Free Republic

AS Europe’s debt troubles intensified earlier this month and United States debt was downgraded, many people rushed into gold and Treasury securities as a safe haven. It was the latest sign that in uncertain times, investors act in ways that can hurt them in the long run. “They fled the perceived risk of falling stock prices right into the assured risk of overvalued assets,” said G. Scott Clemons, chief investment strategist for the wealth management division at Brown Brothers Harriman. What drove those decisions was not logic but fear — fear of a repeat of September 2008. And that fear...

NEW YORK (TheStreet ) -- Gold prices hit record highs Tuesday as the Bank of Korea bought more gold and as the Senate passed the debt ceiling deal. Gold for December delivery popped $22.80 to close at $1,644.50 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The gold price has traded as high as $1,646.80 and as low as $1,618.80 while the spot gold price was skyrocketing almost $30, according to Kitco's gold index. Silver prices added 78 cents to close at $40.09 an ounce. The U.S. dollar index was up 0.22% at $74.48 while the...

April 12, 2011, 6:18 a.m. EDT Dollar, yen gain on nuclear worries; pound falls Sterling retreats as inflation pace slows, retail sales tank By William L. Watts and Sarah Turner , MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) — Safe-haven flows provided a modest boost for the dollar and lifted the Japanese yen on Tuesday after the Japanese government raised its assessment of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to the same level as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The dollar index (BOARD:DXY) , a measure of the U.S. unit against a basket of six other currencies, traded at 75.007, up from 74.989...

In its latest FX Pulse, Morgan Stanley looks at the idea of save-haven currencies, the three most note-worthy typically being The Swiss Franc (CHF), the Yen (JPY), and yes, today's huge winner, the Dollar (USD). The firm looked at 18 outbreaks of war since 1990. What it found, specifically, was that the dollar does best at the onset of a crisis. Following that, however, the Swiss Franc outperforms. The full note: In the full sample, the return versus USD on the announcement day was negative for both the safe haven CHF and JPY, as well as the higher-beta currencies such...

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - A single laptop can reveal much, and so it is with the digital treasure chest that Colombian commandos found in the jungle quarters of slain rebel leader Raul Reyes. Files in the computer seized in Saturday's raid into Ecuador that claimed the lives of Reyes and 23 of his comrades offer an intimate portrait of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's desire to undermine Colombia's U.S.-allied government. If authentic, the documents show that sympathies Chavez first aired publicly in January grew out of a relationship that dates back more than a decade. But Chavez is not one of...

For years, whenever significant political or financial turmoil reared its head anywhere on the globe, investors would turn to the U.S. dollar as a safe haven. Yet as the chaos in North Africa has grown over the past month, investors have largely shunned the dollar and sought shelter elsewhere. They have turned to other traditional islands of stability, buying Japanese yen and the Swiss franc. What has especially raised eyebrows has been the move by investors to buy euros, a currency traditionally seen as a riskier prospect than the dollar, especially with the euro zone's debt problems still largely unresolved....

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Authorities have arrested a woman they say left the infant she had just delivered in a toilet at a South Carolina sports and concert arena. Police Chief Terri Wilfong says the 25-year-old woman from Easley is a married mother of a 4-year-old. Authorities say Jessica Blackham was arrested on Tuesday night after she came to the Greenville police station accompanied by family members.

Missiles Aimed at Tel Aviv by Ari Bussel Israel is now and will undoubtedly be under further attacks. There are more missiles today in Lebanon and Gaza than possibly anywhere else in the world, all stockpiled and ready to be launched against Israel. Not exactly a statistic countries like to boast about: “We have the highest number of missiles per capita.” Modern Israel has seen a tremendous buildup in recent years, skyscrapers of the most beautiful kind add an aura to a new skyline against the deep blue of the Mediterranean. There is a road infrastructure that would be suitable...

Gold touched a two-month low in Europe on Friday, pressured by a firmer appetite for assets seen as higher risk on expectations the economic recovery was gaining traction, but a retreat in the dollar prevented a steeper drop. The metal is heading for a third consecutive weekly loss and its weakest monthly performance since July as a more optimistic view of global economic growth and stability boosted investment in assets seen as higher risk, like stocks, at gold's expense. Spot gold fell as low as $1,340.80 an ounce and was bid at $1,343.80 an ounce at 1217 GMT, against $1,345.40...

