Monsoon rain in Lahore shattered 30-year-old records, and lead to the deaths of seven persons across the city. It all started with light shows in the wee hours of Wednesday but eventually picked pace which lead to urban flooding in several areas including Gulberg, Walton, and Mall Road. The metropolis witnessed severe urban flooding, after record-breaking rain of 291 millimeters in 10 hours which took the lives of seven people while several suffered injuries. Besides the casualties, torrential rain caused damage to infrastructure.

The historic hailstorm in Valencia yesterday, with ice stones the size of nuts, had a strong impact on a large area of crops in numerous areas of the provinces of Valencia and Castellon. According to an initial estimate made by the Valencian Association of Farmers (AVA-ASAJA), "the hailstorm affected more than 20,000 hectares of agricultural land. It caused variable damage to the crops, affecting 100% of the production in some fields. The storm affected the Coastal, l'Horta, and Alto Palancia regions the most. The crops that suffered the most losses were citrus, kaki, almond, and olive crops." "In the Coast region, the storm caused serious damage in hundreds of farms in Montesa and Vallada. There are oranges, mandarins, and kaki fruits that were struck six to seven times by the hailstorm. In the most severe cases, producers lost the entirety of their crop and the hail even caused damage to the plants that could weaken them and reduce next year's productivity. There are also damages...

The Sound of Freedom, which was released nationally on July 4th, launched to the number-one movie in America thanks to its pay-it-forward technology. Angel Studios distributed Sound of Freedom in the US on July 4th this week. On its first day, the movie grossed over $14 million with runner-up Indiana Jones, which opened on June 30, reportedly bringing in $11.5 million, according to Deadline.

Fifteen people were killed after being struck by lightning in eight districts of Bihar in the last 24 hours, officials said on Wednesday. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed condolences over the death of 15 people due to lightning and announced an ex-gratia of 4 lakh to each of the deceased's family members. Kumar also appealed to the people of the state to remain alert and stay indoors. According to a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) on Wednesday, Rohtas district reported five deaths followed by two each in Katihar, Gaya and Jehanabad. Besides, Khagarai, Kaimur, Buxar and Bhagalpur recorded one death each. The CM also urged people to follow advisories issued by the Disaster Management Department. Nine people were killed due to lightning in seven districts in the state on Tuesday. PTI

The goldbugs cling to everything they can to promote gold at the destruction of the dollar. They are pushing the idea that China, Russia, and other BRICS countries are developing a dollar alternative. The truth of the matter is that is more fiction. Even Indias foreign minister S. Jaishankar came out and said, There is no idea of a BRICS currency. Foreign minister S. Jaishankar made it clear that the five-member BRICS group consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa isnt currently planning to develop a greenback substitute for trade and investments.  On what we will discuss at the BRICS meeting, well have to see because there are many other issues  but there is no idea of a BRICS currency, he said, as shown by footage from the Hindustan Times.

To even attempt to do something is absurd to create a BRICS currency like the euro would doom their economies. The #1 market remains the American consumer, and to price things in some alternative currency would undermine their own economies. People need to understand currency.

That was the...

Moscow, Russia - July 04, 2023 The leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), hosted virtually by India on Tuesday, have issued a joint statement on the adoption of the New Delhi Declaration, India's foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra has announced. The statement reflects concerted efforts at countering radicalization and cooperation on digital transformation among the members, who reached consensus on ten resolutions to increase cooperation in the Eurasian region. The document stresses the importance of building up coordinated efforts by the international community "to counter the activities of terrorist, separatist and extremist groups," paying special attention to "preventing the spread of religious intolerance, aggressive nationalism, ethnic and racial discrimination, xenophobia, ideas of fascism, and chauvinism." At the summit opening, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi took a veiled swipe at neighbor and rival, Pakistan, citing cross-border terrorism as "the...

ASIA:

A working group of the Reserve Bank of India has stated that the increased use of the Indian rupee in international trade and capital account transactions will lead to the currency gaining international acceptance. The group suggests promoting the rupee for import and export without any limits, allowing non-residents to open rupee accounts both in India and abroad, and integrating Indian payment systems with other countries for cross-border transactions. The Reserve Bank of India clarified that the report and its recommendations do not represent its official stance and that further examination will be conducted before implementation.

