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The Washington Post showing which programs and which fields in the US lead to higher income growth over 15 year period. The studies have looked at 1 million graduates in American colleges over many years to see which programs have the highest payoff for young students. The conclusion is that education programs pay off at every level. It is based on data from 2008 for 89 public colleges in Texas, and is the most detailed so far.

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PM of Sweden Ulf Kristersson on the Joint Statement of the Nordic nations with India. Joint Statement: 3rd India-Nordic Summit, Oslo, 19 May 2026 Published 19 May 2026 1.  Today in Oslo, the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, the Acting Prime Minister of Denmark, Ms. Mette Frederiksen, the Prime Minister of Norway, Mr. Jonas Gahr Støre, the Prime Minister of Finland, Mr. Petteri Orpo, the Prime Minister of Iceland Ms. Kristrún Mjöll Frostadóttir, and the Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr. Ulf Kristersson, held the 3rd India-Nordic Summit hosted by the Norwegian Prime Minister. This Summit builds upon the previous two Summits held in Copenhagen in 2022 and Stockholm in 2018. 2. The Prime Ministers noted that they are meeting at a time of global geopolitical flux and rapid economic and technological transformation and agreed on the need to deepen the partnership between India and the Nordics for mutual benefit based upon shared interests and values and to cooperate in addressing global challenges. In this context, they decided to elevate the India-Nordic relationship to a trusted Green Technology and Innovation Strategic Partnership. 3.  As leaders of vibrant democracies and large open market economies, they underscored their shared interest in fostering a robust and resilient global order based on international law that promotes peace, stability, inclusive economic growth and sustainable development.  4. They reaffirmed their commitment to upholding international law, shared values and obligations including democracy, freedom, human rights, gender equality, rule of law, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and international peace and security in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Charter. 5.  The Leaders discussed international peace and security including the conflicts in Europe and the West Asia/Middle East. 6. They discussed opportunities for collaboration in trade and investment, blue economy, circular economy, digital infrastructure, digitalisation and artificial intelligence, climate action and energy security, fighting pollution, water, research and education, talent mobility, healthcare, space & geospatial sectors and defence. UN, multilateralism and international cooperation 7.   The leaders reiterated the importance of an effective multilateral system, with the United Nations at its core. They confirmed their commitment to work towards reforming the UN, including the UN Security Council, to make it more representative, inclusive, transparent, efficient, accountable, effective and reflective of the contemporary geopolitical realities. The Nordic Prime Ministers reiterated the support of the Nordic countries for permanent membership for India in a reformed and expanded UN Security Council. The Nordic leaders welcomed India’s application to the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG), and emphasized the importance of the international multilateral export control regimes in upholding non-proliferation and international peace and security. Trade, investment and economic cooperation 8.  The leaders emphasised the importance of a continued central role for the World Trade Organization in the multilateral trading system and global trade governance. They underscored the importance of a fair, open, transparent, equitable, non-discriminatory, inclusive and rules-based multilateral trading system, with WTO at its core. 9.   They acknowledged the significant economic exchanges in the form of trade and investments between India and the Nordic countries in promoting sustainable economic growth, prosperity, circular economy, bioeconomy, sustainable development and supply chain resilience. 10. To facilitate trade and investments and contribute to the objective of sustainable development, they particularly welcomed the entry into force of the India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership agreement and the conclusion of the India-EU Free Trade Agreement. The leaders also welcomed the active business exchanges in the margins of the Summit and highlighted the need of continued business exchanges to identify opportunities. The leaders stressed that in addition to the economic benefits by enhancing market access and removing trade barriers, the India-EU FTA and India-EFTA TEPA could support economic security and resilience through diversifying critical value chains and opening new markets. They welcomed the shared objectives under TEPA that EFTA states shall aim for investment of USD 100 billion leading to creation of one million direct jobs in India. 11.   The leaders further emphasized the need of undertaking initiatives to improve connectivity between the Nordic and the Indo-Pacific regions, including in line with the continued development of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. ...

