Banks Win Big as Regulators Refuse to Rein in $700 Trillion Derivatives Market - YouTube

Banks Win Big as Regulators Refuse to Rein in $700 Trillion Derivatives Market - YouTube

WW3 Countdown | China Moves Against The Dollar - YouTube

WW3 Countdown | China Moves Against The Dollar - YouTube

China has just made several moves against the U.S. dollar, and currency wars with the U.S. have a way of turning into real wars.

The Geopolitics of India & its Rivalry with China - YouTube

The Geopolitics of India & its Rivalry with China - YouTube

This is CaspianReport's analysis of the geopolitical variables at play in the Indian subcontinent particularly in relation to China.

Life has no value, only profits matter in an evil world! Bangladesh rescue operation near end; collapse death toll at 1,127

Bangladesh rescue operation near end; collapse death toll at 1,127 | Reuters

(Reuters) - Bangladeshi salvage workers neared on Monday the end of their search for victims of the collapse of a factory building, scouring the basement of the complex that crumbled in on itself killing 1,127 people.That toll from the world's worst industrial accident since the Bhopal disaster in India in 1984 could be the final one as no more bodies were found on Monday, a spokesman at the army control room coordinating the salvage operation said.
"The rescuers have reached the basement where the chances of finding more dead bodies are very low," said the spokesman, Captain Tazul Islam.
The site would be handed over to the district administration on Tuesday, upon completion of the salvage work, said army spokesman Shahinul Islam.
The cabinet approved an amendment to Bangladesh's labor laws on Monday, paving the way for parliament to allow garment workers to form trade unions without prior approval from the factory owners.
International labor and human rights groups had long campaigned for workers to be able to form trade unions without such approval.
The amendment was endorsed a day after the government decided to form a wage board to consider pay increases for readymade garment workers.
Average monthly minimum wages now stand at the equivalent of $38 after an increase of about 80 percent in 2010 in response to months of violent street protests.
A series of deadly incidents at factories, including a fire in November that killed 112 people, has focused global attention on safety standards in Bangladesh's booming garment industry.
Eight people were killed in a fire at a factory last week, which an industry association said may have been started deliberately.
About 2,500 people were rescued from the Rana Plaza, in Savar, a commercial suburb of the capital, Dhaka, after the April 24 collapse. Many survivors suffered serious injuries.
The disaster, believed to have been triggered when generators were started up during a blackout, has raised questions about the use by Western retailers of the impoverished South Asian nation as a source of cheap goods.
Nine people have been arrested in connection with the disaster, including the building's owner and bosses of the factories it housed.
The government has accused the owners and builders of the eight-storey complex of using shoddy building materials, including substandard rods, bricks and cement, and not obtaining the necessary clearances.
Bangladesh's garment industry accounts for 80 percent of the country's exports. Low wages have helped lift Bangladesh to number two in the global ranking of exporters, behind China.
Bangladesh ranked last in minimum wages for factory workers in 2010, according to World Bank data, behind Cambodia.
(Editing by Robert Birsel and Ron Popeski

More wars and rumors of wars: Next Asian crisis arrives: Chinese soldiers make military incursion into India- India considers response

Next Asian crisis arrives: Chinese soldiers make military incursion into India- India considers response | The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond

