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Eurobarometer Survey conducted by the European Commission on what people say about staying inside the European Union show increasing support inside the UK and inside member countries of the EU. In a survey done in March 2019, Eurobarometer Survey involving 1000 people in each of the 28 countries of the EU shows 53% of respondents in the UK supporting Remaining in the European Union, 35% Leave , and 12% undecided. Asked whether Britain had made the right choice to leave the EU in the referendum 54% of respondents said Britain made the wrong choice, only 38% said yes. There is a definite shift in sentiment that reflects the way the changes in the EU since the referendum was held- with only a trickle of immigration to Europe and now return of some refugees to their home countries, economic aid to African countries to reduce migrants. The economies of Europe that struggled through austerity policies such as Spain have show strong growth of 3% over 3 years, and of Portugal and Greece recovering. News at the time of austerity policies, uncontrolled immigration to Europe, affected public sentiment at the time of Britain's first referendum on EU membership. In the EU countries there is a definite upturn in sentiment- 66% would vote to remain in the EU, only 17% would vote to leave. The chaoic Brexit process in the UK has also led to the upturn. 68% of respondents in the EU countries said their countries had benefited from membership in the European Union, the largest support seen in 25 years. ...

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The EU moves to support Egypt's precarious economy with 7.4 billion in euros of aid and help for its economy. This comes at a crucial time for a country with 106 million people facing economic difficulties. 5 billion euros of concessional loans, 1.8 billion euros of investment, 600 million euros of grants including 200 million euros to manage migration. This is a positive proactive step taken by Leyen and EU. Leyen visited Cairo. Lessons have been learned. Joining Leyen in Cairo were leaders of Austria, Belgium, Greece and Italy in a new strategic partnership of European Union nations with Egypt. Pandemic and war in Ukraine affecting food supplies, higher energy costs, have hit Egypt hardest . No matter which government was running Egypt the problems simply were too big for a fragile economy in a difficult region. For the first time the EU has learned from the migration crisis and its own eurozone crisis, to work and cooperate with regions outside to ensure a better future for all. And not to be deflected with wars and other crises in making the right decisions ahead of time not reacting to crises but staying ahead of them. How many years have been lost- because the ideas for better lives of all was what president Kennedy's New Frontier was all about when he talked about it in the years 1956-1963. EU needs a new vision for Africa and Arab North Africa. ...

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China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, countries that are part of the G-20 are not part of the G-8. Without the developing countries no real progress can be made on climate change or on emissions control. Climate change was a key focus of this summit in Itlay for the G-8 but with India and China only on the sidelines and acting more as an opposition excluded from the main deliberations the whole climate change agenda had to be shelved. The European countries lose influence in an enlarged summit so the G-8 keeps going along. Sweden holds the rotating Presidency of the EU, so the Swedes are there also. And so is Portugal in away with Manuel Barroso representing the European Commisssion. Except Japan, Asia is not represented, and no country from Africa or Latin America is represented. The European club looks like an anachronism and it is. Merkel and Sarkozy say they know this, but there is too much resistance in Europe to giving up this privilege. When the Guardian reported that Italy may be left out in future meetings of an expanded summit. the Italian press and the Italian prime minister Berlusconi denounced the report. Other countries that lose influence in an expanded arrangement are Canada and Japan. ...

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The continued debate about the relevance of a G-8, the need for more countries. OBama sees the G-20 as the really important meeting, and the G-8 meetings as a smaller less significant meeting between the G20 meeting in London and the next one in Pittsburgh. This however leaves the other leaders outside of the G-8 meeting on the sidelines at G-8 meetings, which does not work very well. In this meeting in Italy, Turkey and Egypt were also present, as were leaders from Africa, and from Australia.

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Belafonte is a rare activist from the civil rights era who brought much attention to civil rights and humanitarian issues. Entertainer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte worked with Martin Luther King in the civil rights marches of the 1960's. He helped organize the March on Washington in 1963. Shown in WSJ is a rare black and white photo of Belafonte with the Rev. Martin Luther King and civil rights marchers in Montgomery Alabama in 1965. Belafonte enlisted in the US Navy and after discharge lived in New York City. He attended the Dramatic Workshop of The New School of Social Research where he discovered his passion for the theater. He won all four awards, Tony, Emmy, Grammy and Oscar and covered music, theatre, film with his versatility and skills. He helped popularize Caribbean style music in the US with the album Calypso in the 1950's with over a million copies sold, including Day-O (the Banana Boat Song). He was equally passionate in film about the emerging consciousness of black people in the Caribbean and Africa as countries became independent in the 50's and 60's. He was portrayed in that role in Island in the Sun in the changing politics of the colonial era in the Caribbean. ...

