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Nepal is a remote mountainous country with some of the highest Himalayan mountain ranges and Mt. Everest. For decades it has stagnated economically with Chinese help making little difference, Indian help more recent, and the country with per capita income of about $1500 for a population of  29 million. Neighboring India with 1.4 billion people is seeing huge increase in young people's aspirations in neighboring Indian states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh under the Modi government. Average age in Nepal is 25 years, in Bihar a neighboring state in India it is 22 years. This is affecting Nepal with the similar lack of tolerance for corrupt governments that cannot deliver on infrastructure and health/education. Urbanization is only 17% in Bihar state in India that is neighbor of Nepal and most people live in rural areas, the same is true for Nepal with 20% urbanization. Per capita income in Bihar state is $900 one third of India's $2700 per capita income, in Nepal it is $1500. Who is Balen Shah- a 35 year old structural engineer into hiphop music who is Mayor of Kathmandu, the capital. He supported the student protests against the corruption of government led by PM Oli which had to resign. His party RSD leads in two thirds of 275 parliamentary seats. Each voter gets 2 votes, one is for 165 seats on first past the post basis, and the other vote is to allocate 110 seats based on the party vote. Average age in Nepal is 25 years with 800,000 first time voters in voting population of 19 million.  ...

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One way to ease the supply of oil cutoff from the Middle East to Asia (to India, Japan and South Korea) is to ease sanctions on the oil on tankers on the sea (large inventories at sea) and from Russia. US president DJT says -“We have sanctions on some countries, we are going to take those sanctions off until this straightens out. And then who knows, maybe we won’t have to put them on because there will be so much peace." 

Treasury Secretary Bessent says the same thing that “waiving certain oil-related sanctions to reduce prices," would be good way to ease the impact of the war on prices.

This will help Russia balance its budget and who knows it may make it possible to open up new discussions for peace in Ukraine as the US acts as an intermediary in negotiations to end the war. From the larger interest of US, China, India + Indonesia, of Russia and Ukraine, and of Europe,it makes sense to end that war.

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Witkoff- Putin peace talks in Moscow August 6, 2025 as DJT talks about further sanctions.

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Macron as president of France does not agree to cohabitation appointing 4 prime ministers over 4 years who are replaced or lose public confidence. The last Bayrou is an experinced politician who tried to get austerity cuts including eliminating 2 public holidays. The Socialist bloc led by Melenchon and Le Pen's Marie Pen bring down Bayrou in a no confidence vote. Following the election of the National Assembly Macron had an opportunity he missed of cohabitation with the Socialists Party bloc and letting its leader Melenchon or someone else in the Socialist Bloc, a more acceptable face to the Macronists form a new government. Instead he has weakened France and it's economy by taking a rigid approach. This is a reversal of his posture during his entry into politics which depended on the Socialists leader president Hollande accepting Macron into his government as Minister for the economy. Macron formed his own party with deft moves to retire the Gaullist and Socialist parties that have ruled France since 1945. Winning the presidency once and barely winning the second time after protests by Yellow Vests on the cost of living and an imperial presidency, the very same problem that Nicholas Sarkozy had of not being close to the people and their concerns about migrants, cost of living and the deindustrialized parts of France, neglect of farmers and rural areas also seen in the US. With this France is in a bit of drift with younger voters looking elsewhere for the future. ...

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Bill Frauenhofer the chips Czar in DJT administration, Commerce Secretary Luttnick and Intel CEO Tan, his Finance VP, all work together to put Intel back on top- shares quadrupled in price in 2026 . US gets Apple and Space X other companies to buy from Intel. Intel gets AI orders from Nvidia as CPU demand rises. The US has converted $5 billion in federal grants into stock for a 10% stake in Intel. This is state capitalism in many ways,  imitates China as it rapidly modernized, and this helped  China get a large foothold in chips and EV's.

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Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor from Arizona was a pioneer of women's rights in the workplace, and had her own struggles before being the first woman appointed to the US Supreme Court. Born on a vast 200,000 acre cattle ranch in El Paso she was much of a cowgirl. She is considered to have blazed a trail for other women through her life and work. She was appointed by Reagan in 1981 and served till 2006. In 1952 when she graduated from law school at Stanford women had a hard time working in the legal profession.

