UK Economy Update and GBP Analysis

The U.K housing market has taken center stage over the last couple of months, as economic data has been showing that the sector is slightly improving. According to recent results, housing prices turned during August and presented a 0.2% increase in October, which brought the rate of house growth to -4.2%. Even though the housing market still has a long way to go, until it presents a full recovery, the sector is now being scrutinized by investors, as further improvement could lift sentiment, regarding the future outlook of the U.k’s economy.
Once again the U.K will release its BBA mortgage Approvals and Business investment figures today. The mortgage approvals result could spark volatility during the session as the number is expected to show that UK mortgage approvals will rise to 44,000 in October from 42,100 in September. Even though the news could be bullish for the Pound, the numbers in the re-mortgage market are still weighing on investor’s sentiment.
Technical Analysis - A Possible Trade Opportunity
Although the GBP/USD has been finding hard to climb higher over the last week, bouncing back and forth, today’s data could give investors a clearer picture of the upcoming trend. According to recent analysis, one can see that the GBP/USD has returned back into range, but is still trading around resistance.

It has not been a favorable day

It has not been a favorable day for the Canadian dollar as stocks went down globally, the crude oil, one of the nation’s main export tumbled, and more risk averse traders opted for the safety of Canada’s counterpart currency in the United States.
The Canadian dollar is facing one of the sharpest losing streaks in months during the past two days as appeal for the commodity and stocks linked currency was affected in a rather pessimism day in currency markets. Canada is one of the main oil suppliers for the U.S. and after touching $80 a barrel this week, the commodity tumbled impacting immediately the loonie’s outlook, that accentuated its negative performance as a manufacturing reported indicated improved conditions in the U.S., decreasing even further attractiveness for the Canadian dollar, which has been one of the biggest losers in today’s session.
A predominantly risk averse session is most often not favorable for the Canadian currency, according to analysts. Not only the oil tumble, but risk is off in markets today, making traders to escape from high-yielding investments in order to protect their portfolios betting on papers in the U.S. and Japan, the best bets in times of uncertainty.
USD/CAD traded at 1.0678 as of 15:33 GMT from a previous rate of 1.0527 yesterday. CAD/JPY fell to 83.10 from 84.83.
If you want to comment on the Canadian dollar’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.

The Japanese currency was

The Japanese currency was one of the biggest winners together with the U.S. dollar in trading markets this Thursday, as stocks fell globally, declining appeal for higher-yielding currencies as risk aversion rose, favoring the safety profile of the yen, considered the top refuge currency in days of pessimism.
In a very risk averse session today all emergent market currencies backed down massively versus the Japanese yen that actually rose versus all 16 main traded currencies in foreign-exchange markets, posting a less significant advance only versus the U.S. dollar, which also benefited from today’s risk averse scenario.The New Zealand dollar was one of the biggest losers versus the yen as the opposition party is diverging its opinions with the nation’s central bank, fact which could slow down implementing monetary policies in the country, declining attractiveness for the kiwi which still ranks among the top 3 performers this year in currency markets.
Analysts consider yen’s performance today as a result of a decline in risk appetite after a strong sentiment that was predominant yesterday. Volatility is playing a fundamental role these weeks in trading markets with mixed sessions of high and low levels of risk appetite determining the trends for the yen for the current and following sessions.
NZD/JPY traded at 64.89 as of 14:07 GMT from a previous rate of 66.61 yesterday. EUR/JPY traded at 131.99 from 133.50.
If you want to comment on the Japanese yen’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.

The Mexican peso had a positive performance

The Mexican peso had a positive performance today versus the greenback as interest rates are unlikely to have further cuts, attracting investors to inject capital in the North American country.
The peso benefited today from a rally in crude oil rates, that crossed the $80 line per barrel in New York, raising appeal for the Mexican currency since the country is one of the main fossil energy suppliers for the United States.
USD/MXN traded at 12.98 as of 17.37 GMT from an opening rate of 13.03 today
If you want to comment on the Mexican peso’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.

The Canadian dollar

The Canadian dollar is ending this week’s session as the worst in more than two months as stocks and commodities, extremely influential to determine the rates and sentiment for the loonie dropped, setting the North American currency losing streak further down.
In a strong risk averse session where safe refuge currencies like the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen were the best performers, the Canadian dollar weakened not only against those, but versus a number of other main traded currencies, due to its highly commodities and equities-linked profile, that was impacted today as the crude oil fell further following stocks around the world, that specially in Asia, did not manage to pare yesterday’s losses. The Canadian dollar has been moving away from parity versus its U.S. counterpart after the national central bank stressed that a strong currency could be an obstacle for the economic recovery, and now, stocks and commodities are also providing support for the greenback to advance versus the loonie.
Analysts relate directly this week’s stocks performance to the loonie’s decline, indicating that also the oil’s back down after touching $80 a barrel earlier this week was another negative factor that pushed the Canadian currency to its sharpest losing streak in months, which may continue as long as stocks remain bearish.
USD/CAD traded at 1.0719 as of 19:37 GMT from a previous rate of 1.0633 yesterday.
If you want to comment on the Canadian dollar’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.

The South African rand had the first week

The South African rand had the first week of decline this month as speculations suggested that the currency’s rally could be a problem for the country’s economic future.
After gaining more than 25 percent this year versus the U.S. dollar and ranking among the top emergent market currencies in foreign-exchange markets, discussions among politicians and the central bank regarding the rand’s level started to emerged, forcing a decline for the South African currency this week versus most of the 16 main traded currencies.
USD/ZAR closed the week at 7.5825 from an opening rate of 7.5650 today.
If you want to comment on the South African rand’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.

Obama brothers meet in China

President Obama's four-day visit to China was aimed at building deeper ties -- and also spending time, albeit briefly, on family relationships.
In between his arrival in Beijing, China, on Monday and his informal dinner with Chinese President Hu Jintao a few hours later, President Obama met with his half-brother Mark Obama Ndesandjo.
"We just had a big hug. ... It was very, very powerful and very, very intense, because he's my big brother," Mark Obama said.
Mark Obama, who has spent the past seven years living in southern China, recently wrote a semi-autobiographical book titled "Nairobi To Shenzhen."
In it, he claims that he was often physically abused by his father, Barack Obama What I wanted to do is write about my father," he said. "My father beat me. He beat my mother."
Mark Obama went on to say that oftentimes, he heard thuds coming from the living room and would "hear my mother's screams and my father shouting."
"I wanted to protect her ... but I couldn't do anything."
When asked whether the president shared experiences with their father, Mark Obama -- a pianist in China -- simply said that "we talked about family."
In an interview with CNN, President Obama said that although he has not read his half-brother's book, "it's no secret that my father was a troubled person."
Just like the president, Mark Obama was the child of a mixed marriage. Although he never knew his half-brother while gAaArowing up, the two have met from time to time as adults.
"There is always that personal connection. I honestly don't see him as the president of the United States when I am next to him," Mark Obama said.
As to how the two stay in touch, Mark Obama said that "I would rather not go into that for various reasons, but we know how

We have breaking news from Capitol Hill.

