🔹China 🇨🇳 suspended some fish and fruit imports from Taiwan, citing excessive pesticide residue detected on products since last year. Exports of natural sand, used in construction, were also banned. China is Taiwan’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade rising 26% on year to $328.3 billion last year.

🔹Beijing also announced four days of military exercises with artillery fire in waters around Taiwan 🇹🇼. That might delay or disrupt shipping 🚢 to and from the island, one of the biggest global traders.

🔹PLA completes long-range live-fire training 🚀 in Taiwan Straits with expected results. Relevant sea 🚢 and airspace ✈️ control off the eastern coast of Taiwan island has been lifted.

🔹Diesel ⛽️ Update - Refineries 🏭 are running just full blast. One of the reasons, is that the margins have been so strong. They are putting a lot of products onto the market. Will diesel drag up crude with it? Or will diesel just move higher than crude?

🔹When you don’t have enough natural gas, 🔥 you inevitably turn to diesel or some kind of distillate as a substitute, whether it is for an industrial process [or] whether it’s to generate electricity. “The fact of the matter is, it’s tough for any crude 🛢 to yield more than 40% diesel. That’s your maximum.

🔹Oil refiner OMV Germany 🇩🇪 is reportedly experiencing a mass run on oil and diesel. The rush to shore up supply is likely due to a panicked market leading to buyers to hoard, as well as mass speculation. Oil is being used as an alternative source of energy in Europe as Russian 🇷🇺 flows of natural gas to the continent decline. And the Rhine river, an essential dispatch for deliveries originating from the North Sea, 🚢 is dangerously shallow.

🔹U.S.A. 🇺🇸- A surge in decommissioning fossil fuel power plants 🏭 has outpaced new clean energy generation 🔌 capacity, has sparked the worst energy crisis in nearly five decades, with skyrocketing electricity prices 📈 and heightened risk of grid instability.

🔹US utilities warn about the increasing risks of sourcing critical components ⚙️ to repair power grids 🔋 if storms during the hurricane season ⛈ wreak havoc.

🔹Recently, the North American Electric 💡Reliability Corporation (NERC) warned that two-thirds of the U.S. 🇺🇸 could experience blackouts this summer ☀️ as stated in their report.

🔹Utilities have been warning of supply constraints for equipment, which could hamper efforts 🛠 to restore power during outages 🔦.

🔹French 🇫🇷 utility Electricite de France 💡said nuclear power stations on the Rhone and Garonne rivers will reduce power generation 🏭 because a persistent heatwave is increasing water temperatures too hot to circulate through condensers and discharge back into waterways.

🔹France 🇫🇷 is the continent's largest producer of atomic energy, usually a net exporter of power across EU 🇪🇺 member states but is now importing electricity since the output this summer ☀️ will be the lowest in more than three decades.

🔹Even though France is less reliant on Russian 🇷🇺 supplies of gas than other EU countries, generating around three-quarters of its electricity 🔌 from nuclear power plants. France is also facing a winter with fewer of its nuclear plants 🏭 online because of either maintenance or safety concerns. Frances industrial sector still relies on gas 🔥 and millions of people use it to heat their homes.

🔹Water levels 💧on the Rhine in Germany 🇩🇪 continue to fall to record lows compared to historical data in same season of year. Fertilizer producer, BASF says it is concentrating efforts on chartering vessels suitable for shallow water and is seeking transport alternatives such as railways 🚂.

🔹Freight shipping on the river continues but with vessels 🚢 sometimes forced to sail 75% empty. Low Rhine water will also hit output from two German coal-fired power stations 🏭 in the coming months.

🔹The majority of nearly 200 million tons of cargo shipped on German rivers – from coal to car parts, food to chemicals – is transported on the Rhine. German 🇩🇪 companies faced supply bottlenecks and production problems in 2018 after a drought ☀️ and heatwave led to unusually low water levels on the Rhine.

🔹China 🇨🇳 has halted ties with the US 🇺🇸 on a range of critical issues, from talks on the climate crisis to dialogue between their militaries. The announcement of the counter-measures came as Beijing conducted military drills ⛴ 🚁🛩surrounding the island of Taiwan.

