a daily tsunami

http://www.unicef.org/statistics/index_step1.php

It depends on the sources, but we can estimate that around 20.000 persons die every day in Africa due to starvation, most of them children.


This figure would be similar to the number of deaths caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011 (according to last death toll on 21/03/2011).


So one tsunami at least every day, but you could not see big companies asking for help and support, as:

and of course you will not find headlines or news as:

So, you'd better teach them nuclear physics and financial markets:

No es el moment, no

ara cat 20/03/2011

No és el moment de divorciar-nos. No oblidem que hi ha altres objectius més importants:

http://www.rocajunyent.com/ 

De tota manera Roca pot estar tranquil, mai oblidarem el seu catalanisme, com quan el 1986 va fundar el Partit Reformista, amb el suport de la banca, de Florentino Pérez (que també apareix a la foto): 

i fins i tot de Pedro J i Federico Jiménez Losantos, catalanistes de pro:

No, no ho oblidarem mai!

 

TEPCO meets its promises

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the company who owns and operates the nuclear plant in Fukushima Daiichi, is a sound and well managed company. 
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/index-e.html

In fiscal year ending on 31/03/2010 booked profits of $1,6 bilion.
Message of the president to shareholders and investors in July 2010:

After suffering an earthquake in 2007 that obliged to shut the nuclear plant of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, the main objectives mentioned above are:

1) restoration of all units in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa. Done!

2) low carbon society:

Done! We have not heard any news of CO2 releases so far.

3) wrap up our crisis management efforts:

Done! After the earthquake of March 2011, Kashiwazaki Kariwa conducts normal operations, and it was not the earthquake that caused the failure of Fukushima Daiichi

4) Cost reduction:

They achieved very good financial results due to cost containment.

and their management commitment is very, very clear:

Furthermore, the TEPCO Group established a new medium to long-term management policy called "2020 Vision: Medium to Long-term Growth Declaration" in September 2010:

This vision included 7 Value-up plans, among them:

Risk management is not forgotten at TEPCO:

The President is the Chief Risk Officer, and everybody will agree that they have avoided any influenza virus.

They also have a disaster policy:

and as everybody has learned, nuclear plants are protected:

What nobody could have anticipated is radioactive leaks:

 

 it is extremely unlikely!

For this reason, I think that managers of the company well deserve their payroll. After cutting their salaries for the crisis, the 21 directors only earned and average of $415.000 per year; of course this is an average, the 8 members of the board (all of them men of course, we are talking about nuclear physics!) earned more.

And the company has the compromise to ensure transparency:

and they learn by the minute:

Only 26 minutes to report a fire!

Finally, we have to be faithful. As the President says:

In my ignorance, I would only dare to ask what would happen with the 3.356 fuel assemblies of the core of the 6 units and the 10.000 fuel assemblies of the spent fuel storage ponds.

Visionari Aznar

http://www.fundacionfaes.org/es/una_estrategia_energetica_para_espana

Madrid. 08/03/2011
Intervención de José María Aznar en la presentación del informe
Propuestas para una estrategia energética nacional

"Sólo como ejemplo, Francia ha invertido en nucleares, y no sufre
hoy la grave dependencia energética que tenemos en España. Las
nucleares proveen de una energía limpia, que no emite CO2; de
una energía barata, que no merma la competitividad de la industria
cargándola con los sobrecostes de unas primas descontraladas; y
de una energía que asegura el suministro de electricidad sin
altibajos en su continuidad derivados de fenómenos atmosféricos"

Tot un visionari.
A més té tota la raó, per demostrar-ho podria viure uns dies a l'edifici de contenció del reactor número 3 de Fukushima, vestit amb un Fraga-Palomares

nice and cheap footballs

When you watch a football match, it's quite probable that the ball has been manufactured in Pakistan.

http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/developing/pitchequipment/football/testcriteria.html
FIFA Quality Concept
The FIFA Quality Concept for Footballs is a test programme for Outdoor, Futsal and Beach Soccer footballs. Manufacturers have the possibility to enter into a licensing agreement for the use of the prestigious 'FIFA APPROVED' and 'FIFA INSPECTED' Quality Marks on footballs which have passed a rigorous testing procedure.

