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The third or booster dose of vaccine is needed to take out the Omicron variant. The UK Health Security Agency analyzed data from 581 Omicron cases and thousands of Delta cases to calculate how effective vaccines such as Pfizer and Astra Zeneca were against the Omicron variant. This early analysis shows a third booster dose prevents around 75% of people from getting any coronavirus symptoms. The double dose of the vaccine however provides good protection against severe coronavirus that needed hospital treatment says the UK Health Security Agency. Of equal concern is the rate of spread of the Omicron variant. Here this BBC report shows graphs of UK National Health Security Agency which show the rate of spread is rapid with cases doubling every 2-3 days. For the UK which on December 10 had about 1265 cases this means says this BBC report that the number of Omicron cases could be well above 100,000 in the UK by the end of December. The BBC graph shows the curve for Omicron cases moving in a close to vertical direction upwards. Reports say the experience in South Africa where the Omicron variant was first detected is similar in pattern causing rapid spread. ...

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The European Union was faced with a baseline tariff of 10% which after slow progress on negotiations is up now to 15%. EU frustration is evident in this story in the WSJ. But this could also be just a negotiating tactic of the EU. Bottom line the EU needs the US as Germany faces an assertive Russia. Germany is aware that France and Britain are further away than Germany from Eastern Europe and Russia.  Under chancellor Merz there is  much more rapport with the US than ever existed under the Merkel government or the Scholz government. Merz has disagreed with the sale of stake to COSCO in Hamburg port and many decisions from the Merkel period on immigration, being more aligned with the US in spirit. This was evident in the visit and meeting of DJT with Merz at the White House. DJT says even of Starmer of Labour that "I like him a lot." This could easily be said about the relationship between DJT and Merz. The decision by DJT on Patriots to replenish German supplies and by Merz to finance this and shift Patriots in Germany to Ukraine is a clear example of the path chosen by the two leaders for cooperation. German decisions will be driven by Merz in the direction of economic cooperation with the US with none of the condescending attitude that Merkel and even Scholz showed towards the US out of a lack of grasp of what is happening both inside Germany and the US, the need to rebuild the US and Europe after the trade disasters and lack of investment in the home base of 30 years. ...

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France becomes the first country in Europe to ban advertisements for fossil fuels.

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Not a cash sinkhole- Apple generates 25% of its revenue of 383 billion from the EU. A $13 bill tax bill is for taxes due and a $1.4 billion fine insignificant fine for Apple's size. Apple is not just device maker. Also an apps platform taking a percentage of revenues on its Apps store.

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A conversation with Ratan Tata at Tata's Colaba offices just as Tata prepares for the acquisition of Land Rover and Jaguar.

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Ed Finn, president of Barron's for 19 years from 1998 has observed the economy for decades and comes to the conclusion that the 2007-2008 banking crisis from Reagan style deregulation was the one principal factor the US economy and the people suffered from a lost decade that was extended to 15 years by the pandemic. This has ended under president Biden says Finn, with he says about 10% growth in S&P 500 every year since 2020 and expects growth at that rate for another 4 years under president Biden. What this says about ultra low interest rates is that it was bad for America and a result of the need for tackling the 2009 financial crisis. Interest rates need to be at the moderate level of about 4-5%, the level today, where savers are rewarded, retirees are rewarded, bondholders are rewarded, and excessive risk taking is penalized, says Finn. Moderate interest rates help mortgage holders and new companies start businesses. In short says Finn- this is the way a economy should be run. We were sold the idea of ultra low interest rates because no one wanted to talk about the bad effects of Reagan style deregulation that inevitably lead to lack of the financial oversight of regulatory authorites. Financial oversight by regulatory authorites needed for modern economies to run, whether this is the US, India, China, or any large European economy, it is an essential condition for stable long term growth that serves the needs of the people of every major economy in the world. The idea must be cast aside that economic policy must be determined by the swings in sentiment  every few decades in one direction to too little government from to too much government or reverse, and be determined by essential truths of how a sound and good economy is run. As the US enters 2024 what Powell a Republican, and Biden a Democrat, and the bipartisan group of Senators in the US Congress are saying is that we get it, and are with single minded determination making it happen. ...

