Meletup Kegemukan GLOBAL sejak tahun 1980, kadar Kanak-kanak sehingga 47 % peratus - kajian

Reuters/Rick Wilking

SrikandiTV - Hampir 30 % peratus daripada penduduk di DUNIA - atau 2.1 bilion orang - dianggap obes atau berat badan berlebihan, penyelidik berkata, manakala kadar di kalangan kanak-kanak telah meningkat kekalahan 47 % peratus dalam 33 tahun yang lalu.

Penyelidik, dan menyimpulkan kajian yang paling komprehensif untuk tarikh wabak global obesiti, mendapati bahawa jumlah orang yang mengalami berat badan yang berlebihan memecahkan skala, belon dari 857,000,000 pada tahun 1980 kepada 2.1 bilion pada 2013. Dalam tempoh yang sama, kadar global obesiti dan berat badan berlebihan melonjak 28 % peratus di kalangan orang dewasa dan 47 % peratus kanak-kanak.

Para penyelidik berunding statistik yang membentang 188 negara dalam 33 tahun lepas.

Meletakkan mengetepikan tanggapan bahawa obesiti adalah terutamanya satu fenomena barat, negara-negara di Timur Tengah dan Afrika Utara, Amerika Tengah dan Pasifik dan pulau-pulau Caribbean telah melanda "staggeringly tinggi" Kadar obesiti, menurut kajian oleh University of Washington Institut Kesihatan metrik dan Penilaian, yang dilaporkan dalam jurnal perubatan Lancet.

Di kalangan wanita, penyelidik menunjukkan peningkatan obesiti yang terbesar berlaku di Mesir, Honduras, Bahrain, Arab Saudi dan Oman. Antara lelaki, untung termasuk New Zea-land, Bahrain, Kuwait, Arab Saudi dan Amerika Syarikat.

Masalahnya ialah yang paling teruk di Timur Tengah dan Afrika Utara, dengan lebih dari-pada 58 % peratus daripada lelaki dewasa dan 65 % peratus wanita dewasa mempunyai berat badan berlebihan atau obes.

"2/3 daripada penduduk gemuk sebenarnya tinggal di negara-negara membangun," kata Marie Ng, seorang profesor kesihatan global yang merupakan salah seorang penyumbang kepada kajian.

Image from www.thelancet.com

Lebih separuh daripada gemuk di DUNIA adalah daripada hanya 10 negara: Amerika Syarikat, China, India, Rusia, Brazil, Mexico, Mesir, Jerman, Pakistan dan Indonesia.

Mungkin ia tidak menghairankan bahawa Amerika Syarikat, yang tabiat dan rantaian makanan segera makan telah merevolusikan cara banyak DUNIA kini menggunakan, mewakili keping terbesar daripada penduduk planet yang gemuk - 13 % peratus - namun ia mempunyai kurang daripada 5 % peratus daripada jumlah penduduk DUNIA, yang kini mendahului 7 bilion.

Seseorang dianggap gemuk jika indeks jisim badan mereka (BMI) adalah 30 atau lebih, manakala berat badan berlebihan adalah BMI lebih daripada 25.

Penyelidik berkata, obesiti - sekali masalah kaya, negara-negara maju - kini menghadapi rakyat di seluruh lembaga tanpa mengira pendapatan atau penunjuk sosial yang lain.

Lelaki menyaksikan kadar yang lebih tinggi di negara2 maju, manakala wanita menga-lami paling di negara-negara membangun. Mungkin bahagian yang paling membim-bangkan maklumat daripada laporan itu, bagaimanapun, adalah penemuan bahawa "tidak satu negara" berjaya memotong lemak.

"Tiada negara mempunyai penurunan ketara dalam obesiti dalam 33 tahun yang lalu," penulis mendedahkan. "Ini menimbulkan persoalan sama ada banyak atau kebanyakan negara berada di trajektori untuk mencapai kadar yang tinggi obesiti dilihat di negara-negara seperti Tonga atau Kuwait."

