Tag Archives: banks

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: Cooling of Fukushima Daiichi on hold for second day!

19 March 2013/07 Jumada l-Ula 1434/29 Esfand 1391/08 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

For the second day now, cooling of spent fuel pools on the General Electric designed reactors 1, 3 and 4 is not taking place (1, 3 and 4 are the ones that exploded).   Another spent fuel rod pool and a water decontamination system are also affected.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says they’ve found the reason why they lost power yesterday; three high voltage distribution systems failed.

TEPCo says two were fixed but they can’t figure out the problem with the third, they suspect a switchboard.  TEPCo officials said something shorted out the switchboards, but they don’t know what. Apparently all three systems must be working in order to cool the fuel rod pools.

TEPCo has two more days to fix the problem before temps in fuel pools exceed safety limits.  If not they will resort to fire engines to pump water into the pools.

 

 

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

What Economic Recovery? Long time Boeing customer switches to Airbus!

18 March 2013/06 Jumada l-Ula 1434/28 Esfand 1391/07 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

Indonesia’s Lion Air has always been a big customer of the U.S. company Boeing, but not anymore.

With the ongoing problems with Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, Lion Air has just signed a huge contract with Europe’s Airbus.  Lion Air just bought 234 A320 airliners, they could have been Boeing 787s!

The deal with Airbus is the largest ever for Lion Air.  It’s estimated to be worth 18.4 billion euros ($23.8 billion USD)!  It’s good news for France as 5,000 jobs will be created.

 

Business/Economics, International

Evil Banks: New bank account tax created by Too Big to Jail banks! Cyprus is “test case”. Russians forced to pay the tax! Banks freeze ATMs and close branches to stop the run by account holders! Is your bank account next?

18 March 2013/06 Jumada l-Ula 1434/28 Esfand 1391/07 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

The people of Cyprus are almost up in arms over a heavy tax that could be imposed on their bank accounts.  The tax is part of a privately funded bailout deal from Too Big to Jail European banks.  The tax would go to those banks, not to any government.

Banks in Cyprus have closed their branch offices and turned off their ATMs to try and stop the wave of people who want to withdrawal all their money.

Germany’s Deutsche Welle (DW) is reporting that the bank account tax is a “test case”, and could be imposed on other countries: “People feel anger first of all, and fear. I saw people waiting in front of ATMs over the weekend who were shouting: ‘Why are they doing this to us? Is this some kind of an experiment?’ They say Cyprus is seen as a small country that can be the test tube for the whole of Europe. If this is going to work here, they say, it’s going to be applied in other countries. Cypriots are angry because they say they’ve been working for years and now somebody comes and steals their money.”-Flora Alexandrou, journalist

It’s not just individual account holders who’ll be forced to pay the new corporate imposed tax, but businesses, investors and even other banks!

The bank account tax is going to hit Russian banks hard, because they’ve got big bucks in Cypriot bank accounts. It’s reported that Russia’s second biggest bank will end up paying 130 million euros ($168 million USD) in taxes!  So what happens if Russia’s banks pullout the tens of billions they have in Cypriot banks?

Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, called the European banks’ imposed tax “unjust, unprofessional and dangerous.”

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

World War 3: Japan finds nuclear equipment on cargo ship coming from North Korea!

18 March 2013/06 Jumada l-Ula 1434/28 Esfand 1391/07 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

The Japanese government is filing a complaint with the UN Security Council, alleging violations of UN sanctions by DPRK.

Japanese Customs inspectors say they found aluminum rods on a cargo ship that had left North Korea, bound for China.  The rods could be used for nuclear centrifuges, and are covered in the latest UN sanctions.

This is the first time Japan has found such contraband items from North Korea.  The inspection of the ship was done under a 2010 UN sanctions rule.

Fukushima

Cooling at Fukushima Daiichi stops, TEPCo does not know why!

18 March 2013/06 Jumada l-Ula 1434/28 Esfand 1391/07 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

Tokyo Electric Power Company reporting that for an unknown reason the cooling of stored nuclear fuel rods, at the GE designed Fukushima Daiichi power plant, has stopped.

There was an electrical power blackout affecting 2100 spent fuel rods in storage pools for reactors 1, 3 and 4.  TEPCo says temps have been rising slowly but steadily every hour.

A forth pool with 6300 fuel rods was also affected, as well as the water decontamination system.

TEPCo does not know what is causing the power outage.  They claim cooling of the melted reactors have not been affected.

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: North Korean media calling for Second Korean War, now!

