Ford announced that it’ll build a transmission factory in China. It will build six speed automatic transmissions. The plant will cost $350 million.
Also, they’re building an engine plant in China, at a cost of $500 million. Ford hopes to have the factories operating in 2013. China is now the world’s largest car market.
Depending on which media source you read, Boeing won its World Trade Organization case against Airbus. Depending on which media source you read, Airbus won its World Trade Organization case against Boeing. Yes, that’s the idea.
Both Airbus and Boeing are declaring victories in their WTO case against each other.
U.S. officials say the ruling helps Boeing: “This definitive victory will benefit American workers who have had to compete with a heavily subsidized Airbus.”-Tim Reif, general counsel for the U.S. Trade Representative
Airbus officials say the WTO ruling upheld European loan subsidies: “…government loans are a legal instrument and that none of the government loans made to Airbus over the past 40 years were prohibited…”
Boeing reps said this is a “definitive victory” for the United States, but Airbus said “This is a big win for Europe.”
Who’s right? The WTO looked at the allegations line by line, and voted line by line, basically splitting the difference. So both sides think they won, when in reality they broke even.
Honda announced they will have to lay off 400 workers at their factory in Brazil. The problem is lack of parts.
Originally Honda was going to reduce production, at their Brazil plant, for 12 days. Now it’s cutting production for a full month, and reducing payroll by 12%.
The ongoing parts supply problem was caused by the March 11 disasters in Japan, which revealed the weak link in the “just in time” supply policy for Japan’s (and even the world’s) industries.
For the first time since the nuclear disaster started in Japan, the city of Osaka has detected cesium contamination.
Osaka is about 560 km (348 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant.
City officials say that between 01 April and 02 May, low levels of cesium 134 & 137 were detected in rain water, and dust.
NHK reports Japanese astronomers have discovered what they call “floating planets”.
At least ten floating planets have been discovered using an observatory in New Zealand. The planets have mass equal to the planet Jupiter, yet they exist outside any solar system, and apparently don’t need to orbit a star.
The discovery could back up the ancient Sumerian myths that describe a rogue planet (and its “companions”), with the mass of Jupiter, plowing its way through our solar system, resulting in the creation of the planet Earth.
The Vikings also have a myth about the end of days when the great wolf will seemingly swallow the sun and moon. Could these Ronin planets be the wolf?
I call these planets ‘Ronin’, meaning without master (referring to the Japanese astronomers, and that the planets don’t need a sun).
11,000 employees with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, for Palestine, went on strike over unfair working conditions.
Employees say management at UNRWA engage in arbitrary firing and denial of workers’ rights. In some cases workers have been fired because of the political party they belong to.
The strike resulted in the closing of 238 schools, and 25 health clinics in Gaza.
At least 1,000 health care workers picketed a hospital belonging to one of the biggest insurance companies in the U.S.; Kaiser Permanente’s flagship hospital in Los Angeles, California.
The workers say Kaiser has been cutting back on staffing, forcing those still working to handle longer hours. The insurance company is also cutting back on services. Striking workers say the company is lying about lack of funding.
During the first quarter of 2011 Kaiser Permanente reported a profit of $920 million. For all of 2010 they made a profit of $2 billion. Yet the company came out and told employees there will be more rounds of cut backs.
Around the country, tens of thousands of teachers in the United States have been laid off.
New York City needs to lay off 6,000 teachers, to balance their education budget.
California has notified at least 20,000 teachers that they will be unemployed.
Dozens of teachers were fired in Ohio this week.
Broward County Florida School District will lay off 1,400 teachers.
And many layoffs took place in the past year.
In some cities pro-teacher groups are pointing out that their school districts actually have budget surpluses, yet teachers are being laid off in large numbers.
Teachers unions are on board with the layoffs, saying it’s time for the bad teachers to go. I’m all for getting rid of the bad teachers, there are plenty (from my own experience as a student, and as a parent putting four kids through school), but when you realize the number of teachers being laid off across the country it makes you wonder: Are there that many bad teachers?
A five year study, done by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, concludes that because of the promiscuous attitude of U.S. society, during the 1960s-80s, the Church let down its guard on sex abusers who became priests.
The report does say that the Church failed to enforce celibacy, and properly monitor the priests. Also, the report says large numbers of homosexuals entered the priesthood in the 1980s. However, it puts most of the blame on U.S. society.
Victim’s groups say the report is a sham because it is the Bishops who’ve been covering up the crimes from day one: “The Bishops are the ones who knowingly transferred predators, allowed them to remain in ministry, then covered up for them when they were found abusing, and then transferred them again to another place.”-Barbara Blaine, President of SNAP
U.S. Treasury Department announced that President Barak Obama has imposed sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and other Syrian officials.
The sanctions also include two Iranian officials. Also, Obama signed a similar order against at least 10 Syrian officials on April 29.
“As a result of this action, any property in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons in which the individuals listed in the Annex have an interest is blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.”-U.S. Treasury statement