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President Biden removes one of the costly boondoggles thrust on the American people with Bush's Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, which was anything but an improvement. .The following are the 10 pharmaceutical drugs that will be negotiated for Medicare prices under the Inflation Reduction Act- Eliquis and Jardiance (strokes), Jardiance, Xarelto (diabetes), Entresto (heart failure), Enbrel (arthritis). Laws passed under Republican president younger Bush incomprehensibly took away the right of the government to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies in one of the most egregious and costly decisions in postwar history by the government of the United States. It has only aggravated the problems and cots of healthcare for the American people. President Biden reversed this with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act during the pandemic. Strangely it is part of the real culture war in America in which about 80% of both Republicans and Democrats support this but the media allowed the Bush legislation to be passed without saying it made no sense to say this negotiation was a form of price controls by the US government. This is how low the US policymaking had fallen by 2003 with legislators and press unable to make a simple point. Bush's legislation was called even more incomprehensibly the Medicare Drug Improvement and Modernization Act, when it was one of the biggest financial disasters for the American people costing them hundreds of billions of dollars in their savings and incomes to pay inflated prices of pharmaceuticals that people in Europe and Asia (India and China) were not paying.  ...

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Are these questionable assumptions by Fields that they can't find a way to get the Fiesta Econetic to the USA. THe pound is weakening against the dollar and may hit $1.50 by some estimates, and the cost of making the diesel engines in the UK can't be that much more than manufacture in the USA that it would be economically not possible to bring it here or make it here or in Mexico. Even if it sales in modest numbers wouldn't it show that at 65 mph the Fiesta Econetic shows that Ford has cars the give big mileage in its lineup. And about the popularity of clean diesel who can be sure that things won't change as the Europeans sell these cars here? This maybe Kiley's point that there are risks to Ford by not bringing these cars to the American market.

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A finding that could create a health revolution in America- unhealthy snacks shift our appetite away from healthy foods. Families who shift away from processed or ultra processed foods and experiment with it for a month find that their cravings for these unhealthy snacks diminish, and they can eat healthy home cooked foods with gusto. Children who simply poked at the home cooked food are shown to relish eating home cooked meals after an experiment turning off ultraprocessed foods and snacks, foods that have unthinkingly crept into our nutrition and our food habits. We are simply setting up ourselves and our children for trouble ahead as these ultra processed foods deteriorate our nutritional fulfillment and cause diseases that would in the absence of ultraprocessed foods not happen. These diseases have become so commonplace today that we owe it to ourselves and our children to take corrective action. People save up for retirement over many years yet create no savings and bank deposits in the area of better nutrition and health, so that when they get older that bank account of nutrition and health is empty and running out. ...

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American women outperformed at the Rio Olympic Summer Games by winning 27 gold medals compared to 18 for the American men. A big part of why this was possible is that women have equal access to sports gained with the education amendment Title IX in 1972. One of every two American girls participate in sports in high school. More women watched the Summer Olympics in Rio than men. Seeing American women do so well acts a role model for young girls watching and thinking "I can do that."  Thirty years ago this was not the case. A lot has changed since then. This is especially true for black women in the games with African American athletes, Simone Biles in gymnastics, Simone Manuel in swimming, Ashleigh Johnson in water polo. With the success comes an effort to try new sports to break more barriers.

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Ford has still not redesigned the Focus for the American market- just spruced it up to buy time for a complete rehaul ogf its small car lineup. Note that its Focus sales have fallen by 6% in November over the prior year, and that it has slipped behind Toyota and Daimler Chrysler in overall sales.

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Five biking and hiking Trails that take you to- Vermont across Lake Champlain on the 3 mile Colchester Causeway that runs across the lake.

Colorado between Aspen and Glenwood Springs for 18 miles that takes you around Dillon Reservoir.

Austin, Texas right near the city on the Butler Hike and Bike Trail to Northshore Overlook. The long narrow reservoir is a dammed up section of the Colorado River.

