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About 8% of Americans are multiracial, and 10% of 1 year olds are multiracial, a Pew research report released in 2015 shows.

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DW.com provides graphics and explanation of key parts of the climate change crisis, which is very useful information to understand the climate change crisis facing the world today. It taken into account income of countries to put CO2 in perspective. It shows the impact of climate change locally when the 1 degree celsius of climate warming globally that has already happened can produce 30 degree centigrade temperatures in Portland, Oregon, and vary temperatures by large numbers locally in Asia, Europe and America. It looks at deforestation's impact and many other aspects of the climate change crisis in a useful manner.

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Iran peace talks in Islamabad on April 12 and Iranian refusal on nuclear weapons development and ballistic missiles leading to collapse in 21 hours of talks. Vance leaves talks and US plans to impose a naval blockade of Iran. This report by the Guardian shows that media coverage has created a sense of delusion that the world including the poorest countries in the world in Asia, in Latin America and even in Europe, and the industrialized countries will somehow allow the free navigation for oil and other raw materials to be interrupted by any nation. There are protests all over the world about increase in fuel prices, some of this affects LPG supplies for cooking in countries with a population of 1.4 billion people (India) many times that of the entire Middle East. Tens of millions of migrant workers head back to their homes in poorest states in India as LPG cylinder prices quadruple and are in short supply April 13, 2026.It also affects China and Japan which are dependent on Hormuz,  not the US which exports oil and does not seek to gain from oil prices. Posturing by the media and European governments on this issue has created this delusion that this is about US actions, when the US is only acting in the interests of all nations to keep the planet safer from dangerous nuclear proliferation in the region most torn by repeated wars in the last 50 years. Some of the language used about attacks on power plants has become a reason to justify such reporting to present aggressive ballistic missile development and nuclear weapons development in Iran in a benign way, becoming oblivious of how it affects the lives of billions of people around the world, as the Middle Eastern region a small fraction of the world's population (less than 7%) and a small fraction of the planet's surface (less than 6%) continues to operate in a way that is destructive for the lives of people around the world.   ...

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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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The U.S. and China sign Phase 1 of the trade agreement in a sign of reduction of trade tensions between the two countries. Difficult issues of state subsidies under China's state enterprise model of development, and technological competition were put off for the future. China made the deal possible by agreeing to double its purchases of agricultural products, and offering to purchase about $200 billion in American goods and services over the next two years. This gives relief to farmers, a key part of Mr.Trump's support base. This also helps achieve a key Trump and U.S. goal of cutting the U.S. trade deficit with China quickly, just as happened decades ago with Japan.  See the related article and link on how for the first time in decades China's trade surplus with the U.S. is now set on a path for permanent decline. It dropped significantly in 2019 by 12.5% even though China's imports from the U.S. dropped by 21%, based on Chinese customs data released for 2019. With China increasing these imports significantly and the U.S. holding on to tariffs of 25% on $250 billon of China's exports to the U.S. which are outside the Phase 1 agreement, the downward course is set for the next few years for correction of a dangerous trade imbalance. That imbalance was allowed to develop over successive Republican and Democratic administrations. China already has the European Union as its first leading trading partner and south east Asia as its second. China plans to not be so closely intertwined with the U.S. in trade, and yet preserve its state sponsored development model and drive to compete in technology. China's increased purchases from the U.S. of $200 billon are broken down in terms of farm products- $32 billion, manufactured goods- $80 billion, energy products- $50 billion, services $35 billion. In effect the U.S. gets its goal of cutting the unsustainable China trade surplus quickly and with certainty in 3-5 years. China uses the period to transition for less trade linkage with the U.S. yet preserving its state sponsored model of development and drive for technological advancement.   ...

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Zelensky is going to Hiroshima to make his own case for support directly to all G7 leaders. The fact that G7 leaders are meeting in Japan also has significance as Japan unlike Europe with NATO faces Russian presence in its northern islands and China in the South China Sea and around Taiwan, North Korea, with only the American defense agreement in any conflict. Japan, Australia and India would want to see a clear end to the conflict in Eastern Europe that also sends a message that the status quo will be preserved on Taiwan and other issues in Asia. 

