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Dershowitz defended Mr. Trump in the impeachment trial in 2020. He says the case is not like that against president Nixon, where there was destroying of evidence and wilful obstruction. The Presidential Records Act of 1978 is relevant says Dershowitz, which lays out detailed procedures for handling records of former president, and a civil process for resolving disputes. The case itself evolved out of non compliance with special counsel Jack Smith by Mr. Trump in the way Biden and Pence returned the classified material immediately and cooperated with investigators, says Dershowitz. 

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From the beginning coordinated effort had little prospect between the U.S., the EU, and Russia to address Islamic State and terrorism with Russia's continuing its policies in Syria. This is less likely now with the shooting down of a Russian war plane over Turkey, continued tensions with bombing of Turkic populations on the border, and Russia's bombing campaign in Syria hitting targets all over the region.

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World Bank estimates are for the damage from Japan's earthquake and tsunami to cost $122 billion to $235 billion, or between 2.5% and 4% of Japan's GDP. By comparison the Kobe earthquake in 1995 cost $100 billion in damages. Growth will slow in the first half of 2011 by 0.5 percentage points, but it will accelerate in the second half of 2011. Growth will also slow in countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines which export to Japan.

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Anecdotal evidence such as huge jewelry sales in Hong Kong and smaller repatriation of funds earned overseas by Chinese companies suggests outflow of funds from China is picking up. Also the quarterly pace of accumulation in foreign exchange reserves dropped by 74% over the course of 2008. In he 4th quarter 2008 it reached $40.45 billion, lowest point since 2004. Chinese government may be slowing its purchase of Treasuries. And policy may be shifting away from letting the yuan to appreciate as export industries are hit hard by lower foreign demand.

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Lack of wage growth and self imposed fiscal rules as barriers for Britain's Labour government in 2026. Keir Starmer faces challenges for the leadership after May 2026 elections. Self imposed fiscal rules set a limit to what the administration can achieve and finance minister Rachel Reeves lacking the imagination to come up with a way to boost growth with fiscal rules modified to generate jobs and wage growth working with British industry.

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Under a new law going into effect on Oct. 1, 2017 and supported by Angela Merkel's government, all social networks will be required to delete within 24 hours "all illegal content." This is an effort to take immediate action against hate speech, libel and other illegal content. Companies could be fined upto $57 million. Germany's Justice Minister Heiko Maas said "we cannot accept that social networks ignore our laws." Mr. Maas says the voluntary effort setup earlier had not worked as the social media companies were too slow. The law now means the networks will devote more resources, with Facebook increasing the staff for this purpose doubling it almost from 4500 to 7500, showing that the problem had not been addressed the way it needed to be. The new law details 22 sections of the criminal code that social networks need to enforce. Including laws banning libel, character defamation, hate speech, insults against religions, offensive statements and privacy violations. Britain's May and France's Macron have also called the efforts of the networks insufficient. A similar law in the U.S. before the 2016 election could have saved the country from many of the problems arising from illegal content being posted, including damage to the image of the U.S., inciting deep divisions, racial tensions, hate rhetoric and defamation leading to coarsening of public dialogue and debate.  During 2016 many European leaders were exposed to hate speech including Angela Merkel. The social networks were slow to respond and did not take their civic duty as seriously as they should have considering the grave damage to the social and political fabric of the U.S. and the European Union countries. The governments also took time to act, studying the problem carefully before taking action leading to further damage, one reason the current legislation was passed quickly and decisively. Experts say other countries will act following the German example to preserve civil dialogue and strengthen democracy. ...

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The Christian Democrats coalition with the Free Democrats fails to win in the German state of Lower Saxony by one seat in a close election. The CDU won 36% of the vote, the FDP 9.9%, the SPD 32.6%, the Greens 13.6%. Merkel's CDU and the CSU is showing 40% support nationally, the SPD 23%. The next election is in Berlin.

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In Rural America in 2024, in places such as Wisconsin, people are looking for government to fund roads, library services and healthcare. It comes after decades of austerity in the state have starved funding for public services. This report looks at the city of Wausau, the seat of Marathon County, in north central Wisconsin, 90 miles northwest of Green Bay.

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The new budget for Mumbai reflecting the aspirations of people in Mumbai.

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Jean-Luc Melenchon, for two decades at the fringes of French politics, has a carefully prepared program to address the concerns of working class voters in France. He has not appealed directly to yellow vest voters so as not to affect relations with other moderate voters. He is now accepted by French business because of his detailed action plan for the French economy and French workers. Other voters see him as the only one with a serious action plan with his plan for the Sixth Republic removing the powerful executive presidency setup by De Gaulle and drafting a new constitution.

He has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine yet says it does not help to humiliate Russia and setup more NATO countries close to its borders. During any negotiations both Russia and Ukraine have now accepted the idea of Ukraine enjoying neutral country status in the same way as Sweden. 

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The Hindustan Times provides this look at the construction of a new 1000 bed hospital in Bandra Kurla complex exhibition area of Mumbai  that will be used for isolation of coronavirus cases. The hospital will be ready in time to tackle an expected further surge in cases in Mumbai by the end of May. The hospital will be equipped to handle another 5000 beds says the Mumbai municipal authority, MMRDA. Several hospitals are being built such as this one to tackle the surge in cases as Mumbai has about 25% of cases in India of coronavirus.

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Adly Mansour, Chief Justice of Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court is sworn in as interim president in July 2013, after the ouster of president Morsi.

