Global stocks tumble as Gary Cohn’s White House exit kicks trade war fears into overdrive

• Global stocks dropped Wednesday as investors digested the news of Gary Cohn’s White House departure.
• Cohn’s exit reignited fears of a global trade war as traders worry other nations may retaliate against US measures.
• The former Goldman Sachs executive is a proponent of free trade, and butted heads with President Donald Trump in his final days over recently announced tariffs.

Stocks around the world were sharply lower Wednesday after Gary Cohn’s exit from the White House spurred fears of a global trade war.

Trump sets off a chain reaction with massive tariff announcements as countries vow to retaliate

• President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the US would impose new tariffs on steel and aluminum next week.
• It set off a chain reaction, with Canada, the European Union, and others vowing to retaliate.
• Increased protectionist trade actions raise concerns that the US is moving closer to a global trade war.

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President Donald Trump’s announcement on Thursday that the US would impose new tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum has set off a chain reaction, pushing the US to the precipice of a trade war as key allies vowed to retaliate.

Trump promised new tariffs — taxes on imports — of 25% for steel and 10% for aluminum. The president did not specify whether any countries would be exempt, but the restrictions are expected to be wide-ranging.

‘A perfect storm’: European stocks plummet as global sell-off wipes $4 trillion from markets

• Wall Street’s Monday crash spreads to Europe, with major indexes losing more than 3% at the open.
• Germany’s DAX, France’s CAC 40 and the broad Euro Stoxx 50 index all lost more than 3% of their value before paring their losses to around 2% by mid-morning.
• Concerns about inflation rising more sharply than previously expected are fuelling fears that the Federal Reserve may be forced to tighten monetary policy faster than had been forecast.

Trump Accuses Democrats of ‘Treason’ Amid Market Rout

President Trump on Monday accused Democrats who did not clap during his State of the Union address of being un-American and even treasonous. His remarks came in a rambling, discursive speech at a factory in Ohio, during which he celebrated his revival of the American economy as the stock market plummeted by more than 1,000 points.

“Can we call that treason?” Mr. Trump said of the stone-faced reaction of Democrats to his speech. “Why not? I mean, they certainly didn’t seem to love our country very much.”

Mr. Trump was speaking during a visit to a company near Cincinnati that makes pneumatic and hydraulic cylinders. The company, Sheffer Corporation, awarded each of its 126 employees a one-time bonus of $1,000 after the passage of the tax cut, and the White House clearly hoped to use it to drive home the message of economic health in last week’s State of the Union speech.

“Your paychecks are going way up,” a beaming president said to this more friendly audience. “Your taxes are going way down.”

Dow plunge briefly tops 1500 points as stock rout intensifies

Selling in the stock market intensified on Wall Street late Monday as the Dow briefly cratered more than 1,500 points, wiping out its gains for the years and knocking it below the 25,000 level, extending last week’s steep selloff in dramatic fashion.

In a wild trading session Monday the size of the Dow drop reached nearly 1,600 points in afternoon trading after earlier recouping nearly all of its early-session loss of 355 points.

Following Friday’s 666-point plunge, the downdraft in stocks resumed Monday with the Dow Jones industrial average briefly going into freefall right after the opening bell. But an hour into the session, the Dow rallied back within 1 point of its break-even point for the day. The trend has been violently lower ever since.

CRYPTO CRASH: Bitcoin below $8,000, market loses $120 billion in 24 hours

The bitcoin bubble looked increasingly at risk of bursting on Friday, as a sell-off of the world’s largest cryptocurrency continued apace.

Bitcoin fell $659 to $8316 today, its lowest since mid-November, and down from a peak of $19,500 in December after an explosive rise in the value of digital coins.

The fall follows a bad start to the year for bitcoin, with India’s government this week saying that it doesn’t consider cryptocurrencies legal tender and its announcement it will take all measures to eliminate payments using them.

Bitcoin’s latest tumble started when American regulators began investigating whether last year’s price surge had been caused by market manipulation on its major exchange, the Bitfinex.

Meanwhile, Facebook recently said it would block any advertising promoting cryptocurrency products and services, amid concerns that too many were being used to mislead potential customers.

Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex, said it has been “a horrible few  days for the previously ascendant product”.

American economist Nouriel Roubini tweeted: “Bitcoin is the biggest bubble in human history. Much bigger than the Mississippi, South Sea, Tech & Tulip bubbles. The Mother Of All Bubbles is now crashing.”

