As a prepper I like to keep up to date with what is going on in the world.
I particularly like to maintain a close watching brief on the main issues that might just kick off and cause some sort of SHTF situation.
Each day I spend a couple of hours scanning through news alert services, blogs, vlogs and newsletters to get a bit ahead of the game to know what is happening and what is coming along the track.
I thought I would try sharing on steemit the key stories I find in case anyone else - prepper or otherwise - might be interested.
Nuclear War / EMP / North Korea
Reuters reports that 38 North, a Washington-based North Korean monitoring project, believe that North Korea has more plutonium than previously thought. Experts at 38 North estimated in April that North Korea could have as many as 20 nuclear bombs and could produce one more each month.
[14 Jul ‘17 - Reuters]
North Korea may have more nuclear bomb material than thought - U.S. think tank
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-northkorea-nuclear-exclusive-idUKKBN19Z1EW
[14 Jul ‘17 - 38 North]
North Korea’s Yongbyon Facility: Probable Production of Additional Plutonium for Nuclear Weapons
http://www.38north.org/2017/07/yongbyon071417/
And if you don’t think North Korea can hit the USA (or anywhere) with a full-on nuke attack, Fox News explores the idea that the rogue state could knock out the USA with an EMP attack.
[13 Jul ‘17 - Fox News, USA]
Could North Korea turn America’s lights out? We’re living in the dark about our electric grid
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/07/13/could-north-korea-turn-america-s-lights-out-re-living-in-dark-about-our-electric-grid.html
Biological Warfare / North Korea
The UK’s Sunday Express claims that newly unearthed papers [?! the report was published in 2013 !!] show Kim Jong-un’s troops could launch a deadly biological attack on the West armed with poisonous gas and bacteria. According to a report from the US think-tank the Rand Corporation North Korea has been developing biological weapons including anthrax, plague and smallpox since the early1980’s.
[15 Jul ‘17 - Sunday Express, UK]
North Korea’s biological WAR: Jong-un's kingdom weaponises deadly diseases to smash enemy
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/828661/North-Korea-latest-Kim-Jong-un-biological-attack-weapon-world-war-three-US-threat
Pandemics / Bird Flu
On a slightly more positive note CIDRAP reports that China has reported just one new human case of H7N9 avian influenza case for the week, a sign that the fifth wave of activity is probably drawing to a close. China is also extending their poultry vaccination to the whole country. China have reported around 750 cases in the fifth and largest wave of H7N9 illnesses, which began last October. At least 282 cases were fatal.
[14 Jul ‘17 - CIDRAP, USA]
China's weekly H7N9 case totals stay in single digits
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2017/07/chinas-weekly-h7n9-case-totals-stay-single-digits
On a different bird flu angle the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis is being sued over bird flu vaccine trials on homeless people.
[14 Jul ‘17 - The Local, Switzerland]
Swiss pharma firm sued over bird flu trials on homeless people
https://www.thelocal.ch/20170714/swiss-pharma-firm-novartis-sued-over-bird-flu-clinical-trials-on-homeless-people
Antibiotic Resistance
The continued growth of resistance to our current range of antibiotics has the potential to become a major global problem. Resistance is developing in a growing number of disease causing bacteria.
Geo TV reports that more than 250 children have been affected by multi-drug resistant typhoid (MDR) in Hyderabad in India. Fifteen more children are also affected in Karachi, Pakistan.
[14 Jul ‘17 - Geo TV, Pakistan]
Multi-drug resistance typhoid: Experts warn about 'world’s biggest outbreak'
https://www.geo.tv/latest/149448-multi-drug-resistance-typhoid-experts-warn-about-worlds-biggest-outbreak
Another common disease that is becoming resistant to current treatments is gonorrhoea. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a warning about a new strain of gonorrhoea called ‘super gonorrhoea’ that is infecting people around the world. The UN health agency last week noted that data from 77 countries show that antibiotic resistance is making gonorrhoea much harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat.
[14 Jul ‘17 - The Southern Times, Namibia / Zimbabwe ]
Oral sex, decreased condom use blamed for untreatable ‘super gonorrhoea’: WHO
https://southernafrican.news/2017/07/14/oral-sex-decreased-condom-use-blamed-for-untreatable-super-gonorrhoea-who/
Supervolcanoes
There have been many reports recently of the large number of small earthquakes in the area of the Yellowstone National Park prompting fears that the Yellowstone supervolcano could erupt causing widespread devastation.
This article from Inverse Science puts this in perspective and reiterates the current consensus that the chance of a major eruption of Yellowstone is extremely remote.
[13 Jul ‘17 - Inverse Science]
This Map Shows Earth's Turbulent History of Supervolcano Eruptions - The United States was once a very fiery place. https://www.inverse.com/article/34115-what-is-a-supervolcano-eruption-history-map
That’s all for now.
Don’t get nightmares - just keep prepping. 😉
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