Flooding kills more than 180 people in central and southern China

More than 180 people have been killed in flooding along the Yangtze River in China following torrential rain, officials say.

Between 10cm and 50cm of rain has fallen in seven provinces, and storms stretching 1,600km (1,000 miles) are sweeping across central and southern China.

At least 45 people are missing and 33 million are affected, officials say.

The rain has also washed away railway lines and shut down road networks.

The dead included 23 people who were killed in a mudslide in Guizhou Province and eight who died in the city of Wuhan in Hubei Province when a section of a wall collapsed, state media said.

Heavy rain is forecast to continue until Wednesday across parts of southern and western China, the South China Morning Post reported.

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Credit to BBC

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Horror after mob of 'foreign youths' sexually assault 35 females as young as 12 at Swedish music festival

A 17-year-old has told of her ordeal after a mob of 'foreign youths' sexually assaulted dozens of females at a Swedish music festival.

At least 35 aged between 12 and 17 reported being attacked during the 'Party in the Park' festival in Karlstad, 250 miles from Stockholm in Sweden's Varmland County on Friday and Saturday night.

Some of the alleged victims reported being 'kissed and groped' in scenes similar to the Cologne New Year attacks, in which dozens of women reported being assaulted.

One 17-year-old victim has waived her right to anonymity to describe how an attacker targeted her while she was watching music at the popular event.




Alexandra Larsson told MailOnline she was molested on Friday night having been looking forward to attending the festival for months.

She said: 'Everything was okay at the beginning of the evening. But things got out of hand during the last concert with John de Sohn that started at midnight.

'At first we were pushed right up against the stage by the massive crowd. Everyone around us behaved really badly and my friends told a couple of boys to quieten down.

'They were then threatened by the boys who said “you will die, b***h”. But the verbal abuse was just beginning. It would become much worse.

'We managed to walk away from those boys after a while and started watching the concert. That was when I felt the first touch against my bottom.

'Then someone took the liberty of grabbing my butt really hard. I turned away and said to the group of boys behind us that this was not okay, but I did not know who had done it. After a while, I felt someone running his fingers between my legs touching my genitals. Luckily, I had jeans on me.'

After the harassment, she turned around and said to the group of young men standing next to her that they should stop what they were doing. But everyone around her claimed to be innocent.
It then happened again, she said.

'I turned around and screamed right out that "whoever it was - you're a pig!" I told my friends what had just happened and they were all shocked. Me and my girlfriends decided to leave the concert, because we could not see who it was. It was just a sea of ​​people.'

Ms Larsson described a feeling of powerlessness as the festival she and her friends had been looking forward to was completely destroyed.

'It was creepy. Someone stood around me and groped me and I had no idea who it was. It was sick. We had come there to have fun, but the festival only lasted 20 minutes for us because it was so uncomfortable.

'The groping was at first a bit innocent. Just a touch on the bottom. Something that you can do by mistake in a big crowd of people. But it became worse and worse after that. The one touching me was becoming more and more rough every time.

She said that the boys around them were about 17 or 18-years-old but 'those standing behind me were not from a Swedish background.'

'They were probably immigrants. I hate to say it. But it is the truth,' she said.

'I have reported this to the police, but it feels like a drop in the ocean. I saw girls that came crying from the audience, including an old childhood friend who is two years younger. She cried so much that it broke my heart.

'The same thing had happened to her in front of the stage. A bunch of teenagers hidden in the crowd had grabbed her bottom, breast and genitals .

'I think that at least hundreds were molested at the festival. There are probably loads of unrecorded incidents.

'I have heard of others who had been grabbed during previous festivals. But it was sick being subjected to it myself, especially because it was so rough. It was like a punch in the face that it actually happened.

'I could see crying girls everywhere around me when I left the festival. I don't know if they all had been groped, but most of them probably had been violated in front of the stage.




