LyrArc Article Gist
Referring to the nine mile wide area from Israel's Mediterranean coast north of Tel Aviv to the West Bank at the shortest point, Israeli prime minister Netanyahu says of pre-1967 borders- "these were not the boundaries of peace, these were the boundaries of repeated wars." Netanyahu is reported to have made an angry phone call on May 19, 2011, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after hearing of President Obama's call for a peace with a return to the pre-1967 borders. Netanyahu told Obama Israel considered such borders indefensible and not the basis of a lasting peace.

LyrArc Article Gist
Experts at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Nuclear Policy Program describe what to look for and in what time frame in the 2012 negotiations between Iran and the U.S. and other European countries in Istanbul, Turkey over Iran's nuclear program.

LyrArc Article Gist
Why China India Brazil see the old liberal order discussed at Davos Switzerland, based on the world in 1947 not reflecting growth of Asia in 2026, and not serving the working class or middle class. UK's Farage says it is about people at Swiss Ski resorts deciding what the world should look like. Today the Swiss cannot even take their trade arrangements with the US for granted after US tariffs on entrenched unfair dealings in trade with the US. There is a growing perception in the UK and US and many parts of Europe that this so called liberal order is not working for the people of these countries. China and India, Brazil, see that arrangements set in 1947 as part that order that is cherished by the folks at Davos, and not reflecting the growth of these countries in 2026. The attitudes at Davos may be the most at issue, with Swiss and French attitudes not reflecting the situation in France which is deeply divided between the rural parts of the country and the urban areas about the direction of the country and the need to make life better for the working class and the middle class. In many ways the people of the US and of Europe share this huge rural vs urban divide made worse by the deindustrialization and shipping of manufacturing overseas to Asia.  Looking back at US history provides better clues- many of the same improvements made by Lincoln as Republican, Theodore Roosevelt as Republican, Franklin Roosevelt as Democrat, JFK as Democrat have created the society Americans cherished for so long and was the beacon to the world, which is not about this so called liberal order but rational step by step corrections of course and improvement after improvement, and offer a pathway to the future better than the whole host of politics and politicians that failed America and Europe. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
How AI is costing America a lot in 2025-2026. $400 billion in investment in 2025 alone that is diverted from essential infrastructure repair and renovation in the US and for investing in making pharmaceuticals in the US, housing, and education, childcare, investing in the future in renewable energy.

LyrArc Article Gist
Starmer's visit to China and the result being halving of tariffs- it comes 8 years after Theresa May's visit 2018.  Starmer is following his intution  to set an independent course for Brtian's foreign policy. It makes sense as the US is using common sense in coming back to basics, to getting its own hemisphere policies right. How could there be a situation like that in Venezuela and Mexico as with the drug cartels operating as states within states- what would Teddy Roosevelt say about this? So we now have the Monroe Doctrine, the return of the Panama Canal, the restructuring of the oil industry in Venezuela, and other action. This also means Canada and UK, India, European Union can pursue policies that are common sense. It means for Britain a new openness with China after 8 years inward looking with Austerity, Brexit and Covid. For a smaller economy it makes sense for Britain to have agreements on trade as it signed with India, and now with China. Carney, Starmer and soon Merz will have worked out relations with China on trade and exchanges. For Europe and the US over concentration of making goods in China can be corrected while still engaging with China. For the EU the visits Germany's Merz made to the kite festival an India and Leyen/Costa of the EU following up with trade agreements are all part of common sense to not just reduce over concentration in China, but also to build a new partnership with India to form a 2 billion people market. All of which happened suddenly as European nations realized how to work out new arrangements following the war with Russia over Ukraine and China's support for Russia, taking up the cues from DJT common sense action in its backyard. "I'm a pragmatist, a British pragmatist, applying common sense," the prime minister tells BBC on the plane and says he wants to "make Britain face outwards again."  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Varun Chakravarty 5-42, Indian spinners, help India win the cricket semi-final of the Champions Trophy against New Zealand in March 2025.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Washington Post showing which programs and which fields in the US lead to higher income growth over 15 year period. The studies have looked at 1 million graduates in American colleges over many years to see which programs have the highest payoff for young students. The conclusion is that education programs pay off at every level. It is based on data from 2008 for 89 public colleges in Texas, and is the most detailed so far.

