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Panama Canal ad US control of a passageway through the seas the US build in the 1900's. The New Monroe Doctrine under DJT takes America back to the days in 1900 when president Teddy Roosevelt pushed thorugh the actions neded to build the Canal connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific. TR had the US Army Corps of Engineers start work in 1904 and said the famous words "Let the Dirt Fly." When Colombia refused to make this happen he formed the new nation of Panama. TR realized the importance of connecting the oceans- foresight for the massive expansion of world trade in the 1960-2025 period raising standards of living for the 3 billion people in India/China/Asia and for the 1 billion people of the EU and the US. Never before in history has such ahuge change in living conditions  and hopes and aspirations happened. Today when American ingenuity, invention and sense of purpose is derided or ridiculed, it serves as a reminder of the great endeavors that happened under American leadership and continue to this day into the future. ...

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President Biden gives a rousing speech to the unions and the AFL-CIO, reminiscent of Lincoln's speeches as he debated Stephen Douglas in the struggle for the emancipation in the 1850's.

"Wall Street did'nt build this country, the middle class built this country. And the unions built the middle class. I'm not joking, without unions there would be no middle class. That's a fact."

Recalling the long lines for food during the pandemic-

"Ordinary people waiting in line for an hour for a box of food. And the policies in the past created more billionaires in the past than never before in our history." 

"Laying a strong foundation for the future of this country is more than having strong roads and bridges. It is about making sure, that here in America, folks who work hard can live their lives with dignity and respect."

 

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Ministers of foreign affairs and defense from the U.S. will visit India for the 2+2 India - U.S. Ministerial Dialogue. Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Esper will meet Indian ministers Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh for closer ties on October 27. The American ministers will also visit Jakarta, Indonesia and Colombo, Sri Lanka. Their goal is for a open and free Indo-Pacific region through cooperation of the nations in the region.

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Queen Elizabeth talks in virtual format with members of the Royal Navy on duty on ships near Curacao in South America, and members of the Royal Air Force and Army. One member RAF gunner Shanwayne Stephens is a member of the Jamaican bobsleigh team.

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A big win for the US and a win-win for the European Union in the sense that it brings stability to the trade relationship. For the US it brings a level playing field in world trade that had suffered fo far too long from unfair advantages taken by Japan, Canada, European Union and other nations, in addition to the serious distortions of the world trade system with China's state version of capitalism financing an export model. So the first step was to straighten out the situation with partners and allies the US has supported in the past 75 years. US European Union Trade Agreement is reached July 27, 2025, at meeting between Von Der Leyen of Eu and DJT of the US in Scotland. It includes $750 billion EU purchases over 3 years of US oil and gas, LNG, nuclear fuel, semiconductors, etc and $650 billion in investments in US, including military purchases. It puts a 15% tariff on all products from the EU entering the US, replaces the tariff of about 5% under Biden. On Pharmaceuticals it is what the US president decides says Leyen, though for now it is included.  The EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefovic says- “I think that what was most important for us was to make sure we would have this predictability and we would have stability for our businesses." ...

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After the loss of a crucial UK byelection by Labour under Keir Starmer (May 2021 Hartlepool) Shabana Mahmood says she brought out her inner-Kashmiri and steadied the party with wins in other byelections over the Tories. Shabana is the daughter of a teenager from Kashmir who came to Britain in the sixties, studied to be an engineer and settled in Birmingham. She is the Shadow Secretary of Justice and as a Oxford trained barrister she wants to put Britain's justice system on a good footing by remaking prisons and making the system work.  Shabana is a special kind of person simply because she has kept her values and religious beliefs and still taken the best of British thought and culture and the scieintific mind even as Britain faces real challenges. One is struck by the sheer broadness of her mind-  “I don’t like anything that smells of fundamentalism in any way, religious or political or ideological, it doesn’t really matter what it is, in the end. “It’s quite authoritarian in nature, and in my own life experience of people that are most intransigent and the most prescriptive about what everyone else can say and think and do tend not to be the best of people themselves.” ...

