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Harris-Walz campaign in Arizona and Nevada August 10, 2024. Harris gains the support of the Culinary Workers union with 60,000 members. 

League of United Latin American Citizens (Lulac), the oldest Latino civil rights group, which usually stays neutral stepped in to endorse the Democratic ticket.

“The politics of hate-mongering and scapegoating Latinos and immigrants must be stopped,” said Domingo Garcia, chairman of Lulac Adelante Pac, in a statement.

“Latinos understand how much is at stake in this election, for not only our community but our democracy.”

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Peter Murrell was CEO of SNP Scottish National Party from 2001 to 2023.  He was the husband of Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland's government from 2014 to 2023.

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Local government elections in the Mumbai region show a strong win for the BJP party running the Federal Government  under PM Modi in City of Mumbai and cities of Nagpur, Pune and Pimpri, with about half of the seats contested won by the BJP Party. Key to winning the election is the voter trust in the Vikshit Bharat goal for a Modernized India by 2036 and 2047 in two phases. This is likely to influence the elections in West Bengal State that are coming up in April 2026 with the city of Kolkata. PM Modi opened several Rail projects for West Bengal and conducted rallies in the state which is governed by a party that has not worked to industrialize the state for two decades using a local linguistic and regional identity to win elections. Vikshit Bharat is likely to come to West Bengal as it has to the Mumbai region, giving the Federal Government run by the BJP Party an opportunity to form local governments and state governments that cooperate with the Federal Government of PM Modi. These 2 regions the Mumbai and Kolkata regions are the last regions that have fought central modernization efforts and promoted politics that are conducive to mismanagement and corruption, clanish arrangements for the 2 states Maharashtra and West Bengal. For India to compete with China, to catch up with China, and fulfill the hopes and aspirations of 1.4 billion people this is one more of the missing pieces that is being put in place for Vikshit Bharat. Seen from Europe and the US it shows how big the visit of Merz and the Modi Merz Kite Flying effort in Ahmedabad recently means for India as well as US and Europe. Merz has chose India as its leading partner, Germany has chosen this road, with lasting confidence in Modi's Vikshit Bharat effort for 2036 and 2047. ...

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Iran Ceasefire shaky May 11 2026 with no willingness on the part of IRGC Iran (Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps) to send all nuclear materials out of the country. Past experience has shaken American confidence in IRGC Iran's willingness to give up nuclear weapons development. Under president Obama some nuclear materials were sent to Russia, some left inside Iran which were after an agreement used by IRGC Iran to develop weapons grade enriched uranium, putting the situation back to where America started before the agreement. This is behind the DJT Republican administration's effort to get all nuclear materials out of Iran. This has wasted another decade for Iran, diverting resources needed for improving standards of living and cost of living to the weapons programs. The result is internal protests that were widespread in Iran including the middle class, not just students. So that today Iranian people are divided on the issue whether Iran should against all prevailing Middle Eastern and World opinion go for a nuclear weapon. The situation of clandestine development in North Korea and Pakistan of nuclear weapons is not existent today as the US is monitoring it constantly. Israel sees these weapons programs in Iran as a threat to its existence close to its borders in Lebanon and Iraq, which makes it unlikely that clandestine development is possible for nuclear weapons development anywhere in the Middle East. The UAE has also shifted its stance in favor of the US, Saudis want assurances, and India, Pakistan Egypt are in different ways seeking a denuclearized Middle East. This means the American DJT administration is NOT ALONE on this issue as the media in the US and Europe are presenting. Germany's Wadephul and Merz are closer to US thinking on this issue than the media says. Macron and Starmer are at popularity of less than 20% in France and the UK and do not reflect the opinion in France and Britain, and in Europe on this issue. In this sense the US is doing this for a safer world, for China, India, Brazil and EU, all the nations in the poorest parts of the world in Africa, Asia. These poorest nations which are bearing the brunt of this obsession with nuclear weapons development by IRGC Iran in a Middle East torn by 5 decades of wars from Kabul to Damascus, Baghdad to Tehran, by IRGC Iran (Revolutionary Guard Corps), as these poor nations confront lack of oil and fertilizer supplies. It does not come at a good time for even the largest nations about 3 billion people in China, India and Indonesia, Egypt which are suffering from the effects of oil shortages and fertilizer shortages when possibly at most about 40 of 90 million people in Iran support weapons programs, all others in Iran seeking a way out for better standards of living and living at peace with neighbors and the world. In that peacetime Middle East the Palestinian people could find solutions like the Irish people with the goodwill of all neighbors. ...

