Tag Archives: China

Super Typhoon Soudelor Heading For Taiwan

A storm that could prove to be the strongest of the year is bearing down on Taiwan.

Super Typhoon Soudelor is a category 5 storm, the strongest level for a storm.  The storm has been reported to have sustained winds of 160 m.p.h. and gusts of 180 m.p.h.

NASA has been tracking the storm and says that it is tracking toward northern Taiwan and mainland China.  They predict the storm will weaken before making the landfall sometime Thursday on Taiwan.

“There is growing concern that Taiwan and the southern Ryukyu Islands will have to contend with Soudelor as early as Thursday night or Friday with impacts lasting into early next week across eastern China,” AccuWeather meteorologist Eric Leister said to the USA Today.

The storm already has caused major damage on the island of Saipan north of Guam.  The storm crossed the island as a Category 2 storm on Sunday night.  U.S. officials have been rushing relief supplies to Guam to take to Saipan.

Thousands of residents of Saipan are in shelters.

Turkish President in China

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in China for an official state visit.

Erdogan will be meeting in Beijing with his counterpart, Xi Jinping.

The visit is the first for Erdogan since his election as president in 2014 and the first since Turkey agreed to work with the U.S. to eliminate terrorist group ISIS in parts of Syria.

Erdogan traveled to China with around 100 business owners and leaders in what’s expected to be a discussion of trade deals.  The trade between the two nations has reached about $24 billion a year.

However, some believe that the current Syrian crisis will cause Erdogan to try and purchase a long-range missile system which has been a source of concern to Turkey’s fellow NATO members.

Turkey and China have also had issues regarding illegal immigration in southeast Asia of Muslims.  Last month, there were protests in Turkey after a group of Muslims illegally crossed from China to Thailand and then were returned to China.

“It’s quite obvious that the current Turkish government is supporting illegal immigration of Uighurs by giving them passports and working with Southeast Asian countries,” said Yin Gang an expert on the Middle East with the government-supported Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. “It would be hard for the relationship between China and Turkey to improve significantly unless Turkey makes serious promises on that issue.”

China and Russia Hold Joint Military Drills

China is inviting Russia to join them for a series of military drills in the Sea of Japan.

The action comes amid the United States working with allies throughout the Asian region to counter Beijing’s aggressive moves to claim more waters in the South and East China Seas as “territorial waters” despite the waters being claimed by other nations.

The exercises will happen at the end of August and will happen both at the Russian port city of Vladivostok and in the South China Sea according to Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun.

“[The] purpose of the exercise is to consolidate and develop the China-Russia all-round strategic coordination partnership, to deepen the pragmatic and friendly cooperation between the Chinese and Russian militaries, and to enhance the organization and command capabilities and the levels of the two militaries in jointly conducting the joint traffic defense activities and joint landing activities, so as to further enhance their capabilities of jointly coping with maritime security threats,” Yujun said.

The exercises will include anti-submarine and anti-ship targeting with Chinese fighter jets, frigates, destroyers and supply vessels.  The Russians will send ships, subs and fixed wing aircraft.  Both will send marines and helicopters.

The two nations have already held joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea.

Chinese Stock Market Plunge Roils Markets

The Chinese government is preparing to buy shares of stock to stabilize their markets after a plunge of more than 8 percent on Monday that impacted markets across the world.

The government also threatened to “deal severely” with anyone who is found to be engaging in “malicious shorting of stocks” in the government’s opinion.

The two Chinese markets, the CSI300 and the SSEC lost 8.6% and 8.5% respectively.  Only 13 of the 1,114 stocks on the Shanghai Composite were up after Monday.

“Because of the high, still high leverage exposure of the Chinese markets, anything that triggers a decline in such a short time will see some negative spiral effects in such highly leveraged markets,” Raymond Yeung, senior economist of Greater China at the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, told VOA.

The Chinese market collapse caused the Dow Industrial Average to fall 150 points at the opening Monday.

“The fear factor of China is very much alive in the market. That’s nearing us to some technical support levels,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital told CNBC. “Slow growth out of China just complicates the oil picture.”

The Chinese market caused oil to fall below $48 a barrel.

One Chinese market expert says the government should allow the market to correct as Chinese stocks are overpriced.