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This DD India video shows the prime ministers of all the Nordic Nations in meetings with prime minster Modi of India- the prime ministers of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland. India has strengthened relations on 3 levels - the bilateral, Nordics as a group, Nordics as part of European Union, for close understanding and close cooperation over the next 15 years. Norway has a plan for 15 year collaboration with India in a range of fields including for its Sovereign Fund. It is now at the level of a new Green and Strategic Partnership that shares close goals and a common spirit. The PM of India used the word "sambandh", and the PM of Iceland brought this up as a spiritual basis of the cooperation that was the main and common feeling bringing these nations of Northern Europe into a spiritual bonding with India over the next 15 years around shared values of democracy, rules based order, and rule of law, everything that India treasures in Western civilization and Europe in Indian civilization. The relationship is shared across all fields including scientific and technological cooperation, education, space, agriculture and fisheries, industry, renewable energy, defense, other fields. ...

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Questions China faces on AI- 17% high youth unemployment and 200 million young people in the gig economy in low wage demanding work. Chinese Communist party wants to see a stable China that can pursue industrial progress for decades like the European Union and the US. For this reason it is not going to let this level of dissatisfaction with high youth unemployment and low wage demanding work for young people to go to the next level. For this reason it will carefully make investments in AI -not the hyper investments in AI that are taking place in the US. The competition with China is going to take place on many fronts, and the industrial bloc created by the EU with India and Nordics has a 15 year plan during which it and the US are likely to far exceed anything China does at a slower rate of growth. As in the US choices will have to be made in China, investment in one area means disinvestment in other areas that have equal or more priority. Today's capital markets are in complete dysfunction in the US operated by a few banks and tech company leaders, similar to the situation prevailing in pharmaceuticals and healthcare. Investment priorities and planning are needed. It is a major error to say US cannot plan that capitalism does not have planning, because it is absolutely true that planning goes on at every level in American companies with Xerox, IBM, Oil Companies and other large companies, all having a Long Range Plan as well as planning for individual projects and investments in plants. If a good infrastructure plan, project by project, state by state, and at the local level, is not put in place this will simply not take place. If no good reindustrialization plan, project by project, state by state, and at the local level, is not put in place, this will simply not take place. In that case the competition with China would surely be lost before it had begun. Yet that is surely not the case, as every good American company has a long term plan. And this plan looks at all the potential investments the Nation can and should make in priorities and in the interests of the Nation and the People. All have to compete for resources and AI surely would not get the lions share of resources in China, or in the US, in a fair and well run market system where planning rightly takes place, because it would displace the very basic structure of a fair and well balanced economy that serves the American people, or the people of European Union and India, or the people of China. ...

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Pew Research 2026 shows Americans more optimistic about use of AI for medicine, healthcare, and for data analysis, and worry about loss of creative thinking and meaningful relationships. Nowhere does Pew ask the real question to the public- "Do you support the diversion of trillions of dollars that would rebuild America's broken infrastructure built in the 1930's and 1960's, and the reindustrialization of America that creates millions of jobs, do you support the diversion of these trillions of dollars that creates these jobs and a better quality of life for Americans, divert it to hyperscale investments of trillions in AI technologies?" Already the majority of Americans simply asked the question about AI in general are opposed. When this question is put about the waste of trillions of dollars desperately needed for quality of life and standards of living, an overwhelming majority of Americans regardless of politics, class and gender are likely to say NO. ...

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Except for professional schools in law and medicine masters degrees in many fields have high unemployment in 2026. 40% of employers are not hiring MBA's in 2026 according to Drexel University research. By 2021 after 20 years there was 69% increase in Masters degrees programs to 33500 programs in the US. The surge in programs for Masters degree in many subjects is now showing strains. Many employers knowing the impact of AI are questioning whether a Masters degree is that necessary for performance, and some are deciding on the basis of whether a candidate can do the job with his or her skillset.

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There is a lot the US can and needs to do in healthcare, pharmaceuticals and housing, in correcting overinvestment in AI that needs to rebuild US infrastructure and industry that creates jobs that Kessler fails to mention. Yet what is clear is that the insight and the knowledge of how to accomplish this will not come without a strong educational background that includes professional courses as well as strong coursework in Economics, Government and History, and Languages. City Journal shows zero schools require Economics and 15% require Government and History to graduate- creating an ill equipped generation of students in 2026, poorly equipped to understand, grasp and tackle the Nation's problems.

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What a kitchen looks like, what a kitchen renovation looks like with a budget of $1 million - or similar in simple style, no bells and whistles, could be done for less than $100,000. A kitchen one could use with small children or grandchildren out in the garden, as this one is for a Danish owner of a house on Lake Zug in Switzerland.

