Some News: Food Shortages, Oil, Unemployment, Super Bank, UPS, etc.

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More than Half Million Tanzanians in Food Shortage

http://www.newspage.com/cgi-bin/NA.GetStory?story=v0914138.4xi&date=19990915&Query=xinhua

September 15, 1999

Xinhua via NewsEdge Corporation : DAR ES SALAAM (Sept. 14) XINHUA - More than 600,000 people in North Tanzania's Shinyanga Region are facing an acute food shortage caused by a prolonged drought and lack of food storage.

The rainfall was below expected levels between January and August this year, leading to a deficit of 158,000 tons of grain in the region, Shinyanga Regional Commissioner Tumainiel Kiwelu was quoted as saying Monday.

He said that the 2.5 million residents in Shinyanga Region need 553,000 tons of grain in the next twelve months, but the food available at present amounts to only 395,000 tons.

"This year, the average rainfall was just 500 millimeters. This is a serious blow to farmers as the maize crop requires rain of between 700 to 800 millimeters to flourish," he said.

He said it is not easy for the government to feed the whole population with its grain stocks and therefore measures need to be taken to redress the situation.

As a way of curbing the food shortage, the regional commissioner recommended the residents to plant at least two acres of drought-resistant crops such as sorghum, millet, cassava and sweet potatoes.

Meanwhile, he advised farmers to cultivate cotton as a cash crop to ensure they don't sell off their food for money.

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U.S. Imported Oil Helps Trade Deficit to New Record

September 15, 1999

Xinhua via NewsEdge Corporation : WASHINGTON, September (Xinhua)

The U.S. trade deficit jumped to a new record of 80.7 billion dollars in the second quarter because of a huge rise in imports including a big increase in the nation's imported oil, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

The department reported that the deficit in the U.S. current account soared 17.5 percent in the April-June quarter, above the first quarter imbalance of 68.7 billion dollars, which had also been a record.

Through the first half of this year, the current account was running at an annual rate of 299 billion dollars, far surpassing the imbalance for all of 1998 of 220.6 billion dollars, the biggest deficit in history.

The widening U.S. trade deficit reflects the impact of the Asian financial crisis, which cut sharply into U.S. export sales of farm products and manufactured goods and also increased competition from cheaper-priced imports.

The big rise in the current account deficit in the second quarter was led by a 14 percent increase in the deficit in goods, which climbed to 84.6 billion dollars in the quarter.

U.S. goods exports increased 0.9 percent with manufactured goods and farm exports both showing increases. However, this small improvement was swamped by a 4.9 percent rise in imports, led by a sharp increase in world petroleum prices.

The U.S. service sector still had a surplus, covering such things as airlines fares and insurance sales, but it declined to 19.6 billion dollars in the second quarter, down from 20.2 billion dollars in the first quarter.

The deficit in investment earnings edged up to 4.4 billion dollars in the second quarter, from 4.3 billion dollars in the first three months of the year, while a category that includes U.S. foreign aid rose to a deficit of 11.3 billion dollars in the second quarter, up from 10.3 billion dollars.

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OPEC BASKET PRICES UP

Vienna, sept. 13, irna

The price of the opec basket of seven crudes increased by 9 cents on friday and stood at usd 22.07. This was up from 21.98 thursday, according to opec secretariat calculations here on monday. Crude oil futures prices continued their rise in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (nymex) friday. West Texas Intermediate (wti), the american benchmark crude, climbed by 35 cents to settle at usd 23.55 per barrel for october delivery, while the november contract stood at usd 23.53, up by 31 cents.

Sources said that the market expected opec members would maintain their production-cut commitments. In after-hours electronic access trading in new york monday, wti was fetching usd 23.50 a barrel for the october contract and also 23.50 dollars for the november position, both down from the nymex close. In London friday, north sea brent crude oil futures finished the week strongly above usd 23 a barrel on the international petroleum exchange (ipe). ipe october brent settled at usd 23.44 a barrel, up by 40 cents from thursday's settlement, and was expected to trade between usd 23.10 and usd 23.50 in the near term.