We have breaking news from Capitol Hill. Senate Democrats have revealed their health care bill. Plus, Sarah Palin speaking out about the Ft. Hood massacre. And, we have part two of our special report "Killings at the Canal: The Army Tapes."
Want to know what else we're covering? Read EVENING BUZZ
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Barack Obama was in Beijing

Barack Obama was in Beijing as part of a three-day visit to China this week. No doubt he saw many examples of the prosperity of the country: the avant-garde Rem Koolhaas architectural marvels and even the new sterile malls popping up around every corner. What he probably didn't see it what's left behind, the last vestiges of traditional Beijing that barely exist in the city's vast networks of winding alleys know as hutongs.
Hutongs were originally formed when rows of traditional courtyard houses were connected to each other by small alleys in a spider web-like grid. For centuries several families would live in one residence that surrounded its own courtyard. Typically, there would be a single bathroom for each neighborhood and sometimes only one faucet as well.Even today you might see a line of people around the corner waiting to use the communal toilet in the morning.

This disappearing China is an inconvenience. Its buildings are bulldozed and its people sometimes displaced. A few months ago, while making a documentary about the country's new generation of entrepreneurs, I saw this disappearing world firsthand.
In my neighborhood of Sanlitun, known as the bar district of Beijing, I frequently noticed a knife sharpener riding his bicycle down the street with a grindstone on the back. He rode around the city so people could bring their dulled blades to him. As recently as 10 years ago, the streets of Beijing were teeming with such bicycle merchants and tradesmen, but today he is among a dying breed. I decided to ask if I could tag along with him for the day.
We never exchanged names – I don't speak Chinese - and while much of the growing middle class in the major cities is now learning English, I have yet to meet a tradesmen or laborer who is able to. We communicated by hand gestures alone. In order to set up our excursion, I simply walked up to him and handed him my cell phone with a Chinese speaker on the other end who explained my proposition.
The knife sharpener wore dirty blue slacks, rolled up to his calves to reveal bright green socks, a soiled polo work shirt, an oil-stained baseball cap and faux fur earmuffs to keep out the cold. He greeted me with a lopsided, gap-toothed smile and gestured that we should get on our bikes and get started with our day.
My shiny Schwinn mountain bike contrasted with his unwieldy steel model, one he has owned for 40 years. We rode past street-side tailors and barbers cutting hair in clumps onto the curb. The lack of running water meant the occasional smell of human waste. There were few customers on that street.
Michael Zhao is a fellow at the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York. He tracks the effects of modernization in China.
"When I was a child each family only had one or two rusty old knives and one pair of scissors. We would all use knife sharpeners who would call out for business as they rode through the alleys on an old bike or flatbed tricycle," Zhao said.
"With the opening of Wal-Marts, Ikeas and other western stores, people are now choosing to buy new knives instead of sharpening old ones and this way of life is quickly becoming a thing of the past," he added.
On that windy Beijing morning, the sharpener motioned for me to follow him down a tiny alley with water running down the center of it. It was only a few blocks from several shiny malls selling the latest western goods but was surrounded by plywood and tin shacks and small, hastily plastered courtyard houses. We turned a corner on to a wider, busier Hutong where a man brushed his teeth out of a cup, spitting onto the ground, and the bells of black bicycles chimed. The rush towards economic modernization did not appear to have trickled down to this strata of the Beijing population. Every so often we would see migrant workers from the countryside piling jackhammers into the ground through clouds of brown dust for less than $3 a day.
The Chinese character 'Chai' (demolish) was painted in red on old structures as their glass replacements rose nearby.
"Every couple of months we see another neighborhood being torn down," Zhao said. "Some of the people are given buyouts and relocated to the outskirts of the city. Sometimes it is enough to get an equivalent place to live but not always. Beijing is a city that is constantly updating its skyline. If you are away for a few months you might not recognize it when you get back," he added.
We stopped at a corner where he set up a grindstone and a bucket of water and pulled out a noisemaker that looked like a heavy wind chime which he began to clank. He then called out what I assumed was "Sharpen your scissors, sharpen your knives. Sharpen your scissors, sharpen your knives," as he raised a knife and then a pair of scissors smiling so I might understand.
A group of older people came out of their apartments with their rusted and blunt implements – knives, scissors, meat cleavers. Through conversation the sharpener took the first knife, braced it against the back of the bike and shaved it clean with a two handed metal sharpener called a Tsiang that scrapes the blade. He then pressed the knife on a rough grindstone to file it, then painted water on a smooth stone with a brush to give the blades a final polish.
It was time to go again. We rode through a half-dirt street and, without any transition, into a sharp-edged new mall with its glass Apple Store, illuminated Nike and Adidas logos, pictures of spandex-clad American Apparel teens and a Coldstone Creamery. David Beckham, two stories high, was kicking a branded soccer ball on an LED screen.

The CCTV building in Beijing.
As abruptly, he was gone and we were back in a world where no one knew or cared about David Beckham's latest hairstyle. We stopped, and the sharpening began all over again. Grind, file, clean.
Kemin Zhang is a former successful television commercial director in Beijing who became disillusioned with the industry and quit to teach children music in hopes of instilling and holding on to a sense of culture among Chinese youth.
"China today has a big disparity between rich and poor and the people that work the hardest seem to be to be compensated the least. I think this is common for countries as they go through their own industrial revolutions," Zhang said. "China today is all about money and I think we are going through many of the same steps that western countries already have. Many people are taken advantage of or forgotten."
The knife sharpener and I rode in silence through a gate and into an orchard I had never seen before. It seemed enormous – we rode for miles through what looked like endless rows of apple trees. It seemed unfeasible that such a place existed in the middle of a large city. We made our way along a gray dirt road under a freeway overpass and came to a stop among several chickens and a donkey, outside the sharpener's courtyard house.
There was no electricity or running water and piles of old clothes, garbage spilling out of bags, paper, scrap metal and paint cans were scattered on the ground. Inside one of the rooms was a kerosene lamp and four beds with rice-mats on top of wood planks. Next to the bed was nothing but a poster of President Hu Jintao.
As the sun dropped through the polluted sky, it was time to go home. We shook hands and I watched him heave - creaking his bike to motion in the shadow cast by the tall CCTV building.
President Obama most likely saw the modern edifices, but I imagine he didn't see the man who rides his bike around them. Like the rest of the world, he has no need for a knife sharpener.
Editor's Note: Ole Schell directs films in New York City. In addition to “Win In China" he just finished the film 'Picture Me' about the world of high fashion modeling. While living in Beijng he produced a short of series on Chinese youth culture for Current TV and reported on the American election and politics for Channel 4 in Britain and MySpace Politics. He is the recipient of the “Leonardo’s Horse Award” for best picture at the 2009 Milan International Film festival for 'Picture Me.'Win in China will be screened at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC on December 2nd at 7 p.m.

Barack Obama was in Beijing as part

Barack Obama was in Beijing as part of a three-day visit to China this week. No doubt he saw many examples of the prosperity of the country: the avant-garde Rem Koolhaas architectural marvels and even the new sterile malls popping up around every corner. What he probably didn't see it what's left behind, the last vestiges of traditional Beijing that barely exist in the city's vast networks of winding alleys know as hutongs.
Hutongs were originally formed when rows of traditional courtyard houses were connected to each other by small alleys in a spider web-like grid. For centuries several families would live in one residence that surrounded its own courtyard. Typically, there would be a single bathroom for each neighborhood and sometimes only one faucet as well.Even today you might see a line of people around the corner waiting to use the communal toilet in the morning.

