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| Expect More Fukushimas |
 The
gung-ho nuclear industry is in deep shock. Just as it and its
cheerleader, the International Atomic Energy Agency, were preparing
to mark next month´s 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl
accident with a series of self-congratulatory statements about
the dawning of a safe age of clean atomic power, a series of
catastrophic but entirely avoidable accidents take place in
not one but three reactors in one of the richest countries of
the world. Fukushima is not a rotting old power plant in a failed
state manned by half-trained kids, but supposedly one of the
safest stations in one of the most safety-conscious countries
with the best engineers and technologists in the world. Chernobyl
blew up not because the reactor... |
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| THE IKE PHASE |
| ON January 20, 1961, John Kennedy delivered
his rousing Inaugural Address. But this speech was preceded,
as William Galston of the Brookings Institution has reminded
us, by an equally important speech: Dwight Eisenhower´s
farewell address. Kennedy´s speech was an idealistic call
to action. Eisenhower´s speech was a calm warning against
hubris. Kennedy celebrated courage; Eisenhower celebrated prudence.
Kennedy asked the country to venture forth. Eisenhower asked
the country to maintain its basic sense of balance. While Kennedy
gloried in the current moment, Eisenhower warned the country
to "avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering,
for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of
tomorrow... |
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 | Lisbon may seek bailout as
cost of debt rises 4.33% PORTUGAL´S government blamed higher rates paid at a debt auction on Wednesday on the opposition´s refusal to back its latest austerity plans, warning a political standoff could force it to seek a bailout. Pressure on Lisbon mounted after...
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| | Syria to award onshore
blocks by month-end |
 THE
Syrian government will award contracts
to explore, develop and produce hydrocarbons
from four onshore blocks later this
month, the country´s oil ministry said
in remarks published by his ministry´s
website on Wednesday. Sufian Alaw said
international companies had submitted
bids for four out of the eight blocks
announced earlier. The ministry last
year offered production-sharing contracts
to explore blocks 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 14,
16 and 18, located mostly on the eastern
and northern parts of the country. "The
companies submitted their offers on
four blocks only," Alaw said. "They
are 3, 5, 7, and 12 while the remaining
blocks didn´t receive bids," he said...
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| | UBS cuts India´s growth forecast |
 UBS
on Wednesday joined the growing list
of brokerages lowering India´s 2011/12
economic growth forecast, paring Asia´s
third-largest economy´s growth to 7.7
percent from 8 percent, as interest
rate rises and higher oil prices start
to bite. Morgan Stanley and Bank of
America-Merrill Lynch had last week
lowered their growth forecast for the
Indian economy in the next fiscal year
that begins in April to 7.7 percent
and 8.2 percent. UBS also cut the world´s
second-fastest growing major economy´s
gross domestic product forecast for
the current fiscal year to 8.7 percent
from 9 percent on weak December-quarter
growth and continuing weakness in the....
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| | Economic hit from Japan
quake seen up to $200bn |
 JAPAN´S
devastating earthquake and deepening
nuclear crisis could result in losses
of up to $200 billion for the world´s
third largest economy but the global
impact remains hard to gauge five days
after a massive tsunami battered the
northeast coast. As Japanese officials
scrambled to avert a catastrophic meltdown
at a nuclear plant 240 km (150 miles)
north of the capital Tokyo, economists
took stock of the damage to buildings,
production and consumer activity. The
disaster is expected to hit Japanese
output sharply over the coming months,
but economists warned it could result
in a deeper slowdown if power shortages
prove significant and prolonged, delaying... |
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