（新加坡30日訊）新加坡人口增加，土地有限，連新加坡最大的墳墓—―咖啡山墳場也要用來建房子！
羅尼路的咖啡山墳場，已被市區重建局指定為住屋發展計劃用途地段。
據《海峽時報》報導，這塊地段佔地86公頃，目前市建局還沒對住屋發展計劃定下時限。
不過，當局已有計劃興建咖啡山地鐵站，但將一直到該地區有更多發展後才開放。
市建局發言人說︰“新加坡的土地稀少，有必要在長期的土地使用計劃上採取平衡的方式，並非常選擇性地保留地段。”
因此，市建局已將咖啡山墳場，連同實龍崗路上段已經挖掘完成的比達達利（Bidadari）墳場，指定為住屋發展計劃地段。
在新加坡，目前的烏節路義安城購物商場以及碧山和中駔魯組屋區，也曾是墳場所在地。
擁有200名會員的新加坡傳統文化協會，上週末出書和希望咖啡山墳場能加以保留。
會長陳有利說，如果將墳場進行重新發展用途，將是新加坡市區的“一大損失”。
咖啡山墳場有8萬個墓碑，包括19世紀富商王三龍和他妻子的巨大墳墓。
（中國‧呼和浩特30日訊）由於有傳言號召民眾趁今日蒙族歷史英雄紀念日，擴大示威規模，令當局大為緊張，全城戒備，今日加派警力在內蒙首府呼和浩特等城市執勤，除封校、封路、斷網，幾乎各地都有荷鎗實彈的武警五步一哨、十步一崗式把守，以防事態失控，市面氣氛肅殺。
市內氣氛特別緊張
據報導，所有在呼和浩特的大學、蒙古語學院和其它相關有蒙古族的學校，學生一律留在校園。學校裡面有警車或者武警的便衣車輛駐守，武警以一個排的兵力在各校門附近待命，他們不和學生直接接觸。
有目擊者說，學生企圖展開抗議，但被武警干預及強行驅散。但有關說法無法獲得證實。
有網民在微博和推特透露，市內氣氛特別緊張，有大批配備盾牌、警棍和頭盔的武警和防暴警察進駐呼和浩特市中心廣場戒備，公園也拉起警戒線，防止人群聚集。
另外，中國政府今日將一名漢族礦工控以在本月15日殺死一名蒙古族牧民的罪名，試圖平息內蒙民眾日益高漲的不滿情緒與憤怒。
內蒙古自治區人民檢察機關認為，疑犯孫樹寧無視國法，駕駛裝載機故意撞擊他人，致被害人死亡，應當以故意殺人罪追究其刑事責任。
100名旅日蒙古人示威
在蒙古牧民因阻止運煤車破壞草原被撞死的消息傳開後，引發連日示威，學生與群眾走上街頭，要求嚴懲兇手，並呼吁尊重牧民的權利和尊嚴。
另一方面，約100名旅居日本的蒙古人今日在中國駐東京大使館外示威，抗議中國在內蒙古侵犯人權，聲援被撞死的蒙古族牧民，並且高呼尊重牧民人權、保護大草原的口號。
（日本‧東京30日訊）日本東北部災區因“桑達”颱風影響降暴雨，東京電力公司週一稱，福島第一核電廠廠房和豎井內積聚的輻射性污水水位，因降雨上升。
日本氣象廳指，東北地區受低氣壓影響，廣泛地區週一至週二有暴風雨，特別是大地震海嘯災區可能會有山泥傾瀉和大浪。
福島核電廠附近從上週六起就斷斷續續降雨，1號機組廠房地下原本就有注入核反應堆的水發生泄漏，再加上雨水，導致積聚的污水水位星期日清晨7時起的24個小時內，上升了約20公分。
東電2職員甲狀腺含碘
由於週一夜間將有強降雨，東電已在廠房出入口處堆上沙袋以防止雨水流入其中。
另一方面，曾於核電廠內從事設備搶修工作的2名東電男性職員，被發現甲狀腺內有大量核輻射碘，較其他人多10倍，懷疑他們遭受的核輻射總量，可能已超過250毫希的上限。
富士電視台週一公佈的最新民意調查顯示，高達81%日本民眾不相信政府發佈的核危機消息，顯示政府的誠信已受質疑。
《日本經濟新聞》也公佈另一份民調指出，近四分之三民眾認為首相菅直人處理核災不力，希望更換首相；但也有近半數認為，菅直人應留下監督311浩劫的善後工作。
The rest of the world is watching the U.S. government run up record-setting budget deficits and they are watching the Federal Reserve print money like there is no tomorrow and they realize that the U.S. financial system is slowly imploding.
As mentioned above, now even the United Nations is warning that the U.S. dollar could collapse. The following is a brief excerpt from a recent news report put out by Reuters....
The United Nations warned on Wednesday of a possible crisis of confidence in, and even a “collapse” of, the U.S. dollar if its value against other currencies continued to decline.
In a mid-year review of the world economy, the UN economic division said such a development, stemming from the falling value of foreign dollar holdings, would imperil the global financial system.
But it is not just the United Nations that is concerned about the U.S. dollar.
On April 18th, Standard & Poor’s altered its outlook on U.S. government debt from "stable" to "negative" and warned that the U.S. could soon lose its prized AAA rating.
At one time, it would have been unthinkable for Standard & Poor's to do such a thing.
But today it is amazing that it has taken them so long to make such a move. U.S. government finances are falling apart.
When the credit rating of U.S. government debt starts declining, interest rates will go up. Just ask the government of Greece how painful that can be. Today, Greece is paying over 16 percent on 10 year bonds.
