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Germany's chancellor Merkel draws attention to Russia's human rights record in a meeting with Russian president Putin in Moscow, Nov. 16, 2012. The German chancellor tells Putin not to be so sensitive to criticism from the opposition, saying before the meeting: "I ask that not every bit of criticism is seen as destructive. Open a German paper and read what is written there. If I were always getting offended, I would not last even three days in my job." Germany's special envoy to Russia, Mr. Schockenhoff, has been especially critical of Russian suppression of dissent and opposition groups. Russia's response is that it will talk to other countries as trading partners but not about its domestic affairs. The Russian government sees the two way trade of $120 billion between Germany and Russia as "an air bag" to prevent any significant deterioration in relations. Siemens signed a contract for 675 locomotives with Russian Railways during the Merkel visit.

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People in Poland, Hungary, and other countries in Central Europe took out mortgages in Swiss Francs. The jump in the value of the Franc means their payments go up increasing economic pain in these countries. In Hungary the government of Viktor Orban has converted most franc loans into local currency forint loans at favorable rates and this will now be seen as a remarkably positive move. Poland has a growing economy compared to Hungary with borrowers in francs with higher incomes than Hungary, yet with 37% of the homeowner loans in Swiss Francs political parties are looking for support before elections offering to shift these loans into the local currency. Banks in Poland are well capitalized and are not likely to be seriously affected.

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In 2007 the Pakistan Supreme Court issued rulings that led to the ouster of the army led government of President Musharraf. A similiar situation is occurring today as the Supreme Court issues anti-corruption rulings against the government of President Zardari. The chief justice of the Supreme Court Justice Chaudhry says he is "buttressing democratic and parliamentary norms," as extensive corruption is affecting justice in Pakistan. Critics say Justice Chaudhry was not elected and is now questioning the authority of an elected government.

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Many small, high growth companies in China have listed on US stock exchanges through back-door mergers with shell companies. The questionable practice are in the "reverse takeover" market for Chinese listings. It involves networks of accountants, lawyers and bankers helping to bring these Chinese companies into US stock markets. Some of these companies have minimal revenues, questionable accounting and no clear corporate governance. By mid 2010 about 340 Chinese companies were listed on US stock exchanges and were using small largely unknown US auditing firms, who were contracting the work back out to local Chinese firms, according to the SEC's chief accountant. The SEC is conducting an investigation into this practice. The House Financial Services Committee is looking into this, especially because it is feared that with the interest in Chinese listings there is the opportunity for self-dealing and potential fraud. Says Rep. Chris Lee: "I don't want this to be a junior Madoff scandal."...

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Appeals Court Judge Sotomayor's important decisions in cases about discrimination in education, the enviuronment, ferderal contractors, international law and so on.

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Life and death choices made by 100 trekkers on the Annapurna Circuit in the Himalayas.

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New York Times readers respond to Drew Western's article in Sunday Review, NYT of August 7, 2011. Readers express disappointment with President Obama's lack of courage and initiative.

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The slowing job market without layoffs and yet robust, is giving new flexibility ot the US central bank, the Fed. Jerry Powell at Fed does not plan to cut rates and will keep rates steady. This mean housing affordability is affected though the problems in housing have to do with a lack of supply and factors such as retired people hanging on to larger homes and not downsizing. Overall this is a period of robust job growth and moderating inflation, and is a result of the huge investments Biden and Congress in bipartisan way are making to provide industry support to compete with China and in infrastructure investments that yield benefits for overall economic growth and productivity. This is true for investments in science and CHIPS Act.

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Meeting between prime minister Modi of India and prime minister Sharif of Pakistan is unlike anything that has happened between leaders in the region since independence in 1947. Sharif told NDTV: "I intend taking up threads from where Vajpayee and I left off in 1999." Modi says Sharif touched on some emotional things in his conversation. Sharif told Modi about his visits to his mother once a week, and how Modi's visit to his mother seen by Sharif when visiting his mother touched both of them deeply. Rarely has a visit been captured in poetry in the manner Sharif did in answering a question, when he recited an Urdu couplet: "cling to the tree and hope, for spring is in sight."

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Using the design-build method under which architects and construction experts work together as a team, Orange Medical Centre, a new 374 bed hospital in Middletown, New Jersey, has reduced the construction costs by one third. Only 9% of the total square footage of hospitals built in the USA used this method according to Modern Healthcare an industry publication, so this is one more area in which health care savings can be found- and there may be many more areas like this- which goes to show that ingenuity, experimenting with new ways and asking questions about old ways of doing things, can generate large savings, especially when it becomes a necessity. As the old proverb says, necessity is the mother of invention. Design-build differs from traditional construction in that the architect and the construction company come from the same company. They understand each other so well that they can finish each other's sentences. This cuts out the waste and back and forth that goes on with changes that are made, as the changes are minimal. This is a big source of the savings. This is similiar to the integration of design and manufacturing experts into one team in the auto and other industries. HBE Corporation of St Louis is the company that handled this work. Its asmall outfit with 500 people and this is the largest hopital it has built, so there is potential for doing alot more in this field for health care savings....

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U.S. naval exercizes in Hawaii (Pacific Rim) which include China, and the naval exercizes at Subic Bay intended to counter China in the Pacific.

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Errors and bad decisions at BP in asking for and getting exemptions from regulators, which violated its own policies. The potential of a BP bankruptcy, if it faces huge liabilities- and this runs into tens of billions of dollars- as well as running into problems with te Obama administration.

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This story about Fangzheng is about the settlement by Japan of 380,000 Japanese settlers in the puppet state of Manchuria in norhern China. It is now called Heilongzhiang province in today's China. 

During the period following the first world war Japan occupied this part of China, leading to the later war and occupation of other parts of China. The occupation collapsed when soviet armies entered this region at the end of World War II. Today efforts are being made to improve relations with Japan as talks between North and South Korea lead to prospects of better relations in the region

 

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The Comptroller and Auditor General of India's investigation into the issue of 2008 telecom licenses shows that this was mismanaged, leading to a loss of $39 billion in revenue for the Indian government.

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The internal divisions in the two main political parties in Japan, the Democratic Party and the LDP. The lack of a coherent base believing in a particular set of ideas in either party.

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U.S. president Trump stands by president Putin as he denies Russian involvement in the U.S. presidential election of 2018. This contradicts the conclusions reached by U.S. intelligence agencies. Resulting in criticism from Republicans in his own party.

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Ms. Lopez from Guatemala and her three children living in Brooklyn, New York.