May 2, 2013 – INDIA - A platoon of Chinese soldiers slipped across the boundary into India in the middle of the night, according to Indian officials. They were ferried across the bitterly cold moonscape in Chinese army vehicles, then got out to traverse a dry creek bed with a helicopter hovering overhead for protection. They finally reached their destination and pitched a tent in the barren Depsang Valley in the Ladakh region, a symbolic claim of sovereignty deep inside Indian-held territory. So stealthy was the operation that India did not discover the incursion until a day later, Indian officials said. China denies any incursion, but Indian officials say that for two weeks, the soldiers have refused to move back over the so-called Line of Actual Control that divides Indian-ruled territory from Chinese-run land, leaving the government on the verge of a crisis with its powerful northeastern neighbor. Indian officials fear that if they react with force, the face-off could escalate into a battle with the powerful People’s Liberation Army. But doing nothing would leave a Chinese outpost deep in territory India has ruled since independence. “If they have come 19 kilometers into India, it is not a minor LAC violation. It is a deliberate military operation. And even as India protests, more tents have come up,” said Sujit Dutta, a China specialist at the Jamia Milia Islamia university in New Delhi. “Clearly, the Chinese are testing India to see how far they can go,” he said. That is not China’s stated view. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Thursday that Chinese troops had been carrying out normal patrols and had not crossed the boundary. “China is firmly opposed to any acts that involve crossing the Line of Actual Control and sabotaging the status quo,” she said at a daily briefing in Beijing as she was repeatedly questioned about the dispute. Hua said talks to defuse the dispute were ongoing and that it should not affect relations. “As we pointed out many times, the China-India border issue is one which was left over from the past. The two sides reached important consensus that this issue should not affect the overall bilateral relations,” Hua said. Local army commanders from both sides have held three meetings over the crisis, according to Indian officials. India’s foreign secretary called in the Chinese ambassador to register a strong protest. Yet the troops did not move, and even pitched a second tent, Indian officials said. The timing of the crisis, weeks before Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is to visit India, has surprised many here. The Chinese leader’s decision to make India his first trip abroad since taking office two months ago had been seen as an important gesture toward strengthening ties between rival powers that have longstanding border disputes but also growing trade relations. Manoj Joshi, a defense analyst at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation, said the timing of the incursion raises questions about “whether there is infighting within the Chinese leadership, or whether someone is trying to upstage Li.” Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said Wednesday that while he had no plans to cancel a trip to Beijing next week to prepare for Li’s visit, the government could reconsider in the coming week. Indian politicians accused the scandal-plagued government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of floundering in fear before China. “China realizes that India has a weak government, and a prime minister who is powerless,” said Yashwant Sinha, a former foreign minister from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. He demanded a stronger response. “A bully will back off the moment it realizes that it’s dealing with a country which will not submit to its will,” Sinha said. Former Defense Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav called the government “cowardly and incompetent.” He warned that China was trying to annex more territory to add to the spoils it took following its victory over India in a brief 1962 border war. Defense Minister A.K. Antony countered that India is “united in its commitment to take every possible step to safeguard our interests.” –Yahoo News

Suffer the Little Chidlren: Only 6 Percent of Child Trafficking Cases in India Result in Prosecutions

Only 6 Percent of Child Trafficking Cases in India Result in Prosecutions - YouTube

1. Matthew 19:14
   But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
   Matthew 19:13-15 (in Context) Matthew 19 (Whole Chapter) 
2. Mark 10:14
   But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
   Mark 10:13-15 (in Context) Mark 10 (Whole Chapter) 
3. Luke 18:16
   But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
   Luke 18:15-17 (in Context) Luke 18 (Whole Chapter) 

Is there a connection betwwen animal mass deaths and the deadly flu outbreak in China?

Dead Pigs, Ducks And Now Black Swans: China's Animal Apocalypse Crosses Into The Twilight Zone | Zero Hedge

