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The EU's statistics agency shows inflation in the eurozone was 2.8% in December, declining from 3% in November 2011.

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Douglas Peterson, chief operating officer of Citibank, will become the new president of Standard & Poor's. He brings useful experience facing a parliamentary inquiry in Japan, after Citibank ran into trouble with Japan's securities laws. He was also the bank's chief auditor and worked with regulators for the introduction of major accounting rules.

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What the Indian Supreme Court failed to do was ask for accountability for the nearly 3 years lost in timely delivery of infrastructure that was to be completed in 2021 for the $3 billion Metro subway for Mumbai. Work that was moving 24 hours a day 7 days a week under Ms Ashwini Bhide was stalled and left to stagnate. This is unconscionable for a country with 1.4 billion people and most under 35 years whose aspirations get repeatedly stuck in the mud by politicians and a mentality that has itself given into the way colonial powers looked at India of being undeveloped, dirty and disorganized. Mohandas Gandhi would have a hard time understanding that Hind Swaraj that he envisioned in 1910 could lead to this kind of stagnation. Mr. Jain points out that the Indian Supreme Court has left it to the Assembly Speaker to decide on the issue of disqualification of 16 MLA's- in effect leaving the new government in place which has a majority in the Maharashtra state assembly in India. The 2 party coalition was formed between Mr. Modi's party BJP in the state, the principal driver for infrastructure and 24 X 7 development in India, and Mr. Shinde's party on 30 June 2023.  From November 2019 to June 2023 for the period of the pandemic for 2 years and 8 months the state was under a government that stalled on major infrastructure projects in the state that were being done 24 hours a day. Such as a huge project that the WSJ called "audacious" run by Ashwini Bhide at MMRC with over $2 billion from the Japan International Cooperation Agency for a new METRO subway for Mumbai taking it into the 21st century from an old broken British rail system. Unfortunately neither the Supreme Court or the press delved into the loss of 3 years that added this loss in infrastructure that was to be completed in 2021 to the losses from the pandemic. The project is back to operating 24 hours a day 7 days a week under Ms. Ashwini Bhide since the Shinde government was formed in June 2023 with pm Modi's party in the state.  ...

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France produced 3.1 million tons of plastic waste, with 2.1 million tons being in packaging. A new environment protection law by president Macron requires supermarkets and other stores to use refill stations for packaging so that unpackaged goods can be sold. This is a legal obligation under the law to cut plastic waste.

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Narendra Modi is now the choice of the BJP party in India to lead it against the ruling Congress party of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. The corruption in government and the slowing growth have improved the chances of Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat state in northwestern India, near Mumbai. Modi has done well in Gujarat state in a number of areas- from foreign investment in manufacturing, infrastructure development, and better governance. His plan is to replicate this at the national level. His slogan is minimum government and maximum governance.

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Greg Ip of the WSJ points to the economic changes in China's economy and the threat of deflation in 2016 with the large debt and slowing economy. For the last decade China was seen as a currency manipulator as it kept the value of its currency lower to increase imports. With the large changes in China's economic situation in 2015-2016 China may face a situation similiar to Japan with deflationary trends. China faces political pressures in 2016 with the U.S. presidential election in 2016 to not intervene with the currency. The goal of making the yuan a global currency adds to these pressures. Other factors are the need to service debt in dollars of Chinese property companies.

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Lopez Obrador takes office as the new president of Mexico and promises a fourth transformation of Mexico after independence from Spain, 19th century reforms separating church and state, 1910 Mexican revolution. Obrador has a majority in both houses of Congress, a first since 1997. Mr. Obrador has promised 100 new public universities, and increased public spending on health and education mainly through austerity in other spending such as a new Mexico City airport that was cancelled.

