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Britain's Labour party will now back a motion in parliament supported by the SNP, Liberal Democrats and Tories for a general election December 9 or December 12. This is the first December election since 1923, almost one hundred years. December elections in winter could have uncertain turnout, but the high turnout in the election in 1950 with Labour's Clement Attlee shows that when major issues are involved voters do turnout.

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A report released in September 2015 by the international panel for the investigation of the disappearance of 43 college students refutes many of the statements in the government's narrative of the disappearance. The panel was appointed by the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, part of the Organization of American States. It raises more questions about the rule of law in Mexico, and the impunity with which drug gangs and local governments collaborate to suppress civil rights.

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David Gelles interviews heads of companies in his column for the New York Times called Corner Office. Here he talks about CEO's frquently bringing up the topic of meditation in his interviews. Gelles practices meditation and mindfulness since his college years when he spent junior year in India at Buddhist monasteries and retreats as part of the Antioch Buddhist Studies Program. He is also the author of columns in the NYT on meditation and mindfulness.  The head of Salesforce, Marc Benioff, tells Gelles that meditation practice helps him step back and listen deeply with a beginners mind aware of the present moment. Benioff has set up meditation rooms in Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, and invites Buddhist monks to his house.  After a skiing accident in 2004 Marc Bertolini, head of insurance company Aetna recovered using meditation practice. He setup mindfulness classes at Aetna and says this has changed the corporate culture for the better with efforts for improvement and people coming up to him with new ideas.  Designer Eileen Fisher practices meditation and this has helped her in business as she set goals to improve factory conditions for clothing workers in China. The head of Hyatt Hotels says mindfulness is helpful in bringing empathy in relations through the practice of being in the present. He made mindfulness the key part of the company's Wellness programs. Google, Ford and McKinsey now offer meditation programs in the office. Similar trends are taking place in Europe. When asked about a company's responsibility to society, Benioff of Salesforce says his company is part of the whole that includes society, that we are all connected and part of the one.     ...

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About a 60% turnout of voters in Kashmir with 80% of the state's districts reporting, is higher than in the last election which had a turnout of 44% in 2002. This shows declining support for militants in Kashmir. The two parties with the largest seats in the 87 member legislative assembly are the National Conference Party with 28 seats, and the People's Democratic Party with 18 seats projected to reach 21 seats. The National Conference Party is expected to form a coalition with the Congresss Party which heads the ruling coalition for the federal government in New Delhi.

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The ruling National Action Party in Mexico nominated Josefina Vazquez Mota, an economist and a former education secretary, as its nominee in the presidential election. Ms. Mota is likely to appeal to female voters in Mexico and is presented as a soothing maternal figure during a period when Mexicans have faced a grueling war against drug gangs, and someone who is quite different from the PRI candidate, Mr Enrique Pena Nieto. When asked a question about the price of tortillas for ordinary families, Nieto once replied "I am not a lady of the house."

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How the state of Maharashtra was formed from Bombay state that included Gujarat, by making language as a basis of state formation offers clues for India's economic and political solutions to the problem of modernizing the country in the way Japan and China have done. The same is true for Gujarat.  Gujarat added the princely states of Saurashtra. The original Bombay state did not include Saurashtra or the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of today's Maharashtra state. Vidarbha and Marathwada were added to create Maharashtra, Saurashtra was added to create Gujarat. Voting patterns have given the party that is pushing hardest for modernization of infrastructure with speed and scale favorability in most regions of Maharashtra except Marathwada regions and most regions of Gujarat except Saurashtra. The Bombay city region that forms a large part of the voting population in Maharashtra came first under the influence of British, then Gujarati business, then trade unions, followed by a Mumbai for Marathis movement, and now an integration of the Marathi movement into one that reaches for leadership for modernization on a national scale.   Bombay city is itself being dug up in a way Tokyo in the 20's and 60's must have been, or Shanghai in the 90's, 1912 sites have been dug up for a next generation Metro system of trains, a bullet train to Ahmedabad and New Delhi and for bridges across the Arabian sea, new expressways. Projects that were stalled for decades because of political stalling inaction are now being pushed ahead to be finished in 2-3 years or half the time. In Japan in the 20's the incentive was Japan's resurgence, in the 60's its recovery from world war. In China in the 90's the rush to modernize after the Japanese invasion and failed attempts in the 60's. In India today it is the rush to modernize after the British Empire's extraction of wealth from the country since 1850, and the failed attempts twice in the 60's and 90's.   ...

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Dutch farmers protest a plan by the government to cut nitrogen emissions in line with EU laws by half by 2030, by cutting dairy farms by a third. Recently the Dutch Citizens Movement, a farmer protest party called BBB, won provincial elections. The government is now looking at how to meet protester demands and lower the goals away from dairy farming. The agricultural sector is large in Netherlands and it's agricultural exports are next to only the US, says NYT.

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Lobbying is a major problem in the US and was an issue in the last two presidential election campaigns. This is a problem in Britain as shown in the Greenhill scandal with a former prime minister. During the pandemic there is public dissatisfaction with the conduct of politicians violating the trust placed by the people. Recent reports of lobbying in Germany involved the giving of contracts for health supplies and PPE leading to new rules set by the CDU party for its members. 

