Untested nanoparticles showing up in thousands of consumer products
(NaturalNews) Since 2006, the use of nanoparticles in consumer products has skyrocketed by over 600 percent. Nanotechnologies, which involve the manipulation of elements and other matter on the atomic and molecular scale, are now used in over 1,300 commercial and consumer products. And that number is expected to jump nearly three-fold by 2020. But are these nanoparticles safe for humans and the environment, particularly when used in food-related applications?
According to data provided by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN), a group formed in 2005 for the purpose of “creat[ing] an active public and policy dialogue” on nanotechnology, nanoparticles are now used in everything from car batteries and appliances, to aluminum foil and non-stick cookware. The “Food and Beverage” section of PEN even includes various vitamin and mineral supplements that contain nanoparticles, as well as McDonald’s Read more…
U.S. Called Former Japan Nuclear Safety Official a ‘Disappointment’: WikiLeaks
Two years before a powerful earthquake rocked Japan and threatened catastrophe for its nuclear facilities, U.S. officials slammed the senior Japanese safety director of the International Atomic Energy Agency as “a disappointment” in part due to Japan’s nuclear safety practices, according to a leaked U.S. State Department document.
“[Tomihiro] Taniguchi has been a weak manager and advocate, particularly with respect to confronting Japan’s own safety practices, and he is a particular disappointment to the United States for his unloved-step-child treatment of the Office of Nuclear Security,” said the document, posted on the website for British newspaper The Guardian. “This position requires a good manager and leader who is technically qualified in both safety and security.”
Taniguchi was the executive director of Japan’s Nuclear Power Engineering Corporation, a company that specifically dealt with nuclear Read more…
F.D.I.C. Approves ‘Too Big to Fail’ Plan
A top banking regulator approved a plan to seize and unwind big banks — a proposal that will help address those “too big to fail” firms whose collapse could imperil the financial system.
The board of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve a set of proposed rules intended to create an orderly process to unwind large financial institutions. The rules outline how creditors can file a claim and how those claims will be addressed, hopefully bringing some clarity to a previously murky situation.
The vote moves the proposal into a 60-day public comment period, after which the agency will have to settle on final rules. The rule would apply to big banks, financial firms and large nonfinancial companies that pose a systemic risk to the broader economy.
“Today’s action is another significant step toward leveling the competitive playing field and enforcing market discipline on all financial Read more…
Vladimir Putin offers to relocate 100 Million Japanese
Vladimir Putin has offered up a plan to relocate 100 Million Japanese to Russia’s far east in advent of a worst case nuclear scenario.
In the advent that central Japan would become a uninhabitable because of nuclear contamination, Russia is offering a long term lease of Russia’s far east including Kamchatka and Sakhalin Island. Certainly there would be an astronomical dollar value attached to the deal but Japan may need a homeland and Russia can use an extra Trillion dollars per year. China has been pushing hard on Russia’s southern border and the great untapped resources of the region represent the greatest undeveloped area on the earth.
Hundreds shot in Bahrain as emergency declared
AFP
MANAMA – At least 200 people were shot and wounded on Tuesday in a Shiite village south of the Bahraini capital, a medic said, and two people killed elsewhere, as the king imposed a state of emergency after bringing in foreign troops to help quell anti-regime protests.
As violence escalated, close ally the United States warned that there was “no military solution” to political upheaval in Bahrain and that any violence against peacefully expressed political demands “should be stopped.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Bahrainis must “take steps now” toward a political resolution of the crisis.
And top Bahraini Shiite clerics sought Muslim and international help as they warned that anti-regime protesters will be targeted with Read more…
International Atomic Energy Agency says radioactivity released into atmosphere from Japan
Nuke plant blasts raise radiation threat
(AFP)
The Japanese government says radiation levels near a quake-stricken nuclear power plant are now harmful to human health, after a further two explosions and a fires at the facility.
