LyrArc Article Gist
Nadhim Zahawi is Conservative party chair appointed by Mr. Sunak. He was finance minister. This report in The Guardian looks at the penalty imposed and tax settlement with Zahawi that was made by His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, Britain's tax agency, as part of the settlement practices with wealthy individuals.

LyrArc Article Gist
The thinktank Onward says a relatively small shift rightward on cultural issues would deliver for the Labour party a 1997 type of landslide at the next election. Today's 12 point lead for Labour is fragile and could be watered down to 4 points and an uncertain result. It says that people who are conservative on social issues and still favor Labour on economic and climate policy are the ones Labour should go for. They make up 61% of all voters in Britain and 78% of voters who would switch. Keir Starmer has a way through.

On sees this in Starmer's enthusiasm for his visit to Westminster Abbey for the coronation of Charles as monarch of Britain. The positions he takes on many cultural issues have this in mind bringing Labor into the mainstream and making it a bold innovator for Britain, taking pride in the nation's scientific and maritime achievements from the Industrial Revolution.

LyrArc Article Gist
Jess Phillips,the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley writes about New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern's experience of being knackered- of burnout and having no gas left in the tank. She says women worry about our families, ourselves, and society's expectations, so that it is not surprising when this leads to burnout. It is worse for women in politics, she says, with the constant threat of abuse that contributes to burnout. She calls for the building of support structures in society that will criminalize the perpetrators of this abusive behaviour, and those who make profits from spreading it.

LyrArc Article Gist
China's consumer spending with its reopening won't match the pandemic end period US spending surge, says this report in WSJ.

LyrArc Article Gist
France plans to increase military spending from 295 billion euros to 400 billion euros for 2024 to 2030. Some of this will come from reform of the pension system that takes up 13.1% of economic output by raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. A million people protest in Paris on Jan 20. One of the problems in implementing this is that in France there is significant age discrimination for jobs compared to Germany and other countries. This means workers would have to wait longer for pensions even workers with good qualifications looking for work. Efforts to tackle this cultural issue with companies biased against older workers are lacking.

LyrArc Article Gist
US existing home sales were down 18% in 2022.

LyrArc Article Gist
Construction flaws plague many of China's Belt and Road Infrastructure projects including a large hydropower project in Ecuador, says this report in WSJ. The cost overruns mean countries are pushed into deeper debt.

LyrArc Article Gist
Kristalina Georgieva, head of the IMF says at Davos Forum that the economic outlook "is less bad than feared a couple of months ago." Inflation heading down, and the reopening of China were two positive factors, says Georgieva. The IMF now expects the world economy to grow at 2.7% in 2023. The strength of labour markets has led to consumers maintaining spending growth.

LyrArc Article Gist
Disha Amrith of Mangaluru of Indian Naval Air Operations, will lead the Naval contingent at Republic Day celebrations on Jan 26, 2023. She is one of the Indian Navy's 144 young sailors and will be part of the 'Nari Shakti' in the Naval air operations force.

LyrArc Article Gist
The effort by prime minister Modi under Rozgar Mela to create 1 million new jobs in 2023 to mitigate the effect of the lockdowns during the pandemic and its effects on jobs. 71,000 new job appointment letters were given in a virtual event. Modi emphasized that "transparency in recruitment and promotion inspires confidence in the youth."  He called the process streamlined and time bound to demonstrate good governance.

LyrArc Article Gist
India's External Affairs Minister Jaishankar visits Sri Lanka. He says-  "We felt strongly that Sri Lanka's neighbors must take proactive steps to facilitate its recovery. India decided not to wait for others but to do what we believe is right. We extended financing reassurances to IMF to clear the way for Sri Lanka to move forward."  He emphasized the enormous renewable energy potential of the island nation which India supports. The larger region provides new possibilities for Sri Lanka to get the benefits of scale for energy development. He pointed out that India is " prepared to go the extra mile when Sri Lanka feels the need." India and Sri Lanka share a long history from the period of the first conversion by Mahinda from India of the island to Buddhism.

LyrArc Article Gist
Pictures of the new Indian parliament building are shown in The Indian Express. The Lok Sabha uses the theme of a peacock for 888 seats. The Rajya Sabha uses the theme of a lotus for 384 seats. The building makes extensive use of wooden structures and of traditional motifs and elements.

LyrArc Article Gist
Trupti Shete of Aurangabad is one of 21 women pilots of 91 who will operate the new Metro 2A and 7 in Mumbai inaugurated by prime minister Modi. She did her bachelors in electrical engineering. For 3 years she struggled to get a job. Building much needed infrastructure means new opportunities for young people in India.

LyrArc Article Gist
This report overlooks the fact that there was extensive fatigue in China with the covid lockdowns and the lifting of the lockdowns actually improves the economy, creates jobs for the unemployed. In this sense the U turn may have helped China and Mr. Xi's leadership. It also showed that Xi is listening to the protests and to other different voices within the leadership.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Netherlands is negotiating with Google, Microsoft and Amazon to make certain privacy rules are being honored.

LyrArc Article Gist
UK sends tanks to Ukraine. Poland seeks to send tanks to Ukraine as German chancellor Scholz responds to pressures to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

LyrArc Article Gist
Core consumer price inflation in Japan was up by 4% in December over a year earlier. Food prices were also up by 4%. This is the largest price increase since 1991. Services price inflation was up by only 0.8% compared to 7% in the US. The inflation target of the Bank of Japan is 2%.

LyrArc Article Gist
Rohan Premkumar in The Hindu provides this report of Chinese prisoners from the Opium wars of the 1850's sent to this "ancient sub-jail"in the Nilgiris hills Tamilnadu by the British.  These POW camps provided cheap indentured labor to establish tea plantations in the Nilgiri hills. It helped to bring in revenue for the Empire through tea cultivation. About $1 million was spent to renovate this building so that future generations know what happened here since the arrival of the British by 1800. By contrast Yuen Yuen Ang at John Hopkins University from Singapore is interviewed for the NYT by Ezra Klein on China's Xi Jinping and the autocracy with democracy characteristics that prevailed under Deng, without an awareness of this period. For Zhongxun and Qi Xin, Jinping's parents this period of the Opium Wars, Taiping Rebellion, Boxer Uprising from 1850's and British, European invasion, must have been very real in the 1930's. And added to this the Japanese invasion of China. This has deeply influenced Xi Jinping.  ...