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The federal Department of Education recently announced details regarding President Biden’s long-awaited student debt plan. The plan is expected to cut the monthly payments of millions of student debtors by more than half. The regulations proposed by the Ministry of Education amend one of the existing reimbursement plans known as REPAYE (Revised Pay as You Earn). The plan ties debtors’ monthly payments to income and family size. Unlike Biden’s plan, which canceled up to $20,000 of federal debt at a time and faced a series of legal battles, the new repayment plan is a long-term piece of the student loan infrastructure and applies to current as well as future borrowers.

It is unclear when the new plan will be formulated and implemented. After listening to public opinion for 30 days, the administration plans to come up with specific plans that reflect the feedback and finalize the plan by the end of this year.

Parents who received money through Parent PLUS loans to help pay for their children’s school expenses cannot enroll in the new plan. This means that if parents can’t afford repayment, the only option they usually have is an income-based repayment plan, which is the most expensive. Known as an income-contingent repayment, this is a plan in which the debtor pays off 20% of his or her discretionary income as repayments over 25 years, after which the debtor is forgiven.

The revised REPAYE plan is more lenient in several respects. First, the plan reduces undergraduate loan payments to 5% of discretionary income. 10% for existing plans (15% for other plans).

Under current REPAYE, discretionary income is income that exceeds the protected amount, which is set at 150% of the federal poverty line. not a lot of money A single debtor will start a situation on income over about $20,400 ($41,600 for a family of four).

The revised plan raised the amount of protection against reimbursement to 225% of the federal poverty line. That means people earning less than 225 percent of the poverty line—that is, people working on a minimum wage of $15 per year—don’t have to pay back. In other words, singles making less than $30,500 or families of four making less than $62,400 would have $0 repayment.

If you can’t afford a standard repayment plan, you can consider an existing income-based repayment plan, such as REPAYE. By choosing this plan, you can benefit from a lower repayment amount when the new plan replaces the old plan.

Sweden and Finland have begun talks with the US regarding a Defense Cooperation Agreement DCA with the United States, the intention is to receive stable military support by deploying US forces in the territory.

For Sweden and Finland, it’s a ‘second best’. Since Turkey is interfering with joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the US-centered joint defense body, it intends to resolve security concerns by strengthening bilateral agreements with the US.

The Swedish and Finnish governments announced on the 9th (local time) that they are discussing a DCA with the United States, respectively. The DCA includes contents such as closely coordinating defense policies, strengthening defense-related exchanges, and conducting joint military exercises. In the agreement that Sweden and Finland will sign with the United States, it is expected that the size, status, and role of the US troops stationed in the country will be dealt with.

“The legal status of the US military in Sweden and important defense materials and infrastructure investments will be included in the DCA,” said Swedish Defense Minister Pall Jonsson in an interview with the Swedish media’s Dagens Nyheter. “(DCA) makes it easier for US troops to operate in Sweden,” he added to AFP.

Sweden and Finland have been rushing to sign a bilateral agreement with the United States since the beginning of the new year because they were blocked from joining NATO. Both Sweden and Finland submitted applications to NATO for membership last year shortly after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Joining NATO requires unanimous consent from all 30 member states, but Turkey is vetoing it on the grounds that “Sweden and Finland is protecting the recruits of those we define as terrorists.”

While shootings do not stop in the United States and President Joe Biden is urging Congress to ban assault weapons, the state of Illinois, which governs Chicago, has completed its own legislation.

According to Chicago media and ABC/CBS broadcasts on the 11th, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (57, Democratic) passed the “Illinois Community Protection Act” (Protect Illinois Communities Act) was signed and promulgated.

This makes Illinois the ninth state out of 50 states and the 10th, including Washington DC, to ban the sale and possession of military weapons, according to ABC.

In the Illinois state legislature, where the Democratic Party has a majority over the passage of the bill, both the Democratic and Republican parties have repeatedly argued. After multiple revisions, the bill passed the state legislature earlier this week by a vote of 34-20 in the Senate and 68-41 in the House.

It went into effect immediately with the signature of Governor Pritzker.

Under the new law, the manufacture, sale, and possession of more than 100 types of offensive weapons, including some semi-automatic firearms, large-capacity magazines (10 rounds for long guns, 15 rounds for pistols or more), and rapid-fire devices, are prohibited in Illinois.

Firearm owners who already own the weapon must voluntarily report to the state police, the gun licensing authority, and complete registration by January 1 of next year.

