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Geopolitical analysts at 38 North, a website that tracks developments along the 38th parallel that separates North and South Korea, published a new report that sheds light on a potentially dangerous situation in North Korea, one where recent rising floodwaters threatened a nuclear reactor site.

Satellite imagery from August 6-11 shows water levels along the Kuryong River may have damaged pump houses at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center. 

Despite ongoing efforts to improve the embankment along the river against annual flooding, they failed to meet the challenge of this year’s rising waters, which reached the pump houses. More importantly, the flooding exposed how vulnerable the nuclear reactors’ cooling systems are to extreme weather events, in this case, for the potential for damage to the pumps and their power systems, or for clogging of piping systems that draw water from the river. – 38 North

The five-megawatt reactor at the nuclear facility didn’t appear to be operating at the time the images were taken. It’s been rumored this is the facility that the rogue country produces weapons-grade plutonium. 

Satellite imagery taken earlier this week appears to show floodwaters didn’t breach any part of the Yongbyon facility’s Uranium Enrichment Plant (UEP), located downstream. There’s also an indication the water level has receded in recent days. 

Partial coverage of the area from August 8 and 11 shows the waters have retreated, suggesting that the major facilities within the complex, such as the Uranium Enrichment Plant (UEP), have been spared. -38 North

When comparing satellite imagery from August 6 versus July 22, it becomes clear the water level of the Kuryong River has risen dramatically alongside the nuclear complex. 

Although the security wall around the reactor complex was not breached, the water had reached the two pump houses that service the reactors and completely submerged their respective bases. The overfall dam that was built to ensure a constant reservoir of water and is available for cooling the reactors was also fully underwater. -38 North

North Korea’s state media has stayed quiet on the subject. There’s no official report if the pump houses or piping were damaged. If so, this would present significant challenges for cooling the reactor. 

In China, record flooding from unprecedented rainstorms has resulted in structural issues within the Three Gorges Dam. Beijing admitted weeks ago that the world’s largest hydroelectric gravity dam on the Yangtze River in Hubei province “deformed slightly.” 

 

Authored by Zachary Stieber via the Epoch Times (emphasis ours)

A 25-year-old North Carolina man was charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday for the killing of 5-year-old Cannon Hinnant in front of his home in Wilson.

Cannon was found suffering from a gunshot wound on Archers Road on Sunday night and lifesaving efforts failed.

Police officers identified Darius Sessoms as the suspect and issued an arrest warrant.

Sessoms was arrested on Monday after a joint operation involving the Wilson Police Department, the U.S. Marshals Service, and other law enforcement agencies. He was found inside a house in Goldsboro.

Sessoms was charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday, a day before Cannon’s funeral, the police department announced. The suspect is being held without bond.

According to witnesses, Sessoms walked up to Cannon while the boy was riding his bicycle and shot him.

“I just don’t understand why he did it. How can you walk up to a little boy, point blank, and put a gun to his head and just shoot him? How could anyone do that?” Charlene Walburn, a neighbor, told ABC 11.

“For a second, I thought, ‘That couldn’t happen.’ People don’t run across the street and kill kids,” Doris Lybrand, another neighbor, told WRAL.

Sessoms lives next door to Austin Hinnant, Cannon’s father.

Cannon’s two sisters, aged 7 and 8, reportedly saw the shooting.

Christina Prezioso identified herself as a cousin of Austin Hinnant.

In a GoFundMe fundraiser launched for the family, Prezioso called the shooting “a senseless act.”

“One minute he is enjoying his life, the next it all ends because he rode into his neighbor’s yard,” she wrote.

The cousin described Sessoms as a “coward” and said she hoped justice would be done.

It wasn’t clear whether Sessoms had an attorney. During a court hearing Tuesday, he told the court he planned on hiring his own lawyer and rejected efforts to appoint one, WRAL reported.

A funeral is being held on Sunday at the Shingleton Funeral Home. Rev. Darrell High will hold the funeral.

In an obituary, family members said Cannon leaves behind his parents, three grandparents, several great-grandparents, sisters, and brothers.

People writing on the website said they hope for justice.

“May God hold this family in his loving hands as I know he is sweet Cannon. And comfort their broken hearts as only he can. And bring justice to the evil demon that did this,” one wrote.

