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Annalena Baerbock is emerging as one of Germany's most popular leaders, winning overwhelming praise from all quarters in Germany including opposition CDU conservatives, says DW.com. She wins praise for her clarity and steadiness in a time of upheaval. After Olaf Scholz she is easily the most popular leader in Germany. As co-leader of the Greens with Habeck, she is Foreign Minister. Olaf Scholz also commended Baerbock for her work during the crisis in helping Germany rethink old policies under Merkel, in his speech to the German parliament.

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Biden says about passing the bills for his $3.5 trillion agenda including infrastructure spending, and a plan for American families and workers- "It does not matter when, it does not matter if it's done in 6 minutes, 6 days or 6 weeks. We're going to get it done."

Earlier moderates looked to get infrastructure done earlier and progressives wanted the entire package to be done together. Biden opted for doing it all together, it wouldn't matter when.

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Consumer spending in the US is up for Christmas 2021 with 5.8 million more US jobs in October than a year earlier, with higher wage checks and stimulus checks, child tax credit payments, all boosting spending power. With 231 million Americans vaccinated with at least one shot compared to none Christmas last year more Americans are in stores. Shopping online is up only 7%, in store retail sales up 14%, according to Commerce Department. Passenger traffic on interstate highways is back up to where it was before the pandemic.

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Changes in the American family as the dominant model of two thirds of American families with male breadwinners, and married couples changes to one where a diverse set of arrangements replaces this. Multi generational families, people getting married later, divorced parents, and other arrangements are adding to the traditional household so that there are different and diverse situations. There may also be a sense that culturally it may have moved too fast and requiring an effort to make sense of all the changes in recent years. 

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Janice Turner writes about all those empty calories that are being taken without a thought. For children obesity starts with cereals such as Frosted Sugar Flakes with extremely high sugar content, and other cereals that have high sugar content with fancy names, says this report of how people unconsciously take in so many empty calories. Sugar content that can range to as high as 37%. This builds up disease in our bodies, and obesity. Obesity acts during this time of coronavirus to create a wild fire.

 

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Vaccine passports play an important role in tackling the pandemic. France and other countries in Europe have increased the percentage of people getting vaccinations by requiring EU vaccine digital certificate for entry into pubic transportation, restaurants and large events. Vaccine digital certificate helps reduce the the need for lockdowns. Us president Biden has also moved in this direction with the new vaccine mandate in the US requiring all federal government employees and employees of companies with more than 100 workers to get vaccinated and show digital proof of vaccination.

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The US Labor Department will now require not just 401(k) administrators but also advisers for retirement plans called IRA's to follow the higher fiduciary standards of the 1974 ERISA law that aims to protect American retirees. When workers leave a company or retire they rollover their money into IRA's. This retiree money will now be protected with a high fiduciary standard as it should have been all along. In 2020 alone the IRS estimate is that $620 billion was rolled over to to such IRA's.

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Macron says all of Algeria's problems are blamed on France and Algeria's rulers are in a tough system. He says Turkey's ability to wipe away the period before 1830 when Algeria was under the Ottoman Empire does not impress him. His point is that France was not the only colonizer when it took over Algeria in 1830. Macron also says French rule created the Algerian nation as an entity, that Algeria we know today did not exist before the French.

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German chancellor Scholz announces $65 billion in aid to households to help meet the higher energy prices and higher price of food and groceries. About $1.5 billion will go to cheaper transport tickets such as the 9 euro monthly fare for use on rail all over Germany. Windfall taxes on energy companies to lower the price of gas, oil and coal for households. By contrast the Tory government in Britain has failed to come up with plans similar to that in France and Germany to shield households from sharp price increases.

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The expansion of irrigation coverage for agriculture from 40% to 82% is one of the great achievements of the Chouhan government in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. This enables 1.9 crops per year. MP now ranks as the top state in agriculture  above Punjab Gujarat and Maharashtra. All farmers are paid Rs 6000 annually by the state government in addition to Rs 6000 from federal government. Farmers, women, tribal people, young people provide overwhelming support for the development agenda of the Modi government.

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The Supreme Court Observer shows how the Supreme Court Justices Chandrachud and Kaul arrived at their decision on the abrogation of Article 370 in India for a prin cely state during the formation of India as an independent nation. CJI Chadrachud held that the proclamation by Karan Singh accepting the supremacy of the Constitution of India, at that moment all sovereignty was irrevocably surrendered. The Court held that the Article 370 was a temporary provision considering the historical context, wording and placement in part 21 which includes other temporary and transitional provisions.

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Boris Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon leave the Tories and the Scottish Nationalist Party weaker than before providing Labour an advantage in England and Scotland after ten years of austerity and Scottish nationalist policies. Labour's loss of Scotland to the SNP made it hard for the party to win a parliamentary majority in elections. Boris Johnson appealed to Labour's base in the north of England without any significant policy accomplishments to back it up. All this is changing with Labour sweeping the local elections recently.

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The US government takes strict action against Binance following the action against Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX crypto exchange after its bankruptcy. The settlement fine is $4.3 billion and is intended to ensure strict compliance with US laws. Binance will also be required to monitor and report all transactions to the US government and act for enforcement of US laws and regulations. It is intended to bring this part of US capital markets that was acting as being outside the law under the strict oversight of the US government.

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Germany's goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2045 will be achieved by the city of Freiburg in 2038. Freiburg's new city hall has 800 solar panels on the facade and the new soccer stadium has a solar installation on the stadium roof.  Green Party and Economy minister Habeck's motto is "Ready- because you are," well suited to Freiburg. Baden-Wurttemberg's requirement for all commercial buildings to be fitted with solar panels could soon be a requirement in Germany.

