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A former Merrill Lynch banker is shown by WSJ responsible for economic actions leading to economic meltdown in Lebanon. Lebanese currency is worth 2% in relation to the dollar and no state supplied electricity.  For most of the modern period since 1800 this part of the world has represented a place of tranquillity and rule of law. The story of the economic collapse of Lebanon as a result of unscruplous finance at the central bank leading to arrrest of Riad Salameh is told in WSJ. It acts as a reminder and warning that once tranquil places can be dislocated and turned upside down by allowing unscruplous financial dealings in the economic affairs of a Nation, putting too much trust in finance or finance professionals. Trust is easily subverted once placed by the People. It can happen in any part of the world.  It can happen in developed nations as happened during the 2009 financial crisis. A finance professional governor of the central bank of Sri Lanka raised borrowing costs with a unscruplous bond auction in 2005 leading to higher borrowing costs and bankrupting the country. This results in the familiar guardrails for democracy and rule of law collapsing in unpredictable ways leading to disaster.  ...

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A fact check on Alice Weidel Musk interview on X. The current polls show the leading candidate for chancellor is Habeck of the Greens at 28%. Habeck is known for the work he did to get Germany through a difficult period of cutoff of energy supplies from Russia. He was Deputy Chancellor and Economy Minister in the Scholz government. Scholz is at 20% so is Weidel of AfD. Others are Merz of the Christian Democrats at 25%. Sarah Wagenknecht leads a Socialist party BSW that opposes migrants given asylum similar to the Socialist party in Denmark under PM Mette Frederiksen with 21%. The AfD has 20% support, Christian Democrats have 30%. Social Democrats 20% and Greens about 20%. 7 million immigrants entered Germany since the Merkel years in 2015. The situation in 2015 when Merkel allowed migrants to enter Germany from Austria and Hungary is remembered as a controversial decision. Merkel reversed this decision during the last years of her government. Of the 7 million only 3 million are asylum seekers applications of which some were rejected. The rest were legally allowed into the country. This included Ukrainian refugees from the war with Russia.   ...

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President Biden is setting up a New Deal style American Climate Corps that is a green jobs training program. It will employ 20,000 young people who will build trails, plant trees, help instal solar panels, and do conservation work, and help prevent wildfires. It is modeled on the Civilian Conservation Corps setup by president Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of the New Deal. The Corps program will work with federal agencies and 10 states that have already setup similar programs-California, Washington, Maine, Utah, Colorado and Michigan, Arizona and North Carolina.

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The Japan Society in New York celebrates the achievement of John Cage and the influence of Japanese religion, philosophy and aesthetics with a four part series that begins September 28. It continues to December. The use of silence, the understanding of Zen Buddhism, and the ancient culture of Japan helped invigorate Japanese composers in seeing the value of their own traditions. Cage hoped to use this to invigorate American culture which he saw has having less and less spirituality compared to Japan and the ancient path of the Buddha.

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Food security for India comes with the achievements of agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan. Coming from Kumbakonam Tamilnadu, the eminent scientist's father was inspired by the movement of Gandhi for independence. Swaminathan took up the cause of farmers who were the vast part of the population of India in the 1920's when urbanization was just beginning. He studied at agricultural colleges in Coimbatore and New Delhi, and at Cambridge and U of Wisconsin, before heading the Agricultural Research Institute. By the late 1960's he was a leader in India's Green Revolution supported by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations in the US.

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The cooler mountain regions of Italy that are away from the tourist crowded destinations of Florence, Barcelona and the rest of Spain, Lisbon, Portugal. They are the Dolomite mountain region of Italy, the Alpine region of Slovenia, the Black Forest Germany, Vienna, Austria, English wine country, Bergen, Norway. The English wine country is in the southeast, Surrey, Kent, Sussex, and cooler this time of the year in summer than parts of southern Europe. The Black Forest region has cities like Freiburg and Karlsruhe in the southwest of Germany. Nearby is the Rhine region with Koblenz. All easily accessible from Frankfurt.

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Two weeks after his election Donald Trump says the U.S. will not join the Trans Pacific Trade Agreement during his term in office. Barack Obama took seven years to negotiate the trade agreement which was opposed by trade unions, the auto industry and was unpopular in the midwestern U.S. because of the impact of trade in hollowing out the manufacturing sector. Here Frank Sieren of the DW.com points out that the agreement was not really about trade, as most of the gains of trade had already been realized according to experts. It was part of the "pivot to Asia" to maintain American dominance in the region, says Sieren. After China pulled together some Asian and European countries into its trade agreement, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the U.S. pushed for TPP as a counterweight to the China sponsored trade zone. China says it will try to integrate the countries in TPP into the trade zone it has sponsored. President Trump has said that the U.S. is better off negotiating agreements with each country and not getting into multilateral trade agreements. He fought the election campaign on the basis of the opposition to TPP and trade agreements that unfairly hurt American workers. This could have provided the 110,000 margin of victory in the states suffering from the hollowing out in manufacturing such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania. A similar hollowing out in Ontario favored Justin Trudeau's Liberals against the Conservatives in Canada's election. ...

