India
Major Terrorist Attack On U.S. ‘Within Weeks’?
I stumbled on the following article on the website of WND (formerly WorldNetDaily), an independent news company. Reza Kahlili wrote Monday:
Iran has given the go-ahead to operatives of three terrorist groups that have infiltrated the United States to carry out missions, including what is expected to be a Mumbai-style attack on a hotel where innocent bystanders would be killed, WND has learned…
Three targets have been chosen within America for imminent attack, and the terror teams have now cut communications with the operational center in Iran, a sign that they are moving ahead with the attacks, according to a high-level intelligence officer within the Islamic regime.
According to an update to the piece Tuesday, Kahili’s “source” revealed the major attack would take place “within weeks.”
Interesting reading (can’t speak for how reliable the information provided is though), which can be viewed in its entirety on the WND site here.
By Christopher E. Hill, Editor
Survival And Prosperity (www.survivalandprosperity.com)
Gold Price Takedown Leads To Buying Frenzy
“My view is that the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan ’caused’ the gold crash. The rest is noise…
The world is still in a contained depression. Sliding commodities tell us global money is if anything too tight. ‘There is a threat of deflation almost everywhere. A lot of central banks will have to follow the Bank of Japan, whatever they say now,’ said Lars Christensen form Danske Bank.
The era of money printing is young yet. Gold will have its day again.”
-Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Telegraph (UK), April 17, 2013
Since I started blogging nearly six years ago, if I had a dollar every time I read somewhere “gold is toast,” I’d be a millionaire by now.
Fine. I’d have a hell of a lot of singles.
And a raised eyebrow from my girlfriend.
Seriously though, what is it with people who absolutely detest the precious metal?
I’m not a big fan of paper assets, but I don’t make it my life’s mission to crucify them whenever I get the chance (website and blog comments come to mind here).
My take on investing is- keep an open mind. Lest you squander major money making opportunities. Certain asset classes simply perform better than others at different points in time.
There’s a time for stocks, bonds, currencies, what have you.
And for a number of global investors, now is the time for gold.
Sure, the precious metal really got hammered in the price department the other week. But this resulted in a buying frenzy of the physical bullion. John Noble reported on the Financial Times (UK) website on April 22:
Asia is witnessing one of the strongest waves of physical gold buying in 30 years, with bargain hunters using the drop in prices to secure jewellery and gold bars.
The feverish buying has left many of Hong Kong’s banks, jewellers and even its gold exchange without enough yellow metal to meet demand. In Shanghai, the gold exchange saw volumes – often seen as a proxy for demand – rising to a record on Monday, while queues formed outside some jewellery shops in Beijing.
To give you an idea of just how crazy the demand is in China, Noble, who’s writing from Hong Kong, added:
Haywood Cheung, president of the Hong Kong Gold & Silver Exchange Society, said the exchange had effectively run out of most of its holdings as members looked to meet a shortfall in supply amid rampant retail demand for gold.
“In terms of volume, I haven’t seen this gold rush for over 20 years,” he said. “Older members who have been in the business for 50 years haven’t seen such a thing.”
The Times piece noted demand for the yellow metal is also strong in India. Something Biman Mukherji and Debiprasad Nayak confirmed on the Wall Street Journal website on April 23. They wrote:
Indian gold retailers are paying more in order to meet immediate demand, as customers scoop up every gold bar they can lay their hands on in the wake of a plunge in international prices.
Indian retailers say they are paying premiums of $8-$10 an ounce over the international gold price, which is around $1,425 a troy ounce. That’s four or five times the premium retailers usually pay for imported gold during periods of peak demand in India, according to traders.
“We have not seen this kind of premium on gold imports in years,” said Suresh Hundia, president emeritus of the Bombay Bullion Association.
Gold demand is not too shabby in nearby Australia either. Jake Lloyd-Smith reported on the Bloomberg website tonight:
Australia’s Perth Mint, which refines nearly all of the nation’s bullion, said that demand has jumped to the highest level in five years after prices plunged, with the factory kept open through the weekend to meet orders.