8 of the most expensive real estate developments in American history

A rendering of Hudson Yards, a new neighborhood planned for Manhattan’s far west side.Related Companies

With an estimated cost of $20 billion , New York City’s Hudson Yards neighborhood is set to become the most expensive private real estate development in American history.

When construction is complete in 2024, it will include all types of buildings, from luxury condos to boutiques to offices.

Elsewhere in the US, there are several similar projects — some of which cost billions.

Take a look at a few below.

City Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The City Center in Las Vegas (from left to right: Mandarin Oriental, The Crystals, Aria, the Veer Tower, and Vdara).Wikipedia Commons

Located on the Las Vegas Strip, the City Center features 16.7 million-square-feet of casinos, high-end shops, hotels, and luxury condos.

Construction on the estimated $8.5 billion project (which includes five towers) started in 2006, and the development opened three years later.

Artificial intelligence and climate change will ruin us, but blockchain and women will save us

In Davos this week, 3,000 world leaders and business bosses attended hundreds of talks, workshops, dinners, and other get-togethers. The takeaway: Artificial intelligence and climate change are going to ruin us, but blockchain and women are going to save us.

While advances in AI are undoubtedly significant for humanity—Google CEO Sundar Pichai compared AI to the invention of fire—the potential for job losses and instability as industries adjust (or not), is tremendous.

“At the end of the day, we have to fire a lot of people,” said Ursula Burns, chairman of the supervisory board at telecom group VEON. The angst of these losses could even lead to wars, warned Alibaba’s Jack Ma. “Each technology revolution has made the world unbalanced,” he said.

Putin says US sanctions list targets all Russians

Russian President Vladimir Putin says a new list published by the US as part of a sanctions law has in effect targeted all of the Russian people.

The list names 210 top Russians as part of a law aimed at punishing Moscow for meddling in the US election.

However, the US stressed those named were not subject to new sanctions.

Mr Putin said the list was an unfriendly act that complicated US-Russia ties but he said he did not want to escalate the situation.

Mr Putin said Russia should instead be thinking about “ourselves and the economy”.

The World’s Greenest Oil Company?

France’s Total is hedging against a low-carbon future by investing in solar and biofuels. 

A SunPower/Total photovoltaic power plant in Kern County, California (AP)

When Total, the French oil and petrochemicals conglomerate, announced a joint venture yesterday with California biofuels company Amyris to produce low-carbon jet fuel and diesel, it was just the latest move into renewable energy by the fossil-fuel giant.

The Secret Web: Where Drugs, Porn and Murder Live Online

On the afternoon of Oct. 1, 2013, a tall, slender, shaggy-haired man left his house on 15th Avenue in San Francisco. His two housemates knew him only as a quiet currency trader named Josh Terrey. His real name was Ross Ulbricht. He was 29 and had no police record. Dressed in jeans and a red T-shirt, Ulbricht headed to the Glen Park branch of the public library, where he made his way to the science-fiction section and logged on to his laptop — he was using the free wi-fi. Several FBI agents dressed in plainclothes converged on him, pushed him up against a window, then escorted him from the building.

Drug violence blamed for Mexico’s record 29,168 murders in 2017

Homicide rate surpasses that from peak year of country’s drug war in 2011, official figures show

Mexico recorded more than 29,000 murders in 2017, the highest annual tally in decades, government figures have shown.

The country has struggled with years of violence as the state has battled drug cartels that have increasingly splintered into smaller, more bloodthirsty gangs.

The record 29,168 murders in 2017 is higher than the homicide rate at peak of Mexico’s drug war in 2011, when there were 27,213.

Government shutdown: first closure in four years looms hours before deadline

Twelve hours before deadline, dueling parties in Congress showed no signs of breaking impasse over spending priorities and Daca

The US government remained poised on Friday to suffer its first shutdown in more than four years, as lawmakers in Congress showed no signs of breaking an impasse over spending priorities and the fate of young, undocumented immigrants.

With less than 12 hours before a deadline of midnight to fund the government, the White House said the prospect of a shutdown had “ratcheted up” while blaming Democrats for objecting to the short-term spending measure that narrowly passed the House of Representatives on Thursday.

“We do not want a shutdown,” White House budget director Mick Mulvaney told reporters at a briefing on Friday, before putting the onus on Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.

Here’s Where Europe’s Wealthiest People Live

UBS and Wealth-X have teamed up again to produce the World Ultra Wealth Report for 2014, totting up the number of people with $30 million or more (£19.1 million). The number of mega-wealthy Europeans is up to over 60,000 this year, and UBS have got a map showing the cities they live in.

