Friday, March 25, 2011

The death toll from the Sendai earthquake has now increased to over ten thousand. In Japan, the National Police Agency has stated that 10,019 are now known to have been killed as a result of the disaster.

The Agency also reported that 2,775 had been injured and the location of 17,541 individuals was unknown. Meanwhile, 1,900 evacuation sites are now thought to be occupied by approximately a quarter of a million people.

When the event happened two weeks ago, 18,000 thousand households were destroyed and 130,000 were damaged by the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami. In spite of this, twelve of the fifteen north-eastern ports of Japan have recommenced operating, while the majority of the oil terminals of the country remained open, according to Inchcape Shipping Services.

Amongst the aftermath of the earthquake, plant number 3 at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is suspected to have been damaged and may be releasing radiation. The Japanese government have reported that an ongoing investigation is occurring to attempt to discover the cause of the radiation leak at the power plant. Chinese authorities have reported two Japanese tourists were found to have levels of radiation “seriously exceeding limits” on their clothing and luggage. In Tokyo, the amount of radiation in the supply of water has decreased, however it remains high in various parts of the north of Japan.

According to BBC News Online, two workers were hospitalised because of the leak. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), who operate the building, reported that three employees placing electrical cables at the location were given treatment for being exposed to radioactive water; they had experienced ten thousand times the regular amount of radioactivity. Of those three men, beta rays caused two of them to receive burns. The two individuals did not stop working despite meters advising of unsafe radiation levels. It was later discovered that they were wearing inadequate protective footwear and failed to draw their attention to a radiation alert. TEPCO has since received government orders to improve worker management.

The radiation emitted from the plant has had a significant effect on the Japanese food industry. In the surrounding areas of the plant, shipments of foodstuffs have been prohibited. In Fukushima prefecture, residents have been advised not to consume eleven leafy green vegetable types produced locally due to radiation concerns. There has also been a significant decrease in customer demand at a fish market in Tsukiji.

Japanese product importers have discovered some foodstuffs to have a small radiation amount, which is not thought to be potentially deadly. Numerous Asian countries, the European Union, Australia, Russia and the United States have prohibited milk items, seafood and vegetables from being imported from various Japanese prefectures.

Closing the power plant down may take at least one month to achieve. Speaking to AFP, an individual talking on behalf of TEPCO stated that the company is “still in the process of assessing the damage at the plant, so that we can’t put a deadline on when the cooling operations will work again”. Residents living within thirty kilometres of the plant have been advised to avoid going outdoors to attempt to prevent radiation exposure as far as possible.

Saturday, May 7, 2005

Testing began on a chemical reactor at the Newport Chemical Depot near Terre Haute, Indiana on Friday morning. If successful, the reactor will be put to use destroying the large VX nerve gas stockpiles stored at the facility over the course of the next two years. After the disposal project experienced several delays, the facility announced it would begin pumping VX into a completed disposal unit for testing. The unit consists of a chemical reactor in which the VX will be mixed with water and sodium hydroxide, heated to 194°F while mixed with paddles. The resulting chemical, called hydrolysate, is chemically similar to commercial drain cleaners and has similar properties. If the test is successfully completed , the unit will continue processing the VX until the entire stockpile has been neutralized, a process projected to take two years. Administrators expect to complete testing on May 10, 2005.

According to the controversial plan, the finished waste product would be shipped to New Jersey for final reprocessing. The inert chemical would then be emptied into the Delaware River where natural attenuation would occur.

Residents near the proposed river disposal site in New Jersey oppose this idea. The contractor for the final component of this disposal would be the DuPont Corporation.

NCD is a bulk chemical storage and destruction facility in west central Indiana, thirty miles north of Terre Haute. Originally founded during World War II to produce RDX, a conventional explosive, it later became a site for chemical weapons manufacturing during the Cold War. It is now used to securely store and gradually neutralize part of the US stockpile of VX.

VX was manufactured by the U.S. in the 1950s and 60’s as a deterrent to possible Soviet Union use. It was never deployed, and the manufacture was halted in 1969 after an order signed by then-president Richard Nixon.

In 1999, the Army announced it awarded a disposal contract to Parsons Infrastructure & Technology, Inc., a business unit of Parsons Corporation. Some 220 civilian Parsons employees work at the facility, which is supervised by an Army officer reporting to the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, and a board of civilian government overseers called the Indiana Citizens’ Advisory Commission, some of whose members are appointed by the state governor.

Security at the facility is controversial. A private security service, supplemented by a complement of Indiana National Guard soldiers, guarded the facility until April 14, 2005, when the soldiers were withdrawn. An Indianapolis television station has questioned security measures in some of its special reports.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The Mexican government has said that an Aeroméxico Boeing-737, flight 576 from Cancun, was hijacked and landed safely at Mexico City International Airport in Mexico City.

The plane was traveling from Cancun to Mexico City. The situation ended without incident and all passengers and crew on board the aircraft were able to leave safely. All hijackers were arrested after Mexican security forces boarded the plane.

The incident began just after 1:30 p.m. (CDT) one man took control of the plane and demanded to speak to Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s president. The hijacker said that if his demand was not met, he would blow up the plane. Earlier reports had stated there were explosives on board the aircraft, but none were found. Five people were initially detained without incident.

A short time later, four of the detained men were released without being charged. Authorities identified the sole hijacker as Jose Mar Flores, 44, who is being described as an alcoholic, drug addicted, religious fanatic. He claims he was on a mission to warn Mexico that an earthquake was going to strike the country. Flores said that the significance of the date, 9/9/09, the reverse of 666, was the reason why he hijacked the plane. Reports say he was carrying a box that he described as a bomb and would detonate it if his demand to speak to Calderon about the quake was not met.

104 people were on board the plane, but all passengers and crew aboard the aircraft have left it safely. The airport remained open while the plane was dealt with on an emergency runway.

Calderon was inside the airport’s presidential hanger waiting to depart when the plane landed. His flight was canceled.

Friday, March 9, 2012

On Super Tuesday, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, known more commonly as ‘Joe the Plumber’, won the U.S. Republican Party primary for Ohio’s 9th congressional district, which represents Toledo. He defeated real estate agent Steve Kraus, 51 percent to 48 percent, and will now face incumbent Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur, who has held the seat since 1983.

Wurzelbacher received notice during the 2008 presidential election, when he asked a question about taxes to future president Barack Obama. Obama, who at the time was the Democratic Party presidential nominee, famously responded, “when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” After this, Republican presidential nominee John McCain used Wurzelbacher as a representation of the average American worker, and attacked Obama’s response as socialist.

Following the exchange, students from the University of Massachusetts tried to draft Wurzelbacher to run against Kaptur in the 2010 congressional race, calling on him to “Plunge the crap out of Washington.” He initially expressed interest, but at that time did not run. In 2011, though, he announced his candidacy for 2012.

In the Republican primary, Wurzelbacher out-raised his opponent $60,000 to $10,000 and benefited from the endorsement of former 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain. Wurzelbacher said of partisanship, “Democrat, Republican…it’s something that the media uses to try to divide us as Americans…I’m not working for the Republican Party or Republicans, I’m working for the American people, and that includes all of us.”

In the Democratic primary, Kaptur defeated Representative Dennis Kucinich, who challenged her after his district was redrawn. Kaptur argues that Wurzelbacher is “going to have his own issues dealing with the electorate as he moves forward…I think the nature of the District is quite different than his value set.”

Wurzelbacher concedes that he lives in a largely Democratic and pro-Union community, but says the people are “all really good friends of mine…we agree on a lot of things, and ultimately what it comes down to [is] we want jobs, we want security, we want stability.”