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Warnings that Wegovy and other weight loss drugs can cause significant muscle loss.

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WSJ on how America's political establishment lied about Covid's real origins in a Lab in Wuhan, China, after some in the American scientific community ignored prudent warnings about possible accidental release, and sent the virus from the US lab to a lab in Wuhan that was not fully prepared to handle it. In reality the Biden administration erred when it did not conduct an open assessment of what had happened, because this would have earned and kept the people's trust instead of dividing the country into vaccine believers and vaccine unbelievers.  Sections of the virologist community in the US and in China that promoted such research against the advice of others in the scientific community could have accepted their error with humility. The people of Asia have made great advances in this century- some call it the Asian century- great advances in manufacturing and in science. Yet they are not so fragile, the people in the Buddha lands and the land of Gandhi are not not so fragile that they could not accept that what they had achieved was on the shoulders of what hundreds of European scientists and inventors had done over three centuries since 1700. And that there was much to learn. The Chinese people and government can look with great self-respect for what they had achieved in the last 100 years not to need the condescension of the virologist community.  In a sense this divided the US people's perceptions of China, with half of the country skeptical about the virologist community's explanations accepted by the Biden administration. This was not in any way good for China and the Chinese people. In fact one can say that by handling this with an open mind would have clearly built more trust in China-US relations, and that China- US relations reached the lowest during the end of the Biden administration point with the Balloons incident. And recovered afterwards to this point of mutual respect under a frank president with candor and respect. This vaccine blunder also created further culture wars conflicts around the US, to ones based on race, LGBTQ, and other less consequential matters than the deindustrialization and loss of America's manufacturing base and its best jobs in huge numbers under the watch of Bush and Obama administrations, and their followers in the Republican and Democratic parties. What happened is that the country was split on race, gender, immigration, and belief in Christian values. Issues such as nuclear non proliferation (Iran) presented in ways that adversely affect the US. by calling it something else. In all such issues honesty is the best policy, dealing in a straight forward manner wiht the public is the best course, for reasons that are timeless and well recognized. Failure to do so on the part of the Elites only creates distrust of official explanations by the people of America. ...

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DW.com on what international students from India or China pay at EU universities-  44000 euros in UK vs 4000 euros or less in Germany and France. For Chinese or Indian students Germany and France offer education for bachelor and masters degress that is attractively priced even at the higher prices being now set by the government. In the past Chinese students in France were able to get Masters degrees at very little cost. Germany is looking at the higher prices as a way to increase the salaries of teaching staff and professors whose salaries lag far behind the salaries in the US and other countries. For China and India no aid program is as vital for their economies and industrial development as the access the EU provides to its universities and educational system at a fraction of the real cost. Today German universities are attracting large numbers of Indian students from middle class families where the parents life goals are to get their children into European universities. American universities cost significantly more today as American bachelors and masters degree can cost upwards of 50,000 euros a year. Even local students in the US pay between $30,000 and $100,000 a year making bachelors and masters degrees no longer affordable for much of the American middle class and leaves working class parents children totally out of the universities system. One immigrant is from Cuba- Marco Rubio of Florida, now Foreign Minister of the US. He describes in his book - "Decades of Decadence How America's Spoiled Elites Blew Up Inheritance of Liberty, Security and Prosperity"- an average factory job in Florida in the seventies enabled his parents to send him to college, which he says is no longer possible for immigrants to the US today, and no longer possible for working class parents in general. For this reason Germany and France have to be commended for their generous policies towards Chinese and Indian students. Increases in the university prices in Germany and France to 4000 euros a year for international students makes a lot of sense when British universities charge about 44000 euros a year. ...