“The sadness I feel for this little man and his rights to life being taken away are just awful and disturbing. For the life of me why would anyone want to do this to an innocent little boy just trying to have some fun outdoors with his sibling. There are some sick people in this world that are so evil they should not be allowed to even exist,” another said.

A candlelight vigil outside the Wilson courthouse is planned for Friday night.

Sure to be welcomed as good news for people returning to offices, factories, and schools this fall who will be subject to regular COVID-19 testing: an Israeli hospital is hosting clinical trials for a new “instant” test which utilizes saliva, instead of the more invasive and uncomfortable deep nasal swab.

The new test method is currently undergoing clinical trials involving hundreds of people at the Center for Geographic Medicine and Tropical Diseases at Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv. It’s purported to show whether someone is positive or negative in less than a second and utilizes artificial intelligence.

Hailed as a much cheaper and more convenient testing method especially useful when large groups of people must be quickly tested, it’s so far said to be able to detect the virus at a 95% success rate.

As described in Reuters, it apparently doesn’t even require a swab or direct contact:

Patients rinse their mouth with a saline wash and spit into a vial. This is then examined by a small spectral device that, in simple terms, shines light on the specimen and analyzes the reaction to see if it is consistent with COVID-19.

With machine learning it gets more accurate over time.

Sheba hospital is partnering with the new technology’s developer, the Israel-based firm Newsight Imaging, to bring it to market. It could indeed be a game-changer, also given the projected price-tag of 25 cents for each single test, and $200 for the scanning machine itself. 

Reuters/VOA video purports to show how quick and easy the test is:

Some US colleges last month announced that for students to come back to campus, they have to agree to one or possibly up to two COVID-19 tests per week.

We expect a number of private businesses which can’t opt for a remote work option will follow suit.

As Boston Magazine quipped in a recent article the current deep cavity swab method is extremely uncomfortable to many, especially if required on a weekly bases – for example at Tufts University and others: “Oh, and by the way, twice a week someone has to jam a cotton swab into your brain,” the article commented. 

A cheap and easy saliva test available globally would most definitely be welcomed in such routine testing environments, and could actually help combat the disease more effectively, given how fast people with exposure could be isolated. 

By Ye Xie, Bloomberg macro commentator

There is some uneasiness seeping into the bond market.

Yields on 30-year Treasuries rose to the highest in five weeks after an auction disappointed. Higher yields are also consistent with the recent better-than-expected data, including the jobless claims and CPI. While the Fed will need to keep yields low to support the economy, there may be air pockets occasionally for rates to rise amid heavy bond supply and when data points to a cyclical recovery. If Friday’s retail sales exceed expectations again, it may add further pressure to the bond market.

In a sense, central banks are implicitly guaranteeing low rates for governments to borrow. This monetary-fiscal coordination is required because “printed money can make it into the hands of those who need it through the fiscal package,” Karen Karniol-Tambour, head of investment research at Bridgewater Associates, said in a Bloomberg TV interview.

In this new era of near-zero rates and quasi-monetization of debt, nominal bonds are a lot less useful in one’s portfolio, while gold and inflation-linked bonds have added value. Another feature of the current investment environment is that a more segmented world adds a sense of urgency for asset diversification. She said:

“When you are having a lot of pressure around fragmentation, pressure on companies to have their production be more localized, pressure to think through whether you will be allowed to move things across borders, and something that could turn into outright conflict, it is not a sensible time to say ‘let me have my investments in just one of the three poles’” of the U.S., Europe or China.

Chinese policy makers seem to be responding to both paradigm shifts – zero rates and fragmentation – a move that would encourage capital inflows to the nation’s markets. First,

• China has repeatedly pledged not to follow the developed world and pursue unconventional policies. Its 10-year bond yield, at close to 3%, stands tall for an A+ rated country.
• Second, President Xi Jinping has made a strategic shift to a so-called “dual circulation” strategy, emphasizing self-sufficiency in supply and demand. Already, Chinese defense, consumer and satellite stocks have outperformed lately.

The investment conclusion is easy: “I would recommend building the best portfolio you can with China bonds, because the rates are higher, and whatever collection of Chinese stocks you can put together to best reflect what that economy is like, including some national and local brands,” Karniol-Tamboursaid.