First it was thousands of dead pigs floating in the Shanghai water supply (at last estimate over 16,000), then a thousand dead ducks were pulled from a river in the Sichuan province, and now, pushing the meme beyond even its most grotesque boundaries, we learn that five black swans were found floating lifeless on the pond of Anhui University’s old campus in Hefei, traditionally inhabited by a bevy of black swans. From Danwei: "The latest instance of floating dead animals in China – first pigs, then ducks, and now black swans – these mere five black swans became an object of heated discussion on the Internet right after the announcement was made. How did they die? Was it a natural disaster or another man-made one? As Star News tells us today, upon hearing of the news yesterday it immediately sent a journalist to the scene to find out exactly what happened. What he found was just one more filthy pond filled with oily water and garbage."
Ok, maybe there is no deep symbolism mystery to this latest black aflocalypse, which may be explained simply by unprecedented local pollution, unless of course many more "fat tails" continue keeling over in a very literal sense.
However, just when it appeared safe to discard the latest media reports of mass animal aquatic burials, an odd wrinkle appears, one which may tie the proverbial animal apocalypse room together.
Recall that as we have discussed repeatedly, the biggest bogeyman facing China is the importation of blistering hot money sourced by Bernanke and his printing brethren. While China may (or may not) be able to temper real estate inflation which has been the preferred target of inbound capital, the one place the Politburo certainly can not afford a price surge is in the cost of its most popular food product: pork. Should this key diet staple become unaffordable to the hundreds of millions of domestic consumers, the Arab Spring would seem like a balmy walk in the park inside a gated community. Which means that no matter what, the price of pork (and to a smaller extent soy) has to be kept as low as possible, especially with the upcoming delayed aftereffects of last summer's US corn drought which led to a mass liquidation of animals, especially pigs. Recall from last September that "The "mass liquidation" of animals - which Rabobank said will pick up pace in the beginning of 2013 - will contribute to food prices hitting new highs. The cost of pork is expected to rise at the fastest pace - by 31% by the end of June next year." Algos may have forgotten about this very key fact, but China sure hasn't.
So what are the Chinese behind the scenes powers doing about this potentially massive problem? Ironically, they may just be those responsible for the mass pig slayings witnessed in recent weeks. From Wantchinatimes:

The recent incident in which thousands of dead pigs were found floating in Shanghai's main river has further hit pork prices in China, with the sector already experiencing falling demand, according to local media reports.

Weekly data from the country's Ministry of Commerce released on March 20 showed that wholesale prices of pork has fallen for four consecutive weeks as of March 17, with the accumulated decline over the period touching 8%.

Pork prices in the country were undergoing a seasonal decline after Chinese New Year, but the recent scandal has rotted demand, Chinese business news site Caixin said.

Even United States Treasury secretary Jacob Lew ordered vegetarian dumplings instead of dumplings stuffed with pork when he dined out during his recent visit to China.

The Chinese government's guidelines on official conduct, including the restrictions imposed on holding official banquets, is another factor affecting pork demand, driving down prices to levels resembling a crash, Caixin said.

Figures posted by industry information website Soozhu showed that average hog prices dropped to 12.5 yuan (US$2) a kilogram on March 19, and the pace of its decline touched a near-decade high.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's economic planner, said it is closely monitoring pork prices and would intervene if the market downturn persists.

E-commerce giant Alibaba's website covering the agricultural sector said pork has seen three market cycles during the past decade, with each cycle becoming shorter and price fluctuations becoming steeper.

Pig farmers began expanding capacity two years ago when pork prices surged, leading to the current situation of excess supply, local reports said.

Crush prices through revulsion about potentially spoiled meat? Not a bad plan, and one which so far may have worked. However, how long before the mean reversion wave sets in, and the deferred consumption of pork comes back with a vengeance? What happens when the artificial reduction of pig supply leads to a surge in prices once demand goes back to normal as the locals forget all about the recent floating pigs?
How much longer will the Politburo then be able to pretend there is no inflation in the one country where the food component as a percentage of overall CPI is a whopping 30%, compared to under 8% in the US?
And what happens to those key inflationary offsets once the rampant inflation wave strikes back with a vengeance? Recall that is was soaring Chinese inflation in early 2011 that set off the great scramble for gold as the local population was buying the shiny metal hand over fist, in the process pushing the price of gold from $1300 to $1900 in nine months.

The question then is: will the fading of the floating pig scandal from the collective memory be the inflection point when Chinese food inflation finally explodes, and takes the price of gold with it, and concurrently is the gating factor that forces the PBOC to demand at the next G20 meeting that the liquidity spigots in the "developed nations" be promptly shut or else.
It is surprising how much may depend on the fate of a few floating dead pigs: so much so that the concurrent death of black swans makes so much more sense, both literally and figuratively.

