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Minimobility can be seen in some locations in the US such as Peachtree City, a town south of Atlanta where golf carts are popular. In Europe it is taking off and popular on its small streets and with its  culture of smaller vehicles. The Renault Duo, Citroen Ami, Swiss Microlino, Swedish Luvly, are electric vehicles for 1-2 passengers made at prices from $8000 for the Ami to $16000 for the Microliner. The Microliner has a range of 150 miles and max speed of 55mph. By 2030 about $100 billion of these small electric vehicles could be on the road compared to $3 billion in 2023. 

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A popular show on Japan's television network TBS and on Netflix Japan is "Extremely Inappropriate" that takes a widowed physical education teacher boarding a bus in 1986 Japan straight into 2024 and shows him with his rebellious teenage daughter. It contrasts the casual sexism, long work hours and culture of that time in the early postwar years with the concern for sexual harrassment in the workplace, and a culture that is moving away from long work hours. It sees something to value in both eras as the father changes as he adapts to the present and still keeps some of the better parts of the previous era. 

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The Ukraine frontlines in March 2024 after the deep fortifications and the trenches built on the Russian side that stalled any Ukraine advances. Ukraine is building its own trench fortifications as it expects a Russian spring offensive. Ukraine is dependent now on Britain and Germany, France, as the US House of Representatives controlled by Republicans under Speaker Mike Johnson have not taken up the Senate bill for aid to Ukraine that passed by 70 to 30 on a bipartisan basis. The result is uncertainty in Ukraine and in Eastern European nations. Sweden joined NATO and has conducted exercises with Finland which has the longest border of any nation with Russia.

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During total day CNN had 473,000 viewers in quarter 2 of 2024. In the 25-54 years CNN had 85,000 viewers. Median age ov viewers on CNN, FOX, and MSNBC is 67-70 years showing that most of the American people get their information about the US and the world from digital, internet and in other ways.This shows the declining audience for televisions news and a shift over to digital news such as Apple News and Lyrarc.com type smaller sites that are providing alternatives on how the news is covered including a knowledge base approach to provide education type content and build understanding of content that Lyrarc has taken with an open model.

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See president Biden's address to the nation on July 14, 2024. Biden called on the nation to heal and avoid violence, to settle the future of the Nation not by violence- and he cited a train of events that led up to the shooting at the Pennsylvania rally yesterday- but at the ballot box. This is the way Americans have sought to tackle the wide difference in what the future of the nation should be. The vigorous and sincere words of president Biden on the way to set the nation's future and the need to unite, to lower the tone and step back, to reflect, come from the best in America.

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Franvce's snap election in July 2024 is Explained in The Times showing the situation of each of the parties in France in EU elections and their platforms- Renaissance at 15%, Les Republicains allied with Macron's Renaissance at 7.25%. The Socialist Party of Mitterand and Hollande with 14%, the France Unbowed at 10%. Ecologiste at 6%, Combined these parties have 51% of the vote in EU elections. The National Rally has 31%. If the French parliamentary elections are similar to the EU elections the left parties have to unite with Les Republicains and Renaissance to have a chance to prevent the National Rally from forming a government.

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French premier Barnier meets Marie Le Pen of National Rally. National Rally says it will veto any policies that reduce the purchasing power of the French people. Barnier lays out austerity policies and cuts in spending. National Rally had 8 seats, after this year's election it has 125 seats in the National Assembly. The Socialist bloc is the largest party but lacks amajority to form a government. Les Republicains party, Macron's party with National Rally's support are running the administration till another election is called to clear up the situation of no party having a majority. Macron remains president till May 2027 to oversee the situation.

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New uranium mines starting up in Arizona, Utah, and other parts of the western United States. In 1980 before nuclear energy went out of favor after the Three Mile Accident and Chernobyl US produced 44 million pounds of uranium. Much of it now comes from Russia. In 2024 the production is down to about 50,000 pounds. It is being revived in new mines in Arizona and Utah, underneath the earth's surface as shown in this NYT report. Yet fewer people work in extraction because of the technology which sends water into the ground which dissolves uranium and it is then brought up and sent to processing to make it into yellow cake.

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Times/Ipsos poll of January 2025 shows-

On transgender or children struggling with gender identity

71% say no one under 18 should be  prescribed puberty blocking drugs and hormones.

Nation's political system is broken

US system is a broken system for decades about 60% agree.  

On illegal immigration and crime, fentanyl flows

large scale deportation illegal immigrants who arrived here in the last 4 years- 63% agree and support such deportation

for illegal immigrants with criminal records 87% of Americans polled agree that they should be deported

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The election of Merz in Germany as chancellor means a sharing of minds with Macron of France, the two leaders share the same approach, coming 3 years after the inertia under chancellor Scholz. It means the steps will be taken for European defense and for a European alternative to NATO. It also means efforts will be made for the French-German economic engine to be revived. 

UK's prime minister Starmer also supports this effort for a united Europe to tackle defense and economic challenges in 2025. Leyen, head of the European Union is also a member of CDU party of Merz and led the defense ministry under Merkel.

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WSJ calls in April 2025 for accountability push from DJT and the US including all agencies of the government on Wuhan Lab leak so that all the facts are available to the people of the US after millions dead, and lives, economies destroyed. WSJ says we cannot trust scientists with dangerous pathogens to make decisions with bureaucrats and universities, foreign governments and agencies of the US government, that affect the lives of billions of people in the US and the world. WSJ has covered this issue and its evolution in detail since 2019. Honoring the dead and being prepared for the future requires being honest with ourselves, says the WSJ.