17 March 2013/05 Jumada l-Ula 1434/27 Esfand 1391/06 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

A DPRK media source published an editorial calling for a Second Korean War:

“The Second Korean War has become an unavoidable thing, now that the U.S. and the south Korean puppet regime, barbarous provocateurs, push the situation to the extremity by resorting to the unprecedented ‘sanctions’ against the DPRK and the war drills to invade the north, condemning the DPRK’s legitimate satellite launch.

At last, time has come to put an end to the long cycle of the provocations and tensions which has lasted for a long time century after century.”-Rodong Sinmun

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? Asian investment markets crashing, Euro crashing due to 10% tax on bank accounts! Depositors making a run on the banks!

18 March 2013/06 Jumada l-Ula 1434/28 Esfand 1391/07 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

Reports that Asian stock markets dropped, along with the euro, as details of the financial bailout of Cyprus were revealed.

The European Union (EU) agreed to bailout the island country of Cyprus, but only if individual bank accounts were heavily taxed, in some cases as high as 10%!

Now Cypriots are making a run on the banks, trying to cash out their accounts.  So far, in the ongoing European bailouts, Cyprus is the only country that has been ordered to tax bank accounts.

But because of the way EU officials avoided questions about the possibility of other European bank accounts being taxed, there is a fear that runs on the banks will spread outside Cyprus.

The 10% tax could end up being 12.5%, that’s according to Reuters. Officials are trying to change the bailout rules by lowering the tax for people with less than $129000 USD in a bank account, but the difference would be passed on to wealthier accounts.

If the Cypriot Parliament does not ratify the bailout deal, then there is no bank account tax and no bailout money. (they should do what Iceland did, default!)

International, U.S.

World War 3: North Korea threatens war with Japan!

17 March 2013/05 Jumada l-Ula 1434/27 Esfand 1391/06 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

One of DPRK’s media outlets, Rodong Sinmun, published statements making threats of war with Japan.

Japan has been calling for more sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.  Japanese media say their military officials estimate that North Korea has 200 missiles aimed at Japan.

The commentary from Rodong Sinmun says that if North Korea is pushed to launch a nuclear strike, Japan will not be spared.

International, Opinion

World War 3: bin Laden destroys holy sites at Mecca!

17 March 2013/05 Jumada l-Ula 1434/27 Esfand 1391/06 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

Photos taken by Saudi Arabian activists show that the buildings surrounding the Ka’aba are being torn down, specifically those built during Ottoman and Abassid eras.

The demolition is reportedly being performed by the Saudi Binladin Group (a company started by the father of Osama bin Laden). In the past the SBG was involved in restoring holy sites.

It’s also reported that one of the sites razed is the spot where Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim (aka Muhammad) began his night journey to Al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Saudi officials claim the demolition is necessary to make room for the exponentially increasing Muslim pilgrims.  (this might be true as Islam is the fastest growing religion in the World, despite the U.S. led War on Terror)

Critics point out that the Saudi leadership is Wahhabi.  In the past Wahhabist clerics have called for the destruction of Mecca.

In 1979, Wahhabi extremists (who might now be called al-Qaeda) took over Mecca.   Western media ignored it because they were obsessed with the Iranian Revolution.  The Grand Mosque Seizure ended when Saudi troops, and a Pakistani commando unit, took it back by force after two weeks of fighting.  255 people were killed, at least 560 wounded.  The surviving 67 extremists were publicly beheaded.   Iranian officials said the takeover by extremists was backed by the United States.

During the early years of Islam the arrogant elites of Mecca saved their lives by making a deal with Muhammad. They would accept the new religion and throw out the idols if their lives were spared and they were allowed to maintain their control over Mecca.  (you see all these ‘holy sites’ of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and others, are just money making schemes, most being located on important cross roads of the ancient Silk Road)

Do you think Muhammad did the right thing by sparing the elites’ lives?   On one hand I don’t like seeing historical sites destroyed, on the other I don’t like seeing historical sites being turned into money making idols unto themselves by being declared ‘holy’.  (this is the main reason Jesus of Nazareth threw the money changers out of the Temple of David!)

International

World War 3: High level meetings between military leaders of Iran & Iraq!

On 12 March 2013/29 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/22 Esfand 1391/01 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy met with Iraq’s acting defense minister, chief of staff of the army and Navy commander during a four-day visit.

Fadavi also toured the Iraqi Navy’s operation center and Academy of Naval Sciences.  The main purpose of the visit was to discuss joint Persian Gulf defenses by Iran and Iraq.

Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, and Iraq’s Vice Admiral Ali Hussain Ali, signed an agreement to expand cooperation between Iraqi and Iranian naval forces.