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Florida Declares State Of Emergency As Hurricane Dorian Set To Ruin Labor Day Weekend

Just in time to spoil Labor Day weekend, Hurricane Dorian has barreled through the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico without causing much damage, and is now headed straight for the Florida coastline. After intensifying from a tropical storm into a hurricane late Wednesday, the storm continued to strengthen as it pulled closer to the Continental US.

The storm is expected to continue strengthening over the next few day, and is expected to make landfall on Florida’s Atlantic coast as a CAT 3 storm late Sunday or Monday.

In typical fashion, president Trump warned that Dorian will be “a very big storm, perhaps one of the biggest!” and urged people to follow state and federal instructions.

As of 5 am ET on Thursday, Dorian’s center was some 150 miles north-northwest of San Juan, as it headed northwest at 13 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Dorian’s sustained winds increased to 85 mph, with higher gusts recorded.

Heavy rain from the storm could cause “life threatening” flash floods in parts of the Bahamas on Thursday, and even along the southeastern US coast.

CBS News weather producer David Parkinson said that “with a new supermoon and the angle the storm is approaching from, widespread coastal flooding, including severe coastal flooding is likely. In addition, as the storm is coming in for landfall, it looks like it might lose some of the steering currents.”

Miami resident Lanada Means said she purchased plywood at Home Depot on Wednesday to begin preparing for the storm. “My daughter messages me on Instagram and asked me if I knew about the storm, and I didn’t, so I came here on my lunch break. Tomorrow is gonna be crazy.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency Wednesday, advising residents to gatherseven days of supplies, including water, food and medicine.

However, the storm has already thrown forecasters a few curveballs, the biggest being its swerve to the east on Wednesday, which helped it largely avoid Puerto Rico. Though that move put it in prime position to hammer the east coast of the US. Whether it lands in Florida, or further north, remains to be seen.

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Bouquets: August/September 2019

Researchers in Greece have found a naturally occurring microbe that eats polyethylene and polystyrene, the two types of plastics that make up 70 percent of ocean litter.

A deep-learning algorithm developed by researchers at Google AI was able, in a test, to identify early signs of lung cancer at least as well as trained radiologists. When the algorithm had access to patients’ historical tomography data, it performed “on par” with a group of six radiologists. When it did not have access to historical X-ray data, the algorithm resulted in 11 percent fewer false positives and 5 percent fewer false negatives compared to the doctors.

When Becca Bundy’s daughter began having a seizure and needed medical care in 2016, Bill Cox was the first person to arrive from the Bearville Volunteer Fire Department in northern Minnesota. Two years later, Bundy got a chance to repay the good deed when she ran into Cox at a charity fundraiser and learned he was suffering from end-stage kidney failure. The two realized they shared the same blood type, and Bundy offered one of her kidneys to Cox. Both patients have made full recoveries, and Cox has since returned to his volunteer firefighting duties.

Frank Baez spoke very little English when he applied for a custodial job at New York University’s Langone Tisch Hospital as a teenage immigrant from the Dominican Republic. Eventually, he was promoted to a job transporting patients around the hospital. But what he really wanted was to be a nurse. In May, Baez, now 29, graduated from the school’s nursing program.

Following the March 2019 shootings in which 51 worshippers were killed at a pair of mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, Sen. Fraser Anning of the Australian Parliament blamed Muslim immigration for the attack. Two months later he was voted out of office, and a 17-year-old who smashed a raw egg on Anning’s head has been memorialized with a mural.

In March, 12-year-old Vivian Loh became the first female competitor to win Pennsylvania MATHCOUNTS in the competition’s 36-year history.

A young boy who was dying of brain cancer is now back at school and doing well after undergoing an experimental genetic treatment. Roche’s entrectinib, a personalized drug, is still in the testing stage, but the results are promising. Of the 12 children with cancers who participated in a recent trial, all saw improvement.

Taiwan’s high court ruled in 2017 that a ban on same-sex marriage then in place violated the country’s constitution. After two years of negotiations, the Taiwanese parliament voted in May to grant full marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples, making it the first country in Asia to do so.

Coral reefs around the world are dying due to changing acidity and temperature in Earth’s oceans, but researchers have discovered a strain of coral in Hawaii’s Kāne’ohe Bay that appears to thrive in the new ocean ecosystem. These “supercorals,” which can tolerate higher temperatures and increased acidity, were even able to recover from a sewage spill that seemed like it had destroyed the bay three decades ago.