The following is what John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics recently had to say about why Standard & Poor's issued such a warning about U.S. government debt....
S&P is noting the U.S. government's long-range fiscal problems. Generally, you'll find that the accounting for unfunded liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and other programs on a net-present-value (NPV) basis indicates total federal debt and obligations of about $75 trillion. That's 15 times the gross domestic product (GDP). The debt and obligations are increasing at a pace of about $5 trillion a year, which is neither sustainable nor containable. If the U.S. was a corporation on a parallel basis, it would be headed into bankruptcy rather quickly.
Look, the rest of the world is not stupid. They know that the U.S. government is hurtling towards financial disaster. The appetite among foreigners for U.S. government debt is decreasing rapidly.
In fact, according to Zero Hedge, foreigners are dumping U.S. debt at a very rapid pace right now.
In addition, the cost to insure U.S. debt has risen sharply in recent days.
Right now, the Federal Reserve has been buying up most new U.S. government debt with dollars that it has created out of thin air. This is a giant Ponzi scheme, and it is a major contributing factor to the decline of faith in the U.S. dollar.
The dollar has fallen by 17 percent compared to other major national currencies since 2009. What makes that fact even sadder is that all major currencies have been rapidly losing value compared to hard assets over that time period. The dollar is just sliding faster than almost all of the other global currencies that are constantly losing value as well.
Anyone with half a brain could have seen that this would be the end result of reckless government borrowing, but unfortunately our politicians have been ignoring this problem for decades.
Now a day or reckoning is fast approaching and it is going to be very painful.
The U.S. government has piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world. Just consider a few shocking facts about this unprecedented debt....
*If the U.S. national debt (more than 14 trillion dollars) was reduced to a stack of 5 dollar bills, it would reach three quarters of the way to the moon.
*The U.S. government borrows about 168 million dollars every single hour.
*If Bill Gates gave every penny of his fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for 15 days.
*It is now being projected that by the year 2021, interest payments on the national debt will amount to $1.1 trillion dollars a year.
In a previous article on The American Dream, I detailed some more absolutely horrifying statistics about U.S. government debt....
#1 If you divide the national debt up equally among all U.S. households, each one owes a staggering $125,475.18.
#2 The federal government has borrowed 29,660 more dollars per household since Barack Obama signed the economic stimulus law two years ago.
#3 During Barack Obama's first two years in office, the U.S. government added more to the U.S. national debt than the first 100 U.S. Congresses combined.
#4 In the new budget that the Obama administration has proposed, the U.S. government would spend 3.7 trillion dollars in 2012 and by 2021 the U.S. government would be spending a whopping 5.6 trillion dollars per year.
#5 The U.S. government currently has to borrow approximately 41 cents of every single dollar that it spends.
#6 The total compensation that the federal government workforce earned last year came to a grand total of approximately 447 billion dollars.
#7 The U.S. national debt is currently rising by well over 4 billion dollars every single day.
#8 The U.S. government is borrowing over 2 million more dollars every single minute.
#9 The U.S. national debt is over 14 times larger than it was just 30 years ago.
#10 Unfunded liabilities for entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare are estimated to be well over $100 trillion, and nobody in the U.S. government seems to have any idea how we are actually even going to come close to meeting all of those obligations.
#11 If you were alive when Christ was born and you spent one million dollars every single day since that point, you still would not have spent one trillion dollars by now. But this year alone the U.S. government is going to go about 1.6 trillion dollars more into debt.
#12 If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to pay off the national debt.
So have our politicians learned anything from the mistakes of the past?
No.
The U.S. government continues to spend money on some of the most ridiculous things imaginable. For example, the Department of Health and Human Services has just announced a brand new $500 million program that will, among other things, seek to solve the problem of 5-year-old children that "can't sit still" in a kindergarten classroom.
Isn't it good to see the government investing our hard-earned tax dollars so wisely?
Of course if our kids weren't being constantly fed foods packed with sugar, high fructose corn syrup and aspartame we wouldn't have to spend 500 million dollars to deal with this problem.
When it comes to government waste, nobody seems to do it any better than the U.S. government.
Our politicians continue to assume that the rest of the world will always want our dollars and our debt, but that is simply not the case.
Over the past couple of years, global leader after global leader has publicly talked about the need for a new world reserve currency.
In fact, globalist institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank have been very busy discussing what the world is going to use as a global reserve currency after the death of the dollar.
The rest of the world is not sitting around waiting to see if the U.S. financial system is going to recover. They are already making plans for the demise of the dollar. They are increasingly using other currencies to trade with. They are becoming more hesitant to buy more of our debt. They are realizing that the days of U.S. dominance are coming to an end.
So what is that going to mean for us?
It is going to be a complete and total disaster.
Right now, we live far, far beyond our means. We borrow gigantic piles of money to make up the difference between what we produce and what we consume. We are absolutely dependent on the fact that the rest of the world will take our dollars in exchange for the things that we need.
The current situation is not sustainable.
It will come to an end.
When it does, our standard of living is going to feel like it has changed overnight.
Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management’s emerging markets group, said another financial crisis is inevitable because the causes of the previous one haven’t been resolved.
“There is definitely going to be another financial crisis around the corner because we haven’t solved any of the things that caused the previous crisis,” Mobius said at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo today in response to a question about price swings. “Are the derivatives regulated? No. Are you still getting growth in derivatives? Yes.”