There’s been strong interest, including from the U.S., with buyers speculating that the metal will rebound from the decline, Ron Currie, sales and marketing director, said in a phone interview from Perth…
“We haven’t seen levels like this since the 2008 global financial crisis,” Currie said yesterday. “Compared to March sales, April sales have doubled or tripled,” he said, without providing figures.
On Friday, April 12, the afternoon fix gold spot price was $1,535.50 per ounce. The price tumbled to $1,380 an ounce by Tuesday, April 16. Today, the London P.M. fix was back up to $1,467.50.
By Christopher E. Hill, Editor
Survival And Prosperity (www.survivalandprosperity.com)
(Editor’s note: I am not responsible for any personal liability, loss, or risk incurred as a consequence of the use and application, either directly or indirectly, of any information presented herein)
Sources:
Noble, John. “Asian bargain hunters pile into gold.” Financial Times. 22 Apr. 2013. (http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/56244496-ab39-11e2-ac71-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2RuiP9ndw). 29 Apr. 2013.
Mukherji, Biman and Nayak, Debiprasad. “India Gold Premiums Soar as Demand Outstrips Supply” Wall Street Journal. 23 Apr. 2013. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324874204578440242906344734.html). 29 Apr. 2013.
Lloyd-Smith, Jake. “Perth Mint Works Through Weekend as Gold Demand Surges on Price.” Bloomberg.com. 29 Apr. 2013. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-30/perth-mint-works-through-weekend-as-gold-demand-surges-on-price.html). 29 Apr. 2013.
Central Banks Continue To Stockpile Gold
Despite the price of gold getting pummeled recently, a number of the world’s central banks continue to acquire the precious metal. Sungwoo Park reported on the Bloomberg website yesterday:
The Bank of Korea added 20 metric tons in February, raising its gold reserves by 24 percent to 104.4 tons, it said in a statement today. Holdings rose about $1.03 billion by value to $4.79 billion at the end of last month, equivalent to 1.5 percent of total foreign exchange holdings, according to the statement. Prices advanced.
Russia and Kazakhstan expanded bullion reserves for a fourth straight month in January.
On February 11, I blogged that Russia is now the world’s biggest gold buyer, adding 570 metric tons of the precious metal to their holdings over the past decade.
Glenys Sim wrote on Bloomberg.com back on February 25:
Russian holdings climbed 12.2 metric tons to 970 tons last month after gaining 8.5 percent over 2012, according to International Monetary Fund data. Kazakhstan’s hoard grew 1.5 tons to 116.8 tons, following last year’s 41 percent expansion, data on the IMF website showed…
Central banks will again be strong buyers this year after they boosted purchases 17 percent to 534.6 tons last year, the most since 1964, according to the London-based World Gold Council.
The gold haters are out in full force these days. Yet, central banks keep stockpiling the yellow metal. Hmm.
Diversification? Or “something wicked this way comes?”
And there’s no shortage of stories in the American media of how poorly gold is doing. Even though it’s setting record highs in other countries. Brett Arends wrote on the MarketWatch website yesterday:
You won’t hear about it in the usual places. Everywhere you turn these days, all you hear is that gold is down, it’s finished, it’s heading for something called a “death cross,” which sounds terrifying. But away from the headlines, gold just rocketed to a new, all-time high.
In places like Argentina, Brazil, Iceland, India, and Japan.
Not bad for a “barbarous relic,” huh?
By Christopher E. Hill, Editor
Survival And Prosperity (www.survivalandprosperity.com)
(Editor’s note: I am not responsible for any personal liability, loss, or risk incurred as a consequence of the use and application, either directly or indirectly, of any information presented herein)
Sources:
Park, Sungwoo. “Korea Joins Russia, Kazakhstan in Boosting Gold Holdings.” Bloomberg. 6 Mar. 2013. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-05/bank-of-korea-boosts-gold-reserves-as-central-banks-buy.html). 6 Mar. 2013.
Sim, Glenys. “Russia, Kazakhstan Increase Bullion Reserves for Fourth Month.” Bloomberg. 25 Feb. 2013. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-25/russia-kazakhstan-expand-gold-reserves-for-fourth-month-1-.html). 6 Mar. 2013.
