Thursday, May 12, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
STAND WITH ANNA HAZARE
220,595 have signed. Wow we hit our 100,000 signature goal in 15 hours!! Let's get to 500,000
Campaign launched on 7 April 2011
Right now, Anna Hazare, a 73-year-old Gandhian, sits fasting in the burning sun, and he will stay until death -- unless the government agrees to consider a powerful law that could rid Indian politics of the scourge of corruption.
This “Modern Mahatma” is taking the utmost act of courage and determination to push through a bill that would give an independent body the power to punish corruption -- even in the Prime Minister’s office. Across the country a movement has exploded, driving a media storm of pressure that’s engulfing Singh. But dirty politicians are desperately trying to water down or kill the law.
For the first time in forty three years, we have the chance to change the way politics is done. Let's join together and stand with Anna Hazare to tackle corruption and clean up Indian politics. We have no time to lose -- sign the petition to be delivered directly to Prime Minister Singh and reported to the media, and spread the word to everyone:
Click here to sign the petition!
Hazare is championing a citizen-developed bill called “Jan” Lokpal that will create an independent body, selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities, with enough power to investigate and punish all politicians. No minister or bureaucrat will be able to influence its investigations.
Since 1968, when this bill was first introduced, greedy politicians have thwarted its passing. Now the government is pushing for a watered down Lokpal with no hope of ending fraud, vice and dishonesty -- it gives politicians overriding power to decide who will be investigated, and is a complete sellout.
Pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Singh to endorse the "Jan" Lokpal. Members of the opposition party have begun to make the right noises in support of Anna Hazare. And even the National Advisory Council, a powerful advisory body to Sonia Gandhi have come out in favour of the bill. But corrupt politicians and vested interests are doing all they can to kill it.
Anna Hazare has set the example. But only a national citizens movement can ramp up the pressure to get Singh to endorse “Jan” Lokpal and save Hazare's life.
Click here to sign the petition!
Corruption in politics has become a plague across our country, it is draining our resources and demoralizing our nation. This bill would go a long way to deterring those that steal and undermine the public good. Last year, the Avaaz community in Brazil won an important victory -- against the odds millions of people came together and pushed through a historic anti-corruption law. India has a proud history of people power overcoming oppression -- today if we all stand with one voice we can fight this corruption that is poisoning our political system.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Indian style in desert city
The fashion fervour has set in in full swing. If the ongoing fashion week in the city is keeping the style savvy in spirits, there’s more in store later this month. The upcoming Dubai Fashion Week (April 19 - 23) will have an inimitable Indian flavour with many of our home-grown designers all set to showcase their collections in the desert city.
The strong Indian designer contingent that is Dubai bound this month, shortly after the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week is over, comprises of Delhi based designers such as Gaurav Gupta, Reynu Taandon, Hemant and Nandita. Other designers such as Ekta Singh, Meher and Riddhima will also be part of the showcase. And designer Raajesh Pratap Singh will carry the torch of the grand finale at the Dubai Fashion Week.
Designer Reynu Taandon who’s not participating in the ongoing WIFW says, “I have set up a stall at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week so that I do not miss out on making my presence. For the fashion week in Dubai I have come up with an exciting collection that reflects the sensibilities of the place. My collection for the Dubai show is all about the jungle resort look. There will be lot of kaftans in georgette, embellished with African embroidery.”
Dubai is the city of buyers, which is another reason for the designers’ strong interest in the city. “Dubai has a lot of buyers so it’s always good to showcase in such places. I’m going to showcase the holiday collection which emphasises on kaftans, tunics, lots of zebra print with tribal embroidery,” says designer Nandita from the designer duo Hemant and Nandita. Another reason that draws Indian designers to the city is that they consider Dubai to be more fashion forward as compared to India. Designer Gaurav Gupta who’s participating at Dubai Fashion week buys that thought completely.
“Dubai is cosmopolitan and fashion forward for sure. The fashion sensibility of the people there is very modern. Keeping that in mind, my collection is semi-couture with interesting detailing and contemporary designs,” says Gupta. Designer Nandita adds, “They demand for trendy and attractive clothes. For them fashion comes above comfort unlike Indians.”
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Keep your eyes to yourself
There’s an unwritten rule followed by nearly all city dwellers—never make eye contact. If you attempt to do so, your glance will be met with utter disregard. You do not exist, other than being an object to avoid. I learned this the hard way. Upon moving to San Francisco from Minnesota—the friendliest of all possible places—I would attempt to make eye contact with strangers on the street out of courtesy. In Minnesota, this is commonplace. There, my glances were often met with a polite smile or a courteous “hello.” In San Francisco—even on streets that were anything but crowded—they were ignored with complete indifference.
Imagine, then, my surprise when I learned of San Francisco’s reputation as a friendly city. If San Francisco is considered friendly, I thought, then I’m steering clear of New York. I mused that such indifference to others must be an artifact of city life. That’s not to say there aren’t friendly people there—it’s true that San Franciscans are a generally genial bunch once you get them off the sidewalk, as are the New Yorkers I’ve met and nearly every other person from a big city. But when I’m in a small town, things sure do feel different. Walking down the street is no longer a sterile affair. It’s no family reunion, but it is degrees warmer than in cities. Still, my own experiences weren’t enough to convince me that this could be a universal trend.
Luckily, my hunch was proved correct the other day by a study which compared the rates of eye contact among people in central Philadelphia, suburban Bryn Mawr, and rural Parkesburg. The study’s authors parked two college students—a guy and a girl—outside a post office and a store in each location for two hours. The students counted the number of people who made eye contact and if anyone said “hello,” “how are you,” or the like. Lo and behold, rural Parkesburg held true to the small town stereotype. Between 70 and 80 percent of passersby glanced at the stationary students in the Parkesburg, while just 10 to 20 percent did in Philadelphia. Bryn Mawr’s pedestrians fell predictably in the middle, with around 40 to 50 percent making eye contact.
The rural types were also much more likely to say something to the strangers. One quarter of people in Parkesburg opened their mouths in greeting, while just three percent did for Bryn Mawr and Philadelphia combined. (The city center was by far the least friendly—only one person said something to each person at both the post office and the store.) In addition, everyone who did say something did make eye contact.
The study’s authors contemplated a few possible explanations for why the city dwellers were so hesitant to make eye contact. They favored the sensory overload hypothesis—that people in big cities are surrounded by too many people, noises, and other distractions—though they also speculated that city folk may fear strangers more or that small town people may be more curious about strangers. They also touched on the idea that city people are more hurried than either suburban or small town people. This notion has been covered both before and since by a number of different researchers. In general, people in larger cities do tend to walk faster, so there may be some truth to this.
Whatever the reason, I admit I exhaled a slight sigh of relief when I discovered that science confirmed my suspicions. San Franciscans, New Yorkers, Londoners—no matter how friendly they are underneath, suffer the same aversion to eye contact as other big cities. Small towns do feel friendlier.
TEPCO stops leak of radioactive water into Pacific
FUKUSHIMA —
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) succeeded in stopping highly radioactive water from leaking into the Pacific Ocean from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant early Wednesday morning after injecting a chemical agent, it said.
In a bid to stem the leak, TEPCO injected about 6,000 liters of ‘‘water glass,’’ or sodium silicate, and another agent around a seaside pit located near the plant’s No. 2 reactor water intake, through which the highly radioactive water had been leaking heavily.
The leak has apparently seriously contaminated the marine environment, as a seawater sample taken near the water intake Saturday showed a radioactive iodine-131 concentration of 7.5 million times the maximum level permitted under law.
As the first case of contamination levels in seafood have exceeded the limit, radioactive cesium over the limit was detected in young launce in the sea near the northern part of Ibaraki Prefecture.
The highly radioactive water has been filling up the basement of the No. 2 reactor turbine building and the trench connected to it. The water, believed to have come from the No. 2 reactor core, where fuel rods have partially melted, ended up in the pit.
In order to make room for the storage of the highly contaminated water, TEPCO also continued to dump low-level contaminated water into the sea.
While officials have said the crack in a maintenance pit plugged was the only one found, they have not explicitly ruled out that radioactive water is leaking into the sea from another point.
Authorities insisted the radioactive water would dissipate and posed no immediate threat to sea creatures or people who might eat them. Most experts agreed.
Radiation concerns in the area intensified after the discovery over the weekend of the crack, which photos showed water pouring out of and splashing into the sea.
Since then, workers have raced to find a way to seal it, pouring in concrete and injecting a mixture of polymer, sawdust and shredded newspaper. Both failed.
