Pope Benedict XVI to Resign at the End of February

/4 Comments/in , /by

Pope Benedict XVI will resign at the end of February, the Vatican Press Office tells Fox News.

The 85-year-old pontiff made the announcement Monday, saying he no longer had the strength to carry out his papal duties.

“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” the pope said according to a statement released by the Vatican.

He said he is aware of the “seriousness” of his resignation, but that he did so in “full freedom.”

The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants. The sudden announcement sets the stage for the Vatican to hold a conclave to elect a new pope by mid-March, since the traditional mourning time that would follow the death of a pope doesn’t have to be observed. There are several papal contenders in the wings, but no obvious front-runner, according to Vatican watchers.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Admin Orchestrated The Arab Spring? (+video)

/10 Comments/in , /by

photo credit: ak rockefellerBy most accounts, the Arab Spring went horribly wrong. The democratic elections that swept away dictators—for the most part friendly to the United States—have produced Islamic totalitarian government.

Mohammed Morsi, president of Egypt, is probably the example par excellence. He quickly nullified the constitution, neutered the judiciary, shut down any media that was critical of his government—branded as critical of Allah—and set up a macabre torture chamber.

Barack Obama, who championed this Arab Spring and even helped the Arab Spring along by arming and supporting the Libyan “rebels” (who were for the most part linked to Al Qaeda), apparently didn’t see this coming.

But Barack Obama is only human. He didn’t envision, like many others, that the people throughout the Middle East and North Africa would elect totalitarian Islamists that would become the Unites States’ enemy, right?

Although it is odd that Obama has embraced Mohammed Morsi with open arms. Mohammed Morsi is part of an organization—the Muslim Brotherhood—that has vowed to destroy the United States.

Read more from this story HERE.

China Eclipses U.S. as Biggest Trading Nation Measured in Goods

/3 Comments/in , /by

China surpassed the U.S. to become the world’s biggest trading nation last year as measured by the sum of exports and imports of goods, official figures from both countries show.

U.S. exports and imports of goods last year totaled $3.82 trillion, the U.S. Commerce Department said last week. China’s customs administration reported last month that the country’s trade in goods in 2012 amounted to $3.87 trillion.

China’s growing influence in global commerce threatens to disrupt regional trading blocs as it becomes the most important commercial partner for some countries. Germany may export twice as much to China by the end of the decade as it does to France, estimated Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Jim O’Neill.

“For so many countries around the world, China is becoming rapidly the most important bilateral trade partner,” O’Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs’s asset management division and the economist who bound Brazil to Russia, India and China to form the BRIC investing strategy, said in a telephone interview. “At this kind of pace by the end of the decade many European countries will be doing more individual trade with China than with bilateral partners in Europe.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Putin Turns Black Gold Into Bullion As Russia Out-Buys World

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Alexsey DruginynWhen Vladimir Putin says the U.S. is endangering the global economy by abusing its dollar monopoly, he’s not just talking. He’s betting on it.

Not only has Putin made Russia the world’s largest oil producer, he’s also made it the biggest gold buyer. His central bank has added 570 metric tons of the metal in the past decade, a quarter more than runner-up China, according to IMF data compiled by Bloomberg. The added gold is also almost triple the weight of the Statue of Liberty.

“The more gold a country has, the more sovereignty it will have if there’s a cataclysm with the dollar, the euro, the pound or any other reserve currency,” Evgeny Fedorov, a lawmaker for Putin’s United Russia party in the lower house of parliament, said in a telephone interview in Moscow.

Gold, coveted by Russian rulers including Tsar Nicholas II and the Bolshevik leader whose forces assassinated him, Vladimir Lenin, has soared almost 400 percent in the period of Putin’s purchases. Central banks around the world have printed money to escape the global financial crisis, sapping investor appetite for dollars and euros and setting off a scramble for safety.

In 1998, the year Russia defaulted on $40 billion of domestic debt, it took as many as 28 barrels of crude to buy an ounce of gold, Bloomberg data show. That ratio tumbled to 11.5 by the time Putin first came to power a year later and in 2005, after it touched 6.5 — less than half what it is now — the president told the central bank to buy.

Read more from this story HERE.

Iranians On Revolution Day Chant ‘Death To America’

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AFPHundreds of thousands of people marched on Sunday in Tehran and other cities chanting “Death to America” as Iran marked the 34th anniversary of the Islamic revolution that ousted the U.S.-backed shah.

In the capital, crowds waving Iranian flags and portraits of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini walked toward the landmark Azadi (Freedom) Square, in a government-sponsored rally which is now a cornerstone of the regime.

Marchers also chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” as they headed for the square, some waving posters of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was expected to make an address.

Iran is holding similar rallies nationwide, especially in large provincial capitals such as Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz and Kerman.

At the Tehran rally, foreign media were being closely monitored and allowed to cover the event from officially designated areas only.

Read more from this story HERE.

Has China Quietly Joined the Currency War?

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: Getty ImagesChina has been less vocal than other major economies in recent weeks in voicing discontent about a sharp slide in the yen, which means stronger currencies elsewhere. Yet, Beijing is taking action of its own to head off unwanted pressure on the yuan to appreciate.