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A Liberal Democrat, Lord Alderdice, praises the courage of Prince Philip when he stood alongside Queen Elizabeth as she shook hands with Martin McGuiness- the handshake that ended the war in Northern Ireland. Martin McGuiness led the IRA at the time when Lord Mountbatten, a father figure for Prince Philip and his mentor, was killed in the conflict of Northern Ireland.

The Duke of Cambridge describes his grandfather as "an extraordinary man and part of an extraordinary generation."

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The largest fire in Texas history burnt over 1 million acres in the Texas Panhandle. In the area around Amarillo where the fire started temperatures in March are 54 degrees, the temperature hit 82 degrees, the winds and dry grass caused the fire says this report in NYT. Most fires are in the summer. All this is a part of the change in climate and climate change. After wildfires in Canada, new ones in Canada's Quebec region, this fire in Texas.

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For the first time in 45 years France has no Budget for the following year. It has no Budget for 2025 as Bayrou replaces Barnier who lost a no confidence vote in parliament. The mood is not for cutting public spending by Melenchon on the Left party Unbowed and Marie Le Pen of National Rally on the right as Barnier and Bayrou seek to do.

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Teen Murti Estate is now the location of not just the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Museum but also of 43 galleries that show the work of all the prime ministers of India since independence including Lal Bahadur Shastri and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The total area is 15,600 square metres with 2 blocks, to hold 4000 visitors. It integrates Teen Murti Bhawan with the newly constructed Block II. This is part of the many changes that are giving New Delhi a modern look.

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Women were one of the hardest hit groups during the pandemic. Not only were they forced to leave work but also had to shoulder more childcare responsibilities. About 30% of women who changed jobs during the pandemic got new jobs that paid 30% higher with salary and bonus, according to the Conference Board. In 2022 women are coming back to the workplace with better wage gains to makeup for the momentum lost during the worst part of the pandemic period.

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India has managed to keep inflation down to 4.5% compared to US at 7.5%, Sitharaman tells parliament in the Budget session., The Budget is seen as a far sighted document meant to concentrate India's capital investment resources on the infrastructure and other projects that will accelerate India's progress into an advanced industrial nation by 2042. It is also meant to increase employment in every way possible getting industry to do its part in Team India effort.

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Leonid Kravchuk is a Soviet era official who joined with Boris Yeltsin to support dissolution of the Soviet Union. He died at the age of 88 in May 2022. He is remembered for leading Ukraine to independence in 1991 with support of nationalists in western Ukraine and pro-Russian supporters in eastern Ukraine. Another reason he is remembered is for peaceful transition of power to his prime minister Mr. Kruchma in the 1994 election. He also dismantled Ukraine's large nuclear arsenal under pressure from Russia and the US. His failings were in letting corruption grow including the bankruptcy of the Black Sea Shipping Company, says DW.com. Ukraine had no experience in the democratic process. It has close ties with Poland which in the 17th and 18th century had some form of democratic process. Lviv is a short distance from Poland. Kravchuk was from a part of Ukraine that was once part of Poland. With a population of 52 million Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe. Its transition from the Soviet Union to a independent state was painful says DW.com with millions of people finding themselves living in poverty and the period being remembered as "kravchuchka." Since that period Ukraine has grown and was setting up new foundations for entry into the European Union.  ...

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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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The government created a$5 billion fund to guarantee payments to auto parts suppliers for products shipped to car companies. This stabilizes the auto parts companies which are finding it difficult to access credit and have late payments from car companies. It ensures money for payrolls and other expenses. And autoparts companies receivables can now be sold to the fund so that thye have more liquidity. It also generates more confidence for the auto parts sector that they can survive the difficult conditions facing them and be asteady source of parts for car companies.

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Russian rights activist Navalny wins over a quarter of the votes in Moscow's mayoral election. The search for pluralistic democratic system in Russia and a truly functioning multi party democratic system continues.

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Martin points to some opinion in the Republican Party that sees the Supreme Court decisions as a way to move beyond social and cultural issues to issues relating to national security and the economy.