Walau bagaimanapun, walaupun bagi negara-negara yang tidak berpangkat di kalangan pesalah makanan terbesar, kajian yang dirawat mereka untuk papak murah hati pai merendah diri.

Di Australia, sebagai contoh, kadar obesiti adalah mendaki lebih cepat daripada mana-mana sahaja di DUNIA, dengan hampir satu perempat daripada kanak-kanak di negara ini dan 63 % peratus daripada berat badan berlebihan penduduk dewasa.

Reuters/Rick Wilking

Satu kajian berasingan dikeluarkan pada bulan Mac, sementara itu, telah mengkaji trend dalam industri makanan Perancis, dengan menemui bahawa sejak 2004 bahagian maka-nan segera pasaran restoran meroket 74 % peratus.

Pada tahun 2012, jualan di rantaian makanan segera di Perancis berjumlah €34 billion euro ($ 46 bilion dolar), mengatasi restoran duduk tradisional negara untuk kali pertama.

"Pertumbuhan ini [daripada pasaran makanan segera] adalah jauh lebih hebat daripada yang diberikan oleh seluruh sektor restoran tradisional," kata Pengarah Bernard Boutboul firma perundingan Gira Conseil, yang dijalankan laporan itu ke dalam tabiat makan Perancis, memberitahu Local  Perancis akhbar Inggeris.

"Dalam tanah keahlian memasak, makanan segera telah menjadi raja," keluh majalah Perancis Le Point.

United Kingdom mencatatkan tahap yang lebih tinggi kegemukan dan berat badan ber-lebihan orang daripada mana-mana sahaja di Eropah Barat, selain dari Iceland dan Malta, kajian menunjukkan.

Di UK, 67 %peratus lelaki dan 57 % peratus wanita adalah sama ada berat badan ber-lebihan atau obes, menurut Beban Global kajian Penyakit. Lebih daripada satu perempat daripada kanak-kanak UK - 26 % peratus daripada kanak-kanak lelaki dan 29 % peratus daripada kanak-kanak perempuan - juga berat badan berlebihan atau obes.

Kira-kira 1/4 daripada penduduk UK kini dianggap gemuk.

Sekarang negara-negara di seluruh planet ini dipaksa untuk mencari jalan bagi menan-gani masalah itu, yang masih menjadi sumber penyakit, seperti penyakit jantung dan kencing manis.

"Kita perlu mengingatkan diri kita bahawa obesiti adalah benar-benar tidak satu isu kosmetik. Ia adalah satu faktor risiko utama untuk morbiditi dan kematian," tambah profesor kesihatan global Ali Mokdad, seorang lagi penyelidik dalam kajian ini.

Global obesity explodes since 1980, children rates up 

47 percent – study . . .

Almost 30 percent of the world’s population – or 2.1 billion people - is considered obese or overweight, researchers said, while rates among children have increased by a whopping 47 percent in the last 33 years.

Researchers, concluding the most comprehensive study to date on the global epidemic of obesity, found that the number of people suffering from excessive weight broke the scale, ballooning from 857 million in 1980 to 2.1 billion in 2013. In the same period, rates of global obesity and excessive weight surged 28 percent in adults and 47 percent in children.

The researchers consulted statistics that spanned 188 nations over the last 33 years.

Putting aside the notion that obesity is predominantly a western phenomenon, nations in the Middle East and North Africa, Central America and the Pacific and Caribbean islands have hit “staggeringly high” obesity rates, according to the study by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, reported in the Lancet medical journal.

Among females, researchers showed the biggest obesity increase occurred in Egypt, Honduras, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Oman. Among males, the top gainers included New Zealand, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

The problem was most severe in the Middle East and North Africa, with more than 58 percent of adult men and 65 percent of adult women overweight or obese.

