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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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Of 190 billion pounds of companies and other assets in Britain that are controlled by China, 51 billion pounds are owned by the Chinese government, says The Times of London. This includes power plants and schools. This includes Hinkley C nuclear power station 13.2 billion pounds, Heathrow airport $2 billion 9% stake, university accomodation holdings 40% stake in UPP at 1.6 billion pounds, Thames Water 9% stake at 1.8 billion pounds. The new Chinese embassy is being built on the Royal Mint this 5 acre site in London being worth 255 million pounds.

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Vanguard Index funds attracted $233 billion in new investment in 2014, according to Morningstar. Of this $40 billion went into the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund, $27.5 billion into the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund, and $9 billion into the Vanguard Total International Bond Market Index Fund. The poorer returns from actively managed funds with high fees and the PIMCO Total Return Fund led to this shift into index funds. For every $100 in investment with Vanguard index funds the cost in fees is about 18 cents compared to $1.24 in the average actively managed mutual fund, according to Morningstar.

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World class swimmer in the 1500 meter freestyle Katie Ledecky trains alone in her lane in California during the pandemic for almost a year. She would like to have training partners but this was not possible during the pandemic. The 24 year old has done a lot of solo training in the last 12 months, a regimen that requires her to be strong mentally.

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Italy and France have implemented vaccine passes. The health pass in France has helped to reverse the trend of waning vaccinations. In the two weeks after the vaccine health pass was made mandatory in France for cafes, transport and restaurants, the vaccinations for second dose increased by 6 million and the vaccination for first dose increased by 5 million. In Italy vaccinations increased by 200%.

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Taiwanese disinformation prevention efforts include tracking down fake information sources, connecting with the government agencies, Google and Social media companies, and action making internet companies responsible for the information on their sites. Google has trained 110 people in Taiwan as part of this effort. Taiwan also places importance on the public getting trained to spot what is unlikely to be true and inconsistent.

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Result of Brexit in a Cambridge econometrics study-

2 million jobs lost

Economy smaller by 140 billion pounds

Every Briton lost $2400 in 2023, Londoners 3400 pounds in 2023 alone

Do the Tories have an answer for misrepresenting immigration as an issue when as the adjoining article shows the Tories have a failure in migration issues.

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About 80% of Ballmer's money ($150 billion -former Microsoft CEO) is in Microsoft stock and 20% in index funds. He tried investing in stocks, Colgate Palmolive at advice of Jim Cramer a college buddy. Then tried diversifying. Tried money managers and found it difficult to find ones that outperform. So he dumped them all. His approach was shaped by Warren Buffet who says put it in S&P shaped index fund. He says-  Keep it Simple. Keep it Simple. We are financially blessed. What I seek says Ballmer is not to have anxiety, not to have to spend a lot of time, where we are blessed enough if we make 7%, the standard S&P return in the long run. He had luck listening to the right people and his loyalty to the company.  When Balmer left office as CEO in 2014 Microsoft market capitalization was $300 million. Ten years later it is $3 trillion with work on cloud computing and AI. Microsoft gained 29%  each year in that period including dividends, the S&P 13% with dividends, endowments 8%. As investor non-investor Ballmer now exceeds $150 billion and is No. 9. Most investments are in one trick ponies Google for example or in two trick ponies Apple, Amazon or Microsoft. One trick pony means they milk it, and milk it, and milk it. Three trick ponies not many you can find. ...

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Germany will give 16 state authorites 2.5 billion euros to support a6 euro monthly rail pass that can take you to anywhere in Germany for a month. About 7 million tickets have already been sold. Deutsche Bahn is operating at 80% of capacity at this time. Inflation is up 7.9% in Germany last month and this is a result of the war in Ukraine.

In other aid the German government has given-

Cutting the fuel tax by 30 cents a litre for gasoline to keep prices below 2 euros.

Those in work will get a one time 300 euros energy rebate for energy costs in autumn.

A 100 euros child benefit bonus per child.

People on other welfare benefits will also receive 100 euros.

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Electric cars have perfomed well in disaster hit regions of Japan after the earthquake, when oil refineries and gasoline stations were out of operation. 89 Mitsubishi i-MiEVs were put to use in Miyagi, Fukushima and Iwate prefectures. They were perfect for Sendai say city officials. The cars were driven an average of 30-45 miles a day in Sendai, which is half the distance for a full charge. Each night they were returned to city hall and recharged using 220 volt outlets. Fast recharging stations which replenish batteries to 80% of capacity in 30 minutes were used. The standard 100 volt outlets take 12 hours. This performance should speed up the timetable for electric car development in Japan.

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Avon's plans to refocus operations in leading markets. Currently Avon sells its products in about 100 countries.