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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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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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The point at which pensions begin and retirement begins is thought of normally as 65 years. This is changing. Experts on ageing at Britain's ONS, Office of National Statistics say 70 years is replacing 65 years as the age at which people can work and contribute to society, working later in their careers and doing voluntary work. This would help ease pressure on pension system financing and cost of social service to elders. Because of rising longevity and improvements in healthcare, diet and lifestyles people age 70 had characteristics of people age 65 in 1997, say ONS experts. ONS looks at a new way to measure ageing. Do not use chronological years from birth, work backwards from remaining life expectancy and operate on the basis of 15 years as the marker for old age. Under this method start of old age is 70 for men and 72 for women. As people over 65 years is approaching a fourth of the population this fresh thinking gives more room for pension system sustainability, and helping engage people at work for longer more productive lives. Both for the economy and personally for the individual. ...

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That India is meeting and exceeding goals set under the paris Climate Change agreement is a great achievement of the last 6 years says this Hindustan Times editorial. India's achievements in solar and other forms of renewable energy have been achieved with a bold vision and strong effort of its own showing that climate change agreements are not the only way to tackle climate change. As one of the major users of energy from coal and fossil fuels India's bold action makes a huge difference for the world. As China, EU, Britain and Japan commit to a net zero carbon target India is now one of many countries in the competition to reduce fossil fuels. This also means HT says that India must now be prepared for technological competition as well as shift to renewable energy sources. The return of the U.S. to the climate accords now positions both countries to benefit from each others advances in renewable energy. Partnership with Britain and Japan also offers new possibilities for technology access and sharing so that more gains can be made to benefit India's and the global environment for clean skies, clean air and clean waters. ...

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British prime minister Boris Johnson will visit India in January at the invitation of Indian prime minister Modi. It is the first bilateral visit of Mr. Johnson since taking office. Johnson says he really looks forward to the trip and delivering on the quantum leap to create jobs and growth for the two countries. He has invited Modi to the G7 Summit in London as a guest nation along with Australia and South Korea. Mr. Johnson will also host a climate change summit. This is the first visit to India by a British prime minister since John Major. Because of the historical relationship and the British Commonwealth of nations, and as leaders in the English speaking world, both countries have a lot in common. The parliamentary system India adopted comes from Britain. India's role in the Indian ocean as a maritime power alongside Britain and Australia also comes from the period when Britain was the preeminent maritime power in the world. Indian companies in UK have $41 billion pounds in sales and half a million British jobs come from Indian companies. India also is UK's biggest partner in pharmaceuticals, making 50% of the world's vaccines. ...

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Amazing pictures in black and white from another era of the 1950's and 1960's of Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.  Including a picture of Nehru and Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan the president of India, in cricket caps and holding bats in a cricket match at the National Stadium. Some from the Indian Express archives that you may never have seen before. Taking a walk in the mountains with Edwina Mountbatten of Britain, and holding the Dalai Lama's hand closely as he walks with him. Nehru is remembered for his leadership of post colonial India in 1947 with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as deputy prime minister, for his work at the Constituent Assembly drafting India's Constitution, and taking India through its first 15 years and building India's democratic structures through linguistic state creation and border conflicts. His work with leaders like Vallabh Pant, Mohandas Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Sarojini Naidu, Subhash Bose and others in the 1930's laid the ground for the first home rule assemblies under the British and made it possible for India to gain the experience needed to sustain democratic institutions for its first 100 years which come up in 2047. ...

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Already vaccination experts at the Baylor College of Medicine cited here say they foresee another wave of the coronavirus in the Southern US because of vaccine skepticism barriers to vaccination, and much of the population not being vaccinated. The percentage of the population in the Carolinas, Georgia, Georgia and Louisiana, that has both doses of vaccine is low. About 50% have had just one dose. In southern states Mississippi and Alabama the vaccination rates are much lower leaving large parts of the population unvaccinated. The widespread presence of the Delta variant in the UK and the R rate being between 1.00 and 1.2 in UK shows that the UK even with higher vaccination rates than the US is still facing a danger of another wave as it reopens.  The ominous aspect of this is that from just over 400,000 the vaccinations per day dropped to 316,000i n the US. This means there will be a period when vaccination drive is stalled while the reopening is fully underway with a new contagious variant twice as contagious as the original coronavirus. This leaves the US at risk of another wave, with the south and western US, younger people who are out more and unvaccinated, more at risk.  ...

