We’ve been getting dribs and drabs of information from Japan about the Fukishima nuclear power plant disaster. The generous interpretation of this slow dissemination of information is that TEPCO, the utility company that owns the reactors, really does not have a clue about the extent of the problem. But the recent information is difficult to assess. About 300 tons of radioactive water has been seeping out of the water holding tanks, releasing 30 trillion becquerels of radioactive material into the environment. TEPCO believes that the radioactive material is flowing into the ocean, but some scientists believe that it is flowing into groundwater. The amount of radioactive materials that have seeped out is equivalent to about 100 times what the utility company assumed would be released over the course of a year. No one is guessing what sorts of problems this catastrophe may or may not cause.
Le Figaro is reporting that Jordanian, Israeli, and American commandos have entered Syria in support of the rebel forces. This report has yet to be confirmed by any other news source, so it should be considered unreliable (although Le Figaro is France’s second largest newspaper). I will continue to search the web to see if there are any confirming reports.
The Indian rupee continues to slide in value, and the situation is truly worrisome. The decline in the rupee’s value will lead to strong inflation pressures in India, and, if the government tries to control inflation, it runs the risk of pushing the economy into a recession. Many of the emerging economies, once held to be more dynamic than the economies of the advanced industrialized countries, are increasingly experiencing economic difficulties.
World Politics News 
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