More than 8.1 million tons of goods was transported through Iran the past Iranian year (which ended on March 20). That’s a 42% increase.
86% of the goods were shipped over roads and rail networks. Bandar Abbas and Sarakhs border crossings, in south (Gulf coast) and northeast (Turkmenistan) of Iran, were the busiest.
Studies of the effects of the March 11 tsunami, on the farm land that was flooded, shows there is too much salt in the soil. Not only is radiation a concern, but now salt.
Immediately after the tsunami Japanese officials were optimistic that the flooded farm land would not have too high a level of salt. The latest testing of the soil proved otherwise. 78% of the 2,300 hectares (5,683 acres) of farmland, in Miyagi Prefecture, cannot be planted this year. Farmers will try flushing their fields with fresh water.
Remember the stories about Japanese who couldn’t get their money out of the banks, after the March 11 disasters? The president of one of those banks has just resigned, because they weren’t prepared.
Satoru Nishibori, president of Mizuho Bank, will leave in June. He failed to authorize a proposed computer update. The result was that all the ATMs in Japan shut down after the 9.0 quake.
This is not the first time Mizuho Bank had computer problems. Back in 2002 when three banks merged under Mizuho Bank, there were problems caused by failing to integrate the three banks computer systems. Two executives resigned over that.
But even after that officials with the bank did not see any reason to update their computer programs, which are 20 years old! It took 10 days to restore the computer system, after the March 11 disasters. It still does not run smoothly, because they have no manual, or personnel, to address such a problem!
There is word that action could be taken against the bank’s parent company, Mizuho Financial Group. This is another example of how the Japanese are not prepared for disasters.
Toyota announced that production at its factories will not return to pre-March 11 levels, until December. Toyota expects 2011 production levels to be lower than 2009.
Production in Japan will not pick up until July. Production at all other Toyota plants will remain low until August. And that’s a best guess: “We don’t know how the production recovery curve will shape up.”-Atsushi Niimi, Toyota Executive Vice President
Toyota officials pointed out that in today’s car factories it only takes one missing part to shut down production. Especially when it comes to electronic parts.
Toyota is now cutting production at its Thailand factory by 50%, starting April 25. Honda and Nissan have announced similar cuts at their Thailand factories.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota announced his country’s new President, Dilma Rousseff, will continue the policies of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in regards to Iran: “Rousseff will stay on the path of her predecessor and mentor Lula da Silva.”
Now Iran will open a trade center in Brazil. The move is meant to increase trade between the two countries. According to a 2009 IMF report, Brazil is Iran’s largest trade partner in South America. Iran also has trade deals with Venezuela, Ecuador, and Cuba.
New York City’s Economic Development Corporation is hosting a weeklong program, trying to sell property to Chinese companies.
It’s another sign that the economy is not recovering. Real estate agents can’t sell enough property to U.S. companies, so they’re trying to get the rich Chinese to buy it.
Several Chinese businesses have already opened New York City offices, include the apparel company Li & Wang, and several banks and investment firms.
Several banking officials in China, have stated that they Chinese government needs to “reduce” and “diversify” their foreign currency holdings.
Tang Shuangning, chairman of China Everbright Group said China must reduce its excessive foreign exchange reserves and further diversify its holdings.
Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of China’s central bank, said that China’s foreign exchange reserves “exceed our reasonable requirement”.
Xia Bin, a member of the monetary policy committee of the central bank, said China should further diversify its foreign exchange holdings.
According to western media reports, most of China’s foreign currency holdings are in U.S. dollars. This is part of why the value of the U.S. dollar hasn’t dropped as far as it should have. But if the Chinese government listens to its bankers, then the dollar could crash.
When the Chinese bankers say China must reduce its current foreign currency holdings they’re talking about U.S. dollars. They’re saying the Chinese government has too many, based on how bad the U.S. economy is.
When the Chinese bankers say they want the Chinese government to diversify foreign currency holdings, they mean they want to get rid of U.S. dollars and buy money from countries that have good economies, like Russia, India, South Africa and several South American countries.
An advertisement by Subaru, in Israel, promotes running over Palestinians with your new Subaru car. The tag line, in Hebrew, is: “We’ll see who can stand against you”
What makes it worse, is that the scene in the add is real. The photo was taken last year, when an Israeli settler ran over Palestinian teens who were protesting the settlements. The driver of the car, David Be’eri, is the director general of Elad, a hard-line property development company.
The advertisement was revealed to the world by Chinese news agency Xinhua.
“The U.S. economic fundamentals are not strong, plus there is expanding fiscal deficit and declining financial revenue. We are closely tracking the performance of U.S. government bonds and considering a further adjustment based on current conditions.”-Guan Jianzhong, Dagong Global Credit Rating Company
It wasn’t just S & P that reduced the credit rating of the Untied States, Dagong Global Credit Rating company also downgraded the U.S. That’s important, because it’s a Chinese company, and the Chinese hold most of the U.S. sovereign debt.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, along with several Chinese bank officials, urged the United States to adopt “responsible policies and measures” to protect the interests of investors (mainly Chinese). The problem is that if those investors think they’re going to lose money then they’re going to start off loading their U.S. bonds in a big way (they’ve already been selling them off, slowly, for the past three months).
Chile is investing more than $400 million into developing petroleum resources at the south end of the country.
Punta Arenas, in the Magallanes region, has become the “Alaskan Gold Rush” of South America. Labor, oil prospectors and investor’s money is flowing in. The area is also a tourist destination, for Antarctic trips.
The oil boom has resulted in high inflation in the area, which surprises many tourists.
Chile has been wanting to develop the region’s oil potential for a while, but costs held them back. With oil prices back over $100 per barrel they are now proceeding full steam ahead.