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Compared to 1971 Bangladesh has come a long, long way, on its 50th anniversary. From 80% of the population struggling with extreme poverty in 1971, Bangladesh now produces enough food for its 167 million population. The economy is only 13% agriculture with most of GDP coming from industrial production and services. Girls education is remarkable. 98% of children have attended primary school and there are more girls in secondary schools than boys. Norwegians and other European observers who visited Bangladesh in 1970's compare the situation with today and are astonished says this report in DW.com. By 2030 the GDP of $409 billion is expected to double, bringing the country close to 1 trillion dollar economy. The garment industry is the second largest after China, with $35 billion a year in exports. It has changed life of women in Bangladesh, employing 4 million people. Remittances from overseas bring in $24.7 billion for 2021. Overall target for exports is $51 billion for 2022. Problems include the rural urban divide with development concentrated in Dhaka and Chittagong, and increased urban poverty. And despite rise in number of children and girls in school the quality of education for a skilled workforce remains poor, says this report in DW.com ...

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Methane is a greenhouse gas that can warm the atmosphere 80 times as fast as carbon dioxide in the short term. Methane leaks out of oil and natural gas wells and is produced in burning of oil, natural gas and coal. It is also produced by livestock and landfills. US president Biden and 90 countries have pledged to control methane gas emissions at COP26 in Glasgow by signing a methane pledge. The methane pledge is for reducing methane emissions by 30% by 2030. US, EU, Nigeria, Indonesia have signed the pledge. China, Russia, India have still to sign the pledge.

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Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats, joins Mette Frederiksen in Denmark as the first female prime minister in Sweden. Both are from the Social Democrats. She won by a single vote after an agreement with the Left Party to increase payments to pensioners, and alliance with the Greens. Under Sweden's strange and different system a minority vote can lead to formation of government- Andersson was elected with more votes against than in favor, 117 members of parliament in favor, 174 against, and 57 abstentions.  It is more about members not voting against so that in Sweden's system one has an absolute majority as a party if fewer than 175 parliamentarians oppose. This also means the budget that will pass will be the opposition's budget and Social Democrat Andersson will remain as prime minister, as opposition parties prefer Social democrats to right leaning anti immigrant parties. Today Germany's Social Democrat Olaf Scholz and Greens Habeck as "senior Minister," Elena Baerbock as foreign minister, are leading a new government in Germany. Social Democrats and Greens have undertaken the task of renewing investment in infrastructure and modernizing their countries in Northern Europe. ...

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Upskilling the workforce has huge potential to add jobs in India, says this report in DW.com. It cites India Skills Report 2021. The federal government's new education policy is intended to tackle some of these issues, yet more needs to be done to focus on this issue for Skills India and improvement for the future.

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The oldest professional soccer player and goal scorer is Kazuyoshi Miura who signed for the 35th season in Japan. He signed a one year contract extension with Japanese soccer team Yokohama FC. He is 52 years old. He started playing for Brazil's Santos in 1982 at the age of 18. He played for Genoa in Italy and Zagreb in Croatia, and is with Yokohama FC since 2005. He says he still has the same passion for soccer that he had at the age of 18 when playing for Santos in Brazil.

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A one day spike to 78,000 cases in India as the tally reaches 3.5 million cases of the coronavirus. There is an increase of cases in rural areas. Other reasons for increased cases are that India has increased testing from 200,000 in June to 1 million tests a day in the end of August.

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There is a major shift in world opinion among major countries in Asia and Europe and North America moving negative by double digits in Pew research surveys. The shift is gradual and negative in Germany, France, Spain and Italy, and steeply negative in Sweden, Denmark, Britain and the U.S., Japan and South Korea. The people with negative views of China in world affairs are also the people who believe China did a bad job in handling the coronavirus.  In Australia in one year alone there is a 24% increase to 81% of people who see China unfavorably, in Britain this is a 19% increase in one year to 74%. In the U.S. the shift is over 4 years by 20% to negative views for 73% viewing China unfavorably or negatively. The shift in Canada is similar to the U.S. The biggest shift is in Japan where 86% view China unfavorably and Sweden where this is 85% after China handled Swedish relations poorly. See the color graphs in the original article in DW.com by clicking on original article here in Lyrarc.com. It is rare to see the such a dramatic shift in public perception of one country. The handling of the coronavirus by China in a way that hurt all countries with lack of transparency and total cooperation normally seen in pandemics and the cost in poverty and job losses, economic losses has resulted in a massive loss of confidence in China, and in the leadership of Xi Jinping. Most public opinion in these countries now believes that Jinping cannot be trusted to do the right thing in world affairs. ...

