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Italian immigrants like Mr. Bonato on his 4200 acre farm in Brazil's central savannah are trying to change the way Brazil looks at wheat. Once a wheat importer from Argentina, Brazil is trying to change this by growing tropical wheat. Italian immigrants in the cooler southern states such as Rio Grande do Sul were wheat producers. Now Brazil's agricultural agencies are getting these farmers to produce wheat in the more tropical central region of Brazil. Higher wheat prices are changing the way farmers look at wheat. Rotating wheat and beans is a good agricultural practice and the Brazilian agricultural agency is encouraging this. Brazil's agricultural agency Embrapa launched the wheat variety BRS 264 as a highly successful one for tropical wheat growing. In 2021 Brazil imported 40% of 12 million tons consumed mostly from Argentina. The idea is that with central Brazil meeting Brazil's wheat needs this would free up wheat from the cooler southern part of Brazil to replace the lost production from Eastern Europe. Mr. Bonato says his work is helping feed more people, and his interest in his work comes from holding wheat growing on the ground as a child on the family farm. After all he says, what is more important than bread?   ...

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French president Macron fails to get president Xi of China to commit to changes in its policies towards Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Macron's visit as seen by the NYT only undermines the US policy and European Union policy that opposes the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. EU's Leyen also visits China at this time.  The relations between the US and European business with China expanded for two decades between 2000-2020. All three regions are heavily invested in each other. Decoupling is a gradual process and China sees the EU as an access point for technology and investment. The US has not decoupled from China even after moves in semiconductors and electric vehicles were made by president Biden. Apple and other American companies are heavily invested in China. The US and the EU are committed to building new supply chains. Their policies are intended to do this in a way that reduces the effect on their economies. The European Union depended on the US for its response to the Russian invasion and to protect freedom in Europe through NATO. By 2024 the European Union policies will be integrated with policy of the US. China is also trying to reduce the effect on its economy by decoupling in a way that maintains growth. ...

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India's New Education Policy completes its first year of implementation.  Multiple entry points for studies so that students can change disciplines and try new areas of study - offers opportunities in a broad array of disciplines, and new combinations of disciplines to open new pathways to knowledge and work in a future economy. This encourages  students to try new areas of study and not be stuck in one course of study. Engineering and science taught in different Indian languages. 18 Engineering colleges in 8 states in India now offer engineering and science studies in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and Bangla. India has a rich diversity of languages and this opens up opportunities for students who do better in their own home languages and brings opportunities to more people. Prime minister Modi emphasized the new approach has advantages- by breaking free of old conceptions of education, preparing for a New India in which youth of the country make their own systems, assure young people that the future is theirs to make. He stated that the New Education Policy is part of the endeavour of nation building, and the fate of India, how far and what height is achieved depends entirely on education received.   ...

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A look at countries in Europe shows different strategies for tackling coronavirus Delta variant as schools reopen in September 2021. Italy requires all teachers to carry a covid digital certificate that shows vaccination or PCR test results. France, Germany and Spain do not require vaccination for teachers to go to schools, and rely mostly on social distancing and mask requirements in schools. Britain not only does not require vaccination digital certificate, but also has not made masks and social distancing mandatory. Health experts say there are serious risks in this approach with mass return to schools and offices after August 2021, and the fall weather with more time indoors. This could lead to a surge in coronavirus as in the US where the reopening of schools and Delta variant has led to surge particularly in states such as Texas, Florida, California. In UK 65% of total population is now fully vaccinated, in Italy 62%. Teachers in Italy fully support the new rules. In Lombardy region with Milan as the capital, only 300 out of 300,000 workers returned to schools without the green pass, according to regional officials. Britain remains an outlier says this report in the WSJ, taking more risks than is proper at this time, and simply hoping for the best. Not the best strategy in this situation.   ...