Arends, Brett. “The secret bull market in gold.” MarketWatch. 6 Mar. 2013. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-secret-bull-market-in-gold-2013-03-06). 6 Mar. 2013.
Billionaire Investors Divided On Gold As Demand Hits Record Value Level In 2012
We’re on a roll today. Consider it make-up material for yesterday. Anyway, let’s turn our attention over to money. “Real” money like gold, that is. The precious metal had another solid year in 2012. From a press release today issued by the London-based World Gold Council, the gold industry’s market development organization:
2012 sees gold demand hit record value level
Q4 2012 up 4% year-on-year as India, China and central banks drive demand
In value terms, gold demand in 2012 was US$236.4bn – an all-time high. Gold demand in value terms for the final quarter of the year was 6% higher year-on-year at US$66.2bn, marking the highest ever Q4 total.
Global gold demand in Q4 2012 was 1,195.9 tonnes(t), up 4% on the same quarter in 2011. In Q4 2012, the average gold price reached a record level of US$1,721.8/oz, up 1% on the previous record average price in Q3 2011. The average price during 2012 was US$1,669.0/oz, up 6% from US$1,571.5/oz in 2011.
The key findings from the report are as follows:
• Whilst Indian full year demand was down 12% on the previous year, the market performed strongly in the final quarter with total demand at 261.9t, an increase of 41% on the same period last year. Both jewellery and investment demand reached their highest levels for six quarters. Demand for jewellery was up 35% year-on-year to reach 153.0t, and strong retail demand led to 108.9t of investment buying. In India the prospect of duty increases, which came in to force in January 2013, may have added to strong buying in the final quarter to beat the anticipated price rises.
• Chinese demand was flat year-on–year, reflecting the impact of economic slowdown. However looking at Q4, total demand was up 1% on the previous quarter to 202.5t. Jewellery demand was137.0t up 1% on Q4 2011 and investment demand was 65.5t, up 2% on the previous year. These increases may reflect the fact that the economic slowdown in China appears to have been shorter than expected.
• Central bank buying for the full year rose by 17% compared to 2011, totalling 534.6t, the highest level since 1964. Central bank purchases stood at 145.0t in Q4, up 29% on the corresponding quarter in the previous year, making this the eighth consecutive quarter in which central banks have been net purchasers of gold.
• Global investment in ETFs in 2012 was up significantly by 51% on the preceding year, though Q4 was down 16% to 88.1t when compared with the high levels recorded in Q3 2012.
“Gold Demand Trends: Full year and Q4 2012″
WGC Video
However, the price of gold hasn’t glimmered too much lately. Debarati Roy and Phoebe Sedgman reported on the Bloomberg website this evening:
Billionaire investors George Soros and Louis Moore Bacon cut their stakes in exchange-traded products backed by gold last quarter as futures dropped the most in more than eight years. John Paulson maintained his holding.
Soros Fund Management LLC reduced its investment in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest fund backed by the metal, 55 percent to 600,000 shares as of Dec. 31 from three months earlier, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed yesterday. Bacon’s Moore Capital Management LP sold its entire stake in the SPDR fund and lowered holdings in the Sprott Physical Gold Trust. Paulson & Co., the largest investor in SPDR, kept its stake at 21.8 million shares.
Roy and Sedgman noted gold prices fell 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the most since the second quarter of 2004. Renewed optimism in the U.S. economy was the reason given by a number of observers cited in the piece.
Now, why is it that the “crash prophets” who saw the 2008 global economic crisis and “Great Recession” coming, such as Marc Faber, Jim Rogers, and Peter Schiff, are sounding the alarm about more hard times ahead of us, while those finance- and investing-types who never saw the financial storm approaching until it bit them and their clients in the rear-end are the same ones now predicting “all’s well” for the U.S. economy? Are they not aware of the financial manipulation that’s been required to get us this short-term, artificial prosperity?
My guess is that it registers, but they’re incapable of seeing the big picture.
All I know is this. While I’ll keep an open mind, I’m inclined to cast my lot with those guys who correctly-called the “Panic of ‘08” and have a knack of being correct on a consistent basis.