This week just as major Chinese live-firing naval drills were being conducted north of Taiwan, the US flew three of B-2 stealth bombers to its Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean.

British daily The Times describes that the American bomber movements were to address the growing Chinese threat over Taiwan on the very eve the PLA drill kicked off: “It is the first time the nuclear-capable strategic bombers have been sent to the remote island since 2016, in an indication of the growing concern about China’s intentions towards Taiwan,” according to a report Thursday.

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) held a series of multi-branch drills in the Taiwan Strait and northern areas this week. According to a PLA statement it’s in response to external countries sending the “wrong” signals to Taiwan’s pro-independence forces – clearly directed at Washington given the high level American delegation currently visiting Taipei – which Beijing says is a threat to peace and stability.

Washington is sending its own counter-message in its stepped up presence in the Indo-Pacific, as The Times continues: “The bombers flew across the Pacific from Whiteman air force base in Missouri to land at Diego Garcia, part of the British Indian Ocean Territory. With their advanced stealth technology, the B-2s can penetrate enemy territory without alerting air-defence radars.”

This also comes days after New Zealand and Australian based defense sources accused the PLA of building up amphibious assault units along the coast just opposite Taiwan. Satellite images which circulated were presented as depicting additional marine amphibious craft activity near the self-ruled island.

US surveillance aircraft appearing like commercial airliner constantly fly near China. They even follow civil aviation flights to confuse Chinese radars. This poses a threat to safety of civil aircraft over the South China Sea. It’s shameful for the US military to do so. pic.twitter.com/MHRDuJklCW

— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) August 12, 2020

Newsweek and other publications emphasized the drills are significant and aggressive, meant to send a clear signal:

Chinese military-tied media aired footage Monday of troops conducting large-scale air defense drills in southeast Guangdong province, which lies across the Taiwan Strait from the self-ruling island still claimed by the central government in Beijing and borders semi-autonomous Hong Kong, also the subject of international tensions. The exercises involved advanced systems such as the double 35-millimeter-barreled PGZ-09 and the quadruple 25-millimeter-barreled PGZ-95.

Diego Garcia remains a key remote outpost from which the US can deploy rapidly in places ranging from the Middle East to Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, state-backed Global Times Editor Hu Xijin tweeted that the ongoing PLA drills off Taiwan underscore it “is capable of launching a full-scale attack and capturing the island within hours, leaving US military no time to react. It’s a clear warning to Taiwan”. 

Official PLA military images show expansive drills around Taiwan, including air, naval, and ground forces:

🇨🇳Chinese military recently held drills directed at #Taiwan secessionist. The drills were a ‘necessary action’ to safeguard sovereignty. Confirmed by Senior Colonel Zhang Chunhui, spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army #PLA. #China (Pic: File) pic.twitter.com/7qJYSKGxdb

— Shen Shiwei沈诗伟 (@shen_shiwei) August 13, 2020

And alarming for the potential for conflict, whether unintentioned or otherwise, the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan has been seen “circling near Taiwan” since the weekend.

Earlier in the week Taiwan’s defense ministry described that “Chinese fighters’ deliberate harassment has ruined the current cross-strait status and has seriously damaged the safety of the region.” However, this has become a somewhat ‘routine’ occurrence, but now all the more dangerous given the increasing US naval and aerial presence in the area.

Authored by Jeff Harris via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,

Doctors are human and subject to human mistakes. Even doctors with exceptional “expert” credentials are still human and like all humans fallible.

That’s why patients often seek a second or even third opinion from other expert physicians BEFORE implementing a treatment program. That’s especially true if said treatment is potentially life threatening or subject to severe side effects that may be as deadly as the illness itself.

The Mayo Clinic published a study three years ago with the headline, “Three Reasons Why Getting a Second Opinion is Worth it.” It said in part:

The study has found that more than 1 in 5 patients referred for a second opinion-for many different conditions-may have been incorrectly diagnosed by their health providers.

Dr. James Naessens, SC. D. of Mayo Clinic’s campus in Rochester, led the study that looked at medical records for 286 patients whose healthcare provider referred them to Mayo Clinic for a second opinion. Dr. Naessens found that 21% of the time the final diagnosis was completely different from the original diagnosis!