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Warnings about the decline in reading comprehension in the US shown by 30 years of NAEP testing, all the way down the graphs show.  About 70 percent of American children in 4th grade cannot reach Reading Proficient level of the National Association of Education Performance Tests for 2024. The problem is the lack of rich content based education as standard in all American schools says E.D. Hirsch. It is also about getting children excited about reading, and giving them opportunities to use their imagination. This promotes lifelong learning the key to better reading. This way children seek out new books from libraries, from friends, mentors, from the internet and from online stores. Once this happens it takes place on its own. Interaction with adults adds another dimension to the reading. Lyrarc's Movement for Global Literacy is about rebuilding reading comprehension in the US. This is behind every aspect of educational activity, reading is fundamental to all educational activity.  It is also fundamental to nation building, never more important than today with the fragmentation in cultures and ethnic fragmentation being allowed to happen as core fundamentals were ignored, and hard earned experience neglected by adopting newfangled theory since the 1950's that has failed us. ...

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Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida  holds talks with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. Japan has pledged to increase trade with India with $42 billion in investment in India over 5 years. In the 20 years 2000-2019 when Japan invested heavily in China, Japan invested only $32 billion in India. The US and Germany also invested heavily in China, compared to the investment in India.  Business in the US, Germany, the EU, and Japan integrated their economies with China over two decades. The Trump administration brought attention to the US working class and the effects of trade and investment that hurt workers in the domestic economy. The election of Biden in the US, Scholz in Germany and Kishida in Japan have shifted focus to the working class, inequality, lack of infrastructure investment in the domestic economy, and the effects of business decisions that cost jobs in the domestic economy. It is in this context that foreign investment is being shifted to India, Vietnam, and other manufacturing locations in Asia as the entire world supply chain is being reinvented to protect workers in the domestic economy, and the local economies. The pandemic and the war in Europe are now accelerating the reinvention of world supply chains. Indi abstained from the vote in the United Nations on Ukraine yet it maintains that all disputes be settled through peaceful resolution under international law. The joint Kishida Modi statement says- "We confirm that any unilateral change in the status quo cannot be forgiven in any region, and it is necessary to seek peaceful resolution of disputes under international law." ...

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The effect of a sudden health crisis such as cancer on the finances of Americans leading to capsizing and losing everything is shown here in the WSJ. In 2024 this comes after the pandemic has already affected finances of working people. 

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Al Maktoum is prime minister of Dubai. He points out some important facts about the Arab world. About half of the 300 million people in the Arab world are under the age of 25. Unemploment is very high among these 150 million Arab youth. About 50% of the jobless are youth, according to the prime minister. About 65 million of the Arabs are illiterate, and 10 million children under the age of 25 are not enrolled in any school. He points out that with so little education, the Arab youth are especially vulnerable to propaganda that creates extremism and is hostile to the west and the USA. One of his key points is that the Arab world is the most militarized place in the world, and spending on conflicts in the Middle East in the last 60 years is about $3 trillion. And in the last 15 years he says the spending on education which is 20% of what the world's 30 wealthiest countries spend, has dropped to 10% of that amount. And very little is being done to educate girls and give them opportunities. As a result of these convictions, Al Maktoum, who is also the ruler of Dubai and from the royal family, has committed about $3 billion to various initiatives to provide schooling to children, especially girls, and education for young people. This makes him one of the more enlightened leaders in the region pushing for new directions. This also reveals the critical weakness among the Arab peoples and why they tend to be so radicalized. Improvements in education and more opportunities for jobless youth, and creating a peaceful region -with the US and the EU countries committing to policies that lead to much diminished military sales to Mideast countries and reducing hostilities in the region -would do more to reduce anti-American sentiment in the region and improve US security than any other policy actions. As Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the Muslims of India share the same characteristics as the Arab peoples, and the same cultures, the same is true of this region, actually more so. Education has been even worse neglected in the South Asian Muslim region than among the Arabs. It is the key to peace, does more than troops to ensure the peace. The need is for more schools to be built and run in the region, for essential services like healthcare and development, and financing of job creating industries. ...

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New York state governor Andrew Cuomo says the turnaound in the last 15 months for the state budget shows that things went from "a model of dysfunction to a model of function."