"Two-thirds of the obese population actually resides in developing countries," said Marie Ng, a global health professor who was one of the contributors to the study.

More than half of the world's obese are from just 10 countries: the United States, China, India, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, Germany, Pakistan and Indonesia.

Perhaps it is no surprise that the United States, whose eating habits and fast food chains have revolutionized the way much of the world now consumes, represented the biggest slice of the planet's obese population - 13 percent – yet it has less than 5 percent of the world’s total population, which now tops 7 billion.

A person is considered obese if their body mass index (BMI) is 30 or more, while overweight is BMI of over 25.

The researchers said obesity - once the problem of rich, developed nations - now confronts people across the board regardless of income or other social indicators.

Men witnessed higher rates in developed countries, while women suffered most in developing countries. Perhaps the most worrying piece of information from the report, however, is the discovery that “not one country” succeeded in trimming the fat.

"No countries had significant decreases in obesity in the past 33 years," the authors revealed. "This raises the question as to whether many or most countries are on a trajectory to reach the high rates of obesity seen in countries such as Tonga or Kuwait."

However, even for nations that did not rank among the biggest food offenders, the study treated them to a generous slab of humble pie. In Australia, for example, obesity rates are climbing faster than anywhere else in the world, with almost a quarter of the country's children and 63 percent of the adult population overweight.

A separate study released in March, meanwhile, examined trends in the French food industry, discovering that since 2004 the fast food share of the restaurant market skyrocketed by 74 percent. In 2012, sales at fast food chains in France totaled €34 billion ($46 billion dollars), outperforming the nation’s traditional sit-down restaurants for the first time.

“This growth [of the fast food market] is far superior to that of the whole of the traditional restaurant sector,” Bernard Boutboul director of the consultancy firm Gira Conseil, which carried out the report into French eating habits, told The Local, a French English-language newspaper.

“In the land of gastronomy, fast food has become the king,” lamented French magazine Le Point.

The United Kingdom posted higher levels of obesity and overweight people than anywhere in Western Europe, aside from Iceland and Malta, the study showed.

In the UK, 67 percent of men and 57 percent of women are either overweight or obese, according to the Global Burden of Disease study. More than a quarter of UK children – 26 percent of boys and 29 percent of girls - are also overweight or obese.

About a quarter of the UK population is now considered obese.

Now countries across the planet are being forced to find ways of addressing the problem, which remains a source of illnesses, such as heart disease and diabetes.

"We have to remind ourselves that obesity is really not a cosmetic issue. It's a main risk factor for morbidity and mortality," added global health professor Ali Mokdad, another researcher in the study.

READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/pmx36i

'Kesatuan Ekonomi Nasaro Timur, panggilan besar untuk Amerika Syarikat dan kuasanya' . . .

SrikandiTV - Rusia telah memperolehi satu lagi perjanjian ekonomi yang besar, dengan membawa bersama-sama beberapa negara jiran, untuk mewujudkan pasaran bersama yang terbesar di wilayah Post-Soviet.

Ia berharap kesatuan baru - dengan Belarus dan Kazakhstan - akan bersaing dengan kuasa ekonomi EU dan Amerika Syarikat. Patrick Young, seorang pakar dalam pasaran kewangan global, menyertai RT untuk membincangkan perjanjian ini.

'Eurasian Economic Union a huge wake-up call 

for US and its power' . . .

Russia has secured another huge economic deal, by bringing together some of its neighbours, to create the largest common market on Post-Soviet territory.

It's hoped the new union - with Belarus and Kazakhstan - will compete with the economic powerhouses of the EU and the US. Patrick Young, an expert in global financial markets, joins RT to discuss this deal.

Amerika yang menyertai pemberontak Syria menjadi pertama yang diketahui pengebom berani mati Amerika Syarikat . . .

