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This group of 26 leading scientists from Australia, France, Britain and the US are calling for a new international full, open and unrestricted forensic investigation into the origins of the coronavirus in its original location of Wuhan. This happens as scientists on the WHO investigation team in Wuhan say they did not have unrestricted access to conduct their investigation. The Biden administration has restored ties to the World Health Organization after the Trump administration cut ties on this issue of transparency. The Biden administration says transparency is an essential condition for the US as it seeks to continue US participation in WHO. The US, India, France, Britain and other European nations have a long history of participation in WHO and were original founders. Recent flawed election processes at WHO and the lack of effective leadership from western foundations have led to the lack of effective leadership of WHO that prevailed in post war world for the first five decades of the organization. Much of that leadership was from western nations, India and Japan, during a period in which the pandemics were managed limiting their spread from the areas of origin. ...

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The Senate faces a lot of deadlines when it returns on January 8 after the holidays. A deal for a strong border policy is still not worked out as negotiations continued till Wednesday when Senators leave for holidays. This includes a deal for Ukraine aid.

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The free food rations programs with 5 kilograms of wheat or rice to 800 million Indians during the pandemic is one of the extraordinary accomplishments of the Modi administration. It has been extended till the end of 2022. Both Finance Minister Sitharaman and prime minister Modi have shown extraordinary empathy for the common man during the pandemic and India's program of wheat rice and vegetables is unprecedented in world history for its scale and efficency. The scene of Nirmala Sitharaman at a vegetable market in Mylapore today is only one aspect of the contact day to day with ordinary Indians and their problems that marks the Mann Ki Baat radio program of Modi and of Sitharaman herself as she tackles the work of the finance ministry with the last person in the line uppermost in mind.

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Coal is making a comeback as many countries in Asia are bringing back coal units following LNG shortages. Impact of Hormuz shutdown- 40% increased use of coal in Korea, coal units reactivated in India, and put on standby in Italy. Italy delays phaseout of coal to 2038. Coal is a reliable fuel in this period of Hormuz Straits shutdown. Much of Asia's LNG comes through Hormuz. Use of coal in the US shown here in graphs which in a second explain why the DJT administration and Republicans say it makes so little difference what the US does in coal for climate change when China and India make up 90% of the use of coal. Consider what these charts show- use of coal in 2027 in the US is 331 million metric tons vs 1422 million metric tons for India, almost 5 times the US coal use happening in India. EU is 244 million metric tons. But wait the Chinese number is much much larger than India's - 5005 million metric tons used in China in 2027. India's coal use alone is 3 times that of the EU and the US combined.  China's coal use is about 10 times the coal used in the US and EU combined. And when one compares US+EU use of coal to India + China coal use - India and China used in 2027 13 times as much as the US and European Union.  Which is why because cutting coal use also impacts communities hit hardest by the Elites of America (Bush+ Obama) shipping out its whole manufacturing base to China. These communities get some relief from these same Elites policies that shut down all coal plants, instead of using a carefully structured wind down that allows some selective use of coal plants which are cleaned up for emissions, and pushes China to do more. Small cuts in coal use in China which has benefitted from our Elites shipping out the national manufacturing base of the US to China, would make a bigger difference than large cuts or total shutdown of coal plants in the US, where the communities impacted are in the rural parts of America that have lost factories and jobs such as in Pennsylvania due to Bush and Obama policies of looking the other way to deindustrialization of America. ...

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Seen as IRA's these accounts in DJT's One Big Beautiful Act with the government investing $1000 of its money for every newborn's savings account is a powerful way to create wealth for the next generation. It is designed to be invested in funds that grow with the S&P 500, will be available in 2026. Lets look at the power of accumulation in a fund that has $3000 invested in it $1000 by the government, $1000 by a grandparent and $1000 by a parent. Over 10, 20 and 30 years. If the child has $3000 invested in it till he is 18 years this would have $54000 of payments made into the fund.   The actual S&P return has averaged 12-13% over the last 10 years 2023-2024. Including dividends it has grown to 249%. Assuming it grows at 10 percent a year ,the power of compound interest is huge- it will grow to $47,000 in 10 years, 147,000 in 20 years, and 349,000 in 30 years. This is 3 times the average IRA of 127,000 in 2025. Fidelity Investments shows average IRA in 2025 as as $127,000, for 30 year olds 104,000. In a good set of years this account alone would triple the retirement savings of ordinary Americans.   ...

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Anthropic and Amodei siblings Dario, Daniella. To their credit they have come up with Claude and a new way to tackle the potential of artificial intelligence through mining of troves of world data. Simply mining such data will not achieve a good result. For the complex tasks of managing things and people ethical driven models and models that behave like good humans is essential. In theprocess exposing the limits of artificial intelligence so that the complex tasks of understanding and making decisions is left purely to human beings with emotions, feelings , mind and a spirit-ual life. 

