JAPAN - Japan announced last week that its TOCOM commodity exchange would begin trading physical gold – like the Shanghai Gold Exchange – on July 25th. The news of this event was largely muted in the western financial media and even the alternative media blogosphere largely seems to have overlooked the news release. But this is a highly significant development because it signals a subtle shift in Japan’s economic and monetary focus from west to east. It will also create an big upward price-readjustment in gold and silver.
USA - California is the first state to adopt the LGBT rights agenda formally into its public schools, as part of a new history and social studies curriculum that will reach children as young as the second grade.
MEXICO - After some quiet days, the Colima volcano and the Popocatepetl volcano erupted again on July 19, 2016. The volcanic unrest in Mexico is increasing again. Not one but two volcanoes erupted almost simultaneously within the last 24 hours in Mexico. In the early hours of July 19, 2016, at 1:28am, the Colima volcano, also known as Volcan de Fuego erupted. The eruptive event sent a column of ash and gas 1800 meters above the crater as well as a lava flow currently running along the south side of the volcano’s peak. Meanwhile, the Popocatepetl volcano has exploded at least 8 times in the last 24 hours.
USA - For the past few weeks, this commentary section has focused on acts of terrorism and race-based violence that are occurring in the streets of the US and Europe. I wish we could turn to less gruesome news but, in my view, there is nothing more important to the future of personal freedom in the world than these events.
BELGIUM - According to a Belgian news report from earlier this month, the night of the attack at the Paris Bataclan, November 13, 2015, six French military personnel of the Sentinelle Project, were at the entry of the concert hall. However, they did not intervene because their rules of engagement did not include it, said member CDH Georges Dallemagne Bel RTL, hours before the report of the French commission investigating the attacks, according to La Libre.
USA - Black Lives Matter advocates have been served with a lawsuit accusing them of inciting a race war, but two high profile members tried to avoid becoming part of the action. Civil rights activist Al Sharpton and former US Attorney General Eric Holder tried to thwart service for the complaint that accuses them of using anti-police rhetoric to incite violence as justification for ill treatment of blacks by law enforcement.
GERMANY - Munich is in the grip of a co-ordinated terror attack as armed officers storm the city in search of three gunmen. A source at the scene said 11 people are dead and 20 critical after the horror shooting which has prompted the city to declare a state of emergency. A second shooting has now been reported in the main square of Munich as police said they suspect three shooters are on the run in the city.
USA - On July 18th, Rob Nichols, the President of the American Bankers’ Association, which is controlled by the mega-banks, struck back against Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump. Nichols criticized Trump’s insistence to restore the Democratic US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s top reform of the US economy, the Glass-Steagall Act, which prevented another taxpayer bailout of Wall Street firms for their gambling losses — it was the law President Bill Clinton with overwhelming Republican support in 1999 repealed.
USA - Donald Trump has raised new questions about his commitment to the defense of NATO allies on the eve of his acceptance of the Republican presidential nomination, The New York Times reported. In an interview with the newspaper on Wednesday, Trump also expressed little willingness to speak out against purges or civil rights crackdowns by authoritarian allies like Turkey, the Times said.
FRANCE - French President Francois Hollande has begun touring European cities in the run-up to the next EU summit in September as part of an attempt to garner support for an European Union army, now that the UK - which opposed it - has signaled its intention to leave.
GERMANY - Germany's president has urged EU member states NOT to hold any referendums amid fears Brexit could spark the break-up of the bloc. Last month's historic vote to cut ties with Brussels led to speculation other countries including Holland, Italy and France would follow suit.
TURKEY - A third of generals detained as President Erdogan finds plot reaches into his inner circle, says Patrick Cockburn. Turkish leaders are fearful that there may be a second attempt at a military uprising in Turkey following the failure of the recent coup. Several important military units are confined to their bases and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been slow to return to Ankara from Istanbul, apparently because the capital has not been deemed completely secure.
TURKEY - The implementation of Mr Erdogan’s long-desired presidential system based on Islamic values is beginning to look inevitable, says Patrick Cockburn. As crowds chant calls for the execution of those involved in the failed coup in Turkey, there are fears that this once-secular country is decisively turning the corner towards full scale Islamisation. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is using the attempted military takeover to justify a purge of state officials and army officers who do not give him total obedience, opening the door for him to establish an all-powerful presidency while seemingly Islamising Turkish society to a degree not seen since the fall of the Ottomans.
TURKEY - Turkey’s state of emergency means temporary suspension of the European Convention on Human Rights, the deputy prime minister has said, adding this is expected to last for a month and a half. The state of emergency in Turkey follows a failed military coup. "We want to end the state of emergency as soon as possible. We believe [it could end within] one to one and a half months. I do not need a second extension,” said Deputy PM Numan Kurtulmus, as cited by Turkish broadcaster NTV. According to Kurtulmus, there were “structural and individual” intelligence failures during the coup attempt. He added that the government is planning to restructure the army. As a result, the European Convention on Human Rights will be “temporarily suspended” due to the state of emergency, he added.
USA - The federal debt moved above $19,400,000,000,000 for the first time as of the close of business on Tuesday, according to the data released today by the US Treasury. At the close of business on Monday, July 18, the total federal debt was $19,391,094,247,028.26, according to the Treasury. By the close of business on Tuesday, July 19, it had risen to $19,402,361,890,929.46. On Friday, October 30, 2015, Congress passed the “Bipartisan Budget Act,” which suspended the legal debt limit until March 15, 2017. President Obama signed that bill into law on Monday, November 2, 2015. At the close of business on October 30, the federal debt stood at $18,152,981,685,747.52. In the less than nine months since then, the federal debt has increased by $1,249,380,205,181.94.