The total value of derivatives in the world exceeds total global gross domestic product by a factor of 10, said Mobius, who oversees more than $50 billion. With that volume of bets in different directions, volatility and equity market crises will occur, he said.
The global financial crisis three years ago was caused in part by the proliferation of derivative products tied to U.S. home loans that ceased performing, triggering hundreds of billions of dollars in writedowns and leading to the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September 2008. The MSCI AC World Index of developed and emerging market stocks tumbled 46 percent between Lehman’s downfall and the market bottom on March 9, 2009.
“With every crisis comes great opportunity,” said Mobius. When markets are crashing, “that’s when we’re going to be able to invest and do a good job,” he said.
The freezing of global credit markets caused governments from Washington to Beijing to London to pump more than $3 trillion into the financial system to shore up the global economy. The MSCI AC World gauge surged 99 percent from its March 2009 low through May 27.
The largest U.S. banks have grown larger since the financial crisis, and the number of “too-big-to-fail” banks will increase by 40 percent over the next 15 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Separately, higher capital requirements and greater supervision should be imposed on institutions deemed “too important to fail” to reduce the chances of large-scale failures, staff at the International Monetary Fund warned in a report on May 27.
“Are the banks bigger than they were before? They’re bigger,” Mobius said. “Too big to fail.”
The money manager had earlier said at the same event that Africa has an “incredible” investment potential and that he has stakes in Nigerian banks.
“These banks are doing very well and are much better regulated than they were in the past,” Mobius said, without disclosing which lenders he holds.
Banks account for five of the eight stocks in the MSCI Nigeria (MXNI) Index. Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, the country’s No. 2 lender by market value, surged 31 percent in the six months through May 27, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Shares of Access Bank Nigeria Plc recorded the second-biggest decline on the gauge in the period, the data show.
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency warned in a report that the tough austerity measures and the dire situation could escalate and even lead to a military coup, according to a report by Germany’s popular daily Bild.
According to he CIA report, ongoing street protests in crisis-hit Greece could turn into escalated violence and a rebellion and the Greek government could lose control, said Bild. The newspaper said the CIA report talks of a possible military coup if the situation becomes more serious and uncontrolled.
Greece is under immense pressure owing to public debt that has swollen to 340 billion euros. The EU, IMF and European Central Bank are pressing Greece to step up a privatization program and get all political parties to approve more austerity and reform measures that have sparked violent protests, but emergency talks called by the president on Friday failed to make any headway, AFP reported.
Opposition parties have mostly refused to support the government in its quest to cut spending by trimming an overblown civil service and the sweeping privatization drive announced this week has attracted even stronger protests.
Meanwhile, the Dutch finance minister said his country, Germany, Finland and other EU members won't give Greece any more bailout money, if the debt-laden country fails to adopt further austerity measures.
Jan Kees de Jager said Saturday that "it's vital that Greece will live up fully" to conditions set by the International Monetary Fund if it's to receive the next batch of a 110 billion euros ($155 billion) bailout loan deal it agreed to last year, the Associated Press reported.
Last year, as the financial crisis battered Greece, Bild went as far as to highlight a suggestion by a conservative politician that Athens sell off some of its many islands to help pay off its debts.
A bailout for Greece was put in place a year ago by the EU, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, involving loans of 110 billion euros ($157 billion) over three years.
But there are now grave doubts whether Athens can meet its repayments and talk of a second bailout, or even a drastic debt restructuring, is rife.
HOHHOT (Reuters) – Security forces sealed off parts of the capital of China's vast northern region of Inner Mongolia on Sunday to prevent residents from staging a planned mass protest after the hit-and-run death of a herder sparked six days of protests by ethnic Mongolians.
Hundreds of paramilitary policemen and police in riot gear, armed with shields, batons and helmets, patrolled Hohhot's Xinhua Square, next to the Inner Mongolia radio and television station, after calls spread online for a protest on Monday.
Police also surrounded Ruyi Square, in front of the local government building, but elsewhere in the city appeared bustling as normal.
Chinese authorities sealed off parts of the northern region of Inner Mongolia, a resource-rich region strategically located on the borders of Russia and Mongolia, on Friday in what residents described as martial law.
In a rare sign of defiance, hundreds of China's Mongolians, who make up less than 20 percent of the roughly 24 million population of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, have taken to the streets in other parts of the province despite tighter security.
They were angered by the death this month of a Mongolian herder, Mergen, after being struck by a coal truck. The government announced the arrest of two Han Chinese for homicide, but that failed to stem public anger.
But the resentment goes much deeper. Inner Mongolia, which covers more than a tenth of China's land mass, is supposed to offer a high degree of self-rule, but Mongolians say the Han Chinese majority run the show and have been the main beneficiaries of economic development.
China's Mongolians rarely take to the streets, unlike Tibetans or Xinjiang's Uighurs, making the latest protests highly unusual.
The New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre said Mongolians were planning further protests over the next few days, including in Hohhot, less than an hour's flight from Beijing.
Some schools in Hohhot said authorities had stepped up security.
"The school has told us to keep an eye for any illegal gathering these days as June 4 is coming," one man in a high school in Hohhot told Reuters, referring to the armed crackdown on pro-democracy protesters on June 4, 1989, in Beijing.
"Security is tight, there are many policemen in the streets," he added. He declined to give his name.
A worker at a university in Hohhot said three entrances had been sealed off and there was a heavy police presence. He declined to comment on the reason. Telephone calls to the Hohhot government and its propaganda department went unanswered.
In the first response from the ruling Party to the demonstrations, Inner Mongolia's Communist Party chief Hu Chunhua told students and teachers on Friday he was representing the government to seek their views on the situation and said "public anger has been immense," state media reported.
