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Citi's shares went up 18% with the $25 billion capital injection October 13, 2008, but says Eavis in Heard on the Street, the dangers in its balance sheet are still there. Oct 14, 2008, the closing price was $18.62 per share but its tangible book value is estimated at just more than $10 a share. With losses expected to remain high for several quarters this premium may be an odd thing, and with the losses the tangible book value may be below $9 a share. So there are more strong winds ahead of Citi.

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Joshua Rosner of investment bank Graham Fisher thinks the Citi rescue plan still does not go far enough, as the toxic assets still remain on Citi's books, and as long as home prices are declining the losses are increasing. The ultimate level of losses will be higher as they are pushed forward in a world of declining home prices.

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Shift of business underway from Hong Kong to places such as Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo and Sydney, including capital and assets, is the topic of this video report in the WSJ. This follows the passage of national security law in Hong Kong.

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Pricing of hotels in Rome Italy where $100 is a hostel, $200 a budget hotel, luxury $700 a night an up. Dynamic pricing means a hotel can cost $400 in the summer and $60 or $100 in September. This is true of mjor toruist destinations and  major cities in Europe. Staying away from the city in a leafy suburb can get you a normally priced room on Booking.com as shown here in the range of $100-$200 and it is a good idea to stay away from the bustle and crowds. Rome's average nightly rate April 19 is $300 a night up about 15% over 2025.  This tells you the first rule in travel in European Union is to choose destinations which are not the big cities, and away from the seasonal rush and crowds. The advice here is to look for residential neighborhoods (less costly and more peaceful), plan 6 months  for peak season  to get a decent price and a better shot at getting a decent hotel in Europe.

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This WSJ video shows the complex operations required, R&D over many years, new machinery developed, to produce, transport and install natural grass to specifications across stadiums in many cities of North America. FIFA'S experiment with consistent natural grass across stadiums in cities as different in climate and altitude as Mexico City Houston Dallas New York City Kansas City and Vancouver. The grass in all the stadiums in the venue locations has to be consistent so that players and team get the same feeling of playing on the grass. This was a huge challenge and machines had to be developed in Tennessee, research done at Michigan State over many years, and production set up in Denver, transport arranged for delivery to stadiums, and some stadiums having to lift the pitch by 1 inch to put the grass on top of existing turf. The game of soccer requires that players can slide across the grass without scraping their feet and this is why natural grass is the only grass surface for the sport. ...

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Kansas City as one of the key host cities for World Cup Soccer 2026 hosts training facilities for Argentina, Netherlands and England. Kansas City has built world class stadiums and facilities over the last 2 decades and given a boost to men's and women's soccer leagues. The English team trains at nearby Lawrence, Kansas, with a great deal of privacy and seclusion.

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BBC cites a senior Foreign Office (Whitehall) figure about Starmer's appointment of Mandelson when the vetting raised serious questions, in this way-"it sums up Starmer's premiership: a man who claimed he was grown-up public servant turns out to be hopelessly out of touch with the detail." It cites many people from the UK Foreign Office and their concern about how the Labour government under Starmer has handled the Mandelson issue. Weith elections coming up, the BBC says this issue is not going away.

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Bischoff was at Citigroup since 2000 and Rubin has been there for a decade, This WSJ editorial says they should take responsiblility for the failures at Citigroup, and should have been asked to give up their positions as part of the rescue package, and with them much of the old board.

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WSJ says that like the US economy in general Las Vegas and Nevada now relies for its economy on a small section of affluent people in the US. Las Vegas is now a luxury location. The steep rise in hotel rates, in automobile rentals rates, has made places like New York with hotel rates of $300-$400 as normal essentially luxury trip locations. This is true of many cities inthe US. The US is a different country now.