But TEPCO spokesman Naoki Tsunoda said the injection of 400 gallons (1,500 liters) of “water glass,” or sodium silicate, and another agent near a seaside pit appeared to be successful.
It was a rare bit of good news for the utility that owns the crippled nuclear plant. But highly contaminated water continues to pool around the complex. Tsunoda said officials were investigating whether the contaminated water is leaking from other places.
Japan nuke plant spews more radiation into sea
16:00 JST April 5: Radiation in seawater at the shoreline off Japan's tsunami-ravaged nuclear power plant has measured several million times the legal limit over the past few days, though officials contended Tuesday that the contamination still does not pose an immediate danger.
Radiation has been pouring in to the Pacific from the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant since a 9.0-magnitude earthquake spawned a massive tsunami that inundated the complex. Over the weekend, workers there discovered a crack where highly contaminated water was spilling directly into the ocean.
Experts have said that radiation dissipates quickly in the vast Pacific, but they have also said that it's unclear what the long-term effects of large amounts of contamination will be.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Tuesday that samples taken from seawater near one of the reactors contained 7.5 million times the legal limit for radioactive iodine on April 2. Two days later, that figure dropped to 5 million.
TEPCO said in a statement that even the large amounts would have "no immediate impact" on the environment but added that it is working to stop the leak as soon as possible.
The readings were taken closer to the plant than before - apparently because new measuring points were added after the crack was discovered - and did not necessarily reflect a worsening of the contamination. Other measurements several hundred meters farther away from the plant have declined to levels about 1,000 times the legal limit.
Radiation measurements from Tokyo Electric Power Co. were called into question last week, and the nuclear safety agency ordered the utility to reanalyze its samples. As a result, some figures were held back and several days worth of measurements were released Tuesday.
Radioactivity is pouring into the ocean in part because workers at the plant have been forced to use a makeshift method of bringing down temperatures and pressure by pumping water into the reactors and allowing it to gush out wherever it can. It is a messy process, but it is preventing a full meltdown of the fuel rods that would release even more radioactivity into the environment.
It means means water is pooling throughout the plant, and some of it is making its way to the ocean. Workers are now desperately trying to find a place to store it because it is also preventing them from restoring normal cooling systems.
Starting late Monday, they have been pumping more than 3 million gallons of less contaminated water into the sea in order to make room in a storage facility for the more highly radioactive water. That process is expected to take two days.
Friday, April 1, 2011
10+ Points About Google +1
Google +1 hit the press yesterday and many are wondering whether Google can get a truly social product off the ground. However, the product announcement is more of an invitation to join an experiment rather than a Google-wide launch.
The success of Google +1 really is in our hands. Here is a summary of the fundamentals:
1. It's just a voting button for search results pages.
In line with Google's latest social strategy, Google +1 is a social layer for search results pages, rather than a proper social network.
2. Everyone needs a Google Profile to use it.
Yet, it sort of is a social network because it can only be used by users with a public Google profile. Anyone who uses any Google products, already has a Google Profile, but it has to be upgraded to be made public.
Strictly speaking Google +1 is not a social network. At this stage it is more like a collaborative set of tools for users of Google products.
However, pay attention because, the bad news is that regardless of whether you want to use Google +1 or not, all Google Profiles will go public or be deleted July 31.
3. +1's are shared publicly, but can be undone.
Anything you +1 gets shared publicly with your 'social circles'. This means that people you are directly connected to will see, where relevant, what content you +1 and anyone visiting your public profile will also see everything you +1.
However, any +1 you make can be undone, both in the search engine results pages and in your public Google Profile. The +1 tab in your profile can also be made private - but it is important to note that it just hides the aggregated view of what you personally vote up, not the +1's themselves.
In all cases, anything you +1 is public in the Google search results pages unless you manually undo it.
4. Your 'social circle' will see your +1's.
Who gets to see what you +1 is defined by your social circle. Essentially your social circle is dictated by the Google products you use and any web apps that you use that use Google Profiles authentication (similar to Facebook Connect or Login with Twitter).
You can manage who can see your +1 activity via your profile dashboard - you need to scroll down to the "Social Circle and Content" section. There you can edit your social connections and your social content connections. The former is who you know in your Gmail contacts book and the latter is services you are connected to using Google Profile authentication (e.g. Blogger, Youtube and external services such as Quora).
It is worth noting that the social graph of Google +1 is exactly the same as the social graph of the fated Google Buzz.
5. You will see total +1 counts for sites you are not socially connected to.
Although personally identifiable +1's will only be shown to people you know, you will also see general counts for URLs in the search engine results pages (SERPs) which have received many +1's. This will be display is the same way as the 'shared by' counts which appear in universally targeted Google News results.
6. Paid search ads can be +1'd.
One fairly unique feature of Google +1 is that ads can receive votes. In effect, this means users can bookmark ads. Social buttons in search ads would mean social clicks could potentially turn into earned media (which in turn impacts social networks). Could +1 be the 'killer app' for Google's Pay-per-click business?
SEW expert, Alex Cohen, posed these questions on how +1 buttons might affect paid search campaigns to Jim Prosser, Manager, Global Communications & Public Affairs at Google:
How will +1 on ads impact Quality Score?
+1 does not change how we calculate Quality Score. As always, we look at an ad's performance relative to that of other ads for the same query, position, and UI treatment. However, while advertiser performance will of course vary, we believe that +1's may increase CTR, which would positively affect high quality ads.
Will advertisers ever be able to opt-out of it?
The +1 button and personalized annotations are the default experiences for all signed-in Google.com users searching in US English. If advertiser
Acquisition Marketers And The SEO ROI Dilemma
After over 12 years practicing the art of SEO, and selling SEO services to clients, I thought the industry had reached a stage of “acceptance”.
But there is still a very smart group of people out there that are doubters – The Acquisition Marketers.
SEO Personality Types
Company executives and owners have varying degrees of sophistication when it comes to understanding why SEO is important, or why it should be an important part of the marketing mix. I would break down the most common personality types as follows:
Me Too – My competitors are doing it, I will too.
The Rank Hound – I want to be #1 for my favorite keyword because I know it’s important (without any proof to back it up).
The Small Portfolio Ranker – I understand that there are a number of relevant keywords that appear to drive business for us, let’s attack them as a group.
The More, The Merrier – Capturing the long-tail is an important part of driving relevant visitors to our site, and they are more likely to be buyers.
Doing Great, Just Need A Bit More - Our SEO is performing well for us. It would be nice to push it up a notch or two, what’s the latest and greatest?
Been There, Done That – I’ve hired consultants before, and we just haven’t see the results we needed.
The “Been There, Done That” group is the closest to The Acquisition Marketers in terms of mindset. For the most part, these are sophisticated marketers, who use tight measurements to determine where to spend their marketing dollars.
ROI Focused Marketers Still Doubt
Stock image from Shutterstock, used under license
The surprising part for me in recent weeks is that there are many Acquisition Marketers who still doubt that investing in SEO is even worth the effort. And, they have not even given it a try.
In some sense, it’s the “paralysis by analysis” conundrum. As SEO practitioners, we have all been faced with the question of “what’s the ROI?”
In my last article, 10 Quick & Dirty SEO Success Metrics, I made the case that tracking SEO success can get messy when you look at attribution tracking, and that you may have to resort to some more basic measurements to prove success.
It is exactly this messy success tracking that makes Acquisition Marketers hesitant to invest in SEO.
The Case For SEO As An Acquisition Vehicle
So, here’s my case for why SEO is a necessary piece of Acquisition Marketing:
A well-executed SEO strategy requires crafting and generating valuable content, promoting that content, and finding ways for trusted resources to link to that content. It takes time to see organic search results.
In this process, the most likely scenario is that “The Rank Hound” will be disappointed, and the “The Small Portfolio Ranker” will begin to have doubts, but may see some positive signs. “The More, The Merrier” will see the breadth of keyword traffic begin to expand, and will be happy to see that progress. But, even “The More, The Merrier” will begin to question if the right tail keywords are bringing in traffic.
However, this entire SEO process is moving the acquisition dial in the right direction!
Acquisition benefits include:
Purchase Influencing. Quality content that is generated is positively influencing buyer behavior. Whether or not the content is found via a search engine (at the beginning), the content is still pushing website visitors closer to being buyers. By “content”, I don’t just mean written text (which is of course valuable) – great content will take many forms, including video, images, graphical depictions (including infographics), webinars, contests & promotions, local search assets (e.g. Google Places), and many other forms of great, creative, and convincing content.
