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In a complete reversal of Chavez socialist Venezuela oil policy that led to underinvestment in oil industry and its gradual collapse with mismanagement corruption- the new oil law sets 15% tax and 30% royalty fees . This encourages US investment other than Chevron which is already in the country. Rodriguez, the interim president says "We're talking about the future. We are talking about the country that we are going to give to our children."  US Secretary of State Rubio cited this achievement in the interests of the Venezuelan people in the Senate hearing yesterday. Rubio is from Latin America, has a deep knowledge of the region and is interested in its future for the next generation, he knows what went wrong and what can be corrected for a better future for the region. For this reason the Monroe Doctrine is not about US alone, but the US helping the region prosper and improve the lives of people in the region. A very important point when there is misrepresentation of US policy in the region and the world, something Rubio never tired of pointing out in the Senate hearing yesterday. Once again in a country that was one of the best in Latin America Venezuelan oil can help Venezuela get back on its feet as a reliable and successful partner for America in the western hemisphere, a model for the rest of the region after so much suffering and mismanagement acting as a lesson for future generations in the western hemisphere. ...

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DJT asks Putin to not attack Kviv during bitter cold week of Jan 29 2026 with -30 C. Putin has agreed to this says DJT. Much of Kviv is without heat and electricity after Russian drone and missile attacks on Kviv in the worst winter of the 4 year war.

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A severe crisis of affordability in Austria, Italy, UK, Spain, Ireland and other parts of the EU. Young people in the EU cannot afford housing or apartments.

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Unions and Labour's Starmer in local elections in 2026. With Labour shown in You.gov polls as losing half of its voters from the last general election with that lost voter scattered among Greens at 20% of it and Liberals getting 14%, the rest to other parties. Unions may look for an alternative if local elections lead to problems for Labour.

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Optimism from the Washington Post Editorial Board now that Homan is in charge and law enforcement cooperation between state local and federal takes place. Homan was  briefly bypassed in the team set up by Kristi Noem, Secretary of DHS, and  as a result Border Patrol agents began their own sweeps that were not in accordance with DHS and ICE methods of operation. This was shown in the WSJ reports of the last few days creating unnecessary confrontations with protestors, increasing numbers of agents as a result, and both risking the lives of law enforcement and of protestors. Republican senators in Congress defended the rights of Americans to protest. Local and state cooperation with federal law enforcement was key to maintaining order and peace in neighborhoods, ensuring everyone's safety. This is now taking place with Homan meeting Attorney General Ellison, and state governor Walz. Homan said “certain improvements could and should be made” and that the government had not “carried this mission out perfectly.” Washington Post says Homan acted like a professional when asked about Pretti. “I’m going to tell you to let the investigation play out and see where it goes." The Post says handing over criminal immigrants sgould not be controversial, as Kristi Noem says migrants with criminal records were released onto the streets from jails by local officials. There is a lot of soul searching that needs to happen on the part of all, with less reckless behaviour that only aggravates the work of law enforcement and reduces the safety of streets and neighborhoods, and worse is not in accordance with America's tradition of treating people fairly as long as they are acting with decency. ...

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By pulling back from the kind of erratic immigration enforcement in Minneapolis DJT as shown by the WSJ, the administration is closer to getting a deal on the government's budget for passage in Congress. It averts a shutdown. The DHS part is being discussed and voted separately in that deal. In Congress there is more openness to talk about each other's flaws as Chris Murphy leads the Democrats. Tim Kaine says "we can do better" instead of the belligerant opposition to ICE. Lisa Mukowski says it is hopeful because the talk has shifted away from "abolish ICE" to better law enforcement and doing better law enforcement. The WSJ and business have taken the lead on this issue with "de-escalate." Congressis doing more as Republicans are critical and even in DHS Homan is now in charge, the president say "de-escalate a bit," many Republicans including Kristi Noem at DHS and government officials look for ways to do better. In this way Minneapolis has opened up new dialogue so that the American tradition of law enforcement done right that makes people and neighborhoods safe and law enforcement acts in ways that are a role model, the anger and frustration on boh sides is defused little by little in constructive ways, and topics at the heart of the matter are being discussed and sorted out for the first time in years. ...

