A recent economic report from the UN says western economies (Europe, North America, Japan) will not see any recovery of the tens of millions of job losses since 2008, for at least five more years.
UN economists point to low projected GDP numbers as proof: “This pace of growth will be far from sufficient to overcome the continued jobs crisis that many countries are still facing.”-World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013
24 December 2012, prefectural health officials, in Miyazaki Prefecture, say the hospital’s bad hygiene habits, and diagnostic incompetence could be to blame for the latest norovirus outbreak in Japan.
The hospital also delayed reporting deaths.
Officials say the hospital did not report any norovirus infections until three days after the first person died. The hospital did not even mention the death in their first report. It was another five days, and after several more people had died, before the hospital revealed any deaths.
Six people died between the 14th and 22nd of December.
Hospital staff say they didn’t think the patients had norovirus!
Prefectual officials say the way staff handled the bio-hazard waste from the patients’ discharges (vomiting, etc) could have caused the outbreak in the hospital. There are still at least 44 people sick, five are in serious condition.
“I thought I was gonna die.”-63 year old Texan
23 December 2012, the norovirus is making a comeback; cruise ship passengers getting sick in Texas, firefighting crews getting sick in Montana, warnings for Coloradans, local media from Minnesota and North Dakota reporting increased cases of infection, a report showing that standard kitchen disinfecting will not kill the virus, and a new mutation killing people in Japan.
The two latest incidents involve six more deaths in Japan, and a cruise ship off the coast of Texas full of sick passengers.
96 passengers on a Crown Princess cruise got sick with the most common cause of stomach ‘flu’ (aka food poisoning); the single stranded RNA norovirus. Reports say one passenger had to be lifeflighted to a hospital. The cruise line provided onboard medical care, but the sick passengers were made even sicker when the cruise line charged them extra for the medical care!
In Japan, the norovirus has taken a turn for the worse. Japanese health officials now think that the virus has mutated into a more deadly form.
On 23 December, a hospital in Miyazaki Prefecture reported that six patients have died, another 27 patients and 14 hospital staff are sick. On 05 December, a hospital in Osaka Prefecture reported two people died and 48 patients and hospital staff are sick. There are reports that five other people throughout Japan have died.
The Japanese National Institute of Infectious Diseases is warning of a norovirus epidemic, saying they are seeing one of the highest infection rates on record. As of the second week of November, an average of 11 cases per hospital were being reported.
At the end of 2011, Japanese health officials detected an increase in norovirus cases, and that this new version seems to be more easily spread between humans.
Back in the United States, a new Lessons Learned report on firefighting efforts in Montana revealed that several of the firefighting staff were sick with norovirus G1. It involved the crews fighting the Elbow Pass fire in 2011. At least seven people came down with it, but after closing down the food service line and cleaning everything, health inspectors realized that it was not coming from contaminated food, it was going directly from person to person.
The fire crew supervisors took quick action and avoided what could have been a catastrophe: “It’s not unusual in fire camps that things get passed around, but this was particularly nasty. There was all kinds of potential there to spread through the whole camp.”-Bob Harrington, Montana State Forester
In Minnesota, health officials are investigating a possible outbreak after a recent wedding party in the city of LeRoy. They’re also blaming a food service worker, infected with norovirus, for an outbreak that hit the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato, back in November.
North Dakota media reporting people being hospitalized with norovirus, and health officials point out that there is no vaccine to prevent it, and no medication for it once you catch it.
In Colorado, cases of norovirus are spreading like wildfire. Since 01 December 2012 there have been six confirmed outbreaks, just in El Paso County. Outbreaks do not equate to individual persons, this is six groups of people. The first five outbreaks resulted in 300 Coloradans getting sick. Health officials are refusing to reveal where exactly the outbreaks are taking place, but did concede that it involved people living/working along side other people: “…the places where it’s occurred have been long term care facilities, schools, places where there have been large numbers of people. Because it is so highly contagious, it does allow it to spread.”-Danielle Oller, El Paso County Public Health
Winter time (in the Northern Hemisphere) is considered the usual time of year for norovirus outbreaks. And the standard schtick for defending from the virus is to keep your kitchen clean, but there’s growing evidence that doesn’t work.