"Please be assured, teachers and students, that the suspects ... will be punished severely and quickly, so that the ... rights of victims and their families can be resolutely safeguarded," the Inner Mongolian Daily cited Hu as saying.
But Hu's reassurances are unlikely to bring lasting calm, said Enghebatu Togochog of the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre.
"The conflict between the Chinese authorities' attempts to exploit the natural resources and the disrespect of the Mongolians' way of life will not be easily resolved, unless the Chinese government changes its policy," he said.
(Additional reporting by Sui-Lee Wee and Huang Yan, Writing by Sui-Lee Wee,; Editing by Nick Macfie)
There will be no sustainable housing recovery until the shadow inventory is cleared out. As of April with the latest data close to 6.4 million loans are delinquent or in foreclosure. This is a massive number of homes. What is downright disturbing of the 2.2 million homes in foreclosure you have 675,000 homes (31 percent of the pool) that have not made a payment in over two years. That is right, two full years. Apparently one-third of the bank’s strategy in dealing with foreclosures is simply to ignore missed payments. Glad it took them giant bailouts and four years to figure that one out. The housing crisis strategy is really a banking-centric one and that is why nothing has really been resolved since the crisis started. Banks are dictating the movement going forward so the idea of keeping prices inflated is simply one to protect banking interests. Since the market has very little desire for inflated real estate, banks just slip it under the rug for another day. Keep in mind that many Americans are seeing lower wages so lower home prices are actually good for their bottom line since it eats away less of their hard earned income. Plus, one-third own their home outright and another 30 percent rent. So this idea of keeping home prices high just for the sake of keeping them high is a ploy that comes out of the suspension of mark-to-market logic. Do people finally get that home prices have to fall to reflect local area incomes?
The state of distress in U.S. housing
First, it is probably useful to get a sense of the entire potential shadow inventory out in the market:
Source: Calculated Risk
According to CR we have the following:
-2.24 million loans less than 90 days delinquent.
-1.96 million loans 90+ days delinquent.
-2.18 million loans in foreclosure process.-For a total of 6.39 million loans delinquent or in foreclosure in April.
That is a large number of homes. Now keep in mind many foreclosures are now starting to make their way onto the MLS since banks are actually taking full possession of the homes (although the reality that 675,000 people have not made a single payment in two years tells you where things stand). Think about the above data; you have roughly 600,000 to 800,000 as current REOs (all the way through the foreclosure process) but you also have 675,000+ people in foreclosure who haven’t made a payment in two years:
I’ve seen some pundits argue that many of these loans will cure. We know for a hardcore fact that if you are behind on your payments for two years it is likely that your home is going to move from the shadow inventory into the REO pipeline. This also doesn’t examine the fact that we have close to 2.2 million homes in foreclosure. How many have made no payment in one year? Keep in mind we are only looking at the foreclosure category so far. So the entire U.S. banking system is being overwhelmed with 600,000 to 800,000 active REOs yet we have that many in foreclosure without two years of payments. Here is a good estimate of REO data in the U.S.
Source: Tom Lawler via Calcualted Risk
The above doesn’t cover the entire universe of REOs but does a good job. I went ahead and took a quick look at active foreclosures in the state of California and found the following:
Depending on what data source you look at California has roughly 80,000 to 89,000 homes that are REOs and ready for sale. That still leaves another 600,000 to 700,000 REOs across the country that need to be sold. You also have to wonder of the 675,000 foreclosures with two years of missed payments how many are in massively overpriced bubble states like California or New York? Well I can tell you that California currently has 157,000 homes in the foreclosure process that have yet to go REO. The bottom line is you have a massive pipeline of distressed properties waiting to make their entrance on the MLS stage.
And the foreclosures will work through the system like a rabbit filtering through a python. We have another 4.2 million homes delinquent where the foreclosure process hasn’t even started (1.96 million of the loans 90+ days late). Don’t fool yourself because many of these will end up as REOs at some point (could be years down the road given the absurd timeline we are experiencing). It can’t be stated enough that keeping the process slow and providing banks with trillions of dollars of bailout money is simply a method of clogging the financial pipes so the FIRE economy can figure out what other sector to gut and inflate into a bubble. In the end it is the taxpayer that will foot the bill unless something radical changes.
I wanted to draw the current distress universe to show how little of the shadow inventory is being shown to the public:
The bars are drawn to scale to show actual magnitude relative to other buckets. The only homes the public is viewing are those in the purple box above. But look at what we have coming down the pipeline. Things don’t seem to be changing so it is looking more and more likely that we will witness a Japan like real estate market with zombie banks walking the Earth in search of easy capital brains.
It is extremely troubling that we have so much money being lobbed at the banks with such horrible results. But what do you expect? Someone was going to pay for this decade long orgy in real estate. As it turns out it is the prudent public and middle class. The people living rent free are simply the other side of the coin to the morally bankrupt financial sector. We have to go back to watching archived films to remember a time when banking and finance actually carried a positive connotation.
I’m curious to know how many people are living in million dollar homes rent free. We’ve seen homes in foreclosure in Beverly Hills so it is certainly happening and readers have sent over confirmation of this in their own neighborhoods. Talk about a giant mess. The New York Times had an interesting graph showing how long it would take to move 872,000 foreclosures:
Source: New York Times
It would take roughly 40 months to clear the current foreclosure inventory (aka the tiny purple rectangle in our earlier chart). And more will be coming into the pipeline but banks are trying to make their speculative gains in other bubbles to soften the blow here. After all, they wouldn’t want to spoil the trillions in loot they have stolen from Americans.