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US census data shows Mexico exported $382 billion worth of goods to the US in 2022, an increase of 20% over 2021, according to US census data. American companies put more money into Mexico for investment than China in 2021. The high shipping costs and 2 weeks vs 2 months of shipping time are part of the reason companies are looking at Mexico as an alternative to China. The trade friction with the US and tariffs are added incentives for companies to shift manufacturing out of China. The shift is gradual as the infrastructure improvements in Mexico lag behind the infrastructure development in other countries in Asia.

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The US and the EU, China, poor developing countries are following diverging paths. The US in investing heavily in its infrastructure rebuilding under president Biden and its economy is growing, unemployment declining compared to Germany and China where the economy is slowing and facing hurdles. Poor and middle income developing countries in Africa and Asia, Latin America face the hurdles from high interest rates and rising debt burdens. India is also increasing growth by building  infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities.

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U.S. frustration with China as coronavirus toll reaches 300,000 deaths worldwide. President Trump says- "They could have stopped it in China where it came from. But it didn't happen that way. " Worst hit are countries in Asia and Africa with food security threatened. After the coronavirus he says of the trade deal he signed in January- So, I make a great trade deal and now I say this doesn't feel the same to me.The ink was barely dry, and the plague came over. And it doesn't feel the same to me." Under that trade deal the China agreed to buy $250 billion in additional goods and service for 2 years in an effort to correct a huge trade imbalance - built up on the advice of American economic theorists and experts who advised American presidents for three decades that it was of no consequence - in exchange for a roll back of American tariffs in stages of part of the tariffs. 

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Jennifer Harris, heads the Economy and Society Initiative of the William and Flora Foundation. Andy Grove of Intel and Bill Hewlett of Hewlett Packard are the original founders of what is called Silicon Valley in California. It was Andy Grove who offered the first protest of American policy that shifted jobs and manufacturing overseas, saying he did not want to live in a country where the people and the communities we live are being ignored under some policy that shifts everything and with it hopes and aspirations of the American people overseas to Asia. Farah Stockman of the NYT shows how Jennifer Harris and Jake Sullivan are shaping the new ideas on economic policy at the Biden administration. Jake Sullivan addressed the Brookings Foundation on Biden's economic policy saying Biden wanted different backgrounds to understand the needs of people in the US, that domestic needs for jobs and manufacturing, for infrastructure, would now drive foreign relations. That this was a key aspect of the Biden economic policy. Harris and Sullivan have worked together. ...

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Investments made by president Biden and Congress of $1 trillion in manufacturing and infrastructure will take time to go into effect. It is wrong to say this shows limits of this policy of investing in America as it has increased growth, maintained employment levels, and helped America recover from the pandemic. Biden did this for the National good not for Democrats and it was designed to benefit red and blue states like. Its effects will be felt long after the next election cycle in just 3 years January 2028, so that to say that president Trump or Republicans would get credit is an erroneous notion. The next president could come from the opposite party and the long term effects of this could benefit all parties, giving everyone a stake in making it work. The narrow view also overlooks the great benefits from this investment of $1 trillion for America's trading partners and allies in Asia and Europe, the American leadership role in CHIPS and Science as a result, and the respect of the world in the way America has handled its economic affairs. ...

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Prices of gas for cooking and electricity are up 30% in Brazil in 2021 adding to the pain after the pandemic. Countries in Europe and Canada to Indonesia face much higher prices in 2021. Energy prices have jumped and supply bottlenecks have increased inflation. As more people are vaccinated the return to normal activity is also putting pressure on prices. About 72% of Brazilians have at least one dose of vaccine, higher than in the US. There is less vaccine hesitancy in Latin America and Asia.

