Last Swiss winter was one of least snowy on record

World weather is just going crazy and crazier, In Malaysia the Monsoon period rain is not plentiful but dry season when it rains it pours. Soon the winter countries will be experiencing tropical or Mediterranean weather and the Tropical and Mediterranean countries will be experiencing winter seasons. Very possible in next 15 to 20 years’ time with global warming

Read more Here - 16 of the Craziest Weather Events We've Seen So Far in 2016

Read Here more Bangkok bundles up as temperature dips to 17.5 deg C

Snow was distinctly thin on the ground over the winter. Photo: D Balmer/WSL
As the ski season ends for another year, it will come as little surprise to many that the past winter in Switzerland has been described as one of the least snowy on record.
In its assessment of the season on Wednesday the WSL institute for the study of snow and avalanches said in a statement: “Despite the snow that fell in January winter 2016/17 was one of the least snowy winters every recorded.”

Though the season started well with snow in November, causing some ski resorts to open early, that was followed by one of the driest Decembers on record.

Snow finally returned in January, though the quantities were smaller than the previous year. However extremely cold temperatures meant it stayed around for a good few weeks, even at low altitude.

March saw significant snowfall, but mild temperatures meant it quickly melted, said the institute.

As a result “numerous ski resorts experienced the shortest continuous period of snow ever recorded,” it said.

The lack of snow did have one up side, however: there were fewer deaths from avalanches last season.

The institute announced the lowest avalanche risk indicator (1) twice as often as the average for the past ten years, it said.

By the end of April seven people had lost their lives in avalanches in Switzerland, 65 percent lower than the average of 20 victims per season across the past 20 years.

Among those seven, five were hikers and two were off-piste skiers.

A total of 148 people were caught in avalanches, 20 percent fewer than usual.

Oh-No! Professional Climber Died After Falling From A Mountain In A Freak Accident

Read here more Famed Swiss climber Ueli Steck killed near Mount Everest

read here more Climbers gather for funeral of Ueli Steck at monastery in Nepal

One of the world’s most famous climbers, Swiss man Ueli Steck, has been killed in a 

One of the world’s most famous climbers, Swiss man Ueli Steck, has been killed in a mountaineering accident near Mount Everest in Nepal, officials say.

Steck, 40, died after falling to the foot of Mount Nuptse, a smaller peak in the area, said Mingma Sherpa of the Seven Summits Treks company that organised Steck’s expedition.

“His body has been retrieved and is being brought to Kathmandu,” Sherpa said.

Steck’s family said the exact circumstances of his death were still unclear. The family is infinitely sad and asks that the media refrain from speculating about his death out of respect and consideration for Ueli.
Read here Ueli Steck's dream

Steck, who was known as the “Swiss Machine” for his speed, was planning to climb 8,850-metre Mount Everest and nearby Mount Lhotse next month.

Kamal Prasad Parajuli, an official with Nepal’s Department of Tourism, confirmed Steck died while climbing Nuptse and that he had planned to attempt an Everest ascent.

10 tips for preventing theft during travel

Travelers are often targeted by thieves – it’s sad but true. On a regular basis we hear tales of pickpockets, scams, dishonest cab drivers, items stolen from hotel rooms and similar skullduggery.

When you’re on holiday, you naturally want to relax, but letting your guard down can make you a target and have unfortunate consequences. On the other hand, going to paranoiac extremes can effectively quash any chance of fun, spontaneity, and discovery on your trip.

The community of savvy travelers on the Thorn Tree travel forum have been trading tips recently (see these discussions from the Central America & USA branches), and we’ve included some of the best below to help you keep your wits about you and your valuables safe during your travels:

1. Use a money belt…or don’t
The money belt is often hailed as a travel necessity, particularly in places where pickpockets are common. Many Thorn Tree members are belt devotees, but others offer a few words of caution:

– Don’t fool yourself into thinking that thieves don’t know about money belts and don’t have tricks to relieve you of yours.

– Because money belts are hidden, you can easily make a bit of a scene every time you have to retrieve something from it.

– Money belts may help prevent getting your pocket picked, but they don’t do much to help you when someone is demanding money.

– People that don’t use money belts adopt other stratgies, such as carrying only small amounts of cash at any one time, keeping cash in more than one place, or even carrying a dummy wallet.

