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India UK trade has been neglected over the years. In 2021 India accounts for less than 2% of total UK trade. During the period before the pandemic 2010 to 2019 UK exports declined by 3%. During that time the US increased exports to India by 79%, Canada by 62%, and France by 58%, says this report in The Guardian. This happened even though India is the leading country in the British Commonwealth and one would expect much stronger trade ties. This is one reason UK prime minister Boris Johnson is putting a high priority on building up trade with India during his visit to India. UK Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan seeks to double the current 22 billion pounds trade between India and the UK by 2030.

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US president Biden calls for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza war after the deaths of aid workers in airstrikes. Biden warns Netanyahu of the conditions for US support.

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With Britain preoccupied with Brexit, and the U.S. in a trade dispute with China, Chancellor Merkel remains the only western leader to visit and hold extensive talks with Chinese leaders Li Keqiang and Xi Jinping. She also visits other Chinese cities such as Wuhan and gives a speech at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, in which she commented on the social credit system being implemented in China about the social creditworthiness of individuals and businesses.  Merkel sitting next to premier Li Keqiang in Beijing advocated "that conflicts be resolved without violence and that anything else would be a catastrophe." She called for a peaceful resolution of the situation in Hong Kong and for Hong Kong's rights to be "guaranteed." This is significant because the close cooperation between Germany and China is critical for China today to tackle the economic problems created by the trade disputes with the U.S.  Merkel has a close relationship with Chinese leaders and has visited China many times, giving her the confidence to talk to Chinese leaders without arousing any sensitivities about internal affairs of China. She is the only leader who can speak her mind to Chinese leaders, without offending them. When she used the word "catastrophe" she chose it carefully. It took decades for China to build the trust and relationships with Europe and the U.S. that it has.  Trading relationships matter for both China and western nations and are built on trust and good relations. With the Shenzen region growing faster than Hong Kong, and thinking like Beijing, China could tackle the situation in Hong Kong over a long period. ...

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Did you know that SUV's are the second largest source of emissions after Power. We hear a lot about aviation which is much smaller but little about SUV's in the impact on climate change. SUV's make up about 40% of cars in Britain, and higher in the U.S. at 43%, 40% worldwide an astounding sixfold increase from 32 million to 200 million since 2010. People may even be driving an SUV and talking a lot about climate change.

Any savings from electric cars expected to grow from 2 million to 20 million by 2030  will be offset by more SUV's on the road. This is the view of the International Energy Agency in its recent report. Again all the talk about electric cars as a way to address climate change misses what is really happening in automobiles. Even in China the SUV's make up 42% of sales, and in India 30%. It is more profitable to make SUV's and they are harder to electrify adding 25% to energy consumed compared to cars. 

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As Boris Johnson wins the British election with a 80 seat majority, the Economist warns that what made this possible, the shift of the North and Midlands Labour vote to the Tories is something that is not secure. The traditional working class Labour vote that shifted to the Conservatives is only on loan say experts. Johnson faces a bumpy road with challenges from Scotland and Northern Ireland, parts of the UK that favor being in the EU.

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Women are represented more in lower paid part time jobs and have borne more of child care responsibilities by two thirds than men according to ONS in Britain. Women spend more time than men on nondevelopmental care of children and average about 3 hours 18 minutes each day during the pandemic. The pandemic puts greater strain on working mothers and mothers who lost pay during the coronavirus layoffs.

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When Ruth Bader Ginsburg started law school in 1956 women represented 3% of the legal profession in the U.S. It is about one third today.

A piece of advice from her mother in law has served Ginsburg well all these years. She told Ginsburg "in every good marraige it helps sometimes to be a little deaf." Meaning that if an unkind word or thoughtless word is spoken to you best to tune it out and go on anyway. This helps in the workplace. Reacting to someone's unkind words will not advance one's ability to persuade. This is why people of all kinds of persuasion and opinions liked Ginsburg including at the court her complete opposite Justice Scalia. Something we can all learn from Ginsburg.

