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Immigration and Gaza conflict play a part in the support for Greens and for support of Reform UK in the election in Denton (Manchester region) in England. Labour comes in third with 24% of the vote with Reform UK at 28% and Greens at 40%. Hannah Spencer, a plumber, gets elected to parliament by appealing to the Muslim vote, and students. Reform UK does just the opposite by appealing to nationalist British voters who are anti-migrant, following an asylum policy for migrants and placing them in hotels that is highly unpopular in England. Labour's loss is in a working class district that it has held since 1906.

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Players in World Cups past, Kurt Hamrin for Sweden in 1958, Guillermo Sepulveda for Mexico in 1962, and Tarcisio Burgnich in 1970, share their memories and pictures of playing against Brazil and Pele in The Guardian. He is remembered by Kurt Hamrin as a rare talent who was humble and kind. He was Hamrin says "incredibly humble." After the first Brazilian World Cup title win in 1958 against Sweden Hamrin recalls- Pele took the Swedish flag draped around him and circled the stadium to show respect for his opponents. Who does that nowadays. Something is lost. No, a lot is lost and needs to be recovered of the way we played and lived. Asen, Marshall and Romano conducted the interviews for The Guardian.

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Jill Biden pushes the long neglected US agenda on education. She has talked to teachers and union members in about 21 states. Dr. Biden told teachers in Salt Lake City that president Biden was committed to increased federal funding for schools and to pay teachers competitive salaries. In his speech to the joint sessions of Congress president Biden said " she (Jill Biden) has long said any country that out-educates us will out-compete us- and she'll be leading this effort." One part of this is 2 years of free community college education. Like Eleanor Roosevelt during the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930's and 1940's Jill Biden is playing an active role.

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Chuck Searcy, 79 years, was in the Vietnam War at Khe Sanh in 1968 as an intelligence officer. In 1992 he first sees unexploded ordnance- from US bombing in Vietnam. He has over many years cleared an unbelievable amount of these dangerous devices. 8 million tons of ordnance was dropped near Khe Sanh near the Ho Chi Minh trail from 1965 to 1975. About 100,000 people have died or sustained injuries. Hang Nam and Searcy founded Project Renew in 2001- since then almost a million tons of these explosive devices have been removed and children taught to stay away safely. Norwegian's People's Aid is also doing the project to cut injuries to zero. It operates 180 deminers.

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South Korea prepares for new elections with about a third or quarter of the people strongly supporting Yoon whose impeachment was upheld by the Constitutional Court April 4, 2025. Adjoining BBC Special Report shows how Yoon went astray. The gist also shows how South Korean democracy is only since 1988 compared to India's 1948, and how India's democratic traditions were formed under the Birtish with representation in parliament, first British then Indian, and in state assemblies in the 1930's, under Nehru in 1950's.

Today with the US imposing 25% tariffs on South Korea there is no government to make a response or strategy to deal with this.

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A Story of the American West in 2026- at the BLM Bureau of Public Lands Quartzsite site in Arizona offering camping for $160 for 7 winter months. A story that reflects on an alternative lifestyle for people who were laid off during the pandemic in the restaurant or other business, or people recovering from illness looking for less than fulltime work, as well as others with RV's on recreational trips. No economic exchange most of it on barter basis.

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The biography of Lula da Silva on the Brazil government site gov.br 2025. It shows Lula as one of 8 children from deep in rural Pernambuco state in northeastern Brazil. His mother brought the family to the outskirts of Sao Paulo Guaruja 60 kilometres away on a 13 day trip in an old pickup truck to leave the poor conditions in rural Brazil in 1952. By 1956 the had moved to Sao Paulo in the iparanga neighborhood. He worked at ascrew factory before joining a trade school Brazil's National School for Industrial Learning, studying to become a mechanical lathe worker, making him a metallurgist in 3 years. He then joined Industrial Villares, a large metallurgical company, in Sao Bernardo do Campo, ABC region of Sao Paulo.  This started his career as trade unionist in 1969 elected to the Board, 1972 elected First Secretary, and 1975 elected president of the Union of Workers of Sao Bernardo do Campo and Diadema, representing 100,000 workers. This was aperiod when the military dicatorship was beginning the proces of redemocratization of Brazil. Lula led strikes in 1980, formed the CUT Central Unica de Trabajodores in 1982, ran for Governor of Sao Paulo that year and in 1983 was elected to the Constituent Assembly. The Workers Party was founded on Feb. 10, 1980 during this period of redemocratization. Lular ran for elections as president losing to Cardozo twice in 1994, 1998 and wiining at ae 57 years in 2002.     ...