Still from a YouTube video

SrikandiTV - Jawatan media sosial dengan tuntutan sekutu Al-Qaeda seorang lelaki yang bernama Abu Hurayra Al-Amriki (Abu Hurayra Amerika) meletupkan dirinya dalam serangan di Syria. Pegawai Amerika Syarikat mengatakan dia adalah pengebom berani mati Amerika yang mula-mula dikenali di negara sivil perang dikepung.

Pada hari Ahad, 4 lelaki dari ‘Al-Nusra Front’, sebuah pertubuhan jihad sejajar dengan Al-Qaeda, yang dijalankan serangan berani mati ke atas kedudukan tentera di wilayah Idlib, AFP melaporkan. Puluhan telah terbunuh dan cedera, walaupun jumlah yang sebenarnya mangsa masih tidak diketahui.

Abu Sulayman al Muhajir, salah seorang pegawai syariah atas di dalam ‘Al-Nusra Front’, menurut Jurnal Peperangan Panjang ‘The Long War Journal’, menulis sebarang tweet tentang penglibatan seorang lelaki Amerika dalam serangan berani mati diselaraskan pada Selasa.

أبو سليمان المهاجر@abusulayman321

Abu Hurayra Al-Amriki

Performed a martydom operation in Idlib, Jabal Al-Arba'een. May Allah accept him

1:53 AM - 28 May 2014

tweet Ahad dari Twitter feed Al-Nusra ini muncul untuk menunjukkan manusia yang sama - Caucasian berkulit cerah - duduk dengan 3 lelaki lain dan memakai jaket bom.

Syria Direct @SyriaDirect

See our take on the original photo (pic.twitter.com/F55d89TofK) of 4 #Idlib bombers here: http://syriadirect.org/main/37-videos/1396-jan-tweets-photo-of-suicide-bombers … #Syria 4:16 PM - 28 May 2014

Menurut Google Translate, asal Al-Nusra tweet diterjemahkan kepada "# _ kemenangan Front dengan kerjasama # Hawks _ Sham melakukan empat operasi syahid di Mount _ # # 40 Idlib."

Penguatkuasaan undang-undang dan counterterrorism pegawai Amerika Syarikat menge-sahkan pengeboman berani mati untuk NBC News dan berkata mereka telah mengenal pasti Amerika, tetapi tidak akan melepaskan identiti atau kampung halamannya.

Sumber pemberontak Syria yang berpangkalan di London memberitahu NBC News bahawa tweet lain jihadi mencadangkan Amerika yang berketurunan Palestin.

Apa-apa identiti tidak boleh disahkan sehingga mayat yang didapatkan atau diperiksa, rasmi penguatkuasaan undang-undang Amerika Syarikat kepada CNN. Tetapi saiz letupan itu, yg mengandungi 17 tan bahan letupan, akan membuat mencari mayat untuk mengenal pasti amat sukar.

Still from a YouTube video

Seorang aktivis anti - kerajaan berhampiran tapak pengeboman mengesahkan serangan itu kepada New York Times melalui Skype. Beliau juga berkata beliau telah melihat orang Amerika sebelum ini, tetapi tidak mempunyai interaksi dengan dia. "Saya tahu beliau adalah seorang Amerika, mempunyai pasport Amerika dan bahawa dia adalah dengan Barisan Nusra," aktivis yang hanya dikenali sebagai Ahmed memberitahu Times.

Barisan depan Al-Nusra dan kumpulan pelampau Islam lain di Syria telah cuba untuk mengenal pasti, merekrut dan melatih orang Barat (terutamanya Amerika) untuk melan-carkan serangan apabila mereka pulang dari berjuang dalam perang saudara Syria, menu-rut perisikan dan anti keganasan Amerika pegawai-pegawai kanan.

"Akan datang satu masa apabila orang-orang pejuang akan mengalir keluar, mereka akan kembali ke Eropah dan ke Amerika Syarikat - dan orang-orang kita yang ingat sejarah ingat yang mengalir keluar dari Afghanistan pada 1980-an oleh bapa-bapa al Qaeda.

