A female employee, working at the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant, is contaminated with three times the safe limits for women. She was working at the damaged plant, directing emergency crews.
Tokyo Electric Power Company thinks she was contaminated when taking off the protective suit. They say most of her contamination is internal, so they think she inhaled the radiation. TEPCo is now testing all female employees at the nuke plant. Safe exposure limits for women are set lower than men.
Japan’s big three automakers, Toyota, Nissan and Honda, have been downgraded to negative by Standard & Poor’s.
S & P also downgraded the biggest parts suppliers for the Japanese car companies. S & P blames the disruption to manufacturing caused by the March 11 disasters.
Toyota officials claim they have a better idea of the parts supply problem, but they refuse to go into any detail.
Supplies of microchips, rubber materials and paint additives are the main problems (affected by the loss of electrical power by the shutdown of nuclear plants, most of Japan’s electricity comes from nuclear power). However, Toyota officials refuse to discuss how many parts they might have, or if there are going to be anymore production delays.
One Toyota official said they normally have two and a half months of inventory on hand, but did not elaborate.
Standard & Poor’s has reduced Japan’s rating from stable to negative. The cut is in regards to Japan’s sovereign debt (things like bonds).
S & P says the cost of rebuilding after the March 11 disasters, will raise Japan’s estimated debt load beyond 2013.
There are rumors that President Barack Obama is ready to change his military and national security staff.
Current Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to leave. He could be replaced by current CIA chief Leon Panetta. The position of chief of the CIA could go to current Army General David Petraeus, who is about to finish his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Petraeus’ old job, Commander of Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, could go to Marine Lieutenant General John R. Allen.
There seems to be a clear pattern of ladder climbing. Obama is expected to name a new ambassador to Afghanistan, someone who is from the Bush Jr camp (as is Robert Gates); Ryan C. Crocker.
Crocker has lots of experience being an ambassador. Obama even gave him the highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Crocker is currently the dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service. Guess who else was dean of that school? Current Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
So even with all the staffing changes there might not be much change to U.S. foreign policy.
At a press conference in United Kingdom, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates admitted there were no set plans for troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“I expect that (the recommendations) will be coming in the not-too-distant-future.”-Robert Gates
Gates said he was still waiting for recommendations from General David Petraeus. President Obama had announced that troops would start coming home in July, 2011. But in February, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made statements that the U.S. would be in Afghanistan “beyond 2014“.
“Iran reserves the right to hit back.”-Ramin Mehmanparast, Iran’s Foreign Ministry
Bahrain has ordered the second secretary in the Iranian embassy, Hujatullah Rahmani, to leave within 72 hours. They accuse him of being a spy for Kuwait.
Of course the accusation comes after Kuwait seemingly switched sides. Originally Kuwait supported the Saudi Arabian led invasion of Bahrain, but has backed off, and even made statements, in conjunction with Iran, condemning Bahrain.
Ironically Kuwait has also made statements supporting the Bahraini government. It seems Kuwait is trying to play on both sides of the fence. Iran has expelled three Kuwaiti diplomats, and is threatening to expel Bahraini diplomats as well.
The United States accuses Iran of interfering with Syria, and Iran accuses the U.S. of interfering in Bahrain.
The Japanese Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction, said seismic activities started to increase off eastern prefectures, from Miyagi to Ibaraki, three years before the massive 9.0 quake.
Professor Koshun Yamaoka added that research shows that the focus of small quakes two days before March 11, moved closer to what became the epicenter of the massive earthquake.
Japan’s Geospatial Information Authority of Japan says not only did coastal areas of Miyagi and Chiba prefectures sink during the quake, but some rose five to eight centimeters after the quake. This is a sign the tectonic plates are still shifting.
Officials at the meeting stated that while “big” earthquakes are always predicted for Japan, no one expected a 9.0 quake.
The Law of Mother Earth. If it passes, it will be historic. Bolivia’s legislature is debating the new bill, which many believe will be passed.
First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi has shown his ignorance of world history, in statements made regarding Japan.
Rahimi said Japan should not bow to imperialist countries. Hello, Japan is an imperialist country, they have an Emperor!
Rahimi also said Japan “…should not pursue the wrong policies of the bullying governments because the same powers hindered the progress of the Japanese nation by conducting atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” Hello, it’s called the Second World War! Japan bombed Pearl Harbor first. By the way what Japan was doing in World War 2 was attempting to expand its Empire (reference above).