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A gradual deterioration in people's confidence in government from illegal activities was the threat XI Jinping saw early by 2013, after over 60 years of a single party running China. It has affected his entire outlook on what China's policy needs to be for its long term interest in modernization. A reminder is this account by Chinese state media that says Tomorrow Group run by a Chinese Canadian illegally collected $45 billion in deposits. Illegal collecting of deposits is connected to collecting on false pretenses money for investment or real estate without proper licenses. Shanghai Intermediate Court says $100 million was given to government officials. This company was dismantled between 2016 and 2020 and was run by a 50 year old Canadian Chinese businessman. It included 4 insurers, 2 trust firms, 2 securities firms and a futures company. Other such scandals including for stock manipulation were revealed by 2016. Xi Jinping was made president in 2013. He realized the danger to China of the extent to which the country's economy was exposed to illegal activity in business and what this could do to the country if the Communist party- the only party that China has known since 1900 and Japanese imperialist invasion other than the Nationalist Koumintang party-lost the confidence of the people and failed. The Nationalists party collapsed because of such illegal activities that profited a small group of business people and led to deep discontent in China in the 1930's and 1940's, the period when the Japanese overran most of China and setup puppet regimes. Corruption Control in Authoritarian Regimes- Lessons from East Asia by Cambridge University Press points out that this type of illegal activity led to the delegitimization of the Nationalists party which ruled parts of China not overrun by the Japanese during the period 1920 to 1949. This led to defeat to the Communists in the Civil war with little that even US help under General Joe Stilwell could reverse shown in Barbara Tuchman's book Stilwell and the American Experience in China. The US had not chosen to work with the Nationalists under Stillwell's leadership and Stilwell was even asked to resign by the Nationalists because he protested these illegal activities that undermined confidence in the government and made FDR deeply uneasy about the relationship with the Nationalists. Xi Jinping understood very well that this could happen again if these types of illegal activities were allowed to continue leading to policies he has pursued since 2013. He grasped that this would leave China without strong leadership at a time that was critical for its modernization. ...

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Mr. Modi tells the Summit for Democracy convened by president Biden- "We must jointly shape global norms for emerging technologies like social media and crypto-currencies, so that they are used to empower democracies, not undermine it."Mr. Modi refereed to need for continuous improvement -"There is much we can learn from each other, We all need to constantly improve our democratic practices and systems. And we all need to continuously enhance inclusion, transparency, human dignity, responsive grievance redressal and decentralisation of power."  In India the need to provide benefits to the struggling working classes, farmers and rural households so that democracy works for them is one of Mr. Modi's themes, as is the idea of "dignity" and "respect" for working class people and families that new SPD chancellor Olaf Scholz put forward in his campaign for Germany. For this to happen he told the virtual summit-  "Democracy is not only of the people, by the people, for the people, but also with the people, within the people." Within the people he said is about democracy becoming a part of the culture of the country. This happens with the concerted effort of many generations. In India this effort started under the British with Dadabhai Naoroji elected to the British parliament as a Liberal and continued into the 1910 period with 1 million people given the vote in India, and into the 1930's with 5 million, leading to the elections in the 1950's under Nehru and Sardar Patel with woman having the right to vote, and to today's 900 million large voter base. A lot of the work was done under Mohandas Gandhi and the leaders around him such as Govind Vallabh Pant and Ambedkar, with respect for the rule of law, for rights of citizens, and parliamentary institutions, and learning from the British system of democracy even after feeling the effects of colonial rule, looking for the best in all nations. Gandhi's genius lies in his willingness to take British ideals as a starting point and start building from that, leading to Clement Atlee's decision to withdraw and help setup the basis for the first Constituent Assembly to write India's Constitution by 1950. ...

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India vs England cricket Test series 2025 ends with Siraj bowling out Atkinson and India winning by 6 runs. "Test cricket" going back to the days of Gary Sobers and Richie Benaud in 1960. In one Test at the Gabba in Brisbane in 1960, the West Indies and England were down in the last ball to one run and the game ended with a tie, both teams at the same score. That Test is considered the most or one of the most memorable of all time. This one with Gill and Siraj, Root and Stokes joins that one. For all days at Headingley, Old Trafford, Lord's, Birmingham, and the Oval, crowds packed the stadium, and a billion people watched the series in India, UK, Australia, US, and other countries on television.

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Karan Singh and the Indian Express's Manoj C. J. take us on a journey through time to the decisions made since 1927 by one of India's most famous princely rulers Hari Singh of Srinagar. Hari Singh represented the princely states of India at the Round Table Conference in London when Mohandas Gandhi was negotiating with the British for self-rule. Karan Singh was appointed Regent in the state in 1949 after Hari SIngh left the state and the princely states were being integrated to form a new nation Bharat following independence from Britain. He continued as chief of state till 1965 when he became governor of the state till 1967, then served for 40 years as a member of parliament.

