Monday, April 22, 2013

Gold prices shoot up 2.6% as ‘shorts’ shrink

By Barbara Kollmeyer and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) — Gold futures shot higher on Monday after data showed some investors expect prices for the precious metal to rebound after their recent selloff. Copper, meanwhile, continued to fall after Goldman Sachs cut its forecasts for the metal.
Extending earlier gains, gold for June delivery GCM3 +2.73%  advanced $35.70, or $2.6%, to $1,431 an ounce during European trading hours.
After the close of regular-session trading on Friday, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Commitments of Traders report showed managed money — which include hedge funds and commodity trading advisors — took advantage of the steep drop in gold prices to cut down their “short” bets, or bets that prices will go lower. 
The report covered reportable positions among traders as of April 16, the date after gold futures suffered their biggest one-day decline since the 1980s.
The selloff in gold recently has apparently pushed up purchases of physical gold, according to bullion dealers.
Analysts have said a number of factors have contributed to the drop in gold prices, including declines in gold holdings among exchange-traded funds, worries that central banks will start selling gold reserves, and a lowered gold price forecast at Goldman Sachs.
As the new trading week got under way, May silver SIK3 +2.66%  rose 54 cents, or 2.3%, to $23.49 an ounce. Prices last week fell nearly 13%.

Shutterstock Enlarge Image
The front-month April copper HGJ3 -0.81%  , meanwhile, on Monday lost 2 cents, or 0.6%, to $3.13 a pound.
Goldman Sachs on Monday cut its 3-,6- and 12-month copper forecasts on the heels of a heavy selloff over the past two months, citing China concerns and bearish indicators.
The forecasts were lowered to $7,500 per tonnes from $8,000 on a three-month basis, to $8,000 from $9,000 for six months and to $7,000 per tonnes from $8,000 for 12 months.
July platinum futures PLN3 +1.16%  rose $15.10, or 1%, to $1,439 an ounce and palladium for June delivery PAM3 +0.72%  gained $4.30, or 0.6%, to $681.90 an ounce.
Barbara Kollmeyer is an editor for MarketWatch in Madrid. Follow her on Twitter @MWBarbaraKollmeyer. Carla Mozee is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in Los Angeles. Follow her on Twitter @MWMozee.

Stock futures lifted by G-20, Cat cuts forecast

By William L. Watts, MarketWatch
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock index futures traded higher Monday, after officials from the Group of 20 major economies offered tacit approval of Japan’s stimulus efforts, but trimmed gains as global bellwether and Dow component Caterpillar Inc. cut its 2013 forecast for profit and revenue.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJM3 +0.45% were up 51 points, or 0.3%, to 14,518, after trading as high as 14,548. S&P 500 Index futures SPM3 +0.45% advanced 6.2 points to 1,553.80. Nasdaq 100 futures NDM3 +0.53% traded up 14.25 points, or 0.5%, at 2,782.50. 
Japanese equities led a rise in Asia after finance ministers and central bankers from the G-20 late Friday refrained from criticizing Japan’s efforts to reflate its economy, which have been accompanied by a sharp fall in the yen, while making a broader call for policy makers to boost global economic growth. Read about the G-20.
It’s worth remembering, however, that U.S. equities are coming off their worst weekly performance in months, strategists said, with sentiment weakened by mixed earnings results and further signs of slowing U.S. and global growth.
Weak U.S. data could “see early optimism quickly replaced by nervous tension,” said Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at Interactive Investor in London. “Furthermore, as investors have had a tendency recently to get a tad overenthusiastic during earnings season, underlying economic data may serve as a stark reminder that rude health is still a long way off.”
Caterpillar CAT +1.13% shares edged lower in premarket trade, after the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment cuts full-year 2013 outlook for sales and earnings per share.
Peoria, Ill.-based Cat said first-quarter profit fell to $1.31 a share on revenue of $13.2 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had produced forecasts for profit of $1.36 a share on revenue of $13.8 billion.
Cat shares are down 10% since the start of the year as mining companies cut back on spending.
Halliburton Co. HAL -1.33% on Monday said it swung to a first-quarter loss of $18 million, or 2 cents a share, but topped analyst expectations for adjusted earnings and revenue. Halliburton shares rose 5% in premarket trade.
Video-streaming and rental firm Netflix Inc. NFLX +3.20% is set to report after the closing bell. Shares have jumped 76% since Jan. 1.
Toy maker Hasbro Inc. HAS +1.53% said its first-quarter loss widened, due partly to more restructuring charges, while revenue rose in three of its four product categories.
Of the 100 companies in the S&P 500 that had released quarterly results through Friday, 72% topped the mean estimate, slightly above the average of 70% over the past four quarters, according to FactSet.
Revenue has been a different story, with only 45% reporting above the mean estimate, trailing the 52% average of the past four quarters.
On the data front, March existing home sales are due for release at 10 a.m. Eastern. Sales are forecast to rise 1%, potentially bringing the annual sales rate above the 5 million mark for the first time since 2009.
While home sales have likely continued their upswing, fears of another spring economic swoon are on the rise after a run of weaker-than-expected data.

Reuters Enlarge Image
Caterpillar machines on a lot at a Massachusetts dealership.
But John Higgins, market economist at Capital Economics in London, contends the recent equity slide won’t turn into a rout, since weaker data means the Federal Reserve will be less likely to start scaling back its own stimulus efforts.
He expects the S&P 500 to fall to 1,500 by the end of 2013, before rallying to 1,600 in 2014.
“After all, with growth at home showing signs of slowing and inflation signs of easing, the Fed is unlikely to be in any rush to halt its asset purchases altogether. Meanwhile, an actual rate hike still seems a very long way off,” he said in a note.
European stocks were also higher Monday, tracking gains in Asia. The dollar moved within striking distance again of the 100-yen level versus the Japanese currency USDJPY -0.11% in the wake of the G-20 statement.
William L. Watts is MarketWatch's European bureau chief, based in Frankfurt. Follow him on Twitter @wlwatts.