🔹China's military drills 🚀 are being conducted, are beyond the median line that separates mainland China and Taiwan 🇹🇼 while one of the areas straddled it. The line was demarcated by US Air Force General Benjamin Davis in 1955 after the PLA took control of the Yijiangshan islands off Zhejiang province from Kuomintang troops. The mainland refused to formally recognise the line but still complied.

🔹Yesterday's stunt by Germany's 🇩🇪 Chancellor turns out to be posturing.

🔹The turbine, after repairs in Canada, 🇨🇦 is over 2 months late for return to Russia. The turbine was issued by Siemens Energy and not the firm that is contracted to Gazprom. If the turbine is shipped to Russia, there is a risk that Canadian authorities will see this is as a breach of contract, and withdraw permission for further maintenance of turbines ⚙️ to be carried out on its soil.

🔹Today, Ukraine's 🇺🇦 ambassador to Canada has called on the Canadian 🇨🇦 gov't to reverse its decision to service Russian 🇷🇺 turbines.

Background:
💠 Gazprom claims declare 'force-majeure' on Nord Stream 1 now at 20% capacity. 🔥

💠 Gazprom 🇷🇺 stopped the operation of a second Siemens turbine for servicing.

💠 Gazprom 🇷🇺 is awaiting the full volumes of function testing/safety/legal documents 📂.

💠 Western sanctions 🇨🇦 have been stalling the return of the turbine.

🔹Russian 🇷🇺 President Putin meets with Turkish President 🇹🇷 Erdogan in Sochi, Russia. The two leaders agreed to switch part of the payments for Russian gas 🔥 to rubles, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters after the talks.

🔹President Putin has thanked 🙏 his Turkish counterpart President Erdogan for his role as a mediator in the shipment of grain 🌾 ships from Ukraine 🇺🇦.

🔹They agreed to boost cooperation in the transport, 🚢 agriculture, 🚜 finance 🏦 and construction 🛠 industries and stressed the need for "the full implementation of the Istanbul agreement, including the unimpeded export of Russia's grain, fertiliser and raw materials for their production."

Netherlands 🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱:
🔹Dutch farmers 🚜 have vowed to cause chaos in the country with their “hardest demonstrations ever” 🔥after talks over government climate change targets ended in deadlock.

🔹🇳🇱 Farmers Defence Force, which represents eight agricultural organisations, some 95 per cent of the industry, was locked out 🔏 of the first round of negotiations earlier this week with Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

🔹Police 🚓 and farmers 🚜 face-off over a mural featuring the words “no farmers, no food,” referencing the EU-driven green agenda that globalist PM Mark Rutte is trying to impose.

Background:
💠Protests 🔥 erupted recently over the government's draconian nitrogen oxides curbing plan.

💠This will result in the destruction of meat/diary farming 🐂 🐄 in The Netherlands.

💠Dutch farmers have been resilient in not backing down 👍.

🔹Israel's military continue to level the Gaza Strip following a wave of air strikes 🚀on the coastal enclave that killed at least 12 people, including a five-year-old girl and a commander of a Palestinian armed group.

🔹Israel 🇮🇱 describes the attack as a “pre-emptive operation” against a Palestinian 🇵🇸 militant group. Reports confirm Israeli iron dome interception of launches from Gaza.

🔹Chief of Iran’s 🇮🇷 Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has condemned Israel’s latest onslaught against the Gaza Strip, saying the Tel Aviv 🇮🇱 regime will pay a heavy price for its atrocities.

🔹Israeli army arrests 19 Islamic Jihad members overnight in the occupied West Bank. Dozens of rockets 🔥 fired from Palestinian 🇵🇸 armed wing of Islamic Jihad targeting Israeli towns and cities.

Video- Compilation of bombings on Gaza Strip by the IDF. Sourced @intelslava

Part III of Europe's move towards a centralised social credit system.
🔹The European Parliament and EU 🇪🇺 member-states have reached a political agreement on the Digital Services Act (DSA), that sets standards for accountability across online platforms, to hold online service providers responsible for content moderation.

🔹Greece 🇬🇷 has rolled out a digital wallet application for its citizens, allowing people to carry their ID and driving license on their mobile phone 📱.

🔹French 🇫🇷 lawmakers have approved a plan to launch a biometric health card. France has a health card 💳 called Carte Vitale, which allows users to get reimbursements for medical costs to their bank account.

