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French premier Francis Bayrou puts forward ideas for the new government in Jan 2025- Immigration- "Seeking a form of harmony also means addressing the fears and realities that immigration raises in our country. (...) My deep conviction is that immigration is first and foremost a question of proportion. It is our duty to direct a policy of control, regulation and return to their country of those whose presence, by their number, endangers the cohesion of the nation." Education- "I think that, in our school and university system, it must be possible to accept and even encourage [career changes], changes in [professional] training."   PM Bayrou for the promotion of reading, at a time when "screens have taken over from any other mechanism for transmitting knowledge. This is a national issue."  "We'll have to go back to studying the notebooks of grievances that were presented by the 'Yellow Vests'," for "the expectations, often the most unspoken, that are those of social circles excluded from power" to be heard. ...

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How the Getty Museum in the hills near the Pacific Palisades mad it intact through the LA wildfires is told in this story in the WSJ. Museum head Fleming describes the built in fire prevention plan of the Getty Museum  and how it was pulled into action. The entire design of the museum is built around fire prevention- with sprinklers, concrete walls and tile roofs, oak trees that absorb water, reducing anything that acts as fire material, and a layout that separates one area from the rest with plazas.

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What happens when a fire destroys neighborhoods - as in Altanena, Pacific Palisades and others in Los Angeles- and police firefighters cordon off neighborhoods. Residents who left cannot get back in to see what is left of their house- what survived and what was charred ash.

WSJ reporters talk to residents who found ways to get back in - facing a tighter and tighter police effort not let anyone in because of looters and safety. Residents describe their experience with one resident who found his house burned down but stayed back to patrol his neighborhood and help residents who had decided to stay.

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France's new premier Francis Bayrou says in a policy speech to parliament yellow vest protests need to be heard and the pension reform of 2023 with large protests can also be debated and renegotiated. It is an effort to bring together all parties after the alienation of the last 2 years. Macron raised the pension age from 62 years to 64 but did not first get the support nationwide that was needed. 

Bayrou raises the deficit target to 5.4% from 5% under the Barnier government that lasted only 3 months and failed to win parliamentary support.

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The cost will increase the longer the effort for cleanup of PFAS chemicals used in military bases is delayed and could also lead to increased contamination of water in surrounding areas. In 2025 the cost is about $31 billion for 50 US military installations says The Guardian.  The Environmental Working Group policy analysis group senior analyst Jared Hayes is cited in The Guardian- "The DoD is facing a ticking cleanup time bomb as funding falls dramatically behind cleanup costs.” “The DoD has an obligation to its service members, the families living on bases, and the surrounding communities that have already been contaminated, so they need to clean up their mess." The adjoining article in Le Monde shows the awareness being created by Le Monde and its partners and The Forever Pollution Project in Europe about PFAS cleanup in France, and in Europe. ...

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The hidden costs of pollution are shown by the Forever Pollution Project in France. Le Monde and partners estimate the cost at euros 12 billion a year for cleaning up PFAS, with the smallest particles TFA widely present in water to be treated. The cost of cleanup in the US for PFAS must be vastly higher in the US and has not been estimated.

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A 40 year old sailor from Normandy accomplishes an utterly mind boggling feat- sailing alone from the western coast of France across the Atlantic to the Cape of Good Hope in 19 days, to the Atlantic at Cape Leeuvin in 29 days, then on to Cape Horn at the tip of Argentina and Chile in 43 days, from there to the Equator in 56 days, and the last leg back up the Brittany coast of France., around the world in 64 days. He wins the 10th edition of Vendee Globe, a non stop non assisted race around the world, and does this for a second time. A heroic tribute to ancestors Cartier and Champlain who sailed to Quebec and to Africa and the east from the coast of Brittany from the 1530's.

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The hard ones Hegseth at Defense and Gabbbard at National Intelligence. The one that depends on RFK Jr convincing Senators about his position on vaccines is for Health and Human Services. WSJ looks at where the Senate stands on each important nomination and who are the swing votes.

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The leading Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Elizabeth Warren, says she is eager to work with DJT, Tim Scott and Republicans in Congress to make life affordable for working families and to rebuild the middle class. She says Republicans and Democrats have thir reasons for th housing shortages and hgih costs of housing, and both are right. Republicans pointing to the supply shortage and Democrats pointing to the price fixing and corporate landlords.

On DJT proposing to cap credit card interest rates at 10% Warren says she will work with Republicans to make it happen.

Warren cites personal experience as reason she is at her job. Her dad lost his job and almost lost his home. This is why in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis caused by banks engaging in speculation she says she became Senator and why she is fighting to make life affordable for all Americans.

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PM Modi inaugurates the Sonmarg Tunnel in Sonmarg, J&K. The 6.5 kilometer tunnel connects Gaganir with Sonmarg. Located at a height of about 8700 feet it promotes connectivity all year round between Srinagar and Sonmarg, and builds access to Ladakh region. It will promote tourism and Winter Games in the region.

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Every year India Youth Day is observed on the 12th of January on the birthday of Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda 1863-1902 preceded Mohandas Gandhi in the first period of the Indian struggle for Independence from the British Empire. The book Hind Swaraj by Gandhiji which set the blueprint for India's independence struggle was inspired by and followed in 1909 only a few years after Vivekananda's death in 1902. Vivekananda also inspired Indonesia's Sukarno in the struggle for independence from the Dutch Empire during the 1930's and 1940's. The population of India and Indonesia which represent the height of the ancient Vedic civilization of South Asia is in 2025 1722 million. It also encompasses China Japan Korea and Vietnam with a population of 1750 million when we consider India as the centre of Buddhist civilization. About 3.5 billion people with a common heritage in ancient Vedic and Buddhist civilization. Matched only by Christian civilization with 1.0 billion people in the Americas and 750 million in Europe. Combined this is two thirds of the world population. Under the British, Dutch and French Empires India was kept separate from cultural and religious contact with Indonesia, Vietnam, China and Japan. There is a convergence of culture and religion in Asia in the 21st century first between India and Indonesia and Vietnam, and second between India and Japan, Korea. That convergence will grow between India and China in the rest of the 21st century as ancient but modern civilizations with a common history. ...