Mainstream News

Silver Vault for 200 Tons Starts in Singapore as Wealthy Buy

"The new facility is 30 percent booked at the opening, said Joshua Rotbart, precious-metals general manager at owner Malca-Amit Global Ltd. The storage will add to the firm’s five vaults at the Singapore FreePort, which are fully reserved for gold, he said in an interview. The repository can hold $128 million of silver at today’s prices. The number of individuals with $1 million or more in investible assets climbed to 3.68 million in the Asia-Pacific region in 2012. The Singapore government has been promoting the country as a bullion-trading hub, removing a 7 percent sales tax on investment-grade precious metals in 2012. " Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSilver Vault for 200 Tons Starts in Singapore as Wealthy Buy

Taiwanese Apple contractor probes claims of labor abuse

"The US rights groups said three Pegatron plants in China impose excessive overtime and employ minors. It also cited crowded dormitories, insufficient fire escape routes and arbitrary fines for perceived minor lapses of behaviour. Apple has also said it will investigate the claims. Pegatron produces consumer electronics like game consoles, television sets and computers for Sony, Toshiba and some other brand name vendors, as well as assembling products for Apple, an official of the Taiwanese company said. It currently has around 110,000 employees, the vast majority of them in the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Suzhou and Chongqing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTaiwanese Apple contractor probes claims of labor abuse

Treasury’s Lew: Congress Needs to Pass Debt Limit

"Congress needs to raise the debt limit and take away the 'cloud of uncertainty' about the nation's ability to pay its bills, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said. 'The fight over the debt limit in 2011 hurt the economy, even though, in the end, we saw an extension of the debt limit. We saw confidence fall, and it hurt the economy. Congress needs to do its job. It needs to finish its work on appropriation bills. It needs to pass a debt limit,' Lew said on NBC's Meet The Press. Senior lawmakers on Capitol Hill are trying to come up with must-do legislation to keep federal agencies running after Sept. 30 and prevent the possibility of a government shutdown." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTreasury’s Lew: Congress Needs to Pass Debt Limit

Heart Surgery in India for $1,583 Costs $106,385 in U.S.

"Devi Shetty is obsessed with making heart surgery affordable for millions of Indians. On his office desk are photographs of two of his heroes: Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi. Shetty is not a public health official motivated by charity. He’s a heart surgeon turned businessman who has started a chain of 21 medical centers around India. By trimming costs with such measures as buying cheaper scrubs and spurning air-conditioning, he has cut the price of artery-clearing coronary bypass surgery to 95,000 rupees ($1,583), half of what it was 20 years ago, and wants to get the price down to $800 within a decade." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHeart Surgery in India for $1,583 Costs $106,385 in U.S.

Cuba looks to medical tourism to entice international visitors

"Drug rehab, post-accident motor skills rehabilitation, treatment for eye diseases and plastic surgery — foreign patients can get all of these services and more in Cuba, and at competitive prices. As the communist government of President Raul Castro seeks to revive the island’s moribund economy, it is turning to medical tourism as a revenue generator. Cuba’s main source of foreign income is the sale of medical services to other countries — legions of doctors and nurses, who are public employees, travel abroad to work following an agreement with the host country. Cuba has the highest number of doctors per resident in the world." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCuba looks to medical tourism to entice international visitors

Obamacare panel approves free cancer screenings for heavy smokers

"Using a highly sensitive test like a CT scan to look for early signs of lung cancer will undoubtedly result in high rates of false positives. The NLST found that 320 high-risk smokers had to be screened to prevent one lung cancer death. Because of that, and the risk from radiation from the CT scans, LeFevre stressed that the screening should only be used in the high-risk groups specified by the guidelines. What worries LeFevre and others is that some doctors and hospitals will try to profit from screening, which costs a few hundred dollars a test. 'We hope that physicians will not use this recommendation to exaggerate the benefits of screening,' he said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObamacare panel approves free cancer screenings for heavy smokers

NYC welfare food is shipped in barrels to the Dominican Republic – then sold on the black market

"New Yorkers on welfare are buying food with their benefit cards and shipping it in blue barrels to poor relatives in the Caribbean. But not everyone is giving the taxpayer-funded fare to starving children abroad. The Post last week found two people hawking barrels of American products for a profit on the streets of Santiago. 'It’s a really easy way to make money, and it doesn’t cost me anything,' a seller named Maria-Teresa said Friday. She said her sister has Bronx grocers ring up bogus $250 transactions with her EBT card. In exchange, the stores hand her $200 cash and pocket the rest. No goods are exchanged." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNYC welfare food is shipped in barrels to the Dominican Republic – then sold on the black market

Appeals court upholds decision to block New York City soda ban

"New York City’s plan to ban large sugary drinks from restaurants and other eateries was an illegal overreach of executive power, a state appeals court ruled on Tuesday, upholding a lower court decision in March that struck down the law. The law, which would have prohibited those businesses from selling sodas and other sugary beverages larger than 16 ounces, 'violated the state principle of separation of powers,' the First Department of the state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division said in a unanimous decision. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had advanced the regulation as a way to combat obesity among city residents." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAppeals court upholds decision to block New York City soda ban

‘Anonymous’ hackers attack New Zealand Prime Minister’s website over spying bill

"The 'hacktivist' group Anonymous on Tuesday briefly crashed New Zealand Prime Minister John Key’s website in protest at plans to allow the country’s intelligence agency to spy on local residents. New Zealand’s intelligence service, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), is currently barred from spying on New Zealand citizens or residents. Key argues the restriction should be removed so it can cooperate more closely with agencies such as the police and military in an increasingly complex cyber-security environment. The bill is currently before parliament and expected to pass by a single vote." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Anonymous’ hackers attack New Zealand Prime Minister’s website over spying bill

A new, dangerous job in Mogadishu: tax collector

"Militias extorted cash from civilians during much of the last two decades of chaos. Now Mogadishu has a government in place, but shopkeepers view the taxman as the latest in a long line of troublemakers. That makes tax collection one of the riskier jobs in Mogadishu: Five tax collectors have been killed so far this year, following the killings of 10 last year. The idea of paying taxes for social services seems outlandish in a nation where few have seen functioning hospitals or schools. One obstacle tax collectors face is philosophical: If it's an established fact that government leaders in Somalia steal tax money, why should citizens pay?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA new, dangerous job in Mogadishu: tax collector