The heads of the UK’s biggest firms saw their pay soar by nearly a third during 2010 – but the value of their companies rose by only 9%, research indicated.
The chief executives of FTSE 100 groups received remuneration packages averaging £3.5 million last year, 32% more than they were paid in 2009, according to consultancy firm MM&K and electronic voting agency Manifest.
But the FTSE 100 increased in value by just 9% during the same period, suggesting a weakening in the link between chief executives’ pay and their performance.
The groups said remuneration committees appeared to be struggling to maintain their independence from chief executives, and were adopting increasingly expensive, short-term reward strategies.
It added that the heads of FTSE 100 firms had seen their pay packets quadruple during the past 12 years, despite the fact that share prices have not risen during the same period.
The report warned many firms were shifting away from long-term incentives to annual bonuses, mirroring the approach that caused problems in the banking sector. It added most strategies now involved the use of long-term incentive plans, which measured performance over three years, compared with a seven-to-10-year horizon a decade ago.
The research found that larger companies tended to have complex schemes with multiple reward thresholds, but under these chief executives typically enjoyed rewards for “even the most basic levels of performance”, regardless of whether they produced “exceptional outcomes” for the company or not.
Around 74% of FTSE 100 companies now have deferred bonus plans, as do 52% of firms in the FTSE 250, but the report found that most of these schemes had been introduced at the same time that bonus levels were increased, meaning that in many cases, executives’ earnings had been “considerably enhanced” over the long term.
Sarah Wilson, co-author of the report, said: “Shareholders are increasingly looking for more aggressive strategic target setting. There is a level of frustration that remuneration committees are developing a tin ear and don’t see high levels of voting dissent as something to be concerned about.
“Remuneration committee chairmen need to reach out to their key investors directly rather than assuming that box-ticking compliance with trade association guidance is going to see them home and dry.”
The Economic Collapse
Image: Poulopoulos Ioannis, Flickr
Specifically, according to a bombshell FT report, outside authorities will take over various functions related to tax collection (a big time problem in Athens) and privatizations.
None of this is certain yet. It's just what's on the table, and no doubt politicians in the country will flip out.
But every attempt to cut the deficit has failed so far, and the powers that be in Europe (EU, ECB, IMF) are adamantly opposed to any kind of debt restructuring that would trigger a credit event, and imperil European banks.
Meanwhile, there were already huge protests in Athens on Sunday. Things are moving fast.
Meanwhile, for a look at what does happen if Greece defaults, see John Mauldin on the subject.
Update: Reuters has more details of fresh, emergency talks happening right now. A new package could be worth 65 billion from the EU and the IMF.
Ministers have triggered a major health row by unveiling plans to allow fluoride to be added to all drinking water in England and Wales.
Water companies will be forced to add fluoride if local health authorities order it, despite controversy over the long-term effects on health, the Government confirmed.
The authorities will have to demonstrate that the local population broadly supports such a move, which is designed to reduce dental decay.
But campaigners said they feared fluoridation would be given the green light in many parts of the country after minimal public consultation.
The policy will infuriate environmentalists and consumer groups.
Some believe fluoridation has links to cancer, Down's syndrome, infant mortality and bone damage.
Up to half of those drinking fluoridated water also suffer 'dental fluorosis' - a mottling of the teeth thought to be caused by its effects.
However, studies have shown conclusively that fluoride - similar to an ingredient in many toothpastes - cuts the amount of tooth decay in children by strengthening the enamel in growing teeth.
About one in ten people in Britain drink fluoridated water, with some water companies adding it and others refusing to.
Amendments to the Water Bill will shift responsibility for deciding to treat water away from the companies to regional strategic health authorities.
Campaigners said they would be much more likely to agree to add fluoride.
Public health minister Melanie Johnson told MPs that schemes would go ahead only after wide-ranging consultations 'and the majority of the population have indicated that they are in favour'.
She said large chunks of the country - 'roughly from Hartlepool down to Essex' - had naturally-occurring fluoride in the water.
Another five million people in areas such as Birmingham had fluoridated supplies.
The NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination found no evidence of a negative effect on health with fluoridation.
But Jane Jones, campaign director of the National Pure Water Association, said: ' Fluoridation is indiscriminate mass medication.
' People have an absolute right to determine for themselves what they will and will not put into their bodies. This right is denied when medicine is added to the public drinking water supply.'