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Egypt plans to tackle the financial crisis after the pandemic and the war in Ukraine by increasing natural gas exports by one third. It has the LNG terminals to do this which are underutilized. The LNG could be exported to Asia or Europe at ten times the price buyers in Egypt pay for it. The way this additional natural gas is to be exported is to impose 15% cut in use of natural gas in Egypt similar to what the European Union has done with its 15% mandated reduction. This will then be diverted to LNG terminals. The max temperature for air conditioning is 25 degrees under the new plan and lights are dimmed or shut off after 11 pm in streets, shops and malls.  The war in Ukraine has doubled the price of wheat and other basic food necessities imported from Ukraine and Russia. This put a heavy burden on state finances in Egypt with subsidies on bread and other food for 70 million people out of 102 million people. Investment needs are also affected. Saudi Arabia has stepped in with help as no IMF program has been set. A 14% devaluation of the currency took place in 2022 and another devaluation of the currency is expected. ...

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Holding tension in any position that does not have dynamic movement is isometric exercise. The British Journal of Sports Medicine has a study with research that shows this isometric exercise done with squatting on the wall (or with a ball against the wall) for support for 2 minutes repeated 4 times with rest periods of two minutes each time for total 4 wall sits, taking 14 minutes, can reduce systolic blood pressure top number by 10 mmHg and diastolic pressure by 5 mmHg. Jamie O'Driscoll the lead author of the study says this is useful for people doing aerobic exercise, and yet could benefit from the use of isometric wall squats. A clinical exercise physiologist at University of Michigan says isometric exercise works because contracting a muscle and holding that position reduces blood flow to that muscle, when you release blood flow increases to muscle tissue. It creates signals that tell blood vessels to relax more and create less resistance to blood flow. To do this wall sit find a wall to lean against and take a couple of steps forward, feet hip width apart and slide your back down the wall and your knees getting to a 90 degree angle gradually. This uses quadriceps, glutes, calves, all leg muscles and abdominal muscles. ...

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Twenty years after Japanese prime minister Koizumi visited Pyongyang in 2004, Japan's PM Kishida plans to talk to North Korean leader Kim. Koizumi had talks with Kim's father in 2004. The effort is to reduce tensions in the region with elections approaching in Japan, India, and the US in 2024, and to bolster the sense that Japan can manage its role in the region. The Europeans are doing the same as the French and the British are taking a bigger role in Europe during Ukraine conflict. After the Gaza conflict, the Houthis in Red Sea maritime channels, there is a sense that reducing tensions proactively is a better approach rather than wait for things to take their own course in directions that are not good for the world, or taking rigid ideological or other motivated positions that serve no constructive purpose and exacerbate tensions. Gandhiji used to say "tit for tat makes the whole world blind." It is not idealistic to say that but very practical and useful because if you do that you end up with situations where you lose leverage and ability to take positive action and come up with better outcomes, than if you let some unforeseen event or some events by other actors without proper motives to intervene to your serious and the world's detriment. ...

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South Africa feels a sense of relief as omicron cases follow a pattern of very steep upward increase, followed by a short period of a month, and then a very steep decrease. Cases in South Africa with a population of 60 million, about the size of Britain, dropped from 27,000 at the peak to about 15,000 on December 21, 2021. The area around Johannesburg was hardest hit. The median age is 27 years in South Africa, 40 in UK and 43 in Italy. With younger populations in India and parts of Asia South African population demographic is closer to India than it is to Europe where populations are much older. Scientists do not want to extrapolate from the South African experience with Omicron for this reason. Immunity from vaccination and prior infection could be contributory causes to the less severity of omicron say NCID scientists. "In South Africa this is the epidemiology. Omicron is behaving in a way that is less severe," says Dr. Cheryl Cohen, of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NCID). "Compellingly together our data really suggest a positive story of a reduced severity of omicron compared to other variants," he said at a conference with other scientists on Wednesday, Dec. 22.  ...

