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Biden is considering having the US join the $1.3 billion fund for the Amazon.Germany has announced a package for defense of the Amazon. This is part of the climate change prevention effort. At meetings today Biden said- "Both our nations strong democracies were tested of late. But both in the United States and Brazil democracy prevailed." Lula for his part said- "Brazil marginalized itself for four years."

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Annalena Baerbock German Foreign Minister continues to voice concerns about German policy towards China after the sale of a stake in Hamburg port to Chinese shipping company Cosco. Chancellor Scholz went ahead with a smaller stake after opposition from 6 ministries within his administration including the Free Democrats and the Greens. He will be visiting China soon after the recent party Congress. Scholz's spokesperson says Scholz does not favor decoupling with China, yet favors diversifying and minimizing the risks.

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There is an acute need for foreign trained workers in European Union countries. Germany, Netherlands and Italy discourage migrant untrained workers illegally entering the country. Employers are asking the government to address labor shortages. Germany needs 400,000 trained foreign workers, Italy 280,000.  Germany will increase visas for Indian workers from 10,000 to 90,000 a year showing how quickly action is being taken first to stop illegal entry and second to increase legal visas. German Labor Minister Hubertus is shown here talking to students in Delhi during Scholz's visit to India recently.

Governments in Europe will now say they are getting trained foreign workers by legally bringing them into the country compared to the chaotic entry of less skilled migrants that caused deep discontent in the countries of Europe. Employers will guide this process in each country as they compete for the best talented educated workers.

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All the extreme rhetoric on how Project 2025 is going to be adopted under a DJT administration has led to unease that there will be deterioration in the government and society.  Yet it simply may not work that way.   A second objective look at Project 2025 and how it's value to Republicans will be carefully evaluated piece by piece by DJT is needed. Keeping in mind 2026 House and Senate elections, winning broad support for the traditional Republican conservative line of thinking, and maintaining the support of all Republicans in the business, government, media and other sectors.  1. Replacing federal employees with party loyalists. This happens at the top of every agency of the government for every government in the US and Europe after an election for the last century. At today's unemployment level of 4 percent, adult males actually 3.9% and adult females 3.6%, and considering the higher salaries paid in the private sector, the tenuous nature of joining as a party loyalist as the national mood can shift at any time and things change again in 2027; where was the federal government going to find employees to be replaced at mid and lower levels? There is also the situation seen in 1928 when a Republican Hoover victory made Democrat NY Governor Al Smith compel a reluctant Franklin Roosevelt, who was just recovering from polio, to run for NY Governor. By 1931 over 3 years Franklin Roosevelt and Columbia University's Frances Perkins tested programs to stabilize employment in the US, introduce unemployment insurance as a new concept, and a 40 hour week also new, in the entire northeastern + midwestern states, all governors working together. By 1931 in just 3 years Franklin Roosevelt was on the clear path to sweeping victory in 1932 with a tested program to stabilize employment. 2.  The No. 1 goal is to restore the traditional family. It is clear in 2024 that the vast majority of Americans, whites, women as well as men, of all age groups, whites as well as Latinos and Asians, blacks, see that things like transgender "have somehow gone too far." 3. Cultural Literacy is needed for any nation to long survive. This is not even on any platform. Yet knowledge about America's history of settlement of the continent -correcting for treatment of American Indians, blacks, Chinese, Japanese without pointless race controversies- is being rapidly lost, and with it an understanding of America's civic institutions and Constitution, its founders and presidents, and evolution of the nation over the 20th century with the Industrial Revolution. The very terminology that has defined public knowledge about these United States is fast disappearing. It is a cause for unease in the minds of people in rural and urban, conservative and other parts of the political spectrum alike of what will happen to America as this is lost. 4. On immigration  a consensus was reached by president Biden that migrant flow was mishandled and the Lankford legislation offered by Republican leaders accepted by both parties to stop the flow. During his first term president Eisenhower conducted a program of returning illegal migrants to their home countries, Germany is doing this now and the UK's Labor party has made it No. 1 priority to stop migrant smuggling. 5. An effort to increase oil and gas production. This will help bring down the cost of living by reducing energy costs in the US and also helping Europe to do the same. Biden had already accepted the idea of the temporary need to do this to ease cost of living burden on the people of this Nation. The economic cost of wind and solar, are ultimate drivers for expanding renewable energy as major form of climate change action. In the first term of DJT 2016-2020 the lower cost of natural gas made it economical to switch from oil to gas. In the Biden term 2020-2024 all the effort to increase EV's on the road ran into the problem of lack of charging stations. It is possible that spread of charging stations could reverse this in the second term of DJT. It is the private sector and also the local governments that play a big part, climate change action will continue, and new R&D breakthroughs will happen to jump start it again.    ...