（澳洲‧堪培拉29日訊）澳洲沿岸城市出現男少女多，悉尼及墨爾本等大城市鬧“男人荒”，許多達適婚年齡的剩女在城市找不到對象，紛紛參加婚姻介紹所舉辦的週末郊遊團，到鄉下尋覓佳偶。
這種週末旅行團名為“謝天謝地 他是農村男”，行程包括在農村酒吧進行8小時密集式極速約會。
主辦人彼得森說，從昆士蘭一間農村酒吧東主處得悉，布里斯班和悉尼的不少單身女性來信表示希望結識當地農夫。
彼得森遂得到靈感，舉辦相親旅行團：“這些女士明顯需要幫助，把兩組人放到同一地方，就是這麼簡單。”
首團配對成功率85%
首個旅行團便帶了50名悉尼女子到小鎮塔姆沃思相親，配對成功率達85%。
彼得森說，會為墨爾本、布里斯班及珀斯等地的女子舉辦更多旅行團。
參加者稱，質素比數量更重要，認為農村男更有紳士風度，對女性更細心，這些才是吸引人之處。
人口統計學家索爾特分析，速配郊遊團如此成功，皆因自1960年代開始，鄉郊年輕女性不再安於 畢業後就嫁人，紛紛跑到城市找工作，“農夫很想找妻子，因為附近的鄉鎮都找不到單身女子。當18歲少女們離開，令鄉鎮性別失衡，因為那裡不夠妙齡女性，她 們也令悉尼性別失衡，因為太多女人入城”。
（德國‧柏林29日訊）毒黃瓜狂襲歐洲！至今已有約千人因食用毒黃瓜而感染“腸出血性大腸桿菌”（EHEC），其中，德國死亡人數已增加至10人，但疫情尚未達高峰，釀成德國史上最大規模、也是全球最嚴重的大腸桿菌疫情之一。
初步調查顯示，病源可能來自西班牙南部生產的沙拉用黃瓜，誤食者會引發致命性的溶血性尿毒綜合症（HUS）。
告誡遊德西勿吃沙拉
各國紛紛告誡國人赴德國與西班牙旅行時，要避免生吃當地黃瓜、生菜和番茄等蔬菜，俄羅斯甚至考慮禁止進口德國蔬菜。
這波疫情來勢洶洶，德國衛生官員上週六宣佈，又有4人疑似食用遭感染致命出血性大腸桿菌污染的黃瓜後，出現溶血性尿毒症而死亡，累積死亡人數已達10人，其中2人為確診病例。
感染10天後才出現病症
德國當局警告，疫情爆發高峰期還未到，因為部份患者感染腸出血性大腸桿菌後，可能在10天左右才出現病症，提醒大家要提高警覺。
目前，德國已出現至少800宗確診和疑似病例，疫情已擴散至全國16州，無一倖免。
此外，疫情也蔓延至歐洲多國，包括法國、丹麥、荷蘭、奧地利、瑞典、瑞士、蘇格蘭與英國，均傳出疑似病例，過去1週有約300人出現病徵，正在接受治療；其中部份患者近期曾到過德國。
專家擔心全球大爆發
主管歐洲疾病防治與控制事務的官員達利警告，這次的疫情爆發是溶血性尿毒綜合征在全球各地傳出疫情以來最嚴重的一次，也是重創德國最大的一次。
漢堡一家診所指出，他們推出了以抗生素遏制腎衰竭的新療法，但需要數周時間才能知道這種療法是否有效。
世界衛生組織（WHO）表示，這次疫情不尋常，自德國3周前錄得首宗個案以來，發展非常迅速。
流行病專家擔心，這代表“一場可稱為溶血性尿毒綜合合症／志賀氏毒素大腸桿菌在全球大爆發”。
（喬普林29日美聯電）美國密蘇里州喬普林龍捲風災死亡人數持續增加，讓期盼奇蹟降臨的親屬希望破滅，迄今至少有139人遇難，逾100人失蹤，連同其他州份的龍捲風風災死亡人數，美國今年以來已有至少520人死於龍捲風風災，是1950年以來，最多人死於龍捲風的一年。
中西部近日遭受有史以來最強烈的龍捲風為害，特別是密蘇里州的喬普林鎮，當地政府此前稱死亡人數達142人，隨後又下修至139人，但沒有說明原因。
有官員透露，停屍間現有142具屍體，但部份人體殘肢可能來自同一名死者。
最新一名證實遇害的民眾，是一位剛參加完高中畢業典禮的18歲少年諾頓，他在駕車返家途中被龍捲風捲出車外失蹤，遺體最終在附近的池塘被發現，讓許多期待好消息的民眾深感惋惜。
奧巴馬將視察災區
在他失蹤期間，各大社交網站紛紛刊出尋人啟事，豈料最後只等到惡耗。
總統奧巴馬計劃在稍後前往災區視察及慰問災民，並出席哀悼會。
截至目前，歷來死亡紀錄最高的一年是1953年的519人，在此之前曾有更致命的龍捲風災，但數據沒有經過準確統計。
Typhoon Songda, the storm last week forecast to pass over Japan’s stricken nuclear plant, weakened to an "extratropical cyclone" after its forecast trajectory earlier moved south of Fukushima prefecture.
The storm was moving at a speed of 55 kilometers per hour (34 miles per hour) at 3:50 p.m. local time, the Japan Meteorological Agency said on its website. The eye of the storm was about 80 kilometers south-southwest of Murotomisaki, part of Japan’s Shikoku island west of Tokyo, and moving northeast at 65 kilometers an hour at 2:40 p.m., the agency said.
The U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center’s forecast graphic last week projected the possibility that the storm may pass over the plant, which spewed radiation after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems and left three of six reactor buildings with no roofs after explosions. Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the plant, said last week it was still considering typhoon measures and that it couldn’t announce detailed plans.
Takeo Iwamoto, a spokesman for the utility known as Tepco, said it plans to complete the installation of covers for the buildings by October.
Songda, which strengthened to a supertyphoon after battering the Philippines, weakened to a Category 3 storm from Category 5 as it passed Taiwan on May 28. The typhoon’s path also shifted south compared with the earlier projections, lowering the risk of heavy rain or winds affecting the nuclear plant.
Japan is regularly buffeted by typhoons and tropical storms during the northwestern Pacific cyclone season. In 2004, eight cyclones passed over or skirted the country’s Tohoku region, where the Fukushima station is located, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The earliest was in May that year. The eyes of two storms passed within 300 kilometers of Tohoku last year, the agency’s data show.