Stock futures lifted by G-20, Cat cuts forecast

March existing home sales rate may push above 5 million

U.S. stock index futures catch a lift from the Group of 20’s tacit approval of Japan’s efforts to reflate its economy, though U.S. housing data and an earnings report from global bellwether Caterpillar may end up setting the tone.
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock index futures traded higher Monday, after officials from the Group of 20 major economies offered tacit approval of Japan’s stimulus efforts, but trimmed gains as global bellwether and Dow component Caterpillar Inc. cut its 2013 forecast.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average  were up 48 points, or 0.3%, to 14,518, while S&P 500 Index futures  advanced 6.2 points to 1,553.80. Nasdaq 100 futures  traded up 14.25 points, or 0.5%, at 2,782.50.
Japanese equities led a rise in Asia after finance ministers and central bankers from the G-20 late Friday refrained from criticizing Japan’s efforts to reflate its economy, which have been accompanied by a sharp fall in the yen, while making a broader call for policy makers to boost global economic growth. Read about the G-20.
It’s worth remembering, however, that U.S. equities are coming off of their worst weekly performance in months, strategists said, with sentiment weakened by mixed earnings results and further signs of slowing U.S. and global growth.
Weak U.S. data could “see early optimism quickly replaced by nervous tension,” said Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at Interactive Investor in London. “Furthermore, as investors have had a tendency recently to get a tad overenthusiastic during earnings season, underlying economic data may serve as a stark reminder that rude health is still a long way off.”
Caterpillar  shares edged lower in pre-market trade, after the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment said first-quarter profit fell to $1.31 a share on revenue of $13.2 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had produced forecasts for profit of $1.36 a share on revenue of $13.8 billion, according to analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Caterpillar also cut its 2013 outlook.
Cat shares are down 10% since the start of the year as mining companies cut back on spending.
Video-streaming and rental firm Netflix Inc.  is set to report after the closing bell. Shares have jumped 76% since Jan. 1.
Toymaker Hasbro Inc.  said its first-quarter loss widened, due partly to more restructuring charges, while revenue rose in three of its four product categories.
Of the 100 companies in the S&P 500 that had released quarterly results through Friday, 72% topped the mean estimate, slightly above the average of 70% over the past four quarters, according to FactSet.
Revenue has been a different story, with only 45% reporting above the mean estimate, trailing the 52% average of the past four quarters.
On the data front, March existing home sales are due for release at 10 a.m. Eastern. Sales are forecast to rise 1%, potentially bringing the annual sales rate above the 5 million mark for the first time since 2009.
While home sales have likely continued their upswing, fears of another spring economic swoon are on the rise after a run of weaker-than-expected data.

But John Higgins, market economist at Capital Economics in London, contends the recent equity slide won’t turn into a rout, since weaker data means the Federal Reserve will be less likely to start scaling back its own stimulus efforts.
He expects the S&P 500 to fall to 1,500 by the end of 2013, before rallying to 1,600 in 2014.
“After all, with growth at home showing signs of slowing and inflation signs of easing, the Fed is unlikely to be in any rush to halt its asset purchases altogether. Meanwhile, an actual rate hike still seems a very long way off,” he said in a note.
European stocks were also higher Monday, tracking gains in Asia. The dollar moved within striking distance again of the 100-yen level versus the Japanese currency  in the wake of the G-20 statement.

The mysterious powers of Microsoft Excel

Generic image of a man looking exasperated at his laptop computer
After two Harvard economists admitted a faulty spreadsheet calculation caused errors in a study used by numerous politicians to support their austerity policies, writer Colm O'Regan pays tribute to the power of Microsoft Excel.
They called it a "coding error". This made it sound like they were sequestered in a bunker surrounded by black screens on which a continuous parade of figures flickered past.
Instead it was just someone using Excel on a laptop who was highlighting cells for a formula and released his index finger from the left-clicky button of his mouse too soon.
The debate has raged - well raged is a strong word, perhaps sulked? - since Monday about the significance of the calculation mistake made by Reinhart and Rogoff in their 2010 paper for the American Economic Review, Growth in a Time of Debt.
Did the conclusions about debt, growth and need for painful correction send the politicians of the world to the special cabinet to dust off the scourges?
That debate is meaningless because the last five years of economic prediction have told us one thing: No one knows anything any more and the people who say they know something know even less.
The main point to take from this debacle is the truly awesome power of Excel. Not its processing ability, just its ubiquity.
As much as oil and water, our lives are governed by Excel. As you read these lines somewhere in the world, your name is being dragged from cell C25 to D14 on a roster. Such a simple action, yet now you'll be asked to work on your day off. It is useless to protest. The spreadsheet has been printed - the word made mesh.
Speaking of printing, this is another area where Excel does not give up its mysteries too easily. Everyone remembers the first time they clicked "Print" and naively expected the outcome to resemble what they saw on the screen.
There followed an awkward wait at the printer as, necks reddening with shame, the spreadsheet came out with its data scattered across a sheaf of paper - information that was key to understanding page one was located on page 72.
In between there were dozens of other pages, blank apart from borders on some of the cells so that it looked like plans for the design of a wire fence.
Only very few of us will truly harness the full capabilities of the 31-year old machine. Most people will only tentatively sum up the odd column but there are others who can really make that the old engine fly.
Screengrab of an Excel spreadsheet Careful you don't get caught with a circular reference
I still remember looking over a colleague's shoulder at a spreadsheet which had a button in the middle of it. A BUTTON! Raised above the plain of the worksheet like a ziggurat. Instantly I fell to my knees in worship.
Try it now - take some time to play with formulas and Excel will reward you generously, with magic. There are hundreds, from the simple IF, to the rather rude CUMIPMT, all the way to MIRR - the formula for operating a space station.
Of course, Excel will not always reward you. You may have made a mistake in the formula. Your hand may have shaken as you tried to remember if "col_index" was the one on the right or the left.
Excel won't tolerate this. It will send you packing, Worse still you may have a "circular reference" and you will get a lecture. Or you've inserted a chart where everything is zero apart from one thing which is infinity, and Excel will say nothing.
There are many unanswered questions, like what happens if you start everything from cell XFD-1048576? If you summed everything in a spreadsheet, where would you put the answer (ok, in another worksheet).
Excel fans are often treated pejoratively. "'You can't learn this is in a spreadsheet, kid,' said the old man, his weather-beaten face grimacing as he swiftly removed the caribou's entrails" is a line found in many books. But spreadsheets have a beauty all of their own.
They speak to a need deep inside of us to arrange things in rows and columns. Ever since the first town planners pored over drawings of grids in the Indus Valley, man has wanted to locate points by how far over and up they were.
And now these rows and columns are used in spreadsheets processing billions of dollars of trades - often wrongly, as seen in the London Whale incident. But spreadsheets don't cheat people. People cheat people.
Yet despite this, Excel is under threat. Its processing power is not enough for the requirements of the sinister organisation known as Big Data. The Force that has been quietly watching and gathering details about your every move and now is in a position to guess what you're going to do next, once it finishes running the numbers.
Excel wouldn't do that. It would hourglass for a while before eventually coming to the rather plaintive conclusion that there weren't "enough resources".
If Excel ever goes, we will miss it. In times to come we will look at old Excel spreadsheets, our eyes growing damp with nostalgia. We will trace our mouse across its clunky yet sturdy workmanship, as we would now lovingly stroke the nameplate of a Victorian machine: "Ah… pivot tables. You see, they built stuff to last in them days, knowwhatImean?"