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Disaster Prevention Day Marked By Drills Across Japan

The central and local governments held drills on Sept. 1 to mark Disaster Prevention Day with the aim of preparing the public for a major earthquake. A total of 5.7 million people, including firefighters and medical personnel as well as those in charge of securing utilities such as electricity and gas, participated in the drills, which focused on information communication and guiding evacuees. Coming on the heels of the Aug. 17 quake in northwestern Turkey that killed at least 13,000 people, this year's drills appeared to be imbued with a greater sense of urgency and realism than normal.

The central government's drills were held in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, and in Tokyo, drawing on scenarios based on an earthquake hitting the Tokai region and on a direct hit in the Kanto area.

Many of the drills conducted this year placed emphasis on securing communication links by such means as teleconference systems receiving pictures from earthquake response centers and helicopters using satellites.

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Japan's July Jobless Rate Stays At Record High 4.9%

Japan's unemployment rate hit a record high 4.9% in July for the second straight month after seasonal adjustment, with female joblessness worsening slightly, the government reported Aug. 31.

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate for women rose 0.2 percentage point to 4.6 percent, while that for men stayed at a record high 5.1 percent, the Management and Coordination Agency said in a preliminary report.

In a separate report, the Labor Ministry said there were 46 job offers for every 100 job seekers in July, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the same level as the previous month. A Management and Coordination Agency official said some bright aspects are emerging in the employment situation, but an immediate improvement is unlikely. "We need to keep on watching the situation closely," the official said. As for bright signs, the official noted the number of employees in the construction sector in July was unchanged from a year earlier after dropping for 20 straight months.

The margin of decline in manufacturing sector employees also narrowed in the reporting month, the official said.

The number of employees in the sector fell by 250,000 to 13.61 million, but the margin of decline was the smallest since December 1997. The official, however, said the number of female part-timers dropped for the first time in 15 months from year-earlier levels, and the margin of decline in service sector employees widened. The overall number of part-time workers increased by 50,000 to 4.97 million from a year earlier, with the sector having absorbed employment in the severe job situation. The number of women part-timers decreased by 30,000 to 3.44 million. Japan's jobless rate eased in May to 4.6% after hitting the previous record 4.8% in March and April. The number of employees was 64.97 million in July, down 800,000 from a year earlier for the 18th consecutive month of decline.

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Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (DKB), Fuji Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan (IBJ) on Aug. 20 announced a plan to integrate their operations with an eventual aim of creating what will be the world's largest commercial banking group. The three banks, all based in Tokyo, "will as a first step jointly create a holding company through an equity swap in the fall of 2000 and will operate under the holding company," IBJ President Masao Nishimura said at a news conference in Tokyo. The news conference was also attended by DKB President Katsuyuki Sugita and Fuji Bank President Yoshiro Yamamoto.

"Although we will be the world's top bank in terms of assets, we will not remain content just at that. We aim to be among the world's top five banks in terms of capital, profits, services and other areas," Nishimura told the conference. He added, "We have a sense of mission as a frontrunner in reinstating the status of Japanese commercial banks in the world," following the erosion of their credibility with the collapse of Yamaichi Securities Co. and Hokkaido Takushoku Bank in November 1997, Nishimura said. Eventually, by the spring of 2002, the three banks will reintegrate and regroup their operations into separate legal entities to be overseen by the holding company, according to their plan. Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi hailed the move as "an attempt at fulfilling their responsibilities as major financial institutions." Hakuo Yanagisawa, chairman of the Financial Reconstruction Commission (FRC), Japan's financial regulatory body, said, "We sincerely welcome the move, which meets expectations for creating a top-notch institution from Japan that can withstand stiff international competition."

The Bank of Japan also lauded the agreement, saying it will contribute to the revitalization of the country's moribund financial industry. The three banks have decided against a full merger because "separate, autonomous companies can operate better under a holding company," said DKB's Sugita, adding that "a merger would just give birth to a huge elephant." Each share in the three banks will be exchanged for a new share in the holding company, which will be listed on stock exchanges after the three banks exit the exchanges. IBJ's Nishimura and Fuji's Yamamoto will be co-chairmen of the holding company, while DKB's Sugita will be president. The trio will also be chief executive officers. The full integration will also mean slimming of operations and jobs, resulting in cost savings of around 100 billion yen within five years after the holding company is established. In this period, the three banks plan to close down 150 of their current 645 domestic banking outlets, while overseas outlets, totaling 59, will also be merged or cut.