You can read the entire WGC press release on their website here.
By Christopher E. Hill, Editor
Survival And Prosperity (www.survivalandprosperity.com)
(Editor’s note: I am not responsible for any personal liability, loss, or risk incurred as a consequence of the use and application, either directly or indirectly, of any information presented herein)
Source:
Roy, Debarati and Sedgman, Phoebe. “Billionaires Soros, Bacon Cut Gold Holdings on Decline.” Bloomberg. 14 Feb. 2013. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-14/billionaires-soros-bacon-reduce-gold-holdings-as-prices-slump.html). 14 Feb. 2013.
China, Global Mainstream Media Urge U.S. To Enact More Gun ‘Control’
Since last week’s mass shooting in Newtown Connecticut, the global mainstream media has gone to work pushing the United States to adopt more restrictions on firearms. Reuters’ Edward Krudy and Peter Rudegeair reported Wednesday:
Around the globe, newspaper editorials from the Philippines to South Africa urged U.S. gun-control efforts and said they were long overdue.
“It takes no great deductive genius to understand the link: a violent individual with a gun will be more able to kill, and can kill more people, than a violent individual without a gun. Elsewhere in the world, tighter gun laws have been shown to save lives,” said an editorial in India’s The Hindu newspaper.
(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)
“Elsewhere in the world, tighter gun laws have been shown to save lives.”
I’d really like to see the evidence supporting that statement.
Even the People’s Republic of China is chiming in on this. From state-run Xinhua News Agency on December 14:
Innocent blood demands no delay for U.S. gun control
Every time a tragedy occurs, there are renewed appeals for gun regulation. However, the calls disappointingly always fail…The latest heartbreaking deaths of the 20 schoolchildren aged five to 10 have made the crime especially unbearable. Many people can’t help but turn to the dim hope once again: the gunman’s cruelty and evil may provide a strong momentum and broader public support for the restart of gun control efforts. Moreover, with no re-election pressure, President Obama is currently in the best position to promote it…
Action speaks louder than words. If Obama wants to take practical measures to control guns, he has to make preparation for a protracted war and considerable political cost.
This brings to mind something China’s Chairman Mao said in Problems of War and Strategy, November 6, 1939:
All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The Communist Party must command all the guns. That way, no guns can ever be used to command the Party.
Sources:
Krudy, Edward and Rudegeair, Peter. “White House readies gun-control plan as more children laid to rest.” Reuters. 19 Dec. 2012. (http://news.yahoo.com/schools-reopen-newtown-washington-talks-gun-control-002828916.html). 21 Dec. 2012.
“Innocent blood demands no delay for U.S. gun control.” Xinhua News Agency. 14 Dec. 2012. (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2012-12/15/c_132042820.htm). 21 Dec. 2012.
Gold Entering Annual Sweet Spot?
This is the time of year gold traders get excited about. Don Vialoux wrote on The Globe and Mail (Canada) website yesterday:
The period of seasonal strength for gold bullion is approaching.
Thackray’s 2012 Investor’s Guide
notes that the optimal time to invest in gold bullion for a seasonal trade is from July 12 to Oct. 9. The trade has been profitable during 11 of the past 14 periods. During the past 25 periods, gold bullion has outperformed the S&P 500 Index by 4.7 per cent per period.
Demand and supply factors seem to be in gold’s favor. Vialoux pointed out:
Despite reduced demand for gold in India, prospects for the seasonal trade this year are higher than average. Demand for gold is increasing. Chinese consumer purchases of jewellery continue to increase.
Of greater importance, central banks including Russia, China and India are rumoured to be significant buyers. China continues to take action to diversify its reserves outside of U.S. dollar investments by adding to its gold holdings. China and India are rumoured to be buyers of gold for use in a gold-for-oil arrangement with Iran.
On the supply side, production from China, the world’s largest gold producer, is believed to be declining as older mines reduce production. Meanwhile, investor demand is increasing due to concerns that central banks are trying to stimulate their economies by essentially printing more money.
