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Alitalia may be sold to private companies, to Air France, KLM or to Italian banking companies. Italy's government wants to sell half of its 49.9% stake . Alitalia has a market value of 1.33 billion euros. Any buyer will have to keep its Italian identity, job guarantees, and keep national routes. Any buyer buying a 30.1% stake has to make a mandatory bid for the rest of the shares according to Italian rules.

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Avatar's success in global markets with two thirds of its $1 billion in sales from overseas. Markets like Russia and Brazil are becoming important in addition to France and Germany. 3-D theatre prices are higher and this adds to revenues. The politics of the movie with earthlings capitalists trying to mine a mineral on another planet and in the process displacing nautre loving humanoids, also served to increase its popularity in other countries.

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New car sales are increasing rapidly in the EU market in 2015. For the 1st quarter 2015 sales were up 8.6% to 3.5 million units, and 11% in March 2015, over the prior year, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. Sales up significantly in Spain by 41%, in Portugal by 42% and Italy 15%, Greece and Ireland by double digits, France 9.3%, Germany 9%, for March 2015 over the prior year.

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Newspapers and media from Argentina to Germany and France praise the effort of the new U.S. Attorney General in prosecuting the case against FIFA, and taking on the challenge of acting in a case that crosses international boundaries. The use by people investigated in the case of the American banking system and the new willingness of banks to cooperate with federal investigations provides Lynch with the basis of building a strong case.

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A difference between QE in the U.S. and Japan with ECB action for QE is that the Fed in the U.S. is able to buy U.S. Treasury bonds. To accomplish this the ECB has to buy the sovereign bonds of all the countries in the eurozone. This is not equally as effective to stimulate the economy as the interest rates in Germany are quite low, and the rates low in Italy and France.

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Carrefour CEO Oloffson talks to the WSJ. He discusses whether the hypermarket model is still valid today. Carrefour is still good on kids and baby clothing but in teenage clothing stores like H&M and Zara's are clearly stronger. Carrefour lost its focus in Europe after it responded to new laws in France that discourages price competition. Carrefour shifted to quality he says and lost some of its previous edge in pricing and its focus.

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The situation in Europe as Germany, Austria enforce travel restrictions with Italy. France has not placed restrictions yet on travel to and from Italy. Many Italians are wondering whether the quarantine and other steps taken now should have been taken earlier, says this report in WSJ. The Italian government is conducting a campaign where people say "lo resto a casa," or "I'm staying home."

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Italy's new prime minister Mario Monti, was frank in his views about depending on austerity alone to meet the debt crisis, views also shared by President Sarkozy of France. Monti told an interviewer from the German newspaper Die Welt, before meeting German chancellor Merkel in Berlin: In the absence of specific help "a protest against Europe will develop in Italy, also against Germany, which is viewed as the ringleader of E.U. intolerance, and against the European Central Bank." He went on to say-"I cannot have success with my policies if the E.U.'s policies don't change." He pointed out that economic difficulties could drive Italy to "flee into the arms of populists."

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The propaganda war taking place in Russia and China, and anti-western sentiment promoted on Chinese social media Weibo with the linking of Ukraine with the issues China faces in Taiwan. A kind of Monroe doctrine thinking that prevails about legitimate spheres of influence of Russia and China. Under the Monroe doctrine the US considered South America its sphere of influence during the administration of US president Monroe in the 19th century when such thinking about spheres of influence prevailed. A closer look shows that this was a policy against restoring Spanish or French colonization of newly independent nations in South America such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Chile and Mexico. It was put forth in an annual message to Congress in 1823 by president Monroe.  It had the support of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, founding fathers of America. Originally it was intended to be a joint British-American declaration by Canning and Monroe. In this sense even the superficial notion of America supporting such spheres of influence is based on protecting liberty of nations that suffered colonization such as Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina and gained independence from Spain. Around 1823 when it was stated it was the British Navy that prevented any recolonization by Spain or France. Under president Theodore Roosevelt it was used to keep European powers from invading Venezuela in 1903 to enforce the payment of debts Venezuela had with European countries. ...

