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US negotiating larger presence in Philippines
With an eye toward China’s growing influence in the South Pacific, President Obama and the Philippines are negotiating a greater US military presence on the island nation, the Washington Post said.
Discussions are to continue Thursday and Friday in Washington, but it appears the US military will return to the Philippines 20 years after losing its foothold there.
“We can point to other countries: Australia, Japan, Singapore,” a senior Philippine official told the Post. “We’re not the only one doing this, and for good reason. We all want to see a peaceful and stable region. Nobody wants to have to face China or confront China.”
American troops left Subic Bay in Philippines in 1992 because a new treaty could not be signed. A volcanic eruption a year earlier forced them from Clark Air Force Base.
Now the American plan is for Read more…
Central Banks Continue Buying Gold To Diversify Portfolios
Gold purchases by South Korea and Thailand this summer continue a trend in which central banks are net purchasers of the metal as they look to diversify their foreign-exchange reserves.
“So far in 2011, central banks in the emerging markets have already bought more than double the gold they bought in all of 2010, and we’ve got almost five months to go for the rest of the year,” said Jeff Clark, senior precious-metals analyst with Casey Research.
This buying has occurred despite historically high prices. “So apparently, central banks don’t regard the gold price as too high,” Clark said.
For the year to date, net purchases by the world’s central banks are 203.5 metric tons, which already is a 168% increase from 76 tons for all of 2010, said Natalie Dempster, director, government affairs, with the World Gold Council.
Most of the data is gleamed international financial statistics released by the International Monetary Fund at the beginning of each month. Additionally, some central banks—such as Read more…
Gold demand strong; predicted prices around $2000
Gold temporarily succeeded to recover some of the losses from the sizeable sell-off in early May, but fell back late Friday to end the week unchanged.
Bearish sentiment constrained gold to a weekly low of around $1479 on Thursday. However, the metal found good support at its 15-week uptrend line and rebounded, temporarily at least, back above $1500.
Physical demand for gold has raised in the Far East and Asia. Despite the 5% correction seen at the start of the month analysts continue to predict prices around the $2000 level at least by next year.
“Since the start of May, physical gold demand has been strong,” said Walter de Wet, an analyst at Standard Bank Plc in London.“While consistent physical buying interest has come from India specifically, we are witnessing a broader interest from Asia in general.”
Central banks are worth another mention as more of them look to purchase gold, with the surplus earning countries leading the way. Figures issued by the World Gold Council (WGC) show there were no transactions of gold bullion by central banks in February and March. The WGC‘s data confirm gold bullion purchases by Mexico, Thailand and Russia.
Global Press Freedom at Lowest Level in More Than Decade
Photo: Reuters
Journalists and activists participate in a rally calling for press freedom in central Ankara, Turkey, March 19, 2011 (file photo)
Freedom House, a U.S.-based group that monitors human rights around the world says the number of people with access to free and independent media has declined to its lowest level in more than a decade. In its newly released annual survey, the group says several key countries saw significant declines last year and that only one-in-six people live in countries with a press designated as free.
In this year’s annual index of global media freedom of 196 countries and territories, Freedom House says it rated 68 as “free” and the remaining two thirds as “partly free” or “not free.”
Freedom House Senior Editor Karin Karlekar says this is roughly an even breakdown, but a closer look reveals a different picture. “If you look at the population statistics, they are much bleaker, only Read more…
Severe floods claim 11 lives in southern Thailand
BANGKOK, March 30 — The number of current flood-related deaths in the southern provinces now stands at 11 with the most casualties–seven persons–registered in Nakhon Si Thammarat followed by three victims in Surat Thani and one in Phatthalung, Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Director-General Vibul Sanguanpong said on Wednesday.
Their Majesties the King and Queen have given funds to the Red Cross for emergency help to flood victims in southern provinces, naval and other ships are involved in rescue and supply operations, and the prime minister and flood relief coordinator Satit Wonghnongtaey have Read more…
Dozens killed and injured in Burma quake: official
More than 60 people were killed, 90 people injured and dozens of buildings destroyed when a strong earthquake struck Burma near the Thai border, officials from both countries said today.
Tremors were felt as far away as Bangkok, almost 800 kilometres from the epicentre, Hanoi and parts of China during the earthquake yesterday, which the US Geological Survey (USGS) measured at magnitude 6.8.
A Burma official said dozens of people were killed in two towns close to the epicentre.
“The death toll of the quake has increased to more than 50 in Tarlay and Mine Lin townships,” said the official, who declined to be named.
“Roads are also closed. According to the information that we have, more than 130 buildings collapsed because of the quake. There might be more casualties and damage.”
Across the border, Thai authorities said a 52-year-old woman was killed in Mae Sai district after a wall in her Read more…
Lava-like substance triggers panic
Black liquid found oozing out from a field in Malkapuram of Anantapur
A lava like liquid substance erupted at Malkapuram village in Dharmavaram mandal on Saturday.
A shepherd first noticed a strange odour and plants withering. The inquisitive shepherd alerted other villagers who came to find out the source of the bad odour and finally zeroed in to the field belonging to one farmer Lakshminarayana Reddy.
At the field, the villagers found two deep holes from which lava-like black like substance erupted.
Scared at the strange phenomenon, the villagers alerted a geologist for studying the strange phenomenon .
According to an eye witness fire along with the black substance erupted out of the Earth surface at two different points. Geologist Mohana Rao said that a disturbance in the Earth had occurred after the earth quakes in Thailand, Tirupati and Delhi.
Weak zone
The rock formations process below the earth surface had created gaps resulting in creation of a weak zone in the Dolorite rocks.
Explaining the phenomenon, Mohan Rao maintained that an inorganic compound solution had oozed out of Uthosphere . The lava substance is being sent to geological laboratory for a thorough study.
Study: Coup possible in Morocco, Saudi Arabia too
Tomer Velmer
The first signs for the governmental instability in Egypt were detected as early as two years ago, according to a new study conducted by political scientists from Hebrew University.
The study, which will be published soon by the Journal of Conflict Resolution, was conducted by Prof. Tamir Sheafer and Dr. Shaul Shenhav. The researchers measured the “democratic gap” in about 90 democratic and non-democratic countries.
“The democratic gap is the difference between the democratic aspirations of a country’s citizens and the level of democracy given to them by the state’s institutions,” explains Prof. Sheafer.
According to the study’s findings, political stability will be in danger only in the case of a “negative democratic gap”. In other words, when the citizens’ expectations for democracy are unfulfilled, there is a higher chance that the citizens will Read more…
How Egypt shut down the internet
Virtually all internet access in Egypt is cut off today as the government battles to contain the street protests that threaten to topple President Hosni Mubarak.
Organisations that track global internet access detected a collapse in traffic in to and out of Egypt at around 10.30GMT on Thursday night.
The shut down involved the withdrawal of more than 3,500 Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routes by Egyptian ISPs, according to Renesys, a networking firm. Only one ISP out of 10, Noor Data Networks, appeared largely unaffected. It connects to the outside world via an undersea cable operated by Telecom Italia.
According to BGPMon, another networking firm, 88 per cent of Egyptian internet access was successfully shut down, however.
Renesys speculated that the apparent anomaly of Noor Data Networks may be a result of the fact it provides services to the Egyptian stock exchange. Read more…
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