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Zoom calls in the wee hours of the morning or night, and emails at all hours, the scrambling that happened during 2020 and 2021 during work needs some structuring and laying down of boundaries. The work day got kind of crazy. Here Rachel Feintzberg offers tips on getting back to a healthier and more productive worklife by setting clear work boundaries and hours. The key experts say is to be respectful but resolute. Some tips are to follow boundaries such as a 6.00 pm for last calls you take- to do this 80% of the time and compromise on remainder. If pandemic habits are hard to break try innovative ways, like getting out on sports, cycling or gym routines at 6.00 pm. Its alway good to remember and articulate to peers and bosses that you will be most productive and producing higher quality work when you have time for taking care of your health and healthy living. Its hard depending on the boss but over 6 months it gets you to a better place. German practice of Feierabend actually refers to when you stop working for the rest of the day and is done in Germany. It sets a clear demarcation or boundary between work and leisure hours needed for healthy living. ...

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California has gone to put residential solar panels big time. Consider 47 gigawatts of production of solar energy installed , can supply 13.9 million homes and cover 25% of California's energy use. From desert landscapes in the Central Valley to rooftops in southern California it has spread so fast that the power grid does not know what to do with it during the day when demand is not high and supply is plentiful, a duck curve. About 5% of it goes to waste unused, and solar energy during the midday period is now not worth much to the grid. Officials want to switch from the 0.20 or 0.40 cents incentive per kilowatt hour  California pays for solar supplies to net metering that means pay only what is of value to the grid. In the Spring months this can be a net zero value to the grid and zero payments. In summer demand picks up because of air conditioning use middday. This has raised alarm that it will lead to a 40% drop in solar installations in the next year. It shows the challenges that more states will face. Nevada with 23% solar energy power is facing this situation. So is Hawaii. The Biden administration has $7 billion in grants to support rooftop solar in other states, to power 900,000 low income households. ...

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The latest version of the Galaxy smartphones is the Galaxy Note 8, which replaces the Galaxy Note 7. The Galaxy Note 7 had fire prone batteries which led to a costly recall costing about $6.5 billion. The Galaxy 8 has an "infinity" display that covers the entire front of the phone, for 6.3 inches. It has a dual lens camera and other features to match the iPhone 7. The Galaxy Note 8 effort was led by mobile chief D.J. Koh, who told his engineers not to hesitate in pushing the frontiers of technology, pointing out that Samsung could compete only if it was not afraid to innovate. Actions taken by Koh to prevent quality failures include signing 3 years instead of 1 year contracts with suppliers. The crisis with the Galaxy Note 7 forced Samsung to have its teams work with closer coordination. Samsung's sales have increased with the 6% increase in the market in the second quarter. Samsung had 22% of total shipments, compared to Apple's 11%, and Huawei Technologies 11%, according to Strategy Analytics. Samsung had 20 million shipments of Galaxy S8 and the S8+ since April 2017. In the U.S. Samsung continues to lose share to Apple. Yet overall Samsung has made a strong recovery. ...

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A study by BuzzFeed shows that all but three of 20 fake stories by hoax sites or hyper partisan elements with likes on Facebook spread fake news with stories on Trump or denigrating Hillary Clinton. During the last 3 months of the campaign in 2016 the fake stories or bogus news stories appearing online and on social media had a greater reach than authoritative reporting by mainstream news outlets, according to a study of Facebook activity by BuzzFeed. President Obama and chancellor Merkel took aim at the fake stories on social media and hate opinions in talking to the public in Berlin at their final meeting in November 2016. Obama said "because in an age when there is so much active misinformation and it is packaged very well and it looks the same when you see it on a Facebook page or you turn on television." He added it is a big problem that 43 percent of eligible voters do not vote and when "we are not serious about facts and what's true and what's not, particularly in age of social media when so many people are getting their information in sound bites and off their phones." Merkel compared the situation today with digitization to the social disruptions during the Industrial Revolution and gave her own warnings. ...

