SilverSeek.com | This has been one of the worst stretches for gold and silver pricewise in quite some time, no secret there.  I have to go back to when silver was in single digits to find a comparable period.   The question on precious metals investors’ minds is whether this bad stretch is going to continue much longer.  Are the past few months setting the stage for a pronounced rebound in prices or has the tide changed for the worse for an extended period of time?  I think the answer can be found in analyzing the following facts.

Wired.com | America’s ship-launched X-47B killer drone prototype took off for the first time from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush sailing near the Maryland coast on Tuesday morning — the first step in proving that a high-performance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is compatible with the Navy’s fleet of 10 gigantic nuclear-powered flattops.

WSJ | Central banks want to add Chinese yuan and other emerging market currencies to their emergency cash stocks, according to a new International Monetary Fund survey, a change that could redefine the world’s reserve currencies.The shift, should it occur, would broaden reserve holdings from dollars, yen and euros and modernize countries’ emergency stockpiles of foreign cash. Central banks want their reserves to reflect changes in global trading patterns amid tepid growth in the U.S., Europe and Japan and rapid expansion of emerging economies. Diversifying currency portfolios will give central banks more flexibility to better to respond to emergencies.

Libertyblitzkrieg.com | Hong Kong’s Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange Society has been in operations for over a century, and it’s President Haywood Cheung was interviewed by Bloomberg news earlier today.  Whoever orchestrated the attack on gold and silver in the last week or so has gravely miscalculated, since the response to the drop has been surging demand for physical gold and silver.

Aljaazera | China has accused the US of destabilising the Asia-Pacific region by strengthening its military presence in the area. China made the claim in its defence ministry’s annual white paper, saying the US was sending more ships, planes and troops into the region. "There are some countries which are strengthening their Asia-Pacific military alliances, expanding their military presence in the region and frequently make the situation there tenser,” the document, published on Tuesday, said.

Huffington Post | As public discontent mounts in China over the country's worsening pollution problem and the government's lack of transparency about environmental concerns, Chinese authorities have acknowledged the existence of so-called "cancer villages" in a new report this week, according to multiple media outlets.

Infowars.com | A Chinese official from Wenzhou, China, crushed a 13-month old baby-boy to death by driving over him after the parents refused to pay a fine for violating China’s one-child policy. According to AFP, a state official working to enforce China’s one-child policy drove over a 13-month old baby-boy, resulting in the infant’s death. A news item issued by PhuketNews relates that the official had an argument with the parents as, presumably, they “violated” the one-child policy by refusing to pay a fine. The reports goes on to say that the parents acted “agitated” in response to the official’s request.

Prison Planet.com | Carrier Killer’ missile destroys mock battleship in Gobi Desert. China reportedly “sunk” a mock US aircraft carrier with a state of the art missile during a war game in the Gobi Desert recently, fueling concerns that the newly emerging superpower is increasingly eyeing the United States as a military rival.

AP | Hundreds of Chinese factory workers angry about strictly timed bathroom breaks and fines for starting work late held their Japanese and Chinese managers hostage for a day and a half before police broke up the strike. About 1,000 workers at Shanghai Shinmei Electric Company held the 10 Japanese nationals and eight Chinese managers inside the factory in Shanghai starting Friday morning until 11.50 p.m. Saturday, said a statement from the parent company, Shinmei Electric Co., released Monday. It said the managers were released uninjured after 300 police officers were called to the factory.

CBC | Despite repeated government denials, CBC News has confirmed that some of Canada’s new Hercules military transport planes have counterfeit Chinese parts in their cockpits that could leave pilots with blank instrument panels in mid-flight.Documents show the Canadian military has known about the bogus electronic chips in the giant Hercules C-130J aircraft since at least July 2012, but continued to hide the fact during a CBC News investigation months later.

AP | China's government tightened Internet controls Friday with approval of a law that requires users to register their names after a flood of online complaints about official abuses rattled Communist Party leaders. Authorities say the law will strengthen protections for personal information. But it also is likely to curtail the Internet's status as a forum to complain about the government or publicize corruption.

Oregonlive.com | The letter came in a box of Halloween decorations purchased at Kmart, but for a year Julie Keith never knew. It gathered dust in her storage, a haunting plea for help hidden among artificial skeletons, tombstones and spider webs. Keith, a 42-year-old vehicle donation manager at a southeast Portland Goodwill, at one point considered donating the unopened $29.99 Kmart graveyard kit. It was one of those accumulated items you never need and easily forget.

Fox News | As the U.S. housing market slowly starts to recover, foreign investment is helping it along. According to the National Association of Realtors, non-American buyers accounted for $82 billion in home sales last year. More than $7 billion of that is by the Chinese, who are now the second largest foreign home purchasers after Canadians. They're buying high-end, multimillion-dollar homes from California to New York and paying cash.

Goldcore.com | Today’s AM fix was USD 1,710.00, EUR 1,342.76, and GBP 1,077.91 per ounce. 
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,723.50, EUR 1,351.45, and GBP 1,087.66 per ounce. Silver is trading at $32.32/oz, €25.48/oz and £20.46/oz. Platinum is trading at $1,554.50/oz, palladium at $624.80/oz and rhodium at $1,095/oz. Gold fell $11.00 or 0.64% in New York yesterday and closed at $1,714.00. Silver slipped to a low of $32.166 and finished with a loss of 0.15%.

RT | Foxconn, a major Apple supplier, has admitted to using underage interns in factories in China, employing children as young as 14. It’s the latest in the string of scandals surrounding the company’s activity in the country. The violation was revealed during a Foxconn probe over various media reports, which said that interns from 14 to 16 were working at the plant in the eastern Shandong province for about three weeks.