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The scale and sophistication of a recent cyberattack on U.S. government agencies surprised even experienced security experts. The strategy was zeroing in on a weak link in the software supply chain U.S. businesses and government institutions rely on, the use of a network management software called Orion.

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One of the longest running conflicts in Europe comes to a close as the ETA separatist group in the Basque region of Spain says it is apologizing for the terrorism and plans its dissolution. The Basque region including cities of San Sebastian and Bilbao has 2.2 million people and its own distinct culture and language. a ceasefire was declared in 2010. This happens as another region in Spain Catalonia is seeking a peaceful separation from Spain. In Catalonia which includes the city of Barcelona the region is divided with about half the people supporting separation and half opposing it.

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Biden is seen in Ireland as the most Irish president Since John F. Kennedy. Biden's great- great grandfather is Owen Finnegan who lived in Carlingford, Ireland, and left for New York in 1849. Two ancestral towns are preparing for his trip in Ireland, one in the county of Mayo and one in the scenic east coast's Cooley peninsula. Some Irish say Biden's interest in Ireland is very genuine, very personal. Biden quotes from Irish poets. He is the most Irish president except for JFK. There are more than 30 million Irish Americans in America and there is a connection with the island that is not found anywhere else. Mr. Biden invited on member of his family to the White House from Ireland for St Patrick's Day. He is all family they say about Mr. Biden. There is great enthusiasm for his visit in Ireland and for what Biden is doing to keep the Good Friday Agreement signed 25 years ago in 1998 so that Brexit does not affect it and border are soft. The Bridge at the border may be called The Biden Bridge. ...

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After losing 100 ships in the Irish Sea in 1859 to storms Britain setup the Shipping Forecast in 1861 under Admiral FitzRoy. This was the first storm warning system on which British ships depended for the next 100 years and most of the period Britain ruled the high seas. In 1925 the first long wave transmission of Weather Shipping went out from the Air Ministry in London. Millions depended on the forecast. For eons says Grace Linden in NYT there was nothing but stars and estuaries, the wind and the shore. The old supply chain of the Industrial Revolution in Britain was based on shipping, and on the shipping forecast, and too the realms of exploration all the way to the new continent of Australia, so a national treasure.

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Retired General Keith Kellogg was in National Security roles in the DJT first term. He is the new DJT envoy to Ukraine and Russia with the goal of negotiating a settlement between Russia and Ukraine. He was chief of staff of the National Security Council in DJT's first term. And also the National Security Advser to vice President Mike Pence. The 80 year old veteran co-authored a paper for America First think tank which says- "The United States would continue to arm Ukraine and strengthen its defenses to ensure Russia will make no further advances and will not attack again after a cease-fire or peace agreement."  "Future American military aid, however, will require Ukraine to participate in peace talks with Russia."  This comes as Zelensky's popularity in Ukraine has dipped to 16% and Ukraine's people do not want him to run again for president. This is intended to draw Ukraine into peace talks as prolonging the war would lead to enormous losses for Ukraine's cities and the people of Ukraine, Kellogg told the Voice of America at the Republican Convention in 2024, and peace talks would end the war with Russia. ...

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The story of hand woven cloth or khadi is also the story of Mohandas Gandhi and India. Here in Scroll.in Pramod Kapoor tells the story of Mohandas Gandhi's search for the tools that would drive the independence struggle and how in 1921 in Madurai he found the idea of khadi. It was like the idea of the salt march. Always about the dignity of man. Kapoor tells the story of Pamela Hicks, daughter of Mountbatten, the first governor general of India, who says her father told Gandhi, that sending a piece of his hand woven cloth would be like sending the crown jewels. Later, years later, Elizabeth was to tell about this treasured possession to Modi during her two meetings with the Indian leader who started his own version of khadi with Har Ghar Jal, water, life's basic necessity, to all Indian homes by 2024.