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China's GDP growth accelerated slightly to 6.9 percent in the 1st quarter of 2017, after five consecutive quarters of GDP growth at 6.7-6.8%, according to government data. This reflected larger use of steel in the construction industry and more mortgages issued by the state controlled banking sector. Government officials say productivity is improving helping GDP growth, with closing of less efficient manufacturing plants. Industrial production increased 7.6% in March 2017, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The government is trying to control higher lending and reduce the backlog of bad loans at banks. Higher growth helps to reduce the bad loans at banks from the earlier period after 2008 financial crisis, improving financial stability.

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Mike Atherton looks at how England played against India in the Second Test at Lord's in 2021, starting the fifth day in a strong position but losing by 151 runs. A ninth wicket partnership between Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami for 89 runs and loss of 2 early English wickets for a duck changed everything. Atherton says one bad hour as Bumrah and Shami put off the English bowlers changed the emotional aspects of the game for England. 

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Under an obscure rule called "deminimis" any packages less than $800 coming from China or other Asian countries are not counted in official trade statistics, This could easily understate imports from China by about $50 billion as 800 million such packages enter the US annually mostly from China. When this and other corrections are made and with the surge in imports during the pandemic the US trade deficit may not bave budged much even after Mr. Trump made this Priority No.1, says this report in the WSJ. At stake are manufacturing jobs in America, factories and workplaces all across America that made it what it was and whose fracturing has led to the fracturing of America.

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Trading relationships and supply chain relationships of China with Japan, and other ASEAN nations built up since China joined the international trading system and became a major exporter are interconnected with the political relationships unraveling over issues such as Taiwan and maritime disputes. It took three decades for China to build up exports and manufacturing for exports of $1 trillion to the US and EU in 2021. Freedom of navigation in international waters and oceans, respect for international law, is important to all trading nations particularly Japan and China, that depend on maritime trade for their economies. 

 

 

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How the one child policy affects China between now and 2020. By 2020 a third of Shanghai's population will be people over the age of 59. Shanghai reflects a trend throughout the country which is more accentuated here. As prosperity increases people are opting to have fewer children and this affects population even when the one child policy is not tightly implemented.

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Fighting escalates on the Syria- Turkey border in 2016 as U.S. Special Forces support Syrian rebels with the help of Turkish artillery to take border areas from Islamic State. Turkey was not willing to support Kurdish rebels in the fight against ISIS, leading to the shift to support Syrian rebels with the help of U.S. airstrikes. The result is a new flow of refugees to Turkey. The Turkish government created a zone on the Syrian side of the border for new refugees and called on the U.S. to create a safe zone.

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After being ranked 131st before the Eurocup soccer champioships in 2016 Ireland made it to the championships, beat the Netherlands, Austria and Britain, drawing with Portugal and Hungary. How did they do it? 

Analysis of performance shows some key insights on team building. One is that too much talent can be overproductive. At work it often leads to stalling, or everyone reinforcing the others biases. Its bad if one or two persons become dominant instead of allowing all to participate. If there is not enough listening and social sensitivity, enough humility, teams can deteriorate. Too many talented individuals does not lead to that much improvement if clear thinking does not prevail.

There was humility in the Iceland team and the coach was a part time coach who worked as a dentist. All the Iceland players worked together better than the stars on the English team.

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With inflation low at about 1.5% for an inflation measure used by the Federal Reserve, this article by Neil Irwin points to the low unemployment rate of 4.3% as the determining factor for raising interest rates. The Federal Reserve increased interest rates by a quarter percentage point in June 2017.The Federal Reserve under Janet Yellen raised interest rates for the second time in 2017 and the fourth time in 18 months, as it sees a tightening in the jobs market.

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US president Biden authorizes $350 million in immediate military assistance to Ukraine. Western leaders now believe that NATO countries are at risk if they do not help stop the invasion, as it now appears that Russia seeks to restore a sphere of influence across Eastern Europe that existed under the Soviet Union. In 1956 Soviet tanks entered Budapest, Hungary. A situation reminiscent of that in Hungary is now taking place in Ukraine in 2022. Earlier the Russian view of Ukraine neutrality was accepted by western leaders- the situation has changed during the last week, as it is now perceived that Russia seeks to change the situation in Eastern Europe. This completely alters western Europe's and America's view of the situation in Ukraine. All this has happened in a matter of days, and in a few weeks. On the Russian side the invasion is not popular with street protests in Moscow and people on the street skeptical about the invasion and its objectives. The view is beginning to emerge that this invasion only breaks the fraternal ties between the Belarus, Ukrainian and Russian peoples that have existed for centuries. In this sense the politics and governments of the present are not relevant as much as the shared history. Ironically it is this shared history that Mr. Putin seemed to want to assert. Yet it ignored the fact that Ukraine also has a shared history with Poland and the Baltic countries and the desire for a different system of government is common to all the people's of the world. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia and India; UK and Scotland or Ireland; Sweden, Norway and Denmark, Canada, Britain and the US; Hungary, Austria and Germany; all have a shared history yet the people in each country at different periods of history have made their own choices and decided what they would do as independent countries.  ...

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Brett Lee recalls the one time when he was bowling very fast at 165 kmph and Sachin hit the ball for three fours in an over leaving Lee spellbound. Here he recalls his amazing friendship with Sachin and how it meant so much to him. Invited for dinner by Sachin they got to know each other off the field. Brett says of the encounters on the field "we respected each other."  As the Aussies meet India in Adelaide for the first Test this brings back memories of Aussie cricket over the years going back to Richie Benaud and Neil Harvey, Norman O'Neill. 

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Letters to the Editor from a Congressman (for 18 years), a Quantum Lab at Duke, and a South Carolinan with Wedemayer's example in WSJ on Chinese students at US universities. Most agree that American students deserve the same opportunities. And the Duke Quantum lab seems to say Americans are not also part of the best and brightest and so do not deserve the same opportunities, looking only at his own lab in 2025 not America as a whole, and ignoring the history of science and invention since 1600 where European and American scientists built the Modern World. 

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A look at the daily life of ordinary Iranians closeup by the NYT's Kristof in Iran. A picture different from that presented about Iran in the daily media about ayatollahs and nuclear weapons.