Japan

Hundreds of boars damaged by radiation from the Fukushima disaster have taken over at least two towns in Japan, causing panicked residents to flee the area.  Following the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown six years ago, thousands of residents in towns and villages nearby were forced to leave their homes. Upon returning recently, however, they were greeted by angry mutant boars scavenging for food and rapidly reproducing in the area. It is believed that the boars ate food and plants that were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation, causing them to mutate.

The yen and the peso jerked higher after President Trump's commerce secretary Wilbur Ross commented that he expecte to start renegotiating NAFTA within two weeks and that Japan will be high on the list for trade agreements.

Via Erico Matias Tavares of Sinclair & Co.,

China as a Superpower – An Interview with Prof. Toshi Yoshihara

Dr. Toshi Yoshihara is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining CSBA, he held the John A. van Beuren Chair of Asia-Pacific Studies and was an affiliate member of the China Maritime Studies Institute at the Naval War College, where he taught strategy for ten years.

Via Daniel Mitchell of The Foundation for Economic Education,

When I warn about the fiscal and economic consequences of America’s poorly designed entitlement programs (as well as the impact of demographic changes), I regularly suggest that the United States is on a path to become Greece.

Because of Greece’s horrible economy, this link has obvious rhetorical appeal.

Japan are gearing up for a nuclear confrontation with North Korea in the wake of a ballistic missile test by Pyongyang.  Legislators in Japan are calling for a ‘first strike’ policy against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), amid fears that North Korea could strike at any moment. “If bombers attacked us or warships bombarded us, we would fire back,” former defense minister Itsunori Onodera said during a Japanese committee meeting to discuss possible military action against North Korea.