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Thucydides, Greek historian on the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens 431 BC, cited by Xi Jinping of China during DJT visit to China, May 2026. “Can China and the United States transcend the so-called ‘Thucydides Trap’ and forge a new paradigm for major-power relations?” "Thucydides Trap," is about one established power being threatened by another rising power, as Sparta felt threatened by a rising Athens in the Greek world around 431 BC, leading to a long over 30 years war.  “The Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” Xi said, of Taiwan, an island near China's coast where ChiangKaishek set up his government after the fall of his government in Beijing in 1949 to Communist People's Army of Mao Zedong. “If mishandled, the two nations could collide or even come into conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into a highly perilous situation."  What China sees is a future of strong economic growth based on China having built its industrial strength and world trade to exceed 1.2 trillion dollars of trade surplus in 2026. Yet this is only the beginning. US and European Union, and India+Japan are three economic regions compared to the situation in Greek history. The combined three economic regions potential for scientific and industrial advances in the future till 2045 in a synergistic fashion one building on top of the other's advances, far exceed the potential of the Chinese economy and industry by itself. This is why any such conflict may over time fizzle away as three economic regions of EU, US and India advance, particularly the 1.4 billion people of India, which will see growth rates of 20% annually for 10 years to 2035 in Eastern Indian region of the size of the EU. That region extends from Lucknow and Patna to Vizag and Chennai. Another aspect of this concerns China itself which sees slowing growth of 5% in 2026. Growth could slow further as US, European Union and India/Japan push back on Chinese exports during a period of reindustrialization in US, EU, Japan and rapid industrial development in India to 2040. China's development is only midway in terms of per capita GNP which lags most of Europe and the US, Japan. Thus the main concern in China is that China will not be able top go beyond middle income country as its demographics and aging population look more like Japan's over the period 2026-2040. China needs the US EU trade and markets for it to meet the needs and aspirations of its 1.4 billon people as the other engines of development such as housing construction, infrastructure building, have lost momentum. ...

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A video tour of Zhonghanhai Compound of China's leaders and DJT on the tour as guest of president Xi. See the ancient trees including two cypress trees with their trunks growing together called 'Lianli Bai.'

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BBC says "tech's seedy side exposed" by Musk- Altman trial 2026. Let's face it there is a seedy side, and a much less benevolent side to Tech than it likes to show. The overspending on AI is a sign of misplaced priorities when so much of US infrastructure is dilapidated, much of it from before 1945, that badly needs to be rebuilt. Much of the promise of hardware from Tech that would change education is a failure so much so that Sweden is shifting on a nationwide effort in its schools to a program - "from screens to binders" that gives children binders with notebooks to write in and books to read, removing screens altogether, and for good reasons of the educators of Sweden. Tech in its grandiose style pretends it is about the technological revolution when it is simply the companies Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, three of which are from the last 15 years. The technological revolution and the scientific revolution date back to Copernicus and Newton and the hundreds, thousands of scientists and pioneers of the industrial revolution of the last 250 years, and the men of vision and wisdom that gave us the British and American Constitution, the principles of self-government of civilized societies. ...

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Reggio Emilia and support for early childhood education attracts Princess Kate to make a visit to Italy in May 2026.  "Ciao Kate," nice public greeting for Kate in Reggio Emilia, Italy, welcoming her after cancer diagnosis and recovery.  This is the town where the Italian tricolor flag originated. It is also a town with a strong tradition of support for public services and education. Kate wants to create a global conversation on early childhood education. This is an important idea and part of the concepts behind the Movement for Global Literacy in Lyrarc. Literacy for a child in China is not much different in its basic idea from that of a child in Britain, India, Italy or America. And reading, knowledge of the outside world forms a critical part of this early education, little concepts that are built into larger concepts of the world.

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That code relying on honor for students taking exam no proctoring, was set in 1893. Now after 133 years Princeton University in eastern US is going back to proctoring to prevent students using AI for exams.

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A makeover in a state that relied a lot on government services and high taxes to fund these services run by the state. A shift away from this tax funded government run model of services to getting private initiative involved, letting private investors take risks and try out new ideas in education, public services. Sweden has also moved away from reliance on laptops and ipads, on electronic screens for early and middle school education, preferring an older style of binders and writing on paper. Having realized that the electronic screen had not delivered on reading comprehension the way books and reading hard cover books did, and realizing that writing skills come from taking a pen and writing on real paper, rewriting and rewriting. Realizing that education does not require fancy tools, basically good teachers, good books and a basic drive to learn, a curiosity of mind and dedication to putting in the work required. This is something that is also part of Lyrarc's Movement of Global Literacy with Sweden at the forefront in trying out new ideas, and dropping failed ones. ...