Shailyn Ryan learned how to perform the Heimlich maneuver during a special presentation at Marguerite Peaslee Elementary School in Massachusetts. The next day at lunch, she saw her friend Keira grabbing her throat and beginning to turn blue. Shailyn, age 9, quickly mimicked the procedure she’d learned just one day earlier, squeezed hard, and dislodged a chunk of hot dog.

Lan Junze, a 19-year-old crane operator in Fushun, China, rescued 14 people from a burning apartment building earlier this year. Junze saw the fire from his job site and drove his crane to the building.

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China Makes Unexpected Concession: Will Hold Off On Trade Retaliation, US Visit Discussed

With Beijing rapidly running out of US imports to slap tariffs on, the Chinese government indicated on Thursday that it wouldn’t immediately retaliate against the latest US tariff escalation announced by President Trump a week ago, Bloomberg reports.

Instead, it will be looking for ways to finally deescalate the trade conflict, which has dragged on for nearly 18 months.

But does this mean the trade war is over, and that Beijing will finally come to the table in earnest, ready to make the concessions that Washington demands? That’s doubtful.

They just need a little more time to devise a plan for exactly how they will retaliate. As we’ve mentioned in the past, Beijing has many alternatives, including ceasing purchases of Treasuries.

Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said during a regular briefing in Beijing that China has options to retaliate, but thinks it should discuss with Washington the possibility of removing new tariffs.

“The most important thing at the moment is to create necessary conditions for both sides to continue negotiations,” Gao said during a weekly briefing, adding that China was lodging “solemn representation” with the US.

However, Gao warned that China had “ample” retaliatory measures to retaliate if Washington eventually moved ahead with its tariffs.

The burst of optimistic rhetoric on both sides has helped lift stocks. S&P 500 futures reversed earlier losses to rise as much as 0.7%.

Earlier this month, the US announced new tariff rates on $300 billion of Chinese goods that will come into effect in September and December. Beijing then retaliated last week, announcing its own higher import taxes.

Beijing said the hopes for progress depend on whether Washington can create “favorable conditions” for the upcoming talks in September, according to Reuters.

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Bouquets: August/September 2019

Researchers in Greece have found a naturally occurring microbe that eats polyethylene and polystyrene, the two types of plastics that make up 70 percent of ocean litter.

A deep-learning algorithm developed by researchers at Google AI was able, in a test, to identify early signs of lung cancer at least as well as trained radiologists. When the algorithm had access to patients’ historical tomography data, it performed “on par” with a group of six radiologists. When it did not have access to historical X-ray data, the algorithm resulted in 11 percent fewer false positives and 5 percent fewer false negatives compared to the doctors.

When Becca Bundy’s daughter began having a seizure and needed medical care in 2016, Bill Cox was the first person to arrive from the Bearville Volunteer Fire Department in northern Minnesota. Two years later, Bundy got a chance to repay the good deed when she ran into Cox at a charity fundraiser and learned he was suffering from end-stage kidney failure. The two realized they shared the same blood type, and Bundy offered one of her kidneys to Cox. Both patients have made full recoveries, and Cox has since returned to his volunteer firefighting duties.

Frank Baez spoke very little English when he applied for a custodial job at New York University’s Langone Tisch Hospital as a teenage immigrant from the Dominican Republic. Eventually, he was promoted to a job transporting patients around the hospital. But what he really wanted was to be a nurse. In May, Baez, now 29, graduated from the school’s nursing program.

Following the March 2019 shootings in which 51 worshippers were killed at a pair of mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, Sen. Fraser Anning of the Australian Parliament blamed Muslim immigration for the attack. Two months later he was voted out of office, and a 17-year-old who smashed a raw egg on Anning’s head has been memorialized with a mural.

In March, 12-year-old Vivian Loh became the first female competitor to win Pennsylvania MATHCOUNTS in the competition’s 36-year history.

A young boy who was dying of brain cancer is now back at school and doing well after undergoing an experimental genetic treatment. Roche’s entrectinib, a personalized drug, is still in the testing stage, but the results are promising. Of the 12 children with cancers who participated in a recent trial, all saw improvement.

Taiwan’s high court ruled in 2017 that a ban on same-sex marriage then in place violated the country’s constitution. After two years of negotiations, the Taiwanese parliament voted in May to grant full marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples, making it the first country in Asia to do so.

Coral reefs around the world are dying due to changing acidity and temperature in Earth’s oceans, but researchers have discovered a strain of coral in Hawaii’s Kāne’ohe Bay that appears to thrive in the new ocean ecosystem. These “supercorals,” which can tolerate higher temperatures and increased acidity, were even able to recover from a sewage spill that seemed like it had destroyed the bay three decades ago.