Are We Repeating The Run-Up To The 2008 Crash? Is It Just Part Of The Plan? Two Day Gold Crash Is One Of The Most Devastating Asset Sell-Offs Ever Witnessed On Wall Street, $1 Trillion Wiped Off, Despite Raising Demand, And No One Knows Why It Happened!! Goldman Tells Clients To Short Gold Days Before The Crash, And DHS Insider Warns A Major Dip In Precious Metals Is An Indication Of Next Economic Shock Coming

Let’s recap people:
*Federal Reserve says they want to quit printing money 
*Goldman Sacks cuts expectations on gold (forcing a sell off)
*500 tons of paper gold dumped on Friday (more pressure for sell off)
*DHS insider says collapse will happen in spring after metals get slammed (he’s right so far)
*Another insider says planned collapse to happen on April 25
*Those mysterious 100,000 put options expire on April 20 & April 25

Scariest Part of Gold Crash? No One Knows Why It Happened

The two-day crash in the price of gold is one of the most devastating asset sell-offs ever witnessed on Wall Street, right up there with the stock market crash of 1987. What makes it that much worse is no one is exactly sure why it happened. 
And until investors get some answers, the selling may continue, they say.
“Unless you have a catalyst, ‘cheap’ gets a lot cheaper during a crash in price expectations,” said Keith McCullough of Hedgeye Risk Management. “Old Wall calls it ‘catching a falling knife’ for a reason.”
Gold posted its biggest two-day dollar drop ever and its biggest percentage drop since 1980 when the carnage settled Monday. Prices rebounded slightly in early trading Tuesday. It’s now down 26 percent from its 2011 high. (For the latest price, click here.)
“We are running out of superlatives to attach to the gold price move since last Friday,” Nomura analyst Tyler Broda wrote in a note to clients. “The rarity of a move like this is notable.”
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

CNBC: Panic Selling In Gold & Silver Driven By Margin Calls

Panic in the gold and silver pits of the Comex.
Gold and silver see the worst two day drop in 30 years.
“I think the last $20 has been margin selling.  The market is falling like a knife.  People are saying, Get me out now,” Phoenix Futures President Kevin Grady said.  ”You’re also seeing people selling energy profits to pay for metals losses.  You’re seeing a tremendous amount of gold liquidation today.”
Heavy outflows on global gold exchange-traded funds, which cut holdings to their lowest in more than a year, could also mark the end of a love affair between gold and investors.
“The fall in gold prices is reminiscent of some of the market capitulations seen during the global financial crisis when leveraged investors were required to sell assets to maintain balance sheets and preserve liquidity,” said Ric Spooner chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney.
 












GOLDMAN: SHORT GOLD

 Apr. 10, 2013
Goldman Sachs GS -1.61% is chasing gold to the downside.
With the precious metal inching closer to a bear market, the firm tells clients that now’s the time to short gold.
Goldman slashed its short- and long-term gold forecasts, a move that comes about six weeks after the firm had already turned even more bearish on the metal. Goldman now sees gold ending the year at $1,450, a forecast that came down from $1,600 at the end of February and $1,810 prior to that.
Goldman sees gold falling to $1270 by the end of 2014.
“We see risks to current prices as skewed to the downside as we move through 2013,” Goldman analysts Damien Courvalin and Jeffrey Currie told clients. “In fact, should our expectation for lower gold prices continue to prove correct, the fall in prices could end up being faster and larger than our forecast.

Goldman Sachs Turns Bearish on Gold, Slashes ’13, ’14 Forecasts

Gold Prices Crashes On April 12th


Maguire – Over 500 Tons Of Paper Gold Sold In Takedown
Insider information: Black Thursday 2013: Mark April 25, 2013 on your calendar

Do Wall Street Insiders Expect Something Really BIG To Happen Very Soon?

According to Business Insider, the recent purchase of 100,000 put options by a mystery investor has a lot of people on Wall Street talking…
According to Barron’s columnist Steven Sears,someone made a big bet against the financialsETF yesterday (ticker symbol XLF), and it has everybody buzzing.
The trader bought 100,000 put options on the ETF (a put option increases in value when the price of the underlying asset, in this case, the ETF, goes down).
To put that number in perspective, Sears writes, “Few investors ever trade more than 500 contracts, so a 100,000 order tends to stop traffic and prompt all sorts of speculation about what’s motivating the trade.” According to Sears, the trade “has sparked conversations across the market.”
Reportedly, those put options expire in April.
And as Art Cashin of UBS has noted, there was also another extremely large bet that was placed recently that is banking on a financial crash within the next two months…
A Very Big Bet In A Somewhat Unlikely Instrument – My friend, Jim Brown, the ever-alert consummate professional over at Option Investor pointed us to a rather unusual trade. Here’s what he wrote in last night’s edition of his valuable newsletter:
In past years I have reported on trades that were so large it appeared someone had inside knowledge of a pending event. Sometimes those were massive put positions on the S&P. A new trade just appeared that suggests there will be a market event in the near future. Last week somebody put on a call spread on the VIX using the April 20 and 25 puts. They bought 150,000 contracts for a net of $75 per contract. That is an $11,250,000 bet that the VIX will move over 20 over the next 60 days. You would have to be VERY confident in your outlook to risk $11 million on a directional position with the VIX at five year lows and the markets trying to break out to new highs.

DHS Insider – Watch The Metals, When They Dip Things Are About To Happen – The Next Economic Shock Was Coming And The Metals Would Be Taken Down In Advance Of That Event. Are We Getting Close?

The latest from “DHS Insider”
The last update from DHS insider said things would be begin to break down around the spring time frame. The next economic shock was coming. He didn’t know exactly when but a source told him the metals would be taken down in advance of that event. Are we getting close?
DH: How soon do you see things taking place?
RB: They already are in motion. If you’re looking for a date I can’t tell you. Remember, the objectives are the same, but plans, well, they adapt. They exploit. Watch how this fiscal cliff thing plays out. This is the run-up to the next big economic event.
I can’t give you a date. I can tell you to watch things this spring. Start with the inauguration and go from there. Watch the metals, when they dip. It will be a good indication that things are about to happen. I got that little tidbit from my friend at [REDACTED].

Here is the series from DHS insider where he lays it out pretty clearl:
The latest from “DHS Insider”
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/52005
More from DHS Insider
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/47420
DHS Insider: Obama’s cyber warriors & preparing for collapse
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/52923
And I forgot about this update after his update mentioning to “watch the metals”
DHS Insider update: It has begun
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/53842
DHS Advising Local PD’s of General Economic Collapse by the end of April
http://sgtreport.com/2013/04/dhs-advising-local-pds-of-general-economic-collapse-by-the-end-of-april/

….

$1 Trillion Wiped Off Global Gold Value, Prices “Could Target $1050″ – 16 April 2013

Spot gold prices fell to a fresh two-year low in Tuesday’s Asian trading, dropping to $1322 per ounce, before rallying back above $1386, as stock markets extended yesterday’s losses.
Silver dropped to its lowest level since September 2010 at $22.10 an ounce before it too recovered some ground. Oil was down on the day by lunchtime in London, while copper ticked slightly higher.
Since Friday morning, the value of total above-ground stocks of gold bullion, estimated by metals consultancy Thomson Reuters GFMS at around 174,000 tonnes, has fallen by more than $1 trillion.
Based on PM London Fix prices in Dollars, gold on Monday was down 9% from the Friday afternoon fixing, the biggest one-day drop since February 28 1983, when gold dropped 12% in a day. That in turn was the biggest single day drop since January 1980, when gold fell more than 13% one day after hitting its then all-time high of $850 an ounce.