The United Kingdom and Europe and China announced additional monetary stimulus last week and a third quantitative easing program by the Federal Reserve during this summer is widely anticipated. More money chasing a relatively stable amount of gold will lead to higher gold prices.
Speaking of the United Kingdom, the London-based World Gold Council, the gold industry’s market development organization, released a research report yesterday entitled, “Gold as a strategic asset for UK investors.” From a press release:
The World Gold Council has today launched its latest research entitled “Gold as a strategic asset for UK investors”, which examines gold’s role within a sterling-denominated investment portfolio. Using data spanning over 25 years, the report demonstrates that an allocation to gold helps investors obtain equal or better average returns, while incurring less volatility and reducing the maximum monthly losses.
Against a backdrop of sustained market turmoil and wealth erosion, investors are seeking a trusted source of security for their holdings. The report shows how gold can fulfil this role by acting as a consistent portfolio diversifier – managing risk and mitigating potential losses in the portfolios of UK investors, an imperative in the prevailing environment…
Juan Carlos Artigas, Global Head of Investment Research commented:
“There is robust evidence for adding gold as a foundation to investors’ portfolios; risk-adjusted returns increase, losses diminish and capital is preserved. The optimal strategic allocation to gold for sterling-based investors ranges between 2.6% and 9.5% depending on their specific risk tolerance and assets they hold. This potential for investors to avoid a significant loss or increase portfolio gains, by adding gold, is especially important during extreme market events.”
And this morning, the World Gold Council issued a similar report for Japanese investors entitled, “Optimal Allocations to Gold for Japanese Investors.”
You can access both WGC reports on their website here.
(Editor’s note: I am not responsible for any personal liability, loss, or risk incurred as a consequence of the use and application, either directly or indirectly, of any information presented herein)
Source:
Vialoux, Don. “Get ready for gold bullion’s season of strength.” The Globe and Mail. 10 July 2012. (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/funds-and-etfs/etfs/season-of-gold-bullion-strength-nearly-here/article4403228/?cmpid=rss1). 11 July 2012.
Which Central Banks Are Buying Gold?
If there’s one question gold “bears” have a hard time answering, it’s this:
If gold is such a “barbarous relic,” how come central banks are acquiring it these days?
There’s doesn’t seem to be much doubt this accumulation is taking place. In fact, Izabella Kaminska wrote on the FT Alphaville blog on the Financial Times (UK) website just today:
What’s more, the case for “gold” is increasingly being linked to future expectations that central banks and public authorities will continue to be large net buyers and borrowers of gold, rather than sellers.
The point is made nicely in this note from Moody’s Analytics on Tuesday:
One strong positive for gold demand is purchases for the reserves of governments and supranational organizations. After many years of shedding reserves, net buying by the official sector reached 456 t last year. The desire to diversify from major currencies may continue to drive such demand…
So, which central banks in particular are acquiring the precious metal?
I recently received this month’s edition of Peter Schiff’s Gold Report (ROTW back on July 6, 2011) and the President and Chief Global Strategist of Euro Pacific Capital provided some insight. From the July issue of this free newsletter:
The return to gold is unmistakably the product of a strategic, not merely a tactical, shift in global central banking policy. Central banks in the developed world have now altogether stopped selling bullion. This was foreshadowed by their behavior over the past decade, when they sold even less gold than they were permitted to under the anti-dumping Central Bank Gold Agreements. Clearly the concern about dumping gold was out of step with the trend. But more importantly, central banks in the emerging markets have been buying gold by the truckload.
Since the financial crisis of ’08, nations as diverse as Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and India have led the way back to gold as a primary reserve asset. Russia alone has added an impressive 400 tonnes of bullion to its reserves, most of it coming from domestic purchases. Mexico has added over 120 tonnes, including 78 tonnes from one mega-purchase in March 2011. The Philippines have bought over 60 tonnes, with 32 tonnes coming in as recently as March 2012. Thailand has added approximately 60 tonnes, and Kazakhstan just shy of 30 tonnes. Turkey amended its regulatory policy late last year to allow commercial banks to count gold towards their reserve requirements, adding over 120 tonnes to its official reserves. And bullion imports into mainland China through Hong Kong have been reaching all-time highs.