Songda, the name of a branch of the Red River in Vietnam, is the fourth storm to form over northwest Pacific this year. The storm lashed the Philippines as it passed the eastern seaboard, leaving one person dead, according to the country’s disaster council. Songda prompted evacuations of coastal areas and caused flooding that jammed traffic and stranded travelers.
Damage to crops was “very minimal” as most had been harvested before the storm passed, Philippine Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala told reporters March 27.
The U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center classifies storms as supertyphoons when their maximum sustain winds reach at least 150 miles per hour, according to the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory.
To contact the reporters on this story: Masumi Suga in Tokyo at
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net
We're at a funny place. The American establishment has finally come around, in unison, to admitting that America is in crisis, that our debt actually threatens our ability to endure, that if we don't make progress on this, we are going to near our endpoint as a nation. I am struck very recently by the number of leaders in American business, politics and journalism who now get a certain faraway look at the end of an evening or a meal and say, "It's worse than people think, you know." The debt crisis in Europe is not easing but worsening, the ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304520804576347743251994196.html
Anyone aware of the US Government's real financial situation knows that time is running out. The Government has $15.5 trillion in admitted debts but those debts, when calculated under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), or 'honest accounting', is over $70 trillion. $70 trillion divided by 300 million+ Americans works out to $233,000 per person in US Federal Government debt and obligations. Or nearly $1 million per family of four.
That does not included personal debt, state debt or municipal debt.
This debt plus an economy that has been completely hollowed out by the Federal Reserve system ensures that there is no way the US Government can ever pay off this debt. And, everyone knows it.
The indications that the US Government is moving very quickly to enact any legal measure or fine against Americans and to make it nearly impossible for any American to escape payment to pay for their sins are everywhere.
We recently commented on how It Is now Easier to Enter the US Than It Is To Leave. Customs agents and cash sniffing dogs stand on guard at most international US airports checking to make sure no one has more than $10,000 in cash without declaring it. The standard response to this is: "They are only making it difficult for criminals to move about and to transfer money".
Well, the problem is, the US Government is moving very quickly to make it so almost everyone is seen as a criminal in the eyes of the US legal system.
Now We Are All Criminals
It is already said that there are so many laws, rules and regulations in the US that each person in the US breaks at least one law per day, if not much more - without even knowing it. But the US Government is becoming more obvious in how it will go about making everyone a criminal and fining them ridiculous amounts of money in doing so.
This week, an American family who said they were just trying to teach their son about responsibility and entrepreneurship was fined $90,000 by the USDA because the teenager sold $4,600 worth of bunnies in one calendar year without a license. Not only were they demanded to pay $90,000, but if they did not pay within a short period of time the fine could increase to as high as $4 million.
This one case only goes to show how easy it is, within the system, to take any small transgression and to blackmail someone for, for all intents and purposes, every penny they have - or more.
Students to be Forced into the Military to Repay Debts
We also recently commented on how the US college system draws people into large debts (Debtucation) and how student debt is now larger than credit card debt in the US. It is the US Government itself that has made college education so expensive by offering student loans to anyone who can fog a mirror but again they have shown their intentions by making student loan debt the only debt which can not be forgiven. A 2005 decree from the Bush Administration stated that student loan debt could not be dissolved through bankruptcy proceedings. The only other scenario where this “no-escape” clause exists is debt from criminal acts and debt from fraud. In other words, student loan debt is seen, by the US Government, as being similar to proceeds from crime!
What will this mean with more young Americans in student loan debt than any other time? It's anyones guess but it would not be out of the realm of possibility to force students who can not pay off their debt into the military to repay their debt.
And with the US military with 800 military bases worldwide with US military personnel in 156 countries and US Military bases in 63 countries and currently occupying or attacking Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and with other drone operations in places like Yemen and Pakistan, the US is all but ensuring that it is screwing around in enough places to eventually draw in one of the big boys. Russia, China or Iran.
And, hey, we Gotta Support the Troops, right?
US Government Eyeing Pensions and Retirement Funds
On the other end of the spectrum, seniors and those in retirement, the US Government recently made it very obvious that funds held in retirement accounts are going to be the first to be taken when times get tough.
In the recent scuffle over raising the debt ceiling, the US Government was short of some funds after reaching the United States' $14.3 trillion debt ceiling last Monday. Where was the very first place the US Government went to find new sources of funds? Last week they dipped into state pension funds in order to make payments.
It is no great leap to think that as things worsen in the US Government's financial situation, which is all but guaranteed, that the first thing that will be nationalized will be all tax sheltered retirement accounts. After all, we all have to do our part to pay for the debts of the Government, right?
Anyone living off of US pensions should be very worried. And anyone with significant funds in retirement accounts should be running, not walking, to get any funds they can outside of the direct control of the US Government. We recommend looking at "Unleash Your IRA", a great program for diversifying your IRA internationally.
Get a 2nd Passport
There are two ways to look at the upcoming battle between the US Government and US citizens. You can stay and fight or you can run and hide.
If you plan to stay and fight we wish you good luck and will try to support your efforts in any way we can.
If you would rather run and hide then one of the first things you should be looking to do at this time is to at least get a second passport. This is still legal for Americans and there are many options. We discuss many of them, regularly in our newsletter.
As well, if you have the financial capability, we highly recommend buying some foreign real estate - preferably somewhere you like to live. Our favorite place, at the moment, is La Estancia de Cafayate in Argentina (email them for more information at tdv@lec.com.ar).
2011 Last Year to Get Out
Most things are still legal in the US. It is still legal to have foreign bank accounts - although you are required by law to report them to the Government. It is still legal to get a second passport. It is still legal to move assets in your IRA outside of the country. It is still legal to move money outside of the country and buy foreign real estate.