FIFA site includes the list of around 90 manufacturers registered as FIFA licensees, among them many from Pakistan, with their own brands or manufacturing for the most important companies in the market (adidas, Nike, Umbro, Lotto, Kappa,Puma, Wilson, etc.):

http://www.alberta-sports.com/2008/profile.php

http://www.capital-sports.net/profile.html

http://www.craftsmanpk.com/about.php?page=about

http://www.kapur.com.pk/apparels/How.aspx

http://www.madrigalsports.com/

http://www.orbittra.com/about.php

http://www.rectogroup.com/sports/manufacture.htm

http://www.s-stargroup.com/

http://www.temposports.com/about.php?lng=en

http://www.talonsports.com/aboutus.htm

http://www.vision.com.pk/content/view/18/37/

Criticism from those who do not like football can not be avoided though:
　
INTERNATIONAL LABOR RIGHTS FORUM
http://www.laborrights.org/

Special Report 07/06/2010
Missed the Goal for Workers:
The Reality of Soccer Ball Stitchers in Pakistan, India, China and Thailand


This report presents the key findings of the International Labor Rights Forum’s research in the four largest soccer balls producing countries: Pakistan, India, China and Thailand. This report also highlights the need to rethink the strategies being utilized by companies to encourage suppliers to adhere to strong labor standards.

ILRF found that child labor continues to exist.
ILRF found that non-permanent workers are the standard for the hand-stitched soccer ball industry.
Workers are often paid below the legal minimum wage and their incomes can barely cover basic needs. While they are vulnerable to occupational health hazards, their part-time status makes them ineligible for many social protections including health care. The rights to organize and bargain collectively are usually legally barred to workers with informal employment status.

At one Pakistani manufacturer, ILRF researchers found that all interviewed stitching center or home-based workerswere employed on a casual basis and almost all of them were paid below the legally required minimum wage.

To conclude, ILRF calls on the soccer ball industry, in coordination with trade unions and civil society, to take immediate action to address the issues of extremely low wages, proliferation of temporary workers, and a lack of civil society engagement in order to improve conditions for the workers that produce the ball at the center of the World Cup 2010 games.

comprar a Zara és barat

Inditex.es 04.03.2011 Inditex ha aprovechado la oportunidad única de adquirir un local de 3.600 metros cuadrados en el número 666 de la 5ª Avenida de Nueva York (Estados Unidos), en la confluencia con la calle 52, una de las ubicaciones comerciales de moda más importantes del mundo.


El cost? només 330 milions $. No és res per Inditex, amb més de 5.000 botigues, vendes de 15.000 milions € anuals, i amb una caixa de 3.000 milions €. El seu valor en borsa (ITX) és de més de 32.000 milions € el 2011.03.09.

Quin és el secret d'Inditex / Amancio Ortega? Poder vendre a preu baix amb marges de més del 60%, i això requereix produir amb costos molt molt baixos. On?: a Bangladesh és molt barat.

Inditex no té cap empleat a Bangla Desh, allà no hi ha botigues del grup (són pobres), només es fabrica a través de l'outsourcing a proveïdors locals.

Però Inditex vigila als seus proveïdors:

Responsabilidad corporativa:Nos comprometemos con nuestros proveedores y sus trabajadores, con un Código de Conducta que garantiza unas condiciones laborales dignas

Base Code de Ethical Trading Initiative:

Aprobado en 1998 por representantes de la industria textil, sindicatos y organizaciones de la sociedad civil internacional. Se articula en los siguientes 9 principios:

• El empleo se elegirá libremente.

• Se respetará la libertad de asociación y el derecho

a la negociación colectiva.

• Las condiciones de trabajo serán seguras e higiénicas
• No se empleará mano de obra infantil.
• Se pagará un salario digno.
• Las horas de trabajo no serán excesivas.
• No habrá discriminación.
• Se proporcionará un trabajo regular.
• No se permitirá un trato inhumano o severo.


Però no sempre es poden evitar els accidents, com va passar el 2005 a la factoria de Spectrum a Dhaka


New Internationalist, July, 2005
Buried alive: Bangladeshi factory collapse highlights dangerous conditions in global sweatshops
It was 1:00am on 11 April this year and the 250-worker night shift was hard at work in the factory housing the Spectrum Sweater Factory and Shahrair Fabrics Industry in Savar Dhaka, Bangladesh. Without warning the factory crumbled onto their heads. After a desperate eight-day-long search dug out survivors--many of them so badly injured they would never work again--the final death toll rested at 74.
The factory, which produced brands for such well-known European companies as Carrefour of France, Cotton Group of Belgium and Zara, Karstadt Quelle of Germany, had been approved for four stories. The owners had taken advantage of this to push the building up to nine stories. The factory was poorly constructed and built on swampland with limited access for rescue vehicles. Previous worker-complaints about cracks in the factory walls had been ignored. The Bangladeshi engineer Aktar-uz-Zaman - who was charged with investigating the accident--discounted initial speculation that the collapse had been due to a boiler explosion, finding instead that the accident was due to 'a faulty design with cheap construction materials and without a solid foundation.'

Inditex va respondre a l'accident a través dels seus projectes d'inversió social.

Memoria de Inditex 2009:

S'ha de veure com un cost més, que s'imputa a les peces fabricades. A més als que es van quedar sense feina no se'ls va haver de pagar.

