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On the quake many Latin American cities moved several feet to the west
The great earthquake of 8.8 magnitude that struck the coast a few days ago, Chile was able to “move” the entire city of Concepcion, at least 3 meters to the west. And also crowded out other parts of South America to the Falkland Islands, and Fortaleza in Brazil.
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These are, for now, preliminary steps produced from data collected by researchers at four universities and several agencies, including geophysicists working in Chile and Argentina.
These data allowed to have according to experts at the University of Ohio, Memphis and other research centers, “a clearer picture of the energy released this earthquake, considered the fifth most powerful since the available measurement tools.
Buenos Aires moved
Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital moved from the quake’s epicenter, about 1 inch (2.54 centimeters) to the west. And the capital of Chile, Santiago, moved about 28 centimeters to the west-southwest.
The cities of Valparaiso and Mendoza, Argentina, northeast of Concepcion, also moved to “distance” significantly.
The epicenter was located in part of the ring called “Fire,” an area of great seismic tensions surrounding the Pacific Ocean. Along this line, the tectonic plates move, interact, and build up pressure rub against other boards. That is the energy released in the form of eruptions, tsunamis and earthquakes.
The recent earthquake in Chile occurred when the Nazca tectonic plate slipped under (it subdujo) other boards of the subcontinent.
Thanks to GPS
The research team that conducted this research was successful that data on the movement of cities by comparing the figures accurate latitude and longitude provided by GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) and comparing with the previous figures and known before the earthquake.
Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world
For the third consecutive year we have a new richest man in the world.
With the rising prices of its various telecommunications companies, including mobile phone giant America Movil (AMX – news – people), Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu has managed to overcome the Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and has become the wealthiest person on the planet, achieving the highest position in the Forbes 2010 billionaires in the world.
Mexican Slim’s fortune has grown to about 53 dollars or 500 million, which is the same, has increased by 18 500 million in 12 months. Its shares in America Movil, which Slim has a holding of 23 000 million, have risen 35% in one year.
This large sum of money has placed in front of co-founder of Microsoft (MSFT – news – people), Bill Gates, who held the title of world’s richest man for 14 years.
Today Gates’ net worth is about 53 000 million, which puts the billionaire in the second spot on the list. His estate has increased by 13 000 million dollars a year, thanks to an increase of 50% of the shares of Microsoft in a period of 12 months. Also participating in their personal investment vehicle, Cascade (CAE – news – people) has increased in value, in line with other markets.
Buffett’s fortune has increased by 10 000 million, reaching 47 000 million, thanks to the rise in shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK – news – people). Buffet is ranked third.
The “Oracle of Omaha” wisely invested 5000 million dollars in Goldman Sachs (GS – news – people) and 3000 million in General Electric (GE – news – people) in full collapse of markets in 2008. Also recently acquired the rail giant Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI – news – people) by 26 000 million.
In his annual letter to shareholders, Buffett wrote: “In the chaos of the last two years, we have a large sums of money to work. When it rains gold lame no thimble, looking for a basin.”
This is what they have done many plutocrats. In fact, what last year was nothing more than economic wasteland today has become a bonanza for the billionaires. Most of the world’s richest people have seen their fortunes fat over last year.
This year, the world’s billionaires have a net average of about 3,500 U.S. dollars, representing an increase of $ 500 million in 12 months. 1011 The world billionaires with assets above 10 U.S. $ 000 million, last year was 793. However, there has not been exceeded the 2008 record, in 1125 we have billionaires with fortunes in excess of that figure. From the list of billionaires last year, only 12% has been a decline in their fortunes.
American billionaires continue to dominate the list, but each time give more ground. In the list, 40% are American, and last year accounted for 45%.
American billionaires have 38% of the $ 3.6 trillion of the total amounting to the sum of all the great fortunes of the world when their fortunes last year accounted for 44% of the total.
In the list there are 97 new members and only 16% are American. Asia, by contrast, has registered strong gains. In this region there are 104 new tycoons, which have only 14 less than Europe, thanks to several large tenders in open bags and promotion.
Among the new billionaires are the American names like Isaac Perlmutter, who sold Marvel Entertainment (MVL – news – people) to Disney (DIS – news – people) by 4000 million dollars last December. The Spider-Man mogul has made almost $ 900 million in cash and 20 million Disney shares in the transaction.
