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Italy Denies Risk to Public Finances From Debt Derivative Deals

"Italy's treasury denied on Wednesday its use of derivatives as a hedge on its huge debt pile posed any risk to public finances, following reports the country faced billions of euros in potential losses from one set of contracts. The Financial Times and La Repubblica said the eight contracts, restructured at the height of the euro zone crisis in 2012, could result in combined losses of around 8 billion euros ($10.5 billion) based on market prices on June 20. The newspapers, which quoted a report from the treasury, said the contracts had been taken out in the 1990s, some while European Central Bank president Mario Draghi was director general of the Italian treasury." Continue reading →

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Dollars Vanish as Tourists Grab Argentine Bondholder Cash

"Argentina’s supply of dollars it needs to pay bondholders is dwindling at the fastest pace since the depths of the nation’s economic crisis 11 years ago. Since Fernandez banned buying dollars for everything but travel since July, the nation has posted a deficit from tourism revenue of $223 million this year through April, a 10-fold increase from a year ago, as more Argentines went abroad to buy dollars at a cheaper exchange rateand the nation attracted fewer visitors. On the black market, a dollar costs 8.05 pesos compared with the so-called 'tourist dollar,' which is the official rate plus a 20 percent tax on credit cards, or about 6.44 per dollar." Continue reading →

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India Central Bank Restricts Lending Against Gold Assets By Rural Banks

"The Reserve Bank of India's, or RBI, offensive against gold continued Tuesday when it imposed restrictions on the country's regional rural banks, or RRBs, for lending money against gold, in an attempt to discourage demand for the precious metal and reduce its imports. 'It is advised that while granting advance against the security of specially minted gold coins sold by banks, RRBs should ensure that the weight of the coin(s) does not exceed 50 grams per customer,' RBI said in a statement. The RBI, in recent months, has been hard at work trying to contain the appetite for gold, which is an integral part of India’s culture, lifestyle and festivals." Continue reading →

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Is Obamacare About to Kill Hotel Room Service?

"In August, the New York Hilton Midtown, in the heart of Manhattan, will discontinue food and drink service to all 2,000 of its rooms. In its place will be a new self-service Herb n’ Kitchen stocked with grab-and-go items. A spokesman for the hotel, which is part of the chain that also operates the Waldorf, cited declining demand for room service as the reason; some hotel industry experts see the elimination of the labor-intensive amenity as a way for the chain to save money." Continue reading →

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Keynesians Use Thomas Edison’s Advice For Destruction

"Thomas Edison is known to have said the following: 'I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.' Unfortunately, instead of Keynesians admitting defeat (like they should have at least 40 years ago) they're gonna go all Thomas Edison on us. This 'experiment' turns out to be nothing new at all, but the same old same old. So welcome Japanese citizens to the world of being a lab rat. We Americans have been poked and prodded ourselves for many years, and appreciate your company. Failed ideas die hard (e.g. Marx's ideas died hard). Unfortunately, the mad scientist Keynesians will refuse to give up until economic law forces them." Continue reading →

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UK moves forward with three-parent IVF treatment

"The British government has said it will pursue a radical fertility technique that uses DNA from three parents to create an embryo. The IVF-based technique is designed to avoid serious mitochondrial diseases inherited on the maternal side, such as muscular dystrophy. Mitochondria are the structures within cells that convert energy from food into a form that the body can use. The technique would replace some of the unhealthy DNA with healthy DNA from the so-called 'third parent'. Politicians are due to debate the regulations in parliament next year, setting the stage for Britain to become the first country to offer the treatment." Continue reading →

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‘Simplified’ IVF procedure could cost just $256

"A simplified lab can slash the cost of in-vitro fertilisation treatment to around 200 euros ($256), offering hope to millions of infertile couples in the developing world, a conference heard on Monday. The cost would be just 10 to 15 percent of western-style IVF programmes, according to the Belgian team behind the project. Their approach uses a scaled-down version of the typical IVF lab, using a simple two-tube system to replace special carbon dioxide (CO2) incubators, medical gas and air purification systems in which to culture the embryo in a lab dish. So far 12 healthy 'low-cost' babies have been born." Continue reading →

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Read more about the article The Next Big Thing in Cardiology

The Next Big Thing in Cardiology

"The innovative procedure allows for the installation of an artificial heart valve by means of a catheter. The catheter is inserted into an artery that is accessed through a small incision in either the patient's groin or chest. It is then snaked through the artery until it reaches the heart and delivers the attached artificial valve for implantation. TAVR not only avoids the need to open the chest wall, it can also minimize complications associated with general anesthesia, since TAVR can be performed under local anesthesia. What was a six-hour open-heart operation plus two weeks in the hospital is reduced to about a two-hour procedure." Continue reading →

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Archaeologists excited by discovery of eight ‘startlingly well-preserved’ Bronze Age boats

"The vessels, all deliberately sunk more than 3,000 years ago, are the largest group of bronze age boats ever found in the same UK site and most are startlingly well preserved. One is covered inside and out with decorative carving described by conservator Ian Panter as looking 'as if they’d been playing noughts and crosses all over it'. Another has handles carved from the oak tree trunk for lifting it out of the water. One still floated after 3,000 years and one has traces of fires lit on the wide flat deck on which the catch was evidently cooked. They were preserved by the waterlogged silt in the bed of a long-dried-up creek which buried them deep below the ground." Continue reading →

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Let Them Eat Grass – The Food Freedom Revolution

"The foods the farm produced have never harmed anyone and there is no scientific evidence that proves it could harm anyone. The State is acting like mafia saying, 'Do things our way, pay us for allowing you to feed yourselves, but still in a few years, we will bankrupt you and close your farm.' The families who own the Hershberger family farm are independent, caring for themselves. They have harmed no one, there are no victims, no crime. They act to protect themselves because governments are not protecting the food supply. In fact, they aid and abet the poisoning of our food supply." Continue reading →

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