Anda boleh menarik garis antara itu dan 9/11, "Pengarah FBI James Comey membe-ritahu ABC News dalam satu temubual Isnin lepas. "Kami tidak akan membenarkan garis untuk diambil daripada ini datang Syria diaspora untuk masa depan 9/11."

Laits Alkhouri, seorang penganalisis counterterrorism NBC News, memberi amaran bahawa media sosial, termasuk video serangan seperti di bawah, akan digunakan untuk merekrut lebih banyak membimbangkan. "Tidak syak lagi imej [yang ini orang Amerika] dan tindakan akan digunakan dalam bahan propaganda masa depan," katanya.

Khamis lalu, Jabatan Kehakiman diminta Stephen Ponticello, seorang pendakwa atas di Bahagian Keselamatan Negara, untuk menerajui usaha Amerika Syarikat yang bertujuan untuk berpunca aliran pejuang asing yang dilanda perang Syria, ABC News melaporkan. Kebanyakan rakyat Amerika telah menyertai pemberontak berjuang Presiden Bashar al-Assad.

Syria telah menjunam ke dalam perang saudara pada tahun 2011 apabila kebangkitan aman terhadap Assad turun ke keganasan. Lebih daripada 150,000 orang terbunuh dan berjuta-juta lagi telah digantikan dalam tempoh 3 tahun sejak mula berperang. Para pem-berontak terdiri daripada gabungan longgar kumpulan pembangkang, sesetengah dari-pada mereka - seperti Al-Nusra Front - secara terbuka bergabung dengan Al-Qaeda.

Wartawan rangkaian rumah api putih (u. M. M) Network correspondents white lighthouse (u. M. M) Salah satu operasi syahid dijalankan oleh kemenangan Barisan Depan di Gunung 40 Idlib (One of the martyrdom operations carried out by the Front victory in the Mount forty Idlib)

American who joined Syrian rebels becomes 

first known US suicide bomber . . .

Social media posts by an Al-Qaeda affiliate claim a man named Abu Hurayra Al-Amriki (Abu Hurayra the American) blew himself up in an attack in Syria. US officials say he is the first-known American suicide bomber in the civil-war besieged country.

On Sunday, four men from the Al-Nusra Front, a jihadist organization aligned with Al-Qaeda, carried out suicide bombings on army positions in Idlib province, AFP reported. Dozens were killed or wounded, though exact numbers of casualties are still unknown.

Abu Sulayman al Muhajir, one of the top sharia officials in the Al-Nusra Front, according to The Long War Journal, tweeted about the involvement of an American man in the coordinated suicide attacks on Tuesday.

A Sunday tweet from Al-Nusra’s Twitter feed appears to show the same man - a light-skinned Caucasian - sitting with three other men and wearing a bomb vest.

According to Google Translate, the original Al-Nusra tweet translates to "# _ Front victory in cooperation with the # Hawks _ Sham performs four martyrdom operations in Mount _ # # forty Idlib."

US law enforcement and counterterrorism officials confirmed the suicide bombing to NBC News and said they have identified the American, but would not release his identity or hometown.

Syrian rebel sources based in London told NBC News that other jihadi tweets suggest the American was of Palestinian descent.

Any identity can't be confirmed until remains are recovered or examined, a US law enforcement official told CNN. But the size of the blast, which contained 17 tons of explosives, would make finding remains for identification difficult.

An anti-government activist near the bombing site confirmed the attack to the New York Times via Skype. He also said he had seen the American previously, but had no interaction with him. “I know he was an American, had an American passport and that he was with the Nusra Front,” the activist identified only as Ahmed told the Times.

Al-Nusra Front and other Islamic extremist groups in Syria have been trying to identify, recruit and train Westerners (especially Americans) to carry out attacks when they return home from fighting in the Syrian civil war, according to senior American intelligence and counterterrorism officials.