Bullion Shortages Develop As Retail Demand Skyrockets

Amazingly, on Saturday 41-year market veteran Bill Haynes warned King World News that we were already on the verge of seeing major shortages of available retail bullion products.  Well, there are already massive shortages of bullion products.  Haynes also updates KWN readers globally on the stunning margin which gold and silver buyers are outpacing sellers.  Below is what Haynes had to say in this extraordinary interview.
Haynes:  “Eric, on Monday there was such chaos in the markets that some of the larger wholesale dealers had to shut down at various times because of the massive demand on the buy side.  These wholesalers simply had to quit taking orders not only because of the demand, but also because of the enormous price volatility….
FORCE MAJEURE WAS THE END GAME ALL ALONG, COMEX WILL DEFAULT IN THE NEXT WEEK!
CNT Sold Out All Physical Silver! ALL US WHOLESALE SUPPLIERS ARE NOW SOLD OUT OF EVERY OUNCE OF PHYSICAL SILVER & HAVE SUSPENDED ALL SALES
CME Group Destabilizes Precious Metals Markets

More Evidence That The Economic Peak Is In – Lance Roberts

if the Fed, as I suspect, is closer to the bottom of their monetary magic toolbox than currently believed – it would put the economy, & the financial markets, into potential jeopardy.
Interest-Rate-SP500-040513

What Happened The Last Time We Saw Gold Drop Like This?

Given the almost-record-breaking drop in gold in the last few days, we wonder what is coming?



This is what it looked like in Q3 2008…


and in 2011…


and now…


Call for pensioners to 'share the pain' of cuts

Pensioners should share the pain of austerity cuts and pay more tax to promote fairness between the generations in the housing market, a think-tank has warned.
The Fabian Society claims high levels of home ownership among older people threatens fairness, as the wages of middle-income workers stagnate and they cannot afford to buy a home.
It argues pensioners' taxes should increase, their benefits should be cut, and a tax on property wealth should be introduced.
The report follows previous warnings that the range of universal benefits for pensioners in Scotland such as free care and bus travel may lead to conflict between the generations.
It also comes weeks after Welfare Secretary Iain Duncan Smith failed to rule out future cuts to benefits such as Winter Fuel Allowance for well-off pensioners, while Business Secretary Vince Cable has also said it was "barmy" to continue paying benefits to wealthy pensioners.
Meanwhile, a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said the council-tax freeze and universal free services have not helped poorer households and may have made the impact of austerity cuts worse.
It said the impact of cuts on the vulnerable was not being properly addressed by councils, while the Scottish Government was subsidising wealthier families.
According to the Fabian Society, more than three-quarters (76%) of pensioners now own homes, compared with just over half (58%) 20 years ago, while in the past decade there has been a "dramatic fall" in home ownership among under-45s.
In 1979, the year Margaret Thatcher came to power, middle-income working-age households enjoyed an income 93% above that of middle-income retired households. That figure is now 37%, the study showed.
The society said this had profound implications and there should be a presumption of equality as "old age is no longer a proxy for poverty". It says the key policy should be to raise £7.2 billion by hiking taxes on pensioners so the 27% they pay as a portion of their gross income would rise to 33%.
That would put their tax in line with that of working-age households with the same income.
It said the project should be long-term, to avoid a sharp drop in living standards, but said for now the Government should consider measures such as taxing private pension lump sums to help fund universal care services.
It said: "In public policy and deficit-reduction measures, ministers should adopt a presumption of equality across age groups.
"In financial terms alone, older people are no longer distinct and blanket policies favouring them should be reviewed."
But Age Scotland said the vast majority of pensioners north of the Border were not rich, with more than 100,000 living in poverty.
Spokesman Lindsay Scott said: "Pensioners have had to scrimp and save for their homes and basically what someone from the south-east of England is saying in this report is saying is 'flog them'.
"Treating pensioners as an amorphous group of relatively wealthy people who should make way for up-and-coming generations is a bit rich.
"Where are they going to go? Where are the small houses for them?"
The Fabian Society said specific universal benefits, such as the winter fuel allowance, which contributes 3% to middle-earning pensioners' incomes, could be
reassessed without threatening the wider principle of universalism.
The Government should also scrap its "triple lock", which keeps pensions rising in line with the highest measure of inflation, as when working-age incomes are falling it "creates intergenerational unfairness".
The age of 80 is an "appropriate starting point" for age-specific benefits if the policy is aimed at supporting those on low incomes or older people with high social or health needs, the think-tank said.
"The adverse impact of either approach on retired households in the middle could be justified by the need to 'share the pain'," the society said.
As well as cutting benefits or raising taxes, the society backed Labour calls for a tax on property wealth, saying it could be done through council tax reform.
Grant Costello, chairman of the Scottish Youth Parliament, said he remained supportive of universal benefits.
He added: "It is wrong to shift the burden on to one group, regardless of the generation. Elderly people are no more advantaged or disadvantaged a group than any other."

Double whammy of bad news wings its way to the Chancellor

Fears grow that ONS data will show Britain in the dreaded grip of a triple-dip recession 

George Osborne faces a potential double whammy of dire news this week that would further ratchet up the pressure on the Chancellor to change his economic course.
The Office for National Statistics will release its estimate of the GDP growth figures for the first quarter of last year, which could show that the UK has slipped into an unprecedented triple-dip recession. The ONS is also due to release the public borrowing figures for the final month of the 2012-13 financial year, with analysts warning of the possibility it could show the annual budget deficit is rising, rather than falling. City analysts expect the March public finances figures, released on Tuesday, to show government borrowing of around £15bn in the month.
This would leave the total deficit for 2012-13 (stripping out all the various distortions such as transfer of interest payments from the Bank of England) at £117bn, around £4bn lower than the £121bn borrowed in 2011-12.
But analysts also warned there is chance that tax revenues could be weaker than anticipated thanks to George Osborne's reduction in the top rate of income tax, which could push total borrowing for the year higher than last year. "It's possible that some people might have moved their income tax payments into the next tax year to take advantage of the 45p rate introduced in April," said Martin Beck of Capital Economics. "That could depress tax revenues".
This would be a political embarrassment for the Chancellor who has gone to extreme lengths to prevent the total deficit rising on last year, including slashing departmental spending in his March Budget and delaying subscription payments to international bodies the World Bank. Even more serious for the Chancellor would be a negative figure for GDP growth in the first quarter of this year, due on Thursday, which would confirm that the UK has entered its third recession since 2008. Although the consensus forecast is for a 0.1 per cent increase in GDP for the quarter, there is a good deal of variation between individual predictions. As a result, analysts say it is touch-and-go whether the economy managed to eke out any growth in the first three months. Although there have been signs the services sector, which accounts for three-quarters of the economy, did not contract between January and March, the general expectation is that construction and manufacturing sectors were a drag on growth. "There is major uncertainty over the likely outturn, given that it is unclear just how much economic activity was hit overall during the first-quarter by the cold weather that occurred in January, and then again in March" said Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight.
Last week the International Monetary Fund slashed its 2013 growth forecast for the UK to just 0.7 per cent and said the Chancellor should consider slowing the pace of spending cuts in order to support the recovery – something Mr Osborne has steadfastly resisted for the past three years.
Furthermore, on Friday Fitch became second ratings agency to remove Britain's top AAA rating, citing "a weaker economic and fiscal outlook". The ratings agency followed Moody's which made a similar cut to Britain's credit rating in February.