The Chinese yuan, also known as the renminbi, fell on Thursday to its weakest level since late December. In fact, the yuan has been creeping down since January 14, when it hit a record high against the U.S. dollar at about 6.21, as China’s central bank steps up its intervention in the foreign exchange markets to curb yuan appreciation.

“It is disappointing for anyone looking for yuan gains,” said Sean Callow, senior currency strategist at Westpac Bank in Sydney. “The leash on the yuan has been tightening, probably because of the decline in the yen and also the decline in the (South Korean) won and the Taiwan dollar and in that environment it’s tough for China to allow currency gains that would hurt its competitive edge.”

The yen has tumbled against all major currencies since the start of the year, falling roughly 10 percent against the dollar and the euro, amid growing expectations of aggressive monetary policy from Japan, now on a concerted bid to revive a weak economy and end years of deflation.

The won meanwhile has eased about 2.5 percent against the dollar since the start of 2013, while the Taiwan dollar is down about 2 percent.

Read more from this story HERE.

Two Chilling Developments Suggest Asia May Be One Step Away From War

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: businessinsider.comChina and Japan, along with North and South Korean troops at the DMZ, appear one step away from armed combat and tensions don’t look likely to ease any time soon.

New developments within both regions illustrate how close to open combat the four countries are, and how quickly one incident could expand to war among very powerful nations.

Tokyo reported two January events where Chinese naval vessels targeted its East China Sea forces with fire-control radar. This specific type of radar is used almost exclusively to assist guided weapons systems in their flight toward a target. It’s an unmistakable action that can be the first step to open combat, and was taken seriously enough by the Japanese captain to prompt a combat alert aboard his vessel.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded to the allegations by saying it hadn’t heard about the engagements until news of the events appeared on international news. It has since said that the event didn’t happen and is a total Japanese fabrication. Whether it’s true or not China is using Japan’s claim to prove Tokyo is preparing for war.

If Chinese ships did engage their fire-control radar, it may be in Beijing’s interest to deny it because either it approved the maneuver, or the ship’s captains acted independently. Both scenarios offer a long list of concerns that would be easiest for China to address if avoided entirely.

Read more from this story HERE.

Weapons Seizure In Yemen Shines Light On Iran’s Attempts To Destabilize Region (+video)

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: paffairs_sanfranciscoA recent shipment of weapons intercepted in Yemen, including surface-to-air missiles, shows Iran’s determination to further destabilize the region, according to the head of the House Intelligence Committee.

“This new chapter is, with the chaos that you see in Northern Africa, with what you see happening in Yemen, is to escalate arms flow,” Republican Rep. Mike Rogers told Fox News. “Why? They’re feeling the pressure of sanctions, they’re feeling the pressure of international isolation because of their pursuit of nuclear weapons.”

Video of the weapons shipment, posted to YouTube this week by the Yemen Embassy in Washington, D.C., for the first time revealed the scope and sophistication of the weapons intercepted in late January. A Yemeni military source tells Fox News the shipment included circuits, wires and nearly 200 explosive packages for improvised explosive devices, remote detonators, military binocular and what were described as Iranian man-portable, infrared-guided surface-to-air missiles. Known as “Manpads,” the missiles can bring down civilian aircraft.

The weapons — bound for a Shia insurgent group that has called for an end to the small U.S. military presence in Yemen — were hidden inside a metal tank on a fishing vessel that was intercepted as part of a joint U.S.-Yemen operation.

Read more from this story HERE.

Grenade Attack At U.S. Consulate In Mexico

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: diarioimagen.net Three grenades exploded Thursday evening in Nuevo Laredo, just feet from the U.S. Consulate office, sources in the Mexican border city said.

No injuries were reported, but the explosions rattled the neighborhood, as locals scurried for cover amid a firefight between what’s believed to be members of the Zetas criminal group and their former allies, the Gulf cartel, which is making a push to reclaim the territory.

The two groups appear to be battling, leaving a trail of killings and burned houses. In recent days, sources said, seven people have been killed — three of them Americans — and five homes torched.

The U.S. Consulate issued an alert, and Mexican soldiers were deployed to guard the building.

This is the second time in three years, an explosion has rocked the U.S. facility.

Read more from this story HERE.

Currency Wars Return, 1930s Style

/0 Comments/in , /by

As countries try to weaken their currencies to boost exports, the risk of a currency war similar to events seen in the 1930s has heightened, and policymakers are making sure they are on the winning side, according to Morgan Stanley.

The balance of power now rests with Japan, according to the bank, as Japan’s policy-makers’ more dovish approach looks set to bring the world a step closer to a currency war.

The Bank of Japan doubled its inflation target to 2 percent in January and made an open-ended commitment to continue buying assets from next year. This follows a leadership change, with new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe openly calling for aggressive monetary stimulus from the country’s central bank.

This move, Morgan Stanley said, is a “game changer” as Japan tries to invigorate its stagnating economy .

“If a weaker yen is an important pillar of the strategy to make this export-oriented economy more competitive again, it brings into the picture something that was missing from earlier interactions among central banks of the advanced economies – competitive depreciation,” it said in a research note.

Read more from this story HERE.