Everyone knows that at $35/barrel oil, virtually every US shale company is cash flow negative and is therefore burning through cash and other forms of liquidity such as bank revolvers and term loans, just as everyone knows that should oil remain at these prices, the US shale sector is facing an avalanche of defaults.

What is less known is who will be the next round of companies to default.

The Obama administration have refused to publicly condemn the execution of a dissident cleric who challenged the Saudi royal family, amid fears that speaking out could damage U.S.-Saudi relations.  When pressed to condemn al-Nimr’s execution, officials at the White House only went as far as to say they wished “calm on all sides“. Irishtimes.com reports: The United States has usually looked the other way or issued carefully calibrated warnings in human rights reports as the Saudi royal family cracked down on dissent and free speech and allowed its elite to fund Islamic extremists.

Japanese scientists have revealed that up to 90% of fir trees in forests surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant show signs of mutations and abnormality.  Insects sampled in a town over 50 kilometers from the disaster zone also showed signs of having deformed or missing legs. Scientists are said to be worried that these deformities are a precursor to what is in store for the Japanese people. Nsnbc.me reports: Japanese scientists are reluctant to comment on the record.

US presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that he is open to the possibility of “spying on Israel” if he becomes President.  Trump was asked by CBS News for his views on the NSA spying on Israel in order to obtain information to counter Netanyahu’s anti-Iran nuclear deal campaign. Trump said that if he were President, he would probably do the same. He told the Sunday morning news program, “I have to say this. We’re being spied on by everybody. And it’s terrible what is going on in that whole thing. We find out that we’re being spied on by them.

Submitted by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

Well, it happened again.

China’s stock market plunged, sending more than half a trillion dollars to money heaven.

What a surprise, it turns out that a massive credit bubble is actually unsustainable and will eventually burst. Shocker.

And just like what happened last year when Chinese stocks tanked, the government is stepping in to centrally plan the stock market recovery.