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Another clear warning from Britain under Boris Johnson the failures from that time could still affect the US if it copies Johnson. Krugman looks at Project 2025 that has received the backing of the former president. He points to one aspect of this blueprint for a Trump second term, how civil service would be overhauled to remove civil servants not meeting the requirements put forth by the new administration. He says this takes America backwards. Till 1883 when president James Garfield set up an independent civil service in the US people employed by the government were routinely chosen from the winning party leading to flaws and much instability, weak administration. In Britain this type of effort of Project 2025 was tried under Boris Johnson by using an adviser who wanted to blow up parts of the British civil service for not cooperating. That experiment failed badly and the adviser was fired with much recrimination, Johnson being discredited, and administrative failures. Project 2025 would shut down the Education Ministry and the Homeland Security Ministry, for even more upheaval of the civil service. Not to mention the proposal to reverse the founding of the central bank the Federal Reserve in 1909 under Woodrow Wilson that stabilized the economy after banking panics. These are clear dangers. ...

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The longest US Open Tennis match? 5 hours and 35 minutes between Dan Evans of the US and Karen Khachanov of Russia just yesterday August 26, 2024. The first three sets were tie breakers. Dan Evans was down 0-4 in the fifth set and came out to win it 6-4. At 4 down he thought he was out and just kept on fighting. Fans gave a rousing ovation. Evans says "it was one hell of a match. I just want to go to bed." 

• Set 1 - 68 minutes
  
  
• Set 2 - 67 minutes
  
  
• Set 3 - 72 minutes
  
  
• Set 4 - 67 minutes
  
  
• Set 5 - 61 minutes
  
  

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On the eve of 2024 elections on a scale never seen in the world from Rajasthan desert to Himalayan mountains to the sea, PM's site looks at the themes for development that have evolved into slogans and captured the imagination of India. Development For All, Development With All, is the "Sabka Vikas, Sabka Sath" slogan that has captured the imagination and vision of the young generation of Indians. For development at speed and scale to reach 2047 with the transformation of India into a modern nation with infrastructure and per capita incomes similar to the US, EU, China or Japan. 2047 is the centenary year marking 100 years of India as an independent nation. In the interview with ANI shown alongside PM Modi discusses the problems of modernization of a region of immense diversity, history, and cultures. 2047 providing a point of focus for achieving the transformation, a transformation that is being taken up with the cooperation and support of the US and the European Union that are building a new supply chain which integrates India as a major manufacturing nation . ...

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The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway has 8 lanes for 1380 kilometres passing through the states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. When completed in 2023 it will be Asia's longest expressway. Some sections will be completed in 2022. It will cut travel time to 12 hours.

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UK Labour party Manifesto of 2024 called for the abolition of the House of Lords- The Guardian says it is "doorstep issue" and not too late to do it in 2026. The House of Lord's would go and be replaced with an upper house chamber more representative of the people of Britain. The Guardian calls it the "rotten house of sleazy patronage" and says that it is not peripheral to the dismal ratings of PM Starmer and Labour, that Starmer's instincts in the Opposition were correct.

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German economy shrinks by 0.3% in second quarter 2025.

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Both the Tories in Britain and the Democrats in the US were caught by surprise by the sudden surge after the pandemic of illegal migrations flows in 2023-2024 which dropped to all time lows in 2019-2021 with the covid lockdowns. Tories with factional infighting and Democrats falsely believing they were virtuous humane could not take effective decisive immediate action costing them the defeats in 2024. The size of the illegal migration problem to the UK was underestimated in 2023. Tory rhetoric alone failed to convince the British public. In the US Biden not confronting it head on also failed to reassure the American people as the US Border also meant destructive Mexico/China fentanyl flows. Even today the action proposed falls short and new US bipartisan legislation is needed to make it the law of the land, closing three decades of stealth in immigration policies. ONS now estimates that it missed 166,000 people. The real figure for the year ending June 2023 for net migration was 906,000 not 748,000 as previously estimated. In the year ending June 2024 this figure for net migration was 728,000. Labour party under Keir Starmer made setting up the new structures for tackling alarming rise in migration the top priority in 2024. That lesson was not learned in the US and the issue not confronted head on to win public confidence- the Biden support for Republican Senator Lankford's legislation on illegal migrants and the border came late in 2023 and the issue was left to fester for 2 years eroding public confidence. In the US the issue of illegal fentanyl flows at the US Border and from China makes the Border and China relations issues that required effective and immediate action overriding everything else. In the end Tories confusion and internal factions, other controversies, led to lack of vigilance and lack of effective action as net migration deceptively hit lows of 254,000, 111,000, and 254,000 in the pandemic years 2019, 2020, and 2021, only to surge tremendously to 634,000 and 906,00 in the years 2022 and 2023.  Labour's Starmer took action to make it No. 1 priority in the platform going into the 2024 election winning public confidence. A similar surge in migration happened in the US after a deceptive slowdown in the pandemic, compunded by Venezuela and central American states collapsing. ...