 

Paul B. Farrell: America needs a new war? For the economy to survive? Job market to revive? Capitalism thrive? Maybe. Here’s why:


America needs a new war? For the economy to survive? Job market to revive? Capitalism thrive? Maybe. Here’s why:
Forbes reported that GDP data “fell for the first time in three and a half years in the fourth quarter … declining by an annualized 0.1%” while “economists had expected GDP to increase 1%. A dramatic 15% drop in government spending dragged on economic activity. Defense outlays were cut the most, falling by 22.2%, the largest decrease in defense since the Vietnam War’s end in 1972.”
Wars stimulate the economy and we are a warrior nation: Didn’t WWII get us out of the Great Depression? And the Iraq/Afghan Wars, longest in history, sure stimulated the economy … the Pentagon war machine doubled from $260 billion in 2000 to roughly $550 billion last year … GDP increased 50% from $10 trillion to $15 trillion … and federal debt tripled to over $15 trillion from under $5 trillion back when our leaders believed “debt didn’t matter.”
But most of all, wars are great for capitalists: Forbes list of world billionaires skyrocketed from 322 in 2000 to 1,426 recently. Yes the adjusted household income of the rest of Americans flatlined the past generation.
But still, life’s great for capitalism and for 1,426 capitalists across America and worldwide, a tribute to the “disaster capitalism” doctrines of Nobel economist Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand’s free-market capitalism dogma.

American politicians conflicted, cut debt but not the war machine

However, with the Afghan and Iraq Wars winding down, capitalism needs an economic stimulus: a new war. It’s so American: Neocons believe a new war would boost GDP. They must be praying North Korea’s Lil’ Kim will do something impulsive. Give us an excuse.
Yet Washington politicians are conflicted. Some want to shrink government, cut debt and are cheering the “dramatic 15% drop in government spending.” On the other hand, the “largest decrease in defense since the Vietnam War’s end in 1972” is unnerving neocons, warhawks and politicians heavily dependent on defense contractors, lobbyists and voters at military bases in their districts.
So what’s next? If American capitalism needs a new war to survive … if we’re slowing down the Afghan and Iraq war theaters … if North Korea’s just saber-rattling … if China has too much to lose … if new wars are fought by drones from video screens in one of the Pentagon’s 70 drone bases … but if all the military-industrial complex capitalists who get rich off wars are still itching to attack … then who will trigger a new war for America’s “disaster capitalists?”

10 unpredictable flash points where new global wars can ignite

Although black swans are by definition unpredictable, there are 11 hot-spot pressure points already ramping up global tension and conflicts. And suddenly, the pressure can easily spark over the line, hit a flash point, and be ignited by any one of multiple unpredictable events that suddenly explode, and spread like a virus to all 10.
Then capitalist warhawks can take advantage of it, as they did by linking 9/11 with launching the Iraq War. So yes, in Worldwatch Institute’s report we see at least 11 challenging black swan hot spots that could surprise and ignite new wars:
Here’s Worldwatch’s blunt challenge: “Planet’s Tug-of-War Between Carrying Capacity and Rising Demand: Can We Keep This Up?” No: The planet’s “shrinking resources” cannot satisfy the exploding population’s “growing demand for food and energy.”
Why? It’s “impossible, we can’t keep this up.” Robert Engelman warns: “Rising trends will not last forever. They can’t.” The world will collapse under epidemics, famines, warfare.
When? A decade ago the Bush Pentagon predicted that “by 2020 there is little doubt something drastic is happening,” they told Fortune. “As the planet’s carrying capacity shrinks, an ancient pattern of desperate, all-out wars over food, water, and energy supplies would emerge … warfare is defining human life.” 2020 is dead ahead.
The coming capitalist wars reminds me of fighting depicted in the brutal “Hunger Games” movie. A perfect metaphor. With over one billion of seven billion people in the world living on two dollars a day … with accelerating food and commodity prices pushing more humans and emerging nations over the edge … with rising real food shortages, real hunger, real malnutrition, real starvation, real poverty … with the living standards of developed nations demanding an ever-increasing share of ever-scarcer resources … we see Worldwatch’s 11 vital signs as hot spots and black swans that can easily ignite rebellions, revolutions and full-scale wars in the near future:

1. Population explosion — planet can’t feed 3 billion more people

Back during the Great Depression the world had 3 billion people. Twelve years ago it had doubled to 6 billion. Now it’s 7 billion, with the United Nations predicting 10 billion by 2050. Worldwatch says “although fertility rates are falling worldwide, many countries with high birth rates will have to accommodate a rapidly expanding labor force in the next few decades. In Uganda, where women give birth to six children on average, this means needing to generate more than 1.5 million new jobs by the late 2030s.”

2. Factory farming — chemicals, water shortage, health risks, diseases

Big Agriculture “has contributed to a tripling in global meat production over the last four decades.” Texas cattlemen may be getting richer but this is “associated with heavy use of chemical inputs, the spread of disease, antibiotic overuse and resistance, massive water consumption, and declines in human health.”

3. Food production — skyrocketing demand, speculative pricing

Last year’s data tells us “grain production is recovering from a slump.” However, a longer-term recovery “is being seriously hindered by climatic changes and by rising demand for ethanol fuel, producing ripple effects throughout the economy through increased grain prices.”

4. Rain forest, timber lands — lost to urbanization and agriculture

As the demand for food and the price of agricultural lands continues rising, the world’s forests continue to disappear, wiping out species and habitats, displacing native cultures, disrupting climate patterns and contaminating the environment. For example, a few years ago Bloomberg Markets specifically exposed Cargill and Alcoa for “destruction of the world’s largest rain forest … robbing the earth of its best shield against global warming.”

5. Meat products — huge gas emissions impacting climate and ozone

Worldwatch reports that “livestock are responsible for 40% of the world’s methane emissions and 65% of nitrous oxide emissions,” emitting toxic “greenhouse gases 25 to 100 times more potent than carbon dioxide.”

6. Organic foods — unintended consequences and high costs

Organic foods bought at stores like Whole Foods Markets make you feel spiritual. But Worldwatch warns that the organic movement is now being challenged by “rising farmland prices, inconsistencies in organic standards and higher prices of organic foods.” Moreover, organic farming is actually impeding “a broad global shift to sustainable agriculture.”

7. Starvation and obesity — both rise to global health pandemic

Imagine, “statistics from 177 countries show that 38% of adults — those 15 years or older — are now overweight, with trends on the rise across different regions of the world and different income levels.” Yes, both hunger and obesity accelerating, threatening billions.

8. Oil and alternative energy — increasing demand vs. finite supply

Global oil consumption reached a new high of 87.4 million barrels per day in 2010. Oil remains the largest commercial source of energy.” Meanwhile “global production of biofuels reached an all-time high of 105 billion liters in 2010, up 17% from 2009, mostly as a result of high oil prices, global economic rebound and new biofuel-related laws and mandates.”

