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An independent parliamentary panel in Japan described the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster as a "profoundly man-made disaster." It was sharply critical of TEPCO, the company running the plant, and the Japanese government's response. The investigation chairman Kiyoshi Kurokawa said in the report: "What must be admitted- very painfully- is that this was a disaster 'Made in Japan,' its fundamental causes are to be found in the ingrained conventions of Japanese culture: our reflexive obedience; our reluctance to question authority; our devotion to 'sticking with the program'; our groupism; and our insularity." This comes as a report by TEPCO shifted public attention to "a tsunami beyond our imagination," creating a large credibility gap with the Japanese people, because the public is skeptical about TEPCO's attention to safety during the period leading to the accident. The parliamentary report calls attention to safety factors that were ignored so that companies would be required to take further steps including costly modifications of plant equipment. A critical flaw was the lack of a independent safety agency that could enforce safety measures that TEPCO might be reluctant to make because of cost considerations. Astonishing as this may sound, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) in Japan is part of the same government ministry that promotes nuclear power, creating a sort of "nuclear bloc," which before the accident connected the safety agency to the bloc. Because of this the panel report says, NISA did not require TEPCO to prepare for a full station blackout- the loss of main and backup power- because the "probability was small." Other factors that need to be addressed are the breakdown in communication and cooperation between the people operating the plant and the people responsible for Japan's nuclear safety. The prime minister's office waited too long before declaring a state of emergency. To come up with the conclusions the panel made 1000 intervews and conducted 900 hours of hearings. The questions left behind by the nuclear accident in Japan are whether Japan should continue with the same level of dependence on nuclear power, whether it should shift out of nuclear power on a gradual basis as Germany is doing ironically after the Fukushima accident while Japan is reactivating its nuclear plants to meet energy needs. If Japan continues with a smaller reliance on nuclear power what changes have to take place for an effective safety agency completely outside the "nuclear bloc," and the series of other changes that have to take place in the nuclear power industry's handling of safety. Public opposition continues to focus on this because of distrust of the nuclear power industry after the accident....

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Hong Kong's economic growth slowed from 2-6-3.0% growth in the past six quarters to 1.8% in the second quarter of 2014. A suppression of the protests would damage Hong Kong's and China's economy at a time when growth is slowing down sharply. This is a risk that the government in Beijing is unlikely to take, says Einhorn.

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Brazil suffers from a severe shortage of engineers as it expects to grow at 5% through 2010 and at 3-4% after that. Because Brazilian Universities do not turn out enough engineers Brazilan companies in oil, mining and aviation and other sectors are having their own training programs. Brazil's education system is not doing the job. The average Brazilian worker has 6 years of schooling compared to 10 years in S. Korea, 11 in Japan and 12 in the USA, according to the National Confederation of Industry study. Of the few that make it to the university only one in five take up engineering, science math or computing according to a recent World Bank study of links between education and economic growth. Most of the growth in university education is at private universities and these universities find it easier to provide programs in the social sciences and not enough engineering programs exist at these universities. Mexico has a large supply of engineering graduates that have helped it build its automotive and other industry, see the link to this. ...

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The size of Matteo Renzi's win in the nationwide primary, with about 70% supporting him of 2.9 million voters, suggests the mood is changing in Italy for making changes to the old system. Renzi talks about changing education, the government health system, taking a new look at union positions, and coming into a consensus with conservative voters. Renzi and prime minister Letta are moderates from a younger generation in Italy from the same party and need to work together. Angelino Alfano of the centre right is also from the younger generation, marking a shift in Italy.

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As Sweden's government adopts a relaxed approach to coronavirus by not imposing a lockdown and allowing activity to carry on outside on the streets, more than 2000 doctors and experts in universities warn about dangers of this approach. The deaths rise to 373 higher in per capita terms than the U.S. considering the smaller population of Sweden.

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GM and Ford improving in reliability while Toyota drops in the reliability list.

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Cost of buy one for a child and get one offer is $399. Eventually the idea is to bring cost down to $100. This will have a high resolution screen usable to read books downloadable at 25 cents per book, wireless communication between laptops and open source software. The One Laptop per Child project of MIT Media Lab had hoped for orders of 1 million each from Brazil and Nigeria but has fallen way short of this. Peru will take 250,000 for rural villages.