Other new names on the list: 27 Chinese billionaires, and Li Shufu, whose factory car, Geely, announced that he plans to buy Volvo from Ford in December. It expects the transaction to be closed in March 2010.
Finland and Pakistan must first billionaires on the list.
China (Hong Kong included) has 89 billionaires on the list for the first time, putting this country in the second position as a number of magnates are concerned, only after the United States.
Russia has 62 billionaires, of whom 28 are old acquaintances from the list, which last year had not appeared due to the collapse of the commodities market. This year 164 billionaires have returned to the list.
Eleven countries have doubled, at least, the number of billionaires who have entered the list with last year (eg in the case of China, India, Turkey and South Korea).
Thirty members of the list last year and not in the select club of billionaires. Among those magnates who have not met the requirements, include Thor Bjorgolfsson, the Russian Boris Berezovsky and Maan Al-Sanea of Saudi Arabia.
In addition, 13 members of last year’s list have died, as the developer Melvin Simon and glass magnate William Davidson.
Top 10 Richest People by Forbes Magazine 2010 :
RANK NAME CITIZENSHIP AGE NET WORTH ($BIL) RESIDENCE
1 Carlos Slim Helu & family Mexico 70 53.5 Mexico
2 William Gates III United States 54 53.0 United States
3 Warren Buffett United States 79 47.0 United States
4 Mukesh Ambani India 52 29.0 India
5 Lakshmi Mittal India 59 28.7 United Kingdom
6 Lawrence Ellison United States 65 28.0 United States
7 Bernard Arnault France 61 27.5 France
8 Eike Batista Brazil 53 27.0 Brazil
9 Amancio Ortega Spain 74 25.0 Spain
10 Karl Albrecht Germany 90 23.5 Germany
Experts – Chilean earthquake response was exemplary
SANTIAGO DE CHILE (AP) – Michelle Bachelet leaves the presidency on Thursday with some of the country in ruins and his popularity soared.
As much as many people say the government’s response to the devastating earthquake of 27 February was slow and inefficient natural disaster experts say, however, the performance of the Chilean authorities was as good as it should be used as a model for the rest of the world.
A survey says the majority of Chileans think the answer was a bit slow and that the victims of the earthquake spent several nights in the open while their homes were looted. Popularity of Bachelet, who handing over power to his successor Sebastián Piñera on Thursday, remains intact. That does not surprise the experts.
Those who understand these issues supported the navy and emergency office did not issue a timely warning of a tsunami that could have saved lives and that Bachelet is perhaps a little late in getting the military to the streets to control looting.
But they add that, in return, there were many things well. Praise in particular has been stressed that international aid could respond to the specific needs of the country, which quickly restored road and that the military were entrusted with handling the logistics. All these measures made it possible to distribute 12,000 tons of aid in just ten days.
And despite extensive damage to hospitals, there were few deaths from the tsunami waters retreated. The death toll of 497 people is relatively low for an earthquake of this magnitude, although there are hundreds missing.
The continuing criticism of his management resulted in the resignation Wednesday of Carmen Fernandez, director of the National Emergency Office, Ministry of Interior. She insisted on blaming the army for failing to maintain its tsunami warning.
He stated that when he learned that under the government of Pinera would leave “virtually zero” also influenced his decision to resign.
The vital road that crosses the country from north to south was repaired in a day. Thick plates were placed in metal cracks, holes were filled with gravel and debris were cleared soon a dozen pedestrian bridges destroyed. The rapid repairs made possible the passage of a convoy of 100 trucks of aid left the capital to the most affected sectors.
“We were where you had to be immediately,” Bachelet said in a television interview prior to submission to the millionaire conservative government Piñera.
The president said it was frustrating to have to make decisions without having all the necessary information, then stopped working seismographs to the electricity supply is cut, the Navy gave confusing information about the tsunami and at first were not collected evidence of looting. Bachelet said the country needs to improve its alarm systems and emergency communications.
Veterans of other natural disasters, however, are impressed with the Chilean answer.