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India crosses the 10 million mark in coronavirus cases for the first time on December 18, 2020. The number of deaths is at 146,000. The U.S. is the only other country with over 10 million cases. U.S. has 17 million cases and 318,000 deaths on December 18. The daily cases in India peaked in September at about 94,000 and have declined to 27,000 in December. The U.S. meanwhile is hit by a second wave that is much worse than the first. Daily cases now are close to 250,000 on December 18, 2020. The daily cases in the second wave are much more severe than the first. They have increased by a factor of 5 to 10 times. Places which got through the first wave without severe damage are hit hard in December. This includes Germany, and California. In California daily cases exceed 50,000 and in Germany 30,000. In California, France, Germany, and UK, Spain, the daily cases far exceed earlier cases in the first wave by a factor of 5 to 10 times. For this reason India needs to be wary of a resurgence in the pandemic in a second wave. With its large population, need for economic recovery, and opportunity to benefit from the vaccine developments and its strict protocols for testing, isolation and social distancing, mask wearing, India can carefully and vigilantly prepare for the second wave. ...

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A conflict is developing between Britain and the European Union over vaccine supplies as both sides try to get access to limited supplies. Britain and the US have moved ahead with their vaccination drives, causing alarm in Europe as Germany, France, member states of the EU lag behind. The problem comes from the delay in approving the vaccine by Astra Zeneca and Oxford University by the European Union. European Union prestige is at stake because its slower process of approving vaccine has led to a delay of 1 month in approving the Astra Zeneca vaccine. The Oxford vaccine is only now approved in Europe. Other problems have emerged. Astra Zeneca has announced that its vaccines made in Britain are now running short of supply and it can only provide 39 million doses to the EU instead of the 80 million originally arranged by EU. Soon after this announcement Pfizer said its factory in Puurs, Belgium, near Antwerp, is running into production issues. This would reduce supplies to the EU.  The EU has responded to this situation by saying it was being treated unfairly by Astra Zeneca. In response it has introduced new paperwork that would limit supply of Pfizer vaccines to Britain from the Belgian plant. Other countries are watching this situation with dismay as richer countries are fighting for the vaccine supplies. ...

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Australian actor Hugh Jackman is shown here in The Guardian advocating working hard but not too hard, the idea being that if you work at 85% of your capacity, you will be more relaxed and perform much better. Sports athletes do this. In the French cycling race Tour de France some cyclists practice with much lighter routines to do their best the following day in the actual races. The idea is doing what brings out the best in you. There is also a principle behind this. Intel's founder Andy Grove called it the "slack" principle in which by having slack in your daily routine when something suddenly came up to be done one could accomodate it easily and not waste horrendous amounts of energy tackling the chaotic situation when one tried to do it crossing the 100% of your capacity to do it to reach 101% or 102%. At that point one is not at one's productive best but deteriorating in quality of work. The slack could be 5% leaving an additional slack of 10% for yourself to do things that give your mind a rest which is what sports athletes and productive workers do. In actual practice the work is done in less time with slack because you can concentrate better which means you are getting more done than before this 85% approach. ...

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The expected EU turnout in 2024 is at a high of 68 percent. Over the years since its formation the early enthusiasm and vision was replaced by dry directives issued by bureaucrats in Brussels leading to lethargy. 1979's 62 percent voter turnout contrasts with 2014's 48% voter turnout. Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have each in their way created new surge of interest in EU and the parliament in Strasbourg, says Caroline Gruyter from her conversations in France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Czech Republic. Today 74% of EU citizens polled say they support the European Union. Similar numbers even in the UK as Labor party is about to come back in a big way.  What happened? The war in Ukraine, Russia and NATO, US and NATO, the UK drift back to EU in sentiment, Italy's conservative parties called Right wing are supporting the EU under Meloni. Another reason for the sense of EU coming back to life comes from my visit to Germany, where after decades of disinvestment in infrastructure the rail station in Frankfurt is being rebuilt and new infrastructure is being built all over the city. Posters all over Frankfurt for EU parliament elections show a new spirit for Respect for workers, working families, and a sense that the FDP, SPD, CDU and Greens can take the decisions to give new vigor to the German democratic process.    ...