Credit to Dailymail.co.uk
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3673304/At-35-girls-aged-12-17-sexually-assaulted-foreign-youths-Swedish-music-festival-scenes-similar-Cologne-New-Year-attacks.html#ixzz4DTG2BBzI

Current Economic Collapse update

EU demands Britain pays £12 BILLION into Brussels budget despite Brexit vote

Britain will pay £12 billion euros to Brussels next year

The UK’s bill for membership of the Euro club will go towards bankrolling a Brussels border and coast guard, a new Agency for Asylum and the groundwork for an EU army.

The eye-watering figure has been revealed in a new draft budget released by the EU Commission and equates to a staggering £230million a week.

The figure represents a slight drop compared with our contribution for this year, which stands at £13billion.

Britain’s billions in contributions jumped up to double figures in 2014 when Brussels demanded a £34bn injection from the UK after realising it was facing a £259billion shortfall by the end of the decade.

The staggering black hole in funding was split between member states to balance the books up to 2020.

Brussels has this year cut the overall budget for the project from £120bn to £113bn amid growing criticism of its “bloated” institution and chronic waste.

The budget, which will need to be ratified by member states and the European Parliament, will raise questions over how long Britain will need to continue paying into the EU.

A spokesman for the Commission said: “The UK remains a member of the EU with all rights and obligations. Consequently, the results of the UK referendum have no impact on Draft EU Budget 2017.”

It is expected that British taxpayers will continue to fund the project for at least two years following the Brexit vote, though officials have privately admitted "nobody knows" how long it will take to disentangle the UK from Brussels.


Credit to Express.co.uk

What Portal did CERN Open Now?

CERN is notorious for opening portals and then denying it; something very strange was captured in the clouds above the Large Hadron Collider just recently.

Something very eerie took place in Geneva last weekend. A team of photographers captured another mysterious occurrence over Geneva Switzerland where the monster of the Large Hadron Collider is located. We recently exposed that CERN is directly responsible for weather manipulation and the opening of portals, under an operation called The CLOUD Experiment.

Below is a photo of a isolated storm captured by Joëlle Rodrigue on June 24th 2016. 

The cloud looks to be rotating in a circular motion and some have claimed to see a face in the lightning filled cloud. Last year we reported that there were clear images of demons in the pictures of CERNs beams. Could this be an outer manifestation of one?Joëlle Rodrigue Storm over Lake Geneva

Dean Gill captured a wide angle of a similar shot.

Dean Gill “This rotating cell only produced intra-cloud lightning activity.”

In the next photo by Christophe Suarez, the supercell appears to be glowing.Christophe Suarez, Supercell taking birth above Geneva

This isn’t the first time we have witnessed manifestations in the clouds over CERN. On May 11, 2016 BPEarthWatch reported on a telling swirling circular cloud over the same are that these photos were taken.

The spiritual nature of CERN is unmistakably right in front of our eyes. Between the symbolism, location, history, and happenings it is clear that CERN is playing a large part in whats going on around the world. And occurances like the one above speak volumes about the times we live in. The Bible says Satan fell like lightning. Given the demonic nature of the LHC, this centralized storm may just indicate who controls the machine that manipulates the world.

Credit to freedomfightertimes.com

https://freedomfightertimes.com/end-times/science/cern/cern-portal-end-times-large-hadron-collider-clouds/

NATO activity on Russian borders ‘doubled,’ provoking Moscow

NATO activity on Russia’s doorstep has “more than doubled” recently, forcing Russia to take retaliatory measures, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said.

“Now NATO and the US have deployed about 1,200 pieces of military equipment, including 30 combat jets, as well as more than 1,000 soldiers on the territories of the Eastern European countries on a rotational basis. The US navy ships as well as military vessels of other NATO members regularly enter the Baltic and Black Seas,” Shoigu said Wednesday at the session of the Russian Defense Ministry Board that comprises Russia’s top military command, according to a statement from the Defense Ministry.

He added that NATO also continues to modernize and upgrade various military facilities in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic States to bring them up to NATO standards.