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Baked goods salty snacks and other ultraprocessed foods made up 55% of calories of all Americans in 2021-2023. 62% for children and adolescents, says CDC in 2025. It is an astonishing figure and shows the neglect of health nutrition by business and previous administrations in the US, in an alarming and dangerous way. RFK Jr. at Health and Human Services department, and Rollins at Agriculture department, have made it their life's mission to get America healthy again. And fight the battles, conduct the policy changes that have to be made to do this. Education of the public and making healthy choices available and affordable, are a big part of the challenge today. Individual states such as Iowa and West Virginia, Texas and Florida are already taking it up at the state level in a concerted effort.

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A touching story about a soldier who was once part of the Lost Battalion in World War II in the Vosges French Alps. Ford Callis is determined to recover at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville from a fall at home. His only thought is how he can get back to care for his demented 94 year old wife. A physician who takes care of Callis describes the thoughts of doctors and staff at Vanderbilt Medical Center that day as they reflected on the meaning of marraige in a deeper spiritual sense.

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The IMF's estimate of extra aid needed for Greece to meet the damage done in the first 6 months of 2015 is $60 billion euros ($66.6 billion). The additional aid required is because of the worsening of the economy under the Tsipras Syriza party administration in the first half of 2015, the collapse in the negotiations, loss of trust, the imposition of capital controls, closing of the banks, and the growing uncertainty created by the referendum of July 5, 2015 on the debt talks and membership in the European Union. This may leave Greece worse off than before, as the cost of the cuts at issue in the talks were significantly smaller, and the small gradual improvement in the economy under the Samaras administration in 2013-2014 has suffered a serious setback. This is an unfortunate setback as Greece was allowed the needed flexibility on the most important points of the percentage of surplus and dateline, and cuts in the public sector employees.

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Patrick Healy of the NYT says Super Tuesday in 2020 changed the way Senator Joe Biden of Delaware was seen by the country. With wins in 9 states he was seen differently and unified the Democratic party behind him, galvanizing support across the country. The 2023 State of the Union Speech offered another opportunity and Biden seized it talking about Medicare, Social Security, infrastructure and bipartisan work with Senators in Congress for 2 climate laws and the Inflation Reduction Act, cutting pharmaceutical costs in the face of corporate opposition and lobbying in Congress. So feisty was that speech that one has to go back to president Kennedy's first Inaugural in 1961 to see that kind of direct call to all those looking for the nation's future in the face of seemingly intractable challenges of the new Cold War, and of the lack of imagination, candor about problems and lack of action. The State of the Union in 2024 offers that kind of opportunity again and there is little doubt that president Biden will seize it to appeal to his countrymen again. ...

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Energy subsidies costing billions of dollars are keeping gas prices lower in France than other parts of the EU till December. French president Macron says a series of crises from droughts, the war in Ukraine and energy shortages will lead to an end to the abundance and called for conservation, and restraint in energy use. France uses nuclear energy in much larger proportion than any other country making it dependent on Russian gas imports for only 17% of its consumption. 

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The 2018 U.S. Budget deal that passed the U.S. Senate on February 8 meets nearly all of the priorities set by Democrats in Congress for increases in spending, says Representative John Yarmuth of Kentucky, the senior Democrat in the House Budget Committee. Part of the deal are increases in funding for domestic programs favored by Democrats. As a result Democrats are having difficulty taking a stand on the budget and forcing a shutdown of government on the basis of a single issue, that of children who were brought unlawfully into the country by their parents but offered protection under president Obama's Dreamers legislation called DACA.  Reflecting this ambivalent position Representative Pelosi of San Francisco, made a spirited defense of the Dreamer legislation with a 8 hour nonstop speech, plans to vote against the budget deal, yet says the compromise was fair and helped achieve Democrats priorities on other issues that affect the whole country. Democrats from the most liberal section of the party plan to vote their conscience on the issue, and Pelosi called merely for a commitment from Speaker Ryan to have a vote on legislation that would address the issue of the Dreamers, children of unlawful immigrants. Speaker Ryan offered no commitment on Dreamers except to say any immigration legislation would have to be something president a Trump supports. In the previous vote that led to a government shutdown a settlement was reached between the two parties in a matter of days when Majority Leader McConnell of the Republicans committed to a debate on immigration. On the Republican side the Freedom Caucus members oppose lifting spending caps to address priorities in spending supported by Democrats and to some extent by president Trump, because it worsens the deficit. The budget deal lifts spending caps for this fiscal year for domestic and military spending by about $300 billion. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky emphasized this issue with his opposition to the budget deal and delayed the deal till the final vote in the Senate 71 in favor and 28 against.  ...