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Luis de la Fuente coached the Spanish under 19 and under 21 teams for 9 years- the results show Simon, Rodri, Merino, Ruiz, Olmo, Oyarzabal. Fuente 65 years old, says- “I never imagined anything like this. I always just wanted to enjoy those moments I was experiencing (with the development teams). I always worked and coached where I wanted to be. When you look at this process, we couldn’t have achieved anything on this journey without these players and with the knowledge of the raw materials and the way Spanish players play and compete.” This process is nothing like the fast fixes England and the US tried with Itlaian Pochettino and German Tuchel who never practiced with their team except for less than a year. Germany had changed coaches, France with Didier Deschamps was the only coach like Fuentes having many years of experience with his players. And the process showed. In the end Argentina crumbled, US stumbled, and France and even England with the passion of their players came out winners, their fans happy in the third place game in ways that the finals with the fights of the Argentine players with Rodri and Gavi after the whistle were not what fans wanted. ...

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Ukraine's capabilities in drones technologies stabilizes the war fronts with Russia. It economic help from the European Union, and commitments of the governments of Germany, France and Britain, less dependence on the US, now creates a situation in which both sides Russia and Ukraine can make an agreement through which this war can be brought to a close. 

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Belarus relay stations turned off after Ukraine drone attacks. Ukraine's capabilities in drones technologies stabilizes the war fronts with Russia. For Ukraine economic help from the European Union, defense commitments of the governments of Germany, France and Britain, less dependence on the US, now creates a situation in which both sides Russia and Ukraine can make an agreement through which this war can be brought to a close. 

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France's 2750 kms of TGV track and 300 TGV trains making 1.8 billion euros profit a month. Double decker trains such as on the Marseille to Paris 750 kms route are popular. These trains are very quiet and efficient. Doubledecker trains are also popular. Bordeaux, Lyon, Lille, Strasbourg can be reached, and Geneva, Brussels, London, Zurich. It is the best high speed network in comfort and efficiency, food, in the world, with large group of international travelers. France did this after the 1973 oil crisis.LGV-Sud-Est was completed in two phases in 1981 and 1983. By contrast Britain faile to build ahigh speed rail line and work has dragged on for years. Germany has a similar but smaller network. China's only started in 2008 built over 17 years to 2025. India's is starting now with the latest Japanese technologies and should be connected major Indian cities by 2030, with the first line Ahmedabad to Mumbai complete in 2027.

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China high speed rail- how it was done with help of Kawasaki  of Japan, Alstom/Siemens of France/Germany over 2008 to 2025, with borrowed technologies, the largest network of high speed  trains built in 17 years. India is starting the same journey with Japanese assistance and capital. The first leg is the Mumbai to Ahmedabad high speed rail. In a decade a similar rail high speed network will connect all major cities in India. India is working with the same speed as China and will have a new generation technologies high speed rail network by 2035 using Japan's latest technological advances.

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The European Union is about to ban social media platforms from accessing children under age 13. This is how Ursula Van Leyen puts it - it is not about children accessing social media, it is about social media platforms accessing our children, says Leyen. She will announce this in her address to the European Union in September. A new report by a psychologist Fegert and an epidemiologist Melchior comes to the conclusion that social media is harmful for children, not just under 13 years, restrictions should be placed on 13 to 18 year olds also to prevent infinite scrolling and other addictive features. Australia has announced a ban setting the age at 16 years. Britain is tightening its ban. France is planning to ban setting the age at 16. The following countries are about to do this- Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, India, Indonesia and Malaysia. When the EU announces a ban it will apply to all of Europe. In the US Florida passed a ban setting age at 14 years. Across Europe children spend 4 to 6 hours on social media a day and for 60% of children it is having harmful effects on emotional health and creating psychosocial problems for children. It also affects the education, the reading comprehension of children as less books are read, and a whole new generation of children is growing up in a way that was never before seen in the Modern period where books and reading were a key aspect of modern society for the last 200 years. ...