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Kevin Warsh is a former governor of the Federal Reserve 2006-2011, becoming governor at age 35. He is a partner at the family office of investor Stanley Druckenmiller. Scott Bessent also had connections with the office of Druckenmiller. He is also a lecturer at Stanford Business School and a scholar at the Hoover Institution. He is married to Estee Lauder heiress Jane Lauder, and has spent the years since 2011 at the Stanford School.  Current Fed chairman was appointed by DJT in 2017 and retires in May 2026. If Powell continues as a Fed governor Warsh would take the seat vacated by Stephen Miran when he retires as Fed governor this week. Meantime the Fed under Powell faces an investigation by the Justice Department regarding renovation of its buildings and Senator Thomas Tillis on the Banking Committee says he will not support Warsh until that issue is resolved in favor of Fed retaining its independence. What is unique about Warsh and his selection by DJT? He is a Republican of long standing and his current views are that interest rates can be lower if the Fed reduces its holdings of Treasury securities and mortgage securities it holds. DJT's frustration is that Powell raised interest rates to fight inflation and after DJT became president was slow in cutting rates to boost the economy. DJT's resort to tariffs as a tool in world trade to ensure a level playing field with China when all other tools had failed means more uncertainty in the economy and DJT wanted the Fed to support his policies by lowering rates. ...

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Pepsi lack of good judgement after it withdraws sponsorship only after the combination of Starmer, Davey and Farage denounce the Festival sponsorship. Farage says- "I would not buy a ticket." There is a tendency among some parts of business community that somehow social aspects are not its concern, while all the time living in the same communities and benefitting from our laws based on centuries of British tradition in the western hemisphere. Some may not even be aware of the extent of the debt of modern society and industry to these centuries of British tradition and law since Magna Carta in the 12th century (Runnymede 1215), as it has been obscured in today's schools, education and business obsessed with coding, marketing and finance.

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Cuban economic dependence on foreign tourism has failed as credit card companies and tour operators withdraw June 2026. Visa, Mastercard, Melia and Iberostar hotel operators, and a Canadian company withdraw from Cuba. 

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A sign of the growing people to people relationship of the US and India is the number of Indians in US graduate schools which went up from 68,000 to 102,000 in the 2021-2022 academic year, up 48%. There almost as many Indians taking the GRE exam for entry into US graduate schools in 2023 as Americans taking GRE in the US. Another sign of the expanding people to people relationship is the decision of the Biden administration to give 1 million visitor visas to Indians in the coming year. In India physical sciences and humanities for GRE exceed engineering by a wide margin, showing the shift in subjects. Under India's new education policy NEP the shift is to a more multidisciplinary approach and allowing students to mix science subjects, math with humanities. This approach is seen as best for India to produce a new generation that can think for itself better than the purely engineering science or medical track graduates of the past who had limited knowledge of the humanities. This overly engineering focus has prevailed in the educational approaches of Japan and China during their rapid growth period. India under the Modi administration is betting on a wider knowedge of different and contrasting subjects and disciplines for its future. ...

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One example of how the appearance of divisiveness in the media may be misleading is how all sides are coming together on the toughest problems. On housing supply a genuine change has happened. The 21st Century Road to Housing Act biggest bipartisan legislation before the midterm elections is passed in Congress. The most comprehensive and consequential housing legislation in a century as the president DJT calls it, passes both Houses of US Congress by big majorities, in the House by 358 to 32 and in the Senate by 85 to 5. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Tim Scott from both parties worked together to get it done. It addresses both rural and urban needs for small towns and large cities, creates more funding, cuts approval time, and provides incentives for builders. It also limnits institutional investors in how much of housing they control as this worsened the supply of housing and housing prices in recent years. The extent of the housing supply crisis can be seen by the 54% climb in housing prices since 2020, costing 5 times the median income far above historical standards, according Harvard Center for Housing Studies. ...

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The political situation is evolving in France as the En Marche movement that Mr. Macron founded loses its majority in parliament. Seven members earlier left to join a centre right party Agir. Seven members last week started a new centre left party called Ecology.

