Gold extended its longest run of gains in more than two years as Saudi Arabia and its allies started bombing targets in Yemen, boosting demand for haven assets.
Oil rose to the highest in more than two weeks amid the violence in Yemen, Saudi Arabia’s southern neighbor in a part of the world that supplies a third of the world’s crude. Investors have historically turned to precious metals during times of escalating geopolitical tensions that threaten equity valuations.
Spot gold has advanced 4.7% in seven straight sessions of gains, the longest streak since August 2012. Prices have climbed every day since Federal Reserve policy makers signaled that they’re in no hurry to raise interest rates, weakening the dollar and raising the appeal of bullion as an alternative. The precious metal on Thursday surpassed its 100-day moving average for the first time since March 2.
“Concern about a growing conflagration on the Saudi peninsula drove gold’s haven-premium higher,” Tai Wong, the director of commodity products trading at BMO Capital Markets Corp. in New York, said in a phone interview. “Continuing weakness in the dollar is helping gold.”
Gold for immediate delivery rose 0.6% to $1,203.16 an ounce at 1:56 p.m. ET, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. The commodity touched $1,219.79, the highest since March 2.
In New York, gold futures for June delivery gained 0.6% to settle at $1,205.70 on the Comex.
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Peace Bloc: Rights Defenders Must Immediately be Released
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The Peace Bloc has called for the release of rights defenders who were detained during a training meeting in Büyükada and then arrested.
It called on bar associations and legists with respect to the arrest of the six rights defenders:
“As the Peace Bloc, we deem this operation as a scandalous practice towards damaging social peace and we condemn it. This must be fixed as soon as possible and the rights defenders must be released. We call the institutions, especially bar associations and legists, favoring democracy and justice for duty and we urge them to take action against these judicial murders”.
Of the detained rights defenders, Özlem Dalkıran, İdil Eser, Günal Kurşun, Veli Acu, Ali Garawi and Peter Steudtner were arrested on July 18 and Nalan Erkem, İlknur Üstün, Nejat Taştan and Şeyhmus Özbekli were released on probation.
What happened?
Nalan Erkem and Özlem Dalkıran (Helsinki Citizens Assembly), İlknur Üstün (Women’s Coalition), İdil Eser (Human Rights Watch Director to Turkey) and Veli Acu (Human Rights Agenda Association), Günal Kurşun (Human Rights Agenda Association), Nejat Taştan (Association for Monitoring Equal Rights), Şeyhmuz Özbekli (Rights Initiative), Ali Garawi (human rights trainer), and Peter Steudtner (German citizen human rights trainer) were taken into custody during a training workshop in Büyükada, one of the Prince Islands in İstanbul.
On July 11, an additional seven days of detention was issued for the rights advocates.
On July 18, Eser, Dalkıran, Kurşun, Acu, Garawi and Steudtner were arrested. Erkem, Üstün, Taştan and Özbekli were released on probation and international travel ban was imposed on them. (BK/TK)
Former Zaman Daily Columnist Ali Ünal Arrested
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Click to read the article in Turkish
Uşak Provincial Security Directorate Trafficking and Organized Crime Control Bureau teams have carried out an operation against the Fethullah Gülen Community.
Hürriyet daily reported that former Zaman daily head columnist Ali Ünal was arrested in the operation in Eşme district on August 14. Three more people including engineers and attorneys were taken into custody as well.
With Ünal’s arrest, the number of arrested journalists reached 43.
76 imprisoned journalists
The imprisoned journalists are as follows:
Kenan Karavil, Abdulkadir Turay, Abdullah Özyurt, Abdullah Kılıç, Ahmet Turan Alkan, Ahmet Yavaş, Ali Akkuş, Ali Bulaç, Ali Konar, Arafat Dayan,Aytekin Gezici, Bayram Kaya, Bünyamin Köseli, Cebrail Parıltı, Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu, Cihan Acar, Cuma Ulus, Emin Demir, Emre Soncan, Erdal Süsem, Erkan Açar, Erkam Büyük, Erol Zavar, Faruk Akkan, Ferhat Çiftçi,Ferzende Taşan, Fevzi Yazıcı, Feyyaz İmrak, Gurbet Çakar, Habip Güler,Halil İbrahim Mert, Hamit Duman, Hanım Büşra Erdal, Haşim Söylemez,Hatice Duman, Hidayet Karaca, Hüseyin Aydın, Kamuran Sunbat, Lale Sarıibrahimoğlu, Mazlum Dolan, Mehmet Baransu, Mehmet Özdemir,Meltem Oktay, Mikail Barut, Miktat Algül, Muhammed Doğru, Mustafa Gök, Mustafa Ünal, Mümtazer Türköne, Nazlı Ilıcak, Nedim Türfent, Nuri Durna, Nuri Yeşil, Nuriye Ural, Özgür Amed (Ethem Çağır), Sami Tunca,Serkan Aydemir, Seyit Kılıç, Seyithan Akyüz, Şahabettin Demir, Şahin Alpay, Şerife Oruç, Şermin Soydan, Ufuk Şanlı, Yakup Çetin, Yalçın Güler,Yılmaz Kahraman, Zehra Doğan, Zeynel Abidin Bulut, Ziya Ataman,İbrahim Balta, Hülya Karakaya, Mehmet Arslan, Bayram Parlak, Ayşenur Parıldak, Ali Ünal, Arda Akın. (EA/TK)