Awareness. Visits from long-tail keywords, even if not the best-converting keywords, are building brand awareness, and planting the seed that your site is there for them to come back to. You may see this traffic come back to you in future visits in your analyitcs as “Direct/Bookmark” or search queries for your brand name. But, it wa
Japanese earthquake and tsunami top SA Google searches
South Africans flock online to find out more about the Japanese disaster that shocked the world
Natural disasters once again take prevalence on the list of fastest rising South African searches from the last 30 days.
Google Zeitgeist, a tool that provides insight into web searches, reveals that the earthquake and tsunami that took place in Japan on the 11th of March have captured five places on the list, after the quake in New Zealand took the top spot last month.
‘Japan earthquake’ comes in at number one, followed by ‘tsunami’ and ‘tsunami in Japan’. The last few places on the list focus on the current Cricket World Cup, with many South Africans still in mourning over the Proteas’ disappointing early exit from the tournament.
Fastest rising searches, last 30 days, South Africa
1. Japan Earthquake
2. Tsunami
3. Tsunami in Japan
4. Tsunami Japan
5. John Cena
6. Japan
7. CNN
8. Cricket Scores
9. Live Cricket
10. Cricinfo
The events in Japan also appear on the list of fastest rising Google image searches for the month of March 2011, indicating that many South Africans wanting to comprehend the extent of the disaster, turned to the Internet for visuals.
With multimedia sources becoming increasingly available, users also flocked to YouTube to see actual footage from the day. Videos such as ‘Tsunami slams Northeast Japan’ and ‘Powerful quake hits Japan’ have already received over 9 million and 5 million views respectively.
Despite global events, celebrities also feature on the image list - as always. Model Tracy McGregor appears in fourth position, perhaps because of the recent notoriety she received as Playboy South Africa’s first cover girl.
Vanessa Hudgens’ break-up with High School Musical veteran, Zac Efron, has also captured a lot of attention, with the young actress claiming the number seven spot. Controversial R&B artist, Chris Brown, takes eighth place amidst the media frenzy surrounding his recent backstage outburst after an interview on ‘Good Morning America’, an interview that he felt had focused too much on the Rihanna assault scandal.
Fastest rising image searches, last 30 days, South Africa
1. Japan Earthquake
2. Japan Tsunami
3. Japan Tsunami 2011
4. Tracy McGregor
5. Japan
6. Tsunami
7. Venessa Hudgens
8. Chris Brown
9. Smoking
10. Space
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Impact of Radiation on Ocean Water May Be Seen in Long Term
Since the first explosion occurred at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 12, steam and smoke carrying radioactive iodine and cesium has been blowing east, out to sea. General opinion has been that it is fortunate the cloud is over the ocean, not forming over the rest of Japan or China. However, the consequence for marine life and ocean water could be equally harmful in the long run.
Last week, the Japanese government reported that higher than normal levels of radioactivity was detected in rainwater in Tokyo. Radioactive rain has almost certainly been falling into the ocean as well.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has detected radiation 18 miles out to sea, but said, according to the latest readings taken on March 27, that levels have been dropping from what they saw days earlier.
“It can be expected that the data will be quite variable in the near future depending on the discharge levels. In general, dilutions by ocean currents and into deeper waters as well decay of short lived radionuclides e.g. I-131 or I-132 will soon lead to lower values,” according to the IAEA’s March 29 update.
Trenches have been built at the Fukushima Daiichi plant to prevent the radioactive water used in cooling from flowing into the ocean. Officials said Tuesday that the levels of water in trenches a mile from shore have remained stable, but they are contaminated and they are still not sure how the contamination got there.
The IAEA says dispersion of the radioactivity through the ocean will take months or years to reach other Pacific countries. The main transport of contamination across long distances is through the air, said the agency, where it will likely be diluted.
Scientists at Simon Fraser University, in British Columbia, Canada, found iodine-131—a byproduct of nuclear fission—in the southern portion of Canada’s west-most province on March 19, 20, and 25. Nuclear physicist Kris Starosta told a press conference that the levels being seeing are not harmful to humans, but that the contamination certainly came from Fukushima, travelling to North American via a jet stream that crosses the Pacific Ocean.
.Although the effects of radioactive elements in the ocean may not be immediately observable, the size of the ocean should not be viewed as sufficient to dilute the radioactive waste.
“The vastness of the ocean is often taken to mean that it has an enormous power to dilute most of man’s wastes. That is a misconception that led most nuclear powers to dump radioactive waste into the ocean, before doing so was banned by international treaty in the 1970s,” wrote Jacob Hamblin via e-mail. Hamblin teaches history of science at Oregon State University and has researched and written about the history of dumping nuclear waste in the ocean.
China says nuke programme affected by Japan crisis
CANBERRA: China's rapid construction plans for nuclear generators will be affected by Japan's radiation crisis , but atomic power will be an essential supplier of the nation's burgeoning energy needs in the future, an official said today.
Chinese climate change envoy Xie Zhenhua said China's nuclear power rollout was under review in response to the unfolding emergency at Japan's crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, which is leaking radiation following a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
"I believe this accident will have some impact on the development of nuclear power not only in China, but also the rest of the world," Xie told reporters at a bilateral climate change policy forum in Australia's capital.
"I think that the nuclear development plan of China will be affected to a certain extent," he added, without elaborating.
Chinese power industry official Wei Zhaofeng was quoted by state media on Tuesday as saying that China was likely to scale back its plant construction plans under a new policy that stresses safety instead of rapid development.
Xie said nuclear and hydroelectric power would be the major contributors to fulfilling China's target of having non-fossil fuels account for 15 percent of national energy needs by 2020.
Beijing's plans had called for nuclear plants to supply up to 5 per cent of China's power by 2020, but Wei said under the new policy, it would likely be closer to 3 per cent.
Xie said geological surveys were under way in China to ensure that the proposed locations of future nuclear plants were safe from earthquakes.
Plant management and monitoring safety standards were also under review, he said. "We have to ensure 100 percent safety of these nuclear power plants," Xie said.
But alternatives to nuclear energy such as building more hydroelectric dams also carry problems, including ecological damage, difficulties in relocating populations whose communities would be flooded and cost, he said.
Report: 2,000 bodies found in northeast Japan
(CNN) -- Approximately 2,000 bodies were found Monday in Miyagi Prefecture on Japan's northeast coast, the Kyodo news agency reported.
If confirmed, the discovery would be the largest yet of victims from last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Roughly 1,000 bodies were found coming ashore on Miyagi's Ojika Peninsula, while another 1,000 were seen in the town of Minamisanriku, where some 10,000 people are unaccounted for, Kyodo reported.
Officials said earlier Monday that the official death toll from the disaster stands at 1,627, with more missing.As of 10:00 a.m. Monday (9:00 p.m. Sunday ET), at least 1,720 people were missing and 1,962 injured, according to the National Police Agency Emergency Disaster Headquarters.
The number of dead is expected to go up as rescuers reach more hard-hit areas.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Q&A: Japan's nuclear crisis
(CNN) -- Despite the heroic efforts of technicians and engineers battling to prevent a full nuclear meltdown at the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant, radioactive material is still seeping into the surroundings of the power station.
Plutonium has been detected in soil samples near the plant, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said Monday.
And highly radioactive water has been found for the first time outside one of the reactor buildings on Monday, albeit in a tunnel. Radioactive iodine and cesium have also been detected in sea water near the plant, Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency said last week.
These latest reports of radioactive leaks -- and the possibility that there may have been a partial meltdown in three reactors -- raise questions about the immediate dangers poised to human health and the environment.
How did radioactive water leak out of reactor No. 2?
It is still not entirely clear how radioactive water made its way into a maintenance tunnel leading to reactor No. 2's turbine building.
However, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says he has received a report that the No. 2 unit's containment vessel "is damaged and water is leaking."
Professor Robin Grimes, Director of the Center for Nuclear Engineering at Imperial College London, says it is possible that some contaminated water could also have leaked from the "external steam suppression unit," which may have been damaged during a hydrogen explosion in the building surrounding the reactor on March 14.
"This is a guess, it has to be emphasized, " says Grimes, "There is a complex cacophony of different sources that could have contributed to the leaking water."
What about the contaminated seawater?
Levels of radioactive iodine in seawater just offshore of the nuclear plant spiked to more than 1,250 times higher than normal, Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency said Saturday. Those levels have been dropping in recent days.