Damascus fast turning into Baghdad: At least 13 killed, more than 70 injured as massive car blast rocks central Damascus - Syrian state TV

At least 13 killed, more than 70 injured as massive car blast rocks central Damascus - Syrian state TV — RT News

 

A massive car explosion which hit central Damascus on Tuesday morning left at least 13 people dead and 70 others injured, according to Syrian state TV. The incident took place in Marjeh district, a historic part of the capital. The blast went off near the Semiramis Hotel and a building which once housed the country’s Ministry of Interior Affairs. The ministry had earlier been moved to another site. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog is cited by AFP as saying the car bomb was detonated by the former ministry building's back door. Eyewitnesses say they heard a powerful explosion and then saw thick, black smoke rising from behind a group of buildings. Activists reported gunfire was heard in the area immediately after the explosion. A resident of Damascus, living 1.7km from the blast site, said the explosion shook the doors of her house. "It must be huge for me to hear it like that. Casualties must be horrific because it is a super busy square at this time of day," she told Reuters via Skype. Al-Ikhbariya TV described the blast as a terrorist explosion. It comes a day after Syrian Prime Minister Wael Halqi survived an attempted bombing assassination in central Damascus.

Photo from sana.sy (R. Milhem/Ghossoun)

Photo from sana.sy (R. Milhem/Ghossoun)

Photo from sana.sy (R. Milhem/Ghossoun)

Photos from sana.sy (R. Milhem/Ghossoun) 

End of Euro? Clash of Titans: Franco-German ties crack as Hollande slams Merkel

Clash of Titans: Franco-German ties crack as Hollande slams Merkel - YouTube

 

Published on Apr 29, 2013

The partnership, which used be the heart of EU decision-making, is now set for cooler times. Francois Hollande's ruling Socialists in France have attacked the German Chancellor for acting only in her country's interests in a draft document on European policy. Although party officials later said the strong words would be removed, the sting reflects growing EU resentment against German austerity. RT discusses it all with investment adviser Patrick Young.

H7N9 declared ‘one of the most lethal’ flu viruses ever: spreads beyond China mainland -1st case reported in Taiwan

H7N9 declared ‘one of the most lethal’ flu viruses ever: spreads beyond China mainland -1st case reported in Taiwan | The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond

by The Extinction Protocol

April 24, 2013 – CHINA - A new bird flu strain that has killed 22 people in China is “one of the most lethal” of its kind and transmits more easily to humans than another strain that has killed hundreds since 2003, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said on Wednesday. The H7N9 flu has infected 108 people in China since it was first detected in March, according to the Geneva-based WHO. Although it is not clear exactly how people are being infected, experts say they see no evidence so far of the most worrisome scenario – sustained transmission between people. An international team of scientists led by the WHO and the Chinese government conducted a five-day investigation in China, but said they were no closer to determining whether the virus might become transmissible between people. “The situation remains complex and difficult and evolving,” said Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s assistant director-general for health security. “When we look at influenza viruses, this is an unusually dangerous virus for humans,” he said at a briefing. Another bird flu strain – H5N1 – has killed 30 of the 45 people it infected in China between 2003 and 2013, and although the H7N9 strain in the current outbreak has a lower fatality rate to date, Fukuda said: “This is definitely one of the most lethal influenza viruses that we’ve seen so far.” Scientists who have analyzed genetic sequence data from samples from three H7N9 victims say the strain is a so-called “triple reassortant” virus with a mixture of genes from three other flu strains found in birds in Asia. Recent pandemic viruses, including the H1N1 “swine flu” of 2009/2010, have been mixtures of mammal and bird flu – hybrids that are more likely to be milder because mammalian flu tends to make people less severely ill than bird flu. Pure bird flu strains, such as the new H7N9 strain and the H5N1 flu, which has killed about 371 of 622 the people it has infected since 2003, are generally more deadly for people. The team of experts, who began their investigation in China last week, said one problem in tracking H7N9 is the absence of visible illness in poultry. Fukuda stressed that the team is still at the beginning of its investigation, and said that “we may just be seeing the most serious infections” at this point. Based on the evidence, “this virus is more easily transmissible from poultry to humans than H5N1,” he said. Besides the initial cases of H7N9 in and around Shanghai, others have been detected in Beijing and five provinces. On Wednesday, Taiwan’s Health Department said a businessman had contracted H7N9 while travelling in China and was in a serious condition in hospital. Samples from chickens, ducks and pigeons from poultry markets have tested positive for H7N9, but those from migratory birds have not, suggesting that “the likely source of infection is poultry,” said Nancy Cox, director of the influenza division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. John Oxford, a flu virologist at Queen Mary University of London, said the emergence of human H7N9 infections – a completely new strain in people – was “very, very unsettling. This virus seems to have been quietly spreading in chickens without anyone knowing about it,” he told Reuters in London. Flu experts say it is likely that more cases of human infection with H7N9 flu will emerge in the coming weeks and months, at least until the source of infection has been completely confirmed and effectively controlled. Anne Kelso, the Melbourne-based director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza said there has been a “dramatic slowdown of cases” in the commercial capital of Shanghai, which has recorded most of the deaths, something she described as “encouraging.” –Yahoo News