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Norway 2-1 against Brazil World Cup Soccer to enter round of 16 with 2 Haaland goals. Brazil failed to impress as Norway had most of the ball possession. Norway's goalkeeper Hyland made 4 brilliant saves to make it difficult for Brazil to score. Brazil's one goal came in the 98th minute when a Norwegian player was given a yellow card for elbowing a Brazilian player and Neymar made a penalty kick. Without that Brazil would have lost 2-0 after Haaland scored twice. Brazilian player Vinicius Jr. was hailed in the media but could do little, and Carlo Ancelotti as coach could not come up with any ideas to change the game. The entire World Cup in 2026 is different because of the way smaller nations have played. Nations such as Cabo Verde have held firm, Germany was defeated by Paraguay, Italy did not even make it to the round of 32 losing to Bosnia. The loss of Brazil leaves only France with Mbappe, Argentina with Messi, and England with Kane standing. US faces Belgium on Monday July 6, 2026. Argentina barely stayed on when Messi scored in overtime against Cabo Verde, nearly losing. Only the French team has played consistently. Spain meets Portugal on Monday. No one knows how it will turn out. ...

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View from Le Monde in France on the visions of Macron, Merz,, and Rubio for rebuilding the transatlantic alliance.  France under Macron sees less hope for the rebuild of the transatlantic friendship. The Germans under Merz and Soder of Bavaria see it differently. As shown in Nina Haase's interveiw with Johann Wadephul Germany's Foreign Minister, he sees Marco Rubio's speech very positively and like Merz wants to rebuild the relationship. It is not fully understood in Europe that Vance was also. partly reflecting his own views and his own tendency to sound and act like DJT. RUbio was once a candidate for the presidency in 2014 whom DJT had to defeat in the primaries. Rubio's recent book on how the elites have failed US and Europe shows a man of his own convictions. He and DJT agree because he brings out the best that is in the Republican party today to look back at its heroes from the past, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln with a profound belief in western civilization and America's role in it. When seen in this context it changes everything- all that talk of Vance means little because Vance is a much less experienced politician from the midwestern state of Ohio compared to Rubio with his long years in the Florida legislature and in the Senate in Foreign Affairs. Rubio speaks for the United States so much more so than an inexperienced and very young politician from Ohio who has emerged only in the last 5 years, compared to Rubio's 20 years in public service. ...

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US collapsed against Belgium. Brazil lost to Paraguay. Argentina trailed Egypt for most of the 90 minutes only to recover with 3 goals in the last 20 minutes and the winning goal in overtime. Messi almost in tears, moved by the near failure of Argentina till the last minutes of the game gave a miraculous reprieve. One by one the highly advertised on television in the US teams and stars, from US's Pulisic, Mexican soccer players, Messi, Brazil's Neymar and Vinicius Jr, are all in shock. Less advertised, less well known players are making their way, and this may be a good thing as the advertising has gone overboard. Companies were pouring money into these ads turning the  players into constant presence in ads and creating an atmosphere that is not healthy for soccer as a sport. One just hopes France's Mbappe with his humility and quiet demeanor doesn't get into one more noisy ad on television like the others. Is Christiano Ronaldo, the little kid from Madeira, Portugal, coming out of nowhere at that time, a billionaire? Is Messi also from remote town of Rosario, Santa Fe province, Argentina, a billionaire? This doesn't do much for the sport. Germany's best goal scorer in this World Cup only dreamed of not having to do two jobs, and having a steady career, after struggling for a long period. There is something in this World Cup that has brought previously unknown players from unknown places like Cabo Verde to the forefront on world television, including the Egyptian and Moroccan players, the players from other smaller countries. Even the English players in the Premier League playing for England look good by comparison. ...

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 Franco German differences are growing as Macron of France and Merkel have serious differences on NATO, Russia, EU expansion with Balkan countries, and a eurozone budget. Macron has called NATO brain dead. Merkel disagrees. The personal relations between the two leaders never close have worsened. 

On climate change Macron's push to cut in half greenhouse gas emissions in Europe was supported by Merkel but only after much wrangling within Merkel's own coalition government. German conservatives in the CDU fear it disproportionately hurts a heavily industrialized country like Germany. And most Germans are wary of the Macron idea of more EU integration after the experience with Greece and Italy, suspecting that Germans will have to pay the bill. EU officials say personal relations between Macron and Merkel now border on animosity.

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France and Germany agreed to begin talks on a common nuclear umbrella in Jan 1997 as reported here in The Washington Post on Jan 25, 1997. 