The measurements also showed high levels of cesium and were taken outside the discharge canal for the plant's Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 reactors.
Journalist Martin Savidge, who is reporting on the incident for CNN from Tokyo, says one theory is that the tunnel may have contributed: "The fact that water has been detected in the tunnels could explain how it (contaminated water) has got into the ocean."
However, Japan's nuclear safety agency says there's no evidence yet of overflow. It said workers are using sandbags and concrete panels to keep the water inside the tunnel, which is located about 55 meters (180 feet) from the shore. The radioactive iodine and cesium could have also been in the atmosphere and then been washed down by precipitation.
And the radioactive soil?
Plutonium was detected in soil on the grounds of the nuclear power plant. The element was found in soil samples taken March 21-22 from five locations around the plant, says Tepco.
The No. 3 reactor has been of particular concern because it is the only one to use mixed-oxide fuel that contains a small percentage of plutonium, which is also a byproduct in other reactors.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters Tuesday that it was "likely" at least some of the plutonium came from the plant.
Grimes said it is not clear where the plutonium in the soil had come from, also adding that it is possible that it was from the Fukushima plant.
"These are incredibly small amounts at the moment but we need to keep watching," says Grimes.
What is radiation?
In the context of nuclear energy it is ionizing radiation that is referred to, which passes through matter causing it to become electrically charged or ionized. In living tissues, the electrical ions produced by radiation can affect normal biological processes.
Are these leaks dangerous?
"The sea is a phenomenally large dilution vehicle so when you get radioactive material in the ocean most of it just gets diluted. Some of the radioactive particles could collect in material near the reactor and this will have to be monitored and cleaned," says Grimes.
"If it got into local sea
Hole in US Airways plane was caused by a bullet, sources say
(CNN) -- A hole in a US Airways jet that landed in Charlotte, North Carolina, was caused by a bullet that pierced the passenger cabin, three government sources told CNN Tuesday.
Officials believe the bullet was fired in Charlotte, after passengers had exited the aircraft, one source said. The hole was discovered after the Boeing 737-400 landed Monday.
The sources said a bullet has been recovered inside the plane.
"We do not believe its terrorism related," said one of the government sources. "It appears to be a random event. We do not believe the plane was targeted. No one heard the bullet fired."
An investigation into who fired the shot into the aircraft has begun, said multiple government sources.
Flight 1161 from Philadelphia landed safely at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport about 4 p.m. Monday. The plane was being prepped for another flight when the pilot discovered the hole above a passenger window toward the back of the plane, according to airline officials. The airline pulled the jet from service and called in the FBI.
The plane holds 144 passengers, according to the US Airways website. It was not immediately clear how many people were aboard the flight. All of the passengers on the next flight were accommodated on other planes, a US Airways spokeswoman said.
"We've released the plane back to US Airways last night," after completing their investigation, FBI spokeswoman Amy Thoreson said Tuesday.
But the airplane remained grounded Tuesday while US Airways performed its own investigation, said company spokeswoman Valerie Wunder.
Before the plane can be put back into service, it will have to be inspected by the Federal Aviation Administration for flight certification, according to agency spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.
California town calls in FBI to help investigate cross-burning
Arroyo Grande, California (CNN) -- First, an 11-foot wooden cross was stolen from Saint John's Lutheran Church in Arroyo Grande, California.
Then, weeks later, the cross was discovered set aflame in the middle of the night outside the bedroom window of a 19-year-old woman of mixed race.
Now authorities are investigating the case as a theft, arson and hate crime, police said Tuesday. The burning cross was erected in a neighbor's large front yard adjacent to the house rented by the woman and her mother.
The mystery of who stole the cross and set it afire has deeply disturbed the small coastal town of Arroyo Grande, located midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It sits in the heart of a wine region, just 47 miles northwest of the vineyards depicted in the movie "Sideways."
Police Chief Steven Annibali told CNN Tuesday that a cross-burning is unheard of for his community of 17,000, and that only three hate crimes have been reported in his town the past 15 years, mostly for uttering slurs. That figure is the lowest for San Luis Obispo County, he said.
With a picturesque mountain backdrop and only about 5.5 square miles in size, Arroyo Grande calls itself "the gem" of the central California coast.
Authorities have announced a $3,500 reward in the case and even established a "Justice for All in Arroyo Grande" fund-raiser to raise that amount.
But an attorney for the alleged victim and her mother has criticized the police investigation.
"The family is trying to go about daily business, but they have ongoing concerns about their security and the direction of the investigation," attorney Louis Koory told CNN on Tuesday.
"For example, if there are known racist elements in the community, it is not clear that the police are looking at these groups. It appears that it would be a logical starting point for an investigation, if there are known racist groups in the community. The first problem is that the police initially treated this as a prank and may have lost the opportunity to conduct an effective investigation," Koory said.
Arroyo Grande police have not released the name of the 19-year-old woman, citing confidentiality provisions under California hate-crime laws.
Annibali, the police chief, said his agency moved quickly over the weekend following the cross burning, which occurred on a Friday, and is now working with the FBI, the California Department of Justice, San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's investigators and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department. His agency is also working with the Anti-Defamation League and the NAACP, he said.
"It's funny that he would even say that because we have a very good relationship with the victim and the mother from the start," Annibali said about the family's attorney.
"Like with most crimes, you look at who would want to do this, and have you been involved in any activities that would lead someone to do this, or do you know somebody who would," the police chief said.
"I'm very comfortable that we handled this appropriately," he continued. "We have been given access to any resources that the FBI has. And for a local agency like this, it's unprecedented."
Annibali said police never called the cross-burning a "prank," saying that word was misattributed by local media.
Agencies are now pursuing several leads, and he believes the cross-burning isn't the work of an organized hate group, he said.
"We feel right now that it's people who are local. We don't think it's an organized group or anything like that. It's bloggers who want to raise that issue," the chief said. "There's no active hate groups in Arroyo Grande, none that we're aware of. We're working with the FBI, so we're pretty confident."
Arroyo Grande police submitted physical evidence from the cross-burning scene to an independent crime lab for forensic analysis, authorities said. Authorities are also analyzing an "accelerant" used on the cross, Annibali said.
In an interview with CNN at her home, the mother said she and her daughter looked out their window after midnight March 18 and were horrified b
Nurse haunted by screams of patients she could not save as tsunami hit
At a hospital in northeastern Japan, the remnants of lives stolen in seconds are scattered on each of its four floors.
Metal beds are bent, I-V bags are filled with muddy water, and blood pressure monitors sit underneath splintered trees.
But Takata Hospital nurse Fumiko Suzuki doesn't just see the damage, she hears the haunted screams of the patients she could not save.
"The patients couldn't walk," said Suzuki, recalling the moment the tsunami hit.
"I heard someone screaming, 'Auntie, I can't save you. I'm sorry.' Then she ran out of the room."
Suzuki said a glance out of the window revealed a wave as high as the fourth floor.
The nurse said she told the patient "I'm sorry" as she raced up the stairs.
"If I tried to save this person who was lying on the bed, I would have lost my life as well," she said.
Suzuki pauses, grief etched on her face.
"It is the biggest regret I have," she said of leaving patients behind.
The tsunami following the 9.0-magnitude earthquake on March 11 engulfed every floor of the hospital just as Suzuki stepped onto the roof. At least 10,901 were killed nationwide.
Of the 51 patients hospitalized, doctors and nurses could not move 12 and they drowned in their beds, said Mikihito Ishiki, a medical director at the hospital.
One patient died as the hospital staff moved him to the roof while two more died on the frigid roof awaiting rescue.
"Ten of my staff also died with the patients," Ishiki said.
The doctor lost his staff, his patients and the hospital he proudly called his home. His wife remains missing and is presumed dead.
As soon as rescuers plucked the doctor from the engulfed building, he started working from a makeshift clinic on higher ground.
The doctor's composure cracks as he lifts a handwritten note from a satellite phone sitting in his clinic.
"Yokosawa is helping us from heaven," he reads, referring to a 60-year-old hospital administrator, Shigeru Yokosawa, set to retire in April.
After the tsunami warning, Ishiki asked Yokosawa to find the satellite phone on the first floor of the hospital.
Satellite phones are vital lines of communication after a natural disaster because phone lines are usually knocked out.
Yokosawa got the phone and moments before a massive wave swallowed him, tossed it to a colleague, who ran to the roof.
Seconds later, the tsunami engulfed the hospital.