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Ford Motor Company will be a much smaller company and this looks like a structural change not a cyclical one as more automobiles are made in the developing world and fewer automobiles and smaller automobiles are made in the mature US market and like Germany and Japan the market here may have peaked. This would be seen in the employee numbers also. Ford had 34500, salaried workers in 2005, now its down to 23,700, with another cut in salaried workforce cuts by 15% by August 1, 2008, recently announced and even more cuts in 2009 if the market numbers fall further, the salaried workforce may be below 20,000.

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David Reilly says the Fed's response to the large volatility in the stock market after the credit downgrade of the U.S. to AA+ makes sense. The Fed's Open Market Committee voted 7-3 on August 9, 2011, to keep interest rates exceptionally low till mid-2013. With credit markets working and the financial system having sufficient liquidity the Fed did not need to take drastic action. Coming only a short period after the end of QE II, a QE III could be seen as an over-reaction. Another reason for the Fed's action- more pressure was needed for the U.S. government and Congress to shoulder responsibility for the economy. In an earlier statement the Fed had pointed out that the Fed by itself can only do so much and this is consistent with that thinking. There are important headwinds from housing, large consumer debt, deficits, and high unemployment that the Fed alluded to in that statement that will take time to reverse with policy action on several fronts over a longer period. In the speech made on June 6, 2011, U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, said "monetary policy cannot be a panacea."...

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Wait 20 years or longer, no benefits only at the discretion of authorites, to cut the illegal crossings in small boats across the Channel. The tough action was withheld for way too long- as the Home Secretary says it is tearing England apart.

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The average price of a smartphone in India in 2022 was $206 excluding taxes, Apple's smartphones go for $898. With discounts Apple is now bringing the price down to below $500. In 2019 phones over $500 made up 3% of the market. This has increased to 6% in 2022. Apple is counting on this share of the market going up and prices being brought down below $500 to build a larger share of the market. Its market in 2023 is about 5% in India compared to 22% in China.

In China Apple has its own stores. It is only now opening its first store in Mumbai. This and building manufacturing facilities in India could be the way to increase its share of the market in India to where it provides an alternative comparable to the Chinese market. This is the first time after the pandemic and the supply chain issues, the idea of friendshoring, that Apple is reorienting its policy for making India a key part of its supply chain and market. 

 

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Isaacson's new book on Musk says Musk's story is a cautionary tale. The compulsion to be drama magnet or mean are not prized traits, say others.  More sinister (the hell) is celebrating a culture that does not respect the need for worklife balance, of respect for nutrition and exercize for good health. Musk's methods which he calls "algorithm", a word known more for obscurity than meaning, are nothing new. For years as the US, Japan and China, now India have innovated there is a focus on simplifying things, and to do this questioning the existing way of doing things by breaking down the existing method into pieces and reorganizing the pieces of the puzzle leaving out unneeded pieces. What is the key to his success as it was for Jobs at Apple is creating a culture in which people would invest in and take risks for innovation at the high end of the price spectrum. Jobs used design and new stuff like the iPod and iPad, iPhone to do this. Musk does this through playing the role of a social media icon but a dangerous one that does not respect worklife balance and good health habits of nutrition, exercize and mindfulness. In processes this can give you a process that takes less time and money- how India's moon mission and rover Chandrayan 3 was done for $78 million showing these work practices of Musk are nothing new, and universally adopted by successful companies and nations. Newer ask your employees to do what you would not do, is also adopted by the best managers. By turning it into a mantra it obscures the fact that America today is a country of massive inequalities where two thirds of 4th graders cannot pass ACT reading test and half of retirees have zero savings, working people and families face a cost of living and health crisis and are badly neglected. How does it help to role model as an icon and popularize a culture that tolerates and accepts such conditions that would leave men deeply troubled, including America's leaders Washington, Lincoln and FDR if they were alive today. ...

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The importance of better targeting of high risk groups for PSA prostate cancer testing, as too few tests for fear of invasive treatment is also seen as not working.

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Vodafone announces a merger with Idea Cellular Ltd to become India's largest telecom carrier in March 2017. Vodafone has spent heavily in acquiring companies after selling its stake in Verizon Wireless in 2014. It faces tough competition in the price sensitive Indian market with some plans going for as little as $3 a month, and the offer of 6 month services for free by Mr. Ambani's carrier. In Nov. 2015 Vodafone took a 5 billion euro writeoff for its Indian operations.