LyrArc Article Gist
It is hard to imagine that one is even writing about this, as shocking as it is- the 4 or 5 minutes between a decision to launch nuclear weapons and the end of life on this planet earth as we know it. Here Sam Nunn, a U.S. senator who was part of the negotiations for arms control and who is the leading American in this field talks about the unimaginable danger. He says the strategy from the Cold War where Russia and the U.S. put their nuclear forces in a position to be launched within minutes, 4 to 5 minutes, is outdated and needs to be changed. Hillary Clinton described the issue in the television debate. Yet this was not discussed because of the nature of the 2016 presidential election with lack of serious discussion.  And both Nunn and Clinton emphasize that once the missiles are in the air they cannot be ordered to go back. Accidental error, judgemental error, informational error in which one side thinks the other has launched a missile, a firing by mistake, are possible. In this situation Nunn says Trump is temperamentally unfit, and Clinton is fit to take on the responsibility. Yet the question this raises is as Nunn signals- is anyone but God fit to make this decision to launch nuclear weapons. Nunn says it is outdated and wrong to have only a few minutes, as such a decision cannot be made in a few hours or days, much less in 5 minutes. Nunn brings up a discussion he had in Moscow when he brought this up with Russians and president Putin. Russian president Putin told Nunn that he was fully aware of this. Putin's response was- "Senator Nunn, at some point it becomes automatic."  Nunn does not clarify what this means, or what Putin means to say. For people on the planet it is not enough to have Reagan, Gorbachev, Clinton, as Nunn mentions being responsible people for a nuclear decision. The current state of affairs is simply shocking and the lack of attention to this is also shocking. Equally dangerous is that 20 countries have weapons usable nuclear material, and sophisticated hacking of command and control processes is another danger.       ...

LyrArc Article Gist
$148 billion in cash savings from tax provisions and full expensing of investments in Big Beautiful Act for 369 companies, Amazon $15.7 billion in cash savings, Microsoft 12.5 billion from Big Beautiful Act 2025. Treasury Secretary Bessent described the full and immediate expensing provisions for investments by companies as a key provision that would take the US economy forward in 2025.

LyrArc Article Gist
Shruti Sharma, Ankita Agrawal, and Gamini Singla are in the top 1, 2, and 3 ranking in the 2021 Civil Service examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. All three women say it was a long and difficult journey. Women are now in parity with men in higher education yet in the Indian Civil Service women make up only 26%. Women can provide the empathy needed for development in smaller towns and villages as they take up positions in these areas early in their IAS career. More women need to take up careers in the Civil Service to provide the kind of leadership needed in running the country that India needs at a critical time in its move forward in development and modernization.

LyrArc Article Gist
The owner of Manchester United in an interview with Sky News points out that UK had a population of 58 million in 2000 up now to 67 million in 2025, an increase of 9 million mostly from immigrants, with the burden of benefits putting a large strain on resources, and creating social divisions that detract from addressing serious economic problems and issues. 

LyrArc Article Gist
Annalena Baerbock, 44 years, of the Greens is Germany's nominee for president of UN General Assembly in 2025. She was nominated by chancellor Scholz. As a leader of the Greens and in the coalition government of chancellor Scholz she has tried to show that Germany is a modernizing nation and innovative more than is seen in its political class. As one of the youngest politicians she has presented Germany in a new way as a young face for Europe. DW.com shows the evolution of the Greens as a party since the 1980's. Baerbock joined the Greens at age 25, four years later in 2010 she was head of the Brandenburg state section of the party, becoming a board member of the European Green party. She is still only 44 years old. She studied public law and political science in Hamburg, and gained a Masters degree in international law at the London School of Economics, one of Germany's first leading politicians to study in Britain. She started studies for a Doctorate at the Free University of Berlin, which she left in 2013 as she was elected to the Bundestag. By 2021 Annalena Baerbock was with Robert Habeck co-leader of the party heading into the general election. At one point the Greens were polling 5 months before the 2021 election at 27% with Annalena Baerbock running for chancellor against Armin Laschet of CDU and ahead of the CDU by 3 points in Sonntag poll. The Greens came in at 15% of the vote in 2021 dropping slightly to 12% in 2025. This time the Greens will sit in the parliamentary opposition headed by Robert Habeck. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
China’s 15th Five-Year Plan recommendations set out China’s energy and climate priorities - from the Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change. It says in its Conclusion as it relates to China's Energy Initiative working with German cooperation. It shows China is committed to cutting its reliance on fossil fuels from the Middle East particularly now with the situation in the Iran War and cutoff of such supplies. It is a broad comprehensive approach to industry, business and society's needs and how to best make the transition to low carbon emissions and renewable energy similar to what Germany is accomplishing on its own. "In essence, the recommendations for the 15th Five-Year Plan point to three main priorities: further expanding renewable energy and modernising the power system to reduce reliance on fossil fuels; shifting policy focus from controlling energy use to directly controlling carbon emissions, including plans to peak coal and oil consumption and expand carbon markets; and integrating climate and low-carbon goals across industry, finance and consumer policies, making green development a central pillar of China’s long-term economic strategy." ...