“There is nothing more frustrating than to arrive with help from a site and see that it is delivered to people in need. Here nothing is withheld. Everything is distributed in the act,” said Col. Julio Lopez, commander of a squadron U.S. Air Force who has been ferrying aid and people in cargo aircraft C-130 between Santiago and Concepcion, the closest large city to the epicenter of the quake.
Ten days after the earthquake, more than 90% of households in the affected area have electricity and water, and half a million survivors are receiving water by truck. A number of volunteers attending to 14,000 soldiers who collaborate in the reconstruction and aid, and a successful telethon raised $ 60 million, which allowed for emergency shelter for the majority of ordinary people who are homeless.
Experts say it is normal for people in affected areas, which were isolated initially have complained and have felt abandoned. But experts stress that the authorities’ response was more than adequate for a tragedy that had overwhelmed the majority of governments.
The 8.8 magnitude quake was 500 times stronger than magnitude 7 that shook Haiti recently. It was so intense that changed the Earth’s orbit and moved to Concepcion about three meters (ten feet) to the west, according to scientists.
However, Chile’s infrastructure and modern buildings, built to withstand earthquakes of magnitude 9, the majority resisted and suffered almost no damage of importance. Chile registered a death toll that was negligible compared with that of Haiti, where some 230,000 people died.
“The reality is much better than initially thought,” said Raul Rivera, president of Innovative Forum, which promotes economic development in Chile.
Pinera has made calls for unity and solidarity, but also criticized the outgoing government.
“When there is an earthquake of this magnitude, you know you going to interrupt basic services like electricity, drinking water and will generate fear, and will also generate behaviors of vandalism and looting, public policy must ensure from day one “Pinera said in remarks to the DNA radio. “Here we lost some time to establish a state of emergency (…) I publicly asked the government to establish a state of emergency on Sunday morning,” said Piñera.
A poll commissioned by the newspaper El Mercurio, which supports Piñera said that 72% of Chileans believed that the government response was slow and inefficient, and that 60% believe that the distribution of aid was also too slow and inefficient. In the survey, 600 people were consulted in Santiago and the margin of error was 4%.
However, a larger consultation made before and after the earthquake indicated that Bachelet’s popularity rating of 84% remains intact.
Most Chileans blame the armed and emergency services have not issued a tsunami alert. And while 59% disapprove of the way they responded to the Bachelet looting, over 90% of respects and believes that the president cares about them, according to a survey by Adimark / GfK among 1,100 people nationwide, with a margin of error of 3%.
Chileans quickly resolved coordination problems that caused much trouble in Haiti and on the occasion of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 in the U.S., Lopez said.
In the case of Katrina, it seemed that during the first nine days no one had control of the situation, which led to chaos and endangered many lives, said Lopez. He added that “every man did what he thought. Everyone wanted to help and no one directed traffic.
In Haiti chaos reigned at the beginning. In that country there was no effective government and when the planes arrived with help, no one knew what to do, said Lopez. Foreign non-governmental organizations were fighting because they give priority and lots of food, medicine and water were not distributed promptly.
Bachelet, however, ordered a review of the situation and, within hours, has asked other countries providing emergency hospitals, satellite phones, floating bridges and dialysis centers, specialized equipment, which complemented the efforts of the Chileans.
“In this case there was an effective and well executed,” said Mark Ghilarducci, an American who has 25 years experience in relief efforts after natural disasters. “I have seen governments that take longer to establish a plan of action and a lot more coordination and poor communication.
“It’s amazing that there were so few deaths with such a strong quake,” said Ghilarducci. “The wait was not long. There was a very quick and effective response. The search and rescue teams and firefighters were where they had to be.”
“The government took 36 hours to take the military into the streets, but that’s not much time when talking about a disaster of this magnitude,” he said.
EU seeks its identity even after 100 days of operation of the Treaty of Lisbon
BRUSSELS (AFP) – One hundred days after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the new institutions that were supposed to make more effective European Union (EU), with a president and responsible for their diplomacy, they fail to resonate more and better Europe’s voice in the world.
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“The Lisbon treaty has long been sold as ‘the’ solution to the problems of the European Union. In fact, only a piece of paper up to the political realities of Europe, which have not changed,” said Hugo Brady, the Center for European Reform, a think tank in London.