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China's 15th Five Year Plan with shift to robotics, semiconductors, EV's, renewable energy, and lower investment in education, healthcare- the shift to a slowing economy, job losses. GDP per capita one third of the US much lower than most of southern Europe or Eastern Europe. China is still a middle income country. Unlike Japan which surpassed most of EU countries  GDP per capita, China with 1.4 billion people is a vast country. The shift in the emphasis in the 5 year Plan means economic growth  of 10-12% is now only 5%. With the collapse in housing construction and slowing manufacturing facing tariffs in the US means job losses.

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Try these other museums in Paris knowing the Louvre and the Musee de Orsay get 10 million visitors and 4 million a year respectively. Other suggested museums in Paris 2026 are- the Musee de Metiers and the France National Archives. France National Archives will have a special exhibit on the Marquis de Lafayette for Spring and Summer. It comes at the right time for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the US. Lafayette was a friend of Jefferson and fought alongside the Americans with George Washington. This should be an interesting exhibit.

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Suvendhu Adhikari, new Chief Minister of West Bengal, India in 2026.

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Southern Indian state of Madras in 1952 and the administration of Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) in 1952 following elections. Madras state at the time consisted of most of what is now southern India, as the Madras Presidency of the British Empire. The first governor general of India Rajaji was brought in to run the state after the Nehru Congress party failed to win an outright majority and the Communist Party and opposition made major gains. Rajaji's administration led to the successful administration of Congress leader Kamaraj still known for its school lunch programs and advancement of education and healthcare in Tamilnadu. Today Tamilnadu faces anew challenge as the upset win by the TVK party under Vijay seeks to take the state in a new direction after mismanagement of the economy  and lack of state-federal coordination under the previous administration of the DMK party. The messy period in India from the 1950's is similar to the messy period in China in the 1950's to the 1970's with the upheavals under Mao. Still China found its way by 1990 as India does today with a commitment to rapid industrialization and modernization,  federal-state coordination on industrial and infrastructure projects at scale and speed. ...

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West Bengal gets a new start after 50 years of mismanagement, corruption and breakdown of law and order, and economic failures, with a new BJP Modi led administration. The speed of the changes are simply astonishing as a state of close to 100 million people -where industrialization never took off as it has in other states, and rural poverty exists in ways thought to belong to the colonial days under the British- gets an administration at the federal level under Modi committed to industrialization, modernization of the economy, on the same rapid scale as that launched in the rest of eastern India. This is a territory half the size of the European Union, once called the Bengal Presidency under the British Empire, comprised of states of Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam, and Andhra Pradesh, a region where the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers from the mighty Himalayas flow into the sea. It is a low moment for India similar to the period after the Proleterian Cultural Revolution of Mao in China by 1970 and the few remaining leaders under premier Chou-en-lai making a resolute effort under Deng Xiaoping to make a new effort to modernize and industrialize China working with the US and the European Union. That effort went through the initial phase to 1990 to familiarize Communist China with the US and European market systems, and a new phase to 2010 by which time most of these goals had been achieved. India is poised to make that scale of change today over the next two decades as it is already familiarized with the US and European market systems and its net step is in technological advancement and rapid industrialization at scale something that alone can meet the aspirations of the South Asian region. ...

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NT looks at the Florida Advanced Courses and Tests which provide an alternative to the approach taken by the Advanced Placement AP Courses. AP in American History of the College Board differs from FACTS AP history Course in many ways. College Boards AP History gives the history of America as a flawed nation, not the nation we know from the Declaration of Independence that has inspired people around the world with its bold statement "all men are created equal" by Thomas Jefferson that set forth the ideal to reach for. The problem the world feels with the flawed nation idea is that it does not make America the beacon of democracy, the rule of law, of scientific and industrial progress that offer a path to progress for the emerging nations of Africa, Latin America and Asia, that they can emulate. AP History of the College Board does not accept the idea that the Bible was the source of inspiration for the Pilgrims that came to the US on the Mayflower, and not reading the Bible is to not be able top see life as seen by the early settlers of the US, even when there were flaws. ...

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Dell's donation of $750 million to UT Austin, $100 million donation for University of Wisconsin, and $200 million donation by an alumnus of University of Southern California who as a stake in Nvidia- all these donations go to hiring AI faculty and setting AI as the goal for school of computing. USC plans to cover many fields for AI within the university.