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Compared to the Trump Putin meeting in Helsinki when Trump went in casually into the meeting and Putin was late by half an hour, this meeting had a lot of preparation. Jill Biden when asked about it said "Oh my gosh he was overprepared." The meeting with Putin also came after Biden met with the G-7 in Cornwall, UK. He was briefed by EU officials, and had preparation with Blinken and Sullivan  before going into the meeting with Putin.  One result is that the meeting lays the ground for further discussions on many issues. By talking openly and plainly about US expectations from Russia- laying out expectations on cybersecurity and hacking, on arms control, on EU and other issues, the US made it possible to get tangible results. Both sides have an incentive to work for the interests of their countries including preventing another cold war, ensuring cyber security through mutual respect and US response capabilities, and arms control. One of the economic issues related to Nordstream 2 which was settled before the meeting with US respecting the wishes of Germany to go ahead with the project bringing Russian oil and gas through the seas to Germany. ...

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These scathing remarks by Rob Mudge of DW.com about Angela Merkel as bringing change or modernization to Germay come as Germany votes on Sunday. He says of Merkel's CDU that its core base is over 65 years voters. Mudge says CDU should modernize itself first before attempting to modernize Germany as it says in its slogans around Germany. He says the constant eulogizing of Merkel in the media is pointless. CDU party he says is mired in Merkel's sedate weiter so (keep it up) politics. Most of CDU is staid and unadventurous at a time when Germany needs to move forward with new ideas and invest in its future. He faults the CDU, both Merkel and Laschet, with spreading meaningless fear mongering about the SPD and Greens, at a time when the SPD vice chancellor has devised most of the anti covid economic packages for Germany and the European Union. Social Democrats Olaf Scholz, as vice chancellor, brings the very stability Germans look for, with the efforts for modernization and bringing together all sections of society Germany desperately needs today. Annalena Baerbock of the Greens party brings youthful energy with a new openness to invest in Germany and the people of Germany. ...

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The Truss government UK budget in September 2022 does little for the most vulnerable populations in the cost of living crisis. It also fail to take any significant steps to build up energy supplies. Of all the governments in the G-7 countries France, Germany, Italy, Canada, it is the weakest when it comes to promoting social cohesion or taking action to promote both energy supplies and renewable energy for the transition during climate change. Spain has just introduced a wealth tax for the 1%. Nothing like this is seen here, instead the highest tax of 45% is scrapped at a time when the wealthiest are seen by most people in all the G-7 countries as the most able and even willing today after the pandemic to provide help to the vulnerable and weakest parts of the population. It is seen as delusional by some as it does not inspire much confidence in the financial markets and many in the Conservative party itself. It fails the test even Mr. Boris Johnson set himself of leveling up in Britain between the well off and the less well off in society which led to his election and the election of the Truss government with Johnsopn's support. ...

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The Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific aid bills are passed in the House of Representatives with 316-94 vote on April 19, 2024. Vote rule set with support of Democrats made a simple majority vote sufficient to  pass. It was a significant win for both parties as 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans voted for the bills. 55 Republicans and 39 Democrats voted against. It was as Speaker Johnson had said earlier for each Congressman to vote his conscience. Speaker Johnson said it was the best possible bill "we could get under the circumstances." He said if this wasn't done then Democrats would have bypassed Republican leaders and forced their own package of bills through the House. As a nod to the former president $60 billion in aid to Ukraine has $9.5 billion in forgivable economic loans. Overall similar to what Democrats had passed in the Senate over a month earlier. “I hope at the end we can take care of our responsibilities. Ukrainians desperately need lethal aid right now. I mean we can’t allow Vladimir Putin to roll through another country.” - Mike Johnson, Speaker ...