The appointment of persons of low-profile Belgian chairman Herman Van Rompuy as stable and Britain’s Catherine Ashton as head of the diplomacy reflected the will of States to “maintain control over foreign affairs,” says Jean-Dominique Giuliani, president of the Robert Schuman Foundation.
And since it was excluded in December of last minute negotiations in Copenhagen climate-United States preferred to deal directly with China, India and Brazil, the EU comprises 27 countries, fails to provide an image of unity in the international arena.
The creation of a stable EU presidency did not disappear with the principle of the country six-month presidencies. Spain, which currently assumes, was even chairing meetings between EU and third countries, “the pretext of transition, as if the Lisbon treaty does not exist,” rather than accept a real “rupture” with the past, Giuliani stresses .
This persistent confusion at the top of the EU partly explains the decision of U.S. President Barack Obama to renounce a planned summit with the Europeans in May.
Catherine Ashton, meanwhile, was widely criticized for not attending some international meetings or for not being very visible in assisting earthquake victims in Haiti.
“But he has been given (Ashton) many responsibilities, foreign affairs, defense policy and humanitarian action, which is overloaded” work supports Hugo Brady.
Herman Van Rompuy, who prefers discreet negotiations, seems in turn come off well in his first months in office, but “has not done much,” says Michael Emerson, a researcher at the Center for European Policy Studies. And in regard to the “visibility”, Van Rompuy lacks democratic legitimacy to speak directly to European citizens, said a senior EU official.
For Brady “is still too early” to take stock of the Lisbon Treaty, which the EU is obliged to adapt.
But the current battle between institutions requires it emerges that “a clear hierarchy,” says the researcher.
However, “the world can not wait”, opined recently the French Secretary for European Affairs, Pierre Lellouche. The risk involved is to attend a “loss of status in Europe,” warned.
Children direct air traffic in New York, driver suspended
NEW YORK (AP) – An air traffic controller at the airport John F. New York Kennedy let his son read messages to the aircraft, including an airline, and the next day brought another child to the control tower, so it was suspended on Wednesday along with a supervisor.
Although the drivers had fun, the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) did not seem good the joke. Authorities suspended the controller and the supervisor after a recording of the child’s communication with the aircraft was published on the internet and reproduced by a television station in Boston.
“This trial error not only violated the policies of the FAA, but the standards of common sense about the conduct of a professional. This type of distraction is totally unacceptable,” said Randy Babbitt said in a statement, FAA Administrator. “This type of behavior does not reflect the ability of our workforce.”
In one of the boy recordings authorized an Aeromexico plane to take off and says in Spanish: “Farewell, friend.”
The Mexican airline pilot replies: “Contact takeoff. Aeromexico 403. Goodbye.
In another recording a child says “JetBlue takeoff contact 171. Then the voice of a man from the tower adds: “That’s what happens, boys, when children do not have to go to school.”
On the tape, which lasts approximately one minute, one child seems to repeat the instructions he gives his father. At no time did the child tell the drivers how to maneuver or where to go.
Communications between the child and the planes that were taking off from one of the busiest airports in the United States seemed to amuse the pilots.
“I also like to bring my son to work,” sighed one.
But the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA, for its acronym in English) banned unofficial visits friends or relatives to their areas of operation of air traffic while reviewing their policies.
The conversations between air traffic controllers and pilots are often broadcast live on the internet. A user of a popular Web site devoted to conversations between drivers, LiveATC.net, released a recording of communications of the boy, shortly after Feb. 16, when carried out.
At that time, most schools in New York was on winter break.
The child participated in five transmissions to pilots who were preparing to take off, according to the recording. One pilot laughs, like a child.
Based on the above flights numbers during communications, the episode seems to have happened in the early hours of the night, when there are usually many international flights at John F. Kennedy.
The FAA gave few details about their investigation and did not disclose the name of the driver or supervisor. Control towers are usually restricted areas, although the agency sometimes gives employees permission to take their children for a visit.
The incident came a month as a driver at an airport in Teterboro, New Jersey was suspended for his behavior just before a deadly collision between a small plane and a helicopter on the Hudson River. The accident killed nine people including five Italians.
The driver was taped joking on the phone with his girlfriend while instructing the aircraft was destroyed. He ended the call when he realized the plane had stopped having contact a few seconds before the collision.