You can continue to own firearms that have been reported and registered, but you may be charged with a crime if the possession or possession of unregistered firearms is discovered.

At the signing ceremony, Governor Pritzker said, “Gun crime is rampant in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois. We need real action to remove dangerous weapons from the streets that could lead to mass destruction.

He emphasized that this law is “the strongest offensive weapon ban law in the entire country,” and hoped to “make Illinois a safer place by preventing the spread of assault weapons, large-capacity magazines, and illegal gun parts.”

The state of Illinois spurred legislation to strengthen gun control after a shooting occurred at the site of a parade celebrating Independence Day in Highland Park, a suburb north of Chicago on July 4 last year, killing seven people.

The accused, Robert Cremo III (21), is known to have used an assault weapon he had legally purchased in the crime.

However, the Illinois Rifle Association (ISRA) and the National Rifle Association (NRA) said, “American citizens have the right to bear arms as a means of self-defense.” “We plan to file a lawsuit against the constitution,” he said.

The National Rifle Association estimates the law will affect 2.5 million legal gun owners in Illinois.

US Secretary of State Tony Blincoln said, “The United States has a strong competitive relationship with China,” but “President Joe Biden has a strong determination to ensure that competition with China does not escalate into a conflict.”

Secretary Blincoln appeared on the US CBS broadcast that day and said this in response to a question about what Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on the 2nd to the effect that the possibility of a war between the US and China cannot be ruled out.

Minister Blincoln continued, “The world expects us to manage our relationship with China responsibly.” “I think war is potentially possible because Chinese President Xi Jinping has complete control over China,” Sherman said at an event at American University. “We are working to block it. At the same time, we are supporting Taiwan to have the means to defend itself,” Reuters reported.

In a CNN broadcast interview that day, Secretary Blincoln was asked if he would take a more moderate approach to China’s protests compared to US support for Iran’s anti-government protests. “If any country tries to suppress peaceful protest in any way, we are speaking out against it,” he said.

When asked what he would say to President Xi about protests in China when he visits China early next year in terms of follow-up discussions at the US-China summit held at the G20 summit last month, he said, “President Biden mentioned to President Xi. “President Biden said that human rights and basic civil liberties are fundamental to the United States, and that no US president has been silent on this issue,” he recalled.

“We want to make sure that there are no misunderstandings with China,” he said.

On the other hand, Minister Blincoln said on the CBS broadcast that the Iranian government decided to abolish the police’s guidance patrol due to the spread of protests, saying, “We have to see how it actually goes in the enforcement process.”

“If the Iranian government responded to the protests, it might be positive, but it depends on what the Iranian people think about it,” he said.

The Honolulu city government is preparing to introduce a new system to shorten the lengthy building permit process.
At a press conference on November 15, Acting Director Don Takeuchi-Apuna of the Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) of the Municipal Government prepared a more efficient building permit process through a new system, including automated document review, staff recruitment, and classification of residential and commercial permits. stated that the purpose was to
Currently, DPP’s average building permit period is 298 days, of which 175 days are known to be spent on finding and correcting defects in applications.
Acting Director Takeuchi-Apuna said the goal is to reduce the time it takes to find and correct application defects to less than seven days.
In addition, he pointed out that to operate the automated process more successfully, six employees should be assigned to the task of verifying compliance with the laws and regulations in the residential area.
According to a report by Star Advertiser, DPP’s Residential Compliance Inspector vacancies currently stand at 24 positions in two positions.
DPP is planning to recruit 15 people in addition to 6 inspectors for compliance checks in residential districts, and it is known that they are planning to supply insufficient labor through an internship partnership with Honolulu Community College.
In the Commercial Zone, 17 positions in 6 positions are vacant. The DPP is said to currently have 80 vacancies.
Reportedly, DPP expects it to take six months to a year to prepare for the introduction of automated tasks.
DPP is also seeking to transform the final stage of building permit issuance into automation.
Acting director Takeuchi-Apuna said that the average duration of the final phase is 60 days, with the goal of eventually reducing it to 7 days.
The City Planning and Permitting Bureau has been criticized for taking too long a building permit process.
Long procedural periods have often led to attempts to shorten them illegally.
For example, in 2017, there was an incident in which a compliance inspector in a residential district received $100,000 in black money on condition of shortening the permit process period, and in February of this year, the inspector received a bribe of $1,000 and was charged with meeting with an architect in private. There was an indictment.
Meanwhile, former DPP director Uchida and chief innovation strategist Danet Maruyama left their positions at DPP earlier this year due to differences of opinion with Mayor Rick Blangiad.