9. Natural gas — fracking and shale gas damage to the environment

Fossil-fuel demand is being “driven by surging natural-gas consumption in Asia and the United States.” As a result natural-gas consumption increased 7.4% in 2009-2010 hitting a record 113 trillion cubic feet. The dark side: New technologies and sources such as fracking and shale gas are now environmental threats along with spill risks to aquifers and from deep-water explorations.

10. Nuclear power — meltdowns, terrorists and spent-fuel storage

Yes, the “generation of nuclear power fell in 2011” due to the “increasing costs of production, a slowed demand for electricity, and fresh memories of disaster in Japan,” plus Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and the increasing risks of storing spent fuel.
Check out the Worldwatch site. Get their newsletters, get into action. And read the “Hunger Games” trilogy, a powerful metaphor for the world’s real “Hunger Games,” a global war for survival being fought every day, driven by an ever-increasing population with a seemingly insatiable “demand for food and energy” on a planet with “shrinking resources.”
Until we wake up to the coming wars, we’re just happy capitalists trapped in the mind-set of Robert Mankoff’s brilliant New Yorker cartoon: “While the end-of-the-world scenario will be rife with unimaginable horrors,” says the head of a too-greedy-to-fail bank, “we believe that the pre-end period will be filled with unprecedented opportunities for profit.” Go capitalism!
Paul B. Farrell is a MarketWatch columnist based in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Follow him on Twitter @MKTWFarrell.

World Bank President: Climate Change Is Urgent 'Today' Problem


"If we have any hope of keeping climate change below two degrees celsius, the peak year of carbon emission has to be 2016," said Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank. "So the challenge is right in front of us."
Thursday on the NewsHour, Kim speaks with Jeffrey Brown about a new initiative to address extreme poverty around the world. In an extended conversation, Kim also addressed the urgency of climate change and how World Bank is working to combat its effects. He says they must increase financial resources for sustainable energy, use innovative agriculture and partner with major cities to reduce their carbon footprint.
But getting different international powers to agree on things like the price of carbon has been one of the challenges in the effort to curb climate change. Kim said once that is decided, the market forces will kick in and regulate emission.
Kim stressed the importance of investing in sustainable energy, especially for developing countries in Africa where access to power and electricity is not a guarantee. The World Bank president also proposes reclaiming degraded land and growing foods that consume more carbon as innovative ways of reducing carbon emissions.
Kim cites the efforts of New York City as an example of a successful urban clean-up. New York is on track to have reduced its carbon footprint by 30 percent by 2017, reaching their target goal ahead of their 2030 deadline.
"Climate change is not an issue for our grandchildren. It's an issue today," said Kim.

The International Monetary System & The Future Of Money

Recommend skipping the first 10 minutes if you are not into Islam or religion in general. This man is entertaining and enlightening. We have to discard the money system that is enslaving the world.

Italian Political Trouble Just Became EU Economic Trouble

The Italians are electing their 63rd government in the last 68 years. This annual anarchy was only interrupted once since World War II, when Silvio Berlusconi from 2001-2006 became only Italian Prime Minister to ever finish a full five-year term. In 2011, Mr. Berlusconi was forced to step down after this picture of his infamous Bunga Bunga alleged bondage and sex partiesheated up tabloids around the world.
In most years, Europeans chuckle about this type of instability: “it’s an Italian thing”. But by controlling 16% of the European Union’s GDP, political trouble just became European economic trouble as Italy’s debt was downgraded to BBB+ and a growing Italian bank run seems to have begun. The realization that Italy is even too big for Germany to bail out seems to have sparked yesterday’s 5% crash in German stocks and is again heating up the European financial crisis.
Italy is a businessman’s nightmare and a tourist's dream. No matter how politically corrupt the economic environment, beautiful Italian girls will be decorating the outdoor “Café Society”, while wearing the latest designer fashion. The central government in Rome tries to balance the general needs of the country and the interests of local powers, which range from local, regional and national political leaders to labor unions, the Catholic Church and the various criminal organizations that operate in the country.
Approximately 45 million Italians may physically show up at 61,225 polling booths across Italy to select 630 members of the lower house Chamber of Deputies and 315 members of the upper house Senate for the national parliament by selecting from lists headed by 32 candidates for prime minister. Another 8 provincial presidents and 426 mayors will also be elected. The 2.6 million registered Italians living abroad can vote for an additional 12 members of the lower house and 6 members of the Senate.
Financially, the fertile and industrialized north is one of Europe’s richest regions and the arid south is one of the continents poorer regions. The prosperous north practices sophisticated tax evasion and the south benefits from state subsidies and organized crime. But by embracing the German dominated euro currency in 1999, Italy enjoyed a decade of economic stability through a 300% increase in borrowing.
Those days of wine and roses ended abruptly in 2011 as the European debt crisis hammered Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain, now known as the PIGS of Southern Europe. This week the country’s top business federation, Confindustria, said the economy is caught in a “vicious circle” where 29% of companies cannot meet “operational expenses”, frightened banks refuse to lend more money, 1,000 businesses a day to go bankrupt and the banks are rapidly going bankrupt.
Big industrialists, such as Fulvio Conti, head of the energy group Enel, said firms are dying from lack of liquidity and called on the Bank of Italy to take bold action to be the lender-of-last-resort to head off a disaster. But a leading cause of companies lacking liquidity is often the Italian government that is $59 billion in arrears in paying its vendors.
The Italians, like the other 25 members of the euro currency always assumed that if they ever suffered a financial crisis they could rely on the Germans to bail them out. Since 2009, the Germans controlled European Central Bank (ECB) was instrumental in restructuring debt for the little economies of Ireland, Portugal and Greece. Last September the ECB calmed financial markets by announcing a new government bond purchase plan which brought down the cost of selling bonds for Italy and Spain. But last month Germany shocked financial markets when they refused to bail-out tiny Cyprus and forced the government to expropriate a percentage of all their larger bank deposits.
The credit rating agencies and Italian bank depositors now know that there is no way Germany would or even could bail-out the 7th largest economy in the world. During January and February, Italian bank deposits shrank by 2% each month. But with Cyprus and the debt downgrade, many Italians are withdrawing large amounts of cash in a “flight to safety” to neighboring Swiss banks. With German investor beginning to panic over Italy’s problems, the “vicious circle” in Europe just got allot wider.

Max Keiser - Why You Should Own Gold Even After April (2013) Massive Price Fall

Banker Occupied Governments Reduced To Desperate Measures.