LyrArc Article Gist
After rapid growth during 2021 home sales in the US are expected to decline by 10% in 2022, according to the National Association of Realtors. The rise of remote work and homebuyers seeking more space had pushed up sales in 2021 with low interest rates. Mortgage rates are now up to 5% in an higher interest rate environment having an impact on home sales. Higher median home prices with the median price of a home up 15% in March compared to the previous year, and 9.5% lower inventories are also having an impact.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Iraqi army moves against Kurdish Peshmerga in northern Iraq after taking Raqqa from ISIS and Kirkuk from the Kurds. The fragile peace between the autonomous Kurdish region and the central government in Iraq broke down after the Kurdistan autonomous government held a referendum in all Kurdish controlled regions in Iraq, including parts taken from ISIS. The Kurds held the referendum for an independent state on Sept 25, 2017. This puts the U.S. in a difficult position as it supported the Kurds against ISIS, when the Iraqi army was disorganized in 2015-2016. Turkey also opposes the Kurds move for an independent state that could include parts of Turkey.

LyrArc Article Gist
Defense minister Rajnath Singh says on the last day of Aero India, that India has "great potential to emerge as a global and regional Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) hub, given the cost competitiveness of its manpower resources, the availability of abundant specialist capabilities and geographical advantages."

Between 2016 nd 2019, 138 proposals worth over $37 billion for domestic manufacturing of defense equipment components were approved. Aero components sector is expected to double from 30,000 crore today to 60,000 crore by 2025. Aerospace has a big role to play in reaching the targets of domestic defense production of $25 billion and exports of $5 billion by 2025. India will have moved from defense production of $11 billion to $25 billion by 2025.

This includes the LUH new generation single engine helicopter to be designed and developed by HAL.

LyrArc Article Gist
Private real estate handed over to a new generation in 2026 in the US is worth trillions of dollars.

LyrArc Article Gist
Dholera Gujarat is the location for a 355 acre site where Foxconn is building a $20 billion semiconductor factory. Production is expected to start in 2025. Foreign direct investment passed $80 billion in 2021.

LyrArc Article Gist
China says its students are subject to harsh questioning when coming to the US, and these students face racial discrimination in the US. 105,000 student visas for Chinese students were issued by the US embassy in Beijing and consulates in China in 2023 as the pandemic recedes and normal exchange relations resume. About 50,000 exchange program participants in the US are expected to visit China over 5 years. Nicholas Burns, 68 years, is the new US ambassador to China in April 2022. As the mood changes in the US with both presidential candidates ramping up their stand on trade with China and tariffs, US China relations face headwinds after the normalization of US-China relations following the pandemic, when Xi and Biden met in San Francisco in 2023. Chinese student facing racial discrimination in the US and the difficulties with learning English pose serious problems for Chinese students which Nicholas Burns in a diplomat sheltered world may have no idea of. This applies to students from mainland China and Taiwan alike. Burns may have too hastily dismissed this side of the perspective from Xi Jinping. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Bay Area Transit (BART) a San Francisco institution is at risk of big cuts in service closing 15 stations, closing at 9 pm,  as work from home pandemic period changes cut ridership from 389000 in Jan 2020 to 170000 in Jan 2024. It now has a $400 million structural deficit. BART management proposes a half percentage point additional sales tax on counties in the San Francisco area- Alameda, Contra Costa, Mateo, Santa Clara, 1 percentage point addition in San Francisco. This may not address the problem fully as the ridership is declining not only because of the keyboard post pandemic economy, the fact that downtown San Francisco has a 30% vacancy rate in buildings and the lifestyles have changed from before, but also because it is less safe, reported use of crack, and a less clean friendly ride on BART. This shows how life in the San Francisco area has changed decades after Silicon Valley took over the city, and how the state of California has changed. Silicon Valley and Wall Street though it had changed America and the World when right in its own backyard institutions such as BART are falling apart, and downtowns are less safe. New York City home of Wall Street has a subway system also in bad shape, and infrastructure badly in need of repair right in the backyard of Wall Street, decades behind in quality of experience from anything found in China or Japan- and now even India. ...