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Polls published by IDEA in Hungary that show less than 10% of Hungarians see EU as a concern most are concerned about corruption and governance and public services cost of living. This was done before the election and showed Tisza at 39% and Fidesz at 30% support with 22% undecided at the time who swung in favor of Magyar and Tisza party. This shows that policies will change and Tisza supporters by large majority want change in policies friendly to EU. Yet the election was fought for good governance, good public services and lower cost of living. This means changes will not be too drastic  with Russia, not keen on Russian oil imports but maintaining pragmatic relations with Russia. But it makes a difference as 18 billion euros will be coming to Hungary from EU that were frozen under Orban which can finance better public services. Rule of law can improve and corruption can be reduced in government for Hungarian society to be seen as healthy after a quarter century of one party government by Fidesz party of Orban. ...

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The Times takes a good look at Liz Truss, who she is, what are her good points and areas she will need to work on. It says Truss was ignored by Conservatives including Theresa May after  being brought in by Cameron as Environment Secretary in 2014. She comes from a intellectual family with her father a Math professor and her education at Merton College, Oxford University. She also had the opportunity to build on her economics and accounting background at Treasury, and at the Ministry of International Trade where she signed a number of trade deals for Britain.  What has changed her was her decision to learn and develop on her own after being ignored in the Conservative party. She shifted from Remain to becoming an aggressive supporter of Brexit and coming out decisively for Boris Johnson as prime minister.  She is willing to challenge the Treasury and others in the civil service when she feels she needs to. Her challenge says The Times is to develop the skills that are needed to work with others and take the country forward. One advantage she has is that she has confidence in her own experience and education to have strong personalities work in her team. Another quality that helps her is that she is not ideologically a conservative, so that she is willing to try new ideas to get the economy working and move Britain forward. And adding to that she has the depth that Cameron and Johnson lacked with her experience gained in parliament, at Treasury, in the International Trade ministry, and recently as Foreign Secretary. She may well be the underestimated candidate compared to a mostly predictable Sunak. ...

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Jasprit Bumrah will be the new captain for India's cricket team as it plays a final Test match against England led by Ben Stokes. Stokes led England to a 3-0 win in Test matches against New Zealand with Joe Root in top form.

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Efforts in Ghana to use locally available materials such as clay, laterite and granite chippings to build affordable housing. Ghan needs 2 million new houses per year. A prototype one room house would cost $5000. Solar pumps developed by German engineers are used to cool the home and make it eco-friendly. 

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Sixty four years ago president Kennedy accepted the nomination of his party with these words in Los Angeles on July 15, 1960- "But I think the American people expect more from us than cries of indignation and attack. The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high--to permit the customary passions of political debate. We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future. As Winston Churchill said on taking office some twenty years ago: if we open a quarrel between the present and the past, we shall be in danger of losing the future.  Today our concern must be with that future. For the world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways will not do.  Abroad, the balance of power is shifting. There are new and more terrible weapons--new and uncertain nations--new pressures of population and deprivation. One-third of the world, it has been said, may be free- -but one-third is the victim of cruel repression--and the other one- third is rocked by the pangs of poverty, hunger and envy. More energy is released by the awakening of these new nations than by the fission of the atom itself."       ...

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Rafael Behr of the Hamburg Police Academy says that it is too easy to let the authorites off saying the Christmas market attack could not have been prevented considering the number of risks the police have to tackle. He says it is too easy for people who want to escape detection to lose their identity papers and anonymize themselves. After his request for asylum was detected he was let off following 2 days of detention because without identity papers how was he to be deported. This is a weakness that has to be addressed says Behr. Other problems are the bureaucratic handling between state agencies, and within the EU different countries sharing information. Amri spent 4 years in Italian jails for arson attack on a school. Shouldn't Berlin police know about this asks Behr. And even if the German authorites have different criteria for no fly lists, shouldnt the fact that he was on a no-fly list of the U.S. authorites have come up on the police radar, asks Behr. These are legitimate questions that the authorites have to answer or come up with solutions and share with the public as part of prevention efforts. ...

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The 2018 elections in the southern state of Karnataka with the software centre of Bangalore, are seen as setting the stage for the national elections in India in 2019. The ruling BJP party of prime minister Modi is making an effort to oust the opposition Congress party in that state. BJP won the state in 2008 and lost it in 2013. Modi is basing his efforts in the state on fighting corruption and building infrastructure, boosting the economy. Both sides appeal to caste based politics even as they support development efforts. 