I els treballadors segur que es van quedar contents. Calculant que hi va haver uns 70 morts (malauradament no es van trobar tots els cadàvers sota la runa) i 100 ferits, són 3.133 € per damnificat, quan la renda per càpita amb prou feines arriba als 1.400 $.

Es van prendre mesures preventives, encara que ja se sap sempre pot haver acccidents:

alternet.org. 31/12/2010
Vision: Deadly Accidents, Inhumane Conditions -- Why We Must Fight to Stop Abuse of the World's Sweatshop WorkersConditions at sweatshops overseas have not improved as much as they should have over the past several decades. Not by a long shot.
A fire breaks out in a garment factory near Dhaka, Bangladesh. Fueled by mountains of fabric, the ninth and tenth floors of the building are quickly engulfed in flames, and hundreds of workers rush, panicked, toward the exits. But two of the six exit doors are locked, and all of the building's fire extinguishers are either missing or out of order. In the frenzy, many workers are trampled by their colleagues, while others leap out windows, seeing no other means of escape. In all, at least twenty-eight people die, many of them burned alive. Dozens more are injured.
The disaster is reminiscent of the infamous New York City Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, when nearly 150 factory workers, most of them women, died as a result of locked exits and a lack of fire safety equipment.
But the above story did not occur in the early 20th century; it happened just two weeks ago at the That's It Sportswear Ltd. factory, which manufactures clothing for major American retailers like the Gap, H&M, Target, JC Penney, Walmart, Kohl's and Abercrombie & Fitch.　

That's It Sportwear pertany al grup Ha-Meen group. Entre els principals clients es troba Inditex, encara que per sort aquesta fàbrica no era de les que produïa per a ells, de manera que no hauran de suportar costos. Tal com es veu a la web de Ha-Meen group:

la qualitat és el primer, així que quan compreu a Zara, H & M o Abercrombie, podeu estar tranquils.

Qatar no es España

Avui. 28/02/2001
Qatar destinarà 300 milions d'euros per capitalitzar les caixes d'estalvis Zapatero, de visita al Golf Pèrsic, qualifica de "molt bona notícia" la decisió

　

Zapatero sembla entendre's bé amb els Qataries. Es estrany, perquè no semblar haber afinitats entre Qatar i España.

El cap d'estat de Qatar és Amir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani des de 1995 quan va deposar al seu pare.
La seva família governa el país sense necessitat d'eleccions, i els seus successors faran el mateix. Que se sàpiga té tres dones i més de vint fills. A més és el cap de les Forces Armades. Sense l'obligació de treballar, té una de les fortunes més importants del planeta, i té temps lliure suficient per dedicar-se a les seves aficions com

la caça:
Dawn.com 10/11/2010
KARACHI: The federal government has issued 28 special permits to the rulers, members of ruling families and other dignitaries of four Gulf states to hunt the internationally protected Houbara bustard during the 2010-2011 season, according to reliable sources.
QATAR
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the amir of Qatar, has been allotted Bahawalnagar district in Punjab.

esports del motor

o la navegació

doncs no, no ho sembla haver afinitats, no.

per valorar millor l'emir, les seves opinions es poden llegir a la web oficial:


　

　
però tot i el seu poder no pot evitar les mentides dels comunistes
　
amnesty.org.
Informe de Qatar:
Violence against women, including rape, other forms of sexual abuse and beatings, is widespread, in
particular against female domestic workers, the vast majority of whom are foreign nationals. The authorities
are often reluctant to treat violence against women as a criminal offence although it constitutes an assault
under domestic law. This reluctance by the police to address the issue of violence against women through the
law tends to deter women from coming forward to report violence within the home and locks women into a
vicious circle of violence and discrimination. Female domestic workers are particularly at risk because, as a
result of their employment conditions, they are generally unable to leave the home in which they live and work
and they are therefore especially vulnerable to rape and other sexual abuse by their male employers.Exploitation of migrant workersForeign migrant workers make up a large proportion of Qatar’s workforce and are often subjected to exploitation by their employers. They are generally employed under exploitative contracts which give their employers extensive powers over them. The contracts often stipulate that they are unable to move jobs or leave the country without obtaining the permission of their employer. In addition, employers often confiscate the passports of migrant workers or arbitrarily withhold payment of wages. Migrant workers are not adequately protected by Qatari law and are generally unable to access the justice system to challenge the decisions of their employers or to seek redress, because they are trapped at home and because of the prohibitive costs of going to court and language barriers.

In 2007, some 20,000 migrant workers were reported to have run away from their employers because they
were not paid their salaries or because of their harsh living conditions. Such conditions reportedly contributed to several fires in workers’ accommodation in different parts of the country in 2008.