Two dead the wave hit on Mediterranean cruise
Two people were killed and six injured when a wave hit a cruise in the Mediterranean and the room broke the glass of the vessel, said Wednesday the office of Spain marine rescues.
The cruiser was headed to Genoa and off Cape Bagur had very rough seas. A wave has broken the glass in the lounge area and entered the water. There are two dead and six wounded, “said a spokesman of Marine Rescue.
The captain of the cruiser ‘Louis Majesty’ decided to head to Barcelona to attend to the wounded, the spokesman added.
The dead would be a German and an Italian, while the number of injured rose to a fortnight, they told media after the cruise dock in the port of Barcelona.
Nobody in the offices of the port of Barcelona was available for confirmation.
Chilean earthquake could have reduced the length of Earth days
The strong earthquake of 8.8 degrees on the Richter Scale that struck Chile might have changed the rotation of the entire planet and shortened the length of the days on Earth, announced on Monday a NASA scientist.
The earthquake, the seventh most intense in recorded history, struck Chile on Saturday and should have shortened the duration of one day land in 1.26 milliseconds, according to research scientist Richard Gross of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA in Pasadena , California.
“What is perhaps more impressive is how much the earthquake shook the axis of the Earth,” NASA officials said on Monday in the update.
The computer model that Gross and his colleagues used to determine the effects of the earthquake in Chile also found that the claim should have moved the Earth’s axis approximately 8 inches, or 2.7 millarsegundos.
The axis of figure of the Earth is not the same as its north-south axis, around which rotates once daily at a rate of approximately 1.604 kilometers per hour.
Strong earthquakes have altered the length of Earth days and its axis of the planet in the past. The earthquake of 9.1 degrees occurred in Sumatra in 2004, which triggered a deadly tsunami, an estimated terrestrial day shortened by 6.8 microseconds, and changed the position of its axis nearly 7 inches or 2.32 millarsegundos.
A terrestrial day lasts about 24 hours. In the course of a year, the length of a day usually change gradually, in a millisecond. In the winter when the earth rotates more slowly, lengthening and shortening in the summer, according to previous explanations of Gross.
The earthquake in Chile was far less strong than that of Sumatra, but its effects on the planet are more intense due to its location. Its epicenter was located in the middle latitudes of the Earth instead of some of Ecuador, like that of Sumatra.
The geological fault responsible for the Chilean earthquake in 2010 also recorded a steeper angle than the fault that caused the earthquake in Sumatra, NASA scientists said.
“This geological fault makes it more efficient Chilean land masses move vertically and therefore more effective to move the figure axis of the Earth, NASA officials said.
Gross said his findings are based on the first Chilean earthquake data were available. As you have more information about its characteristics, it is likely that its effects change forecasts.
The earthquake that rocked Chile has killed over 700 people and caused widespread devastation in the South American country.
Several major telescopes in the Atacama Desert in Chile, were not damaged, according to the European Southern Observatory, who is in charge of administration.
A NASA satellite instrument to measure salt, which is scheduled to be installed in an Argentine satellite, also was damaged by the earthquake, officials of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The Aquarius instrument was in the city of Bariloche Argentina, where it is installed on the Scientific Applications Satellite (SAC-D). The satellite integration center is approximately 588 kilometers from the epicenter of the quake in Chile.
The Aquarius instrument is designed to provide monthly planetary maps of salt concentration in the ocean, in order to keep track of your current movement and its role in climate change.
Chile reduces dead figure increases confusion after quake
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – The latest in a series of confusing events after the powerful earthquake of the weekend, the Chilean government dropped a stroke on Thursday the death toll to third without explanation.
Twenty-four hours after reporting 802 dead, Deputy Interior Minister Patrick Rosende, appeared on television Thursday to read, one by one, the names of 279 deceased identified.
Rosende not explain the reasons for the review. But, according to an Interior Ministry source in the morgue there are still hundreds of unidentified bodies.
It was the latest bizarre twist surrounding the earthquake and tsunamis on Saturday that demolished whole towns and villages wiped off the map.