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A professor of economics of innovation and public value at University College, London, says one-off deals such as the one with Land Rover to produce electric car batteries is not an adequate response to the big industrial strategies of the US and the European Union. Mariana Mazzucato says in this Guardian article the UK's decision to leave the EU is costing 100 billion pounds in output. Of 100 leading Uk manufacturers about half say their suppliers in the EU are more cautious about doing business in the UK. She compares the US industrial strategy that combines public and private investment of $3.5 trillion over the next decade, and the EU's for $2 trillion with Britain's effort. She says of the UK that it has nothing like this and worse with austerity it is moving in the opposite direction. Another problem is the change in governments of the Tories and new industrial policy every time there is a new minister. Business investment in UK is 19% less than the G7 average. The civil service needs investment, as she says Britain has become addicted to outsourcing the core functions of the public sector. Mazzucato says the government for aid to the private sector should do what Germany and France have done to expect reduction in carbon emissions, or as the US has done with Biden's Chips Act of giving aid given that there are no share buybacks by companies.   ...

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People in Kalamazoo county Michigan star struck with the presence of Michelle Obama with Kamala Harris on one stage.

Michelle Obama says-

"The race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is too close for my liking. I am deeply concerned … that too many of us are still confused and buying into the lies and distortions from people who do not have our best interest at heart.”

Kamala Harris embraces Michelle Obama on stage to huge applause and says-

"She is an inspiration...And she motivates us to get to work, especially when the stakes are high.”

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Baby boomers and older Americans are beginning a huge wealth transfer, the largest in modern history. Americans over 70 years in age had net worth of nearly $35 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve data. This is 27% of all US wealth, up 20% from 1990. This wealth is 157% of US gross domestic product, more than double what it was in 1990. Gift tax exemption today is $11.7 million for individuals and $23.4 million for couples. It is scheduled to go down to 2017 level of $5.49 million per person adjusted for inflation in 2026. Annual gifts were $75 billion in 2016. The Biden administration proposed reducing a $40 billion annual tax break in some of these wealth transfers. Some of this would go into infrastructure spending. Other ways the transfers could help the communities in the US revive after the twin crises of 2009 and 2020, one financial and one health, is how some of this money goes into funding many of the needs of communities in America today. $9 trillion is expected to go into helping communities from the $35 trillion. The Buffett children foundations have purchased farmland to create an agricultural hub in Kingston, New York, on the Hudson River north of New York city. They also set up a food cooperative in an old Honda dealership, and setup a ad free community radio station Radio Kingston. More of this kind of work is needed from individuals and couples in the American tradition of community awareness and solidarity, and in communities across Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America during this pandemic following the same practice. ...

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This editorial in the WSJ in April 2016 credits Bill Clinton with reducing crime. This comes at a time of protests at political rallies by "Black Lives Matter" that the anti-crime legislation of the 1990's disproportionately affected black people.

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Merced describes the events leading to the acqusition of NYSE Euronext by ICE. On Dec. 20, 2012, Intercontinental Exchange said it would acquire NYSE for $8.2 billion. Mr Sprecher of ICE approached Duncan Niederauer of NYSE Euronext in September 2012, and the deal was put together in 3 months. Niederauer has a good relationship with Sprecher and both sides kept the door open after the bid by ICE and Nasdaq to acquire NYSE Euronext failed. Niederauer had persuaded the Board much earlier about the advantages of merging with ICE- providing a clearinghouse for its futures exchange operation LIFFE in London, no overlapping business that would cause problems with regulators, and the prospects of a well managed ICE under Sprecher in a growing and profitable derivatives business. The details were worked out quickly with Sprecher maintaining two headquarters, one in Atlanta and the other in New York City. ICE would gve LIFFE clearinghouse services by June 2013. Niederauer will be president and report to Mr. Sprecher....

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Rapidly increasing credit to GDP ratios between 2008 and 2012 in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Taiwan.

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India is storing as much oil as it can at today's low oil prices of about $20-$30 per barrel in May 2020. With India asking the U.S. to store oil from U.S. shale producers at its strategic petroleum reserve storage facilities in the U.S. Already its existing storage facilities of 5.3 million tonnes (39 million barrels) are full, and the storage capacity will be more than doubled with an additional 6.5 million tonnes (48 million barrels) to be built quickly. About 8.5 million tonnes (62 million barrrels)  are in ships on oceans around the world. Demand is only 20% during the lockdown but is expected to reach levels of 2019 by June 2020. Only about 20% of oil consumption comes from existing storage.   That Indian oil capacity is 39 million barrels of storage shows how little was done over succeeding administrations without national aspirations for a growing country with hundreds of million of young people, when the oil storage capacity today of 39 million barrels compares with over 500 million barrels for Japan and for China. A huge Indian government aid package of $280 billion for the economy can be offset by gains in other areas such as low oil price oil storage, and gains in supply chain manufacturing, increasing the size of the domestic market for local manufacturers with incentives and loans, and new rules for stressing local manufacturing for a self-reliant economy. ...

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The Chevy Niva is a $14,000 sports utility vehicle manufactured in the Volga River industrial city of Togliatti in Russia. It is manufactured through a joint venture between Russia's AvtoVaz and GM. It is considered a reliable car and about 500,000 Nivas were sold in the last decade. GM plans a $200 millon investment in a new plant that will increase production to 120,000 Nivas a year by 2015.