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Biden's hard work and going into details and seeing that projects are delivered on time and in quality for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law will make him an enduring president in the 21st century. Tyler Pager gives this report on the Biden style of making decisions and of getting things done on time that are making a big difference for the ease of living for all Americans.  Of Biden using his 36 years of negotiating in the Senate more than any Congressman including LBJ who only had 12 years, and the hard work from someone who commuted by Amtrak for all those years and attended to every detail. For the president who started out as county councilman in Delaware details matter, he looks into the details of rebuilding infrastructure by delivering projects on time and on scale. In late 2022 Tyler says Biden checked into the details of delays and wanted specifics which projects were not delivered on time for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law passed a year earlier. Seeing this only one leader comes to mind prime minister Modi of India who is faced with a huge task of infrastructure projects and investments that are intended to make India the third largest economy in the world. Modi like Biden uses his experience of getting into details and checking that work is delivered on time, putting in the hard work in earnest, from Modi's work with state projects in Gujarat when he led the state for 15 years as chief minister. ...

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Immigration is an important issue, it also is middle of the pack voting issue, says this report in the Washingon Post. Chicago Council poll shows that what matters a great deal is- economy in general (58 percent), inflation (53 percent), abortion and immigration both at 43 percent,  crime 39 percent, Ukraine 19 percent, Gaza 17 percent. This is also true for Independents at 41 percent, protecting democracy 51 percent, inflation 48 percent. A majority of Americans say about undocumented immigrants that they should be allowed to stay and 6 out of 10 say immigrants from other cultures have "a positive effect" and interestingly 7 out of 10 of all Americans say "immigrants mostly take jobs that nobody wants."

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The Us rejects call for additional help to automaker GM for upto $10 billion for merging Chrysler and GM, to let a new administration make such a controversial decision which would mean layoffs for half of Chrysler employees. Instead it will speed up the $25 billion already approved by Congress for all automakers to improve fuel efficiency by retooling plants.

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The American Institute in Taipei, Taiwan, acts as the U.S. embassy in Taiwan. It is about half the size of the embassy in Beijing- with 450 diplomats and is set on a hillside in Taipei over 16 acres. The $250 million complex was planned during the Bush administration and built during the Obama administration. The U.S. withdrew diplomatic recognition of Taiwan as representing China in 1978 in an effort to counter the Soviet Union during the Cold War. After the emergence of China as an Asian power the U.S. has upgraded its relations with Taiwan, under the agreement which provides U.S. support for defense of Taiwan. Under president Trump the Taiwan relationship has grown with president Trump's call to the new president of Taiwan following recent elections. 

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Coronavirus cases reach a daily high of 53,000 in the UK, December 28, 2020. London has twice the rate as England. There are calls for a nationwide lockdown as the NHS faces a crisis.

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Mental health can play a part in the life of athletes, and in sports competition. Injuries are part of this, death in the family is part of this. Mikaela Shiffrin's hopes were dashed at the Beijing Olympics in Alpine skiing.Her father Jeff Shiffrin had accompanied her through every Olympics in her skiing career and was always at the finishing line. After his death before the Olympics in Beijing, Mikaela Shiffrin was told by a German fan that she subconsciously avoided getting to the finishing line because she would not be seeing her father there.  Dina Asher-Smith is a British sprinter whose hopes at the Tokyo Olympics were dashed because of a hamstring injury. Yet she bounced back and says she had time afterwards to grapple with her emotions- "Before Tokyo I did'nt have time to grapple with my emotions, you can't be crying  your way through rehab," she said. She competes now with a different frame of mind- "you can't run fast with baggage- you gotta throw it out" she says in an interview with The Guardian's Sean Ingle. ...

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Four million small businesses may go out of business. The stimulus money helped business owners get through the first wave of the pandemic. This has been lacking during the second wave which could have a serious effect on small businesses. 

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The lives of 76 umpires in American baseball, who face criticism for calls they make, and travel to baseball fields around the country. Spiritual solace is a constant part of their lives. 

