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Efforts by Special Counsel Jack Smith to keep the case on the US election on schedule on March 4, 2024, by taking it to the US Supreme Court.

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The British Energy Institute shows how countries are doing in fighting climate change by reducing fossil fuel use. 

Poland is poor at 88% fossil fuels in energy mix. Algeria, Singapore, Bangladesh, Oman at 98%.

In Europe Norway leads at 72% for renewqble energy in the mix. Brazil at 50% keads SOuth America, Nw Zealand 43% and Vietnam at 23% in Asia Pacific. 

Of 6525 coal fired power plants China has 3168, India 845 plants and US 408. Older plants are being retired.

Planned construction of new coal power plants 707 in China, 165 in India, 2 in the US, 23 in eastern Europe, 0 in Northern Europe and 4 in Southern Europe, 0 in Western Europe, Latin America is 6.

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On the morning of Jan 15, 2015 the Swiss Franc jumped in value against the euro by 18%, and at one point up by 39%, following the Swiss National Bank's announcement of removal of the peg to the euro of 1.20 euros. Foreign exchange fluctuations of this scale are unprecedented. The peg to the euro was made in 2011 following the rise in the franc's value by about 44% in 2010-2011. The sudden rise in value in 2010-2011 hurt Swiss competitiveness and tourism, threatened to bring an onset of deflation, and recession. Part of the rise was due to external factors- the eurozone debt crisis led to decline in the value of the euro, and fears of a eurozone breakup led to money flowing into Switzerland as a safe haven.

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German response to Greenland tariff is muted- "appropriate response at appropriate time" realizing that Denmark and Nordic countries not Poland, Austria, Hungary, Russia, China, and other countries are concerned about Greenland, and after action by Denmark's government that "is going nowhere" in the words of DJT.  Denmark has misrepresented the facts and US history in relation to Greenland's exploration by US Navy and Adm. Perry in 1890's is ignored, Denmarks colonial power history is left out which is how it acquired Greenland in 1813 in Treaty of Kiel with Sweden in exchange of territory during Napoleonic Wars. Much of this can easily be researched and it is baffling that the Danish socialist party government is bringing NATO into this as it has to do with security of the eastern seaboard of the US, a concern since the early days of the founding of the Republic of the US since 1820's.

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Germany's growth rate for GDP in 2016 was 1.9% compared to 2015. This is the highest growth rate in half a decade, and better than 2015 when the growth in GDP was 1.7%. Fiscal surplus was 0.6% of GDP in 2016. Germany's Economics and Technology Ministry says the economy is improving because of the positive labor situation, rising incomes and consumer spending. Real estate boom is also helping growth, and also the state spending including on refugees accomodation. Exports have surged and the economy has recovered from the Brexit effect. Exports surged to 1.1 trillion euros in 11 months of 2016.

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The World Health Organization lists the world's most polluted cities with the highest level of PM2.5 particulate matter as 1. Kanpur, India     173 2. Faridabad          172 3.  Varanasi            151 4.  Gaya                  149 5. Patna                   144 6.  Delhi                    143 7.  Lucknow                 138 8.  Agra                        131 9.  Muzzaffarpur           120 10.  Srinagar                113 11.   Gurgaon                113 12.  Jaipur                     105 13.  Patiala                      101 14.  Jodhpur                     98 15.  li Subah ali Salem      94 A look at the cities most polluted shows that most of the cities are in or near New Delhi, (Gurgaon, New Delhi, Faridabad, Agra) in the state of Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Agra). The cities on the list that one does not expect are cities such as Jodhpur in the Thar desert, and Srinagar in the mountainous region of Kashmir. Srinagar is on the list because of inadequate sewage facilities to treat sewage. The Dal lake is polluted from houseboats and tourist hotels dumping sewage into the lake and not connecting to the sewage system. Jodhpur is polluted from auto exhaust and vehicular pollution.. The WHO says India's efforts to control pollution need to follow the steps taken by China recently. In response to citizen pressure and outrage about health conditions China has closed down polluting factories, and is shifting away from coal, away from coal stoves. India's efforts are inadequate and scattered says the WHO. This includes stopping fireworks sales that aggravated toxic conditions in Delhi. A program giving 37 million poor Indian women free gas connections helps a shift from use of dung fired clay ovens or coal ovens. Pollution kills 7 million people each year says WHO, and over half or 3.8 million people die from use of unhealthy cooking stoves which create indoor air pollution. Of cities above 14 million Delhi ranks first, Cairo, Egypt second, Mumbai, India fourth and Beijing fifth in air pollution levels.  ...