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The story of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city only 25 miles to the border. Santora and Hicks give this report on life in the city which faces constant missile and other attacks with much of its power and other infrastructure destroyed, and schools operating deep inside subway stations. Nothing like this destruction has been seen in European cities since 1945. Europe had only the Balkan conflict limited to Yugoslavia 1991-1995 as the country split into several states, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Slovenia and the US settlement in 1995 following NATO bombing in Serbian Bosnia. The Ukraine conflict stretches back decades starting in 2014 with the Maidan protests in Kiev and fall of the pro-Russian Yakunovych government. After a brief war and Russia taking Crimea it ended with the Minsk Agreement in 2015. Russia had supported separatists in Donbas region. Russian is the language in Russia and Ukraine and both countries share a common historical heritage. It started again with Putin's complaints about NATO enlargement in 2021, followed by an attack on Ukraine in 2021 bringing Finland and Sweden into joining NATO, and US support to Ukraine's defense.  ...

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A new study published in JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that quality of diet is critical to lose weight. It is also an intuitively sensible idea. The more you cut back on bad foods- lots of processed high sugar and high calories in processed or packaged foods- the better off you are. The more fruits and vegetable take its place, the more likely you are to lose some of the weight. It is also a sustainable strategy as the vegetables and fruits have other positive effects making it possible to permanently shift to better lifestyles as part of an overall cultural change that includes exercizing regularly. Nutrition experts at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University say this is the way to go. The strange thing is that such simple and basic ideas as restoring the proper role of healthy foods in our diet require such detailed studies. Packaged and processed foods of today are part of an industry that did not exist a hundred years ago. Common sense and intuitive ideas about what is good for us can lead us to the right action, including an awareness that food eating habits have simply deteriorated and become corrupted in today's busy world. ...

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Lower volatility in oil prices as a result of a new stream of shale oil supplies at competitive prices is good for oil producers and for consumers. This report in the WSJ shows that volatility and swings in oil prices have gone down with the ability of shale producers to respond to price signals or geopolitical situations and increase supplies. Shale producers can increase supplies in months compared to the years it would take for oil producers in offshore drilling. The new technologies in shale rigs have tripled production since 2011 for the same number of rigs operating in the U.S. Permian Basin from West Texas to New Mexico. The core producers can now supply and be profitable at $40 a barrel.  Supply cuts from OPEC and Russia as currently the policy of both countries mean inventories do not rise too high. And geopolitical problems such as Yemeni attacks on Saudi oil facilities, the reinstated sanctions on Iran by the Trump administration that reduce oil supplies, Venezuela's problems, can be met by increased supplies from the U.S. shale industry in a short time to prevent inventories from dropping too much.      ...

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How a winner take all economy that pays a lot for what are called the "greedy" professions in law, consulting and finance, impact women. In these professions 24 hour or almost 24 hour availability has led to quadrupled income levels. To do this as this NYT article shows someone has to go part time time or be there when the children need it, or when the maximum work hours spouse is out at work, for doctors appointments and other needs. In many cases this is the woman as shown in examples from the law and other professions in this article. Women are finding that this shift to longer hours in these professions, consulting, law and finance, mean they have to voluntarily give up working the similar long hours that their husbands are putting in, especially when well educated women marry well educated men. A more normal level of schedules would enable both partners to work full time, and have time for each other and the children. This is one of the ways the U.S. is different from a country like France which provides the added benefit of better child care to promote balanced lives and more opportunities for women to advance their careers and use their education. ...

