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Archive for July, 2011

$5,000 Gold Later This Decade?

July 18, 2011 Comments off

goldalert

later this decadeGold bullion may reach $5,000 per ounce later this decade, bolstered by rising demand from India and China and slowing production growth, according to Standard Chartered Plc.

Yan Chen, head of metals and mining for the firm, stated that “We are looking for the gold price to reach about $2,000 by 2014,” in a Bloomberg television interview.  ”There’s a chance that the gold price can be as high as $5,000 by 2020,” as income growth in China and India fuel demand for the yellow metal.

Chen’s comments came in the wake of yet another new all-time record high for gold prices, which this morning reached $1,603.80 per ounce.  Gold has been supported of late by the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in Europe, the uncertainty over the debt ceiling in the United States, and the prospects of a third round of quantitative easing (QE3) by the Federal Reserve.

The Standard Chartered strategist went on to say that “The gold market will be in deficit in the next couple of years.  The central banks are now back buying gold massively, turning from net seller of gold into net buyer.”

Poor Man’s Gold is Breaking Out — Sell Your House and Buy Silver?

July 18, 2011 1 comment

businessinsider

   Investors have pushed silver above the recent channel high at around $39 or so per ounce and I fully expect a retest of $50 if any more talk is given about QE3 — Silver rises because of the rising digital money supply, not from speculation. Owning cash is speculative whereas owning metals is conservative or a safe haven at current prices.

Many people will tell you that silver and gold are in a bubble but the fact is that commodities in general are one of the only asset classes that work here because the consolidated banking system is holding our economy hostage and Bernanke is solely focused on saving the banks. Right now, shorting European banks and going long silver and gold looks to be about as good of a “trade” as possible — investors are essentially betting that Europe will face massive credit problems because of the obvious insolvency of Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Ireland.

The next shoe to drop is the US… We are facing the exact same issues as Read more…

Reservoirs Can Trigger Earthquakes Say Chinese Geologists Studying Complex Interaction Of Earth And Water

July 18, 2011 1 comment

nanopatentsandinnovations

Chinese geologists suggest that earthquakes can be triggered by reservoirs in a study of the Zipingpu Reservoir and Longmenshan Slip.

This figure is a presentation of viscous stress and Reynolds stress at multiple micro-spatial scales under ultra-high temperature and pressure conditions.

Credit: ©Science China Press

The extended Coulomb failure stress (ECFS) criteria and anisotropic porosity and permeability tensor at micro/meso/macro scale under ultra‑high temperature and pressure (UTP) conditions were developed employing the flow driven pore‑network crack (FDPNC) model under multiple temporal–spatial scales and the hybrid hypersingular integral equation‑lattice Boltzmann method (HHIE‑LBM). The correlation of the Zipingpu reservoir and Longmenshan slip was then analyzed and the fluid–solid coupled three‑dimensional facture mechanism of the reservoir and earthquake fault was explored.

Describing the correlation of a reservoir and Read more…

China discloses J-10 fighter jet base to S. Korean defense chief

July 18, 2011 Comments off

yonhapnews

SEOUL, July 17 (Yonhap) — China disclosed a J-10 fighter jet base to the visiting South Korean defense minister last week, a defense official in Seoul said Sunday, a move signaling Beijing’s intent to further strengthen bilateral defense and military exchanges.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin visited a Chinese air force training base in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, on Saturday, the last day of his three-day visit to China for talks with his Chinese counterpart, Liang Guanglie, the official said.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin (third from R) visits China’s J-10 fighter jet base in Changzhou, south of Beijing, on July 16. (Yonhap)

During his visit to the base, about 200 kilometers south of Beijing, Kim watched the takeoff and landing of a J-10 jet, a China-developed fighter with an operational radius of 1,250 km, before having lunch with Chinese military officers there.

Liang said during his dinner with Kim on Friday that the J-10 jet base has never Read more…

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Brazil to build nuclear submarines which will dramatically alter balance of power in South America

July 18, 2011 Comments off

dailymail

Sub: Brazil plans to build its first nuclear submarine in the next few yearsThe Brazilian government has started work on a submarine programme which will include the construction of South America’s first nuclear subs.

The move will boost Brazil’s claim to be the strongest force in the region, and strengthen the country’s military assertiveness.

This new-found power may harm Britain in the event of another flare-up over the Falklands, according to U.S. news agency Global Post, as Brazil thinks the islands should belong to Argentina.

The defence plan was announced in 2008, and will eventually involve the construction of five new submarines. Each will cost around $565 million.

The first, being built in collaboration with a French contractor, is due to come into service in 2016.

