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Makes sure the money is invested in stocks and bonds after rolling over a 401 K into an IRA when changing jobs says this report in WSJ, and don't assume it will be done for you.

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UK's National Health Service needs another 9 billion pounds just to carry on as before and Rachel Reeves is determined to get this. Opinion surveys show a large majority of 70% of people in Britain support this.

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Emma Hayes of the UK transforms the US women's soccer team by winning over Brazil 1-0 in the finals of Paris Olympics soccer 2024. It is only 3 months since she took over as coach.

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Israel and Hamas agree to a pause in the fighting with a deal brokered by Qatar and Egypt. The top Middle East envoys of Biden and Trump were involved in the 96 hours of negotiations that preceded the deal.

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The idea of competitive cooperative federalism is for different states within India to compete for development projects through cooperation with the federal government and cooperation with other states. This is in the spirit of rapid development that India needs for modernization, facing the pandemic health challenges, and meeting the growing aspirations of the young people who make up most of India's population of 1.2 billion people. This is happening in Rajasthan with chief minister Ashok Ghelot's seeking the federal government's assistance in tackling the problem of shortage of doctors and medical supplies. Ghelot asked the federal government to make decisions for opening medical colleges in the remaining districts of Rajasthan and approve a medical device park in Jodhpur, a bulk drug park in Kota. A virtual program showed the foundation stone laying for medical colleges in Sirohi, Hanumangarh, and Daua districts. Mr. Modi's goal is to have a medical college for every district in the country and a medical postgraduate institution in each district. Mr. Modi said at that event- "I was listening to the CM of Rajasthan. He has given a long list of projects. His political ideology and party is different and mine is different, but he has much faith in me. This friendhship, trust and faith is a big strength of democracy." ...

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This report in the NYT focusses on the failure to invest in New York subways, including failures in maintenance. It follows other detailed reports in NYT that looked at years of neglect and mismanagement of the New York subway system with interviews of key officials. This is costing subway users dearly as they face delays, and the poor quality of rides on the system compared to other systems worldwide. This report describes a subway accident with a loose piece of rail on a track on June 27, 2017 that could have been prevented with proper maintenance. This was one of 82000 delays on the system in June 2017 alone, one of the worst months in many years. A NYT examination of MTA records and reports shows the neglect of maintenance was one of the main cause of delays, including problems with turnover, and lack of training for new employees. The system's age (113 years old) and its size complicates problems leaving less room for the errors it is experiencing today. The world's oldest subway system in the most advanced of industrialized countries in the worst possible shape, showing the nation's lack of investment in essential infrastructure. A failure at a more basic level- a failure of the nation's culture to set the right investment priorities. ...

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The new head of India's Space Agency ISRO, Kailasavadivoo Sivan, talks to DW.com about the Space Agency's plans for the future. ISRO launched a mission to Mars which went into Mars orbit, at a very low cost.  The Mars Orbiter Mission vehicle is orbiting the planet Mars since 2014. In 2008 ISRO sent an unmanned spacecraft to orbit the moon. The future missions include a second mission to the moon, and a mission to the Sun. The solar mission Aditya-L1 will study the properties of the Sun. Mr. Sivan says his focus includes use of High Throughput Satellites(HTS) for providing high data-rate transmission. This is now available in cities, and the HTS will enable this for remote regions of India. Other focus is in agriculture with information on crops increased from 8 to 15 crops so that farmers have more information on fertility of soil, crop yields. Sivan says progress can be made with more international cooperation and sharing of technology, particularly with India leading the way with low cost high tech applications that benefit education, agriculture, and bringing space applications to people it never reached before. Sivan comes from one of India's villages, which are now experiencing change through India's rapid modernization efforts. ...