“There will come a time when those fighters are going to flow out, they're going to come back to Europe and to the United States -- and those of us who remember history remember the flowing out of Afghanistan in the 1980s by the fathers of al Qaeda.

You can draw a line between that and 9/11,” FBI Director James Comey told ABC News in an interview last Monday. “We are not going to allow a line to be drawn from this coming Syria diaspora to a future 9/11."

Laith Alkhouri, an NBC News counterterrorism analyst, warned that the social media, including videos of the attack like the one below, will be used to recruit more jihadists. “There is no doubt [the American’s] image and action will be used in future propaganda material,”he said.

Last Thursday, the Justice Department asked Stephen Ponticello, a top prosecutor in its National Security Division, to lead US efforts aimed at stemming the flow of foreign fighters to war-torn Syria, ABC News reported. Most Americans have joined the rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad.

Syria was plunged into civil war in 2011 when peaceful uprisings against Assad descended into violence. More than 150,000 people have been killed and millions more have been displaced in the three years since fighting began. The rebels are made up of a very loose coalition of opposition groups, some of whom - like Al-Nusra Front - have openly affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/brgp2n

'Death Of Money': Pengarang Rickards meramalkan KERUNTUHAN Sistem Kewangan GLOBAL . . .

Srikandi גבורה - Keruntuhan sistem kewangan menanti DUNIA pada masa yang terdekat, kata pakar kewangan James Rickards. Rusia dan keinginan China untuk menghilangkan dolar Amerika Syarikat status mata wang rizab global adalah merupakan tanda awal krisis "semakin tidak dapat dielakkan".

"China mempunyai 3 trilion dolar, tetapi mereka membeli emas secepat mungkin. China bimbang bahawa Amerika Syarikat akan menurunkan nilai dolar melalui inflasi supaya mereka mahu mempunyai lindung nilai jika dolar turun, jadi emas akan naik," Rickards memberitahu RT.

Sebagai salah satu peristiwa penting bagi menyokong ramalan beliau, Rickards mata kepada kata-kata yang diucapkan oleh Presiden Russia Vladimir Putin pada Forum Eko-nomi Antarabangsa ke-18 di St Petersburg yang berlaku awal bulan ini.

"Putin berkata beliau membayangkan satu zon ekonomi Serani yang melibatkan Eropah Timur, Asia Tengah, dan Rusia. ‘Ruble’ Rusia adalah tempat berhampiran bersedia menjadi mata wang rizab global, tetapi ia boleh menjadi mata wang rizab serantau," katanya, seperti yang dipetik oleh ETF Daily News.

Rickards 'buku mengenai kematian dolar dikeluarkan pada bulan April di bawah nama agak dahsyat - 'Death Of Money'. Walau bagaimanapun, penulis adalah terkejut bahawa peristiwa-peristiwa yang berlaku lebih cepat daripada beliau meramalkan .

"Jika apa-apa, tempo peristiwa adalah lebih cepat daripada yang dijangkakan. Oleh itu, beberapa hasil bencana boleh datang lebih awal daripada yang saya tulis tentangnya."

Rabu lepas, China dan Rusia menandatangani US $ 400 bilion perjanjian gas bersejarah yang menyediakan ekonomi yang paling pesat berkembang dengan gas semula jadi ia perlu seiring untuk 30 tahun akan datang. Pakar mengatakan ini boleh menjadi pemang-kin yang dethrones dolar Amerika Syarikat sebagai mata wang rizab DUNIA.

Pengarang laris menulis bahawa "pasaknya bagai pada roda" keruntuhan adalah kegaga-lan menghampiri dolar kerana ia adalah pada asas sistem.

Negara-negara yang kuat seperti Rusia, China, Iran, India dan tidak bergantung kepada Amerika Syarikat pada keselamatan negara mereka dan akan mendapat manfaat dari-pada ekonomi Amerika Syarikat menjadi lebih lemah, dengan itu berhasrat untuk mem-bebaskan diri daripada standard dolar.

