LyrArc Article Gist
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif faces a trial on corruption charges in Pakistan in 2018, just prior to new elections. The military and the judiciary both support the trial which involves payments for 4 upscale neighborhood London apartments owned by Sharif. 

Mr. Sharif's party leads in polls with about 36% support, higher than the next leading party Tehreek which has 24% support and is led by Imran Khan a former cricketer. The Pakistan People's Party of the Bhutto family comes in third. The result of this could be a weaker coalition government. The Supreme Court has banned Sharif for life from holding political office. Pakistan has seen governments toppled and military rule for half of its 70 years since independence. The rivalry with India and the role of the military has affected political institutions and democracy in Pakistan making peace with India difficult to achieve for any elected government.

LyrArc Article Gist
Attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen on Sauid Arabia's Aramco oil company installations are adding to geopolitical tensions. Houthi rebels in Yemen are supported by Iran and are in a war with a Saudi Arabia led coalition. This report says that the three year conflict has reached a point where instead of targeting Riyadh with missiles the Yemeni rebels in Sanaa are now targeting oil installations of Saudi Arabia. The rebels ousted a Said supported government in Sanaa and the the Saudis have failed to oust them from Sanaa, yet the conflict continues. The increase in geopolitical tensions between Iran and Saudis is pushing up oil prices along with the collapse of Venezuela's oil industry and production. Prices reached $75 a barrel in April 2018. Damage from a Yemeni missile hit a Saudi tanker in the Red Sea, a latest sign that the conflict could disrupt oil tanker traffic going towards the Suez Canal.  Trump administration plans to scuttle the Iran nuclear deal or renegotiate it are also increasing tensions. France's Macron favors renegotiating it compared to scuttling the whole deal, a point he made at the U.S. Congress this week, saying also that France will respect the nuclear deal with Iran. Tensions throughout the Middle East are now part of the rival powers Iran and Saudi Arabia and their proxy allies in the region seeking more influence. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Boeing plans to have a new facility in China complete assembly of its 737 jets by the end of 2018. The finishing center is being built near Shanghai. Boeing's order book is up to 5800 jets at a value of $518 billion. About one fifth are in deliveries planned for China. Inflight entertainment systems, seat systems and other finishing for aircraft will be done at the new facility. Boeing continues to see this a a part of doing business in China even as tensions have increased with China over tariff issues and market access. Boeing says it will continue to assemble 737s at its plant near Seattle, and send some planes for completion to China. Sales to Iran will require following Trump administration guidelines.

LyrArc Article Gist
With the change in U.S. position on climate change, carbon emissions, and the move to raise tariffs on China's exports to the U.S. China faces a new dimension in its global relationships. Against this background China is shifting to a long term view of its relationship with India. China's new foreign policy leaders after the recent party Congress, vice president Wang Qishan and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, now see the need for new partners in a multipolar global world for the long term as China and India countries with large populations and a need for stable world trade share common interests. Wang steers the Central Foreign Affairs Commission with Yang Jiechi as director. China now sees " a lot of shared interests, concerns and positions," in the words of China's Representative Lu, in the long term issues of globalisation, urbanization, pollution, and concern for achieving stable development with high growth rates.  China now takes the long view looking back at the unprecedented change of the last 100 years, as it maps out its plans for the future. The U.S. has challenged the ideas in the blueprint for development of "Made in China 2025," particularly as it relates to western transfer of technology to China. This has created a new situation for which China is still looking for answers, and ways to come up with new strategies for development without the nearly unrestricted access to western technology of the last 2 decades.  Shared positions on world trade with India and India's close relations with the U.S. add credibility in China's  negotiating positions with the U.S.                  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The prospect of improved ties between India and China as president Xi Jinping meets prime minister Modi in an informal summit meeting. China sees India as an important trading partner as its trade relations with the U.S. deteriorate in a trade conflict and higher tariffs on China's exports to the U.S. Mr. Modi of India sees the need to maintain steady economic growth ahead of general elections in 2018 where a good economic record and performance would boost his chances for another term. 

Both India and China see the potential for a larger global role as the U.S. under president Trump seeks a smaller role than in the past. On issues such as climate change China has taken the lead and India is also an active participant in limiting carbon emissions.