🔹Passengers could soon be flying from Finland 🇫🇮 to Croatia 🇭🇷 using digital ID on their phones, rather than physical ID card or passport, pending European Commission approval.

Background:
💠Part II (digital ID / climate change).

💠 Part I (carbon credits and digital wallets).

Video- David Kurten

Will the next 2007 Lehman Brothers trigger be life-insurance companies?
🔹US 🇺🇸 - 5th largest life-insurance company Lincoln Financial Group sees 163% increase in pay-outs in the last year. Reports $41,000,000 loss 📉 in Q1 2022.

🔹Taiwan 🇹🇼 - Mercuries Life Insurance Co reported a net loss of US$224.7 million 📉for H1 2022, due to losses from investments.

🔹India 🇮🇳 - 4 PSU insurers (Public Sector Undertakings) faces losses 📉 from health portfolio arm of insurance business.

🔹UK 🇬🇧 - Health experts have called for an urgent investigation into what is behind the excess mortality. Excess deaths for the week ending July 22 were up 18.1% 📈 above historical data.

🔹US 🇺🇸 - 25-44 year old excess deaths due to cardio-vascular diseases spike 📈 compared to 5 year average.

🔹Dr Guy Hatchard concerned over the high number of excess deaths 📈for Q1 of 2022 in New Zealand 🇳🇿.

🔹Israeli 🇮🇱 air raids on the Gaza Strip has left 24 people dead, including six children 🙏 and a 23-year-old woman. Claims on Israeli channels say that these children were killed by a misfired rocket in Northern Gaza. However, this morning we reported the killing of a 5-year old girl.

🔹The Israel Defense Forces claim to have killed a senior leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group in an airstrike 🛩 on the city of Rafah.

🔹Israel's Iron Dome missile 📡 defense system 🛰 destroyed 95% of the rockets from Palestine 🇵🇸 mid-air. The IDF declares their pre-emptive operation as ‘Operation Breaking Dawn’ and prepared for it to last up to a week.

🔹The Leader of Lebanon's 🇱🇧 Hezbollah "resistance movement" denounces the Israeli action. Saudi Arabia's 🇸🇦 Press Agency releases statements of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Arab League denouncing Israel for it's attacks on the Palestinian peoples.

Video - Jabalia, Northern Gaza Strip.

UK 🇬🇧 - Possible Supply Chain disruption:
🔹Dockers at Felixstowe ⚓️ are planning eight days of strike action over pay. Nearly 1,900 workers plan to stop work for more than a week at the Hong Kong 🇭🇰-owned port, starting on Sunday 21 August and ending on Monday 29 August.

🔹The union said the latest round of talks with the company at the conciliation service Acas had failed to yield a “reasonable offer”, but further talks are planned for tomorrow. A 7% pay offer from Felixstowe Dock ⚓️ and Railway Company was rejected. Unite called the pay offer "significantly below" the rate of inflation 📈.

🔹Felixstowe, on the Suffolk coast, handles the equivalent of 4m 20-ft shipping containers 🚢 every year from about 2,000 ships – including some of the very largest container ships ever made. It is the eighth-largest container 🚢 port in Europe.

🔹Five Turkish 🇹🇷 banks have adopted Russia’s Mir payments system, post Presidents Erdogan/Putin meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

🔹Russia 🇷🇺 has also provided much needed foreign-exchange liquidity to Turkey by transferring billions of dollars to a Turkey-based subsidiary of Rosatom for completion of a nuclear power 🏭 plant’s construction on the Mediterranean coast.

🔹The Mir Pay mobile payment service provider has started operating in 🇧🇾 Belarus.

🔹Mir Payment adoption to be discussed in 🇲🇲 Myanmar.

Prior Developments:
💠 Iran, 🇮🇷 South Korea 🇰🇷 and Cuba 🇨🇺 adopts Mir Payment system. Sri Lanka and Syria adoption under consideration.

🔹Britain's 🇬🇧 cap on domestic energy prices is expected to rise by 70% in October and remain high until at least 2024.

🔹The typical gas 🔥and electricity bill 💡is expected to reach £3,358 in October. In October 2021, the average annual bill was £1,400.

🔹More than 75,000 irritated people in the UK have pledged not to pay their electricity 🔌 bill this fall when prices jump again. This comes as an inflation 📈 storm of high energy prices has obliterated household incomes. Brits are the most miserable in three decades as inflation is expected to hit 13%.