2. Don’t talk to strangers
Meeting new people around the world can be one of the greatest pleasures of travel, but it’s not always wise to strike up a conversation with just anyone, particularly those that seem oddly eager to be your friend or spontaneously want to take you somewhere. One member says, “I keep an air of suspicion about any stranger that’s overly excited to meet me and make conversation on the street – which is probably why I have no friends.”

 Don’t be a sucker
3. If it’s too good to be true, run away: the underpriced gemstone, the incredible exchange rate offered by the man at the outdoor market, the attractive woman that just happened to spill mustard on you and wants to clean it off of you.

Another piece of advice: “Don’t bring your credit card to any ‘business opportunity’ that takes place in a Ramada Inn conference room.”

4. Don’t act like a tourist
This can be a tall order, particularly when you are a tourist and your appearance and language skills make it difficult to blend in, but there are a few practical pieces of advice along these lines:

– Dress plainly when traveling, let someone else attract the attention of thieves. And please, ditch the bling.

– Be discreet when handling money. Don’t repeatedly pat your wallet to make sure it’s still there: you’re just telling anyone who might be watching where to find your money.

– Avoid the temptation of setting your brain on “holiday mode.” Relax and enjoy your trip, but maintain normal levels of awareness.

– Always act like you know where you’re going (many of us already do this instinctively). Even better yet, actually know where you’re going.

– It’s best to keep your camera out of sight when not using it. Don’t carry a massive camera unless you’re an avid photographer and are willing to accept the risk (in which case you’ve probably done the homework on risk mitigation).  Smaller cameras will suffice for most travelers.

5. Never leave anything of value in your hotel unless it’s in a locked safe, and never leave anything visible in your car
Take responsibility for your belongings: they mean more to you than they do to your hotel. Trailheads and tourist destinations are favorite spots for car thieves, and rental cars are like large ‘break into me’ signs.

6. Trust your instincts
Never hesitate to cross the street, stop, turn around, do whatever is necessary to get away from someone who looks like trouble.

7. It pays to be big and mean looking, or to be traveling with someone big and mean looking
This isn’t always a good thing (or even possible); invisibility is one step better.

8. When in Spain, avoid the “David Beckham Leg Jiggle”
I have no idea what this means, but I assume you’ll know when it’s happening to you.


9. Dubious advice you probably don’t want to follow

– ‘If you see someone starting to come at you, burst out yelling something like ‘BGHRWARHBAHL MUHAHA’ and run away. You’ll almost definitely startle them enough to get a head start.’

– ‘Most common pickpocket, little old ladies neatly dressed. Tourists are dumb and will just shout at some old broad trying to lift their wallet. Push her in front of the first moving vehicle.’

10. Probably the single best piece of advice:
Never travel with anything that you cannot bear to lose.

What are your best tips for preventing theft while you travel?

World to tourists: 'Stop stealing everything!' and Crime & Scams in the Philippines: Watch Out For These!

A tourist in Turkey faces 12 years in prison for "smuggling historical artifacts" he found on the beach

Looks peaceful, but sand thieves are afoot on Boracay Island in the Philippines.
Here's another reason anything from a beach makes for a terrible holiday souvenir.

A U.S. tourist has been arrested for trying to bring home rocks and what he thought was debris from a beach in Turkey.

Jason Dement, 30, from Mississippi, was stopped and questioned at Antalya Airport when airport security found a piece of marble and what may be a piece of old masonry in his luggage.

The Turkish authorities charged him with trying to "smuggle historical artifacts," reported the Telegraph.

While his wife was allowed to leave the country, Dement now faces up to 12 years in prison.

Theft by travelers has been in the headlines various times over the last year. Travelers looking for unique souvenirs will stuff almost anything they can into their luggage from pieces of the Great Wall to live penguins.

At Boracay Island in the Philippines, the magnificent white beach sands are suffering “blatant extraction” at the hands of the kinds of tourists that give the rest of us a bad name.

Responding to the threat to its most valuable natural resource, local officials passed an ordinance last September that greatly toughened the existing law for being caught carting off sand or pebbles from the Philippines’ top tourist destination.

Great Wall of China
This part of the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall of China, in Hebei province, is in good shape. But other sections of the Wall have been diminished over the years by brick and stone looters.
As reported by the Manila Bulletin, the ordinance stated that: “Boracay Island, a masterpiece of nature endowed by the Almighty with powdery white sand, is being gradually dissipated by man’s selfish interests without due regard to the consequences.”

