the mid to late sixties age. Much of the younger audience gets its information from the internet. Murdoch failed to develop the internet side of the business appealing to younger audiences. In this sense much of the influence of these older television channels is in a fluid shape likely to diminish in the future. ...

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Vast migration of about 5 million kob antelope and other antelope species across South Sudan near Boma National Park- viewed from light aircraft or helicopters stretching for miles and miles. Antelope seek to move in the rainy season to where there is more water. The lack of human settlement in this space lets the migration go on unimpeded.

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Ecology party and Green party do very well in municipal elections in France, taking Bordeaux, Lyon and Strasbourg. Macron's party fails to win in any major cities, creating questions about its future,

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The new cabinet of ministers of prime minister Modi following the second wave of the pandemic brings in 36 new faces to the Ministries, many in important new roles such as Health, Education, IT, Information and Broadcasting, Social Empowerment, Law. Railways. The Council of Ministers goes up to 78, three short of a statutory limit of 81. By bringing in new and younger faces as well as some experienced IAS and other persons in certain states, this new group. An experienced IAS officer was put in charge of the important Railways ministry, as the railways take on modernization and technological progress. Where ministers were lacking in performance the prime minister has made the needed changes. 

The large number of new faces gives the government an opportunity to train new people before the next parliamentary elections three years from now.