The pandemic has resulted in a new political environment with a shift back to popularity of France's traditional state directed model with careful attention to infrastructure, health and public services to improve the quality of life. En Marche is shifting in this direction. Recent political shift to the centre right Republicans in Lyon has left En Marche without a significant presence in France's second largest city where it was founded.

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The US president tells the King it was special that all members of Congress stood up for a standing ovation many times- something that in recent years rarely happens. The King "has shown his class" in the last 24 hours says BBC, it is now up to Starmer and the British government, DJT and the Americans to make it count. Notable DJT sharing that the King agreed with him that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. The King also talked about the NATO alliance and its role in keeping the peace for 80 years in the world. In the King's words-  "the international rules that have allowed us to trade and have kept power in balance for 80 years." Adding that the US should not go it alone- "The challenges we face are too great for any one nation to bear alone." However the King is only doing what his is role as monarch to present British interests, and it is important to recall that Britain's interests were once colonial interests around the world, that opposition to these colonial interests led to the Declaration of Independence by Jefferson and Washington in 1776. And caution in Washington's advice to America in Annual messages when it comes to these Empires. Right after 1945 when NATO was created- as it was throughout its Empire in Asia  in 1750-1950- Britain opposed Russia and was the most vocal opponent of Soviet Russia in 1950's and saw NATO in this mission. Times have changed with the emergence of Russia after 1990, China in 1950 and again in 1990's, and America as a world power is best following Washington's advice not to get involved in or inherit the British anti-Russian attitude as it has interests in the Western hemisphere and around the world that require cooperation with other world powers such as Russia, China, India, and Germany to create a peaceful world  and not the kind we have today that puts Russia and China on the wrong side just for opposition, as no powers have any interest in drug and people trafficking in the western hemisphere form places like Mexico and Venezuela, or creating small wars in other parts of the world. A situation NATO as seen by Britain in 1950 as Anti-Russian creates for the US- Lord Hastings Ismay first Secretary General of NATO set British goal for NATO (not the US interests or consistent with George Washington's advice to distance from) in 1949 as "Keep the Russian Out, the US Involved, and the Germans Down." ...

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David Card and Alan Krueger with a study on New Jersey and Philadelphia restaurant workers in 1994 and their subsequent studies on minimum wage increases show no negative effects on unemployment of increasing the minimum wage- More discussion on this topic as Minimum wage increases to $22 an hour in 2026 in NY and California. Indrajit Dube of U Massachusetts says it all depends on how far one goes in increasing the minimum wage. At some point maybe $30 a week it could lead to restaurants deciding not to hire more workers. At 45 hours a week for 48 weeks an employe in the fast food industry at $22 an hour would make $47,520, and at $30 would make $64,800. The poverty level is set at $33,000. The problem with these figures is that the cost of housing is so high and automobile costs have risen very fast in the last 5 years. Housing in New York and Los Angeles is very costly compared to states in the midwest, in the south, and other states. Card's and Krueger's, Dube's studies show that retention is higher employees are more motivated leading to higher restaurant and fast food sales, happier customers, that could lead to more employment not less. Some of this is intuitive and one does not need an economist to tell one that. When compared to Britain's economic and social philosopher Adam Smith much of the accepted wisdom of what Smith said is selective taking what one wants and leaving out the rest, as Lahart shows here about minimum wage. As Adam Smith was  a keen observer of the social sentiments of society which he considered very important for British society, and for British civilization to flourish. For this reason he supported higher wages and the betterment of the lower classes, as Britain's example to the world. Card received a Nobel prize in 2021 for his experiments including his paper on minimum wage in New Jersey and Philadelphia. ...

