Emma Wall: Global Demand For Gold Grows!

Gold demand grew 16pc over the past 12  months, with $59.7bn spent globally on the precious metal. The figure was boosted by China upping their investment by 10pc in a bid to hedge inflation.Gold demand globally hit 1,o98 tons in the first three months of the year, 5pc off the record high, but a significant increase on the same period in 2011. The World Gold Council's Gold Demand Trends report cited increased investment into the precious metal in China, as investor's continue to hedge against feared inflation. Jewelry demand in China also increased to 156.6 tons, 30pc of the global appetite. This increase places China as the largest jewellery market for the third consecutive quarter. Central banks across developed and emerging markets purchased 80.8 tons of gold in the first three months of the year, at an average price of $1,691, 22pc more expensive than in a year ago. Retail and institutional investors buying exchange traded funds (ETFs) accounted for $1.4 tons of gold purchased in the three months to the end of March, at a total value of $2.4bn. The World Gold Council stated that this movement was in stark contrast to the first quarter of 2011, when the ETF sector witnessed net outflows. How would a euro collapse hit us in the pocket? The only market to experience a downturn in gold demand was India, as high gold prices and the introduction of import taxed curbed appetites. Jewellery demand in the region fell 19pc and investment demand fell 19pc and investment demand fell a considerable 46pc. Marcus Grubb, from the World Gold Council said, "China and India have seen continuing economic growth, and while China's economy is expected to slow, it will nonetheless surpass the rates of growth in the West. 

Thomas Sowell: A Censored Race War!!

When two white newspaper reporters for the Virginian-Pilot were driving through Norfolk, and were set upon and beaten by a mob of young blacks, beaten so badly that they had to take a week off from work, that might sound like news hat should have been reported, at least by their own newspaper. But it wasn't! The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel was the first major television program to report this incident. Yet this story is not just a Norfolk story, either in what happened or in how the media and the authorities have tried to sweep it under the rug. Similar episodes of unprovoked violence by young black gangs against white people chosen at random on beaches, in shopping malls, or in other public places have occurred in Philadelphia, New York, Denver, Chicago, Cleveland, Washington, Los Angeles, and other places across the country. Both the authorities and the media tend to sweep these episodes under the rug. In Milwaukee, for example, an attack on whites at a public park a few years ago left many of the victims battered to the ground and bloody. But when the police arrived at the scene, it became clear that the authorities wanted to keep this quiet. One 22-year-old woman, who had been robbed of her cell phone and debit card, and had blood streaming down her face, said, "About 20 of us stayed to give statements and make sure everyone was accounted for. The police wouldn't listen to us, they wouldn't take our names or statements. They told us to leave. It was completely infuriating."The police chief seemed determined to head off any suggestion that this was a racially motivated attack by saying that crime is color-blind. Officials elsewhere have said similar things!!

Patrick Gallagher: Monsanto's Roundup Shown to Cause Birth Defects!

Monsanto has recently been noted as one of the key power players in the welfare of people across the country, continually extending their influence to the more remote parts of the world as well. Monsanto has also been engineering extensively genetically modified crops for the past several decades, and now finally has a type of soybean crop that can survive sustained pesticide exposure, for maximum insect control of course. What seems to be a positive situation is actually a most dangerous toxic product, made specifically to deflect the harmful effects of the pesticides and weed killers on the growing plants, the Roundup Ready crops are recognized as the root cause of disease and discontent spread upon the Argentinean mass growing plains known as the Pampas. There was a time when the Pampas were littered with small farms, but ever since Monsanto hit the scene, the Pampas have been a major GMO growing operation. The genetically engineered crops' effect on the population has been simply terrible. The crop itself is not the only problem. The crops are sprayed on a regular basis with gallons pesticides and weed killers, which has taken the toll on the locals. They consume much of the crops themselves, either by exports or to be consumed themselves - the soybean crop accounts for a very large portion of income, and is also a centerpiece in the Argentine diet. Effects vary, but some people have been known to develop breasts, have a variety of birth defects, and have been known to experience carcinogenic effects as well. The people are also becoming sterile over time. Given the rate of consumption, they will likely be completely sterile within a decade. The studies have also proven that extended use of non-organic crops and pesticides will continuously affect the body and the core functions of the body, primarily in the reproductive areas.

Tom Burghardt: Drugs, Terror and the Mexican Society!

Amid recent reports that the bodies of four Mexican journalists were discovered in a canal in the port city of Veracruz, less than a week after another journalist based in that city was found strangled in her home, the US State Department "plans to award a contract to provide a Mexican government seurity agency with a system that can intercept and analyze information from all types of communications systems." Next Gov reported. The most glaring and obvious question is: Why? Since President Felipe Calderon declared "war" against some of the region's murderous drug cartels in 1006, some 50,000 Mexicans have been butchered. Activists, journalists, honest law enforcement officials, but also ordinary citizens caught in the crossfire, the vast majority of victims, have been the targets of mafia-controlled death squads, corrupt police and the military. Underscoring the savage nature of another "just war" funded by US taxpayers, last week The Dallas Morning News reported that "23 people were found dead Friday, nine hanging from a bridge and 14 decapitated-across the Texas border in the city of Nuevo Laredo." The arcane and highly-ritualized character of the violence, often accompanied by sardonic touches meant to instill fear among people already ground underfoot by crushing poverty and official corruption that would make the Borgias blush, convey an an unmistakable message: "We rule here!" "The latest massacres are part of a continuing battle between the paramilitary group known as the Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel," the Morning News averred. "The violence appears to be part of a strategy by the Sinaloa cartel," the Morning News averred. "The violence appears to be part of a strategy by the Sinola cartel to disrupt one of the most lucrative routes for drug smugglers by bringing increased attention from the federal government."  

