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A directive from the Central Committee of the CCP, China's Communist Party is shown in this report in the WSJ that requires strengthening the work in corporate governance of the United Front Work Departments. This applies to foreign companies according to this directive in September 2020. This report says the European Chamber of Commerce in China has said that "this would have a considerable impact on business sentiment, and could lead foreign companies to reconsider future and even current investments in China."

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This Editorial Board view in the WSJ asks what does it say when Mr. Biden beats Mr. Trump 44% to 41% even with Mr. Biden's low ratings of 33% in the Siena/New York Times poll, and Republicans looking good in the upcoming midterms to win both the Senate and the House. It says so far most of the recent elections for seats in the Senate and the House have shown that Trump backed candidates have not done well with one or two exceptions. It cites elections for two Congressional seats in Georgia where Democrats prevailed against Trump backed candidates.  It says Trumps position that the election was stolen is not going to help Republicans. That Democrats are keen on keeping the attention on Mr. Trump and not on inflation through events such as the January 6 hearings on the Capitol attacks. In swing districts the Trump distraction is the only factor that could hurt Republicans 4 months before the midterms, says, the WSJ. It says Trump is likely to announce his candidacy for president in 2024 before the midterms. ...

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Images of 5 galaxies in the constellation Pegasus will be shown by president Biden at a White House event today July 11. The pictures are from the $10 billion James Webb telescope now 1 million miles from earth and looking back at distant galaxies from the beginning of time. The Pegasus constellation is a mind boggling distance away- 290 million light- years away.

NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency have together developed the Webb telescope, that is 100 times more powerful than the Hubble telescope that was there before.

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Global Foundries based in New York and STMicroelectronics based in Switzerland are teaming up to invest $5.7 billion for a semiconductor factory in Crolles, in southeastern France. The French government will provide additional funding and support for a new home based technology supply chain. The plant will create 1000 jobs.

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Barry Eichengreen of the University of California, Berkeley, looks at problems in the British economy reflected in the sharp decline of the pound of over 10% which he says will get even worse. The problem is weak productivity growth. Eichengreen looks back in time to similar crises for the British currency the pound. In 1931 it was unemployment at 21% that made the pound weak. In 1949 the high war debt made it difficult to finance British imports. In 1967 under Harold Wilson the drop in productivity was a problem. In 1992 the cumulative loss of productivity and uncompetitive exports with British output per hour about 15% below Germany led to a sharp decline in the pound. The current crisis reflects falling productivity from a lack of investment in infrastructure, deterioration in educational levels, the lack of trained and educated people to fill positions. Frictions and inefficiencies as a result of Brexit compound the difficulties.  The brief look at the last 100 years for th British pound gives a better understanding of the outlook for the British pound, which will only get worse, says Eichengreen. ...

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As the River Po dries out in Italy's long drought, Tobias Jones takes a look at its fascinating history. He travels the length of the River Po for 400 miles by canoe, bike, foot and car and gives this story of the river and what he found.