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When taking handwritten notes with pen and paper people process the information more deeply because it is not possible to write everything down. Compared to taking notes on a computer studies show show people able to grasp concepts better when they have taken handwritten notes.  

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Parenting poses risks for mental health. Loneliness in tackling situations is an added burden. Dealing with tech platforms that act with impunity disregarding parents and pursuing profit are another burden. The solutions to tackle this also are not easy or don't work, says Julie Jargon.

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Stephen Lezak of Oxford looks at the costs of mining for lithium, cobalt and other minerals needed for EV's. There is the danger of the EV transition happening at the increbible cost to producing countries in Africa and Asia. In the Congo the problem of child labor and in Indonesia the problem of destroying huge parts of tropical forest. Can the EV transition happen on the backs of environmental destruction of forest or child labor?  Lezak suggests bringing mining for lithium, cobalt, back to the US with strict controls and for Apple, and EV makers to have a passport that shows where their EV battery materials come from, the responsible sourcing of materials and the controls in place. This is a problem that won't go away and will require serious solutions for green to mean something entirely positive.

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The Republican party under Mr. Trump is getting money from small donors compared to big donors particularly from tech supporting the Democratic party. This affects how the two parties take stands on issues. The Democratic party has lost some of its working class character because of the donors supporting it. This shift was more prominent under Mr. Obama when tech donors favored him. It also affected the Democratic party and Mr. Obama's stand on issues such as the TPP agreement which Obama supported even though the unions were against it. TPP favored the tech industry and was seen as hurting the auto industry. As a result it created an opening for the Republican party under Mr. Trump who won the election because of a win in midwestern states such as Michigan.

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Mexico does 3 tests per 100,000 people very low compared to other countries. Reasons range from cost cutting to a push for herd immunity. Instead Mexico has pushed through deep cost cutting. The U.S. has 178 tests per 100,000 in comparison. This leaves Mexico running blind as it has reopened the economy. The government says half of Mexicans work in the informal economy and the economy needs to remain open. Not doing testing means there is less information on fighting the virus in the way it was done in Italy, Spain, UK, France and Germany. Other countries with a large informal economy are doing as getting as many as 500,000  samples a day for tests. Mexico now has 360,000 cases and its fatality rate is now approaching that of the UK.

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Ursula Von der Leyen is actually a nickname of the new European Commission president from Germany. Her father was Ernst Albrecht, a top CDU politician and state premier for Lower Saxony. She adopted the name when she switched studies from the University of Gottingen in the late 1970's to study at the London School of Economics and changed her name to avoid the attention of the Red Army faction, a terrorist group at that time. Ursula studied at the European School in Uccle, during a time when her father was atop European civil servant in Brussels. Of her time in London she says: "I lived more than I studied...In 1978 I immersed myself for one year in this seething, international, colorful city. For me coming from the rather monotonousm white Germany, that was fascinating. For me London was the epitome of modernity: freedom, the joy of life, trying everything. This gae me an inner freedom that I have kept till today. And another thing I have kept the realisation that different cultures can get along together very well." She switched to medicine, and married a physician. In 1990 she joined the CDU like her father. She held posts related to the family and work ministries, and Merkel promoted her to defense where she did not do as well as at family related ministries, and then to the head of the European Commission, knowing full well the value of an internationalist with outlook broader than Germany's in the European Union of today. ...

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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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For Democrats to represent the working class their leaders have to come from these working class communities. This is not going to happens say people in this NYT Edsall report. Working class voters are about 60% of voters mostly not college educated, to 40% for non working class voters who are college educated. Biden was one of thse working class people who headed the Democrat party and stood on picket lines fro the UAW. Not Harris or Clinton. Democrats rail about billionaires but much of the multi billionaire community is in the Democrat party, much opf Silicon Valley and New York financial interests. Bush was not working class either yet there has been a unexpected transformation of the Republican party as trade, immigration, drug and migrant trafficking required non nonsense law and order, and strong action, based on common sense and stable values from the previous generation of Americans. This also applied to social issues such as LGBTQ and Transgender. This leaves one with the question will the Democrats be able to get rid of the Califonria Silicon Valley Techies, and New York financial interests, lobbying class,  within its ranks? Will it be able to transform itself by drawing from the working class communities working class leaders? ...