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The Chief Correspondent of BBC News points out the dangers facing May and the British economy as the deadline of March approaches for invoking Article 50 to leave the EU and start negotiations. The possibilities of a "disorderly break" cannot be discounted, he says. There are many hurdles. The negotiations could get bogged down on the issue of settling outstanding obligations for which Britain owes 50-60 billion euros. Consumers will feel the effects of higher prices on their budgets as prices creep up. Already tech goods prices are reflecting the drop in value of the British pound. There is little solace to be found in the 6 months of steady economy following the Brexit vote as inflation has not hit consumers hard so far. Chancellor Merkel of Germany has said that there will be "no cherry picking" allowed in the negotiations. And the French right and former Gaullists have never concealed their views about Britain being on again and off again on the idea of Europe. The City of London, British business, and large parts of the Conservative Party do not favor Brexit, even the civil servants expected to implement it are skeptical, creating an additional layer of complexity and uncertainty and difficulty.Under a "disorderly break" Britain would revert back to the tariffs set under World Trade Organization arrangements. ...

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Grady Cash is an active runner at age 71. A sports hernia sidelined him at age 50 but he has found his way back into running. After a 2 year hiatus he returned to the track. He entered his first national track and field competition in 2004, and by 2015 eleven years later he was running in the 200 metres at the 2015 USATF Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships. Here he cam in last and had a revelation. Most of the runners were shaped differently than the long distance 1500 metres runners. These people were V shaped with tiny waists, broad shoulders and big leg muscles. From this he learned to do weightlifting at a local gym in Nashville and hired a trainer. After his retirement from financial planning he set up his own routine. He runs with a group at the Vanderbilt University track two afternoons a week ages from mid 20's to 76. A typical workout is eight repetitions of 200 metres that are sequentially faster. He does easy recovery runs on the trails. Mot important he tries to remain injury fee in the kind of routine he selects and listens to his body all the time not to overwork it and run  injury free the next day.  ...

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This article in Zeit Online emphasizes that the deep sense of unease and anxiety about the future among working class white people is behind the shift in American politics. This shift has a lot to do with the basic identity of the U.S., the borders, and  the ability to generate decent jobs at decent wages. The populous states of the midwest in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin helped tilt the outcome to Trump. It is pointed out that this shift is not simply a result of tax breaks for wealthy people and corporations. It goes a lot deeper than that- a growing anxiety about identity, borders and decent wages with decent jobs is what worries non college educated people who make up a larger proportion of voters in some midwestern and eastern states. Democrats also put themselves in an unsustainable position by pushing trade agreements such as TPP as an Obama legacy- even in the face of strong evidence that core working class Democratic voters, unions, and other working class groups had fervently opposed it. It is not that there are fewer liberals today- about 21% in 2012 and the same in 2016. Simply that the anxiety was too high about issues such as borders, identity, and manufacturing jobs that Democrats lost sight of. ...

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The BBC Fact check for crime, cost of living, immigration, world affairs is shown next to this transcript of the former president's speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, July 2024. The biggest issue is cost of living, for housing, food and groceries, gas and automobiles new and repairs. "I will end the devastating inflation crisis immediately, bring down interest rates and lower the cost of energy . We will drill, baby, drill. Prices will start to come down." Fact: Gas prices may come down a bit, but it will do little or nothing for the other major components of cost of living - for housing and mortgage rates of 6-7%, for automobile prices and auto repairs, for food and groceries.The problem of job creation will come to the fore because of an inherent contradiction of trying to commit to Republican old platform of tax cuts for the wealthy and efforts to take cost of living action for the now larger lower and middle classes. Without this money that goes to tax cuts for wealthy there is not much to invest in Make at Home, in manufacturing in US the way Biden is doing and plans for next 4 years creating hundreds of thousands of jobs every month and still keeping inflation low at 3% through an investment driven economy. ...

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The RNC speech of the former president is described by the WSJ Editorial Board as long and rambling for 90 minutes after a good start becoming a typical speech that did not broaden the appeal, and with its random comments lacking clarity. The former president's claims on crime up when it is actually down by 15% according to FBI. On inflation and cost of living the inflation peaked at 9% is now down to 3% in 2023 with cost of living actions by Biden and Powell. The former president's solution to "Drill, baby drill," would only affect gas prices a bit, and do nothing for the principal causes of inflation in housing, in rental of apartments, in prices of automobiles and auto repairs, and in cost of drugs, student loans. Only a concerted action on all fronts as Biden and Powell have done would work, along with large investments in American manufacturing and jobs, which can only be done if no tax cuts are made for the wealthy not in the Republican platform. This means the hundreds of thousands of job creation each month happening now will stall and inflation from supply chains in China will be harder to control especially with a 60% Trump proposed tariff on Chinese imports. ...