But the Mayo Clinic is not alone in their recommendation of second opinions. Here’s what the Cleveland Clinic has to say about second opinions:

When your health-and perhaps even your life-is at stake, we want to make sure you are making the most informed decision about your diagnosis and treatment plan. . . 

Here’s what Johns Hopkins says about second opinions:

An accurate diagnosis is essential to ensure that the correct and most effective treatment is given. Getting a second opinion on a diagnosis can reverse a diagnosis or alter the treatment plan.

So the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins, some of the most highly respected, prestigious medical facilities in the world unanimously recommend second medical opinions.

Medical Malpractice

Somehow, the best medical advice from the nation’s most respected medical institutions recommending a second opinion was completely ignored when Covid-19 showed up.

Instead, a handful of alleged government medical “experts” advised the political class to use illegal, unconstitutional powers to lockdown the nation, with the threat that millions would die if we didn’t obey their dictates.

So why did the political class, those elected by the people to represent the people’s interest, not insist on a second opinion?

Why were they willing, some even eager, to ignore the peoples guaranteed Constitutional rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

Why were they willing to ignore the best medical advice to seek a second opinion BEFORE destroying the livelihoods of millions of hardworking American’s?

It’s not like there were no independent medical experts sounding the alarm about the Covid fraud and the ridiculous mass hysteria being whipped up by the politicians and the media.

Literally hundreds of highly credentialed medical experts across the globe are on record as to the absurdity of the actions recommended by government medical “experts”. One of those experts, Dr. John Ioannidis of Stanford University assembled a group of like-minded medical experts this past March to offer a second opinion to President Trump. They wanted him to know their professional assessment of Covid-19 was that yes it was a flu bug but locking down the nation was a ridiculously unnecessary move that could cause more harm than good.

Dr. Ioannidis said it was like an elephant being attacked by a house cat. Apparently President Trump gave in to his political advisors and ignored the second opinion advice of Dr. Ioannidis and his associates.

Instead President Trump should immediately convene a blue ribbon panel of independent medical experts with no ties to direct government funding or pharmaceutical control for a genuine second opinion. Then, act on their recommendations regardless of the hue and cry from the political class and their media enablers.

America needs a second opinion on Covid-19, and we need it acted on now!

This week CENTCOM chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said that Iran is the “top priority” for American forces deployed across the Middle East.

“As I look at the theater, we remain focused on Iran as our central problem. This headquarters focuses on Iran, executing deterrence activities against Iran, and doing those things,” McKenzie said Wednesday at a think tank hosted defense conference.

Despite the Islamic State long being driven underground, though the Pentagon has lately claimed the terror group is making a comeback, McKenzie went so far as to blame Iran for any resurgent ISIS activity: “The threat against our forces from Shiite militant groups has caused us to put resources that we would otherwise use against ISIS to provide for our own defense and that has lowered our ability to work effectively against them,” the CENTCOM commander said.

Recall that the administration has long argued ISIS is the main reason for a continued US troops presence in northeast Syria. Despite Trump’s “secure the oil” statements, the Pentagon’s official reason for being there is to counter ISIS and ensure it can’t regain a foothold. Across the border in Iraq, there’s growing pressure for all US bases and deployments to exit amid tensions with Iran-backed Iraqi Shia militias.

Meanwhile, following last month’s headline-grabbing fire and explosion at Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant, widely seen as most likely an act of sabotage, Iran is actually moving to boost production of nuclear fuel at the damaged site.

Bloomberg details in a new report that Iranian authorities are “transfering new generations of advanced centrifuges used to enrich uranium — the heavy metal needed for nuclear power and weapons — from a pilot facility into a new hall at its primary fuel plant in Natanz, according to a one-page restricted International Atomic Energy Agency document seen by Bloomberg.”

If the July 2 incident was indeed an act of Israeli or US sabotage, it apparently didn’t do the job of derailing potential uranium enrichment capabilities at the site. There is consensus at this point that it was a covert attack, possibly via cyber operations.

Bloomberg concludes: “The addition of advanced centrifuges to Hall B of the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant — another technical violation of its 2015 agreement with world powers — suggests that last month’s attack at a nearby machine shop didn’t have the intended effect of disrupting production.”

