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Trading relationships and supply chain relationships of China with Japan, and other ASEAN nations built up since China joined the international trading system and became a major exporter are interconnected with the political relationships unraveling over issues such as Taiwan and maritime disputes. It took three decades for China to build up exports and manufacturing for exports of $1 trillion to the US and EU in 2021. Freedom of navigation in international waters and oceans, respect for international law, is important to all trading nations particularly Japan and China, that depend on maritime trade for their economies. 

 

 

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Hillary Clinton is diagnosed by her physician as having pneumonia on September 11, 2016. Her physician Lisa Bardack, says she "has been experiencing a cough related to allergies." She was put on antibiotics  when the cough was diagnosed as pneumonia, and told to rest and modify her schedule for a few days.

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The ruling party LDP's defense committee has decided Japan needs to strike North Korean missiles on the ground. There is a growing consensus on this. Another consensus is developing over the issue of protecting the Senkaku islands adminstered by Japan and claimed by China. 

Earlier in 2020 T12 missiles with 100 kilometres range were deployed on Miyako island between Kyushu and Taiwan. Now these missiles range will be increased to 300 kilometres to reach the Senkaku islands. China has sent patrol planes and ships near the Senkaku islands. Other cruise missile range is planned for 1000 kilometres as Japan Self Defense Forces expand their capabilities to take on more of the responsibility for defending the Japanese islands. In alliance with India and Australia this capability is being expanded to the entire Indian Ocean region to counter an expansionist China.

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A quarter of the 20 clubs in the Premier League soccer in Britain have seen managers fired. There is a lot of pressure. On managers, players and teams. Jose Mourinho says the League has lost much of the stability. Even relationships don't last, players tired of each other, tired of managers and everything is moving too fast, say managers. Arsenal follows Tottenham in changing managers after losses against other soccer teams. Arsenal is in 8th place and Manchester United in 9th place, owners see changing managers particularly in December as a way to keep their place in the big leagues. With more jobs opening up it is not particularly bad for the fired managers such as Pochettino of Tottenham who can sit at home waiting for the call.

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When it comes to climate change China is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world- more than North America, Europe, South America and Africa combined. It emits about one third of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. When it comes to climate change action China is meeting its 2030 targets 6 years earlier, and it is meeting all the increased use of energy through renewables. Yet there is another side and this is that China is building coal fired plants at a rapid pace to meet its energy needs. Xie Zenhua meets John Kerry at Sunnylands estate in southern California to discuss how China and the US can cooperate on climate change action. No two nations are so critical to meet the challenges posed by climate change from fires to floods and drought.

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The US and Japan are collaborating on boosting new technologies to strengthen competitive edge.

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Speaker Mike Johnson looks for ways to fund aid to Ukraine in April 2024.

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The Observer newspaper in Britain says in this editorial opinion that Keir Starmer's first speech at Labour conference gives a glimmer of hope for Labour. He put behind him antisemitism in the party from the Corbyn period, and showed that he understands the concerns of voters on issues ranging from education to crime, such as too many children growing up in areas where there is not a single good primary school, and the issue of rape victims denied justice. He also affirmed his idea of patriotism. He still faces Labour's steady decline in working class support, Labour's decline in Scotland, and the lack of a unifying vision to attract British voters.

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The Labour party's support for not withdrawing from the European Medicines Agency is the subject of an argument after Prime Minister's Questions in the British parliament. Labour leader Keir Starmer confronts prime minister Boris Johnson in parliament after Johnson reminds Labour that it had on repeated occasions called for the UK not to withdraw from the European Medicines Agency.  The UK vaccination drive is far ahead of the vaccination drive in European Union countries including France and Germany, because of British initiative in boldly betting money on vaccine supplies with pharmaceutical companies, and earlier approval by the UK health regulatory authority. Here is the comment in the House of Commons by Boris Johnson- "If we had listened to (Starmer), we would still be at the starting blocks because he wanted to stay in the European Medicines Agency and said so four times from that dispatch box." Starmer disputes the statement. The Times cites Hansard, the official record of the House of Commons. It records that Starmer questioned why Britain would want to withdraw from the Medicines Agency in Jan. 2017. In 2018 Labour party supported an Amendment to the Trade Bill that called for the UK to seek participation in the European Medicines Agency. Germany, Spain and France are hit hard by the second wave of the coronavirus and the lack of adequate vaccine supplies is causing grief in European Union. The EU president Von der Leyen, another European Union style bureaucrat, seen as having bungled the handling of vaccine supply. ...

