CORPORATE deaths are rarely spectacular; not the denouément, in any case. Rather, the lawyers move in and with a swish of the pen life moves on. So it was with Lonmin earlier this month: 20 years after its creation as a focused mining company, the office chairs were stacked and someone turned the lights off.… Read More
Maybe we just don’t understand the scuba diving community quite as well as the country of Turkey does. Because, to us, dropping an Airbus A330 commercial airliner into the middle of the ocean in Northwest Turkey as a way to “boost scuba diving tourism” and create an “artificial reef” doesn’t seem to make any immediate sense. But,… Read More
ALTHOUGH Lonmin takes its leave after 20 years of trade, its origins are, in fact, much older, and full of colour. Founded in 1909 as the London and Rhodesia Mining and Land Company, or Lonrho, the company was rarely out of the news, especially in the Seventies when as a sanctions-buster throughout the period of… Read More
Authored by Wayne Madsen via The Strategic Culture Foundation, It was like a day from the 1970s. Except the close encounter between a Russian SU-27 fighter-interceptor and a US Air Force RC-135V intelligence-gathering plane and a Swedish Gulfstream IV spy plane occurred on June 10. The incident, which occurred within Polish maritime airspace near the… Read More
SOUTH African platinum group metal (PGM) producers were unlikely to agree to the R17,000 per month minimum wage asked by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), said Bloomberg News citing Nedcor Securities analyst, Arnold van Graan. “I don’t believe these types of demands are affordable for the industry [they] would put its sustainability… Read More
Researchers at Substance abuse charity, Addaction, discovered cocaine use in the UK is much higher than previously thought. Approximately 80% of the respondents admitted using marijuana, while 70% said they use cocaine and crack cocaine. <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–><!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–> This is the most extensive study of its kind, surveyed 8,500 drug users in Scotland… Read More
BOOZE has been banned during working hours for traders operating on the London Metal Exchange (LME) in an effort to tidy up standards at the 142-year old exchange, said the Financial Times in an article republished by BusinessLive. “The LME has broad powers under its rule book to ensure fit and proper behaviour,” the newspaper… Read More
SOUTH32, a company listed in Sydney and Johannesburg, had lowered the estimated coal reserves at its Illawarra Metallurgical Coal project, said Reuters citing a company announcement on Monday. Coal reserves for the Bulli seam have been reduced by 22 million wet metric tonnes (Mt) to 114Mt following conclusion of a commercial agreement to relinquish a portion… Read More
Authored by Matthew Ehret via The Strategic Culture Foundation, The spectre of nuclear war has long hung over the world like a nightmarish sword of Damocles offering humanity much cause for despair at the dual nature of science as a beautiful source of creative power that uplifts and ennobles on the one hand and acts… Read More
The amount of corn produced in the United States this year is going to be way below expectations. The Department of Agriculture just slashed its harvest estimates quite dramatically in its June report, but some farmers in the Midwest believe that those reduced projections are still way too optimistic. As I have previously detailed, millions… Read More
Iran says it has summoned the British ambassador over the weekend after the UK publicly came out in support of the White House assessment pinpointing Iranian forces behind last Thursday’s two tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman. Last Friday Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the attacks were “almost certainly” carried out by Tehran. Hunt… Read More
All asset “wealth” in credit-asset bubble dependent economies is contingent and ephemeral. A funny thing happens to “wealth” in a bubble economy: it only remains “wealth” if the owner sells at the top of the bubble and invests the proceeds in an asset which isn’t losing purchasing power. Transferring “wealth” to another asset bubble that is… Read More
[Reuters] Asian shares edge up, trade, geopolitical tensions cap gains; focus on Fed meeting [Reuters] Strong data keeps dollar near two-week highs before Fed meeting [Reuters] Uncertainty looms as Hong Kong protests drag into new week [Reuters] Australian home price dive levels out as auctions lift [Reuters] Pressure builds on Hong Kong leader as democracy activist vows to join protests… Read More
To access a PDF version of this newsletter, please click here here If you would like to receive this newsletter via email, please register at: here FACTORS TO WATCH No major events are scheduled for the day. LIVECHAT – COMMODITIES FOCUS Clyde Russell, Reuters Asia commodities and energy columnist, joins us to discuss crude oil… Read More
Authored by Paul Gottfried via The American Conservative, The old S-word bugaboo has surfaced again but the real threat comes from globalism and social progressivism… <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–><!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–> At a dinner in his New Jersey home to which John O’Sullivan and I had both been invited, former president Richard Nixon posed the question:… Read More