 

LyrArc Article Gist
Social Democrats meeting in Weisbaden, Germany, elect a new leader with barely two thirds support. About one third of the delegates in SPD voted against Nahles because of the split within part ranks over which strategy to pursue. after a disappointing result of 20.5% support in the last general elections. This part of the party wants to see a return to its socialist roots, to become a party of the workers as it was during the postwar years under Brandt and Schmidt. The part of the party that supported her wants to see cooperation with the Christian Democrats to continue but with the SPD's unique role and policies. Nahles favors staying in a coalition with Merkel yet bringing its own emphasis in policies in line with SPD policies from the postwar years.   Nahles has to lead the SPD back to a more popularity in line with its role as one of the two main parties in Germany for most of the period since 1950. She has to find a way to do this even though there is skepticism within the SPD about how someone who has occupied prominent positions for many years can renew the SPD. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Median paycheck at Amazon is $28,000 compared to $50,000 at IBM, and much more at Google. Most of the half million people at Amazon work at fulfillment centres and logistics centres and make much less than computer software coders. The median pay works out to be about $14 per hour- the kind of pay for warehouse workers. Even though software is at the core of what it does Amazon is a retailer and is shown as such on the S&P 500. Logistics engineers make $50,000 in average pay at Amazon, and software development engineers make $107,000.

LyrArc Article Gist
Higher oil prices help the U.S. oil industry which is on track to be larger than the oil industry of Russia, now that prices exceed $70 a barrel. Yet another $10 or $15 increase in oil prices could lead to reducing economic growth. Efforts by OPEC to cut production and coordination with Russia has taken most of the excess supply out of the global oil markets, and the economic growth in U.S. and Europe has increased demand.

Analysts say the higher oil prices will negate the benefits from tax cuts for low income families.

LyrArc Article Gist
The 140 billion in stock market losses in GE stock in just the last 12 months (2017-2018) ranks as the worst in history in the corporate world. In this report a retired GE worker at 61 years is shown looking for a second job after the losses wiped out a substantial part of his retirement savings in the form of company stock. This is the worst in history and is about twice that in market losses for Enron, and more than the losses in bankruptcies of GM and Lehman Bros. As a result GE is one of the worst funded pension programs in the corporate world. About $100 billion in pension obligations for 600,000 people who get GE pensions is underfunded by $30 billion. GE will need to borrow $6 billion in 2018 to contribute to the pension plan.

LyrArc Article Gist
President Trump says before a summit meeting with Kim Jong Un of North Korea that the U.S. will not make the mistakes of the past where sanctions relief did not stop the North Korean nuclear weapons program. North Korea will be required to substantially give up and dismantle its nuclear program for serious sanctions relief. The North Koreans favor a phased approach. The U.S. will work to make sure that any dismantling of the nuclear program is such that it is irreversible, so that earlier mistakes where the North Kroeans simply restarted the nuclear work are not repeated.

LyrArc Article Gist
The new head of India's Space Agency ISRO, Kailasavadivoo Sivan, talks to DW.com about the Space Agency's plans for the future. ISRO launched a mission to Mars which went into Mars orbit, at a very low cost.  The Mars Orbiter Mission vehicle is orbiting the planet Mars since 2014. In 2008 ISRO sent an unmanned spacecraft to orbit the moon. The future missions include a second mission to the moon, and a mission to the Sun. The solar mission Aditya-L1 will study the properties of the Sun. Mr. Sivan says his focus includes use of High Throughput Satellites(HTS) for providing high data-rate transmission. This is now available in cities, and the HTS will enable this for remote regions of India. Other focus is in agriculture with information on crops increased from 8 to 15 crops so that farmers have more information on fertility of soil, crop yields. Sivan says progress can be made with more international cooperation and sharing of technology, particularly with India leading the way with low cost high tech applications that benefit education, agriculture, and bringing space applications to people it never reached before. Sivan comes from one of India's villages, which are now experiencing change through India's rapid modernization efforts. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
If China reduced its automobile tariffs to 2.5% from current 25% it would help German carmakers such as BMW that export from U.S. plants to China. BMW as a premium brand is better able to absorb the transport costs and does not manufacture cars in China. U.S. makers Ford and GM would benefit less as they already have plants making cars in China. By not making cars in China BMW does not have to transfer technology to a Chinese partner.