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This story of soccer players is true for many of the best, coming close for the fans is not enough, many finals and superb performances are not enough. This is true for coaches. The same could be said for England coach Gareth Southgate, coming close for fans is not enough. Yet for the hundreds of millions around the world who enjoyed the Euro Finals it was a really good game with England so close to the very end with a bunch of repeated headers any one of which could have ended up in the Spanish goal. Speaking of Harry Kane one can think of Toni Kroos who is has played for Germany 108 times. Germany as the host country did not make it to the semifinals. It was Toni Kroos's last game, a player as gifted and patient as Harry Kane. Lionel Messi did not score in the Copa America Finals game against Columbia, in extra time Lautaro Martinez scored the only goal in Miami. Still the golden boot went to Dani Olmo and Harry Kane of the Spanish and English teams, such was the extent of their effort, giving it their all, and the people watching the game all over the world thank them for it. ...

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Experts say focusing on carbon dioxide alone will not be enough to control climate change.

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Covid Lab Leak accepted on US government websites. Increasingly this is becoming the accepted view.

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A new Gallup poll shows only 7% of Americans find Media to be "trustworthy" and 38% say they have no trust at all in the Media, such as newspapers or television shows. We cite this as a Early Warning before readers look to the media to understand the Nation's president. Lyrarc.com found the president to have a score of 9 out of 10 for yesterday's NATO news conference for grasp of complex details, his way of getting this across in plain English to viewers, the complex problems he is tackling which no cognitive test cleared could enable one to tackle. Remember Corinthians 3-18, 3-19, when it comes to the Media that take the place of the People and the Nation-" Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written he taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." To have a Janet Yellen at Treasury, Jake Sullivan at National Security, Garland at Justice Department and others of that caliber around him Biden has to interact with and guide some of the sharper minds that America can put out. To have their confidence and their wholehearted support in what he is doing for the people, requires a sharp and alert mind from Biden. ...

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A post office in the Azores in the middle of the Atlantic, which is now on a Portuguese stamp.

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Declining U.S. birthrate with 63.2 births per 1000 women of childbearing age in 2011, according to the Pew Research Center. The rate declines by 23% for Mexican immigrants to the U.S. from 2007-2010 as a result of the severe economic effects of the financial crisis of 2008 on Hispanic immigrants.

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The impact on stock markets around the world of the protests in Egypt. The Nikkei fell 1.5%, the Kospi index fell 1.5%, on Jan 31, and the Dow Jones average fell 166 points on Friday Jan 28, 2011. Oil prices increased by 3.7% to $89.34 during the week of protests in Egypt. The Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington estimates a 5% increase in the price of oil takes away $5 billion dollars from the US economy. Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor's Equity Research, says that a boxer rarely gets knocked out by a punch he is expecting, and this could be what starts a decline after the market fought off fears from sovereign debt crises in Europe and interest rate increases in China. What makes Egypt significant? The Suez Canal is ony a 1000 feet wide at the narrowest point. Supertankers carrying oil do not pass through the canal but rely on smaller vessels and on the Sumed pipeline. About 2.9 million barrels of oil a day, 2.6% of global oil production passed though the Suez Canal and the pipeline according to the US Energy Department. Because prices are determined at the margin this is a lot of oil, especially considering the global spare production capacity is only 2.5 millon barrels a day. The immediate impact would be on Europe which gets much of the oil refined in the Middle East and shipped using the canal and pipeline. Egypt is also a major importer of wheat, importing more wheat than any other country. Any increase in imports to placate consumers would increase wheat prices. Already wheat prices are impacted by floods in Australia, a long drought in Argentina, and forest fires in Russia. Inflationary impact of rising food prices has been felt in China, India and other countries....