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The unravleing of Borders bookstores chain in the US, after Borders management failed to anticipate and build on the new trend to electronic books and made a series of mistakes. Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early Feb. 2011. Its online strategies simply failed to come up with answers to the cultural trend to online shopping for books and buying e-book readers. A serious bad decision from which Borders never recovered was to transfer its internet operations to Amazon Inc. in 2001. Amazon quickly built up customer relationships with millions of customers. Other decisions followed which put Borders in an untenable position. Borders increased its debt from $159 million in 2001, to $554 million for the fiscal year ended Feb 2, 2008, using the money for overseas expansion and share buybacks, which did little to address the looming internet problem. By contrast Barnes and Noble took the opposite strategy of paying down all of its $667 million in debt. Borders has modest beginnings starting in 1971, when Tom and Louis Borders, started a small used bookstore. By the 1990's bookstores with tens of thousands of books in one location were changing the bookselling landscape, as smaller bookstores were closing. Borders was able to ride this wave. When the next wave hit in 2010 with the internet, Borders was unable to respond and went into permanent decline. A costly trip through bankruptcy court means Borders will have to close one third of its 674 Borders and Waldenbooks stores, and cut a large part of the 19,500 staff. This will mean customers shifting to Amazon, Barnes& Noble, Apple Inc. and Google Inc. Mike Shazin, CEO of Idea Logical Co, a New York consulting firm, says he expects 50% of bricks and mortar bookstores to go away in 5 years, and 90% to go away in 10 years. ...

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Hungary under newly elected government of Magyar in 2026  to receive 18 billion euros of EU funds frozen for several years because of Orban's policies. Magyar needed 133 seats in parliament for a majority to change aspects of the Constitution modified by Viktor Orban. It now has two thirds of the seats in parliament to restore rule of law and take action on corruption.

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As the Bush administration and Secretary Paulson look at Chapter 11 though acarefully arranged and orchestrated process with government support oversight and backing, Sorkin of NYT outlines how this would happen. It would clearly avoid Chapter 7 and be an orderly and organized process with warranty backing and debtor in possession financing. And echoing a lot of public sentiment on this issue Sorkin calls Wagoner's effort to say with a straight face that he still should run the company is laughable. It was his neglect of some of the important decisions that needed to be made that have created this situation and no serious changes can be made with current management and board.

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Olaf Scholz of Germany has to balance the need for continuing trade with China with the effort to diversify its supply chain and increase manufacturing in Germany as he visits China. Germany is entering a new phase in its trade relations in Asia, one very different from the Merkel era.

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The advice to reduce cancer risk is not surprisingly the same from D. Michael Sekeres of the University of Miami- stay away from sugar, alcohol and tobacco products and take in more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, ancient grains and exercise regularly. The magnitude of what this would achieve on a a national scale when food habits have gone downhill for decades is what is also at stake. It would do what nothing else could do for the nation's health on a massive scale which is why it is the right thing to put much of our focus on, to create a culture that put much importance on the quality and kinds of food, on artificial vs natural, on food grown in good environments, on local vs shipped long distances, on processing vs not processing, all the time thinking of one's own health and what it will do for the quality of life we live. Just a fraction of the savings in medical care would pay for education and parks, green areas in neighborhoods, public health services, high levels of sanitation, leading to better well being that leads to more productive and intelligent citizens. It would lower the levels of multiple diseases and create a healthy society. ...