Hawaii’s Mauna Loa is currently the largest active volcano in the world with a mass of over 10 miles. Mauna Loa begun to erupt on November 27, 2022, and continued to pour lava throughout December. This is Mauna Loa’s first eruption since 1984, and due to its lack of historical data, experts anticipate that calculating the trajectory of the lava is going to be much more difficult.

According to Mike Zoeller of the US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Mauna Loa has been releasing lava at an estimated rate of 21 yards per hour, and if it progresses any further, it creates a major issue by interrupting the major highway that connects the eastern and western parts of the Big Island. It also has the potential to destroy other infrastructure along the way, which causes the situation to be even more detrimental. Although the lava could bring great danger to any person nearby, it seems highly unlikely because the closest town center is about 37 miles northeast. The lava flow didn’t cause any damage to the nearest village even back when the volcano erupted in the 1880s.

Mauna Loa isn’t the only volcano that has been erupting in Hawaii; a second volcano known as Kilauea has been consistently exploding for the past year. Only 21 miles away from Mauna Loa, Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes that attract countless tourists and locals. The volcano has erupted before in 2018, and it led to the destruction of hundreds of homes in the Leilani Estates neighborhood. This incident had an extremely traumatic effect, resulting in the whole summit collapsing into a crater four times its size. However, unlike the past 2018 eruption, the most recent eruption has not been as dangerous as the shooting lava has been staying within the summit crater. Because the explosion isn’t creating any threats to the nearby residents and tourists, the eruptions are deemed to be an exciting experience for many people.

Although the dangerous outcomes from volcano eruptions make these explosions seem abnormal, it is normal for these eruptions to occur on a regular basis. According to the United States Geological Survey, there is an estimation of at least one volcano eruption per week since there are about 50 to 60 eruptions per year. Mauna Loa and Kilauea are not the only active volcanoes; according to the Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, there are still 27 active volcanoes worldwide. Many researchers anticipate that current active volcanoes will continue to erupt.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin urged the U.S. Congress on the 3rd to process the budget for modernizing nuclear forces necessary to defend South Korea and its allies.

At the Reagan Defense Forum held in Simi Valley, California, on the same day, Secretary Austin explained the U.S. efforts to strengthen war deterrence, saying that the next few years will determine the competitive landscape with China and the security future of Europe.

As one way to ensure deterrence, he said, “deterrence means safe, reliable and effective nuclear weapons as the ultimate defense against strategic aggression against our country and its allies, including NATO, Japan and South Korea.” said.
“That’s why the fiscal year 2023 budget includes a budget of $34 billion (about 44 trillion won) to continue modernizing the three nuclear forces (intercontinental ballistic missiles, strategic bombers, and nuclear submarines) and strengthening nuclear command and control communications capabilities,” he said.

“The Department of Defense is focusing more on the Indo-Pacific, which is a major theater of war, and is working to mobilize and deploy US forces more quickly,” Austin said. “We are investing in military construction, logistics and facilities in the region.”

He also said the United States is enjoying a significant increase in combat capability through the alliance, and that Australia is working together to ensure that conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines are available at the earliest possible time.
“China is the only country with the will and increasingly power to reshape regional and international order according to authoritarian tendencies,” he said.
“We will maintain and strengthen our capabilities to wage war advantageously so that China will never conclude that war is the best course of action,” he said. did.
“Great powers must not be reckless, they must act responsibly. They must communicate honestly and respect the systems of international law, alliances, norms, and agreements that have been difficult to build but which have made us all safer and more prosperous,” he said. “He urged.
He also strongly condemned Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and expressed his strong will to continue supporting Ukraine and defending its NATO territory.

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia and other major non-OPEC oil producing countries, ‘OPEC Plus’ (OPEC+), have decided to continue their policy of cutting production by 2 million barrels per day.

In a statement issued after a regular ministerial meeting on the 4th, OPEC+ announced that it would maintain the production cut policy agreed upon at the last meeting.

OPEC+ said in a statement that it “will observe future crude oil markets and respond immediately if necessary to balance supply and demand and stabilize prices.”

In October, OPEC+ held a regular meeting and agreed to reduce crude oil production by 2 million barrels per day from November and keep it until the end of next year.