The deployment of the US anti-missile defense systems (ABM) in Eastern Europe is a source of particular concern for the Russian military, the minister said at the meeting, which was dedicated to planning and development of Russia’s western military district.

“On May 12, an Aegis Ashore anti-missile defense complex became operational in Romania,” Shoigu said, stressing that this complex can be used to launch Tomahawk missiles and adding that construction of another such ABM site continues in Poland.

The minister also warned that, after the Warsaw summit that will be held on July 8-9, NATO can “significantly increase” its presence and activity near the Russian borders.

“Such moves of our western colleagues lead to erosion of the strategic stability in Europe and force us to take counter measures, primarily in the western theater of operations,” Shoigu said, stressing that Russia takes actions aimed at strategic deterrence in the western military district to “neutralize potential threats.”

Special attention is paid to the issue of supplying the troops deployed in the district with modern weapons as well as military and specialized equipment. “This year, more than 2,000 pieces of new and modernized military equipment will enter operational service [within the units of] the western military district,” Shoigu announced.

The minister also added that 10,000 contract soldiers have been recruited to the armed forces while the construction of 10 modern garrison towns is almost finished. In April, a new army corps was formed within Russia’s Baltic Fleet, which received two new warships, six motor boats, new multiple rocket launcher and air defense systems in the last three years, the ministry’s statement says.

Shoigu also emphasized that Russia recently also intensified its military drills. More than 300 operational and battle exercises as well as joint force grouping drills were staged last winter, he said, adding that, during the drills, the troops used combat experience that Russian forces gained during the anti-terrorist operation in Syria.

Russia also held a number of international command staff exercises in cooperation with Belarus during that period. Now Russia is preparing to host massive command staff exercises of the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that will involve troops from Russia, Belarus, Kirgizia, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

The drills, named “Cooperation-2016,” are due to take place in western Russia in August. “Such close cooperation will promote coordination of collective actions aimed at providing collective security,” Shoigu stressed in his speech at the Defense Ministry Board meeting.

The meeting of the Russian top military command comes just a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to strengthen and modernize Russian armed forces in response to foreign pressure.

He stressed that “army and navy” are a guarantee of Russia’s sovereignty and “a weighty argument against any attempts to provoke us, against blackmail or pressure on our country,” as he spoke at the he ceremony for distinguished graduates of Russian military and law enforcement schools.

Russia has repeatedly criticized the NATO buildup on its borders, stressing that it undermines security and stability in the region. Russian officials also accused NATO of deliberately portraying Russia as a threat to justify its actions and huge military spending.


On June 16, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov blasted NATO for “intentionally creating panic and maintaining the image of a treacherous enemy."

On June 14, NATO agreed to deploy a new 4,000-strong force in the Baltic States and Poland in addition to more than 1,000 soldiers already stationed there on a rotational basis.


Credit to RT

Former NYMEX Trader Explains "The Silver Manipulation"

Submitted Vincent Lanci, as posted originally on Marketslant

The Mechanics of Silver Manipulation

JPMorgan Chase on Wednesday won the dismissal of three private antitrust lawsuits, including from hedge fund manager Daniel Shak, accusing the largest U.S. bank of rigging a market for silver futures contracts traded on COMEX. The lawsuits accused JPMorgan of having in late 2010 and early 2011 placed artificial bids (i.e., spoofing) onto the trading floor, harassed employees at metals market COMEX to obtain prices it wanted (i.e., intimidation) and made misrepresentations to a committee that set settlement prices. (i.e., manipulating settlements).

What follows is how JPM manipulated the silver markets by selling the Silver contango during illiquid hours, then used their deep pockets to push settlements, then waited until margin calls made the large locals puke their positions. JPM in effect stretched the relationship between forward rates and futures spreads until they made no sense anymore. Not unlike a company trading at 50x earnings. It cannot last long. But it only has to last long enough until the guy with the position opposite you has to liquidate. That guy does not have access to cheap money, political influence or the most physical silver in the world in a single vault at his disposal to create a squeeze.

