Report: Trump Ready to Dump S. Korean Trade Deal

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At a time when tensions in the Korean Peninsula are increasingly high, President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to end a free trade deal with South Korea

According to The Washington Post, which cited unidentified sources “close to the process,” the decision is far along but not final, although it could be announced next week.

The Wall Street Journal also reported Trump is considering pulling out the deal.

The White House confirmed to The Post that the deal is being discussed, but would not comment further.

The Post said some of Trump’s advisers are opposed to the move. It named national security adviser H.R. McMaster, Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn as being against the deal ending.

South Korea has been working closely with the United States to oppose North Korea’s missile program, but that that partnership could be impacted if the nations begin a trade war.

The South Korean trade agreement has been in effect since 2012.

If the United States were to withdraw, goods imported from South Korea could cost more, because the U.S. could slap heavy tariffs upon them. Cars, cell phones and various electronic items are all major imports form South Korea.

U.S. action could spur a similar response from South Korea, making U.S. products more expensive in that country.

U.S. trade representative Robert E. Lighthizer said in July that since 2012, the U.S. “trade deficit in goods with Korea has doubled from $13.2 billion to $27.6 billion, while U.S. goods exports have actually gone down. This is quite different from what the previous Administration sold to the American people when it urged approval of this Agreement. We can and must do better.”

In June, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross made the administration’s concerns public as Trump sought to renegotiate the deal.

“There are a lot of very specific problems,” Ross told South Korean President Moon Jae-in on June 30.

“For many, many years, the United States has suffered through massive trade deficits….we’ll be changing that,” Trump said during his part of the June 30 meeting with Moon.

“The fact is that the United States has trade deficits with many, many countries, and we cannot allow that to continue,” Trump added at the time. “And we’ll start with South Korea right now.” (For more from the author of “Report: Trump Ready to Dump S. Korean Trade Deal” please click HERE)

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French Police Officers Injured During Clashes With Migrants

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Three police officers were injured during clashes with migrants Saturday by the French port of Calais.

Calais has become a hotspot for migrants who want to make it to the United Kingdom through the Eurotunnel. Migrants frequently attempt to hijack trucks on the motorway and many “took advantage of the bottleneck to board a few trucks,” according to local deputy police chief Jean-Philippe Vennin.

“Our British colleagues had opened only nine out of 14 lanes this weekend though we expected 9,000 vehicles in the Eurotunnel and 7,500 at the port,” Vennin told AFP.

Police used tear gas to stop migrants and three police officers were reported injured. Police did not comment on whether any migrants were hurt during the clashes. (Read more from “French Police Officers Injured During Clashes With Migrants” HERE)

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Sonic Assault: More American Diplomats in Cuba Have Health Issues

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Unusual health attacks on U.S. diplomats in Cuba continued as recently as August despite previous assessments that the activities had stopped in the spring, the U.S. said on Friday.

“We can confirm another incident which occurred last month and is now part of the investigation,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

The U.S. is continually revising its assessments of the extent of the attacks as new information is obtained, Nauert said. An investigation has not been completed.

The announcement that the attacks – in which a potential covert sonic device caused a series of issues, including permanent hearing loss – comes after the union representing American diplomats said that mild traumatic brain injury was among the diagnoses given to diplomats victimized in the attack.

The American Foreign Service Association said additional symptoms had included brain swelling, severe headaches, loss of balance and “cognitive disruption.” (Read more from “Sonic Assault: More American Diplomats in Cuba Have Health Issues” HERE)

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Putin Warns N. Korea Situation on Verge of ‘Large-Scale Conflict’

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Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that the tense standoff between North Korea and the United States was on the verge of large-scale conflict and said it was a mistake to try to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear missile programme.

Putin, who is due to attend a summit of the BRICS nations in China next week, wrote in an article published on the Kremlin’s web site ahead of his trip that he favoured negotiations with North Korea instead.

“It is essential to resolve the region’s problems through direct dialogue involving all sides without advancing any preconditions (for such talks),” Putin wrote.

“Provocations, pressure, and bellicose and offensive rhetoric is the road to nowhere.”

The situation on the Korean Peninsula had deteriorated so much that it was now “balanced on the verge of a large-scale conflict,” said the Russian leader. (Read more from “Putin Warns N. Korea Situation on Verge of ‘Large-Scale Conflict'” HERE)

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Donald Trump Just Retaliated Against Russia. Here’s What He Did.

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A common narrative presented by opponents of President Donald Trump is that he is, at best, too friendly with Russia, and at worst, actively working with the adversarial nation to further his own personal or business interests.