Shailyn Ryan learned how to perform the Heimlich maneuver during a special presentation at Marguerite Peaslee Elementary School in Massachusetts. The next day at lunch, she saw her friend Keira grabbing her throat and beginning to turn blue. Shailyn, age 9, quickly mimicked the procedure she’d learned just one day earlier, squeezed hard, and dislodged a chunk of hot dog.

Lan Junze, a 19-year-old crane operator in Fushun, China, rescued 14 people from a burning apartment building earlier this year. Junze saw the fire from his job site and drove his crane to the building.

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Talk Of Purchasing Greenland A Deterrent To China And Russia, Defense Expert Says

Authored by Bowen Xiao via The Epoch Times,

Greenland’s basket of economic and strategic benefits, particularly when it comes to military advantage, is not going unnoticed, with the likes of Chinaand Russia showing increasing interest in the sparsely inhabited island.

The implications of these two countries increasing their influence over Greenland is concerning to the United States, a defense expert said. Aside from Greenland’s strategic value with regard to its geography and positioning, the island also has an abundance of minerals and oils.

President Donald Trump’s idea to potentially purchase the island is not as audacious as it sounds, Peter Huessy, a senior defense consultant and Director of Strategic Deterrent Studies at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, told The Epoch Times.  

“If Greenland was like Guam we could deploy offensive, conventional missiles in northern Greenland along the Arctic and we would cover a very large portion of Russia and China,” he said in a phone call.

“That would act as an extraordinarily good deterrent against their use of ballistic missiles of any kind against the U.S. or our allies.”

There are also trading benefits. China sees Greenland as a possible source of rare earths and other minerals and a port for shipping through the Arctic to the eastern United States. It called last year for joint development of a “Polar Silk Road” as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative to build railways, ports, and other facilities in dozens of countries.

“[China and Russia] hope to be like the Panama canal, they want to be the gatekeeper for transiting the Arctic,” Huessy continued.

“That has big implications for trade and commerce and economic issues. They are doing the same thing in the South China Sea.”

Huessy said Trump’s recent talk about purchasing the island is sending a signal to the two countries to quell their plans of expansion in the Arctic. Denmark essentially owns Greenland, which has a population of just over 56,000.

Strategically, Greenland forms part of what the United States views as a key corridor for naval operations between the Arctic and the North Atlantic. It is also part of the broader Arctic region and is considered strategically important because of its proximity to the United States and economically vital for its natural resources.

“It would be great if we could do all these things on our own and we wouldn’t have to go over to the Danish government to ask them,” Huessy said. “What Trump was doing was basically taking a shot at the Chinese saying, ‘Not so fast.’ He was basically throwing down a marker to the Chinese.”

“He thinks strategically and he also acts strategically and tactically,” he added.

Greenland is located between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans and is dependent on Danish economic support. It handles its own domestic affairs while Copenhagen looks after defense and foreign policy.

According to Huessy, Greenland would benefit significantly from being part of the United States, mainly economically. In 1946, former President Harry S. Truman also pitched a plan to purchase Greenland.

“The minerals and oil are available per agreement with the government and EU rules; there are barriers to foreign investment and ownership; buying the territory would eliminate these barriers,” he said.

Last week, Trump said he received a call from Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen days after she called the idea of a purchase “absurd.” At the time, Trump criticized Frederiksen’s response, describing it as “nasty.”

“A wonderful woman. We had a great conversation. We have a very good relationship with Denmark,” Trump told reporters, adding that “she was very nice.  She put a call in, and I appreciated it very much.”

Previously Trump said he was interested in Greenland “strategically,” but its purchase is “not No. 1 on the burner.”

Russia has been raising its profile in the Arctic, creating or reopening six military bases shut after the Cold War ended in 1990, modernizing its Northern Fleet, including 21 new vessels and two nuclear submarines, and staging frequent naval exercises in the Arctic.

In May, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Russia was behaving aggressively in the Arctic, and China’s actions there had to be watched closely as well.

The United States maintains an airbase in Thule in Greenland’s northwest under a 1951 treaty with Denmark. Washington wants a greater military presence in Greenland to better defend its Thule Air Base and enhance surveillance of the waters between the island and the European continent.

Greenland is thought to have the largest deposits outside China of rare earth minerals, which are used to make batteries and cellphones. Such minerals were deemed critical to economic and national security by the U.S. Interior Department last year.