From Reuters:

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan, however, said the plaintiffs, who also included traders Mark Grumet and Thomas Wacker, did not show that JPMorgan made "uneconomic" bids, or intended to rig the market at counterparties' expense. He also questioned the plaintiffs' use of Silver Indicative Forward Mid Rates ("SIFO") as a benchmark for determining proper levels for the spreads in their lawsuits.

Analysis: The demand was fabricated

The market was only partially backwardated. Spot was below the next 6 expirations. Translation: there was no massive demand for immediate delivery. There was only demand in months where the last remaining MEN who took risk trading their own money had positions. JPM's own book was likely short and had to get liquidity to cover their positions. We knew Shak from our floor days, and were trading spreads off-floor when this happened. They should not have lost this case. Comex traders do not trade physical spot. Spot was under the backwardation. Smoking gun? No, but damning circumstantial evidence in the least.

Reuters Again:

Given the (lawsuits') failure both to explain why SIFO should track silver futures spreads, and to concretely plead that it did so consistently, a mere general correlation between these two is not sufficient to make SIFO a reliable benchmark such that deviations from it support a claim of irrational pricing animated by anticompetitive aims," Engelmayer wrote.

Analysis:  a poor job was done explaining the role of SIFO in spread pricing.

SIFO represents the spread between expirations of FORWARD physical contracts in silver. The futures spread markets are derivative of the SIFO spreads. SIFO represents the cost-of-carry for physical silver and is used in determining lease/borrow rates over periods of time. These are in-turn extrapolated and the dominant factor in determining futures spreads on COMEX. Comex spreads are a direct function of SIFO. Without SIFO there are no spreads. And since SIFO was a much bigger market than the Comex spread market. The pricing mechanism was not fully transparent. It was in the hands of a few dominant cartel-like players, as it had been for 30 years.and every time JPM sold 1 year silver and bt 4 month silver it was using their deeper pockets to push the locals to liquidate. Add that they probably asked clients with silver in storage to pull it off the lease market, and you have a “tail wags dog short squeeze.”

If Shak and the other traders had ability to take delivery: warehouse, cash&carry liquidity, etc., they wouldn't have had a problem. They would have taken delivery in spot and then made delivery on the short contracts in the next months they were short. But due to inability to play in the spot market, they could not "butterfly" their positions. Another reason they could not do this: FCMs only give 50% cash value for physical silver as hedge vs. futures shorts. Think about that next time you hear EU banks guaranteed 100% face on their Greek bonds. The physical is worth only 50% collateral to the futures. Banks like JPM have no issue with that. They borrow from the Fed window at 1%. Guys like Shak would have had to use their credit cards and sell their homes to carry that position.

Various sources:

Silver was being taken delivery from the warehouse.

Rebuttal: Define "Take Delivery"

During the time Phibro cornered the silver market in 1995[1] (likely for Soros), and in 1997 for Warren Buffet they employed "taking Delivery" as a catalyst to get the market moving. How does one take delivery?

1. You physically remove silver from the warehouse and say you took more than you did- because of the physical work involved a receiver can take ayt most 6MM oz of Silver daily. Why? Because it's just not that easy to move silver out of the vault and onto a receiver’s vehicles. So when you see "30MM oz removed" it's not physically possible. That is 375,000 lbs.
2. You take delivery, store it nearby and bring it back when you are out of your long futures position
   • Be long 30MM oz of silver in futures.
   • Take delivery of 20 MM in physical using borrowed money
   • Store the metal in a warehouse in RedHook Brooklyn and wait for the news to spook the market.
   • Tell your pals with long positions to make their own silver unavailable for delivery. as prices will go up soon
3. You throw a sheet over the silver still in the warehouse and say, "this is mine, it is no longer here. I'll pick it up tomorrow- - Phibro was to have employed all 3 methods in 1997 after filling Warren on his buys.- Andy Hall was a genius when he had order flow to front run
4. Buy the last 1,000 contracts for the customer as sloppily as you can.
5. Tell the customer you beat the VWAP, i.e. last price on the board is higher than the average price you bought for client.