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Japan's Sanseito anti-immigration party gets 7 seats, enough to deprive the ruling LDP-Komeito alliance of its parliamentary majority. Prime Minister Ishida of the LDP party may not last more than a few months. The LDP seems to have lost its way like the Democrats in the US. A recent article in NYT says LDP wanted to bring in 60 million tourists to Japan each year to boost the economy. Yet Japanese people in cities have a hard time handling 40 million tourists in 2024, with reports of disturbance of the once quiet life in city neigborhoods and failure to adopt the culture and language of Japan. Reports of migrant/tourist or immigrant crime get much press coverage. Japan has 124 million people and birthrate of 1.26 below the birthrate of 2.1 needed to stabilize population. Business asks for new immigrants to fill unfilled positions. The public has different ideas and the migration is causing disturbance in traditional way of life in Japan. Similar to what is seen in the US and Germany in more striking ways. The nationalist parties including Sanseito say even if the population falls to 100 million this is more than the population of 90 million in Germany, and is enough to sustain its economy. Use of robotics and AI is not talked about as much but offers Japan, US and Germany, a way to make up for the loss of foreign labor. In essence both American, British, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Austrian, Dutch, Danish and Japanese society share a yearning for traditional ways of life that are being ruffled and disturbed by the migration, immigration, or over tourism affecting their countries. Politicians need to pay attention to people affected and not live isolated in their own neighborhoods from the people in other less sheltered communities and neighborhoods across their countries. ...

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Mikaela Shiffrin of Edwards, Colorado, and her original coach her mother Eileen, her candor, and her fighting spirit- at the Milan Olympics 2026. It shows the struggles of an American athlete before the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in 2026. Her dads death in an accident, her fiance's accident in Wengen, and her accident at Killington, left this ski racer in turmoil and wondering with her therapist about the nuances in PTSD- everything she would wrestle with in those dark days when she even wondered whether she wanted to continue. This is told by Shiffrin with complete candor- something that endears her to her fans and to all the people around her- her ability to tell it all and tell it straight, about everything that is going on inside her, a remarkable gift. "For me, when I’m able to dig in and really understand something, for whatever reason, that allows me to be less scared of it. Less afraid.  And, thankfully, after a while, my body … it has started to remember what to do again." She runs through the race at Killington again and again trying to tell herself that it was ok hundreds of times, nothing happened, she was OK, she would be OK.  After the 100th win in Alpine ski racing downhill in Cortina in Italy in slalom racing- which requires a sharp precision of body and mind in perfect unified composure to turn within the slalom poles in fractions of a second- Mikaela feels "she can breathe again." ...

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Gordon and Dowell report in WSJ on F-16's and Houthi use of radar turned on at the last minute. Ballistic missile aimed at aircraft carrier Harry Truman that caused it to change direction. Stretched forces in the Gulf region a warning from Gen Dan Caine of the US Air Force on capabilities. This is an account of the lessons learned from the Operation Rough Rider to get the Houthis to stop attacks on shipping in the Red Sea Suez route, including an attack on a Greek ship that had 1 million barrels of oil which after damage could have truned into an environmental disaster worse than the Exxon Valdez.  It shows the risks of the war, risks of stretching the forces and the fleet, the calculated risks taken each time as the US faces both the need to keep peace and shipping safe in the region and also address challenges in Taiwan and the Pacific, challenges closer to home in Latin America to keep America safe with the Monroe Doctrine. Every bit helps including the US doing the right thing, not being belligerant but standing up where it is right, working with the Russians and Chinese, and the Indians, with the Europeans, for what is fair and does good for the world at large. And working with the Europeans on a settlement of conflict in Europe that detracts from the need for addressing challenges that hurt the well being of the people of the world in Asia, Latin America, and the rest of the world. ...

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Watch key moments of King Charles Address to the US Congress April 28 2026. This is the most warmly and most embraced speech in the US Congress in decades. The last time a British monarch was in the US, and addressed the US Congress was Queen Elizabeth in the Suez crisis of 1956. Looking back the Suez crisis was precipitated by a Arab nationalist military officer taking over (nationalizing) the Suez Canal in Egypt from British and French control. As this was when the British and French Empires existed in Africa and Asia, and the US was for freeing people requiring breakup of these Empires.  It should be remembered American General Stilwell carried out this policy in China by fighting the Japanese Empire in China, and also India. America was never on the side of Empires as some would have us believe, and there is no better example of American spirit and generous heart than General Joe Stilwell in China for 1900-1950. Today Keir Starmer and Macron's move to represent the British and French as innocent bystanders is anything but, as the British and French created 50 years of wars in the Middle East by creating the artificial states of Lebanon, Syria and Iraq of Shia and Sunni people out of the defeated Ottoman Empire by 1921. King Charles was making the best of the bad situation in his speech as he supports US position of naval blockade to prevent Iran (or for that matter any place in the Middle East a powder keg of a region like the Balkans in 1914 that started WWI) from getting nuclear weapons. ...