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A look at the Palestine conflict from 1947 to 2023. The British Mandate for Palestine gave Britain a role in administering this part of the Middle East after it took control of the region from the defeated Ottoman Empire in the First World War 1914-1918. The League of Nations set up the Mandate with intention to take the people in this territory to independence. The UN in 1947 gave about 56% of Palestine to the Jewish people and 44% to the Arab people. When the Arab people rejected this UN settlement and Arab neighbors Jordan, Egypt and Syria invaded in 1947 about 70% of the territory went to the new state of Israel. There have been repeated conflicts almost every 7 years since and there are factions within Israel and inside Palestine Arabs who have protracted the dispute, including over holy sites in Jerusalem, without seeking the kind of settlement that won peace for Ireland after hundreds of years of British rule and discrimination. The world with its billions of people in China and India who seek development and billions of people in Africa and Latin America who seek a way out of poverty, has no interest in prolonging small conflicts that distract from the importance of tackling climate change, infrastructure development and education, healthcare, ...

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South Korea with 2069 hours year has the longest working hours of any developed country, according to the OECD,  and only Mexico exceeds this of all countries. In an effort to increase productivity and boost a dropping birthrate the National Assembly in South Korea reduced the maximum number of working hours from 68 hours a week to 52 hours- starting July 2018 and  initially for large companies. In Japan there is actually a word for working to death called "karoshi." The period of rapid industrialization in the fifties and sixties was a period of long working hours for most Japanese men. Today the working hours have dropped to average of 1713 a year. Africa shows the greatest number of countries in which one third of the labor force works more than 48 hours per week. Asia is the region with the longest working hours with 30% of the countries with thresholds of 60 hours or more.The U.S. is one of the countries where there is no limit- most other developed countries in Europe consider work-life balance important and have maximum limits without sacrificing productivity. ...

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A revolution is taking place in the lives of rural families in India. Under the Jal Jeevan Mission put forward by the prime minister clean drinking water from tap water will reach every family in India. It was launched on Aug 15, 2019 and plans to do this by 2024. The impact is huge. Out of 180 million rural families only 33 million families have clean drinking water from tap water in the country. Clean water brings life to the countryside and access through individual tap water connection brings a revolution to people's lives in a country of 1.2 billion people. This report in the Economic Times tells us what most of us do not know that with the growth in population from about 300 million after independence in 1947 to 1.2 billion today and the drought conditions in parts of the country, the per capita water availability has fallen sharply today. Dropping from 5000 cubic metres of water per capita in India in 1951 to 1545 cubic metres of water in 2011.  The infrastructure capital to be invested is 3.5 trillion rupees or $ 50 billion. $50 billion in cement, pipes, construction, pumps, equipment, wages, conservation, skill building, knowledge in water management to revive the rural economy. Hit hard by coronavirus it boosts the rural economy. The infrastructure project could be a model for other Asian, African and Latin American countries.  Cholera and other water borne diseases can never be eliminated without clean drinking water from tap water for all families in India. It means so much during this pandemic.  ...

