20 March 2013/08 Jumada l-Ula 1434/30 Esfand 1391/09 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
Tokyo Electric Power Company claims they’ve restored cooling to spent fuel pools. They still are not sure what caused the outside electric supply to stop. They suspect a surge tripped three high voltage distribution panels. After replacement and inspection they could find no signs of damage on the panels.
19 March 2013/07 Jumada l-Ula 1434/29 Esfand 1391/08 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
A report in the Japanese media suggests that for the first time ever, and despite increasing economic sanctions, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is actually making money off its exports!
The Japan Times says U.S. based economists, Marcus Noland and Stephen Haggard, think North Korea might actually have a trade surplus, thanks to China.
According to the government of the Republic of Korea, North Korea’s trade with China tripled from 2007 to 2011.
Having account surpluses means sanctions have less effect. However, the U.S. economists say one of DPRK’s exports is large amounts of cash, which could be bad for the communist country. Also, the economists assumed illicit activities in their estimations of North Korea’s trade.
Westinghouse Electric eliminating 665 jobs worldwide! It will include layoffs at its Pennsylvania HQ. The company blames it on a decreased demand for nuclear power, caused by the March 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan, which is still not resolved.
Corporate information provider, Thomson Reuters, announced 2500 layoffs! Company officials blame about half the layoffs on the sale of its Corporate Services division to NASDAQ, the other layoffs are being blamed on the bad economy. Company officials actually expect better profits for 2013, but apparently profits won’t be good enough to justify keeping people employed.
Another video game maker going down? Reports saying that VALVe will layoff employees. Possibly 25 people will lose their jobs, including their director of business. VALVe is controversial as it claims that there are no managers, and employees are free to do what they think is best. One economist said the layoffs might involve employees who can not handle working without a manager looking over their shoulder: “In many occasions people simply don’t fit in not because they’re not productive or good people, but because they just can’t function very well in a boss-less environment.”-Yanis Varoufakis
Wisconsin based Sensient Technologies laying off more than 200 employees in Europe and North America. They want to consolidate operations in the name of being more efficient (aka making more profits for investors).
In New York, It’s a Dog’s World to shut down at the end of March. The Ditmas Park pet store owner didn’t give a reason, but it sounds like it caught her by surprise because she had placed new orders for the store. Also, Utica City School District wants to layoff 88 employees. This on top of all previous layoffs (which total 240). The school district is short $5.5 million USD!
Duke Corporate Education to layoff employees worldwide: “We need to reshape our workforce in the U.S.A. and Europe….Like many businesses these days, we need to take steps to realign our workforce with our new global footprint.”-Mike Canning, CEO
Colorado based Precision Castparts to layoff 77 steelworkers at the former Timet titanium Plant in Toronto, Ohio. The company took over the plant in January.
Netherlands based ING Financial laying off 2400 people worldwide! The company was just hit with a $1.2 million fine for not maintaining company/employee emails as per U.S. regulations. ING has a history of being fined for violating regulations. Also, a former adviser with ING and Allstate was bared from doing business in Florida.
In Hawaii, California based Eclipse Development Group laid off 100 employees! Company officials blame a stalled shopping center project. The project was halted by State Land Use Commission, which claims the project was not what was originally planned in the 1995 re-zoning.
In Florida, MDT Personnel will layoff almost all its Clearwater employees by April. The temporary employment agency was taken over by a competitor.
Guilford County, North Carolina facing “major” layoffs. The County is $1 billion in debt!
In Los Angeles, California, Babycakes NYC vegetarian bakery closing down. Company officials basically said there was only room for one Babycakes in Los Angeles. The consideration of bakeries is an effort to make more profits.
In Virginia, Too Big to Jail HSBC to eliminate 164 call center jobs! The call center is part of HSBC’s card services, which it sold off to another Too Big to Jail, Capital One.
Glass maker Viracon is closing down its Saint George, Utah, operations by April. 200 jobs lost! Company officials say they might re-open the factory two years from now, depending on the so called recovery of the economy.
In Minnesota, Edward Jones Mortgage out-o-business. 214 people out-o-work! The company had a contract with Wells Fargo, but Wells Fargo recently canceled it.
Defense contractor, ITT Exelis, closing its West Springfield, Maryland, factory by the end of June. 200 employees out-o-work! The factory makes the power supplies for night vision goggles. Company officials said the closing is because the U.S. military is planning big spending cuts, on top of the automatic ‘sequestration’ cuts.
The Rug Importer in New Jersey, closing down. The owners blame the bad economy coupled with internet competition.
In Tennessee, family owned Henco Furniture closing down. The longtime owner says none of his kid want to take over the business. He doesn’t blame them as sales have decreased and government regulations and taxes have increased: “It really does dampen you’re enthusiasm to put up with taxation and regulation to build a business.”-Tom Hendrix
In Illinois, a Blockbuster video store closing in Buffalo Grove. Also, in Mount Morris Donegan’s Do-it-Best hardware store shutting down at the end of March. The owner blames the bad economy: “The sales have just not been enough to make a living. I’ve tried to do everything I can to keep it going.”-Roseann Donegan
The Life of the Party costume shop in Fort Collins, Colorado, closed down. The owner retired and was hoping someone would buy the store.
In Tucson, Arizona, the 20 years old 17th Street Farmers Market closed. Company officials are focusing on their other divisions.
