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Norway has stepped up to meet Europe's need for oil and gas. About one third of the gas consumed in Europe comes from Norway. After the war started Norway increased gas exports by 8% in 0223 shipping more of it by undersea pipelines to Northern Europe. This increased oil and gas exports from $25 billion in 2021 to $125 billion in 2022. Like Saudi Arabia the government owns not only the oil and gas fields but also has large stakes in the companies that extract oil and gas. For a small country bordering Russia with 5.5 million people this put it in a higher status to meet Europe's plea for energy so that it could heat homes and would not have to shut down some of its industrial capacity. And it left no stone unturned to do this. Petoro CEO Kristin Kragseth says that we knew that Norway was always important but we did'nt realize how much. Petoro made $50 billion in 2022 almost three times what it made in 2021. Another of Norway's oil companies Equinor made $75 billion in adjusted earnings in 2022. Political sentiment has shifted too so that climate change that was a priority still is but Norway is willing to increase production for a few years to meet needs of Europe.     ...

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Ashwini Bhide was first shown by Corinne Abrams of the WSJ, for the bold vision she was putting forward for meeting the aspirations of young Indians for a better place to live in, in one of India's largest cities Mumbai. As head of the Mumbai Metro Rail project, IAS 1995 batch, Ashwini Bhide worked tirelessly to make a dream of Mumbai residents to move quickly through new state of the art rail services with modern technology come true. A dream held up for decades in which millions of Mumbai residents put up with old, dilapidated, and incomplete rail services. Abrams called it a most audacious project to break open Mumbai's belly to make this happen. On the way Bhide had to overcome many hurdles, including a two year gap in 2020-2022 that reflected the way things had slowed down for decades. It is a top priority today for the federal and state governments and is to be completed in 2024.This is meeting the aspirations of young Indians for a better country, a better future. It is work that Mohandas Gandhi would be proud of for Young India a century later. ...

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David Calhoun, CEO of Boeing, replaced CEO Muilenberg in 2020 so that Boing could address problems with it's 737 aircraft. A piece of a Boeing jet 737 9 has a piece of the aircraft blow off on an Alaska Airlines flight in January 2024. Calhoun was with GE running its engine business for two decades, joined Blackstone, before becoming the new CEO at Boeing. The 737 9 aircraft emergency evacuation shows that the safety culture at Boeing rooted in manufacturing practices at Boeing factories and supplier factories is weak. The problem for this plane was a door and a plug made at a supplier in Wichita, Kansas, and assembly at Boeing factory in Renton, Washington, says this report in WSJ. Airlines are voicing their concerns. Southwest and Alaska Airlines have entirely Boeing fleets and do not source from Airbus. A look at Calhoun's background shows that he worked with GE till 2006 and has since then worked for Blackstone private equity, without the manufacturing experience that would be needed to tackle the factory operations and work culture and practices at the Renton factory and its suppliers. Calhoun graduated with a Bachelors degree in Accounting from Virginia Tech in 1979 and is from the Philadelphia area.  ...

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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. 

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1.6 million Americans expats living in Mexico, 1.5 million in Europe, 250,000 in Canada, 325,000 in Britain, of an estimated 4-9 million Americans overseas. In 2025 180,000 Americans moved overseas for lower living costs, and new identity living, using the American dollar that buys more abroad for a higher standard of living when costs of living in the US have surged.

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With the departure and replacement of Dan Cummings, the prime minister gets someone with extensive financial and other experience to replace his free wheeling adviser who lacked experience. Dan Rosenfield who worked at Treasury till 2016 under both Labor and Conservative party chancellors is the new choice for prime minister Boris Johnson's chief of staff at 10 Downing Street. Experts say less games, more interest in what matters in managing the costs of covid budgets. Here Mr. Rosenfield is described as the person at Treasury who put together the Olympics budget that came out at a little over 9 billion pounds after little preparation was done and Britain won the bid for the Olympics by bidding only 2.3 billion pounds. As Rosenfield puts it, there wasn't even a cats in hell chance of doing the Olympics at that cost, and the only option was to control costs as aggressively as we could. Britain now faces the task of keeping Covid budget costs manageable and getting a recovery in place in 2021-2022. ...