The post cites Le Monde- "Our two countries see themselves exposed to the same risks. We are ready to open a dialogue on the role of nuclear deterrence in the context of European defense policy." Says the document signed by Germany's Helmut Kohl and Frances Jacques Chirac on Dec. 9, 1996. France had clashed with the US under De Gaule and De Gaulle had pursued an independent nuclear deterrent. Chirac took up this stance in 1996 with nuclear tests in French Polynesia and offered to share its nuclear deterrent with Germany.

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France has reacted faster to the economic crisis presented by the pandemic. It shielded its economy earlier with government support and household consumption has held up better. Its presidential system led to faster decisions than Germany's decentralized mode leading to some experts saying it should borrow this aspect from France. France also has 70% of its energy from nuclear, Germany by contrast depended too long on Russia and Merkel's decision to completely get out of nuclear and to let overconcentration of supplies of energy from Russia happen was a mistake. Merkel also supported the auto industry without anticipating changes taking place after the Copenhagen Climate conference in 2009 and preparing for the future. The auto industry has taken a hit in Germany as it relies too much on imported EV batteries from China and was slow to make the transition to EV's and hybrids. In fairness to the SPD's Scholz and Greens Habeck considering the economy handed to them by Merkel they had to scramble after the Russian war in Ukraine in the middle of the pandemic. Germany made it through in record 1 year's time to be independent of Russian oil and gas, a huge achievement. Over time Germany will recover as it makes a transition of business away from overconcentration in China, another of Merkel's and German business failures to develop a vision for the future. China's slowdown has affected Germany. Germany has to invest in other parts of the world including in India and Japan to diversify the supply chain. Overall score card would give Habeck and Scholz a lot better score, Merkel and German business leaders of the time a low score, and Frnce and Germany about the same score. France for a steady response, and Germany for the speed in which the oil and gas crisis handled considering also that both countries have a centralized and decentralized system based on their respective history and culture. ...

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This France24 report looks at the question of whether the policies of four term German chancellor Angela Merkel emboldened Russia under president Putin to launch the invasion of Ukraine. FR24's interview with the vice president of the German Marshall Fund and head of its Berlin office, Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, shows there are many reasons why Merkel's policies were serious errors that ignored caution from past experience and from other western leaders in the US and Eastern Europe. Kleine-Brockhoff says that "Europe did not go wrong, Germany and France did. France and Germany tend to speak for the rest of Europe. Bit these mis-assessments were made in Paris and Berlin, not elsewhere. Eastern Europe didn't go wrong. Northern Europe did'nt go wrong."  Kleine-Brockhoff says the war in Ukraine calls for an urgent re-assessment of the German and French policy towards Russia. "Not only is the post Cold-War order crumbling before our eyes, so are the strategies employed by Germany and France." Under particular scrutiny comes Merkel's policy, and policy supported by Steinmeier of the SPD, that took German dependence on Russian energy supplies from 36% during the annexation of Crimea to 55% in March 2022 with the invasion of Ukraine. Germany's conservative Die Welt has this to say- "What Germany and Europe have experienced over the last days is nothing short of the reversal of the Merkel policies of guaranteeing peace and freedom through treaties with despots," describing Merkel's policies as "an error." About France Kleine-Brockhoff says there were lofty ambitions under Sarkozy and Macron of European strategic autonomy, which did not correspond to reality, to fantasies of European armies when there was nothing but NATO. It is not dialogue with Putin and Russia that was a problem, says Laure Delcour, international relations expert at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. Some form of dialogue is necessary she says, but the dialogue has to have clear objectives. We must not confuse cause with consequence, she says. We know  that NATO enlargement had a big impact on Russia's perceptions, but the real problem is how Russia responded to enlargement. "In this case the problem is the consequence."  ...

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Germany - France quarterfinals UEFA soccer 2025 1-1 Germany winning on penalties. With great saves, about 9 before penalty kicks, and one save of an own goal towards the end from German goal keeper Ann Katrin-Berger. Also part of the game was a puzzling hair pull by a German player of the French captain in front of all the cameras and the stadium that led to apenalty that France converted. In this unusual game there were 2 French goals that were called offside by the umpires. The German game involved more physicality with many fouls and injured players. Though the possession was very one sided France having possession about 70% of the time and many attempts by French players at the German goal, somehow the German team's defense held together without it's  red carded player.

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The 50th anniversary of the Elysee Treay between Germany and France. Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle signed the treaty in 1963.