There’s a huge amount of information in the report: you might be surprised to learn that Germany has far more ultra-high net worth (UHNW) residents than the UK. With a population only 25% higher than the UK, Germany has 65% more super-wealthy people, and nearly a third of Europe’s total.

Bulgaria President Vetoes Anti-Corruption Law

SOFIA — President Rumen Radev on Tuesday vetoed anti-graft legislation passed by Bulgaria’s parliament, saying the bill failed to offer the means to effectively investigate corruption networks.

Radev acted only a day after Bulgaria, the European Union’s poorest country, assumed the six-month, rotating presidency of the bloc for the first time since it joined the EU in 2007.

Bulgaria has made scant progress towards stamping out graft and organised crime, and the European Commission, the EU’s executive, has repeatedly rebuked the Black Sea country for failing to prosecute and sentence allegedly corrupt officials.

Bitcoin heads into Christmas on a slump

• A bitcoin was worth $13,975 at 11.30 a.m. GMT on Christmas day.
• The cryptocurrency has had an extraordinarily volatile time recently.
• Its value has fallen sharply over the past week, and has been declining more modestly since.

 

The Mysteries and Tragedy of Russia’s Bottomless Karst Lake (PHOTOS)

The water is serene but deathly cold – and danger lurks beneath its surface. Yet, in the aquatic depths the promise of discovering hidden underwater caves and relics of our past awaits. Here, beauty and allure belie risks – but risks that some are prepared to take.

“A sapphire in a ring of green trees.” That’s how this stunning lake has been described. Even on overcast days, the water has a deep, crystal blue color like the gemstone to which it has been compared.

But there is much more than splendor to this lake. Beneath its smooth surface lie mysteries as yet unsolved. And some of these are secrets that the lake will not easily give up; at least, not if the recent tragic death of one diving explorer and the hospitalization of another are read as telltale signs.

9 Magical Zen Gardens

Zen garden is an interesting and deeply spiritual aspect of Japanese gardening traditions. The typical Zen garden consists of an enclosed and shallow sand box of sorts which features predominantly sand or gravel with rocks of various shapes and sizes.

The rocks and sand (or gravel) are the chief elements of the garden, which generally creates the scene of islands in the sea. The sand or gravel in a Zen garden represents the sea or ocean and is used instead of water. It will be carefully raked by tending monks to create the impression of waves on the surface of a body of water.

The rocks themselves represent islands or rock formations jutting out from the water. The overall goal is to create a small-scale recreation of an aerial or cliff-top view of an intricate coastal scene. One of the primary differences between a Zen garden and most other varieties is the lack of living elements. Although grass may sometimes be included, no other plant or flower species will be found in a classic Zen garden.

This can be both unusual and exotically appealing to people with no past experience with the history and meaning of a Zen garden.

The world’s most extraordinary hotels in pictures

Mihir Garh, Rajasthan 
“The fort sits in splendid isolation amid the Thar Desert near Jodhpur. It looks like an enormous sandcastle, a mirage, and is not just a unique place to stay; it’s a shrine to the artistic and architectural traditions of Rajasthan in general and Jodhpur in particular.”

Planet Baobab, Botswana
“Botswana’s Makgadigadi Pan comprises the world’s largest network of salt pans – a thirsty, mirage-inducing landscape of flat, shimmering expanses under hard blue skies. Halfway along the sole tarred road through this arid moonscape, a statue of an anteater towers at the dusty verge. It is a surreal sight, and an appropriate signpost for the distinctive Planet Baobab.”

Prendiparte B&B, Bologna, Italy
“A medieval high-rise turned romantic hideaway, the Torre Prendiparte is unlike anywhere else you’ll ever stay. The living area is on the first two floors and comprises a snug, classically-furnished living room, mezzanine bedroom, and kitchen. Above this is the former jail where you can still see graffiti left by prisoners on the 2m-thick walls.”

Qasr al Sarab, UAE
“Rising from the shifting sands, Qasr Al Sarab appears like a mirage on the edge of the vast Empty Quarter desert. Outside high crenellated walls echo fortresses of old. Inside rooms continue the dream of Arabian Nights with sumptuous fabrics, carved Islamic designs, woven rugs, wooden doors and metalwork lanterns.”

Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, Tasmania, Australia
“A stay at Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge plunges you into the heart of Tasmania’s wilderness, with luxury that feels as organic as your surrounds. The cabins are nestled privately in the bushland, with wallabies bounding past the windows and wombats shuffling amid the trees.”

Free Spirit Spheres, British Columbia, Canada
“Suspended in the trees on sturdy guide ropes, Vancouver Island’s Free Spirit Spheres look like giant eyeballs peering deep into the British Columbia woodlands. Step inside and the handmade orbs – accessed via spiral rope staircases or slender steel bridges – are lined like comfy boat cabins with built-in beds and cabinets.”

Taskonak Hotel, Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey
“Göreme has dozens of beautiful cave-hotels but Taşkonak manages to dish up the cave-suites and stupendous views Cappadocia is famous for without breaking your budget.”

Thonga Beach Lodge, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa
“One of few such lodges within the extraordinary 328,000 hectare iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a Unesco world heritage site.”

Saugerties Lighthouse, New York state, USA
“Saugerties Lighthouse is a historic 1869 landmark that makes a wonderful base for exploring the scenic Hudson valley. It is 100 miles north of New York City, and the red brick building has played a pivotal role in safely guiding steamboats, barges and other vessels safely along the Hudson river over the years. More recently (in the mid 1990s), the lighthouse was transformed into a two-room B&B, providing safe haven of a different sort.”

The Gibbon Experience Treehouse, Bokeo Reserve, Laos
“The tree houses erected by conservation group Animo are a thing of architectural wonder, straddling the giant trunks of strangler fig trees. But more extraordinary still is that to reach these vertiginous eyries you’ll have to trek through the fecund realm of the tiger, then catch a series of exhilarating zip lines strung across the forest canopy, before flying into your night’s accommodation.”

Amazing color pictures from 1960s Budapest

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National Geographic Photo Contest

 

 

 

 

100 years old pictures in colours before World War I

Türkei, Bursa, Ladengeschaeft einer Confiserie, Auguste Leon, 1. Juni 1913

Vietnam. Tonkin, Leon Busy, 1914

Indien, Statue des Heiligen Stiers, Stephane Passet, 29. Januar 1914

Österreich, Wien, Judengasse, Fotograf unbekannt, 23. April 1913

Mongolei, nahe Ulaanbaatar Urga, Stéphane Passet, 23. Juli 1913

Irland, Galway, Marguerite Mespoulet, 26. Mai 1913

Indien, Uttar Pradesh, Agra. Mausoleum Taj Mahal von Shah Jahan für Mumtaz Mahal, Stéphane Passet, 19.-21. Januar 1914

Indien, Amritsar. Marmorne Strasse zum Goldenden Tempel, neben den rituellen Reinigungsbecken, dem Darbar Sahib und dem Hari Mandir, Stéphane Passet, 15. Januar 1914

China, nach Kalgan. Nomadenlager, drei Männer und ein Junge vor einer Jurte, Stéphane Passet, 18.-21. Juli 1912

Water pipe smoking. Samarkand

Mongolei, Ulaanbaatar. Der Finanzminister des unabhängigen Staats Mongolei auf dem Marktplatz, Stéphane Passet, 22. Juli 1913

Major Lazer & DJ Snake – Lean On (feat. MØ)

Listen To A Rare 1965 Recording Of Stanley Kubrick’s Most Profound Interview

When physicist and renowned author Jeremy Bernstein (born December 31, 1929) penned a terrific piece on 37-year-old burgeoning director Stanley Kubrick for The New Yorker, the story gained so much attention that Bernstein was commissioned to write an even more elaborate profile of the legendary filmmaker. Normally Kubrick would have flat-out refused, however, he agreed due to the fact that he shared a common passion with Bernstein — chess. When Bernstein travelled to Oxford, England for the conversation on November 27, 1965 it was also captured on tape. The interview remains to this day one of the most profound conversations with Kubrick ever recorded, and you can listen to it in full below.

Helios – Hope Valley Hill (Arms and Sleepers Remix)

Keith Kenniff – Helios

Mac DeMarco // “Brother” (OFFICIAL SINGLE)

 

Alan Watts: Sense of Nonsense

November 27, 1965: A Rare Recording of Stanley Kubrick’s Most Revealing Interview

“People react primarily to direct experience and not to abstractions; it is very rare to find anyone who can become emotionally involved with an abstraction.”