The Chilean Navy acknowledged Wednesday that he hesitated and did not report clearly to President Michelle Bachelet of the danger of tsunami after the quake of magnitude 8.8, one of the most violent on record.
When she finally sounded alarms tsunami, defused without explanation before the giant waves back to wipe out many coastal villages.
President Michelle Bachelet on Saturday took hours to fly to the disaster area to assess damage, because apparently failed to find the pilot of a helicopter because he had the cell phone off.
The Chilean government has also been heavily criticized for the slow delivery of humanitarian aid.
Five days after the disaster, residents of some villages have not yet been devastated food.
Al Qaeda threatens to kill Iraqis who participate in the elections
Al Qaeda on Friday threatened to kill Iraqis who participate in Sunday’s legislative elections and declared a “curfew” to prevent the elections taking place, judged crucial for the country.
The Islamic state declares that it leaves your home to participate in this day, defying the law of God and its clear warnings, set out his anger and unfortunately all arms of the Mujahedeen,” says The Iraqi branch of Al Qaeda in a statement posted on Islamist websites, according to the monitoring center SITE Islamist sites.
“The Islamic state declared a curfew for the election day from six in the morning until six in the afternoon, across Iraq and especially in Sunni areas,” he said.
Al Qaeda and Ansar al-Sunna militant group had threatened to torpedo a few days ago with the election.
On Wednesday and Thursday a series of attacks, mostly suicide bombings with the hallmarks of Al Qaeda, killed about 50 people in Baghdad and Baquba.
On Friday, a day of prayer for Muslims, the minarets of mosques and imams in their sermons urge Iraqis to vote, even in Sunni regions that had largely boycotted the 2005 elections.
The Sunni turnout is crucial to this election, expected to mark the return of that community to the political scene.
In Baquba, Sunni-majority city located 60 km north of Baghdad, the loudspeakers of the minarets rang to ask the people who came to the polling stations.
“You must go to the polls and cast your ballot in the box because of that our future depends,” he told the faithful, Sheik Abdel Rahman Al swear, Sunni mosque in the city center.
In Ramadi, capital of Al Anbar, which was a bastion of the Sunni insurgency after the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. Army in 2003, the imams also urged participation.
“You must be the agents of change. It’s your chance to build the future of Iraq,” said Khaled Suleiman, imam of the mosque al-Dawla al-Kabir from the center of Ramadi.
In the holy city of Karbala Shia imams also urged the faithful before they will vote.
“The high religious authorities stress the importance of voting in elections,” said Ahmed al-Safi, representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Karbala, calling the elections “vital issue.”
Meanwhile, in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan (north) on Halajba clashes between supporters of the dissident list Goran (Change) and the rival Kurdish Alliance. Five people were injured by the security services.
The Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani played down the differences between lists and summoned voters to vote in mass for the Kurds to obtain all possible seats in Parliament.
On Sunday, some 19 million Iraqis must go to the polls in all 18 provinces to participate in the second legislative elections since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003 by a US-led coalition.
Fearing attacks elections are under strict surveillance. In Baghdad alone, some 200,000 policemen and soldiers will be deployed on Sunday and vehicle traffic is prohibited in the cities.
Unlike the 2005 legislative where U.S. troops guarding the polls alongside Iraqi forces, U.S. soldiers will not participate in security operations during the elections.
Obese woman gives birth in Romania
BUCHAREST (AP) – A 25 year old woman who weighs 240 kilos (528 pounds) gave birth to her first child, a girl, Thursday in a hospital specialized in treating obese people.
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“The baby is the fruit of love between my husband and I, who is thinner, and weighs just 70 kilos (154 pounds),” Victoria said Lacatus.
“I wanted this baby with all my heart, whatever the sacrifice,” said the young newspaper Adevarul.
The girl, who was born by caesarean section, weighed 2.9 kilos (6.4 pounds), said Bogdan Popescu, a hospital spokesman at the University of Bucharest.
Lacatus was admitted to the hospital because the center of their village in southern Romania did not have beds that could support their weight, officials said. In Bucharest, three teams of firefighters and emergency personnel transported her to hospital.
Popescu said Lacatus constantly being monitored because he suffers a thyroid problem and doctors said it could suffer post-natal complications due to morbid obesity.
Lacatus said he soon will marry her fiance, 36, Costica Lacatus.