🔹🇬🇧 Consumers are warned If they don't agree a payment plan with their 🔋 supplier, suppliers might try to force them to have a pre-payment meter installed. In very rare cases, if you haven't paid a bill after 28 days, you might be threatened with disconnection 🕯of your supply.

🔹 US - 🇺🇸 The water levels 💧in Lake Mead & Lake Powell are at their lowest ever ⚠️ & are getting close to reaching "dead pool status." Too low water levels will affect downstream hydroelectric 🏭 stations. California adopted an emergency water 🚰 regulations in May. Farmers 🚜 are coming at the problem of saltwater intrusion with a desalination plant and an artificial rock barrier.

🔹 UK - 🇬🇧 Thames Water may have shut down an emergency ☀️ drought plant (desalination plant in Beckton, east London) to save on power costs. Hampshire and the Isle of Wight residents will be placed under emergency water 🚰 restrictions called "temporary use ban." A similar ban will go into effect for residents in Kent and Sussex from Aug. 12.

🔹Italy - 🇮🇹 "WWII bomb 💣 found by fishermen on the bank of the River Po due to a decrease in water levels caused by ☀️ drought,". The Po River, Italy's largest river at 405 miles long, is also the biggest reservoir of fresh water available in the country.

All subscribers - Please BLOCK and REPORT this imposter. I will never contact you directly from a channel account.

🔹On April 21st 📆 this channel posted a warning of possible reduced rice 🌾output coming from major producers due to various factors.

🔹Now, India 🇮🇳, the world's largest rice 🌾 exporter, has seen planting areas of the crop decline by 13% due to heatwaves ☀️ and drought. India accounts for 40% of the global rice trade, and a decline in production will complicate India's domestic inflation 📈 fight. It could result in export restrictions, leading to few supplies for the rest of the world. In the last two weeks, prices in India have soared more than 10% in top growing states.

🔹Severe deficiency of monsoon rainfall 🌧 in the eastern regions of India 🇮🇳 is hitting paddy sowing activities, the country’s rice production for 2022-23 crop year (July-June) may turn out to be at least 10 million tonne (MT) less than last year’s record level of 129 MT.

🔹China 🇨🇳 is virtually self-sufficient 👍 in rice. Imports of rice only account for 3% of the nation's total demand, and are mainly exotic varieties.

🔹Netherlands 🇳🇱 - Dutch ING bank is offering its clients the option of monitoring the environmental impact of their spending via their bank 🧾 statements. The carbon dioxide emissions are calculated on the basis of monthly expenditure 💳 in different categories.

🔹Netherlands CO2 emissions - All Dutch employers with over 100 employees will have to track and report on their employees' daily commuting ✈️ 🚃 🚈 🚝 🚖 emissions as of next year.

Background:
💠 Netherlands 🇳🇱 - Rabobank customers can see how much CO2 they emit based on their spending in the bank’s app 📱. Climate expert is calling on the firm to better map the products that cause the most emissions.

💠The Dutch 🇳🇱 gov't intends to ban new fossil fuel 🔥 boilers as of 2026, while introducing the mandatory use of heat pumps or connections to heat networks.

Video - Carbon-Bank CEO Barbara Baarsma thinks that each citizen should have a limited number of carbon emission rights—credits that they can buy and sell through a "Carbon Wallet."

🔹 Japan 🇯🇵 will not be leaving the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia’s Far East because of its significance to the country’s energy supply.

🔹 🇷🇺 President Putin signed a decree in early August regarding foreign shareholders in strategically important Russian companies. Gazprom will receive a just over 50% of the new Russian entity replacing the Sakhalin Energy company and the new company will hold the remaining 49.99% until existing Sakhalin-2 shareholders 📊 applied for a stake, with early September set as a deadline.

🔹U.S. 🇺🇸 oil producer ExxonMobil enforcing sanctions is in the process of transitioning its 30% stake in Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project - where it was the operator - "to another party," without naming it. Russia accused ExxonMobil of unilaterally stopping oil production 🛢 ⚓️ at the Sakhalin-1 project.

🔹Mitsui and Mitsubishi, 🇯🇵 which together hold a 22.5% stake in the project, said separately that they were examining details of the new entity.