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The situation of ad cluttered mailboxes is a problem not just in the US, as shown in this report from Germany in DW.com. The Environmental Action Group DUH called for a new law in Germany to combat the flood of advertising trash in mailboxes. It estimates that 28 billion sheets of advertising material every year in Germany alone is printed by companies with the sole aim of putting it unsolicited in people's mailboxes. Currently people can opt out of junk mail in Germany by putting a sticker " No advertisements please," though this can be ignored by delivery people. An opt-in method differs by only people aho put stickers saying they are ok with ads being put in their mailbox. It is used in Amsterdam, Netherlands. An opt in method would save 6000 tons of paper and waste disposal trips, as well as save the air quality by half a million tons of carbon dioxide annually.

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A wonderful video on how Ukrainian refugees in Berlin are going back home some for a short time to see friends and their homes. Six buses go back and forth taking people in both directions every day says the bus driver for this bus company for Bonn to Kviv bus. There are 800,000 refugees from Ukraine in Germany. Some young women have family who are soldiers in hospitals who they will see. Most have not seen their homes for 3 months.

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Amazing pictures from the Hubble and Webb telescopes from DW.com and easy to understand explanation of the stars in the sky from DW.com

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Jorg Wuttke, chairman of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China says Germany exports 600 million euros worth of good to China every day. China exports $1.3 billion euros world of goods to Germany every day. Germany companies have heavily invested in Germany and millions of jobs in Germany depend on investments in China from engineering services to engine parts. Big companies making cars, chemicals and engineering goods make in China and have markets in China. This makes it very difficult for Germany to develop its own independent policies in relation to China for its own security following the war in Ukraine where China has supported Russia. Two decades of Merkel and CDU policies with the participation of the SPD leadership have led to this situation. Scholz is aware of this as his coalition partners Lindner of FDP, Habeck and Baerbock of the Greens oppose the dependency on China which restricts Germany from developing its own independent policies during a period when there is war in Eastern Europe with Russia. ...

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A textile manufacturer in Adiyaman, Turkey talks to DW.com as he tries to recover from the damage to his factory during the earthquake. The estimated cost of recovery for earthquake hit regions in Turkey is $90 billion. Turkey will need foreign investment to rebuild. The elections in Turkey are on May 14 to decide the future direction of Turkey.

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Differences between the Free Democrats and the Greens in the 3 party ruling coalition in Germany are the subject of this report from DW.com. The Greens proposed ban on new gas and coal fired heating systems meets stalling efforts from the Free Democrats. The Free Democrats and Mr. Lindner also do not support the EU's effort to ban new cars with combustion engines after 2035. After differences were aired in the media the SPD stepped in and called for the coalition partners to refrain from openly airing differences. 

The Greens are calling on the SPD to support the transformation to clean energy at their meeting in Weimar. The meeting of the Greens parliamentary group in Weimar is intended to refocus the party on climate protection.

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Preserving forest areas is a key part of the climate change prevention plan. DW.com gives these video images of a vast forest area in South America- the Gran Chaco that is spread over Argentina and Brazil that faces destruction over time. Deforestation is taking place in the Argentine Chaco at an estimated 250,000 acres per year for 2001 to 2007 according to one estimate. The Gran Chaco that runs into the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso de Sul state is one of the last frontiers of forested areas in the world. If the Climate Change resolution passed at the recent conference on preserving forests is taken seriously this area needs to be preserved.

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Tokyo subway serves 16 million people, New York's 5 million. Tokyo's subway has seen continuous investment over six decades, whereas the NY subway does not get federal spending investment and lacks continuous investment every year. The result is a creaky old system in the US compared to a modern highly efficient system in Japan. WSJ looks at the two subway systems in this video explaining why they are the way they are.

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India places a $3 billion order for 1200 electric locomotives and railway modernization with Siemens. It includes a 35 year contract for maintenance. The equivalent of 800,000 trucks can be replaced by these locomotives over the lifetime. Siemens CEO Roland Busch says "This will help India create the world's largest green rail network, as our locomotives will save the equivalent of 800 million tons of CO2 emissions over their lifecycles."

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Chancellor Scholz's visit to India with the heads of 12 large German companies and heads of medium size company business associations will lead to increasing economic cooperation between Germany and India. Bilateral trade is about 25 billion dollars. German companies such as Siemens are suppliers of rail locomotives for modernization of India's rail network. Topics for talks include the geopolitical situation in Europe with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, cooperation on climate change, utilization of German technologies, and increasing investment by German companies in India's economy.

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Germany is building the new pipeline that connects the Wilhelmshaven LNG Terminal to its natural gas storage tank in record time in the midst of an energy crisis in Europe. The new 26 kilometer pipeline for  the LNG Terminal is being built in a few months when it would have otherwise taken 8 years. See Rani Bhandari, Managing Director of Open Grid Europe talk about the project in this video from DW.com to get a sense of how Germany is moving quickly to address natural gas needs for the winter. Click on Original article to see it.

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Demand for firewood has doubled in places like Slovakia in the heart of Europe. Slovakia had 85% of its gas supplies sent by pipeline from Russia compared to 65% for Germany. All this is changing with the lack of Russian supplies.

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German statistics agency Destatis recent figures show "people with a migrant backgorund" make up 27.2% of Germany's population. Of 82 million people about 22.3 million are foreign born or have foreign roots. Foreign nationals make up half of the group. Of this 7.5 million have links to other EU nations, 3.5 million to Middle East, and 1.1 million to Africa. Turkey, Poland and Russia make up 28% of this group with Turkey at 12%. of the people wioth a foreign background speal 

About 46% of these people speak mostly German. Turkish 8% and Arabic 5%. There are 308,000 Ukrainians living in Germany. After the Ukraine war 335,000 refugees have arrived in Germany and many more are arriving daily. Ukrainians do not need a visa to come to Germany,

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This years pension hike of 5.35% in Germany is being completely eaten up by the inflation of 5.1% leaving pensioners in the same situation as before after many years when no adjustments were made. The catchup factor for meeting cost of living changes and inflation was put on hold by chancellor Merkel in 2018, another way social goals were not met under Merkel while infrastructure and child care were also neglected. Only now under a SPD Greens coalition are these problems of falling standard of living being tackled.

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Kviv celebrates Easter 2022 in the midst of a war as shown here in DW.com.

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The visit of European Commission president Von Der Leyen to India is her first to the country. The aim is to strengthen European Union's ties with India. The EU would like to take the cooperation between the two sides to the next level.