The day many have predicted would come, has finally arrived: 100% initial margin on gold.

The day many have predicted would come, has finally arrived: 100% initial margin on gold.

For now it is just one Futures Commission Merchant, in this case ex-CBOT traders Crossland LLC (motto: "Where Speed And Service Matter"), but tomorrow it will be another, and another.

In a dramatic flashback to the torrid days of 2011, when the CME and other exchanges desperately tried to scare away the weak hands by raising initial and maintenance margins on paper gold futures ever higher, and when many predicted that eventually the brokers and exchanges would simply do away margin completely in order to make levered trading in paper gold impossible, we have now witnessed the next shot across the bow aimed at all those who dare to oppose the central planners' scheme of forcing everyone out of hard assets, savings, bank deposits and other inert saved capital and into investing in ponzi capital markets, preferably on leverage, or otherwise spend their hard earned cash to buy stuff they don't need and stimulate inflation.

Of course, all this will do is simply shake out even more weak hands, making the residual base of holders that much most stable and not only eliminate the bulk of paper price volatility, but also lead to an even more profound breakage in the link between paper and hard gold.

Below is Crossland's notification to clients that starting tomorrow (we assume), the initial margin on gold and silver, will be 100%. In other words, the utility of a margin account is now null and void when trading PMs.

From: CustomerService <CustomerService@crosslandllc.com>
Subject: Margin Notice - Precious Metals
To: []
Date: Thursday, May 2, 2013, 3:46 PM

Crossland LLC is requiring all customers trading the precious metals, more specifically Gold and Silver, to be margined at 100% of initial for intraday trading.

Current margin for Gold is $7040 and for Silver is $12375

If it is the customers intention to trade the above products, it is recommended that you keep a minimum of $10,000 in your account at all times to trade Gold and a minimum of $15,000 to trade Silver.

Please note:  Crossland LLC always reserves the right to amend margins as we deem necessary.

Thank you

Krissy Metcalf
Customer Service Manager

How long until other brokers and exchanges follow suit? At the rate the onslaught to crush the last remaining "gold bug" is unfolding we expect that what Crossland just did will be a mandatory CFTC regulation in a few short months.

All hard asset resistance must be crushed!

And in other news, the delivery requests to JPM continue, as does the company's somewhat questionable strategy to make it appear it has no eligible deliverable problem by continuing to convert registered gold into commercial. Because while the bank's vault has not received one additional ounce of gold in over a week, just as it got another request for 24,028 oz of gold on Wednesday, the bank continues to "restock" by converting its stock of registered gold into eligible, this time "adding" another 57,860 oz (something HSBC decided to do as well), the fourth day in the past week it has done just this.

We wonder what happens if those holding gold warrants with JPM (i.e., registered stock) decide to inquire as to why over a hundred thousand ounces of their gold has been converted into eligible to satisfy ongoing delivery requests?

Finally we inquired how the CME goes about the entire process of reclassifying eligible gold into registered and vice versa. This is the response we got back:

... the adjustment column does reflect the issuance and cancellation of warrants, but it can be used for other purposes as well. Anything that is not received or withdrawn would be reported in the adjustment column.

Sufficiently vague to provide absolutely no real information on why it is happening or just who is cancelling their warrants, and whether it is voluntary or not. We would expect nothing less from the COMEX system of safe "vaulting."

Zero Hedge

PDF with the info

If anyone wants the pdf with the information about the boston marathon, please send me an e mail to nunezreport@gmail.com and I will gladly send it to you.

china invades india disputed territory

A two week Chinese incursion has left India on the verge of crises, it has today been reported.

India says Chinese troops set up a camp on its side of the ill-defined frontier in Ladakh region in the middle of April.

The platoon of Chinese soldiers slipped across the boundary into India in the middle of the night, according to Indian officials.



Activists of India's right-wing Shiv Sena, shout anti-China slogans and burn a Chinese flag during a protest against an alleged Chinese incursion. India says Chinese troops set up a camp on its side of the ill-defined frontier in Ladakh region



The 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 feared 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 kilometres 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.



Activists of the right-winged student's organization Akhila Bharatiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP) burn an effigy representing China. 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

'China strictly complies with the treaty and documents on maintaining peace and stability in the border region between India and China,' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said last week.

'The Chinese patrol troops did not go across the Line of Actual Control, not by even one step," she said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2318389/Two-Chinese-incursion-leaves-India-verge-crises.html#ixzz2SAnmktuu

Islamization

Support for sharia law is growing

Washington - A majority of Muslims around the world want sharia law to be implemented in their countries but are split on how it should be applied, according to a study released on Tuesday.

The comprehensive Pew Research Centre survey conducted between 2008 and 2012 focused on 38 000 people in 39 countries drawn from a global Muslim community of 2.2 billion people.

A solid majority, notably in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, were in favour of sharia - traditional Islamic law - being adopted as “the law of the land” in their countries, it found.

“But I would also note that support for making sharia law does vary,” said Jim Bell, Pew's director of international survey research.

From 12 percent in Turkey, support for sharia as official national law stood at 56 percent in Tunisia, 71 percent in Nigeria, 72 percent in Indonesia, 74 percent in Egypt and 99 percent in Afghanistan.