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The total government expenditure of the US including the individual states spending is 37% of US GDP (IMF). Musk $2 trillion cuts is 92% of the 2.17 trillion excluding defense, veterans benefits, interest on debt, Social Security, Medicare. The simple math means he plans to shut down the government. US  37.5%  Germany 48% France 57% UK and Canada 43% Japan 42% This shows that the US that has no universal health insurance and  subsidized public transportation, spends less than the developed OECD countries as a percentage of its GDP. Of the Budget of $6.75 trillion in 2024 Social Security $1.46 trillion   22% Medicare            $874 billion   13% Interest on Debt  $880 billion    13% Trump plans to remove tax on Social Security which would take this from 48% to over 50% meaning half of the Budget is off limits. If defense spending goes up not down then $874 and $325 for Veterans benefits are $1.2 trillion also off limits.  This means cuts of $2 trillion on $2.17 trillion or 92%. Do the simple math and this would shut down the government. ...

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Le Monde asks what is the role of religion in the founding of the US from the time of Mayflower Compact 1620 by Calvinist preachers? Two books published after the failure of the Spanish Armada naval invasion of Britain under Queen Elizabeth in 1588 set the stage for an alternative colonization of America and Britain's effort to contest the Americas against the Catholic monarchs of Spain. Agnes Delahaye, Prof of American Civilization at Lumiere University Lyon 2, in France, describes this in an interview in Le Monde. Her book is Adventurers, Puritans, Pilgrims, Amerca's Founding Myths. The first book in 1583 that set the stage for English exploration in the Americas is- A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by a Dominican missionary, Bartolome de las Casas, and says the Spanish solders tarnished and ruined their Christian duty. The second in 1584 was Discourse of Western Planting by Richard Hakluyt showed Queen Elizabeth with the true religious conviction and practice against the Spanish "black legend," of conquest, and unChristian treatment of native Americans. The Pilgrim Fathers and the migration on the Mayflower and other British ships came through this movement. The settlers around 1600 came from small Calvinist congregations under Brewster and Robinson. Mayflower Compact was the constitutional document in 1620 setting forth their aims. ...