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Following Scotland's decision to provide women's hygiene products free can India do the same and provide women's period products free, asks Isha Bhatia. She describes her experience with the lack of hygiene products for periods when she was growing up in India and remembers being handed a dirty cloth by her grandmother. About 70% of all reproductive diseases in women are caused by poor menstrual hygiene. The cost of Rs. 100-250 is too much cost for average Indian families. Only 18% of Indian women have access to sanitary pads. The cost should be brought down with government subsidizing manufacturing of sanitary pads so that it would cost less than 10 rupees or be provided free under government subsidized initiative for women's health.

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The Paris climate change agreement involved 195 countries. Agreed to on December 12, 2015 it was seen as a major step forward to limit global warming to 2 degrees celsius or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Progress has been slow in taking action since then. Because of covid 19 the Glasgow conference was cancelled. Hope stems from the goals set for carbon neutral economy of Japan, the EU, UK, China, and the U.S. as it enters the agreement after withdrawing.  Much will depend on action taken as the pandemic has pushed economic goals of recovery to the forefront. As India has shown in renewable energy, particularly in solar energy targets and bold vision, there is a lot that can be done by each country acting on its own without the hype of the agreement. India now sees huge opportunities in solar energy because it is cheaper and pollutes less than coal. This is a game changer that comes from investing in new technologies and taking advantage of India's abundant access to sunny weather and the lower labor and other costs. ...

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India plans to vaccinate 300 million people in the first drive of the vaccination campaign. The two vaccines approved are the Covishield from Astra Zeneca partnership with Serum Institute of India, and the Bharat Biotech vaccine. India is the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world, and its vaccination production and campaign is being watched closely.  The largest maker of vaccines is Serum Institute of India based in Pune. Countries that are seeking India's help in vaccines are Brazil, South Africa, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh. Brazil has ordered 1.5 million vaccine doses. The Indian government has approved sending vaccines to other governments. Price of 100 million doses to be supplied by Serum Institute to the Indian government is 200 rupees a dose or about $2.73 a dose. Vaccine sold in private markets will be priced at 2000 rupees a dose. Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech have stockpiled 70 million doses. ...

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This report from Taiwan in DW.com points out that German opinion has changed significantly in recent years and is not reflected in Merkel policies. With a change in government to Greens, SPD coalition under Scholz of the SPD and Annalena Baerbock of Greens, German policy towards Taiwan is likely to change. Scholz is seen as having different views from Merkel and is likely to reflect public opinion more closely which is reflected in polls that show 58% of Germans not in favor of Merkel's China policy which moves away from the US. Germany also needs to consider NATO alliance and relationship with US which will be difficult with Merkel policies now that president Biden has made Indo-Pacific  with Aukus and Quad alliances critical to his administration. France has moved closer to India, which will mean pressures from the US and France and German public opinion for Scholz to  come closer to US and France in his policies. A sense that the Merkel period had serious issues and was "grotesquely" backward in childcare, education, digital modernization, infrastructure, climate change, as one German expert puts it, also will make SPD and Greens reconsider Merkel's policies.  After the election there could be a fuller reassessment of the Merkel years and further change in German public opinion as Germans see how much was lost in the later Merkel years in the lack of much needed change inside Germany in addressing the social and economic problems. Merkel may also be seen as having a sensitive relationship with the Biden administration which the SPD and Greens in their different orientation may not see in the same way. Biden's families and workers plan has much that Germans are looking for from the SPD and the Greens and on a scale of $3.5 trillion that the SPD and Greens may see as changing everything.  Population of India combined with South East Asia, Australia and Japan is also about twice that of China, which Germany will feel sets the path for a new policy that reflects a different Europe and a different Asia for the future. ...