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The failure of Conservatives and Boris Johnson to put up a plan to tackle high obesity in Britain is shown in this report. It shows that Japan successfully tackled obesity in the nineties and how it did so starting with school lunches, and new habits to reduce portions in restaurants, eat only until 80% full, and cultural changes on how a person should look with a term for nearly obese.

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The Rs 6 per litre incentive to dairy producers in Karnataka has increased milk production in the state. This has led to Nandini and another cooperative based in Anand, Gujarat, Amul Dairy, to makeup 60% of all procurement by dairy farm cooperatives in India. Price of milk is about Rs 50-60 per litre, About Rs 240 per gallon, equivalent to about $3 a gallon similar to the price in the US.

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WSJ looks at Credit Suisse, a Swiss bank that took a $50 billion loan from the Swiss central bank during the current crisis after the collapse of SVB bank.  After a series of scandals and penalties at Credit Suisse, the Saudi National Bank took a 9% stake in the bank. The Saudis say they will not put any additional capital in the Swiss bank, leading to share value dropping by 24%.

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India registers an amazing comeback feat of 75% vaccinated with two doses on January 30, 2022, without the resistance to vaccination seen in US and Europe. For over a billion people this is nothing short of extraordinary. India's experience is similar to that in other parts of Asia and Latin America where people trust health authorites, after years of dealing with many diseases requiring vaccination in the last 50 years.

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Egan Bernal's home town of Zipaquira in the Andes mountain range, 80 miles north of Bogota, Colombia, is visited by Vyas and Mazars of the WSJ, to show how cycling in the mountains is popular in the Colombian Andes mountains. The steep climbs and descent helps young bikers train at high altitude. Children train with coaches who helped train Bernal, this years winner of the Tour de France in the Alps.

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UK Sport, a British government body for investing in elite sport did 85 interviews with exceptional athletes. It found that exceptional athletic achievers all had some setbacks in life. The setbacks increased their motivation and were used for energizing by these athletes to try again. 

Setbacks were overcome and near miss individuals actually lived longer and won later because they persisted and tried again with enhanced motivation.

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Seattle has for the third year in a row more cranes in operation than New York. A single family residence rents for about $2600 a month, according to Zillow website, 25% more than in 2013. Seattle added 8750 units of housing, double that of San Francisco in 2017. The higher building rate, 22,000 units approved so far, helps to control the rise in prices for housing. 

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Increasingly hospitals in the U.S. are buying independent medical practices of physicians and writing the contracts in their favor. This is part of a general consolidation of health care services in the U.S. In 2012 about 39% of physicians are in independent medical practices compared to 50% in 2000, according to consulting firm Accenture.

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The first of many coastal wind turbine energy projects on America's coastline produces energy. The Vineyards Wind project in New Bedford harbour in Massachusetts sends 5MW of energy to the New England grid this week. The Operator says 5 850 feet tall turbines will be operational early this year. In all 62 turbines will generate wind energy, enough to power 400,000 homes. The White House's and president Biden's target is for 30 gigawatts of wind energy to power 10 million homes by 2030. Understand how Danish companies are leading the effort which is also why Danish companies were invited to India for its nascent wind energy industry. Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners is the developer with Avangrid of Spain. South Forks Wind is a smaller 12 turbine project off the New York coastline which s being developed by Orsted of Denmark. This Guardian report says some of the opposition to these projects in other parts of the country are coming from fossil fuel companies that seek to prolong the use of fossil fuels in the face of warnings of climate change by scientists and other leaders in government and industry. ...

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With Putin now president and putting his support behind Rosneft CEO, Igor Sechin, and the idea of building Rosneft into a large state owned company that champion's Russian interests, the deal to buy BP's stake in the TNK-BP joint venture is more likely to succeed. Earlier efforts in mid 2011 for Rosneft to buy BP's stake stumbled, with president Medvedev pushing in the other direction for a smaller state control of industrial assets in Russia, and calling for political leaders like Mr. Sechin to give up corporate positions. It appears that Putin is now convinced that this is the right direction for Russia. Under the proposed agreement Rosneft would value BP's stake at $25 billion, half of this in cash and half in the form of Rosneft shares, making BP a part owner of Rosneft with 10-15% of Rosneft shares, and potentially a partner for future projects providing access to western technology. The 2011 deal valued this stake at $32 billion. For BP it provides a more reliable partner after its troubled relationship with the AAR group, the 50% owner of the BP-TNK venture, with no majority control for either partner and AAR's political influence leading to many conflicts....

