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China is using inspections, extra bureaucratic hurdles that increase U.S. companies costs. This is closely correlated to the trade war with the U.S.

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Special Counsel Mueller's team says in a court filing that Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump's campaign manager should face a prison term of 19 to 24 years for "serious, longstanding, and bold" financial crimes.  Manafort also faces financial penalties totaling about $50 million, according to the filing. Some of the problems date to years before Manafort joined the Trump campaign as campaign chairman.

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Follow Jonathan Liew and pictures of sensational save of an own goal by German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger vs France in front of a Basel Swiss crowd in July 2025. Berger faced a never ending onslaught from the French team over 90 minutes and survived with grace and persistence. It included a penalty for the French and two French goals that were not allowed for offside rules. In a chaotic game with both teams tired and all energies spent, simply running with no idea what was going to happen next, Berger never faltered with 9 saves.

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What is the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and what does it mean for the US in the current protests? The Muslim Brotherhood was started in Egypt in 1928, in the colonial days, by an imam and schoolteacher named Hassan al-Banna. The intent was to act as a grassroots organization to promote the reform of Egyptian society through a greater adherence to Islam, by preaching and social services. Scott Shane talks with Reidel of the Brookings Institution and Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Quatar Center about the Brotherhood and Israel. Reidel was the Egypt desk officer at the CIA when Mubarak came to power in 1981, and is an experienced observer of the Muslim world at Brookings. Reidel says if we want democracy in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is going to be a big part of this, and we should be engaging and talking to them now. Hamid responds to a question about terrorism by pointing out that the Al Quaeda hates the Brotherhood and the Brotherhood hates Al Quaeda, that for counterterrorism engaging with the Brotherhood would be helpful to the US. On Israel, Hamid says years of accomodation to the real world has brought a knowledge that the Brotherhood has to live in the real world and the geopolitics of the Middle East. Carrie Wickham, a political scientist at Emory University, is author of "Mobilizing Islam," a 2002 book on Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood. Carrie says it was analogous to evangelical Christians and their goal of sharing the word of God, but Banna also referred to Jihad as a struggle against colonialism and Zionism. Some leaders such as Sayyid Qutb, who was imprisoned by the Egyptian government and executed in 1966, advocated violent jihad, but after the 1970's the Brotherhoods formally renounced violence as a means of achieving power. In 1984 the Brotherhood reached another point in its evolution when it competed in parliamentary elections. And estimates of its actual support begin at about 20% of the electorate. Another development is the relative youthfulness of the April 6th and other movements in Egypt, where two thirds of the people are under 30 years age. The Muslim Brotherhood leaders are much older and hesitated to join the popular movement in its early stages. On the question of the Brotherhood's future evolution and winning a large role in a future government, Carrie says that a system of checks and balances has to be established to ensure that the Brotherhood operates as a democratic party committed to the democratic process. The Wall Street Journal in an editorial on February 4, 2011, emphasizes the need for institutional checks and balances. Carrie says rewriting the constitution and electoral process to ensure that this happens and no one party can take abslute control is crucial. ...

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This report in the Hindusthan Times compares the relatively few comments from India's Ministry of External Affairs on the Dokalam standoff between India and China, and the frequent and patriotic comments from the state media in China. India took a firm position on the sensitive border area road construction by China, because the Doklam plateau is the narrow area in the mountains that allows entry to India's northern plains. India and China announced disengagement following the incident. This report points out that the resolution happened on the eve of a BRICS meeting in China. Indian prime minister Modi's absence from the BRIC's meeting would have been an embarrassment for China, says the Hindusthan Times. The resolution would have happened after both sides realized that the border issue escalation was not in the interest of China and India as both sides face more important issues- India in the focus on modernization and China on sustaining growth and maintaining trade relations with the U.S. Trump administration at a time when the debt to GDP ratios exceed by some estimates 280% and trade has become a sensitive issue in America's midwestern states. ...

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Many German hospitals depend on supply of doctors from other parts of Eastern Europe such as Poland and Hungary to address a shortage of medical staff. German hospitals have increased supply of equipment but are still facing serious shortages of medical staff as the second wave of the pandemic hits Germany. By December 8 there were daily over 590 deaths, and ICU capacity was being strained beyond a critical point.

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China's effort under president Xi to expand the state run sector by providing more credit to state run enterprises and expecting private companies to pursue goals of the state's planned economy. Tackling the coronavirus economic impact required state planning and that experience has further renewed the effort to build the state run companies as a reliable partner for the government. There is also a conviction that private companies are unreliable in a large and complex economy as China's.

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A 105 year old woman farmer in Tamilnadu state (formerly Madras) works on her 2.5 acre farm growing bananas. These days she has taken to organic farming with zeal. She was awarded Padma Shri India's national award for her work increasing popularity of organic farming. She comes from a village near the city of Coimbatore. She has worked closely with Tamilnadu Agricultural University and travels to many farmer meetings. Students from the University visit her farm as part of the Village Stay Program.

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Nice mayor Eric Ciotti formerly of the Republicains in France, teaming up with Marine Le Pen.

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Chryslers plans to trim the product line to eliminate models that compete with other Chrysler models in the same product segment. To look at new models that made small changes over previous models during the late stages of Daimler's efforts to turnaround Chrysler, the Sebring and the Avenger, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango and the Jeep Commander, for example. The Sebring may be eliminated or redone seriously. Models like the midsize SUV JZ are eliminated. Slower selling models that eat up resources nevertheless like the Pacifica wagon, Dodge Magnum wagon and the PT Cruiser convertible also may be eliinated in this review by Jim Press and Nardelli, formerly of Toyota and GE respectively. Also being addresssed is the shrinking of Chrysler dealerships and the elimination of certain models may help in this process of trimming the dealership network and refocussing it on a newer product line.