Finally, loyal US allies Saudi Arabia and India, in what is sure to leave particularly bitter taste in Washington’s mouth, have been adding gold to their reserves by the hundreds of tonnes.
In short, the governments of emerging markets recognize that the global monetary order is on the verge of a reset. These emerging markets are the economic engines of the 21st century, and they’re determined not to be undermined by Western fiat paper.
South Korea might also be adding to their gold reserves soon. I blogged on June 21:
The Irish precious metals firm also highlighted the possibility of South Korea buying more gold in 2012:
The Bank of Korea has said that its current gold holdings are too small and that the BOK may buy more gold this year in order to diversify its foreign exchange portfolio which is exposed to the dollar.
Eugene Kim, chief investment officer at the central bank’s foreign-exchange reserve management group, said its gold holdings are “too small” given the size of its forex reserves, which stood at a record-high of $310.87 billion at the end of May, and that the BOK might buy more bullion this year.
Gold. A “barbarous relic” for sure.
(Editor’s note: I am not responsible for any personal liability, loss, or risk incurred as a consequence of the use and application, either directly or indirectly, of any information presented herein)
Sources:
Kaminska, Izabella. “Propping up the gold price.” FT Alphaville. 10 July 2012. (http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2012/07/10/1077461/propping-up-the-gold-price/). 10 July 2012.
Schiff, Peter. “The Return Of The Gold Standard.” Peter Schiff’s Gold Report. July 2012.
H1N1 Cases Reported In Asia, South America
President Barack Obama has declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect noninfected patients.
The declaration, signed Friday night and announced Saturday, comes with the disease more prevalent than ever in the country…
-Associated Press, October 25, 2009
The global death toll from 2009’s H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic could be higher than initially reported. Simeon Bennett reported on the Bloomberg website yesterday:
The 2009 swine flu pandemic may have killed 15 times more people globally than reported at the time, according to the first study to estimate the death toll.
The H1N1 influenza virus probably killed about 284,500 people worldwide, compared with 18,500 deaths reported to the World Health Organization, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases today. More than half the deaths may have been in southeast Asia and Africa, compared with 12 percent of officially reported fatalities, the authors wrote.
The H1N1 virus was reported in more than 214 countries through August 2010, when the WHO declared an end to the pandemic. It’s since become one of three seasonal flu strains circulating worldwide, causing infections mostly during the winter months.
This year, H1N1 cases have been reported in both hemispheres, and in winter and summer. Loshana K. Shagar and Embun Majid reported on the Jakarta Post (Indonesia) website on June 16:
The Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak at the National Service (NS) camp is under control, said Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai.
He said there have been no new cases since Thursday.
Ninety NS trainees at Dusun Minda National Service training camp in Kuala Nerang, Kedah, were quarantined two days ago after coming down with A(H1N1).
Sumitra Deb Roy wrote on the Times of India website earlier today:
MUMBAI: The civic authorities are insistent that H1N1 cases in the city are sporadic and nothing to worry about. But statistics suggest otherwise. While 46 positive cases of H1N1 have been reported between April and June so far, there were zero cases in Mumbai during the corresponding period last year.
Prasit Tangpraset wrote on the AsiaOne website, an online news portal belonging to Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co., last Thursday:
Yesterday 41 persons were confirmed as infected with the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) at Nakhon Ratchasima Rajanagarindra Psychiatric Hospital in the Northeast…
Kamron Chaisiri, inspector-general of the Public Health Ministry, said the hospital found the first case on June 12 in the ward for alcoholics, who have weaker immune systems and are easily infected.
Six women and 35 men have been admitted, including six hospital staff. The patients are on the antiviral drug Tamiflu and none are severely ill.
And Latin American News Agency Prensa Latina published on its website last Friday:
The Bolivian Minister of Health and Sports, Juan Carlos Calvimontes, confirmed the record of 637 patients with influenza A (H1N1) and 2. 276 suspected cases.
According to Calvimontes epidemiological reports register five deaths, and he said that the department with more registered patients is La Paz, with more than 300 positive cases.
