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Prince Philip's career in the Royal Navy is remembered here in The Times. His service off the cost of Greece, at Gibraltar, and off the coast of Sumatra, on British Navy ships is recalled. Here he is seen saving airmen in the seas in the war against Japan near Sumatra, and in attacks on Italian cruisers after Italy invaded Greece. During this period till 1947 Philip served in the Royal Navy. When asked about any "if only" he had in a BBC interview, Philip once said there were none, except one about his career in the Royal Navy. Here he was following his uncle Lord Mountbatten. During his service in the war he leaned some things in the Navy that became part of his personality, the way he was, his style so to speak.  This was about being matter of fact, just doing it, never complaining, getting on with it. Philip was on the HMS Whelp on September 2, 1945, when the Japanese surrendered. He saw British seamen then who had been prisoners for many years, returning from camps. He recalls seeing tears stream down their cheeks as they sat with him in the mess on the ship and recognized the familiar environment, they could'nt speak. Shaped by these experiences Prince Philip reflected the values of devotion to duty, humility, respect for women, and feeling humbled by life's experiences. The experience in the Navy shaped his view of life. When asked about how he coped with wartime dead and wounded he once said - "we did'nt have counsellors rushing around every time someone let off a gun. You just got on with it." Seen out of context his remarks during the last few decades seemed blunt, seen in the context of the Navy and his formative experience in the ships in these years it was just the way it was. Simply who he was, as he once replied. With it also came the kind of dedication to country, being the "rock" of support that he was for Queen Elizabeth over many decades, and his unique style, now cherished by his family, the country and the British Commonwealth.   ...

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India protests actions by Canada's Trudeau for his support of separatists in Canada. India is a nation of many communities and languages and it does not approve of efforts to separate parts of the country in the way the US has done from the period of the Civi War and Lincoln, and as seen today in Spain, or in the efforts to reintegrate East Germany into West Germany after the cold War. Trudeau belongs to Quebec, a French Canadian province that is part of majority English Canada. Canada's very existence as a federation depends on this nonacceptance of separation of Quebec. It was not long ago that General De Gaulle used the language Vive La Quebec on a visit to Canada leading to protest all over the world and Canadian provinces respecting the integrity of Canada. Mr. Trudeau is president of Canada for that very reason that he and his father Pierre before him respect the idea of Canada as an independent sovereign nation, something he fails to do for political advantage to stay in power with a coalition because of diminished support for his Liberals party.  ...

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Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares is an engineer from Portugal who joined Renault as a test track driver in 1981. In 2014 Fiat merged with Chrysler and in 2021 the PSA Group merged with Fiat creating the Stellantis car company with sales in Europe and the US. As CEO of PSA Group Carlos Tavares headed Stellantis. Tavares has skills in persuading unions in Europe to work with him, and motivates his people with his working style. At Chrysler even with losses from 10% absenteeism he has managed to reach operating profit margin of 16.4%. Stellantis plans investments of $35 billion in EV vehicles by 2025 which means it is putting back profits into investing in the future. Stellantis is today larger than GM or Ford. It has 47,000 employees in the US.  Earlier PSA had acquired lossmaker Opel from GM in 2017. Tavares is known for his careful attention to cost, and he has skills in negotiating with the labor unions in Europe for job cuts to stabilize loss makers.  ...

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Baer and Zuckerman give this friendly account of how a law student from Melbourne found himself a single Australian in New York. He went on to join Morgan Stanley and took over in 2010 at the height of the faulty mortgage financial crisis. His patient attitude and quiet demeanor  stemming from growing up in a family of 10 children helped him take on the responsibilities at the bank when banking was getting a bad name for its responsibility in causing the financial crisis. His mother was a nurse, his father an engineer, both underpaid and stressed professions compared to banking which has caused crisis after crisis in an effort to get outsize rewards. This Australian American later told colleagues, that around the dinner table his middle class parents discussed current events creating an interest in reading and world affairs. We get this as it was our own experience. What has he to say then about both the absence of this middle class today in the way it was, and more than two thirds of American eight graders lacking proficiency levels in reading, 75% lacking proficiency in Civics and History shown in NAEP tests? Not much different in Australia or the British Commonwealth too. His name James Gorman, who now retires at the age of 64. How could he give back by supporting a Movement for Global Literacy, what we have also on this site? Lyrarc.com acts a driver for this much needed literacy in reading comprehension, history and civics. ...

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Black and White pictures of Jesse Jackson with Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. DJT has described him as "a force of nature" with "lots of personality grit and street smarts." He played a role in civil rights in the US as black Americans gained equal rights under the law- particularly in southern states of the US which had segregated schools, restaurants, buses and parks following the civil war of 1865.

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Johannes Klaebo does 50 kms crosscountry ski in 2 hours 6 minutes 45 seconds- Milan Cortina Olympics 2026. Only American speed skater Eric Heiden Lake Placid ,NY Olympics 1980, comes close to Klaebo's persistence and composure in event after event, race after race. He moves as a child from Oslo to the ski place of Trondheim where he developed his skills and a new style of skiing in addition to the standard parallel and V shape skiing techniques. 

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Pep Guardiola and Valverde on the Manchester City loss to Real Madrid 3-0 and Valverde's hat trick. The Uruguay midfielder said: “We’d put some emphasis on training the long ball from goal kicks. City like to press high – they like to go one-v-one, and that means we might have space in behind them to exploit.” Courtois long goal kick gave Valverde his first goal. Manchester City missed Norwegian Haaland in this game.