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The Guardian looks at high street, the small downtowns in urban areas across the north of England and the Midlands, coastal towns in decline, where Reform UK is offering an alternative to the decline.  Are Britain's best days in the past, and after the failure of Austerity, Brexit and the disappointment with Starmer, what lies ahead. If Farage wins and falters will this put Britain in a spiral of permanent decline? Boarded up shops, closed department stores and banks, with the rise of online shopping and online services, is creating a new situation on streets in mid and small towns in England. People see the decline all around them and this is creating anew mood in favor of trying something else after Labour and Tories have promised and things are taking a turn for the worse in the physical appearance of neighborhoods. Across the UK 34,000 shops closed in 2024, that is 37 a day, and this is true more for the north of England, the Midlands and deprived coastal towns, where Reform has come close to Labour in the last election. In one focus group in You.gov and other research a participant used strong words- that it was "soul destroying" to see the extent of the decline. Across Europe, in Germany as in UK, in France, the same sense of high street decline is evident. Underinvestment in transport, policing, healthcare, and social services. University of Warwick professor Fetzer  has studied this and the effects of austerity first under Cameron and Brexit under Johnson, the covid period, return of Labour but no lifting up program of large investments that would create a feeling of change, to replace the sense that somehow Britain was "going to the dogs," with half a million shoplifting offences in 2025, up 13% in 2025 over 2024, and the homelessness. ...

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Corporate CEO's including Appple CEO Tim Cook, and Target CEO, talk about de-escalation in Minneapolis and call for talking to each other. DJT also says he wants to see that there is "de-escalate a bit." Most do not mention ICE or immigration law enforcement. The situation in Minneapolis turned out to be counterproductive for immigration law enforcement particularly to reduce crime and increase safety in streets and neighborhoods which is one of the main ultimate goals. In such situations law enforcement acts as a role model in the tradition earlier Americans have set even while enforcing the law.

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WSJ was effective in calling to the attention of the US president that tactics of one Border Patrol officer were against the American tradition and appeared to be not what police, ICE and Border Patrol, DHS itself was doing in the past. Greg Bovino of Border Patrol led sweeps in LA, Chicago and other cities in what people inside ICE and DHS including Border Head Homan  considered  "unnecessarily aggressive"  and less effective tactics. By being provocative in tactics this attracted more protestors on streets, made law enforcement look worse than when it was using the normal approach of ICE, and by reducing the local authorites cooperation required more and more Border patrol and ICE agents till it became unworkable and attracted critics from within the government and Republicans in Congress. Even DJT said that the this agent was an "out there kind of guy." In Congress many Republicans including Kennedy of Louisiana went on the floor of the Senate asserting the right of peaceful protest enshrined in the US Constitution and called for soul searching to get effective but the right kind of law enforcement that was the tradition in America. Anotehr aspect of what happened in Minneapolis is the troubled history of the city as this is where George Floyd and unarmed man during Covid lost his life in a situation with Minneapolis police, which had already created a sense of unease in that city, compared to Chicago, and Los Angeles BP and ICE sweeps which did not end up like this. In Nashville, and Washington DC National Guard not ICE operated which has different training.  ...

