Category Archives: International

International, U.S.

War in Iraq not over, U.S. forces attacked 3rd time in a week

After Defense Secretary Roberts Gates announced that the United States would NOT be leaving Iraq, as planned, U.S. troops have come under fire.

April 13, a U.S. base in southern Iraq was hit with mortar fire.  Photos show the base burning after the attack.  No word on casualties. This is the third attack in a week.

The U.S. was supposed to get combat troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011. But last week secretary Gates announced to troops that we will be staying.  Many Iraqis began protesting.  Gates claims the Iraqi government asked the United States to keep troops in Iraq, but foreign media say many Iraqi politicians want the U.S. out.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Iran strikes back at Europe, refuses to fuel European airlines

“In a retaliatory move, we have stopped providing fuel to European aircraft.”-Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi

For some time several European countries have refused to fuel up Iranian passenger planes that land at their airports.  After repeated requests by Iran, countries like Germany and United Kingdom, still refuse on the grounds that they are following the latest sanctions placed against Iran by President Obama.

Iran now says it will not fuel passenger planes from those countries, that land in Iran.

Germany’s Lufthansa says they will have to come up with a plan, because they can no longer get fuel in Tehran.  Netherland’s KLM says they’re not worried because they fuel up in Greece on their way back from Iran.

The sanctions placed on Iran by Obama do not specifically say that Iranian airlines can not be fueled.

International, U.S.

Military government detains Mubarak & Sons

After weeks of protests, the military leaders of Egypt have detained Hosni Mubarak, and his sons, for questioning.

Mubarak is in a hospital after he suffered a heart attack. Protesters were demanding that the former Egyptian ruler be arrested for corruption.

On April 12 the pro-U.S. military rulers cleared protesters from Tharir Square.  But Egyptians promised an even bigger protest on Friday, if Mubarak was not arrested.

With the detention of Mubarak and his sons, Egyptians say they can now focus on pushing the military leaders to hold elections for a new government.

International, U.S.

Mexico asks for help as Fire hits 200,000+ Acres

NASA photos show, as of April 11, the Coahuila fire has burned at least 300 square miles.  The photo also shows the smoke blowing northeast, towards the Rio Grande (called Rio Bravo in Mexico).  This is contrary to some Mexican reports that say it’s blowing to the southwest (maybe they meant it’s bowing OUT of the southwest). But, the winds have been the main cause of the big fire, and could be changing directions.

“We could have the area under control in about two to two and a half weeks.”-Juan Elvira, Mexican Environment Minister

This has turned into Mexico’s biggest wild fire.  Fire fighting helicopters, and a Boeing 747 water tanker, from the United States are helping.  Mexico is asking Canada for help, as well.

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Nissan Leaf won’t start

Nissan is investigating why its electric car, the Leaf, won’t start.  Several customers, in Japan and United States, are complaining that their Leafs won’t start.

Nissan thinks it is related to the air conditioner sensor: “…it will illuminate a warning light on the instrument panel and may cause the vehicle to not restart once it has been turned off.”-Katherine Zachary, Nissan’s North American unit

International

More than 100 evacuation sites, said to be safe, turned into Death Traps

A Kyodo News investigation revealed that more than 100 evacuation sites were swept away by the March 11 tsunami.

Most of the evacuation sites were selected by local governments.  One of the main reasons for selecting the site, even though many were near sea level, is that they were thought to be too far inland for any tsunami.  Not only was the tsunami higher than expected, it reached much farther inland.

International

School manual vague on evacuation plan, hundreds of kids and their teachers died trying to escape

In Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, most elementary school students lost their lives, along with all but one of their teachers, no thanks to a vague manual about tsunami evacuations.

On March 11, 70% of students at Okawa Primary School were killed.  10 of the 11 teachers were also killed.  When the 9.0 earthquake hit, teachers knew they needed to get the kids home, so they called the parents to come pick them up.  But time was against them.  Suddenly the tsunami warning sounded.  The teachers looked in a manual to figure out what to do.  The manual simply said “get to higher ground”.

Okawa Primary School is located on the edge of a large river that empties into the ocean.  The only high ground is a steep mountainside that the teachers didn’t think the kids could climb, so they headed for a bridge.  A 70 year old witness said he was amazed, they were going the wrong way!  He ran towards the mountain and survived, only to witness the line of children, and their teachers, get hit by the tsunami.

One problem for the decision making of the teachers was a tsunami survey, which said that any tsunami that reached the school would be less than one meter (3.2 feet) high.  The tsunami that hit the school, on March 11, was 10 meters (32.8 feet) high.  “No one thought tsunami would even reach this area.”-witness


 

International, U.S.

Egyptian Army cracks down on protesters

Yes, people are still protesting in Egypt. This time they want the pro-U.S. military leaders out, replaced by civilian leaders.  They’ve also been demanding the prosecution of Hosni Mubarak, which the military leaders seem reluctant to do.

After 5 days of protest, the military moved in, rounding up protesters and tearing down barricades.

The Army claims a deal to clear Tahrir Square was made with protesters, but several protesters interviewed by the press said no such deal was made.

Business/Economics, International

Mass Japanese hotel reservations Canceled

Since the March 11 disasters, more than 560,000 hotel reservations have been canceled in Japan.  It goes in hand with the recent report that tourism has dropped by 75%.

The Japan Tourism Agency expects hotel cancellations to continue, as Japan keeps getting hit with intense aftershocks.  Also, hotel reservations for April and May are down as much as 45% from last year.