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The coronavirus is making implementation of the U.S. China trade deal less likely as Chinese imports from the U.S. decrease and China's exports continue to grow. China's exports to U.S. decreased by $60 billion but increased to other countries by $70 billion in 2019.

As a result the Trump administration is shifting its focus to another approach. The new multilateral approach is to combine the effort with allies Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and France. This would take the shape of a Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership to replace the old Obama period Trans Pacific Partnership which becomes defunct. The goal would be to build new supply chains with allies in Asia outside of China with the help of France and other countries that are wary of excessive dependence on China and have deep reservations of China's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

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Rahul David turned down the opportunity to coach the Indian cricket team in favor of the coaching job for the under 19 team. Many of the young players hardly 21 or 23 years old who played against Australia in the Fourth Test including Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj, come from this under 19 training with Rahul Dravid. The persistence and devotion to excellence on the field at the beginners level in under 19 created under Rahul Dravid helped India overcome injuries and other problems to win the Test series against Australia. Rahul Dravid achieved this with a knock of 180 runs in the Test match against Australia at Eden Gardens Kolkata. Gill and Pant batted well for India to beat Australia in the fourth Test at Brisbane. The example set in 2001 by Laxman and Dravid was followed by Gill and Pant, by concentrating with determination on the work at hand.

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Career changes through music, fashion furniture, leads to interior design for Brigette Romanek in Los Angeles. She remembers women who were strong in her life as she moved to different cities, her aunt, her grandmother. She says she learned from herself that she would not give up. she also learned she was creative. An episode in which she designed hand bags led to her realizing how important it was for people to feel good, feel confident. 

She says she likes to work late at night when it is really quiet. Romanek loves design from the 60's and 70's  and classics from that period, shapes from that period that were simple but fun. She talks about a large olive tree in a room, for calm and grounding. The indoors going outdoors as concept. Bringing positive moods in people's minds through objects of beauty.

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Garweth Southgate is seen as one of Britain's most admired leaders in this report in The Times. His popularity is at 72%, compared to Churchill's at 65%. He is seen as "a decent bloke."

Born in Hertfordshire, educated in West Sussex, Southgate's soccer career ended in 2006 playing for Middlesbrough after defeat in a Uefa final with Seville. His managerial career started that year and he was manager till 2009 when Middlesbrough were relegated on the final day of the season. He was out of management for 4 years till he took charge of the under 21 team. In 2016 he took charge of the England senior team. Southgate has seen the ups and downs of soccer both as a player and a team manager, which has given him the humility and sense of respect for others that has marked his career. 

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NYT Shanghai bureau chief Alexandra Stevenson sends this report on the magnitude of the problems facing Country Garden, China's largest housing developer, Country Garden has $200 billion in unpaid bills, has missed interest payments on debt. It lost $7.6 billion in the last 6 months. A million apartments remain unfinished. The government's first concern is that buyers are made whole, it is less committed to housing as a driver of economic growth. And the numbers are just way too large for the government to tackle. By one estimate the unpaid bills goes as high as $370 billion in unpaid bills. What happens to all those construction workers, carpenters and other workers who remain unpaid. Country Garden follows failure of Evergrande another huge Chinese real estate developer in 2021. Experts say even if people buy Country Garden's apartments the losses are too large to make up.

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The Republican House Health Care pLan in 2017 relies on tax credits of between $2000 and $4000 based on age. Under the Affordable Health Care Act the elderly poor in high cost insurance areas received additional help. These people would lose over $2000 per person and may forgo full coverage or coverage entirely under the Republican House Health Care Plan. A report by Standard & Poor's estimates about 2 to 4 million people who are in 50's and 60's not yet qualifying for Medicare might lose their coverage they now have under ACA. The Republican plan also gives incentives through tax credits higher for older people, $4000 for a 60 year ol and $2000 for a 25 year old. Under the ACA the insurers are not allowed to charge more than three times what is charged for younger people, under the Republican plan this goes up to five times. 

