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Indian prime minister Modi calls on nations at the G20 meeting to focus their attention on issues that they agree on even though their are issues on which they disagree. These issues include food insecurity, climate change, and the burdens of debt and debt servicing in developing countries. US foreign minister Blinken says this is the right approach and calls on all nations to take action in that direction.

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Yousaf Humza comes from a family that immigrated from the Punjab state in Pakistan in the 1960's to Scotland. His grandfather worked at a Singer sewing machine factory in Clydesbank, and his father worked as an accountant. He studied for a Masters degree in Arts at Glasgow University and entered politics as a parliamentary assistant to Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon during the early days of the SNP. He held several ministerial positions before becoming First Minister. He is a Sturgeon loyalist who defeated challenger Elizabeth Forbes 52% to 48% in a close election for leadership of the SNP party.  His election is seen as a transitional period in the same way as Rishi Sunak's winning the leadership of the Conservative party after Boris Johnson like Nicola Sturgeon lost support. This is because of divisions within the SNP and in the Conservative party, and the rising popularity of Labour during a cost of living crisis after the ravages of the pandemic had affected working families in many ways. Both are from Punjab province of the British and the two provinces of Punjab in independent India and Pakistan. In fact the election of Humza as SNP leader and First Minister, the defeat of Elizabeth Forbes, provides Labour with an opportunity to win as many as 20 seats in Scotland for Keir Starmer of Labour to make it to No. 10 Downing Street, according to reports in The Times. ...

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The Bavarian government and the CDU party oppose the closing of the last 3 nuclear plants in Germany. This will increase use of fossil fuels till renewable energy supplies are secured. Bavarian prime minister Soder wants the federal government to give the state authority to continue operating the Isar 2 nuclear power station 80 kilometres northeast of Munich.

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Fitness and exercise in Uganda and Kenya is covered in this report by Rachel Nduati. It shows a different side of Uganda and of East Africa.

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China's growth will slow to about 3% in 2022 as the decisions made at the Central Economic Work Conference that ended on December 10 were to emphasize economic stability as the overriding goal. The goal of discouraging speculation in housing with the slogan housing is for living will remain in place in 2022. The goal of controlling surging debt that poses a serious risk to the economic future of China will also remain in place. The external environment remains uncertain and getting complicated with a change in the US and German governments in 2021 and shifts in policies.

A party congress will take place in 2022 in addition to the Beijing Winter Olympics. 

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Prime minister Ranil Wickremasinghe has assumed the finance minister position as Sri Lanka completes one phase of negotiations with the IMF. The IMF says "Since Sri Lanka's public debt is assessed as unsustainable, approval by the Executive Board of an IMF supported programme would require adequate assurances that debt sustainability will be restored." Sri Lanka facing lack of capital to pay for essential energy and other food needs suspended payment on nearly $7 billion foreign debt repayment due this year with action taken under a new central bank governor. About $25 billion is due for repayment by 2026 and total debt stands at $51 billion. The IMF comments come after reports that Sri Lanka Monetary Board at the central bank and finance ministry in 2021 failed to address the debt sustainability issue even though the IMF in April 2020 had advised Sri Lanka to go for restructuring. Discussions IMF says "focused on restoring fiscal sustainability while protecting the vulnerable and the poor, ensuring the credibility of the monetary policy and exchange rate regimes, preserving financial sector stability, and structural reforms to enhance growth and strengthen governance." ...

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This video report in WSJ says it is clear to see that rental is a better option for young people than buying at this time when home prices have gone up, and with it the monthly mortgage payment, in a way that is completely out of proportion to renting cost increase. The monthly mortgage payment increased between the second quarter of 2022 and the same quarter in 2021 by about 44%. Higher mortgage payments are a result of steeply higher home prices and higher mortgage rates. Buyers of homes also have higher property taxes in this situation. The median monthly rent payment went up by 10% in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. There is a $600 difference between the median monthly payment for rent and the median monthly mortgage payment that can be invested by young people, says this report in WSJ, considering that home prices have peaked and are gradually coming down.

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Zelensky calls PM Modi on Dec 26 as India takes on the G20 presidency in 2023, and the presidency of the UN Security Council as an elected member for the month of December 2022. He asks PM Modi to pursue a peace formula for a settlement on the war in Ukraine

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Global trade flows should slow from 9% increase in 2021 to 3.5% in 2022 as the economies of EU, US and China slowdown, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO). This should also ease supply chain bottlenecks and inflationary price increases as demand declines across the EU, US, China and other countries.

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A sign of how high rise office building prices fell in 2024 in big cities in the US is the price of 135 West 50th Street 23 floor office building in New York City that sold for $332 million in 2006 and now sells for $8.2 million in an unusual online auction.

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The effort to shift China's economc growth away from the rampant overbuilding in housing and industrial capacity of the past to domestic consumption, and focus on meeting the demand for better medical care, quality of food, education and other quality of life products. China's leaders met at the Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing in Dec. 2015 to work out ways to make this shift so that growth rate of 6.5% and other goals can be met. Plans include reducing industrial overcapacity, dealing with overinvestment and unused inventory in housing, reducing financial risks from high corporate debt to GDP ratio approaching 160% estimated by Standard and Poors Ratings Services. By comparison the U.S. debt to GDP ratio is 70%. A steep rise resulted from the huge China stimulus program of 2008-2009, when the ratio was 98% for China. Experts such as Derek Scissors of the American Enterprise Institute are pessimistic about the prospects of successfully implementing reforms, saying reducing industrial overcapacity was a goal of the new Jinping Li-Keqiang leadership in 2013, but not much progress has been made in 2 years....

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Indian trade with Latin America 2025 of $40 billion sees a catchup effort to China's $480 billion trade. Efforts by Brazil's Petrobras and Argentina's YPF to increase exports of oil and LNG to India and increase imports of pharmaceuticals, automobiles and textiles.

Sabrina Olivera from the Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI) says-

"The fact that India is the only democracy in Asia gives it an advantage in Latin America, where most countries in the region are democracies, trust in India is stronger than in China."

Brazil's president Lula and Indian PM Modi worked closely for G20 Summits in New Delhi and Rio de Janeiro. This cooperation and a need for Latin America to diversify from concentration of trade with China, increasing potential with India, can lead to a doubling or tripling of trade with India in a few years.