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Pipes describes the failure of the opposition to offer constructive ideas and frame itself as an alternative to the AKP and prime minister Erdogan. Turkey's moves towards its historic role in the Middle East under the Ottoman Empire 1300-1923 championing Muslim interests, as opposed to the secular position taken by Ataturk and the modernizing of Turkey under post Ataturk governments.

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Iran's government drastically cut subsidies for gasoline, electricity and basic food items. Gasoline prices were raised from 1,000 rials (about 10 cents) per liter to 4,000 rials. As a result gasoline consumption is down 14% in early January from the prior month. Use of public transport is up 20%. Fares for Tehran's buses and subway went up by 20%, far less than the price increase for gasoline. The government introduced a $40 per person monthly stipend to soften the impact especially for poor families. Iranians are gradually tightening their belts and adjusting to the price increases, reducing wasteful energy use. Iranians have one of the highest rates of wasteful energy consumption in the world, according to IMF. This is because Iran has so far provided generous subsidies, covering 80% of the cost of energy and basic food items. President Ahmadinejad has introduced the Smart Subsidy Plan which calls for a gradual five year phaseout. These cuts will save $100 billion a year, according to government estimates, and is supported by the IMF. Iran is rigorously monitoring price increases in retail stores to ensure that retailers are not passing on the increases to customers. Trucking and transport businesses are allowed to raise their fees by only 15% to cover rising costs including the 837% fuel price increase....

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Geely's plans for Volvo are to build a presence for Volvo in China. This includes plans for additional local manufacturing facilities. One near Shanghai, another in Chengdu, and another being considered for Daqing. Each plant would produce 100,000 cars, with the Chengdu plant nearly complete and the others still to be built. Geely has received $444 million and $148 million respectively from the municipal governments of Daqing and Shanghai. Geely executives pointed to the need to upgrade Volvo's S80 sedan to compete with the likes of Mercedes Benz S-Class and BMW 7 series. Volvo hopes to sell additional cars to the Chinese government and state run companies. Risks associated with expanding car manufacturing were cited by Chen Bin, senior official of the China National Developmet and Reform Commission, at an auto industry conference recently. He said the combined capacity to build cars in China for all companies willl reach 31.24 million vehicles by 2015, up from the 13.95 million vehicles at end of 2009. ...

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President Obama told a press conference after the Supreme Court hearings on the healthcare law: "For years, what we've heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or the lack of judicial restraint, that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law." In doing so Obama was framing the argument he might use should the Court rule against the law, putting the Supreme Court in the role of villain placing its judgement ahead of elected representatives, as the U.S. moves into the presidential election in November 2012.

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British prime minister David Cameron tells the House of Commons- after it is revealed that Barclays management set artificially low LIBOR rates- "We need to take action right across the board." CEO Diamond resigns. This was designed to avert regulator scrutiny of Barclays in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008.

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The WSJ shows the full text of Justice Scalia's dissenting opinion for the Supreme Court 6-3 decision on the Affordable Care Act health subsidies