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Chancellor Merkel meets President Trump in a key summit in March 2017. The two leaders have different styles, one flamboyant the other reserved. Chancellor Merkel tells the German media "it is better to talk with each other than about each other." Trump called Merkel's refugee policy "catastrophic," Merkel has said that the Geneva convention requires countries to do this on humanitarian grounds. On trade German's Economy minister Brigitte Zypries says Germany would file a suit on any hike in import duties at the World Trade Organization, that WTO rules restrict import taxes to 2.5% on autos. Germany's BMW plant in the U.S. exports more autos than GM and Ford put together, and Merkel is likely to emphasize large German investment in the U.S.. The heads of BMW and Siemens and other industry executives are accompanying Merkel to the U.S. as trade will be a key topic.

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Francois Fillon wins 44% of the vote to Alain Juppe at 28.6%.  Mr Sakozy suffers defeat in the election primary after 3 presidential debates in which Fillon's "statesmanlike" image came across better than the flamboyant style of Sarkozy. Another factor is that Juppe is seen as too close to former president Chirac and suffered from his effort to make changes and job cuts as prime minister under Chirac. Fillon is less well known which turned out to be an advantage. Fillon has the support of traditionalist Catholic groups. Fillon's platform is for 500,000 job cuts to reduce the large size of France's public sector, remove the wealth tax imposed by Hollande, reduce taxes, increase work week to 48 hours maximum and scrap 35 hour work week, gradually raise retirement age to 65, increase business incentives to improve economic growth. Fillon lives in Le Mans western France.

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This WSJ report shows how the Twitter account of Barack Obama and Elon Musk and other prominent individuals were hacked by a 17 year old Florida teenager who was into online gaming and bitcoin currency. The teenager acted as a co-worker from the IT department to convince a Twitter employee to provide access to company internal information. After doing work fo taking over and selling online accounts the teenager started an effort to penetrate Twitter's internal systems. The teenager Mr. Clark setup several fake phishing pages, including one for the internal Twitter Okata login portal. Okta is used for securely logging into to Twitter's internal company systems.

The hourslong hack of Twitter accounts happened on July 15 with A message put on Mr. Obama's Twitter account by  saying-"All Bitcoin sent to the address below will be sent back doubled. If you send $1000 I will send back $2000."

 

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Phil Foden and Kevin DeBruyne find a way through Atletico Madrid's defense as Manchester City prevail.

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A space of one's own in the home works great in retirement as this couple discovered.

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India Russia trade at 64 billion dollars is expected to grow. Cooperation agreements from any sectors were signed in New Delhi during Russian president Putin's visit to India with a large Russian delegation. India Russia cooperation will continue in the field of nuclear energy. US is working with Russia on a settlement of the Ukraine war.

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In this report from Kavumu, DRC, democratic Republic of congo, the NYT's Stephanie Nolan looks at a hospital in the area. This is the epicenter of the Mpox epidemic that has 17000 patients in the Congo. It has reached Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria. And places like Sweden. WHO has declared it a global health emergency.

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Intel Board members disagreements on how to run the company 2025. Lip-Bu Tan replaced Pat Gelsinger as CEO only a few months back.  Pat Gelsinger had a close relationship with Biden and also had close relations with VP JD Vance. Lip Bu-Tan has no such relations and is seen by DJT and Senator Cotton as "conflicted" in his ties to China as an early investor in Chinese chipmakers. DJT calls for Tan's immediate resignation as CEO of Intel in 2025. Lip-Bu Tan left the Board a few months before the ouster of Gelsinger. It now appears that the ouster of Gelsinger as Intel's recovery proceeded but only gradually was a poor decision of the Board.  This report also shows an acting head of Intel Yeary recently considering selling of the manufacturing business to TSMC which is a staggering revelation considering that the US is trying to build its own dominant chip making business in the US, which it had ceded to TSMC in Taiwan after inventing the computer chip. ...