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Pulling back from the surge in both ICE agents patrolling Minneapolis streets and protestors going to the streets in a confrontation Border head Homan says this was not the right way of going about law enforcement. Homan said “I do not want to hear that everything that’s been done here is perfect." Instead of street sweep patrols by Border Patrol agents Border head Homan says after meeting with Atty Gen. Ellison of Minnesota, ICE will get people charged with crimes from the jails. In earlier remarks by Kristi Noem, Homeland Security Secretary, she had mentioned that Minnesota state and local authorites were not cooperating and releasing people from the jails to the streets making ICE job more difficult. The Minnesota local authorites now agreed to cooperation with federal immigration authorites for better law enforcement. Minnesota is unique because the governor of the state and mayor are Democrats, and governor Walz was the VP candidate of Kamala Harris for Democrats, with a certain amount of belligerant opposition in that state to DJT and Homan. The lack of cooperation and the antipathy between the federal and local officials carried over, and more and more Border Patrol and immigration personnel were sent to the state reaching 3000. Compared to other Democrat states or cities- California and Tennessee, Washington DC, where initially there was criticism in the state of ICE Minnesota turned out to be different. The president was critical of the way Somali immigrants were settled in the state and the reported fraud for state benefits. The presence of ICE and Border Patrol under Bovino on Minneapolis streets led to more protests and confrontation. The DJT administration and Congress, other states are learning from this experience. ...

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Lecornu and Macron operate differently now with Lecornu making the decisions for negotiating with Socialists and putting aside pension reform. After his ouster Lecornu set conditions for his return - to have latitude to make decisions if he was to take the job of PM and to consult with Macron but make decisions to negotiate with socialists, to set aside pension reform, to use Article 49.3 when he thought it would be wise, on and on. Macron to be useful in his last year has agreed. Macron has dropped his Jupiterian presidency says Le Monde in favor of consultation and discussion and letting others make decisions to govern. One should not misread Macron's new style of opposing DJT- it is a way for him to bring all French parties, the movement of Melenchon, the Socialists, and the Le Pen National party, to agree on something, when even passing the Budget was difficult in a frayed political environment. Macron having lost trust and with low popularity, Le Pen and the Melenchon movement at odds every step of the way- an inability to govern. ...

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Havana a ghost town with little activity, garbage piling up, and population struggling to make a living- pictures as France's Le Monde sees it in Jan 2026. Was it all worth it?  A revolution happened in 1956 against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista that lost its way over 4 decades to 2000, on life support for another 2 decades to 2026. The Cuban experiment caused Venezuela to enter the same realm of disillusionment and many insurgencies in the rest of Latin America that failed with too much rhetoric and little to back it up with in investment and growth through patient effort and inputs of capital, labor and technology, and cooperation with US and EU, the very stuff that changed lives in China and India for 2.5 billion people.

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UK Labour's vote is middle class professionals mostly in London region 2026 also contested by The Greens. The Greens after Polanski took over have increased their overall vote in polls for a general election to 20% from 11%. It is the young vote for Labour that the Greens are taking. Of the people who voted for Labour, only 50% in Jan 2026 would vote Labour, according to You.gov cited in The Guardian. The rest gets scattered making it difficult for Labour to form a new government on its own. Of the remaining 50% that now does not go for Starmer's Labour 20% go to The Greens, 14% to Liberals, and 6% to Reform UK, ad 4% Conservative. The astonishing aspect of The Greens rise is how many young people 18-24 years now go for Greens up to to 46% in Jan 2026 from 26% in September 2025. Among 25 to 49 years group The Greens take 20% of the total vote. In a few months everything has changed. Issues for The Greens aren the Economy, Cost of Living, NHS,  Housing, Inequality and Poverty. ...

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The 'Gandhi of Lisbon' Antonio Costa, now president of the European Council and OCI of India, who is from Margao, India and Lisbon, Portugal is one of the principal architects of the European Union's special relationship with India put through with agreements on every dimension of trade, business and people to people contacts, science and research, in January 2026. Setting a defining time for the 21st century's biggest relationship and market of 2 billion people. Here in MSN one finds the story of Antonio Costa that is interconnected with India's story, and Europe's story.