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Franvce's snap election in July 2024 is Explained in The Times showing the situation of each of the parties in France in EU elections and their platforms- Renaissance at 15%, Les Republicains allied with Macron's Renaissance at 7.25%. The Socialist Party of Mitterand and Hollande with 14%, the France Unbowed at 10%. Ecologiste at 6%, Combined these parties have 51% of the vote in EU elections. The National Rally has 31%. If the French parliamentary elections are similar to the EU elections the left parties have to unite with Les Republicains and Renaissance to have a chance to prevent the National Rally from forming a government.

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The election of Merz in Germany as chancellor means a sharing of minds with Macron of France, the two leaders share the same approach, coming 3 years after the inertia under chancellor Scholz. It means the steps will be taken for European defense and for a European alternative to NATO. It also means efforts will be made for the French-German economic engine to be revived. 

UK's prime minister Starmer also supports this effort for a united Europe to tackle defense and economic challenges in 2025. Leyen, head of the European Union is also a member of CDU party of Merz and led the defense ministry under Merkel.

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Brazil's Senate votes 55 to 22 to impeach president Dilma Rousseff for manipulating financial accounts to cover up a risky budget deficit. With the economy seeing a 3.8% GDP decline in 2015, and unemployment at 10.9%, Rousseff is affected by a stunning decline in popularity to about 10 percent. During the boom years the Workers Party of Rousseff under president Lula enjoyed soaring popularity, which now appears to be in retrospect a result of high commodity prices and subsidies, and not from careful management of the economy. The impeachment also follows corruption investigations of Petrobras with links to the government.

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In a very real sense US and NATO Europe has failed by blanket applying the principle of national sovereignty without recognizing that there are general rules that have to make room for some exceptions or nuances in cultural and historic linkages as in the case of Ukraine's most eastern regions along Russia's borders. Only about 30% of American public in Pew Research poll sees Russian war in Ukraine as a threat to the US, among Republicans it is only 19%. Remember this is during the third year of the war with staggering losses on both sides when prolonging the war makes no sense.  If the American public were properly informed by the media that Zelensky's popularity has dropped to 16%.  That the eastern regions of Ukraine near the border speak Russian and share a common culture, and had voted for Russia oriented parties before the war began -not in 2021 but in 2013 with the Maidan movement in Lviv near Poland leading to the whole of Ukraine except parts of the east nearest to Russia moving towards the west- it might look at the larger picture and seek a settlement which accepts Russian commitments to peace with these regions as part of Russian Federation. The staggering losses on both sides cannot justify the conflict and it is not in the America's, India's, China's, or Europe's interest to damage the Russian economy or further damage Ukrainian infrastructure in a war that changes little in the winter of 2024-2025.  ...

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Katy Balls of The Times of London on Charlie Kirk interview during an event in Florida. Kay Balls is The Times Washington Editor. She provides insights into Charlie Kirk who she says was polite in person than on the videos, mostly calling things as he saw it but also willing to engage with others which made him interesting to some young people on campus. His dad is an architect with his own practice who came up with the name TPUSA. The family is Republican and lives in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The parents wanted him to go to college, first an effort at West Point, then Baylor University, a Christian University in Texas, but he went to Harper College in Illinois. And he decided to drop out after work as a youth activist impressed Republican party organizers.

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DW.com's Barbara Wesel describes the chaos in the Conservative Party and the British prime minister Theresa May's stubborn pursuit of Brexit. Speaking in the House of Commons Theresa May showed no flexibility to reconsider her decision to present a 558 page Brexit document detailing the negotiated agreement to parliament for a vote, even though it lacks the support of the Labour Party and prominent Conservatives in her government. Two Brexit Secretaries have resigned. The Transport minister resigned calling for a second referendum on Brexit. May continues to stick to her basic argument that she is following the wishes of the British people given in the first referendum. Even though she is Conservative MP for Maidenhead supporting Remain, and campaigned to stay in the European Union. Wesel says May has proved once again that she has an unrelenting stubbornness. Lacking even the ability to take into account the variety of opinions carefully presented in parliament from different angles by MP's. Once May has latched on to an idea there is no way she can be drawn off her course, and she has continued saying it is in "the national interest" at every turn without defining this in the particular context. The session in the House of Commons clearly showed Brexit's flaws, as in reality the Conservatives themselves have serious misgivings about the far right Brexiters push for separation without clear understanding of where this takes Britain and the British economy. The Labour Party sees this as an opportunity for a change in government. ...