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Mishra turns a situation of neglect of security needs for Ambassador Stevens and the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, by the Obama administration into full scale questioning of America's role in Asia and the Middle East. Stephens role in bringing freedom and democracy to Libya during the period when young people in Libya without weapons and training were fighting artillery and other attacks from Gaddafi's army is actually an example of the American people and media's efforts to support this effort. Throughout the Arab Spring American print and television media supported the efforts for democracy and freedom, as amply documented in Janvoo, even as the Obama administration vacillated in its decisions and the French under Sarkozy made a decisive and early contribution. Stephens gives America its finest hour and reflects its finest spirit.

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The huge problems of learning loss and academic disruptions for the third year of the pandemic that teachers and students face all over the world. Children face learning loss, are behind in math and reading, and social-emotional development is affected. Third graders may not have been in a regular school since kindergarten, and high school students may not have attended high school at all. We have fourth graders reading at second grade level. Teachers have left teaching altogether, and this is affecting even the effort to bring remote learning options to children. Imagine this problem in every country in the world and worse in some, much worse in Africa and parts of Asia and Latin America.

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Each year the amount of forestedd land that is cleared- mainly for cattle needing pasture land- releases the equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions of 600 million cars. Since 1961 methane gas emissions from cattle has increased significantly. This is one of the findings in a report published by 100 climate change experts for a UN body. Loss of peatlands in places like Indonesia is also a problem.  A half a billion people already live in desert. And land is being lost a hundred times faster than it is forming due to changes in weather patterns.  People migrate when weather fails as has happened for central American farmers migrating to the U.S. creating social and political problems in North America. A major issue in climate change is agriculture.  Increasing the productivity of land, reducing food wasted, persuading more people to eat healthy vegetables and less meat, reducing land lost to desertification, erosion and seas, are all actions that can be taken now say these 100 experts from 52 countries meeting in Geneva. The IPCC or Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change does these reports to give people some idea of what actions to take to reduce the impact of warming that threatens livelihoods of millions especially in Africa and India, as well as other parts of Asia and Latin America. Developed countries are likely to feel the impact from migration which is dividing their societies politically and socially. As one expert from Aberdeen puts it people don't just stay where they are when drought conditions hit their areas, they migrate. ...

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What does a 5 day Joe Biden trip with landmark decisions on Asia Economic Corridor to Europe, discussions with G20 leaders at the New Delhi G20 Summit, and a new strategic partnership agreement with Vietnam signed by Biden in Hanoi, say about the president's sharp mind and healthy lifestyle at age 80 years? Biden was born November 20, 1942. He also shook hands with over 500 graduates at the graduation ceremony of the Air Force Academy. Katie Rogers who was with the president during his visit to New Delhi and Hanoi says this says a lot about the president's energy and stamina. In New Delhi he held informal discussions with 30 world leaders in a Summit that lays out a new path for future generations of the world's leading 20 countries and for Africa, Asia, Latin America, as well as Europe and the US.

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Citigroup's CEO Pandit sees growth in its Asian and Latin American businesses in 2012-2013. He cited growing investment in infrastructure and the needs of middle class customers in these countries.

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Russian view at SCO Summit-"A fair balance in the security sphere" meaning a fair settlement on the expansion of NATO and EU that may threaten Russia, something Northern Europeans have not settled.  Le Monde covers this side of the Summit at Tianjin, a coastal city near Beijing in northeastern China. Over long periods of European history since 1600 Northern Europe including UK, Sweden, Denmark, France, Poland and Germany have contended with Russia and seen purely from this perspective Russia sees itself as a Northern European power and seeks to protect it's interests. Britain, Sweden and France have for the most part been on the opposite side since 1600. US under a Republican administration, and this is not just DJT, sees the larger interests beyond Europe of Asia and the American continent in addition to Europe, and seeks a diplomatic way out of the war in Europe.