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Trust in government in the US was highest under FDR, Truman, Eisenhower and LBJ, right upto the escalation of the Vietnam War and remained above 70 percent. It changed in the seventies and hit new lows ever since to the 40% level since the 1980's through the Reagan, Bush, Clinton administrations. The 2009 financial crisis caused by banks led to a drop to 16%. It dropped to 20% under Obama and Trump administrations. By 2023 it remains at about 20%. Graphs in Pew Research show how it has changed over time.

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Binance's Zhao,  Zach Witkoff, Eric and Don Trump Jr.,  Luttnick and World Liberty crypto finance dealings are covered in this WSJ Report Feb 8, 2026 by Angus Berwick and Eliot Brown. It shows how the startup culture in finance can have unintended consequences, with new deals on an untested product crypto finance using star quality of the new DJT administration that benefit dealmakers.UAE and other financial firms invested in these products of companies built around crypto finance to gain access to the White House from the latter half of 2025 to early 2025.  

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More than 240 hours or 40% of ICE training time cut to speed up training for more officers. ICE training  for hands on practice and scenarios cut from ICE training program, Washington Post 2026. 900 ICE officers completed the basic training by Jan. 1, 2026, which is 3 times the number in the previous year 12 months before August 2025. The concern is about ICE quality standards in the future, so that the rush to train officers does not shortchange their needed education in all aspects of training materials and assuring a complete grasp of the content .

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Biden sends Yellen and Blinken to Beijing in April 2024 to meet with premier Li Qiang and foreign minister Wang Yi to improve relations with China. Xi says China and the US can work through their differences including on Taiwan. As tensions increase in Europe with Ukraine and with another election cycle in the US, it is essential that the US, China, India and the EU work though differences on Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, and plan ahead for a future peace settlement in Ukraine with the support of all nations, especially ones with which the US and EU, have a strong trading and economic relationship. China needs export markets as its construction industry stalls and increases investment in manufacturing. The US continuing strong investment in manufacturing in the US, continuing to trade with China on a level playing field. Both sides have economic interests, and interests of the world to advance peaceful cooperation. 

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Mogan McSweeney of Cork Ireland, son of an IRA courier with a politics and marketing degree from Middlesex University, joined the Labour Party in London fighting off Corbyn supporters during the Corbyn leadership till 2019. The Guardian says McSweeney settled on Keir Starmer as the candidate to replace Corbyn as a centrist on the right. It was says the Guardian McSweeney as an organizer against the Corbyn left that installed Keir Starmer in 10 Downing Street. And then by getting Starmer to appoint his mentor Mandelson led to Starmer becoming "the most unpopular prime minister in history." It says May local elections may sound the end of Starmer. McSweeney is blamed for some of Starmer's failure to project a image of firmness as he backtracked on issues on the advice of McSweeney, to the point that many in Labour party thought McSweeney made Labour driverless. As McSweeney ejected all Corbynites from the Labour Party he weakened the party and led to Labour bleeding its vote to the Greens and the Liberals. Labour's got a landslide with many Labour MP's winning by thin margins- its vote was slim only 34% of the vote, itself a warning that something was not right. On immigration the root causes were not addressed till early 2026- the ECHR human rights that needed to be put aside as written with serious flaws and which allowed asylum hotels. This led to a shift to Nigel Farage, called back from retirement to lead Reform UK in 2026 and way ahead of Labour and Conservatives in the polls. Worse 50% of Labour's vote disappeared in 2026 polls by February hardly 2 years after the win in 2024, as the support McSweeney helped organize had no depth of conviction- most of it to Liberals and Greens under Polanski. The result is that even the Guardian is disappointed and says McSweeney installed Starmer as PM and then made him "the most unpopular PM in history." Net favorability in Feb 2026 -57 similar to Sunak of Conservatives in June 2024. A 75% unfavorable rating in Jan 2026. And 14 points below the Labour party in "like" ratings. Only 18% are favorable for Starmer. It shows how a series of British prime ministers with mediocre backgrounds have failed in the country. ...