At stake are the big leap infrastructure development, and inclusion efforts for the rural and urban poor of Mr. Modi, leader of the BJP party, if the party loses power in the 2019 elections. As a result it is mounting an effort in Karnataka that also includes caste based politics by supporting the Lingayat caste group, and raising election funds that are reported to be five times that of the Congress party in the state.

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Sir Kevan Williams sets forth his vision for British education recovery after coronavirus disrupted students lives. He was appointed education recovery commissioner in February 2021. Keven resigned yesterday after his 15 billion pound plan for students getting extra time at school was rejected by Boris Johnson, the British prime minister. Boris Johnson has only 3 billion pounds set aside for education recovery at what the Times cites at 50 pounds per student, compared to 1600 pounds per student in the US under president Biden. Mrs. Biden is a teacher at community college for most of her life and is a strong supporter for free education at community colleges.

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Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post looks at the story of Horst Kasner, Lutheran pastor in East Germany, Angela Merkel's father. In 1954 when Angela was born, her father moved the family to East Germany, then called the German Democratic Republic. The family settled in 1957 near the town of Templin in the Brandenburg countryside. He had an idealism based on the Lutheran faith and believed at the time that it was possible to build a East German Protestanism that reconciled with the professed socialist ideals of the GDR. Over three decades that faith was tested and by 1990 Kasner was known for his dissent to the state repression practiced by the GDR limiting free expression and religious beliefs. He worried about the domination of economic thinking even in the churches after the reunification.   Angela Merkel was close to her mother, Herlind Kasner, who joined the Social Democrats after reunification. Her brother joined the Greens. Merkel joined the movement called the Democratic Awakening in 1989, which merged with the Christian Democrats after reunification. Horst Kasner died in 2011 about 6 years after Merkel became chancellor. Speaking at a church in Templin in 2014, Merkel said what she believes- "God created every human being. We should strive for perfection. But we can make mistakes." To some Merkel remains inscrutable, hard to make out. This may be because she retains some of the thoughtful way her father meditated on what life was about and how best to live it.  ...

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This piece in Der Spiegel points out that Brexit may be an opportunity if European leaders recognize that there can be different levels of unity, and that different countries in the EU can advance at their own pace with Germany and France providing a core group. There is no longer the need for continual enlargement of the European Union as has happened before. It also offers a time to take some deep breaths and reflect on the progress so far and where it has come short, what to do about it, such as the bureaucracy that has grown in Brussels, the different views on immigration, and public sentiment. Actually the whole progress towards the European Community, and then the European Union has evolved over time. In the immediate postwar years, after one setback Adenauer once said during the difficult negotiations in 1951-52 between France and Germany to set up the European Coal and Steel Community, predecessor of the European Community and the European Union- "arme Europa, arme Europa," (poor Europe, poor Europe). The Dutch and Belgian delegates had strong differences for the headquarters for the ECSC- Turin was rejected, Liege and Brussels were proposed, until Monnet was made head of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community with headquarters in Luxembourg. Monnet himself considered stepping down a couple of times because of differences, and the Editor of Le Monde described Monnet's plans for European integration as "a leap in the dark." This was the first of many difficult steps in the evolution of the European Union. Nationalist feeling was nothing new, as the Gaullists opposed Monnet's drive for European unity when it differed from their ideas. Still Monnet persevered and progress took place every ten years as it must now.  ...

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IMF's differences with Greece and Germany on relative weight of tax hikes and cuts to pensions for the Third Bailout Program accepted by Greece in July 2015. The IMF wants to see further cuts in pensions, the Tsipras centre- left government in Greece is committed to protecting pensioners and the poor, and has agreed to tax hikes that do not put a disproportionate burden on the poor and working class. The IMF fears the relative weight on tax hikes for generating a surplus to pay down debt could hurt prospects for economic growth.

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Google's Eric Schmidt on how new technology can provide an innovation advantage in the fight against organized drug trafficking gangs in Mexico.

