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Social psychology shows we feel interactions between people who know each other are safer than with strangers, but it is precisely these interactions that are now spreading the coronavirus if done without social distancing. Less likely to see them as contagious we tend to take more risks with them such as sitting close together, sharing food or hugging them, say social psychologists. In "psychological crowds" such as events, gatherings, perception of health risks is lowered when it is actually present.

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Labor party leader Jonas Stoere says the Norwegian elections have sent a clear signal- "the Norwegian people want a fairer society."  Labor and two center left parties together won 89 seats out of 169 in the Norwegian parliament. Social inequality and climate change are two issues in this election. The shift to labor or center left parties that seek to reduce the social and income divisions in European society is happening across Scandinavia- in Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Norway is an oil rich country that is not an EU member state, with 40% of exports in oil and gas.

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Evergrande relied on presales to finance itself and keep its activities in real estate. A Chinese government crackdown on speculative behaviours and taking on too much debt by property developers led to Evergrande having to offload properties at large discounts. Evergrande is China's second largest developer with $300 billion in debt. Investors have down payments on around 1.5 million properties and face uncertainty in getting money back if housing projects are not completed.

Hong Kong listed shares have collapsed by more than 80% this year. There are risks to financial stability in China if there is a collapse of Evergrande, says this report in DW.com. About 29% of China's economic output is tied to the real estate sector and Chinese in large cities invest savings in apartments as part of speculative investing.

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Protests planned in smaller towns in eastern Germany are the largest since the fall of the Berlin Wall, says this report in DW.com. Protests are against far right AfD and plans to deport immigrants from Germany. About 300,000 people turned out near the chancellery and the Bundestag parliament buildings in Berlin on Saturday Feb. 3, 2024. About 30,000 turned out in Dresden in East Germany. About 1800 organizations have called for protests in Berlin. Luisa Neubauer of the Fridays for Future Climate protests told the crowd according to DW.com- that hope does not fall from the sky, hope is damn hard work and that Germans must live democracy not just passively have democracy. This is showing Berliners and Germans in many cities and small towns in a different light, where the people themselves are taking charge. When political parties from the CDU and SPD, Greens and the Left have let the political landscape fragment with no party having more than 20% support. The future of Germany and the EU depends on these young people out on the streets. ...

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A new rail link would connect western Tibet with Kathmandu, Nepal. This is part of deals signed in Beijing between Nepal and China during visit of Nepal's prime minister Prasad Oli to China.

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Efforts in Ghana to use locally available materials such as clay, laterite and granite chippings to build affordable housing. Ghan needs 2 million new houses per year. A prototype one room house would cost $5000. Solar pumps developed by German engineers are used to cool the home and make it eco-friendly. 

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Efforts by Indian Council of Medical Research to have a vaccine ready by August 15, 2020. India already has 700,000 cases of coronavirus. Bharat Biotech is developing Covaxin in partnership with the National Institute of Virology.

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Mandatory airport tests in Germany. South Africa gets $4.3 billion in emergency financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund as it battles the pandemic through use of the Rapid Financing Instrument. And president Kenyatta imposes a 9 am to 4 pm curfew in Kenya for 30 days.

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This unbelievable story from Berlin, Germany, where dozens of police officers are injured and three hospitalized trying to disperse 20,000 people gathered to protest anti-pandemic measures. 130 people had to be arrested. 1100 officers had to be deployed to monitor the gathering even though there is a spike in cases in Germany. The gathering was done with people not wearing masks and not social distancing. Berlin mayor Michael Muller said they risked the health of other people. The gathering was a mixture of hard left and hard right supporters in a strange mix with shouting "we are the second wave" as the protest reached the Brandenburg Gate. Police had to use loudspeakers to get people to leave the area. And launched legal action for "non-respect of hygiene rules." Some officers were hit by shards of glass.

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This beautiful DW.com video shows the use of face masks in vibrant colors and styles is in the hope that it will become popular. It is of great importance in the fight to stop the spread of coronavirus. A large part of people who have coronavirus are asymptomatic and are a big problem as spreaders of the virus, say health experts. The Robert Koch Institute in Germany recommends use of face masks. Jena is the first city in Germany making them mandatory. Other cities will follow, only not soon enough,

Face masks to prevent spreading the virus are a way of life in China, South Korea. Then why is it so difficult for Europe and the U.S.? Czech Republic and Slovakia have made face masks mandatory. The Center for Disease Control in the U.S. are now revising their guidelines to require people to wear face masks to avoid the spread of the virus, cloth masks or scarfs could be used also.

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Spotlights the shift to lighter materials and focus on fuel efficiency in the airplane industry. Henri Courpron, executive vp procurement at Airbus, says that it will double the use of titanium in the next 3 years to about 8 tons annuallyand will use most of it to make the A380 its largest plane. About 9% of the planned weight for the A350 (to compete with Boeing's 787 Dreamliner) will be titanium. Titanium prices have about doubled in past 18 months, about 100,000 tons are produced annually, with that going up to 150,000 in the next 5 yrars. Airbus finalized deals of $1.4 billion for supply to 2015 with RTI Internation Metals of Niles, Ohio, with a deal with Kamengorsk Titanium-Magnesium Plant of Kazakhstan to supply titanium ore. And a deal with OAO VSMPO-Avisma of Russia.