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Joe Biden was about 78 when he entered the presidency. Reagan ended his presidency at age 79 in 1989. It is about 35 years since Reagan, and advances of medicine are making it possible for people to work longer with retirement ages extended to age 65 in many countries. Mr. Biden looks healthy and brings much experience from his decades in the Senate of the US. His 36 years in the Senate are the longest for any president. Turning 80 should not be a hurdle in that sense if one is healthy and the country needs this experience. During a foreign affairs crisis with China and Russia this experience of 12 years as ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is invaluable. More so as Biden reflects America's values. During his 36 years in the Senate he put forward the Violence Against Women's legislation in Congress. As Vice President he continued to advocate for working class and middle class and for families. One has to go back to Harry Truman to sense this kind of fervent and resolute action for workers and families, and for the American people. As president he passed the $1 trillion legislation for Workers and Families and to fight Climate Change. Building America Back Better is one of its goals and further investment in America and its people is being pushed forward.  Mr. Biden is living at a time when there is a struggle for the soul of the nation and he believes in his role in this struggle which gives him the energy he needs for his role in 2024 for continuing the work he has begun. ...

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As Iranian Foreign Minister left Pakistan before arrival of American negotiators showing lack of interest in negotiations on nuclear issue and navigation on which US has insisted, the talks are on pause. The US goal is only for the safety of the Iranian people and the peoples of the Gulf kingdoms, and the Arab world divided into unmanageable countries in some situations by colonial Empires of the British and French in 1921 (Syria, Iraq), the wider Arab world from Egyot to Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, to be free of nuclear weapons. Because these colonial policies not of the US but of the British and French and the counter response of Arab nationalism, have created 5 decades of wars in the world. It is then to remove these nuclear materials to another country such as Russia. The misperceptions created in the media appear in some parts to cast the US as a colonial power which it never was in the way of the Spanish, the British, the Dutch, the Portuguese, the French, the Danish. In fact exactly the opposite. One cannot think of an American who felt deeply for the situation the Chinese people were left in with the Japanese invasion than Gen. Joe Stilwell, as shown by Barbara Tuchman in her book Stilwell and the American Experience in China. Stilwell amazingly risked his life in railroad cars behind Imperial Japanese Army enemy lines in north eastern China in the 1930's because of his deep ly feelings for China at that time. Ever since the US differed with the British and the French on reparations during the Boxer rebellion of 1902, with Woodrow Wilson using the funds to create Tsinghua University in Peking (Beijing), the US has been benevolent in its intentions and as shown in its policy to Africa a partner for nations in Asia and Africa- with China, India, Indonesia, a large part of the Asian population, and now with Africa as shown in the investments in Angola, Congo, Zambia on this page. FDR made it clear in his letter of reply to Gandhi's letter from Wardha whose side America is on even in the middle of World War II. ...

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Tennis player from Serbia is disqualified for hitting the line umpire with a tennis ball. Djokovic was behind 6-5 to Carren Busta of Spain and lost his serve when this happened. Once before in that match he hit a ball at the stands in frustration. The Organizers of the U.S. Open decided there were clear reasons for him to be disqualified and lose all points he had earned at the U.S. Open. Djokovic had earlier come under criticism for his playing in events where there was no social distancing. Tennis has lost much of the graceful behaviour from the time when players like Althea Gibson, Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver played the game in an earlier era. Too much of the money is focused on prize money, television advertising, star status and number of grand slams won, bringing the game down to a level where the fans enjoying a good game is left behind and focus is all on individual players. The same is true for soccer where so much focus was placed on Barcelona and Messi and the 700 million transfer fee. The message from reality comes from the 7-2 win by Bayern Munich over Barcelona with a traditional approach to the game based on using new players costing far less money, a good dose of common sense and hard work. Coaches at Manchester City and Liverpool, and Real Madrid all attributed their success in the game to hard work and discipline of players, with every player playing for the team and for fans, and not for star status. ...

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For a long time CNN struggled with how it could avoid the peaks and valleys of viewer attention for its news programs- with a jump in viewers when a big news event happens and then a fall in viewers when not much is happening. Programs like Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown," have helped CNN tackle this problem. At first in 2012 and early 2013 when Bourdain's name came up in discussions at CNN for such a show, there was much disagreement about it, as some did not see the merits of bringing in someone who is not a journalist. By 2012 Bourdain had achieved prominence with his program on food "no Reservations," on Travel Channel. CNN's approach was to have a non-journalist take people around the world and tell stories about life and culture of the country and its people, in unique restaurant settings. By having a doumentary travel series CNN hoped to use the flexibility to delay a show if a news event broke out. Many viewers take tips on travel from the show. It has an enthusiastic following, thanks partly to Bourdain's style which is informal, relaxed, and jovial. Especially how he doesn't take himself seriously, and not thinking too much about Obama's guest appearance on the show at a small restaurant in Vietnam, where Bourdain picks up the tab of $6. That has won him over 800,000 viewers consistently from the 1st to the seventh season of the show. ...

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Turkish president Erdogan says his talks with Mr. Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meetings gave him the impression that Russia would like to end the war as soon as it can. Ukraine is recovering some of the territory lost in the early days of the war in the Luhansk region as its forces advance leading to a situation in which a new phase is reached in the war.