This disappearing China is an inconvenience. Its buildings are bulldozed and its people sometimes displaced. A few months ago, while making a documentary about the country's new generation of entrepreneurs, I saw this disappearing world firsthand.
In my neighborhood of Sanlitun, known as the bar district of Beijing, I frequently noticed a knife sharpener riding his bicycle down the street with a grindstone on the back. He rode around the city so people could bring their dulled blades to him. As recently as 10 years ago, the streets of Beijing were teeming with such bicycle merchants and tradesmen, but today he is among a dying breed. I decided to ask if I could tag along with him for the day.
We never exchanged names – I don't speak Chinese - and while much of the growing middle class in the major cities is now learning English, I have yet to meet a tradesmen or laborer who is able to. We communicated by hand gestures alone. In order to set up our excursion, I simply walked up to him and handed him my cell phone with a Chinese speaker on the other end who explained my proposition.
The knife sharpener wore dirty blue slacks, rolled up to his calves to reveal bright green socks, a soiled polo work shirt, an oil-stained baseball cap and faux fur earmuffs to keep out the cold. He greeted me with a lopsided, gap-toothed smile and gestured that we should get on our bikes and get started with our day.
My shiny Schwinn mountain bike contrasted with his unwieldy steel model, one he has owned for 40 years. We rode past street-side tailors and barbers cutting hair in clumps onto the curb. The lack of running water meant the occasional smell of human waste. There were few customers on that street.
Michael Zhao is a fellow at the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York. He tracks the effects of modernization in China.
"When I was a child each family only had one or two rusty old knives and one pair of scissors. We would all use knife sharpeners who would call out for business as they rode through the alleys on an old bike or flatbed tricycle," Zhao said.
"With the opening of Wal-Marts, Ikeas and other western stores, people are now choosing to buy new knives instead of sharpening old ones and this way of life is quickly becoming a thing of the past," he added.
On that windy Beijing morning, the sharpener motioned for me to follow him down a tiny alley with water running down the center of it. It was only a few blocks from several shiny malls selling the latest western goods but was surrounded by plywood and tin shacks and small, hastily plastered courtyard houses. We turned a corner on to a wider, busier Hutong where a man brushed his teeth out of a cup, spitting onto the ground, and the bells of black bicycles chimed. The rush towards economic modernization did not appear to have trickled down to this strata of the Beijing population. Every so often we would see migrant workers from the countryside piling jackhammers into the ground through clouds of brown dust for less than $3 a day.
The Chinese character 'Chai' (demolish) was painted in red on old structures as their glass replacements rose nearby.
"Every couple of months we see another neighborhood being torn down," Zhao said. "Some of the people are given buyouts and relocated to the outskirts of the city. Sometimes it is enough to get an equivalent place to live but not always. Beijing is a city that is constantly updating its skyline. If you are away for a few months you might not recognize it when you get back," he added.
We stopped at a corner where he set up a grindstone and a bucket of water and pulled out a noisemaker that looked like a heavy wind chime which he began to clank. He then called out what I assumed was "Sharpen your scissors, sharpen your knives. Sharpen your scissors, sharpen your knives," as he raised a knife and then a pair of scissors smiling so I might understand.
A group of older people came out of their apartments with their rusted and blunt implements – knives, scissors, meat cleavers. Through conversation the sharpener took the first knife, braced it against the back of the bike and shaved it clean with a two handed metal sharpener called a Tsiang that scrapes the blade. He then pressed the knife on a rough grindstone to file it, then painted water on a smooth stone with a brush to give the blades a final polish.
It was time to go again. We rode through a half-dirt street and, without any transition, into a sharp-edged new mall with its glass Apple Store, illuminated Nike and Adidas logos, pictures of spandex-clad American Apparel teens and a Coldstone Creamery. David Beckham, two stories high, was kicking a branded soccer ball on an LED screen.

The CCTV building in Beijing.
As abruptly, he was gone and we were back in a world where no one knew or cared about David Beckham's latest hairstyle. We stopped, and the sharpening began all over again. Grind, file, clean.
Kemin Zhang is a former successful television commercial director in Beijing who became disillusioned with the industry and quit to teach children music in hopes of instilling and holding on to a sense of culture among Chinese youth.
"China today has a big disparity between rich and poor and the people that work the hardest seem to be to be compensated the least. I think this is common for countries as they go through their own industrial revolutions," Zhang said. "China today is all about money and I think we are going through many of the same steps that western countries already have. Many people are taken advantage of or forgotten."
The knife sharpener and I rode in silence through a gate and into an orchard I had never seen before. It seemed enormous – we rode for miles through what looked like endless rows of apple trees. It seemed unfeasible that such a place existed in the middle of a large city. We made our way along a gray dirt road under a freeway overpass and came to a stop among several chickens and a donkey, outside the sharpener's courtyard house.
There was no electricity or running water and piles of old clothes, garbage spilling out of bags, paper, scrap metal and paint cans were scattered on the ground. Inside one of the rooms was a kerosene lamp and four beds with rice-mats on top of wood planks. Next to the bed was nothing but a poster of President Hu Jintao.
As the sun dropped through the polluted sky, it was time to go home. We shook hands and I watched him heave - creaking his bike to motion in the shadow cast by the tall CCTV building.
President Obama most likely saw the modern edifices, but I imagine he didn't see the man who rides his bike around them. Like the rest of the world, he has no need for a knife sharpener.
Editor's Note: Ole Schell directs films in New York City. In addition to “Win In China" he just finished the film 'Picture Me' about the world of high fashion modeling. While living in Beijng he produced a short of series on Chinese youth culture for Current TV and reported on the American election and politics for Channel 4 in Britain and MySpace Politics. He is the recipient of the “Leonardo’s Horse Award” for best picture at the 2009 Milan International Film festival for 'Picture Me.'Win in China will be screened at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC on December 2nd at 7 p.m.

The new sterile malls popping up around every corner

Obama was in Beijing as part of a three-day visit to China this week. No doubt he saw many examples of the prosperity of the country: the avant-garde Rem Koolhaas architectural marvels and even the new sterile malls popping up around every corner. What he probably didn't see it what's left behind, the last vestiges of traditional Beijing that barely exist in the city's vast networks of winding alleys know as hutongs.
Hutongs were originally formed when rows of traditional courtyard houses were connected to each other by small alleys in a spider web-like grid. For centuries several families would live in one residence that surrounded its own courtyard. Typically, there would be a single bathroom for each neighborhood and sometimes only one faucet as well.Even today you might see a line of people around the corner waiting to use the communal toilet in the morning.