The new ‘normal’ in police state America: SWAT teams order innocent Americans out of their homes at gunpoint – Mike Adams

The new ‘normal’ in police state America: SWAT teams order innocent Americans out of their homes at gunpoint – Mike Adams | Dprogram.net

(NaturalNews) – In a police state, citizens have no rights and can be ordered around at the whims of a militarized police force whose goons run around in black uniforms, terrorizing the populace. Welcome to Boston, 2013. The police state is running wild in this city, and it has reached the point where innocent families are being ordered out of their own homes by screaming, aggressive, ‘roid-head SWAT teams armed with overwhelming firepower.
This is what has emerged from a secret YouTube video that had to be covertly filmed while ducking behind a window.
Click here to watch the shocking video.
But this was only the beginning of the police state action. In a desperate manhunt for the suspects involved in the Boston marathon bombing, Boston police rolled down neighborhood streets in armored assault vehicles, aiming guns directly at citizens and completely abandoning every applicable provision of the Bill of Rights
As this one photo shows, one member of the local police aims his M4 rifle directly at the homeowner taking the photo from a second-story window:

This was all done under the justification of “exigent circumstances,” which means, according to the police, that the government can ignore ALL laws and ALL due process and simply do whatever it wants.
If the police wanted to loot all your jewelry, steal your car and rape your cat, they could have gotten away with it by claiming “exigent circumstances.”
The media reported that all these searches were “voluntary,” but the truth is that this is raw tyranny, unfolding right here in America, where the government does whatever it wants because it has all the guns and the population is completely defenseless to say “No!” (And with this in mind, the government now wants everybody across the country to be completely defenseless and disarmed!)

Why Bostonites welcome police state tyranny

Of course, these people who live in Watertown, Massachusetts love to live under police state tyranny. They hate the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and personal privacy. They hate private citizens owning guns to defend themselves, and they love to see ultra-militarized police pointing guns at them and ordering them out of their homes.

That makes them feel “secure.” As long as the government has all the guns, it’s all okay, you see: breaking an entering, kidnapping of homeowners, the threat of the use of violence against those who refuse to comply… these are all signs of “security,” according to Bostonites.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg couldn’t agree more. In a frightening statement that seems yanked right out of “1984,” Bloomberg now says the interpretation of the Constitution will “have to change” to allow for more security and less privacy:
We live in a complex word where you’re going to have to have a level of security greater than you did back in the olden days, if you will. And our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change.”
Keep in mind that Bloomberg surrounds himself with armed guards when he’s out in public, but he doesn’t believe in your right to defend yourself with armaments. It’s just one small example of the runaway hypocrisy being shoveled at the highest levels of government.

“Lockdown” means martial law

During all this, the city of Boston was in an undeclared state of martial law. The government tried to put a nice-sounding spin on it by calling it a “lockdown” that urged residents to “shelter in place.” What they didn’t explain, however, is that anyone who refused to comply could be arrested, detained and interrogated.
Remarkably, the local residents complied! Hiding in their homes, shivering with raw fear, 400,000+ Bostonites were scared out of their minds by one armed teenager! So they let the police take away all their rights and turn their city into a Constitution-free zone.