Currently, oil production by OPEC+ producers stand at 41.85 million barrels per day, down 2 million barrels from October.

OPEC+, which decided to cut production the most since the Corona 19 pandemic, argued that it was an economic decision due to growing market uncertainty, such as heightened concerns about a recession at the time.

The U.S. and European countries, which were trying to contain Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and control inflation, condemned the oil-producing countries’ decision.

Kuwait Energy Minister Bader al-Mullah said that the decision to maintain production cuts was a decision that helped stabilize the market.

The next OPEC+ regular ministerial meeting is scheduled for June 4 next year.

Foreign media such as Reuters reported that the OPEC+ decision came as the European Union (EU), the G7 countries, and Australia agreed to set the price ceiling for Russian crude oil at 60 dollars (about 80,000 won) per barrel.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak argued that “Rather than supplying oil below the price cap, Russia will reduce production, and this action by the West may affect other oil-producing countries.”

Reuters, citing sources, said that during the OPEC+ meeting on the day, ministers from several oil-producing countries expressed concerns about the introduction of the cap on Russian crude oil.

As the health care system shook during Corona 19, as many as 40 million children around the world were found to have failed to get the measles vaccine.

“Record numbers of children without immunity to measles show that the defense system has been severely damaged during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said CDC Director Rochelle Wolensky.

Last year, 9 million people were infected with measles worldwide and 128,000 people died.

There is no specific treatment for measles, and two doses of the vaccine can prevent 97% of serious illness or death.

Earlier, the United Nations also said in July that 25 million children had not been vaccinated, including against diphtheria, due to COVID-19.

Currently, the vaccination rate among American infants and toddlers under the age of two is about 90.4%, far below the minimum defense level of 95%.

Earlier, the United States declared measles eradication in 2000, and there were cases of infection of 649 people in unvaccinated areas in New York in 2018 due to local epidemics introduced from abroad.

According to a paper published in July, more than 13% of children are vulnerable to measles as measles vaccination has declined during the pandemic in the United States.

In particular, the fact that about 20 unvaccinated children were infected in Columbus, Ohio, and about half were hospitalized, “could be an ominous sign to come,” a public health professor at Emory University in Atlanta diagnosed.

According to India’s PTI news agency, in Mumbai, the largest economic city, 12 people died of measles this year, including an 8-month-old baby who died on the 22nd. Including this, the number of measles cases in Mumbai this year was 233, a significant increase from last year’s total of 92.

Mumbai’s health authorities said about 20,000 people were not vaccinated against measles in time because of the pandemic.

The federal government’s Ministry of Health has dispatched emergency support and investigation personnel to related areas, saying that measles patients are also appearing in northern Bihar and western Gujarat.

Even if he did something bad by chance, if he covers it up with a good deed, he will light up the world like the moon escaping a cloud.

Believing in the evil master’s words that only by killing a thousand people and making a necklace of a thousand fingers can one attain perfect spiritual practice, he turned into a murderer and tried to harm even the Buddha, but was influenced by the Buddha, and as a result, he was stoned by the crowd and willingly died. This is the Buddha’s song in honor of Angulimala.

Death row inmate Jarvis Jay (photo source-Tricycle), who is imprisoned at San Quentin Prison at the northern end of Richmond Bridge, Northern California. He did not commit murder like Angulimala, but like Angulimala, he is branded as a murderer and is waiting for death in prison. The story of Jarvis, recently re-introduced in Lion’s Roar and Tricycle, two representative Buddhist media outlets in the United States, begins with his unfortunate childhood.

Born in Long Beach, Southern California in 1962, he grew up as a troubled boy who ran away from home and became violent despite his mother who was a drug addict and the care of his aunt who replaced his mother. He denied the charges but was helpless at the false testimony of his fellow prisoners.

In 1990, he was introduced to his Buddha teachings through a Tibetan Buddhist teacher, Chagdudu Tulku Rinpoche, who visited the prison. He encounters Sasangje and vows to become a Bodhisattva. Meanwhile, his fellow prisoners recanted their false testimony, and in 2001 another prisoner admitted to making the weapon. He has written a book (“That Bird Has My Wings: The Autobiography of an Innocent Man Awaiting Death Penalty” in 2009) showing how Buddhism has changed his life and has given counseling and lectures to inmates several times.

However, his murder was not cleared. The county court has repeatedly dismissed his appeal. He is now preparing a case in federal court.