This disappearing China is an inconvenience. Its buildings are bulldozed and its people sometimes displaced. A few months ago, while making a documentary about the country's new generation of entrepreneurs, I saw this disappearing world firsthand.
In my neighborhood of Sanlitun, known as the bar district of Beijing, I frequently noticed a knife sharpener riding his bicycle down the street with a grindstone on the back. He rode around the city so people could bring their dulled blades to him. As recently as 10 years ago, the streets of Beijing were teeming with such bicycle merchants and tradesmen, but today he is among a dying breed. I decided to ask if I could tag along with him for the day.
We never exchanged names – I don't speak Chinese - and while much of the growing middle class in the major cities is now learning English, I have yet to meet a tradesmen or laborer who is able to. We communicated by hand gestures alone. In order to set up our excursion, I simply walked up to him and handed him my cell phone with a Chinese speaker on the other end who explained my proposition.
The knife sharpener wore dirty blue slacks, rolled up to his calves to reveal bright green socks, a soiled polo work shirt, an oil-stained baseball cap and faux fur earmuffs to keep out the cold. He greeted me with a lopsided, gap-toothed smile and gestured that we should get on our bikes and get started with our day.
My shiny Schwinn mountain bike contrasted with his unwieldy steel model, one he has owned for 40 years. We rode past street-side tailors and barbers cutting hair in clumps onto the curb. The lack of running water meant the occasional smell of human waste. There were few customers on that street.
Michael Zhao is a fellow at the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York. He tracks the effects of modernization in China.
"When I was a child each family only had one or two rusty old knives and one pair of scissors. We would all use knife sharpeners who would call out for business as they rode through the alleys on an old bike or flatbed tricycle," Zhao said.
"With the opening of Wal-Marts, Ikeas and other western stores, people are now choosing to buy new knives instead of sharpening old ones and this way of life is quickly becoming a thing of the past," he added.
On that windy Beijing morning, the sharpener motioned for me to follow him down a tiny alley with water running down the center of it. It was only a few blocks from several shiny malls selling the latest western goods but was surrounded by plywood and tin shacks and small, hastily plastered courtyard houses. We turned a corner on to a wider, busier Hutong where a man brushed his teeth out of a cup, spitting onto the ground, and the bells of black bicycles chimed. The rush towards economic modernization did not appear to have trickled down to this strata of the Beijing population. Every so often we would see migrant workers from the countryside piling jackhammers into the ground through clouds of brown dust for less than $3 a day.
The Chinese character 'Chai' (demolish) was painted in red on old structures as their glass replacements rose nearby.
"Every couple of months we see another neighborhood being torn down," Zhao said. "Some of the people are given buyouts and relocated to the outskirts of the city. Sometimes it is enough to get an equivalent place to live but not always. Beijing is a city that is constantly updating its skyline. If you are away for a few months you might not recognize it when you get back," he added.
We stopped at a corner where he set up a grindstone and a bucket of water and pulled out a noisemaker that looked like a heavy wind chime which he began to clank. He then called out what I assumed was "Sharpen your scissors, sharpen your knives. Sharpen your scissors, sharpen your knives," as he raised a knife and then a pair of scissors smiling so I might understand.
A group of older people came out of their apartments with their rusted and blunt implements – knives, scissors, meat cleavers. Through conversation the sharpener took the first knife, braced it against the back of the bike and shaved it clean with a two handed metal sharpener called a Tsiang that scrapes the blade. He then pressed the knife on a rough grindstone to file it, then painted water on a smooth stone with a brush to give the blades a final polish.
It was time to go again. We rode through a half-dirt street and, without any transition, into a sharp-edged new mall with its glass Apple Store, illuminated Nike and Adidas logos, pictures of spandex-clad American Apparel teens and a Coldstone Creamery. David Beckham, two stories high, was kicking a branded soccer ball on an LED screen.

The CCTV building in Beijing.
As abruptly, he was gone and we were back in a world where no one knew or cared about David Beckham's latest hairstyle. We stopped, and the sharpening began all over again. Grind, file, clean.
Kemin Zhang is a former successful television commercial director in Beijing who became disillusioned with the industry and quit to teach children music in hopes of instilling and holding on to a sense of culture among Chinese youth.
"China today has a big disparity between rich and poor and the people that work the hardest seem to be to be compensated the least. I think this is common for countries as they go through their own industrial revolutions," Zhang said. "China today is all about money and I think we are going through many of the same steps that western countries already have. Many people are taken advantage of or forgotten."
The knife sharpener and I rode in silence through a gate and into an orchard I had never seen before. It seemed enormous – we rode for miles through what looked like endless rows of apple trees. It seemed unfeasible that such a place existed in the middle of a large city. We made our way along a gray dirt road under a freeway overpass and came to a stop among several chickens and a donkey, outside the sharpener's courtyard house.
There was no electricity or running water and piles of old clothes, garbage spilling out of bags, paper, scrap metal and paint cans were scattered on the ground. Inside one of the rooms was a kerosene lamp and four beds with rice-mats on top of wood planks. Next to the bed was nothing but a poster of President Hu Jintao.
As the sun dropped through the polluted sky, it was time to go home. We shook hands and I watched him heave - creaking his bike to motion in the shadow cast by the tall CCTV building.
President Obama most likely saw the modern edifices, but I imagine he didn't see the man who rides his bike around them. Like the rest of the world, he has no need for a knife sharpener.
Editor's Note: Ole Schell directs films in New York City. In addition to “Win In China" he just finished the film 'Picture Me' about the world of high fashion modeling. While living in Beijng he produced a short of series on Chinese youth culture for Current TV and reported on the American election and politics for Channel 4 in Britain and MySpace Politics. He is the recipient of the “Leonardo’s Horse Award” for best picture at the 2009 Milan International Film festival for 'Picture Me.'Win in China will be screened at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC on December 2nd at 7 p.m.
More about: 360° Radar • China


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Barack Obama was in Beijing as part of a three-day visit to China this week. No doubt he saw many examples of the prosperity of the country: the avant

Barack Obama was in Beijing as part of a three-day visit to China this week. No doubt he saw many examples of the prosperity of the country: the avant-garde Rem Koolhaas architectural marvels and even the new sterile malls popping up around every corner. What he probably didn't see it what's left behind, the last vestiges of traditional Beijing that barely exist in the city's vast networks of winding alleys know as hutongs.
Hutongs were originally formed when rows of traditional courtyard houses were connected to each other by small alleys in a spider web-like grid. For centuries several families would live in one residence that surrounded its own courtyard. Typically, there would be a single bathroom for each neighborhood and sometimes only one faucet as well.Even today you might see a line of people around the corner waiting to use the communal toilet in the morning.

