Vietnam calls for unity in Southeast Asia. What a joke!

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southchinasea-vietnam-idUSKCN1B4099

This is really making a mockery out of Southeast Asia.  If you look at the timeline, Vietnam was the first to start building infrastructures on disputed islands in South China Sea.  Vietnam also robbed an island from Taiwan during bad weather in South China Sea in the past.

How to trust Vietnam when it is a troublemaker by itself?  Our late PM Lee didn't trust Vietnam in the past and we must not trust Vietnam too.  Our late PM Lee was the first PM in the world to write to the Thai King to warn about the bellicose Vietnam and also encouraged the USA to attack Vietnam which sparked off the Vietnam war.

Trade war between USA and China will start soon!

https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/china-says-necessary-means-defend-024752877.html

Trump is violating WTO rules by unilaterally invoking its US section 301 trade act.  International trading rules must be preserved and respected.  Trump should file a complaint to WTO and fight it out with China in WTO court of arbitration instead of using its own archaic law.

By taking such unilateral action, China will also follow suit and won't follow WTO rules by invoking its own trading act.  When 2 titans fight, the world trading will suffer because these 2 countries will impose unreasonably high taxes against each other.  This ensuing outcome will create economic problems for the whole world.

Last but not least, China has the population size and money to fight an economic war with the USA but the USA doesn't have the deep pocket like China.  Many USA firms operating in China will suffer too in such an economic war.

See the power of typhoon Hato in Hong Kong 23 August 2017

Typhoons will get more severe and frequent in the future due to global warming.

Singapore stock calls for 23 August 2017

Lee Hsien Loong gets court approval to jail his nephew Li Sheng Wu.

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/agc-gets-green-light-contempt-court-proceedings-against-mr-li-shengwu

Why is PM Lee so adamant in bludgeoning his own nephew?

This was because PM Lee's younger brother, LHY, destroyed PM Lee's son political career as the PM's son was forced to issue a statement that he was not interested in any political career.  Therefore, PM Lee must ensure that LHY's son also cannot enter politics in the future.

LHL and LHY will NEVER get along because the rift is too deep since this saga has supervened upon the younger generation.

Tan Cheng Block's appeal was dismissed by the high court.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/tan-cheng-bock-s-appeal-over-upcoming-presidential-election-9149466

This is not surprising at all.  I would be surprised if the court ruled in Tan's favour.

Notwithstanding the court's dismission, our readers know the real first elected president in Singapore.

http://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2017/08/our-poll-showed-that-our-readers-knew.html

This is the danger of a one-party system.  The one-party system can change historical facts and events.

China-India border scuffle at Ladakh

The left side of the border is China and the right side of the border is India.

From the leaked out video, the Chinese soldiers were winning the fight and the Indian soldiers were retreating with their flag.  However, the Indian news media reported that they won the fight and forced the Chinese soldiers back into the China territory.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/15/india-china-soldiers-involved-in-border-altercation-indian-sources.html

The Indians couldn't even win in an unarmed close combat fight and they wanted to go to war with China.

Singapore over promises and under delivers for the BRI involvement.

https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/china-construction-bank-raising-15-060435088.html

We did state previously in our posting that it was impossible for SG to compete with China & HK for the BRI financing.  Please see our posting below.

http://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2017/06/what-joke-singapore-to-help-bankroll.html

SG wants to help to finance for the BRI but it just doesn't have the capability to do that because China & HK are more financially savvier than SG.  SG doesn't realize that China has overtaken SG in terms of technology and financial capabilities and still think that it can advise China on developments.

Last but not least, we monitor China developments and our readers can get some updates on China developments on our blog especially those who are intransigent about China.

Singapore stock calls for 22 August 2017

Climate change is causing a lot of weird clouds nowadays.

We need to stop global warming now or we're killing ourselves.

India says China stand off will end soon.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/india-says-china-stand-off-will-end--soon--9143768

India is saying a rhetoric statement because everyone knows winter snow is coming in September.  Both sides will retreat due to the snow, not because an agreement has been reached by both parties.

We stated this in our previous posting.

http://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2017/08/china-has-presented-factsheet-about.html

A glimpse into the near future of automation.

Fully automatic manufacturing factory without any human (dark factory).

Automatic pharmacy in a hospital.

Medical revolution is coming! Doctors watch out!

http://en.people.cn/n3/2017/0820/c90000-9257744.html

Medical doctors will be in lesser demand in the future because of medical AI which can perform better than human doctors.  This is a necessary revolution in preparation for space exploration as space travellers require medical AI and robotic operation.

Have you seen robots dancing before?

This is so cool!

Singapore stock calls for 21 August 2017

Here we go again! Another USA naval destroyer collision!

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/us-destroyer-collision-off-singapore-rescue-efforts-launched-011202596.html

USA destroyer collided with a container ship in June 2017.  This time, another USA destroyer collided with a tanker ship.

Look like USA naval prowess is going downhill.  If USA destroyer cannot avoid big ships, how can it fight in a war?  USA navy is not combat-operational nowadays.

http://sg-stock.blogspot.sg/2017/07/us-navy-was-at-fault-for-container.html

AWARE is trying to destroy our military forces.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/cnainsider/stop-being-a-girl-and-man-up-boys-face-gender-police-even-as-men-9139700

Without harsh words and hurtful psychological stresses, our military forces will be very weak and we can never fight a war with such weak mentality.

If you look at the military trainings in other western countries like USA and Russia, their military trainings involve verbal and physical abuses to turn their men into tough operational forces.

Men in Singapore have a responsibility to protect Singapore compared to other men in other countries but AWARE doesn't understand this.  National interest is above all other things in Singapore because without a strong and tough military force, there won't be Singapore.

I'm very disappointed in AWARE for having such a myopic viewpoint.

Who helped North Korea to develop its missiles program?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/world/asia/north-korea-missiles-ukraine-factory.html?mcubz=3

https://en.hromadske.ua/posts/nmissile-engines-north-korea-ukraine

The articles pointed out that Ukraine was the main culprit because it was selling the rocket engines in the black market and Iran provided the guidances.

Therefore, China and Russia are not the parties involved.

Baltic dry index - 1260

Today, Friday, August 18 2017, the Baltic Dry Index climbed by 13 points, reaching 1260 points.

Baltic Dry Index is compiled by the London-based Baltic Exchange and covers prices for transported cargo such as coal, grain and iron ore. The index is based on a daily survey of agents all over the world. Baltic Dry hit a temporary peak on May 20, 2008, when the index hit 11,793. The lowest level ever reached was on Wednesday the 10th of February 2016, when the index dropped to 290 points.

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Related stocks: Sembcorp Marine, Cosco & Pan Ocean

US rig count - 946

HOUSTON (AP) — The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. decreased by three this week to 946.

A year ago, just 491 rigs were active.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes said Friday that 763 rigs sought oil and 182 explored for natural gas this week. One was listed as miscellaneous.

Among major oil- and gas-producing states, California gained two rigs and New Mexico increased by one.

North Dakota declined by two rigs while Alaska, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Utah were down by one apiece.

Arkansas, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming were all unchanged.

The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in May of 2016 at 404.

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Related stocks: Keppel Corp, Sembcorp Marine & Cosco