The window of opportunity is closing. If you live in the US and still have all your assets inside of the US, you likely have months, not years, to internationally diversify your assets and to get your affairs in order. Anything much after 2011 is taking a big risk of losing it all.
The Government Can
After all, we, as individuals have to live within our means and it is considered a crime if we forcibly take money from others to pay for our debts. The Government, on the other hand? The Government Can.
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – The Southern California megachurch founded by one of the nation's pioneering televangelists, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, on Friday filed a bankruptcy plan that would pull the Crystal Cathedral out of crushing debt by selling its sprawling campus and famous, glass-spired sanctuary to a local real estate investment group for $47 million.
The church would lease back most of its core buildings under the plan, which must be approved by a bankruptcy judge, so worshippers and visitors won't notice any changes in services or outreach. The church's popular, decades-old televangelist program "Hour of Power" broadcasts would also continue, the church said.
The plan would allow the ministry to lease the church buildings back for a guaranteed 15-year period, with the additional option of buying the core campus back at a fixed price within four years, said Marc Winthrop, the church's bankruptcy attorney.
The deal would erase the cathedral's $36 million mortgage and wipe out almost all of the $10 million in unsecured debt — including $7.5 million owed to vendors — that has plagued the Crystal Cathedral for several years after a disastrous leadership transition and a devastating slump in donations.
The ministry must be out of the Family Life Center, which houses administrative offices and a private school, within two years, the attorney said.
"The ministry is going to continue in the same place, in the same buildings," said Winthrop said. "It's just that we had to go through a financing transition to get rid of the debt."
A court hearing is set for July 13.
The plan specifies that the ministry will sell the property to the Orange County-based real estate investment firm Greenlaw Partners LLC, according to disclosures filed with the bankruptcy court. The property will be divided into up to five parcels and multi-family housing will be built on two parcels, with a parking lot on a third parcel.
The buyer has agreed to pay $46 million with an additional $900,000 set aside in escrow, according to court papers.
The charismatic Schuller got his start in Southern California preaching about the "power of positive thinking" from the roof of a concession stand at a drive-in theater as the car culture began to boom in the post-World War II era. He was considered a theological radical at the time, but people were soon driving from all over the Los Angeles area to sit in their cars and listen to Schuller preach through the movie loudspeakers that hooked to their windows.
Schuller, now 84, soon turned his humble pulpit into one of the nation's first megachurches, beaming his weekly Sunday service into 1 million homes worldwide through the "Hour of Power" TV show, which went on the air in 1970. Schuller became a familiar presence on television, a smiling figure in flowing robes, with snowy white hair and wire-rimmed aviator glasses.
In 1980, he opened the Crystal Cathedral, a 2,900-seat see-through church made of 10,664 panes of glass. A $20 million architectural marvel designed by the acclaimed Philip Johnson, it became a major Southern California landmark and a tourist attraction that drew people from all over the world. Schuller soon added a K-12 school and a tourist center.
But his religious empire began to collapse after a disastrous attempt in 2006 to hand over the leadership to his son, Robert A. Schuller.
The much-heralded changeover alienated older "Hour of Power" viewers and ended in a bitter and very public family spat, with the younger Schuller disappearing from the broadcasts and abruptly leaving the church altogether in 2008, less than three years after he assumed his father's mantle. The elder Schuller's daughter, Sheila Schuller Coleman, was eventually named senior pastor, a position she continues to hold.
A plummeting economy also took its toll, and viewer donations declined by as much as 24 percent in 2009, the year before the church declared bankruptcy. Its local congregation now stands at fewer than 5,000 people, although new Spanish-language and Arabic-language services draw about 2,000 and 400 worshippers respectively.
The church laid off 250 of its roughly 450 employees, sold its beloved retreat center, cut salaries and canceled contracts with more than 100 TV stations nationwide. It also canceled its world-famous Christmas and Easter pageants and racked up unpaid bills to 550 creditors, including vendors who provided live animals, costumes and other props and services for the epic holiday shows.
A week after declaring bankruptcy, the elder Schuller went on the "Hour of Power" with an emotional plea to viewers to donate more to help his ministry survive.
"If you are a tither, become a double-tither. If you are not a tither, become a tither," he said at the time. "This ministry has earned your trust. This ministry has earned your help."
Schuller Coleman said in a statement posted on the church's website that the church had picked this restructuring plan from among several because it allowed vendors to be repaid immediately and put the church on solid financial footing to pursue a new vision, including global outreach to the poor.
"We need to rise up and be the hands of Christ to help a hurting world one neighborhood at a time. Reaching future generations with the positive message of Jesus Christ requires an outreach of love," she said in the statement. "I'm excited about what God is doing now and will be doing in the future through the Crystal Cathedral
On Friday, worshippers and tourists at the church's Garden Grove campus said they were cautiously optimistic and continued to support the cathedral and its new vision.
"It sounds to me like it's a good thing," said Mike Amaneck, who has attended church at the cathedral every Sunday for 13 years. "It's a wonderful positive place and I was really inspired by the news ... because it's better for the church to go through this to be in a position where they'll come out stronger — and they will come out stronger, there's no doubt about it.
As Amaneck spoke, tourists from as far away as Germany wandered the 40-acre grounds in the sunshine, snapping pictures and lingering outside the sanctuary, where a private funeral was being held.
"I think the news today is an opportunity of hope," said Amaneck's wife, Sarah. "There are times in life when things look kind of dark and gloomy, but God will have the last word."