With all these reports coming in about H1N1 cases, here’s hoping this isn’t the beginning of another pandemic (or a “real” one, as some claim the 2009 event was a scam).
Stay healthy, my friends.
Sources:
Bennett, Simeon. “Swine Flu Deaths May Have Been 15 Times Higher Than Reported.” Bloomberg. 25 June 2012. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-25/swine-flu-deaths-may-have-been-15-times-higher-than-reported.html). 26 June 2012.
Shagar, Loshana K. and Majid, Embun. “‘No new H1N1 cases’ reported at Malaysia’s Kedah NS camp.” Jakarta Post. 16 June 2012. (http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/06/16/no-new-h1n1-cases-reported-malaysia-s-kedah-ns-camp.html). 26 June 2012.
Deb Roy, Sumitra. “46 H1N1 cases ‘not worrisome’: BMC.” Times of India. 26 June 2012. (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/46-H1N1-cases-not-worrisome-BMC/articleshow/14396348.cms). 26 June 2012.
Tangprasert, Prasit. “41 swine flu cases confirmed in Thailand.” AsiaOne. 21 June 2012. (http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20120621-354262.html). 26 June 2012.
“Bolivia Reported 637 Confirmed Cases of Influenza A (H1N1).” Prensa Latina. 22 June 2012. (http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=519345&Itemid=1). 26 June 2012.
Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis A Growing Health Threat
There’s a nasty strain of tuberculosis (TB) going around out there you might want to keep an eye on (hat tip Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy @ DoomAndBloom.net):
Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB
A little background about TB, from the World Health Organization (WHO) website:
Tuberculosis, or TB, is an infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs. It is transmitted from person to person via droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the active respiratory disease.
In healthy people, infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis often causes no symptoms, since the person’s immune system acts to “wall off” the bacteria. The symptoms of active TB of the lung are coughing, sometimes with sputum or blood, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats. Tuberculosis is treatable with a six-month course of antibiotics.
However, even in 2012, tuberculosis kills more than a million people each year. Some estimates go as high as 3 million.
We’ve had plenty of warnings about the rise of drug-resistant strains of diseases. And now TB has gone that route. Plus tax, as Elvis would say. Malathy Iyer reported in The Times of India on June 3:
MUMBAI: A 13-year-old girl from Ghatkopar lost her battle against extra-extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XXDR-TB), at times loosely termed as totally drug-resistant TB (TDR-TB), a couple of weeks ago, said civic officials.
The teenager was one of the 12 patients identified with the severe form of TB. They were initially labelled as TDR-TB cases by Hinduja Hospital in Mahim, triggering the biggest public health debate in the country in January this year. A central team had flown down to Mumbai thereafter and ruled that the patients had XXDR-TB and not TDR-TB.
Three of the 12 patients died in January…
On June 6, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study about TB. Kate Kelland reported on the Chicago Tribune website that day:
It found that one in 10 Chinese patients newly diagnosed or recently treated for TB had a drug-resistant strain of the highly contagious lung disease.
Around 0.5 percent of new cases – equating to 5,000 people a year – were diagnosed with extensively drug-resistant TB, which experts say is almost incurable.
The survey of more than 4,000 Chinese patients, conducted in 2007, follows a warning from the World Health Organisation last year that multi drug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant forms of TB are also spreading at an alarming rate in Europe.
(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)
Almost-incurable TB in India, China, and across the pond in Europe? Not good.
If any doubts remain as to the gravity of this situation, on June 11, Rachel Pomerance wrote on the U.S. News & World Report website:
The World Health Organization has reported that 440,000 cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, a form of TB resistant to two key drug treatments, develop each year and cause at least 150,000 deaths. A rarer and more resistant TB strain, called extensively drug-resistant TB, has been found in 64 countries, according to the WHO, which notes the capacity of bugs to spread across the globe.
(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)
So what does all this mean for us here in America?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 57 cases of extensively drug-resistant TB have been reported in the United States between 1993 and 2010. The CDC states:
The risk of acquiring XDR TB in the United States appears to be low because XDR TB is uncommon in the U.S. However, TB can spread easily. As long as XDR TB exists, the risk to people in the United States is not zero, and the U.S. public health system must address the threat.