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This view in WSJ about Trump the candidate being no different in 2024 than eight years back in 2016, by Gerard Baker, gets 3813 Comments from Readers. It says Trump today in 2024 is no different than in 2016, only then he faced a candidate Hillary Clinton who had spent so much time in endless foreign travel as Secretary of State, that she had lost touch with the American people. In that situation Trump prevailed and that by only 90,000 votes in 3 states. Baker comes to this conclusion by reading carefully and objectively assessing the meaning of the Mar Lago interview that Trump gave last week. He says this time Trump is up against someone who is clearly in touch and and a seasoned politician. One that is able to give voters a chance to project on a clean slate whatever they want to see. This even though Kamala Harris has well known views from her days as Attorney General and Senator. Baker sees Trump lacking a coherent message and failing to provide a vision for the future, simply restating what was said before. ...

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A man with a handgun and magazine of ammunition is shot by federal law enforcement officer on Jan. 24, 2026 as protestors confront federal law enforcement officers in Minneapolis. Earlier federal law enforcement in California, and in other states, Washington DC, Nashville Tennessee, have led to protests but not of the kind in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minneapolis is a state with liberal views yet it also has a strange mix as it was in Minneapolis that local police shot an unarmed black man during the Covid epidemic. This time it is not local police in that role but local police under the orders of the state and local authorites, the mayor and state governor Frey and Walz, not cooperating with the federal law enforcement of immigration law in the US that seeks to remove migrants with crime records from the US neighborhoods and streets. Walz was selected by Kamala Harris to run on the Democratic ticket for president in the US against DJT and Vance in 2025. Republicans allege serious fraud in Minnesota and misuse of state funds that have added to the dangerous mix of politics in the state, that is found nowhere else in America. From the Republican point of view unwanted migrants from certain unstable countries with criminal records were allowed to settle in the state. Democrats and Democrat media are not cooperating as the national elections in the US were lost on just this issue of migrants illegal entry numbering about 7 million over the last administration of Biden with costs to the US of over $110 billion in federal and local funds. No one knows where this will end up yet the view world wide over migration is moving to safe neighborhoods and safe streets as essential human rights, essential women's rights, essential rights of all Americans and all Europeans, that the problems of failed states cannot be solved on American or European soil. The Monroe Doctrine was put in place for just this reason as respecting Russia as a power in its area of influence in Northern Europe means no intervention by Russia or  China in the western hemisphere, so that the US never faces the situation of Guatemala and central American states, or of Venezuelan failed states in sending millions in a stream through Mexico for illegal entry on US southern border. Overall US policy, domestic and foreign has changed to ensure safety wellbeing in the US as the first and only priority for all its citizens and the sum of good citizenship the main objective for the Nation. ...

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Asked about it yesterday January 16 DJT tells the press outside the White House after a meeting announcing his Great Healthcare Plan, it is a good thing that Canada has signed a trade deal with China. It reflects the new view not clearly understood or told in the press what US trade policy is about. US trade policy in 2026 is about bringing investment and jobs back to the US to rebuild communities and towns across 51 states- once destroyed by the foolish trade policies of the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama 3 destructive policy decades. Supplementing this with the investment favorable policy of instant depreciation for investments in plant and equipment in the Big Beautiful Bill of 2025. Using tariffs to level the playing field and ensure fairness in business practices by industries and nations towards America after over 3 decades all else has failed. All the time protecting Rural America, and communities and towns across the US devastated by outshoring. Using Tariffs to make certain that drug and migrant trafficking, and hostile unelected governments in the western Hemisphere cannot take place with direct and  indirect intervention in the western hemisphere by foreign powers. To do this with the Monroe Doctrine Corollary set by Teddy Rooosevelt in his Annual Message to Congress of 1905- "A great free people owes it to itself and to all mankind not to sink into helplessness before the powers of evil." Under such a policy Canada can pursue trade deals with China as the US has done. The clear rationale for the US policy is nowhere evident in the press today, how trade and domestic policy and foreign policy converge to protect all Americans, even though this was something that was pursued under the Biden administration with mistakes made in handing the Border management to Mayorkas and Harris incompetence. In the use of Tariffs doing this in such a way that US economic interest, investments, capital and stock markets are protected by carving out areas of exemptions in the policy. This has given the US an highly advantageous use of Tariff policy in ways not reflected in the press version of Tariffs. As TR pointed out, as Lincoln pointed out over a century ago, the interests of both Labor and of Capital are both legitimate and vital for the Nation. It is time to see this as one whole and not separate to rebuild America.   ...