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China ramps up coal production to record levels in 2021 to avoid a winter gas crisis, reversing earlier actions for climate change.

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Billie Jean King whose effort and persistence created the game of Women's Tennis, is alive and well with some words of encouragement, advice. Billie Jean King Commencement address at California State University Los Angeles, where she graduates in history in 2026, sixty two years after letting go college to play tennis. She grew up in Long Beach, with her brother, her parents a fireman who played basketball and a mother who was a teacher. For those who remember she comes from the period of Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith and in Australia Rod Laver, in the seventies. Stadiums are named after her at the US Open Tennis championships, and it was Billie Jean who helped create women's tennis. Some of her advice- "We can never understand inclusion unless we have been excluded." (the first African American player Althea Gibsen is celebrated in a postage stamp yet African Americans barely made it into the sport during her time. Billie Jean asked why it was all white dress, white people, white clubs.) "I like completing things. Finish what I started." (Sixty two years after postponing college in 1962 Bille Jean completes her history degree at Cal State LA in 1986). Billie Jean in another interview says history is so important and the only way to effect change that is good is to know what happened before and why. This is true for another pioneer for women a law student at Stanford named Sandra Day O'Connor of Arizona ranch territory that in those days stretched endlessly on all sides. Gandhi would agree. Hind Swaraj could not be written in 1909 by Gandhiji on a steamship to South Africa from London without asking about history and what had happened to create the Empire in India for the British East India Company traders, with warehouses and private armies, one that extended to Shanghai and Hong Kong in China. Gandhi says in 1909 "English merchants were able to get a footing in India because we encouraged them. When our princes fought among themselves they sought the assistance of Company Bahadur. That corporation was versed alike in commerce and war. We created the circumstances that gave the company control over India." Billie Jean gives some perspective on life and its lessons-"Wherever we are in life we can connect and we can impact change." "At 82 I have learnt about perspective and a few life's lessons- Champions practice their strengths. Concentrate on what you are strong and practice it." "Anything you do winning or losing, good or bad, its feedback not failure. Don't take things personally." "Don't let others define you. You define yourself." "Pressure is a privilege and champions adjust or adapt." "Just remember legacy is what others think about you, what is important is the value of the contributions you make." "Three principles for inner and outer success. Relationships are everything. Relationships with yourself, your family, your loved ones, your faith, and your friends. No. 2- Keep learning and keep learning how to learn. Be a problem solver and a innovator. Our decisions, our actions, our voices will shape what comes next. Have fun. Be fearless and make history." ...

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Harris Interactive survey in 2024 finds 73% of French people support social media age limits for under 15 years and 15-18 years children. A bill will take this up in the French parliament Jan 19, 2026. The sceptical approach in this Politico Report is incomprehensible considering the negative effects of social media on children.

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Oil prices of over $100 per barrel give Saudi national oil company Aramco profits of $161 billion in 2022. One change is the amount of oil going to Europe which almost doubled from 5.1% to 9.1% of European oil imports by the third quarter of 2022, after the EU ban on oil imports from Russia.

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One solution to Ukraine conflict- the idea of "freezing" the conflict in Ukraine on the present lines of control August 14, 2025. European leaders are looking at this idea as DJT tries to reestablish trust with the Russian leader in Alaska.

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The exceptional role played by US president Biden in ensuring the recovery of the US economy, reaching both low unemployment and bringing down inflation was made possible by the president's conviction that the bargaining power of labor and its share in the productive wealth of the economy needed to be restored. The chair of the president's Council of Economic Advisers Jared Bernstein points this out in his speech at the Petersen Institute of International Economics. Bernstein points out that the Philips Curve which shows the tradeoff between reducing unemployment and increasing inflation is essentially flat and the president was right to push for full employment at between 3.5-4%. In the post Reagan era America was reduced to trickle down economics as president Biden has said at every State of the Union leading to a situation where workers had lost their bargaining power. See this as a resilience factor R in the economy which if it falls below a certain point leads to the economy operating well below its potential with high unemployment and worker incomes depressed. This strong conviction of the president and the efforts of the Fed chairman Powell have helped America recover from the pandemic faster than Europe, China and other countries, and is opening a path to meet the challenges of the future including infrastructure development and overcoming climate change, and meeting needs in healthcare and education, ease of living. ...