If that was ever the case, it doesn’t appear to be so anymore, as the Trump administration announced Thursday that Moscow will be required to shut down diplomatic posts in several major American cities in a continued tit-for-tat of Cold War-esque maneuvering between the two nations . . .

Why is the Trump administration doing this? Russian President Vladmir Putin ordered the expulsion of more than 700 U.S. diplomats after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia in July. Those sanctions were the result of Russian interference in the 2016 election, human rights violations, the annexation of Crimea and military operations in the Ukraine. (Read more from “Donald Trump Just Retaliated Against Russia. Here’s What He Did.” HERE)

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Hormones Used to Cure Fear of Migrants?

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A group of researchers from Germany and the United States claims to have found at least a partial cure for xenophobia, a much heralded accomplishment in the wake of a historic migrant crisis that has swept more than 1.7 million Muslim refugees from the Middle East and Africa into Europe’s cities and led to fissures in social cohesion that some predict have sewn the seeds of civil war.

According to the researchers, the hormone drug oxytocin administered in combination with peer influence caused people inclined to have “negative attitudes” toward migrants to actually want to reach out and help them.

“Researchers have shown in a new study that the bonding hormone oxytocin together with social norms significantly increases the willingness to donate money to refugees in need, even in people who tend to have a skeptical attitude towards migrants,” the study concluded.

The experiment was carried out on three test groups by researchers at the University of Bonn Medical Center in cooperation with the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the University of Lübeck in northern Germany. They conducted three experiments in which they tested a total of 183 subjects, who were all German natives. The subjects were asked to read about the needs of real-life refugee families and decide whether to donate money to them or to native German families with needs. (Read more from “Hormones Used to Cure Fear of Migrants?” HERE)

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Russia Says War Games Are ‘Purely Defensive’

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The Russian military dismissed Western concerns over a major war game that has underscored Cold War-style tensions in the Baltic Sea region, as the U.S. further beefed up its presence there.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Alexander Fomin said Tuesday the joint-Russian-Belarusian exercises, which will take place in September partly on Belarus’s border with NATO members Lithuania and Poland, would be of “a purely defensive nature,” testing the ability of troops to respond to a hypothetical adversary.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials have warned the maneuvers, planned amid a military buildup in the region by the alliance and Russia, could serve as a screen for Russia to deploy more military equipment and heighten the risk of an accident or miscalculation that could touch off a crisis.

The U.S. has deployed a tank brigade to Central and Eastern Europe, part of a larger deterrent force covering NATO’s eastern flank. On Tuesday, it sent seven F-15C Eagle fighter planes from a base in the U.K. to Lithuania to take over NATO’s Baltic air policing mission from Poland, a larger-than-normal deployment of aircraft. (Read more from “Russia Says War Games Are ‘Purely Defensive'” HERE)

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New Report Concludes Nurse May Be Postwar Germany’s Most Prolific Killer

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A German nurse currently imprisoned for killing patients he injected with lethal doses of medicine before trying to revive them is now a suspect in at least 84 other murder cases, officials said Monday.

Niels Hoegel, 40, was sentenced to life in prison in February 2015 after he admitted administering overdoses of heart medication to some patients. At the time, he said he had done so to about 90 people of the 130 to 200 people for whom he provided care. Officials then launched a further investigation.

During his 2015 trial, he said he acted to show off his excellent skills at resuscitation, and admitted to acting on impulse when he gave drugs to those who were ailing. Prosecutors alleged that he acted because he was bored.

“The findings continue to breach any imagination,” said Oldenburg Police Chief Johann Kuhme. “It is simply not possible to say how many people were killed.”

Kuhme said that Hoegel’s victims crimes go back to 1999, and that some who died have been cremated.

“The realization of what we were able to learn is horrifying,” Kuhme said. “It defies any scope of the imagination.”

Kuhme said that Hoegel’s spree could have been cut short.

“The killings could have been prevented if the people responsible at the time — and I stress at the time — particularly at the Oldenburg clinic but also later on in Delmenhorst hadn’t hesitated to alert authorities, for example the state prosecution,” he said.

Police believe Hoegel killed 36 patients in Oldenburg between 1999 and 2001, and another 48 people from the hospital in Delmenhorst.

If verified, the toll of victims would make Hoegel the most prolific murderer in post-World War II Germany.

“The death toll is unique in the history of the German republic,” said chief police investigator Arne Schmidt, who said the selection of victims appeared to be random.

