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Democrats win control of the Virginia Senate and state assembly thwarting Virginia Republican governor Youngkin's efforts for a Republican takeover.

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Abortion rights was at the centre of the governor's race in Kentucky and a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights in Ohio in yesterday's US elections. Democrats supporting abortion rights won both races with large margins. Throughout 2023 abortion rights for women has emerged as a dominant issue in US elections.

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China build its solar industry with huge subsidies, the US did not. From 2018 to 2022 the US solar industry suffered with lack of help from the US government under the Trump administration and the first year of the Biden administration. 30 US based solar companies shutdown in a bloodbath and many jobs were lost. Enter the climate law in 2022 under president Biden and in 2023 the US investment in solar reached $8 billion, three times what it was in the previous 6 years. 

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Electricians union and dockworkers unions say they will support a strike for collective bargaining agreement of the mechanics working at Tesla in Sweden. The IF Metall Union representing 300,000 workers in Sweden is negotiating for a collective bargaining agreement with Tesla. Unless an agreement is reached in which workers participate to set working hours and wages, benefits, the transport workers says they will not unload Tesla cars from any Swedish ports. The idea is to support the current situation for 90% of workers in Sweden to participate in reaching a consensus for wages, benefits and working conditions.

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King Charles of Britain is a strong supporter of action against climate change from a young age. Here NYT comments on the odd situation of the Queen's Speech in 2023 in which the King announces the legislative priorities of the government in a speech to parliament. In this case he announced the expansion of oil drilling in the North Sea under the Tory government of Rishi Sunak. Mr Starmer leader of the Labor Party says the Tories under Sunak are doing this because -"they see our country's problems as something to be exploited, not solved." Trailing Labour badly the Conservatives and Sunak are trying to win support by weakening environmental measures by delaying a ban on gasoline cars and lowering targets for replacing gas boilers.

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This story in WSJ says China may have a lead in electric car battery sales in 2024 and beyond. China is investing heavily in battery plants and EV plants in Europe and the US. This would help China meet the restrictions on import of electric vehicles from China by the Biden administration. CATL increased its market share in Europe from 10% to 24%. Sales of EV vehicles in China went up by 37% in the first 9 months of 2023, and China is the top exporter of electric vehicles. CATL's electric battery sales in Europe doubled compared to 60% for LG. And in excluding China sales CATL has caught up with LG both having 28% of the market.

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With slowing demand for EV vehicles Tesla, Ford and other carmakers are offering their own promotion subsidies. The US government offers a rebate of $7500 for EV's. It has recently placed some restrictions on this rebate. Ford and other makers are offering a$7500 rebte of their own to keep sales from falling.

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The average round trip airfare to Europe has dropped to about $650. With the end of revenge travel prices are returning to lower levels. Airlines are adding capacity and additional flights to Europe from the US which should further ease prices that stayed high in the summer.

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Exceptional bowling by Jasprit Bumrah and batting performances by Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli put India on top in the World Cup Cricket 2023. India scored over 300 runs and bowled South Africa out for 83 runs in the last match.

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BBC provides key facts in the Trump trial before Judge Ergoron. 

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Millenials group ages 18-49 who have decided to have zero children post pandemic is growing, as shown in this story in The Washington Post- with many graphs about what is really happening. A 2021 Pew Research poll shows 44% of childless adults ages 18-49 saying they do not want kids, or are not likely to have kids. This is up from 37% in 2018. And 56% of these people simply give no reason, just that- no kids. The difficult economic environment is part of this, so is the difficulty in raising kids that do better than their parents, the huge resources needed to raise good kids, all leading to this view among millenial women.

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President Biden has asked for $18 billion for child care stabilization, the children's infrastructure of today. Republican controlled Congress is not responding. Nationwide 16000 childcare providers closed their doors across 37 states in 15 months of 2020 through March 2021. Childcare givers in the US make less than parking attendants, says this story in The Washington Post. Federal grants provided help in Wisconsin and other states, but this money dried up and more childcare centers have closed. This is the soft infrastructure that America needs and is so crucial- for its children and for mothers and fathers. The losses reverberate through local economies. And it disrupts parents, especially mothers ability to work. 

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NYT looks at the strategic port network built by China over the last two decades including 100 ports or terminals in which China has invested or operates. This includes the ports of Rotterdam, Barcelona and Hamburg.

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Why is this important? Because America needs a future and investing in the future meets investing in new technologies and investing in infrastructure, and in mitigating cost of living for families that are struggling. Mr. Trump's claims on cost of living, oil and gas production, and job losses from electric cars at a rally in Texas and fact check: Oil and gas production is 12.9 million barrels a day compared to 12.3 million barrels a day during the Trump administration- source: Energy Information Administration. Energy costs are up a lot by $2250. (Mr. Trump said). Energy costs per household up $1520 not $2250 according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. $1520 compares 2022 with 2019 as baseline, $2250 uses Jan 2021 as a baseline when energy use dropped because of the pandemic. The Ukraine war and taking Russian supplies off the market pushed oil prices higher which were mitigated by policies of the Biden administration on how shipping of oil takes place in international markets setting a lower price for oil than what the Russians and Saudis were expecting. Autoworkers won't have jobs in 3 years because everything is going electric. (Mr. Trump said).It takes fewer workers to produce electric cars than fossil fuel cars. Yet the world is moving to electric cars and even companies like Toyota that lagged are falling behind. The 146,000 workers at GM and Ford secured a 25% wage increase over several years to meet rising cost of living with the support of president Biden on the picket line. No jobs are expected to be lost in 3 years and America is gaining leadership in electric car technologies to build a healthy automobile industry and well paying jobs for the future.     ...

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Presley says the Governor's election is not about right vs. left, not Democrat vs Republican, just those of us on the outside vs those in the inside. NYT covers Brandon Presley's effort to win the Governor's race in a Deep Southern state Mississippi. He plans expansion of Medicaid in a state with alarming health conditions. He hopes to revive rural hospitals. He approved raises for public school teachers of $5100 a year. He is conservative on social and cultural issues. In 2001 at age 24 he was elected mayor of a small town Nettleton with 1900 people in northeastern Mississippi. He was elected four times to represent northern Mississippi on the Public Services Commission.