His sacrifice is part of the reason Ishiki won't leave this clinic, now fully operational and treating patients across Rikuzen-Takata.
His fellow survivors tirelesslesly work along him.
Suzuki, who brought her elderly and sick mother to the clinic, said the doctors and nurses can't feel guilty for surviving the disaster.
"When I hear that," she said, "it breaks my heart. It's a natural disaster. They want to save everyone, but in this situation, they can't."
Suzuki said she is grateful to see familiar faces of her colleagues, and hope they realize they are making a difference in the present.
She pushes her pain -- the loss of her home, her friends and her relatives -- to the back of her mind as she focuses on her patients.
The town has given her not just a refuge from the pain, but donations of clothes for days she's not wearing her nurse uniform.
"Whatever the situation, I will stay here. Talking with the patients will be my cure. I feel like I'm not the one taking care of others, but the one being taken care of," she said.
Richard Quest reports from Rome
Added On March 29, 2011
CNN's Richard Quest reports from Rome where the government is taking on the huge task of preserving Rome's historic sites.
Australia PM Julia Gillard's computer 'hacked'
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's parliamentary computer and those of at least two senior ministers are suspected of being hacked, according to a newspaper report.
The government was alerted to the security breach by a US intelligence tip-off, Sydney's Daily Telegraph said.
It is reported that several thousand emails may have been accessed from the computers of at least 10 ministers.
The Australian authorities have refused to confirm or deny on the reports.
The cyber attacks are believed to have targeted the Australian Parliament House email network, the less secure of two networks used by MPs.
Among the computers allegedly breached were those belonging to Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Defence Minister Stephen Smith.
Reports suggest the hackers may have been trying to access information on Australia's lucrative mining industry.
Sydney's Daily Telegraph quoted four unnamed government sources as saying Chinese intelligence agencies were among a number of suspected hackers.
The government says it will not comment on specific intelligence matters.
However, Attorney-General Robert McClelland said that the Australian authorities were "constantly strengthening cyber security measures".
The US recently said China's cyber-warfare capabilities were formidable, though China routinely denies hacking claims.
Scottish teacher tells of Japan earthquake aftermath
Neil Slorach, 30, from Milngavie, Glasgow, has lived in Japan for four years and teaches English to children.
For the last two years he has been a resident in Sendai, among the worst affected areas by the earthquake and tsunami earlier this month.
Here Neil tells of his experiences.
From the moment the earthquake struck everything changed.
I rushed outside as soon as the shaking stopped, glad that my building hadn't fallen down. I stood outside in a t-shirt with snow starting to fall.
The streets were filled with people rushing to get to their homes and people cramming into local newsagents to buy up as much as they could before the shops closed their doors.
Crowds thronged the streets, afraid to go indoors because of the constant aftershocks occurring every five to 10 minutes.
With the night coming and no power for street lighting they eventually had to venture back in as they wanted to start cleaning their homes.
'Dark ages'
Not much sleep was had that night and the night time was strange and eerie, with pitch blackness and silence outside.
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Most of the week consisted of taking a walk outside to see the damage, returning home to cook what little food I had and lighting my candles”
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Sitting at home with candles re-reading books, unable to contact family or friends, I felt as if Japan had been thrown into the dark ages.
For the following week the majority of people were without power or water and some were also without gas. I was without power and water but luckily I had gas due to my supply being fed from a canister outside my apartment.
With transport ground to a halt, and no shops open at all, most of the week consisted of taking a walk outside to see the damage, returning home to cook what little food I had and lighting my candles. Some supermarkets began to open for a limited time, with the amount each person could buy strictly limited.
If, however, you wanted to get into the supermarkets you had to wait in line for at least two to three hours. Once inside there was next to nothing left which is still pretty much the case as I write this.
Set limits as to how much each person can buy in certain shops are still in place. Most supermarkets have very little in the way of fresh food and nearly no liquids, with bottles of water in very short supply.
Some of the damage in Ishinomaki near Sendai, Japan Depression is a real danger as so many people now have no house, no job and no possessions
The majority of petrol stations are closed. This is also the case for the suppliers of the gas people use in their homes, with people being told they may have to wait for up to a month for supplies to return. Still, we know we are lucky.
Television channels carry endless coverage of the mounting number of dead and missing, along with story after heartbreaking story of people searching for loved ones among the wreckage of what were once busy towns.
These people, along with the extraordinary number living in the shelters are the ones who most need help.
From seeing these areas and speaking to Japanese friends, I know there are many people who are trying their best to remain positive about a very dire situation, but there are also many who are not coping as well.
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One Japanese friend described it as being as if the people had gone wild. For the orderly, disciplined Japanese this is a very painful experience”
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'Living hell'
Every day the main Sendai city broadsheet publishes a full page, sectioned into different areas of Tohoku, detailing the names of the dead and the missing. With each day bringing a new page of names it is a very sobering sight.
In their own words these people are in a living hell. Many don't want to face the reality of what has happened and are at the moment living from meal to meal and not thinking about the future.
They feel like giving up because as far as they can tell there is no hope. Depression is a real danger at the moment as so many people now have no house, no job
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Quake kills at least 74 in Myanmar, one in Thailand
Yangon, March 25 (DPA) A magnitude-6.8 earthquake killed at least 74 people in northeast Myanmar and one in Thailand, officials said Friday.
About 74 people died and 111 were injured in Tarli and Tachilek towns, near the Myanmar-Thai border in Myanmar's Shan state, and destroyed 244 houses, nine government offices and 14 Buddhist monasteries, government-run Myanmar television reported.
The epicentre of the earthquake was about 50 km north of Tachilek, a border town 680 km north of Bangkok.
Myanmar Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Maung Maung Shwe was reportedly en route to the quake-hit area for an assessment tour.
The Myanmar Red Cross and Crescent Society has dispatched 1,000 relief packages to the area, but access to the region is difficult.
'It takes around four days to reach the affected area by car from Yangon and there are flights twice a week into Tachilek's airport,' aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said in a statement.
There were no reports on casualties in Yangon and Naypyitaw, Myanmar's former and current capitals, respectively.
The earthquake struck at 8.25 p.m. (1355 GMT) Thursday, with its epicentre in northeast Myanmar, 589 km northeast of Yangon, and 772 km north of Bangkok, according to the US Geological Survey.
In Chiang Rai, Thailand, Hong Khamping, 55, died when a concrete wall in her home collapsed on top of her. The wall was poorly constructed, Thai officials said.
'There were no other deaths or injuries in northern Thailand,' said Chiatha Mositrat, head of the Chiang Rai Disaster Prevention Office.
Tourists in Chiang Rai, including members of the Syrian triathlon team, evacuated their hotel rooms for several hours.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Yuvraj Singh guides India past Ricky Ponting and into the semi-finals
India's Yuvraj Singh, left, shakes hands with Australia's captain Ricky Ponting after the Cricket World Cup quarter-final. Photograph: Aijaz Rahi/AP
It is rare for such an eagerly anticipated contest to live up to expectations. But this one did. A fast-fluctuating, red-blooded contest played out in front of a cacophonous and ultimately euphoric crowd, was won by India by five wickets with 14 balls to spare. This means that there is the small matter of a meeting between India and Pakistan in the semi-final in Mohali on Wednesday.
The Australians defended a total of 260 for six, thanks to a superb century from Ricky Ponting, and they protected it tenaciously right until the end. They were often quite brilliant in the field, hurling themselves across the turf and throwing their bodies on the line at every turn. On one occasion Brett Lee stopped the ball with his eyebrow.
But their pacemen, despite summoning up every last dreg of energy, were not quite disciplined enough on a sluggish track. Moreover, the lack of quality in their spin department was exposed. They did not lack spirit but they lacked subtlety. So for the first time since 1996 someone else will be world champions.
Perhaps it will be India, though there were moments when they looked as if they might buckle under the pressure. In the end it was Yuvraj Singh, currently in princely form, who guided the home side to victory.
As ever there were some wonderful, flamboyant off-side shots, though he also threatened to run out several of his partners along the way. He finished it all off alongside Suresh Raina, preferred to Yusuf Pathan for this game, which now looks an inspired selection.
This pair of left-handers joined forces on 187 for five with the game in the balance. They did not exactly undertake to "get 'em in singles". Singh peppered the off-side boundaries when Ponting recalled his pacemen; Raina launched a six off Brett Lee into the stands at mid-on and the game was just about up for the Australians.
