Archive
Massive Severe Outbreak Coming Next Week
It appears the onslaught of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms that have claimed dozens of lives and left communities in ruins from the Plains into the East over the past few weeks is going to continue right into next week.
Next up is another severe outbreak set to hit areas from Oklahoma to Ohio Friday afternoon and night.
After that, AccuWeather.com severe weather experts are already greatly concerned about the tornado potential with a series of storm systems set to track across the hard-hit Plains, Midwest and Southeast throughout next week.
“This could be more widespread than anything we’ve seen this season,” said AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski.
“We’re going to see multiple outbreaks of severe weather Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week from the Ohio Valley to the southern Plains and into the southeastern U.S.,” Kottlowski explained. “The orientation of upper-level winds with this setup look to favor a high risk of tornado development.”
“People should review tornado safety guidelines and take any [severe thunderstorm or tornado] watches and warnings very seriously,” Kottlowski stressed.
While severe thunderstorms with this outbreak could get under way as early as late Sunday, the main threat will evolve Monday Read more…
Yemen crisis: Protesters keep up pressure on Saleh
Thousands of anti-government protesters are standing their ground in the capital of Yemen, despite a deal that would see the president step down.Protesters occupying a permanent camp in Sanaa say they don’t trust President Ali Abdullah Saleh to keep his promise to leave office.
Mr Saleh agreed on Saturday to hand over power to his deputy within 30 days in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
Protesters say he must go immediately.
There were fresh demonstrations in Sanaa and in other parts of the country on Sunday.
Witnesses say the protesters in Sanaa are ringed by army units that defected to join and protect them. Uniformed soldiers were seen chanting alongside the demonstrators and flashing victory signs.
At least 130 people have died during two months of protests inspired by uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world.
Despite the protesters concerns, a coalition of seven opposition parties has generally accepted the deal, brokered by the Gulf Read more…
Gold and silver: through the roof
All that glitters is gold, and silver… at least that’s what the market thinks. The price of spot silver jumped 5 per cent to hit $49 a troy ounce, and gold hit a record high for the seventh consecutive session, at $1,517.71 a troy ounce in early trading on Monday. Meanwhile, the US dollar fell to a three-year low.
According to reports from Reuters, much of the interest looks to be coming from India and China.
“Everyone is buying… there is stop-loss buying, as well as a good buying interest from China,” Reuters reported, citing a trader in Hong Kong.
Gold has been at all time highs since the start of the year when oil prices jumped and geo-political concerns in the Middle East began to shake confidence in a global economic recovery. According to the FT’s Jack Farchy, investor holdings in gold through exchange traded funds have risen 1.38 per cent in April this year – the strongest monthly gain since August 2010.
But it’s not just gold that has generated interest in recent months. Holdings in iShares Silver trust, the Read more…
At least 500 dead in Nigeria election riots
BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — At least 500 people died in religious rioting that followed Nigeria’s presidential election, a civil rights group said Sunday, as volatile state gubernatorial elections loom this week.
Meanwhile, police in the northern state of Bauchi said at least 11 recent college graduates who helped run polling stations as part of the country’s national youth service corps have been killed in postelection violence, while other female poll workers have been raped.
The Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria said that the worst hit area was Zonkwa, a town in rural Kaduna state, where more than 300 people died in rioting.
The Civil Rights Congress, led by a Muslim activist, said killings also took place in the towns of Kafanchan and Zangon Kataf, as well as the state capital of Kaduna.
Muslim opposition supporters began riots as results from the April 16 election showed Christian President Goodluck Jonathan had won the vote. Many here in predominantly Muslim north of Africa’s most populous nation felt the next president should have been from their region because a Muslim president died last year before he could complete his term.
Retaliatory violence by Christians soon followed, and officials say more than 40,000 people have now fled their homes. Authorities are fearful that releasing any official death toll will only prompt more fighting, but witnesses believe hundreds have been killed across the north.
The violence also took a toll on Nigeria’s National Youth Service Corps. Authorities are trying to assure members they will be safe for them to take part in Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections being held in 29 states, though some have already fled their posts.
In Bauchi state, police have arrested 68 suspects in connection with the deadly riots that were sparked by the presidential election, Police Read more…
Thousands of protesters demand “A New Morocco”
CASABLANCA, Morocco, Apr. 24, 2011 (Reuters) — Thousands took to the streets of Morocco on Sunday in peaceful demonstrations to demand sweeping reforms and an end to political detention, the third day of mass protests since they began in February.
Desperate to avoid the turmoil that toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt, authorities have already announced some changes to placate demands that King Mohammed cede more powers and limit the monarchy’s extensive business influence.
Some 10,000 people joined the protest in Casablanca, the largest city in one of the West’s staunchest Arab allies. Marchers in the capital Rabat also denounced corruption and torture as well as unemployment, very high among youths.
Policing has been low-key for protests by the February 20 Movement, named after the date of its first march, particularly compared to the turmoil elsewhere in North Africa.
“This is more about the young ones than it is about us,” said Redouane Mellouk, who had brought his 8 year-old son Mohamed Amine, carrying a placard demanding “A New Morocco.”
“Our parents could not talk to us about political issues. They were too afraid. This must change,” said Mellouk.
Although levels of popular anger have risen, ratings agencies assess Morocco as the country in the region least likely to become embroiled in the type of unrest that toppled Tunisian and Egyptian regimes and led to the conflict in Libya.
