Even after Tokyo Electric Power Company plugged a leak, Reactor 3 is still pouring water contaminated with cesium into the Pacific Ocean.
The water is pouring out of a pipe containing electrical cables, but officials still don’t know where the water is originating. The latest tests of the ocean water showed cesium contamination at 620,000 times safe limits!
Tokyo Electric Power Company says contaminated water is pouring from Reactor 1. This after workers were finally able to enter the building and check gauges. The gauges showed that despite hundreds of tons of water being injected, the water levels were low.
TEPCo suspected faulty gauges. Workers checked the gauges again, after more water was pumped in, and they discovered the water levels actually dropped.
Now officials are worried that the water could be pouring from a hole in the reactor itself. When checked on the morning of 12 May, workers discovered the fuel rods fully exposed. Water levels are a full meter (3.2 feet) below the rods!
TEPCo is pumping in water, but the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency believes rods have started melting.
Several social groups in Egypt have declared a 3rd Intifada against Israel, in order to free the Palestinians.
They’re planning on marching on the Egypt/Israel border, at Gaza, on May 15.
“I feel a very important wave coming…actually no, I fell we are on the wave right now.”-Rodrigo Contreras, Mexico’s Trade Commissioner in Shanghai
Trade between China and Latin America shot up in 2010, by 51%. China’s trade with Latin America is growing twice as fast as U.S. trade.
Not only has trade grown, but China has reduced its trade deficit with Latin America as well. Most of the trade has been in raw materials/natural resources. Officials want to move towards trading other products in the future.
Argentina has banned smokeless cigarettes (aka electronic cigarettes), because there is no proof they help people stop smoking real cigarettes.
Electronic cigarette makers say their product is not dangerous, but Argentina says some of the aerosols used in the cigarette actually contain nicotine.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration lost a court battle to regulate the e-cigarettes as “drug delivery devices”. Now the FDA says it will regulate the e-cigarettes as if they were real cigarettes.
Some U.S. states have banned smoking the e-cigarettes indoors, because they can contain nicotine.
It seems the makers of the electric cigarette don’t understand the problem with real cigarettes; they contain nicotine and are addictive. So how can they claim you can quite smoking if their product contains nicotine?
“WalMart does not take ownership of the goods until a product is sold.”-Sofia Scasserra, FAECYS
At a labor conference in South Africa, the Argentine Federation of Commerce and Service Workers ( FAECYS ) warned of allowing WalMart to set up shop. The warning wasn’t about labor issues, but supply issues. They claim that since WalMart was allowed to operate in Argentina, the affects on business supply has almost destroyed the business middle class.
In Argentina WalMart operates a “spot sale” deal with its suppliers. Basically WalMart doesn’t pay anything for the products it stocks, until they sell. On top of that, WalMart takes three months to pay suppliers.
Another trick WalMart plays; it ships its own products in from China. First the the products go to Brazil, then Argentina, thus avoiding tariffs.
In the case of home appliances is was discovered that WalMart forced suppliers to sell below their cost, and even give them to WalMart for free.
The result is that Argentine suppliers are going out of business. And the result of that, is that small manufacturers in Argentina are going out of business as well.
On May 11, the President of Romania got a visit from USAF General Duncan J. McNabb. Was it because the Romanian government agreed to let the United States base a “missile shield system” in their country? No, it was because, in a quietly done deal, Romania agreed to be used as a transit point for troops and supplies going to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Two bases shall be used for the “multi-mobile” operations. General McNabb thanked President Traian Basecue for the agreement.
President Basecue hinted at U.S. money for Romania: “I am thanking you for the attention granted to Romania’s infrastructure.”
If the U.S. is supposed to leave Iraq at the end of 2011, and then Afghanistan in 2012 (as originally stated), then why do they need to establish new “multi-mobile” (quoting Gen. McNabb) bases to support operations in those countries?
Days after the U.S. and China signed an agreement to promise to work together, a Chinese company announces they will spend $161 million building an aluminum plant in the U.S.
Shandong Nanshan Aluminum company will open an extrusion plant in Lafayette, Indiana. If there are no complications with the deal, they hope to start building the plant next year. It could employ 150 people, and produce 40,000 tons of aluminum per year.
Libyan state TV showed video of Gaddafi meeting with tribal leaders.
On April 30, Gaddafi’s youngest son, and three grand children were killed by a NATO airstrike. Italian media has been speculating that Gaddafi was also killed, because he stopped making public appearances.
Libyan TV did not give a date for when the video of Gaddafi was made. Hours after the video was aired NATO bombed Tripoli.
A day after Israel invades northern Gaza, Egypt says it will open its border with Gaza.
Egypt will allow aid convoys to enter Gaza. Prior to the Egyptian Revolution, Egyptian President Mubarak closed the border, in cooperation with Israel.
Mubarak’s government also worked with Israel to keep Hamas and Fatah separated. The new transitional government of Egypt worked to bring Hamas and Fatah together, which greatly angered Israel.
The first aid convoys are planned to cross the Gaza border on May 15 (the anniversary of the Nakba, Israeli occupation of Palestinian land).