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In a sign that the trade negotiations with China are stalled even as negotiators met for talks, president Trump said China was slowing talks down in the hope of talking to ELizabeth Warren or Joe Biden, Democratic candidates for the elections in the U.S. in 2020.  President Trump also said China has not come through the way it said on agricultural imports from the U.S. He tweeted "that is the problem with China they just don't come through." Mr. Trump also took credit for the slowing down of China's economy from the tariffs war. Mr. Trump took credit for China's weakening economy, making some companies leave, the tariffs he has imposed on $250 billion of Chinese products causing enormous pressure. Chinese exports to the U.S. have dropped by 8.5% and exports to other countries up slightly. China's infrastructure investments are cushioning part of the shock from the tariffs war. No major stimulus is planned in China because it would worsen the debt already accumulated after the over stimulus conducted in response to the financial crisis of 2009. Both sides are willing to wait it out.   ...

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Mexico's former president Enrique Pena Nieto, 54 years, is being investigated for corruption. The former head of the oil company Pemex  Emilio Lozoya, 45 years, was arrested in February in Spain and is said to be cooperating fully with the authorites. A wide ranging inquiry was ordered by president Lopez Obrador.  Mexico's Attorney General says that Mr. Lozoya testified that he was asked to give two bribes of over 3 million dollars each to Pena's election campaign and to bribe politicians to pass legislation to open up the state sector to private investment. The money was sourced from Odebrecht a Brazilian construction company that paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to build ports, bridges and stadiums all over Latin America. This shows how quickly the reputations of leaders in Latin America have changed from Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Peru. In every case it is corruption or mismanagement of the economy or both. The failure to consider the needs of people in Latin America, the hype and the pretense, show how much good sense, wisdom, hard work and honest leadership is needed.   ...

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China's rapid construction in the Doklam plateau of Bhutan is covered in this report in WSJ. This is a small corridor of territory that connects parts of India to its northeast. PM Modi recently visited Bhutan and India has a security treaty with Bhutan which adjoins populated regions of India in the northern Ganges region. History is being repeated with China intervening in the northernmost regions of Indian Himalayas in 1950- 2024 at great distance from China's population centers in mainland China in the way Japan intervened in the far northern regions of China in the 1870-1945 period. Modern road and aircraft connections have made this possible for China- yet today India is building its own road and aircraft capabilities rapidly so that in the long run not much is to be gained for China in the Himalayan region where it has not had a presence since the early Buddhist period of Bodhidharma that brought Buddhism to China from India in the 5th century. It is a reminder that both suffered from colonialism and are struggling to find a path that benefits their peoples, that eventually rejects the path Japan had found to lead nowhere. ...

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Senior Republicans Wicker and McConnell both push for the putting pieces of the defense puzzle in place so that American can offer leadership to the world in the 21st century. Biden has put pieces of the puzzle on the economic front, these are the pieces in defense and security. On D-Day 80 senior Republican leader Mitch McConnell cautions against the lethargy of so called left parties and the isolationist tendencies of so called right parties. He says America should put preparedness first, that the better part of valor is to build credible defenses before they are necessary so that American leadership is not doubted further as it has been before. He commends the plan put forward by Roger Wicker in the US Congress Senate Armed Services Committee. The plan calls for raising defense spending to about 5% from 2.9% now over 5-7 years, with $55 billion more in 2025. Wicker says the military has a backlog of $180 billion just for maintenance. For the Navy 357 new ships by 2035, for the Air Force 340 additional fighters. This in light of China's additions and in light of the Russian economy being put into a position for a long term conflict with NATO over Ukraine.  ...

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The Nation as a whole falls behind other nations, and becomes weaker as a result of children being asked to absorb learning on empty stomachs or inadequate nutrition. This is one of the major advances of modern civilization and which differentiated Europe and the US from Asian countries. It is now reversed as Europe and the US are cutting back while India and other Asian countries are backing free School lunches. India has gone one step ahead to destroy centuries of malnutrition for children and families backed a plan that provides free and subsidized grain, vegetables to every household of 1.2 billion people. The starvation and malnutrition are seen in India as a stigma that Europeans and Americans had about India an how they looked down upon India for sanitation and malnutrition. These are twin enemies in India and China for a reason both because of health of children and seen as a ticket to oppression by foreigners who ruled parts of India and China for centuries. One of the most remarkable achievements in school lunches that changed the face of Madras State (Tamilnadu) is the free lunch program for children in teh 1950's and 1960's under Tamil chief minister Kamaraj. ...