This disappearing China is an inconvenience. Its buildings are bulldozed and its people sometimes displaced. A few months ago, while making a documentary about the country's new generation of entrepreneurs, I saw this disappearing world firsthand.
In my neighborhood of Sanlitun, known as the bar district of Beijing, I frequently noticed a knife sharpener riding his bicycle down the street with a grindstone on the back. He rode around the city so people could bring their dulled blades to him. As recently as 10 years ago, the streets of Beijing were teeming with such bicycle merchants and tradesmen, but today he is among a dying breed. I decided to ask if I could tag along with him for the day.
We never exchanged names – I don't speak Chinese - and while much of the growing middle class in the major cities is now learning English, I have yet to meet a tradesmen or laborer who is able to. We communicated by hand gestures alone. In order to set up our excursion, I simply walked up to him and handed him my cell phone with a Chinese speaker on the other end who explained my proposition.
The knife sharpener wore dirty blue slacks, rolled up to his calves to reveal bright green socks, a soiled polo work shirt, an oil-stained baseball cap and faux fur earmuffs to keep out the cold. He greeted me with a lopsided, gap-toothed smile and gestured that we should get on our bikes and get started with our day.
My shiny Schwinn mountain bike contrasted with his unwieldy steel model, one he has owned for 40 years. We rode past street-side tailors and barbers cutting hair in clumps onto the curb. The lack of running water meant the occasional smell of human waste. There were few customers on that street.
Michael Zhao is a fellow at the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York. He tracks the effects of modernization in China.
"When I was a child each family only had one or two rusty old knives and one pair of scissors. We would all use knife sharpeners who would call out for business as they rode through the alleys on an old bike or flatbed tricycle," Zhao said.
"With the opening of Wal-Marts, Ikeas and other western stores, people are now choosing to buy new knives instead of sharpening old ones and this way of life is quickly becoming a thing of the past," he added.
On that windy Beijing morning, the sharpener motioned for me to follow him down a tiny alley with water running down the center of it. It was only a few blocks from several shiny malls selling the latest western goods but was surrounded by plywood and tin shacks and small, hastily plastered courtyard houses. We turned a corner on to a wider, busier Hutong where a man brushed his teeth out of a cup, spitting onto the ground, and the bells of black bicycles chimed. The rush towards economic modernization did not appear to have trickled down to this strata of the Beijing population. Every so often we would see migrant workers from the countryside piling jackhammers into the ground through clouds of brown dust for less than $3 a day.
The Chinese character 'Chai' (demolish) was painted in red on old structures as their glass replacements rose nearby.
"Every couple of months we see another neighborhood being torn down," Zhao said. "Some of the people are given buyouts and relocated to the outskirts of the city. Sometimes it is enough to get an equivalent place to live but not always. Beijing is a city that is constantly updating its skyline. If you are away for a few months you might not recognize it when you get back," he added.
We stopped at a corner where he set up a grindstone and a bucket of water and pulled out a noisemaker that looked like a heavy wind chime which he began to clank. He then called out what I assumed was "Sharpen your scissors, sharpen your knives. Sharpen your scissors, sharpen your knives," as he raised a knife and then a pair of scissors smiling so I might understand.
A group of older people came out of their apartments with their rusted and blunt implements – knives, scissors, meat cleavers. Through conversation the sharpener took the first knife, braced it against the back of the bike and shaved it clean with a two handed metal sharpener called a Tsiang that scrapes the blade. He then pressed the knife on a rough grindstone to file it, then painted water on a smooth stone with a brush to give the blades a final polish.
It was time to go again. We rode through a half-dirt street and, without any transition, into a sharp-edged new mall with its glass Apple Store, illuminated Nike and Adidas logos, pictures of spandex-clad American Apparel teens and a Coldstone Creamery. David Beckham, two stories high, was kicking a branded soccer ball on an LED screen.

The CCTV building in Beijing.
As abruptly, he was gone and we were back in a world where no one knew or cared about David Beckham's latest hairstyle. We stopped, and the sharpening began all over again. Grind, file, clean.
Kemin Zhang is a former successful television commercial director in Beijing who became disillusioned with the industry and quit to teach children music in hopes of instilling and holding on to a sense of culture among Chinese youth.
"China today has a big disparity between rich and poor and the people that work the hardest seem to be to be compensated the least. I think this is common for countries as they go through their own industrial revolutions," Zhang said. "China today is all about money and I think we are going through many of the same steps that western countries already have. Many people are taken advantage of or forgotten."
The knife sharpener and I rode in silence through a gate and into an orchard I had never seen before. It seemed enormous – we rode for miles through what looked like endless rows of apple trees. It seemed unfeasible that such a place existed in the middle of a large city. We made our way along a gray dirt road under a freeway overpass and came to a stop among several chickens and a donkey, outside the sharpener's courtyard house.
There was no electricity or running water and piles of old clothes, garbage spilling out of bags, paper, scrap metal and paint cans were scattered on the ground. Inside one of the rooms was a kerosene lamp and four beds with rice-mats on top of wood planks. Next to the bed was nothing but a poster of President Hu Jintao.
As the sun dropped through the polluted sky, it was time to go home. We shook hands and I watched him heave - creaking his bike to motion in the shadow cast by the tall CCTV building.
President Obama most likely saw the modern edifices, but I imagine he didn't see the man who rides his bike around them. Like the rest of the world, he has no need for a knife sharpener.

America's children are frequent pawns

It sounds like the plot of a crime drama or the scourge of a developing country, but human trafficking is a serious problem in the U.S. and America's children are frequent pawns, experts say.
The case of Antoinette Nicole Davis, a North Carolina mother accused of selling her 5-year-old daughter, Shaniya, into prostitution, highlights one of the most heinous -- albeit rare -- forms of trafficking within the U.S.
Davis faces numerous charges, including human trafficking, felony child abuse and prostitution. Mario Andrette McNeill has been charged with kidnapping in the case after police said a surveillance camera captured images of him and Shaniya at a hotel in Sanford.
Polaris Project, a nonprofit organization that studies human trafficking, has more frequently seen cases in which children were sold by family members "out of desperation in developing countries" such as Cambodia or sub-Saharan African nations, said executive director and CEO Mark Lagon.
"But it happens sometimes here," he said.
More common in the United States are traffickers who exploit abused runaways or so-called "throwaways" -- children abandoned by their parents and living on the streets, Lagon said.
"The trafficker plays the role of a father or loverboy who is offering care to the child, who is vulnerable," he said, explaining that what begins as flattery and attention often turns to suggestions of prostitution.
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The child, typically homeless and in need of food and shelter, can be manipulated into "survival sex," Lagon said. In other instances, the trafficker or pimp will get the child hooked on drugs and use their addiction as leverage.
Watch Shaniya's brother reminisce about his sister
Named for the North Star that guided slaves along the Underground Railroad, Polaris Project works to stamp out the global trade in humans.
Lagon, formerly the State Department's director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, said it's a tough fight because there is a dearth of "good statistics" on human trafficking and it's not a crime in which victims readily come forward.
But the news is replete with reports on major rings being busted. The FBI did not return messages to discuss human trafficking, but news releases from the agency's Innocence Lost initiative show that in the past 18 months, four stings -- dubbed Operations Cross Country I, II, III and IV -- have yielded about 2,300 arrests and the recovery of about 170 children.
"We may not be able to return their innocence, but we can remove them from this cycle of abuse and violence," FBI Director Robert Mueller said in a statement after a February bust.
Specific examples also abound. In August, two bar owners and a manager in Long Island, New York, were charged with sex trafficking and alien harboring with victims as young as 17. A few days later, a husband and wife in Orange County, Florida, were charged with kidnapping a 15-year-old at gunpoint and forcing her to turn tricks.
In September, a U.S. Army private and three other men were indicted on charges of running a sex-trafficking businesses from a Millersville, Maryland, apartment. One of the prostitutes was 16.
No pleas have been entered in the Florida or Maryland cases. The three defendants in Long Island have pleaded not guilty.
While prostitution is a common impetus for trafficking children, Lagon said there are numerous examples of young men and women being forced into domestic servitude. Many times, he said, those victims are sexually abused as well.
This is something that deserves decades in prison. --Mark Lagon, Polaris Project executive director and CEO


Though statistics on the depth of domestic trafficking are difficult to ascertain, the University of Pennsylvania conducted a study in 2001 showing that between 244,000 and 325,000 American children were at risk of sexual exploitation, including child pornography, juvenile prostitution and trafficking children for sexual purposes.
The average age of a female victim's first involvement in prostitution, according to the study, was between 12 and 14.
"That, shockingly, means a number get in when they're incredibly young, and that's all the more horrifying," Lagon said.
Lagon said he was impressed with federal initiatives and believes "it's great the FBI has more and more focused on trying to save prostituted children as sex trafficking victims."
The only caveat to his praise, he said, is a concern that adults swept up in raids are sometimes charged as prostitutes when they, too, may have been subjected to coercion or pulled into the trade as minors.
The onus is on society and government to stop the trafficking of American children, he said. Citizens should pay attention to signals that something is amiss with a child and be careful not to "sneer or stigmatize" when they see a prostituted teen.
Government, meanwhile, should toughen its punishments for child trafficking and more actively target the "johns" and pimps who make the trade possible, according to Lagon.
"That person has to be punished like they've committed a crime akin to slavery. This is something that deserves decades in prison," he said.