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With Britain preoccupied with Brexit, and the U.S. in a trade dispute with China, Chancellor Merkel remains the only western leader to visit and hold extensive talks with Chinese leaders Li Keqiang and Xi Jinping. She also visits other Chinese cities such as Wuhan and gives a speech at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, in which she commented on the social credit system being implemented in China about the social creditworthiness of individuals and businesses.  Merkel sitting next to premier Li Keqiang in Beijing advocated "that conflicts be resolved without violence and that anything else would be a catastrophe." She called for a peaceful resolution of the situation in Hong Kong and for Hong Kong's rights to be "guaranteed." This is significant because the close cooperation between Germany and China is critical for China today to tackle the economic problems created by the trade disputes with the U.S.  Merkel has a close relationship with Chinese leaders and has visited China many times, giving her the confidence to talk to Chinese leaders without arousing any sensitivities about internal affairs of China. She is the only leader who can speak her mind to Chinese leaders, without offending them. When she used the word "catastrophe" she chose it carefully. It took decades for China to build the trust and relationships with Europe and the U.S. that it has.  Trading relationships matter for both China and western nations and are built on trust and good relations. With the Shenzen region growing faster than Hong Kong, and thinking like Beijing, China could tackle the situation in Hong Kong over a long period. ...

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Nature recovery is seen as a better term than rewilding for letting nature take its own course on parts of the countryside to let the earth, aquifiers and underground water replenish itself. The head of Natural England, Tony Juniper, says the least productive land is better used for peat restoration or tree planting than for grazing animals. He argues for turning the 20% of the land that produces the least food into a "nature recovery area." He says he is not talking about putting huge parts of the countryside into natural recovery, just that in some parts it makes sense to let nature recover its natural functioning to rebuild the land and make it what it was in its original condition.

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Sweden's elections show that the problems of crime, immigration, and healthcare affect the northern European countries. Sweden's Social Democrats are still the largest party. Sweden Democrats anti-immigration party gets about 20% of the vote,. The Moderate Party becomes the third largest party with its leader choosing to form a government of the centre right parties if these parties get a slight majority in the final results.

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Rick Perry, former governor of Texas, at one time suggested elimination of the Energy Department. He is likely to be confirmed by the U.S. Congress to head the Energy Department in the Trump administration.

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The EU summit under the presidency of Germany completes its task for setting up the European Recovery Fund and providing nonrepayable aid to countries hardest hit by the pandemic that would otherwise have to spiral their already high debt levels to unsustainable levels or provide little assistance to their suffering public. These countries include Italy, Spain, Greece mostly in southern Europe. Also needing aid are eastern European countries Hungary and Poland. For the first time the European Union is jointly taking on this debt of nonrepayable aid to member states most in need. This is a historic step. The Dutch prime minister, almost ruined the solidarity of Europe with his continual effort to cut the amount of funds and place conditions. The Dutch have favored austerity in Europe but at what cost and at what does it say about the Dutch in Europe. Reports show the Netherlands have gained back billions of dollars that would have gone in taxes to the governments of France, Spain and Italy by setting up tax haven. The Netherlands population 17 million, Sweden population 10 million, Denmark population 7 million, together make up less than half the population of any one of the major countries of Europe, Spain and Portugal, France, Germany, Italy. The combined population of about 350 million people in southern, eastern, and western Europe was arrayed against these 34 million northern countries in the long negotiations, that show solidarity but are also a sign of the changes in Europe as these countries in northern Europe were always guided by their own personal or country interest. Rutte fought hard because of elections he faces a second time against the far right wing parties, for a second time since the 2017 election. It could not get more personal than that. Even Britain if it was still in the European Union is likely under Boris Johnson to have reversed policies of Cameron to support solidarity in Europe and aid for recovery, considering how the government has tackled the pandemic in Britain. Setting conditions would only go part of the way is the reality today. The bigger part of preventing mismanaging of funds comes from the individual experience and hardship of people in southern European nations of Italy, Greece, Spain and other countries after the missteps in the eurozone finances in the last two decades. This provides the necessary dose of internal financial discipline. Not acting quickly in solidarity today would have been a serious mistake for Europe. Still Mr. Rutte and the Dutch have cut the European Recovery Fund's nonrepayable aid by 110 billion euros from the initail target set by Macron and Merkel of 500 billion euros. The agreed target now is $390 billion euros. ...

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The forcible removal by aviation police of United Airlines passenger Dr Dao from a flight due to scheduling issues caused a major uproar in social media, with many people saying they will not fly United again. In this report Susan Carey says people close to United say the airline has too rigidly asked employees to follow the rule book, that the problem could have been avoided by airline employees using choices that are not in the manual or rules book. Sources say employees at United can face termination for not following the rules, and deviating from rules is discouraged. Also raised is the issue why the airline employees did not raise the compensation from $800 to something much higher considering the problem being faced, and why higher up managers were not involved earlier. United has lagged behind other airlines in JD Power customer satisfaction surveys.