Japan: 8% of Country’s Surface Area Contaminated with Radioactive Fallout from Fukushima Disaster
November 22nd, 2011Via: ABC:
Japan’s science ministry says 8 per cent of the country’s surface area has been contaminated by radiation from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
It says more than 30,000 square kilometres of the country has been blanketed by radioactive caesium.
The ministry says most of the contamination was caused by four large plumes of radiation spewed out by the Fukushima nuclear plant in the first two weeks after meltdowns.
The government says some of the radioactive material fell with rain and snow, leaving the affected areas with accumulations of more than 10,000 becquerels of caesium per square metre.
Last week tests found unsafe levels of radioactive contamination in recently harvested rice from the Fukushima region.
The levels of radioactive caesium were measured at 630 becquerels per kilogram, above the maximum allowable level of 500 becquerels.
Officials from Fukushima prefecture have now asked all rice farmers in the district to suspend shipments.
Related: Vindicated Seismologist Says Japan Still Underestimates Threat to Reactors
Fathoming Amazon: 9 Things to Know
November 21st, 2011Via: Frugal Dad:
Source: Frugaldad.com
Goldman Sachs Conquers Europe
November 21st, 2011Via: Independent:
The ascension of Mario Monti to the Italian prime ministership is remarkable for more reasons than it is possible to count. By replacing the scandal-surfing Silvio Berlusconi, Italy has dislodged the undislodgeable. By imposing rule by unelected technocrats, it has suspended the normal rules of democracy, and maybe democracy itself. And by putting a senior adviser at Goldman Sachs in charge of a Western nation, it has taken to new heights the political power of an investment bank that you might have thought was prohibitively politically toxic.
This is the most remarkable thing of all: a giant leap forward for, or perhaps even the successful culmination of, the Goldman Sachs Project.
It is not just Mr Monti. The European Central Bank, another crucial player in the sovereign debt drama, is under ex-Goldman management, and the investment bank’s alumni hold sway in the corridors of power in almost every European nation, as they have done in the US throughout the financial crisis. Until Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund’s European division was also run by a Goldman man, Antonio Borges, who just resigned for personal reasons.
Even before the upheaval in Italy, there was no sign of Goldman Sachs living down its nickname as “the Vampire Squid”, and now that its tentacles reach to the top of the eurozone, sceptical voices are raising questions over its influence. The political decisions taken in the coming weeks will determine if the eurozone can and will pay its debts – and Goldman’s interests are intricately tied up with the answer to that question.
U.S.: 10 Biggest Banks Could Lose $185 Billion in Deposits in the Next Year Due to Customer Defections
November 21st, 2011Via: CNN:
Out of all the big banks, Bank of America is the most vulnerable and could lose up to 10% of its customers and $42 billion in consumer deposits in the next year, the survey found. The bank’s total retail deposits stand at $407 billion (while total deposits, including corporate deposits and deposits from other financial institutions, amount to nearly $1 trillion, according to FDIC data).
Berlin Start-Up Aims to Revolutionize Clothes Shopping
November 21st, 2011Via: Spiegel:
Two young Berlin entrepreneurs have an ingeniously simple idea for helping the clothing industry break through on the Internet. Their UPcload service measures people with a webcam more accurately than any person could. It could revolutionize shopping for clothes online — if the fashion industry cooperates.
New Currency Controls in U.S. at Currency Online; Capital Flight and Forced Repatriation in Europe
November 21st, 2011Via: Global Economic Analysis:
A securities analyst sent a note this morning “I just received this today from a company I have used for 3 years.”
He was referring to a memo from Currency Online regarding Restriction of our service to USA based clients
Regrettably I write to inform you that, due to changes in legislation, we will be unable to continue to offer our international money transfer services to clients located in the United States of America (USA). As a result, any existing transactions that you have outstanding with Currency Online will be completed in the normal way, however you will be unable to undertake any new transfers.
