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Germany - France quarterfinals UEFA soccer 2025 1-1 Germany winning on penalties. With great saves, about 9 before penalty kicks, and one save of an own goal towards the end from German goal keeper Ann Katrin-Berger. Also part of the game was a puzzling hair pull by a German player of the French captain in front of all the cameras and the stadium that led to apenalty that France converted. In this unusual game there were 2 French goals that were called offside by the umpires. The German game involved more physicality with many fouls and injured players. Though the possession was very one sided France having possession about 70% of the time and many attempts by French players at the German goal, somehow the German team's defense held together without it's  red carded player.

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A Phase 1 trial of over a thousand volunteers shows the Oxford vaccine works well with minimum side effects that can be handled with acetaminophen. Phase 2 trial is underway with volunteers in UK, Brazil and South Africa. Participants given the vaccine had significant increase in antibodies to neutralize the disease, and T cells for long term protection. About 70% reported fatigue or headaches which can be handled with acetaminophen. After the Ebola crisis of 2014 in West Africa the British government invested 120 million pounds to form a group to develop vaccines for top 10 likely threats dubbed "Disease X." On this list was the coronavirus. Scientists at the Jenner Institute at Oxford formed a team as part of this effort. Sarah Gilbert and Adrian Hill led the scientists at Jenner and pioneered research for  a new way to do this- to first replace a part of the virus with a component of the new virus. Then to remove the part of the virus that allows it to replicate in humans. This method is called recombinant adenovirus vector. The Oxford scientists used existing technology in new ways to increase the chances of getting a good vaccine early.  The first vaccine could be developed and tested for mass production by September. A 30,000 participant trial begins in U.S. in August. About 1 billion doses could be manufactured by end of 2020. India's Serum Institute has the manufacturing facilities to do this near Pune, India.  ...

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The largest part of the protest movement in Egypt is led by people under 30 years of age. This is a striking new face of the student protests and the opposition in Egypt to continued rule by dictators from the armed forces. A leader of the April 6 Youth Movement says most of the people he has signed up for protests via the internet- numbers reaching 90,000- were under 30 years. Ibrahim Issa, El-Baradei, Muslim Brotherhood leaders of an older generation, are all respecting this fact, and working with student leaders and young people to bring in a new transition based on the needs and concerns of a new generation of Egyptians.

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The Congressional Budget Office analysis of the Republican healthcare plan advocated by Mr. McConnell, Senate Majority leader, is that it would add 22 million uninsured if implemented. That plan ran into opposition from Republican Senators Collins, Capito, Murkowski, Paul, and Moran, and lacked enough support in the Senate. All Democrats opposed it and with the thin majority Republicans were divided. By taking away some benefits given under the existing Affordable Care Act the plan hurt the elderly and low income people, making some Republicans listen to their constituents in home districts and not the Republican leadership. The NYT profiled two in particular who astonishingly in a sign of today's strange politics were the only ones publicly holding townhall type meetings to hear the views of people in their voting districts- Susan Collins of Maine and Jerry Moran of Kansas. Both senators were listening to rural communities and Moran stated his opposition with the words- "I am a product of rural Kansas." With it the nation takes a breather and the message goes out that it is best to listen first and then to seek middle ground, not do what both parties Democrats and Republicans did in 2009 and 2017- rush serious legislation through without support across party lines and without serious discussion.   ...

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The US is deploying enough military assets to prevent the use of Venezuela for drug trafficking through the Caribbean to the US. The USS Iwo Jima and the USS Stockdale are part of this effort. Also the use of MQ-9 Reaper Drones and F-35B fighter jets. A Marine Expeditionary Unit is active today in the Caribbean making it clear to all nations that the US will not tolerate drug trafficking to the US that makes the US less safe and destroys lives of young people in the US.

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Enrique Pena Nieto, assumes office as the new president of Mexico in Nov. 2012. His focus is on implementing a 13 point agenda which includes crime prevention, better schooling and employment opportunties, new train lines, expanding internet access, and support for social programs for the poor. He said there were two Mexico's - one that was benefitting from the global economy and modernization, and the other which was falling behind and hurting Mexico's image abroad. Economist Videgaray, close advisor to Nieto, is now the new Finance Minister. Videgaray says there is a common misconception that the PRI which ruled Mexico for so long is back in power. But times have changed. The PRI of today is no longer the PRI of yesterday, and understands that it like any other party can be voted out of power if it does not provide good government, says Videgaray. The focus of the new government will be on efficiency and modernization. Doing this will require the cooperation of the opposition parties, as Nieto won only 38% of the vote in a three way election against Mota and Obrador. He does not control Congress and the PRI opposed the legislation of the Calderon government during its term in office....

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The C-295 aircraft manufacturing in Vadodara, Gujarat is part of a broader development of the Indian aircraft industry. Boeing, Lockheed and Airbus all have manufacturing operations in India. Other sites for the aircraft industry are in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. In the next 10 years India will need over 2000 new passenger and cargo aircraft.