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Over 50% of respondents in the 2012 Gallup poll view Japan as the U.S.'s most important partner in Asia, compared to 39% for China. The shift in how Americans view China is pronounced in the last 3 years. In 2010 the two countries were tied 44%-44%. In 2011 China was 39% to Japan's 31%. In 2011 India, S. Korea and Australia were added to the poll as partners. Among "opinion leaders" such as business executives, government officials, academics and journalists, China gets 54% to Japan's 40%. The poll is conducted by Gallup for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan since the 1960's. The analysis shows that respondents picked China for economic reasons not for political reasons. A survey of the general population shows 84% view Japan as a dependable ally, up 2% froom 2011, with similiar trend for opinion leaders.

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This WSJ editorial sees president Biden's speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia as intended to give the Democrats the advantage in the midterm elections for Congress. It says Vice President Pence and other Republicans opposed Mr. Trump when he claimed he had won the election. Seen from outside the US in Europe, and Asia, other parts of the world there was a real sense that democracy was facing a critical time in the US. Mr. Biden's speech about the struggle for the soul of America is very real considering that the Republican party is today for the most part pro-Trump and lessons learned from the traumatic experience of 2020 are sometimes set aside. There were real issues with the future of democracy during the transfer of power to Mr. Biden in 2020, and the future of America's leadership in the world as the place where the Declaration of Independence inspires the whole world for 200 years, which cannot be ignored and will always be remembered, as much in America as in the world to which offers hope and acts as a beacon. ...

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Indian prime minister Modi says he welcomes US president Biden's strong commitment to strengthen India-US strategic partnership, and says it will be a force for global good. The first action planned on which discussions were made is how to make vaccine supplies accessible and affordable in needed quantities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. US and India bring technology and manufacturing knowhow to do this. 

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Seib cites a career foreign service officer, William Burns, who says that China is offering its model of government as a competing model to that of the U.S. and Western Europe for Asian countries. He says he cannot recall a time in the last 40 years when China was doing what it is now in showing China as role model. Here Seib also mentions the Electoral College and the shift in demographics as creating strains for American democracy. The electoral college does not give enough weight to the largest states in deciding who wins the presidential election as happened in 2017- which gets worse in future years as people move to the west and southern states.

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The head of Oxfam International shows how tackling problems such as clean water, health, daycare, can improve participation of women and generate additional employment. A major problem worldwide particularly in the developing world is the lack of enough good jobs. Investing 2% of GDP in healthcare in African, Asian and Latin American countries can generate additional 1-3%  employment. Higher levels of investment are needed in health and other services that improve the quality of life.

About $170 billion in taxes not paid to governments of developing countries because of tax dodging leaves governments short of the funds needed to invest in public services, schools and hospitals.

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Mixed race population in America increased to 31 million or 10% in 2024. At one time in the early twentieth century Irish and Italians were considered "Non-white." With assimilation both were considered white. Asians were not allowed to be US citizens till 1952. Gradually things have changed. America is now grappling with the idea of white and non white in a mixed category because of intermarriage between Latinos, White Europeans, Blacks and Asians. Gender, socioeconomic status, education, culture, are more differentiating factors than just race in 2024.

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Ian Buruma sheds light on the efforts of prime minister Hatoyama of the DPJ party to create a East Asian Community and bring Japan and China closer in economic and political ties. This failed because of the tensions with N. Korea and the Obama administration's opposition to this move- which did not give the young Japanese prime minister the same opportunity to exercize his electoral mandate that was given to the young American president. The Obama administration's pivot to Asia is seen by China as keeping America's post war role as the dominant power ensuring peace in Asia. The election of a nationalist Abe from the LDP party which has promoted strong defense and political ties with the U.S. and supports the U.S. traditional postwar role is consistent with this policy. The result says Buruma is to block the development of new closer ties between Japan and China which reflect the new dynamics in Asia. Buruma says Japan looked to China during the centuries before the modern period, with both countries sharing a Buddhist civilization and culture, and depending on how one sees it the conflict in the period between the two wars would be the pattern or the aberration in the relations between Japan and China. Many Japanese are wary of further tensions between the two countries. Buruma provides an alternative look at how relations between China, Japan and the U.S. could evolve in Asia which would provide a basis for constructive cooperation. ...