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This is the Washignton Post's view of what is remarkable about the NYT reporter Schmidt's interview with Mr. Trump.

Trump says he hopes Mueller is fair, and will be fair, is going to be fair. Yet that is not what Conservative media is saying. Trump has criticized the Justice Department. Here he says that he the President can do what he wants with the Justice Department, using the words "absolute rights," for the president's powers. This is a misreading of the powers of the Presidency under the Constitution. If the president thinks this hope is not realized of Mueller acting fairly it could lead to a situation in which the president acts beyond the powers of the president, creating a new gap between Congress and the president and overreaching of powers.

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Solomon and Said give a detailed account of the events leading to the steep decline in oil prices to $61 a barrel by December 2014. The steep declines have caused a shock for OPEC and non-OPEC producers. A price decline of this magnitude may not have been anticipated by the Saudis, and there are divisions among Saudi officials and in the royal family about whether such steep cuts are best for Saudi Arabia. The price per barrel of oil for each OPEC country to balance its budget varies widely, according to IMF and IEA, WSJ, sources. For Saudi Arabia this estimate is $106, Iraq 101, for Russia $98. The Saudis have $750 billion in foreign currency reserves. At the high end are Libya at $184, Iran at $131, Algeria $131, Nigeria $122, Venezuela $117. The UAE is at $77, Qatar $60. Norway is at the low end at $40. On Dec. 19, 2014 the price of Brent crude, ICE for Jan. delivery was $61.38.

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China's COSCO taking an ownership stake in Hamburg port was opposed by the Greens and Free Democrats parties in the three party coalition government with the SPD in Germany. Scholz of the SPD went ahead over their opposition saying this will preserve jobs in Hamburg port. In the compromise reached the ownership is capped at 24.99% so that no foreign country owns a majority stake. At one point Germany's cyber security agency BSI classified the Hamburg port as critical infrastructure.

China is Germany's largest trading partner  for 7 years with trade reaching a record $320 billion.

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Germany's Economic Affairs Ministry and Economy Minister Habeck have called for blocking of the sale of a Dortmund chip production company Elmos to Sweden based Silex, a unit of Sai Microelectronics of China, for 85 million euros. There is now significant debate within the German ministries about the degree of dependence on China. Habeck's move seeks to prohibit the acquisition of Germany technology companies by Chinese competitors on grounds of protecting public order and security.

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Dw.com takes a look at the most costly World Cup Soccer of all time in Qatar.

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A path forward set for peaceful cooperation and competition by Joe Biden as he meets Xi Jinping again after his many meetings with Xi during the early years of the Obama administration. The meetings take place at the G20 meeting in Indonesia and mark a return to normalcy following the volatile rhetoric of the Trump administration. During the conflict in Ukraine both leaders express their intention to cooperate fully and seek peaceful solutions to world problems. A positive note emerges then from the G20 in Indonesia- a welcome relief after the disaster to global health from the pandemic.

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Zelensky's speech to the Joint Session of the US Congress comes 81 years after Winston Churchill's speech to the US Congress in December 1941 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.

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Reliance Jio makes the highest bid and takes most of the 5G spectrum in India with a bid for $11.4 billion or over half of the 5G spectrum. The government had eased the size of investment by firms by allowing 20 equal instalments in payment and other measures. This prepares India and Jio to build the 5G network in India as it had done earlier for the 4G network and become the dominant low cost provider in the world. The experience gained in building 4G gives Jio the advantage in building the new 5G network in India on its own.

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This Washington Post report shows elder cost where you live in the US. Out of 5.9 million Americans over 85 years 50% live with family, including spouses and adult children, 40% live alone including assisted living facilities, and only 8% live in nursing homes. A quarter live in multigenerational homes, and this is common among Asians, with Filipino families tending to live together. In Florida 57% of seniors over 85 years live with family and spouses, and in Texas 31% live in multigenerational households. Hawaii has the highest number of people over 85 years living with their families- 61%. 16% of seniors over 85 years live in nursing homes in South Dakota, highest in the US, and in Louisiana 44% of women seniors over 85 years live alone, according to Census.

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Failure of the COP28 summit agreement to call for the phaseout of fossil fuels. Oil producing UAE, Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries are seen as watering down the final agreement in their own interests ignoring the impact of climate change fires and drought, floods in 2023. The COP28 conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is unusual in that it is taking place in a country that is a big producer of fossil fuels and has no immediate interest in cutting use of fossil fuels.