The new penalty for first-time sand thieves in Boracay was set at 2,500 pesos (US$60) or a prison sentence of not less than one month and not more than six months. Subsequent offenses will bring stiffer minimum penalties.

The new punishments may or may not be effective, but one thing is certain: greedy tourists will continue to commit selfish acts around the globe.

Last June, The Telegraph reported that visitors in Italy have been pinching cobblestones, marble mile markers and mosaic pieces from ancient Roman sites.

Italian officials have reported an increase this year in cases of theft of Roman relics, with pieces of 2,000-year-old stone and other artifacts often discovered in travelers’ luggage at major airports.



A year ago, the Daily Mail reported that three British citizens had been accused of stealing a penguin from an Australian marine park, though, surprise, a night of partying may have been involved in that absurd heist.

Exhausted but unharmed, the seven-year-old fairy penguin, named Dirk, was discovered and returned to his park home and mate, Peaches.

Officials and archaeologists in China have long been concerned about major destruction and diminution of large sections of the Great Wall due to casual looting.

Regrettably little, it seems, is off limits to the dedicated souvenir hunter.

Crime & Scams in the Philippines: Watch Out For These!

The beauty of this country hides a darker side where crime is an ongoing problem.

Philippines

There aren‘t too many travel destinations that don‘t carry the risk of some sort of petty crime. Let‘s face it – where there are tourists, there are criminals. The Philippines is, sadly, no exception.

Manila - Big City With A Big Crime Problem

The Philippines has a moderately high rate of violent crime, particularly in the city of Manila. Incidents of violent robbery and assault occur frequently, and tourists are often targets. The biggest culprits of these acts are local criminal gangs, although it‘s not unheard of for individual hoodlums to strike on their own.


Adding fuel to the fire is the substantial amount of Filipinos who own guns. This widespread gun ownership is very poorly regulated making it a recipe for disaster.

Firearms are frequently used in the commission of crimes in the Philippines, and lend to the violent and highly dangerous nature. Avoid rural, unpopulated areas at night and try to travel in groups.

Random Acts of Violence

We're talking about scary things such as grenade attacks, which have occurred in recent years, and although they don‘t necessarily target foreigners, because they tend to be aimed at large groups of people and places frequented by tourists, visitors can easily become victims simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Kidnapping

The danger of kidnapping exists, particularly in south Philippines. This type of crime is believed to be due to the extensive poverty of the Filipino people, and foreigners are usually the ones targeted.

Alcohol-Related Crime

The consumption of alcohol is often the trigger of street fights and violent crime. The national liquor, a coconut concoction called Tuba, is typically mixed with Coca-Cola and consumed in large quantities. It is an extremely potent drink so if you plan to partake, avoid doing so in public taverns and only drink with people you know. Barroom brawls often involve not just fists, but guns and machetes as well so it‘s not something you want to get involved with - especially if you‘re inebriated.

Drink Spiking

Drink spiking is an issue – the locals refer to it as the “Atvian Scam“ after the drug used in the crime. Victims are often robbed or assaulted while they are unconscious. If someone you don‘t know offers you a drink that you didn‘t watch being made, no matter how friendly they seem, don‘t take it. It‘s better to be safe than sorry.

While petty crime is typically non-violent, when it occurs at night or in rougher areas it could quickly turn dangerous. It‘s no unheard of for a simple pickpocketing incident to escalate into assault or worse.

Tourists In Boracay Cried After Losing All Their Expensive Belongings

With its white sand beaches, crystal-clear waters and beautiful sunset, the island paradise of Boracay is definitely the perfect summer destination.

Lots of tourists, local and international, flocked the island during this season. And one of the remarkable festivities in the island is the annual celebration of LaBoracay.

Even hotels are fully booked in light of this festivity since many wanted to join this once a year event. 

But three tourists who were supposed to enjoy the gala left traumatized after they reported to the authorities that their belongings went missing.

This was caught on camera by netizen identified as Jean Cezar Retulin, who captured the tourists as they cried out in the area where they left their stuff.

Apparently, the group went swimming  on the beach without anyone looking over their belongings ,thinking it would be safe. When they returned, they were shocked to find out that several items such as iPhone, money and cards went missing as they take pleasure in the waters of Boracay. Damn, that sucks! 