Sacramento, California, go across the Sacramento River on the Sundial Bridge, all the way to Redding. Views of Trinity Alps to the west.

Around Seattle, take the Olympic Discovery Trail that stretches along the coast, and coastal wetland, fir tree forests, for 135 miles from Port Angeles. Near a US coast Guard Base past Edith Hook for a view of the Olympic Mountains.

 

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Ford's decision to bring its European small car product across the pond so to speak after such a long time is seen as Ford finally seeing the Light.

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Food inflation in Ukraine is at about 55% says this report in the WSJ.

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The London based Financial Times says of Nathan Anderson and his NY city based firm Hindenburg short seller's allegations on the Adani Group- that the allegations may indeed prove baseless. Yet it says India's regulators should engage with this issue for the sake of transparency and integrity, to demonstrate the "quality of its governance and the strength of its institutions." Particularly as the US and Europe see India as an alternative to China for the supply chain.

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Dr Spivack, associate professor, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, says too many entrepreneurs cross the line from workaholic to addict. After interviewing hundreds of entrepreneurs with a colleague she says they found about 15% have 3 traits of addictive behaviour for work, and about 40% had one trait which can be damaging. It is important to not let this become a revered part of our culture. Tesla's CEO Musk is not a model for the younger generation trying to get a good work life balance.

Some of these traits are obsessive thinking about the business, manic cycles of being elated or feeling down, self-worth tied to the business, becoming one dimensional, keep raising the stakes, doing things alone and in secret. The consequences of addiction are traumatic for health conditions, some are sick all the time, and some have poor marraiges and fail in relationships with children.

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Potash a potassium based fertilizer mined from the earth is environmentally friendly unlike nitrogen and phosporous based fertilizers. When Belarus and Russia which make 40% of world supply of potash could not supply the world market because of the war in Ukraine, Canadian producers which make 30% of potash stepped in to increase market share. Two Canadian producers will increase production to meet demand after a 28% increase in the price of potash. Potash has the added advantage of being good for the environment and for climate change action. The use of potash needs to double to meet climate change action goals. Nutrien, the world's largest producer of potash in Saskatchewan, Canada will increase production by 2026 from 15 million tons to 18 million tons a year. BHP has a new plant coming up in Saskatchewan in 2026 for 4.35 million metric tons of potash. 

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As it makes gains in the Kursk region Russia appears hesitant at this moment to sign on to the ceasefire deal the US and Ukraine agreed to this week. Kursk was part of Russia before the current war. It was also here that the Germans were defeated in 1943 after the Battle of Stalingrad (now called Volgograd). The war now has nationalist overtones for Russia making it more complicated than the earlier invasion of Ukraine, and requiring both patience and persistence to reach a lasting settlement for all sides.

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A good way to prepare for travel to the Scandinavian region is information given by Sean Newsom in The Times.

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The Journal's Jeff Bennett talks with Rodney O'Neal, the CEO of Delphi Automotive. O'Neal says Delphi's success depends on focussing on advanced technologies where emerging market producers are less able to compete. He has focussed on 33 product lines which are 'green,' safe' and connected.' If it doen't create value then revenue and cost numbers are wrong, is O'Neal's lesson from the bankruptcy filing. He likes the chaotic discussion coming form strong debate, where views are expressed with passion and counterpoints made, and he takes this debate seriously, because as he sees it choosing the right course is a significant task in itself, which takes much time to correct if wrong. There are major improvements in emission and fuel economy ahead and a high tech future for the automobile industry. He see America's future in high-tech where America can do better than emerging market producers, and ensuring that the steady flow of exceptional American talent continues to be channelled properly....

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A Liberal Democrat, Lord Alderdice, praises the courage of Prince Philip when he stood alongside Queen Elizabeth as she shook hands with Martin McGuiness- the handshake that ended the war in Northern Ireland. Martin McGuiness led the IRA at the time when Lord Mountbatten, a father figure for Prince Philip and his mentor, was killed in the conflict of Northern Ireland.

The Duke of Cambridge describes his grandfather as "an extraordinary man and part of an extraordinary generation."