There was “evidence for at least 90 murders, and at least as many (suspected) cases again that can no longer be proven”, he said. (For more from the author of “New Report Concludes Nurse May Be Postwar Germany’s Most Prolific Killer” please click HERE)

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North Korea Fires Missile Over Japan, Sharply Escalating Tensions

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North Korea fired a missile that flew over Japan and landed in waters off the northern region of Hokkaido early on Tuesday, South Korean and Japanese officials said, marking a sharp escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The test, which experts said appeared to have been a recently developed intermediate-range Hwasong-12 missile, came as U.S. and South Korean forces conduct annual military drills on the peninsula, against which North Korea strenuously objects.

Earlier this month, North Korea threatened to fire four Hwasong-12 missiles into the sea near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Pyongyang would face “fire and fury” if it threatened the United States.

North Korea has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests under young leader Kim Jong Un, the most recent on Saturday, but firing projectiles over mainland Japan is rare.

“North Korea’s reckless action is an unprecedented, serious and a grave threat to our nation,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters. (Read more from “North Korea Fires Missile Over Japan, Sharply Escalating Tensions” HERE)

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BBC Promotes Putting Lithium in Drinking Water to Combat Dementia

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Researchers in Denmark believe that we should add lithium to drinking water because studies show it may reduce dementia.

You simply can’t make this up. Adding fluoride, a neurotoxin, according to The Lancet medical journal, to our water isn’t enough.

The BBC reported that a study, at the University of Copenhagen, looked at the medical records of 73,731 Danish people with dementia and 733,653 without the mental disease.

They then tested the tap water in 151 areas of the country and some how these “experts” came to the conclusion that lithium, which is an alkaline metal, is good for the brain’s health at certain concentrations to prevent dementia.

The results, published in JAMA Psychiatry, alleged to show moderate lithium levels (between 5.1 and 10 micrograms per litre) increased the risk of dementia by 22% compared with low levels (below five micrograms per litre).

However, the article continues to say that the scientists found “drinking water with the highest lithium levels (above 15 micrograms per litre) had a 17% reduction in risk.”

The researchers said:

This is the first study, to our knowledge, to investigate the association between lithium in drinking water and the incidence of dementia.

Higher long-term lithium exposure from drinking water may be associated with a lower incidence of dementia.

What’s failed to be mentioned in the article is that lithium is used as an additive to extend the life and performance of alkaline batteries and in autogenous welding and brass welding, as well as having well-known harmful long-term side effects.

Lentech listed the risk of lithium exposure, especially noting the inhaling/ingestion of lithium:

Effects of exposure to Lithium: Fire: Flammable. Many reactions may cause fire or explosion. Gives off irritating or toxic fumes (or gases) in a fire. Explosion: Risk of fire and explosion on contact with combustible substances and water. Inhalation: Burning sensation. Cough. Laboured breathing. Shortness of breath. Sore throat. Symptoms may be delayed. Skin: Redness. Skin burns. Pain. Blisters. Eyes: Redness. Pain. Severe deep burns. Ingestion: Abdominal cramps. Abdominal pain. Burning sensation. Nausea. Shock or collapse. Vomiting. Weakness.

Effects of short-term exposure: The substance is corrosive to the eyes, the skin and the respiratory tract. Corrosive on ingestion. Inhalation of the substance may cause lung oedema. The symptoms of lung oedema often do not become manifest until a few hours have passed and they are aggravated by physical effort. Rest and medical observation is therefore essential. Immediate administration of an appropriate spray, by a doctor or a person authorized by him/her, should be considered.

This comes after the Environmental Working Group, an environment watchdog, released a searchable database of all the harmful chemicals in our drinking water and surprise, surprise lithium was included in that list.

The group noted that “ingesting too much lithium can lead to symptoms like abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting.”

Still, the medical community wants to try to push adding lithium to our water because they believe it will help depression. There is no better word to describe such an idea other than insanity.

“In high doses, or even at low doses in some people, lithium can be toxic, so it is important that people consult with their doctor before they consider taking it as a supplement,” James Pickett, of the Alzheimer’s Society charity told New Scientist.

He’s exactly right; everyone’s body has a different chemical make-up, which is why you shouldn’t put foreign chemicals into your body because no person’s body reacts the same.

Lithium was also included in early recipes of the soda 7UP but was not included in the final product.

Another study found that “exposure to lithium via drinking water and other environmental sources may affect the thyroid function,” stressing the need to screen water for lithium. (For more from the author of “BBC Promotes Putting Lithium in Drinking Water to Combat Dementia” please click HERE)

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