‘Gold is the new black’ with best start to a year since 1980 - MarketWatch

‘Gold is the new black’ with best start to a year since 1980 - MarketWatch: "Banks and pundits are singing gold’s praises as it leaps in 2016.

The chart below from The Economist says gold GCJ6, +1.46% has gotten off to its best start to a year in 35 years. The safety play is up 15% in the year to date as of Friday, helped by haven demand amid dives by stocks, crude oil and other assets."



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Tornado Outbreak Kills at Least 9; More Than Two Dozen Twisters Confirmed | The Weather Channel

Tornado Outbreak Kills at Least 9; More Than Two Dozen Twisters Confirmed | The Weather Channel: "Tornado Outbreak Kills at Least 9; More Than Two Dozen Twisters Confirmed
Published:
Feb 26 2016 12:00 PM EST"



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Lawsuit: Sexual abuse of women allowed to flourish in New York prisons -- Society's Child -- Sott.net

Lawsuit: Sexual abuse of women allowed to flourish in New York prisons -- Society's Child -- Sott.net: "One plaintiff, Jane Jones 1, a 24-year old woman who has been incarcerated at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility since 2011, alleges she had been abused for nearly three years. The abuse involved kissing, oral sex, repeated touching, and repeated sexual intercourse. The corrections officer gave her drugs, alcohol, and herpes. The plaintiff described how the officer chose places away from surveillance cameras, and how "officers call ahead to alert the officer on duty at the post that a supervisor is on his or her way."

The plaintiff reported the sexual abuse in writing to the DOCCS Commissioner, who began an investigation. The officer involved had previously been accused of sexually and physically abusing other female prisoners and bringing them prohibited contraband. "



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British Muslim girls being forced into marriage via internet - Times of India

British Muslim girls being forced into marriage via internet - Times of India: "Minor Muslim girls in the UK as young as 11 are being forced to marry men living abroad via the internet notwithstanding a ban on forced marriage in the country.
Imams in the UK and abroad have been conducting ceremonies using Skype -- so girls can be married remotely before "being put on a plane and consummating the marriage at the earliest opportunity", according to Freedom, a charity.
The marriage is often conducted with the promise of a visa to the UK for their new husband, it said.
"The reason is to curb the behaviour of their children when they become 'too western'," charity founder Aneeta Prem was quoted as saying by 'The Sunday Times'.
"Once married, there is enormous pressure to get a spouse visa. The hope is the girl will visit (country of husband's origin) and fall pregnant to make the union seem more legitimate before bringing the partner back," she said.
In one case, an 11-year-old home-educated girl from London was married on Skype to a 25-year-old man in Bangladesh.
She contacted Freedom in November after reading a book about forced marriage that her older brother was given at school.
"She hadn't understood at the time but later realised the Skype call was a marriage ceremony. The plan was for her to meet her 'husband' at a later date and hopefully fall pregnant.
In the meantime, she was at home learning to cook and clean," said Prem, the author of 'But It's Not Fair' - an account of forced marriage.
"We see cases from many communities including those from Hindu, Sikh, Jewish, and Mormon backgrounds. No religion accepts forced marriage but some parents are using it as a method of control," she added.
Forced marriage was made illegal in England, Wales and Scotland in 2014 but there has been only one conviction and it did not involve a child."



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Beijing overtakes NYC as 'Billionaire Capital of the World' - Yahoo Finance

Beijing overtakes NYC as 'Billionaire Capital of the World' - Yahoo Finance: "Hoogewerf said China had a particularly high proportion of self-made billionaires compared to the United States.

"What we showed today is that at the super-wealth creation level, the Chinese are now leading," Hoogewerf said. "People will look at China the same way that people looked at Stanford or Silicon Valley in the 1990s.""