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Justin Lahart offers these clues to a puzzle why is the US unemployment rate stable when no one is hiring? The 2025 US economic growth rate shows strong economic growth, the stock market is robust, and the unemployment rate is low, yet this is not reflected in the job market. What accounts for weak hiring? WSJ analysis shows that for US job market 2026- quit rate is too low at 3.2 million  (Dec 2025) instead of 4.5 million (March 2022), hiring is low at 5.3 million. And overall firms are not laying off people which is reflected in unemployment rate at 4.4%. As a result even with strong economic fundamentals the hiring is at low levels and opportunities for new jobs scarce. In previous years more people quit jobs, more people were laid off and some firms continued hiring. There is also uncertainty about tariffs that may be playing a part- companies can wait and see how the tariffs policy works out over the next 6 monthsand delay hiring. Ai may be another factor for some firms as they evaluate its impact on their hiring needs. Research at the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute shows that immigration crack down on entry into the US after Biden era surge means less people from overseas to hire and less from the pool of immigrants. A striking piece of this research is that instead of 140,000 jobs needed a month to keep the unemployment rate stable in 2024 the US economy now needs in 2026 after immigration crackdown only 15,000 jobs a month.  ...

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Spain Win World Cup 1-0 as Argentina struggles - Spain 17 shots on goal, Argentina 0. Without brilliant goal keeping by Argentine goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez, with 11 saves, Spain would have been far ahead. Ferran gets the goal in overtime from a pass by Williams Jr. Other goals by Spain were disallowed for offside and foul. Spain's coach Luis de la Fuente said the win was because of Spain's footballing training discipline and its long tradition of training. As Sergio Ramos brought the trophy out Spain's new World Cup team connected with the team that won the World Cup in 2010. Xavi, Iniesta, Casillas and Ramos were from that team in 2010. Rodri, Ferran and Olmo, Unai Simon showed Spanish football at its best. In terms of fans having the game of their lives in this World Cup the third place finish game was a classic that surpassed every other game. England played France in a 6-4 game in which England put up 4 goals in the first half and France responded with its own 4 goals in the second half, Saka got a hattrick, Bellingham 2 goals, and Mbappe added 2 goals for France to become the leading goal score of this World Cup. Declan Rice, Saka and Bellingham played well for England, Mbappe, Barcola and Dembele for France. Because of Argentina fizzling out and poor performance in the final it appears as though England which surrendered its lead in the 86th minute of the game with Argentina when coach Tuchel pulled out Declan Rice and made some questionable decisions, were the better team than Argentina. Its almost as if it is Spain No, 1, England No. 2, Argentina and France tied for third place if one went by the quality of the game played. With Brazil out early it appears that world soccer is returning to its roots in England, France and Spain, with newcomers as Egypt. ...

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US collapsed against Belgium. Brazil lost to Paraguay. Argentina trailed Egypt for most of the 90 minutes only to recover with 3 goals in the last 20 minutes and the winning goal in overtime. Messi almost in tears, moved by the near failure of Argentina till the last minutes of the game gave a miraculous reprieve. One by one the highly advertised on television in the US teams and stars, from US's Pulisic, Mexican soccer players, Messi, Brazil's Neymar and Vinicius Jr, are all in shock. Less advertised, less well known players are making their way, and this may be a good thing as the advertising has gone overboard. Companies were pouring money into these ads turning the  players into constant presence in ads and creating an atmosphere that is not healthy for soccer as a sport. One just hopes France's Mbappe with his humility and quiet demeanor doesn't get into one more noisy ad on television like the others. Is Christiano Ronaldo, the little kid from Madeira, Portugal, coming out of nowhere at that time, a billionaire? Is Messi also from remote town of Rosario, Santa Fe province, Argentina, a billionaire? This doesn't do much for the sport. Germany's best goal scorer in this World Cup only dreamed of not having to do two jobs, and having a steady career, after struggling for a long period. There is something in this World Cup that has brought previously unknown players from unknown places like Cabo Verde to the forefront on world television, including the Egyptian and Moroccan players, the players from other smaller countries. Even the English players in the Premier League playing for England look good by comparison. ...

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Kuwait oil production cut as storage fills up March 2026. Fewer tankers are making it through the Straits of Hormuz. Huge inventory on tankers in ocean waters and the added supplies from Venezuela help relieve the pressure on oil supplies as Iranian oil production stops. The US allows India to get Russian oil for 100 days in this special situation of war in the Middle East region. 

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The BBC's security correspondent looks at the cyber espionage being conducted from Russia during the U.S. presidential election. The U.S. director of national intelligence has pointed to the Russian government as the source of hacking into U.S. databases. U.S. intelligence officials say this is intended to interfere with the U.S. election process in some way. It follows hacking into the DNC database of the Democratic Party.

