The World Blog by humble servant.

US rider Jennifer Wagner, who finished third at the UCI Masters Track Cycling World Championships, has expressed fury that the race was won by Canadian transgender woman Rachel McKinnon. READ MORE: Applause & bashing on Twitter after transgender woman wins female cycling world championship McKinnon, who was born a male, dominated the women’s 35-44 age bracket at the event in Los Angeles at the weekend, setting off debate over her eligibility to compete against female rivals. “First transgender woman world champion…ever,” the Canadian wrote on Twitter while also sharing a picture of her standing on the podium with the two other medalists. View image on Twitter View image on Twitter Dr. Rachel McKinnon @rachelvmckinnon  First transgender woman world champion...ever.* UCI Masters Track Cycling Women 35-44 Sprint@outsports @TheAdvocateMag @CofC @PinkNews @TheChrisMosier @BicyclingMag @velonews @gcntweet @glaad @TransMediaWatch @TransEquality @TransgenderNews @equ...

What will happen to the US economy if China dumped all their reserve dollars and sell-off their bonds?ng US Treasuries. Will China be next? | Asia Times www.atimes.com/article/russia-is-dumping-us-treasuries-will-china-be-next/ Jul 21, 2018 - Moscow is offloading dollar assets at a record pace amid questions ... sactions relief – Moscow is reportedly dumping US government debt, and ...

One of Russia’s largest banks, VTB is seeking to decrease the share of US dollar transactions at home as locals are choosing the Russian ruble over the greenback. “There is one interesting thing I wanted to highlight. Since the beginning of this year, people seem to be less interested in making dollar deposits or taking out dollar loans, compared to ruble-denominated deposits and loans. We believe this to be an important step towards the de-dollarization of the Russian finance sector,” said VTB head Andrey Kostin at a Kremlin meeting with President Vladimir Putin. Read more US Treasury Department in Washington DC © Alexey Agarishev Russia dumps half of its US Treasury bonds According to Kostin, VTB experts have drafted a package of proposals designed to further promote the ruble in international settlements. “I think that we need to create our own financial tools. This would serve as an additional safeguard for the Russian financial sector against external shocks, and would give a...

Russian President Vladimir Putin supports weaning the country’s financial sector off the US dollar, VTB Bank head Andrey Kostin told RIA Novosti. He added the move doesn’t mean the complete phasing-out of the American currency. The idea of de-dollarizing the Russian economy has been actively discussed in the country lately due to the tightening of US sanctions. In July, Kostin, who is president and chairman of the management board of Russia’s second largest bank VTB, submitted a suite of proposals to move away from the greenback and further promote the Russian ruble in international settlements. His plan consists of four major steps. Read more © Dado RuvicRussia speeds up dumping the dollar from economy First, it assumes an accelerated transition to payments in other currencies when carrying out export-import transactions with foreign countries. The alternative currencies include the euro, Chinese yuan and the ruble. The second step is the re-registration of the largest holdin...

The Russian Finance Ministry has announced a plan to wean the country of dollar dependence. It is expected to be a long and painful process. RT has asked analysts to explain how this could be done. According to the plan published this week, Russia seeks to de-dollarize the economy by 2024. The program is long and complicated, but its key point is that Russian exporters who use rubles instead of dollars would get huge taxation benefits including quicker VAT returns and other stimulus to ditch the greenback. Read more © Alexandr DemyanchukPutin backs plan to de-dollarize Russian economy But there are also other ways to strengthen the role of the ruble in Russia. “It is necessary to gradually switch to such a system of international payments, which implies payment in rubles for Russia’s best and most popular goods on the world market like oil, gas and arms exclusively,” Andrey Perekalsky, analyst at financial institute FinIst, told RT. Russia should also unite with China and the Eu...

Russia is financially stable despite sanctions, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Central Bank officials on Tuesday. Higher reserves and falling dependence on oil are the key factors, according to the president. Read more File Photo © Reuters / Thomas White Russia hammering out secret plan to rid economy of US dollar “The financial market remains stable. That is thanks to the joint actions of the government and the Central Bank. Our foreign exchange reserves have increased by 5.7 percent since the beginning of this year and are already at $459 billion,” Putin said. The Central Bank and the government have been working together to slash oil dependence in the Russian economy, which reflects in lower inflation and a more stable ruble, said the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia, Sergey Shvetsov. Russian foreign reserves consist of foreign exchange, special drawing rights (SDR) holdings, the reserve position in the IMF, and monetary gold. They reached ...