The United States President Barack Obama has joined 20 other world leaders, who have been discussing global economic recovery at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum at Singapore, reported BBC on Saturday.
Citing its south-east Asia correspondent, BBC said other issues such as North Korea, climate change and how to manage a shifting balance of power with China - Asia's rising power - will now take precedence.
Speaking in Japan on Saturday at the start of a week-long Asian tour, President Obama pledged Washington's "unshakeable" commitment to the security of the region. Obama also said he wanted to pursue a policy of "pragmatic cooperation" with China.
President Obama will be under pressure to live up to his rhetoric, particularly on free trade, the report said. World leaders gathered for the weekend summit have already taken aim at signs of US trade protectionism.
Citing Washington's "Buy American" clauses, Mexican President Felipe Calderon has reportedly said US legislation was "going in the opposite sense of free trade".
Leaders of Apec, a 21-member grouping that accounts for more than half of all global output, "reiterated their commitment to reject all forms of protectionism", a news release after the meeting reportedly said.
Following the Apec summit, President Obama travels to China late on Sunday amid heightened trade tensions between the two countries.
Discussions Mr Obama will have with China's President Hu Jintao is expected to resolve some of trade disputes, and help pursue areas of co-operation, such as technology transfer from the US to China to help China

A sixth person was arrested

A sixth person was arrested Thursday on suspicion of child sexual abuse in an investigation that led to the arrest of five members of a Missouri family, and authorities found additional victims in the case, police said.
Larry Kidd, 55, of Kansas City, Missouri, is an "associate" of the Mohler family of Lafayette County, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. Five members of the family were arrested earlier in the week after six alleged victims, who are relatives of the five initial suspects, came forward.
As a result of a news conference held Wednesday, the highway patrol said, "further information has been developed that has resulted in the identification of additional victims in the case."
Kidd faces charges of rape of a child of less than 14 years old, police said. He was arrested without incident in Jackson County, Missouri, and was being transported to the Lafayette County Jail on Thursday
Arrested Tuesday were Burrell Edward Mohler Sr., 77, and his sons Burrell Edward Mohler Jr., 53; David A. Mohler, 52; Jared Leroy Mohler, 48; and Roland Neil Mohler, 47. All five are being held in the Lafayette County Jail with bails
The employer of one of the suspects said, "Everybody is still in shock ... disbelief," as news of the arrests spread through communities where several of the suspects live in western Missouri.
"He was a good medic," Corbin Allred said of Roland Mohler, who has been employed at the Saline County Ambulance District No. 3 since 2006. Mohler has been suspended, Allred said, and further action will be taken at the next board meeting.
"Can't believe he's been here this whole time," Allred said.
The six alleged victims -- all now adults -- came to law enforcement authorities with stories of sexual performances, mock weddings, rape with various objects and a forced abortion during their childhoods, according to court documents obtained by CNN affiliate KSHB in Kansas City. CNN does not identify alleged sexual assault victims.
Investigators on Wednesday were searching the property that once belonged to one of the brothers for "a body or bodies," Lafayette County Sheriff Kerrick Alumbaugh said. The search continued Thursday and will resume Friday, police said.
Alumbaugh said Wednesday he was seeking more witnesses and believed there are more victims.
"I believe that there is, and I believe every investigator here, after seeing the evidence, believes there's more victims," Alumbaugh said. "Pedophiles don't stop at one."
The alleged abuse took place from the mid-1980s until 1995 and possibly beyond, the sheriff said. The court documents provide graphic details of the alleged abuse, provided by one of the alleged victims. All of the charges stem from those documents, Alumbaugh said, adding that he expected additional charges based on other victim statements.
Burrell Mohler Sr., David Mohler and Jared Mohler are lay ministers in the Community of Christ, the Independence, Missouri-based organization said in a statement.
"Leaders and members of the Community of Christ in the greater Kansas City area are prayerfully upholding those families that are touched by the recent arrests of five members of the Mohler family," the statement said.
Lay ministers are volunteers who do not receive compensation, and none of the three served in leadership roles or worked with children, the organization said.
"We have a very strict code of ethics when it comes to the safety of our youth," said the organization's spokeswoman, Linda Booth.
Burrell Mohler Sr. did go through the group's registered youth worker program, but "his youth worker registration has been terminated and we understand he had no contact with children or youth in church programs," the statement said.
Some lay ministers might help take care of the church, Booth said, while others might speak at services.
"Immediately, I went to the rolls and had their priesthoods suspended because that's what we do in the Community of Christ when there's any word of something like this. We suspend their priesthoods," Booth said, referring to a church designation for male members.
"If this goes to trial and they are convicted, then they will be what we call silenced, and they can no longer represent the church in any way," Booth said.
The Community of Christ is an offshoot of the modern-day Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It split off from the Mormon church in the 1800s, and in 2000 changed its name to Community of Christ from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"I personally feel grief for these families, all the families that are involved in this," Booth said. "I feel concern for the congregations." She said she is also "concerned about the greater church, the Community of Christ who represents nations and communities based in love and peace and joy."
Roland Mohler was arrested at work on Tuesday, Allred said. "The highway patrol pulled him aside and put cuffs on him. We were really trying to find out what was going on. They wouldn't tell us." He said he found out by watching the news.
"You eat, you sleep, you do everything with people for 48 hours," said Mohler's partner, Sharon Roscher. "Oh my gosh, it's just a shock."
When Mohler was arrested, "He was outside talking to troopers and the next thing we know, he's being cuffed and taken away," Roscher said. "And it was utter chaos. But we run off adrenaline and handle emergencies pretty well. But no, we were totally shocked."
"He was likable," she said of Mohler. "He was a dependable medic, friendly, and he'd show up when he was supposed to work, did his on-calls. He did his duty."
Alumbaugh said investigators were also searching several properties for glass jars that some of the victims may have buried containing notes detailing the alleged abuse. Investigators are following other leads as well, the sheriff said.
"There has been indications there are a body or bodies in various locations," Alumbaugh said.
Investigators have been working the case since August, he said, when the first of Mohler Jr.'s now-grown children came forward.

The alleged abuse took place from the mid-1980s until 1995 and possibly beyond, the sheriff said