With not a single penny left, the tourists were forced to squeeze in a free ride to get to the police station while assisted by concerned locals.

When they reached the police station, they discovered they were among the many victims of theft during that time.

Sadly, it is very traumatizing for a tourist in a foreign country to be mugged and left with no cash or means to contact. Thus, wherever your destination may be, it pays to be more vigilant and careful about your belongings and security.

Crude Oil Breaks Key Support

Only war is going to help the Middle-East oil and gas producing countries from economic collapse as Oil & Gas are the main stay of their economy. All thanks to an Islamic country like Saudi Arabia gambling on oil prices by producing and flooding the world oil markets with excess crude oil .These fools brought about their own doom and demise. Now with the collapse of Middle-east countries, the region will be fractured into thousands of mini states and will be in constant warfare and millions will die at the barrel of the gun or starvation. This prophecy was already fore told a thousand years ago, that a family with a thousand brother and sisters will rule a rock in the desert which will nourish them with black honey and they will bring about their doom by breaking the rock to get more black honey as the honey was not enough, Greed

Summary

Crude oil breaks key support at $48 and $47 per barrel.

The recent price trend shows both lower highs and lower lows.

Some analysts believe that the implied or explicit agreement to work together to prop up prices may be over.

In this crude oil update, we update some key factors that contribute to the price of crude oil in the short and medium term. Readers might recall that we had introduced our coverage of The United States Oil Fund (NYSEARCA:USO) with a bearish posture in early March, then switched to a bullish bias after crude rebounded solidly above a key trend support line. That support line has broken, which has opened up the potential for further downside. The four factors that we address in this article are summarized in the table below. We will be following the price action on USO with a bias toward selling what we perceive to be weak rallies.



The USO ETF closely follows the front-month WTI crude oil futures contract on NYMEX, since it holds the front-month futures contracts as its primary asset. USO can be useful for short-term trading positions, but is not always a great candidate for "buy and hold" investors, due to time decay created by the normal structure of the futures market. We covered that briefly in an article that can be accessed here. We have updated our indicators for USO investment, and the above table summarizes our current outlook.

Technicals

We believe that technical analysis on the continuous West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures contract is more relevant than technical analysis on USO. Therefore, while our charting below is on the oil futures contract traded on NYMEX, our trading positions are often on USO, which is very liquid and accessible. We review two charts below. On one look at the daily chart, we highlight a few items regarding the price of crude oil:

Crude oil tends to have rounded bottoms and rounded tops. Therefore, there is no need to try and catch this knife if price stabilizes here.
Crude has experienced four solid recoveries from the upward sloping support trendline since April 2016.
In the most recent move, crude oil held support near its 200 day SMA before breaking below trend support with authority both yesterday and today (May 4).
Lastly -- and, in our view, most importantly -- the price of crude has now set both a lower high and a lower low. If price closes below $47/bbl today, this will be a bad sign for crude oil bulls.

Geopolitics

In our most recent updates, we laid out our view that Saudi Aramco's planned initial public offering in 2018 should provide (direct and indirect) support to crude oil prices. In fact, many market analysts have been discussing a deal between OPEC and hedge funds for months (as shown below).

Nevertheless, the analyst above, among others, believe that the implied or explicit agreement to work together to prop up prices may be over, primarily due to OPEC member's lack of compliance to production targets. Some relevant recent tweets (in reverse order) are shown below.

Oil price will continue to respond to headlines from OPEC members, and we should expect that OPEC member nations will respond to the recent price decline with many headlines. Crude oil is one of those products that can respond to geopolitical headlines with force.

Currency and Refined Products

Crude oil has value due to the refined products that are produced from it: diesel and gasoline. Typically, the value of refined products increase as we head into the "summer driving season." Not so far this year.

Since Canada's GDP is heavily reliant on crude oil, the value of the Canadian dollar tends to move along with the price of crude oil, and vice versa. Over the past month, the value of the Canadian dollar has weakened considerably versus the U.S. dollar. Some commentators view the move in the CADUSD to be oversold, and we could therefore see a relief rally in both crude oil and in the CADUSD.

Below, we have graphed the price of crude oil (in candlesticks) versus the relative value of refined products (black line) and the CADUSD (blue line).

