Month: August 2019

The death of millionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein behind bars should trigger “system-wide self-reflection” on how prisoners are treated. The Metropolitan Correctional Center “is sort of like an American gulag for people who have not been convicted of anything,” Epstein lawyer Marc Fernich said. Epstein had at least some dirt on some high-powered people like … Read more

In a landmark ruling a judge in Mexico has legalized cocaine — but only for two users. The order by the judge to the country’s health authority has raised the possibility that Mexico could, at some point, legalize cocaine use, but only on a case-by-case basis. The ruling still needs to pass a higher court, … Read more

Pilot Owen Leipelt filmed as his friend’s plane hit the water off Half Moon Bay  He alerted air traffic control and kept circling above the crash scene on Tuesday In the water below, the pilot of the downed plane, David Lesh, was also filming He captured the moment his plane sank before filming his rescue from the … Read more

Once listed for $1 billion, a 157-acre parcel of land in Beverly Hills known as The Mountain has sold at a foreclosure auction to its lender for just $100,000. An entity linked to the Mark Hughes Trust, a trust established to manage the assets of the late Herbalife founder Mark Hughes, won the property Tuesday … Read more

“Free movement for EU citizens will end on day one of a no-deal Brexit, under new Home Office plans – despite warnings of chaos and of people trapped in legal limbo. Priti Patel, the new hardline home secretary, is pressing for border restrictions to be imposed immediately on 31 October, even though no replacement system … Read more

HMM: U.K. Government ‘Extremely Concerned’ by Reports of China Detaining Hong Kong Consulate Employee. PLUS: Crew Describe Climate of Fear at Cathay After Hong Kong Sackings. Cathay, founded by an American and an Australian during British rule in 1946, was caught in the middle of the crisis 11 days ago, when China demanded it suspend staff involved … Read more

via WSJ: The risky mortgage is making a comeback. More than a decade after home loans triggered the worst financial crisis in a generation, the strict lending requirements put in place during its aftermath are starting to erode. Home buyers with low credit scores or high debt levels as well as those lacking traditional employment … Read more

#BREAKING: US State Department authorises sale 66 F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan — ELINT News (@ELINTNews) August 20, 2019

Several large countries, including the United States and Russia, continue to block the possibility of signing an international treaty on the use of autonomous weapons. The campaign aimed at stopping killer robots calls on countries to enter into negotiations on a new treaty requiring significant human intervention to use force. Starting in 2014, many countries … Read more

by Shaun Richards The last twelve months have seen quite a turn around in not only perceptions about the performance of the German economy but also the actual data. With the benefit of hindsight we see that there was a clear peak at the end of 2017 when after a year of strong economic growth … Read more

by Bob Moriarty via Streetwise After being bugged unmercifully by a couple of my so-called friends, I finally sat down in early January to write a tome about investing in resource stocks. It took me sixteen days to write. And another four weeks to get the cover and layout right. I had some important charts in it that … Read more