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Mexico sends 80% of its exports to the US, and China a significant $439 billion in additional exports to US, which makes it incredible that for so long it did not take effective action to stop fentanyl flows, and Mexico allowed migrant trafficking across it's borders through 2016-2024. Even in the face of this becoming an explosive issue in the US with DJT elected in 2016 and the Border Wall being built. A silent but still existing in plain sight idea that the US would tolerate such flows became part of the culture in media outlets in the US and Europe and China and other parts of the world, even when there was a storm of discontent building about manufacturing shipped overseas hurting communities in the US since 2010, with added burden of safety endangered in these neighborhoods from fentanyl, drugs and illegal migrants. What worsened this situation and pain in the US was the idea that somehow it was the US's fault, an incomprehensible disdain for the US, US that enabled the modernization of China, Mexico, and Canada's economies. China sends $439 billion in exports more than the US does to China (US exports $143 billion China $582 billion in 2024). It is only surface presentation of indignation of face saving that these trading partners are showing when the real facts point to an extraordinary and incomprehensible disdain for the US as a nation in decline. There is a feeling in parts of Europe of American disdain for  Europe, without mention of the disdain for the US in Europe, China, Mexico and Canada and other parts of the world. Particularly disdain for neglected communities in the US that have suffered for far too long under previous administrations of Clinton-Bush-Obama with shipping of manufacturing and jobs overseas and inaction on drugs and illegal migrant flows. The EU Canada retaliatory approach has not worked. When DJT proposed doubling the tariffs imposed by US in the face of Canada EU retaliatory steps, the EU and Canada pulled back. Part of the reason is that in the case of Canada it is an economy one tenth the size of the US. The other is that there are real concerns on the US side that Canada EU are not playing fairly in trade. And Canada, Mexico, China, have not stopped the flow of fentanyl into the US.  ...

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New restrictions in parts of New York, Queens and Brooklyn soon after schools reopened. Certain zip codes will have schools closed as a second wave is expected.

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Bicycling makes it easier to get to school in rural parts of Ghana and outside the capital Accra. A bike club in Accra provides bikes to schools.

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This article in the Economist says the bad loans in the financial system threaten to derail India's rapid growth. It points out that about 17 percent of all loans are estimated to be non-performing. Government plans to set up a bad bank and have bad loans transferred at steep discounted rate to the bad bank are still at an early stage. India weathered the 2008 financial crisis with a financial system in better shape. Since then a surge in lending has led to an increase in the bad loans. Today both banks and corporate firms are facing this problem. The political system and dysfunctional governance with frequent changes for management at state controlled banks are part of the problem.

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This editorial in the New York Times points out that the new president of the ANC party -that runs South Africa and has a monopoly of power in the post Apartheid years, under Mandela, Mbeki and Zuma- faces a uphill task as the ANC remains deeply divided after supporting Mr. Zuma in office till the very end. Apart from the stagnant economy, there are challenges the ANC faces in the lethargy of the post Apartheid years, and the culture of corruption, and patronage management that led to mismanagement of state enterprises.

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U.S. Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator Tim Scott describe the event on poverty organized by the Jack Kemp Foundation in Jan. 2016, in which both Congressmen are moderators. Ryan and Scott point out the importance of upward educational and economic mobility for working class and middle class people. The 2 Republican leaders say education, work, opportunity and accountability for federal spending in anti-poverty programs are critical parts of their program for addressing the problem. They suggest trying different solutions by giving states more opportunity to try different solutions.

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A prolonged war increases world food insecurity says this report in DW.com, including a danger of famine in some parts of the world. Ukraine and Russia together provide about a fourth of the world's wheat and other foodgrains. Many Middle Eastern countries and African countries face food shortages.

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The 8000 government jobs that are likely to be lost in Longbenton, England, at "the Ministry," work done for the revenue and customs part of the tax agency of the UK. Premier Cameron plans to eliminate 192 independent government agencies. The north-east of England has long been a part of the UK with lower per capita incomes, and the region more dependent on government jobs.

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The yellow vest protests in France puts Macron as a change agent as out of step with the broader changes taking place in France as fears of economic security and financially struggling families take precedence over other issues. Macron had hoped to setup business friendly policies but has only a small support base. Only about 24% supported Macron in the first round of voting with 40% claimed by parties to the far right and left.  The yellow vest protests are spontaneous and do not have nationalism or race, migration as motivating factors. No far right party is involved, or far left party, or the socialists. It is basically about the institutional and political structures not able to respond to the fears of economic insecurity in rural France and in smaller towns. It is about loss of social cohesion in the economic progress of the last two decades. The focus is now on minimum wage, salaries, and a sense of fairness and opportunity that existed in a previous era that now appears ruptured. ...

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President Richard Nixon was named by a grand jury in 1974 but was never charged with a crime says WSJ. By the time he left office Nixon's reputation had suffered severe damage. NYT reports that this is different with Mr. Trump who seeks the nomination of the Republican party in 2024, raising a whole new set of issues of what is and is not appropriate behaviour for the office of the president of the US or for that matter any high office in the United States of America. Ultimately new standards will be set and the past few years make be looked back on as an anomaly in the history of the US.

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The transport sector accounts for a third of German energy consumption and a fifth of gas emissions, making it a sector that will come up for major overhaul after elections. The Greens party in Germany is making this a major issue in the elections. The massive flooding in Germany and severe drought conditions are seen as effects of climate change that is moving to the top of the agenda. Greens are polling in the 15-20% range and are likely to be a key partner in a new government.