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Nigeria's president Buhari is reelected with a margin of 4 million votes. Delays, accusations of fraud and bits of violence marred the election but not to the extent of previous elections. Despite the accusations of manipulation independent observers say the problems were not so frequent that they would affect the outcome. The 76 year old president won with a large margin even though Nigeria faced a deep recession which increased unemployment and the northeast faced insurgency of Islamic militants. 

Buhari campaigned on spending for large infrastructure projects, social welfare programs and fight against corruption. The 2015 election provided a peaceful transition from president Goodfellow to Mr. Buhari from a different party. The competing candidate Mr. Abubakar was a wealthy businessman in the logistics sector. Voters preferred the continuity and Mr. Buhari mobilized effectively with the governing All Progressives Party.

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In an escalation of hostilities Pakistan sends fighter jets to attack Indian positions in Kashmir.

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Efforts in Ghana to use locally available materials such as clay, laterite and granite chippings to build affordable housing. Ghan needs 2 million new houses per year. A prototype one room house would cost $5000. Solar pumps developed by German engineers are used to cool the home and make it eco-friendly. 

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Germany's traditional parties the SPD and the CDU get a lift in the polls with new leaders who move the parties to the left and the right after years of grand coalitions between the SPD that led to both parties moving to the centre. This created an opening for new parties at the extreme right and extreme left. Kramp-Karrenbauer the CDU leader has taken a hard line on immigration and the SPD leaders are returning to support Germans on issues such as wages, and guaranteed income for pensioners. 74% of Germans think that this is the right thing to do to rebuild the identities the parties had in the past. The SPD is back up to 18% after hitting a low of 14% support in polls. Many SPD rank and file supporters were never comfortable with the SPD's move to join Merkel CDU in coalitions that undermined the message the SPD sent out to the German public. This has hurt the SPD. Merkel's preference for centrist positions not only undermined the SPD party of Willy Brandt, it also undermined the CDU when it comes to immigration and the acceptance of large numbers of refugees. All this is now changing as the Merkel era ends.   ...

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Efforts by Venezuelan members of parliament to open up aid supplies at the Colombian border as Venezuela's humanitarian crisis grows with 3 million refugees and hyperinflation of 1 million percent.

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Learning new languages increases the flexibility and adaptability to understand other cultures. Just one hour a day over the course of a year can help one learn a new language. It opens a different way of thinking and feeling.

The increase in intercultural competence is particularly useful in adapting to new cultures in today's world of global interactions.

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A group of 7 blind climbers and 4 sighted companions climb up to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro at 18800 feet in Tanzania. It took 9 hours facing high winds and freezing temperatures to climb the last 3000 feet.

The group was selected from hundreds of volunteers from Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya and went through 2 weeks of training.  This is a project of John Wilson of Britain's Sightsavers designed to "help create a new image of of blindness in Africa." Geoffrey Salisbury of the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind describes the difficult trek and conditions. Three pairs of worn boots of the hikers can be seen in the Ugandan National Museum. See pictures of the hikers and trek in the high altitude of Mount Kilimanjaro.

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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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India says it will divert water from the eastern tributaries of the Indus River away from Pakistan to the Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, in response to a terrorist attack. Under a World Bank brokered treaty the waters of the Indus river are shared by both countries. India's Modi government faces elections in 2019.

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A former military chief of staff Mr. Gantz and a former finance minister Mr Lapid agreed to take turns as foreign minister and prime minister if elected. The centrist candidates derided the approach of "divide and conquer" of Mr. Netanyahu and called for a restoration of national unity, in an effort to take Israel into a direction of repair and unity.

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Germany, the UK and Canada offer additional models for health care insurance that vastly improve results for dollar spent over the dysfunctional U.S. model. Here Jamie Daw take a look at the German social health insurance system which dates back to hte period of Bismarck in 1884. The German system is funded through progressive taxation which charges for healthcare based on incomes not on health needs.

About 100 nonprofit health insurers provide insurance and all Germans are required to have health insurance. Contributions to sickness funds are centrally pooled and allocated using a formula to insurers. Insurers can only charge small out of pocket fees limited to 2% of income annually. Sickness funds combine market power to negotiate lower prices.

Administrative and governance costs are 3% in Canadian system and 5% in the German system. 

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Israel's Moon Lander is the first private effort to land a spacecraft on the moon.

A small spacecraft called Beresheet was sent up from Cape Canaveral Air Force Space station in Florida using SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

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Use of Huawei's equipment for 5G technology upgrade of India's telecom networks is seen as less of a cybersecurity threat in India and attractive in terms of its lower prices and technological advancement. U.S. efforts to prevent the use of Huawei's 5G networks equipment because of cyber security threat are hitting a roadblock in India where the cost of the upgrade to 5G is a major advantage with the Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei.

Germany is considering letting Huawei supply telecom equipment after its cybersecurity agency report showed Huawei could not siphon off sensitive data for use by the Chinese government. Data rates for 4G networks have been slashed in India by 90% with the introduction of the Jio network. Hundreds of millions of customers make India a large enough market for new 5G technologies to be attractive for China's Huawei, making it harder for the U.S. to block Huawei in other countries.