According to a report published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, researchers wanted to see if standard restaurant dish washing practices really killed the germs that can make you sick, and they found out that it doesn’t (back in my younger days I worked in a restaurant that used an industrial strength dish washing machine that used boiling hot water, and now this study says that ain’t good enough?). What they discovered is that while bacteria like E.Coli are killed, viruses like norovirus are not! The norovirus was still present after the dish washing experiment.
But get this, the reason the scientists did the study was that no one has ever proven that dish washing actually killed viruses: “… little information regarding the efficacy of traditional sanitizers for the reduction of foodborne viruses from food contact surfaces is available in the literature. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the sanitization efficacy of quaternary ammonium and sodium hypochlorite for the reduction of murine norovirus…”-Introduction from Efficacies of Sodium Hypochlorite and Quaternary Ammonium Sanitizers for Reduction of Norovirus and Selected Bacteria during Ware-Washing Operations
The study showed that dish washing machines did not reduce viruses: “…the survivability of MNV-1 [norovirus] on the contaminated surfaces before and after mechanical washing……were not statistically different (p>0.0001).”
Oh, but don’t throw your away your time saving machines just yet, hand washing didn’t work either: “The effect of the manual ware-washing and sanitizing solutions…..were not significantly different (p>0.0001) than the reductions achieved by the control.”
The researchers also pointed out signs that indicate that norovirus does not originate with fecal (crap) contamination.
One: Norovirus actually lives longer on clean surfaces than on dirty surfaces: “This result is consistent with those of other researchers who showed that norovirus can survive for up to 30 days on stainless steel…….and [only] 7 days on fecal contaminated surfaces….”
Two: Most cases of contamination originate with a person who is already contaminated, who then spreads it to other people: “Most documented foodborne viral outbreaks can be traced to food that has been manually handled by an infected food handler. Hence, the hygiene of the personnel who handle food in foodservice establishments is an important preventive measure in minimizing cross-contamination of food contact surfaces and the food itself with norovirus.”
If you think about it, this study would indicate that washing your hands won’t kill the virus either, so much for all that advise coming from your local health officials and incompetent media!
21 December 2012, the United Nations renewed its peacekeeper observation mission in the Golan Heights, but Japan says no more and is pulling out.
On 19 December, the UN Security Council extended the Golan Heights mission to 30 June 2013. On 21 December, Japanese media reporting that Japan’s Defense Minister, Satoshi Morimoto, ordered the Japanese Self Defense Forces (SDF) peacekeeper contingent out of the Golan. Interestingly, the Israeli media reported on the Japanese pullout back on 11 December!
Japanese officials blame the Syrian ‘civil’ war.
It’s that same reasoning that the Israeli government is using for increased military activity in the Golan. For the first time ever, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) combat exercises, in the Golan Heights, were held during the Hanukkah holiday. The Netzach Yehuda battalion, from the Kfir Brigade, now holds that distinction.
Battalion leaders revealed the combat training is for an enemy Israel is not used to fighting: “The fact that the exercise is aimed at fighting against a different enemy, which behaves differently from what we are used to, is a new and special thing for the fighters, and therefore this is a great professional improvement.”-Lieutenant Colonel Telem Chazan
The Japanese SDF had been observing the ‘peace’ in the Golan since 1996, and this is the first time the Japanese government has ended a peacekeeping mission for security reasons.
Israel took the Golan from Syria during the 1967 war, and again during the 1973 war. Then in 1981 Israelis passed the Golan Heights Law, a way of unofficially annexing the territory. But as far back as 1967 the United Nations passed UNSCR 242, which has as demand number one: “Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied….”
There is also the UN General Assembly resolution 3414 (XXX) of 05 December 1975: “…immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of Israel from the Arab territories occupied since 1967.”
UN Security Council resolution 497 of 17 December 1981: “…the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan was null and void and without international legal effect…”
But ironically it’s the U.S./European/Israeli backed Syrian ‘civil’ war that has the UNSC extending the peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights: “Recent incidents across the cease-fire line have shown the potential for escalation of tensions between Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic, and jeopardize the cease-fire between the two countries.”
Sounds like a set up, to me.
21 December 2012, the government of Japan is hitting Mitsubishi Electric with hundreds of millions of dollars in fines, after an investigation revealed that the manufacturing giant ripped off taxpayers for at least ten years.
Japan’s Defense Ministry says Mitsubishi Electric overcharged taxpayers on military contracts, to the tune of $295 million USD.
Japan’s JAXA space agency announced that Mitsubishi Electric overcharged the taxpayers by around $74 million.