More information about extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis can be found on the CDC website here.
Sources:
Iyer, Malathy. “13-year-old Mumbai girl loses battle against drug-resistant tuberculosis.” The Times of India. 3 June 2012. (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-03/mumbai/32005298_1_tdr-tb-xxdr-tuberculosis). 25 June 2012.
Kelland, Kate. “TB survey in China finds drug resistance rife.” Reuters. 6 June 2012. (http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-06-06/lifestyle/sns-rt-us-tuberculosis-china-resistancebre8551cb-20120606_1_drug-resistant-tb-richard-chaisson). 25 June 2012.
Pomerance, Rachel. “Beyond Gonorrhea: Drug-Resistant Bugs Pose Growing Danger.” U.S. News & World Report. 11 June 2012. (http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2012/06/11/beyond-gonorrhea-drug-resistant-bugs-pose-growing-danger). 26 June 2012.
India, China To Boost Gold Demand Even More?
As I write this Tuesday afternoon, the spot price of gold is just north of $1,660- somewhat higher from last week when a number of observers were claiming the gold bull market was either dead or on its last legs. While the precious metal saw some major price drops recently, it should be noted that Indian jewelers were on strike, and China wasn’t observed to be making any significant acquisitions of the yellow metal. These two nations are the world’s largest gold buyers.
Well, the strike in India is over, and it’s suspected the People’s Republic of China isn’t as uninterested in gold as it appears. From Allen Sykora (Kitco News) on the Forbes website today:
Physical demand for gold is expected to pick up again now that Indian jewelry shops have ended a strike, although it remains to be seen how strong this demand will be and whether the protests will resume next month, analysts said.
A majority of India’s jewelers closed their shops for roughly three weeks to protest a doubling of the import tax on gold from 2% to 4% and introduction of an excise tax of 1% on unbranded gold jewelry. Jewelers reopened late last week when Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee reportedly offered assurances he would consider a rollback of the excise duty…
India, along with China, is one of the world’s two largest consumers of gold. The end of the strike comes at a key time, with the approach of India’s gift-giving Akshaya Tritiya festival on April 24.
(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)
And from the Australian business news and commentary website Business Spectator today:
The Australian’s Robin Bromby reckons Zijin Mining Group’s bid Norton Gold Fields is just the beginning of a much larger gold-buying program in China, and that there’s more to it than simple mergers and acquisitions.
“A very reliable source close to several gold companies tells us Chinese interests are not only taking stakes in explorers and miners, they are also buying gold directly from producers and shipping it home. There is much talk in gold bug circles in the US that the recent purchase by the Bank of International Settlements of more than four tonnes of gold may have been wholly or in part on behalf of the People’s Bank of China. Our source is quite clear on one thing: the move on NGF is just the beginning. China wants more gold and it doesn’t want to pay full market price for it (as it doesn’t for any mineral) so it will be looking to pick up more Australian gold producers and add the yellow metal to its existing central bank gold pile. Not something the Perth Mint will be happy to hear.”
(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)
Sounds like the PRC doesn’t want to advertise its gold buying program to the rest of the world than it needs to. Which is understandable, as gold prices could rise in anticipation of purchases.
I guess the Chinese haven’t heard about gold being just a “barbarous relic” yet.
(Editor’s note: I am not responsible for any personal liability, loss, or risk incurred as a consequence of the use and application, either directly or indirectly, of any information presented herein)
Sources:
Sykora, Allen. “Physical Gold Demand Expected To Pick Up As Indian Festival Approaches, Jewelers Strike Ends.” Forbes. 10 Apr. 2012. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/kitconews/2012/04/10/physical-gold-demand-expected-to-pick-up-as-indian-festival-approaches-jewelers-strike-ends/). 10 Apr. 2012.
“THE DISTILLERY: Riling Rio.” Business Spectator. 10 Apr. 2012. (http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/china-resources-australian-economy-asx-rio-tinto-i-pd20120410-T7S3T?OpenDocument). 10 Apr. 2012.
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