We have in the past discussed the possibility of the Chinese pegging their currency to gold bullion. This decision, if taken, may lead to huge volatility in foreign exchange markets, a depreciating dollar and ultimately an international monetary crisis.

John Butler in his book ‘Golden Revolution’ and Jim Rickards in his book ‘Currency Wars’ have warned that China and or Russia could move to back their currencies with gold which would then lead to the US and EU having to follow suit in order to prevent currency crises thereby leading to a new gold standard.

According to media reports, the People's Bank of China is considering phasing out the dollar as the reference currency or peg for the yuan, and to start using gold as the reference point. The reports have not been confirmed officially, but there has been official comments to that effect in recent years and Chinese academics have advocated backing the renminbi or yuan with gold.

Beijing's possible move to back the yuan with gold would be a strategic move in order to lessen the risk of inflation, increase the yuan’s attractiveness as an investment medium and create faith in the yuan as a reserve currency.

Although the Queen could hardly not have given her assent to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, David Cameron promised guests at a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender reception in Downing Street on Wednesday that he intended to thank her “personally” for signing it at his audience with her that evening.

“I had a constituent with a straight son and a gay daughter come to see me and she said how delighted she was that she would now be able to attend both their weddings,” the Prime Minister said on the day that the Act became law.

Mr Cameron told guests at the same reception one year on that Britain was now “the best place to be gay, lesbian or transgender anywhere in Europe”. He added: “That is a great achievement. That’s not my measure; that is an internationally recognised measure. But there’s still a lot more work to be done.”

Thanking the ministers and civil servants who helped to pass the legislation into law despite objections from the Tory Right, he said: “It’s been a real pleasure to work with you and to deliver this landmark social change for our country, which to me still comes back to the simple word of commitment.” He said that he wanted to "export" same sex marriage around the world so other countries could follow suit.

He said: “I’ve told the Bill team I’m now going to reassign them because, of course, all over the world people would have been watching this piece of legislation and we’ve set something, I think, of an example of how to pass good legislation in good time. Many other countries are going to want to copy this. And, as you know, I talk about the global race, about how we’ve got to export more and sell more so I’m going to export the bill team. I think they can be part of this global race and take it around the world.”

In his speech he told guests four times how proud he was to have been Prime Minister when same sex marriage was legalised in Britain...

“This whole matter of diplomatic negotiations is absurd. The whole Middle East is going up in flames, there’s chaos in Syria, Egypt, and Iraq – and the Americans are only worried about us,” he said. “It’s clear as day that any agreement signed with Abbas isn’t worth the paper it’s written on,” he argued. “Abbas cannot sign anything real. After all, as soon as we expelled the Jews from Gush Katif, Fatah was pushed out of Gaza, so his signature means nothing.”

Abbas’ PA currently has effective control only in Judea and Samaria, while Hamas controls Gaza. In addition, Abbas’ term in office expired in 2009. Aumann expressed doubt that Israel and the PA would even reach the point of a signed agreement. “They are not willing anymore to make do with Ariel, Gush Etzion and Amona,” he warned. “They want Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, and there is no way that will happen, because Netanyahu will not give them Tel Aviv.”

The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology claims that decontamination will cost at least 3.13 trillion yen ($32 billion) and the sum could rise to 5.81 trillion yen ($58 billion). The current state budget earmarked for the clean-up is only one trillion yen.

The potential variations are accounted for by “the effects of several decontamination scenarios,” say the authors. In one scenario, the contaminated earth which stretches for tens of miles around the half-destroyed plant could be turned over. In another, it is to be transported in huge quantities. The price will also depend on how many of the 300,000 people displaced by the tsunami and earthquake disaster in March 2011 will choose to return to their old residential area.

The steps include tax breaks for small businesses, reduced fees for exporters and opening up of railway construction. China's economic growth rate has slowed for two quarters in a row and there are concerns that it may slow further.

But the cabinet said the economy was in a reasonable shape and it was pushing for reforms to stabilise growth. "The economy is still running in a reasonable range," the cabinet said. "We must look at now and beyond to let restructuring and reform play an active role in stabilising growth."

Today, some of the most celebrated individuals and institutions are ensconced within the financial industry; in banks, hedge funds, and private equity firms. Which is odd because none of these firms or individuals actually make anything, which society might point to as additive to our living standards. Instead, these financial magicians harvest value from the rest of society that has to work hard to produce real things of real value.

While the work they do is quite sophisticated and takes a lot of skill, very few of these firms direct capital to new efforts, new products, and new innovations. Instead they either trade in the secondary markets for equities, bonds, derivatives, and the like, which perform the 'service' of moving paper from one location to another while generating 'profits.' Or, in the case of banks, they create money out of thin air and lend it out – at interest of course.

Josiah Stamp – Bank of England Chairman, 1920s (wrote)

“Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take away from them the power to create money, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear, and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money.”

Money is power. And history has shown that power is never ceded spontaneously or willingly.

Director of Military Intelligence Major General Aviv Kochavi warned that Syria is posing a regional threat as it attracts thousands of global jihadists and Muslim extremists from around the world. "A center of global jihad of vast proportions is developing on our very doorstep," Israeli media quoted Kochavi as saying. "It is liable to affect not only Syria or Israeli borders, but also the borders of Lebanon, Jordan and the Sinai Peninsula, and have implications for the region as a whole," he said at a graduation ceremony for Military Intelligence commanding officers.