A sixth person was arrested Thursday on suspicion of child sexual abuse in an investigation that led to the arrest of five members of a Missouri family, and authorities found additional victims in the case, police said.
Larry Kidd, 55, of Kansas City, Missouri, is an "associate" of the Mohler family of Lafayette County, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. Five members of the family were arrested earlier in the week after six alleged victims, who are relatives of the five initial suspects, came forward.
As a result of a news conference held Wednesday, the highway patrol said, "further information has been developed that has resulted in the identification of additional victims in the case."
Kidd faces charges of rape of a child of less than 14 years old, police said. He was arrested without incident in Jackson County, Missouri, and was being transported to the Lafayette County Jail on Thursday night.
Arrested Tuesday were Burrell Edward Mohler Sr., 77, and his sons Burrell Edward Mohler Jr., 53; David A. Mohler, 52; Jared Leroy Mohler, 48; and Roland Neil Mohler, 47. All five are being held in the Lafayette County Jail with bails
The employer of one of the suspects said, "Everybody is still in shock ... disbelief," as news of the arrests spread through communities where several of the suspects live in western Missouri.
"He was a good medic," Corbin Allred said of Roland Mohler, who has been employed at the Saline County Ambulance District No. 3 since 2006. Mohler has been suspended, Allred said, and further action will be taken at the next board meeting.
"Can't believe he's been here this whole time," Allred said.
The six alleged victims -- all now adults -- came to law enforcement authorities with stories of sexual performances, mock weddings, rape with various objects and a forced abortion during their childhoods, according to court documents obtained by CNN affiliate KSHB in Kansas City. CNN does not identify alleged sexual assault victims.
Investigators on Wednesday were searching the property that once belonged to one of the brothers for "a body or bodies," Lafayette County Sheriff Kerrick Alumbaugh said. The search continued Thursday and will resume Friday, police said.
Alumbaugh said Wednesday he was seeking more witnesses and believed there are more victims.
"I believe that there is, and I believe every investigator here, after seeing the evidence, believes there's more victims," Alumbaugh said. "Pedophiles don't stop at one."
The alleged abuse took place from the mid-1980s until 1995 and possibly beyond, the sheriff said. The court documents provide graphic details of the alleged abuse, provided by one of the alleged victims. All of the charges stem from those documents, Alumbaugh said, adding that he expected additional charges based on other victim statements.
Burrell Mohler Sr., David Mohler and Jared Mohler are lay ministers in the Community of Christ, the Independence, Missouri-based organization said in a statement.
"Leaders and members of the Community of Christ in the greater Kansas City area are prayerfully upholding those families that are touched by the recent arrests of five members of the Mohler family," the statement said.
Lay ministers are volunteers who do not receive compensation, and none of the three served in leadership roles or worked with children, the organization said.
"We have a very strict code of ethics when it comes to the safety of our youth," said the organization's spokeswoman, Linda Booth.
Burrell Mohler Sr. did go through the group's registered youth worker program, but "his youth worker registration has been terminated and we understand he had no contact with children or youth in church programs," the statement said.
Some lay ministers might help take care of the church, Booth said, while others might speak at services.
"Immediately, I went to the rolls and had their priesthoods suspended because that's what we do in the Community of Christ when there's any word of something like this. We suspend their priesthoods," Booth said, referring to a church designation for male members.
"If this goes to trial and they are convicted, then they will be what we call silenced, and they can no longer represent the church in any way," Booth said.
The Community of Christ is an offshoot of the modern-day Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It split off from the Mormon church in the 1800s, and in 2000 changed its name to Community of Christ from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"I personally feel grief for these families, all the families that are involved in this," Booth said. "I feel concern for the congregations." She said she is also "concerned about the greater church, the Community of Christ who represents nations and communities based in love and peace and joy."
Roland Mohler was arrested at work on Tuesday, Allred said. "The highway patrol pulled him aside and put cuffs on him. We were really trying to find out what was going on. They wouldn't tell us." He said he found out by watching the news.
"You eat, you sleep, you do everything with people for 48 hours," said Mohler's partner, Sharon Roscher. "Oh my gosh, it's just a shock."
When Mohler was arrested, "He was outside talking to troopers and the next thing we know, he's being cuffed and taken away," Roscher said. "And it was utter chaos. But we run off adrenaline and handle emergencies pretty well. But no, we were totally shocked."
"He was likable," she said of Mohler. "He was a dependable medic, friendly, and he'd show up when he was supposed to work, did his on-calls. He did his duty."
Alumbaugh said investigators were also searching several properties for glass jars that some of the victims may have buried containing notes detailing the alleged abuse. Investigators are following other leads as well, the sheriff said.
"There has been indications there are a body or bodies in various locations," Alumbaugh said.
Investigators have been working the case since August, he said, when the first of Mohler Jr.'s now-grown children came forward.

A sixth person was arrested Thursday on suspicion of child sexual abuse in an investigation that led to the arrest of five members of a Missouri famil

A sixth person was arrested Thursday on suspicion of child sexual abuse in an investigation that led to the arrest of five members of a Missouri family, and authorities found additional victims in the case, police said.
Larry Kidd, 55, of Kansas City, Missouri, is an "associate" of the Mohler family of Lafayette County, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. Five members of the family were arrested earlier in the week after six alleged victims, who are relatives of the five initial suspects, came forward.
As a result of a news conference held Wednesday, the highway patrol said, "further information has been developed that has resulted in the identification of additional victims in the case."
Kidd faces charges of rape of a child of less than 14 years old, police said. He was arrested without incident in Jackson County, Missouri, and was being transported to the Lafayette County Jail on Thursday night.
Arrested Tuesday were Burrell Edward Mohler Sr., 77, and his sons Burrell Edward Mohler Jr., 53; David A. Mohler, 52; Jared Leroy Mohler, 48; and Roland Neil Mohler, 47. All five are being held in the Lafayette County Jail with bails ranging from $30,000 to $75,000.
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Missouri
The employer of one of the suspects said, "Everybody is still in shock ... disbelief," as news of the arrests spread through communities where several of the suspects live in western Missouri.
"He was a good medic," Corbin Allred said of Roland Mohler, who has been employed at the Saline County Ambulance District No. 3 since 2006. Mohler has been suspended, Allred said, and further action will be taken at the next board meeting.
"Can't believe he's been here this whole time," Allred said.
The six alleged victims -- all now adults -- came to law enforcement authorities with stories of sexual performances, mock weddings, rape with various objects and a forced abortion during their childhoods, according to court documents obtained by CNN affiliate KSHB in Kansas City. CNN does not identify alleged sexual assault victims.
Investigators on Wednesday were searching the property that once belonged to one of the brothers for "a body or bodies," Lafayette County Sheriff Kerrick Alumbaugh said. The search continued Thursday and will resume Friday, police said.
Alumbaugh said Wednesday he was seeking more witnesses and believed there are more victims.
"I believe that there is, and I believe every investigator here, after seeing the evidence, believes there's more victims," Alumbaugh said. "Pedophiles don't stop at one."
The alleged abuse took place from the mid-1980s until 1995 and possibly beyond, the sheriff said. The court documents provide graphic details of the alleged abuse, provided by one of the alleged victims. All of the charges stem from those documents, Alumbaugh said, adding that he expected additional charges based on other victim statements.
Burrell Mohler Sr., David Mohler and Jared Mohler are lay ministers in the Community of Christ, the Independence, Missouri-based organization said in a statement.
"Leaders and members of the Community of Christ in the greater Kansas City area are prayerfully upholding those families that are touched by the recent arrests of five members of the Mohler family," the statement said.
Lay ministers are volunteers who do not receive compensation, and none of the three served in leadership roles or worked with children, the organization said.
"We have a very strict code of ethics when it comes to the safety of our youth," said the organization's spokeswoman, Linda Booth.
Burrell Mohler Sr. did go through the group's registered youth worker program, but "his youth worker registration has been terminated and we understand he had no contact with children or youth in church programs," the statement said.
Some lay ministers might help take care of the church, Booth said, while others might speak at services.
"Immediately, I went to the rolls and had their priesthoods suspended because that's what we do in the Community of Christ when there's any word of something like this. We suspend their priesthoods," Booth said, referring to a church designation for male members.
"If this goes to trial and they are convicted, then they will be what we call silenced, and they can no longer represent the church in any way," Booth said.
The Community of Christ is an offshoot of the modern-day Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It split off from the Mormon church in the 1800s, and in 2000 changed its name to Community of Christ from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"I personally feel grief for these families, all the families that are involved in this," Booth said. "I feel concern for the congregations." She said she is also "concerned about the greater church, the Community of Christ who represents nations and communities based in love and peace and joy."
Roland Mohler was arrested at work on Tuesday, Allred said. "The highway patrol pulled him aside and put cuffs on him. We were really trying to find out what was going on. They wouldn't tell us." He said he found out by watching the news.
"You eat, you sleep, you do everything with people for 48 hours," said Mohler's partner, Sharon Roscher. "Oh my gosh, it's just a shock."
When Mohler was arrested, "He was outside talking to troopers and the next thing we know, he's being cuffed and taken away," Roscher said. "And it was utter chaos. But we run off adrenaline and handle emergencies pretty well. But no, we were totally shocked."
"He was likable," she said of Mohler. "He was a dependable medic, friendly, and he'd show up when he was supposed to work, did his on-calls. He did his duty."
Alumbaugh said investigators were also searching several properties for glass jars that some of the victims may have buried containing notes detailing the alleged abuse. Investigators are following other leads as well, the sheriff said.
"There has been indications there are a body or bodies in various locations," Alumbaugh said.
Investigators have been working the case since August, he said, when the first of Mohler Jr.'s now-grown children came forward.