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Tennis player from Serbia is disqualified for hitting the line umpire with a tennis ball. Djokovic was behind 6-5 to Carren Busta of Spain and lost his serve when this happened. Once before in that match he hit a ball at the stands in frustration. The Organizers of the U.S. Open decided there were clear reasons for him to be disqualified and lose all points he had earned at the U.S. Open. Djokovic had earlier come under criticism for his playing in events where there was no social distancing. Tennis has lost much of the graceful behaviour from the time when players like Althea Gibson, Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver played the game in an earlier era. Too much of the money is focused on prize money, television advertising, star status and number of grand slams won, bringing the game down to a level where the fans enjoying a good game is left behind and focus is all on individual players. The same is true for soccer where so much focus was placed on Barcelona and Messi and the 700 million transfer fee. The message from reality comes from the 7-2 win by Bayern Munich over Barcelona with a traditional approach to the game based on using new players costing far less money, a good dose of common sense and hard work. Coaches at Manchester City and Liverpool, and Real Madrid all attributed their success in the game to hard work and discipline of players, with every player playing for the team and for fans, and not for star status. ...

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US China agreement on TikTok sale to American ownership as required by Congress, Scott Bessent announces that an agreement has been reached with China in negotiations for the transfer of ownership. China is concentrating its energies in negotiating tariffs that were kept at 30% by the US and 10% by China which hurt Chinese industry in industries where it has overcapacity.

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Stephanie Clifford of the NYT provides this exceptional profile of a low profile prosecutor in action on cases ranging from civil rights to organized crime and terrorism. Clifford describes the calm and rigorous style of Loretta Lynch as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York as she handled the case of a Haitian immigrant and the New York Police in 1997, rarely bringing up race and focussing on justice and fairness. Other prosecutions included Pedro Espada, a former Democratic New York state senator from the Bronx, and William Boyland Jr., a Democratic assemblyman from Brooklyn, gang and Mafia cases, and terrorism. Her style is to let others take the spotlight including answering questions at news conferences, getting the job done by involving other colleagues and co-workers in a case.

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An exceptional account by Melissa Eddy of how Germans are reacting to the German government's underinvestment in childcare centers. Germany's cabinet approved a bill that provides $190 monthly child care allowance for mothers who opt not to use day care centers provided by the government. This is supported by the Bavarian party, Christian Social Union, on the grounds that it gives an alternative to mothers to use private day care or nanny care. In practice many of the mothers using the allowance are expected to be lower paid workers who may decide not to work. The government has budgeted $500 million for the allowance for 2013. This is opposed by all opposition parties , and in a rare show of unity by business employer associations and unions, both say it "creates a false incentive to quit work." Axel Plunnecke of the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, says studies show low income families are among those who benefit most from early childhood education. About 100,000 lower qualified and lower paid workers could see this as attractive and quit working. The western part of Germany lacks enough child day care slots, so this is seen as not investing enough where its most needed, and Germany lags behind other countries like France in day care centers. The government is investing $15 million over five years to expand the number of child care centers. The goal is to have 750,000 child care slots by 2013, according to Ms. Kristina Schroeder, the family minister, herself a mother giving birth while in office. The measure was vigorously debated and controversial from the beginning because most many Germans see the $15 million years over 5 years as underinvestment in vital educational infrastructure. The $500 million is better invested in building modern day care facilities, they believe, especially because the children from lower income mothers not benefitting from daycare facilities will still need educational help, and German industry needs more women in the labor force to be competitive. Five years ago under reforms of parental support the 3 years of help to mothers was reduced to 1 year, resulting in an increase in the numbers of women working from 32% in 2002 to 40% by 2011, according to the Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth....

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Florida Governor Ron de Santis is critical of Mr. Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, for indictment of Mr. Trump. Yet he also says-"I don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I just can't speak to that." The Republican party for the most part sees the situation differently now. 

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Officials of 130 countries met virtually to agree on a global minimum tax rate. A minimum tax rate of 15% would be paid by corporations in each of the countries in which they operate so that tax avoidance is prevented. The Group of 20 major economies including India and China also agreed to this change in taxation to ensure that all companies pay their fair share of taxes. It is also part of the Biden plan for tax revenue generation to fund the infrastructure and human needs in health, education and public services that were neglected for so long. US president Biden says- "This will level the playing field and also make America more competitive. And it will allow us to devote the additional revenue we raise to make generational investments, which are necessary to keep America's competitive edge razor sharp in today's global economy." This tax change was needed to prevent companies shopping for low tax locations such as Ireland. This kind of locating in low tax rate locations worked badly for the major G-20 economies for decades as it prevented the generation of revenues needed for essential services and infrastructure investments. Tax changes include Biden's plan to increase the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, and raise the minimum tax on US based companies foreign profits to 21% from 10.5%.  ...

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Ashwini Vaishnaw says, that for good governance on the internet the entire existing governance structure of the internet needs fundamental rethinking. As everything that is put out on the internet tends to be believed, clear responsibility has to be taken for what is put out. 

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The work in the US Congress in the hands of Senator Schumer and Representative Pelosi to get the Biden plan for families and workers approved. This means pulling in all members of Congress from the Democratic Party to support president Biden's plan and winning some Republican support.