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This is Zelensky's second visit to Germany, after the first visit in February 2022 just days before the Russian invasion. Meeting German president Steinbrenner is important as the SPD leaders Steinbrenner and Scholz were seen as closer to Russia during the Merkel period. Scholz visited Ukraine in June to see first hand the damage to civilians with Macron and Italian prime minister Draghi. A settlement to the war in Ukraine could depend on Ukraine making gains with its counteroffensive with German, UK and American military assistance. Germany UK and US have expanded their assistance to Ukraine. Before the trip to Germany Zelensky visited Pope Francis. China has also sent its top diplomat to France, Germany and Russia to come up with a solution. 

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EU energy ministers approve a windfall tax of $140 billion as solidarity contribution of fossil fuel producers. This follows action taken by president Biden in the $369 billion US Climate bill to generate the funds for social solidarity and for climate change action for brighter future in US and Europe.

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As the Israeli election happens on March 24, 2021, prime minister Netanyahu's popularity has increased because of his handling of the vaccination drive and the pandemic. Defense minister Gantz who was the rival for prime minister has seen his popularity drop to new lows.

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This Indian religious festival draws tens of millions every day to ancient cities Prayagraj, Nashik, Hardwar, Ujjain, on sacred rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari and Shipra. It happens every 6 years as half Kumbh. The Mela or gathering in 2025 is in Prayagraj on the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati river waters where they meet. It is the Maha or great Kumbh Mela that happens once in 144 years. Much preparation went into the gathering by the Indian government and some estimates of the total over 45 days are 600 million religious devotees seeking a bath in the holy river. 

BBC News shows different aspects of this Kumbh Mela religious gathering in Prayagraj, India. For the first time millions of people have come to India from all over the world for this Mela or gathering for Lord Shiva. Today is Maha Shivarathri, the day of Lord Shiva.

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ECP acquisition of Calpine  in 2017 for $5.6 billion and sale to Constellation for profit of $25 billion. In 2017 the market seeing the shift to renewable energy missed that it would take 20-30 years to make the transition and in the meantime natural gas had a big role to play as a low cost less polluting fuel than coal. ECP in 2017 saw good cash flow and an opportunity to improve it with some changes. Blackstone's $16 billion made on buying Hilton Hotels is the second best deal ever for such a sale, buying of private companies and making improvements to sell them at a profit.

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China's food imports have grown from $15 billion to a staggering amount of $200 billion a year in 2023. China bought 90 million tons of soyabeans in 2022 or 60% of world trade, to make tofu and feed pigs, much of it from Russia. Fruit imports have grown after the pandemic with bananas from the Philippines and Cambodia, Durian and tropical fruit from Vietnam, And soy imports from Russia, shrimp from India, avocados from Kenya. Huge warehouses the size of plane hangars are used to store Durian fruit in Vietnam and have made farmers there rich. The problem in central highlands of Vietnam is "singularification," where farmers rip up land used for coffee crops and rice to plant durian whose price has doubled for exports to China. Durian is only in demand in China, coffee prices are stable and can be exported all over the world for Vietnam's Robusta coffee.

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The dire drought situation in East Africa from Ethiopia and Somalia to Kenya, where millions of people face hunger and thirst. Shortages of food aid as only $24 million is available in the UN World Food Programme for Kenya when $300 million is needed for the next 6 months. The price of maize, a staple has doubled, and as most of the electricity in Kenya and Ethiopia is from hydroelectric dams the electricity supply has been interrupted lowering growth rates in both countries.

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South Korea will share an increased part of the cost of stationing US troops and bases in the country. This was a key demand of the Trump administration as it sought to reach agreement on fair shared cost of the defense costs. South Korea paid $913 million a year and the new amount is likely to be at least over 15% higher.