Just as in the stock market, forex investors often use a strategy called hedging transactions to reduce a portion of the risk involved in trading. Man

Just as in the stock market, forex investors often use a strategy called hedging transactions to reduce a portion of the risk involved in trading. Many people think of hedging like buying an insurance policy for their money. It works in much the same way. Using investment instruments known as financial futures, forex traders can relax knowing that all losses are covered by the backup plan.
A type of financial instrument futures that many forex traders use to hedge a position is the futures contract, which is an agreement to exchange one currency for another at a specified price as at the last date of closure. Commodities futures currencies are bought and sold on the forex market just like any other instrument such as shares or currencies.
For example, say that you used to use the dollars to take a long position in EUR on the forex market, but you are worried that the price of the euro falls against the dollar. One thing you could do is take out a futures contract on dollars using euros. As the external factors affecting the prices of currencies, the price of futures contracts up and down as well, allowing your euros to dollars to offset your long position in euros. If the euro weakens, the price of futures contract rises, and vice versa. Thus, you have therefore eliminated the risk of your investment money.
Another form of hedging in the forex market is regularly practiced by companies that share internationally with many customers in Europe. A weak euro would cost some money in the long run because the original prices quoted in euros does not result in as many dollars. By taking a long position in dollars using euros, the company would just as much money on the forex they lost to fall on the value of the euro. Similarly, if it would lose money on the forex market due to a fall in value of the dollar, the company would offset the increased profits due to the higher value of the euro on the sale of its products.Hedging is a powerful tool that serves those who take the time to use them

In the first major shakeup among President Obama's senior staff, White House Counsel Greg Craig is being pushed out in favor of veteran Democratic law

In the first major shakeup among President Obama's senior staff, White House Counsel Greg Craig is being pushed out in favor of veteran Democratic lawyer Bob Bauer because of a dispute over plans to close the U.S. military prison in Cuba, CNN has learned.
The move will be announced by the White House in the coming days, a senior administration official and a senior Democratic source confirmed.
The sources said it could be announced as early as Friday while the president will be in Japan starting a four-nation tour of Asia, which would make it likely the staff change will be overshadowed by other events.
Craig declined to comment and hung up when reached by CNN late Thursday evening.
Bauer is the husband of Anita Dunn, the outgoing White House communications director. Dunn, who recently led a so-called "war" on Fox News, announced earlier this week that she is leaving her White House post, a long-anticipated move that was not connected to the media battle.
Democratic officials said Craig was ousted because of frustration among senior White House aides over his handling of the plans to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. As the White House's top lawyer, Craig was pivotal in advising Obama to sign an executive order during his first week in office promising to shut the prison by the end of January 2010.
In a politically embarrassing move that has frustrated some of the president's liberal supporters, White House aides have since backed off that deadline, citing complex legal issues surrounding what to do with the approximately 200 terror suspects still detained at Guantanamo.
Some administration officials privately believe Craig should have better anticipated the pitfalls. However, his supporters believe he is being used as a scapegoat and note he was not the only top official who supported the ironclad executive order.
One of the Democratic officials acknowledged Craig's tenure had been a "little choppy," but downplayed the exit as part of the normal turnover in any administration after nearly one year in office.
Craig was one of the lawyers defending then-President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial. He became an early and active supporter of Obama in the Democratic presidential primaries, angering backers of then-Sen. Hillary Clinton. That is one of the reasons why allies of Craig are frustrated he is being replaced so early in the administration.
But Democratic sources said Craig never clicked with senior White House aides, and Bauer is a low-key, behind-the-scenes operator more in Obama's comfort zone.
Bauer was the chief attorney during the campaign, and will be leaving the law firm of Perkins Coie, a Seattle-based firm that has an office in Washington, D.C.
There has been speculation that administration officials have been trying to find a federal judgeship or ambassadorial post for Craig, but officials said he may return to the law firm of Williams & Connolly.

Alleged Fort Hood shooter is paralyzed, lawyer saysNovember

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the U.S. Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood Army Post in Texas a week ago, is paralyzed, his lawyer said Friday.
"It appears he won't be able to walk in the future," said Hasan's civilian attorney, retired Army Col. John Galligan.
Authorities say Hasan opened fire at a military processing center at Fort Hood on November 5. A civilian officer who was wounded in the incident returned fire, wounding Hasan.
Galligan said he spent an hour with Hasan in San Antonio on Thursday. A family member whom he did not identify was also present during the hourlong meeting.

The second sentence of the letter appeared

Phillip Garrido, who is accused of kidnapping and raping an 11-year-old and then holding her captive for 18 years, apologized in a jailhouse letter sent to a television station, the California station said Thursday.
In the handwritten letter this week to CNN affiliate KCRA, Garrido seemed to address the kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard.
"First off I want to apologize to every human being for what has taken place," KCRA said the letter states.
ccto refer to what Garrido has described as a religious transformation that cured him of his sexual deviancy.
It says: "People all over the world are hearing testimony that through the spirit of Christ a mental process took place ending a sexual problem believed to be impossible."
The letter, which is the third sent to the station, also addressed other issues, but the station declined to release more details.
"We are not releasing the entire letter at this time based on consultations with our attorneys," said Anzio Williams, news director at KCRA. "We will tell the story and reference the letter."
Read earlier letter from Garrido to KCRA (PDF)
Garrido and his wife, Nancy, face multiple felony charges in the 1991 kidnapping of Dugard from South Lake Tahoe, California.
Authorities say he and his wife held Dugard in a hidden compound behind their home in Antioch, California, for 18 years. The Garridos have pleaded not guilty.
Dugard now lives in seclusion with her mother, Terry Probyn, and Dugard's two daughters, who police say were fathered by Garrido.
In September, an attorney for Dugard's family said it had been a difficult transition for her and her daughters, who are now 11 and 15, given that her captivity spanned more than half her life and was the only world she knew for so long.
"But there is no question that she knows that terrible and wrong things were done to her and that those people must be held accountable," McGregor Scott said.
Dugard will testify against the Garridos, Scott said. He also acknowledged that Dugard would have to relive the trauma in court by sharing the "very, very sordid tale."