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The evolution of Mumbai from the British period to the post independence period with trade union movements, was followed by a shift to politics on the basis of getting jobs for local Marathi people in what was once the commercial capital of the British Empire. This kind of politics was led by Mr. Thackeray after 1967. As this report in The Hindu says Mr. Thackerayand the party Shiv Sena highlighted the plight of unemployed Marathi youth  through his party's weekly Marmik. The first government of Mr. Thackeray's party was formed for the state of Maharashtra which includes the city of Bombay by Manohar Joshi in 1995.  Both the trade union movements of Mr. Fernandes in Mumbai and the ethnic politics of Mr. Thackeray failed to provide the development needed for the state of Maharashtra because of the lack of the technology and capital needed and the knowledge of industry needed that could be applied on an American scale, much like the flawed efforts of Mao's politics in the Great Leap Forward, and the Great Proletarian Revolution in the post 1960's period.   ...

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The DJT Executive Order removing birthright citizenship on Jan 20, 2024 applies to future undocumented immigrants, and is based on the part of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution passed in 1866 by the US Congress and ratified by states in 1868.  The 14th Amendment came after the US Civil War and was aimed at giving emancipated black slaves citizenship. The US Supreme Court gave US citizenship to one Chinese immigrant in US vs Wong in 1898 following the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This did not set a precedent as at that time immigration from Asia was extremely restricted and the case was not intended to apply to millions crossing borders as this did not exist. For most of the period 1900-1960 Asian immigration was negligible because of the laws in existence until the Kennedy administration. Immigration from Mexico was mainly for US agricultural farms. When this led to a surge in illegal crossing of the US Mexican border in 1944-1954 a similar situation to today existed when Eisenhower conducted Operation Wetback in 1954 to deport about 1 million undocumented immigrants. ...

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A senior Indian diplomat, and former ambassador to China, Gautam Bambawale, says China's action in the June 15 clash at Galwan Valley was the worst violence since 1967. He sees it as a premeditated and well thought out action. His view is that India's relations with China will deteriorate further. That this was an action by the PLA to take territory to what it sees as the LAC or border. For small tactical gains he says "China has strategically lost India." This will impact trade and other relations going forward in his view.  Nothing of this sort was expected says Bambawale. All the agreements put in place since 1993, everything for tranquillity at the border, all the mechanisms, have now collapsed. Bambawale has provided a very lucid and clear account of the relations and the border issues. He goes on to say that Chinese observers have given reasons for the Galwan clash with PLA- that India should stay away from the US and other democracies such as the European Union. Some reflection shows that the opposite has happened. And further reflection would show that the same situation was repeated in the period of transfer from British Empire to Republican India, and from Nationalist China to Communist China from the period 1947 onwards. Different perceptions and different leaderships that gave the perception of gaps between the two countries. In the 1950's after the Korean War Chinese perceptions about India could have led to the incursions that brought China to the borders of India in 1950, similar perceptions of gaps in development and capabilities could have led to the conflict in 1962. From 1993 peace prevailed with India after China entered the World Trade Organization under president Clinton in 2001 following a 10 year effort. Because the focus in China was on development after a series of crises, internal sense of a widening technological gap with the US and Europe, disagreements with the Soviet Union, and the experiments with market economy, internal struggles for democracy. With that period coming to a close as the new trading relationship has led to working class losses in factory jobs in the US, China is faced with protecting its economy as it and the US look at changing supply channels and how it affects both countries. It is a critical time for China as it faces governments in US, France, UK and Canada determined to protect their own interests in manufacturing jobs, renewing supply channels, and in technological advancement. The response is similar to that in 1962 when seen from the Communist party perspective as a gap has opened up with India following China's progress in the 30 year trading relationship with the US and Europe. That gap and the difficult situation China faces today with the US and EU in trade and technology has brought forward the Galwan clash and future clashes in Ladakh and at the border.  As Mr. Jaishnkar, India's Minister of External Affairs as well as former ambassador to China,  has pointed out this is a very different aspirational India that China faces. The same kind of grassroots development that happened in China and rapid pooling of capital, human resources and technology inputs for development is taking place in India, and will continue for the next two decades, quickly bridging any gaps in modernization between the two countries. The difference between a youthful population in India and aging population in China and Japan, is likely to add another dimension. China's Buddhist culture that came from India is not likely to go away, more likely is that China will see a revival of Buddhist ideas of wellness and living more as culture than religion. The experience with British colonialism that prevailed both in India and China, and which from its base in India caused so much grief to China during the Opium wars will recede from memory. Extending borders from historical memory of Japanese incursions into border areas in Manchuria could have led leaders after 1950 in China to extend borders to remote areas in the Arunachal region of India and communist theory books may have created the perception of defensive moves. In the context of an aspirational India similar to China, and no real intention on the part of India to extend itself in any way to China's provinces in Sichuan, this extending of borders as a defensive move will be seen as stemming from memories of Japanese incursions in the 1930's, but simply costly and not relevant in any way to China's own aspirational development and progress. ...