Robert Mundell is the father of the euro. When he taught at the University of Chicago, he told his students that the euro was never intended to actually work. Its purpose was to fail, impoverish the people of Europe and force them to accept a dictatorship from the unelected European Commission. This is according to Greg Palast of the BBC who attended the University of Chicago.
On the American front the history of America’s occupation in the modern era began in 1913 when the Federal Reserve Act was passed and the Internal Revenue Service was created. The bankers obviously assassinated President Kennedy. They decided to kill him on the 53rd anniversary of their first meeting held to draft the legislation  for the Federal Reserve Act. Bankers like to flaunt their power. There is a reason for that. It changes the society which has to adjust to the fact that the bankers have the right to kill us for committing the crimes of excessive courage, honesty and integrity.
Even before the assassination of Kennedy I knew we would experience a rapidly growing National Security State.  Our bankers are allowed to create our money as a loan at interest to transfer all wealth from us to them. We had lost more than 3 million Americans to starvation in the Last Great Depression.
Try looking at the world from the point of view of the Trilateral Commission which is a Rothschild-Rockefeller operation. They issued a paper in 1975 called The Crisis in Democracy On The Governability Of Democracies. The bankers concluded that we suffer from excessive democracy. Really? I see no evidence of democracy. Are there any politicians who listen to voters on all those wars, Bailouts, Austerity cuts and tax increases? Americans now consume meat that is not inspected for disease. One of the men who wrote that original paper also took up the idea of the Clash of Civilizations and the War on Terror. This clash is between Banker Occupied Governments and Muslims who do not like usury, bank fraud, unemployment, Quantitative Easing, colonialism and Zionism.
Ehud Barak who had been Prime Minister when Israel was planning the controlled demolitions of World Trade Center Towers 1, 2 and 7 was in London on 911. He had a script for the future of all NATO countries.  He said we were to wage a War on Terror. We then were told that this war was to be waged for the next 100 years. But America, Great Britain and Europe will be bankrupt long before we reach the 12th anniversary of 911.
We are very close to an economic collapse in Europe, Japan, the United Kingdom, America and a hundred other countries. Does anyone believe that America would be willing to sacrifice ten million people to die by starvation to show their love for the bankers? Does anyone believe that two million Americans of Hispanic descent will willingly starve to death rather than be accused of being disrespectful to our ruling Lords of Wall Street? Does anyone believe black Americans will sacrifice two million of their people? Does anyone believe that five million white Americans who have over 300 million guns will willingly die of starvation?
Things are getting worse in the EU. A coroner in a small county in Ireland had five coroner’s juries return verdicts in one day. All five were suicides of young men ranging in age from 16 to 30. Some do violence to themselves but others will do violence against their oppressors.
Bill Holter of Miles Franklin recently wrote a short piece at Silver Doctors saying that the COMEX will default on its silver and gold contracts. The bankers sold tons of paper gold and silver they cannot deliver. They did drive down the price and even piled on by raising margin requirements. This was an act of desperation.
Mario Draghi, the former Goldman Sachs VP and current head of the European Central Bank said that Cyprus was not done right. They took the deposit money of politically unconnected while allowing the favored few to get their money out and get into something better than a euro.  Draghi says they needed a Structural Mechanism to do abetter job at what I have called Quantitative Looting and the media is calling a Bail-in. Angela Merkel is being advised by Five Wise Men who recommended a Bail-in which would take the Cyprus model, refine it and take it all the way across the Eurozone. Specifically they are talking about a wealth tax. Their idea is that if the Too Big To Jail Banks go under, we will allow the people who own the government to loot our bank accounts and to levy a one time tax on our homes. The latter is thought to be a good idea because homes are easy for tax collectors to find. These policies are being discussed prior to the German elections. Italy might have to go for a second round of parliamentary elections. I do not think voters in either Iraly or Germany are going to like these ideas. Maybe that is why the Trilateral Commission thinks we suffer from Excessive Democracy and Obama is buying 30,000 drones, 2 billion bullets and 2,700 tanks to terrorize the taxpayers.
People are going to get angry. It is time we ask our friends this: Why bankers cannot go to jail. Tell them the answer is that an Occupying Power is exempt from the laws of Occupied nations like America, the EU and the UK.
So let’s look at the bankers’ possible exit strategies. All of these exit strategies involve your impoverishment and enslavement to be followed by your death.
The bankers got out of the last Depression by starting World War II  after the German military and the Japanese Emperor had tried to surrender.
Vladimir Putin is not my favorite man on the scene. He could do a lot more to defend Syria and Iran. But at least he is an adult. He will not allow this hype over Korea, Syria and Iran to go nuclear. And as I have been saying for more than five years, there will be no attack on Iran. That would be suicidal. The professional soldiers in the US and in Israel have said No.
So what is left?
Recently the police in Colorado were told by federal officials that they would have to go door to door taking guns away from Christians and Catholics. That is insane and will only happen if the bankers decide to destroy America by starting a civil war.  They want to kill both sides. That is one form of population reduction. As Zbigniew Brzezinski said, “It is easier to kill a million people than to control them. They will need to kill us off in large numbers while impoverishing us.
I think they know earth changes are coming anyway and will add a series of plagues into the mix. The New Madrid and California earthquake zones are long overdue. There is also a problem in the Indo-Australian tectonic plate so there is an increased risk of volcanoes and earthquakes in the Pacific Ring of Fire area. Do not forget that the Pacific Ocean has become toxic due to Fukushima.
They do not have much time left before their banks collapse so we should expect a major event within weeks or at most two or three months.
Related Articles: The first article is from Catherine Austin Fitts who created the term Slow Burn to describe the daily theft of your money by bankers.
Catherine Austin Fitts: The Black Budget And The Leveraged Buyout Of The World Using Stolen Money
http://vidrebel.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/catherine-austin-fitts-the-black-budget-and-the-leveraged-buyout-of-the-world-using-stolen-money/
Nine Myths And Misconceptions About Money That Can Literally Kill You
http://vidrebel.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/1054/
IMF Economists: ‘We Were Wrong.’ Will Someone Please Tell The Press And The Politicians.
http://vidrebel.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/imf-economists-we-were-wrong-will-someone-please-tell-the-press-and-the-politicians/
Memo To Pentagon: Compare The Invasion Of Lichtenstein And The Cayman Islands To War With Iran And Syria
http://vidrebel.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/memo-to-pentagon-compare-the-invasion-of-lichtenstein-and-the-cayman-islands-to-war-with-iran-and-syria/

Japan please don't sign TPP

It is utterly disgusting to listen to the Nye-Armitage report. CSIS is the PNAC for Asia.

Listen to these crooks. It doesn't even have a good front the whole talk is a bit of ego stroking Japan combined with an infomercial to buy US natural Gas. They even had the gumption to tell Japan to re-start their nuclear power! Wow.

China earthquake: Rescuers scrabble to find survivors

Thousands of rescue workers combed through flattened villages in southwest China in a race to find survivors from a powerful quake as the toll of dead and missing rose past 200.

Dressed in bright orange uniforms, rescuers battled their way up mountain paths strewn with wreckage to reach isolated parts of Sichuan province on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau.

Army troops dressed in camouflage worked through the night, searching villages where houses had been destroyed for survivors and treating those injured in the quake.

China's new Premier Li Keqiang has rushed to the disaster zone and was shown by state broadcaster CCTV eating breakfast in a tent. He told state media that "the rescue effort is our first duty".

Li said on Saturday that the first 24 hours was "the golden time for saving lives", as China's new leaders respond to a fresh disaster five years after another Sichuan earthquake left more than 90,000 people dead or missing.