There is a word for that. It is called Racketeering

Final Word:

In 1994, Phibro played this game except for the spreads. They exercised out of the money calls on a 4 day weekend. But that squeeze was short lived. Warren Buffet just rescued Solly and didn’t want any more DOJ problems.

But in 1997 Warren was the instigator.In 1997 Warren Buffet, actually stood for delivery. Yet the market did not rally until AFTER the spreads backwardated all the way to spot.

This trader also remembers that in 1997, Buffet was then asked by the Gov’t to defer his request for delivery a year. . They pleaded with him, “The integrity of the market was at stake (Hunt Brother's anyone?); and The whole Silver mining industry was in jeopardy. (TBTF).” Buffet happily complied by selling spot at approx. $7.40 and buying a 1 year future at around $4.50. He netted an ROR of 40% due to negative carry without selling. Effectively, he lent the producers their silver back to them 40% higher than his cost.

In 2011Blythe Master did a mini-Buffet.

The difference being, the market had ALREADY rallied without backwardation, and all of a sudden spreads (literally overnight during Asian and London hours) went into backwardation.

In a real market, the spread activity predicts the physical demand before the flat price does. You see the spot price start to act squirrelly to the front month future in the EFP.  Immediate demand drives deferred month pricing.There are exceptions to this. But it is rare.

I'm sure each one of my arguments for manipulation can be taken apart by some lawyer or “expert”. But that is what lawyers do.

• Facts against them? Argue the Law.
• Law against them? Argue the facts.
• Both against them? Use ad hominum attacks to shoot the messenger. So for the sake of transparency, here is the messenger.

Author's Background and Caveat:

For the record- I was suspended from NYMEX 12+ years ago for manipulating a settlement without a client complaint. I learned that behavior from watching the pros do it and get away with it. I was arrogant enough to think I could. I was a street kid form Philly who had to drop out of college and learn to survive. Got lucky and had 15 Ivy league kids working for me at one time. But I lay down with dogs too long and got a bad case of fleas. A big price was paid for that. And to save an incompetent compliance officer's job I was punished harshly.

Post suspension, most firms wouldn't touch me even as they burned themselves time and time again on derivatives risk in Energy and Metals. I then witnessed the FC Stone downfall fittingly from them cooking their own books ( Jeff Soman?) years after  they threw me under the bus as their client ( Jeff Soman!).  But you have to move forward. 

Market Structure and Greedy Pols

As time passed I grew to despise manipulators but did not blame them per se. The market structures are the major culprit. Which in turn means the politicians who are lobbied by the corporations to alter market structure to protect Corporate interests are the culprits. In the end it is all about greed.  Dodd-Frank was passed essentially blank. The "bankers will help fill it out. they are the experts" SMFH.

Then, I got my break. I was on other side of arguably, the biggest Commodity trade of 2007. My firm saw an arbitrage, borrowed money and took on the banks. Not only was Echobay right, but our counterparty, BMO was (ironically) cooking their own books. Their trader was David Lee and I feel bad for him as he was a victim of a greed cult and lost his ethics as I had in 2003.

Full Circle

In the end I was a material witness in BMO's 2007 Nat Gas EOO scandal where they tried to blame the counterparties to their rogue trader. BMO settled the case within days of my deposition involving manipulated settlements. I havethe transcript of a 9 hour deposition to prove it.

So bring it, if you think my observations are flawed. I'm all about learning. A million facts do not add up to a single truth, especially where corporate lawyers are involved.

This isn't the first time I've written on this and won’t be the last. During my career, I've been victim, observer, perpetrator and now despiser of market manipulators and the market structure that rewards corporate greed at the expense of free markets. The little guy can no longer compete. Watch, homogeneous counterparties will be the death of the markets. TBTF means too big to exist IMHO

Judge Engelmeyer, you got it wrong. Daniel Shak, you deserved better than you got.

Credit to Zero Hedge