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The full text of the letter is given here. In this letter the U.S. sets out some important facts about events that happened during the coronavirus crisis during the crucial 4 month period from December 2019 to March 2020. Every week lost in this time due to reasons of a lack of transparency, openness meant hundreds of thousands of people more infected and tens of thousands of deaths worldwide. There are questions of transparency, of openness and this raises questions about the manner in which the World Health Assembly operates with hundreds of small countries in Africa and Asia having votes equal to that of the U.S., India, Brazil, Mexico with votes taken of over 200 countries. The entire election process can now be seen as questionable, when over a billion people in one country alone such as India or hundreds of millions in Brazil and Mexico would have to bear the consequences of poor decisions made by small countries that can be swayed in one direction or another based on political bias and other considerations that have nothing to do with global health.  At the conclusion of the letter by the U.S. to the current WHO shaped by a controversial election in 2017 the following is stated about the standards set by Gro Harlem Brundtland and which helped the world prevent the SARS crisis which originated in China in 2003 from spreading to the large countries of the world India, Brazil, Mexico, and other such countries in Asia and Africa, Latin America, and the U.S. European Union. "In 2003, in response to the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in China, Director-General Harlem Brundtland boldly declared the World Health Organization’s first emergency travel advisory in 55 years, recommending against travel to and from the disease epicenter in southern China. She also did not hesitate to criticize China for endangering global health by attempting to cover up the outbreak through its usual playbook of arresting whistleblowers and censoring media. Many lives could have been saved had you followed Dr. Brundtland’s example." Even this does not come to grips with the flawed way in which the election of WHO head is done. It can no longer be relied on when there is the danger that lack of transparency can emerge in the WHO leadership itself because of a flawed process. It risks endangering the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions in countries such as India, Brazil, Mexico, as well as in the relatively small countries of Africa and Latin America where even basic water supplies are at risk but which could tilt elections at the World Health Assembly. Consider that a cyclone just hit the Indian state of West Bengal and Bangladesh on May 20 just as the coronavirus pandemic is spreading. That this region of 1.5 billion people had just 2 votes out of over 200 cast at the World Health Assembly in 2017 shocking. And even these votes cast based on old geopolitical considerations not how good the candidate is, and how good the country he is coming from is in terms of its record  on public health. The irony here is that private foundations in the advanced countries in the U.S. and Europe some of whom are major donors to WHO did not think that more experienced candidates in their own countries with a better record of public health such as in France or Germany are better qualified, in a flawed NGO support mentality left from the Clinton years. Basically the people in these large countries such as India, Brazil, Mexico were disenfranchised, when the austerity policies were consuming the European Union, and the U.S. had just elected a new administration itself groping for ways to reverse years of neglect of public services and infrastructure priorities. They would trust good leaders no matter where they come from, who have a record of transparency, leadership, and all the values we cherish together no matter where we come from. ...

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The contrast between lack of effective measures taken in the Lombardy region with the aggressive action in Veneto that has proved effective. Veneto followed the method of quarantining, mass testing for clusters and isolating the affected people.  The Italian government took the first steps to close off northern Italy Feb 22, and it was not till March 10 that a nationwide lockdown was done. The action taken in the Veneto region is shown here in this WSJ report with the town of Vo as an example of steps taken that worked. A microbiology professor and infectious diseases expert at the University of Padua, Dr Crisanti, developed a test for the coronavirus as early as mid-January using the information made public by Chinese doctors. Dr. Crisanti oversaw the testing of 95% of residents of Vo, a town of 3400 people in Veneto region. He found 3% of the population was infected, with half testing positive asymptomatic. Following the aggressive lockdown the tests were done two weeks later and the rate of infection had fallen to 0.1% with only 8 new infections. "The main lesson from VO is that when you have a cluster of infected people, you should do a very aggressive lockdown and then test as many people as possible," Dr Crisanti says. The results from Vo led to Veneto increasing testing in the rest of the region carrying out 80,000 tests, compared to 88,000 in Lombardy, with double the population and 5 times more infections. Lombardy followed government directives to test only those with symptoms. When it spreads it is harder to do the test isolate clusters, test isolate clusters, in a continual loop, yet this remains the method cited by Dr. Brx in the U.S. today as the right way to target clusters in a laser approach. In yesterday's briefing at the White House Dr Brx said this is a method the U.S. is familiar with and has used in Africa to tackle HIV, Ebola Virus. It is possible using GPS to target down to a specific clinic in a specific place, which is how it was successfully done in Africa. ...

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The ANC wins 62.2% of the vote in South Africa's 2014 general election.

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This report in NYT looks at the Barbados debt crisis. Barbados spends 55% of its budget to pay interest on debt (servicing the debt). That leaves about 5% for health and climate change. Years of borrowing that ignored basic rules of financing have created serious problems that were compounded by the pandemic and hurricanes. This report shows that the total deb of Barbados was not known to the central bank. Borrowing was approved at exorbitant interest rates. One loan with Credit Suisse for $150 million is shown here with interest rates that lead it to become a catastrophic amount owed. Many such loans without any checks and supervision of total loans taken, lack of financial prudence rules followed, lack of transparency and alerts on borrowing and spending tend to create this kind of situation in many poor countries. About two thirds of developing countries are in this situation owing one third of their budget for debt service or paying interest on the loan. The situation is unstable to begin with. Then on comes along a hurricane or natural disaster such as the pandemic and the unstable situation becomes a catastrophe. Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Caribbean nations, nations in Africa, face debt crises that are getting worse. It is not inevitable or destiny for nations today, consider the examples of large nations such as Japan, China, South Korea and India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and one can see that development finance can be prudent and responsible, so that situations such as the pandemic can be handled without going into disarray. ...