Research Credit: anchoviesmegma
MF Global Customer Accounts May Be Missing $1.2 Billion
November 21st, 2011Via: Washington Post:
The amount of customer funds missing from accounts at the bankrupt brokerage MF Global “may be as much as $1.2 billion or more,” the trustee overseeing the firm’s liquidation said Monday.
That would be roughly double previous estimates of about $600 million.
In a statement, trustee James W. Giddens said the estimate is preliminary and “may well change.”
MF Global collapsed while under the leadership of Jon S. Corzine, who was previously governor of New Jersey, a U.S. senator, and the head of Goldman Sachs. MF Global made costly bets on European government bonds.
A variety of federal and industry authorities, including the FBI, have been trying to track down money that should have been kept in customer accounts.
“At present, the Trustee believes that even if he recovers everything that is at US depositories, the apparent shortfall in what MF Global management should have segregated at U.S. depositories may be as much as $1.2 billion or more,” the trustee said in the Monday statement.
Vast Surveillance System Tracks Everyone Driving Around Washington, D.C.
November 21st, 2011Via: Washington Post:
An armed robber burst into a Northeast Washington market, scuffled with the cashier, and then shot him and the clerk’s father, who also owned the store. The killer sped off in a silver Pontiac, but a witness was able to write down the license plate number.
Police figured out the name of the suspect very quickly. But locating and arresting him took a little-known investigative tool: a vast system that tracks the comings and goings of anyone driving around the District.
Scores of cameras across the city capture 1,800 images a minute and download the information into a rapidly expanding archive that can pinpoint people’s movements all over town.
Police entered the suspect’s license plate number into that database and learned that the Pontiac was on a street in Southeast. Police soon arrested Christian Taylor, who had been staying at a friend’s home, and charged him with two counts of first-degree murder. His trial is set for January.
More than 250 cameras in the District and its suburbs scan license plates in real time, helping police pinpoint stolen cars and fleeing killers. But the program quietly has expanded beyond what anyone had imagined even a few years ago.
With virtually no public debate, police agencies have begun storing the information from the cameras, building databases that document the travels of millions of vehicles.
Nowhere is that more prevalent than in the District, which has more than one plate-reader per square mile, the highest concentration in the nation. Police in the Washington suburbs have dozens of them as well, and local agencies plan to add many more in coming months, creating a comprehensive dragnet that will include all the approaches into the District.
“It never stops,” said Capt. Kevin Reardon, who runs Arlington County’s plate reader program. “It just gobbles up tag information. One of the big questions is, what do we do with the information?”
Police departments are grappling with how long to store the information and how to balance privacy concerns against the value the data provide to investigators. The data are kept for three years in the District, two years in Alexandria, a year in Prince George’s County and a Maryland state database, and about a month in many other suburban areas.
“That’s quite a large database of innocent people’s comings and goings,” said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst for the American Civil Liberties Union’s technology and liberty program. “The government has no business collecting that kind of information on people without a warrant.”
Egypt: Tahrir Square Riots
November 21st, 2011AP: Egypt Morgue Official: 35 Dead in Clashes
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WARNING: GRAPHIC VIOLENCE.
Via: Russia Today / YouTube:
Egyptian army and police has launched a major crackdown on protesters at Tahrir square. Tens of thousands have been protesting since Friday at a lack of reform comes before crucial elections, and could carry the potential to paralyse the country once again.
Related: As Egyptians Return to Tahrir Square, the Obama Administration Sides with the Military
Protesters Use Spy Drones
November 21st, 2011Via: Wired:
The proliferation of drones throughout the military — and into civilian law enforcement — can make it feel like we’re living in an airborne panopticon. But flying robots are agnostic about who they train their gaze upon, and can spy on cops as easily as they can spy on civilians.
In the video above, protesters in Warsaw got a drone’s eye view of a phalanx of police in riot gear during a heated Saturday demonstration. The drone — spotted by Wired editor-in-chief and drone-builder Chris Anderson — was a tiny Polish RoboKopter equipped with a videocamera.
As Chris observes, no more do citizens need to wait for news choppers to get aerial footage of a major event. With drones, they can shoot their own overhead video.
