LyrArc Article Gist
The large inequalities in Chilean society are exposed after a transport fare increase leads to violent protests.  A climate tax and fare increases led to protests against inequality in France. The Chilean pension system does not provide the working lass with adequate pensions on which they can retire. Large inequalities in wealth under the Chilean model are seen as a result of free market principles which were enshrined in the constitution of Chile after the departure of Chilean dictator Pinochet. Some of the free market ideas worked to improve living conditions in Chile, others such as the financing of the pension system are seen as having failed to provide for a secure retirement for workers. some of Chile's success can also be attributed to demand and pricing of copper with Chinese demand in the past, a situation confronting Brazil and Argentina also. In Brazil the problem is just the opposite with politicians having granted extremely liberal pensions leaving little room in the budget for public services including basic sanitation.  There are also inadequacies in education and health care based on these free market principles, which favor certain groups and not society at large. Protest movement's goal is a rewriting of the Chilean constitution which president Pinera has declined. ...

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PM Modi opens the Vidya Samiksha Kendra, Command and Control Center setup by the Gujarat state Education Department in Gandhinagar. 

This center uses modern technology to monitor the work of 55,000 secondary schools, 400,000 teachers and 12 million students in the state. The aim is to improve learning outcomes, making certain teachers are conducting the classes, and tracking students if they migrate, looking out for possible dropouts. 

In the past it was seen that poor monitoring of teachers was leading to absenteeism and lack of seriousness. Dropout rates are also a concern and each child is tracked under the program, schools he or she has attended, tests taken and areas of the test where the student did not do well and should get help.

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Steven Hiltner who went as a child to Budapest from Youngstown, Ohio, makes a connection to what he sees as home in this photo journalistic essay on Budapest. This ancient European city on the Danube river in Hungary has much of the architecture of the Austro-Hungarian period from the 16th century. Hiltner takes one through a nostalgic visit to all parts of Budapest and its history, from Buda across the river to Pest, medieval bridges, St. Matthias Church, amazing historical architecture libraries, Castle hill. He isn't fazed by the current opinion about Mr. Orban and the politics of Eastern Europe. He sees the richness of culture in Budapest absent in the homogenous suburbs of Ohio, and a land beyond time.

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Efforts in Utah by Governor Cox to limit the damage to children's mental health from overuse and addiction to social media outlets including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Utah governor Cox says in answer to the question why now, the better question is why didn't we do this 5 years ago. "If this was child cancer or car accidents we would be losing our minds about this," he says. New laws in Utah would put time restrictions and give parents access to messages and posts. Utah and other states will file lawsuits to make tech companies accountable. The CDC found 3 in 5 American adolescent girls had mental health issues in 2021, this has increased every year since 2011.

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Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, calls for fresh elections on September 20, 2021. His term ends in 2023. Trudeau called for elections early as government aid programs have helped Canadians during the pandemic, and Canada has managed to vaccinate 70% of the population over age of 12. The economy is expected to increase by 6% in 2021. Trudeau's party, the Liberals, are popular and Trudeau hopes to increase his progressive base. He currently leads a minority government making it difficult to pass legislation on the government's priorities for child care, clean environment, healthcare, and affordable housing.

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US Business has considerable apprehension about the former president in 2024 compared to its willingness to consider Trump in 2016. At the time executives from investment bank Goldman Sachs and heads of oil companies joined the Trump administration. This time US business and corporate interests are apprehensive about becoming the target of a tweet they might find the next morning under a Trump administration. They are not supportive of student loan forgiveness, but when it comes to the CHIPS and Science Act they see president Biden as effective and helping industry. Business leaders have a negative view on the Trump effort through appointment of 3 Supreme Court Justices of overturning decades old rights of women on abortion, and on this issue alone many will support Harris-Walz, overriding other concerns they might have. The visions of Harris and Trump are so vastly different with one calling climate change a hoax and hyping up social issues and infrastructure needs without any record of delivery when in office, and the other a strong position on climate change, wages and income, delivering on infrastructure and CHIPS that US Business. The result is that it leaves US Business with no better option in 2024 than to support the vision  that takes America forward. There are different sections of the business community which have different priorities.  Silicon Valley, and oil, pharmaceuticals because it profits most from light regulation which brings with it social costs is a special issue not addressed here. Other business, banking, automobiles, and a range of other industries have other priorities yet also see the need for the economy and the US to move forward with a different vision than one that simply ignores climate change, and fails to address child care, child poverty, wide disparities in wealth, and other issues facing of wages, cost of living facing most Americans.  ...

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In working class areas of Northern Ireland, both Catholic and protestant, there is areal sense of disillusionment. As sense that the promise of opportunities never materialized. Educational underachievement and child poverty has increased, made worse by the cost of living crisis. Twenty five years after the Good Friday Agreement ended sectarian clashes between Catholics and Protestants, there is the feeling that this part of Ireland has been left behind economically. The lack of a government in Stormont means decisions for improving health and education or providing social services are not taken.

The 2020 elections showed Sinn Fein focusing on the economy and improvements in the quality of living. In this sense all Irish people are looking for a better life, better governance, and interest in their future from the outside, particularly now that the pandemic is over.

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Ajaz Patel comes from a humble background in Mumbai before moving to New Zealand as a child. Here he recalls the excitement of getting his first cricket spikes. His father worked at his brother's automotive shop in the new country and his mother was a schoolteacher.

Ajaz did the incredible feat of getting all 10 wickets with spin bowling at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai in his first innings bowling for New Zealand. Like Jim Laker 10 for 53 against Australia in 1956, and Anil Kumble with 10 wickets against Pakistan, Ajaz's effort is a result of hard work, patience, and knowhow, says this report in The Times. And in Azaz's situation he had less experience as his first Test match was played at age 30 years. 