Supply and Demand Fundamentals

The U.S. remains at or near record highs for crude oil, gasoline and diesel fuel. In addition, anyone who follows this market knows that the shale oil producers can and will increase production in response to increases in price. Rig counts have risen for many weeks in a row.

We have attached a helpful summary of the current and historical supply and demand picture, which was produced by Ole Hansen, a commodity analyst with Saxo Bank.

The crude oil market has been oversupplied for many months, so the fact of oversupply is not the primary determinant for near-term price direction. In the short run, headlines and technical factors will dominate.

Thanks for any comments and feedback below. If you liked this article, please hit the follow button above.

Note: All charts above were taken from TradingView. Unless otherwise indicated, the tables were created by Viking Analytics.

How did China become a strong competitor in the high-speed rail industry?

Big bucks, hostility to Japan and a well adapted Game Theory strategy.

Read more here on China High Speed trains

First, a little bit of background:

China has long wanted to upgrade its massive rail network to the standards of Japan and France. From day one, the leadership knew this was going to be a big cake for whoever wins the bid, as the scale of the potential High Speed Railway (HSR) coverage is unheard of in this industry. 

The rule of engagement is set out very clearly from the beginning: any firm wished to bid in this mammoth project must transfer their technology to Chinese domestic partners. 

Although it may sound like shooting oneself in foot by transferring cutting edge technology to a developing country with huge industrial capacity, the accountants soon worked out that even if a firm transfer all of its technology, the profit from the project will still more than offset the cost of R&D for the next generation of HSRs (this idea was heralded by Bombardier who started transferring technologies since as early as 1998). 

The Big Bucks:


In 2010 alone, the Ministry of Railway (MOR) invested over US$100 billion in new construction. The next year, in 2011, another US$100 billion is invested. If compared with military expenditure, this places MOR as No.3 in the world, behind USA and China and ahead of Russia (US$87 billion in 2013). 

With this much cash on the table, the project has become a modern day gold rush for the likes of Siemens, Alstom, Bombardier and Kawasaki.

Hatred of Japan:


Initially, Shinkansen train sets (Kawasaki) was going to be awarded to supply the entire project. Once made public, the decision was overturned by angry nationalists who gathered over a million signatories against the deal based on Japan's unresolved WWII atrocities. 

As a result, the bidding process re-opened to start favoring European and North American companies. The structure of bidding also changed - it has decided that instead of a winner-takes-all scenario, all participants are going to have a slice of the cake which lowered the risk as well as maximized technology transfer benefit to domestic train makers.

To the Chinese train makers, instead of obtaining one type of technology from Japanese train maker, they now have access to all types of HSR technologies thanks to the re-structure. 

Game Theory:


The foreign bidders were played off against one another in a text book Prisoner's Dilemma: holding out on technology transfer or refusing to lower prices will yield maximum profit but risks missing out entirely on the bidding. If all Chinese requirements are met, however, the profit margin will hurt greatly as well as facing risk of losing one's market leader position by nurturing Chinese competitors from end to end. 

The high octane game ended surprisingly well to the Chinese - the final contracts are not only similar in structure with the aim to offer maximum assistance to domestic partners in digesting and maturing foreign technologies (e.g. from the 60 train set orders Kawasai won, three would be built in Japan, six kit sets would be assembled in China and the remaining 51 would be made and assembled in China), but also set a new low cost benchmark for the HSR industry.

Siemens was the only one who decided to stood its ground - but not for long. Due to its high asking price, it was the only train maker not awarded any contract in 2004. The following year, Siemens reshuffled the bidding team and lowered its price to win a 60 train set order in the 350km/h category. 

As a group, the major train companies 'lost out' on maintaining their competitive advantage by failing to squeeze out maximum profits to maintain their lead for the next-gen HSR to fend off the inevitable assault from the very competitors they helped raised. 

Conclusion: 

China has significantly reduced its partnership with western train makers in the on-going HSR expansions. The reliability and speed of domestic trains have steadily improved to a satisfactory level, often exceeding the specs of the original train sets designed by western train makers. Although China's overseas HSR bids have yielded mixed results so far, it has leaped over hurdles that would otherwise take decades to overcome. 

One can say that China bought its way to become a serious contender in the HSR industry. Even with a deep pocket, this is still easily said than done without an uncompromising goal and a highly efficient governing structure.