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A unanimous vote of the Chinese Communist Party Congress now puts "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in a New Era" into the Chinese Constitution. As the 19th Party Congress ends Xi Jinping joins two other leaders of the Communist Party Mao  Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, who were so honored. It also appears that unlike previous leaders Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping is concentrating authority and direction for China. This Congress marks the end of Xi's second five year term as party general secretary.  Under Hu Jintao there were efforts by some Communist leaders to create new power bases. This period ended with Xi Jinping bringing a clear direction and authority under the Communist Party. This has led to China taking on a leadership role in the world economy and global political affairs after the election of Trump in the U.S. in 2017. The management of the economy also has provided a soft landing after threats of disruptions in trade relations with the U.S. ...

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Consumer lending went down by 1.7% in October 2009 according to Federal Reserve data. A WSJ analysis of Fed data shows corporate and consumer credit markets have shrunk by 7% or $1.5 trillion in the 2 years through early November 2009. And ont he other hand the Treasury debt outstanding has gone up quickjly by 40% as the governmet tries to finance large deficits. The market for every type pf bond has recovered from the crisis, and money is going into the markets, but this does not mean more money is flowing into the economy. The tighter lending results in consumers and businesses more reluctant to hire and invest. Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of Pacific Inestment Management Company says this means the US econom will grow at 1.5% to 2% ayear compared to the 3% growth that is typical for healthy growth. Says Erian: "the idea that we have reset to where we came from is false. It is abumpy journeyto anew destination with significant long-term effects."

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Microsoft's Satya Nadella got his start at age 24 at Bing search engine. He is now 56 years. During this period he worked with both Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer who succeeded Gates at Microsoft. He is now remaking the Bing Search engine by using AI. This has happened since 2018 when he met Altman at the Sun Valley Tech conference in Idaho. He invested $1 billion in Altman's OpenAI, and has recently brought in Suleyman of Inflection who is a competitor of  Altman's OpenAI into Microsoft with the idea of setting up an internal AI business as well. To do this he has invested $10 billion in advanced AI chips that he has bought from chipmakers which have reduced the capital available for Microsoft's other businesses. This WSJ report by Dotan and Jin says Altman started his venture because he did not want to let AI to be led by Google silently developing its own version and doing leapfrog over competitors. A At this point in 2024 Google, Facebook and Amazon are building their own AI talent and making large investments in the chips that support AI. It is rapidly becoming an oligopoly of a few tech companies that makes deals among themselves for strategic advantage and protect themselves from public or government regulatory scrutiny. The controversy surrounding the firing and rehiring of Altman at OpenAI has brought new scrutiny from the FTC. The monopolistic behaviour of tech companies and their splitting the tech market among themselves as Google and Apple have done show the need for government action to prevent a repeat of this in AI. And to take action to break up existing monopolies in Search engines and in the Internet as Theodore Roosevelt did at the turn of the century for the oil business, breaking up Rockefeller's Standard Oil and Esso. Only when that happens can the true potential of the Internet be realized for Education, Health and other fields. Who can say that the iPad or iPhone or Google's Search engine has increased global literacy or American literacy? By freeing up these technologies- that belong to the people of America and the world- for education, health and other fields of human development mankind can advance once again. By regulating provide the ground rules for good use instead of the current danger of the Internet acting in ways to reduce public knowledge to levels that cannot sustain democratic process, and create stratified society where each group only sees what it has seen before and does not explore the world or knowledge in all its variety, all its ability to surprise us with new discoveries. ...