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The EU with its $15.4 trillion economy is a bloc comparable in size to the U.S. $19.4 trillion economy. The French State Secretary for Europe, Mr. Lemoyne, says EU does not need to be worried about the way the USMCA, new version of NAFTA was negotiated with pressure from president Trump, as the Europeans are the largest trading power in the world. The EU exports to the U.S. are $252 billion, and up 5% in the seven months of 2018 over the preceding period. The U.S. by comparison exports $153 billion which has remained at the same level with a $600 million decline in the same period in 2018.  President Trump has put pressure on the EU to help improve the trade imbalance. Soya bean exports are pointed to by the EU as this has doubled in 2018, after China responded to U.S. sanctions by limiting soyabean imports. President Trump has stated his intention to impose tariffs on European car imports - trade worth $60 billion- to get the EU to offer concessions.  ...

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After all the talk of slowing growth in Britain the royals keep up the spirits in England with the rebound in their activity.

Shown here with David Beckham and Dame Helen Mirren, the royals including Charles and Camilla, are bursting with energy after an illness. Charles is keen on filling every open hour in his daily calendar, not wanting any downtime. Charles sees this style of staying occupied all the time as the best way to staying healthy.

Camilla and Kate Middleton are doing the same with their own busy schedule visiting schools and boosting spirits around England.

After an event with an Italian chef "slow" food dinner Charles says it would be a British understatement if he said he was looking forward to a visit to Italy in April 2025.

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Hong and Inman describe the deep experience in capital markets that Hong Kong has and Shanghai lacks, which China needs for further development. Even before the handover capital markets in Hong Kong have helped China, and many of China's largest companies have listings in Hong Kong. Hong is also the laboratory for China to make financial innovations for the last three decades, because of capital account controls on the mainland. A bad bank Cinda Asset management Company only recently raised $2.5 billion for buying non-performing loans from Chinese banks. Hong Kong's separate status within China, its Briain based legal system which has credibility in the international community, the rule of law, independent judiciary and independent police are critical to how it developed into an international financial hub for Asia. Any crackdown on protestors would disturb this arrangement. As China has already promised universal suffrage in 2017- which implies free elections not limited by restricted nominations as is now proposed in a change in 2014- and the Basic Law passed before the handover by Britain in 1997 also ensuring this, any retraction is only going back on past promises. A crackdown would create fears about Hong Kong's future autonomy for international financial institutions, and the bad publicity for China would affect Hong Kong and China adversely. ...

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The debt brake put into the German Constitution by Angela Merkel's government in 2009 to limit the structural budget deficit to 0.35% of GDP during the 2009 financial crisis caused by poor banking behaviour, and in the 2015 eurozone debt crisis with overborrowing by Greece and Spain, is no longer relevant in 2024. It can be said that Merkel made some mistakes- not investing in digitization, in infrastructure and making the German economy dependent on low cost oil and gas from Russia. Putting the debt brake in the German Constitution and setting it at 0.35% of GDP except in emergencies adds to these mistakes, because it deprives policymakers and government of the minimum needed flexibility to meet changing situations in the interests of the German people.    It means there is no money to invest in the country's future, no money for infrastructure even when it is old and crumbling for roads, bridges rail stations and airports, no money for digitization of the economy in which Germany has fallen behind, not enough for defense, and no money to fund needs in education, healthcare, childcare. And not enough money to invest in climate change action. Absent this investment the German economy falls behind, jobs become precarious and public dissatisfaction leads to volatile political situation. ...

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This story by Fiona Macdonald of BBC is from the BBC Britain series to be found on the Britain homepage.  It has some remarkable poems that help one deal with the fears of everyday life, how to cross these barriers that one comes across with different feelings of both hope and despair, how to bend with them and come out healing and growing. It shows how poetry can help bring a calmer soother element into our busy and sometimes frantic lives. Poetry that is read for its deeper subtle meaning with pauses and time to reflect on the words, each word gently,and let it gradually sink into our subconscious minds. The results can be amazing if it is read the right way, slowly, and not the way we read journalism, news reports, prose or essays. It is well worth reading the poems given here by Fiona Macdonald, even reading one can be soothing and calming in its effect.