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An astounding 80% of France's medicines are manufactured in Asia, and France is highly dependent on China and India for manufacturing. Action is now underway to move the manufacturing back to France as part of a complete reassessment of the supply chain for critical infrastructure related supplies going on in France, Britain and the U.S.

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It will take time to rebuild parts of rural America that were in decline for decades, neglected by politicians of both parties, and are now seeing big investments. Mississippi County, Arkansas is one such rural area where US Steel and other steel makers are putting in new plants to make 12 million tons of steel a year. Only northwest Indiana has larger steel manufacturing plants. Subaru of Japan is located in Indiana. Here in Arkansas only 38% of workers live near the plant as it has seen a lot of decline, most commute from neighboring states or work from RV's.

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Ford Motor is building a manufacturing plant for EV cars on a 3600 acre site in Stanton, Tennessee. This will add 6000 jobs to this part of rural Tennessee.

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What is Antifa. during the protests this term keeps coming up, yet no one is really sure what it is.  It started in Germany in the 1920's and basically means anti-fascist or in German antifaschistisch. Most Germany parties from the SPD, CDU and the Greens to other parties accept this as a point of view considering Germany's Nazi past.  Yet DW.com asks is it only referring to all those opposed to fascism in Germany or to black clad anarchists and leftists facing police on German streets. The last such confrontation with police happened in Germany in Hamburg during the 2017 G20 summit. A famous scene from that time is pictured in DW.com. There the meaning becomes complex as the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) adopted the phrase and the disinctinve two flag logo for the 1932 election campaign, in Weimar Germany's last free election, which the Nazis could not win fully but with the left parties split emerged as winner. After the formation of the GDR, the German Democratic Republic in East Germany, the interwar KPD party veterans like Walter Ulbricht came to power in GDR. GDR became part of the Soviet bloc countries during the Cold War and used antifascist in a way that was synonymous with anticapitalism. This same movement then langusihed in the Germany of the early post war years under Cologne's former mayor, Korad Adenauer. In the 1970's and 1980's the left movement revived in Hamburg and Berlin, coalescing with a antinuclear movement and widespread protests against president Reagan's stationing of nuclear missiles on German soil aimed at the Soviet Union bloc. After the reunification the protests against coal, for climate change action, and for anti-globalization. There is even an overlap with anti-Zionism. Germany's internal intelligence agency says the antifa movement is the "main field of agitation" for autonomous leftist groups, with some groups supporting "militant actions." Yet when there are broad uncontroversial protests there can be people from all walks of life, not just the anarchist or far left groups.  So that the protests in the U.S. were met with comments of antifa - Saskia Esken of the SPD saying "58 and atifa. Obviously." To which the General Secretary of the CDU said "Against fascism, and for democracy and human rights. Without violence. Obviously, for me. It's sad that the chairwoman of the SPD lacks the strength to differentiate."  To which Esken says it is only a point of view that antifa refers to, not some action. To which the the youth organization of the Angela Merkel CDU/CSU alliance the Junge Union (founded 1947) replied: " 73 and appalled" getting the final word.  Search for a dictionary and you are left with no clear meaning either. DW.com says Germany's duden dictionary only says antifa refers to the " entirety of the movements and ideologies, which oppose fascism and national socialism."    ...

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A significant part of the haze and air pollution in New Delhi, India, comes from crop burning in the neighboring Punjab and Haryana region. Here the Hindu newspaper looks at the practice that has not changed even after a 2015 government and NGT order banning the practice. This report cites data from the state of Punjab showing 65% of the 1.85 million farming families in the Punjab are small and marginal farmers. The problem is that the rice paddy harvest leaves 19.7 million tons of paddy straw in the fields and the farmers see burning this as a quick way to avoid incurring the cost of machinery and labor. The Punjab government is required to provide machinery to farmers for preventing the burning. Farmers say it has not provided this. Punjab government seeks funding from the central government in Delhi for meeting the cost. Till then marginal farmers continue their old ways creating a thick haze over New Delhi. Solutions proposed are having more biomass plants to generate energy and use the paddy straw, a Happy Seeder variety that takes works with the straw, and shifting to Basmati rice instead of the common rice crop. The way Indian democracy works political parties have remained wary of collectively working out solutions, letting the problem continue.  ...

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England goal keeper Mary Earps was third choice of coaches at the 2019 World Cup. After the Sweden game win 4-0 when Earps made some amazing saves including one from Sweden's Stina Blackstenius from an unstoppable angle she now looks back. Earps looks back at these years in the wilderness struggling to make it to the national team and working part time at business jobs. She was with Manchester United, and with Wolfsburg teams mostly in reserve roles.

She says she remembers many times thinking "this is the end of the international road game for me," when coaches passed her over for other players. She was top choice for Euro 22 only after another goal keeper had an injury. She says she is proud to be part of this England team. Her teammates have said some amazing things about her and she feels "I want to be the best I can be for them."

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Disha Amrith of Mangaluru of Indian Naval Air Operations, will lead the Naval contingent at Republic Day celebrations on Jan 26, 2023. She is one of the Indian Navy's 144 young sailors and will be part of the 'Nari Shakti' in the Naval air operations force.

