United States

Submitted by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,

The government has criminalized so many mundane activities that the average American unknowingly commits three felonies a day. That’s according to a study by Harry Silverglate, a civil liberties lawyer.

This happens, in part, because there are plenty of awful laws most Americans have never even heard of. One of the worst of these little-known laws is the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Iran’s defense minister has slammed the United States for adopting double-standards in policy to defend their interests. He also accused them, Saudi Arabia, and Israel for propping up terrorist groups Speaking at the 5th Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS), Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said that such double standards may finally lead to a new world war.

Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which supposed had thawed as part of Obama's landmark 2015 nuclear deal which also allowed Iran to resume exporting its oil, are once again on the fence following a statement by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which accused the United States of scaring businesses away from Tehran and undermining a deal to lift international sanctions. 

Submitted by Axel Merk via Merk Investments,

Is gold, often scoffed at as being an unproductive asset, more productive than cash? If so, what does it mean for asset allocation?

In what will be a closely watched and even more closely scrutinized speech, today at noon Donald J. Trump will hold a speech on foreign policy at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC.  In the speech Trump is poised to demonstrate just how "presidential" he can be, because as Reuters writes, "he is expected to set aside his bad-boy antics and, with the help of a teleprompter to keep him on message, outline what his foreign policies would be if he is elected U.S. president."