Earlier in the Indian reply Sachin Tendulkar had batted exquisitely for 53, long enough to get everyone thinking about that 100th international century. Then he edged outside the off-stump and walked for the second match in a row. For a while he was detained while the umpires checked the validity of Shaun Tait's delivery. It was just legitimate.
Gautam Gambhir scrambled a 50 but betrayed Indian nerves when he was run-out. So did Virat Kohli when he hit a David Hussey full-toss to midwicket. Those nerves extended to the crowd when MS Dhoni was caught at cover point with 74 runs still needed, but Yuvraj and Raina soon cheered them up.
There was not so much to cheer for Ponting, despite his return to form, though he could be proud of the commitment of his team. He did not bat like a man contemplating the delights of carpet slippers, the occasional round of golf and the odd guest appearance on Channel Nine's equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing –they must have one.
He batted like great batsmen do on the big occasion: pragmatically. It did not matter to him how he got his runs. But he was damn well going to get them. He willed himself to a hundred, not because he was consumed by saving his career, but because there was a very important game to win. Australia have appeared in the final of every World Cup he has played in and he was determined that this sequence should not be broken.
Ponting came to the crease in the 10th over after Shane Watson was bowled by Ravi Ashwin, attempting to sweep. For a while he was content to bat in Brad Haddin's shadow. The wicketkeeper has an exquisite touch; there were three boundaries from Munaf Patel's first over, followed by a delicious late cut in a 57-ball half-century.
But once Haddin was caught at extra-cover, Ponting had to carry the innings on his shoulders. Neither Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey or Cameron White could settle, but Ponting remained positive while spurning any unnecessary risks. There were glimmers of genius, a six over extra cover and moments of good fortune – he might have been lbw to Harbhajan Singh
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Japan's Nuclear Disaster Gives Survey Participants Pause
The Civil Society Institute said 53 percent of 814 people surveyed support a moratorium on new nuclear reactor construction if efficiency and renewable sources could meet near-term demand.
* Mar 23, 2011
Sixty-seven percent of 814 adults who were asked said they would oppose the construction of new nuclear reactors within 50 miles of their homes, according to a telephone survey conducted by ORC International for the Civil Society Institute (CSI), a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank in Newton, Mass. Twenty-four percent said they already live within 50 miles of a reactor site.
The earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan and created the Daiichi nuclear complex disaster were still fresh in participants' minds when surveyors contacted them on March 15-16. Four of the 12 survey questions made reference to the plant disaster.
"The Japanese crisis is a sobering occasion," said Pam Solo, founder and president of CSI, during a telephone press conference on March 22. She added that the survey results favor a conservative approach to energy, one that insists on safety.
CSI noted that it is independent and receives no direct or indirect support of any kind from any nuclear industry interest, or any other energy-related company, organization, or individual.
Solo, who began her public interest career in the 1970s by co-founding and -directing the Rocky Flats campaign and the national Nuclear Weapons Facilities Task Force, founded CSI 19 years ago. She formerly worked for the Armed Services committee professional staff and as campaign director for U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder.
Graham Hueber, senior researcher at ORC International (a major polling firm that has partnered with CSI to conduct 28 surveys to date), ticked off the survey results during the press conference and concluded: “When Americans are asked about their views on specific policy questions that go to the future of nuclear power, there is majority support across the board on every question for moving away from greater reliance on this power source.”
The survey found:
* 14 percent of participants said their views had not been changed by the Japanese reactor crisis.
* 73 percent of participants do not “think taxpayers should take on the risk for the construction of new nuclear power reactors in the United States through billions of dollars in new federal loan guarantees.”
* 74 percent of participants would support “a shift of federal loan-guarantee support for energy away from nuclear reactors” in favor of wind and solar power.
* 73 percent of participants would favor Congress reviewing a 1957 law indemnifying nuclear power companies from most disaster clean-up costs.
* 46 percent of participants would “support more nuclear power reactors in the United States” and 44 percent now oppose new reactors. According to CSI, that support level is down by more than 25 percent from the March 2010 Gallup Poll showing 62 percent support for nuclear power.
In May 2010, CSI also funded the report "Beyond Business As Usual," which was produced by Synapse Energy Economics, and looks at a future without coal or nuclear power. Bruce Biewald, president of the research consulting firm and a report author, said the United States over-relies on coal and nuclear technologies and should consider transitioning to efficiency, regional wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal power sources.
In related news, U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Lisa Murkowski on Monday released white paper (pdf) that outlines the questions that must be answered before lawmakers can develop a "Clean Energy Standard," which President Barack Obama mentioned in his State of the Union address. The national goal would be for 80 percent of U.S. electricity to come from clean energy technologies by 2035.
What Does FEMA Advise in a Nuclear Reactor Emergency?
In the nuclear power policy survey funded by the Civil Society Institute, 52 percent of participants living within 50 miles of a nuclear reactor told surveys that they do not know “what to do in the event of nuclear reactor emergency,
Japan earthquake and tsunami: How to help
Japan was hit by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded on March 11. The magnitude-9.0 quake spawned a deadly tsunami that slammed into the small island nation, leaving a huge swath of devastation in its wake. Thousands of people are dead and many more are still missing or injured; almost half a million people are homeless.
Japan has often donated when other countries have experienced disasters, such as when Hurricane Katrina impacted the United States. Below are organizations that are working on relief and recovery in the region.
AMERICAN RED CROSS: The American Red Cross is currently supporting and advising the Japanese Red Cross, which continues to assist the government in its response. You can help people affected by disasters, like floods, fires, tornadoes and hurricanes, as well as countless other crises at home and around the world by making a donation to support American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Donate here.
GLOBALGIVING: Established a fund to disburse donations to organizations providing relief and emergency services to victims of the earthquake and tsunami. We are working with International Medical Corps, Save the Children, and other organizations on the ground to provide support. Our partners on the ground are working hard to provide immediate relief. Donate here.
SAVE THE CHILDREN: Save the Children, which has worked in Japan since 1986, has an immediate goal of $5 million to launch longer-term recovery for children affected by Japan's March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Save the Children has opened the first child-friendly space in Japan, protective environments where children can gather to play and share their experiences under the supervision of trained, caring adults. Donate here.
SALVATION ARMY: The Salvation Army has been in Japan since 1895 and is currently providing emergency assistance to those in need. Donate here.
AMERICARES: AmeriCares and its relief workers in Japan are working to deliver medicines and supplies to hospitals, shelters and health responders to treat and care for survivors. The AmeriCares team began mobilizing within hours of the first reports of the dual disasters, dispatching an emergency response manager to Tokyo to direct the efforts of our relief workers in Sendai, the largest city closest to the impact zone. Our team is in direct contact with local officials, evacuation shelters and hospitals treating the injured in Miyagi, Fukushima and Iwate to determine health needs. Donate here.
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS: A team of doctors flew to Sendai, where they will be delivering supplies, assessing needs, and identifying communities that have not yet been reached. We continue to coordinate with local health authorities and partners on critical gaps, providing technical expertise and assisting with logistics. Donate here.
SHELTERBOX: ShelterBox responds instantly to natural and man-made disasters by delivering boxes of aid to those who are most in need. The box includes a tent for a family of 10, cooker, blankets, water purification, tool kit and other items survivors need to rebuild their lives in the days, weeks and months following a disaster. Donate here.
Japan earthquake and tsunami: How to help
Japan was hit by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded on March 11. The magnitude-9.0 quake spawned a deadly tsunami that slammed into the small island nation, leaving a huge swath of devastation in its wake. Thousands of people are dead and many more are still missing or injured; almost half a million people are homeless.
Japan has often donated when other countries have experienced disasters, such as when Hurricane Katrina impacted the United States. Below are organizations that are working on relief and recovery in the region.
AMERICAN RED CROSS: The American Red Cross is currently supporting and advising the Japanese Red Cross, which continues to assist the government in its response. You can help people affected by disasters, like floods, fires, tornadoes and hurricanes, as well as countless other crises at home and around the world by making a donation to support American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Donate here.
GLOBALGIVING: Established a fund to disburse donations to organizations providing relief and emergency services to victims of the earthquake and tsunami. We are working with International Medical Corps, Save the Children, and other organizations on the ground to provide support. Our partners on the ground are working hard to provide immediate relief. Donate here.
SAVE THE CHILDREN: Save the Children, which has worked in Japan since 1986, has an immediate goal of $5 million to launch longer-term recovery for children affected by Japan's March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Save the Children has opened the first child-friendly space in Japan, protective environments where children can gather to play and share their experiences under the supervision of trained, caring adults. Donate here.