The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:

• NIKKEI 225 decreased 83.82 points or -0.25% to 33,338.70
• Shanghai decreased 22.40 points or -0.69% to 3,222.95
• Hang Seng decreased 305.30 points or -1.57% to 19,110.38
• ASX 200 decreased 25.80 points or -0.35% to 7,253.20
• Kospi decreased 14.31 points or -0.55% to 2,579.00
• SENSEX decreased 33.01 points or -0.05% to 65,446.04
• Nifty50 increased 9.50 points or 0.05% to 19,398.50

The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:

• AUDUSD decreased 0.00216 or -0.32% to 0.66694
• NZDUSD increased 0.00009 or 0.01% to 0.61889
• USDJPY increased 0.067 or 0.05% to 144.517
• USDCNY increased 0.0286 or 0.40% to 7.25820

Precious Metals:

• Gold decreased 1.27 USD/t oz. or -0.07% to 1,923.82
• Silver increased 0.267 USD/t. oz or 1.16% to 23.217

Some economic news from last night:

China:

Caixin Services PMI (Jun) decreased from 57.1 to 53.9

Chinese Composite PMI decreased from 55.6 to 52.5

Japan:

Services PMI (Jun) decreased from 55.9 to 54.0

Australia:

AIG Manufacturing Index (Jun) decreased from -5.1 to -19.8

Retail Sales (MoM) increased from 0.0% to 0.7%

Some economic news from today:

India:

Nikkei Services PMI (Jun) decreased from 61.2 to 58.5

EUROPE/EMEA:

In June, major central banks around the world surprised markets by deliver...

Six people died in the last 24 hours after being struck by lightning in Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh district. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed condolence over the loss of lives and has instructed officials to give ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh each to the kin of the deceased. In the first incident, five people who had gone to the fields along with their cattle, were struck by lightning in Niyamatpur village of Mehnagar police circle. Four died on the spot.

South-west China's Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality have been hit by severe flooding triggered by heavy rainfall over the past month. According to state broadcasters, authorities dispatched rescue personnel to evacuate residents from the affected areas. Rising water levels have caused landslides and submerged homes and infrastructure in water, hindering evacuation efforts.

Odisha has seen a 50% increase jump in human casualties in encounters with wild elephants in the first three months of 2023-24, with 57 deaths compared to 38 deaths in the same period last year. This year's April, May and June, when human-elephant encounters are typically at their peak with the pachyderms raiding mango, bael and jackfruit orchards, have been the most lethal in past 10 years. The quarter also saw a 26% rise in the number of human-elephant encounters, which resulted in more injuries than ever before. Asian elephants are attracted to food crops because they are more palatable, more nutritious and have lower secondary defences than wild plants, wildlife expert Biswajit Mohanty said. Crop damage by elephants is the root cause of human-elephant conflicts across states, he added.

Massive boulders rolled down and smashed three cars on the Kohima-Dimapur National Highway during a landslide amid rain on Tuesday. The incident took place in Chumoukedima, near a police checkpost. At least two people were killed, and three others were injured in the incident. A viral video of the incident shows a massive rock hitting two cars one after the other. Both the cars were crushed and suffered serious damage. The video also shows another boulder crashing a car in front of the two cars. The car hit a truck standing on its left.

Just a reminder that America was not founded as a country with a caste system, political dynasties, and for the benefit only of the

The post JUST A REMINDER OF WHAT WERE SUPPOSED TO BE CELEBRATING appeared first on The Giza Death Star.

In virtually every country thats allied with the U.S. Government against Russia and against China, there is a low public job-approval-rating for its head-of-state and for its Government, and a rating that is far lower than is the public job-approval for the leaders of the countries that the U.S. gang are trying to regime-change. If a given nations leaders net public job-approval rating (% who approve, minus the % who disapprove) is above 0%, or positive, then that is an indication the nations Government is a democracy, because then that leader is satisfying his public (including his political opposition not merely his own voters) more than dissatisfying it that leader actually DOES represent his nation. However, if the net job-approval rating is below 0%, or negative, its likelier a dictatorship than a democracy (and then the question is: whom does that leader actually serve?).

Every week the Morning Consult polling organization scientifically samples public opinion in 22 countries regarding Approve/Disapprove on the given nations leader, including all of the U.S. Governments allies plus five nations that are on friendly terms with the U.S. Government but not lockstep followers of it: the latter 5 being India, Switzerland, Mexico, Australia, and Brazil. All of the other 17 Governments (which includes Americas own Government) are rabidly hostile toward both of the U.S.-designated top enemy nations, which are China and Russia. So: the Morning Consult pollings include the 17 U.S.-and-allied countries, plus 5 nations that are in some way on the fence between the U.S. Government and its designated top enemies i.e., Americas targets to be conquered.

Here is the complete rank-order list of the 22 sampled countries along with the net job-performance rating of its leader by its public as per the 29 June 2023 posting:

...