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This editorial in the NYT says the Roberts U.S. Supreme Court is setting its own course compared to the earlier courts. It is not supporting precedent in the manner of the 1930's court or giving credence to social consensus as the 1960's court did.

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A sign of how VW has faded in the American market. In 1970 the VW van sold at $20,000. Sales were 570,000 in 1970. Today the 2025 EV Van (ID.Buzz) priced at $60,000 has'nt made much opf a dent in the market with 2025 sales at under 10,000. It can charge up from 10 to 80 percent in 30 minutes in a DC fast charger. Its two tone yellow and white colors were a key part of its attractiveness to buyers, which were not produced on the production line. 

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Jack Tramiel set of the computer revolution since 1977 with his Commodore personal computers targeted at lower price points than the competition. This included the Apple II which was outsold by the Commodore PC's in the early 1980's. He described this as going for "the masses, not the classes." He was a Holocaust survivor from Poland who made his way to the U.S. in 1947, launched a typewriter business, then a calculator business in Toronto, and thereafter moved to Palo Alto, California. A visit to Japan in the 1960's resulted in him launching a calculator business. An acquisition of a chip supplier brought him into contact with one of the employees who had developed a new microprocessor. This led to the beginnings of the Commodore line of PC's.

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Black and white pictures of the legendary Indian hockey player Dhyan Chand who took India to gold medals in hockey in 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympic games. Each time with stick skills and persistence in the field. Like Vinoo Mankad in Indian cricket Dhyan Chand goes back to a period long forgotten. Mankad belonged to the period just after independence 1946 -1959, Dhyan Chand goes back to the period under the British Empire. His birthday August 29 is now India's National Sports Day. The Khel or Games Ratna Award is now named after him. National Stadium in New Delhi is now Dhyan Chand Stadium. The name evoked much pride during the 1920's and 1930's when India was still struggling for independence and striving to become a new nation.

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An example of the kind of information spread even in BBC and American media about US inability to make the most advanced chips because TSMC founders have decades of experience. In fact TSMC founder Morris Chang acquired his experience in chips in the US. The decades of TSMC experience are merely since the late1990's. The US was the only country making these chips when China was mostly an agricultural economy in the 1990's. It is only because of hidden subsidies and bad economic theory, that US let the chip technology be outshored. As soon as the people of America make the decision, bad economic theory will be discarded, and US will support its own chip manufacturing under bipartisan support in Congress and the White House, with the full support and funding of the American government.  The US can get things done once it makes up it's mind as the whole Nation. Advanced chips will happen very quickly in the US with the process already under way and supported by the whole Nation. People forget that bigger than chips, bigger than technologies of today, the Industrial Revolution of the 20th century began under Frances Perkins and Franklin Roosevelt in New York during FDR's term as Governor as New York State. It was at that time that New York state  was setup as the model of industry and labor, with new institutions and industrial landscape engineered by FDR and Perkins. This was transferred to 50 states during the 1930-1950 period- this is the industrial structure and economic structure that brought the Second Industrial Revolution in the 20th century to the world. Taiwan did not exist till 1950's emerging from Japanese rule, China from Japanese occupation till 1945, not emerging till 1990. ...