They probably loved it, too, as some can be seen on local news reports worshipping the police and thanking them for trampling all over their rights and freedoms.
Why not just bow down and lick their paramilitary boots? Why not launch a new “Church of Government” and perform worship services every Sunday that depict the local police as gods?
These people are beyond pathetic. They are the antithesis of what America was founded on. They are, literally, anti-Americans.
And it’s not surprising that they were harboring a couple of terrorists, too. They were popular guys, partying with the locals and reportedly having a lot of local friends. That’s not surprising because terrorists and socialists go hand in hand. They agree on almost everything: freedom is bad, killing people is good, and the rules and laws don’t matter. Both terrorists and socialists agree that carrying out their agenda is far more important than abiding by any laws, rules or “rights” of citizens.
So I’m actually not surprised the Tsarnaev brothers were recruited and trained in Boston. It’s hard to think of a better example of a city where the people are just begging to be overrun by violence in one form or another.

What happens when “exigent circumstances” goes national?

There’s a bigger question in all this, by the way: What happens during an economic collapse or larger-scale event that impacts the entire nation? Does the federal government just declare “exigent circumstances” on a nationwide basis, then start yanking families out of their homes anywhere it wants?
Is this proclamation — “exigent circumstances” — supposed to magically nullify all laws, rules, due process and rights of private citizens? Because it DOESN’T. The Constitution does not become null and void solely because a bunch of armed goons are chasing down one armed teenager. The Fourth Amendment is not nullified just because a bunch of people (allegedly) got their legs blown off by some mad bomber.
The government cannot pick and choose when the Constitution applies, yet with each passing day that spineless people like those in Boston roll over and let the police state bully them around at gunpoint, our freedoms erode just a little bit more.
That’s exactly what people like Bloomberg, Biden and Obama really want, of course. And that’s why the more bombings occur, the more government grabs power and turns the citizens into slaves.
Source: Natural News

Death toll rises to 193 from China’s 6.6 magnitude earthquake: 1.4 million houses damaged

Death toll rises to 193 from China’s 6.6 magnitude earthquake: 1.4 million houses damaged | The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond

April 23, 2013 – CHINA – The death toll in China’s earthquake rose to 193 today with over 12,000 injured in the catastrophic disaster, as rescue work was hampered by rain and 3,000 aftershocks. In the latest figures released here, Chinese officials said 193 people had been killed and 23 people have to be accounted for. Over 1.40 million houses were damaged by the quake affecting the lives of over two million people in the Lushan County of the Sichuan province which was struck by 7.0 magnitude quake on Saturday. The places recorded over 3000 aftershocks measuring up to 5.4 in magnitude, making the rescue work more difficult. Also new threats and hazards began to loom large today as rescue and relief efforts entered a fourth day. Rain began lashing the area, hampering relief work and posing threats such as rain-triggered landslides and possible outbreaks of disease. According to the National Meteorological Center, moderate rain will linger in the quake-hit region over the next few days, adding to difficulties in carrying out relief work. “Such weather is hampering our rescue and relief work, and it’s risky to operate large machines under such conditions,” Zhang Yefu, an engineer who is leading a team to build makeshift shelters in Lushan county, was quoted by the state-run Xinhua news agency as saying. Sanitation conditions in the region are far from satisfactory as there is not enough clean water and locals are in need of toilets. “People in the town are drinking water from wells or mountain springs, but we have no idea if it is clean enough or adequate,” said 43-year-old Yang Yumei, from the township of Lingguan in Baoxing which is one of the counties that was worst-hit by the quake. Zhang Zuyun, deputy head of Sichuan Provincial Health Department, said providing safe and clean drinking water to locals is a problem, noting that some people are suffering from diarrhea. Zhang said the local health authority is trying to send a water quality testing machine to the town. –Zee News