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Arminia Bielefield is one of Germany's well known soccer teams today. One cannot say it is a unknown town. I took a picture of the stadium and the passionate soccer fans on a major television station on German television just yesterday. It is in North Rhine Westphalia, and like other German teams in the Bundesliga has a whole soccer fan culture behind its stadium, the city and its surrounding areas, that one can only find in Germany. Entire families different generations grow up attending and cheering for their team.

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According to the Center for American Progress enrollment in the food stamp program would drop by 9.2% if the minimum wage is raised to $10.10 per hour. The savings- $4.6 billion a year. This CAP report is by UC Berkeley researchers Rachel West and Michael Reich. Earlier research done at UC Berkeley and University of Illinois showed raising the minimum wage would save taxpayers $7 billion a year. Food stamps known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program supports one in seven Americans at a cost of $78 billion in 2011, with eligibility set at 130% of poverty threshold or $19,530 for 3 member family.

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Under a plan called "premium support" Paul Ryan's U.S. budget proposal would have seniors choose a private insurance plan from a federally operated exchange. Each year the government would pay private insurers a specific amount to cover the cost of premiums with the rest borne by seniors. The total amount paid by the government would go up only at the rate of overall inflation, it would not go up at the higher rate of health care inflation. By doing this the government would take off the trillions of dollars of projected spending on health care that are largely the result of the higher inflation rate in health care costs. This higher inflation rate on health care costs is something that both parties have failed to control, and remains a major weakness in all health care proposals to date, including the Obama health care legislation. Allowed to continue growing at this rate when U.S. debt to GDP is nearing 100%, health care inflation costs pose major risks to the nation's finances.

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President Xi Jinping's Made in China 2025 plan has spurred startups in electric car technologies, and raises concern about overcapacity. Electric cars is one of 10 sectors in the Made in China 2025 plan to promote global competitiveness for Chinese companies and domestic dominance. China Construction Bank and National Development and Reform Commission announced a $47 billion plan. Direct government subsidies of $15 billion over last 5 years have also increased the number of startups.

All automakers in China are required to produce electric cars. The electric cars sold in China at 777,000 make up half of the electric cars sold in the world. 

Local governments in places such as Anhui province have invested in electric car companies. One such company Singulato in Tongling, Anhui, is profiled here, with its first electric car expected by the end of the year priced at $43,000.

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The shrinking of the 25 point lead of Joko Widodo over a Suharto era general, Subianto, as television networks shift support to Subianto. Indonesia's presidential elections are set for July 9, 2014. Widodo, is a popular governor of Jakarta, and the candidate of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle. Its chairwoman is former president Megawati Sukarnoputri. The slow progress on infrastructure projects in Jakarta, including a light rail line, is affecting Widodo's lead.

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A Congressional Oversight Panel said the Obama administration foreclosure plan is not addressing the problems of today. It is borrowers with good credit who ave lost their jobs or those with complex mortgages who are not getting help, and this will add to the higher default rates. THese borrowers because they are jobless are not able to afford even the reduced monthly payments. The HAMP program for reducing payments fails to address these problems.

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UK's energy company, BG Group PLC is offering 12.9 billion Australian dollars for Origin Energy. Origin Energy Australia's biggest gas producer is also the owner of large coalbed methane assets, known as coal-seam. Trillions of cubic metres of natural gas are trapped in Australia's coal seams. Extracting this methane has been considered too costly until now as natural gas prices have risen significantly. There are environmental benefits as coal seam gas does not produce any sulfur dioxide or particulates, and emits only 50% of the carbon dioxide emitted when coal is burned.BG already has plans to spend A$8 billion on one LNG plant with capacity for 4 million metric tons a year of LNG. LNG is natural gas, mostly methane cooled to liquid form for transport by ship. This would use the coal-seam assets purchased from Queensland Gas Company for A$664 million as part of plans to start the LNG plant near the port town of Gladstone, in the state of Queensland. The Origin coal seam assets could provide gas for a second plant at the Queensland site. BG has an LNG supply deal to provide 3 million tons a year to Singapore from 2012. BG has prior focus in the Atlantic region with operations in Brazil, the UK, North Sea, and Trinidad and Tobago, the Queensland deal and acquisition of Origin gives BG an entry in Asian LNG markets. This will be the second biggest takeover of an Australian company after Mexican cement maker Cemex's acquisition of Rinker Group for A$16.7 billion....

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This report in DW.com says Lufthansa will gain many of the routes used by Air Berlin. Air Berlin lost 750 million dollars in 2016 and was declared insolvent. The German market has several hubs unlike France and Britain and it is not yet clear how Lufthansa will expand to adopt some of Air Berlin's routes.