LyrArc Article Gist
One of the longest running conflicts in Europe comes to a close as the ETA separatist group in the Basque region of Spain says it is apologizing for the terrorism and plans its dissolution. The Basque region including cities of San Sebastian and Bilbao has 2.2 million people and its own distinct culture and language. a ceasefire was declared in 2010. This happens as another region in Spain Catalonia is seeking a peaceful separation from Spain. In Catalonia which includes the city of Barcelona the region is divided with about half the people supporting separation and half opposing it.

LyrArc Article Gist
Senior officials from Russia and OPEC producers meet in Jeddah in April 2018 to work out plans to continue cuts in production to reduce inventories and lift oil prices. The deal was first made in 2016 to reduce the glut then prevailing that led to a slump in oil prices to the $50 per barrel level. The agreement has worked to remove about 2% of world oil production. Healthy demand in 2018 from economies of Europe and America has helped lift oil prices with the cuts in production in place to $70 per barrel. A reinstatement of sanctions on Iran could limit supplies from Iran. Venezuelan production is down in its current economic crisis. Russia says it is 100 percent committed to compliance with the agreement with Saudi Arabia and OPEC countries. It was the lack of agreement between Russia and Saudi Arabia with each going its own way following the Russian intervention in Syria favoring Iran that increased the glut in oil supplies in 2015 leading to a fall in oil prices. For some time this hurt the Russian economy and Russia responded by actively devaluing its currency to maintain economic stability and internal growth. The Saudis were hit too by the fall in oil prices limiting new investments in the economy. The new agreement between Russia and the Saudis/OPEC comes after mutual interest has prevailed in the relations of OPEC  and Russia over the geopolitics in the region between Iran supported by Russia and the Saudis. It also comes as relations between the U.S. and Russia are worsening, with increasing investments in the military. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Efforts are being made at the current Commonwealth meeting in London to revive the organization of nations that were part of the British Empire. In earlier years India had stayed away from the organization and it was becoming outdated. Prince Charles personally carried an invitation to prime minister Modi of India asking him to attend Commonwealth meeting in London in 2018. Britain is keen on reviving the organization following plans to exit the EU and set up trade deals with countries such as India.

LyrArc Article Gist
Reports of ATM's running out of cash in India in 8 states. The government says this is a result of a spurt in demand and will ease in a few days. The government's policies are to increase the number of debit card and digital transactions to shift more of the transactions in an underground economy into the formal economy so that tax revenues to fund infrastructure can be generated. As a result fewer currency notes of Rs. 2000 or about $30 are being printed. This is aggravated by black market hoarders of 2000 rupee notes. Public confidence in the banks was shaken by some high profile scandals leading to people keeping extra cash at home increasing the demand. The government plans a bailout of $32 billion for bad loans at banks.

LyrArc Article Gist
Terminal 1 at Heathrow Airport in London is being torn down as it makes way for the expansion of Terminal 2. Terminal 1 was opened as the biggest and most innovative in Europe in 1969- 50 years later it is a relic of the past in airline travel and all artifacts are being auctioned.

LyrArc Article Gist
Japan's car exports have grown in the last six years to double what they were before, growing to $40 billion. This includes a jump in export of SUV's vehicles. Just in the first quarter of 2018 the export of automobiles from Japan to U.S. is up by 10%. Japan is not keen on talking about this issue. President Trump is looking at negotiating a one on one trade deal with Japan instead of through the TPP agreement. as this is seen as a better way to address a $60 billion trade deficit. TPP is not a solution for the U.S. imbalance in trade with Japan as Japan already has no tariffs on imported cars. Yet other barriers exist that make it difficult for U.S. automakers. Ford exited Japan in 2016 and the U.S. has only 1% of the Japanese market. Japanese buyers stay away from American cars and prefer the smaller highly fuel efficient cars made in Japan by Japanese automakers. Perception of buying home made also exist. Other barriers also exist such as zoning and for setting up dealerships, unique safety standards. Japanese automakers make most of the sedans in the U.S. but export the SUV's from Japan. ...