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By multiple standards Greece had the deadliest rail system in Europe with neglect of basic safety features. The European Commission has given $700 million to Greece for modernization of railways. $117 million was given for safety for the Athens to Thessaloniki route alone. Yet little was done. The European Union Agency for Railways says it had an action plan for safety for Greece but there was little action from the Greek government. Even basic automatic braking was not operational at the time of the collision of two trains on one track. 

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President Biden says he opposed reducing minimum sentences for crimes in Washington D.C. such as carjackings, as proposed by a new law in D.C. Biden says Republican efforts to block that legislation would bring that to his desk and he would not veto the Republican proposal blocking reducing sentences. Crime is up 40% in Washington D.C say police. In the New York election for Congress, and in the recent Chicago mayoral election crime was an issue for Republicans leading to losses for Democrats and for Lori Lightfoot in Chicago. Biden wants to focus on the major issues for workers and families in the country, on infrastructure, jobs, inflation, and the US economy, and not let his plan for America's renewal lose focus because Republicans are able to make crime an issue.

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German chancellor Scholz is making a 2 day trip to the US to meet president Biden. There is a surge in discussion on looking for a way out of the Ukraine war after meeting between US's Blinken and Russia's Lavrov at the G20 meeting in India. India is pushing for both sides to engage in talks to end the war. Brazil has also offered to mediate to bring an end to the conflict. 

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Mismanagement of the rail network and lax oversight by the Greek government leads to a train disaster.Trains on Athens Thessaloniki route are on manual mode signalling. This leads to the collision of a freight train with a passenger train which was mistakenly put on the same rail line by a station master. Many of the 342 train passengers were students returning home. Automatic signalling has not been installed in Greece for Athens to Thessaloniki even though equipment was brought in for the 2004 Olympics, and concerns were raised with the government about the risks, say trade unionists in this report in The Times.

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President Biden's cyber security strategy recognizes that "too much of the responsibility for cybersecurity has fallen on individual users and small organizations." The strategy signed by president Biden took months to develop with involvement of 20 government agencies. The cyber security strategy says that free markets and a reliance on voluntary security frameworks have imposed "inadequate costs" on companies that offer insecure products and services. The 35 page strategy report says that "we must shift the liability to those entities that do not take reasonable precautions." Kemba Walden, acting cybersecurity strategy director, says that "software companies can and should shoulder a bigger share of the cyber risk." President Biden sees this as an effort that will draw support from Republicans in Congress.  Modernizing federal government technology, forging international partnerships for cyber norms, more collaboration with the private sector, and international collaboration are other priorities listed in the strategy report. ...

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Indian prime minister Modi calls on nations at the G20 meeting to focus their attention on issues that they agree on even though their are issues on which they disagree. These issues include food insecurity, climate change, and the burdens of debt and debt servicing in developing countries. US foreign minister Blinken says this is the right approach and calls on all nations to take action in that direction.

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For the first time foreign ministers of Russia and the US, Lavrov and Blinken meet briefly since the start of the Ukraine war. The meeting takes place at the G20 foreign ministers meeting in India.

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The PCE personal consumption expenditures index of the US Commerce Department is likely to come down slower than the CPI index by October 2023. The US Fed prefers to use the PCE index and this could lead to the Fed staying with higher interest rates for longer, says the WSJ. Medical care costs are likely to accelerate by the end of 2023, as housing costs decline. The PCE has a larger weighting for medical care costs than the CPI index. 

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With this action to crack down on covid fraud president Biden takes steps to ensure that the trillions of dollars spent to aid families and businesses during the pandemic have been correctly allocated. Republicans support the effort to see that all the money is accounted for and spent entirely for purposes of helping cope with the pandemic.

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The Guardian describes the lopsided nature of economic progress in Poland that has led to uneven development for different sections of society. This has led to the existing political situation in Poland.