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In this part of northern Burgundy, France, small towns and rural area are feeling the neglect that is happening. Neglect that Macron has done little about. Doctors offices close, transport services are reduced, other public services are being cut, the cost of living remains a problem for families struggling to make a living. This report in NYT looks at the situation that makes people turn to the RN party. Yet as shown in other reports where RN party is already governing solutions have not been found to these problems. In one report on July 5 from another rural part of France near the Pyrenees the RN city government was mainly about the looks and television not solutions, providing clean neighborhoods,  saying crime was down when this was not serious to begin with. The RN is not about investing in the rural areas of France, in small and midsized towns. Only the United Front Populaire socialist parties are planning to invest $140 billion to provide solutions and yet both Macron and the RN of Le Pen say derogatory things about the socialist parties alliance painting them as extreme and not being honest that rural France needs investment, just as rural America needs investment, for a better life. ...

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Fed's Powell sees only a temporary slight effect of DJT tariffs on inflation to 2.7% in 2025 that he says can be "looked through without action by us." Fed will wait for clarity in coming days and weeks. Powell says in March 2025 “It can be the case that it’s appropriate sometimes to look through inflation if it’s going to go away quickly without action by us. And that can be the case in the case of tariff inflation.” Tariffs are intended as they were in the first term of DJT and retained by Democrats led by Biden to create a level playing field after hidden subsidies by China, and to rebuild American manufacturing. New investments in manufacturing and in infrastructure supported by both DJT and Biden have brought new hope and vigor to comunnities and towns across America. For far too long as Powell understands textbook economic theory at Ivy League universities that had no connection to reality was used by American business to turn its back on communities and towns across the 51 states and the Nation. ...

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US and China agree on the first step to a broader trade deal. US offers to take in Chinese students at American Universities, something DJT says he was good with.  “Chinese students using our college and universities,” adding that such attendance has “always been good with me.”  China for its part will not slow move export of magnets and rare earth minerals on which it has established a near monopoly of the supplies. These rare earth minerals are needed for technology products made in the US. US tariffs of 55% will still say in place as "deterrance" that the other side keeps its promises and to cut the trade deficit with China not simply talk about it has has happened for a decade of Bush, Obama, Biden. Treasury Secretary Bessent and Jamieson Greer US Trade Representative were at London talks with Commerce Secretary Howard Luttnick to find ways to get an impasse resolved. Both sides lack confidence in what the other is doing so that theis the first step to clarify the direction of talks for achieving a broader deal.  ...

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  The state of Kerala is on the southwest coastal region of India south of Goa, and had its first encounter with the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. It is also the state with one of the highest literacy rates in the country. It lagged in industrial development after independence with a large number of people migrating to other countries. Prime minister Modi inaugurates the first Kerala Vande Bharat high speed train between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasargod. He also inaugurates today the Kochi Water Metro with  electric boats covering 38 terminals over 10 islands. Kochi is the commercial capital of the state. Modi said: "Our government emphasizes cooperative federalism and considers the development of the states as the source of the country's development. If Kerala develops then India will develop faster." "Kerala is a state of aware and educated people. Hard work and humility of people here is part of their identity." ...

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The UK government's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, says coronavirus testing has not been scaled quickly enough. Public health experts warn that Downing Street is in the position to face "an unforgiving reckoning." The UK has done 5400 tests per million population, the U.S. 8894 tests per million, and Germany 15,700 per million, according to data from Worldometer website. UK got off to a slow start.  Experts at Imperial College, London, say a major problem is the lack of contact trace, test, isolate. Contact tracing having fallen behind. The government is relying too much they say on an app from Google and Apple to do the tracing because for this kind of work humans are needed, "boots on the ground" are needed. South Korea and Taiwan have successfully used people to do the contact tracing by using access to cellphone carrier data that was made possible from protocols established in earlier MERS crisis. ...