10/16/18 4:00 PM Net Long-Term TIC Flows Jul NA NA $74.8B 10/16/18 9:15 AM Industrial Production Sep 0.1% 0.3% 0.4% 10/16/18 9:15 AM Capacity Utilization Sep 78.1% 78.2% 78.1% 10/16/18 10:00 AM JOLTS - Job Openings Aug NA NA 6.939M 10/16/18 10:00 AM NAHB Housing Market Index Oct 67 67 67

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan says some materials in Saudi consulate in Istanbul were painted over. The statement comes after investigators into journalist Jamal Khaggoshi's disappearance searched the building. Some substances Turkish police were looking for at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul seem to have vanished, Erdogan told reporters on Tuesday. He claimed that “the investigation is looking into many things such as toxic materials and those materials being removed by painting them over.” Erdogan did not expand on that claim, only adding that “my hope is that we can reach conclusions that will give us a reasonable opinion as soon as possible.” Previously, a Turkish forensic team spent nine hours looking for clues and DNA samples which could shed light on the mysterious vanishing of Khashoggi who Ankara believes was assassinated at the diplomatic mission. Meanwhile, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters the investigators mull extending the search to the residence of...

An Unforgivable Offense [4:93] Anyone who kills a believer on purpose, his retribution is Hell, wherein he abides forever, GOD is angry with him, and condemns him, and has prepared for him a terrible retribution. [4:94] O you who believe, if you strike in the cause of GOD, you shall be absolutely sure. Do not say to one who offers you peace, "You are not a believer," seeking the spoils of this world. For GOD possesses infinite spoils. Remember that you used to be like them, and GOD blessed you. Therefore, you shall be absolutely sure (before you strike). GOD is fully Cognizant of everything you do.        Do Not Defend the Transgressors                                                                                      [4:107] Do not argue on behalf of...

The US federal budget deficit jumped to $779 billion in fiscal year 2018, which ended September 30. It is the largest deficit since 2012, when it topped $1 trillion, according to the Treasury Department. The figure is $113 billion more than it was a year ago. The statement from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin showed the 2018 deficit amounted to 3.9 percent of the country’s more than $18 trillion annual economy, up from 3.5 percent last year. Read more Soaring by $38,000 per second: US national debt now exceeds $21.5 trillion The deficit worsened because tax revenues are not keeping pace with government spending, which has boosted the long-term debt figure to more than $21 trillion. The spending rose by $127 billion last year, while tax collections increased by $14 billion. The US government’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, said the nation’s  “booming economy will create increased government revenues — an important step toward long-term fiscal sustainability.” RE...

The ongoing sell-offs in equity markets are drawing slight parallels with the crash of the late 1980s, according to Simon Derrick, chief currency strategist at BNY Mellon. He has raised concerns around recent market moves, telling CNBC: “Without wishing to be too alarmist, there have been a few parallels to what was happening 30 years ago in terms of what's been happening to the dollar, what's been happening to oil prices, what's been happening to Treasury yields.” Read more © Getty Images / Marty MelvilleStock bubble bigger than 2008 & coming crash far larger, warns Peter Schiff Derrick said that “It's all very September/October 1987 from that perspective.” The strategist referred to the volatile market dubbed ‘Black Monday’ that began on October 19, 1987, in Asia before spreading to Europe and then the US later in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average then plunged more than 500 points or 22 percent in a single day. READ MORE: Decade after financial cris...

Shireen Al-Adeimi Twitter Shireen Al-Adeimi is an assistant professor of education at Michigan State University. Originally from Yemen, she has played an active role in raising awareness about the Saudi-led war on Yemen, and aims to encourage political action among fellow Americans to bring about an end to the U.S.'s role in the war. Earlier this month, prominent Saudi Arabian dissident Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey and disappeared. What should have been a mundane procedure involving paperwork to finalize his divorce has turned into an ongoing international incident that has left his Turkish fiancée and the global community wondering what happened to the self-exiled Saudi government critic and Washington Post contributor. Now it seems that Saudi officials may soon release a new statement claiming rogue Saudi operatives killed Khashoggi during an interrogation or rendition attempt that went awry. But no matter what the official Saudi exp...