But Princeton University professor Amaney Jamal, a special adviser to the Washington-based Pew Research Centre, emphasised there is no one common understanding of sharia among all the world's Muslims.

“Sharia has different meanings, definitions and understandings, based on the actual experiences of countries with or without sharia,” she said in a conference call with reporters analysing the findings.

Titled “The World's Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society”, the study also revealed many Muslims favour applying sharia in the private sphere to settle family or property disputes.

However, in most countries surveyed, there was less support for severe punishments, such as cutting off the hands of thieves or executing people who convert from Islam to another faith.

A majority of Muslims are also in favour of freedom of religion, even while backing sharia.

In Pakistan, for example, 84 percent of Muslims want sharia enshrined as official law, but 75 percent believe non-Muslims are free to follow their religion.

Around half of Muslims in the survey expressed concerns about religious extremism, particularly in Egypt, Iraq and Tunisia.

In most countries, a majority of Muslims said a wife must obey her husband, although a majority also said a woman should decide whether or not to wear a veil.

Most Muslims said they do not feel tension between their religion and modern life, prefer a democratic regime, and enjoy music or Western movies, even if such pastimes are sometimes regarded as undermining morality.

An overwhelming majority viewed prostitution, homosexuality, suicide or alcohol consumption as immoral but there are sharp differences on issues such as polygamy.

Only four percent polled in Bosnia and Herzegovina considered polygamy morally acceptable, against 87 percent in Niger.

A strong majority surveyed said so-called honour killings could never be justified. The only exceptions came in Afghanistan and Iraq, where majorities condoned executions of women deemed to have shamed their families by engaging in premarital sex or adultery.

However, substantial minorities in Bangladesh, Egypt, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories said violence was permissible. - AFP

Russia delivered to the U.S. a list of the names of al-Qaida members among the Syrian rebels, who are receiving arms shipments by the U.S.

TEL AVIV – Russia delivered to the Obama administration a list of the names of al-Qaida members among the Syrian rebels, who are receiving arms shipments coordinated by the U.S., according to informed Middle Eastern security officials.

The list, the officials added, demonstrates the U.S. is failing to vet the rebels being supported by the West for ties to al-Qaida and other jihad groups.

The information comes amid scores of news media reports that the Obama administration is aiding the rebels, including by coordinating Arab arms shipments.

The arming of Syrian rebels is considered highly controversial. A major issue is the inclusion of jihadists, including al-Qaida, among the ranks of the Free Syrian Army and other Syrian opposition groups.

Just last week, WND broke the story that the U.S. in recent weeks aided in the transfer of shoulder-launched, anti-aircraft missiles, or man-portable air-defense systems, to the Syrian rebels, according to informed Middle Eastern security officials.

The Middle Eastern security officials speaking to WND said the latest U.S.-facilitated weapons transfers signify the most advanced deliveries yet to the Syrian rebels.

Confirming WND’s exclusive reporting for over a year, the New York Times reported in March that since early 2012, the CIA has been helping Arab governments and Turkey obtain and ship weapons to the Syrian rebels.

While the Times report claims most of the weapons shipments facilitated by the CIA began after the latest presidential election, Middle Eastern security officials speaking to WND have said U.S.-aided weapons shipments go back more than a year, escalating before the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. facilities in Benghazi.

In fact, the Middle Eastern security officials speaking to WND since last year describe the U.S. mission in Benghazi and nearby CIA annex attacked last September as an intelligence and planning center for U.S. aid to the rebels in the Middle East, particularly those fighting the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.

The aid, the sources stated, included weapons shipments and was being coordinated with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Earlier this month, Reuters further reported Obama allegedly signed a secret order in 2012 authorizing U.S. agencies such as the CIA to provide support to rebel forces in Syria.

The support includes helping to run a secret military communications command center in Turkey to aid rebel groups. The Reuters article also said U.S. citizens are training rebels and possibly giving them equipment, at least since the summer.

The New York Times and Reuters both report the U.S. is working to vet the rebels for inclusion of al-Qaida, but it is not immediately known how successful the vetting has been and whether the rebels directly armed by the U.S. will share their weapons with jihadists within their ranks.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/russia-delivers-new-al-qaida-warning-to-u-s/#Go2HJkSVlilUv0e0.99

Navy unveils first squadron of drones

The Navy is inaugurating its first squadron with unmanned aircraft, formally adopting drone technology amid debate over its growing use in warfare.

Military officials will launch the maritime strike squadron called "Magicians" on Thursday at the Naval Air Station North Island base on Coronado, near San Diego.

The squadron will have eight manned helicopters and a still-to-be-determined number of the Fire Scout MQ-8 B, an unmanned helicopter that can fly 12 continuous hours, tracking targets.

Lt. Aaron Kakiel says the squadron will be aboard the Navy's new littoral combat ship in about a year.

He says most Navy drones now are operated by contractors overseen by military personnel.

The squadron's creation comes 100 years after the formation of the first Navy air detachment.

The Air Force has various drone squadrons.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/02/navy-unveils-first-squadron-drones-amid-debate/?cmpid=NL_politics#ixzz2SA2ZrDV4