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This WSJ editorial describes the contribution made by Lee Kuan Yew to economic freedom. Chinese premier Deng looked at Singapore as a model for China's capitalist development under the leadership of the Communist Party. In the last decade Singapore's people are looking for political freedom and an open political system, calling for changes in the existing system which favors Lee Kuan Yew's PAP Party. A similiar situation exists in Malaysia where the United Malay National Organization Party has run the government under Tunku Abdul Rehman, Tun Abdul Razak, and Mahathir Mohammed, for over 50 years since since independence from Britain in 1959. Through different methods the two parties have prevailed by keeping the opposition weak.

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Argentina's president Macri's party alliance Cambiemos, or Let's Change, wins in 5 of Argentina's largest electoral districts, becoming the first to do so since 1985. The opposition under former president Christina Kirchner remains divided. Though Macri's bloc in parliament is still a minority bloc, it gained a significant number of seats in the midterm elections, increasing the prospects for reforms in labor, tax, and pensions proposed by Cambiemos. Though Chrisitna Kirchner won a seat in parliament in the election the Peronist Party she leads remains a much weaker force today. For a decade after the Argentine financial crisis the Kirchners remained popular following a rejection of international creditors,  now the opinion has shifted about the Peronist party, and the direction of the country has shifted towards integration in the world economy. Under Macri a settlement was reached with international creditors so that Argentina can get new international financing. ...

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Bischoff was at Citigroup since 2000 and Rubin has been there for a decade, This WSJ editorial says they should take responsiblility for the failures at Citigroup, and should have been asked to give up their positions as part of the rescue package, and with them much of the old board.

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Ghannouchi of Tunisia's Ennahada Party puts forward ideas for a pathway that Islamists could follow to integrate into the political life of Middle Eastern countries- compromise, working together with non-Islamist parties for the common good, focussing on economic development, pursuing moderate Islamist ideas, bringing in those excluded from the political process thorough a new inclusiveness, and respecting the opposition. He sees the successful election in Tunisia in which Ennahada worked with the opposition parties to ensure a smooth transition, as a model for other countries and the Arab neighborhood. In 2014 another process of smooth transition after elections, and respect for the opposition, happened in Indonesia with the election of Jakarta governor Widodo to be the new president. This set another model of respect for democracy, fair elections, respect for the opposition, focus on economic development and inclusiveness, for Muslim countries in another part of the world. Pakistan is another Muslim country which is working to create a model in the presence of much violence from Pakistan Taliban, and interventions by the military in politics. Assistance from the U.S. helped Iraq make the transition under the Bush administration till it unraveled with the policies of the Obama administration. Libya had the potential to make the transition with continued western cooperation and support- a change in administrations in the U.S. and France resulted in policies not supportive of a stable transition. The whole process now needs to be fostered carefully by western liberal democracies. Here Ennahada's Ghannouchi tells the world about the lessons learned by Islamist parties themselves for pathways to embrace for more inclusive societies focussed on economic development and progress....

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The fire at Notre Dame Cathedral and the burning of the spire, other parts of the cathedral, leads to lead contamination. The fire with burning of 460 tons of lead from the roof and spire led to scattering of dust to other parts of Paris, to neighborhoods, schools, day care centers, according to this report in the New York Times. The government plans to rebuild the cathedral in 5 years, but this report says not enough attention has gone to the issue of contamination from the fire, and the public has very little idea of the potential dangers to health.

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In parts of Africa access to food supplies will remain a problem. Estimates are for 15 to 50 million people facing food insecurity in this region from June to August 2020. Governments in many African countries are struggling to cope with the demand for food supplies.The UN's World Food Program is asking donor countries in Europe and America to provide $1.9 billion (1.4 billion euros).

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Annalena Baerbock, 44 years, of the Greens is Germany's nominee for president of UN General Assembly in 2025. She was nominated by chancellor Scholz. As a leader of the Greens and in the coalition government of chancellor Scholz she has tried to show that Germany is a modernizing nation and innovative more than is seen in its political class. As one of the youngest politicians she has presented Germany in a new way as a young face for Europe. DW.com shows the evolution of the Greens as a party since the 1980's. Baerbock joined the Greens at age 25, four years later in 2010 she was head of the Brandenburg state section of the party, becoming a board member of the European Green party. She is still only 44 years old. She studied public law and political science in Hamburg, and gained a Masters degree in international law at the London School of Economics, one of Germany's first leading politicians to study in Britain. She started studies for a Doctorate at the Free University of Berlin, which she left in 2013 as she was elected to the Bundestag. By 2021 Annalena Baerbock was with Robert Habeck co-leader of the party heading into the general election. At one point the Greens were polling 5 months before the 2021 election at 27% with Annalena Baerbock running for chancellor against Armin Laschet of CDU and ahead of the CDU by 3 points in Sonntag poll. The Greens came in at 15% of the vote in 2021 dropping slightly to 12% in 2025. This time the Greens will sit in the parliamentary opposition headed by Robert Habeck. ...

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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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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.