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The 16-year bear market coming to an end: Investor

The 16-year bear market coming to an end: Investor:



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Kalamazoo Shootings: 6 Dead, 2 Wounded After 'Random' Shootings in Michigan - NBC News

Kalamazoo Shootings: 6 Dead, 2 Wounded After 'Random' Shootings in Michigan - NBC News:



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Why Women DESTROY NATIONS * / CIVILIZATIONS - and other UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTHS - YouTube

Why Women DESTROY NATIONS * / CIVILIZATIONS - and other UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTHS - YouTube:



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Is it time to brace for negative interest rates in the U.S.? - Yahoo Finance

Is it time to brace for negative interest rates in the U.S.? - Yahoo Finance: "Before the recent turmoil in the financial markets began, the Fed raised rates in December for the first time in nearly 10 years and signaled the possibility of four interest-rate hikes in 2016.

But recent financial volatility may be forcing the Fed to rethink its planned steps. Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney, says it's possible that the central bank will go the other way and introduce negative rates.

“In the eurodollar futures market, for example, there was only a single rate hike priced in between today and 2017,” said LeBas. “That scenario is very plausible, but just as plausible is that 12 months from now we head back to the Zero Lower Bound, and perhaps we’re even talking about negative interest rates in 2017.”

The move to negative interest rates has already happened overseas as central banks have run out of options to spur growth. Sweden was one of the first major economies to introduce interest rates below zero in February of last year, followed by the Bank of Japan in January of this year.

When Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was asked about negative rates during her semiannual testimony to Congress last week, she said the option is "not off the table."

Her comments come as inflation, a key data point for the Fed, is stuck below the central bank’s 2% target.

“Since the end of the Great Recession, we’ve barely had inflation. As a society, we no longer know what causes inflation,” said LeBas. “QE was supposed to cause inflation; it did not. Policymakers are certainly coming around to that uncertainty.”"



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Slowly, Americans Moving To China - Forbes

Slowly, Americans Moving To China - Forbes: "Americans are moving to China, and staying there. So are the Japanese, Germans and Australians.

It’s not a flood. Most of them are of Chinese descent. But the numbers, minuscule compared to U.S. immigration figures, are clearly on the rise.

All told, 1,202 foreigners received the equivalent of a Chinese “green card” — making them legal, permanent residents of the world’s No. 2 economy. Zheng Baigang, head of the Ministry of Public Security‘s Bureau of Exit and Entry Administration, told China Daily on Monday that perm resident visas were up more than 80% from 2012.

More than half are new visas are going to Chinese immigrants or adult-children of Chinese immigrants living in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany and Japan. They’re off to live in the major east coast cities, seeking — or already having — professional jobs.

“The principle of China’s ‘green card’ regulation is to attract foreign talent to promote economic and social development and enhance international communication,” Zheng told the Daily.

Ada Jen, a Chinese American interviewed for the story, said she applied for a Chinese permanent residency visa in 2011. She said the China visa gives her a sense of belonging to her family’s culture. China’s become her new home.

“I have to go back to the U.S. once or twice every year to see my family, and the green card reduces exit-entry troubles,” she told the paper Monday. She said many of her friends intend to apply for perm resident status there too.

In 2010, the government issued perm visas to 564 applicants, rising to 656 in 2011, according to the Ministry. Most are coming from the Chinese diaspora, at least 53% in fact. The next biggest percentage were professionals already working and investing in the country for years."



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Man from Meerut gambles wife away for Rs 50,000 - Times of India

Man from Meerut gambles wife away for Rs 50,000 - Times of India: "Asma, 28, did not have the slightest idea that her husband Umer Ali, had gambled her away for Rs 50,000 and that the three men waiting for her in Moradabad had actually "won" her. Luckily for her she found something amiss in the behaviour of the three men and quickly raised an alarm, eventually taking refuge in a police station nearby.
Asma was asked by her husband to accompany him from their house in Amroha to Pakbara, 10km from Moradabad. When they reached the place, the three men were already waiting. She found, to her shock and disbelief, that her husband had "lost" her in gambling and was about to hand her over to the men, who in turn were to take her to an unspecified destination."