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Boot Camp Week 89: We're talking current affairs. Don't interrupt!

We take the mains for granted, but if it fails when you are using your PC the results could be disastrous. Rick Maybury explains how you can filter out those fluctuating voltages

SO you think you are ready for the end of the Millennium? Your computer's internal clock and operating system passed the "rollover" test, you've purged all non-compliant software, downloaded the latest upgrades and patches and laid in a stock of tinned food. January 1 comes and goes and your PC appears to be working normally, confidence is high, and you're halfway through saving a large and important file when phut - the mains cuts out.

It may have nothing to do with millennium "bugs" in power company computers. Electricity supplies can fail for any number of reasons, but the chances will be higher than usual during the first few weeks of January, especially if we have a hard winter. But whatever the cause, even a brief interruption lasting no more than a split second can be enough to cause the files and data you are working on to be lost, or worse! Important system files can be corrupted and leave you with an inoperable PC.

We have become accustomed to a reliable mains supply in this country. For most of us in towns and cities, blackouts and "brownouts" have been a comparatively rare in recent years and this has given us a false sense of security.

Power supply modules inside desktop machines have improved enormously in the past few years and they can iron out minor variations in mains voltage and even cope with small spikes and surges, but a complete power loss can cause considerable damage. There is only one solution - other than using a battery-powered laptop - and that's a box of tricks called an UPS, or uninterruptible power supply.

A UPS connects between the mains socket and your computer. Inside there's a re-chargeable battery, a battery charger and a circuit called an inverter. Its job is to convert the low voltage DC from the battery into 240 volts AC. When the mains fails the UPS switches automatically to the battery supply, maintaining the supply to the computer. Depending on the size of the battery, the backup power supply can last from a few minutes to an hour or more, which should be long enough for you to save files, close programs and carry out a safe shut down.

Broadly speaking there are two types of UPS: online and standby. Online models operate all of the time by keeping the battery constantly charged and supplying power to the inverter, which powers the computer. In this case the battery acts as a buffer between the computer and the mains, eliminating any irregularities in the mains voltage.

Standby models kick in the instant the supply fails, taking between two and 10 milliseconds to restore power. The interruption is too brief to upset most modern computers, though it could cause problems on some older machines. Incidentally, standby UPS tend to be a little cheaper than online types. Some more recent UPS designs are in effect hybrids, using what's known as a double conversion process, which lightens the load on the battery and provides a constant supply.

Most UPS modules are supplied with operating software that flashes up an on-screen warning when the mains supply fails. Some programs will carry out an automatic save and shut-down routine for you, in case you are not there to do it yourself. UPS management programs can also monitor the health of the battery, indicating when it needs replacing (usually every two to three years) and continually check the condition of the mains supply, logging trends and predicting possible failures. Most models now have a "hot-swap" facility that allows the battery to be exchanged while the unit is operating. Additionally all UPS devices filter and "condition" the mains voltage, removing potentially harmful spikes and surges, maintaining a steady, smooth supply.

It all sounds terribly complicated and expensive but surprisingly it's not. UPS units designed to protect stand-alone Windows desktop PCs costs from as little #65, which is a very small sum to pay when you consider how much your data, or even your computer is worth. UPS systems are normally rated by capacity quoted as volt-amperes or "VA" (see Jargon Filter). The typical range is from 200 to 1,500VA. Heavy-duty UPS systems for servers and networks, fed from high-power circuits, go from 2,000VA upwards. However for most home computer users UPS modules in the range 200 to 500VA are usually more than adequate, providing between five and 15 minutes worth of power, depending on the computer, size of monitor and any peripherals.

Jargon filter

Brownout A large reduction in the mains supply voltage, causing lights to dim and electronic devices like computers to stop working.

Spikes, surges & transients Brief increases in mains voltage, varying from a few volts to several thousand volts, caused by lightning strikes, grid switching and other devices connected to the supply.

VA Volt-Ampere, a measure of electricity supply and generation. You can work out the required capacity of a UPS by adding up the power consumption figures (RMS values measured in watts) of your PC, monitor etc, into a VA figure by multiplying it by 1.414.

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-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 15, 1999


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