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China generates 53% of its emissions from coal in May 2024. All the remaining from non fossil sources. Two factors are evident, yet both do not indicate a big fall off in fossil emissions from this point just a plateauing effect with it flattening out. The first is that China is putting in solar and wind at 8 times the level of the US, taking up two thirds of world solar and wind installations. The second is that the one third of emissions from construction and real estate is falling off because that industrial sector has collapsed. Overall the future points to slowing of emissions as China comes only gradually down from that 53%. What happens in China makes a huge impact on climate change. India has also committed to climate change action and meeting targets early under PM Modi so that India as it industrializes will not follow the path of jumping fossil emissions China had. This is useful to know as the US and EU, UK, expand solar and wind. It is important that the US stay committed to climate change action something missing from the Republican platform for 2024. Delaying climate change action will impose huge costs on the US that could be about 1 trillion dollars if it is stalled now and is taken up in 2028. ...

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Retired General Keith Kellogg was in National Security roles in the DJT first term. He is the new DJT envoy to Ukraine and Russia with the goal of negotiating a settlement between Russia and Ukraine. He was chief of staff of the National Security Council in DJT's first term. And also the National Security Advser to vice President Mike Pence. The 80 year old veteran co-authored a paper for America First think tank which says- "The United States would continue to arm Ukraine and strengthen its defenses to ensure Russia will make no further advances and will not attack again after a cease-fire or peace agreement."  "Future American military aid, however, will require Ukraine to participate in peace talks with Russia."  This comes as Zelensky's popularity in Ukraine has dipped to 16% and Ukraine's people do not want him to run again for president. This is intended to draw Ukraine into peace talks as prolonging the war would lead to enormous losses for Ukraine's cities and the people of Ukraine, Kellogg told the Voice of America at the Republican Convention in 2024, and peace talks would end the war with Russia. ...

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Children in the US should not be directed to educational content developed by tech companies using writers in Kenya and Philippines who lack the education to do this. A data labeler that hires people in Philippines and Kenya at $8 an hour, hundreds of thousands of low cost contractors, to create content. Some of the content is of such low quality that it had to be redone by Scale employees, says this story in WSJ. It started out providing this to self driving technologies companies needing data labeling, and now does this for AI.  Samples of questions for content are - explain a moon landing to a 6 year old, says the WSJ. Serious questions about quality of content going to AI and the willingness of Tech companies including Google and Apple to not make this a priority.  Education requires a different approach for quality of content and the tech monopolies are not the ones who should be in this role to build the educational content that a team of scientists and faculty envisioned in cultural literacy for the US under ED Hirsch since the 1970's. More than at other times in US history this is important to preserve the Nation the founders envisoned. ...

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It may come as a surprise that changing retirement age in France faced huge opposition yet was enacted into law for moving it from 62 years to 64  years in 2023,  but was never acted upon in China where it is 60 years. China raises its retirement age for men to 63 years from 60, to be done incrementally a few months at a time till 2040. For women it goes from 50 to 58 years, 55 years for blue collar workers. Why the hesitation. It appears that there is much age related discrimination in China so that many workers feared they would be laid off in their fifties and not get pensions till 60-64 years. This could have created much unrest as it did even in France where there is more discrimination for age than other parts of the EU.  When countries have aging populations do they have an alternative? How could they support pensions at 60 or 62 years as in France and in China? In China the social safety net is weak which leads to more resistance and caution by the government fearing unrest. Yet it is not the best time to tackle this problem as the economy slows, resources are constrained, and there is higher unemployment. ...