Mitsubishi must now pay back the overcharges, plus fines, but doesn’t have the money. But at least the executives of the Japanese company are more responsible than their U.S. unAmerican Corporate America counterparts; Mitsubishi execs will cut their pay in half for at least six months to try and help the company pay the piper (so they say).
Mitsubishi is already in trouble as their sales in China are crashing, and they expect only half of the profits they were forecasting at the beginning of the year.
14 December 2012, Japan’s struggling Mitsubishi Aircraft just announced it has received its largest order ever, from a U.S. company.
Utah based Skywest is buying 100 Mitsubishi Regional Jets (MRJs), with an option to buy another 100 later.
The 100 MRJs will cost Skywest $4.2 billion USD. The planes will be delivered at least one year late, as Mitsubishi says they’re having manufacturing problems.
13 December 2012, German officials announced they are investigating employees and executives of Deutsche Bank, for tax evasion and money laundering. 500 investigators descended upon the bank’s Frankfurt headquarters. At least 25 employees are under investigation and five have already been arrested. Some of the tax evasion claims involve the bogus carbon tax.
12 December 2012, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that the Japanese bank, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, will pay a fine of $8.6 million USD for violating U.S. sanctions against Myanmar, Sudan and Iran.
11 December 2012, HSBC was fined a record $1.9 billion for money laundering, sanctions violations and several people were arrested for the ongoing LIBOR scandal. U.S. Department of Justice said the British bank laundered money for drug dealers and violated sanctions against Burma, Cuba and Libya.
It’s reported that other banks involved in the LIBOR scandal, such as The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Swiss bank UBS, are about to make a settlement.
The failed British bank, Northern Rock, cost taxpayers dearly: “This is £270m straight out of the taxpayers’ pocket. I’ve been repeatedly assured in parliament that there was no black hole in Northern Rock. U.K. Financial Investments and the Treasury didn’t know what they were talking about.”-Lord Oakeshott, Liberal Democrat
And let’s not forget the Queen of England’s own bank, Coutts (a division of RBS), which is also involved in money laundering for drug dealers. Just think, the medical care being provided for Kate Middleton and her unborn baby is possibly being paid for with drug money (as well as taxpayer money) for all we know.
13 December 2012, for the first time in Japanese history Japan has scrambled eight F-15 Eagles and one AWACS to intercept what turned out to be a Chinese research aircraft.
Japanese officials say it was the first time a Chinese aircraft violated Japanese airspace, however, China says the airspace belongs to them. Recently Japan took over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. China and Taiwan say the islands are in Chinese territory.
The Chinese aircraft belongs to China’s Oceanic Administration. China has also been sending ships into the disputed area. Recently the Obama administration said publicly that the United States supports Japan’s claims to disputed territory.
05 December 2012, for awhile now U.S. President Barack Obama has been touting his desire that U.S. corporations start investing into research right here in the United States. Yet, U.S. companies continue to spend that money outside the U.S.
The latest is Qualcomm, who announced they will spend up to $120 million USD, by March 2013, on the failing Japanese company Sharp.
Sharp is now predicting it will lose a record $5.5 billion by the end of March 2013!
Sharp was hoping to be saved by a Taiwanese company, but that deal went south, partly because Sharp’s stock prices are crashing and burning (falling by 75%).
Qualcomm says it’ll use half the $120 million buying up Sharp stocks now, and the other half will be used when Sharp starts showing a profit. Obviously the California based company has more faith in the Japanese economy than in the U.S. economy.
This could be a money maker for Qualcomm, if Sharp recovers, but if Sharp fails…..
05 December 2012, Japan and India have signed a currency exchange deal that could prop up the U.S. dollar.
Banking officials from the two Asian countries have been working on the plan for about a year. It involves the central banks of Japan and India exchanging up to $15 billion USD per year for the next three years.
They say the exchanges done in U.S. dollars will stabilize their own currencies. It could prop up the value of the U.S. dollar, which would hurt U.S. factories (who’re still operating in the U.S.) who want to export their products. Japan has been blaming the rising value of their yen on the falling value of the U.S. dollar.
India is blaming the value of the European Union’s euro, for the rupee’s problems.
When a country’s money becomes more valuable it actually hurts their exports because it makes their products more expensive to foreign buyers. The only way for any country to achieve high economic growth is to have strong exports, a strong domestic economy can only achieve stagnation at best (relative to the size of the country).