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Rupee nears record low; volatility surges - Yahoo Finance

Rupee nears record low; volatility surges - Yahoo Finance: "MUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee fell to near record lows against the dollar on Wednesday, forcing the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to intervene to stem further falls on a tough day for Asian currencies.

The rupee fell to as low as 68.67 to the dollar, not far from a record low of 68.85 hit in August 2013 when India was struggling with its worst financial turmoil since the 1991 balance of payment crisis."



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Why $100 bills and €500 notes may soon be killed off - Yahoo Finance

Why $100 bills and €500 notes may soon be killed off - Yahoo Finance: "Now, former Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence H. Summers has called for the $100 bill's execution, just as the Financial Times reported that the European Central Bank is planning on killing another big bill overseas, the €500.

In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Summers cites a new study from Harvard's Kennedy school by banker Peter Sands—he's President Emeritus of Harvard—that made a strong case for the elimination of the £50, the €500, the Swiss CHF 1,000, as well as the $100 because large currency notes such as these are the "preferred payment mechanism of those pursuing illicit activities, given the anonymity and lack of transaction record they offer, and the relative ease with which they can be transported and moved.""



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China's Subprime Crisis Is Here - Bloomberg Gadfly

China's Subprime Crisis Is Here - Bloomberg Gadfly: "The dynamic is clear. A splurge of new lending can help to dilute existing bad loans, but only at a cost. This is a game that can't continue forever, particularly if credit is being foisted on to an already over-leveraged and slowing economy. At some point, the music will stop and there will have to be a reckoning. The longer China postpones that, the harder it will be."



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China’s latest trade data are much worse than anyone expected - Quartz

China’s latest trade data are much worse than anyone expected - Quartz: "China’s trade data released today (Feb. 15) show the country’s economic slowdown may be even steeper than feared.
In January, exports from China dropped by 11.2%, the worst fall since March last year. Its imports fell by a massive 18.8%, the 15th month in a row of declines."



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8 Things That Get BETTER with Age

8 Things That Get BETTER with Age:



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As economy slips, China’s wealthy move money out - Times of India

As economy slips, China’s wealthy move money out - Times of India: "For years, China soaked up much of the world's investment money, as the economy grew at annual rates in the double digits. A largely closed financial system kept China's own money corralled inside the country.
Now, with growth slowing, money is gushing out of the country. And the government has a looser grip on the spigot, because China dismantled some currency restrictions to open up its economy in recent years.
"Companies don't want renminbi and individuals don't want renminbi," said Shaun Rein, the founder of the China Market Research Group. "The renminbi was a sure bet for a long time, but now that it's not, a lot of people want to get out."
The Chinese central bank is fighting the downward pressure by purchasing large sums of renminbi, selling dollars from its currency reserves to do so. China's reserves sank by $108 billion in December and an additional $99 billion in January, to $3.23 trillion. A year and a half ago, they stood at $4 trillion."



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'Taliban militants publicly flog Afghan woman' for going to visit a doctor with her brother-in-law - Times of India

'Taliban militants publicly flog Afghan woman' for going to visit a doctor with her brother-in-law - Times of India: "Afghan woman has been publicly flogged by Taliban militants for going to visit a doctor with her brother-in-law, it has been reported.
It is understood that attackers wrongly thought that the woman had left her home with a stranger who was not a male relative, which would be contrary to some strict interpretations of Islamic code in certain parts of rural Afghanistan.
The man was also reportedly flogged. It later emerged that he was her brother-in-law.
Local media outlet Tolo News reports that the attack was videoed and footage has circulated online. They say that the video appears to show the woman pleading with her attackers and explaining that she urgently needed to visit the doctor but that her husband was not available to accompany her."



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Many Asians Express Dismay and Frustration After Liang Verdict - The New York Times

Many Asians Express Dismay and Frustration After Liang Verdict - The New York Times:



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Israel’s Push to be a Global Security Leader — The Evident.io Blog

Israel’s Push to be a Global Security Leader — The Evident.io Blog:



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