By the time the programme is complete, Brazil will Read more…

Bodyguard Who Killed Karzai’s Brother Was Trusted CIA Asset

July 17, 2011 2 comments

infiniteunknown

The bodyguard who assassinated President Hamid Karzai’s brother had been working closely with US Special Forces and the CIA before he was recruited by the Taliban, raising fears over the Islamist movement’s increasingly sophisticated intelligence apparatus which has managed to threaten the inner circles of power in Afghanistan.

Sardar Mohammad, who shot Ahmed Wali Karzai at his home in Kandahar City on Tuesday, also held regular meetings with British officials, and had two brothers-in-law serving in a CIA-run paramilitary unit, the Kandahar Strike Force, the Washington Post reported yesterday.

Yet evidence is emerging that the Taliban recruited Mohammad – who was believed to be a friend, confidant and trusted lieutenant of Ahmed Wali Karzai – in an infiltration of the Read more…

Biotech farm to milk mutant transgendered offspring of GM goats

July 17, 2011 Comments off

naturalnews

The insatiable lust among genetic engineers to tamper with the natural order has reached new freak-show proportions. Genetic butchers from AgResearch, which NaturalNews recently reported had reluctantly abandoned a 13-year animal cloning operation due to an overwhelming number of animal deformities and deaths (http://www.naturalnews.com/031573_c…), are once again in the news, this time for their plans to milk the transgendered offspring of genetically-engineered (GE) goats.

In a truly disgusting display of “science” gone wild, AgResearch scientists have been intentionally breeding GE goats, most of which are now producing transgendered babies that are essentially females in sterile male bodies. And just like the animals in the company’s previous cloning project, the GE goats’ offspring are Read more…

‘Ice Wars’ heating up the Arctic

July 17, 2011 Comments off

cnn

Click to play
Scrambling for a piece of the Arctic pie

Editor’s note: CNN correspondent Kaj Larsen recently visited the Arctic to observe the U.S. naval exercise known as ICEX. His experience is part of the CNN documentary “Ice Wars,” which will air at 8 p.m. ET Sunday on CNN Presents.

(CNN) — On a small, floating piece of ice in the Beaufort Sea, several hundred miles north of Alaska, a group of scientists are documenting what some dub an “Arctic meltdown.”

According to climate scientists, the warming of the region is shrinking the polar ice cap at an alarming rate, reducing the permafrost layer and wreaking havoc on polar bears, arctic foxes and other indigenous wildlife in the region.

What is bad for the animals, though, has been good for commerce.

The recession of the sea ice and the reduction in permafrost — combined with advances in technology — have allowed access to oil, mineral and natural gas deposits that were previously trapped in the ice.

The abundance of these valuable resources and the opportunity to exploit them has created a Read more…

Scientists Aglow After Big Discovery During Tsunami

July 17, 2011 Comments off

sott

Researchers using a camera on Maui have photographed the glow from atmospheric pressure disturbances generated by the March 11 tsunami, raising hopes that the technique could be used to predict the arrival of future waves.

The first observation of its kind was made from the Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Station atop Haleakala by scientists in France, Brazil and the United States.

The March 11 earthquake in Japan generated a seismic sea wave that devastated parts of northern Honshu and caused millions of dollars of damage in Hawaii.

On the open ocean, such waves move at 500 mph but are only an inch high. Nevertheless, they put pressure on the atmosphere, scientists say.

“The atmosphere gets less and less dense as you get higher, and that allows the Read more…

This Vehicle Registration Plate Surveillance System Is a Warning to Us All

July 17, 2011 4 comments

disinfo.com

Knight RiderNo CCTV has teamed up with Privacy International and Big Brother Watch to challenge the legality of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) [also known as ALPR in North America] camera network in the UK. A complaint has been sent to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) against a so-called ANPR “Ring of Steel” that is being constructed around the town of Royston in Hertfordshire — but for Royston read any town in the UK.

Background

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has constructed a network of cameras across the country without any public or parliamentary debate. These cameras record the number plate of each and every vehicle that passes, sometimes taking a photograph of the car and its occupants. The number plate is then compared to a “hotlist” of vehicles of interest, and whether or not the plate is on that list (ie a “hit”), all information gathered is stored for between two and five years. A Hertfordshire Police Authority report reveals the details of the data retention periods:

Currently number plate pictures are held for 2 years. Car pictures are held for 90 days. “Hits” information on text and number pictures are held for 5 years and car pictures are held for 2 years.

[‘Final report of the Topic Group on Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) Technology use within Hertfordshire Constabulary’, p. 9]

The data collected from number plate cameras can be linked to multiple databases such as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) database and the Motor Insurance Database Application System (MIDAS) which in turn can be used to identify the owner of the vehicle. The resulting database of Read more…