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The UN-Turkey arranged Black Sea corridor has enabled shipping of Ukraine grain to poor countries and countries depending on such supplies to feed their people. About 1 million tons were shipped in August and in one week to Sept 4 another 1 million tons were shipped. Russia says only small shipments are going to the poor or poorest countries. The figures provided by Ukraine are as follows:  54 vessels to Asia carrying 1 million metric tons of foodgrains 16 vessels to Africa carrying 469,000 metric tons. 32 vessels to Europe carrying 853,000 metric tons. Turkey is the largest recipient according to UN data. Also receiving largest shipments are Iran, South Korea and Egypt. EU makes up 23% according to UN data. Un says the first shipments were for the backlog of ships trapped in Black Sea ports that could not leave after the invasion in February of Ukraine. These are determined by international markets for grain. The UN says priority will be given to shipments to poor countries once a steady flow of ships from Black Sea ports takes place. Turkey which arranged the shipments and is closes to the Black Sea ports and Egypt have depended on Ukraine for grain supplies and rising inflation had become a major problem in the two countries. The two are also some of the most populated countries in the region. Turkey for this reason has a major interest in keeping this route open.   ...

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The changes taking place in Saudi Arabia under Prince Mohamad Bin Salman are the subject of this article from Prof. Mohsin Khan of Jindal Global University. Similar changes were initiated earlier under MBZ Mohamad Bin Zayad in the UAE which inspired the changes in Saudi Arabia. The effects are easy to see for Upward Mobility, Diversity, the economy, the relations with the EU and the US and other countries, the shift away from oil to renewables, women's participation in the workplace, and education in science and technology. During the last 50 years the wars in the Middle East have wasted resources in unimaginable ways, human and in trillions of dollars that could have improved the quality of life and ease of living of people. The result is that like Britain in the nineteenth century the US in the 21st shows no interest in Afghanistan or regions of South Asia which have scattered its resources. The shift now is to the seas and the region that covers the west coast of Africa through the Indian Ocean to the Pacific past Indonesia to Japan and the Hawaiian islands, the western coast of the US- called the Indo-Pacific. With the US, India, Australia, and Japan committed to freedom of navigation and international law in the region. It is all about investment, new supply chains, trade and growth, science and technology. And the UAE, Saudi now fit in within this larger framework, along with the European Union, and other countries in this region. ...

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DW.com's Science section provides this report that shows detailed graphs, and information on the dangerous use of pesticides that lead to poisoning  for 385 million people in agriculture every year. Farm workers in countries like India are particularly affected. The Heinrich Boll Foundation of The Friends of the Earth, Le Monde, and Pesticide Action Network Germany, supported this 50 page report presented in Berlin recently. The business of pesticides is worth $35 billion for large companies, yet brings with it many dangers for food contamination, water pollution, environmental damage.  Prime minister Modi in India has shown foresight and vision in tackling the problems from plastics pollution in cities and from pesticides pollution in agricultural areas. He has warned farmers about its dangers and the need to use some of the traditional methods for agriculture that avoid extensive chemical fertilizer and pesticide use. The alarming use of pesticides leads to the highest pesticide contamination of water, soil and air in the world happening in Latin America. In Nepal and India alternatives to pesticides are found in a mixture of herbs and cow urine put on the plants. Pesticide prevention in organic agriculture is also done by banning synthetic pesticides, and crops rotated in a way to prevent monocultures while encouraging insects and birds to thrive. French farmers promote organic farming with many methods they have pioneered that also promote biodiversity, which can be copied in India and rest of Asia, Latin America, Africa. ...