Costandache Florin, who helped conduct the operation, said: “It was a challenge because anesthesia needed four times that need a normal person.”
Toyota President declared before the U.S. Congress
TOKYO (AP) – Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda, criticized by the withdrawal of units, reported at a U.S. congressional hearing next week, at the request of U.S. lawmakers and offended by understanding customers as the company manages their security problems.
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Japanese officials supported the decision of Toyoda, grandson of the founder of the company to accept a formal invitation to explain the returns and make plans by the largest automaker in the world to improve safety and address the concerns of buyers Car worried.
“I am pleased to go.’ll Speak in all sincerity,” Toyoda told reporters Friday in Nagoya, Japan, near the headquarters of the company.
“I hope you understand our commitment to America and our customers,” Toyoda said.
Toyoda said it would cooperate with U.S. regulators in the analysis of returns of more than eight million vehicles worldwide, including best-selling models as the Corolla, Camry and the hybrid Prius.
Earlier this week, Toyoda said he did not attend the hearings referred to unless it was invited. That decision gave rise to heated criticism in the U.S.. On Thursday, he accepted a request to assist from the president of the General Committee and Government Reform U.S. House, Edolphus Towns, a Democrat from New York.
“The decision was not only me,” Toyoda told reporters in televised comments.
The decision earned praise from the Japanese authorities.
The transport minister of Japan, Seiji Maehara, said he welcomed the decision of Toyoda. Toyota Maehara urged to heed the concerns of its customers and said it was important for the company to explain the episodes of security.
It is crucial to prevent vehicles withdrawals exacerbate political friction, said the foreign minister of Japan, Katsuya Okada.
“I hope that Toyota will soon regain the trust of customers around the world,” Okada told reporters on Friday.
The pilot of the plane crashed in Texas left a suicide note
Washington, .- Joseph Andrew Stack, the pilot of a plane that crashed into a building of federal government offices in Austin (Texas), apparently left a suicide note in which he proclaims his anger against the Board (IRS, for its acronym in English).
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The website “EmbeddedArt.com” has a note signed by Joseph Stack, which reads: “I once read that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting that the result is, of Suddenly different. ”
“I’m finally ready to end this madness,” the note added. “Okay, Big Brother, IRS, let’s try something different: take my half kilo of meat and sleep well.”
Stack Authorities believe that today was the pilot crashed a small plane into a building of offices in Austin, which employs some 190 employees of the IRS.
Before taking the plane, which some media said was stolen, but later confirmed that it belonged to the alleged suicide Stack-home fire.
CNN television said the plane was a Cirrus SR22 single-engine plane.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security ruled out, told media that the incident is connected with a terrorist attack.
In Washington, national security adviser in the White House, John Brennan, informed President Barack Obama on the incident shortly after noon.
Shortly after the incident, two F-16 flying over the area of the Pentagon.
In parallel, mid-morning a bomb threat forced the diversion of a United Airlines plane traveling from Denver to San Francisco and landed in Salt Lake City.
In Austin, local television images of the building were he crashed, and where a fire broke out.
Witnesses say the plane was flying at an extremely low altitude, and at no time the pilot alerted the authorities that he had flight problems.
A fire department spokesman, Harry Evans, told the television that there are two injured who have been taken to hospital. One of the employees of the building is missing.
Sarah Palin reads cheat notes on her hand – video
The fact that was criticized by many politicians and analysts today, Palin notes shows how his left hand several times, the time to answer some questions.
Palin was answering questions ultraconservative militants during a meeting Saturday in Nashville, a city located south of the country.
The former vice presidential candidate of the United States, Sarah Palin, used his hand as a makeshift aid memory, as can be seen in a new video released today.
According to some photos taken at the hand of Palin, who publishes the blog huffingtonpost.com, you can see the words “Energy”, “Tax and exacerbate the spirits,” while the phrase “budget cuts” appears with the word “budget” crossed out.
Explosion at power plant in the U.S. may have left 50 dead
NEW YORK (AFP) – A huge explosion occurred Sunday at a power plant under construction in the state of Connecticut (the U.S.) and could have left 50 dead, authorities said.
