Environment

Does this look familiar?

After North Korea’s latest nuclear test, scientists are worried that more underground explosions in the isolated country’s rocky north could set the stage for a deadly volcanic eruption not unlike the one that NASA fears could be brewing in the Yellowstone caldera.

Following the North’s sixth nuclear test, which produced a blast that, by some estimates, was as powerful as 300 kilo hertz, Chinese authorities have stepped up radiation monitoring and even closed part of their border with North Korea as fallout fears have intensified.

Update: it took about 10 minutes for the White House to deny the WSJ report, with the NYT and Bloomberg reporting that a White House spokesman has denied the WSJ story claiming US might stay in Paris accords, saying "position hasn't changed."  Bloomberg confirms the White House comment, stating that there is "no change" in the US position on the Paris Deal, and that US will withdraw unless presented with "more favorable terms."

With each passing day and each new ICBM launch from a seemingly unhinged North Korean dictator, the fears of an attack on the U.S. mainland, though faint, increasingly weigh on the hearts and minds of Americans, particularly those in California.  As The Guardian points out today, those fears have even prompted a group of California public health officials and emergency responders to gather for a strategy session with Hal Kempfer, a retired marine lieutenant colonel, to discuss which areas are the most likely targets and how citizens should respond to an attack.

Exactly one week ago, Prime Minister Gaston Browne surveyed the damage on his tiny Caribbean island of Barbuda and declared that Hurricane Irma had completely devastated the island and left 90% of all dwellings leveled.  Browne went on to say that Irma's "absolute devastation" meant that Barbuda was "basically uninhabitable" for the 1,800 people who called it home.