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Where do you place a winner of the Democratic primary in Maine, Graham Plattner, an oyster farmer who dropped out of college at George Washington University, served briefly in the Middle East wars of Bush and Obama, and had PTSD. Is he working class, middle working class or is he from a downwardly mobile professional class considering he has parents who are well educated and father a prominent lawyer in Maine? Plattner easily defeated a 3 term governor of Maine with his average working class demeanor and language. He is for universal health care, (Medicare for All) universal child care, affordable housing, affordable college. Politics in the US has been moving away from the simple divisions before 1950 created by the Industrial Revolution- the workers in factories and the owners of capital allied with the professional middle class. The few owners of capital mostly college educated allied with people from the non college educated workers in factories who are conservative in their values and beliefs and on the other side the college educated professional middle class now downwardly mobile because of the many recessions and high unemployment from frequent financial crises, with college costing $80,000 a year putting them in deep debt. There is today in the WSJ a story of a professional worker who at $194,000 a year salary is not able to payoff $15000 debt which owners of capital have set at 26% interest and is in downward spiral. Some of this comes from large college and other debt. There is says WSJ Analysis $1.25 trillion in credit card debt alone with highest delinquency rates in decades in 2026. Cost of living has only made things worse and some of this happened as Biden poured money into the economy to help people hurt by the pandemic, yet with some short run consequences with demand strong businesses including hotels, restaurants and grocery stores, auto dealers, jacking up their prices by over 20% in 1 year and Biden failing to respond, getting overwhelmed by open borders migrants under Mayorkas and Harris (also hit by a sudden Venezuelan migrant influx). This is the America one has today- a confusing mix. This in reality means Democrats may take issue with Democrats, Republicans take issue with Republicans, and Democrats join with Republicans on issue by issue basis. It might actually be rational than irrational. On cultural issues if the country has gone over its head and moved too fast on some issues that are not for the general public good, people of different backgrounds can come together to get the best path. On economic issues things are never so straightforward, there are unpredictable consequences and the rules of economics are really not so straightforward either.  Providing relief can mean the government shouldering the burden as during the pandemic which it should, yet with caution as businesses can use the excess demand to raise prices and one is back to square one with everybody worse off as happened with Biden. Migrant flows and fears of insecurity in public spaces can lead to a severe public "discomfort that can waylay the best intentions of a Harris or Biden, leading to public "backlash." In fact the title of a recent book is "Whiplash." Current books include Floridan Marco Rubio's "Decade's of Decadence- How our Spoiled Elites Blew America's Inheritance of Liberty, Security and Prosperity." Rubio means it. Its authentic because as Rubio says repeatedly, his parents could make a living in the 1960's working in a factory with decent wages, low cost of living and low cost of college, the arithmetic between salaries and what you needed for decent home in suburbs and sending children to good public schools, then to college, all adding up. The result is that Rubio could go to college and serve in the Florida legislature. Rubio says in 2026, after the elites under Bush and Obama and faulty economic theory shipped all of our factories to China, that the story of his parents and his education would simply be impossible. This is what he told people in India on his first visit last week. His parents were Cuban immigrants, yet he identifies with Spain and with western civilization, a devout Roman Catholic. Rubio is a Republican, and is in large contrast with Alejandro Mayorkas, also from Cuba, and Biden's Head of Homeland Security. This is the mix of people and representatives in Congress,  business people, small business owners, professionals, that we have today in 2026 in the US. Plattner and Rubio, one a Democrat and one a Republican- both have something in common. Plattner also has general disdain for "the corporate interests, the billionaires, the Washington DC elites, and the establishment politicians."  The winds are blowing in the direction of getting things right- remembering that Eisenhower continued the work of the Kennedy and LBJ administrations (Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System for instance, and LBJ gave America Social Security and Medicare). Before that Franklin Roosevelt a Democrat built on the work of his uncle Republican Theodore Roosevelt (TR gave America the idea of good governance and built the US Navy, FDR fought the Depression and stabilized a faltering economy after mistakes made by Republican Herbert Hoover could have happened even if Hoover was a Democrat. FDR was himself from a wealthy New York family and when he first met fellow New Yorker Frances Perkins before his struggle with polio, a haughty New York gentleman. That was before Frances Perkins as FDR's Labor Secretary joined forces with Roosevelt to give New York a modernized administration governance structure by 1940 that was applied to all 51 states after 1950. It allied labor with capital with fairness for all, and was the first such modern structure of this size the world had ever seen, which was the fundamental strength of the United States of America. It was imitated in Asia, first in the Shanghai region then China, and first in the Ahmedabad region and now India. The US is faced with the challenge of recreating and rebuilding this today, as first China, then India remind America of its roots which they have followed in their own style and culture.  First good governance, then good institutional structures, alligning labor and capital with fairness for all, strong affordable + accessible educational and healthcare systems, and investments of capital and labor for infrastructure + industrial development. ...

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The EU summit under the presidency of Germany completes its task for setting up the European Recovery Fund and providing nonrepayable aid to countries hardest hit by the pandemic that would otherwise have to spiral their already high debt levels to unsustainable levels or provide little assistance to their suffering public. These countries include Italy, Spain, Greece mostly in southern Europe. Also needing aid are eastern European countries Hungary and Poland. For the first time the European Union is jointly taking on this debt of nonrepayable aid to member states most in need. This is a historic step. The Dutch prime minister, almost ruined the solidarity of Europe with his continual effort to cut the amount of funds and place conditions. The Dutch have favored austerity in Europe but at what cost and at what does it say about the Dutch in Europe. Reports show the Netherlands have gained back billions of dollars that would have gone in taxes to the governments of France, Spain and Italy by setting up tax haven. The Netherlands population 17 million, Sweden population 10 million, Denmark population 7 million, together make up less than half the population of any one of the major countries of Europe, Spain and Portugal, France, Germany, Italy. The combined population of about 350 million people in southern, eastern, and western Europe was arrayed against these 34 million northern countries in the long negotiations, that show solidarity but are also a sign of the changes in Europe as these countries in northern Europe were always guided by their own personal or country interest. Rutte fought hard because of elections he faces a second time against the far right wing parties, for a second time since the 2017 election. It could not get more personal than that. Even Britain if it was still in the European Union is likely under Boris Johnson to have reversed policies of Cameron to support solidarity in Europe and aid for recovery, considering how the government has tackled the pandemic in Britain. Setting conditions would only go part of the way is the reality today. The bigger part of preventing mismanaging of funds comes from the individual experience and hardship of people in southern European nations of Italy, Greece, Spain and other countries after the missteps in the eurozone finances in the last two decades. This provides the necessary dose of internal financial discipline. Not acting quickly in solidarity today would have been a serious mistake for Europe. Still Mr. Rutte and the Dutch have cut the European Recovery Fund's nonrepayable aid by 110 billion euros from the initail target set by Macron and Merkel of 500 billion euros. The agreed target now is $390 billion euros. ...