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The Obama Center in Jackson Park, Chicago, is a 20 acre complex opening on June 19, 2026, built by Todd Williams Billie Tsien Architects. The Obamas chose land that was once use for the World Columbian Exposition World Fair. Using public space was controversial, made up for by a new branch of the Chicago Public Library, a basketball court and playgrounds. The most controversial part is the Obamalisk (obelisk type) tower which is as dour as one can get. One of Obama's speeches with letters on the tower top the architect says is not legible, but thats just fine he says, as if it is empty rhetoric. Or as Kennicott says just rhetoric, ornament, did all those words 17 years back really matter or were they merely oratorical good vibes. So much has happened since then that Kennicott rightly looks at the new Obama Tower with skepticism of what Obama ever accomplished. In healthcare the Obamacare plan is now not working or being replaced. Obama continued the wars Bush started, were they really that different.  At every turn from the entry there are questions like this. At the entry itself with the Declaration of Independence there is a display of unequal treatment, questioning the very experiment of Jefferson, Washington, by placing their formative ideas for a new society that had already been born in Britain with the abolition of slavery in 1772 with Somerset vs Stewart. Ben Franklin forming the Abolition of Slavery Society in Pennsylvania as early as 1775 and becoming its president in 1787. None of the founders get any credit for envisioning a different society, than they had to live in, and which even Abe Lincoln struggled with from 1850's till the Emancipation as way to win the Civil War. The entry to the Smithsonian has done the same. Yet it is this same document the Declaration which says "All men are created equal and they are endowed by their creator with some inalienable rights, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness,"  that has inspired  and given new hope to hundreds of millions of Chinese and Indians, Africans, and other Asians by 1900 and 1950, the vast majority of people on the planet. Philip Kennicott of the Washington Post asks the questions over and over in this report-  was America sleeping when it should have been alert? Lighthizer and Jamieson says this on this page that 5 million jobs were lost, economic growth was down by 1% to 2% instead of 3% of the period 1960-2000, and $20 trillion in America's wealth transferred overseas by the combination of Bush-Obama in the 2000-2020 period, manufacturing decimated, wages stagnant, America's working class communities destroyed, all the while this high minded rhetoric went on. As Kennicott says the period of rhetoric and oratory is gone, in the past, the presidency merely decades of decadence of America's elites as Marco Rubio says in a new book. ...

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Should Ohtani the 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases be MVP of the year even if he was designated hitter and played no defense or in the field preventing runs being taken?

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As Pfizer prepares shipments of 25 million doses of vaccine in the U.S. this WSJ report looks at how Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla pushed his manufacturing managers to the limit to increase production. He wanted 100 million doses for 50 million people by the end of 2020, production would have to be ten fold what the initial targets were. Pfizer will achieve half that which is an achievement considering how much had to be done. This report looks at the development of the vaccine at Pfizer since the early days in March when the collaboration with BoNTech in Germany began.

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The automakers are still stuck with dependence on pickups like the Dodge Ram which provides 17% of domestic vehicle sales and the F-150 pickup truck for Ford which provides 26% of domestic vehicle sales. Even though they earn estimated $5000 to $10,000 per pickup this dependence has hurt the automakers, as they are losing money due to the neglect of the rest of their lineup. In 2008 the domestic pickup sales will decline 10% to 2 million units from 2.2 million according to Global Insight. Sales to customers now will almost entirley be to construction industry users in a bad construction market, as other customers who used pickups for general use are shifting to other vehicles.

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The English Bible in the Texas K-12th grade schools curriculum for children in 2025. Critical for young children is an understanding of how the Christian faith was critical in the struggle against the evil of slavery, and how it was Abraham Lincoln's faith in Christianity that sustained him through the long and difficult struggle to end slavery in the Union, and to preserve the Union. How millions gave up their lives to end the evil of slavery in the Civil War. One passage from the new curriculum for Texas children says- "Even as the use of slave labor grew, opposition to slavery also grew, driven by colonists morally opposed to the practice, often based on their beliefs as Christians." Lyrarc.com has Lincoln's devotional- with parts of the New Testament from a British publisher in the 1840's that show how Lincoln's faith preserved the Union, and created the society in which all men are created equal envisioned by Washington and Jefferson in the 1770's and 1780's, right upto the French Revolution's rallying cry of Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite that was heard in America in 1800. It is strange that it is forgotten that for most of the period from 1600 to the 1950's there was never any doubt for 350 years that the US derived it's unique identity and ideals from it's Christian faith, just as China and India have derived their unique identity and ideals from the Buddhist scriptures and the Bhagavad Gita. The novel idea that the Bhagavad Gita and the Buddha should have the same level of understanding for America's children as Christian faith of countless generations since the settlement of North America from 1600 is hard to grasp. ...