SALVATION ARMY: The Salvation Army has been in Japan since 1895 and is currently providing emergency assistance to those in need. Donate here.
AMERICARES: AmeriCares and its relief workers in Japan are working to deliver medicines and supplies to hospitals, shelters and health responders to treat and care for survivors. The AmeriCares team began mobilizing within hours of the first reports of the dual disasters, dispatching an emergency response manager to Tokyo to direct the efforts of our relief workers in Sendai, the largest city closest to the impact zone. Our team is in direct contact with local officials, evacuation shelters and hospitals treating the injured in Miyagi, Fukushima and Iwate to determine health needs. Donate here.
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS: A team of doctors flew to Sendai, where they will be delivering supplies, assessing needs, and identifying communities that have not yet been reached. We continue to coordinate with local health authorities and partners on critical gaps, providing technical expertise and assisting with logistics. Donate here.
SHELTERBOX: ShelterBox responds instantly to natural and man-made disasters by delivering boxes of aid to those who are most in need. The box includes a tent for a family of 10, cooker, blankets, water purification, tool kit and other items survivors need to rebuild their lives in the days, weeks and months following a disaster. Donate here.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Massive earthquake hits Japan
An 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit off the east coast of Japan early today. The quake -- one of the largest in recorded history -- triggered a 23-foot tsunami that battered Japan's coast, killing hundreds and sweeping away cars, homes, buildings, and boats. Editors note: we'll post more as the story develops -- Lloyd Young (47 photos total)
in reference to: Massive earthquake hits Japan - The Big Picture - Boston.com (view on Google Sidewiki)War clouds hover over Tripoli
TRIPOLI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- War clouds are gathering over here as Western forces have started launched air strikes against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces after a no-fly zone is imposed on Libya.
At around 02:30 a.m. local time (00:30 GMT) on Sunday, missiles whistling from the sea hit the Tajura area near Tripoli and the ensuing huge explosions sounded over the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
The air-defense forces loyal to Gaddafi immediately fought back with anti-craft guns, misbelieving Western warplanes were coming to attack. The traces of anti-aircraft gun shots could been seen in the night sky over Tripoli.
Intensive anti-aircraft guns lasted about 10 minutes in the southern and southwestern part of the city.
Soon in the early Sunday morning, some angry local residents rushed to a hotel in Tripoli, where foreign journalists stay, to protest the air assaults carried out by the Western forces.
The world's major powers, Britain, the United States and France, Saturday started to launch strikes from the air and sea against Gaddafi's forces after the UN Security Council had passed a resolution to impose a no-fly zone on Libya and protect civilians in Libya.
France carried out initial four air strikes, while the U.S. military said 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from American and British ships and submarines at more than 20 Libyan coastal targets.
French warplanes Saturday night attacked an air defense site in Tajura, about 10 km east of Tripoli, and destroyed several armored vehicles of the Libyan government troops near Benghazi, the last stronghold of Libyan rebels.
Libyan Parliament Speaker Mohammed Abul-Qassim al-Zwai told a press conference that foreign fighter jets hit Tripoli and Misurata, which caused many casualties.
Sixty-four people have been killed and 150 others wounded in the air strikes since Saturday, Libya's health officials said on Sunday.
Western warplanes have bombed civilian targets in Tripoli, causing the casualties, and several fuel tanks were also hit, Libya's state television reported.
In a brief audio message carried out by Libya's state television hours after the air strike, Gaddafi called the Western attacks as "a crusader war" against the Libyan people, saying that the air strikes were designed to "terrify the Libyan people" and were "terrorist means."
Gaddafi vowed to snatch a victory over Western forces, saying the western forces would be defeated.
All the Libyan people were united and have been given weapons, "ready for a long war" in the country, he said.
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said on Sunday that the initial stage of an international operation to set up a no-fly zone over Libya "has been successful."
Speaking to ABC's "This Week" news program, Mullen said the Libyan government forces' advance on rebel stronghold Benghazi has been stopped, adding the operation has "limited goals," and isn't aimed at regime change in Libya.
The UN Security Council Thursday adopted a resolution to impose a no-fly zone on Libya and authorize "all necessary measures," excluding ground troops, to protect civilians in the embattled country.
On Saturday afternoon, French President Nicolas Sarkozy invited leaders from some Arab countries and main Western powers to attend an emergency summit held at the Elysee Palace on the implementation on the UN resolution on imposing a no-fly zone on Libya.
After the emergency summit, Sarkozy said France had already taken military action against Libya, noting "our determination is total."
Earlier Saturday, several French reconnaissance planes were flying over Libya. French warplanes also fired the first shots Saturday, destroying tanks and armored vehicles near Benghazi.
Denmark dispatched six F-16 jet fighters to the U.S. base in Sicilia, Italy, preparing to participate in action against the Libyan government forces.
In addition, British and Canadian warplanes are on their way to join their NATO allies' operations against Gaddafi. Italy has agreed to open seven military bases for the operations.
On Satu
China to monitor food imported from Japan for radiation
BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China's quality watchdog said Monday it has asked local authorities to monitor food imported from Japan for radiation following the nuclear disaster at its Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant .
Local quality watchdogs should test food from Japan for radiation to ensure the safety of China's food imports, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) said.
In 2010, bilateral trade between China and Japan reached 303.06 billion U.S. dollars, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.
China imported 593 million U.S. dollars worth of agricultural products from Japan last year, accounting for 0.33 percent of Japan's total exports to China.
The country had been Japan's biggest trading partner and export destination as of the end of last year.
The massive earthquake that struck Japan's northeast coast on March 11damaged the country's nuclear power plants and killed thousands of people.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Russian Celebrity Has Her Twitter Account Stolen, Threatens Court Trial
March 04, 2011 | Svetlana Gladkova
Russian celebrities are not really that different from every other celebrity in the world in their hunt for PR. Logically, many of them quickly jumped on the Twitter bandwagon when they realized the PR power of it. Tina Kandelaki, a TV personality, is one of the most active Twitter users among Russian celebrities as she reports quite a number of her daily events to more than 50 thousand of followers. And today she has had her account hacked.
The irony of the entire story is that the account has not even been stolen by some clever hacker (and we are supposed to have plenty of them in Russia) – it was just a journalist. Allegedly he wanted to get a comment from Tina on a now revived political issue she was involved with a few years ago but when he got none (because of her busy schedule or unwillingness to comment – does not matter), he decided to attract her attention in this pretty unusual manner.
The account is told to have been controlled by the journalist-hacker for a few hours. After managing to log in under the celebrity’s account, he has promptly changed the password to lock the owner out of her account. The only problem was that he has not changed the email linked to the account so Tina has managed to gain control of the account a few hours later. Over the hours, the journalist has allegedly posted 3 updates there regarding her unwillingness to provide a comment.
I personally do not think there is anything specifically extraordinary about someone hacking someone else’s account on a social network but still this issue poses a serious question given Twitter popularity today. It is pretty obvious that whoever manages to hack an account of a person with a significant number of followers will be able to broadcast messages that will be retweeted and eventually reach many-many eyes of the people who trust the person who seems to be their author. And it could have nothing to do with truth at the same time!
It is not clear yet what the reason for the hack was – a terrifically simple password for Tina’s account or some vulnerability of Twitter. I am inclined to blame Tina and her lack of attention in choosing a password because the suspect does not seem to be a hacker experienced in breaking into websites – he is a journalist who could probably only try a few meaningful and simple passwords to get in – and succeeded.
Or of course he could also hire someone way more professional – and in this case it could probably not be Tina’s fault but this scenario at the same time poses interesting questions regarding Twitter security. In fact, I would expect Tina to be pretty careful with her online presence given her obsession with the latest and greatest in technology. For example, she was the first among the Russian people I follow on Twitter to get her hands on an iPad of her own a few days after it became available in the US and sounded extremely excited expecting the flight from New York bringing the gadget to her. I would expect someone with this interest in technology to know what a secure password is and how to use it.
Anyway, the celebrity is now planning to appeal to the police for them to deal with the incident. And whoever actually hacked the account or whatever the reason, it will probably be the first trial about stealing Twitter accounts in Russia (there has already been some on local social networks) and it will be interesting to see if Twitter team chooses to cooperate with Russian law enforcement authorities now.
Japan earthquake: Footage of moment tsunami hit
Japan earthquake: Footage of moment tsunami hit
13 March 2011 Last updated at 08:06 GMT
Newly emerged footage shows the force at which the tsunami struck Japan's coast.