Beliau menghuraikan bahawa keruntuhan dual "kelihatan semakin tidak dapat dielakkan."

"Kesilapan telah pun dibuat. Ketidakstabilan ini sudah ada dalam sistem. Kami hanya menunggu yang pemangkin yang saya panggil salji yang bermula runtuhan itu, "katanya, seperti yang dipetik oleh ETF.

Terdapat 3 faktor besar antarabangsa yang mendesak dolar sekarang - Russia, China, dan Arab Saudi.

"Sejak tahun 1970-an, Arab Saudi [telah] peneraju dalam apa yang dipanggil petrodollar itu. Ia pada dasarnya bermakna bahawa Arab Saudi, melanjutkan, OPEC, harga minyak dalam dolar, jadi pasaran DUNIA adalah dalam dolar.

"Rusia adalah pengeksport sumber alam yang terbesar; harga eksport mereka dalam dolar juga. Tetapi Rusia kini terlibat dalam perang kewangan dengan Amerika Syarikat di sekitar isu-isu di Crimea dan Ukraine."

Ancaman kepada dolar adalah "sentiasa ada," pengarang menyatakan di dalam bukunya. Satu-satunya cara Amerika Syarikat tidak boleh membayar hutang $17 trillion adalah dengan inflasi, yang akan memacu negara lain yang jauh dari dolar manakala pengum-pulan emas dengan Rusia dan China presages peralihan kepada aset rizab baru.

“Masa depan kita akan mempunyai krisis kecairan di DUNIA ia akan menjadi lebih besar daripada keupayaan bank pusat untuk menanganinya. IMF pada dasarnya akan mem-punyai untuk menyelamatkan DUNIA dengan mencetak hak pengeluaran khas (aset rizab antarabangsa yang dikeluarkan oleh IMF pada tahun 1969 untuk menambah rizab rasmi negara-negara anggotanya)”.

Pada masa itu, anda akan melihat SDR muncul sebagai mata wang DUNIA Global yang baru, " Rickards memberitahu RT.

'Death of money': Author Rickards predicts collapse of global monetary system . . .

The collapse of the monetary system awaits the world in the near future, says financial expert James Rickards. Russia and China's desire to rid the US dollar of its global reserve currency status is an early sign of the “increasingly inevitable” crisis.

“China has three trillion dollars, but they are buying gold as fast as they can. China worries that the US is going to devalue the dollar through inflation so they want to have a hedge if the dollar goes down, so the gold will go up,” Rickards told RT.

As one of the key events in support of his forecast, Rickards points to the words uttered by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 18th International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg that took place earlier this month.

“Putin said he envisions a Eurasian economic zone involving Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Russia. The Russian ruble is nowhere near ready to be a global reserve currency, but it could be a regional reserve currency,” he said, as quoted by ETF Daily News.

Rickards’ book about the demise of the dollar was released in April under quite an apocalyptic name – 'The Death of Money.' However, the author is surprised that the events are unfolding much faster than he predicted.

“If anything, the tempo of events is faster than expected. Therefore, some of these catastrophic outcomes may come sooner than I wrote about.”

Last Wednesday, China and Russia signed a historic US$400 billion gas deal which will provide the world's fastest growing economy with the natural gas it needs to keep pace for the next 30 years. Experts say this could be the catalyst that dethrones the greenback as the world's reserve currency.

The best-selling author writes that the “linchpin” of the collapse is the approaching failure of the dollar since it is at the foundation of the system. Powerful countries such as Russia, China, Iran, and India do not rely on the US in their national security and would benefit from the US economy being weaker, thus desiring to break free from the dollar standard.

He elaborates that the dual collapse “looks increasingly inevitable.”