In 2018, then-U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis successfully pressured Denmark not to let China bankroll three commercial airports on Greenland over fears they could give Beijing a military foothold near Canada, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report 

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Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Could Be Moving Billions Into US Markets

As we slowly, steadily and inevitably creep one step closer to global central banks eventually owning all of each others’ country’s equities (and other financial assets), the nation of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund could wind up being the next big bid for U.S. stock markets. According to Reuters, the country could shift “billions in investments” out of European stock markets and instead invest the money in the U.S. and other North American markets, the fund’s manager recommended on Tuesday. 

The trillion dollar fund has typically given more of a weighting to European stocks and has focused on countries that Norway trades with. But the Norwegian central bank has said that this is no longer necessary, and has said that it wants the fund’s portfolio to better reflect the “available pool of investments”. 

The central bank said:

 “The Bank’s advice is that the geographical distribution should be adjusted further towards float-adjusted market weights by increasing the weight of equities in North America and reducing the weight of equities in European developed markets.”

From here, it is up to the finance ministry and parliament to decide whether or not to heed the advice of the central bank. If they move forward from here, it could mean billions in new investments shifting from Europe to the U.S. and other North American markets. 

For now, Norway’s fund, which invests the proceeds of the country’s oil and gas production, owns more European stocks than the size of each respective market’s weight would dictate. The fund eased its policy of directing investment to Norway’s most important trading partners in 2012, the last time it reviewed its international weighting. 

Since then, the fund has reduced its exposure to European shares from 50% of total holdings to about 34% of total holdings at the end of 2018. 43% of the country’s holdings were in North America and 17% were in Asia. 

The finance ministry said it would make a determination next spring. 

“Implementation of any changes in the benchmark index will be gradually over time,” the finance ministry said.

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Brickbat: Open Government

Officials in Malheur County, Oregon, have asked the local sheriff to investigate whether the Malheur Enterprise newspaper broke any laws when its reporters tried to contact county economic development officials after office hours or through their personal emails and phone numbers. Greg Smith, director of Malheur County Economic Development Department, said he asked the newspaper to “limit your requests to office hours” and to a single county email address. Smith uses two emails in his conduct of county business, according to the newspaper. The newspaper also reports that at a government meeting he gave the public what he described as his “personal” cell phone number, saying he was available “24/7” and telling anyone who has questions or concerns to “call me directly.”

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Brickbat: Open Government

Officials in Malheur County, Oregon, have asked the local sheriff to investigate whether the Malheur Enterprise newspaper broke any laws when its reporters tried to contact county economic development officials after office hours or through their personal emails and phone numbers. Greg Smith, director of Malheur County Economic Development Department, said he asked the newspaper to “limit your requests to office hours” and to a single county email address. Smith uses two emails in his conduct of county business, according to the newspaper. The newspaper also reports that at a government meeting he gave the public what he described as his “personal” cell phone number, saying he was available “24/7” and telling anyone who has questions or concerns to “call me directly.”

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World’s First Licensed Crypto Bank Seen As Game-Changer For Switzerland

Authored by Matthew Allen via SwissInfo.ch,

The co-founders of Sygnum crypto bank have hailed the award of a Swiss banking license as a game changer that could open the floodgates to the integration of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets into the established financial sector.

Sygnumexternal link, along with SEBAexternal link, were awarded provisional banking and securities dealer licenses by Switzerland’s financial regulator on Monday. Both entities will become fully-fledged banks once they have completed some final routine regulatory hurdles.

“This is the first time such licenses have been granted worldwide, so Switzerland is playing a pioneering role,” Manuel Krieger, CEO of Sygnum Switzerland, told swissinfo.ch. He also thinks the early movers will encourage others to take the plunge. “We now have a responsibility as an enabling platform to help banks and other financial players make the step into the digital asset world.”

“This has positive implications for Switzerland and distributed ledger technology [the blockchain-style platform on which cryptocurrencies run] internationally,” added Mathias Imbach who runs the group’s Singapore operation.

“Cryptocurrencies will come out of the shadows if dealing with these assets can be done in a 100% compliant manner upholding all the rules that a strict regulator demands. That is a game changer,” he added.

image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

Global reputation

Switzerland has been one of the leading players in the global adoption of tokenised digital assets and DLT technology. For example, Switzerland is in the process of updating its financial legislation to incorporate the new technology.

It is one of the reasons that Facebook decided to house its Libra cryptocurrency foundation in Geneva. It’s also why established players, such as the Swiss stock exchange and state-owned telecoms giant Swisscom, are getting involved, along with a growing number of start-ups in Switzerland.