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Timothy Rooks in DW.com points out rightly that it will be how well Macron grasps the opportunity to turnaround the economy within the EU that will make a difference. France needs some of the changes Macron is proposing because it has one of the largest state sectors of western economies, and private industry needs to be revitalized to generate the jobs to reduce youth unemployment. A cut in the corporate tax to 25% from 33% would be in line with Britain, Germany and other countries. Some cuts in spending 60 billion euros over 5 years, and 50 billion euro stimulus package. The wealth tax would be retained, and the 35 hour work week.  He has opposing views on 35 hour week but now will focus on flexibility on overtime, capping severance pay and investing in education, job training, other ways of reviving the labor markets to get hiring started again and cut into 25% unemployment for persons under age 25. He also plans to follow the German model of letting companies deal with unions at the local level, at the company level, not only at a national level. Close cooperation with Germany and the confidence of French industry will be a plus as he works to revive the French economy, with the conviction that this will also be a project to fulfill the hope of young people for jobs, and a way to reduce the number who have turned to extremist parties in France. ...

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Prime minister Renzi of Italy resigns after defeat in a referendum to change the constitution. Renzi had said he would resign if there was a "no" vote on constitutional changes to make it possible to pass further reforms. The results show the "yes" vote with about 41% of the vote, and 59% saying "no." About 65% of 47 million registered voters voted. The referendum called for cutting the size of the upper house Senate eliminating some constitutional bodies, and increasing powers at the federal level. Renzi may have made the mistake of making the vote for or against constitutional change a vote for his democratic left party, and not understanding the depth of public skepticism of established parties. Parties such as 5 Star M5S  have appealed to a public skeptical of how economic reforms would help bring more prosperity to the middle class, and a desire to try out new options. Virginia Raggi of M5S was elected mayor of Rome recently and Renzi's referendum move similar to the way prime minister Cameron moved for a referendum on an old issue of euroskeptisim, may have failed to grasp grassroots changes. The irony is that in 2014 elections to the European parliament Renzi's democratic left party won 40% of the vote and was seen at the time as a success, and the same size vote in the referendum is seen as a failure. In a referendum all other parties votes are added together from right to left parties and new parties. In the Brexit vote the Labor party "no" vote including Labor voters who never voted added to the votes of Brexit supporters and the newer UKIP party giving Brexit the slight edge needed. The singular feature of the trend is that working class voters are combining with right leaning voters to upset established parties, in the midwestern U.S., in the north of England, and in the north of France. In the medium to long run this means the left parties are likely to move to realign themselves with their base of support. ...

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Efforts to cut costs by new Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr have led to pilot strikes in Dec. 2014, with flight cancellations and 160 million euros of lost earnings in 2014. Intense competition and high operating costs are leading to this determined effort to bring costs down. Lufthansa and other major airlines such as Air France have seen the market change with about 40% of the intra European travel market having gone to Ryanair, EasyJet and other low cost carriers. Lufthansa's profit has declined to 300 million euros in 2013 from 1.2 billion in 2012, giving urgency to CEO Spohr's effort to remain competitive. For 2012 and 2013 Lufthansa cut costs by about 1 billion euros, and the target is for another 500 billion euros in savings for 2014. Most of this was done by job reduction of 3500 jobs, and by shifting low cost flights outside the Munich and Frankfurt hubs to a separate lowcost carrier, Eurowings, based in Dusseldorf. This has echoes of the strategy pursued by Air France for Transavia low cost carrier, leading to strikes by the pilots unions and flight cancellations. The Eurowings carrier will use a different pay structure with about 30-35 percent lower pay and benefits than the main Lufthansa carrier, done by separate agreements with pilots, maintenance and cabin crews unions. Critics say the focus on a separate low cost carrier is not the right strategy as it would remain a small part of Lufthansa group. Spohr, a company executive with 20 years in various Lufthansa positions says this is only part of a larger strategy and other changes to make Lufthansa competitive. Just as at Air France, pilots unions of Lufthansa see this as a step towards reducing in future the pay structure at the main airline operations. Labor costs are about a fifth of 30 billion euros in annual revenues at Lufthansa in 2013, with 118,000 employees worldwide....