“The mistakes have already been made. The instability is already in the system. We’re just waiting for that catalyst that I call the snowflake that starts the avalanche,” he said, as quoted by ETF.

There are three big international factors that are pressuring the dollar right now – Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia.

“Since the 1970s, Saudi Arabia [has been] the leader in what’s called the petrodollar. It basically means that Saudi Arabia and, by extension, OPEC, price oil in dollars, so the world market is in dollars.

“Russia is a major natural resource exporter; they price their exports in dollars as well. But Russia now is engaged in a financial war with the US around the issues in Crimea and Ukraine.”

The threats to the dollar are “ubiquitous,” the author states in his book. The only way the US can pay off its $17 trillion debt is with inflation, which would drive other countries away from the dollar while the accumulation of gold by Russia and China presages the shift to a new reserve asset.

“The next time we will have a liquidity crisis in the world it’s going to be bigger than the ability of central banks to deal with it. The IMF will basically have to bail out the world by printing the SDRs (an international reserve asset created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries' official reserves). By that time, you will see the SDR emerge as the new global world currency,” Rickards told RT.

Read More: http://on.rt.com/s5mzq7

Helikopter tentera Ukraine diturunkan sebagai serangan pada Slavyansk dan Kramatorsk bermula . . .

Reuters/Baz Ratner

Srikandi גבורה - Tentera Ukraine telah mula serangan timur Ukraine bandar2 Slavyansk dan Kramatorsk, therby meneruskan operasi ketenteraan besar-besaran di Timur negara, tempatan laporan berita outlet.

"Satu operasi tentera berskala penuh telah bermula pada Kramatorsk dan Slavyansk. BM-21 kenderaan pelancaran "Grad" yang digunakan, "berasaskan Donbas, agensi Ostrov ber-kata.

Penunjuk perasaan anti-kerajaan di Slavyansk telah diturunkan helikopter tentera Ukraine di selatan-timur Slavyansk, rantau Donetsk, timur Ukraine, saksi tempatan memberitahu Itar-Tass.

Ukrainian army chopper downed as shelling of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk begins . . .

Ukraine’s army has started shelling the eastern Ukraine cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, therby resuming its massive military operation in the East of the country, local news outlets report.

“A full-scale military operation has begun in Kramatorsk and Slavyansk. BM-21 launch vehicle “Grad” are being used,” Donbas-based Ostrov agency says.

Anti-government protesters in Slavyansk have downed a Ukrainian forces helicopter in the south-east of Slavyansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, a local witness told Itar-Tass.

"Menembak Rapi telah dpt didengar di rantau ini, dan asap hitam tebal dilihat," katanya.

“Intensive shooting has been heard in the region, and thick black smoke seen,” he added.

Evgeny Poddubnyy  @epoddubny

#Славянск еще один разрушенный дом. Во время попадания снаряда жители были во дворе. 6:01 PM - 29 May 2014

Pada hari Rabu sekolah dan tadika telah dikupas di dlm Slavyansk. Di tadika sekurang-kurangnya 9 orang awam yg tercedera, termasuk seorang budak 4 tahun.

Seorang guru dari sekolah yang disasarkan berkata mortar meletup kanan di atas dewan sekolah, di mana kanak-kanak biasanya berkumpul untuk acara-acara perayaan, dan seba-hagian daripada bumbung "yg telah hanya terpesona."

Nasib baik, tiada kanak-kanak berada dalam dewan pada masa itu. Semua murid-murid dan guru-guru telah cepat dipindahkan ke tingkat bawah tanah.

On Wednesday a school and a kindergarten were shelled in Slavyansk. In the kindergarten at least 9 civilians were injured, including a 4-year old boy.

A teacher from a targeted school said that the shell exploded right above the school hall, where children are usually gathered for festive events, and part of the roof “was simply blown away.” Luckily, no children were in the hall at the time. All the pupils and teachers were quickly evacuated to the basement.

Read More: http://on.rt.com/mpiazu