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Alissa Rubin of NYT covers a visit by Emmanuel Macron, French presidnetial candidate, to a village in the mountains on the Spanish border where his grand parents lived and where he visited often as a child, and where he learned to cycle, ski and appreciate the outdoors. Macron was born and raised in Amiens, near Paris. His parents are both doctors. He attended a parochial school run by Jesuits, and at age 15 met a teacher of French and drama, Brigitte Trogneux, with whom he fell in love and later married in 2007.

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Democrats approach to tax reform is to retain the removal of tax breaks enacted by the Republicans under president Trump. Democrats simply increase the tax rates in their proposals so that $1 trillion net is generated in new tax revenues to finance the nation's infrastructure, to fund the other building blocks of society through social services, and help to struggling middle or lower income classes. Republican 2017 law changed tax rates for corporations from 35% to 21%. This is now seen as too generous leaving little for infrastructure and other essential needs of society such as education, child care and health. Democrats will adjust the tax rates directly.

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The mandatory social distancing required to overcome the coronavirus epidemic is leading to more parents working from home. With about half the schools in the U.S. closed and entirely closed in other countries, kids are also at home. Traditional options of child care provided by grandparents, family friends are now not acceptable with the required social distancing. This report looks at how parents are coping by setting time aside when kids are asleep for work. Advice to parents offered here is to accept that the day will be broken by interruptions, to take a break at these times and relax rather than try to follow the organized routine of a workday when things were normal.

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How do schools reopen during the pandemic. This report shows how schools and students struggle with reopening. The first part of the report looks at how one family in Wisconsin is coping with 3 children  2, 4 and 11 years old, from kindergarten to middle school. Only the middle school child is going back to school. Both parents work from home, have struggled to cope with kids at home. Lack of enough computer equipment restricts kids learning long distance, and concentration is also an issue. 

The rest of the report covers how schools are reopening in cities- Bangkok, Jerusalem, Tunis, Stockholm, Dortmund, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro.

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A look back through Lyrarc at how rainforest deforestation was taking place in 2007 and amazing UN pictures of maps of Borneo island for 2000, 2005, 2020 showing how deforestation was taking out most of Borneo's rainforest by 2020. This is a call to action from Lyrarc after the pledge of Brazil, Russia, China, India, US, Indonesia to stop deforestation at the COP26 Glasgow.  This report from Surabaya, Indonesia, by Tom Wright, in the July 3, 2007, Wall Street Journal WSJ shows how this was extensive deforestation of one of the few remaining rainforests on the planet earth was taking place and is a must read for everyone. The links show work by a British ecologist journalist who fought hard to prevent continued deforestation in Sarawak, Malaysia, where she grew up as a child when her father was a colonial period police officer in that region. She could see the disappearing canopy in the rainforest and her protests were carried out from the outside.  ...

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The Quillay tree, a rare evergreen native of central Chile provides a key ingredient for new vaccines, including the Novavax vaccine for coronavirus and the new vaccine for malaria. FR24 provides a glimpse of this rare evergreen tree in this video. It was used by indigenous people for soap and medicine.

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Kate Muser of DW.com provides a history of Christmas markets in Germany, including the ones in Dresden, Nuremberg and other cities since the Late Middle Ages. Martin Luther is said to have encouraged the tradition in Germany with the giving of gifts and a Christ child is said to bring gifts on Christmas eve. There are 1400 such Christmas markets in Germany, and 80 in Berlin alone with the one in Breitscheidplatz one of the most popular ones with its illuminated tree, lights and atmosphere. Grilled meats and baked goods, decorations, are part of the Christmas markets and each has its own local flair. The one in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg district is even dedicated to Lucia, the Nordic goddess of light, and to the Scandinavian countries.

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The Senate Big Beautiful Bill $6000 per person deduction makes Social Security tax free for 88% of Americans over 65 years. This is close as one can get to making Social Security benefits tax free for people over 65 years. It is a move that is seen favorably by social security recipients. Protecting the elderly on fixed incomes when the cost of living went up 12% in just 1 year in 2022 is an essential step for any administration that cares for the daily lives of the American people. In this sense the DJT administration has made a bold move in three key areas no taxes on social security benefits, no taxes on tips which address employment in hospitality/restaurants, and doubling the child care benefit for mothers, tackling key population sectors. To pay for this and keep the deficits down the dollar strong, one other action was taken- to increase investment in the economy and in manufacturing by allowing expensing of investment 100%. Fed chairman Powell repeatedly states he is very optimistic about this action generating the kind of investment boom American needs to restore good standards of living.   ...

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The decline in fertility rates in Brazil from 6.1 children per woman in 1960, to less than 1.9 children per woman in 2010, has astounded experts. Especially because this is observed in all parts of Brazil, in poor and affluent areas. The tend is observed throughout Latin America, from Chile and Mexico to Ecuador. The fertility rate in Latin America has declined sharply from about 6 children per woman in 1960, to 2.3 in 2010. The rate in the U.S. is 2.0, which is enough to keep the population at a level where it remains stable.

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About 565,000 workers are missing in the UK workforce in December 2022. The Guardian asks the question- Will they ever come back? Many left under stress from healthcare work, from the hotel and restaurant business, and from manufacturing during the pandemic. Some took early retirement, some taking care of family members. A similar situation exists in the US. Jay Powell at the US Federal Reserve, its central bank, and Fed Governors including the head of the Federal Reserve for California are working on ways to get these people back. Brian Deese of Biden's National Economic Council is also working to find solutions including better child care and better benefits for workers. Settling the rail strike on terms attractive for workers and getting rid of onerous rules for workers who could not get paid heath care leave in rail companies, are ways the Biden administration is responding.