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Carlos Alcaraz finishes a five set 4 hours at the US Open semifinals, after a quarter finals game that lasted 5 hours all the way to the early hours of the morning at 5 am. The youngster from Spain meets another new face at the US Open Casper Ruud of Norway. The old game had disappeared with very few net points and fewer lob shots. Ruud and Alcaraz are taking the game back to how it was played by the likes of Laver and Nastase in the 1960's and 1970's when a whole mix of shots and agility at the net was always part of the game.

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Microsoft embraces open-source software for the first time. CEO Steve Ballmer once considered Linux open-source software "a cancer." Microsoft announces the creation of Microsoft Open Technologies in April 2012, as a unit that will manage the introduction of open source software programs and the compatibility of Microsoft software with open-source software. Cloud computing has strong elements of open-source software in it and Web services provided by Google and Facebook rely on Linus's open-source software. Younger programmers are trained with working on Linux and it is important for Microsoft to accept and work with the open-source software community to retain its influence in the field.

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Jannick Sinner of Italy wins in 4 sets over Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open in a decisive manner 6-1,6-2, 6-7, 6-3. Novak Djokovic had an unbeaten 20-0 record at the Austrlain Open. Sinner is the rising 22 year old from Italy who has emerged in the way Spain's Alcaraz has in world tennis over the last 2 years.

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Some of the gentlemanly aspects of the game going back to the 50's and 60's, and 70's, including courtesy and sportsmanship are lost as media hypes winning and losing at the US Open Tennis at Forest Hills. Always looking for television moments and attention getting the media enlarges the slightest faults of players, much more than players themselves who go through the game focused on their game skills. A game between Bonzi of a France and Medvedev of Russia in 5 sets which Bonzi won is yet another example. Late night games with crowds are not new to the game. Ilie Nastase and Rod Laver played many late night games with crowds keen to see the skills of the players not focused on winners and losers in the 1970's.

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OPEC ministers debating 1 million barrel reduction in production. Disagreement over how cuts should be distributed among members. Saudi Arabia, although very influential, has remained silent due to upcoming mid-term US elections. OPEC output has grown to 30 million barrels a day, the highest level in over 25 years. Additional article titled "OPEC Approves Cut to Output by 1 Million Barrels" for similar insights.

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Berlin Brandenburg Airport or BER was supposed to open in 2011 or 2012,instead it will open in October 2020, nine years behind schedule, three times over budget. There were 2 parliamentary probes into what went wrong. The planning was faulty and plans were changed, blueprints were not finalized, resulting in a long sequence of problems with such basic items such as the fire safety system, and shoddy electrical wiring, faulty smoke extractions systems. A technical manager was jailed for three years for accepting a bribe from a contractor who then went bankrupt.  The airport CEO Mr. Daldrup says his job was to mop up problems like a "crime scene cleaner." It may be an example of how German values in hard work and good engineering declined as the country lost its focus in the period after reunification and the austerity years under chancellors Schroeder, Merkel, a period when new infrastructure and public services suffered neglect.

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The UK is open to American proposals for a global minimum tax rate given that it includes a fairer split of the taxes from US tech companies. Discussions are taking place under the umbrella of the OECD, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This is intended to prevent tax escape by large companies which choose the lowest tax jurisdictions that are set up just for that purpose. The result has been that Europe and the US have suffered from decades of underinvestment and neglect of essential infrastructure and weakened the health and education systems leaving essentials of quality of living underfunded in cities and towns across Europe and the US. The pandemic has brought the lesson home in many ways. The UK has already increased the corporate tax rate to 25% in March to help pay for pandemic related help packages. The US Biden administration has proposed a 28% tax rate, and Treasury Secretary Yellen has suggested 21% as the minimum corporate tax rate. ...

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Eighteen year old Bianca Andreescu of Canada wins the U.S. Open 6-3, 7-5 defeating 37 year old veteran Serena Williams as she attempted a comeback. The intelligent game with a whole range of shots and use of creative game mixing up the shots was a feature of Andrescu's style that made it fun to watch the game. Martina Navritolova says Andrescu's style is so creative that its great to have a new player like her in the game.

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The longest US Open Tennis match? 5 hours and 35 minutes between Dan Evans of the US and Karen Khachanov of Russia just yesterday August 26, 2024. The first three sets were tie breakers. Dan Evans was down 0-4 in the fifth set and came out to win it 6-4. At 4 down he thought he was out and just kept on fighting. Fans gave a rousing ovation. Evans says "it was one hell of a match. I just want to go to bed." 