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Here is the situation for India for Fertilizer and LPG gas supplies in Iran War March 14 2026- Vaishhnav says 62 lakh tons available 10 more than last year of urea fertilizer. This means India has adequate coverage for the May planting season of fertilizer. On LPG for household cooking India has shifted industry supplies to cover the home cooking gas needs. It is also working on passage of its LPG ships through the Hormuz Straits. Of the Indian ships carrying LPG -22 vessels trying to cross Hormuz Straits, 3 made it though in the last few days. India is in touch with Iran and the Gulf Cooperation Council and through its position in Bric's to get safe passage for LPG carrying ships. Six of the ships carry LPG and one carries LNG of the 22 ships waiting to cross the Hormuz passage.

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The performance of Morocco, Senegal, Japan and South Korea, show a new popularity of soccer in Asia and Africa, and teams that can compete with the best in Europe.

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India celebrates its 74th Republic Day with its achievements in upward mobility, respecting diversity, inclusiveness for women, and promotion of millets, drug free India goals, renewable energy, all on display. It also showed the achievements in saving funds for investment in essential infrastructure by developing its own defense capabilities in manufacturing. The Nari Shakti or women in the armed forces was also on display integrating women into leadership roles in the Navy, Air Force and the Army. 

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The economic crisis in Turkey in 2022 wiped out half of the value of the lira. Inflation surged. The war in Ukraine hurt Turkey as it is dependent on Ukraine for grain supplies. The surge in fuel prices and the weaker currency meant higher inflation and more of its scarce foreign reserves going to imports of oil and gas. Net foreign reserves dropped to $6 billion in July, coming back up to $26 billion by December 2022.  President Erdogan maintained close relations with Russia to have access to  Russian oil and gas. Turkey has increased exports to Russia by 45% including clothing, household appliances and electronics. Russia is considering postponement of $20 billion owed for natural gas imports. And Russia transferred $5 billion to Turkey in July for a nuclear plant, with $10 billion expected later on. This helps cover the more than $100 billion the Turkish central bank used in 2022 to support the currency Lira. Erdogan's foreign policy has been to act as an intermediary in a UN negotiation for opening the Black Sea shipments of grain from Ukraine and fertilizer exports from Russia. This helps Arab countries in North Africa including Egypt which depend on Ukraine for vital grain supplies.  Everything Erdogan does says a former foreign minister is designed to push up his poll ratings which have risen about 5 percentage points from a low of about 39% in January of 2022 to about 44%. Inflation at 57% in Jan 2023 is still hurting ordinary people in Turkey and the outcome of the May 2023 election after 20 years of Erdogan in power is uncertain.  ...

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Modi and Delhi election- Modi's party the BJP wins 50 of 70 seats Feb 2025. Of the hundreds of lines of text in this takeaway on local politics in the Times of India not one line can be found on how it relates to Vikshit Bharat 2047, the goal of a developed economy and modernization of Bharat. Being so close the TOI cannot see the forest, just the trees. Surely Delhiites will not have not noticed the idea of Vikshit Bharat 2047? The 10-15-20 year target of modernization of the Indian economy in the nation's capital. The question in the Lok Sabha elections of 2024 was whether after struggling to keep up with Europe's changes in the modern scientific observation mind during the Renaissance period in the 15th century amid invasions from western Asia, and losing its independence by the 17th and 18th centuries, India would see its modernization blocked by a lack of clear focused development without a majority party in charge. The setbacks in Maharashtra and in Uttar Pradesh for Modi and the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were reversed in Maharashtra within 1 year in the Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2024 with a BJP landslide. This win in the nations federal capital Delhi now added to the win in Mumbai the commercial capital (Maharashtra) brings together the entire regional capitals Mumbai- Ahmedabad-Jaipur-Delhi-Indore-Lucknow together as one region for modernization and investment for the first time in 75 years. Large investment in Bihar and Orissa, Andhra Pradesh in the Eastern states in 2024 and 2025 Indian Budgets create a new Way Forward for India to Vikshit Bharat 2035, and onto Vikshit Bharat 2047. ...

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VW's Scout Motors plans in 2026 to sell direct to buyers. A Scout Motors VP says of VW's plans- “We have heard over and over again, ‘Please give me an alternative. You see that there is very little trust in auto dealers today.”  Dealers have lobbied to have the laws in US set so that no one else but dealers can sell cars. Yet this may be becoming an outdated way to sell cars if car makers can provide good service over 10 years to buyers and make the whole process of buying and owning a car a pleasant experience for owners. It is far from that today and the experience is not one that is consistent in quality and have ease of use as the experience varies with each dealer and can change with a single dealer over time, quality is not assured.