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Alexsandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party wins half the vote in the Serbian 2016 general election. Socialists won 11% of the vote. Most of the parliament members are nationalists, who favor joining the European Union. The vote reflected a mandate to improve living conditions as Serbia's growth rate was only 0.7% a year in 2015. The Democratic Party that emerged after the fall of Milosevic has only a small number of seats. Democracy is only slowly taking root in Yugoslavia after the turmoil of the Milosevic years, the recovery after the war, and a struggling economy under the Democratic Party and the Progressive Party.

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Shrinking cable systems business with cord-cutting in the US in 2024. Strategies for streaming services and news/entertainment business at Comcast.

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Job seekers and job stayers make no difference in pay increases about 4.6% increase for the US in Jan and Feb 2025.

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The former Surgeon General of the U.S., Vivek Murthy, has tackled issues such as the opioid crisis, obesity and poor health outcomes. In his new book "Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World," Murthy looks at the loneliness he says is pervasive in the new culture of iphones and social media that have perversely reduced not increased social connection and the feelings coming from good relationships and social concerns.  A 2020 Cigna survey shows 61% of American adults are lonely, up from 54% in the 2019 survey. It is not about having a lot of people around you, it is about feeling a genuine connection and the quality of relationships. Murthy finds this lack of genuine social concerns and social connection as fairly pervasive from his conversations with people all across the country. Normally it is felt in the fifties as life changes, and in the eighties with loss of mobility. Today the tech devices and what is called scoal media that appear to have increased communication have actually reduced the level of quality connections and interactions. Dr. Murthy suggests volunteering, and service in the community or larger communities worldwide as a way of breaking this. Capitalizing on informal day to day contacts, including with people one has not known before, is another way. This shifts the focus to the people around us and brings a new dimension and quality to our lives.  Saying hello often and smiling genuinely, says Murthy. Improving the  quality of time in day to relationships is another. This can also give us the confidence to connect with people on a regular basis.  ...

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This editorial in the Times of India says China's new border law that goes into effect on Jan 1, 2022, aims to tighten control over border areas, with strengthening of border defenses and integration of border populations. It says this means border relations will not be affected by improvements in bilateral relations. China is rejecting the Indian position for border standoffs to be settled through improvements in bilateral relations in other areas. The Times Editorial says that an "aggressive, inflexible, belligerent China" is what India now faces. 

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New York La Guardia Airport is totally rebuilt with $8 billion renovation. The airport is half way through renovation, Terminal B is halfway finished. It should be completed by Spring 2022. One concourse looks out over Flushing Bay. 

New York La Guardia was for a long time probably the most hated airport in America. Now passengers getting off the plane at la Guardia even think they are at the wrong airport. The pandemic actually made construction easier with more space to work in. 

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The first Quad Summit of leaders of US, Australia, India and Japan takes place on March 11, 2021. The Quad is a force for good says the Indian prime minister, with its focus on vaccines, climate change and emerging technologies. 

The leaders affirmed the need to ensure equitable access to the vaccines for speedy economic recovery and benefitting global health. Mr. Biden affirmed the need for the Indo-Pacific region to be "governed by international law, free of coercion and upholding universal values."

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Germany has a patchwork of restrictions to tackle coronavirus. This is a serious problem during the third wave in April 2021. There is a lack of clarity as the 16 states within Germany's federal structure each make their own rules. This has weakened the power of the federal government and chancellor Merkel in setting rules for the whole country. A You.Gov poll shows 53% of Germans support the federal government setting the rules. Interior minister Seehofer is considering a new federal law to make this happen.

 

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The pandemic came to young German people at a time when the trend was for less opportunity, more inequality. These trends are now aggravated and the loss of opportunities, and the loss of hope is even worse now in 2021. Job searches are being conducted while experiencing intense social isolation, boredom and lack of physical acitivity. The job competition is described here as horrendously competitive, a few roles and so many job seekers jostling to get them as companies have been hammered during the pandemic. 

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EC Council president Michel apologizes for not responding when EC Commission president von der Leyen was left without a seat at a meeting with Erdogan, Turkey's president, in Ankara April 6, 2021. Michel could easily have offered his seat to Ms.  Ursula von der Leyen and taken a seat on the nearby sofa instead, as a form of courtesy. This would have prompted the Turkish side to arrange for another chair next to Erdogan for face to face discussions on improving ties with Turkey during the pandemic.

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A city already 40% below sea level faces torrential rain and flooding in the first days of 2020. Jakarta, Indonesia is a metropolitan area of around 30 million people. Land around the city is subsiding from overuse of pumping of underground water. Floodwaters do not drain into the sea as is normal. Walls protect the parts of the city that are below sea level. 

During heavy rain the water from upland areas comes down to Jakarta further overwhelming a poor drainage canal system.

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The debate in France about the need for a new policy to boost manufacturing at home. The planned closure of a Bridgestone factory in Bethune in northern France in 2021 provides another example of the effect on local communities with closing of plants. The French government has pledged to relocate more production back to France. About 15 billion euros of a 100 billion euros package to fight the effects of the pandemic on the economy will go to relocate sectors and boost local manufacturing and jobs.

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Texas is expected to surpass California in 2021 in solar energy with a new $1.6 billion project solar farm north of Dallas. California has 13,000 megawatts of solar energy. Texas has 29,000 megawatts of wind and solar energy production combined, the largest of any state in the U.S. Texas solar has potential to boost supplies in daytime when demand is highest. The cost of solar is coming down and the development of solar will accelerate in the U.S. in the next 5 years.