Until now, the crypto asset sector had failed to completely convince the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMAexternal link) that it could safely and reliably integrate the worlds of crypto and mainstream finance.

Sygnum and SEBA have now proven this possible to the regulator’s satisfaction. Sygnum has even created its own digital payment token, backed by Swiss francs, which can be used to complete trades on its platform.

The benefits of tokenising all types of financial assets in a purely digital format and trading them on DLT ledgers are believed to be manifold. Bypassing intermediaries should make both trading and issuing company shares faster and cheaper. Instantaneous settlement would also eliminate the risk of trades going wrong while they wait a few days to complete.

Critical voices

“DLT has potential to make whole financial infrastructure more stable and robust,” said Krieger.

As with all new technologies untested on a large scale, there are doubters. Cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, have been banned in some countries as potential instruments for crime and money laundering. FINMA was clear in awarding the licenses that it expects both crypto banks to abide by anti-money laundering rulesexternal link.

The United States is leading a host of critical voices against Facebook’s Libra project, fearing it will snatch away control of the monetary system. Institutions like the Bank for International Settlements have also highlighted concerns about cryptocurrenciesexternal link.

Others worry that a “magical” digital book keeping system that does away with the need for accountants and banks to keep track of the money sounds too good to be true. At the very least, say detractors, it would collapse under the weight of multitudinous high-speed transactions conducted throughout the world every day.

But despite the doubters, Switzerland appears determined to keep ahead of the game. Part of the reason, as Imbach lays out, is the fear of falling behind international competitors.

“Other countries, like Liechtenstein and Luxembourg have also taken steps towards adopting DLT [although they have not yet licensed a dedicated crypto bank]. It is crucial for Switzerland to at least remain at par with them.”

Additionally, Sygnum is in talks with local regulators to seal a banking license in Singapore, Bloomberg reported on Aug. 28.

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29% Of London Homeowners Are Panic Selling Homes Ahead Of Brexit Deadline 

The pound sterling has lost nearly 10% of its value in the last 120 days, as a no-deal Brexit has become more likely. The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, has fallen into a bear market in the same period. Fear is spreading across the United Kingdom, also affecting the real estate market.

Nested, a London-based “data-driven” real estate firm, is reporting 29% of London homeowners are slashing their asking prices ahead of Brexit’s Oct. 31 deadline, reported Property Reporter.

The new report shows over £2 billion ($2.43 billion) of price cuts have so far occurred in the London Metropolitan Region ahead of the deadline.

About 11% of the listings in London (12,078) have seen at least £37,800 ($46,166) cut from the initial list price. Top areas of where the most substantial price discounts are being observed are in Westminster Kensington & Chelsea, Wandsworth, Camden, and Tower Hamlets.

Another 18% of homes listed in the London area have seen price drops of at least 10% ahead of the Oct. 31 deadline.

Jamie Salisbury, a property expert at Nested, said:

“Amid this endless uncertainty and gloom there are great opportunities out there for buyers if they’re bold enough to seize them. This is particularly true for homeowners who are trading up, presenting an opportunity to buy a new home that might otherwise have been out of reach.”

Brexit fears, along with an economy that is one step away from a recession, have sent real estate markets into turmoil this year.

Inner London home sales plunged to 2009 levels this summer: 

“In Inner London, sales volume has plunged by 50% from the mid-range prevailing in the three years from mid-2013 to mid-2016. And it’s down about 65% from the peak in sales volume before the Financial Crisis. These numbers are very volatile from month to month. So, to smoothen out some of the sharp month-to-month ups and downs, I used a three-month moving average. At 2,057 transactions, sales volume has now fallen to levels not seen since the depth of the Financial Crisis in June 2009,” noted Wolf Richter of Wolf Street.

The overall trajectory of UK home prices is down:

“Overall UK home prices, after also peaking in August 2018, have inched down since then. On a year-over-year, they eked out a 1.2% gain in May, weighted down by the decline in the London housing market. May showed the lowest home price inflation, along with February, since January 2013 (by comparison, the UK’s consumer price inflation rose 1.9% through June),” Richter said.

And with the Oct. 31 deadline fast approaching – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is gung-ho on leaving the EU with a deal, but that it is “do or die,” that he would be willing to leave without a deal so long as it means leaving on the deadline. With the political uncertainty surrounding Brexit and an economy that is stumbling into a recession, it now makes sense why people are racing to sell their homes, even if that means deep price cuts, because the next economic downturn has already arrived.

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