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The corn crop estimate for 2008 by USDA economists is 13.1 billon bushels vs 12.1 in 2007 a drop of 7.3%. Ethanol industry will use 4 billion bushels of this from the crop collected in autumn. This corn crop will be used by food companies into late 2009 for everything fom feeding cattle and pigs and dairy cows to making soft drinks and breakfast cereal and a host of other fod products. USDA forecasts a price of $5.50 per bushel for 2008 compared to $4.40 for 2007. USDA expects Consumer Price Index for food to go up 5% in 2008. Other experts expect it to be higher and go into 2009. At the same time the FDA forecasts that for grain the world will produce more grain in 2008 than it will use helping build stockpiles for wheat and rice. Reason for this is that governments are responding to current shortages by attracting more investment and freeing up more land for food production. In the US land will shift from corn and cotton to more profitable crops like wheat and soyabeans.

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Mims raises questions about how productive current investments in Silicon Valley are in tackling real problems we face. He points out that advertising represents about $100 billion in an economy of $16 trillion, yet most startups focus on advertising revenues. Is $1.2 billion invested in Uber ride sharing service too much when other startups tackling bigger problems could be funded with some of that money, is a question raised by some in Silicon Valley.

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Risk taking CEO's steps at Shell appear to be paying off as Shell's share price does better than BP's. Better results in hiring, technology, management streamlining, in sourcing non-conventional output, and Libyan deal coming after restructuring of its Russian exploration project, all show improved prospects at Shell after new CEO took over. Jeroen Van der Veer, who assumed the CEO position in 2004, is interviewed by Chip Cummins and Guy Kazan at it London headquarters. Van der Veer took over after the scandal involving Shell's overstating of its oil and as reserves. His early steps were to centralize decisionmaking, do away with the dual board structure based in the Hague and London, and increase hiring of technology professionals. 4500 midcareer professionals were hired in 2006, a new Chief Technology officer was appointed, and seven "chief scientists," creating a new focus on technology development and research, and making technology leadership a critical part of its strategy. Van der Veer also bet heavily on new projects, including a $20 billion oil and LNG project on the island of Sakhalin in Russian Far East, and a $18 billion gas field plus natural gas to diesel plant in Quatar. Jeroen Van der Veer is described by colleagues as a thoughtful but firm and straight talking, low profile guy who joined Shell in 1971, at age 24. He ran a large Dutch refinery, tackling labor problems and implementing an expansion. He has a passion for long distance skating, having twice finished a 200 kilometer race through 11 cities in the Netherlands....

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Chris Wormald to be replaced by Antonia Romeo as Cabinet Secretary in Feb 2026. The only way Keir Starmer can get a new start is to be himself and follow his convictions about what is right for the nation. It means getting a new team that will help him implement a plan of action. Antonia Romeo top civil servant in Britain's Home Ministry, is given the job of Cabinet Secretary replacing Chris Wormald. This means the PM will be getting better advice on making choices for the future compared to McSweeney and Wormald, political and civil servant members from the previous team that were overawed by people in powerful positions, and did not respect people of conviction and honesty regardless of where in Labour that they came from. The future of Britain and the US, and of Europe will be build by people of honesty and conviction, common sense, and willingness to learn, not by false notions of centrist and left or right that for too long have determined the nature and sway of politics. For this to happen Starmer must look deep within himself. ...

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FR24 gives details of the Gaza Truce proposals under Paris negotiations. A 40 day ceasefire Truce is proposed with one hostage released for 10 Palestinian prisoners.

All Israeli hostages, including women and children to be released.

In exchange for 40 hostages 400 Palestinian prisoners to be released.

Humanitarian aid- 500 trucks per day, 60,000 caravans, 200,000 tents. Rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries, supply of fuel and other services. Necessary equipment to clear rubble.

 

 

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A very basic EV pickup truck at $25,000 financed by Amazon- with AC Cruise Control and 2 person seating that can be converted into 5 seating using a special kit. The company named Slate based in Troy, Michigan, does not depend on government incentives, bypasses dealerships altogether. It is built using robotic machinery not metal stamping machines and does not use paint but uses $500 customizable vinyl wraps. This way it avoids having paint shops and metal stamping plants like the major car makers, which are major parts of the cost. It will be made at a factory in Warsaw, Indiana in 2027. The Slate pickup truck is shorter than a Toyota Corolla. It can be driven on one EV charge for 205 miles and can use Tesla's charging network.