• Set 1 - 68 minutes
  
  
• Set 2 - 67 minutes
  
  
• Set 3 - 72 minutes
  
  
• Set 4 - 67 minutes
  
  
• Set 5 - 61 minutes
  
  

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The use of cathedrals in Britain as vaccination centres is seen as a glorious way to bring people of all ages, particularly  the elderly in the community into a wonderful setting to preserve health. They came since the Middle Ages for a cure, and they come today for hope and care. The Archbishop of Canterbury thanks the cathedrals and the NHS for serving the community in such a beautiful way.

The famous cathedrals of England at Lichfield, Salisbury and Blackburn inviting people in for vaccination is the heart warming story of this month. Salisbury is one of the oldest and has copies of the Magna Carta, the historic document that put forward the rights of the people in a constitutional monarchy.

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Oil prices drop below $38 by mid-December 2015, as the Saudis continue to push prices down further by continuing production increases. No change is planned for 2016 and analysts expect low oil prices into 2016. At $38 a barrel it becomes uneconomical for most shale oil producers to operate in the U.S. About 50,000 jobs are lost in Texas and 250,000 jobs worldwide. This is a boost for large oil importers such as India, Japan, and Europe. China also stands to benefit from low oil prices. Nigeria, Venezuela, Iran and Russia have the most to lose from an extended period of low oil prices. Politics in the Middle East also may play a part in decisions as the Saudis oppose intervention in Syria and Iraq by Russia and Iran. Rising shale oil production in the U.S. could also be one of the additional targets of Saudi policy. One consequence is that OPEC is divided with the Saudis going their own way.

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One of the opportunities of this pandemic is that it offers a chance to think anew and act anew. Where in Lincoln's words "the dogmas of the past are inadequate for the stormy present, as our case is new we must think anew and act anew." Here Vladimir Putin offers his assessment of how the pandemic calls for a fresh approach to reviving De Gaulle and other postwar European leaders vision of Europe that spanned the entire continent culturally including Russia. He accepts mistakes have been made by all sides and the title of the article by Putin is "Be Open, Despite the Past." The Russian Embassy in Germany contacted De Zeit for publication of an article by Putin, and it can be seen as part of the Russian response to president Biden's effort to build a new cooperative relationship with Russia that is in the best interests of the US, Russia, Germany, the European Union and also of India which has a cooperative relationship with Russia. There is the danger that it could be seen as reported in The Times of London and comments posted seeing it against distrust built around Ukraine and Eastern Europe. The 670 Comments in Germany on De Zeit site on the article reflect a more German perspective of being a close neighbor that suffered so much from the war that left millions dead on both sides. One German commenter says his father and grandfather were forcibly recruited to fight in France and Russia and suffered much in wartime. The occasion is the 80th anniversary of the German invasion of Russia in World War II. Some of what Putin has to say- "We hoped that the end of the Cold War would mean victory for all of Europe. It would not be long before Charles De Gaulle's vision of a unified continent would become a reality, more culturally and civilizationally from Lisbon to Vladivostock." Russia has changed, Russians see themselves as European, as part of the larger European Union, culturally and civilizationally. This is not the old Russia of the Cold War or of the Soviet period. "NATO itself a relic of the Cold War, created out of a confrontation from that time." Not objecting to NATO but to the expansion of NATO to Russia's borders. But saying this has not got us anywhere where our heart not our brain says we ought to go. Lets try again to draw different conclusions from what we have seen. Its important to think anew because "we are all confronted with the common challenges of the pandemic and its extremely serious social and economic consequences." "The entire prosperity and security of our common continent are only possible through the combined efforts of all our countries, including Russia because Russia is one of the largest European states. Wed feel our inseparable cultural and economic ties to Europe." "We simply cannot afford to carry around the burden of previous misunderstandings, hurts, conflicts and mistakes. A burden that prevents us from solving current problems. We are convinced that we all have to admit and correct these mistakes. Our common and undisputed goal is to ensure the security of the continent without dividing lines. And to create a unified space for equal cooperation and collective development in the interests of the prosperity of Europe and of the whole world." President Biden was right to think anew and act anew in Geneva, and to "disenthrall ourselves" from old ways of thinking, and for rising to the occasion. Jill Biden said of president Biden's preparation for the meeting in Geneva- "Hell, he was overprepared," and it showed Biden's genuine feeling and effort that he owed it "in the interests of Europe and the world."       ...

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Wal-Mart's Massmarket Holdings plans to open 90 new stores in Africa in 2013-2016. New store openings planned in Nigeria and Angola. Massmarket operates in 12 sub-Saharan countries of Africa and has 359 stores.