George Orwell on how to make the perfect cup of tea

Excerpt from Orwell’s fantastic 1946 essay outlining his 11 “golden” rules of tea /

Harald Grosskopf’s 1979 Masterpiece “Synthesist” Is 7 Minutes Of Pure Amazingness

Yesterday TEEN DAZE released a new mixtape which you can stream and download by visiting ThePlayground.co.uk.  The 8-track collection provides a perfect ambient backdrop for pretty much any situation, but the crown jewel of the mixtape is unquestionably Harald Grosskopf’s brilliant track “Synthesist”.

Shanghai Tower (650 meters)

Raskalov and Russian photographer Vadim Mahora broke into and climbed the Gensler-designed Shanghai Tower, soon to be China’s tallest and the world’s second tallest skyscraper at 632 meters (2,074 feet) high. Although the tower will eventually boast the world’s fastest elevators (reaching 40mph), the pair had to climb the 120 flights of stairs by foot (taking them about two hours); they then spent another 18 hours sleeping and waiting for the weather to clear. The staggering resulting images show not just the dizzying heights, but also fantastic views of the adjacent Jin Mao Tower and Shanghai World Financial Center (together, the trio of buildings that are re-defining the Shanghai skyline).

Adam Magyar – Stainless, 42 Street (excerpt)

High speed video recording in NYC at Grand Central station.

Tolkien & Sendak On The Psychology Of Fantasy & The Powerful Effect Of Fairy Tales On The Adult Mind

In March 1939, renowned fantasy writer J. R. R. Tolkien penned an essay enitled “On Fairy-Stories” which explores the nature of fantasy and the cultural role of fairy tales. His argument is the same — that there is no such thing as “writing for children.” Tolkien writes: “A ‘fairy-story’ is one which touches on or uses Faerie, whatever its own main purpose may be: satire, adventure, morality, fantasy. Faerie itself may perhaps most nearly be translated by Magic — but it is magic of a peculiar mood and power, at the furthest pole from the vulgar devices of the laborious, scientific, magician. There is one proviso : if there is any satire present in the tale, one thing must not be made fun of, the magic itself. That must in that story be taken seriously, neither laughed at nor explained away.”

Tolkien adds: “Creative fantasy, because it is mainly trying to do something else … may open your hoard and let all the locked things fly away like cage-birds.” You can read more excerpts from Tolkien’s essay by visiting BrainPickings.org.

The Aqualibrium Garden – The Future of Food

The Aqualibrium Garden – The Future of Food by “Aqualibrium”

The fish in the self-cleaning aquarium in the bottom chamber of the Aqualibrium Garden provide the nutrients that feed the plants in the self-watering grow space in the upper chamber. This cycle… like nature herself… is automatic, providing the potential to grow an abundance of fresh vegetables, herbs and flowering plants all year.

The Real Walter White (VIDEO)

When AMC’s Breaking Bad premiered in 2008, one of Alabama’s most successful meth cooks was already knee deep in building a massive meth empire. His name? Walter White. In this documentary, Walter tells us the secret behind his product, how he stacked up thousands of dollars per day, and why his partner is now serving two life sentences.

A new industry born from the disaster — LED indoor farm

A new industry born from the disaster — LED indoor farm

Awesome pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope

 

 

 

 

Great Gardens: “Prospect Cottage” by Howard Sooley – NOWNESS

http://vimeo.com/103807651

Great Gardens: “Prospect Cottage” by Howard Sooley – NOWNESS

Speeding Around The World in Under 5 minutes Time Lapse

17 Countries. 343 Days. 6237 Photographs. One incredible journey.

GoPro: Wild Downhill Ride with Claudio Caluori

Claudio Calouri and Will Longden takes us on a wild run through the UCI Downhill Course at Leogang in Austria.

World’s smallest cat – Big Cats

森の木琴

TOUCHWOOD SH-08C http://answer.nttdocomo.co.jp/touchwood/

“TRUMP ANTHEM” — A Bad Lip Reading of Donald Trump

Snow falls in the Sahara desert

The town of Ain Sefra, on the edge of the Sahara desert, was hit by icy weather last week – and even snow.

Snowfall is very rare in the Sahara, despite the fact that it can be cold at night – because there’s rarely enough water around for any kind of precipitation.

Unbelievable Unlikely Animal Friendships Compilation 2017

Winds on this mountain in the US will make it feel like -67C

Temperatures on a mountain peak in the US state of New Hampshire could fall so low you risk getting frostbite in just a couple of minutes.

Micro Wind Turbine

Oxmo Puccino – 365 Jours

The Future Of Transportation

The World in 2050