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German statistics agency Destatis recent figures show "people with a migrant backgorund" make up 27.2% of Germany's population. Of 82 million people about 22.3 million are foreign born or have foreign roots. Foreign nationals make up half of the group. Of this 7.5 million have links to other EU nations, 3.5 million to Middle East, and 1.1 million to Africa. Turkey, Poland and Russia make up 28% of this group with Turkey at 12%. of the people wioth a foreign background speal 

About 46% of these people speak mostly German. Turkish 8% and Arabic 5%. There are 308,000 Ukrainians living in Germany. After the Ukraine war 335,000 refugees have arrived in Germany and many more are arriving daily. Ukrainians do not need a visa to come to Germany,

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The need for an effective opposition and an alternative to the African National Congress party in South Africa. The Democratic Alliance party which it is estimated can get about 30% of the vote, as an alternative.

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Indian oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri says India has diversified its sourcing of oil supplies to avoid dependence on the Straits of Hormuz. It has weeks of reserves. Saudis have 5 million barrel a day pipeline to bypass Hormuz waterway and UAE 1.5 million barrel a day pipeline to bypass Hormuz waterway, so that 6.5 million barrels a day could be added to meet Asian oil demand, in addition to convoys escorted by US warships  in Hormuz waterway to meet demand from China, India and Japan. This would mean China is itself dependent on American seapower to maintain it's oil supplies, a third of which come through the Hormuz waterway and keep important sealanes of navigation open. China, India, Japan, and other World are critical for the world economy manufacturing sector and comprise 3.5  billion or about half of the world's population. In addition Latin America and Africa are dependent on oil supplies and prices.  New pipelines, renewable energy, will become more important in the years ahead, and figure more in planner's minds after this Hormuz episode. ...

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The failure of the Jacob Zuma government of the ANC to imorove economic and living conditions for black people in South Africa. The gap between incomes of black and white South Africans is wider now than when Apartheid ended in 1994. It is also wider now than when Zuma took office three years ago.

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Americans in retirement are able to rebuild their savings with interest on money market funds of over 5%. This is the result of 5% percentage points of consecutive rate increases by Jay Powell's Fed. In addition about $121 billion went to savers as they faced $151 billion in higher interest rate costs on mortgages and loans. The result with a strong labor market and lower inflation of about 3% is an economy that is resilient and can provide the 5 or 7 plus  years of growth needed for America to meet the challenges it faces with its allies in the EU, Asia and Latin America, Africa- to tackle climate change, to rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure, to invest in education and healthcare, to improve worker incomes, and build its manufacturing at home into a strong thriving sector for good paying worker incomes.

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Samuel Palmisano on the internationalization of IBM getting into 50 developing economies in the world that have great potential in the years and decades ahead and positioning IBM early on to take advantage of the growth by helping build infrastructure, education, and becoming a real partner for these countries and building a talent pool in these countries and building human resources, r&d capabilities. Countries like Egypt where IBM is growing fast and which has significant potential in addition to India and China. And building local centres for Brazil, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. Countries like Bulgaria and Vietnam.

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Costs of climate change include food insecurity and drought, floods and fires. FR24 pictures show 10 figures from the 2021 Report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: code red for humanity.

Shorter growing seasons lead to declines of 6% for corn and soy, and winter wheat 3%, rice 2% relative to 1980-2010.  2 billion people face food insecurity. Costs from extreme weather events in 2020 was $278 billion. 4 million deaths attributable to air pollution in 2019.

Drought leads to migration in Africa and Asia as crops and cattle wither in the heat from lack of rain. The estimated share of global surface area affected by extreme drought for any given month in 2020 is a shocking 19% according to this FR24 report. Also shocking is that until 2010 this figure was rarely above 5%.

 

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What does a 5 day Joe Biden trip with landmark decisions on Asia Economic Corridor to Europe, discussions with G20 leaders at the New Delhi G20 Summit, and a new strategic partnership agreement with Vietnam signed by Biden in Hanoi, say about the president's sharp mind and healthy lifestyle at age 80 years? Biden was born November 20, 1942. He also shook hands with over 500 graduates at the graduation ceremony of the Air Force Academy. Katie Rogers who was with the president during his visit to New Delhi and Hanoi says this says a lot about the president's energy and stamina. In New Delhi he held informal discussions with 30 world leaders in a Summit that lays out a new path for future generations of the world's leading 20 countries and for Africa, Asia, Latin America, as well as Europe and the US.