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US-China relations shift from adversarial to peaceful cooperation after the Busan meeting in South Korea in October 2025 between Chinese leaders Xi and Wang Yi. This is how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of PRC presented the meeting- a turning point in relations. In April 2026, 6 months later it appears that this is certainly the case as shown in the WSJ Analysis in the adjoining article. Both leaders have decided that they will avoid any actions that disrupt peaceful cooperation and maintain friendly relations in anticipation of the May 14-15 visit to Beijing of DJT which will be followed by a trip by Xi and Wang Yi, He Lifeng to the US. The spirit of cooperation is reflected in this statement- "China will host APEC 2026, and the U.S. the G20 summit next year. The two sides can support each other in making both summits productive to promote world economic growth and improve global economic governance. President Trump said that it is a great honor to meet President Xi. China is a great country. President Xi is a well respected great leader, and has been my good friend for many years. We have always got along well. The United States and China have always had a fantastic relationship, and it will be even better. We will make both China and the U.S. even better. China is the biggest partner of the U.S. Together, our two countries can get many great things done for the world and have many years of success. China will host APEC 2026, and the U.S. will host the G20 summit next year. We expect both to be successful." ...

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AI demand increases cost for iphone chips- Apple cost structure is affected in 2026.

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Iran's (IRGC's not the people of Iran who are protesting) strategy in talks is to stall peace talks, to use the help of global media which is creating perception for Iran, and see if the strategy of no nuclear materials turned over to Russia or some other country, see if that strategy works. This is  what German Foreign Minister Wadephul is saying on Day 16 of the Naval Blockade. Earlier this week German chancellor Merz called it unfortunate that the Iran War is continuing in explaining to ordinary Germans why the German economy is slowing down, yet he understands the danger posed by nuclear weapons in Iran or for that matter anywhere inthe volatile and explosive Middle East. Almost like the volatile and explosive Balkans that ignited World War I in 1914. This strategy of IRGC Iran does much irreparable damage to the Iranian economy in weeks to come. Iranian protests were intended to put the economy on a new path in which not just students, the middle class in the bazaars, the younger generation of Iranians who had the most to lose participated. Why is this happening? It is happening because of the complicated politics of the Middle East and centuries old differences within the Islamic world between different sectarian beliefs and cultures. It is not happening because of the US. The US cannot be responsible for what colonial empires of the British and French did in this region in the 1920's by creating artificial states of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, out of the Arab portion of the collapsed Ottoman Empire defeated in World War I with Shia, Sunni populations in these states mixed up into unmanageable states. Five decades of wars in the Middle East are the result of these unmanageable artificial states of French and British Empires by 1921. The British Empire also controlled Iran in the 1900's and its oil resources. There was no involvement of America as the British and French did what they wanted to do even in the Treaty of Versailles that ended WWI.  The fall of the pro-Soviet Mossadegh regime in 1956 was the only fragmentary situation which is an anti Soviet Cold War move by the US in 1952, and was done by a group that had British connections deep inside the Eisenhower administration led by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles that took this unfortunate step for America (looking back over  5 decades of wars). A British oriented group was active inside the Republican party that continued to operate in the Reagan administration's involvement in support for Iraq in its war with Iran. And which no longer exists in the Republican party led by DJT which puts America First, grasps the fact of unmanageable states of British and French Empires and seeks to distance the US from the Middle East. Gandhi and Patel (and Jinnah) avoided the creation of such a state in British India's partition into India and Pakistan. Afghanistan is simply an extension of this Middle Eastern complicated setup, including 9/11. Why is all this important? Arab Middle East is a dangerous place for nuclear weapons- this is all the US is trying to accomplish, thankfully without the cooperation of the British and French whose Empires are responsible for the creation of a hodge podge mix of peoples in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq which (check this out) never existed before British and French Mandates of 1921. The global and American media that sees DJT Republicans as too conservative on cultural issues and the political establishment intending to return to power have completely obscured or not presented this side of the Middle East, yet is key to devising a policy that keeps America out of Middle East wars but keeps the goal of no nuclear weapons in this powderkeg of a region. ...