“There is no doubt that unlike in the past, the figures are the level at which human health can be affected,” said chief government spokesman Yukio Edano.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says it has been informed by Japanese authorities the spent-fuel storage pond at the No. 4 reactor is on fire and radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere.
It is unclear whether this is a new fire, or a report of the fire which started earlier today but was Read more…
Japan catastrophe could make U.S. debt costlier
The U.S. Treasury market could feel financial aftershocks from Japan’s tragic U.S. Treasury. Offloading some of the Asian giant’s $1 trillion of foreign reserves could raise cash to help rebuild after Friday’s disaster. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is due to end its Treasury bond-buying program in June. If Japan, the second-biggest foreign holder, starts selling that’s another support gone — with the potential to make borrowing more expensive for the U.S. government.
It’s too early to estimate the cost the Japanese government and private sectors will have to shoulder for reconstruction efforts. But bond investors can’t any longer take for granted that Japan will leave its ample reserves intact as it has, broadly speaking, for the past several years. For the government, cashing in could be more palatable than yet more borrowing. Japan’s debt already amounted to more than 200 percent of Read more…
Japan’s nightmare gets even WORSE: All THREE damaged nuclear reactors now in ‘meltdown’ at tsunami-hit power station
The Japanese nuclear reactor hit by the tsunami went into ‘meltdown’ today, as officials admitted that fuel rods appear to be melting inside three damaged reactors.
There is a risk that molten nuclear fuel can melt through the reactor’s safety barriers and cause a serious radiation leak.
There have already been explosions inside two over-heating reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, and the fuel rods inside a third were partially exposed as engineers desperately fight to keep them cool after the tsunami knocked out systems.
‘Meltdown’: The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant moments after Read more…New York City Police to Conduct ‘Dirty Bomb’ Training Exercise in April
The New York City Police Department and a dozen regional partners will conduct a full-scale exercise early next month to test their ability to detect and intercept radioactive materials that could be used in a terrorist attack.
The exercise will be held from April 5 to April 9 and will involve 150 agencies, including law enforcement and first responders, working in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Paul Browne, a department spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement.
The exercise is part of the Securing the Cities initiative funded by the U.S. Homeland Security Department, which works to prevent terrorists from infiltrating a major city with a so- called dirty bomb or nuclear device, Browne said.
“The public can expect to observe increased law enforcement activity throughout the tri-state region in the form of traffic checkpoints and grid searches,” Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in the statement. “In particular, increased activity may be observed on roadways and transit hubs leading into New York City and may result in traffic delays in off-peak hours.”
Nasdaq Is Close to Making Hostile Bid for NYSE
You are witnessing the global markets becoming consolidated into an eventual one mega world market. If you are wise as I am sure many of you are, get out of stocks and purchase gold and silver bullion. It will save you in the longrun short-run.
Nasdaq is moving closer to a hostile bid for NYSE Euronext, which could come as early as Tuesday, sources close to the matter told CNBC.
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AP
NASDAQ MarketSite Tower, Times Square, New York, NY
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Nasdaq [NDAQ 26.37 
-0.82 (-3.02%) 
] has nearly secured financing for the hostile bid [NYX 36.55 
1.28 (+3.63%) ], in an arrangement that could involve IntercontinentalExchange, also known as ICE [ICE 124.79 -1.28 (-1.02%) ], which operates a global futures exchange and over-the-counter (OTC) markets and derivatives clearing houses.
Questions remain on how financing would be structured, as well as what role ICE would play in the bid, as sources say that ICE will not use its stock in any deal. Instead, it appears ICE could commit to purchasing certain NYSE assets upon the closing of any deal.
Any Nasdaq bid would face significant obstacles, including the likelihood of strong antitrust scrutiny, as nearly every U.S.-listed stock sits on either the NYSE or Nasdaq exchanges.
Last month, Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext announced they would merge to create the world’s largest exchange operator in a Read more…
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