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In extended diplomacy Carney visits Beijing, China and says middle powers are seeking ways to interact and trade in a world of big power rivalry. His visit is followed by visits by UK's Starmer and Germany's Merz, and preceded by Macron. At the same time Merz visits Ahmedabad for a kite festival and signs a new trade agreement with India, followed by Leyen and Costa of the EU who sign a EU-India trade agreement for 27 countries of the European Union. All this suggests carefully planned effort in Europe to create new channels of trade and reorient existing trade relationships that will be more resilient with the US shifting to focus on Monroe Doctrine idea of the Western hemisphere as its region of influence and security. This report shows pictures of Starmer and Xi meeting at the Plough Pub in UK in 2015 and reflects on how this has changed 11 years later with China now  a dominant power with the world's 3rd largest economy and a third of world's manufacturing and logistics. How does this change the relationship with China in 2026 for UK and Canada, and the EU? At the same time Germany-India and EU-India relationship creates a 2 billion people market with capital, technology and labor potential to create the largest potential driven economic group in the world, combining EU's 20 trillion to India's $4 trillion economy and mutually complementing, which has potential to rival the US at $30 trillion by 2030 as India grows rapidly in the new EU/Germany/India market and the EU gets a new boost with the complementarity of the two regions by 2035. This suggests that something new is happening and Germany after a lot of soul searching have hit on something we should see blossom by 2030 in the way China has grown since that picture with Cameron of Xi at the Plough Pub in UK. A problem China faces as it continues to push exports is that EU/ India and US will take in less exports and there is only so much it can put in Latin American and African market, UK/Canada market leading to industries with massive oversupply. Major economic redirection may result from the Merz/Leyen/Costa visit and firming up trade agreements with India if the EU, Germany and India have the determination to seize this opportunity in the 21st Century. As Leyen said it has the potential to create a stable world with values of the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, and Mahajima Nikaya of the Buddha supporting the industrial states that emerged from the Industrial Revolutions. ...

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Marco Rubio has shown an exceptional grasp of Latin America from his days representing Florida in the Senate, about a decade in the Senate when he has closely followed events and acquired a deep knowledge of Latin America. His answers at Congressional hearing were exceptionally good, and showed an ability and earnest desire to get good results for the Venezuelan people, sharing aninterest in the good for Latin America being a person of latin American origin who speaks fluent Spanish as a native language. Points made by Venezuela in answering questions from senators in the US Senate hearings- All of Latin America welcomed the US action to remove Maduro from Venezuela.  It affects Colombia and neighboring countries. Colombian rebel groups control parts of Venezuelan territory and operate from there.  Multiple administrations had deals with Maduro. Maduro kept none of the deals including the one with Biden for free and fair elections.  To be realistic in situations such as Spain, Paraguay, there were transitions before safe and fair return to normalcy and democratic government returned after decades of dictatorship. RUbio showed an exceptional grasp of the Latin Ameican situation and reminded senator Murphy that he had been in the Senate for decade and worked with the senators now on the other side to remove Maduro amd nothing had worked. Venezuela is a rich country , the most affluent in Latin America. It does not need money from the US. Before the Chavez dictatorship it was a country with democratic forms of government, and a country friendly to the US.  The action taken was a quarantine not a blockade. By controlling oil going out of Venezuela the lifeline for the country the US has control over its finances and the economy, budgets, the government finances. The immediate task was getting the oil out of the country as there was no place to put it and US had it sold at market prices not sent to China at a 20% discount for which Venezuela got nothing except paying off debt to China. The current authorites are cooperating with the US on the budget, they have to submit budget requests and the US approves it item by item and an audit agency is being set up including Ex-Im. Bank an other options to make sure the money is being spent on salaries and for the Venezuelan people. The money goes to an account for Venezuela at the US Treasury Department. In 4 weeks a lot has been accomplished. What happens in 6 months - for that actions are more important than words, it should be a marked improvement over today. Including setting up the US diplomatic presence in Caracas which means talking to the government on the ground, talking to civil society, talking to the Opposition.  ...

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Russia seen as serious in new negotiations with high level military officials- Jan 28, 2026. This as Russian drone attacks continued on Kviv, Kherson. Contention points - future of Donetsk region in east Russia insists on controlling.

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The Washington Post cites the Fox Foundation of Parkinson Research, these are as described in this report. One of this is loss of smell, another is physically acting out your dreams, third is chronic constipation for weeks at a time, the fourth postural low blood pressure when moving from sitting to standing.