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Pew Research looks at Inequality as an issue. It also looks at whether people see that their children will be better off financially when they grow up. The Better off Financially is not the same as the inequality issue, on inequality issue progress can be inadequate but perceived differently among different income groups in industrialized nations to be inconclusive as in this recent Pew Research in 2024.  On whether children will be Better off financially there is a decisive result in Pew Research in 2024. With France and Canada at the top 81% and 78%,  Italy and UK at 79%, the US at 74%, Japan 77%, Australia 79%, Spain 75%. Almost across all the European Union countries and the US this is decisive, a clear unequivocal result. Both the Trump first term and the Biden first term felt effects of Covid pandemic.  Reviving Manufacturing in the US and  Europe is the only way, and with it infrastructure investment, to bring back a sense of optimism to the US and Europe. For this levelling the playing field and tariffs that do that selectively are the plan in the second term, getting industry to take up the challenge is the second goal in this decade to 2030.    ...

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The difficulties of unwinding war stimulus that has increased jobs and wages in poorer regions of Russia, and the problems with unwinding a war economy, are discussed here by experts from Russia, the US and Germany. Other aspects include what to do with hundreds of thousands of new recruited soldiers who would be unemployed during a period when the economy's growth has slowed and wage growth is slowing. In 2024 new recruits were given 1 years bonus and were being attracted in large numbers. JD Vance mentioned this to the new Pope in discussions, and this report says even Putin does not know how best to unwind this war economy. Vance told Pope Leo XIV -“I’m not sure that Vladimir Putin himself has a strategy for how to unwind the war.” This is the view also from an expert at the Free University of Berlin, as rapidly demobilizing a large army poses its own problems. Russia could export the arms from new arms factories and keep people employed. This option is difficult as many African countries buy on credit and Asian other buyers may seek the latest technologies, others face financial difficulties or like India are diversifying and shifting to local manufacturing. ...

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A survey of 414 National Association of Business Economics (NABE) economists shows Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson with 15%, overtaking Trump at 14% on who would best manage the economy. On protectionist views only 9% support this. 15% said they have no opinion and 55% said Hillary Clinton would do the best job of managing the economy. About 62% say the election uncertainty is holding back growth. Some aspects of Hillary Clinton's economic plan are the $275 billion infrastructure investment over 10 years, taking action against companies that ship jobs overseas, a capital gains tax paln that encourages long term investments, supporting $15 minimum wage, making upward mobility a top priority, providing government financed access to public colleges for working class and lower income groups. Donald Trump's plan has suffered form lack of specifics, shifting comments, lack of careful study, and excessive use of slogans. Both candidates oppose trade agreements that shift jobs overseas. Trump's plan also suffers from lack of credibility overseas as this is important in a global business structure, with fears of protectionism increasing. and reminding people of the protectionism under Smoot-Hawley that increased the damage from the depression of the thirties. ...

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A major shift in public opinion happened between 1990 in the public's perception and tolerance of gay people and gay marraige. Support for gay marraige in Journal/NBC News polling shows young people, especially people 18-34 year old, were leading the way. In this group support for gay marraigne increased from 47% in 2009 to 57% in 2012, going up to 74% in March 2015. The increase is also shown in suburban residents, political independents, Midwesterners and Hispanics. A key factor in the change is that many people now know of one person in their work or personal lives who is gay. Technology, television and internet media also helped changed attitudes. In 1990 7 of 8 Americans said sexual relations between the same sex were wrong. In 2004 only 3 of ten Americans supported same sex marraige. A vote in Maine shows the dramatic shift- in 2009 same sex marraige was rejected by 53%, in 2012 53% approved it. The change in attitudes is faster than happened for miscegenation, which took 30 years after the Supreme Court ruled against anti-miscegenation laws to reach a point where a majority of Americans approved marraiges between black and white people. The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision on June 25, 2015, now makes gay marraige legal in all 50 states, and strikes down bans in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Yet there are a significant number of Americans who do not favor same sex marraige especially in southern states such as Texas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama. A Pew Research Center poll shows 73% of white evangelical Protestants do not approve of same sex marraige. Other groups who do not favor same sex marraige in the Pew polling are conservatives and persons born before the post World War baby boom. ...