Ford is temporarily closing plants in Taiwan, China, and South Africa. The Taiwan plant will be closed for about two weeks. The plants in China and south Africa will be closed for one week.
Ford did not say whether the lost production would be made up later, or if it would adjust its global output forecast for 2011. The current global economy is not only a threat to the average worker, but the disaster on March 11, in Japan (the “just in time” supply center of the global economy), showed that is bad for big businesses as well.
Toyota has already lost its number 1 ranking, no thanks to the March 11 disasters in Japan. Now its heading down to number 3.
General Motors is now the number 1 world producer of cars, not just because of what happened in Japan, but because GM’s sales are taking off in China. Who’s about to become number 2? Volkswagen.
VW is expected to produce 7 million cars by the end of 2011, right behind GM.
Japan is now rethinking its “just in time” supply system. The March 11 disasters reveled the inherent flaw in the system, especially without any back up systems in place. A “just in time” system is a house of cards, just pull one or two, and the whole house comes down.
Iranian media continues to release confusing reports on Iran’s military hardware. Recently they reported on a “sokho-24 missile”. The article jumps back and forth from calling the “sokho-24” a missile, and an aircraft.
In researching this I realized that what happened is the Iranian journalists confused a military press statement. The Iranian military had announced that their upgrades to the Sukhoi-24 attack jet had been completed, and that they have successfully launched a new air to ground missile from the Sukhoi-24 aircraft. The military went on to say that testing with new longer range missiles, launched from the Sukhoi-24, will be next.
The Sukhoi-24 is very similar to the U.S. F-111 Aardvark swing wing attack jet.
Iran will be hosting its second classic car show. The show will open April 28, in Tehran.
It’s not that big, only about 80 classic cars, but for the second effort by Iranian car collectors, it’s good enough. “Most of the cars are being displayed for the first time. Some have never even been used before.”-Fariborz Ensafi, Touring and Automobile Club
Private collectors will show off German, French and, of course, American automobiles. Motorcycles and bicycles will also be on display. The show will run until May 2.
“However, certain characteristics about the Stars worm have been identified, including that it is compatible with the (targeted) system and that the damage is very slight in the initial stage, and it is likely to be mistaken for executable files of the government.”-Gholam-Reza Jalali, Iran’s Passive Defense Organization
No other details were given. Iran’s nuclear plant was hit with a computer worm last year. Iranian officials are blaming the United States and Israel, along with Siemens, for that cyber attack. Siemens made the computer software for Iran’s nuclear plant, and Iranian officials say the cyber attack would have required knowledge of the computer software.
More than 8.1 million tons of goods was transported through Iran the past Iranian year (which ended on March 20). That’s a 42% increase.
86% of the goods were shipped over roads and rail networks. Bandar Abbas and Sarakhs border crossings, in south (Gulf coast) and northeast (Turkmenistan) of Iran, were the busiest.
Chinese officials are upset over statements by Japanese officials, regarding increased military ties to the United States.
Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said: “In order to maintain the right balance in our relationship with China, we need to also solidify the ties between Japan, the US and South Korea.”
The Chinese view this as a continuation of the Cold War, East vs West: “The Japan-US military alliance, shaped in the Cold War, should not be expanded or aimed at any third party. The expansion of the Japan-US military alliance in the sensitive area of East Asia is harmful to regional peace and stability.”-Zhou Yongsheng, China Foreign Affairs University
Confusing reports about a jail break at the Kandahar prison. Some say it was an attack, others say the prisoners dug their way out. Kandahar prison had at least 1,000 prisoners.
Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, says they helped more than 500 prisoners escape. It makes the third time that the Kandahar prison was attacked, and/or prisoners escaped. Afghan police say 476 prisoners escaped. The Taliban say they rescued 647 ‘brothers’.
Kandahar is also the location of the second largest U.S./NATO base in Afghanistan.
Studies of the effects of the March 11 tsunami, on the farm land that was flooded, shows there is too much salt in the soil. Not only is radiation a concern, but now salt.
Immediately after the tsunami Japanese officials were optimistic that the flooded farm land would not have too high a level of salt. The latest testing of the soil proved otherwise. 78% of the 2,300 hectares (5,683 acres) of farmland, in Miyagi Prefecture, cannot be planted this year. Farmers will try flushing their fields with fresh water.