Noam Chomsky: The Makings of a Real Revolution!

The Occupy movement has been an extremely excitement development. Unprecedented, in fact. There's never been anything like it that I can think of. If the bonds and associations it has established can be sustained through a long, dark period ahead, because victory won't come quickly, it could prove a significant moment in American history. The fact that the Occupy movement is unprecedented is quite appropriate. After all, it's an unprecedented era and has been so since the 1970s, which marked a major turning point in American history. For centuries, since the country began, it had been a developing society, and not always in very pretty ways. That's another story, but the general progress was toward wealth, industrialization, development, and hope. There was a pretty constant expectation that it was going to go on like this. That was true even in the very dark times. I'm just old enough to remember the Great Depression. After the first few years, by the mid 1930's, although the situation was objectively much harsher than it is today, nevertheless, the spirit was quite different. There was a sense that "we're gonna get out of it," even among unemployed people, including a lot of my relatives, a sense that "it will get better." There was militant labor union organizing going on, especially from the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations). It was getting to the point of sit-down strikes, which are frightening to the business world, you could see it in the business press at the time, because a sit-down strike is just a step before taking over the factory and running it yourself. The idea of worker takeovers is something which is, incidentally, very much on the agenda today, and we should keep it in mind. Also New Deal legislation was beginning to come in as a result of popular pressure. Despite the hard times, there was a sense that, somehow, "we're gonna get out of it." 

Mathaba: Bush & Associates Guilty of Torture!

A solid case for the prosecution of Bush, Blair, Rumsfeld, Chaney, their legal counsel and others, for war crimes, crimes against the peace, torture, and crimes against humanity has been established at the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, with a guilty verdict on day 5 of the third major session of the Tribunal. The Tribunal recommends to the War Crimes Commission to give the widest international publicity to this conviction and grant of reparations, as these are universal crimes for which there is a responsibility upon nations to institute prosecutions if any of these "Accused" persons may enter their jurisdictions. Global Research Director Michel Chossudovsky is a member of the KL War Crimes Commission, and was present throughout the Tribunal hearings. The five-panel tribunal unanimously delivered a guilty verdict against former United States President George W Bush and his associates at the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal hearing that had started on Monday, May 7th. On the charge of Crime of Torture and War Crimes, the tribunal finds the accused persons former US President George W Bush and his associates, namely Richard Cheney, former US Vice President, Donald Rumsfeld, former Defense Secretary, Alberto Gonzales, then Counsel to President Bush, David Addington, then General Counsel to the Vice-President, William Haynes II, then General Counsel to Secretary of Defense, Jay Bybee, then Assistant Attorney General, and John Choon Yoo, former Deputy Assistant Attorney-General guilty as charged and convicted as war criminals for Torture and Cruel, Inhumane and Degrading Treatment of the Complainant War Crime Victims. Earlier in the week, the tribunal heard the testimonies of three witnesses, namely Abbas Abid, Moazzam Begg and Jameelah Hammeedi. They related the horrific tortures they had faced during their incarceration.     

Julie Levesque: Iran Accused of 9/11 Attacks??

The US court judgment issued in December 2011 (Havlish v.Iran) which blames the Iran government for the 9/11 attacks is part of the propaganda ploy, which consists in demonizing the Islamic Republic of Iran. As we all know, the reality is quite different: Silverstein, the Jew who owned the towers at that time, decided that he did not want to pay for the restoration of the huge amount of dangerous asbestos in his buildings, and decided, what the heck, why not kill a lot of his people, and make a lot of money in the process. The many lives lost were not important to him, since he was a was only involved with the possible money, as most Israelis are. Like many similar lawsuits in America, this legal procedure's ultimate goal is to draw off important sums of money from the Iranian government, leading to the possible confiscation of assets, thereby further strangling the country's economy, already strangling the country's economy, already targeted by US sanctions, while simultaneously reinforcing Iran's image of a state sponsor of terrorism. This ruling allows the families involved to claim damages from the Iranian government, as well as from a number of Iranian State corporations, the amount of which is still unknown, but could reach billions, like last December's judgment which found Iran liable for the 1983 Beirut bombings. This judicial procedure is nothing more than another vicious weapon in the "fabricated" War on Terror, to be used against another Muslim country, with a view to destabalizing Iran as well as justfying ongoing military threats. It also says a lot more about the people behind the lawsuit than about the accused. The "expert" witnesses who testified against Iran are very active in warmongering neocon circles. They belong to a web of architects of the 21st century Middle-Eastern wars, ranging from high profile propagandists, to intelligence and military officers, including former US officials!