“The valuation of Chinese [stock] markets remains over-priced, which creates rooms for further downward revisions. The government’s rescue measures could curb the slides in a short term, but are powerless in reversing the long-term trend,” Lu Suiqi, associate professor of economics at Peking University says.

Catholics in China Protest Cross Removals By Government

Christians in China have had enough of the government’s campaign to eradicate the cross from the country.

“Each time they take a cross down, we will put more up,” one church leader told the Guardian at a protest on Friday. “We are even considering making flags and clothes with cross patterns. We will make the cross flourish throughout China.”

The activists say that the Chinese government has ripped down 1,200 crosses in the last two years with an increase in the amount of crosses torn down in the last few weeks.  The focus has been in the Zhejiang province where Christian churches have been flourishing.

Zhejiang has over 300,000 Catholics and one million Protestants between the “official” government churches and underground churches.

“Christianity has grown so fast that Christians outnumber Communist Party members. The whole purpose of this is to control the ‘overheated’ growth of Christianity. They are nervous not just about Christianity but of any organized civil group,” Bob Fu, president of Texas-based non-profit China Aid, told Christianity Today.

In addition to the stripping of crosses from church buildings, many churches have been completely destroyed by the government and local officials.

Hack of Government Servers Much Larger Than First Disclosed

The attack on servers controlling data for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is now being reported as significantly larger than initially disclosed to the public.

Government investigators say the total number of people who had data taken in the attack suspected of being carried out by Chinese hackers was roughly 21.5 million, well above the initially released estimate of 4 million people.

The 21.5 million includes many non-government employees after the initial report claimed that it was only government workers who were at risk.

“If an individual underwent a background investigation through OPM in 2000 or afterwards … it is highly likely that the individual is impacted by this cyber breach,” OPM’s statement read.

Republicans in Congress were calling on the President to replace OPM Director Katherine Archuleta.

“It has taken this administration entirely too long to come to grips with the magnitude of this security breach — a breach that experts agree was entirely foreseeable. Americans who serve our country need to be able to trust that the government can keep their personal information safe and secure,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement.

Jason Chaffetz, the head of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, called on the President to not only fire Archuleta but also Chief Information Officer Donna Seymour.

“Their negligence has now put the personal and sensitive information of 21.5 million Americans into the hands of our adversaries. Such incompetence is inexcusable,” Chaffetz, a Republican, said Thursday in a statement.

China Could Be Facing Their Own “1929 Stock Crash”

The Chinese government has been scrambling over the last few days in an attempt to stave off a massive stock collapse similar to the 1929 U.S. stock market crash which caused the Great Depression.

The Wall Street Journal said Wednesday that it appears the Chinese government is losing control of the market despite efforts to stop the slide.  The stock market has already begun to impact other parts of the Chinese economy, with the country’s bond and currency markets starting declines.

The Shanghai Composite Index (SCI) fell 5.9% on Wednesday and has lost 33% of its value since a peak on June 12.  The total of the loss, $3.5 trillion, is nearly five times the value of computer giant Apple, Inc.

“Beijing’s latest bid to calm the market has had the opposite effect,” said Bernard Aw, market analyst at IG Group, told the Journal. “The panic is spreading, and authorities appear to be grasping at straws to hold back the tide.”

While most of the world is focused on Greece, which as a nation has a gross domestic product for a year that totals only 13% of the losses on the Chinese stock market since June 12.

“China’s stock market had become detached from the reality of China’s own economy, and appallingly overvalued,” Patrick Chovanec, managing director at Silvercrest Asset Management, posted on Twitter.

Chinese government officials pushed more money to brokerage houses Wednesday in an attempt to prop up the market.  Over 1,300 Chinese companies, almost half the total in the market, have suspended their stock trading.

Could this be the Beginning of a Complete World Collapse?

A Day of Chaos on Wall Street today!  As this is being written, the New York Stock Exchange had been closed for over 4 hours.  The Greek Government is scrambling to fix their financial disaster and headlines are screaming out that the real crisis in the financial news is that China is headed for a crash much like what happened to us in 1929. As I have watched the news today, riveted by what is happening all over the country, all I could do was sit and connect the dots. Could the world’s financial system be taking the first major step towards a complete collapse?