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The New York Metropolitan Authority tht runs the city's subway system is in need of major capital spending to renovate a crumbling and old structure. The capital spending plan includes replacing 5500 rail cars, 6000 buses, all of its 493 elevators. 550 locations have been identified for flooding from the Hudson River. The assessment was released after last weeks storm flooding the subway system and shutdown of half the system. A first in the nation congestion pricing program will help fund the improvements and discourage drivers from Midtown Manhattan.

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Grind and Bindley of the WSJ look at the increasing use of psychedelic drugs in Silicon and the dangers in its acceptance in the corporate culture of Silicon Valley. At its core are business executives that use these drugs for what they mistakenly think is breakthroughs of the mind. Mindfulness comes from ardently clearly comprehending the noble truths, and from overcoming greed and delusion said the Buddha in Pali 2500 years ago. Here it is greed and delusion depending on psychedelic substances. 

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When planning for retirement look at the combined probability of both spouses of living an extra 10, 20, or 30 years after 65 years of age. The combined probability could be 18% of living an extra 30 years says this expert when you look at the combined probability that one or the other spouse would outlive the other and need to depend on retirement savings. Take all these scenarios into account, and working an extra year or two even 6 months can make a difference for a sound retirement, says this expert.

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Salvador Illa of the Socialist party, ally of prime minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain, wins 28% of the vote. with 42 seats his party is the largest in Catalan assembly. He will need 68 votes to form a majority government. It opens a new chapter in Catalonia after efforts to form an independent Catalonia by some parties. Socialist party PSC campaigned for amnesty for parties connected to Mr. Puigdemont and for investment in public services to improve the lives of all Catalans within Spain with respect for diversity of opinion.

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Extreme heat and dehydration affecting farming villages and fishing communities, and lack of clean drinking water, contamination of water supplies by chemicals, has led to kidney disease in 40 year olds in Sri Lanka. This also shows how important the clean drinking water Har Ghar Jal - clean water for all homes- of prime minister Narendra Modi is for 1.4 billion people in India. Sri Lanka (Ceyon) faced with decades of civil war, and mismanaged finances with corruption, is ill equipped to tackle the huge problems that it faces.

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Hiking and camping in the wilderness around Mount Hood, Oregon, and walking the meandering trail that connects Oregon to California along the coast. Only 15% of land is public in New York. In California, Oregon, Nevada and Idaho majority of the land is public. National Parks was an idea of Theodore Roosevelt and is the best way in America for all to find themselves equal under the canopy of nature. Under majestic fir and sequoia trees and wide skies there is a feeling of humbleness in the face of nature.

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As it makes gains in the Kursk region Russia appears hesitant at this moment to sign on to the ceasefire deal the US and Ukraine agreed to this week. Kursk was part of Russia before the current war. It was also here that the Germans were defeated in 1943 after the Battle of Stalingrad (now called Volgograd). The war now has nationalist overtones for Russia making it more complicated than the earlier invasion of Ukraine, and requiring both patience and persistence to reach a lasting settlement for all sides.

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David Albright, a former weapons inspector in Iraq, says 24 days is enough time for Iran to wipe out traces of nuclear work, such as working with explosives to trigger a weapon or construction of a small plant to make centrifuges. A situation actually happened in 2003 when the atomic energy agency wanted to inspect the Kalaye Electric Company site in Iran in 2003, where Iran was using centrifuges received from Pakistan. Iranians removed all traces of illicit work at the time while delaying inspectors. This case was cited by Olli Heinonen, a former deputy director of the agency. Heinonen says smaller scale activity such as manufacturing uranium components for a nuclear weapon can be carried out and the traces deleted in 24 days. Senator Corker points out that the time allowed would be more than 24 days when all the time is added up correctly.

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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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The shrinking of battleground states under the electoral college system creates serious problems for giving a say to all regions of the U.S. In a functioning democracy all regions would get a say in who will govern the country for the next 4 years. Yet today only a few states in the midwest and in the east determine the outcome of an election. Effectively disenfranchising the rest of the country, the south, the western and eastern coastal regions.

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This report in the WSJ shows in an extraordinary detailed way going back 20 years how under each administration Bush, Obama, Trump in the US and Angela Merkel in Germany, Hollande and Macron in France, the serious differences in the world view and thinking between president Putin of Russia and western leaders were simply ignored or overlooked. Mr. Putin truly believed in Ukraine and Russia as one people, researched history on his own and wrote an essay that made him more convinced than ever about his views that separation of Ukraine from Russia was an artificial construct, more so in the last two years.  By integrating the German and European Union economies with Russia and China without coming to terms with the large separation in views of the world and ignoring Russian views because of its economic size as an economy the size of France, both Merkel and Obama's policies failed to grasp what was happening. This report shows in much detail each event since 2005 that led to increasing distrust by Putin of western leaders.  The integration of the economies of the west and the integration of supply chains with China and Russia continued even after serious concerns had developed during the Trump administration. US and European business was operating on a completely different path not taking this into account in any way. It was only in the Biden administration and after the election of Scholz in Germany in 2021 that the situation was becoming clear. On the other side Ukraine itself and its people had changed in ways that were not anticipated by people in Germany or Russia, much less the leaders in Germany or Russia. There was a genuine sense that Ukraine was a national identity leading to the Ukraine resistance and a prolonged conflict. Brendan Simms, Cambridge historian shows how Europe went through conflicts and wars in its history as each of the major European nations sought advantage from 1453 to the present in his book, "Europe- The Struggle for Supremacy 1453 to the Present." Small gains were made in these wars that dragged on bringing great suffering to ordinary people.These wars involved England, France, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Russia. ...