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This exceptional report in DW.com covers a topic rarely tackled directly. How does society and the government tackle the growing problem of anorexia among young women, and the way advertising has promoted this idea through unrealistic even dangerous standards of beauty. Regulations in France prohibit underweight women being employed as models. Spain has introduced similar legislation. This is one of the many problems that are tackled on a bipartisan basis by the CDU, CSU and the SPD parties as a coalition government is formed. The head of the SPD parliamentary group, Karl Lauterbach, says this is an illness with a hgih mortality rate for women in Germany. The CSU agrees with this and new legislation is being planned to require realistic standards in advertising and in hiring of women in advertising.

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Of 20 pictures of Shinzo Abe shown in this photo gallery in the WSJ the ones by Kashiyama of Abe on his knees at Iwo Jima recovering remains from the battle in World War II, and by Numata of a safety drill with children in Chiba perfecture where he is seen seated on the ground peeking through metal bars with children, are a must see. Shinzo Abe who led Japan through the 2000-2020 period came from a politically privileged family, but went much beyond that- building relationships with leaders such as Narendra Modi in India and nurturing the India relationship in an act of immense foresight, encouraging an independent minded policy yet working with the US, and defending Japan's position in Asia yet continuing to foster the trade relationship with China and seeking better relations with Russia.  Leaders of US, EU, Germany, France, India, Russia and China, personally felt the loss of Abe in the words they chose to describe the loss. India declared a day of national mourning, showing how far Abe had carried Japan's relationship with India and the number of visits he made to India. ...

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Lack of vaccine supplies and differences between the European Union Commission in Brussels and the German, French governments is slowing the vaccination drive in both countries. The lack of a national concerted effort with the whole country, local and federal governments in agreement, is restricting the effectiveness of the vaccination drives. The failure to contract for more vaccine supplies adds to the problems. By contrast India has coordinated its drive for vaccinations, with the local and federal governments in agreement, and the whole population largely behind the effort to vaccinate. Very critical for a population of 1.4 billion when one includes Bangladesh which has received 2 million doses of vaccine. India has gone one step further with supplying of vaccines to Brazil, Morocco, and other countries. BBC says India has exported 60 million vaccine doses to 76 countries. This is an amazing story and much credit goes to the concerted government effort at all levels local, state and federal and public support. Germany and France can gain by looking at the Indian experience in vaccination drives, just as India has gained by looking at the vaccination drive in the UK, Israel and the US. ...

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Italy's South is its poorest region, with scarce job opportunities. It has not recovered fully from the economic crisis of 2009. The Five Star movement in the current centre right governing coalition has many of its voters in the south of Italy. The government is fighting to save a Arcelor steel plant in the coastal city of Taranto. The state is working to prevent other factories from closing. The Italian north industrialized early being closer to France and Germany, the southern region remained agricultural with immigration as a way out of poverty. The government supported jobs in the south and industrial development after 1945, and expanded public sector jobs. Regional progress in the south stalled since 2000. Today per capita gross domestic product in the north is 35,000 euros compared to 19,000 euros in the south of Italy, according to Eurostat. Unemployment in some southern towns is 20%, compared to less than 10% average in the north. The answer says prime minister Giuseppe Conte, is to "have a sort of bank of the South for investments." The opposition party far right Northern League led by Matteo Salvini is popular and is also pushing for supporting southern regions with extra funding. ...