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The Oxford vaccine is showing promising results and is expected to be authorized for use by December 2020. The vaccine being developed in partnership with Astra Zeneca PLC for marketing and Serum Institute of India for mass manufacturing is shown to be proven 90% effective in preventing infections in clinical trials. The partners say there were no serous safety events and the vaccine has proven 62% to 90% effective with an average of 70%.  This vaccine is significant because it is being developed with this partnership not seeking profits from this venture, providing it at cost and keeping the price to about $4 a dose compared to competitors Moderna and Pfizer whose vaccine is expected to be at $24 a dose. The Oxford vaccine also uses existing technology for vaccines and manufacturing is being done in India with the world's top manufacturer of vaccines. By using existing technology unlike the Pfizer and Moderna technology Oxford has taken an approach that could prove to be unique by minimizing side effects for vaccines that are being developed with such speed. By not requiring refrigeration at very low temperatures the vaccine makes itself ready for immediate and widespread uses all over the world. By use in its home country India with its large population Oxford vaccine can gain even wider acceptance because of India's long experience in pharmaceutical technology and manufacturing. Of particular interest is the study of 23,000 participants showing that the 90% effective dosage is one that only requires half a dose for the first shot. This say scientists is because the vaccine first dose prepares the body for a more powerful second dose and creates the maximum effect. This means the vaccine can be used for more doses than 2 full doses. It can be stored in a fridge making it easy to use in many countries. The full study will have 60,000 participants spread across U.S. Britain, Brazil South Africa and India. ...

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The new generation of Communist party leaders that takes over from Hu Jintao and Wen Biao. Chongqing region's party chief, Bo Xilai is one of the leaders expected to be part of the senior communist leadership, along with Li Keqiang as prime minister and Xi Jinping as president. Xi and Bo are sons of communist party veterans from the Long March. Chongqing was the main base of the Communist party in the 1930's and 1940's, as Mao and the communists fought the Nationalists and then the Japanese. Bo has suppressed the influence of Mafia elements in the region, and is campaigning for a place on the Politburo's Standing Committee with a call for a return to Maoist values of "conscientiousness." Chongqing's state companies are supporting a project launched by Bo in 2010 to build 800,0000 subsidized apartments in 3 years, with an investment of $18.5 billion. This comes as income and wealth gaps in the country are widening and housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable for ordinary wage earners....

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The American pope's brother is John Prevost, 71 years, a school educator and principal, who lives in New Lenox, a community of 27,000 people 40 miles southwest of Chicago. He says of his borhter who was with him at his home for a couple of weeks last August 2024- "The best way I could describe him right now is that he will be following in Francis’ footsteps, they were very good friends. They knew each other before he was pope, before my brother even was bishop.” Pope Francis (Bergoglio) made the new American Pope bishop of a small Peruvian town in 1998, then archbishop and cardinal in Peru, before he returned to the US in 2014. At that time the new pope drove a white pickup truck to carry food and blankets to remote regions in the Andes mountains of Peru. Francis of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the new pope have a passion for seeing to the needs of the poor and the forgotten in society. ...

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The closing of Project Thunderdome, a project to provide national and foreign articles to 75 newsrooms of Digital First Media Holdings newspapers. The decision was made by private equity firm Alden Global Capital. Digital first newspapers include Detroit News, Denver Post and Salt Lake Tribune. The idea was to consolidate the newsroom. Alden Global Capital gave as the reason cutting costs, and local being where the revenue was generated. In the journalism industry such efforts are being increasingly viewed with skepticism as hedge fund or private equity are focussed on the short term, make abrupt decisions, and are not willing to invest over longer periods the way Amazon founder Bezos is able to do at The Washington Post.