Officials from the Obama administration’s U.S. Department of State, including U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), have arrived in North Korea.
They refused to answer reporter’s questions, but officially they are there to help end the food shortage in North Korea.
According to Chinese media, the United States has investigated Chinese products for “Section 337” violations, at least 56 times since 2006. That’s more times than all the previous 20 years prior to 2006.
Section 337 investigates claims of unfair trade and competition, as well as possible U.S. copyright violations.
May 24, Sony announced that their online services continue to get hacked. The latest involve countries like Greece and Thailand.
Japanese IT officials think hackers are just practicing, and that Sony’s security sucks: ‘‘Hackers are launching attacks apparently to hone their skills. Sony must review the security systems of its entire group to redress their vulnerability.’’-Information Technology Promotion Agency
Sony announced that they have lost, so far, $171 million because of the hacks. This adds to Sony’s year after year losses.
According to the Japanese government, 50.4% of deadly car accidents involve old people.
The data was compiled from 2010 accidents in Japan. More than half involved people 65 years of age, or older. Before anyone jumps to conclusions, the data needs to be broken down. Remember the key word here is “involved”, not “caused”.
The majority of deadly car accidents involving old people, were of old people being hit while walking, not driving (50.1% of the 50.4% total involving old people). The number of deadly car accidents involving old people driving is 23.9% (of the 50.4%).
So basically its more dangerous for an old person to walk anywhere in Japan, than to drive.
Toyota announced that they will increase production, in Japan, to 90% of pre-March 11 disaster levels.
They say they have made progress in finding parts for their Japanese operations. They hope to have Japanese production at 100% before November.
Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is reminding Tokyo Electric Power Company that it must stop the flood of contamination that is still pouring into the ocean.
According to NHK, TEPCo is still trying to figure out how to stop leaks of contaminated water. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency gave TEPCo until 01 June 2011 to figure out a way to plug the leaks.
Recently Tokyo Electric Power Company tried to blame the metldown of reactor 1 on an employee turning off the cooling system. Turns out the employee was following TEPCo’s own operating manual!
TEPCo now says the employee was following procedure because coolants temps had actually dropped, so much that their manual called for the shut down of the cooling system.
They also revealed that data recorded immediately after 11 March 2011 does not show any cooling problems, for at least 30 minutes after the 11 March quake/tsunami. A week ago TEPCo said reactor 1 began meltdown in the early hours of 12 March. Reactor 3 melted down on 13 March and reactor 2 on 15 March. I have to think that TEPCo’s instrumentation is faulty, or TEPCo officials are inept at reading the data collected, why else are they just now figuring this out?
Tokyo Electric Power Company now confirm reactors 2 and 3 at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, melted down within days after the 11 March tsunami.
Reactor 3 began meltdown on 13 March, Reactor 2 on 15 March.
Previously TEPCo officials said their inability to access the reactor buildings kept them from the knowledge of any meltdowns, but a Japanese expert says that’s BS.
According to NHK, Naito Masanori of the Institute of Applied Energy, says data from the reactors should have been easy to get. In fact TEPCo sould have realized meltdowns were taking place within a day, not several months.
The latest admission from TEPCo means that three nuclear reactors melted down within days of the 11 March disasters, again proving that this is worse than Chernobyl. It also proves that TEPCo literally fiddled while Fukushima burned. In a previous posting I wrote how TEPCo spent most of their time in the first weeks of the nuke disaster trying to come up with plans to build new reactors.
“The co-operation that I see every day in intelligence matters is without parallel in the world. So is our nuclear co-operation. Our armed forces are working together with intimate closeness”-William Hague, British Foreign Secretary
According to British media, President Obama will make a joint announcement, with Prime Minister David Cameron, concerning a new U.S./U.K. national security policy.
The new “National Security Strategy Board” will meet several times per year, to discuss issues such as terrorism, and the so called Arab Spring revolution.
More details will be given on the May 24 announcement.
May 22, the day after the Queen of England left Ireland, a Northern Ireland bank was hit by a small bomb. Three masked men burst into the bank, warning customers they had one hour to leave before the bomb went off. Police say people could have been killed if they were still in the bank when the bomb exploded.
May 23, President Barack Obama arrived in Ireland, where he was greeted by at least one hundred protesters.
“Barack Obama came to power promising change, but in reality he has continued the policies of the Bush era.”-John Molynuex, protester
He is scheduled to visit United Kingdom next, where he will have dinner with the Queen of England (a sure sign that the U.S. is under control of the British Empire). Thousands of protesters plan to demonstrate outside Buckingham palace while he dines with the Queen.