Authored by Ben Wilson via SaraACarter.com,

The United States announced Thursday it is requiring the center that manages the Communist China funded Confucius Institute in the United States to register as a foreign mission. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the institute is “an entity advancing Beijing’s global propaganda and malign influence campaign on U.S. campuses and K-12 classrooms.”

Workers with the Institute in America will not be kicked out but top U.S. diplomat for East Asia David Stilwell said universities should take a “hard look at the activities they are engaging in on campuses,” as reported by WKZO.

Designation of the Confucius Institute U.S. Center as a Foreign Mission of the PRC Foreign Mission of the PRC

The Trump Administration has made it a priority to seek fair and reciprocal treatment from the People’s Republicof China. For more than four decades, Beijing has of China. For more than four decades, Beijing has enjoyed free and open access to U.S. society, while denying that same access to Americans and other foreigners in China. Furthermore, the PRC has taken advantage of America’s openness to undertake large scaleand well-funded propaganda efforts and influence and well-funded propaganda efforts and influence operations in this country.

Today, the Department of State designated the Confucius Institute U.S. Center as a foreign mission of the PRC, recognizing CIUS for what it is: an entity advancing Beijing’s global propaganda and malign influence campaign on U.S. campuses and K-12 classrooms. Confucius Institutes are funded by the PRC and part of the Chinese Communist Party’s global influence and propaganda apparatus.

The goal of these actions is simple: to ensure that American educators and school administrators can make informed choices about whether these CCP-backed programs should be allowed to continue, and if so, in what fashion. Universities around the country and around the world are examining the Confucius Institutes’ curriculum and the scope of Beijing’s influence in their education systems.

The United States wants to ensure education systems. The United States wants to ensure that students on U.S. campuses have access to Chinese language and cultural offerings free from the manipulation of the Chinese Communist Party and its proxies.

Pompeo’s agency details the issues being the curriculum and influence the Institute is having in the education system across the nation.

Stilwell noted that there were about 500 Confucius classrooms in the United States affiliated with a university-based Confucius Institute.

According to the U.S. non-profit organization, the National Association of Scholars, there were 75 Confucius Institutes in the United States as of June, including 66 at colleges and universities.

The association contends that the institutes compromise academic freedom, defy Western norms of transparency, and are inappropriate on campuses.

China rejects that criticism, calling it politicized and baseless.

This follows previous measures taken by the State Department to label media outlets funded by the Communist China Party as foreign missions.

Somehow, thanks to the global crush of liquidity and a broad-based rally in tech SoftBank Group’s shares are riding high, making Paul Singer and Elliott look like activist geniuses once again.

Thanks to the global crush of liquidity and a broad-based rally in tech shares (with some programmatic buybacks thrown in the mix, as upping SoftBank’s buybacks was critical to Singer’s plan), SoftBank is finding itself back in investors’ good graces, and Masayoshi Son is claiming vindication.

And what better way to telegraph Masa’s great comeback than by doubling down on one of SoftBank’s biggest blunders: WeWork. SoftBank is plowing $1.1 billion into WeWork to help it weather the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg reports, citing an internal staff memo.

The decision isn’t exactly a huge surprise. It certainly fits with the theme of SoftBank’s latest quarterly earnings release, whereby the firm saw its earnings bounce back from record lows, posting a $12 billion profit, compared with a $13 billion loss during the same period from a year prior. In reality, much of this boost is due to SoftBank shedding its shares in its US subsidiary Sprint and T-Mobile US.

Per BBG, the new SoftBank money is “another sign of SoftBank’s continued support for our business,” boosts WeWork’s cash on hand to $4.1 billion, according to a memo from SoftBank Chief Financial Officer Kimberly Ross.

Will that be enough to allow the now dramatically-downsized WeWork to hang on until the pandemic lifts, when there might be an opportunity – in theory, at least – to profit from changing work habits?

That’s a big if.

Of course, the BBG story didn’t say anything about an ongoing lawsuit against SoftBank filed by WeWork’s co-founder and former CEO Adam Neumann, who attacked SoftBank for renegging on some $3 billion promised to Neumann and a group of other early shareholders, mostly VC funds.

At the time, SoftBank said it would funnel that money back into WeWork. We guess this is them making good on that promise, for better or worse.