Iceland aims to become an offshore haven for journalists and leakers By Jonathan Stray / Feb. 11 / 9 a.m. On Tuesday, the Icelandic parliament is expected to introduce a measure aimed at making the country an international center for investigative journalism publishing, by passing the strongest combination of source protection, freedom of speech, and libel-tourism prevention laws in the world. Supporters of the proposal say the move would make Iceland an “offshore publishing center” for free speech, analogous to the offshore financial havens that allow corporations to hide capital from authorities. Could global news organizations with a home office...

Workers in Alaska avoid chill of recession By Cameron Dueck in Tuktoyaktuk, Canada Published: September 3 2009 20:57 | Last updated: September 3 2009 20:57 A caribou stands in front of a refinery in Alaska’s North Slope, where unemployment is lower than elsewhere because of the surging oil industry First it was The Deadliest Catch, then The Ice Truckers and now even Jesse James is a Dead Man has ventured north. Americans cannot get enough reality television coverage of their hardworking Arctic neighbours. While the recession may mean those in the south have more time to watch TV, the Arctic...

The Nebraska man who abandoned his nine children under the state's Safe Haven law last year is expecting to become the father of twins, FOXNews.com has learned. > Kathie Osterman, a spokeswoman for Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services, said the Staton family had received more than $995,000 in government aid as of last fall, including an estimated $600,000 in food stamps and more than $100,000 in Medicaid. >

Dollar strengthens as confidence falters 24 mins ago LONDON (AFP) – The dollar rose on Wednesday as investors bought back into the safe-haven currency of choice after weak US economic data dented confidence that the worst of the global slump is over, dealers said. "US retail sales figures came in worse than expected," said Neil Looker, a dealer at Citi Index. "As a result ... clients have started to move away from equities and move back into the safe havens" of the dollar and yen. In late London trade, the euro was at 1.3619 dollars, down from 1.3643 dollars reached...

In a significant concession to Islamic militants battling the central government, Pakistani authorities Monday agreed to allow the imposition of Sharia, or Islamic law, in a onetime tourist destination [Swat Valley] just 100 miles northwest of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 Posted By:Catherine MoyPermalinkPakistan Creates Safe-haven for Taliban Taliban now have safe haven in Pakistan It’s tough to tell who’s a friend or foe, especially in the Middle East. Pakistan, which was (kind of) an ally during the Bush Adminstration, has now created a safe area for Taliban, the monstrous terrorists whom our troops are fighting. Here’s the story from FOX News.com: MINGORA, Pakistan — NATO warned Tuesday that Pakistan risked creating a safe haven for Islamist extremists after it struck a deal to impose Islamic law and suspend a military offensive in the former tourist haven...

MINGORA, Pakistan – NATO warned Tuesday that Pakistan risked creating a safe haven for Islamist extremists after it struck a deal to impose Islamic law and suspend a military offensive in the former tourist haven of Swat. Criticism of the truce mounted as a hard-line cleric dispatched by the government to convince the Taliban to stop fighting as part of the deal arrived in the Swat Valley's main city of Mingora to a hero's welcome. NATO says it has 55,000 troops across the border in Afghanistan, and many of them have come under attack by Taliban and al-Qaida fighters believed...

A teenage girl is being held in Port Angeles, Washington, for the murder of her newborn baby boy. Sixteen-year-old Lauryn Louise Last is accused of drowning her newborn son, who was born to her on December 30, in the toilet and disposing of him in the trash. A neighbor noticed the baby in the trash on Friday, January 2, and called police. By the time investigators arrived, though, the trash had been picked up and was on its way to a landfill. Police were forced to search through 60 tons of refuse before they located the infant's body on Monday....

VENTNOR - The slogan for New Jersey's Safe Haven campaign is simple: No shame. No blame. No names. The state's Safe Haven law allows new mothers - or anyone - to surrender infants younger than 30 days old at police stations or hospital emergency rooms, no questions asked. A lot of people trying to spread the word about that law - representatives of national, state and local groups devoted to the cause - got together at Ventnor's City Hall on Thursday to show off New Jersey's first Safe Haven sign, which went up outside the city's Police Department. Most of...

Another child has been left at an Omaha hospital under the state's unique safe haven law. A 5-year-old boy from Douglas County was left by his mother about 9 p.m. Thursday at Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha, said Todd Landry, director of children and family services for the State Department of Health and Human Services. The child is the 35th to be dropped off at a hospital or, in one case, a police station by a parent or guardian wanting to make use of the law. Earlier Thursday, a brother and sister from Douglas County were taken to Methodist Hospital...

OMAHA, Nebraska (CNN) -- Nebraska officials said they're concerned about an apparent rush by parents to drop their teenage children off at hospitals before lawmakers change the state's troubled "safe haven" law.