The explosion at the plant to gas action in the town of Middletown, where 40,000 people live on the Connecticut River, fired flares and clouds of black smoke into the sky and shook homes several miles around, witnesses said.
As helicopters, ambulances and fire trucks rushed to the scene and began rescue operations, authorities were reluctant to say how many people have died in the incident, but was feared by a large number of victims.
“Reports vary from a few, several, possibly even 50 people,” he told AFP Brian Albert, Middlesex Hospital, who took care to address some of the injured in the blast.
“It is in the process of search and rescue,” said Albert, adding that the Middlesex Hospital was treating six patients while the other wounded had been transferred to nearby Hartford Hospital.
The explosion occurred at 11h25 (16h25 GMT) was heard about 15-km radius and at first the witnesses thought it was an earthquake, said the Hartford Courant newspaper. Television footage showed thick black smoke coming out of the facility.
“There was a loud explosion, there are many wounded and possibly dead,” police officer Gerge Yepes, of Middletown. The American press spoke of “mass casualty” in the power plant.
Under fire, explosion occurred in Kleen Energy, a gas power plant due to come into service in a few weeks.
Local police told AFP stated that people who were there at the time of the explosion “tests performed” for the launch of this service.
One witness told the Hartford Courant that “there are bodies everywhere,” while others suggested that many victims might still be buried in the rubble. The newspaper also reported that 20 ambulances were on the scene and helicopters were transporting victims to the nearest hopital.
Another Middelesex Hospital spokesman told AFP that he was establishing an emergency command for the incident. “So far we know what we have,” he said, referring to the condition of the wounded.
Kleen Energy plant, 620 megawatts, was recently acquired by 80% by a firm called Energy Investors Fund.
Toyota will recall 437,000 hybrids worldwide
TOKYO (AP) – Toyota on Tuesday called on the owners than 437,000 Prius cars and other models of hybrid engine being returned to the agencies to fix problems with the brakes, the latest in a series of security breaches that have embarrassed the largest automaker in the world.
“I do not consider Toyota a company that never makes mistakes foolproof,” President Akio Toyoda said in a press conference in Tokyo. “We face the facts and correct the problem, putting safety first and comfort of customers,” he added.
The announcement of failures brings total Prius Toyota vehicles with potential security flaws at 8.5 million, including those mats that can jam the gas pedal and other pedals that are slow to return to the neutral position. The Prius 2010 model had not been included in previous workshop called for revision.
So far about 200 complaints were filed in Japan and the U.S. on a delay of the Prius to stop when it’s cold or irregular paths. The delay does not mean that there is a brake failure.
The company says the problem can be fixed in 40 minutes with a new computer program that handles the controls of the ABS.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement Tuesday that the automaker’s executives assured him that are taken for safety concerns “very seriously”. He promised to keep in constant communication with the company to fulfill its promise to resolve the faults.
In addition, State Farm, the largest auto insurer in the U.S., said he had informed the authorities in late 2007 of an increase in complaints about Toyota vehicles unexpectedly accelerated. Congressional investigators find out whether the government missed warning signs about the failures.
On Tuesday, executives from the company were the Ministry of Transportation to notify the government formally they would seek the return of gas-electric Prius in 2010, the world’s best selling hybrid.
The automaker also extended the call for two hybrids: HS250h Lexus sedan, which sells in Japan and the United States and the Sai, sold exclusively in China.
The 223,000 cars in Japan called Tuesday include 200,000 Prius sold since April last year until Monday, according to documents filed with the ministry. The Prius is the best-selling car in Japan.
Cars with return request are 133,000 Lexus Prius and 14,500 in the U.S. and nearly 53,000 Prius cars in Europe. The company suspended production and Sai HS250h in Japan until I have the update for these models.
Toyota and the Japanese ministry said that if drivers feel a late stop, should continue stepping on the pedal.
Prius repairs start on Wednesday in Japan. The American owners will receive letters about it next week.
Toyoda President has been criticized for not being in public during the first two weeks of the crisis, since the company announced on January 21 call for problems with accelerators in the U.S., Europe and China.
After a press conference that he had trouble speaking English last week, on Tuesday read a statement in Japanese and English.
“Let me assure you that we will redouble our commitment to quality as the main priority of our company,” he said.