The Refectory, a nightclub in Portland, Oregon, closed after 35 years. 30 employees out-o-work. Essentially the property owner kicked the nightclub out.
19 March 2013/07 Jumada l-Ula 1434/29 Esfand 1391/08 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
The hundreds of killed and wounded in the U.S., European and Israeli backed gas attack in Syria, includes government soldiers, but mainly civilian men, women and children.
Independent reports say some insurgent groups had been warning they were going to use WMDs. Yesterday a U.S., European and Israeli backed interim insurgent government elected a U.S. citizen to be their Prime Minister.
19 March 2013/07 Jumada l-Ula 1434/29 Esfand 1391/08 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
Tokyo Electric Power Company says they’ve restored cooling of spent fuel pools on the number 1, 2 and 4 reactors. This is the first time TEPCo mentioned Reactor 2 as being affected by the power outage. Cooling for Reactor 4 pool is being powered by emergency generators.
Cooling is still on hold for the fuel pool on Reactor 3, and a shared pool in Fukushima Daiichi’s compound. TEPCo hopes to have cooling restored by tomorrow.
TEPCo has inspected the switchboards from three high voltage distribution systems, and say it appears nothing is wrong with them. Ironically the electric power company still doesn’t know what caused the massive power outage.
19 March 2013/07 Jumada l-Ula 1434/29 Esfand 1391/08 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
Russian officials say they have documented that the chemical weapons attack in Aleppo province was launched by U.S., European and Israeli backed insurgents. Russian intelligence believe the insurgents captured the chemical armed rockets from the Syrian military.
The Syrian government says the insurgents got the WMDs from outside the country.
“I saw mostly women and children. Witnesses said that people were suffocating in the streets and the air smelt strongly of chlorine. People were dying in the streets and in their houses.”-Reuters photographer
19 March 2013/07 Jumada l-Ula 1434/29 Esfand 1391/08 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
U.S., European and Israeli backed insurgents in Syria attacked the province of Aleppo with chemical weapons! The attack comes as the Western powers recognized a interim government composed of insurgents, including one who is a U.S. citizen!
U.S. supported insurgents launched rockets into a city in Aleppo province. The rockets contained chemical weapons. So far reports say 25 civilians killed, 85 wounded.
The government of Syria has repeatedly said they would use chemical weapons only in retaliation for a first strike by insurgents. The insurgents have made the first strike!
Western puppet media claims the attack came from the Syrian government. Who you gonna believe? After all the Western media has a proven track record of reporting lie after lie by their respective governments.
19 March 2013/07 Jumada l-Ula 1434/29 Esfand 1391/08 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
For the second day now, cooling of spent fuel pools on the General Electric designed reactors 1, 3 and 4 is not taking place (1, 3 and 4 are the ones that exploded). Another spent fuel rod pool and a water decontamination system are also affected.
Tokyo Electric Power Company says they’ve found the reason why they lost power yesterday; three high voltage distribution systems failed.
TEPCo says two were fixed but they can’t figure out the problem with the third, they suspect a switchboard. TEPCo officials said something shorted out the switchboards, but they don’t know what. Apparently all three systems must be working in order to cool the fuel rod pools.
TEPCo has two more days to fix the problem before temps in fuel pools exceed safety limits. If not they will resort to fire engines to pump water into the pools.
18 March 2013/06 Jumada l-Ula 1434/28 Esfand 1391/07 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
Indonesia’s Lion Air has always been a big customer of the U.S. company Boeing, but not anymore.
With the ongoing problems with Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, Lion Air has just signed a huge contract with Europe’s Airbus. Lion Air just bought 234 A320 airliners, they could have been Boeing 787s!
The deal with Airbus is the largest ever for Lion Air. It’s estimated to be worth 18.4 billion euros ($23.8 billion USD)! It’s good news for France as 5,000 jobs will be created.
18 March 2013/06 Jumada l-Ula 1434/28 Esfand 1391/07 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711
The people of Cyprus are almost up in arms over a heavy tax that could be imposed on their bank accounts. The tax is part of a privately funded bailout deal from Too Big to Jail European banks. The tax would go to those banks, not to any government.
Banks in Cyprus have closed their branch offices and turned off their ATMs to try and stop the wave of people who want to withdrawal all their money.
Germany’s Deutsche Welle (DW) is reporting that the bank account tax is a “test case”, and could be imposed on other countries: “People feel anger first of all, and fear. I saw people waiting in front of ATMs over the weekend who were shouting: ‘Why are they doing this to us? Is this some kind of an experiment?’ They say Cyprus is seen as a small country that can be the test tube for the whole of Europe. If this is going to work here, they say, it’s going to be applied in other countries. Cypriots are angry because they say they’ve been working for years and now somebody comes and steals their money.”-Flora Alexandrou, journalist
It’s not just individual account holders who’ll be forced to pay the new corporate imposed tax, but businesses, investors and even other banks!
The bank account tax is going to hit Russian banks hard, because they’ve got big bucks in Cypriot bank accounts. It’s reported that Russia’s second biggest bank will end up paying 130 million euros ($168 million USD) in taxes! So what happens if Russia’s banks pullout the tens of billions they have in Cypriot banks?
Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, called the European banks’ imposed tax “unjust, unprofessional and dangerous.”