In Rabat, several thousand people marched through poor districts with high levels of unemployment and away from the center, where the previous monthly demonstrations have been held. There was no sign of trouble.
DISAFFECTED YOUTH
A 74 year-old man in Casablanca who gave his name only as Ahmed said Morocco’s youths were right to protest. Read more…
U.S. Worried by Potential Chinese CW Tech Sales to Iran
A leaked diplomatic cable indicates that the U.S. State Department believed in 2009 that a Chinese firm was providing Iran with equipment that could be used in producing chemical weapons agents, Haaretz reported on Thursday (see GSN, Feb. 3).
“We have new information indicating that Zibo Chemet transferred technology for the production of glass-lined reactor equipment to Iranian customers, significantly enhancing Iran’s ability to produce indigenously chemical equipment suitable for a chemical warfare program,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated in a message to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
The Obama administration’s top diplomat requested that the embassy inform the Chinese government of the situation and press Beijing to put an end to the exports, according to the July 24, 2009, dispatch obtained by the transparency group WikiLeaks.
Zibo Chemet is suspected of providing sensitive technology to Iran, North Korea and Syria, and was sanctioned by Washington in 2007, according to the cable. Beijing subsequently took unspecified “limited punitive action” against the firm, it states.
Nonetheless, Zibo Chemet “recently transferred Australia Group-controlled technology to manufacture glass-lined chemical reactor vessels to the Iranian entity Shimi Azarjaam. This glass-lining plant is located in Shokoohieh Industrial Park, Qum,” Clinton stated.
Such reactor vessels are produced to withstand chemicals they hold, which can include precursors for nerve agents, according to Haaretz.
China is not a member of the Australia Group, a multinational organization that seeks to prevent exports of materials intended for use in biological or chemical weapons programs.
The United States and other nations have accused Tehran of developing chemical-warfare capabilities. Iran, whose troops and citizens were subjected to chemical weapons attacks during the nation’s 1980s war with Iraq, denies operating such a program (Yossi Melman, Haaretz, April 21).
Feds to Supreme Court: Allow Warrantless GPS Monitoring
The Obama administration is urging the Supreme Court to allow the government, without a court warrant, to affix GPS devices on suspects’ vehicles to track their every move.
The Justice Department, saying “a person has no reasonable expectation of privacy in his movements (.pdf) from one place to another,” is demanding the justices undo a lower court decision that reversed the conviction and life sentence of a cocaine dealer whose vehicle was tracked via GPS for a month without a court warrant.
The petition, if accepted by the justices, arguably would make it the biggest Fourth Amendment case in a decade — one weighing the collision of Read more…
Dollar keeps sinking while gold tops $1,500
Silver, Gold up 49% 6% respectively on the year while Dollar keeps tumbling
The dollar is getting trashed again, driving a key index of the U.S. currency’s value to its lowest level in more than two years.
And as the greenback slumps further, gold and silver — the hard-money alternatives to paper currencies — are hitting new highs. Gold closed above $1,500 an ounce for the first time.
The DXY index, which measures the dollar’s value against six other major currencies (including the euro, the yen and the Swiss franc), slid to 74.10 on Thursday, down 0.4% from Wednesday and the lowest since August 2008.
Year-to-date the DXY index (charted at left) is down 6.2%.
“It’s a ‘sell the dollar, buy everything else’ market,” said Win Thin, a currency strategist at Brown Bros. Harriman in New York.
The euro hit a new 16-month high of $1.454 on Thursday, up from $1.451 on Wednesday. The dollar also hit a record low of 6.52 Chinese yuan, down from 6.56 yuan a month ago, as the Chinese government allows its currency to steadily strengthen.
The buck’s slump this year has been fueled in large part by the widening gulf between U.S. interest rates and Read more…
Oil Crisis Just Got Real: Sinopec (Read China) Cuts Off Oil Exports
As if a dollar in freefall was not enough, surging oil is about to hit the turbo boost, decimating what is left of the US (and global) consumer. Xinhua, via Energy Daily, brings this stunner: ” Chinese oil giant Sinopec has stopped exporting oil products to maintain domestic supplies amid disruption concerns caused by Middle East unrest and Japan’s earthquake, a report said Wednesday. The state-run Xinhua news agency did not say how long the suspension would last but it reported that the firm had said it also would take steps to step up output “to maintain domestic market supplies of refined oil products”. Oh but don’t worry, those good Saudi folks are seeing a massive drop in demand… for their Kool aid perhaps. “Sinopec would ensure supplies met the “basic needs” of the southern Chinese special regions of Hong Kong and Macao, but they also should expect an unspecified drop in supply, Xinhua quoted an unnamed company official as saying.” Now… does anyone remember the 1970s? Read more…
Texas Wildfires Threaten Wheat Crop, Drive Food Prices Higher
As firefighters from around the country and the National Guard continue to battle the many blazes scattered across the state, with no immediate end to the crisis in sight, the future looks bleak for Texas farmers. Many farmers’ fields were already damaged by drought, and now some crops have been further harmed by smoke or entirely destroyed by flame.
Some agricultural experts are now predicting that Texas will lose two thirds of this year’s wheat crop to drought and Read more…
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_usoz_2.gif)
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/silver/t24_ag_en_usoz_2.gif)
crisisboom
CRISISBOOM 
You must be logged in to post a comment.