In the fishing port of Miyako, in Iwate prefecture, boats were overturned, while video from Kamaishi city shows cars being dragged down city streets by the water.
The tsunami that followed the 8.9-magnitude earthquake wreaked havoc along a huge stretch of Japan's north-east coast, sweeping far inland and devastating a number of towns and villages. Powerful aftershocks are continuing to hit the region.
Footage courtesy of TV Asahi and TBS
Narora Atomic plant can withstand quakes: NPCIL
NEW DELHI: With Japan's deadly quake raising questions over safety of nuclear reactors worldwide, the state-run nuclear operator today allayed any fears with regard to Narora Atomic Power Station located in seismic zone IV in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr.
"The design of the plant itself takes care of seismicity. It can withstand earthquakes measuring in the excess of 7 on the Richter scale," Sudhindra Thakur, Executive Director and Fellow, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited told PTI.
He said the Narora site falls in the Zone IV which is low seismic zone.
Thakur noted that IIT-Roorkee had suggested additional safety measures for the Narora plant which was the only plant in India to be located in seismic zone IV. The other plants fall in seismic zones II and III which have even less probability of occurrence of a strong earthquake.
Thakur pointed out that even in Japan, the damage to the nuclear plants was due to the tsunami that was generated after the powerful earthquake.
"The nuclear plants in Japan had shut down immediately after the earthquake. It is the subsequent tsunami that caused the damage," Thakur said.
Another nuclear scientist closely associated with the operation of the Narora plant said the region was not prone to earthquakes.
The plant had withstood the the 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Uttarkashi, he said.
In Japan, the nuclear plants are located in Seismic Zones VII, VIII and IX.
Japan calamity calls temporary hit for rare earth Reuters / Pittsburgh
March 16, 2011, 8:40 IST,,,,,,,,,,,,,The aftermath of Japan's disastrous earthquake and tsunami could hold down rare earth prices over the next month, but overall those prices are likely to remain elevated for the next few years, executives said.
Temporary closures of Japanese businesses, coupled with disruptions to ports and the electric grid as authorities struggle to stop the release of radiation from a quake-hit nuclear plant, may cause delays in shipments of the metals used in everything from Apple iPads to wind turbines. But few rare earth users are likely to turn away previously ordered materials in the face of continued export cutbacks by leading supplier China.
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"You're looking at something that probably has an impact of two to four months. We may see some relaxation in prices over that time, more as a knee-jerk reaction," said Jon Hykawy, rare earth analyst with Byron Capital Markets.
Over the long term, no rare earth users are likely to turn away shipments out of concern about the overall current short supply of the materials.
"Deliveries will go on, shipments will go on. There will be delays in processing," Hykawy said at the Asian Metal International Rare Earth Summit in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
Western companies including Molycorp Inc, Lynas Corp Ltd, Great Western Minerals Group and Avalon Rare Metals are scrambling to redevelop mines capable of producing rare earth elements.
They are largely focusing on restarting mines that were idled at times when prices were lower, but look economical since China last year began reducing its rare earth exports.
Shares of rare earth producers sold off on Tuesday, amid a broad decline in US equities sparked by concerns about how Japan's disaster will affect world economic growth.
NOT 'IN THE MOOD'
For now, Japanese demand for rare earths has dried up, said one executive.
"We cannot call our customers right now and say, 'Do you want to buy something?' No one is in the mood ... So if 50% of the consumption of the world is in Japan and this 50% stops for a couple of weeks, or a couple of months, this will be a huge impact on the consumption side or the demand site," said Furkhat Faizulla, marketing manager from Advanced Material Japan Corp. "We will have to see the real situation in Japan in one week, two weeks, but maybe the prices will come down in the coming months."
But long-term demand is unlikely to be affected unless more of Japan's industrial core is affected by subsequent troubles, executives said.
"A large amount of the infrastructure in Japan is not on the coastal side of Japan, there's a lot inland," said Russell Starr, a partner in Euro Pacific Canada and an investor in the sector.
CHINA SHIFT?
Executives at the conference also wrestled with the question of whether China, which accounts for more than 95% of global rare earth production, but is estimated to hold just a third to half of the world's reserves, would eventually shift to become a net importer of rare earths.
Growing Chinese demand could have that country importing more rare earth than it expects at some point "beyond 2015," Great Western executive chairman Gary Billingsley said.
That was a similar to a projection made by Molycorp Chief Executive Mark Smith, who said he expected the gap between global demand and supply to be wider in 2011 than it was in 2010, when the boom began.
Pierre Neatby, vice president of
Japan crisis won't trigger global recession: economists
Japan's nuclear crisis and the devastations caused by last Friday's earthquake and tsunami are unlikely to trigger a global recession as happened in the aftermath of the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers three years ago, according to leading economists.
However, they expressed fears that automobile and electronic industries around the world, especially in Asia, Europe and the US, may face manufacturing delays, if the Japanese production of components remain crippled for a long period.
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Concerns over a renewed global recession or a bankruptcy of Japan are unfounded, said Thomas Mayer, Chief Economist, Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank.
Even though Japan is the world's third largest economy, its share of the global gross domestic product (GDP) is below 5%.
Therefore, the consequences for the global economy from the catastrophe will be very minimal, Mayer said in an interview to German economic daily Handelsblatt.
In the areas hit by the earthquake and tsunami, relatively less industries are located, but the main problem is the disruption of power supply.
The Deutsche Bank estimates that the power cuts could reduce monthly growth of the Japanese GDP by 0.1% Mayer said.
The Japanese economy has to cope with a second successive quarter of negative growth this year after a strong turnaround in 2010.
Before the earthquake and tsunami, the Deutsche Bank had forecast a 1.6% growth for the Japanese economy this year.
This will have to be corrected downwards depending on whether the nuclear crisis intensifies and how long it takes to start the reconstruction, he said.
Mayer estimated the costs of reconstruction will be much higher than around 10 billion yen invested by the government after the Kobe earthquake if the situation at the crippled reactor complex in Fukushima worsens and becomes a full-blown nuclear catastrophe.
In the Kobe earthquake, much more industries were destroyed, but the number of casualties were around 6,500, which is about half of the estimated loss of lives in the present disaster, he said.
Klaus Juergen Gern of the Institute for World Economy at the University of Kiel said that the earthquake, tsunami and the unfolding nuclear crisis in Japan could affect supply of electronic components worldwide, especially chips which are crucial for a wide range of industries, including the automobile sector.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Japan radiation toxic cloud may hit US west coast
There has been debate among experts as to whether the nuclear disaster unfolding in Japan will affect the United States. One thing most agree on is that wind direction and weather patterns will play a role in the extent of the spread of the disaster.
The 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan last Friday forced Japanese officials to release radioactive steam into the atmosphere. The measure remains an effort to prevent a total meltdown of four damaged reactors and the subsequent release of massive amounts of radiation into the environment.
Elevated radiation levels have been reported as far away as Tokyo, 170 miles to the south of the troubled Fukushima Daiiachi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.
"No citizen of any country can be assured that he or she can be protected from radioactive contamination. One nuclear reactor can pollute half the globe... Chernobyl fallout covers the entire Northern Hemisphere," according to data from the Russian Institutes of Radiation Safety.
While the toxicity of a radioactive cloud may be diluted on its journey across the Pacific Ocean, there is no guarantee that if and when it reaches the west coast of the United States that there will be no consequences.
Radiation from nuclear waste can remain in the environment for up to 1,000 years.
Japan radiation toxic cloud may hit US west coast
There has been debate among experts as to whether the nuclear disaster unfolding in Japan will affect the United States. One thing most agree on is that wind direction and weather patterns will play a role in the extent of the spread of the disaster.
The 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan last Friday forced Japanese officials to release radioactive steam into the atmosphere. The measure remains an effort to prevent a total meltdown of four damaged reactors and the subsequent release of massive amounts of radiation into the environment.
Elevated radiation levels have been reported as far away as Tokyo, 170 miles to the south of the troubled Fukushima Daiiachi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.
"No citizen of any country can be assured that he or she can be protected from radioactive contamination. One nuclear reactor can pollute half the globe... Chernobyl fallout covers the entire Northern Hemisphere," according to data from the Russian Institutes of Radiation Safety.
While the toxicity of a radioactive cloud may be diluted on its journey across the Pacific Ocean, there is no guarantee that if and when it reaches the west coast of the United States that there will be no consequences.
Radiation from nuclear waste can remain in the environment for up to 1,000 years.
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