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Efforts by BNP Paribas to get bondholders to take a 50% loss on Greek bonds, and exchange their old bonds for new ones that mature in 50 years. BNP Paribas is working for the Greek government to get other banks and bondholders to accept this exchange so that Greece can tackle its debt load and interest payments on debt. Some arm twisting by BNP Paribas to get bondholders who have insurance through CDS to accept the exchange. This is being done on the grounds that the I.S.D.A. committe would declare the restructuring in Greece as being "voluntary" and not a default, so that bondholders who do not accept this deal would not get paid through CDS insurance.

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The midwest and east coast of the U.S. is hit by record low temperatures not seen in decades. Temperatures reached a minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit on January 31, 2019. WIth windchills temperature of about  negative 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Extremely low temperatures hit states such as Michigan Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota.

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Deep and Bumrah hold off the Aussies in the Third cricket Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia. Australia on Day 5 can only score 150 runs aggressively and hope to bowl India out in a short time -but that is a stretch. So the Test being drawn it leaves India and Aussies at 1-1, heading to the MCG.

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Following president Trump's decision to increase tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods on May 9, 2019, the WSJ looks at the mistakes made by both sides in misjudging each other's negotiating position. Mr. Trump says he is willing to increase the pressure on China by imposing tariffs on all Chinese imports into the U.S. after what he sees as China reneging on its commitments on trade by deleting key sections on enforcement provisions and Chinese legislation for enforcement to take place in the 150 page agreement prepared for both presidents to sign.  Early on in the negotiations between Liu He and Mr. Lighthizer, China misread the thinking on the U.S. side. Chinese thinking was that president Trump's urging for the Federal Reserve to lower rates was a perception sign of the weakening U.S. economy. It also may have misread the extent to which Mr. Trump trusts Mr. Robert Lighthizer, who Mr. Trump respects for winning a good deal with the Japanese in similar situation of Japanese rejection of U.S. demands. Mr. Trump also thinks the U.S. has a strong economy, is the largest world producer of oil, strong economic growth in the last quarter of 2018, is also negotiating better deals with other countries including the ones with Mexico, Canada and South Korea. It is also much less dependent on exports to China, giving it a stronger position with more experienced negotiators. China has whole sectors of its economy dependent on exports to the U.S., and crucial numbers of jobs at stake.  China also misread the signals from its stronger than expected economic growth from stimulus efforts in the last quarter, leading to it staking out a tougher position than the U.S. would accept. The U.S. position was set after decades of waiting for China to change and was unlikely to be affected by any temporary considerations.  As a result the U.S. not anticipating the Chinese response of deleting key sections agreed to in advance from the 150 page written agreement gave a strong response. Mr. Mnuchin who accompanied Lighthizer in talks says Mr. Lighthizer "read them the riot act" to the Chinese side. For the Chinese side the effort now shifted to continuing good faith talks without appearing to back down. ...

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Collusion and price fixing by British Airways and Virgin Atlantic that led to increasing fuel surcharges from $10 to $120 on transatlantic routes. This was investigated and BA fined $550 million.

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The plan to inject capital of $250 billion into the US banks in return for preferred shares, ownership stakes, ad a dividend of 5%. $125 billion went to the largest banks.

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Remarkable story of south african security guards here to protect cricketers who were dining with 150 people in arestaurant at the Taj hotel and howthey saved the lives of these people.

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Greg Ip and other experts say the US economy is different today because nothing like the collapse of supply chains and the pandemic leading to shortage of workers has happened in the last 50 years. One has to go back to 1947 in the postwar period to see how the nation adjusted between supply of labor after World War II and supply of goods, to understand today's economy, says Greg Ip in the WSJ.

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The Ukraine war has serious side effects with food prices going up as much as 50% in parts of the world that include Asian and African nations and nations in the Middle East. Countries with debt or facing the aftermath of wars and conflicts fare much worse.  Coming after the problems created by the pandemic in the economy and health of many countries these nations are ill prepared for what is happening.