But the rescue operation was hampered by huge queues of traffic -- some stretching back for 20 kilometres (12 miles) -- clogging roads into the disaster zone.

"We really want to go in and help people, but instead we are waiting in traffic," one frustrated relief official said in his car, as large numbers of volunteer rescuers from local communities tried to head to the zone.

Boulders the size of cars littered streets in Lushan county, the epicentre of the earthquake.

"Three people died in that building, and no one wants to live in this area anymore because it is too dangerous," a 45-year man surnamed Yang told a news agency, surrounded by rubble from the quake.

More than 1,100 aftershocks have followed since the quake struck Sichuan province on Saturday morning. Chinese seismologists registered the tremor at 7.0 magnitude while the US Geological Survey gave it as 6.6.

At least 179 people have been confirmed dead, 24 are missing and nearly 11,500 were injured, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

Firefighters helped by sniffer dogs have pulled 91 people alive from the rubble, the Xinhua news agency said, citing the Ministry of Public Security.

At Lushan People's Hospital, a steady stream of ambulances continued to arrive in the early hours of Sunday. Most victims were taken to tents erected in the grounds of the hospital, where doctors treated the wounded.

A 68-year-old woman with a broken arm spoke of the terror she experienced when the earthquake struck.

"It was as if the mountain was alive," she told a news agency. "Now I have no home to go. So I don't know what I am going to do."

Quake-prone Japan, which has been mired in tension with China over a high-seas territorial dispute, offered any help that is required.

"Japan is ready to offer its maximum support," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a message to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li, according to Japan's Foreign Ministry.

China responded that overseas assistance was not needed at the moment but that it would contact Japan if that changes, the ministry said.

More than 17,000 Chinese soldiers and police have joined the rescue mission and five drones were sent to capture aerial images, Xinhua said, as well as aircraft carrying out rescue and relief work.

A military vehicle carrying 17 troops headed for the quake area plummeted over a cliff on Saturday, killing one soldier and injuring seven others.

The disaster has evoked comparisons to the 2008 Sichuan quake, the country's worst in decades, and President Xi ordered all-out efforts to minimise casualties, Xinhua said.

The 2008 quake generated an outpouring of support, with volunteers rushing to the scene to offer aid and then-premier Wen Jiabao also visiting.

But public anger erupted after the discovery that many schools fell while other buildings did not, creating suspicions of corruption and corner-cutting in construction.

The deaths of the children became a taboo subject in the heavily controlled domestic media and social media websites.

But the response on China's Twitter-like "weibo" sites to Saturday's quake has overwhelmingly been one of support for rescue efforts, with thousands pledging to donate money and others mourning the victims.

Earthquakes frequently strike China's southwest. In April 2010, a 6.9 magnitude quake killed about 2,700 people and injured 12,000 in a remote area of Qinghai province bordering the northwest of Sichuan.

Higher Sperm Counts Are a Breeze with a Kilt

kilt

Low sperm count got you down? The problem might not be in your pants — the problem may be pants themselves.
Researchers believe wearing kilts — the skirtlike garments long associated with Scottish bagpipers — could enhance men's fertility while also providing psychological benefits.
The medical experts base their claim on existing studies that prove sperm counts improve when the scrotal area is cooler. A 2012 report suggests that wearing boxer shorts (as opposed to snug-fitting briefs) was associated with higher sperm counts.

"Based on literature on scrotal temperature, spermatogenesis [or the process of sperm development] and fertility … men who regularly wear a kilt during the years in which they wish to procreate will, as a group, have significantly better rates of sperm quality and higher fertility," the study authors wrote.
Their research is detailed in the latest issue of the Scottish Medical Journal.
Other studies have found that heat-inducing activities, such as sitting in hot saunas and using laptops, can adversely affect sperm count and sperm motility (movement).
And the healthiest, most virile way to wear a kilt? "Regimental style," the study authors suggest — also known as "going commando," or simply "not wearing any underwear."
"There are strong psychological benefits associated with kilt wearing," the researchers noted, "most notably (a) a feeling of masculinity and pride and (b) positive attention from sexual admirers.
"Because the kilt is a purely masculine garment, men need not be ashamed of or reticent about the therapeutic wearing of a kilt for a certain period of time to possibly improve sperm quantity and quality."
However, the study authors cautioned, "further research is needed to prove this hypothesis."
Follow Marc Lallanilla on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Everyone should have a trial.


Before you read below everyone should read this too . USA: The Creator & Sustainer of Chechen Terrorism because if you don't understand that you are going to be lost.

EVERYONE should have a trial. If you don't have a trial then there is something to hide. Nazis had a trial. Other domestic terrorist had trials. Even the 20th 9/11 hijacker had a trial. The DC snipers had a trial. Timothy McVeigh had a trial. Even Saddam was taken to kangaroo court. So why do these guys in Gitmo involved in 9/11 and (possibly) the living Boston bomber not get a trial? Because the government can't allow its privateers and patsies a public place to spill the beans.

A real simple question I have is why doesn't the debris on the back pack used in the bombing match either of the back packs of the accused? It was black with a white square on the top. The backpack of the bombers is grey and black the other white with black. Image Image

Also wasn't the other bag supposed to have been brown? Isn't that was was first reported and filmed?
Image

The debris bag at least one of them looks like one from the National Guard Civil Support Team and no it was not Craft International.

And no it wasn't This guy. Similar or same kind of backpack sure but not him because
Image

He still had his on after the bombing
Image

The fact that that guy and the skull caps were so covered on Jonestown ought to let you know that it would be easily debunked because Alex is Cointel-Pro. The guy is always building the walls on Jericho.

So what you have left is, a resounding none of the above. Unless the other backpack was white and black, there is no match at all. The Grey and black one did not have the white square nor was it as black as the debris.

China hits back at US over 'woeful' rights record


Beijing: China on Sunday accused the United States of human rights violations through its military operations abroad and failing to prevent its own citizens from gun violence, in a rejoinder to a US rights report.

The report, released by China's parliament, the State Council, said Washington has "turned a blind eye to its own woeful human rights situation", despite styling itself as "the world judge of human rights".

China -- which officially includes rising living standards in its definition of human rights -- released the report in response to a US report published Friday that said China's rights record has worsened over the past year.

The US report highlighted a Chinese crackdown on ethnic minorities, including Tibetans, the detention of political dissidents, as well as the widespread surveillance of citizens by a huge domestic security apparatus.

China responded by blasting US surveillance of its own citizens, and said that political donations have damaged the country's democracy.

China's report, culled from a variety of sources, including US media, accused US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan of causing "massive civilian casualties".

The report also cited "astonishing" casualties that resulted from mass shootings at a movie theatre in the state of Colorado in July and at an elementary school in Connecticut in December.

"Americans are the most heavily armed people in the world per capita," the report said. It added that the US had "serious" issues with discrimination of a sexual, racial and religious nature.

The exchange of critical reports between the two nations on human rights has become an annual tradition, while relations between the world's two largest economies remain strained over issues including cyber-hacking and North Korea.

A copy of the report was published by China's official news agency Xinhua.

AFP