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This is part of France 24's "A world confined" series. It shows testing in Germany with Centogene doing 50,000 tests and 7000 tests in Rostock. About 50 such companies are leading the testing effort in Germany making testing convenient and readily available. It also shows problems with testing in Russia, and the problems in developing countries such as Gabon where running water is lacking to wash hands, and in war torn Afghanistan where a large part of the population could be affected by coronavirus.

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Talks on June 28-29 in Rome between President Francois Hollande of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. They will be joined by the Italian and Spanish prime ministers, Mario Monti and Mariano Rajoy. Hollande has invited the opposition Social Democrats in Germany for talks in Paris to win support for his approach to the eurozone crisis. The growth initiative proposed by Hollande is fairly modest and Merkel has expressed her support for this. The tougher issues revolve around some acceptable form of mutualizing of eurozone debt to tackle a loss of confidence in financial markets without a surrender of sovereignty by France and other eurozone nations- a particularly sensitive issue in France. More Europe, would mean more German influence in decisionmaking. Germany rejects eurobonds and direct aid to banks from the ECB. Centralized banking supervision and close regulation by a new European regulatory authority would be needed as part of a new eurozone financial architecture. The immediate issues are of some form of deposit insurance for the eurozone banking system so that there is no run on the banks in Spain and other countries....

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Starmer in Britain, Macron in France and Merz in Germany all have low poll ratings in 2026.

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The service at Reims cathedral in France commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Mass at Reims cathedral for a reconciliation between Germany and France. The service 50 years ago was attended by Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle. This service was attended by Hollande and Merkel.

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DW.com on what international students from India or China pay at EU universities-  44000 euros in UK vs 4000 euros or less in Germany and France. For Chinese or Indian students Germany and France offer education for bachelor and masters degress that is attractively priced even at the higher prices being now set by the government. In the past Chinese students in France were able to get Masters degrees at very little cost. Germany is looking at the higher prices as a way to increase the salaries of teaching staff and professors whose salaries lag far behind the salaries in the US and other countries. For China and India no aid program is as vital for their economies and industrial development as the access the EU provides to its universities and educational system at a fraction of the real cost. Today German universities are attracting large numbers of Indian students from middle class families where the parents life goals are to get their children into European universities. American universities cost significantly more today as American bachelors and masters degree can cost upwards of 50,000 euros a year. Even local students in the US pay between $30,000 and $100,000 a year making bachelors and masters degrees no longer affordable for much of the American middle class and leaves working class parents children totally out of the universities system. One immigrant is from Cuba- Marco Rubio of Florida, now Foreign Minister of the US. He describes in his book - "Decades of Decadence How America's Spoiled Elites Blew Up Inheritance of Liberty, Security and Prosperity"- an average factory job in Florida in the seventies enabled his parents to send him to college, which he says is no longer possible for immigrants to the US today, and no longer possible for working class parents in general. For this reason Germany and France have to be commended for their generous policies towards Chinese and Indian students. Increases in the university prices in Germany and France to 4000 euros a year for international students makes a lot of sense when British universities charge about 44000 euros a year. ...

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French nuclear weapons numbers and new strategy integrated with Germany- Macron explains this from a Navy base in Crozon, France, March 2, 2026. With wars in Ukraine and in Iran Macron says he will expand the French nuclear weapons from 290 warheads, and starts a consultative strategy approach to work with Germany to extend France's nuclear weapons to cover other states like Germany and coordinate with Germany on military exercises for European defense. This also includes Britain.

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78% of people in France and 60% in Italy say they have No Trust in Politics. Germany and the UK are at the same level at 55% and 56% saying they have No Trust in Politics. This finding is from the annual barometer by Sciences Po, CEVIPOF and Opinion Way conducted in Jan 2026. 76% of people say democracy has not worked well in France. Only 23% saying democracy works well in France is compared to 54% in Germany and 52% in UK saying democracy works well a umber that is down from high sixties in 2020. In Italy 40% say democracy works well making France and its experiment with Macron particularly egregious as even in its best days Macron only had 40% saying democracy works well in France. Macron's personal popularity is at lows of 15-20% in 2026 and dropped early in 2018 to 30% and never recovered. It appears that the talent pool for France Germany, UK, and Italy, is poor to get such abysmal ratings in the governance of the country.