ASIA: India’s antitrust watchdog on Tuesday ordered an investigation into allegations that Alphabet Inc’s Google abused its Android operating system’s position in the country’s smart television market. The Competition Commission of India (CCI), which last year began looking into a case filed by two lawyers against the U.S. tech giant, said its initial review found Google had […]

COMMENT: Martin, My brother is in town today, and instead of discussing religion (always colorful, as he is agnostic and I am evangelical), we were discussing politics. He is fleeing San Francisco because of their covid lockdowns and is appalled that his liberal friends took the whole narrative hook, line, and sinker. He calls himself a […]

ASIA: China’s imports from Saudi Arabia fell 21% in May from a year earlier but retained their top ranking among suppliers for the ninth month in a row, customs data showed on Sunday. Shipments from Saudi Arabia were 7.2 million tonnes last month, or 1.69 million barrels per day (bpd), data from the General Administration […]

ASIA: Australia’s complaint to the World Trade Organization over China’s anti-dumping duties on wine exports should enable bilateral negotiations, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said on Sunday. The government filed a complaint on Saturday over duties that were applied last year and nearly wiped out exports of Australian wine to the Chinese market. The Australian government […]

ASIA: The Bank of Japan is expected to maintain its massive stimulus and may extend a deadline for its pandemic-relief program on Friday, in a sign that a fragile economy and tepid inflation will keep any exit from its ultra-easy policy a long way off. The decision would come in the wake of hawkish signals […]

ASIA: China’s economy steadied for a second month, a sign that the post-pandemic recovery is in a more stable phase and that growth is slowly rebalancing toward the consumer. Industrial production rose 6.6% in May on a two-year average basis — which strips out the impact of last year’s pandemic — while retail sales grew […]

COMMENT #1:  Re Institutionalizing of Real Estate Market Hi Marty Thank you for this post, I see your point that it is better that hedge funds buy real assets then plunge the world into a financial crisis with a pump and dump scam based on securitizing mortgages into packages calling them A rated when they […]

ASIA: NATO leaders warned on Monday that China presents “systemic challenges,” taking a forceful stance towards Beijing in a communique at Joe Biden’s first summit with an alliance that Donald Trump openly disparaged. The new U.S. president has urged his fellow NATO leaders to stand up to China’s authoritarianism and growing military might, a change […]

ASIA: China has accused the G7 of “political manipulation” after it criticized Beijing over a range of issues. In a joint statement at the end of a three-day summit, leaders of the G7 countries urged China to “respect human rights and fundamental freedoms.” Experts generally agree that China has detained as many as a million […]

  Animals are fascinating. I have noticed with my dog she is very smart and she will communicate with her eyes. She gets a certain look and I know she is ready to play. Then a friend has a newborn and she was so gentle with it that there was a clear understanding that this […]