Kochavi argued that the extremists will not stop at toppling Assad, but will go further and try to establish a state based on Islamic religious law, or Sharia law. The UN reported in July that the Syrian conflict is “drastically deteriorating” with up to 5,000 people a month dying and the total death toll reaching 100,000 people in over two years.

The sanctions bill requests that the US president, under his authority provided by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, come up with a strategy within two months to cut Iran’s remaining export sales of roughly a million barrels a day.

After a year, exemptions granted to countries such as China, Japan, Turkey and South Korea – which continue to import Iranian oil – will no longer be granted. Companies in those countries doing business with Iran previously given a pass will be cut off from the US economy.

American officials are confident there is spare capacity in the global market to replace Iran’s exports. Libya is back to producing oil since its revolution ended in 2011, and Saudi Arabia is prepared to accommodate Iran’s customers, with spare production capacity of 2 million to 2.5 million barrels a day.

Previous US efforts cut Iranian oil exports by more than 65 percent, devastating the economy of the Islamic Republic.

Earlier this year, a company called Linc Energy announced that tests had revealed that there was a minimum of 3.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent sitting under more than 65,000 square kilometres of land that it owns in the Arckaringa Basin. But that is the minimum number. It has been projected that there could ultimately be up to 233 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the area.

If that turns out to be accurate, the oil sitting under that land is worth approximately 20 trillion dollars, and it would be roughly equivalent to the total amount of oil sitting under the sands of Saudi Arabia. In essence, it would be a massive game changer.

The fast-track process allows the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to "make a determination of nonregulated status for crops with GE traits that have already been approved in another crop" without a new review, allowing for a more "timely and predictable review process," according to Mike Firko, APHIS Acting Deputy Administrator for biotechnology regulatory services. "As expected, the fast-track approval process has made it all that much easier for the USDA to rubber-stamp a host of new GE crops," Katherine Paul, Associate Director of the Organic Consumers Association, told Common Dreams.

The first products to come down the speedy new pipeline are a host of canola seeds resistant to the "dangerous" herbicide glyphosate, which a recent study linked to a litany of health disorders and diseases including Parkinson’s, cancer and autism. Already approved is a glyphosate-resistant canola from Pioneer, with other pending petitions for deregulation including Monsanto's glyphosate-resistant canola and hybridization system corn, as well as Genective's glyphosate-resistant corn.

"For years, scientists have warned about the hazards of glyphosate," continued Paul, who noted that the FDA recently raised the allowable limit of glyphosate residue on fruits and vegetables. "But with the stranglehold that agribusiness has on the FDA... and the USDA, consumers are being exposed to greater and greater amounts of glyphosate on food, and in our groundwater. It's clear that these federal agencies are working on behalf of corporate agribusiness, not US taxpayers and consumers," she added.

One of the world's most valuable art treasures is being stored in an extremely ugly place, a six-story concrete building known as the Geneva free port. Instead of windows, much of the façade of this giant safe for the world's wealthy is covered with gray panels.

Anyone hoping to get into the walk-in lock boxes of this very special Swiss tax haven must first surmount a number of hurdles. At the first door, an employee has to type the right combination of numbers into a small screen. The next hurdle is a large steel barrier that has to be rotated counter-clockwise until it snaps into place, followed by a heavy steel door that resembles a submarine bulkhead. Behind it is a drab corridor with doors on both sides. Only the renters have keys to these doors.

The employee of Geneva Free Ports & Warehouses Ltd remains discreetly in the background while the owners of the locked-up treasures count their gold bars or examine their collection of paintings being stored in the warehouse. The Nahmad dynasty of art dealers reportedly has 300 Picassos in storage in Geneva. Countless Degas, Monets and Rothkos are also stored on the inhospitable premises. The estimated value of the works is in the billions. Hardly any museum can boast such a valuable collection.

Francis celebrated the first public Mass of his trip to Brazil after praying before the statue of Our Lady of Aparecida, Brazil's patron saint. His eyes welled up with emotion as he stood silently in deep prayer before the tiny dark-skinned statue.

In his homily, Francis appealed for the faithful to not seek out false idols of money and success that he said take the place of God. Rather, he called for Brazilians to keep Christian values of faith, generosity and fraternity.

Over 99% of “analysts” are missing this, but it is a fact. If you ignore the ridiculous GDP numbers (which even China’s Premiere has admitted are a joke in the past) and look at more accurate metrics, it’s clear China is collapsing at an alarming rate. Case in point, electrical consumption rose by just 2.9% in the first quarter of this year.

How on earth can you generate GDP growth of 7% when your electrical consumption is rising by just 2.9% is beyond me. And when you consider that China is experiencing this weak growth despite having pumped over $1 trillion into its economy in the same quarter (an amount equal to 14% of China’s total GDP) you begin to understand the scale at which things are imploding in the People’s Republic.

This is a Black Swan that few are noticing. If you look around the mainstream financial media in the US, you see talk of Bernanke tapering, discussions of rising interest rates and even the occasional story about how Europe is not fixed. But you won’t find stories about China facing ZERO growth.

This will all end very badly.

The knock-on effects are already being felt farther afield - from a slowdown in Japanese export growth despite a weaker yen, to Apple Inc lamenting a rare drop in Chinese demand for its premium brand of gadgets. "China's slowdown is starting to become more dangerous," warned Yasuo Yamamoto, a senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute in Tokyo.

Since taking office in March, China's new leaders have said they are prepared to tolerate tamer growth and push a restructuring of the economy toward domestic consumption, but there have been mixed messages on how much of a slowing they would tolerate.

The flow of data suggests their task of changing the shape of the massive economy will only get harder.