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US naval blockade of Iran in Arabian Sea starts April 13 2026. US destroyed Iran's larger ships 158 of them, yet Iran also has a fleet of smaller attack boats which it plans to use in Hormuz. These are harder to detect and can be hidden in coves along the Iranian coast and used against ships. The US with its naval blockade is now prepared to do what it has done also in Venezuela, stop and interdict fast drug boats on the Venezuelan side in the Atlantic ocean. By blockading Venezuela in the ocean US is using its strengths, and stopping drug boats its ability to pinpoint traffic on the ocean. Similar capabilities are well suited to Arabian Sea and Red Sea on the open oceans and away from narrow Hormuz playing to US strengths and capabilities. Aircraft carriers and destroyers and the US Air Force is in a position to do what it does best control open seas like the British did in their heyday of the Royal Navy for most of 1750-1920. This avoids options of Hormuz itself with its narrow 15 mile gap of water between Oman and Iran too close to mountainous terrain on either side, and of the Kharg Island option which would require special forces to be backed up with more ground forces. This is the most viable option and the interlude of couple of weeks has given the president an opportunity to make a better choice for positioning the US forces where the US has its strongest points. What is lacking is the individual powers of Britain and France whose leaders Starmer and Macron have popularity below 20%. Yet the US is better off making good choices and not having these nations alongside. The posturing by European nations is limited to France and UK, as Germany and Italy are in sync with the US position. Much of the media operates as if the goal of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to the Middle East is not important for long term peace for nations such as China and India with about 3 billion people and the billions of people of Asia, Latin America and Africa. For the first time in 400 years since 1600 as Asian civilizations began a long decline China and India have emerged in 2000-2030 into the kind of modern economies and societies that exist in Europe and the US. The last thing they need is the risk of destroying the Modern World with nuclear proliferation when it took centuries to get to the right opportunity after 1950 to modernize China and India. Xi's and Modi's generation are the first to experience modernization in Asia after Japan's experience. ...

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Ms. Park Geun-hye, candidate for president in S. Korea's 2012 elections from the ruling New Frontier Party. She is the daughter of former president Park Chung-hee from the Korean military, who ruled during the 1960's and 1970's in the period following the Korean war.

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BBC looks at the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 that allocates waters of 6 rivers. Waters of three rivers in the east going to India, and 80% of waters of three western rivers including the Indus river going to Pakistan. Both countries are required to share waters data to manage agriculture. India is upstream for these rivers.  In the same way China is upstream of the river Brahmaputra in India and is building dams in Tibet to control flow of water downstream to India. There is no treaty for the Brahmaputra between India and China as China has occupied Tibet since 1950's and acquired Aksai Chin in the Kashmir region from Pakistan. Before 1950 for ten centuries Tibet region was a distant land mostly unreachable from China and China was never in control of Tibet. Kashmir region for 15 out of 18 centuries since 100 BC was a land of Vedic, Buddhist Shiva cultures. For China the occupation of Tibet on the borders of India creates a situation that is not sustainable for long and stretches resources at a time when India is rapidly building the same level of infrastructure on its side of the border. Chinese people in the provinces bordering Tibet have shown little interest in moving to the vastly different high country of Tibet. At some point in history not too distant by 2050, China (and Japan) will revert to its Buddhist religion and culture and with respect for Buddhist culture see Sarnath, Kushinagar, and Bodh Gaya more as sacred pilgrimage places in India, a common heritage with India to be treasured and revered. Something the Europeans and Americans cannot comprehend, the depth and breath of Vedic Buddhist and Shiv culture in Asia. ...

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UNICEF say 2.5 million children are not attending school in Syria and another 1 million are in danger of dropping out. And that one third of school buildings are destroyed. This is what is left after decades of civil war. The intervention of local and foreign powers in the Arab world has led to huge breakdowns in society, and massive destruction in countries facing civil war such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya. This is the kind of situation that happened in China's northern and southern provinces in the 1930's, and 1940's. A new pathway for peaceful development outside of ideologies and socialist movements, pan arabist or religious movements need to be found for the region, the Arab world in North Africa to the Middle East. China, Korea, and Vietnam found a way out after civil wars over 1940-1975. India is putting out a map for a course of action with Vikshit Bharat  or Developed India after two centuries of stagnation under the British Empire 1756-1947, and 5 decades of stagnation under the Congress Raj 1947-2000. The spirit of development and desire for modernization, for modern science and technology, good governance and institutions, must come from within.   ...

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The succumbing ethical roles of Ivy League graduates is the topic of this article in the WSJ. The author says that deprived of good role models at Ivy League universities they are not as good material to become good leaders themselves than students of less well known schools and state universities. Eisenhower and Truman some of the country's most respected presidents in the 1940's and 1950's came from ordinary schools and struggled through jobs and long hours to provide the leadership the country required at the time. During the pandemic the country needs this kind of basics of leadership and character in its young people.

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As an outside with no political experience Park won 3 terms as mayor of Seoul. He was a prominent civil rights lawyer, helping win South Korea's first sexual harassment case in early 1990's. Now he is dead after taking his life in a situation where a former secretary filed a sexual misconduct case at a Seoul police precinct 2 days earlier, making all of Seoul pause in disbelief at what has happened. As a human rights lawyer who struggled during the dictatorships in the 1980's he will be mourned as someone with so much potential for South Korea, say people who watched him over 30 years.