This morning, United Airlines had to suspend and cancel flights all over the country because of a “computer glitch”; The Wall Street Journal’s Website went down because of a “computer glitch”.   All of these computer glitches and I have a hard time NOT connecting them together. And if these incidents are related, then it had to be by something evil.

There is massive flooding all over the country and power outages occurring because of them. We are also suffering from drought and threats of disease that are wiping out some of our food supply.  The warning signs are continuing to flash brighter.

Last night I received a phone call from a recent prophetic guest and wonderful friend, John Kilpatrick.  He told me that, “The next 90 days will be more important than the last 54 years of your ministry all together!”  He went on to warn me, “Do not be distracted as the next months are crucial!  Your voice must be diligent and clear in the next 90 days!”

Time after time, our prophetic guests have told us all that we need to be preparing NOW!  It IS time to get ready for what is to come!  John Shorey, Rick Joyner, Joel Richardson, Carl Gallups and Rabbi Jonathan Cahn are among those that have just recently been warning the world of what is to come!  I cannot help but think of their words as this day unfolds.  We will see more of these days of uncertainty, we will see more chaos.

According to Joe Grano, Chairman and CEO of Centurion Holdings LLC and former chairman of Homeland Security Advisory Council: “The two places America is most vulnerable is our financial systems and our energy grid. And the biggest warning light is that our enemies not only can shut down our financial system but also our grid.”

I am committed to bringing you as much information that I can as the days unfold.  We are going to be working on this together!  On our next broadcast, we will be talking about these world shaking events and piecing them together on the show.  We will be discussing the many events that are coming together in this world and what we can begin expecting in the days to come. Today we began construction on our new Roku network “breaking news” facility. We are so eager to finish this new building so that we may bring you the cutting edge news as soon as it is breaking.

The Lord is speaking to all of us in so many ways.  We want to hear from you if you feel He is speaking to you!  Please send us information that you find and news that you feel is important during these prophetic days.  We want to hear from you!  Please email us at newsteam@jimbakkershow.com.

God Bless you.

Love,

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New York Stock Exchange Halted By Computer Glitch

Trading at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was suddenly halted around 11:32 a.m. Eastern Time because of what officials termed a “computer glitch.”

The market was down over 200 points (over 1%) at the time of the halt.

“We’re currently experiencing a technical issue that we’re working to resolve as quickly as possible,” Marissa Arnold, an NYSE spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement. “We will be providing further updates as soon as we can, and are doing our utmost to produce a swift resolution, communicate thoroughly and transparently, and ensure a timely and orderly market re-open.”

The Nasdaq reported to problems and said they continue to trade stocks that are listed on the NYSE.

“It’s been a little bit of a bumpy day. We had some technical problems even before the opening,” said Art Cashin, director of floor operations at the NYSE, in a CNBC interview.

“This will not cause a move in any particular direction, so I would kind of wait it out and see what happens,” he added.

The uncertainty about Greece and a massive selling of Chinese stocks were driving the market lower.

The Department of Homeland Security told CNN they found “no sign of malicious activity” at the stock exchange and no sign of a cyberattack.

Greece and China Create Small World Market Impact

The rejection of the Greek referendum and a massive stimulus action by China are not hitting all world markets as much as feared except in the area of oil.

U.S. crude oil fell over 7 percent to $52.53 a barrel, the lowest level since April.  Brent crude, the world standard, fell over 6 percent to $56.50.  The markets were hit with pressure from the Greek and Chinese situations plus Iran is preparing to flood the market after sanctions get lifted from a potential nuclear deal.

“Even without Greece, China’s stock market woes and Iran priming to hit the market with more barrels, the demand picture in oil has only been okay while the supply picture has been phenomenal,” said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital, told CNBC.  “With these number of bearish elements weighing on the market now, the only thing of support has been the seasonal demand in gasoline, and even that will be going away soon.”

American stock markets were down after the Greek “no” vote but not as much as feared by analysts.

The Dow ended the day down 47 points or 0.3%.  The S&P 500 as down 0.4% and Nasdaq was down 0.3%.

“There’s been no panic of any kind,” Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group told clients according USA Today. “The market remains faithful that the European Central Bank and other European institutions have done an adequate job firewalling the eurozone against Greece.”

The resignation of the Greek finance minister Monday is believed to have helped mute the impact of the Sunday referendum.